Race and Rights Podcast

Systemic Racism in U.S. Law with Anthony Farley and Benjamin Davis (Episode 64)

The intersection of domestic civil rights struggles and international human rights law represents a critical frontier in the fight against systemic racism and state-sanctioned violence. The UN Human Rights Council's historic George Floyd resolution marked a watershed moment, demonstrating how international legal mechanisms can be mobilized to address persistent patterns of racial oppression within the United States. This development reflects broader questions about the relationship between legal systems and liberation, particularly when examining how the rule of law itself may function as a mechanism for perpetuating racial hierarchies rather than dismantling them. Critical race theorists have long argued that legal structures, rather than providing pathways to freedom, may actually constitute sophisticated forms of control that maintain white supremacist power relations through seemingly neutral juridical processes. Join host Professor Sahar Aziz for a powerful dual presentation featuring Professor Benjamin Davis, who examines the international legal implications of the UN Human Rights Council's response to systemic racism in America, and Professor Anthony Farley from Albany Law School, whose groundbreaking work in Critical Race Theory explores how the very foundations of law and property rights emerge from and perpetuate anti-Black violence. Professor Davis analyzes how international human rights mechanisms are finally turning their scrutiny toward American racial injustice, while Professor Farley presents his provocative thesis that legal liberation itself may be an impossibility within current juridical structures. Together, these distinguished scholars challenge listeners to confront uncomfortable truths about whether reform within existing legal frameworks can ever achieve genuine racial justice, or whether more fundamental transformations of law and society are necessary. #Racism #CRT #CriticalRaceTheory #CivilRights Biography Anthony Paul Farley is the James Campbell Matthews Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence at Albany Law School, where he specializes in constitutional law, criminal procedure, and legal theory. He is a member of the American Law Institute and has served on the Board of Governors of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) and the Executive Committee of the Minorities Section of the Association of American Law Schools. Prior to joining Albany Law School, Professor Farley was a tenured faculty member at Boston College Law School for 16 years. Before entering academia, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and practiced law as a Corporate/Securities Associate with Shearman and Sterling in New York City. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Virginia. Benjamin G. Davis is Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Toledo College of Law, where he taught public international law, contracts, and alternative dispute resolution. He holds degrees from Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Business School. Before entering academia, Professor Davis served as American Legal Counsel at the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, where he supervised over 1,000 international arbitration and mediation cases. He led the successful effort in the American Society of International Law to pass its Centennial Resolution on Laws of War and Detainee Treatment, only the eighth resolution in that organization’s history. He has written and spoken extensively on accountability for torture, military commissions, and international human rights law. Recommended Readings The Black Body as Fetish Object [https://ssrn.com/abstract=1518415], Oregon Law Review (1997) Perfecting Slavery [https://loyola-chicago-law-journal.scholasticahq.com/article/76661-perfecting-slavery], Loyola University Chicago Law Journal (2004) The Colorline as Capitalist Accumulation [https://ssrn.com/abstract=1536747], Buffalo Law Review (2008) Support the show [https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html] Support the Center for Security, Race and Rights [https://csrr.rutgers.edu/] by following us and making a donation: Donate: https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html [https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html]  Subscribe to our Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbUfYcWGZapBNYvCObiCpp3qtxgH_jFy  [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbUfYcWGZapBNYvCObiCpp3qtxgH_jFy] Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rucsrr [https://twitter.com/rucsrr]  Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/rutgerscsrr [https://instagram.com/rutgerscsrr]  Follow us on Threads: https://threads.com/rutgerscsrr [https://threads.com/rutgerscsrr]  Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/rucsrr [https://facebook.com/rucsrr]  Follow us on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/rucsrr [https://tiktok.com/rucsrr]

Gaza, Genocide, and International Law with Omar Shakir (Episode 63)

