It also infl uenced the social


consciousness underlying his research interests, which include affi rmative action, interracial adoption, same-sex marriage, and racial and ethnic profi ling. His familial roots also had a great


impact. Forde-Mazrui is the product of an interracial and interreligious marriage. His father is black, Kenyan, and Muslim, and his mother is white, British, and raised Christian. Both are educators: his father, a renowned polit- ical science professor, and his mother, a high school foreign language teacher. In addition, Forde-Mazrui was born in Uganda during the reign of Idi Amin. His father, at the time, began speak- ing out against the increasingly brutal regime and, fearing retaliation, moved his family to the United States. “Growing up, observing my


parents, it never occurred to me that race and religion were issues that often divided people,” says the 43-year-old Forde-Mazrui. Forde-Mazrui is also interracially


married. His white wife, with whom he hyphenated his last name, combines Finnish, Danish, English, and Irish


Forde-Mazrui a unique perspective that allows him to understand and respect diff erent sides of certain issues. In his paper, “T e Constitutional


Implications of Race-Neutral Affi rmative Action,” published in the Georgetown Law Journal in 2000, he argues that race-neutral policies can still promote diversity “by including people from diff erent social, political, or economic backgrounds, [those] having had diff erent life experiences, or holding various viewpoints or perspectives. Such diversity is clearly a legitimate interest, particularly in educational contexts.” His scholarship on race and law


My philosophy is to accept reality as a starting point. I accept my blindness, and its limitations and challenges.


heritages. Forde-Mazrui is also the proud father of his son, now in graduate school, who happens to be gay. T is mix of experiences with race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and disability has given


MCCA.COM


led to his appointment as the fi rst director of the University of Virginia School of Law’s Center for the Study of Race and Law in 2003. T e founding of the center, which off ers lectures, conferences, courses, and resources for research on race and law, was prompted by a racially motivated crime on the undergraduate campus. Under Forde-Mazrui’s leadership, the center developed a national reputation among legal scholars, and in 2007 the center co-authored a winning brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in Kimbrough v. United States, which held that trial judges have discretion to depart from crack- powder sentencing guidelines. In 2010 he stepped


down as director. He explained his reasons in a 2010 article in UVA Lawyer: “Despite the


generous support I received from others in running the center, it still consumed


enormous amounts of my time, preventing me from spending as much time as I would like on my own schol- arship and on law school governance.” Forde-Mazrui has been honored


with a number of awards since entering


law school in 1990. Among the most meaningful to him was the Henry M. Bates Memorial Scholarship that he received upon graduation from the University of Michigan Law School for his scholarship, personality, character, extracurricular activities, and the promise he showed in the legal fi eld. “It’s important to me because it


was a vote of confi dence by the entire faculty,” he says. Another important award was his


selection as the fi rst Justice T urgood Marshall Distinguished Research Professor of Law at the University of Virginia, which is awarded to scholars of distinction whose work will further the U.S. Supreme Court justice’s legacy. Forde-Mazrui enjoys his career as


a law professor and legal scholar, and says he entertains no other ambitions for the time being. “I’m grateful to have the opportu-


nity to teach and write about what I believe is important,” he says, but adds on refl ection, “At some point, the idea of being an appellate judge or work- ing for the government to implement policy in the interest of equality and civil rights might interest me.” A current project is a casebook on


race and the law that will enable law students to study the intersection of race and law in a variety of contexts, such as marriage and child placement, education, employment, political participation, free speech, and criminal justice. “My philosophy is to accept reality


as a starting point,” he says of his approach to success. “I accept my blindness, and its limitations and challenges. T ey are the cards I’ve been dealt. But I also recognize that you have the power to change your situation going forward to overcome apparent obstacles, and that you must have the confi dence and patience to achieve your goals.” D&B


Tom Calarco is a freelance writer based in Altamonte Springs, Fla.


MARCH/APRIL 2012 DIVERSITY & THE BAR® 11


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