July 21, 2025 • 59 mins
Episode Notes My guests include the Honorable Mayor Jaylen Smith of Earle, Arkansas. He was elected in 2022 at the age of 18 making him the youngest elected official in the country. I ask him how he’s grown along with the city and if he has any future political aspirations. Next, if you are of a certain age and were born and raised in the south you were familiar with Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation. Raka Nandi, Director of Exhibits & Collections at MoSH joins me to talk about their newest exhibit, Overcoming Hateful Things and why it’s important to remember history and teach it to the next generation. Finally, last week, the city of Memphis held a special ceremony to salute and honor the work of area nonprofits with $6.5 million dollars in grant awards. One of those organizations is Hope House Memphis who received $1.3 million dollars. Their mission is to improve the quality of life for individuals and families affected by HIV and poverty. Melissa Farrar, COO, joins me to share what this will mean as they continue to build on their efforts in a greater way. That and more on air and online Monday, 6 pm on 91.7 WYXR. Also, the WYXR app, Tunein, Facebook Live, YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. It’s time to talk!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
That's what rill charge houses of the test. Main it's
real cough with your main chip washing it. When it
comes to information, the main guy an aust bring you
up to speed what you need.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
He's a local and na should white hue feed and
it's told about it whole dita.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
They can do something about it. And ship's got to
throw wide open. And you got questions about it. It's main.
It's to show that brings into.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Your row to solve all problems.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's talk, real talk, real talk. It's real. It's real talk.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
It's real talk.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It's real talk. It's thrill, it's real talk.
Speaker 5 (00:34):
It's real coal.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
It's free, it's real. It's real talk. It's real toe.
It's real talk.
Speaker 5 (00:42):
It's real.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
It's real talk. It's real talk. Jail, Welcome to real
tell your real host chim watching him biting you like it.
It's real talks, real talk, it's real talk.
Speaker 6 (01:18):
And here we go, here we go on this very
hot Monday afternoon. It is the twenty first day of
July twenty twenty five, six o'clock straight up, which means
it is time for real talk Memphis. I am your
humble host. My name is Chip Washington. If you happen
to be watching on Facebook Live and you see a
bit of a different look on one of our cameras
is out, so we're using another one. I'm waving at
(01:40):
you right now out there people in social media, man.
But in any event, it's great to be here tonight. Man.
You know, we've been warned, We've been told, and yeah,
the extreme heat is here. We are under an extreme
heat warning, which means heat indsease can be anywhere from
one hundred five to one hundred and ten degrees. If
(02:03):
it gets any higher than that, we're even greater trouble.
So obviously the hot weather rules apply. I think it's
about ninety four to ninety five now, the heat in
decks of one o seven. Yeah, bit toasty. Uh, So
limiture outdoor activity if you can limit your outdoor activity,
uh and try to stay out of the hot zones anytime,
(02:25):
you know, during the hours it was like ten am
to three pm, four pm. This this The extreme heat
warning goes till about eleven o'clock tonight, and I'm pretty
sure it'll be extended every day this week because we're
looking at highs in the mid to upper nineties for
the remainder of the week and very very slim chances
(02:48):
of rain to that as well. I heard a weathercaster
stay before I left the house. He said, it's gonna
be like this for the foreseeable future, right even right
through the entire month of July. And we hadn't got
to August yet, So yeah, just prepare for that. The
cooling centers are open at the Hospitality Hub. If you
(03:09):
need to go someplace to get cool, please do so.
Give them a call. And there on Washington Street, give
them a call. Go down there and get out of
this extreme extreme heat, because it doesn't take long in
heat like this to cause major health problems matter how
healthy you think you are. Okay, so let us let
(03:30):
us watch that. Please please, please, ma'am, please sir. As
far as the show is concerned, tonight, I think we
have a pretty good one.
Speaker 7 (03:38):
You know.
Speaker 6 (03:38):
I'm always hopeful and when we get started on these
things and then we're hopeful that you enjoy it as well. Look,
sit back, relax and chill out wherever you are. If
you're someplace cool, if you're inside and you're someplace cool,
you need to stick around and stay there. And if
you found us, stay with us for the next hour
till seven o'clock. We have a great conversation, we have
great guests, and of course again you can sit back,
(04:01):
relax and stay cool. As far as how to get
this fine piece of radio broadcasting, well you can do
that in a number of ways. Right now, we're broadcasting
live on ninety one point seven wyx R on your
FM dial. You can also find us on the wyx
R app. We're available on the tune in app you can.
(04:22):
We're live streaming the show tonight. We're on Facebook Live,
so you can check us out there if you choose
to do so. And when the show posts in a
day or two, you can't find us at of course
we're on YouTube. They post a show to YouTube, and
then we're a podcast, so you can always find this
(04:43):
show after a post wherever it is you get your podcasts.
So there you go. Plenty of ways to find This
is a great show, and we hope that you take
advantage of one, two, or three of them. As far
as our guests, the lineup concerns this evening, I am
going to be speaking in a couple of minutes to
(05:03):
the mayor of Earl, Arkansas. His name is Jalen Smith,
and he back in twenty twenty two, was elected mayor
of Earl, Arkansas, at the ripe old age of eighteen.
He was the youngest mayor elected in this country's history
(05:24):
back then. He is now the ripe old age of
twenty one and in his third year as the mayor
of that community over in Arkansas. We're going to talk
to him a little bit about how it's been. He
does have some ordinances that he's putting out because his city,
like a lot of other cities, and the one that
(05:45):
we live in in particular, dealing with blight issues, you know,
trash issues and things like that. So he's on the
march dealing with that particular situation as well. And I
believe he's got some political aspirations beyond being the mayor
of Earl. So we'll talk to him about that in
just a couple of minutes. A little bit later on.
(06:05):
For those of you Native Memphians who are of a
certain age, you probably remember something called Jim Crow the
Jim Crow laws that were handed down in the southern
part of the United States in reference to segregation. There
were segregation issues, Jim Crow laws. Many of you have
(06:28):
heard that expression before, but may not know exactly what
all would it all entail, especially younger folks. Well, I'm
going to have a guest of this evening, Raka Nandi.
She is the director of Exhibits and Collections at the
Museum of Science and History better known as MASH really
(06:51):
better known as the Pink Palace. They have an exhibit
there right now called Overcoming Hateful Things, and that's very
propos if you're talking about Jim Crow. So we're going
to talk a little bit about that, why they have
that exhibit and what they hoped to expose the public
to in reference to days gone by versus days that
(07:13):
we're living in now. And a little bit later on,
we're going to be speaking with Melissa Farrar. Last week,
the city of Memphis has a ceremony to award many
nonprofit organizations with monies for the great works that they
are doing in our community. One of those organizations is
the Hope House Hope House of Memphis, and we are
(07:34):
going to talk with them. They received two grants for
a total of one point three million dollars and that's
a lot of money. We'll find out what they plan
on doing with all of that as they continue to
try to improve the life of people here in Memphis.
All of that coming up a little bit later in
just a few minutes. But first things first, July is
(07:54):
the big month for birthdays, and we have quite a
few birthdays on the slate today, So said, we get
to it by me saying hit it.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Brent, Welcome to another day.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Blues is the amazement.
Speaker 6 (08:07):
Oh goodness, let's go on that birthday's Happy birthday, every
birthday going out to the following folcus. Anita Williams celebrated today.
Happy birthday, Jody Callahan, I know him. Let me tell
jas's birthday to day. Mia wats Dotson, Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday, Steve Williams, Latanya Wels Salton Pastor Frankie Ray
(08:30):
Senior celebrating his birthday today. Happy birthday to Anita Payne Williams,
Sean Jones, Major Curry, longtime friend of mine, Mark Allen,
what are you take?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Gay?
Speaker 6 (08:44):
As we call him, His birthday is today and tomorrow.
And we have a birthday for someone that we're very
familiar with here at w Wysau. So I say, I
thought I did it in tonight. Our boss, our big man,
our general manager, Robbie Grant celebrating his birthday on tomorrow.
(09:04):
Happy birthday, Boss, and happy birthday and each and every
one of you celebrating today. I hope it's been a
day filled with fun and laughter and from all of
us here Bill Talk Memphis the Giant celebrating and we
hope to be with you next year for your next
year around us. Son, Thanks Brent. Some very sad news
came across I'm sure many of you have heard by
(09:28):
now in terms of of a loss today, Malcolm Jamal Warner,
Michael Jamal Warner died unfortunately over the weekend. He was
the accidental drowning. He was on vacation with his family
in Costa Rica and apparently got swept up by one
(09:48):
of the waves. Malcolm Jamal Warner, of course, is well
known for theo Huxtable from The Cosby Show. You remember
that show back in the back in the day. He
also went on to starr in a several other series.
The last one I can remember him being in was
The Resident he played there. He played on that show
for a couple of years as well. Just just a
(10:10):
fine young man. So many tributes pouring in with the
news today. He was only fifty four years of age,
and it's just it's just said, you never know when
the Lord is going to it's going to take take
us out of here. We just never know. So we
need to try to live our life with purpose and
(10:33):
with a desire to reach out past ourselves to help
other folks, which is from what I'm to understand, that's
the kind of man he was. So Malcolm Jamal Warner
gone at the age of fifty four made your memory
always be a blessing. A quick look at news and
notes on this Monday evening. Let's see, Yeah, a trial
(10:54):
date has been set in the federal trial of County
Commissioner Edmund Ford Junior. It's set for January of next year.
He was charged with briberies you can remember in tax
evasion for alleged grant kickback schemes. So again he went
to federal court this morning they set a date. The
(11:15):
trial begins in January of twenty twenty six. The County
Commission is going to take up the matter of looking
into moving the election cycle of the Memphison Shelby County
School Board to the normal cycle of county elections, which
by the way, comes up next year. They are looking
(11:37):
at moving that up. So what that does now is
put everybody under the same cycle. And they also in
their discussions, want to see if they could limit the
terms for school board members to two terms only. Like
everybody else, one would think that this might be something
(11:57):
that you would put on the ballot as a referendu
them for the people to decide, But apparently the school
board I mean, but the kind of commission is deciding
this on their own and they're going to start discussions
on Wednesday, and they could have a vote on this
as soon as the following Monday, so we'll have to
stay tuned to that. Now, what does that do to
(12:18):
the four individuals who were elected to the board last
year in twenty twenty four, Well, that means that basically
their term would be cut in half from twenty four
to twenty six. That's two years instead of four years.
So we'll have to watch this very carefully and see
how all of this plays out. And a lot of
folks are talking about the tragedy that happened over the
(12:40):
weekend as an old miss freshman was killed and he
was shot along with four other individuals at a home
or outside of home in Cordova that happened Saturday night.
Eighteen year old Corey Adams of New Orleans was found
and was pronounced dead at the scene. There was a
(13:03):
press conference this afternoon with the Chevy County Sheriff's office
and the young man's mother, who was a very distraught.
Sheriff Officials said that they found over forty fourth zero
shellcasings at that scene. Five people shot, one person dead,
(13:23):
and they're saying that this is going to be a
priority one a homicide. It seems to me that anybody
who has lost their life at the hands of another
human being in a tragic way all should be priorly
one murders and things to solve. But again, a very
(13:43):
very tragic set of circumstances that happened over the weekend
of this young man just graduated high school a few
months ago. He was going to Old miss to play football.
And yes, it's a tragic set of circumstances. So we
pray for his family and all those that knew him,
and we hope that they solve this crime relatively soon.
(14:06):
All Right, that's a look at the news and notes.
