We Live Here: Recent Episodes
St. Louis Public Radio
A St. Louis-based podcast that shares stories about race and class from St. Louis and beyond. Episodes range from investigative accountability pieces to story-based reflections with a focus on everyday people in and from our region.
Join us at St. Louis Public Radio for "We Live Here: Let's Talk About It." At the event, you’ll meet people from the podcast, the team behind We Live Here and other listeners of the show. Meet at STLPR on Olive Street at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 10. If you’re planning on coming, let us know on the event page at stlpr.org/events.
Kayla Reed and Brittany Packnett Cunningham found their voices as activists during the Ferguson Uprising. They also forged a bond and strong friendship. So what happens when Brittany leaves St. Louis and Kayla stays? And how does that impact the community work they did over the years?
Ferguson showed what happens when a community comes together to protest power and obtain meaningful change from it, but power doesn’t like to retreat. What happens to people who feel elite, and untouchable, when the city around them rises up to expose and oppose them? What happens when power takes a different shape — obscuring its nature and staying in its position? In this episode, we examine a protest story decades before the Ferguson Uprising — the story of those who worked to take down the Veiled Prophet.
On Wednesday, Aug. 6, St. Louis Public Radio and NPR news co-hosted "Ferguson and Beyond: A Community Conversation 10 Years Later" at Greater St. Mark Family Church, just miles from the epicenter of protests sparked by the killing of Michael Brown, Jr. by a Ferguson police officer in August 2014. This bonus episode presents highlights from that event, with a panel and audience Q&A moderated by NPR “Morning Edition” host Michel Martin and a special performance by St. Louis spoken word artist, poet, and community arts educator Pacia Elaine Anderson.
In St. Louis, many Black families moved to St. Louis County for better school districts. But after some time, those districts started having their own issues: white flight, decaying property values and consolidations. Some families moved even further northwest, only to face neighbors trying to prevent Black history from being taught. In this episode, we explore why St. Louis schools are more segregated than they were 10 years ago — and meet the parents determined to do right by their kids.
Ferguson exposed systems that disenfranchise Black St. Louisans and fail their basic mandates to provide safety, health and community to the people who depend on them. Inspired by the Uprising and driven by experience and anger, many people found their voices and created their own new systems designed to help their community thrive. In this episode, we explore the creation of Love Bank Park, the closing of the Medium Security Institution known as the Workhouse, and the restorative justice movement.
What do you do when you get so angry, the emotion overtakes you? When injustice sparks a fire that won’t die down? For artists during the Ferguson Uprising, their craft offered them a way to make sense of Michael Brown Jr.’s killing. This special episode features songs, poems and a play from St. Louis-based artists who — 10 years later — are still reflecting on how Ferguson changed them and their art.
Many people found their power and voices in the midst of the Ferguson Uprising. Some used streaming technology as they found themselves defining their own class of media, with no editors and no rules. They brought the story of the Ferguson Uprising live to our computers and smartphones. Their dispatches from the frontlines kept viewers up to date while the national news played catch up. Their stories didn’t end in 2014, though, as many of them continued to demonstrate for causes in the St. Louis area to the present or until their deaths.
Michael Brown Jr. has become a symbol and a gateway for people to talk about racial injustice and policing. We explore how people view Brown’s legacy, what young adults today know about his story and how his memory has shaped new conversations about race and justice.
[WLHA 010]: We Live Here Auténtico! | Suzanne Sierra| The Consummate Connector, Storyteller, Collaborator
Today’s guest, Suzanne Sierra is the consummate connector, storyteller and collaborator. Her evolving career path and search for purpose led her to the St. Louis Mosaic Project. She is Senior Program Manager and leads key programs with major stakeholders including corporations, universities, ethnic communities and multicultural innovation initiatives. Through her work, Suzanne goes all-out to promote regional prosperity and to transform St. Louis into the fastest growing metropolitan area for immigrants by the year 2025.
Suzanne’s personal immigration story fuels her passion to create change. She is the proud daughter of immigrants from Colombia, South America, and she is bilingual. Her parents moved to the U.S. so her father could practice medicine. Her dad landed a job at a clinic in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where Suzanne and her siblings were born. Soon after, they moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin, a small town on the western edge of the state bordering Minnesota.
Her story is one that reveals an identity crisis. She grew up in what she likes to call a “lily white” community where she was immediately pegged as different. Though it pains her to share today, she was embarrassed of her parents as kids would make fun of their heavy accent. There was a meanness that prompted her not to speak Spanish, ironically her first language. When traveling to Columbia each year for the holidays, she felt out of place and self-conscious about speaking Spanish. She was the “gringa” and found it difficult to find where she fit in.
Suzanne brings compassion and empathy to her work in the community because she has the lived experience of being and feeling “other”. She understands the immigrant story and brings her experiences, language and knowledge to the table.
In this episode you’ll discover:
· Why there is a need for a grassroots approach and focus on language access in our community
· How we lose people when they need services and don't know that they're available
· The necessity of access to information
· The importance of providing information to foreign born people in their native language
Connections:
Connect with Suzanne Sierra
Website: Sierrapublicrelations.com a small, St. Louis-based PR Firm delivering boutique communication services, in English and Spanish.
Linkedin @suzannesierrasewell
Twitter: @sierrapr
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of “We Live Here Autentico”. If you haven’t done so already, please take a minute and leave a quick rating and review of the show on Apple Podcasts by clicking on the link below. It will help us to keep delivering more ways to “WE” for you each week!
Gilberto Pinela has been investing and empowering the Latino community in St. Louis for many years. He is a trailblazer, creator, producer and talent in many bilingual programming and organizations in our region.
Gilberto started his career in the US in New York in the hospitality industry, but he always dreamed of being in front of the camera.
In this conversation, Gilberto shares his passion and commitment to St. Louis, the Latino community and for making room for new leadership.
Dancing with the St. Louis Stars
Gilberto Pinela & Carmen Guynn Performance Video - Dancing with the St. Louis Stars 2022
CORTEX
En Breve Show
Hispanic Chamber
Puerto Rican Society
Thanks for listening in - what’s your story? We’d love to hear from you. Let us know what you love about We Live Here Auténtico and the stories of our community. Or maybe you are ready to share your own story - send us an email at info@autenticopodcast.com
Junior Lara and Gabriela founded Autentico podcast so they could talk to business owners and Latino professionals about their journeys and lessons learned with the hope to inspire each other and fill the need they saw in St. Louis. Listen to what it took to for Junior to grow from the Dominican Republic to what it means for him to see the vision now! Plus, a celebration of life of trailblazer, Minerva Lopez Montaigne. Minerva was an advocate for the Hispanic Community in St. Louis, namely, residents and business owners of Cherokee Street. She was a business owner and worked hard to keep the traditions and culture of Mexico alive and well in St. Louis.
[WLHA 007] We Live Here Auténtico! | Harry 'Boom-Boom' Lopez | Coaching Latino Leaders to Level Up In Life
Today we level up with Harry “BOOM BOOM” who founded “Launch Latinx, a mindset and business coaching accelerator program that champions extraordinary Latino visionaries and coaches to access their potential.
He writes and speaks on issues of personal and professional change. Happiness, health, inspiration, mindful living and conscious business are key to his unique programs. that blends many of his experiences in coaching, spiritual psychology, executive leadership, and social impact.
What does living Autentico mean to you?
The never-ending pursuit of the liberation of one's soul. Living in full body alignment. Pursuit of a Mission far greater than oneself. To have truth and Integrity with oneself.
About Harry
His coaching career started when he was a third-grade professor in Tennessee back in 2012. he was assigned a coach who would come to his classroom week after week and provide him with feedback, mentorship and guidance. After seeing what coaching did for him, there was no turning back and Harry realized he wanted to have a similar impact in the lives of others.
Harry received his bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and his Master’s in Education from Lipscomb University and is a graduate of the Social Impact Strategy Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice.
In this episode of We Live Here Autentico, we spend time with transformational coach and leader in the consciousness industry, Harry Lopez, championing extraordinary Latinx visionaries, coaches & legends to their limitless potential. There is powerful science behind the consciousness movement and there’s no one better to learn from than transformational coach Harry “Boom Boom” Lopez.
You’re going to learn how to activate your voice, power and love to take action toward your goals.
We’re diving into the consciousness movement and how that work can help us.
