Author to speak on the history of racism in the U.S.

Author James W. Loewen will speak about racism at several Bloomington locations March 21-23 in the United States through the years.\nLoewen, who is a professor emeritus at the University of Vermont, will kick off the speech series with a talk titled “How History Keeps Us Racist, and What To Do About It.”\n“Loewen’s seminal study of ‘sundown towns’ reveals how deeply our part of the Midwest has been blighted by bigotry and racial exclusion,” Larry Friedman, president of the Bloomington American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. “The ‘sundown’ legacy has hardly been eradicated. It represents a disheartening constriction of minority rights, just as it narrows and warps the majority. It defies the Bill of Rights and is antithetical to the core principles of the ACLU.” \nLoewen has been an expert witness in more than 50 class action lawsuits having to do with racism and civil liberties, according to a press release.