We are going to put that away and we're going
to get ready to get into our broadcast here this evening,
Let's take a break. How about it. You can take
a break to get yourself something cool to drink and
relax and take it easy because Real Talk Memphis is
just getting underway. I'm Chip, you know who you are.
Let's take a quick one. We'll be right back.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
If you like real Talk, here's the way you can
get involved. Do you have a show topic, idea or
a suggestion. Want to be considered a guest or have
a guest idea? Then send Chip a message on his
Real Talk show page and you can be a part
of the Real Talk experience. So as he always says,
go out and tell somebody, We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
It's it's real, It's.
Speaker 8 (15:08):
Support for w YXR comes from IRAM Memphis, dedicated to
advancing the knowledge and professionalism of real estate managers through education, networking,
and advocacy. More information at iramdash Memphis dot org.
Speaker 9 (15:26):
Support for WYXR comes from the Metal Museum. On the
last Thursday of each month May through September, the museum
hosts their free after hours event wet Thursdays, featuring metal smithing, demonstrations, exhibitions,
food and drink trucks and music from local bands and DJs.
More information can be found at Metal Museum dot org.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Get Real Talk on the tune in mobile app under
w YXR. And he's now streaming live on Facebook and
you can also catch a rebroadcast on YouTube. Just put
w yxar in the search box and his subscribe. Now
back to more real Talk with Jip Washington's Re's real.
Speaker 10 (16:21):
It's real.
Speaker 6 (16:22):
It's It's real, And welcome back to real Talk memphers
on this Monday evening. Ship with you and very very
happy to have our first guest with us this evening.
This young man was I guess you could say he
was one of a kind back in twenty twenty two
(16:42):
when he decided that he was going to run to
be the mayor of Earl, Arkansas. He was at the
ripe old age of eighteen when that happened and he
was elected, don't you know. And he is the current
mayor of Earl, Arkansas. He is Mayor Jalen Smith and
and and Mayor Smith. It is great to have you
(17:03):
on the show. A lot of folks are very interested
that you were coming on tonight. It's good to see you.
Thanks for coming.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yes, sir, thank you bringing for the opportunity to do
back home and to be on to enjoy it to
have this conversation with you all.
Speaker 6 (17:16):
Well, thank you, sir. I appreciate that now you know
you were I think you at the time when you
were elected to your office, you were the youngest mayor
to be elected in this country's history. Am I correcting
that that's correct? And you were eight You were all
of eighteen years old that at that point in time.
Speaker 10 (17:33):
Right, yes, I was eighteen years sir.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
Okay, So tell me first and foremost, obviously you're you're
an Earl Arkansas native. What was the deciding factor in
you deciding that, Hey, this is something that I want
to be a part. I want to run and I
want to have something to do with the development of
my city. Why did you decide to run?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Well, the reason why I decided to run for offer
was number one because when people came back home for
homecoming and different events that we have in the city,
and I would say, why does my community look like
it looks? And I always would tell them the reason
the community looked the way it looked because no one
had came back and investing within our community and so
(18:16):
I believe that that was my cue to getting to
run for office, to make a difference in Earl, in
my community, and not only but also to show other
young folks that it's great to start at home, to
be great and expand to be even greater somewhere else.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
So now you have been in office now for three years,
I believe, and you're at the ripe old age of
twenty one? Am I correcting that that's correct? Okay? So
in the three years that you have led this city,
what do you think your greatest accomplishment to this point
has been.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Well, my greatest comfortent, I could say, is number one,
bringing the community together, delivering for the the citizens of Earl,
and continue to work hard and serve them in the
capacity to number one, bring our city back from forty
years ago to the twenty fifth century, to show them
that we are more than people seats, or we are
(19:15):
more than a community of people visualize us. It is
because a lot of people visually like Earl as a
small town. Of course, we're a small town of two populations.
But once point in time back going when the cities
was established in March twenty fifth of nineteen oh five,
of the seat of Earl was the first largest city
in Cretney County, Arkansas. Now it was the third largest.
(19:35):
So we want to get back number one to the top.
But it looks tip us back to the top. But
we're working together with the leaders, local leaders, county leaders,
and state officials and federal partners to get our city
back on top.
Speaker 6 (19:48):
You mentioned that you know one of the goals was
for people to not only take you seriously, but take
your plan to move Earl forward. Have people? Have people
taken you seriously in reference to the fact that you
are the mayor of this city despite your chronological age, Well.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Now they are because guess what we're delivering for our
constituents here in Earl.
Speaker 10 (20:18):
But when I first took off as they did not.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
But now they're taking me more seriously because they know, hey,
I may be young and a team a guess what
I can deliver and make sure that our community members
see the results and things they want to see When
I ran my campaign. When I ran my campaign, I
ran on public safety, economic development, infrastructure, education, also supporting
small businesses. In my time, well, I said in my
(20:40):
tenure being the mayor, we have brought in a grocery store.
D G Market was the first built in this area,
in this region of Crickney County. Matter of fact, in Arkansas,
the dential part of Arkansas. Number one two, we made
a critical investment in our public safety with investment in equipment, vehicles,
so putting more officers on the street.
Speaker 10 (21:01):
And only that we made significant investments in our public
works department with bringing.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
New equipment so that we can cut and maintain grass
and do different things for people, so that we can
so that we can cash also our community that we
have the equipment to get there and cut and make
a difference in our public worse department, and now only
our public works over made a critical partnership with an
investment with the counting to get over a half a
million dollars and our sewer pump stations to replace every
(21:31):
one of them that have to have been replacing over
forty years in this community.
Speaker 10 (21:36):
And so we work into again to deliver the results
to our consistence here in the C word.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
One of the things that I have seen lately in
reference to you is you have your community has the
same problem that a lot of other communities have out here,
which is blank, which is trash and things like that.
Memphis has that problem. They talk about it all the
time around here. I noticed that you are creating some
(22:02):
ordinances in reference to that. Talk a little bit about
how big a problem that might be for you gall
out there and what you're trying to do about it.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Well, number, it's been a major problem, and those ordinances
have been on the books actually for Old the last
forty some years or thirty some years. But my administration
is enforcing those ordinances so though that we can get
our community back into.
Speaker 10 (22:22):
Compliance this year.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
By the fact, going back to twenty twenty three, I
saw the entire city letters about blight and property. Now
in twenty twenty five, we're keeping that promise. We're holding
up residents accountable. We're holding property owners accountable for their nuisance,
for their abandoned property, high grass, We're holding those people
are accountable because the only thing wrong with Earl, Arkansas
(22:46):
is black And so as the mayor, I'm taking the
city by force and forcing those ordinances to show the
consistence of Earl. We can get back into compliance, we
can be the most brutiful city that we want to be.
Speaker 10 (22:58):
So but firstly, but first we have to enforce ordinances.
We have to enforce the policy.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
We have to enforce laws that we have to hold
these property owners accountable for the blight and nooses. They
have to go around our city and some of some
of some people, some of the people that have biting
and the noises are some of our council members. But
we're getting out of that because if we wanted to enforce,
we have to start with ourselves first. But we're really
trying to enforce the ordinances that we had have been
(23:24):
had on a book for years to really get our community.
Speaker 10 (23:27):
Back on top.
Speaker 6 (23:29):
In the three years that you have led this uh
this the city of her Are you a city or
your town? I just want to make sure you're a city, right? Correct? Okay?
Speaker 11 (23:38):
Uh uh?
Speaker 6 (23:40):
What do you think, uh? Some of the biggest lessons
you have learned if you had to, if you had
to reflect back from the beginning to where you are now,
what are some of the lessons that you've learned?
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Well, I would say some of the lessons I've learned
on this journey is number one as far as patients.
When I first took this office, I wanted to get
in here and change everything, change the entire city.
Speaker 10 (24:04):
But when you get in the position, you really can't
change everything like you thought you could.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
And so I learned that lesson because that was a
vital lesson to me because I can explain to my
other colleagues that when we're trying to drive change, change
can't happen with the flip of a switch or a
blink of an eye. And so that was a lesson
I had to learn the hard way. And the second
lesson I have to learn is that as being a
(24:30):
leader in office, that you have to do what's called
here and don't hear because everybody don't want to try.
Speaker 10 (24:36):
To give you advice.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Everybody want to everybody want to tell you what to do,
and everybody want to tell you what direction to go in.
But if you look back over what they've done, you
look like, well, you have not done it. So how
can you God be if you have not done which?
And I've done things when you was in the position
that you were in or in a in a setting
that you were in. So I have to learn that
lesson because I tried to get all the wisdom and
(24:59):
all the knowledge, but I could not allow everyone to
give me the knowledge and wisdom because the knowledge and
wisdom that they were attempting to give me, give me
was they didn't. They didn't pursue or even get far
in their career. So how could you tell me something
to get me past the things that I'm really trying
to get to. Uh So that's another lesson I have
(25:20):
to learn. Then it's the last lesson I have to learn.
It's also been in this position is that, Uh, you're
not gonna change everybody.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
That's true, that's not going.
Speaker 10 (25:29):
To like the things that you do. You're not going
to satisfy everybody.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
But I have to learn this lesson from the very
beginning day waned Off is that it's two types of
people in all.
Speaker 10 (25:39):
I mean in life, you have good people and you
have bad people.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
The bad people that talk neative, that talk down on
you actually the people that are actually preparing you for
the greater day that you're going to see.
Speaker 10 (25:50):
Now, it's good to still have those great people in life.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
As well too, But they're there, they're they're they're they
there to continue to supporting guide you. But those actually
talking down and talking negative to other people that actually
strengthening you, is sharpening you for that.
Speaker 10 (26:05):
Position or that I can even say whatever it may
be they are for positioning you.
Speaker 6 (26:15):
So I'm to understand that you have a future political
aspirations and there's a there's an election coming up, I
guess next year for state representative. Did I hear correct
that you're going to throw your hat in the ring
for that?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
That's my plan to throw my hat in the race
for Arkansas State representative Arkansas State Representative District thirty five.
Speaker 10 (26:38):
To run.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
And also when I made the announcement, I've been getting
a lot of approaches not only from state leaders but
also from my people for my residents locally, they say
that I also says that Mayor I need you to
stay here at Earl.
Speaker 10 (26:54):
If you leave, who else want to come and do it?
And our community.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I've even had people that say, well, we're not going
to allow your team and go run.
Speaker 10 (27:06):
Here because you are you.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Are addressing the needs locally here at home so that
we can actually build our community forward to the next
level we're trying to get to.
Speaker 10 (27:18):
And so those are those are some of the conversations.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
But I did announce that, but also having some in
some also conversation from constituentsy, Hey, Mary, we need you
here in the city of e world. We need you here,
We need you to continue to do what you do,
because nobody have never came and done what you've done
in three years, and they have not done in forty years.
Speaker 6 (27:35):
Well listen, yeah, I didn't mean to catch you. I'm sorry,
I was. I was going to say, you know, uh
you you you've clearly made a difference.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (27:44):
And obviously, uh things are things are turning around. There
that young, youthful energy that you bring to all of this,
and and and now you you know now that you
have announced that you're going to run uh for a
state representative, which is which is a bigger position.
Speaker 11 (27:59):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
Uh now you now you sort of set the plate
now for other folks to come behind you to run
for this position. Do you think that you've given them
a good template? Are you going to leave them in
good shape? When if you do decide to run, which
you say you have decided that you're going to run,
and you happen to win. Uh, do you think that
(28:21):
you will be leaving Earl in a better place than
you found it?
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Oh?
