Insight Pt. 2: Black Muslim Leadership Council, Institute for Community Justice, Eagle's Jason Kelce

I speak to Salima Suswell - Founder & CEO, Black Muslim Leadership Council who talks about the mission and purpose of BMLC.

blackmuslimleadership.org
@blackmuslimlead on X, Instagram and Threads
Black Muslim Leadership Council on Facebook

There is a great organization assisting with returning citizens.  I speak to Kelly Rascoe, Program Director of the Institute for Community Justice.  
www.icjphilly

Finally - There was not a dry eye in the house when Jason Kelce  announced he’s retiring from the Philadelphia Eagles. I speak with Sean Brace, Program Director and air personality for our iHeartMedia station Fox Sports the Gambler. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Good morning. You're listening to Insight, a show about empowering our community.
I'm Lorraine Ballertmorrow. This has beena rough week for Philly. In one
week, two different mass shootings.Eleven youth were shot, one killed.
Despite the fact that murders are downin Philly, that is no solace for
the victims and their families impacted.This Tuesday, from seven to eight pm,
we will stop the music and speakwith Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel.

(00:24):
We hope you'll join us. Thismorning, we speak with Kelly Rascoe,
program director for the Institute for CommunityJustice, a comprehensive prison services and re
entry program. And for all thetough news we've had to face this week,
we can't help but be inspired byone Jason Kelsey. Thank you,
Philadelphia from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for letting me represent this

(00:46):
city and allowing me into your homes. Every Sunday, I talk about that
emotional speech by Kelsey as he announcedhis retirement for the Eagles this week with
Sean Brace, program director and airpersonality from our iHeart Station and Fox the
Gambler. First Sealima Suswell, founderand CEO of the Black Muslim Leadership Council.

(01:06):
First of all, thank you somuch for joining us here today and
tell us what is your organization,the Black Muslim Leadership Council. Thank you
for having me, Lorraine. So, the Black Muslim Leadership Council is a
new national organization. It's a fiveoh one C three with also a five
oh one C four arm, whichmeans that what we will be doing is

(01:30):
nonpartisan voter turnout work, voter registration. Will also be doing civic education and
under our C four our political arm, we will be doing policy advocacy for
the unique needs of Black American communitiesas well as advocating for a ceasefire and
the resumption of aid for the palesityand people. And so we have a

(01:55):
wide array of policy issues. Wehave a domestic policy agenda and a foreign
policy agenda. They're both accessible onour website at Black Muslim Leadership dot org.
And we just wanted to fill thevoid. You know, oftentimes when
we think when folks think of theAmerican Muslim community, they are not thinking

(02:17):
of African Americans. However, AfricanAmericans who are Muslim make up the largest
percentage of American Muslims, and soI just wanted to uplift that. And
also there has been a rise.I mean, this has been an ongoing
issue over countless decades, if notlonger. Certainly is the issue of Islamophobia.

(02:38):
It seems that every time there isa situation in the Middle East,
then there isn't a spike in Islamophobia. And I wonder if we can talk
a bit about what's at stake herein terms of people being aware made aware
of Islamophobia and what we can doabout it. Well, that's a great

(02:59):
question. You know, there havebeen various mess jds that have been vandalized
since October seventh, one mass shipthat I have a relationship in South Philadelphia,
the u m M, the UnitedMuslim mass Shit and then also GMA
Masschen and West Philadelphia and the careCenter in OspA. And so what our

(03:22):
messaging is is just that you know, Islamophobia has been around. We are
seeing a rise in Islamophobia alike thetime period immediately after nine eleven when there
was a lot of Islamophobia and hatecrimes against Muslims, and so we're asking
Muslims to remain vigilant. We're alsoasking our neighbors and allies to just reach

(03:43):
out to the Muslim community. Andyou know, I'll be remissing and not
mentioning that there not only has therebeen a rise in hate crimes against Muslims
and a lot of Islamophobia, therehas also been a lot of anti Semitism,
you know, on college campuses andin the workplace and their spaces,
and so we just want to justthrough the work that we're doing with the
Black Muslim Leadership Council, it's reallyeducating folks and bring awareness to what some

(04:08):
of the issues are that are impactingour communities, how we can developing strategies
around you know, addressing those issues. And really we just want to unify
across you know, Islam and Muslims. We are one of the diverse,
most diverse religious groups, and sowe're just trying to unify amongst the community
and also you know, at aninterfaith level and just show our solidarity because

(04:31):
at this time it is definitely needed. Right, discrimination is discrimination, and
I love to hear that the organizationis aware of and addressing the issue of
discrimination regardless of where it exists.Discrimination anywhere is wrong. Now. The
Black Muslim Leadership Council, as youmentioned, is going to be doing a

(04:53):
lot of outreach for voter registration andget out the vote. What is its
stake here? Why is it soso especially important this time around for people
to exercise their right to vote.We're at a time where we're paying attention
to the administration and you know,the decisions that are being made. You
know, as relates to the wordin Israel, it is impacting most of

(05:16):
America right now, and we haveto pay attention the decisions we're making here
the impact lives in the Middle East, but also the lives of Americans and
not just American Muslims. Americans ingeneral are very much impacted by this warb
And we also want to highlight someof the domestic policy issues that are impacting
the communities that are most marginalized aswell. And so whether that be economic

(05:40):
opportunity, economic equity, education,healthcare with a specific focus on mental health
and black maternal health, affordable housing, environmental justice, voting rights, these
are all things that we are advocatingfor. We can't only pay attention to
the presidential election. We have topay attention down ballot. Our congressional members
are running for a re election aswell, and here in Pennsylvania. We

(06:01):
have senator cases that is running forreelection and so we have to pay attention
in our state House members. Sowe have to pay attention to local races
and you know, just become veryinvolved. And that's what the work of
Black Muslim Leadership Council is about,educating folks so that they have the resources
that they need to participate in theelectoral process. Right, very very important.

(06:26):
Any final words before we close.Check out our website. It has
a lot about the background of ourorganization and our policy agendas, both domestic
and foreign that can be found atBlack Muslim Leadership dot org and we are
on all social media under Black MuslimLead Selima saswell. Thank you so much,
Founder and CEO of Black Muslim LeadershipCouncil, thanks for joining us today.

(06:47):
Thank you for having me Philly Hi. I'm Council Member Isaiah Thomas,
Council Member at Large representing the entirecity of Philadelphia. Listen, we have
a hit and running overall traffic safetyproblem here in our city. We've all
seen people speeding up down a boulevard, broad Street, and other rules throughout
our city. City Council needs youto help identify where life saving speed cameras
should be placed to take the survey. Visit PHL council dot com slash Safe

(07:12):
Streets again, that's phlcouncil dot comslash Safe Streets. Thank you, and
of course job safe. How doyou like this for a mission? We
envision a world free from mass incarceration, where communities have equitable access to health,
safety, justice, and the opportunityto design their freedom. Well.

(07:34):
That is the mission for the Institutefor Community Justice, which works with Philadelphia
Fight, a comprehensive prison services andre entry program offering health linkages, supportive
services, education, and advocacy forindividuals, families, and communities impacted by
mass incarceration. Joining us right nowis Kelly Rasco, who's program director for

(08:00):
the Institute for Community Justice. Thankyou so much for joining us today.
Thank you for having me tell usabout how you fulfill your mission of providing
this equitable access to health, safety, and justice. We do it several
ways of the rine. We havethem after being released from state prisons or
phill Up County prisons or federal prisons. On release, they're referred to us

(08:24):
where they walk in because we're wellknown. We assist them with the reintegration
process, integrate backage the community,but not only them. We also assist
those who have been impacted by massprospertions. They may be the family members.
So we do it by providing referralsto job opportunities as system with getting
just identification, free telephones, freemedical services. We have four federally health

(08:48):
qualified centers, so it's a digitalliteracy. You'd be surprised of somebody who's
been a way for a stended periodof time coming back in how much the
society change, I mean the systemwith their reintegration process. That's so important.
I've known a number of juvenile liferswho've been in prison for more than

(09:11):
they were on this planet, havingbeen arrested at seventeen and spending they're forty
now, and can you imagine overthe course of that many years all the
things that have happened. You know, Facebook didn't exist, the Internet,
all those things that coming back intosociety, you're going to have to adjust

(09:31):
to this new world that's very verydifferent, very challenging. And there are
other challenges, certainly for those returningcitizens. And that is the preconceptions that
many employers have about the hiring processand so that's where what you do record
clearing, pardons process, all thosetypes of things that people really need to

(09:52):
get that fresh start. Tell usmore about the sorts of things that you
do to help clear people's criminal backgroundsthat they can go into a job opportunity
with a clean slate. We assistthe record plan process. Record clan after
removes the miscellaneous things from the record, thing that you didn't get convicted for,

(10:13):
but doesn't address the felony conviction feltingcommission. That's the partons process.
As April twenty third, we havinga record clean and job fair and it
is when you come you may notmeet the qualifications or you may have something
of a record that can't be clearedat the time. Then we assist with
the part in the process. Ifyou're elegant, the basic things, just

(10:35):
providing hope, you know, lettingknow that just get this suff removed from
you have a second chance, Youhave opportunity as a stand that you have
things are a record that will hinderyou from employment, Things that you don't
even forgot about. Things years andyears ago you mentioned something about the juvenile
life, was this is very importantand stuff you can come home and most
of your family is gone. Yeah, you have family that the transition on.

(11:00):
Friends are transition ons, you know, So we have a senior support
groups. Won't throw that in itright now. Think about a senior support
group with those those as systems,uh, with that reintegration process. The
other thing that do you offer,which I thought was really important, and
that is so many individuals who've beenincarcerated and are returning into society haven't gotten

(11:24):
the kind of mental health support thatthey certainly need, and not only to
address the issues that perhaps got themin trouble in the first place, but
also as they get back out intothe world being able to adjust to this
new reality. You provide anger management. Tell us more about that. I
think a management program is recognized bythe prints bade Water, Pation, Operation

(11:46):
and parole. Also, I meanyou have people were stipulated to do anger
management and it's a six week curriculumfor three hours each session and it was
upart completion of that they were givesus certificate pieces fit program and costs rated.
That may been your way of yourdefense mechanism. You're so angry anging

(12:09):
about the circumstances. Anger is anatural emotion, though, is how do
we deal with those feelings, Andthat's what we go through through the An
Commandment correctly, right, that's veryimportant. Certainly mental health and mental readiness
to be able to be integrated backinto society is critical. So you know,
my favorite saying is every Saint hadhas a passed and every center has

(12:30):
a future. And I truly believethat those who are returning citizens have a
future if we allow that to happenand to provide the support that is necessary
in order for people to basically reintegrateinto society. And that's what you guys
do. And you have this eventthat's coming up in April, tell us
more about that. Specifically on thetwenty three, we have the job record

(12:54):
playing event. We have had toretund that forty fourteen Wallnut Street into two
PM. We have several employers whoare second chance employers. I mean these
employees who will then give you opportunityif you do have a criminal history.
And also we're going to have arecor clan. We sought that process for
you. It's doing that could juntwith the bill up. Your lawyers for

(13:16):
Social Equity they work with us onthis head fantastic, So if people want
more information about this event that's happeningin April, tell us where they can
find out more. They can contactus at full up their Fight two one
five five two five zero four fivefour Actually that bring them directly to me,

(13:37):
or you can go on ICJ Philly. You go on the website and
you get all that information there.And we located twelve seven Chestnut Street,
stop on down. We have fromnine to five Monday through Friday. Fantastic
where you provide a lot of veryimportant support and just a big shout out
to Philadelphia Fight, one of myfavorite organizations that has been fighting for well

(14:00):
for many years, fighting for therights of those who are living with HIV
and AIDS, providing information, healthservices, all kinds of really great social
services. Just a very very excellentprogram that has really I think moved the
needle specifically when you talk about HIVand AIDS, but certainly any issue that

(14:22):
addresses those who are in need.Philadelphia Fight that is. And then of
course we have the organization that yourepresent, which is the Institute for Community
Justice. Kelly Roscoe, program directorat the Institute, thank you so much
for joining us today. Thanks somuch. I having imagine a world without
breast cancer, a world where onein eight women won't be diagnosed with breast

(14:43):
cancer. If we could raise onemore dollar, take one more step,
share one more story, think ofthe impact we could make. We might
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(15:03):
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(15:24):
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(16:08):
org slash colon cancer. Well,we had a momentous week as Jason Kelcey
announced his retirement from the Eagles.It was a very emotional day in which
he held a press conference. Hecried through most of it, and we
cried with him. Joining us rightnow, Sean Brace, program director and

(16:30):
afternoon drive host for Fox Sports TheGambler. You witnessed it. What were
your feelings? You nailed it is. It was emotional and you knew it
was going to be. Lorraine,First of all, thank you for having
me, especially to talk about thistopic, this subject, like Jason Kelcey,
just a tremendous player and all aroundgreat dude. Right, just to

(16:51):
keep it real, Yeah, forthat's for the speech to happen. This
is two years in a row nowthat he came back in a one year
deal, so you have the vibethat it was coming to an end,
and an almost selfishly, Lorraine,I wanted it to come to an end
because of how great of a playingcareer he had, and I know he

(17:11):
probably had another great year left inhim, but man, that's a really
taxing profession, right to go inthere and battle, and it's got to
be exhausting, and he's got somuch to look forward to post career that
it excites me. And I gotgoosebumps just talking about him right now.
But it was emotional. I thinkhe nailed it there. Yeah, fantastic.

(17:32):
You know, he has had anextraordinary career. He didn't always start
out quite as storied as he became. His career started on the kind of
on the low side, and hecredited one of his coaches for helping raise
the quality of his play. Tellus more about his evolution as a player,

(17:52):
Well, he was originally I believehe was a skill position player in
high school. So then when hewent to Sense Natty. You know,
of course, the times are alittle bit harder to stick out a lot
more as far as the pool isconcerned with skilled players, guys that are
a little bit more athletics, soon and so forth. So he got
pushed to the offensive line. Eventhen he wasn't a center, which is

(18:14):
what he played. And he's goingto be a first ballot Hall of Famer,
I assume first ballot. Definitely Hallof Famer in five years book that.
But he didn't even start as acenter. It wasn't until his senior
year at Cincinnati that he slid overfrom I believe guard over to center position.
And he credited one of the coachesat Cincinnati that you know, was
able to make him believe that,hey, you really could have a professional

(18:37):
career at that position. And eventhen it's so tough. You know,
the amount of players that go fromhigh school to get the scholarship to play
in college and then to go onto get drafted, it's literally like one
percent. And when you're a sixthround pick, as Jason Kelsey was,
those guys don't make any rosters.Especially year two. You might get that

(18:59):
first first year push because they spentthe draft capital to get you. But
bottom line is his story just doesnot happen. He's undersized, he is
athletic, and that's why he wasable to make what happened. But to
your point about the coaches, Ilove that. And the retirement speech went
on for about fifty minutes and hesaid he probably forgot a few coaches and

(19:21):
players, but you knew the coachesthat stood out to him. And he
referenced to not personal trainers, butstrengthen conditioning coaches excuse me at Cincinnati that
had their ways with words with themto the point of like work ethic,
and of course changing the way heviewed himself as a football player on the
offensive line. And then of courseto the Eagles organization where he played under

(19:41):
four head coaches. With the PhiladelphiaEagles, he talked about the offensive line
coach. And it's just a heckof a story from start to of course
finish. You know, as theweek has gone on, more stories about
the quality of this man keep comingout. First of he did something very

(20:02):
and now I am not a sportspersonand I don't know what these people do
or why they do it, butthere was an individual that was mentioned that
taped his ankle I think before hecame onto the press conference, and that
gesture meant a lot and said alot. Could you tell us a little
more about that. I would loveto, because you're absolutely right. The

(20:25):
story, the legend continues to grow. And I didn't know about this,
and I don't think many people did. I have some friends that are inside
the organization, and even then theydidn't even know. But there was a
gentleman and I'm going to dig uphis name right now, but he was
a Philadelphia Eagles trainer for I thinkfifteen sixteen seasons now, which is the
full time that Jason Kelce was there. Jason Kelsey ended up getting hurt like

(20:47):
year two, and this guy toldthe head of the medical staff that,
hey, look this is a differentguy because of the athleticism that he possesses.
I want to work with them specificallybecause I have a vision. They
believed in it. Jason and thistrainer developed chemistry and he taped them up
his ankles, his thumbs, hishands, every day, every practice,

(21:07):
every game for thirteen seasons while Kelseywas there with the Eagles. Uh,
nobody knew this, but that trainergot cancer, had to go through chemotherapy
and missed the final game against theTampa Bay Bucks, which I think we
all wish we missed. But bottomline is he was the trainer for Kelsey
all those years, taped them upand was unable to do that. I

(21:29):
guess he voiced his regret about thatto Jason, and Jason said, well,
why don't you tape me up onemore time before the retirement speak trying
now I'm getting teary eyed, Imean, oh my god. And he
came out and with that story ofthe trainer, and we can't thank him
enough for putting his name out there, because you know, that's something that
you know, there's very personal trainer. Joe O on Instagram is his name,

(21:51):
so yeah, yeah, and there, you know, there's so many
people that we don't know about therein the back room and doing all the
behind the scenes stuff. And itseems as though Jason Kelcey that was just
such a sweet gesture. He cameout in flip flops, he wore a
jersey that was sleeveless, and theyexplained why later on why he wore that

(22:12):
particular kind of ready jersey because thatwas something he used to work out in
that's him. That's him to atea, and not to go into too
many details. This might be alittle Tami. He is a guy that
doesn't wear drawers, he doesn't wearunderwear, so he is a very Russell
Athletics sweatpants, flip flops and sleevelessT shirt as you pointed out, and

(22:36):
that was him walking up. Ithought that the retirement speech was really like
poetic at times and had some NFLfilms vibes to it. The Inquirer had
a nice write up where they dugdeep into some of the descriptions and some
of the references, and of courseall the players and coaches that were mentioned,
really cool stuff, and just thefamily and his brother Travis, which

(22:59):
is a true brotherly bond. Andyou just saw how emotional it was.
And Travis walked in with sunglasses rightinto the novercare complex. And of course
now he's dating Taylor Swift, soeveryone's like lugat this guy who were in
sunglasses indoors. It's because he wasabout to ball his eyes out there.
Yeah, his brother was calling ita career and it was so emotional for
him. They just did their podcastNew Heights and they choked up talking about

(23:22):
it then. And I don't knowif it was recorded. I know he
was recorded afterwards, don't know when. But it's real. That bond is
real. Nothing better than brotherly loveand nothing better to have that happen here
in Philadelphia, even though he wasn'tborn in Philadelphia. Jason Kelcey is Philadelphia
in so many ways, isn't he? Oh? Absolutely he is. He's
the underdog, He's the ultimate underdog. And Lorrain and I know it comes

