New Professors Highlight Research at Law, Race, and Power Speaker Series
Students and faculty were treated to an in-depth discussion showcasing how Richmond Law’s three newest faculty are using their scholarship to weigh in on important ongoing conversations about law, race, and power within the legal academy.
Professors Marissa Jackson Sow, Vincent Chiao, and Danielle Wingfield, L’14, who all joined the faculty last fall, were the most recent featured speakers in a panel discussion hosted by the Law, Race, and Power Speaker Series. The series aims to initiate conversations about important questions surrounding institutional racism, inequality, privilege, and power.
Moderated by Prof. Christopher Corts, each panelist discussed their work as it pertains to the nexus of law, race, and power, and their remarks were followed by a Q&A with students.
“In my classes, I teach not only how race is a socially-constructed legal framework, but how we as lawyers exist in and influence that system,” said Prof. Jackson Sow, who kickstarted the discussion, emphasizing the importance of open dialogues like these.
“I’ve spent the last five weeks teaching about slavery and police beating in this country, and the direct lines you can draw between the two,” she continued. “These can be painful, personal topics for my students, but having them is critical to developing a legal workforce that can understand and appreciate the intersectionality of our social and legal systems.”
Prof. Vincent Chiao emphasized the importance of looking at the systems in place when considering the American carceral state’s rapid growth in past decades. “The growth of the imprisoned population has to be examined from a systemic, aggregate point of view, rather than one individual at a time,” he said. “I think a good analogy is the distinction between public health and medicine. Lawyers, like doctors, tend to think one case at a time. While there are merits to that, it definitely presents a risk of missing the forest for the trees.”
Prof. Danielle Wingfield, L’14, who earned her J.D. at the University of Richmond before going on to receive a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, spoke about the privilege of returning to her alma mater to study difficult topics with the full support of the administration.
“Being able to teach and to study the legal history of the civil rights movement, how we got here, and how those precedents impact our ability to move forward, is no longer a given in American universities,” said Wingfield. “I am proud to be able to teach openly and honestly, so that the next generation of legal minds will be conscious of the full weight of history when they begin to practice.”
Students and alumni interested in learning more about the Law, Race, and Power Speaker Series can contact Assistant Professor of Law Da Lin at dlin@richmond.edu.