October 2026 September Racial Justice Updates


ACT BY OCTOBER 13: Protect Racial Data and Political Representation

Public comments must be received by October 13, 2026.
Docket No. USBC-2026-0628; RIN 0607-AA75

The Census Bureau proposes to prohibit race and ethnicity questions on the decennial census short-form questionnaire and other questionnaires used to enumerate the population. A separate part of the proposal would exclude many noncitizen residents from the population used to apportion seats in Congress.

Removing racial questions will not remove racial inequality. It will make that inequality harder to document and easier to deny. Excluding residents from the apportionment count would also affect whose communities receive political representation.

These proposals deserve a clear response: retain race and ethnicity questions and count every usual resident.

The proposal would still permit demographic questions on the American Community Survey and the use of administrative records. But those sources do not provide the same direct, nationwide collection of self-identified racial and ethnic information through the decennial census. Communities need reliable population data to document disparities in voting, health, housing, education, employment, and access to public resources.

Please comment before October 13 and encourage others to do the same.

  1. Read the proposed rule.
  2. Use the sample comment on Racism.org. Copy it, then add two or three sentences explaining why racial and ethnic data matter to you, your community, your organization, or the people you serve.
  3. Submit your personalized comment at Regulations.gov.
  4. Share the sample comment and submission link with your networks.

You may comment anonymously. The Bureau instructs anonymous commenters to enter “N/A” in required identifying fields. You do not have to provide a telephone number. Do not include personal information in your comment or attachments that you do not want made public.

Read my own comment to the Census Bureau for a fuller explanation of why these proposals should be withdrawn.

For Tribal Nations and Tribal-serving organizations:NCAI identifies a separate November 2, 2026, deadline for written tribal consultation comments. The general public comment deadline remains October 13.



September on Racism.org

September’s work examined how law and public institutions decide who counts, whose testimony is believed, whose suffering is recognized, and who receives protection.

Racism.org added 16 legal scholarship abstracts and excerpts, three essays, and two census comment resources. Four weekly racial justice updates cover August 30 through September 26.

The materials address immigration, birthright citizenship, slavery, school segregation, special education, employment discrimination, sentencing, housing, Indigenous rights, gender-based violence, military discharges, and compensation for injury.

These subjects connect. Racial inequality is sustained through institutional decisions about evidence, credibility, rights, resources, and power. Making those decisions visible is part of challenging them.



September Website Traffic

According to Google Analytics, Racism.org reached 37,000 active users during September, with 42,000 engaged sessions and 45,000 page views.

Visitors came from 157 countries. The leading countries were the United States, Singapore, China, and Brazil. Ashburn was the leading U.S. city, and Singapore was the leading city internationally.

Thank you for reading and sharing Racism.org. You help bring scholarship on race, racism, and the law to a worldwide audience.



Racism.org Community and Followers

Across the mailing list and social platforms, our community totals 26,695 subscriptions, followers, and memberships. There is overlap across platforms, so this total does not represent 26,695 different people.

Mailing List or PlatformCount
Race and Racism Mailing List 4,680
Facebook (3 pages) 17,300
Patreon (Paid and Free) 160
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LinkedIn 2,944
Bluesky 11
Total, including overlap 26,695

Every subscription, shared article, and conversation helps this work reach people who can use it—in classrooms, community organizations, research, advocacy, and public debate.



Three September Essays by Professor Randall

A Colorblind Census in a Racist Society: We Cannot Eliminate Racial Disparities by Refusing to Count Them

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.



Weekly Racial Justice Updates

The weekly updates connect legal and political developments to racial power and their consequences for communities. They bring together primary materials, mainstream and legal reporting, and racial and ethnic community media.

Community reporting is essential. It documents injuries, organizing, and resistance that national coverage often overlooks.

Read, share, and return to these updates as a record of developments and a starting point for further research.


 

Legal Scholarship Added in September

The following 16 abstracts and excerpts are listed alphabetically by title. Their Racism.org pages display September 2026 publication dates; the original journals may have published them earlier.

ArticleAuthorCategory
#MeToo vs. Anti-DEI Nicole Buonocore Porter Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
An Analysis of Global and Regional Human Rights Standards on Gender-Based Violence Tamar Ezer and R. Denisse Córdova Montes Gender-Based Violence
Becoming a Subject of Rights: Strategies of Indigenous Self-Representation for International Rights Claims in the Area of Uganda’s Mt. Elgon National Park John Thomas Rider International Human Rights
Can You Be Black and Teach That? Devon W. Carbado Legal Education
Cultivating Motherwork: Gender, Race, and Rights in Special Education Advocacy LaToya Baldwin Clark K–12 / Special Education
Feudal Is Fine Because Property Is Sovereignty: Rational Basis Equal Protection and the New Noncitizen Land Laws Jill M. Fraley Land and Property
Impact of Contemporary “Culture Wars” on Religious Discrimination Claims and Defenses Carolyn L. Wheeler Religion and Employment
Noneconomic Tort Damages and Biased Beliefs About Vulnerability to Harm Nathan N. Cheek and Roseanna Sommers Bias and the Law
People ex rel. King v. Gallagher and the Forgotten Legal Struggle over Racial Segregation in New York State Public Schools David A. Weinstein School Segregation / Jim Crow
Re-Rethinking Asian Exclusion and Color-Blind Immigration Gabriel J. Chin Immigration
Second Looks for Sentencing Equality Joshua D. Weiss Jury and Sentencing
Slavery and the Tennessee Supreme Court Russell Fowler Slavery
Textualism, the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, “Subject to the Jurisdiction Thereof,” and Whether Article III’s Treason Clause Could Be the Answer Christian Ketter Citizenship Rights
The Disparate Impact of Clean-Shave Policies on Black Men Tanner C. Fisher Labor and Employment
The Relics of Jim Crow: Fair Housing Enforcement in the North and Midwest Charles S. Bullock, III and Charles M. Lamb Housing
The Scarlet Letter Plaguing Black Veterans: Racial Disparity and the Pursuit of Restorative Justice for Veterans with ‘Bad Paper’ Military Discharges Holly L. Christian Military and Veterans


Searchable Research Databases

Racism.org’s research databases organize legal scholarship and related materials by community and subject. Use them to prepare a class, investigate a legal question, support community advocacy, or deepen your understanding of racial inequality.

Racial and Ethnic Communities

Subject Matter



Help Sustain This Work

Racism.org makes scholarship on race, racism, and the law accessible to community activists, students, educators, researchers, and the public. Thank you to the authors, readers, subscribers, and patrons who help sustain it.

Please share articles that are useful to you, introduce others to the research databases, and consider becoming a patron. Sustained support helps keep this work available.

This month, please also act before October 13: submit your census comment and ask others to do the same. We cannot confront racial inequality by refusing to count it.

 

 

 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.