Black in America

In this episode of 'This Is Palestine,' we shift our focus to the protests that have swept the nation, sparked by the tragic murder of George Floyd by police officers on May 25. We hear from three distinct Black American voices as they discuss systemic racism and what it means to be Black in America. First, we hear from Mychal Denzel Smith, author of the forthcoming Stakes is High: Life After the American Dream and New York Times bestseller Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, New Republic, The Nation, and more. In 2014 and 2016, TheRoot.com named him one of the 100 Most Influential African-Americans in their annual The Root 100 list. Mychal navigates us through this moment and what it means, what's different about it now, and why defunding the police is vital to gaining justice. Next, we hear from Kinjo Kiema and Khury Petersen-Smith, who speak in conversation with one another about this moment and connections to global solidarity. Kinjo Kiema is an organizer with BYP100, a Black queer feminist organization working to create justice and freedom for all Black people. She is also a leader in the reproductive justice movement, and has organized within the labor and student movements, including with Students for Justice in Palestine. Khury Petersen-Smith is the Michael Ratner Middle East Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. Petersen-Smith has been a leading activist for internationalist solidarity, economic justice, and racial and gender equality since he was a high school student. He traveled to Iraq in 2004 on a United for Peace and Justice delegation where he represented the Campus Anti-War Network.