Sessions Information

  • May 5, 2024
    9:00 am - 10:30 am
    Session Type: Works-in-Progress
    Session Capacity: N/A
    Location: Marriott St. Louis Grand
    Room: Majestic A
    Floor: Second Floor, Conference Plaza

    Group 7: Racing and E-Racing

    Private Capital Has a Problem
    Tomica C. Saul, Rutgers Law School

    In October of 2023, the women of color run venture capital firm, Fearless Fund, was sued for granting $20,000 grants to women of color. The plaintiff, a white man named Edward Blum, justified his lawsuit using Section 1981 the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which prohibits racial discrimination in making and enforcing contracts. In an interview to the New York Times, Mr. Blum stated that “an individual’s race and ethnicity should not be used to help them or harm them in their life’s endeavors.” Yet, the funding bias in private investment belies the sector’s entrenchment with systemic racism.

    This Article discusses the socio-legal realities that create funding biases in private investment and makes the case for the necessity of women and minority lead funds, despite widespread legal attacks on affirmative action and corporate diversity and inclusion initiatives. These already vulnerable, and statistically insignificant funds must be given the legal protections to grow an invisible class of marginalized, high-growth, entrepreneurs.

    The erroneous assumption that private investment is colorblind must be debunked. Affirmative action via minority-run funds and prioritized investing based on race and gender is an attempt at economic self-repair. In the absence of legislative support for racial inclusion at the top levels of investing and funding, advocates must clear the way for Fearless Fund and similar mission-based investors.

    De-Racing School Safety
    Janel George, Georgetown University Law Center

    School safety is a term that often serves as a pretext for the implementation of overly punitive and exclusionary school discipline measures that negatively impact many Black students’ educational experiences and outcomes. Research demonstrates that punitive and exclusionary discipline measures implemented in schools, like suspensions and expulsions, as well as policing, surveillance, and cultures of control, have not made schools safer. However, policymakers and school leaders continue to overwhelmingly invest in these measures, particularly in schools predominantly attended by Black students. This Article asserts that “school safety” is a concept that is rooted in racialized stigma of what makes a school “safe.” Drawing upon R.A. Lenhardt’s concept of “racial stigma,” this Article asserts that school disciplinary responses to Black children are tainted by racial stigma. Stigma influences racialized fears that translate into policies and practices that uphold segregation and exclusion of Black children from many predominantly white communities. This Article asserts that prevailing school safety measures fall short of realizing genuine school safety, as evidenced by the persistence of school shootings and other school-based violence. It argues that the stigmatization of Black children facilitates—for too many of them—their criminalization and early involvement with the criminal legal system, most frequently for minor offenses, and without attendant increases in school safety. I contend that we must remove racial stigma when crafting school discipline policies and practices—what I call “de-racing” school safety—and instead, design and implement evidence-based school safety policy interventions that address the structural violence prevalent in majority-Black schools. This Article outlines some of these interventions, which are informed by social science research as well as experience drawn from Georgetown Law’s Racial Equity in Education Law and Policy Clinic’s work with community-based organizations seeking safe and inclusive schools for children of color.

    Discussant and Moderator: Jill C. Engle, Penn State Law


Session Speakers
Penn State Law
Moderator and Discussant

Georgetown University Law Center
Works-in-Progress Presenter

Rutgers Law School
Works-in-Progress Presenter

Session Fees

Fees information is not available at this time.