Join us in building anti-racist community on May 20, 2023 10:00am -2:00pm via Zoom. For safety and accessibility purposes this symposium is virtual
Beneath the veneer of our trophied status as a "progressive" region, organized white supremacy has always found a welcome home in New England since colonization.
Those of us who count ourselves among the various communities who have been threatened, harmed, and excluded historically by this fact have always known this, but even for those who may have been drawn towards denial or complacency by our mythical "progressive" image in the past, it should be clear today that we are currently experiencing a strong resurgence of white supremacist organizing & activity in New England.
Come learn about the white supremacist and Far Right movements organizing in New England, how what we're seeing in our region fits into the broader national context, and how YOU can take action in an empowered, local community.
The Confronting White Supremacy Symposium consists of two parts:
The first half of the symposium will be a plenary session, where attendees will hear a discussion between a panel of organizers, activists, educators, and journalists bringing a variety of expertise, experiences and vantage points relating to the problem.
Moderated by CCI Executive Director Shay Stewart-Bouley. A list of panelists who have been confirmed so far can be found below this event description.
Topics that will be touched on include:
How various regional groups and movements are situated in a wider national political context – so we can better understand what is happening in our local communities
How state & non-state actors intersect
Current trends to be aware of (including attacks on LGBTQ+ rights and spaces)
..and more.
For the second half of the symposium, attendees will choose a workshop to attend that would work best to enable and empower them to take action in their own local community after the symposium.
Workshop specifics to be announced shortly
Featured Panelist
Fatema Ahmad
Executive Director, Muslim Justice League
Fatema (she/hers) is the Executive Director at Muslim Justice League, where she leads MJL’s efforts to dismantle the criminalization and policing of marginalized communities under national security pretexts. She joined as Deputy Director in 2017 and increased MJL’s focus on organizing within and collaborating across impacted communities to resist and subvert surveillance.
Dr. Emily Knox
Associate Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, School of Information Sciences
Emily is an associate professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests include information access and intellectual freedom and censorship. She is a member of the Mapping Information Access research team.
Mimi Arbeit
PhD, applied developmental scientist, antifascist community organizer, sexuality educator
Mimi Arbeit, PhD (they/them) is an assistant professor of psychology at Suffolk University in Boston, and Principal Investigator of the Youth Equity & Sexuality (YES) Lab. Dr. Arbeit’s scholarship applies antifascist principles to developmental science to hone strategies for countering far-right influences in young people’s lives.
Hilary Moore
Director of Political Education, Showing Up for Racial Justice
Hilary Moore is an anti-racist political educator, organizer, and author that lives in Kentucky.
Pronouns: she/her
Phillip Martin – Biography 2023
Phillip Martin is Senior Investigative Reporter for The GBH News Center for Investigative Reporting. He is a multi-award-winning journalist. In 2022, he was selected as a Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard University's Shorenstein Center at the Kennedy School of Government. Other honors include a 2022 National Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the multi-part GBH News series "Unseen." He also received National Edward R. Murrow awards in 2019 and 2014 for investigative reporting on human trafficking.