Black Perspective: September 24, 2023

This week on The Black Perspective, Vanessa Tyler speaks to Congressman Jonathan Jackson; Esther Dillard talks to an author about Mental Health; Natasha Williams has a conversation about financial literacy in the Black community, and Doug Davis talks to a Black economist who wants to help women find the funds to start their businesses.

Listen now!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's September twenty fourth, and wetake a visit to the annual Legislative Conference.
Esther Dillard talks about mental health andthe color between the Lines, and
Natasha Williams talks about financial literacy inthe black community. Those stories of more
coming up. Welcome to the BlackPerspective. I'm your host, Mike.
I. Welcome to the Black Perspective, a weekly community affairs program on the

(00:22):
Black Information Network featuring interviews and discussionson issues important to the Black community.
This weekend, the Black Information Networksset up at the Congressional Black Caucuses fifty
second Annual Legislative Conference at the prestigiousWalter E. Washington Convention Center. Our
own Vanessa Tyler had the opportunity tospeak with new Congressman Jonathan Jackson about his

(00:43):
first year in Congress and family legacy. I'm Vanessa Tyler at the Congressional Black
Caucus Foundation's fifty second Annual Legislative Conferencein Washington, and I'm honored to be
joined by Congressman Jonathan Jackson. Ithasn't even really been a year yet,
but it feels like you bring somuch history to the halls of Congress.
How do you fail. Do youagree with that? I totally agree.

(01:04):
It's been here eight months, Congressmenfrom the first Congressional District of Illinois,
the longest serving district held by AfricanAmericans in the country since nineteen twenty nine,
and god willing next year this time, it would have been forty years
since I first was on a Democraticstage at the Democratic Convention in San Francisco.

(01:29):
And I guess I'm one of thefew remaining people now that has had
the opportunity to meet all of thefounders of the Congressional Black Caucus. Yes,
you have. You know what Ithink about the baton that you've taken
from the iconic Bobby Rush. Howare the people in Chicago, especially the
warriors in Chicago, responding to thisnew representative. Oh, it's been amazing

(01:53):
and it's been a thrill of alifetime. It's been a true pleasure privilege
to represent the first Congressional Strict.My father and Congressman Bobby Rush go back
many years. I remember that theseason on which Congressman Bobby Rush was the
Chicago Police Department was trying to assassinatehim, and he turned himself in and
we went to the police station theBlack Panther member, and they had just

(02:17):
killed Fred Hampton during that time,the Chicago Police Department, all the way
through Congressman Bobby Rush as I've calledhim Uncle Bobby, from being an alderman
all the way to serving thirty yearsfor in Congress. So it's been amazing
and it's been continuity. There's unbrokencontinuity. But let me remind you there

(02:37):
are a lot of people that haveunbroken continuity here in the Congress, some
fighting against us, and it's goodto have unbroken continuity of people fighting for
us. That's absolutely true, especiallywith the divide. I'm going to ask
you are progressive, and that's adirty word to some in Congress. How
are you getting along with people?Is there any unity or any agreement at

(03:02):
this point or things just broken?No, I think there's quite a bit
that's going right. I think eightypercent of the attention is given probably the
twenty percent of the people that probablymay be the most extreme and outlandish.
I think in the Republican Caucus there'sa small minority group that the speaker unfortunately

(03:23):
is having to capitulate to. Butother than that, there are quite a
few sane people and I'm very hopefuland optimistic we're going to get out of
this quagmire. And I do seeprogress. I see a lot of it,
frankly, and I think there arenew relationships that are being formed.
One of the geniuses, if youwill, in the founding of the Constitution,

(03:44):
is the people's houses every two years. The presidency is four years,
and the Senate is six years.So there's gonna be seventy or a hundred
people to turn over in the nextCongress. So it's a systems designed to
bring in fresh blood. And ifyou can imagine in seventeen eighty nine and
when the Congress was formed where onlywhite male landowners could vote, is taken

(04:04):
a long time, too much timeto get to the point now where we
have a woman of an African Americandescent ancestry, if you will, that's
now a vice president of heartbeat awayAfrican Americans of fifty nine the four hundred
and thirty five members of the Congress, we've had an African American president,
We've got three African American senators,one or two of which we don't need

(04:28):
to mention that are on the wrongside of history in the Isle. And
we've got the third person, afterwe take the second person, after we
take back control of the House ofRepresentatives, to have an African American to
be Speaker of the House. Soafter the presidency the vice president, there
is a Speaker of the House.The People's House is in succession. So

(04:49):
that is quite remarkable. So we'vebecome a mighty long way. It's taken
too long. But in the timethat I would say since nineteen sixty five,
we always have to reflect them andpay how much to Reverend Martin Luther
King, who could not be withus now, who laid the foundation,
whose blood is soaked and stayed inthis moment. Let us never forget that

(05:10):
in just these short years since nineteensixty five, we've made this progress.
We didn't have it before then,but since then we've made remarkable strides.
Who, by the way, isyour godfather. Yes. And on top
of that, and so I liketo think our office as a civil rights
office on the hill sixteen forty onelong Worth is a civil rightsis. Oftentimes
I don't feel like a congressman.I've never had a title before outside of

(05:34):
being a professor. I feel morelike a man in the Congress. So
it's the people's office, it's thepeople's house, and I really enjoy it.
Speaking of the Speaker of the House, we all know that right now
what's looming is the government shutdown.Should you would you vote to help McCarthy

(05:55):
stay in office? Would you helpfor him to remain speaker rather or will
you let him just go ahead andand and faderate way on his own with
his radical colleagues. Well, Iwould not vote. I'm voting for King
Jeffries to become the Speaker of theHouse. And uh, I would like

(06:17):
to know what it is that misterMcCarthy hasn't planned for the nation. So
I would not vote for the man. I would vote for the agenda,
and uh I followed the leadership ofour leader, Hawking Jeffries. He might
need some democratic help, Harty,Well, then he has to come with
the democratic agenda and advancement that showsme how African Americans are have been considered,

