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.

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.

Delighted to be here.

There are a number of themes throughout this collection of nearly 100 essays and speeches and other

remarks you've 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.

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

and 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 the most tested and contested words

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