Happy Birthday America, a voice memo

We're Having a Moment

Insider voice memo 2: Happy Birthday, America

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Insider voice memo 2: Happy Birthday, America

I’m temporarily lowering the paywall to celebrate my country’s birthday

Baratunde Thurston

Jul 04, 2021

Good day you!

I’ve made the decision to temporarily let all my paywall content from this Substack roam free. I’d love you to get a feel for what I’m up to and push myself to experiment more. It feels appropriate to make this move on Independence Day in the United States.

What I’m sharing is an audio version of a birthday letter I wrote to my country. Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper requested my submission along with those of several others. But for you, I wanted to share my actual voice, so listen to the attached audio file. Since this post is going to everyone, anyone can comment on it as well.

I wish you the best day possible, and I wish that for you every day.

Happy Birthday, America!

I searched my photo library for images of me with a US flag, and this image from a 2017 show at Dartmouth came up, so I’m going with it!

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We're Having a Moment

It's true. We all feel it in the United States. We are having some kind of moment. Where it goes, we can't say, but right here, right now, something significant is happening involving race and in particular, policing. In this limited run series, Baratunde Thurston explains and explores what feels like a defining moment in American history.When Mitt Romney joins a Black Lives Matter march, when NASCAR bans the Confederate flag, when major cities actually contemplate defunding the police, and when Adidas retweets Nike in support of Black lives, something big is going on.

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