The struggle for marginalized Americans to gain their inalienable rights is cemented in our history and has always been met with fierce opposition. In this show we discuss the past, present, and future battle that those groups have faced. We hope to tell these stories through local voices from those marginalized communities who have faced discrimination and continue to battle it's evils.
Amanda King is a West Point graduate who served three tours in Afghanistan. She shares what it was like working with the people of Afghanistan during her time there.
Jaynee Nadolski is the Senior Associate Commissioner for Compliance & Governance of the Big Sky Conference. She also serves as the Senior Woman Administrator for the conference office and is the league's liaison between the NCAA and conference institutions for all compliance, academic and governance issues. Jaynee is also an accomplished two sport high school and collegiate athlete. She came on the podcast today to talk about the progress that has been made, and still needs to be made, both nationally and locally in women's sports.
Ogden City Councilmen Luis Lopez is back on the pod completing his immigration story. He shares with us how his experience with asylum has shaped his politics, his passions, and his character. Go check out Luis' nonprofit organization https://www.facebook.com/lupec.us
On the pod today we have Ogden City Councilmen Luis Lopez. Luis was born and reared in Guadalajara, Jalisco – Mexico. Under intense pressure from the Mexican government he and his family immigrated to the United States at the age of 19 under the protection of the DEA. In this episode we explore his experiences during an extremely difficult time in his life as he and his family were seeking political asylum here in the United States. His story was detailed in the NY Times back in 2013. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/us/us-mexico-dea-informant.html
Awegust The Great, the creator of our theme music, stopped by the pod to talk about how he creates justice through his music. We played "ok stop" with the theme music "Amerikkka's Heaven's Gotta Ghetto" and he was able to tell us where the inspiration came for the lyrics and what they mean to him. Awegust's passion is to bring peace and justice via wisdom, knowledge, and understanding through his music and lyrics. https://www.facebook.com/awegustthegreat https://soundcloud.com/awegust-thegreat-music https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc6jmmuI27V95k8kqFsIThA
Adrienne Gillespie Andrews is the Assistant Vice President for Diversity and Chief Diversity Officer at Weber State University where she has worked for almost 16 years. She holds bachelor of arts degrees in Political Science and Women's Studies from the University of Utah; a MS degree in Women's Studies from Minnesota State University, Mankato; an MA in Political Science from Rutger's the State University of New Jersey and graduate certificate in Conflict Resolution & Mediation from the University of Utah where she is completing a Ph.D. in Education, Culture and Society. Andrews has worked in a variety of government capacities including as the Director of the Center for Youth Policy and Programs for the State of New Jersey. Adrienne stopped by to share with us her passion for social justice and to explain how we can do better as a community. In the intro I talk about the diversity commission's response to Fort Bingham Road citizen petition, that Adrienne is involved in. Page 31 is the letter from James Singer
On the pod today we have Amir Jackson. Amir constant force for good in the community of Ogden, UT. He is the founder of a nonprofit called, "Nurture The Creative Mind." https://nurturethecreativemind.org/ The mission of his organization is that it "empowers and establishes self value in youth through creativity, while developing marketable skills." You'll get to hear all about this organization and how it can be a transformative power for individuals and community. Amir explores his personal experiences in life that led him to want to do this work and his experiences this summer being a prominent member of the black community during social unrest at the intersection of police violence and race.
Today on the pod we are continuing our celebration of Black History Month by having important members of our local black community share their experiences. Returning guest Miss Betty Sawyer, president of the Ogden NAACP, is here to share with us some important black history starting with the Emancipation Proclamation, through the restoration era amendments, into the civil rights era, and today. Miss Betty shared her experience with being one of 12 black students to integrate her high school. Tune in through the whole thing you won't want to miss it!
