#ScholarStrike for Racial Justice
I made a video for the AACC #ScholarStrike Conference, part of the Scholar Strike for Racial Justice organized by Anthea Butler and Kevin Gannon. The video focuses on the intersection of ableism and racism in the cases of Neli Latson and Matthew Rushin.
- Click here to download the PowerPoint with live links and image descriptions.
- Click here to download the transcript.
The same day I posted this, the first day of Scholar Strike, Salt Lake City police shot an unarmed 13-year-old autistic boy and the Rochester chief of police stepped down amid protests over the murder of Daniel Prude, another neurodivergent Black man in crisis.
The video above provides some starting points, but the urgency of this moment demands more. That’s why I’m going back to the work of Kerima Çevik, parent activist for neurodiversity and disability justice, thinking about how the calls to action I offer above aren’t enough, and what else we can and must do to stop police brutality against disabled people of color.
I invite you to do the same. Click here to read Çevik’s interview with Leroy Moore on why police crisis and disability training fails and what else communities can do to reduce police involvement and increase supports for autistic people and other disabled folks.
References
Associated Press. (2020). Police shoot Utah 13-year-old with autism after mother calls for crisis intervention. Retrieved from https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/national-international/police-shoot-utah-13-year-old-with-autism-after-mother-calls-for-crisis-intervention/2425093/?_osource=SocialFlowTwt_LABrand.
Moore, L. (2016). Mother/activist Kerima Çevik, tells why police crisis/disability training is not the answer. Poor Magazine. Retrieved from https://poormagazine.org/node/5510.
Sanchez, R., Jones, S., Simko-Bednarski, E. (2020). Rochester police chief to retire amid Daniel Prude death protests. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/08/us/rochester-police-chief-daniel-prude-case/index.html.