Black Perspective: October 8, 2023

This week on The Black Perspective, we speak with a member of Earth Wind & Fire and the Founder of the largest Music Festival in the Southeast.

BIN Reporter Doug Davis also has a conversation about how Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion affects African American's future.

Listen now!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's October eighth, and today wetalk to a member of Earth Wind and
Fire. I'm d Gordon gets usready for one of the largest music festivals
in the Southeast, and Doug Davisgets into a conversation regarding diversity, equity
and inclusion. Those stories are morecoming up. Welcome to the Black Perspective.
I'm your host, Mike. I. Welcome to the Black Perspective,

(00:22):
a weekly community affairs program on theBlack Information Network featuring interviews and discussions on
issues important to the Black community.If you're a fan of Earth Wind and
Fire, we've got a treat foryou. One of its members spoke to
our own Esther Dillard, about afundraising giveaway effort that helps foster children.
If you listen all the way tothe end of the conversation, you'll get

(00:43):
information on how you can win ticketsto a concert in Las Vegas. The
month of November is National Adoption Month, and a Black music legend from the
group Earthwind and Fire has launched anevent to raise awareness of the hundreds of
children who need a home and hundredsof foster who really just age out of
the system and they never find ahome, who also needs support The legendary

(01:06):
artist who is leading this project isPhilip Bailey. And just to give some
background on this legend if you're unfamiliar, mister Bailey is the artist with the
memorable falsetto voice, whose songs likeReasons, keep your Head to the Sky,
Evil Devotion, and many more.And I just want to welcome you,
mister Bailey, to the b In Well, thank you, thanks

(01:27):
for having me. It's a greatpleasure. Well, I wanted to ask
you about this fundraiser, but Ireally have to ask you a couple of
questions about your background. I dida little research and I was really surprised
that you are seventy two years old, because you look awesome, Like you
know the old saying black don't crack. You look absolutely fab And I read

(01:51):
that your mom was the reason.She said that you started singing before you
were talking, and the music waslike your first language. When did you
discover that falsetto voice was your giftone of your gifts? Well, interestingly
enough, there never was a timethat I discovered it. I was just

(02:13):
always mimicking singers and female jazz singersand stuff that I, you know,
liked and stuff, and I didn'tknow that that was a falsetto until I
was playing in a club. Iwas too young to actually be in the
club, but I was actually inthere playing doing a gig, and one
of the college music teachers was inthe audience and after one of the sets,

(02:39):
you know, he said to me, man, you haven't you know
you have an amazing falsetto. Isaid, that's what that is. I
didn't know. I didn't even knowwhat it was, just you know,
mimicking Seavon and Nancy Wilson and youknow, Beyond Awake and all that stuff.

(03:00):
Yeah, I read that. You'reyou're you had a love for jazz
music, but you also had alove you started some of your your work
in church in your background in church, am I right? Yeah? Yep.
I sang in a youth choir thatwas very uh poignant in my career

(03:24):
because it was kind of like aworkshop. Uh and you know, you
have to look back on it andsay, wow, all these things you
know, I actually picked up orlearned, you know, from that experience.
But yeah, it was. Itwas a great uh organization called the
Echoes of Youth in Denver, anduh, a lot of talented young folk.

(03:53):
Uh and uh, you know,learned a lot of stuff. M
hm, Well we had a fabulousbut we have a fact. Not to
cut you off, but we hada fabulous music program. Uh. You
know when I grew up, alot of stuff I learned in school.
You know, my son who wentto Berkeley, you know, he learned
when he got to Berkeley. H. I just wondered, you know,

(04:17):
with all your musical background, doyou remember any any particular point where you
said music was going to be yourlife, it was going to be your
career. There was never a timewhen h music was not the focal point
of my life. And I didn'tknow nothing about careers and not you know,

(04:41):
I didn't know anything about that.I just knew that it was like
kind of like a pipe piper,you know that I followed its its lead,
and it was my interest. Itwas my babysitter, it was you
know, my confidant, you know, and uh, and it and it's
you know, it's kind of stillit is today. You know, I

(05:03):
spend most of my time out herein the studio, you know, practicing
and learning different stuff, and youknow, when I'm off, and it's
still it's still a very fascinating experience. So so you still are learning.
It's it's interesting that you say that, you know, for some people who

(05:25):
may think, you know, you'vegotten to the pinnacle of your career and
you're not still learning, and that'sa it's a wonderful thing to add to
that. I wonder, you know, I read that Maurice White, who
founded Earth Wind and Fire, thathe kind of discovered you and another person
that was in your band while youwere playing drums for another band. Can

(05:46):
you tell us several of us?Several of us myself, Larry Dunn,
and Andrew Wilfell from Denver, wewere all in the same band and through
a mutual friend, Perry Jones,the introduction and was made to the to
Maurice and Vertin. And you know, like when I I was offered a

(06:08):
situation to come to Los Angeles andthrough through Perry and Maurice and Verdein asked
me to be in the band inthe seventy seventy one and then I asked
the couple guys that were in mygroup, Andrew Wolfolk and Larry Dunn.
So that's how we kind of allhooked up. I always wonder where artists

(06:31):
get their their inspiration for songs.And I wonder if is there one song
in particular that kind of stands outin your mind where you got an unusual
inspiration for Well, you know,all those songs that we wrote back then,
you know they were all inspired justby living, you know, living
and experiencing life and the naivete oflife. You know, at that point,

