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In this Sept. 8, 2014 photo provided by the John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, poet Terrance Hayes poses for a photo
at his home in Pittsburgh. Hayes was named Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014, as one of
21 people to receive a "genius grant" from the Chicago-based
MacArthur Foundation.(AP Photo/Courtesy of the John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation)
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The
Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced on
Wednesday the 2014 recipients, who will each receive US$625,000 to spend any
way they like.
A
professor whose research is helping a California police department improve its
strained relationship with the black community and a lawyer who advocates for
victims of domestic abuse are among the 21 winners of this year's MacArthur
Foundation "genius grants."
The
professor and lawyer, part of an eclectic group that also includes scientists,
mathematicians, historians, a cartoonist and a composer, are among several
recipients whose work involves topics that have dominated the news in the past
year.
"I
think getting this (grant) speaks to people's sense that this is the kind of
work that needs to be done," said recipient Jennifer Eberhardt, a Stanford
University social psychologist who has researched racial stereotypes and crime.
Her
work prompted the Oakland, California, police department to ask for her help
studying racial biases among its officers and how those biases play out on the
street — topics that have been debated nationally in the wake of the police
shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old in Missouri. Eberhardt,
who is also studying the use of body cameras by police — another topic of
particular interest since Brown's shooting — said, "I hope this will show
the work matters, holds value and promotes social change."
The
justice system is also at the heart of Sarah Deer's work as a legal scholar and
advocate for Native American women living on reservations, who suffer
higher-than-average rates of domestic abuse and sexual violence.
Deer,
a Native American who teaches law in Minnesota, met with women who simply
stopped reporting such attacks because their tribal governments had been
stripped of the authority to investigate and because federal authorities were
often unwilling to do so, she said. The foundation pointed to her instrumental
role in reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act by Congress in 2013
that restored some of those abilities to tribes.
"For
the first time since 1978 ... tribes (can) prosecute non-Indians who have
committed acts of sexual assault and domestic violence on reservations,"
she said.
Like
Deer, fellow recipient Jonathan Rapping has worked to improve the lives of
others.
A
former public defender, Rapping founded Gideon's Promise after seeing a legal
system that he said valued speed over quality representation of the indigent.
The organization trains, mentors and assist public defenders to help them
withstand the intense pressure that can come with massive caseloads.
Today,
the program that began in 2007 for 16 attorneys in two offices in Georgia and
Louisiana has more than 300 participants in 15 states.
The
foundation recognized Khaled Mattawa, an associate professor at the University
of Michigan, for his poetry and translations of Arab contemporary poets.
Mattawa,
who said he started translating the poetry as way to teach himself to write
poetry, said the work can connect people from different cultures. "The
poets are bearing witness not only to the humanity of their own people but of a
shared humanity," he said.
The
awards, given annually since 1981, are doled out over a five-year period. This
year's class brings the number of recipients to more than 900. Shrouded in
secrecy, the selection process doesn't involve applications. Instead, anonymous
groups make nominations and recommendations to the foundation's board of
directors.
Most winners are not widely
known outside their fields, but the list has over the years included such
writers as Susan Sontag and Karen Russell and filmmaker John Sayles.
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