i am michelle norris with npr.e are going to talk a little bit about something we spent a lot of time talking about in private. e-mail, on the phone. we are both parents with teenage kids. african-american adults who were children ourselves once. we now give our children a thing called "the talk," preparing them for what they need to know going out in the world. and we come at this from different perspectives. is that fair? ta-nehisi: different dimensions. i believe our sons are the same age. you have a son and a daughter. that was the first thing i was wondering about. i imagine it is a series of conversations. are there differences in terms of how you talk? things your daughter needs to worry about? or is it the same? michelle: there are differences. i have a stepson who is 30. the talk has changed. i am amazed at what i have to tell my son. it is different from what i told broderick at this age. some of the things are the same, some are different, but it is out of fear. when my children leave the house, this wor

npr's michele norris and john legend traveled to ferguson, missouri, where michael brown's mother recalls the day her unarmed son was shot dead by white police officer darren wilson, august 9th, 2014. >> every hour of the day he pops in my head where i can't think of anything else. >> reporter: more than a year later, a weathered pile of stuffed animals s sll marks the place where her son died. >> what strikes me standing here is how out in the open we are. there's a lot of people that are seeing what's happening. for that long. i think that probably had a lot >> exactly. exactly. >> why do you think it struck people? >> it was just like a scab being pull observed a wound. it was a situation that you see happening over and over and over again. that upset so many people. >> reporter: a grand jury ultimately chose not to indict officer darren wilson for the shooting. we bring that conversation to charleston, south carolina. recording artist pharell o'brien encounter a community still reeling from one of the deadliest attacks on a place of worship in u.s. history. this past june, 21-year-old

i am michelle norris with npr.e are going to talk a little bit about something we spent a lot of time talking about in private. e-mail, on the phone. we are both parents with teenage kids. african-american adults who were children ourselves once. we now give our children a thing called "the talk," preparing them for what they need to know going out in the world. and we come at this from different perspectives. is that fair? ta-nehisi: different dimensions. i believe our sons are the same age. you have a son and a daughter. that was the first thing i was wondering about. i imagine it is a series of conversations. are there differences in terms of how you talk? things your daughter needs to worry about? or is it the same? michelle: there are differences. i have a stepson who is 30. the talk has changed. i am amazed at what i have to tell my son. it is different from what i told broderick at this age. some of the things are the same, some are different, but it is out of fear. when my children leave the house, this wor