K I R W a N I N S T I T U

KIRWAN “Despite many differences, human destinies are intertwined.” – from the Kirwan Institute Mission Statement An update of activities from the Kirwan date Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity INSTITUTE Summer 2008 Our country has already gone through an historic election season. Senator Clinton became the first woman to make a serious run for the Democratic nomination for president. And of course, Senator Obama became the first Professor African American to john a. powell receive the nomination for president from a major party. These historic events have pushed Americans to make sense of where we are as a country on issues of both race and gender. Every major news outlet was covering the story of whether or not “Super Tuesday” Against Affirmative we were ready for an African American Action Falters president or for a woman president. During much of the early part of the primary season, the self-congratulatory Rajeev Ravisankar, Research Assistant pieces by the media and many pundits claimed that we were in a post-racial society, especially after Senator Obama Affirmative action antagonist Ward Connerly recently experienced a significant did so well in states like Iowa, which are setback to his hopes of a “Super Tuesday” of ballot initiatives which would overwhelmingly white. eliminate what he believes are race preferences. After having success in California, Washington, and Michigan with dubiously named “Civil Rights Initiatives,” This celebration was interrupted, Connerly sponsored efforts to ban affirmative action in both Oklahoma and however, as issues of racism and sexism Missouri failed mainly due to the effectiveness of counter-campaigns. took center stage and could no longer be ignored. Apparently, race still does When anti-affirmative action activists submitted their petition to get on the matter in our country and sexism is not ballot, Oklahoma’s Secretary of State found a significant number of duplicate dead. In many ways, the pundits not only names, addresses, and other irregularities. The American Civil Liberties Union made the wrong assertions, but often (ACLU) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People asked the wrong questions and used (NAACP) filed a legal protest against the signature count and as a result, inadequate criteria to understand the petitioners were forced to withdraw the initiative. The ACLU and NAACP complexity of race and gender. At times, were joined by the organization By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) to oppose the assessment was often contradictory. the initiative. It was not unusual to find in the same A month later in Missouri, the Working to Empower Community Action media outlet a story about how a number Now! (WeCAN!) coalition, comprised of business, labor and civil rights of white Democrats would not vote for a groups and community activists, used a “Decline to Sign” campaign to black candidate and then another story claiming that our society is now at a place (continued on page 4) where color blindness is a reality. This assessment of racial progress was devoid of the reality of everyday INSIDE: (continued on page 2) • Subprime Lending Convening • Poverty and Racism • Kirwan Blog • Talking About Race and Biology (Again) • Q&A Affirmative Action Executive Notes (continued from page 1) American life. A discussion of the continued Which of these values become salient Without a new way to understand the segregation and re-segregation of American depends on priming. When an issue is clearly dynamic of racialization and sexism, we schools was absent. No mention was made racist, the majority of white America will not will limit the historical significance of of the widening wealth gap between white support it—and this is new since the 60s. Senators Obama and Clinton’s race for Americans and black or Latino Americans. So, in order for this strategy to be successful, the Democratic nomination for president. The targeting of communities of color for racial progress on a national level must be We must look at our implicit bias and predatory and sub-prime mortgage loans did backed through the use of symbols and our institutional arrangements. We must not make the agenda. And the link between messages. These symbols and messages must understand and recognize Southern Strategy the explosive growth of incarceration in the be clear enough to organize the resentment, and bring an end to it. United States despite declining crime rates but not so obvious as to violate the more and the overrepresentation of blacks and modern aspiration of equality. Most Latinos in American prisons received no Americans, while not consciously aware of attention. this strategy, have been the victims of it. john a. powell As important as the Obama-Clinton race When President Johnson signed the Civil Executive Director has been, the effort to understand race and Rights Act in 1964, he noted that he had just gender by simply looking at the support for given the Republican Party the South for a Obama and Clinton is incredibly misplaced. generation. To exploit the South’s resentment A B O U T T H E I N S T I T U T E This celebration of American racial progress and racism and win national elections, the was interrupted by increasing numbers of Republicans had to appeal to both the sense The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race white voters stating that they would not of growing equality in the country while and Ethnicity is a university-wide interdis- ciplinary research institute. Its goal is to vote for a black man for president. But even organizing white racial resentment—parts deepen our understanding of the causes of the understanding of this reality was largely one and two of the strategy. The final part and solutions to racial and ethnic dispari- inadequate. The issue was described as of this strategy was to support policies ties and hierarchies. This includes an ex- Obama’s problem, not America’s problem. and institutions that would continue plicit focus not only on Ohio and the United There was little attention paid to how white undermining real racial progress in how States, but also on the Americas and our resentment was not just being discovered, it groups were situated. Nixon’s opposition to larger global community. Our primary focus is to increase general understanding was being organized and used for political busing and support for law and order were that, despite many differences, human des- gain. This is not new. Elite whites have a examples of this. He put a new stamp on tinies are intertwined. Thus, the institute long history of organizing the resentment of the Supreme Court that took the teeth out explores and illustrates both our diversity working class whites for political purpose. of Brown by allowing segregation between and common humanity in real terms. The elites in the Democratic Party used this the cities and suburbs. So, we can now The institute brings together a diverse and approach in the 1880s and 1890s to drive a celebrate the idea of integrated schools while creative group of scholars and researchers wedge between blacks and whites to garner maintaining the reality of segregated schools. from various disciplines to focus on the his- white votes for their own ends. The great tories, present conditions, and the future In 1980, Reagan kicked off his presidential purveyor of popular democracy, Andrew prospects of racially and ethnically margin- campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, where Jackson, helped create solid white support by alized people. Informed by real-world needs, civil rights workers had been killed in 1964. its work strives to meaningfully influence disenfranchising black voters. His democratic He announced that he was for states’ rights, policies and practices. efforts were decidedly racist. a code phrase that signaled to the southern The institute also focuses on the interrelat- This story has a modern version that is white voter that Reagan’s sentiments were edness of race and ethnicity with other fac- just as disturbing but more complex. aligned with them in regard to opposition to tors, such as gender, class, and culture, and White America has indeed moved toward federal enforcement of civil rights for blacks. how these are embedded in structures and embracing and internalizing racial equality The Republican Party recently apologized systems. Collaboration with other institutions and organizations around the world as a value. A three-part strategy was for using the Southern Strategy, but then and ongoing relationships with real people, developed in the 60s and perfected in the continued using it. What the pundits have real communities, and real issues are a vital 70s and 80s. It is known as the Southern missed is how implicit bias and resentment part of its work. Strategy and the recent version is most have been used in the election cycle. This is The institute employs many approaches to closely affiliated with the Republican Party. done both through messages and through fulfilling its mission: original research, pub- Few pundits question how the South moved institutional and policy choices. lications, comparative analyses, surveys, from being solidly Democratic to being the convenings, and conferences. It is part of a Great work is being done to better foundation of the Republican Party rich intellectual community and draws understand implicit bias, the conflicted upon the insight and energy of the faculty But what is this strategy? The strategy nature of the American people, and what and students at Ohio State. works on the ambivalence of the American effect the interactions of institutions and While the institute focuses on marginalized people: the value of racial equality and racial policies have in maintaining and producing racial and ethnic communities, it under- resentment on one hand, and on the other unfair racialized outcomes.

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