The Society of Fellows hosts the Thursday Lecture Series (TLS), which runs regularly throughout the academic year. The Fall Semester TLS, our Fellows present their own work, chaired by Columbia faculty.

“A Rose from Canefield”

Lecture by nyle fort
Chaired by Noam M. Elcott

On August 9, 2014, white police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed black teenager Michael Brown, Jr. To add insult to injury, the local police department left his lifeless body on the ground for over four hours. Canfield residents immediately took to the street to demand answers, express rage, and, as this lecture will explore, build a makeshift memorial. Throughout the Ferguson Rebellion, the memorial became a site of struggle that animated what Dr. nyle fort calls "makeshift politics." That is, a form of activism that challenges pressures to translate protest to policy, while insisting on the value of grassroots organizing, the building of beloved communities, and the persistence of collective grief. This talk invites attendees to think about the possibilities and challenges of this particular form of political engagement within contemporary black social movements.