Black Nouveau

(whimsical music) (strong upbeat music) - Hello, everyone, and welcome to the March edition of "Black Nouveau".

I'm Earl Arms, and we're so glad you could be here to join us.

March, of course, is Women's History Month.

And we'll hear from poet Jonah Denae.

We'll also talk with E. Faye Butler, director of "Ain't Misbehavin'", currently at the Milwaukee Rep's Stackner Cabaret.

James Causey talks with civil rights activist, Reverend Joseph Ellwanger.

And we'll look back at this year's Daddy/Daughter Dance.

But we begin with Milwaukee's spring election.

James Causey has more.

- As the country gears up for a contentious midterm election campaign, there are unanswered questions for voters.

Milwaukee's spring election is not for Wisconsin federal positions, but we don't want any voters to be confused.

Joining us is Maricha Harris, Deputy Director of the Milwaukee Election Commission.

Maricha, thanks for joining us.

- Thank you so much for having me.

I appreciate it.

- So President Donald Trump has advocated for new voting restrictions ahead of the midterm elections.

What should Milwaukee voters expect at the polls?

- So, City of Milwaukee voters can expect that elections are gonna run without interruption or disruption in our city.

Election day is a joyous day.

It should be a holiday.

And we have so many people, thousands of workers who dedicate their time.

All of our workers, our staff, our poll workers, everyone has taken an oath to uphold the State Constitution and the U.S.

Constitution.

And so we will absolutely follow the law and administer elections.

And so, this year, this season, we have 178 polling locations.

Early voting starts two weeks prior to Election Day.

We will have seven sites across the city of Milwaukee.

So March 24th through April 5th is when early voting will run.

And we are doing everything we can to ensure that all qualified electors are able to cast their qualified ballots for our spring election this year.

- Do you have any plans in place just in case ICE shows up at any of the polling places?

- It's a great question?

And we know that that's something that people are thinking about.

We want people to understand that we must abide by the law.

And the law prohibits federal armed agents from entering polling locations.

If anyone sees something, we always say to anyone, "If you see something unusual, say something."

Our team is dedicated to ensure that our elections are running, again, without interruption or disruption.

And so, we ask that everyone alerts us of anything that could be unusual so that we can quickly react.

- How does Wisconsin, and especially Milwaukee, how do we do on absentee voting?

- So last spring election, we saw record-breaking absentee voting.

We had more than 50,000 absentee ballots that were cast in the city of Milwaukee.

And we are anticipating that that is our new normal.

- When are these expected to go out?

- The state deadline for us to issue absentee ballots that people have already requested is March 17th.

After that, we issue them every day.

- Now, President Trump has made the claims that, you know, there was some illegal voting back during the 2020 election here in Milwaukee.

First of all, what steps have you made to ensure that no illegal voting took place?

- There are so many levels of checks and balances to ensure that we are able to reconcile every ballot to every voter and that qualified electors are casting qualified ballots.

So there are lots of levels of checks and balances at the local level, the county level, and even the state level.

Anything that is suspicious, we have to report that to the authorities.

It is extremely rare for us to have to make reports of suspicious ballots.

- And those claims are false, correct?

- So our role is to report to the authorities.

We are not responsible for investigating or validating.

We have partnerships with law enforcement agencies.

And our role is, if we have the evidence, we collect the evidence and we report it to authorities.

But it is rare that we even have evidence of voter fraud.

- If people have questions, who can they call or what should they do?

- If people have questions, we encourage them to go to the City of Milwaukee Election Commission website.

We have information.

They can also call our office directly.

Our number is available on the website.

And also, our email address is [email protected].

So individuals with questions or seeking information can also email us as well.

- Okay, fantastic.

Well, thanks a lot, Maricha.

- You're welcome, thank you.

Thank you again for having me.

