LSA On Point featured Political Science Professors Shea Streeter and Christian Davenport as they joined two others to explore post-carceral life, the role of protest in democracy, how race influences our perceptions of police violence, and how these tumultuous and terrible months could help us create a better world.

Shea Streeter is a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan. Her research examines how race and gender shape the ways that people experience, perceive, and respond to incidents of violence. Her current body of work explores the racial politics of police violence in the United States, applying a Comparative Politics framework to the American case. This research agenda has produced several new discoveries regarding the differences and similarities in the circumstances of police killings among Blacks and Whites, the ways that personal racial identity defines perceptions of police violence, and the large racial gap in the rate of protest following police killings.

Christian Davenport is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan as well as a Faculty Associate at the Center for Political Studies and Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). Primary research interests include political conflict (e.g., human rights violations, genocide/politicide, torture, political surveillance, civil war and social movements), measurement, racism and popular culture.