Be Antiracist with Ibram X. Kendi

Richard Pryor redefined comedy by telling the truth, even when it scorched him. And today, we’re sharing a preview of a new podcast, Big Lives, and a special episode about Pryor. Every week on Big Lives, hosts Kai Wright and Emmanuel Dzotsi dig into the BBC archive to explore the story behind the icons who shape our culture—trailblazers like David Bowie, George Michael, Muhammed Ali, and Tina Turner—and better understand how each legend set the stage for our contemporary cultural landscape. In this preview, Kai and Emmanuel look at how Richard Pryor rose from a Peoria, Illinois brothel to become a comedic great, only to then wrestle with racism, fame, desire, and self‑destruction. If you like what you hear, find more episodes of Big Lives wherever you get podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cathy Park Hong is a Korean American poet, writer, professor, and the poetry editor at The New Republic. Her recent book, Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography in 2021. Hong and Dr. Kendi have a deep discussion about the uniquely Asian American experience of living at the intersection of racist vilification and the stereotype of the “model minority.” For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit pushkin.fm/show/be-antiracist-ibram-kendi/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Treuer is an Ojibwe Indian from Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. His most recent book, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Carnegie Medal in 2019. He is currently a professor of English at the University of Southern California. Dr. Treuer and Dr. Kendi held a powerful conversation about the ramifications of historical erasure, anti-Native racism, and Treuer’s antiracist proposal to return the National Parks to the tribes. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit pushkin.fm/show/be-antiracist-ibram-kendi/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Abolitionist Mariame Kaba is the founder of Project NIA and the author of the New York Times bestseller, We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice. Kaba and Dr. Kendi have a profound discussion on why mass surveillance, police, punishment, and incarceration will never create a safe society—and what will. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/be-antiracist-with-ibram-x-kendi. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a 2020 presidential candidate, Julián Castro proposed radically reforming United States immigration policy by putting people first. Previously he served as President Barack Obama’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and spent three terms as mayor of San Antonio, Texas. In 2018 Castro published his memoir, An Unlikely Journey: Waking Up from My American Dream. He now serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for American Progress and is a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. Dr. Kendi and Castro sit down to discuss the common ground on which antiracist and pro-immigrant battles must be fought. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/be-antiracist-with-ibram-x-kendi. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Historian Dr. Robin D.G. Kelley is the Gary B. Nash Professor of History at UCLA and the author of Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression and Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination. Dr. Kendi and Dr. Kelley have a deep discussion on the roots of the modern American labor movements, racial capitalism, and how we can create an antiracist world that benefits all workers. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/be-antiracist-with-ibram-x-kendi. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jemele Hill is an award-winning sports journalist, a writer at The Atlantic, and host of the Unbothered podcast. She was a co-host of SportsCenter on ESPN and a Senior Correspondent and Columnist for their website, The Undefeated, before leaving the network in 2018. Dr. Kendi and Hill have a thought-provoking conversation about overhauling sports – from ownership to fandom to media – in the pursuit of an antiracist future. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/be-antiracist-with-ibram-x-kendi. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a long time Don Lemon was America’s only Black prime-time news anchor. He now hosts Don Lemon Tonight on CNN every weeknight and serves as a CNN correspondent. He is also the author of a new, deeply personal and reflective book called, This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism. Lemon shares his experience as a Black gay man, the racism and homophobia he’s faced, witnessed and battled against. He and Dr. Kendi discuss how the antiracist struggle includes the struggle against homophobia, transphobia, and all forms of bigotry targeting members of the LGBTQ+ community. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/be-antiracist-with-ibram-x-kendi. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ari Berman is, without question, one of the leading journalists documenting voter suppression in the United States today. He covers voting rights at Mothers Jones and is the author of Give Us The Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America, which chronicles the history of voter suppression after the Voting Rights Acts of 1965. Dr. Kendi and Berman discuss the history of voting rights in the United States, the Republican-led attacks they face, and the type of antiracist policies necessary for a multiracial democracy. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/be-antiracist-with-ibram-x-kendi. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Host Ibram X. Kendi expounds the history and legacy of Juneteenth, and what the day means to him. He passes the mic to Annette Gordon-Reed, Heather McGhee, Adam Serwer, Tiya Miles and Maurice Carlos Ruffin, who share how this day in American history shows up in their lives. Plus: the Be Antiracist team hits the streets of New York to check in with the community on how they’re celebrating the holiday.For more episodes of Be Antiracist, visit pushkin.fm/show/be-antiracist-ibram-kendi Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Heather McGhee is an expert in economic and social policy, and author of the best-selling book The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. She is the former president of the inequality-focused think tank Demos and now chairs the board of Color of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. Dr. Kendi sat down with the self-described “policy wonk” to discuss how a racist society hurts everyone. Together they explore how, by investing in each other, we can all achieve better jobs, better health, better democracy, better schools, better neighborhoods for our kids—and so much more. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode, visit pushkin.fm/show/be-antiracist-ibram-kendi. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rebecca Cokley is one of the country’s leading voices on disability rights, and centers race in her analysis and advocacy. She is the founding director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress, and served in the Obama administration from 2009-2013. Dr. Kendi sat down with the California native for a frank conversation on the intersections of ableism and racism in America, the historic civil rights legislation governing both, and what we can all do to advocate for a better future for people with disabilities. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode, visit pushkin.fm/show/be-antiracist-ibram-kendi. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Be Antiracist. To kick off the season, host Ibram X. Kendi got together with Pushkin’s co-founder and Revisionist History host Malcolm Gladwell, for a conversation on racism, bridging divides, and the power of podcasting. Stay tuned after their conversation for an excerpt of an upcoming episode featuring economic and social policy expert Heather C. McGhee. Dr. Kendi and McGhee discuss the “zero sum” world view, and what racism really costs us as a society. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Coming in June from Pushkin Industries and iHeartMedia Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.