The COVID-19 pandemic and its disproportionate effect on people of color—along with the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless other Black Americans at the hands of police—have freshly highlighted the pervasiveness of race and racism in our society.
In the opening episode of our fall Social Impact LIVE series, host Richard Hara sits down with CSSW Lecturer Jalana Harris and Associate Director of Field Education Ovita Williams to discuss their efforts to create a space within Columbia University for difficult conversations about race and for individual and collective healing. They, along with CSSW colleagues Courtney Cogburn and Zuleka Henderson, recently collaborated with the Office of the Provost to set up a mini-institute on addressing anti-Black racism for Columbia faculty. During this episode, Harris and Williams will talk about that experience and also about the impact of their work on those who attended the three-course series.
