Executive NotesWinter has become a distant memory and we are enjoying the new expression of life that comes with spring. And as time has put some space between us and the November/December conference, “Toward a Transformative Agenda on Race,” we have reflected on some of the important insights that came from this important and unique conference. The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity is deliberately multi-disciplinarian and policy oriented and the conference reflected this structure. The conference started with a film festival running from Tuesday through Saturday featuring selected films with discussion sessions before and after the viewing. The conference sessions started on Friday afternoon and continued through Sunday afternoon with four plenary sessions and more than 50 panels and workshops. The Transformative Conference focused on three tracks: How we think about race, how we communicate about race, and how we act on race. The sessions and workshops addressed how we talk about race now and how we can move to talking about race in a transformative way.

Though I am using the word “race,” it might be better to say “racism,” or even better still to use the concept of racialization. We have learned how the mind works implicitly to make racial meaning that impacts both our understanding and our actions. We have also learned that we have many implicit ideas of race that are both very powerful and often negative. And contrary to much of the recent wisdom, it was suggested that it is better to talk about race in an explicit manner to overcome the implicit ideas of race that reside in our subconscious mind. We have also learned that we have a number of implicit ideas that form frames that we use to process information about the world around us. There are ways in which one framework can become activated so that

K I R W A N

I N S T I T U T E

An update of activities from the Kirwan

Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity

“Despite many differences, human destinies are intertwined.” – from the Kirwan Institute Mission Statement

dateS p r i n g 2 0 0 8

Professor john a. powell

INSIDE:• The Kirwan Conference Overview • Alliance Building between African Americans and Immigrants • Update Q & A: Framing and Implicit Bias • Kirwan Institute Blog: Racial Lingering in Iowa (continued on page 2)

The Fair Housing Act at 40: Reflections and New Challenges

Jason Reece, AICPSenior Researcher

April 11, 2008, will mark the 40th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, one of the last major pieces of civil rights legislation to emerge from the 1960s civil rights movement. Any major anniversary often creates a time of reflection and given the current distress in our nation’s housing market, the 40th anniversary should be a time to reflect on the history, goals, success, and failures of the Fair Housing Act. Like many of the major pieces of civil rights legislation, the Fair Housing Act has seen its share of success and unmet expectations. Housing is still a critical vehicle of opportunity in our society and the current challenges facing our housing market emphasize the continued prominence of housing to accessing opportunity, stabilizing neighborhoods, and building wealth. As we enter the fourth decade of the act’s history, we need to not only look backward but forward, thinking about how the Fair Housing Act can be reinvigorated to address the new (and persistent) housing challenges facing our society.

A Tumultuous History

The Fair Housing Act has a tumultuous history and some historians posit that the act would not have passed in 1968 if not for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King’s freedom movement in northern cities in the late 1960s captured the essence of the Fair Housing Act’s goals to open

(continued on page 4)

Executive Notes (continued from page 1)

care system that needs to be changed. We also believe that the issue of racialization requires a transformative approach which will have positive implications for our entire society.

We hope as you enjoy the new life of spring that you also continue to participate with us in bringing about a transformative approach to race and racialization. Look for our forthcoming book highlighting selections from and related to our “Toward a Transformative Agenda Around Race” conference. And we look forward to seeing you at our conference in October on sub-prime lending. I thank all of you for your past contributions and encourage your continued efforts towards this important work. n

john a. powell Executive Director

The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity is a university-wide interdisciplinary research institute. Its goal is to deepen our understanding of the causes of and solutions to racial and ethnic disparities and hierarchies. This includes an explicit focus not only on Ohio and the United States, but also on the Americas and our larger global community. Our primary focus is to increase general understanding that, despite many differences, human destinies are intertwined. Thus, the institute explores and illustrates both our diversity and common humanity in real terms.

The institute brings together a diverse and creative group of scholars and researchers from various disciplines to focus on the histories, present conditions, and the future prospects of racially and ethnically marginalized people. Informed by real-world needs, its work strives to meaningfully influence policies and practices.

The institute also focuses on the interrelatedness of race and ethnicity with other factors, such as gender, class, and culture, and how these are embedded in structures and systems. Collaboration with other institutions and organizations around the world and ongoing relationships with real people, real communities, and real issues are a vital part of its work.

The institute employs many approaches to fulfilling its mission: original research, publications, comparative analyses, surveys, convenings, and conferences. It is part of a rich intellectual community and draws upon the insight and energy of the faculty and students at Ohio State.

While the institute focuses on marginalized racial and ethnic communities, it understands that these communities exist in relation to other communities and that fostering these relationships deepens the possibility of change. It is the sincere hope and goal of all of us that the institute gives transformative meaning to both our diversity and our common humanity.

A B O U T T H E I N S T I T U T E

it is more salient than another. Much of this process of activation, called priming, is done without our conscious awareness. The Q & A section of this issue of the newsletter presents answers to selected frequently asked questions about framing and implicit bias.

We also talked about how we communicate about race and racialization and how to do this in a more transformative way. We distinguished between an analysis on race and a communication strategy. One of the critical pieces for effective talking about race is to be aware of the implicit story that the listeners have and how that implicit story will shape the information communicated. One example is when talking about disparities. When the group that is doing poorly talks to another group, how the disparate group is perceived will impact how the listener will understand the information. If the group is disfavored or stigmatized, the subject of disparities alone is likely to reinforce the negative assumption about the disfavored group. For example, to assert that Latinos are 50% less likely to graduate from high school will mean something different to groups who believe Latinos are less intelligent than to groups who believe Latinos are just as intelligent as the other groups. How we talk about racialization is very much impacted by the background or implicit understanding that we bring with us.

So how does one talk about race in a transformative way? The first thing as already suggested is to know the salient implicit story the listener brings to the conversation. But beyond that it is to talk in a way that the listener shows up in the conversation and not just as a problem. This might mean acknowledging the stresses that the listener is likely experiencing. It might also mean suggesting that we are referring to universal strategies that are targeted. It also means talking about race in a way that highlights our interrelationship and connectivity even while acknowledging our differences. The great shift may be to bring into the discussion the ideas of structures and institutions.

How do we do transformative work around race and racialization? As already suggested, much of the work related to race is influenced by institutional design and interaction. We must be able to focus on how institutional arrangements may be undermining our stated goals and values. A racially just society is not simply one where people respect each other personally but also one where institutional function and design are just and people participate in the constitution of those systems or structures. Let me give you some examples that might be useful in this discussion. Much of the continued and growing segregation in schools can be traced back to the

phenomenon of neighborhood schools where the neighborhoods are segregated. In other words, housing policy is school policy. This was one of the key issues in the recent Supreme Court case “Parents Involved” dealing with voluntary integration plans in Louisville and Seattle. The Supreme Court plurality focused on the intentional actions of the government instead of how housing and zoning policies and practices were creating segregation in schools. Another example, look at how the extreme disinvestment in infrastructures resulted in the flooding in New Orleans and other areas. Although blacks were likely to fare worse than other groups, all were impacted. And now we are witnessing a similar structure dysfunction in the area of sub-prime lending. As the sub-prime lending market crashes, the impact may be greatest in poor black and Latino communities, but the impact has already been felt across the entire economy. These are examples of some of the results of structural racialization. Our attention is directed to how systems and structures interact and the consequence of these interactions. It is less concerned with, but not oblivious to, the psychology of individual actors.

Another important point to make is that once structures are in place they impact all of us—not just the disfavored groups. The analysis suggests a different understanding of the problems and and calls for different actions such as being hard on structures and not as hard on people. This approach can lead the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and others to look at how the structure of opportunity moves us to a very different discussion than a more narrow understanding of race. It also suggests that many efforts to separate race, class, and institutions are often misguided.

So what makes something transformative and what is the opposite of transformative? Actions can be among other things either transformative or transactional. A transactional approach accepts and negotiates the existing institutional and structural arrangements. So if my child is in a failing school, a transactional approach would be to try to get my child into a better school. A transformation approach is one where we change the institutions and the way they interact. In the school example, a transformative approach would be to change the school, not simply to find another one. Transactional approaches tend to be individualistic and distributive, leaving the larger structure in tact. But if the structure itself is the problem, a transformative approach is called for. For example, the health care system will not be fixed by getting a few more people into jobs that have health care. It’s the health 2

Institute Welcomes New Director of Development

Heather Schwenker has joined the Kirwan staff as the director of Development, bringing with her five years of development experience at The Ohio State

University. She served as the director of Foundation Relations for The Ohio State University Medical Center and James Cancer Hospital and also held positions in the University Development Corporate and Foundation Relations office. Heather received her BA in Fine Arts from Mount Union College and is working toward a Fund Raising Certificate at the University of Indiana. She sits on the advisory board for the Jeffrey Thomas Hayden Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping kids affected by cancer. The Jeffrey Thomas Hayden Foundation was created to increase awareness about pediatric brain tumors and provide education and support to affected families.

Heather will be working with the University Development office and the Kirwan Institute to create, develop, and execute plans for fund raising for the institute. She will direct and implement a fund development program that includes foundation and corporate gifts and special events. She will work closely with john powell, executive director, and Andrew Grant-Thomas, deputy director, to lead strategies and research to develop and steward donors and prospects to further the mission of the institute. n

DevelopmentThe work of the Kirwan Institute is made possible by the generous support of numerous people and organizations. New external funding includes the following:

W.K. Kellogg FoundationThe African American Male Project

The Ford FoundationGeneral operationsThe Diversity Advancement Project

The President’s Council (of Cleveland)Regionalism and its effects on African Americans in Cleveland

Public Interest Projects Fulfilling the Dream Fund (National Fund)“A New Paradigm for Affirmative Action: Targeting Within Universalism”

The Tides FoundationCore operating support

The Open Society Institute School Desegregation Project Core operating support

Democracy AllianceGeneral operating

For more information on making a commitment to excellence with a donation to the institute, please contact:

Heather A. Schwenker Director of DevelopmentKirwan Institute for the Study of Race and ethnicity (614) 688-5429 schwenker.4@osu.edu

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Hancock Designated as a Kirwan Institute Senior Faculty Fellow

Charles R. Hancock, professor and associate dean for Diversity, Urban, International/Global Affairs in the College of Education and Human Ecology, has been named a Senior Faculty Fellow at the OSU Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. Professor Hancock’s research deals with the impact of an intervention model called “Each One Teach One,”

an initiative designed to increase the number of African American males in urban education and human ecology

careers. This longitudinal research focuses on targeted high school students’ abilities, attitudes, and opportunities, and their subsequent efforts to complete college preparatory curricula, move on to college, graduate, and then enter a profession in an urban setting. The goal of the initiative is to strengthen the pipeline from high school to college, particularly in teaching and careers in education and human ecology, for African American males where there is a widely recognized need to increase the pool. Collaborators include the Ohio State’s Bell Resource Center on the African American Male, Dr. Joseph L. White from the University of California at Irvine, and Columbus City Schools. n

Fair Housing (continued from page 1)

up the opportunity-rich White suburban neighborhoods to all Americans regardless of their race, religion, or ethnicity. The tremendous and fierce resistance Dr. King met in the suburbs of northern cities like Chicago represented the intense resistance to disestablishing the North’s version of Jim Crow. Crowds and angry protestors harassed African Americans who attempted to move into places like Cicero in Chicago, while Dr. King’s marchers were consistently threatened and assaulted. The tragic assassination of Dr. King on April 4, 1968, prompted the passage of the act that had lingered in Congress for years due to resistance from legislators from both the North and the South.

The act barred most forms of individual discrimination in the housing market and placed a requirement on the federal government (through the activity of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) to “affirmatively further fair housing.” For the first time in its history, the United States had legislative tools to counter the persistent discrimination and segregation plaguing our housing markets, neighborhoods, and society. However, the Fair Housing Act met many obstacles in implementation. During the Nixon administration, HUD Secretary Romney’s attempt to leverage financial support through the federal government (through HUD) to communities to ensure that local governments were following fair housing requirements was met with persistent resistance. As well, the Supreme Court’s Milliken decision in 1974 exempted the suburbs from participating in metropolitan school desegregation orders, prompting a new wave of White flight from urban school districts to White affluent suburban districts. In the following decades, exclusionary zoning policies utilized building restrictions to block rental housing and artificially drive up the cost of housing, assuring that low income families could not enter the communities of opportunity. The Arlington Heights decision in 1977 made litigating against the discrimination produced by exclusionary zoning nearly impossible. In addition, the actions of HUD and public housing authorities still supported segregation, by continuing to concentrate assisted housing in higher poverty, racially segregated, inner-city neighborhoods.

Has the Act Achieved its Goals?

Unfortunately, 40 years after the Fair Housing Act, we are far from having racially integrated communities. Most of

our metropolitan regions remain highly segregated, especially our older (and highly fragmented) metropolitan regions in the Northeast and Midwest. In addition, volumes of research and evidence indicate that people of color are still highly segregated from neighborhoods of opportunity, communities that are safe and stable, with good schools, adequate public services, and abundant jobs. In the United States in 2000, nearly three quarters of the people living in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty (neighborhoods where more than 40% of the residents live in poverty) were African American or Latino. Only 1% of Whites living in our nation’s metropolitan areas lived in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty in 2000, while 10% of the African Americans were isolated in these communities.

Looking Toward the Future: Why Housing (and Fair Housing) Still Matters

New threats to fair housing and our nation’s housing market emphasize the continued importance of fair housing and the interconnected nature of everyone in our society. Housing is still the most important vehicle for accessing opportunity in our nation. For most Americans, homeownership represents the best opportunity for building assets and wealth. Much of the 900% disparity in net worth between White and African American households can be explained by the homeownership gap (and the quality of neighborhoods into which African American homeowners are often segregated). The wealth generated by homeownership creates a transformative and intergenerational asset to expand the resources, power, and opportunities available to future generations.

Housing provides us more than just shelter or an asset to build wealth; it represents the critical link to providing access to critical life opportunities. As the old real estate adage informs us, it’s always about “location, location, location.” Where you live determines the quality of schools your children will attend and the likelihood of exposure to public health risks or crime. The nature of the community you live within influences your access to jobs and employment networks, dictates the quality of public services you receive, and the likelihood of having access to critical resources like health care facilities or educational support services (such as libraries with computers). Your neighborhood also plays a strong role in determining social networks and peers.

The peer effect plays a powerful role in shaping the social norms and influencing the behavior of both adults and children.

Fair housing is not just a vehicle to address the needs of low income populations or marginalized communities of color. The recent housing crisis facing our nation is a glaring example of this fact. Discriminatory and predatory lending practices by lenders threaten to undo the gains in homeownership for people of color and sparked a foreclosure crisis threatening entire neighborhoods, cities, states, and our national economy. The link between predatory lending (high cost or non-traditional mortgages) and race is irrefutable. Mapping of high cost mortgage lending in cities like Cleveland and Baltimore indicate clear concentrations in African American neighborhoods.

