Week 6: Race, Crime, Law

Week of March 10, 2019 – Justice on the Streets? The Police and People of Color

To stay on track — plan your visual component including the inexpensive take-away item. 

Preparatory Readings:

• • • Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic. The Derrick Bell Reader. — Ch. 6.
    • Gordon Fellman. Rambo and the Dalai Lama. — entirety
    • Samuel Walker and others. The Color of Justice. — Ch. 4.
    • Documentary: “Florida v. Campbell: Driving While Black” (to be shown in class)

Lecture related links:

• • • Adversarialism AND Mutuality
    • Adversarialism
    • other Gordon Fellman related materials on the Dear Habermas site.
    • Sticks and Stones — Labelling Matters.
    • “Who’s Habermas? Why Habermas?”
    • W.I. Thomas “Definition of the Situation

Concepts to be covered:

• • • DWB
    • racial profiling
    • deadly force
    • affirmative action
    • War on Drugs
    • gringo justice
    • police brutality
    • zero-tolerance

Discussion Questions:

Note: In order to answer these discussion questions, you will need to view the documentary, “Florida v. Campbell” and do the assigned readings. Due: Monday, March 18th.

• • 1. What is meant by a contextual approach to examining policing, race and ethnicity? [Walker, p. 187] What would Bell and Fellman say about this? Why. Incorporate this week’s documentary into your answer.
    2. How is policing in Native American communities different than policing in the rest of the United States? Why. [Walker, p. 187]
    3. Define the concept of affirmative action . Do you support or oppose affirmative action in the employment of police officers? Do you think affirmative action is more important in policing than in other areas of life?  Explain. What would Bell and Fellman say? Why.
    4. In Chapter 6 of The Derrick Bell Reader , the focus is on the politics in the academy. Are there “comparable pressures that plague” minority law enforcement officers? If so, what are some similarities and differences experienced by minorities in these two professional career fields?

Self-Assessment Questions for Visual Component (due Wednesday, Friday, April 10th)

• 1. If working in a group, a) list the names of the individuals in your group, and b) explain the division of labor, (i.e., who did what?) as well as your individual contributions
  2. Based on the 6Cs, what grade have you rightfully earned on the visual component of your project? Why.

 

Suggestions for Related Activities:

Note: Other activities related to this week’s topics.

• Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. An excellent resource for juvenile justice related issues.
• National Criminal Justice Resource Service. Administered by the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
• Examine the policies and practices of racial profiling from a variety of perspectives: 1) the media. 2) law enforcement, 3) the local community.
• Watch the movie, “Crash.” Relate your observations to the readings in this course. Find scholarly reviews and critiques of this movie.
• View the movie, “The Green Book,” and analyze its presentation of race and ethnic relations.
• Explore police use of deadly force as it relates to racial and ethnic groups.
• Find out about police brutality and racial/ethnic minorities.
• Describe police-community relations in your neighborhood. Is there a good relationship between the people and the police? Why or why not.
• Examine affirmative action and law enforcement. How many minority law enforcement officers are there in your city? Do they mirror the city’s population? [from the Instructor’s Resource Manual]
• Access the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board website. Review various complaint cases. [from the Instructor’s Resource Manual]
• Research the Dalai Lama — his past and present.
• Research “forgiveness”. Begin with these books: Martha Minow, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness. Desmond Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness.

 

Recommended Readings:

• Nicholas Alex. Black in Blue.
• Stephen Leinen. Black Police, White Society.
• Kenneth Bolton, Jr. and Joe Feagin. Black in Blue: African-American Police Officers and Racism.
• Katheryn Russell-Brown. The Color of Crime: Racial Hoaxes, White Fear, Black Protectionism, Police Harassment, and Other Macroaggressions.
• David Cole. No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System.
• Kenneth Meeks. Driving While Black.
• Jarret S. Lovell. Good Cop/Bad Cop.
• Debra Van Ausdale and Joe Feagin. The First R: How Children Learn about Race and Racism.
• Robert Blauner. Still the Big News: Racial Oppression in America.
• The Dalai Lama. The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality.
• The Dalai Lama. Ethics for the New Millennium.
• The Dalai Lama. An Open Heart.
• The Dalai Lama. Live in a Better Way.
• Paul Loeb. The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear. [if you have not read this for another course]
• Paulo Freire. Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
• Alfie Kohn. No Contest. The Case Against Competition.
• Thomas Kuhn. Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
• Desmond Tutu. No Future Without Forgiveness.
• Jurgen Habermas. Between Facts and Norms.
• Martha Minow. Making All the Difference: Exclusion, Inclusion and American Law. Check out this link Martha Minow on the Dear Habermas site.

takata@uwp.edu

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Created: July 27, 2003
Latest Update: March 7, 2019