As we gathered around the family table, welcoming my son home from the UK, his stories of landscaping magic couldn't help but reflect the transformative power of growth—a theme that permeates this anniversary episode of our podcast. The celebration turns introspective when we navigate the aftermath of Andrew's hit-and-run, unpacking the intricate dance between law enforcement and insurance, a maze many of us know all too well!
This week is about remembrance and reverence; it's Black History Month, and we're spotlighting the stories that have been left in the shadows for far too long. We pay homage to the resilience of a poetess born into slavery, the ingenuity of gaming pioneer Jerry Lawson, and the unwavering courage of Shirley Chisholm. Our journey continues with a reflection on the Tulsa Massacre, the soaring achievements of Mae Jemison, and the daring espionage of entertainer Josephine Baker. These narratives are not just a nod to the past—they're a rally cry for acknowledgment, a celebration of the spirit, and an inspiration for the future. Join us and honor the giants whose shoulders have become the foundation for the road ahead.
As we gathered around the family table, welcoming my son home from the UK, his stories of landscaping magic couldn't help but reflect the transformative power of growth—a theme that permeates this anniversary episode of our podcast. The celebration turns introspective when we navigate the aftermath of Andrew's hit-and-run, unpacking the intricate dance between law enforcement and insurance, a maze many of us know all too well!
This week is about remembrance and reverence; it's Black History Month, and we're spotlighting the stories that have been left in the shadows for far too long. We pay homage to the resilience of a poetess born into slavery, the ingenuity of gaming pioneer Jerry Lawson, and the unwavering courage of Shirley Chisholm. Our journey continues with a reflection on the Tulsa Massacre, the soaring achievements of Mae Jemison, and the daring espionage of entertainer Josephine Baker. These narratives are not just a nod to the past—they're a rally cry for acknowledgment, a celebration of the spirit, and an inspiration for the future. Join us and honor the giants whose shoulders have become the foundation for the road ahead.
Hey, all you beautiful people out there.
Speaker 2:This is Michelle. I guess everybody's beautiful today. Everybody is beautiful today. You're just talking to me because you're looking at me. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well.
Speaker 2:I thought she was going to do that. Hey, hey, hey, not today. Yeah, she tries to make it fun, just so we never know what to expect. So anyway, I like that. Yeah, I like to keep you guessing, yeah, so hey, it's been a hell of a week so far hasn't it.
Speaker 1:I mean it has been Lot going on for me. My oldest son is back from the UK. It's always nice to have him around.
Speaker 2:He spends half of his life over in the UK and then half of it here, so I just like to enjoy the time that he is here and when we've got him and he has a truly creative mind and is very good with the landscaping, landscaping, architecture, and had made some very gracious comments to Michelle about my yard, which I already was thinking to myself, so I was very grateful that he brought it up.
Speaker 1:Needless to say, they're going to sit down and have a little sesh after for some quoting about work to be done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's definitely some work to be done out there, and if any of you need it.
Speaker 1:Ecomimicry they're popping over on Mercer Island. They do a lot of business over there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, he'll fit us in right. Oh yeah, as a special favor. Absolutely, absolutely Well. I've had some interesting updates. On the last episode we talked about Andrew and how he got sideswiped by someone who took off, so it was a hit and run and his car's in the shop for like a month.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I know.
Speaker 2:Seriously. Yeah, it's like 14, 15,000 and damages. Oh my goodness, here's the deal. It's like the guy sideswipes him right and his windshield smashes so he has no windshield and hit not Andrew, the other guy and his. The other guy's door is kind of hanging off when he takes off. So of course I mentioned Andrew, followed him, which probably wasn't the smartest move.
Speaker 1:So thank goodness he kind of reconsidered that.
Speaker 2:But he did follow police report and they're so down the number of people they have. It's between four and 600 officers, down from what their normal capacity is over the last couple of years.
Speaker 2:It's gotten worse, and so they weren't able to really show up. They were very apologetic about it. But he ended up having to file a report over the phone. But he had a license plate and he had a basic description of the person and they just said you know, there's not really much we can do because we can't verify who was indeed driving the car and it's a misdemeanor in the state of Washington to do a hit and run. Isn't that crazy? It is crazy If someone got hurt that'd be different.
