As we get closer and closer to what will be a historic election for many reasons — one reason especially stands out: race. Many questions have arisen about just how far racial-politics have come in the United States — but even more questions have come up about the future of race and politics in this country. If Obama wins, does that mean we have closed a chapter in U.S. history? If McCain wins, does that mean we are reading from the same old book? Join IPS in exploring these questions about the past and how far (or not far) we have come, but more importantly — about the next steps, no matter who wins.

Panelists:

• Dedrick Muhammad, Senior Organizer and Research Associate, Inequality and the Common Good project, IPS
• Joy Zarembka, Director, Break the Chain Campaign, IPS and author, The Pigment of Your Imagination
• Professor Clarence Lusane, author/activist and professor, American University (by video)

Moderator: Saif Rahman, Movements Coordinator, the Institute for Policy Studies.

Please RSVP to Adwoa Masozi at adwoa@ips-dc.org.

This event is part of the Institute for Policy Studies series of provocative brown-bag luncheon discussions of the various issues in the platforms of the Democratic, Republican, Green, and Independent presidential candidates. IPS and Chester Hartman have a new book coming out at the culmination of this brown-bag series, Mandate for Change, which will put forth what we feel are the best and most creative policy solutions for these and other pressing local, national and international issues.

About the Panelists:
Joy M. Zarembka has been a staff member of the Institute for Policy Studies for eight years and has been the Director of the Break the Chain Campaign, an advocacy/direct service organization working to help end modern-day slavery and human trafficking and to provide better protections for abused, enslaved and exploited workers in the Washington, DC area. Joy is currently serving as the Acting Director of Operations at IPS. She has been quoted extensively in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, US News and World Report, and The Washington Post for her trafficking expertise. In 1997, she was awarded the Fox International Fellowship to study at Cambridge University in England. Joy was given the Women’s Information Network’s Young Women of Achievement Award. She has recently published a chapter in Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, Global Woman: Nannies, Maids and Sex Workers in the New Economy and her book, The Pigment of Your Imagination: Mixed Race in a Global Society, was released last year. Joy also currently serves as an expert witness in civil and criminal cases.

Dedrick Muhammad is the Senior Organizer and Research Associate for the IPS Program on Inequality and the Common Good. His special area of focus is the domestic racial wealth divide particularly between African-Americans and white Americans. He was a co-author of the State of The Dream 2004, 2005, and 2008 reports. He also co-authored with Chuck Collins a chapter in the Inequality Reader. Dedrick was the former National Field Director for Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. He also was the Coordinator for the Racial Wealth Divide Project of United For A Fair Economy. His op-eds can be found on www.inequality.org and he has been featured on Democracy Now, BET News, C-SPAN, NPR, and many other radio and television shows.

Dr. Clarence Lusane is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations in the School of International Service at American University. He is also an author, activist, scholar, lecturer, and journalist. For more than 25 years, he has written about and been active in national and international anti-racism politics, globalization, U.S. foreign policy, human rights and social issues such as education, crime, and drugs. His most recent book is Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice: Foreign Policy, Race, and the New American Century (2006). He is a national columnist for the Black Voices syndicated news network, and his writings have appeared in The Black Scholar, Race and Class, The Washington Post, Miami Herald, Baltimore Sun, Oakland Tribune, Covert Action Information Bulletin, Z Magazine, Radical History Journal, and many other publications.

Moderator: Saif Rahman is the Institute for Policy Studies Movements Coordinator. He sits on the United for Peace & Justice Steering Committee and is a Coordinating Committee member of the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition.