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Balancing the Scales Civil Rights Constitutional Law Critical Race Theory Intersectionality LGBTQ Rights Social Justice

My Big Gay Playlist 

Author: Elizabeth Gatten

I came out as bisexual in 2018 after many years of confusion, frustration, and self-hate. There are a lot of damaging notions out there about bisexuality — that it isn’t real, but just a pitstop to “gay town”; that bisexual people are promiscuous; that being bi makes you less part of the LGBTQ+ community than others. I bought into some of those stereotypes when I was younger, which delayed my acceptance of myself. Now, however, I am an out and proud member of the LGBTQ+ community! In honor of my queer brothers and sisters (and friends beyond the gender binary), I have created this Super Gay™ playlist. It features artists who identify in some way as members of the LGBTQ+ community. Some of the songs speak to the artist’s experiences as a queer person, while others are just bops that happen to be written by queer folks!  

1. Tegan & Sara — “Closer”  

I wanted to start off with one of my old standbys — it is honestly amazing that I didn’t realize I was queer sooner considering how long I have been obsessed with Tegan and Sara. The Canadian musical duo are identical twins; both of the sisters are openly gay. Their genre is “indie-pop.”

I love “Closer” because it reminds me of the feeling you get when you have a crush and you start to realize they might also have a crush on you too. It perfectly captures that butterflies-in-your-stomach sensation:  

Couple

“All I want to get is a little bit closer

All I want to know is 

Can you come a little closer? 

Here comes the breath before we get 

A little bit closer 

Here comes the rush before we touch 

Come a little closer.” 

The music video captures this nostalgic feeling by featuring high schoolers at a party playing spin the bottle, dancing, hiding out in blanket forts, and kissing on top of cars. Plus, the song has an incredible beat to jump up and down to while singing into your hairbrush.  

2. Hayley Kiyoko — “Girls Like Girls”   

When I first discovered Hayley Kiyoko, I knew she looked familiar. After some digging, I realized I recognized her from a brief stint she had on the Disney channel show, Wizards of Waverly Place. Kiyoko has definitely come a long way from her Disney Channel days — she is now known as “Lesbian Jesus” amongst her fans. Her music is aimed at normalizing homosexual relationships in our heteronormative society. For example, “Girls Like GIrls” features the lyrics: 

“Saw your face, heard your name, gotta get with you.  

Girls like girls like boys do,  

Nothing new.”  

Kiyoko also seeks to control the narrative of what it means to be a lesbian in a world that often fetishizes women loving women.

I encourage you to check out more of Hayley Kiyoko’s music, which discusses not only her own experiences but also various issues faced by LGBTQ+ individuals.  

 3. iLoveMakonnen — “Tuesday” 

This song takes me back to my college party days. “Tuesday”, released in 2014, was a staple on any party playlist. In 2017, the singer announced he is gay via Twitter: “As a fashion icon, I can’t tell u about everybody else’s closet, I can only tell u about mine, and it’s time I’ve come out.”

4. Le1f — “Wut”  

Le1f (pronounced “leaf”) is perhaps the most successful openly gay rapper out there. Raised in New York City, the artist began exploring the world of underground dance-music as a teen and spent years after working on his craft. In 2012, Le1f released “Wut” on the website, WorldStarHipHop. Rocking booty shorts and perching on an oiled-up man, Leif showed the world in “Wut” that he has no intentions of being anything other than unapologetically himself. I personally can’t get enough of it!  

5. St. Vincent — “Los Ageless”  

I’ll admit, I first heard of St. Vincent when she was dating supermodel, Cara Delevigne. However, after looking into her music, I discovered St. Vincent is iconic…plain and simple. She has shapeshifted through multiple genres with ease — rock, pop art, indie rock. As a queer woman in a field dominated by men, she has no qualms about disrupting the system. And why should she? She is one of the most talented lyricists and musicians out there.  

“Los Ageless” is a perfect example of just how otherworldly St. Vincent is. The lyrics and video, first set to a new wave disco beat, poke fun at the fear of growing old in Los Angeles. As the song progresses, it somehow seamlessly ramps up to a raw, emotional climax with the repeated lament of “How can anybody have you? How can anybody have you and lose you? How can anybody have you and lose you and not lose their minds, too?”  

6. Tom Goss — “Son of a Preacher Man”  

Two time winner of The Washington Blade’s award for Best Gay Musician, Tom Goss isn’t afraid to flip traditional masculine concepts on their heads. For example, his song “Lover” explores the experience of partners of gay servicemembers. Another touching piece from Goss is his cover of the Dusty Springfield song, “Son of a Preacher Man.” In Goss’s version, the implications are much different than the original — the video opens with a preacher condemning homosexuality. This spin gives the original lyrics “bein’ good isn’t always easy, no matter how hard I try” a much deeper meaning. Goss’s take on this classic song is equal parts beautiful and heartbreaking. However, be warned that the video features violence and suicidality. 

7. Tyler Glenn — “Shameless”  

You might know Tyler Glenn from his former days as the frontman for Neon Trees. In 2014, the singer finally came out after nearly a lifetime of suffering in the closet. Glenn comes from Utah and was raised Mormon. The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints condemns same-sex relationships. In turn, Glenn (who at first tried to continue as a practicing Mormon after coming out) has now condemned the Church’s views. In “Shameless”, Glenn demonstrates radical self-acceptance, with lyrics such as:  

“Why not take me now as I am? 

