The Black Perspective: April 21, 2024

This week on the Black Perspective, Mimi Brown turns the spotlight on a fantastic opportunity for listeners interested in wellness advocacy for children; news anchor Morgyn Wood brings us news about a major political endorsement for the Biden administration; Esther Dillard talks with the producer behind the documentary Firsthand Homeless; and we hear from BIN commentator Roland Martin on an important topic impacting the Black community.

Listen now!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's Sunday, April twenty first,and today Mimi Brown turns the spotlight on
an amazing opportunity for listeners interested inwellness advocacy for children. News anchor Morgan
Wood brings us news about a majorpolitical endorsement for the Biden administration. Esther
Dillard talks with the producer behind thedocumentary First Hand Homeless, and we'll hear

(00:20):
from Black Information Network commentator Roland Martinon an important topic impacting the Black community.
These stories in war are coming yourway. Next, Welcome to the
Black Perspective. I'm your host,Mike Iland. Welcome to the Black Perspective,
a weekly community affairs program on theBlack Information Network featuring interviews and discussions
on issues important to the Black community. Good Sunday to everyone, and welcome

(00:43):
to another edition of The Black Perspective. We kick off today's program with news
from the nation's capital involving the Bidenadministration and election twenty twenty four. Morgan
would as the details the Biden Harristwenty twenty four ticket has received the endorsement
of the Kennedy family at an eventin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and joining me
to talk about how that impacts blackvoters. Is John White Junior. He's

(01:07):
the president and CEO of the Consortium, Inc. A former representative of the
state of Pennsylvania, and is anadvocate for civil rights, and of course
he's black. Thanks for joining me, John, Thank you very much for
having me so talk to me aboutsome of the work that you do and
how it connects to the Kennedy family. I've been involved in serving people all

(01:30):
my life. I was a memberof the state legislature, was a member
of city council. I was anappointed secretary as the Department of then Public
Welfare today you call it Hunan Services, and I was asked by the Flint
administration to take over the failing inPhiladelphia Housing Authority. Today, I work

(01:52):
with the CEO of the oldest communitybehavior health agency in the country, who's
governess was elected by the community.And that's given us an opportunity to douce
very unique things and serving when sixteenthousand people a year with behavioral health challenges
or substance abuse challenges, and sothat's been what we've been about the whole

(02:15):
time. The thing that has attractedme to the Kennedy's was a simple fact
that Senator Ted Kennedy introduced me tomy late wife at the Democratic National Convention
in nineteen eighty. The story thatI told about Joe Biden was also a
personal story. I reflected back onthe loss of his wife and the tragic

(02:38):
accident and me losing my wife literallytwenty five years later tragically, and what
I took note of was how hehandled his vulnerability, the strength that he
demonstrated. It's not easy to benefityour personal and family life with your public
service. Public service is very,very demanding, and oftentimes we lose sight

(02:59):
of the fact that families can bevery demanding as well, when your job
is to lead it and to helpstrengthen it. I never forgot that because
when I lost my wife, theywere times when I wondered whether or not
I should stay involved in public service. But remembering what he did, what
I saw, the vivid memory Ihave of that picture of Joe Biden sitting

(03:22):
at the bedside of his son,who was one of the surviving members of
his family from that accident, isinduli actually in my mind, and so
it was really a personal moment forme to thank him, to let him
know the impact that he'd have onmy life and of course remind the Kennedy
family of how they impacted me aswell. That is a very touching story.

(03:44):
Why should black voters in general carethat the Kennedys are endorsing President Biden's
re election bid, Well, Ithink it goes beyond why the Kennedys are
Obviously, the Kennedys are doing itbecause of their progressive past, the fact
that they have been that they didstand up and support many of the issues
and causes that we were fighting for. But Bobby Kennedy in particular played a

(04:10):
role the way he reacted and respondedwith the assassination of doctor King. And
it's hard for people today to rememberwhat it was like in nineteen sixty eight,
nineteen sixty nine and the anger,the disappointment, the pain that was

(04:30):
fell throughout the black community and thewhites and the public. I were very
nervous about where you stand up atdid seeing the riots and whatnot, they
wanted to focus on the rioting.Bobby Kennedy didn't. He focused on the
fact that the hatred was real.He focused on the fact that the discrimination
and racism was real, and hecharged us. He gave us a chance.

(04:55):
He gave us an option. It'sprobably a better way to say it.
To look at the choices that wehad. We could have gone along
and really brought into the whole violenceand the negativity that was coming from the
white community. But he spoke ofsomething different. He spoke of a choice

(05:15):
that we could make and adhere towere to followed the compassion, to call
for unity, to call for loveand understanding that doctor King had been representing
all those years, and to showthat contract between that George Wallace and a
Bobby Kennedy and taking the road thatbrought us together. The unity as opposed

(05:39):
to the division was very important,and that continues throughout that family, whether
it was Kathleen who was Lieutenant governorin Maryland, Joe Kennedy who's been a
staunch advocate for the disabled, andthey've always been involved like that, and
I think it was important for themto remind me that that is what the

(06:00):
Kennedy family stood for and they feltand believed as that Joe Biden bodies those
same principles. And I think whenyou look at the record two point five
million jobs for black workers, hereduced child holby by fifty percent, those
are tangible results. They go beyondrhetoric and just spoken words. That's real.

