AMNA NAWAZ: Darren Walker has spent much of his# life fighting inequality.

From humble beginnings## in rural Texas, he went on to lead one of the# nation's most powerful philanthropic institutions,## overseeing billions in funding to address# some of the country's most pressing crises.

Walker is now nearing the end of his tenure# as president of the Ford Foundation and is## out with a new book called "The Idea# of America: Reflections on Inequality,## Democracy, and the Values We Share."

And Darren Walker joins me now.

And we should note as well that the# Ford Foundation is a funder of PBS News.

Darren, welcome back to the "News# Hour."

Thanks for joining us.

DARREN WALKER, Author, "The Idea of#America: Reflections... Democracy, and the Values We#Share": Delighted to be here.

AMNA NAWAZ: There are a number of themes# throughout this collection of nearly 100## essays and speeches and other remarks you have# made over the last 12 years.

One is this idea of## how you see the world and how you lead, and that# it's all deeply defined by where you come from.

So tell me about how your# beginnings came to define## where you are now and how you see the world.

DARREN WALKER: Well, this book is# really a love letter to America,## to the country that made possible my improbable# journey, and a country like no other in the world,## where a boy born to a single mother in a charity# hospital in rural Louisiana could grow up dreaming## and believing that dreams -- if I worked hard,# if I could sacrifice, and if I had ambition and## humility and held onto that dream, that indeed# my American dream could become a reality.

And that has happened.

"The Idea of America,"# the title of my book, is among is among the most## tested and contested words in American history.# The idea of America meant many different things## to our founding fathers, but they had a shared# belief, a set of principles and values that they## documented in our founding documents, that# today we need to be mindful of and return to## as we grapple with the unprecedented levels of# polarization that we see in our country today.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, as we speak, we should# note America is also at a time of growing## inequality.

It's an equality you have worked hard# to address over your time at the Ford Foundation.

But you do write in one of# your pieces in the book that:## "This tension is plain to see.

Our systems# in America perpetuate vast differences in## privilege and then task the privileged, all of# us, with improving the systems that benefit us."

So, Darren, what is the role of philanthropy# in all of this?

I mean, you write that it can't## save America, so what should be the goal# and the mission of philanthropy right now?

DARREN WALKER: Well, I'm inspired by# the words of Dr. Martin Luther King,## who wrote about philanthropy the following:# "Philanthropy is commendable, but it should not## allow the philanthropist to overlook the economic# injustice which makes philanthropy necessary."

And so what Dr. King was calling us# to was to examine our own culpability,## our own complicity and engagement in creating# some of the very challenges we seek through## philanthropy to solve.

And what I mean by# that is looking at how our own behaviors,## whether it's our investments, whether# it's our way we treat the climate,## the environment, et cetera, how that contributes# to some of the problems of poverty and inequality.

You know, the reality of our country is that# hope is the oxygen of democracy.

We today,## unfortunately, have a crisis of hope in# America.

Now is the time to roll up our## sleeves and be committed to whatever our# identities are.

I am Black.

I am gay.

Yes,## those are my identities, but the most# important identity is that I am an American.

And we Americans share a set of# values.

We have very different## views about many things.

But we --# as our founding fathers reminded us,## we must share the values of consensus building,# of engagement, of understanding that ultimately## compromise is necessary for democracy# to continue to sustain, to be vibrant.

AMNA NAWAZ: Darren, a lot of those goals feel very## distant to people at a time of such# deep divisions in America right now.

And your New Year's message in 2017, this# was just weeks before Donald Trump was## sworn into office for the first time, that# message was titled "Let America Be America## Again."

And you talk about the tension, as# you write, between a sense that our times are## dangerously unprecedented and a sense that,# while dangerous, they are all too familiar.

So are we just repeating old# cycles here?

How do you see this?

DARREN WALKER: Well, there is no doubt# that there are cycles of progress and## regress in our history.

But the one# consistent theme in American history## is that there have been patriots, people who# love their country, who love this country.

Fannie Lou Hamer loved America, even# though in her lifetime she knew that## she would never see the justice that she# hoped for.

And yet she carried that flag## across rural roads of Mississippi and Alabama# to Washington, D.C. She believed in America,## as Langston Hughes did in his great poem "Let# America Be America Again," which begins with:## "Let America be America again.# America never was America to me."

He is expressing his anger, his rage at being# a Black man who is marginalized in the 1930s## living in Harlem.

And yet he ends the poem with# the stanza: "But oh, someday America will be."

He believed in America.

And, today, when some# people feel hopeless and feel depressed, I'm## inspired because Langston Hughes and Fannie Lou# Hamer and so many others call out to me to help## this country to do what I can to contribute to# ensuring that the words in our founding documents## that inequality and justice for all is our North# Star, that e pluribus unum is indeed possible.

So, yes, I may sound naive, but I# love my country.

I am not prepared## to give up on America, and I hope# others will join me in this pursuit.

AMNA NAWAZ: Your message of radical hope is# one I think many of us could use right now.

That book is "The Idea of America,"# and the author is Darren Walker.

Darren, thank you so much.# Pleasure to speak with you.

DARREN WALKER: Thank you.