Police Violence in the Wake of Ferguson and Staten Island

UNC Law School is hosting a day-long program in the wake of Ferguson and Staten Island on Friday, January 23.  Cribbing now a little from their announcement:

A full-day program with three separate panels and a keynote speaker will provide a forum for discussion of police violence and the legal system, the history and context of police brutality, and activism in the face of police violence. Panelists will include academics, lawyers, journalists, and community activists. The luncheon keynote speaker is Ms. Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The program will take place on Friday, January 23, 2015, in room #5052 of UNC School of Law. It opens at 9 a.m. and will close at 3 p.m. and is co-sponsored by UNC Law Clinical Programs and the UNC Center for Civil Rights.  Please contact Prof. Tamar Birckhead with any questions: birckhead@unc.edu.

Registration is free, but required.  (Click on the "register now!" button.)  I'm going to be speaking briefly on racial violence in the era of Jim Crow.

The schedule is as follows:

9-9:15 Welcome & Introductions: Dean Jack Boger & Prof. Tamar Birckhead, UNC Law

9:15-10:45 Panel 1 – Police Violence and the Legal System: the current law, the grand jury, civil rights litigation, and police training

• Prof. Erika Wilson, UNC Law: moderator
  • Attorney Alex Charns, civil rights lawyer
  • Dave Cloutier, retired police officer, expert on law enforcement training regarding use of force
  • Lisa Sorg, journalist with the Indy Weekly who has covered police violence in the Triangle
  • Prof. Fred Williams, North Carolina Central University Law School
  • James Williams, Public Defender for Orange and Chatham Counties
  • James Woodall, District Attorney for Orange and Chatham Counties

10:45-Noon Panel 2 – History and Context of Police Brutality: from slavery and Jim Crow to Ferguson, Staten Island, Durham, and beyond

• Mark Dorosin, UNC Center on Civil Rights: moderator
  • Daryl Atkinson, Southern Coalition for Social Justice
  • Prof. Frank Baumgartner, UNC Political Science Department
  • Prof. Al Brophy, UNC Law
  • Prof. Ted Shaw, UNC Law & Director UNC Center on Civil Rights 

12-1pm Keynote Speaker: Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of NAACP Legal Defense Fund

1-2:30 pm Panel 3 – Activism in the face of police violence:  experiences of local advocates, the role of protest movements, and changing the dynamic between citizens and the police

• Prof. Beth Posner, UNC Law: moderator
  • Elenta Everet, community organizer
  • Prof. Blair Kelley, NC State History Department
  • Pastor Mark-Anthony Middleton, Abundant Hope Christian Church, Durham
  • Stephanie Perry, Justice United advocate
  • Q Wideman, youth advocate

2:30-3 p.m. Closing Speakers:

• Jaki Shelton Green: poet, performer, human rights advocate
• Katina Parker, Durham filmmaker who has spent several months filming in Ferguson this past fall