Community Connection August 4th, 2025

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
WTOCAM W two three six c are Indianapolis discussing the
issues that matter to you and keeping you informed with
what's happening in and around Indy. It's Community Connection with
Tina Cosby, brought to you by Child Advocates, a champion
for justice, opportunity and well being for children on Praise

(00:21):
AM thirteen ten ninety five point one FM.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
And good afternoon, and welcome to Community Connection. I'm Tina Cosby.
Today is Monday, August, the fourth Fresh New Week for
the month of August. Three one seven four eight zero
thirteen ten three one seven four eight zero thirteen ten.
That's the number to the show Community Connection. Quite a
bit for you today in our second hour, the latest

(00:45):
from the Better Business Bureau and the return of the
Indianapolis Black Documentary Film Festival that's coming up in hour
two a little later this hour. Our community has been
stepping up in a big way this year to help
children and families get ready to go back to school,
and we're going to share another such effort with you
about thirty minutes from now. Also today, we're still giving

(01:08):
away free State Fair tickets, so stay tuned for your
chance to win a family four pack. But first, Indiana
Congressman Andre Carson joins us now his annual job in
resource fair kicks off tomorrow. Congressman, welcome back. How are
you doing today?

Speaker 3 (01:25):
What an honor? What an honor is? Thank you for
having me.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
The honor is mine. So the job fair, I want
to give people the particulars about that. But then you know,
I'm going to ask you a couple of other questions.
But first and foremost the business at hand, the job
fair that's coming up tomorrow, Can you tell everybody about it?

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Yes, thank you so much. You've been so supportive radio
what has been so supportive? Thank you. It is tomorrow
at the IVY Tech culinaryan Conference Center, August fifth, which
is tomorrow from am to two pm. That's to two pm.
You don't have to preregister and it's free to attend.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, And it's going to be at AVU Tech Community
College Culinary and Conference Center ten to ten am to
two pm. And I might add that we are going
to be out there. Karen Vaughan from WTLC FM and
b Swift from Hot one hundred point nine are also
going to be out there in the place. They're going
to be broadcasting live starting at ten am from that

(02:26):
job fair, and that's just going to you know, and Congressman,
you've been doing this for how many years?

Speaker 4 (02:31):
Now?

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Do you remember how many years you've been doing this?

Speaker 3 (02:33):
It's been it's been, oh wow, it's been several years now.
You know. We started it as a as a result
of inquiry, and you know, it's not a part of
our congressional duties to have a job fare, but it
was a personal passion to work with community stakeholders like yourselves,
work with employers that present opportunities. And at least a

(02:54):
quarter of the employees who come out have committed to hiring,
so ex offenders and many people who come they're hired
on the spot.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah. According to the most recent report from the Bureau
of Labor Statistics, the job markets not looking as healthy
as it possibly could. So the job fair tomorrow couldn't
come at a better time When you've got roughly four
points too unemployment in general population overall. That translates to

(03:25):
seven over seven percentage points or seven percent in the
Black and African American community. So this job fair couldn't
come at a better time. And speaking you know, talking
about the Bureau of Labor statistics another move toward fascism.
I guess I don't know by Donald Trump. He didn't

(03:46):
like the numbers that only seventy three thousand jobs were
created over the last you know, several weeks. He thought
that that was rigged, which what isn't rigged according to him,
and that he wanted to fire the head. What he did,
he fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Erica macintarfer mcintofer. So yeah, and this again was just

(04:10):
hours after her agency released a weaker than expected jobs report.
So does does What are your thoughts about the firing,
the numbers and things of that nature. What are your
thoughts there?

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Well? As someone who purports to be a bold leader,
I think he's doing the opposite. I mean he you
put people who are smart, even smarter than yourself, in
positions or leadership, and when they give you bad news,
you have to take it and accept it and do
a course correction or be able to pivot. He has
been able to do so. I mean, unemployment is a

(04:49):
small businesses are struggling, paychecks aren't going as far as
he used to.

Speaker 5 (04:54):
And I think.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
To the chaos of the Trump becom, I mean and
the chaos of the trade war. He keeps delaying tariffs,
but you know, the uncertainty still impacts prices. Now. Meanwhile,
Donald Trump is trying to build a new ball room
in the White House, He's cutting Medicaid, and he's giving
more money to billionaires. It's fundamentally unfair and as a result,

(05:21):
it has created great instability in the marketplace.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, so there is a lot of frustration among the public.
This isn't new. I mean, this continues in a pattern
to me a very daint to everybody that sees it.
It's a very dangerous pattern, as we say in the March,
toward authoritarianism. If you don't like you know what they
used to do back in the day, I don't like that,
cut their head off, or if you don't like it,
you know, get rid of them. And nobody seems to

(05:46):
be able to do anything about that or to stop that.
Senator Corey Booker recently expressed his frustration with Democrats, saying
that Democrats need to get tougher and fighting Donald Trump
and not letting him just steamroll us toward autocracy. Ken Martin,
they head of the Democratic National Committee UH, said over

(06:07):
the weekend that the Democrats are now going to be
fighting fire with fire to combat the steady march toward
authoritarianism by Trump and his administration. So, uh, you know,
Corey Booker, Ken Martin, everybody's saying, get to so what
is that going to look like? And can you tell
us something that people might take some comfort in that
the Democrats are going to do.

Speaker 5 (06:30):
Well?

Speaker 3 (06:31):
Absolutely? I mean, we just had a town hall yesterday
downtown Indianapolis with Betel O'Rourke, former member of Congress, where
I served with former presidential candidate, former Senate candidate and
really hearing from constituents. I addressed the audience, that'll address
the audience, State Party chairit Italian address the audience and

(06:52):
really engaging with folks. We had the head of the
Indiana Latino Coalition called a little piz Owen speak. We
had uh, many of our African American leaders, youth leaders
speak like Alex and so many other people. And I
think that people now they want to hear what Democrats
are doing. So we're hosting a series of town halls

(07:15):
across the country. I've held a few year. Were kind
enough to host one of them, Thank you, and and
I think Democrats we have procedural remedies that we're offering.
We're fighting back through, as I've said before, litigation, legislation,
and even activism, and I think we're seeing the tie
turn a bit. The difficulty is that you have President
Trump and you have governors who are wedded to his

(07:37):
philosophy and wedded to his strategy and strategem of really redistricting.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Well, no, no, go ahead that you're I don't want to,
I'll go ahead.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
Here's where from a Machiavellian standpoint, I give Trump and
his crew credit. They're bold, they're unapologetic, They're ruthless and brazen,
and when they have power and they have control of
general assemblies across the country, they change the rules. Democrats rightly.
So we want to be fair. We want to hand

(08:16):
redistrict into commissions. And I think that there should be
fair and open elections with our question. But we want
to hand our districts to commissions, while they brazenly say no,
we're going to hand it to our legislators. Because we
control these general assemblies, we're gonna we're gonna draw these
districts how we want them. And that's what they're doing.
And governors are following sued Unfortunately.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Congressmen, and and what you just said, though, basically explains
a lot of people's frustration. They are not acting in
the regular order of government. But the Democrats are, as
you say, behaving, and this is how we're going to
do it. We're not we're not trying to I can't
remember what, but anyway, we're trying to be fair. But

(08:57):
that being fair is not in regular or that there
so how do how can you be fair when they're
steam rolling the country without any excuse me any I
don't know accountability whatsoever. I understand the Democrats don't have
the numbers, believe you me, I do wend but is
there any disrupt people want to feel something. Yeah, the

(09:20):
town halls are fantastic, but you know, the the the
admonition from Senator Booker get tough. What would that look like?
And what is Ken Martin talking about when he says
we're going to fight fire with fire? Because in my mind,
the head of the DNC says we're going to fight
fire with fire. That's not in regular order. And sometimes
don't you have to step out of regular order in

(09:41):
order to get in order? I mean, I don't know
I'm just asking, well.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
I think I think Ken Martin and Corey Booker are right.
I think what that looks like again is we're seeing
the activism on the ground. We're seeing the tithe turned
as it relates to many people who quietly voted for
Donald Trump. We failed tests in twenty sixteen. We're sailing
the test again, unfortunately. And I think what has to

(10:07):
happen is that the activism is already taken place. We've
already seen how the country has shifted the sentiment as
it relates to the gods of question. We're seeing now
the country rightly, so slowly but surely shifting and seeing
the big mistake of dismantling DEI was and the results
of it. We're seeing it in our own institutions, even

(10:31):
in our own colleges in Indiana. And how can we
really talk about diversity when we aren't seeing the fruits
of diversity. And to remove so many black women from
these posts of influence now these institutions are crumbling. That
shows how badly we need black women. But it also
shows how badly a country who purports to be very

(10:54):
diverse built on the backs of African slaves and immigrants
What good is America with out its minority communities, without
its immigrant population, without the descendants of African slaves, without
foundation of black Americans. And so we're seeing the activism work.
We're seeing one thing about Trump. He has delivered on
his promises. We can't be shocked. He's doing what he

(11:16):
promised to do. And so fighting fire with fire looks
like holding town halls. Because Trump is a masterful marketeer.
He understands symbols matter, even when he's trolling the country,
he understands symbols matter, and so people are looking for
symbols of hope. We have to do the same showing
up the town halls. We've already seen the Republicans getting

(11:39):
ripped apart by those dissenters at town halls. We're fighting back.
We have over two hundred lawsuits in court right now
pushing back on a reckless MAGA agenda, and we have
procedural legislative memories. But the real fire and brimstone will

(11:59):
happen at the election. Now they know this. They're seeing
the momentum, so they're trying to curtail the momentum by
flipping some of these seats, even these marshinal seats that
with the right investment can be flipped toward Democratic seats.
They're trying to dismantle them in places by Texas. They're they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're,

(12:20):
They're putting feelers out about Illinois, UH in other states
as well. And and we know that midterm elections don't
bring out big numbers like presidential elections. They typically bring
out now older millennials, gen xers, and boomers. My hope
is that we can course correct and see some gen

(12:43):
zers and younger millennials come out as consistently as they
have performed in previous presidential elections.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
How what's the Democrats plan to get that vote turned out?

