Bring It On! – WFHB

On today’s edition of Bring It On!, host Clarence Boone and co-host Liz Mitchell spend the hour with Danielle Bruce. Liz Mitchell and Danielle Bruce together with writer Glayds DeVane have created two new Resilence Productions: 1) “From Truth to Justice: The Price We Paid for the Ballot”, and 2) “A Selection of Scenes from Resilience: Indiana’s Untold Stories”.

The Resilience Productions team is excited about their upcoming production of From Truth to Justice: The Price We Paid for the Ballot. This original play tells the story of the contentious relationship between the Black and White suffrage movements. It provides insight into the dilemma created by the proposed ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment. It exposes the attitudes and behaviors of two groups fighting for a common good but whose worldviews differ significantly. Sojourner Truth, Francis Harper, Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mary Church Terrell, and Daisy Lampkins weave the story of the tumultuous journey to access the ballot.

In addition, the women of Resilience Productions are honored to be included in the Off-Night Play Reading Festival, featuring plays written by women. Resilience Indiana’s Untold Stories is the opening play, the October 27, 2:00 p.m. matinee feature.

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On today’s edition of Bring It On!, host Clarence Boone and co-host Liz Micthell spend the hour with Sheriff Ruben Marté.  He joins us this evening to discuss progress toward achieving administrative goals amidst the need for jail renovations and the possible construction of a new facility.

Marté was elected Sheriff of Monroe County in November of 2022. Previously, he had worked for 31 years for the Indiana State Police. He was a captain in the office of the superintendent. Marté was appointed as the ISP’s first equity and inclusion officer during that tenure. Sheriff Marté campaigned on a platform with four elements:

1) increasing public safety;

Upon being sworn in, Sheriff Marté shed light upon poor structural conditions and overcrowding at the Monroe County Jail and has routinely advocated for improvements. In January of this year, The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office stated current county jail conditions have improved amid efforts to establish a new facility. Sheriff Ruben Marté and his staff presented evidence of improvements at a January county council meeting. One option currently being explored is purchasing land to construct a new jail.

In August, Dave Askins of the B-Square Bulletin reported that “it is now roughly three years since retained county consultants delivered reports, one of which concluded that Monroe County’s jail is ‘failing’ and is not able to provide constitutional levels of care. The jail currently operates under a 2009 settlement agreement with the ACLU, which filed a lawsuit over crowded conditions at the jail. The settlement agreement has been extended several times.”

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On today’s edition of Bring It On!, host Clarence Boone and co-host Liz Mitchell spend the hour with Dr. Markay Winston, the new interim superintendent of the Monroe County Community School Corporation (MCCSC).

MCCSC serves nearly 11,000 students in 23 schools throughout Monroe County, Indiana. The district is a leader in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and EARTH studies and offers a Performing Arts Academy, International Baccalaureate schools, Dual Immersion programs, multiple Career Pathways, and numerous college credit opportunities.

Dr. Markay Winston has over a decade of executive experience in large and mid-size urban and suburban communities. She has been a part of the MCCSC community since 2017. She has served as Assistant Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent, leading the corporation’s Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment office during her tenure.

Dr. Winston joins us today to share her hopes and aspirations for positioning the MCCSC as a model school corporation that strives to maintain a wholesome and supportive learning environment for all students. This includes collective efforts to partner with parents/guardians to prepare graduates for the next chapter in their lives (i.e. preparation for the job market, college, or a trade school).

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This is a rebroadcast of a program that aired on September 14, 2020:

Tonight’s show focuses on the upcoming Indiana State elections. Hosts Clarence Boone and William Hosea speak with Tonda Pauley and Dana Black to address the many concerns of this election season, such as increasing voter registration and turnout, mail-in voting concerns, and what the key races are to watch in Indiana. Both women have served in public service roles within the Indiana Democratic Party.

Tonda Pauley is running for election to the Indiana House of Representatives to represent District 78 in Vanderburgh County, IN. She’s served as the State President of the Indiana Democrat African American Caucus (IDAAC) for the past seven years and is a member of the Indiana Democratic Central Committee. She has previously held the position of Vice-President and Secretary of IDAAC.

