Civil Rights Movements & the Law

This guide provides an overview of research strategies and resources on the topic of Critical Race Theory at the UNC School of Law.

During the pandemic, anti-Asian violence is on the rise around the world. The Pulitzer-winning author reflects on his own experiences as a Vietnamese American – and the dark history that continues to fuel the current hate

University of Washington professor Dr. Robin DiAngelo reads from her book "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism," explains the phenomenon, and discusses how white people can develop their capacity to engage more constructively across race. Speakers include: Misha Stone, Seattle Public Library Robin DiAngelo, PhD, Critical Racial & Social Justice Education

The intentions of this guide are to provide the researcher with helpful tips, and suggested print and electronic resources about women involved in the Civil Rights movement in the United States.

In this edition of Behind the Bindings, discover tools that you can use for researching Black history in the Law Journal Library!

State and local policing budgets have kept a consistent share of public budgets by percentage, but the dollar amounts have grown since 1977.

Featuring Hector Amaya, Ginna Green and Shannon Speed, this virtual roundtable was moderated by Repair director Beth Ribet, on 5-20-21. Co-sponsored by the UCLA American Indian Studies Center, the UCLA Native Nations Law & Policy Center, the Critical Race Studies Program at the UCLA School of Law, Ikar, Temple Beth Am, and Bend the Arc Jewish Action.

This guide will assist you in finding online and print resources on civil rights.

‎Show The JustPod, Ep Introducing the Legal Education Police Practices Consortium - Sep 15, 2021

"25 years ago in the shadows of Apartheid in South Africa the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed to properly address generations of racial injustice that had been all but ignored. It's time for the United States to do the same. In spite of all of our movements for change the thing we call the justice system in the United States has never been a reliable competent compassionate professional respectful tool for justice for tens of millions of Americans. Instead it has often been a cruel and oppressive force of injustice for African Americans Native Americans Latinos immigrants members of the LGBTQIA community and all marginalized communities. Consequently when marginalized people have needed to finally rely on this system for justice it has routinely failed them in the worst ways imaginable. This isn't a bug in the system but a feature. It's operating exactly the way it was designed and built to function. That's why we're imagining and building something new. Today in partnership with the District Attorneys of San Francisco Philadelphia and Boston we are announcing the formation of the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission to actually process and address the injustices of the past that simply were not given the time attention and dignity that they deserved."

In a time of mourning and anger over the ongoing violence inflicted on Black communities by police in the US and the lack of accountability from national leadership, what is the path forward? Sharing urgent insights into this historic moment, Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff, Rashad Robinson, Dr. Bernice King and Anthony D. Romero discuss dismantling the systems of oppression and racism responsible for tragedies like the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and far too many others -- and explore how the US can start to live up to its ideals. (This discussion, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson and current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers, was recorded on June 3, 2020.)

This guide is meant to serve as a jumping-off point for students and faculty to gain a better understanding of the events related to Mike Brown's death and the subsequent protests and unrest in Ferguson. It also collects resources that may be used by UA instructors to teach Ferguson and related topics in their courses. We will try to keep this guide as up-to-date as we can.

"The president's power to pardon federal crimes is immense, with roots in ancient notions of mercy and amnesty. However, this power, seemingly boundless under the Constitution, lacks clear constraints, inviting concerns about abuse. Recent discussions in the U.S. Supreme Court have raised alarms about the potential for presidential abuse of pardons, highlighting the need for accountability within the pardon system to uphold the foundational premise that no one is above the law."--

This panel discusses how we have reached this point as a nation, how to recognize antisemitism when we see it, and how to combat it.

Community organizers Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi used the social media hashtag #BlackLivesMatter after the 2012 acquittal of George Zimmerman, the killer of Trayvon Martin, a 17- year-old Florida teen, and set off a movement to address the ongoing violence and killings of Black men, women and children at the hands of police (law enforcement) and vigilantes. Similar to the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement brought attention to how Black lives have been deprived of their basic human rights and dignity. The movement also challenges people to address issues of racism and inequality around the world. The BLM movement also helped inspire another related but equally important movement, the #SayHerName campaign. This campaign was started in 2014 by the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) and Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies (CISPS). The #SayHerName campaign brings awareness to the state violence that is visited upon Black women and girls. The intention of this guide is to provide information resources related to the BLM movement and its founding. Resources have been placed in various topics or categories. It goes without saying that many titles could have been placed in more than one category. As with most online library guides new resources or categories may be added. Please revisit this site for updates. ~ Kofi Acree, Director, John Henrik Clarke Africana Library

