Join Keith Magee and Bryan Bonaparte to discuss the 2024 US elections and the impact of race and religion on our politics.
On the campaign trail, race and religion are once more being weaponised before our eyes for electoral gain. Trump is seeking to win over the very Black and Brown voters for whom his MAGA movement has shown nothing but contempt through its peddling of racist tropes and demonising of the Other. Meanwhile, an ultra-conservative Supreme Court is trampling over minority rights in the name of religion.
Is this how we strive to “form a more perfect union?” The United States is a nation that is rich in resources, but poor in morality. As a result, inequalities that should have been eradicated long ago continue to fester and high levels of deprivation exacerbate polarisation. In these fraught times, how can we come together to build a country in which true justice is accessible to all, whatever our race, religion, or political beliefs?
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/prophetic-justice-a-conversation-with-keith-magee-tickets-1021631927597?
ABOUT THE BOOK
Prophetic Justice: Race, Religion, and Politics by Keith Magee, 2nd Edition (2024)
with a new foreword by Susannah Heschel
In this prophetic collection of seminal essays and articles, the public intellectual, theologian, and social justice scholar Reverend Professor Keith Magee provides a thoughtful, sharp, and critical analysis of how questions of race, religion, and politics have an impact on society today. Prophetic Justice: Race, Religion, and Politics explores the historical context of American democracy and how it has long failed to deliver true justice to all of the nation’s citizens. It exposes the social construct of race and the myriad ways in which this false idea – along with the sometimes wilful misinterpretations of sacred texts – have been used to justify the subjugating of one people by another, simply because of the colour of their skin. Written between 2016 and 2023, these essays and articles touch on some painful subjects, but also give us reason to hope. Magee describes how, with empathy, courage, and faith, we can come together to face up to the injustices of the past and celebrate our common humanity, thus creating a new world in which every life truly matters.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The Reverend Professor Keith Magee, Th.D., FRHistS, FRSA is a public intellectual, theologian, and social justice scholar. He is Senior Fellow and Visiting Professor of Practice in Cultural Justice at University College London (UCL) Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, where he leads Black Britain and Beyond, a think tank and social policy platform, and is also a Fellow at the UCL Centre on US Politics. He is Chair and Professor of Practice in Social Justice at Newcastle University Law School, and the Global Pastor of The Berachah Church, a hybrid faith community.
The Biden-Harris Administration’s US Ambassador to the Court of St James’s has appointed Magee to the US-UK Fulbright Commission, having served on the Biden 2020 President Campaign’s African American Kitchen Cabinet. Equally essential, he is Chair of The Guardian Foundation, Trustee of The Gallery of Living History, Trustee of Facing History and Ourselves, and serves on the Board of the Foundation for Louisiana. The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan appointed him as a Commissioner on Diversity in the Public Realm. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Magee is also the author of the forthcoming Race: The Beginning and The End (2025), Paper Tigers: Adverse Children Experience Studies, Faith Leaders Guide (2016) and A Prayer for Our Children (2014). He is a CNN, NBC, BBC, LSE, and TIME contributor on issues of social justice, politics, race, and religion. He and his son are based in London, United Kingdom.
ABOUT THE INTERVIEWER
Bryan Bonaparte is a Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences at the University of Westminster and Co-Chair of Black Britain and Beyond, a think tank and social platform which brings together Black Britons and allies to critically assess the significance of their unique cultures, heritages, identities and economies, and thereby devise plans to facilitate future development.