Last week on Bold TV, Carrie and Clay were joined by author D. Watkins and author and businessman John Burnett to discuss race relations in light of Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. Watch below on our Facebook page.
D. is the author of The Cook Up, a book that tells his story – aiming to bring out the truth concerning America’s black community. He focuses on how the media is getting it wrong when they cover African-American issues. The Cook Up is a New York Times bestseller, and was mentioned in Oprah Winfrey magazine.
John is an urban financial freedom fighter, and seeks to empower people through financial literacy and inclusive capitalism.
Friday’s discussion covered race relations specifically concerning education, communities, and economics. Topics included the challenges people face when breaking out of the poverty cycle. D. argued that the consistency of poverty and opportunity are linked in the black community, stating:
“It’s social reproduction. For capitalism to sustain, you have to create a permanent underclass. And one of the ways you do that is through poor education.”
The program included engagement from the general public through questions from our audience on Periscope and Facebook Live. Individuals who grew up in cities that have notoriously difficult racial relations such as Ferguson and Baltimore participated in the discussion.
Our two hosts and guests all offered examples from their own life experiences to paint a picture of perceptions of race and minorities in America. In the conversation, D. expands on how he thinks there are many individuals who are taking a stand in the midst of the tension. He claims that there is a lack of media coverage about the “good acts” that occur in the community everyday.
Gloone
January 16, 2017 at 10:24 pm
Would like to know why states with the worse race relations seem to be northern states.
The south is totally different. Communities come together and have respectful marches, in remembrance of MLK and how everyone in this country has had to fight for their rights and liberty since the dawn of its creation. Why do northern states forget this simple premise.