BRJA

The U.S. tells itself a story about family values -- family values as the underpinning of the nation’s success, a national rallying cry of the weight of intact families as political fodder. Behind the rhetoric, however, many families’ experiences have a very different narrative -- one of tearing families apart, of bureaucratic red tape, of racism and of parents struggling for a falsely-promised reunification.

Join us as we interrogate the child “welfare” system with:

• Dianne D Lyday, author of For the Good of the Children: Racism, Red Tape and the Myth of Family Reunification, a “devastating portrait of the impact of the child welfare system on Black children and their families;” and
• Raymond Winbush, Ph.D., Director of the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University, author and researcher who has been instrumental in understanding developmental stages in Black males, public policy and its connection to compensatory justice.

• This is a free event. Donations are welcome.

Books by Dr. Winbush and Ms. Lyday will be available for sale.

This will be an adult-centered discussion, but all ages are welcome to attend. Children’s books and coloring activities will be provided.

Each year, on average, Baltimore City judicially evicts 7,000 families due to non-payment of rent. The Public Justice Center and the Right to Housing Alliance conducted a study to understand how renters fair when they defend themselves in the city’s “Rent Court.” We will present data from the study to show how the judicial process itself prioritizes landlords’ bottom line, at the expense of renters’ (94% of whom are Black and 80% of whom are women) stability and security. Join R ight to Housing Alliance, Public Justice Center, and J ews United for Justice to discuss how the court’s systemic failure to ensure housing justice perpetuates housing insecurity among the city’s Black communities.

All ages are welcome to attend.

"There is no algorithm, no theory that can predict when human rage reaches its boiling point. I wanted to expose to some and to remind others that there is another side of Ferguson, St. Louis County, USA that exists. It was a side that someone didn’t want to see. It is a side that now most people know about and by knowing, all fair-minded people should now be empowered to act." —Jamala Rogers

One year after Mike Brown was brutally killed by police: How will we make sure that Black lives matter? On August 9, 2014, Ferguson, St. Louis County, MO became the epicenter of a major political earthquake, shaking the core of how we see Black America, police and policing-jolting us into a new political normal.

Join BRJA and Red Emma’s for this book talk and discussion. All ages are welcome to attend.