“It may be the end of the world, but there are other worlds” – Ruha Benjamin, February 19, 2026.
It is truly a foreboding statement, isn’t it? This idea that the world as we know might be coming to an end and we can’t do anything to stop it. As ominous as this idea feels, there is no need to throw in the towel and give up just because the world seems to be crumbling around us. And at this point, you might be wondering why I continue to refer to you (the audience) and myself as an us. You don’t know me and I most likely don’t know you. However, the relationship or lack thereof between us does not change the fact that we share a future world.
This year for the Ira G. Zepp Memorial Lecture and Black History Month, we were visited by the charismatic (and knowledgeable) Ruha Benjamin, a Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. Benjamin is a reputable author, having published many books that features how technology—as ever evolving as it is—can continue to reinforce racial and societal biases or challenge them, transforming these issues that are so deeply rooted in our society. One of her books, “Imagination: A Manifesto”, is largely what shaped the memorial presentation this year. Similarly to the book, the presentation was titled “Imagining Racial Justice: How We Grow the World We Want”.
A great deal of the presentation largely focused on this idea of unlearning what we tend to associate many things in life with. For example, associating human nature with selfishness or intelligence as smartness. Benjamin had a total of seven ideas that we need to unlearn in order to truly make progress since these engrained ideals tend to focus us away from gaining new knowledge due to how strongly they hold us in place. These include:
- Intelligence as smartness; roots in racism and classism.
- Innovation as social progress; built on the backs of those seen as disposable.
- Technology as self-propelling; described by Benjamin as “industry Kool-Aid that we don’t have a choice but to drink”.
- Imagination as superfluous.
- Deep learning as Statistical.
- Power as subjugation.
- Human nature as selfish.
The second half of the presentation focused on building a better future. The main stigma is that it takes large movements to truly reform and reshape the world. However, viral justice as defined by Benjamin; orients people towards small-scale, localized actions. You don’t need to run for a place in Congress and hold a political seat if you want to make change (it’s an option but not for everyone), you could instead create a community garden. Due to the role of large-scale activism and shows of protest—No Kings Protests or the Civil Rights Movement as some notable examples—it feels easy to believe that picking up trash around your neighborhood isn’t enough to truly be shaping a better future. However, if that truly was the case, we wouldn’t have so many organizations dedicated to keeping neighborhoods and communities looking presentable, removing trash and unnecessary waste from them. We don’t need fanfare to make an impact, we can start by helping old women with their groceries and lending things out to those around you.
We only have one world. If we want to keep it without losing it to tech bros, AI, or major corporations, we need to start building each other and our world up tree by tree—instead of brick by brick.