afropunk solution sessions ep. 3: skeptic

In our last episode of SOLUTION SESSIONS, “A Seat at the Table,” Bridget and Yves talked to Black organizers dedicated to making change through electoral politics. But not everyone thinks that liberation can be found in running for office and in voting. Some of us are more skeptical of the two-party system and reject it entirely. In the third episode of SOLUTION SESSIONS, we’re exploring Black political skepticism. If the system has always marginalized and discounted you, does it make sense to turn your back on it?

Bridget and Yves talk to Franklin James Fisher, of the band Algiers, and Shalya Nunnely, author of Trust in Black America: Race, Discrimination, and Politics and professor of Political Science and Africana Studies Institute at University of Connecticut, to trace the roots of Black political skepticism and what it means for making change today.

We get into it:

• The historical roots of Black political skepticism
• The simulation of American democracy
• Using protest to break through the noise

Solutions:

• Read everything you can
• Start a dialogue
• Make your own lanes
• Break the machine
• For a primer on Jean Baudrillard and his work Simulacra and Simulation go HERE
• For more on Dr. Nunnely’s work go HERE
• For more from Frank check out this New York Times piece and listen to more Algiers
• For more on Mario Savio’s “the Machine” speech, go HERE

Featured in this episode: