Asim on Racism and Police Brutality: Greater Boston, WBUR

Writing, Literature, and Publishing associate professor, Elma Lewis Distinguished Fellow, and former Washington Post editor Jabari Asim joined Greater Boston to discuss the George Floyd tragedy and history of racism and police brutality in the U.S.

Host Emily Rooney and Asim discuss not only the recent news from Minneapolis, but multiple cases of violence and discrimination against African Americans, including the incident last month in Central Park of a woman calling the police after an African American man asked her to leash her dog.

Asim called the footage of George Floyd’s murder “emotionally wrenching” and said police departments have a monumental role to play in keeping African Americans safe:

People are in a position where we’ve talked about reform for a long time. Reform has perhaps become too mild a word when we’re talking about what we need to do with police departments.

Among Asim’s recent works is We Can’t Breathe: On Black Lives, White Lies, and the Art of Survival.

View the segment or read the text excerpts.

Asim also reads from his new book Stop and Frisk and discusses racism in America with WBUR. His works are also featured in a Boston Magazine article “Books about Race, Power and the Black Experience, Chosen by Four Black Boston Authors.”