Scholars from around the country are at UC Berkeley this week for a conference exploring racial justice. It’s called "Race & Inequality in America: The Kerner Commission at 50."
It refers to the commission created in 1968 by President Johnson to investigate the race riots of 1967, and explore the frustrations in Black communities. This week, we're talking to some of the speakers.
Shantel Buggs is a social scientist from Florida State University. Her research explores the intersection of personal relationships and racial justice activism. Last year she interviewed dozens of women to see if civic involvement mattered for whom they chose to date. She published a study called Dating In the Time of #BlackLivesMatter: Exploring Mixed-Race Women's Discourses of Race and Racism. She spoke with KALW's Hana Baba.
"I think there are a lot of people that think just because you have sexual, or romantic, or familial intimacy with a person of a different race that that automatically means you are not racist or not prejudiced or that you can't perpetuate inequality ... We are not going to be saved by mixed-race people. We are not going to be saved by interracial relationships."
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