400 Years of Inequality: A People’s Observance for a Just Future

2019 is the 400th Anniversary of the arrival of the first Africans to be sold into bondage in North America in 1619 at Jamestown. Mindy Fullilove, MD and representatives of the 400 Years of Inequality coalition share stories of oppression and resistance. Inequality is a threat to our health and democracy.  Nearly 400 years of division have created an apartheid society: we need a new social infrastructure to carry us through the challenges of climate change, decaying physical infrastructure, rapidly evolving jobs, underperforming schools, uneven access to health care and lack of affordable housing. Hear how communities and organizations across the country are already observing the call, and addressing these inequalities in bold ways. Learn how to organize an observance of your own with your organization, family and neighbors.

Ideas talks are going on all Festival long! Read our advice on how to get the most from these explorative conversations >

Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD

Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD, Hon AIA, is a professor of urban policy and health at The New School.  Prior to joining The New School in 2016, she worked for 26 years as a research psychiatrist at New York State Psychiatric Institute and was a professor of clinical psychiatry and public health at Columbia University.  She has conducted research on AIDS and other epidemics of poor communities, with a special interest in the relationship between the collapse of communities and decline in health. From her research, she has published numerous articles, book chapters, and monographs.  She has also written: The House of Joshua: Meditations on Family and Place, Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America and What We Can Do About It, and Urban Alchemy: Restoring Joy in America’s Sorted-Out Cities.  A second edition of Homeboy Came to Orange: A Story of People's Power, which she helped her father, Ernest Thompson, write, was released in May 2018 by New Village Press.

Tim Nottage

Tim is an urbanist and designer with a research focus on environmental justice, public space, and storytelling. His background as a scenic designer, theatre artist, and fabricator informs his interest in material, spatial, and ecological relationships, deep time, and embodied forms of knowledge. Tim earned a MA in Theories of Urban Practice with Department Honors from Parsons, The New School and a BA in Theatre from UC San Diego, where he received the Ron Ranson Award. Tim is originally from Oakland, California. 

Octavia Driscoll

Octavia Driscoll is a performing arts administrator and production manager working professionally and in academics for over 10 years.  After working in regional theater around the country, she is now the Director of Production Management at The New School College of Performing Arts.  Her work includes finding ways to expand opportunities for students interested in the world of the performing arts, particularly in the technical fields.  Octavia is studying nonprofit management and committed to building equal opportunities for success within the arts community.

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