(23:45):
down to whether you win or losein this city, and that's that's the
bottom line. It's really easy,black and white. But there are certain
players that we gravitate towards and it'seasy to do so when they're like Jason
kelce Now, there's plenty of otherathletes to have us have our attention and
pull us in, but Kelsey wasat the top of the list. And
of course, when you win aSuper Bowl first time in franchise history and

(24:07):
then make the speech that he didat the Art Museum steps we were there,
that's it a bunch of under dogs. And you know what under dogs
is, it's a hungry doll.And Jeff Stalin has had this in our
building for five years. It's aquote in the old line room that has
stood on the wall for the lastfive years. Hungry dolls run fast.

(24:30):
And that's just say we wanted itmore. All the players, all the
coaches, that's all you know fromthere. It's just gravy on top.
Yes's amazing to be able to followit as an Eagles fan. Absolutely.
Plus, he's a Mummer and Iremember seeing him in his Mummer costume,
the one that he wore at thatthat great iconic speech. But he wore

(24:53):
that same costume and played I thinka saxophone. I'm not sure. I
think it was on was it SouthStreet? Yes, they had a parade.
You know. I forgot about this, Yeah, which I went out.
You know, be honest, Iam not a sports fan. I
mean, I'm one of those fairweather fans. You know. I'll really
get into it when we're winning,and I sort of don't pay attention when

(25:14):
we're not. But something about himinspired me to come out just to watch
him play in his costume for theMummers. And it was. It was
spectacular, it was it was prettygreat. He's apparently planning to stick around
right that is the hope he willbe able to do whatever he wants post
career. It's been reported at Amazon, NBC, CBS, Fox, ESPN,

(25:40):
all the networks have reached out tohim, and there's no doubt about
that. What he's able to bringis from his professional career everything post with
of course now his new podcasts andeverything with Travis and Taylor and whatever.
But he's going to blank check andwho's ever got the biggest pockets? And
I would imagine to fit for himbecause he is a real dude. But

(26:00):
I would love for the Eagles tokeep him involved, whether it's preseason games.
I think that would be tremendous.He's going to be an Eagle for
life. They'll probably hang his jerseyup in the next season or two,
and if it's not this year,then it's a little bit too late for
my liking. But I'm sure they'llget that. Right. What's your last
word on Jason Kelcey? Oh Man? They don't make him like that quite

(26:22):
often, right, you know?And like I said, bottom line is
he was an underdog. He wasdrafted by Andy Reid, made it through
the Chip Kelly era, made itthrough Doug Peterson. Still here with of
course, Sirianni and just a trueeagle and absolutely on everybody's Mount Rushmore.
As far as philadelph Eagles are concerned. Absolutely, even talking about him,

(26:45):
I'm starting to tear up. Loveit. Jason Kelcey. We love you.
He's an Eagle forever and that wassuch an a memorable speech that he
gave a retirement speech. But hopefullyhe'll be around for a very long time.
Sean Brace, program director, afternoondrive host for Fun Sports to Gambler,
thank you absolutely anytime, Lorraine,my parents would tell me, Jason,

(27:07):
you can do. You can beanything in this world you want to,
as long as you put your mindto it and work hard to achieve
it. So whenever I was facedwith doubt in my career, be it
from fans, from coaches, evenfrom my own teammates, the American dream
would burn from deep inside my bones, which leads to my last Jeff Stoutland

(27:37):
quote, hungry dogs Run fast.Thank you, Philadelphia. Thank you Philadelphia,

(28:00):
from the bottom of my heart.Thank you for letting me represent this
city and allowing me into your homes. Every Sunday, you can listen to
all of today's interviews by going toour station, website and typing in Keyword
community. You can also listen onthe iHeartRadio app Keyword Lorraine with one R.

(28:22):
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram atLorraine Ballard. I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrow
and I stand for service to ourcommunity and media that empowers. What will
you stand for? You've been listeningto Insight and thank you