Ian Benson
Editor-in-Chief
As a part of this year’s forum series, the College will welcome noted journalist Touré on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. He is the host of Fuse’s Hiphop Shop and On the Record, a co-host of The Cycle on MSNBC, a regular contributor to The Dylan Ratigan Show and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Nominating Committee. Touré has contributed articles to publications such as Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine and Playboy, among others.
Touré has discussed the issue of race many times throughout his writing career, founding a black student newspaper at Emory University and writing a widely noted article asking the question of how Michael Vick would be treated if he were white. He is the author of five books, most notably Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness? What It Means To Be Black Now.
Touré will be the final speaker in a lecture series that has included Derald Wing Sue, Valarie Kaur, Georgia Dunston and Sonia Nazario, the author of the first years’ assigned summer reading, Enrique’s Journey.
The theme for this year’s forum is “Facing Race,” the idea being to create a dialogue about race and identity on campus. President Cornwell echoed this in his Convocation speech at the beginning of the semester. Recent forum themes were the Middle East, South Asian Perspectives and Americas: Contact and Consequences.
To continue the dialogue, SGA, BSA and ISA will host a post-forum discussion event on Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. in Lowry Lounge. The event will serve as a medium for students to discuss the various speakers and events. The concept behind this was to take the discussions beyond the events and continue them throughout the rest of the year.