(06:40):
how they're going to fit in itsattack on affirmative action, I would
ask Speaker McCarthy to speak out onit, attacking African Americans and contracting with
the SBA, UH saying affirmative actionisn't necessary affirmative action is still in place
for the white community. Uh,the rich was still able to go to
Harvard and on legacy, they're stillable to buy their way in, like

(07:01):
Jared Kushner with a two million,two and a half million dollar donation.
They're also backdoor side doors for peopleto play sports. But for those African
Americans of the first generation that wantto get into engineering and humanities and arts
and sciences, they've closed that door. And now you've had thirteen Republican Attorney
generals to send out a letter tothe Fortune one hundred corporations saying that the

(07:26):
students for fer admissions decision that wasrendered by the corrupted Supreme Court is not
to be narrowly applied. So theyare now going after African American DEI diversity,
equity, inclusion contracting opportunities. Theyare hitting at the heart and soul
of the backbone of the black middleclass community. It's the Black middle class

(07:48):
and business community that gives the fuelto the Congressional Black Caucus to this legislative
weekend. They're trying to shorten anddampen our numbers, to cut off our
resources. So that's the fight ofour time and that decision for students for
fair admissions is not to be putnearly applied, according to Justice Corsage and
unfortunately Justice Thomas. So we're seeingit all over and so the parallel happened

(08:13):
in history before. What happened inplus e versus Ferguson was for all practical
purposes, someone that was white,seven eighths white, one eighth African American
was testing the limits of the separateequal opportunities and had bought a first class
train ticket in Louisiana and was tryingto ride and was ended up finding that

(08:39):
No, according to the Supreme Court, it has to be separate equal,
And the definition of African American isone thirty second a drop of black blood
made you black. And from nineteenfrom eighteen ninety six until nineteen fifty four,
it took fifty eight years to overturnthat decision. In those fifty eight
years, we lost all the blacksenators, all the all except for maybe

(09:01):
one or two African American congressional people. They're doing the same thing today.
So it is not to be narrowlyapplied. I don't want people to rest
on what they did. So itstarted as a school admissions, school admissions.
What started as drinking as a firstclass train ticket that he bought was
then applied to a black and whitegraveyard, a black and white school.

(09:24):
The law of segregation kicked in theSupreme Court does not make narrow decisions,
and so we have to let ourpeople be alarmed. And I think to
the degree that we have apathy andpeople sleep and forget and aren't cognizant and
aren't vigilant, that's our peril.I know you're heading off right now to
a panel on Africa and the diaspora, So anything there real quickly before we

(09:48):
let you go, Oh, wehave to have the conversation. So,
for example, we've let end hundredsof thousand people from the afghanstand. We've
opened our doors to two thousands ofpeople from the Ukraine. But now that
immigration is coming from the border ofthe African, of Africans and people of

(10:09):
African descent, from Haiti, fromVenezuela, from other parts that have been
hard hit. Now all of asudden, we don't have room in the
country. Now, all of asudden, we don't have the resources.
We've had the money for all theother immigrants, and so why are these
people sleeping outside, sleeping in tents, sleeping in police stations. We need
to have immigration reform, and weneed to apply and let Africans, people

(10:31):
from African descent into our country.And how is your father be for you?
Stay goodbye? How is he doingso? My father, Reverend Jesse
Jackson, is doing well. Hevery much wanted to be here this year.
He couldn't and that saddens me.But hopefully next year he'll be here.
And I wouldn't be here without himself. I thank God for him,
and I thank God for all thecivil rights worker, all the freedom fighters,

(10:52):
and all those soldiers that don't havethe attention that are put in the
work to make it possible for ourgeneration to be here. Congressman Jonathan Jackson,
thank you so much. I'm VanessaTyler reporting from the Congressional Black Caucus
Foundation's fifty second Annual Legislative Conference inWashington on the Black Information bankwork. Thanks

(11:13):
Vanessa. Finding solutions to addressing mentalhealth challenges has become something many schools and
health agencies are trying to get ahandle on these days. The Black Information
Networks Ester Dillard spoke with one licensedprofessional about a workbook she developed to help
anyone who wants to explore some oftheir deep beliefs about themselves and rasons.

(11:35):
I'm Ester Dillard on the Black InformationNetwork chatting with writers and authors who offer
an added perspective for listeners. Thisis the color between the lines. These
days, many people have been addressingthe issue of mental health and how it
should be addressed in the black community. A black psychologist and counselor decided that

(12:01):
this issue warranted creating a workbook thatgives readers fifty things that they can do
to actually pull out of their mentalhealth toolbox. The book is called Black
Lives Are Beautiful Fifty Tools to healfrom trauma and promote positive racial identity.
One of the two authors, SharmikaNewton, is doctor Sharmika Newton is a

(12:24):
licensed psychologist and professor, and she'shere to join us to tell us more
about the book. Welcome doctor Newtonto the bi N. Thank you so
much for having me. Awesome.This book appears to be laid out as
a workbook, so it isn't justa quick read, which I thought at
first it might be. But pleasetell our listeners what is the purpose of

(12:46):
the book and who would benefit frompicking it up. Yes, most definitely
so from my own experiences as aBlack American and also from working with clients
who identifies Black Americans. Myself andmy co author, we came together and
drew those experiences together to put togetherthis work book, and it's really geared

(13:07):
towards Black Americans who experienced racialized traumaor who may be struggling with having positive
self worth and positive self identity.Many times, we as people of color
are faced with my coroggressions, We'refaced with this outright racism, and so
this book is designed to help peopleto heal because a lot of times we
talk about trauma, but we don'talways talk about the healing. And so

(13:31):
this book is really geared towards providingtools for individuals to heal things such as
racial trauma and those hurts that cometo our identity as Black Americans. Were
there any specific traumas for you ordoctor Steele that may have been the I
guess the thing that prompted you togo and work together to write the book.

(13:54):
Most definitely. In the book,we share about our lived experiences,
some of which go back to adolescentsand some go into our adulthood. I
share about one of my first experienceat racism was being followed around the store
when I was eleven years old,and that's where, you know, it
really became real to me that thesethese experiences happen, and they happen not

(14:15):
because you do anything wrong or becauseyou're you're devan. They happen just because
people don't like the blackness that theskin that I'm in. And so,
you know, we share some ofthose experiences that go from our into our
adulthood, even experiences that happen oncollege campuses, and what helped us to
protect us from racism as well.Well. You go into depth at the

(14:37):
beginning of the book and you tryto explain how race is a social construct
and the difference between race and ethnicity, which is kind of confusing if you're
not quite clear on the definition.Why did you think that it was needed
to be addressed in this way insuch a deep dive. Yeah, most
definitely. I think it's important tounderstand that race is, it's a construct.

(15:01):
It's been rooted in American culture thatto be black or brown there's meaning
that gets attached to that, andI think it's important to understand what that
meaning is because many times there's antiblack messaging that's put out by society.
And so if we understand that thisis, you know, messaging that we're
given from a very young age thatgoes into our adulthood, then we can

(15:24):
work to counter those narratives, counterthose perspectives. And so that's why we
really wanted to distinguish between race andethnicity and help people to understand that it's
systemic and it's developed through our ourculture. How did you determine what you
would use as I guess exercises inthis book, because there's a lot of

(15:48):
different exercises that people can go throughthat are very very insightful and very interesting.
Yeah. So the book is it'sbroken down into five different sections.
One section is held inform racialized trial, the next is healing self providing self
esteem, promoting resilience, promoting empowerment, and then the last section is promoting
community. And so doctor Stilla,I, we came up with these sections

(16:11):
based off of our twenty years ofclinical work with clients who come into our
office and they talk about these issuesof how their self esteem is impacted,
how they want to build sense ofcommunity. So the activities were really developed
based off our clinical work and alsoresearch that we know that these five factors
they help to help individuals heal forracialized trauma. For those of you who

(16:34):
are just joining us, I'm EsterDillard on the Black Information Network, and
I'm speaking with doctor Sharmika Newton.You say, psychologist, professor and co
author of the book Black Lives areBeautiful fifty tools to heal from trauma and
promote positive racial identity. There aresections in this book that pretty much asked

(16:55):
the reader to really connect mind,body, and breath, And I thought,
I love that and in order toheal, And in my opinion,
this workbook is really not meant tobe I guess done alone? Am I
right? Right? Most definitely?I think the best way that individuals can
use the workbook is to use itto skip around, like find what's most

(17:18):
relevant for you. So, ifyou know you're kind of struggling with self
esteem as it connects to your race, your identity, going to that chapter
there at the beginning of the book. We also talk about just strategies to
ground yourself because a lot of timeswe talk about race based stuff, it's
triggering, like it may we maynotice symptoms in our body like increase hardware.
We may notice even fear responses whenwe talk about it, right,

(17:41):
And so the first part of thebook is a good place to start where
we talk about some of those strategiesas to ground yourself, to self sue
to help yourself as you navigate it. But then after that, I think
it's good to use the book tolook at the areas that are most important
to you, like if you wantto learn more about how to feel empowered
or to your self esteem or resilience, going to those chapters and looking at

(18:04):
that material. So it's designed whereyou can kind of use it where if
it's you best. Yeah, butI'm wondering, which is a wonderful answer,
But I'm wondering, did you alsoa mean for a person to,
I guess get in a group ofpeople to kind of work with this workbook?
Because to me it seemed like itwould be better, more beneficial if
I had a friend or someone whoin a group that I could kind of

(18:26):
share these things with. Yeah.Most definitely. We've had several people reach
out to us and they've asked thatsame question that you know, can it
be used in group or can itbe used with a group of people,
and most definitely like a healing circlewhere you could use the book with a
friend or with maybe even colleagues whoare experiencing similar type of racialized trauma.

(18:48):
So most definitely it could be usedwithin a book setting. There are a
lot of group a group setting there. There are a lot of really great
pieces to this workbook. But whatdo you think will I guess may end
up shake up a reader the mostor being the most beneficial, either one
or both if you want to talka little bit about that, think for
me, the activities that focus onusing your heritage, their activities within it

(19:15):
that acts you. For example,we have one called creating a heritage wall,
where you can put pictures or imagesor symbols that represent your family and
who you are. There's another activitythat directs the reader to talk with the
oldest member of their family to learnmore about their history. So I think
the thing that will streak us upthe most is the activities that are designed

(19:37):
to understand our heritage and our lineagebecause a lot of times, we as
black people, it's been stripped fromus because of slavery, right, and
so going back and having those conversationsand valuing those messages that were given to
us by older generations is important ina way for us to realize that the
greatness that's within us we are comingfrom survivors, and that there's greatness within

(20:03):
our DNA. Yeah, the ancestorsand those who are before us who paved
the way, I think. Yeah. I think one of the biggest messages
that I got from the work bookwas the internalized negative messages that often black
people have about themselves and trying tomentally untangle all of that. Can you

(20:26):
talk about more of your overall messagethat you hope that readers will hopefully pick
up from the book and that theyshould understand. Yeah, I think one
of the saddest things about racism isinternalized racism when we begin to believe the
messages that white dominic culture gives us, and so us learning how to cognitively

(20:47):
like with our thoughts, reframe thosethoughts so that we're able to anchor ourselves
in thoughts that are really true andthoughts that validate who we are as black
people is important, and so that'salso a big part of the book is
the power of affirmation, Like usbeing able to affirm who we are in
changing the tape or flipping the tapethat we may have playing in our head

(21:11):
about ourselves that is internalized racism.Thank you so much, doctor Sharmika Newton
for joining us on the bi Nand talking to us a lot about your
book. Where can folks find it? Yeah, definitely It's on Barnes and
Noble and also Amazon, Amazon dotcom. Awesome. It's called Black Lives
Are Beautiful, Fifty tools to healfrom trauma and promote positive racial identity.

