Anthony Sturkey, a Black ex-officer from the Long Beach Police Department joins me on this Conversation on race to offer a realistic perspective on what’s happening today in the US regarding race, racism and law enforcement.
Black Floyd is the new album with Lorelei
Social commentary, different influences, and the whole music evolution of Pink Floyd!
In this episode, LeRon shares his experience and talks about reasons why white folks want to come out and about their activism.
My guests on RaceConvo are Wanda Whitaker, Peter Rubin and Gaylon Logan from Village Connect. In episode called Race, Reconciliation and Transformation.
Kairo Jamal Evans joins me for Conversation on Race to talk about his experience as a 25-year-old Black Trans Man. Listen in to hear about his transition.
On this Episode of Everyday Conversations on Race, I’m joined by my very close friend and colleague, Dr. Joel Brown. Joel is an international known organizational and leadership development consultant. He is a spoken word poet, and a thought leader in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. The president and founder of Pneumos, Joel is known as the cultivator.
Key Topics:
Contact info for Joel Brown:
www.souletry.com
www.Pneumos.com
Twitter: JoelBrown7
IG: JoelABrown
In this Everyday Conversation on Race, I'm joined by white ex-police officer Charles Hayes, author of the book "Blue Bias," and Elmer Dixon founder and former leader of the Seattle Black Panthers. They share their personal histories, their work around race and their perspectives on fighting against racism in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and ensuing world-wide protests.
In 1968, Elmer Dixon and his brother Aaron came to Oakland to hear Bobby Seale the chairman of the Black Panther Party speak. Right after, they decided to form a chapter of the Black Panther Party in Seattle. It was the first chapter outside of California, and lasted until 1982, making it the longest running Black Panther chapter. The medical clinic they started is still operating.
Today, Elmer still works to eliminate racism, injustice and inequities in the US, as president of the Executive Diversity Services an organizational development consulting firm.
Charles Hayes grew up in Oklahoma and Texas in the 1940s and 1950s. He joined the Marines at 17, and four years later became a police officer in Dallas. He says that that the area and the department were racist to the core.
Charles burnt out after several years due to constant calls to break up situations of domestic violence. He didn't have the maturity to understand the deeper issues affecting people in these situations.
After leaving the police department he began learning about life and reading in order to educate himself. His life changed when he read a "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," by Martin Luther King. That's when he decided to work on unraveling the racist education he got.
As a consultant, Elmer had the opportunity to work with police. After leading successful programs for police in Chicago, he went on work with police in Washington, Ireland and other cities. As a member of the Black Panther Party, which was named the Number One threat to US Security by the FBI, working with the police was a major shift in perspective for him.
Key topics in this episode:
• The origin, and manifestations of police bias
• The role of neuroscience, external stimuli and stressors in the development of unconscious bias amongst cops
• How the police department attracts people with authoritarian personality
• Deaths of unarmed Black and Brown people at the hands of police
• The murders of George Floyd. Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, along with the confluence of people sheltering in place, not working, struggling financially has put us at a tipping point in this country and the world
• How some Black police officers internalize bias and brutalize people in the Black community
• Solutions to end racist police practices
• Lessons learned from the Black Panther Party for today's fight against racism, police brutality and injustice
• Why a coherent vision and plan is necessary to sustain momentum and create systemic change, and what that might look like.
Contact info for guests
Email Charles Hayes Autpress@Alaska.net
Email Elmer Dixon EDixon@ExecutiveDiversity.com
The term "Karen" to describe certain white women who exhibit extreme privileged entitled behavior began on social media and is quickly becoming part of today's lexicon. As my guests in this episode of "Everyday Conversations on Race" explain, the archetype of a "Karen" would be a white woman who goes to Starbucks, usually dressed a certain way and expects to be treated like the only customer. When the barista spells her name wrong, she demands to see the manager and must have a new cup.
However, a group of white women complain that the term is "racist towards white women, ageist and classist. They are demanding the end of this term.
In this Conversation on Race, I’m joined by two women named Karen, who share their perspective on calling certain white women “Karens” for their white privilege behavior.
