“Should you paint over all the monuments and the memorials that were created for George Floyd, the history still exists—and the people willing to tell the history still exist. We’ve still written it down, and we’ve made the videos, and we’ve made the films. We will continue to tell the story as long as it needs to be told.”
-Jelani Cobb, episode 416 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
Even before Jelani Cobb became Dean of the Columbia Journalism School, he was an educator. His reportage at The New Yorker (where he’s been writing about race and politics since 2012), steeped in history. And yet not even Cobb could’ve been prepared for what he’s described as a “harrowing” year in academia.
On the heels of graduation week at Columbia, Cobb joins us for a wide-ranging discussion about the climate on campuses across the country (5:17), the Trump administration’s sustained attacks on higher education (9:07), and the “potentially unlawful” detainment of student activist Mahmoud Khalil (15:57). Then, Cobb speaks to the challenges of public trust in journalism (30:35), “the beneficial workplace” he hopes to cultivate in newsrooms (39:39), and why young journalists continue to inspire him (45:45).
On the back-half, Jelani reflects on the five years since the murder of George Floyd (55:55), the fleeting corporate activism of 2020 (1:01:05), the importance of understanding Civil Rights history (1:06:13), and why he’s determined to continue telling stories in “dangerous times” (1:10:30).
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.
Show-notes:
- Read Jelani’s latest piece, A Tumultuous Spring Semester Finally Comes to a Close.
- Find more of his work in The New Yorker.
- Hear our previous talks with Jelani in 2017 and 2020.
- For more talks, hear our episodes with Ta-Nehisi Coates, David Remnick, and Jia Tolentino.
- Order your Talk Easy mug in cream and navy or our vinyl record with Fran Lebowitz.
Illustrations by Krishna Shenoi.
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