Below is a list of academic activities AADS Faculty, Lecturers, and Students have been engaged in since the beginning of the pandemic:

Media:

In January 2021, AADS Professor Dr. Jeffrey Sommers was extensively cited for this front-page story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Dr. Martin Luther King and increasing the minimum wage. Click here to read the full article. 

In October 2020, Dr. Jeffrey Sommers published an article, “Ruin or Renewal? Either Road Runs through our Public Universities,” for the blog Academe.

In June 2020, the French translation of Dr. Erin Winkler’s 2017 piece, “Tips for Talking to Children about Racism.” [Later renamed “Here’s How to Raise Race-Conscious Children” by the publication] was “trending” in France in June 2020. The piece has also been translated into Brazilian Portuguese.

In June 2020 Dr. Erin Winkler was quoted in “How to Talk to Kids About Race and Racism,” (June 1, 2020) by Gabbi Timmis, which was posted by many NBC local affiliates, including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Boston, Miami, San Francisco Bay Area, and San Diego, and is part of the NBC Universal Parent Toolkit; “Help Your Kids Take Action Against Racism,” (June 3, 2020) by Alison Granito of The Girl Scouts USA;  “Kids Learn About Race Younger Than You Think. Talk to Them Before That,” (June 1, 2020) by Maija Kappleron on Huffington Post, Canada; “Kids Are Not Racially ‘Colorblind’” (June 3, 2020) by Meghan Moravcik Walbert on LifeHacker; and “How White Parents Can Talk to Their Kids About Race,” (June 2, 2020) by Caroline Bologna on MSN.

Ph.D. Candidate Charmaine Lang has written about self-care and pleasure during the pandemic and uprisings on her Medium blog: https://medium.com/@charmainerlang

Webinars:

Dr. Gladys MItchell-Walthour organized and moderated the U.S. Network for Democrazy in Brazil webinar “Anti-Blackness and Democracy in Brazil” on Feb 10, 2021.

Dr. Jeffrey Sommers and Patrick Bellegarde-SMith moderated the AADS webinar with Dr. Noam Chomsky titled, “The Long Arc of Activism and Social Change” on Feb 5, 2021.

Dr. Gladys Mitchell-Walthour moderated the AADS webinar “Black LGBTQ Rights and Activism in Brazil” with Marco Antonio Fera, actor, YouTuber, and activist of ethnic and racial issues, on Feb 4, 2021.

On Dec 4, 2020, Dr. Gladys Mitchell-Walthour moderated the AADS webinar “Combating Systemic Sexism and Racism in São Paulo” with Douglas Belchior, educator, activist, and founder of the UNEafro-Brasil Movement, an NGO that works to empower Black youth in Brazil.

On Nov 6, 2020, Professor Jeffrey Sommers moderated AADS Webinar, “On the Origins of Climate Apartheid: Climate, Class, and Colonialism in the Making of the Planetary Crisis,” with guest speaker, Professor Jason W. Moore, professor of Sociology at Binghamton University and Co-coordinator for the World Ecology Network.

Dr. Gladys Mitchell-Walthour moderated the AADS webinar “Black History & Black Politics in Brazil,” with Guest Speaker Dr. Flavia Rios on Oct 29, 2020.

AADS graduate student and Africology NOW president, Jackline Kirungi, organized and moderated a webinar with Dr. Anneeth Kaur Hundle, titled, “Insecurities of Expulsion: Afro-Asian Citizenship Formations and Global Uganda” on Oct 28, 2020.

Professor Jeffrey Sommers moderated an AADS webinar with guest speaker, Dr. Marc Levine, Professor Emeritus and Founding Director of the Center for Economic Development at UW-Milwaukee, Dr. Marc Levine, titled, “The State of Black Milwaukee” on Oct 23, 2020.

Professor Jeffrey Sommers moderated an AADS webinar with  Wisconsin State Assemblyman representing Milwaukee District 10, Rep. David Bowen, on Sept 11, 2021, on “Policy Reform and the Movement for Black Lives.”

