Where We’re Headed

Today, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s holiday we break hiatus and continue the "Abroad Series" stopping in Brasil and a tour of Africa. We delve into entertainment, the shifting sands of Catholicism to Evangelical Christianity and Pentecostalism, and how they are changing the faces and legacies of colonialism on the continent. Criss-crossing the globe, we begin  with Nollywood (Nigeria)...

This week we continue our abroad series-opening with special insights from co-host Verdell Wright on the importance of centering Black narratives of religious freedom and experience. We briefly visit the plight of despised Nigerian atheist/activist Mubarak Bala who in-secret was unjustly sequestered in Nigeria for nearly a year only to be sentenced  to 24 years for the invisible crime of blasphemi...

Admittedly one of our more atheist-y episodes, today we offer the second installment of our “Abroad Series”. This show takes a deep-dive, critical look into the phenomenon of missionary work-mostly of the Christian/Evangelical variety. From New York to Brasil, West Africa to Uganda, India to the Caribbean and back, we scrutinize the mission field; its presumptions of good faith and nobility and a...

We’re back with a new season as this February marks the first anniversary of the  WWH podcast !! To celebrate, we’re launching Season 2 with our Abroad series. In this first episode our first stop is to the Caribbean: the USVI 🇻🇮, Jamaica 🇯🇲 - and ultimately hitting the US mainland (after a stopover in Brasil 🇧🇷). We’re highlighting Black (and Indigenous) music as "dissent" and sharing this insigh...

In keeping with our show title, we owe it to the listeners to comment on where we're really headed...and it's in a new direction! The new year has brought about some changes behind the scenes. Going forward this podcast will be an independent production-produced by the Fibby Music Group, LLC and both promoting and endorsing the newly formed Black Secular Collective.  To find more information on th...

After 18 episodes we're wrapping our premier season covering Black history, race consciousness, religion, freethought & liberation movements. We hope you have listened, questioned, gained perspective, empathy and enlightenment about the established Legacy of Black Freethinkers, dissenters and non-religious leaders in American Civil Rights and around the globe. Our season I concludes with the f...

On this episode, we talk everything from the Bible, to the Black Church, Islamic persecution around the globe and back! Part II of our CONVERSATIONS series features the WWH co-host: the insightful, sensitive and cool Verdell Wright. It is the continuation of an on-going dialogue stemming from Episode 6 and Episode 10 ("Good God Gone" and "Conversations!" if you missed it). This time we’re deconstr...

Dr. Jeffrey B. Perry brings us together with this ultimate appearance in our Legacy series on WWH. He has been active in the working class movementfor 50 years studying, writing and speaking on two of the most important thinkers on race and class in the twentieth century --Theodore W. Allen and Cruzan-American Black atheist, activist and scholar, Hubert Harrison.  Called “A brilliant masterpiece”...

A giant of both Afro-Caribbean and African-American history, we rejoin Jeffrey B. Perry in his second Legacy appearance covering Volume II of his autobiography and treatment of the one and only Hubert Harrison. Called “The Black Socrates” by Joel A. Rogers, Harrison practically mentored Marcus Garvey, rubbed shoulders with A. Phillip Randolph and Arturo Schomburg and wrote the book on “militant” N...

Who and what were are the “Black Georgians” of the British empire? And how did their struggles of dissent shape our past and present freedom narratives? Author, historian and professor S.I. Martin, from our Legacy program introduces us to these international men and women of mystery, conviction and fortitude.   The Black Georgians describes Black people in The Georgian era; a period in British His...

"The Momentum of Memory" vs. "The Violence of Forgetting." Throughout history a well-documented feature of authoritarianism, totalitarian regimes, religious indoctrination and myth-making is the reshaping of collective and individual memory. As a person of African descent, deconstructing religion can yield epiphanies not only in science or theology but in the heavy political histories of ethnicity...

More than 100 years ago a Black skeptic/atheist/agnostic/freethinker from the Danish West Indies framed a conversation on Pan-Africanism, modeled Socialist Black political organizing, advocated for labor rights and progressive Black entertainment in a vaudeville era of American life wreathed in poverty, White Supremacy, World Wars and European Imperialism. This episode continues Dr. Jeffrey B. Per...

Who is one of the greatest icons of movement history that you’ve likely never heard of? Someone who 100+ years ago conceptualized Pan-Africanism, modeled new Black political organization, labor rights advocacy, religious dissent and championed (and scrutinized) Black actors, playwrights and entertainers in ways few others would? Who literally stands as a bridge between Frederick Douglass, Martin L...

Dialogue, Dialogue, Dialogue! Today’s episode is all about dialogue, reflection and conversation with the co-host and co-creator of Where We’re Headed, Mr. Verdell Wright. If you missed his compelling account of a “Good God Gone” in (Ep. 6) here’s another chance to get acquainted with Verdell and host Rogiérs as they enjoy an open dialogue and process life as a former Minister, Seminarian, Ministe...

What is the relevance of "community" at all? Why is it important to apply a critical racial lens in conversation around faith, stigma and our future? How do these dynamics show up when we're not looking?  On this episode we study the effect(s) of coercion, exclusion and "othering" through subtle acts of religious supremacy in public policy and government. We first look into rhetoric of government...

Perhaps one of the biggest slept-on challenges we face moving through life and all its stages is how do we form community, maintain it, hold it accountable, reconcile it and how we discard community in/around us? Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we don’t so much. On this episode Ro tells a story of a peculiar encounter with a random lady at Eastern Market and we study the historical relationsh...

To be or not to be...our ancestors. Over the last few years of Civil Rights protests here within the United States has been common to hear the phrase “I am not my ancestors”. And increasingly, entertainers speaking for African-Americans echo these sentiments in the public sphere. Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube have all gone on-record to openly disclaim, mock and rebuke long-held or respected con...

For Verdell Wright, one of the first and hardest things to let go in his journey out of faith was the idea of "Good God". Because with all that he’d seen around him concerning the historical plight of Black people alone he thought surely, there is no good reason to believe in an omni-benevolence deity. As an individual Verdell realized what he wanted more than anything was peace and freedom. He sa...

The “Doubting Thomas” of the Bible has special resonance for our communities. Fear of doubt will reliably illicit a negative reaction and anxiety for many regardless of the faith tradition (e.g. Islam, Christianity, Yoruba/Vodún, Pantheist, Spiritualist). On this episode we chronicle the fear of losing faith, spotlight the exile of a groundbreaking Pentecostal Bishop turned heretic and critique An...

What do the Pope, the Puritans & Pastor Paula White have in common? Come along as we explore some of the how’s & why’s that make religion & politics a match not quite "made in heaven". Rogiérs details the phenomena of 'colonial faith', its political underpinnings throughout history and draws links to modern American Evangelical culture and the political Right. We also discuss the ways...

"Life is too good to waste on bad ideas" and Andrew Seidel (author, constitutional lawyer & activist) is convinced the idea that America's foundational principles are Christian, is not only 'bad'...it's a myth. Aside from writing, Seidel works with the FFRF to ensure that the government officials don’t use offices and power that belong to “We the people” to promote their personal religion. He...

For the second episode we discuss the power of myth making about "overcoming" the Civil Rights era and how cultural revisionism distorts our view of Black political movements and the people who have participated in them. Author and Professor Chris Cameron (Black Freethinkers, UNC Charlotte) joins from the Legacy program as our special guest. Hosted by Rogiérs (artist/activist & director of BSC...

It's the WWH premier episode!! Come aboard as we look back to understand where we are, and to figure out Where We're Headed as people of African descent in the United States. Hosted by Rogiérs (artist/activist and director of BNDC), this podcast uses an Africana studies framework to examine and celebrate the history of religious dissent in Black communities. It also serves as the companion podcast...