(06:24):
Right in this election, all thatis threatened. Kerry Kennedy also spoke
about President Biden. She praised hisaccomplishments during his first term, but she
also criticized Republican front runner former PresidentDonald Trump. Now Democrats are concerned,
or they have expressed concern that RobertF. Kennedy's independent run will pull votes

(06:46):
away from Biden in November and helpelect Trump in a close race. Do
you believe that to be the case. Well, I'm looking at it this
way. If you juxtaposed the positionthat Robert has taken against the Trump agenda,
just oppose it against the Biden agenda. He is a mere image of

(07:11):
Donald Trump in the stances that he'sseeking on key issues, and it will
be the issues and not the namethat ultimately make the difference on election day.
They're not going to vote just becauseof the name. Now, I
don't believe that. I think thatwe're going to be attracted by the pocketbook
issues, more people in the workforce, They're going to see the improvement in

(07:32):
health, the opportunities that have beenoffered to black entrepreneurs and businesses. In
addition to those positive aspects, thoseare what I call offensive plays. Defense,
voting rights, defense, discrimination,separatism, defense, the right to
make your own choices. Those principlesand values have to be defended because of

(07:57):
democracy based on that really is threatened. So the offense, the positive accomplishments,
the positive things that we're doing inan ongoing basis during this administration,
the defense to protect us from peoplewho really want to turn back the clock.
And what's your message as a blackman, you know, coming up

(08:18):
in America? What's your message toblack voters, whether that be on the
local level in Philadelphia, state levelin Pennsylvania, or just nationwide those black
voters who are just I don't needto vote, It's not going to matter
this way or that way. What'syour message to them to tell them how
it does matter the fact that twoand a half million new jobs for black

(08:41):
people, that matters. It matterswhether I'm standing in an unemployment line or
whether I think there's a job outthis that can go get I think it's
going to be the latter. Ithink people will pursue the job rather than
the unemployment line. It will beneighbor talking to neighbor, encouraging them to
do the right thing and vote forJoe Biden and Kamwalo Harris and return them

(09:05):
to the presidency and the vice presidency. I believe that's going to happen.
That was the president and CEO ofthe Consortium, Inc. A former State
Representative of Pennsylvania and civil rights advocateJohn White Junior. I'm Morgan Would on
the Black Information Network. Thanks Morgan. Up next, we take a look
at a sad and familiar topic,homelessness in the black community. In this

(09:28):
edition of The Color Between the Lines, Gracie Award winning journalist Esther Dillard sits
down with the producer of a documentarythat tackles the subject from ground zero.
I'm mister Dillard on the Black InformationNetwork, chatting with writers and authors who
offer an added perspective for our listeners. This is the Color between the Lines.

(10:00):
On this edition of The Color Betweenthe Lines. We're talking about a
documentary film that hits upon a subjectthat a lot of the country is really
grappling with, and that is homelessnessand homelessness this days, these days can
be seen very differently in different ways. Documentary producers Mario Tharp and Brian Rogers

(10:20):
are the producers of this year's installmentof the First Hand Homeless documentary series that's
airing on Chicago's PBS station w TTW. Mario Tharp joins us today as one
of the five as well as oneof the five subjects of the documentary film,
whose name is Brian Rodgers. Thankyou, Brian Rogers and Mario Tharp
for joining us on the BIL.Thank you appreciate your cobdence. Oh may

(10:45):
I first call you by your firstnames during this interview because I don't want
to be disrespect anybody. Absolutely,it's fine with me. Denzel Washington is
great. Mario. I looked atthe series and it is really extensive.
You put a lot of work intothis. It's part of a larger project,
and I wanted you to kind oftalk a little bit about that that's
been going on for quite some time, and I wanted you to talk about

(11:09):
also as a black filmmaker, didyou find it difficult getting a green light
from this project? I guess talkabout that process and getting that Looking forward
lutely, this is the sixth seasonthat w t t W out of Chicago
as put together. This wonderful series, documentary series and it is called first

(11:31):
Hand. Now each season there's adifferent topic that we highlight. This is
actually my second season on the project, but you know we've covered over the
years, like last year's first handlife after Prison. Of course this year
is firsthand homeless. We've looked atcoronavirus, gun violence. We've also done

(11:52):
segregation, so there, I thinkI'm missing one, but there have been
poverty. Harvard is the other one. So again, this is a sixth
season and you know, the goalis to find well the last few seasons
is to find five individuals that wecan follow and tell exactly what the topic
says firsthand. So we want toget their first hand perspective, first hand

(12:15):
account of what it's like, inthis case, to be homeless. You
know, a lot of people thinkthey know, but we really don't.
The homeless is being homeless, ofbeing on house, is not living in
an encampment. Part of it isor living in a tent. As Brian
can tell you about his story later, his is nothing like that. And
that was the goal for us,is to find very five, very different

(12:39):
and distinct pieces of stories that cangive us a look into the life of
being homeless on various levels. Theother question was about, you know,
being a black filmmaker. So wttW approached me because I had worked on
a number of documentaries for them before, and so last season again, which

(13:01):
was my first season, we talkedand so no, it wasn't difficult at
all. I have a relationship,a rapport with a number of folks over
there, and you know, itwas a perfect fit. Last season because
we focused on life after prison andmy experience of growing up on the West
Side of Chicago. I saw alot and knew a lot of guys that

(13:24):
went off to prison and was stillthere or some that had been released.
So that was a perfect fit forme as a storyteller. And this one
was just as powerful and got anopportunity to meet some amazing people like Brian.
So I have to give credit tow TTW because they approached me and
asked me to come and join theteam. Last awesome. Well, Brian,
I definitely want to get your yourtake in this whole documentary. The

(13:48):
crew followed you on your kind oflike on a daily day in, day
out, and you share how youknow, for you life really was a
good one when you were growing upyou had a pretty stable family with grandma
and mom, and you had alot of things that were afforded to you,
but somehow you got in trouble withthe law. And I wondered if
you could just kind of explain tothe audience why you got involved with this

(14:13):
documentary project. Well, well,I was initially approached. Mario reached out
to I'm one of my organizers atChicago Coalition for the Homeless, and from
there it was explained to me whatwas expected and what the documentary was trying
to capture, and asked me didI want to be a part of that?

(14:35):
Absolutely? Absolutely, because I've experiencedit and you know, just by
eye look when you look around ourcity in various places just to sheer capacity
and a number of people that arehomeless. So obviously that's a problem.
Obviously I wanted to be involved withthat, and I want to let people
know that everybody story to homeless.This is not to perceive bias as it

(15:03):
was say twenty or thirty years ago, especially when a lot of our homeless
population stayed you know, maybe lowerwhack or drying or in certain places where
somebody's bias could pinpoint. So mystory is unique. I just want to
let people know that anything could happen, anything could happen along the way,

(15:26):
and you'll find yourself in this position. So you know, it's not that
like you're looking to be homeless,but out of what took place with myself
as far as going in and outof the prison industrial complex and then losing
loved ones who provided a home forme returning back into society after conservation,

(15:50):
they weren't there, so neither wasmy place to state. My place to
state sort of disappeared and so tospeak. So that's one of the reasons
why I wanted to get involved.Well, Mario, I'm gonna I'm gonna
go back to you. You you. I love the fact that with this
documentary you don't just focus on blackand brown folks. You are. It's

(16:14):
not the stereotypical just like mister Rogerswas talking about. It's just it's But
did you find that because you're probablyrunning into so many different types of people
that were dealing with homelessness, fromserf couching to you know, domestic violence
to all types of things. Wasit difficult littling it down to just five?

(16:37):
It was, And you know,obviously homelessness of being in house doesn't
have a cult, you know,it doesn't it doesn't have you know,
gender. I mean, it's justthere's so many things that it doesn't have,
you know, Locating the five storiesunfortunately, you know, I wish
it was hard, right but butbecause there's so many people out here who

(17:00):
are dealing with this issue, itmore became a problem, not a problem,
but it became a for me.It was more finding the right story,
not a story, because there area ton of people who are dealing
with homelessness and being on house.And I wish I could say that it
was it was hard, but itreally it really wasn't you know. We

(17:22):
were fortunate enough to work with theNight Ministry, and two of our subjects
came from the Night Ministry. Theywere one of the first organizations that we
reached out to, and of coursethey knew, you know, hundreds and
hundreds of people that could possibly workfor us. We were able to settle

(17:42):
on to who had very powerful stories. Yolanda who and I'm not sure if
you saw any of the stories,but she was in the encampment and who
recently got an apartment. I personallywent and paid a visit to her last
night at her new apartment, soyou know, she's no longer on the

(18:03):
street. She had been there formany years, living in a tent underneath
a bridge. And Dan, Danalso was street homeless, lived wherever he
could, from alleys to parking structuresto doorways. Wherever he can safely find
a place to sleep is where helaid his head at night. So those
two came from the Night Ministry.And then we were fortunate enough to get

(18:26):
Brian who was affiliated and still iswith the Saint Londis Ministry Ministries, and
then who also is connected with ChicagoPosition for the Homeless. But then we
also got Jackie who was affiliated witha Safe Haven, another homeless organization here
in Chicago that deals with you know, transitional temporary housing. And then Kimberly,

(18:52):
a young mother of a two yearold, who was really affiliated with
Thresholds, another temporary transitional housing facility. So you know, it's a time
to kind of find the right fitor the right people. But I think
we did a great job with findingfive people who all had amazing stories again

(19:14):
showing different parts of being homeless inChicago. I have to do a follow
up with you Mario on how whenyou know, as a reporter for years
I did TV when you interview peoplethat are dealing with the struggling with the
situation. A lot of times peoplethink that when you go home, you

(19:34):
turn off the camera and it doesn'tfollow you home. Did it affect you
personally when you were telling you?And so let me tell you, I've
been in this business a very longtime. I don't want to date myself,
age myself, but I've been inthis there's a lot of a long
time and I've worked on a numberof documentaries, TV shows, you name

(19:55):
it. I feel like I've doneit. This has been the hardest project
for me because you know, Iwas at the end of the day,
I was able to go home andeat dinner at the table, take a
shower, turn on the television.I can almost you know, I can
hop in my my pretty nice carand move around. And when I showed

(20:21):
up on location those nine or tendays that we filmed Dan's story, but
again, I was involved with everybody'sstory. So I spent time with Brian,
I spent time with Yolanda, witheveryone, so my obligation went beyond
the nine days of filming. Butit was extremely hard. I mean to
the point, as I said,I went and paid a visit to Yolanda
yesterday. I stay in contact withall of them now, you know,

(20:45):
Brian and everyone else. I havenot been able to turn off, turn
this off because I have built arapport with these folks, and in some
cases they talked to me just becauseof things that are happening in their life,
but they have also built we've builta bond. When Yolanda was on

(21:07):
the street here in Chicago, itwas extremely cold for probably ten days,
brutal, and I just kept thinkingabout her because she was the only one
that was still out on the street. Dan had found an apartment, but
she was in a tent and itwas zero below. It was brutal.

(21:30):
I went out in the cold,made sure she has something to eat,
some hot coffee, some bottled water, whatever I can do, because I
knew her and her fiance were stuckin this tent. So yeah, it's
hard to just turn it off andsay, oh, you know, I'm
done with the project. You knowthey've given me what I want. That's
not how it should work, andanybody who has a heart has to be

(21:55):
able to follow through and assist.However, they can know if it's again,
if it's just saying, hey,here's an extra blanket or here's some
coffee. I could not can livewith myself if I wasn't able, if
I didn't go and check on allof them, you know, including Brian.
I reach out to him, sayhey, man, how's it going.
Sometimes it's all it takes. Brian. I wanted you to talk a

(22:17):
little bit more about that Bring ChicagoHome initiative. I know that that was
part of some of the documentaries,and I see that there is an initiative
to kind of get people to pushthis, for city council members and the
mayor to put it on the ballot. What exactly do you believe that this
initiative would mean for people who arestruggling almlessness. Well, first of all,

