For Biz and Livia Stone, supporting causes they believe in is as natural as life. The inspiration to give comes from various places: animals injured or orphaned from the California wildfires, teachers looking for books in underfunded schools, children in need of sweaters, the planet in the throes of climate change.<\/p>\n
In the case of Boston University\u2019s Center for Antiracist Research<\/a>, it came from the words of founding director Ibram X. Kendi himself.<\/p>\n \u201cHow To Be an Antiracist,<\/em> by Dr. Kendi, changed my life,\u201d says Livia, an animal rights and education activist. \u201cI\u2019ve been taking a lot of classes at our community college about racism in American history and trying to wrap my mind around all the stuff they didn\u2019t teach us when we were kids.\u201d Kendi\u2019s ideas, she says, both crystallized the problem and what we, as citizens, can do about it. \u201cIt reinvigorated me,\u201d she says. \u201cOK. We have the tools. We can lay a foundation of truth. We can do something really meaningful and make a difference in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Her husband, Biz, jumps in to agree. \u201cThe way he talks about policy changes being crucial and putting science behind the actions\u2014I was like, yes<\/em>!\u201d says Biz, the cofounder of Twitter and other technology companies, including the search engine Jelly and the open digital publishing platform Medium. \u201cIt\u2019s super-exciting for us. We are science people and know that evidence drives change.\u201d<\/p>\n Spurred to give<\/strong><\/p>\n In the worlds of philanthropy and public service, Livia and Biz are lauded for walking the talk. Driven by Dr. Kendi\u2019s vision, they fairly ran.<\/p>\n In December, they set up a $500 monthly recurring donation to the Center, followed a few months later by a $1 million gift\u2014half to support the Center\u2019s endowment and half current use to support its Narrative Office, which this spring will launch The Emancipator, <\/em>a multimedia platform founded in partnership with The<\/em> Boston Globe<\/em> opinion team that will reimagine William Lloyd Garrison\u2019s legendary 19th<\/sup>-century abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe combination of The Emancipator<\/em>\u2019s historic echoes and new voices speaking about new ways to address racism, the launching of a platform for groundbreaking ideas\u2014all of that intrigued us,\u201d says Livia.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Monica Wang, associate director of Narrative at the Center and associate professor at the BU School of Public Health, emphasizes the significance of the platform\u2019s public role. \u201cThe goal for The Emancipator<\/em> is to catalyze interdisciplinary dialogue and understanding of what is driving racial inequities, as well as communicate and cultivate innovative solutions to address them,\u201d says Dr. Wang. As such, it will blend academic research, reportage, and evidence-based opinion in an effort to reframe the national conversation on racial justice. \u201cWe are writing today to create a more equitable society tomorrow,\u201d she says. \u201cThe Stones\u2019 gift allows us to embark on that journey.\u201d<\/p>\n The twists and turns on that journey require a revolutionary approach to studying racism, Kendi believes. The Center brings together people from a variety of disciplines and offices\u2014researchers, practitioners, data analysts, advocates, and policy experts\u2014from across BU and beyond to develop novel ways to solve seemingly intractable problems of racial inequity and injustice. The aim, Dr. Kendi noted in his proposal to the Stones, is to \u201censure that our research informs policy, changes narratives, and galvanizes advocacy\u2014in short, fosters racial change.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the oldest narratives in American history is the narrative that people are the problem, as opposed to policies, as opposed to conditions those people are forced to live in,\u201d says Dr. Kendi, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at BU. \u201cWe need researchers and storytellers and evidence to create a new narrative showing that the problems of the society we need to fix are policies, not people. This generous gift from Biz and Livia will go a long way toward helping the Center do that.\u201d<\/p>\n A personal connection<\/strong><\/p>\n The Stones divided their gift between the endowment and current use funds to help ensure continuing support to the Center and also address immediate needs, such as the launch of The Emancipator. <\/em>The Center-Globe<\/em> partnership,<\/em> they say, resonated personally with them.<\/p>\n Both Livia and Biz began their careers in publishing in Boston, at Little, Brown and Company\u2014Biz upstairs in the mansion on Mt. Vernon St. designing book jackets and Livia downstairs in children\u2019s editorial. Back then, they lived in a cramped 400-square-foot apartment behind Bruegger\u2019s Bagels in Coolidge Corner.<\/p>\n Biz\u2019s leap into book design, similar to his conception of Twitter, was serendipitous. Hired part-time at Little, Brown to move boxes, he snuck into the art director\u2019s office when everyone was at lunch. Using his art background and innate technological prowess, he designed a jacket for the book \u00a0<\/a>. Wowed, the art director took it to New York to be reviewed by the top editors and the sales team. He didn\u2019t learn that it was Biz\u2019s design till he returned with the approval to print.<\/p>\n The couple\u2019s approach to philanthropy carries that same think-outside-the-box enthusiasm. They are drawn to organizations that value creativity and touch their hearts not just with their causes but with their relationship to their supporters, regardless of gift size. Compassion\u2014for people, for animals, for the environment, for equity for all\u2014drives their giving. Indeed, for Biz, even Twitter represents not the importance of technology but \u201cthe triumph of humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve corresponded with Dr. Kendi as well as BU\u2019s gift officers and can\u2019t wait to visit the Center and meet them,\u201d says Livia. \u201cHelping others helps us, too.\u201d<\/p>\n