Notes from America with Kai Wright

Our producer, Regina de Heer, wants to know which songs reflect your experience being part of a diaspora. For her, having to choose an entrance song for her engagement ceremony made a new connection with her Ghanaian heritage, and made her want to learn more about afrobeats. So she found an expert: Christian Adofo , author of   A Quick Ting On: Afrobeats Send us your song for our summer playlist!...

We’re gonna need a bigger bench. Because w hen most people talk about expanding the Supreme Court, they're talking about adding a few justices. But  Elie Mystal  is not most people. He thinks we should just blow the lid and add 20 justices. Here's why. This is from   Contempt of Court , a new podcast from Elie   and The Nation.   This episode is called "Elie's Court Packing Plan."  Also, heads up...

Listeners want to talk about moments from their past when they felt like they didn’t belong and who helped them through those moments. So Kai invites them to talk with Connie Wang, author of “Oh My Mother!”  Connie’s most memorable moments with her mom have been when they were traveling: to their family timeshare in Mexico, family visits to China, and a Magic Mike liveshow in Las Vegas. Each of th...

Everyone’s talking about affirmative action at elite universities. But they educate fewer than 5 percent of students seeking advanced degrees. So why should the other 95 percent care? Kai wants to know about the future of equity in higher education. So he talks to: - Dominique Baker, Southern Methodist University Associate Professor of Education Policy. - Imani Perry, Harvard University Professor...

Affirmative action is gone. Ibram X. Kendi tells us the history leading up to this moment and what could be next. Historian and best-selling author Ibram X. Kendi helps Kai understand the Supreme Court's ruling that ended race-based affirmative action in college admissions. Plus, Kai wants to know Dr. Kendi's personal reaction to the Court's ruling. He is devastated for a number of reasons. Tell u...

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...

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 w...

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...

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 wh...

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...

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...

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...

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. Instagram and Twitter: @noteswithkai...

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. Instagram and Twitter:   @noteswithkai . Email us at   notes@wnyc.org . Send us a voice message by...

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 journali...

Kai’s a legit fanboy of Padma. One reason why: She explores who we are …through what we eat. So Kai gets her on the mic to ask what  food can tell us about the American immigrant story. You’ll hear from: - Padma Lakshmi , Host of Hulu’s   Taste the Nation   & Bravo’s   Top Shelf Tell us what you think. Instagram and Twitter:   @noteswithkai . Email us at   notes@wnyc.org . Send us a voice message...

Ask a group of highschoolers, “who was Trayvon Martin?” and you’ll see some tragically blank stares. But replace that with “George Floyd”, and you’ll see heads nod. Kai’s  struggling with how we memorialize anti-Black violence when we “say their names” – is that an effective response to anti-Black violence?  So he talks to: Chelsea Miller , activist and co-founder of Freedom March NYC. Tell us wha...

Our friends at  More Perfect  dove into Clarence Thomas’s past to make sense of his ideology today. You’ll hear from: Juan Williams   — Senior Political Analyst at Fox News Corey Robin   — Professor of Political Science at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center Angela Onwuachi-Willig   — Dean of Boston University School of Law Stephen F. Smith   — Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School T...

The Supreme Court’s most senior member writes opinions that have an outsized impact on U.S. law. Our listeners call in to understand what really shapes Justice Thomas, and what we should expect from SCOTUS as the 2023 term comes to an end.  Plus,  - Elie Mystal, Justice Correspondent for The Nation and Supreme Court scholar.  - Corey Robin, Author of   The Enigma of Clarence Thomas. For more, chec...

Jordan Neely’s death raised deep, fundamental questions about our society; about what kind of people we are, and why? Our colleagues at The Brian Lehrer Show talked with Eli Mystal from the Nation to confront these questions. Last week, our show talked about homelessness.   “Homelessness Hides in Plain Sight. So Does Its Fix.”   is available in your feed. We recommend listening alongside this epis...

One in every 14 Americans experiences homelessness at some point. Our listeners who know about it firsthand talk to us. Plus, - Michael Kimmleman, architecture critic for The New York Times. His article, “How Houston Moved 25,000 People From the Streets Into Homes of Their Own,” was published in his Headways column of the Times, from June 14, 2022. - Ana Rausch, Vice President of Operations for Co...

Before she was the 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo’s journey as an artist began at a federal Indian boarding school. She reveals an unexpected perspective about her experience. Joy Harjo is an internationally renowned performer and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. She served three terms as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2019-2022. Her new children’s book,   Remember ( Pe...

From 1819 and 1969, the U.S. removed thousands of Native children from their homes and tried to strip them of their culture. What would a reparations program for this history look like? T he U.S. Department of the Interior has begun finally wrestling with the history of the Indian boarding school program. In 2021, the department’s head, Secretary Deb Haaland, launched the    Federal Indian Boardin...

The world of finance can be confusing for people who weren’t born into it – more often, that’s people of color.  Berna Anat  is a “Financial Hype Woman” on a mission to fix that.  The freelance writer-turned-financial education content creator is deeply skeptical of capitalism and dedicated to empowering first-generation Americans and people of color to thrive in the system.  Anat shares the lesso...

A deadly encounter fifty years ago between the New Jersey State Police and a group of Black activists turned Assata Shakur into a cultural icon – and an enduring political villain.  In May 1973, activist Assata Shakur and two members of the Black Liberation Army were pulled over by state troopers on the New Jersey Turnpike. Tragically, guns were fired, people were killed, and in the aftermath, a p...