"Identity Politics: Friend or Foe?" Asks Alicia Garza
In a new piece for our Civic Engagement Narrative Change project, cofounder of the Black Lives Matter global movement and principal of Black Futures Lab Alicia Garza explores the history and purpose of identity politics. "At a moment when America is facing some of the sharpest political polarization that it has seen in decades, anyone looking to secure the participation of marginalized groups had better start acknowledging that they’re marginalized in the first place, and second, working to design policy solutions that leave no one behind." Read the new paper.
NEW PODCAST EPISODE
Voter Suppression in Georgia
On our newest episode of Who Belongs?, theHaas Institute's Josh Clark talks with two guests about voter suppression in the 2018 Georgia governor race: Robert Greenwald, an award-winning producer and director who covers the race in his new film Suppressed: The Fight to Vote, and Carol Anderson, professor of African American Studies at Emory University and author of One Person No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying our Democracy. Listen to the new episode here. The new film Suppressed: The Fight to Vote can also be watched here.
NEW REPORT
Measuring Water and Sewer Affordability
The financial capacity of local governments to provide access to water for all people requires clear guidance on how to determine who is able to pay and who is not. A new paper out today from our Just Public Finance program offers a set of alternative metrics that use place-based measures of income. This is especially critical during a time when, between 2008–2016 alone, average water rates have increased in some areas by as much as 40 percent, with wastewater services across the country also increasing. Due to a lack of federal investment in infrastructure, local governments face increased demand for solutions that make water and wastewater services more affordable and accessible. Read the report.
NEW BLOG
Tools for Building Our Narrative Infrastructure
"Building a powerful progressive infrastructure in California involves aligning various types of organizations and networks around a common set of values, a shared analysis and vision, and a strategic narrative," writesGerald Lenoir of our Blueprint for Belonging (B4B) project, which is working with organizations across California to strengthen their narrative infrastructure. In a new blog, Lenoir discusses B4B's work creating curriculums for training and popular education to grow this narrative work in California and beyond. Read the blog.
NEW EVENT VIDEO
Ibram X. Kendi on How to Be An Antiracist
Filling Zellerbach Hall to capacity a few weeks ago, Ibram X. Kendi examined how we can work towards uprooting racism, by holding up both a magnifying glass and a mirror to society and ourselves. The video recap of the event is now available on our YouTube channel here. Kendi was joined in conversation with our director john a. powell, Lateefah Simon of the Akonadi Foundation, and Alice Y. Hom of Northern California Grantmakers.
In the News
Mina Girgis, an Egyptian musicologist and Haas Institute senior fellow, presented on his Nile Project collective during a talk on June 5 at UC Berkeley. Learn more about the Nile Project here and watch a video of his talk here.
Research by the Haas Institute was cited in a Business Insider article on California becoming the third state to pass a rent control bill to address affordable housing. "About 9.5 million renters in California spend at least 30% of their income on housing costs, according to a recent estimate by the University of California's Berkeley's Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society," the author writes.
A new paper co-authored by faculty cluster member Gabriel Zucman was highlighted in a Vox article, "How a wealth tax could totally remake charity in the United States." "In the past year, a massive, predominantly left-wing backlash to mega-philanthropy has broken out," the author reports.
Disability Studies faculty cluster member Georgina Kleege was quoted in a Christian Science Monitor article, "Please touch the fine art: Museums embrace a hands-on approach." "Really, it's only through touch that…all the qualities of the work are released,” Kleege is quoted as saying. Kleege, who is blind, noted that "these haptic encounters are crucial to exhibit engagement."
Taeku Lee, a member of our Diversity & Democracy faculty research cluster member, was quoted in a Forbes article about the recent spike in voter mobilization of women of color. “In 2018, voters were overwhelmingly angry because of Trump. Emotions are powerful motivators in turnout,” Lee is quoted as saying.
Faculty cluster member G. Cristina Mora was quoted in a New York Times article, "Does Hispanic Heritage Month Need a Rebrand?" Mora told the reporter that "the term Hispanic emerged both as a 'fight for recognition' and an 'administrative quandary.'" Read the article.
An interview with our Race & Educational Disparities faculty chair Janelle Scott is the feature of a new episode on the UC Berkeley podcast No Jargon. “Many districts are facing a situation in which both gentrification and growing inequality has meant that they have schools that they have deemed underutilized. And so, they are engaging in closures," Scott said.
Upcoming Events
Oct 7: Liam Martin - The Recovery Hustle: Race and Reintegration in Postindustrial America
Oct. 10: Film Screening - The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
Oct. 10: Savannah Shange and the Black/Girlhood Imaginary
Oct. 14: Book Talk: The Lines Between Us with Lawrence Lanahan and john a. powell
Don't miss these upcoming events (see below) from our Research to Impact faculty-organized colloquium series. All themes this year are related to the #400years commemoration.
All events, video recaps, and scholarly resources related to a year-long 400 year commemoration of the beginning of slavery in North America, an effort led by our Associate Director Denise Herd, can be found on the special website 400years.berkeley.edu.
