Event Details
Please join Futures Without Violence for the third Storyteller Summit, presented by the Courage Museum, in collaboration with Actual Films. The program will feature a series of participatory discussions with two inspiring survivor/activists, Ramon Diaz and Aswad Thomas, both of whom have chosen to share their experiences with gender and race-based discrimination and violence, for the inaugural Empathy Mirror installation at the upcoming Courage Museum in San Francisco. Throughout the summit, we will take participants behind the scenes as storytellers engage in intimate discussions with two of the installation’s award-winning documentary filmmakers, Yoruba Richen and Jon Shenk, facilitated by journalist Sasha Khokha. Audience engagement opportunities will be embedded throughout the program to allow for deeper engagement with other attendees, as well as the storytellers and directors.
High school students are encouraged to attend and must be accompanied by a parent/adult caregiver.
Please be sure to RSVP as soon as possible. Space is limited.
Location:
The Open Square at Futures Without Violence
100 Montgomery Street, The Presidio
San Francisco, CA 94129
Date:
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
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Storyteller Summit Schedule
5:30PM – 6:00PM Arrival and Check In
6:00PM – 7:40PM Main Program
7:40PM – 8:00PM Closing Remarks
Dinner will be provided in a family style format throughout the Main Program.
Special Thanks to:
Deborah Sara Santana as our Presenting Sponsor, for making this day a reality, and for her lead investment in the Courage Museum.
Patricia Lee Hoffmann, for her long-standing support of FUTURES and the development of the Courage Museum.
For any questions about the event, please contact Brie Silva at (bsilva@futureswithoutviolence.org).
EMPATHY MIRROR INSTALLATION OVERVIEW
The Empathy Mirrors installation is the emotional pinnacle of the visitor journey in the Courage Museum. Within this gallery, visitors will engage with a range of storytellers as they share their experiences of witnessing or surviving hate, discrimination and/or violence, and the courage they each demonstrated in the face of adversity. Through empathetic listening and developmentally appropriate, reflective Q & A interactions between storytellers and participants, visitors will be prompted to consider their own capacity for moral courage and action.
Featured Empathy Mirror Directors
Yoruba Richen
Yoruba Richen is a Peabody-award winning documentary filmmaker whose film, THE REBELLIOUS LIFE OF MRS. ROSA PARKS won a Gracie Award and was honored by the Television Academy. Her most recent film, THE COST OF INHERITANCE, about the quest for reparations in the U.S premiered on PBS in January. Other recent work include the Emmy-nominated films, AMERICAN RECKONING, HOW IT FEELS TO BE FREE, THE SIT IN: HARRY BELAFONTE HOSTS THE TONIGHT SHOW and GREEN BOOK GUIDE TO FREEDOM. Yoruba’s film, THE KILLING OF BREONNA TAYLOR won an NAACP Image Award. Yoruba was a Guggenheim and Fulbright fellow and she won the Creative Promise Award at Tribeca All Access. She is a featured TED Speaker and was a Sundance Producer’s Fellow. Yoruba was recently awarded the Trailblazer award by Black Public Media and is the founding director of the Documentary Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.
Jon Shenk
Jon Shenk is an Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated director who most recently directed THE WHITE HOUSE EFFECT and IN WAVES AND WAR, both of which premiered at Telluride Film Festival in 2024. Previously, he directed the Oscar-nominated film, LEAD ME HOME (2021, Netflix). In 2020, Jon directed the Emmy-winning ATHLETE A with his film partner, Bonni Cohen. Jon directed and photographed AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWER (Participant Media/Paramount) which premiered on opening night of the Sundance Film Festival in 2017, and was nominated for the 2018 BAFTA for Best Documentary. In 2016, Jon directed and photographed the Peabody Award-winning film AUDRIE & DAISY (Netflix), which at Sundance in 2016. In 2011, Jon directed THE ISLAND PRESIDENT (Goldwyn Films), winner of the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award and IDA’s Pare Lorentz Award. Jon was awarded the 2004 Independent Spirit Award for directing LOST BOYS OF SUDAN (Shadow Distribution/PBS), served as the Director of Photography for the 2008 Academy Award-winning SMILE PINKI, and won an Emmy for BLAME SOMEBODY ELSE (PBS), 2007.
Featured Empathy Mirror Storytellers
Ramon Diaz
Ramon Diaz is a proud Mexican-American whose parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico. Ramon grew up in rural Illinois, southwest of Chicago. He was recognized as a superior athlete in his community when he was only a young boy. While in high school, he began to excel within the game of football. Ramon accepted a full athletic scholarship to play football at Northwestern University. His dream of playing football in college would be ruined in the near future. Ramon’s nightmare began after arriving to pre-seasons football camp, as he suffered continuous emotional and psychological abuse at the hands of his football coaches. Also, he was racially alienated on several occasions throughout his four years while playing football. Ramon’s former coach once said to him, “Clean up the dirt underneath your chair; you may have grown up on dirt floors, but we don’t live in dirt here.” On July 10, 2023, Ramon was the first Northwestern football player to publicly name himself after sharing his story about the egregious abuse he suffered during his time on the Northwestern football team. This story made national headlines. Ramon’s story helped countless football players come forward to share their own story of abuse they suffered while playing for Northwestern University. In April, Ramon will be testifying in court to help win a major lawsuit against Northwestern University filed by a group of players, past and present. Today, Ramon works with individuals, including athletes, to help improve their mental health as a clinical therapist. His hope is to provide a voice for the voiceless and marginalized.
Aswad Thomas
Aswad Thomas is the Vice President of the Alliance for Safety and Justice and the National Director of its flagship project, Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice. A survivor of gun violence and the first male in his family to graduate college, Aswad’s life changed dramatically when he was shot just before pursuing a professional basketball career. This traumatic experience fueled his commitment to addressing the impacts of violence in communities, particularly among young men of color. As a leading policy expert on gun violence and criminal justice reform, he advocates for crime survivors and elevates their voices in policymaking. His work has been recognized in major media outlets, and he was named one of The Root’s 100 most influential African Americans in 2021. Aswad holds a Master’s in Social Work from the University of Connecticut and a B.A. in Business Management from Elms College.
MODERATOR
Sasha Khokha
Sasha Khokha is the host of The California Report’s weekly magazine program, which takes listeners on sound-rich excursions to meet the people that make the Golden State unique — through audio documentaries and long-form stories. As The California Report’s Central Valley Bureau Chief based in Fresno for nearly a dozen years, Sasha brought the lives and concerns of rural Californians to listeners around the state. Her reporting helped expose the hidden price immigrant women janitors and farmworkers may pay to keep their jobs: sexual assault at work. It inspired two new California laws to protect them from sexual harassment. She was a key member of the reporting team for the Frontline film RAPE ON THE NIGHT SHIFT, which was nominated for two national Emmys. Sasha has also won a national Edward R. Murrow and a national PRNDI award for investigative reporting, as well as multiple prizes from the Society for Professional Journalists. Sasha is a proud alum of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Brown University and a member of the South Asian Journalists Association.