| IRP's strategic research examines the underlying causes of problems created at the intersections of racial and economic discrimination. IRP works with community groups, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, policy makers, foundations, and others to design practical studies that address community-defined problems. | How to search this page:
To perform a keyword search of this page select the "Edit" drop down menu (at the top of the browser window) and choose "Find(on this page)". |
|
|
 Title of Publication: Racism
and Metropolitan Dynamics: The Civil Rights Challenge of the
21st Century
Author: This report was written by Kathleen Graham and Colleen Walbran, and edited by Lynn Nelson, Gavin Kearney, Linda Picone, Esther Iverem and Eric Stiens. Date of Publication: April 2002 Citation: A briefing paper prepared for the Ford Foundation by the Institute on Race & Poverty Type of Publication: Report |
|
| Title of Publication: In Pursuit of a Dream Deferred: Linking Housing and Educational Policy Author: john a. powell, Gavin Kearney, Vina Kay Date of Publication: July 2001 Citation: Peter Lang Publishing: ISBN 0-8204-3943-6 Type of Publication: book |
|
Sponsor: Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities Date of Publication: June 13, 2001 Type of Publication: Paper Title of Publication: Envisioning Racially Just, Opportunity- Based Housing for the Chicago Region
Date of Publication: June 13, 2001 Citation: Type of Publication: Maps and Charts from the presentation. |
|
|
Title of Publication: St. Paul Police Department Report on Traffic Stop Data: IRP Analysis (Pdf file) Order the full report: Order formShort Report April 15 - December 15, 2000 Author: IRP Date of Publication: 5/24/01 Citation: Institute on Race & Poverty Type of Publication: IRP Report |
|
| Title of Publication: Regional Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing
Author: Regina Wagner and Maureen O'Connell Date of Publication: May 2001 Citation: The Legal Services Advocacy Project in conjunction with The Institute on Race & Poverty, The Urban Coalition, and the Wilder Research Center Type of Publication: Report |
|
| Title of Publication: Racial
Profiling - Components of Racial Profiling Legislation
Author: IRP Date of Publication:3/5/01Citation: Institute on Race & Poverty Type of Publication: IRP Report |
|
|
Title of Publication: Student Voices across the Spectrum: Information to receive Full Report Author: IRP Date of Publication: May 2000 Citation: Institute on Race & Poverty; Funded by the Joyce Foundation Type of Publication: Executive Summary or Full Report |
|
| Title of Publication: Welfare-to
Work: What's Working? Where Do We Go From Here?
Author: IRP Date of Publication: 3/31/99 Citation: Institute on Race & Poverty Type of Publication: Forum Report |
|
| Title of Publication: Minneapolis
Opportunity Mapping Project
Author: IRP Date of Publication: 10/12/98 Citation: Institute on Race & Poverty Type of Publication: Executive Summary |
|
| Title of Publication: Remaking the Urban University for
the Urban Student: Talking About Race
Author: john a. powell & Marguerite L. Spencer Date of Publication: 1998 Citation: Connecticut Law Review, Volume 30:1247, 1998 Type of Publication: Journal Article |
|
| Title of Publication: As Justice Requires/Permits: The Delimitation
of Harmful Speech in a Democratic Society
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: 1998 Citation: Reprinted from Law & Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice, Volume XVI, Winter 1998, Number OneType of Publication: Journal Article |
|
| Title of Publication: Examining the Relationship Between Housing, Education,
and Persistent Segregation, Final Report (pdf)
Author: IRP Date of Publication: June 1997 Citation: A report to the McKnight Foundation Type of Publication: IRP Report |
