0:21 Woo, a little extra music there. So welcome everybody. Welcome to our first official Community Interactive. Whoa. You're good, Lucy, you're not freezing here. Got some major, why am I getting major echo? Okay, I'm just getting some major echo there. I'm going to ignore this. Okay, so anyways, let's make sure that you guys aren't hearing echo and let's go ahead and kick it off. So it is January, it's Martin Luther King weekend. And I'm here with my partners, Dr. Robert Gillio. and Joshua Williams, Jr., who is the national lead for our Advance the Dream team.
1:27 Rob, go ahead and take it out. I'm going to go ahead and go off for a second, see if I can fix this echo. That sounds good. You know, Advance in the Dream, Josh and I had a chat, oh, maybe fifteen years ago where we we talked, we discussed. And as a northern white guy, and as my partner in New Orleans after we worked with in schools after Katrina, we kicked around some real issues we were thinking about. And one of those was that my students, my kids, my neighbors, primarily whites, but a mixture if I live in a bit of a diverse area or I used to, now I don't.
2:13 But they didn't understand what the civil rights movement really was about. They knew Martin Luther King gave an important speech. They had something about a dream. And they knew that the banks were closed, they were off of school, and that there was usually a mattress sale on that day. And I was joking with Josh about that. And he said, Doc, it's not just white kids. It's all kids. Josh, you know, our conversations went back and forth for a couple years about this whole thing. Would you agree with that?
2:44 Very much so. Very much so. Yeah, we had we actually when we think about it, we go back those fifteen years to the actual birth of Hurricane Katrina and the possibility of understanding, even though we were in a disarray as it relates to a community, we still had a desire. We still had a calling. to come to the aid of our students that were still stranded and in a place of unfamiliarity, we still had a responsibility. And we were so pleased with Dr. Rob, the team of doctors, and everyone who came down during that time to actually share with us and provide with us a beaming light of hope, as we would call it.
3:38 And we were very pleased and excited. And we just wanted to keep that excitement going as it relates to what now we have actually come up with, the Advance the Dream series. And we hope that it would be a piece that would actually initialize and energize our kids, our adults, and our seniors to be more interested in actually what took place. during that movement of civil rights. And today you begin to see some of that history unfold. Well, I was motivated by students and staff and parents that had lost everything or near everything and lost loved ones that had despair on top of disparities given the recent catastrophe.
4:35 And there is positive thought There was enthusiasm. There was hope. Those with the least shared the most. And it inspired me that there was a universal desire to help our neighbors and a universal desire to advance King's dream that we could live in a world where we can all help each other and understand each other. Since then, there's a lot of different disparities between rich and poor, between left and right in politics, between variety of things. And I'm not sure King would be thrilled with that, but we can discuss that a little bit later.
5:11 But Josh, you introduced us to some folks and we kicked around ideas and we came up with Lucy's help, this whole advance the dream concept of what could we do? What could I do to advance King's dream? What could my kids do? What could your kids do? What could our leaders do? What could our organizations, our churches, temples, and mosques do And we really said, this is not just a black history, black lives matters type of thing. This is black history, black lives matters, but the knowledge of the civil rights movement matters to everyone.
5:51 And King's view of a different kind of world, his dream, I think could be heard worldwide and should be and is, and it's kind of our mission to do our little thing, our little bit to make a difference. be it in education, be it in health and technology and mentoring, in understanding the music, understanding the culture, understanding the food. All those things contribute. So I'm going to go back. Lucy, Josh and I are just reminiscing here. Yeah, you know, I think one of the biggest activators for this project, Josh, was when you introduced us to Harry Johnson and Adrian Wallace.
6:33 I mean, the... only one generation removed, really. They're not removed. They're still walking around. If you are an African-American male or female in your sixties, seventies, or eighties, or nineties, or even centurions, you've seen an incredible amount of history. And one of the key takeaway points when talking to them is that they fear that the youth of today don't fully understand and appreciate the legacy and the efforts and the triumphs that had to be overcome to earn the rights and the equity and equality, even though we have further room to grow.
7:17 And so it was two years ago today that you actually had the executive director of the Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation, Harry Johnson. on our Saturday intergenerational You Do Matter STEAM Team Club. And he came in and addressed the group. And I think that this is a very fitting way to kick off this series. And let's hear his words. And then we'll come back and talk about it. We've got a special guest in the theater with Jen Thielacker coming in from Harlem. New York, who is a steam and music teacher, we'll be talking to a little bit later.
7:58 We'll be giving some honor and some highlights to some other mother daughter teams. And the whole objective of this is to really ask yourself, how can you pledge to advance the dream? White, black, brown, yellow, it doesn't matter. Under the skin, we're all a biological science-based human being with care, empathy, love, and compassion. And really that is the goal. So let's go ahead and hear it from the words of Harry Johnson. And then we'll come back and talk about it, okay? Okay. Hello, I'm Brett Labatt, and I'll have the esteemed honor of introducing Mr. Harry E. Johnson, Sr.
