The University will host author, critic, and acclaimed journalist Jeff Chang on March 26 at 6:30 p.m. on Dever Stage in Parenzo Hall for a Higher Ed/Higher Ground speaker series event.
His talk, titled “We Gon’ Be Alright: Race and Segregation in Today’s America,” will emerge from his latest book, We Gon’ Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation, which questions why discussions about diversity continue while American society is resegregating, both racially and economically.
Chang has written extensively about the intersection of race, art, civil rights, and hip-hop. In addition to his most recent work, he has authored Who We Be and Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, which earned the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award.
The vice president of narrative, arts, and culture at Race Forward, a national organization that advances racial justice through research, media, and practice, Chang also co-founded ColorLines CultureStr/ke magazines. He has written for The Guardian, Slate, The Nation, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Los Angeles Review of Book, The Believer, Foreign Policy, Mother Jones, Salon, and Buzzfeed, among many others.
Born and raised in Honolulu, Chang is a graduate of ‘Iolani School, the University of California at Berkeley, and UCLA.