Currents in Conversation: Race, Racism, and Immigration

Reprinted with permission from the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies

Since the beginning of his tenure, President Trump has actively targeted immigrants through executive orders, calls to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and, most recently, incendiary comments referring to nations in the African diaspora as “s***hole countries.” Amid the bombastic rhetoric and unconstitutional executive orders, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have detained immigrants in record numbers. According to The New York Times, “the agency arrested more than 28,000 ‘non-criminal immigration violators’ between Jan. 22 and Sept. 2, a nearly threefold increase over the same period in 2016.” In recent weeks, ICE has also targeted immigrants’ rights activists detaining Ravi Ragbir and Amer Othman Adi, and deporting Jean Montrevil and Jorge Garcia.

In light of these events, the Woodson Institute reprises its occasional “Currents in Conversation” series on January 22^nd 2018 in Minor Hall 125 at 7:00 pm with a forum entitled “Race, Racism, and Immigration.” The Currents in Conversation fora are designed to explore issues and topics dominating the headlines, airwaves, and social media platforms with implications for the study of race. The January 22^nd panel will situate the recent comments and events in the research and expertise of University of Virginia faculty working in Africa, Haiti, and the U.S.

Panelists

“Of Trump and S***holes”

Robert Fatton Jr., Julia A. Cooper Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs, Department of Politics, UVA. Fatton is a native of Haiti and is the author of the Jacobin article “Killing Haitian Democracy.”

“Haiti and the US Political Imaginary”

Marlene L. Daut, Associate Professor of African American and American Studies, UVA. Daut is the co-creator and co-editor of H-Net Commons’ digital platform, H-Haiti.

“Recognizing Race and Power in America’s Discourse on Migration”

Sabrina Pendergrass, Assistant Professor of Sociology and African American and African Studies.  Pendergrass’ research and teaching interests include race, inequality, internal migration, cultural sociology, and the U.S. South.

“African Respectability Politics as Politics of White Appeasement”

Kwame E. Otu, Assistant Professor of African American Studies. Otu’s research transects issues of sexual citizenship, gender, human rights NGOs, and neoliberal racial formations in postcolonial Africa.

Join the Carter G. Woodson Institute at 125 Minor Hall on Monday, January 22, 2018 at 7:00pm to hear the panelists in Currents in Conversation: Race, Racism, and Immigration.