Learn More about CSRD!
CSRD Programming 2026-2027
CSRD hosts lectures, book talks, conferences, and community events that bring together students, scholars, faculty, and community members to explore the intersections of race, democracy, and public policy. Through engaging discussions and collaborative programming, we foster intellectual exchange, build meaningful connections, and create opportunities for students to learn, network, and get involved with the center.
Get Involved
Discover upcoming lectures, book talks, conferences, and community programs hosted by the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy (CSRD). By participating in our events, students can connect with scholars, faculty, and fellow students, build meaningful professional relationships, and explore opportunities to volunteer with the center. Whether you’re interested in engaging with new ideas, expanding your network, or contributing to CSRD’s programming, our events offer opportunities to learn, connect, and get involved.
Book Talk with Casey Gerald
Book Talk with Casey Gerald
The Center for the Study of Race and Democracy is excited to welcome Casey Gerald, a local author, to the LBJ School of Public Affairs for a special book talk exploring his most recent publishment, The Great Refusal. Join us for an evening of relaxed discussion and an interactive Q&A, followed by a bookmark crafting bar and free sweet treats.
When: Wednesday, November 11, 2026, at 6:00 PM CT
Where: SRH 3.B10, LBJ School of Public Affairs
RSVP & Learn More: Google Form
About Casey Gerald
Casey Gerald is an acclaimed author, speaker, and social entrepreneur, best known for The Great Refusal and the award-winning memoir There Will Be No Miracles Here, which explores race, class, religion, and sexuality.
About The Great Refusal
In the spirit of American cultural prophecy--from Ta-Nehisi Coates to Rebecca Solnit--acclaimed writer Casey Gerald offers a groundbreaking work of joyous dissent and stunning vision, a survival guide to a society in crisis.
"Somehow Casey Gerald has pulled off the most urgently political, most deeply personal, and most engagingly spiritual statement of our time by just looking outside his window and inside himself. Extraordinary." --Marlon James on There Will Be No Miracles Here
Most afternoons for the past three years, Casey Gerald took a walk. He would pass the compound that Elon Musk was building in his neighborhood; the burned-down Freedman's church; the little house where he and his lover Jack had seen a shooting star. He knew the world was crumbling, but he didn't fret. He had been promised: When it breaks, you'll be ready.
"There is a great unfolding going on," Gerald writes, "and all the clues for what's to come are planted in the people." In this quietly redemptive and lyrical book, Gerald shares his map for finding those clues, finding each other, and finding our way out of this dark and wearied time. On the other side of No, Gerald insists, there is a Yes--an embrace of what we really want, what we might finally claim once we refuse.
Calling forth a kaleidoscopic cast, from Odysseus to D'Angelo, Sun Tzu to Simone Biles, Black literati and desert mystics, Gerald implores us to take our power back and to remake the world together, on our terms. Written with Didion's cold eye and Baldwin's unflinching urgency, and with the dark humor of a man who's seen too much but still wants to see what's next, The Great Refusal is a lifeline from the other side of ruin.