professor of law and director damon j. keith center for ... · structural racism 101 hiding in...
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Peter J. HammerProfessor of Law and Director
Damon J. Keith Center for Civil RightsWayne State University Law School
Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association June 19, 2020
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Provocative claim� The name “George Floyd” has come to symbolize the
cumulative effect of four-hundred years of racism in America
� We face the dual pandemics of 1) police brutality and 2) the racially disparate impact of Covid-19
� These pandemics are interrelated� Covid 19: Intersection structural racism & policies of fiscal
austerity � Police brutality: Intersection structural racism &
militarization� But, law schools teach lawyers nothing about this – why?
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Structural Racism 101� Hiding in plain sight (Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison))
� European Americans are trained and socialized not to see the
racism that surrounds them
� Epistemology of Ignorance – White Ignorance
� Americans of Color confront and experience racism every day
of their lives (quote from DJK)
� Some Implications . . . .
� European Americans need a life-long process of unlearning
what they have been taught and re-learning how to see again
� The knowledge and expertise of Americans of Color need to
be centered, honored and respected
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Illustration� Do we see and understand the dynamics of spatial
racism that define every aspect of the Detroit Metropolitan Area?
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What determines where we live?� What if people were gas molecules?� What social, economic and political forces shape
demographic patterns?� Importance of spatial perspectives
� The spatialization of race � The racialization of space
� The past did not go anywhere (archeology of structural racism)
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America’s untold histories . . . .
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Spatial Racism in S.E. Michigan � Michigan Roundtable-Kirwan Institute Opportunity
Mapping� Defining Opportunity
� Housing � Employment� Schooling� Health� Transportation� Food security� Living environment
� Mapping Opportunity
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Segregation Wealth & Opportunity
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Spatial Racism in S.E. Michigan
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Impacts every social policy issue� Individual &
Community Wealth� Maternal health� Public Transportation� Access to health care� Physical safety� Education� Job opportunities� Childhood asthma� Municipal distress
� Environmental Racism� Childhood obesity� Emergency Management� Infant mortality� Water shutoffs� Tax foreclosures� Building Power� Life expectancy� Mass incarceration� Police brutality
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Need new tools and frames� 1) Need more sophisticated understandings of racism� 2) Need better understandings of the dynamic
reproduction of racial inequity � Belief Systems� Institutions
� 3) Need better models of the deep interconnectedness of social challenges (issue clusters)
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1) More sophisticated understandings of racism
Intent(Express)
Structural
White Supremacy
(Power)
Implicit Bias
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2) Dynamic reproduction of racial inequality
Belief Systems• Myths that produce
1) order and 2) meaning
• Internal manifestation of institutions
Institutions• Laws, rules and
norms that govern society
• External manifestation of belief systems
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� Two common myths (peculiarly western origins)� Time is linear� Race is marginal
� What are implications for thought and action?� Past injustices can be ignored – slavery was a long time ago� Problems of racial justice are not important and will take care
of themselves (myth of progress)� New frame: Any other way to think about time?
� Time is cyclical – past is ahead and behind us� Race is central� Primed to thing about systems of social reproduction
Beliefs systems shape thought and action
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Historic linage of “spatial racism”
Slavery
Jim Crow
Spatial Racism
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Slavery: Beliefs & Institutions� Institutions of slavery – external manifestations
� Kidnapping in Africa� Deaths and the middle passage� Torture and institutionalized violence as economic
means of production� Consider the weight of all of these external chains
� Beliefs justifying slavery – internal manifestations of institutions� What were the racialized beliefs of white supremacy that
could possibly carry the weight, and support the infrastructure of slavery’s institutions?
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Slavery to Jim Crow� Civil war ended institution of slavery, but not the
racialized belief systems that supported it lived on � The Institutions, the laws, rule and norms simply
mutated into the institutions of Jim Crow segregation� Social reproduction of systems of oppression
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Jim Crow to Spatial Racism� Old adage:
� In the south, you can be close, but you cannot be equal� In the north, you can be equal, but cannot be close
� Spatial racism defines Southeast Michigan � It is all about geography – the specialization of race and
the racialization of space� Detroit is ground zero for spatial racism� Effects every issue you care about: education, health,
employment, access to health care� We are the new Selma – and must act with that
responsibility
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3) Deep interconnectedness of social challenges (Dr. King)
Racism
MilitarismMaterialism
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� Strong belief in markets and fear of the state� Emphasis on property right� Hyper sense of individualism� Marginalizes role of structure and social context� Blames/punish individuals who fail to live up to
standards (false meritocracy)� Myth of colorblindness� Vilification of public goods and processes
Fiscal Austerity: Belief System
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� Minimalist state� Unrestrained markets� Privatization of public assets� Minimal public workers/benefits
� Minimal respect for public employees� Minimal social safety net� Emergency Management & Bankruptcy Plan of
Adjustment
Fiscal Austerity: Institutions
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Structural Racism & fiscal austerity
Structural Racism &
Fiscal Austerity
Emergency Manager
Poverty and Health
Disparities
Tax Foreclosures
Water Shutoffs
Bankruptcy Plan of
Adjustment
Detroit Public
Schools
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Belief System: Fear-Militarism� Exaggerated masculinity – male dominance� Conditioned action without reflection� Privileging of physical violence and force� Dominance of fear and defensiveness� Need of an enemy (other)� Glorification of loss/sacrifice� Preoccupation on control
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Institutions: Fear-Militarism� Armed forces� Military industrial complex� National security complex� War on terror� Border patrol� Police forces� Criminal justice system� School discipline
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Racism & fear-militarism
Structural Racism &
Militarism
Ferguson & George Floyd
Police Brutality
Prisons: New Jim Crow
School to Prison
Pipeline
Islam-o-phobia
Hostility towards
immigrants
Private security and
gated communities
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Alternative beliefs & institutions
Belief Systems:Equitable, people-focused development(Beloved Community)
Institutional Matrix• New Laws, policies,
rules, norms, regulations
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Alternative beliefs and institutions
Equitable-People-Focused
Development
Community Benefits
Ordinance
Community Land Trusts
Water Affordability
Plan
Foreclosure Relief
Environmental Justice
Pathways to Opportunity
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What can the DMBA do?� Key manifestations of structural racism
� Water shutoffs� Tax foreclosure � Pending tsunami of renter evictions� Mass incarceration � Project Greenlight� Police brutality � Health Disparities
� What is DMBA doing?� Legal and policy analysis?� Direct legal service provision?
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