(soft music) (upbeat music) - Hello everyone and welcome to "Black Nouveau."

I'm Earl Arms and this is March, which means it's women's history month.

We'll talk with Marquette professor Kali Murray about the contributions of black women in American history.

And with March madness coming to Milwaukee this month, we'll talk basketball with the Baldwins, Patrick Sr. and Jr. about their love of the game.

We'll look back at the reopening of America's Black Holocaust Museum, and share a poem from one of Milwaukee's newest voices.

But first we begin with the profile of Raven Jemison, Executive Vice President for Business Operations for your world champion Milwaukee Bucks.

(upbeat music) - When I first started in this business, I knew no one, which is something that many people would say to get into sports and to be successful, you need to know people, right?

It's 70% of who you know and 30% of what you know.

And I was very blessed to be able to get in it "on my own."

And I just happened to meet someone at the right time, which was the head of inside sales for the Florida Panthers selling tickets.

And I said, "Okay, I'll do that".

And with a master's degree, I went down to South Florida to sell tickets for $7.25 an hour.

Fortunately for me, I was successful at it so obviously the rest is history.

- [Interviewer] Raven Jemison's role with the Milwaukee Bucks is all about selling the experience.

- My role entitles the oversight of the day to day business operations.

So when you think about being on the court, so everybody sees the visual players playing basketball, that's the basketball operations side, right?

I don't have anything to do with that side of the business.

We more so talk about how we put bleacher seats, how we sell tickets, how we market our product, how we sell the signs that you see around the building.

- So what drafted this competitive sports fanatic to move to the Cream City during a global pandemic?

- First off the job, the Milwaukee Bucks and Peter Fagan, the president of the Milwaukee Bucks and Fiserv Forum.

He was just selling me on what it meant to be a number two for this organization in a time coming out of COVID, and I was hooked.

I mean, the reputation for the Bucks speaks for itself, not only here Milwaukee, but globally, nationally.

Their reputation is one in which I felt like I wanted to be associated with.

- [Interviewer] And the transition would make for one of the most exciting moments in Jemison's career.

- [Jemison] So when I set foot here in Milwaukee, there were zero fans in the building.

- [Interviewer] But that quickly would cross over into the makings of a championship season, the team's first in 50 years.

(fans cheering) - We knew that something special was happening on the court and we just wanted to do our part to make sure that when the players set foot on the court, that the seats were filled and that the ambiance and the atmosphere was one in which they wanted to play for the fans.

- So when looking back at the 2021 season, what would you say is like one of your favorite memories?

- I mean, does the championship count?

Because I think for sure, not only winning the championship, it was winning it in game six, which if you know the moniker Bucks in Six plus winning it on our home court, nothing like it.

I think there was a moment where I was just still, as the confetti was falling, not in disbelief that we did it, but the fact that everything aligned with the craziness of the season, the capacity changes, all the things that we had to go through to get to that moment made it all worth it.

I think the user experience or the fan engagement piece was really bringing folks out of the house after being sheltered in place for a year to say, "Hey, come down to the Deer District and let's celebrate Buck's Basketball."

So we really relied on the team to bring that community engagement or that fan engagement that we need to have fans willing to step out in the middle of a pandemic to celebrate.

So I'm just very, very blessed that we have that space and we have that opportunity to do that because again, we were capped inside.

So I think we got the best of both worlds.

- [Interviewer] And while every NBA team has the goal to win championships, Jemison believes improving the city around them is the bigger trophy.

- It is not lost on us that we have an arena right in the center of Milwaukee.

But our role is very simple.

We have a responsibility to contribute to the community in a positive way, but also follow the leaders and amplify the leaders that are doing the work on the ground, which is what we do.

We don't try to come in as experts on anything because we aren't, right?

But there are many community activists and people that are doing work on the ground that we want to make sure we are aligned with and listening to so we can make the most impact here in the city.

(instrumental music) - [Interviewer] Making an impact in and outside of the arena keeps Jemison motivated, especially in an industry where women in executive positions are rare.

- I was looking for those mentors, especially those that looked like me and couldn't find any.

And I've been very blessed to have people that... And many white males that have taken me under their wings and said, "This is how we do this", right?

"This is how you can be successful in this business".

And they've advocated for me at every turn.

I am also blessed to serve as mentor to many young BIPOC men and women who want to make an impact in the world, not only professionally but also personally.

So the thing that really gets me excited or passionate is the mentorship and the things that I can do with respect to being a representative of a variety of communities, right?

I sit at the intersection of many communities.

I'm a black queer woman.

- [Interviewer] It's those identities that remind this champion how far she's come.

- I would say my story represents perseverance.

