Ta-Nehisi Coates, National Book Award winner and distinguished writer in residence at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, joined NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel on October 6 for a conversation on racial equity and housing justice during and after COVID-19. A recording of the conversation is available for viewing until October 21 at: https://bit.ly/34CrmDU
Nearly 10,000 people registered to participate in this important discussion. During the hour-long conversation, Ta-Nehisi and Diane discussed the history of racist housing policy in the U.S. and the ways it has exacerbated the disproportionate impacts on communities of color of the COVID-19 pandemic and nearly every crisis - health, economic, or otherwise - since the country’s founding. Ta-Nehisi described this history as one of purposeful social engineering: “For most of American history, all of our policy, all of our popular culture considered Black people less than human” in an effort to buttress white supremacy and create a permanent underclass. Diane and Ta-Nehisi went on to discuss the fallout from the 2016 presidential election, the uprisings against racial violence that coalesced in 2020, the crossroads America finds itself in going into the upcoming presidential election, and the actions we need to take to achieve racial equity.
The recording, available for viewing until October 21, is at: https://bit.ly/34CrmDU