(soft music) (low-key music) (low-key music continues) - Hello, everyone.

I'm Earl Arms, wishing you and yours a Happy New Year and a welcome to the January 2026 edition of "Black Nouveau".

This month, James Causey talks with psychologist Dr.

Ramel Kweku Amoasi about ways to cope with some of the projected financial and social issues we'll face in the new year.

We'll preview the Black Lens films for Black History Month starting in February, including two about the importance of the Black press, and we'll meet a team promoting their documentary about Wisconsin's Black cowboys.

But we begin with our January tradition, presenting one of the winners of the annual MLK Speech Writing contest.

- We are told to keep peace, but most of the time, that just means don't make anyone uncomfortable.

The idea of true peace exists in a vacuum with a scum of discrimination that clogs it.

The idea of peace is comforting.

However, the concept of justice gets placed on the backs of those not built to bear it.

But peace without justice isn't calm, it's quiet, and quiet can be dangerous.

Sometimes, oppression isn't aggression.

Instead, the regression and denial of accountability on account of willful ignorance that this system rewards.

We call things peaceful when they're silent, when voices are ignored, when tension is avoided, but peace that hides truth isn't justice, it's pretending; an action that keeps the stage unmoving, story rewritten, and lives lost.

Dr.

King once said, "True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice."

That line is powerful, but we forget what it really means.

It means peace isn't about everything looking fine on the surface.

It's about what's underneath, whether people are safe, whether they're treated fairly, whether the system is built for everyone and not just a few.

And if we're honest, a lot of what we call peace today is just the absence of noise, not the presence of fairness.

We can celebrate progress, and yet there's been no progress.

How am I supposed to appreciate a system curated to lead me at my own expense?

A system doomed to give leniency by color, not context.

When context is warped by bullets, blurred by tears and mirrored in the reflection of handcuffs, it's hard to trust body camera footage.

And peace is not a destination we reach and stop at, it's something we have to keep creating every single day.

We can't quote Dr.

King in January and forget about justice by May.

We can't praise his dream while ignoring the parts of a system inherently defective.

That, to King, is a disservice.

To press his name onto posters, to filter his dream through White idolatry is disgusting.

Dr.

King didn't stand for quiet, he stood for courage.

He stood for the kind of peace that costs something, the peace that comes from truth, from tension that leads to understanding, from standing up even when it's unpopular.

As a student, I see how people confuse calm with peace all the time.

We're told to move on, to let it go, to keep things positive.

But peace isn't about pretending everything's okay, it's about asking why it's not.

When we silence ourselves for comfort, we lose the chance for change.

When we ignore injustice because it's inconvenient, we lose the meaning of peace altogether.

True peace is built through honesty in classrooms and conversations and the way we treat each other when no one's watching.

It's when we choose listening over assumptions, understanding over judgment, and accountability over avoidance.

Peace is not passive.

It's not a break from reality, it's facing reality and deciding to change it.

And that's something every generation has to do for themselves.

Dr.

King's dream wasn't for us to live quietly, it was for us to live righteously.

He didn't want a world without tension, he wanted a world where tension led to truth.

So, when I think of true peace, I don't imagine silence, I imagine people speaking up, even when their voice shakes.

I imagine communities choosing honesty over comfort.

I imagine justice sitting at the same table as unity.

True peace means that not everyone will agree, but everyone will be heard.

That's the kind of peace Dr.

King fought for.

That's the kind of peace we still have to fight for today.

Because, until justice is present, peace will always be unfinished.

And in this will be the death of a false prophet; oversold, neutralized, commercialized, and easy to purchase.

The revolution may not be televised, but the death of America will lay in the hands of its White savior.

And ain't that the truth?

- Here with Ayden Thrash, a junior at Golda Meir.

Ayden, thank you so much for joining us here on "Black Nouveau", and congratulations on all your success.

- Thank you so much.

Happy to be here.

- Oh, for sure.

Sure.

Happy to have you.

So, talk about the inspiration for your piece.

What's the background that went into writing it, reciting it, and creating it?

It's pretty strong stuff.

- I would say my main inspiration was definitely a source of anger.

I thought the title, with the way the country's going right now, was very telling.

I think that it was a statement to have such a title of true peace when the country's in the state that it's in, and obviously things are happening the way that they're happening.

And I find it interesting to say the least.

- (laughs) Well, talk about just what you hope your message has on people who listen, maybe, you know, even you in the future, just thinking about those who might take your message in.

What do you hope they get from it?

- You are you.

You will express yourself however you're going to express yourself, and however you express yourself is beautiful.

Literacy is an art.

