Trump’s Damage to the Judiciary

President Trump is making the federal judiciary more right-wing and less qualified. Trump may not be getting much legislation passed; however, he is adversely affecting the course of American history with his appointment of federal judges. In addition to flagrantly blocking President Obama’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, the Republicans in the Senate blocked … [Read more…]

Juvenile Injustice

The Race and Social Policy Research Center at Virginia Tech, which I direct, recently held its seventh annual Combating Racial Injustice Workshop. We examined one of the continuing areas of injustice—the so-called juvenile justice system. Despite a drop in overall arrest rates nationally, black youth are still twice as likely to be arrested as white … [Read more…]

March Madness

Sports fans are in the midst of March Madness, the time of year when the NCAA crowns its men’s basketball champion with a tournament filled with emotion, euphoric victories, and heart-wrenching defeats. It certainly is a mad time. Please excuse me while I discuss another particularly mad aspect of March Madness. March Madness is big … [Read more…]

The Kerner Commission Prescription

Fifty years ago, the Kerner Commission, President Lyndon Johnson’s blue-ribbon committee, diagnosed the racial problem of America and offered a carefully considered prescription. But the patient (the United States) did not take the medicine. After precisely answering President Johnson’s first two questions about the riots of the mid-1960’s—What happened? Why did it happen?—the Commission considered … [Read more…]