(22:40):
it'll get people in housing period point. Second of all, it'll get
people access to the services that theyneed to maintain their housing. You know,
I'd rather teach someone how to fishso they can eat, versus giving
them a fish for one day,you know, And that is our objective

(23:02):
and our mindset behind Brings Chicago Home. We know that it takes money.
Takes money to do everything. Soto come up with a dedicated revenue stream.
How ingenious some of our strategists wereand coming up with that after looking
at several models across the country,seeing what works, what doesn't work,

(23:25):
and then sitting down with our grassroomsleaders and coming up with, Hey,
what do you guys want? Itwasn't just decided without us, because it
takes people with the lived experience toconvey the problem, the things that they
would like to see happen as asolution, and you know, tell their

(23:47):
stories about why it is so importantfrom each one of their perspectives. And
let me say that I think isvery important that your listeners understand that they
can watch these five stories by goingto WTTW dot com slash firsthand. It
is live now. It went liveon February nineteenth. We had a big
launch event at the TV station WTTWUand there's a combination. This is a

(24:11):
year long initiative, So it's notjust the five stories. There are what
we call the talks, which is, you know, basically like Ted talks.
And we have five experts who fourif I had a five experts who
who spoke about different topics within thesubject of homelessness. Well, Mario,

(24:32):
you have the last word and tellingpeople. What do you hope that people
will get once they watched this series? Yeah, I mean, just you
know, have an open mind andunderstand that everybody's story is different. You
know, just because you know youmay have made the person man made one
mistake or even no mistakes. Itdoesn't take much for any of us can

(24:56):
be homeless. I mean, we'rewe're a lot of us are just like
one or two. Hi, it'saway And I really want people to watch
these five stories because again, ifthey think they know what homeless is,
homelessness is, they don't. Andthese stories will, these powerful stories will
really make you think different they are. They're very powerful. I enjoyed them,

(25:18):
and I want to say again theseries is first Hand Homeless airing on
w TTW in Chicago. You cancatch them online right now. All you
have to do is go online andlook them up at a Google search.
Thank you Brian Rogers for sharing yourstory with us on the bi N,
and thank you producer Mario Mario Sarpfor joining us on the bi N.
I appreciate you both. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank

(25:41):
you for having us vote I'm misterDillard on the Black Information Network. Thanks
esther the late Whitney Houston famously saying, I believe the children are our future.

(26:02):
Teach them well and let them leadthe way well for our West Coast
listeners interested in opportunities centered around acertification program for wellness coaches, you'll definitely
want to listen to the next segment. News anchor Mimi Brown has more about
this new and amazing child wellness programin the state of California. I'm Mimi
Brown on the Black Information Network andtoday I'm in conversation with Ben Gomash,

(26:26):
a healthcare policy analyst at the CaliforniaDepartment of Healthcare Access and Information. And
today we're tackling a very important initiativeby the state of California. But before
we start, Ben, thank youfor joining us. How are you?
Thank you so much for having meso even before the pandemic, we heard
about children and youth struggling with behavioralhealth challenges. How did the certified wellness

(26:48):
program come about? Yeah, that'sa great question. And during the twenty
twenty one twenty two California budget,there was a four point four billion dollar
investment and a five year plan totrain transformed the behavioral health system for children
in youth, and as part ofthat, the state of California was allocated
about three hundred and forty million dollarsto develop and implement a new profession called

(27:10):
the Certified Onness Coach role. Andso the Department of Healthcare Access and Information
h KI is responsible for developing outthis profession. And so we have now
been over the past two plus yearsdoing many many things to kind of research,
design and develop this. Through extensiveinterviews with hundreds of students, parents,

(27:32):
teachers, school administrators, and otherindustry experts, we came up with
a model that we then turned intofigure out how do we actually implement this
in the state. So we've beenworking very closely with these stakeholders as well
as under other industry experts to nowhave this profession out in the world.
So we have launched our certification andour website and some other amazing opportunities to

(28:00):
now have certified wellness coaches within theworkforce. And why is it important to
implement this state certified Wellness coach programanother great question, and you know,
through a lot of research, wejust realized that there's a need and we
do know this, we hear thiswhen we continue to connect with our behavioral
health experts in the field. There'ssome pretty alarming research out there. In

(28:21):
twenty twenty one, the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention found that about four
and ten kids feel persistently sad orhopeless, and nearly one third experience poor
mental health. And it's really importantto get to children in youth early,
and so what we created here isa profession that is in the primary prevention
and early intervention space, so it'searlier on in the continuum before ideally there's

(28:45):
a crisis. So we're doing whatwe can to really increase overall capacity meet
children in youth where they are andtry and get that prevention and intervention services
provided early so that we can tryand mitigate some of this crisis. You
know, meeting children where they areis so important. How will the wellness

(29:06):
coaches work with the existing staff.Part of what we've done is really seeing
again what's going to get in frontof children and use the most effective way,
and a big part of that isintegrating into our school system. So
we've been doing a lot of workconnecting with county offices of education, local
education agencies, school districts, everythingacross the board to really see what it

(29:27):
takes to implement this profession into thepublic school system. And so what we're
really trying to do with this ishope that our wellness coaches will ease the
workload of some of our school staff, whether that be school psychologists, the
teachers, or even clinical staff andcommunities organizations that continue to work with and

(29:48):
partner with our schools. So aspart of handling these broader non clinical services,
we can increase access to key wellbeing in support services for our youth,
ideally allow our license or credential staffto focus on you to have more
complex needs or require higher levels ofsupport. So the school system has been
a big focus for us in thisearly stages of implementation. That said,

(30:11):
we really see coaches being integrated anywherethat employers or individuals feel they could be
part of the support teams, sothat could be health centers, government centers,
even telehealth. So we really seethis potentially being a great new workforce
to just increase overall capacity and beanother trusted individual that a child or youth

