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

Autumn 2008

Executive Notes The United States made history on November 4, 2008, by electing the first African American to the office of presi- dent. President-elect Barack Obama will Professor formally take office john a. powell on January 20, 2009. This change has been called the end of the Civil War, the end of the Southern Strategy, and a move to post-racialism in the United

Jo McCulty States. While there is some merit to the first two claims, there is none to the Does Barack Obama’s Victory third. Herald a Post-Racial America? It is difficult to overestimate the role of race in shaping the American consciousness and American institu- By Andrew Grant-Thomas, Deputy Director tions. Too often we think of race, or more accurately racialization, as some- thing that impacts and affects people of On the morning of Tuesday, January 20, 2009, Barack Obama will become the color only. There is little understanding first “African American” president—the first non-White male president—in of how race has shaped the racial iden- the 232 year history of the United States. He will have won 67 million votes, tities of Whites and has as well shaped more than any candidate ever. As Senator John McCain graciously noted in his our public and private institutions. For concession speech, given the deep and divisive history of race in the United example, Paul Krugman asserts that States, that such an enormous coalition could coalesce around the candidacy the weakness and gutting of the union of a Black man (“with a funny name,” no less) is indeed cause for celebration. movement in the 1940s was motivated Some argue that Obama’s victory proves that race no longer plays a by racial concerns. The result of this meaningful role in determining who gets what in this country. Indeed, attack continues to have implications former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett recently declared an end to for the depression of wages and bene- excuse-making by people of color: “Well, I’ll tell you one thing [Obama’s fits for our entire society. Similarly, win] means…You don’t take any excuses anymore from anybody who America rejected universal health care says, ‘The deck is stacked, I can’t do anything, there’s so much in-built more than five decades ago in part out this and that.’” Coming from the man who suggested just two years ago of fear of integrated health care. that “aborting every Black baby in this country” would be one sure way The controversy over slavery and race to reduce the crime rate, Bennett’s assertion is painfully ironic. More to was one of the defining, if not the the point, the conclusion he draws from Obama’s achievement—in effect, defining, issue for the new republic from that we have become a “post-racial” society—is one we can expect to hear the beginning of nationhood. Consider echoed repeatedly in the months ahead. the South’s demand that slaves be (continued on page 4) (continued on page 2)

INSIDE: • International Perspectives: Obama’s Election • Why We Need to Talk About Race • Affirmative Action Ballot Initiatives Update • Subprime Lending Convening Overview • Kirwan Fifth Anniversary Event Executive Notes (continued from page 1) counted as part of their population so that was no longer appropriate to be expressly on forms of racial attitudes and more on the South would have greater parity with racist. Too many White Americans were effects of institutional racism and implicit the North in national elections. Out of this starting to reject this world view. Instead, bias. Will we take the opportunity this demand, the Electoral College was born. this strategy required that the national time? The jury is still out. As a result of this agreement, the South Republican Party make weak appeal to fair- and particularly the largest slaveholding ness and equality while organizing and state, Virginia, dominated national poli- supporting White resentment. It is what tics and the presidency up to the Civil War. Patricia Williams calls racism in drag. It john a. powell Consider that many of the early presidents only works if the racism is not consciously Executive Director were slaveholders who would not have won recognized. The Willie Horton ad (his name without counting the slaves. This includes was not Willie) used by George Bush Sr. is Jefferson. When our early institutions were an example of priming racial resentment taking shape, issues of slavery were salient while claiming to be for racial fairness. A B O U T T H E I N S T I T U T E in the national consciousness. Seating in The South so dominated national politics The Kirwan Institute for the Study of the early Congress until the Civil War was that only Republicans and Democrats from Race and Ethnicity is a university-wide not divided by parties as it is today, but was interdisciplinary research institute. Its the South would be elected president until divided by support or opposition to slavery. goal is to deepen our understanding of this election. But it was not just the elections Even our concept of class, and particularly the causes of and solutions to racial and that were at issue but what kind of country working class, was argued with slavery being ethnic disparities and hierarchies. This the United States would be. And the United includes an explicit focus not only on a constant reference. States continued to be a country where Ohio and the United States, but also on As Toni Morrison suggested, the institution meaningful racial justice and other progres- the Americas and our larger global com- munity. Our primary focus is to increase of racialized slavery does not just mark and sive causes could not be fully pursued. Laws general understanding that, despite define Black America, it defines much of were passed that were designed not to work many differences, human destinies are America and American institutional design. or would not be implemented. The Supreme intertwined. Thus, the institute explores As Eric Allina-Pisano states, much of Amer- Court seemed to be more influenced by the and illustrates both our diversity and ican exceptionalism is about slavery and Confederate Constitution than the post common humanity in real terms. race. After the Civil War, there was a chance Civil War Constitution. The institute brings together a diverse and to radically change this. And change it did, creative group of scholars and research- All of this is now up for grabs. There is but not toward a racial democracy but a new ers from various disciplines to focus on a new world coming. But it would be racial arrangement that not only reinsti- the histories, present conditions, and the a huge mistake to assume that as race tuted states’ rights, as Douglas A. Blackmon future prospects of racially and ethnically issues change, racism will end. We have marginalized people. Informed by real- asserts in Slavery by a Different Name, but missed earlier opportunities to move to world needs, its work strives to meaning- also new forms of White supremacy that a truly racially just society. Instead, we fully influence policies and practices. required violence and state complicity. have witnessed the evolution of race and The institute also focuses on the interre- This dual system was not formally rejected racism. Slavery, Jim Crow, and the Southern latedness of race and ethnicity with other until the 1950s and 1960s. As a number of Strategy should make it clear that race issues factors, such as gender, class, and culture, commentators have noted, non-Whites were are adaptable to the times. and how these are embedded in structures not allowed to effectively participate in the and systems. Collaboration with other creation of the (White) middle class during We now have another opportunity. It is a institutions and organizations around the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. The implication wonderful opportunity not just for people the world and ongoing relationships with for this in terms of wealth and opportunity of color but for our entire country. But real people, real communities, and real issues are a vital part of its work. continues to haunt us today. And the reverse the thinking and conversation about post- redlining that characterizes the subprime racialism is troubling. We are still thinking The institute employs many approaches market could only happen because of of racial expression that has been declining to fulfilling its mission: original research, publications, comparative analyses, sur- redlining decades before. for decades. We are inclined to overly focus veys, convenings, and conferences. It is on racial attitudes, meaning conscious racial The political alignment that allowed all part of a rich intellectual community and attitudes. And indeed they have improved. this to happen was the one party system in draws upon the insight and energy of the But we pay virtually no attention to implicit faculty and students at Ohio State. the South after the Civil War: a White-only racial attitudes nor do we focus on the work party. This party, sometimes referred to as While the institute focuses on margin- that our institutional design is doing. To Dixiecrats, held the Democratic Party as a alized racial and ethnic communities, it paraphrase John Rawls, to know if a society understands that these communities exist willing hostage to racial arrangement. This is just, look at the work that its institutions in relation to other communities and that marriage between the Dixiecrats and Demo- are doing. fostering these relationships deepens the crats ended when Johnson signed the Civil possibility of change. It is the sincere hope Rights Act in 1964. But the Dixiecrats were There is still work to be done related to and goal of all of us that the institute not to be left alone for long; the Republican racial attitude, and President-elect Obama gives transformative meaning to both our Party quickly stepped in under what came is likely to have a profound impact on diversity and our common humanity. to be known as the Southern Strategy. attitudes. But to the extent that we focus primarily on conscious attitude we will As the Southern Strategy developed, it miss the present form of racialization. The pointed to a new form of racialization. It emphasis for the 21st century should be less

