Strange Fruit

We had three brilliant scholars on our show this week. In fact, they were so brilliant, we didn't have any time left for our own analysis and response. So here it is!

It's Black History Month, and we're kicking things off with a show about some of our favorite figures in black history - especially those in the LGBT community. Our guests this week are making space right here in Louisville for teaching and learning about Black History (among other things). Director Talesha Wilson and assistant director Tamika Dozier founded and operate a group called Diversity at the Table, that seeks to bridge the gap between formal, academic learning, and community knowledge. College classrooms provide a forum for young people to explore new and challenging ideas, and Wilson wanted to give that same experience to people who aren't pursuing a formal education. "Instead, you can learn through interactive activities," she explains. "So I started Diversity at the Table to have those conversations about intersectionality, gender, race, class, and sexuality... things that we go through on a regular basis." And she's seen the program's popularity grow. "After a while, I s

What percentage of your state's population is Latino, or Asian-American? Do Latinos and Asian-Americans make up that same percentage of your state's government? We can tell you, without knowing your state, the percentages are not the same. A new report from the New American Leaders Project (NALP) explains why. That organization is focused on training first- and second-generation immigrants to run for office. The report, "States of Inclusion: New American Journeys to Elected Office," shows there's much work left to be done. This week we talk with Christian Phillips, a research fellow with the NALP, about some of the barriers that keep Latinos and Asian-Americans from running for office - everything from a lack of funding to not seeing themselves as leaders. In our Juicy Fruit segment, we tackle the hashtag on everyone's timeline: #OscarsSoWhite.

We're halfway through the first month of 2015, an there's been so much going on, we haven't yet had time to bring you a look back at the conversation we loved in 2015! On this week's show we listen back to some of those memorable stories and guests. But first, we go back even further to 2013, when Mark Anthony Neal joined us to talk about his book, "Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinites." Our chat with Dr. Neal has been on our minds lately in light of criticism against NFL player Odell Beckham Jr. (Complex magazine says they're "just not sure what to make" of videos of him dancing) for not adhering to stereotypical ideas about how a black man should act. Dancing, or his style of dancing at least, is one of those illegible black masculinities Dr. Neal spoke to us about. The last couple of years have been marked with what seems like a steady stream of police violence against unarmed black people. Early in 2015, Freddie Gray's name was added to the list of victims, and Baltimore act

We're lucky enough to live in a time when more and more parents of transgender kids are accepting, loving, and trying to help their children be their authentic selves. And the medical community is developing new ways for trans kids to achieve their physical goals, but experts disagree on what the treatment protocol should be — and how early they should start. That's the subject of an article in this month's issue of Scientific American Mind, and the author of that article, Francine Russo, joins us this week to talk about it. Russo says drugs known as puberty blockers can essentially put the brakes on a child's sexual development while they and their doctors determine what to do next. The officially-accepted standard of care is to start puberty blockers at the first sign of puberty, then start cross-sex hormones at age 16. "And that's where the controversy in the field is," Russo explains. "Some doctors feel if the child is so clearly trans, and has been for a very long time - what they say in t

Louisville's Fairness Ordinance is one of the oldest comprehensive LGBT protections in the nation. Since early 1999, it's been illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity in our city, so many of us take it for granted that we'll be protected. But what about those members of our own community who live or work a short hop across the river, in Southern Indiana? While New Albany passed a fairness law in 2012, there's no such law in Jeffersonville - but our guest this week, Indiana University student Evan Stoner, is spearheading the effort to change that. Stoner, who's lived in Jeffersonville for the past 12 of his 19 years, says he's experienced first-hand the consequences of living in a city that doesn't explicitly embrace its queer citizens. "I've endured discrimination in the school system, on social media, from other people who also live in Southern Indiana," he explains. "I've come to the realization that there is a need right now to make progress in Indiana." S

The day after Christmas is always busy at shopping malls. The holiday blockbusters are in the movie theaters, and gift cards are burning holes in pockets. But this year on Dec. 26, security at the Mall St. Matthews was apparently overwhelmed by the number of teenagers in the mall. What exactly happened and how many young shoppers were there remain in question. What we know for sure, though, is that local news media seized on the word "riot" in reporting on the incident — despite a lack of injuries, arrests or property damage, and the insistence of many eyewitnesses that no riots occurred. On this week's show, we talk about the closure of the mall, the media's reaction and the story's racial overtones with WFPL's urban affairs reporter Jacob Ryan, who reported on the incident and the response to it, and attorney Joe Dunman, who wrote an opinion piece about it for Insider Louisville.

