Diversity Forum 2021_Dismantling Oppressive Systems: Building Just Communities

Dismantling Oppressive Systems: Building Just Communities

July 26-29, 2021

The aim of the 2021 Diversity Forum, “Dismantling Oppressive Systems: Building Just Communities,” is to engage and equip participants with the knowledge, skills and resources to identify sources of systemic oppression, consider strategies for dismantling that oppression, and actions critical in fostering more equitable and just communities in which we live, work and learn.

Watch Here: Ariam’s Segment begins at minute 20!

Featured Speakers

  • Anthony Ray Hinton, who was wrongfully convicted of two murders and spent 30 years on death row in Alabama. With the assistance of the Equal Justice Initiative led by attorney Bryan Stevenson, Hinton was exonerated and released in 2015. The 2019 film “Just Mercy” depicts Stevenson’s journey in seeking justice for wrongfully convicted death row inmates, including Hinton.
  • ACLU Board President and civil rights leader Deborah Archer
  • Professor Russell Jeung, co-founder of the Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition that tracks and responds to incidences of hate against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.
  • Anneliese Singh, award-winning author of The Racial Healing Handbook and the Queer and Trans Resilience Workbook
  • Jacqueline Patterson, the Senior Director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, is an advocate and activist for racial, economic, environmental, and climate justice.

Forum Schedule

TUESDAY, JULY 27

5:30-6:45 p.mA Conversation on Social Justice

7-8:30 p.m. Spitting Fire: An Evening with Friends

WEDNESDAY, JULY 28

9 a.m. Bitter Fruit: The Poison of America’s Racism

10:45 a.m. Workshops

12:15 p.m. In a Just Community: To Be Oneself (focus on transgender equality)

2 p.m. Workshops

3:30 p.m. Building a Just Education System

THURSDAY, JULY 29

9 a.mCombating Environmental Racism and Injustice

10:45 a.mWorkshops

12:15 p.m. Mission Critical: JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) Approaches to Dismantling Oppressive Systems and Building Community in the Health Sciences

2 p.m. Workshops

3:30 p.m. Building Community-Supported Healing: New Traditions

Pre-forum institute

In conjunction with the forum, the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion is offering a two-day pre-forum institute, Racial Equity Consciousness: A Framework to Foster Antiracist Practices and Culture Across Communities, from July 26-27 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The two-day intensive and interactive course is designed to provide individuals with a framework for advancing racial equity within their organizations. At the pre-forum institute participants will learn the six areas of developing racial equity consciousness.

Learn more about the Pre-forum Institute