Episode 2219: Joel Edward Goza on why Reparations is the Central Civil Rights Issue of the 2020s

Keen On

Earlier this week, the prominent African-American broadcaster and writer, Tavis Smiley, came on the show to voice his support for Reparations to correct the past racial injustices in American history. The Kentucky based historian, Joel Edward Goza, author of Rebirth of a Nation, agrees with Smiley, arguing that Reparations is, in fact, the central civil rights issue of our age. The struggle for Reparations in California, he argues, has turned the state into the Alabama or Mississippi of the 2020s. Perhaps. Although I’m not sure everyone, either in and out of California, will agree with Goza’s analysis of Ronald Reagan’s central role in 21st century America’s racial injustice. Or his suggestion that California should pay reparations to the rest of America for Reagan’s sins.

Joel Edward Goza is a writer, speaker, and community advocate. He is professor of ethics at the HBCU Simmons College and teaches in Kentucky prisons. Before focusing on writing and teaching, Joel worked in urban redevelopment and community activism for over a decade in Houston’s Fifth Ward. He is also the author of America’s Unholy Ghosts: The Racist Roots of Our Faith and Politics, and contributes to The Hill, Salon, and Religion News Service.

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

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