Teaching about systemic racism and the myth of white supremacy to the next cadre of public administrators is critical as it supports students’ abilities to challenge dominant paradigms and center counternarratives; both serve a purpose in advancing toward a more just and equitable society. This paper offers insight into the development and implementation of course content–across two universities in two different sociopolitical contexts–that helps students define, examine, and apply social justice terms that advances training for public service. Exposure to such content challenges students to consider ways in which social, economic, and political factors influence life chances and allows students to better understand how power and privilege perpetuate status quo inequities for marginalized populations.

Much of the disparate outcomes experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other identities along the spectrum (LGBTQ+) people of color are directly linked to the practices of public actors and through institutional policies. This is perhaps no truer than for LGBTQ+ individuals of color in their interactions with police. This article argues that intersectional subjection fosters an environment prime for predatory policing and uses it as a framework to examine perceptions of predatory policing practices and its role in the exploitation of LGBTQ+ people of color in New Orleans. Research findings suggest that participants perceive predatory policing as part of the everyday practices of the New Orleans Police Department, where modes of power and social control tactics are regularly used to maintain systems of oppression. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to use the lived experience to explore the presence of predatory policing to understand how it has contributed to the marginalization of LGBTQ+ identifying individuals of color.

This article explores segregation and the social status of black people, focusing in particular on the ripple effects of Plessy v. Ferguson on policing in the United States. Specifically, we ask how the legacy of Plessy v. Ferguson has helped maintain state-sanctioned racially based violence. We draw from Mapping Police Violence, which compiles data on the number of police-involved homicides in large police departments in the United States from 2013 to 2017. Using these data, we analyze the relationship between space and the number of deaths of black people caused by police. The findings reveal a positive association between segregated communities, the percentage of black people in a population, and the number of police killings of black people. This study provides a unique opportunity to examine the impact that segregation and place have on state-sanctioned violence, particularly for those who identify or are identified as black.

The current U.S. climate of racial and social injustice has prompted a renewed call for diverse and equitable ways to rethink community philanthropy. Community foundations are vehicles for community philanthropy which offer vast benefits for social improvement and community development. The board of directors ensures these organizations fulfill their mission, making decisions on funding priorities and holding the organization functionally and fiscally responsible. Drawing on constructs of diversity and representative bureaucracy and a case study of Florida community foundations, we suggest that diversity is understood in different ways and the presence of diverse board members may be linked to advancing the interests of diverse communities and in achieving outcomes that assist in the needs of certain social groups. Increased understanding of diversity can improve foundation and philanthropic effectiveness and bring broader social change by promoting equity and social justice among community-based philanthropic organizations.