Black Like Me

Dr. Gee returns to the discussion of his involvement in a university report on the Black Community Experience at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In episode 188 he discussed the upcoming report with UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and now that the report is public, he is joined by fellow board members on the ad hoc committee. Dr. Angela Byers-Winston and Ray Allen discuss the difference between good intentions and intentionality, when it comes to identifying and creating real change?

The ad hoc study group worked to present their critical findings and strategic recommendations aimed at addressing the long-standing challenges faced by Black students, faculty, and staff on university campus. They discuss the question, "What is the systemic inertia to follow through on the recommendations?" Hear the unfiltered conversation about the report conducted by the UW by those that served on the board.

All three speak honestly about the process, offering what made them angry or frustrated, and the hopes they have for change. They talk about how creating programs only can't change the DEI issues, but it takes institutional and organizational change. Also, be sure to catch a double portion of the Black Ice Breakers segment.

Dr. Angela Byars-Winston is a tenured faculty member in the Division of General Internal Medicine within the Department of Medicine. She is also the inaugural Chair of the University of Wisconsin Institute for Diversity Science, associate director in the Collaborative Center for Health Equity, and faculty lead in the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research.

Dr. Byars-Winston has received numerous awards for her research on advancing diversity goals and mentorship in STEM fields. In 2011, Dr. Byars-Winston was selected as a Champion of Change by the White House through President Obama's Winning the Future initiative for her research efforts to diversify science fields. In 2022, she was the recipient of the Innovation in Mentorship Research award from the Association of Clinical and Translational Research. Dr. Byars-Winston chaired the National Academies of Sciences' 2019 consensus study report, The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM. She is an elected Fellow in the American Psychological Association and is currently an appointed member of the NIH National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council.

Over a career spanning nearly 50 years, Ray Allen has worked at the John Deere Company and served in a number of leadership roles in state government, including Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. He was elected to three terms on the Madison School Board from 1995 to 2004, has served as chair of the Madison Area Technical College Board, and is the former publisher and owner of weekly newspaper The Madison Times.

In 2016 Allen was honored with the Outstanding Alumni of Color Award from the UW–Madison Division of Diversity, Equity & Educational Achievement. He currently serves on more than 10 corporate and community boards, including 100 Black Men, the Overture Center, UMOJA Magazine's board of directors, United Way of Dane County, American Red Cross, Downtown Madison Inc., and Madison College.

Read the Report: Black Community Experience on the University of Wisconsin – Madison Campus- AD Hockey Study Group

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Dr. Gee returns to the topic of a childhood fascination with astronomy as he takes a journey through the cosmos with Eric Wilcots, University of Wisconsin-Madison dean of the College of Letters & Science and Professor of Astronomy. Both began their interest in astronomy at a young age with the same model of telescope. Professor Wilcots explains how few Black astronomy academics there were in his early years and now works to encourage diversity in academic departments.

They continue their fun and informative conversation by exploring questions about the universe and what we currently know scientifically. Dr. Gee asks questions to understand black holes, stars, and life on other planets. Don't miss this awe-inspiring conversation as Professor Wilcots shares his passion for the big questions of our universe and beyond.

Learn more about the UW Washburn Observatory and when to visit

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Dr. Gee has an honest discussion with author and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Their conversation starts with southern cooking and how food provides insights into our histories and continues into how race relations impact policing.

Ellison has written a book about his experience leading the prosecution when the Derek Chauvin case came to trial involving the killing of George Floyd. Hear what he saw when he looked into the eyes of Derek Chauvin. They also discuss Ellison's involvement in the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

Read Keith Ellison's book: Break the Wheel: Ending the Cycle of Police Violence

From 2007 to 2019, Keith Ellison represented Minnesota's 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he championed consumer, worker, environmental, and civil- and human-rights protections for Minnesotans. He served for 12 years on the House Financial Services Committee, where he helped oversee the financial services industry, the housing industry, and Wall Street, among others. Among his legislative accomplishments are passing provisions to protect credit-card holders from abusive practices and protect the rights of renters and tenants. While in Congress, he founded the Congressional Antitrust Caucus and the Congressional Consumer Justice Caucus. He also served as co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which he helped build to more than 100 members.

