By Rasheed Stewart Associate Editor, Volume 23 The 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, passed following the publicly videotaped 1991 beating of African American motorist Rodney King by four LAPD officers and the catastrophic Los Angeles Riots a year later, gave the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice an extraordinary […]
police brutality
Reflecting on Race Relations: Thanks Obama
By Marcus Baldori Associate Editor, Vol. 22 In 2008, it was an open question of how race relations would unfold under America’s first Black president. Eight years later, polling shows that 54% of Americans think race relations between Whites and Blacks have gotten worse; it is hard to recall the sense of optimism of when Obama stepped into […]
New California law aims to combat racial profiling by police: it sounds good, but will it create any change?
By Jason Raylesberg Associate Editor, Vol. 21 California and Missouri recently instituted separate measures to curb racial profiling within the legal system. In response to widespread police brutality nationally, California passed the “Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015,” requiring police officers to record identity characteristics, i.e. race, gender, or national origin of those they […]
The case of Tamir Rice: race, self-defense, and the objective reasonableness standard
By Emmanuela Jean-Etienne Associate Editor, Vol. 21 On a cold November afternoon in Cleveland, twelve-year-old Tamir Rice sat alone at a gazebo outside the Cudell Recreation Center, a place he frequented daily.[1] In his hand was an airsoft pistol and, according to the witness who would later call 9-1-1, he was pointing it at cars […]
Alabama police paralyze Indian grandfather out for a walk
By Luis E. Gomez, Associate Editor, Vol. 20 Sureshbhai Patel was in the U.S. from India for only a week before Alabama police slammed him to the ground and left him temporarily paralyzed. According to civil rights attorney Henry F. Sherrod, Patel, who is 57-years-old, was out for a walk in his new neighborhood when […]
Michigan Journal of Race & Law 