Social Movements & the Law

"[This book] presents a collection of essays that examines how gender, as a category of identity, must continually be understood in relation to how structures of inequality define and shape its meaning. It asks how notions of 'justice' shape gender identity and whether the legal justice system itself privileges notions of gender or is itself gendered. Shaped by politics and policy, these essays contribute to understanding how theoretical practices of intersectionality relate to structures of inequality and relations formed as a result of their interaction. Given its theme, the collection's essays examine theoretical practices of intersectional identity at the nexus of 'gender and justice' that might also relate to issues of sexuality, race, class, age, and ability"--

In A Time to Speak Out, a collection of strong Jewish voices come together to explore some of the most challenging issues facing diaspora Jews. With articles on such topics as international law, the Holocaust, varieties of Zionism, self-hatred, the multiplicity of Jewish identities, and human rights, these essays provide powerful evidence of the vitality of independent Jewish opinion as well as demonstrating that criticism of Israel has a crucial role to play in the continuing history of a Jewish concern for social justice. At once sober and radical, A Time To Speak Out reclaims an often intemperate debate for those both inside and outside Israel who prefer to confront uncomfortable truths. Nearly all contributors were associated with the Independent Jewish Voices declaration which, when launched in Britain in 2007, opened a floodgate of responses. Independent Jewish Voices is a group of Jews in Britain from diverse backgrounds, occupations and affiliations who have in common a strong commitment to social justice and universal human rights.

Melissa & Olivia answer the five most common questions when talking about abolishing the police & prison.

In 2014, award-winning journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge wrote on her blog about her frustration with the way that discussions of race and racism in Britain were being led by those who weren't affected by it. Her words hit a nerve. The post went viral and comments flooded in from others desperate to speak up about their own experiences. Galvanised, she decided to dig into the source of these feelings. Exploring issues from eradicated black history to the inextricable link between class and race, Reni Eddo-Lodge has written a searing, illuminating, absolutely necessary examination of what it is to be a person of colour in Britain today --

History professor Robin D.G. Kelley and Hina Shamsi of the ACLU are this week’s guests.

Examines the life of Callie House, a woman who was born into slavery in 1861 and later became a laundress in Nashville, focusing on her demand that the U.S. government pay pensions to ex-slaves for centuries of unpaid labor, and discussing the efforts of the Justice Department to stop House and her followers.

Victoria Law, who is familiarly known as Vikki, is an anarchist activist, writer, freelance editor, photographer and mother. Law is of Chinese descent and was born and raised in Queens NY where she had her first brush with the law as an armed robber while still in high school. Her exposure to incar…

Racism and discrimination have choked economic opportunity for African Americans at nearly every turn. At several historic moments, the trajectory of racial inequality could have been altered dramatically. Perhaps no moment was more opportune than the early days of Reconstruction, when the U.S. government temporarily implemented a major redistribution of land from former slaveholders to the newly emancipated enslaved. But neither Reconstruction nor the New Deal nor the civil rights struggle led to an economically just and fair nation. Today, systematic inequality persists in the form of housing discrimination, unequal education, police brutality, mass incarceration, employment discrimination, and massive wealth and opportunity gaps. Economic data indicates that for every dollar the average white household has in wealth the average black household possesses a mere ten cents. In From Here to Equality, William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen confront these injustices head-on and make the most comprehensive case to date for economic reparations for U.S. descendants of slavery. After opening the book with a stark assessment of the intergenerational effects of white supremacy on black economic well-being, Darity and Mullen look to both the past and the present to measure the inequalities borne of slavery. Using innovative methods that link monetary values to historical wrongs, they next assess the literal and figurative costs of justice denied in the 155 years since the end of the Civil War. Finally, they offer a detailed roadmap for an effective reparations program, including a substantial payment to each documented U.S. black descendant of slavery. Taken individually, any one of the three eras of injustice outlined by Darity and Mullen - slavery, Jim Crow, and modern-day discrimination - makes a powerful case for black reparations. Taken collectively, they are impossible to ignore. --

For years, some Chicago police officers tortured suspects. Survivors fought for reparations — and got them. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

In a three year span, Latinos in California represented 46% of deadly police shootings – second to the rates for African Americans

The United States imprisons more people than any other country in the world, and a disproportionate number of those prisoners are Black. What are the origins of the U.S. criminal justice system and how did racism shape it? From the creation of the first penitentiaries in the 1800s, to the "tough-on-crime" prosecutors of the 1990s, how America created a culture of mass incarceration.

