The Black Perspective: April 19, 2026

This week on The Black Perspective, Andrea Coleman chats with trailblazing beauty queen turned sportscaster Jayne Kennedy about her groundbreaking career and her compelling new memoir.

Misty Jordan speaks with Pamela Wiley, president and founder of the Los Angeles Speech and Therapy Center, about autism awareness, advocacy, and resources for families.

Esther Dillard returns with Part 3 of her series Unhoused and Unheard, taking a deeper look at how housing instability continues to impact Black communities across the country.

Vanessa Tyler talks with autism activist Stanley McClover about lived experiences and the importance of community support.

And Roland Martin and James T. Harris join us for commentary.

Listen Now!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's April nineteenth, the third Sunday of the month, and
on today's show, the Black Information Networks, Andrea Coleman sits
down with the iconic black beauty queen turned sportscaster Jane
Kennedy to talk about her career and new Memoir News
anchor Misty Jordan talks with the president and founder of
the Los Angeles Speech and Therapy Center, doctor Pamela Wiley,

(00:21):
about autism. This Autism Awareness Month, Esther Dillard is back
with part three of her series called Unhoused and Unheard,
and she takes a closer look at how housing instability
is impacting Black communities. Vanessa Tyler talks with autism activists
Stanley mcclover, and we get commentary from Roland Martin and
James T.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Harris.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
These stories are coming your way. On today's program, Welcome
to the Black Perspective, I'm your host, Mike Island.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Welcome to the Black Perspective, a weekly community affairs program
on the Black Information Network featuring interviews and discussions on
issues important to the Black community.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Good Sunday and Welcome to the Black Perspective. Say the
Name Jane Kennedy and many Americans of a certain age
will know immediately who you are talking about the history
of making Black beauty. Queen turned a sportscaster, has long
been considered one of the most beautiful women in the world,
but an unfortunate incident early in her career forced her
out of the limelight. That is until now. Kennedy, who

(01:20):
was promoting her new memoir Plane Jane, spoke with the
Black Information Networks Andrea Coleman about her life and the
woman she's become.

Speaker 4 (01:28):
Mike Jane Kennedy says she is ready to fully engage
life again. That's a big statement for this American icon
and history maker, who in nineteen seventy became the first
black woman to be crown Miss Ohio and who years
later became the first black woman to co host a
major network sporting program. In nineteen seventy eight, Jane joined
CBS as a co host of the award winning NFL

(01:49):
Today program. She also set down for one on one
interview with the late Muhammad Ali during his reign as
a heavyweight boxing champion of the world.

Speaker 5 (01:57):
All of it was.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
Groundbreaking, but in nineteen ninety one, it all came tumbling
down when a tape of Jane and her first husband,
actor leon Isaac Kennedy, was released to the public. Jane
talks about the devastating impact that incident had on her
life and career and her new memoir titled Plaine Jane.
She also spoke openly about it with me in this
extended interview she so graciously allowed us. As our conversation

(02:21):
got underway, I could not detect the pain or public
humiliation this national treasure of black history has endured in
her life. You were I can't even put into terms.
I keep trying to find the term that would describe
who you were to so many people. You were iconic,
of course, and that you were the first black Miss Ohio,

(02:44):
but you also went on and did the barrier breaking
in the NFL sportscasting role, all of that, but you
were so much more. You were everywhere for a moment, Jane.
You were on ebony, you were on jet and you
were always so beautiful, and there was an ease about
your presentation that made it feel as though it was accessible,

(03:06):
like we didn't have to we didn't have to dress
up too much. That somehow if we were going to
be nice girls and smart girls and still pursue our dreams.

Speaker 6 (03:16):
It was going to be okay, based on what you said,
I got to go get something. Hold on one second, okay.

Speaker 4 (03:22):
It took only moments for Jane to get the wooden placard.
She wanted me to see the message scripted on it,
putting her life in her historic achievements in perspective while
checking me.

Speaker 6 (03:32):
I was in Texas, my daughter, my two daughters in Texas,
one in Dallas and one in Austin, and we were
driving from Dallas to Austin and we stopped at one
of those. I couldn't imagine how big it was, but
it was one of those you know, you pull off
to get guests, but they have a market, they have
everything else, you know, because Texas is so big. And

(03:55):
I saw this and I had to buy it.

Speaker 4 (03:58):
Oh no, don't be a lady, be a lie.

Speaker 6 (04:00):
I love it.

Speaker 4 (04:01):
So talk about that a little bit. I mean, take
us back to that time. What was it like to
be breaking through so many barriers and being the first.

Speaker 6 (04:10):
Well you didn't know it at the time. You know,
when you're when you're going through this, you just don't realize,
you know, You're just you're just working, you know, and
I was blessed to be able to work, not consistently
in the beginnings, for sure, but you know, when I
got to the place where I could work consistently back

(04:32):
to back to back to back, it was truly a blessing,
you know. And I knew that there were barriers that
I had to still break. Equal pay, you know, opportunities
for African Americans in front of the screen, not just me,
you know, So how was I going to keep going forward?
You know, it was just job, job, job, job, job.

(04:53):
We didn't have social media, so you didn't know the
impact that you were making on people. All we had
was Jet magazine, an Ebony magazine, and so you know,
you would look in the back in the back and
they would have that list of everybody that's going to
be on TV that week, and you know, that's the
only thing that you could judge yourself by, because you

(05:13):
weren't getting exposure in the press, you know, unless it
was black press. And so I was. I was just
working because I loved it and because I had the
opportunity and because of all the things that my parents
made me to be. And I was just keep going forward,
one step at a time. And you didn't look back

(05:35):
to see you know, oh gosh, I was able to
accomplish this. There are two points. Someone asked me, would
you identify a point in time when you realize that
your life had changed? And it was I had to
answer them with October first, nineteen seventy five. I remember
when I was eighteen years old and I was in Cleveland, Ohio,

(05:58):
and we were going to try to who We've bought
tickets to see the Muhammad Ali fight, and they oversold
it and so we weren't able to get in. But
we went to a different venue and we had a
friend that worked at the back door, so we got
in that way. But you know, you're seeing it on
the big screen and it's just not the same, right.
And so here I am in nineteen seventy five and

(06:21):
I had the chance to meet Muhammad Ali and on
was invited to go with him on the thriller in Manila.
And I'm sitting there and there's so many people. You
turn around, I'm right ringside, you know. So I'm turning
around and I'm looking back. Then everybody dressed for these
big fights, so you see these glamorous costumes and wardrobe

(06:45):
from people all over the world, and so many of
them and so many different languages. And I sat there
in Ali's corner and I said, gosh, I did this.
I made it. I'm here, you know, how can I
be here? How did this happen? And I think that
was one of my AHA moments, And then lending the

(07:07):
NFL today was another one, but still not realizing how
important it was.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
It's huge. I mean when you look at it, especially
considering those days, in those times, even today, we're challenged
to find our way into those prominent positions, So back
then it really was a rarity. When you look at
where we are today, especially in that space of sportscasting,
are you surprised at the inroads that that have been

(07:35):
made since you broke that barrier.

Speaker 6 (07:38):
I'm surprised that it took too long, because I see
all these marvelous women that are doing sports broadcasting today,
of all races, and I'm just so, you know, just
to know that I was a part of making that happen.
And I've had so many people that are in that position.

(07:59):
They're on the they're in the booth, they're doing so
many things that I didn't think was possible in my day,
and I'm seeing them achieve this dream, you know, to
be able to get equal pay, to be able to
get you're the lead, You're not just the bystander on
the sidelines, you know. So it meant a lot to me.

(08:21):
I was asked to do a piece in Atlanta, and
it was a generational piece. It was me, Taylor Rooks,
Pam Olliver, and Stephanie Ready, and so I was there
for the beginning and then there's Pam Oliver and then
Stephanie Ready and then Taylor Rooks. And as we were talking,
Taylor Rooks said, I can't believe I didn't know all

(08:42):
of this, the things that you and Pam are talking about.
I had no idea, she said. I was so used
to just Okay, I've got a meeting, I go, I
take the meeting. I walk in to do a job.
I do the job. I'm hosting this, I'm hosting that.
And she said, I thought that was natural. So the
problem we have is not educating people as to what

(09:03):
it took to be the first. And so that's still
part of you know, people exploring who I am.

Speaker 4 (09:10):
To help insure accuracy of her story, Jane has written
her memoir title Plaine Jane. Her hope is to tell
her story, including the difficult parts, on her terms. Let's
talk about your book, plain, Jane.

Speaker 6 (09:23):
What led you to write it?

Speaker 7 (09:25):
Ooh.

Speaker 6 (09:28):
I'd been thinking about it for quite a while, and
there were so many people that were telling me, you
have to write a book, Jane. You have to write
a book, you know, And I'm thinking, you know, I've
never written a book before. I do I know the
first thing about writing a book. And I started, you know,
just collecting things originally. And then it was at my

(09:49):
parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary and I was my sister and
I after the party, we were in the garage and
we were talking. She said, Jane, you have to write
a book. And so I just went upstairs, you know,
put the sheet over my head and I got my
little flashlight and I'm under the sheet. So I'm writing.

(10:09):
And I just kept writing. And I think for like
the whole rest of the year, I just kept writing
every time I had an opportunity. I don't remember spending
that much time with my children during that summer because
I was writing like crazy, and I didn't know what
I was going to write about. I just need to
vomit it all. I had so much in my head

(10:31):
that I just needed to get it on paper and
then I would figure out where it was going to go.
So I had boxes of different papers all over the house,
and I said, I'm never going to be able to
pull this together. And so then, you know, I went
to where I got to the point where I could
look for a publisher, and I was turned down by

(10:52):
forty two publishers. Wow, until I landed at Disney, and
Disney was a struggle to get that. There was one lady,
and she was a dynamite. She was absolutely determined to
get me to be accepted by Disney, and she just

(11:12):
fought for me, and I truly I'm grateful for that.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
You know.

Speaker 6 (11:17):
I saw her the other day. We had an event
at sax fifth Avenue here in Los Angeles, and she
came to the event. And I think that's one of
the best parts is after the book is done and
then I'm seeing people from my past and I'm all
the way from high school, you know, junior high and
I'm having people telling me the impact that I've made

(11:38):
on them.

Speaker 4 (11:39):
Yeah, you really were legendary.

Speaker 6 (11:41):
I know.

Speaker 4 (11:42):
I grew up in a very small town in Texas,
Southeast Texas, and to be able to look upon someone
who was so beautiful and so gracious and yet smart,
and who was family oriented. It was everything. It really
was iconic. I mean when I and heard that you
had written a book, I was so happy that you

(12:02):
were returning to the public eye in the public space
simply by what you've represented. It was all of that
and so much more so. It's wonderful to see you back.
So let's talk about Plaine Jane. You share a lot
with us. You start with a very difficult moment, if
you can, for our listeners who haven't picked up the
book yet, talk a little bit about that era. I mean,

(12:23):
did you start with the incident that led you actually
to retreat from the public eye in a big way,
a major way.

Speaker 6 (12:30):
Well, listeners, go ahead and by the book. Yes, But
you know, I fought with that for a long time.
And I'm not going to say what it is at
this point, but I fought with am I going to
actually have this in the book? Am I going to
talk about it at all? My first version didn't have

(12:52):
my marriage, my first marriage in it at all. It
was just, you know, I was able to do this
and it sounded like, you know, it was a biography.
It didn't sound like a memoir, and I said, I
can't do this, you know, And I struggle with everyone,
you know, because everybody had an idea of what the
book should look like. And then I finally gave in
and I said, I have to start with this because

(13:14):
if I don't, people won't believe that I'm giving them
my authentic self. And that was important to me. For
the rest of the book. I wanted people to know
that this is my story because I'd seen so many
other people writing a story about my life and it
was all about what they thought. Even somebody sent me

(13:35):
something this morning and I said, oh my god, it's
just cluttered with inaccuracies. And so I had to write
this book, which meant that I had to tell that
part of my journey because I wanted people to think
that I was being honest and true in all of
that and all that I said. So it talks about

(13:58):
that time in my life. And many people thought that
it was right after I divorced Leon, but it was
ten years later and I had already married, and I
had two children already and a stepdaughter, and you know,
we're doing a play. My husband and I, Bill Overton,
were producing a play, very successful play, and we're out

(14:21):
on the road. We're going to be you know, we've
had it's called The Journey of the African American. We
had thirty two people in our guest and we were
on the road and we were doing this production that
was massive, and Nelson Mandela had come to Los Angeles
and Mayor Tom Bradley asked us to do a command
performance of the play on the steps of City Hall

(14:41):
when we welcomed him to Los Angeles. So everything was
going so wonderful, right, and then I get a message
from Leon and he came over to the house and
he said, the tape is out, and this is a
tape that we had done in nineteen seventy five and
it is now nineteen ninety one, and it was a

(15:03):
tape of you know, an intimate moment with us, the
husband and wife. We put it away. We were going
to watch it for our fiftieth anniversary. We didn't watch
it at that point. It was going to it was
just put away. But one of his cousins in nineteen
ninety one broke into his house, went into the safe

(15:26):
looking for money, and he happened upon the tape and
he's the one that sold it, and it went viral
and it ended my career. Wow. I had to put
a teaser of that in the front, just because I
wanted people to know that everything that you read after

(15:47):
this is going to be my truth.

