Peniel joseph. [applause] good afternoon, everyone. It is my pleasure to welcome you to our third panel of the day. Again the title was 50 years later blacks in the 21st century. The panel is framed around but kind of progress blacks have made since the Civil Rights Movement and the endorsement challenges and quality that these African Americans in the 21st century. The organizers have formulated two major questions for us to talk about. The first is of historical and contemporary factors continue to make racial equality a contested and elusive concept in the 21st century. And second, what kind of knowledge can we mobilize to face the specific challenges of racial inequity in our contemporary moment. I am absolutely thrilled to be able to be in conversation with two and possibly three speakers, dynamic speakers and thinkers today and i would like to introduce you to that before opening the conversation. Joining us is farah griffin, a professor of english, comparative literature and afr