Conversations on Race and Policing resumes Feb. 2

The weekly program, “Conversations on Race and Policing,” returns with its first presentation of the spring semester with “Police Use of Excessive Force Against African Americans.”

The program will take place on Zoom at noon Wednesday, Feb. 2. It is open to the public and can be accessed from a PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android at https://csusb.zoom.us/j/97960458784.

The discussion takes its title from a book of the same name written by special guests Ray Von Robertson, associate professor of sociology and criminal justice at Florida A&M University, and Cassandra Chaney, the J. Franklin Bayhi Endowed Professor in the School of Social Work at Louisiana State University.

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 has 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.

More than 50 forums have taken place, and video recordings of the sessions are posted online on the Conversations on Race and Policing Lecture Series Archive. 

Upcoming Conversations on Race and Policing, which take place at noon on Wednesdays on Zoom, include:

• Feb. 9, Mental Health and Policing Panel Presentation, which will overview the intersection of mental health, policing and race and feature panelists that train and intervene in police/mental health crisis situations, a mental health consumer advocate, therapists and CSUSB faculty;
• Feb. 16, “Mobilized by Injustice: Criminal Justice Contact, Political Participation, and Race,” will feature Hannah L. Walker, assistant professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin;
• Feb. 23, “Stop Trying to Fix Policing: Lessons Learned from the Front Lines of Black Liberation,” presented by Tony Gaskew, professor of criminal justice and associate dean of Academic Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh;
• March 2, “Midnight Basketball: Race, Sports, and Neoliberal Social Policy,” a presentation and discussion with Douglas Hartman, professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota; and
• March 9, “Everyday Violence against Black and Latinx LGBT Communities,” presented by Siobhan Brooks, professor of African American Studies at Cal State Fullerton.

The series is organized by CSUSB students Marlo Brooks, Zoralynn Oglesby, Evelyn Jimenez, Jade McDonald, Jaime Castro and Connie Cornejo; Mary Texeira, CSUSB professor of sociology; 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.

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

Also visit the Conversations on Race and Policing webpage.