The Respect Rundown is a companion blog for the Foundation’s diversity newsletter, Respect. All articles published in Respect, (complete with discussion questions) are posted to the blog so they may be used as individual handouts.
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The Respect Rundown
Drawing Lines Around Voting
by Phyllis Raybin Emert Every 10 years, after the U.S. census figures are released, congressional voting districts in 43 states are required by law to be redrawn to account for population shifts....
Unique Challenges and Protections When Adopting Native American Children
by Daryl E. Lucas In the U.S., adoptions are primarily governed by state law. The adoption of Native American or Alaska Native children, however, is different. Those adoptions are governed by the...
Muslim Women Face Discrimination for Wearing Hijab
by Emily Pecot Few garments evoke as much controversy as the hijab. Translated from Arabic as partition, curtain, or barrier, sometimes hijab refers to the headscarf worn by Islamic women, and...
Persecution in China Leads to Uyghur Genocide
by Phyllis Raybin Emert After the Holocaust, when six million Jews were killed in Adolph Hitler’s attempt to exterminate the Jewish race, the world collectively committed to the idea that genocide...
Garden State Highlights Contributions of LGBTQ+ Community with Curriculum Law
by Maria Wood NOTE: To provide a historical perspective, this article uses outdated terms that may be offensive. In 2019, New Jersey became the second state in the nation to enact a law mandating...
Some Are Critical of New Jersey’s Revised Sex Education Standards
by Maria Wood Teaching sex education to children is a touchy subject for parents who want control over what their children are learning in this sensitive area. A poll conducted by the Eagleton...
Legality of Abortion Up to the States
by Robin Roenker In June 2022, through its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that abortion—a medical procedure to intentionally end a...
Does Banning Books Violate the First Amendment?
by Sylvia Mendoza At the start of every school year, there are renewed efforts to ban books in school libraries and public libraries. According to the American Library Association (ALA), the...
Using Rap Lyrics as Evidence in Court
by Emily Pecot In his song, Folsom Prison Blues, Johnny Cash wrote: “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.” Should that line be taken literally? Did Johnny Cash really shoot someone? Artistic...
Athletes Navigate Transgender Sports Bans
by Emily Pecot Participation in sports—from Little League to high school to the collegiate level—is about more than just winning. Involvement in sports promotes life skills such as discipline,...
Voter Suppression: No Voice, No Representation
by Sylvia Mendoza The U.S. Constitution established the United States as a democratic republic, meaning that representatives of our government—federal, state, and local—are elected by its citizens....
Coping with the Tragedy of Indian Boarding Schools
by Daryl E. Lucas Imagine being taken from your family, told you can’t speak the language you’ve always spoken, wear the clothes you’ve always worn, observe the cultural traditions you’ve always...