In Conversation with Dr. Philip V. McHarris (University of Rochester), author of "Beyond Policing" (Hachette, 2024)
February 18, 2026
12:00pm - 1:00pm
Zoom Link Coming Soon
Feb 18, 12pm PST, Zoom Link Coming Soon
Dr. Philip McHarris is Assistant Professor of Black Studies at the University of Rochester and received his PhD in Sociology and African American Studies from Yale University. Find his website here.
"His work has been supported by the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship and the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. In addition to his scholarly work, McHarris has written for outlets that include The New York Times, Washington Post, Slate, The Guardian, MTV, and Nickelodeon. His commentary has been featured on HBO, CNN, TIME, and PBS. In 2020, he was honored as one of the Root 100 Most Influential African Americans...He is also currently at work on Brick Dreams (under advanced contract with Princeton University Press), an ethnography-based manuscript focused on the New York City Housing Authority and the contemporary realities and challenges of public housing in America."
His recent book, Beyond Policing (Legacy Lit/Hachette, 2024), asks, "What would happen if policing disappeared? Would we be safe? This book imagines a world without police."
UCLA Professor of History, Robin D.G. Kelley noted "In this visionary yet sober account, Philip V. McHarris marshals empirical data and personal stories to show that the police function not to keep all of us safe but to maintain racial and class order. A half-century of reform has done nothing to reduce police brutality, terror, wrongful deaths, or crime. Beyond Policing offers a new vision of public safety, one that recognizes social and economic security as safety issues. Even skeptics will agree: abolition may be the only viable path to a humane civil society."
Zellie Imani, Co-Founder of the Black Liberation Collective, wrote of Beyond Policing: "McHarris reminds us that abolition isn't the absence of safety; it is the presence of care. When we courageously move 'beyond policing,' we distance ourselves from the chaos and destruction it creates, moving towards the justice and freedom we deserve."
Series organizers (alphabetical) are Amber Broaden (CSUSB and CSU Dominguez Hills, Psychology), Stan Futch (President, Westside Action Group), Michael German (Brennan Center for Justice), Robie Madrigal (Pfau Library), Dr. Jeremy Murray (CSUSB History), Matt Patino (Crafton Hills College Adjunct Faculty), Dr. Mary Texeira (CSUSB Sociology). Click here to view previous panels in the Conversations on Race and Policing series (link). Thanks to Project Rebound and the CSUSB Pfau Library for their support of this event! Thanks to Thinh Ly, Parker Brooks, and the Information Technology Services team!
Thanks to Pfau Library, Project Rebound, and the Information Technology Services team for making this event possible!
