Reparations Past and Present: A Conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates

A conversation with journalist, MacArthur Fellow, and National Book Award-winning author Ta-nehisi Coates. During his tenure as senior editor at The Atlantic, Coates wrote the influential 2014 essay “The Case for Reparations” and in 2019 testified in front of a Congressional House hearing on H.R. 40, a bill to establish a commission to study reparations. The conversation will be moderated by Duncan Ryuken Williams (USC Ito Center).

Is there a Buddhist approach to acknowledging and transforming America’s enduring racial karma? Larry Ward - senior Dharma teacher ordained by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn and founder of the Lotus Institute - will share insights from his recently released book America’s Racial Karma: An Invitation to Heal on how to break the nation’s cycles of racial trauma. In conversation with Ito Center Director Duncan Ryuken Williams.

Co-sponsored by the Lotus Institute  

Larry Ward (pronouns- he/him) is a senior teacher in Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's Plum Village tradition and the author of the book America's Racial Karma. Dr. Ward brings 25 years of international experience in organizational change and local community renewal to his work as director of the Lotus Institute and as an advisor to the Executive Mind Leadership Institute at the Drucker School of Management. He holds a PhD in Religious Studies with an emphasis on Buddhism and the neuroscience of meditation