June 10, 2024 • 59 mins
This week on the Black Perspective, Morgyn Wood brings us her conversation with Education Secretary, Miguel Cordona. We also hear from Roland Martin, Esther Dillard, Andrea Coleman, and Doug Davis.
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(00:00):
Put your hands behind your back.In twenty twenty three, a Black Information
Network news anchor created a piece ofjournalism so powerful and he was murdered in
his own home. It's being recognizedby the Alliance for Women in Media.
Congratulations to Esther Dillard for her twentytwenty four Gracie Award winning series Black,
Autistic and Safe. Check out theseries now at binnews dot com. It's
(00:29):
Sunday, June ninth, and todaywe kick off Black Music Month. Morgan
Wood brings us her conversation with EducationSecretary of Miguel Cordona, and we'll also
hear from Roland Marton, Andrea Coleman, and Doug Davis. These stories and
more are coming your way next.Welcome to the Black Perspective. I'm your
host, Mike Island. Welcome tothe Black Perspective, a weekly community affairs
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program on the Black Information Network featuringinterviews and discussions on issues important to the
black community. Good Sunday to everyone, and welcome to Black Music Month and
another edition of The Black Perspective onthe Black Information Network. We start today's
program with Morgan Wood and her conversationwith Miguel Cordona. The US Secretary of
Education. He stopped to buy theBlack Information networked to talk about the latest
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student loan forgiveness plans, and alsoshared some great news related to education and
HBCUs. The Biden administration is continuingto push forward the cancelation of student loan
debt for millions of Americans, andjoining me now to talk more about it
is Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. It's good to have you back on
the Black Information Network. Thanks forjoining us. Of course, great to
(01:37):
be with you again. Yeah,so let's talk about it. It's been
a topic before President Biden took office, and despite the administration canceling more than
one hundred and sixty seven billion dollarsin student loan debt for four point seventy
five million Americans, there's still aneed. Why do you think that is.
It's because the system has been brokenfor decades and nobody's touched it right.
(01:57):
We have a higher education system inthis country that has rewarded wealth versus
intelligence and capability. We have toomany students in this country who choose not
to go to college because of thefear of the cost. So we are
unapologetic about leveling the playing field herefour point seven million, and that's with
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Republicans working hard to strike down andthe Supreme Court striking down the largest plan
that the President put forwards. Sowe're not done. We're back at it.
We recognize that we have a brokensystem that we need to fix so
that when we talk about equality andthe ability to succeed and addressing achievement disparities
in our country, we recognize thathigher education is a pathway forward to doing
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that. So we're opening the doorsof college access and affordability. The last
round went out to former students whoattended the arts institutes. Who stands to
benefit from this latest round of cancelation. So this one is a series of
different groups of people. For example, public servants. We have this law
called the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Plan. It says, if you choose to
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make your community better, go intopublic service. You work for ten years
in public service, you pay yourloans for ten years, you're done.
That means if you're a teacher,if you're a para educator, if you're
a nurse, if you're a veteran, a firefighter, or a police officer
who served the public, and youhave student loan. Still you're eligible for
debt relief. We're making good onthat promise, and the last administration,
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ninety eight percent of the people wereblocked. We recognize you don't go into
public service to be a millionaire.You do it to make your community better,
right, so we're doing that.We have students who applied for our
Safe Plan, which is the mostaffordable income driven repayment plan that we have.
If they took out a loan forless than twelve thousand dollars and they've
been paying it for ten years,they're done. You don't take out a
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twelve thousand dollars loan to pay forthe rest of your life. You need
to move on with life, buya home, help your kids with school.
So that's one. And then thereare people that have been paying their
loans for over twenty to years andthey're done. They met the contract obligations.
But there hasn't been anyone calculating that. So we're calculating it now and
we're sending letters to folks saying you'redone. You know that makes up the
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most recent seven point seven billion dollarsin debt relief. One hundred and sixty
thousand people got an email last weekthat changed their lives. And you know,
for us, we're fighting for hardworkingpeople who are trying to make ends
meet so that they don't go intodefault. They could spend their money instead
of seven hundred dollars a month ona student loan that they took out twenty
years ago, they could be buyinga home or helping their children go to
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college. That's what we're trying todo. Absolutely. Now you talked about
the people, what has the feedbackbeen like? Has the administration heard from
everyday citizens who have benefited from havingtheir student loan debt canceled? And you
know what does that sound like toyou guys? You know, it's funny
because you know, we work reallyhard to try to come up with these
big numbers and get as many peopleas possible, But every person has a
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story. I talked to a teacherin New York about a month ago.
Who you know this, this guygot about twelve thousand dollars in debt relief,
which isn't like a huge amount.Twelve thousand dollars was enough for this
guy to upgrade his apartment. Thisteacher's been teaching for fifteen years. He
said to me, I can upgrademy apartment so my son doesn't have to
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sleep in the walking closet. Wow, just let that sink in for a
second. There a teacher that's beenteaching for like fifteen years. Another teacher
said, I took out a loanfor thirty thousand dollars like fifteen years ago.
And you know a lot of blackborrowers, they have to borrow the
whole amount, right, they're notyou know, And we recognize the impact
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that that has in our black andbrown community too. So this one teacher
said, I've been teaching for Ithink it was like fifteen years, twelve
and fifteen years. She goes,I took out a loan for thirty thousand
dollars twelve fifteen years later, sheowed sixty thousand dollars because of the interest,
just the interest doubled it. Andshe was like in tears. She
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had her debt relieved. Now thisperson, this teacher, can give back
to her community, buy a homeand do you know, invest in the
community. So these stories are reallytouching. This is what the president set
out to do. We recognize theyare going to be haters out there.
They're going to try to stop usevery turn. Some of these same people
got debt relief themselves. But thatmotivates us. Those stories motivate us because
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that's that's who we're here to serve. Yeah, imagine that having to pour
into children. You know, yousend your kids to school with that high
expectation that the teacher is going todo their job, but meanwhile they might
go home and not be able topour into their own child. Speaking of
the haters, you talked about thehaters on the other side of the aisle,
There has been some rhetoric that cancelingstudent loan debt negatively impacts tax paying
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citizens. Can you speak more aboutthat? Yeah, they're wrong. We
had over a million people going intodefault every year. They didn't say boo
about that. You know what thatmeans. A million people going into default.
That means that their credit gets damaged, they can't buy a home,
they can't contribute. So we gotto fix that. But some of these
people that are complaining the loudest,they got PPP debt relief. They got
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over a million dollars in debt relief. They weren't complaining when we were bailing
out banks, when we were bailingout the auto industry or the airline industry.
Why is it that when we're helpingworking class Americans they're stressing out.
When we're addressing the racial wealth gapin this country, they're stressing out,
Like, I don't time for thatargument. I'm an educator, I'm not
a politician. I'm an educator.I'm a parent, I'm a first gen
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college kid. I know the systemis broken. I know we've normalized gaps
in this country, gaps in access, and we're doing something about it.
I'm proud of it. And youknow what, let them hate the louder
they hate the more. That meanswe're helping the people that we were hired
to help. Hey, there,you go, before I let you go,
because I know you have a supersuper busy schedule. Is there anything
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that you want to mention that wedid not touch on? Just in general?
You know a lot of people,you know, death forgiveness gets a
lot of attention, and rightfully so. But we're also trying to increase pel
grants to make sure that you know, if you're born without a lot of
financial resources, you still have theopportunity to go to higher ed. We're
also creating pathways because for your collegesis not for everyone. We want to
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make sure that students who like workingwith their hands or want to get into
the trades have a pathway to ahigh skill, high paying career where they're
not living in debt for the restof their life. You know, the
President's plan around higher affordability and accessis broad. That's what we're doing.
We're trying to level the playing fieldin this country because for far too long,
public education has separated those who haveand those who have not. We're
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changing that. We're changing it unapologetically, and I think if our country's going
to grow, we have to makesure that our education system is seen as
the foundation of that growth. Absolutely, it's good to know that the Department
of Education is providing other initiatives andthat you're also encouraging alternatives to student loans.
That's very important as we have youknow, graduate it's graduation season now.
You have a class of twenty twentyfour coming out and heading into college
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in the fall, So that's prettycool. What other initiatives does the Apartment
of Education? Is the Department ofEducation working on that would benefit the American
people, specifically black Americans? Yeah, well, you know, we're investing
heavily in our HBCUs. We're investingin college completion grants. We you know,
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through the American Rescue Plan, weput one hundred and thirty billion dollars
into the classroom address achievement disparities.We know in our communities of color in
particular, they needed those resources causemany times they were underfunded in the beginning
to help give students tutoring programs.We saw more black and brown students attend
summer school in the last three yearsthan we have in the last twenty five
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years I've been in education. Sowe're really intentional about closing gaps, about
making sure that our students are gettingthe mental health supports because a lot of
times when students have mental health needs, if they're not addressed, they're seen
as the discipline or behavioral issues.We got to correct that right, So
we're pumping We have forty percent moreschool social workers, we have thirty percent
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more nurses because of the push thatthe President has had on addressing the shortages
that we have in many of ourcity schools, in our urban districts.
So we're proud of the work thatwe're doing to provide mental health supports.
To provide pathways to careers and tomake sure that our kids are reading.
You know, at the end ofthe day, you know, literacy and
nuracy have to be at the heartof our programs. So we're putting more
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dollars to Title one schools. Thoseare schools that are under resource to make
sure that they have the reading teachers, just like they have them in the
suburbs. Right make sure that ourkids have a fighting chance. Like I
did. I only had what myneighborhood school off afforded me. I went
to a district and I still livein a district that has eighty percent of
the students on free reduced lunch.I only had what the public school has.
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In this administration, we're making surethat the local public school has resources
that can compete with the schools inthe suburbs. And that's what this president
stands for. That's what I'm proudto be a part of. How can
we stay in touch with you andthe other initiatives that you mentioned with the
Department of Education. I mean,you know, I could throw out websites
and all that stuff, but onsocial you know, Sec. Cardona,
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you could see what we're doing inthe US Department of d And I think
it's really important for the listeners toreally pay attention. It's an election year,
a lot of people are talking rhetoric. Just look at the facts.
We're about substance, not sensationalism.Look at what we've done to help black
and brown communities. And it's notjust for photo ops or because it's an
election year. Since day one.We've been doing this since day one.
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We're committed to it. I mean, he hired a public school teacher to
run the Department of Education, afirst gen Puerto Rican to run the Department
of Education. If that doesn't saylisten, we need a change in how
we're doing business, I don't knowwhat does. So we're committed to making
sure that we're taking care of allof our students from you know, every
corner of our country. Pay attentionthis year. There's a lot at stake,
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and I just want folks to recognizethat we're about substance. Man,
We're about changing people's lives through education, offering open doors to education for our
students regardless of their income or zipcode. And before I let you go,
I know, I know, Ikeep saying I'm to let you go,
but one more question, because youdid mention being Puerto Rican, what
does that representation mean to you tobe in this role. It means a
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lot. It means a lot.It means that you know, well,
my parents didn't have the luxury ofgoing to college, and you know they
work from day one when they gothere for Puerto Rico that because of public
education, I can now advise thePresident of the United States. You know
how many talented kids we have inour communities, in our neighborhoods, who
who are brighter than me, whojust need that door to be opened.
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That's what we're doing in the BidenHarrison administration. Man, and for me,
it's really important that as we ascend, we don't change our stripes and
we still represent that same body ofthat that same neighborhood that made us who
we are. Because these students,who are you know, resilient, have
a skill set that a lot ofkids don't have. They have a superpower
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to do more. So what weneed to do is just make sure public
education is providing that pathway and thatcollege isn't a barrier because of the cost.
That's what we're fighting for this administration. I appreciate your time as Department
of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. I'mMorgan would on the Black Information Network.
Thanks Morgan. June is Black MusicMonth, and today we kick off our
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month long music celebration. During BlackMusic Month, the Black Information Network Spotlight
shines on an event. Maurice Stevens, better known as Shaka Khan, one
of the most captivating song stylists andvocalists in the history of popular music.
