American Suburb

Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the Delta, 45 miles from San Francisco. But is this once sleepy suburb ready for them? KQED’s Devin Katayama and Sandhya Dirks explore that question, taking us into the ordinary spaces of suburban life to find extraordinary stories about race, poverty and belonging.

Episodes

Chapter 9: We Too Sing Antioch

September 20, 2017 • 40 mins

A school counselor and local pastor arranges a middle school graduation celebration for African American students, but protests against the ceremony lead to racist graffiti on the pastor’s church door. Nowhere are the changing demographics of suburbs like Antioch clearer than in the city’s classrooms. But while the population of students is shifting, many of the educators still remain the same, and black students are far more like...

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Chapter 8: Rabbit Hole

September 20, 2017 • 21 mins

It can be hard to get back on your feet when you’re starting from scratch — even when opportunity falls in your lap. We meet Kevin Kunze, who was living on the streets until Doug Stewart decided to do something unusual: He took Kevin home with him to live with the Stewart family. It’s a test for the family, but an even harder one for Kevin.

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Chapter 7: The Field

September 20, 2017 • 19 mins

Antioch residents are finding it hard to ignore the increasing number of destitute people living on the streets. Last year, the number of people living unsheltered grew by 30 percent in the far eastern Contra Costa suburbs– the rest of the county saw declines. In this chapter Devin joins a group of drifters who’ve set up camp in an abandoned field on the edge of town. They’re honing their survival techniques and dodging authorities...

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Chapter 6: Reasonable Fear

September 20, 2017 • 40 mins

More African Americans are now living in suburbs than anywhere else. And some of the country’s most recent controversial police shootings of unarmed black men took place in the suburbs outside St. Louis, St. Paul and Orlando. In suburban Antioch, police chief Allan Cantando is trying to bridge divides with the new community. To do that, he meets with a class of college students and asks them to role play as cops. Meanwhile, a budd...

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Chapter 5: How to Change Your Mind

September 20, 2017 • 28 mins

Iris Archuleta is the daughter of a Black Panther who grew up in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury. She and her husband were part of the first wave of upper middle class African-Americans who moved to Antioch 20 years ago. This is the story of an unlikely alliance between Iris and the Antioch police. Both reject the single narrative here of “poor blacks” and the “inner city” moving out to Antioch. For them, Antioch is actually doing t...

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Chapter 4: Make Great America Again

September 20, 2017 • 24 mins

A small group of Muslim families were meeting out of garages before they purchased an old dentist office for their new mosque. After the Islamic Center of the East Bay was torched in 2007, the group must decide whether to rebuild in Antioch or leave the city.

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Chapter 3: How to Survive an Exodus

September 20, 2017 • 27 mins

When African-Americans priced out of Bay Area cities like San Francisco, Fremont and Oakland move to suburban Antioch looking for better schools, more affordable homes and safer streets, they find a mixed blessing. When church is a refuge, it means either commuting on Sunday morning back to the cities they left behind, or creating new church in Antioch. This is the story of a migration to a new home, and three men’s search for sa...

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Chapter 2: Friday Night Lights

September 20, 2017 • 22 mins

With the country’s No. 1 high school football recruit - Najee Harris - Principal Louie Rocha and the Antioch High School football team haven’t had it this good since 1978. It was a nearly all-white team then. It’s not that way anymore. And there have been racial tensions since the city started to change. Now, Rocha has a chance to change that. But only if he can bring the older generation back to cheer for a team that doesn’t look ...

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Chapter 1: The Tipping Point

September 20, 2017 • 42 mins

A police chief in Antioch leads a team to investigate citizen complaints. But some say the complaints mostly target newer black residents. Across town, a lawyer is determined to bring down the Antioch Police Department, accusing them of ethnic cleansing. In between, neighbors are fighting neighbors over who can call this place home.

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Chapter 0: Welcome to American Suburb

September 22, 2017 • 4 mins

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American Suburb

Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Chapter 9: We Too Sing Antioch

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Chapter 8: Rabbit Hole

Chapter 7: The Field

Chapter 6: Reasonable Fear

Chapter 5: How to Change Your Mind

Chapter 4: Make Great America Again

Chapter 3: How to Survive an Exodus

Chapter 2: Friday Night Lights

Chapter 1: The Tipping Point

Chapter 0: Welcome to American Suburb

Popular Podcasts

Chapter 9: We Too Sing Antioch

Chapter 8: Rabbit Hole