|
| Title of Publication: The Colorblind Multiracial Dilemma:
Racial Categories Reconsidered
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: June 1997Citation: University of San Francisco Law Review, Volume 31, Summer 1997, Number 4 Type of Publication: Journal Article |
|
| Title of Publication: Challenging Racial Hierarchy: Thoughts
on Affirmative Action in the United States
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: June 1997 Citation: Southern Education Foundation's News, June 1997, excerpts from a discussion in Atlanta 4/97. Type of Publication: Newspaper Article |
|
| Title of Publication: Injecting a Race Component Into Mount
Laurel - Style Litigation
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: 1997 Citation: Seton Hall Law Review, 27:1369, 1997 Type of Publication: Journal Article |
|
| Title of Publication: The
Multiple Self: Exploring Between and Beyond Modernity and Postmodernity
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: 1997 Citation: Minnesota Law Review, 81:1481, 1997 Type of Publication: Journal Article |
|
| Title of Publication: The Racing of American Society: Race Functioning as a Verb Before Signifying as a Noun
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: 1997 Citation: Law and Inequality, 15:99, 1997 Type of Publication: Journal Article |
|
|
Title of Publication: Regionalism:
The Creation of Urban Dysfunction & Strategies for Recreating
Metropolitan Communities
Author: IRP Date of Publication: 1997 Citation: Institute on Race and Poverty Type of Publication: Conference Report |
|
|
Title of Publication: Linking
Regional and Local Strategies to Create Healthy Communities
Author: IRP Date of Publication: 4/12/96 Citation: Institute on Race and Poverty Type of Publication: Conference Report |
|
| Title of Publication: Segregation and Educational Inadequacy
in Twin Cities Public Schools
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: March 1996 Citation: Hamline Journal of Public Law & Policy, Volume 17, Spring 1996, Number 2 Type of Publication: Journal Article |
|
|
Title of Publication: Final Report on Marketplace Discrimination
Author: IRP Date of Publication: 2/8/96 Citation: Submitted to Study Joint Powers Board Type of Publication: IRP Report |
|
| Title of Publication: Living and Learning: Linking Housing
and Education
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: 1996 Citation: Minnesota Law Review, 80:749:1996 Type of Publication: Journal Article |
|
| Title of Publication: Worlds Apart: Reconciling Freedom of
Speech and Equality
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: 1996 Citation: Kentucky Law Journal, Volume 85, 1996-97, Number 1 Type of Publication: Journal Article |
|
| Title of Publication: Race
and Poverty: Our Private Obsession, Our Public Sin
Author: IRP Date of Publication: 10/13/95 Citation: Institute on Race & Poverty Type of Publication: Forum Report |
|
| Title of Publication: How the 'War on Drugs' Decimated Black
America
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: July 1995 Citation: Colors, July-August 1995 Type of Publication: Magazine Article |
|
| Title of Publication: An Agenda for the Post-Civil Rights
Era
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: June 1995 Citation: University of San Francisco Law Review, Vol 29, Summer 1995 Type of Publication: Journal Article |
|
| Title of Publication: Blaming the Remedy
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: May 1995 Citation: Racefile, May-June 1995 Type of Publication: Journal Article |
|
| Title of Publication: In
Pursuit of a Dream Deferred: Linking Housing and Education
Author: IRP Date of Publication: 4/22/95 Citation: Institute on Race and Poverty Type of Publication: Forum Report |
|
| Title of Publication: Who Really Can Claim Innocence?
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: November 1994 Citation: Poverty & Race, November/December 1994, Vol. 3, No.6 Type of Publication: Journal Article |
|
| Title of Publication: Talking Race
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: September 1994Citation: Hungry Mind Review, Fall 1994 Type of Publication: Newspaper Article |
|
| Title of Publication: The Right to Die
Author: john a. powell & adam s. cohen Date of Publication: September 1994 Citation: Issues on Law & Medicine, Vol. 10, No. 2, Fall 1994 Type of Publication: Journal Article |
|
| Title of Publication: Righting the Law: Seeking a Humane Voice
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: December 1993 Citation: West Virginia Law Review, Volume 96, Winter 1993-94, Number 2 Type of Publication: Journal Article |
|
| Title of Publication: Race and Poverty: A New Focus for Legal
Services
Author: john a. powell Date of Publication: 1993 Citation: Clearinghouse Review, Special Issue 1993 Type of Publication: Journal Article |
----- 2002 Chicago Housing Coalition The housing situation in the Chicago metropolitan region serves as a touchstone for all other American cities. Cities throughout the nation look to Chicago as a model that can impact their own local work in many ways. Many studies and organizations have examined the complex dynamics affecting the quality and quantity of affordable housing in the Chicago region, but these dynamics have not been tied together. This problem is manifest in the varying solutions proposed by advocates and policy leaders in the Chicago area, and the tensions that have resulted. This is a critical time to undertake steps to alleviate the affordable housing crisis facing Chicago with a holistic and contextual approach. Recently we produced a research paper commissioned by the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities in Chicago, approaching housing issues from the perspectives that:
IRP's executive director, john powell, presented the completed paper in Chicago on June 13th, 2001. Our hope is that this project will open opportunity to work with various stakeholders to develop a unified set of strategies, with which we can begin to address the problem collectively. |
|
----- APRIL 2002 Background The racial justice advocacy community has seen racial subordination transform from explicitly racist laws and societal expressions to, more recently, the superficially race-neutral policies that reproduce the isolation of people of color from opportunities. The most devastating manifestations of racism today take structural forms – in tax policy, in student assignment policies, in the concentration of poverty, in exclusionary zoning, and in the gentrification that pushes people of color out – requiring that advocacy strategies be structurally focused, multiple, and adaptive. The Institute on Race & Poverty’s Racial Justice and Regional Equity project is a multi-year effort to engage communities of color and the racial justice advocacy community nationally in addressing issues of concentrated poverty, regionalism, and metropolitan equity. The goals of the project include:
Purpose of Report This report shows how racial disparities in housing, education, employment, and other areas are tied to metropolitan dynamics. These dynamics include sprawl and exclusionary local governmental power, both of which contribute to disparities. The report critiques regional governance and strategies from the perspective that a regional approach cannot open access to opportunities and sacrifice the political power of communities of color. Rather, regionalism should be configured so that access to opportunities such as employment and affordable housing must be created hand-in-hand with the preservation of community strength and the nurturing of the political power held by communities of color. Findings of Report By seeking racially just regions, society will make gains on key concerns areas in the next era of racial justice advocacy. Specifically, regional affordable housing policies, transit policies, revenue policies, business location and educational policies can improve life circumstances for people of color, particularly low-income people of color. There are potential pitfalls to regional approaches, however. Regional policies can damage political power bases of communities of color and important social networks and neighborhood institutions. Regionalism is not a new agenda for advocates; it is an approach to the problems advocates are working on already. Localized efforts in housing, education, transportation, employment, and other areas should be complemented by regional strategies, and advocates should develop the capacity to work at a regional level. Advocates should not be given the “either-or” proposition of regionalism or localism. A tiered model is offered here instead. Called “federated regionalism,” this approach involves the creation ofa regional authority empowered to increase access to opportunities such as employment at the same time local authorities are retained so as to promote community strength and governmental responsiveness. Recommended strategies for racial justice advocates include:
|
----- May 24, 2001 Background The Institute on Race & Poverty was asked by the Saint Paul Police Department on January 11, 2001 to analyze the traffic stop data collected by the Department from April 15 to December 15, 2000. IRP analyzed data from 41,249 traffic stops conducted between April 15 and December 15, 2000 and compared the stop data to United States Census data on the adult residential population of St. Paul for the year 2000. Data was collected both in writing and through a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system. For each of the 41,249 stops the following information was collected: the gender and race/ethnicity of the driver, whether the officer conducted a pat down search of the driver’s person, whether the officer conducted a search of the vehicle, and whether the driver was issued a ticket or arrested. For the 32,016 CAD-recorded stops the following information was also collected: the date of the stop, and the location of the stop by street address or street intersection. Purpose of Report This analysis has multiple purposes: to attempt to determine whether the Department engages in racial profiling, and if so, what the dimensions of the problem are; and to formulate suggestions for improvements to the Department’s data collection program that will allow for more comprehensive analysis of future data. The focus of the inquiry is on racial profiling in traffic stops, both in the decision to initiate stops, and in subsequent decisions to search drivers and/or their vehicles. Findings of Report The data revealed that:
|
----- MARCH 5, 2001 Background Racial profiling is one of the most pressing civil rights issues of our time. It extends beyond direct victims to negatively affect all persons of color of all generations and income levels. It undermines the legitimacy of the criminal justice system, and hinders effective policing in the communities that need it the most. Racial profiling has been monitored in a number of jurisdictions, and in nearly all of these jurisdictions it was found to be a significant problem. Significant harms include:
Purpose of Report This report presents the essential elements of effective racial-profiling legislation. Findings of Report Based on evaluation of current legislation and the need for effective analysis of the problem, the key components of good racial-profiling legislation are:
|
|
WHITES WILL BE WHITES: The Failure to Interrogate Racial Privilege
john a. powell Background Once we learn to identify white privilege and look for it, we start to discover it in virtually all aspects of our life. This Article focuses on the relationship between privilege and non-privilege; the nature and function of privilege as it has been articulated; and the problems that confronting privilege creates for Whites. Description of Article This Article advocates for a communicative ethic whereby society would have a mode for transformation cognizant of the relational nature of difference. It argues the need for participation by both marginalized and dominant groups, and the problems of retaining exclusionary institutions and practices. This Article discusses the Supreme Court’s treatment of issues of privilege and sameness/difference and examines the ways the Court has made a difficult problem even more intractable through the Court’s language and assumptions. |
|
----- Executive Summary - Order the full report ----- MAY 2000 Background Policymakers and the courts have shown an increasing ambivalence toward racial integration in education as a societal ideal and are more infrequently employing it as a strategy for achieving equality. Meanwhile, in spite of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, schools in the United States have never been fully desegregated, and are now moving toward a state of resegregation. The study acknowledges these principles:
Purpose of Report The Educational Integration Initiatives Project (EIIP) is a national, multi-disciplinary study conducted by the Institute on Race & Poverty and funded by the Joyce Foundation. It was designed to capture the experiences of students in their educational environments whether segregated, desegregated, or integrated. The object of the study is to enhance public understanding of students' perceptions of issues of race, education, and achievement--during an era of volatile national discourse on these important issues. The goal of the project was to explore whether the racial makeup, policies, and practices of the schools students attend affect their educational experiences. A context for these student experiences is provided through an examination of legal history, policy background, public discourse, school curricula, student placement, academic achievement, and educational attainment, but also personal development and sense of self -- both personally and in relation to the larger community. Findings of Report No school that participated in the EIIP was “truly integrated.” Specifically, none of the desegregated schools we examined was effective in:
In order to achieve the goal of integration, this report recommends that we must:
|
----- Oct. 1998 - 2000 Background The neighborhood atlases and analyses produced by the Institute on Race and Poverty at the request of The Minneapolis Foundation (TMF) are designed to perform several functions important to the effectiveness of the Building Better Futures Initiative (BBF) providing TMF and its neighborhood partners with key information on the well being of each of the neighborhoods. Purpose of Report The atlases facilitate at least four important levels of comparison:
As the BBF initiative moves forward, the updated atlases will also provide a mechanism for evaluating the impact of particular projects upon the neighborhood. A comprehensive assessment of the well being of the seven BBF neighborhoods and thorough identification of those resources available to their residents may ultimately warrant supplementing the atlases with regional data and analyses. Findings of Report Conclusions about racial segregation follow, though various criteria -- such as building usage and poverty levels -- are examined in the full findings. Elliot Park Stevens Square Phillips Whittier Near North Harrison Sumner-Glenwood |
----- MARCH 31, 1999 Background We cannot shy away from cultural diversity and systemic racism. Minorities are having a harder time getting off welfare than whites. Special challenges faced by minorities must be addressed if welfare to work is going to be successful for everyone. Lastly, we must continue to educate the public about issues participants face and work to change the vision from merely "welfare to work" to a more encompassing vision of "economic growth and community stability," which offers a win/win opportunity for everyone. On Oct. 2, 1998, Minnesota Public Radio's Civic Journalism Initiative and the Institute on Race & Poverty at the University of Minnesota Law School invited over 120 stakeholders in Minnesota to the Sabathani Community Center in Minneapolis to evaluate the Minnesota Family Investment Plan (MFIP). At the summit, entitled "Welfare to Work: How Are We Doing? Where Do We Go From Here? What's Working, What's Not and Why?" conference participants identified MFIP's successes and failures. Purpose of Report This report details conference participants’ evaluation of MFIP and their recommendations to improve the plan. Findings of Report The majority of conference participants held that MFIP was:
In breakout sessions, conference participants found that:
Conference participants outlined the following solutions, including:
|
|
AS JUSTICE REQUIRES/PERMITS - The Delimitation of Harmful Speech in a Democratic Society john a. powell Background This Article points out how the United States Supreme Court’s rationale in R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul (1992) is contrary to the democratic principle of equality. In R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul the Court declared unconstitutional a city ordinance that permitted prosecution of a speaker that insulted, injured or provoked violence on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender. powell offers the Canadian Supreme Court’s finding in Regina v. Keegstra (1991) as a better demonstration of how the treatment of speech should be responsive to equality. Description of Article This Article argues that liberty, free speech and equality are not separate independent norms. Instead, they are related and must be evaluated based on the requirements of justice. Also, powell argues that the self is anemic and needs to be enriched. The self is multiple, fractured and interdependent, and this constitution has important implications for how society should think about speech and equality as part of a democratic project. The goal of this Article is to sketch a normative and pragmatic view of free speech and equality that is grounded in a framework that views participatory democracy as justice and a more realistic view of the self. |
|
REMAKING THE URBAN UNIVERSITY
FOR THE URBAN STUDENT: Talking about Race john a. powell & Marguerite L. Spencer Background Education is central to forming the citizen and supporting democracy. While access to education at the university level is a central mission, access must be applied equally to all communities; currently, it is not. Description of Article This Article examines the relationship of the urban university to communities of color. It argues that the historical and recent trend of limiting minority access to education contradicts other university goals such as encouraging urban scholarship and fostering urban service collaboratives. It then concludes that the urban university must undertake a more integrated and transformative approach to urban education. |
|
----- JUNE 1997 Background Evidence suggests the Twin Cities metropolitan region is increasingly segregated by race and income. This segregation has many negative consequences for the entire metropolitan area.
