Some of My Best Friends Are

Eve L. Ewing is a renowned scholar, poet, teacher and cultural organizer. She also writes Marvel comic books, including Ironheart , which came to life on the big screen in the movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever . Eve joins Ben and Khalil to discuss the importance of increasing racial representation in the superhero universe, and the backlash against it. Plus, why creatives should write for kids...

Fifty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing a constitutional right to abortion. That is, until now. In this episode, Ben and Khalil talk with Dorothy Roberts – one of the nation’s leading scholars on the child welfare system and reproductive rights – about how the Dobbs decision is expected to have a disproportionate impact on Black women. See omnystudio.com/listener...

Zayd Ayers Dohrn is a writer, professor, playwright who spent his early childhood on the run from the FBI. He joins Khalil and Ben to talk about being raised by founding members of the Weather Underground and his award-winning podcast, Mother Country Radicals. They also discuss what we can learn in the current moment from radical movements of the past. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

What does it mean to be Brown Enough in America today? That's a question Dominican-Colombian-American actor, storyteller, and podcaster Christopher Rivas has been navigating his whole life. Listen to this special episode of Brown Enough as Chris discusses the question "What are you?" with journalist and cartoonist Malaka Gharib. Brown Enough is the stories between Black and white. Listen to these...

Here's a preview of Future Hindsight, another podcast we enjoy that takes big ideas about civic life and democracy and turns them into action for everyday citizens. This episode features Ian Haney López, the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He specializes in race and racism. His focus for the last decade has been on the use of racism in e...

As the HBO comedy South Side launches its third season, Chicago actor, director, playwright, and screenwriter J. Nicole Brooks joins Khalil and Ben to talk about why she is committed to working on TV shows set in her hometown, like South Side, The Chi, and Chicago Fire. They also discuss the Chicago-based TV show The Bear, what it means to represent a city authentically, and how it's possible to a...

Was voter participation in the 2022 midterms a sign of more democracy or less? Khalil and Ben sit down with former United States Attorney General Eric Holder to answer this question. They talk about key moments from Eric’s childhood that inspired him to fight for voting rights, both while serving in the Obama administration and after. He also shares his thoughts on the fragility of democracy, and...

Danielle Sered is the founder and director of Common Justice, the first alternative-to-incarceration and victim-service program in the United States. She’s also the author of Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair. She speaks with Khalil and Ben about her work to re-envision justice as something that can address the trauma of victims and stop the cycle of punishment an...

Sherman “Dilla” Thomas has become the face of Chicago history on TikTok, TV and in tours. So Khalil and Ben go on a mission to find out how Dilla became the city’s number one booster. We hear how Thomas was influenced by the stories told by his father, a Chicago police officer, and the influence of hometown Black politicians who were making history right in front of him. But mainly, he says, he’s...

Khalil and Ben talk with Donald Yacovone about his book, Teaching White Supremacy. In the midst of new laws to ban books about race and the teaching of slavery, Yacovone digs through thousands of school textbooks and finds that most already emphasize whiteness as the core of our national identity. We’ll talk about how the history we’ve been teaching over the last 300 years isn’t necessarily the hi...

Actor, podcast host and author Christopher Rivas attributes his own racial awakening to the moment he learned the “real” James Bond was Dominican. Rivas tells the story of Porfirio Rubirosa to Khalil and Ben, and talks about his new book, Brown Enough. We’ll also ask what it means to be Brown — specifically Latinx — in a country where most conversations about race are Black and white. See omnystud...

Saladin Ambar is author of a new book, Stars and Shadows: The Politics of Interracial Friendship from Jefferson to Obama. He’s also a political science professor at Rutgers and host of The Eagleton Podcast: This Moment in Democracy. Ambar talks with Ben and Khalil about the complex stakes of interracial friendships throughout US history. Ambar’s ten case studies include the famous bond between Ell...

