Race relations, have we made progress?

More than 50 years have passed since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4^th, 1968. His murder sent shock waves around the world and became an accelerant thrown onto the fire of the civil rights movement.

Today, as Americans celebrate his life, it is also an opportunity to examine the status of race relations in our communities.

In the past year, Pennsylvanians have experienced, firsthand, multiple high-profile cases of discrimination, bias and hate.

An incident at a York County Golf course drew national attention when a white owner called police on a group of black golfers for a seemingly minor disagreement. Then, KKK fliers were distributed in York County on three separate occasions, over a four-month period. And the murder at an area bar of a 25-year-old man for defending a black man who was being called racial slurs. 

Appearing on Smart Talk to discuss racial justice and race relations are Chad Dion Lassiter, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and Dr. Amanda Kemp, a visiting scholar of Africana Studies at Franklin and Marshall College and racial justice and mindfulness mentor.