CSUSB alumnus to speak at the next Conversations on Race and Policing

Daniel Gascón, a Cal State San Bernardino alumnus (criminal justice BA ’05, criminal justice MA ’07), will be the featured speaker at the next Conversations on Race and Policing, set for 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2, on Zoom.

Gascón, who is making his second appearance in the series, will speak on “The Limits of Community Policing: Civilian Power and Police Accountability in Black and Brown Los Angeles,” presented by the CSUSB John M. Pfau Library. The talk can be accessed from a PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android at https://csusb.zoom.us/j/97960458784.

This will be the 14th event in the series that began in June.

Gascón is currently an assistant professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He co-authored, with Aaron Roussell, the book, “The Limits of Community Policing: Civilian Power and Police Accountability in Black and Brown Los Angeles (NYU Press, 2019),” which examines the Los Angeles Police Department’s community policing initiatives stemming from the 1992 riots after the acquittal of LA Police Department officers in the beating of Rodney King.

Drawing from more than 60 interviews with officers, residents and stakeholders in South LA’s “Lakeside” precinct, “The Limits of Community Policing” astutely illuminates how police tactics amplified—rather than resolved—racial tensions, complicating partnership efforts, crime response and prevention, and accountability.

Gascón was previously on the July 1 conversation panel, “Conversations on Race and Policing (5), CSUSB Panel Presentation and Discussion.”

The ongoing Conversations on Race and Policing series, now in its 14th week, is hosted by CSUSB students Marlo Brooks and Yvette Relles-Powell.

The series is organized by CSUSB faculty members Marc Robinson (history), Mary Texeira (sociology) and Jeremy Murray (history), and Robie Madrigal, public affairs/communication specialist for the CSUSB John M. Pfau Library.

Conversations on Race and Policing began in the aftermath of the May 25 death of George Floyd while in the custody of four Minneapolis, Minn., police officers. A video of the incident posted on social media has led to widespread protests, the firing of four police officers, the arrest of one officer on a second-degree murder charge, the other three on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder – and a spotlight worldwide on race and policing.

Previous forums also are posted online (more recordings will soon be available for viewing):

• “Race and Policing, A Panel Presentation and CSUSB Campus Conversation” on June 3,
• “Conversations on Race and Policing (2), CSUSB Panel Presentation and Discussion” on June 10,
• “Conversations on Race and Policing (3), CSUSB Panel Presentation and Discussion” on June 17,
• “Conversations on Race and Policing (4), CSUSB Panel Presentation and Discussion” on June 24,
• “Conversations on Race and Policing (5), CSUSB Panel Presentation and Discussion” on July 1,
• “Conversations on Race and Policing (6), CSUSB Panel Presentation and Discussion” on July 8,
• Conversations on Race and Policing (7), CSUSB Panel Presentation and Discussion, on July 15,
• Conversations on Race and Policing (8), CSUSB Panel Presentation and Discussion, on July 22,
• Conversations on Race and Policing (9), CSUSB Panel Presentation and Discussion, on July 29, and
• Conversations on Race and Policing (10), CSUSB Panel Presentation and Discussion, on Aug. 5, which discusses in detail what “defunding” and “abolishing” police mean, beyond the political rhetoric, with Alex S. Vitale, author and professor of sociology at Brooklyn College, coordinator of the college’s Policing and Social Justice Project, and author of “The End of Policing."

On June 16 the College of Arts and Letters presented “Structural Racism, Civil Disobedience, and the Road to Racial Justice in the Age of COVID-19,” which is also posted on YouTube.

The university’s June 9 memorial for Floyd also focused on the Black Lives Matter movement.

And, related to the university’s conversations series, Netflix is making the 2016 Ava DuVernay film, “13th,” available for free on its YouTube channel. Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, director Ava DuVernay’s examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country’s history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America.

For more information, contact Robie Madrigal at rmadriga@csusb.edu or Jeremy Murray at jmurray@csusb.edu.