Black Nouveau

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

I'm Earl Arms, and this is our April edition.

We'll talk with Poet and Community Activist, Kwabena Antoine Nixon, about his new book, "Dear Black Boy: Futures Not Funerals."

Wilbur and Ardie Halyard are featured in Milwaukee's "Movers and Shakers" digital series.

We'll share their story.

And this year marks the 40th anniversary of Vivent Health and the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin.

It's one of Milwaukee's local organizations on the front lines of the battle against HIV.

This April also brings us the 18th annual Milwaukee Film Festival, and we've got a preview of some of the Black Lens offerings.

- Did he ever get to fly?

- Nah.

(captivating instrumental music) Now, I know you ain't scared.

Come on, it ain't that cold.

- [Lil Ant] Pegasus's dad was a God.

They called him Poseidon.

He was buff and he had muscles, and he was the strongest ever.

(captivating instrumental music) - I don't want to have to keep telling you, don't keep drawing me man.

(calm dramatic music) Somebody told me you got your ass whooped while I was gone.

(crowd clamoring) (calm dramatic music) How do you think that make me look out here?

(helicopter whirring) (calm dramatic music) - We're not perfect.

Your daddy is a work in progress.

I'm a work in progress, but we're gonna figure this out.

(uplifting instrumental music) - Ooh, ah, are we liking it?

- No, not at all.

(calm dramatic music) - [Big Ant] I don't know what you're trying to prove, but whatever it is you need to stop that shit.

(plane roaring) (calm dramatic music) (riveting instrumental music) - [Lozita] You can't just take Anthony to the beach one time and just expect everything to go back to normal.

It don't work like that.

- I don't feel like (censored) talking today (indistinct).

- You just- (door slamming) (riveting instrumental music) I read through all of those letters that you sent me.

You was a whole different person.

(riveting instrumental music) - Don't be scared of how he sees you.

Hold onto him tight.

(riveting instrumental music) And don't let him fly away, don't let them take him away.

Tell him you love him.

(thrilling instrumental music) - [Lil Ant] If I go.

- That's my son!

- [Lil Ant] Will they miss me?

(wind rushing) (air whooshing) - [Big Ant] You flying?

- Yeah.

- [Big Ant] Me too.

(calm dramatic music) - That there is a clip from "If I Go Will They Miss Me," one of the films being presented in the 18th annual Milwaukee Film Festival being held April 16th through the 30th.

And joining us to talk about it is Ty Williams, Programmer for the Black Lens strand of the festival.

Ty, thank you so much for being here.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- Absolutely, so yeah, let's talk about this film.

Familiar face, and it looks like a great story.

Talk about it.

- Yeah, so it is a film, a feature film, about a young boy who sort of mythologizes his dad as a Greek hero since he's very into Greek culture and just the gods and whatnot.

And so, it wraps around into Black innocence and Black youth and sort of seeing your parents as larger than life, and sort of the difficulties that come with being a parent as well and having to take care of a child and not realizing this relationship you have.

It's just a very heartwarming film that talks about a lot of very deep topics that are very related to Black youth and Black innocence.

And I think that all the acting in it by Danielle Brooks and J. Alphonse is amazing, amazing, amazing.

So, a great family-oriented drama that you should go see.

- All right, now let's watch a clip from "Misan Harriman: Shoot the People."

(camera clicking) - You could travel the world with this thing and just bear witness.

(exhilarating instrumental music) (camera shutter snapping) People know me for celebs images, but my passion is observing the human condition and making art that has purpose.

- Misan Harriman's work captures protests like no other.

- [Narrator] The images help people see (bold tense music) they're not alone in being frustrated.

(bold tense music) - [Misan] I do wonder about the difference I'm actually making.

What do protest movements truly achieve if people are still demanding the same human rights?

- [Activist] Power to the people!

- [Crowd] Power to the people!

- What you're doing is to give one the opportunity to be able to see.

The images will be here forever.

(tense mysterious music) - [Misan] As a young boy, the images of apartheid South Africa shook me to my core, and then I went on a journey of understanding what it all meant.

