Overt Racial Discrimination Research Articles

Black cancer patients navigating a health-care system of racial discrimination.

Exposure to racial discrimination may exacerbate disparities throughout the cancer care continuum. Therefore, we explored how experiences of racial discrimination in the health-care setting manifest for Black cancer patients and how it contributes to racial disparities in cancer care. This qualitative analysis used semistructured in-depth interviews with Black cancer survivors not on active treatment from May 2019 to March 2020. All interviews were audio recorded, professionally transcribed, and uploaded into Dedoose software for analysis. We identified major themes and subthemes that highlight exposure to racial discrimination and its consequences for Black cancer patients when receiving cancer care. Participants included 18 Black cancer survivors, aged 29-88 years. Most patients experienced racial discrimination when seeking care. Participants experienced racial discrimination from their interactions with health-care staff, medical assistants, front desk staff, and health insurance administrators. Exposure to overt racial discrimination in the health-care setting was rooted in racial stereotypes and manifested through verbal insults such as physicians using phrases such as "you people." These experiences impacted the ability of the health-care delivery system to demonstrate trustworthiness. Patients noted "walking out" of their visit and not having their health issues addressed. Despite experiences with racial discrimination, patients still sought care out of necessity believing it was an inevitable part of the Black individual experience. We identified that exposure to racial discrimination in the health-care setting is pervasive, affects health-seeking behaviors, and degrades the patient-clinician relationship, which may likely contribute to racial disparities in cancer care.

Racial burdens in the work experiences of state-supported Black chaplains

To understand and improve the experiences of Black chaplains, it is essential to consider how they experience and are integrated into their workplaces. This article draws from interviews with ten Black chaplains in the military and prisons. In light of historic, state-sanctioned, discrimination in these institutions, we ask how these chaplains experience their workplaces racially. All experience racial burdens in the workplace as part of being the first or only Black chaplain or in response to overt racial discrimination. They identify few to no formal workplace efforts to support them as Black chaplains and spoke of resistance to informal efforts that have been tried over the years. State and federal workplaces must recognize the racial burdens Black chaplains’ experiences and take action to respond to and support these systemic workplace issues.

Understanding Latinas/os/xs Undergraduate Experiences in a Business School through the Working Identity Lens

ABSTRACT Our study presents some of the voces of Latinas/os/xs undergraduates in a western U.S. business school to explore the concept of “working identity” in employment discrimination law under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. While overt racial discrimination is outlawed, racial salience through factors such as phenotype, accent, demeanor, associations and assimilation all impact the way employers see potential applicants and fit with future corporate job roles. We used this conceptual framework to gain insights into ways that some Latinas/os/xs students initially experienced the pressure of “working identity” through their education in schools of business. We selected students majoring in business because it is a popular major and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have taken hold in business school contexts. The five participants in our study were majoring in accounting, business administration and management, and preparing for their future as employees in the business world. The first part of our paper provides an overview of the context of business schools and diversity; research on Latina/o/x student experiences in higher education, and the significance of the “working identity” concept; followed by our methods section, results and interpretation of how the pressures to perform working identity negatively impacts Latinas/os/x students.

Racial Discrimination and Risky Sex: Examining Cognitive-Emotional Factors in Black College Students

Using the lifespan biopsychosocial model of cumulative vulnerability and minority health as a theroretical lens, the present study proposed two models to test the relationships among racial discrimination, cognitive–emotional factors, and risky sexual behaviors in a sample of 302 Black college students in the United States. Our models provided support for some of the hypothesized direct and indirect pathways. As expected, overt racial discrimination and subtle racial discrimination (i.e., racial microaggression) were both positively related to cognitive–emotional factors (i.e., anxiety, depression, hopelessness, and hostility). Racial microaggressions were significantly positively related to risky sexual behaviors, but overt racial discrimination was not. Hostility was the only cognitive–emotional factor that facilitated an indirect, significant effect from racial microaggressions to risky sexual behaviors. Potential implications are discussed for practice, training programs, and future counseling psychology research with Black college students using the lifespan biopsychosocial model of cumulative vulnerability and minority health.

Abstract 11105: Real Time Racial Microaggression and Physiological Stress Responses Among Young and Middle Aged Black Adults

Introduction: Perceived racial discrimination has been associated with dysregulation of sympathetic-adrenal-medullary (SAM) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, two major physiological stress response systems linked to cardiovascular disease outcomes. Most studies, to date, used cross-sectional data that captured retrospective measures of lifetime racial discrimination associated with current physiological stress responses. Relative to overt racial discrimination, a subtle form of racial discrimination, known as microaggression is more prevalent, yet most commonly measured retrospectively, and understudied. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the relationship between microaggression measured in real-time and physiological stress responses. Methods: Twelve healthy Black adults (mean age=43.4 years) completed baseline surveys, and self-collected saliva 4x a day for 4 days to measure cortisol and alpha amylase (AA) as a proxy of HPA and SAM systems, respectively. Real-time microaggression was measured using ecological momentary assessments (EMA) sent to participants 5x a day for 7 days. Multilevel models were conducted to examine the relationship between microaggressions and the SAM and HPA axis activities. Results: In the bivariate analyses, the area under the curve with respect to ground (AUCg: total cortisol output throughout the day) was significantly associated with the same day microaggression (r=.40, p=.02). Microaggression was associated with cortisol awakening response (CAR) on the same day (r=.34, p=.04). In multilevel models, microaggression was associated with wake-up cortisol level on the same day (β=.22, p=.05). Microaggression was also associated with wake-up AA levels both the same day (β=.58, p<.01) and the next day (β=.40, p=.05). Conclusions: Microaggression was associated with same day and next day physiological stress responses. We determined that concurrent use of salivary biomarkers and EMA was feasible methods to examine the temporal relationship between microaggression and physiological stress responses. Future work will include the development of an intervention that buffers the physiologic stress response related to microaggression to improve cardiovascular health.

Racial Discrimination, Racial Identity, and Obesity in Collegiate African American Women.

To investigate relationships among racial discrimination, explicit racial identity, and obesity in young collegiate African American (AA) women aged 18-25. Researchers recruited 136 women who self-identified as AA from a large Midwestern university. Racial discrimination (RD) was measured using lifetime overt experiences of discrimination, recent microaggressions, and vicarious RD directed towards close others. Explicit racial identity included dimensions of private regard, public regard, and centrality. Generalized obesity (elevated body mass index) and abdominal obesity (increased fat distribution in the midsection) were measured biometrically using kg/m2 and waist circumference, respectively. Hierarchical multiple regression was employed to explore main and interaction effects. After controlling for adverse life events and income, overt RD, recent microaggressions, and private regard directly accounted for variance in both BMI and waist circumference. Public regard and centrality moderated relationships between RD variables and waist circumference. RD and racial identity accounted for up to 13% of variance in BMI and waist circumference in main effects models among young collegiate AA women. While obesity is a multifactorial phenomenon, racial discrimination and racial identity may affect observed racial disparities in obesity rates among young women.

The Changing Dynamic of Latinx Outdoor Recreation on National and State Public Lands

The Latinx population is the largest growing minority population in the United States and is estimated to comprise 28% of the U.S. population by 2050. This continued growth is no longer due to foreign-born immigration, which accounted for 34% of all Latinx people in 2015, but rather to those born in the U.S., who comprised 66% of all Latinxs that year. Therefore, the current and future Latinx population consists of second-, third-, and fourth-generation Americans who report being fluent in English and Spanish, have higher levels of education, and earn higher incomes. As the Latinx population becomes larger and more complex, their outdoor recreation preferences and perceptions are also changing. Our survey findings reveal three significant ways that this is happening. First, Latinxs are expanding their recreation activities beyond day-use activities to engage in overnight backpacking and camping—activities that enable participants to explore a broader array of forests and natural resources. Second, despite earlier research that found significant gaps in environmental awareness among “Hispanics,” recent polling data and this study show that today’s Latinxs overwhelmingly support protecting public lands. Third, while prior research identified overt racial discrimination as a significant barrier to public land use, our findings show that the Latinx population feels welcome on federal and state public lands. Staff and other visitors are generally perceived to be friendly, which suggests a shift in a Latinx sense of belonging when visiting national forests and parks. Nonetheless, there continue to be institutional barriers and low visitation rates to public lands amongst racial and ethnic minorities. Future research on Latinx outdoor recreation on public lands could examine how new generations draw meaning from their outdoor experiences and how they are combining traditional cultural traits with more diverse and active outdoor recreation activities. Subscribe to JPRA

Racial discrimination in the life course of older adults experiencing homelessness: results from the HOPE HOME study

ABSTRACT Over 2.5 million people experience homelessness yearly in the United States. Black persons are overrepresented by three-fold among those experiencing homelessness but little research has examined the relationship between race and homelessness. We aimed to understand the relationship between race and the experience of homelessness for older adults. We used grounded theory methodology to analyze in-depth qualitative interviews (n = 65) of persons experiencing homelessness. We recruited participants who were enrolled in two sub-studies of the Health Outcomes of People Experiencing Homelessness in Older Middle AgE (HOPE HOME) Study in Oakland California. We identified two major themes within interviews with Black participants (n = 52) related to race: (1) participants experienced overt racial discrimination in early life and (2) structural racism precipitated and perpetuated adult homelessness. Further, we identified sub-themes of structural racism that contributed to participants becoming or staying homeless: criminal justice discrimination, employment discrimination, exposure to violence, premature death, and limited family wealth. We developed a theoretical model of how these elements of structural racism may increase susceptibility to homelessness. These relationships between racial discrimination and homelessness may serve as targets for policies aimed at preventing homelessness.

Things Invisible To See

This Article revisits the state action doctrine, a judicial invention that shields “private” or “non-governmental” discrimination from constitutional scrutiny. Traditionally, this doctrine has applied to discrimination even in places of public accommodation, like restaurants, hotels, and grocery stores. Born of overt racial discrimination, the doctrine has inflicted substantial injustice throughout its inglorious history, and courts have continuously struggled in vain to coherently apply the doctrine. Yet, the United States Supreme Court has not fully insulated “private” or “horizontal” relations among persons from constitutional scrutiny. The cases in which it has applied constitutional norms to non-governmental actors should be celebrated rather than shunned. This Article proposes reinterpreting the state action doctrine to mitigate its historical and contemporary harms. Ultimately, the Authors draw from property law theory to contend that the doctrine should be fundamentally reformed in favor of a more egalitarian conception of the state’s role in ensuring equal protection of law. The insights of property law theory lead the Authors to conclude that: (1) equal protection depends on law, not action; (2) common law is law and, whether it is coercive or permissive, it must comply with the Equal Protection Clause; and (3) common law that allows discriminatory exclusion from the marketplace violates the Equal Protection Clause. What matters, for the purposes of constitutional protection, is not “state action” but whether the law violates the norms of liberty, equality, and dignity recognized by free and democratic societies.

Jalos, USA: Transnational Community and Identity

830 Reviews Reading these diverse yet commonly threaded stories, readers can come to their own conclusions regarding the liminal, fluid, intersectional, multiple, and continuously evolving nature of Korean Americans’ ethnic identity formation. The editors, however, organize the personal narratives by utilizing a typology of ethnic identity development, which they introduce in the beginning and revisit at the end of the book. Ethnic identity formation is dependent on a combination of low and high internal factors (retention of ethnic culture, involvement in ethnic social networks, linkages to the homeland) and external factors (racial discrimination). Based on this typology, the editors conclude that the first cohort of Korean Americans had many more problems in developing their ethnic identity than the later cohort. This is due to the earlier cohort having more difficulty in retaining ethnic culture, being less involved in ethnic social networks, and lacking posi- tive linkages to the homeland than the later cohort. It is also because the earlier cohort grew up encountering more intense and overt racial discrimination in America than the later cohort. Thus, the later cohort of Korean Americans are more likely to have a strong positive ethnic identity as Koreans throughout their lives and have experienced much less inner psychological turmoil over their identity than the earlier cohort. The editors therefore conclude that today’s youn- ger generation of Korean Americans are not forced to accept either a Korean or an Asian label. Instead, they have the luxury of choos- ing whether or not they want to add their Korean ethnic identity onto their American identity. They can pick and choose from American and Korean culture in the ways that suit them best. Readers may find that the personal narra- tives that fill the main body of the book do not fit neatly into the ethnic identity typology provided by the editors. No matter their cohort type, all of the essays share the com- mon thread of being in-between, self- conscious, hybrid, and experiencing an identity evolution. The identity typology insufficiently captures the fluid, situational, intersectional, and evolving nature of identi- ties across time and place. Given that the book seeks to provide a cohort analysis, it would have also been helpful to have a more detailed description of the sample so that readers could know how the two cohorts compared in terms of age, gender, place of socialization, and class. It is also unclear how the essays were selected and how representative they are of the Korean American population. Several of the essay authors are sociology PhDs, and many are leaders in the Korean American community. As the editors recognize, their cohort analysis is also impeded by the fact that there are only three essays from the first cohort and that not all of the same subjects were addressed in the essays. Finally, readers who have a more sys- tematic view of racism in America may ques- tion how easily Korean Americans can now forge an optional ethnicity of their own. Younger-Generation Korean Experiences in the United States is, no doubt, a must-read for anyone interested in the subject of 1.5- and second-generations’ ethnic identity forma- tion. Some readers may find the typology of ethnic identity formation helpful. All readers will find the personal narratives of the second generation’s journey of ethnic identity development moving and thought- provoking. Jalos, USA: Transnational Community and Identity, by Alfredo Mirande´. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2014. 240 pp. $27.00 paper. ISBN: 9780268035327. A BIGAIL A NDREWS University of California, San Diego alandrews@ucsd.edu In a growing literature on transnational migration, Alfredo Mirande´’s book Jalos, USA: Transnational Community and Identity adds a rich portrait of a migrant community, stretched between the hometown of Jalos, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, and its primary destination of Turlock, in the Central Valley of California. Building on seminal contribu- tions to the study of transnationalism, such as the work of Peggy Levitt (2001) and Robert Smith (2006), Mirande´ uses in-depth interviews and focus groups to portray in detail the workings of a transnational com- munity, including religious festivals and traditions, gender interactions in daily life, the ways people maintain a shared identity Contemporary Sociology 44, 6 Downloaded from csx.sagepub.com at UNIV CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO on October 27, 2016

