Black Diplomats

Black Diplomats

Founded in 2020 and led by Terrell Jermaine Starr, Black Diplomats is the go-to podcast for those who want relatable content on global affairs that doesn’t center the perspectives of white male experts. Few foreign policy shows are led by Black people or center the opinions, experiences and expertise of people of color. Black Diplomats is one exception. Guests are mostly people of color and people who are indigenous to the regions the episodes focus on. read less

Our Editor's Take

American journalist Terrell Jermaine Starr cares about the Black experience. And he cares about events that shape this world. In his Black Diplomats podcast, he unites the two. It provides unfiltered insights into global foreign affairs from the perspective of people of color.

In each episode of Black Diplomats, the creator and host addresses a topic that captures the experience of Black people. Sometimes that involves captivating interviews featuring exciting people of color. At other times, Starr uses his platform to report on global issues like the war in Ukraine. In fact, his on-the-ground coverage of the war led to a lot of recognition. Having spent much of his career in Eastern Europe, it's even a little personal for the Detroit native. "I'm not just helicoptering in," he told STORIED in June 2022. "These are my friends that are worried about getting bombed."

Starr spent years trying to fit in with conventional media outlets. But he soon realized he didn't identify with much of their reporting. So he decided to create a space where he could hero marginalized voices. Black Diplomats puts the lives of people of color into context with global affairs. To Starr, it's about being curious, adventurous, and caring about the world beyond one's own. Here, he wants to interrogate complex subjects like militarism, capitalism, and white supremacy. Moreover, his mission is to make them accessible and relatable to his listeners.

Starr first fell in love with storytelling and foreign affairs in his senior year of high school. At the time, he attended an international volunteer program in Russia. Soon after, Starr joined the Peace Corps in Georgia. Upon returning to the US, he began Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies in Illinois. Starr splits his time between Brooklyn and Kyiv. In addition to Black Diplomats, he works with the Atlantic Council Eurasia Center. People interested in geopolitics may like this podcast.

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Episodes

Kakhova dam explosion and Fatima Muhammed at CUNY
Jun 11 2023
Kakhova dam explosion and Fatima Muhammed at CUNY
This week on Black Diplomats, I start off with news about the Kakhova dam explosion in the Kherson region that has claimed at least 5 lives and is causing a massive ecocide in the area.  For on the ground coverage, please read these articles that break down what is going on:The New York Times: U.S. Official Says Spy Satellites Detected Explosion Just Before Dam CollapseThe Moscow Times: Norwegian Seismologists Detect Explosion Signals From Ukraine DamThe Kyiv Independent: Zelensky: 'Russia needs to bear full responsibility for ecocide'Please support Black Diplomats! Give us 5 star ratings on Spotify, iTunes or wherever you listen to us. Also support our work financially on CashApp at $BlackDiplomats, Venmo @BlackDiplomats and on PayPal at paypal.me/BlackDiplomats. My featured guest this week is Nerdeen Kiswani, a Palestinian organizer from New York City and close friend of Fatima Muhammed, the CUNY law graduate student who delivered the student address at this year's graduation. As you all know by now, Fatima’s speech was unfairly criticized for its strong stance against white supremacy and Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians. Of course, it’s all bullshit and untrue. You can listen to it here. The time stamp is 1:16:54-1:28:30.Nerdeen, who delivered CUNY Law School graduation address, also drew criticism and accusations of antisemitism for her remarks, which challenged the very white supremacy and Israeli apartheid Fatima did recently. We spoke about that, why everyone should stand up for Palestine and more. Enjoy.Here is Nerdeen’s full biography: Nerdeen Kiswani is a Palestinian organizer from New York City. She is the founder and chair of Within Our Lifetime - United for Palestine, a community organization revitalizing the revolutionary spirit of the Palestinians in exile in pursuit of liberation. Nerdeen has spoken for the Palestinian cause at events and conferences worldwide and has organized rallies with tens of thousands of attendees in support of Palestine.Nerdeen recently graduated from the CUNY school of Law and has organized successful campaigns on and off campus to pass a resolution by the student government and faculty of CUNY Law to cut all ties and divest from all israeli...
The State of Disinformation with Shireen Mitchell
May 20 2023
The State of Disinformation with Shireen Mitchell
What are we to believe nowadays?It’s a question most of us have asked since social media platforms began competing with traditional media outlets in the 2010s. Everyone has the power to push out information and that is actually a good thing. We saw the power of citizen journalism during the Ferguson Uprisings and how they helped to push out culturally competent narratives when local and national media failed to do so.But what happens when people abuse, say, Twitter to spend lies that most folks don’t have the education or bandwidth to cross check? Or worse, you can have a billionaire like Elon Musk take over that platform and he can all but sanction disinformation simply because he owns it and the U.S. government has few legal tools to stop him—at least for now.This episode of Black Diplomats will feature one of the United States’ top disinformation experts, Shireen Mitchell, President of Stop Online Violence Against Women. Shireen has been a leading voice on online disinformation against women for  over a decade. She has  published numerous studies on the impact unchecked harassment has had on women, particularly women of color. She was one of the first scholars to warn about misogyny online against Black women and the impact it has had on women of color at large. During our discussion, we talked about how she was one of the first online disinformation experts to draw parallels between unchecked misogyny against Black and Russian disinformation campaigns that dogged the 2026 Presidential Election. Then we unpacked how European regulators monitor social media platforms in ways that the U.S. refuses to do and why that is. Then we deep dive into mainstream media’s failure to learn from past mistakes of platforming liars all in the name of ratings. And, yes, we are talking about that debacle of a CNN Trump town hall! And boy did he turn it into a superspreader disinformation event. What harm will that event and those that follow have on U.S. media literacy and the rest of the world. That and much more on this week’s episode of Black Diplomats.Please remember to support Black Diplomats by giving to us on PayPal at://paypal.me/blackdiplomats, CashApp: $BlackDiplomats and venmo at account.venmo.com/u/blackdiplomats. The links are also available in the show notes as well. Also rate us on itunes, Spotify and on every platform on which you listen to Black Diplomats podcast.
Fighting Fascism in Israel, Europe, Russia, and the U.S.
May 3 2023
Fighting Fascism in Israel, Europe, Russia, and the U.S.
Producer’s Note: We need your financial support!Please give us 5 star ratings on Spotify, iTunes or wherever you listen to us. Also support our work financially on CashApp at $BlackDiplomats,Venmo @BlackDiplomats and on PayPal at paypal.me/BlackDiplomats. This week on Black Diplomats, where everyone can be a diplomat, I breakdown Russian President Vladimir Putin’s no-so-certain in-person attendance at this year’s BRICS Summit in South Africa’s, GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy’s brave reassurance of the Republican support for Ukraine and the bullshit “journalism” claiming Vice President Kamala Harris is a liability for Joe Biden in 2024. And we have very special guest Rula Jebreal, who will talk about all things Palestine and Israel.Read this New Voice of Ukraine report about South Africa’s anxiousness about Putin attending BRICS in person. Also read this Washington Post analysis about House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s strong support for Ukraine. Watch Roy Wood Jr’s White House Correspondents Dinner stand up in full. It was great. His words about VP Harris start at 17:00. Show Outline:01:36: Putin’s South Africa BRICS Problem And Ukraine’s Africa Diplomacy Challenges 14:24: House Speaker McCarthy Speaks Up For Ukraine19:24: What Is VP Harris Up To?29:09: Feature Interview with Rula  Jabreal Intro, intermission and outro music by Detroit independent artist Ink Prod.About Rula Jebreal Rula Jebreal is a Visiting Professor at The University of Miami, where she teaches Communications. Jebreal served on the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council, a body  relaunched by French President Emmanuel Macron. She is an award-winning Journalist, author and foreign policy expert who has received accolades for her groundbreaking work in Italy, the United States and across the Middle East.In May 2017, Jebreal was enlisted to introduce former President Barak Obama at his first European public appearance since leaving office, at which he gave the keynote speech on food security and climate change, at the Global Innovation Summit. Jebreal is an on-air foreign policy expert she appears frequently on CNN, MSNBC Bloomberg, HBO and NBC, she has written many op-eds for the New York Times and The Washington Post and Foreign Policy, NewsWeek and Time.Jebreal Wrote extensively about authoritarian regimes and predicted Trump’s victory in an article for the Washington post in 2015 called Trump is America’s Berlusconi.
Black Diplomats is back, baby!
Apr 19 2023
Black Diplomats is back, baby!
Black Diplomats is back, baby! We have a new show format that’ll make the episode easier to follow, so let us know what you think about it. Today, my special guests, Nola Haynes and Earl Carr, will discuss the worsening Chinese-U.S. relationship, with a focus on the Chinese nationals arrested in Manhattan for running police outposts without proper jurisdiction and the GOP’s attack on TikTok. Then we discuss Andrew Tate and how the manosphere is taking misogyny global. From there, we ask how the hell did a 21-year-old gamer with a Discord account get access to war secrets about the invasion of Ukraine? We also have a new segment called, Trap House Foreign Policy, where me and my guests discuss what inspired us to get into foreign policy. The segment is inspired by my late uncles Randy and Cricket, who sold drugs for a living and how I grew to view them as the first diplomats I met. And if you’re like me, you’re likely getting tired of people talking about what VP Kamala Harris ain’t doing. One report after another seems to complain that no one knows what she does. Well, I have a new weekly segment that will highlight what she is up to, as well as what me and my guests think of the media coverage of her performance.Recommended readingRead The New York Times article about the two Chinese nationals who were arrested for conspiring to act as agents for the Chinese government and for illegally running a Chinese police outpost to intimidate Chinese dissidents living in the U.S. Check out this very detailed Washington Post report about the Discord leaker who leaked top secret files connected to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Watch this VICE NEWS feature on Andrew Tate and the global impact of his misogyny. And for those who want to know what VP Kamala Harris is up to this week, she will be in Miami Friday, April 21 to discuss climate change. She was also in Reno, Nevada Tuesday, April 18 talking about reproductive health. She was also in Los Angeles discussing “clean energy economies.” Also, please read Errin Haines reflections of Kamala’s trip to Africa.