In this episode of Who Belongs?, we speak with Carroll Fife, an organizer, mother, and director of the Oakland office of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, also known as ACCE. Earlier this year, she was involved in coordinating the #Moms4Housing campaign in which the five Black women took over a vacant home on Magnolia Street in Oakland. She joins us to speak about the history of speculative housing and its impacts on the Black community, the looming eviction crisis, housele...
Aug 13, 2020•39 min
Last week Trump announced he had eliminated an Obama-era fair housing rule put in place in 2015 to reverse patterns of residential segregation that have been in place for many decades. The move was widely seen as both an attack on integration and also a racial fear mongering strategy to appeal to his white base of supporters three months before the election. To talk about the purpose of the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, the consequences of its elimination, and what we need to ...
Aug 05, 2020•25 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we speak with Gerald Horne, Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston, and author of more than 30 books. Professor Horne has written on a spectrum of issues and events including the early settler colonial period of the US, the Haitian and Mexican revolutions, labor politics, civil rights, profiles of WEB Du Bois and revolutionary artist Paul Robeson, just to name a few. His most recent book is The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The...
Jul 28, 2020•34 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we hear from Erin Kerrison, an Assistant Professor of Social Welfare at UC Berkeley, to discuss her thoughts on transforming social structures and imagining futures beyond police following the murder of George Floyd. Professor Kerrison’s work investigates the impact of structural disadvantage, concentrated poverty, and state supervision on health outcomes of individuals and communities marked by criminal justice intervention. For more information and a transcript ...
Jul 02, 2020•39 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we hear from Adam Hochschild, a prominent historian, journalist, and a best selling author who wrote King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa, among many other books. He's also a lecturer in Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. Professor Hochschild gives us his take on the efforts around the world to topple statues and other monuments that memorialize historical figures known for their brutality and racism, including the c...
Jun 23, 2020•24 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we’re bringing back john a. powell, our director at the O&B Institute, and professor of Law and African American studies at UC Berkeley, to talk about the ongoing events in Minneapolis following the police killing of George Floyd, and why he’s remaining optimistic about some of the glimmers of hope he sees in an otherwise very upsetting and traumatic situation. For a transcript visit https://belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs/george-floyd...
May 30, 2020•26 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we hear from john a. powell, a professor of Law and African American studies at UC Berkeley. He’s also the director of the Othering & Belonging Institute. In the interview professor powell offers historical context for the conflict over this question of when to reopen the economy, and the government’s authority to impose shelter-in-place orders. This issue has been framed as one that pits freedom against equality, but as profesor powell points out these two no...
May 08, 2020•44 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we hear from a three-guest panel of Berkeley faculty who provide various perspectives on the different forms of racism we’ve been witnessing since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. We hear about the experiences of Asian Americans who are facing a surge in hate crimes, the disparate impacts on black and brown communities in terms of the rates of death, and about how politicians are using the crisis to engage in racial fear mongering. But the panelists don’t fo...
Apr 30, 2020•41 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we speak with Alex Boskovich, who is the Government Relations Officer at the Alameda County Community Food Bank based in Oakland, which collects and distributes food and other resources to about 300 partner organizations throughout Alameda county, including food pantries, churches, senior centers, schools, and other organizations. Just prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 the food bank had partnered with the Othering & Belonging Institute’s Civic Engagement Narra...
Apr 22, 2020•30 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we’re looking at the reality facing undocumented immigrants and migrant farmworkers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We hear from three researchers who discuss some of their recent and upcoming articles that look at ICE raids targeting immigrant communities despite shelter-in-place orders, as well as the conditions of farmworkers who are putting themselves at risk in order to keep the country fed. For articles mentioned in this episode visit: 1. https://ww...
Apr 14, 2020•36 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we speak with Ian Haney Lopez, a professor of law here at UC Berkeley, about his new book: “Merge Left: Fusing Race and Class, Winning Elections, and Saving America.” The book puts forward the argument that the left can re-frame racism as a weapon of the rich by crafting messages that fuse race and class and build a cross-racial movement needed to beat powerful fear-based messaging and racial dog whistles. He gives us his take on the messages he hears coming out o...
