Project description
In the introduction to Racism on Trial: The Chicano Fight for Justice, author Ian F. Haney Lopez states that the three main, interrelated goals of his book are: (1)”to describe the evolution of a non-white racial identity among Mexicans in East Los Angeles during the Chicano movement years”; (2) “to illustrate how racial thinking leads to and stems from legal violence”; and (3) “to offer a general theory of race as common sense that helps us to fathom not only the rise of the Chicano movement but also current racial dynamics” ( p 2).

For this third assignment please carefully assess the relationship between two of the three central themes in Haney Lopez’ Racism on Trial. Drawing directly from Racism on Trial, critically assess how the author discusses the relationship between either: (1) his theory of racism as common sense and the evolution of a non-white racial identity -OR- (2) his notion of legal violence and the evolution of a non-white racial identity. What is the relationship between these two interrelated themes in his book? How does the author show that they are useful to our understanding of the rise of the Chicano movement at the time?