“A Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home, and it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give.” – Ida B. Wells
Journalist and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells wrote those words in 1892. She was speaking to a southern history of black gun ownership that continues today. We also now live in a time when black Americans are disproportionately impacted by gun violence.
On Thursday, August 22, at 7:00 p.m., join WABE reporter, Lisa Hagen, and Kennesaw State University Assistant Professor of English and African Diaspora Studies, Dr. Regina Bradley, at the Auburn Avenue Research Library as they host a Community Conversation on the role of guns in black, Southern life. The panel will consider a range of topics including Southern history, self-defense, identity, violence, safety, and survival. The discussion is in coordination with the Guns & America reporting collaborative.
Panelists will include representatives from the National African American Gun Association, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, and our featured guest, professor and award-winning author, Kiese Laymon. Laymon’s most recent book, the memoir HEAVY, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction, the LA Times’ Isherwood Prize, and was named one of the best books of 2018 by the New York Times, NPR, and The Washington Post, among others.
The Fulton County Library System has a no-weapons policy.
All free WABE events require prior registration, but your registration does not guarantee entry. Audience members will be admitted on a first come, first served basis.