Mar 10, 2020•37 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we hear from two guests, Erika Washington and Quintin Savwoir from a civic engagement group in Nevada called Make it Work - Nevada. In the interview they discuss a recent survey they conducted of black women in their state to learn about the issues that are most pressing to them and how they feel about the candidates running in the 2020 presidential election. Erika is the executive director of Make it Work - Nevada, and Quentin is the group's political director. T...
Jan 24, 2020•45 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we hear from two guests about a year-long initiative at UC Berkeley marking the 400th anniversary of the start to slavery in North America. The initiative includes weekly events with scholars, activists, and artists from around the country reflecting on the enduring legacies of slavery and Jim Crow, looking at the Civil Rights era, our current era, and also trying to imagine a future based on justice, reconciliation, and belonging. The two guests are Denise Herd, ...
Dec 18, 2019•41 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we hear from Alicia Garza, one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement and the principal of the Black Futures Lab, which is an organization that engages Black voters year round and works to stop corporate influence in progressive politics. Alicia recently authored a paper for the Othering and Belonging Institute, titled, “Identity Politics: Friend or Foe?” which this episode draws from. Alicia also gives her take on some of the candidates running in the...
Dec 04, 2019•49 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we speak with Michael Gomez Daly, the director of the Inland Empowerment coalition, and Sky Allen, who is the coalition's census coordinator, about their efforts to mobilize people in southern California's Inland Empire ahead of the 2020 Census. This episode is another installment of the Civic Engagement Narrative Change project series, with the interview conducted by project researcher Josh Clark. For a transcript visit: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs/...
Nov 14, 2019•30 min
In this episode of Who Belongs?, we hear from journalist and author Lawrence Lanahan about his new book called The Lines Between Us: Two Families and a Quest to Cross Baltimore’s Racial Divide. The book weaves together three storylines about people trying to overcome a host of barriers to opportunity and integration in hyper-segregated Baltimore and its suburbs. The book is the culmination of years of research and reporting on segregation in Baltimore, and draws from Lawrence’s 50-episode radio ...
Nov 05, 2019•44 min
This episode of Who Belongs? is another installment of our Civic Engagement Narrative Change project series, with project researcher Josh Clark interviewing two guests: The first is Robert Greenwald, an award-winning producer and director who has a new film coming out on September 25 called “Suppressed: The fight to vote”, about voter suppression in the 2018 gubernatorial election in Georgia, and Carol Anderson, Professor of African American Studies at Emory University and author of the book One...
Sep 19, 2019•34 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? host Sara Grossman interviews Christine Wong Yap, who became the Haas Institute's first Artist in Residence in the fall of 2018, about her "Places of Belonging" project, which was recently featured in a KQED report here: https://www.kqed.org/arts/13850669/christine-wong-yap-asks-where-do-you-feel-a-sense-of-belonging Learn more about the Haas Institute's Artist in Residence program here: https://haasinstitute.berkeley.edu/air You can also find an earlier interview...
Jul 30, 2019•28 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? Sara Grossman speaks with Agata Lisiak, a professor of migration studies at Bard College Berlin, about her work on Eastern European migration to the Western Europe, the experiences of migrant mothers in particular, and the relationship between gentrification and language in European cities. For a transcript of this interview visit: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/podcast-prof-agata-lisiak-migration-and-gentrification-europe
Jun 17, 2019•39 min
In this episode of Who Belongs, we talk to Luisa Blue, who is the Executive Vice President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and an expert on Asian Pacific Islander civic engagement issues. She is also the highest ranking leader of Asian Pacific Islander background in the labor movement in the United States. This episode is also the fourth installment of our Civic Engagement Narrative Change project series. For a transcript of this interview visit: https://belonging.berkeley.e...
May 10, 2019•35 min
In this episode we hear from john a. powell, who is our director, and a professor of law and African American Studies here at UC Berkeley. In the interview we discuss a brand new primer we’ve just published on the targeted universalism policy approach, a model conceptualized by professor powell. The primer was co-written by professor powell along with assistant director Stephen Menendian, and Wendy Ake, who is the director of the Just Public Finance program. To summarize, targeted universalism i...
