"We Count! The Black Agenda is the American Agenda" included the following panelists:
Rev. Jesse Jackson
Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan
Dr. Cornel West, Princeton professor
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Georgetown professor
Dr. Ron Walters, former Howard University professor (died in September of 2010)
Bennett College President Julianne Malveaux
Policylink CEO Angela Glover Blackwell
Former Alderman City of Chicago Dorothy Wright Tillman
Author of "Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority" Tom Burrell
Chicago State U Student Government Association President Raven Curling
Dr. Michael Fountroy, George Mason University professor
Also invited to attend, but declining:
Rev. Al Sharpton
NAACP President & CEO Benjamin Jealous
National Urban League President & CEO Marc Morial
Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL)
White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)
I just think that it is very remarkable that African-American leaders have not lost the will to challenge simply because Barack Obama became president. While I believe great strides have been made in this nation, I still feel that to be Black in America is to be limited in America.
(And all those people who say well you can be President, you need to be slapped in the face with reality. Out of the hundreds of millions of people who have lived in this nation, only 44 have been President. And up until President Obama, none were Black. He is less than 1% of less than 1%. Now comment on that!!!)
The only way to change our society is to educate. Only then can we plan for the future. No matter what race you are, please, check out this discussion, and more importantly, start your own. Unity cannot be reached without understanding.
Marcus Jamison, the Rare Poet
