Some of My Best Friends Are

Pushkin Industries

Some of My Best Friends Are… is a podcast hosted by Khalil Gibran Muhammad and Ben Austen, two best friends who grew up together on the South Side of Chicago in the 1980s. Today a Harvard professor and an award-winning journalist, Khalil and Ben still go to each other to talk about their experiences with the absurdities and intricacies of race in America. In Some of My Best Friends Are..., they invite listeners into their unfiltered conversations about growing up together in a deeply-divided country, and navigating that divide as it exists today. read less

Our Editor's Take

The Some of My Best Friends Are podcast examines interracial friendships in the US. Hosts Khalil Gibran Muhammed and Ben Austen became friends as young teens. They formed a steadfast bond in the tense racial atmosphere of 1980s Chicago. They've joined together to share their lives and stories with listeners.

Muhammed is a historian at Harvard. Austen is a journalist who still lives in Chicago. The two friends team up to offer their insights into how the past impacts the present. They discuss history, pop culture, and race. With interracial films as a topic in one episode, they reflect on their friendship. The politics of buddy films change when the protagonists are Black and white males. Through analyses of 48 Hrs. and Lethal Weapon, the hosts reflect on how American films influence racial identities. They talk about their thoughts on 1970s TV comedies The Jeffersons and Sanford and Son.

Saladin Ambar joins in an episode to discuss the friendships of public figures. The scholar talks about pals Barack Obama and Joe Biden. He also explains the tense relationship between Marilyn Monroe and Ella Fitzgerald. Where does white supremacy fit into such friendships? The podcast features frank conversations about racial politics by answering questions like this.

Muhammed and Austen are no strangers to these topics. The former is a leading scholar. His 2010 book, The Condemnation of Blackness, appears on syllabi throughout the country. Like his best friend/cohost, Austen devotes himself to human rights education. In 2018, Booklist named Austen's High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and the Fate of American Public Housing one of the year's best books.

Listeners of Some of My Best Friends Are will hear hard truths and wry jokes. The show title comes from a cliche white people sometimes say when it comes to having friends of other races. This is an excellent podcast for those eager to learn about race in America from an expert duo. Friendships forged over racial divides teach people about being human in fraught times. In a country built on the principles of racial inequality, it's vital to keep talking and learning.

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Society & CultureSociety & Culture
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Some of My Best Friends Are... Back!
Oct 25 2022
Some of My Best Friends Are... Back!
Khalil and Ben return for more real talk about the absurdities and intricacies of race in America. Each week, they'll invite some of their new best friends, like former Attorney General Eric Holder, restorative justice leader Danielle Sered, and Chicago historian Sherman "Dilla" Thomas for conversations that are at once personal, political, and playful. Some Of My Best Friends Are... Season 2 drops Tuesdays starting November 1st.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episodes

Thank You For Being Some of Our Best Friends
Aug 16 2023
Thank You For Being Some of Our Best Friends
In the final episode of the show, Khalil and Ben talk with Chicago poet laureate avery r. young. He’s the multitalented interdisciplinary artist behind the podcast’s theme song, ‘Lil Lillie.’ They discuss the story behind the song and how racial justice influences his work. Ben and Khalil also reflect on their time working on this show. To check out avery r. young’s work, go to his website: https://www.averyryoung.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Samantha Irby is Quietly Hostile & Raucously Funny
Aug 9 2023
Samantha Irby is Quietly Hostile & Raucously Funny
Ben and Khalil get personal with author and TV writer Samantha Irby on this week's show. Her bestselling essay collections Wow, No Thank You and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life are super intimate, full of gory details, and laugh-out-loud funny. She joins Ben and Khalil to talk about her latest book, Quietly Hostile; how she uses comedy as therapy; and her work on the latest season of the Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That...  Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The End of Affirmative Action
Aug 2 2023
The End of Affirmative Action
The Supreme Court recently issued a decision banning race-conscious admission in higher education. In this episode, Ben and Khalil talk with Anurima Bhargava, who served in the Civil Rights Division of Obama’s Department of Justice focusing on education. Anurima also went to high school with Ben and Khalil at Kenwood Academy in Chicago. They talk about what’s great about going to a diverse school, as well as how the conservative movement plotted to get rid of affirmative action and what is lost as a result. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Fantastic Future: Reimagining the American City
Jul 26 2023
Fantastic Future: Reimagining the American City
This week, Ben and Khalil are talking about the future of cities. Their guest, Toni Griffin, is an architect, urban planner, and artist. She teaches at the Harvard School of Design, where she leads the Just City Lab, a team focused on community revitalization in city planning. Toni joins Ben and Khalil to talk about centering people in urban design, and her new show at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale that imagines "fantastic futures.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
From The Last Archive: Acting Out
Jul 19 2023
From The Last Archive: Acting Out
Here’s a special episode from another Pushkin show we love -- The Last Archive. In the 1930s, at a women's reformatory in upstate New York, an upstart social scientist made a study that launched the field of social network analysis. It was revolutionary, but missed something happening at the same time at the same school, something we know now in part from the story of the school's most famous inmate: Ella Fitzgerald. To hear the rest of the season, visit The Last Archive show page on Apple Podcasts, at pushkin.fm, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
America’s Poverty is by Design
Jul 12 2023
America’s Poverty is by Design
America is the richest country on earth, and yet we have the highest levels of poverty of any advanced democracy. Why is that? And what should we do about it? Matthew Desmond joins Ben and Khalil to discuss the rousing arguments of his new book Poverty, By America: we are all culpable for this problem, and it’s on us to fix it. Additional links: Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond Correction: Parole, Prison and the Possibility of Change by Ben AustenSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ben and Khalil Go South
Jul 5 2023
Ben and Khalil Go South
Ben and Khalil take a trip down South to Sewanee University, otherwise known as the University of the South. The school’s history is rooted in the Confederacy, and Ben and Khalil look at how that history belongs to all of America. Through various conversations and excursions, they explore what it means to be Southern, whether that identity can be made more expansive, and why the region defines every American. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The FBI’s War on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Jun 28 2023
The FBI’s War on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. needs no introduction. The man changed the course of American history, and paid the ultimate price for his work. But in Jonathan Eig’s biography, King: A Life, we learn more about his personal life and struggle to overcome his own doubts about the Civil Rights movement. Eig joins Khalil and Ben to discuss his book and the new stories he uncovered from FBI documents about the life of Dr. King. Additional links:King, A Life by Jonathan EigSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Immigrants Aren't the Problem
Jun 21 2023
Immigrants Aren't the Problem
Immigration in America is a humanitarian crisis and a political disaster. It has been for years. In this episode, Khalil and Ben talk to immigration lawyer, artist and activist Carolina Rubio-MacWright about current immigration policy, and what’s happening today in cities like Chicago and New York with ballooning populations of immigrants sent from border states. Carolina also shares the innovative ways she uses art and advocacy to connect with people at the heart of the crisis, people whom most of us can’t live without. To learn more about Carolina’s workshops: https://www.touchingland.org/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Are We in a Civil War?
Jun 14 2023
Are We in a Civil War?
Jeff Sharlet started reporting from Donald Trump’s rallies in 2015, when his presidential campaign stoked a resurgence of white nationalism and white supremacy. Since then, Jeff has traveled the country exploring the growing threats and eruptions of political violence. He writes about these experiences in his New York Times bestselling book The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War, and he sat down with Ben and Khalil to discuss the book and his belief that we are, today, in the midst of a gradually unfolding civil war. Additional links: The Undertow by Jeff SharletSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
To the Hip Hop You Don’t Stop with Jelani Cobb
Jun 7 2023
To the Hip Hop You Don’t Stop with Jelani Cobb
Ben and Khalil are joined by their friend Jelani Cobb, Dean of Columbia Journalism School and New Yorker staff writer, to talk about 50 years of hip hop. They discuss what the music meant to them growing up in Chicago and New York. They talk about the documentary Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World, and also about how the music’s legacy lives on. Additional links: Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World, Chuck D’s PBS documentary Hip Hop at 50: An Elegy by Jelani Cobb for The New YorkerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ending the Cycle of Police Violence with Keith Ellison
May 31 2023
Ending the Cycle of Police Violence with Keith Ellison
It’s been three years since George Floyd was murdered by the police. After a swell of action followed by inaction, an important question remains: What still needs to change to break the cycle of police violence in America? Khalil and Ben talk to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison about prosecuting the officers who killed Floyd. The three also debate their visions of what justice looks like. This conversation was recorded live at the Chicago Humanities Festival.  Order Break the Wheel: Ending the Cycle of Police Violence here To learn more about Chicago Humanities, visit their website: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Truth and Reconciliation: A Lesson from South Africa
May 3 2023
Truth and Reconciliation: A Lesson from South Africa
Khalil talks to Ben about a recent trip he took to South Africa and what America can learn from the country’s efforts to reckon with its racist past. Nearly 30 years after apartheid ended, reconciliation remains elusive and reparations are still unpaid.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Why Can't We Be Friends?
Apr 26 2023
Why Can't We Be Friends?
Friendships like Ben and Khalil's are rare in America, according to the numbers. In this episode, they talk about the social science on interracial friendships, and about the particular conditions that made their friendship possible. Plus, why these friendships are important in bridging our deeply divided country.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What’s Wrong with ‘You People’?
Apr 19 2023
What’s Wrong with ‘You People’?
Romance across race and religion has been the focus of a bunch of movies – some comedies, some dramas. Kenya Barris and Jonah Hill are taking a swing at it now, with their new movie, ‘You People.’ Ben and Khalil talk about its attempts to address the intricacies of a relationship between a Black, Muslim woman and a white, Jewish man. Is this a successful update to the 1967 classic ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Taking a Knee with Malcolm Gladwell
Apr 12 2023
Taking a Knee with Malcolm Gladwell
Sports have always been political, despite what some fans might like to believe. So what role should athletes play in political movements? Malcolm Gladwell joins Ben and Khalil to discuss the history of activism in sports, including his recent podcast, Legacy of Speed, about Tommie Smith and John Carlos – two Black sprinters who raised their fists in protest at the 1968 Olympic Games.  Listen to Legacy of Speed at pushkin.fm, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
From Started From the Bottom: How Charlamagne Turned Failure Into Success
Apr 5 2023
From Started From the Bottom: How Charlamagne Turned Failure Into Success
Here’s a special episode from a new Pushkin podcast, Started From the Bottom. Host Justin Richmond interviews successful people with humble origins who managed to scale the summit of success – people who grew up on the outside, people of color, people who weren’t part of the old boys’ network. Justin recently sat down with media firebrand Charlamagne Tha God – over his 25 year career, he’s clawed his way to the top of the radio industry. Justin asked the long-time host of The Breakfast Club what it took for him – a young man suffering from anxiety, constantly in and out of jail – to become an icon of modern media. Hear more from Started From the Bottom at apple.co/thebottom.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Can Multiracial Adoption End Racism?
Mar 29 2023
Can Multiracial Adoption End Racism?
Matthew Guterl is a historian of race and nation at Brown University, and also Khalil’s other white best friend. He joins the show to discuss his powerful new memoir, Skinfolk. It’s about his experience growing up in New Jersey during the 1970s, part of a large family with multiracial and adopted siblings. The three of them have a frank conversation about family dynamics and the limits of transracial adoption.  You can order a copy of Skinfolk here: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324091714See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Jeffersons vs. Sanford & Son
Mar 22 2023
The Jeffersons vs. Sanford & Son
Ben and Khalil throw it back to the 1970s to talk about the TV shows they loved growing up – two of the greatest and most important sit-coms: Sanford & Son and The Jeffersons. They discuss how the shows handle race, class and comedy. And how the small screen and the world it reflects have changed since then.  If you’d like to rewatch Sanford & Son or The Jeffersons, both are available on Amazon Prime Video. Further Reading: The Media Dramas of Norman Lear - Michael J. Arlen, The New Yorker Jake Austen’s zine Roctober on the vast comedic work of Redd FoxxSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Why We Love and Hate Hollywood
Mar 15 2023
Why We Love and Hate Hollywood
Khalil and Ben go to the movies with the perfect partner: Jacqueline Stewart, the director and president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. They talk about how movies shape our lives, and why representation matters… on the big screen and at awards shows (Oscars still so white). To learn more about the museum, visit their website: https://www.academymuseum.org/en/  To see the full clip of Sacheen Littlefeather rejecting the Best Actor award on behalf of Marlon Brando click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QUacU0I4yU&ab_channel=Oscars See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.