FAYETTEVILLE -- The racially charged street protests in Baltimore, New York and Ferguson, Mo., did not seem like faraway events to Pearl Dowe, a University of Arkansas at Fayetteville associate professor of political science and interim director for UA's African and African-American Studies Program.
"These are our lived experiences that are being played out nationally," said Dowe, who is black.
She's leading a committee to develop U of A Talks Race, a series of campus events and panel discussions taking place this academic year to spotlight different ways race affects daily life.
"I think it was important for the university to take advantage of this time to really address what was happening within society," said Dowe, adding that the series is for the entire campus community rather than one specific group.
Beyond addressing relations between police and minority communities that have led to street protests in several cities, Dowe said the series will help students understand "the structural dynamics of society," including "factors that contribute to housing dynamics, that contribute to educational outcomes, factors that contribute to quality of life."
The programs are supported by various parts of campus, including the university's housing office and Office of Greek Life. Dowe said about 10 UA faculty members and administrators serve on the program's committee.
This week, she'll moderate a panel discussion with UA faculty on Southern stereotypes and imagery, including racial implications of the Confederate flag. Dowe said the event will be open to the public and take place at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at UA's Center for Multicultural and Diversity Education in the Arkansas Union.
Debate over the flag intensified this summer after the June shootings at a historically black church in South Carolina. Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old man charged with murder in connection to shootings that left nine dead, was seen posing with the Confederate flag in widely publicized images.
While some have tried to downplay the flag's racial connotations, Dowe was straightforward in her assessment: "The Confederate flag and how it was used, it is about race."
Charles Robinson, UA's vice chancellor for diversity and community and the university's interim vice provost for student affairs, emphasized that the UA series will be designed so that "everybody can learn."
"It doesn't have to be just about one group, even though, because of the way things have been moving nationally, the focus is largely on African-Americans," Robinson said.
Robinson said he hopes that students attending "will realize that we are not a post-racial society, that race still matters."
The goal is "not to tell people what to think, but to give them food for thought when considering how to look at these issues," Robinson said. He said the committee is not looking to organize a specific number of events but to ensure the UA community has the opportunity to discuss race.
After looking over a preliminary schedule -- which includes film screenings and an event discussing violence against the black community -- Shar Coleman, president of UA's Black Student Association and a senior from Memphis, said she thought students would be interested in the series.
"The police brutality, the constant reminders of racism, it's not that these things didn't exist before," Coleman said. But the video images accompanying many of the recent situations have helped more people recognize the problems, she said.
"I would like for everyone to understand, this is the world that we live in today," Coleman said. "We can't sit back and let things continue to happen."
Metro on 09/20/2015