Talking History and America’s Racial Future

Channing Kennedy talks institutional racism with the folks at PostBourgie.

By Jamilah King Feb 10, 2011

Last week our own Channing Kennedy guest blogged over at the American Prospect and had a meaningful exchange with Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jamelle Bouie on the growing number of young folks in America who are identifying as mixed race. The whole discussion was sparked by a New York Times profile that looked at how more young people are identifying as mixed race (which our researcher Dom Apollon dug into further). Bouie argues that the way we talk about race in America is fundamentally about who’s black and who’s non-black, and that paradigm, Coates added, isn’t going to change any time soon. Channing used the example of San Francisco’s Chinatown as evidence of the institutional racism faced by other communities of color. It’s a great conversation that’s well worth digging into or adding to on your own thoughts.

But just in case you missed the whole exchange (which is summarized nicely here) you can listen to it over at PostBourgie. This latest podcast segment features PostBourgie contributors G.D. and Nicole, along with Channing, Prospect writers Bouie and Monica Potts, and the hilarious Brokey McPoverty.