Black and Blue: Behind the Badge

To understand the present you have to look at the past. Between them, our four officers have clocked more than 100 years of police work. Their careers spanned from the 1980s to now; they worked through the protests following the police beating of Rodney King, the Black Lives Matter marches and the outpouring of grief and anger following the killing of Tyre Nichols in early 2023. In the final episode of the series, our officers reflect on their time in law enforcement and answer the ultimate, burning question: is it really, truly possible to be both Black and Blue? Contact: Email: [email protected] Facebook: @BlanchardHouseStories Instagram: @BlanchardHouseStories X (formerly Twitter): @BlanchardTweets Blanchard House website: blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Sapp was Michael Morrison’s brother in blue, since their first day in uniform, weighing in together. They’ve faced so many of the same battles. But the two men couldn’t be more different. And when Michael Sapp’s hopes for a promotion are dashed, he feels left with no choice but to take on the system himself. Contact: Email: [email protected] Facebook: @BlanchardHouseStories Instagram: @BlanchardHouseStories X (formerly Twitter): @BlanchardTweets Blanchard House website: blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s 2016 and Maplewood is holding its annual July 4th celebrations. Everything is running smoothly –- until it’s not. After years of growing tension between the police and the Black community, Maplewood PD has one of its darkest nights; a night that shocks the community, and challenges its identity for years to come. Contact: Email: [email protected] Facebook: @BlanchardHouseStories Instagram: @BlanchardHouseStories X (formerly Twitter): @BlanchardTweets Blanchard House website: blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we leave Maplewood we speak to someone we haven’t heard from yet. Someone whose voice is rarely ever heard at all. Meet Tina, one of the vanishingly small number of Black women in American law enforcement. Her story will make us question why so few like her make it in the force and ultimately whether police work, for Black women, is really worth it. Contact: Email: [email protected] Facebook: @BlanchardHouseStories Instagram: @BlanchardHouseStories X (formerly Twitter): @BlanchardTweets Blanchard House website: blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s 2003 and Michael Morrison progresses at Maplewood Police Department. But when an incident escalates at the local high school and Michael is forced to intervene, he’s accused of police brutality and his career is thrown into crisis. Once again he’s faced with the reality of his dual identity. But this time he’s forced to pick a side: Black or Blue? Contact: Email: [email protected] Facebook: @BlanchardHouseStories Instagram: @BlanchardHouseStories X (formerly Twitter): @BlanchardTweets Blanchard House website: blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Morrison makes it to Maplewood. It’s a childhood dream come true: moving to the suburbs and building his ‘American dream’. He befriends Larry, one of the few Black officers at Maplewood PD. But the two quickly discover not everything in this picture-perfect town is as it seems. Beneath its idyllic surface, Maplewood’s police department has an ugly history. Contact: Email: [email protected] Facebook: @BlanchardHouseStories Instagram: @BlanchardHouseStories X (formerly Twitter): @BlanchardTweets Blanchard House website: blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trying to figure out why Black people become police officers can be… confusing. What's even more confusing is why, after everything he’s been through, an officer like Michael Morrison would stay in the force. To find out, Seren Jones goes back to where it all started: Newark. Stricken by neglect, crime and crack cocaine, the city didn’t have much to offer young Black boys like Michael. And Maplewood, an affluent sleepy suburb next door, was off limits. The town didn’t want outsiders coming in. But then Michael became a cop… Contact: Email: [email protected] Facebook: @BlanchardHouseStories Instagram: @BlanchardHouseStories X (formerly Twitter): @BlanchardTweets Blanchard House website: blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s 1986 and Michael Morrison is offered the opportunity of a lifetime. A chance to leave his life of poverty in Newark and start afresh. It’s a job offer he can’t afford to refuse. Michael has no idea what this new job has in store. But he soon realizes: he’s just joined ‘the biggest gang in America’. Join Seren Jones to hear Michael’s story and find out what it means to be both Black and Blue. Contact: Email: [email protected] Facebook: @BlanchardHouseStories Instagram: @BlanchardHouseStories X (formerly Twitter): @BlanchardTweets Blanchard House website: blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For Michael Morrison, the police badge is his future: his ambition, his way out of poverty, his ‘American dream’. But once he puts on his uniform, the badge starts to mean something very different. Michael takes on a new identity – but not the one he expects. Inside the force, he faces racism and violence, and on the streets he’s surrounded by hostility. Michael is stuck in the middle, between being Black and being a police officer. And when a routine day at work goes wrong and his career is thrown into crisis, Michael is forced to pick a side. Black and Blue: Behind the Badge begins October 17 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices