Black Paper Series
concise analyses of important events that center relevant communities + confront the key issues of intersectional racial equity + racial justice.
THE COLOR OF DENIAL: WHERE WAS RACE IN THE TRIAL OF GEORGE FLOYD’S MURDER? In the trial examining his last moments of life, was George Floyd “all lives mattered”?
The Color of Denial: where was race in the trial of George Floyd’s murder?
Despite international marketing to the contrary, the proceedings at the trial of Derek Chauvin were more of a denial, than a counterbalance, of systemic racism in the US. For many, the murder of George Floyd hit different. And yet, the trial felt like yet another variation on a theme of Black erasure. Inappropriately and unnecessarily, in the trial examining his last moments of life, was George Floyd “all lives mattered”? Read more… or DOWNLOAD a printer-friendly PDF.
Why Isn’t Police Reform Working?
At what point do we demand a return on our massive investment is police reform?
Why Isn’t Police Reform Working?
In 2020, the world has watched as police targeted Black and Latinx communities and peaceful protesters during COVID-19 – often in locations where the police had undergone years of supervised reform efforts for the very excessive force, racial profiling, and systematic misconduct we saw on tv and in the streets. Despite decades of effort, police routinely fail at reform mandates of community-based activism, judicial oversight, investigative commissions, and revised legislation and policy…. Read more… or DOWNLOAD a printer-friendly PDF.