Professor Alice Ristroph Writes for Democracy About the Eclipse and Racial Isolation

08/14/2017

Criminal Justice Professor Alice Ristroph has published an article in the journal Democracy about the upcoming total solar eclipse and its curious path across a swath of America that is home to few black people. Titled “Blackout,” the piece follows the trajectory of the “totality,” or the period when the sun will be almost completely blocked out by the moon. Ristroph takes this as an opportunity to describe the fraught racial history of each of these places—Oregon, Wyoming, Nebraska, etc.—and highlight the divides that remain.

“At a moment of deep disagreement about the nation’s best path forward, here comes a giant round shadow, drawing a line either to cut the country in two or unite it as one,” Ristroph writes.

Ristroph recently joined the Law School after teaching at Seton Hall and the University of Utah. She teaches and writes in criminal law and procedure, constitutional law, and political theory, with a focus on issues of violence and resistance.