On Friday January 19 the University of Pennsylvania Law School will host a symposium on Reparations, as the 37th annual Edward V. Sparer symposium. It will be, as they say, "A conversation about the movements to hold institutions, local governments, and nations accountable for historical and ongoing harms." Cribbing from their website:
The year’s symposium will focus on reparations: legal and community activists’ struggle to get accountability for past crimes and enduring legacies of harm. The Reparations movements, both historical and modern, reflect a growing consciousness that today’s most powerful nations and institutions were constructed through the commission of grave and inhumane crimes. We will examine what kinds of harm get redress, who should be held accountable, and how to confront a legal system that may be ill-equipped to deal with foundational crimes against humanity. Join us in exploring the many facets of reparations through film and discussion and add your voice to this conversation.
More information is available here.
I will, unfortunately, have to miss this — it's on one of the few weekends in a while that I'm not in Philly. I'll be at Roger Williams University, speaking with Martha Jones about monuments for their Martin Luther King day celebrations.