Listen again: Eric Marsh - Being a Black man today in America
First published on November 18, 2019
When a French journalist returns to live in the US 25 years after leaving it as a student, he struggles to recognize the country he loves. He embarks on conversations with Americans of all backgrounds in a quest to understand what America means today.
This was the first installment of Back in America.
The episode is part of a series on masculinity in America.
Here I speak to Eric Marsh a Black activist and a social worker in Philadelphia.
We speak about being a Black man in America; the impact of slavery. The impact of the Trump election; consumerism.
We discuss an art piece by Hank Willis Thomas, Branded Head, a photo of a Black man’s head with the shape of the Nike swoosh, and what Thomas called commodifiable blackness.
From the conversation:
"The history of this country has primarily been the denial by white American men of the humanity and the agency of Black men." -- Listen again- Eric Marsh
"There is this ongoing thread of the Black body only having value through either being a consumer or being consumed." -- Listen again- Eric Marsh
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