Vernellia R. Randall, Weekly Racial Justice Update: September 20–26, 2026, Racism.org (September 27, 2026).
Introduction
This week’s developments show how racial inequality is sustained through government policy, institutional decision-making, corporate practices, environmental burdens, immigration enforcement, and the suppression of political expression.
The most urgent development is the proposed federal rule that would remove race and ethnicity questions from the 2030 census and exclude many immigrants from the population used for congressional apportionment. Public comments are due October 13, 2026.
Removing racial data would not eliminate racial inequality. It would eliminate some of the evidence needed to expose, measure, and challenge it.
Table of Contents
- Proposed Census Rule Would Eliminate Race and Ethnicity Questions
- Federal Government Ends More Than 50 School-Desegregation Cases
- Federal Policy Would Restrict Remedies for Systemic School Discrimination
- Tesla Faces Trial Over Alleged Discrimination Against Black Workers
- Black Atlanta Residents Excluded From Data-Center Planning
- Criminal Records Continue to Exclude Black Georgians From Employment and Housing
- Native Mothers in Arizona Face the Highest Rate of Severe Maternal Complications
- Sober-Living Fraud Targeted Native Americans
- ICE Conceals the Locations of Thousands of Detainees
- Court Imposes Permanent Protections at ICE’s 26 Federal Plaza Facility
- Administration Asks Supreme Court to Permit Detention of Pro-Palestinian Scholar
- Border Wall Threatens the Tohono O’odham Nation
- Virginia Tribes Withdraw From Chesapeake Bay Partnership Discussions
- Standing Rock Water Protectors Mark a Decade of Resistance
- Removing Race From the Census Would Make Native People Harder to See
- Report Documents Suppression of Pro-Palestinian Campus Speech
- Dearborn Denies Religious Favoritism Alleged in Federal Lawsuit
- Justice Department Issues Race-Discrimination Finding Against UCSF Medical School
- Overall Bottom Line
- Search Note
1. Proposed Census Rule Would Eliminate Race and Ethnicity Questions
The Census Bureau has proposed a rule that would prohibit questions about race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation from appearing on the 2030 census short-form questionnaire or any other questionnaire used to enumerate the population. The proposal would still allow the government to obtain demographic information from administrative records and to collect it through the American Community Survey.
The proposal separately would change the residence criteria used for congressional apportionment. It would exclude undocumented immigrants and some other noncitizens whose status the government considers insufficiently permanent. The Bureau is considering using federal, state, local, tribal, tax, immigration, and commercial records to determine who qualifies for inclusion.
These are proposed—not final—rules. Public comments must be received by October 13, 2026.
Read the proposal: Decennial Census of the Population of Americans; Proposed Residence Criteria and Proposed Regulations for Demographic Questions
Submit a public comment: Regulations.gov Docket USBC-2026-0628
Read my analysis: A Colorblind Census in a Racist Society: We Cannot Eliminate Racial Disparities by Refusing to Count Them
Why It Matters
Race is socially constructed, but racial inequality is real. Removing race and ethnicity questions would not eliminate discrimination. It would make discrimination more difficult to identify, prove, and remedy.
Census racial data support:
- Enforcement of the Voting Rights Act and other civil-rights laws.
- Redistricting analysis and challenges to racial vote dilution.
- Identification of health, education, housing, employment, environmental, and criminal-justice disparities.
- Distribution and evaluation of government programs and public resources.
- Research measuring whether racial inequality is improving or worsening.
- Accountability for federal, state, and local institutions.
Administrative records cannot fully replace voluntary self-identification. Those records were created for different purposes, may use inconsistent classifications, and may reproduce the same institutional biases that racial data are needed to expose. Removing the questions while continuing to collect demographic information through government databases would reduce public transparency without necessarily reducing governmental surveillance.
The proposed apportionment changes create an additional threat. Excluding millions of residents would reduce the official populations of states and communities with large immigrant populations, affecting political representation and potentially the distribution of public resources—even though those residents live, work, pay taxes, attend schools, and use public services in those communities.
Bottom Line
This proposal would manufacture statistical invisibility. A government cannot eliminate racial inequality by refusing to count the people who experience it. The public-comment period is an immediate opportunity to place opposition and supporting evidence in the administrative record.
Sources
Randall, Vernellia R. “A Colorblind Census in a Racist Society: We Cannot Eliminate Racial Disparities by Refusing to Count Them.” Racism.org, September 14, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
U.S. Census Bureau. “Decennial Census of the Population of Americans; Proposed Residence Criteria and Proposed Regulations for Demographic Questions.” Proposed rule, September 10, 2026. Federal Register Document No. 2026-18481; Docket No. USBC-2026-0628. Last visited September 27, 2026.
2. Federal Government Ends More Than 50 School-Desegregation Cases
The Justice Department announced the dismissal of more than 50 school-desegregation cases that had remained on federal court dockets for decades. The Department said it is reviewing cases individually and seeking dismissal after determining that a school district has achieved “unitary status.”
The age of a desegregation order does not establish that the effects of the dual school system have disappeared. Courts traditionally examine whether segregation has been eliminated in student assignments, faculty, staff, transportation, extracurricular activities, and facilities. Ending federal oversight without rigorous examination risks treating the passage of time as proof of compliance.
Why It Matters
School segregation remains deeply connected to housing discrimination, school-district boundaries, unequal tax bases, disciplinary disparities, and unequal access to experienced teachers and advanced courses.
Bottom Line
A decades-old desegregation case may require updating or dismissal, but age alone cannot establish that racial inequality has been eliminated.
Sources
Associated Press. “Trump Administration Moves to Limit Fixes for Systemic Racism in Schools.” September 25, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
U.S. Department of Justice. “Justice Department Ends Over 50 Half-Century-Old Desegregation Cases Throughout the United States.” September 24, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
3. Federal Policy Would Restrict Remedies for Systemic School Discrimination
The administration is moving away from remedies based on systemic or disparate racial effects and toward cases requiring proof of intentional discrimination. That distinction is consequential. Institutional discrimination frequently operates through policies that appear neutral but predictably impose unequal burdens on particular racial groups.
A rule requiring proof of explicit discriminatory intent can leave severe racial disparities unremedied even when officials know that their policies produce those disparities.
Why It Matters
Modern discrimination is rarely accompanied by a written admission of racial intent. Civil-rights enforcement must be capable of examining institutional structures, foreseeable consequences, and persistent patterns.
Bottom Line
Limiting enforcement to intentional discrimination would protect many discriminatory systems precisely because they operate without openly racist language.
Sources
Associated Press. “Trump Administration Moves to Limit Fixes for Systemic Racism in Schools.” September 25, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
4. Tesla Faces Trial Over Alleged Discrimination Against Black Workers
A California Civil Rights Department lawsuit against Tesla proceeded to trial in Oakland. The Department alleges that Black workers at Tesla’s Fremont plant experienced pervasive racial slurs, racist graffiti, unequal pay, discriminatory job assignments, and restricted promotion opportunities. It also alleges that Tesla failed to prevent or correct the misconduct.
Tesla denies wrongdoing and says it does not tolerate discrimination. The case is being heard in a bench trial before California Superior Court Judge Peter Borkon. The trial was scheduled to continue through October 30.
The Department filed the lawsuit in 2022. That filing date is relevant background; the current development is the commencement of the 2026 trial.
Why It Matters
The case examines whether a major corporation can be held institutionally responsible for racial conditions affecting thousands of workers—not merely isolated individual incidents.
Bottom Line
The trial is an important test of whether civil-rights enforcement can address an allegedly entrenched workplace culture rather than requiring each Black worker to fight alone.
Sources
Reuters. “Tesla Faces Major Trial for Alleged Bias Against Black Workers, After Years of Lawsuits.” September 21, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
5. Black Atlanta Residents Excluded From Data-Center Planning
Atlanta is developing a strategy for managing rapid data-center expansion, but residents and city officials have questioned the process’s transparency. The mayor’s task force includes city departments, utility and development interests, and academic institutions. According to the reporting, it does not include public participation or independent environmental and health organizations.
Residents of historically Black neighborhoods fear that their communities will again bear environmental, infrastructure, noise, water-use, and land-use burdens while receiving limited benefits. A proposed southwest Atlanta project would cost approximately $500 million and cover about 350,000 square feet. The city’s strategy report is expected October 30.
Why It Matters
Environmental racism is often produced before a facility is built—through closed planning processes that exclude the people who will live with its consequences.
Bottom Line
Consultation after the major decisions have been made is not community participation. Black communities must have decision-making power before development is approved.