Dana Black is the Indiana Democrat Party Deputy Chair of Engagement, the Indiana Stonewall Democrats President, and a Lawrence Township Democrat Club Member. She is also a Lawrence Township Precinct Committeeman and an NAACP Member. She also hosts the radio show Turn Left and is the co-host of the podcast Policy with a Purpose. Dana works to bring the legislative information Hoosiers need to make sound decisions about those who should represent us.

CREDITS: The hosts of today’s show are Clarence Boone and William Hosea.

On today’s edition of Bring It On!, hosts, Clarence Boone and Liz Mitchell, speak with President James Sims and Executive Committee member Justin Crossley of the Monroe County Branch of the NAACP  about the 43rd Freedom Fund Awards Dinner. The awards dinner will be held on Saturday, September 14, 2024. The funds raised from the dinner financially support the branch’s activities such as the Scholarship Program for local high school seniors, public forums on significant civil rights issues, and community programs that advance the mission of the NAACP. This year’s theme is ALL IN.

The officers of the NAACP Monroe County Branch (#3062) are President Jim Sims, 1st Vice President Beverly Calender-Anderson, Secretary Gloria Howell, and Treasurer Dave Jones. As is customary, the NAACP president selects winners to recognize special achievements and distinguished public service. It is with great honor that this year’s recipient of the President Award is Bloomington’s Historian Elizabeth Mitchell.

In addition, the hosts and guests discuss branch activities and make a few observations on this fall’s pivotal General Election.

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This is program originally aired on August 21, 2023:

On today’s edition of Bring It On!, hosts, Clarence Boone and Liz Mitchell, spend the hour with Dr. Marvin Dunn. Dr. Dunn is fighting against the potential miseducation of countless children and young adults in Florida. He is here to discuss his efforts to combat this miseducation and the current state of racial politics in Florida.

Last Wednesday, August 16, 2023, before the first day of school for the Miami-Dade County school system, he led a march to protest the new education curriculum standards instituted by the Republican Governor Ron DeSantis that affect the teaching of Black history. This is part of a larger effort by DeSantis to purge what he calls “woke” idealogy in Florida.

Earlier this year, DeSantis had rejected the College Board’s AP African American Studies course for high school students because it included lessons on diaspora reparations, Black LGBTQIA+ studies, and the Black Lives Matter Movement. He has also barred instruction in schools that suggests anyone is privileged or oppressed based on their race or skin color, according to a CNN report. The new curriculum teaches that some Black people benefited from being enslaved because they learned useful skills.

Dr. Dunn was joined by some members of the Teamsters National Black Caucus, who then were holding a conference in Miami. Tennessee state Representative Justin Pearson also joined the protest. Rep. Pearson, along with fellow representative Justin James, had recently been voted back into office, after being expelled for calling out state Republicans for failing to pass gun control laws after the Covenant School mass shooting in Nashville.

The union representing around 150,000 Florida teachers, the Florida Education Association, called these new curriculum changes  “a disservice to Florida students and are a big step backward for a state that has required teaching African American history since 1994.” One of the most controversial aspects of these new standards includes teaching that some Blacks benefited from chattel slavery by learning useful skills. Further, these new curriculum changes include teaching that the Rosewood massacre was instigated by when a black man shot two white men who came onto his porch, rather than that a white woman falsely accused a Black man of assault.

Dr. Dunn has been leading “Teach No Lies” tours that take teachers and young people to places like Rosewood, Florida. Officially, it is recorded that the Rosewood Massacre of 1923 led to the killing of six Black residents and the fleeing of the rest of its black residents. Many say, however, that the death toll was much higher. By the massacre’s end, all but one of Rosewood’s buildings had been burned down. No law enforcement agency ever did an investigation, nor were there any criminal charges.

Dr. Dunn is a professor emeritus at Florida International University, and the author of many books, including A History of Florida: Through Black Eyes, where he writes:

Almost all of Florida’s painful racial past has been whitewashed, marginalized, or buried intentionally. But I was born here. I know Florida’s flowers and her warts.

