Ep. 68 - Identity, Power, & the Invention of Race ft. CA Davis

BrownTown listens, learns, and breaks down the myths and
histories of racial identity with CA Davis, filmmaker, digital
storyteller, and creator of a LATTO Thought -- an immersive audio
documentary that dismantles post-racial myths about mixed race
identities.


CA begins this special conversation outlining how he came to
create a LATTO Thought and centering many of the misconceptions
we commonly associate to race -- both more known biological myths
as well as social myths in the way we construct our views on race
and in our very language. BrownTown and CA share their
experiences growing up creating, presenting, and experiencing
their racial identity in the world and how it plays out as
adults.


As CA notes, "depending on the time, place, space, and economics
of where you are in the world, race is never the same." People
aren't mixed. History is. Through imperialism, war, mass
movements, geography, relationships with the land, and countless
other historical praxis, race is a complex, nuanced,
ever-evolving phenomenon. BrownTown and CA sift in and out of
related (and seemingly unrelated topics) from the Census,
respectability politics and code-switching, intersectionality,
the American government as an empire (see: the Death Star), and
recent events like the Atlanta spa shootings, Megan Markle and
the Royal Family, and the January 6th Insurrection at the U.S.
Capitol (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).


At the end of the day, we know race to be a creation and
effective tool for white supremacy. The better we understand
that, the better we can dismantle it. Let's get to work.
Originally recorded March 25, 2021.


GUEST


CA is the creator and host of a LATTO Thought — an immersive
audio documentary series that dismantles post-racial myths about
mixed race identities. By day, he is a digital storyteller at
Northwestern University where he turns academic research into
films, podcasts, and media elements integral to larger digital
humanities projects. Outside of NU, he is a filmmaker, editor,
and, more recently, audio documentarian focused on racial
consciousness and social justice.


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Follow CA on his site CADavis.me, LinkedIn, Instagram, and
Twitter!


Follow and listen to a LATTO Thought Podcast on your
application of choice; learn more at LATTOthought.com; follow on
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; and toss the bag on Patreon!


Mentioned in the episode:


NPR’s Code Switched “Racial Imposter Syndrome”

The work of Native American scholars Kim TallBear and Jodi A.
Byrd

The work of Guy Emerson Mount

Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 (1, 2, 3)

Nathaniel Butler, Black slave trader



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CREDITS: Intro audio from a LATTO Thought
Podcast, "takin' it back" episode. Outro song The Dreamer
by Anderson .Paak (ft. Talib Kweli & Timan Family Choir).
Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro with assistance from Kiera
Battles. Episode photo by Joe Martinez.


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Bourbon ’n BrownTown
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