This ten time Grammy winning artist fromChicago has a star studded five decade career
which has touched every genre of music. It has sold over seventy million records
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worldwide. Shaka Khan, with theband Rufus and as a solo artist,
is the recipient of numerous music andrecording awards. She's a once in a
lifetime talent. During this I'm KevinBrown on your Home for twenty four seven
News the Black Information Network. We'llbe right back with more of the Black
perspective. Stay tuned. The largestcivil rights conference is coming to New Orleans
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this summer, the National Urban LeagueConference July twenty fourth through the twenty seventh
at the Highest Regency, New Orleans. Register today at nuolconference dot org.
Don't miss the nation's leading business,political and community leaders, influencers, and
celebrities as they all meet up fromthe twenty fourth through the twenty seventh downtown
at the Hyde Regency, New Orleans. Don't wait register today at nulconference dot
(14:31):
org. Welcome back. You're listeningto the Black Perspective on the Black Information
Network. I'm your host, MikeIsland and now it's time to check in
with Gracie Award winning news acor EstherDillard for this week's installment of The Color
Between the Lines. I'm Ester Dillardon the Black Information Network, chatting with
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writers and authors who offer an addedperspective for our listeners, the Color between
the Lines. On this ignition ofThe Color Between the Lines, we're talking
with a power couple about relationships andmarriage and the book is called Make Love,
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Make Money, and Make It Last. Ten Secrets to shape a Great
Marriage, and the authors of itare joining us doctor Willie Jolly, who
is an award winning public speaker,and his wife, Dee Taylor Jolly.
Welcome mister and missus Jolly to thebin. Thank you, thankk you for
having us. What's a joy tobe on with you. Esther and I
(15:37):
appreciate your sharing these ideas with yourlisteners. Well, I am. I
enjoyed your book. I know thatyou get this all the time, because
it's one of the first questions thatcame to mind when I was reading the
cover inside cover of the book.You claim that you guys have been married
for thirty two years, and inthirty of those years you never had an
argument. How in the world didyou pull that off? Or is this
(15:58):
some man You disagreed but you didn'targue. What we like to say it
is now with even further because that'sthe first edition of the book, and
so we're now in our third printing. But we're now being married going on
thirty nine years. Haven't had anargument in thirty seven? Now. We
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were on a national television show andthe host said, you never had an
argument. I said, I didn'tsay I never had an argument. I
said, we haven't had an argumentin all these years. The answer is,
yes, we've had arguments. Thosefirst couple of years were like World
War three. So we learned somewise principles from some wise teachers who taught
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us to stop arguing and to startloving. And it worked, and those
principles we put in the book,and we haven't had an argument in at
least thirty five, thirty six yearsor more. But we have not had
an argument. Now, do wealways agree? No, learn how to
disagree without being disagreeable, without arguing. We got it. We got what
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we call rules of engagement systems thathelp people to not argue. They can
disagree, but they don't have toargue. They don't have to have these
hot tempered We disagree quite often.In fact, we had one of my
relatives she called and she said,oh, we were at dinner and said,
oh, my husband and I hada big blow up and it's like
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giganic. I said, okay,i'll call you when we get home.
We had some other folks with usand we got home. I said,
okay, what's going on? Andhe started, well, she said this,
and he and she and she said, and he said this and then
and I said, stop stop.That's immaterial. The issue is immaterial.
The system is what fixes it.Do you have a system for not arguing?
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And he said what do you mean? And we we shared it with
them, our system and they usedit. Now, this was in our
of whatever year, that was Novemberof that year, they had their Thanksgiving
dinner in New Jersey where they live, and they invited the whole family,
like twenty five people, and theytook us out to dinner and said,
we have not argued since you gaveus a system. It works. So
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the question because what is the systemthat's right? What's the system that was
the next one and it's in thebook, but we also have it on
our marriage website. It's free.Go to jollymarriage dot com and watch our
Ted Talk alb to never ever argueagain in marriage. It's very popular.
Lots of people are using it andit's working. We had we've had people
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who said it just literally changed theirmarriage by watching the Ted Talk and using
our system. Simple system, veryvery inspirational. Yes, which is D
says, Okay, let me giveyou the system and you can go in
a degraded detail because it's a tenminute Ted Talk four f's we call it
the four F system for never everargain again. Number one, be friendly.
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Now the question becomes, how canyou be friendly when you are annoyed,
angry. Let's eve it real.Now you're going to have to do
so that at least you can bepleasant and not sound outraged. So you
have to make a decision that I'ma going calm if you ain't angry,
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if you're hot tempered, take awalk, go for a drive, take
a deep bread counter to ten,but don't go in hot tempered. Don't
go in angry, because then peopleput up defense mechanisms and they cannot discuss
honestly and openly what the issue is. Number two, So this is the
person that you chose right right.You love that you're married by choice.
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Number two, be frank about yourfeelings. Tell the truth about how that
anger made you feel. Okay,whatever it is, revenue, say you
did this or you did that,Say point back to me, this is
how that made me feel. Ifelt devalued, I felt belittled. Whatever
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it is, you hurt my feelings. Now, men sometimes have a hard
time doing that, and I'm encouragingmen to learn to say you hurt my
feelings, okay, and discuss it, not about what they did, about
how you made you feel. Numberthree, be friendly, be frank,
be fair. Now what does thatmean. That means you got to hear
their side of the story. Yougot to say why did you do that,
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Why did you say that, Whydid that happen, and then you
might get a new perspective that makesyou say, oh, but you really
have to listen and question so thatyou understand you're not listening so that you
can go on and say what youwere going to say. Originally a lot
of us do that, so wecall it FUC listen question and then Claire
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for listen question, did you meanoh you didn't mean? Oh you mean
oh? Yeah, we clarify,okay, be fairly, be frank,
be fair about, be fair,and it'll be focused on a win win.
Hey, when there's the winning,teamwork makes the dream work. So
we work together to fix things andto overcome things. And when you see
(21:15):
the Ted talk, you'll see howI made a mistake and how we made
a decision to work together. Sothose are the four f's that will help
you never have argument again in marriage. I love it. I think it's
really a very very great system.What prompted I guess both of you guys
to sit down and write your storyand sharing your marriage wisdom? Our son
(21:38):
our son his our thirtieth anniversary.His idea was, I'm gonna have a
party for my friends to come overto celebrate with you. On your thirtieth
anniversary. He said, okay,all right, do you want to de
fine? So we go out todinner. We come back fare about two
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hundred yellow people in our house,many pizza and soft drinks. While we're
gone, there build up the house. So we gave them our ten tips
to never ever argue again and neverand have a great marriage, and his
steps to have a great marriage.The next day he comes in and said,
my phone is blowing up. Myphone is blowing up. People are
(22:19):
calling me want to know more,They want to book, and we said,
we don't have time for book.As you said, I'm a well
known speaker, I guess, andI'm traveling all over the world speaking the
major corporations. I didn't have timefor a book about marriage. I wrote
the book of Setback as a setUp or Comeback, an Attitude of Excellence,
and a few others, and thatkept me busy. I said,
(22:41):
that's not my brand, that's notin my lane. But he kept pushing,
he kept pressing. We finally didit, and I'm so glad we
did because we've had people who literallyhave been on the way to divorce court.
People filed divorce, some had evendivorced and done the paperwork, read
the book, and are back together. So I led to share us with
(23:04):
his friends because so many of hisfriends come from households where they are separated,
have challenges, And when he wouldtalk about his parents, they would
say, I don't really believe thatthey work together. They traveled together,
they're together all the time. Idon't believe you. He said, Well,
(23:26):
this was like, here's the proof, and he said, we never
I've never seen a Morgin. I'mover thirty. I've never seen a Mogue.
He said. The only thing Ihear from them was that night,
them giggling in the bed. Okay, from what about in here? So
we say there's some principles that work. And what we did to write the
book was, after we finally decided, we gave our principles, the things
(23:49):
that we have used over the yearswe've been together decades. Then we interviewed
people who have been married forty,fifty and sixty years and got their insights,
and then we compile all that intosome research based studies as well,
so informational based studies, and it'sworking. People are just just changing.
Well for those of you who arejust joining us, I'm speaking with doctor
(24:11):
Willie Johlly and d Taylor Jolly abouttheir book Make Love, Make Money,
and Make It Last. Ten Secretsto shape a Great marriage. Well,
it's interesting. I'm glad that bothof you were involved in this book so
you can hear a woman's perspective anda man's perspective. You both made a
very big point about that not everythingin your life has been so super easy.
(24:34):
And when you had a teenager thatwas disrespecting you and mister Jolly,
you had to make a decision onmaking, you know, bring her into
your life for both of you,was this one of your biggest tests of
your relationship? Would you say sayyes? And how did you overcome it?
(24:57):
You have to decide who the adult? And once you identified that you
are the adult, what is theright thing to do? And sometimes the
right thing to do is not alwayscomfortable? So who did I rely on
for wisdom? I went to mymom and she provided that wisdom of First
(25:18):
of all, you married someone whohad a child. How would you want
that person to treat your child ifyou had a blended family? Hmm,
then I suggest you behave in alike fashion. Does it matter what they
do it matters what you do yourbehavior. So I did the right thing.
(25:45):
Yeah, mister Jolly, was that? Oh I'm sorry, please please
continue supported. Even though it wasuncomfortable, it was the right thing to
do. Yeah. Was this difficultfor you as well, mister Joan,
Oh, my god was. Ihad two females that I loved, my
daughter who was a teenager, mywife who I love, and they were
(26:11):
worrying. I'm in the middle.What do I do. Here's what I
did. I went to my mama. You can get some wives counsel from
mama, And I said, Mama, what do I do here? She
said, you know, I've neverbeen in that situation. Your dad and
I didn't have any children. Webrought into the family. We got married
and had our two sons. Shesaid, here's what I will tell you,
(26:33):
though, Do what I do whenI don't know what to do,
pray and ask for wisdom. Andthat's what I did. And God gave
me wisdom to get through this andto make it better, and to be
equitable and fair and to be opento listen and learn. And today all
(26:53):
of you know, it's great.We get along very well. She would
just hear. She's grown with herchildren. And it's all good because we
didn't blow it up in that moment. Okay, So wisdom, pray and
ask for wisdom. I saw throughoutthe book. Faith is very very big
part of you, of your lives, and of your family and this book
(27:18):
and it's been a very big inspiration, I'm sure to so many people.
I know I was inspired by readingthrough it. And I hope that you
can just tell us where you canfind your book best and where we can
we can find you and your workif they want to work with you.
Sure first of all, to findthe book at jollymarriage dot com j O
(27:41):
L L E Y or j OL L Y. Either way you spell
jolly, it will get there jollymarriagedot com. And we recommend you get
two copies of the book, onefor you and one for your significant other.
We have found that the most effectiveway to build your marriage, because
you don't want to one read itand then the other one have to wait
and read it. You read ittogether. At the end of chapter we
have learning points and you can readit and discuss it. We have one
(28:04):
couple who said they've been married fifteenyears called us said can we have dinner
with you. They came up fromRichmond, Virginia and said, we want
to have dinner. We had dinnerwith them and they said, we did
what you recommended. We got twocopies. At the intervy chapter, we
talked about it and at the endof the book we both cried because we
realized we had so much we didn'tknow about each other. It's profound,
(28:26):
so Jollymarriage dot com. Second,I encourage everybody to join us every Monday
night on The Jolly Marriage Show onYouTube Live, Facebook Live, Instagram live
and LinkedIn live. If you justfollow us on social media a Jolly Marriage,
A Jolly Marriage or Facebook, aJolly Marriage on Instagram, a Jolly
Marriage or Twitter and Willie Jolly LinkedInLive. And then if you want me,
(28:49):
doctor Willy Jolly about any of mybooks, you can hear me on
radio, you can hear me ontelevision, or you can read my bookshow
and have me come speak for yourorganization, go to win with really dot
com. Well that's it for thisedition of The Color Between the Lines.
The book is make Love, MakeMoney, and make it Last. Ten
Secrets to shape a great marriage.I'm Asca Dillard on the Black Information Set.
(29:21):
Thanks Esther. The Black Information Networkhas an amazing team of commentators who
bring their unique perspectives to stories impactingthe black community. Now let's hear from
Roland Martin on another topic trending inthis week's news. The Biden Harris campaign,
of course, held a rally inPhiladelphia last week that was focused on
Blacks for Biden Harris. But havinga rally is one thing. What has
(29:47):
to happen is is a much moreconcerted and targeted effort to black voters.
