Carleton College, Northfield, MN February 10th, 2012 Michelle Alexander is a highly acclaimed civil rights lawyer, advocate, and legal scholar who currently holds a joint appointment at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University. Prior to joining the Kirwan Institute, Professor Alexander was an Associate Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, where she directed the Civil Rights Clinic. Alexander challenges the conventional wisdom that, with the election of Barack Obama as president, our nation has “triumphed over race.” Jim Crow laws were wiped off the books decades ago, but today an astounding percentage of the African American community is warehoused in prisons or trapped in a permanent, second-class status, much like their grandparents before them who lived under an explicit system of racial control. Alexander argues that the sudden and dramatic mass incarceration of African American men, primarily through the War on Drugs, has created a new racial under caste—a group of people defined largely by race that is subject to legalized discrimination, scorn, and social exclusion. The old forms of discrimination—discrimination in employment, housing, education, and public benefits; denial of the right to vote; and exclusion from jury service—are suddenly legal once you’re labeled a felon. She challenges the civil rights community, and all of us, to place mass incarceration at the forefront of a new … ]]> http://www.racediscrimination.org/2012/04/24/michelle-alexander---the-new-jim-crow-mass-incarceration-in-the-age-of-colorblindness.html/feed 0 http://www.racediscrimination.org/2012/03/10/julian-bond.html http://www.racediscrimination.org/2012/03/10/julian-bond.html#comments Sun, 11 Mar 2012 02:15:59 +0000 Race Discrimination http://www.racediscrimination.org/?page_id=126

Accumulating evidence strongly suggests that exposure to racial discrimination, and the related economic adversity and social disadvantages, may be a chronic source of trauma in communities of color that negatively influences mental and physical health outcomes. These effects may be exacerbated for children of color who may be impacted by exposure to racial discrimination directly and indirectly via the negative influence of racial discrimination on parent and community support and functioning. Using a life-course framework and orientation developed by Braveman et al. (2009) and others, we will examine how exposure to racial discrimination in childhood can shape child and adult health, particularly the likelihood of chronic disease in adulthood. The implications of these findings for policies at all levels—federal, state, and local—to improve the living conditions of children as a strategy for reducing health disparities across the entire life course will be discussed. This lecture is by Dr. Kathy Sanders-Phillips, College of Medicine, Howard University. It is a part of the Black American Health: Law as a Social Determinant Webinar. ]]> http://www.racediscrimination.org/2012/03/10/racial-inequality-a-risk-factor-for-health-disparities-in-the-black-community-part-1-of-2.html/feed 0 http://www.racediscrimination.org/2012/01/25/us-embassy-samoa-staff-march-in-support-of-ending-violence-november-2011.html http://www.racediscrimination.org/2012/01/25/us-embassy-samoa-staff-march-in-support-of-ending-violence-november-2011.html#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:10:59 +0000 Race Discrimination http://www.racediscrimination.org/?page_id=124

125+ MORE examples of Fox News Bias at www.youtube.com With a kind of marijuana legalization on the ballot in California as Proposition 19 this November, it’s not surprising to see our friends at Fox picking up the pace on the marijuana misinformation in a series called “Going to Pot” that included a segment rebutting a straw man argument for marijuana legalization with a very weak anti-legalization argument and went on to spread a series of anti-marijuana myths while purporting to debunk pro-legalization “myths” as I show in this video. The clips I use of Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade interviewing Bishop Ron Allen come from a segment on the Fox News program “Fox and Friends” broadcast on August 28, 2010, which is available online at www.youtube.com The image I use of my July 2007 video titled “Fox News Gets Reefer Madness Over So-Called Killer Marijuana” comes from the YouTube player page at www.youtube.com The images I use of “Yes on 19″ information on California marijuana arrests come from the webpage at yeson19.com The charts I use of showing racial discrimination in California marijuana arrests come from the Drug Policy Alliance webpage at www.drugpolicy.org And, finally, the fact sheet I show debunking marijuana myths about being overly potent and a “gateway drug” comes from the Drug Policy Alliance webpage at drugpolicy.org ]]> http://www.racediscrimination.org/2012/01/25/fox-news-marijuana-straw-man-on-legalization.html/feed 0 http://www.racediscrimination.org/2011/12/11/jackie-robinson-civil-rights-pioneer-note-the-epitaph-and-brief-biography.html http://www.racediscrimination.org/2011/12/11/jackie-robinson-civil-rights-pioneer-note-the-epitaph-and-brief-biography.html#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 02:05:59 +0000 Race Discrimination http://www.racediscrimination.org/?page_id=122

An excerpt from part one of Playing The Race Card, focusing on racial discrimination newly migrant communities faced during the late 1950s. ]]> http://www.racediscrimination.org/2011/12/11/racial-discrimination-in-the-uk-1950s.html/feed 0 http://www.racediscrimination.org/2011/10/27/race-and-economics-how-much-can-be-blamed-on-discrimination-hoover-inst-press-publication.html http://www.racediscrimination.org/2011/10/27/race-and-economics-how-much-can-be-blamed-on-discrimination-hoover-inst-press-publication.html#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 05:45:59 +0000 Race Discrimination http://www.racediscrimination.org/?page_id=120

Walter E. Williams applies an economic analysis to the problems black Americans have faced in the past and still face in the present to show that that free-market resource allocation, as opposed to political allocation, is in the best interests of minorities. Contrasting the features of market resource allocation with those of the political arena, he explains how, in the political arena, minorities cannot realize a particular preference unless they win the will of the majority. In the market, he shows, there is a sort of parity (nonexistent in the political arena) in which one person’s dollar has the same power as the next person’s.

Williams debunks many common labor market myths and reveals how the minimum wage law has imposed incalculable harm on the most disadvantaged members of our society. He explains that the real problem is that people are not so much underpaid as underskilled and that the real task is to help unskilled people become skilled. The author also reveals how licensing and regulation reduce economic opportunities for people, especially those who might be described as discriminated against and having little political clout. Using the examples of the taxi cab and trucking industries before and after deregulation, he illustrates how government regulation closes entry and reinforces economic handicaps, whereas deregulation not only has helped minorities enter industries in greater numbers but also has benefited consumers.

Race and Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination? (HOOVER INST PRESS PUBLICATION) ]]> http://www.racediscrimination.org/2011/10/27/race-and-economics-how-much-can-be-blamed-on-discrimination-hoover-inst-press-publication.html/feed 0 http://www.racediscrimination.org/2011/10/27/paul-laurence-dunbar.html http://www.racediscrimination.org/2011/10/27/paul-laurence-dunbar.html#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 01:00:59 +0000 Race Discrimination http://www.racediscrimination.org/?page_id=119