© 2024 KALW 91.7 FM Bay Area
KALW Public Media / 91.7 FM Bay Area
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

What do you mean I 'sound white'? StoopTalk with Chinaka Hodge

The Stoop is launching soon! Hosted by KALW journalists Hana Baba and Leila Day, the podcast features stories and conversations about blackness that aren’t always shared in the open.

Here’s a sneak peek into a upcoming episode- the hosts visit Oakland poet and  playwright, Chinaka Hodge. On her front stoop in West Oakland, they talk about voice, performance, and being told — as a black person — that you "sound white." Hodge has some answers for THAT question.

HODGE: Do I sound white like a Scottish person? Do I sound like white like a Brahmin in New England? Do I sound white like someone from Utah? Where is my tongue in my mouth when I sound white?

The Stoop thanks KALW, NPR Story Lab, and California Humanities

Hana Baba is host of Crosscurrents, KALW's weeknight newsmagazine that broadcasts on KALW Public Radio in the San Francisco Bay Area.