(07:00):
you know a lot of things beingnew to you and just being able
to express yourself in that way,and then watching others and expressing your and
expressing their points of views and theirfeelings. Please tell us about this fundraiser

(07:23):
and I know what's happening now andhow can our listeners get involved. Well,
you know, Music's Unity is ourfoundation, my daughter and I we
created about fifteen years ago to benefitFalster youth who are aging out of the
system. And it's really really ashame that more than twenty three thousand youth

(07:46):
age out every year and many timesare found, you know, just wandering
through life and then some very precarioussituations in jail and trafficking and all kinds
of different things and really through nofault of their owns. So we started

(08:09):
this foundation to raise funds for organizationswho are helping foster youth when they age
out of the system, and theyneed everything I have. I'm a father
of seven and a grandfather of seven. I can't imagine any of my my
tribe just trying to make it throughlife with no help, no one to

(08:33):
turn to. And these folks literallyare living life with no one to turn
to and no place, no placeto go when they age out of the
system. So a portion of ourproceeds, our ticket sales go to Music
is Unity and then we fund organizationsthat are supporting falster youth when they're aging

(08:56):
out of the system, so theyare if a person wants to get involved,
they basically buy a ticket. Well, we're we're doing a fundraiser that
started September twenty first through October thetwelfth, and you know, you can
go to Music as Unity and donate. Donate as little as fifty dollars to

(09:18):
win two tickets to the Venetian Resort, uh to see you know, to
one of our concerts and uh toparticipate in a meet and greet and uh,
you know, all all expenses paidand uh, you know, the

(09:39):
hotel room and the whole thing,and and you can donate more than once
to heighten your chances of winning.But it's something that we were partnered with
Venetian Resort and uh, you know, in a in a way to to

(10:00):
uh do fundraiser to to you know, help the foster youth. For those
of you who are just joining us, I'm mister Dillard with the Black Information
Network, and I'm speaking with thelegendary Philip Bailey from Earth Wind and Fire.
I'm wondering what made you, Iguess what inspired you to do to
connect with foster children. Was thereany particular one instance where you ran into

(10:24):
a foster child or what is whatis that connection? Well? I had
a few foster a couple of falsterfriends that were really close to me when
I grew up who were in fostercare. But it wasn't really those incidents
or experiences that made us go inthis direction. It was more that the

(10:52):
this It was more like this,uh, this cause is very underserved and
very under advertised or promoted. Andyou know, I said, you know,
like being a father and a grandfather, it just really touched my heart.

(11:13):
I've had emancipated foster use our peoplewho were in foster care over to
the house over here, and they'veshared different stories with us about you know,
their experiences, and so it wasjust something that we decided, you
know, my daughter and I atrinity that we were in for the long
haul, you know, to reallymake this of cause that we could really

(11:39):
champion any new projects you want totell us about music projects or concerts coming
up that you want to let otherpeople know about. Well, we've been
extremely busy. You know. Wejust did this tour with Lionel Richie that
was amazing success, and now we'regetting ready to our residency at the NIE.

(12:01):
But yeah, we're staying busy andno new projects coming up that we
could talk about right now. Butwho knows. But you know, we're
just at this point after fifty yearswhere we're still enjoying what we're doing and

(12:22):
still very very grateful that we havean audience out here internationally that we're able
to have a lot of fun with. Awesome. That's the legendary Philip Bailey
talking to us about his music.Is Unity Foundation, and from now until
October twelfth, you can participate intheir fundraiser for National Adoption Month. A
donation of fifty dollars gives you achance to win two tickets to see Earth

(12:46):
Wind and Fire on November first atthe Venetian Resort, Las Vegas. If
you win, you also get atow night's stay at the resort. I'm
Esther Dillard on the Black Information Network. Thanks Esther. The Black Information Network
has a host commentators whose viewpoints andthoughts encompass a wide perspective. For a
conservative look at one of this week'shottest topics, let's check in with James

(13:07):
T. Harris. The opinions,beliefs, and viewpoints expressed in this commentary
are those of the author and donot necessarily represent those of BN and its
founding partners and employees. I'm jmcharris, and I have something to say
today. Homemland Security Secretary Alejandro Marijorcissaid that there was an acute and immediate

(13:28):
need to wave dozens of environmental lawsat the border and to restart construction of
the border wall begun by President Trump. Wait what that's right, President Biden
now wants to build the wall.What happened? I mean, it wasn't
too long ago that President Biden wasinterviewing on NPR and said that not one

(13:52):
more foot of that wall will bebuilt. Now, there will not be
another foot of wall constructed on myadministration. Number one. Number two,
what I'm going to focus on andyour the fact is that somebody in this
group written a lot about the border. I'm going to make sure that we
have border protection, but it's goingto be based on making sure that we

(14:16):
use high tech capacity to deal withit. Well, that didn't age well,
and the crisis that Biden refuses tocall a crisis is once again forcing
the president to adopt the tactics ofthe ideas of one Donald J. Trump,
whose methods, if we're honest,drastically reduced border incursions that Biden and
the Democrats bitterly denounced. Now thatthey've opened the border so that millions of

(14:41):
people are flowing across and creating problemswhere blue cities, blue city mayors and
their governors, well, now itwas time to build a dang wall.
So much for sanctuary cities. TheBiden administration's border crisis is totally out of
control. The question that needs tobe asked is will there be outrage over
Biden's hippocqua say in trying to closethe border's barn doors. Now that the

