Social Movements & the Law

"A new kind of history of the Southwest (mainly New Mexico and Arizona) that foregrounds the stories of Latino and Indigenous peoples who made the Southwest matter to the nation in the twentieth century"--Provided by publisher.

The Black woman's cells, taken in 1951 without her consent, spurred medical advances worth billions. Now a judge has to decide if her family is entitled to a share of the profits.

"Justices of the United States Supreme Court have heard and ruled on many cases that have dealt with race”questions such as who has the right to use the courts where can black and white people live what public schools can a person attend and how can education be equal for everyone? For the courts rulings from earlier cases set a precedent for current and future rulings. Sometimes the Court even states when an earlier Court's ruling was just flat out wrong or misguided. The five cases below were decided by the U.S. Supreme Court and dealt with how the Court interpreted race and who has rights under the law."

Trauma-Informed Law According to the authors of Trauma-Informed Law: A Primer for Lawyers Resilience and Healing,  “a key concept for trauma-informed lawyering is the shift that has occurred, …

Guest post from Nicholas Mignanelli, University of Miami   The “culture wars,” such as they are, have come to The Bluebook. Of course, The Bluebook is a cultural produ…

INCITE! is a network of radical feminists of color organizing to end state violence and violence in our homes and communities.

Born out of a social media post, the Black Lives Matter movement has sparked discussion about race and inequality across the world. In this spirited conversation with Mia Birdsong, the movement's three founders share what they've learned about leadership and what provides them with hope and inspiration in the face of painful realities. Their advice on how to participate in ensuring freedom for everybody: join something, start something and "sharpen each other, so that we all can rise."

This study sought to analyze anti-Black racism LibGuides created by ARL member institutions to determine strengths and weaknesses of the guides based on LibGuides best practices. Institutional and LibGuide author demographic information were also gathered to determine correlations or trends, if any. Rubric evaluation of LibGuides found that guides were strongest in areas related to guide design, materials included on the guides, and links to resources. Guides were weakest in areas related to the framing of social justice and pedagogy. Results from this study have the potential to inform the structure and revision of social justice LibGuides at a time when librarianship is grappling with issues of neutrality, racism, and becoming more anti-racist.

"A blistering expose of Clarence Thomas and the conservative regime of corruption that has usurped the Supreme Court -- by a Democratic activist and former Republican political operative. Public confidence in the Supreme Court has plummeted to new lows in the last few years -- and for good reason. In the past three decades, six conservative justices have gained a supermajority through questionable means: a dubious intervention in a presidential election, perjury during Senate testimony, and a GOP Senate Leader's unethical blockade of a Supreme Court nomination. Behind this strategic dismantling of our Supreme Court is a vast, well-funded political machine--backed by the extreme right-wing Federalist Society, the notoriously secretive Catholic organization Opus Dei, and GOP megadonors operating from behind closed doors. Armed with an insider's perspective from his time within the conservative movement, David Brock reveals how the efforts to stack the court in service of extreme right-wing interests stem from a decades-long strategy to weaponize our judicial system into an extension of the Republican party itself. Stench investigates the ethics scandals that surround Clarence Thomas and his wife, the rightwing activist Ginni Thomas, culling new material from Thomas' accusers, along with original reporting and Brock's first-hand knowledge of the inner workings of the GOP. Stench is a staggering expose, one that only Brock could write--exhaustive in its research and revelatory in its access to the world of what has effectively become the Thomas Court"--

A longtime English professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University says his "decision to teach and speak about racial justice" led to a parent complaining and the university terminating his contract.

"We are rising up against all the ways that the criminal-legal system has harmed and failed to protect Black communities. The current moment requires a solution that fundamentally shifts how we envision community-care and invest in our society. History is clear that we cannot achieve genuine safety and liberation until we abandon police prisons and all punishment paradigms."

By Jessica Almeida, LISP-SIS During the AALL Virtual Meeting, the LISP-SIS sponsored program was the thought provoking “Understanding Bias in Artificial Intelligence: How Algorithms Impact Our Patr…

"NOBLE has been at the forefront of promoting police accountability since the organization's inception in 1976. NOBLE's mission is to ensure equity in the administration of justice and in the provision of public service to all communities and to serve as the conscience of law enforcement agencies and personnel by being committed to justice by action."

Archivist Yvonne Ng discusses new initiatives out of Ferguson, Baltimore and Cleveland to collect and preserve records of police abuse and protest movements.

We know that police don't keep us safe -- and as long as we continue to pump money into our corrupt criminal justice system at the expense of housing, health, and education investments -- we will never be truly safe. That's why we are calling to #DefundPolice and #InvestInCommunities -- and in our new video, Black Lives Matter Managing Director Kailee Scales helps break down just how it works.

