Through her activism and her scholarship over the last decades, Dr. Angela Davis has been deeply involved in our nation’s quest for social justice. In recent years a persistent theme of her work has been the range of social problems associated with incarceration and the generalized criminalization of those communities that are most affected by poverty and racial discrimination.

As part of the 2011 YWCA Racial Justice Summit, both Dr. Angela Davis and Dr. Fania E. Davis will address questions from the audience following their keynote addresses. They will address issues such as institutional racism and restorative justice.

Dr. Fania E. Davis, Civil Rights Attorney and Director of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth, will focus on the contemporary U.S. restorative justice movement and race. Does this new – but ancient – paradigm of justice that privileges healing over punitive responses to wrongdoing have the potential to push back the “New Jim Crow” and render mass incarceration (particularly of African American males) obsolete? If not, why not? If so, how so, and what are the challenges and potential pitfalls?

As part of the 2011 YWCA Racial Justice Summit, both Dr. Angela Davis and Dr. Fania E. Davis will address questions from the audience following their keynote addresses. They will address issues such as institutional racism and restorative justice.

The City of Madison holds a session designed to instruct citizen members of City Boards, Committees and Commissions on the protocols involved in holding meetings. This session includes presentations on Robert’s Rules of Order; ethics rules; the role of Alders on these bodies; and Open Meetings and Public Records regulations.

The League of Women Voters of Dane County presents as its October 2011 Issues Forum a discussion of the role of the Federal Government in public education. The panel includes Deputy Superintendent Michael Thompson, Department of Public Instruction; Professor Gloria Ladson-Billings, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, UW–Madison; and Associate Professor Doug Harris, Department of Education Policy Studies, UW–Madison. Should the Federal Government mandate standards and curriculum for all schools nationwide, or should individual local school districts exercise more control? The panel will consider these any many other questions.

Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl conducts a presentation on Wisconsin’s new Voter ID law. This presentation covers topics such as what forms of identification will be accepted, when and how a person can register to vote, and changes in the absentee voting process.

More Information on Voter ID at

http://www.cityofmadison.com/election/

A presentation by Madison Police Department Crime Prevention Gang Unit officers (including Captain Jim Wheeler) and an overview by Chief Noble Wray on the City/County response to concerns with heroin in our community.

Janet Napolitano, Secretary, Department of Homeland Security highlights this meeting of the Madison Civics Club. Her presentation, “The Role We All Play: Homeland Security in the Ten Years since 9/11,” discusses the efforts her Department and each of us can do to secure our country from the threats we face - from terrorism to natural disasters.

Phan Van Do, the Project Coordinator in Vietnam for Madison Quakers Inc. (MQI) speaks about the long-term effects of the Vietnam war and how they persist today in Vietnam. He speaks to the continuing need for spiritual healing as well as help with material goods and rebuilding homes, schools, clinics, etc. In partnership with Mike Boehm, the 2008 UNA Global Citizen of the Year, Mr. Do has worked tirelessly on MQI humanitarian projects in Vietnam.