Red Emma’s

In SLOW AND SUDDEN VIOLENCE, Derek Hyra links police violence to an ongoing cycle of racial and spatial urban redevelopment repression. By delving into the real estate histories of St. Louis and Baltimore, he shows how housing and community development policies advance neighborhood inequality by segregating, gentrifying, and displacing Black communities.

Repeated decisions to “upgrade” the urban fabric and uproot low-income Black populations have resulted in pockets of poverty inhabited by people experiencing displacement trauma and police surveillance. These interconnected sets of divestments and accumulated frustrations have contributed to eruptions of violence in response to tragic, unjust police killings. To confront American unrest, Hyra urges that we end racialized policing, stop Black community destruction and displacement, and reduce neighborhood inequality.

Derek Hyra is a professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy within the School of Public Affairs at American University. His research focuses on processes of neighborhood change, with an emphasis on housing, urban politics, and race. Dr. Hyra is the co-editor of CAPITAL DILEMMA: GROWTH AND INEQUALITY IN WASHINGTON, DC (Routledge 2016), and author of THE NEW URBAN RENEWAL: THE ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION OF HARLEM AND BRONZEVILLE (University of Chicago Press 2008), RACE, CLASS, AND POLITICS IN THE CAPPUCCINO CITY (University of Chicago Press 2017), and SLOW AND SUDDEN VIOLENCE: WHY AND WHEN UPRISINGS OCCUR (University of California Press 2024).

Dr. Hyra’s research has been showcased in both academic journals, such as Housing Policy Debate, Journal of Urban Affairs, Urban Affairs Review, and Urban Studies, and popular media outlets, including the British Broadcasting Corporation, Chicago Public Radio, C-SPAN, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. He has also received several important grants and fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 2023, he received the Publicly Engaged Scholar Award from the American Sociological Association’s Community and Urban Sociology Section. In 2024, he received the Activist Scholar Award from the Urban Affairs Association.

Dr. Hyra strongly believes in public service. He has served as board chair of the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority, as an Alexandria Planning Commissioner, and as an Obama appointee on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Council on Underserved Communities. He was also a U.S. Congressional candidate in Northern Virginia in 2014. He currently serves as the President of the Eastern Sociological Society, member of the City of Falls Church (Virginia) Planning Commission, Editorial Advisory Board Member of Housing Policy Debate, and External Advisory Board Member of Boston University’s Initiative on Cities. He received his B.A. from Colgate University and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Lawrence Anderson is a certified Executive Chief of Staff™, skilled at solving complex public affairs challenges. Lawrence’s tenure includes stints as Chief of Staff for the City Council President in Baltimore, MD, a constitutional appointment as the Council Chief of Staff in Richmond, VA, and various senior municipal leadership roles. Lawrence’s academic journey is a testament to his commitment to excellence. A graduate of Virginia State University, he further honed his skills with Master’s degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University and American University. His pursuit of knowledge also led him to earn an Executive Chief of Staff™ certification from the Said Business School at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.