*We caught up with national civil rights leader Ben Jealous to dish on his new book, NEVER FORGET OUR PEOPLE WERE ALWAYS FREE: A Parable of American Healing, which was released on January 10.
Per the official press release: The son of a White father and a Black mother—the descendant of slaves and a cousin to both Thomas Jefferson and Robert E. Lee—Ben Jealous is making a passionate plea to end racism and restore humanity by collaborating with a diverse spectrum of people across all sides of all aisles.
Among his powerful takeaways, the book highlights Ben’s three big lies about race: Lie #1: It has always been this way. Lie #2: Only White people have paid the price for desegregation. Lie #3: Racism only hurts Black people and people of color.
“The hidden victim of American racism is that it makes White suffering invisible,” says Jealous, who was recently appointed as Executive Director of Sierra Club. Prior to that was the youngest-ever President of the NAACP.
EUR’s Ny MaGee spoke to the scholar, journalist, and civil rights leader about the inspiration behind his new book, as well as why it’s vital for everyone to know their ethnic heritage, his blood relation to both slaves and Confederates, including Robert E. Lee, and the ways that America can end structural racism.
Check out our full conversation via the clip below.
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