The 2022 Hutchins Forum brought a discussion of race and the American culture wars to the Old Whaling Church on August 18.

Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. opened this year’s Hutchins Forum by speaking about the past in order to draw parallels with the present state of division in American.

The discussion at this year's Hutchins Forum ranged from the state of race relations in America to the role of the media in politics.

This year's forum presented by the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University was the largest in its 23-year history.

The Republican party, Donald Trump and the media all came under fire in this year’s Hutchins Forum, in the midst of what will surely be remembered as one of the most consequential presidential elections in modern time.

Editor’s Note: What follows is an edited version of opening remarks delivered by the author at the annual Hutchins Forum at the Old Whaling Church.