Midday

Before Gil Scott-Heron, the legendary singer, pianist, and poet known as a “godfather of hip hop,” passed away in 2011, he spoke with his cousin, Baltimore soul-jazz vocalist Navasha Daya. He suggested that they work on some music together. “I enthusiastically agreed!” Daya said. “Sadly, he transitioned before we could fulfill the original plan.”

Now, ten years later, Daya is fulfilling the promise she made to collaborate musically with Gil Scott-Heron. She recently released The Liberation Song (Red, Black and Green), a cover of a 1975 Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson song. It is the first single from Daya’s upcoming album Legacy (A Tribute to Gil Scott-Heron), which she calls an “ancestral dedication” to her cousin.

For Daya, a major part of Gil Scott-Heron’s legacy is his activism. “He fearlessly spoke the truth about what was happening in society,” she said, pointing to his advocacy, with Stevie Wonder, for making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a national holiday, and songs he wrote about the prison system, racism, and South African apartheid.

Daya mixes activism and art in her work, as well. She is co-founder and director of the Healing & Performing Arts of the Youth Resiliency Institute, providing programming and services for children, youth and families in East Cleveland and Baltimore’s Cherry Hill. She is also co-director of the Cherry Hill Arts and Music Waterfront Festival, held at Middle Branch Park.Daya thinks Gill Scott-Heron should be remembered today in his totality as a pianist, author, songwriter, and singer, as well as for his activism and spirituality. “Gil Scott-Heron was not a commodity. He was multifaceted and really brilliant.”The Liberation Song (Red, Black and Green) by Navasha Daya and featuring saxophonist Gary Bartz, is available now on Bandcamp. Her album Legacy (A Tribute to Gil Scott-Heron) is expected to be released later this year.

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Tom's next guest is a leader in the socially responsible investment movement. Hazel Henderson describes herself as an "evolutionary" economist. She is the founder and CEO of an advocacy enterprise called Ethical Markets. She has written extensively about changing our basic understanding of money and rethinking the so-called "money meme." She is the author of several books, including Building A Win-Win World, Beyond Globalization, and The Axiom and Nautilus award-winning book Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy.

Ms. Henderson contends that currencies like the dollar or the yen are no longer a dependable store of value, given the growing pervasiveness of crypto currencies, and she has proposed strategies to achieve a more equitable and compassionate global economy.

Ms. Henderson will join several other speakers on Sunday afternoon (April 11, from 1-2:30pm) at the annual Logan Visionary Conference sponsored by the American Visionary Art Museum. The theme of the event is “Bigger Love.” Other speakers include Daryl Davis, a Black man who has worked with members of the Ku Klux Klan; Wayne Jonas, the former Director of Alternative Medicine at NIH; and Stavros Lambrinidis, the Ambassador of The European Union to the United States.

Hazel Henderson joins us today from St. Augustine, Florida, on Zoom.

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Tom's Newsmaker guest today is a newcomer to town who is the first to occupy a newly-created position in City Government. Christopher Shorter is Baltimore’s first City Administrator. As Mayor Brandon Scott put it when he first announced Mr. Shorter's impending appointment, the city administrator's role will be to help the mayor "fix what’s broken in city government and restore the public’s trust.”

Mr. Shorter began his tenure in an acting capacity in January, after serving as the Director of Agency Operations in the Office of the City Administrator in Austin, Texas. He was officially sworn in on March 30.

City Administrator Christopher Shorter joins us on Zoom.

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When Brandon Scott was running for Mayor last year, he promised several changes to the structure of city government that he asserted will improve the efficacy of city services and focus attention on the need for those services to be delivered equitably. Tomorrow, we will meet Baltimore’s new City Administrator, Christopher Shorter.

Today, we meet the city’s first-ever Chief Equity Officer. Last December, Mayor Scott announced the appointment of former Acting Solicitor Dana Peterson Moore to this newly created cabinet-level position. Ms. Moore will also lead the Office of Equity and Civil Rights.

Dana Moore joins Tom (via Zoom) today to talk about her aspirations in her new role.

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The Department of Public Works - the DPW - is one of the city’s largest agencies, employing more than 2,700 people, with an annual budget of $607 million dollars. Baltimore’s DPW director also sits on the Board of Estimates. Last month, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott announced a leadership change at the Department of Public Works. Jason Mitchell is the assistant city administrator for Oakland, California. He will take the reins of DPW next month. When Mr. Mitchell comes to town, we will invite him to appear here on Midday, so we can meet him and ask him about how he will approach addressing the agency’s many long-standing challenges.

Tom's next guest is addressing some of those agency challenges. Marco Merrick is the Acting Chief of Equity and Environmental Justice at the Department of Public Works. He says his work pursues the unfinished mission of the late Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., who was advocating for civil rights and worker equity when he was gunned down in Memphis, 53 years ago this past Sunday. Marco Merrick joins us on Zoom.

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For the continuing coronavirus pandemic, it is the best of times, and it is the worst of times. More than 61 million people have been vaccinated nationwide. Deaths are declining, but the US reports more than 64,000 new COVID cases every day. Yesterday, Maryland recorded the highest number of daily cases and hospitalizations since January, as the number of people who receive vaccines in MD has topped 75,000 per day.

