As we approach the nation’s 250th anniversary, the questions at the heart of American democracy feel more urgent than ever. When we gather for The Texas Tribune Festival this September 24-26 in Austin, we’ll bring together voices who are living those questions with their work, helping us grapple with who we are and where we go from here.
Joining us to confront those questions of power, identity and the future of this country are Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt; Sherrilyn Ifill, founding director of the 14th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy at Howard University School of Law; former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove; National Book Award-winning author Imani Perry; former U.S. immigration judge Carla Espinoza-Grcic; and Avi Loeb, founder and director of the Galileo Project at Harvard University.
As chair of the National Governors Association, Stitt has made “Reigniting the American Dream” his signature initiative.
The former president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Ifill has called the struggle to fully realize the 14th Amendment “the defining constitutional battle of the 20th and 21st centuries.”
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Architect of George W. Bush’s political rise and a longtime Republican strategist, Rove brings a singular perspective to understanding the transformation of the Republican Party.
A Harvard professor and MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, Perry has become one of the most renowned interpreters of Black American life, history and culture.
Espinoza-Grcic was among the dozens of immigration judges fired during Donald Trump’s second term.
And Loeb, a Harvard astrophysicist, has spent years bringing scientific rigor to the search for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, at a moment when the question of what’s in our skies is dominating the news and popular culture.
Other national and Texas leaders joining us in September are state Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville; Elisa Villanueva Beard, president and CEO of Houston Endowment; former San Antonio mayor and candidate for Bexar County judge Ron Nirenberg and Joanna Lydgate, president and CEO of States United Democracy Center.
At TribFest, now three months away, we join our robust lineup of speakers to wrestle with the big questions together.
Get your tickets now, and help shape the conversations about our state and our country’s future.
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