Understanding the Coronavirus Pandemic through the lens of Racial & Social Justice
April 23, 2020
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Address
Chicago, IL 60607
Calendar
Download iCal FileAbout this Event
Understanding the Coronavirus Pandemic Through the Lens of Racial and Social Justice
In many ways, the coronavirus pandemic is an unprecedented moment. Many around the world are adjusting to physical distancing, stay at home orders, school closures, closed public spaces, and transformed social relations. Although the threat of layoffs and high unemployment, lack of health resources, challenges in education, and insecure housing are new to many, black and brown communities across Chicago and the nation have had to contend with these challenges as daily facts of life.
Join UIC's Social Justice Initiative and the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy for a conversation with health experts, local and national immigration activists, Chicago alderwomen, and criminal justice organizers to discuss how we work towards and achieve racial justice in the time of Coronavirus and beyond.
Please note: This event will be broadcast online by CAN TV at cantv.org/watch and at youtube.com/chicantv.
Follow the conversation on social media using #CovidRacialJustice.
If you have questions for the panelists, we ask that you please submit them to ChicagoRacialJustice@gmail.com by 12 noon on April 21st.
Panelists are:
Dr. Linda Rae Murray, President of the American Public Health Association who has spent her career serving the medically underserved. She has worked in a variety of settings including as Bureau Chief for the Chicago Department of Health under Mayor Harold Washington and as the Medical Director of the federally funded health center, Winfield Moody, serving the Cabrini Green Public Housing Project in Chicago. From 1997 to 2014, Dr. Murray served as Chief Medical Officer for the Cook County Health System and she currently teaches at the University of Illinois School of Public Health. She is passionate about increasing the number of Black and Latino health professionals and has been an active member of a wide range of local and national organizations. Dr. Murray has been a voice for social justice and health as a basic human right for over fifty years.
Aislinn Pulley, a co-executive director of the Chicago Torture Justice Center founded out of the historic 2015 reparations ordinance for survivors of Chicago police torture. Aislinn is also a lead organizer with Black Lives Matter Chicago. She was an organizer with We Charge Genocide, a founding member of Insight Arts, a cultural non-profit that used art for social change, and a member of the performance ensemble, End of the Ladder. She is a founder of the young women’s performance ensemble dedicated to ending sexual assault, Visibility Now, as well as the founder and creator of urban youth magazine, Underground Philosophy.
Rossana Rodriguez, first term alderwoman of Chicago’s 33rd Ward. Rossana is a mother and resident of the Albany Park neighborhood. Rossana has been a lifelong advocate for public education, labor rights, and the wellbeing of youth and families. She is a co-founder of 33rd Ward Working Families, a progressive ward-based IPO, and of Chicago Boricua Resistance. Rossana is the first Latinx Alderwoman to represent the 33rd Ward. She serves as chair of the immigration committee on the City Council’s Latino Caucus and is a member of the Progressive Caucus.
Jeanette Taylor, serving her first term as alderwoman of Chicago’s 20th Ward. Jeanette has been a lifelong community organizer whose work includes over 20 years as part of the Local School Council for Bronzeville’s Mollison Elementary, working as a youth development coordinator with the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization, participating in the 2015 Dyett hunger strike, and organizing with the coalition calling for the Obama Foundation to accept a Community Benefits Agreement. Jeanette is passionate about fighting for the respect and dignity of working people and is a member of People United for Action and United Working Families.
Gaby Viera, part of the advocacy team at Detention Watch Network (DWN). She supports DWN's mission for abolition through federal advocacy work on immigration detention and coalition building, while serving as a policy resource for the network. Prior to joining DWN, Gaby was a fellow at the Friends Committee on National Legislation working on their Immigration and Refugee Policy portfolio. She studied Caribbean history with a focus on Race, Gender, and Sexuality at Yale University, and her two biggest loves are reggaeton music and her home state of New Jersey.
Reyna Wences, born in Mexico and raised in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood. Since 2013, Wences has been a community organizer with Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD) and plays a key role in developing deportation defense strategies, training programs, direct actions, and communications and media tactics. They are also the co-founder for the Immigrant Youth Justice League (IYJL) and an organizer recognized nationwide for their work related to deportation defense and against the criminalization of immigrant communities in Chicago.
Date posted
Apr 18, 2020
Date updated
Apr 18, 2020