Mychal Denzel Smith

@mychalsmith

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 the author of Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching, forthcoming from Nation Books. 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, The Huffington Post and GOOD magazine.

Racism and Discrimination December 29, 2015

Why Video Evidence Wasn’t Enough to Get Justice for Tamir Rice

The video didn’t matter to the prosecutor because killing black people is not a crime.

Mychal Denzel Smith
Film December 14, 2015

‘Chi-raq’ Reveals Spike Lee’s Outdated Race Politics

At its heart, Chi-raq is a critique of the hypermasculine posturing that props up so much gang violence—but it only examines what that means for men, not women.

Mychal Denzel Smith
Racism and Discrimination November 24, 2015

The Minneapolis Shootings Are the Kind of Violence Meant to Keep Black People in Their Place

Cracks in the status quo are showing, but they can’t come without backlash.

Mychal Denzel Smith
Social Justice October 29, 2015

The Movement Against Police Violence Isn’t Ignoring ‘Black-on-Black Crime’

Black Lives Matter activists are concerned about intra-racial violence. But they don’t see police and prisons as the solution.

Mychal Denzel Smith
Congress October 14, 2015

The Senate’s Bipartisan Criminal Justice Reform Bill Only Tackles Half the Problem

If we don’t face the injustice of the very existence of prisons, the root causes of mass incarceration will go unaddressed.

Mychal Denzel Smith
Race and Ethnicity August 13, 2015

The Rebirth of Black Rage

From Kanye to Obama, and back again.

Mychal Denzel Smith
Activism June 2, 2015

A Q&A With Opal Tometi, Co-Founder of #BlackLivesMatter

A conversation about building an inclusive movement, the importance of identity, and how to shift the narrative of justice away from jailing killer cops.

Mychal Denzel Smith
Activism April 28, 2015

Toward a New ‘Broken Windows’ Theory

What change will a “peaceful” protest spark if a “peaceful” protest is so easy to ignore?

Mychal Denzel Smith
Activism April 9, 2015

Abolish the Police. Instead, Let’s Have Full Social, Economic, and Political Equality.

When people ask me, “Who will protect us,” I want to say: Who protects you now?

Mychal Denzel Smith
Activism March 24, 2015

A Q&A With Alicia Garza, Co-Founder of #BlackLivesMatter

The force behind the burgeoning movement talks about the resurgent fight for black liberation.

Mychal Denzel Smith

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Mychal Denzel Smith

Racism and Discrimination December 29, 2015

The video didn’t matter to the prosecutor because killing black people is not a crime.

Film December 14, 2015

At its heart, Chi-raq is a critique of the hypermasculine posturing that props up so much gang violence—but it only examines what that means for men, not women.

Racism and Discrimination November 24, 2015

Cracks in the status quo are showing, but they can’t come without backlash.

Social Justice October 29, 2015

Black Lives Matter activists are concerned about intra-racial violence. But they don’t see police and prisons as the solution.

Congress October 14, 2015

If we don’t face the injustice of the very existence of prisons, the root causes of mass incarceration will go unaddressed.

Race and Ethnicity August 13, 2015

From Kanye to Obama, and back again.

Activism June 2, 2015

A conversation about building an inclusive movement, the importance of identity, and how to shift the narrative of justice away from jailing killer cops.

Activism April 28, 2015

What change will a “peaceful” protest spark if a “peaceful” protest is so easy to ignore?

Activism April 9, 2015

When people ask me, “Who will protect us,” I want to say: Who protects you now?

Activism March 24, 2015

The force behind the burgeoning movement talks about the resurgent fight for black liberation.