“Lift Every Voice,” A Bipartisan Conversation on Racism: Listening, Sharing and Growth for the American Future

Vince Anani (he/him), is a first year in the NYU Liberal Studies program hoping to transfer into NYU College of Arts & Science with a concentration in Politics, Philosophy, and Business. He was born in Washington DC, and raised in Burtonsville Maryland, but has spent a number of years living and studying in Ghana. Vince is an active club leader in the NYU DC community and has coordinated many student led events thus far. He strives to foster important connections and take advantage of the academic opportunities he's been given to one day do some good for the world.

Carol Moseley Braun served in the United States Senate from 1993 to 1999 as a Democrat from Illinois. Born in Chicago in 1947, Moseley Braun came of age in the midst of the civil rights movement and pursued a career in law. She became an Illinois state representative in 1977 and then served four years as Recorder of Deeds for Cook County, Illinois, the first African American elected to a Cook County executive position. In 1992 she defeated both the Democratic incumbent and the Republican challenger for a seat in the U.S. Senate, becoming the first female senator from Illinois and the first African American woman to serve in the Senate. As a senator, Moseley Braun sponsored progressive education bills and campaigned for gun control. In 1999 she became the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand, a position she held until 2001. Moseley Braun ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for president in 2004. Moseley Braun was interviewed for the Senate Oral History Project in 1999 and again in 2017 for the Women of the Senate Oral History Project.

Ron Christie is founder and President of Christie Strategies LLC—an independent media and political strategy firm providing government relations, communications, and diversity consulting for a wide range of companies and organizations. A former special assistant to President George W. Bush and deputy assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney, he is the author of three books—Acting White: The Curious History of a Racial Slur (St. Martin's Press), Black in the White House: Life Inside George W. Bush's West Wing (Nelson Current), and his most recent book Blackwards: How Black Leadership is Returning America to the Days of Separate But Equal (Thomas Dunne Books). 

Christie has served as an Instructor at the NYU Washington, D.C. Campus since 2017 where he teaches courses on the American Presidency and Private Influence in Public Policy.  Christie also serves on the Advisory Board to the Brademas Center at NYU.  He is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy as well as a Senior Practitioner Fellow at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia.  He previously served as a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University as well as the Center for the Political Future at the University of Southern California..

He has been the North American Political Analyst for the BBC since 2014.  In 2020, Christie was awarded the bronze medal for best documentary/editorial viewpoint in the world for his BBC Radio Documentary "The Trumped Republicans."  Christie is a Life Member to the Council on Foreign Relations and received his B.A. from Haverford College and his J.D. from The George Washington University National Law Center.

Farzana Tasnim (she/her), is a sophomore in the NYU Liberal Studies program transferring to NYU Gallatin with a concentration in journalism, mental health, and the criminal justice system. She was born and raised in Bangladesh until she immigrated to Queens, NYC, and identifies as a first-generation Muslim. Farzana serve as NYU DC's Global Equity Fellow and has been selected for the 2022 John Brademas Center Congressional Internship Program! She now lives by the motto ‘Let us all commit to a forever of accountability and justice’ through her activism and extracurriculars.