Reckon Interview
The Reckon Interview is the home for the best stories about the South. Each week, National Murrow Award-winning host John Hammontree examines American culture through a Southern lens by speaking with authors, entertainers, artists, leaders and thinkers to better understand the most interesting region of America and learn how we can each craft our own narratives about the South.
51
What the election results mean for the South + ...
What do the election results say about the state of the South? It’s a mixed bag. John Archibald and Roy S. Johnson join hosts, John Hammontree and R.L. Nave, to break down the 2020 election and what it means for the future of the South. Archibald and J...
42 min
52
What will the South look like in four years?
On the eve of the election, the Reckon Interview sits down with five people from around the South to discuss three simple questions: - What's one thing you hope happens next year? - What's something you hope never happens again? - What do ...
39 min
53
What happens after the election?
The 2020 election has led to some of the strangest alliances in political history. Right now, political strategists who’ve previously worked for candidates as ideologically far apart as Dick Cheney and Bernie Sanders or Sarah Palin and Stacey Abrams, a...
51 min
54
SCOTUS and the South + Lilly Ledbetter's messag...
The Supreme Court has played a major role in shaping the South. Depending on its ideological center, SCOTUS has protected Southern governments or has intervened on behalf of vulnerable communities. Fred Smith, a professor at Emory Law, details landmark...
61 min
55
The "Doug Jones Effect"
Doug Jones was never expected to be Alabama's senator. His unexpected victory in 2017 may have set off a chain reaction in the Deep South. Suddenly national money poured into races in states like Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina. And longti...
56 min
56
The South vs. the Establishment: Jaime Harrison...
There’s more to this discussion than partisan politics of course but in poll after poll… we’re starting to see some of the country's most inelastic states look a little more like swing states. And we’re starting to see a few cracks in the establis...
56 min
57
'It's not random': The origins of America's bro...
America is having a long overdue conversation about policing and justice. Most of us know that the criminal justice system looks different for Black and Brown Americans. And many of us probably have a sense of why the system has always worked against t...
54 min
58
Can the South handle another recession?
Earlier this year, Congress passed the biggest stimulus package in history, but who is actually getting that moneThis week, we're chatting with Dr Stephanie Yates, a professor of finance at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Diane Sta...
54 min
59
The death of 'stick to sports': The power of co...
Football is religion in the South, to borrow the cliche. And a certain sect of fans and the establishment have always tried to separate that religion from politics. But that’s a tall order in 2020. When politics affect whether games can be saf...
49 min
60
A system broken by design: The politics of heal...
The Covid-19 exposed deep problems with the South's fragmented healthcare system. Home to some of the country's highest rates of chronic disease and illness, how did the South get to this point? Dr. Andrea Patterson explains the roots of Sout...
46 min
61
To live here, you have to fight: Coalition buil...
For decades, Southerners have fought for civil and human rights. What does coalition building look like in a region divided by race? Dr. Jessica Wilkerson, a labor historian at West Virginia University, describes the labor movements led by white women ...
50 min
62
How the South nearly blocked women's suffrage +...
100 years ago Southern white men and some sympathetic women nearly blocked the 19th amendment and women's suffrage. Some Southern suffragists worked for form fragile alliances with Black suffragists, others touted the 19th Amendment as a manner to...
58 min
63
How the South created modern politics + what's ...
If you examine how the modern Democratic Party built a new coalition with black voters after the Civil Rights movement and how the modern Republican Party transformed its party in response, you begin to see how the identities of both national parties h...
43 min
64
The Fight for the Vote: How to Make Sure Your V...
What does the fight for voting rights look like five decades after the Civil Rights Movement? Are states prepared to handle elections during a pandemic? To kick off Reckon Interview Season 3, John Hammontree and R.L. Nave speak with Prof. Carol Anderso...
51 min
65
Season Three: The South Decides
Southerners are setting the tempo for the 2020 elections, whether it’s fighting for racial justice, ending health disparities, pushing for voting rights by organizing people around common goals. This season on the Reckon Interview, John Hammontree and ...
1 min
66
Bonus: Zac Oyama on CollegeHumor, Key & Peele a...
You've seen Zac Oyama in CollegeHumor videos and the Upright Citizens Brigade. You've heard him on Comedy Bang Bang. You've seen his dad in "Get Out." He joins the Reckon Interview for a conversation about Hollywood, the South ...
33 min
67
Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo on when can we expect a Cov...
Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo is the director of the UAB School of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases. She joins the Reckon Interview to discuss the possibility of returning to schools, football, Alabama's mask policy and when we can expect a publicly...
40 min
68
Paul Finebaum on the SEC's response to Covid, h...
These days, everyone tells Paul Finebaum to "stick to sports." On the Reckon Interview, he shares his thoughts on pushing back on callers, his thoughts on school administrators responding to the pandemic, details about TV shows he has in the ...
42 min
69
Elaina Plott on the fall of Jeff Sessions, how ...
Elaina Plott is a one of the great profile writers of our time. The New York Times writer grew up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and joins the Reckon Interview to discuss Jeff Sessions' career and how being Southern helps her connect with sources.
41 min
70
Dr. Hilary N. Green on the toppling of Confeder...
Dr. Hilary N. Green is an expert in the American Civil War, Reconstruction and Civil War memory. She joins the Reckon Interview to discuss living through this historical moment where Americans' understanding of history is rapidly changing, address...
41 min
71
Carolyn Kellogg on leaving LA for Alabama, what...
For years, Carolyn Kellogg was the Books editor for the Los Angeles Times. On the Reckon Interview, she shares why she dropped everything to move to the Deep South. She also offers her suggestions for books to read this summer.
31 min
72
Olga Khazan on the power of being 'weird,' how ...
The Atlantic's Olga Khazan joins the Reckon Interview to discuss her new book "Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World." She and John Hammontree discuss how outsiders can build movements, including how that could relate...
35 min
73
WellRED Comedy trio on Black Lives Matter prote...
Trae Crowder, Drew Morgan and Corey Ryan Forrester have dismantled preconceptions about what 'Southern comedy' sounds like. This week on the Reckon Interview, they sit down to discuss their role as Southern white men supporting George Floyd p...
47 min
74
Chuck Reece on being a 'Bitter Southerner'
Chuck Reece founded the Bitter Southerner in 2013. He sits down with John Hammontree to discuss the place he built for Southern voices and how to find the right voice for the right story.
53 min
75
Tommy Tomlinson on facing the Elephant in the R...
Tommy Tomlison is a brilliant writer and radio host based in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2019, he published a memoir about confronting an addiction to food, chronicling his efforts to lose weight after nearing 460 pounds. His story offers insight int...
44 min