Episode features historian Stacey Patton and writer Ashley Stoney
The Guardian released an episode of its “Stateside with Kai and Carter” podcast on August 17 examining Black families’ reactions to the death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells. Host Kai Wright leads a 41-minute discussion with historian Stacey Patton and writer Ashley Stoney on the response within Black families.
According to the episode description, Wells was 18 years old when he went missing. He was last seen while hanging out with a group of white friends at a popular beach near Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Wells never came home from the trip, and he was found dead days later. Many questions about how he died remain unanswered publicly, the description says.
The episode frames Wells’ death as having “immediately touched a nerve in Black families” and as having revived what the description calls an “old conversation within Black communities.” Two questions anchor the episode’s framing: “are we ever truly safe in white-dominated spaces?” and “who will feel responsible for our children’s safety when we send them out into a world where Black life is not valued?”
Wright, Patton, and Stoney discuss why Wells’ story has captured attention and sparked anxiety among Black parents, in particular, and what the collective reaction to his disappearance and death reveals about the limits of interracial society today, according to the description.
The episode is titled “Nolan Wells’ death made Black parents say the quiet part out loud.”