Why not take me now like a man? 

You hate what you don’t understand 

I live a life so shameless 

Oh no, I don’t give a damn.”  

The pop-rock song features Glenn wearing a mesh top, shiny silver pants, and eyeliner. He sings to a tied up, masked figure that is meant to represent the founder of Mormonism. He dances around with “[full-bodied], hairy dudes.” The song is not only a message to the Mormon church but to everyone, including the gay community, that Glenn intends to “do it in [his] own way.” Denouncing the Grindr culture of “no fars, no femmes”, Glenn told an interviewer for Billboard: “I wanted the video to represent me authentically. I’ve never felt like I fit into any group and know there are other people that feel the same way. There isn’t just a stereotypical one-way, even in the gay community.”  

Group

8. Orville Peck — “Dead of Night”  

Described in the comments to his “Dead of Night” music video as “like Quentin Tarantino kissed Roy Orbison with a mouthful of whiskey,” Orville Peck isn’t afraid to push the envelope of country music. Orville dresses like the Lone Ranger with one fun twist– his mask is totally decked out in fringe! The singer, who identifies as gay, is a New Yorker in his early 30s.  

9. Lil Nas X — “Old Town Road”  

If I’m going to talk about new-age cowboys, I would be remiss to leave out Lil Nas X. The singer became a viral sensation at just 19 years old with his country rap single, “Old Town Road.” At first thwarted by the gatekeepers of the country music industry, Lil Nas X was vindicated when country legend Billy Ray Cyrus stepped in to collaborate with him.  

Raised in a small conservative community outside of Atlanta, Georgia, the singer witnessed a lot of homophobia and believed he would never come out of the closet. Now, however, the singer is out and not afraid to show it! He has had some iconic looks that demonstrate his multifaceted nature. For example, his daring outfit for the 2020 Grammys: a studded, pink leather suit worn overtop a mesh shirt and harness, and accompanied by a matching cowboy hat.  

10.  Kehlani — “Honey” 

Like Hayley Kiyoko, Kehlani’s music is doing the good work of bringing same-sex relationships, particularly between women, into mainstream music. Kehlani opens the song, “I like my girls just like I like my honey: sweet.” It’s a matter-of-fact introduction of her sexuality that I appreciate — she’s not making the fact that she likes women into a big deal, because it shouldn’t be one.  

Kehlani had been on the music scene for awhile, and has also been openly queer. However, in releasing “Honey”, Kehlani chose to live her truth not just in her personal life but in her music. I’m thankful to artists like Kehlani and Hayley Kiyoko who recognize that representation matters and  who generate music that young, queer people can relate to. (For an added bonus, check out their collaboration, “What I Need.”

11. Hollie Col — “Unholy”  

Traditionally offering up indie-folk songs, Hollie Col traded her usual sound for a more electric one in “Unholy.” Hollie Col is a Sydney, Australia, native and her talents seem boundless — not only is she a talented singer/songwriter, but she also wrote, directed, produced, and starred in all of her music videos. As eloquently stated in an article spotlighting the artist, “Hollie has a knack of getting to the nitty gritty centre of love, life, and heartache….” I couldn’t agree more. In less than five minutes, “Unholy” tells the story of a girl in a strange love triangle with another girl who is in a relationship with a boy. Col described the song as an “upbeat guitar pop anthem for the hopeless romantics that loved too hard and were left on the sidelines.” 

12.  GRLwood — “Vaccines Made Me Gay”  

As a Kentucky native, I had to include these “Kentucky Fried Queerdos.” If you were a baby punk rocker who loved to go to clubs and slam dance, then GRLwood would definitely be your jam. The punk duo has “a knack for wielding masculine braggadocio like the blunt, absurd thing that it is” and they aren’t afraid to be subversive, aggressive, or even flat out bizarre. The generous helping of personality being served by the GRLwood pair is matched by their talent. That personality and talent can both be found in “Vaccines Made Me Gay,” a tongue-in-cheek social commentary on the anti-vaxx movement that features smooth guitar riffs and wide-ranging vocals.  

While I would be remiss as a Kentuckian to leave out these two, I would also be remiss as a bisexual woman to not comment on the negative implications of the duo’s song, “Bisexual”, which contributes to the erasure of bisexuality (particularly for bi folks who happen to be in a heterosexual relationship) by other members of the LGBTQ+ community. For more information on this song and why it is troubling, check out this article from the queer news and culture site Into.   

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13.  Cakes Da Killa — “Gon Blo” (feat. Rye Rye)  

Cakes Da Killa, when asked to describe his music in one word, replied, “energetic.” That is certainly true of “Gon Blo” which opens with a refrain of “just pump the beat” that makes you instantly start dancing. In the middle of the song, Cakes demonstrates his skills at spitting rhymes and, let me tell you, it is seriously impressive!  

Like Le1f (who Cakes describes as one of his musical influences), Cakes had been on the scene for a while before his official musical debut of Hedonism in 2016. Cakes chooses not to center his sexuality in his music, and in fact resents the label of being a “gay rapper.” In an interview for the gay news site them., Cakes stated, “It just shows that even in 2019, people still have these little weird hangups with gay people, and also confident gay people. But that’s been my life’s work to just be like, ‘Hey, I’m gay. Shut the fuck up.’” I certainly appreciate him making the point that a person’s sexuality is not the most interesting thing about them, and his goal of normalizing out-and-proud queerness in the music industry without it having to be someone’s schtick.  

