In episode 37 of Politics with Pan, we sit down with Dr. Marlon Smith, Professor and Director for the Center for Africana Studies and Africana and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina Upstate, for a powerful and thought-provoking conversation on Black political power, activism, and justice in America.The episode opens with an in-depth discussion of Dr. Smith's groundbreaking "Erasure of Black Men" initiative, a series of fireside chats that confronts harmful narratives about Black men propagated without their voices or supporting research. Dr. Smith critiques what he calls "Anti-Black misandrist language," tracing its roots to biased white feminist academic frameworks that have been adopted into Black intellectual thought without critical examination. He explains how these narratives fail to reflect the lived realities of Black men and why restoring their voice is essential to addressing genuine systemic disparities across criminal justice, education, economics, health, and overall life outcomes.The conversation then shifts to the historical and systemic challenges uniquely faced by Black men in the United States. Dr. Smith breaks down the deliberate degendering of Black men during enslavement, explaining how lineage was traced through the mother rather than the father, denying Black men the patriarchal privileges afforded to white men. He discusses how the suppression of Black male voices over the past 30 years has created a crisis of self-definition, where Black men often measure their worth through external roles rather than intrinsic value. He also introduces the concept of "vulnerable spaces" as an alternative to "safe spaces," arguing that Black men need environments where they can take emotional risks and share their hurts without judgment.One of the most striking moments of the episode comes when Dr. Smith addresses how society only shows up for Black men after they have died or been irreparably harmed, referencing cases like George Floyd and wrongful convictions. He delivers a powerful statement that Black males' deaths are the most profitable things in the United States, benefiting industries like gun manufacturing and media while leaving Black men themselves without support. Dr. Smith also highlights that Black men earn between 56 to 76 cents on the dollar compared to white men, making less than white women, and calls for Black men to ally for themselves and organize around their own issues rather than seeking allies from other groups.The episode concludes with Dr. Smith's assessment of the current state of Black America in 2026, which he describes as one of "delusion and confusion." He unpacks the growing class divide within the Black community, where affluent Black families are moving to suburbs and disengaging from their original communities, churches are segregating by class, and the collective unity that powered movements like the Montgomery Bus Boycott has eroded.Throughout the episode, Pan and Dr. Smith move beyond surface-level discourse to challenge the systems, narratives, and internal divisions that have kept Black men marginalized, calling for a shift from maintaining inherited institutions to building new ones, and from seeking external validation to reclaiming the power to define, organize, and advocate for themselves.Follow Dr. Marlon Smith:📸 Instagram: / marlon.smith91 💼 Black Greek Speak: https://www.blackgreeksspeak.org/marl...