Race in America (Video)

In this program, Russell M. Jeung, professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University, explores COVID-19 racism against Asian Americans, which led to what he terms a period of “collective racial trauma.” Twenty-five peer-reviewed articles have since documented the deleterious impacts of direct and indirect racism on the mental health of Asian Americans. Yet Asian Americans have been resilient in the face of this trauma, and utilized their ethnic and cultural wealth as buffers against anti-Asian hate. Jeung identifies three key ways that Asian Americans responded to this trauma and even grew from this painful time. Asian Americans' posttraumatic growth, the positive psychological change after trauma incidents, is also be detailed. Jeung is the author of many books and articles on race and religion. In 2020, he co-founded Stop AAPI Hate to track instances of bias, harassment, and violence against AAPI people during Covid-19 and to fight racism. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39867]

In this program, Robin D. G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA, examines how police in the neoliberal era–in tandem with other state and corporate entities—have become engines of capital accumulation, government revenue, gentrification, the municipal bond market, the tech and private security industry—in a phrase, the profits of death. Kelley argues the police don't just take lives; they make life and living less viable for the communities they occupy. The growth of police power has also fundamentally weakened democracy and strengthened “thanatocracy”—rule by death– especially with respect to Black communities. Kelley says these same communities have produced a new abolition democracy, organizing to advance a different future, without oppression and exploitation, war, poverty, prisons, police, borders, the constraints of imposed gender, sexual, and ableist norms, and an economic system that destroys the planet while generating obscene inequality. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 39780]

As a New York Times columnist known for his fearless brand of political and social commentary, Charles Blow has become a familiar face on TV and a frequent target for conservative critics. His column typically features charts, but it's mainly his words, written and spoken, that continue to spark conversation and debate about social and political issues of the day. As a speaker, Blow fearlessly tackles contentious issues, such as racism, childhood obesity, life in large cities, acceptance of gays in society, and the current administration. Blow has recently spoken on topics such as: income inequality, xenophobia, teen pregnancy, education and the relationship between journalism and justice. In this program, Blow talks with Lorie Hearn, CEO of iNewsource, about the issues facing America. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 39287]

Theologian and social activist Father Bryan Massingale, professor of theology and social ethics at Fordham University, is an outspoken voice for anti-racism and LGBTQ+ rights, both within the Catholic Church and society as a whole. His 2010 study, “Racial Justice and the Catholic Church,” was prophetic in the way it spoke about racism in religious institutions. His life and work embody a commitment to addressing issues of racism, social inequality, and LGBTQ+ rights from a spiritual and ethical perspective. In this program, Father Massingale addresses the shocking rise of white Christian nationalism, its threat to democracy and how to move forward. He challenges institutions, including the Catholic Church, to confront their own complicity in perpetuating racial disparities and to actively work towards racial justice and reconciliation. He believes in the power of open but uncomfortable conversations to bridge divides and create spaces for healing and growth. Series: "Burke Lectureship on Religion and Society" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39381]

Sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities across the country have been subjected to increased hate incidents, including verbal harassment, civil rights violations, and physical assaults. Since its founding in March 2020, thousands of incidents have been reported to the Stop AAPI Hate coalition. Manjusha Kulkarni will discuss how Stop AAPI Hate is addressing anti-Asian hate through civil rights enforcement, education equity, community-based safety, and building a movement against systemic racism. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 39081]

Asian/Pacific Islander American communities have a long history of activism in the United States, particularly in response to anti-Asian racism and exclusion. In their struggle for equality and liberation from oppression, AAPI activists have developed social and political movements for immigrant rights, labor rights, educational equity, affordable housing, religious freedom, environmental justice, and more. This panel features several AAPI activists who will discuss how they became activists, their work on the leading edges of activism, and how more people can get involved. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 39080]

How can colleges and universities ensure faculty and students reflect the diversity of the U.S. as courts and legislatures dismantle affirmation action? In this program, Stella M. Flores, Ph.D., a professor of Higher Education and Public Policy at the University of Texas, Austin, discusses her research on the effects of state and federal policies on college access and completion outcomes for low-income and underrepresented populations, including immigrant and English learner students. Dr. Flores has also published widely on demographic changes in U.S. schools, affirmative action in higher education, and Minority Serving Institutions. In 2003 her coauthored work was cited in the U.S. Supreme Court Gratz v. Bollinger decision (dissenting opinion) and in various amicus briefs submitted to the Supreme Court on affirmative action. [Public Affairs] [Education] [Show ID: 38738]