Speaker 1:So, police report, is that mostly for the insurance? Yeah, insurance purposes, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm sure that the license plate will be added into the report somewhere, but yeah, no, it's pretty much it. The guy got away with it. That's crazy. I know there's no vigilante justice here. I'm like we need to not know where that guy lives, because I know someone will go over there and maybe rough them up, rough them up.
Speaker 1:No, I'm just kidding. Nobody's going to do that.
Speaker 2:So anyway. So yeah, getting all that stuff squared away and just been busy with work, so keeping me out of trouble. That way I kind of like it and appreciate that it's getting really busy. So we're going to do an episode next week, I think, on real estate, kind of getting your home ready to sell. It's that time of the year so I thought it would be good to impart some of that knowledge out there, absolutely.
Speaker 2:You've got a lot of that to offer. Yeah, and it's an exciting times, but in the meantime, what month is it? It's.
Speaker 1:February yeah, it's February, and that is the month that we dedicate a lot of time and awareness to Black.
Speaker 2:History Month, black History Month, which is really what we want to talk about today and honor frankly some people that you may never have heard about people, because there are tons of people out there that have contributed to our society in lots of different ways, but some of these we've never even heard of before, so we thought it'd be really cool to highlight them. Side note, it's our anniversary too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's our one year anniversary. Our one year anniversary I saw that pop up.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So yeah, because we started in February last year.
Speaker 1:I mean we've already embarked on season two because we're into the new year. But yeah, officially it was February of last year that we launched. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think we've come a long way since then. We're still figuring out a few things, oh, yeah, yeah it's fun, but I have solicited a gentleman from Pakistan, believe it or not that I met through. I mean it's hilarious because we're just chatting away. You know, chatting away on a messenger and he's. I'm like where are you? I had no idea where he was. And he's like I'm in Pakistan. It's like we're 12 hours apart, so he's been helping us with some of the audio and video.
Speaker 2:Just teaching me a few things, which has been pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're getting some things, getting them ready to get ready, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, in regard to Black History Month, I think what's important to highlight here, just to call it all out, is we were two white girls here, you know, talking about Black History Month, and I don't think that's a bad thing.
Speaker 2:I think, that's actually a really good thing Because we're bringing some awareness, not only to ourselves but to our communities and people that are around us, all of our listeners and things that come from all different backgrounds. Honoring Black History starts with knowing about Black History, and I would have to say that a lot of the information that truly took place during the Civil Rights timeframe and slavery and all that we really didn't learn a lot about that. I mean, we learned about it, but it was more, I would say, glossed over, kind of high level.
Speaker 1:I think we learned more about what some of the events and things that took history through that time Right, I was going to say took us through that, but it didn't take us through that we weren't here then. Yeah Well, I think what it did was it focused on highlights and people that took Blacks through that time.
Speaker 1:I don't think it really focused. We focused on the white president, abraham Lincoln, who, quote unquote, abolished slavery. And then it was Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman, I would say, was representative of during the slavery time. The underground tunnel, excuse me, underground railroad things like that and fast forward to Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King and really hear a lot about Malcolm Mp maybe more so in high school.
Speaker 2:Well, he was more controversial.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely Definitely Black Panthers.
Speaker 2:But all of those things are things we never really talked about. I mean, and it goes back to that whole revolution timeframe in the 60s and into the early 70s and such where a lot of these things were taking place, you know, with the pushback for civil rights, the civil rights movement, and some of these people were involved. You know, Malcolm X was a big, big component of that.
Speaker 1:Well, and speaking of the 70s, that's when the United States began. I don't know if we began observing Black history then, but that's when it came to be, which I think is interesting because that was a long time ago.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 1:I get to say that now it was ancient, I know, I mean it was a long time ago, but I don't think there was really a focus on the observance of it, which I think is interesting, because I'm sure the Black communities were observing and I'm sure it was more on the forefront in the Black community. But as far as the US as a whole, I don't really think there was much observance of it. It was in place but as far as activities and things that really go on and talking about it in the workplaces, things like that, really until the last maybe 15 years.
Speaker 1:And that's a stretch A stretch Depending on what company you worked for.
Speaker 2:Right, Well, they definitely. When we worked at Nordstrom, that was definitely something that was highlighted during that timeframe and even in the vendors that we had and some of the decor and some of the garments and things, black owned businesses. I know there was a lot of that, even just well, I've been gone for 10 years and it was happening before that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was gonna say I can only really speak on behalf of Nordstrom, having worked there like you, and yes, I would say they did a really good job of recognizing and because they would have visual displays, they would display art to your point, clothing lines, different things like that that they would highlight and really bring to the forefront for the employees as well.
