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Speaker 1: Pushkin Stevie Lane, Hello, Jonathan, I thought your generation doesn't

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Speaker 1: abide by telephone calls.

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Speaker 2: When my name popped up. Did you think this is

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Speaker 2: an emergency?

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Speaker 1: Is it an emergency?

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Speaker 2: It is sort of an emergency. It's a story emergency.

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Speaker 3: Oh that is an emergency. Yeah, okay, you need my help.

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Speaker 2: No, I actually I don't need your help. I have

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Speaker 2: a story for you today.

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Speaker 1: So you need my help listening to it? Well, why

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Speaker 1: don't you just ask me to listen to your story?

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Speaker 2: Will you please listen to my story?

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Speaker 3: I'm gonna say no, what Yes, of course, you're gonna

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Speaker 3: press the play button.

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna start it right now.

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Speaker 1: Okay, there you go.

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Speaker 2: Boom from Pushkin Industries. I'm Stevie Lane and this is

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Speaker 2: Heavyweight Today's episode Jasmine right after the break. There are

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Speaker 2: moments in life that unfold like a movie, moments we

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Speaker 2: replay over and over in our heads. Hello, how are you?

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Speaker 2: I'm good? How are you? Jasmine has a moment like that,

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Speaker 2: a pivotal scene in the story of her life, and

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Speaker 2: it's a scene that takes place where many pivotal movie

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Speaker 2: moments do. At a high school dance fourteen years ago.

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Speaker 2: It isn't as pig bloody as the prom and Carrie

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Speaker 2: nor as teen Wolfe as the one from Teen Wolf,

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Speaker 2: but it's every bit as cinematic. And to fully understand

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Speaker 2: that night of spaghetti strap dresses and party rock anthem

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Speaker 2: on gymnasium speakers, I have to zoom out and start

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Speaker 2: with the setting where the dance took place, the city

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Speaker 2: where Jasmine grew up, Springfield, Oregon.

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Speaker 4: There's hardly any black people, and in every class I

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Speaker 4: was in, it would be just me and like one

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Speaker 4: or two other girls.

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Speaker 2: Census estimates put the population of black residents in Springfield

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Speaker 2: at around one percent.

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Speaker 4: Oregon was one of the first states to outlaw slavery,

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Speaker 4: but not because they believed that black people were worthy

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Speaker 4: of not being slaves, because they didn't want black people

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Speaker 4: in the state at all. They outlawed slavery in order

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Speaker 4: to keep black folks.

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Speaker 2: From being there.

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Speaker 4: So there's just this ignorance and this like odd energy.

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Speaker 2: There by odd energy, Jasmine is talking about the unapologetic

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Speaker 2: racism she experienced all the time from a very young age,

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Speaker 2: Like when Jasmine was seven and told by her friend

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Speaker 2: that her friend's dad wouldn't like Jasmine because he quote

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Speaker 2: didn't like black people. Or when in a high school

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Speaker 2: drama class, everyone was instructed to write each other nice notes,

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Speaker 2: Jasmine reads me one, I love your positive attitude, and

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Speaker 2: I believe it's an exception to your ethnicity. You are

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Speaker 2: a credit to your race. Or when Jasmine was in

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Speaker 2: a school play and had a stage kiss with her

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Speaker 2: scene partner who was white.

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Speaker 4: And we kissed and then he goes, m tastes like

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Speaker 4: black cherry, like that kind of stuff all the time,

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Speaker 4: to the point that you know, you just laugh and

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Speaker 4: you're like ha ha ha, but don't know why it

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Speaker 4: makes you feel a certain way because everyone is laughing,

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Speaker 4: like even in your close friends, because they also, like,

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Speaker 4: do think it's funny? I think we actually sometimes even

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Speaker 4: participated in the jokes at our own expense, because it's like,

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Speaker 4: if you can get ahead of it, then it won't

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Speaker 4: hurt as bad.

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Speaker 2: How is it talked about in your family?

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Speaker 4: You know, it just wasn't. And we always like prided

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Speaker 4: ourselves on being a family that can talk about things,

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Speaker 4: but race was never brought up.

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Speaker 2: Jasmine's dad is black, but they didn't have much of

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Speaker 2: a relationship growing up. She was raised by her mom,

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Speaker 2: who was white. Among her white aunts and white uncles

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Speaker 2: and white cousins, Jasmine was the only person of color

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Speaker 2: within her family.

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Speaker 4: I don't think I even heard anyone in my family

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Speaker 4: say the word black. It almost felt like a bad

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Speaker 4: word kind of. I just always felt so ugly, honestly,

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Speaker 4: like just ugly and frizzy and not shiny.

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Speaker 2: It was a feeling that falls Jasmine all the way

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Speaker 2: until senior year, all the way until homecoming.

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Speaker 4: So you know, it's September and it's time to vote

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Speaker 4: for homecoming Queen, and it's like such a big deal

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Speaker 4: and a marker of popularity and beauty and worth and importance.

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Speaker 2: So this was like a big deal. Like did you

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Speaker 2: remember those seniors that were king and queen in previous years?

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Speaker 4: Well, yeah, I think it was Jessica Ray and James

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Speaker 4: Quinn the year before.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, like it's a thing. Jasmine was sitting in class

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Speaker 2: when the PA system came on. Everyone was listening for

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Speaker 2: who would be named homecoming royalty first, the homecoming court

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Speaker 2: was announced princes and princesses.

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Speaker 4: And I'm pretty sure they saved the queen for last,

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Speaker 4: and they said my name, and I was in shock, Like,

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Speaker 4: not only did they announce me as homecoming queen. But

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Speaker 4: Jacob King, who was like the most popular boy all

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Speaker 4: American football player, he was homecoming King. I was like,

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Speaker 4: how is it him and me? And I remember being like,

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Speaker 4: oh my god, Like did they mess up?

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Speaker 2: The homecoming queen was usually someone popular and cool, two

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Speaker 2: things Jasmine says that she wasn't in high school. She

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Speaker 2: was a self proclaimed theater nerd from a conservative Christian

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Speaker 2: household who was never invited to a single house party

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Speaker 2: or asked out on a date. But it wasn't a

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Speaker 2: mess up or a prank. After the announcement, kids came

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Speaker 2: up and congratulated her. Maybe Jasmine had been wrong about

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Speaker 2: how her classmates saw her. The rest of the day,

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Speaker 2: Jasmine walked through the hallways as though floating through a dream.

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Speaker 2: A few days later, Jasmine's queendom was announced at the

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Speaker 2: homecoming football game. There on the field, Jasmine received a

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Speaker 2: sash and a bouquet. The Springfield Times came to take

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Speaker 2: her picture. But the thing Jasmine was most excited for

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Speaker 2: was the homecoming dance. The night of the dance, Jasmine's

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Speaker 2: mom helped her with her hair and makeup. She met

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Speaker 2: up at a friend's house beforehand to have dinner Martin

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Speaker 2: Ellie's and mac and cheese and get ready. Jasmine wore

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Speaker 2: her coolest outfit, a short, black strapless dress with lime

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Speaker 2: green feather earrings, lime green half leggings, and lime green

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Speaker 2: fingerless gloves. And in case you're thinking geez, that's a

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Speaker 2: lot of lime green, I'd like to remind you that

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Speaker 2: this was high school in twenty eleven. My favorite outfit

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Speaker 2: was a lime green skirt with a lime green tank top.

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Speaker 2: I had a lime green cell phone and lime green

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Speaker 2: floaty flip flops. Lime Green was cool, okay, and Jasmine

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Speaker 2: looked cool on her way to the dance. What were

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Speaker 2: your expectations for the night. What did you think was

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Speaker 2: going to happen?

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Speaker 4: I thought that they would call my name and it

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Speaker 4: would be my movie moment, Like everyone would clap and

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Speaker 4: shout and a spotlight would hit the center of the

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Speaker 4: room and I would make my way toward Jacob King

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Speaker 4: and maybe he would even whisper in my ear I've

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Speaker 4: always been in love with you. And then you know,

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Speaker 4: everyone would slowly like dance around us and it would

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Speaker 4: be like, Wow, you've always been so beautiful and.

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Speaker 2: Cool, Jasmon, you really had big expectations.

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Speaker 5: I really did.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I grew up watching like a Cinderella story

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Speaker 4: and what a girl wants and that's how they all end.

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Speaker 2: You know. Yeah, I thought it would change everything. In fact,

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Speaker 2: it did not. And here is the moment that's been

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Speaker 2: plaguing Jasmine for years.

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Speaker 4: I don't know if they cut the music or if they.

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Speaker 2: Just turned it down.

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Speaker 4: And they announced and now it's time for our homecoming dance.

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Speaker 4: My heart's beating so fast, you know, my stomach is

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Speaker 4: like about to fall out of my butt.

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Speaker 2: I'm so excited.

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Speaker 4: And then they go.

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Speaker 2: Our homecoming King Jacob.

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Speaker 4: And everyone's like, whooh, crappy.

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Speaker 2: And our homecoming Clean Whitney.

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Speaker 4: Whitney, and it was really like a record scratch. Like

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Speaker 4: in my head, I was like, wait what.

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Speaker 2: Whitney was one of the few other black girls in

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Speaker 2: Jasmine's grade.

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Speaker 4: And I thought I mishard and I but I was

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Speaker 4: kind of frozen, and I'm just looking around and it's

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Speaker 4: like the room is spinning and I'm feeling crazy and

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Speaker 4: I'm like, oh my god, oh that just happened.

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Speaker 2: Overcome humiliated, Jasmine ran out of the gym to the

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Speaker 2: courtyard or she collapsed at a table and cried. When

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Speaker 2: eventually she dried her eyes and returned to the dance,

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Speaker 2: no one said anything to her about it, so she

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Speaker 2: just did what everyone else was doing. She danced, she

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Speaker 2: talked to friends, she went home. I don't know, I

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Speaker 2: don't know what happened. And this is what Jasmine has

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Speaker 2: wondered ever since. Why Whitney's name was called instead of hers.

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Speaker 2: Over the years, she's developed two possible theories. First, was

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Speaker 2: one black girl mistaken for another. That's what Jasmine's best

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Speaker 2: friend from high school, Danika, has always thought. Danika is

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Speaker 2: also biracial, and remembers the moment the wrong name was

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Speaker 2: called to her. It didn't seem that crazy that at

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Speaker 2: their high school one black girl might be confused for another.

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Speaker 2: I think that we were all a little bit interchangeable,

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Speaker 2: she tells me. But then there's Jasmine's second theory, and

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Speaker 2: even worse possibility. Could it be? Jasmine wonders that the

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Speaker 2: announcement had been rigged. Whitney as an athlete, she was

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Speaker 2: well liked, and she was their senior class president. In

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Speaker 2: other words, Whitney was the popular black girl. She was

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Speaker 2: part of the tight knit group of popular girls in

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Speaker 2: Jasmine's grade.

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Speaker 4: Like she was considered, like she was a pretty black

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Speaker 4: girl and always straightened her hair. Like I used to

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Speaker 4: remember thinking, when does suck girl sleep? Because she is

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Speaker 4: in every single honors class and she's always wearing makeup

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Speaker 4: and she streams her hair every day. There's no way

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Speaker 4: she gets more than three hours of sleep at night.

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Speaker 4: Like it just blew my mind.

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Speaker 2: In many ways, Whitney was the more obvious choice for

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Speaker 2: homecoming queen, which is why it felt to Jasmine like

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Speaker 2: some secret decision had been made, Like if we're going

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Speaker 2: to have a black homecoming queen, it's going to be

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Speaker 2: the popular black girl, not you. After all, it didn't

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Speaker 2: feel like a mistake.

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Speaker 4: In my memory, no one was looking at me like wait, what,

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Speaker 4: Like it felt like everyone in the room wasn't on

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Speaker 4: something I wasn't in on, like there had been a

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Speaker 4: consensus reached that on the day it would be a.

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Speaker 2: Whitney and not me, because no one else seemed shocked.

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Speaker 2: But Jasmine never found out what happened that night or

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Speaker 2: why was it a mix up?

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Speaker 4: Or like is the why that there could only be

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Speaker 4: one black girl at the top? Is the why that

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Speaker 4: they hated me? For some reason. It's like, even in

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Speaker 4: this moment and throughout this conversation, I've oscillated between Okay, yeah, no,

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Speaker 4: of course it was totally an accident and fuck that,

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Speaker 4: no it wasn't, and both of those feel intense, And

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Speaker 4: so it's like.

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Speaker 2: Where where to land? It's been fourteen years since homecoming,

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Speaker 2: but Jasmine thinks about it often, like once a week

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Speaker 2: for the last seven hundred and twenty eight weeks, not

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Speaker 2: that anyone's counting. Jasmine is an actor and success full one,

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Speaker 2: with major roles in Yellowjackets and The Leftovers. In twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty four, she was included in Forbes thirty Under thirty

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Speaker 2: list for Hollywood and Entertainment. She has a partner, a

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Speaker 2: beloved cat and dog, and a news podcast for the

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Speaker 2: queer community. By every metric, she's living a full and

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Speaker 2: happy life. And yet it's a moment she returns to

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Speaker 2: I just want to know why, Jasmine says, the popular

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Speaker 2: girls ran the homecoming committee. They might have the answer,

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Speaker 2: and Jasmine is still Facebook friends with a few and

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Speaker 2: can reach out. Sounds easy, right, No it doesn't.

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Speaker 4: I'm still scared of these girls, you know what I mean? Like, yeah,

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Speaker 4: the thought of that makes me feel nauseous.

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Speaker 2: But that's what I'm here for, to walk up to

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Speaker 2: the cool kids at their lunch table, so Jasmine doesn't

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00:13:58,730 --> 00:14:23,530
Speaker 2: have to after the break. The popular girls popular girls.

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Speaker 2: When I google the names Jasmine gives me, I find

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00:14:27,050 --> 00:14:29,490
Speaker 2: photos of them from high school. There are a lot

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00:14:29,490 --> 00:14:32,810
Speaker 2: of high ponytails and straight toothed smiles. There are a

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00:14:32,850 --> 00:14:36,570
Speaker 2: lot of sports action shots midspike and volleyball, or dribbling

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00:14:36,610 --> 00:14:40,530
Speaker 2: down the basketball court. There's a lot of eyeliner. These

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Speaker 2: are girls who knew how to dress and would never

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00:14:42,690 --> 00:14:46,090
Speaker 2: be caught dead in head to toe lime green, which yeah, fine,

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00:14:46,090 --> 00:14:49,570
Speaker 2: I'll admit it was never that cool. And the names

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00:14:49,930 --> 00:14:55,650
Speaker 2: they just sound like the names of popular girls. Ashley Bailey, Stephanie, Ali,

236
00:14:56,130 --> 00:15:00,010
Speaker 2: Caitlin with a Y, Cassidy with a K. But the

237
00:15:00,050 --> 00:15:04,250
Speaker 2: thing about the popular kids, their power is weakened with

238
00:15:04,330 --> 00:15:09,050
Speaker 2: time outside of high school, a decade even beyond college,

239
00:15:09,090 --> 00:15:14,210
Speaker 2: which they get much less intimidating. Or this is what

240
00:15:14,250 --> 00:15:17,250
Speaker 2: I'm telling myself as I clear my throat and make

241
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Speaker 2: the calls.

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00:15:18,530 --> 00:15:18,730
Speaker 1: Hi.

243
00:15:19,330 --> 00:15:24,450
Speaker 2: I'm calling for Ali, Hi, Stephanie, Hi, Cassidy. My name

244
00:15:24,530 --> 00:15:26,970
Speaker 2: is I'm trying to reach Keaitland, who the story is

245
00:15:26,970 --> 00:15:29,970
Speaker 2: actually about homecoming. Story I'm working on about homecoming. I'm

246
00:15:30,010 --> 00:15:31,850
Speaker 2: sure this is sort of a strange message, Rucy, You're

247
00:15:31,850 --> 00:15:38,690
Speaker 2: having a good day. Take care bye. Most of my

248
00:15:38,730 --> 00:15:42,130
Speaker 2: messages aren't returned. The couple of women who do call

249
00:15:42,170 --> 00:15:45,490
Speaker 2: me back say they remember Jasmine winning and the announcement

250
00:15:45,530 --> 00:15:48,210
Speaker 2: at the game, but not the incident at the dance.

251
00:15:49,210 --> 00:15:52,530
Speaker 2: So I phone Jacob King, the homecoming King. He's at

252
00:15:52,530 --> 00:15:55,250
Speaker 2: work and says he can talk later, but then texts

253
00:15:55,290 --> 00:15:58,970
Speaker 2: me minutes after backing out. I text asking if he

254
00:15:59,010 --> 00:16:01,610
Speaker 2: remembers the mix up and see the three dots typing,

255
00:16:02,250 --> 00:16:05,570
Speaker 2: then the three dots stop, ha ha, you were typing,

256
00:16:05,610 --> 00:16:09,490
Speaker 2: and then stop typing. I write the three dots reap here,

257
00:16:09,890 --> 00:16:13,050
Speaker 2: and this time he hit send. I don't have a

258
00:16:13,130 --> 00:16:17,210
Speaker 2: memory of that, and then, like everyone else, he stops

259
00:16:17,250 --> 00:16:17,930
Speaker 2: answering me.

260
00:16:18,690 --> 00:16:22,090
Speaker 4: Doesn't that point to something like, what are you defensive of?

261
00:16:22,290 --> 00:16:23,810
Speaker 4: If there's nothing to be defensive of.

262
00:16:24,570 --> 00:16:27,810
Speaker 2: It's true, and maybe they all have something to hide,

263
00:16:28,410 --> 00:16:30,970
Speaker 2: but maybe they just don't like the implication that a

264
00:16:31,050 --> 00:16:32,570
Speaker 2: racist mistake was made.

265
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Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, if only someone would just like talk the talk.

266
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Speaker 2: And one popular girl does Bailey and Bailey talks the

267
00:16:45,170 --> 00:16:50,570
Speaker 2: talk to me about a key piece of information. The

268
00:16:50,610 --> 00:16:53,930
Speaker 2: popular girls I've been calling they weren't actually part of

269
00:16:53,970 --> 00:16:58,330
Speaker 2: planning homecoming, as Jasmine had thought. That job fell to

270
00:16:58,410 --> 00:17:05,010
Speaker 2: one person, the senior class president, aka Whitney, the very

271
00:17:05,129 --> 00:17:08,050
Speaker 2: same Whitney who was pronounced queen at the dance that

272
00:17:08,090 --> 00:17:12,210
Speaker 2: she apparently planned. And not only that, it turns out

273
00:17:12,250 --> 00:17:15,729
Speaker 2: Whitney was a princess on the homecoming court, the homecoming

274
00:17:15,810 --> 00:17:20,609
Speaker 2: queen runner up, a lady in waiting who dethrones the queen.

275
00:17:21,369 --> 00:17:24,530
Speaker 2: Was this an act of regicide, or at least the

276
00:17:24,609 --> 00:17:28,129
Speaker 2: high school version of it? At this point, it looks

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00:17:28,169 --> 00:17:31,169
Speaker 2: like the only person who might have the answers Jasmine's

278
00:17:31,169 --> 00:17:42,930
Speaker 2: looking for is Whitney. Jasmine says, asking Whitney feels scary,

279
00:17:43,530 --> 00:17:47,010
Speaker 2: even scarier in some ways than asking the other popular girls.

280
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Speaker 2: Because Whitney was a popular black girl, Jasmine, if only

281
00:17:51,449 --> 00:17:55,169
Speaker 2: in her own mind, often felt pitted against her, comparing

282
00:17:55,209 --> 00:17:58,770
Speaker 2: herself to Whitney coming up short, which the whole homecoming

283
00:17:58,810 --> 00:18:03,889
Speaker 2: debacle only reinforced. But recently, sitting at home late one night,

284
00:18:04,169 --> 00:18:07,929
Speaker 2: Jasmine googled Whitney's name. What popped up was an article

285
00:18:07,970 --> 00:18:11,050
Speaker 2: from the Guardian that Whitney wrote in twenty twenty eight

286
00:18:11,129 --> 00:18:14,449
Speaker 2: years after high school, and the subject of the article

287
00:18:14,490 --> 00:18:17,609
Speaker 2: Whitney wrote was what it was like growing up black

288
00:18:17,689 --> 00:18:22,090
Speaker 2: in Springfield. The racist jobs at school, the comments about

289
00:18:22,090 --> 00:18:25,250
Speaker 2: her hair, the jokes she made at her own expense,

290
00:18:25,889 --> 00:18:29,569
Speaker 2: and how confusing it was to navigate alone. There were

291
00:18:29,609 --> 00:18:33,169
Speaker 2: parts that felt lifted out of Jasmine's own life, Like

292
00:18:33,250 --> 00:18:37,810
Speaker 2: Jasmine Whitney's family didn't talk about race, Like Jasmine, Whitney

293
00:18:37,810 --> 00:18:40,409
Speaker 2: had a white mom and a black dad who wasn't home.

