Racial Justice

Framing racial justice prompts people to think differently, acknowledge the root causes of disparities, and support equity-focused policy.

We can’t get to the America we want without talking about racial equity, structural racism, and racial and ethnic discrimination. But if communications aren’t framed carefully they can reinforce misconceptions about people of color and set back change.

FrameWorks’ research reveals that the widely-held American belief in “rugged individualism” fuels a toxic assumption about personal failings that obscures public policy failings. While this is where many people start, it’s not where they have to stay. Framing can help people see how opportunity and oppression work. Advocates need to explain—not just assert—inequity, lead with shared values, and point to solutions.

Explore how to lead more productive conversations on racial equity.

Featured Work

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Navigating Cultural Mindsets of Race and Place in the United States

The places where we live shape our lives. Structural racism has shaped and continues to shape where and how Americans live.

Young girl with hand raised in front of collage of education images

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Advancing Anti-Racist Education

How School Leaders Can Navigate the Moral Panic about “Critical Race Theory”

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Talking About Racism in Child and Family Advocacy

As the field seeks to lead a more public conversation about the impacts of racism on children and families—and about how racism structures the systems that children and families interact...

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Frame Testing Recommendations

Piecing It Together: A Communications Playbook for Affordable Housing Advocates

How can we lead more productive public conversations about inclusive housing policy, community development, and affordable housing? This playbook helps us reframe.

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Integrating Issues: Framing for Racial Equity and Children in Immigrant Families

This report distills the communications challenges facing advocates for progressive immigration policies and outlines framing strategies to address them.

Frame Testing Recommendations

Reframing School Discipline: A Strategic Communications Playbook

This strategic messaging playbook offers guidance. It outlines 12 evidence-based framing strategies that communicators in the education, justice, and civil rights sectors can use to challenge...

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Mixing It Up: Reframing Neighborhood Socioeconomic Diversity

This comprehensive MessageMemo synthesizes FrameWorks research about socioeconomic mixing.

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Talking Juvenile Justice Reform: A FrameWorks MessageMemo

This MessageMemo highlights tested reframing strategies that build support for a restorative, developmentally appropriate approach to youth justice reform.

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‘Like a Holiday Camp’: Mapping the Gaps on Criminal Justice Reform in England and Wales

This report documents differences in how experts and members of the public understand criminal justice issues.

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Talkin’‘Bout My Generation: Mapping the Gaps Between Expert and Public Understandings of Demographic Change in the U.S.

This report compares expert views with those of average Americans, revealing many of the cultural models that dominate thinking about demographic change.

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Talking Justice Reform and Public Safety: A FrameWorks Message Memo

This MessageMemo outlines framing strategies that prompt people to rethink deterrence– and consider alternatives to punishment.

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Getting to “We”: Mapping the Gaps Between Expert and Public Understandings of Immigration and Immigration Reform

This report lays the groundwork for a larger effort to reframe the public debate on immigration and immigration reform.

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Framing and Facts: Necessary Synergies in Communicating about Public Safety and Criminal Justice

The data on racial disparities in the justice system is clear to advocates - but misinterpreted by the public. Values messages can help us be heard and understood.

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Maze and Gears: Using Explanatory Metaphors to Increase Public Understanding of the Criminal Justice System and its Reform

How can we frame the causes and consequences of mass incarceration, and other justice reform issues, in ways that gain mainstream traction? Metaphors can help.

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Cognitive Media Analysis of Disparities in the Education System

The way the media covers educational equity and the "achievement gap" shapes public thinking. How can we reframe?