In this episode you’ll discover:
- What it means to have a coach
- The importance of navigating your career path
- How self-doubt and self-limiting thoughts (i.e. generational trauma or society expectations) leads to victimization and suffering
- Why vision trumps everything and is the only thing that will pull you out of the weeds when you want to stay in bed
- How to know and believe that you're good enough and you're worthy
- How to tap into your personal trauma and transform
- The science of mushrooms as medicine
- How intersecting and overlapping identities offer superpowers for powerful living
Mentioned in this episode:
Janie Flores, founder
Buena Vida Media
www.buenavidamedia.com/
Instagram: @buenavidamedia
Instagram: @janiefloreslive
Twitter: @juanis111
Vanderbilt University
https://www.vanderbilt.edu/
Lipscomb University
https://www.lipscomb.edu/
Social Impact Strategy Program /University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice
International Coaching Federation
Teach For America
Broward College
Fulbright Scholarship
Connections:
Connect with Harry Lopez
Launch Latinx provides opportunities and support to Latinx leaders and talent build high-profitable businesses and revolutionary movements from
www.launchlatinx.co
Instagram: @theharrylopez
Instagram: @launchlatinx
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/halopez/
Twitter: @lopezcoaching
Twitter: @theharrylopez
What would you do? Arriving to a new country and having to start your life over?
This is Tania’s story – It is the story of many immigrants and refugees - resilience, self-empowerment, rediscovery, family, hard work and success.
Tania Interian is bilingual professional and attorney. She is the owner of Tania Interian State Farm Agency and is the co-chair of the Latino Roundtable of Southwestern Illinois. Listening to Tania’s journey will reassure you that you are on the right path – even with its challenges and struggles
As you listen to Tania’s life journey, take time to reflect on your life challenges, how you overcame and how have those moments impact you today.
The folks of Fairmont City, Illinois didn’t realize how much they needed a library until they’d gotten one. It took some convincing. Thank goodness for Katie Heaton! She knew a good librarian puts their ear down, listens and really pays attention to the needs of their patrons. “You can hear the heartbeat of the community and when you hear that heartbeat, you can figure out what the needs are”, Katie says. Her goal was always to meet the needs of the people she served, whatever that need may be, from literacy to resources to broader partnerships and community services.
Only 10 miles from St. Louis, Fairmont City is home for a small population of 2,381 with an average annual household income of around $50k according to 2020 census data. Why would this small town, with a poverty rate of 26.98% want to pay for something they’ve never had nor anticipated they’d really need? After all, when it came down to things of priority for this community, especially during the pandemic, a library did not top their list. Service providers and aid organizations reported food as first, then utility, rent, funeral assistance and mortgage assistance in that order. One bill that families consistently paid for, sometimes before they’d buy food was the phone bill. During COVID their smart-phones, tablets, computers, smart-TVs and streaming services were their connection to their jobs, teachers and medical providers.
Fairmont City probably couldn’t imagine life without their library now and Katie is still excited to rise to the challenge every day. Libraries are gateways to knowledge and culture. They play a fundamental role in society. They are a place for personal growth and reinvention as well as a place for help to navigate this world in the information age. Libraries are a gathering place for civic and cultural engagement and a trusted place for preserving culture. For Katie Heaton and her Fairmont City library patrons, it is so much more.
Need a boost to your ideas around positive community change and personal impact? This episode with Katie Heaton is a great place to start. Hear how a keen ear and concerned heart for helping people truly makes a difference.
[WLHA 004]: We Live Here Auténtico! | Legacy, Community and Birria. For Tacos La Jefa…It's in the Sauce
Today we are taking you on a delicious culinary journey to Tacos La Jefa in the heart of Dutchtown in St. Louis! Only sold on Saturdays, their delicious Birria and Quesabirria sell out EVERYTIME.
Birria is a dish you cannot rush. It is a Mexican meaty stew from the state of Jalisco. The Quesabirria is a crunchy quesadilla with melted cheese and filled with hot, tender, juicy Birria meat that has been stained red by the chiles and spices that give it a deep, red color. Preparation is an extensive process so once they run out; they run out.
This story begins with the matriarch of the Amezcua family – Heriberta Amezcua – also known as La Jefa, “the boss”. Heriberta’s legacy is celebrated every day at Tacos La Jefa. Her daughter, Elizabeth, walks us through the journey of opening the restaurant, a longtime dream of her mother. Her granddaughter, Diana is the gatekeeper of the delicious Birria recipe. So listen and enjoy this loving family and the impact “the boss” had on the family and on the community.
Latin TV writer, Emilia Serrano is no stranger to uncomfortable scenarios. She knows what it’s like to feel like a fish out of water and to struggle with internal identity crises as a first-generation daughter of immigrant parents.
As a teenager, Emilia and her family moved from Union City, California to Troy, Missouri. The small, mid-western town was as unfamiliar to her as she was to it. She had only known the predominantly Spanish-speaking community of her youth. In California, she wasn’t diverse either. She grew up constantly surrounded only by Latinos and her family. It was a culture shock for her.
Those experiences shaped her so profoundly that they became inspirational gold for America’s BIG Screen. Along the way, she would use those experiences as story points for humor or something that someone else could relate to and she's taken her stories all the way to Hollywood!
“Sometimes all the crappy things and all your trauma can actually make you money down on paper”, she quips. “It was oftentimes such a struggle and culturally challenging, but then that's exactly what helps me write stories now.”
Her time in America's Heartland and the nurturing influence of her community and family honed her skill as a “Son”-solid storyteller in her own right. Her dad (a mechanic) and her mom (a mariachi-singer) guided her to fight through tough battles and to find her voice. She is proud of her Mexican American culture and her authentic stories reflect her passion to see more inclusive onscreen characters who reflect the real people in her life and culture.
And she’s winning!
Emilia Serrano is co-executive producer of major network television shows like, Promised Land, Mixed*Ish and High School Musical - The Series. Emilia’s creativity and skills have attracted the attention of major production houses. She recently sold exclusive content to Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions and for actress, producer and director, America Ferrera.
In this episode:
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What is code switching?
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What inspires Emilia’s writing for the Silver Screen
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Where she gets her captivating storytelling ability and learned how use her voice to command attention
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The routine she employs when writing a feature
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How our stories and experiences, as well as our traumas and challenges, shape who we are and the ways we navigate life
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Ways Ranchera Music is much like Mariachi Music
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Her mantra, “Stick to Your Truth”, and ways it gives her power
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Challenges of leading positive change and shaping Latinx identity in the entertainment industry
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How the wide popularity and consumption of Latino media translates to actual Latino representation (or not)
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How representation in media contributes to visibility, identity, belief
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Mistakes that Hollywood continues to make
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Why she only works on Brown and Black shows
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How to minimize stereo types, advance dialog and develop a layered story
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What makes a good story?
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What’s next for Emilia’s big hits
Learn more:
IG: @mexemilia
Emiliaserrano.com
Whether you love St. Louis or you need a reminder of its greatness, join Carlos Restrepo and explore our region through his eyes/experiences.
From Medellin Colombia to St. Louis, Missouri, Carlos knew at a young age he would be living in St. Louis someday, through the pages of a picture book, he first saw the landscapes of our region. He shares with you his reaction while living here and how he ended up in Marshall, Missouri.
Colombian-born, Carlos Glynias Restrepo, is a bilingual marketing and communications professional, with a career background specializing in international business, journalism, digital marketing, and public relations. A native from Colombia, Restrepo’s experiences as a Spanish-speaking immigrant have strengthened and widened the communication tools at his disposal, helping him understand the complex issues of navigating multiple cultures when delivering a message, whether electronically, in print, video or audio. Restrepo holds a bachelor’s degree in global journalism from Webster University, a master’s degree in international business from Saint Louis University, and is a proud graduate of the class of 2017 of the Hispanic Leadership Institute.
When we advocate for one community, we uplift the voices of other communities.
Kendall Martinez-Wright is an Afro-Puerto Rican transgender woman advocating for transgender rights in the Missouri Legislature. Amidst nationwide transphobic legislation in 2021, Kendall ran a historic campaign for Missouri's Fifth District. She has a long career in advocacy, politics and legislative work. The campaign's website was admitted to the Library of Congress, as she became the first Afro-Puerto Rican transgender woman to run for Missouri’s House of Representatives.
In this episode you’ll discover:
- What challenges Kendall faced around identity, “Am I being Latina enough?”