Speaker 2:with regard to Black history, Well, I think when we talk about the inception of the Black History Month, it was in the 70s, I think it was 1976. And Gerald Ford was the president at the time and he's the one that actually initiated it and put it in place, and it probably was in response to a lot of the upheaval that had been taking place for the last several years in the United States.
Speaker 2:So that was something that was put in place for that reason, but it's just like when Juneteenth was put into place just a couple of years ago it's similar because celebrating Juneteenth it does seem a little odd, like to go to a celebration or something like that, but I think 15, 20 years down the road it's gonna maybe feel a lot different. Anyway, I do go back to that. It's something that we learn more about as we go on.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I think it's important to highlight things not just during February but throughout the whole year, because there are a lot of contributions and things that were made. So the other thing to maybe also keep in mind is that Black history is American history. A lot of the United States was built on the backs of slaves really and the history of those individuals goes back way beyond when the United States was created. So just something to kind of think about there.
Speaker 2:There are people such as Thurgood Marshall or Barack Obama. We talked about Harriet Tubman, the massacre in Tulsa that happened in the 20s and the stuff that happened in Alabama and Selma, alabama. All of these things are things that have taken place that most people probably know about, but from one thing to the another, there are definitely contributions that are being made from a lot of different people, like we mentioned.
Speaker 1:And I think more so people are aware, especially over the last couple of years, last four or five, maybe four years, three four years since the pandemic and when there was so much happening in 2020, with the BLM movement and all of that. So I know you mentioned the massacre in Tulsa, which that area was also known as Black Wall Street, and we could talk about that. And you mentioned Alabama, the Bloody Sunday, so things like that that in the Black community are known.
Speaker 2:And very much known. It's not like I don't know whether they lived in their history books.
Speaker 1:It's their history, and so for those things to come to light more, we need to educate ourselves on what those are, because it was a big impact on those communities.
Speaker 2:Some of it, like the Tulsa massacre, was kind of hidden from public knowledge. I mean it was probably out there but nobody ever really discussed it.
Speaker 1:It was like anything, though. I mean, there's a lot of stuff that they push under the carpet because they don't-.
Speaker 2:When we say they, who are we referring to White people in power. Yeah, white America. Yeah. And those who are in power, you know where these things took place, especially in the South KKK all of the leadership, law enforcement, all of those things, and I think at our day and age, like when we're talking about the actual inception of Black History Month, it was only 54, no, it was 50. 48 years ago, right 48 years ago.
Speaker 1:That's not that long ago, that's not that long ago.
Speaker 2:yeah, no, but like with the massacre, let's start with that one. Let's start with the Tulsa one. So how did that actually take place? It was in the early 20s.
Speaker 1:I know that it was in the early 20s and there was an area that had gosh I think it was upwards in about at least 15,000 residents. There were 600 Black-owned businesses that were thriving in this community and there was a lot of envy among the white community because this area was doing so well and these were like doctors and lawyers and bankers they had just yeah, they were getting, they had their own newspaper. These were thriving businesses in this community, and Is that why they dubbed it Black?
Speaker 2:Wall Street Because there were so many bankers that's why they dubbed it Black.
Speaker 1:Wall Street, you know, the bankers, the success of what was going on there, and of course the whites weren't too happy about that to see all the success because really, in so many ways they were doing better than a lot of surrounding communities of them. So what prompted it? There was a young African-American call him a boy, young boy, not very old, but, you know, teenager and he was accused of assaulting a white woman and, yeah, that kind of started an uproar. I mean, really it was all planned, it was part of a ploy to get everybody going because, of course, as the tension grew and grew, eventually, you know, there an outbreak of riots and violence started happening and there you go.
Speaker 2:I think it was predominantly in the Greenwood neighborhood, which was where a lot of the affluent folks had lived and it's almost like Emmett Till like the. Emmett Till situation, but you know 30 years earlier, so yeah, so, and there was not only riots but people. I think there was around 300 people killed, right, yes, yeah, but they burned businesses down. They burned homes down.
Speaker 1:Well, they were never able to recover. No, they decimated everything, so they definitely they being white surrounding communities and people, they definitely accomplished what they set out to do. Yeah, so this was devastating.
Speaker 2:This was actually one of the worst acts of racial violence that's taken place, and the thing that is so amazing about it is that it truly has been kind of hidden, like I honestly, to be straight up, didn't even know about the details of any of this until the BLM movement.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so, of course and I was so curious I'm asking some questions, but I don't think it's anybody's responsibility necessarily to educate me on some of these things, so I went and did my own research and was able to really identify some, just oh my gosh things that. I'd never even known existed, so this was one of them. So yeah, pretty crazy. Who's another individual that has contributed?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, like we're doing, we're talking about black history and Jules, and I thought as well to highlight some of the less known but, famous contributors in regard to black history, one of which is Shirley Chisholm. She was actually the first black woman to run for president in 1972, if you can believe that.
Speaker 2:That's crazy.
Speaker 1:She laid a lot of groundwork for future bids by women as far as congressional things go, and she actually also survived three attempted assassinations while she was yes.
Speaker 2:She didn't get the Democratic because she had 10% of the Democratic votes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so she did get the Democratic bid. She got and she 10% of the vote for the National Convention in 72, but she did not win the nomination. But 10% of the vote, that's pretty good. In 72, that's really good.
Speaker 2:So she had a lot of firsts. She was the founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Women's Caucus and was also the first black woman member of the Congressional Rules Committee. So she made a lot of strides in the political field. I think you know and I mean who knows how she felt about the three attempts on her life during that timeframe whether she would have even thought that was like, wow, maybe this isn't worth it, but she was pretty brave, it sounds to me.
Speaker 1:Well, and I mean she obviously continued. Having had it happen three, I think after one time I'd be like I'm out. Well, maybe that's what they're trying to accomplish right. So yeah, exactly which is why she continued to forge through and live through two additional attempts. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Crazy. Yeah Well, we still don't have a woman president but at least we've got options potentially out there someday.
Speaker 1:I've heard Michelle Obama is supposedly going to run. She's not going to run.
Speaker 2:I know there was there was not be so cool if she did there were rumblings about that. Yeah, there were a lot of like not good rumblings I heard. Oh, I'm sure, oh, get over at people.
Speaker 1:I don't care who. There's never good rumblings about any of the candidates I know yeah.
Speaker 2:We just need someone other than who we have. Let's just say we need some new options. We need some new options that have you know, like life experience.
Speaker 1:Jewels rules.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm definitely not one of them, I'd be up for the assassination attempts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, yeah, that would not work well for me. So yeah, so that was a. That was surely chism, surely chism.
Speaker 1:and there's another woman, actually, who did quite well for herself in the entertainment industry, and that was a woman named Hattie McDaniel.
Speaker 2:And what she is famous for, what movie she Gone with the Wind, yep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, gone with the Wind, which was a movie in 1939, if you can believe it. I think the whole Clark Gable and Scarlett O'Hara deal is what makes that movie famous. Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. That's like the line. Well, we?
Speaker 2:watched that one. We were, I mean, it was a really long movie. I remember it was one that we would maybe sit around and watch on.
Speaker 1:you know Thanksgiving or something like that, but I never really I could probably stand to watch it now, just because I would yeah to your point. I watched it when I was younger and probably didn't get a whole lot out of it.
Speaker 2:No, I don't know that. I understood, like the implications of the time, right Right. I mean what you saw on the movie that I remember was very. I don't know, just tailored towards the Confederate South, you know, kind of a thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but she got an Academy Award that year for Best Supporting Actress, the first African-American to win that. Like I said, 1939, she was a child of former slaves and she was the youngest of 13 children. She was born in 1893. In Kansas, in Kansas.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what's up with these Midwest states? It's like Kansas, we've got Oklahoma yeah.
Speaker 1:I know you know it's crazy about that and not really for the time, but she was also the first to be nominated for an Oscar and when the movie premiered in Atlanta at a Gala, she nor any of the other black actors in the film were allowed to attend because of Georgia's segregation laws at that time. They did. They have something else in California. They did have in Hollywood and they were able to go there, but it just that kind of shows, you know all the differences between, you know, West Coast and.
Speaker 2:Not the West Coast.
Speaker 1:Did I say West? I said West Coast right, no West.
