Welcome to the conversation!


Welcome to the conversation!

Harriet Beecher Stowe's (1811-1896) best-selling anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), made her the most famous American woman of the 19th century and galvanized the abolition movement before the Civil War.

The Stowe Center is a 21st-century museum and program center using Stowe's story to inspire social justice and positive change.

The Salons at Stowe programs are a forum to connect the challenging issues (race, gender and class) that impelled Stowe to write and act with the contemporary face of those same issues. The Salon format is based on a robust level of audience participation, with the explicit goal of promoting civic engagement. Recent topics included: Teaching Acceptance; Is Prison the New Slavery; Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North; Creativity and Change; Race, Gender and Politics Today; How to be an Advocate

This blog will expand the reach of these community conversations to the online audience. Add your posts and comments to keep the conversation going! Commit to action by clicking HERE to stay up to date on Salon and social justice news.

For updates on Stowe Center programs and events, sign up for our enews at http://harrietbeecherstowe.org/email.

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Protests Continue in Fight for #JusticeforTamir

On December 28, 2015 a Cleveland grand jury declined to indict Officer Timothy Loehmann and Officer Frank Garmback in the death of 12 year-old Tamir Rice. Rice was killed last November when his toy gun was mistaken for a real weapon by police.

As a result of the non-indicitment, protesters are demanding that Cuyahoga County prosecutor, Tim McGinty, who oversaw the grand jury, resign. Activists have been protesting outside of McGinty's home and even staged a die-in to call for justice for Tamir.  


The non-indictment is just the latest in a string of non-indictments for Officers involved in civilian deaths. Some states are taking action by reforming the ways in which police officers involved in civilian killings enter the justice system. The state of California, for example, has banned the use of grand juries for police shooting cases. Critics of the grand jury system, say the process is clouded in secrecy, and for cases of alleged police brutality, transparency beyond that of which a grand jury will provide, is necessary.

What do you think of the protests? What solutions do you have over issues of policing? Do you see examples of positive change on the issue of policing? Let us know in the comments below. For more resources and analysis on the killing of Tamir Rice and the historical and political context in which his death occurred, check out Jelani Cobb's latest piece in The New Yorker, "Tamir Rice and America's Tradegy", and our Salon at Stowe recap on Has Racial Justice Reached the Tipping Point?


 

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