Every February, the United States celebrates Black History Month. But this year, the celebration might feel a bit different.

On January 31st, the Department of Defense announced it would no longer use official resources to celebrate cultural awareness months, including Black History Month, which began the following day. That announcement came after the Trump administration's rollback of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives within the federal government.

This hour, we’re joined by a panel of experts to talk about Black History Month and what it means today.

GUESTS:

• Kevin Gaines: Julian Bond Professor of Civil Rights and Social Justice and Interim Director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute at the University of Virginia.

• Christina Greer: Associate Professor of Political Science at Fordham University

• Michael Harriot: founder of ContrabandCamp and bestselling author of Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

In this episode, the guests mention several Black Americans who have made an impact on U.S. history. Here are some of the names if you want to learn more:

Ella Baker, Mary McLeod Bethune, George Washington Carver, James Chaney, Septima Clark, John Henrik Clarke, David Dennis Sr, Fannie Lou Hamer, Steven Henson, bell hooks, Barbara Jordan, Garrett Morgan, Constance Baker Motley, Gloria Naylor, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Gloria Richardson, Amelia Boynton Robinson, Jo Ann Robinson, Cleveland Sellers, Robert Smalls, The students in the court case Edwards v. South Carolina, Ida B. Wells-Barnett

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Poet Reginald Dwayne Betts was part of a carjacking in a Virginia mall parking lot when he was 16 years old. He was charged as an adult and sentenced to 9 years in prison.

Dwayne was released in 2005. Today, he’s a lawyer and award-winning poet. He’s also the founder and CEO of a nonprofit organization called Freedom Reads. It provides handcrafted bookcases full of brand new books to prisons.

For Dwayne, and other incarcerated people, those books can be a lifeline— a connection to the rest of the world.

This hour, listen back to our candid conversation with Dwayne as he reflects on his poetry, the power of books, and life after prison.

We also take a visit to the Freedom Reads workshop and hear from some of the formerly incarcerated people who build the bookcases and bring them to prisons.

GUEST:

• Reginald Dwayne Betts: Award-winning poet, whose books include Felon and the upcoming Doggerel. He's also a lawyer and the Founder and CEO of Freedom Reads

• Michael Byrd: Library Production Assistant at Freedom Reads

• Steven Parkhurst: Communications Manager at Freedom Reads

• James Flynn: Library Production Assistant at Freedom Reads

Special thanks to Kevin Baker and Ivan Dominguez at Freedom Reads.

This episode originally aired on December 6, 2024. 

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When you think about love, what comes to mind?

Maybe a movie like Love Actually or Love & Basketball. Maybe Dolly Parton or Whitney Houston singing "I Will Always Love You." Love shows up a lot in our pop culture— but what about in our politics?

The relationships we build…the people we love…the way we treat each other…all of that can be political.

This hour, we hear about the importance of love in political organizing and the way even our most intimate relationships can be political.

GUESTS:

• Dean Spade: Author, activist and professor at the Seattle University School of Law. His latest book is called Love in a F*cked Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell, Together

• Terri Conley: Professor of Psychology at University of Michigan. She co-wrote a chapter called “Love is Political: How Power and Bias Influence Our Intimate Lives” in the book The New Psychology of Love

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Brandon J. Dirden is an actor and director who has appeared in TV shows like The Americans and plays like the Tony Award-winning All The Way (he played Martin Luther King Jr. alongside Bryan Cranston as Lyndon B. Johnson).

He's also a director — most recently of Yale Repertory Theatre’s production of Eden. The play takes place in 1920s Manhattan. It focuses on two families living in the same apartment building. Eustace Baylor comes from the south and falls in love with Anetta Barton. Anetta’s family is from the West Indies. Her father, Joseph, does not approve of Eustace.

This hour, we talk to Brandon about the complex racial dynamics in Eden and the power of theater.

GUEST:

• Brandon J. Dirden: actor, director and Associate Arts Professor in the Graduate Acting Department at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He directed Yale Repertory Theatre’s production of Eden, which runs until February 8th.

You can learn more about Yale Repertory Theatre's production of Eden on their website.

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James Baldwin and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were two of the most influential thinkers of the Civil Rights Movement. This hour, we reflect on their legacies as we think about our present political moment.

Kyle Bass wrote the play Citizen James, or the Young Man Without a Country, which will be performed in Hartford in February. It portrays a young James Baldwin at an inflection point in his life, before he became a renowned writer.

And Randal Maurice Jelks is the Ruth N. Halls Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. His book Letters to Martin: Meditation on Democracy in Black America started as a talk he gave shortly after President Donald Trump’s first inauguration back in 2017. It puts Dr. King’s ideas in conversation with present-day political questions.

GUESTS:

• Kyle Bass: Resident Playwright at Syracuse Stage and Assistant Professor of Theater at Colgate University. His play Citizen James, or the Young Man Without a Country is being performed by Hartford's Heartbeat Ensemble in February.

• Randal Maurice Jelks: The Ruth N. Halls Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. He is also a documentary film producer and author whose books include Letters to Martin: Meditations on Democracy in Black America.

You can find more information about Heartbeat Ensemble's performances of Kyle Bass' play Citizen James, or the Young Man Without a Country here.

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This hour, we listen back to our episode about some of the ways that millennial and gen z politicians are making their mark on the U.S.

