TOWARD A PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATIC POLITICS OF RACE

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 389-393
Author(s):  
Rogers M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Racial Minorities ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Politics Of Race

The two books that have occasioned this symposium represent efforts to research thoroughly, think rigorously, and argue honestly about complex and significant issues of race and ethnicity in America. There is much to be learned from them on many topics. I read them chiefly for insights about whether and how a defensibly democratic politics of egalitarian change can be achieved by, for, and with racial minorities in a country whose majorities, like most majorities, have long been reluctant to pursue policies that did not predominantly benefit themselves. I raise some challenges to the perspectives offered in these books, but only as an effort, kindred in aim if not achievement, to carry forward the work they have thus far so nobly advanced.

Does Protest Against Police Violence Matter? Evidence from U.S. Cities, 1990 through 2019

2021 ◽  
pp. 000312242110569
Author(s):  
Susan Olzak
Keyword(s):  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Police Brutality ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Disadvantaged Communities ◽  
Civilian Review ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Effective Form ◽  
The Empirical Analysis ◽  
Focal Issue

An underlying premise of democratic politics is that protest can be an effective form of civic engagement that shapes policy changes desired by marginalized groups. But it is not certain that this premise holds up under scrutiny. This article presents a three-part argument that protest (1) signals the salience of a movement’s focal issue and expands awareness that an issue is a social problem requiring a solution, (2) empowers residents in disadvantaged communities and raises a sense of community cohesion, which together (3) raise costs and exert pressure on elites to make concessions. The empirical analysis examines the likelihood that a city will establish a civilian review board (CRB). It then compares the effects of protest and CRB presence on counts of officer-involved fatalities by race and ethnicity. Two main hypotheses about the effect of protest are supported: cities with more protest against police brutality are significantly more likely to establish a CRB, and protest against police brutality reduces officer-involved fatalities for African American and Latino (but not for White) individuals. However, the establishment of CRBs does not reduce fatalities, as some have hoped. Nonetheless, mobilizing against police brutality matters, even in the absence of civilian review boards.

Defining Race, Ethnicity, and Social Distance: Their Impact on Crime, Criminal Victimization, and the Criminal Justice Processing of Minorities

1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel E. Georges-Abeyie
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Racial Minorities ◽  
Criminal Victimization ◽  
Crime Commission ◽  
The Social ◽  
Criminal Justice Processing ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Race Ethnicity

This paper examines the social, cultural, and biological realities of the popular as well as scientific use of the terms race and ethnicity then examines the significance of “social distance” in the criminal justice context which frequently involves Negroids, Hispanics, and other nonwhite minorities. It provides an analysis of the possible impact of them is application of the concepts race and ethnicity, and thus, social distance, upon the crime commission, criminal victimization, and criminal justice processing of “Blacks” and other nonwhite ethnic and racial minorities. It concludes with seven pertinent research questions that could be explored which would further the understanding of the role race, ethnicity, and social distance play in the perpetration of crimes by minorities as well as the criminal victimization and criminal justice processing of minorities.

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