Gina Pérez

Professor of Comparative American Studies Gina Pérez wrote an op-ed that appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer analyzing the ways narratives around the killing of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January resonate with responses to the killing of four church women from the Diocese of Cleveland in the 1980s by the Salvadoran National Guard. Both then and now, the blaming of victims reflects a disturbing culture of impunity that allows state actors to use lethal violence against those who question the status quo.

Professor of Comparative American Studies Gina Pérez and Shelley Lee (Brown University) co-host the podcast The Confluence: Ethnic Studies and the Public Good. It is part of a larger initiative Lee is directing at Brown University's Cogut Institute for the Humanities called The Origins and Afterlives of Ethnic Studies. The first episode features an interview with Robin D.G. Kelley (University of California, Los Angeles) and George Lipsitz (emeritus, University of California, Santa Barbara).

Professor of Comparative American Studies Gina Pérez was interviewed by the Elyria Chronicle Telegram for a story about the response of faith communities the new immigration enforcement landscape in Lorain County. Pérez's opinion article “Building a Culture of Mercy, Not a Culture of Fear” was published by the Cleveland Plain Dealer on February 16, and she was featured in an NPR story about what it’s like to take sanctuary in a church. The Jesuit publication America Magazine published a review of her new book Sanctuary People: Faith-Based Organizing in Latina/o Communities (NYU Press, 2024).

Professor of Comparative American Studies Gina Pérez's essay, "We Have Better Stories To Tell About Immigration," appeared in the Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com on October 6, 2024.

The Elyria Chronicle Telegram covered the five-year anniversary of the Latino Lorain History Project and the release of Professor of Comparative American Studies Gina Pérez's new book Sanctuary People: Faith-Based Organizing in Latina/o Communities. The Latino Lorain History Project is a a collaboration with the Lorain Historical Society, El Centro de Servicios Sociales and Oberlin College faculty and staff, including Professors Pablo Mitchell and Gina Pérez and the Bonner Center.

Professor of Comparative American Studies Gina Pérez was featured on The Revealer, an award-winning online magazine and podcast that explores religion and its many roles in society and people’s lives, to discuss her new book Sanctuary People: Faith-Based Organizing in Latina/o Communities.

Gina Perez, professor of comparative American studies, appeared on the roundtable podcast In the Thick to discuss the case of Vanessa Guillen and the issues of sexual assault, structural racism, and a culture of impunity in the United States military.