Debates / Upcoming Debates

Is America Too Obsessed With Race?

Hosted By Nick Gillespie Add to Calendar Streaming Live in
2023-03-20 18:00:00
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm EST
The Village Underground (130 W 3rd St.) Doors open @ 5:30 PM EST
CAST YOUR VOTE Register
Have a question? Ask us
Upcoming Debate   March 20, 2023

Is America Too Obsessed With Race?

Sixty years ago, in the sweltering August heat of Washington D.C., the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his most iconic speech, and a defining moment of the civil rights movement. “I have a dream,” he said before a crowd of some 250,000 people, pressed up to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, “that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” It is a sentence that has been repeated countless times in classrooms and lecture halls. And yet recently, King’s words are more actively being parsed and debated about the appropriate place of race in America. With disparities in wealth, education, employment, housing, mobility, health, and rates of incarceration, some argue that King – who spoke during a period of more open bigotry – would not have wanted a “color-blind” society within these lingering racial inequalities. A raised consciousness plays an important role, they say, in recognizing and correcting such imbalances. Others argue that America has become overly concerned with race, to a level of obsession, pointing to things like critical race theory and diversity, equity, inclusion programs, which they fear could ultimately prove detrimental to the nation’s more egalitarian aspirations. Further, they argue, notions of race are often too broad to be useful, while the fixation on it divides those who might otherwise find common ground. In this context, we debate the following question: Is America Too Obsessed With Race?

This debate will take place in front of a live audience, on Monday, March 20, 2023 at 6 PM (doors open at 5:30 PM) at The Comedy Cellar’s Village Underground (130 W 3rd St. between 6th Avenue and MacDougal Street). Tickets are $25 each + Two-Item Minimum. Purchase tickets here. Online tickets are available until 3:00 PM on March 20th. All other sales can be purchased at the door.

Media can email raypadgett@shorefire.com for access to the in-person event.

The Best Debates In The world.

In Your Inbox, Every Week.

Join the newsletter and get all of our updates easily in one place.

The Best Debates In The world.

In Your Inbox, Every Week.

Join the newsletter and get all of our updates easily in one place.

The Best Debates In The world.

In Your Inbox, Every Week.

Join the newsletter and get all of our updates easily in one place.

Breakdown

Undecided
0% - Swung from the Against Side
0% - Remained Undecided
0% - Swung from the For Side
Against the Motion
0% - Remained on the Against Side
0% - Swung from the For Side
0% - Swung from Undecided
For the Motion
0% - Swung from the Against Side
0% - Remained on the For Side
0% - Swung from Undecided
ABOUT THE DEBATERS
For The Motion
Kmele Foster
Kmele Foster - Political Commentator & Co-Founder, Freethink
Kmele Foster is a media entrepreneur and political commentator. He is the co-host of The Fifth Colum... Read bio
Against The Motion
Nsé Ufot
Nsé Ufot - Activist, Community Organizer, and former Chief Executive Officer of the New Georgia Project
Read bio