- What drives her advocacy to bring a more just environment to the LGBTQIA+ community in Missouri
- More about Kendall’s historic campaign, her interest in getting involved in politics and what drove her to end her quest for the capitol seat
You can find Kendall on twitter at @KendallKaniMW
For years, Black people have been working on the ground and behind the scenes to create a better world for the next generation. We have seen a number of great activists over the years who challenged the status quo and promoted a more equitable society. I sat down with Ben Jealous, President of People for the American Way, a progressive advocacy organization created to fight extremism and restore democracy. In this episode we hear from Ben about the changing landscape of activism work, his excitement for events to engage with communities, and the legacy he wants to leave behind.
Seldom are Black journalists allowed the opportunity to tell their own stories. In this episode local Black journalists share personal experiences about reporting on stories while living with the very same realities of the communities they serve.
The COVID-19 pandemic flipped the education system on its head. Teachers had to find new ways to engage with students virtually. Students had to learn how to navigate chrome books, laptops, and other devices in order to complete their studies. Everything changed and a lot was uncovered such as the lack of resources in minority school districts. In this episode we hear from a young school board member working to change the educational landscape in her hometown, a professor with years of experience with a new outlook on education, and community members share their thoughts on the state of education.
This time around we’re going to do things a little differently. We partnered with Dr. Kira Banks and the Raising Equity podcast on this episode to discuss movement and mental health. Dr. Banks and I wanted to understand more deeply how people are coping with the feeling of loss, the loss of normalcy, loved ones, jobs, and more. In this episode we hear from a yoga instructor and math teacher about how he combined his passion for yoga with education and then Dr. Banks and I sit down with a local Black therapist who talks about how he shaped the mission of his private practice.
I wanted to hear from Black women in our region about what the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) act means to them and discuss their own personal journey with hair. In this episode we visit Frizz Fest 2021, hear from a beauty salon owner about the importance of individuality, and an African American history professor breaks down the history of Black hair.
This is the second of a two-part tribute to the late Dr. Jonathan Cedric Smith, whose commitment to cultural memory we shared in our most recent episode. In this episode, we’re handing over the mic to family, friends, and community members who were impacted by Jonathan’s passion for social justice and will be carrying forth the legacy of love that he left them.
This episode is the first of a two-part tribute to a man whose passion for social justice and cultural memory impacted hundreds of people in the St. Louis region: Dr. Jonathan Cedric Smith, who died this year on Juneteenth. Among many community roles, he served on the board of St. Louis Public Radio. Last year, Lauren and Jia Lian had the opportunity to interview Dr. Smith about his perspective as Co-Chair of the Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation Project. To introduce you to this project and Dr. Smith’s role in it, we speak with Marissanne Lewis-Thompson, afternoon newscaster and general assignment reporter at St. Louis Public Radio. Then, we travel back in time to share Jonathan’s own words about what the Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation Project meant to him. Finally, historian Dr. Kelly Schmidt will explain how Jonathan’s care for descendant communities shaped the project and his youngest brother, Jacques, will share how Jonathan’s passion for cultural memory, ancestry, and history began.
Jia and Lauren sit down in the studio for the first time since March 2020 to discuss reporting during the pandemic and how life has been for the past year. As they discuss personal trials and tribulations the We Live Here team is also excited about the new listener survey. Whether you are a long time listener, contributor, or community member we want your input. What do you enjoy, what can we do better, and what does We Live Here mean to you? Check out our new listener survey by visiting our website at welivehere.show/survey or check us out on social @weliveherestl on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Throughout this season, we’ve shared stories of those living in unhealthy environments, how those environments came to be, and what we can do to create a better environment for the future. But in order to complete this series on the environment, we had to discuss land, the people who originated from that land and the movements to restore and give back to Indigenous people. In this episode, we hear from a PhD student working on a research project to combat Indigenous people's invisibility in the St. Louis region and a Director providing a space for students to learn about American Indian history and culture.
Throughout this season we have introduced you to small urban farmers, people working on the ground to change their environment, politicians working to pass environmental legislation, and more. But there are also many environmental scholars working to provide a space for Black environmentalists to thrive. That’s why we are introducing you to Dr. Dorceta Taylor, an author and professor at the Yale School for the Environment. In this episode, we hear about Dr. Taylor’s work in environmental studies, the contributions Black folks have made to the environmental justice movement, and the power community leaders have to transform the environments where they live.
We wanted to share a follow-up conversation with Myisha Johnson, one of the three working members of State Street Tenant Resistance and the founder of Community First Plus, a new housing and environmental justice organization. She’s been connecting the dots between health problems and pollution from facilities like Kinder Morgan for over a decade. In this episode, we hear how Myisha felt when residents like her were asked to sign onto an administrative complaint to the EPA about the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Then, attorneys Sarah Rubenstein and Bob Menees of Great Rivers Environmental Law Center will share about what happened when they filed the administrative complaint to the EPA on behalf of the Missouri and St. Louis City NAACP and Dutchtown South Community Corporation.
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This is Part II of a two-part series on how tenants are organizing to hold problem landlords accountable, and what happens when large companies and the state need to be held accountable too. If you haven’t listened to Part I: Tenant Rights and Resistance, listen to it now!
The pandemic triggered a major housing crisis, resulting in millions of renters and unhoused people across the country becoming at risk for being evicted or displaced. Meanwhile, those living in apartments with mold or pests have been stuck with environmental conditions that exacerbate asthma and COVID-19. Locally, tenants and housing advocates are pushing back by advocating for eviction moratoriums, holding landlords accountable, and working to create a tenants bill of rights. In this episode, we hear from the three working members of State Street Tenants Resistance about what motivates them to advocate for a tenants bill of rights, and the Community Empowerment Organizer of a local community development corporation will explain how to hold problem landlords accountable and what’s at stake when large companies and the state need to be held accountable, too.
Democratic Representative Cori Bush made history when she became the first Black Congresswoman for Missouri, unseating the Clay political dynasty. She brought her background as a nurse, activist, organizer, single mom and pastor to her new role and has jumped headfirst into advocating for issues ranging from reparations for Black Americans to taxing billionaires to Medicare for All. She teamed up with Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey and Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth to introduce a bill that would bring together federal agencies and create a mapping tool to help allocate environmental funding from the Biden administration. Just last week, she also joined forces with New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to introduce a $1 trillion dollar bill to fund environmental justice projects for the next four years. In this episode, we’ll hear from Senator Tammy Duckworth and Congresswoman Cori Bush about three major environmental justice bills: the Environmental Justice for All Act, the Environmental Justice Mapping and Data Collection Act, and the Green New Deal for Cities Act.
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This episode was a collaboration with Jason Rosenbaum, St. Louis Public Radio political correspondent and co-host of the Politically Speaking podcast. You can listen to the Politically Speaking episodes with Senator Duckworth and Congresswoman Bush at stlpr.org or anywhere you get podcasts.
We wanted to share the stories of the people who are at the heart of the environmental justice movement: urban farmers. In St. Louis, urban farmers have made great strides and continue to educate the next generation about the importance of growing their own food. In this bonus episode, we visit an urban farm, then hear from a food justice director advocating for a healthier environment and the founder of a nonprofit that provides equitable access to food, education, and employment.
The We Live Here team balances deep dives into systemic issues with inspiring stories about people working to make a difference in their own communities. So when a listener reached out and introduced us to the work of Jeffrey “JD” Dixon, an activist organizing cleanups and coalitions in East St. Louis, a predominantly Black city in Illinois, we knew that we’d have to drive across the river to share his story. In this episode, we’ll learn about JD’s demand for legislative reform, hear from a political science professor about the legacy of industrial suburbs, and talk to a reporter about how JD is one of many Black residents in the Metro East area of Illinois who are pushing back against environmental racism.
We wanted to know how environmental issues affect babies and birthing people during childbirth, one of the most delicate life processes. In the U.S., Black babies are two times more likely to die before their first birthday than white babies, and Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications then white women. So in this episode, we hear from a documentary filmmaker about humanizing Black birthing people, a neonatal hospitalist about the effects the environment has on newborns and mothers and an executive director of an Equal Access Midwifery Clinic about supporting people of color through the birthing process.
