0:00 Advance the Dream, our weekly community chat, where we celebrate legacy makers and family heroes who are actively advancing the dream in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We talk about health, challenges, highlights and heroes in an intergenerational fashion in hopes that his legacy of hope and equality continue to live on. This weekly series, powered by the Force for Health Network, is aired live on Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn at 8 a.m. Pacific Time, 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. then shared afterwards at AdvanceTheDream.com.
0:33 Now, let's meet our hosts, Force for Health Network co-founders, Dr. Robert Giglio and Lucy Howell, alongside our National Director, Joshua Williams Jr. as we dive into this week's topic. Hi, everybody. Welcome to Advance the Dream Live, our weekly community chat, where we get to talk about things and ways that we get to extend the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King in a way to improve health and wealth outcomes for all. My name is Lucy Howell. I am based in Tucson, Arizona. I'm joined with My partners here, I've got Dr. Rob Gillio coming in from State College, Pennsylvania, and I've got Joshua Williams coming in from New Orleans or Gadsden this week?
1:21 Gadsden this week. Gadsden this week. All righty. So, you know, we are closing up our. third month of the year we've talked the last couple weeks about you know the significance of selma um we've talked about the um sometimes the people behind the figures you know a few weeks ago when we talked about rushkin um that had a great netflix movie out um to really talk about um you know, the struggles of even somebody like him who was so passionate about making a difference and yet he was still kind of critiqued and ridiculed because of his choices.
2:10 You know, he was gay, we'll just say it. He was gay and it wasn't acceptable back in the 60s to be, you know, an outspoken gay Black man. We talked about, of course, the Selma movie, And so we continue to talk about this on a weekly basis and throughout the rest of the year because disparities are real. Health disparities are real. And as we'll see with our upcoming guests today and our clip, there is this need, this growing need to make sure that this knowledge transfer is passed on generation to generation, because really freedom is not free, nor is it over for everybody, whether woman, right?
3:04 African-American, those seeking equal rights, equal treatment and equal opportunities. We'll see in one of the clips below. Every generation has to carry their own torch. So that's kind of the tone that I'm coming into it, you guys. And let's go around the table. I mean, how's your world? What's going on in Josh's world this week? What would you like to bring to the table for quick discussion? Well, I was glad to report back that this past weekend that we did a live broadcast from the campus of Dillard University.
3:42 Where we had their 16th annual community health day, which had over 48 vendors there. You had over 500 people to actually come through that particular day. We also was entertained by a few of our, members of the Foundation, just the You Do Matter Foundation. And they actually came out and supported us at our booth to actually continue to enhance our knowledge around spreading technology and increasing our ability to advance Dr. King's dream. um a very well attended event I was glad of all the students that came and we'll hear from some of them later in our shows to actually see what they're doing and and and understand and appreciate how they feel coming from their level as it relates to the training that they receive uh with propelling themselves Was the health fair open to the community or was it really kind of for Dillard students?
4:55 No, the health fair was open to the community. You had a plethora of community vendors that were there, national agencies, health agencies that are there, home ownership programs, et cetera. It was a community-oriented event. And the person that's actually over there for the last 15, 16 years has been Mr. Nick Harris, who has agreed to be one of our guests on our upcoming show. You know, one of the challenges that we put out there as we play this game, you know, called Reality Health Games, and we look at community to community, organization to organization, person to person.
5:45 And one of the easiest things I think that a community can do is host at least one quarterly health fair. I know that in Pima County, and I'm so proud because I get to I feel like I get to give points to my Pima County Health Department as they hosted their second annual. And it was just simply called Black and Brown Health Care. You know, it was for African-American Awareness Month. Right. And Black History Month, I should say. Mm hmm. And it and I showed up and sometimes really just literally showing up is putting yourself in the middle of everybody else who cares.
6:35 Right. And so some some on one side of the hand, this is like, oh, you know, it's just another whatever. But if you actually go and show up, you see that it's aggregating all of the resources, services. If you need something, you're going to find an answer at a health fair. I don't know. What do you think, Rob? Did State College host a health fair that you know of so that we can give credit first quarter to your town? Well, they hold an event around MLK, you know, Martin Luther King Day. There are health fairs that occur in this town.
7:22 I did not attend one. There's a wonderful health organization, though, here that runs a free clinic that's a kind of a perpetual health fair, and it's run by volunteer doctors. Perhaps I'll bring someone on as a guest in a future show. Yeah. In fact, I challenge all of us. Let's lean into next week with an example of the type of organizer that showed up at the health fair. I know I've got a video that I would love to share. And Josh, if you've got some photos and Rob would be curious to see who's taking the lead at community activation for health fairs there in State College.
8:08 I think that's great. I think as I open some of my thoughts on this, as I took the challenge, I like your challenges. The movie Rustin was produced by the Obamas on Netflix. I kind of, you know, I happened by, yeah, I was spelling his name wrong. I couldn't find it, couldn't find it by accident from watching a different movie. It suggested I might like this one. I said, well, that sounds familiar. Wait. Lucy introduced me to this two weeks ago. I watched it. And I was really impressed with the work of the leaders and the organizers, A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, as well as Rayard Rustin.
8:57 But what really struck me was a pledge that was in the movie that was written by Dr. Randolph, Mr. Randolph, That was the pledge that was on a little card that anyone who attended the rally was given. And I was talking with Lucy about this. Josh, I wanted your opinion. I want to include that in the Advance the Dream program to really take a modified version of that very same pledge that was taken in 1963 and do it in 2024. But it's all about personal action and responsibility, not about organizing.
9:37 And I think the point I'm getting at is, as we look at some of the work we've done, Lucy, in the maternal and fetal, the diverse, the discrimination. Implicit bias and training for the providers. And again, implicit bias and getting to the outcomes of two to three times the risk of maternal or fetal complications from pregnancy. And looking at how Some good research has brought it back to implicit bias, but implicit bias is like a new term. And then it was, you break it down to something called micro abrasions.
10:17 I'm a doctor. I think of an abrasion. I think if I'm hurt hard, I'm hit like you saw in the movie or I'm cut. That's a laceration. An abrasion is you fall down on your skin, your knee. A micro abrasion is maybe the injury just before you get a blister. It's trivial. But if you keep doing it and doing it, you'll get a blister or a skinned knee or an open wound. I think the thing I'm thinking about was the concept here with Advance the Dream is I'm walking on your 54-mile march, and Josh is catching me, but I'm still of the current marchers.
10:58 But in our virtual march, as I'm doing it, I'm thinking about the micro abrasions that I may have caused or the micro kindnesses. I want to turn it around that I might have caused. And I guess what I'm getting at is people getting together. You talk about going to an event, Lucy, a health event, a health fair, whatever. But people communicating together are so close to either being shockingly cruel or shockingly nice, sometimes by saying the wrong word. the wrong term, the wrong tone. And I think getting people together and talking and communicating is what I'm excited about with what we can do on an individual basis when no one's watching on that micro kindness versus a micro abrasion, but also the ability to speak up.
11:54 I use the word sometimes when I talk, Lucy goes, oh my God, that was cringeworthy. I cannot believe you said that to that young lady about her hair on a Zoom call. And I'm thinking, I was just complimenting her like I compliment my daughters. But it was taken as some sort of a racist comment, potentially, or at least a cringeworthy one. I encourage us all to cringe a little, but to have the comfort in a relationship to share how it made you feel and why, and back and forth, because we need to understand each other better.
12:28 So I'm really, I want to focus on taking a pledge. That pledge really comes down to Doing the best I can every day of my life to follow and advance the dream of people being kind to each other based on the content of their character, not the color of their skin. But we have to be together to be kind to each other. I challenge you to get out there, not just to go to an event, but in any conversation. Watch that you're not being the micro braider, but the micro kinder. Well, and I love that because you hit on what my Advance the Dream 2024 goal is.
13:09 It is how I live my life, but I'm claiming it so that I can restate it and I can challenge myself every week. If I hear something, then I'm going to say something. Because again, many people don't understand this concept of implicit means that it's implicit. It's coming from not really an intentional space, but more kind of more of a natural, more embedded source. And so oftentimes people just don't realize that that's happening. And I don't know if it's the mom in me, okay, or the half century behind my back, but yes, I am bold and I wanna be bold and I wanna live my life boldly because of course, and I should have the quote and gold star to either of you if you can pull this quote, what is Martin Luther King's quote about the evil of silence?
14:08 Or the detriments of silence? Well, I'll find it when you play one of the videos. I'll go look down and start typing in a minute. The beauty is we have access to good information, but Lucy, we have access to bad information. So when you see something and you say something, it might be based on being raised in isolation, or it might be based on the latest TikTok from someone with much more prejudice and abrasion. downright lacerators out there creating hate, trying to divide. So I think the communication is so key.
14:47 And communication, see something, say something, but say it in a way that educates and invites as opposed to necessarily calling someone out because not all negative comments are intended to be negative. They're not intended to be demeaning. They're not intended to be biased or racial or prejudiced. Many are meant to be just as a plain old compliment that you look great on the show today. Love your hair. And I'm not saying that to you. I'm saying that to Josh today. We'll call it citizen coaching, you know, force for health coaching.
15:21 That's all it is. It's simply, you know, let me tell you how I took that and why somebody might be offended by that. Right. So, well, Lucy, that's the same thing to the piggyback on what Dr. Rob just stated was that, you know, some people and I saw this last weekend, they look at the Internet as the the forgiven truth of everything. And what we have to do is also teach from the standpoint of what is accurate and what is not, because everything that you pull up on the Internet and Facebook is not accurate.
15:59 And some people just haven't grasped that understanding yet. So we're continuing to push that information and knowledge to people as well, too. Yes. And TikTok, a platform that just allows video combined with sensationalism and A.I., It's a scary, scary time, I think, that we've accelerated to in only the last 12 months. Wouldn't you agree, Rob? I mean, you and I have been working together for six years, seven years, right? And the acceleration of now this totally quicksand foundation, I believe, of media, quality media distribution.
16:48 It is just the opposite of Gutenberg You know, I used to say we were in a Gutenberg revolution. Once we were able to publish in the Middle Ages, the church wasn't the only one with the Bible. Anyone could publish it or anything. But it still was people of means and some level of decorum. And sometimes that decorum was not great leadership. Now we are all publishers. We are all Gutenbergs with a $300, $400, $500 device and $9 a month. we can publish to the world. Speaking of publishing to the world, I hereby wish to share the following two quotes.
17:30 I just looked up, Lucy. Good. According to Wikipedia. The internet. Yeah, I'm looking at that right now. One quote, in the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. That's right. And that's one quote. And the second quote, our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. And I didn't want to say it because that's one of the things that I got on my letterhead. You should have jumped out there. But no, but the beauty is, Yeah, encourage me to look it up and I'll remember it.
18:19 And I put myself out there as my level of ignorance. I'm saying anyone who's watching this, people that look like me or that are very different than me, don't be too hard on yourself for your ignorance, but be hard on yourself if you don't try to overcome your ignorance. know uh oftentimes I will be looking down or looking away and I apologize to the audience for that I we are self-producing this show and so when I hear a tidbit like that I've got to go ahead and type it up and go ahead and bring it on to the show because that's exactly what we're talking about have a voice know your voice use your voice and be civil, kind, and empathetic in a culturally acceptance way, especially as we lean in this year.
19:06 This is a presidential election year, probably one of what will be one of the most divisive platforms and choices that we've almost ever had. I mean, listen, I'm only, you know, again, 55 have gone through, you know, just a handful of presidential elections. So I can't speak historically. I'm not going way back. But really, we need to know who our community leaders are. We need to know who our elected voted opportunities for shift and change or further support should be and if you are a citizen and you don't know who your county administrators are who your mayor is who your city council is who your governor is you better know who your governor is okay but besides your governor you come straight to the local community and it's those local community folks that are going to be protecting you or putting you out to be exposed and to chip away at some of those things.
20:11 So I challenge the citizens, lean in, know who your mayor is, know who your city council is, know who your county administrators are. Just start with that. If you don't know the difference, there is. OK, there's layers of community in here. But anyways, let's go ahead and kind of transition to the next segment here. I want to go ahead and preview and hopefully maybe while we're showing this video, Josh, you can go ahead and text him, make sure he's got the link. But we are excited to feature more Keith Phillips.
20:48 He is the executive director of the Russell Honorary Honors Program at Southern University, doing some fabulous things down there. And so he'll be coming on a little bit later in the show. But as I always do, I always look back and say, you know, what are some of the things that are important in african-american history in the month that we're in and it was interesting because we do have a um oops we do have a lesson a learn it challenge about the appeal for human rights and um Back in Atlanta in 1960s, they were starting to get some degree of equality, except the fact that these students were saying, yeah, we might be able to walk down the street, but we don't have equality in the hospitals.
21:52 We might be able to sit in a restaurant, but we don't have that full joy, happiness, and contentment that we feel. And so it was Lonnie King Jr. who was instrumental as a chief organizer and a chairman of the Atlanta Student Movement. And again, this concept of intergenerational legacy builders is what I want to play with. You know, the title of today's show is called Intergenerational Legacy Builders and Why It Matters. So I want to go ahead and tee up this quick little video. And I'm going to go ahead and give me one quick second.
22:44 I thought I had this all teed up. Where are you at? Rob, I'm going to hand it to you for a second to go ahead and continue the conversation. Give me two minutes. Well, you mentioned something about the given month that we're in. you'd like to look up and have feature things. But this is not the events, the dream, Black History Month flash in the pan. This is a year long or decades long or centuries long legacy that we're trying to build. The three of us are all at the second half of our lives, so to speak.
23:23 We're trying to encourage, look at the age of the people that were the leaders in this video she's launching. So I guess what I'm saying is every month we'll have videos of things that maybe that happened that month and or at least lessons that are relevant to that month. Right now, Lucy's looking inside of our appeal to human rights course inside of the advance the dream curriculum at the force for health dot com, which is with text, with images, video quizzes, games and interactive opportunities.
24:06 You ready? Yep. I'm going to go ahead and write. So www.theforceforhealth.com or advancedthedream.com both come to our site and we've got a series of courses. Many of them at this point are free and So you can take these courses, watch a video, earn points, move, learn, serve, and earn your way towards being a better, healthier force for health, global citizen of the world. And so let's go ahead and I'm going to come into, I thought it was interesting that this document was actually done as an ad.
24:53 In the newspaper back then. And so our course here actually has the original students reflecting back and looking at the significance of that time. But this particular video is... Go ahead. This particular video is from Lonnie King, who was one of the leaders of this particular movement. The leadership in Atlanta, Georgia at that time Negro leadership had never met with the white power structure ever. That had to change when we came along because we took the position that, no, we got to talk to the people who are really creating these problems.
25:37 That was this volcano, racial volcano that was lurking below the surface where you had the blacks were quiet and they were going along and very compliant with the status quo. But every time a black person got lynched, or every time a Black person who was 70 years of age and was called a boy, or when they had to get out of the way of white people, every time they suffered these daily indignities, that was creating more lava within this racial volcano. when the four young men sat down at greensboro at um woolworth's that was the tipping point that was an inciting point that caused this volcano to erupt this racial volcano and the younger blacks myself and we were all saying we can't take this anymore once those young men sat down Within 120 days or so, 70,000 other young Black persons who were going to college erupted and started challenging those sit-ins.
