[inaudible conversations]. Was the executive director of the National Rainbow coalition. She is the author of arbitrary justice, the power of the american prosecutor which one in the wood. Currently davis is a professor of law at American UniversityWashington College of law. She is the editor of policing the black man arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment. Please join me in welcoming angela j. Davis to the Atlanta History Center. [applause] thank you. I want to thank the Atlanta History Center for having me this evening. I want to thank all of you for coming out. It is great to see so many familiar faces. I see people that i know and people i do not know. Im happy to see everyone. So grateful that so many of you want to hear about this issue and talk about this issue. So thank you for being here. I want to start off by just talking a little bit about how this book came about. I was approached about 2 and a half years ago about of essays that would explore and contextualize the many awful killings of unarmed black men and boys. That has occurred in recent years. When i was approached and asked, i seized the opportunity. Because there is 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, it is the issue that keeps me up at night. I thought about who i would ask to join me in this project. I decided to reach out to 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 then and about the essays this evening. 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, freddie gray, walter scott, sam dubose, alton sterling, Philando Castile and Terence Crutcher are just some of the names on a long list of unarmed lack 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 killings. Repeatedly. Millions of people have watched the video of a Police Officer choking eric garner to death as he struggles for air. Similarly, millions of watch 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 evoke feelings of fear, sadness and outrage and serve as a reminder that the lives of black men and boys continued 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 slaves in jamestown in 1619 to the lynchings of the 19th and 20th centuries 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 was opened its doors on september 24 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. Broke on the 14yearold emmett till in 1955, the murder of civil rights activist 1963 and the assassination of Martin Luther king in 1968 all serve as markers on the Civil Rights Movement timeline. As have so many other kinds of black men by white races. Each tragic killing spark nationwide protest 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 bias against black men in the 21st century. Martin was killed by george jimerson, a white man who called the police when he saw George Zimmerman, a woman who called the police when he saw him. He called the police and said he looked suspicious and like he was quote up to no good were on drugs or something. Ignoring the dispatchers warning that he should not follow martin, zimmerman ultimately shot and killed him. Martin was unharmed and was on his way back to his Fathers House after buying snacks at a local Convenience Store. Initially zimmerman was not charged with a crime. But after nationwide protest he was charged with martins murder. A jury ultimately acquitted him. The killing of Trayvon Martin, the initial failure of the prosecutor to charge George Zimmerman with a crime and is 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. Martin skilling 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 at the martin skilling. 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 occurred after Police Officers arguably engaged in racial profiling. Stopping and harassing these men were no explainable reason other than the color of their skin. If all of the cases where black men were shot and killed officers claimed 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. But this also inspired the contributing authors to think about all of the way that black men are police in the broad sense of the word. Heavily and harshly at every step of the criminal process. In fact, black men are police and treated worse than their similarly situated white counterparts at every step of the criminal Justice System. Morass 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 charged black men more frequently and with more serious crimes than white men who engage in the same behavior. And they are disproportionate numbers of black men in the nations prisons and jails. Criminal defendants regardless of their race, our punished less harshly when the 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. Many people have asked, why black men . Why are you focusing on black men . Are there other people in the criminal justice stem . That are not well or treated poorly. And the answer to that is yes. So how when i asked that question . Black men are not the only people of color to be treated worse than their similarly situated 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. And people that are gay, lesbian and or transgender. This book focuses on black men and in no way trivializes the experiences of all people who base these harms. While acknowledging the 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 arrested at schools in the United States and referred to the juvenile Justice System are black and hispanic. While black students represent only 60 percent of student enrollment, they represent 27 percent of students referred to Law Enforcement and 31 percent of students subjected to school arrest. Black male students alone make up 18 percent of all referrals and arrests. Black men are disproportionately arrested. Africanamericans are 2. 5 times more likely to be arrested than whites. 