Three September Essays by Professor Randall
September 14, 2026
We collect racial data to document what racism does. Removing race and ethnicity questions would weaken a national foundation for identifying inequality and holding institutions accountable.
Drawing on my work with African descendants in Europe and at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, I examine what happens when governments demand proof of discrimination while refusing to collect the data needed to establish it. That refusal burdens the communities experiencing discrimination and protects the institutions they are challenging.
Reasonable Doubt Is Not Color-Blind: Black and White Experience in Maternal Mental Illness Cases
September 13, 2026
Whose mental illness receives understanding, and whose receives punishment? I examine how racial experience shapes judgments about maternal mental illness, credibility, and criminal responsibility.
The essay considers the treatment of Black and white mothers, distinguishes jury decisions from judicial decisions, and addresses the Black press’s role in preserving histories that shape how people understand the courtroom.
Twenty-Five Years After 9/11: Whiteness, Racism, and the Lives America Chose to Value
September 11, 2026
Remembering September 11 requires examining what was done in its name and whose lives were treated as expendable.
I examine anti-Muslim and anti-Arab racism, the treatment of South Asian and Sikh communities, surveillance, detention, war, and the racial hierarchy that shapes whose suffering receives public recognition.
