When resistance threatens to upset the status quo, protesters may be labeled criminals to silence their voices, and recent protests throughout the nation have not been exceptions. At 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24, Teresa Divine and Ginny Blackson will discuss their collaborative essay, “Resistance to Survive: The Criminalization of the Black Lives Matter Movement.”
The free event is part of Linfield’s Readings at the Nick in the Jereld R. Nicholson Library Austin Reading Room on the McMinnville campus. Face masks are required inside all Linfield buildings.
Divine and Blackson’s essay appeared in “Criminalization of Activism: Historical, Present and Future Perspectives” in 2021, published by Routledge. From the abstract: “Law enforcement is used as a weapon to silence the Black community. All Black people are not safe driving. Black women are racially profiled on the streets and roads by the police. The law appears to be on our side, but our bodies are still not safe.”
Divine is a professor of law and justice at Central Washington University, and a lawyer specializing in criminal and civil law and procedure, family law and correctional law. Blackson is Linfield’s director of libraries, archives and multimedia services. Her research includes 4th Wave feminism and multicultural children’s and young adult literature.
Readings at the Nick is sponsored by the Linfield University Libraries and the Department of English. For more information, contact Ginny Blackson at gblackson@linfield.edu.
