- Race, equity and justice are terms that we throw around frequently.

With the murder of George Floyd, the shooting of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, in a short window of time, America has been faced with the inequities that exist in our democracy.

There are people who are working to provide support, assistance and mentoring to people from marginalized communities right here in this region.

Government, private businesses, foundation and institutions of higher learning are working to uplift communities and provide a more level playing field.

Hello, my name is Phillip Davis.

Welcome to Courageous Conversations.

We are broadcasting from the PPL Public Media Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Joining me to discuss what they are doing to assist different communities are Lamont McClure, the county executive of Northampton County, Martin Cohen, partner of Cohen, Feeley, Altemose and Rambo as well as the president of the Cohen Foundation, Dr Nilzarrel Townsend, senior learning specialist at Rutgers University.

Thank you all for joining me and for agreeing to be on Courageous Conversations.

I want to jump right in because this is a really hot topic right now.

And I think it's a it's an important, courageous conversation.

Many at times we think about our local governments, our institutions of higher learning, as well as our private companies and they and what they're doing within our community.

So Lamont as the county executive of Northampton County, why do you believe issues of race and equity are important?

- Well, Pastor Davis, thank you so much for inviting us to participate here today.

I, like so many others, were activated, was activated by the killing of George Floyd.

And I didn't just want to be supportive of peaceful protests.

I wanted to take action.

And in our own little corner of the world, we had an opportunity to enhance and to improve equity and justice.

So I jumped in both feet.

And I am using the power of county government to try and make the lives of folks just a little bit better every day.

And let me just give you two quick examples.

One, I had the sheriff of Northampton County review our deputies' use of force policies.

When we did, we found a loophole in that policy that permitted chokeholds.

There is absolutely no law enforcement reason for chokeholds to be employed.

I banned chokeholds in Northampton County with respect to the deputies being able to use them by closing that loophole.

Additionally, we wanted to talk about addressing the problem, these frequent violent interactions with law enforcement and people of color.

And one of the things we're doing in Northampton County is we are paying.

So we're funding the police, funding them.

We are paying for implicit bias training.

And that's important because even if in the top of our heads, we don't have race on our minds when we're interacting with people of color, implicit bias can cause us to react in ways that lead to detrimental outcomes for people of color.

I want that to stop.

- Right.

- So in Northampton County, Northampton County will pay for implicit bias treatment for all of our police departments.

- That's that's wonderful, because many times when we think about that type of training, it's not happening.

Some people were doing it by Internet.

They were just checking off a box, right?

And they really weren't allowing the work that needs to be done of dismantling white supremacy and issues like that to really impact them.

And so I'm glad to hear that Northampton County is engaging in that.

You know, before I move to our next guest, you know, you did something when you first came into office and you banned checking a box.

Why was that important to you as as you were coming in as the county executive?

- Well, I think let's let folks know what the box is.

On applications when you go to get a new job, they ask you if you've ever been arrested or convicted of a crime.

And very often what that does is that immediately excludes anybody who's ever had any negative interaction with law enforcement.

And how do you ever get your life back on track if you can't get a job?

- Right.

- So and as you and I both know, Pastor, it disproportionately affects people from minority communities.

So I banned the box so that those folks at least get an interview as opposed to having their resume be tossed away because they checked some arbitrary box about a mistake they made when they were 22 years old.

- Yeah, yeah, kudos to you, it was a big step, and I'm sure that it has helped to level the playing field somewhat in regards to those who have been marginalized and maybe have had a bad experience with the police, maybe even at a younger age.

I want to go to you, Marty, because we have talked about a bit, and we'll talk more about what our what our county government is doing.

So you are a successful attorney.

You've done great work in the community.

Can you tell us tell our viewers, what are some of the things that your foundation and your law firm are doing to help encourage and inspire equity and justice?

- Well, first of all, the the focus of the world has changed, especially with respect to the foundation because we started out awarding scholarships to young people, I believe education can be an equalizer and we were dealing with children at risk and everything was based on need.

And now all of a sudden a year ago, we're faced with a lot of issues, both with respect to equity and need.

So, you know, we are, first of all, trying to be supportive of organizations like the Community Action Committee and the Bethlehem School District and other places where there are anti-racism programs.

Some of the schools, school district that you know, have programs in existence.

So my law firm and myself are trying to be supportive of them by giving them some financial help.

I think what's important is we're trying to also learn what we don't know.

I'm not an expert in police procedure.

I want to be supportive of the community and the police.

But I also know I'm not the person to be talking about what should be done or what shouldn't be done with respect to the police.

So we are supporting some programs with the police which have to do with children and projects which have to do with children, working with the Easton Police and the Allentown Police.

And we're working with United Way on the TeenWorks program, and I've worked with United Way forever.

And as you know, I've also been very active with the Easton Boys and Girls Club, partially because they're very successful at what they do.

So continuing to do that and making some contributions to emergency funds at the various colleges to help everybody here, I'm a big believer that education is the equalizer.

- The great equalizer.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

- You also have to learn there are limits as to what you can do.

I don't have a big foundation and my law firm can't, you know, is not Bill Gates with respect to saving the world.

So we're trying to pick and choose what we do.

And we're looking with a couple of non-profits now to come up with a project.

And I'm just going to continue to pursue looking at those things and trying to be participants with that.

So that's in general what we're doing.

- Well, thank you.

Yeah, I looked up at the report and it looked like in the last couple of years your foundation had awarded somewhere of $188,000 to in grants and scholarships and things of that nature in the last couple of years, so I'm sure those dollars are having a significant impact.

So so we see now as as I turn to Dr Nil, you work with youth and athletes.

What is your role, Dr Nil, and why do you believe it's important to assist student athletes as they are coming into institutions of higher learning?

- All right, so, yes, Pastor, with my my role, obviously, I serve as a senior learning specialist, as well as a secondary sport administrator for men and women's track and field at Rutgers University, main campus.

And, you know, as we know, the educational piece is very, very important, especially for minority students, student athletes and all of the athletes.

But, you know, from that standpoint, where student athletes are coming in.

They've been praised well for their athletic abilities.

But for me, being a former student athlete myself, a first-generational college student, using basketball as a as a vehicle to further my education and to and further my career advancement, I understand the importance of academics.

So for me, I work closely with the most at-risk student athlete population.

I also work closely with student athletes who come in with documented learning disabilities, very high-profile athletes, difference difference changers, as well as game changers.

So what I'm really focusing on is the remedial skills, learning strategies and skills in that nature making referrals for psychoeducation evaluations, neuropsych evals, to make sure that student athletes are actually supported from an academic side of things and they receive the appropriate academic accommodations.

- Wow.

- But when we talk about social justice, you know, I'm actually, I'll be writing writing in a chapter on Black Lives Matter for a nationally published handbook to be distributed on social justice strategies.

I submitted a proposal about a month and a half ago.

It was actually approved.

My district, my dissertation chair reached out to me from my my my doctorate degree and sent me an invite.

And immediately I read through it and I said, "Hey, this is right up my alley."

Because I think it's more information that can be provided.

And, you know, for the Black Lives Matter movement we'll dive all the way to the Trayvon Martin standpoint.

We'll look at the history of racism in America and we'll look at strategies in ways that we can educate not only the community, but everyone on a national stage.

And and that's key.

And, you know, I take pride in that of being able to continue my my educational experience.

But I also understand, you know, being the minority, that there are some there are some challenges.

But, you know, if you can you can educate yourself and educate others, maybe we can kind of curve some of these nuances that are taking place that continue to creep in, to creep back into society in regards to the social injustice standpoint and just just really attack it head on.

But but be smart with every initiative that we actually put forth and to to educate everyone, you know, not just minorities, but but the rest of the world and the population in today's society.

- Yeah, you know, that's why we started Courageous Conversations, because what we found was that many times when conversations about race, justice and equity come up, people are just not listening to one another, right, they're not talking to one another.

And so because of that, there is this separation, this divisiveness, this defensiveness specifically when it when it comes to issues of race.

And thank you for that, Doc.

Now, Lamont, I know there are some programs that you're doing.

When you think about Northampton County, Minorities represent a small percentage of the population there in Northampton County.

But, you know, and in areas of housing, economics, unemployment, even incarceration, we're significantly lagging behind.

But you've got some programs, I believe, that you're doing in partnership with community organizations that are going to help to address some of those.

Can you talk about some of the programs that you have going on and what you're looking to do?

- Well, yeah, and, you know, one of the things that I think, Pastor, that you touched on and that Mr Cohen and Dr Townsend also hit upon is a job and education.

I mean, these are the two big things that we can do in our communities to make folks' lives better.

They are absolutely right about this.

And in addition, we need to educate allies, right?

We need allies from all communities to understand why equity in education, for example, is important.

And so the we must, in my view, defend vigorously universal public education for everyone while we are also fighting to have it be more equitable, which we absolutely have to do, yeah.

So you're talking about some of the things we do.

We have in Northampton County Prison, something called the LEAP program.

And as you know, a disproportionate number of residents in NCP are minority, when you compare them to their representation in the population, and what our LEAP program does is it prepares people to work once they leave the jurisdiction of the county jail.

