All Resources

Across seven seas and barren borders, we are all connected and conjoined. Through the pain and the pandemic, the exploitation and the expropriation, Through the crisis of the changing climate and the desolate deserts without food, Through the oil...

What will we care to re-member about the era of the Covid-19 pandemic? Some events become a generational marker, an experience shared by so many in such profound ways that the ripples last decades. The “Great Depression” of the 1930s and the US war...

In this episode we speak with Ashlin Malouf-Gashaw. Ashlin is the Chief Formation Officer at PICO California, the largest multi-racial faith-based community-organizing network in the state. PICO is leading The Belong Movement, which aims to address...

Today, another vigilante escaped justice. Somehow, a jury in Wisconsin found that Kyle Rittenhouse was justified in driving across a state border and killing two protesters, wounding a third, and firing on a fourth with a semi-automatic rifle. I can...

In this episode we speak with Roberto Bedoya. Roberto is the Cultural Affairs Manager for the City of Oakland in California. He developed the City’s Cultural Plan, titled, Belonging in Oakland. Throughout his career Roberto has consistently advocated...

This report chronicles more than two years of research with the people of the Inland Empire — the two-county region of Southern California often seen as a periphery “at the margins” of Los Angeles. This research seeks to understand prevailing beliefs and narratives across different groups on ideas of community, economic opportunity, government, and more.

In this episode we speak with Tamia Dantzler & Dashley Concepcion. Tamia is an alum and Dashley is a current student at El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice. In a previous episode we spoke with Frances Lucerna, founding principal of El Puente...

This keynote presentation by OBI director john a. powell on Nov. 9, 2021 focused on how creating transformational bridges and rebalancing power dynamics can foster belonging in our society. Specifically, it explored the role of philanthropic...

On Nov. 5 Georgetown law professor Sheryll Cashin presented her new book, titled, White Space, Black Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality, at UC Berkeley, in the first in-person event organized by the O&B Institute in...

At a time when LGBTQ rights are advancing, why are attacks against trans, queer and/or gender-nonconforming people of color increasing?

In this episode we speak with Frances Lucerna. Frances is the founding principal of El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice. El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice is a public school located in the Southside community of Williamsburg in Brooklyn...

The introduction of the Justice for Black Farmers Act of 2020 and the Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act of 2021 was the first time many Americans learned about the historical and ongoing discrimination against farmers of African descent by...

In this episode we interview two of the founding members of The Wind & The Warrior, Ife Afriye Kilimanjaro and Nana Korantema. In 2020, The Wind & The Warrior led a Sacred Waters Pilgrimage to connect Black and Native culture-bearers and advocacy...

On October 22, 2021, OBI Director john. a. powell joined ACLU-WA Executive Director Michele Storms in a conversation centered around the themes and concepts of othering & belonging and how the ACLU can use them as a blueprint in order to continue...

"When I took my shahada," said Curtis Toler, "my past sins were erased and I could start a new life." Curtis had spent many years as a high-ranking gang leader in Chicago, and he had hurt many people. But he had reached what author Amanda Ripley...