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The Journalist Who Revealed The Rage Behind American Politics

Jared Yates Sexton’s life changed completely in June 2016. He went to a Trump rally in Greensboro, and while he walked amongst people who reminded him of his own family back in Indiana, he also witnessed the kind of anger and rage that mainstream news outlets were missing from their designated press areas.

Sexton arrived at the rally an unknown figure but left with his tweets trending internationally. He soon garnered more than 10,000 Twitter followers. His subsequent reporting was picked up by national news outlets, but also resulted in attacks on his job and threats to his life. Sexton wrote about his experience inside the fray of the 2016 election in the book “The People Are Going to Rise Like The Waters Upon Your Shore: A Story of American Rage” (Counterpoint/2017).

Host Frank Stasio talks with Jared Yates Sexton about the book and the anger he observed on both sides of American politics. Sexton will speak at an event at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill at 7 p.m. on Oct. 9.

Jennifer Brookland is the American Homefront Project Veterans Reporting Fellow. She covers stories about the military and veterans as well as issues affecting the people and places of North Carolina.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.