"In her work as an appellate judge, Justice Ginsburg translated this devotion into a jurisprudence focused on 'We the People,' substantively and procedurally. Substantively, Justice Ginsburg insisted that faithfully employed, the words of the Constitution supported an expansive understanding of who was included in 'We the People,' despite the framers' narrow understanding of the phrase when it appeared in the preamble to the Constitution. Expressed also as a jurisprudence of equality and opportunity, Justice Ginsburg believed that the phrase promised equal dignity for people despite their gender, gender identity, race, or disability. Procedurally, 'We the People' shaped Justice Ginsburg's approach to the process of deciding cases, guiding every step of her judicial process-the way she read the Constitution and statutes, approached voting issues, and analyzed the demands of the separation of powers, for example. While the substantive contours of 'We the People' have received the most attention, the full sweep of her jurisprudence appears also in the process she used in analyzing all issues. Justice Ginsburg's jurisprudence of 'We the People' became the ordering principle of this book, explaining both the book's title and its topics. Instead of a general survey of Justice Ginsburg's work, the book tells the story of an advocate and a jurist committed to increasing in material ways the bundle of rights we all carry around with us as Americans. As Linda Greenhouse explained in the Foreword, the story begins with Justice Ginsburg's commitment to an America that enables people with diverse experiences to live together in civic harmony. Justice Ginsburg believed that because the American experience involved living in community, the religious expression of some of us had to yield when the expression oppressed others of us in ways endangering that harmony"--

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to author Ibram X. Kendi, who has made a name for himself tackling one of the most sensitive topics in America: racism. His latest book is How to Be an Antiracist.

For 11-year-old Marley Dias, the call to activism began with books. Frustrated by not seeing other Black girls as the main characters in the books in her school library, she decided to take action and make a change. The wildly successful social media project, #1000blackgirlbooks, Dias launched nearly a year ago with the help of her mother, hit a nerve—and has exceeded its goal of collecting and distributing 1,000 books. The sixth grader already knows that racism and other built-in barriers are “keeping kids like me from reaching our full potential.” Tackling racism, she says, begins with a conversation. In a new national video on institutional racism, Dias looks to educators across the country and asks: “Do you care enough to look closer, to talk to each other. To your students, to your communities?” And “To change the dialogue?”

"This bill makes lynching a federal hate crime offense."

"No one becomes 'not racist,' despite a tendency by Americans to identify themselves that way. We can only strive to be 'antiracist' on a daily basis, to continually rededicate ourselves to the lifelong task of overcoming our country’s racist heritage." Ibram X. Kendi, Further Reading: An Antiracist Reading List, The New York Times, May 29, 2019

There's a newish acronym, BIPOC, that encompasses the victims of US colonization and slavery. But should they be lumped together? And who does that label leave out?

From PBS American Masters James Baldwin, "The Price of the Ticket" Unfortunately comments became derisive and certain viewers resorted to name calling. Very disappointing. Please enjoy the video anyhow.

The juvenile system forces many children and teens into long confinement in unsafe institutions.

"A sitting federal judge's recounting of six cases, to make the argument for revisiting overly punitive sentences"--

“Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. BLL-SIS is honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his vision for America. We can all look to Dr. King’s…

A starting point for Penn Carey Law community members interested in resources for self-education on anti-racism.

LIVE: NBC News Special Report: George Floyd funeral in Houston.

"Revisits the world of social epidemics first explored in Gladwell's 2000 book "The tipping point," this time taking a closer look at the dark side of social engineering. Twenty-five years after the publication of his groundbreaking first book, Malcolm Gladwell returns with a brand-new volume that reframes the lessons of The Tipping Point in a startling and revealing light. Why is Miami... Miami? What does the heartbreaking fate of the cheetah tell us about the way we raise our children? Why do Ivy League schools care so much about sports? What is the Magic Third, and what does it mean for racial harmony? In this provocative new work, Malcolm Gladwell returns for the first time in twenty-five years to the subject of social epidemics and tipping points, this time with the aim of explaining the dark side of contagious phenomena. Through a series of riveting stories, Gladwell traces the rise of a new and troubling form of social engineering. He takes us to the streets of Los Angeles to meet the world's most successful bank robbers, rediscovers a forgotten television show from the 1970s that changed the world, visits the site of a historic experiment on a tiny cul-de-sac in northern California, and offers an alternate history of two of the biggest epidemics of our day: COVID and the opioid crisis. Revenge of the Tipping Point is Gladwell's most personal book yet. With his characteristic mix of storytelling and social science, he offers a guide to making sense of the contagions of modern world. It's time we took tipping points seriously"--

"This page outlines various key court cases that deal with racial issues from a legal standpoint. These sites offer an introduction and information about historic precedents and other data that also impact on viewpoints found in relation to decisions made within wider society."

A moment at last week's Senate Judiciary Hearing on policing reform underscored a persistent and common misunderstanding about the difference between personal and systemic racism.