Silence is violence, but don't stop listening.
💌Podcast The Newsletter is your weekly love letter to podcasts and the people who make them.💌
Don’t stop fighting. Listening is powerful, too. Below, a list of powerful things I’ve listened to this week from Black voices and episodes about the protests and Black Lives Matter.
Black Lives Matter.
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The Ezra Klein Show: Why Ta Nehisi Coates is Hopeful
Listening to Ta Nehisi Coates right now evoked the same emotions I had when I heard President Obama’s speech to the nation. Thank god he’s here. It made me feel safe. And it’s a brilliant, hopeful conversation about the radical messages of Martin Luther King and building a future based on nonviolence—and expecting nonviolence from the police.
In Recovery with Dr. Nzinga Harrison Racism Is An Addiction
Oh my god, I hope this episode of In Recovery doesn’t fly past your radar. Dr. Nzinga is an addiction expert and looks at racism through a different lens, as an illness, an illness I unfortunately have. Dr. Nzinga gives very specific ideas for how to be anti-racist, how to stand up, how to bounce back from making uncomfortable mistakes, because taking the risk is worth it, because silence is violence. She quotes Ijeoma Oluo: “The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it’s the only way forward.” Dr. Nzinga also talks about how racism is an abusive relationship—we care now, but will we care in one month? In three? We cannot let this passion for racial equality drop.
FANTI Tired
I got absolutely lost in guest Dr. Joy DeGruy’s storytelling. Kind of like Brene Brown, Joy has a way to take small moments and observations and turn them into huge lessons and metaphors. But Dr. Joy’s lessons have an added texture and importance. I was so engaged with her words that when the episode was over, I felt like a kid at storytime asking the librarian, “please…tell me another story.” I don’t want Joy to stop talking, ever.
Therapy for Black Girls The Impact of Racial Trauma
Another Dr. Joy (Harden Bradford) has a podcast, Therapy for Black Girls, that focuses on mental health for people of color, which…goddam! Is something that I don’t think we’re focusing on right now. The moment feels too urgent to focus on something as luxurious as mental health. But how do you stop being angry when you can never stop fighting? How can Black people balance their wellness when they’re fucking exhausted?
Truth Be Told Protesting for the Soul of America The New Civil Rights Movement
Eddie Glaude describes this moment we’re in as the expression of “an accumulated grievance” for Black people, and with host Tonya Mosley discusses what justice looks like and the joy of being Black.
Today, Explained What Abolish The Police Means
This was an explanation I was craving—what does abolishing the police look like? It sounds radical but is completely reasonable and necessary. I don’t think Black people have ever taken solace in calling the police—the police do not make Black people safe. How can we make sure the police are doing their jobs?
Planet Money Police Unions and Police Violence
A Black person is three times as likely to be killed than a white person. This piece on police unions is helpful in thinking about why abolishing the police is important if we want to live in a less racist society. Most unions exist to empower workers through collective action, police unions embolden police to act violently toward Black people.
About Race The Big Question
Reni Eddo-Lodge wrote the book Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, but broke her rule to produce the podcast About Race. In The Big Question, she responds to an irritating question she receives all the time, and was asked on the podcast The High Low: As a white person, what can I do to help race relations? Non-Black people, don’t ask a Black person this question. But listen to Reni’s answer and take it upon yourself to further your education. Reni has listed a lot of great podcast recommendations on her website.
Have You Heard George’s Podcast
Have You Heard George’s Podcast is an audio experiment that explores crime, community, and Blackness via music, storytelling, fiction, news, history, and poetry. There’s nothing quite like it. It’s incredibly playful, but George doesn’t hide his anger, which he uses as a paintbrush. It’s a dreamlike punch that feels like an extension of George’s brain, allowing us to get a better understanding of what it means to be a Black person in Great Britain—the struggles, the joys, the frustrations, and all.
Flyest Fables
Morgan Givens helps kids through heavy subjects with his imaginative storytelling podcast, Flyest Fables. (He is sharing from his own experiences—his parents were divorced, he’s a Black trans man.) The stories in Flyest Fables revolve around a kid named Antoine, who transports to a magical world with a book to learn lessons that most kids don’t get in traditional children’s books. Listening always makes me think about how the stories I was told when I was young were written for white kids like me, but abandon relatability for a huge proportion of children who are living a completely different experience.
Gender Reveal Protests, Pride & Police feat. Morgan Givens
After you listen to Flyest Fables, hear Morgan speak on Gender Reveal. Host Molly Woodstock opens with a beautiful statement, and dives into an (old) interview with Morgan about creating Flyest Fables, queer racism, “objective journalism” parading as white supremacy, being Black and trans, and even his days as a cop.
Seeing White On Crazy We Built a Nation
The second season of Scene on Radio is called Seeing White, a super intellectual look at what whiteness even means. In 14 parts, John Biewen and regular guest Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika talk to scholars and historians to dig deep into our history to explore where the notion of “whiteness” comes from. Listen to the whole thing, but I really enjoyed Part 4, On Crazy We Built a Nation, which starts with unpacking what our founders really meant when they said that “all men are created equal.” A quote: “We’re trying to become something this country has never been.”
Code Switch A Decade of Watching Black People Die
Jamil Smith, a senior writer at Rolling Stone, reads from an essay that he wrote more than five years ago titled "What Does Seeing Black Men Die Do for You?" It could have been written yesterday, which makes us think: will these protests be different? Will they spark real change? Or will the government just wait for people to get tired so we can continue to live in a racist America?
Reveal The Uprising
This episode opens with moving audio from the protests, and talks to people about why they must do it. Then host Al Letson speaks to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is prosecuting the case against Derek Chauvin and the other officers involved in the death of George Floyd.
Coronavirus: Fact vs Fiction “It Broke Me”: A Conversation with Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms
I was moved to hear Keisha Lance Bottoms talk about the death of George Floyd, and her own outrage and fear for her son.
The Daily The Systems That Protect the Police / The Showdown at Lafayette Square
The Daily had a week full of valuable content, but I especially appreciated the episode that explains why our police departments are so corrupt, and how our current system allows for it. The Showdown at Lafayette Square talks about Trump’s response to peaceful protesting and his walk across Lafayette Square, which may be remembered as one of the defining moments of his presidency. “He did not pray,” said Mariann E. Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington. “He did not mention George Floyd.”
Ignorance is #Blessed Not Your Sassy Black Lady with Dulcé Sloan
This is a very old, very long episode where host Jessica Marie Singleton asks Dulcé Sloan every dumb question non-Black women pepper Black women with, and Dulcé graciously answers. I have listened to this (again, very long) episode at least four times. It’s a gift I’m not sure I deserve.
The Daily Zeitgeist Mystery of the Flaming Cop Cars
Dulcé was also on The Daily Zeitgeist for an intense conversation about anger and power, and how non-Black people with power are wrong to feel helpless. Then Pastor Edward "Eddie" Anderson jumps on with Jack and Miles to talk about how the public can help.
Race Traitor who taught you to be white? / can we be friends? / what makes a white mom a white mom?
The Heart has been releasing honest, uncomfortable episodes in its Race Traitor series, which is one of the most valuable pieces of content I have listened to. Phoebe Unter is examining her own role in white supremacy, asking her Black friends how they view her, and approaching her parents about examining their privilege, trying to convince them to give away the family home as an act of reparations. It forced me to ask myself, “what am I willing to give up for racial equality?” Phoebe long ago realized something I think many white people are starting to grasp now—that being a good white person demands action and using privilege and power for good.
Note
Last week in my write up for Bodies, I incorrectly identified Nico Wisler as male. Nico identifies as they/them.
I love you.