Our May 7 book discussion event is quickly approaching, and we hope many of you will be able to participate. Attached is our promotional flyer; newjimcrowevent.

DATE:  Tuesday, May 7, 2013
TIME:  11:30 AM – 1 PM
LOCATION: Furman 303

Please bring a friend and your lunch.

If you have not yet read the book – The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander– we have some copies available in Furman 104.  Please contact Lynda Thomas about borrowing one: lynda.thomas@oregonstate.edu or 541-737-4661.

If we run out of books and/or you run out of time before the event, we encourage you to look at one of Alexander’s recent lectures online and come participate anyway:  Michelle Alexander’s Oregon Humanities Center Lecture.

It may not seem readily apparent from the title that this book is directly related to our work as an educational community.  As you read it, you’ll discover that it is about basic civil and human rights, the formation and perpetuation of racial stereotypes, the importance of paying attention to cultural and individual silences, the unconscious bias in our expectations of youth, the pitfalls of a personal responsibility credo, the marginalization and dismantling of families/communities, etc.  It is a powerful read.

Posted by Stacey Lee