Presentation - Police Violence, Evil and the Future of Democracy
The 2021 – 2022 roster is no longer available for booking through this program. However, you may book them outside of any Illinois Humanities affiliation using the contact information provided.
The presentation will engage the perennial question of evil as it relates to the enduring problem of racialized police violence. Insights from religious and Black studies will be used to interpret racism as a type of idolatry that occasions the experience of evil in public life.
In addition, the presentation will address how policing conceals problems related to the common good that erode the legitimacy of democracy; promoting the politics of death. This will be explored through the history of policing in Chicago through the use of images and video. Discussions about paths forward renewing our common life will engage participants in the praxis of renewing our common lives.
Program Topics
- Ethics
- Racism
- Social Justice
Book this presentation by first scheduling a date with Christophe via email, then completing the Road Scholars Host Organization application.
About Road Scholar Christophe D. Ringer
Christophe D. Ringer is a religious and cultural critic, author, activist and minister. He is passionate about understanding the relationship between self, society and the sacred. Ringer currently serves as Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics and Society at Chicago Theological Seminary. He is also the author of Necropolitics: The Religious Crisis of Mass Incarceration in America from Lexington Books that examines the religious and cultural meanings that sustain mass incarceration in American public life. Ringer has published and presented his research nationally as well as internationally and is active with a number of social justice organizations including A Just Harvest, Community Renewal Society and Workers Center for Racial Justice.
Learn More and Follow Christophe
About Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau
Since 1997, our Road Scholars Speakers Bureau has invited Illinois writers, storytellers, historians, folklorists, musicians, and living history actors, among others, to share their expertise and enthusiasm with people throughout our state. It also supports local nonprofit organizations – including libraries, museums, arts councils, historical societies, civic groups, and many others – in presenting free-admission cultural programs of high quality to their communities for a modest application fee, which can be waived if your organization is experiencing financial hardship.
Our Road Scholars Speakers Bureau roster features speakers hailing from many different communities across Illinois who offer presentations on topics in history, archaeology, philosophy, literature, theater, film, music, politics, and other subjects that are thought-provoking and engaging. The breadth of these offerings reflects our conviction that the humanities can help us to examine the world in all its varied shades and discover in it the remarkable, the strange, the fantastic, the tragic, the humorous, and the beautiful.