What “Sinners” Gets Right (And Wrong) About the Black South

Black History Year

PushBlack

History, Society & Culture

4.3 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This isn’t a film podcast. But with the feature film Sinners now available at home, we couldn’t help but unpack its bold take on Southern horror, the moral weight of unspoken histories, and what it means—for the culture—to set a story like this in Mississippi. In this special episode of Black History Year, Grammy-winning blues musician and actor Chris Thomas King returns, joining scholar, writer, and BHY producer Dr. Leslie Grover to discuss what the film gets right, what it gets wrong, and the blues haunting every frame. Grab your popcorn—because by the end of the episode, you’ll be asking yourself: Is “Sinners” just a horror flick—or a mirror that makes Black history impossible to ignore? This podcast is brought to you by PushBlack, the nation’s largest non-profit Black media company. You make PushBlack happen with your contributions at BlackHistoryYear.com. Most folks donate 5 or 10 bucks a month, but truly, anything helps. Thanks for supporting the work. Cydney Smith, Darren Wallace, and Len Webb, who also edit the show, produce Black History Year with production support from Leslie Taylor-Grover and Brooke Brown. Lilly Workneh is our Executive Producer. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, I'm Len with Push Black. Unquestionably, the movie of 2025 is Ryan Cougler's Sinners, starring Michael B. Jordan.
0:10.3	If you haven't seen the film, then you're in luck, because the same day that this special conversation about Cinners drops on your audio podcast feed, CINERS is also being released to Home Digital.
0:24.3	So on your favorite streaming platform, you want to look up CINERS, check out the film,
0:29.7	and then come back and listen to our very engaging conversation between Push Black's
0:36.6	head writer and Mississippi Delta Darling, Leslie Grover,
0:40.8	and blues historian Chris Thomas King, all about sinners and the music and mythology that is woven
0:50.4	inside his tapestry. But if you want to check out this podcast episode,
0:54.7	before checking out the movie,
0:56.4	be our guest.
0:57.7	We're all sinners here.
0:59.8	Enjoy.
1:02.0	That was the greatest night of his life, you know?
1:04.6	That night at the jig joint before the vampire showed up.
1:08.0	So that's the blues right there.
1:25.7	Yeah. I showed up. So that's the blues right there. Have you seen the movie centers yet? Even if you've seen the movie Senters yet?
1:29.1	Even if you've seen the movie centers, you're going to want to join us today because we've got something that's going to make you see centers in a completely different way, and it might make you want to go see it again.
1:40.9	I'm Leslie from Push Black, and you're locked in to Black History Year.
1:49.7	So joining us today is legendary blues musician, Grammy Award winning musician, I might add, actor,
1:59.3	writer and founder of the Blues Origins Institute, Chris Thomas King.
2:04.7	He's going to join us today to give us a take on the blues and the movie centers that I guarantee you won't find anywhere else.
2:11.9	So sit back, relax, and forget everything you think you know about the blues okay so centers it's about the
2:27.9	blues it's about the culture we might get into a few little spoilers but um I think that those of you who haven't seen it
	...

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