Speaker 3 (12:55):
Well, So, what we've been doing is, you know, at
least on our end, you know, I stay outside our
team team Carson's days outside, we've been working with other
candidates and other campaigns and influencers. And you know, I'm
a very non traditional person with a non traditional background.
So I think that we've been working with people like

(13:15):
Jazz and Croppett, AOC and other people, and the Congressional
Black Caucus. We've been working particularly with influencers and creatives
in meeting people where they are and meeting the moment
with non traditional means and methods. Democrats have tried to

(13:37):
use the same keys to unlock the same key locks,
and some of them require facial recognition, some of them
require a keypad, and many of them just require an
old school knock on the door engaging with folks. And
so I don't think it's a one size fits all method.
What may work in New York certainly may not work

(13:58):
in Indianapolis or San Francisco, where I just was with
with my sisters Ilhan Rashid and Latifa. It may not
work in Florida, may not work in Georgia. And so
I think that there are regional and cultural considerations that
we have to look at. But I think at the
end of the day, we have to speak to people
where they are. People are concerned about jobs, people are

(14:19):
concerned about safety in their communities. People are concerned about
the economy and terraces and how that impacts food and
how it ultimately impacts farmers. And we're concerned about government contracting.
A lot of generational wealth is built, particularly with black
owned businesses, women owned businesses, Latino owned businesses, and the like,

(14:39):
through governmental contracting Trumpet vinegration has cut.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
A lot of they vote companies. They've obliterated, They've obliterated
funding for I mean, when you can't watch Reading Rainbow
or Big Borough or on what have you. Yeah, that's
what I'm saying. So this has only been just a
little over six months. Can we even make it to
the men? I mean, this is a question I hear.
Are we even going to be able to make it

(15:04):
to the midterms? I mean people are feeling it, like
now will you think so?

Speaker 3 (15:10):
You know, a lot of nonprofits we will. Nonprofits are
now suffering. Now the appropriations have gone out and many
people have gotten grand dollars. But the question becomes and
Republicans very cleverly set many of these bills to sunset
and people won't feel the impact until after the midterm election. Yes,
that was very wickedly done. And so a lot of nonprofits,

(15:32):
not just what we have the cuts with PBS, but
a lot of local nonprofits and NGOs will have to
suffer and make up for that deficit because of a
lack of state funding, the lack of federal funding which
is apparent, and the philanthropic community can't make up that deficit.
Because they're already stretched thinly in many ways, tapped out,
and so we have to get creative and hit the ground.

(15:54):
We've tried to help in our own way. On our side,
we just helped out a local institution, not to toute
our own, only to name them a pillar in our community.
If I named them, you would know to have their
football team get water. And these are the kinds of
deficits which will require us to get back into the village.
Each one, teach one, each one help one. We can't

(16:17):
rely on at least this Trump administration to fill in
the gap and leverage our taxpayer dollars appropriately so they
flow back into our communities because he's too busy along
with his Republican flying flying monkeys and co signers helping
out billionaires. So we have to help one another. But
I want that.

Speaker 5 (16:35):
Kind of animosity, that resentment to translate showing up at
the post.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah, we were losing a little bit of you. You know,
you were talking about non traditional ways, and I couldn't
help but think because early on in my career I
covered her. Do you ever do you ever think I
wonder what my grandmother or how she would weather this
this current storm or what would she do or what
would she think? Do you ever think that as as

(17:02):
we go through this difficult time with with Trump and
and the administration, does that ever come to your mind?

Speaker 3 (17:09):
The phenomenal every day that that that that's a very
important question, you know, I you know, it's it's it's
interesting because I hear and and and I'm happy to
always see her get her boss, because she still doesn't
doesn't doesn't get she deserves. Uh. She's been mythologized and romanticized.

(17:31):
There's some good reason the circles that never accepted her.
She was certainly non traditional, as you know, and as
someone who raised me, who made me work on the
books and off the books, I've watched how she had
this network of outliers, some would say misfits, a network
of street folks, a network of working class folks, a

(17:53):
boom squad as it were, showing up and showing out,
getting people out to the polls, working with churches, working
with religious institutions, getting caravans and buses, getting sould to
the polls, as they called it back then, working with
Operation Basket, working with UH Andrew J. Brown, Tommy Brown

(18:14):
aim as TLC, and working with all the all the
churches and the pastors and community folks in street, folks
working outside in many ways of the party system that
rejected her. I remember the first time I ever saw her.
Crime was Uh, she ran for secretary of State, and
the and the nasty and I'm a kid in the

(18:35):
nastiness that I heard coming from party officials was heartbreaking.
You know, I've seen people who were very I mean,
she would you know, she wouldn't let anybody disrespect her,
but she was still a black woman in that context.
And you know, I even had to get my crew

(18:56):
out to let them know it's not going down. Uh.
When I say crew, I mean crue, you know, to
let them know it's not going down. And I think
that during these times she had to navigate, she wasn't
accepted necessarily by many party elites. You know, I carry
some of that, by the way, it's a footnote. And
they were always trying to import people in to run

(19:19):
against her. And listen, that's a democracy.

Speaker 4 (19:22):
People have a.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
Right to run. I understand it. But you know, if
you don't have a soul to serve people, if you're
just in it for the title, you see people get
burned out all the time because they're in it for
the wrong reason. They don't want folks coming up to
them asking them about their Social Security checks, they don't
want folks messaging them on their offices asking them about

(19:42):
an issue with their passport or or or an employment issue,
because they're in it for the wrong reason. And so
she was in it for the right reason. I think
she would navigate and use her non traditional means and
methods the way she always has. That's where I get
it from. That's who I get it from. I get
it from her.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah, And circling back to well, thank you for that
because she was always phenomenal to cover as well. Just
boundless energy. She just boundless energy. But the job fair.
And as I was saying, what an exclamation point to
put behind that this year, especially with what has taken

(20:19):
place over the past few days with the Bureau of
Labor Statistics releasing the numbers. And we always know that
whatever the national average is, which was like what four
point two, that the black average or African American that
average is going to be nearly double. And you know,
it kind of plays out that way because it's just
over seven percent, So you know, hopefully some people are

(20:41):
thinking proactively and getting down there tomorrow to meet with
you know, potential Some folks may get hired on the spot,
but we need to be mindful of that because those numbers,
even unemployment. You know, he was talking about the job's creation.
Trump was he was, you know, whining and crying about that.
But the unemployment rate continues to inch up as well,

(21:04):
which is a symbol. I would think that he's in
the process I'm about to you know, not. I don't
know if he's going to crash the economy, but he's
certainly harming it with his tariffs and instability and behavior.
So the antidote to that is it may not be
that I don't know, it may not be just the Democrats,
I don't know, it's private who else. But the antidote,

(21:27):
one of the things is what you're doing tomorrow. Of course,
it couldn't come at a better time. Any final thoughts
on what people can do, you know, the antidote of
what folks can do everyday people, Well, if you.

Speaker 3 (21:40):
Know someone who is looking for.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
Down tomorrow, mm hmm.

Speaker 5 (21:49):
From two.

Speaker 3 (21:52):
We also have free health screenings there.

Speaker 4 (21:54):
We have.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
Workshops there that will help you come up with a
resume and and help you work through things you should
do and look for when going through a job interview.
And I want people to know that this democracy, it's
a working democracy. It's not perfect. It is a collective enterprise.
I think I'm always suspicious of people running for office

(22:17):
promising to effectively rescue people on their own. No, it
takes coalition, it takes the fourth estate, it takes media,
It takes folks like you, Madame Colley, it takes like
Karen Bond and b Swift and others, And it takes activists,
and it takes other elected officials. It takes community folks
to be a part of our working democracy. There are

(22:38):
no big eyes in little youths. We need to rescue
one another in this process to get ourselves out of
this mess. And it happens by holding your elected officials accountable,
the people you put into office, their trustees and representatives
over your interests. We're not here. I'm not here to
lord or anyone to anyone's ruler or king. I'm simply

(23:02):
your representative over your taxpayer interest And a part of
the extension of what we do and our team does,
is to work with community stakeholders and employers, even in
the midst of an economic downturn, to provide resources for
you to make all of our lives better and to
build our local eego system.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yep, Congressman Carson, We're gonna drop it right there. I
know you have to get on. We had a tight
window here, but I wanted to get a couple of
questions in. But again, your annual Indianapolis Job and Resource
Fair coming up tomorrow Tuesday, August fifth, ten am until
two pm at the IVY Tech Community College Culinary and
Conference Center right there at what is it, twenty third

(23:44):
in Meridian, twenty fifth of Meridians Yep, yeah, right there, yep,
the old Stofer's Building for people that may I know,
the old Stofer's Hotel building. But yeah, I think the
frustration continues in the show that is Donald Trump and
his administration, and it's just it's not never ending. So
I what is your best advice to to your constituents

(24:07):
out there who are just frustrated beyond belief?

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yeah, you know, we're all fatigued. I mean, even the
way that you know Republicans have set the congressional schedule
for the first several months, it was non stop trying
to push his agenda through. And I think that that
was a strategy that Speaker Mike Johnson and others tried
to use. They wanted to basically fatigue members of Congress

(24:34):
and have us, have us out into the wee hours
of the morning to one, two, three, sometimes four in
the morning, and folks had to get back home or
folks had other commitments. To get people to the point
of saying, you know what, I'm tired, I want to
get out of here. I'll just vote for it. And
that's an old strategy. Even though I think it's transparent,
it still works and to get people, you know, that's

(24:55):
what That's what coach leaders and dictators do. Trump Trump's
U strategy is to fatigue you with chaos and to
run you down with so much uncertainty that you acquiesce
and just give up.

Speaker 4 (25:09):
But it's a strategy.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
This is either your Wiz or the Wizard of Oz,
someone behind the mask that that really is powerless and
is more indecisive than he presents.

Speaker 2 (25:21):
Is it possible for the United States of America to
soon become a dictatorship.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
I don't think we're operating as a dictator now. One
thing I'll give the founding fathers credit for brilliant as
they were slaveholders, they were, they were brilliant enough to
set up three but separate, equal branches of government because
they had a reference point from Europe of what it
looks like when you have a dictator in office. I

(25:49):
think he has tyrannical inclinations. I think he has a
leaning and an admiration toward diction dictators and rulers and oligarchs.
But he could never be one because they're slow descent,
even within the Republican Party. To look at Thomas Massey,
of course, Marjorie Taylor Green and others who represent basically

(26:14):
the pillars of the Maga movement. They're dissenting from him
because they have to report back to their constituents. And
some of the most ardent Maga folks are very patriotic
and they believe in small government. They don't want government
intervening in their affairs. And I think Trump's excess and
his ego is getting him into trouble, and he's showing

(26:37):
himself to be the Emperor without clothes. I one wants
to tell him that he's naked before the world and
all of his embarrassment and all of his glory and
all of his egoism. He still is declining even within
the ranks. But they're afraid to be too critical because
they don't want Trump playing in their districts commit term elections.