Purpose of Report The report overviews the various indices by which metropolitan centers can be described as segregated in the United States and surveys research on the causes and consequences of racial and economic segregation. Then, it focuses on the Twin Cities metropolitan region, outlines the results of IRP’s racial attitudes survey, and explores the extent to which the negative effects of racial and economic segregation are present in the Twin Cities. Finally, the report suggests strategic solutions for the Twin Cities area to overcome these problems. Findings of Report The report concludes that the Twin Cities must reduce racial and economic segregation in neighborhoods and in schools in order to achieve racial equity. Though there is no single tool for addressing these problems, it is clear that effective strategies to these problems require a more metropolitan focus than has been undertaken in the past. Further, employed strategies may require numerous types of incentives and mandates in order to overcome the recalcitrance of many suburban municipalities. |
|
----- MAY 2001 Background The Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing (AI) is required by all state and local units of government that receive certain federal funds from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) funds. Each state or local unit of government (hereinafter referred to as “the Jurisdictions”) that receives these housing funds must certify to HUD that it will affirmatively further fair housing and that it will conduct an analysis to identify impediments to fair housing choice within the Jurisdiction. Purpose of Report The AI is an exploration of many housing and housing-related policies and practices in use throughout the Twin Cities Region that inadvertently or deliberately prevent people from living where they would choose. It contains numerous charts and graphs of the Twin Cities Region and puts forward suggested activities for the Jurisdictions in order to eliminate fair housing barriers. The AI is not a fair housing plan for the Jurisdictions; rather, it is a tool to assist the Jurisdictions in developing their Annual Action Plans for fair housing activities. It is also intended as an educational tool for housing planners, policy makers, housing providers, and other stakeholders in the community. Findings of Report The AI confirms that (1) discriminatory housing practices and other policies and practices that restrict or limit housing choice are present throughout the Twin Cities Region and (2) some of these impediments to fair housing choice are complicated yet must be addressed if the Twin Cities Region is to become more integrated. In particular it recommends that the Jurisdictions--individually or as part of a regional effort--should:
|
|
----- 1997 Background Concentrated poverty neighborhoods are defined as those where over 40% of residents live at or below the poverty line. In neighborhoods with this degree of economic isolation, a host of barriers to life stability and advancement are present. High poverty neighborhoods in metropolitan regions are the result of metropolitan-level dynamics, including fragmentation. Fragmentation describes the control that local governments have in metropolitan regions over housing, education, transportation, and economic development decisions – control often used in an exclusionary way. Public policies that are written and implemented by balkanized municipal governments frequently prevent the people of color and low-income families from accessing opportunities in suburbs. Governmental fragmentation not only masks the financial and social interdependence of the suburb and center city, but overtly and covertly supports segregationist policies. The Institute on Race and Poverty has and continues to research regionalism because of its capacity to address governmental fragmentation, an important contributing factor to racial and economic disparities. Though regionalism is not immune to thoughtful criticism, it requires more affluent residents of metropolitan regions to consider how their desired and achieved lifestyles compromise the well-being of others and jeopardize metropolitan stability. Purpose of Report We have traditionally organized our laws and policies around the jurisdictions of federal, state, and local governments. Certain theorists suggest that this organization is outmoded and more relevant jurisdictions would be global, regional, and neighborhood. This report examines the creation of urban dysfunction and proposes regionalism as a strategy for promoting greater equity in our metropolitan communities and improving our overall national health. Findings of Report Housing, education, employment, and dependable transportation form the infrastructure of our everyday lives. They are interrelated and co-dependent. These four factors act in tandem to ensure or preclude a good quality of life in large metropolitan areas. As noted above, segregated housing adversely impacts the quality of education and limits work opportunities. Sub-standard educational opportunities prevent upward mobility and enforce patterns of segregation. A concentration of low-skill and entry-level jobs in suburbs without affordable housing burdens the transportation infrastructure and the environment. As a method of analysis and intervention, regionalism offers policy makers a way to re-conceptualize metropolitan areas for the common good of all their residents. However, regionalism requires the cooperation of most metropolitan jurisdictions and this cooperation is hard won partly because we have few role models for successful collaboration. |
|
INJECTING A RACE COMPONENT INTO MOUNT LAUREL-STYLE LITIGATION