(15:03):
illegals are in I'm James here.It's on a Black Information Network. You
can follow me on Instagram at JamesHarris. Thanks James T. The Direct
Relief's Fund for Health Equity was createdto increase access to healthcare and improve health
outcomes for marginalized communities. The BlackInformation Networks. Mimi Brown is back with
an organization that talked about how DirectRelief has benefited their community. I'm Mimi

(15:28):
Brown from the Black Information Network andI am excited to have with me today
mister David Wise from Heritage University.The university, located in Washington State,
is dedicated to providing quality education tounderrepresented and underserved communities in the Pacific Northwest.
Mister Wise, thank you so muchfor taking the time to speak with

(15:50):
us today. We are excited aboutthe work that you are doing. How
are you well? Thank you,Mimi, and good morning to you.
It is a pleasure to be here. I'm very well, thank you.
It's a beautiful sunny Monday morning,and I'm thrilled to be on the air
with you. Thank you so much. So can you tell us a little
bit about Heritage University and its mission? Sure? So, Heritage is a

(16:14):
relatively young organization. We celebrated ourfortieth anniversary just last year. Founded in
nineteen eighty two, and it wasfounded by a Catholic nun and two Native
American women, specifically from the YakamanNation. And despite the fact that it's
founding mothers as we refer to them, we're a Native American and a Catholic

(16:37):
nun. We are neither religiously affiliatednor a tribal school. When they were
conceiving of the university and we arelocated on the Yakaman Nation Indian reservation,
they went to tribal council to askcouncil what should this university be? Should
it be a Catholic school, shouldit be a tribal school? And the

(17:00):
elders, in their wisdom, Ijust cannot give them enough credit for their
forward thinkingness at the time, theysaid this university should be for all people
and not just Indians, not justCatholics, but for all people that live
in the valley. And so thatwas how it was founded as a non

(17:21):
denominational, independent, private, notfor profit university founded in nineteen eighty two.
Wow, that is a great story. Talk to me about the direct
relief grant. How has a DirectRelief grant impacted the work that Heritage University
is doing. You know, weare really proud of our Bachelor of Science

(17:45):
and Nursing program, and the DirectRelief Fund for Health Equity grant is going
to help us double down on ourmission of educating the BIPOC student to go
forth with the BSN and work intheir communities. We know empirically that people

(18:07):
of color, in particular immigrants,which is a significant portion of the Akama
Valley from Mexico and points south,as well as Native Americans, they are
underrepresented in the medical field. Andso the more we can do to put
practitioners into service that look like thepopulation they serve, the health outcomes for

(18:33):
families in the valley will be improved. And so this grant from Direct Relief
will allow us to not only increasethe number of Black and Indigenous and Hispanic
nurses that we educate on an annualbasis, but allow us to work in
the community, to go out andpromote the Bachelor of Science in Nursing as

(19:00):
a meaningful career to students who arestill trying to figure out their point,
their place and life and what theywant to do and so the grant not
only provides us funding for scholarships forstudents that want to become nurses, but
for a navigator who is out inthe school system, out working to talk

(19:25):
about nursing to populations that might notbe considering it and helping them find out
what they need to do to preparefor and then enroll in the nursing program
at Heritage. And can you describesome of the programs and services that Heritage
University provides to its students and thesurrounding community. Yeah, you know,

(19:47):
one of the things that we areso proud of is the wrap around services
that we provide for our students.You know, nursing is a challenging field
of study, and so student need, especially first generation college students, and
Heritage University is eighty five percent firstgen and so students that don't have a

(20:08):
lot of collegiate leadership in the homebecause their parents didn't go to college oftentimes
need a little additional support in helpingthem navigate the college system from the enrollment
right through to the ongoing coursework andstudying and finding resources. And so Heritage

(20:29):
is proud of our ability to providethose services across the board. But the
direct relief grant gives a specific attentionto the BSN students to help them navigate
the system. And I must say, our nursing program is tiptop. They
really are student centered and this directrelief grant just gives us that additional layer

(20:52):
of support in students navigating the system. What do you see as the long
term impact of the grant on yourorganization and the community you serve? And
so as we grow the nursing programs, be this grant. It will help
us instantiate the BSN program at Heritagewithin the community as not only being there

(21:18):
for them, but being an exceptionalprogram. And Washington State is home to
the nation's most significant nursing program.The University of Washington nursing program is fantastic.
I think it's routinely rated number onein the state. But students who
a can't get into the University ofWashington or don't want to go to the

(21:41):
University of Washington, they want tostay close to home, they want to
be with their family, they wantto support the community that they've grown up
in and love. We want tomake sure that they know that Heritage Nursing
is every bit as qualified as isthe University of Washington and a viable option.

(22:02):
It just will help us instantiate onceagain the significance of the BSN program
and make it students' first choice asthey're considering where to go to school.
And can you talk about some ofthe challenges that Heritage University has faced in
serving its students and community and howthe organization has overcome those challenges. You

(22:26):
know, I think the biggest challengethat we face is students preparedness. Oftentimes,
especially in first generation college students.The students that we serve are not
as academically prepared because they don't havereally college in their purview. They haven't

(22:52):
thought about going to college, Theymight have decided late to go to college,
and so they have not prepared academicallyfor the rigors of college, nor
financially for the cost of college.And so Heritage takes great pains in serving
those students, reaching out to them, getting them college ready and then to

(23:14):
be successful in college. And thenthe Direct Relief Grant will provide scholarship funding
that helps overcome students' financial needs.We do a tremendous amount of work to
make sure our students have significant scholarshipsand this the direct relief grant, will
provide additional support that makes the costof going to college something that can be

