Race Matters

Deconstructing race and identity.

by Kira Hudson Banks, Ph.D.

Leaps in Logic and Loose Associations

I have been swamped with an intensive 3 week course where I encourage young students to examine themselves and society. So, of course, I caught wind of the Kanazawa debacle, but I could not find a spare minute to post. I will not rehash was has already been well said, but I must share my first reaction. Read More

Who's Afraid of Pink Toenails?

When it comes to gender identity, rather than locate the problem within an individual or act, perhaps the entity getting diagnosed should be the society that clings to its rigid conceptualizations. Read More

Race-Conscious Admissions Policy Upheld: Right on Time

Since Grutter v. Bollinger, the academic field has been intentional about documenting benefits of diversity. The recent ruling, which was upheld in appeals court, provides continued support for the general notion that race matters. Read More

Reframing our need for leaders

Originally published at stlbeacon.org Read More

Picking Sides Won't Solve the Problem

When it comes to racial matter, we are like a traumatized child, dissociating at pivotal moments in U.S. history, enacting those injured selves simultaneously as we attempt to interact. The current colorblind rhetoric does little to help us make sense of our selves or to help us move forward. Read More

See no Race, See no Gay: What Proponents of a Gay-Blind Approach to Bullying in the Schools can Learn from Race Relations

Today's post was co-written with Nestor L. Lopez-Duran PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan.

Pssst...... Refusing to acknowledge differences won't make them go away. Read More

No Throwing Babies!

A string of recent news stories have been fodder for those who cannot tolerate ambiguity in relation to race. Often in our country people are criticized for being too sensitive about the topic and making something out of nothing. Yet those ambiguous events matter, and perceptions matter. It is not only unfair but also dismissive to push an issue aside simply because it does not land clearly in one camp or another in our own thinking. Read More

Signs of Misunderstanding

Awareness of issues often goes in waves, and over the past few weeks, I've seen a resurgence of "Teabonics" postings on Facebook. I was initially struck by the coined phrase, and wondered how it came to be. It seems to have originated with the Flickr account of Pargon who has a string of photos highlighting errors in the sign of Tea Partiers. Read More

Dr. Laura’s Rhetoric More Offensive Than Her Words

Cultural competence is not only a key aspect of psychology, but it is becoming a necessity for navigating our increasingly diverse society. Knowing our blind spots is key when it comes to sensitive topics such as race. And Dr. Laura appears to have some baggage to process before she is quick to invalidate another person's experience of racial discrimination. Read More

Diversity in Leadership

The American Psychologist recently dedicated an issue to diversity in leadership. That's a big deal. The American Psychologist is one of the biggest platforms for the field and is about as mainstream and all reaching as you can get. Why, you might ask, is it such a big deal that the terms "leadership" and "diversity" were put together? Read More

Move to Evaluate Teacher Fluency Risks Faulty Outcomes

Arizona's state school board has been in the news recently for banning ethnic studies programs. However, news has been less relentless about reporting their move to evaluate teacher fluency. Read More