“I'm not a racist, but…” In their new book, Racial Resentment in the Political Mind (University of Chicago Press), Goldman School Dean David C. Wilson and Notre Dame Professor of Political Science Darren Davis explore the concept of racial resentment. They argue that while prejudice and racism are fundamentally rooted in American politics, so are non-racial motivations, such as a belief in a “just” world, where people get what they deserve and deserve what they get. This instinct to make judgments about “deservingness” in politics often animates those who believe they are “not racist,” but tend to oppose policies and ideas that advance racial justice, and blame racial-ethnic minorities for their social, political, and economic positions. Join Dean Wilson and Professor Davis in conversation with Assistant Vice Chancellor Dan Mogulof about their research findings and why a nuanced conversation about race is critical to democracy.  Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 37781]

UCSF examines institutional racism following the death of George Floyd and explores what's needed to foster change. Series: "Mini Medical School for the Public" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 37577]

María Marquine, PhD, shares research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adults age 50+, noting the differential impact by race/ethnicity in the US. Lauren Brown, PhD, discusses the unique stress experience of black older adults. Series: "Stein Institute for Research on Aging" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 37595]

The UCSF Repair Project recognizes that long-standing racial inequities in health, health care institutions and scholarship are a result of structural violence and systemic racism. The project seeks to open conversation and promote efforts to rectify and eliminate these problems. Aimee Medeiros, PhD shares the history that informs the project and current research. Series: "Mini Medical School for the Public" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 37572]

The race equity movement has left us with greater awareness of the urgent need for changes in the way we interact and run our businesses and institutions. This discussion features a frank discussion on what one psychiatry department has done to address interpersonal and systemic racism, as well as insight from an expert on a compassion-based approach for insightfully seeing and discussing race, and being actively antiracist. Panelists: Rhonda Magee, JD, Professor of Law, University of San Francisco; Michelle Porche, EdD, Associate Adjunct Professor, UCSF Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; Matthew State, MD, PhD, Oberndorf Family Distinguished Professor and Chair, UCSF Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Moderated by Elissa Epel, PhD, Vice Chair for Adult Psychology, UCSF. Series: "Emotional Well-Being in Times of Crisis" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 37477]

Reflecting on the devastating, disparate impacts of the COVID pandemic on communities of color, this panel examines the role of structural racism in health outcomes and the systemic changes necessary to ensure health equity. Series: "Mini Medical School for the Public" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 36860]

Economist Hilary Hoynes explores her research on the COVID-19 crisis. She discusses the effects on low wage workers and the tripling of food insecurity in children. She also looks at the consequences of the delays and lack of inclusion in relief packages. Hoynes is a Professor of Public Policy and Economics and Haas Distinguished Chair in Economic Disparities at the UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36540]

Today’s lecture takes a look ahead at the leading challenges and opportunities facing American democracy in this moment. We begin with a discussion of Trump’s refusal to admit defeat in the presidential election and the conspiracy theories and rising white male violence that are emerging out of the realignment of the defeated white power wing of the Republican party. Here we are confronted with the role played by conspiracy theories in the politics of the right and the threat to multiracial democracy posed by Trump’s defeated authoritarianism. This discussion is followed by a focus on the Black women who won Georgia for the Democrats. We consider how they achieved this remarkable goal through organizing and what this model of direct voter engagement portends for the future of democracy in America. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36293]

Ian Haney López is is the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He specializes on race and racism in the law. His focus for the last decade has been on the use of racism in electoral politics, and how to respond. Ian develops and promotes a race-class praxis which argues that powerful elites exploit social divisions for private gain, so no matter what our race, color, or ethnicity, our best future requires building cross-racial solidarity. Ian is the author of three books, White By Law: The Legal Construction of Race (2006), Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism & Wrecked the Middle Class (2014), and most recently, Merge Left: Fusing Race and Class, Winning Elections and Saving America (2019) Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36290]