14. Rina Sawayama — “XS” 

I could’ve sworn I was listening to vintage Britney Spears when I first heard Rina Sawayama’s music. Her songs transport me to my childhood, but they have an added layer that most of those early 2000s hits didn’t have: social commentary. Sawayama explained her inspiration for “XS” (excess): 

“‘XS’ is a song that mocks capitalism in a sinking world. Given that we all know global climate change is accelerating and human extinction is a very real possibility within our lifetime it seemed hilarious to me that brands were still coming out with new makeup palettes every month and public figures were doing a gigantic house tour of their gated property in Calabasas in the same week as doing a ‘sad about Australian wild fires’ Instagram post. I mean I’m guilty of turning a blind eye too, because otherwise it makes me depressed. We’re all hypocrites because we are all capitalists, and it’s a trap that I don’t see us getting out of. I wanted to reflect the chaos of this post-truth climate change denying world in the metal guitar stabs that flare up like an underlying zit between the 2000s R&B beat that reminds you of a time when everything was alright.” 

It’s this type of frankness that makes Sawayama so relatable to her millennial fans. On a personal level, I identify with Sawayama’s struggles with self-acceptance as a bisexual/pansexual person, which she addresses in her song, “Cherry.”

Finally, Sawayama has provided important representation for queer Asians. One YouTube commenter noted on the “Cherry” video, “I think this means an incredible amount to me because [she’s a] Japanese queer icon?? My mum is insanely bigoted and […] Japanese media and society in general is v[ery] unaccepting and I hate it so I needed this.”  

15. Mary Lambert — “Secrets” 

Mary Lambert is an angel! At the very least, you are probably familiar with her from “Same Love”, the Macklemore/Ryan Lewis track that featured vocals from her song, “She Keeps Me Warm.” She has been representing queer women so proudly for so long that my repressed teenage self used to change her music because I didn’t like the part of me that identified with it.  

Lambert bares her soul to the world in a way that not a lot of artists do — she “has long been open about trauma, depression, and coping with being bipolar in her spoken word anthems and her songs.” For example, in another of her more popular songs, “Secrets,” Lambert opens with, “I’ve got bipolar disorder, my shit’s not in order, I’m overweight, I’m always late, I’ve got too many things to say.” Her candor is refreshing, as well as her presentation as a feminine lesbian woman in a world that often separates femininity from identifying as a lesbian.  

Returning to her music after coming out, I realized I identify with Lambert’s lyrics even more than I previously realized. In the hook for “Secrets,” Lambert sings: 

“They tell us from the time we’re young 

To hide the things that we don’t like about ourselves 

Inside ourselves 

I know I’m not the only one who spent so long attempting to be someone else 

Well I’m over it.”  

Rehearing those lyrics from one of the artists who helped me begin the process of coming to terms with my sexuality made me emotional. It is true, I spent a long time attempting to be someone else. And, when the time came that I was ready to come out, I felt the same way as Lambert when she breezily sings, “I don’t care if the world knows what my secrets are.”  

ElizabethGatten

Elizabeth Gatten is a rising 3L dedicated to public interest work. She currently serves as the EJW Rural Summer Legal Fellow at Cincinnati Legal Aid. As a bisexual woman, Elizabeth is passionate about championing the LGBTQIA+ community. In her free time, Elizabeth loves baking, and spoiling her pug, cat, and bearded dragon.

Categories
Affirmative action Civil Rights Constitutional Law Critical Race Theory Education Intersectionality Poverty Race Discrimination Racial Equality segregation Social Justice

Segregation

Author: Matthew Doktor 

There is a not-so-subtle irony involved in teaching the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. When I had the privilege of teaching modern American history, the days preceding Brown examined the oppression of Jim Crow. The class would read the Brown that famously concluded “in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” Then would I ask the students to look around and reflect. The inherent inequality that Chief Justice Warren spoke of in Brown was on display in the racial and ethnic makeup of my students. But that was not separate but equal. Inequity in the facilities and administrative practices compounded the racial segregation. Derrick Bell, a lawyer who personally worked to desegregate schools in the deep South concluded in a 1993 article, “the Brown decision, while never overturned, has become irrelevant.” Looking around the classroom, the permanence of racism and segregation in this country could not be clearer. According to Bell, there is good reason to celebrate Brown, but the continued racial segregation in schools combined with inferior resources in predominant Black and Latinx schools tell the real story.  

Despite the judicial and legislative initiatives to combat discrimination, non-compliance is more the rule to the exception. In place of lawful discrimination arose a racially tiered society with underpinnings of poverty. As Bell noted, while the lawful racial barriers of America’s slave society and later Jim Crow were replaced with more subtle forms of discrimination, America was hardly less discriminatory.  

Yes, Chief Justice Warren was correct in his assessment of education in Brown, calling it “the most important function of state and local governments.” That fundamental role of education accentuates the tragedy of American racial segregation. And that racial inequality is compounded by economic inequality, as poor students of color are concentrated in schools and neighborhoods.

I. Poverty & Race 

         Poverty is an amorphous concept. For most Americans and most Cincinnatians, we are only confronted with the realities of poverty when we see the vestiges of life on the streets or are asked to help ease the financial burden of our neighbors. While poverty is typically defined by income, leading scholars consider it a more dynamic experience that includes issues related to social and cultural exclusion.   