2 Institute Welcomes New Director of Communications Kathy Baird oversees the Kirwan Institute’s comprehensive communications program. Prior to joining Kirwan in 2008, her extensive communications experience included work for universities, hospitals, and marketing communications firms. Over the years, Kathy has planned and implemented comprehensive communications programs integrating advertising, public relations, and sales promotion. She has overseen product launches, special events, and local and national media relations campaigns for both consumer and trade press, while managing the writing and production of a Kathy Baird wide variety of publications and multimedia productions. Accredited by the Public Relations Society of America, Kathy has been recognized with many industry awards, including the 1997 Headliner Award from the Association for Women in Communications (Columbus Chapter), the organization’s highest Development honor for professional achievement. The work of the Kirwan Institute is made possible by the Kathy holds a BA in journalism from The Ohio State University. generous support of numerous people and organizations. She is regularly involved in a variety of community and professional New external funding includes the following: organizations. W.K. Kellogg Foundation The African American Male Project Advanced Racial Equity Planning Project New Edited Volume on The Ford Foundation Multiracialism in the United States General operations Twenty-First Century Colorlines: Multiracial Change in The Diversity Advancement Project Contemporary America, explores the “multiracial, multiethnic The Integration Initiative ‘line’ for the new century.” This volume was initiated by the The President’s Council (of Cleveland) Harvard Civil Rights Project, and gives an excellent overview of the Regionalism and its effects on African Americans in contemporary racial and ethnic environment in the United States. Cleveland Andrew Grant-Thomas, deputy director of the Kirwan Institute, Public Interest Projects and Gary Orfield, professor of education, law, political science, and Fulfilling the Dream Fund (National Fund) urban planning at UCLA/co-director of the Civil Rights Project, “A New Paradigm for Affirmative Action: Targeting Within present their co-edited volume, published by Temple University Universalism” Press. It combines theoretical and empirical perspectives to answer the fundamental questions about multiracialism in the United The Tides Foundation States. The issues of work, education, family life, and nationality Core operating support for different ethnic groups are addressed. Pedro Noguera, of New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, says the volume The Open Society Institute is “an excellent and timely collection on an important set of civil School Desegregation Project rights issues.” Core operating support More information on the volume can be found at Democracy Alliance temple.edu/tempress. General operations

For more information on making a commitment to excellence with a donation to the institute, please contact: Coming in January Heather A. Schwenker 2009…e-Update Director of Development Starting in January 2009 the institute will be launching its Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity electronic newsletter, e-Update. This new format will bring (614) 688-5429 quarterly news about Kirwan initiatives right to your e-mail. [email protected] Visit our web site in December to subscribe to the e-Update.

3 “Obama’s Victory” (continued from page 1) This conclusion is deeply mistaken. Obama’s victory marks a referendum on how far this country’s racial sensibilities had evolved. milestone in U.S. race relations—and possibly even a milestone In that regard, a handful of votes–the difference between winning in global race relations, as Europeans, among others, look to us and losing, hypothetically—would make all the difference in the with wonder. But the candidate’s win does not change the fact judgment at which we arrived. that Black and Latino children are much more likely than White In fact, the 2008 Presidential Election was a referendum on race children to attend high-poverty schools with crumbling physical in America only to this limited degree: most Americans agreed infrastructures, few qualified teachers, and few courses that can that race and racial anxieties did not trump the exigencies of war, prepare them for the rigors of college. The win does not change the peace, and economic crisis. Even in places like North Carolina and fact that a White man with a criminal record is as likely to receive Virginia, where for decades the GOP has traded on White racial consideration for a job as a Black man without a record. It does resentment for electoral gain—i.e., the Southern Strategy—many not change the fact that minority homeseekers, many with good Whites resisted the McCain campaign’s increasingly desperate credit scores, are steered disproportionately to high-cost, subprime race-baiting to vote for the candidate they believed had the insight, mortgages, or that their communities are devastated by the current judgment, and temperament needed to tackle the critical issues foreclosure crisis as a result. facing the country. Observations like these, and the many similar ones that could be Other factors also shaped voters’ choices, including President Bush’s offered, are not “excuses.” The struggle for equal opportunity has dismal popularity rating, a raft of scandals involving Republican never been about creating justifications for failure. U.S. history is lawmakers, Sarah Palin’s poor command of the issues, McCain’s full of people, of all racial and ethnic stripes, whose exceptional age and “erratic” campaign performance, changing demographics, combination of talent, diligence, and luck produced remarkable the Democrats’ fundraising edge, and more. Even among voters achievements, often in the face of high barriers to success. The to whom Obama’s race gave pause, these and other considerations point is that as caretakers in this “land of opportunity,” we have sometimes tipped the scale in his favor. One man’s laconic response much more work to do when that promise remains unevenly to a canvasser’s query nicely captures the deep ambivalence with realized across lines of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, which he registered his vote: “Ma’am, we’re voting for the n***er.” geography, and religion. With Obama’s presidency already widely To suggest that this sort of very particular and highly conditioned construed as evidence of our move to post-racialism, it is worth choice is itself indicative of how “racism” shapes the daily lives being specific about the flaws in that construction. Two particular of 300 million people across a wide range of local contexts and flaws deserve mention here. interactions is a huge stretch. First, the post-racialism claim builds on a reductive either-or In addition to its either-or reductionism, the move from the dualism to which most Americans subscribe on race matters. So, Obama win to the post-racial claim highlights a second serious for example, either President Bush’s tepid response to Hurricane flaw in the way Americans conceptualize race and racism: the Katrina revealed him to be a “racist,” or his selection of several tendency to understand racism simply as a matter of interpersonal non-Whites to prominent cabinet posts prove that he is “not a discrimination and explicit bias directed at non-Whites. By this racist.” No matter how often someone like Tiger Woods, or Obama logic, if a candidate of color can draw enough support from himself, stresses his diverse racial heritage, he is almost always White and other Americans to reach the pinnacle of U.S. public identified as African American: in the United States, a person is life, then racism must be dead—or close enough. However, even either Black or not-Black. Either people of color face insuperable if interpersonal racism were dead and buried, racial inequality obstacles to prosperity or none at all. Either the president-elect’s would persist. unprecedented achievement affirms what The Wall Street Journal calls the “myth of racism” or it is completely anomalous. When it Because Americans generally take individual people to be the main comes to race, we are often blind to shades of gray. or only vehicles of racism, we often fail to appreciate the work done by racially inequitable institutions and structures. But, in fact, all The structure of the electoral process itself reinforces this all- complex societies feature institutional arrangements that help to or-nothing impulse. In the first instance, a kind of interpretive create and distribute benefits, burdens, and interests in society, violence is inevitable when the fears, hopes, aspirations, and often quite independently of our conscious intentions. Consider ambivalences of more than one hundred million people are reduced the example of college admissions. Grades earned by high school to a binary choice: McCain or Obama. In almost every state, the students in Advanced Placement (AP) and other college-prep popular vote winner gets all the electoral votes, regardless of courses may be the single most influential factor in admissions how many millions of people preferred his opponent. Given this decisions—often more important than overall GPA, class rank, or backdrop, perhaps it is unsurprising that for months the election test scores, and far more important than “diversity” considerations. outcome was anticipated, at home and abroad, as a decisive In a society where White students are much more likely than Black and Latino students to attend high schools that offer such courses,