49 percent of black men, almost half, can expect to be arrested at least once by the time they are age 23. Black men are more likely to be killed or injured during a police encounter. While more whites are killed by Law Enforcement than people of color, africanamericans are killed in 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 percent of the prison population in the United States. 35 percent. And by the end of 2015, black men constituted 34 percent of the american prison population. In 2015, 5165 and 100,000 black men ages 5 25 through 29 were imprisoned as compared to 2165 hispanic men and 921 white men of the same age, remarkably, the number of black men in prison or jail or on probation or on parole by the end of 2009 berkeley both the number and slave in 1850. One and three black men born in 2001, one and three, can expect to be incarcerated in his lifetime. Blacks are also disproportionately sentenced to death. As of 2014, the National Death row population is approximately 42 percent black. Of the overall black population it is only 13. 6 percent. So this anthology focuses on the plight of black men and boys. The extraordinarily disproportionate mistreatment of black boys and men 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 both which was about the prosecution black men and talk to you about why i think that issue is so important. Just briefly, ill say the titles and hopefully it will inspire you to want to pick up the book and read it. The first essay is called a presumption of guilt. The legacy of americas history of racial injustice. It was written by bryan stevenson. The second is Racial Disparity in criminal justice by transport many of you know who he is. A remarkable hero of mine. The third essays called boyz ii men, the role of policing the socialization of black boys. Written by professor kristin of georgetown. I will tell you all this as they almost did not make it to the book because it was so focused on black men and then, after talking to chris, is one of the nations top leading experts on the juvenile Justice System, i realized while we have to talk about black boys, the chapter is remarkable because black boys are treated worse in the system than blackman peers as pretty revealing. Next is racial profiling the law and that policy and the practice ram by professor rence in the university maryland. Racial profiling is housed for killing start and many may have heard of implicit bias. Is it the necklace to all of these essays and is at the root of so many of these killings and well talk a bit about that tonight. It was written by professor Catherine Russell brown of the university of florida for the next chapter is called policing a model for the 21st century by professors tracy mears and tom tyler. Professor mears served on president obamas task force on policing in the 21st century. The next chapters my own chapter, is called the prosecution of black men. I will talk about that a little tonight. Then, the grand jury and Police Violence against black men by professor roger fairfax. A lot of people are introduced to the grand jury after ferguson when they realized the Police Officer would not be indicted. So professor fairfax explains the history of the grand jury. It reveals something that would probably very surprising to many of you who witnessed what happened with a lot of these Police Officers. Very different from ordinary systems with the grand jury. The next step is called elected prosecutors and Police Accountability by professor ron right. I focus a lot on left in good progressive prosecutors and that chapter will be reviewing. I will talk about how prosecutors are elected. The next chapter is called due black lives matter to the court . It was written by Sherrilyn Ifill who is the director counts of the naacp defense and Educational Fund and also by who coauthored this was a staff attorney talking about the law and the history of the law. It will reveal a lot about this. When the courts are not exactly friendly to claims of discrimination anymore and other issues. The final chapters of poverty, violence and black incarceration by Jeremy Travis and bruce so those are the essays. I want to spend the remainder of my time for opening up the question talking about my own contribution to the volume which is called the prosecution of black men. Also at this 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 that is a question i get and im not sure know the answer but we would like to explore and talk about what i think some of the issues are. A bit about my chapter, kate mentioned that i spend a lot of my time writing about prosecutors. And i have. The reason for that is that prosecutors actually the most powerful officials in our criminal Justice System. And it has always been a lot of focus on Police Officers and likely so, we know this should be a focus given all that has been going on. And by the way, you know, just to stress and i mentioned this before, the killings of black men did not start with Trayvon Martin. This has been going on since slavery. So this chapter lays it out and explains it so well. Five, and of course this should be a focus on Police Officers. These officers have a term of this amount of power and discretion on the street to stop people, search them and the law is a very easy for them to do that. But i think people should focus also on prosecutors. I do not think people have been focusing on them a lot. They are the most powerful officials in our criminal Justice System. Police officers absolutely have a lot of power to stop people on the streets. Search them, frisk them, arrest them. The Police Officers can only bring people to the courthouse door. It is the prosecutor he decides whether they remain entrenched in the system and end up with a criminal record and all of that. The prosecutor has so much to do with that. And that is because, of the two powers that they have, the charging decision and the plea bargaining. Those two decisions made by prosecutors almost predete