(26:58):
But so that's why they're trying to rapidly influence me
to these governors and general assemblies to do redistricting operations
to change their districts. But the mistakes that they've made
in the past and they may make again, is that
often they'll make these red districts purple. And with the
sentiment and growing disdain for how Congress is operating, it

(27:20):
will give an opening for Democrats, hopefully to flip many
of these districts that are solidly Republican but will lean
Democratic or at least become neutral enough to put in
Democrats to push our agenda through to really bring back
DEI initiatives, bring back our economy, and bring back stability
in the marketplace.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, well, do you think the Democrats will come together
because it seems right now there's a tug of war
between style and substance. I think everyone agrees with the substance.
I think that their varying ideas as to how to
tackle the substance, which is, you know, trump Ism. Do
you think that that will ever? Do you see that
coming together?

Speaker 6 (28:01):
Like?

Speaker 3 (28:01):
I mean, I don't. I don't think we I don't
think we have a choice. I mean, the Democratic Party
is made up of coalitions. You have from as far
left as the Democratic Socialist Progressives to moderates like New Dims,
to even blue Dogs who are very conservative. It tends
to be the the the push forward, uh, kind of

(28:23):
a one size fits all agenda. It's really coming from
the centrist wing of the party who many would argue
that the country is pretty centrist, center right or center left,
and they feel like many progresses and people on the
left their ideas are too radical. But what we're seeing
is that many people are responding to the passion and

(28:43):
fervor that's coming from the far left wing of the
party because it speaks to working class, everyday people. So
the party is going to have to answer, how can
we appeal to people even if our approach may be
more centrist, Even if our approach may be more conservative
in a way that retains our personal philosophy, but that

(29:06):
brings more people into the fold and listen there's going
to be some boats where people deviate. But I think
that the party is going to have to diversify its
strategy if we really want to win, and we can't
just keep recruiting the same kind of candidates that make
the infrastructure comfortable. We need to recruit candidates that speak

(29:28):
to working class, everyday people, and I think that's the
makeup of the country, not the makeup of the party.
Isn't necessarily reflective of the country, even though we say
that because our recruitment efforts don't show that we need
to recruit. I'd rather see us recruit brothers and sisters
more from organized labor. I'd rather see us recruit brothers

(29:50):
and sisters from Radio one, brothers and sisters from Brightwood, Hallville, Southside,
Greenwood Beach Grows north Side than some of these candidates
who I think are just Democrats.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
Well, we're gonna leave it right there. Thank you again,
Congressman for being with us. Good luck tomorrow with the
job Fair, And again, like I was saying, based on
the events this weekend, it could not come at a
better time. I mean, how how appropriate a timing that
you have here with the annual job Fair Tomorrow Tuesday,
August fifth, ten to two at the Ivy Tech Community

(30:26):
College Culinary and Conference Center. Indiana Congressman Andre Carson, thank
you so much for being with us today, and we'll
keep in touch. We'll keep in touch for sure, indeed,
thank you, thank you, and we'll be back with more
community connection right after this.

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Speaker 1 (34:36):
Let's get back to the conversation. It's Community Connection with Tinacosby,
brought to you by Child Advocates, a champion for justice,
opportunity and wellbeing for children on Praise Am thirteen ten
ninety five point one FM.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
And we're back with Community Connection. I want to thank
Congressman Andre Carson and remind everyone about his job in
resource fare. Coming up tomorrow morning from ten am until
two pm. And again the Indianapolis stations of Radio one
WTLCFN with Karen Vaughan and Hot one hundred point nine
and b Swift are both going to be there. They're

(35:14):
going to be their live broadcasting from that all important
and like I said, based on the numbers that we've
gotten that it couldn't be more appropriate time to go
ahead and have a job in resource fair. So come
on out tomorrow if you know of anybody and check
out Karen and Swift and they'll be there as well
as the Congressman I'm sure is going to be there

(35:36):
and to help everyone in the community find employment or
resources to employment. Very quickly, brother man, we were not
able to get to you because the Congressman I was
getting messages that he had to go. So but what
did you want to share? Real quickly? What'd you want
to share?

Speaker 14 (35:53):
I want to ask about the things I've been here
and on the TV and the radio, the Voting Right
Act and then again something that was said this morning
about social security.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
M Well, you know what what was said about the
Voting Rights Act and so what what what was your
question about both?

Speaker 15 (36:15):
Well?

Speaker 3 (36:15):
What is it?

Speaker 14 (36:16):
What the social security? Are they cutting it? And where
we get our pointed raise next.

Speaker 4 (36:23):
Year for.

Speaker 2 (36:26):
Okay, I'll ask about that. I have not heard anything
about social security being cut. I know Medicaid across the
board state wise, state Uh, I know that that they
took a hatchet job to that. I don't know about
social security. Other than staffing at the offices. That's the
only cuts I've heard about. But I can check it

(36:46):
out for you, brother man. I can. I can certainly
check it.

Speaker 14 (36:49):
Out, because the last time he was on there and
he said that, uh, social security was on.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
At Okay, I think it is. Yeah.

Speaker 14 (36:59):
And when you put it on a paid also take
it off.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
They can take it off well, And that was that
was the point that we were talking about. I mean,
they you know, the Democrats were playing by the rules
and the Republicans are not. And so yeah, we're always
at that risk. But for now, I haven't heard of anything.
And you know how Trump likes to blab if he's
doing something, he likes to to put it all over
the place. But I'd be happy to look into that

(37:26):
for you.

Speaker 14 (37:28):
Okay, next time you find out anything about.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
It, just put it over the radio and we write
that down. You wanted social security and uh we write
that down that way. I know I'll get it. Remember
voting rights and social security?

Speaker 5 (37:47):
Okay, you can.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
Okay, No, no, not a problem at all. All right,
Thank you, brother man. Thank you, all right, and again
I want to thank you, know, thank everyone. You know,
any job fair in this climate is good news, so
especially the ones that are coming up any minute now,
just like the wind tomorrow onward. Moving on the last

(38:11):
several days, actually the last few weeks, we have been
trying to highlight and focus on as many neighborhood and
community outreaches to help families and young people go back
to school with just about everything they need from physicals
and things of that nature. We want to tell you
about another effort that's going to be underway in another

(38:33):
couple of weeks. It's called the week Care Community Festival
Back to School Bash, and here to tell us more
about it is Minister Dave Roselle, he's the chair of
the Indianapolis Citywide Coalition on Educational Equity, and Diana Daniels,
who is the executive director of the Indiana Council on
Educating Students of Color. The week Care Festival, of course,

(38:55):
is coming up Saturday, August twenty third, So welcome to
both of you. How's our plans for the festival going
so far?

Speaker 16 (39:05):
Hello?

Speaker 2 (39:07):
Hello, yeah, hello, yeah?

Speaker 6 (39:11):
Hi?

Speaker 2 (39:11):
How are you fie?

Speaker 6 (39:13):
This is Hi?

Speaker 2 (39:15):
Hi is Daniels? How are you?

Speaker 6 (39:17):
I am fine for having a thought? I think Dave
rosevel is on at twelve.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
Yeah, Minister Roselle.

Speaker 4 (39:25):
There, yes I am okay.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
Yes, I can hear you. Now, we're a some audio
difficulties today. I guess they've got to get the bugs
out from over the weekend. I don't know, but so yeah,
I was talking about the you know, just introducing to
our listeners the week Care Community Festival back to School Bash.
So just asking and either one of you or both
of you can weigh in. How are things going so
far with the planning. I know we're still a couple

(39:49):
of weeks away, but it looks like it's going to
be another big one.

Speaker 6 (39:55):
It is, and we are looking for volunteers and we're
looking for people to thief come out on August twenty third.
And the reason that we're having the Weak Care Festival
is that I think Conson Carson really talks about that
when other people are hurt due to the laws that

(40:18):
have changed how people leaves, how they learn, and how
they survive, and the truth and security and a Wellness challenges,
TOUCH and Education, Healthcare ACCECTS, our next are really from
real hardship. And so the Weak Care Festival is a

(40:42):
united effort from local nonprofits, faith leaders and advocates who
believe their love must take action, and together we're creating
a space of joy and support and healing because we
care about our children, family and our quality of life.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
Can can you both? Yes? Can you share what your
organization is about so that folks can get a better understanding.

Speaker 4 (41:12):
Okay?

Speaker 6 (41:12):
The organization is the Indiana Council on Educating Students of
Color and we round for a long time working in
schools and after school programs and this hands out because.

Speaker 17 (41:27):
Of the uniting of the many nonprofits have come together
to actually spire that we care festival.

Speaker 6 (41:41):
We have found that part of the fact that we're
going to have a food giveaway not that day talk
more about that, but we're going to have educational workshops,
free health clinics. We're going to have three people that
are doing hair for children ages k through twelfth grade

(42:03):
and Barbaria and Barbishop.

Speaker 4 (42:07):
Guy both there. We have a.

Speaker 6 (42:12):
Festival with Rodney Scott is going to be bringing in
jazz groups, church groups and choirs will be their singing
and we're going to have face painting and a lot
of things that children will really enjoy. So it's for
the entire family. We want people to come and it's

(42:36):
basically for ZIPCO four six two one eight, but it's
open to everyone. Everyone is invited to act them.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
Do you have to register for the event? It's it's
on August twenty third, so there's still a little time
for folks to put that on the calendar. Is there
any registration or other things that are required to be
able to attend?

Speaker 4 (42:57):
Well, actually, go ahead, go ahead.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
Down.

Speaker 4 (43:01):
Well, I was gonna say that the whole event is free,
you know, so there's no charge for any of the
things that are going on. As Diana mentioned, you know,
the barbers and the beauticians. We're going to have doctors
and nurses there to do wellness and health checks, and

(43:25):
we're going to have as she mentioned, face painting. One
of the aspects of this is collecting donations from organizations
and individuals that we will give out on that day,
so food giveaway and also pampers and strollers, any other

(43:50):
items that families need to help them outside of schools
so that the children can be more successful in school.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (44:01):
Try to take some of the burden, try to take
some of the extra efforts off of families.

