Multimedia

Groundbreaking Three-Part Series Presented by ITVS Challenges Genetic Basis of Race; Reveals How the Myth Took Hold and Retains Its Power
This is the first film series to scrutinize the very idea of race through the distinct lenses of science, history, and our social institutions. Race—The Power of an Illusion, aired nationally on PBS on three consecutive Thursday nights at 10 p.m.—April 24, May 1 and May 8, 2003. Episode 1: “The Difference Between Us,” surveyed the scientific findings—including genetics—that suggest that the concept of race has no biological basis. Episode 2: “The Story We Tell,” provides the historical context for race in North America, including when and how the idea got started and why it took such a hold over our minds. Episode 3: “The House We Live In,” spotlights how our social institutions “make” race by providing different groups vastly different life chances even today, forty years after the Civil Rights Act.

Black History Radio Documentary: Between Civil War and Civil Rights
This production is a series of one-hour radio documentaries exploring the history of race relations between black and white Americans from Emancipation to the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s. Discussion guides and curricula are included. Narrators include James Earl Jones and Studs Terkel. For more information, contact Creative Change Productions, 1772 Hayes St., San Francisco, CA 94117-1218, (415) 614-2125, jude@cchange.org.

Books

Affirmative Action in Antidiscrimination Law and Policy: An Overview and Synthesis By Samuel Leiter and William M. Leiter
Affirmative action has been and continues to be the flashpoint of America’s civil rights agenda. Yet while the affirmative action literature is voluminous, no comprehensive account of its major legal and public policy dimension exists. Samuel and William M. Leiter examine the origin and growth of affirmative action, its impact on American society, its current state, and its future anti-discrimination role, if any. Informed by several different disciplines—law, history, economics, sociology, political science, urban studies, and criminology—the text combines the relevant legal materials with analysis and commentary from a variety of experts. This even-handed presentation of the subject of affirmative action is sure to be a valuable aid to those seeking to understand the issue’s many complexities. To order online, see www.sunypress.edu.

Holding Up the Mirror: Working Interdependently for Just and Inclusive Communities
By Maggie Potapchuk
Tug-of-wars over style and strategy have often constrained the relationship between groups in the race relations and racial justice movement. Some have been labeled as too confrontational, while others have been accused of working too much within the power structure. Holding Up the Mirror: Working Interdependently for Just and Inclusive Communities, published by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, shows that mutual acceptance of seemingly competing tactics can make the movement stronger and more effective. Authored by Maggie Potapchuk, senior program associate with the Joint Center’s Network of Alliances Bridging Race and Ethnicity (NABRE) program, Holding Up the Mirror provides greater insight into nine distinct approaches being used by local and national organizations across the country. It also recommends ways for creating collaborative strategies to address community issues. To order, contact the Joint Center’s Office of Communications and Marketing at 202-789-3500. $15.00.

Study Circle Resources Center Publishes New Guide on U.S. Policy Toward Iraq
Around the globe, leaders and everyday people are concerned about U.S. policy toward Iraq. In the United States, many of us are thinking and talking about this issue. What should we do or not do? Should our country work with the United Nations and the rest of the world, or should we make decisions on our own? How should our status as the world’s only “superpower” affect our decision-making? SCRC now has a discussion guide titled U.S. Policy Toward Iraq: What Should We Do? that will help you talk about this issue in a single, two-hour session. Download a free copy of the guide from www.studycircles.org.

Conference

Conference on Anti-Bias Education: Practice, Research, and Theory
June 6-8, 2003
Hilton Hotel, Evanston, Illinois
The goal of the conference was to mold the future of anti-bias, multicultural, and social justice education by bringing together practitioners and researchers to share state-of-the-art knowledge, strategies, theories, models, research results, and applications in our fragmented field. The conference provided intergroup relations researchers with information on best practices in anti-bias education and expand the theoretical and research knowledge of educational practitioners.

The two keynote speakers were Dr. James A. Banks, who is the director of the Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington and Margot Stern Strom, who is the executive director and president of the Facing History and Ourselves National Foundation. The conference sponsors are The American Jewish Committee (Chicago) and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.