This MLK Day, we're passing the mic
We know public radio has a long way to go to make sure the voices you hear on the air reflect the diversity of our listeners.
So today, we're passing the mic.
Public radio is not known for its diversity of voices. A 2018 study of NPR news magazine shows found that 83% of sources were white and 63% were male. With those numbers, you have to ask yourself what — and who —you're missing.
Martin Luther King Jr. is heavily quoted, and misquoted. But before he died, he used his pulpit and platform to elevate voices and conversations that the wider society might never hear.
With this show, we've sought to do the same. The host, guests, and producers are all people of color, in frank conversation about what it means to move through the world as people of color.
Ishea and Joe
After getting off on the wrong foot at a KUOW Curiosity Club dinner, Ishea Brown and Joe Santiago came back together for a conversation about the messiness of race in America.
Mental health in the black community
Conversations about mental health can be intimidating, stigmatized... and vital. Ishea Brown speaks with two Black women therapists, Rian Roberson and Shirley Lytle, about how to normalize those conversations and find ways not just to survive, but thrive.
Carvell Wallace and Imani Sims
Being hypervisible means that everyone sees you, but no one sees YOU, says writer Carvell Wallace. He was in conversation with poet Imani Sims about performing blackness in white spaces. The discussion began with a Black Panther-inspired poem called "Better Than Captivity."
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Zaki Barak Hamid
Director of Community Engagement
Zaki leads the Community Engagement department, whose main goal is to facilitate connections between the various communities of the Puget Sound area and the content division, so that KUOW's news coverage is more holistic and informed by listeners' needs. His favorite programs include initiatives that facilitate understanding between people who might disagree with each other, such as StoryCorp's One Small Step.
More stories from Zaki Barak Hamid »