(21:37):
That's it for this edition of TheColor Between the Lines. I'm Master Dillard
on the Black Information Network. Access. The Direct Relief's Fund for Health Equity
was created to increase access to healthcareand improve health outcomes for marginalized communities.
The Black Information That Works Mimi Brownis backed with an organization that talked about

(22:00):
how Direct Relief has benefited their community. I Mimi Brown from the Black Information
Network, and today I have thehonor of speaking to Daison Dixon Dallo,
the founder and president of Sister Love, Inc. A nonprofit organization in Atlanta,
Georgia, dedicated to educating women ofcolor about HIV prevention and other sexual

(22:22):
and reproductive health challenges. Davon,thank you so much for taking the time
to speak with us today. Howare you. Oh, thank you so
much. Mimi, I'm good.Thanks for asking. It's exciting to be
with you today. Absolutely, let'sget started. Can you tell us more
about the mission and goals of SisterLove. Sure? Absolutely, Well.
The overall mission of Sister allow usto do everything we can to eradicate the

(22:48):
adverse effects of HIV and other sexualand reproductive health challenges in the lives of
women and girls predominantly of African descentof all identities FAMI identities. And we
do this through education, health services. We do this through community outreach and
engagement, through research, community ledresearch as well as community based or participatory

(23:14):
research. We do policy and advocacywork. We do a lot of other
integrated activities, including the arts andcultural work in terms of moving the needle
on improving the sexual reproductive health outcomesand lives of predominantly Black women and those

(23:34):
who love us. What specific programsand services as Sister Love offer to the
community. So, we have anumber of services that we offer. Let's
say, just from a direct servicestandpoint, we provide testing for HIV and
sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy. Weprovide some care through our mobile unit that

(23:59):
I'm to talk about today. Wealso have a very robust i'd say peer
navigation program, patient centered navigation program, linking people to care, making sure
that there's followed through providing support bothsocial and behavioral health support through groups and

(24:22):
through connection to mental health care.And we also what you've probably seen as
we have put a sexual and reproductivehealth mobile clinic on the streets just in
the last few months, and that'sin our service facing side of things.
We've also partnered up to offer vaccinesduring COVID of course, but also providing

(24:45):
prophylactic what do you call prep orpre exposure prophylactics for HIV prevention, and
a lot of policy and advocacy workthat we do both at the local level
as well as at the national levelwith other partnerships. Interestingly, we have
a program office in South Africa wherewe work specifically with adolescent girls and young
women around gender based violence prevention aswell as HIV and STI prevention, and

(25:12):
also a little bit around unintended pregnancieswhich is on the rise in South Africa.
Wow. That is amazing because Iwanted to ask you more about the
organizations that you guys work with.I know that you guys have partnered and
done some work outside and so soundslike South Africa's was one of those places.

(25:33):
But are there any other community partnersthat you work with to achieve your
mission? We work with, oh, dozens and dozens of community partners.
Of course, we work in partnershipwith almost all of the local HIV eight
service organizations in Atlanta, predominantly workingwith Thrives, with another group called the

(25:56):
Positive Impact Health Centers, with AIDAtlanta, and with the Center for Black
Women's Wellness, which is a sisterorganization to us, are not far down
the street. And in addition tothat, we work at a national level
around reproductive justice work, especially inblack community. So our big partnership is

(26:17):
in our own voice. Our localpartner inside of that is a fantastic organization
Spark Reproductive Justice Now, which focusesmostly on young leaders in the section reproductive
health scase. We partner with alot of folks that also give us resources
and so that's really important to us. We partner, for example, with

(26:37):
organizations like the Ford Foundation, likeDirect Relief Fund. These are some of
our partners that see the value ininvesting in us at the very local level
because of the impact that we makeoverall. And speaking of the Direct Relief
Grant, how has the Direct ReliefGrant impacted your organization and the community that

(26:59):
you serve? I would be remissif I didn't mention the fact that,
just over the last few years,a lot of it. During of course,
the COVID the most intense days ofthe COVID pandemic was we saw a
need to incorporate, integrate, oreven pivot a bit from our focus on

(27:19):
HIV and STIs to incorporate a focuson the coronavirus. And that led us
into some really strong partnerships with faithinstitutions. We've got churches, a couple
of mosques that are also working withus in partnership around black health and black
health equity. And so what DirectRelief Fund has allowed us to do is

(27:42):
we have been able to secure andbeautifully wrap and also outfit a mobile unit
to actually be a service providing clinicbeyond the testing accounts so that we have
been doing traditionally, and so thatclinic is now partnering up with Walgreens is
one of our big partners. Nowthat we have the mobile unit, our

(28:06):
Grady Fulton Decab Authority Hospital, whichmost people know is Brady Hospital, is
lined up to work with us.Fulton County Health Department is working with us
and a lot of local churches.Our core anchor to reaching all the clergy
through through our bus and placing ourbus in their location is Saint Peter Baptist

(28:29):
Church right here in our own neighborhood. And so it's been a really important
addition to expanding health equity, expandingour efforts around health equity in metro Atlanta,
especially since just as we you know, exited the most crisis points of

(28:52):
the COVID pandemic, we had twomajor hospitals closed down within a couple of
months with each other here in Atlanta, and that has sent a domino tidal
wave, if you will, almostin terms of people who have routine access
to healthcare that they do not havein their own communities anymore. And so
having a mobile unit they can showup where they are has been critical to

