In honor of Black History Month, Santa Monica College will have special guest speakers Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline A. Seabrooks and Dr. Benjamin P. Bowser.
Seabrooks will speak on Thursday, Feb. 21 on the main campus in lecture hall HSS 165 from 11:15 a.m. to 12:35 p.m. Seabrooks assumed leadership responsibilities for the Santa Monica Police Department in May, 2012, becoming the 17th chief of police and the first African-American female to head the department.
Prior to working in Santa Monica, Seabrooks was the first woman to hold the top executive position at the Inglewood Police Department, bringing the city's crime rate down to levels not seen since the mid 1970s.
Bowser is a professor at California State University, East Bay, in the Department of Sociology and Social Services. His lecture is called "Gangsta Rap vs Hip Hop: The Immense and Lasting Impact of American Society," and will also be held in lecture hall HSS 165, on Thursday, Feb. 28.
Bowser's most recent publications are: "Gangster Rap and Its Social Cost: Exploiting Hip Hop and Using Racial Stereotypes to Entertain America," "The Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery," and "New Directions in Teaching and Learning." This will be Bowser's second visit to SMC for Black History Month.
