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

I'm Earl Arms and this is our August Edition.

This month James Causey talks with Willow Newell, the newly crowned Miss Wisconsin, the first African American to hold that title.

We'll take you to the 16th Annual African Cultural Festival held recently.

And we'll look at this year's tribute to the Negro Leagues by the Milwaukee Brewers.

This past weekend, though, the Milwaukee Fellowship Open celebrated the kickoff of its Silver Anniversary with a variety of activities that brought athletes and activists like John Carlos, Dr. Tommie Smith, Dr. Tonya Matthews and Ambassador Andrew Young, Natal.

Next month we'll bring you a report and interviews with some of the celebrities who participated in the celebration, but we thought we'd remind you of what the Fellowship does and why that's important.

- The resources that Milwaukee Fellows provide is really, for me, is more essential in terms of the mentorship and the resources.

To start from the mentorship and the people that we have here, such as John Daniels, a few other mentors, his son, Reginald, et cetera, they provide a seasoned outlook based on their experience and how they evolved through the city of Milwaukee and other places around the world.

If anything, they definitely are genuine and take strong pride in being able to show us the way, in terms of how best to navigate through life and best navigate through Milwaukee.

And also they want us to be able to have as much exposure as possible to the things that are very, very promising in life in terms of financial literacy or corporate leadership, or really just be in this space determining how you may want to progress your life or your career.

So for me, I wanna be a lawyer.

So I've been exposed to so many of the renowned attorneys that we know of.

As a matter of fact, two weeks ago I was just with Eric Holder, all because of Attorney Daniels.

So the mentorship is definitely a key aspect and the resources, scholarships, the outings such as the Fellowship Open these type of events they bring people from all over the world that we may see on TV or read about.

And we actually get to shake hands with these people and talk to these people and really learn more about them.

They learn more about us and we can see how we can further connect and progress and see what we can learn from each other.

- Joining me now is the Director of the Milwaukee Fellowship Open, William Billy Young.

Billy, thank you so much for joining us here on "Black Nouveau".

- Thanks again, Earl.

We were just recounting, man, a long, deep relationship we've had with "Black Nouveau", with Milwaukee Public TV.

My brother, Everett Marshburn, and just a host of folks who've been there.

We appreciate the opportunity to be able to tell our story.

Thank you.

- Yeah, talk about that story and glad you're here.

Talk about that story.

It's been 25 years with this Fellowship Open.

So talk about the impact it's had and how you've been able to get so many historic figures and big hitters to support this.

- Well, it started with the concept.

You know 25 years, man, shoo in a heartbeat.

But it really began with the concept and a mission towards community empowerment and, specifically, youth engagement.

So the originators Attorney John Daniels; Joe Kennedy, who was Hank Aaron's best friend.

Many people remember Joe Kennedy as an educator here.

Founded the Academy at New Testament.

Were not only engaged in just sort of general community service.

But had a particular affinity as were many of the people I was involved with, in particular Willie Davis.

Wanted to give back to the community, but really had an impact through youth development, sports, athletics, those kinds of things.

So several years ago, Bryant Gumbel, who many people will remember, was doing a golf tournament in support of HBCUs and was raising like a million bucks a year.

They ran into some issues and ended up ending that, as I recall, behind 9/11.

So a lot of stuff happened just in terms of travel and those kinds of things.

But the idea of a charity golf tournament because so many people were sort of gravitating toward that as a potential vehicle.

So we went through a number of iterations with our good friends and folks at the Milwaukee Brewers, primarily.

Hank Aaron had his charity at the time we were supporting.

Long story, short story, man, is we were able to, it was Attorney Daniels and many of his colleagues who were able to connect corporate Wisconsin.

Folks like Thelma Sias, Virgis Colbert.

Just a litany of African American entrepreneurs, CEOs and people who are involved in entrepreneurship and corporate leadership here.

And man, boom, 25 years later now we've raised almost $5 million.

We have assisted approximately 140 or so youth-based youth initiatives, youth organizations over that period of time and continue to do so this year with four youth organizations that we will be supporting as a result of the funds we raised this year.