Throughout America’s history, race privilege has consistently translated into class privilege. According to current census data, people of color disproportionately experience poverty compared to their white counterparts.  In terms of real dollars, the median net worth of a white household in 2016 was $143,000 compared to the $12,920 for Black households, $21,420 for Latinx households, and $5,700 for indigenous households. Across the United States and particularly in the Rust Belt, individuals experiencing poverty have been concentrated into economically declining neighborhoods. As the white residents who fled to the suburbs are now fleeing those suburbs, suburban neighborhoods are increasingly becoming areas of poverty concentration.  

As Ta-Nehisi Coates observed in The Case For Reparations, systemic plunder of the Black community continued well into the 20th Century. Private and public sectors working in tandem destroyed the possibility of investment in Black neighborhoods and plundered Black residents. Coates pointed to the Chicago suburb of North Lawndale as a case study of white-imposed Black disadvantage where developers price-gouged housing  and sold homes on contract to Black buyers. Contract sales of homes, unlike traditional mortgages, limited the equity accrued in the home and risked complete forfeiture of the home and dollar paid with one missed payment. That system of plunder generated profit for white contract sellers, plundered Black home buyers, and destroyed neighborhoods.   

People of color are disproportionately more likely to live in economically declining areas, with 35 percent of all Black residents living in declining economic areas. These shifts correspond to gentrification in major metropolitan cities that cause displacement of existing residents. In the 50 largest U.S. cities, approximately 464,000 low-income residents have left gentrified neighborhoods. That gentrification is disproportionately white, with only 9 percent of Black residents living in gentrified areas.    

Families of color not only face segregated neighborhoods and schools, but segregated financial, health, and food systems. In the U.S., Black individuals are at higher risk for diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. That is due in part to food insecurity and barriers in communities of color across the U.S. In 2013, a U.N. report acknowledged the role of systemic and structural barriers that limit communities of color from better socio-economic communities.  

Those barriers, built on white supremacy, deny essential services like fresh and healthy food to segregated and isolated communities. Black children have a 500 percent higher death rate from asthma compared to white children. And disproportionately lower quality healthcare for Black patients due to implicit biases and structural barriers that limit access to healthcare creates a two-tiered healthcare system. This is all compounded by racism-induced stress that increases mortality rates in Black infants and Black mothers. Individuals living in segregated neighborhoods of color are more likely to be isolated from good jobs or the transportation necessary to reach those jobs.  

 According to a recent Census Bureau Report, despite a slow decline in overall poverty, the elderly increasingly experience poverty. While the number of white Americans experiencing poverty has decreased, the poverty rates for Asian, Black, and Latinx Americans have not moved. One out of every five Black Americans, or 8.9 million people, are currently experiencing poverty. Two out of every five children living with single mothers experience poverty in America. Research by HUD shows that poor neighborhoods are isolated from money, goods, jobs, and resources. Individuals who experience that isolated poverty in turn face problems related to crime, education, and health.  

Research by the New York Academy of Sciences reveals that children who experience poverty risk long-lasting consequences related to cognitive development and academic performance. Interventions beyond simple economic aid help offset those effects, like science-driven intervention programs that provide enrichment to children and their families. 

As a whole, media portrayals of the realities of poverty are limited to “bootstrap human interest stor[ies]” that ultimately amount to shaming the poor and equating success into a moral indicator. And when class and race intersect, individual Black ascent into higher tiers of socioeconomic status are cited to dismiss claims of racism and racial injustice.   

Not only are poor people of color disparaged with success stories, poor people of color experience poverty that is different in kind. Poor people of color are more likely to live in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. In Chicago, poor people of color are ten times more likely than poor whites to live in high-poverty census tracts (neighborhoods with a 40 percent  poverty rate).  

Even worse, systemic inequalities at the intersection of race and poverty are often deployed to pathologize people of color. After the passing of the Civil Rights Act 1964, then advisor to President Nixon Daniel Moynihan authored a report on the Black family commonly known as the Moynihan Report. Its assessment of the Black community as a burdened community rested on an indictment of Black women. According to Moynihan, the matriarchal structure of the Black family disadvantaged poor Black males in education.  

Moynihan and his modern counterparts ignore what are the innate and inherent state and institutional barriers that exacerbate the effects of poverty among people of color. Problematically, the law fails to see intrinsic barriers. In 1896, Justice Harlan dissented to the maligned Plessy v. Ferguson, but declared the Constitution to be race-neutral, declaring the Constitution “color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.” According to Harlan, the Court “takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.”

II. Poverty in Cincinnati 

           In the aftermath of significant inner-city unrest in major cities across the United States, then President Lyndon B. Johnson formed the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders to examine the violence. As one of the Kerner Commission’s “profiles of disorder“, Cincinnati’s history of racial inequality was evidence of the need for civil rights legislation like the Fair Housing Act. The commission singled out Cincinnati’s high rate of poverty, limited access to housing, and limited access to jobs in the Black community in the 1960s. Things have not changed. 

