Racial justice author, professor to lecture at Adelphi in Garden City

Professor, journalist and author Natalie P. Byfield, whose work on racial justice, and injustice, has included a book on the notorious Central Park Jogger case, as well as consulting on documentaries on the case, will appear Wednesday at Adelphi University in Garden City.

She will speak about "Racial Justice in the Digital Age" as part of the university's annual James Baldwin Distinguished Lecture on Literary and Social Criticism series, presented by the school's Center for African, Black and Caribbean Studies.

The event is free and open to the public and will take place Wednesday from 7-8 p.m. in the Thomas Dixon Lovely Ballroom at the Ruth S. Harley University Center.

Adelphi has a proud history of African, Black Caribbean studies dating back more than 50 years, coordinator for programming and community engagement Fabian Burrell said, and has hosted an annual James Baldwin guest lecturer on social issues for more than 30 years.

The series is named for the renowned New York City-born writer, orator, social and political activist, whose works such as "Go Tell It on the Mountain" explored themes of race, class, masculinity and sexuality.

Byfield is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at St. John's University and the author of "Savage Portrayals: Race, Media, and the Central Park Jogger Story."

Her work has appeared in Time magazine, HuffPost, The American Lawyer, New York Law Journal, New York Woman, The New York Times and New York Daily News, and her current book project is titled "Minority Report: Place, Race, and State Surveillance in New York City."

She served as a consultant to the Ken Burns documentary "The Central Park Five" and ABC 20/20 documentary "One Night in Central Park."

Her lecture Wednesday will delve into how advances in digital age technology and the rise of public and private surveillance have been commensurate with "heightened state control through systems of law enforcement" — and what changes need to take place to achieve racial justice "in this context."

"When you think about the creation of technology, we oftentimes don't think of the significance of who's creating that technology — and whether they have similar life experiences," Byfield said Tuesday, explaining that law enforcement tools such as facial recognition technology also have greatly varying results of reliability based on the race of the subject being analyzed.

"The technology remains flawed because we haven't corrected how racism is embedded in the system," she said. "It's the age old expression when it comes to building technology: garbage in, garbage out … That's the problem we need to address."

The Central Park Jogger case, considered a landmark case in illustrating how racial bias can influence the legal system, involved the conviction of five Black and Latino youths, who came to be known as “The Central Park Five,” for the aggravated assault and rape of a white woman in Central Park on April 19, 1989. They served sentences ranging from 6 to 12 years — only to have the charges vacated when a prison inmate later confessed to the crime.

The five later sued the City for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination and emotional distress, reaching a settlement for $41 million in 2014. 

For more information on the lecture or the series, visit adelphi.edu/JamesBaldwinLecture.

 

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”