Jabari Asim

Jabari Asim is the Editor-in-chief of Crisis magazine (a cultural and political journal published by the NAACP and founded by W.E.B Dubois in 1910).  He is the former deputy book editor for the Washington Post. A syndicated columnist, he’s the author of 2008 book The N-Word: Who Can Say it, Who Shouldn’t and Why. A nationally known cultural critic, Jabari Asim has been a scholar-in-residence at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and is currently associate professor of writing, literature and publishing at Emerson College. He is a frequent commentator who has appeared on The Colbert Report, Hannity & Colmes, The Today Show, NPR’s Diane Rehm Show, and many other media programs. His other books include What Obama Means . . . for Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Future; Not Guilty: Twelve Black Men Speak Out on Law, Justice, and Life; and several books for children. His children’s book Whose Toes Are Those? was chosen as a best book of 2006 by Child Magazine, Nick Jr. Magazine, and the Forward. His poetry, fiction, and plays have been included in a number of major anthologies, including Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America, Step Into a World: A Global Anthology of the New Black Literature, Beyond the Frontier: African-American Poetry for the 21st Century; and Furious Flower: A Collection of Contemporary African American Poetry. His freelance writing has appeared in Ebony, Essence, salon.com, the Los Angeles Times, Village Voice, New York Times, and elsewhere.