As a celebration of Black History Month, USC launched “The Second Draft Project.”
The project will use interactive technology as a way to highlight Black voices connected to the social justice movement in the United States.
USC’s first interviewee for the project was Lora Dene King, founder and CEO of Rodney King Foundation.
King is the daughter of Rodney King, who was brutally beaten by LAPD officers in 1991. King described the injuries of her father.
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“He had over 50 broken bones, his eye socket was busted, his jawline was fractured, his eye was completely out of socket,” King said as she retold her father’s story.
"I thought it was really important to give voice to the family that walked those incidents and lived that history with him," Dr. Allissa Richardson said.
Richardson is the leader of this project. Their plan for this project is to speak with Black Americans connected to big stories in the fight for social justice.
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To launch their project, Dr. Allissa Richardson spent the entire day with King talking about the past. She asked her about 750 questions because the idea is for students to be able to step inside an interactive booth on campus and have most of their questions answered by King virtually.
"In 2020 when I started to think of this idea, John Lewis passed away and CT Vivian passed on the very same day and I thought what if I can have one more conversation with these architects of the civil rights movement?" Richardson said.
"It’s called the interactive interview where you will be able to ask questions on a video and have a response stated back to you," the video presentation says.
Richardson plans to have these conversations documenting history, so people never forget.
“I definitely think people should be open minded, we will be much further in life, in the world, in America, and we can actually be the example that the world really needs to see” King told Dr. Allissa Richardson.