Before being elected to Congress, Attorney General Ellison served four years in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Prior to entering elective office, he spent 16 years as an attorney specializing in civil-rights and defense law, including five years as executive director of the Legal Rights Center. As the leader of this public-interest law firm, he oversaw a team of attorneys focused on delivering justice for Minnesotans who had nowhere else to turn. He was also a noted community activist.

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Dr. Gee and Leonard Pitts discuss bringing American history to life in order to reclaim the role of Black people in the development of the nation. Both men share the power of story to display the experience of the Black community in history and today. Leonard speaks to the Black experience through journalism, academic scholarship, commentary, and historical fiction. Hear how the details of his writing inform a long-standing missing perspective on history, including complicated characters that reveal the trauma and hurt of the Black community in American history.

Read Leonard Pitts novel 54 Miles

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Dr. Gee starts his conversation with faith leader and professional musician Marquis Hunt by talking about addressing young Black men to understand that they do have voice that can matter. Marquis wrote a letter to a "Black Brother" as "a call to every Black man who's ever felt overlooked, undervalued, or trapped in a system that wasn't built for us." They discuss why there is a need to call young Black men to create a greater narrative than the one that society is telling them.

Before the recent election, Dr. Gee and Marquis look deeply into the environment around the Black vote in the 2024 election, especially for Black men. Also, don't miss an extra fun Black Ice Breakers session.

Marquis Hunt is a Spiritual Director, Interfaith Leader, professional musician and author of The New Human: When People We Love, Love The People We Love. From Little Rock, Arkansas, Hunt is the founder and developer of The FloW, a community-based practice that integrates music, philosophy, and strategic discourse. Marquis has worked on a national and international level helping thousands of individuals reach higher levels of human potential.

Read the Black Brother Article: https://marquishunt.org/2024/08/black-brother/

Learn more and listen to Marquis Hunt's music: https://marquishunt.org

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Dr. Alex Gee has a special episode to talk through and process the recent election from his perspective. He is joined by Black Like Me producer Jeremy Holiday for a raw conversation that seeks to break down first thoughts on how community and justice minded people look ahead in our current landscape. They share their raw feelings and reflections in this challenging moment. As always, Dr. Gee brings his wide-ranging experience as a Black man in a majority white community who is also a visionary community and faith leader.

RSVP for The Center for Black Excellence and Culture Public Update

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Hear about how spiritual leader and author David Gibbons felt that he wrote his memoir as a way to process his life and his experience, calling the book The Shape of My Eyes. In an honest conversation, Dr. Gee and David break down what "model minority" means for Asian Americans and African Americans. They consider how this concept also worked toward putting the two racial communities in opposition to one another by weaponizing the term.

They continue Dr. Gee's awareness around how the unity between Asian American and Black communities can be perpetuated. Also, hear how David tries to get Dr. Gee to go white water rafting.

Read Dave Gibbons new book, The Shape of My Eyes: A Memoir of Race, Faith, and Finding Myself

Dave Gibbons was born in Seoul, Korea yet culturally raised in America. He works in both for profit and not for profit organizations. Dave is an Advisor, Speaker and Spiritual leader. Dave founded an influential church known for diversity, innovation and social impact. At the same time, he launched or worked with social impact organizations such as World Vision and Fuller Seminary. He loves working with creators and innovators in entertainment, sports, government, finance, and non-profits. Dave lives in California and Seoul, Korea, with his wife, Becca. He has four adult children and two grand-dogs.

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Dr. Gee hosts a special episode recorded live with an audience and a young jazz group in summer 2024 at Cafe Coda in Madison, WI. The night was a celebration of the 10th season of Black Like Me and Dr. Gee brought together Black podcast hosts to talk about their unique position.

Bianca Martin hosts the City Cast Madison podcast. She is skilled in audio journalism and multi platform storytelling. Bianca has produced a wide range of radio and podcast programs, including for National Geographic, NPR, and Chicago Public Media. You can hear Bianca every weekday on the City Cast Madison podcast at madison.citycast.fm

Rev. Lilada Gee is a dynamic voice on behalf of Black girls and women throughout the African Diaspora who carry the heavy burden of generations of sexual trauma, as well as their own—Lilada Gee has committed her life to the defending of Black girlhood and the healing of Black women. She is the host of the Defending Black Girlhood podcast.

Their conversation covers the specifically Black space that podcasting facilitates compared to other traditional media systems. In light of the current cultural and political environment they discuss the role that Black women play in the recent elections and culture in general.

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Black resistance to white supremacy is often reduced to a simple binary between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolence and Malcolm X's "by any means necessary." Dr. Gee discuss how in her book, We Refuse, historian Kellie Carter Jackson urges us to move past this false choice, offering an unflinching examination of the breadth of Black responses to white oppression, particularly those pioneered by Black women. Dr. Carter Jackson explains the dismissal of "Black violence" as an illegitimate form of resistance is itself a manifestation of white supremacy, a distraction from the insidious, unrelenting violence of structural racism.

Dr. Gee and Dr. Carter Jackson also explore the fact that Black men are being killed in the streets but Black women are being killed in the private space of their own homes. Hear about how "Black flight" is connected to joy in that Black folks needs space to get away from regular white supremacist life. Finally, Dr. Carter Jackson also shows her enthusiasm for dolls, and especially Black dolls with their unique cultural significance.

Kellie Carter Jackson is the Michael and Denise '68 Associate Professor of Africana Studies and the Chair of the Africana Studies Department Wellesley College. She is the author We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance (Seal Press) and of the award winning book, Force & Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence . Force and Freedom was a finalist for the Frederick Douglass Book Prize, a winner of the James H. Broussard Best First Book Prize, and a finalist for the Museum of African American History (MAAH) Stone Book Prize Award for 2019. The Washington Post listed Force and Freedom as one of 13 books to read on African American history. Her interview, "A History of Violent Protest" on Slate's What's Next podcast was listed as one of the best of 2020. She has also given a Tedx talk on "Why Black Abolitionists Matter."

Her essays have been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, the Boston Globe, CNN, and a host of other outlets. She has been featured in numerous documentaries for Netflix (African Queens: Njinga and Stamped From the Beginning), PBS, MSNBC, CNN, and AppleTV's "Lincoln's Dilemma." She has also been interviewed on Good Morning America, CBS Mornings, MSNBC, Democracy Now, SkyNews (UK) Time, Vox, The Huff Post, the BBC, Boston Public Radio, Al Jazeera International, Slate, and countless podcasts.

Carter Jackson loves a good podcast and her Radiotopia family! She is Executive Producer and Host of the award winning "You Get a Podcast! The Study of the Queen of Talk," formerly known as "Oprahdemics" with co-host Leah Wright Rigueur and a co-host on the podcast, "This Day in Political Esoteric History" with Jody Avirgan and Nicole Hemmer.

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Dr. Gee talks to Michelle Behnke about how she is motivated by the commitment of the The American Bar Association (ABA) to make the nation and their community better. Michelle is inspired by the ABA's mission of defending liberty and pursuing justice through professional development throughout the nation.

They discuss how to encourage Black people to stay in Madison by creating the community for them and how to be the change they want to see. In their experience, to be successful in the local community they have had to be "Bilingual" by knowing how to interact with both the Black community and the white professional community. Listen in to hear about what Michelle calls the "Multiple Realities."

Michelle joined Boardman Clark in 2024 after being elected the 2025 – 2026 president of the American Bar Association (ABA). Outside of her role with the ABA, Michelle has a broad practice, including business and commercial real estate. She is also active in her community and has served on a number of boards including SSM Healthcare of Wisconsin and Dean Health Plan, Inc.

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