It is a way that anyone can express themselves.

And articulation is such a beautiful form of expression that I feel is often overlooked and very underfunded, even in schools and even in adult spaces.

So, yeah.

- What does your future look like?

Where are you going to school?

What do you hope to do?

- I hope to definitely pursue forensic psychology.

Forensic psychology, which is a kind of criminology, sort of kind of mix; I love criminal justice, obviously I'm very socially, I would hope to think, aware, and I would like to think very active in the small ways that I've tried to be, including this, and that kind of socialist kind of activism that I wish to kind of share.

Yeah.

- Extremely fitting.

Anything else you wanna share?

- Honestly, if you don't think you can do it, if you are worried about if you can do it, if you are questioning, if it's an if, and, or but, don't let it be.

You're capable of anything.

Anyone is capable of anything.

And justice is not singular.

Justice is not centered.

Justice is multifaceted, and the understanding that you can make a difference beyond the traditional difference, as we call it, your difference could be just within your community.

Your difference could be within you.

Your difference could be large, your difference could be small, but it is a difference, and every difference makes a difference.

So, yeah.

- I like that.

Thank you so much, Ayden, again, for joining us, and congratulations again.

- Absolutely.

Thank you so much.

(relaxing music) - [Speaker] It's the day one.

(water dripping) (vampires growling) (vampires growling) (footsteps thundering) - That's a clip from "Blade", the 1998 Wesley Snipes vampire film that spawned two sequels and a possible reboot in the near future.

It will be one of the major films shown during Milwaukee Film's Black History Month celebration.

Joining us is Ty Williams, a programmer for Milwaukee Films Black Lens Strands, to tell us about the variety of films that will be coming our way, starting February 7th, with "Sinners".

Still gathering award nominations, "Blade" must have been a easy choice.

Let's talk about that for a while.

Why did you pick "Blade"?

- Yeah, so I chose "Blade" because it is a film that's very near to my heart, specifically, since it's my favorite form, or at least my favorite movie with representation of a Black character.

I think that "Blade" is a character that a lot of people today kind of only envision as Wesley Snipes, and I think that that's very important for fiction and Black people because, a lot of times in fiction, we do not see ourselves represented, and Afrofuturism is all about imagining ourselves in futures.

So, I wanted to showcase "Blade" as a movie that does that, and people may not think it does, but for a lot of folks, you know, we have a very heavy resonance with this movie, because it was the template for a lot of superhero movies and is one of the main ways that, you know, you could see a black man in a superhero film, doing action stuff on screen, at least for the time that it came out.

- Yeah, "Blade" is one of my favorite films, too, and I don't think a lot of people realize how much it inspired all these other Marvel action films that that we see today.

But it was like the start of all of it, and it's a great film.

The festival starts on February 7th, like I said.

And you also picked "The Last Angel of History".

What is that film about?

- Yeah, so "The Last Angel of History" is a documentary by John Akomfrah, and it essentially just sort of details what the Afrofuturist movement is and how it came to be, giving examples, as well, such as the Music of Detroit Techno could be labeled as Afrofuturist, and they sort of get into the roots of Detroit Techno and why it would have that label, and just sort of that idea I sort of said in the "Blade" question, that it's about imagine futures and being able to see ourselves in a place where we're typically not imagined because of the means of colonialism and things of that nature.

So, it's sort of taking back that power by using fiction to show people that, you know, there's still hope to be around for tomorrow.

- Yeah.

You also chose a Sun Ra: "Space is the Place".

That's, like, a 1970s film.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

- Yeah, so I would say it's the weirdest film on this list.

It's just a Sun Ra vehicle Where the plot is that he is a traveling, you know, spaceman from Oakland, with his band, and he's trying to stop the explosion of the world by using his music to defeat the evil overlord that is controlling the world.

It's a very out-there, surrealist movie, but I think it also is a very big pinnacle of what the Afrofuturist movement looks like, or at least has looked like in different forms.

Sun Ra really does it best.

He really does believe in all these ideas, and it shows throughout his music and throughout this film as well.

- And you also got two documentaries about The Black Press, "Soldiers Without Swords" by Stanley Nelson, which looks at the early history of The Black Press, and a documentary that looks at the 50th anniversary of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Can you talk a little bit about those?

- Yeah, so on top of the Afrofuturism program that I put together, we will have NABJ later in February showcase their documentary describing the association for their 50th anniversary and sort of just giving a history on it.

And Carved in Stone is also doing their film, which is, you know, also about journalism, and two separate events, but, you know, sort of bridging the gap between Afrofuturism and journalism by showing the power of Black media in a fictionals context, as well as the power of Black media in reality.

