Black Stories, White Comfort: Who’s Still Controlling the Narrative?

From Harlem Renaissance rebels to Hollywood stereotypes, Black storytelling has always been a battleground for power. Today, the pen, the lens, and the mic are finally in Black hands but what does that mean when the legacy of racial violence still hangs over us, literally and figuratively?

In this episode of Rooted, playwright Zora Howard unpacks her haunting new work Hang Time, inspired by real-life tragedies and the urgent need to see Black men beyond headlines and hashtags. Then, filmmakers Dan Algrant and Don Wright take us inside their documentary Cathedrals, a raw reckoning with race, memory, and who gets to tell the truth about America’s housing projects.

This isn’t just art it’s a fight for voice, visibility, and ownership. Are we ready to confront the stories we’ve ignored? Or will we keep walking by?