PODCAST · society
Strange Fruit
by Louisville Public Media
Jaison Gardner and Dr. Kaila Story talk race, gender, and LGBTQ issues, from politics to pop culture. A new episode every week, from Louisville Public Media.
Episodes
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The 'Jim Crow Mentality' Of Social Media Trolls
Between growing public interest in the racial justice movement, a polarizing political landscape and folks trapped indoors for nearly nine months now, online activism is at an all time high. Accordingly, white supremacists who spew vitriolic and violent language and ideas also abound across…
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Why Body Positivity Must Include Black Bodies
The body positivity movement has been extremely important in combatting our country's fatphobia and teaching us all to love our bodies just as they are. Kelsey Miller, founder of "The Anti-Diet Project," is this week's guest and joins us to explain “How Whiteness Killed the Body Positive…
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Using Light-Skin Privilege To Disrupt An Unjust System
This week writer Leigh Green discusses her compelling op-ed, "White Supremacy in Me: Light-skinned and part of the problem," where she acknowledges the privileges associated with her skin tone, and challenges other light skin folk to begin the work of using their proximity to whiteness to disrupt...
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Strength, Survival, And Black Families
Nefertiti Austin was adopted by her grandparents when she was a kid because her parents struggled with addiction. She joins us this week, as a single parent of two adopted children, to discuss her book, "Motherhood So White: A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting." And we talk about her New York...
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What White Parents Should Know About Transracial Adoption
Abby Johnson, the anti-abortion activist who recently spoke at the Republican National Convention, found herself at the center of controversy after a video of her went viral. In it, she said her adopted Black son was "statistically" more likely to grow up to be a criminal than her white sons who...
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'Kitchen Table Wisdom' For And From Gay Men
Navigating life as gay man in a homophobic and heteronormative society can be emotionally and spiritually taxing. This week author Britt East joins us to discuss his insightful new book, "A Gay Man’s Guide to Life," full of what he calls “kitchen table wisdom” to help gay men endure and thrive in...
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Interracial Household Dynamics In 2020
As a historian of environmental justice and African American history, writer Faith Ashmore –- who is a white woman in an interracial marriage -– says she possesses the academic and intellectual knowledge to contribute to conversations about recent police killings with her Black husband but not…
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Young Adult Fiction Author Arvin Ahmadi
Young Adult (YA) fiction is a literary tradition that has largely lacked diversity when it comes to the race and sexuality of its main characters. Author Arvin Ahmadi's new book, "How It All Blew Up," has a queer Iranian American teenager protagonist. He joins us this week to talk about how other...
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'The Chi' Star Jasmine Davis
Lena Waithe’s dramatic television series "The Chi" has garnered a strong following and has received critical praise since premiering on the Showtime network three years ago. Its season finale aired last week. This week we have a lively and insightful conversation with actress and model Jasmine...
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In Praise Of Quiet Allies
The word "ally" is frequently heard in the fight for racial justice, usually used by a white person seeking to declare just how "not racist" they are. This week, our guest Bridgette L. Hylton joins us to explain why she says “If You’re a Real Ally, You’ll Keep It to Yourself,” which she recently...
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'Performing Black Harmlessness' Isn't Worth It
Educator and writer Rodney Fierce thought that performing a type of muted Blackness would shield him from the usual pitfall and roadblocks of discrimination, microaggressions and racism. He was wrong. Fierce joins us this week to discuss his essay "The Price of Being Pleasing," and explains why...
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Interrupting Our Own Unconscious Biases
This week we're joined by Chad Anderson, co-director of the new documentary “Dog Valley,” which details the largely unknown story of the brutal kidnapping, rape, torture and murder of gay college student Gordon Church in Utah in 1988. Later, we're joined by Michelle Silverton, author of ”Mom, Why...
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Loving Black People, Loving Black History
This week Jarvis Houston, the US spokesperson of tech startup I Love Black People joins us to discuss how the app helps Black people find businesses, accommodations and other services that are Black owned and the safest and most welcoming of Black people throughout the world. And in this week’s...
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Live Streaming The Revolution
This week we return to coverage of the protests and uprisings that are still happening in Louisville in response to the police killings of Breonna Taylor, David McAtee and others. We're joined by independent journalist Chea K. Woolfolk, who tells us about the recent arrests of live streamers...
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The Role Of New Media In Protest Coverage
Recent uprisings around the country have made it clear to many citizens the importance of new media and amateur journalists in ensuring that folks to know what is happening on the ground, and keeping people updated in real time, without a corporate bias. This week former meteorologist and...
