Dead Pundits Society

Joining us this week to talk about the complexity of black political life and how much of the dominant discourse on “race and class” misses this complexity is Cedric Johnson. In the A-side, we discuss his latest essay “What Black Life Actually Looks Like” and analyze a recent debate that played out in the pages of New Politics on race and class. 

 -What is the notion of “black exceptionalism” and how does it get in the way of producing adequate theories of not only black liberation but the liberation of all? -What is the “racial ‘we’” and how is it deployed to reproduce models of black exceptionalism? -What kind of politics do we need to finish the struggles of the Reconstruction era to the present? 

In the B-Side that follows, available for patrons of DPS, we discuss the New Deal — was it racist and do universal policies serve to reproduce racial inequities? Lastly, what should socialists make of the ADOS and Reparations movements? 

Cedric Johnson is one of the best commentators on these topics, so tune