"As a country, we are in a state of denial about issues of race and racism. And too many of our leaders have concluded that the way to remedy racism is to simply stop talking about race."

Lani Guinier is an American Lawyer and scholar. Guinier is the daughter of a Jewish mother and civil rights activist, and has spent her career fighting for things like affirmative action and representation of minorities in politics.

Guinier has explored different possible reforms to voting systems that ensure that racial and religious minorities have a say in government, such as proportional representation, where each party gets a number of seats based on their percentage of voters, instead of winner-take-all elections.

Guinier was also a Professor at Harvard Law School, where she became the school's first woman of color to be granted tenure. Guinier has authored over two dozen law review articles, as well as five books. She is also well known for being Bill Clinton's nominee for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. In 1981 Lani joined the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, later leading their voting rights project.

Guinier is a role model for minorities in politics and academia, and has been a trailblazer for the Black community. She worked tirelessly to make higher education and politics accessible to people from all backgrounds.