Hertie School hosts inaugural Distinguished Equality Lecture with Michael Hanchard

On 27 November 2025, the Hertie School’s Henrik Enderlein Forum hosted Professor Michael G. Hanchard (University of Pennsylvania) for the inaugural lecture in the Distinguished Equality Lecture series, probing the fraught relationship between democracy, race and state protection.

Hanchard opened his address by introducing the term “racial rule”, in which racial hierarchies precede, shape and often override democratic principles, showing how participatory democratic mechanisms like deliberation, voting and civic organisation can be weaponised to legitimise exclusion.

Racial hierarchies, the limits of state protection, and the turn to Black self-defence

Tracing the 20th century, Hanchard showed how Black communities organised collective self-defence in response to systemic neglect and white supremacist violence. From Marcus Garvey’s UNIA and its paramilitary Legionnaires to armed resistance in Houston, Tulsa and Rosewood, these efforts arose from profound vulnerability, Hanchard argued, not an affinity for violence. Black soldiers returning from international battlefronts often found patriotism and military service offered no protection from racism, creating deep psychological and political alienation.

Shifting to the 21st century, Hanchard highlighted the Not F***ing Around Coalition (NFAC), a heavily armed Black militia formed to protect communities from white supremacist violence. Despite operating publicly and largely within the law, NFAC faced intense surveillance and rapid dismantling, raising stark questions about whose claims to self-protection are recognised in a democratic society.

Hanchard concluded his talk by highlighting the paradox at the heart of modern democracies: marginalised communities often face dual threats from both the state and from segments of the public empowered by it. In such contexts, traditional ideas of citizenship, sovereignty and even political resistance begin to fracture.

Following the lecture, Hanchard was joined virtually by Yusuf Serunkuma (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) in a discussion moderated by Violeta Moreno-Lax, Wübben Foundation Professor of International Law and the Director of the Hertie School’s Centre for Fundamental Rights.

In his intervention, Serunkuma highlighted how Black self-defence and resistance movements cannot be understood purely in legal or historical terms: they are deeply shaped by global economic structures, racial capitalism and the lingering legacies of colonialism. He emphasised that movements like NFAC, the UNIA and the Black Panther Party are strategic, episodic political projects driven by the necessity to safeguard life and community when the state fails to do so.

Hertie School’s institutional commitment to equality

Hertie School President Cornelia Woll opened the event by highlighting that the Distinguished Equality Lecture series represents an institutional commitment to examining the politics of exclusion, reflecting the university’s motto: Understand Today. Shape Tomorrow.

“At a time where social tensions and divisions between different parts of society are growing in many countries, we want to provide a forum for rigorous evidence-based discussion about the conditions that enable more cohesive and inclusive communities,” stressed Woll. With the fight for equality becoming more politicised, she noted, defending liberal democracy today requires asking difficult questions about the role of the state and the social structures that support or undermine democratic trust.

Co-organised by Ruth Ditlmann, Professor of Psychology and Public Policy at the Hertie School, and Michaela Kreyenfeld, Professor of Sociology at the Hertie School, this event was part of the Distinguished Equality Lecture Series co-hosted by the Social Policy Research Colloquium in collaboration with the Centre for Fundamental Rights and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office at the Hertie School.

Photo credits: Thomas Lobenwein