Division on Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Summer 2015 Newsletter OUR MISSION STATEMENT The Race and Ethnic Minorities Division of SSSP is a collective of folks who agree that while the times have changed, we continue to live in a society where race still matters, and where racism continues to inform our daily lives. Our division?s vision of society is one in which racial and ethnic (and all other types of) oppression and discrimination no longer exist. In a world where acts of racial discrimination are minimized or ignored, we must remain vigilant in our quest to make visible the hidden mechanisms of racism and speak out against both overt and covert forms of racism. Our collective goals revolve around higher levels of racial understanding and tolerance, and a dismantling of overt racist attitudes and prejudices. We utilize various sociological models to address racial and ethnic inequality at all levels, including governmental policies, practices of social institutions, representations through media and culture, and within individual and group interactions. Our vision for the future is of a just society, in which racial and ethnic histories and cultures are not subjugated, but acknowledged and celebrated. Further, we employ all members of this section to understand the struggle that people of color endure, and to join alongside us toward fighting these causes through our scholarship, our teaching, and our service to the community and beyond. We encourage members and allies to engage with books from the suggested (but by no means exhaustive) list of readings below. Division members are also encouraged to join our Facebook community (https://www.facebook.com/groups/sssp.drem/). There, we share information related to our larger interests and investment in racial and ethnic social problems. The Division mission statement last edited in 2013 by Bhoomi K. Thakore, Northwestern University, Racial and Ethnic Minority Division Co-Chair 2013-2015, and David G. Embrick, Loyola University Chicago, Racial and Ethnic Minority Division Chair, 2012-2014. WHO WE ARE Bhoomi K. Thakore Co-Chair (2013-2015) Northwestern University bhoomi.thakore@northwestern.edu Michelle R. Jacobs Co-Chair (2014-2016) Wayne State University michelle.jacobs@wayne.edu Kasey Henricks Newsletter Editor (since 2012) American Bar Foundation and Loyola University Chicago khenricks@abfn.org MESSAGE FROM THE CO-CHAIRS Bhoomi K. Thakore (2013-2015) and Michelle R. Jacobs (2014-2016) Dear DREM Members, We write this letter to you from the partly cloudy, sometimes rainy Midwest to wish you a happy summer! We know that now is the time to relax from the stress of the academic year and to catch up on all those projects waiting in our in-boxes. But of course, our collective work toward racial justice is never done. All the while, we hope that you are beginning to get excited to share your ideas and insights on these topics at our upcoming meeting in Chicago. This year we have a total of 11 sessions sponsored or co-sponsored by DREM. Please attend as many as possible! DREM remains the largest division in SSSP, and it would be great to ?show? these numbers through our presence and participation in these conference panels. Also, be sure to mark your calendars for the following events: the SSSP Early Reception (Thursday, August 20, 6:30PM), the SSSP Welcome Reception (Friday, August 21, 6:30PM), the SSSP Business Meeting (Saturday, August 22, 4:15PM), and the SSSP Presidential Address and Division-Sponsored Awards Reception (Saturday, August 22, 5:30PM). Most importantly, please join us at the DREM Business Meeting (Friday, August 21, 4:30PM, Atlantic C) where we will recognize our Division Award winners and our new Co-Chair of DREM. If you are interested in organizing a session or serving on a committee in 2016, you can volunteer at the business meeting. Do not hesitate to come up to us (or anyone at the meeting, for that matter!) to make introductions and develop a new connection. You never know what may come of it ? Finally, this will be my (Bhoomi?s) last newsletter as DREM Co-Chair. It has been a pleasure serving you these last 2 years as the Division?s first Co-Chair. In my time, we have instituted 2 new Division Awards and have continued to increase our membership numbers. I have enjoyed meeting and interacting with all of you, and I hope our connections will sustain. It may be cloudy now in Chicago, but I can almost guarantee sunshine and warmth in August ? and not just that radiating from SSSP at the Radisson Blu Aqua! We look forward to seeing you in August! Best regards, Bhoomi K. Thakore, SSSP DREM Co-Chair (2013-2015) Michelle R. Jacobs, SSSP DREM Co-Chair (2014-2016) ... MARK YOUR CALENDARS ... A PREVIEW OF THE 2015 MEETINGS Division Meeting -- Atlantic C Friday, August 21 ......................................................................................... 4:30 - 6:10 pm SSSP Business Meeting -- Atlantic D Saturday, August 22 ..................................................................................... 4:15 - 5:25 pm Co-Sponsored Divisions Reception -- Atlantic E Saturday, August 22 ..................................................................................... 7:15 - 8:15 pm ... DIVISION SESSIONS ... Removing the Mask: Decoloniality in the 21st Century (Pacific 3) Friday, August 21 ....................................................................................... 8:30 - 10:10 am Organizers & Presiders: Melissa F. Weiner (College of the Holy Cross) and Antonio Carmona Baez (University of Puerto Rico at Bayam˘n) * ?Colonizing the Family: International and Transracial Adoption as a Neocolonial Enterprise,? Devon R. Goss and Matthew W. Hughey, University of Connecticut * ?The Logic of Coloniality in Action: Global Financialization and Latin America?s Long Downturn,? Roberto Jos‚ Ortiz, Binghamton University, SUNY * ?The misrepresentation of Islam and Muslims in school history books,? Abdellatif Al Sager, Tennessee Technological University Immigrant Communities (Pacific 1) Friday, August 21 ....................................................................................... 12:30 - 2:10 pm Organizers, Presiders, & Discussant: Bill Byrnes (Loyola University Chicago) and Kasey Henricks (American Bar Foundation and Loyola University Chicago) * ?Illegality in the Borderlands: Citizenship, Identity, and Settlement of Return Migrants in Mexico,? Heidy Sarabia, University of Pennsylvania * ?Terminal Identities: The Racial Classification of Immigrants in Early 20th-Century Death Records,? Monica McDermott, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign * ?The Making of the Racial Middle: South Asians, Skin Color, and the Racial/Ethnic Divide,? Radha Modi, University of Pennsylvania * ??Home,? Technology, and Globalized Labor: Maintaining Philippine Economic Security through ?Security,?? Emily Noelle Sanchez Ignacio, University of Washington Tacoma Intersections of Race, Gender, and Crime (Pacific 1) Saturday, August 22 ................................................................................... 