"The 2020 global pandemic further underscored the need for justice and visibility for Black women. Despite occurring over two months earlier, the tragedy surrounding the killing of unarmed, Breonna Taylor at the hands of police seemingly went unnoticed until the murder of George Floyd. This volume encompasses diverse disciplines to examine the marginalization and erasure of Black women. It recognizes their experiences, highlights their remarkable contributions, analyzes the treatment of women of African descent worldwide, and instills hope in the face of systemic racial oppression. Scholars analyze themes such as socio-political ignorance and the intersectionality of race and gender discrimination. The collection of essays empowers, inspires and informs readers, as it pays homage to the life of Breonna Taylor and forms a part of the continuum of works that celebrate, illuminate, and educate about the importance of Black and African American women"--

"This book is the first thorough study of the Justice Department's pattern or practice program, examining how the program works, how court-imposed consent decrees implement needed reforms, and discussing the various challenges the program has encountered over nearly thirty years"--

Listen to this episode from Today, Explained on Spotify. America is undergoing a new racial reckoning. The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer explains why this time is different. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"In 1989, Ben Spencer was convicted of murdering businessman Jeffrey Young-a crime he didn't commit. Spencer to spent more than half his life in prison until independent investigators, the foreman of the jury that convicted him, and a new district attorney convinced a judge that Spencer had nothing to do with the killing. He was released from prison in 2022. Journalist Barbara Bradley Hagerty spent years immersed in Spencer's case. She combed police files and court records, interviewed dozens of witnesses, and had extensive conversations with Spencer. In Bringing Ben Home, she weaves together two narratives: how an innocent Black man got caught up in and couldn't escape a legal system that refused to admit its mistakes; and what Texas and other states are doing to address wrongful convictions to make the legal process more equitable for everyone"--

Can the Black Lives Matter movement change America?

"From 'Assimilation' to 'Decolonization,' 'Black Wall Street' to 'Police Brutality,' and 'Colorism' to 'White Supremacy,' this book equips you with the language to engage in crucial conversations around anti-Black racism. The Anti-Racist Vocab Guide is a boldly illustrated visual glossary that distills complex subjects into comprehensive yet accessible definitions of terms and provides concise and insightful explanations of historical moments. With reflection questions to use for introspection or as a starting point for hard conversations with those close to you, this book will encourage both your learning and unlearning--no matter where you are in your journey to understanding race in America"--

Listen to this episode from Salud Talks on Spotify. In light of the recent tragedies, co-hosts Tenoch Aztecatl and Josh McCormack discuss systemic injustice as well as the violence committed against communities of color.

"Unsettled examines the role of young American Jews in the Palestine solidarity movement and argues that their activism and commitment to ending the occupation and Israeli apartheid is a Jewish value, which is a necessary response to the changing conditions of American Jewish life in the twenty-first century"--

Listen to this episode from Today, Explained on Spotify. There hasn’t been an arrest in the case in the three months since police shot and killed Taylor in her home in Louisville, Kentucky. But now the “Justice for Breonna” movement has the potential to unseat Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Antiracism workshops and diversity policies have long been the response to racial tensions and incidents in corporations, schools, and nonprofit organizations. There is little evidence, however, that they create employment equity, reduce racial prejudice, or increase cross-cultural sensitivity. Sociologist Sarita Srivastava argues they often create more division and acrimony than progress. "Are You Calling Me a Racist?" reveals why these efforts have failed to effectively challenge racism and offers a new way forward. Drawing from her own experience as an educator and activist, as well as extensive interviews and analyses of contemporary events, Srivastava shows that racial encounters among well-meaning people are ironically hindered by the emotional investment they have in being seen as good people. Diversity workshops devote energy to defending, recuperating, educating, and inwardly reflecting, with limited results, and these exercises often make things worse. These "feel-good politics of race," Srivastava explains, train our focus on the therapeutic and educational, rather than on concrete practices that could move us toward true racial equity. In this type of approach to diversity training, people are more concerned about being called a racist than they are about changing racist behavior. "Are You Calling Me a Racist?" is a much-needed challenge to the status quo of diversity training, and will serve as a valuable resource for anyone dedicated to dismantling racism in their communities, educational institutions, public or private organizations, and social movements

#SayHerName Essay discussion with Professor Catherine Squires from the book "Dangerous Discourse"

