Ron Scott Jr. Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Q&A: How George Floyd Woke The Ohio Valley… For A Little Bit

A longtime community leader in the Northern Panhandle, Ron Scott Jr. was born and raised in a family of community advocates in Wheeling. He founded and directs the Ohio Valley African American Student Association — an organization that “encourages & promotes higher and continued education for Black and Bi-Racial students in the Ohio Valley.” Now he’s the Director of Cultural Diversity and Community Outreach at the YWCA in Wheeling. The mission of the YWCA is, “Eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.”

West Virginia Public Broadcasting met up with him to learn about some of the changes he’s seen in his community in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Ron Scott Jr. is currently helping to coordinate a multi-year plan to address racial issues across public and private high schools throughout Ohio County. And since the killing of George Floyd began with an altercation over a counterfeit 20 dollar bill, the YWCA has also launched what they’re calling “Change for a 20 Challenge” asking community members to donate a 20 dollar bill and post why they donate in social media channels with #Changefora20. Funds are slated to go to scholarships, and programs and events designed to address diversity, human rights, race relations, and ultimately to cultivate unified community.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NubR22EzwU

Glynis Board: The YWCA in Wheeling began in 1906, right? Talk to me about its history of dedication to diversity.

Ron Scott Jr.: I’ve never seen an agency that has “eliminating racism” in their mission statement. That’s it. And it’s before “empowering women.” “Eliminating racism, empowering women…” They did something — they called it the Blue Triangle, during segregation. There weren’t services for black women and children and families. It just didn’t exist. So they went out of their way to make a separate agency called the Blue Triangle that was affiliated with the YWCA and it just served black women and children and families. It was around for a while through segregation stuff through Jim Crow. And I’m amazed that I never learned anything about that. Or it’s never been celebrated — the bravery of an agency like that back then. Because you weren’t getting rewarded for that sort of stuff, then. You weren’t considered a visionary for doing that. You were just breaking the rules. And now they were on the right side of history. So it’s kind of cool to be affiliated with an agency that has historically been on the right side of history.

Board: Have you seen an uptick in interest and in people been coming to you for guidance in the wake of George Floyd’s killing?

Scott: Definitely. And me and a good friend of mine, Jermaine Lucius, we’ve been trying to figure out why this is so different, because the act itself — this isn’t new. Especially not to us. This isn’t a new thing. This isn’t a new phenomenon. I think it may have been the combination of the quarantines from the virus, people just being at home, just watching TV, and it dominating the news stories, and nothing else can take your eyes off. There’s no football games and basketball games; there’s nothing to distract you. So they kind of got to see it, and really let it soak in this time.

And the outpouring and outcry has been incredible to me. I’ve never experienced this kind of outrage from the white community for an issue that, in essence, doesn’t affect them. It’s not like George Floyd was a white guy that was just doing this thing and got murdered. But I’ve been just inundated with, “What can I do?” “How can I make my agency better? My community better?”

I thought originally I was going to get a week out of this. And so I’m jumping on whenever I can. Whoever asked me anything, I’m on it. And a week passes, and then two weeks pass, and a month passes and people are still asking me, “What can I do?” And they don’t just want to put a little bandaid on. They’re like, “What can we do that is sustaining?” “How can we change the culture of this agency or this hair salon?” I’ve been speaking to groups that I just didn’t even know, had those kind of concerns.

There was a local hair salon who had an issue that was race related because people were speaking out we’re seeing these things happen and play out in front of us right on TV. So folks bean to speak out and made it tense and uncomfortable in the salon. And the owner asked me to come and speak to all the staff and we just had a great conversation about their views.

Because I don’t ever go into the situation with, “You’re wrong. Let me tell you why.” And so we just kind of flesh out whatever it is they already think, what they already feel, and who they want to be, and how they want to be perceived by other people. So once we fleshed all that out, we then realize places like salons are social hubs. People come there and get more candid than they do in doctors offices and therapists offices. And so being able to do that kind of a presentation and talk at a place like that, it has a ripple effect. And that’s how real change happens. You know, it’s not me standing in front of the city building with a megaphone. It’s having presentations at like hair salons or community centers, places like that. And all these places are asking, they’re saying, “What can we do?”

Board: Is there a common theme in these conversations?

