About this episode

Dinaw Mengestu joins Zachary Karabell to discuss the state of free expression and the challenges faced by vulnerable populations in the U.S.

We hear often that freedom of speech is under threat. And it’s easy to feel like things have never been worse in that regard. But is that really true? Dinaw Mengestu, an acclaimed novelist, MacArthur Genius grant recipient, and president of PEN America, joins host Zachary Karabell to examine the true state of free speech in the United States and abroad. Mengestu shares his personal journey of immigrating to the United States from Ethiopia in the early 1980s, and how his childhood shapes his view of the topic and his feeling of belonging in America and the world. Mengestu and Karabell also explore whether the current climate of government pressure and self censorship is a unique historical crisis or simply part of a long standing oscillation in American culture. While advocating for the protection of all speech, Mengestu highlights the very real fears felt by vulnerable populations, especially immigrants facing modern government scrutiny. And In the end both Karabell and Mengestu give their grade of how we are doing as a nation when it comes to the freedom to express ourselves. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and Kaleidoscope. For transcripts, to join the…

People in this episode

Host: Zachary Karabell

Guest: Dinaw Mengestu

Topics covered

• free expression
• freedom of speech
• government pressure
• self-censorship
• immigration
• cultural oscillation

Keywords

• freedom of speech
• Dinaw Mengestu
• Zachary Karabell
• PEN America
• self-censorship
• immigrants
• government scrutiny

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: PEN America

Places: Ethiopia, United States

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