Episode description

This week Farai Chideya talks with Representative-Elect Jamaal Bowman of New York about his plans for a more just and equitable district, with a major focus on education. Contributor Errin Haines of The 19th updates listeners on the latest moves in the incoming Biden Administration, and NPR correspondent Hansi Lo Wang explains why the 2020 Census is still not over. Advocate Imani Barbarin discusses the intersection of disability and social media. And Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom beautifully annotates her lived experience as a Black woman and sociologist in her collection of personal essays.

EPISODE RUNDOWN

1:13 Representative-Elect Jamaal Bowman of New York on why he ran for office. 

4:05 Bowman discusses possibilities for adapting education for Covid safety, and why it’s hard to make change in education systems. 

8:13 In years prior, Bowman didn’t align with any particular political party, because he “didn't feel either party spoke to my needs personally or the needs of my family and my community.”

14:00 Errin Haines discusses the lack of diversity in President-Elect Joe Biden’s administration so far. 

15:35 Susan Rice is slated to become the next Director of White House Domestic Policy Council, Haines says, a position that crucially does not require Senate confirmation. 

18:37 A new poll out of Georgia finds that a majority of registered Black female voters are highly concerned about the outcome of the Senate races.

21:04 Our Covid update highlights the crisis in Navajo Nation, and the systemic difficulties that health care providers face there.

24:06 NPR national correspondent Hansi Lo Wang breaks down the importance of the 2020 Census, and how the Supreme Court could be making some historic changes to the way it operates. 

33:00 Disability activist Imani Barbarin talks about how she uses social media to get her message out and connect with others in the disability community.

35:02 Barbarin explains the parallels between those impacted by Covid and those in the disability community.

37:48 Having lived in France, Barbarin says having a disability in the two countries is a completely different experience.

38:38 Author, professor and sociologist Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom talks about her latest collection of essays and her lived experience of being a Black woman in America. 

40:09 “..whiteness defends itself against change, against progress, against hope, against black dignity, against black lives, against reason,” McMillan Cottom says. 

41:46 McMillan Cottom talks about the trauma of her own birthing experience, and explains the dangers of the US healthcare system for Black women and others who are meant to understand their bodies are “incompetent.”