Racial Profiling: A Status Report of the Legal, Legislative, and Empirical Literature

In recent years, there have been several widely-publicized cases in which racial profiling became police brutality. As well, there have been scores of famous Black men who have offered their personal accounts as victims of racial profiling. All of these have helped to propel the issue onto the nation\u27s front burner. The varied responses to racial profiling indicate the range of groups affected by and concerned about the practice. Notably, this includes former President Bill Clinton, who shared his belief that racial profiling is a national problem. The issue of racial profiling has evoked a wide range of policy responses, including legislation, political commentary, community protests, and empirical study. The groundswell of activity around the topic invites a preliminary assessment and critique of the state of the existing literature on racial profiling. This article, divided into four parts, provides a status report on racial profiling research. The first section discusses and analyzes how the term racial profiling has been defined. The second part categorizes the legislation, federal and state, introduced in response to the problem of racial targeting. This section also provides an overview of the empirical research on racial profiling. The third part includes a critique and assessment of the existing literature and offers a road map for future legislation and research on racial profiling

The Dog Walker, the Birdwatcher and Racial Voice: The Manifest Need to Punish Racial Hoaxes

This Essay shines a spotlight on racial hoaxes, as both historical and contemporary phenomena. The discussion proceeds with three objectives in mind. First, to provide a context for racial hoaxes. This history shows that hoaxes are not benign offenses. Second, to identify the legal and social harms of racial hoaxes. Third, to discuss why sanctions for hoaxes should be reimagined to impose harms that deter future hoaxes. The fact that racial hoaxes continue to be deployed demonstrates that they carry legal and cultural weight. Racial hoaxes are used to activate and privilege some voices over others. The resulting inequity courses through the justice system and makes it possible for some people to give less credence to and have less concern for Black bodies

The Soul Savers: A 21st Century Homage to Derrick Bell’s \u3cem\u3eSpace Traders\u3c/em\u3e or Should Black People Leave America?

Note: Narrative storytelling is a staple of legal jurisprudence. The Case of the Speluncean Explorers by Lon Fuller and The Space Traders by Derrick Bell are two of the most well-known and celebrated legal stories. The Soul Savers parable that follows pays tribute to Professor Bell’s prescient, apocalyptic racial tale. Professor Bell, a founding member of Critical Race Theory, wrote The Space Traders to instigate discussions about America’s deeply rooted entanglements with race and racism. The Soul Savers is offered as an attempt to follow in Professor Bell’s narrative footsteps by raising and pondering new and old frameworks about the rule of law and racial progress. The year 2020 marks the thirty-year anniversary of Bell’s initial iteration of the Space Traders tale

The Stop WOKE Act : HB 7, Race, and Florida\u27s 21st Century Anti-literacy Campaign

Florida’s Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act (Stop WOKE) took effect July 1, 2022. The new law, known as House Bill 7 (HB 7), regulates how race issues can be taught in the K-20 educational system and imposes stiff sanctions for violations. This Article provides an incisive analysis of HB 7, with a particular focus on the law school classroom. It begins with a discussion of anti-literacy laws adopted during slavery and how these laws prohibited enslaved Blacks from learning to read and write. The historical analysis establishes that HB 7 is a modern-day iteration of anti-literacy laws. While early anti-literacy laws prohibited basic literacy, HB 7 prohibits teaching substantive literacy about race. Anti-literacy provides a framework for understanding the breadth and impact of HB 7. The Article investigates HB 7 through two prominent theoretical lenses, racial threat and critical race theory. These analyses predict and explain legislative responses such as HB 7. Through a series of hypotheticals, the far-reaching problems of HB 7 are revealed. This Article establishes the broad powers of HB 7. At full bore, HB 7 will drastically reduce race-related instruction and in doing so, it will likely delegitimize race scholarship and race scholars in the state of Florida

Black Protectionism as a Civil Rights Strategy

This Article has identified and outlined the parameters of Black protectionism, a practice used by African-Americans to protect prominent community members who have been charged with criminal or unethical activity. This practice took root during slavery-during a time when a false or minor charge against one African-American could result in death or great bodily harm to him and scores of other African-Americans. History has cultivated a culture of Black mistrust of Whites in particular and mainstream society in general. This suspicion is reinforced with the continued disparate treatment of African-Americans within the criminal justice system. History and contemporary conditions explain why Black protectionism-akin to a vote of confidence-has been available to prominent Blacks without limitation (e.g., political affiliation). As practiced, Black protectionism is a community statement of protest against an oppressive justice system. An analysis of how it works, however, reveals that its overbreadth renders it ineffective as a strategy for Black racial justice

Critical Black Protectionism, Black Lives Matter, and Social Media: Building a Bridge to Social Justice

