WBCA Podcasts

The Other Page Radio

Haywood Fennell speaks to Klare Shaw, daughter of journalist Sarah-Ann Shaw, to talk about the importance of voting, the history of voting and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and how you can register to vote. He also discusses upcoming lung cancer screenings for Black veterans in Boston, as well as Beyond The Uniform, an initiative that connects veterans to social justice projects.

Broadcast on:: 10 Oct 2024
Audio Format:: other

[MUSIC] >> Good afternoon, good afternoon everybody, welcome, welcome to the other page of Radio Brought to you by Triad Veterans League and Association with B&N Media Services and we are on WBCALP 102.9 FM Boston, Boston's community radio station. I certainly hope all of you are doing well and ready to hear from a lady that I've known some time and we know her and we also know or knew her mother. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce to you a community servant and community leader in her own right, the daughter of Sarah and Shaw who we miss and love and thank and have her daughter here, Claire, she'll welcome Claire. How are you? >> I'm well, brother. Hey, Wood, thank you so much for having me and I hope you're well too. >> I'm so glad, I'm so glad that we finally were able to get you in here to talk about issues and one of them being voting. >> Absolutely. >> Voting, voting folks now, remember now, November 5th, we have the election and there's some local elections being held but Claire, is it too late to register to vote? >> No, people can register to vote up until October 26th, so I hope everyone who isn't registered gets out and does that and I hope that everyone who's registered goes out to vote if they haven't done early voting or mail in because it's important to have you vote count. >> Yes, it's very important and we can't be taking attitudes and that everything's in the bag as they would say in terms of the presidential election. Even though we see different things on the media, we still need to get everybody registered and everybody ready to vote. >> Absolutely, I think that we don't want to be overconfident about the outcome of any elections and also as they say the down ballot elections, our local elections who represents us support for our local politicians and also we have a number of referendum on the ballot here locally that impact, there's an issue about MCAS, there are a lot of local things on the ballot as well, not just presidential elections, so we want to get out and support our Congress people are representatives and definitely look at the local initiatives as part of the overall picture because all of that affects us. >> Voting is so important, Mr. Claire, and I just want to just double back to what you were saying about the initiative that deals with our schools, it's quietly being overlooked. But I think that we need to know that we have a voice in that with the vote. >> Absolutely, it's looking at MCAS and there are people pro and con, but we know that a number of our students have not gotten the preparation they needed to do well on these tests and frequently we'll have to take the MCAS two or three times just to graduate high school and there's a lot that could be done to individualize education so our children succeed more. >> I think that also people fail to know the history of voting for black people and what that entails in terms of getting to be able to vote, and I want to just say that it wasn't that long ago in terms of time, we had the civil rights movement that was mixed in there we had down south we had all kinds of violence against people of color that wanted to vote. And so we need to be very mindful and keep that in mind why we need to continue to vote because when I say this folks are looking at the transparencies of the development of housing in our community and who is moving in and who is moving out, meaning that because of the prices that are now in place even though they say market rate for some people in section eight some people, it doesn't come out the way that you hear it because there won't be that many section eight which is government assisted funding, it won't be affordable housing because you can't make the kind of money that a lot of us are making and remain in the community so you're going to have an exodus of people and an input of different people who don't know anything about our community and they will be the ones to vote when the voting time comes and the power of the so-called black political presence in terms of officially elected people will diminish. Well when mom passed she was 90 and I would really suggest that anybody who doesn't think voting is important, they should go talk to their auntie or their nano or their papa, anybody who was a young person in 1964 when the Voting Rights Act passed in '65 and asked them what was the cost that we paid as a people and not just black people but all people, there were a lot of people out there who were part of the freedom summer and the civil rights struggle but without that it would not have been signed into law and before that you know it was the same kind of voter suppression we're starting to see again now, black people got the actual right to vote black males in 1870 but there were so much discouragement and poll taxes and tests and unfair civics lessons and practices so that a lot of people were discouraged from voting and the NAACP and Northern Student Movement and CORE and all those other organizations had to really come together and have our freedom summer end and blood was spilled, you know, blood was spilled all over America trying to get the Voting Rights Act passed. We find ourselves in the same disguise if you will strategy that's being implemented so that people will not go to the polls, will be intimidated, I don't have to remind people the importance of voting, just vote, just register. I remember as a child the Bolin family gave them a lot of credit and there was this whole thing of get rolling with Bolin and there were riots and it was made a community celebration about the opportunity to vote, you know, it was something that was you got to do when you got, when you were older as a child many of us were taken to the polls with our parents so we could see them vote and it was something we looked forward to and now we have people who are eligible to vote who don't want to take advantage of that and you know like to some extent I understand I was talking to a young brother who was telling me some disinformation about Kamala Harris and some disinformation about this one of that one so there are a lot of people out here actively trying to suppress the vote and trying to suppress correct information about various officials and in our government and you really do have to make the time to look at what's behind the different initiatives, what's behind what politicians are saying and doing and look at politicians who have been elected and see if they have delivered on what they said they would do so I understand some of the hesitancy and a little bit of the suspicion but there's really not much benefit in staying home and letting other people determine your life for you and I was really glad that we got to work with mass vote brother Haywood and you all and some other volunteers and go register young people near the high schools and we got about 50 young people who registered to vote and I know that Rock's vote and mass dims and others have been doing this for quite some time but I know it was something that my mother was very much in favor of from her years both at the NAACP Youth Council and then at Northern Student Movement and then working on Freedom Summer and from the Northern side and trying to support people like Bob Moses and others who are really in the thick of it on the southern side and with that just 27 days until the election I'm just hoping that people appreciate this and want to take advantage of being represented in this great democracy, this experiment because everything isn't perfect but it's definitely not going to be perfect if we stay home. No you know I want to just say something about the history of the voting in Boston and its influences of course the Commonwealth of Abb of Massachusetts was certainly something that your mother Sarah and Shaw believed in dearly she would whenever she got an opportunity to liberate her people meaning us from those consecutive thoughts that says that we're not worthy to do this or worthy to do that she told us about the power of the vote. The power of the vote is unbelievable. It is unbelievable, conceivable and we must follow through on this legacy that Sarah and Shaw are being continued by her daughter and granddaughter and grandson and other family members and friends. So we can't let this legacy lay down it must stand up we must be involved we must educate our children. I wanted to say to you Claire thank you for giving me that opportunity to go to that orientation with Cheryl Crawford. You know that allowed me to see some other people that are not faces that I knew but faces of people that are determined to do their part in this voter registration so that people can vote. Right sister Cheryl's a real warrior and mass vote needs needs support absolutely they need volunteers in these next 27 days. That's right and then there's also Ron Bell. Right dunk the vote. Yeah dunk the vote you know. This is a wonderful work. Yeah we want people to be involved we're gonna take a little break right now we'd be right back this is the other phase of radio program I guess today is Claire Shaw and she's here talking about voter registration voting the history of voting why we need to vote and don't be discouraged about some of them lies that you've been hearing on the television and radio we'll be right back. I'm Chris Jackamick I served in the United States Air Force and I deployed three times being a veteran it's interwoven into your DNA is really the absence of the connection and the purpose that can really drive a lot of veterans to some negative thoughts. For those who are in a suicidal crisis the window of time to save somebody's life is very short our duty is to protect ourselves and protect our families and one way you can do that is store your weapons safely. Store all your guns securely help stop suicide brought to you by End Family Fire and the Ad Council. 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I just want to say um everybody that this again is the other page radio program brought to you by Triad Veterans League in association with BNN media services and our guest again is a wonderful lady one who is involved committed to our community and I'm so happy that class shows here with us today and I was just thinking about the time that I was a young man not not quite a kid you know but I learned about how they treated our people when they wanted to vote in Wilmington North Carolina and I'm here to tell you that it was really something I have no remember an incident when a businessman who was a member of the NAACP by the name of Mr. Jones was killed on a Sunday morning supposedly resisting arrest they had all kind of frivolous reasons to come in and try to intimidate us so that we would not continue waging a strategy that we became successful in because we stuck together to vote but it didn't happen easy and once you learn why you need to vote and stay connected to your community through your voting you will have some say about what goes on in your community and we don't have that well absolutely I mean when to vote you have the ability to then go to your elected officials and say hey I worked for you I voted for you here's what you said you were going to do have you done it yeah it's all about accountability it's all about accountability I'm so grateful that you know Claire that you know you're following the legacy for others to follow in terms of the responsibility of civic responsibility because I know I know your mother I know that lady I knew that lady and she's in my heart and I know that she is encouraging us spiritually to continue this process absolutely I remember so many meetings with her and Doris Bunty and Chuck Turner and Byron who's still with us fortunately milking a lot of people who invested in this in this broader community of people of color in Boston and really wanted the best for our families for our workers for our kids and worked very hard and so it's really up to us to try to sustain some of the gains that they made and to push even further and that's not going to happen if we stay home and let other people rule the day and decide what's right for us I'm so you know when you mentioned that we went over to the the school over there and the old brine school and these all these kids and folks it was a lot of kids in that lunchroom believe me they was all they was making school noise all over the place but we were able in all of that to get some young people's attention because young people you need to know the history of the struggle and there's no more vibrant history of people coming together despite the intimidation but despite the murders despite the young men the three young men that were down in Mississippi Chaney Goodman and Schremer there you go there you go Mississippi June 64 they put them in a hole people before they was dead we can't forget that right the outrage about their murders is really what helped propel the passage of that voting rights act in 65 so when we say the blood was spilled I mean all you have to do is look look at uh John Lewis the way he talked about his love history so many people gave how they attacked him down there in Alabama right bust his head open like a watermelon pet his bridge sure all of that so you know there's there's just been uh so much that was you know the price that was paid for this that not to take it for granted is is really a key thing that's right we cannot allow ourselves to be uh miss on the stud that hurt to see all people treated in the manner that they were treated our women violated in more than one way turn it you know get home from working you voting the night you voting the night on you voting tomorrow yeah you're just getting the car get in the car all those kind of things happen to our women of course our women are brave women and we want to salute Fannie Fannie Hamer Fannie Lou you know for the work that she did and getting us into the Democratic Convention you know we have done major work and I'm so glad today that the other page radio has Claire Shaw who has been involved ever since she was a little girl every since she was a little girl with her mother she has learned the dynamics of unity and the importance of us sticking together and being a fist and not a finger when we do the work that needs to be done and so folks if you're not registered you can get registered is there any special places so Claire they need to go nowadays you can even register online oh oh you can register online you can go to City Hall you can look at the website for mass vote there's a link there so www mass it may SS vote vot.org and there are all sorts of opportunities and with 27 days left I hope that people do everything they can to get registered by October 26 and then once they're registered that they use some of the vehicles either early voting mail-in voting or shown up in person to make sure that they vote on November 5th and that their vote is counted well I'm gonna tell you something I know that you and your family have done exactly what you're supposed to be doing and that's right out here in this community encouraging people encouraging our young people who were not are not even old enough to vote but they have been registered they have been registered so that when their age time comes around and with the right information is exploring in our community they can go right to the poll and tell them where they live and get their ballot and vote right and anyone who is 18 on November 5th can vote so some of those young people we voted might be 17 now but with a November birthday and they'll be right in line they'll be right there we thank you for that and thank you to Cruz construction and Cruz companies that helped us with some support and also the many volunteers John Cruz there's that there's a lot going on and education and voter participation is two really key things for us to pay attention to to try and stabilize our community so that people have the information and the power that they need to have productive lives I'm glad you said that because you and I were talking a little earlier about our being excluded from economic strategies where we are involved and own and have businesses and business infrastructure new leadership we can have all those things but we have to understand the power of the vote see a lot of times they elected officials some of them will make a promise and they won't keep the promise and we have to be accountable if we're going to advance ourselves our young people so that they can have things that's what the vote is a part of mm-hmm absolutely that's when they come you know if you're veteran you know they're going to talk about veteran issues that they know veterans need like housing for their families and health care and removing a lot of the disparities and you know they start talking about what they have done for veterans but yet if you look around our community and veterans have voted so that those same people that was talking about doing something didn't do anything you have to really vote your conscience absolutely absolutely vote your priorities your conscience and be informed so you can't be hoodwinked by somebody from another country who's decided to put out some disinformation about candidates or disinformation about policies because they are hoping that they're backing another candidate or or getting funds from someplace illegal to influence votes here in America we have to know or know the issues and not be swayed by what we see on social media you know you don't need to see it to smell it right right you can smell it I'm I'm following you on that sister Claire because I'm listening to the different countries that I've put together a scheme to kill our dream you know they got this artificial I uh artificial intelligence yeah coming from Russia and other places yeah and they and they and they can use it on a local level that can use it on a local level to change the direction and keep the paradigm that's been keeping us down in place in place that's right we're so busy thinking that they can't use these things and we live in Boston where computer technology is a large part of the presence of computer programming for the United States of America right so we ought to be able to look at something and figure out is this an AI-generated picture is this really the voice of the people that we think are talking to us or you know or just sometimes you just need to take a pause and go back to the original source and say does this even make sense because some of what you're you're hearing out here doesn't even it is it is so wildly distorted it's not even reasonable what people are just weighed because they saw it on YouTube I want to I want to I want to step back Claire and thank you for your mentioning the names of folks like Mel King and Chuck Turner and those folks you know people that were the face value you know they were for the community that elected them you know and Charles Yancey you know there were a lot of those folks who you know those are the folks I grew up with that were in meetings with mom and they they would come together they may have had differences over one thing or another but they came together for the larger good we would ex that's what I'm saying we find ourselves today out out out pasted but not outnumbered when I say outpaced I mean you know they're coming up with all these frivolous ideas and they're using them on us and we are like free explosives we can't move to do the things that we must do for ourselves using the vote if a person comes up to me and asks me for my vote I'm talking to an elected official I know what they've done for veterans and they know what they've done for veterans so they've skipped me they won't ask me anything but I'm gonna tell you something folks we cannot play around if you are not registered it's nobody in your house it's not registered you have the time you have the time to go and register and you can do it online this is the other page radio we'll be right back at WBCAOP 102.9 FM Boston we'll be right back Are you a veteran who is struggling with her housing due to COVID-19? Veterans Inc can help provide support services including assistance with rent deposits utilities as well as emergency housing to eligible struggling veterans if you or someone you know is in need of services please call 1-800-482-2565 or go online to www.veteransinc.org folks we're gonna wrap this up with sister Claire thank you and thank you so much sister Claire for coming in and always sharing your concerns we look forward to you coming back thank you and there's some wonderful youth organizers out there doing the work as well so we're passing the torch to the next generation but I hope everyone registers by October 26th and that they vote on November 5th okay folks we're gonna be right back we're gonna let sister Claire make her exit and thanks again just to care for coming on the other page radio we appreciate you thank you glad to be here god bless okay Claire you can come out had to get you out of there back again folks with the other page radio I hope that you got something out of that part with sister Claire Shaw coming in the daughter of the late great Sarah Anne Shaw community leader dynamic lady that was a journalist and a community organizer concerned about voting and other things and her daughter came in to let you know that our things then slow down with the Shaw family she's she was here she was here so we want to move right along to our next issue which is the upcoming event downtown regarding the veterans lung cancer strategy that's being put in place it's one that deals with getting yourself screened because there are a lot of situations where veterans don't use the VA for their medical care and as a direct result of that they don't get the necessary screenings that they need for health care you know and that's and that's kind of important and so last week we had a story about the coverage that was going on around veterans which is downtown Fannie Hall we're going down there to participate in this screening project for African American veterans we want to do that and we want you to be there for that it's very important because veterans are not going in in the manner that they should be going in in terms of getting the treatment because of the lack of cultural sensitivity they're going to have a program about what is going on with lung cancer and screening for African American veterans but you don't have to be an African American to go there and get the information and share the information once you get we don't do dissemination of information enough around veterans and that is why we here at the other page radio are so concerned about how information is disseminated regarding housing for veterans regarding health care for veterans regarding updating veterans discharges so they can get the benefits that they have been denied and let me just say something about that you know when you're coming into the United States military or when I went into the military a few years ago and my brother followed and went into the military and my uncles were in the military before me one of my uncles was a career military veteran who stood and stayed for over 20 years and left the Air Force at the end of his tour he was in the Navy he used to tell us about the institutional racism that was a part of his Navy days and another uncle was drafted into the military they don't draft us anymore and he experienced the same thing systemic racism has been a fall back when it deals with African American veterans black veterans being able to make the necessary adjustments that were not suitable for them and they were carrying weapons to defend not only the United States of America but people in other countries as well they fought they died some of them a lot of them came back from foreign countries and were classified as shell shot a lot of them while in the military began to drink alcohol to the point that they became alcoholics and were discharged a lot of them in later years were involved in using heroin and they were getting bad conduct discharges as a direct result of the behavior that they acquired as military veterans but then because of the number of white veterans that were confronted and coping as best they could and with many of them using drugs they began to really examine addiction and discovered that addiction was curable once this American psychiatrist came up with this diagnosis of treatment then the United States military began to send them back with general discharges they were able to get their benefits they were able some of them that wanted it bad enough were able to stop being an addict and taking on a more positive role in their lives now you have facilities that called themselves having a veterans program but are not veterans themselves providing discharge updates in other words they put in the process so that those veterans that got bad conduct discharges sometimes times called bad people are able to try and get their discharges upgraded so that they can get their benefits a lot of veterans who have bad conduct discharges but have little faith in the United States military based on their respective situations while in service won't go they won't do that they don't trust the government how do I know that because Triad Veterans League the sponsor of this radio program with the assistance of being in media services did a scientific survey we did a scientific survey Triad Veterans League with the assistance of Northeastern University School of Public Health and the findings were that because of the lack of cultural sensitivity our veterans black veterans do not trust the scaretakers and service providers because of the lack of cultural sensitivity and that folks is still going on that's still going on we must respect the care and the services rendered the fannual hall in the old state capital building on the top floor and there will be people there ready to administer the cancer screening session and later on the same team of care and service providers in this cancer screening will be at 12th Baptist Church on Orange Street in our community and later they will be in other places so understand what I'm saying to you today on the other page radio is that a co-design team is in place to work with our veterans in our community dealing with lung cancer screenings you may not have lung cancer once you get to the screen or you may have it why not what your status is come out be involved people won't give you the real talk on drugs but it's time we know the facts fentanyl is killing people it's a powerful opioid often made illegally and commonly mixed with illicit drugs it can even be pressed into counterfeit pills that resemble prescription medications just two milligrams about the size of a few grains of sand could potentially be lethal this isn't an ad to scare you but it isn't an ad to make you think twice get the facts go to real deal on fentanyl dot com this message is brought to you by the ad council folks i can't tell you right but veterans are an overlooked and underused community resource let me say that once again veterans are an overlooked and underused community resource triad veterans league the sponsor of this program now has a component in our strategic development call beyond the uniform beyond the uniform is an initiative that reaches out into the community to find veterans that would like to be involved in social justice projects and advocating for veterans in working in our theater program and working in the veterans reading brigade teaching our children how to improve their learning skills by building their literacy ability if you are interested in these programs particularly beyond the uniform eight five seven two zero four five three one two eight five seven two zero four five three one two that's our number i went last sunday to the unit area church service in shalen massachusetts i was well received i enjoyed the service and the oscar michael family theater program company will be performing the legacy of the hollum renaissance on november the thirtieth at three thirty p.m. at the sharon unitarian church located at four north main street it will entail spoken word gospel spiritual and opera with liturgical dance movement by stages cultural art center spoken word by crystal black like crystal dudson ellie isabelle black bird elixandre karen harris shamel lee haywood fennell irina obanon is mother africa monica anderson spencer our director and the production was written by haywood fennell senior and monica anderson spencer all tech team will spencer stanley tompson elaine elaine i mean elinor brown this theater company the oscar michael family theater program company website t h e o m t c dot com i'm going to repeat that t h e o m t c dot com we are grateful to be able to come into a community like sharon unitarian church to perform now we are honored to have Stephanie green as the it person for the kuda literacy enhancement project see what you got to understand is that veterans are and overlooked and underused community resource Stephanie's grandfather was the United States military veteran and she working with myself haywood fennell senior have come up with experiences clep.org experience experience singular c l e p dot org that is the website for the kuda c o o t a literacy project and this is the other page radio program and we're happy to be here we are real happy to be here are you a veteran or do you know a veteran who is struggling with housing due to covid-19 veterans ink can help provide support services including assistance with rent deposits utilities as well as emergency housing including hotel stays to eligible struggling veterans if you or someone you know is in need of services please call 1-800-482-2565 or go online to www.veteransink.org you know folks um i'm involved with what's going on in our community i am involved i served as the second chairman for the veterans and friends committee of the general edward ogordine statue project committee and on august the first 2023 we were able to unveil the statue right across the street from the police station station to in the annubian square area a few people came out for this unveiling that i helped you know raise some money and advocated for the statue that now stands in our community but i i feel kind of sad that i don't see a lot of people coming out to see the statue i envision of people coming from different places different cities different towns even places out of state to see this statue to honor this general and to honor the soldiers that he led to honor people like Ralph Francis Brown you know uh senior Ralph Francis Brown Brown with an E was a strong person and a veteran that advocated for veterans and honoring veterans and we should be grateful because a space has been created as a direct result of this committee for us to come and see what is in that park and a lot is in that park but you need to come out and be supportive of the general edward ogordine statue and the other art that is there to commemorate services and sacrifices of African American veterans from the American Revolution with the first fatality being in the Boston massacre Christmas attics he was the first recorded casualty slain by the British soldiers during the Boston massacre and then there's mention of the 54th volunteer regiment all black served in the silver war and wars beyond that not people don't even know these facts about African American veterans and their participation in fighting for the freedom of the United States of America to include foreign countries we need to be there to see this statue bring your children bring your class it's educational it's our history it's not a mystery you know I'm just so I'm not I'm not where I need to be when we talk about the services and the all deals of our veterans and I want to take this opportunity to thank brother Ron Amstead who served in the United States Navy and came out and involved himself in a project called the Black Brain Trust working with congressional leaders around veterans issues and advocating want to thank him for his tenacity and his vision and mixing it up so that word could get all over the United States through the congressional black caucus yeah the congressional black caucus he worked with them a lot like I'm working now for the United States commemorated stamp process to create a commemorated stamp based on some images in our exhibit called the forgotten veteran we got a project that's going up and we want you to be involved so look I've talked about the literacy program I've talked about the theater program I've talked about updating your discharge I've talked about General Edward O. Gordon statue project and the need for everybody to come around and visit that and find out how you can support it left you a number for the project the component that we have called beyond the uniform that's all based on veterans participation being the volunteer it's not a bad thing certainly hope you got some out of our earlier visitors sister Claire Shaw talking about voting vote let people know that you're going to vote you can register online you can go to city hall we want to thank you for your time have a great day God bless you so much. [Music]