On Feb. 19, NSU’s Shepard Broad College of Law, the College of Psychology and the Lifelong Learning Institute will hold the second part of the virtual symposium titled “Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution And Imprisonment.” The symposium aims to examine how the judicial system interacts with the African-American community.
The first part of the symposium took place on Feb. 12 and included an introduction to the symposium and a presentation on the book of the same name edited by Angela J. Davis. Davis attended at the symposium and also served as the moderator for the presentation. The first day of the symposium concluded with a panel on the impact on the system with panelists from local police departments and a state attorney.
The second part of the symposium, occurring from 1:30-4:30 p.m., will be split into three parts featuring a panel and discussion on the impact on society and will conclude with an introduction of the death penalty discussion. The panel will consist of professors from NSU’s College of Psychology and Shepard Broad College of Law, Dale Holness, Broward County Commissioner, and Malik Mustaffa, a representative for the City of Lauderhill Fraternal Order of Police.
The discussion portion includes NSU students Jordana Rostant Nunes, Linda Harris and Alexis Beckford, who are representing the Black Law Students Association, in addition to Debbie Banner, a retired Lauderhill police officer, Ruth Carter-Lynch, CEO of R&R Business and Political Consulting, Bobby Henry, a publisher of the Westside Gazette Newspaper and Jackson Gaspard, Broward County Citizen.
Frank Stewart, a member of the Lifelong Learning Institute advisory council, was able to provide some insight on the purpose of the symposium, “It seems to me this area of equal justice under the law has something that the country’s been talking about and wrestling with for some period of time. This is literally the inscription over the door of the supreme court — ‘equal justice under the law.’ So, this is a topic that we as a society need to wrestle with and what better place to do it than at a university.”
Nunes, who in addition to being one of the discussants of the symposium, is also the president of the Black Law Students Association at NSU, explained the importance behind the symposium.
“The more education people have on what is going on in communities they are not part of, the more they learn, are educated and become aware of maybe even biases that they have themselves that they do not know they possess. To me, the more education and knowledge someone can gain on a culture that’s not theirs the better we all will be,” said Nunes.
Those interested in attending the second part of the symposium can find the registration, along with an event program, on the Shark Fins website or can follow this link.
