Phillip Atiba Goff, the recently appointed Franklin A. Thomas Professor in Policing Equity, delivered his first lecture in that role on Oct. 20, speaking eloquently and earnestly on “Justice as a Second Language.”
Goff, a social psychologist who is founder and president of the Center for Policing Equity, was introduced by John Jay President Jeremy Travis, who spoke of “the power of [Goff’s] research to move the dial,” and said the Center for Policing Equity “has become, in a very short time, a hub for issues of policing and implicit bias.” The center is home to the National Justice Database, the nation’s first database for tracking statistics on police behavior.
Speaking with the assured cadence of a preacher, Goff began by telling those in the Gerald W. Lynch Theater, “I have no intention of being up here in front of a silent audience,” and asking them to “help me be worthy of your time.”
Learning “justice as a second language,” Goff said, provides a foundation on which to understand and combat racism, injustice and oppression. “We lack the vocabulary to say what’s wrong and what’s right,” he said. “A language of justice is the words necessary to reveal the lies injustice needs to seem legitimate.”
Goff went on to recount an experience from high school that brought him face-to-face with the reality of racism, in the form of a bigoted English teacher, and helped him to learn the language of justice. Noting that he had to unlearn what he thought he knew about racism, Goff said he struggled “to find language that would let me make sense of” the bigotry. He succeeded, but said he “spent the next 21 years talking to myself in mirrors.”
“I didn’t speak ‘justice,’” said Goff. “I learned there’s a vocabulary to the truth.”
“When you speak the truth, you’re also required to stand up for what you believe in,” Goff insisted. “Speaking justice preserves not only your own sanity, but sanity of the community.” He emphasized that sanity is a legal term rather than a psychological one — the ability to be held accountable. “We are teetering on the brink of insanity,” he observed. “We are in danger of not being held accountable.”
Goff’s 45-minute presentation concluded with questions from the audience.
The lecture was sponsored by Macy’s as part of its new Social Justice Lecture Series. The Center for Policing Equity is also presenting a weekly Justice Nerds Speaker Series, a public forum on research and practice related to race and policing, and featuring prominent speakers from around the country. The series runs through Nov. 30. Visit www.policingequity.org for more information.
Click here to view the entire Goff lecture.