How Griggs Came To Be

How Griggs Came To Be ROBERT BELTON (AS EDITED BY STEPHEN L. WASBY) Editor’s Note: The history of Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971) and of the theory of disparate impact was told by the late Robert Belton in his book, The Crusade for Equality in the Workplace: The Griggs v. Duke Power Story, which Professor Stephen L. Wasby prepared for publication after Professor Belton’s death in 2012. Material drawn from that book, published in 2014, is presented in this article, with a brief introduction and conclusion by Professor Wasby. Material reprinted with permission from the University Press of Kansas. Introduction, by Stephen L. Wasby In 1971, the Supreme Court decided the first major case on the substance ofTitle VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Griggs v. Duke Power Co) As President Nixon’s appointee Warren Burger had replaced Earl Warren as Chief Justice and Burger’s friend Harry Blackmun had alsojoined the Court, observers had expected a withdrawal from the rulings supportive of civil rights complainants. They had not expected a ruling strongly supporting African-Americans’ claims of employment discrimination. Indeed, there was still a question as to what “discrimination” was precluded by the Civil Rights Act. Many thought that only direct, intentional discrimi­ nation—what has come to be called disparate treatment—was all that was barred. However, with the passage of Title VII, employers ceased blatant discrimination of the “no Irish need apply” or “no Negroes except in the labor pool” variety. Instead they adopted employ­ ment tests and requirements that were racially (or gender) neutral on their face but which had a disproportionately negative impact on racial minorities and women: that is, these actions had a disparate impact on racial minorities. Griggs is so significant because the Supreme Court went beyond disparate treatment to rule that, under Title VII, employers could not engage in actions that had a disparate impact on racial minorities. The theory of disparate impact adopted in Griggs has now had a history of more than forty years, with some Supreme Court rulings eroding the theory and with Congress enacting the Civil Rights Act of 1991 to restore the theory’s strength. Yet before that history took place, there had to be Griggs. The case was no accident. It was part of a planned litigation campaign against 426 JOURNAL OF SUPREME COURT HISTORY employment discrimination undertaken by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). The story ofhow Griggs came to be is worth telling, and Robert Belton, who played a major role in the litigation of the case, tells it here. Griggs: The Factual Setting, by Robert Belton Griggs v. Duke Power Co. arose against the background of decades of widespread overt racial discrimination against AfricanAmericans in the South in all facets of public and private activities: employment, educa­ tion, places of public accommodation, trans­ portation, and voting. Griggs involved the legality of racially neutral educational and testing practices. In 1990, it was reported that, for more than 100 years, employers had been requiring more and more education of applicants for an increasing number of jobs.2 And a 1963 study, published the year before the enactment of Title VII, reported that although the evidence was fragmentary, it was fairly clear that a large number of industrial firms in the United States used standardized tests in selecting, promoting, and transferring personnel.3 The Griggs case arose in context of the reality of the difficulty of effective enforce­ ment ofTitle VII based solely on the disparate treatment theory, which requires proof of intent to discriminate The NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s litigation team which focused on employment discrimination cases was also concerned about trying disparate treatment cases before all-whitejuries. That team, along with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) and law professors, struggled to articulate a theory of discrimina­ tion that was not based solely on discrimina­ tory intent and to find a remedy that would substantially expand the employment oppor­ tunities of African Americans. The employer in Griggs, Duke Power Company, was a public utility corporation that was engaged in the generation, transmis­ sion, distribution, and sale ofelectric power to the general public in North Carolina and...

