Nubian Tigers Talk

We sit down with Kamau Sadiki, a renown Black scuba diver who is featured in the film DESCENDANT which tells the story of the Clotilda, the last ship to reach the US, carrying kidnapped and enslaved Africans. Kamau was part of the team that recovered the remains of the ship. Kamau was also on the team that recovered the remains of a Tuskegee airman's plane that crashed and sank in Lake Huron in Michigan.

Talib Hudon the Project Director for the think tank The New Hood joins us in this episode. Talib has a long standing background in working with grassroots organizations as well as some institutional players on the issue of reducing violence in our communities. Talib created a think tank that places the needs and desires of our communities at the center. Advocacy training and other programs help prepare community members to speak for themselves and develop policies for their own communities rather than be subjected to policies developed by others not connected to their lived experiences.

We were pleased to have two guests for this episode: Tracie Gardner from National Black Harm Reduction Network and Bre Azanedo from BLM Paterson. Tracie is working at the national level on harm reduction policies that center Black people and Bre is on the ground doing fabulous harm reduction work in Paterson, NJ. They tackle some of the hard obstacles to getting a better understand of why harm reduction is necessary. These two women are part of a network of grassroots organizations working to make their communities safer and healthier.

Our guest is Karen Washington from Rise & Root Farm in Chester, NY. Karen shares her journey from starting a community garden in a vacant lot in the Bronx to co-founding an organic farm in upstate New York. She talked about how racism creates food apartheid in our communities and why it is important for all of us to support black and brown farmers across all levels from urban farming to full blown rural farms,

Our guest for this episode is Carol Mayes Basuru, a successful professional in the TV and movie industry who decided to give that up and relocate to Ghana. In keeping with the season theme, we explored what it is like for African Americans to resettle in the motherland. Carol talks about the challenges and rewards and why it could be an interesting alternative to living with ongoing racism in the US.

We had a conversation with YahNé Ndgo from the Ubuntu Freedom Project. In this season we are exploring different grassroots approaches to creating sustainable and vibrant communities. YahNé talks about the Freedom project and what their principles and goals are.

This is an episode where we talk with Charmaine Brown of United Way Worldwide and David Sotolongo from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals about the DEI programs and where they stand today in the face of conservative Republican attacks.

In this episode we have a frank conversation with Reverend Benjamin Ledell Reynolds about some of the hot point issues in the Black faith community. Among the questions we asked whether the Black Church is till relevant to today's social justice agenda.

In this episode we bring back Professor Nunn to discuss the Supreme Court opinion which virtually ends race based admissions decisions at institutions of higher education. He also discusses whether it will be feasible for HBCUs to absorb the number of Black students who may no longer be admitted to predominantly white institutions.

In this episode we talk with three outstanding Black Women coaches from fencing, gymnastics and volleyball. Our guests are Dr. Nikki Franke, Wendy Hillard and Sheila Weaver. It's an interesting discussion of the challenges black female athletes used to have and what has changed over the years. Our coaches talk about new issues such as protecting players mental health and the licensing of student athletes' images and brands.