Pushkin You know, I have a thick skin. I think that one of the things that benefits me as a historian is that I try to look at things from the vantage point of the troubles that people in preceding generations have had to confront and surmount.

And that always makes me feel like, oh, we can get by, we can handle this,

you know, because the truly epic and dire crises and tragedies that

confronted people who lived before we did,

they have a humbling effect when you look at those things.

And so I tend to just kind of wake up in the morning,

try to put things in perspective and do what I have to do.

That was Jilani Cobb. I'm Sam Fragoso and this is Talk Easy.

Welcome to the show. So, Hey everyone. Thanks for being here this week. I just got back from a protest here in Los Angeles. The protest was primarily

peaceful while I was there.

As it escalated, it got increasingly more violent.

The violence was often instigated by either police officers or white people.

That's what I saw.

And maybe you're like me and you've been following the news on social media on TV.

And boy, it's hard to put a finger on all of this.

It's hard to wrap your head around it.

I'm sorry for the pregnant pauses here, but I just don't have the words you know like

anyone who looks like how I do I spent the last week trying to figure out my place and what's happening in this country

How and where I can be most useful

I could go on about George Floyd or

Mont Arbury or Brianna Taylor, all of whom were killed at the hands of law

enforcement, all of whom had their lives cut tragically short

...