Speaker 4 (15:50):
It is a very strong opening. Were you surprised by
the response you got, the reaction of corporate America because
you lost a lot in that incident. I mean, he
stole more than a tape from you.

Speaker 6 (16:01):
Was I surprised? I didn't have time to think. We
were doing so great. We were writing high, you know,
and everything was great, and my children were wonderful, and
I was happy and I had a great marriage. And
then we're out on the road and all of a
sudden we get that call. We're pulling everybody off the road.
And I didn't know why, you know. And Lynn he

(16:24):
came to me and he said that, and I said,
I was just shocked, and he said, I will do
anything that you want me to do. It's up to you.
Bill said the same thing, and I said, I did
not want.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
To talk about it.

Speaker 6 (16:36):
I couldn't hurt to betch. Yeah, and maybe that was
a mistake. Maybe I should have confronted it at that point.

Speaker 4 (16:47):
If you're just joining us, this is a black perspective.
Mike will be back in just a few minutes. I'm
Andrea Coleman with an interview with a legendary black pioneer
and influencer, Jane Kennedy, who was the first black woman
to co host a major tele a network sports program
in the US. Jane is speaking with me about her
new memoir title Plane Jane. It includes details of the
devastating impact the release of a stolen tape of an

(17:10):
intimate moment between her and her first husband had on
her career. She just shared how painful the moment was.
She now talks about how long it has taken her
to move past it.

Speaker 6 (17:20):
Maybe I should have confronted it at that point and
gone on with my life. But what happened was it
ended up taking me into ten years of hiding. I'd
lost all my you know, everybody was calling to cancel, cancel, cancel, cancel, cancel,
so I'd lost all my work opportunities. I didn't want

(17:43):
to be seen anywhere. And then ten years later I
found a gentleman who was a minister and I was
just going to the market and I saw this church
with this brko light coming out the song coming out
the door, and I just got a quick you turn.
I said, I got to go see this guy and

(18:04):
never met him before. And we sat and had I
just vomited everything that was bothering me. And he said, well,
we need to have regular meetings. And I met with
him for six weeks, twice a week, and the last
day I met with him, he said, do you know
what you need to do at this point, I says,

(18:25):
I need to forgive myself. I've been trying to figure
out who to forgive everyone else, you know, But I said,
I need to forgive myself. And he said, well, let's
talk about that some more. And he said, at the
next meeting, we'll talk about that. I came back, the
church was gone, it had been boarded up. I never

(18:47):
found him. And it's the lesson that was in that
is that when you believe in God, he puts people
in your life to lead you along the way. And
I had completed my job when I learned that I
had to give my forgive myself, and I just started

(19:13):
writing more in the book and I started, you know,
enjoying my life a little bit more. My children were
always my lifeline, and you know, as they grew up,
they didn't know that, you know, they knew that Jane
Kennedy was the Jane Kennedy, but they didn't know, you know,
and then it was, you know, years later, and they're

(19:33):
all graduated from college, you know, and now they're saying,
now we see, now we see.

Speaker 4 (19:40):
Yeah, that was a question I had for you today,
as if your daughters understood who you were to so many,
so many women in the world over, not just in America,
but the world over. So that's interesting that they're learning
now when you know, we're in this age of me too,
and so many women, you know, the Epstein survivors, and

(20:02):
so many women who go or experience these moments where
sometimes you're made to want to retreat. What advice, what
words of encouragement can you give to anyone who may
be in that space that may hear your word or
read your book, Where may they find strength and encouragement
to heal?

Speaker 6 (20:21):
It usually begins with yourself, which is what I learned.
And until I could learn that, everything else was you know,
like still falling apart. There was a lady that I
worked with, and she was trying to help veterans. She
was a doctor trying to help veterans, and I worked
with her and we were talking about how injuries, brain
injuries affect athletes and veterans, and so it was just

(20:46):
it was just amazing because she was just one of
those people that that made me realize that I could
that I could still go forward.

Speaker 4 (20:54):
You're talking about how difficult it was for you to
be published, which is so hard to believe because you
are Jane Kennedy. I also understand, like you know, Oprah
Winfrey and Gail King and say that they were inspired
by you as well. So are you getting the reception,
especially from the networks and the major television stations. Are
you getting the kind of exposure that you should get

(21:16):
in telling your story?

Speaker 6 (21:17):
No, I have not, And like you know, we've been
trying to get on the view and we've been not
allowed to be on the view, you know, which I
thought was a slam dunk. Yeah, so you know, no,
I haven't. I haven't received the acknowledgement that I thought
that the book would have. But you know, I think
that you know, sometimes people still don't know the legacy,

(21:39):
and there's a generational gap in my timeline. So maybe
the concern is that, you know, if their audience cues
to a certain age range, maybe those people don't know
who Jane Kennedy is. But you know, I meet people
all the time that says, you know, we were impacted
because when I was five years old, my mom made
us sit in one of the TV and watch you.

(22:01):
You know, Oprah even said that, she said, you know,
she and Gail would sit in front of the TV
and they would watch me on the NFL today, and
they would jump up and down, screaming and shouting color
people on TV, color people on TV. And it made
them know that they could do it too. So, you know,
if I'm a trailblazer and I've open these doors for everyone,

(22:21):
you know, I think that it's important that we do
teach some of the younger generations that may not know. So, yes,
I should be on those shows. That's what I believe.
They may think not, but my thought is that unless
we tell them, they're not going to be educated. And
we have so many problems with education in our country today.

(22:42):
We have so many problems with everything. Why not give
a shade of light why not let people know they
can't succeed? Why not let people know. I had a
lady tell me she had no idea that I was
even that I even existed in nineteen seventy eight, And
she said, why do we not know this? Why are

(23:02):
we not teaching it? Why are we not She said,
why haven't you been on Oprah? Why haven't you been
on you know, any of the shows.

Speaker 8 (23:10):
You know.

Speaker 6 (23:11):
I had the support of some of the people who
did write bookliners for me, but you know, I still
haven't been on their shows. So I'm still struggling. I'm
not going to give up, not going to give up
at all.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
I hope not. When people read your book, what are
you hoping they take away from it?

Speaker 6 (23:30):
I hope they take especially women, I hope they take
away the strength that they actually have, because a lot
of times people don't believe that they have the potential
to do what they dream to do. I had a
woman she was on a podcast, Missus Tickney, and it
was heart that podcast, and I heard her saying that
when she first saw me on television, she says, wait,

(23:51):
a black woman on television, Dotsta. She said, I love sports.
She said, it made me believe that I could do
it too. And now she has her own sports podcasts,
so you know, and then I hear, you know, like
when I did a pregame special for the NFL Today,
and I didn't think CBS would ask me, but Brent

(24:12):
Musburger and I are the only two living members of
that show and that particular season, and they have not
had a woman on the desk since me and Phyllis
by the way, so it's been male dominated. But you know,
I was doing this show and they showed me a
clip and it was Terry Bradshaw and he was sitting

(24:39):
at I guess they were in a restaurant, that's what
it looked like. And so the interview was going to
be in this restaurant and Phillis walks in. This was
after they had fired me. So Phillis walks in and
she sits down. You can see her sitting down in
the clip, and she asked him a question. He doesn't answer,
and he's laid back like this, you know, and he

(24:59):
didn't answer, and she asked him again. He didn't answer,
and she said, what's wrong. He says, I'm waiting for
Jane Kennedy. Then there was another clip that they showed
me and they wanted to get my reaction. And it
was after I was fired and they were interviewing Thomas
Henderson from the Dallas Cowboys on the set and Brent

(25:23):
had talked to him about whatever the plan that day,
and then when they finished, he said, we miss our queen.
We missed Jane Kennedy. We miss our queen. And so
it wasn't just me. It wasn't just about me. It
was about the impact that I was making and the
fact that people all over the all over the country,

(25:48):
and specifically within the NFL players, they wanted to make
sure that I succeeded in any way possible. If it
was Joe Namath that had said that I'm not going
to do an interview anymore, and they said, well, Jane
Kennedy's doing I'll be there when you know. Because they
believed in me, and so this carried forward with me.

(26:09):
That strength that they put into my body made me
realize that I was making an impact and that's why
I had to keep going forward.

Speaker 4 (26:18):
That is so powerful, and you're mentioning the NFL community
and that really is male dominated, but just listening to
your story and reading it seems like you've had some
really strong male figures in your life, which to me
when I read that, is also a message to men
like male readers really could get some great examples of

(26:43):
strength in reading your book, from your father, to your
husband and to others. It seems as though those male
figures have really been supportive, and their support has also
buoyed you to to some extent.

Speaker 6 (26:58):
Yes, I wholeheartedly agree with that. My father taught me
to believe in myself from day one. My grandmother taught
me when I was wearing little shorts with palm trees
on them, and I had sunglasses on with Cadi sunglasses
with the sparkly jewels on the corners, and I would

(27:19):
tell everybody I was going to go to Hollywood and
be an actress. And my sister said, Jane, stop it.
You know you're never going to do that. And my
grandma said, you let fancy Prancy dance around and say
she's going to Hollywood. She can believe movie star if
she wants to. But you have to have that push
you have to have. It's not just one day, it's
not just one person. This is a lifetime of giving

(27:41):
somebody the confidence that you can do anything. So I
also hope that in reading the book that as a father,
you know that you can make an impact on your son,
on your daughter. You know, I've been writing reading. So
the glory of Instagram is you have so many opportunities
to see beautiful stories of how men are like prompting

(28:02):
their daughters and their son. I care about those stories.
I don't care about all the other crap, you know,
but you know I see these amazing stories, and I'm saying,
you know what, I have to keep going, and it
motivates me. I have to keep going. There was a
little girl that they were supposed to do a frame
board on whatever subject they wanted, and they were to

(28:23):
come as the person in that frame. And the dad
put it online and I happened to see it, and
she had gone as she had the little crown on
her head from Miss Ohio, she had the Miss Fire banner,
she had a football in her hand, and she had
so many different artifacts, and she had around the corners
and she had written Jane Kennedy and it was supposed

(28:45):
to be right about someone who inspires you. And here's
this little girl and she's got this frame, this mockup
of me being miss Ohio the NFL today and as
a mom, and she said that's what she wants to be,
and then I have it. You know, just with the
children that I've children, they're grown women now. But when

(29:08):
I started coaching soccer when my daughter was eight years old,
and I stayed with this one team, I built this
one team, and it was just amazing to see how
I could generate strength and guidance within these young women
who eventually became eighteen year old and they ended up
I was able to help them get into college on

(29:31):
full sports scholarships. You have to make sure that every
step on your path makes an impact on someone, and
it should be a positive impact. If you're making negative
impacts on people, you need to adjust, You need to
talk to God, you need to reassess yourself, you need
to find out and it can be just a small impact.

(29:53):
But we all have the ability to do that.

Speaker 4 (29:56):
Yeah, that is so beautiful. I've got to ask you, plain,
where did that title come from? And why there is
very few of us would, if any would, would look
at you and say there's anything plain about you.

Speaker 6 (30:09):
It's plain because it's just me and it's me at
my core. That's why it was important for me to
tell truths, to tell about the people that impacted me.
It's not just a story about Hollywood, and it tells

(30:29):
about Hollywood, you know, and the impact that it has
on everyone an African American, the success that we must create.
As a matter of fact, when someone called me and
they said, I went to the Smithsonian Museum and look
what I found, and they had captured an image of

(30:50):
it was me, Nat King Cole, Diane Carroll, the Supremes,
and several other people and it was on this giant
wall and it was legacies and legends and I said,
oh my god, I gotta go see that. So I
called my daughter and I just I took the first
flight to Washington, DC and we went in and I

(31:12):
just could. I got there and I couldn't even walk
in the door. I was just I saw it hanging
on the wall and I couldn't move forward because it
was like it hit me, you did this, this this
is you, you know, this is this giant picture and
standing next to Nat King Cole. I remember when my mom,
who was a great singer, she would sing all of

(31:33):
his songs when we were kids and things like that.
You know, they there are moments in time, and so
I had to start putting all of those in the book.
Those moments.