Speaker 2:Coast, I said, shows the difference between the West Coast and not the West.
Speaker 1:Coast, yeah, the West Coast, michelle's throwing her W's for West Coast right now.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so that's another one, Hattie McDaniel, but you can imagine like all these black actors were not able to go and she's literally won the same award that someone else has won in another movie.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know that's just crazy. Yeah Well, we acknowledge her now, ms Hattie McDaniel. So next one I wanted to share was about an individual named Phyllis Wheatley, and she was the first African American woman to be published in 1773 with her poetry. And what was kind of interesting about her is that she was born in and around 1753 in what was or what is now present day Senegal, over in Africa.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:And she was sold at the age of eight from the tribal leader to people that brought her to the United States. She ended up, I think, in Boston, and so she learned how to read. Actually, right, she was a slave, but she learned how to do these things and published her first poetry when she was 12 years old.
Speaker 1:Wow, isn't that cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so she, she's 12 years old. Yep, she's 12 years old. What was kind of sad is she died so early. She died at 31.
Speaker 2:She had asthma and was having a lot of difficulty with her asthma and ended up dying at the age of 31. So what was wonderful was that she was, you know, a really gifted writer and really had the opportunity to publish some of the poetry that she had written. But you want to talk about adversity? I mean, here's this kid that's sold into slavery at the age of eight and maybe her poetry probably is what kept her sane and kept her not feeling so lonely in everything when she was going through all that, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2:So I thought that was kind of cool.
Speaker 1:Something maybe to look up is one of her most famous poems. That is referred to quite frequently and it's on being brought from Africa to America that's the name of it. So too long to read, but definitely something that you can look up on line and I'm sure there's a lot of deep thought and deep rooted emotion in that poem. As a young girl. Yeah, as a young girl.
Speaker 2:So another individual that we wanted to share with you was a gentleman named Jerry Lawson, who was actually born in Brooklyn, new York, and he was a black man, also an engineer during the 1970s, didn't go to college, but he was super smart, really creative and very well versed on technology. It was just one of those people that really got electronics and things. His invention single-handedly changed the video game industry and made video gaming systems possible that we have today, and you know nobody.
Speaker 1:Wasn't he the one that did the interchangeable video cartridge?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like the interchangeable ones, yeah, yeah, yeah, and there was one he developed that you could actually put coins in. Oh, really Like the very first one. Yeah, I saw a picture of it. You could actually put coins in it and play it kind of like you would play a pinball machine.
Speaker 1:It's like a gumball machine. Yeah, exactly, but a video game.
Speaker 2:But a very cool contribution that he made, but kind of a silent contribution because I've never heard of him before.
Speaker 1:Have you.
Speaker 2:Jerry Lawson no, no. Well, now you all know.
Speaker 1:Now we know Jerry.
Speaker 2:Lawson. If it wasn't for Jerry Lawson, none of you would be playing Fortnite and you wouldn't be playing a cod or any of that stuff.
Speaker 1:I don't even know which ones are out there anymore.
Speaker 2:I don't either. Yeah, I'm an old, I'm not going to say Grand Theft Auto, because I don't like that game, but the other ones.
Speaker 1:You just said it.
Speaker 2:No, I'm not. Oh, I did, didn't I?
Speaker 1:He didn't have anything to do with that one.
Speaker 2:Some people freaky people developed that one. I don't like that game.
Speaker 1:Do you know who Mae Jemison is?
Speaker 2:No, why don't you tell me about Jemison she?
Speaker 1:is actually the first African-American woman to go to space.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, so she was an astronaut.
Speaker 1:She went on the endeavor in 1992 and she was also a doctor and an accomplished dancer. Comes from Alabama, that's where she was born.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:And inspired by science and space. She applied to NASA and she was selected. Obviously, she's smart, she's a doctor and all of that so. But when she went into space, I thought it was pretty cool because she brought some West African artifacts with her, which was to symbolize the idea that space belongs to all nations, which I thought was pretty cool.
Speaker 2:That's really cool. I think she's still around. She was a professor at Cornell. Yes, she was Right. Yeah, so she's still around.
Speaker 1:She's more modern day yeah, continued to be very accomplished and successful Well think about it this woman is a doctor. She's an astronaut, she's a dancer.
Speaker 2:I mean, for Pete's sake, she's accomplished so much in her life, more than some people were accomplished, and I mean she's accomplished enough for four or five people Right.
