January 13, 2017
All Day
347 University Hall
"Prisons of the Forgotten: King on Ghettos and Economic Justice"
Abstract: King believed that racial injustice and economic injustice have always been linked in America. Tommie Shelby takes up the race-class nexus by considering King’s analysis of ghetto poverty. Like Jim Crow segregation, ghetto conditions are a threat to dignity. But they are also incompatible with economic fairness and non-exploitative labor relations. Shelby discusses King’s practical proposals for ending poverty in the United States and considers four principles of economic justice (each found in King’s writings) that might justify these recommended remedies. He also takes up the question of what kind of egalitarian King was and whether he is best described as a socialist.
Tommie Shelby is a Professor at Harvard University.
For more information and to register for this event, please visit the Mershon Center's event page.
