Racial Justice

While problems of police brutality and broader challenges of systemic racism are ingrained in the nation’s DNA, more recent phenomena—such as the use of technology to document said violence, the rise of social movements and digital campaigns to advocate for Black lives, and the growth of intersectionality in civil society amongst immigrant rights, queer liberation, and racial justice movements—have catapulted these issues to the fore. 

As we continue the centuries-long journey of tackling racial injustice in the United States, the Carr Center for Human Rights Racial Justice program focuses on reimagining systems, institutions, and movements to promote racial and economic equity for all. The program strengthens discourse connecting domestic civil rights to global human rights frameworks, and brings together faculty, fellows, students, and the broader University community to collaborate.
 

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The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: A Panel Discussion

Citation:

The Carr Center Human Rights for Policy. 6/8/2021. “The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: A Panel Discussion .” Carr Center Discussion Paper Series. Read the Discussion.
The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: A Panel Discussion

Abstract:

May 31, 2021, marks the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, when a violent white mob nearly destroyed the formerly thriving and prosperous African American community in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, also known as Black Wall Street. Over 300 African Americans were killed, and thousands were displaced. Hundreds of homes and businesses burned to the ground. At the time, Greenwood, like so many African American neighborhoods and townships across the United States, was situated in a particular spatial and temporal context marked by both progress and promise, as well as violence and discrimination.

In the decades since, the Massacre was covered up, local officials obstructed the redevelopment of Greenwood, and the local chapter of the KKK became one of the largest in the US. We spoke with a group of leaders, policymakers, academics, and researchers to discuss the historical legacy of the Massacre, its effects on current-day policy and organizing debates related to racial justice, and the movement for reparations. We spoke with a group of leaders, policymakers, academics, and researchers to discuss the historical legacy of the Massacre, its effects on current-day policy and organizing debates related to racial justice, and the movement for reparations. Read the discussion

: Carr Center | June 8 2021
: Leaders, policymakers, academics, and researchers discuss the historical legacy of the Tulsa Race Massacre, its effects on current-day policy and organizing debates related to racial justice, and the movement for reparations.

We Need a Racial Reckoning to Save Democracy

Citation:

Megan Ming Francis and Deepak Bhargava. 2/17/2021. “We Need a Racial Reckoning to Save Democracy.” The Nation. Read the article.
We Need a Racial Reckoning to Save Democracy

Abstract:

The crisis of American democracy that burst into view on January 6 is rooted in our country’s long history of racism. To begin the work of repair, President Biden issued executive orders undoing many of the policies of the Trump administration and breaking new ground, like ending private prison contracts and embedding racial equity analysis in the federal bureaucracy. As important and welcome as these actions are, they are not enough. A crucial mistake recurs in American history: trying to move forward without reckoning honestly with injustice. We have an opportunity to break this pattern of forgetting. Remembrance and repair are not just morally necessary—they are the keys to saving our fragile multiracial democracy. Here we offer a plan to undertake that vital work.

Read the article. 

: Megan Ming Francis & Deepak Bhargava | Feb 17 2021
: We must undergo a truth and reconciliation process in order to establish a new civic consensus.

Black Lives Matter protesters were overwhelmingly peaceful, our research finds

Black Lives Matter protesters were overwhelmingly peaceful, our research finds

Abstract:

When the Department of Homeland Security released its Homeland Threat Assessment earlier this month, it emphasized that self-proclaimed white supremacist groups are the most dangerous threat to U.S. security. But the report misleadingly added that there had been “over 100 days of violence and destruction in our cities,” referring to the anti-racism uprisings of this past summer.

In fact, the Black Lives Matter uprisings were remarkably nonviolent. When there was violence, very often police or counterprotesters were reportedly directing it at the protesters.

Read the article. 

: Erica Chenoweth et al. | Oct 20 2020
: Research shows the Black Lives Matters protests were extraordinarily nonviolent, and extraordinarily nondestructive, given the unprecedented size of the movement’s participation and geographic scope.
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