Mychal Denzel Smith

The Evolution of a Beloved Postcolonial Critic and Literary Giant The essays in Jamaica Kincaid’s Putting Myself Together: Writings 1974– track the maturation of one of our most distinguished writers.

For @newrepublic.com, I wrote about Jamaica Kincaid's new collection newrepublic.com/article/1986...

Williams’s argument has found purchase among journalists he might consider fellow travelers — Yascha Mounk, Bari Weiss and Conor Friedersdorf, among others. It’s also not so new; it might remind some people of the debates about political correctness that raged in the 1990s, though Williams might balk at the comparison. He would prefer that we not invoke history (or context, or ideology, or ideas of “moral clarity”) in our debates. He’d rather we understand current events through the facts of what is happening in the here and now. We shouldn’t have tried, he says, to understand the killing of Trayvon Martin on a continuum of racial violence that includes the lynching of Emmett Till, because doing so flattened the incident into a racial drama and did not deal with specific individuals and their actions. Similarly, he argues, the murder of George Floyd should not be seen in the context of racism and police behavior, but in the light of Floyd’s poverty and drug addiction (and I suppose we are not allowed then to contextualize those factors in terms of race, or the history of labor markets, or the pharmaceutical industry — they are just individual characteristics).

a sharp review of the chatterton book that notes the author’s total refusal to engage with history and his insistence that a “serious” or “good faith” discussion requires participants to exist in an eternal present where individuals exist free of context www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/0...

❤️❤️❤️

As the author of the review, really wish you didn’t just screenshot that part as if the review was arguing something that’s very obviously not

absolutely delicious lede here

😇 thanks!

Review | Thomas Chatterton Williams is impossible to disagree with. That’s not a good thing. In “Summer of Our Discontent,” the Atlantic staff writer expands his argument that the behavior of progressives on social media and elsewhere has broken political discourse.

I, too, reviewed Thomas Chatterton Williams' new book: www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/0...

dunking on tcw summer 😎

Review | Thomas Chatterton Williams is impossible to disagree with. That’s not a good thing. In “Summer of Our Discontent,” the Atlantic staff writer expands his argument that the behavior of progressives on social media and elsewhere has broken political discourse.

I, too, reviewed Thomas Chatterton Williams' new book: www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/0...

Amy Sherald Cancels Her Smithsonian Show, Citing Censorship

Amy Sherald says the Smithsonian suggested removing a painting of a transgender woman as the Statue of Liberty from her upcoming show at the National Portrait Gallery “to avoid provoking President Trump.” Sherald: “I cannot in good conscience comply with a culture of censorship”

The Mrs. and I were talking about the character of Theo, and how the writers made him much more than his faults. As someone who struggled with certain academic courses in school, I really related to him. The more you learned about the man and his talents, the more you liked him.

Like Theo Huxtable, Malcolm-Jamal Warner Defied Expectations With Heart The actor, who died on July 20 at the age of 54, forged a career an actor that was all his own

Malcolm-Jamal Warner deserves every remembrance that is sure to come in the next days and weeks. I offer mine here, for @time.com: time.com/7304321/malc...

Like Theo Huxtable, Malcolm-Jamal Warner Defied Expectations With Heart The actor, who died on July 20 at the age of 54, forged a career an actor that was all his own

Malcolm-Jamal Warner deserves every remembrance that is sure to come in the next days and weeks. I offer mine here, for @time.com: time.com/7304321/malc...

You can’t have your siren on and take time to perfectly parallel park, if you’re gonna lie about there being an emergency you gotta fully commit

Zohran Mamdani and the “Black Vote” Mamdani struggled against Andrew Cuomo to win the "Black vote" — but his lackluster performance may not tell the whole story.

Mamdani struggled against Andrew Cuomo in majority-Black precincts — but his lackluster performance may not tell the whole story.

Zohran Mamdani and the “Black Vote” Mamdani struggled against Andrew Cuomo to win the "Black vote" — but his lackluster performance may not tell the whole story.

For @theintercept.com, I wrote about Zohran and the “black vote”: theintercept.com/2025/07/18/m...

15 Years of Clipse’s Lord Willin’, The Album That Proved Virginia Beach Is for Rap Lovers One Virginia Beach native on how Malice and Pusha T’s debut, more than any other album, painted the whole picture of his hometown.

Happy Clipse Day to one and all, but most importantly to my fellow Virginians—here, a throwback to when I wrote about Lord Willin’ for @pitchfork.com pitchfork.com/thepitch/15-...

“How you tell a story, and what parts you tell, matters.”–In “Chosen History” from Issue 105, @mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social‬ takes notes on the state of Virginia.

Read the full essay: https://shorturl.at/2iA3n

Art: “Jefferson,” by Maxine Helfman

Issue 150 is out today! To celebrate, we’re kicking off a 12-hour flash sale, starting now. Subscribe before 7pm PST and get an annual subscription for 40% off—that’s four issues for just $35.

anyone remember how to celebrate good things happening?

Fatherhood Thinking of Mahmoud Khalil

had some feelings about Mahmoud Khalil's release from prison, wrote them down: mychaldenzelsmith.substack.com/p/fatherhood

(preferably paid, since my child will not stop growing and needs mountains of blueberries to sustain her)

(please consider becoming a subscriber, free or paid, as I work to build this thing up)

Fatherhood Thinking of Mahmoud Khalil

had some feelings about Mahmoud Khalil's release from prison, wrote them down: mychaldenzelsmith.substack.com/p/fatherhood

dying empire wants to take everyone else with it

the single image every genuinely freedom-loving american has been waiting for

The Subway Is Not Scary Fear of the subway is a mark of low moral character.

Normalize making fun of people who are afraid of the subway.

www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/the-subway...

Rough Patch Some reflections on the past few years of my career

My career hasn’t gone the way I envisioned it the past few years. I wrote a bit about how and why here: mychaldenzelsmith.substack.com/p/rough-patch

Rough Patch Some reflections on the past few years of my career

My career hasn’t gone the way I envisioned it the past few years. I wrote a bit about how and why here: mychaldenzelsmith.substack.com/p/rough-patch