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149 8 Race and Crime Literacy Looking Back When I was in graduate school studying criminology, “race” seemed to be shorthand for African Americans. Most of the books and articles we read cast Blacks either as offenders or as victims of crime, primarily at the hands of Black offenders. Assigned readings focused on “Black crime” and “Black-on-Black” crime as a unique phenomenon with specific theoretical causes, such as the “culture of poverty.” At the same time, however, there was no discussion of the causes of “White crime” or any acknowledgment that there was any such phenomenon (see chapter 7). Adding insult to injury, very little of the research we read had been written by academics of color. For example, we never studied The Philadelphia Negro, W. E. B. Du Bois’s seminal work—considered by many scholars to be the sociological ancestor of the famed Chicago School of sociology.1 Sociologist Monroe Work’s research was another glaring omission from the curriculum . Further, there was very little discussion of systemic discrimination or other factors that would explain, or at least contextualize, Black offending . Along with many of my fellow students, I was left with the unstated yet unmistakable impression that crime and Blackness go hand in hand. Had I not known better, I might have come to the conclusion that there is a link—a genetic one—between Blacks and criminality. When I was in my first year of law school, one of my professors declared, “Poor people are programmed to default.” He made this pronouncement as we discussed the facts of Williams v. Walker-Thomas Furniture, a 1965 case.2 The case involved a Black woman named Ora Lee Williams, who lived in Washington, D.C. She had signed an installment contract to purchase furniture. Under the agreement the store could demand payment in full at any time. When Williams fell behind on her monthly bill, the store sued her, seeking to recover the outstanding balance and the furniture . The appeals court found the contract language “unconscionable” and voided Williams’s contract with the store. My professor took great issue Russell-Brown_pp098-160.indd 149 Russell-Brown_pp098-160.indd 149 8/22/08 10:10:50 AM 8/22/08 10:10:50 AM 150 Race and Crime Literacy with this decision. In his class lecture he made no mention of race or the intersection of race and class. Though race was not explicitly referenced, the lecture and discussion hinted at Williams’s race (including the fact that it was a District of Columbia case). The professor did not address segregation, redlining, poverty, or employment discrimination against Blacks, some of which would have given the case some historical perspective . As presented, the discussion of the case drew a bold line connecting Blackness with deviance. Both of these academic experiences took place while I was in my twenties . At the time, I had neither the knowledge nor the language, in history or research, to debate or rebut the half truths that were being presented as facts. Even if I had, it is unlikely that I would have challenged a professor on his facts. Unfortunately, my educational experiences are not unique. In academia (and elsewhere) issues of race are often ignored, dismissed as irrelevant, or used as code for “Black.” I believe that most of the racial silence I witnessed was due to benign neglect. Regardless, the overall failure to address racial issues within the academic curriculum does harm to all of us, not just students of color. Where and how do we begin to make changes? Is it students’ fault that they appear to know so little about the relationship between race and crime? We often bemoan the “ignorance” of students. We are told that they cannot find Asia on a map, that they do not know who the founding fathers are, that they have not read the Greek classics, or that they do not know how to use the library. Students aside, however, perhaps educators are a more important focal point. They should not be let off the hook. For the most part, teachers teach what they themselves have been taught. So whatever knowledge gaps a teacher has will likely be passed along to his or her students. An interruption of the status quo cycle of missed educational opportunities is in order. This brings us to the focus of this chapter, sociological literacy. Sociological Literacy Judith Shapiro, former president of Barnard College, uses the term “sociological illiteracy...

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