UMD's Dr. Dana Lindaman pays a lot of attention to what's going on in contemporary culture.
He has a friend and colleague in France and the two men collaborate on analysis of the politics and myths in our cultures - Lindaman analyzing the French and Jerome Viala-Gaudefroy looking at the American.
Lindaman also has a beloved older brother who is Black.
His most recent article, co-written with Viala-Gaudefroy, was prompted by video seen around the world of George Floyd's death, and a rejection of the idea that incidents of police brutality are isolated to a few "bad apples."
Lindaman saw it differently when he watched the video of fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck.
"It was the impunity in the man's eyes," says Lindaman. "He's backed up by an entire system that says, 'I am not responsible for this man. I can do whatever I want to this man, and the system will protect me.'"
You can read the full article, "Police violence in the United States: what lies behind the ‘bad apples’ narrative" here.
