Fresh Air Weekend: Podcaster Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr.; Actor Courtney B. Vance

Fresh Air

Published April 24, 2021 at 6:01 AM PDT

Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. was born in Sierra Leone and came to the U.S. when he was 8. He regrets that he no longer has an accent. "The accent is like a reminder of who you are and it's a reminder of where you come from," he says.

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

Podcaster Chronicles Racism, 'Resistance' And The Fight For Black Lives: Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. lost a close friend from college to police violence. His podcast explores different aspects of the movement for Black lives — including Tejan-Thomas Jr.'s personal history.

Acting Is 'Problem Solving,' Says Courtney B. Vance: Vance played the charismatic and show-stopping attorney Johnnie Cochran in The People v. O.J. Simpson. Now he takes to the pulpit as Aretha Franklin's father, Rev. C.L Franklin, in Genius: Aretha.

You can listen to the original interviews and review here:

Podcaster Chronicles Racism, 'Resistance' And The Fight For Black Lives

Acting Is 'Problem Solving,' Says Courtney B. Vance