Sources
Capital B Atlanta. “Are Black Residents Being Left Out of Atlanta’s Data Center Talks?” September 21, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
6. Criminal Records Continue to Exclude Black Georgians From Employment and Housing
Formerly incarcerated women in Georgia are advocating for legislation that would prevent employers and housing providers from rejecting a person solely because the person has a criminal record. The proposal would not eliminate background checks or prohibit consideration of legitimate safety concerns. It would require individualized consideration of the record, the conduct involved, and whether there was a conviction.
Criminal-record exclusions disproportionately burden Black people because racial disparities permeate policing, arrests, pretrial detention, charging, sentencing, and incarceration. The resulting record then becomes a basis for further exclusion.
Why It Matters
A criminal record can transform a completed sentence—or even an arrest without conviction—into lifelong economic punishment.
Bottom Line
Reentry is impossible when employment and housing systems are permitted to treat every record as permanent disqualification.
Sources
Capital B Atlanta. “Criminal Records Keep People from Work in Atlanta. A Formerly Incarcerated Woman Is Lobbying to Change That.” September 22, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
7. Native Mothers in Arizona Face the Highest Rate of Severe Maternal Complications
Native mothers in Arizona experience the state’s highest rate of life-threatening pregnancy and childbirth complications. The disparities reflect barriers involving rural geography, limited facilities, shortages of culturally appropriate care, transportation difficulties, chronic underfunding, and the broader effects of colonialism and poverty.
These outcomes should not be attributed to race as biology. Race identifies populations exposed to different social, institutional, and environmental conditions.
Why It Matters
Severe maternal morbidity is not merely an individual medical event. It measures whether health systems provide timely, accessible, respectful, and adequate care.
Bottom Line
Preventable complications among Native mothers are evidence of systemic abandonment, not personal failure.
Sources
Native News Online. “Native Mothers in Arizona Have Highest Rate of Life-Threatening Complications.” September 23, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
8. Sober-Living Fraud Targeted Native Americans
The owner of a fraudulent sober-living operation was sentenced in connection with a scheme valued at approximately $69 million. The operation recruited Native Americans for treatment, billed for services that were unnecessary or not provided, and exploited people seeking assistance for substance-use disorders.
The fraud occurred within a larger pattern in which vulnerable Native people were recruited or transported into programs that profited from their presence while failing to provide legitimate care.
Why It Matters
Health-care fraud targeting Native people compounds addiction, homelessness, family separation, and the chronic underfunding of legitimate tribal health services.
Bottom Line
This was not simply financial fraud. It was the commercial exploitation of Native people experiencing serious health and social vulnerabilities.
Sources
Native News Online. “Owner of Fake Sober Living Home Sentenced in $69M Fraud That Targeted Native Americans.” September 21, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
9. ICE Conceals the Locations of Thousands of Detainees
Immigration and Customs Enforcement stopped publicly identifying the locations of thousands of detained people who have final removal orders. Lawyers reported that clients disappeared from ICE’s online locator system, making it more difficult to communicate with them or file emergency legal challenges.
A final removal order does not necessarily mean that no legal remedies remain. A detained person may seek reopening, habeas relief, protection against removal to a country where the person faces persecution or torture, or other judicial intervention.
Why It Matters
Access to a lawyer is largely meaningless when the government conceals where the client is being held.
Bottom Line
Removing detained people from the locator system obstructs families, attorneys, and courts while increasing the government’s power to deport people without effective scrutiny.
Sources
Associated Press. “AP Exclusive: ICE Hides Locations of Thousands of Detainees with Final Removal Orders.” September 21, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
10. Court Imposes Permanent Protections at ICE’s 26 Federal Plaza Facility
A federal district court issued a permanent injunction requiring ICE to address overcrowding and abusive conditions at its temporary holding facility at 26 Federal Plaza in New York. The order requires adequate sanitation, hygiene, meals, and medical care. It also requires confidential, unmonitored, and free calls to attorneys within one hour of arrival.
The court previously issued temporary and preliminary relief. Evidence presented during a May 2026 bench trial indicated that ICE repeatedly violated earlier capacity restrictions.
Why It Matters
Detained immigrants retain constitutional and human rights. Temporary custody does not authorize overcrowding, deprivation of medical care, denial of sanitation, or obstruction of legal representation.
Bottom Line
The permanent injunction recognizes that enforceable judicial oversight—not promises of voluntary compliance—is necessary to protect people in ICE custody.
Sources
American Civil Liberties Union. “District Court Grants Order Prohibiting ICE from Detaining Immigrants in Abusive Conditions at 26 Federal Plaza.” September 24, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
11. Administration Asks Supreme Court to Permit Detention of Pro-Palestinian Scholar
The administration asked the Supreme Court to permit the detention of Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University scholar whose case has become part of the government’s broader campaign against noncitizens associated with pro-Palestinian advocacy.
