November 11, 2025 • 59 mins
This week on The Black Perspective, Andrea Coleman returns with the final installment of Saving Black Moms: A Maternal Health Crisis, as she recaps the full series and highlights what comes next.
BIN's Esther Dillard speaks with Dr. Jeanne Nutter about the history of a well-known black establishment.
Morgyn Wood sits down with Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY) and Will Jawando, Montgomery County (MD) Councilmember, during the 58th Annual Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus — gaining insight into leadership and advocacy in 2025.
Also on today’s show, Ramses Ja recaps Election Night 2025 alongside Morgyn Wood and Bri Wood.
And back for another feature: Doug Davis presents Your Black Business, this time highlighting Dr. Cheryl LaRoche, archaeologist and author of Apostle of Liberation, in a conversation about Black enterprise, history, and generational wealth.
Listen now!
BIN's Esther Dillard speaks with Dr. Jeanne Nutter about the history of a well-known black establishment.
Morgyn Wood sits down with Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY) and Will Jawando, Montgomery County (MD) Councilmember, during the 58th Annual Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus — gaining insight into leadership and advocacy in 2025.
Also on today’s show, Ramses Ja recaps Election Night 2025 alongside Morgyn Wood and Bri Wood.
And back for another feature: Doug Davis presents Your Black Business, this time highlighting Dr. Cheryl LaRoche, archaeologist and author of Apostle of Liberation, in a conversation about Black enterprise, history, and generational wealth.
Listen now!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Sunday, November ninth, and on today's show, Andrea Coleman
is back with the final segment of Saving Black Moms
a Maternal Health Crisis as she recaps the full campaign.
The Black Information Networks Ester Dillar talks to doctor gen
Nutter about the history of a well known black establishment.
Morgan Wood talks to CBC chair and New York Congresswoman
e Vec Clark from the fifty eighth Congressional Black Caucus
(00:22):
Annual Legislative Conference. Also on today's show, ramses Jaw recaps
Election Night twenty twenty five with Bin News anchors Morgan
Wood and Brewood, and Doug Davis is back with another
installment of Your Black Business with Black archaeologist doctor Cheryl
Laroche with her new book These Stories and More are
coming your way. On today's program, Welcome to the Black Perspective,
(00:44):
I'm your host, Mike Island.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
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 (00:54):
Good Sunday, and Welcome to the Black Perspective. In April,
the Black Information Network launched it public awareness campaign, Saving
Black moms a maternal health crisis. Through a series of
special reports, we have explored the influences and possible solutions
of the Black maternal mortality and morbidity rates in America.
In this final report for the campaign, the Black Information Networks,
(01:16):
Andrea Coleman has a recap of the issue and what
we learned.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Mike.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
We took up the issue of Black maternal health for
this year's public awareness campaign at the suggestion of Dona
Hickmann thanas founder and CEO of Viola's House and nonprofit
in Dallas, Texas that provides maternity housing for homeless pregnant
teens and maternal support services to women and families throughout
the Metro Dallas area and elsewhere. Thana is also a
member of the BLR, which stands for the Black Information
(01:41):
Network Local Roundtable. The BLR consists of community leaders from
various areas in society who advise the network on issues
of importance to the Black community. Through Dona's guidance, we
were introduced to a small army of maternal health professionals
and advocates working to decrease the number of Black women
in the US who die during or shortly after pregnancy. Currently,
those debts are happening at a rate of three to
(02:02):
four times greater than that of white women. Through her work,
Tauna has found a large part of the problem for
women at risk of maternal health concerns centers around social
determinants like poverty, lack of transportation, food insecurity, lack of
health care, and housing insecurity. As we wrap up our campaign,
we end with our interview with Tauna, who explains with
great clarity the extent of this problem and why it
(02:24):
is so critical we fight for lore these numbers.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
The first thing that I say is Violus's house opens
a door and provides immediate access to housing, to food, transportation,
access to healthcare because we have a clinic right on site,
economic stability, all of these things are the social determinants
(02:49):
of health, especially for a mother during pregnancy. If a
mother doesn't have stable housing, she could care less about
getting to her maternal care pointments because she is in
survival mode for her life at the moment. She can't
even really think about the survival of that baby. Typically,
(03:10):
if a mother doesn't have access to housing or transportation,
we have seen where people overutilize uber eats. Things like
that they're getting the wrong foods because they don't have
transportation to go to grocery stores. We have a little
mini grocery store right on site with our partner church
corner store, where they can get access to fresh food immediately.
(03:34):
When you look at the social determinants of health and
all of the things around that will, that is where
Biola's House thrives with providing every single wraparound service that
impacts the outcomes for the social determinants of health. We
are one of the few organizations that you will find
(03:56):
that focuses on every single thing around that will. We
have licensed counselors there on site. We give transportation. If
you're a m in our maternity home, you are not
taking the bus to get to your doctor's appointments or
to get your kids to the pediatrician. We have access
to fresh food daily. We do job training mental health.
(04:21):
Did I say that cause I need to say that again?
Right there on site. Our COO is one of the
best therapists you'll ever meet. She's been a licensed clinical
social worker for over twenty years, maybe twenty five years.
She used to have her own practice. She's just very
seasoned in the mental health Arena, So at Viola's house,
(04:43):
while we focus on the social determinants of health, we
do it by looking at everything that it takes to
impact a mother's health and that child's health.
Speaker 6 (04:54):
Wow.
Speaker 7 (04:55):
Your message for our listeners who UH may not be
al of how big the Black maternal health crisis is
of the Uhonited States.
Speaker 8 (05:05):
MM, what do you most want them to know?
Speaker 5 (05:09):
The first thing that I'm gonna say to the listeners
who don't even know that there's a Black maternal health
crisis is that it's real. Every single day, black mothers
are dying from giving birth. I said to someone today.
It is to the point where black mother literally has
(05:30):
to choose do I wanna live or do I wanna
die based on the provider that I'm with and the
steps that I take during my maternal care process. Why
should the black mother who is pregnant have to say
do I wanna live or do I wanna die? Just
(05:52):
for this baby to hit the earth realm? And that
is literally how critical this issue is. And because people
don't see it in their families or they're not seeing
it on the news. Every day I read stories weekly
of mothers that are dying in hospitals right around me,
(06:13):
and most of it is preventable. Most of it is preventable.
Having the access to take care of yourself during your pregnancy,
it's right there, It's at their fingertips, and they don't know.
Making sure you choose the right provider, making sure you
choose the right labor and delivery unit based on the
(06:38):
hospital that you're at. I will tell people that this
is so real and it could happen in your family
at any moment. You could be celebrating at a baby
shower in one moment with the woman in your family
given birth and planning her funeral to two months later.
(07:01):
If you don't educate yourself on the black maternal health
crisis that is happening right now in the US. It
is real. And the saddest part is most people don't
know that it's happening until it impacts them directly and
they lose a loved one, they lose a wife, they
(07:24):
lose a child, and then they question what is happening here?
And we're here telling you that it's happening every day
and something has got to be done about it.
Speaker 8 (07:37):
What's the answer, what's the change that less.
Speaker 9 (07:42):
Boy?
Speaker 5 (07:45):
I wish I knew the answer for racism. I don't
have the answer to that. I know that the healthcare
training is implicitly biased. I know that the healthcare training
does not specifically meet the needs of black women. You're
(08:09):
gonna hear time and time again as you interview Andrea
that we are not heard in the healthcare systems. You
can ask ten people that are providers in the maternal
care space why, and I think ten of us will
tell you we are not heard. And so we've got
(08:30):
to get with providers that hear us. We've got to
get with doulas and midwives that listen to us, that
understand our bodies during this process, because right now none
of us have the answer for racism, and so we
have to do our part. You can't go around racism.
(08:51):
You can just make different choices in your provider and
who services you during your pregnancy. We don't have the answer, Andrea.
We may both leave this earth without ever having the
answer as to why racism exists in the healthcare systems.
(09:14):
It doesn't matter if your nurse is black, it doesn't
matter if your doctor is black. And I wanna make
that very very clear. It is the implicit biased healthcare
training that they receive. They don't understand that the training
is underlined in racism, and it doesn't matter that they're black.
(09:36):
It doesn't matter if they're brown, Chinese, that doesn't matter.
It's the training.
Speaker 8 (09:43):
Explain that for us. Break it down a little bit.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
Okay, I'll break it down to you. I'm not in
the medical field, but it's based on my lived experiences
from doing this work for so long. When you enter
into a healthcare system, immediately when you give your demographic,
there are immediate risks that apply to you, whether that
(10:10):
risk is real for you or not. I don't have
high blood pressure, I don't take any medications. But when
I go into a hospital and they learn my age
and my demographic, their risk factors applied to me. They
have to treat me according to those risk factors, whether
(10:31):
they exist with me Fana as the person or not,
because it's based on their training, and sometimes that doesn't
work for all women. In twenty twenty three, we had
over sixty percent of the girls in the maternity home
come back from the hospital with a C section between
the age of eighteen to twenty one. Why because they
(10:55):
reach a certain point in their laboring and it does
it matter if the mother says I want to try,
their training tells them stop trying at this point and
cut through seven layers of skin and complete one of
the most dangerous surgeries that anyone can have on their body.
(11:20):
To eighteen year old, That's what training tells them to do.
That's what training tells them to do. Best example of that,
I was seventeen years old when I gave birth and
I reached a point in labor and the doctors weren't comfortable.
My mother had given birth to seven babies, and she
looked at those doctors. She advocated for me. She says,
(11:43):
she is seventeen. You are not giving her a sea section.
She will have to have a sea section with every
other baby she has. Let her complete this labor. She
can do it. And she looked at me and she said,
I need you to do it. I need you to
push this baby out. You can do it, she advocated
(12:03):
for me. So when you look at training and you
look at processes that are done, it's not often just
based on that individual person that's in front of them.
It's based on a process or procedure that they are
(12:24):
trained to follow. And the issue is that healthcare training. Yeah,
and so we're big on having people advocate in hospital rooms.
We have met wives that sit with our moms now
at the maternity home until one hour before it's signed
for her to give birth. We look for five one
(12:45):
one five to one one is five minutes apart one
minute contractions for one hour, and then she goes because
then we know she's ready to get birth within about
forty five minutes, and we see less of a risk
of a c section happening because she's going into the
(13:05):
hospital ready to give birth. There's so many factors at
work here, right, But if mothers educate themselves during their pregnancy,
they know what tests to ask for it during their pregnancy,
they know their provider. What is your provider providing to you?
(13:32):
What is a provider providing to you? And are they
meeting the need of everything you need so that you
can feel comfortable with knowing that you will labor well
and have a healthy birth.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
It's important to note that black women of all ages,
socioeconomic and educational levels, and professional backgrounds face the same
maternal health risks as for the young pregnant teens Thanna
provides housing for she is hopeful their time at Viola's
House will reset their trajectory in life, leading to one
of health and longevity for both them and their children.
Speaker 10 (14:09):
Your message to the young woman who may be pregnant
feeling a measure of shame, your hope for them, and
your message to them as to why they should fill
a little.
Speaker 8 (14:25):
And why they're worth in your fight and your time.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Every life matters. Every life is worth my fight because
we only get one. They don't get a redo. If
they lose their life due to giving birth, they don't
get another opportunity, So we've got one chance to save them.
Every life matters. They need to find an organization like
(14:52):
Viola's House where every life matters to us, from the
wound to the two. We don't just care about the
baby when they are in the mother's stomach. We care
about that baby thriving. And if you don't feel like
you have that level of support in the community that
(15:12):
you're in, you need to find a community organization like
Biola's House and get to that support. Run to that support,
Run to the education, run to the childbirth and classes.
