Ta-Nehisi Coates recently appeared on former President Barack Obama’s podcast, and a promotional clip teasing the episode has been going viral. Coates has long been a critic of Obama’s presidency, and in the clip, he asks Obama how he thinks civil rights activists like James Baldwin would assess him. Obama responds that he remains in an ongoing conversation with these figures, describing them as his ancestors and ghosts who speak to him all the time. He hears their voices asking whether he did enough and whether he risked enough for “this cause, this issue, or these people”. Obama appears vulnerable as he reflects on his regrets, which may explain why this clip was chosen to promote the episode. What is the purpose of this conversation, and why is Obama having it now? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #448. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com
It was announced this week that former President Barack Obama will travel to Michigan in late October to campaign for Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson. Following the announcement, old videos, social media posts, and essays resurfaced in which El-Sayed was highly critical of Obama's presidency. During a guest appearance at the University of Chicago, El-Sayed said that America was no better off after Obama's eight years in office. In an essay published in The 'Huffington Post', he also wrote that the list of Obama's failures went on. Now that El-Sayed is seeking Obama's help to turn out Black voters, how is he backtracking from his past criticisms of Obama's record? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #447. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com
Four days after Nolan Wells’s body was discovered on Horn Island, his mother, Christine Wondsley, was in New York with her lawyer, Ben Crump, attending a meeting of Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. When she addressed the audience from the stage, she said, “Nolan loved everybody. He didn’t care if you were white, black, purple, green, looked like a marshmallow. He just wanted everyone to be at peace with one another.” She went on to explain how much that frightened her and Nolan’s father. They would often have conversations with him not only about understanding “our history as black people,” but also about “how you have to move in certain spaces.” How did Nolan Wells move through his life and navigate those spaces, and, ultimately, would he have been considered a “coon”? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #446. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com
The Supreme Court dealt a significant blow to a legal strategy that has only benefited the Democratic Party, when it ruled on a Voting Rights Act provision concerning race-based congressional redistricting. The decision is particularly consequential for members of the Congressional Black Caucus because changes to district boundaries could affect the districts of some Black members of Congress. The Congressional Black Caucus is overwhelmingly Democrats, so changes to districts represented by its members would affect the Democratic Party’s representation in Congress. How are Democrats, the Congressional Black Caucus, civil rights organizations, churches, and online creators using the Nolan Wells tragedy politically to level the playing field and mobilize voters to increase turnout this November? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #445. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com
Last week, Converse, the tennis-shoe company, published an advertisement that received widespread and immediate criticism. Many members of the public expressed outrage and accused the advertisement of being racist. The imagery featured a Korean celebrity holding a pair of Converse shoes in one hand, with her arm extended at her side. She wore a long white skirt, and when a five-point star was projected onto the skirt, the lighting and shadows appeared to resemble the pointed white hoods associated with Ku Klux Klan robes. Combined with the shoes hanging from her hand, the projected imagery led many viewers to associate the advertisement with the imagery of a person being lynched. Converse apologized and removed the advertisement, stating that this interpretation was not their intention. How did the advertisement reinforce or evoke a narrative that lynchings are on the rise in the United States? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #444. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com