Join us in conversation about the urgency of belonging in the time of extreme polarization and radicalism, from the point of view of the communities that were, and still are, structurally and systematically othered. In recent years, intangible concepts such as belonging, place and community have become tokenized, hollowed of meaning and filled with political agendas. They are becoming buzzwords that draw people apart rather than bring them together. To counter this narrative, we are welcoming two Oakland-based cultural leaders to share their deeply rooted perspectives and critical thinking about these concepts and their urgency today. Drawing from a lifetime of activism and cultural engagement, Dorothy Lazard and David Peters are working tirelessly to preserve and enact these concepts as catalysts for equity, inclusion, representation, engaged citizenship and creative agency.

About the Speakers

Dorothy Lazard is a writer, librarian, and public historian who played a major role in popularizing the Oakland Main Library's Oakland History Center by hosting lectures, mounting exhibits, writing articles about Oakland's history and assisting researchers exploring the city's history. After serving as a librarian for nearly 40 years, Lazard, who retired in 2021, has published a memoir about growing up in San Francisco and Oakland, What You Don’t Know Will Make a Whole New World. She is currently working on a book about the library as a public institution.

David Peters is a third generation West Oaklander and a pillar of the local community organizing around cultural preservation and equitable representation. Mr. Peters is a walking encyclopedia of Oakland's history and a founder of West Oakland Cultural Action Network as well as the nationally acclaimed Black Liberation Walking Tour.  

Images (from left to right): 

Dorothy Lazard, photo by Amir Aziz, courtesy of Oaklandside

Mural by Bay Area Mural Program, 3032 Market St., Oakland

David Peters, courtesy of Black Liberation Walking Tour