Scott: Well, there’s an underlying theme that a lot of people that reach out to me seem to be working with: the issue of them being perceived a racist sometimes seems to be worse than being one. So what they want to make sure happens is — I don’t want to do or say anything that might make folks believe that I’m a racist, or I just have no real sensitivity or tolerance to anyone different than me. So it’s almost like they want me to come in and we do some assessment of the idea, like, “I’ve been in the city for a long time, and I’ve had a few black employees, and my roommate in college…” So we go through all of that sort of stuff. And it’s like they’re unsure because they’re seeing how the systematic racism has permeated almost every institution that they’ve loved. And now, it’s like — and I don’t know why now — they just seem to see it clearly. And some of them it scares them; some are in denial about it; and others just want to go to action. They’re like, “We got to fix this. I didn’t realize this is how you felt every day.” And they’re ready to go. So I’m like, let’s go then! I’m not slowing down. Not until they are.

Board: I hesitate to use the word “hope,” but how do you feel about the future? Do you think that with this more substantial sort of movement afoot, that there will actually be tangible policy changes and cultural shifts?

Scott: Right now, I think I’m hopeful for attitude shifts, paradigm shifts in thinking, and thinking and personalities — those kind of shifts are definitely happening. And I think we’re gonna to be able to see more of it. But I have begun lately to lose some of the hope because there are certain narratives that are like comfortable shoes to people, you know. And the newest one is the idea that Black Lives Matter is a terrorist organization that has an agenda that just kill random and innocent white people. I’ve had folks tell me that places are just like war zones now like Beirut and, you know, people don’t want to drive through them anymore. And that narrative, people have adopted it. It’s finally given me a little bit of pause where I can see this starting to lose some traction, because people are believing stuff that they haven’t seen. They haven’t experienced it. No one’s even telling them second or third hand. This is just an abstract idea someone’s just saying and they’re like, “Yes. That’s the case. Let me get back to being comfortable and live in my life. And just give me a few blinders. We need some leagues to come back, we need some games to start, we need something. So I could put these blinders back up and go back to business as usual.”

Because real change is uncomfortable. And for a minute there people were just ready to get uncomfortable. They were ready to hear this conversation. But with this idea that there’s a terrorist group called Black Lives Matter that’s just killing people, randomly and innocent people for no reasons. It just is a ridiculous notion but people are clinging to it. And I think that might slow us down.

I’ve been explaining to people, the Black Lives Matters and it isn’t even an organization in a sense. It’s a movement. It’s a sentiment. It’s an idea. I mean, yeah, they got a website. They got principles. There’s a founder. But so does #MeToo, but there’s not a #MeToo office or a board of directors for the #MeToo movement that could organize… No it’s the idea of it. And it’s one that resonates when you get it. When you understand that what you’re saying is black lives matter as well, too. Just like my life matters Black Lives Matter as well. Once you wrap your mind around it is such a simple sentiment and it’s so easy to get behind. But when you throw a little dose of fear in there people are ready to put the comfortable shoe back on, like, “Okay, they’re killing people. We’re good. We’re gonna stay in the house.”

Board: Well, what about here in West Virginia? I’m curious… I don’t even know what I’m curious about now. Now I’m just like, sad.

Scott: Don’t be sad. There’s good stuff. There’s still people — like tonight at five I’m speaking to a group in St. Clairsville. That didn’t exist maybe a month ago. All the stuff was going on. One woman had an interest, so she gathered up people who had an interest, and they want to … they just want to have a conversation to see if there’s more that they can learn, or if they can do better, and I love the idea that someone can still be teachable, nowadays. You can be a grown adult with kids, a successful job, and still say, “There’s stuff, I just don’t get still, and you might be able to help me get it.” And that’s fantastic. Because they’re not looking at that as a weakness. They’re just ready to go.

Wheeling YWCA Hosts Race Discussion

The YWCA’s National mission is to empower women and eliminate racism. With that mission in mind, Wheeling’s YWCA held a panel discussion on race which focused on educating the community on the experience of being a minority in the historically white state of West Virginia.

“When I first moved here I didn’t really know what to expect and like I even bring it up sometimes I go to Walmart and I’m the only non-white person there and that’s kind of hard for me because I’ve never been the only non white person anywhere.”

Elizabeth Ramos, a 21 year old Mexican-American Ohio Valley Native, was one of seven panelists leading a discussion with 50 members of the community about the state of race relations in the valley. Panel moderator, and Community Outreach and Cultural diversity director at the YWCA, Ron Scott is a lifelong West Virginian who has been dealing with experiences like Ramos’ his entire life.

