Upcoming Event Abolishing Racism,: Creating a Future Without Race
February 20th, 2025
9:00am-4:30pm
Virtual
Event Abstract
In a world where the concept of “race” continues to permeate our societies and shape our perceptions, the need for a radical shift in our approach to combating racism has never been more evident. The “Abolishing Racism: Creating a Future without Race” conference is a groundbreaking event that brings together a diverse range of speakers, scholars, artists, and activists who advocate for racial eliminativism — the bold belief that to truly end racism, we must dismantle the very notion of “race” itself.
9:15-9:30 Opening Remarks: Professor Hoda Mahmoudi, Bahá’í Chair for World Peace, University of Maryland
9:30-10:45 Morning Keynote: Professor Joseph Graves, North Carolina A&T State University
10:45-11:00 Coffee Break
11:00-12:30
Panel Session One: Philosophy/ Theology/Science
Professor Jacoby Carter, Howard UniversityDr. Sheena Michele Mason, SUNY OneontaDr. Tade Souaiaia, SUNY Downstate12:30-1:00 Lunch
1:00-2:00 Afternoon Keynote: Dr. Sheena Mason, SUNY Oneonta
2:00-2:15 Coffee Break
2:15-4:00
Panel Session Two: Art/Music/Humanities
Ms. Angélica Daas, Humanæ Project. Dr. Anika Prather, The Catholic University of America. Mr. Greg Thomas, Jazz Leadership Project. Dr. Carlos Hoyt, PhD, LICSW, psychotherapy |Diversity Equity & Inclusion |Educational Consultant4:00-4:30 Wrap-Up roundtable Session
Morning Keynote Speaker
Professor Joseph L. Graves, Jr., Mackenzie Scott Endowed Professor of Biology, Department of Biology, North Carolina A&T State University
Dr. Joseph Graves, Jr. received his Ph.D. in Environmental, Evolutionary and Systematic Biology from Wayne State University in 1988. In 1994 he was elected a Fellow of the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS.) His recent honors include: “Genius Award” Liberty Science Center and Outstanding Alumnus Award (Public Service) Oberlin College in 2024.
His research focuses on the evolutionary genomics of adaptation. He is the Director, Genomic Research and Data Science Center for Computation and Cloud-Computing, GRADS-4C, NIH; Associate Director, Precision Microbiome Engineering (PreMiEr) NSF Gen-4 ERC; and the Director, NC Amgen Biotech Experience.
He is author of: A Voice in the Wilderness, (Basic Books), 2022 with Alan Goodman, Racism, Not Race, Columbia University Press, 2022; Principles and Applications of Antimicrobial Nanomaterials, (Elsevier), 2021; The Emperor's New Clothes, Rutgers University Press, 2005 and The Race Myth, Dutton Press, 2005.
He has also served on the Racial Reconciliation and Justice Commission, and COVID Vaccination Task Force of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina and as science advisor to several Theological Seminaries through the AAAS Dialogues of Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) program.
Talk Title and Abstract:
“Racism, Not Race”
Dr. Graves hopes to impart three important lessons through his talk
Racism created the idea of race
The idea of race has real effects and gives cover to racism
Human genetic variation is real, quite wonderful, and is absolutely not the same as race
Race is not based on biology and genetics. Race is not “in the genes,” and it is not the same as human variation. Racial differences in opportunity and outcomes cannot be blamed on genetics.
Unpacking this myth of a link between socially defined races and genetic variation requires an understanding of the relationship among social classification, evolution, and how human genetic variation is globally distributed. Once these lessons are understood, we can dispel many myths about race associated with, for example, health, athletic ability, and intelligence, and present a path for living in a more just and equitable world. Because contemporary myths about race are historical, it is critical to explain what race is and what it is not. Finally, I bring our discussion up to the present and look ahead to a more equitable and just future.
