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WNYC Studios

Notes from America with Kai Wright is a show about the unfinished business of our history, and its grip on our future.

Notes from America with Kai Wright

This is the last episode of Notes from America with Kai Wright.

If you’ve been with the show through its multi-year history and iterations as a NYC-based narrative podcast and local call-in show called The United States of Anxiety before becoming a nationally distributed program, then you may remember the conversation in this finale.

It’s with cultural historian, Columbia University professor and MacArthur fellow Saidiya Hartman, who introduces host Kai Wright to young women whose lives were obscured by respectability politics. Hartman is the author of "Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals," which offers an intimate look into some of the Black people that have been seemingly erased from the history books. 

Through a series of readings, they explore the complicated role of Black intellectuals like W.E.B DuBois, the Black family and how a damaging moralism continues to inform the policing of marginalized communities, public space and American cultural politics today.

This episode was originally published as “The ‘Beautiful Experiments’ Left Out of Black History” on February 8, 2021.

Find Notes From America’s archive of episodes here, including the following companion listening for this episode:

“Faith Ringgold Creates Space for Black Americans” (1/5/2023)

Faith Ringgold’s art is an intimate dialogue and debate between generations of Black women, stretching from the formerly enslaved to 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.

Not Just Forgotten, but Erased From History: A Final Note from Notes from America

The drumbeat of Washington, D.C. and the surrounding area is not politics. It’s go-go music.

The genre developed by Chuck Brown in 1976 features syncopated rhythms, a large ensemble of musicians and a rich drum beat to create a live experience that has fans dancing ’till they can't dance no more. Go-go has been nurtured by D.C. natives for decades, from the time the District was considered a majority Black “Chocolate City,” and the music has significantly influenced the broader region into Maryland and Virginia, known as the DMV. Its influence can be seen from fashion to food to lingo, especially among Black residents of the region.

Go-go became the official music of Washington, D.C. in 2020, and in early 2025 the Go-Go Museum and Café will open in the southeast neighborhood of Anacostia — the cultural heart of Chocolate City. However, it wasn’t an easy road for go-go to become widely celebrated in the District. Its evolution mirrors the trials and transformations of a rapidly changing D.C. and the feeling of many Black people who have found it harder and harder to call Washington home.

In this episode, host Kai Wright hands the mic to producer Siona Peterous, who grew up in the DMV and has spent much of her adult life immersed in D.C.'s vibrant arts and culture scene. With a deep love for go-go, Peterous sits down to learn more about it from the co-founders of the Go-Go Museum and Café, Ronald Moten and Dr. Natalie Hopkinson. She also talks with Chris Proctor, lead talker of the Take Over Band (T.O.B.), which will celebrate 20 years in the go-go scene this Christmas Day.

This episode serves as a primer to the complex and rich history of go-go, taking listeners on a journey to explore how the genre was born, how it became a cultural touchstone during some of D.C.'s darker times, and breaking down the elements that make go-go so unique. Whether you’re new to the sound or already a fan, this episode will help you better understand what makes go-go such a powerful, enduring force in the city’s identity.

After you listen to the show, check out our playlist of go-go essentials here.

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 Real Heartbeat of D.C. Isn’t Politics. It’s Go-Go Music.

Host Kai Wright celebrates the many years and iterations of Notes from America by revisiting some of the show’s most engaging listener moments.

He’s joined by producer Regina de Heer to open up the listener mailbag of responses to recent episodes and highlights from live events and focus groups. Then, we listen back to a conversation with Lindsay Kimball, program director for Minnesota Public Radio’s renowned music station The Current, accompanied by a holiday music playlist curated with the help of listeners (who also graced us with some impromptu live performances).

Dear Listener, thank you for always spending time with us and adding your voice to our show.

Check out our original holiday playlist here!

Companion Listening:

“Nikki Giovanni and Kimberly McGlonn on space travel, sustainable fashion and Black liberation” (November 13, 2023)

Guest host Janae Pierre sits down with legendary poet and activist Nikki Giovanni, who is the subject of a new documentary, “Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project.” Giovanni reflects on the legacy of Black storytelling, gospel music, what she describes as original libraries, and why she’s working to get more Black women involved in space travel.