Speaker 6 (44:08):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (44:09):
And and and then transfer the good that we get
from that onto the children. Now, there are some things
that prior to you do need to register for it,
and that is the food giveaway. And if you go
to our website and it's it's pretty simple, it's how

(44:30):
are our children dot org? How are our children dot
org And it'll take you to the website where you
can access all the information there is to know about
the Weak Care Community Festival and on there there are

(44:51):
a couple of QR codes. One of those QR codes
UH is for the food giveaway. You signed up and
you are given a number, and so on the day
of the event, there's a be a room inside the
Family Center and you go in, you present your number

(45:14):
and then there's bag or boxes of food, canned goods,
some fresh vegetables that will be given to you. And
then there is also a QR code for those who
want to volunteer and donate. You just simply click on

(45:37):
that or scan that QR code and you can help
with set up and be a volunteer and so. And
then as you mentioned, it's free, it's free parking and
we'll have a food truck there and and I'm excited
too about the concerts that will be going on day

(46:00):
that Rodney Bryant has been so gracious in helping set
up with Greg Bacon, Amos, Isaac, who else, Tishany Moseley
just just to mention a few and we also have
a rapper there some rap music, Dead Silence will be there,
the Jeffrey Payne trio. So and this is all going

(46:23):
on all day and it's absolutely free.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
Yeah, that's fantastic. So the did you find any particular
importance this year over you know, when you've done it before,
or is the mission still this you know, a special
urgency around making sure that it's being done this year
and that I'm sure you've expanded as well, or is
this this isn't the first one though.

Speaker 4 (46:45):
Right, well, it's the first community care festival we did have.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
Yeah, I was going to say you had something.

Speaker 4 (46:53):
Else, right and right back in November last year, we
had a conference where we invited educational people and from
around the country particularly here, to come together and surrounding
a seven step plan to put together five year plants

(47:17):
R and so this is a continuation of that, but
this is the first time that we've done something on
this scale.

Speaker 2 (47:23):
Was there any particular urgency that you felt or this
was just part of the plant.

Speaker 4 (47:30):
Well, I don't want to dominate. I'm gonna let Diana
talk about that, but what I can say is this
one of the areas in the five year plan. We've
had several areas, and one of them is social factors
that impact education, and so this whole festival kind of

(47:52):
fits into that category because, like I said, there are
a lot of things that happened outside of school that
affect students performing before they even get to school. And
so those are the needs that we're trying to address
with this Weak Care Community festival. And I'd like for
Diana to speak more about that because this is really,

(48:13):
uh like some sort of a combination of things that
she's been doing in this community for years.

Speaker 6 (48:20):
Yeah, thank you to day this. I think that really
brought us to this point was looking at all of
the policies and the laws that were coming that were
affecting our families and especially our children. It was very
painful some of the finds out that the children did

(48:42):
not have fooled, So that was very very painful, very painful.
Based upon that, I just.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
Know somebody's hold on, can you hold on? Saying somebody's
phone is trying to take over the conversation is that, oh, okay,
go ahead, go ahead.

Speaker 6 (49:04):
So after finding out that this state had not signed
the takeswork to have food in the schools this summer
for the children, that was the straw them back. And
as we looked at what was happening to nonprofits and DEEI,
we looked at the wellnesses that we were facing and

(49:29):
the lots of food, just lots of things, says, wait
a minute, something's happening in the black community that we
have not had happened before. Why aren't we coming together
as families and as a team to support each other.
Our historical past has always shown that when we had

(49:49):
rough time, we've always come together to overcome whatever obstacle
it was. And so this is part of that. We're
trying to get people to understand that they're not into
this by themselves. They're not a loan.

Speaker 5 (50:07):
We care.

Speaker 6 (50:08):
We do care about what they are going through. And
so I heard this is not the first time. It
won't be the last time either that we will be
engaged in this. But the work that we've done in
the past has basically been around children and looking at
the educational attainment, our lack of us of children in

(50:30):
terms of their educational reading scores and math scores. We've
looked at educational equity in this city and found that
black children were way behind where they should have been.
We have put together different pamphlets in guide books on
action steps and solutions for educational equity. We have looked

(50:55):
at the historical injustices and education that has occurred in
this city and recently, let's pass. A year ago we
put out a book that called Courage the Black Indianapolis
Struggle for Educational Equity. And in that book that we
haven't here in the office, will gladly give them out.

Speaker 4 (51:16):
They're free.

Speaker 6 (51:17):
We have looked at the education of African Americans from
eighteen hundred clear up until today, and that injustices are
still going on. It's only it's not a big book.
It's only about seven pages, but you can read very
very quickly, but it gives you a quick overview of
Black Indianapolis struggle for educational equity. So that is one

(51:43):
of the things that we have been talking about. We
have looked at those historical injustices and come up with
a booklet and this book gives you options, it gives
you solutions for that not just African Americans, but for
the whole city to actually look at. That book is

(52:06):
also available in our office. We have looked at cultural
relevance in the schools and with materials that are being used,
how kids are being taught. We have corrective actions for
those things as well. We've also looked at the alternative

(52:26):
school choices, what pathways for dire learning, and those alternative
school choices include not just public schools, but Montessori schools,
charter schools, public funding, project based learning schools. We have
looked at that and all of those schools and come
up with what are some of the solutions that can

(52:49):
perhaps make a look at perhaps hope help our children
to make better test scores, higher test scores. We have
done a lot of research on the test scores in
this state across the state and the fact that we
had eighty two percent of black Head's children in the
state did not pass state exams. That's alarming. That's very,

(53:13):
very alarming, because we know what happens when kids are
not successful in school, they usually end up dropping out.
So we have looked at creative ways that we can
create alternative school choices. It doesn't have to be public
or charter or private. There are other school choices out there.

(53:36):
And we have looked at the trauma informed care for
underserved citizens Black communities in this city and that trauma
infarm care leads to a lot of family traumas and
how those traumas go over into the classrooms. And so

(53:57):
we have done a great lot of work. But the
festival is basically to pull all of this together and
say to the community, we care, and we have to
continue to care. What we're going through now is not
going to go away anytime soon. Does does to deal

(54:18):
with because one of the things that our past has
taught us is that we know this place. We have
been on this piece of land way before the government
was even started. But we have to know this place.
We have walked it, we've worked it, we've fought its
wars and filled its factories. We know this place. We

(54:41):
have learned it the hard way, the blooding way, the
lessons that last, and we've had a responsibility for what
we know, and we very and we also know that
we are the families of tribes, and we're the families
that have had to live through times our grandparents and
our ancestors have had to ow overcome these same kind
of things that we're facing today to overcome.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
Yeah, so well, no, yeah, with the history. Will any
of this information, even the seven page booklet or book
that you taught, Will any of this information in written
form be available at the Yeah, be available all at
the at the festival, any any of it? And you know,
like in informational packets or are you saving that for

(55:28):
another time?

Speaker 6 (55:29):
Yes, we will have three hundred copies. Oh okay, how
are our children breaking barriers? A holistic educational framework Black
students One present our educational workshop this book that will
be available to the public, and hopefully doing those workshops,
parents will be have a chance to talk about some

(55:52):
of the things inside of this. We'll also have all
the data on black students in this state, parents who
all also go to receive a parent engagement and Black
student achievements. And in the fifty years ago, we always
felt that the differences in school resources, teachers, and where

(56:15):
the school was actually located made a difference and whether
or not the child was going to be successful or not.
Since the Common Report, researchers have found that the difference
in families were more important than any other single factor
in the school that a child attended the differences in

(56:37):
the families. In today's environment, families are still the determining
factor in academic success. So the researchers have worked with
we have come up with a parent package and telling
them where to go online to look at what is
it that their kids need to know starting school, what hokills,

(57:00):
what they need to know before they actually have to
take the.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
Test, including there's some some websites that help parents as
well that are absolutely free. Uh you know, there's some
kind of homework and just scals websites that are out
there as well.

Speaker 6 (57:18):
We will have for parent packete. We want parents to
definitely be.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
Here, okay, yeah, and in fact they have to be
their parent or guardian. Somebody has to be there with
the children because they can't come on their own, right.

Speaker 6 (57:30):
No, they cannot come by themselves.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
We needs there, okay, all right.

Speaker 6 (57:35):
Again't want parents to a self responsibility.

Speaker 2 (57:37):
Yeah, well that's fair, that is absolutely fair. So so
the We Care Community Festival the details again before we
have to let you go. This sounds like it's just
going to be another awesome event and again it's an
example of our community coming together, which we so so
love to share with the listeners. So the We Care
Community Festival, can you give us the rundown again? Back

(58:00):
to School Bash is on.

Speaker 6 (58:04):
August twenty third. Are soft at around ten o'clock in
except about five. We're at the Washington Park. It's on
thirty one thirty East thirty streets, dip Co Force. It's
two one eight and we're hoping that that area will
all come out. We have sent out over two hundred

(58:26):
letters to bl businesses in that in the fourth's two
one eight.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
Fantastic, fantastic, yeah.

Speaker 6 (58:32):
So that they will all show up.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
Okay, alrighty well, Minister Bizzelle Mss Daniels, thank you both
so much for all that you do and all the
best with the with the festival, the back to school Bash,
that sounds like it's going to be a good one. Okay,
thank you, all righty, thank you, and we'll be back
with more community connection right after this. Several months have

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Speaker 1 (01:03:02):
WTOCAM W two three six c are Indianapolis, discussing the
issues that matter to you and keeping you informed with
what's happening in and around Indy. It's Community Connection with
for justice, opportunity and well being for children on Praise

(01:03:24):
AM thirteen ten ninety five point one FM.

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
And we are back with Community Connection. We were talking
at the top of the show about some free state
Fair tickets, So guess what we're going to give them
away right now, A family fort pack to the Indiana
State Fair. Don't if you want to call now. If
you want to three one seven four zero thirteen ten,
three one seven four eight zero thirteen ten, caller number seven,

(01:03:51):
we will do. Caller number seven. The seventh caller is
the winner. I was going to say six, Cameron like seven,
so we'll do seven. H Caller number seven looks like
three one seven, four eight zero thirteen ten. Three one seven,
four eight zero thirteen ten. We're going to be talking

(01:04:12):
with the doctor Eric Winston in just a few moments.
He is the founder and executive director of the Indianapolis
Black Documentary Film Festival. And I wanted to share with
you regarding documentaries. I wish I had the study with me,
but there seems to be a growing appetite here in
the United States anyway among viewers that four documentaries, docuseries, documentaries,

(01:04:39):
and it's getting larger and larger. And what doctor Eric
Winston did was to start a black documentary film festival
highlighting the black in America condition. Doesn't necessarily have to
be black filmmakers doing it, although a lot of them are,
but it does the topic of the pieces that are

(01:05:03):
there for the for the festival, that are entered into
the documentary festival, that topic has to be the black condition.
So he has been doing this for a while and
I tell you what, it's really created a lot of
great opportunities for the artists. And you know, we like

(01:05:23):
to keep talking about the arts and the artists, because
especially opportunities, because as we've said before a lot of
people feel like Indianapolis just doesn't offer enough that they
have to go to Atlanta or d C, not DC Atlanta,
New York or California to be able to fully participate
in the arts, filmmaking, and things of that nature. But

(01:05:47):
there are things that are right here. There are things
that are right here. Looks oh my goodness. Okay, we
have a caller who has won. Okay, if you're calling,
go ahead and hang up. We'll give you another opportunity
a little bit later. Go ahead and hang up. If
you are calling. We have a winner here on line four.
And it is looks like Takeisha Jones. Are you is

(01:06:07):
that right? Did I have your name right?

