By: Meghan PateroAssociate Editor, Vol. 26 On March 11, 2021, President Biden recognized the struggles the entire nation has grappled with because of COVID-19 by delivering his first prime time address of his presidency.[1] Appropriately, much focus was dedicated to the new COVID-19 relief package as one of the largest economic rescue packages in US […]
From Our Editors
Letter from the Editors in Response to Increased Violence Against Asian Americans
art by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya (@alonglastname) provided for use in protest The China virus. Model minorities. The “Kung Flu.” When the COVID-19 pandemic began, so did the onslaught of racist messaging fueled by then-President Donald Trump. Many Americans were appalled at the apparent blaming of a pandemic on a racial group, but others were eager to […]
Legal Deserts: Race & Rural America
By Zachery NewtonAssociate Editor, Vol. 26 Despite being the home of 20% of Americans, only an estimated 2% of practicing attorneys live in rural America.[1] It is not uncommon for rural counties to have few, sometimes zero, practicing lawyers. The shortage in these “legal deserts” is not for a lack of need. In 2017, low-income […]
Reaction against the Denial of Comfort Women’s Voices and Truth
By Karly JungAssociate Editor, Vol. 26 Across the globe, academics and activists mobilized to thoroughly examine a Harvard professor’s characterization of “comfort women” as prostitutes.[1] So-called “comfort women” consisted of women and girls from various countries (though primarily from Korea, a colony of Japan at the time) who were taken to warfront “comfort stations” during […]
From Tuskegee to Today: The Fraught History of Black Americans with the Medical Field, and the Contemporary Issues Faced Under the Coronavirus
By Isha AbbasiAssociate Editor, Vol. 26 Ding. The familiar, and now haunting, sound of a CNN news notification pierced my expecting ears. I was used to getting one a day now. Sometimes a mundane story about who won The Voice, most times a horrific statistic about the rapid spread and death toll of the COVID-19 […]
Let’s Protect Size
By Abigail HesterAssociate Editor, Vol. 26 Let me set a scene: You’re a waitress. You’ve been in quarantine for months and are finally, finally, getting to return to work. You’re weary about COVID, but desperate to receive a consistent paycheck. During your quarantine, you’ve been one of the lucky ones. You have not been […]
Stigma at Every Step: Mistreatment of Black Americans in the Opioid Crisis
By Nathan BennettAssociate Editor, Vol. 26 As the COVID-19 crisis extends into its second year in the United States, the years-long epidemic of opioid misuse continues forward—and may be worsening.[1] The opioid crisis is popularly portrayed as a problem of white America—suburban moms hooked on prescription pills and Appalachian men laid off from factory […]
“Professional” Hairstyles: How Title VII Protections Have Condoned the Policing of Black Women’s Hair
By Jasmine BenjaminAssociate Editor, Vol. 26 Everyone is faced with the question of how to style their hair. However, this decision is of particular social, professional and economic import for Black women. According to recent studies, Black women are 83% more likely to report being judged more harshly on their looks than other women, 1.5x […]
The Dismissed Tragedy Behind the Native American Boarding School System
By: Meghan PateroAssociate Editor, Vol. 26 One thing I’ve realized about myself in law school is that, when reading about historical events, I often downgrade the event’s importance and subsequent consequences. I read the words at face value and dismiss the significance attached to the event at that time. As a result, I have been […]
Exploring Mapping Inequality: Redlining Close to Home
By: Eve HastingsAssociate Editor, Vol. 26 Background Mapping Inequality is a website created through the collaboration of three teams at four universities including the University of Richmond, Virginia Tech, University of Maryland, and Johns Hopkins University.[1] I was introduced to the website through my Property professor during the Fall 2020 semester as we learned about […]
Michigan Journal of Race & Law 