Ep. 353 Monuments Are Memories with Irvin Weathersby Jr.

The Stacks

Traci Thomas

Literature, Society & Culture, Books, Arts

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, we're joined by author and educator Irvin Weathersby Jr. to discuss his new book, In Open Contempt: Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space. We delve into the complicated legacy of monuments and art—what they represent, how they uphold systems of white supremacy, and what it takes to envision something new. Irvin also shares how his identity as a “teacher who writes” informs his work and perspective.

The Stacks Book Club pick for January is The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. We will discuss the book on January 29th with J Wortham returning as our guest.

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:

https://thestackspodcast.com/2025/1/8/ep-353-Irvin-Weathersby

Connect with Irvin: Instagram | Website

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I think my moments could be a very fluid kind of concept in the sense that you have this physical structure.
0:06.6	But I think my elements are also really more expansive in that.
0:09.9	My elements are often memories that we hold dear to ourselves.
0:13.4	I'm not necessarily 100% going to always lean to say that this has to come down.
0:19.1	There's some things that I feel like, yes, absolutely this is racist. This needs to come down. But Titus Kaffar, he actually mentions this,
0:26.0	you know, frequently. He says we should amend these things.
0:34.3	Welcome to the Stacks, a podcast about books and the people who read them. I'm your host, Tracy
0:38.3	Thomas, and today I'm thrilled to welcome to the podcast, Irvin Wethersby, Jr. Irvin is a writer,
0:44.5	educator, and activist whose work delves into the complexities of race, history, art, and social
0:49.9	justice. His debut book is called In Open Contempt, Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public
0:56.0	Spaces. It's a travelogue that reaches into American history and reflects the country's
1:00.6	systemic inequality alongside a public fight for change. Today, Irvin and I talk about what
1:06.0	witnessing progress feels like, where change can and should happen, and what perspective
1:10.7	means when
1:11.4	exploring these challenging public works. Don't forget, our January book club pick is the
1:16.4	Ministry of Time by Calli Ann Bradley. Jay Wortham will be back on Wednesday, January 29th, to
1:22.0	discuss this book with me. Be sure to read along and tune in. Quick reminder, everything we
1:26.7	talk about on each episode of
1:28.0	the Stacks can be found in the link in the show notes. And if you love this podcast and you want
1:32.4	inside access to it, you can go to tracythomas.substack.com to subscribe to my newsletter and you
1:39.2	can join our bookish community at patreon.com slash the stacks. And for a limited time through the end of January,
1:46.3	you can still get a shout out on this very podcast when you join the stacks pack. So shout
	...

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