October 2022 symposium

Structural Racism in the United States: Engaging the Interstices of Migration, Indigenous Peoples Rights, and the Legacies of Settler Colonialism

October 6-7, 2022
Gasson 100

This 1.5 day symposium泭will泭explore the nature, history, legal, and institutional and societal instantiations of structural racism at three particular sites: struggles for self-determination, claims for reparations, and im/migrants rights claims.


Natsu Taylor Saito

Keynote address

It begins with a 7PM lecture on Thursday, October 6, by泭Natsu泭Taylor Saito,泭Regents' Professor泭Emerita at Georgia State Universitys College of Law, who will frame the泭symposium with a泭lecture entitled泭"Settler Colonialism, Race and泭the Law: Why Structural Racism Persists."泭The lecture is泭also part of the Lowell Humanities Series at Boston College.泭.


All day session

Friday, October泭7

8:30AM - Continental breakfast | 9:00AM-4:30PM - Symposium program

All day session with泭three topical panel presentations followed by a concluding泭panel. Current lineup of presenters and topics on the panels:

9:00AM - Welcome and introduction

9:25AM -Settler Colonialism, Race and Indigenous Survivance and Resistance

Moderator: Nell Jessup Newton, Professor of Law, Interim Dean, Wake Forest University Law School

Panelists:泭

Kyle T. Mays, Associate Professor of African American Studies, American Indian Studies, and History at UCLA.泭

"'When Black people are free, all people will be free: Black Freedom, Indigenous Sovereignty, and the Limits of Reparations Discourse"

Matthew L.M. Fletcher, Harry Burns Hutchins Collegiate Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School

"The Duty of Protection for Indian Tribes"

Strong Oak Lefebvre, MSSA: Executive Director and co-founder of the Visioning B.E.A.R. Circle Intertribal Coalition INC.

"Transforming the Culture of Power: Indigenous Perspectives on accountability and healing trauma and thriving"

10:40AM - Coffee break

11:00AM -泭Structural Racism and Redress

Moderator: Zine Magubane,泭Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Boston College

Panelists:

Thomas Mitchell,泭JD, Professor of Law, Boston College泭

"Shaping Law and Policy to Redress Long-Established Racist Property Regimes"

Rebecca O. Johnson,泭Activist, Author, Grassroots Organizer and Fellow, 2021-22 Alliance for Historical Dialogue & Accountability Fellow,泭Institute for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University

"Movement Memorialization and Redress in Southwest Georgia: Honoring the Southwest Georgia Civil Rights Movement and Documenting Institutional Complicity in Black Land Loss and White Land Theft"泭

Jeffery Robinson,泭JD, Former ACLU Deputy Legal Director; Founder and CEO of the Who We Are泭Project; Jerome Lyle Rappaport Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law and Public Policy, 2022-23, Boston College泭

"Reparations- Neither New nor Impossible"

12:15PM - Lunch

1:15PM -泭Migration, Rights and Reclamations

Moderator:泭Raquel Mu簽iz, Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership & Higher Education, Lynch School of Education & Human Development, and Assistant Professor (by courtesy), School of Law, Boston College

Panelists:

Barbara Sostaita, Assistant Professor, Latin American and Latino Studies, U of Illinois, Chicago

泭"Transnational Longings, Root Causes of Global Migration, and the Right to Stay Home"

Aziz F. Rana, Professor of Law, Cornell University

泭"Settlers and Immigrants in the Formation of U.S. Law"

Robin C. Reineke, Assistant Research Social Scientist, The Southwest Center; Assistant Professor, School of Anthropology University of Arizona; Co-Founder, Colibr穩 Center for Human Rights

"Decolonizing Care at the US-Mexico Border"

2:30PM - coffee break

2:50PM -泭Concluding panel

Panel co-chairs & moderators:泭 CHRIJ co-directors Brinton Lykes, Professor of Community-Cultural Psychology, 51做厙 Lynch School of Education and Human Development; and Daniel Kanstroom, Professor of Law, 51做厙 Law School

Panelists:

Natsu Taylor泭Saito,泭Regents' Professor泭Emerita at Georgia State Universitys College of Law

Kristen Carpenter, Council Tree Professor of Law and American Indian Law Program, University of Colorado

E. Tendayi Achiume,泭Professor of Law, and泭Alicia Mi簽ana Chair in Law, UCLA Law School

Gabrielle Oliveira,泭Jorge Paulo Lemann Associate Professor of Education and of Brazil Studies, Harvard U. Graduate School of Education

4:30PM - End of program


Symposium co-sponsored泭by the 51做厙 African and African Diaspora Studies program.

Continental breakfast and a light lunch to be served.

Recent works of interest from symposium speakers:

Prof. Thomas Mitchell has co-authored a paper that conservatively estimates that the present, compounded value of Black land loss int the US from 1920 to 1997 is roughly $326 billion. Read the paper here:泭

Read press coverage of the paper and its findings here: