James McBride On Hope, Community And 'A Place Of Miracles'

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News, Religion & Spirituality, News Commentary, Spirituality, Society & Culture

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2020

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For the holiday, Sam revisits his conversation with award-winning author James McBride. McBride's latest book Deacon King Kong tells the story of how one man's decision brings together the different racial communities of 1960s Brooklyn to solve a larger issue. Sam chats with McBride as he shares his thoughts on the hope he has for communities, the parallels he sees to the world we're living in today, and why he's still optimistic, despite protests and a pandemic.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey y'all, you're listening to It's Been A Minute from NPR.
0:05.0	I'm Sam Sanders.
0:06.3	Happy Thanksgiving.
0:07.3	For this episode, we're going to bring you a conversation that I'm personally very grateful
0:11.5	for.
0:12.6	My chat with the award-winning author James McBride.
0:15.6	Yes, the James McBride.
0:18.2	His best-selling memoir, The Color of Water, was on the New York Times Best Seller List
0:22.6	for two years.
0:24.4	James also won the National Book Award for the Good Lord Bird.
0:28.4	Mr. McBride is kind of a big deal.
0:31.7	I talked with him about his latest book, Deakin King Kong.
0:34.8	It's a book all about race and religion and community, and it's set against the backdrop
0:39.3	of 1960s Brooklyn.
0:41.8	It quickly became one of the biggest and best-reviewed books of 2020.
0:47.2	But this chat is about more than just the book.
0:50.1	James and I really leaned into how Deakin King Kong, and all of his work really, could
0:54.7	be kind of inspirational in the midst of coronavirus and all the isolation and the uncertainty that
1:01.0	the pandemic has wrought.
1:02.7	And we also discussed the protests this summer and all the issues that raised.
1:07.3	In this whole chat, James McBride gives advice and wisdom and life.
1:12.2	All right, let's get to it.
	...

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