The Promise
A Peabody Award-winning series from Nashville Public Radio about inequality and the people trying to rise above it. Hosted by Meribah Knight, Season 1 tells the story of Nashville's largest public housing complex in a city on the rise. Season 2 explores how that divide reveals itself in the classroom, focusing on two schools in the same neighborhood—one black and poor, the other white and well-off.
Episodes
The Debt: What Tennessee Owes Its HBCU
In this one-hour special from WPLN and the Tennessee Lookout: What happens when government funding is withheld from a public university that's served generations of Black Tennesseans? And what could be possible if that debt were finally paid?Credits:This story was co-reported and co-produced by Camellia Burris and Emily Siner. Story editing by Meribah Knight and Miriam Kramer. Additional
Listen: The Country In Our Hearts
Episode 1 of WPLN’s new series “The Country In Our Hearts” is out now! We travel from a market in South Nashville to the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan to discover what happened on one terrible, pivotal day in 1988.
WPLN News & NPR's Embedded present: "Supermajority"
Supermajority is a new podcast from NPR’s Embedded, in partnership with WPLN News, exploring what happens when one political party has near-complete control. In this four-episode series, hosted by Meribah Knight, we follow the story of three conservative women challenging their own party.As Americans focus on national politics this election year, NPR's Embedded takes an up-close look at o
Preview: "Making Noise" from WPLN and WNXP
"Making Noise" is a four-part series by WPLN and WNXP about how the music promotion company Lovenoise has changed the music landscape of Nashville. The best way to listen is to subscribe to the WNXP Podcasts feed.
Bonus: How one police chief struggled to change the system
Karl Durr arrived in Rutherford County from Eugene, Oregon, in spring of 2016. He had been hired as the new police chief of Murfreesboro, the county’s largest city.
As an outsider, there was a chance he would shake some things up.
But less than two weeks after he started, while he was still furnishing his office and learning people’s names, officers from his department arrested 11 Black
Dedicated Public Servants | The Kids of Rutherford County
The lawyers settle with the County, which agrees to pay the kids who were wrongfully arrested and illegally jailed; the hard part is getting the kids paid.
Credits: “The Kids of Rutherford County” is a production of Serial, The New York Times, ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio. It was written and reported by Meribah Knight with additional reporting from Ken Armstrong at ProPublica.
Bonus: Rutherford County is not alone. This youth detention center superintendent in Knoxville illegally locks kids alone in cells.
The Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center has been punishing kids with seclusion more than any other facility in Tennessee. And as the laws and rules on how to treat kids changed, the facility failed to keep up.
Bonus: Behind the music of The Kids of Rutherford County
“Minimalist classic country with maximalist tendencies.” That’s one way to describe the musical scoring of The Kids of Rutherford County.In this bonus conversation, Nashville Public Radio’s Meribah Knight and Celia Gregory talk about the multi-instrumental composing work of The Blasting Company.
Would You Like to Sue the Government? | The Kids of Rutherford County
Wes Clark reads a telling line in a police report about how Rutherford County’s juvenile justice system really works. He and his law partner Mark Downton realize they have a massive class action on their hands.
Credits: “The Kids of Rutherford County” is a production of Serial, The New York Times, ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio. It was written and reported by Meribah Knight with a
What the Hell Are You People Doing? | The Kids of Rutherford County
A young lawyer named Wes Clark can’t get the Rutherford County juvenile court to let his clients out of detention—even when the law says they shouldn’t have been held in the first place.
He’s frustrated and demoralized, until he makes a friend.
Credits: “The Kids of Rutherford County” is a production of Serial, The New York Times, ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio. It was written a
Bonus: Locked up and treated ‘like I’m a dog'
Quinterrius Frazier was 15 years old when he was arrested for aggravated robbery and held in the Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center. When staff said he was being disruptive — flashing gang signs and rapping, they claimed — he was placed in solitary confinement. It’s been almost seven years now, and Quinterrius still feels the effects of being locked up in a cell for 23 hours a d
The Egregious Video | The Kids of Rutherford County
A police officer in Rutherford County, Tennessee, sees a video of little kids fighting, and decides to investigate. This leads to the arrest of 11 kids for watching the fight. The arrests do not go smoothly.
Credits: “The Kids of Rutherford County” is a production of Serial, The New York Times, ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio. It was written and reported by Meribah Knight with add
Coming Soon: The Kids of Rutherford County
A juvenile court in Rutherford County was wrongly arresting and illegally jailing kids for more than a decade before a former juvenile delinquent-turned-lawyer came up with a plan to take it on. This four-part narrative podcast builds on a joint investigation by WPLN Nashville Public Radio and ProPublica and is produced by The New York Times and Serial Productions.“The Kids of Rutherford
Coming Soon: Behind The Blue Wall
In this series, we're going to tell you about what's been described as a toxic culture of misconduct and retaliation within the Metro Nashville Police Department. And the disciplinary system that has allowed that culture to thrive.
The Final Exam
It’s February 2020, and Warner Elementary’s star is rising. It’s showing so much progress this year that it might be able to go from one of the lowest performing schools in Tennessee to one of the best. Now it’s just time to hunker down and work until the big state test at the end of the year.
But we all know what happens next. First, a natural disaster in Nashville. Then, a global pa
The Recruitment Divide
There was a time when the decision of where to send your child to school was relatively simple: public or private. Now, in Nashville and many other cities, those choices have multiplied exponentially.
In large part, it's because of white families — a way to keep them in the public system, but on their own terms. But with so many choices at play, things have gotten messy. Judgement is
A Reckoning
Last fall, parents from Lockeland Elementary held a community meeting to talk about the elephant in the room: Despite the diversity of the neighborhood, their school was the whitest school in the entire district.
Some white parents in the neighborhood simply didn’t see any problem. Others did and wanted the district to find a solution that would bring more children of color to their scho
Warner's Hope
Warner Elementary is about to take its moon shot. After landing on the state’s list of lowest-performing schools, it’s aiming to make the list of highest-performing schools. Finally, it has all the right tools: an infusion of federal grant money, an energetic and experienced principal, and new class offerings that set the school apart.
But the real turnaround will only work if more stud
What You Can't Unsee
When Willie Sims’ daughter started kindergarten at a high-performing elementary school in East Nashville, all seemed well at first. His daughter loved her teacher. She was making friends. But then Willie realized: In a neighborhood with tons of Black families, his daughter was the only Black child in the entire grade.
Then he started hearing murmurings from other families, white families
The Unraveling
After 43 years of courtroom battles, Nashville's landmark school desegregation lawsuit was settled. In the eyes of the law, the city finally made an honest effort to racially integrate its schools. But in truth, the matter was far from settled.
For the Kelley family, whose son was the case's named plaintiff, being Black in America meant there were battles and sacrifices at every turn —
The Nashville Way
To understand the resegregation of Nashville’s schools, you have to start with understanding desegregation.
In 1954, the famous Brown v. Board decision ruled that segregated schools violated the constitution. But in reality, that decision changed very little in Nashville. Segregation was an architecture, and to pull it apart was a grueling endeavor. White families derailed the process.
A Tale Of Two Schools
At the beginning of the 2019 school year, Principal Ricki Gibbs knew he had a tough job ahead. Warner Elementary in East Nashville had just landed on Tennessee’s list of lowest performing schools. It had lost so many students that it wasn’t even half full. Gibbs was the fourth principal in six years. Yet, he had seemingly unending enthusiasm and a federal magnet grant to boot. He was conf
Season 2 Coming Soon
Season 2 of The Promise grapples with some of the most divisive topics in America: public education and race. This is a story about one school trying to stay afloat, a neighborhood divided over race and economics, and a city that’s resisted school desegregation every step of the way. Coming Aug. 31 to a podcasting app near you.
Update: Letting Go
Ms. Vernell has another big decision to make: to stay in Cayce through the chaos of redevelopment, or to leave? Her conclusion reveals something about this long, messy process to overhaul Nashville’s public housing. What happens when residents get tired — tired of being told to keep waiting, tired of being asked to keep moving … just tired?
Bonus 2: The Big Man Interview
If you've listened to The Promise, you no doubt remember Dexter Turner, aka Big Man. We met him in episode 2. The husband, father and community leader with a quick wit and a large personality had been planning a family barbecue, when a fatal shooting happened right in front of his apartment. In this episode, Meribah Knight speaks with Big Man months later, live on stage at Nashville Publi
Bonus
We return to the James Cayce Homes to follow up with residents amid the $600 million overhaul. But in checking back, we trip into some news. And we’re reminded, yet again, of how difficult it will be to pull off this massive redevelopment. As the city preps to turn its largest public housing projects into a mixed income development, Cayce residents have to sign a new agreement with steepe
Part 6: The Future
Does this big idea to have low-income and higher income people living side-by-side really make a community better, safer, healthier? As The Promise comes to a close, we dig into the fundamental question driving this massive overhaul of Nashville’s public housing.
The city’s housing agency is betting on mixed income, big time. But its only attempts have been on a much smaller scale than
Part 5: Get Some Gone
There is a saying in Nashville’s James Cayce Homes: “Get some gone.” Three simple words that describe the urge, the mission, to move out, to get away from the city’s oldest public housing project. Tonya Shannon grew up in Cayce. And she was determined to get out. So at 18 years old, she got some gone. But leaving the place is rarely a clean break. And with her mother still at Cayce, she l
Part 4: The Great Divide
This is a story about the assumptions we all make. And the secrets we keep. With WPLN reporter Meribah Knight as the go-between, Big Man, a public housing resident from the Cayce Homes, walks across the street to meet the wealthy couple who live in the fancy new home on the hill. In many ways, their lives couldn’t be more different, but in breaking the silence between the two sides of th
Part 3: The People And The Police
The relationship between James Cayce residents and the Nashville police is a tenuous one. In this episode, we explore two defining moments in Cayce: A viral cell phone video of a police officer being assaulted, and the most controversial police shooting in the city’s recent history. Both were caught on camera. And both reveal the strain between the people who live in Cayce and the people
Part 2: A Beautiful Day In The Projects
If you live in the Cayce Homes in Nashville, you know Dexter Turner. Not by Dexter, but by his nickname: Big Man. A husband, a father, a community leader, a showman — Big Man is a name everyone knows here. People love Big Man. And he loves his neighborhood just as much in return. But the chaos and the violence in Cayce make him irate. We follow Big Man one pivotal afternoon where his plan
Part 1: A Change is Gonna Come
At 61 years old, Vernell McHenry is like the grandmother of her corner of James Cayce. Where she’s lived for more than 17 years, greeting the neighborhood from a metal folding beach chair on her stoop. But Cayce is about the be transformed, torn down and rebuilt as mixed income apartments. And now, Vernell has a decision to make. Does she stay in her dilapidated and aging apartment where
Coming Soon: The Promise
Here's a preview of the new special six-part series from Nashville Public Radio, where we take you inside Nashville's oldest and largest public housing project.
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