WEBVTT - Everybody Profits From Black Culture. Do Black Men? | Angela Rye SoloPod 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.400 Native Lampid is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:10.399 Reason Choice Media. Welcome Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome home, y'all, 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:13.640 this is Solo pod Day. I'm your host, Angela Rye 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:18.520 from Native Lampod and I am elated to be sharing 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:21.200 space today with someone who is like a little brother 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:24.960 to me. Is doing fantastic work that I will get 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:27.800 to in just a moment. I want to tell you 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:31.040 that we are in a unique time in our nation's history, 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:36.120 and so much of what we have considered normal for 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:41.640 some time, considering issues of race, race, racial justice, all 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:46.159 of these things are now you know, looked upon poorly, 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:49.120 and in an era like that, it is important to 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:52.519 find the folks among us who I will say not 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:54.520 on my watch. I'm going to hold the line. I'm 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:58.000 going to ensure that people understand our history, they understand 0:00:58.000 --> 0:00:59.920 what it takes for us to be able to survive 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:03.080 in an era where black people are losing their jobs 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:05.520 left and right. That good government job that was so 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.480 safe for so long, the very jobs that many of 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.880 our uncles and aunts and parents told us to go 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:14.840 get are no longer safe. In the federal government and 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:17.600 in some ways on the state level. And so what 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:20.800 we have to do in these moments is to look 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:24.200 at data. There was a point where you could go 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.080 to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is an official 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:32.280 federal government entity. But now Donald Trump has essentially gutted 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:34.360 the Bureau of Labor Statistics. When was the last time 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:38.319 y'all heard about unemployment rates? Right? So a person who 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.880 has to provide and build out a narrative that things 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:44.960 are so good cannot stand to stare data in the face. 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:47.640 So as y'all are going to the runs because you 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:49.720 can't even need to let us right now, and as 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:54.240 people who you love are fighting for their very lives, 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:58.160 and is now RFK says that maybe kids should actually 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:01.480 get a measles vaccination. Is important for us to clean 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:05.240 steadfast to truth. And that is why it is so 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:08.519 important to me to bring to the States today doctor 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:12.440 Wes Bellamy, who is the executive director of the John 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:17.760 Mercer Langston Institute for African American Political Leadership, and he 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:20.240 is also my brother, and he's also why are you 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:22.880 not a professor, Associate professor? We need to talk about 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:27.640 that a political science and public administration like Virginia State University. 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:29.440 I wanted to let me that's my first question, and 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:31.360 then I'm gonna talk about the report. He has a report, 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:33.400 y'all though, called the Economic State of Black Men and 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:35.120 Boys in the United States. But why are you not 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.720 a professor professor who I got to write to start 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:41.280 associate professor? 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:45.320 You have assistant professor, associate professor, a tenure. 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:47.160 That like it's all just a time. Why are you 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:49.800 not a tenured I chose not to be tenured. I'm 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:52.320 full full professor, I got full professorship. 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:54.400 I want you to be a tenured No. 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:55.920 I want to be able to go when I need 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:57.639 to go, but I don't plan on going nowhere anytime. 0:02:57.680 --> 0:02:58.359 Still, let me be clear. 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:00.760 I love you, better be careful, layd. Let me let's 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:02.880 get into this report because this boy is on here 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:04.080 talking big trash. 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:05.200 Let's go. Okay. 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:08.840 So Wes is an associate professor for his freedom, but 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:11.280 that's just for the freedom and liberation of black people. 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:13.120 He is not going anywhere. He loves the students at 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:16.440 Virginia State University. I've seen it firsthand. I don't even 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:18.680 have my earrings on. That is so route anyway. Okay, 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:20.800 So the economic state of Black men and boys in 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:23.799 the United States. The reason why I appreciate this report 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:25.600 right now is we spent a lot of time WES 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:29.519 talking about how black women have been impacted by this administration. 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.239 You know firsthand that even in the last election cycle 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:38.480 in twenty four there was a lot of discussion about 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.680 black men feeling unseen, unheard by every political party and 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.400 everything in between. Talk about why a report like this 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:47.000 was so important in this hour right now. 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:48.920 Well, exactly what you said, I mean. 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:51.400 We were able to be able to conduct nearly ten 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:56.200 thousand conversations. Study points engagement was black men across the country, 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:58.160 and one of the things that was consistent was brothers 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:00.680 feeling is that they've been left out, Others feeling as 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:02.400 if no one cares about what they have to say 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:05.800 and whatnot, and really just an act of despair. And 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:08.360 what we really wanted to do with this report would 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:12.040 show that while it is indeed bleak, it's important for. 