(bright music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Hello, everyone, and welcome to "Black Nouveau".

I'm Earl Arms.

And this is our February edition.

And of course, February is Black History Month.

And while "Black Nouveau" celebrates the African American experience all year long, we'll tell you about some events that are still ahead this month that you might want to consider.

One of them, the Black Lens Film Festival, which has been going on all month but still offers some classic cinema.

Clayborn Benson, historian and founder of the Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum, joins us to talk about important events in Milwaukee's history.

And we'll meet one of the new members to MKE PBS's "Rhythm Cafe".

But we begin with one of the winners from the 41st annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Speech-Writing Contest recently at the Marcus Performing Arts Center.

Here is Renad Kabashi, sixth grade winner from Golda Meir, speaking on "What are you doing for others?"

- You've likely heard about the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, but have you heard about the silent war in Sudan?

For over two years, millions of people have been trapped in a devastating conflict with no end in sight.

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once asked, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?"

This question challenges us to think how are we helping those in need, especially when the world seems silent in the face of suffering and trauma as we see in Sudan?

Have you ever considered the struggles of families torn apart by war and wondered how you can help them?

I come from a community that is deeply affected by this conflict.

My family is from Sudan, and my siblings and I are the first generation born in America.

Because of this, we rarely get to see our relatives.

Sudan is enduring a catastrophic war that has killed over 150,000 people.

This war has brought profound sadness and despair to my family, as our immediate relatives are suffering and dying.

My family and I are doing what we can to help those in need by offering emotional and financial support, and finding ways to assist not only our own relatives but others who are affected by the violence.

This tragedy has brought the Sudanese American community closer than ever, showing our resilience and unity in the face of hardship.

Did you know that 8.6 million people in Sudan have been forced out of their homes, 25 million people have no access to medical care, and 18 million are facing severe hunger?

My aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmother and friends, my people are living through these dire conditions.

They don't feel safe, have no access to food or medical supplies, and are being displaced from their homes.

One story that has deeply affected my family is about my cousin Elham, named after my grandmother and passed away at just three weeks old due to lack of medical care.

Her loss left a deep wound in our hearts and inspired me to write a poem that I recited at the fundraising event hosted by the Sudanese American Community of Wisconsin.

Here are a few lines from that poem.

"In Sudan's night, so dark, so cold, children cry as their hearts grow old.

My cousin Elham, so small, so sweet, at just three weeks, her life was complete.

The pain of loss, the lack of care, left my family in deep despair.

But through the tears we chose to stay to help each other in every way.

We gave our love, we gave our heart to help them cope, to help restart.

Together, strong, we rise and stand, helping each other hand in hand."

Beneath the shadow of this tragedy shines an opportunity for resilience, a strength which my people and I will never back down from.

It is time for us to take a stand.

So I ask you again, what will you do to make a difference?

Will you stand by or will you step forward to help, to care, to heal those who are in need?

As Dr. King once said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?"

At home, school, and in my community, I do work to answer Dr. King's question by supporting Sudan through fundraising and offering emotional support to my relatives and friends.

Each of us has the power to make a difference one small act of kindness at a time.

Thank you.

- And here with Renad now after that wonderful speech.

Congratulations.

Talk about what your Sudanese roots mean to you.

Obviously, it came up in your speech a lot and I want to understand why you wanted to include that in your speech.

- Well, I wanted to include that in my speech 'cause my family is from Sudan and just based off like my Sudanese background and the Sudanese community.

Like in Sudan, everyone is just like so welcoming and everyone is so joyful and cheerful.

And I wanted to raise awareness about the issues that they have there, so more people can know about it and take action to help.

- You were able to make that connection.

No, that's really good.

So talk about writing.

Why is writing important to you?

Why do you like it?

- I feel like writing is very important to me because my words and what I say and what I write can make a difference and can leave an impact on people and can generate a positive change.

- Absolutely.

Do you want to write when you grow up?

- Yeah, I would like to keep like a passion for writing.

- All right, you'll go far.

Congratulations.

- Thank you.

- Malayshia Riser won the speech-writing competition in the fourth grade category.

She attends Samuel Clemens School.

- Dr. King asked, "What are you doing for others?"

The topic of helping others is very personal to me.

When I think of helping, I think of serving and making people feel better, creating a bridge of connections to encourage a loving environment.

I want to be a server of my community.

On the news, I hear about people fighting and killing one another.

To hear that this is going on where I live not only saddens me, but frightens me as well.

Someone has to do something to turn these situations around, and I am someone.

There is a safe place area in my classroom.

This area is specifically for students who need a moment of silence and reflecting.

I would love to be a part of creating a neighborhood safe place in my community to bring about building a safer and peaceful environment.

This safe place will be an area that will be designated for peers in my community to bring about building a safer and peaceful environment.

This safe place would be an area that would be designated for peers in my neighborhood to build social and conflict resolution skills.

I could be of a great service in promoting the use of this area through my artistic abilities and creating posters to distribute through my neighborhood.

Dr. King stated that "the time is always right to do what's right."

I want to be proactive and creative with my time to engage in making people feel better.

My mother always tells me to use my time wisely.

So I want to be uplifting in my community.

I want to build unity so that people can connect and inspire each other.

I am used to giving out compliments, smiling, and showing the heart gesture with my hands to make my peers at school feel better.

The great thing about doing that is that they return the favor when I'm not feeling the best.

What a great way to pay it forward.

Dr. King asked the question of "what are you doing for others?"

Dr. King, I am a servant of my community.

I'm on the quest to uplift and inspire others.

- All right, here with Malayshia.

Congratulations, first off.

Talk about your speech and what inspired you to write it.

- My teacher.

Well, I was in my classroom one day and my teacher brought up the MLK speech.

So I said, "Why not try it out?"

and next thing you know, I'm here.

- Nice.

And it worked out obviously.

So what does Dr. King mean to you?

- He means a lot.

He's kind of like a family to me even though he's not here with us today.

He's like, a little, a family to me.

- [Earl] Wow, that's pretty cool.

- Where were we?

- No, well, I was thinking about your speech and I was intrigued by the safe space aspect of it.

What intrigues you most about having a safe space?

Why do you feel that a safe space is so important?

- Because it's a lot of violence going on and I just think people need a moment to calm down and, you know, like try to embrace their self, like their calming down.

- Oh, for sure.

What do you want to do when you grow up, Malayshia?

- I want to be a children's nurse.

- Why is that?

- I feel like it's a lot of children out there that need help.

It's a lot of them struggling.

Some of them don't eat.

So I say, why not just help them out by just being a children's nurse and helping them out with a lot of things?

- Pretty noble of you.

And congratulations, Malayshia, again.

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) - [Voiceover] Roughly 10,000 people have congregated here in Gary this weekend of weekends.

(crowd cheers) - I am a Black man and I want a Black party.

I do not trust White Republicans or White Democrats.

(crowd cheers) (light music) - Nothing will be solved by emotionalism without substance.

(crowd claps) All in favor?

- We are a mighty nation.

- Action is here.

- We walk in unity.

- It's gonna be a different day.

- We have arrived.

- That's a clip from "Nationtime", one of films The Black Lens strand of Milwaukee Film is showcasing in February.

Joining me now is Ty Williams, the new programmer for Black Lens.

Thanks for joining us.

- Thank you for having me.

- So what is it like to be a programmer at Black Lens?

- Yes, so it really is kind of a thing that I've wanted for a very long time, being into film for so long and even moving here from California just to attend UW-Milwaukee for film school.

I was first a manager for the Union Cinema at UW-Milwaukee and then became just an associate at the Oriental Theatre for Milwaukee Film.

And five years later, I was blessed with the opportunity to now program different movies for our Black Lens program.

So it's been kind of a dream.

- So the roots for film go back a long time for you?

- Yes, a very, very long time.

At least in my teenage years to the very least.

- Okay, okay.

So "Nationtime" is a film by William Greaves, a pioneering documentarian who started his early days in public television.

Tell us about the film, what is it about?

- [Ty] So "Nationtime" is sort of a documentation about a lot of different Black civil rights activists who varied along the political spectrum.

And they decided to all come together for one day in Gary, Indiana, and answer the question of what is the Black agenda?

And the film sort of starts off by letting you know that there was no concrete answer, there was no real basis that everyone decided this is the Black agenda, but the discussions that are had within the film are sort of the thing that you should focus on.

And these discussions that take place are sort of what drives sort of our motivations to still fight for equality, and that the fact that these conversations can't ever really be summed up into one movie or one conversation and that they should be had across time, and that this is one conversation that is taking place but should still be taking place to this day.

- [James] Especially now.

- [Ty] Yeah.

- The next film is by John Singleton and it's an all-time classic.

It's "Boyz n the Hood" where he was nominated for Best Director.

Talk about that film.

- So "Boyz n the Hood" I would say, I consider it a Black classic film.

It's one of those films where I feel as though if you are a Black person in America, you've kind of had some sort of run in with this movie.

Maybe someone else has made you watch it, maybe you've watched it on your own, or possibly you've never even seen it yourself, but you've always heard of it.

And it paints a very vivid picture of what the hood is like for Black people and sort of the trials and tribulations that come with it for so many people of varying backgrounds, for people who sort of resigned to their fate and say, "I don't feel as though there's much that I can do," and others who feel as though they're destined for greatness but are still held back by socioeconomic factors that kind of attempt to keep them in place and stop them from thriving.

