The state of civil rights in the United States

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 954 Ratings

🗓️ 23 May 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

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Summary

The year 1963 was a watershed moment for civil rights, with Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Medgar Evers leading the movement. But rollbacks of civil rights and racial justice ideals abound in 2025. Author Peniel Joseph unpacks the progress made in 1963 and the political climate in the U.S. now that is undoing some of that progress. And, the new horror movie "Sinners," where Michael B. Jordan plays twin brothers who return to their Mississippi hometown after years working for the Chicago Mafia. The film is making waves in the box office, and author and professor Tananarive Due explains how it challenges ideas around the Black horror genre.

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0:00.0	Support for here and now anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.
0:09.2	MathWorks, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at Mathworks.com.
0:17.0	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:28.9	This is unprecedented in the context of post-war American multiracial democracy.
0:33.5	It's more than just a backlash, really even more than just a rollback. This is the kind of America that the John Birchers and the far, far right wing wanted to see.
0:40.8	The 1960s laid the groundwork for civil rights in America.
0:44.5	Is 2025 turning the clock back?
0:47.3	It's May 23rd, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR Boston.
0:52.7	I'm Kalyani Saxena.
1:02.9	Thank you. from NPR and WBUR Boston. I'm Kalyani Saxana. Today on the show, we'll be taking a deep dive into black history in America,
1:07.5	including a discussion of the film on everyone's mind.
1:11.7	I'm talking, of course, about sinners.
1:14.2	Directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan, the film entwines black horror
1:19.3	with black resilience in 1930s, Mississippi.
1:23.2	Black history is black horror.
1:26.8	So black horror has, and centers in particular, has this
1:29.6	ring of authenticity because of the lived experiences and genetic memory of the viewers.
1:36.7	And? We're in a post-consensus America where we have a president who is fundamentally anti-civil rights.
1:46.6	But I don't think that because of that, the society we're in is going to be permanently changed
1:53.6	towards that direction.
1:55.1	We'll reflect on social justice in America, five years after the murder of George Floyd.
2:01.0	But first, let's hear from historian and author Paineel Joseph about another chapter of American
	...

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