Truth Be Told

Pain and Purpose: Lessons From Bruce Lee and Frida Kahlo

[https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/77/2020/11/Tarot-Card-Season2_Episode-19-v2-KH.png] The days are shorter and colder, and like you, we’re looking for inspiration to sustain us through winter. For our last episode of the season we talk with two authors who are passing on the wisdom of the great icons Bruce Lee [https://brucelee.com/] and Frida Kahlo [https://www.fridakahlo.org/] to teach us what we’re capable of. Arianna Davis [https://twitter.com/ariannagdavis?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor] is the author of “What Would Frida Do? A Guide to Living Boldly [https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781541646322],” the digital director of Oprah Magazine and a self-proclaimed Friducha [https://www.sun-sentinel.com/barrio-logan-celebrates-artist-frida-kahlos-112th-birthday-story.html]. Images of Frida Kahlo have been heavily commercialized, but Davis believes there is much to learn from her that can inspire us in 2020. “The book is not meant to be a blueprint of how to live your life,” Davis says. “There’s definitely a lot of decisions that I wouldn’t necessarily agree with, but I think we can read about her story, the decisions she made, the way she lived her life so fiercely for inspiration on how we can also live our own lives boldly and fiercely.” Kahlo is considered [https://www.fridakahlo.org/frida-kahlo-biography.jsp] to be one of Mexico’s greatest artists. She contracted polio at the age of 6, which caused her right leg and foot to grow much thinner than her left one. As a result, she wore long skirts her entire life. In high school, she suffered a trolley accident that fractured her spine and pelvis. She was hospitalized for weeks and had to wear a full-body cast for months. Later, she would not be able to bear children with her husband and painter, Diego Rivera. She and Diego had a tumultuous marriage that, coupled with ongoing physical ailments, caused her depression. One week after her 47th birthday, Frida died of a pulmonary embolism. Davis was hesitant in writing a book about such a big icon. “Even though I am Latina, I’m Puerto Rican and Black — I’m not Mexican. And so I had that moment of asking myself, ‘Are you really the right person to tell the story? Should this be a Mexican writer that writes it instead, especially after all the ‘American Dirt’ [https://www.vulture.com/article/american-dirt-book-controversy-explained.html] drama?’ ” But for Davis, Frida is a shared icon for all Latinx people, and so she made sure to do as much research when writing the book, including traveling to Mexico City where Frida was born and raised. > “I’m Black and Puerto Rican and growing up as a Latina, I think Frida is one of those icons, one of those faces that you just know of. She overcame so many obstacles while being proudly feminist, being proudly Mexican, being proudly queer. And this was all in the 1920s and ’30s. So for me, seeing the Frida movie and learning more about her story really sparked this fascination that kind of eventually became an obsession.” The biggest lesson Davis has walked away with is one of Frida’s famous phrases, “Viva la Vida,” which means live your life or long live life. Davis feels Frida knew the end was near after Frida’s leg was amputated. Then Frida painted watermelons with a message — Viva la Vida. Davis gets goosebumps every time she remembers this phrase. “The fact that she had every obstacle you could possibly think of in the end, she still had this positive outlook of you need to live your life and live it to the fullest,” says Davis. Another iconic figure that worked through his own pain to build a legacy and impart life lessons that still resonate today is Bruce Lee [https://brucelee.com/]. His daughter Shannon Lee joined host Tonya Mosley to talk about her new book “Be Water My Friend: The Teachings of Bruce Lee. [https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781250206688]” Before Bruce Lee, modern society did not combine philosophy and art with sport [https://blackbeltmag.com/the-bruce-lee-effect]. That is part of what makes Bruce Lee iconic — and like Frida Kahlo — a timeless figure that we are continually learning from decades after their deaths. Shannon was only 4 years old when her father died, and now she is the “keeper of the flame” running the family business and keeping his legacy alive. She’s heard many stories about her father through the lens of others and family members. “Everybody has sort of this picture of him, and look, we all romanticize who we think our parents are when we’re young,” says Shannon. “It’s not to say that I haven’t done that at points in my life. But because of the purity of my sense of him, I’m able to look at him and go, ‘Oh, yeah, I see. That’s where he was, being a real human being.’ ” In order for Shannon to write this book, she had to work through the loss of her father, the loss of her brother, and her own feelings of fear and paralysis around being Bruce Lee’s daughter. “I’m a seeker similar to him, so he and I meet in that way,” says Shannon. “It took me time to get to a place where I’d been looking after his legacy for long enough that I was starting to feel confident that I was maturing as a human being, learning from my mistakes, gaining more confidence that I was sitting for longer and longer periods of time, breaking down his philosophies, applying them to him, to myself, that it finally the time was just right.” > Bruce Lee: “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless. Like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” Similar to Frida Kahlo’s famous phrase, Bruce Lee is known for “Be Water My Friend,” a concept behind the notion of being like water. Shannon calls this the “water way.” “Water is essential, to life, to growth. It’s essential in and of itself, she says. “And so for me, that speaks to the idea of returning to my own essential nature, discovering what that is and trying as best as possible to live.” Bruce Lee severely injured his back in early 1970 and was told that he may never walk normally again, let alone do martial arts. He lived the rest of his life with back pain that he had to care for in order to live the life he wanted, in order to accomplish the things he wanted to accomplish, and be the heroic character we watched in his films. The lesson, says Shannon, is that “if we can make friends with discomfort, if we can lean into a little bit of discomfort, then we can accomplish more than we thought we could.” For Shannon, she wrote this book because she wants people to know the depth of her father’s teachings. “But more importantly,” she says, “I have been so healed and inspired and motivated by these philosophical teachings; and that I know that they can be useful and helpful, and help to soothe people’s souls and also give them some tools that they can craft practices for themselves. I’m not here to tell anyone, this is how you do it. Full stop. I’m just here to say here are some things that have worked for Bruce Lee. Here some things that have worked for me. And I hope you discover what works for you.” Episode transcript here [http://shorturl.at/ryzAR]. Episode Guests: * Arianna Davis [https://twitter.com/ariannagdavis?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor], writer, digital director of Oprah Magazine [https://twitter.com/OprahMagazine], author of “What Would Frida Do? A Guide to Living Boldly [https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781541646322]” * Shannon Lee, author of “Be Water, My Friend: The Teachings of Bruce Lee [https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781250206688]” * Kahran and Regis Bethencourt, founders of CreativeSoul Photography [http://creativesoulphoto.com/about/], authors of “GLORY: Magical Visions of Black Beauty [http://creativesoulphoto.com/glory/]” Recommended Reading: * 11 Transformative Reads for Solace and Solitude [https://www.kqed.org/arts/13877670/11-transformative-reads-for-solace-and-solitude] from KQED Arts * Life Lessons Books [https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/life-lessons] from Goodreads * Listopia of life Changing Books [https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/life-changing] from Goodreads Recommended Listening: * How Frida Kahlo Can Change Your Life (for Better or Worse) [https://news.artnet.com/the-art-angle/art-angle-podcast-frida-kahlo-1917547] from Artnet News * What Would Frida Do?: A conversation with Arianna Davis [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/35-what-would-frida-do-a-conversation-with-arianna-davis/id1501845212?i=1000496628863] from LatinEQUIS * Bruce Lee Podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bruce-lee-podcast/id1134673435] hosted by Shannon Lee

Hey, Young World, the World is Yours

[https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/77/2020/11/Tarot-Card-Season2_Episode-18-final-KH-800x1382.png] This week, our souls needed to be reminded of what idealism feels like and what hope sounds like. So, we brought in some of the most dynamic voices of our time and asked one simple question: “What’s the world you’re fighting for?” Here are some of their answers: “I’m fighting for a world where people of color don’t need to work twice as hard to be seen as less than equal. I’m fighting for a world where we all have a future that’ll not be filled with floods, hurricanes and fires. I’m fighting for a world where we can heal from white supremacy and colonialism.” —Althea Mitchell, member of The Radical Monarchs [https://twitter.com/RadicalMonarchs] “So a world that I’m fighting for is for a world that has systemic and interpersonal solidarity in action. Growing up in San Diego, California I didn’t see myself reflected in the curriculum. In middle school moving to Ohio, I didn’t see myself reflected in the curriculum. Moving to Indianapolis, when I first taught, I didn’t see myself in the curriculum. And then when I moved to Boston to go to grad school at Harvard, that’s the first time I saw myself in the curriculum taking an ethnic studies graduate course taught by Dr. Christina Villarreal. She exposed me to cross coalitional movements. So today I’m fighting for our voice being unapologetically in the curriculum, being present. And I want to make sure that we’re not omitted from the conversation, because when we’re omitted from the conversation, we are still fighting the same battles of lack of representation, of lack of resource s or a lack of radical imagination as templates for us to see ourselves as the leaders we were born to be.” —Tony DelaRosa [https://twitter.com/tonyrosaspeaks], Filipinx activist, poet and manager of teacher leadership