Speaker 10 (28:25):
Most certainly, I would live.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I would believe in this, in this tiar of my administration,
I believe whenever, whenever, the good Lord say move next
to the next destination. I believe that I've done a
great gesture. I'm not gonna say I that we've done
a great gesture to leave Earl in a better shape
than Earl was found when I took office in twenty
(28:48):
twenty three.
Speaker 6 (28:49):
Well, listen, mister Mayor, it has been a real pleasure
talking to you. I haven't I've been looking forward to
this and uh, you know, you've been in office for
three years and you're obviously doing some good things there.
Congratulations on all of the hard working effort at the
ripe old age of twenty one. Ladies and gentlemen, the
Mayor of Earl, Arkansas, mister Jalen Smith and Mayor Smith,
(29:14):
thank you again for taking the time to come on
the show and speak with us this evening. And the
best of luck in your future endeavors.
Speaker 10 (29:21):
Thank you, sir so much with the opportunity.
Speaker 6 (29:23):
Absolutely thank you. There you go, ladies and gentlemen. That now,
there you go. That's an impressive young man right there.
You have to say that he really is. He's twenty
one years old, he's leading a city, he's making changes
out there, and now he's got future political aspirations. Boy,
I can't even remember what twenty one was like in
but that's kind of like a person. That's my own thing,
you know. Thank you, Mary Smith, really appreciate your time.
(29:45):
Let's take another break and when we come back, we
will continue our stroll through some important conversation about a
few important things on this live and local edition of
Real Talk Memphors some chip, don't go away, We're just
getting started. Hey, Ricca, can you hear me? Racca? Can
(30:07):
you hear me? Hey Rocca? How are you? I can?
Speaker 4 (30:14):
If you like Real Talk, here's the way you can
get involved. Do you have a show topic idea or
yes again? Or have a guest idea? The Talk page.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
A little bit about this that he always says, go
out and tell somebody.
Speaker 6 (30:31):
We'll be right back. Was so important. Okay, so just
don't go away, stay right there. Okay.
Speaker 8 (30:36):
It's Memphis Listening Lab probably supports w y x R.
They provide a curated collection of music and music history,
a form for music related talks and performances, and in
music education, appreciation and experimentation space Located in Crosstown, Concourse,
You can find out more information on their Instagram page
at Memphis Listening Lab or on their website at Memphis
(30:58):
Listening Lab dot org.
Speaker 12 (31:04):
Support for WYXR and the twenty twenty five stereo sessions
comes from Independent Bank serving Memphis It's businesses and the
greater community. You can find more information on how iBank
can help you navigate your financial journey and hear client
stories at idashbankonline dot com.
Speaker 4 (31:36):
Get Real Talk on the tune in mobile app under
WYXR and he's now streaming live on Facebook and you
can also catch a rebroadcast on YouTube. Just put WYXR
in the search box and hit subscribe. Now back to
more Real Talk with Zip Washington.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
It's real, It's real.
Speaker 6 (32:00):
And welcome back to Real Talk Memphis on this very
hot Monday evening in the city Chip with you, and
as I had talked about at the top of the show.
For those of you who have a native to Memphis
and you've been around and you're a certain age older, uh,
you live through a time of segregation in this country,
a time when things were a bit worse for rare
(32:24):
back in back in the fifties and the sixties, when
civil rights were being violated and and and challenged in
this country and you may have heard of something called
Jim Crow and the Jim Crow Laws. Well, there is
a new exhibit at MOSH to the Museum of History
and UH Science m Science and History MASH or the
(32:48):
Pink Palaces. I liked is all of us like to
know what to call it?
Speaker 5 (32:51):
UH?
Speaker 6 (32:51):
And I wanted to find out more about this this
exhibit called Overcoming Hateful Things. So please welcome to the show.
I got Nandi. She is the director of Exhibits and
Collections at mosh UH and it is great to see you.
Thank you for coming to Real Talk tonight. I appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (33:11):
Thank you, Chip. It was an honor to be invited
and I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 6 (33:16):
Well, thank you for that and listen. Of course, first
of all, I should say anybody who hadn't been to
Tumash in recent times, you need to go. It is
It is absolutely a walking a testament to history, all
kinds of history in this country. But what really attracted
me and what really were really at peak meta to
(33:39):
reach out to you, was this exhibit and the title
of it, which is Overcoming Hateful Things. And when you
think about Jim Crow and Jim Crow Laws, there is
no better definition than overcoming hateful things. First of all,
tell me why this exhibit and why it was so
important for you all to have it.
Speaker 5 (33:58):
Yeah, that's a really important question that you're asking. So
one of the things that when The Pink Palace rebranded
and we're still the Pink Palace, but we changed our
name to the Museum of Science and History, and one
of the things we wanted to do is really host
(34:18):
more traveling exhibitions that speak to a variety of communities
in our city and in our region. And one of
the and we very intentionally decided to host this traveling
exhibition because I think it was an important time to
talk about these moments. And I think it's because this
is an exhibition that has very multi generational appeal to
(34:42):
you know, we have our grandparents and our parents who
might have lived through the Jim Crow era, and then
we have children and grandchildren who might not know a
lot about it and might not have known what our
our family members have gone through. I think it has
a multi generational appeal. It isn't it is a difficult exhibition.
(35:05):
It is a powerful exhibition that generates conversation about race
and racism in this country and the history and its legacy.
Speaker 6 (35:14):
I can I can imagine it would. It was a
very difficult time for a lot of people, uh, in
this country, especially if those of those of folks who
lived through those very delicate times. I saw you u
you were did a TV interview about all of this,
and and really it is you know, in the in
the time that we lived in and you and you
were very eloquent in how you described it a second ago.
(35:38):
We are not our young people are really being denied
access to our history as a people. Uh. And uh,
you know that is why I think it is even
more imperative and more important that that people who know
about this exhibit take their young people, like you would
take somebody to the National Civil Rights Museum, Uh, you know,
bring them here to really understand about the difficulties that
(36:01):
people had to go through in these days. And when
I heard you talking about it, I was like, yeah,
absolutely that that really is one of the main reasons,
because as I said, if you don't know where you've
come from, you surely don't know where you're going. Am
I correcting that absolutely?
Speaker 5 (36:17):
And I think so this exhibition comes from Big Rapids, Michigan,
where there is a museum called the Jim Crow Museum,
and this is the traveling component of that museum. It's
called Overcoming Hateful Things and the Jim Crow Museum and
Big Rapids is the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia,
(36:39):
and it has over including its digital archive, it has
over twenty thousand objects related to black memorabilia. But this
traveling exhibition has, believe it or not, chip only one
hundred and fifty objects in it. But these objects really
tell us a couple of things. They tell us three
important things. Is one, what the Jim Crow Era is about,
(37:03):
what it is about in the history of America. It
tells us about the legacy how African Americans endure the
Jim Crow Era. And also it speaks to the legacy
of the Jim Crow Era. And these are the three
important things that I think this exhibition really highlights in
terms of what it's doing.
Speaker 6 (37:24):
You said, this is a traveling exhibition. How long will
it be here in Memphis.
Speaker 5 (37:30):
It will be here till October nineteenth, so through the
summer and through early fall. So I hope lots of
people come to see it. It's an exhibition that you know,
the exhibitor has said that because of the subject matter
and because some of the artifacts are very triggering and
(37:50):
can be disturbing and are disturbing, that it is an
exhibition that we encourage parents to come with children and
you know, to kind of guide them through it. And
we've also the exhibitor has said that it would be
good of school aged children who are under twelve get
permission to come and see it, just because you want
to bring young people in and to have someone in
(38:12):
the room with them to explain what this is about,
you know, to explain the history, to explain the importance
of this exhibition.
Speaker 6 (38:19):
Yeah, you know, I would think so. And you know
you I asked that for a reason. About how long
would it be there? You said till October. Well, school
starts in August, like the first week of August. And
I would hope that somebody would talk to somebody with
the Memphison Chevy County Schools and say, you know what,
if you really want your children to learn about real
(38:40):
history in this country, bring them through the museum and
let them and let them come and see what it's
all about, and have someone like yourself explain to them
what people went through during those very turbulent times in
our country's history.
Speaker 5 (38:55):
Absolutely, And you know, Chip, I think one of the
things I think about also as were hosting this exhibition
is that many people have heard about Jim Crow Laws,
but they don't know who Jim Crow is. Jim Crow
is not a person. Jim Crow is a character created
by a white man in the eighteen thirties, and he's
a white man who you know, wore who would darken
(39:19):
his face and do this act which in which he
acted like a buffoon essentially, and that was his sort
of belief of how he was kind of characterizing an
African American person. And that show was that he did
was so popular that it became Jim Crow became a
(39:42):
term that was used later on when post reconstruction, these
laws came into place that really were set up to
essentially enforce a racial to enforce racial segregation, and to
discriminate against African Americans. And so we think we call
them Jim Crow Laws, but they're not named after a person,
(40:05):
you know, they named after a moment in history. But
I think one of the most interesting things about this
exhibition also, Chip, that I like to tell people is
that the title is Overcoming Hateful Things. Yes, so while
we are exhibiting hateful things in this exhibition, it's really
the overcoming that is an important part of this exhibition.
(40:28):
To learn that this is an exhibition that highlights African
American resilience and dignity and activism during a really important
moment in American history.
Speaker 6 (40:40):
Well, absolutely that, I really I commend you for this,
and again, the times that we're living in right now,
I think there are dangerous times for a lot of folks,
and I really don't but I really believe that young
people need to understand that folks went through some really
bad things back back in those days and to have
(41:03):
an exhibit like this that tells that story and says,
you know what, it was a bad period, but we've
overcome that to be where we are now. So in
order to not take a backward step, we need to
understand where we came from so we can continue to
progress forward. I'm really I'm congratulations on this. I think
(41:24):
this is a very very important idea that you have
going on over there right now. I really do.
Speaker 5 (41:30):
Yeah, thank you, and I look forward to seeing people
coming to see this with an open mind and to
really just to be ready to think and have conversations,
you know, have conversations with the older generation, have conversations
with younger people about this, you know, because part of
the problem is part of the issue that I hope
people will ponder on, is that there is a legacy
(41:54):
to this, to this moment in history that you know,
racism continues in America and in the world in a
particular way, even though we no longer have Jim Crow laws.
And I think that's an important thing to also reflect
on and to think about who we want to be
in the future. So one of the things I also
(42:15):
like to tell people who come to visit is that
the exhibition is the brainchild of doctor David Pilgrim. He
is the founder of the Jim Crow Museum, and he
is a man who grew up in Mississippi and created
this museum for some very particular reasons. And one of
(42:35):
the one of the things that he talks about is
that American history is not just about triumphant moments of
patriotism and success or winning a war, or you know,
being the most powerful nation in the country. But American
history is also about uncomfortable things and emotional things and
(42:56):
things that don't always make us feel proud of ourselves
and that history is complicated, history is difficult, and it's
these moments in which we learn a lot about who
we want to be in the future. And that's exactly
what you're talking about Chip as well on.
Speaker 6 (43:12):
Raka Nandi, the director of Exhibits and Collections for Masha,
also known as the Pink Palace Museum. Please, if you're
listening to this interview, take your kids, take your grandkids,
go yourself and see what this exhibit is all about,
overcoming hateful things. Rocca, thank you so much for coming
(43:33):
on the show. I really appreciate it, and thank you
for all the good things that you're doing at the museum.
Really appreciate that as well.
Speaker 5 (43:39):
Thank you. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to
talk about this.
