Date: September 15, 2017
Time: 5:30 pm  to  7:00 pm

Rutgers University professor Juan González will discuss his new book, Reclaiming Gotham: Bill de Blasio and Movement to End America’s Tale of Two Cities (New Press), which chronicles the rise of progressive mayors and city council members in major cities around the country in the years after the Great Recession and the Occupy Wall Street protests.

González is co-host of Democracy Now!, a daily morning news show that airs on more than 1,400 community and public radio and television stations across the United States and the world, and was a longtime columnist for New York’s The Daily News. His investigative reports on the labor movement, the environment, race relations, and urban policy have garnered numerous accolades, including two George Polk Awards for commentary. In 2015 he was inducted into the Society of Professional Journalists’ New York Journalism Hall of Fame.

González is also the author of News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media (with co-author Joseph Torres ,Verso, 2011); Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America (Penguin revised edition, 2011); Fallout: The Environmental Consequences of the World Trade Center Collapse (New Press, 2002); and Roll Down Your Window: Stories from a Forgotten America (Verso, 1995).

One of the original founders of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), González served as the association’s president from 2002-2004. Before becoming a journalist, González distinguished himself as a leader of the Young Lords, a militant civil rights organization of the late 1960s, and of the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights in the 1970s.

The talk will start at 6 pm, with light refreshments at 5:30 pm. The event is sponsored by the Workers Defense Project and the Third Coast Activist Resource Center. More information on the Facebook event page, or contact Robert Jensen, rjensen@austin.utexas.edu.

Location: Workers Defense Project, 5604 Manor Road, Austin, 78723