The Black Agenda
Bold Solutions for a Broken System
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
"The Black Agenda mobilizes top Black experts from across the country to share transformative perspectives on how to deploy anti-racist ideas and policies into everything from climate policy to criminal justice to healthcare. This book will challenge what you think is possible by igniting long overdue conversations around how to enact lasting and meaningful change rooted in racial justice." —Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist and Stamped From the Beginning
From ongoing reports of police brutality to the disproportionate impact COVID-19 has had on Black Americans, 2020 brought a renewed awareness to the deep-rootedness of racism and white supremacy in every facet of American life.
Edited by Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, The Black Agenda is the first book of its kind—a bold and urgent move towards social justice through a profound collection of essays featuring Black scholars and experts across economics, education, health, climate, and technology. It speaks to the question "What's next for America?" on the subjects of policy-making, mental health, artificial intelligence, climate movement, the future of work, the LGBTQ community, the criminal legal system, and much more.
Essayists including Dr. Sandy Darity, Dr. Hedwig Lee, Mary Heglar, and Janelle Jones present groundbreaking ideas ranging from Black maternal and infant health to reparations to AI bias to inclusive economic policy, with the potential to uplift and heal not only Black America, but the entire country.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Public policy researcher Opoku-Agyeman gathers in this invigorating essay collection a wide array of Black experts to discuss climate change, wealth inequality, voter suppression, and other issues that "inevitably and disproportionately impac Black life." Contributors include Marshall Shepherd, former president of the American Meteorological Society, who notes that Black communities in the U.S. are "disproportionately affected by climate-related hazards... while accounting for a relatively small percentage of total carbon emissions" and encourages African Americans to "vote with the climate crisis in mind"; disability activist Tinu Abayomi-Paul, who calls for the government to "incentive businesses to remove the obstacles that prevent disabled people from being able to work"; and educational psychologist Lauren Mims, who discusses the "damaging beliefs" Black girls absorb about themselves in school and recommends the elimination of suspensions, expulsions, and other "destructive disciplinary policies." Elsewhere, Black Voters Matter cofounder Cliff Albright calls on congressional Democrats to end the filibuster in order to pass voting rights legislation, and sociologist Hedwig Lee spotlights the burdens Black women bare as a result of criminal justice policies that unfairly target Black men. Though most of the contributors' proposed solutions lack specifics, they're effective as launching pads for further discussion. Policymakers will want to take note.