You have some Democrats who are sayingthat, well, it is still early,
it is may, we think thenumbers are going to come around.
What I keep saying is the issueis not going to be the percentage of
the Black vote that Biden Harris gets. It's going to be what is the
level of intensity. The fact ofthe matter is, if they're going to
(30:11):
stand a chance winning Georgia, they'regoing to have to have a much more
significant and robust response from black voters. Keep in mind, twenty twenty four
is totally different than twenty and twenty. In twenty twenty, Reverend Rafael Warnock
and John Osoff were both on theballot, so you had Georgians you had
(30:34):
progressive Georgians doing all they can toensure that you're going to have significant,
let me say it again, significantturnout to elect the first black United States
Senator from Georgia, only the secondAfrican American US Senator in the South,
as well as a Jewish senator inJohn Osoff. Biden Harris is not going
(30:59):
to benefit from them being on theballot. So you're gonna have to have
a much more aggressive campaign. Thatmeans spending dollars with black on media,
That means seeding money on the ground. Everything cannot be about running commercials on
television. The same applies to Pennsylvania. The same applies to Milwaukee, where
(31:23):
there was a fifty thousand vote dropoff in twenty twenty two from twenty eighteen.
Biden hairs can't better get real whenit comes to Black voters because the
runway is getting shorter and shorter.I'm Roland Martin on the Black Information Network.
Be sure to catch Roland Martin,James T. Harris, and Mo
Kelly for exclusive daily commentary on theBlack Information Network. For many children,
(31:47):
summer break is a time for boundlessfund with family and friends, But for
some it's a break from a consistentsource of food, the Black Information Networks.
Andrea Coleman introduces us to an organizationlooking to close that gap for the
millions of children in America facing foodin security. MIKE. For children challenged
by food in security, school isoften the one place in their daily routines
(32:08):
where they can get a meal.When that trusted source closes for summer break,
finding a replacement source for food canbe difficult. An organization called Share
Our Strength is working to change that. We recently spoke with Elliott Gaskins,
the organization's acting Chief Resource Development andGrowth Officer, about the impact there,
a signature campaign called No Kid Hungryis making in the lives of children across
(32:30):
the country throughout the year. Andmister Gaskins, thank you so much for
joining us. Please tell us aboutNo Kid Hungry. What does the organization
do so. Share Strength is anorganization that was founded this year, actually
we're celebrating our fortieth anniversary, andit was founded on the premise that no
matter who you are, no matterwhat station and in life you are,
(32:52):
that everybody has an extraordinary gift andstrength Share and so we leverage that across
all of our stakeholders, whether it'sBillainer's Community partners advocates. That has been
sort of the core principles of whowe are as an organization. In twenty
ten, we launched our No KidHungry Campaign, which was our all out
effort to address and childhood hunger inAmerica, and we do that through several
(33:14):
ways go on. We support communitiesand schools so that they can find creative,
innovative ways to feed kids. Oneof the things we know very specifically
is that there are many seemingly intractablechallenges in the world, but that hunger,
childhood hunger, should not be oneof them. We live in the
most prosperous country in the world.There's not famine, there's not drought.
(33:37):
It is mainly about civic and politicalwill and access and the work of Share
Our Strength through our No Kid HungryCampaign is about improving access so that kids
have access to three meals a day, seven days a week, three hundred
and sixty five days a year,and so we work with communities to make
sure that that happens. Advocacy isalso a huge part of our work.
(33:58):
We know that change can happened inthis country through legislation, so supporting advocacy
efforts around everything from snap and WICKand other programs to ensure that families have
more resources in their pocket to feedkids. And I would say the other
element of our work is education anddriving awareness about the profundity of the childhood
(34:19):
hunger crisis in this country. Thirteenmillion kids in the United States of America
are not sure where they're going tohave reliable access to food, and so
it is in every corner of thiscountry, in every community, and we
are committed to spreading the word andgetting more people involved in understanding the gravity
of this and the urgency of addressingthis crisis. You use the term crisis,
(34:43):
and I take it that you're usingthat not only because of what you're
seeing, but you're using it intentionallyso we can understand the intensity and the
severity of the situation. Can youexpound on that just a little bit more
when you say, christ is whatare we talking about in particular feeding a
child about ensuring that they're not hungry. But it goes much beyond that,
(35:04):
because when a child is hungry,they're going to go to school not prepared
to learn. They're going to goto school not ready to be fully engaged
in class, they are going tobe dealing with things like stigma being that
kid who has to raise their handbecause they need that additional support. And
so it not only affects kids ina short term, but in the long
(35:25):
term and how it impacts their futureand their education, their achievement, their
willingness to be involved. And sois it a crisis when the fact that
you have thirteen million children who arefacing these circumstances, This not only affects
the moment that they're in right now, but it affects their long term success,
their viability, their ability to dreamand to think beyond that current circumstances.
(35:49):
And so that is why for usit is a crisis, and it
is an urgent one for the verysake of the future of the children of
this country. How do people helpor support you reach those children. Well,
firstly, we have an extraordinary communityof supporters and stakeholders, and so
what fuse all work is philanthropic investment. And so our corporate partners, like
(36:15):
our leading partner, like City,We have an extraordinary group of restaurant partners,
whether it's Fogo de Chaw RB's TropicalSmoothie, these are corporations that are
committed to investing to make sure thatwe can create innovative solutions in communities.
One of the examples is a programthat we've helped implement across the country that
(36:37):
is viewed by the investment of fundersand individual and corporate donors, a program
called Breakfast after the Bell. Typically, in communities in years past, if
a kid that was eligible for breakfastmeals, they'd had to get to school
early before first period or realize thatthat was impacting millions of kids inability to
(36:57):
receive meals because they cannot get toschool early, that parents were working and
it just cannot provide them transportation toget to school. What we also found
is that something that I mentioned afew minutes ago is that when you are
that kid showing up early to school, everyone sees you, and so there's
a great deal of stigma. Andso one of the programs that we've helped
implement is Breakfast after the Bell,where breakfast is integrated into first period.
(37:22):
And so what that does is itmakes breakfast available to every student, It
reduces the stigma, and is alsovery much integrated in the school day in
a way that does not disrupt theclassroom. We've helped ensure over the last
seven years that more than three millionadditional kids now have access to breakfast after
the school and we're very much seeingthe impact of that in terms of academic
(37:42):
achievement. And so there are someof the ways that some of our supporters
have helped us address this crisis inthis country that is tremendous. And it's
tremendous that you're putting so much emphasisor you're including the psychological impact and consideration
of stigma. That's such a hardcringfocused approach to providing assistance and making certain
(38:06):
that we're reaching their children in apositive way. You mentioned that you're seeing
some outcome from academic performance. Canyou share some of the insight or whatever
insight you may have on the outcomesthat you're seeing and the differences that that
program is making in children's lives.Well, you know as that mean,
so we know that you know,kids who live with hunger, they can't
(38:27):
focus in class, they struggle tolearn, and they ultimately fall behind.
We know that the research shows thatkids that don't get the nutrition they need
they're to hire risk both the shortand long term challenges. And men it's
physical and emotional wellbeing. And sowhat we're seeing, you know, as
we're going across with communities, we'reseeing academic achievement sore, We're seeing kids
get much more involved in extracurricular activities, things like behavioral challenges. I mean
(38:53):
just think you know, as anadult, when you know when you miss
breakfast or when you miss lunch,you become and that impacts your ability to
focus. Imagining a young child whohas a developing mind, who is missing
several meals, that is going toimpact them very directly. And so we're
seeing some extraordinary signs across the countryabout what feeding kids does for achievement and
(39:16):
social engagement. And so that iswhat we're very focused on, and that's
sort of our charged in and commitmentto the children of this country that is
so phenomenal. We have a clientthat is working also in the food insecurity
space or to provide meals to familiesacross America, and one of the things
(39:37):
that they did was they provided thousandsof book bags full of food throughout the
school year for children to take home. How impactful would a program like that
be for children who are facing hungeron a daily basis? It's extraordinarily impactful.
You know. One of the thingsthat we know is that for many
(39:58):
kids who rely on free use pricemeals and schools, that that is a
core mechanism of how they get theirfood and nutrition through schools. And so
when schools are closed, as wesaw during the pandemic especially, that presents
a challenge. So anytime we canprovide an opportunities for these kinds of backpack
programs where kids can bring home mealsoutside of sort of the school structure,
(40:22):
that's going to make an enormous impact. I would just highlight one specific example
of how innovative programs can change thisfor children in this country is a little
over a year ago, Congress,through the work of Share Our Strength and
a lot of our partners, butwe led to efforts for Congress to approve
a twenty nine billion dollar investment toexpand access for summer meals for kids across
(40:46):
this country over the next several years. In a nutshell, this legislation will
be historic because it has the abilityto impact more than thirty million kids over
the next five years. As Imentioned, when kids are out of school,
it's a troubling time, and summeris the hungriest time of year for
many many students, and so whatthis investment and the expansion of summer meals
(41:08):
will do will allow for additional resourcesSummer EBT which will put one hundred and
twenty dollars additional resources into the pocketsof families so they can have additional opportunities
and support to feed their kids duringthese hungry summer months. The other element
of that is that it will allowmore flexibility where and how you feed kids.
(41:30):
Typically, the programs in the summerwere very structured about meeting and a
congred setting, meaning that they hadto go to a specific location to get
those malls. But you can imaginein some rural communities, in some communities
where transportation is a challenge, itis hard to meet at specific locations.
And so what this opportunity will allowis more flexibility and drop offs and where
(41:52):
we can drop food off in communities, various sites throughout the community that make
it more convenient for kids to reachand so well, our work over the
next several years will be about implementingand executing in these programs during the summer,
and so all of these things addup when you can be creative in
how you reach and serve kids isgoing to make an extraordinary difference. What
(42:14):
might people who have not experienced foodin security not understand about hunger? It's
a really good question. I wouldsay the larger impact of what hunger does
to a child, It creates stressI'm worrying about is my siblings enough to
eat? I know my mother isworking hard and it's just not providing enough.
(42:35):
That is providing additional stress on meand the entire family. How does
that affect my health short and longterm? It is the reverberating effects.
It's not just the stomach growling.It's a holistic view. It has impact
all corners of a child's development,not only that physical well being, but
their mental well being. And it'slike we've all heard the term toxic stress
(42:57):
and what that does. And ifyou're constantly in a state where you're thinking
about where my next mail is goingto come from? How is my parents
going to help me provide for thesemeals? That creates and it's harmful over
time. And so that is whyyou know, as I said, this
work is so critically urgent. Wecertainly need to alleviate the hunger crisis,
but we need to make sure we'realleviating all of the long term impacts and
(43:21):
effect that hunger has on children.And so we feel I Share our strength
a deep responsibility for that, andwe are exceedingly grateful to all of our
partners, our advocates, our communityand school leaders. A huge champion supporter
of Share our strength also is theculinary community, and as I mentioned,
the restaurant community and hospitality. Wehave a group of CEOs I mentioned this
(43:45):
summer advocacy work and implementation of summermeals that is expanding. We have a
group of restaurant CEOs who are signingon to a CEO pledge. We're committing
over the next several years to raisetwenty five million dollars to make sure that
these summer programs can be implemented effectively. And so we need every corner,
(44:06):
sort of other country, every populationto join us in raising their voices investing
in this work. We call hungersometimes a hidden crisis, because if your
child is not going to school witha classmate who's hungry, or you don't
see hunger in your community, youmay very well think that it does not
exist in this community. And soour work is about changing that and educating
(44:30):
the entire country on how they canengage in how they can get involved.
It's hard to do these kinds ofstories and not feel the impact and the
emotional connection to what you're doing.You mentioned a couple of things, and
I wanted to circle back on justone, and I'm not certain what your
response may be. It could bethat this is not an issue or a
factor at all, and what youall are seeing, But is there a
(44:51):
racial component to any of these?We do know in some of the statistics
in the data that we've reviewed thatit seems as though black and brown communities
are hitt much harder by food andsecurity. Is there a racial component involved
in what you're seeing in the spacethat you're operating in. Sure, I
appreciate that. I would start bysaying, we know and as I mentioned,
(45:12):
childhood hunger exists in every community,rural, urban in this country.
It does not discriminate, but wedo know that there are disparities that persist.
