Episode 6 "Dear America, A Letter From Black Women" Executive Production Team

Episode 6 "Dear America, A Letter From Black Women" Executive Production Team

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hello, America. This is Chanell Barnes with the Dear America Show,
and I am sitting with amazing, incredible women who are
leading the Dear America Project. Maeling.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hi, I'm mailing Massio and I'm a producer and EP
on the Dear America A Letter from Black Women.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Hi.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Everyone, my name is doctor Britney Kirkland, and I am
the Chief Program Officer of Project Ready and also an
associate producer on our documentary Dear America.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
A Letter from Black Women.

Speaker 4 (00:37):
Hi. I'm Julia carriasle Nadez, CEO of Freedom Studios and
producer of Dear America. A Letter from Black Women.

Speaker 5 (00:44):
Hi. I'm Dana Offenbach, director of Dear America, A Letter
from Black Women, and very excited to be here today.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
All right, thank you all for taking the time to
share your vision with us today. Could you start by
telling us a little bit about the Dear America Project
and what inspired you all to be a part of
in quite frankly, to make this film.

Speaker 5 (01:05):
I'll jump in, okay. You know, there comes these moments
in your life and in your country where you just
want to do something, and my good friend Maelen came
to me with Julia and said, we're doing this amazing documentary.
We want you to jump in. We want you to
meet Chanelle Barnes. You and we all had a breakfast

(01:31):
and we realized that we had a vision to try
to make an impact in our current election cycle. And
you know, once I met you, it was a no brainer. Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
So, for those of you who don't know, I have
alongside my organization Project Ready, I executive produced Dear America,
a Letter from Black Women, And I'm just so thrilled
to be talking about this conversation. Mainly why don't you
also take the question, uh, just what inspired you?

Speaker 2 (02:02):
What inspired me is working with women and the diverse
women that we have in this group. If you don't
see us, Dana is Caucasian, I'm Afro Latina, I'm Colombian
and Afro Latina. Doctor Kirkland African American, and Julia is

(02:23):
a Latina from Honduras. All women working together for the
cause of saving democracy. Basically, So I think the fact
that we can come together and unite to hear the
stories of black women and the history of voting, because
it's not only the history of voting for blacks, but

(02:44):
I think it's the history of voting, especially for women.
We're fighting for our voices to be heard. And when
I heard about you know, your story and your vision
to tell these stories, I thought, I'm in, Julia, We're
in you know. So Julia and I own Freedom Studios
and we want it to be part of it.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
I love it. I love it. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (03:07):
And for us, you know, our Freedom Studios, it's important
to share our stories authentically because often as Latinas or
brown or persons of color, we are often left out
of the conversation or they do our they do our stories,
but they don't do it from an authentic point of
view because often it's not us behind the scenes. So

(03:30):
for us, this was very important. And also to support
an organization like Project Ready that has been doing amazing
work for the last five six years and we wanted
to help this election and activate those voters.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yes, absolutely, And speaking of a Project Ready, doctor Kirkland,
could you tell us a bit about Project Ready and
its mission to increase voter registration and voter activation.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yes, so, Manea is doctor Britney Kirkland. I'm the chief
program officer for Project Ready. So well, whenever someone asked me.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
What and the associate producer on the.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Film Yes, and the associate producer on Dear America. Let
me not forget that much. And so whenever someone asks
me what is Project Ready about, I always say, we
are a social justice organization committed to getting out the vote.
We don't care who you're voting for, just as long
as you're exercising that right to vote. And so Project Ready,

(04:25):
thanks to our fearless leader, Mischanelle Barnes, the CEO, has
been in existence for six years and has really turned
out the vote for vote by mails and for the
Nord school board elections. And so in turn, each year
we've done is try to engage the community.