May 08, 2019•34 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we talk with Professor David Harding, who is a UC Berkeley Sociologist and member of the Haas Institute's Economic Disparities faculty research cluster, about a new book he co-authored called On the Outside: Prisoner Reentry and Reintegration. Find a transcript of this interview here: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/podcast-role-family-prisoner-reentry-prof-david-harding...
Apr 30, 2019•30 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we discuss the topic of the US Census with Professor Michael Omi, who is an affiliated faculty member of our Institute, author of Racial Formation in the United States, and one of only a handful of experts on the US Census. Stephen Menendian, who is the assistant director and director of research at the Haas Institute, served as guest host for this episode. For a transcript of the episode, please click here: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/podcast-stakes-2020-censu...
Apr 04, 2019•35 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we speak with Peter Hammer and Amina Kirk, who have been working in a variety of capacities for equitable development and racial justice in Detroit for many years. Peter is a Professor of Law and the Director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University Law School. The Keith Center runs the Detroit Equity Action Lab, whose purpose is to address structural racism in Detroit. Amina Kirk is the Senior Legal and Policy Advocate & Organiz...
Mar 05, 2019•34 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? Marc Abizeid talks to economist Hilary Hoynes about government assistance programs, including nutrition programs like SNAP, which is also known as food stamps, in addressing poverty and hunger in the United States. Hilary Hoynes teaches economics and public policy at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy, and is the Chair of the Haas Institute's Economic Disparities Research Cluster. Professor Hoynes specializes in the study of poverty, inequality, and the...
Dec 19, 2018•39 min
In this episode, Sara Grossman interviews Emilia Roig of the Center for Intersectional Justice (CIJ) in Berlin, Germany. Originally from France, Emilia is the founder and director of CIJ, a nonprofit working to combat intersecting forms of structural inequality and discrimination in Europe. CIJ works in three main areas: advocacy, research, and training, ultimately aiming to influence public discourse and policy-making on issues related to intersectional discrimination. Learn more about CIJ on i...
Dec 11, 2018•40 min
In this episode of Who Belongs?, hosts Marc Abizeid and Sara Grossman interview two guests: Elsadig Elsheikh, who is the Director of the Global Justice Program at the Haas Institute, and Nadia Barhoum, who is a former researcher with the Global Justice Program. They discussed their new project that was released earlier in October by the Haas Institute called, "Shahidi: Corporations Decoded." The project serves as a monitor to examine the power, influence and reach of agri-business corporations a...
Oct 29, 2018•46 min
In this episode of Who Belongs? we interview Nicole Montojo and Steve Barton, who recently co-authored a new research brief on the housing affordability crisis in California, called "Opening the Door for Rent Control: Toward a Comprehensive Approach to Protecting California’s Renters." Nicole is a housing research analyst at the Haas Institute. She holds a Master's degree in city planning from UC Berkeley. Steve is a former housing director for the city of Berkeley who holds a PhD in city and re...
Oct 09, 2018•36 min
In this first episode of Who Belongs?, we talk to Gordon Whitman, who is the deputy director of Faith In Action, formerly known as PICO, which is a national network of faith-based organizations working to build civic leaders to uplift communities through work on a broad set of issues. Gordon recently published a book on organizing, called ‘Stand Up!: How to Get Involved, Speak Out, and Win in a World on Fire’. The book, which is available in both English and Spanish, draws from his 25 years of e...
Sep 27, 2018•33 min
Back in March we met with Ralf Hotchkiss, a renowned disability rights activist, engineer, and co-founder of the Whirlwind Wheelchair project, based here in Berkeley. The non profit works with local wheelchair riders and mechanics around the world to design and construct durable chairs that bring riders back into society in ways that standard US and European chairs don’t allow, because of their poor designs which severely limit peoples’ mobility. The interview was conducted by Marc Abizeid from ...
Aug 04, 2018•39 min
