Lester Spence

Spence Poster DraftJohns Hopkins University

Trayvon Martin and the Political Imagination

Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.

The murder of Trayvon Martin has captured the nation’s interest. Many have used his murder to examine and complicate our understanding of the contemporary “post-racial moment”. However I suggest that the construction of the Trayvon Martin narrative as well as the resulting political events that stem from it truncate rather than expand our political possibilities. How might we use this tragic event to not only complicate our understanding of what it means to be a citizen in the Obama era, but to take more “personal moral responsibility for democracy” as Ralph Ellison says?

This event is co-sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues, Office of Diversity Initiatives, Office of Institutional and Diversity Initiatives, the Women’s Center and the Department of Sociology.

Sepia MeAbout the Speaker
Link to Lester Spence’s webpage

Video of the Program