RE: Something Interesting | Johnny Smith on What Michael Jordan Meant for 1990s America, the Colorblind Racial Ideal, and Sports in Politics

Welcome to RE: Something Interesting, The Realignment's new Saturday podcast focused on more casual conversations about American culture and society with people who've released something worth diving into. Today's guest is Georgia Tech's Johnny Smith, author of Jumpman: The Making and Meaning of Michael Jordan. Marshall and Johnny discuss how racial politics shaped Michael Jordan's career, the role of sports in society, how American culture shifted during the 1980s and 1990s, and why the country's 1990s-era racial optimism seems to have transitioned into racial pessimism during the 2010s and 2020s.