A Day of Unreasonable Conversation is an annual gathering that brings together television content creators—who are responsible for writing the script for the world—with frontline activists, thinkers, and changemakers to better understand and portray the greatest challenges and opportunities facing the world each year. This invitation-only gathering is expressly designed to equip television creators and influencers—including writers, producers, executives, and more—with fresh ideas and perspectives to develop more nuanced characters and storylines in the year ahead that will inspire a more empathetic, tolerant, and informed public. A Day of Unreasonable Conversation is a program of Propper Daley produced in partnership with Invisible Hand.
9:00 am
Welcome
Hosted by BARATUNDE THURSTON, writer, activist, and TV host with a musical score by KRIS BOWERS, Emmy Award-winning composer, musician and filmmaker
Moral Courage & the Joy of Being Wrong
IRSHAD MANJI, founder, Moral Courage College in conversation with BARATUNDE THURSTON
After Babel: A Dramatic Reading of Jonathan Haidt’s Essay
Performed by UZO ADUBA, actor and producer
Disconnected in a Hyperconnected World: Tech & Democracy
DR. RUHA BENJAMIN, Princeton University professor and founding director of the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab, DR. SAFIYA UMOJA NOBLE, 2021 MacArthur Fellow, UCLA professor, and co-founder & co-director of the Center for Critical Internet Inquiry, and DR. SIVA VAIDHYANATHAN, Robertson Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia and director of the Center for Media and Citizenship in conversation with EZRA KLEIN, columnist, New York Times, host of The Ezra Klein Show, and author of Why We’re Polarized
How Divided Are We?
EZRA KLEIN, columnist for New York Times, host of The Ezra Klein Show and author of Why We’re Polarized
Radicalization: “How Badly Could This Escalate?”
KATHLEEN BELEW, author and historian, BILLY RAY, writer and director, MIKE “TOP” WASHINGTON, USMC MSGT (ret.) in conversation with KEN HARBAUGH, host of Evergreen Podcasts
“How to Get Sh!t Done in A Divided America”
SCOTT BUDNICK, film producer and criminal justice advocate, and KIM KARDASHIAN, entrepreneur and advocate, in conversation with BARATUNDE THURSTON
10:50 am
Coffee Break
11:10 am
“Home:” A Reading by Poet Warsan Shire
Who Belongs? Immigration in Appalachia, Georgia, and Beyond
MAYOR BEVERLY H. BURKS, City of Clarkston, GA, DEE DAVIS, president, Center for Rural Strategies, MARIELENA HINCAPIÉ, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center and NILC Immigrant Justice Fund in conversation with RAFAEL AGUSTIN, TV writer and author of Illegally Yours
Gen Z: Finding Purpose Amid Chaos
A conversation with DIANA CHAO, founder and executive director of Letters to Strangers, ZOË JENKINS, senior advisor for Kentucky Student Voice Team, DAVID SPICER, MIT Undergraduate Association president in conversation with DOMETI PONGO, Journalist, MTV News and Consultant, Pongo Strategy Group
12:05 pm
Lunch Break
1:00 pm
On Gathering: A Community Activation
PRIYA PARKER, facilitator, strategic advisor, author of The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters
The Case for Long Term Thinking
ARI WALLACH, Longpath Labs founder and author of Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs
Apocalypse Never: Our Climate Future and BIPOC Solutions
SARAH EAGLE HEART, Emmy-award winning storyteller and co-founder of Zuyá Entertainment, DR. AYANA ELIZABETH JOHNSON, marine biologist, policy expert, writer, and co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab, FAVIANNA RODRIGUEZ, artist and president of The Center for Cultural Power, in conversation with ZAZIE BEETZ, actress, producer, activist
The Power of Persuasion
ANAND GIRIDHARADAS, author and journalist
Road Trips to Deeper Understanding
B.J. NOVAK, director, writer, actor, and author, HEATHER MCGHEE, author The Sum of Us and host the eponymous podcast, in conversation with GEORGE GOEHL, community organizer, host of To See Each Other
Comedy in Complicated Times
AL FRANKEN, politician and comedian, ALEX EDELMAN, comedian, writer, and contributor, The Atlantic, MICHAEL HARRIOT, author of Black AF History: The Unwhitewashed Story of America in conversation with AKILAH HUGHES, writer and comedian
3:30 pm
Coffee Break
3:50 pm
A performance by JINHO “THE PIPER” FERREIRA, artist
"What If the Stories We’re Telling About Crime Aren’t True?"
DERECKA PURNELL, author and scholar in residence, Columbia Law School, EUNISSES HERNANDEZ, councilmember elect for LA City Council District 1, co-founder of La Defensa, JOSÉ GARZA, Travis County district attorney, JUSTIN HILLIAN, television writer, The Chi in conversation with SCOTT HECHINGER, founder and executive director of Zealous and civil rights attorney
Designing Justice
BRYAN C. LEE JR., founder and design principal of Colloqate Design
a poem by aja monet
We Made That Choice
CHRISSY TEIGEN, author of Cravings: Hungry For More
Providing Care in Post-Roe Texas
DR. BHAVIK KUMAR medical director of Primary & Trans Care at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast
“Why Hollywood Keeps Getting Abortion Wrong”
DEJA FOXX, activist and founder of GenZ Girl Gang, ELLE MOXLEY, executive director and founder Marsha P. Johnson Institute, RENEE BRACEY SHERMAN, founder and executive director of We Testify, REBECCA TRAISTER, writer-at-large for New York magazine, and author of Good and Mad in conversation with CINDI LEIVE, co-founder and CEO of The Meteor
Closing Remarks
5:45 pm
Cocktails & Connections
Hosted by Luminate in honor of Storyline Partners