Blog: 50 years after death - What can Rev. Dr. King teach us today?

This week people all across the world are pausing to acknowledge the incredible life and the tragic death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I always deliberately include the “Reverend” in his title as we often fail to recognize King’s profound religious and spiritual grounding.

Video: Transforming California from Red to Blue

By Gerald Lenoir and Serginho Roosblad California is currently leading the resistance against the current Trump administration. And that’s not new. The state has a reputation for being the most progressive state in the union. Important social and...

Ethical questions posed in Gattaca more pressing than ever

The Haas Institute's Disability Studies and Diversity & Health Disparities clusters hosted a March 6 film screening to revisit the 1997 sci-fi movie Gattaca and discuss its impact on the public imagination and how we think about the ethical and...

The Road Not Taken: The Kerner Commission 50 Years Later

It is not difficult to imagine the scene: A troubled community with racially segregated, under-performing schools and high under- and unemployment. A police shooting. A young black man dead. Civil unrest. Millions of dollars in property damage. An...

Blog: Trump’s travel ban is just one of many US policies that legalize discrimination against Muslims

On Jan. 19, a year after President Donald Trump’s first travel ban was issued, the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments against the latest third version signed by Trump on Sept. 24, 2017.

Year-end Message from Director john a. powell

Tomorrow we close out 2017, a year of extreme intensity with many events we should take note of. Although much was profoundly troubling, not all was negative. There were many heartening developments that showed a level of commitment and engagement to...

Interview with Catalan Politician Josep Maria Terricabras i Nogueras on the crisis in Catalonia

Hiram José Irizarry Osorio, a Professor of Mediterranean Politics and Politics of the Developing World at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, recently interviewed Josep Maria Terricabras i Nogueras, Member of the European Parliament for Esquerra...

Interview with Catalan Politician Benet Salellas on why Catalonia Seeks Independence

Hiram José Irizarry Osorio , a Professor of Mediterranean Politics and Politics of the Developing World at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, recently interviewed Benet Salellas, Parliamentary Member (CUP) during the 2015-2017 legislature, about the...

Blog: Broad conceptual strokes of the making of the Republic of Catalonia

By Hiram José Irizarry Osorio, Ph.D. The political relationship between the central state government in Madrid and the government in Catalonia has always been complex. Still, these political tensions increased during September and October, following...

After Virginia

Since the 2016 presidential election, analysts and strategists across the liberal-left spectrum have debated which voter groups should be the main targets of outreach and organizing in preparation for the elections of 2018 and 2020.

Director's Letter from john a. powell

Our last newsletter was published just before the 2016 presidential election, a campaign that featured some of the uglier elements of our current American society, including xenophobia, nationalism, and a toxic dose of misogyny.

Blog: Public Health & Wealth in Detroit

Detroit’s fiscal health is often held up as an exceptional case—in 2014 its bankruptcy was said to be the result of “a terrible and unique set of circumstances.” Now, though, we see Chicago, Seattle, and other cities discussed as the “next Detroit.”

Blog: The Geography of Islamophobia

November 8, 2017 By Rhonda Itaoui 2017 Summer Fellow Just months after the brutal murder of American Muslim Nabra Hassanen, who was assaulted and killed in June 2017 in Virginia, it has become more urgent than ever to interrogate the exclusion of...

Blog: Ensuring Fair Shares of Housing Across Local Jurisdictions

By Heather Bromfield and Eli Moore California has been in the national headlines in recent months because of its bafflingly high housing costs, which are unaffordable even to some of the highest income earners. In the Bay Area, where a booming tech...

America Can't Fix Poverty Until It Stops Hating Poor People

“Hell is other people,” famously wrote the French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre at the close of his 1943 play No Exit. While for Sartre this was a philosophically sophisticated point, in America today it has become simply the way we increasingly...

Explore Othering and Belonging

Transformative Research Toolkit

Introduction We have seen and participated in transformative research strategies that defeated proposed jail expansions, won millions of dollars for community-prioritized programs, and built new community-led organizations that changed a political...
Apr
6

Depolarization Day

Want a chance to hear from experts studying the root of what’s driving us apart and how we come back together? Eager to build the skills to listen empathetically, elicit narratives of connection, and interview professionally? Looking for a chance...

Book Talk: Before Gentrification, with Tanya Golash-Boza

Dr. Tanya Golash-Boza's book Before Gentrification: The Creation of DC's Racial Wealth Gap explores how redlining, incarceration, anti-blackness, and gentrification have resulted in DC becoming an extremely unequal city. She presented her book...