LPM host Bill Burton spoke with the host of "Race Unwrapped," Michelle Tyrene Johnson, about the focus of the new season and how race plays a role in democracy.
Bill Burton: Previous seasons of "Race Unwrapped" have leaned into some pretty weighty issues, like how comedy can help deal with some difficult topics about race. And this season, of course, is no different, with the topic being race and democracy. So what can we expect from the season?
Michelle Tyrene Johnson: You know, it's funny. I you know the title of the podcast is race unwrapped, but this season accidentally ended up being about Black people and democracy, because, as literally every guest I talked to when talking about voting and elections and voter suppression, regardless of their race, regardless of their gender, no matter what the topic, democracy and voting suppression always seems to get back to suppressing the Black vote, going back to when Blacks got the vote after the Civil War ended. That was probably my biggest aha, and working on the season that yeah, obviously there are other groups that are disenfranchised and people push back on wanting them to vote. But you know, for some reason, keeping Black people from voting seems to be the template of suppression.
BB: And you address that right out of the box with episode number one that is available right now. It's your conversation with Dr Carol Anderson, who is the author of the book "One Person No Vote," that focuses on Black voter suppression. Tell us a little bit about that conversation with the doctor.
MTJ: Dr Anderson is amazing. I had interviewed her back when I was a reporter covering race and culture in Kansas City, Missouri, and she's just a national treasure who has a wealth and range of details about voting, but yet can talk about it in this very accessible, down to earth, engaging way. So I had to start off when I heard she was in town. I like, moved heaven and earth. Just begged her to come to the studio so I could talk to her in person. I mean, I pretty much...as great as the other guests this season are. I pretty much could have talked to her and divided into six episodes because she's that amazing.
BB: Well, maybe we'll look for a bonus episode somewhere along the way. Who else do you get a chance to talk with this season?
MTJ: I talked to someone from the Sentencing Project, where we talk about felony disenfranchisement, and that how that impacts the Black vote. I talked to someone from National League of Women Voters, where despite the name of the organization, they try to make sure that everybody has access to the ballot box. I talked to some women about Black women voters and professors who study these issues. That was a wonderful conversation. We're even going to have a bonus episode about running for office as a person of color. Since this little, I don't know, news event happened while we were in production for season four of "Race Unwrapped," I mean, this little bitty thing happened that, you know, addresses democracy in a different way then at the start of working on the season. So it's an exciting time to be talking about elections and race, and I just sort of accidentally found a good time to start talking about elections and race.
BB: So the first episode is available now the next episode is available, one each week?
MTJ: It's gonna be one each week until if I'm getting my dates right the week before the election.
