Read the latest news, commentary, and analysis from the Ash Center.
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During the 2022 midterms, voters not only cast a ballot to decide the balance of power in congress, but in in many states voters decided on a range of consequential ballot initiatives impacting the nuts and bolts of the electoral process including voter-ID laws, party primary reform, ranked choice voting, and proportional representation. The outcomes of these statewide and local level ballot initiatives have direct implications for future elections and participatory democracy.
This midterm recap webinar goes beyond the candidate horse race and focus on analysis and perspectives from advocates and scholars on recent voting-related ballot initiatives, immediate implications for future elections, and what’s ahead for emerging electoral reforms at the state and local level. See panelists Deb Otis, Director of Research at FairVote; Jenny Lee, Deputy Director of the Coalition of Communities of Color; and Wendy Underhill, Director of Elections and Redistricting at the National Conference of State Legislatures. Ash Center Reimagining Democracy Fellow Nick Chedli Carter moderated.
Commentary
The midterm elections will forecast not only which party controls Congress but the health of our democracy, writes Archon Fung in a new essay.
Commentary
This is a guest post by Mason Holland, an undergraduate student at the University of Connecticut majoring in Political Science. He also serves as President of the Student Body.
Feature
Speaking at Harvard Kennedy School, landback movement leader Alvin Warren MC/MPA 2013 argues for the return of land to Indigenous communities
Feature
As the IARA Truth and Transformation Conference keynote speaker, Lee asks if the U.S. is ready for a national racial reckoning?
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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?