Whenever people say "Smaltimore," they are usually talking only about their small little corner of the city (and, we have to admit, it is mostly white people who use the phrase). In fact, the city is far bigger than most of us caught up in our actually quite-segregated lives would like to think. Instead of turning a (color) blind eye to the phenomenon, WYPR's Maryland Morning, under the direction of producer Lawrence Lanahan (disclosure: he is the husband of former CP senior editor Andrea Appleton), produced "The Lines Between Us," which tackles the various ways that race and class affect our experiences. The series included more than 40 episodes combining residents' personal stories, radio reports, and incisive, data-heavy graphics accessible online to make sense of why Maryland's women make 88 cents for every dollar Maryland's men make; to figure out from what city zip codes Baltimore's prison population came; to try to understand why CEOs' pay continues to balloon as the middle class continues to get squeezed, and more. As "The Lines Between Us" wraps up this fall, we hope that WYPR will continue to tackle these problems with the same insight and depth.
Advertisement