By Elena Rowe
In response to the racial injustice happening around the country, Hood’s political science department is launching the Race, Politics and Public Policy Initiative which will allow the Hood community to interact with various speakers to discuss the issue of race, the pandemic and the upcoming election.
On Oct. 12, Elizabeth Bennion, a political science professor at the University of Indiana, will present a Zoom lecture on “The Case of the Electoral College: How the Electoral College Undermines Racial Equality and Democracy.” On Oct. 20, Wendy Smooth, a political science professor at the Ohio State University, and Melina Abdullah, professor of Pan-African Studies at California State University, will lead a virtual discussion titled “Protest and Politics: Struggles for Liberation in the Midst of a Double Pandemic.”
Conversations have already been held at Hood through the Race Cafés sponsored by the African American Studies Advisory Board headed by Terry Scott, associate professor of American history and director of African American Studies.
The board developed the idea of “Race Cafés” where students and faculty can come together to discuss their thoughts, feelings and concerns about the displays of racism that occurred on campus last year. The Cafés expanded to this past summer over Zoom to include discussions of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmad Arbury. The Cafés will continue this semester.
Conversations have also been the center of the Racial Equity Challenge, headed by Michelle Gricus, assistant professor of social work.
“In June, faculty were asked to consider concrete steps we could take to address issues of race at Hood,” Gricus said. “After thinking about some options, I consulted with several faculty and staff colleagues about doing a version of the 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge by Moore and Irving.”
The challenge happened over a period of four weeks in August for Hood faculty and staff. Each week, participants read, watched or listened to content related to race, racism and anti-racism. Participants either responded to a weekly discussion board or attended a Zoom meeting to discuss the content.
“No two people’s worldviews are the same, and my hope with the challenge was to offer a structured opportunity to meet faculty and staff wherever they were in terms of understanding race and racism,” Gricus said.
Tamelyn Tucker-Worgs, associate professor of political science and African American studies and chair of the department of political science, explained the importance of educating oneself and understanding the history of social movements and oppression that minorities have faced.
“I study social movements, particularly movements for racial justice,” Tucker-Worgs said. “It helps society, for all of us to know that any kind of progress we have made in this country has been made through the push of people to expand the rights and access to power.”
Tucker-Worgs said that it is not really her call to say why young people should be involved in the movement.
“The oughts and the shoulds have really been decided by the young people themselves,” she said. “Young people organized this movement. By creating and learning from movements in the past, young people have implemented tactics, social media strategies, ethics and used all this to push for change.”
In addition to conversations regarding the issue of racial injustice, there have been many marches across the country to protest police brutality and advocate for equality. A “March for Justice” which took place in Frederick on June 5.
Tucker-Worgs said she was inspired by the young people who were the speakers and organizers of the march.
“The young people were talking about why they organized the march and touched on their experiences in and around Frederick,” Tucker-Worgs said. “It was very moving to see them articulate that at their age.”
As a part of the Race, Politics and Public Policy Initiative, Tucker-Worgs said she is hoping next semester she can host a panel discussion with some of the young people that were involved with organizing the march. This is a tentative event, but she is hopeful that it will occur.
“I have also been thinking about hosting an event next semester called documenting the movement through art, where Hood students could participate by capturing the street art, murals and graffiti inspired by the Black Lives Matter Movement,” Tucker-Worgs said.
Tucker- Worgs said she hopes the events at Hood will encourage young people to become more engaged in social justice issues.
“I think we will see more people become involved in politics and public policy and think their voice matters,” Tucker- Worgs said. “I am also hoping for policy change when it comes to police community interaction. I hope to see both local and national policy change that would address police brutality like the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act”, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in June. If this were passed by the Senate and signed into law, it would increase police accountability, ban no knock warrants and choke holds and establish a national databased that kept track of incidents of police misconduct. It would also ban religious and racial profiling (among other initiatives). This would begin to address some of the concerns BLM protestors have about policing.”
Tucker-Worgs said Hood has an important role to play in working for racial equality.
“Hood first and foremost is an institution of education, so I think education is the first step, to continue to be aware of what is going on in the world,” Tucker-Worgs said. “I think our education should focus on racial justice, social, political and economic context and Hood can invest in that.”
Tucker- Worgs also said she thinks that Hood should invest in and push civic engagement.
“We have to learn and educate ourselves and others and then we have to do,” Tucker-Worgs said. “We can do programming, encouraging our students and faculty to take part in them, getting out to vote and promoting civic engagement. We are here on this earth not only to get educated and get jobs but also to make our community and our society better.”
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