Black Faculty and Staff Group to sponsor roundtable discussion on race, speech, and place

Skidmore's Black Faculty and Staff Group will host a roundtable discussion titled “Race, Speech, and Place” at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 26, in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall. Participating faculty are Kristie Ford, sociology; Richard Kim, American studies; and Joshua Woodfork, American studies. Admission is free and open to the public.

According to Woodfork, the event was prompted by the recent Don Imus controversy, the rape case involving the Duke University lacrosse players, and the tragedy at Virginia Tech. He said, "The roundtable will contextualize and historicize larger media and popular culture trends toward people of color, specifically African Americans."

"We will talk about contemporary representations and think about how this relates to public policy, laws, and power."

The goal is to encourage the audience to consider issues of free speech, individual and group identity, media trends, and the role of race in society.

Kim has written about the Don Imus affair in a blog he contributes to The Nation.