racism

Bethany Berger on Racism

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Bethany Berger has posted her paper “Red: Racism and American Indians” on SSRN. It is forthcoming in the UCLA Law Review. Here is the abstract:

How does racism work in American Indian law and policy? Scholarship on the subject has too often assumed that racism works for Indians in the same way that it does for African Americans, and has therefore either emphasized the presence of hallmarks of White-Black racism, such as uses of blood quantum, as evidence of racism, or has emphasized the lack of such hallmarks, such as prohibitions on interracial marriage, to argue that racism is not a significant factor. This Article surveys the different eras of Indian-White interaction to argue that racism has been important in those interactions, but has worked in a distinctive way. North Americans were not primarily concerned with using Indian people as a source of labor, and therefore did not have to theorize Indians as inferior individuals to control that labor. Rather, the primary concern was to obtain tribal resources and use tribes as a flattering foil for American governments. Therefore it was necessary to theorize tribal societies as fatally and racially inferior, while emphasizing the ability of Indian individuals to leave their societies and join non-Indian ones. This theory addresses the odd paradox that the most unquestionably racist eras in Indian-White interaction emphasized and encouraged assimilation of Indian individuals. It contributes to the ongoing effort to understand the varying manifestations of racism in a multi-racial America. Most important, it provides a new perspective on efforts to curtail tribal sovereignty in the name of racial equality, revealing their connection to historic efforts to maintain the inferiority of Indian tribes by treating them as racial groups rather than political entities with governmental rights.

“Bringing Civil Rights to Indian Country”

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here is the brochure on a civil rights and racism conference to be held at Chehalis by the Washington Indian Civil Rights Commission. Looks like a great program, with Billy Frank, Eloise Cobell, Alan Parker, Dennis Chappabitty, John McCoy, Dee Koester, and Bob Anderson.

Fletcher: On Black Freedmen

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

My newly revised paper, now titled “On Black Freedmen,” should be up on SSRN in the next few days. The paper will be part of Justice Unveiled: African American Culture and Legal Discourse (Lovalerie King & Richard Schur, eds.).

From the Abstract:

            In recent years, some legal, political, and cultural questions involving American Indians have begun to overlap – and conflict – with those of African Americans. The recent Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma’s vote to strip the Black Freedmen of tribal membership generated allegations of racism and calls to force Indian tribes to comply with the Reconstruction Amendments sheds light on this question. This controversy highlights a serious problem in Indian-Black political and social relationships – the discourse of Black-White racism has begun to intrude into the discourse of American Indian law. The Reconstruction Amendments, federal civil rights statutes, and federal case law—all established as a reaction to Black-White racism –– expresses important antidiscrimination principles that can conflict with the foundational elements of American Indian law: tribal sovereignty, the trust relationship, and measured separatism. To import the law of Black-White racism into American Indian law is to destroy American Indian law and, potentially, American Indian culture.

 

More Impacts of Prop. 2 — Financial Aid

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

As the news about the 2007-2008 academic year comes out, we will be following the impact of Prop. 2 on minority students and communities in Michigan, with an emphasis on American Indian students.

Details from the Detroit News: “A record number of new freshmen flocked to Michigan public universities this fall, but some scholarship opportunities for the 40,674 students have dried up in light of Proposal 2.

“The constitutional amendment passed by voters last November not only banned preferences based on race and gender in public university admissions, but also shut down financial aid programs geared toward those targeted groups.

“Scholarships for women in engineering, single mothers, Hispanic scholars and high-achieving black students are among the programs that have been eliminated or altered at some of the state’s 15 public universities. In general, university leaders said they didn’t take away scholarships they promised students before Proposal 2 took effect Dec. 23, but the challenge has been how to help incoming classes without violating the law.”

***

“The Alumni Association of the University of Michigan decided this fall to establish race- and gender-based scholarships after assurances from lawyers that doing so wouldn’t violate the law, leaders said.

“The board set aside $650,000 in seed money and anticipates awarding the first scholarships for incoming students in 2008.

“We wanted to be able to make it possible for alumni and others who want to provide support to do so,” said alumni association president Steve Grafton. “They can’t do that with the university and we can provide that opportunity for them.

“And we are really interested in helping to maintain and build the diversity at the university. This is a recruiting tool that will help the university recruit the very brightest students of color, women in engineering and men in nursing,” he said.

“Much of the debate over Proposal 2 has focused on the University of Michigan, the only state university that admittedly used affirmative action in undergraduate admissions. But the impact of the new constitutional amendment can be felt around the state, as scholarships for students based, in part, on race, gender or ethnicity were not uncommon.

“Universities initiated reviews of all of their scholarship programs. Central Michigan University found four scholarships that involved preferences. CMU didn’t change two slated for Native Americans because they believe those scholarships are based on sovereignty status, not on race.“

Detroit News: “Manisteepee?”

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Detroit News:

“In this tranquil beach community, the gentle lapping waves of Lake Michigan have brought ashore a brutish dispute.

Sports fishermen and charter boat operators are fighting a local American Indian tribe over its use of fishing nets in one of the top salmon spots in the nation.

The issue has led to vandalism, boycotts and charges of favoritism and racism. Some boaters refer to the town as Manisteepee.

‘It’s racial,” said Matt Stone, 28, an American Indian netter who has been called racist names. “I know it. I feel it. I see it. I hear it.'”

Jacque Leblanc hauls in chubs near Manistee. Fishermen and boat operations are at odds with a local Indian tribe over use of nets. (John L. Russell / Special to The Detroit News)

“Subtle Racism” and American Indians

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Tulsa World:

American Indians are more likely to be regarded with prejudice than are other minorities by white TU students, a study shows.

“The findings support the idea that although overtly racist ideas toward African-Americans appear to be less prevalent in contemporary America, overt racism towards Native Americans is present,” TU researchers said in the study.

Results were from a written survey of 55 white, middle-class college students in their 20s at TU who had been in college for more than a year.

The study found that American Indians were consistently regarded less favorably on social factor indicator scales than black people.

Researchers said the mix of the state’s many tribes increased the likelihood of students coming into contact with an Indian person.

According to 2006 U.S. Census estimates, 43,364 self-identified American Indians live in Tulsa County. Statewide, the number is 397,041.

Findings from the study indicate that although the respondents knew that Indians are different in culture, they were viewed less positively than black people, a factor they attributed to “subtle racism.”

One aspect was perceived privileges, such as free health care, researchers said.

Researcher Dennis Combs, a former TU associate psychology professor who now works at the University of Texas-Tyler, said the findings are surprising because college students are perceived as liberal regarding race issues.

“Also, Native Americans may also be subject to a newer form of racism called subtle racism, which is centered on them as being different, having poor work ethic, and unfavorable,” said Combs, who conducted the study along with student Melissa Tibbits.

Indians also are more likely to be regarded with “blatant prejudice” than black people, the survey showed.

The study also found that particular attributes, such as associating Indians with a heightened sense of nature and spiritual awareness — while not negative — paint a picture based on assumptions rather than reality.

Officials with the Tulsa Indian Coalition on Racism, who viewed the study’s results, said that when generalities about Indians abound, negative viewpoints are nurtured and sustained.

“People think we have privilege and all get gaming checks. . . . That’s not true,” TICAR President Louis Gray said.

“People don’t think of us as human; we’re just symbols, but we have hopes and dreams like everyone else,” he said.

Gray said education is key in getting a more realistic image of Indians across to the general public.

Nancy Day, executive director of the Oklahoma Conference for Community and Justice, said, “The roots of contemporary discrimination and racism directed against native peoples can be traced to the early periods of our country’s history, and the manifestations of this discrimination are myriad.”

Combs said, “In my opinion, the question that needs to be answered is where do these overtly racist attitudes come from, and one possible source is the negative stereotyping that Native Americans experience on a daily basis.”

Preliminary findings from the same report were presented two years ago to TICAR.

Gray said he was surprised that the viewpoints had changed little among college students.

“Frankly,” he said, “I was hoping that people would be more informed of what we face every day.” 

Michigan Affirmative Action Symposium

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

The Michigan Journal of Race & Law is hosting a symposium on affirmative action in Michigan after Prop. 2.

The symposium announcement is here.

For materials on Prop. 2 and its potential impact on American Indian students, please go here and here. For a pdf copy of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission report on Prop. 2, go here. Attachment no. 4 of the report concerns the impact of Prop. 2 on American Indian tuition waiver and is here.

From the symposium announcement….

From Proposition 209 to Proposal 2:
Examining the Effects of Anti-Affirmative Action Voter Initiatives

The diversity of perspectives that is cherished and celebrated by the Michigan Journal of Race & Law and the University of Michigan community is threatened with the passage of ballot initiatives like Michigan’s Proposal 2, which bans the use of race and gender in school admissions. These issues are both timely and critically important in a society that is becoming increasingly segregated by race and ethnicity, both residentially and socially. With the recent passing of Proposal 2 as well as the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding the use of race in public schools, we believe it is crucial to maintain an open and positive dialogue regarding race and education. To that end, our Symposium endeavors to address the variety of policy and legal questions arising out of the anti-affirmative action movement. Our Symposium will explore a broad range of issues including: the current effects of Proposition 209 in California and the potential effects of Proposal 2 on public university education and leadership within the state of Michigan, potential legal alternatives to affirmative action, and existing and emerging efforts to remedy K-12 educational disparities. Most notably, we present this symposium with the hope of preserving the University of Michigan’s longstanding commitment to diversity and as an answer to University of Michigan President Coleman’s request to “Show others what a U-M education looks like”.