Trey Kay, Author at West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Us & Them: Can We Have A Hard Conversation About Race In America’s Classrooms?

The story of who we are as a nation is being challenged. Examining America’s racial history is not easy and not welcomed by everyone.

Americans are looking back to reassess their history and origins.

George Floyd’s murder launched a global movement to assert the critical role that race plays in American law and society; however, even before Black Lives Matter protests swept the nation and the world, there were efforts to redefine America’s origin story.

Now, there are fresh fracture points in how we see ourselves and how we teach our history. A focus of this debate is on a little-known academic and legal concept called Critical Race Theory that says that racism is inherent in our laws and institutions.

The theory is not part of standard public school curriculum; however, it has become a catch-all term for efforts to include race as an element in how we teach America’s history. Some parents are against any approach that makes their children pawns in a racial legacy they say focuses too much on oppression and victimization.

Once again, one of our nation’s most sensitive cultural flashpoints is evident in debates over laws and school curriculum, and who decides what students will learn about our past.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation and CRC Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond. You also can listen to Us & Them on WVPB Radio — tune in Thursday, Mar. 24, at 8 p.m., or listen to the encore presentation on Saturday, Mar. 26, at 3 p.m.

Nikole Hannah-Jones developed The 1619 Project, which was turned into a podcast and later, a book. Among the goals for project was to reframe the origin story of America and to document how instrumental the institution of slavery was in the creation of the United States.

Nikole Hannah Jones website.

Nikole Hannah-Jones interview on the PBS News Hour.

Jelani Cobb is a professor at the Columbia Journalism School faculty. He has contributed to The New Yorker since 2012, and became a staff writer in 2015. He is the recipient of the 2015 Sidney Hillman Award for Opinion and Analysis writing and writes frequently about race, politics, history and culture. Cobb was most recently an Associate Professor of History and Director of the Africana Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut where he specialized in post-Civil War African American history, 20th century American politics and the history of the Cold War.

Jelani Cobb’s New Yorker article about Derrick Bell —”The Man Behind Critical Race Theory.“

Matthew Hawn was a social studies teacher in Sullivan County, TN. He was fired for lessons he taught that delved into the role of race in American society.

Articles about Matthew Hawn in The Atlantic and Washington Post.

Jonathan Zimmerman is an education historian at the University of Pennsylvania. He has written about the culture wars in the public schools for decades. An updated version of his book from 2002, “Whose America” will be published this fall. The original book took a deep dive into the religion and history wars in the schools.

Jonathan Zimmerman’s article in The Hill about Critical Race Theory.

Learn more about Jonathan Zimmerman’s book “Whose America, Culture Wars in the Public Schools.”

Glen Youngkin picked up support from parents because he talked about their concerns on the campaign trail in his race for Governor of Virginia. He saw their anxiety over masking requirements and the pandemic, and he tapped into their frustration about what students were learning, or not learning at school. He made a campaign promise to ban Critical Race Theory from being taught in Virginia’s school system, despite the fact that CRT was not part of the state’s education curriculum. Youngkin defeated former Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe. As promised, when he took office on January 15, 2022, Governor Youngkin signed an executive order against teaching “divisive concepts” in public schools. Youngkin’s order was a version of similar legislation that’s passed in a dozen states so far, and still being considered in a couple dozen more.

Tiffany Justice is a co-founder of Moms For Justice, which has grown into a nationwide organization of parents. Some reports show they have 70-thousand members in 165 chapters in 33 states. Justice is a wife and mom of four school-aged children. From 2016 to 2020, she served on the Board of the School District of Indian River County, FL. Justice says her organization empowers parents to look behind what she calls the “education curtain.”

Learn more about Moms for Liberty.

Hasan Kwame Jeffries is associate professor of history at The Ohio State University where he teaches courses on the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement.

Us & Them: HBCUs Surround Students With Black Excellence While Aiming For A Global Experience

Born from an era of segregated educational opportunities when Black students were not welcome at predominantly white schools, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have been focused on surrounding students with Black excellence.

Today, HBCUs are no longer exclusive. In fact, some schools — like Morgan State University — are actively recruiting a more diverse population to provide a more global experience to prepare graduates for the future. In West Virginia, white students already make up a significant majority of the enrollment at the state’s two HBCUs.

