Who Else Wants to Make MLK’s Dream a Reality? A conversation with Robert Livingston

As we conclude this year’s holiday in honor of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., many people are still wondering whether his dream of true equality between races will ever happen. My Friday Fireside conversation with Harvard’s Robert Livingston offers an optimistic approach.

Figuring out where to start

When I invited Dr. Livingston to join me by the fireside, he said he’d be happy to do that, but only under one condition: that I’d read his book The Conversation first. In approaching the book, he instructs readers to move through it the way it was written, beginning with the acknowledgement that structural racism even exists through stories about how to address it to actions that anyone can take.

As he points out, so often when he consults with organizations about how they can constructively improve their diversity, equality and inclusion initiatives, they want to jump straight to the solution, as in “just tell us what to do!”. As he points out, that is as silly as going to a doctor and saying “just prescribe me some pills.” Before we can even get to figuring out where to start, we need to diagnose the conditions first.

As he recalled, quoting Einstein, if given an hour to solve a pressing problem, he’d…