Khalil and Ben revisit the city where their friendship began. They speak on stage at the 2022 Chicago Humanities Festival. Come for the tales of Ben’s first job delivering bagels around Chi-town and Khalil’s first discovery that he had a Chicago accent — stay for the real connection with a hometown audience, and a conversation about the hard work of studying and loving a city that can be tough to...

Khalil and Ben return for more real talk about the absurdities and intricacies of race in America. Each week, they'll invite some of their new best friends, like former Attorney General Eric Holder, restorative justice leader Danielle Sered, and Chicago historian Sherman "Dilla" Thomas for conversations that are at once personal, political, and playful. Some Of My Best Friends Are... Season 2 drop...

In the final episode of the season, Khalil and Ben delve into how the “some of my best friends are…” trope functions in the world of comedy, particularly when comics like Dave Chappelle use it as social commentary. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t always work. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Khalil has been dying to talk to Ben about his relationship with Judaism and whiteness all season. In this episode, Khalil and Ben invite Ben’s other best friend Sascha Penn, the creator and executive producer of the television show Raising Kanan, to join the conversation. Together they take a look at Ben and Sascha’s identities and how being Jewish has inspired their writing about race and racism...

Reeling from a terrible string of crimes that happened recently in Ben’s neighborhood in Chicago, Khalil and Ben wrestle with the question of how to respond to violence so people can feel safe, without over-policing communities. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Khalil and Ben talk with New York Times journalist and author Jay Caspian Kang about his new memoir, The Loneliest Americans,   and his experience growing up Asian in America. In this episode, the three men — one White, one Black, one Asian — discuss notions of identity that divide the country, and how one race experiences invisibility as a result. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.i...

Khalil and Ben talk with two Chicago artists they admire who are calling for justice through their work–in museums and on the streets. Tonika Johnson, an activist and photographer, takes Ben for a drive to describe her latest project, Inequity for Sale, an art project on reparations and housing. Later, Amanda Williams, a Chicago artist, joins to discuss her works, Color(ed) Theory and the Black Re...

For nearly a decade, Khalil and Ben have vacationed together at the magical beach town of Oak Bluffs, MA – a historically Black enclave of predominantly-White Martha’s Vineyard. In this episode,Ben and Khalil reflect on the summers they’ve spent there, the transformative beauty of that corner of the world, and the legacy of race and power at the beach.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://...

Introducing our new, subscriber-exclusive bonus series, "Some of My Other Best Friends..." Each month, Ben and Khalil invite one of their *other* best friends to talk through unanswered questions and further debate a recent Some of My Best Friends Are... episode. In our first bonus episode, Ben and Khalil are joined by Turner Classic Movies host and Academy Museum of Motion Pictures artistic direc...

In the weeks after the groundbreaking of the Obama Presidential Library, Khalil and Ben revisit the Obama memoirs, Becoming and A Promised Land: Volume I , on how the Obamas talked about race and racism. From Obama’s retelling of the financial crisis to Michelle’s upbringing on the south side of Chicago, Ben and Khalil discuss how American exceptionalism is intrinsically tied to the Obamas’ storie...

Still basking in the glow of the 2021 US Open, Ben and Khalil take a trip down memory lane to talk about what it was like growing up on South Side Chicago’s predominantly Black tennis scene. From Khalil’s mother watching Arthur Ashe in the 1970s, to the Williams Sisters and Naomi Osaka changing the game, they break down why this sport is in a league of its own when it comes to Black female athleti...

Can you stop history from repeating itself? That's a question Khalil and Ben ponder at the start of this school year amid conservative attacks and legislation across the country on the teaching of our shared history. They discuss the 1619 Project, the weaponizing of “Critical Race Theory”, its backlash, and the best ways to actually teach American history. Learn more about your ad-choices at https...

To celebrate the release of the new Candyman reboot , Khalil and Ben revisit the original 1992 film and discuss its deep connections to time and place. They then dive into the 2021 reboot, exploring how each film portrays Chicago, public housing, gentrification, and the ghosts that still inhabit the city. Do you dare say his name five times? Ben and Khalil are up for the challenge! Learn more abou...