Black Lives, Black Deaths, and Black Protest: Political Scientists Respond (Anew) to a Persistent Challenge: Young Adults Respond: Prison, Policing, and Political Activism

Session Submission Type: Created Panel

Session Description

Youth attitudes and political activity have been traditionally underrepresented in political science, especially Black youth and youth of color (Cohen 2012). Millennials and Generation Z have a distinct political socialization with regard to race, experiencing both contractions and extensions of racial progress in the United States. In particular, young adults have experienced the growth of the racialized police state and mass incarceration, many becoming caught in this system themselves. Millennials and Gen Z have also seen the rise of Black political power-- namely, the election of President Barack Obama. Young adults are also typically understood as more racially liberal; yet, racial divides endure in millennial public opinion (DeSante and Smith 2020; Rouse and Ross 2018). Amidst these political contradictions, young people continue to organize and advocate for themselves and their communities in the streets, online, and behind prison walls. Given their unique positionality, the perspectives of young adults should be considered in this political moment amidst more urgent calls for police and prison abolition. This panel offers three papers that center the roles and experiences of youth amidst one of the most consequential social movements in a generation-- the Movement for Black Lives. We offer both qualitative and quantitative studies on young adults' experiences with mass incarceration and policing, as well as their political responses to these problems through attitudes and activism.

Sub Unit

• Theme Panel

Individual Presentations

• Locked Up But Not Locked Out: Activism in United States Prisons - Kaneesha Johnson, Harvard University

• Perceptions of Police and Safety Among Young Adults - Jordie Davies, Johns Hopkins University

• Contesting the Carceral State from the Bottom Up - David Jonathan Knight, University of Chicago

Chair

• Jenn M. Jackson Syracuse University

Discussant

• Christopher Paul Harris University of California, Irvine