This book examines how the law influences our most personal and private choices-who we desire and choose as intimate partners-and explores the psychological, economic, and social effects of these choices. It proposes ways to minimize law's influence over who we desire, love, and bring into our families, including changes to dating platforms, as well as housing, education, and transportation policies

"Changes at the global, federal, state, and municipal level are pushing forward the reparations movement for people of African descent. The distinguished editors of this volume have gathered works that chronicle the historical movement for reparations both in the United States and around the world. Sharing a focus on reparations as an issue of justice, the contributors provide a historical primer of the movement; introduce the philosophical, political, economic, legal and ethical issues surrounding reparations; explain why government, corporations, universities, and other institutions must take steps to rehabilitate, compensate, and commemorate African Americans; call for the restoration of Black people's human and civil rights and material and psychological well-being; lay out specific ideas about how reparations can and should be paid; and advance cutting-edge interpretations of the complex long-lasting effects that enslavement, police and vigilante actions, economic discrimination, and other behaviors have had on people of African descent. Groundbreaking and innovative, Reparations and Reparatory Justice offers a multifaceted resource to anyone wishing to explore a defining moral issue of our time"--

There is no DEI without justice. This book brings the J in DEIJ to life, giving organizations a road map to justice-centered action. We have not yet succeeded at dismantling systems that perpetuate harm and exclude non-white groups. Many organizational DEI efforts fail because they are too tactical and focus on "fixing" marginalized communities rather than reworking the systems that uphold inequity. A component is missing from the diversity, equity, and inclusion equation-- justice. Justice as an orientation focuses on repairing broken systems, acknowledging harm, and implementing deliberate processes and practices that produce equity and shift power. Justice work diverges from traditional metrics-driven DEI work and requires a new approach to thought and action to effectively dismantle power structures. DEIJ pioneer Mary-Frances Winters seeks to provide understanding and guidance to organizations committed to doing the work properly. With additional chapters written by the Winters Group's core team and strategic partners, this book shares relevant theory and practical remedies to achieve equitable workplaces and features advice on how to ditch neutrality, practice restorative dialogue, amplify anti-racist practices, and more. By taking a justice perspective, this book will help readers to both achieve equity and sustain it. --

Black Americans being victimized and killed by the police is an epidemic. A truth many Americans are acknowledging since the murder of George Floyd, as protests have occurred in all fifty states calling for justice on his behalf. But this tension between African American communities and the police has existed for centuries. This week, the origins of American policing and how those origins put violent control of Black Americans at the heart of the system.

"Drawing on a wide range of case studies, this book provides an examination of the role of United States federal law in shaping the invocation game of police interrogation. It is essential reading for researchers and students in the fields of forensic linguistics, law and society, sociolinguistics, and discourse analysis"--

"An examination of the historical and present racial inequities of the prosecutorial system and a blueprint for transforming the system to one of fairness and justice"--;A deeply revealing expos of the American prosecutorial system and its historic and present racial inequities -- and how we can transform the system to one of fairness and justice. In Get Off My Neck, Debbie Hines draws on her unique perspective as a trial lawyer, former Baltimore prosecutor, and assistant attorney general for the State of Maryland to argue that US prosecutors, as the most powerful players in the criminal justice system, systematically target and criminalize Black people. Hines describes her disillusionment as a young Black woman who initially entered the profession with the goal of helping victims of crimes, only to discover herself aiding and abetting a system that prizes plea bargaining, speedy conviction, and excessive punishment above all else. In this book, she offers concrete, specific, and hopeful solutions for just how we can come together in a common purpose for criminal justice and racial justice reform. Get Off My Neck explains that the racial inequities in the prosecutorial system are built into our country's DNA. What's more, they are the direct result of a history that has conditioned Americans to perceive the Black body as insignificant at best and dangerous at worst. Unlike other books that discuss the prosecutor's office and change from inside the office, Hines offers a proactive approach to fixing our broken prosecutorial system through a broad-based alliance of reform-minded prosecutors, activists, allies, communities, and racial justice organizations -- all working together to end the racist treatment of Black people. Told intimately through personal, family, and client narratives, Get Off My Neck is not only a deeply sobering account of our criminal justice system and its devastating impact on Black children, youth, and adults but also a practical and inspiring roadmap for how we can start doing better right now. -- Provided by publisher.

Learn more about the shooting, the fallout, and the trial of Officer Jason Van Dyke.