("Ain't Misbehavin'") No one to talk with All by myself No one to walk with But I'm happy on the shelf Ain't misbehavin' Savin' my love for you For you, for you, for you - [Everett] Thomas Wright Fats Waller was one of the most prolific jazz musicians of his time.

He performed and wrote a number of songs that defined an era.

Grab your coat, get your hat Leave your worries on the doorstep Just direct your feet To the sunny side of the street Every honeybee sighs with jealousy When they see you out with me I don't blame 'em, goodness knows Honeysuckle rose I can't give you anything but love, baby That's the only thing I've plenty of, baby I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter And make believe it came from you - [Everett] In 1978, the Broadway show based on his music won the Tony Award for Best Musical.

This show has become one of the most performed productions in regional theater.

Every Mose is on his toes I mean this joint is jumpin' No time for talkin' It's time for walkin' Grab a jug, cut a rug I mean this joint is jumpin' Hey hey Get your pig feet, beer and gin There's plenty in the kitchen Who is that just came in here Ooh look at how he's switchin' Ooh - [Everett] Milwaukee Rep produced a version in the 2013-14 season, and has a new production that begins airing this month through April.

We talked with the director during the rehearsal period about the production.

- "Ain't Misbehavin'" is truly a celebration of Fats Waller and his brilliance and his music.

And unlike a lot of projects that people see, it was probably one of the first, what people would call now jukebox musicals.

But it was a review of the '30s and '40s music that Fats Waller made very popular.

Even if he didn't necessarily write the entire composition, he had a lot to do with the composition.

Either he wrote the lyrics or he composed the music.

And it takes you through the history... I find that it takes you through the history of African American culture.

It's totally a cabaret.

So the Stackner is a perfect place to do "Ain't Misbehavin'".

Because if you were any place in Uptown Harlem or in this incarnation of "Ain't Misbehavin'", we're in Bronzeville, Wisconsin, which is right here in Milwaukee, which would've been the Harlem of Milwaukee.

And I think a lot of people in Milwaukee don't know that history, that there was a place where African American culture, you know, where we ruminated, where we socialized, where we had our fish frys, you know, and our rent parties.

So that's kind of what it is.

It's about the life in the time of a great man.

(strong, steady music) - I am what God took His time with.

Sometimes I hide underneath heavy clothes to keep they eyes to imagination, so they won't think they obligated to have my number.

Watch my drink at the bar.

It got potential to be laced.

I found myself going against my own sisters, competing for a place in this world, competing for somebody to love on me and take care of me.

Well, what about our history as women?

What about how far we've come?

What about the years I couldn't have a say so to put my ballot in the box?

What about the years I had to stay home, my mouth shut 'cause I couldn't survive without a provider put in my life.

Only could put my trust in a man that he would helped me survive 'cause I wasn't allowed to punch a clock.

My dear sisters, we come from treasured history, the ones who paved way.

Let us not let the lost girls become a mystery, disguise ourselves as men so we can bet on living through the next week.

You address me with respect.

Madame C.J.

Walker, we walked miles regardless of the hours.

It was a time when my women couldn't even own property.

You take a knock at the door before you walk in, regardless of a no-knock warrant.

Rest in power, Breonna Taylor.

They tried to take us when again we are God's gift from Mother Nature.

We are survivalists, still walking and breathing despite a bullet in the head.

I still survive, Malala Yousafzai.

So many tears I cry speaking my truth.

In these words, I speak to you in awe that I've been through as a woman.

I remember being a young girl, lookin' in the mirror, hating the reflection that looked back at me.

It's 'cause I was searching for answers, looking for my pops, asking why he ain't protect me.

See, I wanted protection.

I never wanted love, I just wanted my pops, the man I took my last name after, this stranger.

The judge in the court wanted me, forcing me to get to know him.

Really.

I gotta get to know my pops.

I ain't whining nor complaining.

I was raised on my own to be strong, especially at bus stops.

When a man tried to ask for my number or how old I am, I had to pick up bricks from the sidewalk as I walked through the neighborhood and make use of it as if it was my pops protecting his daughter.