(29:18):
not only increasing access from people incommunity, but also expanding our visibility and
our opportunities to partner with more localorganizations and businesses. Well really really all
wonderful stuff. That sounds like thegrant is doing a lot for you and
the organization. What do you seeas a long term impact of the direct

(29:40):
relief grant and the community. Soyou're absolutely right, it has done a
lot to help us. Meaning injust in the few months that the bus
is the Healthy Love Bus is whatwe call it. In the few months
that the Healthy Love Bus has beenon the streets, man, we have
increased our self testing distribution by abouttwo under present. We have also increased

(30:02):
our walk in testing in person becausepeople have seen us and have followed us
online and found out how to getto us for their free services. So
I think that the long term ofhope and goal for us is to really
get a lot more people directly engagedin their healthcare through the different avenues that

(30:22):
already are of interest and are ofgreat value to them, whether it's through
the arts or through their own learningin the STEM work or in communications.
So those are some of the longerterm things. Is how the bus will
help us grow into providing more servicesthat are intersecting in the intersectional lives are

(30:45):
that the women we serve live.I mean, I'm one of those that
says people live intersectional lives. Weneed to have intersectional responses to those needs,
and that's what we are working towards, and that's what we help you.
Love bus will allow us to do. I love that, the healthy
love of us. I love itand Daison, is there anything else you

(31:06):
would like to share with our listenersabout Sister Love inc that perhaps we did
not cover. Thank you for askingthat, and thank you for having us
again meeting. I think what Iwant people to know most about Sister Love
is that, first of all,we've been here. We've been through just
as many different types of struggles asa whole lot of families go through.

(31:26):
And so when you see a SisterLove, know that we see ourselves as
a family in the community, andthat we live within the community, and
that we're a part we are ourcommunity. And because of that, know
that we are consistently recognizing that ourwork lives within a much larger framework.

(31:47):
We live within the human rights universeof things, and that equity and justice
and inclusion and dignity our core ofPHOBR and what we live for, and
that makes us, I think,an extremely trusted and valuable pole. And
that is what I want people toalways remember about system of is that we

(32:08):
are always here because we belong toNaison. Thank you so much for taking
the time to speak with us todayhere at the Black Information Network. We
are so excited about the work thatyou were doing. Thank you so much
for taking the time to fill inour listeners. It was a wonderful interview.
I really enjoyed. I learned alot about the organization, and hopefully

(32:30):
our listeners have to Thank you somuch. Mimi. I appreciate you,
and I appreciate your audience and happyto talking with you anytime. Thank you,
Thanks Mimi. The Black Information Networks. Natasha Williams speaks with Ronald Jackson
about financial literacy in the black community. Natasha Ronald Jackson is the CEO advisor

(32:51):
of r J Financial Group, LLCand Dayton, Ohio. He started his
company in two thousand and one withan emphasis on providing financial literacy to young
people who look like him. Thecompany provides education about several financial topics that
would be relevant and actionable in today'ssociety. He does not want black people
to be hindered by what so manyof us continue to say, and that

(33:14):
is we were never taught about financesgrowing up, or our parents didn't know
about investments and finances. He's agraduate of Tennessee State University and he grew
up in the Fellwood Homes projects inSavannah, Georgia. He is the eighth
of nine children and the first tograduate from college. He brings thirty years
of experience in the business to usas we talk about black wealth, what

(33:37):
we can do. Ronald, Welcometo the Black Information Network. It is
so good to talk to you.Let's talk about this black wealth racial gap
that we have been dealing with solong. We have inflation problems, we
have problems with the stock market,we have a myriad of other topics that
we can talk about as to whywe are not where we need to be

(33:59):
as far as our finances. Canyou help us understand what we need to
know to get to the next level. First of all, thanks for having
me, Natasha. I really appreciateit. Appreciate you appreciate the black perspective.
And yes, you know, Ithink that when we talk about black
wealth in America, we have tocome at it from a number of different

(34:19):
perspectives. We have to look atit from a government perspective. We also
have to look at it from afamily perspective as well as all those different
narrative information that you just gave our, as far as stock market inflation,
so on and so forth. SoI think the key first and foremost is
the one thing that we always sayis the education. We have to be
vigilant as Black people to get theeducation that we need. We have to

(34:45):
get sound advice. I can't emphasizethat enough because it will stem the tide.
I think in some ways from amental gap, it will also allow
us to see what we've been missingout on as well as what systemic issues
have been that have plagued our community. So I think those are some of
the things that we need to startaddressing immediately. This gap has gotten wider.

(35:07):
People don't plan to fail. Theyfailed to plan, So we have
to be conscious. But I thinkin the black community we have to have
a paradigm ship well, Ronald.In fact, if we want to talk
history, the racial wealth gap wasnot by accident. It was brought about
by government policies and programs that AfricanAmericans were actually excluded from in the nineteenth

(35:29):
and twentieth centuries. Right, Soon NTAK. You know this just did
not happen by happenstance. It wasdesigned for example, you see, many
white Americans can trace their legacy ofwealth and property ownership to a single government
program, the Homestead Act of eighteensixty two. It expropriated and redistributed land
from forty two Native American tribes towhite homesteaders. Between eighteen sixty eight and

(35:54):
nineteen thirty four, the government grantat two hundred and seventy million races of
western land, an area the sizeof California and Texas combined to one point
five million white families. Wealth buildingfor black Americans started with close to zero
and zero capital. So you cansee how that started that process of wealth

(36:16):
transfer. So here we are now, how do we make today work?
How do we make what salaries wehave today, sometimes smaller than the majority
groups? How do we make thesalaries that we make today work for us?
I can give you an example.I started my banking career right out
of college, went up to Detroit, was working at National Bank of Detroit

(36:38):
or NBD. You know, Ilooked at my paycheck at back at that
time I was making I don't knowtwenty thousand dollars a year, and someone
told me about four one K investWell, I had an apartment, had
a car. I didn't feel likeI had any money to invest, but
I squeezed out twelve dollars and fiftycents per pay, which was twenty five
dollars a month. When I leftafter six years, I rolled that money.