8:45 He heads the Memorial Foundation of Martin Luther King Jr. and its tenets of democracy, justice, hope, and love, as well as to support the general upkeep of the Memorial in the future. Mr. Johnson led the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation as president and CEO from two thousand two until two thousand thirteen. The President of the United States and the U.S. Congress charged the MLK Foundation with erecting a memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It was under his leadership that the monument was completed after raising in excess of a hundred million dollars.
9:22 He's the thirty-first president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, and as myself have been surrounded by Alpha Men all my life, I can say that he exemplifies all of their values. It is my honor to be the one who introduces such an accomplished man. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Harry E. Johnson Sr. Thank you so very much. I want to say good morning to everyone. Thank you for that wonderful introduction. Thank you, Josh, Lucy, and the team for inviting me on this morning. It's always a joy when I see young minds being molded.
9:56 And Joe Bird has molded young minds for many years. So great for having you on board also, Mr. Joe Bird. To all of you, as we get ready to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King's Day, I want to say thank you, Lucy and your team, for getting the videos to us. It's unfortunate that we have to do everything virtual this year, number one, because of COVID, but number two, because of everything that is going on in our nation's capital. And when you look and see what's going on and what happened last week in our capital, that's the very reason why we built the Martin Luther King Jr.
10:27 Memorial to begin with. The dream of having a national memorial on the mall in honor of Dr. King was a dream of some men of Alpha Phi Alpha. They came up with the courageous idea that a lot of people of color were not going to the mall. And then they asked themselves a question, why not? And resultantly, they came up with the answer. Maybe if they had somebody look like them on the mall, they would go. And so the idea began in earnest to build this Martin Luther King Memorial. And so we as alpha men would go to conventions.
10:58 And Joe Bird, you know this. There would be a box on the table with men asking for us to donate five, ten dollars. And we would put in five or ten dollars thinking and believing there would never be a memorial to Dr. King. But here's your five dollars. Leave us alone. Lo and behold, because we were alpha men, lo and behold, because we believed in Dr. King, lo and behold, because we are leaders ourselves, like you all are, we knew that it could be done. And so we got the permit and permission from President Clinton to build the Martin Luther King Memorial on the Mall.
11:30 We thought the cost was going to be one million dollars. The cost ended up being one hundred and twenty seven million dollars, which we raised without any incident. No scandals. Nobody stole any money. Everybody did the right thing. And now you have on the National Mall a memorial to Dr. King. Dr. King said anyone can be great because anyone can serve. And that's all we are called to do while we're on this earth is just serve, you know. we built a memorial for people to understand what Dr. King's life was really all about.
12:02 When you go around the world, there are memorials of Dr. King in every country. And so, lo and behold, we do and did need a memorial of Dr. King. What it stands for and where is it at? Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial, if you have not seen it, you should go to YouTube to a MLK flyover, MLK fly, F-L-Y over video. You will get a good concept of what the memorial looks like, but there are several pictures, several videos about the memorial on the website. What does it stand for? Dr. King's vision we encompass with seventeen quotes around the wall.
12:37 They mean and they come up to mean democracy, justice, hope and love. This year we were planning on a day of love. We always do a wreath laying service at the Martin Luther King Memorial on his birthday on April fourth, the date that he was assassinated. This year we want to take it a step further and say, why just do a wreath laying, why don't we do an action of love? And so we are prepared to give away one thousand boxes of food at the Martin Luther King Memorial for those who are hurting. We also plan on joining one thousand boxes of love gifts to family shelters in the DC area.
13:14 Well, because of what has happened in D.C., we postponed that until February thirteenth, Valentine's weekend, another day of love. So join us by video when we do that. But the memorial stands for democracy, justice, hope, and love. Why democracy? Democracy because Dr. King and our founders believed that this is a country made up of laws, democracy that each man and woman has a right to vote and choose its leaders. That's what all that stuff was about last week. Justice. The whole piece that every man ought to have justice should something happen.
13:53 We ought to be justified in everything that we do. And justice does roll down like a mighty spring. Hope. The whole issue that we all hope for a better tomorrow. What we've gone through in the last year and twenty twenty with COVID, being separated from our families without being able to gather. We have hope that twenty twenty one will be a much better year for all of us. And it will. love the whole issue that we ought to love and care for each other as i stated earlier our deal was to give away boxes of love boxes this year because people are hurting they're hurting now and they're going to be hurting for the next two three months so we all should show and exhibit some sign of love why is the memorial important to all of us it's important for this simple reason After we built the Martin Luther King Memorial ten years ago, last year it became the fifth most visited memorial on the National Mall with well over three point one million visitors
14:52 Coming to the Martin Luther King Memorial alone. What does that mean? That means that people all over the world came to the Martin Luther King Memorial to experience what was said around the wall, to look at Dr. King in reverence and acknowledge Dr. King's rightful place amongst our other leaders of this great country. You know, we always like to say that world leaders come over to the Martin Luther King Memorial and young leaders come to learn how to lead. I hope that you all get an opportunity to see the memorial, come visit the memorial.