The crisis also reminds us that discriminatory behavior in the housing market puts everyone at risk and harms our entire society. The foreclosure crisis has diminished home equity growth across the nation, stifled housing investment, destabilized entire neighborhoods, and created instability on Wall Street that is rattling the entire U.S. economy. The discriminatory actions of a few actors in the mortgage-lending industry have not only impacted low income communities of color but are impacting everyone in the United States. An aggressive enforcement of the Fair Housing Act and more transparency in lending could have assisted in preventing many predatory loans, helping those directly impacted but also indirectly benefiting everyone in the United States by assuring a fair (and stable) housing market. A fitting example and reminder of another of Dr. King’s legacies, the belief that everyone’s fate is linked, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or economic status. Therefore, civil rights initiatives like the Fair Housing Act not only help the marginalized but provide benefits to all and create the foundation for a better democracy. As Dr. King stated: “We are all caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”

Hope for the Future

Despite these impediments and continued challenges, we have had some success in creating integration and fair housing since the 1960s. Although most of our major metropolitan areas remain highly segregated, residential dissimilarity indices (the statistical index to measure segregation) have declined and more non-White households 4

James Moore III to Lead Bell Resource Center

James L. Moore III, an associate professor in the College of Education and Human Ecology and a senior associate researcher with the Kirwan Institute, will lead Ohio State’s Bell Resource Center on the African American Male. The Office of Minority Affairs, the Office of Student Affairs, and interested faculty and staff members at The Ohio State University implemented the Black Male Initiative in response to national and local research in 2002 on the collegiate performance of African American male students. As a result, the university established a resource center dedicated to increasing retention and graduation rates, understanding and facilitating academic achievement, and promoting professional, leadership, and personal development in pre-collegiate, undergraduate, and post-graduate African American males. Moore will also emphasize research and evaluation related to African American males in education, the work place, athletics, the penal system, and other social domains. n

Kirwan Institute Introduces First Quarterly Film Series and Cosponsors Conference

are living in the suburbs than any prior time in our history. Studies indicate that discrimination in the private housing market have declined since the 1960s (although subtle forms of discrimination like racial steering and “editorializing” in the real estate industry still support segregation). Inclusionary zoning ordinances are on the rise throughout the nation, especially in superheated coastal housing markets. Some states have taken a more prominent role in supporting fair housing, passing state fair housing laws (like New Jersey) that are actively promoting inclusionary policies (like California). In addition, housing mobility programs like Gautreaux and MTO (the Moving to Opportunity program) provide some inspiration to what fair housing could produce in our society.

The Kirwan Institute is releasing an anniversary report on the Fair Housing Act in April 2008. The report will expand on the issues addressed above and explore how to address the new housing challenges threatening fair housing in the United States. For more

information or to access the report, please visit the Kirwan Institute web site at

kirwaninstitute.org.n

The Kirwan Institute has introduced a quarterly film series following the success of the fall film festival of 2007. The film series will illustrate various issues of race and ethnicity though the use of film as well as serve as a vehicle to bridge the interests of outside organizations with those of the institute.

As an introduction to our film series, the Kirwan Institute is proudly cosponsoring the 11th Annual Ohio State University Symposium on Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics (April 18-19, 2008) entitled “(Re)defining Identities in Moments of Transition.” It will feature as keynote speakers Professor Rocío Quispe-Agnoli, Michigan State University (Literature), and Professor Richard Cameron, University of Illinois at Chicago (Linguistics). This year’s symposium focuses on the speed and conditions in which humans move today as a reflection of an increasingly globalized society. It is an invitation to reflect upon the concept of

identity in its

most ample meaning focusing

on linguistic, literary, cultural, political, or social issues that exist in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world.

Following the opening keynote on Friday, April 18, the 2005 film Princesas by Fernando León de Araona will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in 180 Hagerty Hall. The film is a part of the symposium as well as the Kirwan Institute’s quarterly film series. Professor Ana Del Sarto will introduce the film, and a panel discussion lead by Professor Del Sarto and Professor Maurice Stevens will follow the film. Tickets are free for the Princesas showing and can be picked up at 433 Mendenhall Lab (limit two tickets per person).

The registration symposium fee will be $20 for faculty, staff, and students.. The registration fee can be paid by check, money

order, or cashier’s check. Make checks payable to The Ohio State University Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

For additional information regarding the symposium, please contact, symposium_sppo@osu.edu. If you have questions regarding the Kirwan Institute’s quarterly film series, please contact Ms. Angela Stanley at stanley.140@osu.edu. n

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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Racial Lingering in Iowa (U.S.)?

By Hiram José Irizarry Osorio, Research Associate at the Kirwan Institute

There has been some discussion and media coverage based on a “racially loaded” set of questions John Edwards was asked last Friday, December 14, from an “elderly White man” in Iowa (read “The Obama racial subtext surfaces in Iowa”). The focus has been somehow to underscore that the “elderly White man” from Iowa represents the racialized subtext of the U.S. population.

I would prefer to approach the coverage of the incident differently.

How about focusing on an honest (or striving for an honest) conversation on issues of race in the United State?

The “elderly White man” from Iowa honestly asked a question about an issue that was (or had been) bothering him and John Edwards answered, while still contesting the man’s implicit racial implications.

The conversation was not perfect, because it cannot be. We cannot have a perfect, ideal conversation surrounding race in the United States within an imperfect environment, an environment loaded with racial taboos. These taboos can only be unearthed through honest and continuous conversations (not through accidental conversations alone).

It is the same thing (and it is connected to) when we talk about democracy. A vigorous, vibrant democracy cannot rely SOLELY on voting every now and then. Voting is a democratic act, but it has to be cultivated. Furthermore, a democracy is not SOLELY voting. Voting is an expression of a process based on discussions, conversations, debates, proposals that should expand time and space. These discussion, conversations, debates, proposals could be “interrupted” once in a while for all citizens to vote, but the process needs to (and it will) proceed.

My point is not if that “elderly White man” from Iowa was a racist or not. My point is to focus our energies and attention on promoting this sort of open dialogues regarding issues of race (and beyond) for them to occur more often, for them to become more vibrant, for them to include different “racial” groups into the discussion, while feeling safe and comfortable. Nevertheless, this is not something that we can just wish. We need to make it happen. We need to act upon it. Thus, in the meantime, it might not be that comfortable for anyone of us, but it is something that is worth striving for, if we really want a vibrant, healthy, and just democratic society.

What we do know is that talking about the “race,” however unpleasant, is of utmost necessity to unearth troubled feelings and perceptions and to be able to walk the walk toward social (racial) justice. Not publicly discussing these sort of issues would be (and has been) detrimental. Thus, what should we do? What do you think?

Kirwan Institute Blog (kirwaninstitute.blogspot.com)

This is a sample of a blog entry on the Kirwan Blogspot. Please visit our web site at kirwaninstitute.org to view and comment on current blogs.

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Kirwan Institute Blog

is created by Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. This blog is devoted to stimulating and sustaining dialogue around issues of race, ethnicity, social hierarchy, democratic principles, and other intersections of social justice.

To initiate a new discussion ...

e-mail to kirwanblog@gmail.com

Talking about Race Film Festival 2007

By Angela Stanley, Research Associate

Part of the mission of the Kirwan Institute is to promote understanding of the causes, consequences, and solutions to racial and ethnic hierarchy. To do this, we apply a structural analysis to our work to demonstrate the system of social structures that produces race-based inequalities. In the fall of 2007, the Kirwan Institute hosted our first film festival in conjunction with our larger national conference, “Toward a Transformative Agenda around Race,” to expand our realm of understanding and to demonstrate how structural racism operates.

The overall goal of the film festival was to illustrate structural racism through a medium that would not only reach a broader audience but would transform the way activists, academics, policymakers, and other interested individuals talk about and do work around race and other issues of social justice. We wanted to demonstrate how film can be used as a communication tool to help examine, rethink, and change our ideas about race and racism. A structural analysis examines how historical legacies, individuals, structures, and institutions work interactively to distribute material and symbolic advantages along racial lines. For this reason, we selected films of both domestic

and foreign origin that deal with issues such as race, gender, class, identity, image, politics, education, and other social and structural forces that intersect to shape the lives of us all.

To kick off our inaugural film festival, the Kirwan Institute partnered with the Wexner Center for the Arts to show a screening of The Devil Came on Horseback. This film was a firsthand account of former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle who was sent by the African Union to investigate the genocide in the western Darfur region. The title refers to the Sudanese government’s Arab militias known as the janjaweed—“devil on horseback”—sent to brutally exterminate or displace hundreds of thousands of other Africans guilty only of being non-Arab. The film also traced Steidle’s efforts to bring his video documentation of the genocide to the American public.

