[Anti-Essentialism Series] Ep 2 - The Panthers Can't Save Us Now w/ Cedric Johnson

Dead Pundits Society

We're currently in between Season 1 and Season 2, so we've decided to take the opportunity to reproduce the "Anti-Essentialism Series" from the summer of 2017 in a more linear and coherent fashion. Old and new listeners, alike, will benefit from this presentation that will unfold over the next week, which develops a critical analysis of the relationship between capitalism and the creation of marginalized identities (race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, etc.) Episode 2 will feature my interview with Cedric Johnson on the legacy of black power politics and its impact on our current struggles against racism. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, the topic of "race and class" has been widely debated amongst socialists and progressives. Joining me this week to build on this discussion is Cedric Johnson, Associate Professor of African American Studies at the University of Illinois-Chicago. He has an article in the first issue of Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy called "The Panthers Can't Save us now: Anti-Policing Struggle & The Limits of Black Power." We discuss the current fad of romanticizing the Black Power moment and highlight the limitations of this era in terms of forging a political strategy for today. Find out more about Catalyst here: jacobinmag.com/2017/05/announcing-catalyst Cedric's book, Revolutionaries to Race Leaders can be found here: www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/b…to-race-leaders *** Support the new left agenda by joining the Dead Pundits Society on Patreon and get access to the full back catalog of B-Sides and subscriber-only content: www.patreon.com/deadpundits *** ----------------------- Twitter: @deadpundits Soundcloud: @deadpundits Facebook: www.facebook.com/deadpunditssociety iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1212081214 Patreon: www.patreon.com/deadpundits