He is also a co-founder of the Miami Center for Racial Justice. He began giving his Tell No Lies Tours in response to the state’s escalating efforts to further whitewash Florida’s Black History.

On a personal front, Dr. Dunn recently saw his neighbor, David Emanuel, convicted on July 26 on six counts of federal hate crime charges for screaming the N-word and attempting to run him and five companions over in September 2022. Dr. Dunn, 83,  acquired his five-acre property across from Emanuel’s home back in 2008 and turned it into a park to “celebrate Rosewood heritage.” He is the only black homeowner currently in Rosewood.

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On today’s edition of Bring It On!, host Clarence Boone and guest co-host Liz Mitchell spend the hour with Dr. Raymond Wise and Gloria Howell.  On the Indiana University Bloomington Campus the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center and African American Arts Institute have a joint exhibit opening on campus at one of the university collections sites in honor of their respective milestone anniversaries (55th and 50th). They are joining us this evening to discuss the joint exhibit and upcoming events of interest during this new academic year.

Once called “The House,” the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center (NMBCC) has a long-standing history of supporting the Indiana University’s efforts to challenge, support, and contribute to the continued development and success of the Black students, faculty, and staff. The director of this iconic center is Bring It Contributor Dr. Gloria Howell. On July 1st, Professor Raymond Wise became the new executive director of the African American Arts Institute (AAAI) starting July 1. Professor Wise, a renowned singer, dancer, pianist, composer, and choral director, has an extensive background in music education, performance, and composition,

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This is a rebroadcast of a show that originally aired on September 25, 2023:

Liz Mitchell hosts today’s broadcast of “Bring It On!”. As a producer of “Dark Past, Bright Future”, Liz Mitchell has had the pleasure of researching and interviewing a wide array of fascinating topics and guests. Tonight, it is her honor to air a documentary on the phenomenal life of Bloomington legend, Reverend Marvin Chandler, who transitioned from this world on Saturday, September 23.

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This program originally aired on February 12, 2024:

On today’s edition of Bring It On!, hosts, Clarence Boone and Liz Mitchell, spend the hour with Laurisa LeSure, the director of Better Homes: The Play. In the 1950s African American Studebaker workers from the South won out over Jim Crow in the North to build 22 homes in a white neighborhood and create a legacy. Their success demonstrates the decisive importance of fair housing for generations to come. It is a victory in a battle that has not been won yet since housing discrimination and redlining persist today.

This collective group was known as the  Better Homes of South Bend, and they built 22 homes on 1700-1800 blocks of North Elmer Street, creating a vibrant and peaceful community here in a formerly all-white neighborhood. And now, history is being transformed into a play based on the book by Gabrielle Robinson, Ph.D.

In honor of Black History Month, we felt it was important to shed light on this Indiana story of resilience. There is a historical marker on South Bend’s far northwest side where 22 Black families began a housing co-op in the 50s known as the “Better Homes of South Bend.” WNIT of South Bend will show the entire play along with talk-back segments from the cast & crew of “Better Homes: The Play” on Friday, February 23, at 9 PM and on Sunday, February 25, at 8 PM.

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On Bring It On! this week, hosts, Clarence Boone and Gloria Howell, take on the issue of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) with guests, Artina Carter, Chief of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for the Huron-Clinton Metroparks in Southeast Michigan, Monica Fleetwood Black, the Clinical Coordinator at the Youth Services Bureau of Monroe County, and Ellise Antoinette Smith, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Division of Student Affairs at Indiana University Indianapolis.

This hour focuses on establishing a rational, working definition for DEI amidst the radical right’s decision to use D.E.I. as a politically divisive or wedge issue now that Vice President Kamala Harris is leading or tied in the polls with Donald Trump in the current election of the next President of the United States.

The basic consensus among political analysts is that the radical right is attempting to diminish Harris’s popularity by trying to reframe her as an unqualified DEI hire throughout her public service career. In other words, the radical right is saying that she is in her position as Vice President and candidate for the President of the United States because of who she is, rather than because of her acumen and accomplishments.

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