Remembering and unremembering, from Kigali to Nashville

Code Switch

NPR

Society & Culture

4.6 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For centuries, the idea of the "American Dream" has been a powerful narrative for many immigrant communities. But for just as long, many African Americans have known that the American Dream was never meant to include them. So what happens when those beliefs collide? Today ten percent of the Black population in the U.S. are immigrants, and many grapple with this question. In this episode, we'll hear from Claude Gatebuke, who moved from Kigali to Nashville as a teenager in the wake of the Rwandan genocide. He talks about how the move to the U.S. likely saved his life, while simultaneously challenging his belief that he could have a full, meaningful future as a Black man.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	There's a lot in the news these days, and sometimes the headlines just aren't enough.
0:06.0	Every Sunday on Up First, we bring you an in-depth exploration behind a major story.
0:11.9	We dive deeper into the details and why you should care.
0:16.2	Listen now to the Sunday story from NPR's Up First Podcast.
0:22.1	Just to add up y'all, this episode you're about to hear contains descriptions of violence
0:26.4	and genocide, please proceed accordingly.
0:32.2	What's good y'all?
0:33.2	Listening to Code Switch, I'm Gene Demby, and on this episode, a story about memory and
0:38.9	unremembering.
0:40.9	And bringing us to that story is one of our editors here on Code Switch, Lee Danella.
0:44.1	Hey, Jane.
0:45.1	So, Leah, let you take it away, can you just set the scene for all of us?
0:48.9	Where are we starting?
0:49.9	Okay, so the date is October 30th, 2022.
0:54.8	This is Sunday, the day before Halloween.
0:57.8	And I've just hopped in my trusty old neon blue Nissan vs. rental car, and driven about
1:03.2	20 minutes from Antioff, Tennessee, where I've been staying, to East Nashville.
1:09.2	It's early, about 7am, so the streets are pretty quiet, save for the sounds of airplanes
1:17.4	overhead, and the rain, which is slowly getting heavier.
1:23.5	So, that's great.
1:24.9	I'm walking to a coffee shop called The Frothy Monkey, which turns out to be kind of crowded.
1:35.4	And as all this is happening, I'm kind of mentally hyping myself up because I'm getting
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.