Ethnic Studies Research Paper Award

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  [2017 Winner] Minority Ethnic Groups and their Experiences with Racial Profiling and Mass Incarceration Rates within the American Criminal Justice System

  Mary A. Cabriales

  My paper helps to shed light on the many inequalities and injustices that our minority ethnic groups face on a higher level versus their (majority) white counterparts, and it addresses how our legal system implements policies that perpetuate the oppression and suppression of marginalized groups. My paper also incorporates U.S. history and how our history has many deeply rooted practices related to racism and bigotry, and how certain xenophobic and nativist perspectives help to promote the false and negative connotations given to our minority ethnic groups. This in turn causes our law enforcement teams to be racially biased and prejudiced towards most minority groups to the point where they are stopped and frisked, detained, and incarcerated at a much higher rate versus people who are of European descent.

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  [2017 Honorable Mention] The American Dream (Some Restrictions May Apply): Racial Boundaries to Class Mobility in American Immigration Narratives

  Olivia L. Basso

  This paper analyzes three works of fiction to see the role that race plays in immigrants' ability to achieve social mobility.