We Gon’ Be Alright
Notes on Race and Resegregation
Lavin Exclusive Speaker
“Culture moves before politics,” says Jeff Chang, who writes on art, multiculturalism, and racial progress in post-civil rights America with the sweeping authority of the best social historians. In We Gon’ Be Alright—his acclaimed essay collection, adapted into a digital series—he explores the meaning of diversity in an era of racial and economic resegregation: telling a lively and tumultuous narrative of modern American life.
Jeff Chang has written extensively on the intersection of race, art, and civil rights, and the socio-political forces that guided the hip-hop generation. As a speaker, he brings fresh energy and sweep to the essential American story, offering an invaluable interpretation at a time when race defines the national conversation. His most recent book,We Gon’ Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation, questions why we keep talking about diversity even as American society is resegregating, both racially and economically—and, it’s been adapted into a digital series, premiering on PBS’ Independent Lens. Chang’s forthcoming biography of Bruce Lee explores the kung fu legend’s life from the perspective of how his work disrupted racial politics of the time, inspiring movements in both the Asian- and African-American communities.
His previous book, Who We Be, is a powerful, challenging, and timely cultural history of the notion of racial progress, tackling pertinent themes of multiculturalism, student and political activism, the state of the arts, and the politics of abandonment. His first book, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, is only ostensibly about hip-hop: actually, it’s a cultural and social history, and a provocative look at the end of the American century. It has garnered many honors—including the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award—for its radical historicism and academic chops. In 2019, Slate named it one of the “Top 50 Nonfiction Titles of the Past 25 Years”. Chang has also edited Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop—a look at the genre’s true pioneers and mavericks—and is now at work on two book projects: Youth (a Picador Big Ideas/Small Book) and a biography of Bruce Lee (Little, Brown).
Currently, Chang is the Vice President of Narrative, Arts, and Culture at Race Forward, the Center for Racial Justice Innovation, which strives to help people take effective action toward racial equity. Chang has been a USA Ford Fellow in Literature, and was named one of “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World” by The Utne Reader. Chang also co-founded CultureStr/ke and ColorLines magazine, and was a Senior Editor/Director at Russell Simmons’ 360hiphop.com. He has written for The Nation, The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Believer, Foreign Policy, N+1, Mother Jones, Salon, Slate, Buzzfeed, and Medium, among many others.
Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai’i, he is a graduate of ‘Iolani School, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of California at Los Angeles. He formerly served as the Executive Director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University.