It affects all racial and ethnic groups, but it remains substantially higher than
the national average for black and brownhouseholds with children. Black households in particular,
those families are nearly three times aslikely to experience food and security than
(45:36):
white households with children. And sothere are those disparities that exist, and
we try to think very strategically abouthow to support and help communities that are
disproportionately impacted in ways. And sothose disparities certainly are sharp. We recognize
them, and our work it's abouthow we can support these communities and theaper
(46:00):
and more effective ways. For sure, what's the solution? You know?
I think part of the solution isthe collective consciousness of America being raised about
the severity of this issue. Andit's hard. There are many things happening
in our world right now, thetragedy in the Middle East, climate change,
(46:22):
there are so many issues that wecan be focused on, but this
one goes to the very soul ofthis country. Nelson Mandela once said that
the true character of a nation isrevealed by the way that it treats his
children. So we have to elevatethe focus and the commitment and the political
and civic will to address. AsI said, it's not because we don't
(46:45):
have enough resources in this country.We have to improve access, We have
to create innovative solutions to reach thosecommunities that are hard to reach. I
do believe that with the political civicwill and the collective consciousness of this country
being raised to give the focus tothis issue that it needs, that we
can one thousand percent solve this crisis. But it takes that collective commitment.
(47:09):
And the final piece that I wouldjust say that it's not as easy to
measure, is a collective empathy.The idea for all of us, no
matter where we are in life,to look outside sort of our own perspectives,
to step outside of our own shoes, to think of others in this
country who are not doing as well. I think a combination of all those
(47:30):
things, we can certainly be onthe path to solve childhood hunger. And
that's what the work of Share Strengththrough our No Kid Hungry campaign is about.
It's about building that political will,It's about increasing that collective consciousness,
It's about that civic will all focusedin a concerted way to addressing this issue
that is so powerful. How canour listeners learn more? Just simply go
(47:50):
to wwwnokid hungry dot org to learnabout our programs. Families can go to
our site to learn how to findresource their community and also We're on all
you Know Facebook where No Kid Hungry. You can search for us on TikTok
to find more information about our workand how you can get engaged. Thank
you Andrea Again. You can learnmore about No Kid Hungry at No Kid
(48:14):
Hungry Dot Oregon. June is BlackMusic Month and our very own Doug Davis
takes a deep dive into our richmusical history with a very special guest,
Doug. Thanks Mike, this isDoug Davis and we're putting the brakes in
our weekly segment and titled Your BlackBusiness to touch on the rich history of
our music and its influence on Americanculture. June is Black Music Month and
(48:35):
joining me as a true legend inmusic. Keith Winslow's Little Richard's road manager
for a while and a longtime friend. Keith, Welcome to the BN.
We left off talking about how youwere united with Little Richard and how he
recruited you to join his team outWest. Let's talk about the cultural impact
of Little Richard. I mean,let's talk James Brown, Prince Elvis.
(48:59):
You know many the artists that areconsidered musical icons got their style from Little
Richard. In what ways do youthink Little Richard's music and performances contributed to
the cultural empowerment of Black Americans duringthat pivotal time and history, which was
around the Civil Rights era. Yes, well, we didn't have but three
(49:20):
or four names that they were allentertainments. They had just Sammy Davis.
You know, I can go downof all the black names of people who
did stuff during that era. ButRichard was on his own carrying the ball
because it was flamboyance that made thedifference. We were sitting at the Apollo
Theater in New York and backstage wasBetty Davis and people don't remember who she
(49:44):
was, the actress, the firstwife of Miles Davis. Okay, Betty
Davis, the five staarstups, LittleRichard, Jackie Wilson, and backstage was
Aretha Frank And they were having aconversation Screw to give me screaming Jay Hawkins,
and they all were bowing to Richard, and Richard told them, they
(50:07):
said, all y'all got that nappyhair. Entertainment is flamboyants. Entertainment is
flamboyant, and all of y'all willbe back, and Saron and Sammy called
him from Johnny Carson, So Richard, I love it. I love it,
love it, love it man.That was a little Richard's influence on
(50:30):
the industry. There was one othertime that I know now was important.
It wasn't that big to me then. Was we played the Aladdin Hotel in
Las Vegas one night on Sunday nights. Richard did one last show because all
the other entertainers got off with oneshow so you could come to their Latin.
(50:52):
All the entertainers would come down tothe Latin on Sunday night and see
the stars. All the stars wouldshow up and support that show this night.
One side of the back of theaudience was Elvis Espreshman in his authorage.
The other side was the rat Pack. I'm standing on stage, I
can't see nothing. Light shaver myface and I heard you screaming, and
it was all over, and theknights went down. I could see the
(51:13):
rat Pack and Sammy and all ofthem waving Franks and watching them waving.
Elvis walked down the aisle, gotup on stage and walked backstage with being
Richard, his road managers, MeIsrael manager for Richard, all stood backstage
and when they finished, good friends. They're talking about places they had seen
each other before, in their familiesand that, and at the end when
(51:35):
they had to separate, they huggedand Elvis looked at Richard said, no
matter what they say, you willalways be the true king of rock and
roll. Now that's from Elvis's mouthto my ears to Richard's. And Richard
said, I wouldn't have been kingif they hadn't been playing by you said,
thank you for recording my soul.And let's talk about the influence that
(51:57):
Richard had on Elvis. What wasthat like? I mean, you know,
did Elvis just really steal all ofhis style or was it just to
compliment Richard? I mean share withWell, it wasn't all Richard. You
got to remember Elvis like Jackie Wilsondo you got to remember Elvis to shake
that leg? He got that fromJackie. But the style and the music
(52:19):
was Richie. Elvison never stolen.Everybody was taking everybody's in Florida music in
that era of time. Richard happenedto be the most flamboyant one who did
it better than everybody else. That'sright, Prince that followed him, Mick
Jagger's followed him. I can godown the era of all music at the
time and in this modern time,because you got a member of it before
(52:39):
there was Richard, There was CamTalloway, there was somebody before Richard,
but Richard took it to the nextlevel. Yeah, if you go back
and look at cab Calim was shakinghis head. It was there anyway,
but Richard took her to the nextlevel. And because he was flamboyant,
the gay thing popped out. WhenRichard got to Vegas, he started telling
everybody he was the bronze liber Rochi, right right, that's one of his
(53:02):
famous nicknames. That's one of hisfamous nicknames. In the liver Rochi were
friends. Okay, Richard said,I will never be able to play piano
as good as Liberal Rochi, fetcheddog, but they can't do it.
I do, exactly. Come on. So, you know, during those
days in the sixties before Las Vegaswas integrated, you know, black performers
(53:29):
had to come in the back inthe kitchen and perform and then leave right
back out and go over to thehistoric West Side where we were at.
What was that experience like, youknow, traveling with Richard during those trying
times in the sixties, It wasright at the edge of integration. When
we played the Aladdin, they putus in a bungalow. Now I can
(53:50):
tell you a lot of good storiesabout that bungalow, but that was that
was the beginning of the change ofthem allowing black entertainers to stay all the
strip at hotel where they were recording, because before this wasn't happening. Board
them with the good days. Butagain we were not in it. In
fact, I can't even remember goinginto the casino except through the back door
(54:13):
into the event, back out ofthe back door to the barn. Wow,
that's how I beat the book.Every city we ever went in,
Richard knew a black restaurant that fedus our food. That's right. So
we got in the car in thelimousine, we went over to the Molar
Ruge on the west side of LasVegas and sat there at the restaurant bar
and talked to all the cast anew Richard. That was a part of
(54:36):
the way it was done. Yougot to remember that ten years before that,
most of them couldn't eat it inthe white restaurants. Any let's talk
about the business of music. Howdid Little Richard's success impact the business side
of the music industry. Well,in the long run, Richard was one
of the ones that stood up andsaid, okay, it's time to fight
these people, because you got toremember, they took all his money.
But he wasn't the only one.I can tell you Storge about Pastomeno and
(55:00):
TV King and all of them wentthrough this. Everybody in the old days
had safety in the trunk of thecars because you couldn't put money in the
bank. Black entertainers could not taketwenty thousand and fifty thousand dollars to stop
the Jackson Mississippi put their money inthe bank. Wow, So they kept
safety in their car. The mostpopular safe in the trunk of the car
was Chuck Berry because he fights youover his car. But outside of yes,
(55:22):
so Richard began to break that mold. He went and got Bumps blackwell,
which was his manner for a time. Then Bumps quit and JW.
Alexander took over, and then Bumpscame back. But Bumps was the one
who said, okay, we gotto get past this stuff. For Richard,
you know, you can't get carryingthis kind of money because money was
changing. The signs of the amountof money you gott remember those artists who
(55:43):
knows there's maybe nay, five thousand, seven thousand dollars. All of a
sudden they went from twelve thousand tofifty thousand and less than a year.
Wow. Richard had a major influence, and in the end he got out.
He got an old Martin Luther Kingticket, signed up and down Hollywood
Boulevard to William Marshall and said,okay, we got you back. Yeah,
(56:05):
so Richard. Of course the industrywhich helped Prince. Okay, Richard
talked to Prince before Prince became thesign. He talked to the Richard and
Richard said, child, don't dothat. Whatever you got to do,
get all your money now. Andall of a sudden Prince became to sign,
he got all his money. Let'stalk about that changeover when he converted
(56:27):
to Christianity. What was the vibelike in the country when that happened,
and what was his motive behind it. Was it something that Richard in his
life that led him to that,or well, Richard always loved this guy.
He was one of those children whogrew up in a large family and
the church was a major part ofall of the southern children's lives at that
(56:49):
time. So Richard was one ofthose who loved his church, he loved
his God. But by him beena little banger on the piano, he's
been a little bit effeminine that hewas picked off. So he always had
had this tumultuous relationship with him andhis gup. Me and Richard had prayed
many times five So yeah, hecalled my mom and just prayed. They
were our Richard kept all Miss Andrew'sbook was his bibe. Was the world
(57:12):
in shock when that happened? Howhow did the media and his fans take
it? The problem is that backthen the media was just radio. Nobody
watched TV really, you know,at that point in time, it was
just radio and newsprints. So theimpact was, oh, what happened to
me? Going to Richard? Richardwas tripp or Crown. He had three
represent the top ten. So heshocked the world when he walked away,
(57:35):
but it didn't shock the other entertainerswho loved his music. What does Little
Richard's Journey tell us about the resilienceand innovation of black musicians in America,
particularly with the kind of music thatwe're hearing today that they call r and
B and or hip hop. Thereis a language of music that will never
fade. That Richard was a partyrock and the road is here to say,
(57:58):
just like Beethoven is not go what'shappening is that black music has an
influence that will stand for all time. And these kids were doing some rap.
Now some of them are gonna goback to bands. Some of them
are gonna go back to this,and they're gonna embrace it, and they're
gonna look at it, and there'sgonna be a whole new music coming from
(58:20):
our young kids who are now listeningto Little Richard and listening to Tupac and
listening to Jay Z Keith Winslow.I tell you I could ask you at
least another thirty more questions, butwe are out of time. I appreciate
you sharing your stories as we commemoratethe legends of black music during Black Music
Month. My name is Doug Davis, and this is the Black Perspective.
(58:43):
Thanks Doug, and that's our programfor this week. For more on these
stories, listen to the Black InformationNetwork on the free iHeartRadio app or log
onto binnews dot com for all ofthe latest news impacting the black community.
Also be sure to follow us onsocial media at Black Information Network and on
X and Black infil Net. I'mMike Island, wishing everyone a great Sunday
(59:06):
and thanks for joining us, andbe sure to tune in next week at
this time for another edition of theBlack Perspective right here on the Black Information
Network. The Black Information Network andsix time Emmy nominated news anchor Vanessa Tyler
welcome you to black Land, apodcast about the ground on which the Black
community stands right now. Some storiesabout salvation and loss. I love the
(59:29):
person who had an a hirvy diagnosis, the dreams achieved or yet unfulfilled from
people who have made it. Isat down with a therapist and I begin
my journey to those left behind.Listen to black Land on the iHeartRadio app
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Put your hands behind your back.In twenty twenty three, a Black Information
Network news anchor created a piece ofjournalism so powerful and he was murdered in
his own home. It's being recognizedby the Alliance for Women in Media.
