Episode description

Today, we’re sharing the first episode of a new series from Futuro Media and PRX. We Imagine…Us is a powerfully crafted dual set of podcasts designed to inspire and elevate innovative ideas and solutions for some of the most pressing problems facing our communities as they confront decades of racial inequality.

For the first time ever, Futuro Media is producing an original fiction podcast along with PRX, “We Imagine…Us: The Long Way Around,” starring Emmy-winner Karrueche Tran in her debut podcast performance. The compelling and audio-rich series takes us on a journey filled with twists and turns through the center of the country and explores themes of racial injustice, family and community healing and solidarity while telling the story of a father and daughter’s journey to build a new life for themselves.

This compelling audio drama holds up a mirror to the challenges of our contemporary world and was inspired by recent events and interviews with members of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Solidarity Council on Racial Equity (SCoRE) including John Legend, Ava DuVernay, Michelle Alexander, Heather McGhee and others. 

A companion factual podcast series, Re-Imagination Nation with Maria Hinojosa, features interviews with these thought-leaders about where we are and about how we can work together to create a more just and equitable world.

In episode one of We Imagine…Us, after serving three years for a white-collar crime, Albert "Bumpy" Watkins is released into a post-Covid America, where he has to navigate his new status as a formerly incarcerated person  and his new role as a single parent to teenager Mercy Watkins.