Policing, Public Policy, and Racial Justice: Stories and Analysis from Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.
Recent protests across our nation and around the globe, in response to the murder of George Floyd and many other people of color, have resulted in long overdue debates and policy proposals concerning the failure of our current system of militarized policing, the problem of police brutality and racialized violence, and the need for creating alternative community-based systems of public safety and crime prevention. This workshop will explore the historical roots of our contemporary model of policing, racist policing practices and cultures, and various public policy proposals for transforming policing and ensuring racial justice. Using a racial lens and a historical and comparative perspective, we seek to better understand how racism, xenophobia, class inequality, and gender oppression have shaped policing and led to the criminalization of Blackness and of immigrants, indigenous communities, refugee populations, LGBTQ people, homeless people, and poor white workers. We will explore a wide range of policy proposals being put forth to guarantee public safety while ensuring racial justice, from reforming to defunding to abolishing the police.
You are also welcome to view the teach-in on the ICW YouTube channel where you can submit your questions and comments. The ICW team will be collecting your posts and sending them to the presenters of the teach-in.
This scholar-community-student collaboration will explore the historical roots of our contemporary model of policing, racist policing practices and cultures, and various public policy proposals for transforming policing and ensuring racial justice. You are also invited to check out the teach-in website, which includes video interviews with the four engaged scholars who will be helping to lead the Policing Teach-In.
A second event will be held on Wednesday, July 29th: “Racial Justice Protests and Social Change: Connecting Local Movements, Stories, and Analysis from Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.”
Organizers
These two events are being organized by faculty and students at the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota in the departments of:
- African American & African Studies
- History
- Political Science
- Sociology
along with faculty and students in the same four departments at:
- Howard University (Washington DC)
- Morehouse College (Atlanta, GA)
- Spelman College (Atlanta, GA)
Faculty, students, and community activists from each of the four institutions and three cities will participate in each teach-in.
Co-Sponsors
- Associate Deans of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota
- Twin Cities (UMN)
- The Office of the President (UMN)
- The Graduate School (UMN)
- The Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (UMN)
- The Institute for Advanced Study (UMN)
- Howard University
- Morehouse College
- Spelman College