BOSTON (SHNS) – Deval Patrick is launching his own podcast called “Being American” that will feature conversations between the former governor and a diverse group of guests, from Ice Cube to James Taylor, about what unites people as Americans.
Since his short-lived campaign for president earlier this year, Patrick has stayed active in the public sphere with appearances on television as a commentator on racial justice and other topics and through his political action committee, Together Fund.
This new venture, in partnership with MuddHouse Media, will feature the two-term governor exploring issues of community building, hostility in politics, social and economic justice, climate change and other issues.
“In these discordant and divisive times, a lot of us feel like we don’t recognize America anymore,” Patrick said in a statement, announcing his podcast. “We come from every place on earth and every station in life, and yet we openly demean each other if we live or think differently. It isn’t clear what unites us, what makes us American.”
Being American will be a biweekly show released Tuesdays and Fridays, beginning on Friday, Oct. 9 when author and activist Anand Giridharadas is Patrick’s first guest.
Giridharadas is a former New York Times columnist who wrote “India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation’s Remaking,” “The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas,” and “Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World.”
Other guests on the show in the first season will include Ice Cube, James Taylor, Meb Keflezighi, Mehrsa Baradaran, Adair Ford Boroughs, Randall L. Woodfin, Charles Booker, Brandon Wolf, and Deidre DeJear.