In this series, we're going to tell you about what's been described as a toxic culture of misconduct and retaliation within the Metro Nashville Police Department. And the disciplinary system that has allowed that culture to thrive.

The Final Exam

1 Oct 19th, 2020 51m 47s

It’s February 2020, and Warner Elementary’s star is rising. It’s showing so much progress this year that it might be able to go from one of the lowest performing schools in Tennessee to one of the best. Now it’s just time to hunker down and wor

The Recruitment Divide

1 Oct 12th, 2020 26m 28s

There was a time when the decision of where to send your child to school was relatively simple: public or private. Now, in Nashville and many other cities, those choices have multiplied exponentially. In large part, it's because of white fa

A Reckoning

1 Oct 5th, 2020 45m 8s

Last fall, parents from Lockeland Elementary held a community meeting to talk about the elephant in the room: Despite the diversity of the neighborhood, their school was the whitest school in the entire district.Some white parents in the neig

Warner's Hope

1 Sep 28th, 2020 36m 12s

Warner Elementary is about to take its moon shot. After landing on the state’s list of lowest-performing schools, it’s aiming to make the list of highest-performing schools. Finally, it has all the right tools: an infusion of federal grant mone

What You Can't Unsee

1 Sep 21st, 2020 37m 11s

When Willie Sims’ daughter started kindergarten at a high-performing elementary school in East Nashville, all seemed well at first. His daughter loved her teacher. She was making friends. But then Willie realized: In a neighborhood with tons of

The Unraveling

1 Sep 14th, 2020 29m 55s

After 43 years of courtroom battles, Nashville's landmark school desegregation lawsuit was settled. In the eyes of the law, the city finally made an honest effort to racially integrate its schools. But in truth, the matter was far from settled

The Nashville Way

1 Sep 7th, 2020 45m 23s

To understand the resegregation of Nashville’s schools, you have to start with understanding desegregation. In 1954, the famous Brown v. Board decision ruled that segregated schools violated the constitution. But in reality, that decision ch

A Tale Of Two Schools

1 Aug 31st, 2020 30m 17s

At the beginning of the 2019 school year, Principal Ricki Gibbs knew he had a tough job ahead. Warner Elementary in East Nashville had just landed on Tennessee’s list of lowest performing schools. It had lost so many students that it wasn’t eve

Trailer

Season 2 Coming Soon

Aug 3rd, 2020 1m 56s

Season 2 of The Promise grapples with some of the most divisive topics in America: public education and race. This is a story about one school trying to stay afloat, a neighborhood divided over race and economics, and a city that’s resisted sch

Trailer

A Teaser

May 18th, 2020 1m 46s

This season on The Promise, we’re exploring the thorny subject of public education and race. Two public elementary schools just over a mile apart. One is overwhelmingly black and poor, the other is almost exclusively white and well off. What ha

Sneak Peek

Apr 6th, 2020 6m 56s

This season on The Promise, we take on one of the most divisive topics in America: public education. We spend the year at Warner Elementary, a struggling school in East Nashville, Tennessee. Warner’s students are almost all black and almost

Letting Go

Nov 4th, 2019 23m 4s

Ms. Vernell has another big decision to make: to stay in Cayce through the chaos of redevelopment, or to leave? Her conclusion reveals something about this long, messy process to overhaul Nashville’s public housing. What happens when residents

The Big Man Interview

Nov 15th, 2018 14m 16s

If you've listened to The Promise, you no doubt remember Dexter Turner, aka Big Man. We met him in episode 2. The husband, father and community leader with a quick wit and a large personality had been planning a family barbecue, when a fatal sh

Bonus

Apr 27th, 2018 28m 29s

We return to the James Cayce Homes to follow up with residents amid the $600 million overhaul. But in checking back, we trip into some news. And we’re reminded, yet again, of how difficult it will be to pull off this massive redevelopment. As t

Part 6: The Future

Mar 14th, 2018 25m 19s

Does this big idea to have low-income and higher income people living side-by-side really make a community better, safer, healthier? As The Promise comes to a close, we dig into the fundamental question driving this massive overhaul of Nashvill

Part 5: Get Some Gone

Feb 21st, 2018 19m 42s

There is a saying in Nashville’s James Cayce Homes: “Get some gone.” Three simple words that describe the urge, the mission, to move out, to get away from the city’s oldest public housing project. Tonya Shannon grew up in Cayce. And she was det

Part 4: The Great Divide

Feb 14th, 2018 33m 5s

This is a story about the assumptions we all make. And the secrets we keep. With WPLN reporter Meribah Knight as the go-between, Big Man, a public housing resident from the Cayce Homes, walks across the street to meet the wealthy couple who liv

Part 3: The People And The Police

Feb 7th, 2018 29m 18s

The relationship between James Cayce residents and the Nashville police is a tenuous one. In this episode, we explore two defining moments in Cayce: A viral cell phone video of a police officer being assaulted, and the most controversial police

Part 2: A Beautiful Day In The Projects

Jan 31st, 2018 23m 11s

If you live in the Cayce Homes in Nashville, you know Dexter Turner. Not by Dexter, but by his nickname: Big Man. A husband, a father, a community leader, a showman — Big Man is a name everyone knows here. People love Big Man. And he loves his

Part 1: A Change is Gonna Come

1 Jan 24th, 2018 23m 36s

At 61 years old, Vernell McHenry is like the grandmother of her corner of James Cayce. Where she’s lived for more than 17 years, greeting the neighborhood from a metal folding beach chair on her stoop. But Cayce is about the be transformed, tor

Trailer

Coming Soon: The Promise

Dec 29th, 2017 2m 25s

Here's a preview of the new special six-part series from Nashville Public Radio, where we take you inside Nashville's oldest and largest public housing project.