(tense mysterious music) - You gotta tell the truth.

Racial profiling still exists.

- [Activist] What do we want?

- [Crowd] Ceasefire!

(camera shutter snapping) - It's gonna be the biggest protest ever.

(bold tense music) All this is part of the journey.

(bold dramatic music) People have a goodness in them, and that needs to be fed like a plant.

(bold dramatic music) This is the work, this is the bearing witness.

(bold dramatic music) - All right, talk about that.

Politically charged, as we were talking about earlier, but still something that people, you think, should see.

- Yeah, totally.

"Misan Harriman: Shoot the People" is very much about our current times, as well as past times, and just the importance of photojournalism, especially while being Black.

And this idea of Misan going through his past work and just thinking about all the ways in which he's impacted people simply by taking photos and simply by being there, I think it calls into conversation just how much power there is in simply having a voice and being there and speaking your truth out against things that may not be right in the world.

- All right, now let's look at a clip from "Black Zombie" movie.

- There's a reason there's a genre called the horror movie, and it has its roots partially in the US occupation of Haiti and the stories that people returning from that told.

- When people hear Vodou, automatically they think it's something Satanic.

We drink blood, we'll turn people into zombies.

Vodou is not that.

- The metaphorical zombie is honestly speaking about the state of Black America.

(energetic instrumental music) Zombie, oh, zombie Zombie - I really like this film because it goes through the misconceptions that people have about Haitian culture and Vodou, and just zombies in general.

As somebody who loves horror movies, I thought that I personally knew everything that there could be known about zombies, and this movie shed a very big light that I knew nothing at all.

So, if you're familiar with horror movies and zombies, go see it.

If you're not familiar, still go see it.

It's a great film, very educational.

- All right, so talk about maybe some other things that you have.

I mean, of course the film festival, but any other things happening that we should know about?

- Yeah, absolutely.

So, along with our feature films we're also going to have a few directors flying in for the short film program.

We have two short film programs this year.

One for feature, or one for fictional narrative films, and one for documentary short films.

So, I'm very excited to have so many talented artists to be with us to experience their work with them.

And yeah, I think it'll be a great time for both of those segments.

- All right, anything else you wanna share?

- Just that I hope to see you all at the film festival.

If you are curious where you can find the Black Lens films, you can check out the booklet either online or physically, you can grab it at the theaters.

And look for anything that has the tag Black Lens, and that's a Black Lens featured movie, so.

- All right, sounds like a plan.

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

- Thank you for having me.

(upbeat instrumental music) - "You and him.

Dear Black boy, every word I write is to save your life.

He got counseling, you got confinement.

He got McDonald's, you got murdered.

He received a misdemeanor, you received manslaughter.

He is a teen and you are a terror.

He is expressing himself, and you are being aggressive.

He is a good kid who made a mistake, and you are a troublemaking miscreant.

Dear Black boy, he is good Will Hunting, you are a menace to society.

And since society has had a hand in portraying and creating the menace, society cares little about your situation.

Dear Black boy, he is a Make-A-Wish kid, and you are a youth at risk.

His drugs are recreational, yours are reckless.

He will get community service and one day become a Supreme Court judge.

You get concurrent sentences with no period.

Dear Black boy, he gets justice, you just get served.

Dear Black boy, the game is rigged.

Stop playing checkers 'cause everyone else is playing chess.

You see, he can play in the jungle, listen to your music, talk your slang, but one day he can and he will dye his hair and blend back into the crowd, cover up his tattoos, and all is forgiven.

So, when they tell his story, it will be one of triumph.

You, on the other hand Black boy, will be remembered for yours.

While his will be called redemption, yours will be labeled resistance, defiance, and a threat.

P.S., dear Black Boy, this world has never designed to see you win, and yet you keep moving through it with a grace that terrifies those who built the board against you.

Dear Black boy, they will call you a problem, a menace, a threat.

But you must remember, every breath you take, every step you claim, every word you speak is already a victory.

What they name resistance is actually survival.

And what they call defiance is proof, is proof that you were never meant to lose.

Dear Black boy, futures not funerals."

- Kwabena, welcome back to "Black Nouveau."

Your new book "Dear Black Boy: Futures Not Funerals," interesting title, how did you come up with it?

- The work we've done over the last 20 years, myself with Muhibb Dyer, we want young men in the community to have a mantra called "Dear Black Boy: Futures Not Funerals."

The more they say it, the more they'll believe it.

- You grew up on Chicago's West Side.

How did growing up there influence your storytelling that you use in this book?

- The resilience factor and being able to take everything you've been through and use it to build you and not break you.

The stories, the lifestyle, everything I went through showed me how to take that, channel that, and put it into something else.

- You often talk about losing your father.

What influence, what influences did he have on you for this book?

- Education, speaking and telling your story.

'Cause he lost his life so early, he never got to tell his side of the story.

So, just the fact that he lost his, I think I really believe that when I'm speaking I'm speaking for both of us.

It's like I'm channeling something that he would've said to me.

Even the conversations I have, I feel like those are conversations that I would've had with him at this age now.

- Now, you work with a lot of Black boys in MPS and throughout the community.

What is it about young Black boys that you want people to know that they don't know right now?

- They're human.

They have a voice, they need a safe space, and that they cannot continually point at their trauma without also acknowledging they need treatment and that they need nurturing as well.

They show the side where it's messed up, but nobody tells how we got there.

And also to acknowledge the systemic factors that young men face on a daily basis.

With a hoodie on you're walking down the street, braids in your hair, you look a certain way.

Everybody should be allowed to look a certain way.

It needs to be empathy, not sympathy.

I don't need you to, I don't think Black boys need anyone to say, "Oh my God, that's a sorry story."

No, empathy in saying how can I get involved?

Let me listen a bit more.

And what can I give, what can I give that can assist with their growth and their development?

- You talk about how society seems to be more interested in Black boys' traumas than their successes.

Can you explain what you mean by that?

- Just look at what you see.

I mean, they can sell, the music, the TV shows, a number of things sell the worst of what's going through.

And then a show or a story that shows the better half of what young men are going through, it gets no ratings.

It's not 'cause people are not watching it.

It's what's being promoted and pushed.

It looks okay to be involved in these activities.

And if you look at it long enough, you'll think that's the culture.

That's a subculture based on the socioeconomical conditions we were talking about.

So, when I say that, I want people to see that whole spectrum, right?

Like, look at every part of it.

And if you see that you'll see that they're human, that they need, and I mean when I say they're human.

'Cause I do see, I do think people look at young men of color almost as aggressive, troublemaking, violent, right?

The wording we use when we're describing young Black boys when there's an issue that happens.

One school, a football game, two rivals didn't like each other, they call it well, they had a scuffle.

Ours is called, there was a gang fight at the so and so.

And it may have just been one side, Wauwatosa, this school doesn't like this school, and that school didn't like this school.

I mean, and I'm not minimizing that, but I'm saying that it could be that simple but it turns that big when it looks someone like us.

- Who is this book written for?

- The Black boy on the cover, myself, to tell him you matter.

And young men to look in that book and say it's possible.

- Real quick, how can we get a copy of this book?

- You can always go on my social media, Kwabena Antoine Nixon, and you can go on my website, beinspiredworks.com.

- Thanks a lot, Kwabena.

- [Kwabena] Appreciate you.

(upbeat instrumental music) (gentle catchy music) - [Scottie] They opened doors to home ownership for Black families in segregated Milwaukee.

- [Clayborn] What they wanted to do was show other institutions that African Americans would pay back their mortgage.

- [Scottie] Their bank, now standing for more than a century, didn't just lend money, it built dreams.

- People come up here with a dream of being able to find a house so that they can settle their families in, get a good education, and find work.

- [Scottie] And they dedicated their lives to a more just and equitable city.

- [Clayborn] They're known for is the Columbia Savings & Loan and their contributions in that way, but they did so much more over the course of the years.

And they were two very important people.

- [Scottie] This is the story of Wilbur and Ardie Halyard.

(lively instrumental music) (film reel rattling) (faint upbeat music) (slow playful music) - [Scottie] Ardie Clark and Wilbur Halyard were attending separate colleges in Atlanta when they met.