15:24 But more than that, I hope that this week, on Monday, Tuesday, the whole week, that you exhibit some form of love to somebody that you really care about. I encourage you to go to our website, thememorialfoundation.org. I encourage you to visit the Martin Luther King Memorial. I encourage you to do great things with your life. And guess what? You can, because I know you can. With that, I'll close and be glad to answer any questions, Mr. Williams. What it boils down to, Brother Johnson, in lieu of the attacks from last week, how important is it for our kids to understand the voice of Dr.
16:02 King and what we ought to be doing versus what they see on television. What can they do to help in this process as we go forward to bridge this gap between diversity amongst citizens in the United States? Well, thank you for the question. This is nothing new, what happened last week. Those of us over the fifties saw this years ago. Growing up in the sixties, we saw this. We saw division in this country has always had division, black versus white. But this is a different movement. It's not just black versus white.
16:38 This is really the have and have nots and folks who say, hey, look, we don't want you to have a vote. And that's the very thing that Dr. King and so many people doing the civil rights movement fought for. We owe a great debt to the Black Lives Matter movement. We owe a great debt to people like Stacey Abrams, who basically got out people and say, you know, if you're gonna make a difference as a country, number one, go vote. Number two, be a good citizen. Number three, to companies, be a great corporate citizen.
17:08 What this really means is that we all ought to get along. To our young children who saw everything on TV, there should be encouragement to you that you want to do better, that you want to make sure you change things, and that you want and understand that this country was made for all of us. This country does not belong to one particular race. This country belongs to all of us. And we ought to demand at every given time that we own a piece of this company. My mother taught me growing up in St.
17:36 Louis. Number one, you're no better than anybody else. But number two, nobody is any better than you. You can be anything you want to be. All you got to do is put it here in your mind and go do it. And don't let anybody think less of you because of who you are and because of the color that you are. You are a great person. So the stuff that we saw last week, I hope that our young men and women see that's the other flip side of what happened after George Floyd was killed. Men and women gathered together because they wanted this stuff to stop and make a change.
18:11 It's gonna continue. And so we must keep encouraging young minds and young men and women to continue to make a change in this country and demand equal justice. Well, well, well, I told you that was the perfect way to kick off our Luther King Junior's Memorial Weekend and challenge us all. Spot check, beginning of the year. Are we being a good citizen? Are we advancing the opportunities for not only ourselves, our families and others? I know it's been a while since you guys both watched that video.
18:53 And if Jen comes in, I'm gonna bring her to the stage for, conversation discussion. But what's your kind of key takeaway from watching that again? I'll start with you, Rob. Move, learn, serve and earn. King said anyone can be great because anyone can serve and service can be as simple as being kind to someone for thirty seconds once a day. So my takeaway that it's relevant to all of us to act and be advocates for the message. and that things haven't changed that much in the last couple of years.
19:30 It's still a pretty desperate situation where we really need to have equity and justice for all. Josh, what's your takeaway from seeing that? Again, I know he's a friend of yours, but again, it's so interesting how these legacy makers oftentimes can come down to to one person, two people, just a very small group that has to do something that they feel compelled to do. And then it just matters, right? Your deal with you do matter. What's your purpose? And I love that a small group of alphas, right?
20:10 Wanted to honor the Martin Luther King Jr. Him being an alpha himself. Mm-hmm. It was really one of my, I did my research of becoming a member with one of my strong suits. You look at people like Dr. King, you look at Thurgood Marshall, you look at all of these great alpha men, Andrew Young, who actually, a lot of them, I had an opportunity to actually change my perception on life and what I'm doing and how I'm doing it and why it's important to do what we do. Alpha Phi Alpha has done just that same, you know, we started off with everybody was saying that it was gonna be a million dollars to build this monument.
20:59 It's amazing that we actually ended up having to raise the one hundred and twenty five million. And walk us through what time period was that for those of for those of our audience that aren't aware? How long ago was that? And how old were you and were you involved personally at all? I was a student. When I first came into this process of MLK, and like Harry stated, Mr. Johnson stated, we were at each convention, we were actually soliciting support. Even though Harry is, of course, the national president right now, before him, which really got it kicked off, was Adrian Wallace.
21:44 Adrian Wallace was the national president of Alpha at the time, who actually stepped in and really started moving this piece, meeting with the family members, establishing, saying, this will be a reality. And this is not only just a dream to us, this will be a reality. And he was the one that kind of actually pushed and got this thing rolling. And he passed the baton to Harry Johnson. And Harry Johnson has been carrying it since then. And what I love about this story, and it's very similar when I toured my girls with my Girl Power tour in New York and D.C.
22:18 These young kids, thirteen, fourteen, eighteen, twenty one, they think that this history thing is so long ago. They don't recognize that people that lived through this are still walking around. Right. Legacy makers. And, you know, to that degree, I want to go ahead and expand our conversation, bring in one of our partners from New York, Jen Thylacker. who, you know, Rob, I'm going to pass the baton to you to introduce Jen, because I know you've worked with her historically in the past. And, you know, we all share this mission of individually wanting to advance the dream for ourselves and for those that we work with.
22:56 So welcome to the show, Jen. Good to have you in the house. Jen is, if it gets noisy, noisy there with your kids practicing music in the background, that's even more poetry. It beats Josh shuffling papers or typing in our last video. But Jen is someone I've known for probably about thirty years. We met in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where she was involved with raising my kids with her role at our church and was very, very musical at that time. And it's gone on now to be the band director at the Kipp Middle School, you can tell me the right name of the school here in Harlem, near the Apollo Theater.
23:46 And Jen isn't your average teacher. She's a national award winner, just came back from Chicago, was recognized as one of the best band leaders, music teachers in the country. And she has a belief that music can, oh, she's inspired me. Actually, a couple of her students have inspired me that they can be a force for joy. a force for kindness, a force for teamwork, a force for academics, a force for esteem, advancement in a school by playing music, a force for creativity and literacy. And she uses music much more than the average teacher.
24:23 And she reaches out across the street to the Apollo and either brings her kids over or brings the artist to talk to her kids. She's one of those people like you, Josh, that just saying, say, yeah, I think we can raise the money. And you go out and do it. She's saying, I think we can make a change in these kids' lives despite certain barriers they're against. And she's doing it. Jen, talk to me a minute here. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much. Tell us about who you are and what you're doing.
24:53 Yes, I'm in Harlem. I feel like my heart was born and soul was born in Harlem, even though I was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This is my twelfth year teaching in New York City. I grew up in Lancaster County for the first nine years of my teaching. So New York City, it's highs are highs and lows are lows. Today is a Saturday rehearsal and don't usually do Saturday rehearsals, but I'm crazy. And my favorite quote is work hard, play hard. So last night I took ten kids to a famous jazz club downtown and we went to a seven o'clock concert to see Camille Thurman and the Dale Green Trio, which to get in is fifty five dollars.
25:40 Than the twenty five dollar minimum. My Christmas gift to them was I'll get you in, but you might have to figure out how to get the twenty five dollars to eat something or get a drink or two of soda, of course, because they're middle schoolers. And it was an interesting conversation because I made sure they were aware of where we're going, what the people around them look like, and what they did, and also remind them that you're twelve, thirteen, fourteen years old. We're going to go into this club and see one of the most famous female jazz artists and vocalists, the only female who has gotten a contract with Jasmine Center for a year.
26:15 And we hang because she's from New York and I see her around and she comes in school. So just to have the kids have that experience, like last night was just like one of those moments is like, guys, this is the next you. You know, this is these could be you. Camille, she's right here. We had some kids were in the front of the stage. Some of the kids had tape there by tables of four. They had to dress up. But then we had to work hard. So this morning we had a mandatory rehearsal. and they're rehearsing with a student who graduated or not graduated went to ninth grade and in a performing arts school who's turned his life around a year and a half ago he was you know he's okay with me telling the story he was telling on campus and headed down the wrong path and And that Friday before Thanksgiving break, we were supposed to go to the Jazz Lincoln Center, hear the Wynton Marsalis Jazz Orchestra.
27:09 And I begged his dad to let him still go. And I had an extra ticket for dad. And I said, you know what? He doesn't deserve to go. But Carlos Enriquez, a bass player, is born and raised in the Bronx, right where we are. He can change his life. And pretty much Eduardo changed around totally. He's here today because he's like, oh, I can be there all day. Do you want me to bring my bass? Yes. He's running rehearsal. So I just, I'm sorry. No, I think that's fantastic. I don't mean to interrupt. Lucy's the great interviewer.
27:41 I'm not. Well, something you said is part of why you're on camera is there are kids right now looking at this saying, I could be the next her. I could be the next Gentile. I could be the exceptional teacher. I could be the teacher that takes risks. I could be the teacher that uses some of her resources or shames someone like me to give some resources. So you as a role model, we're going to try and get a STEAM team going at your school. And that student's taking extraordinary actions and measures.
28:13 And you and I have been texting, communicating back and forth about some ideas. One of the ideas with our STEAM Team Matrix is can the kids make a difference? Can they, as students with the science, technology, engineering, arts, and math, it's hard to keep the arts going in a charter school, let alone a public school. We won't get into the politics of that because you and many of the other arts teachers are struggling to have the appropriate resources for your program. And that's not what we're here to talk about.
28:44 We're here to talk about could the arts help advance what the superintendents needs. Can the arts help advance getting the job? Your kids dressed up and went to a concert. They went out in public. They learned the proper etiquette. Those are things that will help them in a job interview. And I told them, I said, get ready for the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, One of the things we talked about is with Advance the Dream, you have students that are skilled musicians, skilled lyricists, and you have a band concert coming up this spring.
29:28 And you were hoping that what could we do at Force for Health to help you have your kids make this concert special? And one of the ideas we kicked around is pick one of those songs from the civil rights movement and perform it. And maybe on our show, on our show, Your kids would be the featured artists. They would be the ten minutes to start off the show with your kids, national, international broadcast of that. For an example. That would be amazing. And they can't even fathom that, you know, because they're not used to actually...
30:03 Getting recognized in a positive way. So, I'm wondering if you can. I'm wondering if you can put your thing back in just because I think that it's rubbing. It's getting a little bit better and we, yes, yes, it's much better. I think, one of the things we talked about Josh, I wanted your opinion on this there is. One of the thoughts is, could we challenge music teachers around the country to maybe if we published or talked about a list in a future show of, here's ten songs. Let's get ten bands performing at least one of these ten songs at their spring concerts.
