This is one of six documentaries on American changemakers produced by NationSwell in partnership with NBCUniversal.
This is one of six documentaries on American changemakers produced by NationSwell in partnership with NBCUniversal. Watch them all and vote for your favorite here. The winner will receive a $10,000 grand prize.
Can a person, by their very existence in this country, be illegal? Or is an action to cross a border without proper documentation the law-breaking act? On the flip side, does using the terms "illegal immigrants" or "anchor babies" mean a person's entire viewpoint is clouded by racism? Broadly speaking, are we all responsible for an unequal system that justifies racial profiling, even if we don't overtly employ the practice ourselves?
Race is a fraught topic in American politics. There are no easy answers to its age-old questions, and the discussion is all too easily derailed by accusations of ignorance or racism. Rinku Sen, president and executive director of the New York-based nonprofit Race Forward, is attempting to change the dialogue about race in the United States. Bringing her immigrant background and a journalist's reliance on facts to the conversation, her seminars and stories in Colorlines, Race Forward's daily news publication, teach people to see the structural inequalities -- in education, law enforcement, housing and employment -- that are an everyday reality for minority populations in America.