What's Ray Saying is Back!

What's Ray Saying?

Ray Christian

Blackhistory, Storyteller, Blackculture, History, Story, Storytelling, Arts, Slam, Africanamerican

5 • 625 Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2023

⏱️ 3 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What’s Ray Saying is back!

Immerse yourself in a world of Southern-baked personal narratives, interwoven with Black American history, all told through the lens of Ray Christian's remarkable life. In each episode, the award-winning storyteller, combat veteran, historian, and devoted father of six, invites you to become part of his community, as he shares stories from the scenic mountains of Appalachia.

What’s Ray Saying? is created, hosted, and written by Ray Christian and recorded in the great state of North Carolina. Mark Pagán is the senior producer. Jonathan Cabral is the associate producer. Story editing by Mark Pagán with development support from The Moth. Sound design by Rebecca Seidel. Original music comes from RJ Christian and Blue Dot Sessions.

To find out more about What Ray’s Saying? visit us on Facebook, Twitter, or at whatraysaying.com.

This series is supported by PRX, The Moth, and listeners like you.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Up a long patch of mountain road in western North Carolina is where you'll find me and my family.
0:08.5	We've been living here for decades. We've raised kids, chickens, and goats. A happy, remote life.
0:17.3	And still, I get questions all the time asking if we're the only black family where we live.
0:23.6	We certainly are.
0:25.6	And to help me cope or understand my daily life, I don't do yoga, drink, or go to therapy.
0:33.6	I go to history.
0:35.6	History lets me understand why few black people live in these mountains I call home.
0:42.6	Or how black soldiers returning home from World War I led the way for a veteran like me to join the middle class.
0:49.5	And so I was able to see that it was possible to move from one class to another.
0:53.7	History lets me look at the long record of American health care, ignoring or exploiting black
0:59.0	bodies. Why did I have to be near death's door before my mama could take me to a doctor?
1:05.0	Why then did public health officials risk the lives of these 400 black Americans
1:10.0	by deliberately withholding appropriate treatment.
1:13.2	History teaches me about the legacy of black fashion. How did I almost drop out of high school
1:18.7	over a brand of cheap tennis shoes?
1:21.1	Limousines for the feet. I want to see how history can help me, how history can help us.
1:30.3	Simply stated, I'm Ray Christian and this is what's Ray saying.
1:37.3	A podcast that explores my many lives as a 60-something veteran and Fulbright scholar from the South, all woven through
1:45.6	centuries of black history. Along the way, I'll share daily foibles of being a traveling
1:51.2	historian and hobby farmer and all the wild stories in between. I'd like to think of it
1:57.0	as a party, where I hope people come, play well with others, and maybe learn a few things in the process.
2:03.8	Ray could have been a bully if you want a man.
	...

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