30:43 Let's have a major national music celebration of advancing the dream and promote that teamwork and promote whether the school is a white suburban, white inner city, black inner city, wherever it is. Could we do a challenge where the schools are competing with a song? Could some of Jen's students perhaps be a guest on our show, if that would be all right with you, Josh, to have them come in and just have one or two minutes of reading a poem or playing a brief solo on their trumpet, their clarinet, their violin, their oboe.
31:16 Any thoughts there, Josh, with that? Because you can see Jen's nodding her head. Her kids want to make a difference. They want to serve. I think that, Doc, from the standpoint that we are talking about advancing the dream, this is what Dr. King would want to see anyway. You know, he had no special color when he talked about all children. It was all children that he was talking about. The numblest Ray Creed color a person was. He wanted all of them to come together. And I think that would be a excellent start to try and get a national symposium done that could accomplish and actually view some of those students from all over the country.
32:00 Just performing, like you said, one song from that movement. to actually be played. And then, you know, the thing about it just didn't have to be from the African-American population either. It could be from anywhere. And I like the idea, I'll challenge this group because it's always been a dream of mine to tell history through music and song in such a way that the student empowered performances are complimented, not overran, but complimented in a professional setting and with and alongside professional performers.
32:37 And that's always been my dream for Advance the Dream. And listen, there is history before, during, and after the civil rights movement. And especially with the African-American movement, community, music, and performance is just such a cultural piece of identity, right? So I would love to string along all of our Advance the Dream STEAM teams And they all have to pick a period, choose a song so that when we come to May at the end of our reality health games, because that's really what this is all about, is motivating and challenging both the individuals and group leaders.
33:24 That's corporate leaders, school leaders, family leaders. community leaders to step up and really start bragging. Does my community have what it takes to be the most equitable, healthy and fair community in the country? And if not, what am I doing about it? So that's my big dream is both in the advanced dream, a concert of historic music performance, and then also for my girl power. But we'll save that for my girl power. That's what I would love to do. You know, Lucy, along those lines, there's the historical music, but then there's the new music.
34:01 And isn't Wynton Marsalis someone who's done some work with music and civil rights, black history? Of course. Of course. Jen, is that someone we... In one of your conversations with him, could you get his opinion on that and what any suggestions he'd have for us or participation? Oh, he has a lot of opinions about music. Yeah, possibly his award-winning series that he has online. There's so much good stuff. He had that series that was jazz symphony from the slavery movement. Yeah, exactly. So they actually do assemblies in the school?
34:47 You guys are talking over each other. I miss both of that. He does assemblies and such at your school. Lucy, you were trying to get a point in there. Can you just pop that out? I was just saying that, and forgive me for not having this prepared, but I don't know if it's a Pulitzer. There is some significant global award that Mr. Marsalis has achieved and earned based on his score of the periodical times of slavery. And it just embodied the time culture of that time. So yes, we have to go grab that and perhaps highlight it.
35:29 I think, though, the point I was trying to make with that, I was kind of playing a little devil's advocate, is there are people out there that can write poetry, that can write lyrics, that can do rap, that can do hip-hop. We can create, for those that have the technology skills or the writing skills, but not necessarily the music skills, they don't need to be left out with this. Could there be a song for the movement for advancing the dream? Sure. I'd like to take the opportunity while we have a real live teacher in Harlem on the phone, you know, on our Zoom right now, or not our broadcast.
36:07 It's not easy. Right. I'm the daughter of a teacher and it's not easy out there. And there's lots of challenges. I'm just kind of curious what comes to mind if you needed to ask for help from the general public, you know, assume somebody is in front of you that could perhaps write a check or or change a law. What comes to mind from boots on ground there as a teacher? That's a great question, and it is getting harder every day. If you ask yourself, and I love what I do, I do love what I do, but I also feel that people do not appreciate the arts, and we know that they enhance SEL, they enhance math and ELA, they enhance, but we're not giving equity at all to music and the arts.
36:59 And to me it's very frustrating. This is year twenty-three and I feel like I'm still trying to beg and explain why. What I do is important and it's not just for fun. Yes, we have fun, but we work hard and get things done. If someone was in front of me saying, how could I help? The number one thing is I need resources. Financial resources is the number one thing. In New York City, our number one problem I feel with music programs is our space. Space in New York City is a problem. We share four schools in one building.
37:31 So even just having space is an issue that scheduling is affected by. So we can't schedule it around whenever we want to have band because we have three other principals in schools that need an auditorium. I can't just pick the day I want a concert. We have to, you know, this has to happen a year in advance and everybody has to agree and we share the auditorium, we share the gym, we share the lunchroom, we share the schoolyard. Actually, instruments at work. Some people, they have a great heart and want to give, which is good, but they don't know how to give.
38:05 Or the resources are not adequate or appropriate, right? So they will get instruments. but there are instruments that I would never recommend or put money into because once they break, they break. There's instruments out that Costco sells. Not that there's anything wrong with Costco, but people don't understand that the quality of your, you can only be as good as your instrument. And there's the resources of making sure the grants and different programs that my students are getting into, and I'm trying to get them into, like Julliard has a middle school program, it's free scholarship.