“I’ve had two bosses that have been black. Other than my mother and father, anyone that can make a decision that can affect my life has been white. The first people to touch me when I was born were white. It’s a society I have had to acclimate myself to initially. As soon as I was born I had to operate in a predominately white world. Any other culture doesn’t have to necessarily learn that skill to survive, but we do.”

According to the 2010 census, 93 percent of people in West Virginia are white. Panel member Chad Stradwick thinks panel discussions, like the one held on Thursday, can be the first step toward cultivating more inclusive communities.

“It’s never been up to the oppressed to stop oppression,” Stradwick said. “It’s always been up to the oppressor.”

While the panel is really a first step to opening doors to the often times uncomfortable conversation about race relations, Scott hopes conversations like this can change the view of the “Appalachian man”.

“I’d like the definition of the Appalachian man, hillbilly, West Virginian to be replaced by an idea that’s more similar to like a renaissance, like a jack of all trades. If you’re a black man especially in this area you know how to survive in almost any element. You should be able to hunt, fish, start a small business, rap.”

Scott hopes to facilitate more community discussions in the Ohio Valley about race in the future, including a discussion geared toward teaching children tolerance.

Art, Drugs and Kids: Getting To Know the Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Scene

This story is featured on an upcoming episode of Inside Appalachia focused on hip-hop culture throughout the region. To listen to this episode and others, subscribe to the podcast .

There’s movement in the hip-hop scene of the upper Ohio Valley. In fact, there’s an actual hip-hop movement organizers are calling “The Movement.” It’s all about lifting up hip-hop artists, and one of its latest efforts to unite and celebrate the scene is the first annual Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Awards. A diverse pool of artists are contributing, and working hard to be be heard.

A Cypher: Pass the mic.

In preparation for the Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Awards, artists came to a studio in East Wheeling to record a cypher. Many artists, including those nominated for various awards, took turns passing the mic, demonstrating rapping skills. Each artist’s verse was recorded and later used to promote the award ceremony through social media channels.

“This is THE studio, Future Entertainment. You can ask around, everybody who has recorded anything or tried to do local music has been in this studio,” said Claudell Whetstone, one of the sound engineers helping to record and mix the cypher. He’s 34 years old and remembers building the studio in East Wheeling in the early 2000s.

Claudell Whetstone is one of the major movers of The Movement in the Ohio Valley. He was also one of the judges for the Ohio Valley Hip Hop Awards and says the best hip hop today can’t be found on the radio or TV.

Claudell Whetstone is one of the major movers in what is referred to as The Movement in the Ohio Valley. He was also one of the judges for the Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Awards. He says the best hip-hop today can’t be found on the radio or TV, and the cypher and the award ceremony are ways to shine light on talent that’s deep underground here.

Shanne Gain: ‘I grew up surrounded by drugs.’

Shanne Botizan, AKA Shanne Gain, was one of the artists participating in the cypher. He’s an Ohio Valley hip-hop artist who grew up here in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia.

He says he raps honestly about his life. And it hasn’t been a charmed life. He remembers running through the streets of south Wheeling with a group of dozens of kids.

“It was actually horrible,” Shanne recalled. “When you found needles on the ground and people sleeping in the alley and stuff, but, if we all stuck together we were good.”

He says he started listening to rap music at the impressionable ages of 12 and 13.

“Kinda screwed my life up listening to it,” he said. “Now I’m old. 30. It’s going by super-fast and I need to grab onto something now.”

When you meet Shanne, you meet an enthusiastic, hopeful and desperately positive person. He’s a man who clearly cares about his family and friends. But Shanne has had run-ins with the law. He raps about societal pressures and a life surrounded by drugs because he says that’s the world he was born into. His musical ambition is to give listeners goosebumps with his explicit, lyrical storytelling style.

Sliiiiick: ‘I don’t know what I want to be, probably a brain surgeon.’

At the cypher recording session in Wheeling, Shanne was rapping next to a young man named Alex “Sliiiiick” Raymer. A very young man.

Alex “Sliiiiick” Reymer and his mom Claudia at the cypher-recording session. Sliiiiick is on the autism spectrum, and she says when he took to writing and producing verses and wanted to be involved in the Ohio Valley Hip Hop Awards, she wanted to do everything she could to support his passion.