As a departure in the way we traditionally think about structural racism, we had a series of films that dealt largely with people of color and body image which demonstrated that what and how we feel about ourselves are often products of structural, racialized, and in many cases gendered hierarchies. New Growth documented the joys and taboos of wearing natural hair as an African American woman in the United States. Illusions depicted the struggles and consequences of society, in general, and Hollywood, in particular, perpetuating false images as the norm thorough cinema. Two Lies chronicled a

generational conflict and struggle of identity as a Chinese American mother decided to have surgery to make her eyes rounder despite her daughter’s disapproval. Finally, The Body Beautiful, set in the United Kingdom, explored the effects of body image and racial identity on the relationship between a white mother and her black daughter.

The remainder of the films touched on a number of issues, from the socioeconomic underpinnings of a bus hijacking in Brazil in Bus 174 to the week of racial violence kept a secret from the rest of the world in an all-black town in central Florida in the 1920s called Rosewood. These films captured the attention of the audience not only because of the medium but because of the framework and discussions we were able to build around them. Introductions given by Ohio State faculty and other community members provided the viewer with a context and ideas to ponder while viewing the films. Panel discussion or question and answer sessions afterward allowed for further reflection of the films, participation from the audience, and an illumination of key ideas and concepts that could have been missed otherwise.

In the continuation of our efforts to challenge racialized norms and structures, the Kirwan Institute will implement a quarterly film series as well as an annual film festival to bridge the interests of outside organizations and areas around campus with those of the institute.

For more information about the films mentioned above, please visit kirwanfilmfestival.com. n

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We are delighted with the outcomes of our recent national conference, “Toward a Transformative Agenda around Race” (November 30–December 2, 2007), and our associated film festival (November 27–December 1, 2007). Both events were extremely successful!

The conference featured four plenary sessions, 44 panels and workshops, seven full-length films, and three short films workshops. Registration figures indicate that roughly 500 people participated in the conference itself, with hundreds more involved in the 12 films and seven panel discussion sessions around which the festival was organized. Audiences for both events included a rich mix of academics, college and graduate students, university faculty and staff, policymakers, activists, funders, and community members.

In and beyond the United States, rhetoric and action around race and ethnicity are too often used to exaggerate, exacerbate, and distort our differences, with harmful consequences not only for marginalized communities of color, but for all communities. Our main goal in conceptualizing and organizing the “Toward a Transformative Agenda around Race” conference was to challenge scholars, activists, and practitioners to explore ways of thinking and talking about, and “acting” on, race that would reveal and highlight our linked fates as people, notwithstanding our racial, ethnic, and even ideological differences. The conference brought together presenters and participants who are doing important work on how our minds process information about race and how we talk about race, with a focus on framing. Many sessions featured exciting examinations of how societal institutions and structures impact us all in racialized, albeit in different, ways and to different degrees. The resulting emphasis, not only on new information but also on new ways of knowing and doing, offered a nuanced approach of rare richness and power. The breadth of topics offered, the depth of expertise reflected in the plenaries, panels, and workshops, and the wonderfully enthusiastic feedback received from presenters and attendees all suggest that our

Conference 2007 Overview

By Andrew Grant-Thomas and Hiram José Irizarry Osorio

www.kirwanf ilmfestival.com

Brought to you by The Ohio State University's

Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity

FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION VISIT:

the

Kirwan Film FestivalNov. 27, 2007 - Dec. 1, 2007

Keynote speech by Danny Glover and

Felix Justice on Friday, Nov. 30, 2007

on Race and Ethnicity

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Conference 2007 Overview

By Andrew Grant-Thomas and Hiram José Irizarry Osorio

www.kirwanf ilmfestival.com

Brought to you by The Ohio State University's

Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicitythe

Kirwan Film FestivalNov. 27, 2007 - Dec. 1, 2007

on Race and Ethnicity

initial goals were met. Ultimately, we have to work to ensure that this effort supports a real transformation. We eagerly anticipate collectively building on this work.

In light of several unpredictable developments, most notably a last-minute change in Danny Glover’s commitments that left him unable to headline our opening events and weather problems that compelled Senator Bill Bradley to conduct the closing keynote by phone (he was wonderful), we are especially pleased by the overwhelmingly positive reception and grateful to all those who made it possible.

We made a number of efforts to “capture” much of the content and dynamic of the conference. All four plenary sessions and 10 panels and workshops were videotaped, roughly 20 short interviews were conducted with conference attendees, and at least 60 presenters sent us their PowerPoint presentations and talking points. We have started to upload many of these documents and will have edited audiovisual materials online soon. A version of conference proceedings will soon be available, as well as a book that captures and elaborates some of the best and most insightful work presented at the conference.

In addition, this work reflected in the conference and film festival is the Kirwan Institute’s work, and we will continue to strengthen our analyses, hone our understanding of their practical implications for policy and practice, and seek to ensure the implementation and enforcement of those policies and practices. This work necessarily is also the larger community’s work and we are thankful for your continued support as a member of that community.

For a list of session or film titles, descriptions, and participants, please visit our conference and festival sites at KirwanTransformativeRaceConf.org and KirwanFilmFestival.com. n

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Second issue of Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts Available

The second issue of Race/Ethnicity, published in Spring 2008, investigates race and coalition. The classic work from which discussion in this issue proceeds is chapter 4 of Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America, “The Myths of Coalition,” by Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton published in 1967. The chapter discusses three myths of coalition between multiracial political unions: (1) “what is good for America is automatically good for black people,” (2) coalitions can be built between groups with disparate access to political and political power, and (3) shared projects can rely on sentimentality and good will. The papers in this issue discuss these myths of coalition in current national and international contexts touching, for example, on the subjects of racially marginalized groups working together and in opposition, using white privilege, and “unintended” effects of coalition building. The issue is not an exhaustive examination of race and coalition but presents perspectives on the myths of coalition raised by Stokely and Hamilton in 1967 that are still relevant today.

For more information about the journal or to subscribe, go to raceethnicity.org. n

Communities of Opportunity:

Recent Projects by the Institute Addressing Housing, Community Development, and Opportunity Mapping

Columbus Neighborhood Revitalization Assessment

Many opportunity-deprived, inner-city neighborhoods are struggling to revitalize in the face of significant structural challenges. Kirwan researchers synthesized the trends, challenges, and opportunities for Columbus’ distressed core communities at the request of the Columbus Foundation. The study’s findings are based on quantitative and qualitative research, including demographic analysis, interviews with key stakeholders, meta-analysis of plans written for core communities, and review of best practices literature. The study provides an assessment of the issues, dynamics, and opportunities for neighborhood revitalization, as well as strategy and policy recommendations to promote continued revitalization in Columbus’ core neighborhoods.

Atlanta Opportunity Mapping and Neighborhood Revitalization Study

The Kirwan Institute is preparing an opportunity analysis for the Atlanta metropolitan region, the City of Atlanta, and the neighborhoods of Vine City and English Avenue. The analysis will include an assessment of neighborhood indicators of opportunity in the context of minority businesses, subsidized and affordable housing, economic opportunities, educational opportunities, poverty, public transportation, and neighborhood trends.

Massachusetts Neighborhood Opportunity Mapping Initiative

The institute is conducting a statewide neighborhood opportunity analysis with the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.

The project, began in January 2008, will be completed in May 2008. The institute will release a “Massachusetts: The State of Opportunity” report and will conduct mapping analysis of social and economic issues important to legal aide agencies in the state.

