It’s the first week of the semester here at Harvard and the first week of the new era, too. There has been a resurgence of community learning, let’s dive into it further. Here is one of the terms I’m both challenged by and thinking about a lot today: allyship. I don’t love that it affirms the seeming differences between us, but without allyship in practice today, we’re lost. The best example I know is the story of Charles Black and the history of justice. It’s one I always share in the classroom during the first week of class. I hope it inspires you to act when you’re astonished. As Black reminds us, those are the moments when we actually have transformed the world.
“I want to make the case that the work of visual culture—monuments, markers, images—is the closest thing we have to a Truth & Reconciliation Commission in the United States.” —SL Thank you to the extraordinary community at Juilliard and the amazing Damian Woetzel for inviting me to deliver the Martin Luther King Jr. address this year. It was such an honor to follow Bryan Stevenson, who delivered the address last year. I decided to share some of the book that I’m finishing in the talk. In these times, silence is inaction. It’s generation time. It’s “planting time,” too as Sherrilyn Ifill says. Yes, yes. We have to think about the work needed for our era, not just for the day. Here’s to staying encouraged and inspired daily, and finding love and joy anew among each other—this extraordinary human family. Back at it, with indomitable joy.
I’m so grateful to so many loved ones that has made launching The Unseen Truth and Race Stories—the first book on the new Vision and Justice imprint with Aperture—such fun and so deeply meaningful. 💫
I’m so grateful to so many loved ones that has made launching The Unseen Truth and Race Stories—the first book on the new Vision and Justice imprint with Aperture—such fun and so deeply meaningful. 💫
I’m so grateful to so many loved ones that has made launching The Unseen Truth and Race Stories—the first book on the new Vision and Justice imprint with Aperture—such fun and so deeply meaningful. 💫
I’m so grateful to so many loved ones that has made launching The Unseen Truth and Race Stories—the first book on the new Vision and Justice imprint with Aperture—such fun and so deeply meaningful. 💫
I’m so grateful to so many loved ones that has made launching The Unseen Truth and Race Stories—the first book on the new Vision and Justice imprint with Aperture—such fun and so deeply meaningful. 💫
I’m so grateful to so many loved ones that has made launching The Unseen Truth and Race Stories—the first book on the new Vision and Justice imprint with Aperture—such fun and so deeply meaningful. 💫
I’m so grateful to so many loved ones that has made launching The Unseen Truth and Race Stories—the first book on the new Vision and Justice imprint with Aperture—such fun and so deeply meaningful. 💫
We’re in an age of executive power. To understand it means remembering how art and culture have pushed back when injustices go unchecked. One powerful example is the history of Japanese American internment—a precedent and policy that has come up recently with the call to the Alien Enemies Act in Trump’s inauguration address. This long unseen image by Dorothea Lange—one of the many commissioned by the federal government but not released—captures the hidden history too often left out of textbooks. What would have happened if her images had been released when they were commissioned by the government? It’s a question that dogged Lange until the end of her life. Lange’s photographs captured more than the violation of the constitutional rights of Japanese Americans. She offered us a portrait of a nation that then refused to see it. That is the power of art and culture: to make us look again when we might look away. #AlienEnemiesAct #Internment #WWII
850 of you have signed up for this here talk at the NYPL between the incredible Nell Painter and I so it is sold out live but not online! I cannot wait. Nell is just extraordinary, as a mind, as a mentor, as a colleague, as a friend. I have learned so much from her over the years. When she speaks, you don’t want to miss it. I could not have written The Unseen Truth without her model and support. Thinking back to our times over the last few years. We’ll have fun tomorrow.
850 of you have signed up for this here talk at the NYPL between the incredible Nell Painter and I so it is sold out live but not online! I cannot wait. Nell is just extraordinary, as a mind, as a mentor, as a colleague, as a friend. I have learned so much from her over the years. When she speaks, you don’t want to miss it. I could not have written The Unseen Truth without her model and support. Thinking back to our times over the last few years. We’ll have fun tomorrow.