8:30 - 10:10 am Organizer & Presider: Patrick M. Polasek (Benedictine University) * ?Explaining Gendered Criminal and Civil Justice: the Influence of Race in Child Sexual Abuse Case Outcomes,? Paul D. Steele, Morehead State University * ?Exploring the Construction of Race and Gender in News Media Stories of Wrongful Conviction,? Kate Rozad, Wilfrid Laurier University * ?How Judges Think about Racial Disparities: Social Processes of Decision-Making in the Courts,? Matthew Clair and Alix Winter, Harvard University * ?Uninvited contact: Masculinizing, criminalizing and racializing mobile spaces,? Gwendolyn Purifoye, Kent State University * ??Doing Gender?, ?Doing Fights?: A Qualitative Exploration of Gender Performance and Fights at Party Schools,? Hannah Liebreich, University of Hawaii at Manoa Removing the Mask: Global Racialization (Pacific 1) Saturday, August 22 ............................................................................ 10:30 am - 12:10 pm Organizers, Presiders, & Discussant: Saher Selod (Simmons College) and Steve Garner (The Open University, UK) * ?Addressing White Supremacy, Citizenship, and Middleclass Mexican Americans Experiences: Denial of Citizenship via narratives of American as a White Racial Identity,? Daniel Justino Delgado, Salem State University * ?Simulation of the Muslim Identity,? Maheen Haider, Boston College * ?The PuertoRican Paradox: The Making of Unamerican Racial Citizens in the New York Times (1948- 1958),? Bianca Gonzalez Sobrino and Matthew W. Hughey, University of Connecticut * ?The Power of Skin and Black Immigrant Descent in France,? Loretta E. Bass, University of Oklahoma Teaching Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration (Caribbean) Saturday, August 22 ................................................................................... 12:30 - 2:10 pm Organizer & Presider: Hephzibah Strmic-Pawl (Manhattanville College) * ?Flazzles, Redazzles, and Medazzles: A Teaching Exercise,? Bradley J. Zopf and William Mingus, University of Illinois at Chicago * ?Hip Hop Pedagogy as a Method of Intervention,? Lane Hanson, University of Wisconsin, Madison, School of Social Work * ?How to Teach Research Methods without Losing Your Soul,? Bhoomi K. Thakore, Northwestern University * ?Metacognition, Critical Self-Reflection, and Developing the Sociological Imagination,? Kendra Jason, University of North Carolina at Charlotte and SarahNell Epplen, Minnesota State University, Mankato * ?Teaching Race and Combating Despair in Diverse Classrooms,? Sarah Friedman and Stephanie Laudone, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY * ?Visualizing Diverse Community Narratives,? Jerome Krase, Brooklyn College, CUNY Race, Class, Kin and Culture (Caribbean) Saturday, August 22 ..................................................................................... 2:30 - 4:10 pm Organizer & Presider: Michelle R. Jacobs (Wayne State University) * ?Bicultural Lives? An Examination of Concerted Cultivation and Accomplishment of Natural Growth in Ethno-Racial Socialization in Latino Families,? Maria D. Duenas, University of South Florida * ?He Aint Heavy, He?s My Brother: The Influence of Class on Kin Support in African American Families,? Jasmine Hill, Stanford University * ?Race, Ethnicity, and Grandparent Co-residence: Implications for Educational Achievement,? Benjamin D. Tyndall, Vanderbilt University Race, Ethnicity, Racism & Discrimination (Atlantic C) Sunday, August 23 ..................................................................................... 8:30 - 10:10 am Organizers & Presider: David G. Embrick (Loyola University Chicago), Bandana Purkayastha (University of Connecticut), and Michelle R. Jacobs (Wayne State University) * ?Flazzles, Redazzles, and Medazzles: A Teaching Exercise,? Bradley J. Zopf and William Mingus, University of Illinois at Chicago * ?Is Mascot (Native American) the New N Word,? Peggy Wireman, Wireman & Associates * ?Racial and Ethnic Differences in Perceived Discrimination among Muslim Americans as a Group,? Hakim Zainiddinov, Rutgers University * ?An Exploration of the Association between Social Determinants and white Racial Identity,? S. Mo, Michigan State University Struggles Over Narrative: Race and Ethnicity in Media(ted) Spheres (Aegean) Sunday, August 23 ..................................................................................... 8:30 - 10:10 am Organizers & Presider: Jason A. Smith (George Mason University) and Bhoomi K. Thakore (Northwestern University) * ?#IfTheyGunnedMeDown: The (Un)availability of Scripts for Informal Identity Performances by Black Youth,? Nora Gross, University of Pennsylvania * ?Beyond #Ferguson & the minds of the (un)oppressed: Media alterna[rra]tives on anti-racism higher education social movements,? Sahar D. Sattarzadeh, University of Maryland, College Park * ?Je Suis Ahmed: A Constructionist Analysis of Counter Claims Surrounding the Charlie Hebdo Shootings,? Gina Petonito, Miami University * ?Profits over People: Media Discourses of Corporate Diversity as ?Good for Business?,? Michael L. Rosino, Devon R. Goss and Matthew W. Hughey, University of Connecticut * ?Sentimentalizing the Suffering of (Some) Homeless People in Canadian Newsprint Media, 1980- 2014: How Class Privilege Operates in Media Representations of Homeless People,? Kaitlin J. Schwan, University of Toronto Race/Ethnicity in Media/Popular Culture (Aegean) Sunday, August 23 .............................................................................. 10:30 am - 12:10 pm Organizers & Presider: Jason A. Smith (George Mason University) and Bhoomi K. Thakore (Northwestern University) * ?A Quest for Profit: Stereotypical Asian American Representation in the Television Show Dexter,? Kimberly F. Leifker, Kishwaukee College * ?A ?New? Orientalism?: Hollywood Representations of Asian Americans since the 1980s,? John D. Foster, University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff * ?Marianismo, Hot Tamale, and Jane the Virgin: Exploring Latina Sexualities in Mass Media and Sociological Textbooks,? Heather R. Rodriguez, Central Connecticut State University * ?Muslims Never Bomb on Stage: Audience Perceptions of Muslim Stand-Up Comedy,? Bilal Hussain, Loyola University Chicago * ?Reproducing Race and Racism Online,? Stephanie Laudone, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY Environmental Racism (Aegean) Sunday, August 23 ..................................................................................... 12:30 - 2:10 pm Organizer, Presider, & Discussant: Daina Cheyenne Harvey (College of the Holy Cross) * ?California Breathing: Air Quality, Metropolitan Status, and Children?s Asthma,? Raeven Faye Chandler and Shannon Monnat, Penn State University * ?Environmental Justice for Whom? Brownfield Redevelopment and Gentrification in Chicago from 1990-2010,? Marisol Becerra, The Ohio State University * ?Trends and Racial Inequality of Children?s Health in the U.S. between 2003 and 2007,? Yuying Shen, Norfolk State University, Ami Moore, University of North Texas, Philip Yang, Texas Woman?s University and Dale Yeatts, University of North Texas * ?When the Messengers ARE the Message; Collective Agency in the News,? Charlotte Ryan, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Movement and Media Research Action Project and Joseph Christiani, George Street Research Critical Scholarship on Contemporary Racism (Aegean) Sunday, August 23 ....................................................................................... 2:30 - 4:10 pm Organizer & Presider: Tim Berard (Kent State University) * ?Bursting Whose Bubble?: The Racial Nexus between Social Disaster, Housing Wealth, and Public Policy,? Kasey Henricks, American Bar Foundation and Loyola University, Chicago, * ?Don?t Call it Racism: A Case Study of Racialized Framing Contests Between an Interracial Coalition and Its Opponent,? Angie Beeman, Baruch College, CUNY * ?The ?New Racism?? Colorblindness, Colonialism, and White Knowledge,? Marzia Milazzo, Vanderbilt University * ?The Bigger Dilemma: The Modern Social Psychological Consequences of America?s Racial Caste System,? Richard Thomas, Texas Christian University and Jordan E. Mazurek, Eastern Kentucky University * ?Frameworks of Inequality: Exploring the Relationship between Ideology and Structure,? Watoii Rabii, University at Buffalo, SUNY Experiencing & Managing Racial Identities (Aegean) Sunday, August 23 ....................................................................................... 4:30 - 6:10 pm Organizer & Presider: Tim Berard and Nicole Rousseau (Kent State University) * ?Why Schools Are Important to the Color-Line Debate: The Racialization of West Indian Students in a Diverse High School,? Bedelia Richards, University of Richmond * ?Entering the Census Debate: (re)Examining the Case for a MENA Category,? Bradley J. Zopf, University of Illinois at Chicago ?White Like (or Not Like) Me: An Examination of the Factors that Contribute to White Racial Identity and How these Factors Differ Based on Social Position,? Paula K. Miller, Michigan State University * ?Racial Fluidity, Skin Tone, and Immigrant Status in the NLSY97,? Andrea Kauffman-Berry, University of Pennsylvania DIVISIONAL ANNOUNCEMENTS EDUARDO BONILLA-SILVA OUTSTANDING BOOK AWARD WINNER This Ain?t Chicago: Race, Class, and Regional Identity in the Post-Soul South by Zandria F. Robinson, Rhodes College University of North Carolina Press, 2014 When Zandria Robinson returned home to interview African Americans in Memphis, she was often greeted with some version of the caution ?I hope you know this ain?t Chicago.? In this important new work, Robinson critiques ideas of black identity constructed through a northern lens and situates African Americans as central shapers of contemporary southern culture. Analytically separating black southerners from their migrating cousins, fictive kin, and white counterparts, Robinson demonstrates how place intersects with race, class, gender, and regional identities and differences. Robinson grounds her work in Memphis--the first big city heading north out of the Mississippi Delta. Although Memphis sheds light on much about the South, Robinson does not suggest that the region is monolithic. Instead, she attends to multiple Souths, noting the distinctions between southern places. Memphis, neither Old South nor New South, sits at the intersections of rural and urban, soul and post-soul, and civil rights and post-civil rights, representing an ongoing conversation with the varied incarnations of the South, past and present. About the Author Zandria F. Robinson is assistant professor of sociology at Rhodes College. She is coeditor of Repositioning Race: Prophetic Research in a Post-Racial Obama Age. KIMBERLE CRENSHAW OUTSANDING ARTICLE AWARD Discursive Colorlines at Work: How Epithets and Stereotypes are Racially Unequal Symbolic Interaction by David G. Embrick, Loyola University Chicago and Kasey Henricks, Loyola University Chicago and American Bar Foundation Honorable Mention: The Rhetorics of Racial Power: Enforcing Colorblindness in Post-Apartheid Scholarship on Race Journal of International and Intercultural Communication by Marzia Milazzo, Vanderbilt University OUTSTANDING GRADUATE STUDENT PAPER AWARD ?Colorism and Classism Confounded: Perceptions of Discrimination in Latin America? by Angela Dixon, Princeton University Honorable Mentions: ?Bursting Whose Bubble?: The Racial Nexus between Social Disaster, Housing Wealth, and Public Policy? by Kasey Henricks, Loyola University Chicago and American Bar Foundation ?(Un)Deserving Iraqi Refugees? Racialized Moral Boundary Constructions among US Resettlement Bureaucrats? by Fatima Sattar, Boston College Let us extend appreciation to our awards committee members for their service: Victor Rios, Waverly Duck, Cid Martinez, Michelle Jacobs, Jason Smith, Whitney Laster Pirtle, and Bill Byrnes. The Bonilla-Silva and Crenshaw Awards come with $50 donations to non-profit organizations of the winners? choice. This year, these organizations include: SisterReach, a reproductive justice non-profit in Memphis, Tennessee and Femi Memorial Outreach, a tutoring program for low-income and immigrant students in Chicago, Illinois. BLOG SPOTLIGHT But, Do #BlackLivesMatter in Academia? (posted at Conditionally Accepted, 12/23/14) Eric Anthony Grollman, University of Richmond I am embarrassed to admit that this is the first time I have publicly written about the (recent media attention to the) crisis of police violence against Black men and boys in the United States. Why have I remained silent for months? From August onward, different reasons have come to mind to explain (or justify?) my self-imposed silence: * I was a nervous wreck the days leading up to the American Sociological Association annual meeting in San Francisco, held just a few days after police officer Darren Wilson murdered Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. And, while at the conference, there was little discussion of Brown?s death ? at least that I encountered. It seemed, as a discipline and academic organization, sociologists were surprisingly silent about the murder and subsequent riots. Fortunately, some sociologists were talking about Ferguson, and some were even making a plan to act as sociologists. Still, our collective action pales in comparison to other discipline?s efforts. * My father is a white police officer. I have struggled to reconcile what I know about the sometimes scary realities of his work life with the everyday lived realities of communities that have been anything but protected and served by police. I have struggled to separate individual (white) police officers from widespread racist bias and violence in US law enforcement. * As protests spread across the US, and hostility toward a legacy of racist police violence reached a boiling point, I continued to remain silent and, admittedly, out of touch. Teaching three classes, including one new course, while attempting to stay productive in my research, felt too overwhelming to sacrifice my precious personal time. Maintaining work-life balance is hard enough without national crises. * As the body count increased, and the murders of Black men by police officers became remained legal and state-sanctioned, it became difficult to remain focused on my usual professional responsibilities. How could I carry on teaching about the medical institution (in one class) and research methods (in two other classes) when my mind was clouded with a sense of total vulnerability as a Black gay man in a racist and homophobic society? When white students challenged me about a few points they had lost on assignments, I thought, ?you privileged asses don?t know ? they?re killing us! Fuck your 2 points.? I excused my silence and, frankly, my self-imposed ignorance about the national crisis. Anxiety about conference presentations. Mixed boy problems. Raw pain. I had reason after reason, excuse after excuse. Eventually, I was forced to name the root issue: fear. (Ah, and as the tears instantly began forming after typing those four letters, my suspicion is confirmed.) Fear I make a point of talking about current events and new published studies at the beginning of my classes ? well, at least those that are undeniably related to the course, and usually only in my substantive courses (e.g., Medical Sociology, Gender and Sexuality). In teaching Medical Sociology and Sociological Research Methods this semester, I never felt comfortable bringing up the murders of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Rumain Brisbon, and ? (too many). These tragedies did not seem relevant to lectures on sexual health, or multivariate analysis, or the decline of medicine, or qualitative data analysis; so, I never brought them up. I suspect, at some level, I feared that a student would even ask, ?how is this related to our class?? Or, that some would later criticize me on course evaluations for focusing too much on racism (when the course has nothing to do with it). I have been challenged by students enough for this fear to feel at least somewhat rational. And, as my own pain and outrage grew, I worried that I was not ?removed? enough from the tragedies to have a ?neutral? conversation with my students about them. I knew well enough that the pain was too raw to risk having a (white) student demand to know, ?why are we talking about that issue here?? Eventually, I was presented an ?excuse? to even utter the word Ferguson in my Medical Sociology class. At my university, a forum was held to discuss the Grand Jury?s decision regarding Darren Wilson and, by the time of the forum, that regarding the murder of Eric Garner, as well. I mentioned the event to my class, strongly encouraging my students to attend, but made it clear that I did not want to have a discussion in class about it. At the forum, I admitted my embarrassment for going almost the full semester without ever discussing the national crisis. And, I pushed back on the few other staff and faculty who attended to stop implicitly asking why the students were so quiet on the issue and, instead, ask ourselves why we had not provided students the space and resources to discuss it and (if appropriate) to act. I know I am not alone in failing to discuss these important, urgent events in my classes ? not in being afraid to do so (as a pre-tenure young Black gay man) and not in feeling it was ?irrelevant? to my courses. Do Black lives actually matter in academia? No and no. On the one hand, Black students, staff, and faculty are woefully underrepresented in higher education. Nominal diversity aside, there are too many academic institutions that fail to fully include Black people, to offer equal resources and opportunities, to protect Black people from harm. On the other hand, Black communities and their contributions to society and history are rarely presented as legitimate, primary areas of inquiry in higher education. Sure, there are a few courses in the social sciences and humanities that focus on race and racism; but, too few schools even offer degrees in Black, racial and ethnic, or cultural studies (sadly, my own university doesn?t, either). At many schools, students are simply not afforded academic spaces to frankly discuss race, racism, ethnicity, and xenophobia. The absence of Black people in academic institutions and in academic curricula are compounded for Black scholars. Some of us are accepted on the condition that our Blackness is downplayed, contained, silenced, or erased. We run the risk of losing our jobs or being sued if we dare to discuss racism as a legitimate area of academic study. We risk being dismissed as researchers for studying our own communities, our work mocked as ?me-search? while our white colleagues? research on their own communities is seen as legitimate, mainstream scholarship. And, despite our credentials and prestigious position in institutions of higher learning, we would be naive to expect to be treated better than a common nigger once we leave our campus offices. Since Black lives seem to matter little in academia, I should not be surprised by my own silence about the ongoing national crisis of police violence against Black communities. The culture of academia fails to prioritize and celebrate Black lives. So, I regularly feel as though I am defending my right to exist before a jury each time I teach about race and racism. But, I am further exhausted by attempting to toe the line of neutrality, for fear of retaliation from racist- and even ?post-racist?-minded students. My mainstream academic training, which prioritized prestige (i.e., journal rank), theory, and method over activism, social justice, and marginalized communities, did not include critical race theory or much of anything that made race central, nor skills for discussing current events like Ferguson in my classes. And, my current institution did not make explicit support for me if I decided to discuss the national crisis in my classes. (As a matter of survival, I do not assume the absence of explicit hostility or opposition necessarily implies the presence of acceptance or support.) Academia, in general, is not designed in a way that would make such discussions obvious material for one?s courses, whether or not they are explicitly focused on racism. Can you blame me for being afraid to speak? Without appropriate training and support to speak up, I knew that doing so would be at my own risk. And, the question is, do I risk my job by speaking up or do I risk my life by remaining silent? Whether you sympathize with me, or pity me, or even think I am full of shit, I have blamed myself ? and, still do somewhat. I let pain, fear, and uncertainty prevent me from