Schedule

WELCOME ADDRESS

PJ Andrews & May Lample

PANEL 1: Justice and Truth: Restorative Justice, Repair, Reparations

A commitment to a society built on the foundation of equity and inclusivity requires a truthful telling of harms done in a way that underscores the interconnectedness between all people. Processes of restorative justice help to address systemic inequalities and reveal how effort can be undertaken to repair and to heal from historical harm. This panel will also explore how reparations can be integrated into these processes. How do we connect our desire for justice to action? What is the relationship between truth and justice, and when pursued together, how do they lay the basis for enduring social change? How do we create conditions for love, trust, and understanding to grow out of a traumatic history?

Panelists:

Jodie Geddes
David Ragland
PJ Andrews

PANEL 2: Models of Truth, Healing and Transformation

Drawing on experience organizing, hosting, and advocating for spaces for Truth, Healing and Transformation, the panelists will share the ways in which communities and institutions are working to address racism and create opportunities for new patterns of engagement moving forward.

Panelists:

Charles Chavis
Sandy White Hawk
May Lample

PANEL 3: Solidarity: A Path to a More Just and Inclusive Society

To build a society that draws on the creative power of its diversity and works for all people, we need a movement of unified action that recognizes the humanity of all and draws on an outlook and language that is inclusive, reciprocal and collaborative rather than exclusionary. What examples from history can help us form this type of emancipatory movement?

Panelists:

Barbara Fields
Ted Johnson
Adam Rothman
Shahrzad Sabet

PANEL 4: Change yourself to Change the World: Dignity Affirmation and Social Transformation

All human beings have the capacity to contribute to the transformation of society. Those who are working to create just systems need to discover how all people can co-exist and flourish harmoniously while preserving the dignity and valuing the richness of diverse cultural contributions. This process of building a shared vision of a multi-racial social fabric requires patience, imagination and perseverance. How can we move beyond a movement for social transformation that has become mired in dichotomous thinking about who should belong and who can participate?

Panelists:

Matt Birkhold
Myrtle Thompson Curtis
Stephen Ward

PANEL 5: The Means and Ends of Social Change

If we aspire to live in a world characterized by peace, justice, and shared prosperity, how can we bring this about? By what means can we empower growing numbers of people to become protagonists of meaningful social change? By what means can we construct new patterns of community life, along with the institutional arrangements needed to support them? And how can we reconcile the urgency of the moment with the long-term commitment, sacrificial efforts, and constructive resilience that will be required?

Panelists:

Michael Karlberg
June Manning Thomas
Michael Penn
Derik Smith
Elizabeth de Souza

PANEL 6: Lessons from the Grassroots: Fostering Nuclei of Transformative Change

At the grassroots, these panelists are learning to contribute to the spiritual and material transformation of individuals and communities through an educational process that seeks to engage all members of a community. What does it look like to try and create environments of empowerment and social cohesion that are intended to help every individual walk along a path in which qualities and abilities are developed through direct action at the level of community?

Panelists:

Shadi Anello
Nanabah Bulman
Erica Reyes
Billy Silva
Nwandi Lawson