Topic: The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions For a Broken System (St. Martin’s Press, February 2022)
GATE Faculty Research Fellow Sonia Kang recently hosted a thought-provoking conversation with Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, an award-winning Ghanaian-American researcher, entrepreneur, and author. Anna’s new book, The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions for a Broken System, is a profound collection of essays featuring Black scholars and experts on the subjects of mental health, artificial intelligence, climate change, the future of work, the LGBTQ+ community, criminal justice and more.
Anna revealed the inspiration behind her book and shared what she learned from collaborating with over 34 Black scholars and experts. Dispelling the myth that there aren’t many Black voices in scholarship, she emphasized the plentiful examples in her book of Black researchers from fields such as education, healthcare, climate change, and technology who have all been at the forefront of advocating for meaningful changes.
“The key I want you to take away from this book is that the best outcome for Black people is always a better outcome for everyone else.”
– Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman
The conversation highlighted the importance of tackling systemic issues through the lens of race and equity. Anna argued that we must intentionally seek to understand how marginalized communities, especially Black and Indigenous women and non-binary people, are disproportionally impacted by pressing social and environmental challenges such as climate change. To find solutions and enact lasting and meaningful change rooted in racial justice, it’s imperative to center marginalized communities and their experiences and to understand how they will be affected by proposed solutions and policies.
Watch Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman discuss the importance of understanding social issues through the lens of race and equity.