The case raises questions about immigration detention, political retaliation, academic freedom, and the use of national-security claims to punish protected expression.
Why It Matters
The government cannot be allowed to convert immigration authority into a mechanism for suppressing disfavored political speech.
Bottom Line
When detention follows political expression rather than criminal conduct, immigration enforcement becomes a tool of ideological control.
Sources
Reuters. “Trump Administration Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Allow Detention of Pro-Palestinian Scholar.” September 22, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
12. Border Wall Threatens the Tohono O’odham Nation
The administration plans to construct a border wall through Tohono O’odham lands that extend across what is now the United States–Mexico border. Tribal leaders say the wall would divide families, damage sacred sites, disrupt traditional movement, and restrict access to health care and tribal services.
The Nation sued the Department of Homeland Security in June. A federal judge denied its request for a preliminary injunction, but the litigation continues. Federal officers and contractors entered tribal land in August to begin preconstruction activities despite the Nation’s objections.
Why It Matters
The international border was imposed across the Tohono O’odham homeland. Tribal sovereignty and mobility rights cannot be treated as inconveniences subordinate to federal enforcement policy.
Bottom Line
A border wall that divides an Indigenous nation continues the colonial practice of allowing the federal government to control Native land, movement, culture, and family life.
Sources
ICT. “Border Wall Threatens Tribe’s Way of Life.” September 25, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
13. Virginia Tribes Withdraw From Chesapeake Bay Partnership Discussions
Seven federally recognized Virginia tribes, acting through the Indigenous Conservation Council, withdrew from formal discussions with the Chesapeake Bay Program. Tribal leaders had sought recognition as a signatory with meaningful standing in the regional environmental partnership.
The tribes concluded that the program was unwilling to recognize their sovereignty or give them an equal place in decision-making. Their withdrawal concerns the formal partnership process; it does not mean that the tribes have abandoned environmental stewardship of the Chesapeake watershed.
Why It Matters
Inviting tribes to contribute “Indigenous knowledge” while denying them governmental status and decision-making authority turns consultation into appropriation.
Bottom Line
Tribal nations are governments, not stakeholder organizations. Environmental partnerships must recognize sovereignty rather than merely requesting Indigenous participation.
Sources
Maryland Matters. “Native American Tribes Wanted to Join the Chesapeake Bay Partnership. Not Anymore.” September 21, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
14. Standing Rock Water Protectors Mark a Decade of Resistance
Tribal leaders and activists gathered at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to commemorate the movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Participants reflected on the violence, arrests, solidarity, trauma, and worldwide attention generated by the 2016 resistance.
The pipeline was ultimately constructed and now transports oil near tribal lands and water sources. Nevertheless, the movement helped transform public understanding of tribal sovereignty, environmental justice, Indigenous resistance, and the relationship between fossil-fuel development and state violence.
Why It Matters
Standing Rock demonstrated that environmental policy cannot be separated from colonialism, treaty rights, policing, and control over Indigenous lands.
Bottom Line
The pipeline was built, but the movement permanently expanded the struggle for Indigenous sovereignty and environmental justice.
Sources
The Guardian. “Activists and Leaders Reflect on Standing Rock a Decade On: ‘I Would Do It Again’.” September 22, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
15. Removing Race From the Census Would Make Native People Harder to See
The proposal to remove race and ethnicity questions from the 2030 census would have particularly serious consequences for Native communities. Census classifications are imperfect and cannot substitute for tribal citizenship or political status. Nevertheless, racial and tribal data are essential for identifying undercounts, allocating resources, enforcing voting rights, documenting health disparities, and measuring the government’s fulfillment of its obligations.
The proposal has not become a final rule.
Why It Matters
Native people have historically been undercounted. Eliminating racial data would intensify that invisibility rather than correct weaknesses in existing census categories.
Bottom Line
A government that stops counting racial inequality does not become colorblind. It becomes less accountable for the inequality it produces.
Sources
Native News Online. “Removing Race From the 2030 Census Would Make Native People Harder to See.” September 21, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
16. Report Documents Suppression of Pro-Palestinian Campus Speech
A national report documents restrictions on pro-Palestinian expression at colleges and universities, including disciplinary action, surveillance, protest restrictions, and inconsistent enforcement of campus rules. The report argues that institutions have frequently treated criticism of Israel or support for Palestinian rights as presumptively threatening.
