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Racial Diversity

Books

1. Ian Haney-Lopez, White By Law: 10th Anniversary Edition (2006).

Haney-Lopez’s book is the critical race cornerstone. It discusses how race is a social construct and analyzes the intersection of race and law. “Ten years later, Haney López revisits the legal construction of race, and argues that current race law has spawned a troubling racial ideology that perpetuates inequality under a new guise: colorblind white dominance.”

2. Frank Wu, Yellow: Race in American Beyond Black and White (2003).

Wu’s seminal book is a starting point for discussing the Asian identity in America. The book conveys alternative viewpoints on various issues, from the Chinese Exclusion Act through the Japanese incarceration, to the development of the “model minority.”

3. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous People’s History of the United States (2015).

This book offers an alternative understanding of the history of the United States through the lens of Native Americans.

4. Kwame Anthony Appiah, The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity (2019).

This book discusses how identities are constructed, and how they influence the way we see ourselves and the way we treat others. This book touches on more than race, but nevertheless discusses how race and national origin are truly societal constructs.

5. Shamika D. Dalton, Dennis C. Kim-Prieto, Dr. Yvonne J. Chandler, Carol Avery Nicholson, Vicente E. Garces, and Dr. Michele A. L. Villagran, Celebrating Diversity: A Legacy of Minority Leadership in the American Association of Law Libraries, (2d ed. 2018). 

The new edition of this book from the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) focuses on and celebrates diversity in law librarianship by identifying and profiling past, current, and future leaders in AALL. “Like the first one, this new edition furthers AALL's core purpose and organizational values to advance the profession of law librarianship. Just as importantly, it contributes to the history of diversity in the profession by documenting the contributions of minority law librarians to AALL and law librarianship.”

Articles

1. Juleah Swanson, Ione Damasco, Isabel Gonzalez-Smith, Dracine Hodges, Todd Honma and Azusa Tanaka, Why Diversity Matters: A Roundtable Discussion on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Librarianship, In the Library with a Lead Pipe (July 29, 2015).

This article is a transcript of a virtual roundtable discussion between librarians. Topics discussed include why diversity is important, where to go from here, and questions for further discussion among readers.

2. Shamika D. Dalton, Gail Mathapo, and Endia Sowers-Paige, Navigating Law Librarianship While Black: A Week in the Life of a Black Female Law Librarian, 110 L. Lib. J. 429 (2018).

This article discusses law librarianship from the perspective of a Black woman. This article progresses by providing an introduction to racial microaggressions in higher education, and proceeds by following the authors’ week, day-by-day. The article concludes by suggesting some much needed changes necessary to reform law librarianship’s culture.

3. Kathryn Russell-Brown, Thinking, Talking and Teaching on Race: Derrick Bell’s “The Space Traders”, 7 J. Crim. Just. Educ. 113 (1996).

This article shares a writing exercise for an upper level criminal justice course where students engage hypothetically with issues of race, crime, and criminal justice.

4. April Hathcock, White Librarianship in Blackface: Diversity Initiatives in LIS, In the Library with a Lead Pipe (Oct. 7, 2015). 

This internet article examines how whiteness has seeped into every aspect of law librarianship. This article illustrates some of the ways that this seepage has occurred. It also provides a brilliant bibliography for additional reading.

5. Anti-Racist Resources from Greater Good, Greater Good Magazine (June 3, 2020).

This resource list includes articles about the psychological roots of racism, how to overcome bias in oneself, confronting racism, reducing bias in criminal justice, building bridges, resources for parents, and resources for educators.

6. Courtney Martin, Answering White People’s Most Commonly Asked Questions about the Black Lives Matter Movement, The Bold Italic (June 1, 2020).

A question and answer introduction to Black Lives Matter for people with privilege who would like to learn more about racial justice.

Websites

1. CIVIL RIGHTS DIGITAL LIBRARY

“The Civil Rights Digital Library promotes an enhanced understanding of the Civil Rights Movement by helping users discover primary sources and other educational materials from libraries, archives, museums, public broadcasters, and others on a national scale. The CRDL is “a partnership among librarians, technologists, archivists, educators, scholars, academic publishers, and public broadcasters.”

2. NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY & CULTURE--TALKING ABOUT RACE 

Resources to help educators, parents, and persons concerned with equity talk about race.

Blogs

1. DIVERSE ISSUES IN HIGHER EDUCATION--AFRICAN AMERICANS

This blog focuses on Black issues in higher education.

2. RIPS LAW LIBRARIAN BLOG

Research, Instruction, and Patron Services Special Interest Section (RIPS-SIS) of the American Association of Law Libraries’ blog. This blog features numerous posts by various authors on diversity and inclusion in law libraries.

3. AT THE INTERSECTION

This blog is the work of April Hathcock, and purports to be “about the intersection of libraries, law, feminism, and diversity.

4. RACE AND THE LAW PROF BLOG

A member of the Law Professors Blog Network, this blog is written by law professors and focuses on issues of race and legal issues.

5. FEMINIST LAW PROFESSORS

This blog includes contributions from law professors nationwide and entries focus on feminism in law including feminist legal scholarship, LGBTQ rights, and employment discrimination.

Short Videos

1. LC Johnson, Women of Color Could Save the World. Here's How We Help Them Do It, TEDx (Jan. 4, 2019), https://youtu.be/5YqB9Ve_B9k.

In this 14-minute video LC Johnson discusses the effects of microaggressions and tokenism on creativity for women of color, and offers a solution to tap their potential.

2. Ibram X. Kendi, The difference between being “not racist” and antiracist, TED Talk (June 9, 2020), https://www.ted.com/talks/ibram_x_kendi_the_difference_between_being_not_racist_and_antiracist?utm_campaign=daily&utm_content=image__2020-06-10&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily.

“There is no such thing as being "not racist," says author and historian Ibram X. Kendi.” In this 51-minute video, Kendi “defines the transformative concept of antiracism to help us more clearly recognize, take responsibility for and reject prejudices in our public policies, workplaces and personal beliefs. Learn how you can actively use this awareness to uproot injustice and inequality in the world -- and replace it with love.”

Organizations

1. NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the largest civil rights organization in the U.S. Their vision is to “ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination based on race.”

2. THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION--COMMISSION ON RACIAL AND ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN THE PROFESSION

“The mission of the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession (The Commission) is to serve as a catalyst promoting diversity and inclusion within the legal profession and the ABA by facilitating the entry, participation and retention of diverse lawyers. The Commission achieves this by furthering the development of substantive programs and services in which diverse lawyers, law firms and law students will actively participate.”

3. NATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION

“The National Bar Association was founded in 1925 and is the nation's oldest and largest national network of predominantly African-American attorneys and judges. It represents the interests of approximately 65,000 lawyers, judges, law professors and law students.” Member of the Coalition of Bar Associations of Color (CBAC) established in 1992.

4. HISPANIC NATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION

The Hispanic National Bar Association is “a nonprofit, nonpartisan, national membership organization that represents the interests of Hispanic legal professionals in the United States and its territories.” Member of the Coalition of Bar Associations of Color (CBAC) established in 1992.

5. NATIONAL ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association is “the preeminent professional development organization and voice for 50,000 Asian Pacific American attorneys, judges, law professors, and law students. NAPABA represents the interests of nearly 90 national, state, and local Asian Pacific American bar associations.” Member of the Coalition of Bar Associations of Color (CBAC) established in 1992.

6. NATIONAL NATIVE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION

The National Native American Bar Association “shares many of the same goals of diversity and increased understanding of our communities’ unique cultural and legal issues with minority bar associations. However, most of our lawyers are both U.S. citizens and citizens of their respective Tribal nations. Our members, therefore, also share the communal responsibility, either directly or indirectly, of protecting the governmental sovereignty of the more than 560 independent Native American Tribal governments in the United States.” Member of the Coalition of Bar Associations of Color (CBAC) established in 1992.

7. THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION--DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION CENTER

The ABA Diversity and Inclusion Center advances Goal III of the ABA: “to eliminate bias and enhance diversity and inclusion throughout the Association, legal profession, and justice system” by sharing educational and actionable resources.



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