The Sum of Us

The Sum of Us

On the heels of her bestselling book, Heather McGhee embarks on a road trip across Covid-era America, unearthing stories of American solidarity and hope in a time of great division and peril for our democracy. Join Heather as she travels from rural Maine to the California coast and everywhere in between, meeting extraordinary Americans who are crossing demographic, cultural, and political lines to build a better future for all of us.Organize with us. Take action @ www.thesumofuspodcast.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Saison 1

  1. ÉPISODE 1

    E1 | Why Can’t We Have Nice Things?

    As president of a national think tank, Heather McGhee thought that the most important change came out of Washington. But as the years passed and she saw the limitations of the law to make real change, she started wondering: Why can’t we all have nice things in this country? Like good schools, jobs and healthcare? In the first episode of the season, we’ll meet Heather as she takes to the road to try and find answers. And she finds her first clue in an unlikely place: a drained public pool.  Organize with us. Take action @ www.thesumofuspodcast.com. TRANSCRIPT: HERE CREDITS: Host and Creator: Heather McGhee Original Music and Theme Song by: Thee Sacred Souls  Producers: Cassim Shepard, Ryan Kailath, Emilce Quiroz, Joaquin Cotler and Juan Diego Ramirez, with help from Liliana Ruiz, Sophia Lo, Susanna Kemp and Alissa Vladimir Senior Producers: Nicole Rothwell, Jeanne Montalvo, and Fernanda Echavarri Editors: Sandy Rattley and Maria Garcia Mix Engineers: Stephanie Lebow and Julia Caruso Researchers: Lynn Kanter and Carolyn Lipka Executive Producer for Futuro Studios: Marlon Bishop Executive producers for Higher Ground: Mukta Mohan, Dan Fierman, Anna Holmes, and Janae Marable Editorial assistant for Higher Ground: Jenna Levin Executive producers for Spotify: Daniel Ek, Dawn Ostroff, Julie McNamara and Corinne Gilliard  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    22 min
  2. ÉPISODE 2

    E2 | Memphis, TN: The Sweetest Water In The World

    In 2020, Memphis residents began to hear rumors that a company called Plains All American was set to build a 49-mile oil pipeline through the city. At first, the pipeline appeared inevitable, planned to run through a “sacrifice zone” of all-Black neighborhoods that had already been poisoned by nearby heavy industry. But when local environmentalists discovered the pipeline would threaten Memphis’ prized drinking water, they joined forces with a charismatic 26-year old, Justin J. Pearson, to build a multi-racial coalition that united Black and white neighborhoods in this segregated city to protect their hometown’s treasured water. Organize with us. Take action @ www.thesumofuspodcast.com. TRANSCRIPT: HERE CREDITS: Host and Creator: Heather McGhee Original Music and Theme Song by: Thee Sacred Souls  Producers: Cassim Shepard, Ryan Kailath, Emilce Quiroz, Joaquin Cotler and Juan Diego Ramirez, with help from Liliana Ruiz, Sophia Lo, Susanna Kemp and Alissa Vladimir Senior Producers: Nicole Rothwell, Jeanne Montalvo, and Fernanda Echavarri Editors: Sandy Rattley and Maria Garcia Mix Engineers: Stephanie Lebow and Julia Caruso Researchers: Lynn Kanter and Carolyn Lipka Executive Producer for Futuro Studios: Marlon Bishop Executive producers for Higher Ground: Mukta Mohan, Dan Fierman, Anna Holmes, and Janae Marable Editorial assistant for Higher Ground: Jenna Levin Executive producers for Spotify: Daniel Ek, Dawn Ostroff, Julie McNamara and Corinne Gilliard  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    42 min
  3. ÉPISODE 3

