Media

Today, Black History Month is an invitation to face with confidence the tragedies and trials that break our hearts, to be fearless in hope and unyielding in our fight for justice — for all of us.

If the goal is to resegregate higher education, the efforts have largely worked. Amid budget cuts and attacks on affirmative action, elite public colleges are enrolling fewer black students than they were a generation ago.

We must find ways to meaningfully engage with each other, to open our homes to each other and to have the hard conversations.

Rodney McKenzie, Jr., Vice President of Campaigns and Partnerships shares his thoughts on National Day of Racial Healing.

We at Demos are acutely aware of, and actively fighting against, the racist policies, beliefs, political tactics and narratives that have created and deepened the racial divide in our country. On this third annual National Day of Racial Healing*, we are reflecting on the ways in which we can unite to heal the wounds of racial division and the centuries of trauma they have caused for people of color.

What does MLK stand for to you? Rodney McKenzie, Vice President of Campaigns and Partnerships, shares his reflections on what MLK Day means to him.

Fighting Structural and Historic Racism

K. Sabeel Rahman
President

Racism has long driven pervasive political, economic, and social disparities in this country.

Those inequities arise not just from individualized and blatant forms of discrimination but also through historical, cumulative, structural policies that have combined to inhibit wealth, opportunity, well-being, and voice for communities of color.

The racial equity groups’ have a formal partnership that has seen them work collaboratively over the past 5-7 years to clear barriers to the ballot box, champion the humanity of undocumented communities and communities of color, organize to stop mass incarceration and end the criminalization of Native, Black and Latino communities.

Albany, New York  – Demos applauds New York lawmakers for passing a historic overhaul of the state’s outdated voting laws, and legislation to increase transparency around corporate donors. With this groundbreaking push for election reform, New York will shift from having some of the most restrictive voting laws in the nation to being a leader in creating a just democracy.