Late this summer and early fall, the tragic shooting of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, captured national attention. Ferguson—a town that is more than 60 percent black but whose political power structure is overwhelmingly white—became a stark illustration of the ways our political leadership has not changed along with our country. During this time, the Reflective Democracy Campaign completed a historic new database cataloging the race and gender of more than 40,000 elected office holders in the United States. The results from this unprecedented survey are unsettling—and the need for change has never been greater. Please join us for a presentation of the Reflective Democracy Campaign’s new findings, followed by a panel discussion of how to understand, address, and reverse the chronic underrepresentation of women and people of color in American politics.
Keynote speaker:
Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD)
Introductory remarks:
Winnie Stachelberg, Executive Vice President, External Affairs, Center for American Progress
Donna P. Hall, President and CEO, Women Donors Network
Featured speakers:
Brenda Choresi Carter, Director, Reflective Democracy Campaign
William Jelani Cobb, Associate Professor of History and Director of the Africana Studies Institute, University of Connecticut; Contributer, The New Yorker
Gloria A. Totten, President, Progressive Majority
Moderated by:
Judith Warner, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress