As we have collectively waded through the challenges of living in an increasingly polarized country and world, many of us have found Ezra Klein’s book, Why We're Polarized to be equal parts moving and troubling. Between devastating wars, rising homicide rates, dislocations due to pandemics (covid and racism, to list two), economic uncertainty, and a combative political environment, it is easy to become overwhelmed by a sense of ever-rising dread. In this year’s Ryan Symposium, we interviewed Alicia Garza, who works in direct response to that dread. In this conversation, we hope that you can hear the voice of community being raised: the voice of someone taking a deep responsibility for creating conditions in which all of us can flourish, and encouraging the rest of us to do the same. These efforts and actions are not void of conflict, and not everyone will agree on the same theory of change, or what the next best steps should be. What Alicia gets us to think about is the ends to which we must manage our differences, and the necessity of focusing on ends that serve the most vulnerable among us. We hope that you find this conversation as moving and encouraging as we did.
This special episode serves as a good kick-off to the second semester of our podcast series, Caring, Character, & Community, in which we will continue to share conversations with educators, community leaders, and citizens who are working hard to create and sustain caring communities. In this semester, we will focus on people who are centering a concept of equity in their work. We will be sharing these stories throughout the rest of spring and this summer.
To watch this episode instead, please click here:
Take care and be well.
From Alicia Garza’s website:
“Alicia believes that Black communities deserve what all communities deserve — to be powerful in every aspect of their lives. An innovator, strategist, organizer, and cheeseburger enthusiast, Alicia founded the Black Futures Lab to make Black communities powerful in politics. She is the co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter and the Black Lives Matter Global Network, the Strategy & Partnerships Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and the co-founder of Supermajority, She shares her thoughts on politics and pop culture on her podcast, Lady Don’t Take No. Alicia warns you: hashtags don’t start movements — people do.”
To listen to (or watch) the first semester of the Caring, Character, & Community podcast, please visit our website at ccsr.substack.com.
Caring, Character, & Community