development of Teach For America in Miami “The world I see right now is a world full of hope, it’s people becoming more and more active, posting more and more on social media, regarding activism and how people can get involved and educate themselves on issues that they’re connected to, that they’re inspired by, that they are interested in. The world I’m fighting for is a world where urban oil drilling is read about in books and they think it was ridiculous that it went on for so long. It’s a world where nobody is being denied the right to breathe clean air, that everybody has access to this basic human right and everybody has access to safe drinking water.” —Nalleli Cobo [https://twitter.com/NalleliCobo], environmental justice activist “The world that I’m fighting for is one that advocates for the rights, resources and livelihood of the people in our community who’ve been historically and constantly marginalized. I’m fighting for a world that prioritizes unity and empathy and making sure that our communities place importance on uplifting, liberating one another.” —Ruby Ibarra [https://www.rubyibarra.com/], M.C., poet, director and scientist In this episode, host Tonya Mosley hangs out with two Wise Ones, Alex Aiono [https://twitter.com/alexaiono], a musician, podcast host and YouTube star, and Jelani Anglin [https://twitter.com/jelanianglin?lang=en], founder of Good Call NYC [https://twitter.com/goodcallnyc]. Anglin grew up in New York and experienced a run-in with the law as a teenager. “That’s a story that many young Black males have had,” says Anglin. “And if they don’t, then a relative or someone they know has that story.” While working in tech, he noticed that it was being used to connect the world but wasn’t helping his community. “I joined an incubator and we interviewed many folks that spoke about problems with policing, and that was really the starting point,” says Anglin. What emerged was Good Call NYC, an emergency hotline that connects people who are in police custody to free legal help and alerts loved ones of their arrest. Anglin says this summer, the team of seven experienced massive growth. “Rest in peace to George Floyd, it took bad policing for us to actually be utilized within the communities when that’s what we initially created for,” says Anglin. “We got over 2,000 calls in the space of a week, and we didn’t miss a call. Our lawyers were taking naps in alternating shifts in order to make that happen.” Outreach over the past four years has allowed Good Call NYC to become an important resource in New York and readily available for the 2020 summer of uprisings. The world Anglin is fighting for? “I think I can only think about this simply: I’m fighting for a world where Black lives are valued,” says Anglin. “I’m fighting for a world that understands that our inalienable rights, the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness are for everybody and not just for a certain few.” Alex Aiono also experienced his passions converging with social justice this summer. His new album, The Gospel At 23 [https://open.spotify.com/album/3aMxTIRUiIjWssDfq4TtN3?si=vCu5WUsCRHmXSspaesTo_w], reflects his upbringing in a small, very tight-knit community rooted in religion. “I think as a musician, you always want to release it on the quietest moments so that you can make as much noise as possible and you stand out. And when you’re in the middle of a pandemic, racial injustice, elections, legends dying and all of this madness that’s happening, you almost feel like, ‘Man, I don’t want to put something out,’” explains Aiono. “Especially when it’s these things that are important to you. I just got to the point where I said, ‘Whoever needs to hear this album, it’s going to reach them… If it’s a slow burn, it becomes an iconic piece, even if that’s just for me and my mom.’” Aiono says the world he’s fighting for is one where Americans adopt a collective mindset, caring for and thinking about what’s good for all of us, versus our own needs and pursuits.“That’s not the world that I would ideally live in,” says Aiono. “So the future and the world that I’m fighting for is one where we are caring more for each other.” We conclude this power-packed show with Amanda Gorman, the first National Youth Poet Laureate in the United States. In a 2019 New York Times interview, Gorman said in addition to her passion for poetry, she’s also considering a presidential run—in 2036. Here’s one of her recent pieces: > The Unabated We are here, Holler all the black girls. Us, dark daughters In a long chain of silence. Hope flocks to the poet Like female ants rallying round Their queen, black bodies Carrying histories three times our size. Our words will strip you Raw till you glow like pennies Scraped of the memory of being owned. We are hope, Howl the youth, Those who aren’t lost for words, But lost without them: That lettered pulse and heated evasion. Our writing is a stretched-out baptism, A type of yoked rebirth. We are the ones who know: Where there’s smoke, there’s a poet, Where there’s a poet, there’s a fire, Bright as a bloodied blade. We will be here, We will be heard, Hark the poets In a long ring of resistance. We are brown as a plum pit And smooth as red river clay. Our color is no longer anatomy Nor aesthetic but an arsenal. Holy. Wholly, and simply, our own. —Amanda Gorman A transcript of this episode can be found