And why is that important?

Well, we're very science-driven in Northampton County and we know two things.

One, getting your GED will keep you from coming back to prison and two, having a job will keep you from coming back to prison.

And while it's not scientific, our LEAP program is showing tremendous progress in keeping people from committing new crimes and coming back to NCP, and we couldn't be more proud of it.

Now, the pandemic has, like most things in life, has really thrown breaks on this program, but as soon as we get everybody vaccinated and can get everybody back in, we're going to fire it up again.

And these are the these are the things that we will do to reduce recidivism in Northampton County.

- And, you know, it's amazing.

You talk about the importance and the power of education, the power of having a job, the power of and how that can help stem the tide of recidivism and folks entering back in into the prison.

You know, when I was talking to Marty, he mentioned it earlier about education being the great equalizer and the foundation to really focus on education.

Before I go to Dr Nil to talk a little bit more about education and inequities, Marty, why do you think that education is so critically important to help empower young people to a brighter future?

- Well, it opens up doors for them.

I mean, there's no question and I've seen that over the years with some of the people I've worked with here and some of the people we're working with now, that, you know, if they have the education and they have a degree and they can get a job and a lot of them become interested in, you know, coming back to the community and helping out.

- Sure.

- There was one young man I gave a scholarship to I don't know how many years ago it was already, but he came back to the Bethlehem school district and started his own scholarship.

- Wow, how about that?

- So, you know, it's just I come from a family where education was important.

When my father passed away, which was a long time ago, I found a college transcript of his that showed that he took two courses every semester at night while he was working to get through school.

It was just that important for him to have a degree.

So I think the more people we can help with education, the better off the world is going to be and it'll help equity, it's not going to solve the problem.

And in addition to that, I think we have to work hard to keep it moving.

You know, it's enlightening to see everybody working and getting out the vote and doing those things that were necessary.

We can't let down on that.

It's just got to keep happening.

- Thank you.

Yeah, thank you for that.

I mean, it's a watershed moment for the nation.

Dr Nil, you know, when I think about student athletes and now they're talking about whether whether to pay NCAA athletes and whether they should receive money, a lot of times what we know is that these students, especially from marginalized communities, African-Americans, very talented athletes, come from school districts that have suffered from what we call redlining, right?

So the school districts are not funded well.

Therefore, the level of education that they acquire does not empower them to excel at the level educationally.

How does what you do help to stem that tide?

And and why is it important to to help those students from marginalized communities?

- First and foremost, again, you know, I was once one of those athletes, so I have an appreciation for everyone that I that I embrace and touch that, you know, I'm fortunate enough that the Lord's provided me an opportunity to be a vehicle to service the student athletes.

So what I do is for the most at-risk kids who come in the high-profile sports teams, the first week they they get into our campus, and is basically being immersed from an academic and athletic standpoint, I conduct initial educational assessments.

So what does that do?

That gives me the ability to assess their educational history, their background from kindergarten all the way up to 12th grade, as well as entering our doors, I conduct a short learning styles quiz to see how those student athletes learn.

It gives us the ability to know if if the student athlete's an auditorial learner, kinesthetic learner, visual learner, multi-learner, things of that nature so we can kind of build a game plan for their success.

Thirdly, I actually collect a writing sample from the student athletes and I know that they're coming in with transcripts, SAT scores and things of that nature.

But I need to dive a little bit more deeper because I know that we need to put the right support in place for the student athlete to be not only successful in the classroom, but also on the athletic field, but also to progress towards completing their degree requirements, because at the end of the day, it's only a small percentage of the student athletes that are going to go pro.

And we see that every day.

You know, me being a basketball guy, I understand the numbers, but also working with high-profile football guys that are in the Big Ten conference, I understand, you know, a lot of our student athletes have the dreams of one day making the NBA or NFL.

But if I can get them at an early age as they come into our doors to get a full understanding of how they best learn, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and then introduce different learning skills and strategies on time management, organization notetaking, how to actually outline a paper and conduct research for their writing and things of that nature, I'm actually showing them things that are outside of their wheelhouse, and comfort level, but I'm also preparing them for life after their sports.

So, that is the key for me.

And we all know that education is our passport to success, to being successful but it also takes a village.

And I think at Rutgers University we have a great academic support team that is in place, our athletic department as well.

Everyone's pushing for high standards in marking for the from the academic side of things.

Just look on our website, you know, there's always something going on or something being advertised about the student athlete's success in the classroom.

And that's important because when we look at Rutgers University, we're looking at a state of New Jersey, a top-notch institution that can be considered an Ivy League institution of the Big Ten.

