The full title of the About Race podcast is: Our National Conversation About Conversations About Race. It was included in The Black Experience selection of podcasts, books, TV shows and movies that iTunes put together for Black History Month. Panoply has decided to cancel About Race.
About Race featured four “co-discussants”: Anna Holmes, Baratunde Thurston, Raquel Cepeda, and Tanner Colby. They hosted a lively, multiracial, interracial conversation about “the ways we can’t talk, don’t talk, would rather not talk, but intermittently, fitfully, embarrassingly, do talk about culture, identity, politics, power, and privilege in our pre-post-yet-still-very-racial America.”
About Race began in 2015. The last episode is titled “What have we learned?” At the time I am writing this post, some episodes are still available on SoundCloud. It is still listed on iTunes.
Panoply made the following statement about why they chose to cancel About Race:
Panoply has made the difficult decision not to move forward with the podcast “Our National Conversation About Conversations About Race.” We loved working with Baratunde, Raquel, Tanner, and Anna over the last two years, and are proud of their important contributions to the dialog about race in America. However, frequent scheduling issues made it difficult to produce the show that we all wanted to create. Though the cancellation was unrelated to the current political climate, we regret the timing. Ending it now is painful, but a growing company like ours must make hard decisions, and this was one of the hardest. Now more than ever, Panoply recognizes the urgent need for diverse voices and frank conversions, and we’re committed to covering the important topics of race and ethnicity in America. Please stay tuned!
I’m not sure what, exactly, Panoply is asking people to “please stay tuned” for. It is unclear, and uncertainty can lead to speculation. A quick glance at the About Race Twitter (@showaboutrace) and its Facebook page show that there are many fans who are disappointed that the podcast has been canceled. Several people commented that America needs podcasts like About Race right now.