Bonus Pod! With the recent targeting of transgender women in our current political culture wars I knew we needed to have a transgender women athlete on the podcast so we could get to know her experience and I found the perfect guest in Chloie Jonsson. She came on the pod to share her experiences as a transgender women. We talked about her experiences getting bullied as a child in school, her transition, her struggles with addiction, and finally her lawsuit she filed against CrossFit for not allowing her to compete in the CrossFit Games. Chloie is smart, generous, and funny I hope you learn as much from this conversation as I did. Find her on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chlojonsson/?igshid=l8jl70jc128q. She is also doing incredible work as the President of the Board of "The Out Foundation." Check it out - https://theoutfoundation.org/
On the pod this week, we have a great guest to kick off Black History Month, Wynter the Poet! Some of you may recognize her voice, she spoke the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter from a Birmingham Jail last month. She's on the pod today to talk about her journey from growing up in Utah, and how poetry became her saving grace through some extremely tough times. Also, we broke down her poem "When We Say Black Lives Matter" for us in our first ever 'Okay Stop' segment. AND to top it off she blessed us with another original poem that won the 2018 Ogden Pride award. As always, please like, subscribe, rate and Share with your friends and family. Thanks,
On the Pod this week, it's a bit of a family reunion for me! I am honored that my sister Julie Akins joined me to talk about some pretty heavy stuff. Julie is a teacher in Saint George, and she is very passionate about the social justice movements happening across the country. Now, full disclosure, it was tough for us, two white people, to talk about racial disparities in our country. So please, if you have any feedback for us and how we handled this conversation send it to me so that we can better educate ourselves and be allies in this fight for social justice. Julie spoke about what it was like teaching in the predominately white high school and trying to help these high schoolers step out of their experiences and step into someone else's. She had her class read "The Hate U Give", by Angie Thomas and it was amazing to hear their experience as a class. Please as always, if you find this conversation helpful share it with friends and family. If you have any feedback please send it to me. Thanks,
On the Pod today, On April 12, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and 50 other protestors and civil rights leaders were arrested in Birmingham, AL after leading a Good Friday demonstration. This demonstration was part of a campaign to bring to light the brutal treatment of of blacks in one of the most segregated cities in America at the time. This letter is a response to the local clergymen's op-ed piece in a local newspaper that was critical of Dr. King's tactics. Calling him an "outside agitator" and other such things. Dr. King was in solitary confinement at the time of this letter and many of his words, as they so often do, still ring true today. Please take some time to listen to his words spoken so eloquently by Wynter and take some time to reflect on today and the impact Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had on our society. Please, if you like this episode, share it with someone who may also enjoy listening in.
On the Pod this week, Brock Abel speaks to us about what it was like growing up knowing that he was different, but not knowing what to do about it. Brock knew he was gay at a pretty young age, but didn't really know how to handle that and didn't really know how to come to terms with himself. He talks about how society, culture, and religion shaped a lot of the homophobia he faced both externally and internally. He even decided at one point to try and get married to a woman and make a marriage work. Join us as we listen to Brock's journey of self love and honesty. As always, share subscribe and like this episode with anyone you may know that might need to hear this story.
On the pod this week, we talk with Denise Ortiz. She's another Dreamer here in Ogden that has really made her way here but it has not been easy. She is currently a Real Estate Agent that helps her community become first time home buyers, for her she knows owning a home is the beginning of creating generational wealth and she is trying to help her community build that wealth here in Ogden. She sat down to reflect on her and her family's journey from Mexico to Utah.
On the Pod this week, Marci Ray stops by to talk about her own Christmas Miracle. Her son Elliot. Elliot had to be delivered early at 27 weeks and spent a lot of time in the hospital, getting blood transfusions, and really fighting for his life at birth. It wasn't until 2 months after his miraculous birth that Marci was told Elliot had Down syndrome. She speaks about her experience navigating through the hospitals, care givers and applying for government programs as a young parent. She lovingly remembers the support she received from her community and programs that were there for her during those tough times. It is important to remember that she was very privileged to be living in such a community that cared for her so much, and to think about those that don't have those same opportunities or same communities or support.
On the Pod this week, Jessica talks about her time in Tremonton and how it impacted her life trajectory. She talks about her marriage and divorce at a young age and how growing up in a small town she had to overcome the small town gossip and shame that came with those decisions and how ultimately they became gave her a bit of fearlessness. Jessica speaks about her journey from waiting tables to making her way to the Utah State Capitol and finding herself to be one of the FEW People of Color and Women around. Please listen and share her story. If you are interested in getting involved contact your local city council, public office, school boards and find out ways to be more engaged.
In what was to be the coldest night of the winter, Thursday December 10, 2020, Ogden City tore down an established "tent city" that many previously unsheltered individuals were living under. The actions taken by the city are in contrast to the guidelines from the CDC. Van Aston, who you may remember from an earlier episode "Understanding Homelessness", is back on the pod to talk to Kevin about the Trauma of the event. Van talks about the barriers of trust that he and his staff have had to break through to get the previously unsheltered individuals the help they may need, and HOW/IF their staff can build back that trust with the forgotten (and sadly, dismissed) community. If you are interested in helping, or would like to donate please keep these local places in mind: https://www.ccsutah.org/?fbclid=IwAR0Dri5decikNzLn63lipopWCKGns7PhiZmLWWywA1wZey9i3pVzwNKrwO0 (https://www.ccsutah.org/) http://www.homelessveterans.org/?fbclid=IwAR15xa4_YPKBU82qUZxqHqZdTlZKzx428zFSBzK6rpy9rV-Wu1xZi3yg2wM (http://www.homelessveterans.org/) https://www.youthfuturesutah.org/?fbclid=IwAR2QaMbQcMoBvihsGIpSFrLz7j1EAc01wXPZNNHUmVhBJBzAu4ZfkHwp8yE (https://www.youthfuturesutah.org/) https://www.midtownchc.org/?fbclid=IwAR0zEnCYmYwdf4tnRXL94zPkT1b93oFf34rLvTz2VEWzpKaLHMVRCBkTPX4 (https://www.midtownchc.org/) https://www.yccogden.org/?fbclid=IwAR0uWdfSnkkUmKEbXcV38FkqTqDNxnM7YslrYC1WrBz4BW5kgl4c2nHlqnw (https://www.yccogden.org/)
On the Pod this week, the owners of Good Company Theatre, Alicia and Camille Washington stop by to talk about the inequities and the push toward balance of brown and black faces in theatre. They talk about their beginnings in Layton and the life experiences that motivated them to open Utah's only black owned Theatre.
