Take action to stop mass evictions and foreclosures in Massachusetts. Join the push for the Housing Stability Act, and help organize to resist displacement. Join an event that's already organized or plan something in your own area. Please see this document for examples of actions, printable flyers and signs, etc: http://bit.ly/hfamawa2020

Images from the 2014 protests against racist police violence in Ferguson, MO — of snipers pointing semi-automatic rifles into crowds and officers tear-gassing unarmed civilians — prompted many to compare the St. Louis suburb to occupied Gaza, Ukraine, or Iraq. During the summer of 2020, as the U.S. witnessed its largest public uprisings since the 1960s, police in mine-resistant vehicles once again occupied both the streets and mass public attention. In this moment of simultaneous continuity and potential transformation, it is vital to analyze both the deep roots and the recent upsurge of police “militarization” in order to grasp what calls for “demilitarizing” the police could mean. Drawing on a recent report she authored for the Costs of War Project, Katzenstein’s talk will trace U.S. police militarization from its colonial and anti-Black history through its intensification after 9/11, demonstrating how today’s armored vehicles and tear gas emerge from a deep lineage of “militarized” policing. Katzenstein will then chart how police militarization has exploded in the wake of U.S.-led post-9/11 wars, specifically examining the flows of military equipment to police, the burgeoning surveillance and intelligence infrastructure, and police departments hiring military veterans. Finally, she will discuss the costs of post-9/11 police militarization — not only in dollar terms, but also in the currencies of racialized violence, lost opportunities, and critical global analysis.

Women are the fastest growing segment of the incarcerated population in the U.S., despite a numerical narrative that the numbers of incarcerated people are declining—which is only true for men. Most of these women are mothers, and many will enter prison or jail pregnant. What happens at this intersection of mass incarceration and the controlling politics of reproduction, both shaped by racist policies?
Anthropologist, obstetrician-gynecologist, and author of Jailcare: Finding the Safety Net for Women Behind Bars, Carolyn Sufrin '97 talks with her long-time Amherst mentor Deborah Gewertz, G. Henry Whitcomb 1874 Professor of Anthropology, about her path from Gewertz’s seminar room to jail clinic.
This virtual event is part of the Amherst Conversations series and is open to the public