Join us to discuss Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. In a series of essays written as a letter to his son, Coates confronts the notion of race in America and how it has shaped American history, many times at the cost of black bodies and lives. Thoughtfully exploring personal and historical events, from his time at Howard University to the Civil War, the author poignantly asks and attempts to answer difficult questions that plague modern society. He explains that the tragic examples of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and those killed in South Carolina are the results of a systematically constructed and maintained assault to black people--a structure that includes slavery, mass incarceration and police brutality as part of its foundation. Coates powerfully sums up the terrible history of the subjugation of black people in the United States.

 

If you'd like to read ahead, June's book is The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan. Have a book suggestion for the Book Chat? Email Barbara Goldner.

Join other MCC men and women for an afternoon of bowling! No skill is required for this gathering of fun, camaraderie, social bonding and exercise. Cost per person is $14.08, payable at Elsie's.

MCC members sign up here; guests email MCC.

The United States announced in December 2014 that, after decades of isolation, it has begun taking major steps to normalize relations with Cuba. The announcement marks a dramatic shift away from a policy that has its roots in one of the darkest moments of the Cold War--the Cuban missile crisis. Although the U.S. trade embargo is unlikely to end any time soon, American and Cuban leaders today are trying to bring a relationship, once defined by antithetical ideologies, into the 21st century. Speaker Gary Prevost is professor of political science and international relations at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Minnesota and is the author of numerous books and articles on revolutionary parties and social movements, including, most recently, "Social Movements and Leftist Governments in Latin America: Confrontation or Co-optation?" Dave and Peggy Lucas host.