4 Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary and offer more of them, weighing AP performance heavily Global Contexts raceethnicity.org in admissions decisions is racially inequitable. Nevertheless, we don’t need to conjure up racist admissions officers to get Call for Papers this outcome. Volume 3, Number 1 (Autumn 2009) Three processes intersect to generate racially biased outcomes here. First, higher education admissions policies Race and the Global Politics of Health Inequity often make college access partly reliant on students’ Papers must be received by December 31, 2008 to be considered for prior access to AP classes in high school. Second, these publication in this issue admissions policies discount the fact that participation in The editorial staff of Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts the AP program is extremely uneven across high schools. invites submissions for the first issue of its third volume that will focus For example, research on California in the late 1990s on “Race and the Global Politics of Health Inequity.” Race/Ethnicity found that 15 percent of the state’s public schools offered uses a classic piece as a point of departure for treatments of critical no AP courses at all, while 17 percent offered fifteen or issues within the field of race and ethnic studies. Announcement of the more. Third, race enters the equation by way of historical classic piece is forthcoming. legacies of racial injustice, complemented by contemporary forms of interpersonal, intra-institutional, and structural While the classic piece establishes the thematic parameters of bias that place minority students disproportionately in the each issue, authors are under no obligation to actively engage the schools least likely to offer advanced courses. California arguments posed by that work. schools offering many AP classes are most often located in Health outcomes around the world vary dramatically across lines of affluent areas with few Blacks and Latinos; the reverse was race, ethnicity, gender, class, place, and nationality. At the national true of schools with few AP classes. extremes, the residents of countries such as Japan, Singapore, and Andorra can expect to live more than four decades longer than those Barack Obama’s win is hugely important for both in Zimbabwe, Liberia, Swaziland and other Sub-Sahara nations. On substantive and symbolic reasons. We have reason to hope average, Black American males can expect to live nine years fewer that his administration will chart a domestic and foreign than White Americans. We know that the distribution and quality of policy course that diverges dramatically and productively medicine and health care matter. However, we also know that at the from the one taken by the present administration. His population level factors such as social structure, economic inequality, example, and those of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, and globalization have much greater influence on the population and may well inspire more girls, women, and people of color to sub-population variations we see. seek positions of public leadership. Suddenly, the prospect of our first Latino, Asian American, or Native American The first issue of Volume 3 explores the implication of race and president, or of a second Black president, is plausible. The ethnicity in health outcomes around the world, with special attention Obama phenomenon confirms that we have come far since to the social, economic and political foundations of health inequity. We the Shirley Chisolm and Jesse Jackson presidential runs in invite submissions that respond to questions that include, but are not the 1970s and 1980s, while holding out the possibility of limited to, the following: further progressive changes to our racial culture. • How and why do race, ethnicity, gender, class, place and nationality matter in shaping population health? What Barack Obama’s victory does not signal is our transformation into a post-racial society. To claim that • In what ways does globalization shape health outcomes? it does is to miss the fluid, contingent nature of racial • What is the relationship between social, political, and/or economic attitudes and beliefs, the shades-of-gray character of inequalities and the distribution of health outcomes within and human nature, and the varied makeup of racialized across countries and regions? barriers to equal opportunity today. Equally important, in • What roles do multinational corporations play in the distribution of prematurely proclaiming our post-racial status we ignore health outcomes within and across countries? the distance we have yet to travel to truly make this country a land of equal opportunity for all, regardless of racial • What roles are played by governmental and intergovernmental identity. Barack Obama may prove willing and able to lead policies, practices, and social ideologies around the production the way on the next stage of the journey, but he can’t get us and distribution of medicine, food, weapons, patents, health care there by himself. infrastructure, and so on? • What kinds of reforms—at the international, national, and sub- national levels—would be needed to significantly reduce the rates of sickness and early death among the world’s most marginalized populations?

Please send manuscript submissions to Eavon Mobley ([email protected]). See raceethnicity.org/ styleguide.html to prepare your document. Submission of cover artwork that relates to the issue’s theme is welcome. See raceethnicity.org/coverart.html.

5 Kirwan Institute Blog is created by Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. This blog is devoted to stimulating and Monday, November 10, 2008 sustaining dialogue around issues of race, ethnicity, social hierarchy, Our New Racial Ambassadors: democratic principles, and other intersections of social justice. Sasha and Malia Obama To initiate a new discussion ... By Wendy Smooth, Assistant Professor, e-mail [email protected]. Department of Women’s Studies with a joint appointment at the Kirwan Institute

With the historic election of Barack Obama, I find I looked into his big, beautiful, brown eyes and told myself overly excited by the thought of two little him that because of what happened last night, he will Black girls calling the White House home for the know a world different from that of his parents. His next few years. This is better than any episode of The world would be better. It would certainly be more Cosby Show ever written or imagined. I am convinced open, more inclusive, more accepting of difference. that little Sasha and Malia will be our best racial I know that my son will have two little Black girls to ambassadors. Americans having a bird’s eye view thank for opening the eyes of Americans to the beauty into the life of a real Black family will do more for of the Black child. racial understanding and advancement than all the Our little racial ambassadors through their everyday progressive social justice-based public policies that we actions of being little girls will prompt Americans to expect from the Obama presidency. raise the value placed on the lives of all Black children. Now I am not placing a burden on little Sasha and By the end of their eight years of residency at 1600 Malia to act, behave, or play as “representatives Pennsylvania Avenue, I am hopeful that people will of the race.” I am not expecting them to play Chi- develop a new understanding for why Black children Town style double-dutch on the east lawn—though like all children across this country are worthy of I would relish hearing the press’ coverage of the good schools, quality health care, safe neighborhoods, long honored tradition of Black girlhood. Nor am I and reliable housing. Sasha and Malia Obama will angling to see if they are captured carrying Groovy ignite our political will to act on behalf of all children Girl Dolls instead of Barbie. My dream is that they ensuring the future of this nation. will simply be themselves. In doing so, they will raise the value Americans place on the well-being of little Black children everywhere. They will show that little Black kids have the same dreams, desires, fears, and needs that all children have. They desire to be safe, secure, and loved. Even more so, my hope is that in Sasha and Malia’s comings and goings, they will help people understand that Black children are worth the investment. Americans will see that when you provide children—all children a first-rate world class education, they grow and flourish beyond our imagination. Americans will see that all children thrive when they have the best health care, safe playgrounds, and a great place to call home. The morning after the election, I greeted my wide- eyed, gummy-grinning, little baby boy, and between our morning stanzas of “Good Morning to You,” Photo credit: Ava Lowery

Kirwan Institute Blog (kirwaninstitute.blogspot.com)

This is a sample of a blog entry on the Kirwan Blogspot. Please visit our web site at kirwaninstitute.org to view and comment on current blogs. 6 Thinking and Talking about Race

By Tom Rudd, Senior Researcher implicit (subconscious) attitudes are often called “primes.” For example, during the presidential campaign, Republican messages Why we need to talk about race suggested that Senator Obama “cannot be trusted.” This message Research suggests that even when we are not talking about race, is framed to stimulate the negative associations toward people we are thinking about it. This notion is easy to understand when of color that are shared by many White Americans. However, we consider how visible race has been in the social, economic, research suggests that if a person does not have a negative racial and political history of the United States. Race has been, and frame, a negative racialized message will be rejected, no matter continues to be, a strong force in determining how opportunity is how strongly it is framed. distributed in our society. Race influences many of the important decisions we make in our personal, What do we mean by colorblind racism professional, and social lives: where Many Americans believe that race no longer matters, that all we live, who our friends are, which citizens have an equal opportunity to achieve the “American political candidates we vote for, and Dream.” This notion is often called “colorblindness.” Individuals which social programs we support. who embrace this colorblind frame search for messages and For most Americans, all of these issues information to support it. So, for example, successful people of include some consideration of race. color like Oprah Winfrey and Tiger Woods are seen as proof that anyone can achieve success in America regardless of race. Research also suggests that most of Hyper segregation in our cities is explained not by structural us are guided by a set of very subtle racialization but by the notion that people of color choose to “symbolic attitudes” that develop live only with other people of color no matter how negative the over time from our earliest experiences—attitudes like racial environment might be. Research does not support this colorblind prejudice or liberal/conservative political ideology. These view. Even when other factors are consistent—educational level, attitudes, often invisible to us, are so powerful that they can income, age, etc.—African Americans and Latinos continue to control our position on critical issues involving race—issues like face more substantial barriers to opportunity than Whites in affordable housing, affirmative action, and school integration. the United States in all critical life domains. Because research In his book, The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding does not support this colorblind notion, it is often seen as a form the Fate of the Nation, Drew Westen tells us that “Irrespective of racism. These misperceptions about racial equality in the of what we may feel and believe consciously, most White United States can lead to opposition to policies and programs Americans—including many who hold consciously progressive that are designed to eliminate barriers to opportunity in housing, values and attitudes—harbor negative associations toward people education, health care, and other critical life domains. of color.” These subtle, unconscious, negative attitudes are often referred to as “implicit bias.” President Obama and a transformative dialogue on race Symbolic attitudes function in what researchers call our The election of Senator Obama to the presidency will create both “implicit mind,” the part of the brain that we commonly call the opportunities and challenges as we move strategically toward a “subconscious.” Very often, these implicit attitudes are in conflict transformative dialogue on race. Many people believe that we with attitudes located in our conscious mind, or what we believe are entering a “post-racial” period in the United States when race we think about race. Westen suggests that our subconscious no longer matters. But this attitude ignores the consequences of attitudes are less egalitarian than our conscious attitudes. When structural racialization that have disempowered people of color and we talk about race, we have the opportunity to examine and severely distorted the distribution of opportunity throughout the challenge these attitudes and to reinforce our conscious beliefs. country. These racialized structures and arrangements cannot be If we do not talk about race, our more negative implicit attitudes dismantled overnight. about race are left unchallenged and can grow more powerful. We cannot hide from race. It is imprinted on the American psyche Why “framing” is important and sewn into the American fabric. While it is clear that a national in the dialogue on race dialogue on race during the presidential campaign could have had When we use the term “framing,” we are talking not only negative consequences for Senator Obama, his presidency creates about the way that messages about race are presented to a tremendous opportunity to engage in that conversation at every their audiences, but also about the way that these messages level. With President Obama as a catalyst, we have the opportunity are actually seen and interpreted by these audiences. At an to engage in a transformative dialogue about race that illuminates individual level, framing gives us our view of reality. Typically, the linked fate of all Americans and reinforces the proposition that messages about race are framed to appeal to both our conscious “We the People” means “All the People.” and subconscious attitudes. Messages that appeal directly to

7 International Perspectives

Obama’s Victory and Europe’s Medvedev, 43, should make it easier for them to work together. Then, smiling, he added, “I told the president he has everything Reactions—Many Questions needed in order to reach deals ... he’s young, handsome, and even Without Replies tanned.” He later said the remark was meant to be “cute” and those who disagreed were “imbeciles.” An editorialist in the Italian daily Lidija Knuth, Research Fellow, International Program La Stampa mused that “If Berlusconi wanted to stand out among T HAS REALLY HAPPENED! What many people in the world the thousands of congratulatory messages that Obama has received, did not imagine to be possible happened. Most Europeans, as he succeeded in his way.”) Iwell as most people from different corners of the world, did Indeed, the colour of Obama’s skin was not of significance to most not believe that the United Sates would overcome racism to such a Europeans. For the absolute majority of Europeans, the main issue degree that it would be ready for a Black man as the president of the was the political change—from a Republican to a Democratic United States. government. However, in general, his racial background was The majority of Europeans are overwhelmed and extremely happy perceived as a “sign for real change.” Often, parallels were drawn about the election of Barack Obama as the new president of the to the charismatic and first Black Secretary General of the United United States. As soon as the result was announced, his election Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan. was hailed variously as a catalyst for peace in Afghanistan, an Differently from the United States, the nomination, campaign, international symbol of justice, the impetus for a new Arab-Israeli and the victory of Barack Obama has not raised a discussion and settlement, acceptance of higher environmental standards for the the questions it should have: questions concerning racism and United States, and a harbinger of worldwide racial harmony. xenophobia in Europe, and the question about the social and All comments on the results expressed hope and expectations: economic status of thousands of immigrants and their children who were born in Europe and are still considered to be immigrants. In Britain, liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the “...weight of Most people in Europe still view racism and xenophobia primarily peoples’ hopes and expectations on Barack Obama are immense.” as a problem of the United States and do not try to draw parallels He added, “The world will not succeed in this era of globalization asking whether a presidential candidate with a similar background without the leadership of the new American president.” could run for an election here in Europe. Some even warned of too much expectation. “A new face offers My answer to this question is that it is not likely to happen soon. Europe a new chance to remarry America,” said Wolfgang Ischinger, a former German ambassador to the United States. But Europe should take the United States in this respect as an “That’s the good news. The bad news is that this outburst of example. America has again, after a long break, led the way for Obama-mania does create expectations which no president can the world and shown that a positive change for the vulnerable and possibly fulfill. Sooner or later there will be some disappointment excluded of the society is not impossible. on the way.” But how has the election impacted the discussion about race? In Germany, Italy, France, and many other European countries, TV Yes, We Can! channels openly expressed their support for the outcome of the S. P. Udayakumar, Research Fellow, election. Interestingly, all TV channels commented the election International Program results, referring to Obama as “the first Black president of the s the American presidential election climax was building, United States.” Indeed, there was a constant invocation of Obama’s I had a nagging worry in my mind. What if the American skin color and personal background when announcing the outcome voters said the politically correct thing—that they would of the election. And there were some expressions of hope for a new A vote for Barack Obama (and thereby tried to establish that his being era to start that would have overcome racism. Black was immaterial for them)—but voted actually for McCain Peter Herbert, chairman of Britain’s Society of Black Lawyers, also out of the age-old prejudices and fears that a Black man could not welcomed the result. Herbert said that for “...the United Kingdom be trusted with presidential powers? What if McCain defied all and Europe we must mirror the democratic process that has helped the polls and predictions and emerged victorious, and proved that deliver the first Black president for the USA to include justice for racism in the American society could not be set aside so easily? all our citizens and not just for some citizens and help build a What if the African-American and other minority communities in world brought together by what unites us rather than what we see the United States took the Barack Obama defeat personally and lost that divides us. That is the realization of not just an American faith in the American system once and for all? I was really worried. Dream but of a world that has come of age to meet the challenges But the American voters have spoken clearly and concisely. As that lie ahead.” Kevin Rudd, the Australian Prime Minister, has put it rightly and But beside these statements and the guff of Italy’s famously nicely, “Twenty-five years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream impolitic prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who described the of an America where men and women would be judged not on the U.S. president-elect as being “tanned,” there was little discussion. color of their skin but on the content of their character. Today, what (When Berlusconi, in Moscow for diplomatic talks, was asked America has done is turn that dream into a reality.” And that is the about the prospect for improving U.S.-Russian relations, he said message of hope that the world needs today. the youth of Barack Obama, 47, and Russian President Dmitry

8 Moreover, the American voters have avoided the Florida fiasco of may look to Obama to improve their national economy, homeland the 2000 Election, and the wishy-washy indecisiveness of the security, world dominance, and so forth. Non-Americans may 2004 Election results. They have come out openly and defiantly not be very much interested in those things. But they may expect with a clear mandate for Obama and strengthened the U.S. the new president at least to question the way things have been Democratic system. And this message of democracy is what the done in the United States so far for so long. The U.S. government world needs today. can spend more than one trillion dollars on a meaningless war in Iraq, churn out $700 billion to rescue the failing private financial These two factors do weigh heavily in the favorable assessment of institutions and banks in the country, but cannot find $18 billion the 2008 Presidential Election by non-Americans. There is also to provide basic nutrition to the women and children in the another important factor that makes Obama so attractive outside developing countries. the United States. This world has always been ruled by the small minority of White people who make up hardly 11 percent of the Non-Americans do well know that it is not his responsibility to world population. The world’s socioeconomic-political happenings provide nutrition to the women and children in the developing have been a White show headed by a White man in Washington, world. But they do hope that Obama can rein in the ruthless DC (and his White cronies in European capitals) who has had little American military-industrial-media-academic complex that hurts, understanding of, and even less concern for, the outside world. harms, and kills millions of people in the developing world. But now here is a Black man at the helm of world affairs who does Most people outside the United States think that America needs a have ancestral, temporal, and emotional ties with sub-Saharan Gorbachev who can bring about an American version of “glasnost” Africa, South Pacific, Southeast Asia, and Midwest America. What and “perestroika” to reinvent humanitarianism in American else can be a better qualification to lead the United States and the politics and reinscribe American values on humanity. Obama may larger world? or may not do all that. But Obama’s election is certainly the first bold step the Americans have taken toward that direction. And The expectations from the president-designate are quite high. Not that is why the world outside is also so excited. just in the United States but also in the outside world. Americans

Third issue of Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global H79;%;J>D?9?JO Contexts Available Multidisciplinary Global Contexts Volume 2 Number 1 • Autumn 2008

The third issue of Race/Ethnicity, “The Dynamics of Race and Incarceration: Social Integration, Social Welfare, and Social Control,” is now available. The issue begins with our “classic” piece, a widely cited excerpt from “Panopticism” in Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. This selection looks at constant visibility as a manifestation of power exercised over those who are made visible. This mechanism of discipline is used on patients in hospitals, students in schools, workers in factories, soldiers in barracks, and prisoners in prisons. Those considered dangerous are placed in “segmented, immobile, frozen space.” The articles in this issue examine the space of prisons and the processes to place targeted populations within that space. Topics include the relationship between incarceration and civil rights in the United States; the mismatch between existing reentry reform proposals and the racial structures that propel mass incarceration; the increasing incarceration of migrants in the European Union; the overrepresentation of minorities in the criminal justice system in Britain and Wales; post-apartheid prison practices in South Africa; federally sentenced aboriginal women in Canada; the Convict The Dynamics of Race and Incarceration: Criminology perspective; and a retrospective look by a former corrections Social Integration, Social Welfare, and Social Control director on his career in correctional administration. An examination of who gets imprisoned, why, and the effects of incarceration on individual lives and society requires that we critically examine societal CALL FOR PAPERS 2010 attitudes toward race and ethnicity, as well as the impacts of class and economic The call for papers for the Spring 2010 issue on labor will be access in regard to control, integration, and welfare. The articles in this issue announced soon. Submissions are being accepted at this time. raise questions that must be addressed if incarceration is to serve as a first step The editors invite theme suggestions for upcoming issues. toward rehabilitation and redemption rather than the final step toward social We also invite proposals from groups interested in suggesting marginalization and exclusion. a theme and in serving as guest editors for that issue of the journal. Please e-mail your suggestions and/or proposals to For more information about the journal or to subscribe, go to raceethnicity.org. Eavon Mobley ([email protected]). Questions in this section are chosen by our staff to address a particular topic as it relates to our work at the institute. To submit a question for consideration, please e-mail [email protected].

Q&A: Is America a Post-Racial Society?

