white people, black music and liberation

erich huffaker
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Biweekly

we explore antiracism as liberation work, not a politics of opposition. this podcast is especially for white and white passing people, and particularly musicians, who are in relationship with Black music and culture. through reflective, question driven episodes, the show looks at how identity and cultural programming shape our understanding of race and belonging. it does not focus on correctness, performance, or saying the right thing. instead, it invites listeners to slow down, notice inherited patterns, and ask what liberation is asking of us, internally and socially. this is a space for people who want to stay in the work with curiosity, humility, and care, even when the answers are not simple. http://whitepeopleblackmusic.com/

  1. 6d ago

    recommendation: mixed: owning your multiracial story, embodied

    some part of you are can go invisible to almost everyone you meet. for most of my life i took that to mean that i didn't really fit in. this is the episode that turned me around on that. Sarah Lotus Garrett talks about owning your multiracial story in a way that cracked something open in me, and if you hold more than one identity, i think it might do the same for you. give it a listen right after mine. original show notes below: — from Embodied When Anita moved away to college, she experienced a big shift in her biracial identity. Turns out that the questions that emerged for her are ones that many mixed young adults still ponder today ...15 years later. She meets two college seniors and they talk through navigating everything from "Where do I belong?" to "How do I date?" Plus she hears wisdom from a life coach who helps mixed adults tell new stories about identity. Meet the guests: - Adiah Siler, a senior at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, explains how moving out of her small town to go to college allowed her opportunities to explore her Blackness and has influenced her journey as a mixed race person - Claire Gallagher, a senior at the University of Michigan, shares her own experiences growing up as a mixed race person and brings up some of the anxieties she's had about her identity, especially since attending a predominantly white college - Sarah Lotus Garrett, a certified life and goal fulfillment coach, emphasizes the confidence and healing that being a part of a mixed race community can bring Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on Instagram  Leave a message for Embodied Please note: This episode originally aired July 14, 2023. Updates: Adiah Siler is currently working on her MFA at the University of Iowa in the Writers’ Workshop. Dig deeper: Sarah’s program for mixed adults Claire’s piece on the fetishization of mixed race identities Adiah’s piece on being a mixed teen white people, black music, and liberation is an independent podcast exploring race, music, and what it means to move from *programming* into liberation.  . have a thought, a question, or a story of your own? reach out at whitepeopleblackmusic@gmail.com  . follow the journey at whitepeopleblackmusic.com ✶

    recommendation: mixed: owning your multiracial story, embodied

  2. Sep 16

    mixed, white-passing, and the privilege i didn't want to own

    let's say you, like me, hold multiple identities: is the white privilege conversation still relevant? for most of my life, i saw myself as Arab. even though i mostly got treated as white. my own liberation didn't happen until I finally took accountability for that. if you're mixed or white passing and you know that impulse to look away from privilege, this one is for you, habibi. white people, black music, and liberation is an independent podcast exploring race, music, and what it means to move from *programming* into liberation.  . have a thought, a question, or a story of your own? reach out at whitepeopleblackmusic@gmail.com  . follow the journey at whitepeopleblackmusic.com ✶

  3. Sep 9

    recommendation: reissued, african vinyl in the 21st century (afropop worldwide)

    this is an investigative piece on the vinyl reissue market, and it might be some of the best reporting I've heard in this space. Afropop Worldwide's Morgan Greenstreet lets label owners, DJs, and artists speak for themselves, and the nuances of the story come through because of it. I've seen artists recorded in Mali who didn't get their fair shake, and this episode sits inside that complexity instead of flattening it. if you collect African vinyl, or you care about how power and colonialism show up inside the music industry, this one's worth your time. ◇ ⋄ original show notes ⋄ — from Afropop Worldwide The golden age of vinyl records is long past in Africa, but the market for rare and reissued African vinyl outside the continent has been growing steadily since the early 2000s. DJs and collectors have turned an obsession with rare records and forgotten gems from Cape Town to Tangiers into an international reissue and compilation industry, led by record labels such as Soundway, Strut and Analog Africa. This program explores some of the complex and shifting dynamics of neocolonialism, cultural ownership and audience in the African vinyl market. We’ll hear stories from label owners, DJs and artists, touching on controversies around Nigerian disco funk reissues, new career opportunities for sometimes-obscure African artists, the unique vinyl culture in South Africa, and much more. Produced by Morgan Greenstreet and Alejandro Van Zandt-Escobar, with Nenim Iwebuke. APWW #749 white people, black music, and liberation is an independent podcast exploring race, music, and what it means to move from *programming* into liberation.  . have a thought, a question, or a story of your own? reach out at whitepeopleblackmusic@gmail.com  . follow the journey at whitepeopleblackmusic.com ✶

    recommendation: reissued, african vinyl in the 21st century (afropop worldwide)

