UMKC people are taking thoughtful action on campus and in our community to ensure lasting and comprehensive change through Roos Advocate for Community Change, a new campus-wide effort announced in June.
The Critical Conversations are part of that initiative. The panel discussions will be in a Zoom town hall-format and will feature UMKC faculty, staff, students and volunteer leaders who represent the topic being discussed. The sessions are free, but pre-registration is required online.
Recent incidents regarding the death of George Floyd have sparked a global movement that highlights the dysfunction that permeates most aspects of people’s lives. Regardless of race, every person is impacted by racism; however, overwhelmingly most have not engaged the topic head on. The goal of each discussion will be to enlighten, to educate and to explore the causes and potential cures for racism. Further, the university will strive to share actionable steps that can be used to improve racial interactions in the broader community.
Future topics include police reform, Blacks in higher education at primarily white institutions, addiction as a public health issue, racism in banking and racism in housing. The town hall sessions are open to UMKC faculty, staff, students, volunteer leaders, community partners and the community at-large.