The current unrest after police shootings of unarmed black men means the battle for racial justice is far from over. Jeff Chang is a journalist, cultural critic, and the head of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford. In his new book, Who We Be: The Colorization of America, he argues that the myth of multiculturalism has in some ways silenced a real conversation about racial disparity in America. KALW’sSandhya Dirks sat down with Chang to talk about his new book, current protests over police shootings, and how to begin a conversation about race in America today.
JEFF CHANG: If that was our revolution and hip-hop was also our revolution, then why is it we’re at the same spot today? Like we’ve won. We’re in a culturally de-segregated world, right? Diddy’s a superstar, Jay-Z and Beyonce are everywhere; everybody agrees with me that they are amazing -- well maybe not everybody! And yet at the same time you can still have a Michael Brown, a Tamir Rice, and Eric Garner happen.
Click the audio player above to listen to the interview.