850 of you have signed up for this here talk at the NYPL between the incredible Nell Painter and I so it is sold out live but not online! I cannot wait. Nell is just extraordinary, as a mind, as a mentor, as a colleague, as a friend. I have learned so much from her over the years. When she speaks, you don’t want to miss it. I could not have written The Unseen Truth without her model and support. Thinking back to our times over the last few years. We’ll have fun tomorrow.
850 of you have signed up for this here talk at the NYPL between the incredible Nell Painter and I so it is sold out live but not online! I cannot wait. Nell is just extraordinary, as a mind, as a mentor, as a colleague, as a friend. I have learned so much from her over the years. When she speaks, you don’t want to miss it. I could not have written The Unseen Truth without her model and support. Thinking back to our times over the last few years. We’ll have fun tomorrow.
850 of you have signed up for this here talk at the NYPL between the incredible Nell Painter and I so it is sold out live but not online! I cannot wait. Nell is just extraordinary, as a mind, as a mentor, as a colleague, as a friend. I have learned so much from her over the years. When she speaks, you don’t want to miss it. I could not have written The Unseen Truth without her model and support. Thinking back to our times over the last few years. We’ll have fun tomorrow.
850 of you have signed up for this here talk at the NYPL between the incredible Nell Painter and I so it is sold out live but not online! I cannot wait. Nell is just extraordinary, as a mind, as a mentor, as a colleague, as a friend. I have learned so much from her over the years. When she speaks, you don’t want to miss it. I could not have written The Unseen Truth without her model and support. Thinking back to our times over the last few years. We’ll have fun tomorrow.
It’s time to unearth the truth behind the words we hear and use every day. If you’re ready to redefine what must be reexamined to navigate the cultural complexities of tomorrow, you’re in the right place.
The Urban League of Hampton Roads invited me to deliver the 41st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. keynote on January 16, 2025, at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. What a gathering, 1,300 strong. I am so grateful. I have been silent online because I have been moving fast with joy putting a lot on the page, staying in the light. Another book done this year, while preparing a few things we’ll announce soon!
The Urban League of Hampton Roads invited me to deliver the 41st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. keynote on January 16, 2025, at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. What a gathering, 1,300 strong. I am so grateful. I have been silent online because I have been moving fast with joy putting a lot on the page, staying in the light. Another book done this year, while preparing a few things we’ll announce soon!
The Urban League of Hampton Roads invited me to deliver the 41st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. keynote on January 16, 2025, at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. What a gathering, 1,300 strong. I am so grateful. I have been silent online because I have been moving fast with joy putting a lot on the page, staying in the light. Another book done this year, while preparing a few things we’ll announce soon!
The Urban League of Hampton Roads invited me to deliver the 41st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. keynote on January 16, 2025, at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. What a gathering, 1,300 strong. I am so grateful. I have been silent online because I have been moving fast with joy putting a lot on the page, staying in the light. Another book done this year, while preparing a few things we’ll announce soon!
The Urban League of Hampton Roads invited me to deliver the 41st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. keynote on January 16, 2025, at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. What a gathering, 1,300 strong. I am so grateful. I have been silent online because I have been moving fast with joy putting a lot on the page, staying in the light. Another book done this year, while preparing a few things we’ll announce soon!
The Urban League of Hampton Roads invited me to deliver the 41st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. keynote on January 16, 2025, at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. What a gathering, 1,300 strong. I am so grateful. I have been silent online because I have been moving fast with joy putting a lot on the page, staying in the light. Another book done this year, while preparing a few things we’ll announce soon!
The Urban League of Hampton Roads invited me to deliver the 41st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. keynote on January 16, 2025, at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. What a gathering, 1,300 strong. I am so grateful. I have been silent online because I have been moving fast with joy putting a lot on the page, staying in the light. Another book done this year, while preparing a few things we’ll announce soon!
