Selected Shorts: "Changing the Narrative"
Original Air Date: February 19, 2026
Host: Deray McKesson
Featured Authors: Shirley Chisholm, James Baldwin, Sonia Sanchez, Percival Everett
Performers: Crystal Dickinson, Christopher Jackson, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Wren T. Brown
Episode Overview
In this thought-provoking episode of Selected Shorts, guest host Deray McKesson curates a program of fiction and essays that challenge, upend, and rewrite traditional American narratives—particularly those centering Black voices and experiences. Through compelling readings of works by Shirley Chisholm, James Baldwin, Sonia Sanchez, and Percival Everett, the episode explores how revisiting history and reimagining symbols can reveal new possibilities for progress and belonging.
Key Discussions & Story Summaries
1. Introduction: Rethinking Progress (Host: Deray McKesson)
[00:53 – 04:13]
- McKesson’s Perspective: Having experienced the Ferguson protests firsthand, McKesson emphasizes that transformative action is rooted in re-examining history and challenging inherited narratives.
- Central Question: Can America truly move forward without confronting and recontextualizing its past?
- Quote:
- “Many salient moments of American progress would not have been possible without first looking back. History has demonstrated time and time again that if you're going to point the way forward, it's nearly impossible to do so without confronting and recontextualizing the past.” – Deray McKesson [02:07]
2. Shirley Chisholm’s "Unbought and Unbossed"
Read by Crystal Dickinson
[04:13 – 13:09]
Story Summary
- Chisholm recounts her grueling campaign for Congress in 1968 as a Black woman outsider in Brooklyn neighborhoods.
- Lacking funds for traditional politics, she relies on relentless face-to-face engagement and organizing, especially among women, to outmaneuver established power brokers.
- Chisholm reflects on political underestimation of women and minorities and asserts the essential, yet underrecognized, political labor women provide.
- Quote:
- “Men always underestimate women. They underestimated me and they underestimated women like me. If they had thought about it, they would have realized that many of the homes in Black neighborhoods are headed by women… They are the backbone of the social groups and civic clubs more than the men.” – Crystal Dickinson as Shirley Chisholm [10:20]
- “Tremendous amounts of talent are being lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt. It is stupid and wrong.” – Crystal Dickinson as Shirley Chisholm [10:57]
Key Insights
- Change is built through grassroots relationship-building and recognizing untapped sources of organizing power.
- Chisholm’s ingenuity and perseverance challenge both gender and racial expectations in American politics.
3. James Baldwin’s "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew"
Read by Christopher Jackson
[14:33 – 26:17]
Story Summary
- Baldwin addresses his nephew on the centennial of emancipation, reflecting honestly about the psychological burdens Black Americans bear and the generational wounds of racism.
- He indicts America for “crimes” against Black people while offering tough, enduring love and a vision for collective liberation.
- Baldwin urges his nephew to remember his worth, ancestry, and right to define his own identity—rejecting imposed inferiority.
- Select Quotes:
- “You can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a [slur]. I tell you this because I love you. Please don't ever forget that.” – James Baldwin/Christopher Jackson [14:59]
- “It is the innocence which constitutes the crime.” – James Baldwin/Christopher Jackson [17:36]
- “Take no one's word for anything, including mine, but trust your experience. Know whence you came, if you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go.” – James Baldwin/Christopher Jackson [22:15]
- “We can make America what America must become.” – James Baldwin/Christopher Jackson [25:47]
Key Insights
- The importance of self-knowledge as a counterforce to systemic oppression.
- Real change demands not only Black perseverance but a transformation of white American consciousness—achievable only through “acceptance and love.”
4. Sonia Sanchez’s "Homegirls on St. Nicholas Avenue"
Read by Marsha Stephanie Blake
[29:33 – 35:43]
Story Summary
- Set in Harlem, Sanchez’s poem/prose reflects on the lives of “homegirls”—young Black women marked by community expectation and self-restraint, contrasted with one who “stopped waiting.”
- A pivotal moment occurs at a Malcolm X rally; his words incite internal change in Sanchez, awakening racial pride and purpose—"his voice was many voices."
- She describes a transformation: reclaiming her “echo” silenced by formal education, and a physical and spiritual rebirth.
