Intro from Jay Allison: Chenjerai took our Transom Traveling Workshop on Catalina and suddenly had to reckon with his own voice, his own identity, in the role of a public radio reporter. In his manifesto, Chenjerai confronts this question of how we sound, how we want ourselves to sound, and what’s permitted. I remember Tavis Smiley once saying, “Public radio wants me to be black, but not TOO black.” Chenjerai tackles that issue straight on— reading copy in various versions of his “self”—and examining the sound of public media, on the air and in the podcast world. These are key questions for public radio and it’s good to have them right out on the table.
Download “Chenjerai Kumanyika” Manifesto (PDF)
This summer during the Transom Traveling Workshop on Catalina workshop, I produced my first public radio piece. While writing my script, I was suddenly gripped with a deep fear about my ability to narrate my piece. As I read the script back to myself while…