This lecture begins with a discussion of California’s ballot measure Prop 16 which seeks to overturn Prop 209, the 1996 ban on affirmative action in the state. This discussion considers both the history of California ballot measures and looks closely at how ballot measures have remade racial liberalism in postwar California. From there we turn to our primary topic which is that of political messaging and political strategy. We begin with the ideas promoted by Ian Haney Lopez and several other prominent Democratic party strategists for how to confront challenging questions of race and class in building electoral majorities and social movements. Remember the words of Stuart Hall: “Race is a modality in which class is lived.” Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36289]

Chrissie Castro, Diné and Chicana, is the Chairperson of the Los Angeles City County Native American Indian Commission, and co-led the change to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in the City and County of Los Angeles. She was a co-founder of Indigenous Women Rise, which organized the Indigenous women’s contingent of 1,000 Indigenous Women at the Women’s March in DC. She is the Network Weaver of the Native Voice Network, a national network of 35+ Native-led organizations that mobilize through indigenous cultural values; and recently launched two projects to build community and political power of Native communities – locally, the California Native Vote Project and nationally, Advance Native Political Leadership. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36286]

This lecture looks at social movements and culture in history through three theoretical models of social, political and historical change: Karl Marx’s theory of historical materialism as expressed in the “base-superstructure” model, Antonio Gramsci’s theories of intellectuals and of consent and coercion in the shaping of hegemony, and Black feminism as expressed by Combahee River Collective. Marx’s theory influenced the formation of the movements of the19th century; the labor movement, the women’s suffrage movement and the abolitionist movement. Gramsci’s context of Italian fascism is discussed as is the question of historical fascism as a backlash against the gains made by the social movements that preceded it. Through the Combahee River Collective we come to see how Black feminism represents a revolutionary force not only against the systems of state and economic oppression, but against the narrowly constructed identities that shaped the previous history of social movements. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36285]

This lecture opens with the breaking news of Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis and the super spreader event that broke out in the White House last week. From there we turn to a detailed discussion of social movements, organizing and democracy. Professor Jayaraman discusses the question of power, the elements and goals of organizing, the dynamics of social movements, and the cycles of contention through which social movements grow. She argues that the more people engage in contentious action over a sustained period of time, the more transformative change becomes possible. The discussion concludes with an analysis of how social movements can map power relations and best run campaigns to change public policy. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36283]

This lecture features Rashad Robinson, the President of Color Of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. The organization helps people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by 1.7 million members, they move decision-makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America. Color Of Change uses an innovative combination of technology, research, media savvy and local community engagement to build powerful movements and change the industries that affect Black people’s lives: in Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Wall Street, Washington, prosecutor offices, capitol hills and city halls around the country. This lecture ends with a brief discussion of the September 29 presidential “debate” between Trump and Biden, considering what was revealed in this event and how it will impact the ongoing campaigns.   Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36282]

Today we take up the question of racial classification and the 2020 census with professor Michael Omi. Professor Omi is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, Asians American and Asian Diaspora Studies at UC Berkeley. He is the author, along with Howard Winant, of the ground breaking work Racial Formations in the United States, now in its third edition. At Berkeley, Professor Omi serves as the Associate Director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, and is an affiliated faculty member of Sociology and Gender & Women’s Studies. In today’s talk, Professor Omi uses racial formations theory to discuss his research into the United States census and its evolving system of classifying and categorizing race. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36278]

The principle question for this presentation is what is “race” and how does it shape our politics? We begin with an introduction looking at the ongoing western wildfires, its differential impact upon white versus communities of color and the prison workers who get paid pennies a day to fight wildfires in California. From there we turn to a consideration of race and racism as defined by sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant. Together, they define race as “a concept which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies.” Using this definition, we consider a range of examples of how racial categories and racial formations are “created, inhabited, transformed and destroyed.” We begin with the 1790 Naturalization act which reserved the rights of citizenship to “free white persons.” Then move on to consider how racial categories have both fixed our identities and shifted our history from Columbus to the 2020 Census. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36277]

“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” As look at the history of American democracy, we begin with the nation’s founding contradiction: the dispossession of Natives, the enslavement of Africans and the exclusion of women in a new nation dedicated to the radical concept of universal human equality. Through a reading of the founding documents of the United States, ranging from the Declaration of Independence to the speeches of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and Barack Obama, we consider how race, colonialism and slavery shaped the nation's founding, and how this legacy, this “original sin” of the American founding, continues to shape and distort our democracy. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36276]

This conversation with leading scholars and bestselling authors Robin DiAngelo ("White Fragility") and Ibram X. Kendi ("How to Be An Anti-Racist") is facilitated by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wesley Lowery. Together they address the question: How do we talk about race in a way that unites and strengthens us as a community? [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36150]

Aimee Allison is founder and president of She the People, a national network elevating the voice and power of women of color. She brings together voters, organizers, and elected leaders in a movement grounded in values of love, justice, belonging, and democracy. In 2018, Ms. Allison was one of the primary architects of the "year of women of color in politics." She is building a political home for a million women of color, nationally and in battleground states. In April 2019, she convened the first presidential forum for women of color, reaching a quarter of the American population. A democratic innovator and visionary, Ms. Allison leads national efforts to build inclusive, multiracial coalitions led by women of color. She leverages media, research and analysis to increase voter engagement and advocate for racial, economic and gender justice. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36275]

In our opening public lecture, we will take up the immediate context of the 2020 election to consider what is at stake in COVID-19 and the recent uprisings around Black Lives Matter and racial injustice for the United States? We will draw upon Arundhati Roy’s concept of the “pandemic as portal,” in which she writes: “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.” As we approach these unprecedented, overlapping crises of public health, racism, economic decline and environmental breakdown, we must ask fundamental questions of what we need to leave behind in order to build what must come next. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36274]

Socio-economic equality and rights have historically been marginalized in the human rights system but remain a front of racial discrimination. Panelists will engage with this history, identify contemporary patterns, and reflect on the analytical benefit of combining TWAIL (Third World Approaches to International Law) and CRT (Critical Race Theory). Series: "UCLA Law Review Symposium " [Show ID: 35630]

Panelists consider global and national displacement, rights and protection regimes, and the ways that race and political economy drive policy decisions and institutional and normative responses to migration and migrants. The discussion covers the criminalization and detention of immigrants and the impact of historical and social forces, and reflects on the analytical benefit of combining TWAIL (Third World Approaches to International Law) and CRT (Critical Race Theory). Series: "UCLA Law Review Symposium " [Show ID: 35629]

Contemporary global and national political crises, many of which threaten the human rights of millions and even the international system itself, bring into sharp relief enduring colonial legacies of racial injustice and racial inequality all over the world. In this opening and framing discussion, panelists will interrogate the role of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) in developing a transnational legal discourse on racial injustice and inequality, that accounts for the role of empire in producing and sustaining racial injustice and inequality. Series: "UCLA Law Review Symposium " [Show ID: 35625]

Emergency law permits states to derogate from globally agreed upon norms of human rights. While some rights cannot be suppressed, states still use emergency law to justify policies that reproduce inherently racialized colonial logics, including within the anti-terrorism frame. Panelists reflect on the analytical benefit of combining TWAIL (Third World Approaches to International Law) and CRT (Critical Race Theory) in scholarship on emergencies and crisis. Series: "UCLA Law Review Symposium " [Show ID: 35627]

The keynote presentation of the Transnational Legal Discourse on Race and Empire Symposium features Aziz Rana whose research and teaching center on American constitutional law and political development, with a particular focus on how shifting notions of race, citizenship, and empire have shaped legal and political identity since the founding. Rana is a Professor of Law at Cornell Law School. Series: "UCLA Law Review Symposium " [Show ID: 35628]

Twentieth-Century African American Freedom Struggles transformed both US and World History. These seminal liberation struggles include the important yet relatively unknown series of early twentieth-century southern African American streetcar boycotts as well as the iconic Civil Rights-Black Power Insurgency (1935-75). First, Waldo Martin examines why and how these foundational freedom struggles proved essential to the making of the modern African American Freedom Movement. Second, he examines the centrality of the modern African American Freedom Movement to both the creation of the modern United States and the development of the modern world. Waldo Martin is the Alexander F. & May T. Morrison Professor of American History & Citizenship at the University of California, Berkeley. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Show ID: 35148]

