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From the country's history of slavery to the ongoing debate about immigration, race in America has always been a complicated topic. Nevertheless, with the election and re-election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, many people believed that we had turned a corner in our country and could look forward to a post-racial America. However welcome and exciting Obama’s presidency, it did not reverse centuries of racial injustice that is built into every level of our society. Systemic racism is embedded in all social institutions, structures, and social relations within our society. For example, substantial attention has been focused on systemic racism in law enforcement resulting from Black Lives Matter protests all over the country. Even New York City, an Eastern establishment of liberal political power, recently displayed the implicit racism characteristic of the United States by ignoring the contributions of African American women in the suffrage movement, and by repeating the longstanding historical mistake of portraying this crusade as white.
In 2017, a United Nations committee of human rights experts declared that racism is on the rise across the United States. Polling has revealed that more Americans say white people have a better chance of getting ahead than black people, a disparity that has changed little over the past 20 years. The findings, however, differ by race. According to white Americans, 54%, say both black and white residents have an equal chance of advancing. By contrast, 65 percent of African Americans and 50 percent of Latinos report that white people have the advantage to move ahead in today’s society.
Begun in 2015 at the Red Bank Public Library, Let’s Talk About Race is a program intended to provide a forum in which to increase dialogue and understanding among people of different races and ethnic backgrounds. Recipient of the 2018 New Jersey State Library Multicultural Program Award, Let’s Talk About Race was recognized for developing a long-term partnership with members of the Red Bank community that can result in sustainable cultural programming.
Due to the appeal of the program and the enthusiastic support of the participants, this resource center was created to keep the Library at the forefront of this important conversation. Because of the vastness of the topic, the sources presented are only a sample of the relevant material that is available on the many facets of racism. Due to its pervasive nature, racism has been addressed officially in different legal forums including the U.S. Constitution, statutory law, and civil litigation.
Part I contains important examples of these legal actions as well as discussions of the implication of each. Racism also has been discussed in a variety of media. Part II presents summaries of, and links to, publications that have identified the many ways in which racism has affected the lives of African American citizens. Part III is an annotated bibliography of both classic and contemporary books that deal with racism. The availability of each of these books through the Red Bank Public Library is indicated. For those who prefer visual presentations, a sample of videos about racial matters can be found in Part IV, while Part V contains a number of sources that present collections of movies dealing with racism. Finally, Part VI identifies important organizations that promote racial harmony.
Part I: Legal Matters
Racial barriers to full and equal participation by African Americans in United States society has been addressed in the halls of Congress, state legislatures, and courtrooms throughout our country’s history. The most familiar scenario is one in which federal guarantees, either written into the Constitution or legislated in the Congress, have overturned state laws that restricted the rights of African Americans. Providing a complete set of references to all of this legal work would be a task too imposing for this web page. Instead, we have identified the most consequential Constitutional amendments and civil rights laws that define the legal parameters of racial justice.
A. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Congressional Reconstruction included the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, otherwise known as the Civil War amendments. These additions to the Constitution extended civil and legal protections to former slaves.
1. 13TH AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
The 13th, ratified by the states on December 6, 1865, abolished slavery within the United States. The Amendment bars every person from holding chattel slaves or engaging in other forms of involuntary servitude. The Amendment covers a broad range of labor arrangements where a person is forced to work by the use or threatened use of physical or legal coercion. Congress required former Confederate states to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment as a condition of regaining federal representation.
Text of the 13th Amendment
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
2. 14TH AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
Ratified in 1868, the amendment addresses national citizenship rights and equal protection of the law. It specifically forbids the states to restrict the basic rights of citizens or other persons, and requires that they guarantee the same rights, privileges, and protections to all citizens. As one of the Reconstruction amendments, it grants citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included recently freed slaves following the American Civil War. By directly mentioning the role of the states, the 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans and is cited in more litigation than any other amendment. Finally, it granted Congress the power to enforce this amendment, a provision that led to the passage of other landmark legislation in the 20th century. Congress required former Confederate states to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment as a condition of regaining federal representation.
Discussions of the 14th Amendment
3. 15TH AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
Ratified in 1870, the amendment prohibited states from disenfranchising voters “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Section One ensured that states or communities did not deny men the right to vote based on their race. Section Two granted the U.S. Congress the power to enforce through legislation. Many former confederate states took advantage of a provision that left open the possibility that they could institute voter qualifications equally to all races, thus giving rise to poll taxes and literacy tests, among other qualifications that were discriminatory in practice. For example, the Grandfather Clause allowed any male to vote as long as his ancestors had voted prior to 1866, which naturally excluded African Americans.
Text of the 15th Amendment
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
4. 24TH AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
In 1964, the 24th Amendment made poll taxes illegal in federal elections.
