Social Justice

In honor of MLK Day, the UW asked Black students, staff, and faculty to respond to the prompt, “What does MLK Day mean to you in 2021?”

Activist and educator Jesse Hagopian and several other Black Washingtonians who witnessed the day’s events through computer or TV screens described frustration, hurt and anger at the contrast in police response to a mob overtaking the Capitol compared to their own and other Black Americans’ experiences with police. Alexes Harris, professor of sociology at the UW, is quoted.

As the mob scenes of Trump supporters rioting at the U.S. Capitol unfolded, so did conversations about another familiar scene — from Black Lives Matters events. Jake Grumbach, assistant professor of political science at the UW, is interviewed.

Battles of grammar, for the most part, play out in English classrooms and in the pages of style guides. Rarely do arguments over split infinitives and Oxford commas venture beyond the walls of academia. But one linguistic phenomenon lands in the limelight every so often, and it’s a word you know well: the pronoun “they” — along with its derivatives “them” and “their.” Kirby Conrod, a lecturer in linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

“Humanities Washington convened an interesting and provocative online discussion about controversial public monuments and ways we might think about whether they remain as is, whether they should be reinterpreted given today’s understanding or whether there are cases in which they should be moved to private settings,” writes Rufus Woods, publisher emeritus of The Wenatchee World. Josh Reid, associate professor of American Indian studies at the UW, is quoted.

The National Archives building in Seattle is slated for sale, a move that could deprive Indigenous people in the Pacific Northwest of access to critical documents. Josh Reid, associate professor of American Indian studies at the UW, is quoted.

UW researchers found a run-in with police is much more devastating for Black children than it is for white kids. Annie McGlynn-Wright, who did the research while pursuing her doctorate in sociology at the UW, is interviewed.

Twenty moments from a year like no other — captured through the lenses of UW photographers.

Steve Herbert, the Mark Torrance Professor in Law Societies & Justice, recorded a riveting podcast about the Oregon State Penitentiary and the inmates housed there.

In late May, just a few days after the killing of George Floyd, a group of Seattle theater leaders met on Zoom to talk about what they should do. They were beginning a process to overhaul the entire ecology of their field, at every level — casting, staffing, fundraising, boards, tech crews, audiences, everything — and inject anti-racism into its DNA. Valerie Curtis-Newton, professor of directing and acting at the UW, is quoted.

Some hope is on the horizon this week with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. Of course, it’s not a silver bullet in this pandemic. Certain groups of people remain especially vulnerable. They include detainees at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. A report by the UW Center for Human Rights is mentioned.

Politicians have long used earmarks for police budgets as a way to make cannabis legalization more digestible to opponents. New Jersey's attempt to legalize in 2020 shows that is no longer working. Michele Cadigan, a doctoral student in sociology at the UW, is quoted.

Annie McGlynn-Wright, sociology PhD graduate, explains the results of a new study she worked on exploring the consequences of early interactions between police and Black youth.

The 2020 census has been subject to court fights, shifting deadlines and pandemic-related process adjustments. Sara Curran, director of the UW Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology, explains the developments with this year’s count.

Victoria Lawson, professor in the Department of Geography, director of the Honors Program, and adjunct professor of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies discusses social care and racial justice.