On May 18, 2012, the Race and Social Policy Research Center, in collaboration with the Montgomery County--Radford City--Floyd County Branch of the NAACP, held its first “Combating Racial Injustice” Workshop at the Inn at Virginia Tech. There were 55 attendees, some coming from as far away as Charlotte, North Carolina.

 

The workshop, addressing injustice issues in the Criminal Justice System, was organized around two objectives: (1) to establish for discussion some of the facts of current racial injustice in the criminal justice system, and (2) to begin a discussion of what to do about these injustices. After presentations by Dr. Wornie Reed on the nature and extent of racial injustices in the criminal justice system and attorney Phil Carey, Jr., on the Trayvon Martin case in the context of the “Stand Your Ground” laws, participants in the workshop were divided into four discussion circles, discussing (1) legal issues and approaches, (2) legislative approaches, (3) community approaches, and (4) Hispanic/Latino issues.

​

This was just the first in a conversation that has continued and grown over the past eight years, through nine Combating Racial Injustice workshops. If you are interested in learning more, see the archived materials organized by year below.