On the Pod this week, I talk to Paul Sharp, who is a Nurse Practitioner that went to New York during the beginning of the Pandemic and saw the horrors firsthand. We chat about what that experience was like for him and where Utah stands currently as our COVID numbers continue to rise at an alarming rate.
On the Pod today we have Ej and Danielle Nelson. They shared their story and experiences as they have gone through a transition with their son, Khalil. They have a lot to offer in this conversation. I look forward to you hearing the show and learning some things about the Trans community that you may not have known.
Kevin talks to Alfredo Collom-Cruz this week about being a Dreamer in Utah and his experience as a child being brought to a small rural town.
On the pod today, we talked with Abbie and Jake about their most recent encounter with COVID-19 and how it deeply impacted their family.
On the Pod, Kevin talks to Ashton Levier Gabrielsen. She brings a unique perspective on the subject of Racism. She grew up black in Louisiana and Texas. Ashton shares her personal experiences and personal stories from her upbringing.
This week on the Pod, I talked to Stacy Bernal. Stacy is an amazing author and also a motivational speaker. We talked about her new book "The Things We Don't Talk About" and how her life experiences really shaped her as a person.
I sat down with local activist Malik Dayo. Malik has been working with different groups in Ogden to publicly and peacefully protest many injustices.
I sat down with Rachel Alder to talk about a plethora of topics. Rachel has had such an amazing journey and it was my pleasure to talk about that journey and hear it through her perspective.
Kevin caught up with Ms Betty Sawyer and Suzy Daily from the NAACP and their work in the Ogden community.
I sat down and had a conversation with Decker Yazzie.
I sat down a while ago and talked to former Mayor of South Ogden, George Garwood about his experience of growing up in 1970's and how he made his way to becoming the first Black Mayor in Utah.
Ruby shares her families experience in the wake of her brother's shooting by Ogden Police Officers
Van Aston is a Physicians Assistant at the homeless shelter in Ogden, UT. As such he is the day to day primary care provider of people experiencing homelessness. Van helps us understand why homelessness exists. How a person gets into a homeless situation, many times at no fault of their own. And how our community fails them along the way. He also gives us hope for the future and talks about positive changes that are happening.
Michael and I talk about the origins of systemic racism and how the racist past and present of America can be seen all around our communities.
Ben and I discuss the complexities of the adoption experience. And Ben discusses the challenges of being a white parent trying to preserve black culture and a black experience for his son.
Special thanks to Awegust The Great for our theme music check out his stuff on social media. https://m.facebook.com/awegustthegreat/ (https://m.facebook.com/awegustthegreat/) https://instagram.com/awegustthegreat?igshid=1gjae8yflaesr (https://Instagram.com/awegustthegreat?igshid=1gjae8yflaesr) http://soundcloud.com/awegustthegreat-music (http://soundcloud.com/awegustthegreat-music)
Our friends Jazzy and Joan share their experience, anxieties, and fears around raising black kids. They have some great practical advice for white parents about how we can raise children with less bias, prejudice, and racism. Recommended kids books - https://www.amazon.com/Am-Mixed-Book/dp/0578110873/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=I+am+mixed&qid=1595297769&sr=8-1 (https://www.amazon.com/Am-Mixed-Book/dp/0578110873/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=I+am+mixed&qid=1595297769&sr=8-1) https://www.amazon.com/White-Fragility-People-About-Racism/dp/0807047414/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=white+fragility&qid=1595297814&sr=8-1 (https://www.amazon.com/White-Fragility-People-About-Racism/dp/0807047414/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=white+fragility&qid=1595297814&sr=8-1)
"I'm a 63 year old black man and I'm tired but I have hope in this movement."
Kevin shares a formative experience while living in Bay Area CA during Prop 8 in 2008. 12 years later it's still the spark that ignited this podcast.
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