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Perspectives on this Election Season through the Lens of Race
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Targeted Universalism
Director john a. powell sat down for a half hour interview last week with KPFA's Up Front to discuss race and the 2016 presidential election cycle. powell talked about voter frustrations and how presidential candidates were using these sentiments to fuel their own agendas. powell talked about how everyone is situated differently in society—a tenet of targeted universalism— and that we must acknowledge that we're all going through tough times, and that although the rhetoric is aimed at issues such as economic inequality and civil rights, it really is centralized on race. Listen to the segment in the second half of the show.
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Dog Whistle Politics
In a Washington Post piece, the work of Ian Haney López is referenced to explain how the heart of the problem of racial politics is often missed. López, Director of our Racial Politics Project, explains how "dog whistle politics"—coded language that is racial in intent, but not heard by everyone—is impacting the current presidential race. López's work was also referenced in a Media Matters for America piece acknowledging that Donald Trump's rhetoric is not being called out by Spanish-language media outlets and how dog whistle politics users are portrayed versus people who talk about race expressly.
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 Why Should We Care About Inequality
Our Economic Disparities cluster faculty member Emmanuel Saez sat down for an interview with the Institute for New Economic Thinking to discuss wealth inequality. His research, conducted with Thomas Piketty, examines the growth of wealth of the 0.1% compared to other income and wealth brackets. The findings suggest "that this rapid increase in wealth at the top is a result of the surge in the share of income, and that the bottom has been able to save less and less due to low income growth. This may have been exacerbated by financial deregulation leading to some forms of predatory lending, and growing behavioral biases in the saving decisions of middle-class households." Watch the video interview with Saez.
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 Overpolicing and Prison Abuse Impacting Transgender Community
Russell Robinson, Chair of our LGBTQ Citizenship research cluster, was quoted in a recent article in The Legal Intelligencer on incarceration and the transgender community. The article focused on the problem of many systems, including law enforcement, not knowing how to categorize transgender individuals, often falling back on the preconceived notion that gender and gender expression are binary, which often causes confusion and mistreatment of transgender individuals ranging from humiliation to violence. Robinson noted, "The culture of law enforcement views these people as deviant and threatening and unusual. You see harassment because they challenge the views of officers who are committed to masculinity." Read The Legal Intelligencer piece.
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 We Must Talk About Race to Fix Economic Inequality
Ian Haney López, the director of our Racial Politics Project, is featured in a new video about how Americans must confront racism in order to truly talk about ways to fix economic inequality. Along with Demos President Heather McGhee, López gives examples of coded racist language—known as dog whistles—and invites the listener to reflect on the images conjured up upon hearing certain terms. The video is a call for action to directly link racial justice struggles with fixing extreme economic inequality, rather than thinking about them as separate. Watch the video here.
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Radio Interview on Trans-Pacific Partnership Report
Our Director john a. powell and Global Justice Program director Elsadig Elsheikh were guests on KPFA's UpFront program to discuss a new report they co-authored on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). In the half-hour segment, Elsheikh and powell discussed how the passage of the TPP could signal a significant threat to democracy and negatively affect people around the world if it were to pass. When asked what might be done to combat it, Elsheikh said, "I think all the social movements—including labor, health care workers, lawyers, public interest folks [have to] ... push further their own legislative representatives [as] Congress will have no opportunity to amend anything on this agreement." Listen to the segment.
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A $15 Wage Won't Cost New York Jobs
 Haas Institute Economic Disparities faculty member Michael Reich recently wrote an article for the New York Daily News on how raising the minimum wage to $15 will actually help New Yorkers, rather than cost them jobs. According to new research by Reich, raising the minimum wage from $9 to $15 will help an estimated 3.16 million New Yorkers, roughly a third of the city's population. Since these increases would happen over time, Reich noted that, "Businesses could absorb the remaining payroll cost increases by increasing prices slightly—by 0.14 percent per year over the phase-in period. This price increase is well below annual inflation of nearly 2 percent over the past five years." Reich's research was also referenced in the Daily Freeman and WHEC Rochester. Read the article. Download the research report.
