@obi-belonging.bsky.social
Structural racism — or the way systems like housing, education, employment and justice create racial disparities without overtly racist actors — is a concept that is often “deeply misunderstood,” according to Stephen Menendian at @obi-belonging.bsky.social. news.berkeley.edu/2025/08/14/w...
12.10.2025 20:25 — 👍 8 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 1
Written in black text on a light green background: “Yet the fight we are in right now is not solely about our institutions. We are fighting for our humanity, the humanity of those being abused by our system, and for the earth itself. We are fighting for a future which best represents our vision and values. And at the core, we are fighting for a collective story about who we believe we are and who we want to become.” - john a. powell The logo FIGHTING FORWARD is in the lower right corner in red.
"A belonging story also honors and celebrates difference—race, gender, religion, and all types of group identity are not rendered invisible in service to a larger, universal story or short-term political project." - john a. powell
Full #FightForward Essay: belonging.berkeley.edu/belonging-st...
campanile tower on the left and on the right is the logo of the othering and belonging institute with three colorful circles and under that is the logo for the u c berkeley school of education
We're hiring! Assistant Professor — Disparities and Education Policy. This faculty position is for someone whose scholarship addresses the goals of the Education Policy Cluster of the @obi-belonging.bsky.social. aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF04211
03.10.2025 17:33 — 👍 7 🔁 8 💬 0 📌 0
@PolicyWise.com is sharing resources to empower the social-serving community.
Explore a new toolkit by @obi-belonging.bsky.social aimed at empowering community leaders to gain influence, reshape narratives, and drive policy change through transformative research.
Learn more at: buff.ly/MLBDmsx
Who Is Included in and Who Will Fight for “We the Civic”? nonprofitquarterly.org/who-is-inclu... - john a. powell, @obi-belonging.bsky.social - @npquarterly.bsky.social
26.09.2025 16:27 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Excellent from john a powell at @obi-belonging.bsky.social at Berkely, where bosses acceded to Trump's demand for list of names.
"To fight forward means to defend rights not simply to preserve the past, but to carve out a future where belonging is real."
belonging.berkeley.edu/fighting-for...
Stephen Menendian, the director of research at @obi-belonging.bsky.social, has spent over 15 years studying structural racism. Watch him explain how most of the mechanisms that form structural racism have taken shape in the post-Civil Rights era. youtu.be/y1DA6P3QQNM?...
04.09.2025 16:31 — 👍 4 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 0
(En)Gendering Authoritarianism: This project explores how authoritarian movements leverage and weaponize gender to divide society and opposition movements, and lay the groundwork for authoritarian power consolidation and violence. belonging.berkeley.edu/engendering-... by @obi-belonging.bsky.social
10.09.2025 16:52 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
What's Gender got to do with Authoritarianism?
Theory: (En)Gendering Authoritarianism
belonging.berkeley.edu/engendering-...
Practice: Texas Professor Fired After Accusations of Teaching 'Gender Ideology'
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/u...
@obi-belonging.bsky.social
Image of current and former OBI staff sitting on steps for a hiring flyer. At the bottom, the positions are listed in white text above the OBI logo.
We are hiring for three positions: Development Director, Research Associate, and Climate Agrarian Justice Student Research Assistant.
You can find full details about each position, including pay and benefits, here: belonging.berkeley.edu/positions-ot...
Research director of UC Berkeley’s @obi-belonging.bsky.social Stephen Menendian explains how a complex web of systems perpetuates racism — and proposes policies to right these wrongs in his new book. news.berkeley.edu/2025/07/28/f...
30.07.2025 22:43 — 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Graphic: black background with white letters. The text reads: Hashtag Stop Starving Gaza
We, the undersigned, are writing to express our horror and outrage at Israel's forced starvation and ceaseless bombings of Gaza.
We invite people from all institutions to sign onto this letter, or use it to create your own.
Sign #StopStarvingGaza Letter now: belonging.berkeley.edu/letter-stop-...
🧵1/4 This Resource Guide for Belonging-Builders by the @obi-belonging.bsky.social (OBI) is just what I needed to read this week.
🌟Download their free guide acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:...
We’re excited to share our Resource Guide for Belonging-Builders, a helpful tool that summarizes these frameworks and assists you in applying them within your communities.
Your involvement is not just appreciated; it's vital. Read the guide today: belonging.berkeley.edu/resource-gui...
ICYMI: Preparing for AI + Foundations Fight Back + Asking for Help is Good + Jobs — Read our June Newsletter here: mailchi.mp/comnetwork/j...
Special shoutouts to @apnews.com, @obi-belonging.bsky.social, @propublica.org, @kff.org, @easibey.bsky.social, @gailfuller.bsky.social, and more!
I'm listening to webinar introducing a book titled "Structural Racism" hosted by @obi-belonging.bsky.social. I encourage others to watch when you get time. belonging.berkeley.edu/structural-r...
30.06.2025 18:13 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1
Stephen Menendian: That's such an important point which is that it's not just that this issue is so important. It's that we now have a federal government that is not simply on the sidelines, but is actively hostile not just a policies that can remedy these problems but to even discussion of it. And has banned literally the term systemic racism . The moment that we are in is potentially more important than ever to be having this conversation.
From @obi-belonging.bsky.social's book talk conversation about @smenendian.bsky.social's new book
30.06.2025 18:16 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
ooooh watching the premiere of the book launch for “structural racism” by the author (steven menendian (sp?)) and creator of the concept (john a powell) from the othering and belonging institute!!! @obi-belonging.bsky.social
30.06.2025 18:50 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
This is really useful, by Miriam Juan-Torres González at the Othering and Belonging Institute @obi-belonging.bsky.social
#Authoritarianism
#Resources
belonging.berkeley.edu/authoritaria...
Crisis reveals who we are. #OBI director, john a. powell, cuts through the noise: the "immigrant crime wave" is a manufactured lie designed to divide + dehumanize.
Our strength is in our shared humanity. Read john's powerful take: belonging.berkeley.edu/john-powell-...
🎙️ON AIR:
We're speaking w/ @ucberkeley.bsky.social's @owasow.bsky.social and @wired.com's @couts.bsky.social to look back at times when protests have been successful instigators of change, and times when protests may have hurt a movement.
❓How do protests persuade audiences?
📻 Listen:
Si te preocupa la deriva autoritaria que vivimos, esto te interesa: Míriam Juan-Torres (@obi-belonging.bsky.social) explicará cómo los ataques de la derecha reaccionaria a los movimientos feministas y LGTBIQ+ son una avanzadilla de su estrategia antidemocracia. ✍️ us6.list-manage.com/survey?u=8d0...
11.06.2025 10:45 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1
5/12 6pm @kalwradio.bsky.social
Lew Stringer shares efforts to support rare butterfly return to SF @presidiosf.bsky.social
Stephen Menendian @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social @obi-belonging.bsky.social institute joins us to discuss fair housing.
Travel tips from Matt Kepnes @nomadicmatt.bsky.social
Graphic for ComNet Denver 2025 Learning Lab titled “Comms: Where Do We Go Wrong?” Features a black-and-white headshot of Cecilie Surasky from UC Berkeley's Othering & Belonging Institute. Includes the ComNet Denver logo and a leafy green patterned design at the bottom.
Join us at ComNet25 Denver for a Learning Lab from @obi-belonging.bsky.social! Attendees will:
- Join a exploration of how well-intentioned efforts may be causing harm
- Reimagine the frontline role comms plays
- Learn tools and framing strategies
- Hear research about zero sum thinking
New research on racial segregation in the San Francisco Bay Area from @smenendian.bsky.social @obi-belonging.bsky.social finds a strong correlation between restrictive zoning & racial segregation:
belonging.berkeley.edu/race-racial-...
Anyone else tuning in later today?
30.04.2025 14:46 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Our North American Equity Data Convening begins tomorrow!
This free, day-long event will feature researchers, activists, journalists, and practitioners from across North America to explore how data can advance social equity and belonging. Register for #naed25
belonging.berkeley.edu/north-americ...
"I think we are in a crisis of imagination, and so I feel like the more we imagine and we ping pong to each other ideas that are out of what we are, programmed to think, the better we can raise our own liberation as a collective." -Siouar Douss from our Rights, Equity, Dignity & Social justice
15.04.2025 18:45 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
#OBI Impact Story: How Libraries Can Be Places of Belonging
Author and public space advocate Shamichael Hallman discusses how the frameworks of belonging inspired him to rethink the role of libraries as vital spaces for connection and community.
Read more: belonging.berkeley.edu/impact-story...
Flyer for OBI book club featuring Christian Ivey for Poetry workshop on Inclusion.
You don’t have to “poet” alone. You can join @ageedubb.bsky.social for a free Inclusion Poetry Workshop at today's OBI Book Club.
Time: 11:30 to 1:00 PM PT.
Full details are on OBIU.org.
