THINK AND DRINK: POLICING, COMMUNITY, PROTECTION, AND TRUST IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Join us for a fourth season of Think & Drink as we tackle policing in Maine, its intersection with race, and how our local experience connects with what we see across the rest of the United States.

How does society define criminal behavior, and who is a criminal? What do we want from our police, and how are they trained? What powers do we place in the hands of the state (police, legal system, prisons), and how do we monitor the use of those powers? Do communities suffer collateral damage from being policed, and do those who do the policing face emotional challenges of their own?

The thrid discussion in this year’s series will be Who’s Watching Whom?

We’ll be joined by panelists Zach Heiden: Legal Director, ACLU of Maine, Leroy Rowe: Assistant Professor of African American History and Politics, University of Southern Maine and Robert Bryant: Chief of Police, Penobscot Indian Nation.

We have a new moderator for this year’s series: Samaa Abdurraqib, who has facilitated many a discussion for the MHC’s special audience programs (in addition to her full-time work with the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence). A native of Minnesota, Samaa earned her Masters and Ph.D. in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at Bowdoin College for a number of years and has also been an adjunct professor at USM.