Headlights: Voices from The Progressive South

The Progressive South and Barberian Productions
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The American South is much more than Spanish moss and plantation politics. In every city, town and rural county across the region, there are people working for a better future, continuing a centuries-long fight for real freedom, equality and opportunity. In every episode of Headlights, we bring you news, interviews and stories of people working for justice and progressive values all across the South. From community organizers to elected officials to artists and writers, business leaders and scientists, we amplify the voices of those making a difference in our Southern states.

  1. 6 days ago

    Ep. 67: Confronting White Christian Nationalism

    SYNOPSIS: White supremacy and Christian nationalism have long been part of the American political landscape, but in the Trump era they have gained more prominence in the mainstream of conservative politics. This week, we look at the rising tide of explicitly religious and ethnic hate groups, and talk to Nashville investigative reporter Phil Williams about his work to uncover and raise alarms about them. Plus: For Halloween, the complex racial roots of Southern ghost stories. SHOW NOTES: Confront the Hate Phil Williams "Phil Williams, Investigative Reporter for NewsChannel 5, Nashville, Wins Prestigious 2023 John Chancellor Award" Columbia University "Theocracy Is on the Ballot, Part I: The White Evangelical Nationalists" Marci A. Hamilton "Southern Baptists' resolutions reflect support of Christian nationalism, scholar says" Religion News Service  "Specters of the Mythic South" Alena Pirok, Southern Cultures  CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark jmayshark@theprogressivesouth.org (865) 214-7764

  2. 19 Oct

    Ep. 66: Busting the Confederacy Myth

    SYNOPSIS: Did the Confederate States of America ever really exist as a nation? In "The Confederacy Myth," historian Connor Williams argues that it didn't. His book reframes the Confederacy as it actually was — a failed insurrection that never governed much of anything and had the support of only about 1/6th of the population of the United States. We talk to him about the realities of the slave-holders' rebellion, and how a concerted effort to glorify it after the fact still colors our understanding. Plus: What we can learn from a bizarre smear against James Talarico in Texas; a ProPublica investigation shows how easy it is to open a private school in Arkansas; and Charlotte-Mecklenburg's first Black female police chief confronts a scandal involving her officers and racist text messages. Also, the Coffee and Art Festival returns to Tampa Bay. SHOW NOTES: The Confederacy Myth: How an Insurrection of Slaveholders Tried to Destroy the United States Connor Williams Connor Williams "MAGA's Talarico Mental Breakdown Conspiracy Implodes—Instantly" The Bulwark "New evidence debunks Talarico psych hospital rumor after 'mind-numbing malpractice' fuels firestorm" Fox News "We're Reporters, Not Teachers. We Were Able to Start Private Schools Anyway" ProPublica "Alleged racist texts uncovered in CMPD Flock investigation" Spectrum News 1 "Six CMPD officers face firing amid alleged racist text messages" WCNC "Calls grow for change after report about racist CMPD texts" Axios Charlotte NC CopWatch Tampa Bay Coffee and Art Festival CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark jmayshark@theprogressivesouth.org (865) 214-7764

  3. 12 Oct

    Ep. 65: The Moral Catastrophe of Lethal Injection

    SYNOPSIS: The botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee has once again placed the death penalty at the center of public debate. This week, we talk to University of Richmond Law Professor Corinna Barrett Lain — one of the nation's leading death penalty scholars — about the fallacies and misconceptions surrounding the allegedly "humane" use of lethal injection. We also look at why the American South is the capital of capital punishment for the developed world. Plus: Two fascinating new exhibits at the Louisiana State University Museum of Art. SHOW NOTES: Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection Corinna Barrett Lain "Christa Pike, Child Rape Victim, Faces Execution for Crime She Committed as a Teenager" Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide "Mercy for Christa" Petition "Witness to a Botched Execution" John North, WBIR-TV "Tennessee's outgoing prison chief had a history of execution missteps before Christa Pike, officials say" CNN "Executions by Region and State Since 1976" Death Penalty Information Center "What to Know: Deterrence and the Death Penalty" Death Penalty Information Center "Why does the South execute more people?" Facing South "'Bye bitch' and other Bible Belt reactions to execution news" Brad Bull, Baptist News Global "Lynching Postcards 1908" Truth in Photography LSU Museum of Art CONTACT:Jesse Mayshark jmayshark@theprogressivesouth.org (865) 214-7764

  4. 5 Oct

    Ep. 64: FEMA's Failings in North Carolina

    SYNOPSIS: In his first weeks in office in 2025, President Donald Trump visited Western North Carolina and promised to help the mountain communities still reeling from the devastation of Hurricane Helene. The help never came. This week we talk to Chris Kromm of Facing South about his investigation of the administration's failures to follow through, leaving state and local authorities mostly on their own to recover and rebuild. Kromm says it's a warning for any state or city vulnerable to climate-fueled natural disasters. Also: With the midterms a month away, we look at some of the most competitive races in Texas and Florida, as well as Southern Senate contests that could decide control of Congress. Plus: Why the Mullet Festival in Swansboro, N.C., isn't what you might think. SHOW NOTES: 2026 House Races Cook Political Report  "Republican redistricting in Texas and Florida may not turn out as Trump had hoped" ABC News  "This Texas crooner could help Democrats win Congress, one quinceañera at a time" The Washington Post  Swansboro Mullet Festival  CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark jmayshark@theprogressivesouth.org (865) 214-7764

