Podcast
A Race To Know
Source:
NPR: Throughline
April 1, 2020
Category:
Politics
For nearly as long as there has been a United States there has been a census, it is in some ways how we know ourselves. And in every single census there has been at least one question about race. The evolution of these questions and the fight over asking them is at the heart of the American story. This week, how race has played a central role in who is counted-in America. (NPR)
Isaiah's Description:
The 3/5 rule. The One Drop Rule. The way people are counted in this country has a racial and discriminatory history. Every decade, when the time for another census comes around, we revisit arguments of its history, present, and future. This Throughline podcast dives into that history and sheds light on how the census' discriminatory past shaped America and how it looks to shape its future.
This a good listen to build an understanding of the history of institutional racism. Some of the concepts visited in this podcast serve as foundational blocks in other institutions such as education, healthcare, and housing.