Terrell J Starr Official

Black Diplomats is back with Alexa Kellogg-Kurmanova, a PhD student in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Terrell met Alexa at the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies conference in New Orleans and they hit it off immediately. Kellogg-Kurmanova is a queer Black woman from Chicago, and her husband is a trans man from Kyrgyzstan. She speaks Russian and has spent a lot of time in East European communities, both in Central Asia and the US.

They go deep on how Kellogg-Kurmanova was introduced to the Russian language and babushka culture, and what it means to be your authentic self when you're thousands of miles from home.

This is part two of a two-part conversation, check out last week’s post for part 1.

Welcome back!

Black Diplomats is back from our hiatus with an update from Terrell about plans for the show and an all new interview.

Our guest today is Alexa Kellogg-Kurmanova, a PhD student in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Terrell met Alexa at the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies conference in New Orleans and they hit it off immediately. Kellogg-Kurmanova is a queer Black woman from Chicago, and her husband is a trans man from Kyrgyzstan. She speaks Russian and has spent a lot of time in East European communities, both in Central Asia and the US.

They go deep on how Kellogg-Kurmanova was introduced to the Russian language and babushka culture, and what it means to be your authentic self when you're thousands of miles from home.

This is part one of a two-part conversation.

Haiti has been hit with another earthquake just weeks after the assassination of their President. As the world struggles to find ways to help one thing has become clear: the condescending Euro-centric model of aid has very little to offer.

On this week’s episode of Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr welcomes Emma Ashford to talk about how the world community has failed Haiti, and what we’re supposed to do now. This conversation isn’t just about the dollars and cents, they get into deep philosophical questions like reparations and what it means to feel safe.

Thank you for listening!

Hello everyone, Mike here, the producer of Black Diplomats. We have a couple of short announcements this week, so I thought I’d jump on your feed for the update.

Terrell is dealing with a family emergency right now, so our regular episodes are postponed for a couple weeks. Please keep him in your thoughts.

In more lighthearted news, we recently received a grant from the Ploughshares Fund to do a series on the Iran nuclear deal and the nuclear program in North Korea. Ploughshares has supported a lot of great people and a lot of great causes over the years, and we are genuinely proud to be welcomed into their community. We’re working on those episodes now, look forward to hearing them later this year.

Thank you for listening!

After 100 years of lobbying the US government has finally recognized the Armenian genocide, carried out by the Turkish government in the transition out of the Ottoman empire.

On this episode of Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr talks to Sophia Armen, a scholar and activist who lost eight members of her family in the genocide. She is the third generation of activists in her family who have fought to keep the memory of those bloody days alive.

Armen talks about some of the details of the systematic removal of Armenians from Turkey, and reminds us that Hitler looked to the program as a model for his final solution.

Terrell talks about his experience learning about how race functions in the Caucasus. They recognize the global nature of empire that underpins it all, and how different groups of oppressed people can work together to achieve reparations and healing.

Thank you for listening!

The Republic of Georgia has a storied history in the heart of the Caucasus mountains.

Host Terrell Starr first went there after the fall of the Soviet Union when they were still struggling to figure out a new way of life. In today’s episode of Black Diplomats he talks about that critical time, for him and for the nation of Georgia. He talks about living in the region as a Black man, and how he found ways to connect with his neighbors.

Then Terrell talks to Eka Gigauri, a native Georgian who serves on the board of Transparency International and has been watching the political crisis in Tblisi with a close eye.

Terrell wrote an article for Foreign Policy magazine on the situation last week and was eager to get up to speed with someone on the ground.

These two old friends reminisce on the past, give us a tour of what Georgians have built in their country, and talk about what they’re looking forward to.

Music by Tall Black Guy and Quintet Urmuli.

Thank you for listening!

This week on Black Diplomats we’ve got a new format and new guests, but have faith - we’re still taking aim at white supremacist imperialism, and there’s nothing new about that.

We’re all about giving platform to people who don’t get invited into mainstream media, and we’ve done a great job of it. We also want to broaden the foreign policy conversation by bringing in new audiences. One of the barriers for a lot of folks is basic context and geography, so we’re going to start filling in some blanks.

Host Terrell Starr will be opening the show with news highlights and a little context for the interview, including his personal stories, racial analysis, policy expertise, and historical information. These bite-sized segments help make sense out of the news and cut through the propaganda.

Our guests segments will be a little shorter, but we still won’t be talking to any Ukrainian ‘elites’!

Journalist and filmmaker Olga Tokariuk brings us the perspective from Kyiv, where there isn’t any evidence of panic, or any surprise at Putin’s bluster. Eilish Hart is a journalist and researcher who writes about the former Soviet Union. She’s been keeping a keen eye on Alexei Navalny, and joins us to explain his recent hunger strike that ended on April 23.

We hope you enjoy the new format!

Thank you for listening!

President Biden announced that he wants all US troops out of Afghanistan by 9/11/21, two decades after the attack that ostensibly launched our global war on terror. As usual, we’re hearing plenty of opinions from people who’ve never been there and don’t know what they’re talking about.

This week on Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr is talking to three vets who have multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Isiah James was a “door kicker” as he calls it, a frontline grunt who saw the horrors of war firsthand. Richard Brookshire was an Army medic who dealt with the aftermath of battle, and Brittany Ramos DeBarros interacted with Afghan citizens as part of the ‘hearts and minds’ campaign.

Three different experiences, three different perspectives, but they all agree - we should have been out of Afghanistan years ago.

Our guests talk about their time in country, and point out that leaving Afghanistan doesn’t mean US imperialism has slowed down one bit - anyone ever heard of Africom?

Thank you for listening!

There’s a lot happening in Florida right now!

From whatever the hell is going on with Matt Gaetz, to the governor acting like the pandemic is over, and the state legislature trying to restrict voting. Of course there are progressives all over the state fighting back, but where are the Democrats?

This week Black Diplomats welcomes Pam Keith to try to make sense of it all. Keith ran for congress in Florida and has a plan for how to turn the state blue. Her razor sharp observations of the important battleground state are the best way to know what’s coming up.

One thing on everyone’s mind - what’s going on with Florida Man fratboy Matt Gaetz?! Keith points out that he’s always had his dad get him out of trouble in the past, but he might be in too deep this time.

Finally, Keith describes her plan for getting Florida out of the mess that’s been caused by the Republican political machine. Her new group, Fight 4 Florida, is learning lessons from movements all over the country and bringing real progressive change to Florida politics.

Thanks for listening!

On this week’s episode of Black Diplomats we’re sharing an interview Terrell did on The Power Vertical, a podcast about Russian politics hosted by Brian Whitmore.

They talk about Terrell’s op-ed in The Washington Post on Alexi Navalny, how race works in the former Soviet states, and what the US has to do to weaken Russian government interference in our society. How can we deal with urgent issues like race, without letting the Kremlin dictate the terms?

Whitmore also asks about Terrell’s upcoming memoir, A Black Man on the Steppe. This episode is a chance to hear Terrell chop it up with a fellow Atlantic Council colleague. This is what it sounds like at the smartest table in the bar.

The Power Vertical is an excellent podcast and blog for keeping up with Russian politics from an insiders perspective. Like Terrell, Whitmore has spend a lot of time in the former Soviet states and has a lot of friends in the region. These guys know their stuff.

Thank you for listening!