Category Archives: Race and Racism

In Which the NYT Notices the Politics of Black Women’s Hair

Posted on August 29, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

It’s news at the NY Times this week, even if it’s not news to those who have been living these conversations for generations.  In “Black Hair: Still Tangled in Politics,” reporter Catherine Saint Louis frames the discussion this way: “For … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminism and Culture, Race and Racism | 2 Comments

Masculine, Feminine, or Human? (or Private Parts)

Posted on August 26, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

In a previous blog I wrote about horsey feminism and concern with a female horse winning a major horse race. (see Bully for You, Filly For Me). In that entry I discussed the disquieting effect of anthropomorphism that brings biology-as-social-destiny … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminism and Sports, Race and Racism | 3 Comments

Two Wrongs Don’t Make it Right: Court of Appeals of Mississippi Drags Feet on Recognizing Combined Race-Gender Groups as Groups Deserving Discrete Protection Under Batson

Posted on August 13, 2009 by Colin Miller

In Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S.79 (1986), the Supreme Court declared that racial discrimination through the use of peremptory challenges is prohibited. In J.E.B. v. Alabama ex rel. T.B., 511 U.S. 127 (1994), the Court found that gender discrimination through … Continue reading →

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Marie Claire magazine is featuring an article entitled “The New Trophy Wives: Asian Women”

Posted on August 12, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Written by a woman named Ying Chu and accessible online here, the theme of the piece is reflected in its final sentence: “Asian women dating white men may never really know if it’s a fetish thing.” There are a lot … Continue reading →

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Frank Rudy Cooper, “Race and Essentialism in Gloria Steinem”

Posted on August 7, 2009 by Ann Bartow

The abstract: This short essay was solicited for the 20th Anniversary Critical Race Theory Workshop in 2009. It celebrates Angela Harris’s trail blazing essay, Race and Essentialism in Feminist Legal Theory. Harris argues against essentialism, which is the idea that … Continue reading →

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God Wears a Toga in My Dreams

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

What is it about fashion designers and bondage?  The ad campaign for “Elohim by  Sabrina Goh” is both incomprehensible and entirely familiar (women in chains, bound legs, etc.).  According to her website, Goh is a self-described “Malaysian born, Singapore based … Continue reading →

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Maybe Lucia Whalen should also get a beer?

Posted on July 29, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Caller in Gates Case Says She Didn’t Mention Race By KATIE ZEZIMA CAMBRIDGE, Mass. : Lucia Whalen, whose 911 call led to the arrest of the Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home, made her first public comments … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminism and Law, Race and Racism, Sociolinguistics | 1 Comment

Frank Rudy Cooper on “Race and Essentialism in Gloria Steinem”

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

Feminist Law Prof Frank Rudy Cooper (Suffolk) has posted to SSRN his essay, “Race and Essentialism in Gloria Steinem.”  Here is the abstract: This short essay was solicited for the 20th Anniversary Critical Race Theory Workshop in 2009. It celebrates … Continue reading →

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“Making Space for Indigenous Feminism”

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

I stumbled upon  Making Space for Indigenous Feminism, a  2007 book edited by Professor Joyce Green (Political Science, University of Regina).  It is a collection of essays  by Indigenous women from Canada, the USA, Sapmi (Samiland), and Aotearoa/New Zealand. In … Continue reading →

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Lani Guinier and Susan Sturm, “Trial by Firefighters”

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Ann Bartow

From the NYT: STANDING on the steps of the federal courthouse in New Haven, the lawyer Karen Torre reveled in her clients’ victory in a recent case before the Supreme Court. She anointed her clients : the white firefighters who … Continue reading →

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and the Workplace, Feminist Legal Scholarship, Feminists in Academia, Race and Racism | 3 Comments

A Feminist Legal History of U.S. Patriotism

Posted on July 4, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

To mark the July 4 holiday, I’m reading a book by Francesca Morgan (History, Northeastern Illinois University). In  Women and Patriotism in Jim Crow America (UNC Press 2005), Morgan details the activities of these women’s volunteer organizations founded after the … Continue reading →