Get to someone that will advocate for you, get to
(15:34):
someone who will educate you. If you don't know where
that person is. Call us whatever city you're in, and
we will find that organization for you, because it is
just that important.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
You can reach thought. I learn more about Viola's House
at violashouse dot org. We close by recapping some of
the advice given to us to share with black women
who are looking to become or are already engaged in
a maternal health journey. One. Identify a trusted health care
provider before conception or as soon as you know you
are pregnant. Look for someone who will spend time with you,
(16:12):
answering your questions and addressing any concerns you may have. Two,
it's helpful to include dulas throughout your pregnancy. Dulas are
trained maternal health professionals who advocate on your behalf. There
are dulas for each stage of your pregnancy. Be sure
to find one that you are comfortable with and make
sure they are certified. Three, be intentional about the medical
(16:33):
facility you choose to have your child. Yes, it should
be a choice. When consulting with the facility, ask about
their maternal mortality rate. And Four, should you encounter health issues,
be persistent in seeking answers. Don't stop until you get
the response. You need or are satisfied with, and remember
your life is precious, as is your child's. I'm Andrea
(16:55):
Coleman with this final Saving Black Mom's report on the
Black Information netw.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
The Black Information Network will continue to report on issues
related to black maternal health. We welcome your feedback on
the campaign. What did you learn from it and how
might the information help you or others during maternal health experiences.
Please share your thoughts and stories with us on the
talk back Live feature on the iHeartRadio app, and visit
the campaign at binnews dot com and click on the
(17:21):
Saving Black Moms tab. Across the country, black YMCA's once
served as safe spaces for culture, education, and empowerment. The
bi ins Ester Dillard spoke with doctor Gene Nutter, whose
new book documents the history and legacy of one of
those iconic institutions.
Speaker 11 (17:39):
They had really top swimmers, but there was one young
man who learned to swim at the y and became
an undefeated diver. Now it's one thing to swim, it's
another thing as a black, young black teenager in the
(18:01):
fifties and sixties to be undefeated in the state.
Speaker 12 (18:06):
Well, today's conversation is special for me because my guest
and I go back more than a decade. Doctor Jeane
Nutter was one of the first people to encourage me
when I first stepped into college education. She inspired hundreds
of communications students with her lessons on media history and
the power of storytelling. After retiring from teaching, she didn't
stop educating. She simply found a new classroom through her
(18:28):
books and films that highlight black history in Delaware. Her
latest work, Images of America, Walnut Street, YMCA and Ywcaight
captures a vibrant chapter of Wilmington, Delaware's African American community.
It was a time when this building wasn't just a
place to gather, but a beacon of culture, civil rights,
and community pride. I'm really thrilled to sit down with
(18:50):
doctor Nutter to talk about her journey, the stories behind
her book, and why preserving our shared history matters now
more than ever.
Speaker 11 (18:59):
What years ago I did my first Arcadia book and
it went really well. It was a pictorial history of
African Americans and Delaware.
Speaker 8 (19:11):
It's still being published. Can you believe it was?
Speaker 11 (19:15):
No, it's twenty five years because it was in two
thousand and then the following year I was working on
these documentary films and there was information that I wanted
to get.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
So I did a book.
Speaker 11 (19:32):
Of oral histories, which is still in print and people
are still buying.
Speaker 8 (19:38):
And so I thought the Walnut Street win was such an.
Speaker 11 (19:44):
Important institution during segregation, and it's still going, but not
in the same configuration that it was from nineteen forty
to the nineteen seventies. And my father had take I
was in the ballet program.
Speaker 8 (20:06):
My father had photographs.
Speaker 11 (20:07):
I had photographs from the other two books, and I
had worked with the Delaware Historical Society knew they had.
Speaker 8 (20:17):
A little bit.
Speaker 11 (20:19):
And I went to the Walnut Street y and said,
do you have any photographs? Well, the people that are
working there now had no idea of the history, and.
Speaker 8 (20:30):
They said, yeah, we got some. There's a box in
the basement. I said, in the basement. So they brought
up this box.
Speaker 11 (20:39):
I got acid free folders and gloves and went through.
And then there was a woman who had been very
active in the y the YW and she had passed,
but I contacted her sister and she said, yes, Barbara
(21:01):
has photographs.
Speaker 8 (21:02):
And she had a wealth.
Speaker 11 (21:04):
She was really into African American history. So I then
worked to try to put it all together and that's
how But.
Speaker 8 (21:15):
I felt that the history was going.
Speaker 11 (21:20):
To get lost because most of the people that work
there have died.
Speaker 8 (21:27):
They would be one hundred years old.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
My father was on the board, he'd be.
Speaker 11 (21:32):
A hundred plus, and a lot of other people who
were dead. So I just said, you need to try
to capture that now before it's all lost and so
that people can find it. And also, black YMCAs were
(21:52):
across the country, and the swimming pool, the dormitories, those
kinds of things were in all of them.
Speaker 8 (22:03):
So I felt that.
Speaker 11 (22:06):
People would find it interesting in Delaware, but they might
also find it interesting in Virginia Beach, in Philadelphia, in
DC because the way the whys were set up were similar.
In fact, someone said, oh, Gene, I took ballet at
(22:29):
the y and they didn't live in Delaware. So there
were similar kinds of activities that happened.
Speaker 8 (22:38):
And that's why I decided to do it.
Speaker 12 (22:42):
Can you explain for maybe other people to understand, because
the why the way the dynamic of the white WCA
the black white WA's were was not.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
The way I grew up.
Speaker 12 (22:55):
When I grew up, white WCA was for everybody. You know,
that's kind of it was not a segregated situation. Yes,
talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 11 (23:04):
Okay, So you said y W this was basically the
ym they had, the y W the Walnut Street y
was the only y MCA y WCCA combined for a while. Eventually,
because the y w has always been very progressive, it
(23:31):
quickly the black why W merged with the white YW.
In fact, as a child, the day one of the
day camps I went to was with the white YWCA. Okay,
so I don't know if I'm getting ahead of myself,
(23:52):
but the y WCA.
Speaker 8 (23:55):
Early on in the early.
Speaker 11 (23:58):
Nineteen hundreds was doing workshops on race.
Speaker 8 (24:03):
Okay, the hy m wasn't, the male section was not.
Speaker 11 (24:10):
But the y w c A has always been progressive,
integrating black women and women, Native Americans and whatever. But
the the y W y mcas were segregated, and so
within blocks of the why MCA, the black white MCA
(24:36):
was the white white WCA where you could not stay,
nor particularly nor participate.
Speaker 8 (24:45):
So that's the way it was in most places.
Speaker 11 (24:53):
I even think in New York on one hundred and
thirty f Street is a YMC and that was the
Black YMCA. I don't know whether blacks could go to
the white YCA, but the Harlem YMCA has been had
been a very vibrant why.
Speaker 8 (25:15):
For a very long time. So I'm not sure.
Speaker 11 (25:20):
What happened in some other northern cities, but I think
that pretty much so they were segregated.
Speaker 12 (25:29):
Wow, what was the most powerful discovery that you made
in looking at through all the history and the pictures
that you found?
Speaker 13 (25:39):
There was a lot.
Speaker 12 (25:40):
There, but yes, there a few that really stood out
for you.
Speaker 11 (25:44):
Okay, what really stood out for me was in the
front of the building were freezes, sculptural images of black people. Now,
as a child, I looked up and said, great, oh,
we have black people on this building, and it made
(26:05):
you feel proud. What I realized was that the freezes
on the front of the y were.
Speaker 8 (26:15):
The only.
Speaker 11 (26:19):
Sculptural representations of black people in Delaware. There were no
There was Caesar Rodney and Rodney Square, there were other
military people, but there were no images public art. Okay,
there was no public art of black people in Delaware
(26:44):
until I think the late sixty early seventy in Peter
Spencer Square. So people saw these, but it wasn't until
I did.
Speaker 8 (26:59):
The reason that I found out who they were. And
someone just came to me.
Speaker 11 (27:08):
Recently at a book signing and said, I didn't realize
Marion Anderson was depicted on the front of the building.
So there was Marion Anderson.
Speaker 8 (27:21):
Booker T.
Speaker 11 (27:22):
Washington, George Washington, Carver, Paul Robeson.
Speaker 8 (27:28):
And Richard B. Harrison. Richard B.
Speaker 11 (27:33):
Harrison was in Green Pastures on Broadway and was on
the cover of Time magazine in the thirties. Now, all
the people depicted in the front of the building were
popular in the nineteen thirties. I was surprised that the
(27:54):
person who did these. I always thought a black artist
did these. No white artists did these, which met He
was studying African Americans, prominent African Americans in the thirties.
Speaker 12 (28:11):
You can hear more about this segregated YMCA and YWCA
with doctor Nutter on the Color Between the Lines YouTube channel,
the audio podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
Doctor Nutter's book The Walnut Street YMCA and YWCA is
available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or wherever books are sold.
Speaker 14 (28:30):
I'm mister Dillard, Thanks Esther and doctor Nutter during the
fifty eighth Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference the BIMs
Morgan Wood spoke with CBC chair and New York Congresswoman
Evet Clark, who spoke to the event's theme made for
this moment.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
Yes, ma'am, how are you.
Speaker 6 (28:47):
I'm doing well, organ would with the Black Information Network, Morgan.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
It's great to see you this afternoon.
Speaker 6 (28:53):
It's great to be with you, Matt a chair, you
are the chair of the CBC. To ask to me
about the importance of this event and why you take
charge and why you're taking the lead in such a way.
Speaker 15 (29:05):
Well, I'm so fortunate in that my colleagues back in
January voted me to become the next year of the
Congressional Black Caucus for the one to nineteenth session of Congress.
And since then it's been a whirlwind. We knew that
things would be challenging with Donald Trump as president, but
he wasn't sworn in when I was twenty days later,
(29:28):
all hell broke loose and a lot of change, a
lot of change, and that's why this conference is so important.
The Congression of Black Caucus Foundation has its annual Legislative
Conference and It.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Couldn't have come at a more timely moment.
Speaker 15 (29:43):
So many people across this nation are feeling the hurt
of this administration, feeling targeted, feeling discriminated against, and quite frankly,
feeling the violence of the moment, the turbulence of the moment.
And I think when people come together in a place
like Watchington, d C.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
For the Annual Congressional black Hawk.
Speaker 15 (30:03):
This Foundation Conference, it helps the level set. It helps
to bring down the temperature a bit, because you're with
people of like mind and you're learning, you're growing, you're
being empowered by being in the space with people who
understand the mission in this moment. And what we have
said throughout this conference is we are made for this
moment right and we're made.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
For a number of reasons.
Speaker 15 (30:26):
One, we wouldn't be here without the sacrifices of so
many that came before us, without surviving a lot of
the violence that our ancestors face. And so we are stronger,
more knowledgeable, and more tactically prepared to meet this moment.
And so in each and every one of these rooms today,
(30:50):
discussions were taking place. People were sharing knowledge, people were
sharing lived experiences that will help lift another person, and
so on and so on and so on. So I'm
really excited about the fact that so many people have
traveled across the country right to be here and from
our territories. You know, we have the US Virgin Islands,
(31:11):
we have Puerto Rico, but we are represented everywhere as
people of African descent. And that's what this conference has
done for people who have felt isolated and maybe felt
like they were the only ones experiencing sort of the
trauma of a very volatile environment imposed upon them by
(31:34):
their own government.
Speaker 6 (31:36):
Yes, talking about this conference, how does those discussions these
sessions turn into policy?
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Right?
Speaker 15 (31:44):
So what they do is they turn into action. Right now,
we certainly have the ideas that have been fluted before us,
but most of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus
are in the minority. So you know, we draft legislation
all the time, and until the constellations aligned properly, we're
not able to pass it.
Speaker 8 (32:05):
Right.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
We are hopeful that we will see a return.
Speaker 15 (32:08):
To bipartisanship with our colleagues on the side of the aisle,
but unfortunately that's not in this moment.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
And we'll be ready, We'll.
Speaker 15 (32:18):
Be prepared because we will have had all of these
conversations that we've been able to convert into what we
call twenty first century legislation that centers the lives of
the most vulnerable in society and uses the federal enterprise
as part of sort of under dirty what will be
birthed in the twenty first century as a government that
(32:40):
is truly responsive to its people as needs.
Speaker 6 (32:43):
You just wrapped up your session on influencers. Can you
give those who may not have been in the session
a little tidbit about what you spoke about in your session?
Speaker 15 (32:51):
Absolutely, you know, we recognize that there's a certain generation
that was hardwired on broadcasting cable. We've seen the media
landscape shape drift with the advent and employment of online
streaming and other platforms. Our communities are receiving content from
(33:16):
creators all across this nation and quite frankly worldwide, and
so we wanted to make sure that the advent of
what we know will be in emerging, evolving space for
media content to be shared, that we are also involved
(33:36):
in producing, in celebrating, and making sure that our content
creators don't get exploited but are maximizing on their talents
in this space, and that others can recognize it for
the brilliance and excellence that it is and that it
(33:57):
will continue to grow from strength to strength.
Speaker 6 (33:59):
Before I let you go, Madam chair, we got to
talk about New York.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
You are a New Yorker.
Speaker 6 (34:04):
Talk to me about the state of New York right now,
the things that are happening. Attorney General Letitia James. Now
I'm facing potential charges and whatnot. Can you speak more
to what's going on in your home Stne Yeah?
Speaker 15 (34:18):
You know again, I think we all have to acknowledge
that we're in the midst of a paradigm shift, right
and this paradigm shift comes with a certain element of risk.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
It comes with a certain element.
Speaker 15 (34:32):
Of vitriol, meanness and cruelty, and it comes with a
certain amount of a lack of accountability. But it also
comes with a whole lot of promise and opportunity. And unfortunately,
we're in a situation where we have emanated from our
White House a whole heap.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
That my mother would say, a retribution.
Speaker 15 (34:54):
So we see that former head of the FBI, Jimmy
James Komi get indicted as well. We know Tis James,
our Attorney General, very able. Attorney General of New York
to day was able to successfully prosecute Donald Trump, and
(35:14):
so he's looking at ways of trying to get back
at her. We see in the City of New York
a new energy that came about from a highly unknown
but known new candidate name Zor Mandani, two term assemblymen
from Queens, New York. And so you have a mixed
(35:36):
bag here, you know. But what we do know is
that we have to be in.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
A fight for our humanity.
Speaker 15 (35:41):
And I think that that is one of what uh
Tis James is really emblematic the fight.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
For humanity, our common humanity, and so is Zora Mandani
to a large extent.
Speaker 15 (35:52):
So, uh, I'm excited about the energy that we have
to put out to embark upon this journey of.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
I guess lifting us.
Speaker 15 (36:03):
Into a new, uh sort of twenty first century mindset.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
It comes again at a high cost.
Speaker 15 (36:12):
Unfortunately, you know, the pain is palpable, not only in
my district but across this nation.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
And that's what we are learning from this conference.
Speaker 7 (36:20):
Uh.
Speaker 15 (36:20):
There's a lot of discussion about unfortunately, the federal layoffs
or you know, firings, and how it's impacted black families,
black women in particular. Over three hundred thousands, and we
think that that that's probably low balling it at this
stage when you think about federal contractors that have lost contracts,
when you think about all of the retribution and corporations
(36:43):
and what that has meant and the whole dismantling of
the diversity, equity and inclusion infrastructures.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
We know that families are struggling, We know that.
Speaker 15 (36:53):
There's a lot of pay and we want to do
everything we can to lift up those with lift experiences
so that we can be supportive and that we can
move forward knowing that these individuals are of high value
to us because they have the talent, the skill, and
the expertise to build out a civil society that is
(37:14):
reflective again of our lift experiences, our dreams, and our aspirations.
Speaker 6 (37:19):
Congresswomany bat Clark, thank you so much for joining me
and I hope you enjoyed the rest of your conference.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Well, dude, thank you so much for the interview. Thank you, Mike.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Pleasure, Thank you Morgan and Congresswoman Yvette Clark. Stay tuned
for more interviews from the fifty eighth Congressional Black Caucus.
There were several key elections across the country last Tuesday,
and the Black Information Network covered all of them. Here's
a recap of election Night twenty twenty five from news
anchors Bree Wood and Morgan Wood, along with BIM podcast
hosts Ramsay's Jaw all.
Speaker 13 (37:47):
Right Morgan and breed Mo Money. Morgan, what's the latest
and greatest?
Speaker 16 (37:51):
Oh Mo Money?
Speaker 6 (37:52):
I definitely will go ahead and accept that manifestation on
my life in the grand scheme of things. I am
thankful to still be here talking to the people and employed,
and it's you know, considering the hard time. So that's
pretty much what's going on with me.
Speaker 13 (38:05):
How about you got amen? Amen, three, one three, Brie,
talk to me. What's the last?
Speaker 17 (38:08):
Hey?
Speaker 16 (38:09):
You know what, I feel the same as Morgan.
Speaker 17 (38:10):
I am happy and grateful to be talking to you
today and just been a lot going on.
Speaker 16 (38:16):
We have so much to discuss, all right, Well, let's
get to it.
Speaker 13 (38:19):
Voters nationwide took to the polls on Tuesday to cast
ballots for candidates and amendments that will now have a
major impact on the Black community. Brie, both you and
Morgan covered the election night for the network, so we'll
give us quick summary on some of the key elections
from this past week and then Morgan, we'll get your
thoughts next.
Speaker 17 (38:33):
Yeah, there was a lot going on ramses, So Democrats
sweep most of the key races here. They won major
contests in New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City, signaling
voter dissatisfaction with President trump second term agenda and concerns
over the economy, even though we were promised that it
would be fixed on day one. So we've got some
historic wins in the governor races. We'll start with New
(38:55):
Jersey Representative Mikey Cheryl. She is a Navy veteran and
Central Democrat. So she defeated Trump endorsed Republican Jack Chitdarelli.
She became the state's first female Democratic governor. So that's
a big deal and people seem to be satisfied with
that choice. But President Trump was not. He said he
was disappointed in that. He expected a little bit more.
But i'll tell you what. In Virginia, he was not surprised.
(39:19):
Representative Abigail Spanberger, she is the Democrat. She beat black
lieutenant governor, wins some earl sears, becoming Virginia's first female governor.
Speaker 16 (39:27):
There. Now, Trump said, you.
Speaker 17 (39:29):
Know he didn't really like it, but he understood because
he didn't really give any support to win. Some Earl
Sears and CBS News happened to press her about that issue,
and she really could not answer as to why he
did not support her, even though she really holds down
Trump's agenda. She's very conservative, so that was interesting there.
New York City has elected its most progressive mayor, Zaron
(39:52):
mom Donni, who ran as a socialist Democrat. He's thirty
four years old and he's a state lawmaker. He won
the mayoral race, defeating Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Now,
I do want to say I got to give some
credit to Curtis Sliwa because he knew he was never winning.
His whole goal was to be a distraction to lower
everybody else's numbers. But he stayed in till the very end,
(40:14):
even though President Trump did give a last minute endorsement
to Andrew Cuomo. And then Andrew Cuomo came out and said,
yet he doesn't like me. He just hates zarround mom Donnie.
So that's why he endorsed Cuomo. But it did not work.
So mom Donnie is now the city's first Muslim mayor,
and he is also one of the youngest ever, so
congrats to him. And in California, Prop fifty was the
(40:35):
big issue, so voters approved Prop fifty that allows mid
decay redistricting to counter the GOP jerrymandering that happened in Texas.
The new map could flip up to five US House
seats to Democrats ahead of the twenty twenty six midterms.
That was very important to Governor Gavin Newsom. He put
it on the ballot, the people spoke, and the down
ballot democratic momentum that happened also was quite incredible to watch.
(40:57):
Democrat's flip seats in Georgia's Public Service Commission, broke the
GOP supermajority in Mississippi State Senate and retained three Democratic
justices on Pennsylvania's Supreme Court. Local wins include city council
flips in Orlando, Georgetown, South Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina, and
mayoral victories in Atlanta and finally, in my hometown of Detroit, Michigan,
(41:19):
Mary Sheffield made history. On November fourth, Detroit elected its
first woman mayor. She was very popular from the beginning.
She was never not in the lead, okay, but she
did win by a landslide. She had seventy seven percent
of the vote by the time it was all said
and done, and that was against Reverend Solomon Kenlock Junior,
and he had, you know, a respectable number of votes.
I think he got about twenty three percent in the end.
(41:42):
Mayor Elect Sheffield. She's only thirty eight years old. She
brings over a decade of experience on the city Council.
She was the city council president and she's served there
since twenty thirteen and became the president in twenty twenty two.
So her victory is not only historic for gender representation,
but she's also the first black woman to lead Detroit
in our three hundred and twenty four year history. And
(42:03):
what I was reading online, a lot of people could
not believe that the city of Detroit never had a
female mayor in all of those years. But we're not
the only ones. So the tides are turning. Who knows,
we may have a woman president sooner than we think.
But Sheffield's campaign it focused on neighborhood investment, housing stability,
public safety, and in her victory speech, she said everyone's
(42:23):
going to have a seat at the table with her
administration and to every little girl watching, never doubt yourself.
Speaker 16 (42:29):
You are gifted, you are powerful.
Speaker 17 (42:31):
So she was also endorsed by a current mayor, Mike Duggan,
and he is not running because he will be running
next year for governor of Michigan as an independent.
Speaker 16 (42:40):
Well said, I know that was a lot, right. Oh
what can I even add to that note?
Speaker 6 (42:46):
Just a few fun facts though, I think that is
really interesting out of all of these racism, especially the
one in New Jersey that you know, Democrats have actually
held the office of governor for now three terms. It's
the first time in New Jersey history that that has
happened in the DMV. We didn't have elections in Maryland
or d C at this at this juncture anyway, but
(43:08):
it's also the first time that DC Maryland in Virginia
also has Democratic leadership at the same time. Now, Abigail
Spamburger and that race between Abigail Spamburger in Virginia and
win some Earl Sears was it was an interesting one.
And you know, I will just tell you that when
some earl years, if she didn't have anything, she had
the ads on lock because they were so catchy in
(43:30):
the way that it was like, oh my god, here
we go again.
Speaker 17 (43:33):
So I will say that, but she didn't get blue
out either, like she put herself out there, like she
had a decent number of people that voted.
Speaker 6 (43:40):
For her, right she did, but it was no record
for Spamberger, who ran on affordability and that was one
of her major things as well, speaking of which President
Barack Obama endorsed her, and it became one of those
racial things as well, you know. But at the same time,
win some earl series was the black candidate. She is
an immigrant from Jamaica, and she did not receive as
(44:00):
you mentioned, bri and endorsement along party lines from President Trump.
Another thing I want to kind of clear up around
that race is that the NAACP of va is clearing
up rumors that circulated that the NAACP actually endorse Abigail Spamberger,
which is not the case. So the Reverend doctor Cosey
Bailey is the president of the NAACP Virginia chapter, and
(44:21):
he said, whomever they are, whatever gender they are, whatever
race they are, whatever religion they are, whatever creed they are,
we do not endorse political candidates. So that think that
was something that deserves clarity in the grand scheme of
all of this when it comes to mom Donnie. I
loved seeing him celebrate in the club at thirty four
years old, as you mentioned, one of the youngest to
hold the office and also the first Muslim. And to
(44:43):
your point, Brie, it does appear that the tides are turning.
It was quite the democratic sweep across the nation regarding
regarding those elections. So we'll see what direction our country
decides to go in next.
Speaker 7 (44:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 13 (44:57):
Thank you, guys covered it pretty well. I don't even
really think I need to do this job anymore.
Speaker 16 (45:03):
We'll take it from here.
Speaker 13 (45:05):
Yeah, yeah, I do want to offer a couple of
you know, this was masterfuly. I enjoyed listen. Obviously I
had to cover all these stories too, but just listening
to you to kind of reflect and pontificate, it's like
it's like.