    E3 | Orlando, FL: The Land of Second Chances

    Republican Congressional aide Neil Volz was convicted for conspiring to bribe members of Congress. Desmond Meade was a Black military veteran who fell into addiction, homelessness and prison. As people with a felony record, they were both stripped of their vote in the state of Florida. A chance encounter led to Desmond recruiting Neil, a white conservative, to join his audacious campaign to overturn the Jim Crow era felony voting ban. Their shared belief in second chances formed the basis of an unlikely friendship--and that friendship was one of the secret weapons in a broad multiracial, cross-partisan coalition that unleashed one of largest expansions of voting rights in US history. Organize with us. Take action @ www.thesumofuspodcast.com. TRANSCRIPT: HERE CREDITS: Host and Creator: Heather McGhee Original Music and Theme Song by: Thee Sacred Souls  Producers: Cassim Shepard, Ryan Kailath, Emilce Quiroz, Joaquin Cotler and Juan Diego Ramirez, with help from Liliana Ruiz, Sophia Lo, Susanna Kemp and Alissa Vladimir Senior Producers: Nicole Rothwell, Jeanne Montalvo, and Fernanda Echavarri Editors: Sandy Rattley and Maria Garcia Mix Engineers: Stephanie Lebow and Julia Caruso Researchers: Lynn Kanter and Carolyn Lipka Executive Producer for Futuro Studios: Marlon Bishop Executive producers for Higher Ground: Mukta Mohan, Dan Fierman, Anna Holmes, and Janae Marable Editorial assistant for Higher Ground: Jenna Levin Executive producers for Spotify: Daniel Ek, Dawn Ostroff, Julie McNamara and Corinne Gilliard  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    45 min
  4. ÉPISODE 6

    E6 | Minden, NV: The Last Sundown Siren

    In 1921, the small town of Minden, Nevada began sounding a “sundown siren” that warned Indigenous people to leave the city limits or face violent consequences. Over a hundred years later, the alarm still blares daily. Why? It depends on who you ask. In a town full of historic markers, there’s nothing about the Indigenous history; local officials now say the siren is a tribute to first responders. Marty Meeden, a descendent of the local Washoe Tribe, had fought to end this traumatic daily reminder to no avail—until he met a pair of unlikely allies: a passionate white bicyclist and a teenage all-star runner. Together, they are working to silence the sundown siren forever, and show how remembering our history can help us all heal. Organize with us. Take action @ www.thesumofuspodcast.com. TRANSCRIPT: HERE CREDITS: Host and Creator: Heather McGhee Original Music and Theme Song by: Thee Sacred Souls  Producers: Cassim Shepard, Ryan Kailath, Emilce Quiroz, Joaquin Cotler and Juan Diego Ramirez, with help from Liliana Ruiz, Sophia Lo, Susanna Kemp and Alissa Vladimir Senior Producers: Nicole Rothwell, Jeanne Montalvo, and Fernanda Echavarri Editors: Sandy Rattley and Maria Garcia Mix Engineers: Stephanie Lebow and Julia Caruso Researchers: Lynn Kanter and Carolyn Lipka Executive Producer for Futuro Studios: Marlon Bishop Executive producers for Higher Ground: Mukta Mohan, Dan Fierman, Anna Holmes, and Janae Marable Editorial assistant for Higher Ground: Jenna Levin Executive producers for Spotify: Daniel Ek, Dawn Ostroff, Julie McNamara and Corinne Gilliard Traditional Paiute and Shoshone songs performed by Stacey Burns, Alisha Numan and Lauren Mauwee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    50 min
  5. ÉPISODE 7