St. Louis is consistently listed as one of the worst “Asthma Capitals” in the country by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. During the pandemic, environmental issues such as dust from demolitions and housing conditions make it even harder for people to breathe. In this episode, we hear from a chronic disease epidemiologist and health education coordinator about an initiative to create healthier homes, an educator who collects racial and ethnic data to help us understand environmental issues in our region, and a reverend putting matters into his own hands to help his community live in a healthier environment.
In St. Louis, there are many stories about how environmental racism impacts everyday people and their health, housing, and daily lives. So in this season, we’ll use the Washington University Interdisciplinary Environmental Law Clinic’s 2019 report on Environmental Racism in St. Louis to guide us through conversations about the top environmental issues facing the most vulnerable communities in St. Louis. In this episode, we look back at how St. Louis’ history of systemic racism has impacted the living environments of low-income and Black residents, how the report featured stories of everyday people, and what type of environment the report’s recommendations could create for the next generation.
In this episode, we introduce you to two Black artists who teamed up to heal and educate their community through an urban farm in predominantly Black North St. Louis City. They share their vision for building an education garden with accessible raised beds, and growing flowers and healing herbs alongside chickens and bees. Then we learn about how they encountered a major obstacle that put their dreams on hold...
In the last two seasons of the show, we have covered the COVID-19 pandemic and the current uprising for Black lives, both of which continue to shape society today. The pandemic and the uprising also raised two major questions, which we’ll be addressing in our new season on environmental racism: How do we achieve a healthy life? And what kind of world do we want to leave for the next generation? These are profound questions for a region that boasts some of the most prestigious hospitals in the nation and is home to residents with some of the worst health outcomes. So in this season, we’ll trace the connection between systemic racism, housing conditions, and health outcomes. But we’ll also highlight the organizers, tenants rights advocates, and urban farmers who are working to improve conditions in their communities. The first episode of the environmental racism season drops on Friday, February 12th, anywhere you get podcasts.
This year, we produced a season that put a racial equity lens on the COVID-19 pandemic and a season about the current uprising for Black lives. As a collective, we have faced this season's challenges head first and continue to press on by producing meaningful and impactful stories, which is why we wanted to know what other journalists in our region experienced during this time. In this episode, we’ll hear from a correspondent for Kaiser Health News about the importance of telling the stories of everyday people during this time and a reporter from the St. Louis American will share what it’s like to work on a year-long fellowship to produce stories about COVID-19 affecting the Black community.
Over the past months, we’ve seen civil unrest across the country in a renewed uprising for Black lives and the fight to hold police accountable. But we should not forget the painters, poets, musicians, and more who have decided that through their art they can motivate people to move into action. In this episode, we’ll hear from a young man who found beauty in destruction and created a group for local Black artists, the founder of ART House will share about how she is building a place for artists of color to thrive in their own community, and the founder of UrbArts will teach us about art’s ability to uncover systemic racism and how we can create a marketplace to support Black artists in a more meaningful way.
The call to defund the police has gained steam as activists and advocates bring attention to police budgets that they believe could be better allocated to education, healthcare, and social services. At the heart of this call is the question of whether or not police increase public safety. Growing numbers of people are joining a movement to abolish the current system of policing and imagine new structures for responding to mental health crises, domestic violence, and social problems created by poverty and racism. In this episode, we talk to the co-chairs of St. Louis’ Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression about police accountability and the tension between efforts to reform and desire to abolish the current system of policing.
Many schools have started hybrid in-person and online learning, even as coronavirus cases keep rising and students continue to experience disparities in accessing technology, meeting their daily needs, and learning at home. So in this episode, we’ll hear from a first generation college student who has been helping her community navigate the education system and an executive director of a local education-based nonprofit will share what parents and families face when navigating the St. Louis Public Schools system and how that impacts students’ experiences with higher education. And then, we’ll zoom all the way out to examine why St. Louis’ educational landscape remains uneven and segregated over six decades after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision.
This episode was produced with the help of Lindy Drew, Lead Storyteller and Co-Founder of Humans of St. Louis, which is a paid content partner of Navigate STL Schools and Forward through Ferguson.
As always, We Live Here’s coverage remains independent.
Back in early March, we were collecting stories from first generation college students about their experiences on campus. Since then, COVID-19 hit college campuses across the country and we’re seeing a rising number of cases since students have returned for in-person classes.
So in this episode, we hear from a first generation college student about navigating post-grad life during a pandemic, a health reporter will share what it’s like to report about the virus at a university, and a student activist will tell us about how they are fighting to uplift the demands of Black students on campus.
Back in 2014, after the police killings of Michael Brown Jr. in North St. Louis County and VonDerrit Myers Jr. in South St. Louis City, the St. Louis University Clock Tower became a site for Occupy SLU: six days of teach-ins, community conversation, and an occupation by community activists and students, which resulted in the creation of 13 Clock Tower Accords to advance racial equity at the school. This year, after a grand jury in Kentucky declined to indict three Louisville police officers for shooting and killing Breonna Taylor, students gathered at the Clock Tower again to hold a vigil for Breonna Taylor and make new demands to change culture and policies at St. Louis University. On this bonus episode, we’ll hear from three students who organized direct actions and a new list of demands to advance racial equity at St. Louis University.
The uprising for Black lives has amplified the names of Black people who have been killed by police and in racist attacks. But the names of people who are Black and trans are lesser known due to transphobia and a lack of understanding from media and society. In St. Louis, organizers have been uplifting the name of Kiwi Herring, a Black trans woman who was known by her loved ones as a playful nurturer, adored by neighborhood kids and her own children, who she taught to value education and hard work. In this episode we’ll hear more from organizers who are supporting people who are Black and trans, using art to promote social change, and staying inspired through the uprising.
The uprising for Black lives has disrupted the social and economic status quo through protests, highway shutdowns and occupations. It has also been an opportunity for activists and organizers to build power and engage people politically. But the pandemic, changes to the postal service, and the increasingly polarized political climate will impact the upcoming general election in major ways. So in this episode, we hear from a state representative who helped to come up with new absentee and mail-in balloting guidelines and two ministers who are part of multi-racial and multi-faith coalitions that engage voters and increase voter turnout.
In less than a year, the coronavirus has changed life as we know it-- from job losses to evictions and even the loss of loved ones. As we enter the fall and back-to-school season, we wanted to know: what does education look like in the midst of a pandemic and how can we keep students, educators, and workers safe? So in this episode, we hear from two teachers: one who will share what it’s like to teach through a pandemic and another who has been organizing teachers to advocate for safer policies and practices in the St. Louis Public School system. We’ll also talk to a student advocate and financial aid advisor from a local nonprofit scholarship organization about how COVID-19 is affecting college students and what it means to put a racial equity lens on the student loan crisis.
This is a bonus episode about the making of Black at Mizzou: Confronting Race on Campus, an audio documentary that was recently released by American Public Media. It provides a window into the community of Black students at the University of Missouri-Columbia and the impact of the Concerned Student 1950 movement. In this episode, we hear about the process of hosting and producing the documentary from someone that you already know, but are about to get a whole lot more familiar with: Lauren Brown, co-host and producer for We Live Here.
Black at Mizzou: Confronting Race on Campus from APM Reports is out now-- on the Educate podcast from American Public Media-- everywhere you get podcasts. You can also find it online at apmreports.org.
As layoffs and furloughs continue through the coronavirus-induced recession and eviction moratoriums are being lifted, the U.S. is facing a major housing crisis. In St. Louis, people have been holding rallies and occupying City Hall to call for a moratorium on evictions for tenants and unhoused people alike, and framing this demand as a racial equity issue. So in this episode, we trace the story of two tent encampments: one occupied by people who are unhoused under an overpass and one occupied by activists and advocates at St. Louis City Hall. We also hear from the executive director and community engagement specialist of a fair housing enforcement agency about what racial equity means during a housing crisis.
Fighting for Black lives isn’t new and some say that this uprising isn’t new either. It’s a familiar fight that Black people have been fighting for centuries. The difference is that now this fight is happening as COVID-19 cases continue to rise, especially within the African-American community. The pandemic, state violence, and racist attacks all have devastating physical consequences, but there is also a mental toll. In this episode, we hear from a Black healing practitioner and two Black psychologists about how the pandemic and the uprising are impacting the mental health of African-Americans and how Black people can maintain and promote their mental wellness during these stressful times.
