Brennan Center LIVE

How the Word Is Passed: A Conversation with Clint Smith

Livestreaming on June 18 from 12 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. (ET)

How can a deeper understanding of the legacy of slavery help the United States better address its current injustices? In his new book, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, The Atlantic staff writer Clint Smith takes readers to nine monuments and landmarks — some that are honest about the past and some that are not — and reflects on how the history of slavery continues to reverberate today. As we celebrate emancipation on Juneteenth, Smith joins Theodore R. Johnson, director of the Brennan Center’s Fellows Program, to discuss the hopeful role that memory can play in making sense of our country.

This event is produced in partnership with Lit Bar and New York University's John Brademas Center.

Speakers:
Clint Smith, Staff Writer, The Atlantic; Author, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
Theodore R. Johnson, Director, Fellows Program, Brennan Center

Continuing Threats to Free and Fair Elections

Livestreaming on June 16 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. (ET)

Elections are more than ballots, polling places, and voting machines. The human component of administering elections was exposed to unthinkable stress and attack during the 2020 cycle. It nearly reached the breaking point.

Whether it was persistent and recurring misinformation and disinformation, threats to the personal safety of full-time and volunteer elections office staff, or challenges to the independence of the voting process by political actors, our country is hurtling towards a cliff of retirements of the people who understand voting more than any others. Without dedicated and knowledgeable staff ready and willing to run elections, easy access to a secure ballot cannot be guaranteed for anyone.

This event is produced in partnership with the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center.

Brennan Center LIVE

The Engagement: A Conversation with Sasha Issenberg and Nia-Malika Henderson
Livestreaming on June 29 from 12 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. (ET)

A 2015 Supreme Court ruling made making same-sex unions legal across the United States — but the road to that momentous decision was much longer than many know. In his new book, The Engagement: America’s Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage, Sasha Issenberg tells the riveting story of the conflict over same-sex marriage in the United States —the most significant civil rights breakthrough of the new millennium — providing a richly detailed narrative that follows the coast-to-coast conflict through courtrooms and war rooms, bedrooms and boardrooms. In conversation with CNN’s Nia-Malika Henderson, Issenberg will discuss same-sex marriage’s unexpected path from the unimaginable to the inevitable.

This event is produced in partnership with New York University's John Brademas Center.

Speakers:
Sasha Issenberg, Washington Correspondent, Monocle; Author, The Engagement: America’s Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage
Nia-Malika Henderson, Senior Political Reporter, CNN

P&P Live! Theodore R. Johnson | When the Stars Begin to Fall

Livestreaming on June 30 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. (ET)

When the Stars Begin to Fall makes a compelling, ambitious case for a pathway to the national solidarity necessary to mitigate racism. Weaving memories of his own and his family's multi-generational experiences with racism, alongside strands of history, into his elegant narrative, Johnson posits that a blueprint for national solidarity can be found in the exceptional citizenship long practiced in Black America. Understanding that racism is a structural crime of the state, he argues that overcoming it requires us to recognize that a color-conscious society — not a color-blind one — is the true fulfillment of the American Promise.

Fueled by Johnson's ultimate faith in the American project, grounded in his family's longstanding optimism and his own military service, When the Stars Begin to Fall is an urgent call to undertake the process of overcoming what has long seemed intractable.

This event is produced in partnership with Politics and Prose.

Speakers:
Theodore R. Johnson, Director, Fellows Program, Brennan Center for Justice
Karen Finney, Political Strategist, Advocate, Commentator