George Floyd, Black Lives Matter and the impact on HE
On 25 September 2020, with little more than a month to go in the United States presidential election, and, no doubt, blind to the irony that he was speaking not far from the national historic landmark that had been the home of the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King in Atlanta, Georgia, President Donald Trump delivered a blistering attack on America’s most visible and important civil rights organisation.
The president recycled many of the tropes from more than half a century ago used by racist politicians, such as George Wallace, who, upon becoming governor of Alabama in 1963, famously declared “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”, and J Edgar Hoover’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The Journal of Narrative Theory hosts a competition to cultivate the culture of Detroit, and EMU hosts several events to commemorate Black History Month. EMU’s Student Government accepts a new senator application and decides on Resolution 107-05. In community news, the University of Michigan held a virtual town hall to discuss COVID-19 and the African American community, and Ypsi Studio closes after sixteen years.