In the spring of 2017 we kicked off the Listening Lounge, a weekly radio hangout. where we listened to some podcast material on a particular topic and then talked about it together. This pilot series focused on the racial construction of "whiteness" from an anti-racist perspective. Each week's audio carried historical and current events into a discussion on the blocks, in-roads, and action steps toward dismantling racism.
Look for more Listening Lounges soon. And let us know if you're listening to what we've put together here by emailing "tophilly@gmail.com."
WHAT WE LISTENED TO
(and some extra things to hear on your own)
Week One • April 19
"The Architect of Hollywood
(99% Invisible #255)When Paul Williams was born in 1894, Los Angeles was a small downtown, surrounded by bean fields and orange groves, but it was changing and growing fast. Williams worked on all kinds of projects, including commercial and institutional ones, but he was particularly well known for his residential architecture. He designed a number of homes for Hollywood stars, including Frank Sinatra’s bachelor pad and a mansion for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The city gave Paul Williams a lot of opportunities he wouldn’t have had anywhere else in America at the time...although Williams still had to work harder than his white peers.
"How Race Was Made" (Seeing White, Part 2)
For much of human history, people viewed themselves as members of tribes or nations but had no notion of “race.” Today, science deems race biologically meaningless. Who invented race as we know it, and why? *Episode features bonus commentary from Chenjerai Kumanyika.
EXTRA: "Reporting on Whiteness"
(Seeing White, Part 1)The How Sound podcast interviews John Biewen about his Seeing White series for Scene on Radio.
Week Two • April 26
"Mummy of Hornedjitef"
(A History of the World in 100 Objects, episode 1)Hornedjitef was a priest who died around 2,250 years ago, and he designed a coffin that, he believed, would help him navigate his way to the afterlife. Little did he know that this afterlife would be as a museum exhibit in London.
"Made in America"
(Seeing White, Part 3)Chattel slavery in the United States, with its distinctive—and strikingly cruel—laws and structures, took shape over many decades in colonial America. The innovations that built American slavery are inseparable from the construction of Whiteness as we know it today. *Episode features bonus commentary from Chenjerai Kumanyika.
Week Three • May 3
"The Spelling Bee"
(from Snap Judgment)What Davey Kim did in the eighth grade, when he went to the regional level spelling bee with his best friend, might be spelled R-E-V-E-N-G-E, and also S-O-L-I-D-A-R-I-T-Y.
“All men are created equal.” Those words, from the Declaration of Independence, are central to the story that Americans tell about ourselves and our history. But what did those words mean to the man who actually wrote them? *Episode features bonus commentary from Chenjerai Kumanyika.
Week Four • May 10
"Holes In My Identity"
(from the play, Hands Up )Nathan Yungerberg was one of seven emerging black playwrights commissioned by New Black Fest to write a collection of monologues that explore the well-being of African-Americans in a culture of institutional profiling. Six of these monologues were adapted for radio by Judith Kampfner for the BBC. * Whole piece features five more stories, archival news clips and on-street interviews. Links:
"That's Not Us, So We're Clean"
(Seeing White, Part 6)When it comes to America’s racial sins, past and present, a lot of us see people in one region of the country as guiltier than the rest. Producer John Biewen speaks with some white Southern friends about that tendency. *Episode features bonus commentary from Chenjerai Kumanyika.
EXTRA: "Little War on the Prairie"
(Seeing White, Part 5)Many residents of Mankato, Minnesota grow up knowing next to nothing about the town’s most important historical event: the largest mass execution in U.S. history. In this documentary, one resident goes back to Minnesota to explore what happened, and why Minnesotans didn’t talk about it afterwards.
Week Five • May 24
"The Year Hank Greenberg
While the Third Reich came to power in Germany and American Nazis rallied in their support all over the U.S., some Jewish Americans took antifascism into their own hands.
Hit 58 Home Runs"
(The Memory Palace episode 109)
"On Interviewing A Racist"
“What should be my mantra be as I sit in the car, my heart pumping, afraid of what I’m walking into and what might happen when I’m going to interview a racist?” Al Letson offers insight into talking to people with whom you don't agree.
(from HowSound)
EXTRA: "Chenjerai's Challenge" (Seeing White, Part 7)
“How attached are you to the idea of being white?” Chenjerai Kumanyika puts that question to John Biewen—and also to us—as we wrap up our first series of The Listening Lounge.