- Nice - So it's great run.

- [Earl] Oh, nice.

And I mean even beyond the money, just talk about the impact that the Fellowship Open has had beyond just charity and really what you've been able to do with the young folks.

- While I am a native of Los Angeles, California.

I lived almost 30 years man and breathed in Milwaukee.

My sons are there.

My family are there.

My officiating buddies, people who also know my affinity for youth sports.

And there are challenges that exist in Milwaukee, that difficult although they may be, are common to South Central LA; to Gary, Indiana; to New Orleans, Louisiana.

Those challenges are what we attempt to address through what has become our nationally acclaimed fellowship program, fellowship supported program, the MKE Fellows.

That program is now supported by the NBA Foundation, by United Way International and over 50 different corporate supporters across the nation, including the PGA and others that you can take a look at.

The idea of the MKE Fellows was to grab these young African American males as high school students and do everything that we could to create a supportive environment vehicle to do what we could to almost virtually guarantee they would graduate in four years.

And then our commitment to them, in terms of a holistic program, was for them give us a couple years back.

Graduate, come back to Milwaukee, give us some service.

We're now 12, 13 years into that program.

Several cohorts have graduated and many of those young people are now back in Milwaukee.

Most recently we talked about Kyle Williams who just graduated a couple of months ago, UW-Madison Law School.

He has mentors right here.

He's working in Milwaukee as a lawyer and he has testimony along with now dozens and dozens.

Each year we're graduating; six, 12, 15 students.

We currently support 200 young men across the country at about 30 different colleges and universities.

And our goal within the next three to five years is to double that program to 400 and that's our mission starting right now, our 25th anniversary.

- Billy, we got a couple seconds left, but is there anything else you wanna tell us about the program?

How folks get involved with the Open?

Just anything?

You have the floor.

- We articulate well, man.

You know, I'm OG.

I'm like over there, But the interactions I have with my young counterparts through social media.

So information is available, Fellowship Open, easily.

MKE Fellows, you can see all of those statistics.

But I guess my point was in referencing sort of all of the challenges that I see quite often, 'cause I'm back in Milwaukee four, five, six times a year.

We address through a positive approach to the empowerment and development of the leaders of tomorrow.

We're talking about the next election cycle.

We're talking about right now; the mayor, the county executive, the police chief, the county sheriff, these are all people who interact with us on a regular basis.

We understand the challenges and the guys that we are preparing are making those decisions within our, not only within our lifespan, but within the next couple of years and the next core of leadership.

So we're doing everything that we can do to focus on that, empowering them so they can deal with many of the problems that we've left them with and they're challenged with and we thank corporate Milwaukee, we thank MPTV and those people who can support us with that message.

Call me, I'm available.

- And we thank you.

Billy Young, thank you again for being here with us on "Black Nouveau".

(dramatic upbeat music) (rhythmic drumming) (dancers singing) - [Reporter] Last month, hundreds of people attended Milwaukee's Annual African Cultural Festival in Brown Deer Park.

The festival was sponsored by Africans in Milwaukee Incorporated.

It was launched 16 years ago with the intention of connecting African culture to all people of the African diaspora.

Reminded attendees that no matter where you're from, we're all one in unity.

This year, over 25 countries came together to celebrate their heritage.

- Gotta know where you're coming from, Gotta know where you're coming from.

So having conversations with everybody out here, it helps to get to know everyone.

- If you don't know where you come from, you don't know where you're going.

And if we don't support each other, who will?

It's up to us to support each other.

Kind of simple.

- Most important part about this event is to celebrate the cultural heritage.

Give them the opportunity to learn about their heritage, where they came from and also some certain aspects of the culture which they may not be familiar with.

- [Reporter] Many Africans were uprooted from their heritage.

This is a way of reconnecting them.

- They have been here for centuries, the generations have come and so there's already a disconnect with their original heritage.

And so they have had to shape their own cultural identity.

The Africans come here with their own cultural identity.

And so sometimes you see the differences in terms of language, family issues and other things.

