Vail Symposium discusses poverty and protest with author Wes Moore

In the wake of a long history of police abuse in Baltimore, the killing of Freddie Gray felt like the final straw — it led to a week of protests and then five days described alternately as a riot or an uprising that set the entire city on edge and caught the nation’s attention.

Wes Moore — along with journalist Erica Green — captured the story of the Baltimore uprising both through Moore’s own observations and through the eyes of other Baltimoreans in the book, “Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City.” On Thursday, April 8 at 5 p.m., Vail Symposium welcomes Wes Moore along with Colorado Public Radio’s Jo Ann Allen for a discussion about protests, movements and the hope of peace.

“Was it naïve to think that by the 21st century America would have eradicated inequality and poverty?” asked director of programming Claire Noble. “As inequality in America worsens and fairness remains elusive, perhaps now is the time to ask what we as citizens can do about it. Wes Moore has lived it, studied it, and written about it and in his conversation with Jo Ann Allen will share his thoughts about how we move forward as a united country.”

---

---

Since Gray’s death five years ago, there have been other high-profile deaths of African Americans at the hands of law enforcement: Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, just to name two. Subsequently, there have been protests, with the killing of Floyd sparking global protests despite the pandemic.

An issue adjacent to social justice is poverty — a scourge stalking millions of Americans. While poverty impacts all races, genders, and age groups, it comes down hardest on minorities with poverty rates for Native Americans and Blacks nearly twice that of Whites. Moore operates in both spheres, shining a light on social justice protests, while also actively combating poverty through his work with Robin Hood. This program will consider the deeper causes of the violence and reveal glimmers of hope in the aftermath of a summer of fury.

---

---

Moore is the chief executive officer of Robin Hood, one of the largest anti-poverty forces in the nation. He is a bestselling author, a combat veteran and a social entrepreneur.

Moore’s first book, “The Other Wes Moore,” a perennial New York Times bestseller, captured the nation’s attention on the fine line between success and failure in our communities and in ourselves. That story has been optioned by executive producer Oprah Winfrey and HBO to be made into a movie. He is also the author of the bestselling books “The Work,” “Discovering Wes Moore,” “This Way Home” and the recently released, “Five Days.”

Moore grew up in Baltimore and the Bronx, where he was raised by a single mom. Despite childhood challenges, he graduated Phi Theta Kappa from Valley Forge Military College in 1998 and Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University in 2001. He earned an MLitt in International Relations from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 2004. Moore then served as a captain and paratrooper with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, including a combat deployment to Afghanistan. He later served as a White House Fellow to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Before becoming CEO at Robin Hood, Moore was the founder and CEO at BridgeEdU, an education platform based in Baltimore addressing the college completion and job placement crisis by reinventing freshman year for underserved students. BridgeEdU was acquired by Edquity, a Brooklyn-based student financial success and emergency aid firm, in June 2019. Moore has also worked in finance as an investment banker with Deutsche Bank in London and with Citigroup in New York. Moore lives in Baltimore with his wife and two children.

Jo Ann Allen is a news host on Colorado Public Radio News; she joined CPR in 2015. Allen has more than four decades of public radio experience, including hosting “Morning Edition,” “All Things Considered” and “Weekend Edition” at WNYC in New York City for 18 years, WHYY in Philadelphia and KPBS in San Diego. She began her career as a reporter and host at Wisconsin Public Radio in Madison. She is the host of the independent podcast “Been There Done That,” which offers stories about the Baby Boom Generation.