Defining Racial Justice

Defining Racial Justice in the 21st Century: Competing Perspectives and Shared Goals

February 23 | 5:30 pm

Moderated by Jamelle Bouie, columnist for the New York Times and a political analyst for CBS News covering campaigns, elections, national affairs, and culture.

The UNC Program for Public Discourse and Department of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies are hosting an online Abbey Speaker Series event: “Defining Racial Justice in the 21st Century: Competing Perspectives and Shared Goals.”

In the wake of a summer of protests against police brutality, the midst of an ongoing pandemic, and the aftermath of a contentious election, the UNC Program for Public Discourse and Department of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies are bringing together a panel of Black academic, journalistic, religious, and political leaders to discuss and debate their different definitions of what racial justice looks like – and how it might be achieved – in the twenty-first century.

Panelists:

Senator Valerie Foushee chairs the North Carolina Black Alliance, a network of Black legislators that advocates for communities of color on a variety of issues. After graduating from UNC, she worked for the Chapel Hill Police Department, served on the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools School Board, and the Orange County Board of Commissions. She currently represents Orange and Chatham Counties in the State Legislature.

Touré Reed, PhD is a Professor of History at Illinois State University whose research and writings focus on the impact of race and class ideologies on African American civil rights politics and US public policy from the Progressive Era through the Presidency of Barack Obama. Dr. Reed’s most recent book, Toward Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism (2020), challenges the idea that current racial disparities in wealth, employment, and incarceration are largely the result of liberal policymakers’ failure to acknowledge and account for the impact of racism on Black Americans.

Jacqueline C. Rivers, PhD is executive director of the Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies at Harvard University and was previously a doctoral fellow in the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality & Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Dr. Rivers founded and served as executive director of MathPower, a community-based nonprofit in Boston focused on reforming mathematics education in urban schools. She earned a doctorate in African-American Studies and Sociology at Harvard University.