This exciting event features a diverse lineup of inspiring speakers from various fields, sharing their insights and experiences. Whether you’re looking to learn something new, network with like-minded individuals, or simply be inspired, our Speaker Series offers something for everyone. We are open to everyone – students, adults, children, moms, and dads! Join us for an evening of engaging talks, lively discussions, and the opportunity to connect with our vibrant community.
Closing the Gap: Race, Wealth, and Reparations
May 16 | 101 Archer, Tulsa
Reparations are not a question of if—but when.
Kirsten Mullen, William (“Sandy”) Darity Jr., and Tiffany Crutcher deliver a searing conversation on the racial wealth gap, historical injustice, and the case for direct compensation.
⚖️ The Racial Wealth Gap Isn’t an Accident—It’s Intentionally Devised
William Darity Jr.:
“The central source of wealth for this society is the transmission of resources across generations.” White families—supported by intentionally structured government policies—have consistently been given more to pass on to their offspring than Black families who had the same asset building handouts.
Kirsten Mullen lays out the historical foundation:
- Homestead Act of 1862: 1.5 million white families received 160-acre land grants of western territories—feeding wealth across generations. Over 45 million white Americans benefit today.
- 20th-Century Discriminatory Home-ownership Policy: From the New Deal to the home buying support programs under the GI Bill, Black families were largely excluded from homeownership and asset-building.
- Urban Renewal: Entire Black neighborhoods bulldozed in the name of “progress”—homes, businesses, and wealth destroyed.
🕊️ Legacy of Violence, Demand for Justice
Tiffany Crutcher brought the conversation into the present, tying the long history of racial injustice. Her twin brother, Terence Crutcher, was shot by Tulsa police in 2016. The violence, she said, is not new—it’s historical.
“I’ve drawn very stark parallels between what happened to Terence and the Tulsa Race Massacre nearly 100 years ago. Back then, mobs of white rioters killed innocent, unarmed Black men with their hands in the air. With Terence, it was a mob of white police officers who fled to the scene. A helicopter loomed in the air, and an officer said he ‘looked like a bad dude.’ He was shot and tased simultaneously. No first aid was given. There’s been no repair, no respect, no restitution. It’s the same culture—the same police department.”
The same patterns of racial violence persist—and we must keep talking about it, and finally deliver the justice that’s long overdue.
📚 Want solutions?
Explore the Four Pillars of Reparations in From Here to Equality by Darity and Mullen.
The Housing Crisis: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions
April 5 | 101 Archer, Tulsa
🔍 The Crisis is by Design
Miguel Robles-Durán revealed the dangerous limits of orthodox economic narratives: the housing crisis cannot be reduced to a simple issue of supply and demand, solvable merely by incentivizing private investment. Rather, it is the “absolute logical outcome of centuries of capitalist development.” Housing has become financialized—it’s now often more profitable to keep a property empty as part of an investment portfolio than to rent it to people. Our homes are caught in a financial game, while workers’ wages fail to keep pace with soaring housing costs.
⚠️ Human Right to Home
Rob Robinson drew on his lived experience of homelessness to highlight the systemic failures at play: New York City operates over 600 shelters with a $3 billion annual budget—money spent on temporary relief rather than addressing the root causes of homelessness. As he put it, “NYC’s ‘Right to Shelter’ guarantees a bed—not a home, nor the dignity of stability.” Meanwhile, the non-profit sector thrives within this status quo. The dominant narrative that blames addiction or mental illness is misleading; the real culprits are the commodification of land and housing, and an economy built on precarious, low-wage work.
🌱 Reclaiming Land, Rebuilding Community
Gabriella Rendón looked at historical examples of alternative ways of conceiving housing. She offered a powerful vision of collective ownership and mutual care: returning to collectivism and reclaiming the land that has been taken from us. Community Land Trust Movement and Housing Cooperatives, for example, provide sustainable, community-led alternatives. These models emphasize shared governance, responsibility, and solidarity over profit.
Beyond Exploitation: Workers’ Self-Management for a New Era
March 7 | 101 Archer, Tulsa
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our March Monthly Speaker Series! We had an impressive participation of over 150 people in person, over 550 live streams, and much constructive dialogue.
Together with Richard Wolff and Kali Akuno we focused on the fundamental social relation to understand our capitalist economy–exploitation– its historicity, and thus potential mutability into forms of workplace democracy. As Richard Wolff put it “if you want to understand why some people have enormous power and the rest so little: it’s about the way we organize work, democracy is a better idea that you might have thought if only you would apply it to the workplace.”