Speaker 5 (04:43):
In a new way.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
And so when she had this vision for the Dear
America Project to talk about the intersection between black women
and democracy and also engaging the disengaged voter, I was like,
how could I not be a part of this? And
so voting, activation, civic engagement, it is all the things
that Project Already is about, as well as understanding the

(05:04):
social determinants of health. So we do have a community
center that we've opened up, and we also have activated
a literacy program because we feel as though those are
the things that could be potential barriers to voting, and
so if we help to eliminate the barriers, then there's
no reason why someone shouldn't be able to exercise that
right to vote.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Thank you so much for that, Doctor Kirkland and Juliet
you mentioned behind the scenes. I want to go a
little behind the scenes. Can you talk to me about
the point at which you knew and maybe even who
we were interviewing. You knew that we were onto something
in our project.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
I think very early on. But I have to share
this very special moment when you know you are I
am an immigrant from Honduras and didn't speak the language,
had to adjust to a new culture. And for me
to be in the same room as Martin Luther King
the third was very very emotional, to be honest with you,

(06:08):
because you hear the stories and you read about the
history of this country, the civil rights movement, and I
remember getting on the plane and I had not watched
at this point Selma the movie, and I just realized
how important the work that we're doing. You know, it

(06:29):
took me back to those moments where people were didn't
have this right and many of them were giving up
their lives for the future and to see to be
able to be in the same room as you know,
the little kid that I saw in the movie now
an adult and also following the legacy of his parents,

(06:50):
Martin Luther King, doctor Martin Luther King Junior. It was
just very It was almost such a powerful moment for me,
and I realized, like, wow, we are going to change history,
whether it is you know, again this is a bipartisan movement, yep,
but we are activating voters in we getting the word out,

(07:14):
so and this is what the type of stories that
we want to tell.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
O Freedom Studios. Absolutely, thank you so much. And Julia
has often described this project as a history lesson which
I love so much. Dana, going behind the scenes, can
you describe the point at which you knew that you
were creating a very powerful story.

Speaker 5 (07:36):
The exact the exact moment moment I'm going to tag
onto what Julia said, like, interviewing the Kings was amazing.
I don't know if I ever shared this with you,
but when I was twelve years old, I won the
New York for a poem that I wrote about Martin
Luther King. So the same thing walking in that room
and meeting them. Meeting his son was so powerful for me,

(07:58):
But I will also say that meeting his wife was amazing.
And when she told you know, documentary filmmaking is also
an exploration and you go seeking information. And when she
talked about Rosa Parks being a trained woman and walking
out of the Highlands Center after talking about and training

(08:21):
for a bus boycott to change history, that was fascinating
for me. Like, there were a lot of those moments
right that we had, but those moments were profound. The
other moments that were profound for me was watching all
of these women cry because we had created this space

(08:42):
and this dialogue for them, and that moved me and
we all cried with them. There were times I turned
around and we were just all crying.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
Yes, we cried so much more, Fay.

Speaker 5 (08:55):
We cried. So that's how you know you're really onto something.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
Absolutely, doctor Kirkwin, I'm interested to hear from you.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
I would say that overall the documentary has been like
a point of reflection, and so I say that because
there were a lot of moments where I was like,
this is exactly how I feel. This is the same
story that I have, and it made me reflect on
times where I've encountered adversity, any form of discrimination or racism,

(09:26):
and how I've been able to make an impact on
my community and still strive forward, and so understanding all
of the stories that the other women were sharing, it
was kind of like one, I'm not alone, which is
comforting and also unfortunate at the same time, but then
two making me realize that we've gone we as black women,

(09:46):
have gone so long being being seen and not heard
that now this documentary is the hearing part. And so
that's why I'm so excited for this film, because I
feel like we're finally telling the stories in a way
that people are listening and having the voter activation behind it.
I think it's all coupled together is really powerful.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
I love that you emphasize that this is a point
at which or what we're creating is a point at
which people can actually hear. Mainly, we've talked so much
about this project being an unsilencing of a disenfranchised group
that's made such an incredible contribution to democracy. Can you
talk a little bit about how you've seen some of

(10:29):
that play out throughout our time in crafting the film.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
You know, I was thinking about asking you a question,
because I know.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
You're asking asked the question.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
To take it back, to take it back to why
we wanted to have this, how we created the film
to have more impact. Right?