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Nixon Supported Abortions to Prevent Racial Mixing

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

Whoa.  The New York Times reports here on the contents of the Nixon-Whitehouse tapes released yesterday by the National Archives.  One recording (audio file here) captured Nixon’s reflections on  Roe v. Wade on January 22, 1973, the day the Supreme … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminist Legal History, Race and Racism, Reproductive Rights | 1 Comment

White People’s”Baby Daddy”

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

When speakers use the phrases”baby daddy”and”baby mama”in non-colloquial contexts, do they mock African-Americans or do they embrace one way that the American vocabulary has been enriched by the contributions of African-Americans?  Both?  Neither? These phrases seem to pop up everywhere. … Continue reading →

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In Memory of Stephen T. Johns

Posted on June 11, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

Yesterday security guard Stephen T. Johns was killed at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.   The suspected shooter was James W. von Brunn, an 88 year-old man.     According to news reports (e.g., here): Von Brunn is said … Continue reading →

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All Latinas are not Mexican

Posted on June 8, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

A cartoonist at the Oklahoma City newspaper The Oklahoman  responds to criticism of his drawing of Judge Sotomayor as a  pinata  to be struck by waiting GOP elephants. The cartoon by Chip Bok of Creators Syndicate ran in The Oklahoman … Continue reading →

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Posted in Race and Racism, Sexism in the Media | 2 Comments

Sonia Sotomayor’s Personal History: Why It Matters

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Katherine Franke

There has been much made of Sonia Sotomayor’s life, her Puerto Rican background, her modest, if not poor, childhood, her mother, what her Latina-ness means to her, her involvement in civil rights organizations, etc.   It’s both a big part … Continue reading →

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“… women still account, on average, for fewer than one in five big-firm partners.”

Posted on June 1, 2009 by Ann Bartow

From The American Lawyer: … Looking specifically at gender diversity, our analysis found that women made up 34 percent of lawyers at the firms we surveyed: 45 percent of nonpartners and 19 percent of partners. It’s a respectable but not … Continue reading →

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Darren Hutchinson Takes Down Jeffrey Rosen’s Article About Judge Sonia Sotomayor

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Here. Bravo Darren! See also Historiann’s take on the article.

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Gender, Race and Stereotype Threat: Study finds California’s high school exit exam is keeping disproportionate numbers of girls and non-whites from graduating, even when they are just as capable as white boys on every other measure.

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Ann Bartow

From the LA Times: California’s high school exit exam is keeping disproportionate numbers of girls and non-whites from graduating, even when they are just as capable as white boys, according to a study released Tuesday. It also found that the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Academia, Race and Racism, The Overrepresentation of Women | 2 Comments

Mark Anthony Neal on HBCUs

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Here at his blog, NewBlackMan. Via Anxious Black Woman.

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Unveiling the Bronze Bust of Truth

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Ann Bartow

From the Feminist Daily News Wire: Michelle Obama unveiled a bust of Sojourner Truth, known for her abolitionist and women’s rights work, at the US Capitol yesterday. Truth’s statue is the first of an African-American woman in the Capitol. The … Continue reading →

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Law Professor Annette Gordon-Reed (NYLS) Wins Pulitzer

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Ann Bartow

From the NYT list of winners: HISTORY:”The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family,”by Annette Gordon-Reed: A painstaking exploration of a sprawling multi-generation slave family that casts provocative new light on the relationship between Sally Hemings and her master, Thomas Jefferson.” … Continue reading →

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“The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency: The Many Facets of Raced and Gendered Tele-Identity (Or, Nemos, Nomos and Narrative)”

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Ann Bartow

New post by Feminist Law Prof Lolita Buchner Inniss, here.

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“American Violet”

Posted on April 19, 2009 by Ann Bartow

From the movie website: Based on true events during the 2000 election, AMERICAN VIOLET tells the astonishing story of Dee Roberts (critically hailed newcomer Nicole Beharie), a 24 year-old African American single mother of four young girls living in a … Continue reading →

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Miley Cyrus: A”Little White”What?!

