After the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) Officer Derek Chauvin and three other MPD officers, the student-run legal academic journals at Minnesota’s three law schools, like various institutions across this nation, were forced to reckon with the stark racial inequality that had been present among us long before this nation was created. Abby Oakland, Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of the Minnesota Law Review, reached out to other Minnesota Law EICs to collaborate on a joint publication addressing important themes surrounding racial inequality, police brutality, and other issues plaguing our legal justice system. We expanded the scope of the project to include other student-run legal academic journals at Mitchell Hamline and University of St. Thomas.
The objective of the collaboration was to use our platforms and collective effort to work with scholars to publish cutting-edge, timely, and thought-provoking articles addressing social justice issues including racial inequality and policing both at home in Minnesota and in the nation-at-large. We are proud to present our joint publication that has been over a year in the making, Racial Inequality in the Legal System Locally and Nationally. This joint venture would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of the staff members and editors across our six journals who went above and beyond and worked selflessly to bring this publication to fruition. Thanks are also due to our wonderful authors who answered our call to create insightful scholarship. Finally, thanks to Abby Oakland for her efforts in leading this initiative and in putting together this joint publication.