294
00:18:41,169 --> 00:18:44,969
Speaker 2: From the article, Jasmine learned that Whitney's father was incarcerated

295
00:18:45,010 --> 00:18:46,889
Speaker 2: for most of her childhood.

296
00:18:46,929 --> 00:18:50,409
Speaker 4: And that she would visit him weekly and was dealing

297
00:18:50,449 --> 00:18:56,609
Speaker 4: with this very heavy, very adult thing. I had these

298
00:18:56,649 --> 00:18:59,970
Speaker 4: stories about her and these assumptions. Meanwhile she was fighting

299
00:19:00,010 --> 00:19:04,289
Speaker 4: her own battles. How sad that we never and I

300
00:19:04,330 --> 00:19:06,889
Speaker 4: never knew that, and that we never connected on that.

301
00:19:09,409 --> 00:19:12,810
Speaker 2: Jasmine wonders, outside of the context of high school and

302
00:19:12,889 --> 00:19:18,129
Speaker 2: popular groups and homecoming and Springfield, maybe they can. Maybe

303
00:19:18,209 --> 00:19:21,570
Speaker 2: Jasmine can ask her what happened that night, addressing her

304
00:19:21,770 --> 00:19:24,609
Speaker 2: not as the girl she'd felt pitted against, but as

305
00:19:24,649 --> 00:19:39,169
Speaker 2: a woman with a shared past. After the break Whitney.

306
00:19:50,290 --> 00:19:52,570
Speaker 2: When I reach out to Whitney, I tell her about

307
00:19:52,570 --> 00:19:56,050
Speaker 2: this homecoming project, how Jasmine has questions about that night.

308
00:19:56,770 --> 00:19:59,850
Speaker 2: I expect that, like the other popular girls, she won't

309
00:19:59,850 --> 00:20:02,769
Speaker 2: want to talk, but she wants to help Jasmine, so

310
00:20:02,889 --> 00:20:06,889
Speaker 2: she agrees. Whitney now lives in Portland, Oregon, where she

311
00:20:06,970 --> 00:20:10,050
Speaker 2: works as a creative producer, and it just so happens

312
00:20:10,090 --> 00:20:12,689
Speaker 2: that in about a week Jasmine will be home for

313
00:20:12,730 --> 00:20:15,769
Speaker 2: a visit. So we meet up at a small Airbnb

314
00:20:15,970 --> 00:20:21,489
Speaker 2: I booked for the reunion. Hi, Bhi. Whitney and Jasmine

315
00:20:21,609 --> 00:20:29,129
Speaker 2: hug and greeting, Ah, you look great. They get settled

316
00:20:29,209 --> 00:20:32,409
Speaker 2: on two chairs facing each other. Whitney has her feet

317
00:20:32,490 --> 00:20:36,210
Speaker 2: up on her seat, Jasmine is smiling. This is crazy.

318
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Speaker 4: I feel like last time we saw each other was

319
00:20:38,570 --> 00:20:41,450
Speaker 4: high school, probably graduation day.

320
00:20:42,050 --> 00:20:45,770
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a ten year reunion, but Jasmine didn't go.

321
00:20:46,490 --> 00:20:49,489
Speaker 2: Neither did Whitney, even though she was supposed to organize it.

322
00:20:49,929 --> 00:20:53,729
Speaker 2: Apparently that's the job of the senior class president, which,

323
00:20:53,850 --> 00:20:56,649
Speaker 2: if you ask me, falls a little outside the term

324
00:20:56,770 --> 00:20:58,369
Speaker 2: for an elected high school official.

325
00:20:58,689 --> 00:21:00,010
Speaker 6: I promised an open bar.

326
00:21:00,129 --> 00:21:02,609
Speaker 2: I ran on that. You promised, who was going to

327
00:21:02,649 --> 00:21:03,210
Speaker 2: pay for that.

328
00:21:03,730 --> 00:21:07,690
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's a great question, but like seventeen, you don't

329
00:21:07,730 --> 00:21:08,249
Speaker 6: think about that.

330
00:21:09,129 --> 00:21:12,369
Speaker 2: But then Whitney spent the next ten years thinking about it,

331
00:21:12,570 --> 00:21:15,249
Speaker 2: stressing about disappointing people if she couldn't deliver.

332
00:21:15,609 --> 00:21:19,570
Speaker 6: Someone tweeted me five years later and said we didn't forget.

333
00:21:19,970 --> 00:21:23,490
Speaker 6: I was like, I'm gonna bar that's really funny.

334
00:21:23,609 --> 00:21:30,409
Speaker 2: Yeah, they both seem a little nervous, and so at first,

335
00:21:30,770 --> 00:21:34,530
Speaker 2: Jasmine tries to make Whitney feel comfortable. She tells Whitney

336
00:21:34,609 --> 00:21:37,770
Speaker 2: how much she liked her article. They trade horror stories

337
00:21:37,810 --> 00:21:38,569
Speaker 2: from high school.

338
00:21:39,209 --> 00:21:43,210
Speaker 6: Sophomore year, two of my friends came into my math

339
00:21:43,250 --> 00:21:46,129
Speaker 6: class and we're like, so, we've decided we're going to

340
00:21:46,169 --> 00:21:49,490
Speaker 6: initiate you as our black friend. It's going to rap

341
00:21:49,609 --> 00:21:52,050
Speaker 6: you in toilet paper and roll you down a hill.

342
00:21:52,369 --> 00:21:52,570
Speaker 4: What.

343
00:21:52,970 --> 00:21:56,889
Speaker 6: Yes, it's crazy, crazy.

344
00:21:56,609 --> 00:21:59,129
Speaker 4: And I'm sure it hurt. But I also there wasn't

345
00:21:59,169 --> 00:22:01,769
Speaker 4: even space to allow ourselves to be hurt because it

346
00:22:01,810 --> 00:22:04,010
Speaker 4: was so constant.

347
00:22:04,929 --> 00:22:08,770
Speaker 2: And for Whitney, it wasn't just the racism. Whitney says

348
00:22:08,810 --> 00:22:12,169
Speaker 2: she from a poor family. She grew up picking up

349
00:22:12,209 --> 00:22:16,570
Speaker 2: food boxes, getting her Thanksgiving meals from the school. Whitney

350
00:22:16,609 --> 00:22:18,530
Speaker 2: had to work hard to fit into that tight knit

351
00:22:18,609 --> 00:22:21,449
Speaker 2: group of middle class white girls. When she was going

352
00:22:21,449 --> 00:22:25,369
Speaker 2: to school every day without breakfast. Whitney says she acted

353
00:22:25,409 --> 00:22:28,210
Speaker 2: like a happy, go lucky kid, when in fact, from

354
00:22:28,250 --> 00:22:31,129
Speaker 2: a really young age, she was in survival mode.

