Reception to follow. 

ADMISSION: 
Admission is free. Reservations required. 

JOIN WAITLIST

DESCRIPTION: 
“Since we know George Floyd’s death with tragic clarity, we must know Floyd’s America—and life—with tragic clarity. Essential for our times.”—Ibram X. Kendi on His Name Is George Floyd 

Examine structural, institutional, and systemic racism and the life and death of George Floyd with Toluse Olorunnipa, a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter for The Washington Post and co-author of His Name Is George Floyd. Olorunnipa will be joined by Brittany Friedman, a USC professor of sociology; Jody David Armour, Roy P. Crocker Professor of Law at USC; and moderator Kymia Freeman, a public relations student at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, to explore themes from his landmark biography, which analyzes racist laws, racial segregation, mass incarceration, and other issues that affect the lives of Black Americans, and discuss how we can create meaningful change and move towards a more equitable society.  

A reception with music, food, and an interactive mural will follow.  

This special event is presented in conjunction with Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick, on view at the USC Fisher Museum of Art from September 8 through December 9, 2023. With more than 80 powerful and provocative images from the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, the exhibition provides a broad overview of Walker’s internationally acclaimed career and work, which critiques the painful legacies of slavery, sexism, violence, imperialism, and other power structures.  

Bios:  

Jody David Armour is the Roy P. Crocker Professor of Law at USC. A widely published scholar and popular lecturer, he studies the intersection of race, law, morality, psychology, politics, ordinary language philosophy, and the performing arts. His latest book, N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law, looks at America’s criminal justice system—among the deadliest and most racist in the world—through deeply interdisciplinary lenses. Armour is a Soros Justice Senior Fellow of the Open Society Institute Center on Crime, Communities & Culture. He is on the board of directors for LEAP (Law Enforcement Action Partnership), an international 501(c)(3) non-profit of police, prosecutors, judges, corrections officials, and other law enforcement officials advocating for criminal justice reform. 

Brittany Friedman is an assistant professor of sociology at USC, Faculty Fellow at the Equity Research Institute and the Sol Price Center for Social Innovation, and co-founder of the Captive Money Lab and Co-PI. She researches race and ethnicity, inequality, institutional predation, and access to justice, and holds appointments with the American Bar Foundation as an Affiliated Scholar and Access to Justice Faculty Scholar and an appointment with the Center for Security, Race, and Rights as a (De)Racing National Security and Policing Fellow. Her highly anticipated first book, Born in Blood, traces the enduring legacy of white supremacist civilian alliances with law enforcement within U.S. prisons and will be released in 2024.

Toluse “Tolu” Olorunnipa is the White House Bureau Chief of The Washington Post, and co-author of His Name Is George Floyd. He joined the Post in 2019 and has covered the last three presidents. Previously, he spent five years at Bloomberg News, where he reported on politics and policy from Washington and Florida. Olorunnipa reported from five continents and more than 20 countries as part of the presidential press corps. He started his career at the Miami Herald, where he covered real estate, natural disasters, and crime—sometimes all at once. He is a National Book Awards finalist and has been honored with the George Polk Award for Justice Reporting, a Peabody Award, and the Shaufler Prize from Arizona State University.  

Kymia Freeman (moderator) is a junior at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, studying to receive her bachelor’s degree in public relations with a minor in modern art markets and ethics. She has been working with the USC Fisher Museum of Art since December 2022, when she helped plan and co-curate the MLK in Los Angeles exhibition. Deeply interested in the intersection between art, culture, and social justice, Freeman is honored to be a part of the programming surrounding His Name Is George Floyd and to help lead conversations therein.  

Presented by USC Visions and Voices. Organized by the USC Fisher Museum of Art, Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs, and USC Gould School of Law.