Artists and creative people have always used culture as a tool for social change. On this edition, excerpts from a panel on racial justice, culture and politics featuring some of today’s most insightful and outspoken artists. “Culture Trumps Politics: or Does It?” took place at the Facing Race conference in November 2012 and was moderated by Applied Research Center’s Rinku Sen.
On the panel are Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker Jose Antonio Vargas, comedian Negin Farsad, recently named one of the 50 funniest women by the Huffington Post; Lolis Eric Elie, a documentary filmmaker and writer for the HBO show Treme; and Jeff Chang, award-winning author of Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation.
Special thanks to Applied Research Center, Colorlines and the Facing Race Conference 2012.
Featuring:
Rinku Sen, Applied Research Center executive director; Jose Antonio Vargas, Define American founder; Negin Farsad, comedian; Jeff Chang, Writer; Lolis Eric Elie, writer and documentary filmmaker.
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We’ve borne witness to a chaotic first few months in Trump’s presidency.
Over the last months, each executive order has delivered shock and bewilderment — a core part of a strategy to make the right-wing turn feel inevitable and overwhelming. But, as organizer Sandra Avalos implored us to remember in Truthout last November, “Together, we are more powerful than Trump.”
Indeed, the Trump administration is pushing through executive orders, but — as we’ve reported at Truthout — many are in legal limbo and face court challenges from unions and civil rights groups. Efforts to quash anti-racist teaching and DEI programs are stalled by education faculty, staff, and students refusing to comply. And communities across the country are coming together to raise the alarm on ICE raids, inform neighbors of their civil rights, and protect each other in moving shows of solidarity.
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