(30:33):
can go to. You know,as an adult, I know asking for
help is not easy. Are youhoping children and youth will feel comfortable reaching
out to wellness coaches if they're struggling? One hundred percent One big aspect and
you know, as we talk morewith our children in youth, is it's
all about reducing stigma. There's somestigma around saying I need support, I
need help, And we want thisto be as easy or as natural as

(30:57):
someone you know, eating their veggiesto stay healthy. Talking about their mental
health should also be something that theyfeel comfortable doing. And so a big
part of that is ensuring that kidsneed to be seen and heard. So
what we're really looking to do isrecruit and support a diverse and representative workforce.
We want to make sure that ourcoaches, as much as possible,

(31:19):
represent the diversity that we see throughoutCalifornia, so that kids feel safe,
They feel like they can go tosomeone who understands them, understands their experience,
and ideally can begin to address thingsand approach things before it goes to
a state of crisis. And speakingof recruiting, who would make a good
wellness coach candidate, maybe our listenersare wondering how they can apply to become

(31:42):
certified there's two different pathways right now. We have an education pathway which is
for those that are recent graduates newinto the workforce. These would be people
that are in the fields of thingslike social work, human services, addiction
studies. And we also have aworkforce pathway as well, which is more

(32:04):
for those that are already doing similarwork or part of behavioral health workforce.
We expanded on some of those degreesas well to include things like child development,
early interventions, psychology, and sociology. These will be for people that
again are already in the workforce sohave more extensive field experience. And what
we're doing is continuing to work withour community colleges and our state universities to

(32:27):
really develop curriculum that align with ourcourses, topics and competencies so that we
ensure that these individuals can really diveinto and support our children in youth with
behavioral health needs. And to learnmore, you can go to our website
see a Wellness Coach dot org andthere's tons of information both for employers,

(32:49):
for potential candidates, and there's avery easy link to find for getting certified
that'll give you all the information thatyou need. And speaking of information,
it cost to become certified and isfinancial support available? Yeah, Wellness Coach
certification is free, so there isno cost associated with getting certified. We're

(33:10):
really trying to reduce any barriers individualsmight have to enter into this profession.
And we also have scholarships available annuallyto help students with education and related expenses.
That is now open and that willbe active until three pm on Friday,
May twenty fourth. So we dohave scholarships open now until Friday May

(33:32):
twenty fourth at three pm, andthey can learn more about that by visiting
our website at CA welleness coach dotorg to learn all of the details and
eligibility requirements. Absolutely, that's awesome, so let's repeat that for our listeners.
The scholarship application is open now.It is now live and active.
What does the scholarship cover. Thiswill cover one year of education at a

(33:55):
community college or state university with amaximum award amount of thirty five five thousand
dollars per student in exchange for oneyear of service obligation, so that thirty
five thousand covers a variety of thingsincluding tuition and fees and then some other
education related expenses roomen board, books, and supplies transportation, even loan fees
potentially dependent care. So what we'rereally trying to do is reduce those barriers

(34:20):
and encourage anyone that feels that thisbehavioral health education is rewarding career opportunity and
has a strong interest in supporting ourchildren and youth, especially in those marginalized
communities. And let's remind listeners thatthe website to visit for more information is
see a Wellnesscoach dot org. That'sdot oorg. You can find more information

(34:42):
there about the Certified Wellness Coach program. Applied to become certified. And as
you mentioned, the scholarship is opennow, it is live and active.
Ben, can you tell us whois eligible for the scholarships. Eligible applicants
include students enrolled are accepted into astudent bachelor's level social work, addiction studies
or human services program and this willbe at a state college, so community

(35:06):
college or university for the twenty twentyfour to twenty twenty five academic year.
As I mentioned, they will beneeding to commit to a service obligation for
one year, So for every yearthat they are awarded scholarship, there'll be
one year of a service obligation whichinvolves working in a position that requires a
wellness certification. So supporting our childrenand youth up through age twenty five with

(35:27):
behavioral health supports and services and onea unique way. I love this to
support our youth and our children.Are there any other states with similar programs?
There are one of a pretty amazingprogram that we learned a lot from
when we were developing out. Thisprogram actually came from Alaska, which I
believe is your hometown, I say, born and raised. I love that.

(35:51):
Yeah, yeah, So it's partof they have a behavioral Health aid
program, so it's there specifically tosupport Native tribal health. But we learned
a lot from them, connected fromthem, and they created a new role
to provide culturally relevant support for behavioralhealth and substance use needs. And so
there's some other states do some reallycool groundbreaking work and we continue to connect

(36:13):
with them anywhere from Oklahoma to Coloradoand some of these other states that are
really trying to also support this behavioralhealth crisis for our children in use.
And one thing, what is theaverage salary of a state certified wellness coach.
That's a great question and we're reallyleaving that to employers to set the
salaries. There's so many things thatgo into setting salaries, depending on geography

(36:37):
and a variety of other factors.So those salary ranges will depend on the
level of certification as well as thework will be performed, as well as
the setting in which they'll be doingthat work. Let's remind our listeners one
more time of the website and ofkey dates that they need to be aware
of. Website again is CA WellnessCoach dot org. Again, that's CA

(36:58):
Wellness Coach dot org. And asI mentioned, you could find lots of
information about our Wellness Coach program,what it takes to be certified, what
all the eligibility requirements are for that, and then our scholarship also being open,
there's more information about eligibility for that. And at the end of the
day, we're just seeking candidates whoare passionate about helping our children and youth.

