Teaching What It Takes ®

Guests Jacob Conley, student at Boston Conservatory of Fine Arts, and Dacha Thurber, Phillips Exeter Academy ’20 discuss what systemic racism looks like on campus today. What’s with @blackat[____] Instagram accounts? Can one person represent an entire race? Will music and theater communicate better than posts and protests?

Guest Dr. Michael Bieze, Fine Arts Chair at Marist School, discusses the peril of public statues and monuments, when art is a political statement, designing an anti-racist curriculum, and why freedom of expression matters. Listen and decide whether a white educator really knows what a Black person experiences outside their local courthouse.

Special Guest, B. J. Walker, is an expert at understanding how government programs and services work. As the former director of Health & Human Services for the State of Georgia, she works tirelessly to support executives in public systems to move beyond the daily transactional work they do. Learn how Ms. Walker helps top leaders achieve their aspirational and transformational goals, even when racism threatens to derail them, as well as how the commercialization of public education is cannibalizing our schools.

Special guest, Rev. James Winfrey, discusses the good work that he and his wife do with formerly incarcerated and formerly homeless persons. How do race and a history of incarceration or homelessness affect their experiences on Skid Row, the obstacles to accessing education, and their challenges finding work? What role does Urban Alchemy play in helping people learn social and emotional skills, tap into their character strengths, and live a better life? A profound look at the common core of human experience.

Teacher, Andy Bigelow, and his husband, Brian Lighty, discuss the joys and complications of being a gay, mixed-race couple. How do public perceptions affect their private experiences? What social conventions are more “white,” whereas others are more “Black”? How does this professional power duo navigate multiple stereotypes and prejudices while still maintaining a sense of humor? And how do they decide when to speak up about microaggressions and when to let them ride?

St. Louis police detective, John Leggette discusses defunding the police, being a Black detective in a mixed-race city, the causes and consequences of violence, and how community policing can work to enhance law, order, and civility across the nation. Hosts David Conley and Chris Thurber also discuss institutional racism with Detective Leggette.