Reconfiguring Belonging in the Suburban US South: Diversity, ‘Merit’ and the Persistence of White Privilege

AbstractIn the past few decades, a diverse body of scholarship has complicated the image of American suburbs as spaces of white, middle‐class homogeneity. Revisionist suburban histories and accounts of African American and immigrant suburbanization have drawn attention to the longstanding presence of non‐white others in US suburbs. Yet despite diversification, white privilege remains deeply entrenched in suburbia. This article explores the shifting character of white privilege in the US — especially in the US South — and asks how whites interpret diversity and identify those with whom they are, or are not, willing to share their privileges. This article uses the results of a pilot study in a subdivision near Columbia, South Carolina, to explore how white suburbanites articulate belonging in neighborhood space. This discussion highlights the ways in which respondents reject the pre‐civil‐rights order marked by overt racial discrimination, but also reveals the ways in which they evaluate the relative merit of minority groups and identify certain differences as unacceptable. While limited in scope, this study encourages scholars to further explore the ways in which shifting configurations of race become intertwined with processes of contemporary suburban change.

Into the Big League

This article examines the relationship between the struggle for African American civil rights and efforts to expand tourism, conventions, and spectator sports in New Orleans, Louisiana, between 1954 and 1969. Drawing on previously neglected archival sources and personal interviews, it considers how the pressure to maintain New Orleans's progressive image as an urbane tourist destination required abandoning Jim Crow customs and embracing the growing national commitment to racial progress. It argues that an unlikely coalition of civil rights activists, tourism interests, municipal officials, and a small segment of New Orleans's old-line social establishment adopted a tourism-related rhetoric to counter the city's dominant discourses of racist resistance to change. By the late 1960s, New Orleans's white leaders agreed that they could no longer countenance overt racial discrimination if New Orleans was to maintain a favorable tourist image.

Racial Segregation and Class in a Liberal Metropolis

As overt racial discrimination lessens and the social and economic status of minorities rises, segregation by class should become more and segregation by race less prominent. This hypothesis is tested via several structural and spatial measures of segregation, for class and for race separately and simultaneously. Even in the ostensibly liberal Seattle, race is found to remain vastly stronger than class for blacks, and even somewhat stronger for Asians.

Life support for ailing hypotheses: Modes of summarizing the evidence for racial discrimination in sentencing.

A recent review concluded that the weight of available evidence contradicts a hypothesis of widespread overt racial discrimination in sentencing in the United States. Yet brief summaries of this body of research, found in textbooks, monographs, and the literature review sections of journal articles, commonly conveyed the opposite impression, sustaining an image of extensive support for the hypothesis. These summaries are examined to determine how this misleading impression was conveyed. Five common practices are identified: 1. Selective Citation: A biased selection of studies were reviewed or cited. 2. Letting the Evidence Speak for Itself: Overrepresentation of blacks in prison or among the executed relative to their share of the population was noted, with readers left to draw their own conclusions. 3. The Mixed Bag: Impressive lists of studies supposedly supporting a discrimination hypothesis were padded, by lumping together studies concerning a variety of criminal justice processes besides sentencing, and various legally irrelevant defendant traits besides race. 4. Research Democracy-All Studies are Created Equal: Equal weight was implicitly given to all studies regardless of methodological rigor, in a field where it was the least rigorous studies which were most likely to support the discrimination hypothesis. 5. Magnanimous Neutrality: The available evidence was described as mixed or ambiguous, which, while technically accurate, was a misleading description of evidence which largely contradicted the discrimination hypothesis.

The Fair Housing Act in a Discriminatory Market The Persisting Dilemma

Abstract The Fair Housing Title of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 provides an important remedy for the individual homeseeker encountering overt racial discrimination in the housing market. However, it is insufficient in scope, assumptions, and ameliorative approach to counter systemic bias in housing market information channels. Data from a survey of 1,004 suburban New Jersey homebuyers indicate that unequal access to market information raises search costs for black homebuyers while reducing equity accumulation upon resale. An affirmative policy initiative is required to encourage development of an unbiased institutional structure for disseminating market information.

Perceptions About Black Americans

The data sources used in Social Indicators, 1976 are more restricted and interpretation more restrained than in earlier reports by the Census or the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Available data that measure how institutions established for dealing with racial injustice are working have not been incorporated in the report. Black Americans continue to have less of the society's most valued characteristics and conditions and more of those that are disvalued and stigmatized, or are evidence of discrimination and neglect. At the root of blacks' disfavored position is a combination of interacting forces. These include the cumulative effects on American institutions of generations of blatantly overt racial discrimination in every area of life; the continuing subtle practices of racial and economic discrimination ; and the absence of a national will or commitment to undertake those pragmatic political, social, and economic policies necessary to erase discrimination, and to enforce those policies forthrightly.