Race In America Panel — with April Ryan, Paul Butler, and Karen Attiah — at Conn Ave

Join April Ryan for another installment in an ongoing series of discussions focusing on the panelists' most recent books and current events. Ryan will examine recent and longstanding issues with the following panelists:

White House Correspondent April Ryan has a unique vantage point as the only Black female reporter covering urban issues from the White House - a position she has held for over 28 years, since the Clinton era. She is now the longest-serving Black member of the press corps. Her position as a White House Correspondent has afforded her unusual insight into the racial sensitivities, issues, and attendant political struggles of our nation's past presidents. April is the Washington D.C. Bureau Chief for Black Press USA and the host of The Tea with April Ryan on Substack. She has been featured in Essence, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Elle Magazines to name a few. April Ryan has served on the board of the prestigious White House Correspondents Association. She is also an esteemed member of the National Press Club and the Gridiron Club. In 2015, Ms. Ryan was nominated for an NAACP Image Award (Outstanding Literary Work-Debut Author) for her first book. In 2017 April was the Journalist of the Year for the National Association of Black Journalists. April Ryan is the author of the award-winning book, The Presidency in Black and White, and At Mama's Knee, where she looks at race relations through the lessons and wisdom that mothers have given their children. April is also the author of Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House. Her latest book, Black Women Will Save the World, celebrates Black women's resilience and unheralded strength, reflects on "The Year That Changed Everything" — 2020 — and discusses African-American women's unprecedented role in upholding democracy.

Paul Butler is the Albert Brick Professor in Law at Georgetown University Law Center and a legal analyst on MSNBC. Professor Butler is one of the nation’s most frequently consulted scholars on issues of race and criminal justice. He lectures regularly for the American Bar Association and the NAACP, and at colleges, law schools, and community organizations throughout the United States. He serves on the District of Columbia Code Revision Commission as an appointee of the D.C. City Council. Professor Butler’s scholarship has been published in many leading scholarly journals, including the Georgetown Law Journal, Yale Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review and the UCLA Law Review. He was elected to the American Law Institute in 2003. Professor Butler’s book Let’s Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice received the Harry Chapin Media award. His book Chokehold: Policing Black Men was published in July 2017. The Washington Post named it one of the 50 best non-fiction books of 2017. Chokehold was also named one of the best books of the year and was a finalist for the 2018 NAACP Image Award for best non-fiction. Professor Butler served as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice, where his specialty was public corruption.

Karen Attiah is an award-winning journalist, editor, and global thought leader whose work explores the intersections of race, culture, gender, media, and international affairs. A graduate of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and Northwestern University, Attiah is a former adjunct lecturer at Columbia, where she brought global expertise and academic rigor to her teaching. A former Fulbright Scholar to Ghana, she has reported from across the world, including Nigeria, Germany, and Curaçao. Her commentary and reporting have appeared in major international outlets such as the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, and Voice of America. She also holds an Honorary Doctorate of Journalism from Dickinson College. Attiah was formerly a columnist and the founding Global Opinion Editor for The Washington Post. She founded the Resistance Summer School in 2025, a learning community of over 1,000 students focused on subjects currently being banned or cancelled in the current political climate. She writes on Substack at The Golden Hour. She can be found on X, Instagram at @KarenAttiah.

This event is free with first come, first served seating.

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