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28 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 51 (1994-1995)
Erasing Race from Legal Education

handle is hein.journals/umijlr28 and id is 61 raw text is: ERASING RACE FROM LEGAL EDUCATION Judith G. Greenberg* In this Article, Professor Greenberg argues that law schools claim to treat African American students as if their race is irrelevant, yet law school curricula have a hidden message that African American students are in fact inferior and dangerous to white students. When African American students do not perform as well as white stu- dents, they are assumed to have deficient skills and are placed in remedial programs to improve those skills. Professor Greenberg argues that the cause of African American students' poor perfor- mance in law school is not necessarily deficient skills, but rather a bias inherent in the structure of legal education that rewards cultural traits that do not match those often identified with African American culture. Thus, despite their claims to be color-blind, law schools provide inherent preferences for students who can act, think, and write white. INTRODUCTION It is no secret that African American' law students tend to do less well academically than their white counterparts. Many attribute this discrepancy to a lack of skills. Law schools often seek to remedy the situation through academic support pro- grams which, in turn, result in only marginal success. Despite their lack of efficacy, academic support programs are popular with the faculty and administrations of predominantly white * Professor of Law, New England School of Law. B.A. 1969, Cornell University; J.D. 1972, University of Wisconsin Law School; LL.M. 1979, Harvard Law School. I would like to thank Leslie Espinoza, Ken Greenberg, Duncan Kennedy, Dorothy Roberts, Elizabeth Spahn, and Robert Ward for their help on this Article. This Article is dedicated to the memory of my late colleague, Mary Joe Frug, who was my ally, intellectual mentor, and friend. I miss her tremendously. 1. A note on usage is appropriate here. I am using the term African American to refer to those Americans whose identities derive, in part, from the forced importa- tion and enslavement of Africans in the United States. I am specifically using this term African American because it leaves room for the separate recognition of dark skinned Americans with other cultural backgrounds, including recent immigrants from the West Indies or Haiti. Cf Adrien K. Wing, BriefReflections Toward a Multiplicative Theory and Praxis of Being, 6 BERKELEY WOMEN'S L.J. 181, 181 n.3 (1990-1991) (identifying herself as Black' because she believes it is a more inclusive term than African American). For a general discussion of how a particular minority group's history and culture affects its relationship to education, see JOHN U. OGBU, MINORITY EDUCATION AND CASTE: THE AMERICAN SYSTEM IN CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE (1978).

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