by Holly Briggs

We have all been listening to the news, hearing about police brutality and protests that became violent from a sensational and skewed perspective. What we don’t get from the media are well-reasoned and in-depth discussions of recent events in Baltimore and elsewhere. This week at OSU there important forums discussing social justice issues as well as effective ways to take action.

On Tuesday May 12th, four professors from various departments will be at the Black Cultural Center as apart of a panel to help us all make some sense of the issues and place them within the context of the ongoing national story surrounding racial inequality and direct action. Participating will be, professors Crystal Boson (WGSS), Marisa Chappell (HST), Stacey Smith (HST), and Joseph Orosco (PHL). Each will analyze the situation in a different way, discussing Baltimore’s events in the context of violence and silence of Black women, and in the context of racial inequality and the history of direct action. This event is free and begins at 4:00pm.

Another event to consider is the Science Fiction, Social Justice, and the Radical Imagination Lecture in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center in the Valley Library. This event will examine the ways in which fantasy fiction can inspire the radical imagination to envision the features of a socially just world. After the lecture there is a workshop in the MU Journey room that will use science fiction movies, things like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, to create direct action plans that parallel our world’s need for social justice. This event is also free, the lecture in the library begins at 4:00pm and the workshop begins at 6:00pm in the MU Journey Room.

These forums provide an opportunity for us all to become better informed in order to help continue to effect the change our generation wishes to see in this world.