Civil Rights Movements & the Law

The Justice Department announced today that it has opened a civil pattern or practice investigation into the City of Memphis and the Memphis Police Department (MPD). The investigation will seek to determine whether there are systemic violations of the Constitution or federal law by MPD. The investigation will focus on MPD’s use of force and its stops, searches and arrests, as well as whether it engages in discriminatory policing.

"The moving, eye-opening memoir of an innocent man detained at Gauntanamo Bay for 15 years: a story of humanity in the unlikeliest of places and an unprecedented look at life at Gauntanamo on the eve of its 20th anniversary"--;"At the age of 18, Mansoor Adayfi left his home in Yemen for a cultural mission to Afghanistan. He never returned. Kidnapped by warlords and then sold to the US after 9/11, he was disappeared to Guantanamo Bay, where he spent the next 14 years as Detainee #441. Don't Forget Us Here tells two coming-of-age stories in parallel: a makeshift island outpost becoming the world's most notorious prison and an innocent young man emerging from its darkness. Arriving as a stubborn teenager, Mansoor survived the camp's infamous interrogation program and became a feared and hardened resistance fighter leading prison riots and hunger strikes. With time though, he grew into the man nicknamed "Smiley Troublemaker": a student, writer, advocate, and historian. Wanamo, he wrote a series of manuscripts he sent as letters to his attorneys, which he then transformed into this vital chronicle, in collaboration with award-winning writer Antonio Aiello. With unexpected warmth and empathy, Mansoor unwinds a narrative of fighting for hope and survival in unimaginable circumstances, illuminating the limitlessness of the human spirit. And through his own story, he also tells Guantanamo's story, offering an unprecedented window into one of the most secretive places on earth and the people--detainees and guards alike--who lived there with him." -- inside front jacket flap.

"A surge in interest in black reparations is taking place in America on a scale not seen since the Reconstruction Era. The Black Reparations Project gathers an accomplished interdisciplinary team of scholars-members of the Reparations Planning Committee-who have considered the issues pertinent to making reparations happen. This book will be an essential resource in the national conversation going forward. The first section of The Black Reparations Project crystallizes the rationale for reparations, cataloguing centuries of racial repression, discrimination, violence, mass incarceration, and the massive black-white wealth gap. Drawing on the contributors' expertise in economics, history, law, public policy, public health, and education, the second section unfurls direct guidance for building and implementing a reparations program, including draft legislation that addresses how the program should be financed and how claimants can be identified and compensated. Rigorous and comprehensive, The Black Reparations Project will motivate, guide, and speed the final leg of the journey for justice"--

Countless generations of Arabs and Muslims have called the United States "home." Yet while diversity and pluralism continue to define contemporary America, many Muslims are viewed by their neighbors as painful reminders of conflict and violence. In this concise volume, renowned historian Yvonne Haddad argues that American Muslim identity is as uniquely American it is for as any other race, nationality, or religion. Becoming American? first traces the history of Arab and Muslim immigration into Western society during the 19th and 20th centuries, revealing a two-fold disconnect between the cultures���America's unwillingness to accept these new communities at home and the activities of radical Islam abroad. Urging America to reconsider its tenets of religious pluralism, Haddad reveals that the public square has more than enough room to accommodate those values and ideals inherent in the moderate Islam flourishing throughout the country. In all, in remarkable, succinct fashion, Haddad prods readers to ask what it means to be truly American and paves the way forward for not only increased understanding but for forming a Muslim message that is capable of uplifting American society.

Arab Americans are one of the most misunderstood segments of the U.S. population, especially after the events of 9/11. In Arab America, Nadine Naber tells the stories of second generation Arab American young adults living in the San Francisco Bay Area, most of whom are political activists engaged in two culturalist movements that draw on the conditions of diaspora, a Muslim global justice and a Leftist Arab movement.Writing from a transnational feminist perspective, Naber reveals the complex and at times contradictory cultural and political processes through which Arabness is forged in the contemporary United States, and explores the apparently intra-communal cultural concepts of religion, family, gender, and sexuality as the battleground on which Arab American young adults and the looming world of America all wrangle. As this struggle continues, these young adults reject Orientalist thought, producing counter-narratives that open up new possibilities for transcending the limitations of Orientalist, imperialist, and conventional nationalist articulations of self, possibilities that ground concepts of religion, family, gender, and sexuality in some of the most urgent issues of our times: immigration politics, racial justice struggles, and U.S. militarism and war.

"The American Dream isn't a thing of the past, but a miracle of the present. Now more than ever it's easy to focus on the divisions that plague our nation. It may seem as if our best days are behind us, but bestselling author and senator Tim Scott believes we have yet to realize the fullness of our identity. We are in the midst of a story that's still unfolding. And beautiful opportunities await. In this powerful memoir, Scott recounts formative events of his life alongside the inspiring stories of other Americans who have risen above hardship and embodied the values that make our nation great. Together these personal and inspirational accounts call readers to embrace: the mountaintops as well as the valleys on the journey to a more perfect union; a path marked by optimism, hope, and resolve; and a future characterized by endurance, unity, and strength. Both a clear-eyed reckoning with our nation's failures and an ode to its accomplishments, America, a Redemption Story issues a clarion call for all of us to rise courageously to the greatness within our reach." --

"Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, historian Felicia Kornbluh delivers an urgent book about two key reproductive rights victories in New York that set the tone for the nation. A Woman's Life Is a Human Life is the story of two movements that transformed the politics of reproductive rights: the fight to decriminalize abortion and the campaign against sterilization abuse, which happened disproportionately in communities of color. Their victories occurred just before and after the Roe v. Wade decision, and their histories cast new light on the case and the fate of reproductive choice today. From dissident Democrats who were first to try reforming abortion laws, to clergy leading the nation's largest abortion referral service, to Puerto Rican activists who introduced sterilization abuse to the reproductive rights agenda, and Black women who took the cause global, A Woman's Life Is a Human Life chronicles the diverse ways activists changed the law and demanded reproductive justice. With firsthand accounts and previously unseen sources--including from her mother, who drafted New York's law decriminalizing abortion, and their across-the-hall neighbor, Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Trias, a Puerto Rican doctor and leader in the movement against sterilization abuse--Felicia Kornbluh shows how grassroots action overcame the odds-and how it might work today"--

"During the 1990s the United States undertook the greatest social policy reform since the Social Security Act of 1935. In Welfare Reform: Effects of a Decade of Change, Jeffrey Grogger and Lynn Karoly assemble evidence from numerous studies, including nearly three dozen social experiments, to assess how welfare reform has affected behavior. To broaden our understanding of this wide-ranging policy reform, the authors evaluate the evidence in relation to an economic model of behavior. The evidence they collect reveals the trade-offs that policymakers face in achieving the conflicting goals of promoting work, reducing dependency, and alleviating need among the poor. Finally, the authors identify numerous areas where important gaps remain in our understanding of the effects of welfare reform." "The book will be a crucial resource for policy economists, social policy specialists, other professionals concerned with welfare policy, and students."--Jacket.

Across the country, in courts, classrooms, and the media, Americans are deeply divided over the use of race in admitting students to universities. Yet until now the debate over race and admissions has consisted mainly of clashing opinions, uninformed by hard evidence. This work, written by two of the country's most respected academic leaders, intends to change that. It brings a wealth of empirical evidence to bear on how race-sensitive admissions policies actually work and what effects they have on students of different races.;William G. Bowen, argue that we can pass an informed judgment on the wisdom of race-sensitive admissions only if we understand in detail the college careers and the subsequent lives of students - or, to use a metaphor they take from Mark Twain, if we learn the shape of the entire river. The heart of the book is thus an unprecedented study of the academic, employment, and personal histories of more than 45,000 students of all races who attended academically selective universities between the 1970s and the early 1990s.