Text of the 24th Amendment:
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
B. CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION
The Reconstruction amendments to the Constitution extended new constitutional protections to African Americans. Nonetheless, the struggle to achieve full equality would continue into the 20th century. This struggle was marked by the preparation and passage of legislation that outlawed specific forms of discrimination that disadvantaged African Americans as well as members of other protected classes. (A protected class consists of individuals who share some characteristic in common and who are protected by laws that prevent discriminatory actions against them because of this shared characteristic – e.g., race, religion, sex, or national origin.) Some of the most important pieces of federal legislation are identified below.
Additionally, FindLaw (an online legal information and online marketing service for law firms) prepared a compilation of federal legislation that guarantees rights for individuals to receive equal treatment and prohibits discrimination in a number of settings, including education, employment, housing, lending, and voting. The article entitled Civil Rights Laws provides a link to a discussion of each of the laws identified.
1. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964
A federal law that prohibits segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The CRA contains 11 titles addressing different forms of discrimination and adversity, including public accommodations, discrimination in voting, school desegregation, employment, and fair housing.
TITLE II. PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS
Prohibits discrimination because of race, color, religion, or national origin in certain places of public accommodation, such as hotels, restaurants, and entertainment venues. The Department of Justice can bring a lawsuit under Title II when there is reason to believe that a person has engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination in violation of Title II. The Department can obtain injunctive, but not monetary, relief in such cases. Individuals can also file suit to enforce their rights under Title II. Other federal and state statutes may also provide remedies for discrimination in places of public accommodation.
TITLE VII. EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION
Prohibits private employers from discriminating against employees in such terms and conditions of employment as selection, placement, promotion, discharge, training, and pay and benefits. (In 1972, Title VII was amended to include federal, state, and local public employers and educational institutions.) The Act created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to enforce provisions of Title VII.
2. VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965
Intended to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Prohibited the use of literacy tests, provided for federal oversight of voter registration in areas where less than 50 percent of the non-white population had not registered to vote, and authorized the U.S. attorney general to investigate the use of poll taxes in state and local elections. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder overturned the constitutionality of Section 4 of the law that lays out the formulas for how the Justice Department enforces the Act’s Section 5. Section 5 requires that the states identified with a history of discrimination obtain approval from the federal government before they can make changes to their election law. Shortly after this decision, states that formerly required preclearance of changes to their voting laws (e.g., Texas) engaged in the passage of voter restrictions that had the impact of disenfranchising African American voters.
3. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1968, TITLE VIII (FAIR HOUSING ACT)
Expansion of the CRA of 1964 that prohibited discrimination in the sale or rental of approximately 80 percent of the housing in the U.S. Provided for equal housing opportunities regardless of race, religion, or national origin. In 1988, Congress passed the Fair Housing Amendments Act, which expanded the law to prohibit discrimination in housing based on disability or on family status (pregnant women or the presence of children under 18).
4. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1991
Reversed nine U.S. Supreme Court decisions (rendered between 1986 and 1991) that made it more difficult for workers to prevail in cases that alleged job discrimination. Provided for plaintiffs to receive monetary damages in cases of harassment or discrimination based on sex, religion, or disability.
Discussions of CRA of 1991
Part II: Different Forms of Racism
Sad, but true, racism in the United States takes many forms that affect the quality of life enjoyed by African Americans. Each of the articles in this section exposes biases that continue to occur throughout this country despite laws intended to prohibit these unfair discriminatory actions. These biases have been revealed by the creation of segregated minority communities, a number of which are in proximity to environmentally hazardous or degraded environments, by more severe treatment of African Americans in the criminal justice system, by less appealing employment opportunities available to African Americans, by disenfranchisement of African Americans resulting from discriminatory voting practices, and by restrictions that limit access of African Americans to businesses or buildings that are open to (or offer services to) the general public. The articles represent mere samples of the published material relating to these different forms of unfair discrimination. Importantly, note the variety of published sources that have given voice to claims about the unfair treatment of African Americans.
A. HOUSING SEGREGATION
1. HOMEOWNERSHIP GAP BETWEEN WHITE AND BLACK AMERICANS IS HIGHER NOW THAN IN 1960S
Politifact, June 11, 2020. Throughout his presidential campaign, Joe Biden repeatedly made the verifiable claim that the percentage of African Americans who own their homes is significantly lower than for whites. This disparity in homeownership has a profound effect on the financial stability of African Americans and their ability to build generational wealth. The remaining articles in this section identify the factors that have contributed to the status of homeownership in the African American community.
2. SEGREGATION IN THE UNITED STATES
History.com, Updated: May 16, 2019. Throughout the U.S., political officials who represent the interests of white America have been able to maintain its economic advantages and superior social status by restricting racial minorities to certain residential areas. This very readable article is a history of events after slavery was ended in the U.S. with passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. It describes how the rights of African Americans continued to be diminished by means of enforced housing segregation and its consequent reduced access to public facilities, education and retail businesses. Brief videos are included that discuss two landmark Supreme Court decisions: Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 that established the doctrine of separate but equal; and, Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 that found segregation in schools to be unconstitutional.