38:40 Jas Lincoln Center has a scholarship program. A lot of the kids, a lot of these grants and foundations don't have the beginning foundation to get students started. It's hard to start as a beginner student. Most of the students for these opportunities have to have experience or private lessons. So I can't get a kid into the middle school Juilliard program because they're competing against four-year-olds that play the cello because they had the means earlier. So I think equity issue, you had a great comment about equity.
39:20 No, I was just going to say, I think one of the things that I'd like to just tackle with Rob as we take Force for Health and be bold with people is really bring the evidence-based information to the table. And it is, you know, proven that learning through the arts is very beneficial. One of our advisors actually has done a TED Talk on that, and she uses song and interpretive dance to teach astronomy. and science. And so I think that those are part of the things that we need to, we are just as frustrated because we feel like health is almost like arts because it's not prioritized.
40:09 And hence we have the sliding issue. of both a mental health issue, a physical health issue in an overall capacity to thrive in those differences that Martin Luther King speaks of. Right. Those health disparities as being the biggest injustices of all are just getting wider. That's what I feel. Yeah. Let me let me speak to that a second. And I apologize to those watching those experiencing on the call here. There's about a one second delay when someone's talking and I hear it. So if we're interrupting each other, that's what's happening.
40:44 Let's talk. You mentioned the word disparities. Let me just read through some statistics. These are sobering. First of all, health, when we talk about health and force for health, protect the gift, we're talking about the gift of your health and also the health of your community. And so we're trying for someone to be as healthy as possible so they can help others. That ninth grader that came back to help you today had to be mentally and physically healthy. may have the means to show up so that you could be on this call.
41:12 Okay. Let's talk through some health disparity issues. I'm just going to read through a couple and put together. If you want, if, well, I'd like to read through a couple on the screen. You'll see some graphs, but I'm just, at this moment, the thing that's really bothering me is there's higher rates of chronic diseases on Life expectancy is five years less. Two to three or four times higher maternal and infant mortality, blacks versus whites. Now, that's interesting. These statistics are not necessarily poor blacks versus all whites.
41:55 If you're as rich as you are or as poor as you are, it's a racial thing here. Cancer disparities, twenty percent higher, but a forty percent higher early mortality rate in diseases such as breast cancer. That speaks to access to care. Cardiovascular disease, thirty percent higher likelihood to have a heart attack or stroke earlier in life than a white person. Access to health care. Mental health disparities. Access to mental health care for blacks versus whites, some estimate it to be fifty percent less.
42:32 Socio-economic factors is a massive amount, but environmental justice, the quality of the neighborhood, the air pollution, the water pollution, the noise pollution, the safety and security, and then the barriers to access to health care and barriers to healthy lifestyles. What if you really want to make a healthy choice, but you don't have a food store nearby. Joshua students told me that after Katrina, he raised his hand and said, if you want to help me be healthy, help me find housing tonight, help me find healthy food.
43:07 There's no stores in our neighborhood. Now there's nowhere to buy good food. If we have the money, we can't afford it. You know, that wasn't just after Katrina in certain neighborhoods, that's in neighborhoods right now where that corner store, is not providing them. So the health disparities issues, you can go to that other graph if you want, but I just wanted to summarize, it's real. And part of the ability to do better with the chronic diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke is access to care and the mental and physical health of wanting to get that care and trust.
43:45 I recently talked to a very good friend whose father had a problem He wouldn't go to the emergency room because he didn't trust that the white doctors there would take care of this old black man and treat him as nothing more than a than a case training material who really didn't care. Thinking back to the days back at the old Tuskegee or charity hospitals and some of the practices that happened there, Cook County in Chicago, et cetera. When I was a medical student, people were were viewed as good teaching materials.
44:18 Not as a patient with rectal bleeding, not as a patient with a breast cancer alone. This is a good one to learn how to deliver babies on. She's black. I'm serious. This kind of stuff took place in my training up north, Josh, let alone what may have happened down south where certain people we know developed a fear of getting care. No wonder once you get cancer diagnosis, you're dying earlier, you're not getting the care. Part of it is you're afraid to get it. And so an understanding, starting way early, just like Jen was saying, you can't have a great musician compete for the Juilliard Scholarship when they're competing against someone who's played for six years by the time they've gotten to middle school.
45:00 Just like you really have to address bias issues early on in someone's life, let alone early on in someone's training as a teacher, as an engineer, as a doctor, as a lawyer, as a judge. As you speak to that, it's not just pulling it out of left field, right? Within the last couple of years, we've actually dove deep into what some of the implicit biases that can occur in the healthcare system when working with pregnant brown skin mamas. This was a full project that we had done earlier and continue to support.
45:45 And so, yes, biologically, because of years of toxicity, And the stress that build up, you can look at a and socioeconomic status does not count right now if you look, because there just is an issue of build up over four hundred years that white people just don't have. So I mean, if we could just accept the fact, it's not a fully external thing. It is a complex issue of historic buildup of just anxieties and different stress levels that just weren't there for non-slave-owned individuals. The you bring up a good point.
