A Conversation on Diagnosing and Treating American Racism

Featuring Reverend Ken Bedell

October 12, 2017
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. EDT
Location: Berkley Center Third Floor Conference Room Map

In his latest book, Realizing the Civil Rights Dream: Diagnosing and Treating American Racism (2017), Ken Bedell argues that American society has not moved beyond white supremacy, suggesting that the ideal of “equality for all” primarily benefits white society and culture. Through examining our failure, Bedell offers hope and a model for cultural change, which includes identifying the goals for a twenty-first century civil rights movement and defining the role of the academy in combating racism.

Drawing on his lifetime of experience as a scholar, minister, and Department of Education administrator, author Ken Bedell led a lunchtime discussion about the crisis of racism in America, addressing questions such as: Why is it so difficult to make civil rights a reality for all Americans? And how can we fulfill the dream of full participation for all in America's future?

This event was sponsored by the Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs Certificate Program.

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About Kenneth Bedell

Ken Bedell most recently served the Obama administration as a senior advisor in the U.S. Department of Education's Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships Center, and subsequently was a research fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Ordained in the United Methodist Church, Bedell led congregations for 16 years in New York, Maryland, and Ohio. He has taught at the junior high to graduate school level, and as executive secretary of the International Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges and Universities Bedell visited schools in Argentina, Brazil, Korea, Mozambique, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. He served on the executive committee of the Religious Research Association and was founding president of the Church Computer Users Network in the mid-1980s. Bedell is the author of five books and numerous publications, including Realizing the Civil Rights Dream: Diagnosing and Treating American Racism (2017) and Different Ships—Same Boat (2000). For five years he edited the annual Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches for the National Council of Churches. He holds a Ph.D. from Temple University.

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