The intent is to break that disconnect and also foster greater relationships among the Africans and African Americans.

- It only became distant or separated when we tagged on American, but we are still African through and through.

So we have no difference.

There will always be a similarity and I feel when people wake up and see that there is always a connection, it was never a broken link.

A link can never truly be broken if we still have that unity.

- So I think that at times we just forget to think of the little things of what unifies us.

The little things like this jollof rice.

The little things like that, rice and peas.

You know it's a commonality.

They were both made with love.

They were both made probably with loving hands with women in the kitchen making it.

That's a unifying bond and that is what's important.

'Cause at the end of the day we each have that, 'cause that is something that carried along with us along this route.

- [Reporter] The food was very delicious and of much variety.

- This is jollof rice.

The best jollof rice from Gambia.

- [Reporter] What is jollof rice?

What's the history of jollof rice?

- Jollof is my tribe.

So it's mainly from Senegal-Gambia, we have jollof rice.

- [Reporter] What do they make it in?

How is it made?

- We have ingredient here, it's just chicken and tomato, pepper, ginger and seasoning.

- This is suya beef.

So the suya powder or spice is from Ghana.

So we mix it up.

It has a little bit of peanuts in it.

We add other African spices and then we keep grilling.

- So this is our favorite jollof, you know.

Ghanaians always win with the jollof rice.

This is grilled chicken.

They got the flavor, you know?

This is fried turkey.

This is a fried turkey and then very crunchy, very nice.

- Whether you're African, whether you're Caribbean, whether you're from the West Indies, all of us share the same bond.

And at the end of the day, anytime there is food, love, joy and music, it must unify us all.

Because there's strength in unity.

It is strength in when you can show all of this together in unity, in harmony and in positivity and there's a strength in that.

It's a strength in just showing joy in times of adversity.

(lively upbeat music) - This is 30 years of me advocating for delivering players of the Negro Baseball.

- [Earl] At American Family Field in Milwaukee, Dennis Biddle and the Milwaukee Brewers held Negro League Tribute Night, a salute to Negro League players and the work done to recognize their service to the game of baseball.

Biddle, a former Negro League pitch at 17 years old, is also an author and speaker who has used his platform to advocate for all Negro League players to be recognized historically and financially.

That includes those who played in the Negro Leagues before and after Major League Baseball's infamous color barrier was broken in 1947.

Biddle credits to Brewer's organization for supporting his work from the beginning.

- These are players that was too old to go in when Jackie opened the door.

They got little or no recognition for their achievement.

I started this in 1996.

At that time, there was over 300 players delivered.

Now it's down to less than 20.

Thanks to the Major League, last year they finally recognized the players of the Negro League equal to the Major League.

So I'm grateful for that.

- [Earl] Major League Baseball agreed to provide living former Negro League players with pensions and recognized league statistics as Major League records.

Even now that they've finally gotten that recognition, the Brewers continue to make this an annual event.

- The Negro Leagues are a part of the fabric and history of Major League Baseball.

Now their stats are part of the official record of Major League Baseball.

So all the great players, Satchel Paige, all those great guys are now part of the official record books.

And again, it's a reminder to people of this generation what the past generation did and how they were deprived an opportunity to play in Major League Baseball, even though they have the talent and all the skills to do it.

And because of the color of their skin, they were denied this opportunity.

So obviously, everybody knows about Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, but there's a whole panoply of great Major League player caliber people who never got the chance.

And I think we wanna remember them and recognize them.

- I don't come here, but once a year.

- Well, sometimes two or three times.

- He does.

I come once a year for the Negro League game.

- [Earl] Fans who came, got to experience a night of celebrating baseball history in Milwaukee with Black-owned vendors, music, artwork and tributes to some of those who paved the way.

A few of the fans talked about the importance of passing that history down to their children.

- This is the game that we know we started, we had a lot to do with it and the input was just magnificent.

And I come so I can see, remember and just I have grandkids around here that I brought so they can remember.

We have just pieces of every part of history and this is just one of many.

- Just to watch the game in school, my daughters play softball.

But then for them to understand the difference between the Negro League and understand who Satchel Paige was, Jackie Robinson was super, super important to me.

- [Earl] Biddle, who still travels around the country to talk about the history of Negro League Baseball, has his own message for younger generations.

- I want my young people to know the real truth.

Jackie was not the first.

He was not the best.

He was just one of us that did something at that time none of us could've done.

He opened the door.

I think about those old men who missed their calling, who was better than Jackie for a ball player.

You know I'm the living person that they felt they would carry this history on, tell the real truth and that's what I've done.

That's what I'm gonna continue to do as long as I can.

(lively upbeat music) - [Announcer] Our first runner up is Miss Madison.

(audience cheers) (indistinct) Miss Racine, Willow Newell, is your new Miss Wisconsin.

- [James] This past June, Willow Newell was crowned Miss Wisconsin making history as the first Black woman to do so.

She began competing in pageants at the age of 14.

The recent Carthage College graduate competed for the title alongside 29 other contestants from across the state and was recognized as a Top Vocalist in the competition.

In September, the 22-year-old will compete at the Miss America pageant in Orlando, Florida and Wisconsin will be cheering her on.

Willow, Welcome to Black Nouveau.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- Thank you for coming.

So I know art is very important to you.

Can you talk about how art helped you in the competition?

- Yes.

So my arts background gave me the confidence I needed to be able to express myself on stage.

And my community service initiative, The ART of Belonging, strives to bring the arts access to people across our communities; marginalized groups, including elderly populations, the developmentally disabled and then our youth.

- So being the first Black woman to win it all, have you ever faced racism competing in pageants and, if so, how have you dealt with it?

- Absolutely, and this is in all facets of my life.

I've grown up in predominantly settings that didn't always represent me.

And so it's been an honor to be able to not only be the first person that looks like me in these places, but of course growing through this just by challenging myself on a daily basis, understanding who I am and then having that support system that supports me every single day and being confident in my own background.

- That's awesome.

So let's talk a little bit about you.

You have beautiful hair, naturally.

- [Willow] Thank you.

- Have you ever felt like you've been forced to change in order to try to fit in competing in such a White-dominated field?

- Yes, so growing up I always thought I had to straighten my own hair just to be beautiful or just to match what I thought a Miss America would look like.

And it wasn't until one summer when I realized my hair's beautiful, I really became confident in the way that it's shaped and the way that it looks and the products that worked for me.

And so going on the Miss Wisconsin stage and then being able to earn that title wearing my own natural crown gave me this newfound sense of purpose, because all of the feedback has been so lovely and I've encouraged other people to wear their natural hair as well.

- You've been competing for a long time, since the age of 14.

How did you get involved in pageantry so early?

- I was so excited because I was able to attend the Miss Racine pageant and my first title ever was Miss Racine's Teen.

And so the local director at the time, Deb Morrell, introduced me to everything that the organization was about from the scholarship to the sisterhood, to the networking skills.

And I continued to come back because I knew there was no representation of what looked like me on that stage.

And I wanted to be that because I have earned so much from this organization.

- What kind of advice would you give to a young lady looking up to you and saying, "I wanna do that too."

What would you tell her?

- Be yourself when you're doing it.

Don't be ashamed of any part of yourself.

Every single part of you is beautiful.

And I think it's so important and special when we have women bring their unique experiences to the stage.

So whether you're someone who likes the arts, whether you like STEM, whether you're a person who likes sports, we need to see all walks of life.

- So what's next for you?

How do you prepare for the Miss America pageant?

- So I'm so excited because Miss America's coming up really fast.

It's preparing for my talent.

Of course, working on my interview skills and then continuing to make those connections within the Wisconsin community.

I've been traveling all over the state so far, meeting so many different people, going to fairs, going to festivals and then advocating for my community service initiative.

- Let's talk about your community service initiative.

What is that?

- So it's the ART of Belonging, and it was formally known as Expression Without Exclusion, but I wanted to focus on how people can feel a sense of belonging from the arts.

I remember being 11 years old and then growing up in community theater and feeling such great emotion from the words and the music and musicals.

