john a powell: Path To a Fair and Inclusive Society: Seeing the Other in Me

KPFA Radio & Marcus Books present “Considering Ferguson…all the Fergusons…”

john a. powell

Professor of Law, Professor of African-American Studies & Ethnic Studies

The Path To a Fair and Inclusive Society: Seeing the Other in Me

Hosted by Brian Edwards-Tiekert

Wednesday, November 5, 7:30 pm

St. John’s Presbyterian Church

2727 College Avenue, Berkeley

Tickets: $12 KPFA benefit http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/867136 :: 800-838-3006 or Marcus Books, Pegasus (3 sites), Moe’s, Walden Pond Books, Diesel a Bookstore,

Mrs. Dalloway’s, SF: Modern Times, www.kpfa.org/events

john a. powell (lower case his choice) is an internationally recognized expert in civil rights and civil liberties as well as a wide range of issues including race, structural racism, ethnicity, housing, poverty, and democracy. In addition to being Professor of Law and Professor of African American Studies and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, Professor powell holds the Robert D. Haas Chancellor’s Chair in Equity and Inclusion. He was recently Executive Director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University, and held the Gregory H. Williams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties at the Moritz College of Law. Under his direction, the Kirwan Institute has emerged as a national leader on research and scholaship related to race, structural racism, racialized space and opportunity. He has been a leader in developing an “opportunity-based” housing model that provides a critical and creative framework for thinking about affordable housing, racialized space, and the many ways that housing influences other opportunity domains, including education, health, health care and employment.

“powell challenges those of us who consider ourselves relatively evolved on issues of race and social justice to think far more critically about the basic assumptions and paradigms that frame our perspectives, animate our scholarship, and drive our advocacy.” —Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

The Path to a Fair and Inclusive Society: Seeing the Other in Me is a discourse on how we can work together to create political, economic, and social systems that support individuals in becoming compassionate, competent, and responsible members of the wider community. While justice and fairness are needed to support effective participation, how do we ensure that those who are excluded—whether it be by race, class, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or the like—belong and are included in the circle of human concern? In light of the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, there is an urgent need to address systemic structural inequalities that police the bodies of some members of society more heavily than others. This dialogue will enable us to inhabit the space of a South African proverb, Sawubona, which means “We see you.” By “seeing” the other beyond our differences, we can create community that supports the personal and socially transformative ways of living and being in an increasingly complex and segregated world.

Professor powell has worked in Africa, where he was a consultant to the governments of Mozambique and South Africa. He has also worked in India, and done work in South America and Europe. He is one of rthe co-founders of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council, and serves on the boards of several national organizations. In addition, he has taught at numerous law schools, including Harvard and Columbia University.

Among his books is In Pursuit of a Dream Deferred (co-authored with Gavin Kearney and Vina Kay) and The Rights of Racial Minorities: The Basic ACLU Guide to Racial Minority Rights (with Laughlin McDonald). His latest book is the widely applauded Racing to Justice: Transforming Our Conceptions of Self and Other to Build an Inclusive Society.

Brian Edwards-Tiekert is a host on UpFront, a KPFA public affairs show weekdays at 7 AM.