May 21, 2015
Historian David Krugler is the guest on this week's episode
of The Chauncey DeVega Show.
David is the author of the new book 1919, The Year of Racial Violence: How African
Americans Fought Back.
Dr. Krugler's work is an exciting intervention against a narrative
of African-American passivity in the face of white racial pogroms
and other violence in the post World War One era. Black America has
used a range of means to resist white supremacy. "Non-violence" has
come to dominate public memory about the Black Freedom Struggle.
Great work such as David's is
helping a broader public to learn what black Americans have
always known: African-Americans fought back with honor and dignity
against the violence that was visited upon them by Jim and Jane
Crow, the white mob, and the racial state.
Dr. Krugler and Chauncey discuss the Black Freedom Struggle, why
and how the legacy of African-American resistance to white racial
violence has been erased in the American public memory, some of the
great stories of resistance that David uncovered in his research,
and what prompted the nationwide white on black racial terrorism of
1919 and its relationship to Whiteness.
David and Chauncey also talk about the former's great book on
American civil defense during the Cold War and how racism even
impacted the United States' preparations for defending against a
nuclear war.
Friend of WARN Bill
the Lizard also stops by to talk about the great new
movie Mad
Max: Fury Road.
And of course, Chauncey gives an epic recounting of how he damn
near broke his leg before going to see Mad
Max: Fury Road and
what the recovery has been like so far.