Technical Assistance and Outreach: Jefferson County, Kentucky, (Louisville) School District

The institute is assisting the Jefferson County, Kentucky, school districting in finalizing their student assignment plan in the wake of the recent Seattle/Louisville Supreme Court decision. The institute is providing mapping assistance and recommending best practices for creating diverse successful school. n

Call for PapersRace/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts publishes papers that encourage and accommodate heterogeneous thinking about relationships between race, place, power, and meaning in the contemporary world. In an effort to bridge the gap between research and practice, the journal accepts scholarly papers as well as advocacy and practitioner papers related to the theme. Papers for upcoming issues are now being accepted on the following themes: Education, Public Health, and Labor. Contact Eavon Mobley, managing editor, at mobley.2@osu.edu, for a detailed description of the themes and to send manuscript submissions. Please see the Style Guidelines at raceethnicity.org/styleguide.html to prepare your document in accordance with the style guidelines of Race/Ethnicity.

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Multidisciplinary Global ContextsVolume 1 Number 2 • Spring 2008

Race and Coalition

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Volume 1 Number 2 • Spring 2008

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CONTENTS

v From the Editors

ARTICLES171 “The Myths of Coalition” from Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America

STOKELY CARMICHAEL AND CHARLES V. HAMILTON

189 Another City Is Possible: Interethnic Organizing in Contemporary Los Angeles

DANIEL WIDENER

221 The Practice of Working in Coalition

AN INTERVIEW WITH PASCALE CHARHON, GERALD LENOIR, AND SANDEEP PANDEY

227 Using and Disputing Privilege: Young U.S. Activists Struggling to Wield “International Privilege” in Solidarity

MICA POLLOCK

253 Sticks and Scones: Black and White Women in the Homecraft Movement in Colonial Zimbabwe

CAROLYN MARTIN SHAW

279 The Viability of “Going it Alone”: Vietnamese in America and the Coalition Experience of a Transnational Community

CHRISTIAN COLLET

313 Race-ing Faith and Fate: The Jeremiad in Multiracial “Traditional Marriage” Alliances NANCY WADSWORTH

343 List of Contributors

(2) In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Associated Press captioned two photos of looters wading through water carrying food from a local grocery store. The photo of the black resident refers to his “looting” while the photo of the white residents refers to their “finding” groceries. The use of the word “looting” is a frame that triggers multiple associations, including criminal behavior, urban unrest, and disorder. The caption influences how the viewer interprets the image, which in turns shapes the response.

How are frames constructed?

Frames are constructed by identifying and naming a set of core values—or principles—that are central to an individual’s ability

to evaluate and understand the world.

It is important to note that many of our frames are social and cultural in nature and that because we have both conscious (also called explicit) and unconscious (or implicit) frames, one set of frames can be stimulated to the exclusion of the others. Since implicit and explicit social and cultural frames may be a response to an individual’s long-term life experiences, similar information may be framed differently by different people.

This understanding tells us that critical messages must be framed around core attitudes and values that resonate positively with the intended audience. These core attitudes and values might include fairness, equality, justice, democracy, and equal opportunity.

What is implicit bias?

Implicit bias is an aspect of social cognition science that deals with unconscious mental processes. Social cognition is

a field concerned with the content and mechanisms of beliefs and preferences about oneself, other social beings, and social groups. Implicit social cognition is the body of research capturing discoveries about automatic, unconscious, or implicit beliefs (stereotypes) and preferences (attitudes). The

What is framing?

As a verb, framing refers to the way in which an idea is presented and subsequently interpreted. The supporting details, context, and other cues can change the

presentation of an idea and consequently affect the way in which the audience perceives the idea. Frames can be used to encourage some interpretations while discouraging others. The concept of a frame is largely attributed to sociologist Erving Goffman in his classic text, Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience.

The concept of framing, or the ways ideas are shaped and presented to the public, is very powerful. Framing affects how people think, which shapes how they process information and arguments. For example, studies show that if the data and research do not fit the frame, people tend to reject the data and research rather than the frame.

What is a frame?

A frame is a mental structure that we use to process and interpret information. The “frame” is both the way that the message is tailored

to stimulate references in the audience’s mind and the lens through which the message is perceived by the audience. Frames consist of values, metaphors, symbols, language, messages, and messengers, and they may differ dramatically for each individual. Frames help us create meaning, and they mediate our perceptions of reality. The frame is the core idea or narrative. Metaphors are especially powerful frames. They not only describe reality, but also construct it. Metaphors judge, influence, and persuade.

Examples of frames: (1) In the 1980s, President Reagan framed the issue of drug abuse as a war. This was a time when polls indicated that most Americans did not think drugs were a serious problem. By framing the issue in this way, Reagan sought to stimulate specific heightened attitudes in the American people. An alternative frame would be to describe the drug problem as a health issue.

Update Q&A: Framing and Implicit Bias

Stephen MenendianResearch Associate

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biases observed in studying these implicit beliefs and preferences are what are referred to as “implicit biases.”

Examples of Implicit Cognition:(1) The Kanizsa Triangle is an example of unconscious modeling.

Research shows that neural structures are responsible for the optical illusion of a triangle even though there are no lines connecting it. In addition, the triangle appears brighter than the surrounding area even though it has the same brightness as the background. Active modeling occurs well before sensory information reaches the area of the brain responsible for conscious thought.

(2) An example of implicit cognition is a memory experiment in which subjects are asked to pronounce a list of names, some of which are recognizably famous, while others were not. On the next day, the same subjects were asked to judge whether names from a list were famous or not. Half of the second day’s non-famous names were repeated from the first day. More of the repeated non-famous names than the novel ones were judged famous. This is referred to as an “implicit” memory effect. Although the subjects did not consciously remember the initial exposure, the feeling of familiarity was sometimes misattributed to fame, leading to false judgments of fame.

How is that different from explicit bias?

Implicit attitudes are a separate construct from explicit attitudes. What makes implicit attitudes so intriguing and troubling is that

they often produce behavior that diverges from a person’s explicit beliefs or attitudes.

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Kirwan Calendar (continued from back cover)

March 23Research Course for African Americans and Education. Presentation by James Moore III at the American Educational Research Association’s annual meeting in New York, New York.

March 10National forum on “Diversity, Merit, and Higher Education: Improving Underrepresented Students’ Access to Higher Education.” Presentation by john powell.

March 7“Neighborhood Opportunity Mapping for Regional Equity.” Presentation by Jason Reece for the Policy Link Regional Equity Summit 2008, Workshop Series 4: Effective Strategies, Creating Tactics for Action. Session: Assessing and Developing Racially Equitable Policies. New Orleans, Louisiana.

March 5-7The Third National Summit on Equitable Development, Social Justice, and Smart Growth. New Orleans, Louisiana.

Winter 2007-08

February 28“Recent Perspectives on African American History.” Panel participation by Andrew Grant- Thomas on “Open Line,” with Fred Andrle, WOSU. Columbus, Ohio.

February 23Louisville Urban League 2008 Education Summit. Presentation by john powell. Louisville, Kentucky.

February 21 & 22“The Use of Social Science Data in Parents Involved and other Constitutional Adjudication.” Panel moderated by Stephen Menendian. Ohio State Law Journal 2007-08 Symposium: The School Desegregation Cases and the Uncertain Future of Racial Equality. Cosponsored by the Kirwan Institute. Columbus, Ohio.

February 19“Race, Regionalism, and Affordable Housing: Case Study of Baltimore & Thompson v. HUD.” Guest Lecture by Jason Reece at the City & Regional Planning 815 Case Studies in Affordable Housing. The Ohio State University. Columbus, Ohio.

“Will you be my neighbor? Housing and neighborhood diversity in the U.S.” Presentation by Jason Reece to the Program for Advising in Scholarship and Service (PASS). The Ohio State University. Columbus, Ohio.

February 11“Applying Opportunity Mapping to Social Justice Goals and Policy.” Presentation by Jason Reece to the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. Boston, Massachusetts.

“Introduction to Opportunity Mapping.” Presentation by Jason Reece to the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. Boston, Massachusetts.

February 7“Equity and Access: Thinking Transformatively about Race and Opportunity.” The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Presentation by john powell.

“African American-Immigrant Alliance Formation.” Presented by Andrew Grant-Thomas at the Public Interest Projects. New York, New York.