here [http://shorturl.at/erzE4]. Episode Guests: Jelani Anglin [https://twitter.com/jelanianglin?lang=en], Founder of Good Call NYC [https://twitter.com/goodcallnyc] Alex Aiono [https://twitter.com/alexaiono], musician, podcast host and YouTube star Tony Delarosa [https://twitter.com/tonyrosaspeaks], Filipinx activist, poet, manager at Teach For America in Miami Amanda Gorman [https://twitter.com/AmandaSCGorman], first U.S. Youth Poet Laureate Nalleli Cobo [https://twitter.com/NalleliCobo], environmental justice activist Althea Goss, member of The Radical Monarchs [https://twitter.com/RadicalMonarchs] Ruby Ibarra [https://www.rubyibarra.com/], M.C., poet and director Leah Penniman [https://www.soulfirefarm.org/meet-the-farmers/], food sovereignty activist, co-director of Soul Fire Farm [https://twitter.com/soulfirefarm] Recommended Reading: “The often-overlooked reasons why young people don’t vote [https://www.vox.com/21497637/election-2020-youth-vote-young-people-voting?__c=1]” from Vox “Young Activist Pushes To Lower Voting Age To 16 As ‘The Logical Next Step’ For Gen Z [https://www.npr.org/2020/09/28/916078915/young-activist-pushes-to-lower-voting-age-to-16-as-the-next-logical-step-for-gen]” from NPR “Could 2020 be the year of the young voter? [https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2020/10/22/could-2020-be-the-year-of-the-young-voter]” from MPRNews Recommended Listening: “The Latinx Vote Comes Of Age [https://www.npr.org/2020/10/22/926678395/the-latinx-vote-comes-of-age]” from NPR’s Code Switch “‘They’ve Dismissed Us’: How Latino Voter Outreach Still Falls Short [https://www.npr.org/2020/10/14/923723249/they-ve-dismissed-us-how-latino-voter-outreach-still-falls-short]” from NPR’s It’s Been A Minute The Youth Vote [https://the-youth-vote.simplecast.com/]podcast “Does Your Voice Matter? [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-alex-aiono-lets-get-into-65877504/episode/does-your-voice-matter-with-tonya-72263987/]” from Alex Aiono: Let’s Get Into It “Episode 4: ‘Young people are the moral compass of the country’ [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/turnout-episode-4-young-people-are-moral-compass-country/id1134154895?i=1000495632043]” from TURNOUT podcast “Woke ISH [https://yr.media/podcasts/woke-ish/]” from the Adult ISH podcast

If I Ruled the World

[https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/77/2020/10/kTarot-Card-Season2_Ep17-KH.jpg] Black women are, by and large, on the front lines of the political fight for democracy. Last year, we saw a record number of Black women serving in Congress [https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/02/08/for-the-fifth-time-in-a-row-the-new-congress-is-the-most-racially-and-ethnically-diverse-ever/] and a record number of Black women serving at the state level [https://cawp.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/resources/black-women-politics-2019.pdf] in politics. There’s data that shows Black, brown and Indigenous women [https://www.google.com/search?q=Another+report+from+the+AAPI+Civic+Engagement+Fund+and+Groundswell+Fund+took+an+in-depth+look+at+the+2018+elections.&oq=Another+report+from+the+AAPI+Civic+Engagement+Fund+and+Groundswell+Fund+took+an+in-depth+look+at+the+2018+elections.&aqs=chrome..69i57.194j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8] are in the trenches  — as political activists, volunteers and everyday people — mobilizing Americans to get out and vote. This week, Tonya Mosley talks with award-winning journalist and friend, Farai Chideya [https://farai.com/work/], who knows both personally and professionally why Black women show up each and every time. Chideya has a new radio show called “Our Body Politic [https://farai.com/our-body-politic/]” which unapologetically centers reporting on not just how women of color experience the major political events of today, but how they’re impacting those very issues. Chideya calls women of color a “superdemographic.” What she means by that is, all women of color are people who can tip elections. “And as different as we are, we are all people who tend to get undervalued by the political system,” Chideya says. “Not hired as strategists, not given the advertising contracts to reach out to voters.” Because women of color are poorly marketed to and a misunderstood group compared to their political power, Chideya does not refer to the group as a “demographic” but rather a “superdemographic.” > Women of color are the secret sauce. We are the roux in the American gumbo. We are not just the parsley on the side of the plate. We are the base of the plate and we need to be understood as such. And, I would argue, Black women over the age of 70 are the secret, secret sauce. Chideya believes that America is poorer intellectually and sociopolitically because the voices of Black and people of color have been excluded and censored. “We have to recognize that the act of truth-telling is an act of everyone bringing their gifts to the table and then fighting about how we write the first draft of history,” Chideya says. “It can’t be told by any one group or any one person.” Still, Chideya and Mosley recognize that there needs to be a fight for a shared truth in order for a society and democracy to be preserved. Chideya created the term “psychic privacy fence,” which refers to people only being surrounded by others that are like