john a. powell 1997 Background The Mount Laurel court had the opportunity to finally and affirmatively further the purpose of the Fair Housing Act of 1968: to provide minorities with effective relief from the harms caused by racial residential segregation and discrimination. Rather than recognizing the clear relationship between minorities and poverty and the unique issues this creates, the New Jersey court opted to shift the emphasis away from protecting the rights of minorities. Description of Article This essay focuses attention on the more significant flaws of the Mount Laurel holdings and the flaws of the 1985 housing policy that stemmed from these rulings. |
|
----- 1997 Background Increasingly in the twentieth century, the modernist notion of the self as unitary, stable, and transparent has come under criticism. Although rumblings of dissension have been building for more than 200 years, the advent of postmodernism in general, and the insightful criticism of feminist thinkers in particular, have sounded the death knell for this concept of the self. Building upon theories of feminism and postmodernism, this Essay will attempt to advance the dialogue of the self by addressing some problems that have proceeded from the deconstruction and decentering of the Western self. Purpose of Paper This paper denies that a person is or can be multiple and fractured and still remain "normal." It highlights some of the ways that the ideals of individualism, the individual, and the self are used to destructively frame the ways the self and race are discussed. It examines the Western vision of the self, the individualistic norm that pervades our society, and, by questioning this largely unexamined norm, it invites the reader to look at what has been traditionally excluded. Findings of Paper If society accepts that the self is relational and multiple, efforts to address oppression must focus upon the privileged as well as the oppressed. From a pragmatic standpoint, people must acknowledge that subordination affects the position of the dominant and the dominated. Postmodernists are unwittingly accepting many of the flawed parameters and limitations of modernism. An obvious example of this point is the dichotomy of the essentialist/anti-essentialist debate. Given the fundamental ramifications of reconstituting the self, society must critique the modern self externally as well as internally. In addition, the epistemological flaws of the modernist project must not be repeated. The discourse on the postmodern self will be ongoing, with no fixed resolution on the horizon. |
|
john a. powell ----- University of San Francisco Law Review, Vol. 31, Number 4, Summer 1997 Background Despite our obsession with race--which sometimes takes the form of race aversion--our national discourse is disturbingly confused, charged, and often unproductive. Our language often seems wooden and rehearsed, and the way that we discuss race is frequently in conflict with our stated ideals. The concept of race is hotly contested and deconstructed in literature, law, and politics. Currently, there are several competing theories about race and its meaning and application in the United States. Description of Article This paper touches on the ways we think about race and racial categories. It focuses on two sets of claims about racial categories--the colorblind position, calling for the end of racial categories and the multiracial position, calling for the expansion of racial categories. It examines the limitations of these two positions, and suggests alternative ways to think about racial categorization. |
|
john a. powell ----- Hamline Journal of Public Law & Policy, Vol. 17, Number 2, Spring 1996 Background Public schools in the Twin Cities’ metropolitan area are highly segregated by race and socioeconomic status. The high concentration of racialized poverty, especially in Minneapolis’ schools, creates inadequate educational opportunities for students and denies all students the benefits of an integrated education. The racial consequences of suburbanization and White flight have been strongly influenced by governmental conduct at all levels. Description of Article This Article explores the dynamic relationship between race and poverty in educational outcomes, describes the limitations of Fourteenth Amendment equal protection analysis, analyzes the various theories employed in public school litigation under state constitutions, and argues that the spatial concentration and isolation of African Americans in Twin Cities’ neighborhood schools creates insurmountable barriers to adequate education in Minneapolis’ schools and is therefore unconstitutional. |
|
john a. powell April 1996 Background As courts struggle with how to remedy racial segregation in America’s public schools, confusion persists over who bears ultimate responsibility for the harm of segregation, or even what constitutes harm in the context of segregation. If we are to avoid a fractured society, we must make it possible for everyone to participate equally in our communities. We must challenge the racial hierarchy implicit in segregation and remove the barriers to discovering our common humanity, filtered through our differences. Description of Article This article defines what it means, in both a policy and a legal sense, to link housing and education and why this connection is crucial for creating a permanently integrated society. Next, it critiques some of the approaches courts have taken to examining segregation, suggests an alternative legal analysis, and examines the need to continue pursuing integration. Finally, this article considers the positive quantitative and qualitative effects of integration, including the overarching goal of building a true democracy. |
|
The Institute on Race & Poverty University of Minnesota Law School Twin Cities Campus. |
|
All information on this site © 2000 by the Institute on Race & Poverty All rights reserved worldwide. Telephone: (612) 625-8071 • Fax: (612) 624-8890 Last update: October 11, 2002. |
|
