They will start to fill in, and please be nice and show them where there are seats available. Tonight is an elson lecture, and we thank our sponsor, ambassador and mrs. Edward elson, for supporting this program. Tonight angela j. Davis just to be really clear, this is angela j. Davis for anyone who is confused, okay . [laughter] shes going to be talking, shes the editor of policing the black man arrests, prosecution and imprisonment, which she will be discussing this evening. She is, throughout her career as a lawyer, author and professor, angela j. Davis has dedicated her efforts to studying and bettering the criminal Justice System in america, particularly as it relates to prosecutional power and racism within the system. Tonights program is being broadcast for cspan, so this will probably show up in about a week. But that does mean that if you have a question, you should go to the microphone to ask it. And i forgot to say that, so now im going to go back to her bio, but i wanted to make sure that i got that in. She, angela davis is, she was a d. C. Public defender and was the executive director of the National Rainbow coalition. Shes the author of arbitrary justice the power of the american prosecutor, which won the Pauline Moore award. Currently, shes professor of law at Washington College of law at american university. She is editor of policing the black man. Please join me in welcoming angela j. Davis to the Atlanta History Center. [applause] thank you, kate. And i want to thank the Atlanta History Center for having me this evening, and i want to thank all of you for coming out. Great to see so many familiar faces. I see people i know and people i dont know. Im happy to see everyone and so grateful that so many of you want to hear about this issue and talk about this issue. So thank you so much for being here. I want to start out by just talking a little bit about how this book came about. I was approached about two and a half years ago about doing a collection of essays that would explore and contextualize the many awful killings of unarmed black men and boys that have occurred in recent years. And when i was approached and asked, i seized the opportunity. Because theres no issue more important to me than the unfair treatment of black and brown people in the criminal Justice System in america today. In fact, its the issue that keeps me up at night. I thought about who i would ask to join me in this project, and i decided to reach out to the authors, lawyers, scholars, advocates and activists who have been teaching and writing about, litigating, advocating and agitating and in many instances living this issue. And i was really fortunate that so many of them said yes. So i really want to just take this opportunity to thank them, the many authors that contributed to this project. And im going to tell you a little bit about them and about the essays this evening. But the first thing i want to do is read a brief excerpt from the books introduction that i hope will give you a sense of what the book is about. Why this book and why now. Michael brown, eric garner, tamir rice, walter scott, freddie gray, sam dubose,alton sterling, Philando Castile and Terence Crutcher are just some of the names on a long list of unarmed black boys and men who were killed by Police Officers in recent years. Although black men have been the victims of violence at the hands of the state since the time of slavery, technology and social media now permit us to literally bear witness to many of these killings repeated hi. Repeatedly. Millions of people have watched the video of a Police Officer choking eric garner to death as he struggled for air. Similarly, millions have watched the video of a Police Officer shooting walter scott in the back as he ran for his life. Who can ever forget the grainy footage of tamir rice, the 12yearold boy who was shot by a Police Officer while he played alone with a toy gun in a park near his home. Two videos, one from a Police Helicopter and another from a Police Dashboard camera, show Terence Crutcher walking away from Police Officers with his hands raised high in the air just before he was shot and killed. These images have evoked feelings of fear, sadness and outrage and serve as a reminder that the lives of black men and boys continue to be devalued and destroyed with impunity at the hands of the state. To date, not one of the Police Officers who killed these men and boys have been convicted of a single crime. From the arrival of the first in jamestown in 1619 to the present day, black boys and men have been unlawfully killed by those who were sworn to uphold the law and by vigilantes who took the law into their own hands. The National Museum of africanamerican history and culture which owned its doors on september 24th, 2016, includes exhibits that tell the story of many of these killings. Yet these killings are not just a part of africanamerican history. They have continued well into the 21st century, almost 400 years after the beginning of slavery, and persist with remarkable frequency and brutality during a time when america elected its first africanamerican president. Many of these racebased killings have inspired and reinvigorated movements for change. The brutal killing of 14yearold emmett till in mississippi in 1955, the murder of civil rights activist medgar evers in 1963 and the assassination of Martin Luther king in 1968 all serve as markers on the Civil Rights Movement timeline as so many other killings of black men by white racists. Each tragic killing sparked nationwide protests and renewed activism in the struggle for civil rights and Racial Justice in the United States. The killing of 17yearold Trayvon Martin in 2012 was a pivotal marker of racial violence against black men in the 21st century. Martin was killed by george zimmerman, a white man who called the police when he saw martin walking in his neighborhood. Zimmerman, a member of a neighborhood crime watch group, reported to the police that martin looked suspicious and that he looked like he was, quote, up to no good or on drugs or something, unquote. Ignoring the dispatchers warning that he should not follow martin, zimmerman ultimately shot and killed him. Martin was unarmed and was on his way back to his Fathers House after buying snacks at a local Convenience Store. Initially, zimmerman was not even charged with a crime, but after nationwide protests he was charged with martins murder. A jury ultimately acquitted him. The killing of Trayvon Martin, the initial failure of the prosecutor to charge zimmerman with a crime and zimmermans ultimate acquittal captured the attention of the nation. President obama even weighed in stating, quote Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago, unquote. Martins killing also inspired the phrase black lives matter. The phrase trended on twitter and all forms of social media and was displayed on posters carried in protest after martins killing and after every killing of a black man or woman by a Police Officer from that day forward. Black lives matter ultimately became a social Justice Movement with chapters throughout the United States and canada. Many unarmed black men and boys have been killed since Trayvon Martins tragic death five years ago. Many of the killings to occurred after Police Officers arguably engaged in racial profiling, stopping and harassing these men for no explainable reason other than the color of their skin. In all of the cases where black men were shot and killed, the officers claimed they had, that they felt threatened even though the men were unarmed and often running away or retreating. In almost all of the cases, the Police Officers were never arrested or charged with a crime. The tragic killings of Trayvon Martin, michael brown, eric garner, walter scott, tamir rice, freddie gray and others served as the catalyst for this anthology, but these killings also inspired the contributing authors to think about all of the ways that black men are policed in the broad sense of the word, heavily and harshly at every step of the criminal process. In fact, black men are policed and treated worse than their similarlysituated white counterparts at every step of the criminal Justice System from arrest through sentencing. These unwarranted disparities exist whether black men are charged with crimes or are victims of crimes. Police officers stop, search and arrest black men far more frequently than white men engaged in the same behavior. Prosecutors charge black men more frequently and with more serious crimes than white men who engaging in the same behavior. And there are disproportionate numbers of black men in the nations prisons and jails. Criminal defendants, regardless of their race, are punished less harshly when their victims are black men. This anthology explores and explains the policing of black men from slavery to the present day and at every stage of the criminal process and beyond. Now, many people have asked why black men, why are you focusing on black men . Arent there other people in the criminal Justice System who are treated not well or treated poorly . And the answer to that is, yes. So how would i answer that question . Black men are not the only people of color to be treated worse than their similarlysituated white counterparts at every step of the criminal process. Black women, latina women, latino men, native americans and other people of color also experience violence at the hands of the state and discriminatory treatment in the criminal Justice System, as do people who are gay, lesbian and or transgerund. This book focused on transgender. This books focus in no way trivializes the experiences of all people who face these harms. While acknowledging that other groups have been and continue to be oppressed and discriminated against, this book focuses on black men. In many ways, the experience of black men in the criminal Justice System is unique. The most noticeable difference is that they are impacted more adversely than any other demographic in the United States. At every step of the process. Black boys are disproportionately arrested and detained. Black boys are more likely to be referred to the juvenile Justice System than any other children. Over half of the students a arrested at school in the United States and referred to the juvenile Justice System are black and hispanic. And while black students represent only 16 of student enrollment, they represent 27 of students dealt with by Law Enforcement. Black male students alone make up 18 of all referrals and arrests. Black men are disproportion nately arrested. Africanamericans are 2. 