- Being from California, did you see any similarities in that film compared to you growing up?

- I would say so.

I wouldn't say that I have, I've been privileged enough to not necessarily have to deal with a lot of the topics that are within the film.

But at the same time, it is a thing that was in my general area being around Oakland and whatnot.

So it's something that you always know about and something that could always brush with your own life.

But I have been privileged enough to not necessarily have to deal with it in the same way that the characters in "Boyz n the Hood" have had to, which doesn't make it any less of an important story to tell.

- [James] A newer classic, "Get Out".

Talk about that film.

- So it's by Jordan Peele.

I am a huge horror movie fan.

And "Get Out" is not the first political horror movie that exists centered around Blackness, but I would say it's one of the most famous in the lexicon of films that touch on political horror.

A film about a man who is dating a White woman and goes to see her family and finds out that it is actually a cover for a secret society that kind of takes Black people hostage and brainwashes them so they can put their brains into their bodies, which kind of sounds farfetched to some, but at the same time hearkens back to things that happened in actual history, such as experimentation on Black bodies and just other atrocities that have happened across the board to Black people in America.

So it really plays upon these fears that are subconsciously rooted within a lot of Black people living in America today.

- One of the films that I truly love is "Glory".

I'm happy that you're going to have that as part of the festival.

Talk about "Glory".

- So "Glory" has Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman, and they are in a Union regiment.

Yeah, Union regiment that is the first Black union regiment to sort of fight for the Civil War.

And it's a film about how this group of people are fighting for their equality to be seen as humans, just for general civil rights, and are still mistreated not only just by people who want them to or people who are not on their same side, but people who are on their side as well.

People who they are fighting with also don't necessarily view them as equals or partners.

And it's sort of a story about that upcoming, that uprising and realizing that even though these people don't necessarily agree with me existing, I'm still going to fight for my country that I believe in, if not for anyone else, for myself.

- It's a lot of great Black stars in that film and you could see them early on in their careers.

- Yes.

- So let's talk about "Malcolm X", another Denzel Washington starring role.

- "Malcolm X" is sort of a vivid retelling of the story of Malcolm X from his days in Harlem all the way up to him being assassinated.

I programmed this film.

I attempted to get it on the day that he was assassinated, but had to settle for the day after.

And there's just a line in the very ending of the film that I think is very poignant that talks about how whether or not you agreed with his politics or his ideas, he was a very vivid icon for Black culture and Black people to say, "Hey, I deserve to be treated just like anybody else."

And I think his story is very important to know for anybody who lives in America or even outside of America.

- It's a true, true classic.

A lot of great films that you have on this lineup, and I can't wait to see them.

- I thank you so much.

- Hey, thanks for joining us.

- Yeah, thank you for having me.

It's an honor.

(upbeat music) - As we move through African American History Month, it's important to remember that history is happening around us all the time.

We've invited my good friend and mentor, Clayborn Benson III, the executive director of Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum, to share some of his thoughts on important Black history moments.

Welcome back, Clayborn.

- Thank you.

I really think that the real history starts within yourself learning about who you are.

Look in the mirror.

What does your nose look like?

How do you talk, how do you walk?

All of those things about you and your goals and the journey that you're on.

And you follow those prints from your parents, your mother and your father, and your descendants or ancestors in the past.

So it's very important to first think of yourself as being a historical person, because you fit in this lifeline of various people over your course of life.

- That's certainly very true.

And who are some of the Milwaukeeans or Wisconsinites who have created our history?

- Algie Shivers would be one of them.

He created the round barns or the ideas of round barns throughout the western part of the state.

There's like 19 round barns.

And we always think of round barns as being significant, important, but he actually convinces his friends to get together and build these round barns.

Vernon County near Cheyenne Valley in the western part of the state, there are a whole series of round barns.

And that's pretty important.

Another real important issue is on the table right now, Central City Plaza that is on the corner of Sixth and Walnut Street.

And they're talking about possibly tearing down one of those buildings.

- And why is that important?

- That's important because it has an African American design and a gentleman by the name of Alfonso Robinson designed that building.

He is Milwaukee's first African American architect.

He designed the fire station in downtown Milwaukee.

He designed this one.

And if you look at it, it has unique design circles and such, all of that, it has an African flavor to it.

And that was his way of putting his stamp print on.

He is, again, a very important person.

Now, the buildings are in poor shape, but clearly we need to preserve those buildings.

Those buildings are done in our culture perspective and we want them to stay.

- And from a historical perspective who are some of the people we need to know about?

- Oh, there are all sorts of people that are significant, important.

I brought in a few books in.

But if you read the book "Black Milwaukee", it looks at Milwaukee from 1900 all the way to 1945.

