© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Beyond Solidarity: How White People Can Become Anti-Racist

This hour, we talk about the role white people play in anti-racist work, and how we can all talk with young people about anti-racism.

You’ll hear from John Biewen, audio program director at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. He’s also the host and producer of Scene On Radio, a podcast that tells stories exploring human experience and American society. The second season of that series is called “Seeing White”. Through 14 episodes, it explores America’s deep history of white supremacy. Biewen, who is white, and his co-host and collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika, Assistant Professor at Rutgers University’s Department of Journalism and Media Studies, who is Black, talk about the manufacturing of the concept of race and the purpose of whiteness.

The latest season of Scene on Radio just wrapped this week, and it’s called “The Land That Never Has Been Yet” (The title is from the Langston Huges poem, “Let America Be America Again”), and it examines the ways in which the United States grapples with the democratic experiment.

Later, we hear from Amber Coleman-Mortley, who is the Director of Social Engagement at iCivics, Inc., a nonpartisan, civic education, gaming and classroom resource. On her blog, Mom Of All Capes, she writes and podcasts about practical strategies parents can use in edtech, civics, and social emotional development.

One of her recent episodes was centered around having family discussions about racism, why parents and educators should talk about race, and they share tips to help get these conversations started. She joins me to talk about things to keep in mind as we talk with children about anti-racism.

Finally, hear my conversations with parents and their children at a recent Black Lives Matter rally in Hartford.

Anti-racist resources:

Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and email.

GUESTS:

  • John Biewen is the audio program director at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. He’s also the host and producer of Scene On Radio, a podcast that tells stories exploring human experience and American society. His latest series is “The Land That Never Has Been Yet”
  • Drew John Ladd is a Connecticut-based writer and public speaker whose work largely focuses on dismantling racism
  • Amber Coleman-Mortley is the Director of Social Engagement at iCivics, Inc., a nonpartisan, civic education, gaming and classroom resource. On her blog, Mom Of All Capes, she writes and podcasts about practical strategies parents can use in edtech, civics, and social emotional development

Catie Talarski contributed to this show.

Chion Wolf is the host of Audacious with Chion Wolf on Connecticut Public, spotlighting the stories of people whose experiences, professions, or conditions defy convention or are often misunderstood.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.