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The Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon
 Currently, one in four people in Lebanon are refugees from Syria. Haas Institute Colbentz Fellow Hassan Ahmad and Tori Porell recently traveled to Beirut as part of an IRAP/Berkeley Law delegation to speak with Syrian refugees, visit schools for Syrian children, and meet with an LGBT advocacy group. In a recent piece on KPFA's Against the Grain, they highlighted poorly publicized political climate in Lebanon for these refugees and the obstacles they face in everyday living, including living below the poverty line and the requirements for registration. Listen to the show.
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Clinton's Bold Vision, Hidden in Plain Sight?
Haas Institute Economic Disparities research cluster member Paul Pierson recently co-wrote an op-ed for the New York Times entitled, "Clinton's Bold Vision, Hidden in Plain Sight?" The opinion piece examines the policies that Hillary Clinton supports, the solutions she is offering, and why American voters might have a hard time seeing what she is working toward. The authors note, "We are trapped in a vicious cycle: Disillusionment encourages dysfunction, and dysfunction empowers those who spread further disillusionment and dysfunction." Read the op-ed.
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Earned Income Tax Credit Has Multiple Benefits for Low-Income Individuals
Hilary Hoynes and Jesse Rothstein of the Haas Institute Economic Disparities research cluster, were referenced in a recent article on the Brookings Institution website about the positive impacts of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on low-income families. According to research by Hoynes and Rothstein, of families earning less than $30,000 per year, sixty percent received the credit compared to twenty percent of families receiving the Child Tax Credit (CTC), which makes the EITC a more effective anti-poverty tool than other programs. The EITC also increases employment among single mothers compared to second-income households Read the article.
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Putting Racism on the Table: john a. powell on Structural Racism
In the first session of the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers' Putting Racism on the Table series, Haas Institute Director john a. powell discusses structural racism. Watch the video.
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APR. 4, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm
“Spoken Word(s): Presenting the Conference Paper,” a discussion on presentations and conferences with Michael Omi
This event is part of The Asian American & Asian Diaspora Studies Working Group's Spring 2016 Lunch Talks & Workshop Series.
602 Barrows, UC Berkeley
More information.
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APR. 4, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Fighting Exclusion: Innovative Approaches to Fair Housing Law
Tilden Room, MLK Jr. Student Union,
UC Berkeley
Event information here.
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APR. 7, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
"The End of Karma: Hope and Fury Among India's Young"
An intimate reading with Somini Sengupta
North Gate Hall Library, UC Berkeley
RSVP by Monday, March 28th
Free and open to the public, but donations to our events fund are much appreciated.
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APR. 20–22
Registration is now open!
The Haas Institute is proud to be a national partner again on the Color of Wealth Summit, which seeks to engage Members of Congress, Congressional staff, the media, and the public in a dialogue about the racial wealth gap.
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APR. 21, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
ACE Leadership Symposium: Advancing Multicultural Leadership
Culmination Luncheon Keynote Speaker: Professor john a. powell
TD Convention Center, Greenville, SC
More information.
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APR. 22–23
7th Annual Islamophobia Conference
The conference’s theme, Islamophobia: Has a tipping point been reached?, is both a question for researchers and a statement reflecting the pervasiveness of bigoted discourses that problematize the category, Muslim and Islam in civil society. More information.
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SAVE THE DATE
APR. 25, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Midwest Convening on Racial Equity
Chicago, IL.
The Center for Social Inclusion, the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE), and Communities United are pleased to announce a Midwest Convening on Racial Equity in Chicago. Registration information will be available soon.
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SAVE THE DATE
APR. 26, 12:00 Noon – 5:30 pm
Berkeley, CA, Details TBA
WE TOO BELONG
Building Power at the Intersection of Immigration and Incarceration
"We Too Belong" is a half-day program and highly interactive event to discuss and share best inclusive practices in immigration and incarceration law and policy. The event will serve as the public launch of the Haas Institute's new publication: We Too Belong, A Resource Guide of Inclusive Practices in Immigration & Incarceration Law and Policy.
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