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PODCAST · society

American Suburb

by KQED

Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the Delta, 45 miles from San Francisco. But is this once sleepy suburb ready for them? KQED’s Devin Katayama and Sandhya Dirks explore that question, taking us into the ordinary spaces of suburban life to find extraordinary stories about race, poverty and belonging.

Publisher-supplied feed metadata · PodParley refreshed Feb 16, 2026 · Source feed

Episodes

  1. Chapter 0: Welcome to American Suburb

    Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the...

  2. Chapter 1: The Tipping Point

    A police chief in Antioch leads a team to investigate citizen complaints. But some say the complaints mostly target newer black residents. Across town, a lawyer is determined to bring down the Antioch Police Department, accusing them of ethnic cleansing. In between, neighbors are fighting…

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  3. Chapter 2: Friday Night Lights

    With the country’s No. 1 high school football recruit - Najee Harris - Principal Louie Rocha and the Antioch High School football team haven’t had it this good since 1978. It was a nearly all-white team then. It’s not that way anymore. And there have been racial tensions since the city started to...

  4. Chapter 3: How to Survive an Exodus

    When African-Americans priced out of Bay Area cities like San Francisco, Fremont and Oakland move to suburban Antioch looking for better schools, more affordable homes and safer streets, they find a mixed blessing. When church is a refuge, it means either commuting on Sunday morning back to the...

  5. Chapter 4: Make Great America Again

    A small group of Muslim families were meeting out of garages before they purchased an old dentist office for their new mosque. After the Islamic Center of the East Bay was torched in 2007, the group must decide whether to rebuild in Antioch or leave the city.

  6. Chapter 5: How to Change Your Mind

    Iris Archuleta is the daughter of a Black Panther who grew up in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury. She and her husband were part of the first wave of upper middle class African-Americans who moved to Antioch 20 years ago. This is the story of an unlikely alliance between Iris and the Antioch…

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  7. Chapter 6: Reasonable Fear

    More African Americans are now living in suburbs than anywhere else. And some of the country’s most recent controversial police shootings of unarmed black men took place in the suburbs outside St. Louis, St. Paul and Orlando. In suburban Antioch, police chief Allan Cantando is trying to bridge...

  8. Chapter 7: The Field

    Antioch residents are finding it hard to ignore the increasing number of destitute people living on the streets. Last year, the number of people living unsheltered grew by 30 percent in the far eastern Contra Costa suburbs– the rest of the county saw declines. In this chapter Devin joins a group…

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  9. Chapter 8: Rabbit Hole

    It can be hard to get back on your feet when you’re starting from scratch — even when opportunity falls in your lap. We meet Kevin Kunze, who was living on the streets until Doug Stewart decided to do something unusual: He took Kevin home with him to live with the Stewart family. It’s a test for...

  10. Chapter 9: We Too Sing Antioch

    A school counselor and local pastor arranges a middle school graduation celebration for African American students, but protests against the ceremony lead to racist graffiti on the pastor’s church door. Nowhere are the changing demographics of suburbs like Antioch clearer than in the city’s...

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the Delta, 45 miles from San Francisco. But is this once sleepy suburb ready for them? KQED’s Devin Katayama and Sandhya Dirks explore that question, taking us into the ordinary spaces of suburban life to find extraordinary stories about race, poverty and belonging.

HOSTED BY

KQED

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does American Suburb have?

American Suburb currently has 10 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is American Suburb about?

Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the...

How often does American Suburb release new episodes?

American Suburb has 10 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.

Where can I listen to American Suburb?

You can listen to American Suburb on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.

Who hosts American Suburb?

American Suburb is created and hosted by KQED.
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