New Season of Sounds Like Hate 2 Podcast Forces Reckoning With Confederate Symbols in the South
Alabama, Georgia and Texas Activists Share their Stories
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – In the second season of the Sounds Like Hate podcast, debuting May 26, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) shifts its focus to the South, as activists in Alabama, Georgia and Texas bring renewed energy and insights to the effort to remove Confederate symbols from public spaces.
The first episode, titled “Monumental Problems,” opens in Florence, Alabama, where podcast hosts, award-winning journalists Geraldine Moriba and Jamila Paksima, interview Camille Bennett, a Black woman leading the advocacy group Project Say Something. Bennett has been working to remove the Confederate monument in Florence since 2017.
“The longer I advocate to remove Confederate monuments and symbols from public spaces, the more I understand Alabama's obsession with white supremacy and fear of transformation,” Bennett explained. “Our movement is not just about a statue, it's about exposing Alabama's legacy of dehumanizing Black people, and how this legacy lives on in our social and political frameworks.”
The stories of one Texas Hill Country family, along with Sounds Like Hate 2 producer Jordan Gass-Poore who qualifies for membership in the United Daughters of the Confederacy, are explored in episode four. “It is much easier to say ‘I’m not a racist’ and be willfully committed to ignorance than it is to admit some of your ancestors fought on the Confederate side to benefit from the continuation of slavery,” Moriba explained. “This three-part story is about ending the celebration of treason.”
The podcast season concludes on June 9 with an episode that follows the finances of a powerful family and corporations that continue to advance revisionist history by supporting the Lost Cause narrative. A trip to Stone Mountain, home to the world’s largest Confederate monument, is also discussed.
“Honoring treasonous and defeated Confederate leaders on public lands has only served to fuel today’s white nationalist movement,” explained SPLC Chief of Staff Lecia Brooks. “Many have understood that the Confederacy – with help from well-resourced heritage groups like the United Daughters of the Confederacy – erected these symbols to intimidate Black citizens. The ‘Monumental Problems’ episodes introduce us to activists across the South who continue to push back and reject their “Lost Cause” propaganda campaign.”
“It is time for Americans to honor the true heroes who fought and stood for freedom and liberty for all,” Paksima said.
Sounds Like Hate 2 is available on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn and more.
Learn more about the Sounds Like Hate podcast and stream it here.