(37:00):
There was about thirteen fourteen thousand.So the lesson to me and that
was small sums grew up to bebig sums. It's not the money that
we make, it's what we doafter we pay Uncle Sam and we pay
our bills. Knowing how much disposableincome you have after all of the bills
are paid, and what can yousqueeze out. We're talking with Ron Jackson.

(37:20):
He is the CEO adviser of RJFinancial Group LLLC and Dayton, Ohio,
talking about the importance of financial literacyin the African American community. So
Ron, let's talk some more aboutsome of the important things that African Americans
and anybody really needs to know aboutgetting their money right. So okay,
Ron, we're on track. Wehave a plan. Should we save more

(37:44):
or invest more? I think wein the black community I'll say, we
get this mixed up saving versus investingfor a number of reason. Number one,
we fear the market, so wedon't want to invest in the market,
so we put all our money insavings. But when we put all
our money in savings, we gotto look at We complain about what the
bank is paying us. So ifthe bank is only paying us two percent,

(38:06):
but I tell you here's an investmentover the last five years, there's
average ten percent. But you say, what, I don't like investing in
the stock market because I might loseall of my money. Well, you
know there's something called interest rate risk. So you get two percent or less
than two percent in your savings account, when I'm over here getting ten percent
in the investment account. You're losinganyway. So most people are fearful because

(38:29):
they leave too much money in theirsavings. The only thing you should have
in your savings is a reserve wherethat you can have access to liquid money
in times of emergency. Jackson sayslife insurance is a must and for African
American families, if purchased early andin the right amounts, it can without
a doubt, lead to generational wealth. Black people own the most amount of

(38:52):
life insurance out of any group inAmerica. But Natasha, we're in talking
about smaller policies three thousand, five, ten thousand. What is that going
to do for your family and theevent that something happens to you? For
number one, we need to understandthat it was a systemic issue that kept
us out of law. Are transferringwealth down to our families, and we

(39:16):
got to understand that. We gotto get out of our mind about I'm
not leaving anybody anything because I cameup on my own. They got to
come up on their own. I'mtelling in the Black community, we have
to address life. And I wasjust this week met with two clients and
both of them had to take careof a funeral because of somebody else passed

(39:37):
away. And for those nearing retirement, that million dollar question when should I
start drawing my Social Security? Alot of people want to take it at
sixty two because they say, Imay not live the sixty three and I
can't put a beneficiary on that.So I want my money. They ain't
gonna keep my money, and that'swhat we think. But we need to

(40:00):
change our mindset because most people fullsocial Security age is sixty six. Anytime
you can wait past the age sixtysix up to age seventy, you get
an eight percent return on your sosecurity benefit. So now if a person
can wait to age seventy's, that'seven more money coming in. We're not

(40:20):
dying, we're living. People areliving longer unless something just going on.
You know, COVID, you know, messed a lot of things up for
us. But if you can waitand live off something, maybe live off
your four one k for a while. It has been a pleasure talking to
you. Ronald Jackson, the CEOadviser of RJ Financial Group of Dayton,
Ohio, Thank you so much forproviding some wonderful knowledge about how African Americans

(40:46):
can really learn more about their financialliteracy and how young people in our community
can learn early on about the importanceof building financial wealth in our community.
Been a pleasure talking with you.Thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you, Natasha. I appreciatethe opportunity and look forward to other opportunities
down the road. Thank you,Thanks Natasha. Black founders, particularly black

(41:09):
women founders, have a tough timegetting investment funds to start up their business,
but there are some ways to breakthe glass ceiling. Doug Davis speaks
with a black economist and syrial entrepreneurto help these founders find the footing they
need to succeed. Doug, Hey, thanks Mike, this is Doug Davis
back with another segment of your BlackBusiness And it's a sad fact, but

(41:30):
true, Black women founders continue tostruggle to obtain venture capital funding. Even
right now, there's a conservative groupthat's fouled a lawsuit against a company designed
to help black women get the fundingthey need. To talk more about the
struggles of black founders, you havesyrial entrepreneur and money coach Marguerite Presley Davis.
She's the founder and CEO of FinanceSavvy CEO, a company that coaches

(41:52):
businesses and entrepreneurs to find success.She's here to talk about her recent op
ed and financial magazine Barons. Marguerite, Welcome to the bi N and you're
a Black business. Thank you somuch for having me. Really excited to
be able to have this conversation withyou. Honor to have you here as
well. Great article. Also,if I may add, so, why
do you feel the struggle for VCfunding remains an ongoing issue for founders especially

(42:17):
black founders. Yeah, I thinkthere's a couple of reasons. I think
one of the big reasons that itcontinues to be a struggle is one on
the awareness piece. I think thatalthough if we look at twenty twenty,
there were so much new awareness thatwas brought to the issue of black women
specifically able to end their ability toraise capital, I think that ultimately one

(42:43):
of the reasons they struggle is becausethere still is not enough awareness as to
how large this problem is. Butnot only how large the problem is,
what is even more important is howgreat the impact is. I think it
continues to also be an issue becauseof the pure proximity alone to black women,

(43:06):
Black female founders in particular, havingthe proximity to the resources, to
the network, to the information that'sreally required to be able to successfully raise
capital. So I've had a chanceto speak with some mainstream venture capitalists and
one of their big questions or maybeconcerns, is that they don't, let's

(43:30):
say, understand And you know,I sometimes struggle with this comment, but
I've heard it said to me beforethat they don't understand black culture. They
don't understand how our products could move. That's one excuse that I've heard the
other excuses we generally lend to peopleas well as products that we're more familiar

