Police Violence & Racial Inequality
June 8, 2020
Unrest: Civil Rights, Capitalism, and America’s Past 50 Years, June 4, 2020
The French-American Foundation hosted a Zoom webinar to discuss police violence and racial inequality with guest speaker Marcia Chatelain (Young Leader ’15), Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor at Georgetown University, and moderator Lorrie Fair Allen (Young Leader ’18), Chief Program Director at the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project.
Beginning with an overview of her new book, Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, Dr. Chatelain examined the roles of the public and private sectors in recent decades.
“Taking us from the first McDonald’s drive-in in San Bernardino in the 1940s to civil rights protests at franchises in the American South in the 1960s and the McDonald’s on Florissant Avenue in Ferguson in the summer 2014, Chatelain charts how the fight for racial justice is intertwined with the fate of black businesses. Deeply researched and brilliantly told, Franchise is an essential story of race and capitalism in America.” W.W. Norton
The discussion explored the history of police violence, the role that capitalism has played in the fight for civil rights, and the Black Lives Matter movement. Topics addressed included the meaning of “abolish the police,” the impact of COVID-19 on inequality, and the need for a reckoning of the past.
In addition, the speakers discussed resources to learn more about the subject. Please consult the list below.
The French-American Foundation developed this webinar initiative to continue our mission of encouraging transatlantic dialogue while prioritizing the health and safety of our community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our webinars take place throughout the month.
Resources
- 13th
- Just Mercy
- Ted Talk: We need to talk about an injustice
- Undisclosed podcast: the Killing of Freddie Gray
- Emmanuel Acho: Uncomfortable conversations with a black man
- Obama.org Advocacy Toolkit
- Bryan Stevenson on the Frustration Behind the George Floyd Protests
- Op-Ed: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Don’t understand the protests? What you’re seeing is people pushed to the edge
- White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism