Disrupted

Historian Martha S. Jones was looking through a book one day when she found a section mentioning her grandfather. It referred to her grandfather as white. But in reality, her grandfather’s father was a free man of color, and his mother was born enslaved. This wasn’t the first time her family’s racial identity was questioned, so she started writing down her version of her family’s history. It's that history, and her family's relationship to racial identity, that she explores in her new book The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir.

GUEST:

• Martha S. Jones: The Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, Professor of History and Professor at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Her latest book is The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir.

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Five years ago, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Since that time, the world has changed dramatically, from the way we think about public health to the way we socialize to the way we watch movies. But those changes haven't had the same impact on everyone.

This hour, we’re talking about COVID-19’s impact on existing inequities. We talk about the diverse experiences of disabled people over the last five years, and take a broader look at the history of health and race.

GUESTS:

• Mara Mills: Associate Professor and Ph.D. Director in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. She is Co-Founder and Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies. She co-edited the recent book How to be Disabled in a Pandemic.

• Edna Bonhomme: Historian of science. Her new book is A History of the World in Six Plagues: How Contagion, Class and Captivity Shaped Us, from Cholera to COVID-19.

To learn more about public health and COVID-19, you can listen to our episode reflecting on four years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

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This hour on Disrupted, we're challenging long-held assumptions about parents and caregivers. First, Angela Garbes, author of Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change, explains how care workers are undervalued. She touches on the way the early days of the pandemic spotlighted issues in caregiving and why the legacy of American colonialism in the Philippines influenced both her family history and the disproportionate number of Filipinx nurses who died from COVID. Then, UConn professor Kari Adamsons talks about her research on fathers and the problem with the way many people think about "traditional families."

GUESTS:

• Angela Garbes: author of Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change

• Kari Adamsons: Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Connecticut

This episode originally aired on February 15, 2023.

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Bernadette Atuahene initially moved to Detroit, Michigan to study squatters rights. But she discovered a more urgent issue once there— that many Black residents were losing their homes.

The reason was property tax foreclosure, and it came as a result of property taxes that were illegally inflated. It’s one of several racist housing policies that shapes who does or doesn’t have generational wealth in the U.S.

This hour, we’re talking about government policies that impact the homes and neighborhoods people live in.

GUEST:

• Bernadette Atuahene: Professor of Law at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. Her new book is Plundered: How Racist Policies Undermine Black Homeownership in America.

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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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