(bright upbeat music) - Welcome to another episode of InFocus.

I'm Jak Tichenor.

We're celebrating Black History Month this month and looking at the ways social justice movements have shaped history as we look to the future.

This year's SIU School of Law Hiram Lesar distinguished lecturer, took a unique look at the Black Lives Matter movement and other social justice initiatives.

Our Jennifer Fuller talked with Professor John Brittain about his presentation, Racial Awakening, Reckoning, and Mindfulness in 2020.

- Professor John Brittain is this year's SIU Hiram H. Lesar distinguished lecturer through the SIU School of Law.

His talk is about racial awakening, reckoning, and mindfulness in 2020.

Professor, thanks for joining us.

- Good day to you.

- There are a lot of people who feel like they should be doing something, they could be doing something, and they're left wondering what that something should be.

What's your message to them?

- Often throughout the last year, and going on over to the first months of this year, people have used the term racial reckoning as the awareness symbolized specifically by protests over the death, the alleged homicide of George Floyd.

And then all the demonstrations worldwide under the general banner of Black Lives Matter.

That was not really a reckoning, which in a kind of legal accounting sense is a settlement, an economic determination and agreement, and end.

That's reckoning with any kinds of acts.

And in my talk, I feature on the reckonings of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment, freeing slaves, making them citizens with equal protection, and granting voting rights at least to the African-American men.

And we jumped up to the 1960s, which some would call the second reconstruction, with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that created equal accommodations throughout the nation.

The 1965 Voting Rights Act that fully implemented the 15th amendment right to vote nearly a century later, and the 1968 Fair Housing Act.

Those were all kinds of reckoning, but nevertheless we've had clearly a kind of racial awakening throughout 2020, and even into 2021, although it's not publicized that much, but those who know, know that the assault on the Capitol, on January the 6th, and the previous assaults on the election results in Wisconsin and in Michigan and Pennsylvania and Arizona and Georgia, were all about nullifying the youth turnout or the Black vote.

And so that's the racial awakening that was highlighted in 2020, and continuing now into 2021.

- If you take a look at that awakening and then say that there should be a reckoning that comes from that, what reckoning must there be?

And how do we get to the mindfulness that you're looking for as well?

- First, the reckoning.

With the death of Congressman John Lewis, with the priorities of the new Biden administration along with the leading civil rights organizations, one of the top goals of reckoning is to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act of 2021.

That would be a reckoning to reverse what was a Supreme Court decision called Shelby County Alabama versus Holder, but then the attorney general then decided a setback and gutted a major part of the 1965 Voting Rights as it had been amended many times.

The latest regarding that case was 2006.

So, that is one example of a reckoning to create a remedy to achieve racial equality.

I talk about what Dr. Martin Luther King, as well as Congressman John Lewis, called love and they spoke of love in social action.

It's not that they love being in social action, but they love social action itself to bring about racial equality.

But they also challenged white supremacy and white privilege with what they would call humanity.

And sometimes the love that Dr. Martin Luther King's associated with is not that he loved the people who perpetrated the racial inequities but he loved being in the social action and he wanted to act humane with those persons, ultimately trying to help them.

And that leads into the remedy I'm talking about called mindfulness.

In mindfulness, the teachers, each individual, how do they cope with the question of race?

How do you have a conversation about race?

And one of my themes from a biblical reference is you should learn what you don't know and you should learn what you can do and you should always remind yourself of those two rules.

And so you have to learn what you can achieve.

And it goes through some Buddhist principles of breathing, deep breathing, meditation, concentration, but it really talks about how individuals can cope with their life here in the United States.

- Professor John Brittain is this year's SIU School of Law Hiram H. Lesar distinguished lecturer and Professor, thanks so much for your time.

- My pleasure.

Good today to you.

- About three years ago, a Springfield man was given a gift from a friend.

He had no way of knowing that it would lead him on a great journey.

That gift was a poster from a civil rights march and it began the journey to amass an enormous collection of civil rights memorabilia.

Mark McDonald has the story.

- We're in the home, Springfield home of Aaron Pearl.

And Aaron, it's Black History Month, and you just happened to be, probably didn't notice when you started this collection, but for February, you're sort of a center of activity, because you have started just a few years ago gathering extensive collection of civil rights memorabilia and it's pretty remarkable.

