On 'Race, History, and Obama's Second Term'

On January 25, Washington Monthly, in partnership with the New America Foundation, marked the publication of its January/February issue by hosting a two-hour panel discussion on "Race, History, and Obama's Second Term." Led by WM editor-in-chief Paul Glastris, the panel sought to do something "that doesn't much happen in Washington...[that is,] talk frankly about questions of race."

First, though, a factoid, courtesy of political scientist Daniel Q. Gillion: President Obama -- who was sworn in to office for a second four-year term on January 21, a hundred and fifty years after Abraham Lincoln formally issued the Emancipation Proclamation during the American Civil War -- mentioned race fewer times in his first two years in office than any other Democratic president since 1961.

The panelists -- Douglas Blackmon, author of Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans From the Civil War to World War II and a contributing editor at the Washington Post; Elijah Anderson, author of the Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life and William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Sociology at Yale University; Taylor Branch, an award-winning author and historian; and Dr. Gail Christopher, vice president for program strategy at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation -- engaged in a conversation on race in America while answering a series of questions posed by Glastris: What is the state of race relations in America a century and a half after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation? Have we progressed as much as we like to think we have? Why are people of color in America still subject to disparities in health, wealth, education, and incarceration? What might President Obama do in his second term to narrow these disparities? And, at a time of reduced social and economic mobility, what policies that help minorities can also benefit the majority?

Weekend Link Roundup (February 2-3, 2013)

Our weekly roundup of new and noteworthy posts from and about the nonprofit sector....

Diversity

Writing on the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy's Keeping a Close Eye blog, Owen Dunn shares highlights from remarks made by Karen Kelley-Ariwoola at a meeting of the Association of Black Foundation Executives in April 2012. In her remarks, Kelley-Ariwoola, a former vice president of community philanthropy at the Minneapolis Foundaton, describes her work with community groups to address racial equity issues in a region where many white people thrive while "low-income people of color suffer from disparities on every indicator."

In celebration of Black History Month, Center for High Impact Philanthropy program manager Autumn Walden chats with Sherrie Deans, executive director of the Admiral Center, about philanthropy in the African-American community, which, argues Deans, is an "important yet overlooked part of black history."

Gun Violence

Getting Attention's Nancy Schwartz suggests that nonprofit communicators can learn a thing or two from former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. Giffords, who was critically wounded by a deranged gunmen at a public event two years ago and has been fighting to recover from her injuries, slowly but clearly articulated her message that the time has come to address gun violence in America. "We must do something," Giffords told committee members. "It will be hard, but...[y]ou must act. Be bold. Be courageous, Americans are counting on you."

Bill Gates' 2013 Annual Letter

Bill Gates released his annual letter -- the fifth since his first in 2009 -- earlier this week, and like the others, it's worth reading.

From its theme, "The Power of Measurement," to its assertion that "You can achieve amazing progress if you set a clear goal and find a measure that will drive progress toward that goal," the letter is a testimonial to and endorsement of the approach known as strategic philanthropy. It's also a story about progress and the power of technology to change people's lives for the better. And it's a nice example of how Web and social media technologies can be used to transform an essentially static document into an engaging online experience.

But don't take our word for it; listen and watch what Bill himself has to say.

And after you've had a chance to read the letter, be sure to hop over to Tom Paulson's Humanosphere blog to watch data visualization whiz Hans Rosling illustrate, in beautiful and dramatic terms, the point of Gates' letter.

-- Mitch Nauffts

 

Most Popular PhilanTopic Posts (January 2013)

It's the first day of a new month, which means it's time to look back at the most popular posts on PhilanTopic in the month just passed:

• 'Don't Call Us, We'll Call You' (Brad Smith)
• [Infographic] The Importance of Donor Retention (Mitch Nauffts)
• "Beep, Beep": The Sound of Philanthropy and the Social Economy in 2013 (Brad Smith)
• Hey, Nonprofits, 'Usability' Is More Than a Tech Term (Derrick Feldmann)
• Foundations and the Freedom Not to Forget (Brad Smith)

Have you read/watched/listened to anything lately that our readers should know about? Use the comments sections to share your finds....