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

According to People Magazine (here), Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx expressed some pretty negative opinions about various female performers on his Sirius radio show, advising actor Miley Cyrus to “make a sex tape and grow up. Get like Britney Spears and … Continue reading →

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Schick Outdoes Itself

Posted on April 14, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Now public hair is racialized as well as pornified. (For a prior ad, see this post by Bridget): –Ann Bartow

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Racial Stereotyping For Jeebus

Posted on April 13, 2009 by Ann Bartow

This is so over the top in terms of the way it portrays race, you’d think (and desperately hope) it was satire, but it probably wasn’t intended to be. Instead, chances are the creators thought they were being open minded … Continue reading →

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Posted in Race and Racism, Sociolinguistics | 1 Comment

Texas State Rep. Betty Brown, when talking about the Voter ID bill proposed in the Texas Legislature, suggested the Asian community adopt names that are “easier for Americans to deal with”

Posted on April 10, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Watch it here: The critical interval begins 3:20 in but the whole thing is compelling in its own disturbing way. –Ann Bartow

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Posted in Race and Racism | 2 Comments

Race, gender, customer preferences and BFOQs

Posted on April 7, 2009 by Ann Bartow

In Pleener v. NYC Board of Education, ___F.3d___ (2d Cir. Feb. 24, 2009), the Second Circuit affirmed that   an employer may never make an employment decision based upon the preferences of clients or customers, because race is never a … Continue reading →

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Race, Gender, and the Recent Presidential Election

Posted on March 29, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Over at What Tami Said is a post that discusses the tensions among feminists that arose during the Democratic primary, which is followed by a fairly pitched discussion in the comments section. In some ways it was hard to read, … Continue reading →

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Nine Children, Nine Mothers, One Father: Why Isn’t He the Novem-Dad?

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

The  media dubbed Nadya Suleman the “octo-mom,” but noone calls Travis Henry  the “novem-dad.”   The former NFL running back has fathered nine children with nine different women in six years (see NY Times story here). He is engaged to … Continue reading →

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Posted in Race and Racism, Sexism in the Media | 9 Comments

Octomom: Social Factoring the Numbers (Or, LCD meets OCD)

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

In recent weeks the airwaves have sizzled with stories about Nadya Suleman, the California woman who gave birth to octuplets conceived via assisted reproductive technology. In doing so, Suleman breached numerous mainstream social norms of motherhood. First and foremost, in … Continue reading →

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Note that it happened in NORTH Carolina…

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Ann Bartow

This. Oy. –Ann Bartow

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Posted in Academia, Race and Racism, South Carolina | 1 Comment

“Jaded”

Posted on March 23, 2009 by Ann Bartow

That’s the name of this post at What Tami Said, a blog I like a lot. Tami is a talented writer and her posts are always interesting. Here’s a short except from “Jaded“: Women’s equality, I think, is best achieved–not … Continue reading →

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The first all-female, all African American crew to operate a commercial flight:

Posted on March 19, 2009 by Ann Bartow

(From top, left) Captain Rachelle Jones, First Officer Stephanie Grant and flight attendants Diana Galloway and Robin Rogers. The AFL-CIO NOW blog reports: Last month, when first officer Stephanie Grant of Atlantic Southeast Airlines got the call to replace the … Continue reading →

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Multiple Anxieties: Breaching Race, Class & Gender Norms With Assisted Reproduction

Posted on March 19, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

Lolita Buckner Inniss (Cleveland-Marshall, Ain’t I a Feminist Legal Scholar, Too?, Visiting Prof at Pace Law School) and I have posted to SSRN our working paper, Multiple Anxieties: Breaching Race, Class and Gender Norms With Assisted Reproduction.  Here is the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminism and Families, Feminist Legal Scholarship, Race and Racism, Reproductive Rights, The Overrepresentation of Women, Women and Economics, Women's Health | Comments Off on Multiple Anxieties: Breaching Race, Class & Gender Norms With Assisted Reproduction

SPEAK! THE WOMEN OF COLOR MEDIA COLLECTIVE HAS RELEASED A SELF-TITLED DEBUT CD

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Information here.

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Is Kaiser trying to encourage Spanish speaking women to get tubal ligations more assertively than English speakers?

Posted on March 4, 2009 by Ann Bartow

It sure looks that way. Read this.

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We, The Jury: Why Aren’t There Jury Impeachment Appeals Alleging Juror Sexism?

Posted on March 4, 2009 by Colin Miller

Federal Rule of Evidence 606(b)  precludes jurors from impeaching their verdicts after trial through testimony concerning anything internal to the jury deliberation process.  Accordingly, jurors can’t invalidate their verdicts by testifying after trial that jurors (a) misunderstood jury instructions (even … Continue reading →

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Posted in Academia, Courts and the Judiciary, Feminism and Law, Race and Racism | 1 Comment

Lolita Buckner Inniss, “On Being a Black Woman Lawyer (Or, The Sound of Silence)”

Posted on March 3, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Read her essay by this title here. It begins: There are right now two lawsuits being prosecuted by black women lawyers that are quietly making their way around the Internet. A little too quietly for my taste. …

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Columbia Journal of Gender & Law Symposium: Gender on the Frontiers: Confronting Intersectionalities

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Katherine Franke

April 10, 2009       9:30 am – 5 pm Room 107 Jerome Greene Hall Columbia Law School Women Crossing Borders, 9:30 am Soraya Fata, Staff Attorney, Legal Momentum Sharmila Lodhia, Post-doctoral Fellow, Santa Clara University Jenni Milbank, Professor … Continue reading →

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“The leader of the South Carolina Senate says he’s closing the Confederate gift shop he and his brother have operated in the Charleston area for 20 years.”

Posted on February 24, 2009 by Ann Bartow

About freaking time: Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell told the Post and Courier of Charleston that the gift market is changing for everyone. McConnell says he and his brother Sam, plan to close the CSA Galleries in North Charleston, … Continue reading →

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Rutgers Symposium, “The Gender Dimensions of Terrorism: How Terrorism Impacts the Lives of Women”

Posted on February 20, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

This announcement from Feminist Law Prof Suzanne Kim: On March 6, 2009, the Women’s Rights Law Reporter, the nation’s first legal  journal devoted to gender rights, will hold a symposium exploring the  intersections of gender and terrorism entitled “The Gender … Continue reading →

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“The Strong Black Woman is Dead”

Posted on February 19, 2009 by Ann Bartow

An illustrated poem by Laini Mataka: Via Womanist Musings, where the full text of the poem is also available.

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“Eliminating Racism: International Human Rights and the African American Community” – A Webinar Happening Thursday, February 12, 2009 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM EST

Posted on February 7, 2009 by Ann Bartow

September 7, 2001 saw the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, one of the most remarkable international agreement to address the problem of racism and racial discrimination. The enormous potential of the document was overshadowed by several … Continue reading →

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Law School Grade Reform – Not So Fast

Posted on February 2, 2009 by Katherine Franke

Many of Columbia’s peer schools have recently undertaken reforms in their grading systems.   Harvard and Stanford have moved in the direction of Yale’s system – three passing grades (1: Honors/High Pass, 2: Pass and 3: Restricted Credit/Low Pass) and … Continue reading →

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Posted in Academia, Feminists in Academia, Law Schools, Law Teaching, Race and Racism | 3 Comments

43 Alaskan Native Americans File Suit Against Jesuits for Rape, Sexual Assault

Posted on January 27, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Heart has the story here.

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Coerced Sex, Feminism and Law, Feminism and Religion, Race and Racism | 1 Comment

Yolanda Young, “What Eric Holder’s Tenure at Covington & Burling Says About Blacks and BigLaw”

Posted on January 27, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Op-Ed here at the HuffPo.

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“He Is (Or, We Are)”

Posted on January 22, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Professor Lolita Buckner Inniss on the inauguration of President Obama.

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“Report Describes Concerns Over Treatment of Detained Women Immigrants”

Posted on January 21, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Head on over to Our Bodies, Our Blog to read the post with this title. It highlights a report concerning the treatment of women held in immigration detention centers in Arizona.

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