I cried tears when I miss aim trying to protect myself.

I wanted him to feel my pain.

See, I've been carrying this stuff on my back since I watched my moms relax.

Let me get personal.

I stood and rose with social workers, counting my quarters from doormats I stepped on trying to find love and the answer to why he ain't here.

Man, I'm tired of talking about it.

We tap dance around the conversation like they Bill Bojangles Robinson in "Stormy Weather".

Broke bread with my impatient little sisters who I gotta protect 'cause they pops ain't there with 'em.

I dodged gunshots barehanded.

I had to make sure my pants were tight.

When this grown man tried to untie 'em, I'm crying.

I'm crying out loud.

I've been trying like Tina dodging Ike.

Calling Robin Givens grinding away at Mike Tyson.

What did they give you?

A peace of mind.

Well, here's a piece of my pie.

Young me peeking through the window blinds, car lights.

I shouted for pops during drive-bys.

Listen to what I've been through.

I had to face faces that told me straight up, "Black sister, he ain't want you."

Thought it was my fault that moms couldn't do it on her own.

I had to wear my brother hand-me-downs and worn out clothes, foldin' clothes at the laundromat.

She put the call on hold.

I got a phobia of holding on for too long.

Longing for a hug or closure, I got doors closed up on me.

I got shot at going home in the morning while she got to take morning chores without a worry.

I got my thoughts rubbed around in the ground when I tried shouting.

I had to take precaution.

They told me to get lost.

The law sent canines and dogs barking.

Working nine-to-fives 'cause Pops ain't walking through that door tomorrow or anytime soon.

I just deal with it.

In any given condition, don't contradict me into thinking he was innocent for leaving me.

The aim seem too accurate, 2-3 action.

Accountable to beat the black of the sky before the street lights cut on.

And the next guy tries to ask if I wanna ride home, an easy target 'cause my pops ain't here with me.

And I'm still waiting to receive something in my own mailbox, some type of answer to why I gotta look harder than the next woman who look different from me.

Lately, I've been pacing this ground we walk on with guilt, like somebody begging for something to eat.

To me, that's not extraordinary when I cover my face at gas stations trying to make it to the next day, trying to keep my heart uplifted, my voice quivering.

I feel unsteady.

Looking at everyone facing me, having to listen to my story, I feel sick to my stomach.

Knowing my story may be irrelevant to the government man helping me provide government cheese in my refrigerator.

But guess what?

I'm walking in rooms right now they never thought I could walk in.

I hope I inspire each and every one of you in this room.

I clench my gut as I say these words, my chin up as I walk this earth.

A woman, a creator, I'm not just capable of bearing seeds.

I can influence everything that graces my presence.

You say a grace when you at my table.

They told me I was hypocritical, hysterical.

But I'm the one that's laughing now.

When I left out the room, they got to talking now.

Who am I, writing this letter?

They not worthy of my last breath.

I'll still be the last woman breathing.

I am a woman's worth.

- And now we're joined here by Jonah Denae.

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

- Thank you for having me.

- And a great performance, very inspiring.

And we were talking a little earlier.

You said, this is in your blood, this is what you do.

So talk about how you got into this form of expression.

- My mother herself is a writer.

She was rapping and doing poetry a lot coming up, when she was my age.

And I feel that it's just instilled in my DNA.

But I had a first grade teacher, Ms.

Davis.

I attended Dubois School in Milwaukee.

And she introduced me to Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Tupac, and all the greats that we have in history that are legendary in the world of literature.

I've always been a reader.

I've always been a bookworm.

And it's always been something that just allowed me to express myself and where I come from.

- And this particular piece that you just performed for us, what's the significance of it, particularly here during Women's History Month?

- It contributes to the power and essence and beauty of a woman, women of color.

I mention a lot of names that are in history of women.

