Leah Hunt-Hendrix & Astra Taylor Discuss Solidarity with Heather McGhee
Solidarity is often invoked, but it is rarely analyzed and poorly understood. Join BPL Presents as two leading activists and thinkers survey the past, present, and future of the concept across borders of nation, identity, and class to ask: how can we build solidarity in an era of staggering inequality, polarization, violence, and ecological catastrophe?
Offering a lively and lucid history of the idea—from Ancient Rome through the first European and American socialists and labor organizers, to twenty-first century social movements like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter — Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Astra Taylor trace the philosophical debates and political struggles that have shaped the modern world in their book Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea.
Looking forward, they argue that a clear understanding of how solidarity is built and sustained, and an awareness of how it has been suppressed, is essential to warding off the many crises of our present: right-wing backlash, irreversible climate damage, widespread alienation, loneliness, and despair. Hunt-Hendrix and Taylor insist that solidarity is both a principle and a practice, one that must be cultivated and institutionalized, so that care for the common good becomes the central aim of politics and social life. The authors will be in conversation with Heather McGhee.
Books will be available for purchase from Greenlight Bookstore, followed by a signing.
Participants
Leah Hunt-Hendrix was born and raised in New York City. She has a Ph.D in Religion, Ethics, and Politics from Princeton University where she wrote her dissertation on the Ethics of Solidarity. Leah has founded multiple organizations that have impacted the American politicallandscape. In 2012, she co-founded Solidaire, a national network of philanthropists dedicated to funding progressive movements, and in 2017, she co-founded Way to Win, a network with a similar structure, this time dedicated to electoral strategy. Both organizations are grounded in building solidarity between major donors and grassroots organizing. Photo credit Emily Lambert
Astra Taylor is cofounder of the Debt Collective, a union of debtors. She is the director of numerous documentaries and the author of The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart, Democracy May Not Exist But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone, and The People’s Platform (winner of an American Book Award), among other works. Her writing has appeared in periodicals including The New Yorker, The New York Times, n+1 , and The Baffler. She is an advisor to Lux Magazine and is on the editorial board of Hammer & Hope. She was the 2023 CBC Massey Lecturer. Photo credit Nye Taylor
Moderator Heather McGhee designs and promotes solutions to inequality in America. Over her career in public policy, Heather has crafted legislation, testified before Congress and helped shape presidential campaign platforms. Her book The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together spent 10 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and was longlisted for the National Book Award and Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. The book was also adapted into a Spotify podcast by Higher Ground, the production company of Barack and Michelle Obama and into a young adult readers’ version that was released by Random House Children’s in February 2023.
An influential voice in the media and a former NBC contributor, Heather regularly appears on NBC’s Meet the Press and MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Deadline White House, and All In. She has shared her opinions, writing and research in numerous outlets, including the Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Politico, and National Public Radio.
For nearly two decades, Heather helped build the non-partisan think tank Demos, serving four years as president. She holds a B.A. in American Studies from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. Heather is the chair of the board of Color Of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization, and also serves on the boards of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Open Society Foundations’ US Programs and Demos.
BPL Presents programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Solidarity is often invoked, but it is rarely analyzed and poorly understood. Join BPL Presents as two leading activists and thinkers survey the past, present, and future of the concept across borders of nation, identity, and class to ask: how can we build solidarity in an era of staggering inequality, polarization, violence, and ecological catastrophe?
Offering a lively and lucid history of the idea—from Ancient Rome through the first European and American socialists and labor organizers, to twenty-first century social movements like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter — Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Astra Taylor trace the philosophical debates and political struggles that have shaped the modern world in their book Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea.
Looking forward, they argue that a clear understanding of how solidarity is built and sustained, and an awareness of how it has been suppressed, is essential to warding off the many crises of our present: right-wing backlash, irreversible climate damage, widespread alienation, loneliness, and despair. Hunt-Hendrix and Taylor insist that solidarity is both a principle and a practice, one that must be cultivated and institutionalized, so that care for the common good becomes the central aim of politics and social life. The authors will be in conversation with Heather McGhee.
Books will be available for purchase from Greenlight Bookstore, followed by a signing.
Participants
Leah Hunt-Hendrix was born and raised in New York City. She has a Ph.D in Religion, Ethics, and Politics from Princeton University where she wrote her dissertation on the Ethics of Solidarity. Leah has founded multiple organizations that have impacted the American politicallandscape. In 2012, she co-founded Solidaire, a national network of philanthropists dedicated to funding progressive movements, and in 2017, she co-founded Way to Win, a network with a similar structure, this time dedicated to electoral strategy. Both organizations are grounded in building solidarity between major donors and grassroots organizing. Photo credit Emily Lambert
Astra Taylor is cofounder of the Debt Collective, a union of debtors. She is the director of numerous documentaries and the author of The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart, Democracy May Not Exist But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone, and The People’s Platform (winner of an American Book Award), among other works. Her writing has appeared in periodicals including The New Yorker, The New York Times, n+1 , and The Baffler. She is an advisor to Lux Magazine and is on the editorial board of Hammer & Hope. She was the 2023 CBC Massey Lecturer. Photo credit Nye Taylor
Moderator Heather McGhee designs and promotes solutions to inequality in America. Over her career in public policy, Heather has crafted legislation, testified before Congress and helped shape presidential campaign platforms. Her book The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together spent 10 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and was longlisted for the National Book Award and Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. The book was also adapted into a Spotify podcast by Higher Ground, the production company of Barack and Michelle Obama and into a young adult readers’ version that was released by Random House Children’s in February 2023.
An influential voice in the media and a former NBC contributor, Heather regularly appears on NBC’s Meet the Press and MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Deadline White House, and All In. She has shared her opinions, writing and research in numerous outlets, including the Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Politico, and National Public Radio.
For nearly two decades, Heather helped build the non-partisan think tank Demos, serving four years as president. She holds a B.A. in American Studies from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. Heather is the chair of the board of Color Of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization, and also serves on the boards of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Open Society Foundations’ US Programs and Demos.
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