Living With And Learning From Estrangement
Estrangement isn’t linear. For those who have severed ties or been cut off, it can be necessary, empowering, devastating and confounding—all at once. A recent series from WNYC’s Death, Sex & Money...
View ArticleMonterey Park: The Making of America’s First Suburban Chinatown
A mass shooting in Monterey Park, California – on the eve of Lunar New Year – sent shockwaves through the predominantly Asian American ethnoburb and the Asian American community nationwide.The toll of...
View ArticleHistory On Repeat: The Killing Of Tyre Nichols
The release of brutal footage of the killing of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols by police officers in Memphis furthers an all-too-familiar conversation about accountability and police violence.The Black...
View ArticlePutting An End To Toxic Cop Culture
When it comes to police reform, a retired NYPD detective argues that policing as a profession must evolve or go away completely. The problem of police violence, and the excessive use of force in Black...
View ArticleBlack Music’s Most Memorable Moments With Emil Wilbekin
In the spirit of the Grammys, Emil Wilbekin, a founding editor of VIBE, offers a first-person history of Black popular music, from Soul Train to Beyoncé.On Notes from America we focus on Black history...
View ArticleAmerican Political Myths Have Consequences For Us All
From the “Southern Strategy” to the civil rights movement, we’re surfacing what is true about our nation’s past, and what is propaganda masquerading as history. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has made...
View ArticleA First Date Immigrant Story
Boy meets girl, boy’s an immigrant, they go on a first date. The date does not go well. 17 years later, the boy discovers that being an immigrant played a role, on both sides. What happened? Senior...
View ArticleHow Black People Remade Mississippi
Down in the Mississippi Delta, the Lester Family made a space for themselves and claimed their land–and they didn’t need “40 Acres and a mule” to do it. In February 2023, Pearline Lester passed away...
View ArticleThe Battle Over Black Studies
Black studies is not about inclusion. It’s about disruption – which is why some fear it. Black studies is under partisan attack, not only in Florida but around the country. With the effort to...
View ArticleBlack History Is Now: How Misty Copeland Went From Different to Special
Continuing our Black History Month series, ballet sensation Misty Copeland shares her journey to believing she was special. As the first African American woman to be a principal dancer at the American...
View ArticleHow Respectability Politics Erased Young Women From History
We mark the end of Black History Month with a conversation about the people who are too often left out when we celebrate the past. What do we learn when we study the history of those considered wayward...
View ArticleCelebrating Terrance McKnight’s ‘Every Voice’ Podcast
Terrance McKnight, evening host on WQXR, unearths the hidden voices that shape our musical traditions in the new podcast "Every Voice with Terrance McKnight.” McKnight has spent decades interrogating...
View ArticleGina Prince-Bythewood’s Hollywood
We continue our Black History Is Now series with Gina Prince-Bythewood, director of the hit films “The Woman King” and “Love & Basketball,” among others that center Black voices. “The Woman King”...
View ArticlePreserving Untold Oral Histories
Our national story comprises all of us. We hear stories from listeners and The HistoryMakers founder Julieanna Richardson that capture the living history that often goes unmentioned. How can we craft a...
View ArticleRevising History, One Monument at a Time
Artist Michelle Browder lives in a city that is increasingly being altered by monumental works…including one she created herself.More than 30 years ago, as an 18-year-old art student in Atlanta,...
View ArticleThe Rocky Statue: A Famous Monument to a Fictitious Hero
Why do millions of people from around the world flock to Philadelphia, PA, to visit a statue….of a fictional character? We ask Paul Farber, host of the WHYY podcast The Statue. Many who have been to...
View ArticleThe History Behind New Waves of Anti-Trans Legislation
State lawmakers across the country are introducing new waves of legislation targeting the transgender community. What’s behind this movement? To answer this question, we first turn to history. Host...
View ArticleThe Truth Behind the Religious Right
Some believe that the religious right’s roots begin with Roe v. Wade. But there was an earlier court decision about the rights of segregated schools that first mobilized them. The recent surge in...
View ArticleRamadan: A Month About Much More Than Fasting
Ramadan Mubarak! We check in with people of the Muslim community, their intentions, traditions and plans for making the most of this holy month. Ramadan has begun, which means that close to two...
View ArticleTrump, the GOP, and a New Confederacy
White supremacist myths turn defeated leaders into heroic victors. Are Donald Trump and the MAGA movement the next Lost cause? Donald Trump is the lead contender for the Republican nomination for...
View ArticleOf Tech Moguls and Gold Miners: A Capitalist History
In Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, one writer sees a model for amassing obscene wealth, pioneered in 19th century California, finally nearing its limits. Silicon Valley is notorious in the global...
View ArticleGrieving Loss From Gun Violence
A recent mass shooting at a school in Nashville added to the toll of death and injuries from the nation’s gun violence crisis. A reporter wonders if we’re grieving properly – or at all. Two mothers...
View ArticleHow a Young, Black Progressive Won in Chicago
Brandon Johnson's mayoral election could change the national conversation about crime, schools -- and an aging Black establishment in big city politics. Chicago’s recent mayoral election saw two...
View ArticleThe Week That Changed America’s Cities
On the 55th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, one journalist examines the 1968 Holy Week which he calls one of the most consequential weeks in U.S. history. Martin Luther King was...
View ArticleTell Me Your Politics–But Do It In Verse
In a world that feels divided, two storytellers invite people to share what shapes their politics through poetry, using the prompt “Where I’m From.” Host Kai Wright–inspired by a listener...
View ArticleThe Joy and Pain of Little Richard
Filmmaker Lisa Cortés tells the inspiring and painful story of the Black, queer inventor of rock and roll–Little Richard. Richard Wayne Penniman launched rock and roll into pop culture and wrote a new...
View ArticleWhy Ralph Yarl Was Shot
A history of anti-Black fear has left everyone unsafe in a nation full of anxious gun owners. There are more guns than there are people in the U.S., and a lot of people seem to be afraid. According to...
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Good Things: Glass Eels in Staten Island
Each spring millions of tiny glass eels enter New York City’s waterways. These juvenile American eels migrate here from somewhere in the Sargasso Sea. And it’s the job of this Staten Island science...
View ArticleTucker Carlson, Rupert Murdoch, and the Future of Fox News
The state of Fox News today is thanks to Rupert Murdoch. A look inside the Murdoch media empire shows how media outlets can turn into right-wing political influence machines. Famed Fox News host...
View ArticleHow Assata Shakur Became One of America’s Most Wanted
A deadly encounter fifty years ago between the New Jersey State Police and a group of Black activists turned Assata Shakur into a cultural icon – and an enduring political villain. In May 1973,...
View ArticleMoney Shame, and How To Overcome It Through Financial Literacy
The world of finance can be confusing for people who weren’t born into it – more often, that’s people of color. Berna Anat is a “Financial Hype Woman” on a mission to fix that. The freelance...
View ArticleIndian Boarding Schools Are Not Ancient History
From 1819 and 1969, the U.S. removed thousands of Native children from their homes and tried to strip them of their culture. What would a reparations program for this history look like? The U.S....
View ArticleJoy Harjo and Native Stories
Before she was the 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo’s journey as an artist began at a federal Indian boarding school. She reveals an unexpected perspective about her experience.Joy Harjo is an...
View ArticleHomelessness Hides in Plain Sight. So Does Its Fix.
One in every 14 Americans experiences homelessness at some point. Our listeners who know about it firsthand talk to us. Plus, - Michael Kimmleman, architecture critic for The New York Times. His...
View ArticleClarence Thomas and his Hotep Supreme Court
The Supreme Court’s most senior member writes opinions that have an outsized impact on U.S. law. Our listeners call in to understand what really shapes Justice Thomas, and what we should expect from...
View ArticleGood Things: Helping The American Chestnut
It’s been over a century since a blight wiped out the thousands of American chestnut trees that filled New York City’s parks. But in Brooklyn, one volunteer is helping the trees make a shaky comeback.
View ArticleNo, We Can’t Stop Saying Their Names
Ask a group of highschoolers, “who was Trayvon Martin?” and you’ll see some tragically blank stares. But replace that with “George Floyd”, and you’ll see heads nod. Kai’s struggling with how we...
View ArticleBilly Porter Doesn’t Need a Month to Celebrate Pride
He celebrates Pride all year long through art – and that’s been the journey of a lifetime. He’s got an Emmy, a Grammy, a Tony. But early in his career, Billy Porter was relegated to roles of comic...
View ArticleComedian Sam Jay Isn’t Afraid of Getting Canceled
At least not anymore. That confidence comes from her purpose, her identities, and how comedy has evolved from the sitcoms she used to watch as a kid. Our former intern Vanessa Handy was watching reruns...
View Article95 Unmarked Graves
In 2018, a few months into building a new school in Sugar Land, Texas, construction crews uncovered 95 unmarked graves. This wasn’t a serial killer’s dumping, but it was evidence of a particularly dark...
View ArticleWhy the Indian Child Welfare Act is the Gold Standard in Family Law
Allison Herrera, the Indigenous affairs reporter at KOSU, returns to the show to introduce us to Hodalee and Jamie Sewell, who are in the process of adopting their great niece– a baby girl. She’s a...
View ArticleThe Coolest Music Parties You Didn’t Know Were Happening
Arab Americans around the country are celebrating their diaspora. And it starts with two guys in a band blasting music at underground parties in Washington, D.C. Philippe Manasseh and Nadim Maghzal...
View ArticleWhy It’s So Hard to Sound “American”
A culture war from our past: Before he could define America’s sound for the next century, Aaron Copland had to overcome conflict over what “America” meant. There’s one line of questioning our listeners...
View ArticleGood Things: Battling Water Chestnuts
Invasive water chestnuts, already a problem in much of the Northeast, are attempting to take over some of New York City’s waterways, but in Van Cortlandt Park, a small team of volunteers is making a...
View ArticleWhat Does “Color-Blind” Really Mean?
Affirmative action is gone. Ibram X. Kendi tells us the history leading up to this moment and what could be next. Historian and best-selling author Ibram X. Kendi helps Kai understand the Supreme...
View ArticleAffirmative Action is About More Than Acceptance Letters
Everyone’s talking about affirmative action at elite universities. But they educate fewer than 5 percent of students seeking advanced degrees. So why should the other 95 percent care? Kai wants to know...
View ArticleLessons from Mom at a Magic Mike Show in Vegas
Listeners want to talk about moments from their past when they felt like they didn’t belong and who helped them through those moments. So Kai invites them to talk with Connie Wang, author of “Oh My...
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Leading with Love: Care and Compassion in the Early Days of AIDS
The latest season of the Blindspot podcast, “The Plague In The Shadows,” brings listeners the voices of people who were affected in the early years of the HIV and AIDS epidemics. It includes stories...
View ArticleWe Could End AIDS. So Why Are People Still Dying?
Host Kai Wright started his career covering the impact of HIV and AIDS on communities in America. A new project brings that experience full circle. Kai hosts the latest season of the Blindspot podcast,...
View ArticleWhat 100 Years Of Audio Can Tell Us About Black Americans and Belonging
WNYC, the most listened-to public radio station in America and the production home of this podcast, turns 100 years old this year. Its audio archives are full of gems from history — including voices,...
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