“Intersection of Religion, Racialization, and Marginalization: Comparing Turkey and Israel.” Paper presentation by Yusuf Sarfati at the Kirwan Brown Bag discussion. Columbus, Ohio.

February 6“Diversity and Desegregation: The Roberts’ Court and the Future of Race-based Remedies.” Panel presentation bv Stephen Menendian. Case Western Reserve School of Law. Cleveland, Ohio.

January 30“Inequity and Access to Educational Opportunity.” Guest Lecture by Jason Reece for the Ohio State Honors Program, Social Justice Immersion Course. The Ohio State University. Columbus, Ohio.

January 18“Parents Involved: The Tenuous Ascendancy of Colorblindness on the Roberts’ Court.” University of Louisville Law Review’s Symposium. Presentation by john powell and Stephen Menendian. Louisville, Kentucky.

“Race, Place, and Social Equity.” Guest lecture by Jason Reece. Department of Geography at The Ohio State University. Columbus, Ohio.

“Race(ing) the News: Fair Housing, Opportunity, and Equity.” Cincinnati Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Presentation by Jason Reece. Cincinnati, Ohio.

“Race, Class, and Opportunity: Understanding the Convergence and Divergence of Race & Class in the United States.” Guest lecture by Jason Reece. Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University. Columbus, Ohio.

January 16“Race(ing) the News: Fair Housing, Opportunity, and Equity. Presentation by Jason Reece to the Cincinnati Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Cincinnati, Ohio.

“Race, Place, and Social Equity.” Guest Lecture by Jason Reece. Geography 240: Urban Economic Geography. The Ohio State University. Columbus, Ohio.

December 14Civil Rights, Human Rights, and Race: An Applied Legal Scholarship Symposium. “Anti-discrimination versus Non-discrimination: which way toward racial justice.” Opening plenary moderated by Stephen Menendian.

December 15National ACORN meeting. Presentation by john powell. New Orleans, Louisiana.

December 11Racial profiling in the United States. Presented by Andrew Grant-Thomas at the Open Society Institute’s Anti-Discrimination Initiative planning

meeting. New York, New York.

December 2“Back to the Future? The Reemergence of a Biological Conceptualization of Race.” Panel moderated by Andrew Grant-Thomas during the “Toward a Transformative Agenda around Race Conference.” Columbus, Ohio.

December 1“Toward a Transformative Agenda around Race.” Opening Plenary Session featuring john powell, Saskia Sassen, and Susan Sturm, moderated by Andrew Grant-Thomas during the “Toward a Transformative Agenda around Race Conference.” Sponsored by The Kirwan Institute. Columbus, Ohio.

Autumn 2007

November 27–December 1 The Kirwan Institute Film Festival, Columbus, Ohio.

November 30“Opportunity Mapping Training and Workshop.” Presentation by Jason Reece and Samir Gambhir. Sponsored by the Kirwan Institute. Columbus, Ohio.

“Introduction to Opportunity Mapping.” Presentation by Samir Gambhir at the Opportunity Mapping for Social Justice: Workshop and Strategy Meeting at the Blackwell Inn and Conference Center, The Ohio State University. Columbus, Ohio.

November 30 - December 2The Kirwan Institute International Conference, “Toward a Transformative Agenda Around Race.” Columbus, Ohio.

“Role of Religious Education in Religiopolitical Mobilization: Comparing Turkey and Israel.” Paper presentation by Yusuf Sarfati at the Annual Meeting of the Middle Eastern Studies Association.

November 16NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund Annual Civil Rights Training Institute. Presentation by john powell. Warenton, Virginia.

November 12-13Annual Equity Symposium, the Campaign for Educational Equity. Teachers College, Columbia University. Presentation by john powell. New York, New York.

November 9AACOH’s 4th Biennial Workshop Health and Tobacco Advocacy: Improving Health Outcomes in the African American Community. Cosponsored by the Kirwan Institute. Columbus, Ohio.

November 5Conversations on New Directions for U.S. Programs. Presentation by john powell. Open Society. New York, New York.

October 30Creating Communities of Opportunity for Social Justice. YWCA Madison 2007 Racial Justice Summit. Presentation by Jason Reece. Madison, Wisconsin.

October 29-30Closing the Racial Wealth Gap. Housing

and Predatory Lending Working Group. Presentation by john powell. New York, New York.

October 29“Economic Segregation in Youngstown Area Schools.” Presentation by Andrew Grant-Thomas at the Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing our Neighborhoods (ACTION) Education Conference. Youngstown, Ohio.

October 25“Pathways Out of Poverty: True Integration Through Coalition Building and Public Solidarity.” Symposium on Poverty, Milwaukee Social Development Commission. Keynote address by john a. powell. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

October 18“Immigration in Ohio: Data and Trends.” Presentation by Jason Reece at the Ohio Grantmakers Forum Annual Conference. Columbus, Ohio.

“Race and Racism: Its Impact on Our Institutions and Daily Lives.” ERASE Racism event. Presentation by john a. powell at the Touro College Law Center. Central Islip, New York.

“Opportunity Mapping: Mapping as an Analytical Tool to Address Inequity and Structural Disadvantage.” Center for Legal Aid Education 2007 Structural Racism Convening. Presentation by Jason Reece.

“Race, Place, and Social Equity.” Geography 240: Urban Economic Geography. Guest lecture by Jason Reece. The Ohio State University. Columbus, Ohio.

October 12Calmore Housing Conference. Presentation by john powell. Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

October 6“Investigating Opportunity: Toward Cutting-edge Reporting on Race and Ethnicity.” Society of Professional Journalists Convention & National Journalism Conference. Presentation by Andrew Grant-Thomas and Jason Reece. Washington, D.C.

“Opportunity Mapping: Mapping as an Analytical Tool to Address Inequity and Structural Disadvantage.” Presentation by Jason Reece to the Center for Legal Aid Education 2007 Structural Racism Convening. Boston, Massachusetts.

October 5Childress Lecture at Saint Louis University School of Law. Lecture by john powell. St. Louis, Missouri.

“Investigating Opportunity: Toward Cutting-edge Reporting on Race and Ethnicity.” Presentation by Andrew Grant-Thomas and Jason Reece at the Society of Professional Journalists Convention & National Journalism Conference. Washington, D.C.

October 1 People, Place, & Policy: Reconnecting Communities Neighborhood Funder’s Group. Presentation by john a. powell. Cleveland, Ohio.

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Alliance Building between African Americans and Immigrants

By Yusuf Sarfati, Graduate Research Assistant, and Cheryl McLaughlin, Research Assistant

The Kirwan Institute has been working on a report that focuses on alliance building between African American and immigrant communities. We would like to share with you some of the preliminary findings from the report. This article addresses two of our main research questions. Specifically: 1) What challenges and opportunities mark efforts to build effective alliances between immigrants and African Americans? 2) What principal strategies are employed to create these alliances?

To gather insights, the Kirwan Institute has conducted more than 30 interviews with organizers across the United States. The interviewees, who are engaged in different forms of this alliance-building work, highlighted some important challenges that they face. First, structural factors push the two communities to work for the same low-paying jobs in many areas, especially in the South. The explicit hiring of undocumented immigrant workers and their economic exploitation by employers create an important economic disadvantage for African Americans, who have been trying to unionize and create proper labor standards in their workplaces. Moreover, these structural problems are multiplied by the lack of infrastructural facilities for the absorption of the newcomers in the gateway cities. In many of these cities, the newly arriving (mostly Latino) immigrants, who work in arduous conditions and barely make survival wages, become neighbors with African American communities who are already struggling with high unemployment rates.

In addition to the structural problems, cultural challenges, such as mutual feelings of mistrust, language barriers, and cultural misperceptions, thwart attempts of successful collaboration. These misperceptions are often caused by a lack of knowledge about each group’s history and struggles, as well as possessing differing degrees of racial awareness. For instance, race is not the primary marker of identity for some Latino immigrants and for most African immigrants; however, African Americans tend to see race as a central component of their identity. These different perceptions about the salience of race, which stem from living in different socio-historical contexts, create significant hurdles in creating dialogue.