And how we can use journalism to, you know, further shape change in our world and provide good.

So, I wanted to have two different angles, and I'm just really glad that it worked out, so that we could both showcase "Carved in Stone", as well as NABJ, and get some good movies like "Blade" in there as well.

- Yeah, the NABJ film is fantastic.

I've been a member of the organization since 1986.

It was fantastic.

Can you tell people how they could get more information about how to see these films?

- You can go to mkefilm.org/black-lens, and we should have a listing up to locate all of the films I'll be playing in this program, as well as both of the events for the Black journalism, the first one for "Carved in Stone", and the second for NABJ.

They should both be hosted on our website where you could get free tickets for the journalism events, and everything else is regularly tickets, such as the "Blade" and the other films that we have.

But regardless, we hope to see everybody come out and enjoy a lot of different media about a lot of different Black stories.

- Okay, again, thanks for joining us, Ty.

Appreciate it.

- Yep, thank you so much.

- It must have been over 300 kids that I worked with over the years.

Take 'em out to the farm, show 'em how they do this, show 'em see something else different than the streets.

Nobody really know what I've been doing.

I've been doing this for pretty near 40 years, you know, and I'm gonna continue on doing it till I'm not able anymore.

You know, we got some young guys like Calvin and the top side, and I can't count 'em on five toes and five fingers.

I was branded as a Buffalo soldier - That there's footage from a documentary about Wisconsin's Black cowboys.

Yes, Wisconsin had Black cowboys, and we're joined by Natalie Derr and Kevin Nichols who have worked on this project and now are here to talk about it.

Thank you both so much for joining us here on "Black Nouveau".

- Thank you for having us.

- Thank you.

- First off, talk about this interest in Black cowboys.

How did this come about, and thus how did this documentary come about?

- Yeah, great question.

I come from a long line of rural farmers, and my grandpa raised and bred horses.

So, I was introduced to the Black cowboys through Creative Mornings.

They came on on their story and talked about how they needed help with a website and kind of promoting who they were.

And I had never known that there was a Black Cowboy and Buffalo Soldier Association in Milwaukee.

And from the website came the documentary, came a book.

There was just a lot of collaboration and learning Mr.

Steele and Kevin's story.

I was like, "This is something that's very special and unique to Milwaukee, and how do we further document that legacy?

- Hmm, so talk about the documentary.

What is it about, what will people see in it if they decide to watch it, and what do you hope people get from it?

- Yeah, so in the documentary, you'll see some shots of Milwaukee, maybe some familiar places that you've seen before.

You'll see Mr.

Steele, you'll see Kevin Nichols, you'll see a little bit of history about the Black cowboys and Buffalo soldiers.

And then, you'll see kind of where the Buffalo soldiers wanna go from here, and kind of the hopes for the organization going forward.

- So, talk about the Buffalo soldiers in Milwaukee, just the unique aspect of Wisconsin Black cowboys or, you know, the folks here in Wisconsin.

What makes these folks unique as opposed to some of the cowboys or Black cowboys we may have seen down south or heard about in, you know, history books?

- What makes them unique?

I think they're more of a family, they're a little bit more family orientated, close knit.

So, they're real knitted together.

It's not a lot of big, like down south, like it's a whole bunch of cowboys here.

It's not that many willing to.

Hopefully we can get some, but they're just nice family, family people.

That's all I can say about it.

- Well, no, for sure, we'll, you know, we brought this book in here but it's a Black Cowboy Association.

And just, and looking at this, I'd, you know, saw a message in there, you talked about wanting to bring some of that closer to the city.

Just talk about your work in doing that and, you know, what that would mean to you just to bring some of those horses, some of that, like, lifestyle into the city where folks can access it.

- So, I do work.

I work with a lot of organizations as far as, like, bringing the horse for kids to ride, just giving 'em something to do.

I used to have cows and sheep, so I used to do that whole thing.

But as far as, like, I wanted to be more, one day I did an event, and it played an impact on a young man that was struggling with some stuff, and it just seemed like if I would be closer, or our facility would be closer to the inner city, it would give out, like, a big impact to help somebody.

I think therapeutic is, it is just real interesting to just see how it works out with the people, just the bond and stuff.

A horse is a good bonding tool.

If you never, ever mess with it, it can calm you down, your nerves, so that's what I was just hoping to bring something closer to the inner city, so they won't have to travel so far.

You can get there closer, you know, just something where you can just get to.

- Nat, talk about the challenges or maybe some of the successes, just some unique stories that you may have learned or seen or experienced in putting this documentary together.