Speaker 16 (45:20):
Re exciting me, you know.
Speaker 13 (45:21):
So I do want to offer a couple of things
I think are worth considering.
Speaker 16 (45:26):
So when you think of like Obama's.
Speaker 13 (45:28):
Endorsement versus like Trump's endorsement, I think that the thing
that people are dancing around that they don't it's it's
probably tougher for them to like directly engage with but
I can, I can do that. I don't know that
it's necessarily whether or not the candidate is black, but
whether or not the candidate has pro black policies. And
(45:52):
uh so often you'll see that with the black candidates.
But as we well know, there are black people with
what we generally as black people consider to be anti
black political philosophies that they espouse. I don't want to
name any names, but this is why you won't see
them on stage with an Obama, but you will see
(46:13):
them endorsed by Donald Trump when it's convenient, you know
what I mean. And so these people in pursuit of
their proximity to whiteness, or these people running away from
the reality of their blackness, or trying to adopt a
fierce type of independence which has caused them to become
(46:34):
detached from a shared reality, not in terms of physical
detachment but mental cognitive detachment. Like they just don't see
the data and interpret the data that is, for most
of us, very black and white, as being indicative of
systemic issues. Rather they see it as a mass moral
(46:56):
failing of the black people only in this country.
Speaker 16 (47:01):
And they don't. They don't see that.
Speaker 13 (47:03):
Okay, what are the crime rates in Africa, what are
the you know, absentee father rates in Africa? You know,
they don't look at it like that. And so they
there's there's still some some connective tissue. I'm sure that
they're they're building. I hope they build it in this lifetime.
If not, maybe they'll get another chance. But but this is.
Speaker 16 (47:19):
What I think.
Speaker 13 (47:19):
And then as far as Mom, Donnie in New York,
just one little thing I'll say, because you mentioned him,
like dancing in the club, and I kind of love
that this guy is. The more I hear him talk,
the more I I'm really excited for him and for
what he means in terms of implementing a lot of
the political philosophies of Bernie Sanders, that that those of
(47:40):
us that are Bernie Sanders fans and would.
Speaker 16 (47:42):
Have voted for him had we hit Bernie right.
Speaker 13 (47:46):
He will get a chance to sort of show what
that could look like, what that reality could look like
on American soil, because we see it in Denmark and
like the Norwegian countries. We see what of democratic foundation
with robust socialist programs looks like it looks like companies
with that scored the highest on the Happiest People Index
(48:09):
and the least Homeless index and the most rehabilitation of
Criminals index, and the all the things that we want
to think about our own country. But we lag and
we're toward the bottom of the you know the list.
His ideas will get a chance to see what they're
what they look like implemented on American soil. But the
thing I really wanted to say was that him coming
(48:31):
out to jow Rules, New.
Speaker 16 (48:33):
York sounds funny, funny.
Speaker 13 (48:36):
Because the trolling from fifty cent him coming out to
you know.
Speaker 16 (48:40):
From New York, you know that was that was, and
you know fifty how to rebuttal Yeah, I'm sure he did.
I don't really care. Yeah, fifty had his day.
Speaker 13 (48:48):
Right now, it's Mom Donnie's day, So right now I'm
really proud of Mom Donnie.
Speaker 16 (48:51):
I think i'll leave it right there.
Speaker 13 (48:52):
It's always I'd like to thank you both very much
for your your time and your insight, your brilliance. Once again,
today's guest ourbi in News anchors Morgan would.
Speaker 6 (49:00):
I'm loved, Thank you rams this, thank you, Yes, thanks
for having us.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
Special thanks to Morgan Brie and Ramsa's job for their
Election Night twenty twenty five recap. With the Trump administration
scaling back DEI efforts, black archaeologist doctor Cheryl Laroche is
pushing ahead with the children's book of the untold stories
of black freedom fighters to young readers. Doug Davis is
here to break down what this means for Black Americans today.
Speaker 16 (49:23):
All right, thank you, Mike.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
At a time when the Trump administration is scaling back
diversity and inclusion efforts, even reshaping how our federal museums
and parks tell the story of America's past, one black
scholar is pushing forward with purpose. Doctor Cherla Rochas spent
three decades uncovering the Hidden Sight to the Underground Railroad.
Now she's turning that work into a powerful children's book
series called The Resurrectors. These stories take younger readers back
(49:46):
in time to meet real freedom fighters so they can
see themselves in their history, not the race from it.
With us to talk about it is doctor Laroche. Welcome
to the Black Respective. Doctor Laroche, you've spent decades literally
digging up buried history. What first drew you to this
type of work of uncovering underground railroad sites.
Speaker 9 (50:03):
You know, to begin with I always like to start.
Even before I was on those sites, I was the
archaeological conservator on the African Burial Ground in New York
City where I conserved worked on preserve the artifacts that
came out of the graves of those four hundred or
so enslaved Africans who were buried in New York City,
(50:24):
and from that I began to really question so many
different things that we're digging up and learning about from
that project, the terrain, the ground, the land. And when
we were called as conservators to work on an underground
railroad site where some faces had been molded or sculpted
into the sort of dirt walls of a church, I
(50:46):
began to turn my interest towards the underground railroad because
I realized we were in Syracuse, New York at the time,
and I just had limited knowledge, just as thirty years ago,
of what that was all about. And from that that
led me looking at the underground railroad. It led me
to underground railroad excavations and archaeology, who then led me
to write about it and write about the land, write
(51:08):
about all the different aspects of the underground Railroad, which
led me to a book on William Paul Quinn, who
is a bishop in the Aamme Church who was also
active in the Underground Railroad, and that book, because Quinn
was so unknown, that book led me to thinking about
children and these unknown and buried histories. And so that's
kind of the long answer to my journey.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
You've spent so many years of research, what made you
bring everything to this point where you're at now, where
you're working with children through this Resurrector series.
Speaker 9 (51:41):
So we came to the Resurrectors because I realized that
I was talking to people about things that were what
I thought were common knowledge, things that I have always known,
things I've known for twenty or thirty years. Sometimes people
didn't know it and the children don't know it, And
the attack on the history only tells me that it's
(52:02):
so important.
Speaker 2 (52:03):
Yeah, yeah, what do you feel will happen when black
kids begin to see themselves as, you know, part of
this history rather than you know, just let's say, studying.
Speaker 16 (52:12):
It per se.
Speaker 9 (52:13):
So for the Resurrectors, we very much wanted to put
kids in the middle of the action. We wanted kids
to really be able to imagine that they have power
that they can really be architects of their own lives
and the outcomes of their lives rather than you know,
parents' society, parents of course, and all of these things
shape you. But we want the children to imagine that
(52:35):
history is an adventure, that history is a superpower. And
one of the things it does most importantly is it
gives you a strong sense of self. It gives you
a strong sense of knowing who you are, knowing that
your ancestors had your back and have your back. All
these things that are empowering, that make you stronger, that
make you walk taller.
Speaker 16 (52:56):
In the world.
Speaker 9 (52:56):
That seems to be the last thing that folks want
from us, us right now, right, and that's what we
need to give to our children. And The Resurrectors, which
is a book series, and we have a website called
you know, www dot the Resurrectors dot com and a
Kickstarter campaign to get this under control, get it out
into the world.
Speaker 2 (53:16):
That's right, That's that's so important. How do you plan
to excite the kids? I mean, you know, most young
children are worried about playing outside or video games. How
do you, you know, bring this complex information and history
in an authentic way that can keep them motivated or
make them want to join in and be excited about learning.
Speaker 9 (53:38):
Well, this is a challenge.
Speaker 10 (53:40):
You know.
Speaker 9 (53:40):
I don't know that I can be as compelling as
your video game. I wish I could. I mean, that
would be my dream. You Actually, I can tear you
away from that for you know, however long. But I
think that we decided to make this true history wrapped
in science fiction. So the kids are time travelers, they
actually have some sort of superpowers, and so we wanted
(54:02):
to make this an adventure and make it interesting and
make it something that they might really gravitate towards. And
we did that by wrapping the story. The story remains
a true story, but their presence, their eyewitness, their journey
to the past, their ability to get there, their ability
to move around, their ability to listen to sort of
(54:23):
the spiritual components of how they're moving through time and space,
we hope will capture their imagination.
Speaker 2 (54:31):
So, you know, as we talked about earlier in my introduction,
we're watching the Trump administration roll back our history. How
does it affect the kind of work that you do
when you know that they're trying to take away our history?
Speaker 9 (54:44):
Well, you know, I was a cultural heritage expert for
the President's House in Philadelphia, which is where George Washington
kept nine people enslaved while he was the sitting president
of the United States. And there has lately been an
effort to remove many of the panels to talk about
George Washington and slavery, because obviously he's a founder of
the country. So my work, my previous work, is being
(55:05):
directly impacted, my work with the National Park Service where
they are trying to remove panels or perhaps alter language
and so forth. That's all there. And I actually feel
like that there is such shame for the administration of
their own history that they refuse to have the truth
(55:27):
told that you know, there are all these different spins
that everything gets put under under what we have seen today.
But for me, this is a history to be shared,
to be learned from, and to be proud of. American
history is patriotic. My father is buried at Arlington Cemetery.
(55:47):
We are patriots to our core, and this is a
patriotic history to be able to talk about all aspects
of our history, all of it. And what I often
say is that if you don't like what you're hearing
in the history. You need to stop doing it, you
need to stop perpetuating it, because you can't alter history
(56:11):
by silencing people. You alter history by changing your behavior.
Speaker 2 (56:14):
What do you want kids and their parents to walk
away with with this series?
Speaker 9 (56:19):
Thank you, that's a great question. The Resurrectors is designed,
first of all, to inform children and their parents about
powerful histories that have been erased, overlooked, undertold, forgotten, that
have just not been easy to research. Lots of times
these people don't show up in the history books because
(56:40):
they're not that easy to find and research. So I
want parents and kids, or kids first and parents second,
to walk away first of all with stories that are
examples for how they can live their lives, examples particularly
with the underground Railroad. Which is why I think I'd
like to focus on it, is because these are people
an impossible situation.
Speaker 16 (57:02):
These are people with.
Speaker 9 (57:03):
No way out, apparently seemingly, these are people with their
backs against the wall, and yet they find a way
out of slavery, They find a way how to survive.
And so if you're reading The Resurrectors, you're finding a map,
a mental map.
Speaker 16 (57:24):
For solutions.
Speaker 9 (57:25):
How can I how are they going to get out
of this? How are they going to make this work?
And then you see one of the things about the
underground railroad. You see the most creative things that people
end up doing, the ways they get out, the ways
they escape, the ways they outthink they're captors.
Speaker 2 (57:43):
Let's let's go back to the kickstarter campaign. How do
you get people to be part of the effort we.
Speaker 9 (57:48):
Are we're raising funds And if you go to www.
Dot the Resurrectors R E s U R R E
C T O R S dot com, you will be
rolled over to a Kickstarter page. You'll see an orange button.
You can roll over to a Kickstarter page where they
will ask you you can either sign up for a book,
(58:10):
you can sign up for an e book, you can
sign up for a collector's edition of a book, or
I mean we're starting out with a book. Or you
can just donate if you don't want a book, or
if you want to give us more than the cost
of the book, we'd be happy, more than happy to
take the donation. And so those are the ways in
which we are funding this. To get the illustrators, in particular,
(58:30):
we're looking to fund for illustrators right now that's the
main cost. And one of the reasons why we decided
to go through a kickstarter is because a there's an urgency.
We have to get this out now. We can't. You know,
most of the time when you're using publishers, it's a year,
two years, it's eighteen months. You've got to edit what
they want. We wanted to have complete control over our
(58:51):
vision and over the myths.
Speaker 2 (58:53):
Black archaeologist, doctor Shela Roach, thank you for spending your
time and sharing the details about your children's book called
The Resurrector. My name is Doug Davis. You're listening to
The Black Perspective on the Black Information Network.
