September 29, 2015, 7:00pm
Wheeler Auditorium
Enoch Pratt Free Library
400 Cathedral Street, Baltimore
In the wake of the killing of Freddie Gray and the subsequent uprising, many media outlets focused on tired stereotypes about black criminality rather than the years of oppression that sparked the protests. Rashad Robinson, executive director of ColorOfChange, and Stacey Patton, reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education, will talk about how dehumanizing media coverage can reinforce bias and negatively impact black communities. Joseph Torres, senior external affairs director of the Free Press, will moderate.
Rashad Robinson serves as executive director of ColorOfChange, the nation’s largest online civil rights organization. Since 2005, ColorOfChange has been a leading force in holding government and corporations accountable to black people and advancing visionary solutions for building a just society.
From fighting for justice for Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Renisha McBride and Trayvon Martin to battling attempts to suppress the Black vote and helping shape the successful strategy in the fight to protect a free and open Internet, ColorOfChange has been at the forefront of the most critical civil rights issues of this century.
Stacey Patton is a reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Her coverage areas include adjuncts, career outcomes for Ph.D.’s, diversity among doctoral students in science, technology, engineering, and math fields, and students navigating the graduate-school experience.
Before joining The Chronicle, Patton was a senior editor and writer for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Patton has also reported for The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun, and has contributed articles and editorials to The New York Times, Newsday, and the NAACP’s magazine, Crisis.
As senior external affairs director of Free Press, Joseph Torres advocates in Washington to ensure that our nation’s media policies serve the public interest and builds coalitions to broaden the movement’s base. Joseph writes frequently on media and Internet issues and is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media. Joseph also serves on the board of the Center for Media Justice and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. Before joining Free Press, Joseph worked as deputy director of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and was a journalist for several years.
This event is part of OSI-Baltimore’s Talking About Race Series, co-sponsored by the Enoch Pratt Free Library, which continues to explore the many facets of this complex subject.
This series is funded in part with gifts from The Vernon A. Reid Charitable Fund and the Sheela Murthy Law Firm.
