Bridging or breaking? That is the sharp choice we face today as a society and as individual citizens. john a. powell, Director of the Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, has long been one of our nation’s leading and most original thought leaders. He has delved deeply into the complexities of civil rights and liberties, structural racism, poverty, housing, racial and ethnic identity, inclusivity, spirituality and social justice, as well as the needs of citizens in a democratic society. john will go beyond the personal and interpersonal to consider some of the cultural systems that push us to break and polarize. He will illuminate how instead we can bridge to transform and heal these destructive impulses and the current toxic political atmosphere by cultivating new ways of thinking and by building social structures conducive to Belonging and Breathing.