         According to most indicators, Cincinnati is on the wrong end of racial and income equality. Despite the promise of housing legislation, integration is a myth and historically poor communities still have less opportunity. Cincinnati remains one of the most segregated cities in the country. Across the city, streets like Section Avenue, McMicken Avenue, and Vine Street define stark racial dividing lines.  Cincinnati is one of the five poorest cities with at least 250,000 residents with nearly 28 percent experiencing poverty. Despite the general recovery from the 2008 Recession, more people in Cincinnati and across the country feel the effects of poverty now than they did in 2007. 

III. School Segregation 

While the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education struck down segregation in America’s public schools, the question remained: how to fix the problem. In Green v. County School Board of New Kent, the Supreme Court explained that a school board opening the doors to students of color begins, not ends, the abolition of segregation. Instead, the Court charged school boards with a duty to implement changes to eliminate racial discrimination “root and branch.”  

Then, in 1974 the Supreme Court retreated from that notion of broad restructuring with its decision in Milliken v. Bradley. In Milliken, Detroit parents and the NAACP challenged segregation within the Detroit Public School System. The Supreme Court rejected a broad multi-district remedy to segregate Detroit schools; instead it required proof that “racially discriminatory acts of the state or local school districts” substantially caused inter-district segregation. The Court distinguished between de jure segregation, segregation caused by intentional acts of the state, and de facto segregation, segregation caused by forces other than the state. The Court ultimately limited the ability of any federal court to create an area-wide school redistricting plan that would include surrounding neighborhoods in any restructuring. The Court also embraced colorblindness and indifference towards the history of racial discrimination in America and the public and private policies causing segregated neighborhoods.  

But colorblindness turns a blind eye to systemic racism and historic oppression. Both legal conservatives and liberals embrace colorblindness. For white liberals, colorblindness is a convenient default mode of perspective “without any apparent perceived need for justification.”   

Instead, Barbara Flagg argues against the Court’s colorblind Equal Protection doctrine. According to Flagg, Equal Protection disparate impact jurisprudence fails due to the requisite finding of racially discriminatory intent in “facially neutral” decisions. Instead, she argues that neutral imposition of white norms is active maintenance and participation in white supremacy. Equal Protection jurisprudence falls short when it ignores facially white neutral decision-making and unconscious discrimination, and then permeates historic racial oppression.  

As recently as 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Seattle and Louisville’s integration program designed to create district-wide racial proportionality in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1. According to the Court, the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection requires governments to treat citizens as individuals rather than members of a race, religion, or gender. The Court embraced a race-neutral analysis, that “[t]he way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” In the Court’s eyes, racial proportionality would ensure race would always be relevant in American life and ultimately derail the goal of eliminating race from government decision-making.  

IV. Ohio School Segregation

In 1842, a white school teacher challenged integration in Ohio classrooms in Chalmers v. Stewart. According to the Supreme Court of Ohio, in Chalmers, white children only had the privilege of common schools.  After the Civil War, Black parents challenged Ohio’s segregated schools after the ratification of the 14th Amendment based on the Equal Protection Clause – that no state shall “deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of laws”, and the Privileges or Immunities Clause — that “[n]o state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the United States.” Yet, in cases like State ex rel. Garnes v. McCann, the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that segregated schools and the laws that govern them “do[] not deprive” Black children of their rights. According to legal scholar Davidson Douglass, enforcing Ohio’s anti-segregation legislation was complicated by legitimate fears of the Black community surrounding integration. Those same fears resurfaced after the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Brown, when Black parents feared sending their children to white areas where their children would be in physical danger. 

After Brown, Cincinnati schools faced its own federal school segregation challenges. In 1963, Black parents brought a class action lawsuit against the Cincinnati Board of Education in Deal v. Cincinnati Board of Education that challenged racial imbalances in the schools. Specifically, the parents challenged the Board of Education’s refusal to accept the concept of de facto segregation and refusal to bus students to attempt to create a racial balance in the schools.  Because the court did not find a discriminatory intent in the design of the school, the court declared that the parents “failed to establish a deprivation of rights under the law or under the Constitution of the United States.”  

Then, in 1975 Black parents again challenged the Cincinnati school system in Bronson v. Board of Education. After ten years of litigation, the Board of Education agreed to a settlement with the parents that gave the Board of Education flexibility in the methods for desegregating. According to the settlement, $35 million would be spent on development and expansion of alternative schools and remedial programs. The agreement produced a 1991 deadline to reduce district-wide segregation.   

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Today, most children in Cincinnati attend segregated schools. Schools are not only segregated by race, but by income as well. The result is a system of separate and unequal schools.  

Cincinnati’s public high schools are predominantly attended by students of color. What’s more, all but two schools are concentrations of poverty. In eleven of the thirteen public high schools listed above, over 95 percent of the student population experience poverty.  The public high schools without concentrations of poverty are more integrated. In contrast, Cincinnati’s private high schools are predominantly white. In four of Cincinnati’s private high schools, over 90 percent of the student population is white. The immediate question is: why? While some private schools provide scholarships to their students, none of the schools surveyed claimed to provide a full scholarship covering the entire tuition. Moreover, most of Cincinnati’s private schools were founded in the Jim Crow era. Referral systems and admissions criteria that include legacy status perpetuate racial disparities in Cincinnati’s private schools. 