Us & Them host Trey Kay looks at this era of intense competition for students and how some of the nation’s 100-plus HBCUs are adapting for the future.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation, the CRC Foundation and the Daywood Foundation.

Dr. Yacob Astatke is the assistant vice president for International Affairs at Morgan State University. He came to Morgan as an international student from Ethiopia in 1988 to study engineering and has been there ever since – first as a professor and now as an administrator.

Holmes Hall on the campus of Morgan State University.

Students on the campus of Morgan State University. MSU is not an exclusively Black institution, but the student body is predominantly comprised of persons of African heritage.

West Virginia State University is an HBCU that has a predominantly white student body.

Sharon Smith Banks worked at West Virginia State University for 30 years. From 1990 to 2021. During her time at State, many students referred to her as Mama Banks. She is photographed here next to the grave marker of Samuel Cabell in a Cabell Family Graveyard on the WVSU campus. Cabell was a plantation owner, who produced a family with Mary Barnes, who one of his slaves. The couple provided their 15 children with an exceptional education and they went on to become accomplished citizens. Portions of the original Cabell plantation was sold to the state of West Virginia and the West Virginia Colored Institute was founded in 1891, which has subsequently become West Virginia State University.

Eric Jackson is the interim Chief of Staff at West Virginia State University. He is also the Title III administrator for institution, which oversees the special federal funding they receive for being an HBCU.

Ben Trujillo is a student at West Virginia State University. He was adopted into a mixed race family. He says he chose to attend State because he was looking for a learning experience that was “more minority driven” and where he could “interact with individuals who are maybe culturally aligned with me.”

Devon Pring is among the majority of white students attending West Virginia State University. He comes from rural West Virginia and had little interaction with people of color in his public school education. He says he’s learning more than just academics at State. He feels like he’s now more aware of other cultures and the Black struggle in America.

Jasmine Coleman attends West Virginia State University for the nursing program and is also part of the majorette dance team. She says it was important for her to study at an HBCU because she grew up with little support in her education pursuits. She felt an HBCU would help her financially, socially and mentally.

Changing People’s Hearts and Minds About Vaccinations

The public health campaign to sell people on COVID-19 vaccinations is more than a year old, but its success is limited. The latest strain of the virus shows that unvaccinated people are significantly more likely to contract the omicron variant, resulting in higher rates of hospitalization and death.

This reality raises a question – why are people refusing the shots? What’s gone wrong with the public health message?

Early on the focus was on mass vaccinations, which convinced many millions of people. When the numbers stalled, it was time for incentives; get a shot, win a gift card or a car. In West Virginia, the campaign became, “Do it for Baby Dog,” using the governor’s English Bulldog as a mascot. But few of these efforts are swaying vaccine-resistant people.

So, what will work?

In this episode of Us & Them, we hear why vaccination campaigns were successful in the past, and the approach many experts say we need to start trying.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the Greater Kanawha Valley and the CRC Foundation.

This program is made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 through the West Virginia Humanities Council. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations do not necessarily represent those of the West Virginia Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond. You also can listen to Us & Them on WVPB Radio — tune in Thursday, Feb. 24, at 8 p.m., or listen to the encore presentation on Saturday, Feb. 26, at 3 p.m.

Gov. Jim Justice made his English Bulldog “Baby Dog” vaccine ambassador for the state of West Virginia.

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice with his English Bulldog “Baby Dog.”

Physician and professor Dr. Monica Ghandi teaches medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She is director of the UCSF Gladstone Center for AIDS Research and the medical director of the San Francisco General Hospital HIV Clinic.

Judith Feinberg , M.D., professor in the department of Behavioral Medicine & Psychiatry at West Virginia University’s School of Medicine.

Lynne Fruth is President of Fruth Pharmacy, a West Virginia family business and one of the largest pharmacy chains in the state.

Ty Montague is one of the founders and co-CEOs of New York-based co:collective, a creative and strategic transformation partner for purpose led businesses. Previously, he has been Chief Creative officer at some of the most prestigious and awarded ad agencies in the world. Ad Age named him one of the 50 most influential creatives in advertising.

Us & Them host Trey Kay in a video conference interview with Ty Montague.

