How did we get here?
COVID-19 and recent, high-profile instances of police brutality against Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and George Floyd have brought issues around systemic racism and racial disparities to the forefront. In this virtual panel discussion, join us as we explore the historic roots of these inequities and how they persist today.
Moderator - Adrienne Cole Johnson, MSW, Social Entrepreneur, Educational Leader, Businesswoman and Community Advocate
Panelists
- Elvatrice Belsches, Public Historian, Author, Filmmaker
- Dr. Mignonne Guy, Ph.D., Associate Professor, VCU Department of African American Studies
- Trey Hartt, Project Director, Performing Statistics
- Christopher Rashad Green, Community Advocate & Activist
Continue the conversation on social media with #VPMtalk.
In this VPM virtual discussion series, community experts and participants will explore:
- Richmond's history of systemic racism and its impact on our current culture
- Systemic racism's influence over systems, processes and procedures
- Disparities in health, housing, policing, wealth building and education in Black communities are rooted in systemic racism
- New ways to absorb information about unjust systems and encourage authentic conversations with your families and peer groups.
stay connected to what matters.
Panelist Resources
Below are recommended resources from the moderator and panelists to continue the discussion and deepen our understanding of the role racism plays in our society. For books, we recommend searching your local library [Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield] or ordering from a Black-owned independent bookstore.
Additional resources will be added as the series continues.
| Type | Genre | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Documentary | History | Reconstruction: America After The Civil War |
| Documentary | Racism | The Talk: Race In America |
| Article | Racism | 11 Terms You Should Know To Better Understand Structural Racism by The Aspen Institute |
| Book | Racism | Where Do We Go From Here? Chaos or Community by Martin Luther King, Jr. |
| Book | Racism | So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo |
| Book | Racism | How to be an Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi |
| Book | Racism | White Fragility by Robin Diangelo |
| Book | Racism | White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Dr. Carol Anderson |
| Website | Racism | Movement for Black Lives |
| Documentary | Health | A Public Calamity by The Future of America's Past |
| Book | Health | Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A. Washington |
| Book | Health | Making a Place for Themselves: The Black Hospital Movement 1920-1945 by Vanessa Northington Gamble |
| Podcast | Policing | Cops See It Differently by This American Life |
| Podcast | Policing | American Police by Throughline |
| Book | Policing | Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson |
| Book | Policing | Are Prisons Obsolete? by Dr. Angela Davis |
| Book | Policing | The End of Policing by Alex Vitale |
| Book | Policing | The New Jim Crow: Colorblindness in the Age of Mass Incarceration by Michelle Alexander |
| Podcast | Policing | Caught by WNYC Studios |
| Website | Policing | Performing Statistics |
| Website | Policing | Dignity In Schools |
| Website | Policing | Youth First Initiative |
| Website | Policing | RISE for Youth |
| Podcast | Education | Nice White Parents from the New York Times |