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.

Dear Listener: A Celebration of Our Best Moments with You

College student Hisham Awartani, 21, was visiting family in Vermont over Thanksgiving break in 2023 when he and two of his friends were shot. All three victims are of Palestinian descent and were wearing traditional Palestinian scarves when the attack happened. Awartani and the other two young men, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmed, all survived. However, Awartani was left paralyzed from the waist down and over the past year, he’s been learning how to live a new life that involves using a wheelchair.

Over that year, Notes From America has spent time with Awartani, following his physical recovery and the emotional hurdles he’s grappled with at Brown University where he became a reluctant poster child of the movement for the university to divest from companies associated with the Israeli military. 

As Awartani prepares to return home to the West Bank for the first time since his injury, producer Suzanne Gaber takes us through his year in recovery and what he hopes for next as the war in his homeland continues to escalate.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this piece incorrectly attributed an anecdote about the Awartani family in the Middle East being forced to leave their homes in 1948 when many Palestinians, including the family, were pushed out during an expansion of Israeli territory. The story is in reference to a 1967 evacuation of their village and the piece has since been updated to reflect the correct year.

Series Coverage of Hisham Awartani's Story:

A Palestinian-American Victim of American Gun Violence Becomes A Reluctant Poster Child (February 19, 2024) 

Still In Recovery From Being Shot, Hisham Awartani Commits To a Summer of Activism (June 6, 2024) 

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.

A Year After Being Shot in Vermont, Palestinian Student Hisham Awartani Sets His Sights on Home

This episode was originally published March 1, 2024.

Host Kai Wright started his career covering the impact of HIV and AIDS on communities in America. A new project brings that experience full circle. Kai hosts the latest season of the Blindspot podcast, “The Plague In The Shadows,” which introduces listeners to people who were affected in the early years of the HIV and AIDS epidemics. 

Decades later, AIDS is still with us and its status as an epidemic remains accurate. In this episode, we learn why that is from two women whose careers have centered around this disease in different ways. Journalist Linda Villarosa is the author of “Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation;” and June Gipson, Ph.D. is the director of the organization My Brother’s Keeper, which works on both HIV prevention and access to treatment in Mississippi. They discuss the medical achievements in the field of HIV and AIDS treatment, as well as the barriers to eradication. Plus, listeners from across the country weigh in with their own stories and we hear from one of the people you meet in the Blindspot podcast, Victor Reyes, who was born with HIV in Harlem in 1989. 

To hear more of Blindspot: The Plague In The Shadows, listen and subscribe here.

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.

We Could End AIDS. So Why Are People Still Dying?

Our guest on the final episode of “Notes on a Native Son” is British writer Ekow Eshun. He has been described as a cultural polymath. At a startlingly young age, 29, he became the first Black editor of Arena, a mainstream magazine in the UK. He continued to break new ground when he became the first Black director of a major cultural institution, London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts, a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace. These days, as chair of the Commissioning Group for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, he leads one of the world's most famous and sometimes controversial public art projects, always worth a visit if you're in London.

Eshun’s choice of Baldwin's work for our conversation is informed by a book he's recently written called “The Strangers,” about five prominent Black figures and their sense of isolation and exile. Host Razia Iqbal meets with Eshun at Princeton University where he was lecturing about art, curation, and happily for us, James Baldwin.

You can find the entire "Notes on a Native Son" series here.

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.

Writer Ekow Eshun on James Baldwin’s History

The public debate over policing has made more of us more familiar with ideas like defunding or abolishing the police, but these ideas are still often dismissed as infeasible. In this episode, host Kai Wright is joined by three experts who have seen communities sustain and improve public safety absent of law enforcement.

First, we meet Dennis Flores, a Nuyorican multimedia artist, activist and educator born and raised in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. He is the co-founder of El Grito de Sunset Park, a grassroots community-based organization that advocates around issues of discriminatory policing and housing rights. Flores is also the lead organizer of the Sunset Park Puerto Rican Day Parade, which, entering its third year, has created a celebration of Puerto Rican culture safe from police harassment. Flores shares how own experience with our justice system led him to find alternatives to police presence to keep his community safe.

