From Us-and-Them to Us-and-Us

Caption: Movement groups film 'Power in Belonging' video series in Santa Ana, CA alongside OBI staff. Production by Time of Day. In OBI’s community-engaged research, we often hear community members and neighbors express a readiness to bridge that...

Blog: Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter tour is a reclamation of belonging in America

Othering and Belonging Institute’s Jose Richard Aviles reflects on their experience at “Queen Bey’s” Cowboy Carter tour performances in L.A., and how it helped them to radically imagine a new world. I didn’t grow up with much country music—save one...

Understanding Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism is rising around the world — threatening democracy, human rights, and the fundamental dignity of diverse communities. This resource library is a curated collection of articles, essays, tools, and analyses designed to help you...

john a. powell: Show them who we are 

As I watch what's unfolding in Los Angeles and across our nation, I'm reminded of something Gandhi understood deeply: the path we choose in moments of crisis shapes not just our immediate response, but the kind of society we become. Today, we face a...

Blog: The Trump executive order that could gut civil rights

President Donald Trump on April 23 issued an executive order misleadingly entitled “ Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy .” This order announces that it is now “the policy of the United States to eliminate the use of disparate-impact...

The Corruption Paradox

Why do some political leaders thrive on anti-corruption rhetoric, even when accused of corruption themselves? In her latest Connecting the Dots piece, Míriam Juan-Torres, Head of Research at the Democracy & Belonging Forum, explores how authoritarian...

‘Happy in the end’: Wicked teaches us to bridge across differences, find belonging without othering

I believe the dance floor is a representation for belonging. And dancing a symbolic act to bridge with whomever is willing to dance with you. I mean, a dance floor can literally be created anywhere. A street corner or sidewalk plotted down with...

Blog: The Multi-Headed Authoritarian Populist Coalition — and Its Fault Lines

As I try to make sense of European and American politics, the image that keeps coming to mind is that of a hydra. In Greek mythology, a hydra is a mythical serpent with multiple heads that grow back when cut off; persistent, multifaceted, and...

Blog: Trump’s Saber-Rattling is an Ominous Sign of Dangerous Demagoguery

Donald Trump has not yet been sworn into his second term of office, but there are disturbing signs of what may come in his upcoming administration. On January 7, President-Elect Trump told reporters that “ we need Greenland for national security...

Blog: Is India inclusive? A personal perspective

I recently returned from a month-long trip to India, my birth country. It was exciting, exhilarating, invigorating, and above all gave me an opportunity to re-experience the culture, the people and the connections. Of all the visits I have made since...

Blog: Getting Free From Corporate Political Domination

The Democrats’ historic loss of working class voters across race and gender lines has led to some debate and hopefully soul-searching about how the party can win back the support of working class voters, and what has prevented the party from an...

The Problem of California's Prop 36, Criminal Justice Reform, and the Social Justice Blind Spot

California voters are being asked to roll back a milestone criminal justice reform this election, in the form of Proposition 36. This initiative would elevate certain misdemeanors, like petty theft and non-violent drug crimes, into felonies. It would...

Against Pro-Housing Hauteur

In this multi-part series, we join an analysis of a novel database of municipal zoning reform efforts across the United States with a deconstructive treatment of the housing political infrastructure, and those movements that contest the desideratum...

The Destabilization of American Zoning

In this multi-part series, we join an analysis of a novel database of municipal zoning reform efforts across the United States with an argument for the necessity of a tenant-inflected zoning reform, as a method and approach to ground future zoning...

The Practice of Bridging

Creating structures for belonging or a belongingness policy agenda, while necessary, is also insufficient. As important as many of these structural interventions may be, in some respects they remain too shallow. Such structures are necessary ballast...

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E-Newsletter Archive

An Archive of past issues of our bi-weekly newsletter.
Aug
13

Bridging Partnerships for Scaling Housing Justice

Register now Housing justice for all. To truly be for all, we need housing solutions at scale. Scaling just solutions that match what our communities want and need is about more than building more affordable housing units. It requires building...

2024: Building a World Where Everyone Belongs

OBI is a think-and-do tank dedicated to building a world where every person—no matter their race, class, education, gender, politics, religion, ability, or background—is recognized and valued.