With a charge in life to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, Keith Magee is an internationally sought after non-profit leader, speaker, and preacher. He is a Distinguished Senior Fellow of Social Justice and Poverty, University of Birmingham, England, and Visiting Scholar at Boston University.
In light of America’s #BlackLivesMatter movement, as a result of the overwhelming loss of African-American males lives, this lecture will discuss how and if we can talk about race in contemporary America. It will consider the historical construction of racism in America; reveal the systemic impact of racism on contemporary social processes; consider popular views about race; and develop an ability to connect personal experiences surrounding race to larger, collective realities.
It will engage in several questions: When does focusing on race make someone racist? What is white privilege, and why does it matter? Can Blacks be racist? How do we heal this disease for our children’s sake? The aim is to encourage dialogue towards rethinking race in America and to seek a common ground to realize a post-racial America.
Dr. Magee’s collective areas of focus include race and poverty, African-American migration and religious history, and faith and politics. He brings both an academic (having trained at Harvard Divinity School) and practical (having served in various roles as nonprofit executive, social historian, pastor of two inner city congregations, and as a senior advisor to President Obama’s campaign and the African-American Clergy Network) background. As a dyslexic, one of his most significant accomplishments is the co-founding of the Multicultural Initiative at Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. Dr. Magee is the author of A Prayer For Our Children, Lulu Publishing, August 2014.
