A Perilous Path

February 15, 2018

To recognize the founding of New York University's Center of Race, Inequality, and the Law, Thomson (New York Univ. Sch. of Law) invites three contributors--Sherrilyn Ifill (president, NAACP Legal Defence Fund), Bryan Stevenson (executive director, Equal Justice Initiative; Just Mercy), and former attorney general Loretta Lynch--to discuss how race and inequality impact the U.S. legal system. Presented as a series of transcripts, the chapters here feature prominent African American legal minds grappling with the process of identifying legal priorities relating to race and justice. A variety of topics are touched upon: investing in local activism; coalition building among racial, social, and economic lines; countering post-Obama backlash to legal reform; working against the school-to-prison pipeline; and enforcing citizens' guaranteed rights. The authors also engage in conversations about broader issues such as gerrymandering, affordable housing, and police reform, all in an effort to construct a new legal civil rights agenda. The result is a candid analysis of current political and policy landscape. VERDICT Highly recommended for those interested in racial and social justice, law, politics, and political commentary.--Tiffeni Fontno, Boston Coll.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 22, 2018
A symposium on racial injustice and law in the U.S. after the 2016 presidential election, convened in celebration of the establishment of NYU Law School’s Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law, unfolds here as a smoothly flowing but less-than-revelatory conversation. Anthony C. Thompson, the center’s faculty director, moderates a panel composed of Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; Loretta Lynch, former U.S. attorney general; and Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. Each expert, steeped in their office’s history, articulates the various roles of federal, state, and local governments in combating discrimination. Their dialogue is at times extemporaneous and warm, reflecting shared experience between the speakers, as when Thompson recalls, “Loretta was a great ally as we moved forward on the Civil Rights front.” However, the many fleeting references to both current events and past historical touchstones, including Jim Crow, residential redlining, and civil rights protests, assume more prior knowledge than many readers will possess. Eschewing moralizing, the speakers opt instead for practical suggestions for combating inequality and finding hope in Americans’ renewed interest in politics. It’s unclear who the book would most appeal to; the length suggests novices, who will be lost with no context, but the lack of depth will be disappointing to scholars.