3. THE UNITED STATES’ HISTORY OF SEGREGATED HOUSING CONTINUES TO LIMIT AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Center for American Progress, December 15, 2016. This article provides a description of the roots of housing discrimination in the U.S. Past efforts have not been effective in eliminating the private practices and public policies that were responsible for segregated housing patterns. It is concluded that reducing residential segregation and increasing affordable housing will require both tax incentives to encourage low-income housing in wealthy areas, and enactment of policies that support residential and commercial development in poor and primarily communities of color.
4. A 'FORGOTTEN HISTORY' OF HOW THE U.S. GOVERNMENT SEGREGATED AMERICA
NPR, May 3, 2017. This article contains a very revealing and detailed 35-minute audio of an interview with Prof. Richard Rothstein about how federal, state, and local policy are responsible for segregating metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. Racially homogeneous neighborhoods that violate the Constitution were created in every metropolitan area in this country by specific government policy designed to produce racial boundaries. The text in the article summarizes the major points of the interview. A separate 9-minute video of Prof. Rothstein is a less detailed version of the NPR interview.
5. FEDERAL FAIR LENDING REGULATIONS AND STATUTES: FAIR HOUSING ACT
Consumer Compliance Handbook, Division of Consumer and Community Affairs, Federal Reserve, Dec. 31, 2017. The main provisions of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 are described. These include rules prohibiting denial of loan applications on the basis of race. Similarly, race cannot influence determination of the amount, interest rate, duration, or other terms of housing loans. Unlawful lending practices under the Act that discriminate against minorities (e.g., redlining and racial steering) also are discussed.
6. HOW REDLINING SHAPED BLACK AMERICA AS WE KNOW IT
The Root, Apr. 26, 2019. This is a really hip video that presents a history of redlining. It addresses the government policies that promoted housing segregation and the financial interests that created minority neighborhoods. The effects on the wealth, education, and opportunity of residents of redlined communities also are discussed.
7. LONG ISLAND DIVIDED
Newsday, Nov. 17, 2019. This article provides a comprehensive look at the illegal practice of racial steering by real estate agents who deliberately guide potential home buyers toward or away from certain geographic areas because of race. This is mostly a text file (you have to scroll down right from the beginning to find the start of the narrative) that contains a fascinating video of an investigative paired-testing study of real estate practices on Long Island, NY.
8. MODERN-DAY REDLINING: HOW BANKS BLOCK PEOPLE OF COLOR FROM HOMEOWNERSHIP
Chicago Tribune, Feb. 17, 2018. A widespread practice of banks in promoting and maintaining segregated communities is lending disparity. In cities across America, African Americans and Latinos are routinely denied conventional mortgage loans far more often than white applicants with the same financial qualifications. Lending institutions do not have to approve all loan applications. Further, they may charge higher interest rates or stricter repayment terms on some borrowers. However, under U.S. law these differences in lending terms have to be based on economic considerations and cannot be based on race. A discussion of the housing gap created by these discriminatory lending practices is followed by a case study of their usage in Philadelphia.
9. DOJ SETTLES REDLINING LAWSUIT AGAINST FIRST MERCHANTS BANK
John L. Culhane, Jr., June 18, 2019. The author, a well-known financial services attorney, reports that the Department of Justice (DOJ) settled a lawsuit against First Merchants Bank. The bank was charged with violating the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act by engaging in the practice of unlawful redlining of majority-Black areas in Indianapolis-Marion County. The article contains links to three similar settlements. Importantly, the author notes that the settlement terms negotiated by DOJ lawyers working under Republican presidential administrations do not require the banks to pay a civil money penalty. Previous redlining settlements negotiated by DOJ lawyers under a Democratic administration included monetary fines.
10. YOUR HOME’S VALUE IS BASED ON RACISM
New York Times, March 20, 2021. In addition to widely-known problems experienced by African American homeowners in segregated neighborhoods – poorer public services and schools – they suffer long term economic damage as a result of residing in these areas. It is a fact that as the percentage of Black residents in a neighborhood increases, property values decline. Consequently, African Americans have little opportunity to build personal wealth resulting from the growth of equity in their homes. Whites, on the other hand, typically avoid purchasing in predominantly African American neighborhoods, preferring, instead, white neighborhoods in which they usually are able to build personal wealth as a result of the increasing value of their homes. As a result, the typical white family has eight times the wealth of the typical Black family, a racial wealth gap that is fueled by tax subsidies for homeownership.
b. ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM
1. ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM EXPLAINED
YouTube, January 29, 2016. Introductory discussion of environmental racism, using water problem in Flint, Michigan, as a prime example of the practice.
2. TRUMP'S EPA CONCLUDES ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM IS REAL
The Atlantic, February 28, 2018. A new report from the Environmental Protection Agency finds that people of color are much more likely to live near polluters and breathe polluted air—even as the agency seeks to roll back regulations on pollution.
