In the final episode of the show, Khalil and Ben talk with Chicago poet laureate avery r. young. He’s the multitalented interdisciplinary artist behind the podcast’s theme song, ‘Lil Lillie.’ They discuss the story behind the song and how racial justice influences his work. Ben and Khalil also reflect on their time working on this show.

To check out avery r. young’s work, go to his website: https://www.averyryoung.com/

In the final episode of the show, Khalil and Ben talk with Chicago poet laureate avery r. young. He’s the multitalented interdisciplinary artist behind the podcast’s theme song, ‘Lil Lillie.’ They discuss the story behind the song and how racial justice influences his work. Ben and Khalil also reflect on their time working on this show.
To check out avery r. young’s work, go to his website: <a href="https://www.averyryoung.com/">https://www.averyryoung.com/</a>

Thank You For Being Some of Our Best Friends

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Ben and Khalil get personal with author and TV writer Samantha Irby on this week's show. Her bestselling essay collections Wow, No Thank You and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life are super intimate, full of gory details, and laugh-out-loud funny. She joins Ben and Khalil to talk about her latest book, Quietly Hostile; how she uses comedy as therapy; and her work on the latest season of the Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That... 

Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby 

Ben and Khalil get personal with author and TV writer Samantha Irby on this week's show. Her bestselling essay collections Wow, No Thank You and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life are super intimate, full of gory details, and laugh-out-loud funny. She joins Ben and Khalil to talk about her latest book, Quietly Hostile; how she uses comedy as therapy; and her work on the latest season of the Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That... 
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/690138/quietly-hostile-by-samantha-irby/">Quietly Hostile</a> by Samantha Irby

Samantha Irby is Quietly Hostile & Raucously Funny

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The Supreme Court recently issued a decision banning race-conscious admission in higher education. In this episode, Ben and Khalil talk with Anurima Bhargava, who served in the Civil Rights Division of Obama’s Department of Justice focusing on education. Anurima also went to high school with Ben and Khalil at Kenwood Academy in Chicago. They talk about what’s great about going to a diverse school, as well as how the conservative movement plotted to get rid of affirmative action and what is lost as a result. 

The Supreme Court recently issued a decision banning race-conscious admission in higher education. In this episode, Ben and Khalil talk with Anurima Bhargava, who served in the Civil Rights Division of Obama’s Department of Justice focusing on education. Anurima also went to high school with Ben and Khalil at Kenwood Academy in Chicago. They talk about what’s great about going to a diverse school, as well as how the conservative movement plotted to get rid of affirmative action and what is lost as a result.

The End of Affirmative Action

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This week, Ben and Khalil are talking about the future of cities. Their guest, Toni Griffin, is an architect, urban planner, and artist. She teaches at the Harvard School of Design, where she leads the Just City Lab, a team focused on community revitalization in city planning. Toni joins Ben and Khalil to talk about centering people in urban design, and her new show at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale that imagines "fantastic futures.”

This week, Ben and Khalil are talking about the future of cities. Their guest, Toni Griffin, is an architect, urban planner, and artist. She teaches at the Harvard School of Design, where she leads the Just City Lab, a team focused on community revitalization in city planning. Toni joins Ben and Khalil to talk about centering people in urban design, and her new show at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale that imagines "fantastic futures.”

Fantastic Future: Reimagining the American City

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Here’s a special episode from another Pushkin show we love -- The Last Archive. In the 1930s, at a women's reformatory in upstate New York, an upstart social scientist made a study that launched the field of social network analysis. It was revolutionary, but missed something happening at the same time at the same school, something we know now in part from the story of the school's most famous inmate: Ella Fitzgerald.

To hear the rest of the season, visit The Last Archive show page on Apple Podcasts, at pushkin.fm, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Here’s a special episode from another Pushkin show we love -- The Last Archive. In the 1930s, at a women's reformatory in upstate New York, an upstart social scientist made a study that launched the field of social network analysis. It was revolutionary, but missed something happening at the same time at the same school, something we know now in part from the story of the school's most famous inmate: Ella Fitzgerald.
To hear the rest of the season, visit The Last Archive show page on Apple Podcasts, at <a href="http://pushkin.fm/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://pushkin.fm&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1689706701991000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1EY2NWOSl-qrDN0B5SiwBD">pushkin.fm</a>, or wherever you get your podcasts.

From The Last Archive: Acting Out

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America is the richest country on earth, and yet we have the highest levels of poverty of any advanced democracy. Why is that? And what should we do about it? Matthew Desmond joins Ben and Khalil to discuss the rousing arguments of his new book Poverty, By America: we are all culpable for this problem, and it’s on us to fix it.

