white people, black music and liberation

About white people, black music and liberation

we explore antiracism as liberation work, not a politics of opposition. this podcast is especially for white and white passing people, and particularly musicians, who are in relationship with Black music and culture. through reflective, question driven episodes, the show looks at how identity and cultural programming shape our understanding of race and belonging. it does not focus on correctness, performance, or saying the right thing. instead, it invites listeners to slow down, notice inherited patterns, and ask what liberation is asking of us, internally and socially. this is a space for people who want to stay in the work with curiosity, humility, and care, even when the answers are not simple. http://whitepeopleblackmusic.com/

Publisher

erich huffaker

Category

history · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

7 Jan 2026

Latest episode

28 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

36 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   28 Oct 2026

   are all white people racist? both/and in an era of either/or

   this one digs into the various layers of nuance behind this question using some personal storytelling about a time my biases got called out publicly. i also dig into ashley jardina’s white identity politics, eduardo bonilla silva’s color blind racism, and a 1970 dick cavett show clash between lester maddox and jim brown. sometimes the move is knowing which questions to stop asking out loud and start asking inside. white people, black music, and liberation is an independent podcast exploring race, music, and what it means to move from *programming* into liberation. . have a thought, a question, or a story of your own? reach out at whitepeopleblackmusic@gmail.com . follow the journey at whitepeopleblackmusic.com ✶

2. 

   21 Oct 2026

   best person for the job, or easiest? rethinking merit, belonging and diversity

   “i just want the best person for the job.” it sounds fair. many of us have said some version of it. but what’s beneath the surface when we say it? the groups that feel most sure of themselves aren’t always the ones getting it right, and that leaves a question worth sitting with: what are we giving up when we go for the easy choice? further reading: Katherine Phillips, Gregory Northcraft, and Margaret Neale (2006), Surface Level Diversity and Decision Making in Groups: https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-research/research/detail/2006/surface-level-diversity-and-decision-making-in-groups-when/?p=1 (https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-research/research/detail/2006/surface-level-diversity-and-decision-making-in-groups-when/?p=1) Samuel Sommers (2006), On Racial Diversity and Group Decision Making: https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2006/04/diverse-jury (https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2006/04/diverse-jury) Ashley Jardina, White Identity Politics: https://polisci.duke.edu/books/white-identity-politics-cambridge-studies-public-opinion-and-political-psychology (https://polisci.duke.edu/books/white-identity-politics-cambridge-studies-public-opinion-and-political-psychology) http://whitepeopleblackmusic.com/ (http://whitepeopleblackmusic.com/) white people, black music, and liberation is an independent podcast exploring race, music, and what it means to move from *programming* into liberation. . have a thought, a question, or a story of your own? reach out at whitepeopleblackmusic@gmail.com . follow the journey at whitepeopleblackmusic.com ✶

3. 

   14 Oct 2026

   why do coleman hughes and colorblindness sound so convincing to white people?

   what makes us want to believe a calm, polished articulate black man making the case for color blindness? it’s not about statistics. it’s what is says about us: the numbers we reach for, the programs running underneath, and a resentment many white people carry without ever naming it. what would it take to look there instead? . http://whitepeopleblackmusic.com/ (http://whitepeopleblackmusic.com/) coleman hughes, in his own words a case for color blindness (ted talk, 2023): https://www.ted.com/talks/coleman_hughes_a_case_for_color_blindness (https://www.ted.com/talks/coleman_hughes_a_case_for_color_blindness) black american culture and the racial wealth gap (quillette, 2018): https://quillette.com/2018/07/19/black-american-culture-and-the-racial-wealth-gap/ (https://quillette.com/2018/07/19/black-american-culture-and-the-racial-wealth-gap/) the statistics the auto and jewelry categories shine with opportunity among black women (nielsen, 2017): https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2017/the-auto-and-jewelry-categories-shine-with-opportunity-among-black-women/ (https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2017/the-auto-and-jewelry-categories-shine-with-opportunity-among-black-women/) correction: nielsen found black women 113 percent more likely to say they plan to buy a luxury car, not “slightly” more likely as i said. it’s still a purchase intent survey, not a measure of financial responsibility. are emily and greg more employable than lakisha and jamal? bertrand and mullainathan (2004): https://www.nber.org/papers/w9873 (https://www.nber.org/papers/w9873) what we get wrong about closing the racial wealth gap, samuel dubois cook center (2018): https://samuelduboiscookcenter.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/what-we-get-wrong.pdf (https://samuelduboiscookcenter.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/what-we-get-wrong.pdf) conspicuous consumption and race, charles, hurst, and roussanov (quarterly journal of economics, 2009): https://www.nber.org/papers/w13392 (https://www.nber.org/papers/w13392) why messages persuade walster, aronson, and abrahams, “on increasing the persuasiveness of a low prestige communicator,” journal of experimental social psychology (1966) amplification a black voice in the echo chamber, rafia zakaria (popula, 2018): https://popula.com/2018/08/08/a-black-voice-in-the-echo-chamber/ (https://popula.com/2018/08/08/a-black-voice-in-the-echo-chamber/) racial resentment racial resentment in the political mind, darren w. davis and david c. wilson (2021): https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo124039550.html (https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo124039550.html) interview with davis and wilson (new books network): https://newbooksnetwork.com/racial-resentment-in-the-political-mind (https://newbooksnetwork.com/racial-resentment-in-the-political-mind) divided by color, donald r. kinder and lynn m. sanders (1996): https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo3620441.html (https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo3620441.html) the racial resentment scale, including the survey statements quoted in the episode: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_resentment_scale" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer...

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