3. ENVIRONMENTALISM’S RACIST HISTORY
New Yorker, August 13, 2015. The architects of America’s parks and game refuges behaved as though wild nature was worth saving for its aristocratic qualities. However, where these were lacking, they were indifferent. Major environmental statutes, such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, were written with no attention to the unequal vulnerability of poor and minority groups.
4. COAL BLOODED: PUTTING PROFITS BEFORE PEOPLE
NAACP, April, 2016. This is a large scale study of coal-fired power plants in the U.S. Details provided about the environmental justice performance ranking of coal power companies and the effects of individual plants on low-income communities and communities of color. Recommended actions for dealing with environmental racism are discussed.
5. CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS MORE SERIOUS IN COMMUNITIES OF COLOR
New York Times, August, 2020. Redlining, an illegal discriminatory practice that put financial services such as mortgages and insurance out of reach for residents of certain areas based on race or ethnicity, created large disparities in the urban heat environment. Formerly redlined minority neighborhoods across more than 100 cities today are more vulnerable to a warming world, averaging 5 degrees hotter in summer than areas once favored for housing loans, with some cities seeing differences as large as 12 degrees.
6. CLIMATE CHANGE IS ALSO A RACIAL JUSTICE PROBLEM
Washington Post, June 29, 2020. Racism is “inexorably” linked to climate change because it dictates who benefits from activities that produce planet-warming gases and who suffers most from the consequences. Climate change will cause the most economic harm in the nation’s poorest counties, many of which are home to mostly people of color.
7. ENVIRONMENTAL LITIGATION: A TOOL IN THE FIGHT AGAINST ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM
Law.com, June 22, 2020. The origins of the environmental justice movement are discussed with regard to a Texas civil rights case involving a garbage dump and protests in North Carolina about a toxic waste facility. Nuisance laws are still used to achieve environmental justice for municipalities. Despite increased awareness of environmental justice issues today, the situation on the ground hasn’t changed considerably.
C. CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
1. RACE, ETHNICITY, AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
American Sociological Association, 2007. This research brief highlights data and research findings on racial and ethnic disparities in crime and the criminal justice system in the United States, with particular emphasis on studies that illustrate differences that can be explained by discrimination. Though dated, the article serves as a baseline against which to compare more recent discussions of issues relating to race/ethnicity in different stages of criminal justice processing.
2. REPORT TO THE UNITED NATIONS ON RACIAL DISPARITIES IN THE U.S. CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
The Sentencing Project, April 19, 2018. The Sentencing Project is a Washington, D.C.-based research and advocacy center working to reduce the use of incarceration in the United States and to address racial disparities in the criminal justice system. For decades, the U.S. has relied on policies that have produced dramatic rates of incarceration, with a particularly disproportionate impact on communities of color.
3. THE COLOR OF JUSTICE: RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISPARITY IN STATE PRISONS
The Sentencing Project, June 14, 2016. African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons across the country at more than five times the rate of whites, and at least ten times the rate in five states (New Jersey has the highest racial disparity in incarceration). Criminal justice reform has become a regular component of mainstream domestic policy discussions over the last several years, and this report contains a number of recommendations for reform.
4. MOST JUDGES BELIEVE THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM SUFFERS FROM RACISM
The National Judicial College, July 14, 2020. This brief article summarizes the results of a survey of alumni judges regarding the existence of systemic racism in the U.S. judiciary. Of the 634 judges who responded, 65 percent answered “yes” to the question, “Do you believe that systemic racism exists in the criminal justice system?” Though inexcusable, a large number of respondents volunteered that the bias was implicit, i.e., unconscious, rather than deliberate.
D. EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE BY POLICE
1. POLICE SHOOTINGS AND BRUTALITY IN THE US: 9 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
Vox, September 11, 2018. The Black Lives Matter protests in particular have shined a light on what many see as a systemic emphasis on excessive use of force by police, particularly on racial and ethnic minorities. This review of statistical data compares killings by police in America in comparison to other countries, and the large racial disparity in the race of victims of these shootings.
2. HOW STRUCTURAL RACISM IS LINKED TO HIGHER RATES OF POLICE VIOLENCE
Citilab, February 15, 2018. Although implicit racial biases of the individual police officer are a determinative factor in the shooting of unarmed African American men, state-level structural racism (e.g., racial segregation, economic and employment gaps) also have an important effect on these incidents. Hence, the racial disparities found in police violence can no longer be attributed solely to what was in an officer’s heart. There is now empirical data showing that broader policies perpetuating racism must be considered, too.
3. ANALYSIS: HOW THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT BECAME MORE POPULAR THAN EVER
Now This, June 19, 2020. Evidence from a variety of reliable sources is cited to support the thesis that the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has produced significant increases in public support for reform of policing in the U.S. Previous protests have failed to create tangible improvement in relations between the African American community and law enforcement agencies and police practice. However, opinion polls, the purchase of anti-racism books, the spread of protests to small town America, and actual structural changes in police departments and funding have resulted from current public concern engendered by the BLM movement.
4. BLACK LIVES MATTER: FROM SOCIAL MEDIA POST TO GLOBAL MOVEMENT
BBC, July 9, 2020. This wide-ranging analysis of the Black Lives Matter movement traces its history in the context of the U.S. civil rights movement and describes its recent manifestations. There are links to other important related issues and events both in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
5. ARTICLES ON BLACK LIVES MATTER
The Conversation, 2020. The Conversation is a network of not-for-profit media outlets that publish news stories on the Internet that are written by academics and researchers. This compilation contains hundreds of articles published in 2020 on matters related to injustice at the hands of police in countries worldwide.
6. HOW CITIES LOST CONTROL OF POLICE DISCIPLINE
New York Times, December 22, 2020. The customary aftermath of police violence against an African American person is public protest and calls for police reform. This article provides background information about the ability of police organizations, notably their unions, to withstand these pressures without making major concessions about policing practices. Details of police pushback in Detroit and Portland, Oregon illustrate the tactics used by police organizations to mitigate punishment of officers involved in incidents of violence and forestall systemic changes in police practice.
E. EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION
1. WORKPLACE FAIRNESS
Workplace Fairness is an organization that believes that fair treatment of workers is sound public policy and good business practice. Free access to comprehensive, unbiased information about workers' rights - without legal jargon - is an essential ingredient in any fair workplace. The organization creates and maintains a comprehensive, online one-stop-shop for free information about workers' rights. The link contains an example of the type of resource it makes available to the public, in this case dealing with race discrimination.
2. WORKING WHILE BROWN: WHAT DISCRIMINATION LOOKS LIKE NOW
CNN Money, November 25, 2015. The article offers a case study of the implicit and explicit racial bias that confronted Monica Harwell, an African American woman employed as a line worker by Con Edison. It also contains statistics on the extent of racial bias encountered by racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. The posture of several prominent companies is discussed.
3. HIRING DISCRIMINATION AGAINST BLACK AMERICANS HASN’T DECLINED IN 25 YEARS
Harvard Business Review, October 11, 2017. Researchers at Northwestern University, Harvard, and the Institute for Social Research in Norway, looked at every available field experiment on hiring discrimination from 1989 through 2015. The researchers found that anti-black racism in hiring is unchanged since at least 1989, while anti-Latino racism may have decreased modestly.
4. IN HIRING, RACIAL BIAS IS STILL A PROBLEM. BUT NOT ALWAYS FOR REASONS YOU THINK
Fortune, November 4, 2014. The article provides a description of a common research methodology for studying race discrimination. Results indicated that even though recruiters profess color blind attitudes, African Americans nonetheless encounter racial discrimination. It is not that recruiters themselves necessarily have a racial bias; instead, they fear some of their customers do.
5. AFRICAN AMERICANS FACE SYSTEMATIC OBSTACLES TO GETTING GOOD JOBS
Center for American Progress, December 5, 2019. The Center for American Progress is a progressive policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans. This article points out that employment discrimination affecting African Americans is not simply confined to rejecting their job applications. It also involves a variety of practices that make it more difficult for them to secure well-paying jobs with good benefits. Job steering leads to occupational segregation, making it more difficult for African Americans to build the wealth necessary to raise the quality of their lives to that which is typically enjoyed by white workers.
6. LAWYERS SAY THEY FACE PERSISTENT RACIAL AND GENDER BIAS AT WORK
New York Times, September 7, 2018. According to the American Bar Association, women and people of color in the legal profession continue to face different forms of employment discrimination. These conclusions are based on the results of a survey of approximately 2,800 lawyers conducted by a group of academic and professional organizations. The report proposes steps that law firms can take to counter these biases.
7. HOW PROFESSIONALS OF COLOR SAY THEY COUNTER BIAS AT WORK
New York Times, December 13, 2018. This is a compilation of reports by African-American professionals in fields dominated by white people who must deal with bias because “they don’t look the part’ of doctors, lawyers, and politicians. The individual stories describe their efforts to ward off bias at work by attending to how they dress, what they carry in their wallets, and how they behave.
8. WHAT RACISM SOUNDS LIKE IN BANKING
New York Times, December 12, 2019. Even when African Americans get their feet in the door of a large organization, movement up the ranks to positions of greater authority and higher compensation often is inhibited due to racial discrimination. This article shines a light on racism practiced in the Arizona banking industry. Much of the evidence of prejudice was captured on tape recordings. The article traces the experience of an African American banker, including the unfortunate treatment that he received as a result of filing a claim of discrimination.
F. VOTING RIGHTS
1. SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER
The Southern Poverty Law Center is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. Using litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy, the SPLC works toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality. This web page describes its initiatives to eliminate disenfranchisement and discriminatory voting practices in the Deep South. The site includes summaries of recent legal actions filed by the Center to support people’s ability to vote (e.g., constraints to voting stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic).
2. LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS
The League of Women Voters is an American civic organization that was formed to help women take a larger role in public affairs after they won the right to vote. This web page describes its nonpartisan efforts to ensure that all eligible voters should have the equal opportunity to exercise that right.
3. ANALYSIS: NEW AND AGE-OLD VOTER SUPPRESSION TACTICS AT THE HEART OF THE 2020 POWER STRUGGLE
Center for Public Integrity, October 28, 2020. The Center for Public Integrity is an American nonprofit investigative journalism organization whose stated mission is "to reveal abuses of power, corruption and dereliction of duty by powerful public and private institutions in order to cause them to operate with honesty, integrity, accountability and to put the public interest first." This piece addresses the political motivation and tactics of elected officials to make voting more difficult. An excellent review of this history in the U.S. is provided. Links to important supplemental information on many pertinent election issues are contained in the text.
4. HOW SEGREGATION LEADS TO RACIST VOTING BY WHITES
Vox, November 28, 2017. "Social geography" refers to how different groups of people, including racial and ethnic groups, are spatially arranged in the geography of America's cities, suburbs, and rural areas. The strength of racially motivated voting in 2016 can be explained in part by the types of people (white or nonwhite, immigrant or native) who lived close to Trump supporters, and, even more importantly, how this social geography had changed over time. How and why the spatial relationships between groups matters are discussed.
5. RACIAL INEQUALITY AND THE WEAKENING OF VOTING RIGHTS IN AMERICA
Discover Society, June 1, 2016. Elected officials of both parties often prefer to leave controversial racial questions to less visible administrative agencies or the politically insulated courts than to engage with these issues in election campaigns. Most conservative colorblind voters do not explicitly favor white supremacy. But equally there is little doubt that most think it unwise and unjust for public policies to seek aggressively to transform further the political, economic, and social institutions and practices built up under centuries of white supremacist policies – institutions and practices in which whites continue to hold advantaged places, in fact if not in law. As the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and the coded anti-Obama racist rhetoric to ‘make America great’ indicates, the struggle over color blind versus race conscious remedies to deep and enduring material racial inequality is far from ended.
G. PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS
1. LOOKING BACK ON THE FIGHT FOR EQUAL ACCESS TO PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS
Economic Policy Institute, July 2, 2014. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 effectively addressed calls for equal access to public accommodations - although it would take several years before public establishments, particularly those in the South, fully complied with the Act’s requirements. However, more than 50 years after the 1963 March on Washington that called for reforms that would promote civil rights, the hard economic goals of the march, critical to transforming the life opportunities of African Americans, have not been fully achieved.
2. PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS AND PRIVATE DISCRIMINATION
Privately-owned businesses and facilities that offer certain goods or services to the public - including food, lodging, gasoline, and entertainment - are considered public accommodations for purposes of federal and state anti-discrimination laws. Prior to passage of these laws, it was commonplace, especially in the South, to deny African Americans access to many restaurants, hotels, and theaters. Even African American members of the United States armed services, who were expected to fight and die for their country, couldn’t eat at many southern lunch counters or stay at many hotels. Susan E. Rice, who served President Obama as the 24th National Security Advisor, provides a brief and inspiring biography of her father that emphasized many instances of discrimination that he faced but that did not deter him from achieving a very successful career. What My Father Taught Me About Race describes a crucial mind set for African Americans: “You don’t have to prove anything to anyone but yourself. Never doubt that you are more than good enough.”
The Atlantic, April 14, 2015. This article provides a summary of civil rights legislation and court rulings in cases where proprietors refused service to potential customers. A de facto “American apartheid” characterized public accommodations following the Civil War. Currently, state Religious Freedom Restoration Acts provide a basis for denying service based on proprietors’ religious beliefs, usually in instances of LGBT rights.
3. THE NEW PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS: RACE DISCRIMINATION IN THE PLATFORM ECONOMY
Georgetown Law Journal, 2017. This academic article addresses issues relating to discrimination in the provision of public services to African Americans by companies engaged in the platform economy. Platform economy businesses use online platforms to connect providers of goods and services - such as drivers and landlords - with users of those goods and services -such as passengers and renters. These platforms often make race visible to both providers and users by requiring that they create profiles that include names, photographs, and other information. Such profiles may trigger conscious and unconscious bias and result in discrimination even if the parties never meet in person.
4. SUMMER ROAD-TRIPPING WHILE BLACK
New York Times, August 31, 2018. Recollections of an African-American woman about vacation car trips with her family into the American South are the subject of this article. This is a beautifully crafted piece about the many risks encountered by African-American motorists, including the dangers of journeys on local roads and nighttime travel. African-American motorists had to use extreme caution to avoid problems with local police. An indispensable manual for travel was the Negro Motorist Guide Book that identified safe and welcoming hotels, restaurants, and gas stations.