- Yeah, great question.

There's a lot of things you don't know about making a film until you do it for the first time, and you're like, "Wow, that's really interesting."

I really wanted this to be a collaboration between different artists and people in the community.

So, we have a lot of local people featured; one of them is Evan Christian.

He owns a bar in Milwaukee, and he's also a musician.

Never done voiceover before, but he did the music and the voiceover for the documentary, did an incredible job for his first time.

We got Kelvin Kazibwe, he did the videography and photography.

He's never worked on a project like this before, so it was really a first for a lot of people that were involved.

And just like a fun, it's not a lot of pressure.

We're telling a awesome story about a local cowboy, and how do we make it fun and interesting and informative too?

So, it really is just an amazing collective of Milwaukee artists and a community piece that I wanted it to be.

- When can people see this film?

- So, it premieres at the Oriental Theater March 29th at 3:00 PM, that's a Sunday, and you can actually go to our website mkebsa.org to reserve your ticket.

It's completely free, and there will be a panel after the film is finished, 'cause it's about 15 minutes, with Mr.

Steele and Kevin and maybe some of the other cowboys.

- All right, so Kevin, one last question for you.

What is the one thing you want people to know about being a Buffalo Soldier?

- The one thing I want everybody to know about being a Buffalo Soldier is just the history in it, being the first Black army slaves that fought in the Civil War, just what impact it made, just the history in it that share with everybody.

- Yeah, anything you would add to that, Natalie, or anything?

- Yeah, preserving that legacy.

You know, the Buffalo Soldiers really paved the way for so much of what we call our American landscape.

And so, I think, as you watch that, just think about that, think about their impact, but also think about how, you know, that's preserved today through the Black cowboys and Buffalo Soldiers Association of Milwaukee.

- Alright, well, appreciate you both.

Kevin, Nat, thank so much for joining us.

- Yeah, thank you.

Thank you so much.

- Thank you for having us.

- [Natalie] Appreciate it.

(upbeat music) This year, many Americans are going to be hit with some harsh financial realities brought on by these uncertain times.

Joining us to talk about ways to overcome some of the challenges we will be facing is Dr.

Kweku Amoasi.

Dr.

Kweku, welcome to "Black Nouveau".

- Hey, it is always good to be here, brother James.

- So, we talk about coming together often, but in these times, how important is it for us to really come together?

- Yeah, I think what we have to understand is this: our strength has always been in our togetherness, and that's why it's always been tried to be keep us separated.

So, you say, "How important is it?"

It's gonna be important to be together on three levels.

We have to be together, one, within ourselves.

Then you say, "Well, what does that mean?"

Then you gotta be right within your family, then right within your community, 'cause see, if you're not right within yourself, you can't get right with anybody.

So, you say, "How do I join, because I'm healthy, I understand my strength, I understand my challenges?"

So, now when I connect with other people, we know what the conglomerate is.

And when you start to do that together, that's when you start to have power.

When you have that group of people.

And as you said, we're facing unchallenging times, and the best thing that we know in life is to have somebody to lean on.

- So, you know, I've been trying to bring members of my family together for quite some time, ever since COVID.

And, you know, we start off real strong, and then it starts to fade off again.

How do you overcome those challenges when it starts to fade off?

- Yeah, you know, I think that's the perfect thing.

You said, "We came together," so that means somebody had to say, "We need some organization, we gotta get together."

And so, now what we have to say is, "We can do this initially, but how do we sustain this?"

And it's just like any business, what do we do?

We have regular agendas, regular business meetings, we have people who's gonna call.

We have action items, so when we come back, it's something to do.

Usually, when the momentum fades, it's because people get together and they say, "Why are we together?

What are we doing?"

So, it has to be something where we see a end product.

It has to be a ROI, a return on the investment of our time.

- Now, it doesn't have to necessarily be the matriarch or the family that brings us together, right?

- It doesn't have to be the matriarch, but it has to be somebody who's the glue.

And when you start thinking about bringing people together, what brings us together?

Fun, food, festivals.

So, when we start saying, "Hey, we're gonna come together to watch the Packer game, we're gonna come together for the Super Bowl," we can come together for events like that, But now, when we together, we say, "Hey, listen, we've had our fun, but how are we gonna make sure everybody is together?"

Because it's all fun and games until somebody is hurt, and nobody knows.

And they say, "Well, why didn't anybody tell me?"

So, this is the time where we get together to just make sure we understand where everybody is at, 'cause as you said, not only are we gonna have financial times, we're gonna have emotional times that's unstable.

And sometimes, there's an embarrassment to say, "I need help."