So when we think about who I am on paper now, if you had looked at me on paper at 17 going to college, I'm not sure that the path would've been as clear that somebody would've said, "Oh yeah, she'll end up as number two for a global brand", which is the Milwaukee Bucks.

And I'm definitely by no means perfect, but I definitely wanna be a representation for those who say, maybe the odds are stacked against me, or maybe I wanna do something and speak up for myself as opposed to doing what people think I should do.

I hope that when young black women in particular see me, they see someone that is a version of what they might wanna be.

(upbeat music) - It started as a week back in 1981, but soon became a month for celebrating the achievements women have made to American history in a variety of fields and here to discuss some of those achievements on African-American women is law professor Kali Murray from Marquette University.

Professor thank you so much for joining us.

And when you're teaching your students, talk about where you like to start or where you like to focus on when it comes to black women in history.

- Well, I always start in 1662.

In 1662, the state of Maryland passed the law that said that, the status of a slave was set by the status of the mother.

And so I very often say that slavery starts in black women's bodies.

And so for me that's a really important starting point in discussing black women's history.

- So talk about that because you have a lot of folks that will say that black history doesn't start when it comes to slavery, so when it comes to black women, what do you say to that?

And how do you go into the history of black women beyond slavery?

- So when I think about black women, I think about the power of coalitions.

So although black women started in a disempowered position, I mean last week we saw women standing behind or standing with President Biden.

And so how did black women, right, move forward history that started in a dark place?

And I think a lot about black women's institutions.

I take it your viewers will know their grandmothers or their mothers and the ways they step into sororities, the way they stepped into club women, the ways they step into being the organizer of the "Get out the vote" in a community.

And I don't think that many people recognize how unique that is around the world, that black political power in this country has been forged through the type of very hard work and labor that black women have placed into building that political coalition.

- And that kind of takes me to the black women's club movement, which started in the 19th century and of course went on through the 20th century.

So what about the black women's club movement stands out to you?

- Well, it starts in the black women's church.

My great-grandmother was a black club woman named Minnie Plant in Baltimore, Maryland, and Minnie was the wife of Bishop Abraham Lincoln Gaines.

And Minnie was a club woman to a core.

She started things like the DuBois Circle.

And other types of organizations in places like Baltimore that started as book clubs, that started as sort of social clubs, but over time developed real power and political power.

They were key organizational nodes for anti-lynching campaigns, and they were key organizational nodes for "Get out the vote" and the "Suffragette movement" in the 19th Amendment.

So when we see something that starts off in a social and a religious base, but builds power through black women understanding that political power comes through coalition.

I think it's a really crucial moment in the struggle for the 19th Amendment.

- You talk about anti-lynching so of course, I think about Ida B.

Wells.

And when you think of education, you think of Mary McLeod Bethune and so many others, but those are the names we know.

What about some of those unsung heroes in history that are black women that contributed so much to where we are today?

- Well, one of the unsung heroes that is only recently getting attention is Pauli Murray.

Pauli Murray is actually randomly my cousin, but also was one of the first women to write about the intersectional experience of African-American women in the law.

So we typically talk about intersectionality coming out of the critical race theory movement of the 1980s and 90s.

But Pauli Murray, she coined a term called "Jane Crow".

And she said that we have to look at the particular legal and political condition of black women and the ways in which that intersects with the law.

And she says that, that's a crucial point.

It's an article that was written I think in 1968 and it played a crucial role in feminist legal movements in the 1970s and 80s.

So she really is truly unsung.

- And you talked a little bit about some of the history that's going on today or some of the women that you see today, but talk a little bit more about the history that you see playing out these days.

Who do you see?

And I guess what movements do you see playing out right now that will go down in history as something that's truly supportive of black women?

- I think you have to see the Black Lives Matter movement as moving out of women's organizational efforts and in particular in the lesbian community.

And a lot of the early Black Lives Matter movement organizers came out of that particular tradition, that particular organizing tradition.

So that's one space where I see black women's politics coming into play within the context of social movement.

I see that black women are winning elected office, right?

This is an important step in building a coalition, right?

That it's not simply Kamala Harris, but we look at the rise in black women elected officials, it's a really crucial sort of exercise of political power.

- Less than a minute left.

I just wanna give you the chance to talk to someone like me who's not a black woman and our viewers out there who are not black women, or even to black women, how do we support black women when it comes to recognizing the history and the contributions of black women throughout American history?

- I think one of the things I'm most proud about when I think about America's black women is how well we do tell the stories.

I think one aspect that has been undersold or under told is how black women and organizational movements in the United States have proven to be crucial models for black women throughout the African diaspora and within Africa itself.

That our experiences in the United States truly are beacon to other types of communities throughout the world.

- Professor Kali Murray outta Marquette University, thank you so much for joining us here on Black Nouveau.

- Well thank you for having me.

