Danielle Allen
Professor of Public Policy, James Bryant Conant University Professor
Multiracial Democracy
Antiracism is a critical building block for a modern, healthy democracy
Multiracial, multiethnic 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.
We encourage you to explore the below events, research, and commentary to learn more about our work.
Meet the Experts
Gloria Yayra A. Ayee
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy
Cornell Brooks
Hauser Professor of the Practice of Nonprofit Organizations;
Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership and Social Justice
Archon Fung
Director, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation;
Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government
Yanilda María González
Ford Foundation Assistant Professor of Public Policy
The Latest News and Research
Video
Welcome and Panel One: The Great Retreat (Truth and Transformation 2022)
At the 2022 Truth and Transformation conference, during the welcome, we heard from Professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad, head of the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project at Harvard Kennedy School, as well as Talia Landry, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.
Video
Panel Two: Facing the Past (Truth and Transformation 2022)
Memorialization efforts and museums are increasingly playing a role in racial reckoning. How are state officials, activists, and organizers using memorials to face the past? How do these efforts connect to the work of truth commissions? How do we mark sites of violence and re(make) them as sites of consciousness-building, truth-telling, and historical documentation?
Video
Midday Keynote with Alvin Warren (Truth and Transformation 2022)
Tune into a musical performance by Raye Zaragoza followed by a keynote by Alvin Warren (Santa Clara Pueblo), former Santa Clara Pueblo lieutenant governor, about the deeper implications of the Land Back movement and how allies can take meaningful action to support Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples in these efforts.
Video
Panel Three: Paying It Forward (Truth and Transformation 2022)
Globally, reparations movements are gaining ground. These movements focus on a broad spectrum of ways to return resources, achieve economic security and close the racial wealth gap, including cash payments, repatriating cultural artifacts, land givebacks, health access, and philanthropic investments. What can we learn from these latest efforts in the US and elsewhere? Looking into the future how can we make reparations work?
Feature
It’s not a moment of racial justice backlash—it’s an era—and a crisis of democracy
Speaking in the JFK Jr. Forum, civil rights leader Maya Wiley underscored the entwined fate of democracy and racial justice
Q+A
Acknowledging and Reckoning with History
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
Reflecting on a Year of Promises: A Conference Assessing Organizational Antiracism Journeys
Feature
Climate change a multiplier for racial inequities warns panel
Listening to and learning from people of color and Indigenous people is critical to tackling climate and racial injustice.
Media Release
Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project to Evaluate Interventions in Healthcare
Q+A
From Words to Antiracist Action and Accountability
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
Overcoming Racism to Build a True Democracy: Two Authors Share the Way Forward
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
Money Left on the Table: The Economic Argument for Diversity (Truth and Transformation 2021)
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:
- Jarik Conrad, Equity at Work
- Dana Peterson, The Conference Board
- Lisa Cook, Michigan State University
- Michael McAfee, PolicyLink
- Levi Sumagaysay, MarketWatch
Learn more about the Truth and Transformation Conference and the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project online: https://ash.harvard.edu/iara
Video
Preserving Seats at the Table: White-Dominated Boards (Truth and Transformation 2021)
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:
- Trina Jackson (Speaker) Senior Solidarity Program Officer – US Internationalist Program, Grassroots International
- Samantha Tweedy (Speaker) President, Black Economic Alliance Foundation
- Rebecca Shuster (Speaker) Assistant Superintendent of Equity, Boston Public Schools
- Cheryl Mills (Speaker) Founder & CEO, The BlackIvy Group
- Jeffrey Ginsburg (Moderator) Executive Director, East Harlem Tutorial Program
Learn more about the Truth and Transformation Conference and the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project online: https://ash.harvard.edu/iara
Video
Equity Takes Time, Commitment, & Disruption (Truth and Transformation 2021)
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:
- Carmen Rojas (Speaker) President & CEO, Marguerite Casey Foundation
- John C. Yang (Speaker) President & Executive Director, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC
- Halima Begum (Speaker) Chief Executive, Runnymede Trust
- Eric Ward (Speaker) Executive Director, Western States Center
- Mary McNeil (Moderator) Ph.D. Candidate, American Studies Program, Harvard University
Learn more about the Truth and Transformation Conference and the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project online: https://ash.harvard.edu/iara
Video
Combatting Anti-Asian Racism and Misogyny: What is our Local Community Doing?
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:
- Anisha Asundi, Research Fellow: Gender Specialist, Harvard Kennedy School Women and Public Policy Program
- Carolyn Chou, Executive Director, Asian American Resource Workshop
- Dr. Kathy Pham, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
- Nick Sung, Harvard Kennedy School MPP ’21
- Dr. Kaori Urayama, Senior Program Manager, Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center
William Huang, Harvard Kennedy School MPP ’22, gave the welcome.