Cincinnati Public Schools 
School  Percent of White students  Percent of students-of color  Percent of economically disadvantaged students 
Aiken High School  5.4%  94.7%  96.2% 
Clark Montessori High School  38.3%  60.6%  36.2% 
Dater High School  18.8%  80.3%  97.2% 
Hughes Stem High School  6.6%  93.2%  96.2% 
Gamble Montessori High School  17.8%  81%  97% 
Oyler School  43%  55.2%  98% 
Riverview East Academy  38%  60.2%  97.1% 
Taft High School  3.1%  96%  97.1% 
Shroder Paideia High School  3.8%  94.3%  97.5% 
Walnut Hills High School  59.1%  40.8%  17.5% 
Western Hills High School  13.5%  85.6%  96.1% 
Withrow University High School  4.1%  95.8%  96.5% 
Woodward High School  2.2%  97.3%  96.6% 

 

Cincinnati Private Schools 
School  Percent of White students  Percent of students of color  Price 
Summit Country Day School  70%  26.7%  $21,800 
St. Xavier High School  82%  18%  $14,995 
Ursuline Academy  85.6%  14.4%  $13,695 
Elder High School  92.6%  7.4%  $10,800 
Mount Notre Dame High School  90.4%  9.5%  $11,995 
Roger Bacon High School  60%  39.7%  $8,850 
La Salle High School  85.7%  14.4%  $11,575 
Seven Hills  64%  34.7%  $26,570 
Cincinnati County Day  68.9%  22.5%  $25,380 
Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy  78.6%  21.5%  $15,675 
Archbishop Moeller High School  86%  13.7%  $14,350 
Miami Valley Christian Academy  82.7%  15.6%  $9,500 
Archbishop McNicholas High School  94.2%  5.8%  $10,950 
Mercy McAuley High School  94%  3%  $10,950 
Seton High School  92.3%  7.8%  $10,400 

 

The problem is not just enrollment demographics. The unconscious discrimination and history of racial oppression permeates American education. As Gloria-Ladsen Billings and William Tate argue in Toward a Critical Race Theory of Education, America developed an education system that exists without authentic voices of people of color, that confers whiteness as a positive behavior trait, that provides inadequate facilities and curricula, and ultimately one that segregates students both inside and outside of the school through student tracking and “gifted” programs.  

In 2018, the Legal Defense Fund released a report titled Our Girls, Our Future,on the disproportionate punishment that  students of color across the country face. It explained the degree to which Black girls face exclusionary and punitive measures that push Black girls out of school for dress code violations and subjective offenses like “disruption”, “defiance”, and “speaking out”. Black students were the only students arrested in Baltimore City school. Black girls were five times more likely to be referred to Maryland’s juvenile justice agency and faced longer periods of detainment. This disparate treatment of Black girls in schools is also the focus of Dr. Monique Morris’s book, Pushout, which describes the cultural disconnect between Black girls and educators that creates a hostile environment at school, rather than a nurturing space for growth.  

The disparate treatment of Black students is not unique to Baltimore schools. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, in 2015, Black students were disproportionately suspended and were the only students expelled in Cincinnati public schools.  

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Source: United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, Cincinnati District Discipline Report, 2015 (https://ocrdata.ed.gov/Page?t=d&eid=27210&syk=8&pid=2539 

Despite the pronouncements of Brown v. Board of Education and later school desegregation cases, Cincinnati remains at the mercy of its old foe, segregation. Throughout the city, color lines etched into neighborhood borders restrict access for people of color. City structures grown out of an era of racial subordination perpetuate white supremacy through colorblind policy measures or pernicious administration. Despite the recent U.S. Supreme Court pronouncements, the way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to first acknowledge discrimination on the basis of race. Then, we can talk.  

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Matthew Doktor is a 2L at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He is currently a fellow at the Ohio Innocence Project and an associate member of UC’s Law Review. Matthew’s previous work includes education and research.

Categories
Balancing the Scales Racial Equality Social Justice

Whiteness and The Benefit of the Doubt

Guest Contributor: Caitlin Cliff-Perbix 

One swampy afternoon in September I made the mistake of convincing myself that I had time during my lunch hour to run a few errands and get a quick, healthy lunch. In the frenzy of grabbing my garment bag filled with thrifted blazers that I had planned to alter (a tip for all you public interest folks) as well as my stack of nearly-overdue library books, I forgot my wallet.

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I was sweating through my jumpsuit when I arrived at Allez —a community bakery in Over-the-Rhine.  I picked out a seltzer (lime) and a veggie sandwich from the fridge but realized my mistake when I reached into my pocket to pay.

“Don’t worry about it! Just get us back the next time you’re here!” chirped a man bustling behind the counter—kindly waving-off my stuttered apologies as he slung fresh, crusty loaves to the lunch crowd.

I am built to worry though. I rummaged through my backpack while I asked for another option to pay.

“Do you have the Cash App? Or Venmo maybe? I really don’t want to walk out of here with a sandwich without paying.”

“It’s really fine! Just come back and pay when you have your wallet on you again.”

Still, I persisted. The idea of not paying a small business for my meal made me uncomfortable.

“Could I write down my order so that when I come back you know that I’m paying for what I took?”

He smiled, shook his head, and reassured me again.

“Really, it’s okay. Just pay us back when you can.”

That week I stewed over the interaction at Allez. I wondered how the interaction would have played out if I had a visible disability, or if I appeared to be experiencing homelessness, or if I had not been white-presenting in a gentrified neighborhood.  How did the man at Allez make the judgment call to give me a free meal and believe that I would pay him back?