(upbeat music) - Arunah Halala Vishud teaches fifth grade at Samuel Clemons Elementary School in Milwaukee.

She recently wrote us to share a poem written by one of her students.

She thought it would be nice to hear from one of our future leaders, and we agree.

Here is Caiden Chambers.

- Unapologetically black to my core.

I am black, what does that mean?

It's supposed to mean that everywhere I go I am seen.

Like James Brown I am black and proud and every day I say it out loud.

Let's start with Mother Africa.

It's beauty and riches make me shed a tear.

She is the reason why we are all here.

My black pride is the wisdom of our elders fighting for us to be free.

My brothers and sisters who came before me to rewrite the wrongs in our history.

They reach out to the young people's energy, the continuation of their legacy is me.

I will fight day and night for our rise like Malcolm X, because for me, life is not worrying about checks.

I will speak like Frederick, get into good trouble like Congressman John Lewis and preach like Winston that I too am America.

So believe me now I will shoot for the sky.

Created, blessed, loved and born to fly high.

Handsome, bold, intelligent scholar, like the kings and queens before me, I wear my crown above my collar.

It's time for everyone to hear my blackness cannot be limited to a single month in a year.

I am black history, black proud and nobody but me.

Celebrating being black means you call me by my name and nothing more.

#CaidenChambers, unapologetically black to my core.

- And we're joined by Caiden Chambers now.

Welcome to Black Nouveau Caiden.

- Thank you.

- So tell us a little bit about what inspired your poem.

- Well, one day we have a thing called Poetry Corner that we do every Thursday and Friday and we had to write, no, actually like it was a essay competition that she brung up in our class and she said we had to write it and it was due by February.

And when I wrote it, I had to think about like all the things that has been going on in the world.

And I thought, "hey, I shouldn't be sad to be black" because I mean, nowadays, like how can you... How can you be a threat when your black skin is already one?

So I used that as inspiration to write my poem.

It took me like a couple hours, but I got it done.

And it's like with my teacher, sometimes my teacher tries to change my poetry and I have to tell her like, poetry is poetry.

And it's like, poetry really doesn't have no rules.

Like it's you expressing yourself in writing.

And she says, "Look at you learning stuff, you're even teaching me."

And I use that as inspiration because poetry is like a way of expressing yourself non-verbally but in a way of writing, and you don't necessarily have to tell anybody, you just literally be you.

And it's a way of being unique in yourself so that's why I really like poetry.

- And what do you hope our viewers take away from your poem?

- That you shouldn't be sad to be black just because somebody says, oh, like Cynthia Erivo was told she wasn't "black enough" to play the part of Harriet Tubman because she was British.

But I want everyone to know, either you can be black, brown, Indian, Asian, you can be any skin color.

And even for half of the white people, you be you because it's not...

It wasn't all the white people who were mean to us.

Actually some of the white people actually helped us to escape as slaves.

Because when I watched a video of them saying that Cynthia Erivo was "not black enough", I felt that was very important for me because she literally fitted the part and she's "not black enough" just because she's British but she's descendants of African, but they don't get that.

- And you're a very impressive fifth grader.

What are your hopes for the future Caiden?

- My hopes for the future would actually be the president because I feel like I can bring a lot of change to the world with my voice.

But fooling around in school would not get me there, and I had to learn that earlier on.

So yeah.

- Awesome, well, I wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors Caiden, it was a pleasure having you here on Black Nouveau - Thank you.

(upbeat music) - With March madness coming to Milwaukee this month, we prepared a profile of then UW Milwaukee's head basketball coach, Patrick Baldwin Sr. and his star player, his son, Patrick Jr. As we all know the coach was fired last week, but our story isn't about wins and losses.

It's about how basketball has served as a bond between father and son.

Uzezi Okwata has that story.

- [Commentator 1] He tried to add to it here, right back to him.

He's open.

He can't miss!

Time out, Patrick Baldwin Jr. welcome back.

- [Commentator 2] I guess so.

- That is Patrick Baldwin Jr., one of the biggest basketball names in Milwaukee today.

Following a stellar high school career at Hamilton in Sussex, Baldwin was offered multiple basketball scholarships from various large programs like Michigan, Kentucky, and Duke.

However, he chose to stay close to home and play for his dad, Patrick Baldwin Sr. at the University Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

So what has your dad been like as a coach so far?

- Yeah, so he's actually been a lot tougher on me than I initially expected.

Working out with him is completely different than being under him as a player.

So he's demanded a ton outta me early as a freshman.

He's really throwing me into the wolves early and I think it's something that throughout my career I'll appreciate him the most for.

- Just like he said, I want the best for him.

And I think he has a high ceiling, you know, so I think the biggest thing for me is try to push him to his limits and know that the expectations that I have hopefully make him better in the future.