Andrew Grant-Thomas, Deputy Director Eavon Lee Mobley, Managing Editor

Q1: What is this “post- Race also plays a significant role, implicitly our collective fates are linked across racial racial” society I keep or explicitly, in many of the most impor- lines and how the entire nation is harmed hearing about? tant decisions we make in our personal, by the consequences of structural racism professional, and social lives: where we live, and racial hierarchy. If we do not engage in A1: While there is no definitive who our children’s friends are, who our a transformative dialogue on race, the con- answer to that question, the term friends are, which political candidates we versation on issues like affirmative action generally refers to a society, often vote for, what social programs we support, and school integration will continue to assumed to be the United States, in which and so on. For most Americans, all of these have polarizing—rather than unifying— race no longer significantly shapes social issues include some consideration of race, outcomes, and our democracy will suffer. opportunities, outcomes, or interpersonal and while these considerations are often The question thus becomes: How do we relationships. All members of a “post- very subtle, they have the power to shape talk constructively about race? This is an racial” society, regardless of race or ethnic- and control individual attitudes, values, empirical question, one that we, and a ity, would have equal access to the benefits and behaviors. The process of racialization growing number of colleagues across the that the society provides. The term has continues to depress our aspirations as a country, are trying to answer by means become popular in the context of Barack nation as well as our economic and civic of surveys, focus groups, interviews, and Obama’s successful candidacy for the office well-being, and while this process affects other research. Already, the research find- of the U.S. presidency. racially marginalized and non-marginal- ings indicate that positive attitudinal ized groups differently, it affects us all. change is possible even among individuals Q2: Has the United and groups who fervently embrace sym- bolic attitudes and frames that energize States entered a The institute refers Q3: racial hierarchy and structural inequality. “post-racial” era? a lot to “talking A2: No. Race remains an important about race.” Why? factor in the way our institutions A3: The current dialogue on race is Q4: You just mentioned are designed and the work they constrained and distorted by fear “colorblind racism.” do. It has been a principal force in build- and a host of misperceptions, What is that? ing, sustaining, and shifting the social and incomplete understandings, and negative Unlike “old-fashioned racism,” political structures and organizational attitudes. The resulting anxiety and dis- A4: “colorblind racism” consists of arrangements that control the distribu- comfort prompts some people to shy away covert, rather than overt, racial- tion of opportunity and resources across from talking about race at all. We believe ized rhetoric and practices. Sociologist all populations. As a result, while increas- that is a mistake. If we do not pursue a Eduardo Bonilla Silva’s work has helped ing numbers of non-Whites are achiev- transformative dialogue about race, we run popularize the term. Colorblind rac- ing success in a wide range of social and the risk of energizing “colorblind racism,” ism is characterized by the tendency to professional arenas, people of color remain trivializing social and economic inequality avoid racial terminology or references, far behind Whites on virtually every sig- fueled by race, and reinforcing prevail- the “invisibility” of racial inequality, nificant indicator of social equity. (See our ing notions of group privilege and social the denial of mechanisms by which it is “Racial Equity Status Report” at kirwan- hierarchy. institute.org/publicationspresentations/ produced and reproduced, and the use publications/index.php). Because we live in a nation that is still of racially “coded” language (e.g., wel- substantially racially divided, it is difficult fare queen, law and order, violent crime). for many Americans to understand how

10 Kirwan 5th Anniversary Event (L-R) William E “Brit” Kirwan, former president of The Ohio State University and current chancellor of the University The Kirwan Institute celebrated its fifth anniversary at Ohio System of Maryland, joins State with an event at the president’s residence on Friday, Andrew Grant-Thomas, deputy director of Ohio November 14. The institute was established in May 2003 State’s Kirwan Institute and soon afterward was named The Kirwan Institute for for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, Ohio State President the Study of Race and Ethnicity in honor of Dr. William E. E. Gordon Gee, and john “Brit” Kirwan. Kirwan, a former president of Ohio State, powell, executive director of the Kirwan Institute, at its championed diversity at the university and along with former fifth anniversary gala held at Provost Edward J. Ray wrote “…Support for diversity is an Gee’s home on November 14. affirmation of each individual’s intrinsic value and of that person’s potential and actual contribution to social/political/ economic improvement. Moreover, a diverse environment tests, shapes, and educates each of us to more fully realize our potential.” Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee The Kirwan Institute partners with people, communities, and addresses Andrew Grant- Thomas, deputy director of institutions worldwide to think about, talk about, and act on Ohio State’s Kirwan Institute race in ways that create and expand opportunity for all. for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, and Alan C. Michaels, dean of the Moritz The “transformative agenda around race” is the institute’s College of Law at Ohio State, vision that it is not enough to just think and talk about race. during the institute’s fifth The goal of the transformative agenda is to devise new ways of anniversary celebration. thinking about, talking about, and acting on race, so that race is no longer seen as a necessary divide, but as something that Photos by Kevin Fitzsimons, The Ohio State University can help define and release our human collective capacity for creativity.

Q&A: Colorblind racism can also refer to the country’s 44th president is indeed cause for However, even as we acknowledge the practical effects of ostensibly race-neutral celebration. However, the recent election tough road ahead, it is important to mark social policies and interventions. If social cycle also offered ample reason for con- how far we have come. In 1958, the state of benefits and burdens are distributed ineq- cern. In Arizona, California, and Florida, Virginia responded to federal court orders uitably according to race, marginalizing voters chose to inscribe antigay discrimi- to integrate its public schools by closing some groups while granting unearned nation into their state constitutions. Voters a number of those schools instead. Fifty privileges to others, then policies that in Nebraska passed a measure prohibiting years later, Virginia gave Obama its 13 elec- appear neutral in fact are likely to have the use of race, gender, or national origin toral votes and a critical victory, the first unequal effects as well. in public employment, public education, time a Democratic presidential candidate and public contracting. Misogyny, Islamo- has won there since 1964. Indiana, the phobia, and xenophobia made lengthy, only state ever to elect as governor an open Q5: So what is the dismaying appearances throughout the member of the Ku Klux Klan (Edward institute’s response campaign. And, contrary to a rapidly Jackson, 1925–1929), gave its 11 electoral to Barack Obama’s emerging media narrative, Obama’s victory votes to Obama as well. Perhaps now we historic Election does not signify this country’s passage to can make renewed progress toward open- A5: 2008 victory? a “post-racial” state. With respect to race, ing wide the door to a truly inclusive soci- as with the economy, foreign policy, the ety and a more perfect union. To paraphrase from our official environment, issues of war and peace, and statement of response: Given the deep so much more, we have a great deal of hard and troubling history of race in this coun- work ahead of us. try, the election of Barack Obama as the

