Antiracism is a critical building block for a modern, healthy democracy
Multi-racial, multi-ethnic democracy doesn’t just happen — we have work to do to get there.
Antiracist institutions and organizations address and challenge racial disparities by instituting policies and recommendations to foster greater diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The Institutional Antiracism and Accountability (IARA) Project at the Ash Center uses research and policy to promote antiracism as a core value and institutional norm. We encourage you to explore the below events, research, and commentary to learn more about our work.
Q+A
Historical reckoning, truth-telling, and new traditions of memorialization acknowledging the legacy of slavery are all critical to moving towards restorative and reparative change says Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project Director Khalil Gibran Muhammad.
Policy Brief
Feature
Listening to and learning from people of color and Indigenous people is critical to tackling climate and racial injustice.
Media Release
Q+A
LaChaun Banks, Ash Center Director for Equity and Inclusion, sat down with Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Ford Foundation Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and Director of the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability (IARA) Project, housed at the Ash Center, to discuss leading organizations to antiracist change and accountability.
Video
Confronting racism directly and building a fully inclusive democracy are completely intertwined. Two authors with strong history in the democracy movement have recently written forcefully and personally on the subject. Heather McGhee served as President of Demos before writing the New York Times bestseller The Sum of Us, and Theodore Johnson, after serving twenty years in the military, is the Director of the Fellows Program at the Brennan Center for Justice and the author of the just-published When the Stars Begin to Fall. Harvard Law Professor Guy Uriel-Charles engaged with them on their experiences, their arguments, and how they see the way forward.
Video
This video starts off with the introduction to the 2021 Truth and Transformation Conference. Then, we go into the first panel, “Money Left on the Table: The Economic Argument for Diversity.’ Does the economic argument for diversity make sense? Why hasn’t everyone already won? This panel engaged key leaders watching organizations grappling with moving toward antiracism the question: what does resistance to change look like and what drives it, from an economic, psychological, and historical perspective?
This panel discussion, which starts at minute 24:00, features:
Learn more about the Truth and Transformation Conference and the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project online: https://ash.harvard.edu/iara
Video
This video starts with the second panel discussion from the 2021 Truth and Transformation conference, hosted by the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School. Then, at 59:27, starts the lunchtime musical performances by The Reminders and Brown Rice Family.
The panel discussion, titled, “Preserving Seats at the Table: White-Dominated Boards” features:
Learn more about the Truth and Transformation Conference and the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project online: https://ash.harvard.edu/iara
Video
This video starts with the final panel discussion from the 2021 Truth and Transformation conference, hosted by the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School. Then at 1:03:00, remarks from Boston Mayor Kim Janey begin and are followed by a closing discussion between IARA Senior Fellow Erica Licht and Professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad at 1:15:50.
The panel discussion, titled, “Equity Takes Time, Commitment, & Disruption” featured:
Learn more about the Truth and Transformation Conference and the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project online: https://ash.harvard.edu/iara
Video
This public discussion highlighted key challenges of racism, misogyny and other discrimination faced by our Asian and Asian-American community, the responses of local organizations who have long sought to address such challenges, and what more needs to be done in our own communities. Speakers represented perspectives from the Harvard Kennedy School’s staff, faculty and student groups, as well as leading local non-profits.
Speakers included:
William Huang, Harvard Kennedy School MPP ’22, gave the welcome.
Commentary
Featuring Pippa Norris
Video
The Ash Center hosted an event in the What Justice Looks Like series for a conversation with activists from Black youth-led movements from the US and Latin America, leading the struggle against racial injustice, from police violence to structural racism and disparate effects of the COVID pandemic on racialized and low-income communities.
Feature
The following remarks were excepted from A Discussion on Black Lives, Protest, and Democracy, a virtual conversation hosted by the Ash Center with leading scholars and practitioners about the protests, their place in the long fight for social justice, and what they tell us about the state of democracy in America today.
Video
The Ash Center hosted a timely discussion with leading practitioners who are effectively integrating digital strategies with authentic power-building while navigating a never-before-seen civic environment.
Video
The Ash Center and Hutchins Center for African and African American Research hosted a discussion on how artists, particularly artists of color, are responding to the current fight for racial justice during a global pandemic.