The Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law and the NYU Law Review are pleased to present a lunchtime series on The Anatomy of Racism and Inequality. Racism infects the way policies are developed and applied at all levels of government. It infiltrates our laws, institutions, and systems, resulting in enduring racial inequities. This series will explore the use of the law as a tool to foster, sustain, confront, and address racial inequality in education, housing, democracy, and the criminal legal system. The series will focus on understanding the source, nature, and impact of racial inequality with an eye toward providing a framework and vision that incorporates and develops emerging strategies—legal and otherwise—to challenge race-based inequality. The series will feature three panels with distinguished experts, academics, legal practitioners, and policymakers that will address some of the manifestations of racial inequality. Selected articles from the series will be published in the NYU Law Review Online.
Please RSVP here.
- The Anatomy of Racism and Inequality: The United States: Separate and Unequal
October 28, 2019, 12:30 to 2:00 pm, Lester Pollack Colloquium
W.E.B. Du Bois famously predicted that the “the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line.” The same is true of the 21st century. Race continues to impact every aspect of life in America, and racism remains a potent driver of unequal opportunity and outcomes. The panelists will explore the impact of racism in areas including education, housing, community development, and economic opportunity, and explore how advocates can disrupt and ultimately eradicate the systems that disadvantage people of color.
Panelists:
Mehrsa Baradaran, UC Irvine School of Law
Richard R. Buery, The KIPP Foundation
Dennis D. Parker, The National Center for Law and Economic Justice
Kim Sweet, Advocates for Children
Phil Tegeler, The Poverty and Race Research Action Council
Moderated by Russell K. Robinson, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
- The Anatomy of Racism and Inequality: Race and an Exclusionary American Democracy
November 4, 2019, 12:30 to 2:00 pm, Lester Pollack Colloquium
This panel will explore how racial identity has colored American democracy and political participation. Panelists will discuss how racism, xenophobia, and religious intolerance have impacted public conceptions of who is an American, and therefore who has the right to vote and otherwise participate in the nation’s political life. The panelists will also consider contemporary efforts to expand and restrict active engagement in the democratic process including discriminatory redistricting efforts, voter ID laws, and felon disenfranchisement.
Panelists:
Khaled Beydoun, University of Detroit Mercy School of Law
Atiba Ellis, Marquette University Law School
Ryan Haygood, New Jersey Institute of Social Justice
Danielle Lang, Campaign Legal Center
Myrna Perez, Brennan Center for Justice
Moderated by Vincent Southerland, Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law, NYU School of Law,
- The Anatomy of Racism and Inequality: Examining Racial Inequality in the Criminal Legal System
November 15, 2019, 12:30 to 2:00 pm, Lester Pollack Colloquium
Nowhere is racism more clearly ingrained than in our criminal legal system—the United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, the vast majority of whom are people of color. This panel will examine origins of structural injustice and racial inequality in the criminal legal system, and efforts to remedy biased and discriminatory decisionmaking by actors in the system, including the advent and adoption of technology and algorithmic tools. Panelists will also explore the collateral consequences of involvement with the criminal legal system, including the effect of criminal convictions on access to housing, employment, and education.
Panelists:
Deborah N. Archer, NYU School of Law
ReNika Moore, ACLU Racial Justice Program
Michael Pinard, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Vincent Southerland, Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law, NYU School of Law
Christina Swarns, Office of the Appellate Defender
Moderated by Alexis J. Hoag, Eric H. Holder Initiative for Civil & Political Rights, Columbia Law School