Today on Midday, it’s the Midday Healthwatch with Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and former Baltimore City Health Commissioner. Dr. Wen teaches at the George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health. She’s a columnist for the Washington Post and a medical analyst for CNN. She's also the author of a new book, Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health. It's due to be published in late July but is available for pre-order now.

Dr. Leana Wen takes your questions and comments.

She joins us on Skype.

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As Tom mentioned during the program, a special webinar/virtual conversation on "The Black Maternal Health Crisis in the United States" is being hosted this Monday, April 12, from 2-3:30pm, by Promise Heights. Follow these links for more details. For more information on Black Maternal Health Week (April 11-17, 2021), click here.

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Time for another visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins Tom today with her review of the new virtual theater production from Maryland's State Theater, Baltimore Center Stage. The filmed play is a world premiere of the latest work by journalist, screenwriter, Emmy-nominated producer and playwright Keli Goff. Her play is called The Glorious World of Crowns, Kinks and Curls.

In the tradition of The Vagina Monologues and For Colored Girls…, The Glorious World of Crowns, Kinks and Curls is a collection of short, intimate monologues and potent scenes that explore the complicated relationship that women, especially Black women, have with their hair.

Bianca Laverne Jones directs the all-Actors Equity cast, featuring (in multiple roles) Awa Sal Secka, Stori Ayers, and Shayna Small. Scenic and Costume Design is by Dede Ayite, Hair and Wig Design by Nikiya Mathis, Sound Design by Twi McCallum, and Lighting Direction by Stacey DeRosier.

The Glorious World of Crowns, Kinks and Curls, the new filmed virtual production from Baltimore Center Stage, is available online to ticketed patrons from now through April 18. For schedules and ticketing information, click here.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

It's another edition of Midday at the Movies, our monthly look at films and filmmaking. With the pandemic-delayed Academy Awards telecast finally happening later this month — Sunday, April 25, on the ABC television network — we'll get our annual Oscar predictions from our Midday movie mavens:

Ann Hornaday is a film critic for the Washington Post and the author of the bestselling movie-goers’ guide, Talking Pictures: How To Watch Movies. She joins us on Zoom.

Also joining us on Zoom is Jed Dietz, a founder of the Maryland Film Festival and a leader in the recent restoration of Baltimore's historic Parkway theater.

You can see a complete list of the 93rd Annual Academy Award nominations at the Academy's Oscars website.

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It’s chilly and windy and rainy and yucky in much of the listening area today, but believe it or not, spring sprang nearly two weeks ago. Temperatures will be in the 20s tonight, but there are signs that winter is making an exit: today is opening day for Major League Baseball. The Baltimore Orioles are at Fenway Park to play the Boston Red Sox. First pitch is at 2:10 this afternoon. The Os play for the first time at Camden Yards next Thursday, when the Red Sox travel here.

Even before the pandemic, baseball lagged behind football and basketball in popularity. And Orioles fans have stayed away in droves for the past few seasons. As the team embarks on year three of its rebuilding program, with COVID by no means in the rear-view mirror, will fans show up to games this season?

When the Texas Rangers played an exhibition game at Arlington Stadium Monday, the team allowed more than 40,000 people inside the park. Fewer than 13,000 took them up on their offer.

Ten thousand people will be allowed to be at the Preakness next month. But will people post?

A new Washington Post – University of MD poll published yesterday gauges interest in and willingness to attend sports events.

Today on Midday, it’s Midday on Sports. Tom's guests are:

Mark Hyman, the Director of the Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism at the University of Maryland/College park's Philip Merrill College of Journalism;

and Michael Fletcher, a senior writer at The Undefeated, ESPN’s platform for exploring the intersections of race, sports and culture…

Let us know what you think! Are you planning to catch any Os games this year? Are you a Ravens season ticket holder, and if so, what are your expectations about next season? Are you attending an in-person church service on Easter Sunday? As theaters and music venues re-open, will you go to shows, and are you ready to eat inside at restaurants again?

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

(This conversation was originally broadcast on March 22, 2021)Tom's guest on this archive edition of Midday has written a thoughtful and insightful books on the subject of racial inequality. Heather McGhee is the former head of the think tank, Demos, an organization that focuses on inequality. She is now the chair of the board of Color of Change, an on-line racial justice advocacy group with 7 million members.Her new book is called The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. McGhee’s reporting is assiduous and compassionate. She explores the history and lunacy of policies and norms that proliferate belief in a racial hierarchy.This insidious allegiance to racial hierarchy has dominated the United States since its founding. No aspect of American life is spared, and no issue, be it education, health care, housing, voting, or climate change has been unaffected. McGhee makes the case that White unwillingness to align with Black people in common cause has not only been crushing for African Americans, but for millions of White people struggling for opportunity as well.

She writes, “America’s racial inequality is not only the most extreme manifestation of our inequality, but also the template, setting up a scaffolding of hierarchy that increasingly few people, of any race, can climb.” The Sum of Us also makes the case that the reasons for racial panic among White people are actually our biggest strategic assets, and our country’s greatest salvation.

McGhee observes that we have reached the productive and moral limit of the zero-sum economic model, and that we have to get on the same page in order to turn the page on race in America. If we are able to do so, the rewards are plentiful. They are what she calls the Solidarity Dividend.

Heather McGhee joins us on Zoom.

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