WBCA Podcasts

On Another Level

Host Sharon Hinton interviews guest Sadiki Kambon (Director, Black Community Information Center. Activist, TV Producer) about renaming Dudley Sq. to Nubian Sq., Roxbury Community College as a pre-dominantly black institution, criticism of RCC, The Nubian Leadership Circle & Nubian Sq. Coalition, his background and his drive behind so many of these black initiatives, his BNN TV show "Black Power Hour", and much more.

Duration:: 55m
Broadcast on:: 21 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

The following commentary does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff and management of WBCA or the Boston Neighborhood Network. If you would like to express another opinion, you can address your comments to Boston Neighborhood Network, 302-5 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02119. To arrange a time for your own commentary, you can call WBCA at 617-708-3215 or email radio@bnnmedia.org. I have a problem every year around advocating because Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for some reason has been treated as America's civil rights mascot. Good evening, I'm your host and the producer Sharon Eaton-Hinton of another edition of Another Level and I have an amazing guest as I always do, he's got so many titles. I guess I'll start off with the director of the Black Community Information Center, you may see him around the neighborhood, he's always red, black, and greened up with the now it's salt and pepper, you know, beard, but I've known him before any of his hair turned gray. We're going to play a couple of clips for you that will introduce the topics that we're going to talk about is never enough time for the fantastic guests that I have. Mr. Siddiqui Campbell is on another level and we'll be right back, stay with us. Boston's neighborhoods has a new name, Dudley Square in the Roxbury neighborhood, will now be called Nubian Square, new sacrifice Mary Saladna shows us why the change goes much deeper than what's on a sign. Citywide residents narrowly rejected the name change, but here in Roxbury, 67% of voters wanted the square renamed and that's who city leaders were closely watching. The Boston Public Improvement Commission made it official today, Dudley Square, will now become Nubian Square. It fills me with joy and happiness because I am a Nubian, indigenous Nubian from Sudan. A coalition of residents and business owners have been pushing for a change for over five years. They say this is just the beginning. What we're looking at is how do we build on this, not just feeling satisfied with the name change, because with all the development that's going on and the issues of gentrification, that we have to be on top of it to make sure that it's going to work on our behalf. Nubian refers to the ancient Nubian Empire, one of the earliest African civilizations known for its culture and art. This video is courtesy of the MFA Boston, which is currently featuring an exhibit on ancient Nubia. Dudley Square was named for Thomas Dudley, a four-term governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, an accomplished man but a proponent of slavery, not the right fit for this historic predominantly black neighborhood. In a tweet, Mayor Walsh congratulated the coalition, saying, "When residents speak out, change happens. It was just last spring that the same city commission changed jockey way back to its original name, Jersey Street. After Red Sox owner John Henry petitioned due to concern over what he called the team's racist past." Now, the MBTA says it is too soon to decide if they will keep or change the Dudley T-Stop name. They say it is located on Dudley Street, so it could go either way. We're in Roxbury. I'm Mary Salata WCDV, News Center Five. And thank you Mary Salata with News Center Five. That was one of the stories that my guest here was at the forefront of another story, more current story, although we'll give you an update. That piece was four years ago. And Dudley Square has been renamed Nubian Square, and there's other initiatives that need to follow that. This next initiative involves the Blackest College here in Roxbury, Roxbury Community College. Tremendous honor and opportunity for students and Roxbury Community College. The school recently received a federal designation as the only college in New England, which serves predominantly black students, and WVZ's Katrina Kincaid explores what that means for the school, its student body, and potential students. I was calling it historically black college because that word just defines it as historically black. It all started with a tweet. RCC is very much at HBCU in a way. Clearly their mission doesn't necessarily state that, but that's what it just happens to be because of the demographics. I wondered how could someone use a scholarship meant for historically black colleges and universities at Roxbury Community College? There's currently no HBCU in New England. It went viral because people were actually like in arms about this and come to find out that RCC is more so a PBI, but some scholarships are friendly to PBIs. And there it was. While RCC isn't officially an HBCU, the Federal Department of Education does classify them as a predominantly black institution or PBI, and the only one in New England, which means they've received grants to specifically target black students' educational success. 60% of our students are black students, and it's really wonderful walking through the campus to see the diversity here. And how did the students feel about that? It feels phenomenal. All the students here are very friendly. It's like a community here, you know, even last night when the students looked at me and they were like, "Oh my gosh, I love to be here at RCC." I'm like, "Why?" She's like, "There's like a community here. It's like a family." RCC will receive $250,000 for the next five years for their PBI designation. They told us they're proud the college is reflective of the Boston community. I would hope that New Englanders would be proud that because we're very proud of having that designation, and proud that we have a thriving institution that's serving this specific population. They're really embracing their similarities to an HBCU, even planning a traditional homecoming next year for their 50th anniversary in Roxbury, Katrina Kincaid, WBC News. When Massachusetts workers stand together... So much channel 4, both of those clips that we played are dated. They're old. I think two years ago was when Roxbury Community College actually had their 50th anniversary, which is deep. I'm thinking I remember before that college was built, dating myself, but that's okay. I'm glad that you're here this evening. We're live here on another level. My name is Sharon Eaton-Hinton, and my guest is Siddiqui Campbell. I've known Siddiqui when his name was something else, but it's famous Siddiqui Campbell. Welcome. Thank you for joining me. You also have your own show here, and you had another show. As long as I've known you, I still googled you. And I still researched you, and I still found out some stuff that was interesting. You've been at the forefront of a lot of the African, Pan-African, Black-centered initiatives, quanta. How old is quanta now? Because you started that, the celebration of that. That was what? 30 years ago? 35th? Oh, that's enough. I think we're at number 43-44. Number 40? 43-44, something. 43-44. And it's a weed thing. I make it very clear, Sharon, that a lot of the things that... I have been involved. If I didn't have good people working with me, we wouldn't have heard anything. That's true. And so that goes down to some of the groups and some of the groups that you're involved in, the Director of Black Information Center on Warren Street. And we're going to talk about that and the beautiful houses there. Also, you're working on an initiative in October, the Nubian Leadership Summit. Yeah, the Nubian Leadership Circle, and it's going to be the National Black Leadership Summit. Number 11, we done 10 Zoom, but this is going to be live in October. Wow. And then Chairman of the Nubian Square Coalition, that group of people, I know Jamada, there's a bunch of people that actually led the initiative and her family was Nubian, Nubian Notion. Well, actually Bonubian Bremel, which ended up coming, Nubian Notion, which is no longer there, and then you had the Quanta and all this other stuff. So I've known you, you're like one of the blackest men I know, and you've always been like that. And you always have been like that since you're youth, but what started you actually doing that? Because I've always known you like that, and everybody now sees you with the red, black, and green and affiliates you with that, but were you always Pan-African and African and black, black, black, black, black, black? Well, no, I was actually raised outside of Boston in Fremium, in a black neighborhood, and essentially what happened was that, you know, it's all part of a journey. I was out there, you know, played a little bit of sports, and then I went to, a lot of youngsters don't understand, and I said I went to a junior college, was a junior college, and so what happened was that in the sports world, after my two years at the junior college, I had, you know, some offers to play well in some schools and on the area. But I should say also that the institution that I had attended, basically it convinced me that I wasn't the brightest guy in the world, you know. No. You know, so. Anyhow. I never, like you, Apollo? Seriously? Yeah, I played a little. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And so what happened was that, interestingly enough, I grew up with the grandkids of Solomon Catafone of the first black psychiatrists, and so John said, "Well, you know, I know you're some schools are making you some offers around a little bit, but why don't you come on down to West Virginia State College, and I said, "I thought I was just in Virginia." I didn't even, so I ended up going down there, and of course the civil rights piece was really moving, and that was my first really direct involvement in terms of the whole piece around being a black man in a race- No, what time was that '60s, '60s? Yeah, oh yeah, I'm transferred down there in '63. Oh, wow. '63, yeah. So. So you were in the thick of it? Oh, yeah. Down south. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Before I really got on fire. Quite a trip, but you know, the bottom line is that one side completed that. I got drafted in the military, and then came out and taught at school, and then I... What branch of the military? Don't gloss over that now. Don't gloss over the military. What branch of the military? Oh, well, the only ones drafted, well actually the Marines were drafting too, because they were showing up, but I got drafted in the army. I got drafted in the army. Okay. I was there. Of course, two years. And they tried to convince me to go to officers' candidate school, but I said, "Well, what's the timeframe with that?" They said, "We had to do another year." I said, "No, I'm not doing that." No, I'm out. I'll stay right where I'm at. Let me go. So. It's been a journey, and you know, I've had people who have influenced me, like, you know, Elijah, I dig below it, right? You do, yes. Yeah. Yeah. He was like a primary mentor for me in terms of the direction I was taking, you know, as a, some of who was a pan-African, you know, so. Mm-hmm. So you were in Boston, were you in Boston during the, um, the political, the Black Political Task Force? And I mean, you came up and you were around when a lot of legends, I call them legends were here. Oh, oh, yeah. Yep. And their infancy, and then became legends like Doris Bunty, and Tom Atkins, and Mel King, and... That's right. And Mel King with the overalls with the bow tie, and, um, I, when I think of, and then around those times, they were actually major people that were coming here to speak, H-RAP Brown. Um, of course, Malcolm X, um, because we had, uh, uh, MOSC 11 that was on Interville and then Louis Farrakhan. So there, everybody came through here. Some people stayed here, but most people just came through. And then, um, there were iterations of different groups. Some survived. And when I'm thinking about like Warren Street and Bill Hall Avenue, you had Black Panthers, you had Maumau, you had, um, the New England Grassroots organization, you had NAACP. You had, you had, you had SNCC in court. You had all these different organizations, then you had strong student groups. And then, but you're still here. A lot of people are not here, um, because they were killed or bought off or they moved away or they didn't stay in Boston. You know, this weekend, I was in Martha's Vineyard, and this was the blackest weekend I've ever been in Martha's Vineyard. I felt like I had stumbled on the Underground Railroad. And what I found out was like August is like black August and there's all these groups that come out there. Now, I think maybe people didn't tell me because I thought I knew, but I didn't know. I went down there with my church, Jubilee, and there was over 150 women. Um, and then we went down there and they had the African American Film Festival, shout out to my girl, Aqua Holmes. She had an exhibit of her art there. And they were just people all over the place. So you had the Divine Nine, you had all the black fraternities and sororities, and they were up in their gear, but then I met people literally from all across the country that were friendly. Hi, how you doing? What's going on? And really talking, that atmosphere was so healing to me. And then when I was asking people, "Were you from Owe, from Brooklyn, and we're from Connecticut, and we're from Jersey, and we're from Denver, and we're from here and there." And I said, um, this is so, so I had to ask somebody, I pulled them over. I said, you know, I like it, but I want to know why there's so many black people here in Martha's Vineyard, right? And once they're always like this, I said, no, it's not, it's not always like this. And so they explained to me that a specific week, the third week in August, with all of August, there's all these people that come down. I mean, because there's a history of black people coming down to Martha's Vineyard, but I didn't know there was like a special time. And so I actually experienced that in the ease and the safety that I felt, being around my people that were happy, and it was just, it was just really healthy. And then when I was talking to them, they said, "Well, where y'all from?" I said, "I'm not used to this coming from Boston." And everybody said, "Oh, yeah, Boston." So Boston has a reputation of being one of my bishop, Bishop Thompson said, "The frozen chosen," right? So you get the people up here that don't really speak to each other, that don't really work together, necessarily, and they're in silos. But to be in a space where people were helpful in there, just talking, I've experienced that down south a lot, not necessarily here. But you being here and being who you are, doing what you do, and some of the people that I've seen in the circles, they've been doing this for a while, and you've been doing this for a while, and you talked to me about transferring this to young people. We were younger, quite as it's kept. We were younger, and so we had people to mentor us. Who mentored you, and then who, what do you want to pass on? Well, you know, like I said, there were variety folks, but like I said, Elijah played a key role out here, just in terms, because you know, we were always together, him and brother, Kenyatta. Okay. You know, so just being in that element on a regular basis, and let me just say, too, in terms of Boston, it deserves the title of being the most racist city still. But what I find is that across the country, folks basically have concerns along the lines of similar to what we're going to here, Boston. I know one of the things, like, you know, I went to the venue a couple of times, I brought my daughter down where she was, and then my grandson, I took him down a couple of times, and the piece that's concerning for me right now is that there's such an, in terms of the groups that are out here now, most of them, there's such a social orientation to them, in terms of, you know, there's not that real grassroots, yeah. It's like about, you know, and I'm not saying across the board, but what I'm constantly seeing is, you know, where you're from, it's closed and you're in your favorite sneakers. Coaching. Yeah, yeah. And so I try to talk to folks that I'm always recruiting, and because of the fact that, you know, a lot of the work that I do with it's local and national, I need to know that even if I'm not here, the workers are going to continue. And so it's difficult, but then at the same time, I tell people that even though we're not seeing it right now, I think that in terms of our young people here, in Africa, that there's an undercurrent, that there's a change coming that's in the right direction. Really? Oh, yeah. Well, I look at Niger, and I remember when they had the so-called coup with the last year or two, and so what happened was that the president of Nigeria said, well, myself and our coalition, we're not going to allow that and we have to intervene militarily. And so what happened was that we had a young brother who's the head of Niger, and a couple of brothers on a couple of other countries stepped up and said, well, you're going to go through us too. So now France has left Niger. The military component that was there, Niger is gone. And so like I'm saying, I just got a sense that because we're always talking about, you know, trying to get our young people to step up, but I think that there's an undercurrent there that the world's not going to be ready for when they really do it. Well, just recently in the past couple of weeks, the students in Bangladesh kicked out their leader. I mean, literally kicked her out. Yeah, she fled the country. She fled the country. They kicked her out. And I mean, if you look at social media, you could see them raiding her palace or her, you know, her residents, everything. It's like, no, you got to go. And she was in there for a while. Oh, 14 years. Yeah. And then for a while. And I was like, nope, you got to go. The students weren't having it. And then, you know, recently over this past six months or so, the demonstrations that have been happening on campus with the students, the pro-Palestinian, pro-Israeli, Palestinian Israeli kinds of things that started at major college campuses. I felt like the college campuses compared to what we remember, where people were getting shot and actually, you know, taking over buildings and stuff was quiet. I think the college campuses were quiet for a minute. And then, then, you know, now all of a sudden, it's, well, it's Israel versus Palestine. It's not necessarily United States focused. Back then, it was more like liberation. But then there was also the pieces about the Kukuran and South African and Part A. Right. So I'm not sure if the students are as woke as, I'm not, you know, I don't think there was a book. No. And I agree with that. I think that the, God, let's look at the black students and they're needing to step up and understand the fact that, but they'll understand because I tell people that tongue in cheek, I tell people, I would prefer a Trump. And they say, "Well, why would you prefer him?" And I says, "Because we've been biding our time with Joe Biden and folks like him hoping that someone's going to stay with us." Right. Yeah. Yeah. So Trump, Trump says, "Look, I don't like black people. I don't like black people." You don't like anybody. Yeah. Right. And so it's going to be a matter of, you know, like the natural group that I talked to you about, the relationship circle, we're focused about how we can do for self, because that's the only route that we can take based on where things are going right now. We better be able to generate whatever the resources are that we need to sustain our own lifestyle, because what we're seeing right now is nothing in comparison to what's coming on the road. And you know, Killer Mike was talking about that a few years back, maybe this summer, and he says, "How many of y'all know how to fish? How many of y'all know how to grow your own food? How many of y'all know how to hunt? How many of y'all, you know, survival?" Right. And he says, "If you don't know how to do that, then you're not prepared for revolution, because they can cut off everything. That's right. And how are you going to survive?" Now, I remember that. I remember growing up with that. But you and I are from a different era. For sure. Right. So I'm not sure if people are so plugged into young people, but people in general, so plugged into the Matrix. Boston is a relatively small city. I know my way around unless they start building new streets and stuff, but I see mostly young people just looking at their GPS. And so I say to people, if they turn that off where you know where you are, where you know how to get around your own city, that doesn't make any sense to me. Boston is too small to have to be looking at a GPS all the time. I agree. You should know the streets. But they're being programmed. And then as a teacher, you know, you taught, and you teach now still, I'm an educator, that critical thinking is not really being taught. I'm going to tell you what I'm going to tell you. You're going to tell me what I told you, and then you get a grade. Not so much the application and what do you do with that. And so that's my concern, that people are being lulled to sleep, and it's going to be too easy to lead them, because they're not really seeking out information. Like here at B&N, you have a program. And when I was googling you, I don't know if you still have the program in Boston pre-age radio. The Black Power Hour, do you still have that? We have, interestingly enough, we're going to some issues over there in Northeastern in terms of, you know, we've had our radio show over there for about four decades. I'm not on the air anymore, but what it is is that, well, you remember back in the day, I would be used to compete with IOD. No, we weren't, no, we didn't compete. We were the best. We were the best. Oh, you were there? Was the best. Oh, yes, I was. The first, the first woman general manager, the first woman news director, the first woman that had three aborepositions, me. Oh, okay. Yeah, because I just tell people, I said, because what it is right now, I remember when I talked to the students back then, I said, "Look, this is a valuable resource." They don't lose it. And now it's white now, they don't want us over there. No, they never wanted us over there. The difference was that the students were organized and that we had students that came from Philadelphia, New York, Detroit, Chicago, down South, up South, and we were all students there and we brought hip hop. We brought rap and everything into the city of Boston. And at that time I was the only black female who was on the radio in the record pool and DJing in clubs. I was there with the brothers and it wasn't like, you know, we were about the money. I mean, we were about the money. And if you were down for the money, we had a little syndicate going there where we actually stuck together and we would buy out the nights of the clubs and we were students. And that station was the blackest radio station in Boston and then WLD went off and the sun came down. And the only membership you needed was to be a student. And so, you know, Charis, Andre Douglas, Rest in Peace, he's now dead. And there was recently a reunion that Elroy put together for WLD and then some contingencies from WRBB came. But I was working at WLD when Elroy was chasing behind Sonny Joe White and he was a gopher. He wasn't even, he wasn't paid. So I've been in this business long enough to know who came in and who didn't. And Wendy Williams came way, you know, we made the way for somebody like Wendy Williams and Candy Ace when they came after us. But I was, when I was up, there was mostly guys and I was at Charis and I were in business classes and I was waiting for him to get ready for class and I was listening to the radio station and I started laughing. These guys are horrible, man. They suck. And he says, "How do you know you can do better than that?" I said, "I read the newspaper and I know how to pronounce people's names. They're horrible." And he challenged me and said, "Everybody thinks they can do radio." I said, "What do you need? You just need to be a student." I said, "I got that." Then you have to be, go up to a meeting and volunteer and do an air check and they have to hear how you sound in the air and I was on the air in two days and I didn't look back. So I've been, I've worked in a lot of radio stations and TV stations but we rocked it out because we're students but the police on campus were trying to arrest us for our own equipment. And they were putting in the student newspaper that the radio station didn't reflect the college campus which basically meant we're black and we're not looking, so the administration was coming after us. It was really crazy but because we stuck together, they couldn't really mess with us. But we knew then if we didn't teach the people behind us that we were going to lose it which is why it looks like that. And we said that because we had the whole fourth floor in the Curry Student Center. Now it's like in a little side thing over there and you know there's people with blue hair and everything they're calling and shots, general managers, stuff like that. But that's not what it was when I was there. And we knew how to organize and take control and maintain control but you're a student. So at some point you graduate. And so we brought people up behind us but they didn't know the struggle and they didn't identify with that struggle so that's how it lost. And I think that's where we are as black people. And we, the people I remember colored only and white only. I remember that. You and I are sitting here talking live and I remember that. So how, and I remember the eyes on the prize. We lived through that, the busting and all that other stuff. But when you look at that the archival footage it looks like, oh that's way back in the day. That was way long time ago. Excuse me. I'm standing here in front of you and I'm talking to you and I lived through that. So how long ago was it that we were in slavery? How long ago was it, slavery, segregation, de facto segregation till now? We haven't been free that long. And I dare say we're really still not. Oh we're not. Right? So the summit that's happening in October, is that going to be in DC? Is that going to be here? I mean how does that work? Is that going to be virtual? It's going to be both. It's going to be, well our base, what it is is that I'd been involved with of course the main man march, going to DC working with that and that was central for that. And then also the National African American Leadership Summit that based on the encouraging of Mr. Farrakhan, Ben Chaves launched that and I was involved with that. Did you go to the original million man march? Oh yeah because we sent 50 busters out of here from the Black Community Information Center in the region. We sent 50 busters out of here. So in my family I was the most politically oriented one but I thought it was really important that men go. So my husband and my nephew went, I didn't go. And I remember him telling me that the spirit and the vibe was so different having all those men there. But once one female showed up it changed the whole spirit of the thing all of a sudden men started pulling out their chest and you know the whole macho alpha male thing. But initially I remember my husband was telling me that waves and waves of men would come up and they had the jersey berries in front of the stage. And so they said can you guys step back because you're going to crush these brothers because the crush was so much. And so he said people just turned around and he said baby you know how on the bus nobody wants to move back. He said brothers automatically took two steps back and you saw the wave. And then when they were gathering money there were garbage bags with money and nobody was trying to steal the money was a different vibe. And then you know there was some women that showed up and said that they didn't have a man or a husband to bring this son but they felt this son was there. But he said the spirit changed as soon as women came in there. And I think it's important to have those kind of spaces and then they had the million woman's march. I think that was in Philly the first year and it was like a rain up and there was all this mud and everything. I haven't seen that spirit you know the march on Washington even with the Black Lives Matter was different. It seemed like it was co-opted. I don't know if that's correct or no, no you're correct because of the fact that I tell people if you look at the original mission statement of Black Lives Matter. That you know it was three less men women that started it. And their manifesto was about the fact that you don't need a man in the house. But then what happens when they saw when that brother got shot and killed. They flipped, yeah George Floyd they flipped and they saw an opportunity to make some money. That's what the Black Lives Matter is. And that's not to say that you know there are existing chapters out here that don't have that mentality, but I mean that was the origins of the Black Lives Matter piece. Unfortunately we got some good folks across the country who are still doing the work. But they're trying to separate themselves away from the original founders because of the scandal that went on. You know years ago I was blessed to be able to meet Kwame Terrain. A lot of people noticed that we car Michael down in D.C. to music. And in music conference in D.C. and I asked him I said what do Black people need to do? What do we need to do? Because it seems like we get ahead and then we get ahead and he said we need to organize. He said I'm an organizational animal. I formed five organizations and three of them tried to kill me but we still need to organize. So what do Black people need to do? Well the bottom line is first of all recognize that the dilemma that we still exist in but then I tell people all the time like for instance the national group that I'm working with even that it's not a 501(c)(3). We have no governmental connections with the world. We got folks from all across the country, Haiti, London and Paris they're involved and it's about what we can do ourselves because of the fact that when I hear this whole thing about we're poor people I say wait we have a GNP annual of almost two trillion dollars and we'd be ranked as one of the most wealthy nations in the country, I mean in the world. And so the bottom line is about how do we in fact come together you know we got different groups involved they maintain their sovereignty but then at the same time that the it's about what we do like right now we have a basic group here new leadership circle summit satellite New England that's in its formative stages but that's what we're trying to do all across the country we want to establish that type of base so that we can do for ourselves which we can. We got the resources it's about making it happen. We got the resources about making it happen and we're trying to make it happen here on another level. When I named this show on another level I wanted to talk about topics that you may or may not hear about but because of the way the news media set up it showed whether it's social media or broadcast media it skims over the top of different subjects. So on another level is hopefully bringing your understanding, your consciousness and your level of action to another level. Here's a piece that we're going to play and then we're going to come back to this live conversation with Siddiqui Campbell and the director of the Black Community Information Center, stay with us. Roxbury Community College is the home of higher education in Roxbury. It was born out of the community for the community by the community and it sits in the heart of this community. This college is born out of struggle and is committed to helping to cure injustice and to make opportunity available for all the residents of this great community. The Dudley House has been abandoned for several decades. It's a building that was built in 1800s was formerly owned by the Dudley family who was affiliated with one of the first governors of Massachusetts and the building is owned by Roxbury Community College. So the Dudley family has a long history in Massachusetts dating back to the 1800s and like so many families their economic viability was connected to slavery. That's how they got their income. What do you do with a beautiful old building that carries the name of a slave? The building will always be a Dudley House but what you can do is take what that was and make something different. It's been boarded up for 30 years which kind of represents the struggle that this community has had and we are just honored to have the building unboarded and to be used in a way to help sustain and support positive growth in this community. Historic net zero restoration of the Dudley House will involve a number of very cutting edge and innovative energy solutions beginning with geothermal technology which will use the actual warmth in the earth to heat and cool a building as well as use of renewable clean energy like solar. This building is going to be renovated using the technology of clean energy. It's going to represent both the future that that's the direction that this country is going and it will also represent an acknowledgement of change. The Center for Economic and Social Justice is designed to be one of the centerpieces in Roxbury that the community will be able to take advantage of. Roxbury Community College is a leading institution in offering training programs for workers who want to enter into the clean energy, climate adaptation and mitigation space. This is an economic opportunity of a lifetime that we want to ensure is an equitable transition historic restoration of the Dudley House will serve to establish Roxbury as a black community that's just a cutting edge of clean energy innovation. One of the things that we hope the Center for Economic and Social Justice will address is increasing the net worth of residents in Roxbury long term residents in Roxbury and economic development is one of the major strategies for increasing the networks of residents in our neighborhood and we hope to contribute to that. We have the opportunity to teach young people how to do that and give them a profession that doesn't necessarily exist now but is coming is an opportunity to make a difference and change who they are, change the projection of their own lives and that means a lot to me. It will be a place that we hope the community will be proud of and be able to use for generations to come. This didn't becoming a radio DJ or Boston Neighborhood Network's 102.9 FM is offering a force of radio production that can get you started. For more information, please head over to bnnmedia.org/services/portshop. And welcome back. Thank you Roxbury Community College and also my stellar crew of BNN Media here, Katie and Ashley and Keith and Ike and I'm not sure who else is in there. One, well there's a couple of corrections, that was a piece that RCC piece was produced by RCC around the 50th anniversary, Golden Jubilee Center for Economic and Social Justice. That building has been open and there was a drug program in there called First Nail and Brother Aschia actually headed up that program and then Harvard Community Health Center came in there and came in there with all these different stipulations and ways that these people who are not familiar with our community wanted to impose on that program after Brother Aschia died and basically killed the program. So I have to correct that because I know for a fact that building was open and it was brothers, it was a black program, that was a recovery program for men and it was productive until other people that don't know us got their hands in it and now it no longer exists. Which happens a lot of different places. I want to talk about organizing and I'm going to paraphrase this but it's a parable that talks about when the lion tells the story, the story is different than when the hunter tells the story right and all skin folk and kin folk. And so Jackie Jenkins Scott was the interim president of RCC, now there's a different president and RCC and we saw the other pieces is the blackest, closest thing to an HBCU in New England but it has always had trouble in terms of its affiliation, RCC was supposed to be, I think it still is, the governing force behind the Reggie Lewis track center which I was, Reggie Lewis was an alum of Northeastern University and we claimed him before the self-tiff claimed him and then he tragically died in his 20s. And then his wife came in and you know that started out to be looking like it was going to be this black jewel, a jewel in the black community for athletes and athletics. And then immediately it started looking very, very white and so I understand the politics of having to sustain an organization or a company or department or anything like that, an institution however, it seems to be a problem if you have an entity unless it's religious that seems to be, we seem to be able to sort of get away from that but then the 501(c)(3) has gotten into the black churches and pretty much got the political power which was the power center and power brokers of the black community up for the south and up north, down south and up north for the longest period of time. But once 501(c)(3) got in there all of a sudden you couldn't have a politician talking in the pulpit and you couldn't tell somebody how they should vote or even to vote. You could say, well you should register to vote but that was the place that we met and we organized because legally we could do that and that was a big enough space to do it. Now you have these churches that seem to be very quiet when it comes to political stuff or business stuff depending on the church of course because it's something to still do. Where is RCC now? Because I know that the last person, I think the last name was Robinson, President Robinson was pushed out. She was pushed out. Now we have a new president, new head of RCC. Who is he and where is he? Well, of course I want to make a correction and not of you but the broadcast that it's no longer called the Dudley House because with the 50 years celebration I was one of the coaches and I spoke to Jackie Jenkins-Conton and I said, well that name can't be there so that name is gone. Yes, RCC has had its ups and downs and now what it is is that Valerie Robeson, the former president, she resigned but that was because of the fact of poor performance. And the black one. Yeah, yeah, poor performance, you know, lowest enrollment in the state, just chaos and no sensitivity in terms of what the needs were for the community. So Jackie and Jackie and Scott had come in. That was Robeson? Is Robeson right? Is she from here? No, Chicago. Chicago. And ironically, she brought a white female with her who she claimed was her mentor and really in many respects was running the college and ruining it, you know. But Jackie and Jackie and Scott came in doing a remarkable job. And she came from Mosley, right? She for a year she was head of the Denver Community Health Center and then I believe she was for 12 years, I believe it was Wheelock. Wheelock is right. Wheelock. Wheelock, Wheelock. And so she was in retirement, was convinced to come out, really doing a good job. Now the unfortunate aspect you'd mentioned, Reggie Lewis, which is a component of Rob CC, and they needed to hire an executive director. And I wasn't on a search committee, but was aware of everything that was going on. And so essentially what it is, is that they hired an individual who was, I believe, at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, or whatever, not in the hierarchy there, but that's where it was. His name was Michael Turner. And unfortunately he turned out to be a disaster. Is he still there? He's still there. I'll be very candid in terms of that there are many of us who are working to see to it that he doesn't remain there because it's really horrendous to the extent that for key people who have been there for many years, like Sherman Hart, Frank Jackson, who's been there since the building was open, Camilla Rowe, who was being trained to ultimately, John Deline, become the executive director at some point. Anyway, Michael had them paraded out of the, supposedly was a real plan, and I know who's involved with the circle around Michael. They had those folks unceremonously paraded out of the Reggie Lewis by security. Interminated? Mm-hmm. Well, supposedly they got severance pay until September. So they got lead off or terminated? Mm-hmm. Well, it's a termination. They're not there anymore. They're not coming back. Oh, no. But from my perspective, I've dubbed them the Firestone Four because that's what we have over there right now. And there's total chaos over there now. You be told something different if you went over there, but the bottom line is that in terms of staffing and programs, it's total chaos. And it's personality based. My grandson takes some classes there, but he's also there per day in my car. And unfortunately, based on the role that I've been playing, that's some of that anger. So, wait a minute. Michael Turner is the director of the Reggie Lewis, so he sees the president of the college. Oh, no. The president is Jonathan Jefferson. He was the president. Okay. But it's ironic that you're asking me this because of the fact that I know you know a lot of people. And Jonathan Jefferson has been in the position, he's been in the area, but he's officially been president since July 1st. And I said, I talked to him recently. I met with him because he, based on the chaos of the Reggie Lewis. July of this year. Yeah, exactly. Okay. He finally invited me to meet. And some folks, you know, he seems like an okay person. Some folks are administrators, but they're not meant to be leaders. Ooh. Talk about the difference, because there is a difference. Oh, well. Management versus leadership. Oh, yeah. Well, the bottom line is that that's why you have those levels. You know, that folks who are in the leadership positions. They bring in people as they're staffing to carry out, you know, the mandate. Like for instance, Jackie Jenkins Scott. She's a leader. But she had people around her that were carrying out the tasks that were necessary to improve the quality of education. But it was clear it's just going to be interim. Exactly. Exactly. And so I believe what it is is that Dr. Jefferson, he's not really sure how to handle the situation because of the fact that it's not sadiki kambans perception, it's out on the street. Folks in the street are saying, "What's going on with Reggie?" Because before folks, "Oh, things are really improving at RCC." But all that now is in the background because of what's going on. And so, you know, I'll be very candid. I told Michael Turner recently, I said, "You know, I don't know." We intend to see to, did you go? Is this another black person? Yeah. He's a black male. And then Jefferson is the president. And he's a black person? He's a black man. Yeah. He's a black man. But I don't think he knows how to handle the situation. But where is he from? My understanding is that the last position he was in, because he's been in a variety of positions, but I think someone said that he was at Leslie College. He had administrators. Is he from Boston? That's what I mean. No, no. He's not from Boston, per se. Where is he from? I'm not from here. I'm not from here. I'm not from where he's from. And Turner is from where? Turner, all I know is that, like I said, he was out there at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada. That's all I know about him, you know. But it's really unfortunate because of people who said to me, "Well, Siddiqui, you've been involved with RCC for many years, but you didn't have anybody actually attending there to your grandsons taking a few hours now." And I said, "Well, the bottom line is that it's about it being a diamond in the rough and the potential for our young people and moving forward." So that's what my involvement has been about, wanting to see that school thrive. That's why I was grilled with Jackie Jenkins-Scott and really disappointed about what's going on now with the Reggie Lewis, but we're going to clean that up, we're going to clean that up. And so, President Jonathan K. Jefferson, the leadership team at Roxbury Community College includes President Jonathan K. Jefferson, the executive operations team, the executive leadership council, and the senior leadership council. Who is the new president? He holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Morehouse College, a master of engineering from Cornell University, a master of science from Capella University, and a doctor of management from Colorado Technical University. It says Dr. Jefferson will formally join the RCC community's president on July 1, 2024. He's the 18th president, the 18th president. That's a lot of presidents. I mean, that's a lot of turnover. It's in '73, yep. That's crazy. So, have you, so you met with him, so now what are you, I'll say, I'm looking at stuff. He served as director of the institute for leadership at the U.S. Coast Guard, dean of the schools of business at Clark Atlanta University, Albany State University. He led initiatives to elevate academic programs, advanced faculty, development, and hand student success, chair of the faculty assembly. He pursued governance and curriculum innovation excellence. Where's he born from? Where's he? I don't know. He don't seem like he's from here either, although that's- I don't think he is. But he definitely has administrative skillset, but like I said before, RCC needs a leader. It needs a leader. That's what it needs. And it's unfortunate, but you know- So do you want to work with him? Do you want to, I mean, how- Well, so turn it, you definitely want out. Well, the bottom line is that we've held one meeting. And we're going to be doing- The friends of RCC, we're doing a meeting. The friends of RCC. Yes, but- And who's on the board- Who's that group? The friends of RCC. Well, that's been made up of community folks and actually staffing there at the school. So it's not brand new, because we were in the middle of some chaos system, we formed it. It was primarily our staff from the school. But now we've got a mix of folks. And ironically, we had a meeting, about a month ago, after Reggie Lewis, and 95% of the people in there were in the persuasion of the new leadership over there to Reggie Lewis. So we're going to be convening another meeting, I believe, on the 21st at RCC to deal with this dilemma. It's really unfortunate because of the fact that, like I said, so many positive things have been happening. So they said, Michael Turner is the executive director of the Reggie Lewis Track and the Athletic Center. He's chosen after a nationwide search, and is now part of the RCC leadership team. He has experienced an athletic and facilities leadership at Purdue University, University of Miami, University of Mississippi, and was previously the senior associate athletic director for internal operations at the University of Nevada, Reno. Hmm. Well, see, I tell people that whole thing around national search for me. We don't have anybody here? That's what I'm wondering. Well, that's what I've been telling folks. I said, look here, that's a game to me, the national search, and you bring something in here. You have no idea what they're about. When it gets down to what you just said, we've got brothers and sisters right here in this city who could run that institution that would be sensitized to what the needs are and accountable to people. It's a major setback. But we're going to get it corrected because of the fact that RCC is going to be there for our young people. That's the bottom line. So if people wanted to learn more about this, actually I'm looking at, I googled it, I did. Restructuring at Reggie Lewis, a deeper dive, RCC says staff cuts made for efficiency. June 27, you can look at the archives of the Bay State banner, 2024, June 27, and that's the article by Avery Blackfield, Local News. This actually interviews all the four staff members that you're talking about, the four staff that was formerly part of the center's top leadership team, and then she interviews them. Camilla Rose says, I just felt very blindsided, I didn't know how or why the decision was reached. But you know that is interesting, you fire somebody, they shouldn't know why, but you demote somebody, they shouldn't know why, especially if they've been there for a long period of time. This is a matter of respect, I think, but what do I know? So can we put up the flyer? This is a flyer of something that's happening, I want to make sure that I get this sent. This weekend, the third annual, this dad cares, grill off August 17, games, food, gathering. You don't have to be a father to be there, but if you know some brothers and you've got some brothers or some sons or uncles or whatever, it's a multi-street indoor Chester that is the third annual, this dad cares, grill off, thank you. There's a misconception that black men don't care, but research and reports actually show that black men are more engaged with their children, whether they're with the mother or not. Yeah, the Pughal Research Institute, they did a study and they came out a few years ago saying that black men spend more quality time with their children than any other group. Then any other group. But what happened is that I think the forces of white supremacy got a hold of them because they came out with another report saying that black men spend just as much quality time as a group. That's not true. Oh no, they did that because they said we can't be giving black men credit for being good parents. Oh. Pity, heaven, heavens, quits the pearls. So how does someone get involved with the Nubian leadership circle? Oh yeah. Well the bottom line is that they can, like I said, we're doing the sum, it's going to be in-person or via Zoom for us, we're requesting a small fee for the Zoom piece. Has that been released yet? Mm-hmm. Yeah, I sent you the flyer. I didn't see the flyer. Oh, you did? I'll have to put it up for the next show. The link is on the flyer to register and what it is is that we've been in existence for almost four years. We've done 10 summits, you know, because Mr. Farrakhan had suggested with a momentum perspective that we do them every four months, which we've done. But now we're going live and folks can register, be there in person, we've got a hotel line up the whole bit. Right? What a reduced rate. Where is it located D.C.? Yeah, it's going to be in D.C. Okay. It's going to be in D.C. No one wants to get in touch with you, coming down to the last minute. How do they get in touch with you? I sent the Black Community Information Center at 617-427-2522. Sure, 617, but I got all the numbers flying through my head. 127, there it is in the screen, 2522. Yeah. Well, Siddiqui Campbell and my longtime friend in the struggle brother and in the winning, because we're not just struggling, we're actually winning. I appreciate you coming here. And one last shout out in like 10 seconds, you have a show here, and the name of your show is what? It's called the Black Power Hour on every other Friday. Every other Friday at what time? 6PM to 7PM every other Friday. And thank you so much, and thank you for being here with us here on another level. I'm your host Sharon Eaton Hinton. Thank you, Siddiqui Campbell. And he's in the front lines and he ain't going nowhere, and yeah, I'm not trying to go there either. We're glad that you stayed here with us tonight. Take care of each other. And yourself, enjoy the weather, because this winter is coming. Don't remind me. I know. Thank you. I have a problem every year around the K-Day, because the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for some reason has been treated as America's civil rights mascot. On this day, you'll have folks who would have never in their life marched with, agreed with, voted with, anything we should believe in. One of the biggest biggest in the United States Congress, we have your tags to send out a Dr. King. The march has begun every day. We rise like the sun and flight till the battle is won. Can you hear the footsteps? Listen, because we're coming like a game on the streets, so you better start running. It's time for some. The preceding commentary does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff and management of WBCA or the Boston Neighborhood Network. If you would like to express another opinion, you can address your comments to Boston Neighborhood Network, 302-5 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02119. To arrange a time for your own commentary, you can call WBCA at 617-708-3215 or email radio at bnnmedia.org. [BLANK_AUDIO]