Racial Justice Advocacy, Political Representation, and the Contemporary Interest Group Universe

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. David Forrest ◽  
Dara Z. Strolovitch
Keyword(s):  
American Indians ◽  
White Privilege ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Advocacy Organizations ◽  
Political Access ◽  
Asian Pacific ◽  
The Many ◽  
Asian Pacific Americans

Advocacy organizations have long been a crucial conduit for the construction, articulation, and representation of the interests and identities of African Americans, Latin@s, American Indians, Asian Pacific Americans, and other racialized groups in the United States. These organizations promise to provide a measure of “insider” political access to racialized “outsider” groups by opening up the policy making process and offering them an institutionalized and compensatory source of representation. The extent to which this promise has been fulfilled, however, has been the subject of much debate. This chapter argues that while advocacy organizations have substantially improved the political representation and position of racialized groups, they continue to face many challenges in attempting to fulfill their potential. Suggestions are made about how scholars and activists might clarify these challenges and better confront and dismantle the many inequalities and forms of white privilege that continue to mark American politics, economics, and society.

Seeking Criminal Justice Clarity amid Historic Chaos

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Berman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Federal Sentencing ◽  
Criminal Justice Systems ◽  
Societal Changes ◽  
Justice Systems ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact

The remarkable events of 2020 have disrupted and altered all sorts of plans, and this issue of FSR covers some of the many varied criminal justice and sentencing echoes of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and urgent new calls for racial justice. The intense and dynamic topics that have come to define 2020 in the United States necessarily impact, and may even consume our thinking, about modern criminal justice systems generally and federal sentencing realities in particular. Included in this FSR issue are reports and data and commentary that predate spring shutdowns and summer protests and related developments; but these materials now carry distinctive meaning and even a new urgency in light of 2020 challenges. It is impossible to fully assess in short order the impact of massive societal changes on the federal sentencing system, but we are hopeful this FSR issue can provided added perspective to a rapidly changing world that still often seems hard to fully grasp.

Measuring Whiteness: A Systematic Review of Instruments and Call to Action

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 530-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Schooley ◽  
Debbiesiu L. Lee ◽  
Lisa B. Spanierman
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
White Privilege ◽  
Black People ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Psychological Study ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
Modern Racism

The psychological study of Whiteness provides one avenue for researchers to help combat racial injustice in the United States. This article is a call to action for counseling psychologists to engage in much needed scholarship and critical examinations of Whiteness. In this systematic review and content analysis, we provide an overview of 18 quantitative measures focusing on various aspects of Whiteness published between 1967 and 2017. We summarize the constructs and psychometric properties of these measures. Our content analysis indicated that constructs assessed by Whiteness measures have shifted in focus over time across four themes: (a) Attitudes Toward Black People/Integration, (b) Modern Racism, (c) White Racial Identity, and (d) White Privilege and Antiracism. We conclude with suggestions on how advancement, development, and use of Whiteness measures could further our knowledge through research examining present-day racial justice issues. The issues highlighted include police brutality, xenophobia, immigration, White supremacy, activism, and training in the field.

Racial disparity in incidence and survival for gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST): An analysis of SEER database.

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 11037-11037
Author(s):  
Mark Bilinyi Ulanja ◽  
Mohit Rishi ◽  
Bryce Beutler ◽  
Kenneth Konam ◽  
Mokshya Sharma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
American Indians ◽  
Racial Disparity ◽  
Cox Model ◽  
The United States ◽  
Diagnostic Code ◽  
Seer Database ◽  
Mesenchymal Tumors ◽  
Alaskan Native ◽  
Alaskan Natives ◽  
Asian Pacific

11037 Background: Gastrointestinal tumors (GISTs) represent the most common mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. There has been limited data on GISTs incidence and survival disparities between ethnic groups. We assess disparities in incidence and survival among race in the United States in the era of available GIST histologic codes and treatment. Methods: We queried Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database for GIST from 2002 to 2015, with diagnostic code 8936. Results: Of the 7,204 patients identified, 4,928 (68.4%) were White; 1,308 (18.2%) African American (AA) and 968 (13.4%) were classified as Other (American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian/Pacific Islander). The overall incidence rate (IR) was 0.753 per 100,000. IR was highest among AA at 1.372/100,000, but 0.648/100,000 for Whites, 1.075/100,000 for Asians/Pacific Islanders and 0.276/100,000 for American Indians/Alaskan Natives. The GIST incidence was twice as high for AA as for Whites (Rate ratio [RR]: 2.12; 95% CI: 1.98-2.26; p<0.001). Lower proportion of AA underwent surgery as compared to white and Other. Median overall survival (OS) [116 months] and GIST specific survival (GSS) was significantly lower in AA as compared to White and Other. In multivariate Cox model, belonging to Other had better OS (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]; 0.81, 95% CI: 0.69-0.95, P=0.011) for GIST, but no difference in prognosis and OS for AA and White [(aHR for whites; 0.93, 95% CI: 0.83-1.04, P=0.187), AA=reference]. Conclusions: Significant racial disparity in incidence and survival for GIST exists, and efforts should be made to bridge this gap and improve outcomes for all races. [Table: see text]

Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natsu Taylor Saito
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Colonial Theory ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Right

Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law begins from the premise that the United States is neither postracial nor postcolonial. Using the lens of settler colonial theory, it attributes the origins and persistence of racialized inequities in the United States to the prerogatives asserted by its predominantly Angloamerican founders to appropriate Indigenous lands and resources, to profit from the labor of voluntary and involuntary migrants, and to ensure that all people of color remain “in their place.” This book assesses the experiences of American Indians, African Americans, Latina/os, and Asian Americans to the present day in terms of the strategies utilized by the settlers to accomplish these ends. By providing a functional analysis that links disparate forms of oppression, it makes the case for the oft-cited proposition that racial justice is indivisible, focusing particularly on the importance of acknowledging and contesting the continued colonization of Indigenous peoples and lands. It concludes that we will more effectively dismantle structural racism not by relying on promises of formal equality but by envisioning what the right of all peoples to self-determination means in a settler colonial state.

scholarly journals Thirty Years of Innocence

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Norris ◽  
James Acker ◽  
Catherine Bonventre ◽  
Allison Redlich
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
National Registry ◽  
Wrongful Conviction ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Advocacy Organizations ◽  
Wrongful Convictions ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
State Death ◽  
The Many ◽  
The U.S

Systematic reporting of data about wrongful conviction cases in the United States typically begins with 1989, the year of the country’s first post-conviction, DNA-based exonerations. Year-end 2018 thus concludes a full thirty years of information and marks a propitious time to take stock. In this article, we provide an overview of known exonerations, innocence advocacy, and wrongful conviction-related policy reforms in the U.S. during these three decades. First, we provide a brief history of wrongful convictions in the U.S. before turning to the modern era of innocence. We describe the key sources of data pertaining to wrongful convictions and exonerations. Then, using case data from the National Registry of Exonerations, we offer a detailed analysis of national and state-by-state trends in exonerations, including annual totals, DNA- and non-DNA-exonerations, and capital case exonerations. Our examination includes factors corresponding to sources of error, state death-penalty status, and regional differences. We then discuss innocence advocacy organizations, with a particular focus on Centurion Ministries and members of the Innocence Network. This is followed by an examination of state-by-state trends in innocence-related policy reforms on key issues as identified by the Innocence Project. The final section of the article discusses the many important matters we do not yet know about wrongful convictions and poses thoughts, questions, and ideas for continued scholarship focusing on miscarriages of justice. The Appendix provides state-by-state summaries of select information relating to wrongful convictions and innocence reforms.

A Century of Reason

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila Jasanoff
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Technical Information ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Domain ◽  
Intellectual Capacity ◽  
The Many

This chapter rejects any a priori division between finding facts and determining values. It takes as its starting point the basic proposition of science and technology studies that, in the policy domain, resolving matters of fact inevitably entails resolving questions that are part of politics. Epistemic and normative orders are, in this respect, coproduced. From this standpoint, delegation to experts—authorizing the few to know for the many—is not simply a question of deciding who knows best about the factual matter at hand. It involves a characterization of the public's intellectual capacity, in particular its ability to understand and critique exercises of expert judgment. During the hundred or so years since the end of the Progressive era, two broad movements have sought to balance the demands of scientific and political representation in the United States. One is a wide-ranging effort to create administrative forums and processes through which laypeople can access and question technical information, and thus enjoy greater parity with experts. The second is a characterization of the political subject as hampered by built-in cognitive biases and unable to recognize its own interests, let alone to further them through rational action.

scholarly journals A Forgotten Minority? A Content Analysis of Asian Pacific Americans in Introductory American Government Textbooks

2015 ◽  
Vol 48 (03) ◽  
pp. 430-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Okiyoshi Takeda
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
American Government ◽  
Pedagogical Tools ◽  
Asian Pacific American ◽  
History Of ◽  
Asian Pacific ◽  
Asian Pacific Americans

ABSTRACTTextbooks are the most important pedagogical tools in higher education and they should convey sufficient and accurate information on minority groups and women in the United States. Yet textbooks tend to marginalize these groups in their depictions. This article examines the coverage of Asian Pacific Americans in twenty-eight American Government or Politics textbooks. Asian Pacific Americans have faced a unique history of exclusion, discrimination, and stereotyping. The content analysis of the textbooks reveals that textbooks do not fully cover their history and contributions to US politics, either measured by page numbers or by historical events and figures important to Asian Pacific Americans. To rectify this lack of coverage, this article concludes with five constructive recommendations, including an option to invite scholars on Asian Pacific American politics to serve as textbook reviewers and textbook coauthors.

