Donna Brazile, Spike Lee Address Race Symposium

How many more symposiums are we going to have to address this issue? The time is out for talking.  The time is for action.

Growing up in West Point, Mississippi, race was not something that could be missed in common discussion for Jonathan Ward. Nor when he attended Cornell University for his undergraduate degree. Or Howard University for his master’s degree.

It seems as though he’s been talking about race in some form or another for all his life. But even at 37, Ward felt compelled to join yet another discussion, this one an inaugural venture hosted by the Aspen Institute.

He was among blacks, whites, Asians and Latinos assembled in the Newseum for the inaugural State of Race in America symposium. Pulling thought leaders from a cross-section of arenas, four panels probed family and identity, politics, education and depictions in popular culture, using race as the foundation.

Throughout it all, Ward was looking for a new way to consider an old problem.

“We always talk about breaking the shackles of slavery, the same old discussion,” said Ward, who now directs outreach efforts for a Washington, D.C. nonprofit that advocates for the homeless. “I want to look at contemporary issues facing the black community – and people of color. As a person of color, I am vested.”

As were the litany of speakers. Lillian Rodriguez Lopez, president of the Hispanic Federation, wrangled over marriage and values with Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement. Exelon Power President Sonny Garg poked at the “model minority” construct, focusing attention on the fact that usually it’s the more motivated who venture to new shores anyway. Donna Brazile traded insights with Michael Steele, agreeing more than they disagreed: When it comes to politics, neither party is pure or innocent of playing the race card. And the continued browning of America means how politics are played will – and must - change.


Read the full story at blackamericaweb.com