Kai Wright Presents Blindspot Episode 5: What If I Could Have Grown Old With My Brother?

Kai Wright Presents Blindspot Episode 5: What If I Could Have Grown Old With My Brother?

In 1985, doctors at a methadone clinic in the South Bronx made the harrowing discovery: 50 percent of their patients had HIV. Three years later, in the same neighborhood, a pair of epidemiologists estimated that as many as one in five young men were positive for the disease. Those numbers made the South Bronx one of most critical hotspots for HIV in the country.

Joyce Rivera was born and raised in the South Bronx. She watched as heroin flooded into her neighborhood followed by HIV. When Rivera’s brother died in 1987, she decided to do something. Working with a heroin dealer and a local priest, she defied the law and set up an illegal needle exchange in an attempt to prevent the transmission of HIV among injection drug users. And she largely succeeded. But what if this country had treated drug addiction like a public health issue instead of a criminal problem?

Listen to more episodes and subscribe to Blindspot here.

Blindspot is a co-production of The HISTORY® Channel and WNYC Studios, in collaboration with The Nation Magazine.

Tell us what you think. Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here. We’re also on Instagram and X (Twitter) @noteswithkai.

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.

Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

Jaksot(424)

Alone Together During COVID-19: Live Call-in

Alone Together During COVID-19: Live Call-in

Part of the mission of our show is to address our collective anxieties. The COVID-19 pandemic has already drastically reshaped our lives, our politics, and our health -- both physical and mental. Righ...

13 Maalis 20201h 16min

Black Power at the Polls

Black Power at the Polls

A lot of people have a lot of opinions about the choices black people are making in the Democratic primary. But as we've seen in other election cycles, when the dust settles, the country seems to move...

12 Maalis 202027min

Keeping White Power at the Polls

Keeping White Power at the Polls

The United States of Anxiety presents: What Next "One person, one vote" has not always been a given in America. After the Civil War, there was some debate over who should be counted in a congressional...

5 Maalis 202022min

A Secret Meeting in South Bend

A Secret Meeting in South Bend

Mike Jackson, like many descendants of the Great Migration, has a family home that was built from protest, resilience and ingenuity. In the spring of 1950, his parents met in secret with 25 other fami...

27 Helmi 202044min

Fragility in Liberty

Fragility in Liberty

Many of us associate the Statue of Liberty with the poem mounted on her pedestal: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” The monument has become a symbol of imm...

20 Helmi 202041min

Paralysis at the Crossroads

Paralysis at the Crossroads

As primary season kicks off, Democratic voters around the country face a deeper choice than electability: Is the best response to Donald Trump a return to comity and unity in our politics, or must the...

13 Helmi 202022min

Two Schools in Marin County

Two Schools in Marin County

Last year, the California Attorney General held a tense press conference at a tiny elementary school in the one working class, black neighborhood of the mostly wealthy and white Marin County. His offi...

6 Helmi 202051min

40 Acres in Mississippi

40 Acres in Mississippi

Elbert Lester has lived his full 94 years in Quitman County, Mississippi, on land he and his family own. That’s exceptional for black people in this area, and some family members even say the land cam...

30 Tammi 202043min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
aikalisa
politiikan-puskaradio
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
tervo-halme
rss-podme-livebox
rss-asiastudio
otetaan-yhdet
rss-raha-talous-ja-politiikka
the-ulkopolitist
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
linda-maria
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
rss-polikulaari-pitka-kiekko-ja-muut-ts-podcastit
rss-hyvaa-huomenta-bryssel
rss-sinivalkoinen-islam
rss-tasta-on-kyse-ivan-puopolo-verkkouutiset
rss-girls-finish-f1rst
rss-ulkopoditiikkaa