Speaker 6 (43:42):
Absolutely, thank you very much. Well, there you go, ladies
and gentlemen. And I see we have a problem in
this country and many of us, some of us see
it the problem and some of us don't. But we're separate,
and you know, we're spread out, and I do think
that there is a divide in this country that needs
to be that needs to be addressed. First of all,
we need to understand that there is a divide in
(44:03):
this country, and exhibits like this helped to bring to
light what people went through. And many people didn't come
out of the other side of that, but the ones
who did did triumph. Okay, and we are at a
place where we are now where we weren't forty fifty
sixty years ago, and exhibits like this are extraordinarily important.
And uh, this is why I don't understand the cutting
(44:24):
of funding for museums and and and other things just
like this, because it really it really is. It's just
a systematic trying to just take, take, take, take, instead
of providing. That's why I'm glad they're providing this opportunity.
Let's take one final break and want we come back.
We're gonna talk about an organization doing big things for
our community and they just got rewarded for that. This
(44:45):
is real talk, mephers some Chip, don't go away, We'll
be right back.
Speaker 4 (45:02):
If you like real talk, here's the way you can
get involved. Do you have a show topic, idea or
a suggestion, want to be considered a guest or have
a guest idea? Then send Chip a message on his
Real Talk show page and you can be a part
of the Real Talk experience. So, as he always says,
go out and tell somebody, We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
It's it's.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
What does being a great mentor look like. Someone who
shows up, listens, and is consistent. You don't have to
be perfect to be the perfect mentor to a young person.
To learn how you can make a difference and join
the mentoring movement, visit Grizzlies Foundation dot org.
Speaker 4 (45:58):
Get Real Talk on the tune in more app under
w y XR and he's now streaming live on Facebook
and you can also catch a rebroadcast on YouTube. Just
put w y XR in the search box and hit subscribe.
Now back to More Real Talk with Jim Washington.
Speaker 10 (46:17):
It's real.
Speaker 6 (46:22):
And welcome back to the big broadcast on this very
warm Monday evening in the city. Chip with you. I
hope you are enjoying the show so far.
Speaker 11 (46:29):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (46:29):
You know, there are many organizations and groups in our
city who are doing things to help other people who
are less forcunate. We know that we live in a city,
Memphis that has its share of challenges, and thank God
for organizations who go above and beyond to try to
help those who are dealing with those challenges every day.
(46:52):
Last week, the City of Memphis celebrated several non profit
groups and organizations around here and had about six point
five million dollars in grant money that they handed out
to several nonprofit organizations in our community. One of those
(47:12):
in particular received the two grand Awards totally one point
three million dollars. And they are Hope House of Memphis.
And I'm very pleased to have with me this evening
Melissa far Our. She is the chief operating officer of
Hope House Memphis. And Melissa's great to see you. Great
to have you on the show. How are you tonight?
Speaker 10 (47:33):
Thank you? I'm well, how are you doing it?
Speaker 11 (47:34):
It's wonderful to be here.
Speaker 6 (47:35):
Well, yeah, absolutely that I'm doing well myself a little
warm like everybody else, but we'll make it so. First
of all, for people who don't know walk us through
Hope House Memphis, your mission, your goals, what you all
do on a daily, on a daily basis to help
so many people.
Speaker 11 (47:55):
Yeah. So, at Hopels we serve people that are affected
by a IV and poverty. We have wraparound services social
services that we offer from individual counseling, group, counseling art therapy,
victim services programs. We have emergency services such as utility
(48:17):
and emergency housing assistants, food pantry when we have donations
for that.
Speaker 6 (48:24):
We also.
Speaker 11 (48:26):
Provide HIV testing in the community.
Speaker 10 (48:29):
We provide linkage.
Speaker 11 (48:32):
To care, so for those who may not be in
care or may be newly diagnosed, we link them to
care and help them work to get viraally suppressed. We
also have an early childhood services, so we have a
daycare for ages six weeks to four years for children
affected by HIV and poverty. And then we have a
(48:54):
preschool which is a community partner of Shelby County Schools,
and we serve people not just from hip House, but
for the larger community in that preschool. And so we're
really proud of the services that we offer in the community.
Speaker 6 (49:11):
Well, obviously, so you you hit on two of probably
the biggest issues that we deal with as a city
and as a county here, which is poverty and we
know we have a high poverty rate here in Memphis
and Chevy County, and HIV we have we have astronomical numbers.
I think we're like number two in the country, I
think in a certain age range for people who are
(49:32):
diagnosed with with hi vuh. So so when you when
you heard about all of this and when you found
out that you are received u rather large grand awards,
two separate grant awards, I believe, uh, you know, obviously
it says something about the work that you do every day.
(49:53):
But it would seem to me that based on what
you just described, uh, the work that you guys do
on a daily basis to help so many people and
so who are dealing with so many different sets of circumstances,
it's got to not only be rewarding, but it's got
to be challenging as well, does it not.
Speaker 11 (50:09):
Yeah, absolutely, it is challenging. But I'm so proud of
the work we do and our clients are amazing and
wonderful people that we look forward to seeing every day.
But it can be challenging, especially with the current.
Speaker 10 (50:23):
You know, funding on.
Speaker 11 (50:26):
That we're not really sure about, right, you know, there's
all kinds of rumors about funding cuts and things like that.
So we were thrilled to here we actually received three
grants them for the.
Speaker 10 (50:37):
First time ever.
Speaker 6 (50:39):
Oh wow, Okay, yeah.
Speaker 11 (50:40):
So we're really we're thrilled to do this. We're thrilled
to do this work and partner with the city to
provide these services.
Speaker 6 (50:47):
Yeah, you know, and what you mentioned is something that
people are starting to really understand who have organizations like
yours and do the kind of work that you do
and so many nonprofits do. Federal funding has been a
big part of that, uh and the success of a
lot of these groups for a very very long time.
And now we are hearing that you know, these cuts
(51:09):
are being made uh in the federal government.
Speaker 5 (51:13):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (51:13):
They're cutting programs, They're they're cutting people. And are you
concerned at all about because first of all, you're living
in the world of the unknown, because you don't know
how much and or if it happens and when it happens. Uh,
In terms of being able to provide the type of
services that you are used to providing for people, Yeah,
(51:34):
I mean, I think that.
Speaker 11 (51:35):
The hardest thing has been the people that we serve
and the impact that this fear has on them. It's
terrifying for them to hear it, to watch the news
and think about vital services that could be cut, whether
it's you know, Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps. This is going
(51:56):
to have a devastating effect If all of these cuts
do you come down. It's going to be really hard
for people who are living in poverty and really depend
on a lot of this to make ends meet.
Speaker 6 (52:06):
So with the money that the grant, money that you
have been you all as an organization have been given.
Now you sit back and you say to yourself, Okay, now,
how do we plan this out? What does the agenda
look like? How do we move forward with this? I'm
sure there were things before you received this grant award
that you were looking at doing some projects and things
like that. But now that you have this money, what
(52:30):
type of things are you looking to do in the future.
Speaker 11 (52:37):
Well, So, for one of the grants, which is our
HOPWA grant, we were awarded one point seven million dollars
for one year, and that grant is going to allow
us to serve seventy families, So seventy individuals and their
family members whether it be children, significant others, and will
be able to provide stable housing along with wrap around
(52:59):
services to create stability and build better lives for themselves
and their families. Because having a stable home is a
great foundation for someone to be successful in so many
different areas. If you don't have a stable home, it's
really hard to focus on your mental health and to
improve your mental health, your physical health, or even hold
(53:20):
down a job. So much can happen just because of
the stability of a home. So that grant is huge
and serves seventy families. Our Community Services grant is a
grant that supports our early childhood services, so it supports
daycare for children ages six weeks to three years old.
(53:42):
And these kids get so much love and affection and
they learn so much when they're in school to get
them kindergarten ready. It's an amazing program that we're able
to provide. So it's not just childcare, but it's childcare
and a loving and stigma free and vironment that includes
wrap around services to the entire family, so not just
(54:04):
the kids that are in the daycare, and we see
incredible results our parents. One percent of our parents that
are participating in the childcare services are living with HIV
and have reached viral suppression and they're living the highest.
Speaker 10 (54:18):
In the health or the healthiest life that they can live.
Speaker 11 (54:22):
And then lastly are ESG grant, which is the emergency
I think it's emergency solutions. Grant is going to fund
a portion of our street outreach, which helps support those
who are the hardest to reach. They're living on the
streets and have not been in medical care, and our
staff provide free HIV testing and connect them with resources
(54:43):
to meet basic needs, especially things like housing, which helps
to provide that foundation for them to get in care,
stay in care, and become virally suppressed.
Speaker 6 (54:54):
Well, you know what, just listening to you talk about
the services that you provide, comprehensives services for so many
different levels, I mean even going down to the babies,
and you're doing God's work. This is this is God's work,
this is what this is what we we as the people,
are intended to do to try to help each other.
(55:14):
And I would imagine before I let you go, the
gratification of of of seeing some of these people thrive
and seeing some of the success stories that you do.
You really you really can't. You can really never have
a bad day.
Speaker 4 (55:28):
Can you.
Speaker 11 (55:29):
Yeah, it's really hard to have a bad day. Our
clients are so wonderful and they seeing how they come from,
you know, being homeless and on the streets and really sick,
to thriving and having an amazing life and going back
to school or getting a job yeah, it's the most heartwarming.
Speaker 10 (55:47):
It brings me to tears all the time.
Speaker 6 (55:49):
Absolutely that. Well, listen a listen for our ladies and gentlemen.
A chief operating officer for Hope House Memphis and they
do amazing work. And men, listen, Thank you so much
for taking some time to come on the shoulder and
talk to us about this. And congratulations for a job
very very well done in our community. And we hope
you much great success in the future.
Speaker 11 (56:11):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 10 (56:13):
It's been an honor and I appreciate it. We're very
excited we.
Speaker 6 (56:15):
Have absolutely that. Thank you very very much. But there
you go. Ladies and gentlemen, Now that's see. You know,
if you know anything about me and you know anything
about this show, we I look for organizations. I look
for people who are doing big things for other folks
without thinking about themselves. And we have great needs in
(56:36):
Memphis and Shelby County in this community, and thank God
for organizations like the Hope House and so many others
who are doing doing the work on a daily basis.
It really is very very important. And I've always said,
you know, when I leave here, you know, I want
my legacy to be that, you know what, he tried
to help folks the best way he could, in whatever
(56:59):
way it is. And if that means being on radio
and exposing you to organizations who are doing amazing work,
well then then then so be it. On that one. Uh,
before we get out of here, you know, Event Horizon
is coming up next, and that is hosted by uh
Brent Butler, who happens to be my my my board
(57:19):
op over here and brn uh, you'll be up in
just a couple of minutes. What what what are you
going to thrill your audience with tonight musically?
Speaker 7 (57:28):
This week on the selection, it'll be some some kind
of some some goth stuff I'll be I'll be going
a little bit off, yeah, little atmospheric, a little dark,
a little creepy sometimes.
Speaker 6 (57:40):
But but they'll be freefy on this now.
Speaker 7 (57:44):
There'll be some some danceable beats and stuff like that.
Speaker 6 (57:47):
I just wanted to make sure, all right, don't go anywhere.
You'll be up in just a couple of minutes. As
he plays us out, Thank you Memphis and Chelby County
for supporting this show. I really appreciate it. If you
like what we do on a weekly basis, go out
and tell somebody we want to make a difference in
this community. And you know, I'm just I'm just big
(58:09):
on them and I and I you know. And again,
if we can do something to help to improve the
lives of somebody else or bring to attention when it's
happening out here, then he said, Lord, it takes me
tomorrow I can say. Look, God, I did the bet
the very best that I could. So for all of
us here at Real Top Memphis, thank you for being
(58:30):
a part of the show. So for Lovely Lola, who
is about the song that she is right there ladies
then me here wave answer. And for brand who is
up next with event Horizon, I'm chipped. Thank you from
the bottom of my heart really appreciate your support and
everything you do for us to make Real Talk Memphis
a fun show to do. And between now and then,
please please please be careful in this heat. Watch out
(58:52):
for your elderly, watch out for your children, watch out
for your pets, and more importantly, watch out for yourself.
