Simmons College to open racial justice center with $2M grant. Here's what to know (2416 hits)
Simmons College of Kentucky will open a new racial justice center in response to a federal investigation that found widespread racial discrimination within Louisville's police department.
The historic Black institution announced the center during an event Tuesday that also marked 55 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, with speakers drawing a link between King and the new center's namesake: Jesse Jackson.
"The last person to speak to Martin Luther King was the Rev. Jesse Jackson," said Kevin Cosby, president of Simmons College. "Jesse Jackson picked up the mantle of Dr. King, and since 1968, for 55 years, he has been a stalwart champion for racial justice."
The Jesse L. Jackson Sr. Center for Racial Justice will educate people on social and systemic racism, as well as advocate for legislative changes that reduce racial inequities, a press release stated.
It will be started with an initial $2 million grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation in Houston.
Callie Langston, administrator of the foundation, said the organization is honored to support the center and the "conversations, research and advocacy (it) will generate in Kentucky and beyond."
"We call on other funders, other individuals and other people in the community to join together with us in our commitment to supporting Simmons College and the new center for racial justice," she said.
Tuesday's announcement follows last month's release of an 86-page report by the U.S. Department of Justice, which accused the Louisville Metro Police Department of depriving "people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law" through "an aggressive style of policing that it deploys selectively, especially against Black people."
Cosby said the report necessitated a reaction, and Simmon's new center is the answer.
"The reason why there are disparities is not because of Black nature or Black nurture, but because of the legislature," he said. "Our objective is to fix public policy."
A press release on the center did not state where it will be located or when it will open.
Those who wish to support the center can donate at simmonscollegeky.edu/invest.