Dr. Gladys Mitchell-Walthour organized and moderated the U.S. Network for Democracy in Brazil webinar “Racism, Covid-19, and Necropolitics in Brazil” on June 2, 2020. Doctoral student Dalila Fernandes De Negreiros participated in this webinar.

Dr. Gladys Mitchell-Walthour will interview Jean Wyllys (former Brazilian politician in self-exile) on June 26, 2020, and will present research on conditional cash transfer programs for the Rui Costa Institute (Brazil) webinar in July 2020.

Ph.D. Candidate Charmaine Lang was a panelist for a town hall, “Soft & Strong: Centering Queer Womxn Youth & Queer Communities,” hosted by the University of New Mexico, where she talked about the importance of self-care and community care, especially during a pandemic and uprisings.

Interviews:

On August 3, 2021, Dr. Ermitte Saint Jacques gave a radio interview with WUWM’s Lake Effect to discuss the contemporary history of migration from West Africa to southern Europe and how Giannis Antetokounpo and his family’s migration story resonates with many across the globe carrying multiple cultural identities. Listen to the interview on WUWM Lake Effect’s program: https://www.wuwm.com/…/tuesday-on-lake-effect-delta…

Dr. Jeffrey Sommers gave a half-hour radio interview on “Future of Trumpism” on FM 104.1 on December 11, 2020. Click here to listen to the full interview.

Dr. Jeffrey Sommers participated in an interview/event sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Guest speakers analyzed the following four policy ideas: land tax; national development banks; a job guarantee; and an export-led economic structure. Click here to watch the full interview.

SSE Riga interviewed Professor Jeffrey Sommers for their “Person of Interest” podcast on October 27, 2020, and discussed the changing shape of the US economy and society. Click here to listen to the full interview.

Dr. Jeffrey Sommers gave an interview the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung on October 21, 2020, where he discussed the pandemic economic policy in Latvia. Click here to listen to the full interview.

Dr. Jeffrey Sommers gave an interview for the Latvian based national newspaper Diena on October 6, 2020, titled, “The biggest challenge for the EU is demography”. Click here to read the full interview. 

Dr. Jeffrey Sommers gave a half-hour interview on the “Belarus Protests” on FM 104.1 on September 4, 2020. Click here to listen.

Doctoral student Dalila Fernandes De Negreiros participated in an interview with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In the interview, she discusses how Brazil’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the Black population exponentially as a result of systemic racial inequality and discrimination. The full interview can be found on the OHCHR’s website: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DalilaNegreiros.aspx

Dr. Gladys Mitchell-Walthour participated in an interview by Estadão São Paulo in April 2020, a second Brazilian newspaper in June 2020, the Latin America Advisor. Inter- American Dialogue on June 18, 2020, the Brazilian Consulate in Boston, MA via webinar on June 26, 2020, and Claudia Magazine (São Paulo, Brazil) on June 23, 2020. Dr. Mitchell-Walthour also participated in an interview with Dr. Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman’s YouTube channel about Black Homeschooling Parents in May 2020.

Dr. Jeffrey Sommers gave an interview on “Jobs during Coronavirus Pandemic,” with the Latvian internet news outlet DELFI Plus on June 26, 2020. Click here to read the full interview. 

Presentations:

Dr. Erin Winkler has over a dozen presentations/sessions scheduled with schools, libraries, parenting groups, health providers, state agencies, and corporations on the topic of children and race for summer and fall 2020.

Since the beginning of the pandemic and uprisings, Ph.D. Candidate Charmaine Lang has conducted over a dozen sound healing sessions for abortion rights activists and Black women-led organizations in the country.

Opinion Editorials, Statements, and Reports:

AADS Professor Jeffrey Sommers recently published an article in Canadian Dimension, “Against the center: The past and future of Donald Trump.” (December 3, 2020)

Ph.D. candidate, Dalila Fernandes De Negreiros, recently published an article for the North American Congress on Latin America titled, “Marielle Franco’s Seeds: Black Women and the 2020 Braziliant Election” (November 12, 2020).