providing my students one of probably few possible spaces to speak about the national crisis. I contributed to reinforcing the message that race and racism are not worthwhile topics in the classroom, particularly if ?race? or some similar term is not in the course?s title. We Must Make #BlackLivesMatter In Academia I suspect some may wonder why instructors should talk about Brown, Garner, Rice, and Brisbon in the classroom. I respect others? academic freedom and, thus, am hesitant to claim that others should or should not discuss this crisis with their students. But, there are a few reasons that I think others should consider. First, we should resist the temptation to see this as a recent, temporary, and isolated series of murders. Police violence, particularly against Black and brown bodies, is not new, and certainly not limited to these four murders (nor to men of color). I imagine that there is a sizable body of research on race, racism, and law enforcement that should appease educators who are skeptical to engage current events. Second, by bringing these conversations into our classes, we may equip our students to be able to connect those events with their own lives and communities. Perhaps we can further chip away at the myth of racial equality and meritocracy in higher education. Third, we would be contributing to students? awareness of events and phenomena outside of our classes, even outside of the ivory tower. But, facilitating a discussion about Ferguson, for example, is radical. It is radical to the extent that one is pushing back against the hegemonic academic culture of racelessness or ?post-raciality? (which, in reality, is simply white supremacy). So, doing so likely requires some amount of strategizing beyond, ?hey, I should probably mention this really quickly in my class.? Below I list some ideas, mainly from the efforts of others who were brave enough to act and speak up, as well as some that would, in hindsight, have helped me to feel empowered to speak up: * Before you talk about the murder of Michael Brown, talk with other instructors first (or at least friends or family), and do your homework about the facts and timeline. One danger of talking about Ferguson for the first time in one?s classes is not having thought through one?s own perspective and emotions, and not being prepared to hear possible counterperspectives and inaccuracies that students may offer. Talking with others at your institution first could help to glean the degree to which you are supported and, implicitly, to garner support in case things do not go well in your class discussion. Speaking for myself, the regular sense of isolation in academia exacerbates my fear and self-doubt in front of the classroom; I imagine I would have felt more empowered if I had already spoken with colleagues about the events that unfolded in Ferguson. * But, do not assume that students are not paying attention; yet, do not assume that they have received accurate facts about the murders, either. * See what other academics have done. Read everything on the #FergusonSyllabus. And, everything that Sarah Kendzoir has written about Ferguson, MO. * Use peer-reviewed literature and books about racial violence in your classes. But, also consider using readings that feature personal accounts and the voices of Black people, either in anthologies or even blog posts and news articles. We must go beyond the recent murders that garnered national media and social media attention. * When discussing the crisis, make clear that it cannot be thought of in either exclusively academic or exclusively personal (i.e., non-academic) terms. Our conversations should not become so focused on the aggregate patterns and problems that we forget about the particular victims of racist police violence; but, we also do students a disservice by discussing these individual murders as isolated events, or purely in terms of our emotions about them. It is crucial to give social and historical context for these events to prevent our conversations from dissolving into simply interrogating victims? and perpetrators? backgrounds, biases, and emotional states. * Set an appropriate and safe tone in the classroom for any discussion. Make sure that you feel prepared to address problematic, offensive, or triggering comments that may be made during class discussion. Upon reflecting on your class?s dynamics, if it does not seem the conversation will be unproductive or unsafe, consider eliminating discussion to either simply lecture or allow students to privately reflect in writing. Or, simply forgo any discussion at all if you do not feel it will go well or that you are not adequately prepared. * Besides classroom dialogue, consider other ways on and off campus, and on and offline, to act and speak up. But, also prioritize self-care so that your professional livelihood is not jeopardized by the psychological toll of yet another racial crisis or scandal. * Help students to connect the the racist police violence that has recently captured media attention to their own lives, including racial disparities in policing and disciplinary actions in schools. You can also draw on stories of racist police violence in your own city or state that have likely been overlooked by mainstream media (but, perhaps has been covered on social media). Closing Thoughts In some ways, I feel this post is ?too little, too late.? What does writing about my five months of silence add to conversations that have ensued since (and long before) the murder of Michael Brown? At a minimum, I wish to name the professional, social, and emotional constraints I regularly face as an academic. I am confident that I am not alone in feeling that my supposed academic freedom is undermined by racist academic norms and practices, isolation, lack of support, as well as the resultant fear and self-doubt. To others who remain too afraid to speak up, you are not alone. Ideally, I hope to also make clear how academia is complicit in the silence and ignorance that surrounds racist police violence, and racism in general, in the US. We fail to provide our students with the critical lens necessary to connect what they learn in the classroom with what is featured (or ignored) by the media. We fail to demonstrate the relevance of academic scholarship to the ?real? world, and to take serious topics such as race and racism in the academy. White students are not challenged to see their own racial privilege, and how their actions and inactions contribute to the perpetuation of racism. Many Black students do not see themselves on campus or in their textbooks. This is in the midst of academia?s role in perpetuating racial inequality, while producing a generation of ?post-racials.? Finally, this post serves to break my silence. I have once again learned the hard way that my silence does not protect me. CALL FOR PAPERS, PROPOSALS, AND PARTICIPATION Call for Papers: Racial Resistance in an Era of Inclusion and