Beyoncé. Kendrick Lamar. J Cole. Janelle Monae. Pop artists are increasingly speaking out against police violence these days, while amplifying the demands of Black Lives Matter in the process. This is in keeping with the spirit of the 1960s and 1970s, when James Brown, Nina Simone and Marvin Gaye turned issues of segregation and poverty into artistic masterpieces like "What's Goin On?" "Music may be beautiful but it haunts you because you don’t want there to exist in the world the conditions tha...
Apr 26, 2016•8 min•Ep. 149
As New York's primary approaches, many voters are trying to make sense of the 2016 presidential race. For local artists, some want to do more than just understand, they want to influence the outcome of the election. And the candidate who has probably generated the most attention and reaction? Donald Trump. Vishavjit Singh, an illustrator and Sikh activist, encourages his followers to send postcards to the Trump Organization. Some of the messages have been predictably snarky, but some are genuine...
Apr 15, 2016•6 min•Ep. 148
Should the U.S. ban Muslims from entering the country? Is radical Islam bent on taking over America? Ten or fifteen years ago, questions like these were largely relegated to the political fringes. Now, they help define the campaigns of the two leading Republican candidates, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, who are competing in the New York primary on April 19. The candidates are voicing ideas that come from a deliberate and well-funded campaign to convince the country that even regular, law-abiding Mu...
Apr 11, 2016•7 min•Ep. 147
On the surface, the #OscarsSoWhite campaign and the current boycott of the awards show Sunday night by Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith and Spike Lee are about one thing: recognition. After all, actors of color want to feel acknowledged for their work, along with directors, screenwriters and everyone else. But the rancor being felt in Hollywood is about much more than awards. As we explore in this episode of Micropolis, it's also about access, to wealth and power, much of which is concentrated in ...
Feb 26, 2016•5 min•Ep. 146
Among the many striking aspects of the 2016 presidential race is this: 'political correctness' is regularly touted as one of our greatest societal evils. But it's not just Republican candidates: 68 percent of all Americans think 'P.C.' is a big problem, according to this Fairleigh Dickinson University poll . The question is, why? In this episode [click "Listen" above], we explore how the policing of language can cause anxiety for many of us, while also forcing us to think about race and gender a...
Feb 16, 2016•7 min•Ep. 145
With their new video for "Hymn for the Weekend," shot in India, Beyoncé and Coldplay stumbled into a controversy that's been centuries in the making: the cultural appropriation debate. When is it okay to borrow from another culture, and when does the simple act of, say, wearing a kimono or Indian tribal clothing become offensive, a sort of identity theft? "Our clothes are our external representation to the world," said Susan Scafidi, author of "Who Owns Culture?" "So when you wear the clothes of...
Feb 02, 2016•5 min•Ep. 144
Beyond all the usual demands of child rearing, Muslim parents in America have their own set of problems. They're more likely to worry about their kids being bullied or called names. In the wake of the Paris attacks, people around the world have tried to make sense of extremist violence. We spoke to a Muslim family in Brooklyn about the discussions they've been having at home. And we hear from experts who closely study youth radicalization. "The issue exists in our country," said Humera Khan, who...
Nov 18, 2015•6 min•Ep. 143
The Obama administration announced that the U.S. would take in 85,000 refugees next year, including 10,000 Syrians. That's up from 70,000 this year, but still far short of what the nation's taken in during previous refugee crises. In 1980, for instance, the nation accepted nearly a quarter-million refugees, many of them from Southeast Asia. Sudanese refugee Ahmad Adam-Ali (L) on reaching America: "For me it means everything in this life." Seen here at an Indian restaurant in Paris with fellow re...
Oct 15, 2015•5 min•Ep. 142
For many tennis fans, the story of Serena Williams begins in 2001 at the Indian Wells Masters tournament. While 19-year-old Serena was on the court, facing off against Kim Clijsters, her sister Venus and father Richard Williams entered the stadium — to boos. Venus had pulled out of a match against Serena earlier, due to tendinitis, but a rumor floating around held that Richard had forced her to withdraw, in order to orchestrate a win for Serena. "I've never seen anything like it," remarked one o...
Sep 10, 2015•5 min•Ep. 141
ABC's "Fresh Off the Boat," based on Eddie Huang's memoir of the same name, premiered last week on a wave of hype. This is the first Asian-American sitcom since Margaret Cho's "All American Girl." What took so long? In this episode of Micropolis, we consider the long, fraught history of Asians in TV (not including the excellent "Goodness Gracious Me," below), and why ethnic sitcoms are generally problematic. But as NYU's Charlton McIlwain argues, we could be at a turning point. The Big 3 network...
Feb 09, 2015•7 min•Ep. 139
When he was 17 years old, Kedar Powell's dad handed him a jar filled with $25 in change and kicked him out of the house. "'This is what you want to do? Bye,'" Kedar recalls his dad saying. "And that's how life started for me." Kedar is gay. His father is Muslim. His mother had already rejected him — she is a devout Christian who had divorced his father years earlier. But he found redeeming moments in his religious upbringing in Brooklyn. "I was always in the church, in the choir. I loved to sing...
Dec 19, 2014•7 min•Ep. 138
America has a long history of religious hucksterism — people who have used God to sell everything from widgets to wars. But in a cynical city like New York, Micropolis wonders if that tactic can possibly work. “Hector the Inventor" says he has escaped death three times due to divine intervention. He is convinced God will help make him rich while also eliminating world poverty. "I’m not afraid of God, and I know what I’m doing," says Hector. "Because I’m guided."
Dec 18, 2014•5 min•Ep. 137
Hema Ramaswamy, a resident of Middletown, New Jersey has Down syndrome, but that didn’t stop her from rigorously studying Indian classical dance and mythology for years, and giving a grueling solo performance before hundreds of friends and family members. This loving portrait of Hema affirms the power of religious and cultural communities, and the ability of art to shape a young woman’s identity. Backstage before her arangetram, Hema receives encouragement from friends. (Preston Merchant/Preston...
Dec 15, 2014•5 min•Ep. 136
For those in the business of Muslim P.R., 2014 has been a pretty rough year. In the wake of ISIS beheadings and movements like Boko Haram, Americans increasingly believe that Islam encourages violence more than other religions. This, despite research from the conservative Manhattan Institute that Muslims in America are actually highly assimilated. But in recent months, Muslims have taken to social media — with a campaign called "Not in My Name." It's an earnest attempt by Western Muslims to dist...
Dec 15, 2014•7 min•Ep. 135
The “War on Christmas” has become a perennial rallying cry on Fox News and conservative talk radio. But in multicultural New York City, even non-Christians who don’t celebrate Christmas get a kick out of the holiday spirit. Micropolis talks to The Daily Show 's Aasif Mandvi, New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin and artist Swati Khurana on why, contrary to staging a war on Christmas, they are engaging with it in their own way. Arun also discovers that in the Orthodox Jewish enclaves of Bro...
Dec 15, 2014•10 min•Ep. 134
Nihal Kajjam remembers the precise moment when he encountered the Hare Krishnas in New York. He was wearing jeans and a black Megadeth t-shirt and was walking near the statue of Gandhi, in Union Square. And then he heard a small group of people dressed in saris and traditional robes, chanting — and it captivated him. Kajjam grew up in a religious, Krishna-worshipping family in India, but had since personally "dwindled." He ate meat, grew a little too cocky about his jumpshot, fell hard for a gir...
Dec 15, 2014•8 min•Ep. 133
