The university’s Conversations on Race and Policing series resumes in October with four programs with the authors of newly published books, beginning with a presentation by Rahim Kurwa, author of "Indefensible Spaces: Policing and the Struggle for Housing," beginning at noon, Wednesday, Oct. 8.
All programs will be listed on the Conversations on Race and Policing Zoom page and will be begin at noon.
Kurwa, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will discuss his new book, which examines the policing of housing through the story of Black community building in the Antelope Valley, Los Angeles County's northernmost community.
Also scheduled:
Oct. 15, Stefan M. Bradley, author of "If We Don't Get It: A People's History of Ferguson." Bradley is the Charles Hamelton Houston ’15 Professor of Black Studies and History, and chair of the Department of Black Studies, at Amherst College in Massachusetts. His latest book focuses on the 2014 police killing of Black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and the protest movement that sprang from it. This program will be moderated by Marc A. Robinson, CSUSB associate professor of history.
Oct. 22, Alec Karakatsanis, author of "Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News." Karakatsanis, founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps, will discuss his latest book, which describes “Copaganda” as “a special kind of propaganda employed by police, prosecutors, and news media. It stokes fear of police-recorded crime and distorts society’s responses to it. As the United States incarcerates five times more people per capita than it did in 1970 — despite record low crime rates — a sprawling and profitable punishment bureaucracy spends a lot of time and money to manipulate what we think that bureaucracy does and why.”
Oct. 29, Menika Dirkson, author of "Hope and Struggle in the Policed City: Black Criminalization and Resistance in Philadelphia." Dirkson, associate professor of history and geography at Morgan State University in Maryland, wrote about her hometown of Philadelphia, in which she “"explores how concerns about poverty-induced Black crime cultivated by police, journalists, and city officials sparked a rise in tough-on-crime policing in Philadelphia." The book received an Honorable Mention in 2025 in the Joe Trotter First Book Award category, given by the Urban History Association.
Nov. 12, Brianna Nofil, author of “The Migrant’s Jail: An American History of Mass Incarceration.” Nofil is an assistant professor of history at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Her book examines “how a century of political, economic, and ideological exchange between the immigration bureaucracy and the criminal justice system gave rise to the U.S.’ vast immigration detention system, and how the federal government relied on sheriffs, police, and local governments to make mass deportations possible.” Included in the accolades “The Migrant’s Jail” has earned are the Frederick Jackson Turner Award and the Ellis Hawley Prize from the Organization of American Historians.
The Conversations on Race and Policing program began after the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, and its aftermath. Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer, triggering extensive protests, demands for systemic reform in policing, and profound dialogues on race and racism. This also led to the inception of Cal State San Bernardino’s Conversations on Race and Policing, abbreviated as CoRP.
In subsequent court cases, three other former Minneapolis police officers implicated in Floyd’s death were given prison sentences.
The series has featured scholars, journalists, law enforcement officers, lawyers, activists, artists, educators, administrators and others from throughout the nation who shared their experience and expertise on issues related to race and policing.
Since then June 2020, 132 forums have taken place since, and video recordings of the sessions are posted online on the Conversations on Race and Policing Lecture Series Archive.
The series organizers are Amber Broaden (CSUSB and CSU Dominguez Hills, psychology), Stan Futch (president, Westside Action Group), Michael German (Brennan Center for Justice), Robie Madrigal (Pfau Library), Jeremy Murray (CSUSB professor of history), Matt Patino (Crafton Hills College adjunct faculty) and Mary Texeira (CSUSB professor of sociology, emeritus), with support from Project Rebound at CSUSB.
For more information, contact Madrigal at rmadriga@csusb.edu or Murray at jmurray@csusb.edu.
Also visit the Conversations on Race and Policing webpage.