Zachary Wood has become comfortable with uncomfortable conversations. He’s engaged in them his entire life — with his mom who suffers from schizoaffective disorder, with his neighbors in Washington, D.C.’s impoverished Ward 8 community, and with his friends at the elite private high school he commuted four hours round trip to each day.

So when Wood arrived at Williams College in 2014, he was prepared for the uncomfortable learning that comes along with uncomfortable conversations about the world’s most important and controversial issues. Unfortunately, he was quick to learn not everyone was up for the challenge — including his college president.

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, we talk with Wood about his new memoir, Uncensored: My Life and Uncomfortable Conversations at the Intersection of Black and White America.

Show notes:

Podcast transcript
Randall Kennedy So to Speak podcast
“Williams College Bars ‘Uncomfortable Learning’ Speaker from Campus, Declares ‘Hate Speech’ Too Uncomfortable”
“The Condescending Paternalism of Williams President Adam Falk”
The Chicago Statement
“In Response to the ‘Chicago Statement’ Petition” (Williams College student petition)

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Ep. 73 ‘Uncensored’ with Zachary Wood