Are you a Kentucky native or a transplant to Kentucky from somewhere else? The way I got to Kentucky was … unexpected. I am a black man from a military background who always expected to live in a culturally blacker and more diverse state. It took some time to get used to living in Kentucky. But I started my life, grew my family, and made lifelong friends here in Kentucky. And through all that, I have learned much about myself and reflected on my black experience in this white southern state. So I am doing this podcast because I'm curious to connect with people and learn what connects them to Kentucky, their connection to Black Kentucky and Kentuckians, and what the Bluegrass state can teach us all about ourselves as Americans.
You've heard the phrase, right: we're all in this together? Well, whether you were black and forced marched, white and contracted by wealthy land barons, or an indigenous tribesperson that experienced a forcing out on the Kentucky frontier, everyone was all in it together.
Most people know history is essential and that, in some way, we are part of the unfolding of history. But understanding that idea in the context of Kentucky history is a unique opportunity to understand the often ugly and conflict-wrought process of democratization, of becoming Americans, and, ultimately, what it took for this place we live in to become what we call the United States of America.
This podcast centralizes Kentucky through the lens of the black experience, and we are fortunate to talk to people from every racial and ethnic background to do so. BITB: a public podcast aims to build a catalog of conversations with people today who in some way are connected to Kentucky and the black experience over space and time and legacy and to offer future enthusiasts and scholars of the Black experience in the Bluegrass State a record of our life in time and what we find important to discuss today.
I'm Stacy Brooks, and I've been a Kentucky resident since 1997, when I was stationed at Fort Knox after completing basic training for the Army.
Moving to Kentucky from Chicago's south side was a real culture shock. It felt restrictive and isolating. I felt the demographic imbalance immediately and felt a sense of isolation from the black folks I met who were native to Kentucky. Whenever I met new people, a social ritual would occur. By the end, I had been identified as an outsider and thus less critical of whatever else might follow afterward.
"What high school did you go to?"
In Louisville, that's the question and the beginning of the social ritual that leaves outsiders bemused - why are they asking me this question? The question is about place and connection, but for the outsider, the Kentuckian transplanted from another native home, the ritual's outcome is - you ain't from here. Your story matters less.
I'm afraid I have to disagree with that idea, and to create a more inclusive ritual Black in the Bluegrass envisions a new equitable, diverse, and inclusive -ritual with the following question:
"What's your connection to Kentucky?"
Through conversation, there is more connecting us than differentiating us. Yet we tend to sustain the differences instead of leaning into our connections. BITB hopes to demonstrate, through intentional conversation, that what connects us is way more remarkable if we take the time to embrace it.
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