The transatlantic slave trade was a global phenomenon – directly affecting Africa, Europe and the Americas, with implications for Asia - and the UN can be a leader in promoting dialogue to addresses its complicated legacy.

That’s the opinion of renowned American lawyer and social justice activist Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a non-profit working to end mass incarceration in the United States, which mainly impacts people of colour and the poor.

He was at UN Headquarters on Thursday for an event to examine how museums can deal with the colonial past and include the voices of people of African descent.

Mr. Stevenson spoke to UN News’s Dianne Penn about what inspired his fight for justice, how slavery is linked to past atrocities such as lynchings and present-day violations such as police brutality, and why wider engagement by cultural institutions is needed to usher in a “new era” of greater inclusion.