Alex “Sliiiiick” Raymer and his mom Claudia were at the cypher-recording session. Sliiiiick is on the autism spectrum, and she says when he took to writing and producing verses and wanted to be involved in the Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Awards, she wanted to do everything she could to support his passion.

Q: Tell me how you got interested in this. Sliiiiick: Well, it just sparked my interest in this a little bit. I can’t exactly recall how I got interested. Ask me for any advice that I can say or something! Q: Yeah, go ahead. What advice do you have? Sliiiiick: Speak clearly! Go at a medium pace. Q: So is this something you definitely want to do? You want to be a rapper when you grow up? Sliiiiick: Maybe. I could be a cartoonist, I don’t know. I’m shifting around with my interests. I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. Probably a brain surgeon or something.

Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Awards: Meet Ron Scott Jr.

Whetstone, Sliiiiick, Shanne Gain (and everyone else) point to Ron Scott Jr. as the ring leader, founder of The Movement, and the organizer of the Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Awards.

Ron Scott Jr. founded the Ohio Valley African American Student Association from which grew The Movement and the Ohio Valley Hip Hop Awards.

“I thought, ‘What’s the best way to keep this genre and culture in the valley moving but to get a system where we could acknowledge, reward and encourage these artists to keep doing what they do,” Ron Scott Jr. said to a crowd of about 200 people who showed up for the award ceremony at the McClure Hotel in downtown Wheeling.

“Most of these artists that are being honored haven’t received a dime for doing these things that they love,” Scott said in an earlier interview with West Virginia Public Broadcasting. “They’re spending their money and never getting recognized. They’re solely doing it because they love it. And nothing drives me more than giving somebody a little push toward something that they love doing.”

More than 19 artists were involved in the awards.

2016 Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Musical Award Winners:

Artist of the Year – Ponce De’Leioun
Best New Artist – Poetic Peth
Duo or Group of the Year – YNC
Hip Hop Pioneer award – Slick Watts
Hip Hop Is Universal award – Alex “Sliiiiick” Raymer
Video of the Year – “Music Is My Life”/LaRon
Lyricist of the Year – Poetic Peth
Best Album of the Year – Poetic Peth

-A

Poetic Peth: ‘My grandmother wrote poems.’

Josh Pethtel, AKA Poetic Peth, took three of the eight musical awards: best new artist, best lyricist, and best album. During the awards he thanked his grandmother for inspiring him.

“After my uncle passed away my grandmother would always write poems about him,” Peth said in an interview with West Virginia Public Broadcasting after the awards. He said watching her use poetry to deal with hard times inspired him as a teenager. He started writing poems, then refining his poetry, then putting verses to beats.

“I didn’t take rap fully serious and understand my effect on people until last year,” Peth said. “When I started to realize people are paying attention to what I have to say, I thought, let me put all seriousness into this craft and now I’m happier than ever and getting awards. It’s a trip.”

Chermayne Davis: ‘A queen’s gonna shine.’

Chermaybe Davis – writer, mentor, artist.

This is Chermayne Davis. (SheLovesBattlerap on twitter.) She lives across the river in Ohio and was among the members of the public who voted for Poetic Peth in this year’s hip hop awards.

“Here’s the reality. The hip-hop scene in the Ohio Valley is very much alive, it’s booming, it just needs a push from the area.”

“Hip-hop sometimes gets a bad wrap,” Davis said. “People don’t see it for the true art form that it is.”

Davis is also a hip-hop artist and has performed throughout the area. Her definition of the art extends beyond carefully crafted verses set to beats, beyond freestyle cyphers, and music videos. This is Chermayne performing improv spoken word poetry recently at the Towngate Theater in Wheeling.

“What this area would need is for the city to push it, the city to accept hip hop for what it is, to allow a light for this area that it hasn’t had yet. So that it can come together for the Josh Pethtel and Kelz, and the John Nice and just everyone who wants that upper step that shouldn’t have to leave where they’re from to get it from somewhere else.”

Q&A: Ohio Valley Hosts Inaugural Hip Hop Awards

The Ohio Valley Hip Hop Awards branched out of an organization called the Ohio Valley African American Students Association (OVAASA). Wheeling native Ron Scott Jr. founded the organization which has a mission is to “advocate and promote educational achievement, higher learning and scholarship opportunities for the African American students in the Ohio Valley.”

