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Crosscurrents

Not a Genuine Black Man: Interview with Brian Copeland

PHOTO BY CARLOS AVILA / SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE / SFGATE.COM

Brian Copeland has a weekly  radio show on KGO. Today he is a radio personality, actor, comedian, writer, and performer, but like many of us, he says he got to where he is today thanks to a series of coincidences.

Copeland tells the story of his life in an acclaimed show called “Not a Genuine Black Man.”

"Because everyone at some point is going to be the only one -- the only man, the only woman, the only black, the only white, the only catholic the only Muslim, and how do you navigate that situation when you are the one who’s different." -- Brian Copeland.

"Not a Genuine Black Man" first hit the stage in 2004, and was originally scheduled to run for six weeks. That turned into seven years, becoming the longest running one-man show in San Francisco history. It comes back to the stage tonight at (4/23) at the Berkeley Rep for its 10th anniversary.

To listen to the entire interview, click the audio player above.

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Crosscurrents Berkeley
Holly Kernan is the architect of the award-winning Public Interest Reporting Project. She is currently news director at KALW 91.7FM in San Francisco. In 2009 she was named Journalist of the Year by the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Kernan teaches journalism at Mills College and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and has taught at Santa Rosa Junior College, Youth Radio and San Francisco State University's Lifelong Learning Institute. She lives in Oakland with her husband, Mike, daughter, Julia, and retired greyhound Benjamin Franklin.