Even though we are currently in a pandemic, the recent killings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Nina Pop, and more have led people to take to the streets. Protests and marches around the world have sparked a renewed uprising for Black lives and when looting and vandalism began to impact large chain stores and small Black businesses alike. Many began asking how can they support small Black businesses during this time and people began following campaigns such as #BuyBlack, #BankBlack, and #BlackoutDay2020 to uplift Black business and communities that have been devalued and poverty-stricken for years. In this episode we hear from two small Black business owners about what’s like to own a small business during this time and we ask an economic development specialist and a scholar of race and structural inequality about what’s at stake if we continue to devalue Black businesses in the midst of an uprising for Black lives and beyond.
We wanted to give you an inside look into our next season on how people are rising up for Black lives around the world because for every moment captured on the news, there are a series of decisions that led us here to a time when record numbers of people are discontent with the status quo. What decisions will lead us to a more racially equitable future that truly values Black lives? We want to hear from you-- so send us a message on Twitter or Instagram at WE LIVE HERE S-T-L or call 314-396-2953 and leave a message about why you’re rising up for Black lives and what you hope will happen next.
The pandemic has upended the lives of countless people across the world, but for refugees who fled their countries of origin to escape persecution based on race, religion, nationality, or ideology, COVID-19 makes it even harder to navigate healthcare, employment, education, and daily life. New restrictions on refugee resettlement and immigration add yet another layer of concern for people seeking a new life in the U.S. In this episode, we hear from a refugee who is a college student about what it’s like to learn and live through COVID-19 and we ask a social worker and an immigration attorney about what social support and legal services are needed by refugees through the pandemic and beyond.
Masks, social distancing, and diligent hand washing have become the new norm in the era of COVID-19. But for many, following CDC guidelines to prevent the spread is nearly impossible. That’s the case for people in jails, prisons, and detention facilities which are now understood to be major hotspots for the virus. And that’s why advocates, public health officials, and public defenders are calling for decarceration-- reducing the number of people held in jails, prisons, and detention facilities-- as a strategy to flatten the curve and prevent massive outbreaks among people who are already vulnerable to the virus. In this episode, we hear from decarceration advocates, the Director of the Missouri Public Defender system, and the Director of Public Safety for the City of St. Louis about what can be done to reduce the number of people held in jails, prisons, and detention facilities, what’s at stake for public health and public safety if no changes are made, and how courts and jails have shifted their operations during the pandemic.
The Ferguson uprising catalyzed conversations and sparked action around racial equity in the St. Louis region. In the following years we’ve seen the growth of new research, movements, and programs that center the experiences of Black people. The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on African Americans across the nation and in St. Louis raises a crucial question about how to work toward racial equity during a pandemic. In this episode, we talk to three Black leaders who’ve been centering racial equity in their work and learn their perspectives on investment, community health, and regional response during the pandemic.
Food insecurity has long been a problem facing people across the country and for many children, not knowing where their next meal is coming from or only eating food that lacks nutrition devastates their ability to focus, learn, and stay healthy. More recently in St. Louis black-led efforts like STL Lunch and the Hands Up United Books and Breakfast program have recognized that food access is a racial equity issue and the need that arises especially when school is out of session for summer. Now with COVID-19 closing schools until the next school year, food insecurity for children has become even more pressing than before. In this episode, we talk to a parent, a school board member, and a community advocate about the struggle to ensure that students in North St. Louis County are educated and fed during the pandemic.
The response to COVID-19 has varied across the country and across the globe. By now the especially devastating toll on black Americans has been well documented with death rates disturbingly and disproportionately higher than whites.The city of St. Louis made national headlines when its first 12 recorded deaths from COVID-19 were black. The peak of the first wave of cases expected to hit around the same day this episode is being released, which is why we wanted to better understand how the outbreak is touching the lives of black St. Louisans. In this episode a doctor, a mayor, and a nurse share their stories about how COVID-19 is affecting black residents in the St. Louis region and how they're working to make sure everyone in our town can stand a chance against the deadly virus.
If you’ve been tuning into our recent episodes, you’ll know that a couple of weeks ago, we did an episode about anti-Asian xenophobia. We collected so many revealing and inspiring interviews for that episode that we couldn’t use them all. We decided that a special conversation we had with two Vietnamese American doctors which has continued to stick with us through this time is befitting especially since the St. Louis region is still expecting some very difficult weeks ahead. In this episode, we wanted to take some time to share two interconnected and inspiring stories about healing and community in the face of xenophobia and an invisible enemy.
States across the country have announced shelter-in-place orders but for many that is not an option. The challenge for St. Louis and elsewhere is how to curb the spread of the coronavirus among people who are unhoused. This virus has highlighted how the same inequities in St. Louis are found in towns across the U.S. which is why we are partnering with our public radio friends at America Amplified to help explore how the spread of the coronavirus is affecting those who are unhoused in St. Louis and beyond.
By now, there are reports about Chinatowns across the country that are hurting for business because of anti-Asian xenophobia. We wanted to understand how anti-Asian xenophobia has impacted Asian Americans and Asian American-owned small businesses here in St. Louis. In this episode, we hear from a Taiwanese American therapist, a Chinese American organizer, and two Asian American small business owners about how the rise of anti-Asian xenophobia has affected their lives.
Schools are closed across the country and some are done for the rest of the academic year. The shift to online learning for many schools can also reveal the deep economic and racial inequities that characterize schools in our hometown and yours. We wanted to understand how this sudden change could affect long-standing racial and economic disparities in education outcomes. In our first first episode about the COVID-19 crisis, we will hear what the director of a local education nonprofit and a teacher are doing to keep kids from falling behind.
We’ve spent the past couple of months preparing for a season on the theme “black on campus.” But with efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, like many of you, we can no longer go on with “business as usual.”
We decided that now is not the time for a season about college campuses, especially when campuses are closed around the country.So we will be postponing the release of episodes about the black experience on college campuses until a later date.
Instead, we’ll be putting a racial and economic equity lens on the outbreak of COVID-19… and recovery from it. Like you, we don’t know how this is going to play out. But what seems certain is that this crisis will hit those with the least in our society the hardest. And you’re going to be hearing a lot of phone conversations, because just like you we’re practicing social distancing.
We want to hear your stories about how COVID-19 is affecting you, so send a voice memo to welivehere@STLPublicRadio.org or you can call 314-516-5588 and leave a message.
We’ll be dropping episodes at least once a week starting March 26. And we’ll step up production from there if we need to, so keep an eye on your feed.
Be safe and be kind to each other.
The We Live Here team is about to start dropping episodes for our brand new season! This time, we’re talking about what it means to be black on campus. And we’re working with Educate, a podcast from American Public Media that explores stories about education and opportunity across the country. In the coming weeks, we’ll share the stories, experiences, and movements shaping the lives of black students across the country. And reveal the work being done to impact black students for generations to come.
St. Louis is home to longest running school desegregation program in the country. For generations it has shaped the students’ lives and how they see race in one of the most segregated places in America. On this episode we share five firsthand accounts of the trials and triumphs experienced during the program’s long history. What’s revealed is a portrait of a community that still struggles to make every student feel welcome in the classroom.
Up to this point in our season, we’ve been talking about big, top down structures and practices that create municipal divides, and how they’ve made St. Louis one of the most segregated cities in America. So we decided to flip the script and talk about bridging those divides from the ground up. On this episode, we tell you how Mayor McGee went from sharecropping in the deep south to helping a group of mostly black mayors share resources in the fractured system they inherited.
On this bonus episode, historian Colin Gordon will explain how St. Louis was divided by design, how its municipal divides impact public goods and services, and what can be done about the policies that perpetuate segregation today.
What happened to Missouri’s first all black town?
What does home mean to you? Is it a physical place? Or maybe a specific person.
Maybe it’s a feeling.
Now how would you feel if home was literally torn down under the promise that something big would come that could change the economy of an entire city? But then that thing never materialized. And what’s left of home is pavement, empty lots and warehouses. This is what happened to Alana Marie’s dad and thousands of other black residents in a small municipality in north St. Louis County called Kinloch. On this episode we tell the story of Kinloch’s rise and decline, and how Alana is working to preserve the history of Missouri first all black town.
We collect sooo many stories while producing this show and we can't always squeeze them into a full episode. So we figured it would be cool to start sharing some with you as bonus episodes. We’re going to make them short and sweet, and we’re hoping that they give you a little more context to the larger stories we tell. This time, we tell the story of how black people now hold significant political power in a town that was explicitly created for racist reasons.
