Listen to this week's episode to hear our host Tonya Mosley and Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy: An American Memoir, unpack the question: "How are black Americans expected to overcome and thrive in this country without the necessary mechanisms of healing?" This question comes from actor Boris Kodjoe, who you may have seen in shows like "Code Black," "Station 19" and the movie "Brown Sugar."
Kodjoe was born and raised in Germany, and ever since he arrived in the United States he’s thought, “I never understood how African Americans were expected to thrive.”
Laymon said he found the answer in Mississippi where he was born and raised. “I actually think that our healing mechanisms – and this is scary – are a little bit better than white folks,” he said. “At least down here in Mississippi.”
Mosley and Laymon’s conversation flows through topics like mothers and children, isolation and protests. And, of course, it ends with therapy.