Challenging the Stories That Divide Us: Irvin Weathersby Jr. on Confronting Systemic Injustice and Prioritizing Empathy

Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel

What stories do we tell ourselves about the past? How do they inform our present, and our future? Where did we learn them and what if they’re wrong? In today’s episode of Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel sits down with Irvin Weathersby Jr. to explore how we challenge existing systems, and the beliefs and ideas that prop them up.

Irvin is a Brooklyn-based writer and professor, originally from New Orleans. His new book is In Open Contempt: Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space. In it, he explores the myths about America and its people that are woven throughout our art, our monuments, and our public spaces. And how we can go about unravelling them.

Together, Irvin and Jessi discuss:

• Centering curiosity and understanding to combat white supremacy
• Building empathy through storytelling
• The consequences of DEI rollbacks
• Communication across difference

Continue the conversation with us at Hello Monday Office Hours! RSVP here to join us on the LinkedIn News page this Wednesday at 3 PM EST.