I listen to podcasts during cardio workouts, lifts, and mindless droning at work. Finished every episode of "This is Revolution" from Zero Books and there is a lot of great discussion. However, I realized that I don't have many any other black leftist podcasts. I am a black dude and I am trying to get more black thought so I can convince my family members and peers that leftist stuff isnt "a white people thing". I listen "Black Agenda Report" (which sometimes has terrible audio mixing which can be annoying) and tried "Champagne Sharks" and "Drop Squad" but that wasn't my jam (a little too Twitter-centric for me a person not on and not interested in Twitter discourse/politics).
Do you have any suggestions?
Building Our Power - I've only recently listened to just the linked episode, but they sound pretty good to me
Radio Free New Afrika - This is Black Red Guard's podcast and it's probably, uh, not gonna be for everyone, given his contrarian ultra tendencies (defends gonzalo), but he does have some interesting insights if you can ignore when he gets on his bullshit.
but he does have some interesting insights if you can ignore when he gets on his bullshit.
That doesn't bother me, I try to not let people's bullshit get in the way of their point so long as that bullshit isn't too actively harmful or counter the point they are making. In general i try to assume people are speaking in good faith. It's hard to articulate properly but I assume most lefties want the same general better world for everyone, even when they are on some dumb shit.
TIL my list of podcasts is devoid of black hosts.
If you want something fairly SocDem, there is, of course, Briahna Joy-Gray. I think her collab with Virgil is the most recent podcast I listened to that had a black host.
I listened to Benjamin Dixon a little early last year. I would consider him even more liberal of a SocDem.
Otherwise, the only other black lefties I know are Boots Riley or people I know personally or local politicians... I think your family (partially) has a point in that black people are underrepresented as the leaders/spokespeople of Western socialism.
They are both a bit too liberal for my tastes though they are pretty "normie" friendly to be honest. I see if I can sneak them in my family group chat.
Yeah I think they're only good for pipelining from Warren lib (or worse) to Bernie SocDem lib.
PS I realized that I screwed up and you weren't only asking for podcasts. Made another reply with much less lib (but unfortunately historical) resources. No need to reply to it or anything, just wanted to let you know that it's not so desolate!
I read Hammer and Hoe back in 2019, it was part of my jumping off point into black radical tradition. Great stuff. Learned a lot, it was one primary books that really got me realigned with leftism are really showed me that communism and socialism are for everybody.
You could check out the Fred Hampton Leftists - honestly, I've no clue whether they are any good, just vaguely aware that they exist.
I didnt even know they were a thing. Ill give them a listen and report back. Hopefully with news they are cool and good :fred-hampton:
Millenials are Killing Capitalist, On Mass, Octavia’s Parables, Judas and the Black Messiah
There are some black BreadTubers. F.D Signifier has been popping off lately. Lot of focus on black culture and contemporary black cultural icons. Also takes a look at street culture and what is driving the misguidance of the youth today. My only slight criticism is that I don't feel like he focuses enough on the material aspect sometimes but that's not a big issue at all
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/by-any-means-necessary/id1130613151
There's a two-hour daily show called By Any Means Necessary that starts with Sean Blackmon introducing Jacque Luqman to harangue the current news stories or happenings for five minutes. Then they have on guests and finally some callers near the end. It's an amazing show from two black leftists in DC.
You might check out Struggle Session. They mostly do pop culture from a left perspective and it's hosted by one black dude and one white dude
Specifically with regards to the "white people thing" I love Kwame Ture.
As far as podcasts with black hosts go, I like to listen to The Discourse. I don't think they release their episodes for free anymore though, you have to subscribe to their patreon .
Oh I misread and thought you only wanted podcasts.
If dead/historical people and writing are helpful I'm going to second WEB Du Bois, aka the best American to ever live. A bonus for reaching people who aren't necessarily leftism-friendly yet is that he cofounded the NAACP, so if your family likes the NAACP maybe drop that fact on them along with your recommendation.
Others worth a mention:
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MLK was a Democratic Socialist and wrote of the necessity of socialism to combat racial inequity.
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Malcolm X, obviously. Though he is "polarizing", including among black people, so suggest him strategically.
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Fred Hampton, though he was murdered young so he's more of an example of the lengths to which the government will go to crush socialist racial justice than someone I'd point to for theory.
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Langston Hughes was a socialist who wrote very friendly things about communism, visited and supported AES.
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A very large number of black writers and entertainers were socialist/communist.
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Nelson Mandela of course.
Every person mentioned has several seminal written works that constitute either theory or a practical lived experience and socialist identity that has been intentionally obscured from our collective educations.
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Aaron Thorpe had a short-lived podcast called A Time of Monsters. It's been dead ever since he joined The Trillbillies, but there are a few good episodes in there. For better or worse, Thorpe comes from the same cultural milieu as most of the "dirtbag left" though.
Since people are also plugging books, I'm going to plug, Development Arrested: The Blues and Plantation Power in the Mississippi Delta by Clyde Woods.
I don’t think they have anything on podcast apps but Black Power Media has a really nice morning show on Youtube and they seem to be trying to produce more and more. Jared Ball, Kim Brown, Dr CBS, Kalonji Changa—you might recognize some of these names (Jared Ball in particular has been on both Rev Left and MAKC, the latter recommended by @marxisthayaca and is a very good rec).
BPM has Gerald Horne on fairly often; I’ll listen to anything with Gerald Horne. He was on one of Dr CBS’s guests on Last Dope Intellectual, which also appears to be youtube only. I don’t really know what the deal is with that, but the Horne episode features TooBlack as a cohost, who is on the Black Myths Podcast.
Devyn Springer seems to release “seasons” of Groundings Podcast sporadically. I know at one point he worked closely with the family of Walter Rodney, who are actively involved in the Walter Rodney Foundation, and I think he still does.
Which reminds me that the Hampton Institute puts out good writing and has a podcast with very irregularly-released episodes.
And finally, one with a host from the UK I believe instead of the US, there’s the Malcolm Effect (I only found them because Vijay Prashad was a guest, I haven’t listened to many episodes)
Fuck yeah Gerald Horne is so good. i need to get me some of his books.
