What Truth Sounds Like: Robert F. Kennedy, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America
In 1963, Attorney General Robert Kennedy met with James Baldwin and some of Baldwin's friends to discuss the conflicts that threatened Black America. The meeting angered Kennedy, but his anger evolved into empathy. The meeting then changed Kennedy's thinking in fundamental ways.
Michael Eric Dyson, 60, will discuss that fateful meeting, which he featured in his latest book, What Truth Sounds Like: RFK, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America. Dyson addresses the impact of the meeting on history and events leading to today's Black Lives Matter movement. He also takes an in-depth look at whether political resolution or moral redemption will mend our broken racial landscape.
An ordained minister who was born and raised in Detroit, Dyson is a prolific author and writer, authoring and editing more than 20 books dealing with topics such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Marvin Gaye, Nas's debut album Illmatic, Tupac Shakur, and Hurricane Katrina. He is a sociology professor at Georgetown University, a New York Times contributing opinion writer, and a contributing editor for The New Republic.
Dyson regularly appears on various talk shows, such as The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Real Time with Bill Maher, Good Morning America, The Today Show, NPR's All Things Considered, Meet the Press, and This Week with George Stephanopoulos to debate people from all walks of life.
He earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University and has taught at several other universities, such as Brown University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania.
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