Notes from America with Kai Wright

Last year, the California Attorney General held a tense press conference at a tiny elementary school in the one working class, black neighborhood of the mostly wealthy and white Marin County. His office had concluded that the local district "knowingly and intentionally" maintained a segregated school, violating the 14th amendment. He ordered them to fix it, but for local officials and families, the path forward remains unclear, as is the question: what does "equal protection" mean?

- Eric Foner is author of The Second Founding

Hosted by Kai Wright. Reported by Marianne McCune.

As Amazon workers conclude a historic unionization drive, we consider the history of collective action -- and the struggle to shield our humanity from the demands of productivity.

Labor journalist and Type Media Center reporting fellow Sarah Jaffe breaks down the history of workplace organizing at Amazon and in the Black South. And she talks about her new book, “Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone,” as listeners chime in about their own experiences with collective action in the workplace.

Then adrienne maree brown - writer, activist and co-host of the How to Survive the End of the World and Octavia’s Parables - joined our reporter Jenny Casas to frame our conflicts - as individuals within a country battling with overlapping crises - through the lens of Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Sower,” a science fiction classic that experienced a surge in readership in 2020.

Companion listening for this episode:

“The Necessary Work” (9/7/2020)

Public and care workers have been on the frontlines of the pandemic, but who takes care of them? We explore the histories, realities and hopes of these very essential workers.

“‘Community’ is a Verb. And It’s Hard” (6/12/2020)

People all over the country are stepping up to make change. But as they do, they face challenges that go beyond Covid-19 and police violence. Two stories, from Chicago and New York City.

“The United States of Anxiety” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on WNYC.org/anxiety or tell your smart speakers to play WNYC.

We want to hear from you! Connect with us on Twitter @WNYC using the hashtag #USofAnxiety or email us at [email protected].

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at [email protected]. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.

Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

People are excited to replace Andrew Jackson’s face with an abolitionist hero. But Brittney Cooper argues not all honorifics are the same.

The Biden Treasury Department has announced that efforts to put abolitionist Harriet Tubman’s portrait -- in place of President Andrew Jackson -- on the face of the twenty dollar bill will resume. It represents an effort to celebrate her and “reflect the history and diversity of our country,” but some believe that this would do more harm than good.

Dr. Brittney Cooper, a professor at Rutgers University and author of Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower, discusses how Black people have long been reduced to symbol, the failings of representational politics, and ways that the nation can actually honor the life and legacy of the formerly enslaved pioneer.

Last month, she addressed the subject in “Putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill Is Not a Sign of Progress. It's a Sign of Disrespect” (TIME).

Companion listening for this episode:

“The Origin Story of Black History Month” (01/31/21)

To launch our Future of Black History series, we turned our complex relationships with Black History Month to curiosity in order to uncover how a week-long celebration of Black Achievement became the month-long observance that we know today.

“The Life and Work of Ida B. Wells” (05/08/20)

We look back at the life of the oft-overlooked journalist and activist Ida B. Wells, whose intrepid reporting contributed to the fight for racial injustice in America.

“The United States of Anxiety” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on WNYC.org/anxiety or tell your smart speakers to play WNYC.

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at [email protected]. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.

Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

January 6, 2021, offered a hyper-condensed version of our country’s entire political history--with all of its complexity, inspiration, and terror.

In a special national radio broadcast of our show, we walk through a day that began with the historic election of a Black man and ended with a horrifying insurrection led by white nationalists. Newly elected Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) explains why he’s introduced a bill to investigate white nationalists’ infiltration of the Capitol Police. And Kai takes calls from around the country with Dr. Christina Greer, author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream” and co-host of the podcasts “FAQ-NYC” and The Grio’s “What's In It For Us”.

COMPANION LISTENING:

“The Racist History of Georgia’s Runoff” (12/21/20)

Journalist Ari Berman connects a system created by segregationists in 1957 to the 2020 elections, and a modern-day, Black-led organizing effort to reverse history.

“MAGA, the New Confederate Lost Cause” (11/16/20)

Historian Douglas Blight explains how secessionist mythology survived after the Civil War, and how it echoes in Donald Trump’s movement today.

“The United States of Anxiety” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on WNYC.org/anxiety or tell your smart speakers to play WNYC.

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at [email protected]. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.

Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

We’ve been here before: A time of national stress, Asian Americans made into scapegoats, and violence follows. The community saw it coming. So why didn’t everybody else?

A mass shooting in Atlanta follows a year of warnings from Asian Americans who have said they do not feel safe. But the violence has forced to the surface old questions about where Asian Americans sit in our nation’s maddening racial caste system, and community leaders have struggled to get people across the political and racial spectrum to take the moment seriously.

Helen Zia, activist and author of Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People and other books about the Asian American community, was spokesperson for the Justice for Vincent Chen campaign in the early 1980s. She tells the story of that era’s scapegoating of Asian Americans, and draws a line all the way back to the 18th Century.

And Arun Venugopal, senior reporter in WNYC’s Race and Justice Unit, shares his reporting on the community in New York City, which has emerged as an epicenter of day to day reports of harassment and violence.

Companion listening for this episode:

The (Un)Making of a ‘Model Minority’ (1/4/21)

An odd racial pecking order puts Indian Americans in a curious place -- outside of whiteness, but distinct from other people of color. How’d that come to be? And is it changing?

'Community' Is a Verb. And It’s Hard (6/12/20)

Racism is not a Black and white challenge; communities of color are often pitted against one another. A story from Chicago about how the pandemic challenged, and strengthened inter-community alliances. Plus, a dispatch from one of the hardest hit neighborhoods in the country, where the community has had to fend for itself.

“The United States of Anxiety” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on WNYC.org/anxiety or tell your smart speakers to play WNYC.

We want to hear from you! Connect with us on Twitter @WNYC using the hashtag #USofAnxiety or email us at [email protected].

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at [email protected]. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.

Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.