Dr. King helped us see the moral imperative for more equal societies. Now exciting new research — on everything from how long people live to how well economies perform — shows that more equal societies work better for all people. In fact, middle-income people in more equal societies do far better than their middle-income counterparts in societies that let wealth concentrate in the pockets of a few.
Left out of the commentary on race and class over the Gates affair has been talk of the increasing impoverishment — or, we should say, re-impoverishment — of African Americans as a group.
President Obama’s address to the NAACP acknowledged that racial inequality is not an African-American problem, but rather a problem of our entire nation. So why didn’t the New York Times?
National and local political leaders will join a panel of esteemed economists and journalists for a town hall discussion of the economic collapse and how Detroit — and the country — can recover. Putting the needs of workers and citizens (not bankers and stock market speculators) at the center of the conversation, the panel will examine local solutions as well as the role of Detroit in the national economy.
Moderated by The Nation Magazine’s John Nichols, this discussion will feature:
Documentarian and activist Michael Moore (invited) Representative John Conyers (D-MI) Bestselling author Barbara Ehrenreich Detroit City Council Woman and Radio Host Jo Ann Watson Robert Pollin, Professor of Economics and founding Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Elena Herrada, co-chair and founding member of the Committee for the Political Resurrection of Detroit
This event will also preview national and local organizing efforts leading up to the 2010 United States Social Forum (USSF), to be held in Detroit. The USSF is a convening of hundreds of thousands of social and economic justice advocates from around the country chartering a course for a reversal of inequality at home and abroad.
What does income disparity between the rich and the poor have to do with a faltering global economy? What’s being done about it?
The Servant Leadership School invites you to find out. Join them for dinner and a discussion on the economic crisis and inequality, led by Chuck Collins, a senior IPS scholar and director of the IPS Program on Inequality and the Common Good.
A dinner of soup, salad, and sandwiches will be provided by The Potter’s House for a suggested donation of $6 per meal. All are welcome to attend; you do not have to take a course to come to the speaker series.
