Mychal Denzel Smith is a contributing writer at The Nation, 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.
Why are we letting these serious social problems be handled by the criminal justice system?
A host of new groups are reviving the grassroots fight for racial equality.
How Bill de Blasio can help solve the twin problems of over-policing and under-educating in one swoop
Mayor Bloomberg and Ray Kelly lost big: a federal court ruling and a new law ban the racial profiling that undergirds the discriminatory practice.
How long are we supposed to remain calm when the laws we are called on to respect are an open assault on our humanity?
Let's face the truth: anyone with a gun can be a "bad guy." What we need is fewer guns, period.
The math doesn’t add up. It shouldn't cost Obama votes—and it won’t.
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.