Congratulations to Esther Dillard for her twentytwenty four Gracie Award winning series Black,
Autistic and Safe. Check out theseries now at binnews dot com. It's
(00:29):
Sunday, June ninth, and todaywe kick off Black Music Month. Morgan
Wood brings us her conversation with EducationSecretary of Miguel Cordona, and we'll also
hear from Roland Marton, Andrea Coleman, and Doug Davis. These stories and
more are coming your way next.Welcome to the Black Perspective. I'm your
host, Mike Island. Welcome tothe Black Perspective, a weekly community affairs
(00:52):
program on the Black Information Network featuringinterviews and discussions on issues important to the
black community. Good Sunday to everyone, and welcome to Black Music Month and
another edition of The Black Perspective onthe Black Information Network. We start today's
program with Morgan Wood and her conversationwith Miguel Cordona. The US Secretary of
Education. He stopped to buy theBlack Information networked to talk about the latest
(01:15):
student loan forgiveness plans, and alsoshared some great news related to education and
HBCUs. The Biden administration is continuingto push forward the cancelation of student loan
debt for millions of Americans, andjoining me now to talk more about it
is Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. It's good to have you back on
the Black Information Network. Thanks forjoining us. Of course, great to
(01:37):
be with you again. Yeah,so let's talk about it. It's been
a topic before President Biden took office, and despite the administration canceling more than
one hundred and sixty seven billion dollarsin student loan debt for four point seventy
five million Americans, there's still aneed. Why do you think that is.
It's because the system has been brokenfor decades and nobody's touched it right.
(01:57):
We have a higher education system inthis country that has rewarded wealth versus
intelligence and capability. We have toomany students in this country who choose not
to go to college because of thefear of the cost. So we are
unapologetic about leveling the playing field herefour point seven million, and that's with
(02:19):
Republicans working hard to strike down andthe Supreme Court striking down the largest plan
that the President put forwards. Sowe're not done. We're back at it.
We recognize that we have a brokensystem that we need to fix so
that when we talk about equality andthe ability to succeed and addressing achievement disparities
in our country, we recognize thathigher education is a pathway forward to doing
(02:42):
that. So we're opening the doorsof college access and affordability. The last
round went out to former students whoattended the arts institutes. Who stands to
benefit from this latest round of cancelation. So this one is a series of
different groups of people. For example, public servants. We have this law
called the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Plan. It says, if you choose to
(03:07):
make your community better, go intopublic service. You work for ten years
in public service, you pay yourloans for ten years, you're done.
That means if you're a teacher,if you're a para educator, if you're
a nurse, if you're a veteran, a firefighter, or a police officer
who served the public, and youhave student loan. Still you're eligible for
debt relief. We're making good onthat promise, and the last administration,
(03:30):
ninety eight percent of the people wereblocked. We recognize you don't go into
public service to be a millionaire.You do it to make your community better,
right, so we're doing that.We have students who applied for our
Safe Plan, which is the mostaffordable income driven repayment plan that we have.
If they took out a loan forless than twelve thousand dollars and they've
been paying it for ten years,they're done. You don't take out a
(03:51):
twelve thousand dollars loan to pay forthe rest of your life. You need
to move on with life, buya home, help your kids with school.
So that's one. And then thereare people that have been paying their
loans for over twenty to years andthey're done. They met the contract obligations.
But there hasn't been anyone calculating that. So we're calculating it now and
we're sending letters to folks saying you'redone. You know that makes up the
(04:11):
most recent seven point seven billion dollarsin debt relief. One hundred and sixty
thousand people got an email last weekthat changed their lives. And you know,
for us, we're fighting for hardworkingpeople who are trying to make ends
meet so that they don't go intodefault. They could spend their money instead
of seven hundred dollars a month ona student loan that they took out twenty
years ago, they could be buyinga home or helping their children go to
(04:32):
college. That's what we're trying todo. Absolutely. Now you talked about
the people, what has the feedbackbeen like? Has the administration heard from
everyday citizens who have benefited from havingtheir student loan debt canceled? And you
know what does that sound like toyou guys? You know, it's funny
because you know, we work reallyhard to try to come up with these
big numbers and get as many peopleas possible, But every person has a
(04:55):
story. I talked to a teacherin New York about a month ago.
Who you know this, this guygot about twelve thousand dollars in debt relief,
which isn't like a huge amount.Twelve thousand dollars was enough for this
guy to upgrade his apartment. Thisteacher's been teaching for fifteen years. He
said to me, I can upgrademy apartment so my son doesn't have to
(05:15):
sleep in the walking closet. Wow, just let that sink in for a
second. There a teacher that's beenteaching for like fifteen years. Another teacher
said, I took out a loanfor thirty thousand dollars like fifteen years ago.
And you know a lot of blackborrowers, they have to borrow the
whole amount, right, they're notyou know, And we recognize the impact
(05:36):
that that has in our black andbrown community too. So this one teacher
said, I've been teaching for Ithink it was like fifteen years, twelve
and fifteen years. She goes,I took out a loan for thirty thousand
dollars twelve fifteen years later, sheowed sixty thousand dollars because of the interest,
just the interest doubled it. Andshe was like in tears. She
(05:56):
had her debt relieved. Now thisperson, this teacher, can give back
to her community, buy a homeand do you know, invest in the
community. So these stories are reallytouching. This is what the president set
out to do. We recognize theyare going to be haters out there.
They're going to try to stop usevery turn. Some of these same people
got debt relief themselves. But thatmotivates us. Those stories motivate us because
(06:18):
that's that's who we're here to serve. Yeah, imagine that having to pour
into children. You know, yousend your kids to school with that high
expectation that the teacher is going todo their job, but meanwhile they might
go home and not be able topour into their own child. Speaking of
the haters, you talked about thehaters on the other side of the aisle,
There has been some rhetoric that cancelingstudent loan debt negatively impacts tax paying
(06:42):
citizens. Can you speak more aboutthat? Yeah, they're wrong. We
had over a million people going intodefault every year. They didn't say boo
about that. You know what thatmeans. A million people going into default.
That means that their credit gets damaged, they can't buy a home,
they can't contribute. So we gotto fix that. But some of these
people that are complaining the loudest,they got PPP debt relief. They got
(07:04):
over a million dollars in debt relief. They weren't complaining when we were bailing
out banks, when we were bailingout the auto industry or the airline industry.
Why is it that when we're helpingworking class Americans they're stressing out.
When we're addressing the racial wealth gapin this country, they're stressing out,
Like, I don't time for thatargument. I'm an educator, I'm not
a politician. I'm an educator.I'm a parent, I'm a first gen
(07:26):
college kid. I know the systemis broken. I know we've normalized gaps
in this country, gaps in access, and we're doing something about it.
I'm proud of it. And youknow what, let them hate the louder
they hate the more. That meanswe're helping the people that we were hired
to help. Hey, there,you go, before I let you go,
because I know you have a supersuper busy schedule. Is there anything
(07:47):
that you want to mention that wedid not touch on? Just in general?
You know a lot of people,you know, death forgiveness gets a
lot of attention, and rightfully so. But we're also trying to increase pel
grants to make sure that you know, if you're born without a lot of
financial resources, you still have theopportunity to go to higher ed. We're
also creating pathways because for your collegesis not for everyone. We want to
(08:09):
make sure that students who like workingwith their hands or want to get into
the trades have a pathway to ahigh skill, high paying career where they're
not living in debt for the restof their life. You know, the
President's plan around higher affordability and accessis broad. That's what we're doing.
We're trying to level the playing fieldin this country because for far too long,
public education has separated those who haveand those who have not. We're
(08:33):
changing that. We're changing it unapologetically, and I think if our country's going
to grow, we have to makesure that our education system is seen as
the foundation of that growth. Absolutely, it's good to know that the Department
of Education is providing other initiatives andthat you're also encouraging alternatives to student loans.
That's very important as we have youknow, graduate it's graduation season now.
You have a class of twenty twentyfour coming out and heading into college
(08:56):
in the fall, So that's prettycool. What other initiatives does the Apartment
of Education? Is the Department ofEducation working on that would benefit the American
people, specifically black Americans? Yeah, well, you know, we're investing
heavily in our HBCUs. We're investingin college completion grants. We you know,
(09:16):
through the American Rescue Plan, weput one hundred and thirty billion dollars
into the classroom address achievement disparities.We know in our communities of color in
particular, they needed those resources causemany times they were underfunded in the beginning
to help give students tutoring programs.We saw more black and brown students attend
summer school in the last three yearsthan we have in the last twenty five
(09:39):
years I've been in education. Sowe're really intentional about closing gaps, about
making sure that our students are gettingthe mental health supports because a lot of
times when students have mental health needs, if they're not addressed, they're seen
as the discipline or behavioral issues.We got to correct that right, So
we're pumping We have forty percent moreschool social workers, we have thirty percent
(10:01):
more nurses because of the push thatthe President has had on addressing the shortages
that we have in many of ourcity schools, in our urban districts.
So we're proud of the work thatwe're doing to provide mental health supports.
To provide pathways to careers and tomake sure that our kids are reading.
You know, at the end ofthe day, you know, literacy and
nuracy have to be at the heartof our programs. So we're putting more
(10:22):
dollars to Title one schools. Thoseare schools that are under resource to make
sure that they have the reading teachers, just like they have them in the
suburbs. Right make sure that ourkids have a fighting chance. Like I
did. I only had what myneighborhood school off afforded me. I went
to a district and I still livein a district that has eighty percent of
the students on free reduced lunch.I only had what the public school has.
(10:45):
In this administration, we're making surethat the local public school has resources
that can compete with the schools inthe suburbs. And that's what this president
stands for. That's what I'm proudto be a part of. How can
we stay in touch with you andthe other initiatives that you mentioned with the
Department of Education. I mean,you know, I could throw out websites
and all that stuff, but onsocial you know, Sec. Cardona,
(11:09):
you could see what we're doing inthe US Department of d And I think
it's really important for the listeners toreally pay attention. It's an election year,
a lot of people are talking rhetoric. Just look at the facts.
We're about substance, not sensationalism.Look at what we've done to help black
and brown communities. And it's notjust for photo ops or because it's an
election year. Since day one.We've been doing this since day one.
(11:30):
We're committed to it. I mean, he hired a public school teacher to
run the Department of Education, afirst gen Puerto Rican to run the Department
of Education. If that doesn't saylisten, we need a change in how
we're doing business, I don't knowwhat does. So we're committed to making
sure that we're taking care of allof our students from you know, every
corner of our country. Pay attentionthis year. There's a lot at stake,
(11:52):
and I just want folks to recognizethat we're about substance. Man,
We're about changing people's lives through education, offering open doors to education for our
students regardless of their income or zipcode. And before I let you go,
I know, I know, Ikeep saying I'm to let you go,
but one more question, because youdid mention being Puerto Rican, what
does that representation mean to you tobe in this role. It means a
(12:16):
lot. It means a lot.It means that you know, well,
my parents didn't have the luxury ofgoing to college, and you know they
work from day one when they gothere for Puerto Rico that because of public
education, I can now advise thePresident of the United States. You know
how many talented kids we have inour communities, in our neighborhoods, who
who are brighter than me, whojust need that door to be opened.
(12:39):
That's what we're doing in the BidenHarrison administration. Man, and for me,
it's really important that as we ascend, we don't change our stripes and
we still represent that same body ofthat that same neighborhood that made us who
we are. Because these students,who are you know, resilient, have
a skill set that a lot ofkids don't have. They have a superpower
(13:01):
to do more. So what weneed to do is just make sure public
education is providing that pathway and thatcollege isn't a barrier because of the cost.
That's what we're fighting for this administration. I appreciate your time as Department
of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. I'mMorgan would on the Black Information Network.
Thanks Morgan. June is Black MusicMonth, and today we kick off our
(13:22):
month long music celebration. During BlackMusic Month, the Black Information Network Spotlight
shines on an event. Maurice Stevens, better known as Shaka Khan, one
of the most captivating song stylists andvocalists in the history of popular music.
This ten time Grammy winning artist fromChicago has a star studded five decade career
which has touched every genre of music. It has sold over seventy million records
(13:46):
worldwide. Shaka Khan, with theband Rufus and as a solo artist,
is the recipient of numerous music andrecording awards. She's a once in a
lifetime talent. During this I'm KevinBrown on your Home for twenty four seven
News the Black Information Network. We'llbe right back with more of the Black
perspective. Stay tuned. The largestcivil rights conference is coming to New Orleans
(14:07):
this summer, the National Urban LeagueConference July twenty fourth through the twenty seventh
at the Highest Regency, New Orleans. Register today at nuolconference dot org.
Don't miss the nation's leading business,political and community leaders, influencers, and
celebrities as they all meet up fromthe twenty fourth through the twenty seventh downtown
at the Hyde Regency, New Orleans. Don't wait register today at nulconference dot
(14:31):
org. Welcome back. You're listeningto the Black Perspective on the Black Information
Network. I'm your host, MikeIsland and now it's time to check in
with Gracie Award winning news acor EstherDillard for this week's installment of The Color
Between the Lines. I'm Ester Dillardon the Black Information Network, chatting with
(14:54):
writers and authors who offer an addedperspective for our listeners, the Color between
the Lines. On this ignition ofThe Color Between the Lines, we're talking
with a power couple about relationships andmarriage and the book is called Make Love,
(15:16):
Make Money, and Make It Last. Ten Secrets to shape a Great
Marriage, and the authors of itare joining us doctor Willie Jolly, who
is an award winning public speaker,and his wife, Dee Taylor Jolly.
Welcome mister and missus Jolly to thebin. Thank you, thankk you for
having us. What's a joy tobe on with you. Esther and I
(15:37):
appreciate your sharing these ideas with yourlisteners. Well, I am. I
enjoyed your book. I know thatyou get this all the time, because
it's one of the first questions thatcame to mind when I was reading the
cover inside cover of the book.You claim that you guys have been married
for thirty two years, and inthirty of those years you never had an
argument. How in the world didyou pull that off? Or is this
(15:58):
some man You disagreed but you didn'targue. What we like to say it
is now with even further because that'sthe first edition of the book, and
so we're now in our third printing. But we're now being married going on
thirty nine years. Haven't had anargument in thirty seven? Now. We
(16:21):
were on a national television show andthe host said, you never had an
argument. I said, I didn'tsay I never had an argument. I
said, we haven't had an argumentin all these years. The answer is,
yes, we've had arguments. Thosefirst couple of years were like World
War three. So we learned somewise principles from some wise teachers who taught
(16:42):
us to stop arguing and to startloving. And it worked, and those
principles we put in the book,and we haven't had an argument in at
least thirty five, thirty six yearsor more. But we have not had
an argument. Now, do wealways agree? No, learn how to
disagree without being disagreeable, without arguing. We got it. We got what
(17:04):
we call rules of engagement systems thathelp people to not argue. They can
disagree, but they don't have toargue. They don't have to have these
hot tempered We disagree quite often.In fact, we had one of my
relatives she called and she said,oh, we were at dinner and said,
oh, my husband and I hada big blow up and it's like
(17:27):
giganic. I said, okay,i'll call you when we get home.
We had some other folks with usand we got home. I said,
okay, what's going on? Andhe started, well, she said this,
and he and she and she said, and he said this and then
and I said, stop stop.That's immaterial. The issue is immaterial.
The system is what fixes it.Do you have a system for not arguing?
(17:52):
And he said what do you mean? And we we shared it with
them, our system and they usedit. Now, this was in our
of whatever year, that was Novemberof that year, they had their Thanksgiving
dinner in New Jersey where they live, and they invited the whole family,
like twenty five people, and theytook us out to dinner and said,
we have not argued since you gaveus a system. It works. So
(18:18):
the question because what is the systemthat's right? What's the system that was
the next one and it's in thebook, but we also have it on
our marriage website. It's free.Go to jollymarriage dot com and watch our
Ted Talk alb to never ever argueagain in marriage. It's very popular.
Lots of people are using it andit's working. We had we've had people
(18:41):
who said it just literally changed theirmarriage by watching the Ted Talk and using
our system. Simple system, veryvery inspirational. Yes, which is D
says, Okay, let me giveyou the system and you can go in
a degraded detail because it's a tenminute Ted Talk four f's we call it
the four F system for never everargain again. Number one, be friendly.
(19:03):
Now the question becomes, how canyou be friendly when you are annoyed,
angry. Let's eve it real.Now you're going to have to do
so that at least you can bepleasant and not sound outraged. So you
have to make a decision that I'ma going calm if you ain't angry,
(19:23):
if you're hot tempered, take awalk, go for a drive, take
a deep bread counter to ten,but don't go in hot tempered. Don't
go in angry, because then peopleput up defense mechanisms and they cannot discuss
honestly and openly what the issue is. Number two, So this is the
person that you chose right right.You love that you're married by choice.
(19:45):
Number two, be frank about yourfeelings. Tell the truth about how that
anger made you feel. Okay,whatever it is, revenue, say you
did this or you did that,Say point back to me, this is
how that made me feel. Ifelt devalued, I felt belittled. Whatever
(20:07):
it is, you hurt my feelings. Now, men sometimes have a hard
time doing that, and I'm encouragingmen to learn to say you hurt my
feelings, okay, and discuss it, not about what they did, about
how you made you feel. Numberthree, be friendly, be frank,
be fair. Now what does thatmean. That means you got to hear
their side of the story. Yougot to say why did you do that,
(20:30):
Why did you say that, Whydid that happen, and then you
might get a new perspective that makesyou say, oh, but you really
have to listen and question so thatyou understand you're not listening so that you
can go on and say what youwere going to say. Originally a lot
of us do that, so wecall it FUC listen question and then Claire
(20:55):
for listen question, did you meanoh you didn't mean? Oh you mean
oh? Yeah, we clarify,okay, be fairly, be frank,
be fair about, be fair,and it'll be focused on a win win.
Hey, when there's the winning,teamwork makes the dream work. So
we work together to fix things andto overcome things. And when you see
(21:15):
the Ted talk, you'll see howI made a mistake and how we made
a decision to work together. Sothose are the four f's that will help
you never have argument again in marriage. I love it. I think it's
really a very very great system.What prompted I guess both of you guys
to sit down and write your storyand sharing your marriage wisdom? Our son
(21:38):
our son his our thirtieth anniversary.His idea was, I'm gonna have a
party for my friends to come overto celebrate with you. On your thirtieth
anniversary. He said, okay,all right, do you want to de
fine? So we go out todinner. We come back fare about two
(21:59):
hundred yellow people in our house,many pizza and soft drinks. While we're
gone, there build up the house. So we gave them our ten tips
to never ever argue again and neverand have a great marriage, and his
steps to have a great marriage.The next day he comes in and said,
my phone is blowing up. Myphone is blowing up. People are
(22:19):
calling me want to know more,They want to book, and we said,
we don't have time for book.As you said, I'm a well
known speaker, I guess, andI'm traveling all over the world speaking the
major corporations. I didn't have timefor a book about marriage. I wrote
the book of Setback as a setUp or Comeback, an Attitude of Excellence,
and a few others, and thatkept me busy. I said,
(22:41):
that's not my brand, that's notin my lane. But he kept pushing,
he kept pressing. We finally didit, and I'm so glad we
did because we've had people who literallyhave been on the way to divorce court.
People filed divorce, some had evendivorced and done the paperwork, read
the book, and are back together. So I led to share us with
(23:04):
his friends because so many of hisfriends come from households where they are separated,
have challenges, And when he wouldtalk about his parents, they would
say, I don't really believe thatthey work together. They traveled together,
they're together all the time. Idon't believe you. He said, Well,
(23:26):
this was like, here's the proof, and he said, we never
I've never seen a Morgin. I'mover thirty. I've never seen a Mogue.
He said. The only thing Ihear from them was that night,
them giggling in the bed. Okay, from what about in here? So
we say there's some principles that work. And what we did to write the
book was, after we finally decided, we gave our principles, the things
(23:49):
that we have used over the yearswe've been together decades. Then we interviewed
people who have been married forty,fifty and sixty years and got their insights,
and then we compile all that intosome research based studies as well,
so informational based studies, and it'sworking. People are just just changing.
Well for those of you who arejust joining us, I'm speaking with doctor
(24:11):
Willie Johlly and d Taylor Jolly abouttheir book Make Love, Make Money,
and Make It Last. Ten Secretsto shape a Great marriage. Well,
it's interesting. I'm glad that bothof you were involved in this book so
you can hear a woman's perspective anda man's perspective. You both made a
very big point about that not everythingin your life has been so super easy.
(24:34):
And when you had a teenager thatwas disrespecting you and mister Jolly,
you had to make a decision onmaking, you know, bring her into
your life for both of you,was this one of your biggest tests of
your relationship? Would you say sayyes? And how did you overcome it?
(24:57):
You have to decide who the adult? And once you identified that you
are the adult, what is theright thing to do? And sometimes the
right thing to do is not alwayscomfortable? So who did I rely on
for wisdom? I went to mymom and she provided that wisdom of First
(25:18):
of all, you married someone whohad a child. How would you want
that person to treat your child ifyou had a blended family? Hmm,
then I suggest you behave in alike fashion. Does it matter what they
do it matters what you do yourbehavior. So I did the right thing.
(25:45):
Yeah, mister Jolly, was that? Oh I'm sorry, please please
continue supported. Even though it wasuncomfortable, it was the right thing to
do. Yeah. Was this difficultfor you as well, mister Joan,
Oh, my god was. Ihad two females that I loved, my
daughter who was a teenager, mywife who I love, and they were
(26:11):
worrying. I'm in the middle.What do I do. Here's what I
did. I went to my mama. You can get some wives counsel from
mama, And I said, Mama, what do I do here? She
said, you know, I've neverbeen in that situation. Your dad and
I didn't have any children. Webrought into the family. We got married
and had our two sons. Shesaid, here's what I will tell you,
(26:33):
though, Do what I do whenI don't know what to do,
pray and ask for wisdom. Andthat's what I did. And God gave
me wisdom to get through this andto make it better, and to be
equitable and fair and to be opento listen and learn. And today all
(26:53):
of you know, it's great.We get along very well. She would
just hear. She's grown with herchildren. And it's all good because we
didn't blow it up in that moment. Okay, So wisdom, pray and
ask for wisdom. I saw throughoutthe book. Faith is very very big
part of you, of your lives, and of your family and this book
(27:18):
and it's been a very big inspiration, I'm sure to so many people.
I know I was inspired by readingthrough it. And I hope that you
can just tell us where you canfind your book best and where we can
we can find you and your workif they want to work with you.
Sure first of all, to findthe book at jollymarriage dot com j O
(27:41):
L L E Y or j OL L Y. Either way you spell
jolly, it will get there jollymarriagedot com. And we recommend you get
two copies of the book, onefor you and one for your significant other.
We have found that the most effectiveway to build your marriage, because
you don't want to one read itand then the other one have to wait
and read it. You read ittogether. At the end of chapter we
have learning points and you can readit and discuss it. We have one
(28:04):
couple who said they've been married fifteenyears called us said can we have dinner
with you. They came up fromRichmond, Virginia and said, we want
to have dinner. We had dinnerwith them and they said, we did
what you recommended. We got twocopies. At the intervy chapter, we
talked about it and at the endof the book we both cried because we
realized we had so much we didn'tknow about each other. It's profound,
(28:26):
so Jollymarriage dot com. Second,I encourage everybody to join us every Monday
night on The Jolly Marriage Show onYouTube Live, Facebook Live, Instagram live
and LinkedIn live. If you justfollow us on social media a Jolly Marriage,
A Jolly Marriage or Facebook, aJolly Marriage on Instagram, a Jolly
Marriage or Twitter and Willie Jolly LinkedInLive. And then if you want me,
(28:49):
doctor Willy Jolly about any of mybooks, you can hear me on
radio, you can hear me ontelevision, or you can read my bookshow
and have me come speak for yourorganization, go to win with really dot
com. Well that's it for thisedition of The Color Between the Lines.
The book is make Love, MakeMoney, and make it Last. Ten
Secrets to shape a great marriage.I'm Asca Dillard on the Black Information Set.
(29:21):
Thanks Esther. The Black Information Networkhas an amazing team of commentators who
bring their unique perspectives to stories impactingthe black community. Now let's hear from
Roland Martin on another topic trending inthis week's news. The Biden Harris campaign,
of course, held a rally inPhiladelphia last week that was focused on
Blacks for Biden Harris. But havinga rally is one thing. What has
(29:47):
to happen is is a much moreconcerted and targeted effort to black voters.
