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#BackChannel: A Black Billionaire & Queen Latifah Pay It Forward, Rihanna’s Empire, And Wu-Tang Clan

WUNC News | By Frank Stasio,
Anita Rao
Published May 30, 2019 at 11:38 AM EDT

The richest black man in America pledged to pay off the student debt for all 2019 graduates of Morehouse College. Billionaire Robert F. Smith shared the news in a commencement speech at the historically black men's college earlier this month. His approximately $40 million gift has renewed the public conversation about America’s student debt crisis, which disproportionately impacts black students.

  Host Frank Stasio talks with popular culture experts Mark Anthony Neal and Natalie Bullock Brown for the latest installment of #BackChannel.

Can philanthropy be a substitute for public policy?Popular culture experts Mark Anthony Neal and Natalie Bullock Brown take on that question with host Frank Stasio in the latest installment of #BackChannel, The State of Things’ recurring series connecting culture and context. They also discuss thenew Netflix political documentary “Knock Down The House”which follows four progressive women who challenged incumbent Democrats in the 2018 election, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wGZc8ZjFY4

They review “See You Yesterday,” a Netflix time-travel flick from director Stefon Bristol and producer Spike Lee which features two Brooklyn teenagers hoping to prevent a police shooting. And they share their critique of “Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics & Men,” a four-part Showtime docuseries from Sacha Jenkins about the iconic group.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHFxvsqMZMg

 

Plus, how well do Norman Lear’s shows “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons” hold up in 2019? ABC tested it out with a one-night live special hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. Bullock Brown and Neal share their take on that and Rihanna’s new Fenty fashion line, which makes her the first black woman at the helm of a luxury fashion house. The two popular culture experts also preview Queen Latifah’s new project “The Queen Collective” which aims to help women of color filmmakers get off the ground.Natalie Bullock Brown is a filmmaker and teaching assistant professor at North Carolina State University, and Mark Anthony Neal is the James B. Duke professor and chair of the department of African and African American studies at Duke University in Durham. 

Director Stefon Bristol on set during the filming of his new Netflix movie 'See You Yesterday,' a time-travel flick set in Brooklyn.
Cara Howe / Courtesy of Netflix
Director Stefon Bristol on set during the filming of his new Netflix movie 'See You Yesterday,' a time-travel flick set in Brooklyn.
Members of the Wu-Tang Clan whose music and story is featured in the new four-part Showtime docuseries 'Of Mics & Men.'
Courtesy of Showtime /
Members of the Wu-Tang Clan whose music and story is featured in the new four-part Showtime docuseries 'Of Mics & Men.'

Copyright 2019 North Carolina Public Radio
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
Anita Rao
Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
See stories by Anita Rao