26:45 It was not the lunch counters. That was just a convenient thing to start this battle. It was employment. It was schooling. It was housing. So when we started this movement, we had to battle with the college presidents initially. But when they saw that we weren't going to back down, they finally relented. But actually, I've got to give credit to Dr. Harry V. Richardson, president of ITC. That is the man who broke the mold of the college presidents in that major meeting that we had with them. And he began by saying, and I'm paraphrasing, I think the students are correct.
27:30 And he said, I'm going to support them. because I have a PhD from some prestigious place. He's the president of a college. And he said, if I go downtown, I can spend my money, but I can't eat anywhere down except maybe in some dinky place off near a bathroom. And of course, quickly on behind him came the other president, Dr. Cunningham, who agreed with him. So all of a sudden we had this split between the college presidents. So... Dr. Clement, brilliant man, conceived of the idea of the appeal for human rights and asked us to write it.
28:06 And that's how that came about. It was a compromise. Clement's position was, well, if you're going to do this, you need to tell the world why you had to do it. And when you think about it, that was a brilliant suggestion from him. That document, it was like a manifesto and it is still being read today all around the world. By the time of the March on Washington in 1963, the South was abuzz with all the activity from these young students. Student and Violent Coordinating Committee had been put together.
28:46 Every state in the old states of the Confederacy had a very viable movement for justice. I had heard that I have a dream speech at least two or three times earlier than that. But the masses had not heard that speech, certain masses of white people. And so that particular speech has become the, I guess you would say, the we shall overcome of the civil rights movement. King was trying to get America to update in its actions toward people who were not white, update them so that there would not be this dichotomy between what we practiced and what we preached.
29:29 The price of freedom and justice is an eternal struggle, and that you cannot necessarily win a victory and go home. The relay of freedom, the relay of freedom is a relay wherein each generation we have learned is going to have to run their leg of this relay. That's where I was drawing my inspiration from is really needing to take each generation's needs to step up and understand what they need to do to carry forward in our virtual health academy over at the force for health right the force for health.com and again you can access that with an advanced the dream because that is our channel our brand our community that we are building with mr josh williams here um there are the words of that and I challenge you all to Yeah, you can go Google search it if you want, or you can just come to the Force for Health.
30:51 It's all of seven minutes to commit, right? We're not going to listen to the whole thing right now, but it really breaks it down into seven core areas of which they're seeking improved justice, education, jobs, housing, voting, Healthcare, I'll call that healthcare, hospitals, right? Access to care. Movies, concerts, restaurants, that's cultural. Law enforcement. Let's just go ahead and zoom in on this. I take this focus mode out. We hold that the practice of racial that the practice of racial is not new in having I'm not going to read these right now but they're significant.
31:55 And I think that as the foundation of Advance the Dream gets built and stronger, when Rob, you mentioned that pledge from the Million Man March at DC, right? People thought that they were raising funds. No, they weren't raising funds. The very, very first step in advocacy is taking the pledge and the commitment to action. Right. The learn it, live it, share it. It's abundant everywhere. So I'm going to stop sharing, you know, this screen and bring us back here. I think as you talk about this, I'm struck just, I don't know, for some reason I'm thinking about technology.
32:36 And go back to the word manifesto the gentleman used in the movie, in the video clip. You know, Martin Luther King Jr. was named for Martin Luther King, or Martin Luther, excuse me. who did a manifesto, and his way of communicating in the old days was pen and ink on a piece of parchment. Pen and ink was done with a quill. And it would take hours to write a manifesto. But he put down his 90-some theses, and his internet of the day was to nail it to the door of the church. All right? Right. You go further, and here the president advised them to do a manifesto.
33:18 Put out what you're trying to do. And their internet of the day was the newspaper. In order to access the newspaper, you had to either do something that was newsworthy, like a big protest march, or some horrible crime, or you bought an ad. The ad was a barrier, was a social determinant of health and education and wellness. You didn't have the money, you couldn't buy an ad. If you didn't have the influence with the editor, your article would never get in that newspaper. And so To take it a next step, Dr. King, he had given parts of that speech, parts of that sermon, different sermons before.
33:59 But as it was said, it wasn't known to this massive audience or especially a white audience who had access to television. And so to get coverage, he made a spectacle. He had the government scared to death. But he pulled off this, if you were to have FanDuel, you'd be betting whether it would be a peaceful or or some sort of a race riot. People were watching. They were leaning in, and he educated them. And so I'm kind of, I'm drinking out of my little Scrabble coffee cup today that my daughter gave me with my initial on it, but I'm struck by the word research comes before the learning, as part of the learning.
34:40 Learn about something. While you're learning about it, R for research, R for resilience. Be tough enough to say something's wrong. and to learn about it and then act on it, live it. Go to that protest. Read about it. Try and be as active on it as you can with it. Respect the others that may have a different point of view and communicate with them. But I guess what I'm getting at is we now with this course, with what Josh has done here, working with us with Advance the Dream, with us building a virtual march, with us building a virtual academy to educate on this, What's exciting about it is this is our new next level of communication.