(37:20):
So please share this information with family, friends, your community. Anybody
that you think really would be agood candidate is somebody that we would love
to support. You know, thetime is now, the need is now.
Anything that we could do to continuesupporting our children, youth and families.
You know, there's so much informationhere for our listeners, a lot
that they can really benefit from.Thank you for your expertise, your insights,

(37:43):
and shetting light on this certified wellnessprogram. Again, I just want
to mention scholarship applications are open nowand that website see a Wellnesscoach dot org.
See a Wellness Coach dot org isthe website. Thank you Ben for
joining us on the Black Information Network. This has been such a treat for
us and our listeners. Thank youso much, Mimi, it was a

(38:04):
pleasure for being here today. Thanksmem We will be sure to share more
about the h KAI program in theupcoming weeks. Stay tuned. The Black
Information Network has an amazing team ofcommentators who bring their unique perspectives to stories
impacting the black community. Today wecheck in with news commentator Roland S.
Martin. The Reverend doctor Frederick DouglasHayes the Third has stepped down as president

(38:25):
and the CEO of Rainbow Push Coalition. This, folks, it's not good
news. I've known Reverend Haynes foryears because he was my pastor at Friendship
West Baptist Church in Dallas. Healso is a member of Alpha BA Alpha
Frattney Incorporated, and so am mylife member. I've known Reverend Jackson for

(38:45):
years, founder leader Rainbow Push,but they are at an inflection point because
the reality is Reverend Jackson is eightytwo years old. Parkins's disease has significantly
stopped him from traveling, from leading, marching, protesting, speaking, and
so the future of Rainbow Push willbe determined by really what are they now?

(39:09):
Are they an organization that's about lookingback and praising Reverend for his work.
Are they talking about you know,you know, building a museum or
something along those lines, or arethey still focus on being involved in social
change moving forward? And I'm tellingyou this is a real issue because the

(39:30):
most important thing for organizations are howdo you manage a transition from one iconic
leader to the next. And thisis what Black Churches, HBCUs and others
have been dealing with. And nowRainbow Push has to now seek a new
leader after just a handful of months. They're multitude of reasons, the biggest

(39:51):
one of them unwilling of letting goof the rains. No one can be
hired to be the president and CEOunless they are given the autonomy to lead
That simply cannot happen. You can'thave people reporting to the former leader when
new leadership is trying to cement theirposition. We now wait to see what

(40:14):
happens next with Rainbow Push. I'mRoland Martin on the Black Information Network.
Be sure to catch mo Kelly,Roland Martin and James T. Harris for
their daily commentary on the Black InformationNetwork. Have you started cooking on the
grill yet? It's getting about thattime, whether you cook outdoors or in
Celebrity Chef Carla Hall has a secretingredient and our Vanessa Tyler was surprised to

(40:37):
hear how Carla Hall uses it inso many recipes. Something sure smells good.
Carla Hall must be cooking because celebrityChef Carla Hall is always busy.
Carla, thanks for stopping by tosay hi to us here at the Black
Information Network. It is so greatto join you and your noses are working.

(40:59):
It smells great over here too.We've all seen your work on Top
Chef and Top Chef All Stars.What makes the top chef? I think
it's a person who is adaptable inthe kitchen, who can go into different
scenarios who can take ingredients and seethe possibilities of them and also connecting that
food to people, because really,without somebody eating the food, it doesn't

(41:21):
matter what you're making. So foodis about connection. You always said You're
main ingredient is love, which suretastes good, but do you think people
are getting Food is also our healer. So food is love, food is
healing, food is therapy. Andso that's also why I love working with
this brand, Quaker Oats, becausepeople think about heart healthy cooking with love.

(41:45):
It's also an ingredient that connects meto my grandmother. She had oatmeal
every single day and she talked abouther rolled oats, so I grew up
having it. I grew up lovingit through her and because of her.
Now, what is that's a greatfood trend now is to find what we
love, what we're familiar with,and substitute it make it better. You

(42:07):
know. I was just hearing abouthow you can make beets taste like chocolate
pudding. So there are always waysto get the taste and keep it healthy,
right, That's exactly it. AndI think people are looking for ways
to have their meals add something andnot just empty calories, which is why

(42:27):
when I think about a smoothie,and yes, everybody says, oh,
I'm going to get my fruit in, but are you getting additional fiber?
So before I judge the baking Championshipshows and I know I'm eating a lot
of desserts, one of the thingsthat I do is to have a smoothie
and I put the fiber in it, which is through oats, and it
sustains me. So I don't getthose spikes. Also when I think about

(42:51):
just using oats for different meals,I as a caterer, used to make
my meat loaf with breadcrumbs, andthen I had a whoul who was gluten
free, and so I started usingoats and it added this amazing texture.
So I grind it up. Soyou can use whole oats, quick thoats,
You can use oat flour. Itworks the same. You bloom it

(43:13):
into milk with the vegetables carrots,celery and onions, and then your spices
and those spices can change and itgives you this amazing texture that feels like
you're having a triple of meat.And it doesn't have to be beef.
It could be beef, it couldbe chicken, it could be turkey,
it can be pork, and youjust have this beautiful texture. So I'm
looking at these sliders now. Normally, when I have a meat loaf sandwich,

(43:36):
I normally do the loaves and thenthe meat loaf sandwich is like the
left over because you slice the loaf. Here, I am making the meat
in a flat sheet pan, sothe thickness that I want, and then
I just go and cut them outthe side of the buns. And then
I am adding get ready for it, Vanessa, I am adding a pesto,
but with peas. So I takea store bought pesto, and I

(44:00):
I take frozen peas that are thowedand I put it in the food processor
to create this beautiful grain spring pepesta, which brings you right into the
spring season. That sounds amazing.So let me get this straight about the
oats. You take what we normallywould have, the Quaker oats in the

(44:20):
red and blue box, and youuse that in your smoothies, you use
that in your meat loaf, andyou use that for the fiber. That's
right. That's right. So whenyou think about what the meat loaf does
in the when you think about whatthe oats do and the meat loaf.
Basically, it's holding onto moisture.So in your body, it is holding
on to it's keeping your blood.It's holding on to the blood to the