By virtually any measure, prisons have not worked. They are sites of cruelty, dehumanization, and violence, as well as subordination by race, class, and gender. Prisons traumatize virtually all who come into contact with them. Abolition of prison could be the ultimate reform. Georgetown Law Professor Paul Bulter explores what would replace prisons, how people who cause harm could be dealt with in the absence of incarceration, and why abolition would make everyone safer and our society more just. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Show ID: 35147]

Ethnic and racial diversity is a key strength in workforce development as well as moral imperative. How can we better match skills to opportunity? Molly Bashay, state policy analyst for the National Skills Coalition, explains how better workforce policies are needed to advance equity. Series: "Career Channel" [Show ID: 35386]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Professor Paul Butler, Albert Brick Professor Law at Georgetown, for a discussion of the law and blacks. Topics covered include formative experiences including influence of his parents, his upbringing in Chicago, his education, and his work as a prosecutor. Emphasis is on how and why his ideas about reform and activism evolved as he came to understand black confrontation with the law. Series: "Conversations with History" [Show ID: 35257]

A discussion of constructive and effective ways to bring youth, community leaders, and organizations together to overcome divisiveness and polarization and build a stronger, more tolerant, and inclusive society. Series: "Global Empowerment Summit" [Show ID: 35331]

Yale University professor and filmmaker Charles Musser explores the historical and contemporary perspectives of race relations in German and American cinema from the 1920s by examining The Ancient Law (1923) and The Jazz Singer (1927). He evaluates how each film addresses anti-Semitism as well as the burning question of the history of blackface as a theatrical convention. Series: "Library Channel" [Show ID: 35016]

As an increasingly polarized America fights over the legacy of racism, Susan Neiman, author of the contemporary philosophical classic Evil in Modern Thought, asks what we can learn from the Germans about confronting the evils of the past. In the wake of white nationalist attacks, the ongoing debate over reparations, and the controversy surrounding Confederate monuments and the contested memories they evoke, Susan Neiman’s Learning from the Germans delivers an urgently needed perspective on how a country can come to terms with its historical wrongdoings. She combines philosophical reflection, personal stories, and interviews with both Americans and Germans who are grappling with the evils of their own national histories. Series: "Writers" [Show ID: 35015]

Brown v. Board of Education was hailed as a landmark decision for civil rights. But decades later, many consider school integration a failure. UC Berkeley professor Rucker C. Johnson's new book Children of the Dream shows the exact opposite is true. The book looks at decades of studies to show that students of all races who attended integrated schools fared better than those who did not. In this interview with Goldman School of Public Policy Dean Henry E. Brady, Johnson explains how he and his team analyzed the impact of not just integration, but school funding policies, and the Head Start program. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Education] [Show ID: 34358]

This panel explores the relevance of race, citizenship, immigration status, and community context in explaining lethal violence and criminal case outcomes, both currently and historically. Drawing from a variety of data sources and employing a wide range of analytical approaches, the panel illuminates largely overlooked and underappreciated racially-contingent micro- and meso-level processes and their enduring consequences for Latinx defendants, Latinx victims, and Latinx communities. Moderator: Alicia Virani, UCLA School of Law. Panelists: Klara Stephens, University of Michigan Law School/ National Registry of Exonerations; Cynthia Willis-Esqueda, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Jeffrey Ulmer, Penn State; Ramiro Martinez, Northeastern University Series: "Immigration" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 34539]

This panel focuses on questions surrounding the influence of race and ethnicity on the imposition of capital punishment. The Supreme Court struck down unitary standardless capital punishment statutes in the early 1970s. Only a few years later the Court upheld two forms of bifurcated, more structured death penalty statutes relying in part on an assumption that the narrowing required by such statutes would eliminate the influence of racial bias. None of the cases considered the possibility of racial bias against any group other than African Americans. This panel examines the evidence that racial and ethnic bias continues to influence the imposition of the death penalty under modern statutes. Moderator: Devon Carbado, UCLA and Harry Pregerson, UCLA Schoolof Law; Sheri Lynn Johnson,Cornell Law School; Martin Urbina, Sul Ross State University; Catherine Grosso, Michigan State University College of Law. Series: "UCLA Law Review Symposium " [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 34540]