355
00:22:31,169 --> 00:22:33,769
Speaker 6: Like I remember being in third grade being like I

356
00:22:33,770 --> 00:22:36,690
Speaker 6: can't even imagine high school because I'll probably die before then,

357
00:22:36,850 --> 00:22:38,329
Speaker 6: Like there's no way I'm actually ever going to make

358
00:22:38,369 --> 00:22:38,649
Speaker 6: it there.

359
00:22:44,889 --> 00:22:47,649
Speaker 2: Eventually, Jasmine brings up homecoming.

360
00:22:48,010 --> 00:22:51,850
Speaker 4: I want to get into the stuff.

361
00:22:52,129 --> 00:22:56,410
Speaker 2: And Whitney, without hesitation, is game. I'm sad, let's do.

362
00:22:56,449 --> 00:23:00,450
Speaker 4: It, Like I've just wanted to know your version of

363
00:23:00,490 --> 00:23:02,050
Speaker 4: what happened.

364
00:23:02,530 --> 00:23:05,570
Speaker 6: Yeah, so just to like go back, like I remember

365
00:23:05,770 --> 00:23:07,929
Speaker 6: the football game where it was like now it's so

366
00:23:08,050 --> 00:23:10,449
Speaker 6: like we all knew you had already won, I thought.

367
00:23:10,369 --> 00:23:12,730
Speaker 2: At that point, yeah right, yeah.

368
00:23:12,730 --> 00:23:18,129
Speaker 6: And then the night of the dance, I don't remember

369
00:23:18,449 --> 00:23:21,929
Speaker 6: a lot except I was really stressed because I was

370
00:23:22,010 --> 00:23:22,609
Speaker 6: planning it.

371
00:23:23,449 --> 00:23:26,889
Speaker 2: As class president, Whitney was in charge of everything, picking

372
00:23:26,889 --> 00:23:30,409
Speaker 2: out the crowns, selling the tickets, buying the decorations, setting

373
00:23:30,449 --> 00:23:34,450
Speaker 2: up the gym, all largely by herself. So when Whitney

374
00:23:34,490 --> 00:23:37,890
Speaker 2: thinks about homecoming, what she remembers, is how stressed out

375
00:23:37,929 --> 00:23:40,690
Speaker 2: she was leading up to the dance, But the night

376
00:23:40,730 --> 00:23:41,850
Speaker 2: of the dance itself.

377
00:23:42,369 --> 00:23:45,050
Speaker 6: I want to be honest, I don't really remember the

378
00:23:45,209 --> 00:23:50,689
Speaker 6: night like at all, Like not even I remember like

379
00:23:51,129 --> 00:23:54,090
Speaker 6: getting everything like set up, trying to make sure everything

380
00:23:54,209 --> 00:23:57,289
Speaker 6: was like in place, like the people working who are

381
00:23:57,290 --> 00:24:01,170
Speaker 6: going to take the tickets, but the actual like that moment.

382
00:24:01,609 --> 00:24:06,369
Speaker 2: The moment Jasmine remembers so clearly Whitney's name being announced instead.

383
00:24:06,010 --> 00:24:08,090
Speaker 6: Of her own, I don't remember it.

384
00:24:09,169 --> 00:24:11,689
Speaker 2: If Homecoming was a pivotal scene in the movie of

385
00:24:11,770 --> 00:24:15,090
Speaker 2: Jasmine's life, once she's played over and over until the

386
00:24:15,129 --> 00:24:18,689
Speaker 2: tape has worn thin. For Whitney, it's been taped over,

387
00:24:19,689 --> 00:24:22,850
Speaker 2: but she says she's sure that if she was announced

388
00:24:22,889 --> 00:24:25,529
Speaker 2: as Homecoming Queen, she never would have gone up and

389
00:24:25,609 --> 00:24:28,769
Speaker 2: accepted the crown or joined Jacob King for a dance.

390
00:24:29,369 --> 00:24:32,129
Speaker 6: If they called my name, I would have been horrified

391
00:24:33,050 --> 00:24:36,129
Speaker 6: because I wanted everything to like just like go well,

392
00:24:36,209 --> 00:24:39,129
Speaker 6: so like I would have been absolutely horrified, and I

393
00:24:39,129 --> 00:24:41,889
Speaker 6: would have went somewhere and been like, hey, like that

394
00:24:42,010 --> 00:24:44,530
Speaker 6: was wrong name. Can we like reset?

395
00:24:45,290 --> 00:24:47,409
Speaker 2: Is there a chance that you would have been so?

396
00:24:47,609 --> 00:24:50,129
Speaker 2: Like this night has to go smoothly that if you

397
00:24:50,169 --> 00:24:52,769
Speaker 2: were called, you would just be like, Okay, I'm just

398
00:24:52,770 --> 00:24:54,530
Speaker 2: gonna dan like you know what I mean, Like keep

399
00:24:54,530 --> 00:24:55,050
Speaker 2: it moving.

400
00:24:55,530 --> 00:24:57,290
Speaker 6: No, what happened to the crown?

401
00:24:57,570 --> 00:24:59,369
Speaker 4: Did they put it on your head? No?

402
00:25:00,050 --> 00:25:02,170
Speaker 6: Because I didn't win. I already knew I didn't win,

403
00:25:02,250 --> 00:25:05,769
Speaker 6: So like I wasn't like up there like yet that

404
00:25:05,850 --> 00:25:06,529
Speaker 6: crown on me?

405
00:25:06,850 --> 00:25:12,609
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jasmine has been waiting fourteen years to ask what

406
00:25:12,689 --> 00:25:15,770
Speaker 2: happened that night and getting such a non answer is

407
00:25:15,810 --> 00:25:19,889
Speaker 2: a letdown. But if Jasmine is disappointed, she isn't showing it.

408
00:25:25,929 --> 00:25:29,689
Speaker 2: As they keep talking, though, Whitney reminds Jasmine of another

409
00:25:29,770 --> 00:25:32,689
Speaker 2: key player from that night, someone who was at the

410
00:25:32,730 --> 00:25:36,850
Speaker 2: center of everything. And by everything, I mean the dance floor.

411
00:25:37,169 --> 00:25:39,570
Speaker 6: Do you remember who announced the names? Like?

412
00:25:39,730 --> 00:25:40,570
Speaker 2: Was it the DJ?

413
00:25:41,770 --> 00:25:43,169
Speaker 4: I don't, I don't remember.

414
00:25:43,250 --> 00:25:45,929
Speaker 2: I feel like it was the DJ. One of Whitney's

415
00:25:45,929 --> 00:25:50,010
Speaker 2: many party planning responsibilities was hiring the DJ, a man

416
00:25:50,129 --> 00:25:53,489
Speaker 2: named DJ Sip. She was his point person for the

417
00:25:53,530 --> 00:25:57,409
Speaker 2: whole event, and Whitney thinks that because she was runner up,

418
00:25:57,810 --> 00:26:00,009
Speaker 2: her name would have been on the list of students

419
00:26:00,050 --> 00:26:03,249
Speaker 2: on the homecoming court given to DJ Sip at the dance.

420
00:26:03,810 --> 00:26:06,250
Speaker 2: So when it came time to announce the queen.

