Diversity Center to host discussion Tuesday about Ferguson, U.S. race relations
Campuses across the country are becoming hotspots for protests against police brutality and racial violence in recent weeks. University of South Dakota students may not be protesting in front of Old Main, but administrators on campus are attempting to encourage conversation about race relations in the United States.
The Center for Diversity and Community, which opened its doors about a month ago, will play host to a facilitated dialogue Tuesday at 1 p.m. Lamont Sellers, the center’s new director, will lead a discussion on where things stand in the country in regard to race and law enforcement relations.
“Even though this might not be the activist campus that you’d see at a larger institution, it doesn’t mean people don’t pay attention to the news or that these conversations aren’t happening,” Sellers said.
The dialogue is being sponsored by the Office for Diversity and Center for Diversity and Community, along with professors from the history department. The event will be held in the new center, which is located in the Muenster University Center, room 219.
Participants will break into small groups to talk about race relations, and Sellers will be fielding questions written down by people who do not want to share aloud. By the end of the event, the center’s director said he wants the group to look at what are things they can do to remedy the situation in their own world at USD and in their communities.
The open dialogue is a follow-up to a November event hosted at the law school entitled, “Exploring the Civil Rights Dynamic Between Communities of Color and the Police.” The presentation featured speakers from campus and the South Dakota Law Enforcement Training Academy, and was hosted by the Black Student Law Association and Criminal Justice Education Project of South Dakota.
Professors Sara Lampert and Elise Boxer initially approached the center to host an event following the grand jury decision in Ferguson, Mo., and the responding protests that erupted in its aftermath.
Sellers said while students may not have an active conversation on the topic of race relations every day, Tuesday’s discussion might give them the opportunity to evaluate conversations they have had at the dinner table.
“This is an educational institution, and this is where these kind of conversations need to happen,” he said.