As 2015 draws to a close, we have our annual chat with Grant Barrett, an officer with the American Dialect Society, about the words and phrases that were on everyone's lips (and texts, and tweets, and Tumblrs) this year. Last year, they chose #BlackLivesMatter - the first time in the organization's history that the Word of the Year was a hashtag. One of our favorite contenders this year is a hashtag that grew out of the #BlackLivesMatter movement: #StayWoke. "It's being aware of the injustice in the world," Barrett explains, "and letting your friends and followers know that you are keeping an eye out - that you're one of those people who isn't just sheeple." They haven't released the official list yet, but we talk about top contenders, including Netflix and chill, thighbrows (they're the new thigh gap), creppy, spoopy, and "watch me Whip, watch me Nae Nae." Barrett says the song is so mainstream now that it's transcended its genre (and his third grade son even mad a Whip and Nae

Lea DeLaria became the first openly gay comic ever to appear on American television, when she appeared on the Arsenio Hall Show in 1994. She chalks it up to hard work and the fact that "lesbian chic" was having its moment. But she didn't start out as a comedian - her father was a jazz musician, and her first gigs were as a singer. Now she's acting, of course, in the Netflix hit "Orange Is the New Black." DeLaria joined us this week to talk about her multi-faceted career (the latest of her six albums, a collection of David Bowie covers called "House of David," is currently blowing up the charts on Amazon). She'll be in town next February to appear with Voices of Kentuckiana in their annual Beaux Arts Ball fundraiser. And in our Juicy Fruit segment, we talk about an upcoming episode of MTV's True Life, "I'm a Gay for Pay Porn Star." (Photo credit: Sophy Holland)

She was the first openly-gay comic ever to appear on American television, and now she plays Big Boo on the Netflix hit, Orange Is the New Black. Triple threat Lea DeLaria joins us this week to talk about her multi-faceted career (did you know she's released six jazz albums?), how OITNB proved that viewers were hungry for diverse and complex female characters, and what it's like being an out & proud butch lesbian in the entertainment industry. Saturday night at 10 on 89.3 WFPL, or WFPL.org. (Photo credit: Sophy Holland)

Coming up this week on our 150th episode: Jill Scott!

It's our 150th episode! And who better to celebrate with than legendary soul singer Jill Scott? Scott performed in Louisville this week, and she took some time out of a busy touring schedule to visit with us on Strange Fruit. We wanted to know how she maintains her integrity in an industry that seems to value marketability more than artistry. "Anytime I go outside of the realm of who I am intrinsically, I start feeling funny, I get sick, I ain't right," she explains. "I just won't do it. 'Cause my spirit will knock me out - believe it." She also told us how she kept her son from getting separation anxiety when she left for work - by turning the electrical breaker off, so he could understand what would happen if she didn't earn a living. "It was a huge lesson for him," she said. "The next day, he was like, 'Mommy, can you go to work?'" We covered amazing black motherhood in our Juicy Fruit segment too, with special guest Jason Walker (who was a guest on our very first ep

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/236107218" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] This week, on World AIDS Day, we reflected on those we've lost, and those who are still fighting — against both HIV/AIDS itself, and the ignorance that leads to shame and criminalization. We also learned about a piece of AIDS history we never knew before: This week on Entertainment Tonight, model Kathy Ireland revealed that Dame Elizabeth Taylor ran what was essentially an underground drug ring and safe house to help HIV positive people. At the time, healthcare for AIDS patients was abysmal, and lifesaving drugs had to be smuggled into the country illegally. And Jaison told us about a great panel discussion featuring Norman Lear, the pioneering TV producer behind socially-progressive shows like "All in the Family," &quo

This week, outgoing Governor Steve Beshear announced he would restore voting rights for Kentuckians convicted of most non-violent felonies. "The right to vote is one of the most intrinsically American privileges," Beshear said, "and thousands of Kentuckians are living, working and paying taxes in the state but are denied this basic right." Kentuckians for the Commonwealth's Sean Hardy joins us this week to talk about the importance re-enfranchising voters. He says keeping felons from voting doesn't fit in with a rehabilitation model of punishment. "You go in, you serve your time, you pay your debt to society, and you come back out to be a productive member of society," he explains. "Voting is part of that productive membership." Lost voting rights for non-violent offenses have historically affected African Americans disproportionately (thanks in part to the war on drugs). And being excluded from casting a ballot isn't the only way black Americans are excluded from the s