46:27 So I want to end the last ten minutes of this on like action. So like Jen, I'm going to bring you back into the deal here. I challenge you to and again, you are one of our preferred preferred partners. So to the degree that your school wants to accept a force for health package. you know, and host a STEAM team there. We're all about that. Very similar to what we're doing with Josh. But one single question. One single question and they could download our app and go put it on the edit profile. How can they pledge to advance the dream?
47:05 What does advance the dream mean to them? And what is their pledge action for two thousand twenty four? And I'm gonna start this last ten-minute discussion with my first Force for Health hero of the year, and her name was Kalila. And Kalila was a fourteen-year-old freshman in Gilbert, Arizona, who, with her mom, is hyper-focused on blood donation. Because we all know that we really, truly need to increase blood donation from African-Americans and Hispanics so that we can have more of a global universal.
47:46 So let me go ahead and just play this one minute video, give her a little bit of highlight, and then we're going to go around the circle and ask each one of you what your two thousand twenty four pledge for advance the dream is. OK, so let me just go ahead and show this. So I feel like my special, I don't know how to say, but I feel like I want to reach people that are in the hospital, especially like the sickle cell people, because they're the main ones that really, really need the blood. No matter like anything, like those people really need it.
48:29 And black community doesn't really give out. what we expect them to, what we need them to. So even though, like other races, give out the blood, more likely the Black community needs to give it out more. So Crystal, you have the... So, you know, my goal has always been if I hear something, I say something. That is my advance to dream pledge. When I hear one of my peers, family members, and oftentimes I work with it not from a place of hate or, you know, a difference, it's more of education. Because I feel the people that make those things around me, they just don't know.
49:26 And so that's my pledge is when I hear something, I say something. If it's not aligned with equity, compassion, kindness, I'm gonna say something. Now I'm married to an African American Papa. My husband is Indian, half Indian from East India and African American. My kids are half and we have been at the sphere of racist issues and events in our family life. So I care passionately about the health of my husband and my kids so that's my pledge when i hear something i say something rob what's your pledge you you are um more you're more confrontational than i am or you have the ability to really be direct i'd be well i i take it the other way i i often and i i often hide from those situations i i get stressed out so my my pledge is i look for situations where i can do a kindness And find some mechanism to be kind or help someone with some resource.
50:32 And so seeking out a way to be kind every day, that's my little tiny contribution. But for me, that works pretty well most days. You know, Josh, I just got to say it. I never really experienced in my little white world racism until I was in New Orleans after Katrina. It was very resentful of me coming down there and it sensitized me. I learned about social determinants of health and I learned about what it feels like to be a minority when I was one for that year when I was down there on and off about twenty different times.
51:17 And kindness extended by you, your family, others made the whole difference. in terms of my experience in a new environment. Josh, what's your two thousand twenty four advance the dream pledge? What are you going to personally pledge to? Well, you know, my thing, as I've done, I've always actually been involved in youth and trying to get you to experience some of those things that we may not have the opportunity to experience. I took it a little further this year. I'm working with a multi-generational piece now where I want to see the seniors, some of those ones who are not, were not maybe able to the point of standpoint, just wasn't even introduced to computers, having them the opportunity to now sit down and actually have the opportunity the ambition, the knowledge to want to learn that.
52:16 So my motivation would be to teach everyone who's willing to learn something about something. I love that. And I see how you not only say it, you live it. You know, the fact that Rob and I talk about this whole family unit, that the fact that a single fully trained force for health family ambassador could really help reduce healthcare costs and issues for not only themselves, for the families and the way that you have hosted this extended family Saturday steam team club for you do matter. We've gone through technology and me where we've, compared.
52:56 And helped increase their digital literacy and their computer literacy and their health literacy by comparing the systems. You know, we've got eighty-year-olds alongside fourteen-year-olds helping each other understand and improve their confidence of health advocacy by doing presentations every week. So I love, love all of that, and I continue to put a spotlight on that. I love that too, as just, I know we're watching the time, but very briefly, as a senior, Some days I can't go out and find other people to be kind to.
53:29 I mean, I'm stuck a little bit sometimes on some days. And what I'm trying to do with the Force for Health, Three Sixty Human, narrating some of those, anatomy and physiology, I see as a kindness. When you impart knowledge, when you teach, you're being kind. When you serve, you're being kind. But I'm trying to be that. Lucy jokes that I'm kind of a Mr. Rogers as I'm teaching anatomy or talking about health issues. But those online things, I'm trying to do at least one of those a day with the idea that the person viewing it is coming away saying, oh, I get it now.
54:05 And I feel good thinking that they're thinking that. Doc, you know, right along what you just said, I can attest and assure you that just by you being able to talk, to instruct someone, We have a bunch of kids that we've actually been training. You wouldn't know how much it means for them to hear from a doctor, especially those who are in college now trying to be a doctor, actually have the opportunity to just talk with you and pick your brain. Now, this don't have to be anybody that you know right down the street, but just in the case, I got a slew of them now that's in med school that would love to talk to you.
54:46 I'll set up a Zoom appointment. Let's do it. I love it. I can keep you busy on that standpoint. And, you know, before we go to Jen, the other thing that you did spectacularly well is, you know, you were based up in the northern panhandle, maybe a little bit outside of Tallahassee in a rural county in Florida, Gadsden County. And part of your STEAM team challenge was to engage with the community. And the fact that you were able to bring in, you know, the vice mayor, the sheriff's office, the sheriff's director, well, the sheriff, right?
55:24 The superintendent of schools, local cardiologists there. I mean, you really do win the beta season prize for the reality health games for doing everything involving the community, involving family. and making a difference. But Jen, I'm going to hand the baton to you. What's your pledge for two thousand twenty four? Advance the dream. The pressure. Those are all great things. I've been thinking since talking to Dr. Gillio about everything and looking at all the work you guys are doing. I'm pledging and already started working with two students and we are building a STEAM team that we will run on our own through music, but it's gonna be STEAM and it's gonna be the STEAM Band Leadership Council.
56:14 And one of the big things I love about music is the ability to be able to teach kids leadership and life skills. And my saying has always been, and I actually used it last night to Kaya, who you'll hopefully meet soon. And my thing is once my kid, always my kid. Like I have a student coming in, she's twenty two. I had her in fifth grade and for the kids to see them. I had another student text me this morning who just had a miscarriage, you know, and was able to like to share that with me. Has nothing to do with music, but you're always my student.
56:46 I always don't care about you. I'm always going to push you. You're not always going to like me and you're not always going to thank me. Just even just last night, just teaching them that they have so much ability. And they don't see it. And if I can, can I just read this quick text to you? Just to highlight. Of course. Kaya, who will be our head, we're going to call her the national correspondent. And we picked our associate. But Kaya is a beautiful young girl. And so she wrote this to me last night because I told all the kids, when you text me when you get home, we're calling the house.
57:18 It's New York. So if you're taking the train home, I'm going to worry. And she wrote this text to me late last night. I just want to thank you for everything you do for me and the band. You're truly someone special in my life and someone who sees a lot of potential in me. I'm never really that confident in myself. I say it, but I don't really act in that sense. Being someone that you can count on gives me that confidence and reassurance that I am able to become the next Tia Fuller or Camille Thurman.
57:45 I never really tell you personally that in my eyes, your work and dedication to the band will never go unnoticed. So when I make it, you are definitely someone I will be mentioning about because it ain't nothing like being the water to someone's growing seed. And that's what you are to me. Much love, Kaya. This is an eighth grader. So my pledge is that's what I want every year. And when I think about leaving the classroom, I think of the students that are like, no, they need someone to keep pushing, you know?
58:15 It's the ripples. It's the ripples. And you speak, and you're very similar to Rob and I. If you are an intern with us or if you're in our space, you're our family, right? I think that this is the perfect, perfect segue to a closing video that I wanted to show. We started the day, and we started the broadcast with Harry Johnson. And again, that was the Saturday before the getting on a flight to actually be in DC to meet with the president, right? and have the honorary celebration at the Memorial Foundation.
58:48 One of the children that's in Josh's You Do Matter, he wrote a poem and a presentation, and it was actually featured as part of the national broadcast. And so it's very fitting to go ahead and end with the younger generation voice. So let's go ahead and play this, and we'll come back and say goodbye. My name is Alejandro Bailey, and I'm a graduating senior at Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans, Louisiana. Currently, I am committed to Tulane University All of this was made possible by Dr.
59:22 Martin Luther King Jr. and the many other African Americans throughout history who stood up for our rights. Because of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I was given the same education as people of other skin colors. Because of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I was able to dream big and actually chase those dreams. Because of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I found a community I can call a family. Because of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I am able to live like all human beings should. And lastly, because of Dr.
59:56 Martin Luther King Jr., I am judged by the contents of my character instead of the color of my skin. just as he intended. Because of his sacrifices and contributions, I stand before you today a young, gifted, proud black scholar who dreams and aspirations are endless. Thank you and happy birthday, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. So with that, I wanna go ahead and thank you so much for kicking off this brand new series. It is a weekly series that will go ahead and be on Saturday for service. It'll spot check you.
1:00:38 We're gonna talk about some real issues. We're gonna have some difficult conversations. We're gonna challenge individuals and leaders to step up to the plate. And really be aware of the social determinants of health that may be impacting our minority or brown skin. I always say brown skin, you know, folks a little bit more than others. And we just challenge everybody this year to be a force for health. You know, be kind, practice healthy citizenship and help others. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
1:01:14 In his legacy of advancing the dream. Make that pledge, own it, live it, share it. Join the Force for Health for free. You can go to advancethedream.com and join the community, learn a little bit more about us. And February first, we're actually kicking off the very first season of Reality Health Games. So that's when points where you move, learn, serve and earn If you are involved with the network, we'll start counting, and we're going to start pitting up some state-to-state competitions and group-to-group competitions and really kind of start putting the pressure on a little bit, too.
1:01:51 Let's do something and practice healthier citizenship. Thank you so much, and until next week.
Transcript is auto-generated from the broadcast captions and lightly cleaned; timestamps jump to the moment on YouTube.
Advance the Dream · Episode Recap ·