Minden, NV: The Last Sundown Siren

Latino USA

My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts

Society & Culture

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2022

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Latino USA is proud to feature an episode from Futuro Studios and Higher Ground’s The Sum of Us podcast, Heather McGhee’s travel diary about the surprising cross-cultural connections that are rebuilding the American community, from rural Maine to the California coast and everywhere in between.

In 1921, the small town of Minden, Nevada began sounding a “sundown siren” that warned Indigenous people to leave the city limits or face violent consequences. Over a hundred years later, the alarm still blares daily. Why? It depends on who you ask. In a town full of historic markers, there’s nothing about the Indigenous history; local officials now say the siren is a tribute to first responders. Marty Meeden, a descendent of the local Washoe Tribe, had fought to end this traumatic daily reminder to no avail—until he met a pair of unlikely allies: a passionate white bicyclist and a teenage all-star runner. Together, they are working to silence the sundown siren forever, and show how remembering our history can help us all heal.

To subscribe to The Sum of Us podcast, click here.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hola, dear Latino USA listener.
0:10.8	It's Mariano Jose.
0:12.7	Today we want to share a new podcast series.
0:15.3	It's called The Some of Us.
0:17.2	It's hosted by author Heather McGee on the heels of her best-selling book of the same
0:21.6	name.
0:22.6	Heather embarked on a road trip across the US unearthing stories of solidarity and hope
0:28.8	in times of COVID, Great Division, and frankly, peril for our democracy.
0:34.8	From rural Maine to the California coast and everywhere in between, Heather meets individuals
0:41.2	who are crossing demographic, cultural, and political lines in order to build a better
0:46.6	future for all of us.
0:49.0	And through this journey, she uncovers the secret ingredients to creating the cross-racial
0:54.7	relationships that make real change possible.
0:59.4	So in this episode, Heather takes us to Mindin, a small town in Nevada.
1:04.9	For over a century, there's been something blaring in Mindin.
1:09.1	It's a noise.
1:10.1	A noise that means wildly different things to different people.
1:14.7	It's a noise that says something deeper about our country and who is welcomed in it.
1:21.0	Here's the last sundown siren.
1:24.3	And remember that you can listen to other stories from the some of us wherever you get your
1:28.6	podcasts and make sure to subscribe.
1:33.1	It looks sedate.
	...

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