(43:52):
with, right, and we're notthat familiar with the black culture. Have
you ever heard any of those excusesbefore? Yeah, I definately I have
heard those of those things before.And here would be my response to that,
especially as it comes to the lackof understanding of the black culture the
black products. I think that thinkingis very problematic because when we think about

(44:19):
from even a venture capitalist perspective ofwhy certain investments are made, we are
not looking at the decision of investmentto be made based on necessarily the understanding
even of black cultures. Business investmentshould be evaluated based upon the strength of
the business model, the strength ofthe ability to generate the profits that can

(44:45):
generate outside return for these investors.So unfortunately, when I hear things like
that, which I have heard manytimes before, for me, there's this
implicit bias going in that the productsthat a black founder is creating is somehow
different than one that our white counterpartsmay be created. But we should think

(45:07):
of these and I would challenge individualsto say that, to say, why
don't we evaluate the business on spacevous, why don't we evaluate the business
for the returns that it can create, the problem that it's solving, the
market size potential. And if welook at those things, what you'll actually
find is that black women in particularor one of the most innovative group of

(45:30):
entrepreneurs that exist, and they aresolving problems that large markets have and therefore
are perfectly poised for outsize returns.So that's what I would say to the
first point of well, we don'tunderstand the black culture, I'd say,
let's work beyond the culture and understandthe business fundamentals exactly. But now I

(45:50):
think that they're very There is somethingto what I hear frequently that you just
mentioned around well we're not familiar with, And I particularly want to touching the
point of familiarity because when it comesto investing and it comes to making decisions
about what we invest in, acore principle around finance and investing is that

(46:12):
a lot of times we tend toinvest in what we know, what we
are familiar with. So there isthis bias there that's understandable because we make
decisions about contractors will use based onfamiliarity and the ability to relate so that's
why. Also, I think it'scritically important that black founders are in the

(46:36):
rooms where investors who are writing thechecks can become familiar, so that they
can become comfortable, so that theycan become to a point where they can
say, oh, I'm looking beyondwhat media or society tags as black culture,
and I am learning about the individualsand what they care about and who

(46:59):
they are as a founder. Andyet yeah, very very important. Would
a black founder be able to,let's say, find out how to do
that through an accelerator program or howwould they be able to keep it,
know how to navigate, you know, to be able to get in that
room and so they can be seenas a person, not as a color.
Yeah, I think that accelerator programspan or may, but I do

(47:22):
think that there is a list thathas to happen. And this is where
I think there's an element of whatwe can do to change the narratives,
change the numbers, and shifts thecurve. It's about creating intentional opportunities.
Intentional opportunities where founders and funders canbe in the same room and not only

(47:44):
be in the same room, butthey can network and they can understand and
really dive into starting relationship buildings becauseI think that there's one thing about knowing
that a founder may exist or comping, but it really boils down to relationship
in creating intentional circles where relationships canbe built. Now, there are some

(48:06):
accelerators where a large portion of theaccelerator base be geared towards just raising capital,
and so they'll put you in frontof where we'll put founders in front
of funders, and I think thosework well. But ultimately I am of
the strong belief that deals get donebased on relationships. Like you my backgrounds
from the time I worked on lawstreets to now to the species that I

(48:29):
partner with to you know, showthem amazing founders. It really comes down
to relationships. How familiar are theywith the individuals, how familiar are they
with the company. And so Ithink there is a bit of us up
going even a step deeper than theaccelerators would go. You know, maybe
that accelerators eight to twelve weeks,but it's about how do we make building

(48:52):
relationships with people that don't look likeus, or going back to or that
you're not familiar with, how doyou build those long term relationships, and
I think that it takes a littlebit longer than eight to ten weeks that
it absolutely switching gears. Are thereany economic factors that are contributing to the
lack of VC funding for black founders? Yeah, I mean, like if
we look at the numbers overall fundingoveralls existed, it right, like there's

(49:17):
less money that's being given overall.So, you know, I think that
where we look at the fact thatfunding to black founders has declined, I
think there's a bit of just puremass that is related to the overall of
the client. However, when welook at the economy that we're in right

(49:39):
now, there is so much economicuncertainty there is, regardless if we agree
or disagree about we're in a recessionor recessions depending. I think one of
the things that everyone can agree onis that it is an economic downturn.
And when you get in a situationwhere there is an economic downturn, unfortunately

(50:00):
that does impact what chets get written, what are the size of the checks
that get written, and how muchof the dollars that are available in a
VC fund gets deployed to new investmentsversus capitalizing on existing investments that they have
in the portfolio and doing add on. So I do think that there is

(50:22):
an element of just you know,uncertainty right now in the economy overall,
and there is pullback on spending.There's pullbacks on where you were putting new
dollars versus you know, hedging somerisk in some of your existing places that
you may have. So how doyou suggest black founders pivot right now?

(50:43):
Yeah, I think that there's acouple of ways that black founders pivot right
now. Number one, I thinkthat we double down. We doubled down
on being head down on the fundamentalsin our existing business, meaning this is
the time where we double down onensuring that you're delivering value to our existing
customers, where you focused on ouroperational efficiencies and our financial efficiencies within the

(51:08):
business so that we can make ourbusinesses as profitable as possible. Because the
more possible that we can make ourbusinesses, the more operationally sound we can
make our businesses, the more thatactually would make it attractive to a to
as VC. I also think thatthere's an element of pivoting right now that

(51:29):
we need to do as black foundersto ensure that we are showing up ready,
and what I mean that we areshowing up ready already knowing that there's
pullback on the funds given. Ithink that there's a bit of an earnest
also on black founders to ensure thatthey are going when they're pitching for funding,
where they're going to the banks forfunding, that their financial passages are

(51:51):
presented in the best way possible thathighlights the strength and the opportunities that their
businesses exist. I also think thatthe third way that I would really recommend
that founder's pivot right now is thatwe leverage alternative forms of investing. There
are so many ways to get capitalthat is outside of the VC routes right