And I wanted to share that feeling with the entire state and, hopefully, the entire nation.

And so I'm sharing that online, through working with the Wisconsin Arts Board and then also just by sharing my own experiences within the arts.

- What kinda support system do you have?

I imagine you have to have a big one to do something like this.

- Absolutely.

- And talk about what that looks like and feels like.

- So my family's amazing.

My mom and my dad have been so supportive of my journey.

There have been times when I haven't won pageants or haven't done well and so they have been along with me every step of the way.

And then also the local directors.

Each competition on the local level has two set of directors and they usually provide the girls with wardrobe advice, hair and makeup advice.

And then also, just building a personal brand is something that my directors in the Racine organization have worked with me on and so I'm so grateful to have that mentorship.

- That's very interesting too.

Coming from Racine, have you ever seen anything like this before?

I know competition comes in all shapes and forms, but what is it like to represent Racine in the state of Wisconsin?

- It's amazing, especially after competing so many times.

I've represented Kenosha and then also Great Lakes and to be able to have this full circle moment as my own hometown title is so wonderful.

The city of Racine has been uplifting and I think I now get the chance to bring more girls into the organization.

Before the state competition, I walked into Case High School and talked to the girls personally and said, we offer scholarships.

And they didn't even know there was a Miss Racine.

And so bringing more girls into the organization is what I plan to continue to do.

- Who do you admire in this industry?

- Oh, my goodness.

Vanessa Williams, of course, the first Black Miss America.

And then so many other young women who have competed.

The ones who've competed before me, they may not have won the Miss Wisconsin title, but they got first runner up and top five.

And then of course, the local directors, the state board, there are so many people who have done such amazing things within the community and I hope to reflect them and then add my own little spice to what I have to offer the crown.

- Let's talk about mental health quickly.

Is that something that you have to deal with as well?

If so, how do you deal with making sure your mental health stays strong?

- I had the wonderful opportunity of being very vulnerable with the judges about my experience with obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety.

And then of course being a front-facing person, it's hard to struggle with anxiety or mental health at all and be able to be in front of people every day and serve the community.

And so I think therapy is so, so important.

Not just being vulnerable with someone else that I can trust, but then people in the community to share that it's okay to struggle, but as long as you're consistent and show up every day for yourself and for the world, you can make greatness out of it.

- But you're a great singer, I understand.

What song did you do for the competition?

- "And I Am Telling You" from "Dreamgirls" and I love that song so much.

It's so fun to sing.

- Okay, awesome.

So tell us how we could see the competition, Miss America competition.

- It'll be live streamed.

So September 2nd through the 7th, we'll be in Orlando, Florida.

There'll be a talent night and then also two prelim nights and the final competition.

- [James] Well, we wish you the best.

- Thank you so much.

- You're gonna do so well.

- Thank you.

I appreciate it.

- Thank you.

- Before we close tonight, we'd like to make you aware of a new documentary about civil rights activist and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall that will air in September here on Milwaukee PBS.

(gentle uplifting music) - [Narrator] Thurgood Marshall was a wonderful human being who also happened to be an icon.

- [Narrator] Legally speaking, he's one of the founding fathers.

- Whatever was going on people said, "Don't worry, Thurgood's coming."

- Thurgood's coming.

- Thurgood is coming.

- He understood how to use the power of his voice.

So he wasn't just a litigator, he was doing so much more.

- [Narrator] He had to know the law up and down and backwards and he did.

- [Narrator] Here you have this eloquent storyteller, Mr. Civil Rights, arguing and it was inspirational.

- [Narrator] He's the only Supreme Court Justice who was more famous for what he did before rising to Justice.

- [Narrator] The work and life of Thurgood Marshall, literally, changed this country in ways that were incredibly positive and that still resonate today.

(gentle uplifting music) - "Becoming Thurgood" airs on September 9th at 9:00 PM on Channel 10.

That's our program for this month.

Remember to check us out across all of our social media platforms.

For the entire Black Nouveau Team, I'm Earl Arms, have a great evening.

(lively upbeat music)