Summit for Civil Rights 2020

Presented by:
  • The Workers’ Rights Institute at Georgetown University Law School in Washington, D.C.
  • The Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity and
  • The Journal of Law and Inequality at the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Building One America 

We are seeking to Make America One Nation” - The Other America, Dr. Martin Luther King, 1967

For the past three years, the Summit for Civil Rights Rights has convened multi-racial and intergenerational gatherings of some of the nation’s top civil rights leaders in the field of organizing, labor, faith, academia, law and government to respond to the powerful and dangerous intersection of enduring racial disparities, widening economic inequality, and rising political polarization throughout our entire society.  Our next Summit will not veer from these timely topics that have only intensified with the pandemic and been courageously amplified by the protesters.

The 3rd Summit for Civil Rights will be held remotely and hosted by the Workers’ Rights Institute at Georgetown University Law School in Washington, DC, and the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, July 30 and 31.

We have witnessed an extraordinary outpouring of anger, outrage and solidarity across the nation, sparked by the killing of an unarmed Black man by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25. This movement for radical change is coming at a time of a global health crisis, political turmoil, and a massive economic catastrophe deepening existing inequalities while accelerating economic trends already devastating workers and communities.

We have confirmed the participation of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and will release more details as we receive confirmation on speakers and participants. The Summit will start at 1:00 PM on Thursday, July 30 and end at 4:00 PM, Friday, July 31. It will be broken down into four distinct but interrelated discussions over the course of the two days.

 

While much attention is rightly directed to immediate demands for sweeping police reform, our forum will attempt to examine some of the deeper, historical structures of racial apartheid in American’s institutions and their meaning, especially at this juncture, for working people of all backgrounds and the implications for political action, multi-racial power, and a meaningful and transformative policy agenda.

Some of the topics, building on the past two Summits and attempting to learn from and draw on the new energy, anger and desire for change, include:

Click here for the timed program


SUMMIT TOPICS

THE STATE OF MULTI-RACIAL AMERICA AND BLACK POWER

  • The national election/s
    • The Black electorate and the rise and fall of populist insurgencies of both the left and right​
    • From Black Lives Matter to Black Power

​THE TWO AMERICA’S - THE STATE OF AMERICAN APARTHEID

  • The consequences of our inaction and our acquiescence to a racially divided society
    •  52 years since Kerner Commission, 57 since March on Washington
    • Pandemic as microscope and telescope

WHO’S PROFITING?

  • Racial segregation as a lucrative and anti-worker business model
    • How America’s enduring ”Color Line” drives economic inequality​

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?  HOW CAN WE HELP?

  • Is America ready for a 2nd Reconstruction? A 3rd “Founding”?
    • What would a Civil Rights Restoration Act look Like in 2020?
      • A New Agenda for Economic Opportunity, Racial Justice, Freedom, and Inclusion

 

 

The Summit for Civil Rights 2017 Sponsors

  

 
 
 
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