Perloff Lecture Series

Multimedia artist Thompson-Hernández shares from his book, "The Compton Cowboys," and latest NPR podcast California Love. In Compton, California, 10 black riders on horseback cut an unusual profile, their cowboy hats tilted against the hot Los Angeles sun. They are the Compton Cowboys, their small ranch one of the very last in a formerly semirural area of the city that has been home to African American horse riders for decades. California Love is a new audio memoir about Walter's coming of age in Los Angeles.

While cyclists and pedestrians are vulnerable road users and face significant safety threats on roadways, environmental conditions in historically marginalized communities compound such vulnerability for people of color. Jesus Barajas takes a mobility justice perspective to contextualize street safety for cyclists and pedestrians. His research shows how identity shapes the way cyclists experience the streetscape, how safety has multiple meanings particularly for people of color, and how inequity in the distribution of infrastructure compounds police injustice in Black communities.