Facing Race: A National Conference in St. Louis, MO — November 20-22, 2024

Brandi Collins-Dexter

Senior Campaign Director, Media, Democracy & Economic Justice Department | Color of Change
Pronouns: she/her
Brandi Collins-Dexter is the Senior Campaign Director at Color Of Change and oversees the media, culture and economic justice departments. She is also a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. At Color Of Change, she has led a number of successful campaigns for accountability including getting Fox’s The O’Reilly Factor taken off the air; getting R. Kelly dropped from RCA for his repeatedly abusing girls; winning Net neutrality protections; pressuring financial companies to pull funding from hate groups; and persuading Disney not to whitewash the features of their character Princess Tiana.

Presentations from Facing Race 2016

Second Class Water: The business of water and the politics of water infrastructure in our communities

The Flint water crisis represents the worst possible intersection of racial and economic inequality as well as political exploitation and corruption in the United States. But the story doesn’t end and begin with Flint. Across the country we are witnessing water shut offs in Detroit and Baltimore and contaminated water in Alabama’s Blackbelt region. We’re seeing radioactive water in New Mexico and devastating droughts in California. And despite the national embarrassment of government’s handling of Hurricane Katrina, several cities including Tampa, Miami, Sacramento and New York City are all at risk of falling to the same fate. Low-income communities of color across the country are in a full-blown state of emergency. Despite facing particularly devastating conditions brought on by a toxic mix of criminal level neglect at the hands of government and the commodification of water, too often voices of color are left out of crucial conversations about climate change and environmental justice policies. Despite this, our communities have and continue to organize for change and find innovative ways to care for and uplift our people. This workshop will feature examples of the innovative ways activists and communities are dealing with the national water crisis. The goal is to have a highly interactive, cross-region conversation in which people can plug in to local-to-national organizing efforts and incorporate an intersectional approach to talking about water rights, access and infrastructure.

Speakers: Brandi Collins-Dexter, Crystal Williams, Dorthea Thomas, Art Reyes, Carrie Sloan

Presentations from Facing Race 2014

Internet Freedom, Racism, and Civil Rights in the 21st Century

Imagine you wanted to use the Internet to organize against police brutality or protest an immigration raid but Verizon or Comcast blocked your website or other online tools you need. How would this impact your struggle for racial and social justice?
Unfortunately, this is real possibility, not a far-off scenario. Internet services providers can now block, censor, interfere and discriminate against Internet Web traffic following a federal court ruling earlier this year that struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s Network Neutrality rules.

During this session, activists will take part in breakout discussions to come up with strategizes to protect an open Internet.

Speakers: Samala, Arturo Carmona, Brandi Collins-Dexter, Jessica Gonzalez, Joe Torres