Speaker 1 (10:50):
You started this with the.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
Museum, right, and so tell us a little bit about
doing the museum, getting the letters during the museum, and
then wanting to have further impacts. So I think I
want to establish how you establish the project. Yes, if
we could hear you on that.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
That sounds good. And for those of you that don't know,
mainlingis had an extensive career in radio, so she's just
taking over hosting this shevel. But I'll go in and
may I'll go with it. So the Dear America project
came about because Project Ready created we created a pop

(11:30):
up museum. So we created an activation that explores the
civil rights movement, and we actually crafted different moments in
the civil rights movement, like Ruby Bridge's classroom, the Woolworf Diner.
And it was during that experience that we created one
exhibit called Deer Nork and Deer Nork was just an
opportunity for folks to come in and write letters to

(11:52):
the city of Nork, just exploring things that they wanted
and we had so many topics come up, everything from
a wanting to see a cleaner environment, cleaner streets, to
wanting to see a decrease in rape, a decrease in
crime reduction. And so we thought to ourselves, what if
we expanded this project and made it Dear America. We

(12:14):
know that letter writing it only contributes to a certain
group of people that want to actually write, and so
when we thought about how to best expand this and
reach hundreds of thousands of people, we met up with
Freedom Studios, and we met up with Cinema Street Pictures,
and we brought together media and entertainment with social justice,

(12:38):
and from there that led to Dear America, a Letter
from Black Women? Why black Women? At project ready eighty
percent of our thirty six thousand members make up black women,
and we just thought it was the virtuous cycle of
transformation to not just say go vote, go vote, go vote,
which quite frankly this group has been doing, but to

(12:59):
also say, Okay, what do you want? What do you
want to see? And one Matt, I'm wondering mailing getting
back to just this the Unsilencing Project, because I think
that's an undertone of this. What are some ways that
you've been able to see that come to life.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
I think that the crafting of those questions that everyone
had a different answer to because everybody has their own stories,
their own experiences, So hearing the voices of the various women,
whether they were a scholar, an activist, a community leader,
a teacher, a marketing person, a filmmaker, they all had

(13:41):
different stories to tell around America, around their needs, around
what's missing in their lives, what they needed. So capturing
those moments was special because you could ask the same question,
but when you ask the same questions and different women
in different people, they're going to answer you differently. So

(14:03):
just seeing the array of answers was magical. Absolutely see
and hopefully people will see that when they see the film.
At least the screenings, the pre screenings that we've had
so far, it's been just wonderful to hear the reaction
of what people have see in the film.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah. Absolutely, I love that meaning and Dana, you spent
so much time and we work together a lot on
the questions and just crafting the story. Can you mentioned
when we were in Chappaquad that this was an exploration
of the human experience. Can you talk a little bit
about that in any of the top issues that came

(14:42):
up while we were interviewing.

Speaker 5 (14:44):
Sure, you know, I want to also say that, and
I thank everybody for giving me this space to really
direct the film.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
Right.

Speaker 5 (14:54):
So, once we had all of our interviews, what we
realized once we had them is that we had a
big story to tell and how do we tell that
story and make it visually interesting? And then we realized
that the news and all of the chaos and all
of the things that were happening in our country underscored

(15:18):
this story of these voices that we had, and I
think that I felt the weight of the world on
my shoulders to get this right to do justice for
these people and to connect them to all that was
happening in and around us right now and tell that

(15:40):
story of why everybody should go vote. Absolutely, And so
there are issues that have come up in conversations we had.
I was just telling Julia and doctor Kirklin that I
was away with our family this weekend and a few
people had said to us that they were not going

(16:01):
to vote, and they talked at all Wow, that they
felt that they couldn't vote, and these were women of color,
and that they couldn't vote, and we sat down and
we talked, and we talked about history, and I felt
armed with a lot more information and thoughts that we
heard during the making of this film that allowed me

(16:23):
to very gingerly because you know, I'm not always so.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
That's behind the scenes behind this.

Speaker 5 (16:32):
But you know, when you're when you've got to get
something done, you got to get something done right. But anyway,
it was really interesting to sit and talk really and
hear that perspective and then give a new perspective. And
this morning we woke up from one of them and
got a text saying, I promise you I'm going to vote.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
Amazing, amazing.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
That's what's been amazing is that. Yeah, we're opening. You know,
when you see the film, it just brings up the conversation,
and that's what we want it, right, that was our goal.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
What part of the conversation may just for those who
haven't well.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
The conversation about voting. Ye, you know, are you voting?
And if you're not voting, you know, why what can
we do to express the importance of voting?

Speaker 1 (17:18):
Right?