In November 2020, Dr. Gladys Mitchell-Walthour wrote an article for The Conversation titled, “‘My vote will be Black’ – A wave of Afro-Brazilian women ran for office in 2020 but found glass ceiling hard to break,'” (November 4, 2020).

In October, Dr. Gladys Mitchell-Walthour was quoted in the New York Times article, “Supreme Court Galvanizes Push for Early Voting by Wisconsin Democrats,” (October 27, 2020) by Stephanie Saul.

In October, Dr. Jeffrey Sommers, along with Drs. Mark Blyth, James Galbraith, and Luz Sosa, discussed ways to reorganize and restructure higher education in their recent article “A Marshall Plan for Rebuilding Higher Education,” published by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

In July, Ph.D. Candidate, Dalila Fernandes De Negreiros, published an article for The Cap Times titled, “Black studies needed now more than ever,” (July 5, 2020).

Dr. Gladys Mitchell-Walthour and doctoral student Crystal Ellis wrote the op-ed “Protests and Addressing Milwaukee’s Structures of Racism,” published by The Cap Times on June 11, 2020.

Dr. Gladys Mitchell-Walthour wrote U.S. Network for Democracy in Brazil’s Solidarity Statement with Black Movement Activists in the USA in June 2020 and co-authored the AADS Solidarity Statement, in Solidarity with the young person who was spat on by a Shorewood resident.

Ph.D. Candidate Dalila Fernandes De Negreiros submitted 2 reports on Covid-19 impact on Brazil’s Black population, one for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the other one for the Attorney General of Distrito Federal (Brazil), and wrote an op-ed, which is forthcoming.

Ph.D. Candidate Charmaine Lang wrote an op-ed titled, “To the White LGBTQ Community: Your (Racist) Slip is Showing,” which was published in the daily news site ColorLines on June 29, 2020.

In June 2020, Dr. Jeffrey Sommers wrote an op-ed, “Republican indifference toward essential workers will only disappear with new leadership,” for The Cap Times.

In June 2020, Dr. Jeffrey Sommers published an article in Project Syndicate titled, “America’s Mis Police State”.

In May 2020, Dr. Jeffrey Sommers co-authored an op-ed with Dr. Michael Rosen in The Cap Times titled, “Don’t let the feds leave local, state governments hanging.”

In April 2020, Dr. Jeffrey Sommers published an op-ed in The Cap Times titled, “Bernie Sanders: How he lost, what was lost and what we gained”.

In April 2020, AADS Professor Jeffrey Sommers co-authored an op-ed with Dr. Mark Blyth in CounterPunch titled, “COVID-19 and the Return of a Dangerous Idea, Austerity.”

Journal Articles:

Dr. Gladys Mitchell-Walthour submitted a revise and resubmit to the journal Cultural Dynamics.

Dr. Nolan Kopkin submitted original research to the journals European Journal of Political Economy; Electoral Studies; Real Estate Economics; and Party Politics in March 2020; European Journal of Political Research and Political Behavior in April 2020; and European Political Science Review and Representation in May 2020.

Dr. Nolan Kopkin participated in journal article reviews for the journals Journal of Small Business Management in March 2020, and Housing Policy Debate and Sociological Spectrum in April 2020.

Fundraising: 

Dr. Gladys Mitchell-Walthour helped fundraise for Uneafro (Brazil) so that food and basic needs could be sent to low income Black communities in Brazil in April 2020.

Public Inquiries/Public Service:

Members of the department collectively spend dozens of hours a week fielding the many inquiries they receive from individual members of the public who want help understanding and addressing racialized inequity in their communities, workplaces, schools, and everyday lives. The individuals who reach out to us include public officials, policy makers, organizers, healthcare providers, teachers and principals, students, parents, corporate leaders, and people from all walks of life. These inquiries result in many hours of one-on-one email exchanges and phone and video conference conversations.