In the late 1970s, Dr. Will Ross was told to stay away when applying for medical school in St. Louis. He was told the city was too racist and that he’d be better off on the east coast.But Dr. Ross decided to dig in, and he’s spent a career trying to alleviate massive racial disparities in health outcomes. He’s convinced that the only way to clear a path toward meaningful policy changes is by unifying fractured governmental structures in St. Louis City and County. And a couple of years ago, that belief landed him at a crossroads. He would join powerful people who wanted to create a new way to govern a divided region. But things didn’t exactly go as planned. We tell the story of how Dr. Ross’ recommendations and his criticisms were received, because it says a lot about how race and power continue to work in one of the nation’s most segregated cities.
The new We Live Here team have been working hard putting together new shows for our upcoming season! In the coming weeks, we’ll bring you stories of how race and class contributed to dozens and dozens of governmental divides in St. Louis City and County’s municipal courts, police departments and school districts. And uncover the stories and costs behind the fractured governmental systems that define the town we call home.
We’ve got new hosts! We know it’s a big change, but trust us, we care deeply about issues of race and class. And we want you to get to know us.
In our introductory episode, members of the new team have an honest conversation on how race and class has affected their lives. Co-host and Producer Ashley Renee, a St. Louis native, dives into her first experience with racism as a child. Co-host and Producer Jia Lian tells us how she experienced racism from the perspective of an activist. Associate Producer Lauren Brown explains how racism showed up at her doorstep when she was a college student.
Just before Thanksgiving, a housing crisis popped up in the infamous St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo. The county housing authority had stepped in to demand repairs from a property management company officials deemed substandard and even dangerous. In other words, the system was doing what it was supposed to do: ensuring residents have a safe place to live. But the property company responded by threatening to kick out residents, and pointed blame at the housing authority and previous ownership. It’s a mess. And in the middle are residents who are hustling to find safe housing during the coldest months of the year. The whole situation gets at the heart of what’s happening around issues of race, class and housing in the St. Louis area. Because while some institutions are making legitimate changes, countless pitfalls remain on the path to progress.
We’ve spent our entire year dissecting the intersection of race and housing. Which of course has meant taking a pretty critical look at the deeply destructive patterns of segregation in St. Louis. And listening this year, you might have thought to yourself: “Sheesh! they talk a lot about the problems.” But that’s not the full picture of what’s going on right now in our region. There’s a robust conversation -- in some circles -- about possible solutions. On this episode, we decided to listen to a man who has been leading a team of some of the smartest people in the region with the goal of dismantling divides and creating a new path forward.
Hey ya’ll! It’s a been a long season. And it means so much to the WLH crew that you’ve hung with us all year as we dissect race, class and housing in one of the most segregated cities in these United States. Recently we invited about 150 of our friends over for a house party downstairs from our studios at St. Louis Public Radio. Conversations were had. New connections were made. Of course there were drinks. And it wouldn’t be a WLH party without stories! Many of you have asked to hear more youth voices on the show. So, this time around Kameel and Tim handed over their mics, stepped off the stage and listened to some stellar youth storytellers from St. Louis. Enjoy! We sure did.
The Grove neighborhood is in a part of St. Louis that has seen an uptick in new housing and business development. The changes have been a blessing and a curse. While many in the area welcome the investments, there are concerns that rising housing costs are pushing out longtime residents. On this episode, we listen to stories of those who live, work, worship and teach in the area about how they've seen the neighborhood change.
It's an open secret that the nation's housing voucher (section 8) program has its issues. And that glaringly, a program intended to give people choice often doesn't, because turns out, many landlords on the private market aren’t rushing to participate and take housing subsidies, no matter that they're backed by Uncle Sam. In St. Louis, it leads to this data point: just 7 percent of housing voucher holders live in "high opportunity areas." But very quietly over the past year, a pilot program here -- one of only a handful like it in the country -- has been trying to change that
The specter of Pruitt-Igoe still looms over St. Louis. The massive 1950s era public housing complex suffered under disinvestment and bad public policy. Ultimately, officials literally blew the whole thing up. Since then, the focus of public housing has shifted to the Section 8 voucher program and smaller developments. Yet, the model of large public housing complexes is still very much alive today. From mice to mold, the problems facing St. Louis’ aging public housing complexes is long. And there’s not much funding to fix a backlog of issues. On this episode, we tell you what life is like for our neighbors living in two of the last remaining vestiges of St. Louis’ public housing past.
Segregation is systemic. We know that. But who powers these systems? People. In this episode, we zoom in on a group that holds immense power in guiding where people choose to live and raise families.Today’s show is about real estate agents. And what happens when some try to make amends for their industry’s past transgressions by focusing on a single St. Louis neighborhood.
Rosetta Watson has won her fight against the city of Maplewood, Mo., which kicked her out of town after she generated too many calls to police while dealing with an abusive ex-boyfriend. Now what?
We catch up with her, give her case some national context and chart out what may come next for the people challenging these nuisance and crime free laws.
We’re interrupting our normal storytelling podcast schedule for...some breaking news. Earlier this season we brought you the story of Rosetta Watson, a woman suing in federal court after she says she was kicked out of Maplewood, Mo. for calling police too many times for protection from an abusive ex-boyfriend. Two days ago we got a tip that Maplewood had settled with Ms. Watson, who is set to receive a six-figure settlement. And the town’s city council voted to move forward with changes to their nuisance ordinance. On this episode bring you the latest news out of the leafy suburb of Maplewood.
J.D. and Ethel Shelley wanted a better home for their children. They were crammed into a small apartment in downtown St. Louis, but had saved enough money to buy a nice, two apartment building in a quiet neighborhood in north St. Louis called the Greater Ville. However, racially restrictive covenants barred the Shelleys, who were black, from owning the home. So in 1945 a white realtor bought the home from the Kraemers, who were white, and then quickly signed the deed over to the shelleys. When the Kraemers found out, they filed a lawsuit to get the Shelleys kicked out. The case made its way up the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 1948 that enforcing restrictive such racial restrictive covenants was unconstitutional in St. Louis and the rest of the country. And while historians may get the facts and significance of the case right, there are details and human truths that are best expressed by family members. On this episode, Kameel and Tim listen to the descendants of J.D. and Ethel Shelley tell the story of their family’s place in American history.
The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled on a case we highlighted at the beginning of our season. That of Latasha Johnson, whose eviction case made it to the state's highest court because of it's importance to tenants rights.. And the ruling, issued in a holiday news dump, does indeed change some things. Short story: The court ruled for Johnson's landlord. But it also laid out some really important new guidelines for tenants rights. Only problem ... they do nothing to change Johnson's situation or expunge the eviction from her record. In other words, the ruling is a mixed bag.
Eltoreon Hawkins always thought he would be a cop. That's how he wanted to serve his community. But he quickly became disillusioned with the criminal justice system he wanted to see reformed. So he's turned his efforts closer to home. specifically, to real estate. And what started out as a plan to secure a future for himself and his family has turned into a mission for this 20-something: taking back his neighborhood, one vacant house at a time.
Hear a group of St. Louisans tell their stories on stage as part of our annual “I Live Here” event. This summer’s theme was “Homes and the stories they hold.” This week’s episode was made possible with the help of the Second Tuesdays story organization and local music producer Trifeckta. Visit www.welivehere.show to hear the full, raw audio of the event and additional storytellers!
Today’s show is all about the g-word: Gentrification. Which we often think of as happening in urban centers. But for generations there’s been a slow turnover as cities expanded into the suburbs and rural areas. That’s the backstory of Brentwood Promenade, a relatively affluent mall about 15 minutes outside of city of St. Louis. For 90 years it was home to middle-class African American families centered around the Evens-Howard Fire Brick Company. Developers bought and demolished the neighborhood in 1997. All that’s left now is a plaque near a liquor store in the back of the plaza. The story of Evans-Howard Place has been acted out countless times in St. Louis and across the rest of the country. If you’re from around our region you might know about Mill Creek Valley, or Laclede Town, or Meacham Park. But on today’s episode, we tell you about a historic African American community in west St. Louis County that’s fighting to avoid the same fate. To hang on to its land, history and future. This is the story of Westland Acres.
Spend time in St. Louis’ wealthy, old neighborhoods and you might notice something unusual. Amid all the splendor of ornate craftsmanship and tree-lined streets you’ll often happen across thick, wrought iron gates. In fact the city helped put gated communities on the map in America. The developers of these early streets also crafted racial restrictive covenants, which would spread to suburbs in St. Louis and beyond. With the help of St. Louis preservationist Michael Allen, Kameel and Tim trace the legacy of gated communities to modern day. They find that while the mechanics have changed, the ideas and beliefs that helped build some of the first gated, private streets in the country are hardly a thing of the past.
A lot of people moan and groan about segregation as if it's a plight that magically fell out the sky. But that would be letting a lot of powerful people, policies an institutions of the hook. Because the truth is, America is segregated because it was designed to be, via a series of purposeful policies and government actions implemented in the past several decades. In this episode, hear Richard Rothstein, author of Color of Law, break it all down.
In a country where fair and affordable housing is becoming harder to hold onto each year, we profile the people who are standing in the gap: the lawyers. And we introduce you to Lee Camp, a young St. Louis attorney who stumbled upon a case that could level the playing field between tenants and landlords in Missouri — and his client Latasha Johnson, whose eviction story sits at the center.
Last episode, you heard about serious allegations against officials in Maplewood, Mo. Housing advocates say public nuisance laws in the leafy suburb of St. Louis are being used against the poor, people of color and
victims of domestic abuse. But in this episode, town officials push back and say there’s nothing wrong with the way they determine who is and isn’t a nuisance in their town. We also hear more about Rosetta Watson, the woman suing in federal court after she says she was kicked out of Maplewood for calling police too many times for protection from an abusive ex-boyfriend.
Maplewood, Missouri. is a cozy little suburb at the border of St. Louis City. It has great schools, a cute downtown and one of the region’s most celebrated breweries. But in the background, some housing advocates say the
town’s officials are turning public nuisance laws against people of color, the mentally ill and victims of domestic abuse. In the first of a two-part episode, hosts Tim and Kameel kick of the podcast’s fourth season by digging into these allegations and tell the story of a woman who was kicked out of Maplewood after cops came to her house too many times to deal with an abusive ex-boyfriend.
Tim and Kameel give you a preview of what is coming in show’s fourth season, with an extra emphasis on the LIVE HERE part of We Live Here.
Tim and Kameel are working hard to make shows for the next season, but don’t worry dear listeners,
because it’s bonus episode time! We’re taking you allllll the way back to a little more than a year ago when we brought you an episode called “Black Girl Magic.” Some of you diehards probably remember it, if not, scroll back in our feed and check it out. The episode is all about a big effort among business leaders in St. Louis to diversify the city’s entrepreneurship scene. It turns out one young woman was listening, and the story of what she
did next is pretty cool.
It almost seemed like a too-good-to-be-true Black History Month gift: the unveiling of the super-cool official portrait of former president Barack Obama. This distinct image of Obama, which is unlike any other presidential portrait, immediately caused a cultural and artistic buzz. Even better for us, it happened to be by the mesmerizing Kehinde Wiley, an artist we had on the podcast in 2016 following a controversy at St. Louis’ contemporary art museum. In that episode, titled “Museum Meltdown,” Wiley spoke to us about the complicated intersection of race, representation and art. But there were a lot of things we left on the cutting room floor. So, in this bonus episode, We Live Here cracks open its vault and shares never-before-heard parts of an interview with Wiley. He gets into the fascination people have with a black artist painting white bodies; a concept he calls “cultural policing;” and the impoliteness of exclusion.
We miss you guys! We’re hard at work getting shows ready for our fourth season, but we don’t want to leave you hanging. So, we’re dropping a little bonus content. Last year we collaborated with the very cool producers at Baltimore’s Out of the Blocks podcast and brought you voices from the Ville, a historic black neighborhood in north St. Louis. This is the second show from that podcast mashup with some extra stories at the end.
Jesus is back! Our favorite black spiritual adviser returns to judge our third season. Hear highlights from the episodes he liked, and the ones he didn’t.
Sonny Liston, Frankie Freeman, Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, Dick Gregory: That’s just a handful of America’s black luminaries who called “The Ville” home, a one square mile neighborhood in north St. Louis. But decades of population loss and systemic disinvestment have left it a shell of its former self. We team up with our very cool friends at WYPR’s “Out of the Blocks” and tell the neighborhood’s story through the voices of people who call it home today.
We keep the stories going and keep up our streak of handing the mics over to the community. Listen to the second half of this year’s “I Live Here” live storytelling event. Hear from three St. Louis artists — including a young poet, a country music performer and a singer-songwriter who are all grappling with the ideas of place and home.
It’s story time. Last year’s “I Live Here” storytelling event was so much fun, we decided to do it again this year. This week’s episode is a little different, and features hosts Tim and Kameel handing the mics to the community. In this first half, hear stories about black love, a woman who finds peace in her identity and spirituality and an outspoken politician who once struggled to speak for herself, let alone others.
There have been near-daily protests in St. Louis following the September 2017 acquittal of a white police officer who killed a black man six years ago. And mounting allegations of excessive use of force by police officers responding to those protests. As all this pressure from the outside builds, we’re coming at the issue of police accountability from a different angle. We bring you the stories of black cops, past and present, who’ve been trying to change the system from the inside.
In one of the country’s most segregated cities, the division seems nearly permanent: that black people in St. Louis live north, and white people south. It wasn’t always this way. Back when Christine Schmiz was growing up, plenty of white people lived in north St. Louis. But they left in a wave of white flight. Christine’s blue-collar family was part of this wave — a traumatic move for the then-14-year-old, who said she struggled since then to find a place she truly belonged. Decades later, during a process of reflection and self-examination, Christine found solace in an unlikely place — a poem written by St. Louis native Cheeraz Gorman. The young black woman also grew up in north St Louis, a generation after Christine, and tells the story of trying to make sense of what has become of her childhood neighborhood.
As we’ve been collecting stories for you guys over the past few months, other people have been prodding us to tell our story. Since we’re about halfway through season 3, we thought why not now? People are curious about the nitty-gritty behind the show, and how we do it together. Plus, we drop some news about an upcoming storytelling event we’re having Nov. 8 in St. Louis, and an upcoming episode about we need your help with.
Earlier this summer, we got bombarded with messages and emails from people wanting to know if it was true that Missouri has snatched back a wage increase from the lowest-paid workers in St. Louis. Short answer? Yes. But today’s show isn’t about that short answer. It’s about the long one.The story of HOW and WHY the city is locked in this battle. And the growing movement to keep up the fight to raise the standard of living for thousands of low-wage workers in this state — which now centers a lot on regular people working to get the raise back.
On this episode we explore the idea of a woke spectrum. You longtime listeners probably knew we would end up here eventually. After all, it is our new tagline. We go through responses we’ve collected about the word woke and we spend time with regular people -- many of them white -- trying to figure out, in light of
everything going on, where they fit on this spectrum. And as it turns out, our spectrum kind of, sort of has some theoretical underpinnings when it comes to racial identity. You’ll just have to listen to find out what we mean.
Today’s show is all about choices. We’ll listen in as Damon Davis and Sabaah Folayan, producers of the critically acclaimed documentary ‘Whose Streets,’ talk about their choice to make the film and how they hope it will become a lasting document. We’ll also hear how a choice a good friend of ours made while covering Ferguson continues to shape the choices he makes now. A note that you won’t be hearing from us much on this episode. Because on today’s show, our choice is to listen.
On the third anniversary of Mike Brown's killing, we share the story of three playwrights who penned monologues about their experiences as black men in America. This is part 1 of two shows we're using to explore to art and activism. Part 2 will drop later in August.
Is there a right and a right and a wrong way to be an ally? Are you doing it right? Do you even know what it is? Maybe you should take our quiz to find out. In this episiode, we give what we call “The Ally Quiz” to two best friends, and have their answers scored by one of St. Louis’ most dynamic race scholars. And then, we reveal a twist. Follow along then go to www.welivehere.show to take the quiz yourself (or give it to someone). Then share the results with us in a voice memo — emailed to info@welivehere.show.
Earlier this spring, the nation was transfixed with the fight in New Orleans over the removal of its confederate monuments. That spread to other cities -- including here in St. Louis, which just removed a confederate memorial from its lauded and most famous public park. So what now? We swoop in, and with help from BackStory's Nathan Connolly, try to unearth some conclusions and next steps.