Part III: Books Dealing with Racial Matters
Below is a list of books that address issues that African Americans regularly confront in the U.S. Many are classics, representing the first widely read discussions of the forms in which racism is manifest and the toll that such injustice takes on African Americans. Much of the current literature emphasizes the implicit, covert racism experienced by African Americans that is widespread and damaging to their sense of fairness in our society.
All of the titles listed below are links to the catalogued information about each book. This information specifies whether a book is available in the Library’s hard bound or electronic resource collection, or may be ordered from the Libraries of Middlesex Automation Consortium. Once the link is opened for almost all of the books, a summary is available by clicking on the title in the catalog box.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Michelle Alexander (2012)
White Rage; the Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide. Carol Anderson (2017)
The Fire Next Time. James Baldwin (1995)
Racism Without Racists: Color-blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (2017)
Between the World and Me. Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015)
Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution & Imprisonment. Angela Davis (ed., 2016)
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. Robin J. DiAngela (2018)
The Girl Who Fell from the Sky. Heidi Durrow (2011)
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America. Michael Eric Dyson (2017)
The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South. W. Ralph Eubanks (2009)
How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy and the Racial Divide. Crystal Fleming (2018)
America Behind the Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans. Henry Louis Gates (2004)
Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul. Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. (2016)
The Keepers of the House. Shirley Ann Grau (1965)
Black Like Me. John Howard Griffin (2010)
The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row. Anthony Ray Hinson (2018)
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace. Jeff Hobbs (2014)
Blinded by the Whites: Why Race Still Matters in 21st-Century America. David Ikard (2013)
So You Want to Talk About Race. Ijeoma Olu (2018)
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Richard Rothstein (2017)
Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North. Thomas Segrue (2008)
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? Beverly Daniel Tatum (2003)
Race Matters. Cornell West (1993)
The Mis-Education of the Negro. Carter Woodson (2000)
Part IV: Videos About Race
We are fortunate that many of presentations dealing with race have been video recorded, and many of these have been archived on the internet. Below is a sample of these recorded events, the actual videos of which may be viewed using the links provided.
BUILDING EQUITY: THE LEGACY, IMPACT AND FUTURE OF THE FAIR HOUSING ACT
Grounded in the 160-year legacy of the magazine, AtlanticLIVE brings the journalism of The Atlantic to life through staged event experiences. On April 20,2018, AtlanticLIVE hosted an in-depth panel discussion on the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. Subjects addressed by the three speakers include the success of the Act in meeting its goals, the important impact of credit-granting agencies in facilitating home ownership by African Americans, and the effect of discriminatory online advertising of available residential properties.
IT’S NOT JUST TALK
This video describes a student-centered approach to creating safe spaces for people to discuss race and their experience of difference with people who are different from them. "Sustained dialogue" is a practice that promotes “listening deeply enough to be changed by what you learn”, and that is widely used on college campuses with support from the Sustained Dialogue Institute. The video is a great warm-up for any group that wants to discuss race, even if the group is not using the Sustained Dialogue approach. By watching people talk about race and truly listening to each other, people get more comfortable discussing things they may never have discussed with others before.
HOW RACISM MAKES US SICK
David R. Williams gives a TED Conference talk in which he discusses the shorter life expectancy of African Americans than their White counterparts. Williams developed a scale to measure the impact of discrimination on well-being, going beyond traditional measures like income and education to reveal how factors like implicit bias, residential segregation, and negative stereotypes create and sustain inequality. In this eye-opening talk, Williams presents evidence for how racism is producing a rigged system -- and offers hopeful examples of programs across the US that are working to dismantle discrimination.
TALKS TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND RACISM IN AMERICA
A compilation of 9 Ted talks that offer an honest look at the far-reaching effects of racism experienced by African Americans on a daily basis. Among these everyday realities are discrimination suffered when trying to rent a house, the hard truths about the American justice system, the special problems of trying to raise African American children, and the need to increase conversation about racism. A synopsis is provided for each of the videos.
COLOUR OF POLLUTION: ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM
Produced by The Stream (a national daily championing freedom, smaller government and human dignity), this video presents examples of dangerous and unsavory living conditions experienced by both poor and minority populations due to pollution stemming from industries that are situated close to their residential neighborhoods. Also apparent is the frustration of aggrieved residents caused by failure to promt various governmental agencies to eliminate or mitigate the sources of the environmental degradation.
BLACK LIVES MATTER, BLACK CITIZENS MATTER, BLACK FAMILIES MATTER
Speech given by Senator Elizabeth Warren at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate (skip the first 11 minutes). Her remarks began with a review of the history of the conditions under which African Americans lived through out the 20th Century. Her focus then turns to the 50 years since the presidency of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement. She concludes that violence against African Americans has become manifest in the brutality of police actions against unarmed black men, and the political, social, and economic injustice imposed on them. Relief from these conditions is dependent upon political activism in the African American community.