Speaker 2 (17:18):
And you're right, hearing your voice.

Speaker 5 (17:21):
And could I add one more thing?

Speaker 1 (17:22):
Sure? Sure?

Speaker 5 (17:23):
One thing that keeps coming up, and that came up
over the weekend was the talking point, the fearmongering talking
points about immigration, and I thought it was really I
listened to my own husband talk about the historical context
of this country and immigration, and I just want to say,

(17:46):
right here, right now, our immigration process has never been perfect.
There literally were in the entire existence of our country.
So we're a work in progress on that. But we
need a democracy in order to keep working on that.
And he reminded myself and several people while we were

(18:06):
talking that, you know, during World War Two, there were
millions of people who died because we didn't let them
in this country, and they perished millions of people all
around the world, not of any one particular group. So
now we're letting more people in because we don't want
them to perish. And also we don't really have time
for all of this, but this could be another time.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
Is the Economic Report two will do right?

Speaker 5 (18:28):
The economics of immigration that people don't understand.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
And you know, it's funny you bring up immigration. I
think a lot of things like immigration, the wealth gap,
of black maternal health, So a lot of these topics
come up. Julia, you've mentioned as we've been on our tour.
Just one of your excitements being us leaning up to
a policy agenda. Can you talk a little bit more
about that.

Speaker 4 (18:53):
Yeah, I think that this is one of the things
that I love about films, like, like our film is
that it's not just entertainment, but we're actually taking one
step further and creating a policy agenda. When we talk
about like really providing a space for black women in
our community to share what they want from this country,

(19:16):
that is very exciting because we are actually doing something
collecting information, what are these concerns, and bringing them to
Congress and saying, hey, this group of this group of cohorts,
this is what they need, and let's get some policy done.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yes, doctor kirk Glen. There's a moment when we were taping.
I remember the first set of interviews and a question
came up about the angry black woman and me and
you stepped to the side and we were like, wait
a minute, Yes, can you talk a little bit about

(19:59):
how our film and by the way, we course corrected,
but yeah, can you talk a little bit about how
our film challenges some of the stereotypes and misconceptions that
are out there about black women.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
Yeah, So there are a lot of moments in our
film where our interviewees are talking about how black women
have been the cornerstone of society or cornerstone of democracy,
and how we've been the homemakers, how we've been the
ones in the streets to advocate for people to vote,
how we've been the ones that are keeping our households
and our families together. And so sometimes when I think

(20:35):
of the of the connotation of the strong black women,
it has that negative feeling to it, and it almost
feels like we are consistently in survival mode to say,
the strong Black women. And so in the course of
the documentary, I wanted to one see how other interviewees

(20:56):
felt about that word, and then to also explain what
it was it actually means to be a strong black
woman and not the connotation that is associated with it
with society. And I feel as though the intervieweees got
to that point by saying, this is exactly what black
women are doing in their homes, in their communities, with
their children, and their in society as a whole. To

(21:18):
actually put some more context to that framing, Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 4 (21:22):
That I also want to say at a little bit
you know, I once heard an elected official say about
the Latino community, right, we don't speak enough. Right, we
don't speak enough, and that's why the African American community
gets a lot done. So I celebrate that that and
take points from that, right, And I often tell my community.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
We need to be just like that.

Speaker 4 (21:48):
We need to speak up and share what our concerns
are in our needs as a community. So I dismiss
any of that, you know, anyone calling women angry black women.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yes, we need to speak up. Yes, I love the dismissal.
So we're going on a tour across the country, which
I think you and I talk about every night.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
The tour is on us.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
About the tour you know about well, the.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
Stops you probably know better than I do. You get
to hear about it first. But you know, we made
a stop in Chappaquah. We went to North Carolina, which
was pretty amazing.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
Carolina. We're heading to shout out to them.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, and you know, safety for everybody. Yes, We're heading
to Newark in the coming weeks and then to Atlanta,
to Atlanta, Georgia, to Savannah, Georgia. Safety also there, and
safety also there. Wishing everybody well there and going to Louisiana.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
Yonkers.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
You know where Freedom Studios is from its Yonkers, New York,
New York, New York, partnership with chief shout out to Chief.
So where where at the Anchors Library where Chiefs in
New York at the Chiefs Clubhouse with the fabulous CEO
women Chiefs.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
Yeah so.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
And then we're also talking and talks about Denver.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
YEP and our favorite conversation Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania. And at some
point we had talked about DC. Right, yeah, DC. The
docket baton Rouge Louisiana. It is for certain that's one
of the twenty ninth in New Orleans, Louisiana is on
the thirtieth. Www dot Thedearamerica Project dot com.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
Everything's there, correct, Everything is there in terms of the
tour and also to support us so that we can
continue to do these tours.