    E7 | Dallas, TX to Albuquerque, NM: A Journey of Faith for Reproductive Rights

    A primary care physician and former Baptist preacher, Dr. Curtis Boyd hadn’t planned on being an abortion provider— until the late 1960s, when ministers and rabbis from Texas reached out and asked him to be their trusted doctor. At 86, he is still at it. Heather visits his clinic in a story that uncovers the hidden history of how faith leaders were a linchpin of abortion access before Roe v. Wade, and how attacks on abortion rights have led to the revival of an underground clergy network today. Now, thanks to the tireless work of a cross-racial coalition of activists, clergy and religious volunteers are once again escorting women to obtain safe, legal abortions in New Mexico. Organize with us. Take action @ www.thesumofuspodcast.com. TRANSCRIPT: HERE CREDITS: Host and Creator: Heather McGhee Original Music and Theme Song by: Thee Sacred Souls  Producers: Cassim Shepard, Ryan Kailath, Emilce Quiroz, Joaquin Cotler and Juan Diego Ramirez, with help from Liliana Ruiz, Sophia Lo, Susanna Kemp and Alissa Vladimir Senior Producers: Nicole Rothwell, Jeanne Montalvo, and Fernanda Echavarri Editors: Sandy Rattley and Maria Garcia Mix Engineers: Stephanie Lebow and Julia Caruso Researchers: Lynn Kanter and Carolyn Lipka Executive Producer for Futuro Studios: Marlon Bishop Executive producers for Higher Ground: Mukta Mohan, Dan Fierman, Anna Holmes, and Janae Marable Editorial assistant for Higher Ground: Jenna Levin Executive producers for Spotify: Daniel Ek, Dawn Ostroff, Julie McNamara and Corinne Gilliard  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    48 min
  6. ÉPISODE 8

    E8 | Manhattan Beach, CA: Swimming Together

    The wealthy beachfront community of Manhattan Beach, California—known for its surf culture—has a Black population of less than 1%. You’d never know that a black couple was one of its founding families. In the early 1900s, the city government seized a thriving Black-owned beach resort after pressure from white residents and the Ku Klux Klan. Today, activists have won the return of the beach to the Bruce family in the first-known case of land reparations for Black people in the US. Now, the whole community is confronting the reality of what it lost when it destroyed a Black beach paradise, and redefining who gains when reparations becomes a reality. Organize with us. Take action @ www.thesumofuspodcast.com. TRANSCRIPT: HERE CREDITS: Host and Creator: Heather McGhee Original Music and Theme Song by: Thee Sacred Souls  Producers: Cassim Shepard, Ryan Kailath, Emilce Quiroz, Joaquin Cotler and Juan Diego Ramirez, with help from Liliana Ruiz, Sophia Lo, Susanna Kemp and Alissa Vladimir Senior Producers: Nicole Rothwell, Jeanne Montalvo, and Fernanda Echavarri Editors: Sandy Rattley and Maria Garcia Mix Engineers: Stephanie Lebow and Julia Caruso Researchers: Lynn Kanter and Carolyn Lipka Executive Producer for Futuro Studios: Marlon Bishop Executive producers for Higher Ground: Mukta Mohan, Dan Fierman, Anna Holmes, and Janae Marable Editorial assistant for Higher Ground: Jenna Levin Executive producers for Spotify: Daniel Ek, Dawn Ostroff, Julie McNamara and Corinne Gilliard  A note — an earlier version of this episode omitted that Allison Hales, from the city’s task force on Bruce’s Beach, spearheaded the response to the “Concerned residents of MB”s newspaper ad.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    42 min

Animateurs et invités

À propos

On the heels of her bestselling book, Heather McGhee embarks on a road trip across Covid-era America, unearthing stories of American solidarity and hope in a time of great division and peril for our democracy. Join Heather as she travels from rural Maine to the California coast and everywhere in between, meeting extraordinary Americans who are crossing demographic, cultural, and political lines to build a better future for all of us.Organize with us. Take action @ www.thesumofuspodcast.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Plus de contenu par Higher Ground

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi

Pour écouter des épisodes au contenu explicite, connectez‑vous.

Suivez l’actualité de cette émission

Connectez-vous ou abonnez-vous pour suivre des émissions, enregistrer des épisodes et obtenir les dernières mises à jour.

Sélectionnez un pays ou une région

Afrique, Moyen-Orient et Inde

Asie-Pacifique

Europe

Amérique latine et les Caraïbes

Les États-Unis et le Canada