Jelani Cobb, expert on race in America to speak at Coe College

CEDAR RAPIDS - With a backdrop of how issues of race impact the current political climate in the United States, Jelani Cobb says he plans to discuss how Americans can 'create a better functioning democracy” when he appears during an upcoming event at Coe College.

Cobb, a professor of journalism at Columbia University and frequent contributor to 'the New Yorker,” where he writes about race, history and culture, is to speak at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, in Sinclair Auditorium on the Coe campus in Cedar Rapids.

The event - the 14th annual Coe College Contemporary Issues Forum - is free, but those who wish to attend are encouraged to get tickets by calling the Coe College Box Office at (319) 399-8600 or by visiting coe.edu/boxoffice.

'We've seen a lot more increase in hate crimes,” said Cobb, who also is author of the book 'Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress” and took part in the Academy Award-nominated Netflix documentary '13th,” which explores the history of racial inequality in the United States and compares the level of incarceration of African Americans to slavery.

'There's almost been a kind of permissiveness of behavior that is intimidating and intolerant. I think there's a relationship between the political rhetoric and the increase of this behavior.”

Cobb said he also plans to talk about immigration, and the country's back-and-forth history of welcoming immigrants and passing laws to close the border.

Coe College officials, in a news release, said Cobb has been recognized across the country for his analysis of the Aug. 9, 2014, fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. The incident sparked civil unrest in the city. Cobb also has spoken about other police involved shootings around the country and said the greatest change he's seen surrounding these types of incidents is the introduction of video footage. Instead of taking the police department's word for it, people are more likely to create their own judgment of a situation, he said.

Cobb contributed to Frontline's 'Policing the Police,” investigation on Iowa Public Television, which explores the complexities of reforming a police department.

He said he's seen changes there, too.

'One of the things I've noticed is that (during elections) in Ohio and Illinois, the attorneys general lost their re-election campaigns. They did not take police violence seriously enough,” he said.

Born in Queens, N.Y., Cobb is a graduate of Howard University and Rutgers University, where he earned is doctorate in American history.

He has received fellowships from the Fulbright and Ford foundations and won the 2015 Sidney Hillman Award for opinion and analysis writing.

l Comments: (319) 368-8536; michaela.ramm@thegazette.com