Symposium Report: Relations between Community and Police

RELATIONS BETWEEN COMMUNITY & POLICE

A WUU Sponsored Symposium

On October 5th, 2016 WUU members gathered with a crowd of around eighty members of university faculty, staff, students and the public to discuss community and police relations.

We were generously supported by a panel of excellent speakers including:

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Alix Shabaaz – Community Organizer & Freedom Fighter with Freedom Inc.

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Michael Davis – MA Student Department of African American Studies, PhD Student in the School of Education & Community Organizer with Freedom Inc.

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Ajani Carr – Youth Activist & Community Organizer

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David C. Couper – Retired Madison Police Chief, Activist, Clergy, & Poet

We had a most welcome late addition to the program: a guest appearance from Dr. D. Sajnani (Also known as: Professor D., African Cultural Studies), who offered his commentary as well.

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As WUU stands for equity in the work place and our work place is a public university, the issue of Community-Police relations impacts us all. Locally and nationally there have been serious questions raised around Community-Police relations in past years. In this symposium, our speakers directly addressed those questions. They raised concerns regarding the deplorable treatment of people of color in our communities, critiqued the institutions of policing in America, and addressed proposals on how community control over the police may benefit our society.

A most gracious, warm, thank you to all our speakers and all those folks in attendance!