Podcast appearances and mentions of Robert L Wilkins

This episode features a previously un-aired portion of the season one episode “Long Road to Hard Truth: The 100 Year Mission to Create the National Museum of African American History and Culture.” On that episode, Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sat down with Judge Robert Wilkins of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to talk about his book of the same title. During the recording of that episode, Judge Wilkins mentioned a personal experience that he went through in the 1990s, a lawsuit that he filed against the Maryland State Police. This lawsuit ended up being a game changer. Judge Friedman asked Judge Wilkins to share his story, which we now present in this standalone episode.

In Black America producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. speaks with The Honorable Robert L. Wilkins, Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and author of Long Hard Road To Truth.

In Black America producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. speaks with The Honorable Robert L. Wilkins, Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and author of Long Hard Road To Truth.

In Black America producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. speaks with The Honorable Robert L. Wilkins, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and author of Long Hard Road To Truth: The 100 Year Mission To Create The National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Today's Guest: Robert L. Wilkins, federal judge, United States Court of Appeals, author, Long Road to Hard Truth: The 100-Year Mission to Create the National Museum of African American History and Culture Watch this exclusive Mr. Media interview with Judge Robert L. Wilkins by clicking on the video player above!  Mr. Media is recorded live before a studio audience full of determined African American men and women – and their ancestors – who won’t take no for an answer… in the NEW new media capital of the world… St. Petersburg, Florida! Long Road to Hard Truth: The 100 Year Mission to Create the National Museum of African American History and Culture by Robert Wilkins. Order your copy today by clicking on the book cover above! First clear giveaway that I’m a white guy: I didn’t even know there was a National Museum of African American History and Culture in the works until the year it opened—2016. I thought it was and is a great idea, long overdue, but I honestly had never heard a word about it. Once I did, however, I was like a lot of people who thought, “What took us so damn long to get around to it?” And now that I’ve read Judge Robert L. Wilkins’ new book, Long Road to Hard Truth: The 100-Year Mission to Create the National Museum of African American History and Culture, I have a pretty good idea why it took so long and why a lot of well-intended folks like me knew nothing about it before it was literally right in front of our noses. JUDGE ROBERT L. WILKINS podcast excerpt: "I grew up feeling that I was a little bit less- than my white counterparts. Learning about African American history over the years was, for me, a way to affirm my sense of self and to help improve my self-esteem. But also to appreciate the opportunities that I had, that people had literally fought, bled and died for to get me a good education and have equal opportunities to compete for the best jobs." Judge Wilkins compresses a century of Black frustration into about 150 politically charged pages of history. I’m curious to find out how he can even discuss it without screaming, but that’s why he’s a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. A Harvard Law grad doesn’t rise to this level without learning how to stay composed and restrained, even in the face of ridiculous obstruction and political nonsense. Judge Wilkins, by the way, served as chairman of the site and building committee of the Presidential Commission that Congress finally established to plan the museum. Incidentally, we will not be discussing current political issues, in case you were wondering. JUDGE ROBERT L. WILKINS podcast excerpt: "The sense that I have is that President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney felt it was the right thing to do. This had been in the works for decades. They believed this was something that could help the country learn from its mistakes in history. And that it could help unify the country." Key interview moments: • 7:35 Federal judge Robert L. Wilkins talks about the personal reasons that he devote nearly two decades of his life to carry the creation of the National Museum of African American History and Culture to the finish line after starts and stops for the previous 80 years; • 23:45 Wilkins talks about the Four Musketeers of Congress that formed an unlikely coalition to push museum funding through the House and Senate; • 29:56 Two of the most surprising champions of the National Museum of African American History and Culture were President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. No kidding. Judge Robert L. Wilkins U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit • Book Website • Facebook • Twitter • Alliance for Justice • Ballotpedia • Wikipedia • Goodreads National Museum of African American History and Culture Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Tumblr • SnapChat • Pinterest • Wikipedia Smithsonian Magazine Website • Facebook • Twitter • YouTube • Subscribe   Building Atlanta: How I Broke Through Segregation to Launch a Business Empire by Herman J. Russell with Bob Andelman. Order your copy today by clicking on the book cover above! The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

Judge Robert L. Wilkins' Long Road to Hard Truth: The 100-Year Mission to Create the National Museum of African American History and Culture. In Long Road to Hard Truth: The 100 Year Mission to Create the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Robert L. Wilkins tells the story of how his curiosity about why there wasn't a national museum dedicated to African American history and culture became an obsession-eventually leading him to quit his job as an attorney when his wife was seven months pregnant with their second child, and make it his mission to help the museum become a reality. Long Road to Hard Truth chronicles the early history, when staunch advocates sought to create a monument for Black soldiers fifty years after the end of the Civil War and in response to the pervasive indignities of the time, including lynching, Jim Crow segregation, and the slander of the racist film Birth of a Nation. The movement soon evolved to envision creating a national museum, and Wilkins follows the endless obstacles through the decades, culminating in his honor of becoming a member of the Presidential Commission that wrote the plan for creating the museum and how, with support of both Black and White Democrats and Republicans, Congress finally authorized the museum.