Speaker 2:That's pretty cool. Well, I would love to chat about this lady because her dancing was kind of very remarkable in her little dresses that she would dance in. But Josephine Baker, she was born in St Louis but was actually a French descent and she was born in the early 1900s 1906, but she got so over. She was just so over the discrimination and the way people were and how she was treated in the United States during the war, second World War. She actually went over to France and ended up being an individual who was taking secrets back and forth between the French resistance and the Americans.
Speaker 1:Kind of like a spy.
Speaker 2:She was like a spy, yeah, wow, yeah, isn't that cool. Risky Kind of risky, but, you know, really risky I would say. But she was well, probably no more risky than some of the soldiers. She was just doing it a little bit differently. But as a black woman, I know, like in that environment.
Speaker 2:Do you know how she did it? Okay, so this is what I thought was so interesting she took the intelligence to the French allies by hiding it in her sheet music and then pinning it inside of her dresses. Oh, there you go. I know, but no one would ever even thought yeah.
Speaker 1:It's pretty smart actually.
Speaker 2:So yeah, she played a big role in World War II and some of the sharing of information and probably the ultimate demise of the powers who were. A military secret smuggler.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like it. A military secret smuggler.
Speaker 2:So, anyway, she was a very accomplished singer and dancer, you know in the. Us and stuff too. So I've run across her name before definitely Josephine Baker, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:So who else do we have? You know, the Olympics had a gold medal winner in 1908 at the Summer Olympics in London and his name was John Baxter Taylor he was in track, right yeah. He was in track and he would have won another medal but due to his protesting the disqualification of one of his fellow athletes at the University of Pennsylvania, he refused to run a secondary final in one of the categories. So yeah, he very well should have and could have won a second one.
Speaker 2:So here's the man. So what I get from all of that is and he was young, obviously- very young.
Speaker 1:He was young. He died when he was 26.
Speaker 2:I know, didn't typhoid fever, which is crazy, yeah, but it's like he was obviously a man of principle. Yes, when you think about the fact that he trained as hard as he probably did and was representing the United States in a really big thing back before. You know, blacks were even identified as having any kind of contribution, but he stood up for his teammate and went on not to even participate in the race where he could have won a second one that says a lot to me about his character, you know even at that young age
Speaker 2:you know, kind of standing up for his principles. I think that is pretty remarkable.
Speaker 1:I think there's so much to be said for these folks that we just talked about. But you know, when you think about black history in general and to your point, what you just said the character and sticking up for some of the terms that you were just using. I think that was and this is just me but I think that was a lot of the norm during all of these times in the early 1900s on through till today, and we still see that. But I'm talking about the Huey Newtons, the Malcolm X, the Martin.
Speaker 1:Luther Kings, the John Baxter and really fighting for and doing the things necessary to make the injustices known that these people were living through on a daily basis, yeah, and they knew that there was likely going to be, you know, a lot of pushback and that could be in the way of violence.
Speaker 2:It could be in you know what kind of jobs they were going to be able to hold. It could be detriment to their family. There's a lot of things that they were sacrificing to be able to bring things forward like you're talking about, so you have to just have a tremendous amount of respect you know for these people and people who are not even talking about today that have been able to bring some of these things to the forefront, you know, in terms of education and everything.
Speaker 2:So people know what the hell was going on back then.
Speaker 1:You know it's pretty cool too, in regard to black history, the month of February. There is a ton, a ton of events going on in the Seattle area.
Speaker 2:Oh nice, let's talk about some of those.
Speaker 1:And I'm sure every city has. You know a certain level of events that they do. So, wherever you're at, go online, and I would suggest looking. We're here in Seattle, so I'm going to highlight some of those. There just were so many. I think what I've decided to do, jules, if you're cool with it, is put one up on Instagram, put you know out on the socials every day so people know what we got going on in the city and, can you know, choose to go see one, choose something if they want. For example, there is a black tech night. So there's all different kinds of categories too Poetry slam, literacy events, film showings and museums, black homeowner dinner they're putting on. There's one for younger people, teen Afro futurism film festival, storytelling galas, life in times of Malcolm X is going on at the Seattle Opera. So, and that's just literally a few, I saw what's going on.
Speaker 2:The Malcolm X one up on a billboard, yeah, but is it an actual opera? Do?