God bless you each and every one of you. Love
your Memphis. Until next time we are out
That's what rill charge houses of the test. Main it's
real cough with your main chip washing it. When it
comes to information, the main guy an aust bring you
up to speed what you need.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
He's a local and na should white hue feed and
it's told about it whole dita.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
They can do something about it. And ship's got to
throw wide open. And you got questions about it. It's main.
It's to show that brings into.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Your row to solve all problems.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's talk, real talk, real talk. It's real. It's real talk.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
It's real talk.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It's real talk. It's thrill, it's real talk.
Speaker 5 (00:34):
It's real coal.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
It's free, it's real. It's real talk. It's real toe.
It's real talk.
Speaker 5 (00:42):
It's real.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
It's real talk. It's real talk. Jail, Welcome to real
tell your real host chim watching him biting you like it.
It's real talks, real talk, it's real talk.
Speaker 6 (01:18):
And here we go, here we go on this very
hot Monday afternoon. It is the twenty first day of
July twenty twenty five, six o'clock straight up, which means
it is time for real talk Memphis. I am your
humble host. My name is Chip Washington. If you happen
to be watching on Facebook Live and you see a
bit of a different look on one of our cameras
is out, so we're using another one. I'm waving at
(01:40):
you right now out there people in social media, man.
But in any event, it's great to be here tonight. Man.
You know, we've been warned, We've been told, and yeah,
the extreme heat is here. We are under an extreme
heat warning, which means heat indsease can be anywhere from
one hundred five to one hundred and ten degrees. If
(02:03):
it gets any higher than that, we're even greater trouble.
So obviously the hot weather rules apply. I think it's
about ninety four to ninety five now, the heat in
decks of one o seven. Yeah, bit toasty. Uh, So
limiture outdoor activity if you can limit your outdoor activity,
uh and try to stay out of the hot zones anytime,
(02:25):
you know, during the hours it was like ten am
to three pm, four pm. This this The extreme heat
warning goes till about eleven o'clock tonight, and I'm pretty
sure it'll be extended every day this week because we're
looking at highs in the mid to upper nineties for
the remainder of the week and very very slim chances
(02:48):
of rain to that as well. I heard a weathercaster
stay before I left the house. He said, it's gonna
be like this for the foreseeable future, right even right
through the entire month of July. And we hadn't got
to August yet, So yeah, just prepare for that. The
cooling centers are open at the Hospitality Hub. If you
(03:09):
need to go someplace to get cool, please do so.
Give them a call. And there on Washington Street, give
them a call. Go down there and get out of
this extreme extreme heat, because it doesn't take long in
heat like this to cause major health problems matter how
healthy you think you are. Okay, so let us let
(03:30):
us watch that. Please please, please, ma'am, please sir. As
far as the show is concerned, tonight, I think we
have a pretty good one.
Speaker 7 (03:38):
You know.
Speaker 6 (03:38):
I'm always hopeful and when we get started on these
things and then we're hopeful that you enjoy it as well. Look,
sit back, relax and chill out wherever you are. If
you're someplace cool, if you're inside and you're someplace cool,
you need to stick around and stay there. And if
you found us, stay with us for the next hour
till seven o'clock. We have a great conversation, we have
great guests, and of course again you can sit back,
(04:01):
relax and stay cool. As far as how to get
this fine piece of radio broadcasting, well you can do
that in a number of ways. Right now, we're broadcasting
live on ninety one point seven wyx R on your
FM dial. You can also find us on the wyx
R app. We're available on the tune in app you can.
(04:22):
We're live streaming the show tonight. We're on Facebook Live,
so you can check us out there if you choose
to do so. And when the show posts in a
day or two, you can't find us at of course
we're on YouTube. They post a show to YouTube, and
then we're a podcast, so you can always find this
(04:43):
show after a post wherever it is you get your podcasts.
So there you go. Plenty of ways to find This
is a great show, and we hope that you take
advantage of one, two, or three of them. As far
as our guests, the lineup concerns this evening, I am
going to be speaking in a couple of minutes to
(05:03):
the mayor of Earl, Arkansas. His name is Jalen Smith,
and he back in twenty twenty two, was elected mayor
of Earl, Arkansas, at the ripe old age of eighteen.
He was the youngest mayor elected in this country's history
(05:24):
back then. He is now the ripe old age of
twenty one and in his third year as the mayor
of that community over in Arkansas. We're going to talk
to him a little bit about how it's been. He
does have some ordinances that he's putting out because his city,
like a lot of other cities, and the one that
(05:45):
we live in in particular, dealing with blight issues, you know,
trash issues and things like that. So he's on the
march dealing with that particular situation as well. And I
believe he's got some political aspirations beyond being the mayor
of Earl. So we'll talk to him about that in
just a couple of minutes. A little bit later on.
(06:05):
For those of you Native Memphians who are of a
certain age, you probably remember something called Jim Crow the
Jim Crow laws that were handed down in the southern
part of the United States in reference to segregation. There
were segregation issues, Jim Crow laws. Many of you have
(06:28):
heard that expression before, but may not know exactly what
all would it all entail, especially younger folks. Well, I'm
going to have a guest of this evening, Raka Nandi.
She is the director of Exhibits and Collections at the
Museum of Science and History better known as MASH really
(06:51):
better known as the Pink Palace. They have an exhibit
there right now called Overcoming Hateful Things, and that's very
propos if you're talking about Jim Crow. So we're going
to talk a little bit about that, why they have
that exhibit and what they hoped to expose the public
to in reference to days gone by versus days that
(07:13):
we're living in now. And a little bit later on,
we're going to be speaking with Melissa Farrar. Last week,
the city of Memphis has a ceremony to award many
nonprofit organizations with monies for the great works that they
are doing in our community. One of those organizations is
the Hope House Hope House of Memphis, and we are
(07:34):
going to talk with them. They received two grants for
a total of one point three million dollars and that's
a lot of money. We'll find out what they plan
on doing with all of that as they continue to
try to improve the life of people here in Memphis.
All of that coming up a little bit later in
just a few minutes. But first things first, July is
(07:54):
the big month for birthdays, and we have quite a
few birthdays on the slate today, So said, we get
to it by me saying hit it.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Brent, Welcome to another day.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Blues is the amazement.
Speaker 6 (08:07):
Oh goodness, let's go on that birthday's Happy birthday, every
birthday going out to the following folcus. Anita Williams celebrated today.
Happy birthday, Jody Callahan, I know him. Let me tell
jas's birthday to day. Mia wats Dotson, Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday, Steve Williams, Latanya Wels Salton Pastor Frankie Ray
(08:30):
Senior celebrating his birthday today. Happy birthday to Anita Payne Williams,
Sean Jones, Major Curry, longtime friend of mine, Mark Allen,
what are you take?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Gay?
Speaker 6 (08:44):
As we call him, His birthday is today and tomorrow.
And we have a birthday for someone that we're very
familiar with here at w Wysau. So I say, I
thought I did it in tonight. Our boss, our big man,
our general manager, Robbie Grant celebrating his birthday on tomorrow.
(09:04):
Happy birthday, Boss, and happy birthday and each and every
one of you celebrating today. I hope it's been a
day filled with fun and laughter and from all of
us here Bill Talk Memphis the Giant celebrating and we
hope to be with you next year for your next
year around us. Son, Thanks Brent. Some very sad news
came across I'm sure many of you have heard by
(09:28):
now in terms of of a loss today, Malcolm Jamal Warner,
Michael Jamal Warner died unfortunately over the weekend. He was
the accidental drowning. He was on vacation with his family
in Costa Rica and apparently got swept up by one
(09:48):
of the waves. Malcolm Jamal Warner, of course, is well
known for theo Huxtable from The Cosby Show. You remember
that show back in the back in the day. He
also went on to starr in a several other series.
The last one I can remember him being in was
The Resident he played there. He played on that show
for a couple of years as well. Just just a
(10:10):
fine young man. So many tributes pouring in with the
news today. He was only fifty four years of age,
and it's just it's just said, you never know when
the Lord is going to it's going to take take
us out of here. We just never know. So we
need to try to live our life with purpose and
(10:33):
with a desire to reach out past ourselves to help
other folks, which is from what I'm to understand, that's
the kind of man he was. So Malcolm Jamal Warner
gone at the age of fifty four made your memory
always be a blessing. A quick look at news and
notes on this Monday evening. Let's see, Yeah, a trial
(10:54):
date has been set in the federal trial of County
Commissioner Edmund Ford Junior. It's set for January of next year.
He was charged with briberies you can remember in tax
evasion for alleged grant kickback schemes. So again he went
to federal court this morning they set a date. The
(11:15):
trial begins in January of twenty twenty six. The County
Commission is going to take up the matter of looking
into moving the election cycle of the Memphison Shelby County
School Board to the normal cycle of county elections, which
by the way, comes up next year. They are looking
(11:37):
at moving that up. So what that does now is
put everybody under the same cycle. And they also in
their discussions, want to see if they could limit the
terms for school board members to two terms only. Like
everybody else, one would think that this might be something
(11:57):
that you would put on the ballot as a referendu
them for the people to decide, But apparently the school
board I mean, but the kind of commission is deciding
this on their own and they're going to start discussions
on Wednesday, and they could have a vote on this
as soon as the following Monday, so we'll have to
stay tuned to that. Now, what does that do to
(12:18):
the four individuals who were elected to the board last
year in twenty twenty four, Well, that means that basically
their term would be cut in half from twenty four
to twenty six. That's two years instead of four years.
So we'll have to watch this very carefully and see
how all of this plays out. And a lot of
folks are talking about the tragedy that happened over the
(12:40):
weekend as an old miss freshman was killed and he
was shot along with four other individuals at a home
or outside of home in Cordova that happened Saturday night.
Eighteen year old Corey Adams of New Orleans was found
and was pronounced dead at the scene. There was a
(13:03):
press conference this afternoon with the Chevy County Sheriff's office
and the young man's mother, who was a very distraught.
Sheriff Officials said that they found over forty fourth zero
shellcasings at that scene. Five people shot, one person dead,
(13:23):
and they're saying that this is going to be a
priority one a homicide. It seems to me that anybody
who has lost their life at the hands of another
human being in a tragic way all should be priorly
one murders and things to solve. But again, a very
(13:43):
very tragic set of circumstances that happened over the weekend
of this young man just graduated high school a few
months ago. He was going to Old miss to play football.
And yes, it's a tragic set of circumstances. So we
pray for his family and all those that knew him,
and we hope that they solve this crime relatively soon.
(14:06):
All Right, that's a look at the news and notes.
We are going to put that away and we're going
to get ready to get into our broadcast here this evening,
Let's take a break. How about it. You can take
a break to get yourself something cool to drink and
relax and take it easy because Real Talk Memphis is
just getting underway. I'm Chip, you know who you are.
Let's take a quick one. We'll be right back.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
If you like real Talk, here's the way you can
get involved. Do you have a show topic, idea or
a suggestion. Want to be considered a guest or have
a guest idea? Then send Chip a message on his
Real Talk show page and you can be a part
of the Real Talk experience. So as he always says,
go out and tell somebody, We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
It's it's real, It's.
