The Biology of Good and Evil

I attended the talk with speaker Robert Sapolsk a neuroscientist professor from Stanford. His talk was divided into the different levels of the mind and the different times that it could be imprinted. He spoke about the amygdala and how it was the fear center of the brain and how your hormones would reach it faster than visual information. He spoke about how that is problematic and causes split second decision to go wrong. His example was how officers often mistake toy guns for the real thing because they act before they properly analyze their environment and often times they have an implicit bias which doesn't help either.

2017 MLK Commemorative Speech:NAACP President Cornell Brooks

At the beginning of the semester I had the tremendous honor of getting to see the president and CEO of the NAACP, Cornell William Brooks, speak at our Athenaeum. His entire talk was centered around Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so he used some of his skills as a former preacher in becoming the great orator necessary to give Dr. King some of his due respect. He spoke much about the vision of Dr. King and the ongoing struggle for racial equality, but with a hope, quoting Dr. King's "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." He also talked about the #BLACKLIVESMATTER movement and what they are doing right in making the conversation of race something that America is talking about. It was particularly awe-inspiring when he spoke about his meeting with then-President Obama and a number of notable BLM activists, along with police chiefs, about what America can do to ameliorate the situation regarding relations between cops and Black people, really showing his dedication to the topic. I was hoping for more of a political commentary during his talk but he mostly focused on Dr. King, his life, and his legacy, but I did have the honor of meeting and speaking with him before and after his talk, bringing the reality of what I am doing right now in relation to race and politics. It is one thing to see fellow Black people doing well, but it is a whole other thing to personally speak with the president of the NAACP, and I am still wrapping my head around my worth and privilege to be able to meet with someone who was meeting with President Obama just weeks prior. Wow.

The Disbelievers - Larry Rosen

This Ath talk was on the political statistical analysis of the presidential election by and Edison polling representative.  In his presentation he shared many remarkable statistics, my favorites were concerning the political factionalism when talking about the issue of climate change. He also concluded that Trump did win the election and contesting that fact only undermines our system of democracy.  The was expressed with the caveat that there was no hacking on the side of Russia.  I was disappointed that the pollster was so centrist and I have loved to hear a conclusive statement that the election was fraud however the talk was intriguing and I was happy I went.

The state against Blacks

On March first I attended an extremely decisive Ath talk concerning the implications of government programs meant to remote restitution after slavery and Jim Crow/Civil Rights movement.  The speaker made an argument that government involvement and affirmative action have helped widen racial disparities as well as being a main contributing factor for ongoing racial discrimination within the country.  My favorite moment in the talk was when the speaker used the analogy that while it is true that on average black citizens must pay more upfront and have a higher premium on a home loan, asian americans have a lower over head than whites; in turn, he insinuated that one type of discrimination cancels out another. Interesting talk to say the least!