Up first, Brandon Scott is the youngest mayor of Baltimore in more than 100 years. A new documentary film called The Body Politic, follows Mayor Scott during his first term in office, focusing on his campaign to reduce gun violence. We are joined by that film's director and producer, Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough.

Then, Layla Zaidane is President and CEO of Future Caucus, an organization that brings together young lawmakers to collaborate across party lines. She reframes the idea of civility in politics and tells young people they can have an impact on government.

GUESTS:

• Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough: Director and Producer of the documentary film The Body Politic, which follows Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s efforts to reduce gun violence in the city. The film is currently streaming on PBS's website.

• Layla Zaidane: President and CEO of Future Caucus, an organization that brings together young lawmakers to collaborate across party lines.

Special thanks to intern Frankie Devevo.

This episode originally aired on November 8, 2024.

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day is designated as a National Day of Service to encourage people to volunteer and improve their communities. But those communities' needs don’t end when the day of service ends. Here in Connecticut, people like Erik Clemons work year round to improve the communities they care about.

Erik is the CEO of New Haven-based nonprofit Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology (ConnCAT), which offers job training and youth programs. He is also the CEO of Connecticut Community Outreach Revitalization Program (ConnCORP), a for-profit subsidiary of ConnCAT dedicated to economic development in New Haven.

Recently, Erik wrote an opinion piece for CT Insider about ConnCORP's plans to redevelop part of New Haven’s Dixwell neighborhood.

In the piece, Erik grounds those plans in his commitment to community. He compares the redevelopment to making a quilt. He writes, quote “By weaving together the stories, experiences, and perspectives of those who live in Dixwell, we aim to create a space that reflects their lived experience, resilience, and unique identity — something far more meaningful than any single piece.”

GUESTS:

• Erik Clemons: CEO of New Haven-based nonprofit Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology, also known as ConnCAT. The organization offers job training and youth programs. He is also CEO of Connecticut Community Outreach Revitalization Program or ConnCORP, a for-profit subsidiary of ConnCAT dedicated to economic development in New Haven.

In this episode, Erik mentions the Harlem Renaissance. To learn more about the Harlem Renaissance you can listen to our recent episode about the movement.

You can also find our previous interview with Erik Clemons on our website.

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In recent years, politicians across the U.S. have been debating what history should be taught in the classroom. Connecticut is no exception to these debates— a 2022 press conference announcing a planned Native Studies curriculum in Connecticut's public schools turned tense when questions around the specifics of the program came up.

This hour, we’re talking to historians and educators to learn what it's like to teach and study the past in all its complexity in today's polarized political climate.

This panel was part of a live event hosted with The Connecticut Forum in November, less than two weeks after the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

GUESTS:

• Andy Horowitz: Associate Professor of History at the University of Connecticut and Connecticut State Historian. His work looks at disasters and the broader implications they have for society.

• Fiona Vernal: Director of Engaged, Public, Oral and Community Histories and Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies at the University of Connecticut.

• Chris Newell: Co-Founder and Director of Education for Akomawt Educational Initiative. He is also Founding Director of the Native American Cultural Program and Instructor-in-Residence at the University of Connecticut. He is a citizen of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township.

To hear more about Professor Andy Horowitz's research, you can listen to our episode on disasters.

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The Disrupted team is welcoming the new year by choosing a couple of the episodes we loved from 2024. We have so many favorites that we couldn't reair all of them, but these are some of the ones that we wanted to listen back to. This week, host Khalilah-Brown Dean chose our interview with author Amy Tan.

Amy is best known for popular novels like The Joy Luck Club and its 1993 film adaptation. The book and movie explore several mother-daughter relationships — some of which were shaped by Amy’s own experiences.

Her latest book, The Backyard Bird Chronicles, hits close to home in a different way. In it, she brings the birds in her backyard to life with humor and tragedy through observations and drawings from her nature journals. But the book isn’t just a recounting of wildlife. Amy vividly imagines the birds’ inner thoughts and comes away with piercing observations about nature, humanity and the relationship between them.

This hour, Amy talks to us about that book and offers her insights on a wide range of topics including how birds have led her to reflect on mortality, her changing experience of racism and overcoming her fear of sharks.

Guest: 

• Amy Tan: bestselling author of numerous books including The Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter’s Daughter. Her latest book is The Backyard Bird Chronicles. It collects entries and drawings from her nature journals.

This episode originally aired on September 27, 2024.

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The Disrupted team is welcoming the new year by choosing a couple of the episodes we loved from 2024. We have so many favorites that we couldn't reair all of them, but these are some of the ones that we wanted to listen back to. This week, producer Kevin Chang Barnum chose our interview with James Forman Jr.

The United States imprisons more people than any other country in the world.

And Black people bear the burdens of mass incarceration the most. In 2019, Connecticut was one of seven states where Black people were incarcerated at over nine times the rate of white people. That’s according to an analysis done by The Sentencing Project.

These problems aren't new, but they also aren't going away. Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Yale law professor James Forman Jr. hopes the new book he co-edited, Dismantling Mass Incarceration: A Handbook for Change, will inspire readers to work towards change. It talks about finding solutions at every level of what he calls "the criminal system," from policing to prisons to courts.

GUEST:

• James Forman Jr.: J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law at Yale University. His book Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018. He recently co-edited Dismantling Mass Incarceration: A Handbook for Change.

You can learn more about the prison system in the U.S. by listening to Disrupted's interview with Reginald Dwayne Betts.

Special thanks to intern Frankie Devevo.

This episode originally aired on October 25, 2024. 

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