Whatever Happened to the "Racial Reckoning" of 2020?
A signature lunchtime event and critical conversation confronting racial justice, the causes and consequence of backlash—and the unfinished work of ending inequality, focused on the newly published book, Reckoning the Racial Reckoning: From Backlash to Accountability After George Floyd, by David Dante Troutt.
Wednesday, September 23, 2026, from 12:30 pm - 2:20 pm
Baker Courtroom, Room 125
Center for Law and Justice
123 Washington Street, Newark, NJ 07102
All are welcome. Lunch will be served.
Register here: go.rutgers.edu/racial_reckoning
About the featured speaker:
David Dante Troutt is Distinguished Professor of Law and Derrick A. Bell Scholar at Rutgers Law School-Newark where he also founded and directs the Center on Law, Inequality and Metropolitan Equity (CLiME). He emphasizes using law and interdisciplinary study in order to understand structural inequality and to formulate legal and policy reform strategies. Troutt teaches tort law, business torts/intellectual property, civil rights and a multidisciplinary approach to racial and economic inequality (land use, civil rights, state and local government, housing and poverty law). Troutt is the author of five books: Reckoning the Racial Reckoning: Awareness and Accountability after George Floyd (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press), The Price of Paradise: The Costs of Inequality and a Vision for a More Equitable America (NYU Press), The Monkey Suit: Short Fiction on African Americans and Justice (The New Press), After the Fall: Black Intellectuals Explore the Meaning of Hurricane Katrina (The New Press), and a novel, The Importance of Being Dangerous (Amistad/HarperCollins). His public scholarship on equitable growth, housing and structural inequality/civil rights is available at www.clime.rrutgers.edu. In addition to many scholarly articles, he writes frequently on issues of law, race and inequality for a variety of national publications. A Harlemite relocated to New Jersey, Troutt is the proud father of two tremendous daughters, a dedicated teacher, jazz drummer and keeper of soulful aquatic fish.
More about the book:
Reckoning the Racial Reckoning: From Backlash to Accountability after George Floyd
The demise of the 'racial reckoning' that followed George Floyd's death in 2020 occurred without definition, scrutiny or attempts to revive it. In this compelling new book, David Dante Troutt explores the 'what,' 'so what' and 'now what' of this period when much of the US sidelined the pandemic to confront racial inequality. It details how a rare focus on embedded racism shifted toward awareness, leaving deep disparities in wealth, health and policing unaddressed, and how this was overpowered by an enduring conservative backlash. Troutt unpacks how legal doctrine favored colorblindness over inequality, and examines government policies that created segregated zones of racial bargaining in health and wealth. The book also exposes deterrence-proof policing rules and explains the problems and promises of DEI. Reckoning the Racial Reckoning argues that democratic struggles over local resources are essential for creating justice and well-being for Black American communities, and ultimately for all Americans.