Tavis Smiley - The Covenant with Black America--Ten Years Later

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Copyright 2016 by Tavis Smiley
Published in the United States by SmileyBooks

Distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast Books: www.raincoast.com Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Cover design: Amy Grigoriou Interior design: Tricia Breidenthal

Interior graphs and illustrations used with permission.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Smiley, Tavis, date. editor.

Title: The Covenant with Black America - ten years later / compiled and
edited by Tavis Smiley.

Description: Carlsbad, California : Hay House, Inc., [2016]

Identifiers: LCCN 2015042597 | ISBN 9781401951498 (tradepaper : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: African Americans--Social conditions--1975- | African
Americans--Politics and government. | United States--Race relations. |
African American leadership.

Classification: LCC E185.86 .C58883 2016 | DDC 305.896/073--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015042597

Tradepaper ISBN: 978-1-4019-5149-8

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1st edition, January 2016

Printed in the United States of America

The eyes of the future are looking

back at us and they are praying

for us to see beyond our own time.

Terry Tempest Williams

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Securing the Right to Health Care and Well-Being
Introductory Essay by David M. Satcher, M.D., Ph.D.

TEN YEARS LATER
by Kosali Simon, Ph.D.; Angshuman Gooptu;
Seth Freedman, Ph.D.; and Victoria Perez, Ph.D.

Establishing a System of Public Education
in Which All Children Achieve at High Levels
and Reach Their Full Potential
Introductory Essay by Edmund W. Gordon, Ed.D.

TEN YEARS LATER
by Ashlyn Aiko Nelson, Ph.D., and Bee Smale

Correcting the System of Unequal Justice
Introductory Essay by James Bell

TEN YEARS LATER
by Beth Cate and Andrea Need

Fostering Accountable Community-Centered Policing
Introductory Essay by Maya Harris

TEN YEARS LATER
by Jeremy G. Carter, Ph.D.

Ensuring Broad Access to Affordable
Neighborhoods That Connect to Opportunity
Introductory Essay by Angela Glover Blackwell

TEN YEARS LATER
by Michael McGuire, Ph.D.

Claiming Our Democracy
Introductory Essay by Wade Henderson

TEN YEARS LATER
by Lisa Blomgren Amsler

Strengthening Our Rural Roots
Introductory Essay by Oleta Garrett Fitzgerald
and Sarah Bobrow-Williams

TEN YEARS LATER
by Michael McGuire, Ph.D.

COVENANT VIII: Accessing Good Jobs, Wealth, and Economic Prosperity
Introductory Essay by Marc H. Morial

TEN YEARS LATER
by David Audretsch, Ph.D.

Assuring Environmental Justice for All
Introductory Essay by Robert D. Bullard

TEN YEARS LATER
by Kenneth R. Richards, Ph.D.

Closing the Racial Digital Divide
Introductory Essay by Tyrone D. Taborn

TEN YEARS LATER
by Michael McGuire, Ph.D.

What a difference a decade makes.

At least that was my hope.

Ten years ago when I had the honor of compiling and editing the historic text The Covenant with Black America, I had no idea that a decade later, life for Black fellow citizens would be even more challengedpolitically, economically, socially.

To be clear, a decade after this groundbreaking #1 New York Times best-selling text, Black America has lost ground in every leading economic category.

Additionally, all across America, the vicious assault on the civil and human rights of Black people has outraged citizens of conscience, and led to a renewed sense of social protest and political activism. Led primarily by a younger generation that has, ironically, been let down by our failure to respect their dignity and humanity. Its not that difficult to understand why a generation thats been politically marginalized, economically exploited, and culturally manipulated would feel so angry and aggrieved.

I could spend these almost 300 pages assessing and assigning blame for how this happened. Responsibility and accountability matter.

And yet, at this critical juncture, with so little time to waste in order to save the soul of Black America, Im more compelled in this book to first remind us of the plan laid out ten years agowell in advance of the 2008 presidential election cycleby presenting the ten covenants as they appeared in the original edition, with minor cosmetic edits. And, second, to share fresh data, courtesy of the Indiana University School of Public & Environmental Affairs (SPEA) that might help us to redeem the time thats been lost.

As we head into yet another important presidential election cycle, you will learn on the pages that follow that Black health disparities still exist. Black children are still failing in our nations classrooms. Our system of jurisprudence is still unequal. The digital divide is still firmly in place. We still lack environmental justice for all in America. And 150 years after the Civil War, Black folk still wonder whether their lives truly matter.