And Malala, for example, she contributed greatly to women's history herself, just being such a active figure and advocate and activist and just embracing that as a woman and bringing to the table forth of what God has gifted us to be as women.

So I just feel that my poem truly touches on the history, the late passings of our women, the essence.

You're gonna hear it in my poem.

So I don't wanna say too much, I want you to listen.

(Earl and Jonah laughing) - All right, and just a a few seconds left.

What do you hope people learn from your poem and from your work?

- I want them to learn that there is always power within yourself and to express it in the most intricate way possible.

Everyone has a power.

You must find it and unlock it and use it for the best of the world.

- Miss Jonah Denae, thank you so much for being here with us.

(steady, strong upbeat music) - [Earl] Milwaukee Recreation's Daddy/Daughter Dance is as popular as ever, 20-plus years in.

Around 1,100 fathers and daughters made their way to downtown Milwaukee's Baird Center decked out in their best and most unique evening wear.

- Oh, she picks the colors every year.

And I gotta catch up with her, so.

- Yes.

- [Earl] So you picked out the dress too?

- Yeah.

- I actually did not pick this out; my dad did.

- [Earl] Whose idea was this, to dress up?

- So me and my wife, we come up with different... We started a few years ago and said, "It'd be nice if we did this."

So last year, it was actually "Princess and the Frog".

So I was Prince Naveen and they was Princess Tiana.

- [Earl] No need to dress like their favorite princess this year as they were already there to meet the guests, the new addition to the many reasons the event goes over well with the young ladies.

- My favorite part is probably when I actually dance.

- She really likes dressing up, going out with her dad.

Anytime we can spend together, she really enjoys this.

This is something she looks forward to every year.

- Is that right?

- Yes.

(Earl laughs) - Yes and the dressing up.

I like dressing up.

The food here is good.

And spending time.

- [Earl] The dance has come a long way from its humble beginnings.

- It's real big now.

It's beautiful how they got it set up.

'Cause before, we were like in a, ooh, in a gymnasium.

It's fine, but this is a little more elegant.

The dinner's still good, good food.

And everybody's dressed up.

Everybody looks nice.

It's downtown so it's a beautiful thing.

- [Earl] Organizers say the event takes months of work and planning ahead.

- We have about 10 people on the committee.

We start in October.

This is the finish.

So about five months it takes.

And then all the collaborations with making sure the sponsorships, the photo booths, the princesses that are here this year, the food, those are the main things that really run the event.

And then the main thing is the DJ though.

So, you know, the DJ's been with us for the 21 years himself.

- [Earl] Milwaukee Radio veteran Homer Blow is a fixture at the Daddy/Daughter Dance.

He says, it's the importance of fatherhood that keeps him coming back every year.

- Just seeing so many community people and just fathers bringing their princesses to spend a nice elegant evening and let them know that they are special, they're important, and to see them all dancing together, and the signature "Dance With My Father" song that I play.

- [Earl] And when they weren't dancing with one another, they were dancing against each other, like in the Daddy/Daughter dance-off.

It was a battle the fathers were never gonna win.

But that's not what's most important to the fathers we talked to.

- Because I get personal time with my daughters.

I think that's important as a father in the community that we teach our daughter different things.

I know their mothers are gonna give 'em the basics, but as a man to show them how they should be loved and how a man should treat 'em.

- And I know that one day, I won't even have these opportunities, you know.

So to actually see her smile and to love to do this, I just gotta take advantage of it while I can.

It's just no telling what her priorities will be in a few years.

She may not be running to go to Daddy/Daughter Dance when she's 16 or 17, you know.

- [Earl] You're not gonna do that to your dad, are you?

- You gonna do that to me?

Look at her.

She's like, "Maybe."

- [Earl] Are you ever gonna grow out of it?

- No, I don't think so.

- Okay.

(strong, steady upbeat music) - [James] As pastor of St.

Paul Lutheran Church, a predominantly Black church in Birmingham, Alabama, the Reverend Joseph Ellwanger earned the trust of his congregation.