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Businesses have no obligation to give away their labor, services or products for free; and as long as they do not refuse a patron service based on a legally protected status, they are not breaking the law. However, what I really wanted to know was if my whiteness was acting as a symbolic promissory note. Did it make me more trustworthy? No. But did it signal to the man at Allez that I was more trustworthy? That was my concern.

The following week I returned to Allez to pay my sandwich-debt when the lunch rush had quieted.

I learned that the man who I had spoken to is the owner of Allez—Tom Mckenna. I thanked him for giving me the benefit of the doubt, then quickly added “but why did you do it? What about me indicated to you that I would come back?

To that, he simply responded “I do it for everyone.”

Tom told me that he came from a background of financial insecurity. When he had the opportunity to become a business owner, he said that he wanted to create a bakery that would feed everyone regardless of their circumstances. It is his practice to always give customers the option to pay later if they don’t have any money and he purposefully does not count his till at the end of each day.

“Most people come back and pay. Some people don’t. The point is that they are getting fed.”

If you’re reading this and thinking “He gave you a free sandwich, and you paid him back. So what?” —then you are asking the right question. What does this seemingly innocuous exchange mean in a broader cultural context?

Tom’s policy is important because instead of making judgment calls based on seconds-long interactions with patrons, he is removing an element of bias from his business practice.

He said that he has a similar blanket policy for his bathroom—the bathroom is for employees only. Although, he added that he has made exceptions for people with children.

Tom’s policy is so significant because when we choose to give people the benefit of the doubt, our biases play a role in determining who is trustworthy, and therefore deserving of our kindness.

What happens when our biases take over and we do not give people of the doubt? In 2018, a Starbucks employee in Philadelphia called the police because an African American patron tried to use the restroom before he bought a coffee. I have personally relieved myself in countless Starbucks, chain restaurants, and miscellaneous gas stations without buying anything.  No one has ever questioned my actions or right to exist in those spaces, and I am willing to bet that no one ever will.

In an even more horrific example, in 2015 a white University of Cincinnati campus police officer shot and killed Samuel Dubose, a 43-year-old African American man. The officer allegedly stopped Dubose because he had a missing front license plate[1]. I once drove my car for five months with a broken taillight. During that time, I drove through the same area where Dubose was shot and killed, and neither my white husband nor I were ever pulled over. We are always given the benefit of the doubt.

This phenomenon is not confined to our daily social interactions. It exists in every facet of American society— even within the professedly “objective” walls of the legal system.

Brock Turner and Amber Guyger are two examples of people who have been given the benefit of the doubt by the legal system because they are white. I am not angry that Brock Turner sat in jail for only three months after he sexually assaulted Chanel Miller while she was unconscious (okay, I am because three months in a county jail is hardly punishment to an affluent Stanford student). I am angry because his judge, Aaron Persky, chose to see Turner’s humanity and potential—however, despite being permitted to use discretion in his position, Judge Persky historically would not give that same benefit of the doubt to the young black and brown men coming before his bench.

I am not angry that Amber Guyger was sentenced to just ten years in prison (which I would argue is substantial, but that is another matter) for murdering Botham Jean. I am angry that it took a majority-black jury to convict a white police officer for the murder of an unarmed black man in his own home. I am angry that black and brown humans are in prison and have been in prison far longer than ten years for non-violent offenses because white judges and juries put those black and brown humans there. This is because judges and juries are given discretion under the guise of “objectivism” while overlooking that we all carry biases.

When we pretend that bias does not exist it creates a ripple effect that may begin with our social interactions but ultimately disrupts our legal system. While policy solutions may exist, what we need is a cultural shift. The United States justice system, despite what some lawyers may believe, does not exist in a vacuum. Confronting our biases is uncomfortable and painful work, but that confrontation is the only route toward creating a society that administers true justice.

I challenge my white-presenting peers to pause and evaluate the mundane social interactions that occur each day and think about how your race, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, ability and the combination of these attributes play into how you are being treated.

I then urge you to pause and observe others. Do you see the same kindnesses being afforded to others? Do you give others the benefit of the doubt indiscriminately? While it is crucial we hold our systems accountable, we must start by looking inward first.

[1] Front-license plates are required by law in Ohio.

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Caitlin Cliff-Perbix is a 2L at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.  She is the offspring of educators, musicians, & immigrants, and is a fellow for the Nathanial R. Jones Center for Race, Gender and Social Justice. She is a native of Licking County and resides in Northside with her husband.

Categories
Civil Rights Colorblind Critical Race Theory Race Discrimination Racial Equality segregation Social Justice

Playing the “Race Card”: A Contradiction in America’s Colorblind Society.

Nikita Srivastava (’19)

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Image from HuffPost.

“You can’t play your race card when discussing this issue. Bringing race into this matter will not get us anywhere. I am telling you now, it won’t be a constructive conversation.” John Doe said this to a woman of color while we were discussing the socio-economic effects of government programs in one of my undergraduate classes. He angrily slammed his hands on the table and began chugging his water. I imagined that he grabbed his water to cool himself down as if there was a fire inside of him that he needed to put out. Another classmate stated that our country was founded on racism and I stated, “these policies are supposedly ‘race-neutral,’ but are not. By not considering race, we are disregarding more than half the people in this country.” (I thought to myself: race is a part of everything in this country, ignoring it only makes it worse.) As silence ensued, my professor quickly turned to another portion of our assigned reading. However, I could not focus on anything else. I called my mother after the class and recalled the event to her. She said, “With each generation, things get better, but then you hear someone say something like that. It makes you think: are we better now?”