(23:37):
overcome. And so through helping studentsprepare academically and then overcome financial challenges,
we are really proud of where we'regoing with the BSN program with Heritage in
this direct relief grant will really,I just can't tell you, it will
really make going to college possible manystudents. I Mimi Brown with the Black

(24:02):
Information Network and I'm in conversation withmister David Wise from Heritage University, and
we are talking about how the universityis making a huge impact on the lines
of its students and the surrounding community. Mister Wise, what are some of
the future goals and aspirations of HeritageUniversity. You know, we are at

(24:22):
the moment we are opening a newsatellite location down in the Tri Cities,
which is about sixty miles south ofUS. Then, the history of Heritage
University has been to provide access toa college degree wherever there are students that
do not have access. We servea very specific population who for many reasons

(24:48):
social, cultural, financial, geographic, that don't have access to a high
quality college degree and so over itshistory, heritage has gone to populations that
are in need of that access.We decided about a year and a half
ago that there was a population similarto the population we serve in top of

(25:14):
is is located in the Tri Cities. The Tri Cities Pasco, Kennewick,
and Richland are as I mentioned justa little way south of here, and
there are wonderful universities there. However, we feel like there's a population that
is not being served that we haveexpertise in, specifically first generation college students

(25:36):
from low income families. We wantto make college available to them. So
we're opening a campus there or alocation there, and you know then we
are opening a new Masters in Socialwork next summer and a Master's in Counciling
next summer as well. So welook to serve the needs of the community

(26:03):
with degree programs that are in highdemand within the community. So school counselors
that has come roaring back as aspecific need, So we're opening our program
to help the community satisfy that need. Similarly, masters in social work,
especially in rural communities, and that'swhere we are. We are in Topnish,
Washington and we are. Our campusis located right in the middle of

(26:27):
hop fields, very big agricultural region. You know, all the apples and
peaches and parents and cherries and allthe hops that are most of the hops
that are grown for the nation's beeroutput are grown right here. And so
we live in a rural space,and we want to provide access to not

(26:52):
only the students, but the degreeprograms that are in demand and in rural
communities, nursing, social workers,counselors really hard to hire for those positions
from outside the market, and sowe want to grow our own, so
to speak, provide students the educationthey need to be successful and serve the

(27:15):
populations that are here in their communityand stay in the community that they've grown
up and loved. Can you speakto any unique partnerships or collaborations that Heritage
University has developed to better serve itscommunity. Yeah, you know, one
of the partnerships that we're exceedingly proudof. And of course, the BSN

(27:37):
program has relationships with a number ofregional medical facilities to provide clinical rotations for
our students. But one of thereally exciting ones that we are engaged in
is with Children's Hospital in Seattle,and of course, as the name implies,
it is a pediatric care center,and we have a rotation where students

(27:59):
from Heritage go and spend four weeksin Seattle working at Children's Hospital on their
pediatric rotation, and it is atop flight hospital for pediatrics. And we
are really thrilled with our relationship withchildren that allows for two cohorts to go
over every summer. We're also partneredwith the University of Washington on this who

(28:22):
provides the housing for our students whilethey're doing their clinical rotation. And it
gives students the opportunity to learn ina top flight medical facility and bring that
expertise back to the populations they willserve going forward. And how does Heritage
University measure the impact of its programsand services? You know, I think

(28:44):
the primary measure is how many underrepresentedcommunities are now working in the profession in
those chosen fields. So we willbe looking to measure over time the growth
in the number of people of colorthat are working in the nursing profession in

(29:04):
the Greater Yakima Valley. We've gotways to go. Of course, we're
a young program, but we're throughthis grant. We're going to add more
people of color to our nursing program, and hopefully those people will soon join
the professional ranks within the valley andwe'll make a dent. We know they
are underrepresented in those fields and thatthat has an effect on the patient.

(29:30):
And so the more people that wecan put in those roles that look like
the population they serve, the betterthe health health outcomes will be. And
we will measure that over time interms of the number of people of color
that are working in the nursing fieldsin the Yakima Valley. And what advice
would you give to individuals or organizationsinterested in supporting Heritage University and its mission?

(29:56):
Oh goodness, thank you for thatquestion. You know, as a
small, private, liberal arts nonprofituniversity, we are, as the president
often says, we are never goingto be very far above the break even
point. It's the nature of thestudent we serve. We serve a population
that doesn't really have the resources toattend college, and so we provide as

(30:22):
much financial aid as we possibly can, and so scholarship support for Heritage University
is invaluable for our students. Wewant to make the cost of going to
college as close to zero as wecan possibly get it. And the way
we do thatret is through scholarship support, and we have very very generous donors

(30:45):
thankfully who support the mission of theuniversity and who give to us specifically for
scholarships such that we can make thecost of college affordable. And finally,
is there anything else you'd love toshare about Heritage University with our listeners?
You know, I, first ofall meet me, Thank you for this

(31:06):
opportunity. We believe that heritage isone of the best kept secrets in the
country. We have this just amazingmission to serve populations that for who without
heritage, likely college would be outof reach. And so we're exceptionally proud,
but we're also exceptionally unknown. Soif you are interested and can want

(31:30):
to learn a little bit more aboutHeritage and spread the word, we would
be so so grateful. We onceagain have just this mission that we're so
proud of and it is such wonderfulwork and people sharing the story of this
little miracle that is Heritage is justour very best reward. Well, mister

