Author and content creator Tyler Merritt will be the special guest at "We Need To Talk with Tyler Merritt" on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 2:30 p.m. at the Greenspun Hall Auditorium. The event is free and open to all.

Hosted by Claytee White, director of the UNLV Oral History Research Center, the event is the next in the We Need To Talk: Conversations on Racism for a More Resilient Las Vegas series sponsored by the UNLV University Libraries and the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs. The discussion will also be livestreamed by UNLV TV.

Merritt is a Las Vegas native, graduate of Las Vegas Academy, and creator of The Tyler Merritt Project. He is author of I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith and Being Black in America and the new children’s book, A Door Made For Me. His video essay, “Before You Call the Cops,” was released in 2018 and has had more than 100 million views and was named the top 20 videos by NowThisPolitics. The same video went viral again in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. TV host Jimmy Kimmel aired the video on his show May 20, 2020.

Archived episodes of We Need To Talk are available to stream on the UNLV Libraries website. Dive deeper into the topics discussed in each episode with readings and on the We Need To Talk companion guide from the UNLV Libraries. 

Additional funding to support the series has been provided by UNLV Libraries Advisory Board member Sara Mason. 

About We Need to Talk

In 2020, following the calls for racial justice that erupted across the country and around the world following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, UNLV University Libraries and the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs launched the series, We Need to Talk: Conversations on Racism for a More Resilient Las Vegas. The purpose of the series is to bring frank context to the demonstrations and begin exploring pathways for equity for all Las Vegas and Southern Nevada citizens.

The series features Southern Nevada community members, UNLV alumni, and researchers surrounding issues of race and systemic racism. Previous discussions have focused on specific topics like healthcare disparities, criminal justice reform, how communities of color are represented by news organizations in digital media, inequality in education, and economic challenges.