This November 17-19, 2022, thousands of people will gather for Facing Race: A National Conference, produced by Race Forward, to explore new and powerful ways to advance racial justice. It is, in a word, extraordinary in the way this conference offers advocates of all stripes to connect, to learn, and to love the work we all do, in our own ways, furthering the conversations of racial justice together.

In the lead-up to the conference, we thought we'd host our own forum with two very special people in our lives — and in the conference itself. What you're about to hear is a conversation with Glenn Harris, President of Race Forward and host of the Facing Race Conference, and Ashton Lattimore, editor-in-chief of Prism, a valued partner in this year's conference.

This is a timely conversation, not just for its proximity to the conference itself, but for its resonance to the public discourse. We're in the run-up to another election in a contentious political environment. How do we find hope and possibility in the face of what we have lost through division and partisanship? How do we remember the value of speaking truth to power with love in the face of eroding rights in this country? How do we confront the disenfranchisement of public education and the inequality of our efforts in climate legislation with strength, compassion, and faith that people of good will, will do good things?

We don't offer answers in this episode. But we hope that our efforts to showcase these voices and perspectives, voices of two people we believe offer good faith and goodwill in a marketplace of communication challenged by both, can give you a glimpse of how you might mount your own efforts for advocacy, and find a little hope in a brighter future, too.

Our deepest thanks to Glenn Harris and Ashton Lattimore for joining us this week. Please check out the Facing Race conference and join us in Phoenix in November!

• (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward