Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures holds first event

In the first public event hosted by the recently established Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures, “Beyond 2024: Envisioning Just Futures and Equitable Democracy,” faculty and students from across the university will come together to creatively showcase research and art, build community and be inspired to imagine a better future.

The event will take place on November 14, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Johnson Museum of Art’s Robinson Lecture Hall. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. It will also be livestreamed.

“This event reflects the Center’s core commitments: supporting and amplifying the research and knowledge of faculty and students, creating space for imagining futures where everyone can thrive, and working in community to inspire action that confronts and transcends racial injustice,” said Jamila Michener, inaugural director of the Center and associate professor of government in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) and public policy in the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy.

The centerpiece of the event will be a scholarly showcase of research, art and performance. Faculty panelists include Riché Richardson, professor and chair of Africana studies; Derek Chang, associate professor of history and Jeffrey Palmer, associate professor of performing and media arts, all in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The faculty showcase will be followed by a discussion with students from the center’s first cohort of Racial Justice student fellows. The student discussion will be moderated by Neil Lewis, Jr.’13, Nancy and Peter Meinig Family Investigator in the Life Sciences and Associate Professor of Communication in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“We are at an important crossroad; one that will shape the future of society,” Lewis said. “This is a moment for our communities — at Cornell and beyond — to come and think together about what it would take to build and maintain a truly equitable and just society.”

Added Michener: “’Beyond 2024’ will offer an invaluable opportunity to listen, learn, and engage with ideas that are at the heart of democratic practice in the United States and around the world,” she said.