- This event has passed.
Kenneth Bedell Book Discussion
October 12, 2017 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Kenneth Bedell, PhD, sociologist and former senior advisor in the Department of Education in the Obama administration, will discuss his just released book, Realizing the Civil Rights Dream: Diagnosing and Treating American Racism.
It has been more than 53 years since Martin Luther King Jr. made his “I Have a Dream” speech. Why has the United States still not been able to make King’s dream a reality after half a century of effort and progress? Is there still hope of full participation for all in America?
In Realizing the Civil Rights Dream: Diagnosing and Treating American Racism, author Kenneth B. Bedell proposes a civil rights dream that grows out of American history and speaks to the 21stcentury reality. He makes the case that, by adopting a larger perspective about the role of racism in preserving U.S. social, cultural, economic, and political institutions and practices, Americans can understand why it has been so difficult to fulfill the promises of the 1960s civil rights dream. Bedell describes and applies sociological theories that serve to explain why racism is still prevalent in the United States and identifies the steps that are necessary to overcome racism. The book concludes with proposals for ways to apply social science to realize the civil rights dream and examples of how individuals can take action to make a difference.