Speaker 4 (31:45):
I love that. So what's next. We've got the memoir,
you're traveling with it and accepting tour dates for anyone
who want to reach out to your team and schedule something.
What's next after.

Speaker 6 (31:59):
This fragrance line that I launched the same day when
the book came out, and it's called Jane Kennedy's Sun
and Jane Kennedy Moon, and it's two aromas that captures
daytime and the nighttime and it's all made of one
hundred percent organic materials and it's just amazing. I love it.

(32:20):
It's a sweet ambiyonce that it presents. And I think
that in creating it, we wanted to make sure that
we captured some parts of me, that it wasn't just
a fragrance that was you know, hey, let's introduce some cologne.
You know, it had to be about me. So my
mom is from Danville, Virginia. She was raised on a
tobacco farm, So there's a hint of tobacco leaves in

(32:43):
the fragrance. The first time I set foot in Africa,
and I tell about in the book. I tell about
the impact that had on me and how I felt
for the first time in my life, I belonged somewhere.
I felt like roots just went through my feet into
the ground, and I said, this is something that I

(33:04):
also have to have. So we have Frankinson's and East
African Ople's ople is my birthstone. So we incorporate many
other things. The formulator. We sat and talked for a
couple of hours. You know, what can we put in
this to make it you? And so that's what I'm
proud of in terms of the fragrance. And then we're

(33:25):
also reaching out into different other opportunities a clothing line.
This is going to be my opportunity to continue the
work that I had started, and the twenty year gap,
thirty year gap put a halt to all of that.
But I'm not done yet, and so that's the name
of my company. Not done yet, and so here I come.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
It's a return that many of us have waited for
for a long time, and one that many of us
feel is well earned and deserved. It is to be
hoped others feel the same. You can learn more about
Jane's endeavors and purchase a copy of her memoir Plane
Jane at Janekennedy dot com. You can also request a
host of book signing or special appearance on her website
as well. I'm Andrea Coleman on the Black Information Network

(34:14):
Home a Black News First.

Speaker 1 (34:18):
Thank you Andrea and Jane. Her website again is Jane
Kennedy dot com. That's Jayne. Visit there to purchase her
book Plane Jane, as well as her perfumes Sun and Moon,
and learn of her other endeavors. Now we get commentary
from James T.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
Harris.

Speaker 9 (34:36):
The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed in this commentary are
those of the author and do not necessarily represent those
of b I N and its founding partners and employees.

Speaker 10 (34:47):
A bad season is temporary. Murder and suicide are forever.
I'm James T. Harris and I have something to say.
Justin Fairfax was once the kind of democrat they said
had a future, young, connected, marketable, the kind of man
the party could point to and say, there goes tomorrow.
But now tomorrow is gone. His wife is dead. He
is dead, and two children are left to live with

(35:08):
a nightmare they did not create. According to the reporting,
Fairfax was buried in debt, trapped in a collapsing marriage,
and staring down a personal and public implosion. Let me
say something that this culture refuses to say plainly enough.
Your whole world can fall apart around you, and it
is still a temporary problem. Losing money is temporary. Public

(35:30):
humiliation is temporary. Divorce is painful, but it is temporary.
Career collapse is temporary. Even shame, heartbreak and failure can
be survived. But when you pick up a gun, murder
your wife, and then kill yourself, you do not solve pain.
You seal it in permanently for everybody else. And that
is the part too many people miss. Suicide is not

(35:52):
an escape hatch to peace. Murder is not an answer
to despair. It is the final surrender to evil. It
leaves children or family shattered and a stain that never
washes out.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
So let this be the lesson.

Speaker 10 (36:06):
You can rebuild after bankruptcy, you can recover after disgrace,
you can survive the wreckage of your own bad decisions.
But once you choose death, especially for someone else, there
is no recovery, no repair, no second act. Choose humiliation
over hell, Choose help over hopelessness, Choose life, faith, alone

(36:31):
in Christ Alone for eternal Life. I'm James T. Harris
for the Black Information Network.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
Thanks James, and stay tuned for commentary from Roland Marton
later in today's show. April is Autism Awareness Month, and
according to the CDC, about one and thirty one children
over the age of age have been diagnosed with autism
spectrum disorder. For Black children, getting a diagnosis has its challenges.
Use anchor mister Jordan's sat down with doctor Pamela Wiley,

(37:00):
black woman who has been diagnosing and treating children on
the spectrum for more than four decades. She has become
a trusted resource for blue collar and celebrity families. Let's
listen in.

Speaker 11 (37:10):
For nearly fifty years, doctor Pamela Wiley has been leading
the way for individuals with autism, a black woman making
history with her own centers in Los Angeles where she's
treating and diagnosing those with autism spectrum disorder. I'd like
to formally introduce doctor Pamela Wiley, President and founder of
LA Speech and Language Therapy Center in Los Angeles, serving

(37:31):
approximately four hundred families a week. Welcome to the Black
Information Network.

Speaker 12 (37:35):
Thank you, thank you so much, Thank you for having me.

Speaker 11 (37:37):
Okay, so let's start from the beginning. You have been
in the business for forty seven years. Congratulations.

Speaker 5 (37:43):
First of all, thank you.

Speaker 11 (37:45):
So in this day and age, as a society, we
have become more aware of autism, but as a black
woman in nineteen seventy nine, you were certainly on the
front end of bringing awareness and working with families on
the spectrum.

Speaker 5 (37:59):
Talk to me about where this even started for you,
doctor Wiley.

Speaker 8 (38:02):
At a very young age, I applied for a management
position with the school district, and to my surprise, I
got it, and so I was part of that early
team that makes decisions on services provided to families.

Speaker 12 (38:14):
And I saw a disparity.

Speaker 8 (38:15):
So if we went into affluent communities, we gave them everything.
We'd go into black and brown communities and they wouldn't
know what to ask for, which meant they'd walk out
with very little. And I used to go home at
night feeling as if I had betrayed these people because
they would look at me as if to say, so.

Speaker 12 (38:30):
Glad you're in the room. But I couldn't help them.

Speaker 8 (38:32):
And that was what made me decide to go into
private practice, because I said, they don't know their rights
and our kids are going to be falling behind. So
I wanted to make a difference and use the knowledge
that I had of how to work with the school district,
what services available. I wanted to be able to share
that with our families.

Speaker 11 (38:47):
April is Autism Awareness month. Can you tell me what
is autism?

Speaker 6 (38:53):
Okay?

Speaker 8 (38:53):
Autism simply put as a neural developmental condition characterized by
challenges in social communication, interaction with others, and some restricted
and repetitive behaviors. And when we talk about social communication,
we're talking about the interaction between back and forth between individuals,
or sometimes these individuals will have poor eye contact or
difficulty reading body language. In terms of restrictive and repetitive behaviors,

(39:17):
some individuals with autism, especially when.

Speaker 12 (39:19):
They're young, will do hand flapping. A lot of them
will cover their ears.

Speaker 8 (39:23):
They're rigid about routines, limited interests, sensitivity to sensory inputs,
so it's not uncommon to have little children the labels
on the back of the shirt can be a real
irritant for them. The other piece of that is, though
it's important to note that individuals with ASD can be
very talented and gifted, while others may be nonverbal or
have some intellectual disabilities.

Speaker 11 (39:46):
So, Doctor Wiley, it's been said that black children, on
average receive a later diagnosis with autism spectrum disorder than
the general population.

Speaker 5 (39:53):
So why is that I happen.

Speaker 8 (39:54):
To a large extent, it's because of the poor medical
care that we often get. I think sometimes too, I've
had families come in where even grandmothers have been in
denial about a diagnosis, saying, he's just like his daddy
was when he was a little boy, so he's okay.
So I think those two things kind of create the
problem because if you don't know, you don't know what

(40:16):
you don't know.

Speaker 11 (40:16):
Now, over the decades, you have really earned a solid reputation,
Doctor Wiley, and become kind of the go to doctor
for many celebrities in your field. You've even worked with
actress Holly Robinson Pete and her husband Rodney Pete with
their child. Tell me how that came about.

Speaker 8 (40:31):
Holly got referred to me her son was very very
young RJ. And it was almost an immediate connection, a bond.
They were wonderful parents to work with. They weren't Holly
Robinson Pete and Rodney Pete. They were parents of a
child with autism, and so that's how I treated them,
and that's how they treated me with respect as you're
the person that's supposed to help us.

Speaker 12 (40:50):
And it was just a beautiful relationship.

Speaker 8 (40:52):
Say so, Holly introduced me to Tisha Campbell Martin and
Tisha's son was on the spectrum, as on the spectrum,
and so when she came to me, it was very
a team. Whether you're a celebrity or whether you're someone
that no one knows about. At the end of the day,
I'm here to help everyone.

Speaker 11 (41:06):
Forty seven years, what are you most proud of? You
have a lot of accomplishments.

Speaker 8 (41:10):
I have staff that have stayed with me almost forever.
So staff will do with me sometimes longer than twenty years,
and they are just as committed to the families and
the community as I am. And also, I think another
plus is having my daughter, Ashley works with me in business.
And so just to have someone that cares the same
way you care, that feels the way you feel, that's
watched you build a business, it's good to have her
working with me.

Speaker 12 (41:30):
So that's another plus.

Speaker 5 (41:32):
And Ashley is brilliant and great. Yeah I love that.

Speaker 11 (41:34):
Okay, So talk to me about some of the programs
as you are spearheading and something you're working on right now.

Speaker 8 (41:39):
Children start with me as young as eighteen months of age,
and I have been able because they stay. I develop
programs as I see in need. So the last program
we developed was Employment Readiness Training. It's an employment training
program that I put together to teach the kids the
skills that they would need to work. So I have
one young man, for example, that is fixated on trains.

Speaker 12 (41:59):
Yeah, he works for a train station.

Speaker 8 (42:01):
I have another young lady that since she was probably
four or five, she's always said she wanted to be
a doctor. Meanwhile, I got her employment in a medical
center and her job is to pass out literature to
welcome the guests. And then as a result of that,
the CEO of Outback Steakhouse happened to be visiting with
me and put in an Outback Steakhouse training center for me.

Speaker 5 (42:21):
Wow, that's huge.

Speaker 6 (42:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (42:23):
And then I had I interacted with a man from
UPS who put in a UPS training center. And then
the last guy, I decided that I wanted my kids
to possibly work at CVS, and I actually made a
call to a gentleman on the East Coast that was
with CVS, and I said, if you ever come to La,
I'd love to meet you. I'd want to talk with you.
Lo and behold he came to La. I look up,

(42:44):
there's this man. I don't know who he is, he said,
he called me. Long story short. We have a CVS
training center, and so having these training centers on site
is really really good because it gives the kids an
opportunity to practice their work training skills in a saye setting.
For me, it's important to find meaningful employment for the
kids consistent with their interest. Just like for me, I

(43:06):
love what I do because this is my interest. So
I want the same thing for my students.

Speaker 11 (43:09):
What are some of the behaviors that parents maybe should
look for and say, my child is doing this or
my child is not doing that. That may be an
indicator or a signal to say maybe you should seek
a professional and medical opinion.

Speaker 8 (43:23):
One of the things we see with kids with autism
is a lot of repetition, so they will repeat themselves.
You also have kids they're slow in talking, so they're
delayed in they're talking. They also may have fixated interests,
so he only wants to play with one thing or
only wants to eat one thing. There are a lot
of little signs early on that suggests that the child
may have some differences, and so it's important to reach

(43:45):
out to another professional or go to your pediatrician and
push for the pediatrician.

Speaker 12 (43:49):
Information is online.

Speaker 8 (43:50):
The other thing that I say to my parents is
you need to have something to say when you go
into the doctor so that they can't dismiss you. And
so if you have to lead the discussion, then you
need to lead that discussion. Look up the information so
that you know what you're talking about and you'll feel confident,
and that way your child gets what he needs.

Speaker 11 (44:06):
And is there a specific age where parents may have
a brow raise of ah, I don't know, maybe there's
something going on here.

Speaker 12 (44:13):
I would say three or four years of age.

Speaker 6 (44:15):
Really yeah, you'll.

Speaker 8 (44:16):
Be able to see certain signs like we have kids
that come in their hand flapping so they could be three,
or they're walking on their toes, or some of them
squeal real all sorts of yeah, all sorts of things
that they do at a young age that suggests that
there could be some concerns.

Speaker 11 (44:30):
What do you want black families to know who may
be navigating a new autism spectrum disorder diagnosis.

Speaker 8 (44:36):
Knowledge is power and that information is out there, and
you need to leave the discussion because someone else may
dismiss you and your child.

Speaker 12 (44:43):
I just think parents need to be their child's best advocate.

Speaker 5 (44:45):
Doctor Wiley.

Speaker 11 (44:46):
If somebody's listening now and they want to get in touch,
you have a wealth of resources. You're advocating for black families.
How can they find you in your centers.

Speaker 8 (44:53):
We have a website and it's www dot Speakla dot com.

Speaker 12 (44:57):
I can always be reached.

Speaker 8 (44:58):
You can call the office and I will always follow
up with anyone.

Speaker 11 (45:02):
Doctor Pamela Wilie, President and founder of LA Speech and
Language Therapy Center in Los Angeles, thank you so much
for joining us and sharing a wealth of information.

Speaker 5 (45:12):
We wish you continued success.

Speaker 12 (45:14):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
Thank you Misty and doctor Pamela.

Speaker 2 (45:17):
If you want more.

Speaker 1 (45:18):
Information on LA Speech and Language or want to contact
them directly, their website again is speak La. There's no
dash in LA. Run it together, Speakla dot com. The
housing crisis is hitting black families hard across the country.
Statistics show the fastest growing segment of homelessness is families

(45:38):
with children. The black Information Network speaks to one mother
who shares how she struggled to climb out of homelessness
with seven children. Esther Dildard is here with that story.

Speaker 13 (45:48):
You know, your kids always tend to act X. What's next, mommy,
What's going to happen next? And when they have the
uncertainty of housing, it's kind of like Jesu mental ty
you because those are your children and you don't want
to see the crime. You don't want to see them sad,
you don't want to see them without.

Speaker 14 (46:06):
That's Charrell Mathis, a mother of seven. She said those
words while working while homeless and while trying to hold
her family together with no safety net. I'm Esther Dinard.
This is part three of Unhoused and Unheard, the Black
Experience of Homelessness, and this is Cherrell's story. Charrell Mathis
didn't fit anyone's picture of who becomes homeless. She had

(46:27):
a home, a husband, a family, and then life shifted
and everything fell apart at once.

Speaker 13 (46:34):
Homelessness for me was happening in a lot of consecutive ways.

Speaker 6 (46:39):
It makes sense.

Speaker 13 (46:39):
So what I'll break it down is that my initial
first time of ever being homeless, I was nineteen that
was my first time ever being homeless. I experienced the shelters,
the whole in house shelter rules and things of that nature.

(47:00):
Forward to me being older going into homelessness. I had
the family dynamics, which was me, my strange husband, our children.

Speaker 12 (47:11):
I am a mother of seven, and.

Speaker 13 (47:16):
Dealing with mental health and his medical condition led us
to homelessness, drug addiction. These things played a part in
meeting the children becoming homeless.

Speaker 14 (47:30):
Her story is not the exception. According to the latest
federal data, families with children are now the fastest growing
group experiencing homelessness in America, up thirty nine percent in
a single year.

Speaker 6 (47:42):
When when we.

Speaker 15 (47:44):
Talk about that dramatic increase, the largest sector for that
increase was families and children.

Speaker 14 (47:50):
Donald Whitehead leads to the National Coalition for the Homeless
in Washington, d c. He says, for working mothers, the
math almost never adds up.

Speaker 15 (48:00):
So you're right to ask the question about you know
what happens when you have a family of five and
you have to find daycare for that family, and now
you have to work at the same time, and if
you don't have advanced skills, most of what you earn

(48:23):
is going to be taken up by the daycare, so
it is nonsustainable.

Speaker 14 (48:29):
After her husband's addiction and mental health crisis pulled their
family under Charell packed up her seven children across from
Pennsylvania into Maryland and started over with nothing.

Speaker 13 (48:41):
When we came into Maryland, we ended up linking up
with some people in the local area who provided us
with churches and organizations that help women and children. At
that time, I separated from their father, who ended up
going through incarceration, so I was left alone to raise

(49:02):
the children. They gave us resources to kind of help
us get on our feet, and then we were introduced
to transitional housing. At that point we were able to
get our own housing, but eventually transitioned to our own
home and that didn't work. I ended back up in

(49:22):
homelessness again. Unfortunately, the services that were provided through that
particular agency just weren't what should have been provided for
me in a family my size.

Speaker 6 (49:33):
So I ended up in a hotel.

Speaker 13 (49:36):
Once I ended up in the hotel, things got a
little rough because at that point you have to pay
your hotel or you.

Speaker 12 (49:41):
Have to leave.

Speaker 13 (49:43):
And in between that time, there were times when we
were sleeping in our vehicle but you know, ended up
being the hotel, so I ended up getting employment, still homeless,
but working.

Speaker 14 (49:55):
Through all of it. Cherille held it together for her children,
carrying the weight they could and see.

Speaker 13 (50:01):
You know, your kids always tend to ask what's next, Mommy,
What's gonna happen next? And when they have that uncertainty
of housing, it's kind of like detrimental to you because
those are your children and you don't want to see
the crime. You don't want to see them sad. You
don't want to see them without so that and that
also causes like PDSD. So even once you are settled,

(50:25):
it's like you still have that anxiety of is this
gonna change?

Speaker 14 (50:29):
Charille found a way through, but the program that saved
her family may not have the resources for the next
mother who needs it. You can hear the rest of
that story on the Color Between the Lines podcast on
the iHeartRadio on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Ester Dillard.

Speaker 1 (50:46):
Thanks Sester. Now we get commentary from Roland S.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
Martin.

Speaker 9 (50:49):
The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed in this commentary are
those of the author and do not necessarily represent those
of Bi N and it's founding partners and employees. Now
it's time to bring the funk with Roland S Martin.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
My goodness, Maga is big mad.

Speaker 16 (51:07):
After Donald Trump portrayed himself as Jesus Christ in a
meme that's right after he squabbled argued with vented at
Pope Leo, Donald Trump decides to post this graphic of
this angelic looking Trump placing his healing hands on someone.

(51:31):
And the right wing boy of these conservative evangelicals, they
went crazy, and so after a number of hours, he
decides to delete it. But then he addresses the media
and says that no, I didn't see myself as Jesus,
I saw myself as a.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
Doctor, you know, partnering with the Red Cross. Say, what
are you serious, y'all.