And it's the beginning of the migration patterns, why African Americans come to the state of Wisconsin, what's unique and special about Wisconsin, and what did it offer them?

Most folks would say that they come here for a job or they came here for...

I would venture or say differently that they came, but they came here nonetheless to find a new way of life for theirselves and their families, to get an education to be able to provide for.

Because the parents, the mother and father would never know how to read or write, but they wanted their children to get a good education.

And so the idea again is to get.

And that brings about Brown v. the Board of Education, that brings about the fight of Lloyd Barbee and his efforts of desegregation.

All of these things happen in a sequence, and all of these things bring attention to the issue of how do we educate our children?

Marches and demonstrations and such.

Father James Groppi with the fair housing legislation.

These two things bring national attention to Milwaukee.

It puts Milwaukee on the map and the way that Milwaukee deals with these problems.

Now, fair housing is a much more complicated subject that we can talk about.

But if you look at the picture of fair housing, there's more than a hundred thousand people that celebrates the life and times of Martin Luther King and the passage of the Fair Housing bill, April the eighth, 1968.

It took place in Milwaukee.

It's a big deal and it takes place in downtown Milwaukee.

- And this was at the time that the City Council wasn't doing anything about it.

They were voting against it.

- They did not do anything about it all.

And it had to go to Washington, DC, for it to actually happen, and so it's a Walter Mondale bill.

And so Walter Mondale with Father James Groppi and the death of Martin Luther King brings about this change.

Now, obviously it's watered down now because we still have ghettos in impoverished communities.

But in truth, it's Milwaukee that pushes that legislation across the margin and it actually passes, that make a difference in our community.

Milwaukee is significant, important as it relates to that.

- [Everett] What about Joshua Glover?

- Glover is crucially important because two years earlier with the passage of the... excuse me, the passage of or rewriting of the Constitution to say that the Fugitive Slave Law is illegal.

The South is violating the Fugitive Slave Law by expanding to the west.

In the north, like Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota is helping runaways make their way to Canada.

They said, "Stop it, no more of that.

We want you to honor the Constitution."

And it's Joshua Glover who comes to Wisconsin.

It's Joshua Glover that is arrested, put in jail, and then eventually taken back to his owner.

But it shows how you see the writings and books that say 5,000 people broke...

They are over-imagining, it's only 500 people.

But the truth is that the people in Wisconsin were anti a constitution, anti the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law.

They fought back any way they possibly could.

And so that's a significant law.

It impacted not just Wisconsin, but this entire nation.

It brings about the Civil War quickly, too.

- Yes.

Calling the Common Council the city council is the Baltimore in me.

But one of the things that's important with the Common Council is Vel Phillips, first Black woman who did so many things.

- Yes, she's very important.

But she tried to get the Fair Housing bill passed and moved forward.

I'd say that Ms. Bernice Lindsay is super important.

Ms. Bernice Lindsay takes a delegation of folks to the Congo.

Ms. Bernice Lindsay goes to the Pan-African Congress in London.

She's invited to the White House after she comes back in '63 to meet President Kennedy.

Ms. Bernice Lindsay builds a subdivision at 47th and Stark just north of Hampton.

Ms. Bernice creates the Inner City Arts Council and the Creative Center.

Ms. Bernice Lindsay develops a housing project on Fourth Street or Vel Phillips Street.

She did a lot for this community.

She's my hero.

- And we're just getting started on this.

Thank you very much, Clayborn.

I appreciate you coming in.

- My honor.

Thank you.

(light music) - We have an introduction to a new member of MKE PBS's "Rhythm Cafe", Ben Mulwana.

He'll be featured in the upcoming season, but we wanted to share this sneak peek with you first.

(Ben vocalizing) ♪ It's you ♪ ♪ Feeling in a hole, not seen ♪ ♪ Just now ♪ ♪ I am finally feeling whole again ♪ ♪ It's me ♪ ♪ Falling back in love again ♪ ♪ Oh, this glitter high is made of gold ♪ ♪ Oh my God ♪ ♪ Should you take this away from me ♪ ♪ I might forfeit what is left of me ♪ ♪ Dramatic, yes I know ♪ ♪ Enamored and I love it now ♪ ♪ The feeling is that strong ♪ ♪ You might think I'm crazy ♪ ♪ But I know ♪ - And before we close tonight, we want to remind you of some special programs coming this month that might be of interest to you.

On February 18 at 9:00 p.m., on Channel 10, we air a new special, "Milwaukee's Migration Families".

"Denzel Washington: American Paradox".

American Masters: "The Disappearance of Miss Scott".

American Experience, "Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAACP".

"The Exchange: Kaukauna and King 50 Years Later".

And that's our program for this month.

For "Black Nouveau", I'm Earl Arms.

Thanks so much for watching.

(upbeat music)