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Celebrating Pride Online
With Pride festivals across the country being rescheduled or cancelled because of the Coronavirus outbreak, LGBTQ folks are finding inventive ways to celebrate Pride Month virtually. This week we speak with model, social media influencer, and Pop/R&B singer Teraj about his career, how he…
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Breaking Stereotypes One Storybook At A Time
Kamen Edwards, author of "The One and Only Dylan St. Claire"
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How The #FeedTheWest Initiative Is Responding To Unrest In Louisville
Taylor Ryan of Change Today, Change Tomorrow joins us this week to spotlight #FeedTheWest, an initiative which provides food and educational resources to African Americans in west Louisville affected by food deserts. The lack of access to food in the West End was made worse last week by the…
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How Black Moderates Are Complicit In White Supremacy
This week we continue discussing the high profile killing of 26-year-old ER technician Breonna Taylor by Louisville police officers. We are joined by Dr. Ricky Jones, head of the University of Louisville's Pan-African Studies department, who tells us why he thinks Black moderates helped kill…
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The Death Of Breonna Taylor
The March 13 shooting death of 26-year-old EMT Breonna Taylor by Louisville Metro Police Department officers has gained national attention in recent weeks and is sending shock waves throughout the city of Louisville and the nation. Strange Fruit is devoting the next several episode to coverage of...
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Microaggressions On The Job
Because racist microaggressions can be unsettling, oppressive and emotionally exhausting, especially when they happen in the workplace. Accordingly, many people of color try to be intentional about the places they work, so as to avoid such interactions. Freelance writer Jessica Hoppe thought she...
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Mass Incarceration And The Children Left Behind
This week we discuss the prison industrial complex and the far reaching impact mass incarceration has on the families, children and loved ones left behind by those who are behind bars. Journalist and author Sylvia A. Harvey joins us to talk about her book "The Shadow System: Mass Incarceration…
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Finding Black Joy During A Global Pandemic
This week we're joined again by activist Amber Butts of Black Youth Project to discuss the innovative ways Black folks are finding joy and creating community during the COVID lockdown. Later, we speak with newly minted Dr. Dennis Johnson the recent "zoombombing" of his virtual dissertation…
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You Talk Like A White Boy
This week we chat with sketch comedian and writer Brandon Anderson who explores the confusion of being Black but told, "you talk like a white boy." In our Juicy Fruit segment, we discuss the Kenyan governor who’s including bottles of cognac in his city’s COVID-19 care packages.
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A Love Letter To Natural Hair
This week, social justice filmmaker and author St. Clair Detrick-Jules joins us to discuss her new book "Dear Khloe: Love Letters to my Little Sister," for which Detrick-Jules interviewed and photographed over 100 intergenerational Black women about their hair journeys and the embrace of their...
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Living Fully And Dying Wisely
With recent reports that Black Americans are being disproportionately infected with and dying from COVID-19, on this week's show we reflect on the health and lives of ourselves, our loved ones, and our entire communities -- and we talk about how to properly prepare for the inevitably of death,...
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What Is Kwanzaa Crawl?
This week we talk with Kerry Coddett & Krystal Stark of Kwanzaa Crawl, an annual bar crawl for Black-owned businesses in Brooklyn and Harlem that covers 30 bars. Founded in 2016, Kwanzaa Crawl host over 8,000 crawlers and has raised over $250,000 for businesses in Brooklyn and Harlem. Donate to...
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The Day My Mother Yelled Don't Shoot
This week we talk with writer and poet Miguel Machado about his compelling and vulnerable essay, "The Day My Mother Yelled Don’t Shoot," in which he recounts his startling interaction with police in front of his mother’s Long Island home one morning. Confronted by cops and held at gunpoint after...
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Playwright And Poet Idris Goodwin
This week we talk with award-winning playwright and poet Idris Goodwin, who was recently named Director of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College. Goodwin, former Producing Artistic Director at StageOne Family Theatre in Louisville, tells us how he got his start as a BreakBeat...
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Strange Fruit For Strange Times
Things may be shutting down and folks my be staying in because of COVID-19, but this new episode of Strange Fruit will help pass the time as you (hopefully) practice social distancing. As the coronavirus outbreak negatively affects communities throughout the country and across the globe, "social...
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Actors Theatre Leader Robert Barry Fleming
This week we're joined in the studio by Robert Barry Fleming, the newest Executive Artistic Director at Actors Theatre of Louisville. We chat about his robust career in theater and film and Fleming shares his commitment to making Actors an accessible and welcoming space for all people to enjoy.…
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Let's Stay Together (But Sleep Apart)
We can all agree that a good night's rest is important to productivity, happiness and overall health. But have married and partnered couples been doing it wrong? This week writer Angela Lashbrook joins us to discuss the benefits of "separate togetherness" and makes the case for lovers sleeping...
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Teaching Black Students Within Racist School Systems
Our celebration of Black History Month continues and we begin by speaking with Baltimore-area educator Brittany Willis about the perilous plight of Black youth in the American education system - and how she came to realize that in order to save Black children she had to stop being their teacher....
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Black Women And Girls Slayed The Decade
This week, we recognize Black History Month by reviewing all the ways Black women and girls have been dominating the last decade in fields including politics, entertainment and sports, with culture writer Donnie Belcher, who outlines them in her feature “10 Incredible Years: The Decade in Review...