35:26 And the barriers are advanced dream is free. Log in, learn, get involved, and get engaged with doing your own research. Become more resilient. And then kind of share it by posting and sharing and asking others to join or watch our next show, perhaps, or suggest that they come on the next show. to really set us straight. That's part of us putting the manifesto. We are the manifesto. We all have the ability to be broadcasters, authors, and influencers like Josh. Before I pass on to Josh, quick shout out to Daisha, What's Happening Girl.
36:14 She just won one of the awards. Woman of the Year Awards here in Tucson, Arizona for the work that she does with, oh my gosh. It's Women Who Care, basically. Every quarter, she hosts an event. And women can put in $100, $150, $200, but she has hundreds of women coming in. And it's a great way to quickly raise $20,000 to $30,000 in one night. And then five nonprofits pitch, and they actually hand. It's like a little mini angel event. you know, round, a venture fund round, but thanks for watching, Dasha.
36:59 We appreciate it. Josh, the, what does, now the Atlanta, that whole Southern belt, right, is where you're going to find 80% of the HBCUs, you know, Atlanta's really was a kind of hotbed and kind of jumping off platform for education, you know, collaboration. And what do you how do you comment about after watching that? Well, Atlanta was known as the Mecca, as we could call it, the Mecca for for black education with their with the listing of his HBCUs that are listed there, of course, strong. and very powerful HBCUs that are really making a difference for the educational barriers that were forced to Blacks back in the 50s and the 60s.
38:01 They have really been a welcomed addition. And we talked about this the other day while I was at an HBCU, and we talked about the importance on why those HBCUs are still relevant today. In the midst of you have PWIs and all kind of now online educational academies where you don't even have to go to school, you can actually just sit at home and learn, but the quality of education that was designed for African-Americans and of course the low income people at that particular time is still serving the purpose that is very much needed today.
38:46 We talked about the idea of President Obama being elected as the first black president of the United States. Well, why did that happen? And we posed to the students, why did that happen? What movement took place to cause that type of rift to happen? Because Jesse Jackson had ran for president before then. You had a few other Black individuals who had seeked the presidency. But what made that time so different that Obama could actually receive the majority of the votes in the United States to become the president?
39:27 And it adds to that, Lucy, what can we do to garner that back? to people understanding and realizing how important their right to vote is, their right to say what they would like to say, and then actually demonstrate what they would like to have happen. Well, I am going to challenge the three of us to not let go of this topic. And when we were listening to Martin Luther King's speech that he did, you know, obviously the advance, the dream that was set up with Russian on the mall right there. Right.
40:09 He called out Mississippi and Arkansas, and he called out certain communities in that speech. right how he wished that they would be like this instead of like this and so it would be very interesting to go um along the market footprint of most of the hbc use and let's just test a little theory here and let's see what the voter engagement levels are like in those communities and the hypothesis would be that they are very high now whether or not it's as easy in those communities than in non-Black communities.
40:52 That's the question, because there's still that issue of why are people waiting in line for five hours in certain communities and not in others? Or, you know, so... as we lean into a real live situation, a real live, huge voting year, you know, I just challenge all of us to come to the table. You know, I'm going to come to the table with Arizona stats. I challenge, you know, Rob, we'll take a look at, since we're so active or we will be active in the next couple of weeks in Philly, in Erie, right?
41:29 I know Cleveland is running at about 38%. percent African-American. Here in Tucson, we have a measly four percent. Gadsden County, which is where Josh is based. Aren't you the highest per capita African-American populated county in the country, even though it's so small? Aren't you known to have like a high percentage of African-Americans per capita? Yes, it's the highest, right? I think another thing that we haven't touched upon that I get that we need to brag about you is the people that you've brought to the table this past year.
42:08 To advance the dream that you do matter. You know, when we work with community directors, we challenge you to bring the head of the schools to the table, the sheriff's department to the table, you know, the head of the Congress people, Congress men and women, whether they're state representatives or, you know, U.S. congressional representatives. Doctors. people in their own backyard, cardiologists. I mean, you had a slew of about, I think, 10 or 12 badges you've earned. for bringing these mentor types from the four segments.
42:51 Here at the Force for Health, we like to believe, and our mission is that we need to bring, population health is a very complex issue. My partner Rob has been in it for 30 plus years. 30, should I say 40? 30 plus, something like that. As many as you want. I've been a doctor since 1986. That's right. He... I've seen it from a physician standpoint, but if we're really truly going to impact population health issues, we have to talk to everybody in the community because everybody plays a role, right?
43:23 That's our tag on reality health. Population health is team sport. Everybody plays a role. What role do you play? So if you're an individual, your first and foremost role is to make sure that you understand if there are any propensity towards disease, right? without anything else, right? You should know your family history. You should know kind of what you're predisposed to. Once you understand those and once you can act towards prevention or risk mitigation, then you can really start increasing health literacy and then moving.
44:03 And then you can know, the more you know about yourself and the more you can know about your family and the more you can do things in the community, right? Yes. It comes down to actions, though. I think you know the information, but how are you acting? Every decision you make impacts it, whether it's the healthy decision or a safety decision or a kindness decision or what law you're voting for or who you're supporting. This comment down below, Diana Seschel. Okay, so this goes to the power of community.
44:46 Okay, I went to a private Catholic school in Southern California called Chaminade. Go Eagles. We are the class of 87. We are a Gen X. And a lot of people think that we are the silent generation because we're so small and we were a little apathetic and we were in a decade of excess. But here we are 30 plus years later and we're still connected and we follow each other on Facebook. And I love that she's actually tuning in and listening to this. And Diana, thank you so much because. She is a dentist and she is in UCLA.
45:21 She actually is on the UCLA Alumni Board. So when we talk about alumni and activating this resource for universities, and I know that's been a pet project of yours, Josh, at an HBCU level, the whole connection of tooth health and dental health tied to cardiovascular disease and tied to these preventative deals. Diana, we would love to have you on. So let's message, and I'd love to get your voice in here. So thank you. I think that's great. And I think that's looking a little bit outside of the box of the conventional things when we think about when you're having an Advance the Dream program.
46:03 But the poor dental hygiene issues not just affect your halitosis or your self-confidence, or how you look in public and whether you're willing to smile or not. There are real, real issues tying a dental health gingivitis to bacterial endocarditis and sudden cardiac death. It's not insignificant at all. I'd love to learn more. Let's please, please bring her and or others on a show devoted to that. You know, dental access to dental care is, is, probably even harder than access to conventional medical care because many of the programs that are out there that might help with payments aren't dental isn't included and it's a huge barrier it's a broke it's it's almost to me a broken system here in the United States I live in Tucson Arizona When I worked with the Tucson Hispanic Chamber many years ago, it was right at the kind of onset of this whole Mexican medical tourism, because literally less than 90 minutes south of me, we can go get dental work for about 25,
47:18 30 percent of the cost of other than driving down my street and finding a dentist here. So yeah, this whole tie to the economic disparity that then affects the dental health, that then affects oral health and that rest of the system. Well, you said something really key there though, driving down the street and picking one of the dentists in gorgeous Tucson, where you might have access to a dentist. Try finding a dentist in rural Appalachian, Pennsylvania, that's taking new patients. Or if there is a dentist, within an hour's drive.
47:53 I'm serious. Where people are talking about a dental van, the same things I talked about when I did some missionary work in Honduras, for goodness sakes, outfitting a school bus or a van to become a dental clinic. And we had the money to do it. We couldn't get the dentists. So it's the sort of thing where that's a real issue in certain neighborhoods. But for rural health, When we're talking advance a dream, I want to point out this is not just an African American concept. It's a concept that I think affects a lot of people.
48:31 I think people with various disabilities. I think one of those disabilities in a sense is being poor or being in an area with poor resources. Being Native American in certain areas becomes difficult to advance the dream. Frankly, As I age and become an old white male that's increasingly isolated, I have my issues too with how do I advance my dream? How do I access dental care? I was a person who dealt with it last week. Go ahead. And so as we round out, it's so good to see you. We're going to have to reschedule you because I know that we are going to need more than three to four minutes talking to Morky if you're on and can hear us.
49:18 Can you hear us okay? Good morning. How are you guys doing? We are doing fabulous. We are doing fabulous. It's good to see you. I was going to bring up your slide really quickly so that I can just do... Josh, very quickly, we had introduced you earlier as the current Executive Director for the Russell Honor Ray Honors Program. at Southern University. I believe you've been over there for about five years. Yes. And that you are really trying to build and develop young men, but teachers, servants, civic servants.
50:01 You want to go ahead and perhaps speak to that a little bit? Totally. Thank you for having me on today. Donnery Center does produce great leaders in the aspect of educators. The young men that we recruit from the greater New Orleans area actually comes in, get a four-year scholarship. They're developed, mentored. We're pushing them to the limits. So when they graduate, we have the best product we can have. They're sharpened. They maximize leadership opportunities once they graduate as well. And that's because of the program.
50:42 The young men that we work with... They appreciate some of the rigorous things we put them through because it prepares them for the next level. Many of them come back and talk to the current members. We have opportunities that we call Manhood Mondays where these young men come back and pour into them and tell them the standards and give them some life experiences of what to be prepared for once they graduate from college. and how to make sure that they effective in the classroom. And it plays a good role in our community to be able to have educators that look like you, talk like you, and able to relate to you.
51:28 That piece there is the most symbolic piece of hope for them, right? Most of the young men coming from the inner city of New Orleans, they need a little bit more than the traditional just go in the classroom, sit down, get your education, and then go home. I wish it was that cookie cutter, but life doesn't give it to us in that form. So these young men understand that the work that you're going to get into is going to be work to help the young people all over, right, and making them more well-rounded and having them come to you in those times of need And your job is to navigate them, help navigate them, right, from the communities where they come from, inspire them to push and go farther.
