HSERV 479: Black Lives & Police Violence; Racism & the Public's Health

WOW. This was a great class filled with student-oriented leadership, deep conversations breaking down systems and history of racism, and police systems.

This was my first class in a public-based learning setting, where students are the ones that teach. Professor Spigner was right, I definitely learned a lot more by giving my own presentations.

The topics that my group and I presented on were:

1. The Color of Law Enforcement: What about the notion that increasing diversity within law enforcement will fix the problem of police brutality against people of color?

2. Discretion: What is with police being able to choose who gets what punishment? Who to stop? Who to charge with a ticket? Implicit bias and race.

3. Police & Sexual Violence: What is with the power behind the badge? Why do police have the power to exploit sex workers and still not have to pay for their wrongs, while sex workers are the ones being criminalized? Code of Silence/Blue wall of silence? Consent?

4. Who are you gonna call? --> Communal Conversations with UWPD

The last presentation, we invited a cop to our class to have a conversation about the role of policing.

Some key terms from the class:

"I was in fear of my life"

code of silence

brotherhood

implicit bias

mushrooms after the rain

Attached below is our presentation from that.

Conversations with the Police.pdf

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