I really want to ask you about how you got involved with this but I wanna start by looking at the very first poster that you collected and tell us why, how it got you started.

- Well a good friend of mine, Clint Hayley, introduced me to APIC, I started collecting buttons, he went to a show that I didn't attend, fund this poster, brought it back to me, I framed that poster, and after I framed the poster, the bug hit and it became an addiction of just finding more and more civil rights-- - You keep the framers in business don't you?

- Yes, I do.

Yes, I do.

- Because if you look around this room, your wall, all the walls are really well-stocked with posters and you've got buttons and you've got all kinds of memorabilia but let's walk over here and talk about this one though, because this one is a really, this may be the most rare item in your collection.

This is a pennant from Martin Luther King's March on Washington, "I Had A Dream" speech and you had to be present at this to get this one of these pendants, didn't you?

- Yeah, you had to be present and I wasn't present.

This happened to get into my collection through a friend that had got it from another friend, and so when I got it, I decided because I had the button and the pennant, to put them together, frame them together, because I said, and I had the frame that I spoke to Dave Borlin, he framed it for me, this was his creation of the frame because the Black and white shows the unity of the hands on the punnet and also on the button as well.

- And there's a picture of Dr. King up there addressing the hundreds of thousands of folks that showed up that day.

Really, really nice.

And a lot of this came from, I mean, well, about that same time, things are starting to boil over, especially in the South, and this is part of your collection too, which is remarkable.

And to tell us about the bridge scene.

- Well, what you're seeing here is John Lewis when he's coming over the Edmund Pettus Bridge and Alabama state troopers give him the two minute warning to turn back around and they don't turn back around, and the Alabama state troopers attack the marchers that were coming over the Edmund Pettus Bridge and that's referred to as Bloody Sunday.

- Mm hmm.

This is part of that same day when they didn't observe the two minute warning.

- Yes, sir.

- And then over here, this was actually posted in, what city was that posted in?

- This was Nashville, Tennessee, 1932.

It a public swimming pool but underneath, it says white only.

- Mm hmm, mm hmm.

And then this vote too, was just part of the same a day when the, the bridge day or was that about?

- This was, this young only man here, Bruce Davidson took this picture in '65.

And this young man was marching from Montgomery, Alabama to Selma for the right to vote.

- Okay, and then right here, something similar is going on here too.

- Yes, young students wanting to vote as well.

- Lot about voting.

Voting was really, what was seen then as it should be seen, as a real key, a fundamental right that had to be observed if Black people were going to be incorporated into the system, voting had everything to do with it, didn't it?

- Yes, yes.

- The buttons are terrific.

Do you have any favorites?

- Oh, yes.

Yes.

Yes, I do.

Really two of my favorite buttons is the poll tax button, Pay your polls.

- Oh, it's very small.

Okay.

- And in the South, as African-Americans, you had to pay a tax and be able to pass a test to be able to vote.

Then also I have a stop the lynching button and that button came from-- - Okay, that's right above.

It's very small, okay.

- And that came from the NAACP during the race riots here in Springfield, Illinois.

- And then I kinda like this one, 'cause you told me the story about this one.

It's the only election Obama ever lost was for city council.

- Only election that Obama ever lost was to Bobby Rush.

- That's great.

Wow.

You're on the lookout for buttons still?

- Yes, sir.

- Well, Aaron-- - Just don't tell my wife.

- Okay, Aaron, this is a treat.

I'm really glad that you showed it to us and I'm glad that we could be here in February.

I have a feeling that, there's a lot of wall space in Aaron's basement here, but I have a feeling that that's not going to be for long.

I think it's going to be filled pretty quick.

InFocus in Springfield, I'm Mark MacDonald.

- The number of Black men enrolled in medical school has remained nearly unchanged since the 1970s.

That lack of diversity has real consequences and studies show Black patients have better outcomes when treated by Black doctors.

It's especially critical during a pandemic like COVID-19, which has disproportionately affected Black Americans.

Health reporter Steph Whiteside has more.

- My name is Jonathan Tyes, I am a first year medical student at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky.

I am originally from Cleveland, Ohio, I am the eldest of 10 children, a first generation college graduate, and also the first physician in my family, or becoming the first physician in my family.

- What made you decide that you wanted to go into medicine?

- So several factors really led to this juncture, and medicine is the only career that I've considered since I was, you know, I could formulate thought, but I was raised by my grandparents who were both elderly and we were in and out of hospitals a lot of times because of their illnesses.

And there were just several times where I could tell that the treatment that we were receiving was major, you know, the majority of it was because that we were poor persons of color, we were under-insured and we really didn't know how to navigate the healthcare system.

And then one incident in particular that really cemented it for me, I was away at school at Morehouse College and I got a call from the hospital, my grandmother, and she said that one of her nurses had called her the n-word, an expletive, because she asked for more pain medication.

And so I wanted to make sure that this was something that actually occurred and not like, you know, maybe she was kinda hallucinating as a side effect of some medication and after speaking with several staff members, I indeed verified that that is what she was told.

And I knew at that moment that the only way that I could be an active participant in this, the only way I could make sure that that would not happen again to someone else's family member was for me to be the physician providing care.

- And I think you mentioned before that you're hoping when you graduate to specifically serve marginalized populations, is that the case?

- Absolutely.

I still want to practice in an area that is similar to where I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio.

I want to be able to, several different things, I want, you know, a child who comes into the hospital to see me as a Black physician and say, wow, I can do that, because they see someone who looks like them.

I also want to be able to put my patients at ease especially those of us who who are Black, you know, my grandfather passed away unfortunately because he went to an emergency room three times, three days in a row and said, hey, I don't know what's wrong with me, but I'm not feeling good.

And they told him that he was exaggerating, to go home, and get fluids and he died three days later from congestive heart failure.

And so I want to make sure that those same community, the same community that gave me so much that you know, taught me that you really can become whatever you wish if you're willing to put in the work, I want to give this back to that same community to prevent that from happening.

- We first spoke a year ago when you were in the MedPrep program at SIU.

Can you tell me a little bit about how MedPrep helped you get ready for med school?

- Oh, absolutely.

So, you know, before MedPrep, I don't think that there was a medical school in the country who would have said, hey, take this guy.

He's gonna, you know, be successful and do well.

I needed to do some serious rehab of my GPA, my grades from undergrad, and MedPrep was one of the few, if not the only program in the country, who would even take a gamble on me.

And actually the first time I applied to MedPrep, they called me and they said, you know, we loved your interview, we loved your test taking skills, but you know your GPA doesn't quite make the cut.

We need you to take four or five more additional classes so we can really get you up to speed.

And so I took the classes, started MedPrep in the summer of June, June of '18, and it was a whirlwind because that first summer, those science classes, they started, you know, at a slow pace and then they picked up so quickly and the skills that you develop, the material that they go through, they really teach you how to hone in on understanding the science, not rote memorization, but really understanding what is happening and on each level they continue to build until we go from the most basic level to one of my favorite courses that I took there which was the gross anatomy lab where we got to do catevaric dissections, which in all honesty, made my first semester of medical school, you know, almost a breeze, because the first semester was all, you know, gross anatomy and some integration, and because I had actually done this before, I had seen it before, it was really like a refresher course and so MedPrep really saved my academic career in terms of me going to medical school, because when I left there, not only was I well-prepared because of the rigorous academic curriculum that they had, but I had a lot of confidence that was, you know, put into me that I could actually do this and I've been doing a very well here at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.

- [Steph] When he graduates, Tyes hopes to practice medicine in underserved communities.

MedPrep is a program offered by Southern Illinois University that helps economically and educationally disadvantaged students prepare for success in health professions.

- Central Illinois has long been a place rich with performing arts.

As we honor Black History Month, we hear from some of the area's most talented Black actors who are a vital part of bringing stories to life for area audiences.

- [Vincent] Uncle Pat, his name was Patrick Henry Chappelle, He started the Rabbit's Foot Minstrels or the Rabbit's Foot Vaudeville Show.

At one particular point in time, he was considered to be the Black P.T.

Barnum.

It was just really important because it launched the careers of so many African-American people who wanted to make it in show business, who saw something bigger for themselves, like Bessie Smith and also Ma Rainey.

(vintage music) I feel like it's a way of our ancestors kind of speaking through us and allowing us the chance to to tell these stories by utilizing our talents.

But it sometimes seemed like there was a lack of opportunity unless you look a certain way or unless people have seen you in a lot of things.

♪ Say a prayer ♪ - You know, almost immediately when I auditioned for Memphis that was not the case.

Like I was actually given a chance and nobody looked at me differently, nobody treated me differently.

I was paralyzed at one point.

So I also experienced vocal paralysis during that time.

So I hadn't really sung a note in like two years.

My nerves were on edge, I can say that, but once the curtain was open, it was a really empowering feeling.

So it's really important that we know these things particularly so future generations know them as well but it's also important to tell those stories without, you know, without the trauma and without the violence that comes with it, because we lived through that enough.

- A lot of the roles I played have either been servants, they've been comedic relief, they've been the fun, crazy sidekick, or the super religious Black brother, but I didn't never get to play someone who isn't broken.

I always have to play someone broken and that's, you know, Black actors are more than that.

I'm tired of playing your slave.

I'm tried of playing your servant.

I'm tired of playing your Black brother.

I just want to play the character.

I want to play somebody who has substance, who isn't broken, who's healed.

I ache with tenderness and kind compassion!

We make it seem like Black people, civil rights, slaves era, you know, all these Black people, like they were helpless, but Black people had to learn to be resilient, how to be independent.

And I want to see that more in theater.

Shows where the truth isn't hidden.

It's a mirror that you put up to society and you say, this is you.

- I am a historical actor at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum.

I do a show called Ghosts of the Library, and in that nine minute show we are narrating the story of Lincoln and his artifacts.

In addition to narrating these artifacts, we also talk about the history, the pain, the death that permeated that time.

I need to be careful about how I say this, because I don't want people to think that all oh, I'm ungrateful because I'm definitely in a very fortunate spot, but I need people to recognize that the story that I get paid to tell is one of the darkest moments in American history and I have to continuously walk into a place of trauma in order to tell that story, whether I'm speaking about slavery or not, that period of time is always connected with that original sin of slavery.

And because we're in Lincoln's town, Lincoln's land, we constantly tap into that narrative, into that story and it's very draining.

There've been times that I've honestly wondered like, okay, how am I going to make it through this performance without like having an emotional reaction.

There are very few opportunities for Black folks in general, minorities in general, that are not trauma based and it's hard.

It's absolutely difficult.

Because yes, we have this amazing, rich, beautiful, enduring, and resilient culture and these resilient narratives, but at the same time, how can we continue to grow and be beyond that?

♪ I can feel the cold creeping in my bones ♪ - I know for me being a young Black woman, it means a lot when we're able to do shows that reflect on either Black stories or, you know, involve people of color in any shape, form, or fashion.

It means a lot to be able to express ourselves through music.

In the past, there have been so many people that I think could have blown that part out of the water if given the chance and a lot of them feel discouraged because they don't get that opportunity or they're not made aware of what's going on and I would like to see more of them get the time to shine in local community theater scene.

- But I do like the direction that theater is moving as a whole.

I do like the direction of the color-blind casting and just solely basing it on their talent.

- I think our community has come a long way.

I think we've gone through enough, we've come so far, and I think even today, this is still just the beginning of a long haul to get where we deserve to be as anybody else.

(audience claps) (magical music) This community, it was an instant welcome.

Landing the role of Peter Pan, I mean, it was just like typically they were casting females in that role, and as a man of color, I almost felt like I was breaking that mold in a sense that, you know, times are changing and people are awake and people are open-minded to difference.

♪ I, I want to be in the room where it happens ♪ ♪ The room where it happens ♪ To see the shows like Hamilton and then you go to film and you see Bridgerton and all these diverse casts, like it's amazing to feel included without a hint of racism being involved.

- My thoughts of you never end.

- Black creatives don't just need the space to dream.

They need the insurance to dream.

And what I mean by that is more than support, more than encouragement, more than promotion, more than exposure, more than capital, we need actual engagement and people willing to be uncomfortable enough to engage.

- You have strength, you have a community, you have backing.

You have it in you.

Go reach your promise, go reach your potential.

Don't let people hold you back.

(cast singing) (audience applauding) - Many theater venues continue to be shut down because of the pandemic.

Some are finding ways to perform online, and in the future with small groups.

These actors look forward to your continued support for the arts.

Thanks for joining us for this episode of InFocus.

As always, you can find our segments online wsiu.org.

We'll see you again next time.

For InFocus, I'm Jak Tichenor.

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