Racial Justice Protests and Social Change: Connecting Local Movements, Stories, and Analysis from Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.

An Interdisciplinary Collaborative Workshop Online Teach-In
Event Date & Time
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In recent weeks, we have witnessed massive protests across our nation and around the globe in response to the murder of George Floyd and the numerous Black men and women murdered by police, including Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Eric Garner and so many more.  Peaceful protests have generated violent government and police responses as well as growing pressure on elected officials and policy makers to address demands for the reform, defunding, and/or abolition of police and for racial justice and an end to institutionalized racism. This online workshop will focus on the dynamics of protest in historical and comparative perspective, and the political, social, and cultural impact of protest, examining the conditions under which protests produce, or fail to produce, enduring institutional, cultural, and personal change. In this online workshop, we will learn from the experiences of veteran and current activists as well as scholars and policy makers. Our hope is that this knowledge will contribute to our efforts to better understand the complex relationship between protest and change and to promote systemic change. 

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. 

This is the second event in the series, the first will be held on Tuesday, July 14th: "Policing, Public Policy, and Racial Justice: 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
For more information and updates about the ICW teach-ins,  visit the ICW Google site
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