Afternoon Keynote Speaker
Dr. Sheena Michele Mason, Assistant Professor of English, SUNY Oneonta
Dr. Sheena Michele Mason is an assistant professor of English at SUNY Oneonta. She holds a PhD with distinction in English from Howard University in Washington, DC, USA, and specializes in Africana and American literature studies and philosophy of race. She is published with Oxford University Press, Palgrave MacMillan, Cambridge University Press, and the University of Warsaw among other presses. She is the innovator of the togetherness wayfinder (formerly and alternatively called the theory of racelessness) and founder of Togetherness Wayfinder, an educational firm. Her book The Raceless Antiracist: Why Ending Race Is the Future of Antiracism shows how ending our belief in “race” and practice of racialization is required toward the goal of ending the causes and effects of racialized dehumanization.
Talk Title and Abstract
“Togetherness Wayfinding: Navigating to a Future without Racism”
In this keynote, titled “Togetherness Wayfinding: Navigating to a Future without Racism,” Dr. Sheena Michele Mason introduces the “togetherness wayfinder,” a transformative framework designed to dismantle the illusion of race and effectively end the causes and effects of racism. Rooted in the philosophy that to abolish racism, we must first abolish the very belief in and upholding of race. This approach challenges the deeply ingrained belief in race as a biological or necessary cultural reality. The togetherness wayfinder offers a comprehensive toolkit that includes tenets, tools, philosophies, historical insights, and linguistic strategies to guide individuals and societies toward a future where racism is a reality of the past.
This keynote will explore how the togetherness wayfinder can serve as a practical guide for educators, activists, policymakers, and anyone committed to social justice. It will demonstrate how adopting alternative practices and perspectives can lead to the deconstruction of systemic racism and foster a more inclusive, equitable society. Dr. Mason will illustrate the practical application of this framework in various social, educational, and political contexts, showing how it can be used to navigate the complexities of identity, culture, and power without upholding power imbalances. This keynote is an invitation to join the movement toward a post-racist world, where the togetherness wayfinder lights the path forward
Panel One: Philosophy, Theology, and Science
Professor Jacoby Adeshi Carter, Professor Philosophy, Howard University
Dr. Jacoby Adeshei Carter will join the Faculty of the Department of Philosophy at Boston College in Fall 2025. He is currently Professor of Philosophy at Howard University. Professor Carter’s current research interests include Africana philosophy, social and political philosophy, value theory (applied ethics), philosophy of race and pragmatism. Prof. Carter is the Director of the Alain Leroy Locke Society and editor of the African American Philosophy and the African Diaspora Book Series published by Palgrave/Macmillan. His most recent publications include: Insurrectionist Ethics: Radical Perspectives on Social Justice (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2023) and Philosophizing the Americas (Fordham University Press, 2024). Dr. Carter is currently an American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Historically Black College or University (HBCU) Fellow and is at work on a book project titled Race Contacts and Interracial Relations: A Critical Edition of Alain Locke’s Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Race.
Talk Title and Abstract
“Making Future Arrangements: A Raceless Gospel for Ex-Colored People”
Race lacks the dimensions to measure the actual self and the linguistic capacity to affirm all human beings as co-equal. A minority- majority/ inferior- superior orientation, the makers of this pseudo- scientific delusion recreated human beings as colors: beige, that is mixed race, black, brown, red, yellow and white or simpler still, white people and people of color. Not identities but categories, race ensures the fractionalization of human beings for capitalist advancement, political power, and the maintenance of a color- coded caste system. However, there will come a time and a call from those weary of these self and socially- alienating identities as well as the resulting humiliations and indignities suffered. The narrow goals of a post- racial society that summarily suggest we need only put race behind us are insufficient. Instead, compounded and overlapping oppressions and exploitation call for a new message that delivers us from dueling relationships of us versus them and a dualistic reality. Supported by the framework of somebodiness, that is the innate dignity and worth of every human being, a raceless gospel for ex- colored people who want to be understood on decolonized terms anticipates a new world and is making future arrangements.
Dr. Tade Souaiaia, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology, SUNY Downstate University, Brooklyn N.Y
Dr. Tade Souaiaia is a statistician and a geneticist at SUNY DownstateUniversity in Brooklyn, NY. His research is focused on developing novel statistical techniques to model how human genetic variation interacts with the environment to produce complex outcomes. He has co-developed two popular software tools for data analysis, bridgePRS, which allow trans-ancestry polygenic prediction to be made and sibArc which uses sibling trait data to infer genetic architecture. A lifetime track and field athlete, he also conducts research on athletic performance and studies how perceptions of identity and race influence athletic performance. He is also a frequent contributor to the Critical African Thinkers podcast where he discusses all things involving genetics, economics, and statistics.