"In a high-tech command center in downtown Los Angeles, a digital map lights up with 911 calls, television monitors track breaking news stories, surveillance cameras sweep the streets, and rows of networked computers link analysts and police officers to a wealth of law enforcement intelligence. This is just a glimpse into a future where software predicts future crimes, algorithms generate virtual "most-wanted" lists, and databanks collect personal and biometric information. This bookintroduces the cutting-edge technology that is changing how the police do their jobs and shows why it is more important than ever that citizens understand the far-reaching consequences of big data surveillance as a law enforcement tool. Andrew Guthrie Ferguson reveals how these new technologies - viewed as race-neutral and objective - have been eagerly adopted by police departments hoping to distance themselves from claims of racial bias and unconstitutional practices. After a series of high-profile police shootings and federal investigations into systemic police misconduct, and in an era of law enforcement budget cutbacks, data-driven policing has been billed as a way to 'turn the page' on racial bias. But behind the data are real people, and difficult questions remain about racial discrimination and the potential to distort constitutional protections. In this first book on big data policing, Ferguson offers an examination of how new technologies will alter the who, where, when and how we police. These new technologies also offer data-driven methods to improve police accountability and to remedy the underlying socio-economic risk factors that encourage crime"--

Cose examines the effects of continuing discrimination on middle-class African Americans.

"A former prosecutor turned law professor explains the rise of Mass Incarceration and the path to reform. The book offers an in-the-trenches perspective that solves the riddle of how thousands of local police, prosecutors, and judges, acting independently, produced the world's highest incarceration rates, while solving a shockingly low percentage of even serious crimes"--;The United States imprisons a higher proportion of its population than any other nation. Mass Incarceration Nation offers a novel, in-the-trenches perspective to explain the factors--historical, political, and institutional--that led to the current system of mass imprisonment. The book examines the causes and impacts of mass incarceration on both the political and criminal justice systems. With accessible language and straightforward statistical analysis, former prosecutor turned law professor Jeffrey Bellin provides a formula for reform to return to the low incarceration rates that characterized the United States prior to the 1970s.

The Color of Law brilliantly recounted how government at all levels created segregation. Just Action describes how we can begin to undo it.

"Experimental criminology" is a part of a larger and increasingly expanding scientific research and evidence-based movement in social policy. The essays in this volume report on new and innovative contributions that experimental criminology is making to basic scientific knowledge and public policy. Contributors explore cutting-edge experimental and quasi-experimental methods and their application to important and topical issues in criminology and criminal justice, including neurological predictors of violence, peer influence on delinquency, routine activities and capable guardianship, early childhood prevention programs, hot spots policing, and correctional treatment for juvenile and adult offenders. It is the first book to examine the full scope of experimental criminology, from experimental tests - in the field and in the laboratory - of criminological theories and concepts to experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations of crime prevention and criminal justice interventions.

"In this groundbreaking book, Craig Haney argues that meaningful and lasting criminal justice reform depends on changing the public narrative about who commits crime and why. Building on decades of research and work at the front lines of the criminal justice system, Haney debunks what he calls the "crime master narrative"-the widespread myth that crime is the simple product of free and autonomous "bad" choices-an increasingly anachronistic view that cannot bear the weight of contemporary psychological data and theory. He meticulously reviews evidence documenting the ways in which a person's social history, institutional experiences, and present circumstances powerfully shape their life course, with a special focus on the role of social, economic, and racial injustice in crime causation. Based on his comprehensive review and analysis of the research, Haney offers a carefully framed and psychologically based blueprint for making the criminal justice system fairer, with strategies to reduce crime through proactive prevention instead of reactive punishment"--

This book presents a comprehensive view of the financial setbacks of criminal behavior. Victims of crime might incur medical costs, lost wages, and property damage; while for some crimes pain, suffering and reduced quality of life suffered by victims far exceeds any physical damage. The government also incurs costs as the provider of mental health services, police, courts, and prisons. Cohen argues that understanding the costs of crime can lead to important insights and policy conclusions - both in terms of criminal justice policy but also in terms of other social ills that compete with crime for government funding. This book systematically discusses the numerous methodological approaches and tallies up what is known about the costs of crime A must-read for anyone involved in public policy, this volume consolidates the diverse research in this area but also makes one of the most valuable contributions to date to the study of the economics of criminal behavior.

