After hosting and presenting more than 40 programs, held almost weekly from June 2020 through May 2021, the organizers of Cal State San Bernardino’s Conversations on Race and Policing took a much needed break for the summer.

The series resumes for the fall 2021 semester at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7, with the presentation of “Police Brutality, or Business as Usual?” on Zoom. The program, free and open to the public, can be accessed from a PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android at https://csusb.zoom.us/j/97960458784.

According to a summary of the program, “Since the murders of George Floyd and other African Americans at the hands of the police, the spotlight has decentered those communities and turned to the way we view policing itself in the U.S. Professor Dylan Rodriguez explores the everyday violence perpetrated on communities and individuals and asserts that police are doing exactly what the state mandates them to do.”

Joining Rodriguez, a professor in UC Riverside’s Department of Media and Cultural Studies, will be Ken Ehrlich, a UC Riverside adjunct professor of art, and Charmaine Chua, an assistant professor in UC Santa Barbara’s Department of Global Studies.

Conversations on Race and Policing, also known as CoRP, began in the aftermath of the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd while in the custody of four Minneapolis, Minn., police officers. A video of the incident posted on social media led to widespread protests, the firing of four police officers, the arrest and conviction of one officer on a second-degree murder and related charges, the other three on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder – and a spotlight worldwide on race and policing.

The series featured scholars, journalists, law enforcement officers, lawyers, activists, artists, educators, administrators and others from throughout the nation who shared their experience and expertise on issues related to race and policing.

“Although brother George Floyd’s murderer has been convicted, conversations on race, justice, inclusivity and transparency are still needed across America for communities of the underprivileged and poverty stricken,” said Marlo Brooks, a member of the series organizing committee and a CSUSB student. “Until equality is achieved, the fight for justice will remain at an unrest.”

“We the organizers of CoRP – students, staff and faculty – are committed to engaging the campus and larger community in conversations that shed light on the rights and wrongs of the criminal justice system in communities across the country,” said Mary Texeira, also a member of the organizing committee and a CSUSB professor of sociology.

More than 40 forums took place, and video recordings of the sessions are posted online on the CSUSB History Club Lecture Series YouTube channel.

Along with Brooks and Texeira, the series is organized by CSUSB students Zoralynn Oglesby, Evelyn Jimenez, Jade McDonald, Jaime Castro and Connie Cornejo; Jeremy Murray, CSUSB associate professor of history; Robie Madrigal, public affairs/communication specialist for the CSUSB John M. Pfau Library; and community member Stan Futch, president of the Westside Action Group. 

More conversations are scheduled for the fall semester and include:

  • Tuesday, Sept. 21, at 1 p.m.: Dr. Allison Monterosa (Cal State San Marcos) and Sophia Davis (United Nations International School);
  • Tuesday, Oct. 5, at 1 p.m.: Dr. Daniel Widener (UC San Diego), “An Art for Both My Peoples: Visual Cultures of Black/Brown Unity”;
  • Tuesday, Oct. 19, at 1 p.m.: Dr. Angela Hattery (University of Delaware) and Dr. Earl Smith (George Mason University), “Policing Black Bodies”; and
  • Tuesday, Nov. 2, at 1 p.m.: Dr. Joseph Darda (Texas Christian University), “The Whiteness of Blue Lives: Race in American Policing.”

For more information, contact Robie Madrigal at rmadriga@csusb.edu or Jeremy Murray at jmurray@csusb.edu.

CoRP flier for Sept. 7 program