Speaker 16 (52:00):
I have been telling you this man is not a Christian.
He knows nothing about Christianity. He is not a believer,
He is a heretic. The man is crazy and deranged.
In these right wing evangelicals, yeah, y'all got played. And

(52:23):
you are seeing many of them losing their minds on
social media saying, oh my god, this is awful, this
is shameful. He's got to take this thing down, Guess
what you voted for him.

Speaker 2 (52:36):
We knew who he was.

Speaker 16 (52:37):
Black people knew who he was. That's why we voted
overwhelmingly against this thug. Y'all convinced yourself that he was
your great white hope, that he was your little g God,
and he ran with it. And now y'all are realizing
the man is pure evil.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
Hashtag we have to tell you.

Speaker 16 (53:02):
I'm Roland Martin, the Black Information Network.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
Thanks Roland, and tune in for daily commentary from Roland
Martin and James T. Harris right here on the Black
Information Network. Many parents see it early. Maybe their child
isn't walking or maybe making unusual sounds. It's the diagnosis
they must face. It's autism. As the Black Information Networks
of Natality reports, one black father is on a mission

(53:27):
to raise awareness on and off the field.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
Myself.

Speaker 7 (53:37):
Making it to the NFL is a dream for many.
Stanley mclover was there, the former Carolina Panther defensive end,
was all in. But when he became a father, fatherhood
was much bigger than a game. And because of his son,
he is now all in on another team, the team
to educate us about autism. Since this is autism acceptance

(53:59):
a month. It's my pleasure to welcome Stanley mclover to
the Black Perspective. Stanley, how are you.

Speaker 3 (54:05):
I'm blessed. I'm blessed. Thank you for having me. I'm
excited to be here.

Speaker 7 (54:09):
First, tell us about your adorable son.

Speaker 2 (54:12):
Oh my baby man.

Speaker 3 (54:13):
His name is Champ. Thank god I named him Champ.
He's an eight year old. Used to be nonverbal, but
now he's verbal. He's talking now, and God is good
and he's the reason why I started for Live Foundation
and why I'm not even trying to make changes in
this community and bring awareness to everybody.

Speaker 6 (54:34):
Talk about Hype for Life. What about that organization?

Speaker 3 (54:37):
Hype for Life Foundation is an autism awareness foundation where
we go around and we help other small organizations that's
focused on all autism. We help, we partner with them,
we help get the more exposure, We help them with support.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
We also help families in need.

Speaker 3 (54:54):
We're doing campaigns where we're raising money to bill the
ranch to provide client therapy and also water safety.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
We do events in the community. We have more coming
up in.

Speaker 3 (55:06):
July for autism dads where we're doing a getaway weekend
for their mental health and self care.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
So we're just really active in the community and.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
Just doing our damnness to bring awareness to autism all
over the world.

Speaker 7 (55:19):
I mentioned football, which is still a big part of
your life. Your younger brother, Brian Burns is a linebacker
for the New York Giants and he's very much involved
in getting the word.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
Out as well.

Speaker 7 (55:30):
And what is it that you want us to really
know about children who have autism or children who are
on the spectrum.

Speaker 2 (55:38):
I just want the world to know they are special.

Speaker 3 (55:41):
They are different, and that makes them special to us
as parents, and they do see the world differently. And
I think the awareness as far as people are concerned
to just know how to live with people that have autism,
knowing the triggers, knowing that some do elow, some do
have sin three issues, some do have communication issues. So

(56:04):
even with the police being involved, we would like to
just raise a lot of awareness so we can all
learn how to live with each other and be aware
of what you know a person may be dealing with.
Because autism doesn't have it doesn't have a distinct look.
You know, it's you'll never you can never tell on
some people if they have autism, so it's not nothing

(56:25):
you can just see by looking at someone, So you
really have to do your research and be aware of
what's going on around us.

Speaker 7 (56:32):
Awareness is key, especially for our community. Wear Autism raids
for black children have risen significantly, matching even going above
that of white children, yet black children are still diagnosed later.
Talk about the importance of knowing sooner.

Speaker 3 (56:50):
I mean, a poisoning sooner is everything. And I'm so
glad that you brought that up because in our community,
we typically get the diagnosis around two and three years,
and that's something that we can't control with the doctors
because me going through it, they told me that I
wasn't able to get that diagnosis until each turn two
or three, I believe. But the signs have the signs

(57:12):
are going to be there very early. The signs of
just walking, a lot of walking and pacing, not answering
their name, making weird noises and sounds, not speaking, stuff
like that is where parents have to be strong and
learn to adapt and accept what may be going on,
because that's the one of the most hardest parts as

(57:34):
a parent to accept that there may be something wrong
with your child at that point. And a lot of
us have a lot of neglect, like we neglect what
we see because we don't want to take that diagnosis
or we don't want to accept that something may be
wrong with our precious baby.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
But at the end of the day, the mold.

Speaker 3 (57:53):
Proact that you can be about it, and the more
in front of it if you can get, the better
it will be for your child. Get involved Hip for
Life Foundation dot org or Brianburn's Family Charities dot org.
If you want to donate, if you want more information
on what we're doing, what events that we're doing, things
that we're doing in the community for others. Please just

(58:15):
be involved in any way, even if it's just sharing,
even if it's just getting out and helping someone or
just becoming more aware about autism and adding whatever you
can add. You know, it's not always financial. Sometimes it's just.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
Love, you know. I'd like to push that message as well.

Speaker 3 (58:33):
Sometimes just loving on someone else that you know could
be going through this is all we need at times.

Speaker 7 (58:40):
Stanley mcclover of Hype for Life Foundation dedicated to autism awareness.
Thank you so.

Speaker 2 (58:46):
Much for what you do. Thank you so much for
having me.

Speaker 7 (58:49):
I'm Vanessa Tyler with a black perspective. Mike back to you.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
Thank you Vanessa, and that's our show for today. For
more on these stories, and listen to the Black Information
Network on the free iHeartRadio app or log on to
binnews dot com for all of the latest news impacting
the black community. We'd love to hear from you about
the Black Perspective. Log onto the Black Information Networks Talkback
Live feature on the free iHeartRadio app as well as

(59:15):
the new feature on binnews dot com to share your feedback. Also,
be sure to follow us on social media at Black
Information Network and on X and blue Sky at black
Info neet, and make the Black Information Network first on
your car radio and iHeartRadio app presets. I'm Mike Island.
Have a great Sunday and a good start to your week.

(59:35):
We'll see you next week with a new episode of
The Black Perspective with stories from our illustrious bion anchors
right here on the Black Information Network.