In an interview with Matt Lauer, Charlie Sheen revealed earlier this week that he's HIV positive. But in the days leading up to that, media outlets were already reporting his status. And according to Sheen himself, other people in his life had been blackmailing him for years to keep his secret. While those of us who routinely pay attention to issues surrounding HIV and AIDS know Charlie Sheen is not the face of the disease, the mainstream and tabloid media seemed to have forgotten about HIV until now. And the headlines feel like they were ripped from the early days of the AIDS crisis. To make some sense out of the way we're talking about HIV in the wake of Sheen's announcement, we turned to health policy analyst and friend to the show Preston Mitchum. Mitchum says Sheen's revelation, after years of publicly seeming out of control, draws an unhelpful parallel between illness and a behavior. "There is no person who deserves HIV," he explains. "Not sex workers, not someone who's only had sex once,

Since we spoke last week about University of Louisville President James Ramsey's poor treatment of Latino students on campus, racial tension has come to a head on other campuses across the country - most notably at the University of Missouri. And while we'd all like to think of college campuses as free from harassment and racism, banning certain speech outright brings up First Amendment Issues, and some say it can dampen the free exchange of ideas that should be a hallmark of educational environments. We talk about it this week with attorney A. Holland Houston, who joins us for an all-Juicy-Fruit episode. We also turn to her for perspective on Judge Olu Steven's recent dismissal of an all-white jury in the trial of a black defendant, and how the demographic makeup of a jury can affect the outcome of a trial. And she weighs in on the assault-by-twerking case out of DC, which sounds comical, but does bring up some serious issues of gender and sexual assault. Two women are being sought by police after forcibly d

The fallout continues from Halloween, when UofL President Dr. James Ramsey and his staff dressed up in stereotypical "Mexican" costumes for a luncheon. The photo went viral, and a few written apologies were issued, but they've been lacking. This week, an open letter was sent to Dr. Ramsey and the Board of Trustees, signed by 78 faculty members, and co-authored by one of our guests this week, Dr. David Owen, Chair of the Philosophy Department. Meanwhile, a group of students spent thirty hours coming up with a plan of action, and a list of demands to present to Dr. Ramsey and the school. This week, Ramsey granted them a meeting, but would only allow eight students in (and none of their faculty advisers) and would only give them half an hour. Tania Avalos was one of those eight students, and she joins us to talk about what happened at the meeting. She says Ramsey didn't seem to want to listen to them, but to talk more. When they interrupted and asked him to hear them out, Ramsey reportedly questioned t

Coming up on this week's episode of Strange Fruit: More disrespect from UofL President James Ramsey, who agreed to meet with students of color but didn't let them speak, then accused them of being poorly-educated by the school, and badly-raised by their mothers. WFPL Capitol Bureau Chief Ryland Barton helps us digest the results of this week's election and understand what might happen next. And Dr. Carol Anderson was in Louisville this week to deliver the 9th Annual Anne Braden Memorial Lecture, and she stopped by our studio to drop some truths about racism in America, from slavery to Ferguson - including one of the best takedowns of voter ID laws we've ever heard.

It's Halloween, so to open this week's episode, Kaila recounts a ghost story she read about in local author David Dominé's book, "True Ghost Stories and Eerie Legends from America’s Most Haunted Neighborhood." The neighborhood in question is Old Louisville, and this story is specific to St. James Court - where we might never set foot again now that we've heard this! Legend has it that St. James residence didn't want St. James Flats (the area's first apartment complex) to be as tall as planned, so someone set it on fire. What they didn't know was that a little boy was supposedly on the top floor, warming up between grocery deliveries, when the fire took hold. Because he wasn't wealthy or important, so the story goes, his death was never reported on. But people say you can see his ghost in the courtyard on nights when there is snow or frost on the ground. We also talked about the five most popular, and least popular, Halloween candies in the U.S. Kaila named four out of five of the most popular candie

When Jose Antonio Vargas was 12 years old, his mom put him on a plane in the Philippines and sent him to the United States to live with his grandparents. It wasn't until he tried to get his driver's license as a teenager that he learned he wasn't in the country legally. A Pulitzer prize, several documentaries, and the cover of Time magazine later, he's one of the country's most outspoken voices on immigrant rights. And as an out gay man (he came out as gay while remaining "closeted" about his undocumented status), he speaks about the intersection of immigrant and LGBT issues. Vargas will be in town next week for the ACLU of Kentucky's "I AM a Kentuckian" tour, and he joined us this week to talk about his work. Since the last time we spoke, Vargas has produced a short documentary for MTV, examining the demographic he says is often left out of diversity conversations: White people. "This country is only gonna get gayer, blacker, browner, more Asian, women will break every possible barri