52:22 And then hopefully they come back into the community and pour in the resources and the knowledge that they learned. And for me, just, you know, under Josh, as a young kid, young man, coming up to drive YMCA, I've seen a lot of leadership. I understood what leadership looked like. I understand what being community-driven looked like. dedicated to a cause, those type of things that I kind of watch. And there's tutelage as well as the general manager, Doug Evans, executive director, Gregory Phillips.
53:02 Those guys poured a lot into me. And right now I'm just pouring a lot into the younger generation. You know, Lucy, Markeith was one of my students and who did not want to, you know, when the Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation broke ground in Washington, D.C., Markeith was one of the young men that I asked to come with us and chaperone a busload of 47 kids. Markeith told me then that he was not a mentor, but he was going to go because we asked him. So he went. And there, from that standpoint, I think he fell in love with the idea of giving back.
53:47 And we have been so pleased. He's one of our first students to receive his PhD, which he received in December. And we're just so proud of him and everything that he's done and what he continues to do. I told him, Marquise, that we had to get the general one. Yeah. With us one day to talk about, of course, his experience. I'm telling you, he he sat down and talked to us about his experiences doing Katrina. It is all staring. I tell you, it is all staring as it relates to what he had to do, what he went through and so forth during that that Katrina moment.
54:27 But we're glad to have Marquis. He could actually talk about those things as it relates to... We have done a couple of things with the general. I supported him with a couple of his endeavors over there at Southern to actually get that program off the ground. And we are so happy that it is up and rolling. I know Rob is chomping at the bit to go ahead and close the triangulation here. Go, Rob. No, I just... I was an occasional visitor at your program with Josh back at the Dryads James Singleton School, YMCA.
55:04 Were you involved with the group that put together a project safe or a disaster response plan for your family? I'm just wondering if you're familiar with that. He was older than that, Doc. He's older than that? Yeah, he's older than that. He may not look like it, but he's older than that, Doc. Okay, no, so that's, you know, What's interesting is when I was down with Josh and I showed up at 9 o'clock or 8 o'clock in the morning at the Y there with the houses around and some of them destroyed by the storm, the kids were lined up.
55:39 And they were lined up, and I said, Josh, I can't believe this. Why are your kids on a Saturday lined up? He said, well, there's a couple good reasons. One is they're going to get some mentorship, and they're going to feel safe here. He said, we're also going to feed them. All right. And it really opened some eyes for me. But I think I love the idea of the Mentorship Monday of what you're doing there. You know, General Honoree, when I was doing work in the medical side after Katrina, there was a huge void and there was a huge lack of trust.
56:12 And Russell Honoree stepped up and he was the one respected. It wasn't the existing FEMA leadership. It wasn't existing city government or state government. He stepped into a very, very awkward political void where he, just by him being there with his task force was an insult to many, but he earned the gain. He earned the trust. His leadership, I think, brought New Orleans through to the other side. So one of the questions I'd love to ask you is your Mentorship Mondays, is that recorded? Is that on zoom?
56:48 Is that in person? Is that in a quiet one-on-one session or is it in a classroom? Tell us more about that. And could it be appropriate to have one of those sessions take place on this show? And I'm just paying time, time cop and we'll run five minutes over since there's a little bit late start, but go ahead. Yeah. Uh, so basically yes, it takes place in person. We are in like, in the, um, comfortable setting, uh, with the young men in the classroom, uh, kind of have some food. And for us, it's that time to have a conversation, not too formal.
57:26 For us, it's an opportunity to talk about the things that's really bothering us, some of the new trends going on, and the development of manhood. Sometimes we invite speakers who are experts in a particular area and those guys come back and pour into our young men. Other times it's us just having a conversation because college life is tough for these young men. Most of these young men are first-generational students coming from some tough backgrounds. So for them, the time, to unwind and share their thoughts are pivotal for them because it allows me to gain a more understanding what they see as they go on a day-to-day basis, going to class, coming from class, what is time management, what that looks like, how do I prepare myself for the next day?
58:26 So those life skills that these young men pick up in that time slot is where we go over that. We can definitely, maybe bring it on one time. I'm open to that because they need to be shared and you guys could get a delve in to see how do we work and illustrate some of the things that we do to help these young men. Every school is not lucky enough to have a center like yours or a leader like you. And that's where the new media of this Advance the Dream to share and serve by broadcasting the knowledge.
59:06 And that other people potentially in your position or that need to be in your position can learn from, that would be great. Josh can coordinate that later. Thank you for joining us today. And I think as we look to kick off, you know, I'd love to offer you and your students there at the Russell Honor Ray. The thing that I was going to say is I don't know if you realize that, but the Force for Health actually found it. at the YMCA dry ads right there in the aftermath of Katrina, right? That's where Josh and Rob met.
59:42 Rob was integral in the 9-11, you know, ground zero database, you know, registry for the first responders. And that got him some interesting attention. And the, Homeland Security, I believe, sent him down to Katrina to help. And that's why we're so passionate about making sure that we can help teens thrive in ordinary times so that they can survive in extraordinary times. That's the whole focus of what it is that we're doing. So we would love to not only grant your group a gift of Force for health ambassador memberships that will give them full access to our virtual health Academy You'll give them full access to our wellness platform.