Talk Title and Abstract
“Race, Sports, Genes, and Storytelling”
Internationational sporting event’s pit athletes from all over the world against each other. The distribution of winners has long been subject to scientific and sociological scrutiny. Narratives around ethnic specificity merge with mythology about genetics and race to produce popular science stories that serve both to explain outcomes and reinforce their validity. Here we investigate the history of racialization in sport and examine a debate that has been going on for more than one hundred years. Leveraging modern genomics and statistics we investigate the strength of evidence of disparity based arguments and consider how racialism obscures a more robust psychocultural model for athletic performance.
Panel Two: Art, Music, Humane Project
Ms. Angélica Dass, Creator, Humanæ Project
Angélica Dass is an award-winning photographer born in Brazil and currently living in Madrid, Spain. Angélica’s practice combines photography with sociological research and public participation in defense of human rights globally. She is the creator of the internationally acclaimed Humanæ Project—a collection of portraits that reveal the diverse beauty of human colors. The initiative has traveled to more than 80 cities across six continents—from The World economic Forum in Davos to the pages of National Geographic, —to promote dialogue that challenges how we think about skin color and ethnic identity.
Talk Title and Abstract
“Photography as a tool for empathy”
In Photography as a tool for empathy, Angélica draws on her own personal experiences and creative process to amplify the social message of her photographic works. She is the author of Humanæ, a constantly evolving photographic work that proposes an unusually direct reflection on skin colour. She aims to document the true colours of humanity rather than the false labels ‘white’, ‘red’, ‘black’ and ‘yellow’ associated with race. Ultimately, it seeks to demonstrate that what defines human beings is their inescapable uniqueness and, therefore, their diversity.
Dr. Anika T. Prather, Assistant Professor, The Catholic University of America
Anika T. Prather, PhD, is Assistant Professor at The Catholic University of America in the dept of education. She has served in public and private schools for over 20 years as a teacher, school leader and consultant. She is the founder of The Living Water School, a unique Christian school for independent learners, based on the educational philosophies of Classical Education and the Sudbury Model. She lives in Fort Washington, MD with her husband Damon (an engineer) and 3 kids.
Dr. Anika T. Prather obtained her B.A. in elementary education from Howard University, followed by multiple graduate degrees in education from New York University and Howard University. She holds a Master's in liberal arts from St. John’s College (Annapolis) and a PhD in English, Theatre, and Literacy Education from the University of Maryland (College Park). Her research centers on enhancing literacy among African American students through engagement with canonical literature. Recently, she self-published her book "Living in the Constellation of the Canon: The Lived Experiences of African American Students Reading Great Books Literature.
As the co-author of "The Black Intellectual Tradition" with Dr. Angel Parham, Anika has taught in Howard University's classics department as a full-time lecturer. Additionally, she previously served as the Director of High-Quality Curriculum and Instruction at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy until February 2024. Anika is highly sought after as an educational consultant and speaker, particularly regarding the relevance of classical studies to the Black community.
She is also the visionary behind The Living Water School, an accredited online Christian school grounded in Classical education and the Sudbury Model. Anika and her husband Damon reside in the DC area with their three children
Talk Title and Abstract
“The Healing Power of Classics: Finding Hope and Healing in the Classical Tradition”
Abstract: Dr. Anika Prather will delve into how the classical tradition has served as a source of healing and hope throughout human history. Through storytelling, music, and her voice, she will highlight these narratives, demonstrating how the enduring power of this ancient tradition remains accessible and relevant to us today.
Mr. Greg Thomas, Co-director of the Omni-American Future Project and CEO of the Jazz Leadership Project
Greg Thomas is CEO of the Jazz Leadership Project and Co-Director of the Omni-American Future Project. Greg has written about culture, race, and democratic life in the Village Voice, Integral Life, New Republic, Salon, UPTOWN, the Guardian Observer, and the New York Daily News—as a jazz columnist. He has lectured on American cultural history and jazz at Columbia, Jazz at Lincoln Center, his alma mater Hamilton College, and Harvard.