5 times more likely to be arrested than whites and 49 of black men almost half can expect to be arrested at least once by age 23. Black men are more likely to be kill or injured during a police encounter. While more whites are killed by Law Enforcement than people of color, africanamericans are killed at a disproportionate rate. In fact, black men are 21 times more likely to be killed by police than white men. Black men are disproportionately imprisoned and receive longer sentences. Africanamericans make up approximately 35 of the prison population in the United States, 35 . And by the end of 2015, black men constituted 34 of the american prison population. In 2015 5,165 in 100,000 black men ages 2529 were imprisoned as compared to 2,165 hispanic men and 921 white men of the same age. Remarkably, the number of black men in prison or jail on probation or on parole by the end of 2009 roughly equaled the number enslaved in 1850. One in three black men borning in 2001, one in three, can expect to be incarcerated in his lifetime. Blacks are also disproportionately sentenced the death. As of 2014, the National Death row population was approximately 42 black. The overall black population is only 13. 6 . So for all of those reasons, this anthology focuses on the plight of black men and boys. The extraordinarily disproportionate mistreatment of black men and boys at every step of the criminal process is explored in depth in this book. As the essays make clear, the issues and problems are complex as are the solutions. The authors that i invited to join me in this project are scholars, lawyers and activists who have studied and in some instances personally experienced the phenomenon about which they write. So in their essays, they examine and explain the policing of black men. I want to tell you a little bit about the essays, and then i want to talk about my own essay, my own contribution to the book which is about the prosecution of black men and talk to you about why i think that issue is important. So just briefly ill tell you the titles and, hopefully, they will inspire you to want to pick up book and read it. The first essay is called a presumption of guilt the legacy of americas history of injustice. And it was written by brian stephenson. The second is by mark mower, the held of the sentencing project in the head of the sentencing project in d. C. I heard some of you comment, so you know who brian is. Remarkable hero of mine who runs the equal justice initiative. The third essay is called boys to men the role of policing and the socialization of black boys written by professor Kristin Henning of georgetown. And this, i will tell you all, this essay almost didnt make it to the book because i was so focused on black men, and after talking to kris whos one of the nations top leading experts on the juvenile Justice System, i realized, wow, of course we have to talk about black boys, and that chapter is remarkable because actually black boys are treated worse in the system than black men. So that essay is pretty revealing. The next one is called racial profiling the law, the policy and the practice, written by professor Renee Mcdonald hutch especially of the university of hutchens of maryland. It explains that. The next chapter is black men and the police making implicit bias explicit. I know many of you may have heard about implicit bias. Its a theme that goes through all of these essays, and its at the root of so many of these killings, and ill talk a bit about that tonight. It was written by professor Katherine Russell brown, university of florida. The next chapters called policing a model for the 2 isst century, by professors tracy mears and tom tyler. Professor mears served on president obamas task force on policing in the 21st century. The next chapter is my own chapter, its called the prosecution of black men. Im going to talk about that a little bit tonight. Then the grand jury and Police Violence against black men by professor roger fairfax. A lot of people were introduced to the grand jury after ferguson when they realized that the Police Officer wouldnt be indicted, so professor fairfax explains the whole history of the grand jury and reveals some things that will probably be very surprising to many of you who witnessed what happened with a lot of these Police Officers. Very different for ordinary citizens with the grand jury. The next chapter is called elected prosecutors and Police Accountability by professor ron wright. I focus a lot on electing good, progressive prosecutors, and that chapter will be revealing when it talks about how prosecutors are elected. And the next chapter is called do black lives matter to the courts, and it was written by cher lin i fill who is the counselor of the naacp Defense Educational Fund and also a staff attorney there. Talks about the law and the history of the law, and well reveal a lot about why its so difficult, why the courts are not exactly friendly to claims of discrimination anymore and many other issues x. The final chapters called poverty, violence and black incarceration by Jeremy Travis and bruce western. So those are the essays. And i want to spend the remainder of my time before opening it up for questions talking about my own contribution to the volume which is called the prosecution of black men. And also, if theres time, a little bit about these killings and, you know, how is it, why is it, how could it be that these Police Officers have not been held accountable. I think thats a question i get, and im not sure i know the answer but would like to explore and talk about what i think some of the issues are. But a bit about my chapter, kate mentioned that ive spent a lot of my time writing about prosecutors, and i have. And the reason for that is that prosecutors are actually the most powerful officials in our criminal Justice System. Theres always been a lot of focus