Blog Posts

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

I. Introduction & Summary In June of 2022, Los Angeles County launched a land banking pilot program, allocating $50 million to begin implementation. The goal of the land bank pilot is to prevent displacement near new development spurred by the Los...

Background In November 2022, 58% of Angelenos voted to pass the United to House Los Angeles (ULA) ballot measure, commonly referred to as the “mansion tax,” to fund affordable housing. ULA is a Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) on high-dollar real...