(52:13):
and I think it's now time forfounders to really dig in and explore what
are those alternative routes, no matterif it is crowdfunding or revenue based funding,
or ultimately really digging into their ownnetworks and saying, hey, who
are the angel investors that are inmy own networks that I may be able

(52:34):
to leverage when I know what's happeningwith the deployment of capital in the VC
space. Great points, what aresome positive signs on the horizon for black
entrepreneurship today. Yeah, Well,what are the positive signs that I say
is I say that media is actuallya great thing. I ail. I'm
one of those that are in thebelief of the press and that are good,

(52:55):
are bad, and you can useit to your datage. And I
think that one of the things that'shappening right now that shows positive sentiment is
unfortunately, very unfortunate. What wesee is that's happening with the Fearless Fund
right now and depending lawsuit. Butwhat I think what is great that's coming
out of that is the attention onthe actual issue that exists with black women

(53:20):
receiving less than a half percent offunding. So I see that as a
very positive And the reason that Isee that it's positive because when we become
aware of something, then you cando something about it. It's the lack
of awareness that often keeps problems notsolved. So one of that's one of
the really positive things. I think. The other things that's really positive for

(53:42):
black founders that I see is thatthere are more opportunities that exist now to
get support from resources or economic I'msorry, entrepreneurial support organizations than ever before.
I think, you know, Ilook think about myself and when I
started my very first tech startups,there were not nearly a force of the

(54:06):
programs that exist now that helps foundersall the way from the ideation phase to
actually, you know, all theway to a potential exit. Those didn't
exist before. So I think that'sreally that's that's really really great news for
black founders. And I think thethird things that I would identify is what

(54:27):
is next or what's excited about orwhat's afford to for black founders. What
do you have right now is youhave a lot of focus that is being
put on more than ever before.How do we create an ecosystem that has
more founders of color or individuals ofcolor that are invested. Because I'm a

(54:49):
strong believer that if we can createa more robust funder ecosystem that is inclusive
of black individuals, that we willin turn, if going back to what
you said earlier on familiarity, wewill also see a boost and funding even
at the friends and family angel levelfor black founders. Right, great minds

(55:12):
think alike, and that's an awesomeperspective. Finally, you wrote an article
entitled five things that I Wish someonetold me when I first launched my business
or startup, Can you share brieflya few of the those five things?
Yeah? Yeah, absolutely. Thinkingback to my first startup, there is
a lot of lessons learned, andI think that, you know, one

(55:34):
of the things that's important and especiallyimportant to me is being able to share
those titfalls that I had so thatothers can avoid them. I think one
of the biggest lessons that I reallylearned with my first startup was for every
single dollar that you have in yourbusiness, have a home for it.
Right Being a finance person, It'ssomething that I've always lived by. But

(56:00):
knowing for every dollar that the businessmakes, what is it going to do?
What is the purpose for that dollar? It's you know, a business
principle that I've always lived by andit's something that I encourage others to do.
Another one of those principles that Ishare is around a marketing really.
You know, marketing is a bigarea for small businesses where you can make

(56:22):
an investment and never see a return. So ensure that you're doing your due
diligence up front with setting criteria aroundwhat type of return do I need upfront?
To ensure if that marketing investment iseven worth it, but also ensuring
that you're doing your due diligence upfrontas far as is this the right platform

(56:44):
where my audience is, Because ifyou're talking to an audience but they're not
your target audience, no matter howgreat it's the product is or the services
that you're trying to sell, you'renot going to see those conversions. That's
right. And then one of theother of the prince that I talked to,
and it kind of goes into thedue diligence, but do your due
diligence on the people that you workwith, do your diligence on potential partners,

(57:08):
potential imps, would use the wholemind. One of the biggest mistakes
that I've made in my business wasnot doing the proper due diligence on an
individual that I worked with, righton the project that I took on,
and not doing that due diligence.It definitely costs me from a bottom line
perspective, but also from a timeperspective. So no matter how it's hiding

(57:32):
than an opportunity tend seem nothing's morecostly than going into an opportunity and not
thoroughly researching that person first, Verygood point. Awesome Marguerite Presley Davis,
founder CEO of Finance Savvy CEO,a company that coaches businesses and entrepreneurs find
success. Again, great article,great interview. Thank you so much for

(57:54):
sharing those great nuggets. How canwe find you if you were on linked
and are you wonder your name?Margaret Presley Davis? Is there a website
that black founders or folks that arelistening can contact you to learn about what
you provide to the ecosystem? Yeah? Absolutely, and thank you so much
again for having me. So youcan find me on all platforms at finance

(58:16):
Savvy ceo, so on Instagram,at finance savvy ceo, LinkedIn and finance
savvyco dot com. That's where Ialways channel founders to go to to get
a processor of resources and learn moreabout our program that we do on the
financial education side of things, thebusiness becaues wevel. Founders go into business

(58:37):
sometimes because they're passionate about their products, passionate about their service, but it
doesn't mean that they have a stronggrasp on how to make sound financial decision
that's right business. So that's whatwe do at Finance Savvy CEO turning those
CEOs into finance savvy CEOs. Ithink you can also find me on all
platforms as well on a personal levelat Marguerite Presley Day So, Marguerite Presley

(59:00):
Davis on Instagram, LinkedIn, andthen of course the core website Marguerite Presley
Davis dot com. Thank you somuch. This is Doug Davis. You're
listening to your black business on theBlack Perspective. Thanks Doug. For more
on these stories. Listen to theBlack Information Network on the free iHeartRadio app,
or log on to bnnews dot comwhere you can hear this program in

(59:22):
its entirety on demand. Also followus on social media at Black Information Network
and on x formerly known as Twitterat Black Infonet. We thank you for
joining us on the Black Perspective andlook forward to continuing to have needed conversations
for the black community. Next week, I'm Mike Island on the Black Information Network.