BUILDING AN INCLUSIVE BOSTON
A New Conversation on Race, Bias & Divided Communities
October 28 – 29, 2016
MIT Media Lab
75 Amherst St. Cambridge, MA 02139
Communities across the United States are struggling to find constructive pathways to
address racial injustice, inequality, and social change. Citizens, activists, and leaders have
worked for decades to address these challenges, but enduring, effective change is difficult
to achieve. It is clear that a new approach is needed. Beyond Conflict, working in
partnership with local activists, the City of Boston, MIT, leading cultural institutions, and
many others is helping craft a new conversation applying the shared experiences of
leaders from around the world who have experienced deep divisions in their own
communities and insights from the behavioral sciences. This two-day event is designed to
convene a broad spectrum of leaders and jumpstart new ways to think about and address
the urgent challenges of racial inequality and division.
MODERATORS
Tim Phillips | CEO & Co-Founder, Beyond Conflict
Melissa Nobles | Dean, MIT School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Emile Bruneau | Beyond Conflict Innovation Fellow; Visiting Scholar, Annenberg School
of Communication, University of Pennsylvania
Day One | Listening & Learning
9:00 – 9:20
Welcome Remarks & Introduction
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•
9:20 – 9:45
Introduction – Why Are We Here?
We are here to advance a new conversation around racial equity and diversity.
How can we craft a new conversation and approach? What are the challenges and
the frustrations? What has been achieved to date? Can the behavioral sciences and
learning from the experience of leaders from around the globe help us move this
conversation forward in a constructive manner?
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•
9:45 – 10:30
Tim Phillips | CEO & Co-Founder, Beyond Conflict
Atyia Martin | Chief Resilience Officer, City of Boston
Our Common Humanity ⎯ Understanding the Science Behind How We
Perceive the World and Each Other
How can brain and behavioral science bring new insights to real world
challenges? What does the growing body of research tell us about how we
perceive others and ourselves? What can we learn about how we process conflict,
race and division, and what can we do to more effectively create social change?
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•
10:30- 10:45
Melissa Nobles| Dean, MIT School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Irma Tyler-Wood | Principal, Ki ThoughtBridge, LLC; Board Member,
Beyond Conflict
Rebecca Saxe | SaxeLab, MIT
Emile Bruneau| Beyond Conflict Innovation Fellow; Visiting Scholar,
Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania
Coffee Break
10:45 – 11:00
Remarks from Mayor Martin J. Walsh
11:00 – 12:30
Recognizing the Need for Change
How did leaders in South Africa recognize the need to change their own mindsets
before they could dismantle the structures of Apartheid? How did leaders in Northern
Ireland confront decades of conflict and dehumanization? How did Sri Lanka find the
space for conversation following decades of extreme violence and division? What did
does change look like on a personal, community and national level?
Moderator:
Ceasar McDowell | Department of Urban Planning, MIT and Interaction
Institute for Social Change
•
Speakers:
• Roelf Meyer | Minister of Constitutional Development and Provincial Affairs
for Nelson Mandela (1994-1996); Chief Negotiator for F.W. De Klerk in
negotiations to end Apartheid (1992-1994).
• Monica McWilliams | Co-Founder, Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition
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•
Ram Manikkalingam | University of Amsterdam; Director, Dialogue
Advisory Group
Carlos Saladrigas | Chairman, Cuba Study Group
Respondents:
• Phillip Cooks | Beyond Conflict Community Liaison
• Carole Charnow | Executive Director, Boston Children’s Museum
12:30 – 1:00
Q&A
1:00 – 1:45
Lunch
1:45 -3:15
Confronting the Legacy of Racial Injustice in America ⎯ Placing Boston in a
National Context
While the United States has made progress in eliminating the legal foundations of
discrimination, racial inequality and prejudice remains a reality for most African
Americans and for people of color across ethnic, religious, and cultural
backgrounds. It is clear that addressing only the legal foundations of racial
exclusion was not enough. Our challenge today is to understand both the external
and the internal manifestations of difference and prejudice ⎯ and the nuanced
way they play a role in everyday life.
Moderator:
Sandy Alexandre | Professor of Literature, MIT
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Speakers:
• Farai Chideya | Senior Writer, FiveThirtyEight; Author, The Episodic Career
• Edina Lekovic | Public Affairs Consultant, Muslim Public Affairs Council
• Chris Bedford | Director, Baltimore Museum of Art
• Adam Foss | Founder, Prosecutor Integrity; Former, Assistant District
Attorney, Juvenile Division of Suffolk County
Respondents:
• Mina Cikara | Director, Harvard Intergroup Neuroscience Lab
• Councilor Andrea Campbell | City Councilor, District 4, Boston
3:15 – 3:45
Q&A
3:45 – 4:00
Coffee/Tea
4:00– 5:00
Holding Multiple Truths: The Challenge of Competing Narratives
How do narratives change in diverse societies? How do nations/communities
overcome differences between perceptions and realities? What role do
victimhood/competitive victimhood narratives play in sustaining and shifting
conflict? What insights from the behavioral sciences can be used to assist
communities in changing narratives, and recognizing the multiplicity of
narratives in divided societies.