This Article provides a detailed, contemporary examination and critique of the practice of Black protectionism. The discussion focuses on how Black protectionism has evolved over the decades, and whether the changes make it a more useful tool for community empowerment than its applications in previous eras. Its latest iteration, herein labeled Critical Black Protectionism, is assessed and evaluated in light of the increasing use of social media.This Article is divided into five parts. Part I provides an overview of Black protectionism, its roots and evolution. As well, this Part examines how African Americans have used protectionism. Part II sets out the step-by-step process of Black protectionism. It details who is eligible for protectionism and the “trigger questions” used to determine whether it is merited in a particular case. Part III assesses and critiques how Black protectionism has been applied in contemporary cases where African Americans have been accused of criminal or ethical wrongdoing. Part IV discusses the Black Lives Matter movement and its push and impact in reshaping and reimagining Black crime victims. It also considers how this reimagining has encouraged a revamping of Black protectionism. This Part also examines the emergence of social media and the role it has played in the refining of Black protectionism. This Part concludes by identifying the shift to a new, updated form of protectionism: Critical Black Protectionism. Part V addresses outstanding questions about Critical Black Protectionism, including its future iterations and its ability to impact and alter how the justice system works for African Americans

The Multitudinous Racial Harms Caused by Florida\u27s Stop WOKE and Anti-DEI Legislation

Since 2021, Florida has passed legislation that radically redefines how educators address race-related topics in the university classroom. Two laws in particular, HB 7 (Stop WOKE Act) and HB 999, which outlaws DEI programs at Florida universities, have led the charge. The goals of this Article are three-fold. First, to demonstrate how HB 7 and HB 999 have created a devasting and powerful educational force in Florida, a force that diminishes certain forms of racial discussion and inquiry in the college classroom. Second, to show the direct link between these laws and antebellum anti-literacy laws. The historical moments that separate enslavement-era anti-literacy laws and the passage of HB 7 and HB 999 are centuries apart. However, the goals are the same: To remove critical race narratives from the public education curriculum. Third, to detail the broad range of people, including educators and students, who are harmed and silenced by these laws. Race-related scholarship, which has been an integral part of race-focused courses, is on the chopping block as well. The range of harms caused by these laws is also explored. Once the pieces are connected, it is evident that HB 7 and HB 999 pose a mammoth threat to historical and contemporary knowledge about race. Part I provides an overview of the texts of HB 7 and HB 999. Part II focuses on the ways in which these laws marginalize and denigrate race scholarship. Part III examines how the Florida legislation diminishes the efforts of race scholars. Part IV shows how ignorance about U.S. race relations and race history creates danger for African Americans. Part V employs the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause and applies it to Florida’s Bright Futures Scholarship Program. This framework amplifies and crystalizes the vast and unremedied harms caused by HB 7 and HB 999

Black Protectionism as a Civil Rights Strategy

This Article has identified and outlined the parameters of Black protectionism, a practice used by African-Americans to protect prominent community members who have been charged with criminal or unethical activity. This practice took root during slavery-during a time when a false or minor charge against one African-American could result in death or great bodily harm to him and scores of other African-Americans. History has cultivated a culture of Black mistrust of Whites in particular and mainstream society in general. This suspicion is reinforced with the continued disparate treatment of African-Americans within the criminal justice system. History and contemporary conditions explain why Black protectionism-akin to a vote of confidence-has been available to prominent Blacks without limitation (e.g., political affiliation). As practiced, Black protectionism is a community statement of protest against an oppressive justice system. An analysis of how it works, however, reveals that its overbreadth renders it ineffective as a strategy for Black racial justice

Racial Profiling: A Status Report of the Legal, Legislative, and Empirical Literature

In recent years, there have been several widely-publicized cases in which racial profiling became police brutality. As well, there have been scores of famous Black men who have offered their personal accounts as victims of racial profiling. All of these have helped to propel the issue onto the nation\u27s front burner. The varied responses to racial profiling indicate the range of groups affected by and concerned about the practice. Notably, this includes former President Bill Clinton, who shared his belief that racial profiling is a national problem. The issue of racial profiling has evoked a wide range of policy responses, including legislation, political commentary, community protests, and empirical study. The groundswell of activity around the topic invites a preliminary assessment and critique of the state of the existing literature on racial profiling. This article, divided into four parts, provides a status report on racial profiling research. The first section discusses and analyzes how the term racial profiling has been defined. The second part categorizes the legislation, federal and state, introduced in response to the problem of racial targeting. This section also provides an overview of the empirical research on racial profiling. The third part includes a critique and assessment of the existing literature and offers a road map for future legislation and research on racial profiling