11 Subprime Lending, Foreclosure, and Race Convening

n October 2 and 3, nearly 200 civil rights, fair housing, community, and neighborhood advocates joined Kirwan Ostaff and volunteers at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio, for a two-day convening on Subprime Lending, Foreclosure, and Race. On Tuesday, twelve nationally known speakers presented on structural racialization, legal advocacy, securitization, media narratives, and racial and ethnic impacts of the subprime crisis. Jim Carr, the Chief Operating Officer of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, gave the lunchtime keynote address. After lunch, participants convened in small-group sessions covering a variety of topics, including innovative local responses, class action litigation, fair housing responses, credit solutions for communities of color, and philanthropic responses. On Wednesday, Paul Hudson, CEO and board chair of Broadway Federal Bank and Broadway Federal Inc., started the day with a breakfast plenary. Conference attendees then broke into facilitated workshops with the charge of coming up with next steps in three critical areas: the federal response, litigation and legal reforms, and credit strategies for communities of color. at kirwaninstitute.org/events/archive/subprime-convening/ The convening attracted media coverage by The Columbus Dispatch, index.php. WSYX-TV, WCMH-TV, and WOSU radio. Three papers were Please contact conference organizers Jason Reece (reece.35@ commissioned especially for the convening, including “A Structural osu.edu) or Christy Rogers ([email protected]) for more Racism Lens on Subprime Foreclosures and Vacant Properties” information. Planned next steps include a Subprime “Q&A” for by Rick Cohen; “Subprime Lending, Foreclosure and Race: An education and advocacy efforts, publishing selected conference Introduction to the Role of Securitization in Residential Mortgage proceedings, and facilitating a conversation among national experts Finance” by Chris Peterson; and “Subprime Lending, Mortgage on the revamped mission of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as they Foreclosures and Race: How far have we come and how far have we transition into quasi-federal entities. Out of great crisis can come to go?” by Ira Goldstein (with Dan Urevick-Ackelsber). great opportunities, and we may have the opportunity, in the wake Convening transcripts, PowerPoints, videos, and reference of this devastation of neighborhoods of color, to transformatively materials, including the commissioned papers, are all available reshape federal fair housing policy.

Clockwise from top left: Andrew Grant-Thomas, Jason Reece, Jim Carr, and Paul Hudson. Center: participants networking during the convening.

12 Kirwan Institute New Staff Small Grants Program Michele Battle-Fisher Jay D. Iams, MD, Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Michele Battle-Fisher is a graduate research Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Ohio State University College associate with the Kirwan Institute. Her research of Medicine focus is on race and health disparities. Michele “Stress, Health, and the Pregnancy Experience: The Shape has a BA, MA, and MPH Study.” September 2008, $9,623 from The Ohio State This research pilot study will explore the disproportionate rate of preterm University, where she is births among non-Hispanic Black women in the United States. Iams will presently working on a investigate the relationship between chronic stress attributed to structural PhD in public health. racism and the high rate of infant mortality among non-Hispanic Black Her professional work women. This study will serve as a guide for larger, more definitive studies of includes college teaching racial disparity and its relationship to chronic stress and preterm birth. and policy work in the areas of health science and promotion. Angela Ryan, Doctoral Candidate in the Department of History, The Ohio State University “What Happened to the Sixties?: Multiracial Coalitions and Philip J. Kim the Enduring Legacy of Ethnic Studies.” September 2008, Philip J. Kim joined the institute’s staff in $ 9,219 October 2008 as assistant editor and performs This historical study counters common historical opinion that the activism various writing and editing tasks. He received of the sixties effectively ceased to operate legitimately and relevantly as his BA in comparative the decade came to a close. Ryan’s research will take her to San Francisco, studies and English California, Austin, Texas, and Washington, DC, where she will collect data from Ohio State. from various universities and institutions to explore how the new intellectual Previously, Philip field of ethnic studies created long-lasting, impactful change, helping bridge worked as a research the gap between races as well as between Whites of both the “left” and “right.” assistant for Professor Nina Berman, PhD, with the Department Alvina M. Kubeka, Doctoral Candidate in the Department of of Comparative Studies Sociology, The Ohio State University and as a freelance “Racial Identity, Religiosity, and Adolescent Development: writer/editor/researcher A Comparative Analysis of African American and Black for various scholarly South African Youth Experiences.” September 2008, $6,742 projects. He plans to pursue a PhD in social This comparative study will examine how racial and religious identity are thought and critical theory. complexly intertwined within the African American experience, as well as the South African Youth experience. Kubeka will travel to South Africa as Brandon Moss well as Atlanta, Georgia, to assess how a racial group’s unfavorable position in Brandon Moss is a graduate research associate the general social structure affects their identity formation. Utilizing various with the Kirwan Institute. Currently, he is ethnographic methods, she will interview youth in these areas to better working on his MA in city and regional planning understand the role religion plays in their Black racial identity development. at Ohio State. His academic interests consist of planning policy, Adrienne D. Dixson, PhD, Assistant Professor in the School of community development, Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University, and revitalization. “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?: Prior to attending Ohio Rebuilding Public Education in Post-Katrina New Orleans.” September 2008, $10,000 State, Brandon received a BA in sociology Dixson’s project investigates the educational system of post-Katrina New from Grambling State Orleans. Her research will consider the impact of a hybrid model of public University in 2008. schooling, one which incorporates both traditional public schools and charter schools. This study will assess the affects of this system on communities of color specifically as it relates to educational and racial equity. She will travel to post-Katrina New Orleans, where she will conduct a series of interviews during the 2008–09 school year, utilizing numerous ethnographic methods in her attempt to gain indepth assessments particular to the post-Katrina context. Her findings will aid parents, teachers, administrators, and scholars who are engaged in urban school reform and educational equity.

