Kai Wright is host and managing editor of Notes From America with Kai Wright. The show airs live on public radio stations nationally, Sundays at 6p eastern.
The Atlantic hailed the show as one of the “The Best Podcasts of 2018,” declaring that it “has always been able to swiftly explain current events through the lens of the past.”
In addition, Wright has been the host of a number of WNYC Studios’ limited edition podcasts with social justice themes. He is host, most recently, of Blindspot Season 3: The Plague in the Shadows, which documents the early years of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. He was also host of The Stakes, There Goes the Neighborhood, and Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice, which was honored with an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. He also served as one of the hosts of Indivisible, a national live radio call-in show that WNYC convened during the first 100 days of the Trump Administration to invite Americans to come together across divides.
Wright’s journalism has focused on social, racial, and economic justice throughout his career. Formerly, he was an editor at The Nation, the editorial director of Colorlines, and an investigative reporting fellow of Type Media Center. Wright is the author of Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York, as well as two surveys of Black American history, and a contributor to the best-selling collection Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America.
Shows:
Kai Wright appears in the following:
Monday, April 15, 2024
The comedian breaks down how her long career writing and performing as a Black woman prepared her for her new venture: bringing the Black cult-classic, "The Wiz," back to Broadway.
Monday, April 08, 2024
New poll says if the presidential election was held today, 23 percent of Black voters would cast their ballot for Trump.
Monday, April 01, 2024
The Egyptian American satirist struggles to separate his comedy from the war in Gaza during a worldwide tour.
Monday, March 25, 2024
David Alan Grier is reaching new audiences more than four decades after his first star turn on Broadway.
Monday, March 18, 2024
More than 100,000 people voted “uncommitted” in Michagan’s democratic primary, a trend that’s only growing.
Friday, March 15, 2024
How one woman refused to accept the status quo and helped save the lives of thousands of people in her neighborhood.
Monday, March 11, 2024
"The Color Purple" actor discusses her rise to fame and carrying on the legacy of "The Color Purple" at the 96th Academy Awards.
Friday, March 08, 2024
Why it took the Black community so long to respond to the AIDS crisis.
Monday, March 04, 2024
Three reporters in El Paso, New York City and Chicago explain the nuances and realities of migration in America today.
Friday, March 01, 2024
If the problem of HIV and AIDS were still primarily a medical one, it’d be over. So why is the disease still spreading and what can be done about it?
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Where institutions failed at the onset of the AIDS epidemic, individuals led with love to respond in their communities. What did that look like and what can we learn from the experience?
Friday, February 23, 2024
Actor Danielle Brooks pays homage to her beloved character from “The Color Purple,” Sofia.
Monday, February 19, 2024
Brown University student Hisham Awartani is processing his injuries, and the trauma of his community back home in the West Bank.
Friday, February 16, 2024
The story of how a group of women changed the very definition of AIDS.
Monday, February 12, 2024
For Valentine’s Day, we hear your love stories about dating across racial and cultural differences…and what you’ve learned about yourself in these relationships.
Monday, February 12, 2024
How communities of color struggled with, and eventually reckoned with the HIV and AIDS crisis.
Friday, February 09, 2024
Stories From Harlem Hospital’s pediatric AIDS ward.
Monday, February 05, 2024
Notes From America kicks off a series of conversations leading up to the 2024 presidential election. First up: conservatives who do not support Donald Trump or the MAGA movement.
Friday, February 02, 2024
The dawn of HIV and AIDS.
Monday, January 29, 2024
Madness, by Antonia Hylton, documents how systemic racism has shaped mental health treatment for Black Americans throughout history.