Silence of the Land: On the Historical Irrelevance of Territory to Congressional Districting and Political Representation in the United States

2001 ◽  
Vol 15 (01) ◽  
pp. 53-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Rehfeld
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Representative Government ◽  
Congressional District ◽  
Congressional Districts ◽  
Communities Of Interest

Every ten years, the United States “constructs” itself politically. On a decennial basis, U.S. Congressional districts are quite literally drawn, physically constructing political representation in the House of Representatives on the basis of where one lives. Why does the United States do it this way? What justifies domicile as the sole criteria of constituency construction? These are the questions raised in this article. Contrary to many contemporary understandings of representation at the founding, I argue that there were no principled reasons for using domicile as the method of organizing for political representation. Even in 1787, the Congressional district was expected to be far too large to map onto existing communities of interest. Instead, territory should be understood as forming a habit of mind for the founders, even while it was necessary to achieve other democratic aims of representative government.

Guns, Alcohol, and Intimate Partner Violence: The Epidemiology of Female Suicide in New Mexico

Crisis ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 121-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lenora Olson ◽  
Frank Huyler ◽  
Arthur W Lynch ◽  
Lynne Fullerton ◽  
Deborah Werenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
The United States ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Injury Death ◽  
Female Suicide ◽  
Blood Alcohol Levels ◽  
Associated Risk Factors

Suicide is among the leading causes of death in the United States, and in women the second leading cause of injury death overall. Previous studies have suggested links between intimate partner violence and suicide in women. We examined female suicide deaths to identify and describe associated risk factors. We reviewed all reports from the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator for female suicide deaths occurring in New Mexico from 1990 to 1994. Information abstracted included demographics, mechanism of death, presence of alcohol/drugs, clinical depression, intimate partner violence, health problems, and other variables. Annual rates were calculated based on the 1990 census. The New Mexico female suicide death rate was 8.2/100,000 persons per year (n = 313), nearly twice the U. S. rate of 4.5/100,000. Non-Hispanic whites were overrepresented compared to Hispanics and American Indians. Decedents ranged in age from 14 to 93 years (median = 43 years). Firearms accounted for 45.7% of the suicide deaths, followed by ingested poisons (29.1%), hanging (10.5%), other (7.7%), and inhaled poisons (7.0%). Intimate partner violence was documented in 5.1% of female suicide deaths; in an additional 22.1% of cases, a male intimate partner fought with or separated from the decedent immediately preceding the suicide. Nearly two-thirds (65.5%) of the decedents had alcohol or drugs present in their blood at autopsy. Among decedents who had alcohol present (34.5%), blood alcohol levels were far higher among American Indians compared to Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites (p = .01). Interpersonal conflict was documented in over 25% of cases, indicating that studies of the mortality of intimate partner violence should include victims of both suicide and homicide deaths to fully characterize the mortality patterns of intimate partner violence.

Vampires of Color: A Critique of Multicultural Whiteness

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale Hudson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
White Privilege ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
White Trash ◽  
National Values ◽  
Lost Boys ◽  
Classical Hollywood

This chapter explores whiteness’s purported expansion through multiculturalism after Civil Rights and the Immigration Act of 1965. By yoking the inclusivity of multiculturalism and exclusivity of whiteness, multicultural whiteness sustains white privilege without acknowledging it, granting conditional or provisional inclusion to select nonwhite groups. It becomes a performative category (“white-identified-ness”) questioned in films like Blacula (1972), Ganja and Hess (1973), Martin (1976), Fright Night (1985), The Lost Boys (1987), Near Dark (1987), Interview with the Vampire (1994), and The Addiction (1995). Classical Hollywood whiteness is transformed by greater emphasis on so-called national values—individualism, consumerism, patriotism, secularism, and willful amnesia—that sustain foundational myths of a nation of immigrants, land of opportunity, and beacon of democracy. Within the proliferation of representations of a multicultural United States, films question limitations on political representation for anyone not identifying—or being identified—with whiteness, including so-called white trash.

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