Speaker 18 (01:06:09):
That is correct? Thank you so much?

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
Well, thank you. Hey, everybody, we got a winner. We
got a winner. If you're listening, we have a winner. Hey,
did you get through the first time? Got in and
got in? We're number seventy years what wow, wow. So
what are you gonna do with your tickets? Who are
you gonna take with you?

Speaker 18 (01:06:30):
Well, just coming off with an anniversary tricks. I'll take
my husband and I'm a family member that's coming in town.

Speaker 2 (01:06:36):
Which anniversary? Which anniversary?

Speaker 15 (01:06:38):
Eight years?

Speaker 18 (01:06:40):
What is that?

Speaker 2 (01:06:41):
I know that five is something, one is something?

Speaker 1 (01:06:44):
Five?

Speaker 2 (01:06:45):
You know twenty five is silver and fifty year is gold?
Is there a particular substance for the eighth?

Speaker 18 (01:06:52):
I can't remember what you got past.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
The old fashioned seven year edge. So you made it
to eight? They congratulations? So yeah, do you usually go
to the fair?

Speaker 6 (01:07:03):
I do.

Speaker 18 (01:07:04):
Once we get back what we just did, we go
to the fairs right after sometime.

Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
Oh, this will be fantastic. Then this will be fun.
I love the fair. The weather could not be better
right now. It's not sweltering, it's not rainy, it's not wet.
It's just a great, great weather. So congratulations. We are
happy you listen, and we are very very happy that
you called in and won. Okay, thank you, Tina, all right,
thank you, appreciate it, and congratulations again to Takeisha Jones

(01:07:32):
and happy anniversary. She has just recently celebrated her eighth
anniversary and caps it off with the four free tickets
to the Indiana State Fair. So we could be giving
you tickets to the Udianita State fairste Stay tuned for
your next opportunity to win. As I was saying, the
Indianapolis Black Documentary Film Festival is about to get underway.

(01:07:53):
And the founder and creator, the executive director of that
entire event is with us now on the line. He
is doctor Eric Winston. Doctor Winston. How are you doing?

Speaker 5 (01:08:04):
I'm doing fine, Tina.

Speaker 4 (01:08:05):
How are you today?

Speaker 2 (01:08:05):
I'm doing well, doing well. So this is a year
number six for the book. It is yeah, congratulations, way
anniversary is all over the place. So when is this
going to be? Yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 5 (01:08:19):
We are going to kick off Friday night the fifties
at the Indianapolis Arts Center and then on the seventh
and we'll have films all day on the seventeenth, I'm sorry,
the sixteenth, and then all day seventeen, all day on
the seventeenth. On the seventeenth, we'll be at the can

(01:08:39):
Can Arts Center Art Cinema, and so we're looking forward
that we've been with them. We've been with the art,
the Indianapolis Arts Center and the can Can for the
last six years, well five years really.

Speaker 2 (01:08:51):
For those who may okay, yeah, for those who may
not be familiar with it, can you explain exactly what
the film festival is and what it addresses.

Speaker 5 (01:08:59):
Okay, The film festival is designed to bring to the
population of Indianapolis films bye Bye and about black people,
African Americans, and the African American experience. The films do
not have to be by black people. It can be

(01:09:22):
by anybody as long as it addresses the black interests.
And we've had some very very good films over the years.
We've got nineteen films this year that we're featuring, and
we start off on Friday night with a film that

(01:09:44):
is a bye. A young man that I've worked with before,
at least he's the producer of this film, and it
is called The Truth The Light of the Truth, and
it's a film about Richard Hunt, who was a well
known are sculpture and what he does is he created

(01:10:05):
a monument in honor of I. D. B. Wells, who
was the eighteenth century what you call I guess they
call it a suffragists suffragette.

Speaker 4 (01:10:20):
Yeah, suffer jetras.

Speaker 2 (01:10:22):
And hello, doctor Winston. Are you still there? Hello? Dr Winston? Huh,
we just lost our connection. Well, doctor Winston, if you are,
if you're still there, go ahead and give us a

(01:10:43):
call back. Uh, we we completely lost you. One of
the questions that I wanted to talk to doctor Winston.
Uh to speak with doctor Winston about had to do
with the Indianapolis Black Documentary Film Festival, UH being it
may have been one of the first of its kind
and just be curious to find out if it's the only,

(01:11:06):
uh one of its kind? Is doctor Winston back camera?
Do we have him back? Okay? Oh you're back?

Speaker 3 (01:11:11):
What happened?

Speaker 2 (01:11:13):
That's okay? Today is one of those days here. Yeah,
technology technologically speaking, today is one of those days here
in the in the studio one of my days too.

Speaker 10 (01:11:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:11:24):
Indeed, you were talking about the status of the festival.
I believe and we we have. We have done everything
we can to determine that this is a fact, and
I think we will say that it's a fact. We're
the only African American in UH documentary film festivals.

Speaker 2 (01:11:42):
Yes, I know you were a lot of go ahead,
We have a lot.

Speaker 5 (01:11:47):
Of film festivals, did a lot of film festivals. That's great,
But I think we're the only one who dedicated our
program to UH documentary.

Speaker 2 (01:11:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:11:57):
The thing, we don't show scripted films.

Speaker 2 (01:12:01):
Okay, yeah, exactly, just strictly the the documentary style. And
I think you were very comfortable saying that you were
the first, uh, you know, the first one with the
Indianapolis Black Documentary Film Festival. Do you still believe you're
the Do you still believe you're the only one in
the country.

Speaker 5 (01:12:19):
I think we're the first and the only one.

Speaker 2 (01:12:21):
Still the only one.

Speaker 5 (01:12:22):
I haven't seen any pop up on film Freeway, and
I've been asking around. Now there's an interesting thing. Uh,
there is now an effort to bring together all of
the Black Film Festival directors together, and so there's an
organization that's being formed out of California naturally, and so

(01:12:46):
I'll be able to verify this as we get more
into the organization and the establishment of this festival. But
it popped up two years ago, and I'm looking forward
to when they have an in person uh events, so
that I can go to it and meet the other
film for Film Film Festival directors and producers that that

(01:13:08):
are in existence.

Speaker 2 (01:13:09):
So again not the only, not the only black filmmaker event,
but the only black documentary film.

Speaker 17 (01:13:18):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:13:18):
The thing about the thing about onside, I mean country
documentaries is that documentaries tell the truth. I mean, when
you make a documentary, you really need to be telling
the truth about the whatever it is that you that
you're projecting. And so that's one of the reasons why
people should be involved in knowing about film the documentary

(01:13:44):
film festival. But they learn a lot about the history
of African Americans in this in this particular case. So
we we're very very happy that that we that we
have this festival, and I think we'd love to have
people to come out. I did want to give a

(01:14:05):
discount code if that's okay with you that if people
want to come to the festival, they use this discount code,
it'll get them five dollars off. Now I'm gonna tell
you something. We are not an expensive film festival. Our
films run ten dollars per session. So if you buy,
if you get this, if you've used this code, you're

(01:14:27):
only gonna buy get You're only gonna have to pay
five dollars to come to a session. And we're doing
that because we're really trying to improve the knowledge on
the part of in the Annapolis. If people with in
the Annapolis in the festival. Normally we wouldn't do it,
but we are gonna do it this year. And so
you get a five dollars now Friday Night is a

(01:14:48):
little bit more expensive because we're offering food. We do
have a cash bar, and we have you know, so
we're doing that in order to encourage people to attend.
And the code for the festival is I be the
FF six for the six year odd ff I b

(01:15:11):
d FF six And when you get when you get
your tickets, you will put that code in and it'll
it should Addupp deduct six dollars from your cost. Friday
night is thirty dollars because we were providing food and
other stuff and so you'll get six dollars off of that,

(01:15:32):
so that makes it twenty five dollars. But this is
a long night, not a long night. We start at
six o'clock on Friday night, and then the films are
run on Saturday and Sunday, starting at eleven o'clock through
eight o'clock at night. And on Saturday we're at the
Indianapolis Arch Center on sixty seventh Street, and then we're

(01:15:53):
at the can Can Theater on wedndessor on set on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (01:16:00):
Doctor Winston, Yeah, what I was reading, and I wish
I could remember that because I should have brought it here,
But I do that sometimes but it seems as if
they're America has a growing appetite for documentaries in general.
And you know, it was just saying that that people
tend to are watching documentaries more and more. I don't

(01:16:21):
know if it's an offshoot of the reality TV type
of things, but maybe I don't know. But how would
you explain America's growing appetite for documentaries.

Speaker 5 (01:16:32):
Well, I think that I think that part of the
reason is that people are becoming wanting to know about
things now, you know, in other words, they hear something
want to know a little bit more about it. And
I think the most important thing, Tina, is that we
have more people out here who are trying to create

(01:16:53):
documentaries about things that happened in the African American world. Now,
when I started out on this journey in Night six
years ago, there was not a lot of people doing documentaries.
I mean, I think it was you know, people have
always been doing documentary, but it wasn't the large numbers

(01:17:15):
of people that are doing documentaries as it is now.
So when I talked to people now, I talked to
the average Joe blow so to speak. They are now
doing documentaries.

Speaker 3 (01:17:30):
The other thing.

Speaker 5 (01:17:31):
The other thing is and I give this to creditor
everyone who tries to do a documentary. The quality of
the production of documentaries has shot up significantly. Oh yeah,
And I think a lot of it has to do
with the fact that we've got cameras now that do

(01:17:51):
a better job of recording the documentary of the documentaries,
and so when people watch a documentary, they don't get
turned off by you know, I won't say blurry films,
but you know, films that don't give you the kind.

Speaker 4 (01:18:08):
Of view that you would like to have.

Speaker 5 (01:18:11):
So I think that's part. I think part of it.
People are very much interested in African American life and
they want to see they want to see it in
the form of documentaries because they want to know the truth,
and God knows, we need to have the truth out
here now, considering some of the stuff that's taking place

(01:18:32):
in this world.

