The Politics of Interracial Friendships with Some Of My Best Friends Are

Here’s a preview of another podcast, Some of My Best Friends Are, from Pushkin Industries.

Harvard professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad and journalist Ben Austen are friends, one Black and one white, who grew up together on the South Side of Chicago. As adults, Khalil and Ben are still best friends, but they know that interracial friendships aren’t going to solve the problems of a deeply divided country.

On Some of My Best Friends Are, Khalil and Ben have real talks about the absurdities and intricacies of race in America. They invite guests –like actor Chris Rivas, restorative justice leader Danielle Sered, and TikTok historian Sherman “Dilla” Thomas — to join critical conversations that are at once personal, political and playful.

In this preview, Khalil and Ben talk with author Saladin Ambar about his new book, Stars and Shadows: The Politics of Interracial Friendship from Jefferson to Obama. Through famous bonds ranging from Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe, to Barack Obama and Joe Biden, they explore the dynamics, benefits, and difficulties of cultivating interracial friendships.

Hear more from Some of My Best Friends Are at https://podcasts.pushkin.fm/sbfs2?sid=doses.

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