“When the Stars Begin to Fall” with Theodore R. Johnson
Event Recap
Recent years have seen the American public grapple with the individual and societal impacts of racism and what to do about them. In his new book, When the Stars Begin to Fall: Overcoming Racism and Renewing the Promise of America, Theodore R. Johnson explores the relationship between the promise of equality and the reality of racism in America, and the impact these dynamics have on the country’s present and future. By weaving personal and family experiences with insights from history, political science, sociology, and international relations, Johnson champions national solidarity as a pathway to mitigate racism. He posits that a blueprint for this solidarity can be found in the sociopolitical strategies practiced in Black America.
In a conversation about his new book, Johnson and the University of Pennsylvania’s Daniel Hopkins will explore how we build a color-conscious society rather than a color-blind one, how to mobilize national solidarity, and what a failure to address racism would mean for the promise of America.
SPEAKER
Theodore “Ted” R. Johnson is a senior fellow and Director of the Fellows Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, where he explores the intersection of race, politics, and American pluralism. He is also a retired U.S. Navy Commander, and his service included time as a speechwriter to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as a White House Fellow. His writing has appeared in all the major national newspapers and magazines.
MODERATOR
Daniel Hopkins is a Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment at the Annenberg School of Communication. He also helps to coordinate the Philadelphia Behavioral Science Initiative, which helps Philadelphia harness the best ideas and methods across various academic and other fields to address the needs of Philadelphia’s residents and businesses in creative and effective ways. Hopkins’s research centers on American politics, with a special emphasis on racial and ethnic politics, state and local politics, political behavior, and research methods. He is the author of the 2018 book The Increasingly United States: How and Why American Political Behavior Nationalized and is an occasional writer for FiveThirtyEight.com.