(31:52):
Wise, thank you so much fortaking the time to speak with us today.
We hear at the Black Information networkare so excited about the work that
Heritage University is doing. Thank youfor taking the time to fill in our
listeners have a wonderful day. Thankyou, Mimi. It's been an absolute
pleasure. Thanks Mimi. The OneMusic Fest is the largest music festival in

(32:15):
the Southeast that will be celebrating hiphop's fiftieth anniversary at the end of the
month, along with featuring acts likeKendrick Lamar and Janet Jackson. The man
who created this festival says that hewas almost ready to call it quits early
on in the creation of the festival, until his wife convinced him otherwise.
The Black Information That Works on EdGordon talks about that and more with One

(32:38):
Music Fest founder Jay Carter. AllRight, thanks Mike. J Carter is
the founder of One Music Fest,the southeast largest privately owned urban music festival.
And this event is going down atthe end of this month. And
if you are anywhere that's not inAtlanta, you still have time not only
to get tickets, but to getyour flights get down here to be a

(33:00):
part of this historic event in PiedmontPark out here in Atlanta. And I
have the man himself, Jay Carter, in the building. How you're doing,
sir, I'm doing well. I'mdoing well. I'm man. Thank
you for having me, thank youfor being here with us. So I
want to talk to you about onemusic fest. I've been to a couple
now, gonna lie it's been hada great experience. Whenever I've gone there,

(33:20):
it's always been I think I sawDMX. The last time I saw
DMX was at one music fest andlike, me and my wife were there
and it was just one of thoseexperiences where he put it all out there
and it was just like and thento think about it after he passed away,
I'm like, the last time wesaw him was at one music fest
and Wu Tang was there that year. I believe that it was just the

(33:40):
way that you guys put on thisevent and the way that everything runs so
smoothly is a testament to what youhave been doing over the past fourteen years.
Can you talk to me about let'sgo to the beginning real quick,
of why you decided or how youdecided to put this event together. Got
it well. I've had the brandmarketing agency for over twenty years, so

(34:01):
I've been working closely with a lotof brands for a while and creating experiential
events and activations for them that speakdirectly to our culture, to urban culture,
black culture. So also, Iyou sown a live music venue at
a club that I owned as well. I always had a passage for live

(34:23):
music, so I would say itwas probably around seven or eight, you
know, moving around to different festivalsaround the nation. I thought there were
amazing experiences, amazing you know,your monooos, your lollapal losers, everything
in between. And I saw alot of our music on stage, but
I didn't see any representation in thecrowd right, and was like, well,

(34:47):
you know, does this exist forus? You know, I would
love to see this for us.And at that moment, I wasn't looking
thinking about building it. I wasthinking about just attendant, right, you
know what I'm saying. So,and I couldn't find it. I couldn't
find it. You know, essenceis cool, but that was kind of
like back then, that felt like, you know, kind of like your
mom's spot or more like an expotreally not really like an outdoor, bony,

(35:13):
multi stage and the elements kind offestival. Yeah, so I couldn't
find it anyway, man, SoI said well, well, why why
not? Why not me? Whynot us? Why not now? And
when you have those kind of moments, when you have those type of opportunities
to have that thought, yeah,you know you get the thought, you
get the idea. It starts offas the idea. What was the process
like putting it together and having thefirst one? Oh? Hell, man,

(35:37):
you know it's uh, you knowwhat it is when you have those
ideas, man, you know whatI'm saying, those little home improvement ideas,
like you know, I can buildthis cabinet, and then once you
start getting all the lumber and pieces, and now like god damn, a
lot, a lot more difficult thanI than I thought, and expensive.
So you know, owning the cluband the venue and putting on these large

(36:00):
events and parties and activations is onething, but the festival is totally different.
And when I typically venture into newareas, I always look for mentorship.
The problem was I couldn't no mentorshipfor this, no mentorship because it
just didn't exist. And so thementors I had to go to didn't look
like us, right, and theyweren't you know, they were very receptive

(36:25):
of this idea. You know,they didn't think it would work. Uh.
And this is folks of all lesserhue, right and uh yeah.
So I mean if I would havejust stopped and listened to them, I
would have never done it. Wow. So uh yeah, and you know,
to be candid, Uh you know, the first five years we lost

(36:46):
money. I mean it was definitelya passion project. So what made you
not quit? My wife? Itworks? Yeah, you know what I
mean. I mean we invested somuch time and energy into it. She
saw it grow, she saw itdeveloped, and I think year five,

(37:06):
I mean we lost a boat loadand I was like, you know what,
baby, I can't. I ain'tgonna put us in this kind of
position. And uh, you know, we had another kid on the way.
It was it was a lot goingon, man, And she was
like, look at you invested toomuch time and energy into this thing.