421
00:26:06,730 --> 00:26:09,770
Speaker 6: I feel like he just saw my name and got confused.

422
00:26:10,129 --> 00:26:12,649
Speaker 6: Like we had been like talking right for like weeks.

423
00:26:12,730 --> 00:26:14,369
Speaker 6: I helped set him up, and I wonder if he

424
00:26:14,530 --> 00:26:16,850
Speaker 6: just like saw my name and was like, oh, like

425
00:26:17,010 --> 00:26:18,810
Speaker 6: just read mine first.

426
00:26:19,090 --> 00:26:22,129
Speaker 2: In other words, Whitney is saying she thinks it was

427
00:26:22,290 --> 00:26:26,770
Speaker 2: just an accident, and an innocent one, not a racist one.

428
00:26:26,929 --> 00:26:28,729
Speaker 2: Jasmine is skeptical.

429
00:26:28,490 --> 00:26:32,090
Speaker 4: But even the mistake, I'm like, Okay, this man DJ Sip,

430
00:26:32,649 --> 00:26:34,970
Speaker 4: like I'm imagining it was a white DJ.

431
00:26:35,330 --> 00:26:37,129
Speaker 2: No, it wasn't it, DJ Sip.

432
00:26:37,570 --> 00:26:38,929
Speaker 4: Look, we grew up in Springfield.

433
00:26:38,970 --> 00:26:40,490
Speaker 5: You're certainly could be a white guy.

434
00:26:40,689 --> 00:26:41,930
Speaker 6: Was like a big black guy.

435
00:26:42,570 --> 00:26:46,290
Speaker 2: And anyway, Whitney says, DJ Sip wouldn't have even known

436
00:26:46,330 --> 00:26:49,970
Speaker 2: that Jasmine is black. He'd never met her before. She'd

437
00:26:50,010 --> 00:26:52,369
Speaker 2: have been nothing more than a name on a slip

438
00:26:52,409 --> 00:26:52,889
Speaker 2: of paper.

439
00:26:53,369 --> 00:26:55,490
Speaker 4: Okay, he really did just read.

440
00:26:55,290 --> 00:26:58,169
Speaker 2: Our names wrong? And is that how you feel?

441
00:26:58,209 --> 00:26:58,489
Speaker 4: Right now?

442
00:26:58,530 --> 00:27:01,530
Speaker 2: You're like, like, do you like just to ask the

443
00:27:01,530 --> 00:27:04,970
Speaker 2: blue question, like, do you believe that that's what happened?

444
00:27:06,050 --> 00:27:06,330
Speaker 5: Yeah?

445
00:27:06,369 --> 00:27:08,649
Speaker 4: I have no reason not to believe, Whitney.

446
00:27:10,129 --> 00:27:13,489
Speaker 2: Whitney jumps in to say plainly what she's been trying

447
00:27:13,530 --> 00:27:14,369
Speaker 2: to say politely.

448
00:27:14,730 --> 00:27:18,169
Speaker 6: I didn't do shit. So just to be clear, I

449
00:27:18,169 --> 00:27:21,810
Speaker 6: didn't do shit, and like I know, like I didn't

450
00:27:21,810 --> 00:27:26,809
Speaker 6: do anything maliciously. I don't think anyone would do anything maliciously.

451
00:27:27,010 --> 00:27:34,970
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't believe. I feel that I will never

452
00:27:35,770 --> 00:27:39,809
Speaker 4: relinquish the possibility that there was foubl play, like there

453
00:27:39,850 --> 00:27:41,969
Speaker 4: will forever be a part of me that's like some

454
00:27:43,649 --> 00:27:45,650
Speaker 4: because at the end of the day, we did grow

455
00:27:45,730 --> 00:27:49,570
Speaker 4: up with these people who like called us racist names

456
00:27:49,609 --> 00:27:52,690
Speaker 4: and like said all kinds of shit we can't even remember.

457
00:27:53,290 --> 00:27:56,810
Speaker 4: So I one hundred percent believe it is a possibility

458
00:27:56,810 --> 00:27:59,810
Speaker 4: that someone did do something racist, whether it was to

459
00:27:59,889 --> 00:28:01,889
Speaker 4: hurt me or not, like that just is possible.

460
00:28:07,730 --> 00:28:11,250
Speaker 2: Outside it's gone from us to dark. It's time to go,

461
00:28:11,730 --> 00:28:15,930
Speaker 2: and we say our goodbyes. In the days after the conversation,

462
00:28:16,449 --> 00:28:18,969
Speaker 2: I do reach out to DJ Sip to see if

463
00:28:19,010 --> 00:28:22,729
Speaker 2: he made a DJ slip, but DJ Sip tells me

464
00:28:22,810 --> 00:28:25,890
Speaker 2: he has no recollection of that specific homecoming. He does

465
00:28:25,929 --> 00:28:29,210
Speaker 2: tons of school gigs every year. He does say that

466
00:28:29,409 --> 00:28:32,369
Speaker 2: as Whitney remembered, the names are usually provided to him

467
00:28:32,409 --> 00:28:35,130
Speaker 2: on a piece of paper. He doesn't think he'd read

468
00:28:35,129 --> 00:28:38,930
Speaker 2: the wrong name, though he can't be sure. I also

469
00:28:39,090 --> 00:28:41,290
Speaker 2: finally get a hold of a teacher who is there,

470
00:28:41,570 --> 00:28:45,009
Speaker 2: who remembers the mix up. She says, contrary to how

471
00:28:45,090 --> 00:28:50,249
Speaker 2: Jasmine remembered it, everyone seemed shocked, Whitney in particular. She

472
00:28:50,370 --> 00:28:53,170
Speaker 2: also thinks that, yes, the names of all the students

473
00:28:53,209 --> 00:28:55,370
Speaker 2: on the court were written on a piece of paper,

474
00:28:55,930 --> 00:28:59,690
Speaker 2: but whether it was the DJ's innocent misread or someone's

475
00:28:59,850 --> 00:29:07,090
Speaker 2: not so innocent misright, we can't say for certain. I'm

476
00:29:07,130 --> 00:29:10,290
Speaker 2: not sure where it leaves us. We still don't have

477
00:29:10,370 --> 00:29:13,529
Speaker 2: a definitive answer, and in the absence of that, what

478
00:29:13,610 --> 00:29:17,290
Speaker 2: we have is two women who shared many similar experiences

479
00:29:17,490 --> 00:29:19,930
Speaker 2: in the same town where they both grew up, with

480
00:29:20,050 --> 00:29:24,570
Speaker 2: two opposite takeaways from the night of homecoming, one who

481
00:29:24,610 --> 00:29:27,130
Speaker 2: knows that it must be about race, and the other

482
00:29:27,370 --> 00:29:31,610
Speaker 2: who thinks that in this particular scenario, it just wasn't.

483
00:29:36,450 --> 00:29:36,529
Speaker 4: So.

484
00:29:36,650 --> 00:29:39,570
Speaker 2: A few weeks later, I reach out to Jasmine to

485
00:29:39,610 --> 00:29:42,290
Speaker 2: see what she took away from the conversation with Whitney.