Yet there are also ample opportunities for alliances to develop between these two groups. Both communities share many common concerns, including the injustices faced in the criminal justice system, the need for education reform in low-opportunity neighborhoods, and economic justice issues such as the need to raise minimum wage or reform workplace safety. Uniting to address these common concerns provides fertile ground for cooperation.

Opportunities can also be spatial. There are potential institutional sites where bridges between these communities could be formed easily. These sites include workers’ centers, unions, schools, multiracial churches, and other locations where African Americans and immigrants come into contact in a regular basis.

Lastly, there are individuals who may be seen as potential bridge-builders. African immigrants (who can associate racially with African Americans), “Black” Latino immigrants (who can identify both with Latinos and Blacks in the United States), and the children of the immigrants (who often have more fluid identities than their parents) can play a significant role in creating constructive dialogue.

Our research revealed that nonprofit organizations in the field employ three main strategies to counter the challenges and embrace

the opportunities. The activists who use a “relationship-building first” strategy contend that interpersonal trust and awareness about each other’s cultures need to be created in a very deliberate manner. In order to do this, both communities need to be educated about the structural forces that are impacting their lives and the historical and cultural background of the other community. This strategy also advocates the creation of safe spaces where members from both communities can share their stories and combat existing stereotypes. According to this perspective, trust-building needs to precede any attempt to mobilize people around issues.

Conversely, some activists argue that “working on issues first” is the best strategy to form alliances. While acknowledging the importance of relationship-building, these organizers claim that trust will be formed as a byproduct of cooperation on common issues. Thus, solidarity stems from sharing a joint struggle, such as working on education reform.

Lastly, some argue that alliances between immigrants and African Americans may be formed implicitly in “sites of organic unity,” such as workers’ centers, prisons, or multiracial churches. These activists claim that associational identities need to be elevated, and people should be mobilized as workers, prisoners, or members of a faith, rather than members of a racial or cultural group. Proponents of an organic strategy assert that this form of mobilization would minimize cultural and racial tensions by using color-blind analyses.

In sum, no matter which strategies they use, we need to take the efforts of these community activists seriously and try to encourage effective and enduring alliances between African American and immigrant communities. The formation and enhancement of the ties between those communities might be the key to counteract the rising nativistic ideologies and to fight against the pervasive structural racism both communities face. The cooperation between African Americans and immigrants in the United States is also crucially important for creating an inclusive pluralistic democracy, in which different races and cultures thrive by both recognizing their differences and working for common goals.

The report, which will include a general analysis, case studies of effective alliances, and recommendations to improve the field, will be published very soon. We hope that this report can initiate meaningful dialogue on a very important topic that is seldom explored by research. n

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What is the implicit association test?

The Implicit Association Test is a test that measures implicit bias. Participants are asked to rapidly classify individual stimuli into one

of four distinct categories using only two responses. The responses are more accurate and faster when categories that are closely associated are paired than when they are not paired. For example, a person with negative implicit attitudes towards Blacks would be expected to go more quickly when “Black” and “bad” share one key, and “White” and “good” the other, than when the pairings of good and bad are switched.

Sources Thinking Change: Race, Framing, and the Public Conversation on Diversity. What Social Science Tells Advocates About Winning Support for Racial Justice Policies, diversityadvancementproject.org/media/ThinkingChange.pdf.

Anthony G. Greenwald and Linda Hamilton Krieger, “Implicit Bias: Scientific Foundations,” 94 California Law Review 945 (July 2006).

“Looting or Finding”? Aaron Kinney, dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/09/01/photo_controversy/index.html.

Linda Hamilton Krieger, “The Content of Our Categories: A Cognitive Bias Approach to Discrimi-nation and Equal Employment Opportunity,” Vol. 47, Stanford Law Review 1161 (1995).

George Lakoff, Don’t Think Of An Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate, Chelsea Green Publishing Co. 2004.

Kristin A. Lane and Jerry Kang, Implicit Social Cognition and Law.

John D. Sterman, Learning in and about Complex Systems, Systems Dynamics Review Vol. 10, Nos. 2-3 (Summer-Fall 1994): 291-330.

Drew Westin, The Political Brain: The Role of Emo-tion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation.

Q&A (continued from page 11)Questions in this section are chosen by our staff to address a particular topic as it relates to our work at the institute. If you have a question you would like to submit for consideration, please e-mail reno.34@osu.edu.

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What are cognitive schemas?

Schemas are one type of categorical structure that help us process incoming information.

As one cognitive psychologist explained: “It is useful to think of a schema as a kind of informal, private, unarticulated theory about the nature of events, objects, or situations which we face.” They bias what we see, how we interpret it, encode it, and store it in our memories. Prominent aspects of an event or situation will activate the relevant schema. In other words, if we see a member of the out-group only in terms of a stereotype (a type of schema), that person’s complexity means nothing to us because those complexities aren’t relevant to our group. This can lead to subconscious, unintentional discrimination.

Publications by StaffGrant-Thomas, Andrew and john a. powell. “Culture, Structures, and the Fate of U.S. Blacks.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 3 Nov. 2007: 11A.

Grant-Thomas, Andrew, and john a. powell. “Toward a Structural Racism Framework.” Poverty & Race Research Action Council

Newsletter 15.6 (2007): 3-6.

Irizarry Osorio, Hiram J. Review of Black Blood Brothers: Confraternities and Social Mobility for Afro-Mexicans, by Nicole Von Germeten, in The Latin Americanist, Vo. 51, No. 1 (2007).

Irizarry Osorio, Hiram J. “Busca Darle Magia asu Vida ñ Strives to Give Magic to His Life” by Giovanna Covarrubias. ¿Qué Pasa OSU? Fall 2007.

Irizarry Osorio, Hiram J. “What’s the purpose behind any label?” Letter to the Editor, Colorlines Magazine, Nov. 2007.

powell, john a. “The Race and Class Nexus: An Intersectional Perspective.” Law and Inequality 25 (2007): 355-428.

Reece, Jason, Christy Rogers, Samir Gambhir, Denis Rhoden, Kwabena Agyeman, Kristen

Farmer, Jillian Olinger, Chauncey Robbs, and Craig Ratchford. “Columbus Neighborhood Revitalization Assessment.” Prepared on behalf of the Columbus Foundation. kiwaninstitute.org. October 2007.

Forthcoming Publications:Grant-Thomas, Andrew. Introduction. 21st Century Color Lines: Exploring the Frontiers of America’s Multicultural Present and Future. By Andrew Grant-Thomas and Gary Orfield, eds. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2008.

Grant-Thomas, Andrew and Gary Orfield, eds. 21st Century Color Lines: Exploring the Frontiers of America’s Multicultural Present and Future. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2008.

Grant-Thomas, Andrew and john a. powell. “Structural Racism and Color Lines in the United States.” 21st Century Color Lines: Exploring the Frontiers of America’s Multicultural Present and Future. By Andrew Grant-Thomas and Gary Orfield, eds. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2008.

Irizarry Osorio, Hiram J. Review of Imágenes de un imperio: Estados Unidos y las formas de representación de América Latina, by Ricardo D. Salvatore, in The Latin Americanist, Vol. 51, No. 2.

Irizarry Osorio, Hiram J. Review of Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History Since 1898, edited by Cesar J. Ayala and Rafael Bernabé and

None of the Above: Puerto Ricans in the Global Era, edited by Frances Negró-Muntaner, in The Latin Americanist, Vol. 52, No. 1 (2008).

Irizarry Osorio, Hiram J. “A Critique to Putnamís Article on Diversity and Community in the 21st Century.” ¿Qué Pasa OSU? Winter 2008.

