Common Ground#1
A Conversation with Dwight M. Bullard
Weekly conversations with social justice practitioners, changemakers, and activists
1 p.m. Eastern / 10 a.m. Pacific
This event is produced by The Brooklyn Rail. Learn how you can donate ✨🌈
Please join us for our inaugural episode of Common Ground, where we will be joined by Dwight M. Bullard, Political Director of The New Florida Majority, in conversation with Nikki Zeichner.
In this talk
At the start of quarantine, the Brooklyn Rail asked how might we stay connected to each other in a time of self-isolation? Now we ask: How can we stay involved and engaged in upholding our civic responsibility to one another across communities? How can we deploy this community we have built through the New Social Environment—through hundreds of conversations and meals shared over the past six months—to mobilize daily action for grassroots movements, social justice and equity projects, and for the political good of our most marginalized communities across the nation? Common Ground will be taking over the New Social Environment Thursday 1pm slot—beginning immediately and continuing up to the presidential election—and will convene weekly on Thursdays at 1pm Eastern from Sept 3rd through Nov 5th.
Please join us for our inaugural episode of Common Ground, where we will be joined by Dwight M. Bullard, Political Director of The New Florida Majority, an independent political organization working to increase the voting and political power of marginalized and excluded constituencies toward an inclusive, equitable, and just Florida, where people can be their whole selves in a truly participatory democracy. Bullard formerly served in both the Florida State Senate and the Florida House of Representatives from 2008–2016.
He will be joined by host Nikki Zeichner, a public interest lawyer and civic technologist focused on improving the experience of public services so that they put people first. Nikki was named a Legal Rebel by the American Bar Association and continues to work on problems that sit at the intersection of law and technology.
We will close with a reading from writer and translator Ted Dodson.
Dwight Bullard
State Senator Dwight M. Bullard hails from an esteemed educator, community activist and legislator family. From 2000 to 2017, Sen. Bullard was a teacher at Coral Reef Senior High School and in 2008 he was sworn into office as representative of District 118 and was reelected subsequently. He served as a member of the Agriculture & Natural resources policy committee, the Prek-12 appropriations committee, Prek-12 education policy committee and several others. In 2012 Senator Bullard was elected to the Florida Senate where he served as Vice Chair of the Transportation and Agriculture committees and maintained membership on Education and several other committees. In his time in the Senate, Bullard worked to stop online bullying, bring tuition equity to aspiring citizens and raise the minimum wage. Bullard served in the Florida Senate until 2016. His extensive and remarkable role in political and educational leadership has granted him tremendous recognition and awards.
In 2017 Bullard was hired as the Political Director of the New Florida Majority. In this capacity he works to bring political education and awareness to underserved and often marginalized communities. He also works to push policy to positively impact those same communities. His work now much like his previous roles looks to uplift people in a way that makes them the masters of their own destiny. He continues to simply amplify the voice of those often unheard.
Nikki Zeichner
The Rail has a tradition of ending our conversations with a poetry reading, and we’re fortunate to have Ted Dodson reading.
Ted Dodson
❤️ 🌈 We'd like to thank the The Terra Foundation for American Art for making these daily conversations possible, and for their support of our growing archive.