Labor Day weekend is around the corner, which means there’s finally time to binge that big series you’ve been holding off on, or you are looking for a new one to dive into. Well, you’re in luck: NPR’s Embeddedjust released our latest audio documentary series that I had the privilege to help produce. In collaboration with the Seattle Times and KUOW, We Keep Us Safe is part true crime, part deep dive into how hard it is to enact change in our current political landscape and the price one life paid for trying.
Antonio Mays Jr., a Black teenager from Southern California, ran away from home during the 2020 George Floyd protests to join a group of Seattle protesters who were doing something unlike anything else in the country. This group had set up an encampment around an embattled police precinct and created a “cop-free” zone called the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP).
Folks in CHOP believed they were creating a better kind of society. They had their own medical staff, private armed security and most importantly: no police violence. But just a week after arriving, Antonio was shot and killed inside this zone. His death has never been solved.
Six years later, hosts Sydney Brownstone of the Seattle Times and Will James of KUOW, together with Seattle Times reporter David Gutman, try to unravel the mystery around Antonio Mays’ killing. Sydney asks,
“How did something so hopeful, a protest for Black lives, end up turning into this circle of silence surrounding the killing of a Black teenager?”
For me, producing the series was an eye-opening example of how, despite how idealistic a movement can be, what ends up happening is something uniquely, and tragically, American.
🔎 Dan
P.S. You can listen to the first episode of Embedded: We Keep Us Safehere and read the series page (which includes new evidence uncovered in the investigation) here. Thanks for listening!
The week’s best episodes
…for one last road trip before summer ends
🏝️ Desert islands in Hawaii The Sunday Story from Up Firstis my favorite place to go when I need a break from all the headlines. In its latest episode, climate correspondent Lauren Sommer travels to an uninhabited island chain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where journalists are rarely granted access. We learn about its currently protected coral reef and why the ecosystem is in the crosshairs of the Trump Administration.
🏄 Hanging 10 in the Lone Star State
The Gulf Coast is something I know very little about. Did you know it’s longer than the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington combined? Sea Changefrom WWNO in New Orleans sheds light on America’s Southern Sea. In a recent episode, they get absolutely pitted with a Texan surfer and former plastics engineer trying to protect the waves he loves from the industry he once was a part of.
🌊 What’s so Great about the Great Lakes
Michigan Public’s Beyond the Shoretakes us on a journey across one of the largest bodies of freshwater in the world, the Great Lakes. The whole series is fascinating, but my favorite episode paddles out to a ship graveyard just off the coast of Michigan in Lake Huron.
🌤️ The dog days of summer
Like the sweltering slog of August, the popularity of “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence + The Machine was a slow-burn. First released in 2008, the now-hit song didn’t exactly make a splash. NPR Music tracks how the groupkept their heads down and slowly built themselves up from an obscure indie band to one of the biggest rock groups in the 21st century. To get access to this bonus episode — and sponsor-free listening — sign up for NPR+.
One to Watch
Have you noticed more negative comments on designer brand shopping hauls on TikTok? What about more cultural backlash against online trends like the “trad wife” movement? Ira Madison III has, and he stopped byIt’s Been a Minute to talk with Brittany Luse about the decline of influencer culture and ask: what’s the next influencer trend?
@nprpodcasts/YouTube
Who do you know that LOVES podcasts? Forward them this email, as a treat! Sign up here.
Got something on your mind? We'd love to hear from you: podclub@npr.org
NPR has so! many! great! newsletters! Politics, culture, identity... we've got you covered.
You received this message because you're subscribed to Pod Club emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002