They married in 1920 and soon moved to Beloit, Wisconsin as part of the Great Migration to direct housing for Black workers at Fairbanks Morse, an engine and scale manufacturer.

- They didn't actually work in the factories.

They helped run the housing aspect that manage the homes, clean the houses, make sure that people had some place to live.

- [Scottie] In 1923, the Halyards moved to Milwaukee in hopes of building Black housing projects.

- The city of Milwaukee had financed a housing project in which only White people could live, known as the Garden Homes Project.

And we thought, well, perhaps they would do such a project for Black people.

But the mayor was not interested in doing that sort of a thing.

We talked about what could be done and finally settled on a savings and loan association.

And from that grew the Columbia Savings & Loan.

- [Scottie] Columbia Savings & Loan opened for business in 1925, and Wilbur sought investors to grow the bank.

- What Wilbur is doing is developing these relationships with other business people.

He is a business-minded person, but he's interested in making money.

So, it's Ms.

Ardie Halyard that is civic, is interested in the community aspect.

- [Scottie] The Halyards did not take a salary for the first 10 years as they worked to get the bank going.

Wilbur would also start a real estate business, and Ardie worked at Goodwill Industries by day and balanced Columbia's books by night, among other duties.

Soon the sacrifices started to pay off throughout the community.

- Bettering the life of African Americans in the bank, or the Savings & Loan, was about serving the issues of the African-American community.

Housing, loans, the whole bit.

I need money to open up this corner grocery store.

I need money to send my kids to college.

And his money was the link to that.

- [Scottie] By 1945, the Black home ownership rate in Milwaukee grew fivefold, and Columbia Savings & Loan had millions in assets.

It was an impressive feat for the Halyards who navigated their bank through The Great Depression and rampant housing discrimination.

- Many people wanted to purchase their own homes.

The Columbia Savings & Loan made that a possibility for them.

It comes in a time in which White businesses, savings and loan, did not want to finance mortgages for African Americans.

- [Scottie] In 1947, Ardie stepped into a larger role in Milwaukee civic life, reviving the city's dormant NAACP chapter.

Her leadership didn't stop there.

She went on to help launch new chapters in Kenosha and Racine, widening the reach of the movement across the state.

- [Clayborn] Running the NAACP was very important for her.

She at first becomes a state president of the NAACP, and organizes all of their conventions.

And then becomes the treasurer, and then becomes the person who promotes memberships.

She's Mrs.

Civil Rights.

She makes sure that the national representatives come to Milwaukee during the Open Housing marches, and that's a big deal.

- [Scottie] While Wilbur and Ardie were both involved with the NAACP, it's Ardie who took on a far more active role.

It was her who started the Youth Council, which brought in Father James Groppi and the Commandos to fight for fair housing laws.

- [Clayborn] That's Mrs.

Halyard that brings life to these young people.

They are all young people, and they have their own opinions and such.

And she, and it's Mrs.

Halyard that's behind it.

- [Scottie] The Halyards were involved in many other ways too, at their church, the Urban League, the United Negro College Fund, and the YMCA.

Politicians sought their endorsement, and they served on many high-ranking committees and commissions.

- They're members at Calvary Baptist Church on 2959 North Teutonia.

They're very active members.

In fact, Calvary builds the first senior citizens housing project in Milwaukee.

And so, they end up with three to four housing projects, and it's Mrs.

Halyard that pushes that.

Mrs.

Halyard was very important in the church.

(film feel rattling) (faint upbeat music) (upbeat instrumental music) (gentle piano music) - [Everett] This month, Vivent Health Services will hold its Make A Promise Gala, acknowledging 40 years of service to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Wisconsin.

In the early days of the epidemic, most of the people who contracted the disease died.

By the turn of the century, almost half a million people in the United States had succumbed to the disease.

(gentle piano music) Thanks to medical advantages, HIV does not have to be a death sentence today, but there are still challenges.

Originally thought to affect White gay males, it quickly became apparent that the disease did not discriminate.

Anyone was susceptible.

