© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Central Standard

Seg. 1: Simon Tam | Seg. 2: Chiefs' Name

Segment 1: On taking a bandname all the way to the Supreme Court.

Is it possible to be offensive to oneself? That's a question Simon Tam, frontman for a band called The Slants, brought before the U.S. justice system. He's using his story to encourage Asian American professionals in leadership positions to "lean into" their values. 

Segment 2: Is the name of Kansas City's football team affecting the self-esteem of American Indians?

In early 2018, the CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation wrote an Op-Ed in USA Today announcing that, based on health data, the organization would no longer be considering the Chiefs for awards they'd received in the past. The sticking point? The team's name. 

  • Rhonda LeValdo, professor of media and communications, Haskell Indian Nations University
  • Michael Friedman, clinical psychologist who conducted a studyon the imact of team names

People don't make cameos in news stories; the human story is the story, with characters affected by news events, not defined by them. As a columnist and podcaster, I want to acknowledge what it feels like to live through this time in Kansas City, one vantage point at a time. Together, these weekly vignettes form a collage of daily life in Kansas City as it changes in some ways, and stubbornly resists change in others. You can follow me on Twitter @GinaKCUR or email me at gina@kcur.org.