Professor Ibram X. Kendi joins the Listening Tour to talk about the work of dismantling the existing systems of inequality. Dr. Kendi founded and directs the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. In partnership with the Boston Globe, it recently launched the Emancipator, a multi-media platform that aims to change the national conversation on race.
When we think about the profound divisions in the nation and spewing of ethnic slurs and hate speech, many wonder: Is there a way to excise the hate? Will America’s democracy survive if we cannot find ways to have informed, meaningful conversations with people with whom we have profound disagreements? This is a topic we posed to a woman with a unique perspective, who sits on the highest court in the land, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor.
Throughout the Matter of Fact Listening Tour: Promises of Change, we’ve shown you the journey of the two people who met virtually during a social experience about bias — People we invited to DC to learn more about each others’ perspectives on social justice issues and on politics. In the video above, you can listen in as they talk about why change takes so much time.
Beth Howard, the Rural Kentucky Campaign Director of Showing Up for Racial Justice, came up with the slogan “Rednecks for Black Lives,” which has since become the name of a Facebook group interested in racial justice issues. Howard challenges her fellow “rednecks and hillbillies” to educate themselves and to stand up in defense of black lives.
The police department in Schenectady, New York, a city of around 60,000, may be the first in the nation to use a citizen review panel to vet potential officers, as part of an effort to address bias.
Dr. Eugenia South has designed projects to increase the amount of time people spend in urban nature and is evaluating the impact of housing repairs on crime.
Emmanuel Pratt is an urban designer whose model of resident-driven community development is transforming a south side Chicago neighborhood that has suffered the effects of long-term disinvestment.
Crystal Echo Hawk is an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. She led the largest public opinion research project ever conducted for and about Native Americans. Here’s what the project showed.
Black families suffer the longstanding legacy of racially discriminatory housing policies. One proposal to remedy that legacy is called the “21st Century Homestead Act.” The basic approach is a wholesale transfer of land to residents who meet certain criteria. The author of the plan is Mehrsa Baradaran, a professor of law at the University of California Irvine School of Law. She is the author of “The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap.”