Four new episodes premiering Tuesdays beginning April 23

Why Race Matters, a digital series elevating issues of importance affecting Wisconsin’s Black communities, returns to PBS Wisconsin with four all-new episodes.

Stream the first episode now at whyracematters.org and on the free PBS App on all streaming devices and smart TVs. New episodes premiere each Tuesday through May 14.

Host and producer Angela Fitzgerald connects in conversation with everyday people whose work and commitments center on race, identity and achieving racial equity in the state. The program shares the layered, lived experiences of Black people in Wisconsin, exploring topics simultaneously historic and urgent — offering hope, guidance and resources to thrive.

“It is our hope that Why Race Matters sparks conversations, shifts thinking and ultimately continues to provoke the change that we need to become a more equitable Wisconsin,” Fitzgerald said.

In this season premiere episode, available now, Fitzgerald speaks with Chevon Bowen, a Workplace Culture Strategist at Madison Area Technical College, about how equity, diversity and inclusion practices are prioritized and executed within specific schools, disciplines and departments.

Premiering April 30, episode two discusses the issue of gun violence with Aaron Hicks, an outreach worker for Focused Interruption, an organization that uses a holistic approach to reduce generational trauma by providing evidence-based intervention and prevention services to people, neighborhoods and families impacted by firearm-based violence.

Premiering May 7, episode three investigates the racialized lived realities of charter schools and school choice policy and practice, the persistence of anti-Blackness in education and culturally relevant and restorative justice approaches in education that were brought to light by COVID-19 with Dr. Kevin Lawrence Henry Jr., an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

And, in the season finale premiering May 14, Fitzgerald explores ways to create and sustain an empowering environment for LGBTQ+ students and allies with Tiffany Lee, a Crossroads coordinator at UW-Madison.

Each new episode will stream at whyracematters.org and on the free PBS App beginning the day of their release.

Funding for Why Race Matters is provided by UnityPoint Health - Meriter, Park Bank, donors to the Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

PBS Wisconsin is a service of the Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

PBS Wisconsin is a place to grow through learning on WHA-TV, Madison; WPNE-TV, Green Bay; WHRM-TV, Wausau; WLEF-TV, Park Falls; WHLA-TV, La Crosse; and WHWC-TV, Menomonie-Eau Claire.

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