Pews are empty as church membership declines. Reports say our grandmother's religion doesn’t resonate with our generation. Antonio reconnects with his college pastor, Bishop L. Spenser Smith, to discuss the relevance of the Black church in our community and political process. The candor leads to a long overdue and personal conversation, exploring the politics of Black Jesus and Antonio’s sexuality.

The bible was created by men for men, positioning the role of women in the gospel secondary throughout scripture. In the culminating episode in this series, we depict God as a Black woman made in the image of her creator. Our guest, Rev Yolanda Norton tells us the unfiltered truth about who exactly God is, overcoming the political jockeying to bring God to our side. This is one God, one fight, and one salvation, and she shows us all how to move in that holy direction.

It might be considered one of the more idyllic, utopian, and enlightened settings in America: a white liberal church. Female ministers, social justice ministries, and diverse churchgoers are symbols of racial progress—yet, they have in many cases opted out of the real fight for equality. In this episode, we meet Amy and Debbie as they walk into this church. The mission is to do white work starting with the clergy, to tell those who think they are doing the work that they really aren’t making a difference. How will they respond? Will they step up, or back down?

James’ life is changing rapidly. His white community is choosing to opt out of neighborhood schools, leaving families without the means to navigate the gaps. He wife is expecting their first child soon, and they want to parent in an anti-racist way. He’s an assistant principal at a low-income school that disproportionately suspends boys of color.Our second episode in our series, White Work, is centered around James—a common white man—who now has to engage with his white peers to understand the truths of their community and find solutions where they see there are none. This episode is about a white man, who could easily be your neighbor, your boss, or your landlord, confronting his role in society, both as a man of authority and as a father, to undo the generations of pain imposed on black folks to this day. 

This is a story of a man finding what it means to do his White Work.

While onboarding for a new role, Taylor discovers his school district set lower academic targets for Black students than their white peers. He now wants to take steps to address this disparity but doesn’t know to get started. In Part 3 of our series White Work, we’re examining whiteness through the lens of Taylor’s experience: a white educator whose racial epiphanies are coming through a very professional context. As he comes face to face with standards, mindsets, and a web of biases, he talks with our guest host, Laura, about moving from a reactive to proactive place in his whiteness and his White Work.

Edgardo pulled into his driveway after a routine day on the job, and he noticed police in the driveway. He was detained and appeared before a judge before being deported. In part one of Across The Border we met Edgardo in Mexico City, a man who was separated from his family and life in America and dumped into the immigration morass, and now has to navigate the criminal justice system and a new life in a homeland that is all but foreign to him now. We also met Maggie, the director of the Poucha house, who talked with us about her mission to help deportees land with the dignity and support they need to survive. Through both of these stories, we learned that there are so many factors defeating people, from government malfeasance to language barriers, criminalization, and even corruption.

The gloom and doom at the center of immigration and the life-threatening havoc immigrants face are outstanding and frightening. Luis vows to advocate for and educate people, governments, and other stakeholders on the dangers of immigration. As we begin Part 2, Luis walks us through the devastation of border-crossing at the Arizona-Mexico boundary. What we find as he takes us through what people endure is heart-breaking: deaths in the hundreds, desperation, and devastation. For Luis, who sees immigration as a national issue that existed both before and during the Trump administration, he looks at how his role as an educator needs to be more than that when it comes to this issue. In times of crisis, families don’t just need education, they need and deserve protection. More importantly, we hear from LaLo, who puts all of this into perspective by helping us moving beyond policy into a moral question of our existence: who decides where our home is?