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#BackChannel: Kaepernick’s Future, Meditations On Mothering Black Sons, And The Apollo Theater

WUNC News | By Frank Stasio,
Anita Rao
Published November 26, 2019 at 11:50 AM EST

During the 2016 NFL season, Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the pregame national anthem to take a stand against police brutality and racial inequality. His actions set off a heated debate, and as the NFL made their position about athlete protest more clear, Kaepernick’s future with the league got increasingly murky. 

Fast forward to today, and it has been more than two seasons since an NFL team signed the former 49ers quarterback. Popular culture experts Natalie Bullock Brown and Mark Anthony Neal join host Frank Stasio to break down the latest chapter in the story — a derailed workout event — and analyze what it means about the power and peril of being a black athlete. Host Frank Stasio is joined by Natalie Bullock Brown, filmmaker and teaching assistant professor at North Carolina State University and Mark Anthony Neal, the James B. Duke Professor and chair of the department of African and African American studies at Duke University, for this edition of #BackChannel.

They also dig into the details of the NCAA’s new policy on permitting college athletes to profit from the use of their name, image and likeness. They then review two new artistic meditations on mothering black sons: the book “Breathe: A Letter To My Sons” (Beacon Press/2019) from scholar and writer Imani Perry and “American Son,” a film starring Kerry Washington that is based on a Broadway play of the same name written by Christopher Demos-Brown. The pop culture experts also reflect on the artistic footprint of New York City’s Apollo Theater as portrayed in the new HBO documentary “The Apollo.” 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMaRihRY19g

And they critique two new movies: “Harriet” starring Cynthia Erivo, which traces the life and legacy of abolitionist Harriet Tubman and “Burning Cane,” an award-winning film by 19-year-old director Phillip Youmans that captured the attention of Ava Duvernay and is now streaming on Netflix. Natalie Bullock Brown is a filmmaker and teaching assistant professor at North Carolina State University. Mark Anthony Neal is the James B. Duke Professor and chair of the department of African and African American studies at Duke University.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04krY7dl3cE

The Apollo marquee outside the historic theater in Harlem. A new HBO documentary traces the theater from its inception to today.
HBO /
The Apollo marquee outside the historic theater in Harlem. A new HBO documentary traces the theater from its inception to today.
Actors Steven Pasquale and Kerry Washington in the new Netflix movie 'American Son' based on a Broadway play of the same name.
David Lee/Netflix /
Actors Steven Pasquale and Kerry Washington in the new Netflix movie 'American Son' based on a Broadway play of the same name.
Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman in the new feature film 'Harriet.'
Focus Features /
Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman in the new feature film 'Harriet.'

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