#RaceClass

Words matter. In April 2022, the College Board’s AP African American studies curriculum referenced the word “systemic” 9 times; “reparations” 15 times; “intersectionality” 19 times. By Feb. 2023, following pressure from DeSantis and others, those words had vanished from the AP curriculum (to be precise, “reparations” and “intersectionality” still appear one time each). We might ask: Why do words l...

On May 17, 2022 #RaceClass recorded a special episode in response to the Buffalo Race Massacre. We explore how increasingly common political rhetoric from rightwing entities laid the ideological groundwork for an act of racial terrorism that was as predictable as it was deplorable.

$4 Billion. That’s how much the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) earmarked for Black farmers and other farmers of color.* Sound high? Low? Consider this. Over the 20th Century, Black farmers lost 90% of their land. This loss stemmed from pervasive violence, intimidation and discrimination—what we term “conspiratorial sabotage”—by private and public actors, including the federal government. A r...

In the final episode of 2022, we reflect on the ongoing campaign to defund and discredit public education in America. In 2022, a network of rightwing think tanks, donors, and officials doubled-down on anti-literacy bills and book bans while often deploying rhetoric that defames the LGBTQ+ community, demonizes Critical Race Theory, and denigrates “wokeness.” The mainstream press locates these effor...

“Race is a social construct.” The phrase is easy to say. But often we struggle to explain what it means. To deepen our racial literacy, we dig into one of the socially constructed components of race: the meanings (e.g., stereotypes) associated with a given racial category. Racial meanings do more than ascribe traits (e.g., industrious, lazy, deserving, undeserving) to a particular group. Racial me...

On Halloween, the Supreme Court will hear two cases challenging the legality of race-conscious admissions. The cases feature a common plaintiff, Students for Fair Admissions, which is funded by conservative activists and wants to ban universities from ever considering an applicant's race. This extreme request would overturn decades of precedent and constitutionalize racial advantages for White app...

The Supreme Court’s rightwing majority is poised to prohibit all public and private universities from considering an applicant’s race – even if doing so is necessary to maintain an integrated campus; promote an objective, individualized and merit-based process; or create an equal learning environment. When the Supreme Court ends affirmative action in higher education, the majority will claim that...

This month on #RaceClass, we asked: How does race matter before admissions? To explore that question, UNC historian Dr. William Sturkey joins us to unpack UNC-Chapel Hill’s legacy of racial exclusion and anti-Black racism. Dr. Sturkey details UNC’s ongoing inability to reckon with this history. UNC presents itself as the nation’s oldest “public” university. But for roughly 70% of its existence, th...

This month on #RaceClass, we’re asking: How does race matter before admissions? To start answer this question, we’re examining UNC-Chapel Hill’s history of racial exclusion. UNC is defending its right to consider applicant race before the Supreme Court. To understand why affirmative action remains a legal necessity and moral imperative at UNC, we explore UNC’s legacy of racial exclusion. UNC is ou...

#RaceClass Ep. 7(b) | How Race Matters During Admissions: A Conversation with Prof. Jerry Kang The Supreme Court is poised to ban affirmative action in college admissions. So we asked the question: Do "colorblind" admissions = race-neutral admissions? In a society where race/ism pervades so many aspects of our private and public lives, the unavoidable answer is no. To unpack this insight, Prof. Je...

#RaceClass Ep. 6, Part A | Race Matters After Admissions: Equality Requires Diversity #RaceClass is launching a 6-part series on affirmative action. But we’re taking an unconventional turn. Rather than focus on affirmative action itself, we’re exploring how *race matters* before affirmative action arrives. Specifically, we’ll ask how race mattersbefore, during, and after university admissions. Why...

RaceClass Ep. 7(a) | How Race Matters During Admissions: Colorblind Racial Preferences The Supreme Court is poised to ban affirmative action in college admissions. So we asked the question: Do colorblind admissions = racially neutral admissions? In a society where race/ism pervades so many aspects of our private and public lives, the unavoidable answer is: No. To unpack this insight, we explore ho...

​#RaceClass Ep. 6, Part B: How Race Matters After Admissions | A Conversation with Dr. Evelyn Carter. Last episode, we explored how race matters after university admissions. Affirmative action advocates often highlight diversity’s “speech” function—that is, how more diversity promotes richer conversations in the classroom. That’s true, but it understates the case for diversity. Accordingly, we shi...

#RaceClass Ep. 5 | Race as a “Social Construct”: Elites Create the Rules that Serve Elites Race is a “social construct.” This means that humans created (a) racial categories, (b) the meanings we associate with those categories, and (c) the gatekeeping rules that determine who goes into which category. In #RaceClass Ep. 5, we explore the gatekeeping rules. Specifically, we ask why political elites...

#RaceClass Ep. 4 | Race/ism as a Political Weapon Race is a social construct. This means humans created race. But why? In #RaceClass Ep. 4, we outline how economic and political elites have long employed race/ism as a potent political tool to: (1) DIVIDE (multiracial coalitions); (2) DISTRACT (us from the systems that produce our shared precarity) and (3) DEFEND (an America defined by enduring ine...

#RaceClass Ep. 3 | 5 Ways that "Race Matters" We know that race matters. But it can be hard to pinpoint precisely *how* race matters. In episode 3, we discuss 5 ways that race shapes life in America—even if we wish it didn’t. We’ll cover how race shapes (1) access to resources; (2) others expectations of us; (3) different treatment people receive; (4) our perspectives; and (5) the conditions we mu...

#RaceClass Ep. 1 | The Pilot What's race got to do with it?

#RaceClass Ep. 2 | What is "Racism"? The second installment of #RaceClass with Boston University Law Professor Jonathan Feingold and The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen -- a once a month course/conversation where listeners can hear what it is like to approach race and racism from a place of curiosity and history rather than fear and anxiety.