them. “How you live is not the only way to live,” Chideya says. “And if you don’t understand how other people live, you’re never gonna understand America.” Chideya’s time as a journalist and political analyst made her aware that America was, in what she calls, a culture war. “People’s decision-making was not based on logic — it was based on cultural affiliations. I like to think of elections as this great pageant of national belonging. And in a country this divided, people choose what kind of political affiliation they belong to,” Chideya says. “They will follow that sense of belonging off the cliff of logic.” As a journalist, Chideya believes it’s important to understand this part of the story, and not just the literal truths — understanding why people feel they belong. > If we can understand why people’s hearts are motivating them to act in a certain way, we become more able as journalists to tell the story of America and the world. We become more able as people to have compassion. During election season Chideya is usually out in the field reporting and feels more informed about the heart and soul of America. “I do feel a little disconnected from how different demographics of people are making choices. I miss it and also, I don’t miss it.” Chideya says she doesn’t miss the feeling of going to bed at night in a hotel room after a day where she was sometimes sexually harassed or racially harassed while out reporting. But, she does long for knowing what America is feeling. She has stayed in tune by spending time with elders. Chideya has many friends over the age of 90 — including her high school English teacher, Mrs. Louise Sims, who helped desegregate two different schools and has been married for 70 years. “It’s people like her who I look to to fill my soul, mind and heart. So if you don’t have any elders in your life, go make some friends who are elders. And if you’re an elder, find some people who are younger to befriend you. You are needed.” In this pandemic, Chideya has been reflecting on the resentments her family has experienced due to racial injustice. “I’m actually processing a lot of stuff right now like I think a lot of people are, because I don’t want to live in resentment. I want to live in abundance and opportunity.” For Chideya, this process allows her to reflect on her own resentments so she can continue doing the work without the heaviness of the past on her back. What is bringing Chideya joy during these times is being able to spend more time with her family. She hopes to tape oral histories of her mother. “She has many adventures, including being in the Peace Corps in the early 60s in Morocco with her sassy female friends, riding their mopeds. You know, Black women and women of color have been having adventures forever.” Episode transcript can be found here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/17ORIqUY7h732doKGBeuzfq-t6abPUGYd/view?usp=sharing]. Episode Guests: Farai Chideya [https://twitter.com/farai?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor] (she/her), creator/host “Our Body Politic [https://farai.com/our-body-politic/]” and award-winning journalist. Recommended Reading: “What’s At Stake [https://zora.medium.com/tagged/whats-at-stake]” series from Zora “Women of Color: A Collective Powerhouse in the U.S. Electorate” report [https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2019/11/19/477309/women-color-collective-powerhouse-u-s-electorate/] from The Center for American Progress “‘We are living the issues’: record number of women of color run for Congress” [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/01/women-of-color-congress-us-elections-2020] from The Guardian “Megan Thee Stallion: Why I Speak Up for Black Women” [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/opinion/megan-thee-stallion-black-women.html] via New York Times op-ed “How the Black Vote Became a Political Monolith” [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/16/magazine/black-vote.html]from The New York Times Recommended Listening: “Our Body Politic [https://farai.com/our-body-politic/]” by Farai Chideya “The Brown Girls Guide to Politics [https://www.thebgguide.com/]” podcast “The Best Political Podcasts to Help You Navigate This, Ahem, Chaotic Election Season” [https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/music/a34112394/best-political-podcasts/]from the Cosmopolitan

Fight Like Chadwick

[https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/77/2020/09/Tarot-Card-Season2_Ep14_chadwick-v2-KH.png] On Aug. 28, 2020, the world heard the news that actor Chadwick Boseman had died at the age of 43 of colon cancer [https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/28/entertainment/chadwick-boseman-dies/index.html]. Boseman was known for his role as King T’Challa in Marvel’s “Black Panther.” He also portrayed iconic Black figures such as James Brown, Thurgood Marshall and Jackie Robinson. Boseman’s death came as a shock because he did not publicly disclose his stage 3 diagnosis and four-year fight. His death not only raised awareness of colon cancer, but also the health care disparities Black people face. Colon cancer is curable [https://www.cancer.gov/types/colorectal/hp/colon-treatment-pdq#:~:text=Cancer%20of%20the%20colon%20is,approximately%2050%25%20of%20the%20patients.] if caught early. It most commonly affects [https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/colon-cancer-chadwick-boseman-tips/2020/09/03/13d224f2-ed29-11ea-99a1-71343d03bc29_story.html] people who are 50 and older, but in 2018, the American Cancer Society (ACA) changed its guidelines [https://www.cancer.org/cancer/colon-rectal-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/acs-recommendations.html] to advise people to start regularly screening at 45 [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/05/30/colorectal-cancer-screening-should-start-at-age-45-not-50-american-cancer-society-says/?itid=lk_inline_manual_21] because of the steady rise in the number of young people diagnosed. Yet, Boseman died of colon cancer at the age of 43, before the recommended screening age. Black Americans have the highest death rate and shortest survival rate [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5785537/] from colorectal cancer of any racial group in the U.S. There are a lot of reasons for it, but one of the most important ones is late diagnosis. By the time we get to a doctor, it’s too late. Our Wise Ones this week are two guys literally working to save our lives. Dr. Italo Brown [https://twitter.com/gr8vision] is an emergency medicine physician and clinical instructor at Stanford University Hospital. He’s been on the front lines treating people with COVID-19 over these last few months. Jahmil Lacey [https://twitter.com/streetmedicmil?lang=en]the founder of TRAPMedicine [https://www.trapmedicine.org/], a nonprofit that focuses on using barbershops to help address the health inequities of Black men and boys. He’s currently in medical school, and he joined to talk to us as he just got out of class. > You had this cultural icon in our community, as a result of his roles in a number of films, but also like he’s one of us. He went to a Historically Black College/university (HBCU), Howard University. He navigated his way through Hollywood. He took on roles that really depicted us in a very positive light. And when I found out that one, he was diagnosed when it was already stage 3 cancer means he had been impacted by this for a while before he found out and he decided to just live. — Jahmil Lacey Dr. Brown says the very act of having to advocate for yourself to get an earlier screening is an example of systemic racism. You can walk into a provider’s office and say, “I think I need to get a colonoscopy,” says Dr. Brown, “and they say, you don’t need a colonoscopy because they don’t understand the way that it decimates the people in our community. They don’t understand that fear plays a factor and how much it actually took for a person to get to the point where they were OK with asking their doctor for an exam.” Dr. Brown says when Black patients are dismissed by doctors that are biased, it can lead to what he calls medical distrust. > As Black men, we often have to maximize the time that we have in this physical realm. And we don’t have the luxury of being able to say, “In five years, I want to see myself here.” We’re living for today. A lot of us are living for this hour. And so it’s just a reminder for me to just live. And it’s also a reminder that regardless of how much money you make, how much education you acquire, Black people are always at risk because of racism. — Jahmil Lacey As 30-somethings, Lacey and Dr. Brown say their insurance company won’t cover a colon screening, even if they asked for one because the recommended age for testing is 45. They would have to pay out-of-pocket. According to the ACA [https://www.cancer.org/cancer/colon-rectal-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/screening-coverage-laws.html], there’s nothing to stop insurers from covering the tests starting at age 45, and some are likely to do so, but at this time insurers are not required to (and some might not) cover the cost of colorectal cancer screening before age 50. “What I’ve been told is to just lie,” says Lacey. “We’re at the point now where we have to lie about our symptoms in order for doctors to to do their proper due diligence to ensure that we don’t have cancer. And that is a problem.” Dr. Brown says he’s had similar experiences. “Unfortunately for Black patients, you spend more of your time trying to convince somebody that your complaints are real and you are authentic in your desire to have increased health literacy — not because you’re trying to con or game the system.” Here are some tips from our Wise Ones on how to advocate for yourself in the doctor’s office: 1. “What would you say to your family member?” “This is a question that I use and that I share with a lot of my patients or people who I would consider under informed. Put it on the physician, as if they were talking to a family member, because they often forget and they create that distance — whether it is emotional fatigue or fatigue from seeing too many patients and are tasked with making complex decisions. So if I’m walking in a room and I’m with a doctor, and I don’t feel like the doctor is 100% giving me the attention that I need or deserve, I would say, “If I were your family member, what would you say to me? How would you approach this?” — Dr. Italo Brown 2. #BlackDoctor “We have to acknowledge that there’s a power differential immediately when a patient approaches a doctor. There’s a knowledge gap, there is a resource gap, and there’s an access gap. We have to acknowledge