In 'The Black Butterfly,' Lawrence Brown Examines Racism's Impact On Baltimore And Other Cities

Tom's guest today is the data scientist, scholar, and author, Dr. Lawrence Brown. A former member of the Morgan State University faculty, he’s also been a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He teaches in the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute’s Bunting Neighborhood Leadership Program, and he has spoken and written widely on racial equity and health issues. He's the founding director of a racial equity consulting and educational enterprise, The Black Butterfly Project. Dr. Brown has written a provocative book that challenges us to change the frame in which we understand racial equity, and what it will take for America to move toward a more just society. Brown chronicles how the long history of land dispossession, the migration of African Americans away from the Jim Crow South, the subsequent displacement from the Urban Centers in which they settled, and the destabilization of Black neighborhoods has led to a segregated economy, and on-going historical trauma that amounts to an American system of apartheid. Dr. Brown makes concrete proposals as to how to dismantle this apartheid and improve outcomes for Black Americans in housing, education, policing, and public health. The book is called The Black Butterfly: The Harmful Politics of Race and Space in America. Lawrence Brown joins us on our digital line from his home in Baltimore.Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.