Norwood has focused her research on black identity issues, colorism within the black community, and the intersection of race, class, and public education in America. She has also created and developed a unique service learning program for which she has won several awards (both local and national) that allows law students to receive law school credit and high school students to receive mentoring and guidance for a possible future career in the law.
She lectures around the world on colorism, various social justice/civil rights issues, implicit (and explicit) bias issues, and was part of the national team of experts consulted to advise Starbucks on its national implicit bias training agenda.
The people of St. Louis, the only majority-black jurisdiction in Missouri, elected Gardner to fulfill that promise. And now, writes Kimberly Norwood, some state legislators are trying to strip Gardner of her power, and by extension, deny the people of St. Louis their voice.
While some progress has been made in the 10 years since Michael Brown’s death Aug. 9, 2014, in many ways we have regressed as a nation, said the School of Law’s Kimberly Norwood, an expert on social justice and civil rights issues.
We surely don’t have all of the answers but we have settled on some lessons. We will teach our students to press forward, because there is no real alternative. We will teach them to challenge unjust laws because, as Frederick Douglass said, “power concedes nothing without demand.” We will inspire them to harness their outrage and energy into new and better policies.
Missouri’s first black prosecutor ran on a promise to address the racial disparities in the criminal justice system. The people of St. Louis, the only majority-black jurisdiction in Missouri, elected Gardner to fulfill that promise. And now, some state legislators are trying to strip Gardner of her power and deny the people of St. Louis their voice.
Despite the efforts of some school districts to say otherwise, the naturally curly texture of the hair of many African-Americans is not unprofessional, distracting or faddish, says an expert on implicit bias and the law at Washington University in St. Louis.
The August 2014 death of unarmed Michael Brown at the hands of a police officer captivated the nation and touched off a heated debate about the nature of law enforcement in the United States. A new book edited by Washington University in St. Louis’ Kimberly Norwood explores the underlying fault lines that cracked and gave rise to the eruption in Ferguson, Mo.
Karen Tokarz, JD, the Charles Nagel Professor of
Public Interest Law & Public Service, director of the Civil Rights
& Community Justice Clinic and of the Negotiation & Dispute
Resolution Program and professor of African and African-American Studies
in Arts & Sciences, and Kimberly Norwood, JD, professor of law and
of African and African-American Studies, attended events at the Department of Justice and at the White House on “A Cycle of Incarceration: Prison, Debt, and Bail Practices.”
Three people from Washington University in St. Louis have been appointed to the Missouri Supreme Court’s newly formed Racial and Ethnic Fairness Commission. They are: Kimberly Norwood, JD; Geetha Sant, JD; and Karen Tokarz, JD.
Following the death of Michael Brown a year ago this August, one of the key issues to emerge was a critical examination of the municipal court system in the individual communities that make up St. Louis County. Many of the courts were accused of not working primarily for justice, but as a way to raise funds for municipalities. Three faculty members from the School of Law, all of whom are involved in court reform efforts, express their thoughts on the reform process.
Colorism, the practice of discrimination based on skin tone, even among people of color, is rarely addressed publicly and is uniquely different from racism. The Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law will address this growing international issue in what organizers believe is the first international colorism conference on U.S. soil. The conference, “Global Perspectives on Colorism,” will be held Thursday and Friday, April 2 and 3, in Anheuser-Busch Hall.
Sherrilyn Ifill, JD (left), president and director-general of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, shares a laugh with Kim Norwood, JD (center), professor of law at the School of Law, and Karen Tokarz, JD, the Charles Nagel Professor of Public Interest Law and Public Service and director of the Dispute Resolution Program, before Ifill’s Assembly Series talk Sept. 17 in Anheuser-Busch Hall’s Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom.
On Sept. 17, Sherrilyn Ifill, the distinguished legal scholar and president/director-general of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. will visit campus to deliver an Assembly Series lecture, “From Brown to Ferguson: The Unfinished Business of Civil Rights” at noon in Anheuser-Busch Hall’s Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom on the Danforth Campus. Due to an expected large turnout, remote viewing sites within Anheuser-Busch Hall will be available.
Kim Norwood, JD, professor of law and of African and African-American Studies, in Arts & Sciences, will lead a panel discussion of her new book, “Color Matters: Skin Tone Bias and the Myth of a Postracial America,” at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, in Olin Library’s Gingko Room. Joining Norwood will be two contributors to the book, Vetta S. Thompson, PhD, an associate professor in the Brown School, and Richard Harvey, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at Saint Louis University. Books will be available for sale and signing at the event.
