Notes from America with Kai Wright

Latest Episodes:

Black Life Resuscitated from the Ocean Floor Jul 06, 2023

Show notes

National Geographic Explorer Tara Roberts’s mission: To recover her ancestry as a Black American. Her destination: The bottom of the Atlantic.

Tara Roberts walked through the National Museum of African American History when one photo stopped her in place. A group of divers – all Black women – preparing to search for the wreckage of slave ships. A short time later, Tara would find herself searching for those ships and discovering her own past.

She chronicled what she found in “Into the Depths.” She tells Kai how deep our histories go.

Tell us what you think. Instagram and Twitter: @noteswithkai. Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or going to Instagram and clicking on the link in our bio.

“Notes from America” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. Tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on notesfromamerica.org or on WNYC’s YouTube channel.

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. 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.

Why It’s So Hard to Sound “American” Jul 03, 2023

Show notes

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 ask more than any other: “What is America, and who gets to define it?” Kai can tell you these questions aren’t new. So he goes back in time to look at one story from the New Deal era and a culture war over what made patriotic music…patriotic. Turns out, it’s the same old song and dance.

Sara Fishko, creator of “Fishko Files,” tells Kai the story.

Tell us what you think. Instagram and Twitter: @noteswithkai. Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or going to Instagram and clicking on the link in our bio.

“Notes from America” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. Tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on notesfromamerica.org or on WNYC’s YouTube channel.

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. 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.

The Coolest Music Parties You Didn’t Know Were Happening Jun 29, 2023

Show notes

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 were two guys in a band called Wake Island. Music helped them process a lot about their lives: Where they came from, who they were, and where they were going. They realized music does that for a lot of people, especially if you’re from a diaspora. So they, along with partner Saphe Shamoun, created Laylit: the coolest music parties that celebrate the history, music, and culture of the SWANA diaspora.

Listen to Philippe and Nadim talk to our producer, Regina de Heer, about what these parties mean to them, and how you can celebrate where you are without losing where you’re from.

Plus, Regina and Wake Island launch the 2023 NfA summer playlist. We want to hear what music reflects your personal diaspora story. Find out how you can help us build this killer playlist.

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. 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.

Why the Indian Child Welfare Act is the Gold Standard in Family Law Jun 26, 2023

Show notes

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 Cherokee Nation citizen, so that meant her social workers had to follow guidelines set out by the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). Allison walks us through Sewell's adoption journey and what happens when ICWA works the way it’s supposed to.

Later in the show, Claudette Grinnell-Davis, professor of social work at the University of Oklahoma, joins Kai to explain what makes ICWA the gold standard in family law. ICWA was enacted after a congressional investigation found that more than a third of all Native children were removed from their families and placed with non-Native families or institutions without any ties to their tribes. While the federal Indian boarding school program had been phased out in the 1960s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs ran the Indian Adoption program and encouraged white families to adopt Native children. Congress finally acted in 1978 and passed ICWA, which recently survived a high stakes Supreme Court challenge.

Check out Allison Herrera’s reporting on the Indian Child Welfare Act:

'Today our heads are not bowed:' U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Indian Child Welfare Act

Oklahoma tribal leaders, advocates and Biden administration react to SCOTUS decision on ICWA

The Indian Child Welfare Act has been in place for nearly 45 years. Why is it being questioned now?

Companion Listening

Indian Boarding Schools Are Not Ancient History

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. 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.

95 Unmarked Graves Jun 22, 2023

Show notes

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 period in our country’s history - evidence many in Sugar Land wished had stayed hidden.

This is the story of these 95 people. Who were they? What happened to them? It turns out their story is just as much about them as it is about the people who have been trying to control them for over a century.

Kai talks to Brittney Martin, co-host and executive producer of the Sugar Land podcast. Then you’ll hear the first episode of the series.

The Sugar Land podcast is a production of DotProductions and the Texas Newsroom, a public radio journalism collaboration that includes NPR, KERA in North Texas, Houston Public Media, KUT in Auston, Texas Public Radio in San Antonio, and other stations across the state.

Check out more episodes of the Sugar Land podcast: https://www.sugarlandpodcast.com/

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. 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.

Juneteenth Is an Act of Bravery Jun 19, 2023

Show notes

It goes beyond the Emancipation Proclamation. It’s about liberating our own hearts and minds and staking a claim to freedom.

On June 19th, 1865, roughly a quarter million enslaved people in Texas officially learned that they were free, years after the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation. It was the last place the Union delivered news. Kai wants to go to Houston to hear the history, music, and perspective from locals about how they celebrate. And he finds even more – how people create and claim their own freedom.

- Zion Escobar, Executive Director at Houston Freedmen's Town Conservancy. Freedmen’s Town was the first town established by formerly enslaved Black Texans.

- Torin Collins of the Juneteenth Legacy Project.

- Lolade, a native of Nigeria and a vocalist/songwriter/music educator based in Houston.

- Callers, from lawyers to activists to plastic surgeons, who say how they find freedom in their own words, in their own lives.

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. 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.

Comedian Sam Jay Isn’t Afraid of Getting Canceled Jun 15, 2023

Show notes

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 of Good Times with her family. It made her realize how important comedy was growing up – especially sitcoms centering Black families. So she called up Sam Jay to talk about comedy of the past, and what the future looks like to one comic who’s forging it. As you can guess, that comedy is tied to the identities we hold true for ourselves, and the universal identities that connect us to each other.

Plus, hear Kai try to sing the Good Times theme song. It’s good times. (ba-dum tss)

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. 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.

Billy Porter Doesn’t Need a Month to Celebrate Pride Jun 12, 2023

Show notes

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 relief. Things didn’t change until he figured out how to show up authentically in every space. Kai sits down with Billy to hear that story.

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. 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.

Trust the Media? Yeah, Right. Jun 08, 2023

Show notes

According to Brooke Gladstone, host of “On The Media,” a lot of journalists think their job is to report “...fairly, accurately, and with principle.” But she also says that might be where we get in trouble.

She and Kai and try to make sense of this mess the media feels today.

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. 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 6th Was Not a Secret Attack Jun 05, 2023

Show notes

Micah Loewinger, a reporter for On the Media, began monitoring militia conversations in early 2020. The potential for violence was immediately clear. And so when they staged an insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Micah was listening and recording. But when his reporting became part of the FBI’s case against the Oath Keepers, it raised difficult questions about his role as a journalist.

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. 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.

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