  4. Sep 9

    recommendation (erich's intro): reissued, african vinyl in the 21st century (afropop worldwide)

    this is an investigative piece on the vinyl reissue market, and it might be some of the best reporting I've heard in this space. Afropop Worldwide's Morgan Greenstreet lets label owners, DJs, and artists speak for themselves, and the nuances of the story come through because of it. I've seen artists recorded in Mali who didn't get their fair shake, and this episode sits inside that complexity instead of flattening it. if you collect African vinyl, or you care about how power and colonialism show up inside the music industry, this one's worth your time. http://whitepeopleblackmusic.com/ white people, black music, and liberation is an independent podcast exploring race, music, and what it means to move from *programming* into liberation.  . have a thought, a question, or a story of your own? reach out at whitepeopleblackmusic@gmail.com  . follow the journey at whitepeopleblackmusic.com ✶

  5. Sep 2

    the prisoner, number one, and the racism i can't see

    the prisoner was created by and stars patrick mcgoohan. it is one of the strangest, most psychedelic, most uncompromising pieces of television ever made. and it ends with a reveal that caused a near riot in britain and sent mcgoohan into hiding in the mountains for two weeks. . the most obvious layer of racism is the external one. the structures, the history, the systems. and that layer is real and it matters. but there is another layer underneath it. the programming that was installed so early, and reinforced so consistently, that it stopped feeling like programming at all. it just feels like intuition. like just the way things are. that is the layer this episode is about. . white people, black music, and liberation is an independent podcast exploring race, music, and what it means to move from *programming* into liberation.  . have a thought, a question, or a story of your own? reach out at whitepeopleblackmusic@gmail.com  . follow the journey at whitepeopleblackmusic.com ✶

  6. Aug 26

    recommendation: hate it or love it, is DEI a distraction? (code switch, NPR)

    i went into the episode of code switch linked below as someone who always thought DEI was imperfect but necessary. i came out questioning it. guest jennifer c. penn argues that corporate DEI programs often signal virtue without changing anything real. this episode also gets into how race and class work together in ways the show doesn't always have space for. with the racial reckoning of 2020 feeling distant and white supremacy getting louder, this feels like exactly the right time to ask whether our tools are working. Hate it or love it, is DEI a distraction? (Code Switch, NPR) white people, black music, and liberation is an independent podcast exploring race, music, and what it means to move from *programming* into liberation.  . have a thought, a question, or a story of your own? reach out at whitepeopleblackmusic@gmail.com  . follow the journey at whitepeopleblackmusic.com ✶

  7. Aug 26

    recommendation: hate it or love it, is DEI a distraction?, code switch

    original show notes: — from Code Switch The Trump administration has been very candid about their disdain for all things DEI. But it's not just conservatives who have critiques. On this episode, we're talking to Jennifer C. Pan, author of Selling Social Justice: Why the Rich Love Antiracism, about why she thinks people on the left should be skeptical of DEI programs as well. We get into how DEI programs are frequently used as a tool for large corporations to assert their moral authority — without actually sacrificing their bottom line, or improving conditions for workers writ large. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy white people, black music, and liberation is an independent podcast exploring race, music, and what it means to move from *programming* into liberation.  . have a thought, a question, or a story of your own? reach out at whitepeopleblackmusic@gmail.com  . follow the journey at whitepeopleblackmusic.com ✶

    recommendation: hate it or love it, is DEI a distraction?, code switch

  8. Aug 19

    apu, hank azaria, and hari kondabolu: who gets to impersonate who

    apu is a lovable, funny cartoon character from the simpsons, voiced by hank azaria. he also happens to be voiced by a white guy doing an impression of another white guy’s brownface impression of an indian man. Indian-american hari kondabolu grows up haunted by Apu. he makes a documentary about it, spending years trying to get hank azaria to sit down with him, to talk about the impact apu has had on him. azaria says no. six years later, they finally talk. on the record. and what gets said is more interesting than either man coming out looking good or bad. it’s about who gets to choose how they’re seen, and who never gets that choice at all. as always, this one is personal, too. i have my own version of apu, and i still don’t have a clean answer for what to do with it. links from this episode: the problem with apuNPR code switch: the fallout of a calloutman enough: hank azaria's journey to radical accountabilityunpacking the invisible knapsack by peggy mcintoshsoul focused grouphuman solidarity project white people, black music, and liberation is an independent podcast exploring race, music, and what it means to move from *programming* into liberation.  . have a thought, a question, or a story of your own? reach out at whitepeopleblackmusic@gmail.com  . follow the journey at whitepeopleblackmusic.com ✶

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About

we explore antiracism as liberation work, not a politics of opposition. this podcast is especially for white and white passing people, and particularly musicians, who are in relationship with Black music and culture. through reflective, question driven episodes, the show looks at how identity and cultural programming shape our understanding of race and belonging. it does not focus on correctness, performance, or saying the right thing. instead, it invites listeners to slow down, notice inherited patterns, and ask what liberation is asking of us, internally and socially. this is a space for people who want to stay in the work with curiosity, humility, and care, even when the answers are not simple. http://whitepeopleblackmusic.com/

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