On Wednesday, April 6th, 2016, Dr. Manuel Pastor hosted “Turning the Page on Hate: Building Community for a More Civil Society” in his role at the USC Turpanjian Chair on Civil Society and Social Change. About 150 attendees engaged questions like: How are people working across the U.S., across lines of political, religious, and social difference? How does the “softer” side of politics—dialogue, culture, and education—link to tangible, “hard” changes in policy and in people’s everyday lives? Presenters included keynote speaker Pastor Michael McBride (PICO Network), Dr. Gail Christopher (W.K. Kellogg Foundation), Burt Lauderdale (Kentuckians for the Commonwealth), Eric Nazarian (Filmmaker), Prof. Najeeba Syeed (Claremont School of Theology), and urban Latin dance company CONTRA-TIEMPO. Following the two-hour program, the majority of guests stayed and connected over cocktails and appetizers for about an hour. The event was co-sponsored by USC Office of the Provost, USC Dornsife Center for Religion and Civic Culture, USC Office of Religious Life, USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies, USC Dornsife Department of Sociology, and LA Voice.
Event details
Keynote:
Pastor Michael McBride
Director of Urban Strategies & Live Free Campaign, PICO National Network
Panelists:
Dr. Gail Christopher
Vice President and Senior Advisor at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, who is at the helm of the “Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation” enterprise
Burt Lauderdale
Executive Director at Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, who builds bridges across class and race in the American South
Eric Nazarian
Screenwriter and Director of both “The Blue Hour”, a multiethnic tale of four lives intersecting in Los Angeles, and “Bolis”, which he described as a “human story about a Turk and an Armenian discovering an emotional connection through the act of storytelling and facing our past openly and sincerely.”
Dr. Najeeba Syeed
Assistant Professor of Interreligious Education and the Founder and Director of Center for Global Peacebuilding at the Claremont School of Theology who is a renowned mediator and scholar-activist.
Performance by: CONTRA-TIEMPO
Presented by: Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change
Co-Sponsored by: USC Office of the Provost Michael Quick, USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture, USC Office of Religious Life, USC Institute for Armenian Studies, USC Dornsife Department of Sociology, and LA Voice PICO.