Events

Past Event

Making a Case For Reparations: A Conversation with Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow

March 24, 2021
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
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EVENT CANCELED AND WILL BE RESCHEDULED AT A LATER DATE.

Join us for a conversation with Actress Erika Alexander and Filmmaker Whitney Dow about their new podcast "Reparations: The Big Payback" on iHeart Radio.

Alexander and Dow will share the conversations they’ve had with figures like Representative Sheila Jackson Lee and historian, Dr. Mary Frances Berry about the century long fight for reparations and discuss the current state of the movement for reparations and what it says about race in America.

Speaker Bios

Erika Alexander is beloved for her iconic acting roles as Maxine Shaw (Living Single), Detective Latoya (Get Out), Cousin Pam (The Cosby Show), Perenna (Black Lightning), and Linda Diggs (Wutang: An American Saga). Erika wears many hats as not only an actress, but also a trailblazing activist, entrepreneur, creator, producer, and director -- an all-around boss. Erika represents one of the most bold, daring, and powerful voices in our country today.
As a creator, Erika recognizes that stories, when socially conscious and carefully constructed, have the capacity to create impact and meaningful change. As co-founder of Color Farm Media and Board Member of VoteRunLead, Alexander is on a mission to bring greater equity, inclusion, and diverse representation to both media and electoral politics.
Erika’s company, Color Farm Media, self-described as the “Motown of film, TV, and tech,” develops and produces scripted and unscripted content for film, television, streaming, and podcast platforms. Color Farm’s latest project to be released is John Lewis: Good Trouble, a documentary film about the legendary Congressman and civil rights icon that is distributed by Magnolia Pictures, Participant Media, and CNN Films. Color Farm is also currently producing two podcasts with Spotify and has several scripted film and television projects in advanced stages of development. The company previously set up an untitled horror/thriller film, written by Erika, at Lionsgate Entertainment. Additionally, Erika is co-writer of the Buffy spin-off, Giles, a graphic novel collaboration with Joss Whedon and Dark Horse. Erika previously collaborated on Dark Horse's award-winning, ground-breaking sci-fi series, Concrete Park.

Erika has also stepped into the arena of film director. She is currently co-directing a documentary film on reparations and racial equity, which she began filming in June 2019 at the U.S. Congressional reparations hearing on Juneteenth.
Erika is a sought-after speaker who delivers keynotes on topics including leadership, communications & performance, and diversity & inclusion. Born in Winslow, Arizona, Erika grew up in Flagstaff, AZ and in Philadelphia, PA.

Whitney Dow is an award-winning filmmaker and educator. He has been producing and directing films focused on race and identity for almost two decades and is a partner in Two Tone Productions. His directorial credits include: Two Towns of Jasper, I Sit Where I Want: The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education, Unfinished Country; and When the Drum is Beating. His producer credits include: Freedom Summer; Banished: How Whites Drove Blacks Out of Town in America, The Undocumented, Toots, and Among the Believers. His work has been exhibited at dozens of international film festivals and institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, and the Smithsonian Institution among other.  Does is also the creator of Whiteness Project, a story-based interactive media and research project he produced in collaboration with  PBS's POV and Columbia University's INCITE Institute, and Veterans Coming Home, a digital initiative by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  Dow teaches  narrative theory and storytelling and  Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.