Bill Quigley Lecture - How to Destroy an African-American City in 33 Steps

January 2011

Quigley's lecture, “Justice Delayed is Justice Denied: How to Destroy an African-American City in 33 Steps,” was prompted by a conversation at a New Orleans grocery store: “I overheard a number of white people saying, ‘What is it that they want? It’s always race race race. What’s the problem?’”

“What happened in New Orleans is just a speeded-up version of what’s happening all over the place,” Quigley said. “Our U.S. laws...don’t work for justice.... There must be recognition of the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family. What you see in Katrina, what you see in Haiti, what you see in this town and all the other places doesn’t begin to measure up to equal and inalienable rights. It might be legal, but it’s not just. Our challenge is to narrow the gap between law and justice.”

Jennifer Ching ’00, project director of Queens Legal Services, and Shannon Cumberbatch ’12 moderated a discussion following the lecture, providing further opportunity for analysis of structural racism and many other issues.

Last modified 

August 16, 2012