Alan Llavore | Office of Marketing and Communications | (909) 537-5007 | allavore@csusb.edu
Eric Avila, UCLA professor of history and Chicano/a Studies who examines the intersections of racial identity, urban space, and cultural representation in 20th-century America, is the next scheduled guest for Conversations on Race and Policing, set for noon on Wednesday, March 19.
The program is free and open to the public and will be presented on the program’s Zoom page.
Avila is the current holder of the Waldo E. Neikirk Term Chair in Undergraduate Education at UCLA. After earning his doctorate at UC Berkeley, Avila joined UCLA in 1997 where he has taught Chicano/a Studies and history, and holds an affiliation with the Department of Urban Planning. He is the author of “Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles,” published in 2006, and “The Folklore of the Freeway: Race and Revolt in the Modernist City,” published in 2014. For Oxford University's “Very Short Introduction” series, he wrote, “American Cultural History: A Very Short Introduction.”
The Conversations on Race and Policing program began after the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, and its aftermath. Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer, triggering extensive protests, demands for systemic reform in policing, and profound dialogues on race and racism. This also led to the inception of Cal State San Bernardino’s Conversations on Race and Policing, abbreviated as CoRP.
In subsequent court cases, three other former Minneapolis police officers implicated in Floyd’s death were given prison sentences.
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 110 forums have taken place since, and video recordings of the sessions are posted online on the Conversations on Race and Policing Lecture Series Archive.
Upcoming programs, which take place at noon on Wednesdays (unless otherwise noted) include:
- March 26, Madeline Stenersen, St. Louis University assistant professor of psychology, and Cassandra Young, University of Denver assistant professor of gender and women’s studies.
- April 9, film screening of “Breaking Barriers,” with Danny Murillo, co-founder of the Berkeley Underground Scholars, which creates a pathway for incarcerated, formerly incarcerated and system impacted individuals into higher education.
- April 23, Simon Balto, University of Wisconsin-Madison associate professor of history, author of “Occupied Territory: Policing Black Chicago from Red Summer to Black Power.”
- April 30, Alison Phipps, Newcastle University, United Kingdom, professor of sociology, on “Sexual Violence as a Pretext for Disposal: Rape, Race and Carcerality.”
The series organizers currently include CSUSB faculty, staff, alumni, and community members, as well as collaborators from other institutions: Amber Broaden (CSUSB and CSU Dominguez Hills, psychology), Stan Futch (president, Westside Action Group), German (Brennan Center for Justice), Robie Madrigal (Pfau Library), Jeremy Murray (CSUSB History), Matt Patino (Crafton Hills College adjunct faculty and CSUSB alumnus), and Mary Texeira (CSUSB sociology).
For more information, contact Madrigal at rmadriga@csusb.edu or Murray at jmurray@csusb.edu.
Also visit the Conversations on Race and Policing webpage.