Reconstructing Our Democracy: A Midterms Post-Mortem & Call To Action

The midterm election of 2018 is widely regarded as the most important one of our lifetime. All 435 House seats and 35 U.S. Senate seats are at stake. The election results will likely shape the future of healthcare, social security, climate change, reproductive justice, and immigration. Join us in a national dialogue between thought leaders in Georgia and other leading voices for democratic inclusion around the country to discuss key insights from the campaign, lift up the hidden stories and facts not covered by the mainstream media, and explore concrete ways that activists, advocates and academics can work more closely to steer our democracy away from the disastrous unraveling of the last two years.

In this moderated round table, participants will offer brief insights, followed by discussion, and considerations of concrete proposals moving forward. Key questions include: In what ways have racism, anti-semitism, fascism, white supremacy, converged in our current moment, and how can our movements respond? How can we hold our representatives accountable--including a new wave of progressive leaders--so that we can enhance democratic values in a time of unrest? How can we win concrete victories by building collaborations across different issues and sectors and between activists and academics? The evening will be geared toward implementing shifts from single-issue politics toward intersectional coalitions.

This event is free and open to the public for those who register on eventbrite. A catered social mixer will follow.

Speakers:

Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, Columbia Law School and UCLA Law School, Executive Director and Co-Founder, African American Policy Forum, Executive Director, Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies

Professor Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies at Emory University

Professor Daniel HoSang, Associate Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration at Yale University

Barbara Arnwine, Founder and Executive Director, Transformative Justice Coalition

Helen Butler, Executive Director, Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda

Azadeh Shahshahani, Legal and Advocacy Director, Project South

Monica Simpson, Executive Director, SisterSong

Professor Nikhil Pal Singh, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis and History at New York University

Professor Angelica Chazaro, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Washington

Professor Brittney Cooper, Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Africana Studies, Rutgers University

Tim Wise, Writer and Anti-Racist Activist

Professor Robin Kelley, Gary B. Nash Professor of History, UCLA

The African American Policy Forum (AAPF), is an innovative think tank that connects academics, activists and policy-makers to promote efforts to dismantle structural inequality. Founded in 1996, we utilize new ideas and innovative perspectives to transform public discourse and policy. We promote frameworks and strategies that address a vision of racial justice that embraces the intersections of race, gender, class, and the array of barriers that disempower those who are marginalized in society. AAPF is dedicated to advancing and expanding racial justice, gender equality, and the indivisibility of all human rights, both in the U.S. and internationally.

The Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies (CISPS) was established to examine how social structures and related identity categories such as gender, race, and class interact on multiple levels to create social inequality. The first such center of its kind, the Center's research projects and initiatives bring together scholars and practitioners from law, sociology, feminist and gender studies, human rights, social justice, and other fields to explore the relationship of intersectionality to their work, to shape more effective remedies, and to promote greater collaboration between and across social movements. As an interdisciplinary hub, the center partners on projects with the African American Policy Forum, a think tank housed at Columbia Law School, as well as with a variety of other centers and institutes.

Emory University Department of African American Studies
Dedicated to the histories, cultures, and political movements of black communities across the United States and the wider African diaspora, African American Studies at Emory University pursues academic excellence and social responsibility through interdisciplinary scholarship, transformational pedagogy, and engagement with local, national, and international communities of African descent.

Emory University James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference
Our mission is to support research, teaching, and public dialogue that examine race and intersecting dimensions of human difference including, but not limited to, class, gender, religion, and sexuality. We are interested in how systems of social distinction shape identities, modes of knowing, processes of inclusion and exclusion, and acts of representation. In the tradition of James Weldon Johnson’s life and work, a feature of the Institute is to produce new knowledge on movements for civil and human rights in the United States and abroad. We value approaches that are interdisciplinary, multi-disciplinary, comparative, and that inform public discourse and decision-making.

The Carter Center, in partnership with Emory University, is guided by a fundamental commitment to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering. It seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health.

• The Center emphasizes action and measurable results. Based on careful research and analysis, it is prepared to take timely action on important and pressing issues.
• The Center seeks to break new ground and not duplicate the effective efforts of others.
• The Center addresses difficult problems in difficult situations and recognizes the possibility of failure as an acceptable risk.
• The Center is nonpartisan, actively seeks complementary partnerships and works collaboratively with other organizations from the highest levels of government to local communities.
• The Center believes that people can improve their own lives when provided with the necessary skills, knowledge, and access to resources.