Almost seven years after the 2020 George Floyd Protests - which mobilized an estimated 15 to 26 million people and broadly shifted public discourse around criminal justice, policing, and abolition, yet resulted in only incremental policy changes - this retrospective brings together two leading scholars and one key organizer of the movement. This public event will reflect on the legacy of Black Lives Matter and the complexities it reveals about building civic power in the midst of democratic backsliding.
We will explore the tension between mobilization and organization; questions around policy implementation and movement sustainability; and the power and limits of social movements in their efforts to prompt democratic participation, shifts in US institutionalized politics, and deeper engagement with the party system.
Join us on October 27th at the Forum at Columbia University for a conversation with Keeanga-Yahmatta Taylor (Princeton), Deva Woodly (Brown), and phil agnew, who is co-founder of Black Men Build. The conversation will be moderated by Karuna Mantena, Columbia political science.
This public panel is hosted by Columbia World Projects. The discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A. This event is free and open to the public with registration required.
Panelists:
- phillip agnew, Co-Director, Black Men Build
- Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies, Princeton University
- Deva Woodly, Professor of Political Science, Brown University
Moderator:
- Karuna Mantena, Professor of Political Science, Columbia University