Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

PCC welcomes noted civil rights author, professor Michelle Alexander

Photos and story by James Hill

Michelle Alexander is coming to PCC at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 16 to discuss her new book,  “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.” This event will be held at Emmanuel Temple Church (1033 N. Sumner St.) near the Cascade Campus.

There will be a community tabling fair in the multipurpose room from 5-6 p.m., and a community panel will discuss topics of Alexander’s lecture from 5:45-6:45 p.m. At 7 p.m., she will speak and be followed by a Q-and-A session and book signing.

Alexander is an associate professor of law at Ohio State University, a civil rights advocate and a writer. She is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Vanderbilt University and served for several years as director of the Racial Justice Project at the ACLU of Northern California, which spearheaded a national campaign against racial profiling by law enforcement. Alexander directed the Civil Rights Clinic at Stanford Law School and was a law clerk for Justice Harry Blackmun at the U. S. Supreme Court and for Chief Judge Abner Mikva on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Seating for her lecture will be open with some reserved spots for classes and community partners. The temple seats 1,200 people. Organizers are encouraging people to arrive early, carpool or take public transportation if possible. There will be a limited number of books available to purchase at the event for the book signing. Books may also be purchased in advance at the Cascade PCC bookstore.

In anticipation of Alexander’s visit there will be a screening of the film, “Broken On All Sides,” from 8-9:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 10 in Cascade’s Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building auditorium. The film is an hour-long independent documentary that explores the intersection of race and poverty within the criminal justice system.