Theresa Runstedtler: “The Punch”: NBA Basketball and Constructions of Black Criminality
132 Performing Arts and Humanities BuildingThe Humanities Forum presents Theresa Runstedtler, associate professor of history at American University, who will discuss “The Punch”: NBA Basketball and Constructions of Black Criminality. On December 9, 1977, the Los Angeles Lakers’ African American power forward Kermit Washington punched the Houston Rockets’ white guard Rudy Tomjanovich, knocking him out with season-ending injuries. Theresa Runstedtler argues that the NBA became an important pedagogical space where racial common sense not only was shaped and debated, but also came to inform wider assumptions about the appropriate policy solutions to the problems confronting Black urban communities.