"Not everything is lost. Responsibility cannot be lost — it can only be abdicated. If one refuses abdication, one begins again." — James Baldwin
I am honored to co-host the National Council of Elders' webinar series called Begin Again, starting February 26th, 2026, and continuing through April 2027.
You can sign up for the webinar here.
My conversation with Eddie Glaude Jr. starts the series. His book, Begin Again, reflects on James Baldwin's life and his wrestling with the painful truth of United States revealed through the assassinations of the 1960s and the systematic dismantling of the Civil Rights Movement. Glaude puts Baldwin's experience in conversation with the challenges we face today.
After the webinars, you can find the conversations with Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr., Prof. Loretta Ross, and other conversations that I co-hosted for this series here.
The Series
The series traces a path through King's evolution:
Webinar One: King's Radical Transformation — And Ours
Webinars Two, Three, and Four: The three evil triplets — militarism, racism, and materialism — in a new light
Webinar Five: Why King abandoned his earlier "promissory note" belief that white America would live up to the high-minded rhetoric of its founding documents
Webinar Six: A deep dive into the culture change challenge and a critique of the naivete of believing that the pendulum automatically swings back
Webinar Seven: Held in April 2027 on the 60th anniversary of "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" — linked to the multiple nationwide readings and rituals related to the 1967 speech