that that gap exists and patients need to know that they are just as empowered as the physician. This physician cannot make any decisions about your care that you don’t consent to. If people don’t have access to a Black doctor, go on Instagram, type in “Black doctor.” Find the first Black doctor you see and just direct message them and just ask them questions.” — Jahmil Lacey Note: We’re not advocating for people to get legitimate health care via Instagram, but rather, see if you can find a Black doctor that you can eventually see regularly or can help you get the care you need. 3. Pressure your benefits provider for access to providers of color “For folks who are employed, you can also apply pressure upstream on your benefits groups to demand that they provide you with people who have access to providers of color. You can ask that. You can request that they provide you with strategic plans on how they’re going to increase their provider panel of color. You can also request that they try to put in place navigators who can help you with some of these tougher questions. For example, imagine trying to plan end-of-life care for a family member. That’s difficult, especially within the Black community. And that will turn a very clear spotlight on the blind spots in lack of equity that exists within the corporate structures of the jobs that we work.” — Dr. Italo Brown 4. Vote Study [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4685976/] after study [https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR3163.html] shows the clear association between civic engagement and health outcomes. A lot of what we’re talking about are decisions that have been made at an executive level and at the legislative level. Lastly, Lacey wants to emphasize that Boseman did not give in to cancer; he kept fighting for his life. “Despite every advancement in medicine, this is just where we are. I think about health disparities and how they impact Black people no matter how much money we have, no matter how much fame we acquire. We are always at risk. And my message to people is to fight like Chadwick.” Episode transcript can be found here [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jKbDASHwpfWnug3yxpQYU-AFOiBTnuPS/view?usp=sharing]. Episode Guests: Jahmil Lacey [https://twitter.com/streetmedicmil?lang=en], founder/CEO of TRAPMedicine [https://www.trapmedicine.org/] Italo Brown [https://twitter.com/gr8vision], MD, MPH, Policy Advocate & Emergency Medicine Physician and Chief Impact Advisor of TRAPMedicine TRAPMedicine [https://www.trapmedicine.org/] — (Trust, Research, Acces and Prevention) — Shifting the praxis, narrative and culture of men’s health through the barbershop. Information about insurance coverage for colorectal cancer screenings [https://www.cancer.org/cancer/colon-rectal-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/screening-coverage-laws.html] per the American Cancer Society. Click here [https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote] to register to vote. Recommended Reading: The power and politics of the black barbershop [https://www.thefader.com/2017/10/11/black-barbershops-new-york-la-houston-new-orleans-essay-photos] by Jason Parham Why Barbershops May Be Key to Improving Black Men’s Health [https://time.com/5480371/barbershop-blood-pressure-program/] by Alice Park Africans Mourn Chadwick Boseman: ‘A Great Tree Has Fallen’ [https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/09/01/908471876/africans-mourn-chadwick-boseman-a-great-tree-has-fallen] by Ifeanyi Nsofor Medical Apartheid [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/185986/medical-apartheid-by-harriet-a-washington/] by Harriet A. Washington Killing the Black Body [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/155575/killing-the-black-body-by-dorothy-roberts/] by Dorothy Roberts Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight against Medical Discrimination [https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/body-and-soul] by Alondra Nelson The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity [https://www.npr.org/books/titles/578679908/the-deepest-well-healing-the-long-term-effects-of-childhood-adversity] by Nadine Burke Harris Examining Tuskegee: The Infamous Syphilis Study and Its Legacy [https://uncpress.org/book/9781469609720/examining-tuskegee/] by Susan M. Reverby The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks [http://rebeccaskloot.com/the-immortal-life/] by Rebecca Skloot Recommended Listening: Collective Grief & Healing: Nap Ministry Spotify Playlist [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5LPHqAE1tq3wj6vFr1ZMcT?si=mFiFEFczREypEINB7UZ8rg] curated by Tricia Hersey-Patrick

Bonus: TBT and California Love’s Walter Thompson-Hernández on IG Live

