Askwith Forums – Still Separate and Unequal

Speakers: Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor and Director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University, and Member of the Faculty, HGSE Paul Reville, Francis Keppel Professor of Practice of Educational Policy and Administration and Founding Director of the Education Redesign Lab, HGSE; former Secretary of Education, Commonwealth of Massachusetts William E. Spriggs; Professor of Economics, Howard University; Chief Economist to the AFL-CIO Moderator: E.J. Dionne, W. Averell Harriman Chair and Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, The Brookings Institute; syndicated columnist, The Washington Post; University Professor, Georgetown University Remarks by: Alan Curtis, President and CEO, The Eisenhower Foundation Bridget Terry Long, Dean and Saris Professor of Economics, HGSE PLEASE NOTE: Regrettably, Linda Darling-Hammond is unable to participate in this panel. In 1968, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders – known as the Kerner Commission— issued a report with a stark warning: The United States was becoming two societies, one white, one black, separate and unequal. Critics observed that the nation was already separate and unequal. The Commission called for sweeping investments in jobs, education, and housing to reduce poverty, inequality, and racial injustice. Fifty years later, a new report from the Eisenhower Foundation finds that things aren’t much better — and in some cases, things have gotten worse. Schools are more segregated, income and wealth inequality has dramatically increased, opportunity gaps remain, and poverty and incarceration rates are unacceptably high. Society is more unequal. Yet one thing has changed: we know what works — and what doesn’t. The question is, do we have the will to use that knowledge? Can we build the will to take what works and bring it to scale? Can we create the multiracial, multi-class economic justice coalition that Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy were advocating when they were assassinated in 1968? In this essential Askwith Forum, an all-star panel of scholars, educators, media experts, and practitioners will explore the Eisenhower Foundation’s newly released update, Healing Our Divided Society. Panelists will discuss the economic investments, the education policy changes, the electoral and criminal justice reforms, and other commitments we need to significantly reduce poverty and racial injustice in order to fulfill the promise of equality in the United States. PLEASE NOTE: Seating for this forum will be available on a first come, first seated basis. ________________________________________ To receive the Askwith Forums e-newsletter for up-to-date information, please go to https://www.gse.harvard.edu/askwith or email [email protected] with the subject line “Opt-in.” Connect with Us: Become a fan of the Ed School on Facebook: www.facebook.com/harvardeducation Tweeting at an Askwith Forum? Use the #Askwith hashtag. For more information on Askwith Forums, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.