Bunting Peace and Justice Speaker Series

The Bunting Peace and Justice Speaker Series, made possible with a generous gift from Mary Catherine Bunting, hosts speakers and events that contribute to raising awareness about peace and justice issues.

"Truth-telling, Racial Justice and Healing in the United States"
Fania E. Davis, PhD, JD

Tuesday, April 2, 2024
5pm
McGuire Hall West

Fania E. Davis is a leading national voice on restorative justice. She is a long-time social justice activist, civil rights trial attorney, restorative justice practitioner, writer, professor and scholar with a PhD in Indigenous Knowledge. She came of age in Birmingham, Alabama, during the social ferment of the civil rights era; the murder of two close childhood friends in the 1963 Sunday School bombing crystallized within her a passionate commitment to social transformation. For the next decades, she was active in the Civil Rights, Black liberation, women’s, prisoners’, peace, anti-racial violence and anti-apartheid movements. Studying with indigenous healers, particularly in Africa, catalyzed her search for a healing justice, ultimately leading her to bring restorative justice to Oakland, California. Founding Director of Restorative Justice of Oakland Youth (RJOY), her numerous honors include the Ubuntu award for service to humanity, the Dennis Maloney Award for excellence in Youth Restorative Justice, World Trust’s Healing Justice award, the Tikkun (Repair the World) award, the Ella Baker/Septima Clark Award, the Bioneer’s Changemaker Award, and the Ebony POWER 100 award. She is a Woodrow Wilson fellow, and the Los Angeles Times named her a New Civil Rights Leader of the 21st Century

Register for "Truth-telling, Racial Justice and Healing in the United States" on the Bridge here!
All are welcome! This event is free and open to the public. 

"The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church"
Rachel Swarns

March 21, 2024
6 pm
McGuire Hall West

Rachel L. Swarns is an acclaimed journalist, author, and NYU professor who investigates the history of American slavery, examining how we live with this history and how it shapes who we are today. Through her critically acclaimed books and inspiring talks, she challenges us to work to overcome the legacy of racial injustice in our churches, schools, and communities. Rachel’s most recent book, The 272, tells the story of the nearly 300 enslaved people who were sold by a group of America’s most prominent Catholic priests in order to fund what would become Georgetown University. Rachel follows one family through almost two centuries of enslavement, uncovering not only the stories of these forgotten people, but also how the legacy of the slave trade still shapes our institutions—from banks to universities—today. Her work has been recognized and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ford Foundation, the Leon Levy Center for Biography, the Biographers International Organization, the MacDowell artist residency program, and others. In 2023, she was elected to the Society of American Historians. She has appeared on numerous national programs, including NPR, PBS NewsHour, CNN, and CBS This Morning.

Register for "The 272" on the Bridge here! 
All are welcome! This event is free and open to the public. 

“Surviving the Bosnian Genocide: Lessons from Srebrenica”
Hasan Hasanović

February 8, 2024
6 pm
Andrew White Student Center, 4th floor program room

Hasan Hasanović was born in Bajina Bašta, Serbia. He was 19 when the town of Srebrenica fell to Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995. He endured a 100 kilometer march through hostile terrain to escape the massacre of approximately 8,000 Muslim men and boys. Hasan was one of only 3,500 who survived the march. His father and brother were found in mass graves excavated by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). After the war, Hasan worked as an interpreter for the US army. He then gained a degree in Criminal Sciences, and returned to live in Srebrenica in 2009. Hasan is now married and has a young daughter. He works as a Curator at the Memorial Centre, where he shares his story with visitors from all over the world on a daily basis. He sees this as both his duty to those who were murdered and a cathartic experience for himself. ‘I want to speak to people, and share my story because my heart speaks. And now, finally, someone is listening.’

Registration information to come!

"Pathways to Peace in Israel-Palestine: Lessons Learned"
Mohammed Abu-Nimer, PhD

Thursday, November 16
5 pm
McGuire Hall West

Dr. Mohamed Abu-Nimer is a full professor, and the inaugural Abdul Azis Said Endowed Chair for Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University. He is a founder of the Salam Institute and a member of the Nonviolence International Board of Directors. He is the author of 13 books including Islam and Nonviolence, and is a global authority on interfaith dialogue. While his research has focused on a wide array of areas in peacebuilding and conflict resolution, his most recent areas of focus have included faith-based peacebuilding, interfaith dialogue in peacebuilding and building social cohesion, and pedagogical considerations on incorporating peace and forgiveness education in the Arab world and Muslim world. In addition to his research and teaching in the areas of conflict resolution and peacebuilding, Dr. Abu-Nimer has conducted interreligious conflict resolution training and interfaith dialogue workshops in conflict areas around the world, such as in, Egypt, Northern Ireland, the Philippines (Mindanao), Israel, Palestine, Chad, Nigeria, and Sri Lanka. He has a PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University, an MA from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a BA from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. 

Register for "Pathways to Peace in Israel-Palestine" on the Bridge here!
All are welcome! This event is free and open to the public. 

"Poems of Resistance and Resilience"
Teri Ellen Cross Davis

Monday, November 13, 2023
6:30 pm
4th Floor Program Room

Teri Ellen Cross Davis is a prize-winning poet and literary activist whose dynamic verse pays tribute to the haunting legacies of an ancestral past and the challenges of living in 21st century America. She is the author of a more perfect Union (2021), winner of The Journal/Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize, and Haint (2016), winner of the Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. She has described her recent book, A More Perfect Union, as a “love letter to America” and to the “American citizen…who sees something greater in the is country and knows how deeply it is flawed in its failings to live up to the ideals it presents to the rest of the world.” Whether she is reflecting on the rewards of global travel, the challenges of adolescence, motherhood, and family life, Davis’s voice is unforgettable in its celebration of love’s uplifting power. Teri Ellen Cross Davis won the Poetry Society of America’s Robert H. Winner Memorial prize. She is a Cave Canem fellow and a member of the Black Ladies Brunch Collective. She is the. O.B. Hardison Poetry Series Curator and Poetry Programs manager for the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. 

Register for "Poems of Resistance and Resilience" on the Bridge here! 
All are welcome! This event is free and open to the public. 

“Haiti - Too Rich to be Poor: 1804-2023"
Pamela White

Monday, October 2, 2023
5:30 pm
McGuire Hall West

Pamela White is an American diplomat who currently teaches at the University of Maine. In 2010, White was named United States ambassador to the Gambia by President Barack Obama. In January 2012, White was appointed United States ambassador to Haiti, where she served in the aftermath of the catastrophic earthquake until 2015. Prior to her appointments as ambassador, White served in the Peace Corps in Cameroon. She also worked for the United States Agency for International in Burkina Faso, Senegal, Haiti, Egypt, and South Africa. In addition, she was the deputy director for East Africa. Pamela White has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Maine, a master’s degree from the School for International Training, and a degree in international development from the National Defense University. Given her wealth of training and experience, Pamela White has developed a keen assessment of current situations, obstacles to economic growth, and political (in)stabilities.

This event is free and open to the public. This event is co-sponsored by Peace and Justice, Global Studies, and Rendez-Vous Haiti. 

Register for "Haiti - Too Rich to be Poor: 1804-2023" on the Bridge!