Groups working to put ‘justice’ in ‘criminal justice’ face choices about how to frame the issues and focus their efforts. Many groups join movements out of concern for racial equality or racial justice. And many of us know the criminal justice treats black Americans worse than whites. But I’ll point to a tension in some of these issues – one that shows the benefits of a transformative justice approach. Only by working for transformative justice as its primary goal will leftists achieve what they have in mind.
Category: Race (Page 5 of 11)
These are posts on race from the blog Base and Superstructure. Race is one of the most important issues of political and social power. Topics include the relationship between race and class, racism in the United States and the rest of the world, and the relationship between race and political movements.
Editors dedicated a recent issue of Science, Technology, and Human Values to the topic of ‘ghost variables.’ Articles focused on this topic through the lens of race. The brief idea is that certain features don’t appear directly within the scientific data. However, they ‘haunt’ the data, existing as invisible traces. I think we can put this idea to good use.
Let’s look at a topic I wrote about awhile back: standardized testing. Could there be ghost variables at work? Standard disclaimer: as some of you know, I work in the testing industry. My opinion – as always – is my own and only my own.
In his new (first!) book – The Cult of Smart – Freddie deBoer argues that neoliberalism created around itself a myth of meritocratic success. He calls it…well…the cult of smart.
Let’s take a look at what Freddie has to say. The Cult of Smart gives us plenty to chew on.
After the 2016 election, I wrote a post on the status of white women in Trump’s coalition. Trump landed a surprise win over Hillary Clinton, and many people singled out white women as the key driver. In that previous post, I looked at the evidence and concluded that this is false. White women were not the key driver of Trump’s win.
White women have been moving toward the GOP for decades. They even moved slightly away from the GOP in 2016. And so, white women were not the decisive factor in Trump’s victory. It was white men who led Trump to victory. Insofar as, e.g., racial justice movements, singled out white women, it was likely because white women made a more attractive target than white men for moral appeals. Not because white women were key to Trump’s base.
With that as our starting point, let’s return to the issue of white women and Trump. How did 2020 go? Did white women vote for Trump again? Did movement in the votes of white women propel Biden to victory?
Iowans know Jane Elliott as a local teacher who became a diversity trainer, motivational speaker, and racial justice activist. Along the way, she pioneered the corporate diversity training movement. And her work inspired books, films, and other media. I’ve seen one of her training sessions in-person here in Iowa City. Let’s think a bit about Jane Elliott and her legacy.