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Moderator:
• Jose Maria Argueta | Author, Enlightened Dissent; Former Ambassador,
Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the Organization of American
States
Speakers:
• Avila Kilmurray | The Social Change Initiative, previously Executive
Director of the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland (1994-2014)
• Ebrahim Rasool | Leading ANC activist; Former South African Ambassador
to the U.S. (2010-2015); Founder, World For All Foundation
Respondents:
• Michael Patrick MacDonald | Professor of the Practice & Writer in Residence,
Northeastern U Honors Dept.; Author, All Souls: A Family Story from Southie
• Penny Outlaw | Co-President, Royall House; Chairman of the Board, Robert
F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps*
• William Casebeer, Ph.D. (USAF Ret.) | Research Area Manager, Human Systems
Optimization, Lockheed Martin; former Prog. Manager, DARPA
5:00 – 5:30
Q&A
Dinner & Reception
Colonnade Hotel, 120 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02116
(RSVPs Required**)
6:30
Reception
7:00
Dinner
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Welcome
Tim Phillips | CEO & Co-Founder, Beyond Conflict
Jack Connors | Chair, Board of Directors, Camp Harbor View
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Special Remarks
Sadiq Khan | Mayor of London (video message)
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Keynote Panel | The Art of Inclusion: Making the Invisible Visible
Featuring:
Sam Durant | Multimedia Artist
Rick Lowe | Founder, Project Row Houses
Moderator:
Pedro Alonzo | Boston-based Independent Curator
______________________________
** For questions on dinner RSVPs, contact [email protected]
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Day Two: Laying the Foundation for Change
9:00 – 9:30
Welcome & Recap
•
Tim Phillips | CEO & Co-Founder, Beyond Conflict
•
Melissa Nobles | Dean, MIT School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
9:30- 11:30
What Are We Trying To Solve?
What challenges have other nations faced in the process of confronting deeply
engrained exclusion, indifference, and fear to overcome deep divisions? How
were these issues brought into the conversation? We face a multiplicity of
challenges ⎯ crime, individual and institutional racism, privilege,
dehumanization, indifference, and more. What makes race so difficult to talk
about? This panel will conclude with question and answer period that focuses on
naming the specific challenges that may not have been shared during the panel.
Moderator:
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Mark Muller | QC, Standby Team Senior Mediation Expert, Support Unit, UN DPA
Speakers:
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Jose Maria Argueta | Author, Enlightened Dissent; Former Ambassador,
Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the Organization of American States
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Renee Graham | Columnist, Boston Globe
•
Thaddeus Miles | Director of Community Services, MassHousing
Respondents:
• David Howse | Executive Director, ArtsEmerson: World on Stage and Screen
• Adam Waytz | Associate Professor of Management & Organizations,
Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management
11:30 – 12:00
Q&A
12:00 – 1:15
Lunch
1:15 – 3:15
Creating An Inclusive Boston
What can Boston do to create a more equitable and inclusive city? How can
constructive conversations begin? What is the city currently doing and how does it
plan to address its reputation for racism and segregation? What role can individual
leaders, other institutions, and the arts play?
Moderator:
Tim Phillips | CEO & Co-Founder, Beyond Conflict
Speakers:
• Ben Hires | Director of Programs, Boston Children’s Chorus
• Karin Firoza | Assistant Director, Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and
Service, Northeastern University
• Barbara Lewis | Director, Trotter Institute for the Study of Black History & Culture
3:15 – 3:25
Special Performance: Boston Children’s Chorus
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3:25 – 3:45
Q&A
3: 45 – 4:00
Coffee/Tea
4:00 – 5:00
Capturing This Moment ⎯ Creating Lasting Change
What lessons can be learned from the insights of global leaders who have
experienced transformative change themselves and their own nations? How can we
capture this moment to chart a way forward? What lessons have we learned that can
be applied to individual and institutional challenges?
Moderator:
Avila Kilmurray | The Social Change Initiative, previously Executive Director of the
Community Foundation for Northern Ireland (1994-2014)
Speakers:
• Edmund Bertschinger | Institute Community and Equity Officer, MIT
• Monica McWilliams | Co-Founder, Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition
• Roelf Meyer | Minister of Constitutional Development and Provincial Affairs
for Nelson Mandela (1994-1996); Chief Negotiator for F.W. De Klerk in
negotiations to end Apartheid (1992-1994).
5:00 – 5:15
Closing
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Tim Phillips | CEO & Co-Founder, Beyond Conflict
•
Melissa Nobles | Dean, MIT School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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