(44:45):
sugars to keep you from spiking.And so when they talk about lowering your
cholesterol, which I have high cholesterolin my family, and getting in more
whole grains like whole oats and otherthings, so this is the thing that
you we're working with. And thenalso for dessert, it's not just for
cookies. So here I'm looking atthese key Line bars and I have this

(45:09):
oat crust that is crunchy on thebottom, and you can see the whole
oats and it's crunchy but also chewy. And then you have that layer of
like that key Line pie. Andon top, I have a crumble with
the oats, toasted coconut, macanDamian nuts. So when you think about
the brightness of the line, andthen you get that little crackle from the

(45:30):
coconut and you get that smoothness ofthe filling and then the oat short bread
on the bottom, what I mean, it's so good. I'm looking at
and I want to eat them.And you know, that's really good news
for our community because we know thatthere are issues with diet. We know
that there are issues with diabetes.So this is the kind of information our

(45:52):
community really needs. That's exactly right. And so when we think about if
you're already having a juice drink insteadof just plain juice, what I'm asking
you to do is take fresh fruit, take some bananas, and now you
have water and ice, add inthose oats and so you can make it

(46:15):
as thick as astin as you want. But the thing is, you're not
drinking empty calories. So you wantto ingest something that is leaving something in
your body that your body can use. We are catching up with celebrity chef
Carla Hall. Carla, you staybusy. After the seven years on the
Chew in ABC, you're now thehost of Chasing Flavors. Talk about that.

(46:35):
I'm so excited about this show.It was in the works for a
while. It is taking quintessentially belovedAmerican dishes and giving credit to the cultures.
I've had a hand in the dish. So like in the ice cream
episode we talk about we talk aboutthe Father of ice cream. You know
a black man, that black mancalled the father of ice cream. Is

(46:58):
Augustus Jackson born in eighteen o eight. He was a trailblazer, entrepreneur,
ice cream maker, and confectioneer.He even worked as a chef in the
White House in the eighteen twenties.But Augustus Jackson is credited with inventing a
modern way to manufacture ice cream.Augustus Jackson also was so creative. Who
knew you can mix so many flavors. Augustus Jackson, father of ice cream,

(47:22):
a black man, died a verywealthy man in eighteen fifty two,
knowing that when you look at thehistory of a dish and how all of
these cultures are connected, you havea sense of pride and how your culture
played a part. And then wetrace this back to Italy. Now we
could have gone to France, butwe go to Italy and we talk about

(47:44):
gelato, and then we go toIstanbul, like three thousand years down the
road where they made Dondrma. Andso look at all of the history.
And so when you look at nowan ice cream cone, now you're looking
at all of the hands that alsoshare at the same experience. How can
our listeners follow you and learn moreand certainly get those oat recipes you're talking

(48:06):
about, well, you can followme on Carlohall dot com. I'm also
on Instagram. But for these recipesthat I mentioned and more, you can
find those on Quakeroats dot com andyou're going to be amazed. And one
of the things that I want toI want to encourage people to do find
a recipe of something that you alreadyknow and like and see how oats have

(48:27):
been incorporated, because it's only goingto add to your to the health,
it's only going to add value toyour life to cooking, to re energize
and to dust off some some thingsthat you didn't really you feel like you
were in a rut and get usin perfect shape for the spring and summer.
Mm hmmm, that's right, CarlaHall, always cooking up something good.

(48:50):
Thanks for stepping by to give usa taste. Thank you so much,
it's so great to talk to you. Gun violence and homicides are down
in many major cities across the countrythat includes philled However, it's still a
major issue. The shootout in WestPhiladelphia that recently occurred during the end of
Ramadon was a big shock. Fivepeople were arrested, most of them were
teenagers, one fifteen year old girl. Doug Davis is here to continue his

(49:14):
conversation with Philly racial justice activist andformer city council candidate Obona Hagens, who
recently presented the bills to city councilthat he feels consolved with the gun violence
problem that plagues Philadelphia's black community andothers around the nation. Doug, thanks
Mike, This is Doug Davis andI'm back with Philadelphia racial justice activists and
former candidate for City Council o BonaHagens. Last week on the show,

(49:37):
he spelled out the details behind hisStructural Racism Bill twenty twenty four that he
presented to a city council, whichhe feels gives a solution to Philly's crime
and gun violence epidemic. He decidedto report that the city put out that
spells out how the city can endthe crisis, and he's back to continue
the conversation. Welcome again back tothe Black Perspective and the Black Information Network.

(49:58):
Slight pivot in our conversation, misterHaggins, but it will all somewhat
dovetail back into your structural Racism bill. What are your thoughts on the City
of Philadelphia creating a Reparation's task Forcefor those who may not be aware.
Council members Jamie Gattier and Kendrick Brooksintroduced the initiative on the eve of juneteenth

(50:19):
last year. The resolution to establishthe task force was approved by City Council
unanimously, with the objective to researchand formulate reparations proposals and programs intended to
benefit black residents whose ancestors suffered fromchattel slavery and the Jim Crow era.
Your thoughts, There is no taskforce yet, the task force does not

(50:42):
have a budget, and why shouldI trust city council? So follow the
results of this task force If theydon't follow the results of the most pressing
issue in the City of Philadelphia,which is gun violence, They've not addressed

(51:02):
structural racism, which their study saidis the root cause of gun violence.
So, yes, the task forceis being formed, but I don't even
trust it because we have a citycouncil that is really living up to the
Monahan Report. President Nixon commissioned CongressmanPatrick Mornihan to go out and study the

(51:28):
Negro find out what makes the Negrotick, And so he came back with
this report that was ultimately a memothat was sent out across the nation,
and it basically said to ignore theNegro, pay more attention to the immigrants.
And you can read that report andit's in the library, the Nixon

(51:49):
Library. This is all documented facts. So what's happening is that our city
council members are keeping with the morehand report, Ignore the Negro, pay
more attention to the immigrants. Okay, okay, hold on, I hear
what you're saying. But I reporton Philadelphia daily and I see the initiatives

(52:10):
that the city and the mayor areputting down to try to help curb and
eradicate gun violence in our communities.Listen, gun violence could be eliminated immediately
if one of those city council membersare brave enough and can get off their
high horse and say listen, yeah, this brother was a former candidate.