No Justice In Augusta: Remembering A Little Known Race Riot

We can document almost everything around us with devices of all kinds, but in 1970, there were few cameras around when police opened fire on crowds in Augusta, Georgia.

A protest-turned-riot over the brutal murder of a Black teenager left six Black men dead from police bullets. There was never justice for any of the deaths, including 16-year-old Charles Oatman, who died in the Richmond County Jail. The story of that riot remains relatively unknown among Augusta residents both Black and white.

Us & Them host Trey Kay talks with podcast producer Sea Stachura about her award-winning work, “Shots in the Back: Exhuming the 1970 Augusta Riot.” Historians call it one of the largest uprisings of the Civil Rights Era in the Deep South.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation, CRC Foundation and the West Virginia Humanities Council.

Click on the hyperlinked title to hear the entire award-winning podcast series, Shots In The Back: Exhuming The 1970 Augusta Riot.

Charles Oatman in his A.R. Johnson Junior High School yearbook portrait. On Saturday, May 9, the news of the 16-year-old’s torture and brutal death brought long-simmering frustrations about racial injustice to a boiling point.

Black protesters gather in front of the Municipal Building in Augusta, GA mid-afternoon on Monday, May 11 to demand answers from law enforcement officials about the circumstances of the death of Charles Oatman.

On May 11, 1970, this was 9th Street (today it’s James Brown Blvd) at the intersection of D’Antignac Street in Augusta, GA, where working-class African American residents ransacked White-owned Hill’s Food Store.

White-owned Snow’s Laundry and Dry Cleaning in Augusta, GA goes up in flames after a firebombing.

Augusta policemen patrol while white-owned stores Williams Beauty Supply and the Harlem Pawn Shop burn.

Policemen with shotguns occupy a part of Augusta where protesters overturned the car of a white motorist.

“Don’t mourn … organize! Remember the Augusta six.” poster from 1970.

Students from the Jessye Norman School of Arts – Podcasting Class on a field trip with Linton Oatman to visit the grave of his nephew Charles Oatman.

Students from Sea Stachura’s Podcasting Class at the Jessye Norman School of the Arts in Augusta, GA helped with the reporting on a podcast series that was honored with an National Edward R. Murrow Award.

Sea Stachura bobbles her award at the 2021 National Edward R. Murrow Honors in New York City.

Can Early Trauma Last A Lifetime?

A social movement has been gaining steam in the past decade as we’ve learned more about the way trauma can affect our physical and psychological health.

A study more than twenty years ago, first came up with a way to assess the impact of childhood neglect, abuse and family dysfunction. Now, advocates are getting traction with “trauma-aware” campaigns and coalitions. School districts, communities, states and even countries are investing in trauma awareness, training and screening.

Nearly half the kids under 18 in the U.S. have had an adverse experience or serious trauma. The original study concluded that the more traumas early in life… lead to poor health outcomes later on. That research got almost no attention when it was published in 1998, however today, its findings are considered ground-breaking.

But some say using such a rubric to assess a person’s experience won’t work for everyone and may simply label and limit their future potential.

If you are in West Virginia and learn more about Adverse Childhood Trauma or “ACEs,” contact the West Virginia ACEs Coalition.

If you are anywhere else in the world and would like to know more about “ACEs,” reach out to PACEs Connection.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and CRC Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond. You also can listen to Us & Them on WVPB Radio — tune in Thursday, Jan. 27, at 8 p.m., or listen to the encore presentation on Saturday, Jan. 29, at 3 p.m.

'America First' Vaccination Policy?

The coronavirus pandemic continues to prove just how interconnected the world is. Now, a new COVID strain called “omicron,” shows the potential downside of our global vaccination approach.

As people in the U.S and Europe line up for booster shots, low vaccination rates in some countries allow the virus to mutate into new strains. ‘America first’ has been a consistent focus for the Biden administration’s vaccination campaign.

Early in 2021, high income countries controlled nearly 60 percent of global vaccine doses, despite having just 16 percent of the world’s population. Millions of people around the world continue to wait for their first vaccination dose.

COVID may prove the only way to defeat a virus is to provide equitable treatment around the world.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the CRC Foundation and the West Virginia Humanities Council.