- Quote:
- “Where to go when you've been educated not to hear your own echo?” – Marsha Stephanie Blake as Sonia Sanchez [35:15]
- “On that cold, wet afternoon, I became warm again. All I know is that I began to hear voices...and my skin began to sweat away the years. And the dead skin shook loose and new skin appeared, darker than before, black in its beauty.” – Marsha Stephanie Blake as Sonia Sanchez [32:47]
Key Insights
- Malcolm X’s rhetoric acts as a hand grenade—shattering false narratives and sparking generational awakening.
- The piece honors the journey from assimilationist pressures toward pride, community, and self-realization.
5. Percival Everett’s "The Appropriation of Cultures"
Read by Wren T. Brown
[37:01 – 57:18]
Story Summary
- Daniel, a Black man in the South, subverts the Confederate flag’s meaning by claiming it as his heritage, flying it unapologetically on his truck.
- As others follow suit, the flag’s racist connotation collapses; Black communities appropriate the symbol, rendering it toothless and irrelevant.
- Everett satirically questions the logic of symbol ownership and the transformation of meaning through collective action.
- Select Quotes:
- “I've decided that the rebel flag is my flag. My blood is Southern blood, right? Well, it's my flag.” – Wren T. Brown as Daniel [48:52]
- “Don't take it down. Just take it. That's what I say. That's all you have to do. That's all there is to it.” – Wren T. Brown as Daniel [49:17]
- “I was just lucky enough to find a truck with the black power flag already on it.” – Wren T. Brown as Daniel [52:49]
Memorable Moments
- Daniel’s impromptu, deadpan appropriation baffles both white and Black onlookers.
- The Confederate flag quietly disappears from the state capitol, its power drained by unexpected new meaning and use.
Key Insights
- Symbols, even those weighted by hate, can be disarmed and redefined by bold cultural intervention.
- Everett’s nuanced satire celebrates the everyday revolutionary—the power of turning, not erasing, the page on history.
Notable Quotes & Moments
| Timestamp | Speaker/Performer | Quote/Moment | |------------|------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:07 | Deray McKesson (Host) | “History has demonstrated time and time again that if you're going to point the way forward…” | | 10:57 | Crystal Dickinson as Shirley Chisholm | “Tremendous amounts of talent are being lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt.” | | 17:36 | Christopher Jackson as James Baldwin | “It is the innocence which constitutes the crime.” | | 22:15 | Christopher Jackson as James Baldwin | “Know whence you came, if you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go.” | | 25:47 | Christopher Jackson as James Baldwin | “We can make America what America must become.” | | 35:15 | Marsha Stephanie Blake as Sonia Sanchez | “Where to go when you've been educated not to hear your own echo?” | | 32:47 | Marsha Stephanie Blake as Sonia Sanchez | “And my skin began to sweat away the years...new skin appeared, darker than before, black in its beauty.” | | 48:52 | Wren T. Brown as Daniel (Percival Everett) | “I've decided that the rebel flag is my flag. My blood is Southern blood, right? Well, it's my flag.” | | 49:17 | Wren T. Brown as Daniel | “Don't take it down. Just take it. That's what I say. That's all you have to do.” | | 52:49 | Wren T. Brown as Daniel | “I was just lucky enough to find a truck with the black power flag already on it.” |
Timestamps for Key Segments
- Introduction and theme: 00:53 – 04:13
- Shirley Chisholm excerpt: 04:13 – 13:09
- James Baldwin letter: 14:33 – 26:17
- Sonia Sanchez’s "Homegirls": 29:33 – 35:43
- Percival Everett’s "Appropriation of Cultures": 37:01 – 57:18
- Host reflections & finale: 57:18 – 59:11
Episode Tone & Style
The tone is proud, incisive, and at times playfully subversive, reflecting the enduring power of lived experience, artful resistance, and cultural wit. McKesson’s commentary and the authors’ own language maintain a directness and warmth that clarifies their vision: true progress requires not just new stories, but courageous engagement with uncomfortable truths and the symbols that shape them.
Closing Reflection
This episode powerfully illustrates that the stories America tells—and who gets to tell them—matter profoundly. Through acts of remembrance, subversion, and joyful reclamation, each selection models how history, reimagined, can fuel hope, action, and a richer future for all.