64. We Are The Trayvon Generation

“I call the young people who grew up in the past twenty-five years the Trayvon Generation. They always knew these stories. These stories formed their world view. These stories helped instruct young African-Americans about their embodiment and their vulnerability. The stories were primers in fear and futility. The stories were the ground soil of their rage. These stories instructed them that anti-black hatred and violence were never far.” – Elizabeth Alexander, The Trayvon Generation

This week is dedicated to all the young Black people who’ve grown up in the Trayvon Generation.

Elizabeth Alexander’s essay and book of the same name guide this week’s episode about what it’s like living in times of anti-Black violence and not-guilty verdicts.

We share how February 26, 2012 changed everything for us as Black boys, and ushered in a decade of constant fear, anger and cynicism. We address the struggles to better define what freedom might mean, with the help of many of our favorite books.

Check out Growing Up in the Trayvon Generation this weekend anywhere you listen to podcasts. 1:37 Introducing the Trayvon Generation
2:57 What we remember from 2012
6:21 The Timeline of the Justice system
8:20 The medium in which we hear the news
9:21 Respectability politics
15:38 Becoming Disillusioned with politics
20:40 Turning away from social media
25:58 What does it mean to be free black man?
30:00 The Story of Herman Wallace
33:08 Finding freedom in prison?
36:50 What is freedom really?
40:00 Other books that come to mind
44:00 Time traveling to 1919
47:37 Surprise and Connectedness

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