Meet Odell and Alex, two friends from different racial backgrounds who both happen to be pastors. Join them as they head dive into difficult and uncomfortable conversations about racism, prejudice and bias while striving for understanding. Each episode will start with a question about race that maybe we’ve always been too afraid to ask (at least with someone of another race). The goal of the each episode is to achieve an understanding of different perspectives and experiences. Reverend Alex McFarland is the head of Alex McFarland Ministries and Reverend Odell Cleveland is the pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church. Both grew up in the Carolinas, and both currently reside in North Carolina.
Alex McFarland and Odell Cleveland
In this episode, Alex and Odell welcome their first guest to the show, Rabbi Joshua Ben-Gideon. They discuss the recent surge of anti-semitism and ask Joshua questions about Jewish culture in this friendly conversation between three religious leaders. Please visit the iHearYa show store to help support the show.
Spring is in the air! Alex and Odell answer two questions from their listeners in this episode. The first involves cookouts. The second tackles the societal precepts of the N-word. Is it ever appropriate for anyone to use it? Join us as we tread carefully to avoid the explicit tag in this thought-provoking discussion! Visit the I Hear Ya store to support the show.
Is cancel culture a useful tool, like boycotts, in drawing attention to and fighting racism? Or is it thought policing that will lead to a totalitarian government that would harm everyone? That's the debate Alex and Odell have in this episode of I Hear Ya.
Alex and Odell discuss what the death of George Floyd, the trial and its verdict mean to America.
Odell asks Alex what the Confederate flag means to him. They also discuss the takedown of Confederate monuments that were put up in the not so distant past due to the romanticism of the Old South, otherwise known as the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. Please support the show with a visit to the store or subscribing in a podcast app.
Are more integrated churches in our future? That’s the question Alex poses to Odell on this episode, and Odell describes the distinct culture of the southern Black Church in his answer. Please help support the show with a visit to the iHearYa store or a review on Apple Podcasts!
Odell asks the question: Why do white mothers raise their sons differently than their daughters? The heartfelt conversation also covers two great poets, chicken farms, crystal stairs and some of the women in the lives of Alex and Odell.
Ben Carson, Clarence Thomas and Colin Powell. How does Odell feel about them? Alex asks him on this episode. They also discuss the Supreme Court, abortion and Odell’s “shero” along the way. Please help support the show with a visit to the iHearYa store or a review on Apple Podcasts!
Odell and Alex recount their very different stories from the first days of school desegregation in the seventies. The conversation touches on how integration has impacted the black community and what school choice means for everyone today.
It’s Alex's turn to ask the initial question for the discussion in this episode. He asks Odell, what are things that white people do that make black people think that they are racist? Alex and Odell touch on the Charleston church shooting, the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and the recent Capitol riot, and both share some very personal stories in this conversation.Visit ihearya.show, for more information and feedback.
Alex and Odell tackle their first question, which comes from Odell. He wants to know why some white people are afraid to get on an elevator with him when he is the lone passenger, even in a professional situation.
Introducing Alex McFarland and Odell Cleveland, two pastors from different racial backgrounds. Starting a conversation between friends; aiming to achieve an understanding of different perspectives.
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