Tonight: Panel on Social Justice Activism @ Harvard Black Law Student Association
by Latoya Peterson
Here is the panel description for tonight:
Social Justice Activism: A Roundtable Discussion on New Strategies to Empower
Our Communities(6:30 PM – 8:00 PM)
Generations of Black law students have had to grapple with issues of race and justice, and each generation has had their own perspective on the responsibilities and capabilities of the student community to affect broader issues of racial and social inequities. The Friday kickoff event will explore the opportunities that students have as leaders to empower themselves and others in addressing social and institutional disparities. Our panelists–including bloggers, professors, and community leaders–will lead a discussion on how the shape of social and political activism has changed over time, whether the new form of social engagement is effective, and ways that social movements can be inclusive of a variety of generations in their approaches to dealing with injustice.
Moderator
Ms. Danielle Purifoy
A native of Durham, North Carolina, Danielle is a 2006 graduate of Vassar College. She is in her second year at Harvard Law School where she serves as co-chair of BLSA’s Social Justice Committee.
Panelists
Dr. Michael P. Jeffries
Michael Jeffries is an Assistant Professor of American Studies at Wellesley College. His
research is devoted to the cultural sociology of race and ethnicity, hip-hop studies, and American popular culture. At Wellesley, Jeffries teaches classes in Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, Hip-Hop Studies, Sport and Society, and the campaign and cultural significance of President Barack Obama. Forthcoming publications include a book on how everyday listeners define hip-hop and interpret rap music, to be published by University of Chicago Press, and an article on representations of love in hip-hop performances, to appear in a special issue of Women and Language journal.
Professor Jeffries earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University, and his B.A. at Swarthmore College.
In addition to his work in the academy he has worked with two non-profit organizations; The Fund for an OPEN Society, and The Opportunity Agenda.
Prof. Randall Kennedy
Randall Kennedy is Michael R. Klein Professor at Harvard Law School where he teaches courses on contracts, criminal law, and the regulation of race relations. He was born in Columbia, South Carolina. For his education he attended St. Albans School, Princeton University, Oxford University, and Yale Law School. He served as a law clerk for Judge J. Skelly Wright of the United States Court of Appeals and for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the United States Supreme Court.
He is a member of the bar of the District of Columbia and the Supreme Court of the United States. Awarded the 1998 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for Race, Crime, and the
Law, Mr. Kennedy writes for a wide range of scholarly and general interest publications. His most recent books are Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word (2002), Interracial
Intimacies: Sex, Marriage, Identity, and Adoption (2003), and Sellout (2007). A member of the American Law Institute, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American
Philosophical Association, Mr. Kennedy is also a Charter Trustee of Princeton University.
Ms. Latoya Peterson
A certified media junkie, Latoya Peterson provides a hip-hop feminist and anti-racist view on pop culture with a special focus on video games, anime, American comics, manga, magazines,
film, television, and music. Skilled in interviewing, creative non-fiction, and editorial content, she spends her time editing the blog Racialicious.com – the intersection of race and pop culture.
She was contributor to Jezebel.com and has written for Vibe, The American Prospect, The Atlantic Blog, Bitch Magazine, Clutch Magazine, the Women’s Review of Books, Slate’s Double
X, The Poynter Institute, The Root and the Guardian. Her essay, “The Not Rape Epidemic” was published in the anthology Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape (Seal Press, 2008).
As a digital media consultant, Latoya Peterson has worked with brands like NPR and Wikipedia to improve the user experience and provide key qualities like blogging voice and reader connection to help humanize larger brands on the web.
She is currently working on projects related to race, pop culture, and video games, and will speak for the third time at SXSW Interactive 2011 on issues of technology and social justice. She is a
Poynter Institute Sensemaking Fellow, and one of the inaugural Public Media Corps fellows.
State Rep. John W. Walker
John Winfred Walker was born in Hope, Arkansas where he attended Yerger High School until 1952. He graduated from Jack Yates High School in Houston, Texas in 1954. He was the first
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