"Constitutional Policing: Striving for a More Perfect Union is about the legal challenges to fostering better policing in the cities and communities of this nation. Issues of public safety and the call for tougher police practices can often be seen differently through the eyes of different communities. There is little debate that most communities want to be safe in their persons and their homes. There is much debate about how we as a nation can get to a place where communities feel secure in their relationships with those who are tasked with policing our communities. This book argues that our Constitution is well designed to create the laws that not only allow our communities to be safe and secure, but also allow us as members of those communities to hold the police who are tasked with "protecting and serving" accountable." --

"BREAK THE WHEEL takes the reader through different solutions that will make way for a defining, generational moment of racial reckoning and social justice understanding. The murder of George Floyd sparked global outrage. At the center of the conflict, the controversy and the trial, Keith Ellison grappled with how to bring justice for Floyd and his family, and now, in the pages of this important book, aims to find the best approaches to put an end to police brutality once and for all. Each chapter of BREAK THE WHEEL works through a different spoke of the tragedy and its causes. The first chapter channels George Floyd's perspective as Ellison narrates the high stakes tension of the trial. The next chapter comes at the issue from a cop's viewpoint as Ellison sits down with white and BIPOC officers to discuss police reform. From there this book goes spoke to spoke on the wheel with Ellison in conversation with prosecutors, heads of police unions, historians (to capture the troubled history of policing), judges, activists, legislators, politicians, and media figures, in attempt to end this chain of violence and replace it with empathy and shared insight. While it may seem like an unattainable goal, BREAK THE WHEEL demonstrates through Ellison's analysis of George Floyd's life, alongside rich historical context, that lasting change can be achieved with informed solutions"--

President to sign proclamation on Tuesday for monuments across three sites honoring Black teen who was lynched in 1955

New York City has agreed to pay more than $13 million to settle a class action lawsuit that accuses the city’s police department of using unlawful tactics against protesters following the death of George Floyd, according to a proposed settlement filed in a Manhattan federal court Wednesday.

An Oklahoma judge dismissed the reparations lawsuit filed by the last three known survivors of the Tulsa race massacre on Friday, court records show.

Affirmative action has long been controversial. Proponents say it’s a way to address historical discrimination. On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in two cases to strike down race as a factor in admissions processes.The decision's impact will be tough to measure in nine states, including Arizona, that already bar public universities from considering race in admissions.Since 2010, Arizona hasn’t allowed public universities to consider race. But private universities were still able to, to an extent.

Colleges across the country will be forced to stop considering race in admissions under Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling, ending affirmative action policies that date back decades.

This article was updated on June 29 at 4:09 p.m.In a historic decision, the Supreme Court severely limited, if not effectively ended, the use of affirmative action in college admissions on Thursday.

The Supreme Court killed affirmative action, but not for military academies or the legacy admissions that protect the ruling class.

Black Lives Matter Protesters are facing new issues after a court ruling against Deray Mckesson makes him liable for neglience during a demonstration.

"The historic uprising in the wake of the murder of George Floyd transformed the way Americans and the world think about race and policing. Why did it achieve so little in the way of substantive reforms? Cedric Johnson argues that this shortcoming was not simply due to the mercurial and reactive character of the protests. Rather, the core of the movement itself failed to locate the central racial injustice that underpins the crisis of policing: socio-economic inequality"--

"Race, Ethnicity, and the COVID-19 Pandemic is an extensive examination of the causes and consequences of the global pandemic on racial and ethnic minorities, offering analysis of the causes of the unique experiences of Black, Indigenous and Latin communities in the US and the world from multiple social sciences perspectives"--;"To understand racial disparities in COVID-19 infections and deaths, we must first understand how they are linked to racial inequality. In the United States, the material advantages afforded by whiteness lead to lower rates of infections and deaths from COVID-19 when compared to the rates among Black, Latino, and Native American populations. Most experts point to differences in population density, underlying health conditions, and proportions of essential workers as the primary determinants in the levels of COVID-19 deaths. The national response to the pandemic has laid bare the fundamentals of a racialized social structure. Assembled by a prestigious group of sociologists, this volume examines how particularly during the first year of COVID-19, the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic led to different and poorer outcomes for Black, Latino, and Native American populations. While color-blindness shaped national discussions on essential workers, charity, and differential mortality, minorities were overwhelmingly affected. The essays in this collection provide a mix of critical examination of the progress and direction of our COVID-19 response, personal accounts of the stark difference in care and outcomes for minorities throughout the United States, and offer recommendations to create a foundation for future response and research during the critical early days"--

"Examines how different institutions--Hollywood, universities, corporations, and law enforcement--have sought to be inclusive of Muslims in an era of rampant Islamophobia"--