- [Uzezi] While most college freshmen plan to move far away from home, Baldwin Jr. plan to do the opposite.

- You know, I think just the family aspect was super important.

Just being close to home.

At any given moment I can take a 40 minute drive back to home just to kind of visit the family, and then obviously my grandparents live in Illinois.

So just having them be able to just watch every single game and be super close to UW Milwaukee is something that was very important to me.

- [Uzezi] When it comes to his father, the connection was formed early in his youth.

- In ninth grade, there was a time that he was playing against Brookfield East, his freshman year, and he had 37 points in that game.

And I think at that point, I just said to myself that the game officially slowed down for him where he could just kind of play it like a puppet a little bit and yeah, kind of be the maestro of the game a little bit.

So right then and there, I just felt like he had something, but still wanted to continue to keep him and help him stay humble with the work ethic that he had.

- [Uzezi] The father-son coaching dynamic is a wholesome portrayal of a strong family bond.

Although to some, the relationship might seem to be a conflict of interest promoting favoritism.

- Favoritism never even crossed my mind when it came down to coaching him and having him a part of our university and our team.

And that mindset, you know, I do have a special player coming in here that it's not about favoritism, it's about putting our best product out on the floor.

But also when you have someone of Patrick's talent to see how you can magnify it, how you can bring that talent and mix it in with the team and the group that you have.

But definitely there's no favoritism, our guys will tell you that.

Patrick probably hears my wrath every now and then more than some of the other guys, but at the same time he knows that I'm coaching him.

He knows that I care a lot about him and his teammates know that I care about our other guys and their success just as much as I care about Patrick's.

- [Uzezi] When it comes to Patrick Jr.'s talent, the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

Patrick Sr. himself was a high school basketball star in Leavenworth, Kansas.

He eventually earned the scholarship to Northwestern University where he would go on to set a team record for most steals of all time.

- First of all, I was given a great opportunity.

Even before being recruited by Northwestern I had no idea what Northwestern could mean for me, not only in the interim, but in the long term.

We didn't have all the grand facilities and all those things.

But the thing that really impacted me the most were the people.

And that's what I hold true to today.

I've met some tremendous people.

I'm great friends with a lot of my classmates and teammates and that's really kind of been the trademark for me and my family, just that family network and friend network that I have from being at Northwestern.

- [Uzezi] After graduating from Northwestern, Coach Baldwin developed an appreciation for academia, which he passed on to Patrick.

- My dad and my mom have really stressed with me.

They're both graduates from Northwestern.

And I mean, as you know, that's a very prestigious university.

So academics are very important in my family and...

So, yeah, so if my grades weren't up to par, really the only thing that they could take away was basketball.

So that's what they would do and that's how I focus on my academics more than I do basketball.

- [Uzezi] Baldwin Jr. was also given many lessons in humility by his father.

Despite being an NBA prospect, Baldwin Jr. still refuses to believe he is good enough to be in the NBA.

Take a look at his reaction when he heard he's projected to be a top 30 pick in the NBA draft.

- I think I still humbly don't believe that because I don't think I'm entitled to be an NBA player.

But I think at a very young age, I realized I was a little bit above my class, a little bit better than the average basketball player my age.

And I think that at the eighth grade, I think that's when I started taking basketball seriously and it became not necessarily a job, but it became something that I love to do.

And I'd love to do it at a high level.

- [Uzezi] Baldwin has had a community of support for most of his life.

However, the relationship he has with his father stands out the most.

I asked him if he could see himself being where he is today, if his dad wasn't involved in his life activities.

- Truthfully, I don't believe so because I mean, I've taken after a lot of his lessons and I've seen how he played basketball, how he's taught me, how he's around my career every single step of the way.

So just having a strong person like him in my life is something that I don't know if I'd particularly be the same person or as good without.

(soft upbeat music) - And that wraps up this edition of Black Nouveau Next month, we'll discuss "Fixing the Racial Wealth Gap," with financial journalist and author, Rodney A. Brooks.

Meanwhile, we invite you to check out our website, milwaukeepbs.org.

We have an interview with playwright, Dael Orlandersmith whose production of "New Age" begins this month at the Milwaukee Rep. She also co-wrote "Antonio's Song," which just concluded at the Rep. And as promised, we leave you with some scenes from the opening of America's Black Holocaust Museum, which reopened on February 25th, 2022, the 108th birthday of its founder, Dr. James Cameron.

Have a good night.

- Can you imagine during a time right now where we need a museum like this more so than ever, that we would have it here in Bronzeville and in Milwaukee, in our state?

As the late great Dr. King said, "now is the time."

Now is the time for us to re-emerge and reimagine this museum.

Because if not us then who?

(soft upbeat music)