  5. 28 Sept

    Ep. 63: Memory and Media in Alabama

    SYNOPSIS: Pulitzer-winning reporter John Archibald grew up in Alabama and has spent his career as a journalist immersed in the state's tangled and troubled past and present. In an illuminating conversation, he talks about the persistent problem of "white silence" in the face of the state's injustices — and the responsibility of journalists to face up to them, as we have so often failed to do. Also: The blowback against racist comments by Texas Republican candidate Bo French, and what it illuminates — or fails to — about the rising wave of explicit white and Christian nationalism among modern conservatives. Plus: The Decatur Book Festival returns to Georgia this weekend. SHOW NOTES: John Archibald AL.com "Dispatches From the Deep South" John Archibald "Meet the Far-Right Nepo Baby Vying to Deregulate Texas's Fossil Fuels" The New Republic "Bo French doubles down on racist post made after UT win against Ohio State" The Texas Tribune "Top Texas Republicans knew Bo French's history of racist comments. They supported him anyway." Houston Public Media "The Trump Administration Is Publishing a Stream of Nazi Propaganda" The Atlantic "How the Internet Fringe Infiltrated Republican Politics" The New Yorker Decatur Book Festival "What happened to the Decatur Book Festival?" Atlanta Magazine CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark jmayshark@theprogressivesouth.org (865) 214-7764

  6. 21 Sept

    Ep. 62: Fighting Censorship in Arkansas

    SYNOPSIS: The United States is in the midst of one of the strongest waves of censorship and book-banning in our history. And nowhere is it stronger than across the South. This week, we talk to Fayetteville librarian and First Amendment advocate Molly Quinn about the fight to preserve the right to read in Arkansas. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has politicized the state's library system, and a new law threatens criminal penalties against librarians. We also take a look at the record-breaking heat that has baked our states throughout the summer and into mid-September. Last week's highly unusual heat dome set temperature records from Dallas to Nashville, and Southerners find themselves increasingly hiding indoors during a season once celebrated for its decadent sticky days. Plus: Artville returns to Nashville, making the case that there's more to the Music City's culture than music. SHOW NOTES: Molly Quinn, the Memeing Librarian (Instagram)  Arkansas Right to Read Project  "Warmest Summer on Record for the Contiguous U.S." National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  "The Summer We Love Is Slipping Away" Grist  "Historical U.S. Electricity Rates (1990–2026)" Electric Choice  "Data Center Power Demands Are Contributing to Higher Energy Bills" Environmental and Energy Study Institute  "21 Students Hospitalized, Including 3 in Critical Condition, After Potential Bomb Threat at Tennessee Middle School" People Magazine  "Greenhouse Gas Standards and Guidelines for Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants" U.S. Environmental Protection Agency  Artville (Nashville)  "Finding Artville in Nashville" Whitehot Magazine  CONTACT:  Jesse Mayshark jmayshark@theprogressivesouth.org (865) 214-7764

  7. 14 Sept

    Ep. 61: Teaching South Carolina's Real History

    SYNOPSIS: With the teaching of American history — particularly its racial history — under assault from the Trump administration and conservative state governments across the South, the Modjeska Simkins School in South Carolina is a community-based model for carrying that work forward outside the bounds of state-controlled curriculums. This week, we talk to history professor Dr. Robert Greene, the school's lead instructor, about what it does — and how you can learn from it. Also: ICE detentions continue to soar across the South; the impact of SNAP cuts on Southern states; and Trump's misbegotten Dallas "convention." Plus, a look at this weekend's Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival. SHOW NOTES: Modjeska Simkins School  'Our New South' Podcast Deportation Data Project UC Berkeley and UCLA  TRAC Reports: Immigration "Mourning Those Who Have Died in ICE Custody" National Immigration Project  "Deaths and Health Care Issues in ICE Detention Centers Under the Second Trump Administration" KFF  "A family seeks answers about a young ICE detainee's untimely death" NBC News  "SNAP Tracker: People Are Losing Food Assistance as the Harmful 2025 Republican Reconciliation Law Is Implemented" Center on Budget and Policy Priorities  "A Plague Has Descended Upon Dallas" Lone Star Left  "Trump Show Day 1: A Poorly-Attended, Culty Snoozefest, And More" Progress Texas  "Texas Latinos Are Turning Against Republican Party" Newsweek Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival  CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark jmayshark@theprogressivesouth.org (865) 214-7764

  8. 7 Sept

    Ep. 60: The Big Tech Backlash

    SYNOPSIS: Something remarkable has happened over the past 18 months across the U.S. and especially across the South: a mounting backlash against the explosion of data centers, surveillance cameras, and so-called artificial intelligence. This week, we talk to Tim Cywinski of the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, who has been leading the fight against data centers in the state that has become their epicenter. Also: The bipartisan push to "get the Flock out," and efforts to put some guardrails around AI. And a remembrance of the beloved Kentucky writer, conservationist and farmer Wendell Berry. SHOW NOTES: Sierra Club Virginia Chapter "Unconstrained Demand: Virginia's Data Center Expansion and Its Impacts" Sierra Club Virginia Chapter  U.S. AI Law Tracker Orrick "The IJ Database of ALPR Abuse" Institute for Justice "Texas and Florida Step Back from ALPRs" Electronic Frontier Foundation "Lawmakers added $1 to Texans' car insurance policies. That money paid for thousands of Flock cameras." The Texas Tribune "Cities terminate Flock contracts at record pace in August" ArsTechnica "Data Center Moratoriums by State: Tracker and Statistics" Programs "Kentucky writer, farmer and advocate Wendell Berry dies at 92" Kentucky Lantern "The Peace of Wild Things" Wendell Berry  CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark jmayshark@theprogressivesouth.org (865) 214-7764

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About

The American South is much more than Spanish moss and plantation politics. In every city, town and rural county across the region, there are people working for a better future, continuing a centuries-long fight for real freedom, equality and opportunity. In every episode of Headlights, we bring you news, interviews and stories of people working for justice and progressive values all across the South. From community organizers to elected officials to artists and writers, business leaders and scientists, we amplify the voices of those making a difference in our Southern states.

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