UK Law to Host Conference on Structural Racism
Feb 16 2011 3:57PM
Structural Racism: Inequality in America Today
There is no fee to attend the conference.
Please REGISTER HERE so we know how many attendees to expect.
What: The Inaugural Lassiter Distinguished Visiting Professor Conference
When: February 25, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
Where: University of Kentucky Memorial Hall and College of Law Building
Keynote Speaker: john a. powell, Kirwan Institute
Download a Flyer
About the conference:
The College of Law is proud to host the Inaugural Lassiter Distinguished Visiting Professor Conference. Professor William M. Wiecek, Congdon Professor of Public Law and Professor of History at Syracuse University College of Law, and the Inaugural James and Mary Lassiter Distinguished Visiting Professor at UK Law, will lead this interdisciplinary exploration of structural racism.
Conference Abstract:
Whenever we see disparate racial outcomes in American society -- in education, health care, housing, criminal justice, or work opportunities -- we are seeing structural racism at work. But this is a form of racism that most white Americans do not perceive. Our society believes racism is both conscious and intentional, so that our legal system often ignores discriminatory effects unless the claimant can show explicitly racially-discriminatory intent. But sociologists discount intent when they analyze social processes. They have demonstrated that social structures and processes produce disparate racial outcomes without conscious intent.
Structural racism appears in our dependence on local property taxes for public school funding, or reliance on social networks to spread information about job openings, or subjective decision-making in the workplace, or a housing market that is driven by unconscious stereotypes, or the on-going exclusion of domestic and farm workers from Social Security benefits. Each example appears on the surface to be race-neutral. Yet their outcomes consistently disadvantage people of color.
The College of Law, Prof. William Wiecek, the inaugural Lassiter Distinguished Visiting Professor at the UK College of Law, faculty from many disciplines at UK, and presenters from other area universities and organizations are pleased to share their research and work on the racial disparities in outcomes and the structural processes that produce those disparities.
The goal of the conference is to engage in a cross-disciplinary exploration of structural racism in order to enable cross-disciplinary action to dismantle structural racism.
All UK schools and colleges, as well as the wider Lexington and Kentucky community, are invited to this interdisciplinary exploration on structural racism.
For more information:
Structural Racism Links
Structural Racism Bibliography.
Professor Wiecek's Research on Structural Racism and the Supreme Court.
Contact Professor Wiecek.
|
