CHENEY, Wash. — While the country awaits a decision on the Chauvin trial, race and how it impacts America has been under a magnifying glass.
Change begins when genuine conversations take place and that's what Eastern Washington University hopes to accomplish with a new speaker series.
“On Wednesday we’re going to have local community activists,” explained Chertok Endowed Professor John Collins. "So people who’ve worked for various nonprofits, and are active in combating white supremacy in Spokane and North Idaho.”
Last summer, thousands of people marched through Spokane to advocate for equality in the justice system.
Many were tired of hate going unchecked in their neighborhoods. Others were outraged by the death of George Floyd which was caught on camera.
“Because of Charlottesville and because of what happened with George Floyd and the other incidents that have been going on in the news, I thought this was the best way to use my funds and bring in all of these experts to teach people about these problems,” said Collins.
The EWU professor helped organize a series of educational events for the university that will be diving into the impacts of dangerous ideologies like white supremacy.
Collins attended the University of Virginia and vividly remembers the pain and impact that took over Charlottesville after an attack that resulted in the death of Heather Heyer in 2017.
He hopes these kinds of educational events can provide a resource for people to learn and positively grow in their community.
“It's going to be professors who are talking about challenging racism in the classroom,” Collins said.
The panels are presented by the Chertock speaker series and will feature local activists along with a keynote speaker from the University of Chicago.
The meetings are open to the public If you’re interested in attending the virtual meetings. You can find a link on the EWU College of Social Sciences Facebook page.