The University of Illinois Office of Diversity, Equity and Access is sponsoring a Community Conference on Tuesday, February 19th.
“Crimes of hatred and prejudice are not just occurrences of America’s past, but continue to take place in our nation, including Central Illinois. This event is a commitment to preventing such crimes, and bringing to justice those who commit them, and to talking about social justice. The summit will explore the who, what, when, where and why of bullying, community violence and equity.”
Looks like quite a few well-known names will be involved, including Otis Noble III and Illinois AG Lisa Madigan. There will be two sets of presentations and panels, one for each of the morning and the afternoon.
Register: https://illinois.edu/fb/sec/366168
11 February 2013 11:22 am at 11:22 am
Isn’t it the UIUC Office of Diversity, Equity, and Access sponsoring the program and maybe Otis planned it, but not presenting.
11 February 2013 11:26 am at 11:26 am
Good point – the email newsletter I received did not specify how Mr. Noble was connected at all. I adjusted the title of this post.
Thanks.
11 February 2013 3:59 pm at 3:59 pm
‘The New Jim Crow…’ Social Justice. Equity. Who is the intended audience?
11 February 2013 7:15 pm at 7:15 pm
Karen, the author of the New Jim Crow was shown yesterday on C-SPAN. You can watch Michelle Alexander’s talk here http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/310718-1 Then you will better understand what is her thesis.
11 February 2013 7:19 pm at 7:19 pm
Better yet, read the book. I found it fascinating.
I think the intended audience of Alexander’s book are those who are in power and perpetuate a system of oppression. The “choir” in this case already gets it, but to a degree I think part of the book aims to open up the eyes of the reader so that we all understand the pervasive influence of systemic and institutionalized racism.
11 February 2013 10:29 pm at 10:29 pm
I am familiar with the book/author/narrative. The ‘who, what, when, where, why of bullying’ suggests an inclusive focus, but, given the larger back-drop it makes me wonder.
12 February 2013 6:08 am at 6:08 am
Makes you wonder….. what?
12 February 2013 10:21 am at 10:21 am
So, Charles, you embrace the theses of Michelle Alexander’s writings? You accept at face-value what she presents as fact? Critical analysis of some of the stats she presents in support of her theses suggests one of the very things she rallies against. Bias.
12 February 2013 12:20 pm at 12:20 pm
Karen,
I accept the things that Alexander wrote in “The New Jim Crow” as persuasive arguments. I don’t know if they are facts or not. What she has described aligns with my own observations of how people work. I don’t necessarily have the bandwidth to go and fact-check every single thing I read – most significantly, “research” is so widely varied and non-conformative that I can find just about any “facts” to back up any claim I want to make. (ps – I tend to be cynical, to a fault, about theory)
You speak as if you have done critical analysis of those stats. Please, share with the rest of us. What has your critical analysis suggested, specifically?
I do want to be careful about straying from the original topic. I am not saying that we are there, yet. The whole point (I think) of these opportunities is to educate and make folks aware of the topics of bullying, hate and violence. The way I see it, these kinds of conversations are extremely difficult to do well because so much baggage comes to the table, baggage that not everyone has learned to deal with in a healthy manner.
And thus the reason why I think these kinds of topics are relevant on a blog about Education; if the adults don’t know how to play well together, the kids are in for a doozy.
12 February 2013 3:59 pm at 3:59 pm
Have I done critical analyses of my own? No. But, I have read very different presentations of and theories about the same stats referenced by Ms. Alexander that appear to discredit many of her arguments. Maybe it’s your headline ‘Otis Noble III announces workshop on bullying’ that I find misleading (for lack of a better term). There seems to be a focus of the event many might not be expecting if they think they’re going to be attending one of Ms. Espelage’s general bullying presentations. I’ll drop it now.