Part V: Movies About Race
Race is an issue that has inspired filmmakers to create significant movies about the triumphs of unforgettable leaders, the struggles of ordinary African American families, and the wrenching violations of civil rights. Whatever a family's racial background, movies can be a starting point for conversations about race. For example, movies can illustrate the importance of diversity and acceptance, and serve as the basis for discussions about the manner in which different racial groups are depicted in film.
The movie sources below all contain lists of films dealing with racism. The Wikipedia source is the most comprehensive, but does not offer opinions about the relative importance of each film. The remaining sources have selected and ranked the films that they consider best. In each case, if you follow the links within the source, you will be able to get at least a synopsis of each film’s content. You can stream some of the movies identified on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.
LIST OF RACISM-RELATED FILMS
Wikipedia. This is a list of approximately 200 films that deal with the topic of race or racism. The film title is followed by country and year of release, some of which are as recent as 2017, the earliest of which is 1915 (Birth of a Nation). Almost all of the titles serve as links to both a brief synopsis of the film and a more detailed description of the movie contained in a separate Wikipedia entry (e.g., identification of the cast and description of the plot).
12 BEST RACISM MOVIES OF ALL TIME
TheCinemaholic, August 9, 2018. Hatred and violence are the underlying themes of these 12 movies, most of which are dated prior to the year 2000. A short synopsis is provided for each film. TheCinemaholic is an entertainment website that covers cinema by making lists, reviewing movies, and expressing opinions.
BLACK HISTORY MOVIES THAT TACKLE RACISM
Common Sense Media, February 2, 2018. This collection of films is intended for children. Each movie is described in detail, and guidance is offered to parents about important content and appropriate methods for starting a conversation with children about the underlying themes depicted. Common Sense Media improves the lives of kids and families by providing independent reviews, age ratings, & other information about all types of media.
Part VI: Organizations that Promote Racial Amity
The organizations described below share a common objective: to promote access, equity, social justice and harmony among racial groups. Many of these organizations have literature, videos, or webinars on their websites that present their ideas and describe activities and events designed to challenge racism each and every day. A link to the website of each organization is provided.
T. THOMAS FORTUNE HOUSE PROJECT
The Fortune House in Red Bank, Photo Credit: Mike Gordon
A group of concerned citizens came together to save the home of T. Thomas Fortune, a National Historic Landmark in Red Bank New Jersey. Fortune was a newspaper editor and civil rights activist. His restored home is intended to expand and diversify his contributions to race relations, and to bring forth the history of communities of color in Red Bank and Monmouth County.
New Jersey Amistad Commission
The Amistad Commission ensures that the Department of Education and public schools of New Jersey implement materials and texts which integrate the history and contributions of African-Americans and the descendants of the African Diaspora. The Commission ensures that New Jersey teachers are equipped to effectively teach the revised social studies core curriculum content standards by creating and coordinating workshops, seminars, institutes, memorials and events which raise public awareness about the importance of the history of African-Americans to the growth and development of American society.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE (NAACP)
Founded February 12, 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s foremost, largest, and most widely recognized civil rights organization. Its mission is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. As a prominent advocate for civil rights, the NAACP leads grassroots campaigns for equal opportunity, conducts voter mobilization, and maintains an active docket of Civil Rights legal cases.
URBAN LEAGUE
The National Urban League (NUL) is a nonpartisan civil rights organization that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination. It is the oldest (founded in New York City in 1910) and largest community-based organizations of its kind in the nation. The mission of the NUL is to enable African Americans and other underserved urban residents to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power and civil rights.
NATIONAL CENTER FOR RACE AMITY
Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the goal of the National Center for Race Amity is bridging the racial divide through amity and collaboration which lead to access, equity, and social justice. It develops Race Amity Conferences and initiatives to advance cross-racial and cross-cultural amity that impact the public discourse on race. Race Amity Day is celebrated throughout the U.S. on the second Sunday in June.
NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK (NAN)
The National Action Network is a not-for-profit, civil rights organization founded by the Reverend Al Sharpton in New York City in early 1991. NAN’s initiatives expanded to include civil rights rallies in hundreds of communities across the U.S. intended to lift up black lives by drawing attention to racial inequities. The focus of many of these activities is reforming relationships primarily between black men and law enforcement, including the racial profiling manifest in ‘stop and frisk’ practice and the apparent lack of accountability in incidents of police brutality. NAN also mounts voter registration drives in minority communities.
TEACHING TOLERANCE
Our mission is to help teachers and schools educate children and youth to be active participants in a diverse democracy. Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators—teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners—who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators who care about diversity, equity and justice use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected and welcomed participants.
Part VII: Videos of Previous "Let's Talk About Race" Events
The “Let’s Talk About Race” program is held monthly at the Red Bank Public Library — you can check our calendar page for the next installment — and is videotaped for members of the public who were not able to make it.