Cedric Johnson on Thinking Historically About Racial Justice and the Policing Crisis

ArtCenter College of Design’s bi-weekly podcast features intimate interviews with leading artists examining the ideas fueling their work and how the creative process can be a catalyst for change—personally, professionally and globally. Hosted by ArtCenter President, Lorne M. Buchman, these conversations examine the many ways in which artists and designers are enriching our lives. ArtCenter College of Design is a global leader in art and design education; and our mission statement—Learn to create. Influence change—lies at the center of all we do.

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Last year, Cedric Johnson embedded himself at ArtCenter for a week-long residency. Included in that visit was a talk about the policing crisis as well as a workshop with students exploring what it means to “do good” in the world through art and design.

These issues have only become more timely in the intervening year. But as any good historian will tell you—and Cedric most definitely fits that description—history has a way of colliding with the present if you wait long enough.

As a professor of political science and African American studies at University of Illinois-Chicago, Cedric has dedicated his academic career to studying and writing about the relationship between class, race, and social change. These ideas coalesce in rich narrative detail in his award-winning book, Revolutionaries to Race Leaders: Black Power and the Making of African American Politics.

Cedric has a gift for communicating complex and sometimes disruptive ideas with warmth, clarity and impressive skill. Throughout his extensive writings (and in his interview with Change Lab), he emphasizes the need for addressing the roots of racial injustice in class inequities, from persistent poverty and the “crimes of survival” committed as a result of “structural unemployment.”

Our conversation was full of ideas, both grounded and groundbreaking, that are critical to creating sustainable social change. Particularly germane to the ArtCenter community were his observations on the importance of decommodifying education (i.e., making it accessible to all students regardless of their ability to pay). This, he insists, is an essential stepping stone toward creating more diverse, equitable, and inclusive college campuses.

–Lorne M. Buchman

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Change Lab is hosted by Lorne M. Buchman and brought to you by the ArtCenter College of Design. Subscribe now, for free, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Cedric Johnson is professor of political science and African American studies at University of Illinois-Chicago and author of Revolutionaries to Race Leaders: Black Power and the Making of African American Politics (Minnesota, 2007).