Doctoral Dissertation Research: Speaking Race Legally: Colorblind Jurisprudence, Institutional Racism, and Faltering Racial Mediation in Cincinnati, Ohio

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

This research project explores the dynamics of a faltering attempt to mediate intense and protracted racial conflict in Cincinnati, Ohio, in order to determine if and how colorblind jurisprudence represents a structural impediment to mitigating racial tension. Following racial unrest in early 2001, the city of Cincinnati, the police force, and the African-American community began negotiations under federal oversight to reform policing strategies. This study will adopt an ethnographic approach to analyze those reforms. Data will be collected by documenting the enlistment of human subjects into the organizational forms involved in the racial dialogue in Cincinnati. The researcher will 1) study official legal and policy documents dealing with race in Cincinnati; 2) record the discourse of formal negotiation sessions; 3) interview representatives of all participating organizations; 4) document intra-group structures and dynamics of the various constituencies involved; and 5) observe strategies official representatives employ to translate racial testimony into legally acceptable terms. In asking if and how institutional structures themselves account for groups having lost faith in the negotiations, this research will be a valuable asset for refining approaches to politico-legal mediation that inspire the confidence of all participants rather than causing some to feel as if the court, the very institution ostensibly responsible for redressing the effects of discrimination, may be yet another site of institutional racism. By investigating the reasons for breakdowns in the proceedings, this project will strengthen existing and open new channels of communication between the African-American community, the police force, and city government. Additionally, because the findings will be disseminated among academics, African-American community organizations, city representatives, mediation consulting firms, and police officers, this research will facilitate partnerships between these often disparate constituencies.