Speaker 4 (23:52):
Yes, absolutely, And I want to say, if you want
us to come to your town or your college or university,
let us know and feel free to sponsor.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
We will come if you sponsored us. Yes, absolutely. And
I guess the last thing wrapping up you Freedom Studios
is also the incredible producers of this talk show. I
wonder Julian, you could give a quick tidbit about just
this talk show.

Speaker 4 (24:18):
Yeah, you know, again, this is an extension of our
film that we want to make sure that we include
those that we were not able to include in the
film and allow them the opportunity to also come in
and share with America what they want again pushing a
policy agenda, and to provide a space for our community.

(24:40):
So thank you for allowing us to do this with you,
and thank you to iHeartMedia for inviting us to participate.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yes, absolutely, And Dana, how can people continue to support
the film outside of what we just listened here? What
are some other ways that people can support?

Speaker 5 (25:01):
So I think if you go on the website and
you show up, you know, first of all, I can't
leave here without asking everybody or reminding everybody how important
it is to vote, and to please go and vote.
We're not telling you who to vote for. Whole goal, right,
it's the whole goal. We're not telling you to who
to vote for. But it's really important that everybody participate

(25:22):
because we don't want a country where you no longer
have the right to participate. And I think the way
that you could support the film is to get on
this website to email project ready to send letters. How
can I see the film? When can I see the film?
Just a you know all of the ways that we
all support any kind of film, but especially a documentary film.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
Yes. Absolutely.

Speaker 4 (25:42):
I also want to add that we have a goal
of one hundred thousand women to join this cost, So
please go to our website ww dot thedearamericaproject dot com
and sign up so that we can reach our goals.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
Now, Okay, I'm going to do something ladies, that we
have not done ever, but we ask everyone else to do.
At the end of each interview, we ask every interview
we to say, Dear America, I want I'm going to
open up the floor for us to do this because
we haven't Dana, I'm going to kick off with you,
Dear America.

Speaker 5 (26:18):
Dear America. I want us to be kind. I want
us to get back to a brotherhood and a sisterhood
and a sense of community. I want us to listen.
I want us to lean into love, because if you
always lean into love, you know what's right and wrong.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
I love that, Mealy, Dear America, I'd like to see
more unity among our sisters, our brothers. I'd like to
see more unity in our faiths, whether you're Catholic, Christian, Jewish, Muslim,
any any faith. I'd like to see more unity, and

(27:00):
i'd like to see more love, you know, shared amongst
us and just kindness.

Speaker 3 (27:06):
Doctor Kirkland, Dear America, I would like to see more
consistency and follow through, and so not only is it
just about getting out to vote, but it's also about
holding those elected officials accountable to all of the things
that they are saying. And so that I think is
what American dream is built on. Being able to strive

(27:28):
for what you want. But we can't do that without
consistency and follow through and what we're saying we're going.

Speaker 5 (27:32):
To get done.

Speaker 1 (27:33):
I love that.

Speaker 4 (27:34):
That's what I always tell my You know, anyone who's
arguing about what they want for America is really to
hold those first of all, vote it not only in
the presential elections, but also vote in your local elections.
It's really important, and I think it's really important to
create to understand and participate in civic engagement because I

(27:58):
find that a lot of us don't really underst than
how government works. But lastly, I just want to say
Dear America, we are the human race. Remember be kind.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
I love it. I'm hearing a lot of kindness. And
my final thought is Dear America. Tune into Chanel Barnes
with the Dear America Show every Sunday from eight o'clock
am to nine o'clock am. And with that, we thank
you so much. We'll talk to you soon. Bye. This

(28:32):
has been a Project Ready production.

Speaker 5 (28:34):
To learn more and effect change, log onto projectreadyenja dot
org or listen anytime on all major podcast carriers.