Tavis Smiley

Dr. Todd Boyd, USC media studies professor, a.k.a. “Notorious Ph.D.,” celebrates today’s 50th anniversary of the seminal Parliament album “Mothership Connection” and shares his favorite hip-hop albums of 2025.

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Dr. Cornel West, scholar, leading public intellectual, author, and special contributor, shares his thoughts on whether Progressives should draft their own Project 2029 plan and more.

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John Nichols, executive editor of The Nation magazine, gives his analysis on how Trump is dragging Republicans to a crushing defeat and other trending political news. 

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Cecil Brown, UC Berkeley professor and Richard Pryor’s longtime friend and collaborator, celebrates the life of the GOAT as we mark 20 years since his passing this week. 

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Eva Aridjis-Fuentes, director of the fascinating documentary "Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus,” helps us celebrate what would have been the 65th birthday of the mysterious singer, best known for her haunting track “Goodbye Horses” in Jonathan Demme’s film “The Silence of the Lambs.”   

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Rev. Willie Williams, chair of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi, talks about their latest acquisition — the barn where the Black teenager from Chicago was lynched, tortured and killed 70 years ago.

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Dr. Cornel West, scholar, leading public intellectual, author, and special contributor, shares his thoughts on the passing of the first Black education secretary Rod Paige, the progressive autopsy report by RootsAction that tells how Democrats lost the White House and more.  

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Barbara McQuade, University of Michigan law professor and author of the New York Times bestseller “Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America,” gives an update on the ongoing smackdown between President Donald Trump and the U.S. Constitution.

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Lee Bey, architecture critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, is back with his exclusive look inside Home Court, the first Obama Center building to be completed, and reflects on the legacy of the late Frank Gehry. 

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Justin Elliott and Jahreem Samuels, co-founders of the WRTH app, “the world’s first AI and blockchain-verified commerce platform,” reveal details of their new six-figure investment from AWS.

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