Dyson to speak on intersection between race, religion, politics

By Winston Yu

The theme "Politics and Religion: On a Collision Course?" will be examined by the four speakers of the Presidential Speaker Series this year.

The first speaker, Michael Eric Dyson, will give his talk tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Mayer Theatre on the intersection of race, religion and politics.

Dyson "is the national expert on race and religion," political science professor Eric Hanson said. "He's terrific."

On the choice of this year's theme, Margaret Avritt, marketing director for the office of marketing and communications, said, "Religion and politics have been so intertwined in what people are saying and what people are thinking that we thought this would be a great thing."

Hanson said, "Since the fall of the Soviet Union, religion has expanded its role in international politics, playing a different role in each national system."

Dyson is a cultural commentator and a professor of sociology at Georgetown University, as well as an ordained Baptist minister.

He has spoken on many topics, including race and the influence of the history of the black church on the connections between religion, race and politics today.

He has also authored more than 16 books, including a study of hip hop music titled "Know What I Mean?"

Dyson has been called a preacher on the warpath against prejudice and a hip hop intellectual. His exploration into hip hop and music has also been presented in his noted biographies of both Marvin Gaye and Tupac Shakur.

Ebony magazine named him one of the 100 most influential black Americans. Essence magazine called him one of the country's 40 most inspiring African Americans.

Dyson has also received praise from many distinguished individuals from a variety of professions, ranging from philosopher Noam Chomsky to rapper Nas.

Other books of Dyson's include: "Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost its Mind?," "Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster," and his most recent work, "April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Death and How It Changed America."

The series began three years ago as an initiative to bring all speakers and events at the university under a general theme, said Avritt.

Due to difficulties with scheduling and other issues, that idea didn't work out.

"What we decided to do is to run our own speaker's series and invite people in and then invite other entities on campus to co-sponsor and join forces with us," Avritt said.

In the inaugural year, the series consisted of three speakers, who by chance are or were of the Muslim faith. From this coincidence, the concept of themes arose.

"In all honesty we didn't start out thinking about that," Avritt said.

"But it worked so well when it all sort of fell into place that we sort of thought that this should be something where at least all of the speakers are loosely connected."

An advisory group comprised of various individuals, such as members of the faculty or staff, works closely with Avritt to decide on the theme.

Tickets are available for tonight's lecture. Student admission to the lectures will be $5 and general admission will be $25.

A live feed of the Presidential Speaker Series will also be provided via the university's LINC channel.

Prior to the presentation, there will be an informal question and answer session, open to the entire campus community, at 5 p.m. in Daly Science 206.

The speech is to be followed by a book signing.

Contact Winston Yu at (408) 554-4546 or wyu1@scu.edu.