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Accumulation
Anthony Farley brings a focus on class back to Critical Race Theory by exploring the intersection of race and class as a singular concept that finds its creation in the marking of difference through the primal scene of accumulation. Professor Farley's Essay contends that the rule of law is the endless unfolding of that primal scene of accumulation. By choosing to pray for legal relief rather than dismantling the system, the slave chooses enslavement over freedom. Professor Farley discusses the concept of ownership as violence and explains that property rights are the means of protecting the master class until everything and everyone comes to be owned. The commodification of race and its twin concept of class through the market based system show how the rule of law is only the disguise for the rule of one group over another, white-over-black.Toward an Understanding of Judicial Diversity in American Courts
Part I of this Article explores the utility of descriptive representation as an important concept in understanding why judicial diversity matters from a political perspective. Part II begins an empirical examination of judicial diversity at the federal level while Part III presents an analysis of state court diversity. The data presented in Parts II and III indicate that judges of color are underrepresented at all levels of the federal and state court systems and that particular racial and ethnic groups are virtually excluded from federal and state benches. The conclusion argues that the data presented in this Article support a disquieting portrait that erodes the myth of progress toward the attainment of a multiracial and multiethnic American judiciary.A Principled Approach to the Quest for Racial Diversity on the Judiciary
Part I of this Article considers the different voices and perspectives added to the judiciary by the appointment of minorities. Part II analyzes the many impacts of diversity on the bench, including greater judicial impartiality. Part III sets forth the arguments supporting a diverse jury pool and discusses how they inform the analysis of the quest for racial diversity among judges. Part IV outlines a principled approach to the pursuit of judicial diversity.Through the Lens of Diversity: The Fight for Judicial Elections After Republic Party of Minnesota V. White
This Article is directed at the ongoing discussion taking place in many states and among members of the bench and bar about whether states that elect judges should switch to appointment in light of White. The author argues that states should resist what he regards as the Court's heavy-handed dicta denouncing judicial elections in White. Rather than accede to the pressure to shift from an elective to an appointive system-pressure that is being felt in several states- the author contends that states should regard the White decision as an opportunity to engage in a thorough and far-reaching review of judicial selection. Before presuming that judicial elections ipso facto cannot be reconciled with the ideal of judges as independent, impartial decision-makers, states should seek ways to improve their methods of judicial selection in order to improve judicial decision-making. States with judicial elections should be prepared to drastically transform the way judges are elected to address what I concede are significant failings in most judicial election systems. Principal among these deficiencies, in my view, is the failure of judicial elections to adequately address the lack of racial diversity on the nation's courts.Does a Diverse Judiciary Attain a Rule of Law That is Inclusive?: What Grutter V. Bollinger Has To Say About Diversity on the Bench
This Article concludes that political dialogue engendered by controversial minority judicial nominations, like those of Miguel Estrada and Janice Rogers Brown, could be an avenue to educating the polity as to why it is important to achieve greater minority representation on the bench. The pluralistic process-based model of judging advocates that a critical mass of diverse judges be achieved, not that the minority judges be liberal rather than conservative, communitarian rather than individualist, or Democrat rather than Republican. The goal is that there be a critical mass of minority judges on benches that make decisions as a group, like circuit courts and supreme courts. This ideal is one towards which pluralist polities must strive.The Children Left Behind: How Zero Tolerance Impacts Our Most Vulnerable Youth
The Michigan Journal of Race & Law Symposium, February 8th and 9th, 2002, at the University of Michigan examined the issue: Separate but Unequal: The Status of America's Public Schools. In the past, children of color were expressly denied an equal education on the basis of their race. Today's policies deny many children of color access to educational programs and supports, for reasons that are neutral on their face, with devastating consequences to the students, their families and their communities. The following article explores the concerns and experiences of a public service agency with the growing application of "Zero Tolerance" policies and practices to schools and school children. The purpose of this article is to increase awareness of the nature and effects of zero tolerance policies and to explore the resultant issues that must be addressed. In the end, the persons most disproportionately affected include children of color but when zero tolerance policies result in a failure to educate some children, the consequences impact not only those children, but all of us.Foreword, Separate but Unequal: The Status of America’s Public Schools
This Symposium, convened by the Michigan Journal of Race & Law, was designed to address many of the issues raised by Donny Gonzalez, a student at a Washington, D.C. high school, on the subject of poverty and race and its effects on school-aged youth. Bringing together a diverse group of speakers and attracting a broad cross-section of the university and Ann Arbor communities, the Separate but Unequal Symposium addressed a range of issues, including: the ongoing relevance of integration, the role of charter schools and other alternative programs, and promising strategies for achieving greater educational equality. A theme linking these various topics was the question of what students could do to end separate and unequal schools in America.Putting Black Kids into a Trick Bag: Anatomizing the Inner-City Public School Reform
Part I of this Article discusses the history of Brown, and the legal and political barriers that prevented the nation from fulfilling Brown's promise. Part II, will examine the phenomenon of White flight, which resulted from the efforts to implement the court-ordered desegregation of public schools. The political and economic effects of White flight on school reform efforts will also be examined. Part III will provide the reader with possible explanations for why school desegregation failed. The author will argue that the unexpected complexity of the task of desegregation, the lack of a unified direction among the judiciary, and local political entities, as well as beliefs about the effects that school desegregation would have on White children, prevented desegregation efforts from being successful. Part IV will analyze the various alternatives to court-ordered school desegregation that developed as a result to the legal, social and political barriers, which prevented court-ordered desegregation from taking place. Part V briefly surveys the school-reform efforts of four cities. Part VI discusses the role of school finance in relation to student achievement. The property tax, as the major source of funding for public schools, will be examined, as well as the effects of funding disparities between affluent and poor school districts. Part VII follows with a discussion of the use of testing as a method of school reform.“I’m Usually the Only Black in My Class”: The Human and Social Costs of Within-School Segregation
The work that has focused on within-school segregation has been most concerned with how this phenomenon limits the educational opportunities and might incur a psychological toll on the mass of Black students who find themselves relegated to lower-ability classrooms in integrated schools. This Article, however, allows us to begin to examine the other side of the coin. It reports on how within-school segregation practices create psychological, social, and educational pressures for those few Black students who have escaped enrollment in the least rigorous courses in their school. More precisely, the Article offers insight into how high achieving Black students in one integrated high school (referred to as Hillside) struggle with being, in most cases, the only Black student in their Advanced Placement courses. Before reporting on the experiences of these high achieving students in Part IV of this Article, Part I provides a brief review of the research literature on desegregation. The review will highlight the degree to which within-school segregation has been featured as a part of this body of work. In Parts II and III, the author then situates these high achievers within the logic of the larger study of which they were a part. Finally, in Part V, the Article concludes with a discussion of how these findings are relevant to the "the hearts and minds" of White Americans and the prospect of creating a more equitable society.When Success Breeds Attack: The Coming Backlash Against Racial Profiling Studies
The author proposes that in an ongoing debate on questions concerning the possibility of racial or other types of invidious discrimination by public institutions, we should apply a prima facie standard to these claims in the public arena. In other words, if African Americans or Latinos say that they have been the victims of racial profiling, we should not ask for conclusive proof in the strictest statistical sense; rather, if they can present some credible evidence beyond anecdotes, some statistics that indicate that we may, indeed, have a problem, the burden should then shift to the public institution-here, law enforcement agencies-to collect the information necessary to either confirm or dispel the perception that a problem exists. This seems an important ingredient to the proper understanding and resolution of societal policy arguments and disagreements, especially when the governmental action alleged has such dire consequences for the individuals affected and for the integrity and legitimacy of the institutions themselves. When public confidence in our most vital institutions of government is undermined, as is clearly already happening with racial profiling, we ought not be satisfied with the declaration that conclusive proof is not available, especially when access to that proof is in every way controlled by the institutions accused of wrong doing. Instead, when victims present a prima facie case, the burden should shift to the government to show that its conduct is above reproach. Only that type of standard for our public debate on such crucial issues can ensure the legitimacy of our public institutions.
