David Ragland

Dr David Ragland is a writer, scholar, and activist with a focus on racial justice, reparations and abolition. He is a co-founder and co-executive director for Culture, Organizing and Reparations at the Truth Telling Project and is currently the director of the Grassroots Reparations Campaign. David Ragland is also a special advisor to Congresswoman Cori Bush and a number of progressive political candidates throughout the U.S.

In the aftermath of Mike Brown Jr.’s murder in Ferguson, Mo.,David, and Congresswoman Cori Bush founded the Truth Telling Project to help community members control their own narrative, document abuses by law enforcement, uplift stories of those who experience police violence and heal from past and ongoing trauma through truth telling. Additionally, he serves as Director of Reparations at Jubilee Justice, an Impact Investment Firm supporting regenerative agriculture throughout the South eastern seaboard and critical education for traditional wealth holders.Most recently, David is a founding member in the creation of the Kibilio Community and Farms Collective, a Queer Black-Led Intentional community focused on healing and reparations.

Georgetown University’s Advocacy lab included Dr. Ragland’s research, which was named among the “most important research on advocacy” in the last forty years. David was recently inducted into Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College. In the past, David served as the Senior Bayard Rustin Fellow at Fellowship of Reconciliation, board member for the Peace and Justice Studies Association and the United Nations representative for the International Peace Research Association.

Among his published works, David’s peer-reviewed article on Truth-Telling and Decoloniality appeared in a recent issue of the International Journal of Human Rights Education. He has recently completed a series of articles on reparations for Yes! Magazine.

David currently teaches the Building a Culture of Reparations and Transitional Justice through the Grassroots Reparations Campaign and the Truth Telling Project. He has taught in Depth Psychology, Eco-Psychology and Community Liberation at Pacifica Graduate Institute. He has previously taught Educational Theory, Multicultural Education, Education for Peace and Human Rights, Peace and Conflict Studies, Social Movements at Bucknell University, Vassar College, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, and Juniata College.

Degrees

• Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Toledo
• M.A., Peace Education, Teachers College of Columbia University
• M.A., International Affairs, Washington University in St. Louis