NC Community Members Reflect On Their History With Policing And Protests

By Stacia Brown,

Published June 3, 2020 at 11:45 AM EDT

As protests against police brutality, harassment and discrimination continue across the state, community leaders and citizens are taking time to reflect on their own experiences with law enforcement and the country’s long history of racial disparity in policing.

They are also looking ahead and contemplating the future of policing and public safety. Chris Suggs, founder of Kinston Teens, discusses the protest youth organizers planned in Kinston on June 1, their demands for police accountability and the community pushback the protest received.

Host Frank Stasio talks to Adriane Lentz-Smith, associate professor of history and African and African American studies at Duke University; Toska Cooper, member of the Carolina Black Caucus; and Nia Wilson, executive director of SpiritHouse.

Tags

Stacia Brown

Stacia L. Brown is a writer and audio storyteller who has worked in public media since 2016, when she partnered with the Association of Independents in Radio and Baltimore's WEAA 88.9 to create The Rise of Charm City, a narrative podcast that centered community oral histories. She has worked for WAMU’s daily news radio program, 1A, as well as WUNC’s The State of Things. Stacia was a producer for WUNC's award-winning series, Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon and a co-creator of the station's first children's literacy podcast, The Story Stables. She served as a senior producer for two Ten Percent Happier podcasts, Childproof and More Than a Feeling. In early 2023, she was interim executive producer for WNYC’s The Takeaway.

See stories by Stacia Brown

Frank Stasio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.

See stories by Frank Stasio