(37:27):
Every year doubles in size. You'regetting more reach, bigger sponsors, bigger
acts. So don't look at itas losing. Look at it as investing.
Okay, I said, whoa,All right? You know she hit
me with the one too. Andthen and the following year is actually the
year we broke through. Man.That's crazy. I loved I love to

(37:49):
hear that. I love when Ihear you know, couples like build together
and stand by each other, becauseyou hear a lot of the other ones
where you know, you hear aboutyou know, wives that really don't get
into the you know what I'm saying? Where the Okay? All right,
it's time. We lost what it'stime. It's time. But this is
year fourteen. We're at Piedmont Park. Yes, sir, what is the

(38:10):
big difference of your fourteen for you? Like? What what is uh this
year? Because obviously this is acelebration of the fifty years of hip hop.
We have Kendrick Lamar, we haveDJ Drama, we have Big Daddy
Kane, Goodie Mob, Megan theStallion, Janet Jackson, Janet. So
let's talk about year fourteen one musicfest. The I mean for anyone that

(38:35):
lives in Atlanta or the Great Atlantaarea, uh, and or anyone that
does large scale events, especially outdoorevents. You know, Piedmont Park is
the Kreem Dela Crome, right itis. It is where you want to
be. But through legislation and cityrules and order, you know, ordinances,

(38:57):
they can only allow six Class Aevents per year. Oh wow,
and they've been grandfathered in for avery long time. So we had an
opportunity. Something opened up. Wehad an opportunity to get into Pemont Park,
and I mean we just jumped allover it. So, I mean,
I'm over the moon. That's alwaysbeen the dream to be in Pmont

(39:19):
Park. So it's the biggest greenspace in the city and it's just beautiful.
I mean, it's perfect. Arewe adding more stages? Actually we
went down We had four stages lastyear. We're doing three stages, but
three big stages. Gotcha, Andconsidering it's our first year in Pmont Park,
it's like, you know, let'skind of walk into this thing.
Let's not run into it. Let'ssee how it works, and then you

(39:43):
know, if it works well,we'll probably expand it four stage next year.
Excellent, excellent, excellent. Iam with Jay Carter, who is
the founder of One Music Fest.It's happening at the end of this month,
and make sure if you are notin the great Atlanta area, go
ahead and get your flights, goahead and get your tickets and meet us
at Piedmont Park. Let's talk aboutthe lineup, Let's talk about what we're

(40:06):
doing. With Jane and Jackson.What was that called like? And then
also let's talk about, you know, the celebration of fifty years of hip
hop and how we're trying to workeverything together to make this celebration down here
because you if you, I know, you've heard like Jermaine Duprie and and
some other people talking about how Atlantareally hasn't gotten a chance to really show
show off, right, and thisis an opportunity with one music fest being
one of the biggest, if notthe biggest, you know, hip hop

(40:29):
festivals in the Southeast, especially uh, to really show out when it comes
to the fifty year of hip hopanniversary. What can we expect with that?
We had to man, you know, not not only for the city,
but for the culture and for hiphop. You know, they didn't
think of what last fifty is,right, So, but also all the

(40:51):
celebrations that we have been seeing Nashawide really kind of cater us to a
very specific sound of hip hop.And not that you don't want to give
it up for the originals, youknow, Kuherk, you know, Red
Alert and everything in between, butyou know, the you you need for
something as big as hip hop,it takes a team, it takes a

(41:14):
community, it takes it takes generations, it takes you know, it's it's
not justified Burroughs. You know whatI'm saying. I mean, there's a
sound that was coming out of theMidwest. There's a sound that was coming
from the West coast, and itdefinitely was a sound coming out of the
South. Uh and that should behighlighted as well. So fifty years of
hip hop one music fest Style AtlantaStyle does feature keras One. But you

(41:36):
also are gonna get Project Pat.You're also gonna get eight Ball and MJG.
You know you want brand Nubians.You got Brand Nubians. You want
Big Daddy Came, We got you. But you're gonna also get Nelly.
You know what I'm saying. You'realso gonna get Killer Mike. I mean,
I think all of these are soldiersof hip hops that do an amazing
job of carrying a torch and shouldbe celebrated as well. We canta talk

(41:58):
to you about an and probably someof the things you've had to deal with
over the last fourteen years and justtrying to put together such a large event.
Is the thought of a large gatheringof black people and having one music
fest is long and having no issuesat all. Ever, you know,
what is it? What do youattribute that to? Well, you know,
I would think anyone that knows mepersonally knows how protective I am of

(42:27):
our culture right and our people.And we have too important of a job
to do when it comes to representingwhat hip hop is, what Atlanta is,
uh and who we are. Sotake I take I take protecting you
know, everybody, every person,the brand. I take that very seriously.

(42:51):
So we have a zero tolerance atone music fest. You know,
if you see something, say something, you know, metal detectives, we're
checking your bag, you're getting wandedand you know, and someone said to
me before, they were like,man, you know I was. I
was at one musical fest. Wasin this area, was kind of you
know, a little congested, andI ended up stepping on somebody's shoe and

(43:15):
sometimes you feel like this is gonnabe an altercation. You know. The
dude ended up buying me a beer, right, He was like, he
said, the space breathes this kindof unity and connection and this kind of
kumbaya. I feel, you knowit it is It is a true celebration
of our music of culture of us, and I think you feel that when

(43:37):
you walk through the door. Ithink some some some events are are built
as as a money grab, rightone, mus Fuster was built. Trust
me when I say it was builtout of love and it was a passion
project. It was built out oflove absolutely, and I think that that
has felt and seen throughout our entirefestial grounds. How we activate the food

(43:59):
you eat, the things that yousmell, the visuals on screen, how
the brands interact with you, what'sbeing served behind the bar. It's our
culture and through so it is asafe environment to be celebrated. I want
to go back to what your wifesaid when you went through the five years
of of you know, just theloss she said, acts keep on getting

(44:24):
bigger, she said, like youknow, the size of the crowds are
doubling. You know, we haveJanet Jackson, which is probably one of
the biggest names you could possibly get. You know what I'm saying For an
event like this, what does itsay to you about what you've built where
you can go and request these kindof artists and they're all like when music
fast, Yeah, definitely we wantto be a part of that. What