Karen Fleshman is a white woman, who founded the organization “Racy Conversations,” an anti-racist group. She has written about the term and why she agrees with it. In this conversation on race, this Karen shares her background and how she came to be an active, outspoken anti-racist.
Commissioner Karen Clopton is an African-American woman who grew up in South Central Los Angeles. It was segregated by race but had a mix of professionals and working-class people. She is a member of the SF Civil Rights Commission. She shares her experience as a young Black woman in a family that taught her early on about what it meant to be Black growing up in the USA.
Key Topics:
Guest Bios:
An award-winning trailblazer, Karen Valentia Clopton brings deep knowledge, demonstrated operational expertise, and non-partisan insight into the political and regulatory arenas. She has served in top leadership, board, and executive roles in both governmental and non-governmental organizations across many regulated industries. General Counsel and Vice President of Access and Inclusion for Incendio International, Inc. and a nationally recognized civil rights advocate, she also serves as a San Francisco Human Rights Commissioner.
Karen Fleshman is the founder of Racy Conversations and is a racial equity trainer and government accountability activist striving to build and support a community of people committed to love, learning, accountability, and action on race in America. She is the author of the book White Women, We Need to Talk: Doing Our Part to End Racism
Teri Yuan and Carole Copeland Thomas join me for this conversation on race to talk about race, racism and the COVID 19 pandemic. Teri talks about her experience as a Chinese-American and her perspective on the escalation of racist attacks against Asians who are being blamed by some for Covid-19. Carole shares her history, information and her perspective on the high death rate of African Americans
Key Topics in this Episode
Guest Bios:
Teri Yuan is a survivor, a feminist business consultant, and founder of the Engendered Collective, a platform for survivors, practitioners, and allies to connect in community, learning, and advocacy through the radical inquiry of patriarchy. As part of the Collective’s work, Teri manages the Kanduit QNA social service community and hosts the weekly podcast, en(gender)ed, which explores the systems, practices and policies that enable gender-based violence and oppression and offers solutions to end it. En(gender)ed uses gender as a lens to better understand power and oppression and its impact in the private realm, so as to better recognize and confront it in the public sphere. Teri believes that by developing a cultural literacy around power and abuse of power, we can reclaim how we define liberty in relationships and in civic life and solve many of our most urgent social (justice) challenges.
Carole Copeland Thomas As an award-winning TEDx speaker, trainer, and global thought leader, since 1987, Carole Copeland Thomas moderates the discussions of critical issues affecting the marketplace, including global diversity, inclusion, and multiculturalism. She has her pulse on the issues affecting working professionals and regularly consults with industry leaders. She has spent 33 years of cultivating relationships and partnerships with local, national, and international clients and sponsors, including Walmart, Amtrak, and Emirates Airlines. Carole served as an adjunct faculty member at Bentley University for ten years. She has spoken in nearly every state in the US and seven other countries. Carole is the past president of The National Speakers Association-New England Chapter and served on the leadership team of Black NSA. She has been featured in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Black Enterprise, ABC Radio, and CBS News. Carole is a blogger and social media enthusiast using various technology platforms to enhance her business development activities.
Racist ZoomBombing has brought fear, disruption and even trauma to people who need the Zoom platform for community, connection and their work.
Zoom has been a sanity saver for many of us during this Covid-19 pandemic. But there is an underside to the Zoom platform, one of racism, sexism and white supremacy. In this episode of Everyday Conversations on Race for Everyday People, Laura Cathcart Robbins joins me to talk about her experience with racist ZoomBombing. While attending a Zoom meeting for women who are recovering alcoholics, her meeting was taking over by white supremacists yelling racist slogans and exposing themselves. Everyone was angry and upset, but as the only Black woman in the meeting, this attack had a deeper impact. She thought this was a place where she could feel safe and share part of herself. Despite what some people say ZoomBombing is not a childish prank. It is an assault and constitutes terrorism.
Laura Cathcart Robbins experienced ZoomBombing more than once while attending meetings that were meant to support her recovery from alcohol and the recovery or millions of other people from alcoholism, drug addiction and other issues. During the first incident the person had a picture of a lynching, started shouting KKK, slogans against Black and LGBT people. This happened again and again when she attended other 12 Step meetings.
As a result, Zoom had to start requiring a password to get into a meeting. This is really difficult for new people looking for help to get clean and sober or recover from other issues. If they are just seeking help they have no access to the password unless they know someone.
Topics covered in this episode:
Bio of Laura Cathcart Robbins
Laura Cathcart Robbins is a freelance writer, podcast host, and storyteller, living in Studio City, California with her son, Justin and her boyfriend, Scott Slaughter. She has been active for many years as a speaker and school trustee and is credited for creating The Buckley School’s nationally recognized committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Her recent articles in the Huffington Post on the subjects of race, recovery, and divorce have garnered her worldwide acclaim. She is a 2018 LA Moth StorySlam winner and host of the popular podcast, The Only One In The Room, which is available on all podcast platforms. Laura currently sits on the advisory board for the San Diego Writer’s Festival and is also a founding member of Moving Forewords, the first national memoirist collective of its kind.
You can find her on Facebook @lauracathcartrobbins, on Instagram @official_cathcartrobbins and follow her on Twitter @LauraCRobbins.
Laura Cathcart Robbins
Michell Meow, well known radio and TV host on LGBTQ+ and other issues, joins me on Everyday Conversations on Race, to talk about this important topic of racism against Asians during Covid-19. Michelle shares her background as the daughter of Laotian immigrants in Stockton, California. She offers her perspective on the increase of physical and verbal attacks against Asians, as well as how to stop them.
Key points from Michelle Meow:
Her Background
Views on the Covid-19 pandemic and racism
to pay attention
What we need to do
What we can do as individuals
Contact information
https://www.commonwealthclub.org/michelle-meow-show
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ABOUT MICHELLE MEOW, Radio & TV talk show host - in her own words
I've always dreamed big. As a little peculiar kid who grew up in Stockton, CA, I had an imagination that was too big for my little brain. I fantasized about a lot of things but as young as I can remember, I fantasized about being loved and accepted. The first time I tried to make friends with kids around my neighborhood, I was told to go "back to my country." Born here in California, I didn't know what they meant until the fights in the neighborhood became violent. The hatred you face from childhood to adulthood is dangerous and damaging. I hope one day we can change this for all of us. Why can't we learn to love and accept one another for our differences and our similarities? That is the journey or quest I am on and the reason behind the "Michelle Meow Show."
Conversations on Race and Racism in the Covid 19 Pandemic
How do we continue to address racism in the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic while we practice physically distancing, shelter at home and become extreme hand-washers?
Juan Lopez, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion thought leader, joins me to talk about racism in the time of COVID 19, and why conversations on race are so crucial right now.
Listen to this episode of Everyday Conversations on Race to find creative ways to build community, connection and increase real communication in the virtual world of this global crisis,
Juan was one of the first leaders in the movement to create organizations that support diversity, equity and inclusion. He shares his story about growing up a Chicano in California, as well as his past experience, present observations and future predictions for eliminating racism and division today.
Key points from our discussion:
On the playlist this week, is old school R&B with artists like the Eisley Brothers and I’m listening to “Wake Up Everybody,” by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.
As we get closer to the Jewish holiday of Passover, I’m listening to Jewish songs of resistance during the holocaust and thinking about how we all need each other right now. This is a scary time, but we can’t let our fear turn to panic or exclusion. This is the time for love, inclusion and unity for those of those that want to eliminate fear of difference and bring people together.
Bio for Juan Lopez
Juan Lopez is the President of Amistad Associates, a consulting firm that provides Strategic Planning, Organizational Development, Team Building, Leadership, Customer Service, and Managing Diversity. In addition, Juan was a founder and principal with the Center for Reinventing Government.
Juan has worked in the public and private sectors for the last 28 years. Since 1986, fifty percent of his work has focused on organizational development with local government and educational institutions.
Under Juan's guidance, Amistad Associates has contributed to the organizational and leadership development of Port of Oakland, Port of Long Beach, Los Angeles Community Development Commission, Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, Sonoma State University, Contra Costa County, Napa County, Peralta Community College District, and several California Cities and non-profits.
As a consultant with Sentient Systems, he provided training to cities and counties on changing organizational norms and taught the Continuing Education for Public Officials (CEPO) project, sponsored by the League of California Cities.
Among Juan’s clients are corporations, government, and non-profit organizations. He has provided leadership and diversity consulting services to AT&T, Bell Laboratories, NASA Johnston Space Center, Digital Equipment Corporation, Levi Straus and Co., Frito, Pepsi, Wells Fargo Banks, Avon Products International, Dupont, Fannie Mae, the U.S. Postal Service, public health centers, school districts, the Anti-Defamation League, Alameda Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, National Hispanic Corporate Council, University of California at Berkeley, and Sonoma State University.
He is a member of the Diversity Collegium, professionals dedicated to advancing the field of Diversity through research and learning, and a co-founder of Diversity 2020
Damona Hoffman is a dating coach & media personality who starred in two A+E Networks' TV series: #BlackLove and A Question of Love. She’s a contributor for The Washington Post, CNN Headline News (HLN), Match.com, BET.com, and more. Previously, Damona held creative executive & diversity positions at CBS, Paramount, and NBC Universal. Now, she hosts and produces two podcasts, I Make a Living (by FreshBooks) and Dates & Mates with Damona Hoffman.
Damona talks with me about what it was like growing up Black and Jewish with an African-American mother and white Jewish father.
Her first awareness and experience with direct racism and hate. was when she was 16 years old. “My friend took me to a party where I was the only Black person. A white guy holding a hockey stick kept pointing at people and asking them their name. When he pointed the stick at me she said, “N……, Bitch that what we call all of you.”
She felt threatened- scared, and shocked. When she jumped up and told her friend they had to go, the friend said she was over reacting.
For Damona Hoffman, this was the moment for her that every person of experiences when they know that things will never be the same. And this is another reason why conversations on race are so crucial because too often, people who are not Black or not people of color do not understand how serious racism is.
Key learning
Those of us who are white need to understand that racism doesn’t go away on its own. If you’re in a situation where you hear a racist statement, see a racist action or witness a person of color being targeted, we have to speak up. We have to intervene. If we claim to be against racism or anti-racist we need to back up our words with action. If we don’t we are colluding, and if we say nothing, we are colluding. Silence equals consent. Do not leave it up to the person of color to have to be a lone voice. In those cases you are either part of the solution you are the problem.
It might be dangerous for a person of color to say something. Damona was lucky she got out but she wanted the friend to speak out and instead her friend made her feel more unsafe.
Being Black, Jewish, and bi-racial helps her connect with people on many levels. There are also times when she gets excluded.
Listen to the rest of the podcast to hear
In this conversation on race, I talk with "Julian on the Radio" about his experiences and thoughts on race, diversity and being the child of Chinese immigrants. We talk Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the need to continuously build a diverse community.
He grew up in the Washington DC area amongst people from different cultures, races and ethnicities. His parents were originally from Shanghai and came to the US when they were young. Julian says that most people want to spend time with people who are most like them, but he has thrived by being around diversity of people from different races and cultures.
Although he wasn’t focused on race growing up there were times when he felt different from the other kids in high school. He wanted to be accepted but there times when he was left out, and felt “less than.” There were times when he just wanted to “fit in,” and asks “doesn’t everyone.” As we go deeper, he talks about the seemingly subtle racism he dealt with, and maybe he was even mad at his family for being from China. He’s gotten more comfortable with himself, and no longer feels that way. Racism is all around us and Julian talks about how he lives his life.
We continue to talk and the conversation on race gets more introspective.
Julian barely graduated from high school and struggled through college, but then went on to have a successful career in radio.
Key takeaways:
•Traveling outside the US opens perspectives
•Julian appreciates being raised in a multi-cultural environment and can’t imagine only being around one culture.
• No group is a monolith and we all have more than one culture
• Julian on the Radio offers some advice for young people who are having a hard time accepting who they are, who may be different and feel excluded, and who hear negative messages about their groups
• Befriend, pick people who will be your real friends
• Look for people who will support you
• Listen and absorb podcasts that talk about self-acceptance
• Have good people around you
We want to show that not everyone from the same culture is the same. We all have multiple identities, that make up our co-cultures. Diversity helps us understand the world around us.
If you like the show and want to hear more conversations on race, go to www.raceconvo.com . And if you want help us grow, please share it with at least one other person.
To join the race conversation and support Everyday Conversations on Race, go to www.patreon.com/raceconvo
It would be hard to have a conversation on race and not address the contradiction that many successful Black people continue to face; having to deal with racism no matter how much money they have or how much they’ve accomplished.
What would it feel like to be a Black man at the highest levels of corporate America, and still feel like you have to leave a large part of yourself at home. How much would racism impact your life during and after work as you rise to the top? How do you talk about race and racism with your family while still encouraging them to reach for their dreams?
In this episode of “Everyday Conversations on Race for Everyday People,” I’m joined by David Casey, Executive Vice-President of one of the largest global pharmaceutical companies. In this very deep personal conversation, David shares how it feels to be a Black man in a position of power, influence and prestige in the executive suite while being seen as “just another Black man” in the street who can be stopped, and targeted because of his race.
In our cross-race conversation on race, David Casey recounts his arrest at the age of eleven, handcuffed and thrown into the back of the police car for bringing a gun to school after he was bullied. The arresting officer was Black but as he was being taken down to the police station, a white officer pulls up next to him and says, “if I was there, I would have just shot you.”
Don’t miss this opportunity to listen in and learn about race, racism and what it takes to get people to talk to each other.
Key Topics Include:
Resources in this show
David Casey bio:
David Casey is Vice President, Workforce Strategies and Chief Diversity Officer for the national leader in retail pharmacy, pharmacy benefits management and retail health clinics. He has responsibility for developing and driving strategic diversity management, equal employment opportunity/affirmative action and workforce development strategies across a Fortune 7 company with over $153 billion in sales and about 240,000 employees throughout the United States, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and Brazil with over 9600 retail stores in 49 states.
He alsos serve as the president of a public charity designed to help company employees during unanticipated and unavoidable financial hardships and emergencies. This fund provides short-term, immediate financial relief to employees who’ve suffered significant hardship as a result of a natural disaster, military deployment, family death, medical emergency or other unforeseen designated events.
In his previous role at a Fortune 33 company, he led the development and execution of corporate wide strategies to leverage the impact of diversity management and workplace culture for the nation’s largest health benefits company with annual revenues of $61.1B with 42,000 associates and 36M members.
Maurice joined on RaceConvo to talk about race, racism and health care. We talk about helping people recovery from addiction and live whole lives with HIV.
Ben Stokes joins me on “Everyday Conversations on Race,” to talk about his experience being a person of color adopted by a white family in Australia. He didn’t become aware of racism until his family moved from a small town to a larger city. That was when he would frequently encounter white people who would keep asking him where he was from and look at him in disbelief when the told them he was Australian. Despite having a strong Australian accent, he was often discounted as an Australian because of his brown skin.
After coming to the US, with so many people of color, the questions still persisted from white Americans who couldn’t believe that someone with brown skin could be from Australia.
Ben has lived and worked in the US for over four years. You’ll want to hear his story of how he was harassed by security agents as he re-entered the US from a trip abroad.
His story is unique and not uncommon. Despite his experiences, Ben is the founder of the start-up SocialTable.
SocialTable brings people together across differences over great food, great conversation and the desire to connect and build community.
Biography
Ben is the CEO and Founder of SocialTable. His personal, academic and professional journey to date is impressive and colourful – to say the least! View Ben’s LinkedIn profile.
Born in Sri Lanka, Ben spent his early years in a rural orphanage before he was adopted by Australian parents who raised him in Tasmania. Ben started his Uni years as a Med student, studying Medicine and then a Masters of Tropical Medicine and Public Health. Along the way, he recalls encountering great mentorship by the then CEO of St Vincent’s Hospital. Funnily enough, Ben’s mentorship with the St Vincent’s Hospital CEO actually prompted his realisation that Med was not where he would be most happy. So Ben took some fairly drastic turns and completed a Law degree. The skilled communicator and leader’s story of becoming a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist (having worked on the success of several med-tech products in the US market, as well his own enterprise SocialTable, along with his building projects for his very own orphanage in Sri Lanka) is too long for me to document here but it is full of insights, intelligence and authenticity.
Ben can be contacted through email: ben@socialtable.co or through his LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bpstokes/
Mass Incarceration of Black and Brown men and women is a long-time problem that reflects historical and systemic racism in the criminal justice system. In this Conversation on Race, guests Shelly Hughes and Garrow Vincent share their experiences as African-Americans who spent time in the California prison system and what their lives are like today.
Mass Incarceration of Black and Brown men and women is a long-time problem that reflects historical and systemic racism in the criminal justice system. In this Conversation on Race, guests Shelly Hughes and Garrow Vincent share their experiences as African-Americans who spent time in the California prison system and what their lives are like today.
You’ll hear how mass incarceration was set up as a deliberate system right after slavery in order to continue white ownership of Black labor, and how that racist system continues to perpetuate. We go beyond books and theory and talk to individuals about their lives before, during and after incarceration.
Topics in this conversation on race and the criminal justice system include:
Listen now to hear another enlightening, real conversation on race and the criminal justice system.
Gerald Chambers, Marriage and Family Therapist, and Dr. Ronnie Siddique, Psychologist, address issues of mental health in different communities of color and race-related trauma.
Ronnie and Gerald talk about stigmas attached to getting treatment for mental health issues.
There are trust issues of the mental health and medical profession because of historical racist treatment by mental health professions.
Ronnie as a member of the South Asian community and Gerald from the African-American community say that too often they hear people say, “Suck it up. Deal with it yourself.”
Gerald says that in drug treatment research shows that the darker someone’s skin the more severe the diagnosis and the less likely to get effective treatment.
There has been a denial of racism as a factor in trauma and other mental health issues related to race and culture. Intake questionnaires need to include questions about race and cultural experiences.
Therapists need to be trained in cultural intelligent therapy and be able to understand how racism impacts people from early ages physically, mentally and emotionally.
While it’s crucial for therapists and the whole mental health profession to understand historical issues of race, oppression and trauma, the need for help is real. At the same time every mental health issue of a person of color is not necessarily due to racism.
Diversity and inclusion have to be part of the conversation and education of people in the mental health field.
Listen to this episode to hear Dr. Ronnie Siddique and Gerald Chambers break down the challenges, issues and solutions to provide access to mental health treatment for low income and people of color.
Bios:
Gerald Chambers
Gerald Chambers is a licensed marriage and family therapist who focuses on interpersonal conflict, domestic violence, substance abuse, and 12-Step recovery. He leads a 52-week domestic violence psycho-education group for court-mandated spousal batterers. and frequently speaks to lawyers, psychologists, social workers, as well as middle and elementary school children. Well known for his innovative strategies to reduce domestic violence, Gerald has been a guest speaker at the Boalt Hall School of Law, Golden Gate University, and various community-based organizations.
Contact info: Gerald B. Chambers, LMFT
510-761-6554
Dr. Ronnie Siddique
Dr. Siddique is a licensed clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist who works with clients of
all ages representing a broad range of concerns, from ADHD and learning difficulties to depression and anxiety. She is the founders and owner of Embolden Psychology, her practice, with three locations in the Washington DC area. She specializes in community mental health and advocacy, clinical work and assessment, and writing and blogging about mental health.
For the past 18 years, she has run a weekly community mental health clinic in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She is a consultant for Doctors Without Borders, the Suhki Project, and the Pro Bono Counseling Project, in Washington, DC.
In the summer of 2020, her book about anxiety and young people, Fight/Flight/Flow, will be released.
Contact info: Ronnie Siddique, PhD
Embolden Psychology
Licensed Clinical Psychologist/Neuropsychologist
Virginia, Maryland, Washington, DC
https://www.facebook.com/Emboldenpsych/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/embolden_psych/