The Other America: Still Separate. Still Unequal.

This interdisciplinary, mini-conference will focus on racial inequality as it manifests in relation to the lived experiences of black Americans. Throughout the day, panelists will discuss the criminal justice system and state violence against black people, economic inequality and immobility, inequities in healthcare and education, and issues pertaining to race and the environment.  

For more information and to register for the event please visit: myumi.ch/6wXPv

Graduate students who conduct research broadly related to the theme of the event are encouraged to sign up to present a poster at the mini-conference. Click HERE to submit your poster. Deadline for poster submissions is December 1, 2017. 

Thanks to the generosity of many units on campus, we have confirmed the following panelists for the event:

• Frank Baumgartner, professor of political science at the University of North Carolina who has written extensively about race and capital punishment and is now working on a book focused on racial disparities in traffic stops in North Carolina.
• William Elliot III, professor of social work at the University of Michigan, is a leading expert in children’s savings and college debt. More broadly, his research "focuses on public policies related to issues of economic inequality and social development.” His research has been covered by numerous media outlets, including the National Journal, PBS News Hour, and the Washington Post.
• Megan Ming Francis, associate professor of political science at the University of Washington whose award-winning book details the NAACP's work to end racial violence in the US; "currently working on second book project that examines the role of the criminal justice system in the rebuilding of southern political and economic power after the Civil War."
• Darrick Hamilton, associate professor of economics and urban policy at The New School, has written widely on "causes, consequences and remedies of racial and ethnic inequality in economic and health outcomes, which includes an examination of the intersection of identity, racism, colorism, and socioeconomic outcomes."
• Paul Mohai, professor at UM's School for Environment and Sustainability whose "teaching and research interests are focused on environmental justice, public opinion and the environment, and influences on environmental policy making. He is a founder of the Environmental Justice Program at the University of Michigan and a major contributor to the growing body of quantitative research examining disproportionate environmental burdens and their impacts on low income and people of color communities."
• Becky Pettit, professor of sociology at UT Austin whose excellent work has been cited widely in discussions about mass incarceration and economic inequality.
• Andrea Ritchie is a Black lesbian immigrant attorney whose writing, litigation, and advocacy has focused on policing of women and LGBT people of color for the past two decades. She is currently Researcher in Residence on Race, Gender Sexuality and Criminal Justice at the Barnard Center for Research on Women’s Social Justice Institute, and was a 2014 Senior Soros Justice Fellow. She is the author of Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color.
• Mark Rosenbaum, civil rights attorney and adjunct law professor at UC Irvine, former professor of the practice at UM law, has argued four times before the US Supreme Court (most recently in defense of affirmative action) and currently lead counsel in suit against state of Michigan alleging it has denied Detroit students equal access to literacy.
• Abigail Sewell, assistant professor of sociology at Emory University whose work "focuses on the political economy of racial health disparities, the social construction of racial health disparities, and quantitative approaches for studying racial inequality and structural racism."

The event is free, open to the public, and will be held in the Kuenzel Room on the first floor of the Michigan Union. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

For more information, contact symposium organizers, Hakeem Jefferson (hakeemjj@umich.edu) and Steven Moore (stvmoore@umich.edu).

U-M Sponsors: College of LSA, Poverty Solutions, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, Center for Political Studies, Institute for Social Research, Political Scientists of Color, Rackham Graduate School, School of Public Health, and Departments of Political Science, Psychology, Sociology and History.