Categories
domestic violence RGSJ Events Social Justice

The Hamilton County Domestic Violence Summit: Collaborating for Safer Communities

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Guest Contributor: Professor Kristin Kalsem

Intimate partner abuse is a priority issue for the University of Cincinnati College of Law’s Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice.  Its Domestic Violence and Civil Protection Order Clinic has served more than 1400 survivors and its research and work with community partners has resulted in more than 375 judges and magistrates being trained on best practices in these cases.

Intimate partner abuse is a fact of life in too many homes.  The statistics are staggering.  Domestic violence hotlines nationwide receive more than 20,000 calls on a typical day.  Intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime and one in three female murder victims are killed by intimate partners. The cost of domestic violence to the U.S. economy is between $5.8 and $12.6 billion each year.  (Stats provided by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence).  In Ohio, between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018, there were ninety-one domestic-violence related fatalities.   In 22 percent of those cases, children were involved at the scene and in more than 46 percent of the cases, the victim had ended or was in the process of ending the relationship.  (Ohio stats provided by the Ohio Domestic Violence Network.)

Categories
Constitutional Law criminal justice Criminal Law Elections Social Justice Substance Abuse

Issue One: Light At The End of the Tunnel or a Risky Gamble?

Everyone agrees that we need to fight drug addiction in Ohio. The Cincinnati area has had some of the highest opioid overdoses and deaths in the country. There aren’t many local families that haven’t been touched by the opioid crisis in some manner, my own family included.On the ballot in 2018 in Ohio, there is a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would reduce the crime of possession of personal amounts of illegal substances to misdemeanors not resulting in jail terms. Additionally, the amendment would make it harder to incarcerate drug users on probation or parole for failing drug tests. This proposed amendment on the ballot is known as Issue One, and it has strong proponents and opponents.

Categories
criminal justice Ohio Innocence Project Social Justice Wrongful Convictions

The Real Problem With Snitches: How Snitch Testimony Leads to Wrongful Convictions

The Karl and Wayne Story

Nikita Srivastava (’19)

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Karl Willis

Honest, kind, and passionate. These are only a few words I can use to describe Karl Willis and Wayne Braddy. Karl is a spiritual man who started a mentoring program called “Leave the Streets Behind.” The goal of this program is to help misguided young adults become healthy and productive citizens. Wayne, on the other hand, is a creative man who performs live music whenever he gets the chance. Both of these men jump at any opportunities to expand their education and help others. Karl and Wayne are warm, humble men who care about their families and communities. They share their joy with their loved ones; they want to help others; but, more importantly, they care about making a difference in their community. Where are they today?

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Wayne Braddy

Karl is currently housed at Allen Correctional Institution in Lima, Ohio, and Wayne is housed at North Central Correctional Complex in Marion, Ohio. Both are serving 23 years to life sentence for a murder they did not commit.

Categories
Civil Rights economic justice Homelessness Poverty Social Justice

Who Are Those Living In Homelessness in Cincinnati?

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buddy gray, the founder of the Cincinnati Homeless Coalition.

Hamilton County, Ohio, home of Cincinnati, is seeking to ban homeless camps from its county. Its District Attorney argues that the homeless must go into shelters or leave the county.
I spent about twenty months as a live-in, full-time volunteer in a homeless shelter, which was an opportunity that brought me to Cincinnati in the summer of 2014. During that time, I lived as a Catholic Worker, a movement founded by Dorothy Day in the 1930s whose proponents devote their lives to fighting injustice, poverty, and violence. My time there informed my understanding of the plight of those living in homelessness and who it is that makes up that population.

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Grace Place, the homeless shelter in Cincinnati’s College Hill neighborhood where the author served for about two years.

Categories
Homelessness Social Justice

Nowhere to Sleep: The Homelessness Problem in Cincinnati

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Image from Cincinnati Enquirer

This past month has been quite eventful for individuals who once called home a particular area in downtown Cincinnati – a group stricken by homelessness.

The downtown area that a group called home was under a cluster of overpasses at Third and Plum Streets. The group – comprised of around 50 individuals – set up a tent encampment under the overpass where they had slept for months, or maybe even years. The area, which is close to several parking lots used by people working downtown, housed the tent camp; hundreds of individuals passed by and through the area every day to get to and from work.

Categories
Civil Rights criminal justice lawyers legal profession Ohio Innocence Project Policing Race Discrimination Social Justice Wrongful Convictions

Innocence March: Recognizing the Wrongfully Convicted

Guest Contributor: Brian Howe

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Attorney Brian Howe with OIP fellow Nikita Srivastava (’19)

On March 24, 2018, more than five hundred men and women marched through Memphis Tennessee.  Most of them had spent a large part of their lives in prison– a combined 3,501 years among them– for crimes they did not commit.

The march was the closing event for the 2018 Innocence Network conference, a gathering of exonorees and lawyers working on behalf of those wrongfully convicted.  Exonorees came from every state in the country and from countries across the globe. They marched with attorneys and advocates and family. They held signs demanding change in the system that had wronged them.  Demanding accountability. Demanding, at least, public recognition that innocent men and women were being arrested and convicted by agents acting on the public’s behalf.