Real talk, Real people

We've had some interesting women on the show during the last 16 months. They have talked about everything from breast cancer to solitary confinement to mental health to how to get a better handle on your finances.

We decided to end National Women’s Month with three of our guests who talked about the importance of healthy eating, being the boss and Black self-identity. 

They are respectively, Eliza Caldwell from Gather New Haven; Samantha Williams, president of east haven-based samsword and Bridgeport resident Sharaya Smith.

Black women have been making a difference around the country fighting social issues that affect black communities -- and Hamden resident Kimberly Washington is no exception.

Eight years ago, she founded the nonprofit "Mothers Demand Action" to bring attention to gun violence in her community and rallied mothers from around New Haven County to her cause.

Real talk caught up with Kimberly at Hamden High School where she works as a teacher.

What does it take to be a good father?

My guest is Dr. David Lee Asbery, the founder of Fixing Fathers, Inc., a Hamden-based start-up company on a mission to fix fathers -- one dad at a time. He says men don't have to be perfect dads but they do have to be committed to being good dads.

There are more than 4 million Black children in the U.S. The majority are growing up with a father in the home but 1.7 million are growing up in a fatherless household. But that does not mean the father is not involved. 

According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control, Black men excel as fathers even when marriage is not in the picture. 

It's been nearly a year since Barbara Fair brought her campaign to end the inhuman treatment of Connecticut prisoners to Real talk, Real people.  

And now, her advocacy on behalf of prisoners has helped bring about the closure of the Northern Correctional Institution in Somers. The United Nations stated in a report that methods used at the prison seemed to be "a state-sanctioned policy aimed at purposefully inflicting severe pain or suffering, physical or mental, which may well amount to torture."

But despite the victory, Barbara says the battle isn't over yet. 

The conversation is about legalizing marijuana in Connecticut and this is a critical week to talk about it.

Gov. Lamont is expected to include marijuana legislation in his budget on Wednesday.

My guest today is Adam Wood, co-director of the Committee to Regulate Marijuana in Connecticut.

Wood joins Real talk, Real people to tell us why Connecticut should legalize marijuana and his reasoning goes beyond dollars and cents -- and he makes a lot of sense.

The conversation this week is our ongoing look at being Black in Connecticut.

My guest is 29-year-old Bridgeport resident Avery Tillery. Avery says many of the problems in the Black community can be solved through reparations. And he believes reparations are needed in all areas of the Black community where, he says, inequality has led to such wrongs as children working to help pay bills. 

He also talks about how the image of Black men as violent is distorted and how difficult it is for Black men to earn a living, even doing simple things like shoveling snow. 

What does being Black in Connecticut mean to its Black citizens? And what do we need to do to better our lives and have stronger communities?

My guest this week is Bridgeport resident Sharaya Smith. She says the first step Blacks must take is to find their identity. 

When I was a kid, the name Martin Luther King, Jr. was like an electric current running through Black neighborhoods.

The March on Washington had galvanized the civil rights movement and Black people could not stop talking about King's "I Have a Dream" speech and the real possibility that a change was going to come. It’s been nearly 58 years since King’s iconic speech and his unifying vision but as the events of 2020 spill over into 2021, we still face the same old problems.

And that’s why I, too, have a dream.