In his book “An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States,” Kyle T. Mays [https://www.kyle-mays.com/], Assistant Professor of African American Studies, American Indian Studies, and History at UCLA, argues that the foundations of the United States are rooted in Anti-Black racism and settler colonialism, and that these parallel oppressions continue today.

In his discussion with EcoJustice Radio, he explores how Black and Indigenous peoples (sometimes together, sometimes apart) have always sought to disrupt, dismantle, and re-imagine US democracy. He uses examples of the Black Power and Red Power movements of the 60s and 70s, as well as collaborations for the Standing Rock Sioux and Black Lives Matter. Dr. Mays’ work seeks to illuminate how we can imagine and put into practice a more just world.

Kyle T. Mays is an Afro-Indigenous (Saginaw Chippewa) writer and scholar of US history, urban studies, race relations, and contemporary popular culture at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Mays is an author of 3 books, 'Hip Hop Beats, Indigenous Rhymes: Modernity and Hip Hop in Indigenous North America' (SUNY Press, 2018), 'An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States' (Beacon Press, 2021), and 'City of Dispossessions: Indigenous Peoples, African Americans, and the Creation of Modern Detroit' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022).