Kai Wright is host and managing editor of The Stakes, a podcast about social change, produced by the Narrative Unit of WNYC’s newsroom.
He was also the host of the podcasts The United States of Anxiety, Caught, and There Goes the Neighborhood, as well as a co-host of Indivisible, a live national call-in show that WNYC convened during the Trump administration’s first 100 days.
Kai’s journalism has focused on social justice throughout his career. He is a columnist and former editor for The Nation, as well as the former editorial director of Colorlines. As a fellow of Type Investigations, he covered economic inequality, access to healthcare, and racial inequity for years. Kai is the author of Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York.
Shows:
Kai Wright appears in the following:
A History of Persuasion: Part 3
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Silicon Valley’s “millionaire maker” is a behavioral scientist who harnessed the power of persuasion in a booming tech industry. But it might not be too big to rein in.
A History of Persuasion: Part 2
Thursday, August 08, 2019
Ted Kaczynski had been a boy genius. James McConnell’s ideas about psychology sparked almost as much anxiety as Facebook does today. Here’s how their paths crossed.
A History of Persuasion: Part 1
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
A once-famous psychologist... and how the Unabomber tried to kill him. It's the first episode in our three-part series examining the science of persuasion, technology, and its backlash.
The Invention of 'Sexual Harassment'
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
A group of women in upstate New York forced a new idea into the mainstream at the end of the 1970s. Their story offers a playbook for social change--and its limitations.
Editing Thomas Jefferson
Tuesday, July 02, 2019
The nation's founders didn't want to deal with American society's fundamental contradictions. So they just wrote around it.
Gerrymandering in 2010 Set the Stage for This Year's Anti-Abortion Laws
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
How are abortion clinics in anti-abortion states faring under the legislative burdens? How are providers doing with their neighbors? And how did we get here?
The Abortion Clinic That Won't Go Quietly
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
A broken democracy. A Supreme Court showdown. And a group of Alabama women who continue to provide care despite it all.
Stonewall and The Stakes
Friday, June 14, 2019
WNYC's Kai Wright talks about his upcoming call-in specials, part of the station's "The Sound of Pride" programming, and the most recent episode of The Stakes.
Why the Stonewall Uprising Happened
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
What the Stonewall Uprising means today.
We’re Here. We’re Fluid. Get Used To It.
Tuesday, June 04, 2019
For Stonewall’s 50th anniversary, an intergenerational queer conversation with a gender fluid, pansexual 21-year-old who takes us through her online and IRL world.
Who Killed Conscious Rap? Find Out on 'The Stakes'
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Over on the new WNYC podcast The Stakes, Christopher M. Johnson joins host Kai Wright to investigate the origins of conscious rap... and who killed it.
To Be Young, Conscious and Rap
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Hip hop schooled a generation to be unapologetically black and proud, until commercialism changed the rap game.
Giving Birth While Black
Tuesday, May 07, 2019
Black women and their babies are dying at shockingly high rates during and after child birth. One big reason is the implicit bias of doctors. So what do we do about it?
A Conversation with Eric Holder, Jr.
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Former Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. told us that Dr. King’s long arc of the moral universe only bends towards justice when people put their hands on it and pull it.
'The Stakes' A New Podcast about Social Change
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
WNYC host Kai Wright kicks off "The Stakes" podcast with former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
How Is Lead Still A Problem?
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
A new podcast looks at the problems (and solutions) we face today. First up: lead paint.
The People vs. Dutch Boy Lead
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
What do a handful of baby teeth, a creepy cartoon character and The Young Lords have in common? This is the story of one of our worst public health epidemics.
The System is Broken. But That Means We Can Fix it.
Wednesday, April 03, 2019
Coming up on The Stakes podcast, host Kai Wright and team identify what's not working about our society and imagine ways to do it better.
Kirsten Gillibrand's Path to Power
Thursday, November 15, 2018
As we head towards 2020, what can Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's rise within the Democratic Party tell us about the relationship between gender and power in American politics?