In this episode, we get a seemingly simple question from a regular guy who wants St. Louis to do better around race and economic progress. And then we take that question to woman who wants the same, and just so happens to have recently come into a considerable amount of power.
Hey everyone, we’re official back! On the first episode of season three, a very, very special guest helps Tim and Kameel explore the whitewashing of Jesus. And we meet a local minister who’s trying to help his mostly white congregation rethink what Jesus looked like.
Get pumped - Season 3 of your favorite race and class podcast from St. Louis is back June 13! Subscribe now. Jesus wants you to. We'll explain later :)
We cap our second season by examining the ultimate system, one that can literally make the difference between life and death: the healthcare system.
In particular concerns about what changes could be coming to the Affordable Care Act and how one group in Missouri tried to come up with an alternate health insurance system.
Black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs. But as a group, they're largely ignored by the investment community. Why is that? And what are people doing to change that? We dive into this disconnect in our latest episode, and we tell you about efforts -- local and national -- to close this gap and make the start-up world more inclusive. Along the way, we bring you several stories of black women entrepreneurs, from a local St. Louis baker to the founder of Blavity.
How a controversy at a St. Louis museum exposed a long-running conversation in the art world about identity, power and race.
About six months ago, we took an intense look at racial disparities in early-grade school suspensions in Missouri. We revisit the topic in this week's episode and bring you a big update – on the people and policy changes that've happened in since then.
There’s been a lot of chatter in recent years about inclusiveness in the tech world. Companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook have all been called out for their mostly white and male staffs. But what if, instead of an afterthought, diversity was hardwired into the core of a new start-up scene? That’s what this week’s installment of We Live Here is all about. And we’re not taking you to the coasts or San Francisco to look for answers. Instead, the show goes to Kansas City to tell the story of one man's ambitious plan to build a more racially inclusive tech scene from the ground up.
The U.S. has a long history of choosing who it will and won’t let participate in the voting system. So as the nation prepares to choose its next leader, with a wave of voter ID laws on the books, and with fears about fraud now a major narrative in the presidential election, we take a look at just who is and who isn't being let into "Club Democracy" — and why.
In the community development world it’s widely understood that bringing any kind of change to a struggling neighborhood can take years. Yet the need for change is urgent. Research suggests blight is associated with serious health problems, not to mention stress associated with poverty. So what happens when you try to make sure being poor doesn’t means a life surrounded by decay? On this episode, we bringing you three very different stories about people with a common goal -- changing the look of poverty.
ON THIS EPISODE … we tell you what happened after our investigative show earlier this season about school suspensions. And we plant ourselves in Adams Elementary, a neighborhood school in south St. Louis, that is on a serious mission: equitable education and opportunities for all of its 300 students. What does it take to do this? We try to find out
The relocation of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to north St. Louis has been heralded as a big win for the region. But it also meant relocating some 200 residents. St. Louis Public Radio’s business reporter Maria Altman has been covering the NGA relocation for months. As we resume the second season of We Live Here… Maria joins co-hosts Kameel Stanley and Tim Lloyd to take a closer look at what is being lost in the name of progress.
Our first live show! We teamed up with two local St. Louis orgs (UrbArts and Second Tuesdays) to bring you a night of live storytelling about race, class, poverty and power. This is just a teaser though. Find more at WeLiveHere.show.
We take a break from public policy and social systems, and instead explore different perspectives about what "My America" means to our listeners.
In our episode last week, we brought you stories of people navigating the nation's biggest program aimed providing housing for the low income, elderly and disabled. This week's podcast widens the scope a bit, and takes a look at the changes happening in federal housing policy. Trust us, it's a lot more exciting than it sounds! Featuring stories and voices from St. Louis, Chicago, Oakland and Phoenix.
Housing choice vouchers -- commonly known as Section 8 -- are supposed to give people with low incomes the freedom to pick where they want to live. But for many voucher holders, that's not how the story actually plays out. With help from reporters in Georgia and San Francisco, this week we explore just how tough it is to find affordable housing in America -- even with a little boost from Uncle Sam.
In 2015, 188 people were victims of homicide in St. Louis. In this episode, we bring you stories of those who have to cope and carry on. Because from a family, to a neighborhood, and beyond...as you follow the wake of each homicide, the ripples get wider and wider.
What's the Missouri legislature done in the two sessions since Michael Brown's death? A little, but not nearly as much as was anticipated in 2014, when Ferguson was in the international spotlight. In this episode, veteran political reporter Jason Rosenbaum, who's covered the story the entire time, gives us a retrospective look at the last two years and talks about what may come next.
Despite the decades-long fight for school desegregation, America is, for the most part, still sending its white and black children to separate schools. Here in St. Louis, this angst over school segregation and integration never really went away.In fact, St. Louis is home to the longest running formal desegregation program in the country.In the latest podcast, we take you through its past, present, and experts' best guess for the future.
We Live Here investigates school suspensions in the early grades. We dig into state discipline data and find: In Missouri, when white kids in K-3 act out, they’re kicked out of class. But the black kids get kicked out of school. We also take a look at what other cities and states are doing about suspensions
We start Season 2 of We Live Here by exploring a concept we're calling "burden of proof." And we ask why is it that race and class have such a huge impact on who gets believed in society. We explore this through the narrative of St. Louis lawyer Thomas Harvey, who confronted his own difficulties believing poor people and black people.
It’s the holiday season, and like many of you, we’re taking stock. Taking stock of what we accomplished with this We Live Here project; the stories and...
The nationwide debate about gun control, mass shootings, and violent crime was once again jump-started in the wake of recent massacres at a county...
This week’s show started with a simple question we could not get out of our heads as we followed the recent shakeups at Mizzou. We’re referring to, of...
There is this term that gets thrown around in education circles that we felt needs some exploring. School to prison pipeline. It sounds like schools...
Racial disparities are a huge topic in education. And Missouri schools — specifically those in the St. Louis area — have been singled out as having some...
The arcane world of school finance in Missouri can be harder to understand than the most obscure poem or the most difficult calculus problem. But clear...
This is Kameel Stanley's inaugural article for St. Louis Public Radio's We Live Here project. We asked her to introduce herself. Here is what she wrote:...
This week's We Live Here podcast is something a little different. Recently, we've been looking at health and the way that toxic stress can impact...
A year after Michael Brown’s death, is the landscape around racial and economic disparities in St. Louis and beyond starting to shift? Can some changes already be seen?
A single school can tell us a lot about the health of the community in which it exists. It can also tell us a lot about how systemic problems with transportation, food, housing and crime adversely impact impoverished communities and the health of the people who live there.
Given that treating people is already a challenging task, imagine the extra challenge that comes from treating people who experience toxic stress — the stress that comes from constant exposure to poor housing conditions, lack of quality food or exposure to violence.
While most people think of the "Delmar Divide," as simply a line that separates a mostly white community to the south and a mostly black community to the north, the reality is that the divide represents huge disparities in health.
A sliver of the 1.5 million people in federal and state prisons will remain in prison for life. But the vast majority are released at some point. How does someone adjust to life outside after spending years behind bars?
Even pleading guilty to a misdemeanor can come with some other penalties. These are called collateral consequences, and they're the focus of this episode of We Live Here.
In this episode of We Live Here, we explore the price and perils of our public defender system.
On this episode of We Live Here we introduce you to four police officers who discuss not only what life is like during the day-to-day grind of work, but also the question of whether or not race makes a difference for African-American officers in majority white police departments.
We Live Here spent the last several weeks ramping up to explore race in St. Louis and, specifically, how systems intersect with people to create a lot of the inequality in our region ... and around the country. Now, we are moving from the general to the specific. We will spend the next several months exploring the criminal justice system.
This episode of We Live Here is all about talking about race without actually talking about race.
Now that we've looked at the jigsaw puzzle of St. Louis County, we consider the children. In a place where people from different backgrounds — and especially different races — seldom live next to each other, we ask the question: What does that mean for kids?
Within St. Louis' system of municipalities, people are largely divided — white, black, rich and poor. They rarely live next to each other.
We didn’t want to just tell another story about the inequalities that exist in our region. We wanted to tear into the issues, break apart the theory from the reality, demonstrate how the systemic problems that plague our region play out in real people’s lives. And we want to know why we still have these problems — no matter how much academic research and scholarly material there is available to explain the existence of racial inequality, why does it still exist? And so, we came up with We Live Here.