But if we already have a setup where we say, "You ain't gotta be embarrassed.

We're all here to be able to chip in" it's easier to be able to talk.

So, being prewarned, being forearmed could be something that could save a life on many levels.

- No, you're correct on the mental aspect, because we talk about it, but we really don't talk about it.

So, when you're trying to cry out for help, or you, I shouldn't say cry out, but when you're seeking help, how should that sound?

What should you do if you need some help?

- Well, yeah, nah, I think it's just like you said, how we gotta be careful and tiptoe with how we say it and whatnot like that.

Well, all we gotta be able to say is, "I need help."

But you know what's also better?

Is when I can look at you because I love you, James.

And I say "Something ain't right, James.

I know something."

I don't wait for you to tell me, I'm looking.

But that creates that closeness; again, those meetings together.

So, now I know what's going on with you from a normal day to day, so when something shifts, I can be the one that come tell you if you don't feel strong enough.

But two, once somebody tell you, don't make 'em pay for it later.

You know, "Such and so said this," you know, "What is your name," and like that.

So, why am I gonna trust you?

Why am I do that?

I need to know that it's a safe space, but it's also not just a safe space, but a space that can help me.

I wanna know that you care, but also what can we do?

And we know collectively, again, it's not with one person, but the collective that can usually change and move the needle.

- Do you believe this, that Black men still have a hard time sharing their feeling and admitting that they have some issues?

- Absolutely.

- Well, you know, we've been talking about this for years.

- Yeah.

- How do we improve that or open up that conversation?

So, this is a question I said, "Yes" kind of jokingly while you were saying it, but the thing is, it's on a continuum.

It's not a yes or no, it's a yes, and we're getting better.

It's clearly better than it was 20 years ago.

So, the question is, we have to keep doing it so people understand, you know what, it is okay not to be okay.

It's okay to say, "I need help."

In fact, it's a sign of strength to say that I need help.

So, once we keep that momentum going, it gets easier and easier with each generation.

So, if we look at our grandparents' generation versus our father's generation, force us and now to our children and things of that nature and grandchildren even, you can see that the talk on mental health is different.

So, then it becomes like, hey, what can I do?

What can I say?

And it's not about mental health, it's just there's a problem.

And for every problem, there's a solution.

How do we, again, your work, collectively come together so one person doesn't have to do it?

If you need to move, man, we can all collectively get together and put some couches and things of that nature.

Just like we do things in a physical sense, we have to learn how to do those in an emotional and a mental manner also.

- Financially, we are expecting things to get really rough.

I don't think people understand or realize how rough things are gonna get.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

- Yeah, you know, this is one of those things.

It's a X factor.

You know, we look at COVID just in 2020, and so if history doesn't repeat itself but it kind of rhymes, you say, well, what happened right after the bird flu in 1919?

Well, we had the Great Depression in 1929, and we saw how that run.

People say, "Oh that would never happen again in this generation."

But we're seeing things closer and closer and closer, and you never believe it's gonna happen until it falls out.

So, what we have to do, again, being pre-warned, is to be pre-armed, to be forewarned, is to be forearmed.

So, what do we do?

We start to be more smarter in our decision making.

We be smarter in the things that we purchase and buy.

And it's so hard from a capitalistic society, but again, it goes into the village.

What are those things that we've never considered?

You know what?

I have a sister, and I have a mother, and this is gonna seem odd to everybody, but what if we didn't all have three houses, but we had one big house?

You know, what if we said, "You know what we're gonna do?

We're gonna come together for big meals instead of everybody going to McDonald's and Burger King and Chick-fil-A and Chipotle and whatnot.

But we're gonna come together collectively, and that money that we would be spending out, we're gonna do home-cooked meals," which, again, brings us to collectiveness, but then brings a realistic financial saving, but also eating better helps us in a health standpoint.

So, it has a holistic healing, bringing together, and to your original point, financial savings.

- Yeah, but that's the key, coming together, realizing that we are better collectively than we are separately, and making sure that that works.

And Dr.

Kweku, you gotta come back and so we could continue this conversation.

I'd really appreciate it.

- I would love to.

- [James] Thank you.

- No, thank you.

- All right, before we close tonight, we wanna give a big shout out to our own GiiGii Gray, who was a co-winner along with Claire Kornacki of the Ron Pellegrini scholarship from MATC, and a winner of the first Greg Stanford Scholarship from the National Association of Black Journalists Milwaukee Chapter.

Congratulations, GiiGii.

That's our program for this month.

Remember to check us out across all of our social media platforms and join us next month.

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

Have a great evening.

(upbeat chilled music)