And he quickly caught the attention of Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

who brought him into his inner circle.

- It was a really excellent opportunity for me to grow and to experience a Black movement for freedom that is called the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

I was given the opportunity to serve on what was called the Central Committee during the demonstrations in 1963 in Birmingham.

And that's where I had the opportunity to meet with not only Dr.

King but also the others who were involved in the leadership there and in the movement and the demonstrations in 1963.

Ralph Abernathy and Andrew Young, just being in that select group was an experience that was really something that shapes your mind and your thoughts in a way that you don't fully realize until later.

As I look back some 60 years later, I realize that this involvement with the movement and with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was the point at which I saw very clearly that as a Christian pastor and as a pastor of a congregation, I need to see that work for justice is what the spiritual and religious community should be about.

There are many verses in scripture that make that clear, but you have to experience that kind of enactment.

So doing justice, I learned what that really means in walking with Dr.

King and the movement in the 1960s.

- [James] He marched with King to advocate for voting rights.

He even spoke at the funeral of one of the four little girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

- The Voting Rights campaign in 1965 in Selma had an amazing victory.

And finally, after the Selma to Montgomery March, you know, the Congress and the President did pass a very strong Voting Rights Act that not only enfranchised thousands of people who previously had not had the opportunity to vote.

But what happened was, within a couple of years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, the apparatus that supported Jim Crow and segregation in the South was dismantled.

And for that, definitely, I'm grateful.

- [James] Ellwanger and his wife Joyce moved to Milwaukee in 1967 after receiving a call to pastor Cross Lutheran Church on 16th and Vine.

He did so reluctantly.

- I really had that pull to stay.

But the thing that pulled me to accept the call from Cross Church here in Milwaukee in 1967 is the fact that Cross Church said that they wanted me to come and help them integrate their congregation and reach the community around them.

This was a largely 95% White congregation on 16th and Vine that found themselves in 1967 with the community around them not only changing but pretty well changed.

- [James] He continued to struggle for civil rights in Milwaukee even after retiring from Cross Lutheran in 2001.

One of the things he's most proud of is Project Return, a program he designed to help formerly incarcerated people get back on their feet.

- It is an agency that seeks to walk with people returning from prison to the community.

And it's designed to help returning citizens to have the resources that they need to make a positive return to their homes and to their families, to the community.

Helping them to find jobs, to find housing, to find the support group that every returning person needs.

But it's very encouraging and heartwarming to know that the Project Return still exists and is still doing its job and is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

- [James] Today, he is concerned that the Civil Rights Movement may be losing traction.

- There is the reversal that is happening, the issue of voting rights as an example.

What's happening now is voter suppression.

That people are finding it as difficult or even more difficult to vote now than, say, a few years ago.

And we have to definitely push against.

Because John Lewis once said that, "The vote is the most powerful "non-violent tool that we have "to bring about change in the country."

- [Announcer] Since our last broadcast, two prominent members of our community have joined the elders.

LaMarr Franklin dedicated his life to uplifting others in the Milwaukee community.

He worked with numerous organizations including the YMCA Black Achievers, Boys and Girls Clubs, and the MLK Economic Development Corporation.

He spent four decades working at Northcott Neighborhood House where he was instrumental in creating the Juneteenth Celebration in Garfield Days.

Whether mentoring youth, championing economic empowerment, or supporting arts and cultural initiatives, his commitment to strengthening the community never wavered.

Also note the passing of Reverend Jesse Jackson, a protege of Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

He was a two-time presidential candidate and a civil rights activist who created Operation Push and the Rainbow Coalition, which helped usher in a new generation of civil rights and political activism.

- Before we close tonight, a reminder to check us out on all of our digital platforms.

We have a special interview with Lou Bellamy, director of August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson", currently playing at the Milwaukee Rep, along with some other segments that you might enjoy.

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

Have a great evening.

(strong upbeat music)