Irizarry Osorio, Hiram J. “Remembering Betances and Ruiz Belvis: 19th-century struggles and today” ¿Qué Pasa OSU? Spring 2008.

powell, john a. “The Black Metropolis in the 21st Century.” Structural Racism and Spatial Jim Crow. Ed. Robert Bullard.

powell, john a. “Federated Regionalism as a Strategy for Social Justice.” Sustainable Metropolitan Communities Breakthrough Stories. Ed. M. Paloma Pavel. MIT Press.

powell, john a. “The Impact of Societal Systems on Black Male Violence.” Journal of Aggression, Trauma, and Maltreatment (Special Issue).

powell, john a., Michael Omi, and Manuel Pastor. Structural Racism in a Diverse Society.

Spencer, Marguerite, Andrew Grant-Thomas, Margaret Paloma Pavel, and john a. powell. “An Outpouring of Spirit: Katrina and the Belief Systems of Social Change Activists.” Growing Smarter: Achieving Livable Communities, Environmental Justice, and Regional Equity. Robert Bullard, ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008.

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International Program of the Kirwan Institute

The institute’s international program was launched almost a year ago and is still in its nascent stages. There are two aspects to our international work: collaborating with regional partners in exchanging knowledge and experiences on the issues of race and ethnicity; and working at the international level with international organizations such as the United Nations and its specialized agencies. The main objectives of the international program are to build an international network to fight against racism and discrimination and to promote social inclusion both nationally and internationally. We have embarked upon four specific activities.

Networking

We try to find groups such as coalitions of NGOs and people’s movements to partner with in our work for examining the cultural, economic, political, and social experiences of racial and ethnic minority groups in the countries of various regions. While the institute acts as the research arm and does research and policy advocacy, our partner groups set their own agenda and do the local organizing.

Comparative Analysis of and Best Practices in Countries

We plan to come up with criteria such as the marginalization and discrimination of minorities in Big Emerging Markets (BEMs), democracies, or other countries. We would identify three or four indicators such as housing, education, or the growth and perpetuation of inequality, etc., for closer scrutiny. Some of the questions that we ask include: Are there large marginalized communities in these countries? Does the marginalization have a similar or comparable pattern? Is the marginalization in one country relevant to the other cases compared? As a corollary to this, we would also look at what these countries are doing to address disparity, marginalization, opportunity impediments and so forth, and prepare a list of “best practices.”

Collaboration with Transnational Organizations

The institute is collaborating with two potential project partners, the European Coalition of Cities against Racism (ECCAR) and the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO). We are

working on a proposal for a best practices database for the housing sector. The goal is to collect data on projects in the housing sector that have successfully been carried out by European partner cities. We intend to show implications of the housing sector with other areas such as education and employment.

REPORT TO U.N. ADDRESSES RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

In preparation for an upcoming U.N. review of United States’ compliance with the international race discrimination treaty, the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity has joined a coalition of more than 250 civic groups and scholars in a report detailing the continuing problem of racial discrimination.

The United States has not taken seriously the duty under Article 2 of CERD to affirmatively address racial discrimination. Instead, the United States has rationalized racial discriminatory effects as not covered by U.S. law. Sometimes these effects are caused by explicit government polices. At other times they are caused by private actors. Frequently, it is a combination of both. The United States must look at how racial discrimination manifests as a consequence of policies and practices in multiple domains.

The report, titled The Structural Racism Report to the CERD Committee, was submitted to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in preparation for the CERD Committee’s February 2008 review of U.S. compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). The United States ratified the CERD treaty in 1994, and the U.S. State Department issued its most recent report to the CERD Committee this past April—more than four years late. The institute’s report

acknowledges that there are programs at every level of U.S. government designed to address racial discrimination in domains such as housing, education, health care, employment, transportation and so on. However, these programs are not appropriately linked. Pursuant to CERD, the United States should monitor these programs to incorporate feedback, make adjustments, and improvements to nullify policies that continue to perpetuate racial discrimination.

The report is one of more than a dozen reports on criminal justice, education, health, poverty and voting rights being submitted to the CERD Committee today by the U.S. Human Rights Network on the occasion of International Human Rights Day, to highlight the growing importance of international human rights standards in the United States.

The report is available at kirwaninstitute.com/publications/ki_pub_docs/cerd_final.pdf. n

UMC 08004

The Kirwan UPdate is produced by the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at

The Ohio State University, 433 Mendenhall Lab, 125 South Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210.

For questions or comments about this publication, please contact Kirwan UPdate

Editor Eavon Mobley, at (614) 247-8685 or mobley.2@osu.edu.

Contributing Staff Editors Tom Rudd, Senior Researcher

Angela Stanley, Research AssociateStephen Menendian, Research Associate

Contributing Staff WritersTom Rudd, Senior Researcher

15kirwaninst itute.org

433 Mendenhall Laboratory125 S. Oval MallColumbus, OH 43210kirwaninstitute.org

Autumn 2008

November 14Housing Research & Advocacy Center. Conference commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. Presentation by john powell. Cleveland, Ohio.

October 27University of Maryland. Lecture by john powell. College Park, Maryland.

October 2–3Sub-prime lending conference. Sponsored by the Kirwan Institute. Columbus, Ohio.

September 19Akron Summit Community Action Symposium. Keynote speech by john powell. Akron, Ohio.

Summer 2008

July 21TIDES 2008 Momentum Conference. Speaking engagement by john powell. San Francisco, California.

June 242008 National Charter School Conference. Presentation by john powell. New Orleans, Louisiana.

Spring 2008

May 29“Weaving Our Community.” Presentation by john powell at the Detroit Anti-Defamation League, Detroit, Michigan.

May 22–24“The Intersectional Effects of Regional and Racial Cleavages on Twentieth-Century Taxation Outcomes: The Cases of Argentina and Brazil.” Presentation by Hiram J. Irizarry Osorio at the First Conference on Ethnicity, Race, and Indigenous People in Latin America and the Caribbean. UCSD. San Diego, California.

May 22Race to Execute and Juror Number Six. Kirwan-sponsored films at the Gateway Grand Theatre, Columbus, Ohio.

May1BLSA 2008 conference, “Is Race Still Relevant?” Stanford University.Presentation by john powell. Palo Alto, California.

April 30“Asian/Pacific Islander Women, Activism, and Art” film series cosponsored by the Kirwan Institute and the Ohio State Department of Women’s Studies, Asian-American Studies Program, and Institute for Korean Studies. Tie a Yellow Ribbon (2007), directed by Joy Dietrich. Columbus, Ohio

April 24“Jews and Turks: Model of Coexistence. Lecture by Dr. Kemal Karpat. Organized by SEF (sefohio.org) and sponsored by the Kirwan Institute, Columbus, Ohio.

April 21Ohio Civil Rights Commission. Speaking engagement by john powell. Columbus, Ohio.

April 14Tenth Annual National Education Policy Institute. Sponsored by the National Alliance of Black School Educators. Plenary presentation by john powell. Arlington, Virginia.

April 12“Unity Summit.” Speaking engagement by john powell. Flint, Michigan.

April 11–13Black Graduate and Professional Student Caucus (BGPSC) 3rd Annual Black Women’s Retreat. “emBODYment: (re)imaging the story, claiming our lives.” Cosponsored by the Kirwan Institute.

April 9-10Morehouse School of Medicine Freedom’s Voice Conference. Panel presentation by john powell. Atlanta, Georgia.

April 5“Litigation Strategies in the Era of the Roberts Court.” Presentation by john powell at the Duke University Law School conference. Durham, North Carolina.

April 4“The Fair Housing Act after 40 Years: Continuing the Mission to Eliminate Housing Discrimination and Segregation.” Indiana Law Review Symposium. Presentation by john powell. Indianapolis, Indiana.

March 31“The Intersectional Effects of Regional and Racial Cleavages on Twentieth-Century Taxation Outcomes: The Cases of Argentina and Brazil.” Presentation by Hiram J. Irizarry Osorio at the Research Network on Racial and Ethnic Inequality Spring Research Conclave of the Terry Stanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Kirwan Calendar

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