Ever since he popped into a livestream recording six months ago to champion the cause of ethical landlording, Robert Patton-Spruill has become an important part of The Glenn Show, both on camera and behind the scenes. In public and private conversations, he’s given us bits and pieces of his personal history, which hinted at a life with many swerves and digressions, career pivots and creative obsessions. Rob, if it needs to be noted, is also a black man, though as his account of his family tree in this episode indicates, he is much more than that.
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I wanted to use last week’s stream, first stream of Black History Month, to formally introduce Rob to the TGS community, and to fill in some of his back story. I had a sense that simply encouraging Rob to talk about his life would take the conversation in unexpected places, and he did not disappoint.
In this episode, Rob takes us through his early days in Boston, where he grew up in a large extended family woven into the city’s political and civic structure. Taking inspiration from his father, the influential and charismatic actor and teacher James Spruill, Rob got involved as a production assistant in the film industry and eventually became a successful writer and director himself (you can watch his 1997 feature Squeeze here). He even spent time getting to know Chuck D and Public Enemy for his documentary on the group, Welcome to the Terrordome.
I won’t spoil the rest of the story—it sounds better coming out Rob’s mouth than my keyboard. One thing that brought us together, though, was his interest in my early work on social capital. That’s hardcore economics, but Rob’s life and career has shown what can happen for individuals and communities when the right kind of ideas come down from the airy realm of theory and into on-the-ground reality. Despite his unconventional path, I think there’s much that people who want to improve life in black communities can learn from Rob’s practical experience. We only scratched the surface in this conversation—you’ll be hearing much more from Robert Patton-Spruill.