Speaker 8 (15:08):
Support for w YXR comes from IRAM Memphis, dedicated to
advancing the knowledge and professionalism of real estate managers through education, networking,
and advocacy. More information at iramdash Memphis dot org.
Speaker 9 (15:26):
Support for WYXR comes from the Metal Museum. On the
last Thursday of each month May through September, the museum
hosts their free after hours event wet Thursdays, featuring metal smithing, demonstrations, exhibitions,
food and drink trucks and music from local bands and DJs.
More information can be found at Metal Museum dot org.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Get Real Talk on the tune in mobile app under
w YXR. And he's now streaming live on Facebook and
you can also catch a rebroadcast on YouTube. Just put
w yxar in the search box and his subscribe. Now
back to more real Talk with Jip Washington's Re's real.
Speaker 10 (16:21):
It's real.
Speaker 6 (16:22):
It's It's real, And welcome back to real Talk memphers
on this Monday evening. Ship with you and very very
happy to have our first guest with us this evening.
This young man was I guess you could say he
was one of a kind back in twenty twenty two
(16:42):
when he decided that he was going to run to
be the mayor of Earl, Arkansas. He was at the
ripe old age of eighteen when that happened and he
was elected, don't you know. And he is the current
mayor of Earl, Arkansas. He is Mayor Jalen Smith and
and and Mayor Smith. It is great to have you
(17:03):
on the show. A lot of folks are very interested
that you were coming on tonight. It's good to see you.
Thanks for coming.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yes, sir, thank you bringing for the opportunity to do
back home and to be on to enjoy it to
have this conversation with you all.
Speaker 6 (17:16):
Well, thank you, sir. I appreciate that now you know
you were I think you at the time when you
were elected to your office, you were the youngest mayor
to be elected in this country's history. Am I correcting
that that's correct? And you were eight You were all
of eighteen years old that at that point in time.
Speaker 10 (17:33):
Right, yes, I was eighteen years sir.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
Okay, So tell me first and foremost, obviously you're you're
an Earl Arkansas native. What was the deciding factor in
you deciding that, Hey, this is something that I want
to be a part. I want to run and I
want to have something to do with the development of
my city. Why did you decide to run?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Well, the reason why I decided to run for offer
was number one because when people came back home for
homecoming and different events that we have in the city,
and I would say, why does my community look like
it looks? And I always would tell them the reason
the community looked the way it looked because no one
had came back and investing within our community and so
(18:16):
I believe that that was my cue to getting to
run for office, to make a difference in Earl, in
my community, and not only but also to show other
young folks that it's great to start at home, to
be great and expand to be even greater somewhere else.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
So now you have been in office now for three years,
I believe, and you're at the ripe old age of
twenty one? Am I correcting that that's correct? Okay? So
in the three years that you have led this city,
what do you think your greatest accomplishment to this point
has been.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Well, my greatest comfortent, I could say, is number one,
bringing the community together, delivering for the the citizens of Earl,
and continue to work hard and serve them in the
capacity to number one, bring our city back from forty
years ago to the twenty fifth century, to show them
that we are more than people seats, or we are
(19:15):
more than a community of people visualize us. It is
because a lot of people visually like Earl as a
small town. Of course, we're a small town of two populations.
But once point in time back going when the cities
was established in March twenty fifth of nineteen oh five,
of the seat of Earl was the first largest city
in Cretney County, Arkansas. Now it was the third largest.
(19:35):
So we want to get back number one to the top.
But it looks tip us back to the top. But
we're working together with the leaders, local leaders, county leaders,
and state officials and federal partners to get our city
back on top.
Speaker 6 (19:48):
You mentioned that you know one of the goals was
for people to not only take you seriously, but take
your plan to move Earl forward. Have people? Have people
taken you seriously in reference to the fact that you
are the mayor of this city despite your chronological age, Well.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Now they are because guess what we're delivering for our
constituents here in Earl.
Speaker 10 (20:18):
But when I first took off as they did not.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
But now they're taking me more seriously because they know, hey,
I may be young and a team a guess what
I can deliver and make sure that our community members
see the results and things they want to see When
I ran my campaign. When I ran my campaign, I
ran on public safety, economic development, infrastructure, education, also supporting
small businesses. In my time, well, I said in my
(20:40):
tenure being the mayor, we have brought in a grocery store.
D G Market was the first built in this area,
in this region of Crickney County. Matter of fact, in Arkansas,
the dential part of Arkansas. Number one two, we made
a critical investment in our public safety with investment in equipment, vehicles,
so putting more officers on the street.
Speaker 10 (21:01):
And only that we made significant investments in our public
works department with bringing.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
New equipment so that we can cut and maintain grass
and do different things for people, so that we can
so that we can cash also our community that we
have the equipment to get there and cut and make
a difference in our public worse department, and now only
our public works over made a critical partnership with an
investment with the counting to get over a half a
million dollars and our sewer pump stations to replace every
(21:31):
one of them that have to have been replacing over
forty years in this community.
Speaker 10 (21:36):
And so we work into again to deliver the results
to our consistence here in the C word.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
One of the things that I have seen lately in
reference to you is you have your community has the
same problem that a lot of other communities have out here,
which is blank, which is trash and things like that.
Memphis has that problem. They talk about it all the
time around here. I noticed that you are creating some
(22:02):
ordinances in reference to that. Talk a little bit about
how big a problem that might be for you gall
out there and what you're trying to do about it.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Well, number, it's been a major problem, and those ordinances
have been on the books actually for Old the last
forty some years or thirty some years. But my administration
is enforcing those ordinances so though that we can get
our community back into.
Speaker 10 (22:22):
Compliance this year.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
By the fact, going back to twenty twenty three, I
saw the entire city letters about blight and property. Now
in twenty twenty five, we're keeping that promise. We're holding
up residents accountable. We're holding property owners accountable for their nuisance,
for their abandoned property, high grass, We're holding those people
are accountable because the only thing wrong with Earl, Arkansas
(22:46):
is black And so as the mayor, I'm taking the
city by force and forcing those ordinances to show the
consistence of Earl. We can get back into compliance, we
can be the most brutiful city that we want to be.
Speaker 10 (22:58):
So but firstly, but first we have to enforce ordinances.
We have to enforce the policy.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
We have to enforce laws that we have to hold
these property owners accountable for the blight and nooses. They
have to go around our city and some of some
of some people, some of the people that have biting
and the noises are some of our council members. But
we're getting out of that because if we wanted to enforce,
we have to start with ourselves first. But we're really
trying to enforce the ordinances that we had have been
(23:24):
had on a book for years to really get our community.
Speaker 10 (23:27):
Back on top.
Speaker 6 (23:29):
In the three years that you have led this uh
this the city of her Are you a city or
your town? I just want to make sure you're a city, right? Correct? Okay?
Speaker 11 (23:38):
Uh uh?
Speaker 6 (23:40):
What do you think, uh? Some of the biggest lessons
you have learned if you had to, if you had
to reflect back from the beginning to where you are now,
what are some of the lessons that you've learned?
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Well, I would say some of the lessons I've learned
on this journey is number one as far as patients.
When I first took this office, I wanted to get
in here and change everything, change the entire city.
Speaker 10 (24:04):
But when you get in the position, you really can't
change everything like you thought you could.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
And so I learned that lesson because that was a
vital lesson to me because I can explain to my
other colleagues that when we're trying to drive change, change
can't happen with the flip of a switch or a
blink of an eye. And so that was a lesson
I had to learn the hard way. And the second
lesson I have to learn is that as being a
(24:30):
leader in office, that you have to do what's called
here and don't hear because everybody don't want to try.
Speaker 10 (24:36):
To give you advice.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Everybody want to everybody want to tell you what to do,
and everybody want to tell you what direction to go in.
But if you look back over what they've done, you
look like, well, you have not done it. So how
can you God be if you have not done which?
And I've done things when you was in the position
that you were in or in a in a setting
that you were in. So I have to learn that
lesson because I tried to get all the wisdom and
(24:59):
all the knowledge, but I could not allow everyone to
give me the knowledge and wisdom because the knowledge and
wisdom that they were attempting to give me, give me
was they didn't. They didn't pursue or even get far
in their career. So how could you tell me something
to get me past the things that I'm really trying
to get to. Uh So that's another lesson I have
(25:20):
to learn. Then it's the last lesson I have to learn.
It's also been in this position is that, Uh, you're
not gonna change everybody.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
That's true, that's not going.
Speaker 10 (25:29):
To like the things that you do. You're not going
to satisfy everybody.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
But I have to learn this lesson from the very
beginning day waned Off is that it's two types of
people in all.
Speaker 10 (25:39):
I mean in life, you have good people and you
have bad people.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
The bad people that talk neative, that talk down on
you actually the people that are actually preparing you for
the greater day that you're going to see.
Speaker 10 (25:50):
Now, it's good to still have those great people in life.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
As well too, But they're there, they're they're they're they
there to continue to supporting guide you. But those actually
talking down and talking negative to other people that actually
strengthening you, is sharpening you for that.
Speaker 10 (26:05):
Position or that I can even say whatever it may
be they are for positioning you.
Speaker 6 (26:15):
So I'm to understand that you have a future political
aspirations and there's a there's an election coming up, I
guess next year for state representative. Did I hear correct
that you're going to throw your hat in the ring
for that?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
That's my plan to throw my hat in the race
for Arkansas State representative Arkansas State Representative District thirty five.
Speaker 10 (26:38):
To run.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
And also when I made the announcement, I've been getting
a lot of approaches not only from state leaders but
also from my people for my residents locally, they say
that I also says that Mayor I need you to
stay here at Earl.
Speaker 10 (26:54):
If you leave, who else want to come and do it?
And our community.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I've even had people that say, well, we're not going
to allow your team and go run.
Speaker 10 (27:06):
Here because you are you.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Are addressing the needs locally here at home so that
we can actually build our community forward to the next
level we're trying to get to.
Speaker 10 (27:18):
And so those are those are some of the conversations.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
But I did announce that, but also having some in
some also conversation from constituentsy, Hey, Mary, we need you
here in the city of e world. We need you here,
We need you to continue to do what you do,
because nobody have never came and done what you've done
in three years, and they have not done in forty years.
Speaker 6 (27:35):
Well listen, yeah, I didn't mean to catch you. I'm sorry,
I was. I was going to say, you know, uh
you you you've clearly made a difference.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (27:44):
And obviously, uh things are things are turning around. There
that young, youthful energy that you bring to all of this,
and and and now you you know now that you
have announced that you're going to run uh for a
state representative, which is which is a bigger position.
Speaker 11 (27:59):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
Uh now you now you sort of set the plate
now for other folks to come behind you to run
for this position. Do you think that you've given them
a good template? Are you going to leave them in
good shape? When if you do decide to run, which
you say you have decided that you're going to run,
and you happen to win. Uh, do you think that
(28:21):
you will be leaving Earl in a better place than
you found it?
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Oh?
Speaker 10 (28:25):
Most certainly, I would live.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I would believe in this, in this tiar of my administration,
I believe whenever, whenever, the good Lord say move next
to the next destination. I believe that I've done a
great gesture. I'm not gonna say I that we've done
a great gesture to leave Earl in a better shape
than Earl was found when I took office in twenty
(28:48):
twenty three.
Speaker 6 (28:49):
Well, listen, mister Mayor, it has been a real pleasure
talking to you. I haven't I've been looking forward to
this and uh, you know, you've been in office for
three years and you're obviously doing some good things there.