This episode examines the systematic violations of Palestinian human rights and the international community's failure to hold Israel accountable for breaching its treaty obligations. Accountability is necessary for the documented crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution that Israeli authorities commit against millions of Palestinians, and the broader pattern of human rights abuses across Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.  How do these violations persist despite clear international legal frameworks, and the devastating humanitarian consequences for Palestinian civilians who face displacement, restricted access to basic services, and ongoing threats to their survival? We analyze the international community's inconsistent response to these documented abuses and the urgent need for meaningful accountability mechanisms.  Join host Sahar Aziz [https://saharazizlaw.com/] for this critical analysis of international law, state responsibility, and the ongoing humanitarian crisis facing millions of Palestinians. Our guest is Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, whose groundbreaking documentation of Israeli apartheid and persecution led to his deportation by the Israeli government in 2019. A Stanford Law graduate and former Fulbright Scholar, Shakir has dedicated his career to human rights advocacy, from representing Guantanamo detainees at the Center for Constitutional Rights to investigating the Rab’a massacre in Egypt. His comprehensive reports on crimes against humanity in Israel and Palestine have shaped international discourse on accountability and justice.    #Israel #Palestine #Gaza #Genocide #ICC #HumanRights   Biography Omar Shakir [https://dawnmena.org/omar-shakir/] is the Executive Director of Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN), the organization founded by the late Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi that seeks to change US policy in the Middle East and hold human rights abusers in the region accountable. Prior to his current role, Omar served for nearly a decade as the Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch. In that capacity, he spearheaded the organization's documentation of the genocide in Gaza and other atrocities across Israel/Palestine and authored several seminal reports, including a 213-page report documenting how Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution against millions of Palestinians, the most widely covered and viewed report in the organization's history.  Before that, he was a Bertha Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights, where he worked as part of legal teams that represented men detained at Guantanamo Bay, making frequent visits to the detention facility. Recommended Readings Extermination and Acts of Genocide [https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/12/19/extermination-and-acts-genocide/israel-deliberately-depriving-palestinians-gaza], Human Rights Watch (2024) Hopeless, Starving, and Besieged [https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/11/14/hopeless-starving-and-besieged/israels-forced-displacement-palestinians-gaza], Human Rights Watch (2024) A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution [https://www.hrw.org/publications?keyword=&created=&country%255B%255D=9638], Human Rights Watch (2021) Support the show [https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html] Support the Center for Security, Race and Rights [https://csrr.rutgers.edu/] by following us and making a donation: Donate: https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html [https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html]  Subscribe to our Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbUfYcWGZapBNYvCObiCpp3qtxgH_jFy  [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbUfYcWGZapBNYvCObiCpp3qtxgH_jFy] Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rucsrr [https://twitter.com/rucsrr]  Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/rutgerscsrr [https://instagram.com/rutgerscsrr]  Follow us on Threads: https://threads.com/rutgerscsrr [https://threads.com/rutgerscsrr]  Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/rucsrr [https://facebook.com/rucsrr]  Follow us on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/rucsrr [https://tiktok.com/rucsrr]

Neither Settler Nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities with Mahmood Mamdani (Episode 62)

This episode explores how colonial states and nation-states have been mutually constructed through the deliberate politicization of religious or ethnic majorities at the expense of manufactured minorities. The discussion traces this destructive pattern from its American origins—where genocide and reservation systems created permanent native minorities—to its adoption by both Nazi Germany and Allied forces in Europe, and its contemporary manifestations from Israel to Sudan. The conversation challenges conventional approaches to addressing political violence, arguing that legal frameworks like those attempted at Nuremberg have inherent limitations and that true resolution requires political rather than criminal solutions. Join host Sahar Aziz [https://saharazizlaw.com/] in conversation with Dr. Mahmood Mamdani [https://anthropology.columbia.edu/content/mahmood-mamdani], about his provocative new book “Neither Settler Nor Native—Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674278608]” argues for delinking the nation from the state to ensure equal political rights for all residents, moving beyond permanent political identities of settler and native. Biography Mahmood Mamdani is the Herbert Lehman Professor of Government at Columbia University and former Executive Director of Makerere Institute of Social Research in Uganda. With a PhD from Harvard and an expertise spanning histories of Western imperialist projects, anti-colonialist movements, and decolonization, Dr. Mamdani has spent decades examining the intersection of politics and culture through comparative colonial studies, civil war and genocide in Africa, and the politics of knowledge production. Recommended Reading Mahmood Mamdani,Neither Settler Nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674278608](Harvard 2022) Mahmood Mamdani,Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror [https://www.labyrinthbooks.com/good-muslim-bad-muslim/](Bantam 2005) #Israel #Palestine #HumanRights #Colonialism #Anticolonialism #SouthAfrica #Mamdani #Settler Support the show [https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html] Support the Center for Security, Race and Rights [https://csrr.rutgers.edu/] by following us and making a donation: Donate: https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html [https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html]  Subscribe to our Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbUfYcWGZapBNYvCObiCpp3qtxgH_jFy  [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbUfYcWGZapBNYvCObiCpp3qtxgH_jFy] Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rucsrr [https://twitter.com/rucsrr]  Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/rutgerscsrr [https://instagram.com/rutgerscsrr]  Follow us on Threads: https://threads.com/rutgerscsrr [https://threads.com/rutgerscsrr]  Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/rucsrr [https://facebook.com/rucsrr]  Follow us on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/rucsrr [https://tiktok.com/rucsrr]

Origins and Politics of Sudan's Proxy War with Isma'il Kushkush (Episode 61)

In this episode, Professor Sahar Aziz is in conversation with award winning journalist Isma’il Kuskush about the complex origins, multiple domestic and foreign actors, and human rights crisis of Sudan’s war. The ongoing power struggle between rival military elites is rooted in decades of militarization, failed democratic transition, and unresolved ethnic conflict. Its humanitarian consequences—mass displacement, famine risk, and widespread atrocities—have elevated it into one of the most severe human rights crises globally. The current war in Sudan began in April 2023, when fighting erupted between two factions of the country’s security forces: the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The immediate trigger was a dispute over integrating the RSF into the national army as part of a planned transition to civilian rule after years of military dominance. A critical turning point occurred in 2019, when longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir was overthrown. A fragile civilian–military transition followed, but in October 2021, the SAF and RSF jointly staged a coup that derailed democratic reforms. Tensions between the two leaders then escalated into open conflict as both sought control over the state, economic resources (especially gold), and the future political system. The devastating war in Sudan has produced what many international organizations describe as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Millions of civilians have been displaced, and basic infrastructure—healthcare, food distribution, and education—has collapsed in many regions. Biography Isma’il Kushkush is a Sudanese-American journalist who was based in Khartoum, Sudan, for eight years, where he contributed to The New York Times, CNN, Voice of America and Al Jazeera English. For two three-month periods in 2014 and again in 2015, he was acting bureau chief for The New York Times in East Africa based in Nairobi. He has covered political, economic, social and cultural stories from Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Burundi, Sweden and the United States. He has also worked as a fixer, translator and interpreter. Kushkush grew up in the United States, Sudan, Syria and Kuwait. He received a master of arts degree in journalism from Columbia Journalism School in New York with a focus on politics and global affairs. He is a fluent Arabic-speaker. Recommended Readings Isma’il Kushkush,Leaving Khartoum [https://www.nybooks.com/online/2025/12/30/leaving-khartoum/](The New York Review 2025) Isma’il Kuskkush,Sudan’s Journalists Risk Everything to Cover a War the World Ignores [https://niemanreports.org/sudan-civil-war-journalists-underreported-press-freedom-ismail-kushkush/](Neiman Reports 2026) Isma’il Kushkush,Sudan’s Uprising, Bashir’s Fall, and My Father’s Passing [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/sudans-uprising-bashirs-fall-and-my-fathers-passing](The New Yorker 2019) #Sudan #HumanRights #Khartoum #CivilWar #UAE #Egypt Support the show [https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html] Support the Center for Security, Race and Rights [https://csrr.rutgers.edu/] by following us and making a donation: Donate: https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html [https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html]  Subscribe to our Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbUfYcWGZapBNYvCObiCpp3qtxgH_jFy  [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbUfYcWGZapBNYvCObiCpp3qtxgH_jFy] Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rucsrr [https://twitter.com/rucsrr]  Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/rutgerscsrr [https://instagram.com/rutgerscsrr]  Follow us on Threads: https://threads.com/rutgerscsrr [https://threads.com/rutgerscsrr]  Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/rucsrr [https://facebook.com/rucsrr]  Follow us on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/rucsrr [https://tiktok.com/rucsrr]

Genealogy of African Islamic Modernity with Wendell Marsh (Episode 60)

African Islamic modernity is a complex and ongoing historical project—our guest’s scholarship illuminates the intricate entanglements between African racial identities, Islamic ways of living, and modernity as the dominant global framework for social, economic, and political organization. Using Senegal as a focal point, Professor Wendell Marsh [https://www.wendellmarsh.com/bio] explores how a society with a millennium of Islamic presence and over five centuries of integration into the global economy—shaped sequentially by the trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonization, and neoliberal structural adjustment—has consistently escaped both Africanist and Orientalist scholarly constructions.   Wendell Marsh's expertise in African-Arabic textuality and the intellectual history of Islam in Africa provides essential insight into how Islamic scholarly traditions in places like Senegal have produced sophisticated theological and political responses to colonial domination and global economic integration. His research on figures like Shaykh Musa Kamara demonstrates how African Muslim intellectuals developed complex theoretical frameworks that simultaneously engaged with global Islamic thought, resisted colonial epistemologies, and articulated distinctly African forms of Islamic modernity.  This scholarly approach reveals how African Islamic modernity represents not simply a reaction to Western modernity, but rather an alternative genealogy of modern thought that emerges from the intersection of Islamic intellectual traditions, African social structures, and the historical experience of slavery, colonialism, and contemporary global capitalism.  The episode draws on cutting-edge scholarship in Africana Studies that challenges conventional academic boundaries between African Studies, Islamic Studies, and colonial history to reveal how African Islamic societies have created unique pathways to modernity.  Biography Wendell Marsh is an Associate Professor of African Humanities at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Ben Guérir, Morocco. He researches and teaches at the intersections of African and diasporic intellectual history, comparative literature, religious studies, and the politics of knowledge production. Professor Marsh’s scholarship foregrounds African contributions to global intellectual traditions—especially through Arabic-language sources—and examines how race, religion, and language shape the humanities and public discourse. Recommended Readings Wendell Marsh, Textual Life: Islam, Africa, and the Fate of the Humanities ( [https://cup.columbia.edu/book/textual-life/9780231558556/]Columbia University Press, 2025) #Islam #Africa #IslamicModernity #Muslims #Humanities #Slavery #Colonialism Support the show [https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html] Support the Center for Security, Race and Rights [https://csrr.rutgers.edu/] by following us and making a donation: Donate: https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html [https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html]  Subscribe to our Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbUfYcWGZapBNYvCObiCpp3qtxgH_jFy  [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbUfYcWGZapBNYvCObiCpp3qtxgH_jFy] Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rucsrr [https://twitter.com/rucsrr]  Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/rutgerscsrr [https://instagram.com/rutgerscsrr]  Follow us on Threads: https://threads.com/rutgerscsrr [https://threads.com/rutgerscsrr]  Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/rucsrr [https://facebook.com/rucsrr]  Follow us on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/rucsrr [https://tiktok.com/rucsrr]