The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions for a Broken System

Public policy researcher Opoku-Agyeman gathers in this invigorating essay collection a wide array of Black experts to discuss climate change, wealth inequality, voter suppression, and other issues that “inevitably and disproportionately impac[t] Black life.” Contributors include Marshall Shepherd, former president of the American Meteorological Society, who notes that Black communities in the U.S. are “disproportionately affected by climate-related hazards... while accounting for a relatively small percentage of total carbon emissions” and encourages African Americans to “vote with the climate crisis in mind”; disability activist Tinu Abayomi-Paul, who calls for the government to “incentive businesses to remove the obstacles that prevent disabled people from being able to work”; and educational psychologist Lauren Mims, who discusses the “damaging beliefs” Black girls absorb about themselves in school and recommends the elimination of suspensions, expulsions, and other “destructive disciplinary policies.” Elsewhere, Black Voters Matter cofounder Cliff Albright calls on congressional Democrats to end the filibuster in order to pass voting rights legislation, and sociologist Hedwig Lee spotlights the burdens Black women bare as a result of criminal justice policies that unfairly target Black men. Though most of the contributors’ proposed solutions lack specifics, they’re effective as launching pads for further discussion. Policymakers will want to take note. (Feb.)