MLK Day Lecture to focus on legacy of racism in America


Lara Bazelon and Jason Riley will discuss systemic racism in an MLK lecture at ASU on Tuesday, Jan. 18.

|

What do we mean when we use the term “systemic racism," and how does it differ from individual prejudice and legal discrimination? Do we oversimplify societal challenges by attributing all inequities to racism? 

This will be the topic of the conversation between Lara Bazelon and Jason Riley during the 2022 annual MLK Day Lecture, co-sponsored by the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership and by the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. The lecture will be at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 18, in the Memorial Union (Ventana Room) on Arizona State University's Tempe campus.

Bazelon is a professor of law and the director of the Criminal and Juvenile Justice and the Racial Justice clinical programs at the University of San Francisco School of Law. Riley is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a Wall Street Journal opinion columnist.

This event is also the second lecture in the "Can We Talk Honestly About Race" series and part of the Civic Discourse Project (2021-2022): Renewing America’s Civic Compact.

The event is open to the public, and light refreshments will be served. Registration is available here

Faculty, Staff, Tempe campus, Community, School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, Students, Law, journalism and politics, Law, Social justice, Inclusion, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law

More Law, journalism and politics

 

Six city and town administrators--three on the left, two in the center, and one on the right--gather around a poster to discuss ideas as that Collaborative Cities Initiative in August 2026 hosted by ASU.

Initiative brings Arizona cities and towns together to tackle shared challenges

Municipalities are inundated with data. Police and fire department activity, water usage, development permits, traffic incidents…

Sitting around a table, Bill Gates, wearing a plaid light blue blazer, answers questions with five attendees at a mini AI + Elections Clinic during the Election Science Reform Administration (ESRA) Conference, hosted by ASU at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, on June 3, 2026.

Putting AI to work for the public good

The midterm elections are less than three months away, and artificial intelligence is already a factor, shaping the information…

A man interviews a woman on camera in front of the Paris city hall

New degrees for a new era

This fall, Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication launches the largest collection…