Speaker 2 (01:18:32):
So soneen nineteen pieces of film over the next over
three days. Is that is that correct? Nineteen o three
days over three days.

Speaker 5 (01:18:42):
And we have films that go twenty minutes on up
to an hour and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:18:52):
It's fantastic, It's fantastic. So what's the what's the website again?
To find out more? About the Black Film Festival.

Speaker 5 (01:18:58):
Okay, if you go to www. I b d f
F I b d f F Indianapolis Black Documentary Film
Festival dot com. There you will see, uh, you will find.

Speaker 2 (01:19:13):
A clique of a clique schedule.

Speaker 5 (01:19:16):
You get a schedule of the films that the description
of the films, and you will get a tab where
you can buy your tickets. Okay, and buy tickets. Tab
takes you to humanitics, who's who's our ticket seller? And uh,
and it also gives you a description of the film,

(01:19:38):
plus the costs of the films and.

Speaker 3 (01:19:40):
Someff like that.

Speaker 2 (01:19:41):
So and all of these films. Yeah, all these filmmakers
are not necessarily from Indianapolis. It's just that Indianapolis is
hosting the filmmakers from wherever they want to come, right,
and a.

Speaker 5 (01:19:52):
Lot of the film And we've got more filmmakers attending
this festival this year and we've ever had that. We've
got out of the ten, we've got maybe out of
the fifth nineteen, we've got maybe ten filmmakers that are
attending it. And I think that's great.

Speaker 2 (01:20:06):
Oh, that is fantastic. Well, much continued success, doctor Winston,
and thank you for bringing all this artistry to the
city of Indianapolis every year in the style of documentaries
about the black condition and black experience. We love it
and we thank you for sharing that with us, and
we'll be talking with you.

Speaker 5 (01:20:28):
Well, let me thank you for being a partner with
us over the years and making sure that I got
on your program to tell the citizens of Indianapolis about
this wonderful festival.

Speaker 2 (01:20:38):
All right, well, thank you again.

Speaker 22 (01:20:40):
And it was the dates again, August the fifteenth, next Friday,
now frat Friday after next through the Sunday to seventeen
out on Friday at the Indianapolis Arts Center on sixty
seventh Street.

Speaker 2 (01:20:54):
All right, doctor Eric Winston, thank you so much. You
really appreciate you. Thank you, all right, and uh again
that's uh. It's really interesting because, as he was saying,
not all of the filmmakers are from Indianapolis, and they
certainly aren't all black, but they do talk about black
life in America in their documentary. So for those who

(01:21:16):
are interested in that part of the arts, there is
another opportunity. So uh, three, one, seven, forty, zero thirteen
to ten. Ruth, go ahead, how are you hello?

Speaker 3 (01:21:28):
This is Ruth.

Speaker 2 (01:21:29):
Oh hi, how are you Ruth.

Speaker 18 (01:21:31):
I'm doing good. Me and Sydney just wanted to know.
Are you going to air your show at the State
Fair this year?

Speaker 2 (01:21:41):
Not that I know of, but if I do, I
will go ahead and announce that we haven't. We haven't
gotten anything scheduled as of yet that I know of.
That's a good question. Yeah, I don't think so, I don't.
I don't know. We we usually yeah, there, I know
our our staff is going to be out at the
the stage, Karen and Swift, Karen Vaughan and Swift are

(01:22:04):
going to be out there, uh, doing entertainment, which this
show is not. But so I know for a fact
they will be. But I that's a good that's a
good question. Let me check on that. I'll have to
check that out.

Speaker 6 (01:22:15):
We always like to see you out in the public,
especially when I saw you at the IB.

Speaker 18 (01:22:20):
It was good to see.

Speaker 2 (01:22:21):
Oh yeah, yeah, we were busy that day. Thank you, Yes,
all right, thanks, thank you? Bye bye and uh three
one seven four eight zero thirteen ten three one seven
four eight zero thirteen ten. Speaking of the State Fair,
I got I haven't seen any news coverage of it,

(01:22:42):
but I got a couple of viral videos over the
weekend of some dusk ups. Did you see any of
those videos Cameron fights at the fair?

Speaker 15 (01:22:52):
No?

Speaker 8 (01:22:53):
I didn't.

Speaker 23 (01:22:53):
Yeah, I was busy working all weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:22:56):
Yeah yeah, Well I got them and they Uh it
was disturbing. It was very disturbing regarding the Indiana State Fair. Uh,
and a group of kids. Uh, even though the State
Fair has very strict rules uh and covers it.

Speaker 15 (01:23:14):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:23:15):
Uh you know, covers the areas. Let me see what there.
In fact, I had that, I had that schedule, but uh,
it's it's still happened. It still happened. And let me
see but up up uh hmm. But anyway, it was
a group of kids that were fighting each other and uh,

(01:23:39):
they you know, had folks running and they were scared
and this and that and so uh so on and
so forth. So here we go, let me find it.
There's an article right here here we go.

Speaker 18 (01:23:53):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:23:56):
I think it's Unaccompanied Minor enforcement from the Indiana State Fair.
It says Unaccompanied minor enforcement begins at six pm on
Tuesdays through Thursdays and four pm from Friday through Sunday.
All the Indiana State fairgrounds. Safety is our highest priority,
and we want to make sure that again, this is
an enjoyable environment for families, kids of all ages, from

(01:24:19):
the young at heart to the old souls. So there
is there are some safeguards. But my understanding from again
social media was that some of these kids who were
unaccompanied were asking folks at the at the gates. I
think they were telling me they were asking folks at

(01:24:40):
the gates to if they could come in with them.
So it was real. Let me send this to you
cameraon so you can see it. It wasn't made up.
It was disturbing as all get out, because look, why
did I don't understand what it is about why kids
are It was all black kids. I'm not gonna lie.

(01:25:01):
It was all black kids. I did not see any
other kind of These were black children. And why we
have to go to such public places to air out.
I would guess that at some point it may have
been something regarding social media or what have you, but

(01:25:22):
it just should not have happened. I mean, people were scared,
they were running, babies were crying. You don't have to
go to the State Fair downtown. I mean all of
these places are so so so very public, not that
you need to go in private and act up, but
you just don't.

Speaker 23 (01:25:40):
You got to handle those situations on disagreement. Do that
in your own time, not in public places.

Speaker 2 (01:25:44):
Oh and they said it was two or three that
there were some boys that were fighting, and then there
were some girls that were fighting, and they were just
there in the middle of the midway, just going at it.
And yeah, yeah, they wanted the audience.

Speaker 23 (01:25:58):
I could just tell by the angles they want to see.

Speaker 8 (01:25:59):
How want audience.

Speaker 2 (01:26:01):
Well, whoever was videotape and wasn't interested in in, uh,
you know, slowing it down or stopping it. They wanted
to get the videotape. So and I, you know, I
don't have an as somebody sent that to me and say,
well what about I don't have an answer for that.
I don't. I you know, we have talked till we
are blue in the face to different people. We've talked

(01:26:22):
about programs, We've talked about what we need to do,
We've talked about parental involved we have talked and talked
and talked, and so now somebody has to start putting
this talk into action. Somebody has to start putting it
into action because it's going to continue the past.

Speaker 23 (01:26:35):
The age of the parenting. Part of it in my opinion,
they looked pretty much grown.

Speaker 2 (01:26:40):
I don't know, they look like mid to late teenagers
to me.

Speaker 23 (01:26:43):
Yeah, you didn't set the tone before this stage. I mean,
they are who they are at this point.

Speaker 2 (01:26:46):
But they I'm just saying, at that age, you just
don't go places and show off like that. Just oh goodness, gracious,
it's like, you know, and people gonna be looking at
us as as black people in general. K y'all, what
are y'all? They're gonna be looking at us. And I
don't know, I mean, and after school program, some mentoring, uh,

(01:27:09):
some talk to the parent, curfy, all of those things,
and then it's still busts out. So we're missing something.
We are missing something. Something's missing in the translation of
what's going on with these But anyway, I got the video.
I showed it to you can't run it. U. Well
let's go uh, let's go back to the phone lines.

(01:27:30):
I think we can get one in here before Dana.
Go ahead, How are you online? I'm doing good. I'm
doing good. How are you doing well?

Speaker 18 (01:27:39):
I just want to make a comment about Carson.

Speaker 2 (01:27:42):
Okay, I listened to the.

Speaker 18 (01:27:44):
Interview and here's here's he He is eximplovized what my
complaint is about the democratic leadership. It's a very passive
sort of attitude. You know, we have three branches of government.
Does he understand Trump runs all three? There but disconnect
that that. It's frustrating. He seems to be and again

(01:28:05):
he might be a very nice man, I'm sure, but
all this whole Corey Booker just in there doing speeches
and they don't have a plan. It's clear there is
no plan.

Speaker 2 (01:28:17):
Well there there the DNC, the DNC.

Speaker 6 (01:28:20):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:28:20):
He was saying over the weekend that there is a plan,
and the plan involves fighting fire with fire. That's why
I ask the congressman what that's going to look like?
And uh, you know, I I don't but he you know,
he didn't really reveal. But you know, Dana in part
and I'm not making excuses by any means. We want
you know, I know what you're talking about. You want
to see even though you don't have the numbers. You

(01:28:43):
want to see passion, you want to see energy. You
want to see something, you know, some kind of a
pushback as opposed to saying we're going to fight within
the system and we're you know, that's that's what people
are looking for They want to feel that their elected
officials are working for them. They want to feel that.
And I think that sometimes Democrats, not necessarily Andre Carson
or whoever, I think Democrats are missing that. I think

(01:29:05):
that they're missing that. You know, like you said, Corey
Booker standing up, and you know, he did the filibuster.
I forget how many hours, but it was well over.
He broke the record. But you know, it's a difficult.
It's a difficult, difficult situation that they're in.

Speaker 18 (01:29:24):
It's not difficult. It's not difficult. We need new leadership.
I mean, it's really not difficult.

Speaker 2 (01:29:28):
Well okay, yeah, I'm just saying for me.

Speaker 18 (01:29:31):
You say what you say for you, But for me,
as a person who is dedicated, I participate in every
election I have. I'm a Poe walk I do all
the things. But to me, our leadership is impott.

Speaker 2 (01:29:44):
Well, and that's the point.

Speaker 17 (01:29:46):
I know.