1:00:35 So, you know, it's like a my fitness pal meets new meets Weight Watchers It's all wrapped up into one right and then we're gonna get you in the reality health games We're gonna get your team competing up against teams in Philly and in Tucson in Ohio. So I think that that would be super cool. We're going to offer that to you as a grant and a gift. I want to close out the show by asking you a question. Advance the dream. What does that mean to you? And what are you doing in 2024? You're obviously leading and mentoring.
1:01:11 But what does Advance the Dream mean to you? And what's your special message to the youth right now? It means a lot. For me, Dr. Martin Luther King was, to me, one of the most influential human beings to walk the earth. When you hear his voice, it's a sobering voice. It's an attention grabber. I remember hearing his voice in elementary when we were preparing to do plays and acting out, reenacting a civil rights march. And then advancing the dream is, taking it from where he started off at, his dream, and keep pushing it forward.
1:01:57 He said, I may not get there with you, but I've seen the mountaintop. And that aspect right there is letting you know that you're going. I can see you getting there. I know you're going to get there. And you guys keep pushing. And to the younger generation, you must know that all the blood, sweat, and tears is for you to have a better quality of life than they had then. So appreciate that. Get more civically engaged. Do more community service. And advance yourself. You have opportunity. You have the tools, the resources to go beyond your understanding.
1:02:42 And I will tell them every day you get up, make it your best day and try your best to be your best. Lucy and I will add that Markeith is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inquiry. Exactly, which for those that don't know, was the fraternity that Martin Luther King was involved with. And in case you missed it, Josh was part of the team, the coalition that was really trying to get the memorial established. But Josh was then a mentee. of those leaders. And then Josh mentored down and we call this the wing tapping.
1:03:24 You got to reach up and always like aspire to connect with those you want to be like, you got to reach out, make sure your peers are where you want to be. And you've got to reach down, which means that you got to mentor up and help out. I think that I would love, here's my challenge to you. Markeith is choose a gentleman from your group, and invite him on the show, either next week or the following week. My pleasure. Because you were part of executive reflections. We always feature senior reflections, collegiate reflections, and youth reflections.
1:04:07 And it's really this intergenerational concept. And you hit upon a major theme that you didn't even see or hear us say earlier. which is he might not be there alongside with us, but it's important that each generation carry the torch because freedom is not free. It's part of the appeals to human rights that we were talking about earlier. See, again, 9, 10, we're going to go ahead and wrap this up. So final thoughts really quickly around the table. Rob, I'll start with you. I guess the point of clarification, Lucy, I wasn't asked to show up after Katrina.
1:04:47 I kind of reached out and just showed up, assessed the issues, and saw how I could help Dr. Evangeline Franklin with what she was doing from a public health standpoint. And then eventually met Josh and see what I could do to help what he was doing. So the point I'm getting at, my parting thought is that servant leadership, take the risk. I'm now full of our words today. Take the risk and reach out. Don't wait to be asked to be that servant leader. And I'm just going to pat you on the back here, because when you do experience those, to take it to the level of actually writing a book about lessons learned, Rob has written a book on lessons learned from Ground Zero, and he's also written a book from Katrina, which basically is the many stories of all the people that he helped and reached out to and was affected by.
1:05:44 So this whole learn it, live it, share it, he lives it. Rob learns it, he lives it, and he shares it. So just giving you some props there, partner. Thank you. Josh, final words, and then we'll go ahead and give Marquise the final say. Basically, once again, like I said, I would have love to indulge down under some experiences in which Marquis had experienced as it relates to especially Memorial Foundation trip that he actually had to take those little kids on that trip and talk about some of the experiences that they talked about.
1:06:20 We had workshops while those kids were there and they talked about their experiences as it relates to what they were doing and what they experienced. So, you know, those things are very, very important that you reach back to to to to pass our information and knowledge alone uh marquis has already started that process as it relates to giving back and uh I am so so proud to see that we continue to to to reach up pull back grab someone by the hands and help lift them up because we do have a uh a question in alpha that we asked all the time am I my brother's keeper and yes I am Markeith, final words to you.
1:07:07 For me, I believe by the motto of do more for others than you do for yourself. And I think we can make a better day. That's the perfect sentiment to end on on this Easter joyful weekend, reminding us all to, you know, be and live like Jesus, really, you know, with the empathy and the care and compassion that he's exemplified of. Yes. Through time. So thank you for joining us. So again, next week, we will be here same time. Bring your ideas, bring your comments. I challenge you, Markeith, to go ahead and let's bring a student or a youth or bring a couple of guys.
1:07:57 I would love to have a forum. Anybody who would like to participate, let us know. And know that we are extending an invitation out for you guys to play the reality health games. They got to move, learn, serve, and earn. And then they're going to compete with other teams in the country. Okay? Okay. Great to see you all. Have a wonderful weekend. Blessings. And remember to advance the dream of be a healthy global force for health citizen. Always. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. We're here. We're still here.
1:08:38 We're still here. And we will finish this off as I find that my closing was it. See you later. All right, Liz.
Transcript is auto-generated from the broadcast captions and lightly cleaned; timestamps jump to the moment on YouTube.
Advance the Dream · Episode Recap ·