(44:45):
does that say to you, Imean, you know, I guess sometimes
you gotta you know, you gottastep back and pinch yourself a little bit,
you know, because before all ofthis, I was just a fan
of the music of culture. Uh. And now to be in spaces and
and having conversations with Kendricks team andJane's team, I think it's it says

(45:07):
a lot about the brand, howwe position ourselves, you know, our
growth. But it's you know,I think, I think, I think
not having Janet is is it's almosta She's too important to the culture,
right, It's it's why can't weput Janet in the same space as Kendrick,

(45:30):
you know as a brand faires youknow where you know her fans are
shoulder to shoulder with you know,a nineteen year old singing Brent Fairez lyrics
word for word, right, youknow what I'm saying. And and and
you got these you know older genX folks, you know, pauling just
as hard next to them singing Janetword for word. I think, I

(45:52):
think that connectivity is so important,and I think a lot of artists,
uh, they see it, theyrealize what it is, and they say,
oh my god, this is thisis beautiful. Absolutely, this is
this is a homecoming. Man.I just want to say, I'm proud
of you man, in what you'redoing and what you're doing for the culture
and what you're doing for us forpeople that need information on how to get
tickets, on how to be apart of this, where they need where

(46:14):
do they need to go One MusicFest. It's only spot you don't go
for tickets o any MusicFest dot com. It will take you direct to our
ticket partners, which is our frontgate tickets. Tickets also on on Ticketmaster
as well, I believe, Butplease do not get scammed out there buying
any bootlet tickets. Buy your ticketsfrom official resellers or the website. Again.

(46:38):
One Music Fest is happened at theend of this month, Jay Carter,
I appreciate you. We thank youfor what you're doing for the culture.
Mike back to you, thanks Mad. The Black Information Network has a
host of commentators whose viewpoints and thoughtsencompass a wide perspective. For a liberal
look at one of this week's hottesttopics, let's check in with Roland Martin.
The opinions, believe and viewpoints expressedin this commentary are those of the

(47:02):
author and do not necessarily represent thoseof b N and its founding partners and
employees. Now it's time to bringthe funk with Roland S. Martin.
I really and truly love how NewYork State Attorney General Tis James gets under
the skin of Donald Trump. Thethug in chief, goes on trial Monday

(47:30):
in New York and he's accused ofinflating the value of his various Trump organization
properties. Now, last week thejudge ruled that in his estimation, he
committed fraud. Now his was hilarious. So they go to court today and
Trump's lawyers are asking, why isthere no jury trial? The judge goes

(47:55):
because y'all didn't check the box.This shows you how incompetent Trump and his
legal team is. Here is TissJames speaking before the news media at the
beginning of the trial. God lovethis. Donald Trump and the other defendants
have committed persistent and repeated fraud.Last week we prove that in our emotions

(48:20):
for some rejudgment. Today we willprove our other claims. My message is
simple, no matter how powerful youare, no matter how much money you
think you may have, no oneis above the law, and it is
my responsibility and my duty and myjob to enforce it. The law is
both powerful and fragile, and todayin court we will prove our case.

(48:45):
I thank you all for being here, and again justice will prevail. Thank
you Trump. At his news conferencehe called her a racist. She's killing
them and I love it. I'mRoland Martin on the Black Information Network.
Thanks Land. A number of conservativegroups are challenging DEI initiatives, claiming the

(49:05):
policies to equal the playing field forblack Americans goes against the Civil Rights Act
of nineteen sixty five. We're goingto take a deep dive into the conversation
about diversity, equity and inclusion DEIand how it will ultimately affect Black Americans.
Doug, Thanks Mike. This isDoug Davison with us IS Human Resources
Management consultant Dante King. We're hereto talk about diversity, equity and inclusion

(49:30):
in the workplace. Dante, Welcometo the bi IN. Thank you for
giving me an opportunity to join youin conversation to discuss the anti racism and
DEI focus and work that's going forwardright now. Absolutely, man, and
we appreciate you for your work.So let's talk DEI in the workplace.
You know, with the recent SupremeCourt decision that basically killed affirmative action and

(49:52):
college admissions, how do you thinkthis ruling will affect DEI efforts in the
workplace? From your perspective, Ithink it will totally eviscerate DEI efforts.
And the more that I think aboutit, the enfoldment of all of what's
happening in the current moment. Youknow, these laws can be manipulated and

(50:13):
policies within institutions can be manipulated toachieve whatever goal that is politically correct at
any given moment. And so Ithink the DEI movement, while it has
some legs after the George Floyd murder, we see right now with current efforts
that they are attempting to take allof these programs away at the academic level,

(50:37):
even within private corporation. So Idon't think that it's going to last
too much longer. So, youknow, when it comes to that glass
ceiling of African Americans trying to breakthrough that corporate structure, without these DEI
efforts, do you feel we havea chance to really climb that corporate ladder?
We absolutely don't because we and Idiscussed it in my book, we

(51:00):
have a deficit based orientation that's beensanctioned around our identity as African Americans.
Need to understand that when this countrywas founded, it was founded as a
white country, and so white peopleare a political organization within themselves, and
so they are attempting to resume aposition of hoarding all opportunity for themselves.

(51:22):
The I, affirmative action, allof these things did nothing for black and
brown people except forgive us access toopportunity. And now those opportunities are being
taken away, and so our potentialto advance, to take advantage of access
or opportunities is being not only constrained, it's evaporating, it's going away.