Racial Equity Tools offers tools, research, tips, curricula, and ideas for people who want to increase their own understanding and to help those working for racial justice at every level –in systems, organizations, communities, and the culture at large.

"A brutal killing, an all-out manhunt, and a riveting account of the first murder trial in U.S. history--set in the 1600s in colonial New England against the backdrop of the Pequot War (between the Pequot tribe and the colonists of Massachusetts Bay), an explosive trial whose outcome changed the course of history, ended a two-year war, and brought about a peace that allowed the colonies to become a full-blown nation. The year: 1638. The setting: Providence, Plymouth Colony. A young Nipmuc tribesman, returning home from trading beaver pelts, is fatally stabbed in a robbery in the woods near Plymouth Colony, by a white runaway servant and fellow rogues. The young tribesman, fighting for his life, is able, with his final breaths, to reveal the details of the attack to Providence's governor, Roger Williams. A frantic manhunt by the fledgling government of Plymouth ensues, followed by the convening of the first trial, with Plymouth's governor Thomas Prence presiding as judge. The jury: local settlers (white) whose allegiance seems more likely to be with the accused than with the murdered (a native) . . . Tobey Pearl, piecing together a fascinating narrative through original research and first-rate detective work, re-creates in detail the full and startling, pivotal moment in pre-revolutionary America, as she examines the evolution of our nascent civil liberties and the role of the jury as a safeguard against injustice"--

"This bill establishes the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans. The commission shall examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies. Among other requirements the commission shall identify (1) the role of federal and state governments in supporting the institution of slavery (2) forms of discrimination in the public and private sectors against freed slaves and their descendants and (3) lingering negative effects of slavery on living African-Americans and society."

Elizabeth Martinez Smith noted the “balancing act” dilemma Black people face as they run the gauntlet of contradictory pressures. She describes the meaning of “running the gauntle…

We asked all state systems for book policies and ban lists, then created a database for you.

While many cheered the possibility of a huge financial windfall for the city's Black residents, one civil rights leader says the proposal is a distraction from tangible efforts to redress racism.

Black women are disproportionately victims of police brutality, but activists say they've been left behind and erased from the mainstream fight against police violence. Subscribe to HuffPost today: http://goo.gl/xW6HG Support our work: https://www.huffpost.com/subscribe Read: https://www.huffpost.com/ Like: https://www.facebook.com/HuffPost Follow: https://twitter.com/huffpost

How can we help students understand George Floyd's death in the context of institutionalized racism?

"This work identifies our two-party, comparatively non-representative form of democracy as the main culprit of why American politics are so dysfunctional-and shows us how to fix it"--

"Police officers are given wide latitude to stop and detain suspects since they're entrusted with the enforcement power of the law. When an officer orders you to "freeze" or submit to a search it's generally in your best interests to do so. But this doesn't mean they're above the law as police misconduct -- whether it's blatant racial profiling or the use of excessive force -- is strictly illegal. If an Arizona officer has violated your civil rights you may want to pursue a claim in civil court. Police misconduct runs the gamut from unlawful search and seizure (in violation of the Fourth Amendment) to planting false evidence on a suspect. And while police are protected by "qualified immunity" as long as their actions don't violate specific individual rights you have legal options in the event they do in fact violate your rights."

Incarcerated people have high legal information needs, covering everything from criminal appeals to probate law. I have learned this from working with the Law Library Service to Prisoners (LLSP) pr…

The Marshall Project explains its decision to offer free news to incarcerated people on tablets that otherwise charge users.

UCLA law professor Joanna Schwartz talks about the legal protections — including qualified immunity and no-knock warrants — that have protected officers from the repercussions of abuse. Her book is Shielded.Also, David Bianculli reviews Mel Brooks' History of the World Part II on Hulu.

Sisters of the late Sandra Bland, Sharon Cooper, Shavon Bland, Joy Phillips, Shante Needham, and lawyer Cannon Lambert sat down with Ebro in the Morning to remember the late Sandra Bland who passed away while in jail in 2015 causing tons of controversy due to its cause and coverup, and speak about the entire case overall. Say Her Name: The Life and Death Of Sandra Bland airs on HBO Monday, December 3. #HOT97 SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/HOT97Subscribe More @ http://www.hot97.com or the HOT 97 App: http://bit.ly/HOT97APPWORLDWIDE INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/hot97 TWITTER: https://twitter.com/HOT97 FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/HOT97OFFICIAL

Anti-Racist Resources This is a list of resources to begin your anti-racist work. This list will be continously updated. Name of Resource,Type of Resource,Link,Notes Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: Mentoring a New Generation of Activists,Article,