WE GON’ BE ALRIGHT

“We Gon’ Be Alright” is a series that explores the new dimensions of racial resegregation in the United States in the 21st century. Inspired by Jeff Chang’s critically acclaimed collection of essays of the same name — the Washington Post called it “the Smartest Book of 2016”— this digital series examines how a nation that has historically embraced diversity has still allowed itself to resegregate along racial and economic class lines. Even as our country inevitably changes towards one that is “majority minority,” it is becoming more separate and more unequal.

From the peak of the Civil Rights Movement to the present, resegregation has led Americans to experience widely different realities. Worse, it seems to have left us more divided than ever. The series asks: how, over the last half century, did we fall from a consensus for racial justice into renewed separation and polarization? How can Americans come together in ways that offer hope beyond the divide?