(51:46):
Yeah, and that's really a sadthing. But well, let's talk about
California, for example, they didaway with affirmative action and college admissions years
ago and then created some very innovativeefforts. Do you you feel that as
a country we may able to,let's say, impose some sort of act

(52:06):
or policy or even law that cankind of work around what's happening right now
with Republicans really trying to not giveany African American a break in any instance.
Absolutely, So in the short term, states have the right to create
whatever laws or rules or policies thatthey feel are necessary within each entity.

(52:29):
When you look at something like youjust mentioned Prop two nine that all but
gutted representation of non white people studentswithin these academic institutions, and even to
this day, you don't see thesame type of representation that you saw pre

(52:49):
Prop two nine are represented in theseinstitutions. So if we're looking at that
as an indicator in terms of what'sgoing to unfold in the future, again,
we can see that this is goingto be come at a huge cost
to community, to non white communities. Do you feel blacks who are in

(53:13):
corporate positions right now are protected becauseDEI initiatives are in jeopardy? Well,
I mean we see right now they'retrying to limit any type of training that
could address racism, that could speakto the history of what this country was
built upon, the anti black sentimentsthat have always been upheld and very pervasive

(53:37):
within our culture. They're trying tooutlaw it. And so you see the
struggle for not just power, butto do harm to black people in general,
and so even black professionals who believethat, oh I have education,
you know, I've done all theright things to promote or to advance,

(54:00):
and this within these institutions, thatdoesn't not matter at all. And I
can tell you that for many yearsin human resources management, what matters is
being connected. And so I think, you know, as individuals, yeah,
if we're connected to the right people, we may advance. But as
a collective community, I think weare just headed for somewhere we haven't seen

(54:22):
in many years. Do you feelthe gen Z generation and the gen X
generation are more progressive in thought whenit comes to diversity, equity and inclusion.
I mean it appears that they're alot more open, you know,
to the progression of all races alongthe racial spectrum. There are white people

(54:44):
and then there are those that whitepeople prioritized, and we can look at,
for example, certain East Asian communities. We see the guy Edward Blum
that actually was responsible for the affirmativeaction case and how he used those agency
students to against black and LATINX studentsto basically assert that they were taking advantage

(55:06):
of affirmative action and that that thatwas limiting their opportunities, while not ever
looking at the fact that legacy admissions, which accounts it for roughly forty percent
of Harvard's admissions, and the studentsthough the white students that made up those
legacy admissions, not understanding that manyof those white students, seventy five percent

(55:27):
of that forty percent, were underperformingstudents that had lower combined GPA and SAT
scores than higher performing black and LATINXstudents. So I think that black people
are always enemy number public, enemynumber one, and we can no longer
assume this whole idea of people ofcolor coming together or allies, because we

(55:50):
see that that has not served usright right for very true, very well
put. So, what do youfeel from a black community perspective that we
can do on our side or dowe have that power? I mean,
structural racism is a social construct that'sbeen, you know, in existence for
hundreds of years. What kind ofpower do we have? I would say

(56:13):
we don't, unfortunately, have anypolitical power. I'm not going to say
that conclusively. I do believe thatthere are regions in this country where African
Americans are represented more, and inthose regions there's a potential to organize and
really, you know, ally withmaybe more liberal leaning entities to create policies

(56:35):
and potentially get certain legislation passed.However, the likelihood of that happening,
you know, all over this country, that's very unlikely because we see just
as weird there are those of uswho fight against racism and want to see
a dismantle. The white power inthis country does not want to see a
dismantle. It is not anything thatworks in their favor. They know it,

(57:00):
and so they're fiercely and vigorously fightingagainst any advancement of black people and
non white people in this country.I mean, it's literally a race war
that we see happening before our eyes. That's right, that's right. Hey,
let's talk about your book real quickand how that relates to our topic

(57:22):
at hand right now. Thank you. So, you know, I do
a pretty vivid ethnographic layout of lawsthat structured whiteness and white supremacy during the
colonial period in here in North America, as well as the formation through the
formation of the United States of America, as well as looking at a combination

(57:47):
of legislation and juridical decisions that deprioritizeblack people and actions that were taking specifically
against black people. I think thevery such a correlation as to what has
happened, you know, over thelast you know, five to ten years,

(58:07):
and the things that are happening thatare at our at the forefront of
our discourse right now, that peoplecan tie directly to how this country was
developed and how laws and policies emergedto disenfranchise black people. Dante, we
could probably go on for another twentyminutes my time. As he lapsed,

(58:29):
I thank you so much. Anyfinal words, no, just thank you
so much for what you do forthe community. I support you, and
I appreciate your work, and Ithank you so much. We appreciate you.
How can folks reach you if they'relistening right now and they may want
to speak to you. How canpeople find you or you on LinkedIn social
media? I am Please go tomy website at Dante King dot com.

(58:52):
Do's www dot d A N TE, K I n G dot com.
You can find me there and allof my social media are there.
Dante King, human resource consultant andthe author of the book The Four Hundred
Year Holocaust. Thanks for joining us. Man. This is Doug Davis on
the Black Information Network and the BlackPerspective. Thanks Doug for more on these

(59:13):
stories. Listen to the Black InformationNetwork on the free iHeartRadio app or log
onto binnews dot com where you canhear this program in its entirety on demand.
Also follow us on social media atBlack Information Network and on x formerly
known as Twitter. At black infoNet, we thank you for joining us

(59:35):
on the Black Perspective and look forwardto continuing to have needed conversations for the
black community. Next week, I'mMike Island on the Black Information Network.