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:14.480 Us to know the data, for us to be able. 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:17.560 To then make informed decisions based on the data, not 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.560 in you window, not what I think, not maybe what 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:22.559 I heard, but the facts are the facts. 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:24.600 And when we look at again like small things. Six 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:25.480 not small thing. 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:27.600 But when you have six hundred and fifty thousand black 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:30.919 men who were unemployed became unemployed between quarter one and 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:33.720 twenty twenty five and quarter one of twenty twenty six, 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:37.520 and that number is nearly a million persons for black women, 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:40.880 six hundred and fifty thousand black men, that's nothing small 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:43.400 or that's nothing for us to laugh about it pretend 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:45.440 is if it's not a major thing when you look 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:47.600 at it. In the month of April of twenty twenty six, 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:51.160 black male unemployment rate was at nearly seven point four percent, 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:55.440 damn near astronomical numbers, and it came down a little 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:57.279 bit to June and we're a six point six percent, 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:00.600 but that's still crazy. And it's the highest ployment rate 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:03.400 of any of the four major subgroups. So you know, 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:07.240 black men are really in a state of despair, and 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:09.040 it's important for us to talk about it so that 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:13.080 again we can find tangible solutions based on strategy from 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:15.880 the data, not again things that we think need to happen, 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:18.200 but allow the data to make us, to allow us 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:19.760 to make data unformed decisions. 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:22.560 Let me ask you this too. So one thing that 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.040 struck me looking at this report is you talk about 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:29.880 the economic state of black men and boys. Oftentimes, when 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:34.760 we talk about black economic power, it is narrowly through 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:38.000 the lens of our buying power. So people are like, oh, 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:42.760 we're over two point one trillion dollars power, right, But 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:46.840 why is it with other communities they don't talk about 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:49.360 their economic power and how much they're willing to spend. 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:53.080 What do you hope that by releasing this report we 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:55.240 can do in shifting that narrative as well? 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.080 Yeah, I think there's a couple of things. One that 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:00.919 we're not regulated solely to what we can do for others, 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.000 i e. Buying We have to look at the educational 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:06.760 aspect and where we are. I mean, seventeen percent of 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:09.719 African Americans as a whole, that's both men and women included, 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.640 are only reading it a seventeen percent reading proficiency rate 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:14.480 in the fourth grade. 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:16.320 That means that we got a lot of work to do. 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:19.200 When again you look at black males at HBCUs and 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:21.280 rolled in colleges, we're only twenty six percent of the 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:24.599 enrollment share. At pwi's we're only holding around twenty eight 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.640 to twenty nine percent of the enrollment share. So again 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.400 we want to shift the conversation solely from where we 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:34.400 are economically to also what we're looking at from a 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.720 housing perspective, from an educational perspective, from a health perspective. 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:40.760 But we know all of those things are impact ors 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.520 because me your economics are impacted by all of those 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.479 other items. So if you can't get a job, you 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.279 obviously aren't going to have any money. If you can't read, 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:51.680 then that's going to limit you in terms of your 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:53.919 buying power. That's going to limit you in terms of 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:54.760 the wealth that you're. 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:55.320 Able to create. 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:58.400 If you don't have access to housing, then that too 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.080 is going to impact your economics. So we used we 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:03.400 used through this report kind of economics as the hook, 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:05.920 but we talk about a wide variety of other factors 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.320 that are playing the role in black men feeling as 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.520 if they are being forgotten. But all is not lost, 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:13.000 and I know we'll get to the solutions to some 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:15.440 of the priorities if you will, But there there are 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:16.880 there is a light at the end of the tunnel, 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:18.679 and we just have to continue to put our boots 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:19.680 on the ground and get to work. 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:25.000 Given your background in political science, why is it important 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:29.880 to bring data into conversations around policy. I'm thinking in particular, 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.560 you know, you're in a very interesting state, one that 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:36.720 people would say it flipped blue. I was familiar with 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:42.200 Abigail Spamberger's politics before she ran for governor. Yeah, she worked. 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:45.400 She was in the House, always voting on bills that 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.280 she shouldn't. But I guess my question would be, what 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:51.840 would you your highest hope be when you think about 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:55.440 how the governor and her administration could utilize this data. 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:59.000 What's your highest hope for you know, local governments, some 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:02.160 of our friends who with the African American Mayors Association. 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:05.080 As a former elected official yourself, how do you want 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:06.840 to see this data used to move the needle for 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:07.680 Black men and boys? 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:11.680 So two things specifically, I want every state to adopt 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:15.560 a commission for African American Boys and young men and 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:18.240 then allow them to and we can work with them 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:19.960 in any capacity in which when we've got a whole 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:22.400 research team, we all need to do a state by 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:24.960 state state of economic for Black men and boys in 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.400 each state and again and recognize that there is a 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:29.800 dire need across all fifty states. 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:31.080 So that's the first thing we want. 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:34.719 An African American Commission for Black Boys and Men, excuse me, 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.400 a commission for Black boys and men in all fifty states. 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:39.960 And then secondly on a local level, and this can 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:42.560 also play into the state level. Put on a local level, 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:45.840 we want dedicated strategies on the K twelve level, so 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:48.960 that means reading interventionists. And some folks will say, well, hey, 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:52.880 we're already doing these things. Title I schools receive federal dollars. 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:56.200 There are reading interventionists in each school. We're trying to 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:58.160 do the best job that we can. We need more people. Well, 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:01.480 that's where the state comes in terms of providing additional 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:05.199 resources so that we again can have dedicated strategies to 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:06.880 Black boys and men. So that's when the K twelve 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.720 level early elementary we want to see again more riding 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:13.680 interventionists for black boys. From a local municipality level, we 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:16.320 would like to see a pathways program be developed in 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:20.520 areas in which there are industry Not every municipality has 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:24.839 access to a plumbing and trade school or some kind 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.440 of workforce development that are a carpentry school or something 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:29.520 of that nature, but there are other trades in which 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:31.920 can be taught. So that means that can we develop 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:34.760 and have a municipality pay for young men, black men 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:37.520 specifically to go to barber school. Can we have them 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.839 pay to get customer service trades things of that nature 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:43.280 like certificates rather than things of that nature. So we 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:47.079 want to see a dedicated workforce plan being implemented in 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:50.440 each municipality. And then when we look at from an 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:54.000 institutional level, we would like to see our community colleges 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:56.800 have a dedicated strategy for Black men and boys, Our 0:09:56.960 --> 0:10:00.480 state institutions, whether you're a PWY or HBCU, have a 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:03.360 dedicated strategy for black men and boys, and our private 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:06.640 institutions have a dedicated strategy for black men and boys. Again, 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:10.839 we want this data to allow these institutions, whether that's 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:15.200 a college, community college, trade school, local government, state government, 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:18.000 because there are all institutions as a whole. We want 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:21.720 the data to allow these institutions to make informed decisions 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:25.559 specific for their population. Where I live, and I'll stop 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:28.560 with this, but where I live in Charlottesville, Virginia, nearly 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:32.040 twenty seven percent of our population lives below the poverty line. 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:33.959 We have some data that has been recently released. 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:36.560 It says eighteen percent of black men and boys who 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:40.240 live in Charlottesville and Albamar County for that matter, are homeless. 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:43.800 So that means like homeless can be identified as you know, broh, 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:48.920 you sleeping on the couch, your homeboy, or just being candid, 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:50.960 you going from chick to chick. You kicking it with 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:52.920 this one, you're kicking it with that one because you 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:55.160 can't go back to your mom house. In many ways, 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:58.199 we identify all of that as homelessness. And brothers were 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:01.319 trying to get you mentally right. We're trying to get 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:03.959 you emotionally right, and then also we want to get 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:05.880 you fiscally right so that you can take care of 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:09.120 yourself and your family in the future and then subsequently 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:11.560 give back to our community. So that's why, like again, 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:14.080 this data, there's a ton of information in it, but 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:17.000 we're hoping that individuals read the report and not just 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:18.920 take this as a woe as me kind of thing, 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:21.720 but let's use it to go and make informed decisions. 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:27.480 I think I think that's kind of this this other 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:31.640 part of this like around data right now. I talked 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.920 about it in this intro too. We have a president 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:37.720 that runs from it instead of dealing with the what 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:41.240 it actually says. I don't know if you all and 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:43.120 I didn't get to see this in the report, but 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:44.560 I don't know if you all have anything on this, 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:49.240 but there has been this heightened fascination with trade school 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:50.600 for young black men. 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:51.760 Yeah. 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:54.640 You you are a sitting college professor, so I know 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:57.000 you might have a slight bias here. Will acknowledge the 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.439 bias sitting there to bow tie on. You know he's 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:03.040 an elected official. Very well, it is, Doctor Wes Bellabie's. 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:04.040 Usually not even a dressed like this. 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.080 You caught me on a goodness, it's all right. But 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.920 the point is, Wes, do you think that, like, where 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:13.960 do you think that's coming from pushing young men to 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:17.080 trade school? Is it true that there are not enough 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:22.160 opportunities for folks who are attaining college degrees? What is 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:24.440 the push to trade school? Is their data on that 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:25.040 that you've seen. 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:27.800 So what we saw was that there wasn't conclusive data 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:30.680 that we felt comfortable putting it in the report stating 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:34.040 that black men and boys were going to trade school 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:37.000 and large droves. There also was a different set of 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.040 barriers as people were trying to push these young men 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:42.040 in the trade schools that were not necessarily taken into account. 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:44.280 Some of the things that we found in preliminary ports 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:47.760 were this one when brothers go to trade school, there's 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:51.120 an associated cost with entering into the school if there 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:54.400 isn't a pathway program sponsored by some entity, So you're 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:56.160 going to have to pay to go to the trade school. 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.880 The trade schools usually do not pay our young men while. 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:01.680 They're in the school, so that means that you're going 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.280 to have to have another source of income to sustain yourself. 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:07.599 But we've also noticed is that after the trade school 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:10.600 that doesn't guarantee you a job. In some instances, there 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:12.560 have been three months as far as long as six 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:15.480 to nine months, maybe even a year before after getting 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:18.040 a trade of turning the trade you actually get a job. 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:20.440 So you have to take all of that into account 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:22.600 when we're saying, hey, you go and get this certificate 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:24.319 or you just go to trade school, where some people 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:27.360 may think is an expedited route that doesn't always lead 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:31.079 to the immediate transfer of wealth or development of wealth 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:33.480 that some people think that you're going to get. Now, 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:36.440 another aspect of this is some folks percent I've seen 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:39.360 in multiple comments from people who shared the report, they'll 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:43.400 say things like, well, trade school still casts significantly less 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:46.040 than a four year college, and I would agree with that, 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.920 there's no denying that in most instances. However, what you 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:53.840 can't quantify by going to college is the bachelor degree. 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:57.319 The bachelor degree that many institutions, and I'm talking about 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:01.760 workplace institutions are requiring for endo viduals to advance in 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:06.480 terms of upper management or supervisory roles. That's still a 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.480 tool that individuals who are running these systems are using 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:14.960 to prohibit black men and boys specifically from advancing within 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:17.360 their career. The data was clear in that regard, and 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:21.280 that's what that's indicated within the report. These systems, if 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:25.360 you will, don't have a barriers or excuse me, brothers 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:28.880 don't have barriers from these systems to prohibit them from 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:33.520 again advancing and or we saw very clearly that the 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:36.560 highest opportunity for you to gain wealth as a black 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:38.760 man and boy in this country is still for you 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.040 to go and get a four year degree. Yes, I 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:44.120 am biased as a college professor, but I also started 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:47.920 I started a Pipeways the Pathway, Pipelines the Pathway program 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:50.240 in Charlottesville when I was in office. That program is 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:52.600 still in existence today. I prefer young men to it 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:54.560 all the time. That doesn't mean that I'm going to 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:56.520 tell them that you're going to make more money going 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:59.680 into that pipeway pathway the pipeline program than you are 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:02.120 coming to school. You may come out with more debt, 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:04.800 but again we see over time and the data is clear, 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.160 you make exponentially more money going to school go on 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.720 to college than you do simply getting a trade. 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:12.600 You ask the question, where do I think that that's 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:13.240 coming from. 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:16.640 I honestly think that it's a design being pushed by 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:20.320 podcast bros, by individuals who are really just trying to 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:22.960 lead us astray. And those brothers are both black and white, 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:24.680 who are trying to tell us to go and do 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:28.920 something that the data isn't showing yields the returns that 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:31.080 many are looking for. Yeah, it may work for a 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:33.640 small minute number, so that doesn't mean that it's going 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.160 to work for everybody. And our best bet is still 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:38.240 going to get a four year degree and then working 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:39.160 your way up the ladder. 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:39.960 If you will. 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:57.480 Talk to me about the mental health impacts of some 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:01.200 of the data you've seen, we have, like witness, I 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:04.560 think we have no people in our families in our 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:11.120 communities who are struggling with suicide attempts or suicidal thoughts, depression, 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:15.000 young men finally being able to speak there and boys 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:19.440 speaking their minds about everything that the world is putting 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:21.520 on them, and how heavy the weight of that is. 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:26.920 Talk about, you know, kind of what you anticipate seeing 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.400 from being here's the data that says, if all of 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:33.160 these things are happening, they are probably feeling the pressure 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:35.720 of life. How are you seeing that being made manifest 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:38.480 in some of the conversations y'all have for this report. 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.280 Well, the fastest, I don't even want to say the fastest, 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:46.400 but the group of persons with the highest number of 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:50.040 suicide attempts over the last four years have been African 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:53.359 American males. For some persons, that's a very surprising number, 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:57.080 as a very surprising statistic rather, but it's it just 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:01.120 is what it is. What the data shows. That's exasperated 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:03.760 when you don't have any money, Those thoughts of suicide 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.880 are exasperated. When you also feel as if that you're behind. 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:10.040 It's exasperated when you feel as if there's no one 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.320 who truly cares or understands what you're going through. It's 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:15.640 easier for you to fall into a silo with other 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:18.960 individuals or or sit in a silo with other individuals 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:24.280 who identified with feeling lonely than it is to work 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:26.919 with persons who are trying to get out of that 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:31.080 mood because they are trying to climb the ladder, if 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:31.520 you will. 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:35.880 What we've seen very clearly is. 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:40.680 That again, black men and boys are not necessarily going 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:43.479 to college the same rate in which they were. They 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:48.360 have a lower educational proficiency in which they've done before. Economically, 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:51.359 they're only making seventy seven cent for every dollar that 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:56.200 white men are making. And from a household perspective, black 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.480 men are leading their households in terms of being the 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:02.560 head of how being the breadwinners, if you will, That 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:06.280 number is decreasing exponentially year by year. The data is 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:09.800 very clear in that one plus one plus one plus 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:14.240 one equals four, and we can pretty much understand and 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:18.959 draw conclusions that when brothers feel checked out, when brothers 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:21.679 feel as if they're left alone, when brothers feel as 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:25.200 if this life just isn't worth living anymore, they are 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:28.760 making decisions to take themselves away from here at a 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:33.600 much higher rate. We are working diligently to encourage brothers 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:35.520 not to do so. We just had a Black Male 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:38.000 Leadership Institute on Thursday. We had fifty young men and 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:40.600 boys between the ages of fourteen and twenty four all 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:42.840 participate in that. I work with several groups on hundred 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.640 Black Men capi fhasa Urban League, so on and so 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:48.320 forth who are also trying to implement. 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:50.480 Groups for support groups for young men. 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:54.280 But again, we need these numbers so that we can 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:58.000 develop and form strategies. I'm tired of us just throwing 0:18:58.000 --> 0:18:59.919 stuff at the wall based off of what we do 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:00.760 think is happening. 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.280 Now we have the data and now we can create 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:03.600 a plan. 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:09.560 Okay, so you brought up kappas you a Kappa, You 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:11.280 brought up one hundred black men. You were in one 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:16.960 hundred black men also brought up urbanly and I think 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:19.440 that this is a good opportunity Wes, because we talked 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:23.440 last week about the importance of joining and supporting our organizations, 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.840 can you talk about why that also is important for 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:29.000 young black men who are trying to find their way. 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:33.320 I tell this story all the time about my godson 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:35.879 was getting in trouble at school. He was six, and 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:38.000 we went up there. You know. My cousin was like, 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:39.879 you need to come because you're the lawyer. You's scary, like, 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.000 so come on. So I went up there and we 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:44.840 talked to them, and at the end of the meeting, 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:47.919 west I was I was walking out and I was like, well, 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:50.240 we're gonna call it in double ac and I was like, oh, 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:53.119 I gotta pay my dues, you know. So it's like 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:56.360 it's one of those moments where you're like the very 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.159 organization that sometimes you know, we'll say, well, what are 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:01.359 they doing? I don't need and understanding, well, that's old. 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:03.680 Well and it's not just NBA said it about the 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:06.160 National Bar got back involved in the National Bar now 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:08.760 lifetime member of National Bar. Last year, I had never 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:11.520