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Virtual: Global Perspectives on Police Brutality and Social Justice
October 21, 2020 at 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Join the African Studies Center for a virtual panel discussion, ‘Global Perspectives on Police Brutality and Social Justice,’ on Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 3 p.m. EDT.
Recently, videos and photos of citizens’ experiences with the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, commonly called SARS, flooded social media platforms. The graphic footages, particularly, one showing officers allegedly killing a man, led to public outrage culminating to days of online and physical protests. This time, the protests look different. They are growing and organized with a clear and consistent message. Nigerians want policy reform. Underlying the protests is a demand for good governance and representation by its leaders.
The African Studies Center plans to facilitate a conversation on this issue. The dialogue will refer and deconstruct similar global protests like Black Lives Matter and defunding the police in the US. It will reflect and draw parallels to the Arab spring in Egypt, delving into possible implications of government inaction. The goal of the discussion is to examine what this growing movement in Nigeria can mean for the country’s future, highlighting the widely successful Y’en a marre movement in Senegal.
The dialogue seeks to answer the following questions:
Is the contract of policing broken as brutality is deeply embedded in the culture of most units? If so, why and is it due to individual, systemic, or a mix of factors? What are these factors?
The increasing uprisings in several African countries – Mali, Ivory Coast, Guinea, and a few more. Are the underlying contributing factors causing these awakenings and resistance similar?
How can Africans align and support each other in advancing their states? What are the lessons to learn from similar global movements?
The panelists for this event will include: Aisha Yesufu, Activist and Co-Convener, Bring Back Our Girls; Okey Nwanguma, Police Reform & Rule of Law and Human Rights Advocate; Samuel Childs Daly, Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies and Christian Kaunert, Professor of Policing and Security, University of South Wales.
The conversation will be moderated by Ada Umenwaliri, associate director for the African Studies Center at UNC-Chapel Hill.