I am pleased to announce a new concept set to debut by the end of the first quarter of 2021. It is a stand-alone small Magazine named Three-Fifths. Why the name “Three-Fifths?” The inspiration for the concept of three-fifths was spurned by a series of articles in the Accord1 Blog. The articles identify the constitutional pillar of the devaluation of African Americans’ humanity and its extrapolation into a system of Injustice. 

The Three-Fifths Compromise written into the constitution in 1787 allowed southern slave states to enumerate the African Slave population’s bodies to bolster their representation in the federal government. Yet, this population was apportioned out of the American experiment by a mathematical equation that stated that the African slave population would require five, i.e., the Three-Fifths Compromise for every three white people. All the while, they had no vote.  

Why a magazine and why now? Three-Fifths is simply the next progression on the way to the ultimate goal of Building the Bridge Together. Through a thoughtful conversation involving societal reckoning, racial equity, historical perspective, and spiritual insight, it is the hope that this magazine will become one of the many tools used to dismantle Systemic Racism. Understanding that Systemic racism involves the inequity affecting many brown, black, and indigenous people across America, Three-Fifths offers a voice of clarity in an ambiguous world of racial bias.  

Our contributors bring varied and unique experiences, worldviews, and intellect, not only to identify the problem but to offer solutions to this continuing difficulty America faces. They represent the ethnic diversity that guarantees a multiplicity of thought equal to the comprehensive problem’s task while paving a way toward solutions.

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

James Baldwin 

Kevin Robinson Executive Director Accord1