Created Equal

Today on "Created Equal," we share highlights from this week's episodes, including the rediscovering of Indigenous American history; voting rights; Michigan's political maps and more

Michigan’s legislative maps have been drawn, and re-drawn, several times by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission in the last year. The commission is redrawing the districts to comply with an order from the federal court in late 2023, which found the maps violated the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. Ben Solis joins Stephen Henderson on "Created Equal" to break down where the process is at and discuss the challenges of drawing fair and representative political maps.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, founding director of the Pediatric Public Health Initiative, and Luke Shaefer, director of University of Michigan's Poverty Solutions initiative, are raising funds for a program that aims to do something that has never been tried before in the U.S.: end childhood poverty. The new program, Rx Kids, will provide every pregnant mother in Flint cash payments during pregnancy and throughout the child’s first year of life. Hanna-Attisha and Shaefer join the show to discuss the origins of their approach, why they think this method will make a difference, and how they plan to sustain the program.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this past week on Donald Trump’s eligibility to be on the 2024 presidential ballot in Colorado. The 14th amendment prevents someone who participated in an insurrection from running for president. But, could removing Trump from the ballot in Colorado set a precedent that deprives voters of their choices, now and in the future? Richard Primus joins Stephen Henderson to discuss the implications of the Supreme Court’s pending ruling.

The history of the United States is intertwined with the history of Native Americans, but it’s not always told that way. On this episode, Stephen talks with Yale history professor and native Detroiter Ned Blackhawk about how his latest book, “The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History,” takes a different approach.

We share highlights from this week's "Created Equal" episodes, including reparations for Black Detroiters, white rage in America and more.

Detroit historian and author Ken Coleman joins "Created Equal" to discuss what local efforts are being made in Detroit on reparations for Black residents. Plus, it's the first episode featuring caller feedback.

Stephen Henderson revisits a conversation with Carol Anderson, the author of the New York Times bestseller, "White Rage: The unspoken truth of our nation’s divide."

Many cities across the U.S. are exploring the idea of reparations, and Detroit is one of them. The city created the Detroit Reparations Task Force in February 2023 to better address historical discrimination and harm done against Black Detroiters. In this episode of "Created Equal," host Stephen Henderson was joined by two steering committee members of The African American Redress Network — an organization that provides reparations education and advocacy on the local level — to discuss what reparations might look like in Detroit.

On the inaugural episode of "Created Equal," host Stephen Henderson sat down with Jamon Jordan, Detroit’s official historian, and Desiree Cooper, a writer and activist, whose work helps explain the impacts of inequality — both locally and nationally. 

Psychologist and author of “Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria?” Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum discusses her groundbreaking 1997 book with Henderson in the context of this moment of cultural and racial reckoning. They talk about how young people internalize race, systemic racism through suburban communities and the importance of cross racial friendships.

Award-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa talks about immigrating to America, growing up in Chicago, and the process of writing about past trauma.

Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. is chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University and the author of the new book “Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own.” He and Stephen Henderson discuss “the efficiency of American exceptionalism as an ideology.”

Award-winning poet and activist Caroline Randall Williams talks with Stephen Henderson about her work and what gives her hope during this dark time in American history.

Writing Professor and Author Jerald Walker discusses his poignant collection of essays called “How To Make A Slave," which is a finalist for a National Book Award. In the book, Walker reflects on growing up on Chicago's Southside, what it means to depict Black American life with authenticity and what he hopes to teach his children about the complex joy of the African-American experience.

JM Holmes, author of the collection of short stories How Are You Going to Save Yourself, talks with Stephen Henderson about the roles of race and gender in his writing.

NPR’s first full-time TV critic, Eric Deggans, joins Stephen Henderson to discuss how prejudice, racism and sexism fuels some elements of modern media.

Stephen Henderson and Harriet Washington, winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction discuss environmental racism and her book, A Terrible Thing to Waste.

Sojourners founder Jim Wallis, author of America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America discusses what it means to be a white ally in 2020 with Stephen Henderson.

Stephen Henderson talks with Sarah M. Broom, author of The Yellow House, and discusses the roles of ritual and home for African Americans as told in her New York Times best-selling book which won the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction.