Mychal Denzel Smith

Mychal Denzel Smith is a blogger at TheNation.com and a Knobler Fellow at the Nation Institute. He is also a freelance writer and social commentator. His work on race, politics, social justice, pop culture, hip hop, mental health, feminism and black male identity has appeared in various publications, including The Guardian, Ebony, theGrio, the Root, Huffington Post and GOOD.

Articles

The End of Stop-and-Frisk as We Know It (Police and Law Enforcement, Profiling)

Mayor Bloomberg and Ray Kelly lost big: a federal court ruling and a new law ban the racial profiling that undergirds the discriminatory practice.

Mychal Denzel Smith

Our Lives on the Line (Social Justice, Race and Religion)

How long are we supposed to remain calm when the laws we are called on to respect are an open assault on our humanity?

Mychal Denzel Smith

It's Not the Bad Guys—It's the Guns (US Politics, Guns and Gun Control)

Let's face the truth: anyone with a gun can be a "bad guy." What we need is fewer guns, period.

Mychal Denzel Smith

No, Backing Marriage Equality Won't Cost Obama Support of Black Voters (Barack Obama, US Politics, Gender and Sexuality)

The math doesn’t add up. It shouldn't cost Obama votes—and it won’t.

Mychal Denzel Smith

Charges for Trayvon Martin's Killer Are No Guarantee of Justice (Racism and Discrimination, Trayvon Martin, Law)

Those new to the cause of defending black life will soon have to face the bleak truth black people have lived with for so long: we don’t often win.

Mychal Denzel Smith

Justice for Trayvon Martin (Trayvon Martin)

Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law puts the threshold for self-defense so low that major questions in this case will likely go unanswered.

Mychal Denzel Smith

Blogs

Why We Write About Oppression

No one feels a sense of moral superiority when talking about their own discrimination.

Mychal Denzel Smith

Respectability Politics Won’t Save Us: On the Death of Jonathan Ferrell

You can do everything “right” in America, but if you’re black, racism will always pose a threat to your life.

Mychal Denzel Smith

A Lesson on Racism for Mayor Bloomberg

The outgoing mayor called a Democratic candidate’s campaign racist. Here’s why he’s wrong.

Mychal Denzel Smith

March on Washington at 50: Commemoration vs. Movement

Representatives of the youth generation were cut from yesterday’s roster of speakers, but that won’t stop them from building a...

Mychal Denzel Smith

Ending Stop-and-Frisk, Keeping the Racism

The signature policy of the NYPD has been declared unconstitutional, but the racism that provided the justification for it is still alive...

Mychal Denzel Smith

Invisible Women: The Consequences of Forgetting Sybrina Fulton

We can no longer afford to leave black women’s experiences out of the narrative anti-black racism in the United States.

Mychal Denzel Smith

Rewriting Black Manhood: A Conversation With 'Fruitvale Station' Director Ryan Coogler

The 27-year-old director of the film adaptation of Oscar Grant’s shooting talked to me about the obstacles facing young black men in...

Mychal Denzel Smith

Trayvon Martin: From Lament to Rallying Cry

To everyone who says we must respect the verdict: How long are we supposed to remain calm when the laws we are called to respect exist in...

Mychal Denzel Smith

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Mychal Denzel Smith | The Nation