You know, and we have some some great researchers that are at the institution.

I myself, I have a doctorate degree, but I also will be obtaining a one second master's degree from Rutgers University in May.

I'm a lifelong learner and I enjoy learning.

And I think by me having that degree, when students come in, I can say, hey, you know, this is also my institution, too.

You know, I went and I got a masters degree in adult and continuing education, one of the top programs in the nation for graduate schools of education, the GSE program.

You know, last I looked, they were top top 50 in the country, number 43, to be exact.

But again, someone that's that's been there, done that, understands the dynamics and the importance of an education, but also understanding that having the ability to utilize your athletic skills to take you to that next level, which will ultimately prepare you for life.

Because if you're a student athlete, you already understand the importance of being part of a team.

You always you already understand the ability to work hard, and you're also well-experienced having the ability to work through adversity, whether it's in your athletic sport, in your career, your profession, and then how do you navigate that?

So when we look at navigating things, we look at the social justice and inequities, things of that nature.

How do you handle it?

How can you handle it from a respectful manner?

And how do you how do you break how do you break the barriers to to be successful?

- That's I mean, I can tell your passion for what you do and how it impacts the children, I'm sorry, the young adults that you come in contact with.

And that's that's a gift, right?

Individuals like yourself who have kind of walked the path and have overcome and then are giving back to our communities are critically, critically important.

You know, I remember, County Executive, that you held some conversations with your local police where you brought law enforcement in to have discussions around that inequity, how did that go?

How was it received by some of the other by the law enforcement there in Northampton County?

And kind of what was the outcome of that?

- Yeah, really.

So we've had three of those meetings and they were really born out of I wanted to keep up the momentum of the peaceful protests that we saw around the killing of George Floyd last year in the Lehigh Valley.

I mean, we really have to commend our folks in the Lehigh Valley.

So they kept it that nobody got hurt.

And that was really important because they had a very powerful message and the powerful message got through because those protests were peaceful.

And what I wanted to do was connect community leaders, not just police, but people from all walks of life.

We had one of your associate pastors there.

We had the bishop there.

I wanted to make sure the people who were leading those powerful but peaceful protests were in connection with decision makers in the community so that we could continue that momentum.

And you know what?

Everybody was really open to it.

They were really open to it.

And, you know, this is such an important conversation this morning.

We're talking about equity in education.

We're talking about the importance of education.

And I just want to reiterate the importance of universal public education in creating more allies, more people who are willing to put their white privilege on the line to try and make a more equitable and just society.

I had a young man, a very good friend of mine, of my son's, at our dinner table the other night.

And this kid is the best of us, right?

He he's he can do anything he wants in this world and really contribute to our community and making our place a better place.

He happens to be African-American.

And he asked me what I thought about what was going to happen in the George Floyd murder trial.

And we had that conversation.

And, you know, it broke my heart.

This kid has no expectation that the overall power structure in this country will do the right thing.

- Yeah, and that's really sad.

- And that's what we have to change.

This kid is the best of us, right?

He deserves to know that that he lives in a just society.

And and Mr Cohen's right.

We're not we're not changing these things overnight.

Absolutely.

But we all have to start.

And I think it starts with education and I think it starts by creating more allies so he doesn't have to feel that way.

He doesn't have to feel like he's doing all he's doing to enter into a society that isn't going to be there for him.

- Just your commentary and spending time and having that discussion, I think, is what Courageous Conversations are all about.

Evidently, you've created an environment where folks who don't look like you are welcome to your dinner table, and this is where change comes when we can listen to one another, learn from one another and connect with one another and even have empathy for one another's journey.

I want to say to each of you, thank you for taking the time to be with us here on Courageous Conversations.

I always feel like we could go for an hour because there's so many things that we don't get a chance to discuss but evidently you're all doing the work within your communities, and I just want to take the time to say thank you.

Thank you for what you're doing and keep going.

I know you're going to continue to have a significant impact in the community in which you live and you serve.

So thank you so much for joining us today.

- Thank you.

- Yeah.

There are so many people in the Lehigh Valley doing courageous work to engage and enhance the lives of others, and we would like to put them in the spotlight.

So if you have someone that you would like to put in the spotlight, you've got to go to... ..and put that information in there.

We would love to hear your suggestions.

We don't want to miss anybody.

We want to connect with folks who are doing the work in our community and give them a spotlight.

Listen, please stick around for Counter Culture with Grover Silcox.

His show is straight ahead.

I'm Pastor Phil Davis.

And on behalf of everyone here at PBS39, thanks for watching.

Remember to tune in Tuesday night at 6:30pm right here on PBS39.