Voices

Article Collection

Voices on Structural Racism & Inequality

In the end, the community is people, and those people participate in society as citizens, suffering injustices themselves (or perhaps causing them) as they push forward. 

In this collection of articles, read their stories and cris de cœur

Jennifer Richeson on Perceptions of Racial Inequality

Jennifer Richeson on Perceptions of Racial Inequality

There is inequality in the United States, a fact most people accept and which data certainly bears out. But how bad do you think that inequality is, say, based on comparing the wealth held by the average Black person in America and the average white person?

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Why is Interdisciplinary Research on Race and Racism So Important?

Why is Interdisciplinary Research on Race and Racism So Important?

Intersectional problems require interdisciplinary thinking. So when we think about race and racism, it might be worth asking – what are we not seeing by limiting ourselves to a single discipline?

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On the Other Side of Racism Awareness: Interviews

On the Other Side of Racism Awareness: Interviews

Stuck in the US due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, Brendon Fox decided to revisited themes from his doctoral research and conducted some follow-up interviews with young Black men about their racial experiences before, during and after college..

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This Moment, And the Next Steps for Social Change

This Moment, And the Next Steps for Social Change

Dr. Patricia Reid-Merritt, professor of Africana Studies and Social Work at Stockton University, considers the history of the Civil Rights Movement in conjunction with today’s Black Lives Matter. In this essay, she offers Americans struggling for liberation and Black freedom a four-step plan for social change.

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Sherman James on John Henryism

Sherman James on John Henryism

Epidemiologist Sherman James outlines the hypothesis behind John Henryism – the idea that high-effort coping with expectations of achievement amid poverty or segregation can result in serious damage to the striver’s health.

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The Importance of Cultural and Social Awareness in Building LGBTQI Families

The Importance of Cultural and Social Awareness in Building LGBTQI Families

Marni Brown found herself pondering, “Why does race matter in this selection process and why do lesbians, in general, want their offspring to look like them? Is the desire for our children to look like us actuality a cover-up for racially driven decisions that perpetuate inequality in already marginalized communities?”

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What Kind of Moment Are We In?

What Kind of Moment Are We In?

Are we on the cusp of a vibrant social movement that will produce major transformations in our practices and policies? Or are we fated to see the communal expressions of grief and calls for change dissolve into contentious policy debates that may result in relatively modest reforms unequal to the fervent hopes now spinning in the streets?

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Why We Need Experiential Scholarship to Better Understand Racial Inequality

Why We Need Experiential Scholarship to Better Understand Racial Inequality

It wasn’t until I started doing a degree in gender studies that I was told it was OK to use the first […]

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In Search of Today’s Fannie Lou Hamers and Martin Luther Kings

In Search of Today’s Fannie Lou Hamers and Martin Luther Kings

Vincent Adejumo says that his scholarship in the discipline of black politics can explain why there aren’t any national African American leaders at this moment, filling roles like Martin Luther King Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer and others once did.

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Finding Hope From Seeing the George Floyd Protesters

Finding Hope From Seeing the George Floyd Protesters

Seeing people stream out onto the streets is probably the most hopeful Akwugu Emejulu has been since the start of the pandemic. Amid mass death, incompetent and vengeful leadership and economic collapse, people join together to demand more and better for themselves.

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‘Detoxing from Academia’: One Black Scholar’s Journey

‘Detoxing from Academia’: One Black Scholar’s Journey

JeffriAnne Wilder, a sociologist and leading scholar specializing in diversity, race relations and women’s empowerment, has almost two decades of experience in higher education. In this interview, she details who influenced — from her mom to bell hooks — and why she left her tenured professorship to work for a non-profit.

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Reflections of an Activist Scholar: Henry Louis Taylor, Jr.

Reflections of an Activist Scholar: Henry Louis Taylor, Jr.

The University at Buffalo’s Henry Louis Taylor, Jr.’s’s role as an activist, as a scholar (“I am an activist turned scholar, not a scholar turned activist”), an urban planner and an historian, are explored in the wake of him receiving the Marilyn J. Gittell Activist Scholar Award from the Urban Affairs Association.

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The Godfather of Black Psychology: Joseph White, 1932-2017

The Godfather of Black Psychology: Joseph White, 1932-2017

Joseph L. White, whose pioneering conceptual work earned him the title of “the godfather of black psychology,” died November 21 while traveling to be with family over the Thanksgiving holiday. The professor emeritus of psychology and psychiatry at the University of California Irvine was 84.

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Activist-Scholar Award Goes to Economist Samuel Myers Jr.

Activist-Scholar Award Goes to Economist Samuel Myers Jr.

The Urban Affairs Association will present this year’s Marilyn J. Gittell Activist Scholar Award to Samuel Myers Jr., an economist who has pioneered methods that prove the pervasiveness of inequality.

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Three Movies and a Play Explore U.S. Racial Politics

Three Movies and a Play Explore U.S. Racial Politics

Three remarkable documentaries and a new play focus on race in America and the political responses to it, reports our blogger Howard Silver.

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Recalling a Forgotten Anthropologist (and Victim) of Structural Racism

Recalling a Forgotten Anthropologist (and Victim) of Structural Racism

This Black History Month, remember the trailblazing work of an American anthropologist, Allison Davis, who both studied and was a victim of the nation’s entrenched racism.

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A Perceptive Outsider Always Looking In: Stuart Hall, 1932-2014

A Perceptive Outsider Always Looking In: Stuart Hall, 1932-2014

The permanent outsider who helped pry open Britain’s eyes to the field of cultural studies has died at age 82.

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