Speaker 1:you remember that at the opera house. It's at the opera house. Okay, so it's play.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's what. I was kind of curious because I was looking I was like oh, I'm going to look at that and see what that was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, caught my eye too, yeah, I know where it is.
Speaker 2:It's a billboard not far from here. I remember seeing it.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it just said the life in times of Malcolm X. Yeah, seattle Opera House. But yeah, there's a lot of things happening. And I'm sure something will peak your interest, so go online, take a look. We're going to put some of the events up out on our socials as well and, you know, if you're not familiar with something or if you want to dive in and get a feel for the community in regard to black history, go do something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you don't have to be black to do it. Yeah, I think that's pretty important to point out, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, get out there and get yourself some education going yeah.
Speaker 2:I want to highlight some people that are from Washington state and most of them are from the Seattle area or Tacoma area that are just individuals from here that have made some sort of an impact. I'll just name a few. So here's a couple that you may have never heard of, but Brooklyn Frost. She is a Seattle girl and she's a YouTuber and Instagram star, oh really yeah. Isn't that Gen?
Speaker 1:Z yeah Gen. Z so up and coming More recent generation, these youngsters, yeah.
Speaker 2:She's a she's an American gymnast. She actually did some touring with Simone Biles.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, but she's young too.
Speaker 2:She's like 22 years old. Have you heard of Blair Underwood? Yeah, he is so fine.
Speaker 1:He's an actor, he's a good looking black man, good looking black man From. Tacoma, washington. Yes, ma'am. And he used to be on LA Law and I'm sure he's on other stuff now but that's the one I remember seeing him on, I think, what he's most well known for LA Law.
Speaker 2:Here's a lady who. Have you ever heard of the Total Experience Gospel Choir? I've heard of them. Okay, they are Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, amazing.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I've taken the kids to see them. We went and saw them at the show box or one of the big theaters downtown the lady who started that in the 70s, late 70s, and ran it all the way until when she passed away just a couple of years ago. Her name was Pat Wright, and boy, oh boy, that woman. It's like I never met her before, but I would watch her kind of in awe.
Speaker 1:I mean she had down.
Speaker 2:she had these people singing like angels and she's recruiting them from different places and for the most part I think they were African American. I don't recall specifically, but you know they had the concert that was right before Christmas where they did a lot of the. Christmas, hams and stuff. It was just beautiful. But she, that was her life, that was her life contribution.
Speaker 1:I love gospel music. Yeah, oh, I do too, gospel choir, gospel music yeah.
Speaker 2:Just so much energy and just such a good joy, yeah, yeah, I've gone to see them probably three or four times, but anyway. So RIP to Pat Wright from Seattle. Lots of athletes, I'll just name a few Kevin Porter Jr, jamal Crawford, dejante Murray, buddha Baker. He went to the UW. He's in the NFL. Miles Gaskin also went to the UW. He's in the NFL. He went to school as Zoe actually.
Speaker 1:Oh, really yeah so.
Speaker 2:I remember him from when he was younger Michael Brantley, Isaiah Thomas, basketball, Nate Robinson and he used to have a restaurant down in Rainier Beach, a chicken and waffles restaurant. It's closed down, but he had started that after his career.
Speaker 1:He lent me some chicken and waffles.
Speaker 2:I know, I know With syrup. Anyway, sir mix a lot is from Seattle. Yep, sir mix, we've got Quincy Jones.
Speaker 1:Jimmy Hendrix.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of people from here in the music world for sure. So, anyway, just really wonderful contributions that we as Americans get to enjoy today because of, you know, their hard work and sacrifices that have been made in the past.
Speaker 1:So if you want to, like I suggested, go online, check out these events. You'll see them on our socials as well. Make sure to download this episode. If there's any of the information that piques your interest that you maybe don't remember that we talked about, you can download the episode, refer back to it and find us out on all the socials and I really hope Michelle and I both really hope that you've learned a few things today.
Speaker 2:Yeah and uh. You know you're probably listening in your car or you're at the gym or whatever when you're listening, but you've picked up a couple of things about people you may not have heard about. So that was the whole idea and we thank you for listening. So now you know nah, and if you didn't know, now you know, now you know.
Speaker 1:All right, everybody on that note.
Speaker 2:Peace out everybody.
Speaker 1:Bye, bye.