You have some Democrats who are sayingthat, well, it is still early,
it is may, we think thenumbers are going to come around.
What I keep saying is the issueis not going to be the percentage of
the Black vote that Biden Harris gets. It's going to be what is the
level of intensity. The fact ofthe matter is, if they're going to
(30:11):
stand a chance winning Georgia, they'regoing to have to have a much more
significant and robust response from black voters. Keep in mind, twenty twenty four
is totally different than twenty and twenty. In twenty twenty, Reverend Rafael Warnock
and John Osoff were both on theballot, so you had Georgians you had
(30:34):
progressive Georgians doing all they can toensure that you're going to have significant,
let me say it again, significantturnout to elect the first black United States
Senator from Georgia, only the secondAfrican American US Senator in the South,
as well as a Jewish senator inJohn Osoff. Biden Harris is not going
(30:59):
to benefit from them being on theballot. So you're gonna have to have
a much more aggressive campaign. Thatmeans spending dollars with black on media,
That means seeding money on the ground. Everything cannot be about running commercials on
television. The same applies to Pennsylvania. The same applies to Milwaukee, where
(31:23):
there was a fifty thousand vote dropoff in twenty twenty two from twenty eighteen.
Biden hairs can't better get real whenit comes to Black voters because the
runway is getting shorter and shorter.I'm Roland Martin on the Black Information Network.
Be sure to catch Roland Martin,James T. Harris, and Mo
Kelly for exclusive daily commentary on theBlack Information Network. For many children,
(31:47):
summer break is a time for boundlessfund with family and friends, But for
some it's a break from a consistentsource of food, the Black Information Networks.
Andrea Coleman introduces us to an organizationlooking to close that gap for the
millions of children in America facing foodin security. MIKE. For children challenged
by food in security, school isoften the one place in their daily routines
(32:08):
where they can get a meal.When that trusted source closes for summer break,
finding a replacement source for food canbe difficult. An organization called Share
Our Strength is working to change that. We recently spoke with Elliott Gaskins,
the organization's acting Chief Resource Development andGrowth Officer, about the impact there,
a signature campaign called No Kid Hungryis making in the lives of children across
(32:30):
the country throughout the year. Andmister Gaskins, thank you so much for
joining us. Please tell us aboutNo Kid Hungry. What does the organization
do so. Share Strength is anorganization that was founded this year, actually
we're celebrating our fortieth anniversary, andit was founded on the premise that no
matter who you are, no matterwhat station and in life you are,
(32:52):
that everybody has an extraordinary gift andstrength Share and so we leverage that across
all of our stakeholders, whether it'sBillainer's Community partners advocates. That has been
sort of the core principles of whowe are as an organization. In twenty
ten, we launched our No KidHungry Campaign, which was our all out
effort to address and childhood hunger inAmerica, and we do that through several
(33:14):
ways go on. We support communitiesand schools so that they can find creative,
innovative ways to feed kids. Oneof the things we know very specifically
is that there are many seemingly intractablechallenges in the world, but that hunger,
childhood hunger, should not be oneof them. We live in the
most prosperous country in the world.There's not famine, there's not drought.
(33:37):
It is mainly about civic and politicalwill and access and the work of Share
Our Strength through our No Kid HungryCampaign is about improving access so that kids
have access to three meals a day, seven days a week, three hundred
and sixty five days a year,and so we work with communities to make
sure that that happens. Advocacy isalso a huge part of our work.
(33:58):
We know that change can happened inthis country through legislation, so supporting advocacy
efforts around everything from snap and WICKand other programs to ensure that families have
more resources in their pocket to feedkids. And I would say the other
element of our work is education anddriving awareness about the profundity of the childhood
(34:19):
hunger crisis in this country. Thirteenmillion kids in the United States of America
are not sure where they're going tohave reliable access to food, and so
it is in every corner of thiscountry, in every community, and we
are committed to spreading the word andgetting more people involved in understanding the gravity
of this and the urgency of addressingthis crisis. You use the term crisis,
(34:43):
and I take it that you're usingthat not only because of what you're
seeing, but you're using it intentionallyso we can understand the intensity and the
severity of the situation. Can youexpound on that just a little bit more
when you say, christ is whatare we talking about in particular feeding a
child about ensuring that they're not hungry. But it goes much beyond that,
(35:04):
because when a child is hungry,they're going to go to school not prepared
to learn. They're going to goto school not ready to be fully engaged
in class, they are going tobe dealing with things like stigma being that
kid who has to raise their handbecause they need that additional support. And
so it not only affects kids ina short term, but in the long
(35:25):
term and how it impacts their futureand their education, their achievement, their
willingness to be involved. And sois it a crisis when the fact that
you have thirteen million children who arefacing these circumstances, This not only affects
the moment that they're in right now, but it affects their long term success,
their viability, their ability to dreamand to think beyond that current circumstances.
(35:49):
And so that is why for usit is a crisis, and it
is an urgent one for the verysake of the future of the children of
this country. How do people helpor support you reach those children. Well,
firstly, we have an extraordinary communityof supporters and stakeholders, and so
what fuse all work is philanthropic investment. And so our corporate partners, like
(36:15):
our leading partner, like City,We have an extraordinary group of restaurant partners,
whether it's Fogo de Chaw RB's TropicalSmoothie, these are corporations that are
committed to investing to make sure thatwe can create innovative solutions in communities.
One of the examples is a programthat we've helped implement across the country that
(36:37):
is viewed by the investment of fundersand individual and corporate donors, a program
called Breakfast after the Bell. Typically, in communities in years past, if
a kid that was eligible for breakfastmeals, they'd had to get to school
early before first period or realize thatthat was impacting millions of kids inability to
(36:57):
receive meals because they cannot get toschool early, that parents were working and
it just cannot provide them transportation toget to school. What we also found
is that something that I mentioned afew minutes ago is that when you are
that kid showing up early to school, everyone sees you, and so there's
a great deal of stigma. Andso one of the programs that we've helped
implement is Breakfast after the Bell,where breakfast is integrated into first period.
(37:22):
And so what that does is itmakes breakfast available to every student, It
reduces the stigma, and is alsovery much integrated in the school day in
a way that does not disrupt theclassroom. We've helped ensure over the last
seven years that more than three millionadditional kids now have access to breakfast after
the school and we're very much seeingthe impact of that in terms of academic
(37:42):
achievement. And so there are someof the ways that some of our supporters
have helped us address this crisis inthis country that is tremendous. And it's
tremendous that you're putting so much emphasisor you're including the psychological impact and consideration
of stigma. That's such a hardcringfocused approach to providing assistance and making certain
(38:06):
that we're reaching their children in apositive way. You mentioned that you're seeing
some outcome from academic performance. Canyou share some of the insight or whatever
insight you may have on the outcomesthat you're seeing and the differences that that
program is making in children's lives.Well, you know as that mean,
so we know that you know,kids who live with hunger, they can't
(38:27):
focus in class, they struggle tolearn, and they ultimately fall behind.
We know that the research shows thatkids that don't get the nutrition they need
they're to hire risk both the shortand long term challenges. And men it's
physical and emotional wellbeing. And sowhat we're seeing, you know, as
we're going across with communities, we'reseeing academic achievement sore, We're seeing kids
get much more involved in extracurricular activities, things like behavioral challenges. I mean
(38:53):
just think you know, as anadult, when you know when you miss
breakfast or when you miss lunch,you become and that impacts your ability to
focus. Imagining a young child whohas a developing mind, who is missing
several meals, that is going toimpact them very directly. And so we're
seeing some extraordinary signs across the countryabout what feeding kids does for achievement and
(39:16):
social engagement. And so that iswhat we're very focused on, and that's
sort of our charged in and commitmentto the children of this country that is
so phenomenal. We have a clientthat is working also in the food insecurity
space or to provide meals to familiesacross America, and one of the things
(39:37):
that they did was they provided thousandsof book bags full of food throughout the
school year for children to take home. How impactful would a program like that
be for children who are facing hungeron a daily basis? It's extraordinarily impactful.
You know. One of the thingsthat we know is that for many
(39:58):
kids who rely on free use pricemeals and schools, that that is a
core mechanism of how they get theirfood and nutrition through schools. And so
when schools are closed, as wesaw during the pandemic especially, that presents
a challenge. So anytime we canprovide an opportunities for these kinds of backpack
programs where kids can bring home mealsoutside of sort of the school structure,
(40:22):
that's going to make an enormous impact. I would just highlight one specific example
of how innovative programs can change thisfor children in this country is a little
over a year ago, Congress,through the work of Share Our Strength and
a lot of our partners, butwe led to efforts for Congress to approve
a twenty nine billion dollar investment toexpand access for summer meals for kids across
(40:46):
this country over the next several years. In a nutshell, this legislation will
be historic because it has the abilityto impact more than thirty million kids over
the next five years. As Imentioned, when kids are out of school,
it's a troubling time, and summeris the hungriest time of year for
many many students, and so whatthis investment and the expansion of summer meals
(41:08):
will do will allow for additional resourcesSummer EBT which will put one hundred and
twenty dollars additional resources into the pocketsof families so they can have additional opportunities
and support to feed their kids duringthese hungry summer months. The other element
of that is that it will allowmore flexibility where and how you feed kids.
(41:30):
Typically, the programs in the summerwere very structured about meeting and a
congred setting, meaning that they hadto go to a specific location to get
those malls. But you can imaginein some rural communities, in some communities
where transportation is a challenge, itis hard to meet at specific locations.
And so what this opportunity will allowis more flexibility and drop offs and where
(41:52):
we can drop food off in communities, various sites throughout the community that make
it more convenient for kids to reachand so well, our work over the
next several years will be about implementingand executing in these programs during the summer,
and so all of these things addup when you can be creative in
how you reach and serve kids isgoing to make an extraordinary difference. What
(42:14):
might people who have not experienced foodin security not understand about hunger? It's
a really good question. I wouldsay the larger impact of what hunger does
to a child, It creates stressI'm worrying about is my siblings enough to
eat? I know my mother isworking hard and it's just not providing enough.
(42:35):
That is providing additional stress on meand the entire family. How does
that affect my health short and longterm? It is the reverberating effects.
It's not just the stomach growling.It's a holistic view. It has impact
all corners of a child's development,not only that physical well being, but
their mental well being. And it'slike we've all heard the term toxic stress
(42:57):
and what that does. And ifyou're constantly in a state where you're thinking
about where my next mail is goingto come from? How is my parents
going to help me provide for thesemeals? That creates and it's harmful over
time. And so that is whyyou know, as I said, this
work is so critically urgent. Wecertainly need to alleviate the hunger crisis,
but we need to make sure we'realleviating all of the long term impacts and
(43:21):
effect that hunger has on children.And so we feel I Share our strength
a deep responsibility for that, andwe are exceedingly grateful to all of our
partners, our advocates, our communityand school leaders. A huge champion supporter
of Share our strength also is theculinary community, and as I mentioned,
the restaurant community and hospitality. Wehave a group of CEOs I mentioned this
(43:45):
summer advocacy work and implementation of summermeals that is expanding. We have a
group of restaurant CEOs who are signingon to a CEO pledge. We're committing
over the next several years to raisetwenty five million dollars to make sure that
these summer programs can be implemented effectively. And so we need every corner,
(44:06):
sort of other country, every populationto join us in raising their voices investing
in this work. We call hungersometimes a hidden crisis, because if your
child is not going to school witha classmate who's hungry, or you don't
see hunger in your community, youmay very well think that it does not
exist in this community. And soour work is about changing that and educating
(44:30):
the entire country on how they canengage in how they can get involved.
It's hard to do these kinds ofstories and not feel the impact and the
emotional connection to what you're doing.You mentioned a couple of things, and
I wanted to circle back on justone, and I'm not certain what your
response may be. It could bethat this is not an issue or a
factor at all, and what youall are seeing, But is there a
(44:51):
racial component to any of these?We do know in some of the statistics
in the data that we've reviewed thatit seems as though black and brown communities
are hitt much harder by food andsecurity. Is there a racial component involved
in what you're seeing in the spacethat you're operating in. Sure, I
appreciate that. I would start bysaying, we know and as I mentioned,
(45:12):
childhood hunger exists in every community,rural, urban in this country.