Congratulations on all of the hard working effort at the
ripe old age of twenty one. Ladies and gentlemen, the
Mayor of Earl, Arkansas, mister Jalen Smith and Mayor Smith,
(29:14):
thank you again for taking the time to come on
the show and speak with us this evening. And the
best of luck in your future endeavors.
Speaker 10 (29:21):
Thank you, sir so much with the opportunity.
Speaker 6 (29:23):
Absolutely thank you. There you go, ladies and gentlemen. That now,
there you go. That's an impressive young man right there.
You have to say that he really is. He's twenty
one years old, he's leading a city, he's making changes
out there, and now he's got future political aspirations. Boy,
I can't even remember what twenty one was like in
but that's kind of like a person. That's my own thing,
you know. Thank you, Mary Smith, really appreciate your time.
(29:45):
Let's take another break and when we come back, we
will continue our stroll through some important conversation about a
few important things on this live and local edition of
Real Talk Memphors some chip, don't go away, We're just
getting started. Hey, Ricca, can you hear me? Racca? Can
(30:07):
you hear me? Hey Rocca? How are you? I can?
Speaker 4 (30:14):
If you like Real Talk, here's the way you can
get involved. Do you have a show topic idea or
yes again? Or have a guest idea? The Talk page.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
A little bit about this that he always says, go
out and tell somebody.
Speaker 6 (30:31):
We'll be right back. Was so important. Okay, so just
don't go away, stay right there. Okay.
Speaker 8 (30:36):
It's Memphis Listening Lab probably supports w y x R.
They provide a curated collection of music and music history,
a form for music related talks and performances, and in
music education, appreciation and experimentation space Located in Crosstown, Concourse,
You can find out more information on their Instagram page
at Memphis Listening Lab or on their website at Memphis
(30:58):
Listening Lab dot org.
Speaker 12 (31:04):
Support for WYXR and the twenty twenty five stereo sessions
comes from Independent Bank serving Memphis It's businesses and the
greater community. You can find more information on how iBank
can help you navigate your financial journey and hear client
stories at idashbankonline dot com.
Speaker 4 (31:36):
Get Real Talk on the tune in mobile app under
WYXR and he's now streaming live on Facebook and you
can also catch a rebroadcast on YouTube. Just put WYXR
in the search box and hit subscribe. Now back to
more Real Talk with Zip Washington.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
It's real, It's real.
Speaker 6 (32:00):
And welcome back to Real Talk Memphis on this very
hot Monday evening in the city Chip with you, and
as I had talked about at the top of the show.
For those of you who have a native to Memphis
and you've been around and you're a certain age older, uh,
you live through a time of segregation in this country,
a time when things were a bit worse for rare
(32:24):
back in back in the fifties and the sixties, when
civil rights were being violated and and and challenged in
this country and you may have heard of something called
Jim Crow and the Jim Crow Laws. Well, there is
a new exhibit at MOSH to the Museum of History
and UH Science m Science and History MASH or the
(32:48):
Pink Palaces. I liked is all of us like to
know what to call it?
Speaker 5 (32:51):
UH?
Speaker 6 (32:51):
And I wanted to find out more about this this
exhibit called Overcoming Hateful Things. So please welcome to the show.
I got Nandi. She is the director of Exhibits and
Collections at mosh UH and it is great to see you.
Thank you for coming to Real Talk tonight. I appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (33:11):
Thank you, Chip. It was an honor to be invited
and I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 6 (33:16):
Well, thank you for that and listen. Of course, first
of all, I should say anybody who hadn't been to
Tumash in recent times, you need to go. It is
It is absolutely a walking a testament to history, all
kinds of history in this country. But what really attracted
me and what really were really at peak meta to
(33:39):
reach out to you, was this exhibit and the title
of it, which is Overcoming Hateful Things. And when you
think about Jim Crow and Jim Crow Laws, there is
no better definition than overcoming hateful things. First of all,
tell me why this exhibit and why it was so
important for you all to have it.
Speaker 5 (33:58):
Yeah, that's a really important question that you're asking. So
one of the things that when The Pink Palace rebranded
and we're still the Pink Palace, but we changed our
name to the Museum of Science and History, and one
of the things we wanted to do is really host
(34:18):
more traveling exhibitions that speak to a variety of communities
in our city and in our region. And one of
the and we very intentionally decided to host this traveling
exhibition because I think it was an important time to
talk about these moments. And I think it's because this
is an exhibition that has very multi generational appeal to
(34:42):
you know, we have our grandparents and our parents who
might have lived through the Jim Crow era, and then
we have children and grandchildren who might not know a
lot about it and might not have known what our
our family members have gone through. I think it has
a multi generational appeal. It isn't it is a difficult exhibition.
(35:05):
It is a powerful exhibition that generates conversation about race
and racism in this country and the history and its legacy.
Speaker 6 (35:14):
I can I can imagine it would. It was a
very difficult time for a lot of people, uh, in
this country, especially if those of those of folks who
lived through those very delicate times. I saw you u
you were did a TV interview about all of this,
and and really it is you know, in the in
the time that we lived in and you and you
were very eloquent in how you described it a second ago.
(35:38):
We are not our young people are really being denied
access to our history as a people. Uh. And uh,
you know that is why I think it is even
more imperative and more important that that people who know
about this exhibit take their young people, like you would
take somebody to the National Civil Rights Museum, Uh, you know,
bring them here to really understand about the difficulties that
(36:01):
people had to go through in these days. And when
I heard you talking about it, I was like, yeah,
absolutely that that really is one of the main reasons,
because as I said, if you don't know where you've
come from, you surely don't know where you're going. Am
I correcting that absolutely?
Speaker 5 (36:17):
And I think so this exhibition comes from Big Rapids, Michigan,
where there is a museum called the Jim Crow Museum,
and this is the traveling component of that museum. It's
called Overcoming Hateful Things and the Jim Crow Museum and
Big Rapids is the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia,
(36:39):
and it has over including its digital archive, it has
over twenty thousand objects related to black memorabilia. But this
traveling exhibition has, believe it or not, chip only one
hundred and fifty objects in it. But these objects really
tell us a couple of things. They tell us three
important things. Is one, what the Jim Crow Era is about,
(37:03):
what it is about in the history of America. It
tells us about the legacy how African Americans endure the
Jim Crow Era. And also it speaks to the legacy
of the Jim Crow Era. And these are the three
important things that I think this exhibition really highlights in
terms of what it's doing.
Speaker 6 (37:24):
You said, this is a traveling exhibition. How long will
it be here in Memphis.
Speaker 5 (37:30):
It will be here till October nineteenth, so through the
summer and through early fall. So I hope lots of
people come to see it. It's an exhibition that you know,
the exhibitor has said that because of the subject matter
and because some of the artifacts are very triggering and
(37:50):
can be disturbing and are disturbing, that it is an
exhibition that we encourage parents to come with children and
you know, to kind of guide them through it. And
we've also the exhibitor has said that it would be
good of school aged children who are under twelve get
permission to come and see it, just because you want
to bring young people in and to have someone in
(38:12):
the room with them to explain what this is about,
you know, to explain the history, to explain the importance
of this exhibition.
Speaker 6 (38:19):
Yeah, you know, I would think so. And you know
you I asked that for a reason. About how long
would it be there? You said till October. Well, school
starts in August, like the first week of August. And
I would hope that somebody would talk to somebody with
the Memphison Chevy County Schools and say, you know what,
if you really want your children to learn about real
(38:40):
history in this country, bring them through the museum and
let them and let them come and see what it's
all about, and have someone like yourself explain to them
what people went through during those very turbulent times in
our country's history.
Speaker 5 (38:55):
Absolutely, And you know, Chip, I think one of the
things I think about also as were hosting this exhibition
is that many people have heard about Jim Crow Laws,
but they don't know who Jim Crow is. Jim Crow
is not a person. Jim Crow is a character created
by a white man in the eighteen thirties, and he's
a white man who you know, wore who would darken
(39:19):
his face and do this act which in which he
acted like a buffoon essentially, and that was his sort
of belief of how he was kind of characterizing an
African American person. And that show was that he did
was so popular that it became Jim Crow became a
(39:42):
term that was used later on when post reconstruction, these
laws came into place that really were set up to
essentially enforce a racial to enforce racial segregation, and to
discriminate against African Americans. And so we think we call
them Jim Crow Laws, but they're not named after a person,
(40:05):
you know, they named after a moment in history. But
I think one of the most interesting things about this
exhibition also, Chip, that I like to tell people is
that the title is Overcoming Hateful Things. Yes, so while
we are exhibiting hateful things in this exhibition, it's really
the overcoming that is an important part of this exhibition.
(40:28):
To learn that this is an exhibition that highlights African
American resilience and dignity and activism during a really important
moment in American history.
Speaker 6 (40:40):
Well, absolutely that, I really I commend you for this,
and again, the times that we're living in right now,
I think there are dangerous times for a lot of folks,
and I really don't but I really believe that young
people need to understand that folks went through some really
bad things back back in those days and to have
(41:03):
an exhibit like this that tells that story and says,
you know what, it was a bad period, but we've
overcome that to be where we are now. So in
order to not take a backward step, we need to
understand where we came from so we can continue to
progress forward. I'm really I'm congratulations on this. I think
(41:24):
this is a very very important idea that you have
going on over there right now. I really do.
Speaker 5 (41:30):
Yeah, thank you, and I look forward to seeing people
coming to see this with an open mind and to
really just to be ready to think and have conversations,
you know, have conversations with the older generation, have conversations
with younger people about this, you know, because part of
the problem is part of the issue that I hope
people will ponder on, is that there is a legacy
(41:54):
to this, to this moment in history that you know,
racism continues in America and in the world in a
particular way, even though we no longer have Jim Crow laws.
And I think that's an important thing to also reflect
on and to think about who we want to be
in the future. So one of the things I also
(42:15):
like to tell people who come to visit is that
the exhibition is the brainchild of doctor David Pilgrim. He
is the founder of the Jim Crow Museum, and he
is a man who grew up in Mississippi and created
this museum for some very particular reasons. And one of
(42:35):
the one of the things that he talks about is
that American history is not just about triumphant moments of
patriotism and success or winning a war, or you know,
being the most powerful nation in the country. But American
history is also about uncomfortable things and emotional things and
(42:56):
things that don't always make us feel proud of ourselves
and that history is complicated, history is difficult, and it's
these moments in which we learn a lot about who
we want to be in the future. And that's exactly
what you're talking about Chip as well on.
Speaker 6 (43:12):
Raka Nandi, the director of Exhibits and Collections for Masha,
also known as the Pink Palace Museum. Please, if you're
listening to this interview, take your kids, take your grandkids,
go yourself and see what this exhibit is all about,
overcoming hateful things. Rocca, thank you so much for coming
(43:33):
on the show. I really appreciate it, and thank you
for all the good things that you're doing at the museum.
Really appreciate that as well.
Speaker 5 (43:39):
Thank you. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to
talk about this.
Speaker 6 (43:42):
Absolutely, thank you very much. Well, there you go, ladies
and gentlemen. And I see we have a problem in
this country and many of us, some of us see
it the problem and some of us don't. But we're separate,
and you know, we're spread out, and I do think
that there is a divide in this country that needs
to be that needs to be addressed. First of all,
we need to understand that there is a divide in
(44:03):
this country, and exhibits like this helped to bring to
light what people went through. And many people didn't come
out of the other side of that, but the ones
who did did triumph. Okay, and we are at a
place where we are now where we weren't forty fifty
sixty years ago, and exhibits like this are extraordinarily important.
And uh, this is why I don't understand the cutting
(44:24):
of funding for museums and and and other things just
like this, because it really it really is. It's just
a systematic trying to just take, take, take, take, instead
of providing. That's why I'm glad they're providing this opportunity.