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Polyamory Isn't Just For White People
This week we’re joined by writer and social media manager Sarah Thomas. In a recent think piece for Black Youth Project, Thomas says that despite well-received representation in popular films and television shows, polyamory, kink and other once-taboo areas of romance and sexuality are primarily...
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Why Colorblind Doesn't Cut It In Corporate America
As a Puerto Rican woman and member of the LGBTQ+ community, architect and design professional Yiselle Santos Rivera has always been drawn to firms and companies that advocate diversity. This week she joins us to discuss why in corporate America, it’s okay and even important to “see color.” Later…
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Confessions Of A White Liberal
This week Shya Scanlon, a self-described white liberal who penned the essay “I, Racist: Confessions of a White Liberal,” tells us how and why he began the hard work of acknowledging and unlearning the racist ideas he wasn’t aware he held.
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Non-Binary Motherhood
Washington Post reporter Samantha Schmidt followed Braiden Schirtzinger, a non-binary person, through their pregnancy and early motherhood. Schmidt joins us to talk about the story.
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The Magical Queer Love Interest Of Color In Fiction
This week on the show: Ashia Monet on queer love Interests of color and the white gaze (https://medium.com/@ashiamonetb/queer-love-interests-of-color-and-the-white-gaze-8928b7b5e6ad), and Sydney Balloue on what the "realness" ballroom category means now that passing isn't the goal for most LGBTQ...
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'You're Pretty, For A ______ Girl'
We’ve all heard the childhood rhyme about sticks and stones breaking bones, but in reality the seemingly-innocuous words and phrases we use to describe one another can hurt. Words can affect on our sense of self-worth or subconsciously reflect the value we find (or don’t find) in others. This…
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Who Gets A Redemption Story In America?
From Paula Deen, to Brock Turner, to Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, we live in a society that allows many white people who commit racist, violent or illegal actions to be punished lightly and quickly forgiven. This quickness to forgive is present in both the court of public opinion and also...
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Practical Magic for Patriarchal Times
Have you ever just wished that you could wave a wand and all of the oppression, injustices and traumas in the world would just disappear, like magic? Author Ariel Gore, a self-described social justice witch, says that not only is it possible, but she’s written a magical guide to show us just how…
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The Importance Of Telling LGBTQ+ Stories
Telling the histories and lived experiences of Black LGBTQ+ people is beneficial not only for the future generations who hear or read these stories, but is vital to our own survival as well. This week, professor and author Dr. E. Patrick Johnson returns to the show to discuss his new book,...
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You Might Not Be Racist, But Are You Antiracist?
Lots of folks may consider themselves to be “not racist” -- a sort of personal, private declaration -- but is that enough in these volatile political times? Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, a leading scholar on race and discriminatory policy in America, says that the true goal is to be actively “antiracist.”...
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What's It Like To Be An Abortion Call Center Operator?
Abortion remains a hot button issue in these political times, as some states race to restrict or ban abortion, while others race to protect it. In some regions of the country, citizens rely on abortion call centers to ask questions about abortions, locate providers, and schedule the procedure....
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Swimming While Muslim
This week we talk to Rowaida Abdelaziz about her essay, "When Swimming As A Muslim Becomes A Political Act." And UofL student activist Finn DePriest joins us to talk about the importance of finding queer role models.
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When You Work Twice As Hard But Still Feel Like An Impostor
In 1978 a landmark study revealed that many accomplished and highly ambitious women suffered from a psychological condition coined impostor syndrome: a tendency to minimize achievements, chalk up accomplishments to luck, and hold an overwhelming fear that they will eventually be discovered as...
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Silence, And The Power Of Breaking It
This week we talk with Mathangi Subramanian about her family, her work, and her recent essay, "The Day My Outrage Went Viral: Racist attitudes against my Brown daughter energized me to raise my voice." (Read it here: https://zora.medium.com/the-day-my-outrage-went-viral-7ad1257d7ff9) In Juicy...
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How Pastors Police Black Women's Bodies
We talk this week with Emma Akpan about how certain Black religious institutions expect Black women to conform to white supremacist ideals -- especially when it comes to sexuality, motherhood and family structures. She explores it in her recent essay, "I’ve Lost Faith in the Way the Black Church...
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Experiencing Race Outside The Black & White Binary
Most often in America, when we talk about issues of race, racial tensions, and racialized politics, it's within a Black and white paradigm. But what is it like for someone to grow up and become socialized within this country whose ethnic identity doesn’t fall within this binary? This week we…
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Strange Fruit have?
Strange Fruit currently has 350 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Strange Fruit about?
Jaison Gardner and Dr. Kaila Story talk race, gender, and LGBTQ issues, from politics to pop culture. A new episode every week, from Louisville Public Media.
How often does Strange Fruit release new episodes?
Strange Fruit publishes regularly with 350 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Strange Fruit?
You can listen to Strange Fruit 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 Strange Fruit?
Strange Fruit is created and hosted by Louisville Public Media.
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