‘Policing and Race in Post-Ferguson America’ conversation continues Nov. 2

October 29, 2015 | Events, UToday, Law
By Rachel Phipps



Heather Mac Donald, the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor at the City Journal, will deliver the second lecture in a two-part series titled “A Conversation on Policing and Race in Post-Ferguson America” Monday, Nov. 2, at noon in the Law Center McQuade Law Auditorium.

The free, public lecture is a part of the Stranahan National Issues Forum and is sponsored by the College of Law and its chapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.

Mac Donald

Mac Donald

Since the events in Ferguson, Mo., last year, Americans have seen a steady stream of incidents replayed in video images: the death of Eric Garner in a police chokehold in New York, the killing of a fleeing Walter Scott by a North Charleston police officer, and the death in police custody of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, to name a few.

These incidents and others have raised uncomfortable questions about policing in this country. Is American policing infected with racism? Have police gone too far in their willingness to use force? How can we ensure that policing is performed effectively, but also fairly and impartially?
Mac Donald will argue that police departments are the government agencies most dedicated to the proposition that black lives matter by explaining the policing revolution of the 1990s and looking at race, crime and policing statistics.

Her work at City Journal has canvassed a range of topics, including homeland security, immigration, policing and racial profiling, homelessness and homeless advocacy, and educational policy. Her writings also have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The New Republic. She is a frequent guest on FOX News, CNN, and other television and radio programs.

thMac Donald is the author of several books. Her second book titled Are Cops Racist? (2003) investigates the workings of the police, racial profiling, and the anti-profiling lobby’s harmful effects on black Americans. She has frequently testified before Congress.

Mac Donald holds a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University, a master of arts degree from Cambridge University, and a law degree from Stanford University Law School.

In the first lecture Sept. 10, David Harris, who has studied police and their conduct for 25 years, and who has worked with and trained police in departments all over the country, offered his thoughts on racial profiling and various means available to curb police misconduct. He is the Distinguished Faculty Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Harris taught at The University of Toledo College of Law through 2007, where he was the Eugene Balk Professor of Law and Values.

The Stranahan National Issues Forum is a joint program of The University of Toledo College of Law and its chapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. It is made possible by an endowment from the Stranahan Foundation.

The forum’s purpose is to address issues of national importance through the lens of the American legal system.

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