Let's take one final break and want we come back.
We're gonna talk about an organization doing big things for
our community and they just got rewarded for that. This
(44:45):
is real talk, mephers some Chip, don't go away, We'll
be right back.
Speaker 4 (45:02):
If you like real talk, here's the way you can
get involved. Do you have a show topic, idea or
a suggestion, want to be considered a guest or have
a guest idea? Then send Chip a message on his
Real Talk show page and you can be a part
of the Real Talk experience. So, as he always says,
go out and tell somebody, We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
It's it's.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
What does being a great mentor look like. Someone who
shows up, listens, and is consistent. You don't have to
be perfect to be the perfect mentor to a young person.
To learn how you can make a difference and join
the mentoring movement, visit Grizzlies Foundation dot org.
Speaker 4 (45:58):
Get Real Talk on the tune in more app under
w y XR and he's now streaming live on Facebook
and you can also catch a rebroadcast on YouTube. Just
put w y XR in the search box and hit subscribe.
Now back to More Real Talk with Jim Washington.
Speaker 10 (46:17):
It's real.
Speaker 6 (46:22):
And welcome back to the big broadcast on this very
warm Monday evening in the city. Chip with you. I
hope you are enjoying the show so far.
Speaker 11 (46:29):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (46:29):
You know, there are many organizations and groups in our
city who are doing things to help other people who
are less forcunate. We know that we live in a city,
Memphis that has its share of challenges, and thank God
for organizations who go above and beyond to try to
help those who are dealing with those challenges every day.
(46:52):
Last week, the City of Memphis celebrated several non profit
groups and organizations around here and had about six point
five million dollars in grant money that they handed out
to several nonprofit organizations in our community. One of those
(47:12):
in particular received the two grand Awards totally one point
three million dollars. And they are Hope House of Memphis.
And I'm very pleased to have with me this evening
Melissa far Our. She is the chief operating officer of
Hope House Memphis. And Melissa's great to see you. Great
to have you on the show. How are you tonight?
Speaker 10 (47:33):
Thank you? I'm well, how are you doing it?
Speaker 11 (47:34):
It's wonderful to be here.
Speaker 6 (47:35):
Well, yeah, absolutely that I'm doing well myself a little
warm like everybody else, but we'll make it so. First
of all, for people who don't know walk us through
Hope House Memphis, your mission, your goals, what you all
do on a daily, on a daily basis to help
so many people.
Speaker 11 (47:55):
Yeah. So, at Hopels we serve people that are affected
by a IV and poverty. We have wraparound services social
services that we offer from individual counseling, group, counseling art therapy,
victim services programs. We have emergency services such as utility
(48:17):
and emergency housing assistants, food pantry when we have donations
for that.
Speaker 6 (48:24):
We also.
Speaker 11 (48:26):
Provide HIV testing in the community.
Speaker 10 (48:29):
We provide linkage.
Speaker 11 (48:32):
To care, so for those who may not be in
care or may be newly diagnosed, we link them to
care and help them work to get viraally suppressed. We
also have an early childhood services, so we have a
daycare for ages six weeks to four years for children
affected by HIV and poverty. And then we have a
(48:54):
preschool which is a community partner of Shelby County Schools,
and we serve people not just from hip House, but
for the larger community in that preschool. And so we're
really proud of the services that we offer in the community.
Speaker 6 (49:11):
Well, obviously, so you you hit on two of probably
the biggest issues that we deal with as a city
and as a county here, which is poverty and we
know we have a high poverty rate here in Memphis
and Chevy County, and HIV we have we have astronomical numbers.
I think we're like number two in the country, I
think in a certain age range for people who are
(49:32):
diagnosed with with hi vuh. So so when you when
you heard about all of this and when you found
out that you are received u rather large grand awards,
two separate grant awards, I believe, uh, you know, obviously
it says something about the work that you do every day.
(49:53):
But it would seem to me that based on what
you just described, uh, the work that you guys do
on a daily basis to help so many people and
so who are dealing with so many different sets of circumstances,
it's got to not only be rewarding, but it's got
to be challenging as well, does it not.
Speaker 11 (50:09):
Yeah, absolutely, it is challenging. But I'm so proud of
the work we do and our clients are amazing and
wonderful people that we look forward to seeing every day.
But it can be challenging, especially with the current.
Speaker 10 (50:23):
You know, funding on.
Speaker 11 (50:26):
That we're not really sure about, right, you know, there's
all kinds of rumors about funding cuts and things like that.
So we were thrilled to here we actually received three
grants them for the.
Speaker 10 (50:37):
First time ever.
Speaker 6 (50:39):
Oh wow, Okay, yeah.
Speaker 11 (50:40):
So we're really we're thrilled to do this. We're thrilled
to do this work and partner with the city to
provide these services.
Speaker 6 (50:47):
Yeah, you know, and what you mentioned is something that
people are starting to really understand who have organizations like
yours and do the kind of work that you do
and so many nonprofits do. Federal funding has been a
big part of that, uh and the success of a
lot of these groups for a very very long time.
And now we are hearing that you know, these cuts
(51:09):
are being made uh in the federal government.
Speaker 5 (51:13):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (51:13):
They're cutting programs, They're they're cutting people. And are you
concerned at all about because first of all, you're living
in the world of the unknown, because you don't know
how much and or if it happens and when it happens. Uh,
In terms of being able to provide the type of
services that you are used to providing for people, Yeah,
(51:34):
I mean, I think that.
Speaker 11 (51:35):
The hardest thing has been the people that we serve
and the impact that this fear has on them. It's
terrifying for them to hear it, to watch the news
and think about vital services that could be cut, whether
it's you know, Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps. This is going
(51:56):
to have a devastating effect If all of these cuts
do you come down. It's going to be really hard
for people who are living in poverty and really depend
on a lot of this to make ends meet.
Speaker 6 (52:06):
So with the money that the grant, money that you
have been you all as an organization have been given.
Now you sit back and you say to yourself, Okay, now,
how do we plan this out? What does the agenda
look like? How do we move forward with this? I'm
sure there were things before you received this grant award
that you were looking at doing some projects and things
like that. But now that you have this money, what
(52:30):
type of things are you looking to do in the future.
Speaker 11 (52:37):
Well, So, for one of the grants, which is our
HOPWA grant, we were awarded one point seven million dollars
for one year, and that grant is going to allow
us to serve seventy families, So seventy individuals and their
family members whether it be children, significant others, and will
be able to provide stable housing along with wrap around
(52:59):
services to create stability and build better lives for themselves
and their families. Because having a stable home is a
great foundation for someone to be successful in so many
different areas. If you don't have a stable home, it's
really hard to focus on your mental health and to
improve your mental health, your physical health, or even hold
(53:20):
down a job. So much can happen just because of
the stability of a home. So that grant is huge
and serves seventy families. Our Community Services grant is a
grant that supports our early childhood services, so it supports
daycare for children ages six weeks to three years old.
(53:42):
And these kids get so much love and affection and
they learn so much when they're in school to get
them kindergarten ready. It's an amazing program that we're able
to provide. So it's not just childcare, but it's childcare
and a loving and stigma free and vironment that includes
wrap around services to the entire family, so not just
(54:04):
the kids that are in the daycare, and we see
incredible results our parents. One percent of our parents that
are participating in the childcare services are living with HIV
and have reached viral suppression and they're living the highest.
Speaker 10 (54:18):
In the health or the healthiest life that they can live.
Speaker 11 (54:22):
And then lastly are ESG grant, which is the emergency
I think it's emergency solutions. Grant is going to fund
a portion of our street outreach, which helps support those
who are the hardest to reach. They're living on the
streets and have not been in medical care, and our
staff provide free HIV testing and connect them with resources
(54:43):
to meet basic needs, especially things like housing, which helps
to provide that foundation for them to get in care,
stay in care, and become virally suppressed.
Speaker 6 (54:54):
Well, you know what, just listening to you talk about
the services that you provide, comprehensives services for so many
different levels, I mean even going down to the babies,
and you're doing God's work. This is this is God's work,
this is what this is what we we as the people,
are intended to do to try to help each other.
(55:14):
And I would imagine before I let you go, the
gratification of of of seeing some of these people thrive
and seeing some of the success stories that you do.
You really you really can't. You can really never have
a bad day.
Speaker 4 (55:28):
Can you.
Speaker 11 (55:29):
Yeah, it's really hard to have a bad day. Our
clients are so wonderful and they seeing how they come from,
you know, being homeless and on the streets and really sick,
to thriving and having an amazing life and going back
to school or getting a job yeah, it's the most heartwarming.
Speaker 10 (55:47):
It brings me to tears all the time.
Speaker 6 (55:49):
Absolutely that. Well, listen a listen for our ladies and gentlemen.
A chief operating officer for Hope House Memphis and they
do amazing work. And men, listen, Thank you so much
for taking some time to come on the shoulder and
talk to us about this. And congratulations for a job
very very well done in our community. And we hope
you much great success in the future.
Speaker 11 (56:11):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 10 (56:13):
It's been an honor and I appreciate it. We're very
excited we.
Speaker 6 (56:15):
Have absolutely that. Thank you very very much. But there
you go. Ladies and gentlemen, Now that's see. You know,
if you know anything about me and you know anything
about this show, we I look for organizations. I look
for people who are doing big things for other folks
without thinking about themselves. And we have great needs in
(56:36):
Memphis and Shelby County in this community, and thank God
for organizations like the Hope House and so many others
who are doing doing the work on a daily basis.
It really is very very important. And I've always said,
you know, when I leave here, you know, I want
my legacy to be that, you know what, he tried
to help folks the best way he could, in whatever
(56:59):
way it is. And if that means being on radio
and exposing you to organizations who are doing amazing work,
well then then then so be it. On that one. Uh,
before we get out of here, you know, Event Horizon
is coming up next, and that is hosted by uh
Brent Butler, who happens to be my my my board
(57:19):
op over here and brn uh, you'll be up in
just a couple of minutes. What what what are you
going to thrill your audience with tonight musically?
Speaker 7 (57:28):
This week on the selection, it'll be some some kind
of some some goth stuff I'll be I'll be going
a little bit off, yeah, little atmospheric, a little dark,
a little creepy sometimes.
Speaker 6 (57:40):
But but they'll be freefy on this now.
Speaker 7 (57:44):
There'll be some some danceable beats and stuff like that.
Speaker 6 (57:47):
I just wanted to make sure, all right, don't go anywhere.
You'll be up in just a couple of minutes. As
he plays us out, Thank you Memphis and Chelby County
for supporting this show. I really appreciate it. If you
like what we do on a weekly basis, go out
and tell somebody we want to make a difference in
this community. And you know, I'm just I'm just big
(58:09):
on them and I and I you know. And again,
if we can do something to help to improve the
lives of somebody else or bring to attention when it's
happening out here, then he said, Lord, it takes me
tomorrow I can say. Look, God, I did the bet
the very best that I could. So for all of
us here at Real Top Memphis, thank you for being
(58:30):
a part of the show. So for Lovely Lola, who
is about the song that she is right there ladies
then me here wave answer. And for brand who is
up next with event Horizon, I'm chipped. Thank you from
the bottom of my heart really appreciate your support and
everything you do for us to make Real Talk Memphis
a fun show to do. And between now and then,
please please please be careful in this heat. Watch out
(58:52):
for your elderly, watch out for your children, watch out
for your pets, and more importantly, watch out for yourself.
God bless you each and every one of you. Love
your Memphis. Until next time we are out
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.