(gentle piano music) - The communities of color are bearing the disproportionate burden of new diagnosis.

And while HIV can be a managed long-term condition, for folks without resources or folks with limited access to care, it can still be a death sentence.

We know with the tons of structural issues, including racism, red lining, the way that neighborhoods and cities are laid out, public transportation access, disenfranchise and marginalize Black and Brown communities.

And along those lines we see health disparity.

- And when I found out, it was horrible.

Only person in my whole family, not my immediate family, my entire family, meaning my mom's siblings, okay, I didn't have anyone to talk to.

No one to talk about anything.

And the only thing I can remember is the little time I've seen little clips.

People with no one, in six months they were gone.

- [Everett] Terry is not gay.

An award-winning, 290-pound kickboxer at the time he contracted the disease.

He had a fiancee, then a girlfriend, and a child.

None of them have tested positive for the virus.

- So, at first I went, tried to see a doctor.

And he said, well, she started shaving the hair off my chest.

So, I looked and I said, "Wait, what are you trying to do here?"

And she said, "I'm gonna put the catheter."

I said, "I'm sorry, I can't do that."

"So, what do you do," is what I'm thinking to myself.

And I decided to do nothing.

- [Everett] Eventually he did do something, as the disease began to affect him physically.

- So, after a while you start, the wasting.

You get the little sores on your face.

And I met a doctor, Dr.

John finally says, "Okay, well, let me tell you.

You might be strong enough, but you look like (beeps)," okay?

(laughs) I said, and the nurse said, "Oh my God, you just said that to him?"

He said, "It's the only way I can get through to him."

Which that gave the same shock back that I gave him.

Like, I took my medicine all this time.

And I started trying different things, different medicines.

And then he says, "You know," and this, we talked, now this is year 2000.

You start seeing a counselor, a dentist, a therapist, then you start feeling like you're not, an outcast, so to speak.

You start feeling like there's somebody that's not gonna judge you, somebody that's gonna help you, and that's the best feeling you could ever have.

- [Everett] As a longtime survivor of HIV, Terry has a perspective that many of Vivent's new patients don't.

- There are young people today that will, may have never known anything about the HIV crisis or AIDS crisis that was experienced.

Won't know about the quilts, the marches, the climbing buildings, the advocacy that it took to get where we are today.

And in turn, we do see that young people are engaging in behaviors that may put them at risk for STIs and HIV.

And now current data is even suggesting that young, particularly young people of color, are more likely to be exposed and could become infected with HIV.

- I had sex, and I was like 21, 22.

And it was a guy I was dating.

And it was rumored that he had it, but like, you know, people, gays talk.

So, I didn't think nothing about it, but I was very educated about it.

So, it was like the least of my worries because my mom had just passed, and I was going to a local organization to get tested for a gift card.

I really needed the money.

And my friend ended up testing me who works, or worked there, and he told me I was positive.

But I didn't, like I know so much about it that I wasn't phased 'cause it's not a death sentence anymore.

But it still has that stigma around it.

Now there's like so many resources, but sometimes in our society people don't have, or they don't know the access to those resources, so they're just kind of not getting that information.

Any other disease, like diabetes, high blood pressure, I got high blood pressure too (laughs).

It's like anything else, like cancer, we don't discriminate against cancer.

So, why HIV?

- We've seen so much advancement in 40 years.

If you really take it in different decades.

We saw the time where HIV/AIDS was a death sentence.

And then that second decade you start to see people living.

The next 30, in the third decade, you start to see people thriving.

One pill a day, advances in prevention strategies.

And really then in our last decade you see viral suppression, meaning that you can't transmit the infection.

People starting to feel more autonomy.

People turning 75, having lived with HIV.

Next year we have a patient here who will turn 90, having been living with HIV for 35 years.

You see people thriving.

And while for some, 40 years seems like a short amount of time, it's been a long period of time.

It's been a moment where time was measured in months, days, and seconds.

And now it's measured in years, decades, 25 years.

- That's our program for this month.

Remember to check us out across all of our digital platforms.

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

Have a good evening.

(upbeat instrumental music)