Next, Kai is joined by Philip V. McHarris, an assistant professor in the Department of Black Studies and Frederick Douglas Institute at the University of Rochester, and author of the book, “Beyond Policing.” McHarris breaks down the history of our police system and how learning about the white supremacist origins of law enforcement can help us discover better alternatives.

Then Danielle Sered, executive director of the award-winning organization Common Justice, talks about developing and advancing solutions to violence that meet the needs of those harmed and foster racial equity without relying on incarceration. Sered is the author of “Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair” and her organization is at the forefront of alternatives to prison. She shares her takeaways from working on the frontlines — both with victims and perpetrators.

Companion Listening: “People Feel Unsafe–and It’s More Than Crime” (March 14, 2022)

The social fabric is torn. People nationwide are scared, some going so far as to arm themselves. What can we learn from our history as we react to this fear?

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.

An America Without Police is Safer Than You Think

In the 10th episode of “Notes on a Native Son,” host Razia Iqbal sits down with writer and former architect Hisham Matar. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his profound and painful memoir, “The Return,” which chronicles his return to Libya after the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi. Gaddafi had his father Jaballa kidnapped and thrown into jail, never to be seen again. This has haunted Matar's life and work, an overshadowing that he has transformed into books of extraordinary power and beauty.

For this episode, Matar speaks with Iqbal about one of Baldwin’s profound television appearances in which Baldwin breaks down the foundational flaws of America’s racial hierarchy. Matar says Baldwin’s calm and patient demeanor on the program strengthens his powerful arguments, making it an even more compelling watch.

Matar teaches at Barnard College in New York. His first novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and his third novel was longlisted for the same prize.

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.

Writer Hisham Matar on James Baldwin’s Patience

This is Uncomfortable is a podcast from Marketplace. For their season premiere earlier in 2024, host Reema Khrais shared a conversation with one of our favorite writers, Hanif Abdurraqib, and we're excited to share it with you. He joins her for a wide-ranging conversation about the moral judgments we’re quick to make about people’s financial circumstances, notions of success and legacy, and what it means to be “good” versus “bad” in an unequal world. Abdurraqib also reveals one of the most challenging financial moments of his life and the reasons behind his commitment to giving away so much of his income.

Hanif Abdurraqib is an award-winning poet, cultural critic and author from Columbus, Ohio. He’s written six books, several of which are bestsellers, including his most recent, “There’s Always This Year.” His work spans sports, pop culture and politics, often focusing on issues of race and class, while also delving into themes of grief, beauty and love. He’s been the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” and a finalist for the National Book Award, among other accolades.

Learn more about This is Uncomfortable here.

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.

Presenting This is Uncomfortable: Writer Hanif Abdurraqib on what it Means to “Make it”

For nearly a decade, Donald Trump and his political allies have made it clear that one of their primary goals is mass deportation of undocumented people living in the U.S. After the election, this rhetoric is set to become a policy reality, affecting millions of people across all sectors of society.

While Trump and right-wing conservatives have proudly embraced an anti-immigration stance, it's important to recognize that Republicans aren't the only party that set the stage for mass deportations. Over the years, Democrats have also shifted rightward on immigration, increasingly echoing the foundational principles of conservative immigration policies. After all, there's a reason President Obama earned the nickname "Deporter-in-Chief": 3 million people were deported during his presidency. 

As questions arise about what mass deportations will look like under a Trump administration, many wonder how it will differ from the current system. In our latest episode, host Kai Wright speaks with Jasmine Garsd, NPR's immigration correspondent and the host of The Last Cup, as well as Ronnie James, director of national community engagement for the UndocuBlack Network, an organization that supports Black migrants who are either currently or formerly undocumented. They explore how both parties have mishandled immigration over the years, the myths and misconceptions that shape immigration policy, the economic impacts of mass deportations, and what these policies could actually look like in practice. James also shares how people can get involved in efforts to push back against these policies. 

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.

It’s Trump’s Policy, But Both Parties Set the Stage for Mass Deportations

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.

Why It’s So Hard to Sound “American”

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