The University of Michigan was among the institutions criticized for suppressing student speech and imposing disproportionate sanctions.
Antisemitic harassment must be addressed. But institutions cannot use opposition to antisemitism as a pretext for suppressing Palestinian advocacy, Arab and Muslim students, or criticism of governmental policy.
Why It Matters
Selective enforcement communicates that some political viewpoints—and some students’ identities and experiences—are entitled to less constitutional and institutional protection.
Bottom Line
Universities cannot claim to defend academic freedom while punishing students for expressing disfavored views about Palestine.
Sources
American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International USA. “Student Speech Under Attack: Suppression of Pro-Palestine Speech and Dissent on Campus.” September 23, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
The Arab American News. “ACLU, Amnesty Accuse the University of Michigan of Suppressing Pro-Palestinian Student Speech.” September 25, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
17. Dearborn Denies Religious Favoritism Alleged in Federal Lawsuit
Dearborn has denied allegations in a federal lawsuit claiming that the city favors Islam or Muslim residents. The dispute arises in a city with a large Arab American and Muslim population that has repeatedly been targeted by national political rhetoric portraying ordinary civic participation by Muslims as improper religious control.
The allegations remain contested and should not be presented as established fact.
Why It Matters
Claims of “religious favoritism” can function as a racialized challenge to the legitimacy of Muslim political participation, particularly when conduct considered ordinary in predominantly Christian communities is treated as suspicious in a Muslim community.
Bottom Line
Equal participation by Muslim residents is not religious domination. Arab American and Muslim political power is entitled to the same presumption of legitimacy afforded to other communities.
Sources
The Arab American News. “Dearborn Denies Religious Favoritism Alleged in Federal Lawsuit.” September 25, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
18. Justice Department Issues Race-Discrimination Finding Against UCSF Medical School
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division issued a finding that the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine discriminated based on race in admissions to its 2023–2025 entering classes. The Department concluded that the conduct violated Title VI and the Supreme Court’s 2023 admissions decision.
This is an executive-branch administrative finding, not a judicial judgment. It is therefore the Justice Department’s conclusion rather than a fact established by a court.
The development must also be understood within the administration’s wider campaign against race-conscious programs. Enforcement directed at alleged discrimination against white or Asian applicants cannot be separated from policies simultaneously weakening remedies for systemic discrimination against Black, Latino, Indigenous, and other marginalized communities.
Why It Matters
“Colorblindness” becomes selective when the government aggressively challenges programs intended to address racial exclusion while restricting tools used to remedy the continuing consequences of that exclusion.
Bottom Line
Civil-rights law should prohibit racial discrimination without erasing the history, structures, and continuing effects of white racial power.
Sources
U.S. Department of Justice. “Justice Department Finds UCSF Medical School Discriminates Based on Race in Admissions.” September 22, 2026. Last visited September 27, 2026.
Overall Bottom Line
This week’s developments expose a consistent pattern. Government officials are weakening systemic civil-rights remedies while claiming fidelity to individual equality. Institutions are restricting pro-Palestinian and Muslim participation while invoking safety or neutrality. Corporations and public agencies continue to make decisions affecting Black and Indigenous communities without giving those communities meaningful power. Immigration authorities are concealing detained people while courts struggle to impose minimum standards of humane treatment.
The proposed elimination of race and ethnicity questions from the census belongs within that pattern. Racial data make inequality visible. Visibility permits investigation, enforcement, resource allocation, political representation, and public accountability. Removing the data would not remove racism. It would protect racial inequality from measurement.
Search Note
This update draws on mainstream news, legal reporting, government materials, and media serving racial and ethnic minority communities. The search included Black, Latino, Indigenous, Asian and South Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, Arab American and Muslim, immigrant, and other community-based sources.
Priority was given to primary sources when available. News reporting was used when it provided current information, affected-community perspectives, or context unavailable in official materials. Allegations, agency findings, opinions, and community statements are identified as such. Sources cite the current weekly development; earlier dates appear in the discussion only when necessary to explain that development.
Vernellia R. Randall, Professor Emerita of Law, University of Dayton School of Law. This article is the sole intellectual and scholarly work of Vernellia Randall. ChatGPT was used only as a drafting aid comparable to a research or editing assistant. All concepts, analysis, legal reasoning, interpretations, and conclusions are entirely the author’s own, and the author assumes full responsibility for the content.