It does not discriminate, but wedo know that there are disparities that persist.
It affects all racial and ethnic groups, but it remains substantially higher than
the national average for black and brownhouseholds with children. Black households in particular,
those families are nearly three times aslikely to experience food and security than
(45:36):
white households with children. And sothere are those disparities that exist, and
we try to think very strategically abouthow to support and help communities that are
disproportionately impacted in ways. And sothose disparities certainly are sharp. We recognize
them, and our work it's abouthow we can support these communities and theaper
(46:00):
and more effective ways. For sure, what's the solution? You know?
I think part of the solution isthe collective consciousness of America being raised about
the severity of this issue. Andit's hard. There are many things happening
in our world right now, thetragedy in the Middle East, climate change,
(46:22):
there are so many issues that wecan be focused on, but this
one goes to the very soul ofthis country. Nelson Mandela once said that
the true character of a nation isrevealed by the way that it treats his
children. So we have to elevatethe focus and the commitment and the political
and civic will to address. AsI said, it's not because we don't
(46:45):
have enough resources in this country.We have to improve access, We have
to create innovative solutions to reach thosecommunities that are hard to reach. I
do believe that with the political civicwill and the collective consciousness of this country
being raised to give the focus tothis issue that it needs, that we
can one thousand percent solve this crisis. But it takes that collective commitment.
(47:09):
And the final piece that I wouldjust say that it's not as easy to
measure, is a collective empathy.The idea for all of us, no
matter where we are in life,to look outside sort of our own perspectives,
to step outside of our own shoes, to think of others in this
country who are not doing as well. I think a combination of all those
(47:30):
things, we can certainly be onthe path to solve childhood hunger. And
that's what the work of Share Strengththrough our No Kid Hungry campaign is about.
It's about building that political will,It's about increasing that collective consciousness,
It's about that civic will all focusedin a concerted way to addressing this issue
that is so powerful. How canour listeners learn more? Just simply go
(47:50):
to wwwnokid hungry dot org to learnabout our programs. Families can go to
our site to learn how to findresource their community and also We're on all
you Know Facebook where No Kid Hungry. You can search for us on TikTok
to find more information about our workand how you can get engaged. Thank
you Andrea Again. You can learnmore about No Kid Hungry at No Kid
(48:14):
Hungry Dot Oregon. June is BlackMusic Month and our very own Doug Davis
takes a deep dive into our richmusical history with a very special guest,
Doug. Thanks Mike, this isDoug Davis and we're putting the brakes in
our weekly segment and titled Your BlackBusiness to touch on the rich history of
our music and its influence on Americanculture. June is Black Music Month and
(48:35):
joining me as a true legend inmusic. Keith Winslow's Little Richard's road manager
for a while and a longtime friend. Keith, Welcome to the BN.
We left off talking about how youwere united with Little Richard and how he
recruited you to join his team outWest. Let's talk about the cultural impact
of Little Richard. I mean,let's talk James Brown, Prince Elvis.
(48:59):
You know many the artists that areconsidered musical icons got their style from Little
Richard. In what ways do youthink Little Richard's music and performances contributed to
the cultural empowerment of Black Americans duringthat pivotal time and history, which was
around the Civil Rights era. Yes, well, we didn't have but three
(49:20):
or four names that they were allentertainments. They had just Sammy Davis.
You know, I can go downof all the black names of people who
did stuff during that era. ButRichard was on his own carrying the ball
because it was flamboyance that made thedifference. We were sitting at the Apollo
Theater in New York and backstage wasBetty Davis and people don't remember who she
(49:44):
was, the actress, the firstwife of Miles Davis. Okay, Betty
Davis, the five staarstups, LittleRichard, Jackie Wilson, and backstage was
Aretha Frank And they were having aconversation Screw to give me screaming Jay Hawkins,
and they all were bowing to Richard, and Richard told them, they
(50:07):
said, all y'all got that nappyhair. Entertainment is flamboyants. Entertainment is
flamboyant, and all of y'all willbe back, and Saron and Sammy called
him from Johnny Carson, So Richard, I love it. I love it,
love it, love it man.That was a little Richard's influence on
(50:30):
the industry. There was one othertime that I know now was important.
It wasn't that big to me then. Was we played the Aladdin Hotel in
Las Vegas one night on Sunday nights. Richard did one last show because all
the other entertainers got off with oneshow so you could come to their Latin.
(50:52):
All the entertainers would come down tothe Latin on Sunday night and see
the stars. All the stars wouldshow up and support that show this night.
One side of the back of theaudience was Elvis Espreshman in his authorage.
The other side was the rat Pack. I'm standing on stage, I
can't see nothing. Light shaver myface and I heard you screaming, and
it was all over, and theknights went down. I could see the
(51:13):
rat Pack and Sammy and all ofthem waving Franks and watching them waving.
Elvis walked down the aisle, gotup on stage and walked backstage with being
Richard, his road managers, MeIsrael manager for Richard, all stood backstage
and when they finished, good friends. They're talking about places they had seen
each other before, in their familiesand that, and at the end when
(51:35):
they had to separate, they huggedand Elvis looked at Richard said, no
matter what they say, you willalways be the true king of rock and
roll. Now that's from Elvis's mouthto my ears to Richard's. And Richard
said, I wouldn't have been kingif they hadn't been playing by you said,
thank you for recording my soul.And let's talk about the influence that
(51:57):
Richard had on Elvis. What wasthat like? I mean, you know,
did Elvis just really steal all ofhis style or was it just to
compliment Richard? I mean share withWell, it wasn't all Richard. You
got to remember Elvis like Jackie Wilsondo you got to remember Elvis to shake
that leg? He got that fromJackie. But the style and the music
(52:19):
was Richie. Elvison never stolen.Everybody was taking everybody's in Florida music in
that era of time. Richard happenedto be the most flamboyant one who did
it better than everybody else. That'sright, Prince that followed him, Mick
Jagger's followed him. I can godown the era of all music at the
time and in this modern time,because you got a member of it before
(52:39):
there was Richard, There was CamTalloway, there was somebody before Richard,
but Richard took it to the nextlevel. Yeah, if you go back
and look at cab Calim was shakinghis head. It was there anyway,
but Richard took her to the nextlevel. And because he was flamboyant,
the gay thing popped out. WhenRichard got to Vegas, he started telling
everybody he was the bronze liber Rochi, right right, that's one of his
(53:02):
famous nicknames. That's one of hisfamous nicknames. In the liver Rochi were
friends. Okay, Richard said,I will never be able to play piano
as good as Liberal Rochi, fetcheddog, but they can't do it.
I do, exactly. Come on. So, you know, during those
days in the sixties before Las Vegaswas integrated, you know, black performers
(53:29):
had to come in the back inthe kitchen and perform and then leave right
back out and go over to thehistoric West Side where we were at.
What was that experience like, youknow, traveling with Richard during those trying
times in the sixties, It wasright at the edge of integration. When
we played the Aladdin, they putus in a bungalow. Now I can
(53:50):
tell you a lot of good storiesabout that bungalow, but that was that
was the beginning of the change ofthem allowing black entertainers to stay all the
strip at hotel where they were recording, because before this wasn't happening. Board
them with the good days. Butagain we were not in it. In
fact, I can't even remember goinginto the casino except through the back door
(54:13):
into the event, back out ofthe back door to the barn. Wow,
that's how I beat the book.Every city we ever went in,
Richard knew a black restaurant that fedus our food. That's right. So
we got in the car in thelimousine, we went over to the Molar
Ruge on the west side of LasVegas and sat there at the restaurant bar
and talked to all the cast anew Richard. That was a part of
(54:36):
the way it was done. Yougot to remember that ten years before that,
most of them couldn't eat it inthe white restaurants. Any let's talk
about the business of music. Howdid Little Richard's success impact the business side
of the music industry. Well,in the long run, Richard was one
of the ones that stood up andsaid, okay, it's time to fight
these people, because you got toremember, they took all his money.
But he wasn't the only one.I can tell you Storge about Pastomeno and
(55:00):
TV King and all of them wentthrough this. Everybody in the old days
had safety in the trunk of thecars because you couldn't put money in the
bank. Black entertainers could not taketwenty thousand and fifty thousand dollars to stop
the Jackson Mississippi put their money inthe bank. Wow, So they kept
safety in their car. The mostpopular safe in the trunk of the car
was Chuck Berry because he fights youover his car. But outside of yes,
(55:22):
so Richard began to break that mold. He went and got Bumps blackwell,
which was his manner for a time. Then Bumps quit and JW.
Alexander took over, and then Bumpscame back. But Bumps was the one
who said, okay, we gotto get past this stuff. For Richard,
you know, you can't get carryingthis kind of money because money was
changing. The signs of the amountof money you gott remember those artists who
(55:43):
knows there's maybe nay, five thousand, seven thousand dollars. All of a
sudden they went from twelve thousand tofifty thousand and less than a year.
Wow. Richard had a major influence, and in the end he got out.
He got an old Martin Luther Kingticket, signed up and down Hollywood
Boulevard to William Marshall and said,okay, we got you back. Yeah,
(56:05):
so Richard. Of course the industrywhich helped Prince. Okay, Richard
talked to Prince before Prince became thesign. He talked to the Richard and
Richard said, child, don't dothat. Whatever you got to do,
get all your money now. Andall of a sudden Prince became to sign,
he got all his money. Let'stalk about that changeover when he converted
(56:27):
to Christianity. What was the vibelike in the country when that happened,
and what was his motive behind it. Was it something that Richard in his
life that led him to that,or well, Richard always loved this guy.
He was one of those children whogrew up in a large family and
the church was a major part ofall of the southern children's lives at that
(56:49):
time. So Richard was one ofthose who loved his church, he loved
his God. But by him beena little banger on the piano, he's
been a little bit effeminine that hewas picked off. So he always had
had this tumultuous relationship with him andhis gup. Me and Richard had prayed
many times five So yeah, hecalled my mom and just prayed. They
were our Richard kept all Miss Andrew'sbook was his bibe. Was the world
(57:12):
in shock when that happened? Howhow did the media and his fans take
it? The problem is that backthen the media was just radio. Nobody
watched TV really, you know,at that point in time, it was
just radio and newsprints. So theimpact was, oh, what happened to
me? Going to Richard? Richardwas tripp or Crown. He had three
represent the top ten. So heshocked the world when he walked away,
(57:35):
but it didn't shock the other entertainerswho loved his music. What does Little
Richard's Journey tell us about the resilienceand innovation of black musicians in America,
particularly with the kind of music thatwe're hearing today that they call r and
B and or hip hop. Thereis a language of music that will never
fade. That Richard was a partyrock and the road is here to say,
(57:58):
just like Beethoven is not go what'shappening is that black music has an
influence that will stand for all time. And these kids were doing some rap.
Now some of them are gonna goback to bands. Some of them
are gonna go back to this,and they're gonna embrace it, and they're
gonna look at it, and there'sgonna be a whole new music coming from
(58:20):
our young kids who are now listeningto Little Richard and listening to Tupac and
listening to Jay Z Keith Winslow.I tell you I could ask you at
least another thirty more questions, butwe are out of time. I appreciate
you sharing your stories as we commemoratethe legends of black music during Black Music
Month. My name is Doug Davis, and this is the Black Perspective.
(58:43):
Thanks Doug, and that's our programfor this week. For more on these
stories, listen to the Black InformationNetwork on the free iHeartRadio app or log
onto binnews dot com for all ofthe latest news impacting the black community.
Also be sure to follow us onsocial media at Black Information Network and on
X and Black infil Net. I'mMike Island, wishing everyone a great Sunday
(59:06):
and thanks for joining us, andbe sure to tune in next week at
this time for another edition of theBlack Perspective right here on the Black Information
Network. The Black Information Network andsix time Emmy nominated news anchor Vanessa Tyler
welcome you to black Land, apodcast about the ground on which the Black
community stands right now. Some storiesabout salvation and loss. I love the
(59:29):
person who had an a hirvy diagnosis, the dreams achieved or yet unfulfilled from
people who have made it. Isat down with a therapist and I begin
my journey to those left behind.Listen to black Land on the iHeartRadio app
or wherever you get your podcasts.
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