5/18
Racial Justice
Higher rates of chemical sedation among Black psychiatric patients points to inequities
Penn Medicine researchers also find that white patients are more likely to be chemically sedated in emergency departments at hospitals that treat high proportion Black patients, suggesting that hospital demographics can impact practice patterns.
An interfaith commemoration of MLK
The annual event on March 23 was part of the Penn MLK Commemorative Symposium on Social Change.
35th annual Women of Color at Penn award
The Women of Color at Penn held their 35th annual award ceremony with a virtual celebration hosted by the African American Resource Center. This year’s awards honored six women who have fostered and supported community.
The Black Lives Matter movement, but not COVID encouraged voters toward Biden
As swing voters registered more awareness about discrimination against Black Americans, they became more likely to vote for the party they felt would best rectify that—Democrats.
Black histories and Black futures
Professors and students reflect on 50 years of Black studies at Penn.
Viewing 2021 through a lens
Photojournalist Kylie Cooper’s annotated photo essay about the liminality of 2021 captured the Capitol insurrection, the Ground Zero commemoration of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, and more.
Interfaith activism at the second annual University Forum on Social Equity and Community
In the second annual University Forum on Social Equity and Community, the School of Arts & Sciences’ Barbara D. Savage moderated a conversation on interfaith activism.
Racial justice protests influenced local news reporting
A new Media, Inequality, and Change Center report finds that news coverage of policing did become more inclusive and less dehumanizing, but was still heavily slanted toward a police perspective.
Anti-racism and reproductive justice
PIK Professor Dorothy Roberts joined Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, in the 21st annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture in Social Justice. They addressed the intersectional nature of anti-racism and reproductive freedom.
Environment key to injury recovery for Black men
Data from a Penn Nursing study shows that injured Black men from disadvantaged neighborhoods experience higher injury mortality, years of life-expectancy loss, and psychological symptoms that persist after initial wounds have been treated.
In the News
A law meant to bust blight puts Black and Asian American property owners at risk, report warns
A new analysis by the Advocacy for Racial and Civil Justice Clinic at Penn Carey Law concludes that Philadelphia property conservatorships have come at the expense of vulnerable property owners, particularly Black and Asian American owners. Cara McClellan says that such petitions are filed in communities already at risk for gentrification.
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Pennridge School District has created hostile environment for Black and LGBTQ students, federal complaint says
A federal complaint filed by Penn Carey Law’s Advocacy for Racial and Civil Justice Clinic asserts that the Pennridge School District has failed to protect children of color and LGBTQ students, with remarks from Cara McClellan.
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America’s blueprint for urban inequity was drawn in Philly. It failed Black Philadelphians
Matthew Jordan-Miller Kenyatta of the Weitzman School of Design sees an opportunity for Philadelphia to reset with an antiracist foundation, using Sankofa urban planning to incorporate Black history as a guide toward the future.
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Affirmative action’s future waits as SCOTUS hears arguments
Cara McClellan of Penn Carey Law calls the claims that race-conscious admissions are unconstitutional a direct attack on more than 40 years of legal precedent.
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‘We’re triaging’: Cops combat violent crime as ranks dwindle
Ben Struhl of the School of Arts & Sciences says that violent crime is rising for reasons separate from social justice protests.
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A councilman in Reading wants the city to implement reparations for slavery
Mary Frances Berry of the School of Arts & Sciences notes that nearly a dozen mayors in cities across the country have pledged to pilot reparations programs in their cities.
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