Guided and Thinking Critically by MLK: We Are all Born with Same Abilities but are They Nourished or Stunted?
We are all born with the same abilities at birth. But by race, are we provided with equal opportunity to the economic and psychological environment that nurtures those potentialities or are we subject to an environment that stunts those potentialities? In celebration of Black History Month at KOOP Radio and on the 57th Anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, Special Guest Dr Algernon Austin joins Bringing Light Into Darkness to discuss How Far Are We from Martin Luther King’s Dream of Equality of Opportunity and to recognize Dr King’s prioritizing of economic justice which he indistinguishably connected to his commitment to civil rights and ending racism.
Dr Algernon Austin is the Director for Race and Economic Justice at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and he has conducted research and writing on issues of race and racial inequality for over 20 years. His primary focus has been on the intersection of race and the economy.
How are we doing at providing equality of opportunity for children by race? We discuss and explain the findings of researchers at DiversityDataKids.org, and their work around their ‘Child Opportunity Index.’ Some 50 years after MLK’s death, they document that 67% of Black children live in ‘Very Low’ or ‘Low Opportunity’ neighborhoods while 65% of white children live in ‘Very High’ or ‘High Opportunity’ neighborhoods.
Please join us as Dr Austin leads us in a discussion explicating Dr King’s concern of the connection between race and class as we discuss the central issues connected to economic justice and the growing wealth inequality in our country that is decimating the middle class.