“After George Floyd’s murder, a lot of people promised a lot of things to African-American people about structural changes and institutional changes at the national level, state level, Oregon State University level and so forth,” said Dwaine Plaza, sociology professor at OSU. “We want to essentially look at how various measures of change have actually taken place, and how far we still have to go.”
On Monday, Feb. 28 from 6:30-8:30 pm, panelists Terrance Harris, Dwaine Plaza, Chris Stout, Chanale Propst, and Niki Braxton-Franklin will present on a number of topics under the title: “It’s 2022. Do Black Lives Really Matter?”
Plaza said, “What we’d like to know now is that white folks can take more responsibility for the structural and institutional changes that need to happen because they actually control those.”
The event comes from the following units on campus: the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center, the President’s Commission on the Status of Black Faculty and Staff Affairs, the College of Liberal Arts, and the School of Public Policy. The event itself will be held and livestreamed from the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center at 100 SW Memorial Place in Corvallis.
Terrance Harris is the director of the Center. He will present first and share the history and present circumstances of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Dwaine Plaza will then present an overview of white supremacy and its sociopolitical consequences in the United States.
Chris Stout, political science professor, will present on structural manifestations of white supremacy like voter suppression, resistance to appointing a Black woman to the Supreme Court, legislators’ failures to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act in 2021, and the debate in K-12 schools about obscuring facts surrounding the country’s endemic racism.
Chanale Propst, coordinator of Black & African-American Student Mental Health & Wellness, will then present on the psychological effects of racism on Black faculty, students, and staff.
Subsequently, Niki Braxton-Franklin, a specialist in alcohol and drug prevention in Student Health Services, will present on her own experience as a mother to Black children; she will share strategies for parenting and suggestions for ways non-Black people can better support the needs and experiences of Black people.
The evening will close with a Q&A session moderated by Marilyn Stewart, associate head advisor in the College of Liberal Arts.
In-person registration is limited to 30 people, available here. For Zoom registration, click here.
For disabilities accommodations or to receive the presented information in a different format, contact cla.events@oregonstate.edu.
By Grace Miller
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