Summary: <p>The Brian Lehrer Show observes the Independence Day holiday with these recent interviews:</p> <ul> Ibram X. Kendi, professor in the humanities and the founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, columnist at <em>The Atlantic</em>, and Keisha Blain, University of Pittsburgh historian and president of the African American Intellectual History Society, talk about this moment in Black history and their new collection of 80 writers' and 10 poets' take on the American story, <em>Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019</em> (One World, 2021). Told five years at a time, the book documents the history of Black people across this country's 400-year history. Census data revealed in April that Puerto Rico lost almost 12% of its population since the last count. Alana Casanova-Burgess, host of WNYC and Futuro Studio's La Brega and producer for WNYC Studios, talks about the conditions that led to so many people leaving the island, and listeners who moved to the mainland call in to talk about why they did and where they went. David Schleifer, director of research at Public Agenda, a nonpartisan public opinion research organization, and Gerard Robinson, <em>USA Today</em> opinion contributor, AEI scholar and a former secretary of education in Virginia and former Florida education commissioner, talk about the latest report on America's "Hidden Common Ground" and what issues research shows run counter to narratives of "bubbles" and separate realities. Gregory Jost, adjunct professor of sociology at Fordham University; a researcher, facilitator, and organizer with expertise on the history of redlining and the Bronx; and a consultant with the Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association — and Wanda Salaman, a longtime activist and the executive director of Mothers on the Move, a member-led community organization that advocates for the well-being of low-income people of color in the South Bronx, offer a historical and sociological overview of a neighborhood in the Bronx that has become the epicenter of the economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic in New York City, West Farms, zip code: 10460. </ul> <p>These interviews were edited slightly for time, the original versions are available here: </p> <p><a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/community-history-black-americans/">A 'Community History' of Black America</a> (February 3, 2021)</p> <p><a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/what-census-revealed-about-puerto-rico">What the Census Revealed About Puerto Rico</a> (April 30, 2021)</p> <p><a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/finding-common-ground/">Finding Common Ground</a> (May 19, 2021)</p> <p><a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/west-farms-10460-overview/">West Farms 10460: An Overview</a> (February 4, 2021)</p>