Speaker 2 (01:29:46):
I wasn't disagreeing with you. I'm not disagreeing with you, Dana.
But what I'm saying is, how do we get us
up off the couch, off the phones and to the
polls to vote and to get involved and do all
the things that you say you're doing, because that's that's
what's gonna make a difference. But we got to do
it before they cheat and change the rules, which they're

(01:30:07):
looking to do right now. They're looking to do the whole.

Speaker 18 (01:30:10):
Thing in Texas. They're they're totally rewriting the whole map
of districts so that the minority vote is broken up
in such a way that that we don't have a
force and we don't have representation.

Speaker 2 (01:30:22):
And all this stuff.

Speaker 18 (01:30:24):
And then Braun, I mean, they're not even publicly speaking
about all the nonsense.

Speaker 6 (01:30:28):
That Braun is.

Speaker 18 (01:30:29):
Don't forget Trump, look at Braun, what he's doing.

Speaker 2 (01:30:31):
Well, they're one and the same. It's one and the same,
Thank you.

Speaker 18 (01:30:35):
My point is there should be I should know every
rep out there name, every city council. I should know
everybody's name, because they're all should be in one voice
banging on us, and they are not. I don't care
about the crib fear. I don't care about no food truck.
I don't care ane of that crap. Like to me
get you gotta get your head out to get you know.

(01:30:56):
And I feel like the leadership that we have in
placed U touch humor needs to step down. How can
Jeffy like I can name the names of people who
I'm like. They may be very fine people. I am
sure that they are well intention but I believe that
they're brought and paid off by some entities that we
don't know about. Because there is a reason why they
are silent. There's a reason why they're passively complicit in

(01:31:16):
this bullsh bull excuse me that's going on. They have
to be because there's no other reason why they are
almost silent.

Speaker 2 (01:31:25):
I don't think they understand the mission. I really don't, Dana.
I mean, I don't think a lot of them understand
that you cannot beat fascism with democracy, you know, by
applying It's kind of like pouring salt on a fire.
That's the salt's not going to put that fire out.
What puts that fire out is water or a powder

(01:31:45):
or something. And I think as a whole, collectively, as
the Democratic Party has yet to figure it out about
how to fight that. You can keep you can stick
to the rules, and you can play by the rule.
You can do all of that, but that's not going
to be effective against what they're doing now. It hasn't
been so far. Maybe it will, Maybe it won't. I
don't know, but it just does. It's just it's not.

(01:32:08):
It's not playing in the same arena as far as
what most people can tell, and most people feel, it's
just not. We're not in the same arena.

Speaker 18 (01:32:16):
It is not. And I'm gonna say this one last thing.
I appreciate you's giving me my chance to say this,
but you can't fight fire with fire when you have
a you have a Supreme Court that's ron paid for
by Trump, you have the just you know, all the
judicial branch, the less they are all under his control
right now.

Speaker 2 (01:32:32):
Yeah, he's set it up that way very nicely.

Speaker 18 (01:32:36):
Yeah, he changes the rule that his whim And so
they want to say, well, you know, by law two,
section three says what are you talking about? Like, what
are you really talking about? And so I just say again,
I wish people would galvanize and recognize that our leadership
that's in place right now is not the leadership that
we need to go forward. Sometimes you got to make
a call a thing a thing. And I think, as
nice as he may be, and I'm sure he is,

(01:32:58):
I don't know that he's positioned to want to change
the rules because it benefits from the state exactly, You'll
keep getting the elected every year because people are passive.
He's a name that's understood and recognized. I don't think they.

Speaker 2 (01:33:10):
Well you're saying, you're giving the answer, don't mean interrupt,
You're giving the answer right there. People are passive. We
have got to do something for ourselves. And like you said,
if new leadership is the key or is that the ticket,
then get out there and put new leadership in place.
Don't sit there and let the same old thing happen
all the time. We got to do our part. You're
doing your part, and I love it. I can't think

(01:33:32):
of a better, you know, example of somebody out there
doing their part. But when when you have millions that
sit home and say I'm gonna sit it out or
I could care less whatever, that's where some of the
problem is going to continue if we don't get into
those into those mindsets and get that propelled. Because saying
we need new leadership is one thing, putting new leadership

(01:33:54):
in place is another. How are we going to get
the masses motivated to get up and do what they
need to do to get to the end that you're
talking about?

Speaker 13 (01:34:05):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:34:07):
Yeah, you see what I'm saying you're you're making a
great point. You're making a fantastic point. But if people
are passive, then how are we gonna get new leadership.

Speaker 18 (01:34:17):
I'm just so disappointed, and I'm like, I wish somebody
would just when they come on there, just give them
a total business, because I feel like we give them
these little we give them a they're they're not held
account to, Like, Yo, what are you really talking about?

Speaker 14 (01:34:30):
Men?

Speaker 18 (01:34:31):
What do you understand what's happening? If you want to
say it's on fire right now and you talk, you know,
I don't. I didn't get to insist from him. And
again I keep saying he might be a very nice person.
I didn't get this sins the urgency. I didn't get
the sense of this is on fire seriously, and he
just was like yeah, yeah, you know, and so we
you know, he did the little rebel rubble that politicians

(01:34:52):
do on meet the Pressed, and then he's off and
I'm like, God, did, Like you gotta be kidding me.
So that's it. I appreciate him, like, hey, you know,
but I was like, wow, this man, come on, now,
come on now. So I appreciate you, Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (01:35:08):
I appreciate you, Daniel, and we'll we'll try to have
a delay for the language there, but I apologize to
our listeners for that language Christian station here. But but yeah,
I understand, I understand, I understand, And there are few
in the party. That's why I was talking to him
about style versus substance. I think they all agree in
the Democratic Party that the substance of what they all

(01:35:32):
need to unite together to overcome, they agree on that.
They do not agree stylistically. Because there are those who
are the fire brands, from the Bernie Sanders to the
aocs uh to uh, you know, Corey Booker, somewhere in
the middle, there are you know, it's all over the place.
And yeah, it's all over the place. But folks, we

(01:35:52):
got it. We got to get up and get out
there and vote. Get out there and vote. We'll be
right back.

Speaker 1 (01:36:06):
Are you looking for a source of inspiration and uplifting content.
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(01:36:27):
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Speaker 9 (01:36:49):
True Crime Mondays on TV one, It's Fatal Attraction with
all new drama.

Speaker 2 (01:36:56):
He never saw this coming, come telling new stories.

Speaker 7 (01:37:00):
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Speaker 2 (01:37:03):
The situation that she put us in just wicked.

Speaker 9 (01:37:06):
The new episodes of Fatal Attraction will leave you speechless.
Fatal Attraction to night at nine on TV one.

Speaker 1 (01:37:17):
Let's get back to the conversation. It's Community Connection with
for justice, opportunity and well being for children on trees
Am thirteen ten ninety five point one FM.

Speaker 2 (01:37:33):
And we're back with Community Connection here now with the
Better Business Bureau of Indianapolis and always always, always good news,
good information. Well not some of the Texans, Hams and
all those aren't good, but there's always good information. Jennifer
Adam And how are you doing, Jennifer? You doing okay?

Speaker 15 (01:37:52):
I'm doing well. Yeah, give me a little chuckle there.
I'm like, I wouldn't say it's actually good news all
the time, but it's.

Speaker 2 (01:37:58):
Important for me information indeed. So where do you want
to start? Let's see text messaging, phishing scam impersonature states.
Ah that you know, there's a new show coming on
that has been advertised called the DMV. It's starting this fall.

Speaker 3 (01:38:17):
Promotions.

Speaker 2 (01:38:18):
Yeah, I've been seeing the promos. But in Indiana it's
the BMV. It's not the DMV. It's the B not
the D. So there's one clue where you're right there.
So what does this one consists of?

Speaker 15 (01:38:30):
Yeah, exactly what you said. Other states they may call
it the DMV Performent Motor Vehicles. Here we call it
the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Regardless of what you call it,
the scammers are going to be reaching out to you
if they haven't already, And this is where they're posing
as that department claiming you owe a traffic fine. You
have a final notice and that will threaten your license

(01:38:54):
being suspended. They might threaten you with prosecution. They may
even say it'll cause damage to your cre But it's
not the BMV, it's the scammer that we're here to
talk about using once again scare tactics to trick you
into clicking that link that they're texting you and so
they're getting sneaky. So some of these fake links will
even have the dot gov at the end of their

(01:39:16):
links to look more official, so dot gov. But again,
clicking on it is not going to be in your
advantage because they could lead you to sites that will
either download malwarch your device, have you put in personal
or financial information that is then sent to a cydable criminal.
So you might think there's a real ticket, but don't

(01:39:37):
trust text, especially if it comes unsplicited. You want to
contact the local to police department or go directly to
the BMD website to see if there's anything on there
before clicking on it. The scammers love to use these
urgent language to get you to act, so watch out
for those. If the area code for the phone number

(01:39:59):
is un familiar, if they're asking for any personal information,
if it just if it feels off, it probably is.

Speaker 23 (01:40:06):
I actually got one of those about a week ago.
Oh you did, yep, I can vouch for that. Like
what she exactly the way she explained it. I actually
got that text, but I just knew I didn't have
a ticket, so I did what she just said. I
went to the website to confirm. I'm like, they never
take me before saying I'm about to get suspended. So
I just had that that intuition to go check it
out and verify it kind of, you know, make sure
it was valid. But yeah, but then again it was

(01:40:28):
d MV instead of BMV, so I knew that too.
I was like, wait, man, we don't call it the
DMV here, right, Yeah, small.

Speaker 8 (01:40:34):
Little detailed, little just little details.

Speaker 23 (01:40:36):
That they almost they almost get the regular person that
didn't think twice about it. Yeah, I knew that to
click on that link though. But I did get that
text that she's talking about to that is a real thing.
I actually did get that last week.

Speaker 2 (01:40:46):
I get it about two or three times a week.

Speaker 23 (01:40:49):
I had never seen that before.

Speaker 3 (01:40:50):
It was a new one.

Speaker 23 (01:40:51):
I was like, oh, I've never seen this kind of
scan before that they trying to get fancy.

Speaker 8 (01:40:54):
I see that.

Speaker 15 (01:40:55):
Okay, Yeah, well I'm glad you stuck your intuition and
saw those right flags, and you did the right thing
by looking into it, not clicking on the link, so.

Speaker 3 (01:41:05):
Point and infiltrate it.

Speaker 2 (01:41:07):
So yeah, I don't even click. I don't even click
on the links. I just delete and report. Is that
what it is on an iPhone?

Speaker 12 (01:41:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:41:17):
And then you know, even if you do that, and
then you look at the number and you can even
block it. But if you block it, it's just kind
of like a self mutating virus. It comes back in
another form. It does, it really does. Seriously, I get
that too.

Speaker 15 (01:41:31):
One thing though, too, blocking it, not clicking on all
good things. But also report it to entities like us
A better business career because it's because the people that
reported this to us that we knew that this was
going on, getting more influx of it. So going to
BBB dot org slash scam Tracker reporting it helps us
alert the community about these things. So the more we

(01:41:55):
can see something's going on, the more we can keep
a eye on it.

Speaker 2 (01:41:59):
Exactly. So if you receive a call from Jessica at
a loan processing company, it could be a scam. Everybody's
name Jessica, aren't they you know? No, this is Jessica.
I've gotten those two, Cameron, I've gotten those two, so
not the only one.

Speaker 23 (01:42:14):
I've read some scammers named Jessica too.

Speaker 10 (01:42:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:42:17):
Yeah, I don't know why Jessica is such a yeah
popular name. I have a cousin named Jessica, but she
doesn't call. But so anyway, so how does how does
this one work?

Speaker 3 (01:42:30):
Now?

Speaker 2 (01:42:30):
This one seems like it would be a little bit
more obvious because people don't apply for loans every day.
I mean, wouldn't you think that if you're applying for
a loan and somebody says, hey, I'm getting text messages
from this this company that says, we just have a
couple of more steps, uh to complete your loan application.
Give us a call, and we can get this wrapped

(01:42:50):
up by tomorrow morning or by today or something like that,
which is just absolutely insane because there's no loan that
I've applied for or in process of getting or what
have you. But these keep circulating too, they keep popping
up and populating. I guess I should say about your
loan application.

Speaker 4 (01:43:10):
Yep.

Speaker 15 (01:43:10):
And so that's the first REDI flag right there. If
you did not apply for a loan and you're being
told that you have with just a few more steps
to complete it.

Speaker 2 (01:43:19):
Uh huh, it's going to.

Speaker 15 (01:43:20):
Be an indicator. But for some people they do have
a loan in process. And so that's why skimmers, I
like to say castle wide net to see who they
can catch, because it may not apply to you, but
it may apply to me, and I might fall for
it because I am in that situation. And so this
is where these skimmers are dialing people posing as a

(01:43:40):
loan processors, tricking you to handing over sensitive information. And
so they'll use everyday names like Jessica to leave those
urgent voicemails that sound realistic, especially today with AI, they
sound realistic. When I was out on attorney leave, I
got a flood of these voicemails, and not necessarily for

(01:44:02):
processing a personal loan, but I had one that said
we have an SBA loan that you qualify for. I
have one said we have back you have back taxes
and we have this fresh start program. And they were
just so polite and kind and the voicemail and just like,
we want to be my friend and try to help
me out with.

Speaker 6 (01:44:22):
It, and it's just a few easy steps.

Speaker 15 (01:44:23):
Don't you worry about it. And so that last scam
we're talking about where they're using scare tactics, this one
they're trying to kind of be a different approach, a
software approach to get you that way, And so they
want you to leave your name, believe in a reference number.
They say, called back quickly to take advantage of it.

(01:44:46):
But it's it's all scam. And so if someone you
don't know calls and asked for personal information like your
social Security number or they want banking information, do not
share anything because you don't know who you're given information too,
and they can go and see your identity, or they
can go and perpetuate scams posing as you or who
knows what else. So it's as professional as that voicemail

(01:45:10):
may seem. Don't call them back and said you want
to research the company, use a verified phone number. If
they're posing as a company, look up them on a website. Certainly,
like you said, the biggest, biggest bread flag. If we
didn't apply for a loan, there is no loan. So
keep that in mind too when you when you get

(01:45:30):
these calls.

Speaker 2 (01:45:31):
Yeah, and you know what, I'm like, I really liked
what you said. They cast a wide net because somebody
falls forward, or they wouldn't keep doing it. You know,
there are people that fall for it that they can
make money off of, or they wouldn't. They wouldn't keep
doing it. And you know, similar to that that traffic thing.
I want to where do they get Do they just
use a computer generated system or software that just dials

(01:45:52):
numbers at random, or do they actually get your number
from from sources reliable sources. I guess I don't know.

Speaker 15 (01:46:00):
They get a bunch of different ways. I mean, one
way is, let's say they reached out to you through
are they on the dark Web? They could have gotten
it from us putting information out there that they can
comb websites with. There's websites that have your information that
collects from different documents. This is why also when you

(01:46:21):
are giving your information to businesses, because when you're let's
say you're expecting something to be shipped to you, and
you're giving your email, you're giving your name, you're giving
your phone number, it's so important to know what privacy data.

Speaker 24 (01:46:34):
Protections that company has because they could potentially have in
disclaimers that they're going to sell it to third parties
and or they or if they get hacked.

Speaker 15 (01:46:44):
That's another way they get the information. So it's a
lot of different ways they can do it. But then
they use these auto dialers or they'll use like I said,
AI to get around the fact that we'll say, well
a lot of these scamait overseas they have foreign accents.
Well there, this is the way to kind of get
around that, to sound more like us over here in

(01:47:06):
the States by using these AI tools.

Speaker 2 (01:47:10):
Yeah, yeah, okay, I get to It's kind of interesting though,
the uh, you know, like I was buying It was
two instances where that happened to me.

Speaker 4 (01:47:21):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:47:21):
And I was buying a candle and at a candle
store and they asked for my phone number and I
said why and they said, well, we want I said no, no,
I don't need to give you my phone number. And
they said, well, how about your email address? I said no.
And another time I was picking up a food order

(01:47:42):
at a restaurant and they said, what's your what's your
phone number? And I'm like, I'm picking it up. What
do you need my phone number for? You see what
I'm saying. So I don't know what those businesses use
it for. But you don't, I mean, they say it's
so matter of factly. Uh and so really, but I
just kind of stepped back and question, I'm standing here,
you're about to hand me my order. Why do you

(01:48:03):
need my phone number or sometimes it's your email add
just what do you need that for? And they're what
the clerks are not saying or what have you unless
you ask them. They're collecting that information for the company.

Speaker 4 (01:48:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 15 (01:48:16):
More often than not, they like to collect information to
then try to continue to sell you things.

Speaker 2 (01:48:21):
Yeah, to see you.

Speaker 18 (01:48:23):
Yeah, yeah, so, I mean it's a common.

Speaker 15 (01:48:25):
Business practice and I get it. But that's where also
making sure that they're protecting your information if you decide
to give it to them, is so important. And that's
one of our standards for trust that we have our
B to B accredited businesses commit to is safeguarding people's
privacy and their data.

Speaker 2 (01:48:42):
Yeah indeed. Yeah so yeah, but if somebody does that,
and you know, if you're in a place, just don't
do it. Matter of factly, you ask them what they
would I would recommend asking them why they want it
and what they want to use it for. Yeah. So, uh,
this is one if you are shopping for and I
believe you mean, I am totally out of the loop
on this one. Is it Labba bus la boo boo

(01:49:06):
La boo boo? Ah lamba boot la boot? Well what
is that right? Okay?

Speaker 15 (01:49:14):
This one too like a Boo boo. You have a
kid or a TikTok account, you probably heard of La
Boo boo where it could be new for for most
of us. But this is where scammers are chasing trends,
and right now they're after your while using these highly
popular toys. So La Boo Boo is a collectible designer

(01:49:35):
toy made by pop Mart and that's taken off thanks
to social media heights, especially on TikTok. And so these
are little figures that are a few inches tall. They
have these oversized heads, large expressive eyes, wide brends, pointy teeth,
fuzzy looking ears to kind of resemble like a playful
monster or forge creature. And these figures come in many

(01:49:56):
different colors and seam costumes, making them highly flexible. So
I kind of think of it as like the beanie
baby of today, or even think like troll dolls back
in the day or whatever is kind of the fad
collectible trend and these quirky little figures are cute, and
they're rare, and they're high in demand, which is why
there's such perfect bait for scammers. So what's going on

(01:50:18):
is that there's fake websites and social media ads popping
up claiming to sell authentic La Boo Boo toys.

Speaker 2 (01:50:24):
Okay, Now, what's the age range for kids that like that?
Because I have a grandson. He's four, but he's into
action figures and the turtles and the DC he's in
all of that. He's not at what So what's the
age range for about a La Booboo?

Speaker 15 (01:50:43):
Probably I don't say, but probably kind of like the
early tween to early teens.

Speaker 2 (01:50:51):
Oh okay, okay, okay, So I was thinking it was younger.

Speaker 15 (01:50:57):
No, I would think probably a little more like the
middle school kind of. So they kind of look like
a little many Teletubbies to me, like with bunny ears
and or like a Furby mixed with something else. But yeah,
I mean it's it's I wouldn't say it's toddler age

(01:51:17):
kind of more. Yeah, but these scammers are are acting
like they have these collussibles on their websites. We've had
more than seven reports and counting from people who tried
to buy these toys online and we're scammed. One shopper
tried getting it for their child for their birthday and

(01:51:38):
then the site just completely disappeared out.

Speaker 18 (01:51:40):
Of the blue.

Speaker 15 (01:51:41):
Others people will get fakes of these, So this is
where you want to be careful. You know, a cute
toy isn't worth the risk if it comes with the scam,
So you want you want to avoid those unknown websites
starting with stories you trust. You want to check the reviews,
watch out for those sponsored ad traps. So this is
where if you're on social media or you're on a

(01:52:02):
search engine, sammers can easily pay for top ad spots
and search engines and social media to appear, and it
may look more legitimate that way, but also gets them
in front of more eyes again casting that white net.
So just because it's the first link doesn't mean it's
the real deal.

Speaker 2 (01:52:18):
No, that's true.

Speaker 15 (01:52:19):
The price is unbelievably low. It's probably not going to
be authentic. So I don't know how much these go for.
But let's say it's a sixty dollars collissible and they're
offering it for hundred ten dollars.

Speaker 18 (01:52:31):
To me, that's not a deal.

Speaker 2 (01:52:32):
That's a warning sign, absolutely, and you always have great
warnings for us. Jennifer, thank you so much. I really
appreciate this, and I have learned something new. I always
learned something new, but certainly Labubus. I'm going to go
online and check these outs. Folks need to be beware
your website again.

Speaker 15 (01:52:50):
BBB dot org. He calls it three one seven for
eight eight two two two.

Speaker 2 (01:52:55):
Talk to you next time. Thank you so much. Thank
you appreciate it. That's all the time we have right now.
Llemore Junior is up next. We'll be back tomorrow. Until then,
I'm Tina Cosby in this this community connection

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