486
00:29:43,330 --> 00:29:43,850
Speaker 5: I don't know.

487
00:29:44,730 --> 00:29:48,650
Speaker 2: I don't know, toggling between what Whitney is trying to

488
00:29:48,690 --> 00:29:52,010
Speaker 2: suggest to her and what she knows that feels like

489
00:29:52,050 --> 00:29:55,450
Speaker 2: a familiar place for her to be. Jasmine tells me

490
00:29:55,530 --> 00:30:00,450
Speaker 2: about a number of auditions she's been on lately, big opportunities.

491
00:30:00,010 --> 00:30:02,610
Speaker 4: And my manager and my team are so excited, and

492
00:30:02,690 --> 00:30:04,490
Speaker 4: I'm like, guys, they're going to cast a white girl.

493
00:30:04,810 --> 00:30:09,610
Speaker 4: I've been right every time. But my manager is like

494
00:30:10,130 --> 00:30:12,890
Speaker 4: so tired of me saying that, and she's like, you're

495
00:30:12,930 --> 00:30:15,170
Speaker 4: speaking that into existence, Like you need to come into

496
00:30:15,250 --> 00:30:18,690
Speaker 4: these opportunities in spaces like open and give it your

497
00:30:18,730 --> 00:30:21,290
Speaker 4: all and like prove to them that you're the one.

498
00:30:22,209 --> 00:30:25,850
Speaker 2: Jasmine says she can see her manager's point. Assuming it's

499
00:30:25,890 --> 00:30:29,209
Speaker 2: about race and going in with that defeatist attitude, it

500
00:30:29,250 --> 00:30:33,090
Speaker 2: isn't helping her. But at the same time, auditioning over

501
00:30:33,170 --> 00:30:35,770
Speaker 2: and over for roles she has no chance of getting,

502
00:30:36,330 --> 00:30:39,410
Speaker 2: it's frustrating and demoralizing.

503
00:30:39,090 --> 00:30:42,970
Speaker 4: Especially in that industry where it's just like projection, rejection, rejection, rejection.

504
00:30:43,650 --> 00:30:47,890
Speaker 4: I want to be rejected because my acting wasn't strong

505
00:30:48,010 --> 00:30:51,050
Speaker 4: enough or my vibe wasn't right, not.

506
00:30:51,090 --> 00:30:53,570
Speaker 2: Because they're like, well, we decided to go with a

507
00:30:53,570 --> 00:30:58,210
Speaker 2: white girl. And it's completely crazy making because Jasmine can

508
00:30:58,250 --> 00:31:01,170
Speaker 2: never know if a rejection is because of her performance

509
00:31:01,530 --> 00:31:04,769
Speaker 2: or her skin color. It's like with the Homecoming story,

510
00:31:05,450 --> 00:31:08,249
Speaker 2: Jasmine will never know if it was DJ SIP or

511
00:31:08,290 --> 00:31:12,329
Speaker 2: something way worse. Whitney believes it was an accident, and

512
00:31:12,370 --> 00:31:15,209
Speaker 2: so it's like she's asking Jasmine to see it outside

513
00:31:15,250 --> 00:31:18,650
Speaker 2: of racial lines, Like she's saying, can't this just be

514
00:31:18,730 --> 00:31:21,930
Speaker 2: a mistake, the kind of mistake that could happen to anybody,

515
00:31:22,650 --> 00:31:25,729
Speaker 2: And Jasmine wants to believe so, but it goes against

516
00:31:25,770 --> 00:31:27,090
Speaker 2: everything she's ever learned.

517
00:31:27,890 --> 00:31:29,570
Speaker 4: At a certain point, you have to make a choice,

518
00:31:30,209 --> 00:31:32,370
Speaker 4: and I want to make that choice.

519
00:31:32,370 --> 00:31:35,410
Speaker 2: It's just really hard. I mean it's hard. It's hard because,

520
00:31:35,450 --> 00:31:40,250
Speaker 2: like I think from everything I've learned about your childhood

521
00:31:40,330 --> 00:31:43,170
Speaker 2: and everything growing up, like there probably were a lot

522
00:31:43,170 --> 00:31:46,370
Speaker 2: of cases where like you were right to make those assumptions,

523
00:31:46,410 --> 00:31:49,410
Speaker 2: like because it was the worst case scenario.

524
00:31:49,170 --> 00:31:49,850
Speaker 1: You know what I mean.

525
00:31:50,890 --> 00:32:01,969
Speaker 4: But I'm tired, been a little sad. Yeah, And I

526
00:32:02,370 --> 00:32:08,130
Speaker 4: do think that this way of viewing the world is

527
00:32:08,170 --> 00:32:14,009
Speaker 4: harming me, like in various aspects of my life. It's like,

528
00:32:16,450 --> 00:32:21,970
Speaker 4: I don't know, it's like a meeting the world with

529
00:32:22,090 --> 00:32:22,930
Speaker 4: like a knife out.

530
00:32:29,010 --> 00:32:32,969
Speaker 2: After their conversation, I'd reached out to Whitney too. I

531
00:32:33,010 --> 00:32:35,490
Speaker 2: asked her why she doesn't draw the same conclusions from

532
00:32:35,490 --> 00:32:38,969
Speaker 2: that night that Jasmine does. Whitney didn't want to speculate

533
00:32:39,010 --> 00:32:42,329
Speaker 2: on Jasmine's experience, but she did offer this about her

534
00:32:42,370 --> 00:32:46,050
Speaker 2: own life. After high school, Whitney went away to college

535
00:32:46,330 --> 00:32:49,529
Speaker 2: somewhere that was way more racially diverse than Springfield. She

536
00:32:49,610 --> 00:32:52,130
Speaker 2: found herself around more people of color than she'd ever

537
00:32:52,170 --> 00:32:54,650
Speaker 2: been around before, and it gave her a new sense

538
00:32:54,690 --> 00:32:57,610
Speaker 2: of self confidence. It was the first time, she says,

539
00:32:57,890 --> 00:33:01,850
Speaker 2: that she felt beautiful. She took classes on race and inequality,

540
00:33:02,209 --> 00:33:07,690
Speaker 2: spent semesters discussing and unpacking her own childhood. Then after graduating,

541
00:33:08,010 --> 00:33:10,810
Speaker 2: she worked for many years and documentary film at a

542
00:33:10,890 --> 00:33:14,810
Speaker 2: job where her voice was valued for being black. Jasmine's

543
00:33:14,810 --> 00:33:17,890
Speaker 2: experience after high school was quite different. She didn't go

544
00:33:17,930 --> 00:33:21,570
Speaker 2: to college, went straight to auditioning and hustling for acting roles,

545
00:33:22,130 --> 00:33:26,130
Speaker 2: and because she's beautiful and talented, that worked out. But

546
00:33:26,209 --> 00:33:29,090
Speaker 2: success also brought her to Hollywood, a place where it

547
00:33:29,130 --> 00:33:31,530
Speaker 2: took until two thousand and two for a black woman

548
00:33:31,570 --> 00:33:34,809
Speaker 2: to win an Oscar for Best Actress, not exactly an

549
00:33:34,890 --> 00:33:39,530
Speaker 2: environment known for valuing diversity. In some ways, it would

550
00:33:39,530 --> 00:33:42,370
Speaker 2: have been better if Whitney could have told Jasmine, yes,

551
00:33:42,810 --> 00:33:46,290
Speaker 2: it was some malicious swap hearing that might have hurt,

552
00:33:46,650 --> 00:33:49,370
Speaker 2: but at least it would have made sense. It's far

553
00:33:49,490 --> 00:33:52,690
Speaker 2: scarier to imagine what Whitney is proposing that it was

554
00:33:52,850 --> 00:33:53,970
Speaker 2: just a mistake.

555
00:33:54,330 --> 00:33:57,049
Speaker 4: You know, like if I let that go and it

556
00:33:57,130 --> 00:34:01,050
Speaker 4: was just an accident and things just happened. Whoa who

557
00:34:02,810 --> 00:34:04,730
Speaker 4: who am I You know what I mean?

558
00:34:08,130 --> 00:34:11,130
Speaker 2: I mean, I think you're the homecoming queen.

559
00:34:19,370 --> 00:34:22,890
Speaker 4: That feels really nice. That idea of just accepting that

560
00:34:25,570 --> 00:34:28,450
Speaker 4: it seems like that might be.

561
00:34:28,530 --> 00:34:38,650
Speaker 2: True about homecoming. Here's what I think. We don't know

562
00:34:38,690 --> 00:34:42,450
Speaker 2: what happened, but we do know what didn't happen. No

563
00:34:42,530 --> 00:34:45,850
Speaker 2: one came up to Jasmine after to say sorry. No

564
00:34:45,890 --> 00:34:48,170
Speaker 2: one even came up to her to say, hey, that

565
00:34:48,330 --> 00:34:51,690
Speaker 2: was weird, right. No one went to look for Jasmine

566
00:34:51,850 --> 00:34:55,210
Speaker 2: or corrected the mistake, And in my conversations these last

567
00:34:55,250 --> 00:34:59,130
Speaker 2: few months, most people didn't even remember it. So one

568
00:34:59,170 --> 00:35:02,570
Speaker 2: black girl was substituted for another, and that went largely

569
00:35:02,690 --> 00:35:06,850
Speaker 2: uncommented on and unapologized for because no one seemed to

570
00:35:06,850 --> 00:35:10,250
Speaker 2: think it was a big enough deal. Jasmine had wanted

571
00:35:10,290 --> 00:35:13,010
Speaker 2: to know why the mix up happened, but just as

572
00:35:13,050 --> 00:35:16,810
Speaker 2: important is why it was never righted. There was never

573
00:35:16,890 --> 00:35:19,930
Speaker 2: any acknowledgment, which is why it's hurt for so long.

574
00:35:20,930 --> 00:35:23,170
Speaker 4: You want to know my first thought, Yeah, I had

575
00:35:23,170 --> 00:35:27,130
Speaker 4: to take pictures in a little crown that might actually

576
00:35:27,170 --> 00:35:29,130
Speaker 4: help it feel you know what I mean. I never

577
00:35:29,210 --> 00:35:31,810
Speaker 4: got that crown. I know I didn't get it. I

578
00:35:31,810 --> 00:35:35,050
Speaker 4: didn't just not.

579
00:35:37,090 --> 00:35:40,250
Speaker 2: From under the table, I pull out a crown. It's

580
00:35:40,290 --> 00:35:44,250
Speaker 2: shiny and gold and covered with crystals lime green of course.

581
00:35:44,650 --> 00:35:46,210
Speaker 2: Oh my god, that's beautiful.

582
00:35:47,770 --> 00:35:48,890
Speaker 4: Why am I crying?

583
00:35:49,090 --> 00:35:53,970
Speaker 2: That's so sweet. Jasmine places the crown on her head.

584
00:35:54,370 --> 00:36:02,090
Speaker 4: Wow, this feels awesome. I finally got my crown. This

585
00:36:02,130 --> 00:36:08,930
Speaker 4: is definitely doing something.

586
00:36:11,650 --> 00:36:14,210
Speaker 2: It's a hot day, but Jasmine says she wants to

587
00:36:14,250 --> 00:36:16,890
Speaker 2: go for a long walk, feel the sun, and spend

588
00:36:16,930 --> 00:36:20,730
Speaker 2: an hour with herself. We say our goodbyes. When she

589
00:36:20,770 --> 00:36:23,330
Speaker 2: walks out the door onto the busy New York City street,

590
00:36:23,930 --> 00:36:25,250
Speaker 2: she's still wearing her crown.

591
00:37:04,170 --> 00:37:09,890
Speaker 5: Now that the furnitures rip, turn into it's good will home.

592
00:37:13,410 --> 00:37:17,850
Speaker 5: Now that's the last monstrant is scheming with the.

593
00:37:18,010 --> 00:37:21,570
Speaker 1: Damage to frob take this moment to DESO.

594
00:37:24,330 --> 00:37:25,890
Speaker 5: If we message, if.

595
00:37:25,650 --> 00:37:26,770
Speaker 4: We trash.

596
00:37:28,130 --> 00:37:30,410
Speaker 5: We felt around for fo.

597
00:37:30,530 --> 00:37:42,250
Speaker 2: To thanks that accidentally. This episode of Heavyweight was produced

598
00:37:42,250 --> 00:37:46,210
Speaker 2: by me Stevie Lane, along with Jonathan Goldstein and Phoebe Flanagan.

599
00:37:46,610 --> 00:37:50,730
Speaker 2: Our senior producer is Khalila Holt. Editorial guidance from Emily Condon.

600
00:37:51,330 --> 00:37:54,650
Speaker 2: Special thanks to Robin Simeon, Zach Saint Louis Neil drumming,

601
00:37:54,810 --> 00:37:58,410
Speaker 2: Chris Neary and Hanne Goldman. I'm Amonger mixed the episode

602
00:37:58,450 --> 00:38:01,610
Speaker 2: with original music by Christine Fellows, John K. Sampson and

603
00:38:01,650 --> 00:38:05,690
Speaker 2: Bobby Lord. Additional scoring by Blue Dot Sessions, Boxwood Orchestra,

604
00:38:05,930 --> 00:38:09,050
Speaker 2: Distance and Lolotone. Our theme song is by the Week

605
00:38:09,130 --> 00:38:12,770
Speaker 2: of Thems, courtesy of Epitaph Records. Follow us on Instagram

606
00:38:12,770 --> 00:38:16,250
Speaker 2: at Heavyweight Podcast or email us at Heavyweight at pushkin

607
00:38:16,330 --> 00:38:19,970
Speaker 2: dot FM. Jonathan will be back in two weeks to

608
00:38:20,050 --> 00:38:25,130
Speaker 2: host a brand new episode, so stay tuned and time perl.

609
00:38:29,530 --> 00:38:30,610
Speaker 5: We repainted