13 Affirmative Action Ballot Initiatives Update

Jessica Larson, Research Assistant

A group headed by California businessman A trio of local coalitions headed the effort to Nebraska Ward Connerly has been trying to eliminate defeat Connerly’s initiative. First, Colorado In Nebraska, Connerly needed to file about affirmative action in a state-by-state effort. Unity led the decline to sign campaign and 112,000 signatures to get his initiative on Connerly’s group introduces and promotes public education and coalition building the ballot. His group filed about 167,000 ballot initiatives that eliminate affirmative efforts. Second, Coloradans for Equal Op- signatures in July, and the Nebraska Secre- action by state constitutional amendment. portunity introduced an alternative initia- tary of State announced in August that the In years past, they have succeeded in Cali- tive aimed at protecting affirmative action. initiative had gathered the number of valid fornia, Washington, and Michigan. For the Though the alternative initiative ultimately signatures required. November 2008 Election, Connerly targeted did not qualify for the ballot, it succeeded in five more states. providing more publicity about the harm- A coalition called Nebraskans United came ful effects of Connerly’s initiative. Third, together to support affirmative action and Arizona Vote No on 46 organized a campaign aimed dedicated their efforts to defeating Con- In Arizona, Connerly needed to collect specifically at defeating the initiative on nerly’s initiative. They initially ran a decline about 230,000 signatures to get his initia- Election Day. The Vote No campaign spoke to sign campaign, followed by public educa- tive on the ballot. His group collected to voters and the media, explaining the de- tion about the initiative. Nebraskans United signatures throughout the spring and ceptive nature of Connerly’s initiative and spoke to the voters and the media about the summer, but faced opposition from a pro- how it would prohibit equal opportunity damage that the initiative would do to equal affirmative action coalition named Protect programs. It filed a complaint regarding the opportunity, and also filed a lawsuit chal- Arizona’s Freedom. Connerly ultimately validity of the initiative’s signatures, draw- lenging the validity of over 40,000 signa- filed almost 335,000 signatures, but the ing attention to the questionable signature- tures submitted by Connerly’s group. initiative was decertified by the Arizona gathering tactics of Connerly’s group. And On Election Day, Nebraska voters approved Secretary of State in August because more in the final days before the election, the the initiative, but it is still uncertain wheth- than 40 percent of its signatures were in- Vote No coalition organized a powerful er it will go into effect. The lawsuit filed by valid. Connerly filed suit to rehabilitate the grassroots effort that made phone calls and Nebraskans United is still pending, with a signatures, but conceded the impossibility knocked on doors to encourage voters to decision from the District Court expected of such rehabilitation the following day. vote against Amendment 46. soon. The District Court’s decision will Protect Arizona’s Freedom ran a decline to All of this hard work paid off on November likely be appealed to the Colorado Supreme sign campaign and also formed a round- 4, when Colorado became the first state to Court. If that court finds that the Connerly the-clock operation with nearly 1,000 defeat Connerly’s initiative at the ballot campaign utilized fraud in their signature volunteers reviewing Connerly’s submit- box. Voters rejected the initiative and collection, the initiative and the voters’ sub- ted signatures. This effort culminated in reaffirmed Colorado’s commitment to sequent approval will be invalidated. a lawsuit they filed in August, alleging the equal opportunity. Oklahoma invalidity of even more signatures than those rejected by the Secretary of State, and Missouri In Oklahoma, Connerly needed almost contributing to the defeat of Connerly’s In Missouri, Connerly’s initiative needed to 140,000 signatures to place his initiative on initiative in Arizona. submit about 150,000 signatures by May 4 to the ballot, and his group did submit slightly place their initiative on the ballot. Missouri more than that. However, after the Okla- Colorado faith groups, community organizations, stu- homa Secretary of State found an unprec- In Colorado, Connerly needed to collect dents, and labor and business people came edented number of duplicate signatures and about 76,000 signatures to place his initia- together to form WECAN (Working to Em- irregularities, and the ACLU and NAACP tive on the ballot. His group submitted power Community Action Now!), a coali- filed a challenge to the signature count and 128,000 signatures in March. The Colorado tion to protect affirmative action. WECAN protest to the petition, Connerly and his Secretary of State found a sufficient number led the decline to sign and voter education supporters withdrew their initiative from of valid signatures and designated the mea- campaign that prevented Connerly’s group consideration in April. This was the first sure “Amendment 46.” from collecting the signatures it needed to victory for equal opportunity advocates in get its measure on the November ballot and the 2008 Connerly initiative battles. brought about an early victory for advocates of equal opportunity.

14 International Program of the Kirwan Institute

he institute’s international program was launched almost a year ago and Tis still in its nascent stages. There are two aspects to our international work: collaborating with regional partners in exchanging knowledge and experiences on the issues of race and ethnicity; and working at the international level with international organizations such as the United Nations and its specialized agencies. The main objectives of the international program are to build an Collaboration with Transna- the CERD treaty in 1994, and the U.S. State international network to fight against racism tional Organizations Department issued its most recent report to and discrimination and to promote social The institute is collaborating with two poten- the CERD Committee this past April—more inclusion both nationally and internation- tial project partners, the European Coalition than four years late. The institute’s report ally. We have embarked upon four specific of Cities against Racism (ECCAR) and the acknowledges that there are programs at activities. United Nations Educational and Scientific every level of U.S. government designed to Organization (UNESCO). We are working address racial discrimination in domains Networking on a proposal for a best practices database for such as housing, education, health care, We are mapping at a global level research the housing sector. The goal is to collect data employment, transportation and so on. institutes, peoples’ movements, non-govern- on projects in the housing sector that have However, these programs are not appropri- ment organizations, and individuals who successfully been carried out by European ately linked. Pursuant to CERD, the United study marginalization and discrimination. partner cities. We intend to show implica- States should monitor these programs to Our goal is to create broader participation tions of the housing sector with other areas incorporate feedback, make adjustments, and by identifying partners, build regional and such as education and employment. improvements to nullify policies that con- global coalitions, and develop a share frame- tinue to perpetuate racial discrimination. Report to U.N. Addresses work that can be used in each particular The report is one of more than a dozen Racial Discrimination in the location with potential applications to other reports on criminal justice, education, United States sites. Our objectives are to examine and share health, poverty and voting rights being the cultural, economic, political, and social In preparation for an upcoming U.N. review submitted to the CERD Committee today experiences of racial and ethnic minority of United States’ compliance with the inter- by the U.S. Human Rights Network on the groups in the countries of various regions, national race discrimination treaty, the occasion of International Human Rights and to assess mechanisms to enable effec- Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Day, to highlight the growing importance of tive participation by marginalized groups Ethnicity has joined a coalition of more than international human rights standards in the in influencing political actions. While the 250 civic groups and scholars in a report United States. institute acts as a research arm and conducts detailing the continuing problem of racial research and policy advocacy, our partner discrimination. The report is available at kirwaninstitute. groups will set their own agendas and orga- com/publications/ki_pub_docs/cerd_final. The United States has not taken seriously the nize locally. pdf. duty under Article 2 of CERD to affirma- Comparative Analysis of and tively address racial discrimination. Instead, Best Practices in Countries the United States has rationalized racial discriminatory effects as not covered by U.S. The Kirwan UPdate is produced by the Kirwan We plan to come up with criteria such as law. Sometimes these effects are caused by Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at the marginalization and discrimination of explicit government polices. At other times The Ohio State University, 433 Mendenhall Lab, minorities in Big Emerging Markets (BEMs), they are caused by private actors. Frequently, 125 South Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210. democracies, or other countries. We would it is a combination of both. The United identify three or four indicators such as hous- For questions or comments about this publication, States must look at how racial discrimination ing, education, or the growth and perpetu- please contact Kirwan UPdate Editor Eavon manifests as a consequence of policies and ation of inequality, etc., for closer scrutiny. Mobley, at (614) 247-8685 or [email protected]. practices in multiple domains. Some of the questions that we ask include: Are there large marginalized communities The report, titled The Structural Racism Contributing Staff Editors in these countries? Does the marginalization Report to the CERD Committee, was submit- Tom Rudd, Senior Researcher Angela Stanley, Research Associate have a similar or comparable pattern? Is the ted to the U.N. Committee on the Elimina- Stephen Menendian, Research Associate marginalization in one country relevant to tion of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in the other cases compared? As a corollary to preparation for the CERD Committee’s Contributing Staff Writer this, we would also look at what these coun- February 2008 review of U.S. compliance Tom Rudd, Senior Researcher tries are doing to address disparity, margin- with the International Convention on the alization, opportunity impediments and so Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimi- kirwaninstitute.org forth, and prepare a list of “best practices.” nation (ICERD). The United States ratified 15

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