Author: TheConversation

By Matthew Countryman, Chair, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, Associate Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies, History and American Culture, University of Michigan The river was the metaphor that best captured “the long, continuous movement” of the black freedom struggle for theologian, historian and civil rights activist Vincent Harding. Harding, who had served as a speechwriter for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., wrote in his groundbreaking 1981 study of African-American history, There is a River: The Black Struggle for Freedom in America that the freedom struggle was “sometimes powerful, tumultuous, roiling with life; at other times meandering and...

By Jill McCorkel, Professor of Sociology and Criminology, Villanova University Protesters and community organizers are increasingly calling for defunding and disbanding the police as a way to end police violence. Advocates argue that moderate reforms like enhanced training and greater community oversight have failed to curb police violence and misconduct. But there’s a major, and usually insurmountable, obstacle to reform: police unions. Research suggests that these unions play a critical role in thwarting the transformation of police departments. Union officials like John McNesby in Philadelphia, where I live and work as a scholar of law and the criminal justice...

By Matthew Valasik, Associate Professor of Sociology, Louisiana State University; and Shannon Reid, Associate Professor, University of North Carolina – Charlotte As protests about police violence among black people continue and become more widespread across the United States, certain individuals and groups have begun to stand out – including anarchists, agitators and members of a variety of far-right groups. With the country’s long history of racist killings, it may be confusing to think that racists and white supremacists are among those objecting to the killing of people of color. But people affiliated with far-right groups aren’t trying to be...