[https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/77/2020/09/Tarot-Card-Season2_EpisodeCABonus-KH.jpg] Walter Thompson-Hernández [http://www.wthdz.com/] has reported and hosted videos from nearly every continent and throughout the United States, covering Japan’s Chicano subculture [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/style/how-my-southeast-la-culture-got-to-japan.html], the Compton Cowboys’ legacy [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/31/us/compton-cowboys-horseback-riding-african-americans.html] and the disruption of cosplay stereotypes [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/style/black-panther-movie-cosplay.html]. His latest project is a first-person audio anthology called “California Love [https://laist.com/podcasts/california-love.php].” “White folks have had the freedom to move to Los Angeles and tell our stories freely. This show is entirely different,” Thompson-Hernández said in an Instagram post. “I wanted to create something for people who look and sound like me. And a show about L.A. from someone born and raised in Southeast L.A. in a one-room hospital on Florence Boulevard in front of a Tacos Mexico.” Thompson-Hernández has told stories since he was 11 years old, as a graffiti artist, then as an academic scholar. He earned his master’s degree in Latin American studies from Stanford University and was enrolled in the UCLA Chicano studies Ph.D. program for one year before leaving to write for the New York Times. Prior to graduate school, he played professional basketball throughout Latin America for the Mexican Olympic team. He said all of these experiences have shaped him as a storyteller and his use of various mediums to tell honest stories about Black and brown people. > "I am not thinking about white people when I make stories to be quite honest. It's been a process. When I am creating something I am thinking about my mom, my cousins…If it doesn't resonate with them, I didn't win." –@WTHDZ [https://twitter.com/WTHDZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] #deartbt [https://twitter.com/hashtag/deartbt?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] — #DearTBT (@TruthBeToldKQED) August 20, 2020 [https://twitter.com/TruthBeToldKQED/status/1296580259681189894?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] Truth Be Told host Tonya Mosley asked him about working in audio for the first time, dream collaborations and how 2020 has been for him. You can watch the conversation on our Instagram TV here [https://www.instagram.com/tv/CEITVW_gTkv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link] and follow our live-tweeting of the conversation here [https://twitter.com/TruthBeToldKQED/status/1296478602071019521]. Episode transcript can be found here [https://twitter.com/TruthBeToldKQED/status/1296567837666897920]. Thank you to the KPCC, LAist and “California Love” team for this collaboration. Specifically, Kristen Hayford, Jennifer Su, Veronica Lopez, Megan Tan and Kyana Moghadam. Have you listened to “California Love [https://laist.com/podcasts/california-love.php]” yet? It’s a love letter to the city of Los Angeles, Thompson-Hernández’s community, and the people that are touchstones to his life. It is also a podcast about a side of America that usually doesn’t make it to mainstream media. “If you’re from L.A. you hear all these tropes about the city and that’s not what I know.” — Walter Thompson-Hernández. The first and final season of the podcast is out now and you can find an overview of each episode below. In case you need some direction on where to start, Thompson-Hernández wanted to start telling his story with “Scared Straight,” but his favorite episode is “Parrots: A Parable.” If you are already a fan, give the show some love and leave a review. Here are the episodes and a little about them: “Prologue”: Our host Walter Thompson-Hernández returns home to L.A. and reflects on how much the city has changed since he was a child. “Scared Straight”: Walter was just 11 years old when he was admitted to L.A.’s infamous Scared Straight program for graffiti-related crimes. In this episode, Walter, through a chance encounter, checks in with his friend who went through the program with him, their anti-tagging arch-nemesis and how they have turned out after all these years. “P Line”: A story about a wild party line that many Los Angeles’ teenagers used to create a fantasy world. “Kobe”: Walter dives deep on what Kobe meant to him in his life and how the icon’s death spurred a collective mourning throughout the city. “Parrots:A Parable”: A first-parrot perspective into legends and myths of how L.A. became home to the world’s largest population of green parrots. “Compton Cowboys:” There’s a horse ranch in the heart of Compton that may hold the answers for salvation and redemption for the city’s Black cowboys. “Ellie:” Eleuteria “Ellie” Hernández moved to Los Angeles from a small town in Mexico when she was 14 and fell in love with the city. In this episode, Walter sits down with Ellie, his mother, to understand her relationship to L.A. and how it has shaped his own. “Epilogue:” We close the series with a meditation on how 28 years after the 1992 riots, for many in L.A., things feel exactly the same. Episode Guests: Walter Thompson-Hernández [http://www.wthdz.com/], host of “California Love” podcast, author of “The Compton Cowboys: The New Generation of Cowboys in America’s Urban Heartland [https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-compton-cowboys-the-new-generation-of-cowboys-in-americas-urban-heartland_walter-thompson-hernandez/22794098/item/41146095/?mkwid=%7cdc&pcrid=448918240737&pkw=&pmt=&slid=&plc=&pgrid=104755242616&ptaid=pla-927269736418&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_5P64bDI6wIVsRx9Ch07HwshEAQYASABEgIH8fD_BwE#isbn=0062910604&idiq=41146095]” and New York Times alum. Listen and subscribe to California Love here [https://laist.com/podcasts/california-love.php].