Stirring Up Shift

Criminal “Justice” System

What is the current state of our criminal justice system? How do we compare to the rest of the world? What’s the prison industrial complex? Tune in to have your questions answered about a “crucial” system that helps maintain “law and order,” in our country and many more!
 
References/Resources:
Prison Industrial Complex Definition | Merriam-Webster
Prisoners in the US are part of a hidden workforce linked to hundreds of popular food brands | AP News
War on Drugs | Britannica
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2024 | Prison Policy Initiative
Families in disbelief after hundreds of bodies found buried behind Mississippi Jail | PBS News Hour
‘The law is clear’: Families of deceased inmates missing organs demand answers | WVTM13
The United States Criminalizes People Who Need Health Care and Housing | Vera
 
Recommendations: 
The 13th (Netflix Documentary)
60 Days In (TV Series)
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Equal Justice Initiative
Angela Davis’s Collected Works

Behavioral Health: There’s More Work to be Done

What do you think of when you hear behavioral health? Do you think of it’s close relative, mental health? Join me as I continue the discussion on mental health through behavioral health — what it means, some recent struggles and changes in the country and considerations for the future. 
 
Resources/References
Behavioral Health | Healthline
Mental Health vs Behavioral Health | Healthline
Behavioral Health | CMS
Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers (CCBHCs) | SAMHSA

Mental Health Matters

Have you or someone you know struggled with mental health in the past or currently is? What is mental health? What does that even mean? Why should I even care? 
If you said yes or asked yourself or someone else any of these questions, join me in my discussion on mental health, what we can do to support it, and why it is most important now more than ever to put in the work and address the mental health crisis in our country.
**If you or someone you know is experiencing a crisis or thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 for the emergency lifeline.**
 
References/Recommendations/Resources: 
Your Healthiest Self: Wellness Toolkits | NIH
Caring for Your Mental Health | NIH
What is Mental Health | SAMHSA
Mental Health By The Numbers | NAMI
Quick Facts and Statistics on Mental Health | MHA
Mental Health | CDC
Mental Health | WHO
Mental Health Definition | APA
The Lifeline and 988 | 988 Lifeline
Help Someone Else | 988 Lifeline
 

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

What happens in the home and community doesn’t necessarily always stay there, it can get carried around with a person into adulthood. Join me as I discuss adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). What are they? How can they happen? What are the risks and outcomes associated with them? How can we prevent them? 
We know better, so, now, we all need to do better.
 
References/Resources/Recommendations:
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) | CDC
Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) | Kaiser Permanente
Explore Your Number (ACEs Number Quiz) | NumberStory.Org
What ACEs/PCEs Do You Have? | ACEs Too High
ACEs Prevention Strategy Plan | CDC

All About Public Health

Come along as we explore the history of public health and a few of its biggest advances. Where did the idea of public health come from? How has it changed the world and changed with the world? Why were we asked to quarantine, isolate, and wash our hands? 
 
Resources/References: 
A Brief History of Public Health
It Took Surprisingly Long for Doctors to Figure Out the Benefits of Handwashing | History Channel
5 Advances that Followed Pandemics | History Channel

Black Inventors and their Inventions

Join me this week as we wrap up our Black History Month Episodes briefly highlighting Black Inventors and their inventions! Do you know who created the three-way traffic signal? What about the clothes dryer?  
 
References/Resources:
George T Sampson
Dr. Charles Drew
Richard Spikes
Garret Morgan
George Crum
8 Black Inventors Who Made Daily Life Easier | History Channel
African American Inventors II | National Geographic
African American Inventors III | National Geographic
Top 101 Black Inventors
15 African-American Inventors to Remember this Black History Month and Beyond
Black Inventors and their Inventions
Black Inventors and Inventions

The Dark Side of Healthcare

Join me in this week’s episode as I discuss four accounts of the dark side of healthcare and medical experiments. Which case did you already know about? Which one surprised you the most? 
1. The founding of modern gynecology
2. The “Immortal” Cells of Henrietta Lacks
3. Holmesburg Prison (Philadelphia, PA)
4. Arkansas Detention Center
 
Resources/References/Recommendations:
Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A Washington
 
Modern Gynecology
The ‘Father of Modern Gynecology’ Performed Shocking Experiments on Enslaved Women | History Channel
Medical Exploitation of Black Women | Equal Justice Initiative
 
Henrietta Lacks
Medical Exploitation
Henrietta Lacks: Science Must Right a Historical Wrong | Nature
Henrietta Lacks’ descendants reach settlement over the use of her ‘stolen’ cells | npr
 
Holmesburg Prison
Philadelphia apologizes for experiments on Black inmates| npr
 
Arkansas Detention Center
Arkansas jails’ ivermectin experiments recall historical medical abuse of imprisoned minorities | the Guardian

Five Overlooked Moments in America’s History

Have you heard of these historical events:
1. The Overthrow of Hawaii’s Monarchy
2. Seneca Village, New York City
3. Oscarville, Georgia
4. The Battle of Blair Mountain
5. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study
If not, come join me as I discuss these overlooked moments in America’s history. They may be regionally and locally known in their communities but to the larger public, they tend to be uncommonly known. What’s their significance? How do they impact us, even today?
The moments aren’t just any one’s history but, indeed, America’s history — only 5 have been highlighted of the many more that do exist out there. Moments that we all cannot allow to be erased or sanitized. History is uncomfortable when lessons are to be learned so the mistakes or misgivings aren’t repeated. However, that takes learning about and knowing the full depth and happenings of monumental events that have changed the course of history, no matter how big or small it’s been deemed. There’s a story to be told and heard — all it takes is for us to just listen. 
 
References/Recommendations:
Hawaii
Overthrow of Hawaii’s Monarchy
Census: Most Native Hawaiians now live in continental U.S. | Spectrum News
 
Seneca Village
Before Central Park: The Story of Seneca Village
 
Oscarville
Forsyth 1912 | Atlanta History Center
Forsyth 1912: The Truth About Lake Lanier and Oscarville
 
The Battle of Blair Mountain
West Virginia Mine Wars — The Battle of Blair Mountain
What Made the Battle of Blair Mountain the Largest Labor Uprising in American History
 
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study
The USPHS Untreated Syphilis Study at Tuskegee | CDC
The Untreated Syphilis Study at Tuskegee Timeline | CDC
 
 
 

Beyond the KKK, Oath Keepers, Proud Boys…

Join me as I discuss how whiteness or white racial identity extends beyond white supremacy and how we think of it. Episode 5 starts us off for Black History Month discussing how white supremacy is related to the social construction of race, white supremacy that goes beyond extremist hate groups. How whiteness and white supremacy sets the stage for the expectations and treatment of nonwhite persons. 
 
References, Resources & Recommendations: 
Talking About Race: Whiteness | Smithsonian
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man | Emmanuel Acho
Jane Elliott
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race | Reni Eddo-Lodge
White Lies: Race and the Myths of Whiteness by Maurice Berger
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
Angry White Men by Michael KimmelWhite Rage by Carol Anderson
Fatal Invention by Dorothy Roberts
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown
The Price of the Ticket by James Baldwin
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
Medical Apartheid by Harriet Washington
The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison
Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram Kendi
The Black Image in the White Mind by Robert Entman & Andrew Rojecki
The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein 
 

Race?? What is even its purpose?

Have you ever wondered what was meant when someone said that race is a social construct? What does this phrase mean? How does it impact me? Where does it come from? These are all questions I hoped to answer in this week’s episode as we continue to navigate and make sense of today’s world and political climate. 
 
Resources
The Origin of Race in the USA (Video)
220 Years of census data proves race is a social construct | Vox
Race and Racial Identity | Smithsonian
Abandon “Race.” Focus on Racism | Frontiers in Public Health
Race is a Social Construct, Scientists Argue | Scientific American
The Myth of race, debunked in 3 minutes (Video)
Race as a Social Construct — An Explanation (Video)