In 2016, a 43-year-old black man named Keith Lamont Scott was shot by police about a mile away from the main campus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The shooting sparked demonstrations in the student body, but the administration was slow to respond.
In the aftermath of the shooting and protests, Tracey Benson, assistant professor of educational leadership at UNC-Charlotte, conducted a study analyzing the university’s response and recommending ways that the institution could have guided professors in starting conversations about race and meeting the needs of students after the traumatic event. In the wake of George Floyd's shooting, Benson contributed toa piece for Education Week on how school educators should respond.
Benson talks with host Frank Stasio about the role of higher education in establishing racial literacy among its students. They also discuss the relationship between the police force and K-12 education system in North Carolina.