Global “Vision”

FOR TWO DAYS IN APRIL, “Vision & Justice: A Convening,” conceived by Assistant Professor Sarah Lewis and inspired by Frederick Douglass, was a campus hit, drawing crowds to the Knafel Center and Sanders Theatre and focusing the intellectual energy of the Harvard community on conversations and presentations at the intersection of art and race. But we weren’t the only ones watching and listening. According to live-stream data, “Vision & Justice” was an international sensation, commanding a virtual audience whose diversity was a fitting companion to the ideas explored by Lewis, Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Ava DuVernay, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Bryan Stevenson, Carrie Mae Weems, and many other artists and scholars. Here, we offer a glimpse of how the Radcliffe-sponsored event connected minds in Lagos and Wyoming, created common ground between Kansas and Thailand, and resonated around the world.

In addition to dozens of communities in Massachusetts, states coast-to-coast and six continents were represented in “Vision & Justice” live-stream traffic. 

Worldwide

• ALGERIA: Batna 
• ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires 
• AUSTRALIA: Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, South Kingstown, Wedgefield
• AUSTRIA: Linz, Vienna
• BAHRAIN: Manama
• BELGIUM: Hasselt
• BRAZIL: São Paulo 
• CANADA: Murray, Sunshine Coast, Surrey, Toronto, Vancouver
• CHILE: Santiago
• COLOMBIA: Bogotá, Cali, Cartago 
• DENMARK: Aarhus, Copenhagen
• ECUADOR: Loja, Quito
• ENGLAND: Bristol, London, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Oxford, Witham
• FINLAND: Tampere
• FRANCE: Clermont-Ferrand, Paris, Toulouse
• GERMANY: Cologne, Erlangen, Gescher, Halle, Witten
• GREECE: Heraklion
• HUNGARY: Budapest
• INDIA: Bengaluru
• ISRAEL: Holon, Tel Aviv
• ITALY: Altamura, Bresci, Foggia, Milan, Rome
• JAMAICA: Kingston
• JAPAN: Chiba, Kobe, Minato, Oita, Osaka, Setagaya, Tokyo
• LUXEMBOURG: Luxembourg City 
• MEXICO: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico City, Naucalpan 
• MOROCCO: Casablanca 
• NETHERLANDS: Amsterdam
• NIGERIA: Lagos
• NORTHERN IRELAND: Belfast
• PERU: Chiclayo 
• PUERTO RICO: Caguas, Dorado, San Juan
• ROMANIA: Bucharest
• RUSSIA: Saint Petersburg
• SAUDI ARABIA: Riyadh
• SCOTLAND: Edinburgh
• SERBIA: Belgrade
• SOUTH AFRICA: Pretoria, Sandton
• SOUTH KOREA: Seongnam-si, Seoul 
• SPAIN: Barcelona, Madrid
• SWEDEN: Gothenburg, Vaxjo
• THAILAND: Bangkok
• TUNISIA: Tunis
• US VIRGIN ISLANDS: Cruz Bay, Saint John 

USA

• AL: Birmingham, Normal, Montgomery 
• AR: Little Rock, Fayetteville 
• AZ: Phoenix 
• CA: Alpine, Bakersfield, Berkeley, Carmichael, Castaic, Escondido, Fresno, Los Angeles, Los Gatos, Oakland, Orcutt, Pomona, Riverside, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Marcos, San Rafael, San Ramon, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica, Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Torrance
• CT: Avon, Branford, Bristol, Danbury, Durham, Hamden, Hartford, Middletown, Milford, Montville, New Haven, Norwalk, Ridgefield
• DC: Washington 
• DE: Dover 
• FL: Cutler Bay, Delray Beach, Dover, Hollywood, Holmes Beach, Lakeland, Leisure City, Miami, Miami Gardens, North Lauderdale, Opa-locka, Oviedo, Parkland, Royal Palm Beach, South Miami Heights, Tallahassee, Tampa, The Hammocks 
• GA: Atlanta, Douglasville, Kennesaw, LaGrange, Newnan, North Decatur, Plainville, Putney, Savannah, Smyrna, Snellville 
• HI: Honolulu
• IA: Iowa City, Rowley
• IL: Champaign, Chicago, Elgin, Evanston, Greenville, Highland Park, Lafayette, Oak Forest, Skokie
• IN: Bloomington, Rowley, South Bend, Vincennes
• KS: Lawrence
• KY: Hampton, Louisville
• LA: New Orleans
• MD: Annapolis, Baltimore, Bethesda, Catonsville, Colesville, College Park, Gaithersburg, Friendly, Silver Spring
• ME: Bangor, Bar Harbor, Freeport, Portland
• MI: Ann Arbor, Detroit, East Lansing, Farmington Hills, Saint Clair Shores
• MN: Detroit Lakes, Minneapolis, Saint Paul 
• MO: Kansas City, St Louis, Saint Louis Park
• MS: Brandon
• NC: Cary, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Durham, Greensboro, Raleigh, Saxapahaw
• NH: Bedford, Exeter, Henniker, Londonderry, Nashua, Portsmouth, Stratham 
• NJ: Atlantic City, Blairstown, Bloomfield, Cherry Hill, Colonial Park, Egg Harbor Township, Farmingdale, Jersey City, Livingston, Maplewood, Montclair, Mount Laurel, Newark, Parsippany, Paterson, Roxbury Township, Secaucus, Sicklerville, Summit, Trenton, Union City
• NY: Beacon, Buffalo, Burke, Cheektowaga, Colonie, Dover Plains, Ghent, Hartsdale, Hurley, Ithaca, Latham, Lynbrook, Mineola, New York, Nyack, Poughkeepsie, Suffern, Syracuse, Valley Cottage, Woodstock
• NV: Reno
• OH: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Kent, North Olmsted, Shaker Heights, Solon, South Euclid
• OK: Oklahoma City, Tulsa
• OR: Beaverton, Portland, Tualatin
• PA: Altoona, Bellevue, Camp Hill, Colonial Park, Devault, Eastvale, Germantown, Harrisburg, Honey Brook, Munhall, Newtown, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Upper Darby, Wynnewood
• RI: Newport, Providence
• SC: Beaufort, Charleston, Columbia, Seven Oaks, Wedgefield
• TN: Nashville
• TX: Austin, Dallas, Denton, Elgin, Grapevine, Harker Heights, Houston, Sebastian
• UT: Provo
• VA: Annandale, Alexandria, Ashburn, Bailey’s Crossroads, Lake Ridge, Newington, Reston, Richmond, Virginia Beach, West Falls Church
• VT: Bennington, Brattleboro, Putney, Stowe
• WA: Bellevue, Olympia, Seattle, Tacoma
• WI: Kenosha, Milwaukee
• WY: Cheyenne
• The filmmaker Ava DuVernay took the stage at "Vision & Justice" to talk about her Emmy-nominated Netflix feature When They See Us, about the Central Park Five. Other stars of the event included the activists Naomi Wadler and Yara Shahidi, in conversation with Robin Bernstein RI ’19; Sarah Lewis, Darren Walker of the Ford Foundation, Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Claudine Gay, and Henry Louis Gates Jr.; and the artist Carrie Mae Weems.

The two-day event unfolded as a collaborative project of passion, urgency, art, and analysis, with Swizz Beatz, Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Chelsea Clinton, and a panel featuring Danielle Allen, Elizabeth Hinton, and Bryan Stevenson helping to drive a conversation that moved audience members to reach for their notebooks.