Additional links:

Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond

Correction: Parole, Prison and the Possibility of Change by Ben Austen

America is the richest country on earth, and yet we have the highest levels of poverty of any advanced democracy. Why is that? And what should we do about it? Matthew Desmond joins Ben and Khalil to discuss the rousing arguments of his new book Poverty, By America: we are all culpable for this problem, and it’s on us to fix it.
Additional links:
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675683/poverty-by-america-by-matthew-desmond/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675683/poverty-by-america-by-matthew-desmond/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1689188401308000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3_AOAXsLoX05GvAeoKczKm">Poverty, By America</a> by Matthew Desmond
<a href="https://evictedbook.com/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://evictedbook.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1689188401308000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3tXXDiNMcd-qxegSe1BS1X">Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City</a> by Matthew Desmond
<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250758811/correction" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250758811/correction&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1689188401308000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0zwW4Rvhra7MqzaiLzJewJ">Correction: Parole, Prison and the Possibility of Change</a> by Ben Austen

America’s Poverty is by Design

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Ben and Khalil take a trip down South to Sewanee University, otherwise known as the University of the South. The school’s history is rooted in the Confederacy, and Ben and Khalil look at how that history belongs to all of America. Through various conversations and excursions, they explore what it means to be Southern, whether that identity can be made more expansive, and why the region defines every American. 

Ben and Khalil take a trip down South to Sewanee University, otherwise known as the University of the South. The school’s history is rooted in the Confederacy, and Ben and Khalil look at how that history belongs to all of America. Through various conversations and excursions, they explore what it means to be Southern, whether that identity can be made more expansive, and why the region defines every American.

Ben and Khalil Go South

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. needs no introduction. The man changed the course of American history, and paid the ultimate price for his work. But in Jonathan Eig’s biography, King: A Life, we learn more about his personal life and struggle to overcome his own doubts about the Civil Rights movement. Eig joins Khalil and Ben to discuss his book and the new stories he uncovered from FBI documents about the life of Dr. King.

Additional links:
King, A Life by Jonathan Eig

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. needs no introduction. The man changed the course of American history, and paid the ultimate price for his work. But in Jonathan Eig’s biography, King: A Life, we learn more about his personal life and struggle to overcome his own doubts about the Civil Rights movement. Eig joins Khalil and Ben to discuss his book and the new stories he uncovered from FBI documents about the life of Dr. King.
Additional links: <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374719678/kingalife" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374719678/kingalife&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1687981348026000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2zeA1sno4SrMDTSSvhlrth">King, A Life</a> by Jonathan Eig

The FBI’s War on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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Immigration in America is a humanitarian crisis and a political disaster. It has been for years. In this episode, Khalil and Ben talk to immigration lawyer, artist and activist Carolina Rubio-MacWright about current immigration policy, and what’s happening today in cities like Chicago and New York with ballooning populations of immigrants sent from border states. Carolina also shares the innovative ways she uses art and advocacy to connect with people at the heart of the crisis, people whom most of us can’t live without.

To learn more about Carolina’s workshops: https://www.touchingland.org/

Immigration in America is a humanitarian crisis and a political disaster. It has been for years. In this episode, Khalil and Ben talk to immigration lawyer, artist and activist Carolina Rubio-MacWright about current immigration policy, and what’s happening today in cities like Chicago and New York with ballooning populations of immigrants sent from border states. Carolina also shares the innovative ways she uses art and advocacy to connect with people at the heart of the crisis, people whom most of us can’t live without.
To learn more about Carolina’s workshops: <a href="https://www.touchingland.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.touchingland.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1687378395509000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3sqE4pDIAE0DkxtEodrh93">https://www.touchingland.org/</a>

Immigrants Aren't the Problem

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Jeff Sharlet started reporting from Donald Trump’s rallies in 2015, when his presidential campaign stoked a resurgence of white nationalism and white supremacy. Since then, Jeff has traveled the country exploring the growing threats and eruptions of political violence. He writes about these experiences in his New York Times bestselling book The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War, and he sat down with Ben and Khalil to discuss the book and his belief that we are, today, in the midst of a gradually unfolding civil war.

Additional links:

The Undertow by Jeff Sharlet

Jeff Sharlet started reporting from Donald Trump’s rallies in 2015, when his presidential campaign stoked a resurgence of white nationalism and white supremacy. Since then, Jeff has traveled the country exploring the growing threats and eruptions of political violence. He writes about these experiences in his New York Times bestselling book The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War, and he sat down with Ben and Khalil to discuss the book and his belief that we are, today, in the midst of a gradually unfolding civil war.
<hr>
Additional links:
<a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324006497">The Undertow</a> by Jeff Sharlet

Are We in a Civil War?

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Some of My Best Friends Are… is a podcast hosted by Khalil Gibran Muhammad and Ben Austen, two best friends who grew up together on the South Side of Chicago in the 1980s. Today a Harvard professor and an award-winning journalist, Khalil and Ben still go to each other to talk about their experiences with the absurdities and intricacies of race in America. In Some of My Best Friends Are..., they invite listeners into their unfiltered conversations about growing up together in a deeply-divided country, and navigating that divide as it exists today.

Some of My Best Friends Are

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