(52:35):
Yeah, this brother comes to citycouncil and lays us out every week.
But this brother has a fail proofbill that we need to adopt, introduce,
pass and get to the first womanmayor of Philadelphia, the first African

(52:57):
American woman mayor, get this billon on her desk. So we can
make Philadelphia the Philadelphia that it shouldbe, so that everybody is thriving.
There is no reason that we can'tcreate win win situation. So what's the
solutions, right, What are someof the specific programs or initiatives that you
would like to see implemented. Youknow, with the proper funding in Philadelphia,

(53:22):
we have to keep the promise ofthe thirteenth Amendment. We have to
pass the Structural Racism Bill. Becausethe Structural Racism Bill addresses gun violence.
According to the City of Philadelphia study, it addresses the problem and it addresses

(53:44):
the solution. It takes the willingnessof the seated council members to take this
bill and adopt this bill. Letme read some of the number six,
line sixty eight of the bill.Declare structural racism a public health crisis and
name racism as a historical and presentthreat to the physical, mental, health,

(54:08):
and economic future of Philadelphia. It'sright in the bill. It has
to be declared a public health crisis. Once it is declared a public health
crisis, you go down, Yougo off to Washington and get that money
and do what's needed. Stop givingus excuses. Stop doing the same thing

(54:31):
year after year somebody gets shot,we have a town hall meeting. We
want to hear from the children.Why do you want to hear from the
children with a serious issue like this, When you have a bill, you
have a study that tells you whatto do. We have leadership in Philadelphia

(54:53):
that is either stupid or they don'twant to help the descendants of slaves because
they have all the answers, Soit doesn't even matter what I want.
If they fulfill this, we canhave what the city needs. We can
have recreation centers with swimming pools,right so that in four years, eight

(55:17):
years, we can have American freedmenbeing able to compete in the Olympics.
Why don't we see a lot ofAmerican freedmen competing in the Olympics and swimming
swimming because of structural racism. Theyhave swimming pools in the white areas,
in the white schools. Why theydon't have swimming pools in the American freedman
schools. They can do it.They get money for everything else. Why

(55:44):
can't they get money to build uptheir own people. If you just tuning
in, this is Doug Davis.We're speaking with Philadelphia racial justice activists and
former candidate for Philadelphia City Council ObonaHagen's about his structural Racism bill that he
presented your city council. He believesif it is adopted, it will solve
the city's gun violence epidemic. Andby the way, I am a native

(56:04):
of Philadelphia nineteenth and Cumberland, soI've got some serious, deep emotions about
my city. You feel me,all right, let's switch gears a little
bit, mister Haigins. From yourexperience as a city council candidate, what
have you learned about the challenges andopportunities advocating for racial justice at the local
level. The major challenge is thatwe don't have elected officials that want to

(56:28):
be freedom fighters. We have electedofficials who want to be social climbers.
They want to stay in office longenough to reach the next level and then
move up to the next level,and then move up to the next level.
And they don't want to do anythingthat's going to challenge that possibility of
happening. So that's the biggest challengeof getting people in office who have this

(56:52):
kind of mindset, that don't havea mindset to just want to be awkwardly
mobile, do just enough just tomake it to the next level. We
got to have people who are genuinelycaring about their constituents, and particularly the
ones who are at the bottom.The descendants of slaves are at the bottom

(57:14):
of every list. How is thatnot any emergency? How is that,
you know, not taken with thesame urgency feel the activist so Bona Hagen's
thanks for sharing your perspective on theBlack Information Network. I'd say one more
thing. You know, many timeswe look at doctor King and Malcolm X

(57:35):
and MegaR Evers. We read aboutthem, we see the movies, and
we forget that they were just likeus. They were people. They went
to the bathroom, they had toeat, they joked around, but most
importantly, they were people. AndI want people to recognize that I am
a person. I am just likedoctor King, just like Malcolm. I'm

(58:01):
just around right now. And manytimes, you know, there's a radio
host named Mary Mason. She wouldalways say Black people love raising the dead
and burying the living. I'm sayingto us, we got to raise the
living. We got to stop beingso concerned about those who are gone.

(58:22):
We learn from them, but wehave to recognize that they did what they
did so that we can do whatwe do today. And I'm just keeping
with that tradition. We can letall the work of our ancestors go for
an art. This is Doug Davis. You're listening to the Black Perspective on
the Black Information Network and that's ourprogram for this week. For more on

(58:43):
these stories, listen to the BlackInformation Network on the free iHeartRadio appm or
log onto bimnews dot com where youcan hear this program in its entirety on
demand. Also follow us on socialmedia at Black Information Network and on x
formerly known as Twitter, at theBlack infhone on behalf of the entire team
at the Black Information Network. I'mMike Island, wishing everyone a wonderful Sunday

(59:07):
and thanks for listening, and besure to join us next week at this
time for another edition of the BlackPerspective right here on the Black Information Network.
The Black Information Network and six timeEmmy nominated news anchor Vanessa Tyler welcome
you to black Land, a podcastabout the ground on which the Black community
stands right now. From stories aboutsalvation and loss, I love the person

(59:30):
who had an hirvy diagnosis, thedreams achieved or yet unfulfilled from people who
have made it. I sat downwith a therapist and I begin my journey
to those left behind. Listen toblack Land on the iHeartRadio app or wherever
you get your podcast