The Arts of Racial Reckoning: Anna Deavere Smith

In the aftermath of the 1992 LA Uprisings, Anna Deavere Smith crafted TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, a play based on Smith’s interviews with over 200 Los Angeles residents. 

30 years later, through the lens of TWILIGHT, we ask: how can the arts advance social justice? Can they help us understand structural racism, as more than individual prejudice? Can they provide models for working through conflict? Can they show us both possibilities and limits to our strategies for social change?

The Arts of Racial Reckoning is executive produced by Dorinne Kondo.

This episode was produced and edited by Allyson M. Holley.

The Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race and Public Culture is generously funded by USC Dornsife and the Mellon Foundation.