Writer, journalist, TV personality, Touré was the keynote speaker at the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture’s 2014 MLK Jr. symposium on Monday, Jan. 20, where he also discussed and signed his book; Who’s Afraid of Post Blackness?
The theme for the evening was “50 Years After the Dream.” In addition to providing the keynote speech, Touré joined a panel discussion with Rev. Peter Johnson, Lauren Embrey and Dr. Angela Ards, who discussed the status of Rev. King’s “dream” that made history 50 years ago.
The crowd was treated to a robust discussion that covered the spectrum, from MLK’s intentions for the march on Washington, to modern racism. The panel addressed Dr. King’s desire for jobs and freedom, the devastating impact of globalization, the war on drugs, high unemployment, shooter bias, and micro aggression, on black communities.
Two of my favorite quotes from the event came from Rev. Peter Johnson, who worked closely with Dr. King and other Civil Rights activists in the ’60s:
“Rosa sat, so Martin could walk, Martin walked, so Obama could run, Obama ran, so that our children can fly,” and “using law for hatred is an external manifestation of the internal affairs of the heart.”
In a Q-and-A conducted by Jim Mitchell, Dallas Morning News, Touré shared a few profound thoughts of his own, read them below.
What can we expect to hear from you this evening?
The way we deal with race now and the things we can do to try and move forward. Now, the larger part of this is still institutional racism. We still have an entrenched system that fights against intergenerational class mobility. The vast majority of people in America will grow up to be in the class they are born into, and black and brown people have far less of a chance to move up than others, for educational, cultural and ingrained things that happen when you grow up poor in this country. It becomes very, very difficult to get out of that.
Are you surprised that the nation is still grappling with voting rights issues, decades after the landmark legislation?
I would have hoped we would not be dealing with that, but the Republican ID has been steadily dropping. The Republican tent is literally shrinking, and they can see a demographic trend line that is working against them. So what do they do? They have to shrink the pool of potential voters and do things that keep black and brown folks from voting, to keep younger folks from voting, to keep older folks and poorer folks from voting. Raise the hurdle at the polls. It is an electoral strategy of dirty, disgusting and sleazy shenanigans, and voter ID laws in particular are extremely divisive and sneaky.
What should the nation have learned from the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman incident?
That black bodies in the distance are not necessarily criminals, on drugs or out to do harm. [George Zimmerman] saw a black man and applied the trifecta of stereotypes — he’s a criminal, he’s got a gun and he’s on drugs. If he had left this thing alone, Trayvon Martin would have walked back to his father’s place, and we would never have heard of either one of them.
The idea that young blacks are to be feared remains extremely problematic.
Check out Touré on MSNBC and don’t forget to peep his new book, it is an awesome read.
For photos of the event, click photo gallery below.
