a justice driven, bookish newsletter by Austin Channing Brown
Footnotes
What is yours to do?
The moment I cannot stop thinking about in the Klein/Coates conversation is the display of political aloofness.
screenshot of Klein and Coates in conversation on the Ezra Klein Show
There is moment I cannot stop thinking about in the discussion between Ezra Klein and Ta-Nehisi Coates.
I didn't know much about Ezra Klein, other than associating his name with a pretty popular podcast. But I happened to hear Klein being interviewed by Trevor Noah, and this is how Noah describes Klein's level of influence:
"Here's somebody who is in the epicenter of news in many ways... You got Vox that reshaped how many people saw news, especially young people, now working at the New York Times, you know, curating, shaping the opinion section, working on the podcast, you know, like doing journalistic work that sort of like branches out what the New York Times does. So you got the news element, journalism. Then you've got the writing, the investigating, the campaigning for certain ideas in the world. So like shaping what the world is thinking. Then you've got another little circle, and that is the politics itself. The amount of times I've heard a person who is either a Democrat in power or somebody who's adjacent to them saying, well, we're gonna reach out to Ezra Klein or Ezra Klein hopefully will in some way, shape or form, your name is there. And I was like, wow. The politicians are even looking to this guy."
I'm going to take Noah at his word and say that Klein enjoys a lot of political influence. Okay. Returning to the conversation with Coates:
A key portion of the conversation regularly turned toward Coates acknowledgement of his role in this political moment and which informs how he shows up. It's an important point because Coates believes that we have various roles that require different things of us. For example, Coates says during the Obama administration it was important that he write The Case for Reparations. That was his job as a Black intellectual writer who cares about the ways politics and history come together in real ways for Black people. He also states that there was no expectation that President Obama would start campaigning for reparations for Black people (even if he agreed) in order to meet the multiple demands of coalition building as a President (you know, in the past world). Different roles, different responsibilities.
Due to Coates clarity about his own role as a member of the political left, he eventually asks Klein very directly, "How do you see your role?"
And Klein gives the answer we have to discuss... "I honestly don't know."
Friends. Ezra Klein enjoys a level of influence and reach that most of us will never achieve. He has the ear of thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of listeners as well as the ability to reach out to any pundit or politician in an era in which the conservative media has coalesced to become strong enough to kick a white man off air (at least for a moment)... and Klein feels unclear about his role in this moment. I just-
But this is not unusual, I have found in my work. I cannot count the number of times I have met well-meaning white people who want to be a part of change, who are fed up with the status quo, who are clear about their commitments to the left, but still "don't know what to do".
This imbalance of outsized influence with personal aloofness is ubiquitous. College presidents, HR representatives, Business owners, Pastors and Religious leaders, Writers, Podcasters, the wealthy, the media darlings, even many of our current politicians seem unable to answer the question, "What is mine to do?"
It's fascinating to me how so many well-meaning white folks agonize over our current state of affairs, but are unable to imagine the number of roles they should and could play in the revolution. It's an aloofness enjoyed only by those who have very little to lose in any practical way by political realities. For too many people in leadership positions, the politics of this moment are disheartening only in theory.
I admit I had to smile when Klein said that he would like for his role to be, "curiously exploring his political and intellectual interests in political peace time." I kind of get it. There are all kinds of projects I would love to freely investigate knowing that that the rest of the world is at peace (and imagining that I had some sort of money that would pay the bills while I explored my curiosities).
But that Klein imagines there has ever been a thing called "political peace times" in America is laughable through the lens of anyone living in a marginalized body. That is not to diminish the extremist views being espoused and enacted right now. This is a time of stark political violence, but also. Most of us could name the violences we faced even when Bush was president, even when Obama was president, even when Biden was president... Black folks have yet to experience anything called a time of political peace. And that's why we must know our role.
It is no longer acceptable to declare that you care about the lives of marginalized people but have no idea what to do with your power, influence or wealth. The problems we are facing are too clear, which means our allies and comrades have to get clear, too.
This aloofness serves no one- not the marginalized people you love and not the political values you claim to support.
How will you join marginalized people and risk a little political violence coming your way? How will you put your body on the line to help protect ours? What is yours to do, and will the risk match your level of influence?
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Book List
Jenny Booth Potter knew as a young adult that racism could no longer be tolerated. But what exactly could she do? With candor and humility, Jenny shares her journey of growing in awareness, reckoning with her own white privilege, and learning how to be an antiracism advocate. For anyone overwhelmed by the enormity of racism, this book shows what everyday antiracism looks like.
Carefully linking these and other historical flashpoints when social progress for African Americans was countered by deliberate and cleverly crafted opposition, Anderson pulls back the veil that has long covered actions made in the name of protecting democracy, fiscal responsibility, or protection against fraud, rendering visible the long lineage of white rage. Compelling and dramatic in the unimpeachable history it relates, White Rage will add an important new dimension to the national conversation about race in America.
An urgent and powerful collection of personal testimony, poetry, photography, art, and frontline reportage of the genocide in Gaza, told by Palestinians.
On Monday, I walked into the MLK Library in DC for an event hosted by my publisher, Penguin Random House. I was so excited because I knew Mychal Threets and Jason Reynolds would be there too. It was my singular goal to shake hands with both and tell them how much their work means to me. What I didnt know is that the event would give me so much more. It was filled with presentations from authors, plaintiffs, and organizers all on the front lines of combating censorship.
I left feeling like a superhero, but not one who must save the world alone. I was part of a larger community of people who are not afraid to name the systemic injustices at work, and how those systems are not just impacting kids and readers but us, as authors. It was a relief to be surrounded by folks who could make the experience of being an author (particularly a Black woman author writing specifically about race and justice) during this backlash of white rage and capitulation legible.
Austin Channing Brown is the author of NYT Bestseller and Reese Book Club pick, Im Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness. Her newest book, Full of Myself is already a USA Today bestseller but she's waiting to be placed on your bookshelf.