Scott isn’t exactly a hip hop artist himself, but he and a group of self-proclaimed co-conspirators decided the association needed more emphasis on the arts, so they created something called The Movement. The goal: grow the hip hop scene in the valley. It started with a series of showcase events.

A New Opportunity

Ron Scott: We did [showcases] for three years and I was amazed at how many people would come out to perform and that was ALL THEY did with their art ALL YEAR. No venues would let them perform; they didn’t have a way to sell their music; and they didn’t even have much access to recording equipment. They were working all year, and would perform their hearts out, it was all they had. I wanted to give them more. I was thinking the same principals for OVAASA where I wanted kids to do more with their education by recognizing what they had done already. I figured, if we recognize them maybe that will be more motivation for them to want to do more. So the Ohio Valley Hip Hop Awards were born.

Q: What kind of a ceremony will it be? What will the event be like?

I guess I’m ripping off all of the award shows I’ve ever seen in my life. So kinda like the Grammys and the BET Awards. We’re going to have an audience, performances, presentations of awards. We even have clips of each nominee and we asked them a few questions for each category. It shows each nominee and lets them talk a little bit so you kind of get to know them.

We even have two specialty awards that address the community service portion of everything, because I didn’t want it to be just straight music. And we even partnered with Cloud 9 Salon & Spa; there’s a modeling competition. Those winners not only get a contract to do some print ads and some hair shows with Cloud 9, but they’re going to be in the Wheeling Christmas parade this year.

Q: How many hip hop artists are we talking about?

Scott: We have 19 artists. That’s all the nominees, and the artists who participated in the promotional cypher we did. Altogether we have 19.

The awards feature artists from West Virginia:

Hancock County
Brooke County
Ohio County
Marshall County
Wetzel County

and Ohio:

Jefferson County
Harrison County
Belmont County

Cypher

Q: You recently wrote and recorded a cypher, too. So explain what a cypher is and tell us about yours.

Scott: The cypher is one of those old staples of hip hop where artists that want to rap and – it has nothing to do with the business sort of side of hip hop. Artists stand in circles, either someone would beat box or freestyle accapella, and guys that think they got lyrics would just sit in the cypher and just go. It’s very different than battling because you’re not going against anyone; you’re just trying to show off and show your skills.

When the BET Awards started happening, they started recording and showing it and I always loved it because it was a raw side of these artists.

And as much as I love rap music, I could never do it like I wanted to. But when we were at the cypher recording the one for these awards, the guys just started tapping me. I spent probably 30 days trying to write a very small portion. Because, they measure in bars – everybody else is writing 16s, 32s. I think mine was about nine, maybe nine or eleven bars. But don’t get me wrong – it is eleven bars of fire. One of my proudest moments.

I give my son a bath sometimes (my one-year-old son) and I will just play it. And my other two will come in and they’re digging it, like, ‘Yeah, that’s my dad rapping!’

Scott: I think a lot of folks think [hip hop] is just gangster-y stuff where 100 people are getting shot in the face. And that isn’t the case. Everybody isn’t rapping about shooting. Everybody isn’t rapping about selling drugs. The best artists are rapping about their lives. And if that’s what they grew up in, that’s what they rap about. So I’m hoping people don’t get swayed by what they think hip hop is or what they might have seen on a couple of news shows or some videos. If they have any interest at all, just come down, check it out, and see if it’s what they thought.

Promoting Passion

Q: So if you aren’t a rapper, why pour so much effort into this? What’s in this for you?

Scott: I think my biggest motivation is seeing people pursue a passion. I love art and I love academics as well, but the only thing I love more than that is seeing folks DO something that they WANT to do. Most of these artists that are being honored haven’t received a dime for doing these things that they love. They’re spending out of pocket for studio time, for blank disks to burn. They’re spending their money and never getting recognized. They’re solely doing it because they LOVE it. And nothing drives me more than giving somebody a little push toward something that they LOVE doing.

There are too many folks out here today that go to work every day, or just live their life hating what they do, or fantasizing about doing something that they love. My opportunity to give these guys a chance to do it, and sit in a room full of people that will clap for them, and say ‘You are the best,” or, “I loved your CD the most,” that will do it all for me. I don’t need any other reward at all. Just to know that these folks are doing it is enough for me.

Ceremony is in the ballroom of the McLure Hotel, Saturday, February 20, 7:30 p.m.