Diversity Special issue of Humanity & Society Special Issue Editor: Alfred w. DeFreece Jr., Roosevelt University Contemporary racism has been aptly described as having a ?now you see it, now you don?t? quality. That is, despite clear evidence that racism continues to be pervasive in the US, the dominant racial commonsense suggests that racism no longer drives inequalities and that race itself is an antiquated concept, unable to comprehend the complexity of life chances in present-day US society. Such pronouncements do not issue solely from the conservative end of the political spectrum, but are wholly consistent with a broader liberal framework, which recognizes racism as a durable if waning force, yet sees its inevitable decline in the unfolding of a relatively more diverse and inclusive society, like the one we inhabit today. For young people of color coming of age in a society that can claim to have overcome its darkest moral dilemmas, this mainstream narrative of racial progress offers many seductions. It comports with their deference to those who lived through Slavery and Jim Crow ? instances of ?real racism? - and with their experiences of increased public visibility and regard. For many, this narrative confirms that our nation can move toward racial justice - and that this generation might even be the one that gets us there. Contemporary youth of color are in the odd position of reconciling a drive to embrace cultural difference with a desire to see difference dissolved in a world devoid of race and its vagaries. The pitfalls on this ideological terrain have been further complicated by a number of recent atrocities. In a society where we have become accustomed to Black (and Brown, and other) faces in high places, it becomes increasingly easy to cast the murders of Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Rekia Boyd, Miriam Carey, Tanisha Anderson, and most recently (as of this writing) Freddie Gray as mere aberrations instead of as manifestations of a white supremacist social structure. Moreover, youth of color and their allies who would suggest that race and racism played some part in these events are portrayed as preferring victim status to personal responsibility. In the public debate, they face a false choice between resisting racism and moving beyond race. While we have developed adequate explanations of Whites? embrace of colorblindness with its underlying neo-liberal logics, scholarly accounts of the formation of racial ideology among youth of color lags behind. This special issue aims to advance our understandings of the ways in which youth of color make sense of racial stratification and racialized oppression, through considering the imposition of dominant racial ideologies, but also investigating the development of critical and oppositional strands of thought, with particular attention to how contradictory positions are reconciled and/or establish a basis for subsequent action. Preferred approaches will be sociological in nature, but interdisciplinary perspectives will be considered. Manuscripts that use a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches are welcomed. Papers may include, but are not limited to the following themes: ? Teaching and Learning Anti-Racism ? Critical Media Literacy ? Socio-political Development ? Politicization/Depoliticization of Racial/Ethnic Identities ? Intersectional/Oppositional Political Consciousness ? Activism and Protest All final submissions will need to conform to the formatting guidelines of Humanity & Society (see has.sagepub.com). To submit your proposal, email the title, extended abstract (300 words maximum), and contact information for the primary author to the guest editor, Alfred DeFreece , with the subject line ?ATTN: HaS SPECIAL ISSUE PROPOSAL.? Prospective authors should feel free to communicate with the guest editor about the appropriateness of their papers. All papers will be subject to the standard review process practiced at Humanity & Society. Proposed Special Issue Timeline: Submission of Extended Abstracts, Due August 1, 2015 Proposers of accepted abstracts will receive notification by August 15, 2015 Submission of Full Manuscripts, Due November 15, 2015 Release of Special Issue, May 2016 SOCIOLOGY OF RACE AND ETHNICITY On January 1, 2015 the American Sociological Association?s Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities, along with SAGE, opened the submission portal for the new journal, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, which will publish its first issue in January 2015. The official journal of ASA?s Section for Racial and Ethnic Minorities, SRE will publish the highest quality, cutting-edge sociological research on race and ethnicity regardless of epistemological, methodological, or theoretical orientation. While the study of race and ethnicity has derived from a broad and deep tradition of interdisciplinarity, sociology indeed has often been at the forefront of scholarly understanding of the dynamics of race and ethnicity; yet, there exists no journal in sociology devoted to bringing together this important theoretical, empirical, and critical work. SRE will provide a fulcrum upon which sociologically-centered work will swing as it also seeks to provide new linkages between the discipline of sociology and other disciplines and areas where race and ethnicity are central components. SRE, published four times per year, is devoted to publishing the finest cutting-edge, critical, and engaged public sociological scholarship on race and ethnicity. Each issue will be organized around a core group of original research articles. Depending on the length of the articles, each issue will have approximately three or four of these articles. Original articles, of 8,000 to 10,000 words, will represent rigorous sociological research in the sociology of race and ethnicity, broadly conceptualized, methodologically varied, and theoretically important pieces. The journal will also include a section that will feature original research and pedagogical application pieces devoted to the teaching of race and ethnicity ? ?Race and Ethnicity Pedagogy? ? as well as Book Reviews and a section on Books of Note. The journal?s co-editors, associate editors, and editorial board members are committed creating a high quality outlet for the most important work in the sociology of race and ethnicity, through timely and constructive peer reviews, careful and engaging editorial decision-making, as well as drawing from all epistemological, theoretical, and methodological perspectives and approaches. The submission portal can be found at: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sre. Anyone interested in becoming part of our reviewer database can also register now for an account through this website, denoting areas of interest and expertise. Editors: David L. Brunsma (Virginia Tech) and David G. Embrick (Loyola University Chicago) Pedagogy Editor: Hephzibah Strmic-Pawl (Manhattanville College) Book Review Editor: Steve Garner (Open University) Associate Editors: Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (Duke Univesity), Michael Emerson (Rice University), Tanya Golash-Boza (University of California at Merced), Matthew W. Hughey (University of Connecticut), and Amanda E. Lewis (University of Illinois at Chicago) CALL FOR PARTICIPATION Portland, Oregon - October 21-25, 2015 THE ASSOCIATION FOR HUMANIST SOCIOLOGY ?LOCAVORE SOCIOLOGY: CHALLENGING GLOBALIZATION, EMBRACING THE LOCAL? The Association for Humanist Sociology is a community of sociologists, educators, scholars, and activists who share a commitment to using sociology to promote peace, equality, and social justice. AHS was founded in 1976 in response to a growing disenchantment with mainstream sociological organizations and a belief that sociological practice should reflect humanist values. We strive to be an active support network for humanist sociologists. Check us out on the web. The 2015 annual meetings of the Association for Humanist Sociology will be held at the University Place Hotel, on the campus of Portland State University, in the heart of beautiful, downtown Portland, OR. With a vibrant craft beer culture, a thriving arts scene, a commitment to sustainability, twenty-first century mass transit options, and a flourishing intellectual culture, Portland provides not only a perfect site for investigating locavore cultures and activism, but a natural location for a gathering of humanist sociologists. Please consider joining us and spreading the word to your progressive colleagues. Humanist sociologists not only challenge existing structures of economic and political inequality, but work to create alternative organizations and relationships that can help build a more humane and sustainable world. In recent years, the emergence of locavore food movements, urban gardens, fair-trade coffee, micro-grid solar and wind energy systems, bike paths, mass transit, and the celebration of indigenous cultures represent viable challenges to the corporatized and exploitative global market place. While Marx famously called for a ?ruthless criticism of everything existing,? he did not foresee a future of bioregional alternatives to industrial society. In an era of global social and environmental crisis, we must strive as critical sociologists and activists to balance our critiques of capitalism and power with more community-based visions and strategies for social change. Please submit complete abstracts for papers or sessions related to the conference theme or more broadly to the AHS mission of equality and social justice to the 2015 Program Chair, Dr. Anthony E. Ladd (Loyola University New Orleans), aladd@loyno.edu or to AHS President, Dr. Kathleen J. Fitzgerald (Tulane University), fitzy88so@gmail.com. Deadline for submissions: May 31, 2015. Call for Submissions ConditionallyAccepted.com ? an online space for marginalized scholars who are ?conditionally accepted? in academia ? invites guest blog posts (500-1,000 words) regarding inequality, discrimination, and harassment in and related to academia and higher education. The blog offers an unfolding electronic dialogue among marginalized scholars, wherein we share personal stories, advice, information, resources, as well as engage in scholarly debate. Voices from scholars of various backgrounds, disciplines, and career paths are encouraged to contribute. Anonymous and pseudonymous posts are welcome, as well. Submissions should be emailed to conditionallyaccepted@gmail.com. Please briefly describe how your proposed post fits into the blog?s focus. You can see more information about our suggested guidelines for contributions at http://conditionallyaccepted.com/contribute/ and particular ideas at http://conditionallyaccepted.com/2015/01/21/call-for-submissions/. AWARDS, ACCOLADES, AND OTHER NOTEWORTHY NEWS New Positions, Moves, and Promotions Joyce Bell has accepted an Associate Professor of Sociology position at the University of Minnesota. Kathleen J. Fitzgerald has accepted a Visiting Associate Professor of Sociology position at Tulane University. Belisa Gonzalez will be the new Director of the Center for the Study of Culture Race and Ethnicity at Ithaca College. Pamela Anne Quiroz will be the new Director of the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Houston. She will also hold a joint position as Professor of Sociology. Nicholas Vargas has accepted an Assistant Professor of Sociology position at the University of Florida. Melissa Weiner earned tenure at Colloege of the Holy Cross. Awards and Disciplinary Recognition Ashley ?Woody? Doane (University of Hartford) and Victor Rios (University of California, Santa Barbara) were elected new members of the publications committee for the American Sociological Association?s Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities. David G. Embrick (Loyola University Chicago) was recipient of the 2015 Mentor Excellence Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, and the 2015 Robert L. Perry Mentorship Award from the National Association for Ethnic Studies. Nilda Flores-Gonzalez (University of Illinois-Chicago) was elected Chair-Elect of the American Sociological Association?s Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities. Laurence (Larry) Armand French (University of New Hampshire) was recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Career Contribution to Research Award by Division 45 of the American Psychological Association ?for this outstanding contributions in service to the field of ethnic minority psychology as well as ethnic minority communities.? Janet Garcia was awarded the Rutgers University Dissertation Fellowship for 2015-2016. Kasey Henricks (Loyola University Chicago and American Bar Foundation) was co-winner of the James E. Blackwell Award for a paper entitled, ??I?m Principled against Slavery, but...? Three-Fifths Clause Debate, Colorblindness, and the Racial Ideology Complex.? The award is sponsored by the American Sociological Association?s Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities. Jean  E. Morrison (Drexel University) was recipient of the 2015 Brazilian Studies Association (BRASA) Initiation Scholarship for her interest in the use of affirmative action policy in Brazilian universities. Aisha Upton (University of Pittsburgh) was elected Student Representative of the American Sociological Association?s Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities. RECENT BOOKS WRITTEN BY DREM MEMBERS The Black Power Movement and American Social Work by Joyce M. Bell (Columbia University Press, 2014) More info available at: http://bit.ly/1s1gzam Tensions in the American Dream: Rhetoric, Reverie, or Reality by Melanie E.L. Bush and Roderick D. Bush (Temple University Press, 2015) More info available at: http://bit.ly/1Lv1TNm On Becoming a Teen Mom: Life before Pregnancy by Mary Patrice Erdmans and Timothy Black (University of California Press, 2015) More info available at: http://bit.ly/1dpdrE6 Beneath the Surface of White Supremacy: Denaturalizing U.S. Racisms Past and Present by Moon-Kie Jung (Stanford University Press, 2015) More info available at: http://bit.ly/1No263m When Care Work Goes Global: Locating the Social Relations of Domestic Work Edited by Mary Romero, Valerie Preston, and Wenona Giles (Ashgate Publishing, 2014) More info available at: http://bit.ly/1ueoF5V International Handbook of the Demography of Race and Ethnicity Edited by Rogelio, Saenz, David G. Embrick, and Nestor Rodriguez (Kluger/Springer, 2015) More info available at: http://bit.ly/1eQI2w5 RECENT ARTICLES & CHAPTERS WRITTEN BY DREM MEMBERS Beaman, Jean. 2015. ?From Ferguson to France.? Contexts 14(1): 65-67. Beaman, Jean. 2015. ?Boundaries of Frenchness: Cultural Citizenship and France?s Middle-Class North African Second-Generation.? Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 22(1): 36-52. Berard, Tim. 2015. ?Hate Crimes, Labels, and Accounts: Pragmatic Reflections on Hate Crime Law in the USA.? In Law at Work: Studies in Legal Ethnomethods, edited by Baudouin Dupret, Michael Lynch and Tim Berard. New York: Oxford University Press. Chandler, Raeven Faye and Shannon M. Monnat. In Press. ?Racial/Ethnic Differences in Use of Health Care Services for Diabetes Management.? Health Education & Behavior. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25842386) Garcia, Janet. 2015. ?The Importance of the Mentor-Mentee Relationship in Women?s Desistance from Destructive Behaviors.? International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. doi: 10.1177/0306624X14568257 Hinkson, Leslie R. 2015. ?The Right Profile? An Examination of Race-based Pharmacological Treatment of Hypertension.? Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 1(2): 255-269. Hughey, Matthew W., David G. Embrick, and Ashley ?Woody? Doane. In Press. ?Paving the Way for Future Race Research: Exploring the Racial Mechanisms within a Color-Blind, Racialized Social System.? American Behavioral Scientist. Milazzo, Marzia. 2015. ?The Rhetorics of Racial Power: Enforcing Colorblindness in Post-Apartheid Scholarship on Race.? Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 8(1): 7-26. Jones, Caralee and Christy L. Erving. 2015. ?Structural Constraints and Lived Realities: Negotiating Racial and Ethnic Identities for African Caribbeans in the United States.? Journal of Black Studies 46: 521-546. Luke, David. 2015. ?Race vs. Class: Is the Market Colorblind?? disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory 24(1): Article 3. Available at: http://uknowledge.uky.edu/disclosure/vol24/iss1/3 Morrison, Jean  E. and Roger Gonzalez. 2015. ?Culture or no culture?: A Latino Critical Research Analysis of Latino Persistence Research.? Monnat, Shannon M. 2014. ?Race/Ethnicity and the SES Gradient in Women?s Cancer Screening Utilization: A Case of Diminishing Returns?? Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 25(1):332-356. (http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_health_care_for_the_poor_and_underserved/v025/25.1.monnat.html#tab02) Pennell, Greta Eleen, Bhoomi K. Thakore, and Rebecca J. West. 2015. ?Wonderful When it Works?: A Case Study of Electronically Mediated Guest Lectures.? Humanity and Society 39(2): 156-169. Vargas, Nicholas. 2015. ?Latina/o Whitening? Which Latina/os Self-Classify as White and Report Being Percieved as White by Other Americans?? Du Bois Review 12(1): 119-136. ... REST IN POWER ... Born on November 12, 1945, Roderick Douglas Bush passed on December 5, 2013, six years to the day that his beloved mother, Margaret Janette Craddock Bush was lay to rest. Rod leaves behind his soulmate and partner for over 30 years, Melanie E L Bush and their cherished daughter Sarafina F. Bush; beloved son and daughter Malik L. Bush and Thembi N. Bush Tillman (Betty Ann Penda Kane); adored granddaughter Tajalia, four treasured grandsons Angelo, Orlando, Jedidiah, Wisdom, very loved god-daughter Isabella and her parents; longtime friends Arcee ?Pete? James and Renzie Taylor, dear mother-in-law ?Rozzie?, son-in-law Jamal Tillman, and daughter-in-law Donna Bush; aunts, uncles and a multitude of cousins, friends and family from many different communities and networks. He was preceded in death by one dearly loved daughter Sojourner Truth Bush (Cynthia Arnetta Holliday). More about Professor Bush?s life and work can be found at http//:rodbush.org. LETTER FROM THE INCOMING CO-CHAIR Dear DREM members, What a sad, strange, and superb time to labor as a sociologist of race, ethnicity, and racism! From ethnic cleanings in the Dominican Republic and questions over racial passing and authenticity, to the continued significance of race in the neo-colonial global project of the US and a string of police brutalities that continue to yield the most strangest of fruit. It is vitally important that we study and act on these issues as a collective, scholarly-activist body. For those of you that don?t yet know me, I am an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut. I study race and inequality and wear many hats (and bow ties!). I?ve written a number of books and articles on race, identity, media, and organizations and serve in varied positions across organizations?including being a sustaining member of SSSP and serving on the board of our own Social Problems! And now, I am overjoyed to serve as co-chair of this Division. Thank for your confidence in me?I hope to represent our Division?s interests well! The annual meeting theme for 2015 is ?Removing the Mask, Lifting the Veil: Race, Class, and Gender in the 21st Century.? Meetings will be held 21-23 August 2015 at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel in Chicago, IL. Please show your commitment to the thoughtful and important work of our colleagues on race, ethnicity, and racism by attending our DREM panels, papers in the round, and other critical dialogues. Join me in thanking the Division organizers for their hard work as well as the award committee members that painstakingly decide on the recipients of our book award, article award, and graduate student paper award. They do some heavy lifting! Moreover, our Division meeting is tentatively scheduled for Friday, 21 August from 4:30-6:10 PM in Atlantic C (be sure to check for updates). I want to take this time to emphasize how important it is that you attend the Division meeting. It?s THE place where decisions are made and we engage in consultation. This is YOUR opportunity to be heard as members of this Division! The meeting is also THE place for you to volunteer for needed and influential positions. There are positions for those just getting started (from graduate students and Assistant Professors) to those that have been around the block (Emeritus Professors and seasoned activists). I look forward to a wonderful meeting with you this August. In solidarity, Matthew W. Hughey