BLACK LIVES MATTER

June 5, 2020 – Call for Papers

A message from ICLS on the Antiracism Protests

Racism is not only about bias but also about the institutionalized oppression and sanction for violence against black people and people of color. The faculty and students at the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society join in the nationwide protests against systemic racism, police brutality, and all forms of injustice, past and present, toward African-Americans in the U.S., including the recent killing of George Floyd, David McAtee, Tony McDade,
and Breonna Taylor at the hands of law enforcement officers. The mass movement calls for a global reckoning with racism and its violent histories around the world. There is an urgent demand that racism and white impunity be confronted and eradicated throughout society.

As we mourn the loss of countless black lives, it is time to reflect on the deeper roots of racism and the possibility of radical social transformation. To think critically and rigorously about the emerging conditions of social change, we need new frames of analysis and new modes of intervention. ICLS invites members of our community to contribute writings, interviews, art, photo or video to help redefine the ongoing conversation on antiracism and social change. Please send them to icls@columbia.edu with the subject line “ICLS Voices on Antiracism.”

 

Image: Black Lives Matter Protest, Williamsburg, Brooklyn June 7, 2020, protestor’s shirt reads, “If you take my joy away from me you destroy the beauty of yourself.” Photographed by Joscelyn Jurich, PhD candidate in Communications, Columbia University.



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