Speaker 1 (59:04):
Thank you, Doug and doctor Laroche. And that's our program
for this week. For more on these stories, listen to
the Black Information Network on the free iHeartRadio app or
log onto bionnews dot com for all of the latest
news impacting the black community. And we would love to
hear from you about the Black Perspective. Log onto Bion's
talkback live feature on the iHeartRadio app to share your feedback. Also,
(59:25):
be sure to follow us on social media at Black
Information Network and on x and Blue Sky at black
Info Net and make the Black Information Network first on
your car radio or iHeartRadio app preset. I'm Mike Island.
Have a great Sunday, and be sure to tune in
next week at this time for another edition of the
Black Perspective right here on the Black Information Network.
It's Sunday, November ninth, and on today's show, Andrea Coleman
is back with the final segment of Saving Black Moms
a Maternal Health Crisis as she recaps the full campaign.
The Black Information Networks Ester Dillar talks to doctor gen
Nutter about the history of a well known black establishment.
Morgan Wood talks to CBC chair and New York Congresswoman
e Vec Clark from the fifty eighth Congressional Black Caucus
(00:22):
Annual Legislative Conference. Also on today's show, ramses Jaw recaps
Election Night twenty twenty five with Bin News anchors Morgan
Wood and Brewood, and Doug Davis is back with another
installment of Your Black Business with Black archaeologist doctor Cheryl
Laroche with her new book These Stories and More are
coming your way. On today's program, Welcome to the Black Perspective,
(00:44):
I'm your host, Mike Island.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
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 (00:54):
Good Sunday, and Welcome to the Black Perspective. In April,
the Black Information Network launched it public awareness campaign, Saving
Black moms a maternal health crisis. Through a series of
special reports, we have explored the influences and possible solutions
of the Black maternal mortality and morbidity rates in America.
In this final report for the campaign, the Black Information Networks,
(01:16):
Andrea Coleman has a recap of the issue and what
we learned.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Mike.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
We took up the issue of Black maternal health for
this year's public awareness campaign at the suggestion of Dona
Hickmann thanas founder and CEO of Viola's House and nonprofit
in Dallas, Texas that provides maternity housing for homeless pregnant
teens and maternal support services to women and families throughout
the Metro Dallas area and elsewhere. Thana is also a
member of the BLR, which stands for the Black Information
(01:41):
Network Local Roundtable. The BLR consists of community leaders from
various areas in society who advise the network on issues
of importance to the Black community. Through Dona's guidance, we
were introduced to a small army of maternal health professionals
and advocates working to decrease the number of Black women
in the US who die during or shortly after pregnancy. Currently,
those debts are happening at a rate of three to
(02:02):
four times greater than that of white women. Through her work,
Tauna has found a large part of the problem for
women at risk of maternal health concerns centers around social
determinants like poverty, lack of transportation, food insecurity, lack of
health care, and housing insecurity. As we wrap up our campaign,
we end with our interview with Tauna, who explains with
great clarity the extent of this problem and why it
(02:24):
is so critical we fight for lore these numbers.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
The first thing that I say is Violus's house opens
a door and provides immediate access to housing, to food, transportation,
access to healthcare because we have a clinic right on site,
economic stability, all of these things are the social determinants
(02:49):
of health, especially for a mother during pregnancy. If a
mother doesn't have stable housing, she could care less about
getting to her maternal care pointments because she is in
survival mode for her life at the moment. She can't
even really think about the survival of that baby. Typically,
(03:10):
if a mother doesn't have access to housing or transportation,
we have seen where people overutilize uber eats. Things like
that they're getting the wrong foods because they don't have
transportation to go to grocery stores. We have a little
mini grocery store right on site with our partner church
corner store, where they can get access to fresh food immediately.
(03:34):
When you look at the social determinants of health and
all of the things around that will, that is where
Biola's House thrives with providing every single wraparound service that
impacts the outcomes for the social determinants of health. We
are one of the few organizations that you will find
(03:56):
that focuses on every single thing around that will. We
have licensed counselors there on site. We give transportation. If
you're a m in our maternity home, you are not
taking the bus to get to your doctor's appointments or
to get your kids to the pediatrician. We have access
to fresh food daily. We do job training mental health.
(04:21):
Did I say that cause I need to say that again?
Right there on site. Our COO is one of the
best therapists you'll ever meet. She's been a licensed clinical
social worker for over twenty years, maybe twenty five years.
She used to have her own practice. She's just very
seasoned in the mental health Arena, So at Viola's house,
(04:43):
while we focus on the social determinants of health, we
do it by looking at everything that it takes to
impact a mother's health and that child's health.
Speaker 6 (04:54):
Wow.
Speaker 7 (04:55):
Your message for our listeners who UH may not be
al of how big the Black maternal health crisis is
of the Uhonited States.
Speaker 8 (05:05):
MM, what do you most want them to know?
Speaker 5 (05:09):
The first thing that I'm gonna say to the listeners
who don't even know that there's a Black maternal health
crisis is that it's real. Every single day, black mothers
are dying from giving birth. I said to someone today.
It is to the point where black mother literally has
(05:30):
to choose do I wanna live or do I wanna
die based on the provider that I'm with and the
steps that I take during my maternal care process. Why
should the black mother who is pregnant have to say
do I wanna live or do I wanna die? Just
(05:52):
for this baby to hit the earth realm? And that
is literally how critical this issue is. And because people
don't see it in their families or they're not seeing
it on the news. Every day I read stories weekly
of mothers that are dying in hospitals right around me,
(06:13):
and most of it is preventable. Most of it is preventable.
Having the access to take care of yourself during your pregnancy,
it's right there, It's at their fingertips, and they don't know.
Making sure you choose the right provider, making sure you
choose the right labor and delivery unit based on the
(06:38):
hospital that you're at. I will tell people that this
is so real and it could happen in your family
at any moment. You could be celebrating at a baby
shower in one moment with the woman in your family
given birth and planning her funeral to two months later.
(07:01):
If you don't educate yourself on the black maternal health
crisis that is happening right now in the US. It
is real. And the saddest part is most people don't
know that it's happening until it impacts them directly and
they lose a loved one, they lose a wife, they
(07:24):
lose a child, and then they question what is happening here?
And we're here telling you that it's happening every day
and something has got to be done about it.
Speaker 8 (07:37):
What's the answer, what's the change that less.
Speaker 9 (07:42):
Boy?
Speaker 5 (07:45):
I wish I knew the answer for racism. I don't
have the answer to that. I know that the healthcare
training is implicitly biased. I know that the healthcare training
does not specifically meet the needs of black women. You're
(08:09):
gonna hear time and time again as you interview Andrea
that we are not heard in the healthcare systems. You
can ask ten people that are providers in the maternal
care space why, and I think ten of us will
tell you we are not heard. And so we've got
(08:30):
to get with providers that hear us. We've got to
get with doulas and midwives that listen to us, that
understand our bodies during this process, because right now none
of us have the answer for racism, and so we
have to do our part. You can't go around racism.
(08:51):
You can just make different choices in your provider and
who services you during your pregnancy. We don't have the answer, Andrea.
We may both leave this earth without ever having the
answer as to why racism exists in the healthcare systems.
(09:14):
It doesn't matter if your nurse is black, it doesn't
matter if your doctor is black. And I wanna make
that very very clear. It is the implicit biased healthcare
training that they receive. They don't understand that the training
is underlined in racism, and it doesn't matter that they're black.
(09:36):
It doesn't matter if they're brown, Chinese, that doesn't matter.
It's the training.
Speaker 8 (09:43):
Explain that for us. Break it down a little bit.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
Okay, I'll break it down to you. I'm not in
the medical field, but it's based on my lived experiences
from doing this work for so long. When you enter
into a healthcare system, immediately when you give your demographic,
there are immediate risks that apply to you, whether that
(10:10):
risk is real for you or not. I don't have
high blood pressure, I don't take any medications. But when
I go into a hospital and they learn my age
and my demographic, their risk factors applied to me. They
have to treat me according to those risk factors, whether
(10:31):
they exist with me Fana as the person or not,
because it's based on their training, and sometimes that doesn't
work for all women. In twenty twenty three, we had
over sixty percent of the girls in the maternity home
come back from the hospital with a C section between
the age of eighteen to twenty one. Why because they
(10:55):
reach a certain point in their laboring and it does
it matter if the mother says I want to try,
their training tells them stop trying at this point and
cut through seven layers of skin and complete one of
the most dangerous surgeries that anyone can have on their body.
(11:20):
To eighteen year old, That's what training tells them to do.
That's what training tells them to do. Best example of that,
I was seventeen years old when I gave birth and
I reached a point in labor and the doctors weren't comfortable.
My mother had given birth to seven babies, and she
looked at those doctors. She advocated for me. She says,
(11:43):
she is seventeen. You are not giving her a sea section.
She will have to have a sea section with every
other baby she has. Let her complete this labor. She
can do it. And she looked at me and she said,
I need you to do it. I need you to
push this baby out. You can do it, she advocated
(12:03):
for me. So when you look at training and you
look at processes that are done, it's not often just
based on that individual person that's in front of them.
It's based on a process or procedure that they are
(12:24):
trained to follow. And the issue is that healthcare training. Yeah,
and so we're big on having people advocate in hospital rooms.
We have met wives that sit with our moms now
at the maternity home until one hour before it's signed
for her to give birth. We look for five one
(12:45):
one five to one one is five minutes apart one
minute contractions for one hour, and then she goes because
then we know she's ready to get birth within about
forty five minutes, and we see less of a risk
of a c section happening because she's going into the
(13:05):
hospital ready to give birth. There's so many factors at
work here, right, But if mothers educate themselves during their pregnancy,
they know what tests to ask for it during their pregnancy,
they know their provider. What is your provider providing to you?
(13:32):
What is a provider providing to you? And are they
meeting the need of everything you need so that you
can feel comfortable with knowing that you will labor well
and have a healthy birth.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
It's important to note that black women of all ages,
socioeconomic and educational levels, and professional backgrounds face the same
maternal health risks as for the young pregnant teens Thanna
provides housing for she is hopeful their time at Viola's
House will reset their trajectory in life, leading to one
of health and longevity for both them and their children.
Speaker 10 (14:09):
Your message to the young woman who may be pregnant
feeling a measure of shame, your hope for them, and
your message to them as to why they should fill
a little.
Speaker 8 (14:25):
And why they're worth in your fight and your time.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Every life matters. Every life is worth my fight because
we only get one. They don't get a redo. If
they lose their life due to giving birth, they don't
get another opportunity, So we've got one chance to save them.
Every life matters. They need to find an organization like
(14:52):
Viola's House where every life matters to us, from the
wound to the two. We don't just care about the
baby when they are in the mother's stomach. We care
about that baby thriving. And if you don't feel like
you have that level of support in the community that
(15:12):
you're in, you need to find a community organization like
Biola's House and get to that support. Run to that support,
Run to the education, run to the childbirth and classes.
Get to someone that will advocate for you, get to
(15:34):
someone who will educate you. If you don't know where
that person is. Call us whatever city you're in, and
we will find that organization for you, because it is
just that important.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
You can reach thought. I learn more about Viola's House
at violashouse dot org. We close by recapping some of
the advice given to us to share with black women
who are looking to become or are already engaged in
a maternal health journey. One. Identify a trusted health care
provider before conception or as soon as you know you
are pregnant. Look for someone who will spend time with you,
(16:12):
answering your questions and addressing any concerns you may have. Two,
it's helpful to include dulas throughout your pregnancy. Dulas are
trained maternal health professionals who advocate on your behalf. There
are dulas for each stage of your pregnancy. Be sure
to find one that you are comfortable with and make
sure they are certified. Three, be intentional about the medical
(16:33):
facility you choose to have your child. Yes, it should
be a choice. When consulting with the facility, ask about
their maternal mortality rate. And Four, should you encounter health issues,
be persistent in seeking answers. Don't stop until you get
the response. You need or are satisfied with, and remember
your life is precious, as is your child's. I'm Andrea
(16:55):
Coleman with this final Saving Black Mom's report on the
Black Information netw.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
The Black Information Network will continue to report on issues
related to black maternal health. We welcome your feedback on
the campaign. What did you learn from it and how
might the information help you or others during maternal health experiences.
Please share your thoughts and stories with us on the
talk back Live feature on the iHeartRadio app, and visit
the campaign at binnews dot com and click on the
(17:21):
Saving Black Moms tab. Across the country, black YMCA's once
served as safe spaces for culture, education, and empowerment. The
bi ins Ester Dillard spoke with doctor Gene Nutter, whose
new book documents the history and legacy of one of
those iconic institutions.
Speaker 11 (17:39):
They had really top swimmers, but there was one young
man who learned to swim at the y and became
an undefeated diver. Now it's one thing to swim, it's
another thing as a black, young black teenager in the
(18:01):
fifties and sixties to be undefeated in the state.
Speaker 12 (18:06):
Well, today's conversation is special for me because my guest
and I go back more than a decade. Doctor Jeane
Nutter was one of the first people to encourage me
when I first stepped into college education. She inspired hundreds
of communications students with her lessons on media history and
the power of storytelling. After retiring from teaching, she didn't
stop educating. She simply found a new classroom through her
(18:28):
books and films that highlight black history in Delaware. Her
latest work, Images of America, Walnut Street, YMCA and Ywcaight
captures a vibrant chapter of Wilmington, Delaware's African American community.
It was a time when this building wasn't just a
place to gather, but a beacon of culture, civil rights,
and community pride. I'm really thrilled to sit down with
(18:50):
doctor Nutter to talk about her journey, the stories behind
her book, and why preserving our shared history matters now
more than ever.
Speaker 11 (18:59):
What years ago I did my first Arcadia book and
it went really well. It was a pictorial history of
African Americans and Delaware.
Speaker 8 (19:11):
It's still being published. Can you believe it was?
Speaker 11 (19:15):
No, it's twenty five years because it was in two
thousand and then the following year I was working on
these documentary films and there was information that I wanted
to get.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
So I did a book.
Speaker 11 (19:32):
Of oral histories, which is still in print and people
are still buying.
Speaker 8 (19:38):
And so I thought the Walnut Street win was such an.
Speaker 11 (19:44):
Important institution during segregation, and it's still going, but not
in the same configuration that it was from nineteen forty
to the nineteen seventies. And my father had take I
was in the ballet program.
Speaker 8 (20:06):
My father had photographs.
Speaker 11 (20:07):
I had photographs from the other two books, and I
had worked with the Delaware Historical Society knew they had.
Speaker 8 (20:17):
A little bit.
Speaker 11 (20:19):
And I went to the Walnut Street y and said,
do you have any photographs? Well, the people that are
working there now had no idea of the history, and.
Speaker 8 (20:30):
They said, yeah, we got some. There's a box in
the basement. I said, in the basement. So they brought
up this box.
Speaker 11 (20:39):
I got acid free folders and gloves and went through.
And then there was a woman who had been very
active in the y the YW and she had passed,
but I contacted her sister and she said, yes, Barbara
(21:01):
has photographs.
Speaker 8 (21:02):
And she had a wealth.
Speaker 11 (21:04):
She was really into African American history. So I then
worked to try to put it all together and that's
how But.
Speaker 8 (21:15):
I felt that the history was going.
Speaker 11 (21:20):
To get lost because most of the people that work
there have died.
Speaker 8 (21:27):
They would be one hundred years old.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
My father was on the board, he'd be.
Speaker 11 (21:32):
A hundred plus, and a lot of other people who
were dead. So I just said, you need to try
to capture that now before it's all lost and so
that people can find it. And also, black YMCAs were
(21:52):
across the country, and the swimming pool, the dormitories, those
kinds of things were in all of them.
Speaker 8 (22:03):
So I felt that.
Speaker 11 (22:06):
People would find it interesting in Delaware, but they might
also find it interesting in Virginia Beach, in Philadelphia, in
DC because the way the whys were set up were similar.
In fact, someone said, oh, Gene, I took ballet at
(22:29):
the y and they didn't live in Delaware. So there
were similar kinds of activities that happened.
Speaker 8 (22:38):
And that's why I decided to do it.
Speaker 12 (22:42):
Can you explain for maybe other people to understand, because
the why the way the dynamic of the white WCA
the black white WA's were was not.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
The way I grew up.
Speaker 12 (22:55):
When I grew up, white WCA was for everybody. You know,
that's kind of it was not a segregated situation. Yes,
talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 11 (23:04):
Okay, So you said y W this was basically the
ym they had, the y W the Walnut Street y
was the only y MCA y WCCA combined for a while. Eventually,
because the y w has always been very progressive, it
(23:31):
quickly the black why W merged with the white YW.
In fact, as a child, the day one of the
day camps I went to was with the white YWCA. Okay,
so I don't know if I'm getting ahead of myself,
(23:52):
but the y WCA.
Speaker 8 (23:55):
Early on in the early.
Speaker 11 (23:58):
Nineteen hundreds was doing workshops on race.
Speaker 8 (24:03):
Okay, the hy m wasn't, the male section was not.
Speaker 11 (24:10):
But the y w c A has always been progressive,
integrating black women and women, Native Americans and whatever. But
the the y W y mcas were segregated, and so
within blocks of the why MCA, the black white MCA
(24:36):
was the white white WCA where you could not stay,
nor particularly nor participate.
Speaker 8 (24:45):
So that's the way it was in most places.
Speaker 11 (24:53):
I even think in New York on one hundred and
thirty f Street is a YMC and that was the
Black YMCA. I don't know whether blacks could go to
the white YCA, but the Harlem YMCA has been had
been a very vibrant why.
Speaker 8 (25:15):
For a very long time. So I'm not sure.
Speaker 11 (25:20):
What happened in some other northern cities, but I think
that pretty much so they were segregated.
Speaker 12 (25:29):
Wow, what was the most powerful discovery that you made
in looking at through all the history and the pictures
that you found?
Speaker 13 (25:39):
There was a lot.
Speaker 12 (25:40):
There, but yes, there a few that really stood out
for you.
Speaker 11 (25:44):
Okay, what really stood out for me was in the
front of the building were freezes, sculptural images of black people. Now,
as a child, I looked up and said, great, oh,
we have black people on this building, and it made
(26:05):
you feel proud. What I realized was that the freezes
on the front of the y were.
Speaker 8 (26:15):
The only.
Speaker 11 (26:19):
Sculptural representations of black people in Delaware. There were no
There was Caesar Rodney and Rodney Square, there were other
military people, but there were no images public art. Okay,
there was no public art of black people in Delaware
(26:44):
until I think the late sixty early seventy in Peter
Spencer Square. So people saw these, but it wasn't until
I did.
Speaker 8 (26:59):
The reason that I found out who they were. And
someone just came to me.
Speaker 11 (27:08):
Recently at a book signing and said, I didn't realize
Marion Anderson was depicted on the front of the building.
So there was Marion Anderson.
Speaker 8 (27:21):
Booker T.
Speaker 11 (27:22):
Washington, George Washington, Carver, Paul Robeson.
Speaker 8 (27:28):
And Richard B. Harrison. Richard B.
Speaker 11 (27:33):
Harrison was in Green Pastures on Broadway and was on
the cover of Time magazine in the thirties. Now, all
the people depicted in the front of the building were
popular in the nineteen thirties. I was surprised that the
(27:54):
person who did these. I always thought a black artist
did these. No white artists did these, which met He
was studying African Americans, prominent African Americans in the thirties.
Speaker 12 (28:11):
You can hear more about this segregated YMCA and YWCA
with doctor Nutter on the Color Between the Lines YouTube channel,
the audio podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
Doctor Nutter's book The Walnut Street YMCA and YWCA is
available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or wherever books are sold.
Speaker 14 (28:30):
I'm mister Dillard, Thanks Esther and doctor Nutter during the
fifty eighth Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference the BIMs
Morgan Wood spoke with CBC chair and New York Congresswoman
Evet Clark, who spoke to the event's theme made for
this moment.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
Yes, ma'am, how are you.
Speaker 6 (28:47):
I'm doing well, organ would with the Black Information Network, Morgan.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
It's great to see you this afternoon.
Speaker 6 (28:53):
It's great to be with you, Matt a chair, you
are the chair of the CBC. To ask to me
about the importance of this event and why you take
charge and why you're taking the lead in such a way.
Speaker 15 (29:05):
Well, I'm so fortunate in that my colleagues back in
January voted me to become the next year of the
Congressional Black Caucus for the one to nineteenth session of Congress.
And since then it's been a whirlwind. We knew that
things would be challenging with Donald Trump as president, but
he wasn't sworn in when I was twenty days later,
(29:28):
all hell broke loose and a lot of change, a
lot of change, and that's why this conference is so important.
The Congression of Black Caucus Foundation has its annual Legislative
Conference and It.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Couldn't have come at a more timely moment.
Speaker 15 (29:43):
So many people across this nation are feeling the hurt
of this administration, feeling targeted, feeling discriminated against, and quite frankly,
feeling the violence of the moment, the turbulence of the moment.
And I think when people come together in a place
like Watchington, d C.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
For the Annual Congressional black Hawk.
Speaker 15 (30:03):
This Foundation Conference, it helps the level set. It helps
to bring down the temperature a bit, because you're with
people of like mind and you're learning, you're growing, you're
being empowered by being in the space with people who
understand the mission in this moment. And what we have
said throughout this conference is we are made for this
moment right and we're made.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
For a number of reasons.
Speaker 15 (30:26):
One, we wouldn't be here without the sacrifices of so
many that came before us, without surviving a lot of
the violence that our ancestors face. And so we are stronger,
more knowledgeable, and more tactically prepared to meet this moment.
And so in each and every one of these rooms today,
(30:50):
discussions were taking place. People were sharing knowledge, people were
sharing lived experiences that will help lift another person, and
so on and so on and so on. So I'm
really excited about the fact that so many people have
traveled across the country right to be here and from
our territories. You know, we have the US Virgin Islands,
(31:11):
we have Puerto Rico, but we are represented everywhere as
people of African descent. And that's what this conference has
done for people who have felt isolated and maybe felt
like they were the only ones experiencing sort of the
trauma of a very volatile environment imposed upon them by
(31:34):
their own government.
Speaker 6 (31:36):
Yes, talking about this conference, how does those discussions these
sessions turn into policy?
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Right?
Speaker 15 (31:44):
So what they do is they turn into action. Right now,
we certainly have the ideas that have been fluted before us,
but most of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus
are in the minority. So you know, we draft legislation
all the time, and until the constellations aligned properly, we're
not able to pass it.
Speaker 8 (32:05):
Right.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
We are hopeful that we will see a return.
Speaker 15 (32:08):
To bipartisanship with our colleagues on the side of the aisle,
but unfortunately that's not in this moment.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
And we'll be ready, We'll.
Speaker 15 (32:18):
Be prepared because we will have had all of these
conversations that we've been able to convert into what we
call twenty first century legislation that centers the lives of
the most vulnerable in society and uses the federal enterprise
as part of sort of under dirty what will be
birthed in the twenty first century as a government that
(32:40):
is truly responsive to its people as needs.
Speaker 6 (32:43):
You just wrapped up your session on influencers. Can you
give those who may not have been in the session
a little tidbit about what you spoke about in your session?
Speaker 15 (32:51):
Absolutely, you know, we recognize that there's a certain generation
that was hardwired on broadcasting cable. We've seen the media
landscape shape drift with the advent and employment of online
streaming and other platforms. Our communities are receiving content from
(33:16):
creators all across this nation and quite frankly worldwide, and
so we wanted to make sure that the advent of
what we know will be in emerging, evolving space for
media content to be shared, that we are also involved
(33:36):
in producing, in celebrating, and making sure that our content
creators don't get exploited but are maximizing on their talents
in this space, and that others can recognize it for
the brilliance and excellence that it is and that it
(33:57):
will continue to grow from strength to strength.
Speaker 6 (33:59):
Before I let you go, Madam chair, we got to
talk about New York.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
You are a New Yorker.
Speaker 6 (34:04):
Talk to me about the state of New York right now,
the things that are happening. Attorney General Letitia James. Now
I'm facing potential charges and whatnot. Can you speak more
to what's going on in your home Stne Yeah?
Speaker 15 (34:18):
You know again, I think we all have to acknowledge
that we're in the midst of a paradigm shift, right
and this paradigm shift comes with a certain element of risk.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
It comes with a certain element.
Speaker 15 (34:32):
Of vitriol, meanness and cruelty, and it comes with a
certain amount of a lack of accountability. But it also
comes with a whole lot of promise and opportunity. And unfortunately,
we're in a situation where we have emanated from our
White House a whole heap.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
That my mother would say, a retribution.
Speaker 15 (34:54):
So we see that former head of the FBI, Jimmy
James Komi get indicted as well. We know Tis James,
our Attorney General, very able. Attorney General of New York
to day was able to successfully prosecute Donald Trump, and
(35:14):
so he's looking at ways of trying to get back
at her. We see in the City of New York
a new energy that came about from a highly unknown
but known new candidate name Zor Mandani, two term assemblymen
from Queens, New York. And so you have a mixed
(35:36):
bag here, you know. But what we do know is
that we have to be in.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
A fight for our humanity.
Speaker 15 (35:41):
And I think that that is one of what uh
Tis James is really emblematic the fight.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
For humanity, our common humanity, and so is Zora Mandani
to a large extent.
Speaker 15 (35:52):
So, uh, I'm excited about the energy that we have
to put out to embark upon this journey of.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
I guess lifting us.
Speaker 15 (36:03):
Into a new, uh sort of twenty first century mindset.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
It comes again at a high cost.
Speaker 15 (36:12):
Unfortunately, you know, the pain is palpable, not only in
my district but across this nation.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
And that's what we are learning from this conference.
Speaker 7 (36:20):
Uh.
Speaker 15 (36:20):
There's a lot of discussion about unfortunately, the federal layoffs
or you know, firings, and how it's impacted black families,
black women in particular. Over three hundred thousands, and we
think that that that's probably low balling it at this
stage when you think about federal contractors that have lost contracts,
when you think about all of the retribution and corporations
(36:43):
and what that has meant and the whole dismantling of
the diversity, equity and inclusion infrastructures.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
We know that families are struggling, We know that.
Speaker 15 (36:53):
There's a lot of pay and we want to do
everything we can to lift up those with lift experiences
so that we can be supportive and that we can
move forward knowing that these individuals are of high value
to us because they have the talent, the skill, and
the expertise to build out a civil society that is
(37:14):
reflective again of our lift experiences, our dreams, and our aspirations.
Speaker 6 (37:19):
Congresswomany bat Clark, thank you so much for joining me
and I hope you enjoyed the rest of your conference.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Well, dude, thank you so much for the interview. Thank you, Mike.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Pleasure, Thank you Morgan and Congresswoman Yvette Clark. Stay tuned
for more interviews from the fifty eighth Congressional Black Caucus.
There were several key elections across the country last Tuesday,
and the Black Information Network covered all of them. Here's
a recap of election Night twenty twenty five from news
anchors Bree Wood and Morgan Wood, along with BIM podcast
hosts Ramsay's Jaw all.
Speaker 13 (37:47):
Right Morgan and breed Mo Money. Morgan, what's the latest
and greatest?
Speaker 16 (37:51):
Oh Mo Money?
Speaker 6 (37:52):
I definitely will go ahead and accept that manifestation on
my life in the grand scheme of things. I am
thankful to still be here talking to the people and employed,
and it's you know, considering the hard time. So that's
pretty much what's going on with me.
Speaker 13 (38:05):
How about you got amen? Amen, three, one three, Brie,
talk to me. What's the last?
Speaker 17 (38:08):
Hey?
Speaker 16 (38:09):
You know what, I feel the same as Morgan.
Speaker 17 (38:10):
I am happy and grateful to be talking to you
today and just been a lot going on.
Speaker 16 (38:16):
We have so much to discuss, all right, Well, let's
get to it.
Speaker 13 (38:19):
Voters nationwide took to the polls on Tuesday to cast
ballots for candidates and amendments that will now have a
major impact on the Black community. Brie, both you and
Morgan covered the election night for the network, so we'll
give us quick summary on some of the key elections
from this past week and then Morgan, we'll get your
thoughts next.
Speaker 17 (38:33):
Yeah, there was a lot going on ramses, So Democrats
sweep most of the key races here. They won major
contests in New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City, signaling
voter dissatisfaction with President trump second term agenda and concerns
over the economy, even though we were promised that it
would be fixed on day one. So we've got some
historic wins in the governor races. We'll start with New
(38:55):
Jersey Representative Mikey Cheryl. She is a Navy veteran and
Central Democrat. So she defeated Trump endorsed Republican Jack Chitdarelli.
She became the state's first female Democratic governor. So that's
a big deal and people seem to be satisfied with
that choice. But President Trump was not. He said he
was disappointed in that. He expected a little bit more.
But i'll tell you what. In Virginia, he was not surprised.
(39:19):
Representative Abigail Spanberger, she is the Democrat. She beat black
lieutenant governor, wins some earl sears, becoming Virginia's first female governor.
Speaker 16 (39:27):
There. Now, Trump said, you.
Speaker 17 (39:29):
Know he didn't really like it, but he understood because
he didn't really give any support to win. Some Earl
Sears and CBS News happened to press her about that issue,
and she really could not answer as to why he
did not support her, even though she really holds down
Trump's agenda. She's very conservative, so that was interesting there.
New York City has elected its most progressive mayor, Zaron
(39:52):
mom Donni, who ran as a socialist Democrat. He's thirty
four years old and he's a state lawmaker. He won
the mayoral race, defeating Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Now,
I do want to say I got to give some
credit to Curtis Sliwa because he knew he was never winning.
His whole goal was to be a distraction to lower
everybody else's numbers. But he stayed in till the very end,
(40:14):
even though President Trump did give a last minute endorsement
to Andrew Cuomo. And then Andrew Cuomo came out and said,
yet he doesn't like me. He just hates zarround mom Donnie.
So that's why he endorsed Cuomo. But it did not work.
So mom Donnie is now the city's first Muslim mayor,
and he is also one of the youngest ever, so
congrats to him. And in California, Prop fifty was the
(40:35):
big issue, so voters approved Prop fifty that allows mid
decay redistricting to counter the GOP jerrymandering that happened in Texas.
The new map could flip up to five US House
seats to Democrats ahead of the twenty twenty six midterms.
That was very important to Governor Gavin Newsom. He put
it on the ballot, the people spoke, and the down
ballot democratic momentum that happened also was quite incredible to watch.
(40:57):
Democrat's flip seats in Georgia's Public Service Commission, broke the
GOP supermajority in Mississippi State Senate and retained three Democratic
justices on Pennsylvania's Supreme Court. Local wins include city council
flips in Orlando, Georgetown, South Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina, and
mayoral victories in Atlanta and finally, in my hometown of Detroit, Michigan,
(41:19):
Mary Sheffield made history. On November fourth, Detroit elected its
first woman mayor. She was very popular from the beginning.
She was never not in the lead, okay, but she
did win by a landslide. She had seventy seven percent
of the vote by the time it was all said
and done, and that was against Reverend Solomon Kenlock Junior,
and he had, you know, a respectable number of votes.
I think he got about twenty three percent in the end.
(41:42):
Mayor Elect Sheffield. She's only thirty eight years old. She
brings over a decade of experience on the city Council.
She was the city council president and she's served there
since twenty thirteen and became the president in twenty twenty two.
So her victory is not only historic for gender representation,
but she's also the first black woman to lead Detroit
in our three hundred and twenty four year history. And
(42:03):
what I was reading online, a lot of people could
not believe that the city of Detroit never had a
female mayor in all of those years. But we're not
the only ones. So the tides are turning. Who knows,
we may have a woman president sooner than we think.
But Sheffield's campaign it focused on neighborhood investment, housing stability,
public safety, and in her victory speech, she said everyone's
(42:23):
going to have a seat at the table with her
administration and to every little girl watching, never doubt yourself.
Speaker 16 (42:29):
You are gifted, you are powerful.
Speaker 17 (42:31):
So she was also endorsed by a current mayor, Mike Duggan,
and he is not running because he will be running
next year for governor of Michigan as an independent.
Speaker 16 (42:40):
Well said, I know that was a lot, right. Oh
what can I even add to that note?
Speaker 6 (42:46):
Just a few fun facts though, I think that is
really interesting out of all of these racism, especially the
one in New Jersey that you know, Democrats have actually
held the office of governor for now three terms. It's
the first time in New Jersey history that that has
happened in the DMV. We didn't have elections in Maryland
or d C at this at this juncture anyway, but
(43:08):
it's also the first time that DC Maryland in Virginia
also has Democratic leadership at the same time. Now, Abigail
Spamburger and that race between Abigail Spamburger in Virginia and
win some Earl Sears was it was an interesting one.
And you know, I will just tell you that when
some earl years, if she didn't have anything, she had
the ads on lock because they were so catchy in
(43:30):
the way that it was like, oh my god, here
we go again.
Speaker 17 (43:33):
So I will say that, but she didn't get blue
out either, like she put herself out there, like she
had a decent number of people that voted.
Speaker 6 (43:40):
For her, right she did, but it was no record
for Spamberger, who ran on affordability and that was one
of her major things as well, speaking of which President
Barack Obama endorsed her, and it became one of those
racial things as well, you know. But at the same time,
win some earl series was the black candidate. She is
an immigrant from Jamaica, and she did not receive as
(44:00):
you mentioned, bri and endorsement along party lines from President Trump.
Another thing I want to kind of clear up around
that race is that the NAACP of va is clearing
up rumors that circulated that the NAACP actually endorse Abigail Spamberger,
which is not the case. So the Reverend doctor Cosey
Bailey is the president of the NAACP Virginia chapter, and
(44:21):
he said, whomever they are, whatever gender they are, whatever
race they are, whatever religion they are, whatever creed they are,
we do not endorse political candidates. So that think that
was something that deserves clarity in the grand scheme of
all of this when it comes to mom Donnie. I
loved seeing him celebrate in the club at thirty four
years old, as you mentioned, one of the youngest to
hold the office and also the first Muslim. And to
(44:43):
your point, Brie, it does appear that the tides are turning.
It was quite the democratic sweep across the nation regarding
regarding those elections. So we'll see what direction our country
decides to go in next.
Speaker 7 (44:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 13 (44:57):
Thank you, guys covered it pretty well. I don't even
really think I need to do this job anymore.
Speaker 16 (45:03):
We'll take it from here.
Speaker 13 (45:05):
Yeah, yeah, I do want to offer a couple of
you know, this was masterfuly. I enjoyed listen. Obviously I
had to cover all these stories too, but just listening
to you to kind of reflect and pontificate, it's like
it's like.
Speaker 16 (45:20):
Re exciting me, you know.
Speaker 13 (45:21):
So I do want to offer a couple of things
I think are worth considering.
Speaker 16 (45:26):
So when you think of like Obama's.
Speaker 13 (45:28):
Endorsement versus like Trump's endorsement, I think that the thing
that people are dancing around that they don't it's it's
probably tougher for them to like directly engage with but
I can, I can do that. I don't know that
it's necessarily whether or not the candidate is black, but
whether or not the candidate has pro black policies. And
(45:52):
uh so often you'll see that with the black candidates.
But as we well know, there are black people with
what we generally as black people consider to be anti
black political philosophies that they espouse. I don't want to
name any names, but this is why you won't see
them on stage with an Obama, but you will see
(46:13):
them endorsed by Donald Trump when it's convenient, you know
what I mean. And so these people in pursuit of
their proximity to whiteness, or these people running away from
the reality of their blackness, or trying to adopt a
fierce type of independence which has caused them to become
(46:34):
detached from a shared reality, not in terms of physical
detachment but mental cognitive detachment. Like they just don't see
the data and interpret the data that is, for most
of us, very black and white, as being indicative of
systemic issues. Rather they see it as a mass moral
(46:56):
failing of the black people only in this country.
Speaker 16 (47:01):
And they don't. They don't see that.
Speaker 13 (47:03):
Okay, what are the crime rates in Africa, what are
the you know, absentee father rates in Africa? You know,
they don't look at it like that. And so they
there's there's still some some connective tissue. I'm sure that
they're they're building. I hope they build it in this lifetime.
If not, maybe they'll get another chance. But but this is.
Speaker 16 (47:19):
What I think.
Speaker 13 (47:19):
And then as far as Mom, Donnie in New York,
just one little thing I'll say, because you mentioned him,
like dancing in the club, and I kind of love
that this guy is. The more I hear him talk,
the more I I'm really excited for him and for
what he means in terms of implementing a lot of
the political philosophies of Bernie Sanders, that that those of
(47:40):
us that are Bernie Sanders fans and would.
Speaker 16 (47:42):
Have voted for him had we hit Bernie right.
Speaker 13 (47:46):
He will get a chance to sort of show what
that could look like, what that reality could look like
on American soil, because we see it in Denmark and
like the Norwegian countries. We see what of democratic foundation
with robust socialist programs looks like it looks like companies
with that scored the highest on the Happiest People Index
(48:09):
and the least Homeless index and the most rehabilitation of
Criminals index, and the all the things that we want
to think about our own country. But we lag and
we're toward the bottom of the you know the list.
His ideas will get a chance to see what they're
what they look like implemented on American soil. But the
thing I really wanted to say was that him coming
(48:31):
out to jow Rules, New.
Speaker 16 (48:33):
York sounds funny, funny.
Speaker 13 (48:36):
Because the trolling from fifty cent him coming out to
you know.
Speaker 16 (48:40):
From New York, you know that was that was, and
you know fifty how to rebuttal Yeah, I'm sure he did.
I don't really care. Yeah, fifty had his day.
Speaker 13 (48:48):
Right now, it's Mom Donnie's day, So right now I'm
really proud of Mom Donnie.
Speaker 16 (48:51):
I think i'll leave it right there.
Speaker 13 (48:52):
It's always I'd like to thank you both very much
for your your time and your insight, your brilliance. Once again,
today's guest ourbi in News anchors Morgan would.
Speaker 6 (49:00):
I'm loved, Thank you rams this, thank you, Yes, thanks
for having us.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
Special thanks to Morgan Brie and Ramsa's job for their
Election Night twenty twenty five recap. With the Trump administration
scaling back DEI efforts, black archaeologist doctor Cheryl Laroche is
pushing ahead with the children's book of the untold stories
of black freedom fighters to young readers. Doug Davis is
here to break down what this means for Black Americans today.
Speaker 16 (49:23):
All right, thank you, Mike.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
At a time when the Trump administration is scaling back
diversity and inclusion efforts, even reshaping how our federal museums
and parks tell the story of America's past, one black
scholar is pushing forward with purpose. Doctor Cherla Rochas spent
three decades uncovering the Hidden Sight to the Underground Railroad.
Now she's turning that work into a powerful children's book
series called The Resurrectors. These stories take younger readers back
(49:46):
in time to meet real freedom fighters so they can
see themselves in their history, not the race from it.
With us to talk about it is doctor Laroche. Welcome
to the Black Respective. Doctor Laroche, you've spent decades literally
digging up buried history. What first drew you to this
type of work of uncovering underground railroad sites.
Speaker 9 (50:03):
You know, to begin with I always like to start.
Even before I was on those sites, I was the
archaeological conservator on the African Burial Ground in New York
City where I conserved worked on preserve the artifacts that
came out of the graves of those four hundred or
so enslaved Africans who were buried in New York City,
(50:24):
and from that I began to really question so many
different things that we're digging up and learning about from
that project, the terrain, the ground, the land. And when
we were called as conservators to work on an underground
railroad site where some faces had been molded or sculpted
into the sort of dirt walls of a church, I
(50:46):
began to turn my interest towards the underground railroad because
I realized we were in Syracuse, New York at the time,
and I just had limited knowledge, just as thirty years ago,
of what that was all about. And from that that
led me looking at the underground railroad. It led me
to underground railroad excavations and archaeology, who then led me
to write about it and write about the land, write
(51:08):
about all the different aspects of the underground Railroad, which
led me to a book on William Paul Quinn, who
is a bishop in the Aamme Church who was also
active in the Underground Railroad, and that book, because Quinn
was so unknown, that book led me to thinking about
children and these unknown and buried histories. And so that's
kind of the long answer to my journey.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
You've spent so many years of research, what made you
bring everything to this point where you're at now, where
you're working with children through this Resurrector series.
Speaker 9 (51:41):
So we came to the Resurrectors because I realized that
I was talking to people about things that were what
I thought were common knowledge, things that I have always known,
things I've known for twenty or thirty years. Sometimes people
didn't know it and the children don't know it, And
the attack on the history only tells me that it's
(52:02):
so important.
Speaker 2 (52:03):
Yeah, yeah, what do you feel will happen when black
kids begin to see themselves as, you know, part of
this history rather than you know, just let's say, studying.
Speaker 16 (52:12):
It per se.
Speaker 9 (52:13):
So for the Resurrectors, we very much wanted to put
kids in the middle of the action. We wanted kids
to really be able to imagine that they have power
that they can really be architects of their own lives
and the outcomes of their lives rather than you know,
parents' society, parents of course, and all of these things
shape you. But we want the children to imagine that
(52:35):
history is an adventure, that history is a superpower. And
one of the things it does most importantly is it
gives you a strong sense of self. It gives you
a strong sense of knowing who you are, knowing that
your ancestors had your back and have your back. All
these things that are empowering, that make you stronger, that
make you walk taller.
Speaker 16 (52:56):
In the world.
Speaker 9 (52:56):
That seems to be the last thing that folks want
from us, us right now, right, and that's what we
need to give to our children. And The Resurrectors, which
is a book series, and we have a website called
you know, www dot the Resurrectors dot com and a
Kickstarter campaign to get this under control, get it out
into the world.
Speaker 2 (53:16):
That's right, That's that's so important. How do you plan
to excite the kids? I mean, you know, most young
children are worried about playing outside or video games. How
do you, you know, bring this complex information and history
in an authentic way that can keep them motivated or
make them want to join in and be excited about learning.
Speaker 9 (53:38):
Well, this is a challenge.
Speaker 10 (53:40):
You know.
Speaker 9 (53:40):
I don't know that I can be as compelling as
your video game. I wish I could. I mean, that
would be my dream. You Actually, I can tear you
away from that for you know, however long. But I
think that we decided to make this true history wrapped
in science fiction. So the kids are time travelers, they
actually have some sort of superpowers, and so we wanted
(54:02):
to make this an adventure and make it interesting and
make it something that they might really gravitate towards. And
we did that by wrapping the story. The story remains
a true story, but their presence, their eyewitness, their journey
to the past, their ability to get there, their ability
to move around, their ability to listen to sort of
(54:23):
the spiritual components of how they're moving through time and space,
we hope will capture their imagination.
Speaker 2 (54:31):
So, you know, as we talked about earlier in my introduction,
we're watching the Trump administration roll back our history. How
does it affect the kind of work that you do
when you know that they're trying to take away our history?
Speaker 9 (54:44):
Well, you know, I was a cultural heritage expert for
the President's House in Philadelphia, which is where George Washington
kept nine people enslaved while he was the sitting president
of the United States. And there has lately been an
effort to remove many of the panels to talk about
George Washington and slavery, because obviously he's a founder of
the country. So my work, my previous work, is being
(55:05):
directly impacted, my work with the National Park Service where
they are trying to remove panels or perhaps alter language
and so forth. That's all there. And I actually feel
like that there is such shame for the administration of
their own history that they refuse to have the truth
(55:27):
told that you know, there are all these different spins
that everything gets put under under what we have seen today.
But for me, this is a history to be shared,
to be learned from, and to be proud of. American
history is patriotic. My father is buried at Arlington Cemetery.
(55:47):
We are patriots to our core, and this is a
patriotic history to be able to talk about all aspects
of our history, all of it. And what I often
say is that if you don't like what you're hearing
in the history. You need to stop doing it, you
need to stop perpetuating it, because you can't alter history
(56:11):
by silencing people. You alter history by changing your behavior.
Speaker 2 (56:14):
What do you want kids and their parents to walk
away with with this series?
Speaker 9 (56:19):
Thank you, that's a great question. The Resurrectors is designed,
first of all, to inform children and their parents about
powerful histories that have been erased, overlooked, undertold, forgotten, that
have just not been easy to research. Lots of times
these people don't show up in the history books because
(56:40):
they're not that easy to find and research. So I
want parents and kids, or kids first and parents second,
to walk away first of all with stories that are
examples for how they can live their lives, examples particularly
with the underground Railroad. Which is why I think I'd
like to focus on it, is because these are people
an impossible situation.
Speaker 16 (57:02):
These are people with.
Speaker 9 (57:03):
No way out, apparently seemingly, these are people with their
backs against the wall, and yet they find a way
out of slavery, They find a way how to survive.
And so if you're reading The Resurrectors, you're finding a map,
a mental map.
Speaker 16 (57:24):
For solutions.
Speaker 9 (57:25):
How can I how are they going to get out
of this? How are they going to make this work?
And then you see one of the things about the
underground railroad. You see the most creative things that people
end up doing, the ways they get out, the ways
they escape, the ways they outthink they're captors.
Speaker 2 (57:43):
Let's let's go back to the kickstarter campaign. How do
you get people to be part of the effort we.
Speaker 9 (57:48):
Are we're raising funds And if you go to www.
Dot the Resurrectors R E s U R R E
C T O R S dot com, you will be
rolled over to a Kickstarter page. You'll see an orange button.
You can roll over to a Kickstarter page where they
will ask you you can either sign up for a book,
(58:10):
you can sign up for an e book, you can
sign up for a collector's edition of a book, or
I mean we're starting out with a book. Or you
can just donate if you don't want a book, or
if you want to give us more than the cost
of the book, we'd be happy, more than happy to
take the donation. And so those are the ways in
which we are funding this. To get the illustrators, in particular,
(58:30):
we're looking to fund for illustrators right now that's the
main cost. And one of the reasons why we decided
to go through a kickstarter is because a there's an urgency.
We have to get this out now. We can't. You know,
most of the time when you're using publishers, it's a year,
two years, it's eighteen months. You've got to edit what
they want. We wanted to have complete control over our
(58:51):
vision and over the myths.
Speaker 2 (58:53):
Black archaeologist, doctor Shela Roach, thank you for spending your
time and sharing the details about your children's book called
The Resurrector. My name is Doug Davis. You're listening to
The Black Perspective on the Black Information Network.
Speaker 1 (59:04):
Thank you, Doug and doctor Laroche. And that's our program
for this week. For more on these stories, listen to
the Black Information Network on the free iHeartRadio app or
log onto bionnews dot com for all of the latest
news impacting the black community. And we would love to
hear from you about the Black Perspective. Log onto Bion's
talkback live feature on the iHeartRadio app to share your feedback. Also,
(59:25):
be sure to follow us on social media at Black
Information Network and on x and Blue Sky at black
Info Net and make the Black Information Network first on
your car radio or iHeartRadio app preset. I'm Mike Island.
Have a great Sunday, and be sure to tune in
next week at this time for another edition of the
Black Perspective right here on the Black Information Network.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.