In the fall of 2020, during the racial reckoning, he taught an online course, Cultural Intelligence: Transcending Race, Embracing Cosmos. A year later, with his partner Jewel Kinch-Thomas and colleague Amiel Handelsman, Greg co-taught a six-month virtual course, “Stepping Up: Wrestling with America’s Past, Reimagining Its Future, Healing Together.” In September 2022, he collaborated with Drs. Sheena Mason and Carlos Hoyt Jr. on an in-person event, “Resolving the Race-ism Dilemma.”
Greg has contributed to works centering on the work of blues philosopher and author of The Omni-Americans, Albert Murray, including Albert Murray and the Aesthetic Imagination of a Nation and Murray Talks Music: Albert Murray on Jazz and Blues (University of Minnesota Press, 2016), for which he penned the Afterword. His blog is Tune In To Leadership.
Talk Title and Abstract
“The Deracilization and the Omni-American Vision”
The scourge of race and racialization has poisoned American life from before the nation’s official founding. Is it possible to overcome the racism that results from the concept of race and the invidious practice of racialization? From a deracialized Omni-American perspective, the answer is yes.
Deracialization is a process through which individuals, groups of people, and social structures untangle a web of racial deceit. It resists the hierarchical sorting of humans based on superficial characteristics and the assumptions and stereotypes derived thereby, which becomes racism. One aspect of this process is distinguishing race from culture, which is a firmer basis for recognizing shared meanings, values, traditions, and practices for human fraternity beyond superficial differences.
Cultural forms such as blues and jazz were created by Afro-Americans to embody and express their outlook on the world and the cosmos, as well as their highest principles and aims. A cosmopolitan Omni-American vision, as seen in the works of authors Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray, is rooted in such cultural forms while also embracing the highest principles in the nation’s founding documents. Such a grounded yet transcendent vision allows for a horizon of aspiration in which the many can become one.
Dr. Carlos Hoyt, PhD, LICSW, Psychotherapy |Diversity Equity & Inclusion| Educational Consultant
Carlos is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and a Ph.D. in social work. He provides psychotherapy to children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families, and consultation and training on matters related to social identity, social bias, and social justice to individuals and organizations seeking to realize their inclusivity aspirations.
Through his research, writing, teaching, training, and speaking, Carlos invites clients and audiences to scrutinize master narratives of identity, including the dominant discourse on race with the goal of illuminating and virtuously disrupting the racial worldview and reductive identity constructs in general. Carlos’s first book, The Arc of a Bad Idea: Understanding and Transcending Race, was published by Oxford University Press in 2016. He has written peer-reviewed articles on racism and spirituality and contributed an essay on empathy in a compendium of writings on peace psychology.
Carlos appears on several podcasts and informational videos providing insights and guidance on topics such as diversity, equity and inclusion, and racialization, including a TEDx Talk: Charting a Course Beyond Racism, and his ideas about race and the U.S. Census were recently featured in the Washington Post and Celeste Headlee’s Hear Me Out. Carlos’s most recent book, Diversity without Divisiveness: A Guide to DEI Practice for K-12 Education will be available from Routledge Publishing in December, 2024.
Talk Title and Abstract
“Its Time to Mobilize: Fixing the U.S Census Approach to ‘Race’”
This talk will engage participants in understanding how the U.S. Census is the critical locus for efforts to correct our "race" problem, and it will be a call to action to begin the campaign for change. It will be based on Dr. Hoyt's presentation to U.S. Census officials: How to Improve the 2030 Census Approach to Race Data Collection. Some useful context for this talk can be found in the Washington Post article: Race isn’t real, science says. Advocates want the census to reflect that. Participants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with these resources in order to maximize the benefits of this talk.
Nina-Abbie Temisan Omatsola is an undergraduate student working as a research intern with the Bahá’í Chair for World Peace. She is pursuing a dual major in Psychology and Theatre at the University of Maryland-College Park. Her interests include quality education for all
