The Promised Land
Antonio Saunders
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Welcome to The Promised Land - A podcast where we take you on a journey to meet the people on the periphery of society creating the world as it should be.
We’ll begin re-sowing the connections that we’ve started losing, making what now feels like the wildly disparate--the white opioid crisis and the black crack epidemic; the notion of one God, made partisan; men confronting and healing their interior #MeToo stories--and bringing us back to a singular land where all our stories can co-exist alongside one another.
The Promised Land was designed to spark our imaginations to design a radically different future and place that centers on the assets of Black and Brown culture and identity. We’re not a podcast or even a conversation; we’re a destination.
Available episodes
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Oldest first
Oct 25, 2021
Welcome to The Promised Land
Despite living in an era of unparalleled connectivity, we’re arguably more disconnected than ever. Some of the very means of keeping us together—traditional ones such as churches, neighborhoods, schools, and television, and emerging ones like social media, apps, and the gig economy—have served to expose how far apart we are becoming, and in some situations, have always been. The differences we’re seeing in gender, political views, racial identities, sexuality, and sometimes all of these at once, have drawn battle lines. As a result, we need not only new conversations but an entirely new destination. If we continue in this fashion, we might find ourselves in such a societal moral drift that we’ll never recover.
With “The Promised Land” we’ll begin re-sowing the connections that we’ve started to lose. We’ll take what now feels wildly disparate—the white opioid crisis and the black crack epidemic; the notion of one God, made partisan; men confronting and healing…
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Oct 1, 2021
God is Republican Part 1
Set in Chicago, this episode follows an ardent believer attending a prominent bible college and evangelizing to lost souls on the south side of Chicago, when his faith begins to unravel. Torn between his deep conservative theology forged at age 13, and a new awakening to more inclusive worldview, Brandon has to make a decision to remain in seminary or break away from the church to adopt a more radical view of Christianity.
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Oct 1, 2021
Opioid Vs. Crack Part 1
Crack users had two options: get clean or go to jail. When the government walked away, two dynamic women working in drug harm reduction work, started an underground treatment program deemed illegal—they kept it running by navigating legal loopholes. Thelma and Louise, much like the fictional characters, are two friends who become partners in starting controversial clean needle exchanges to support users instead of telling them to quit. The shift of paradigm made the user the expert with one simple statement: “I can never be clean because I was never dirty.”
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Oct 1, 2021
White Work Part 1
It might be considered one of the more idyllic, utopian, and enlightened settings in America: a white liberal church. Female ministers, social justice ministries, and diverse churchgoers are symbols of racial progress—yet, they have in many cases opted out of the real fight for equality. In this episode, we meet Amy and Debbie as they walk into this church. The mission is to do white work starting with the clergy, to tell those who think they are doing the work that they really aren’t making a difference. How will they respond? Will they step up, or back down?
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Oct 1, 2021
God is Republican Part 2
It’s moments before Pastor Michael has to make an announcement to his congregation, after a week of contemplating whether it's the right decision. He’s been following similar decisions from other ministries which resulted in steep declines in membership, forcing some to close their doors. He’s forced to decide what comes first: Church Business or God’s Business.
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Oct 1, 2021
Opioid Vs. Crack Part 3
He was the most revered man in the drug empire. Drug Lords are a necessary evil. They steal to give. In this episode, Eric Gardener is untouchable; he is your typical vigilante who steals and destroys to prosper the weak and vulnerable. White America went into the American dream and locked the door to economic freedom and prosperity, leaving drug lords with the dual roles of destroying the community and saving it at the same time. In this episode we meet Jesse, who is on the run from the police. We follow him as he navigates a world of drugs, crime, imprisonment, and pain.
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Oct 1, 2021
The Fight for Me Part 2
The common advice when you are searching for a therapist is “try two or three” to fine one that fits. I had a short list of the attributes I wanted in someone to whom I would eventually reveal all of life's darkest moments, but to my surprise, I got someone I that wouldn’t have made the list. In the episode, my therapist Kelly and I discuss the early days of forming our relationship, the treatments I underwent, and how we show up for each other across many lines of connection and difference.
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Oct 1, 2021
God is Democrat Part 1
Pews are empty as church membership declines. Reports say our grandmother's religion doesn’t resonate with our generation. Antonio reconnects with his college pastor, Bishop L. Spenser Smith, to discuss the relevance of the Black church in our community and political process. The candor leads to a long overdue and personal conversation, exploring the politics of Black Jesus and Antonio’s sexuality.
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Oct 1, 2021
God is Democrat Part 2
The bible was created by men for men, positioning the role of women in the gospel secondary throughout scripture. In the culminating episode in this series, we depict God as a Black woman made in the image of her creator. Our guest, Rev Yolanda Norton tells us the unfiltered truth about who exactly God is, overcoming the political jockeying to bring God to our side. This is one God, one fight, and one salvation, and she shows us all how to move in that holy direction.
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Oct 1, 2021
Opioid Vs. Crack Part 2
Underground drug markets are male-dominated, but women have an advantage in the cartel economy, using their femininity to remain inconspicuous in a variety of situations. As drug lords worked their way from corner boy to Frank Lucas status, women became more involved. In this episode, we meet Margaret, a shy, unassuming girl until she met a guy and fell in love. The cartel ecosystem entangled Margaret, her kids, and her life in a web of street cops, the court system, and child welfare services. Where did 1980s women end up in life? What are they doing now? What do they think about the growing role of women in drug culture?
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Oct 1, 2021
The Fight for Me Part 1
Five years ago, I came into therapy thinking it would be a fleeting exercise in recounting my traumatic childhood and the resulting issues we still navigate today. It became much more, a core ritual to my existence, as I uncovered and reset the unconscious patterns of all the facets of my life. In this episode, I bring you into a routine appointment as I discuss the realities of supporting my family while making more room for me.
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Oct 1, 2021
White Work Part 3
While onboarding for a new role, Taylor discovers his school district set lower academic targets for Black students than their white peers. He now wants to take steps to address this disparity but doesn’t know to get started. In Part 3 of our series White Work, we’re examining whiteness through the lens of Taylor’s experience: a white educator whose racial epiphanies are coming through a very professional context. As he comes face to face with standards, mindsets, and a web of biases, he talks with our guest host, Laura, about moving from a reactive to proactive place in his whiteness and his White Work.
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Oct 1, 2021
White Work Part 2
James’ life is changing rapidly. His white community is choosing to opt out of neighborhood schools, leaving families without the means to navigate the gaps. He wife is expecting their first child soon, and they want to parent in an anti-racist way. He’s an assistant principal at a low-income school that disproportionately suspends boys of color.Our second episode in our series, White Work, is centered around James—a common white man—who now has to engage with his white peers to understand the truths of their community and find solutions where they see there are none. This episode is about a white man, who could easily be your neighbor, your boss, or your landlord, confronting his role in society, both as a man of authority and as a father, to undo the generations of pain imposed on black folks to this day.
This is a story of a man finding what it means to do his White Work.
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