Black Nouveau

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

I'm Earl Arms and this is our May edition.

This month, Alexandria Mack visits PEARLS for Teen Girls, a local program that has spent the last three decades empowering girls in the Greater Milwaukee community to become future leaders.

James Causey talks with two newly elected members of Milwaukee's Common Council, and we note the passing of internationally known artist Faith Ringgold.

Liddie Collins remembers the artist and her art.

70 years ago this month, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th Amendment and was therefore unconstitutional.

That ruling became a catalyst for what we now call the Modern Civil Rights Era, and Milwaukeeans were on the front lines of many battles.

The battle for equal employment.

- Well, I went there and they told me the job was filled and three days later I see the sign in the window again.

And so I went back again and they told me it was filled and we had a white tester just waiting.

So as soon as he reported to us that he was told the job was filled, we sent the white tester in and they told him he could start in that afternoon and that evening we got a parade of marches around the Marks Big Boy.

- [Earl] Open Housing.

- We have tried every means possible to bring fair housing legislation to the city of Milwaukee.

- My brother comes back from Europe in the Air Force, decides he wants to buy my mom a house.

Then he is going back to England, took her up on Capitol Drive, there's a house out there with a for sale sign in front of it and he goes out in uniform and he knocks on the door and he inquires about the house.

And the lady tells him very bluntly, "We don't sell to niggers".

- [Bobby] On August 28th, 200 civil rights protestors marched across the 16th Street Viaduct to Milwaukee South Side where blacks had not been able to live.

They were met by about 5,000 angry white spectators who threw rocks, bricks, and obscenities at them.

- [Earl] And equal education.

- Well we're intending to keep it up until we have convinced the school board and the citizens of the city that construct of segregation must end.

- Bringing African American kids from the black community to white schools and to simply isolating them in one given spot, not allowing them to intermix and intercommunicate with the European students throughout the school system, that is just as bad as the racial or separate but equal doctrine that we have been practicing for some 60 years.

- [Earl] You can watch the full episode of "Freedom Walkers for Milwaukee" online at milwaukeepbs.org.

Later this month, PBS is presenting "The Riot Report".

A two hour American experience special about the Kerner Commission Report released in 1968.

- [Narrator] He refused to accept the copy.

He refused to thank the commissioners.

- [Martin Luther King Jr] It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.

- There is this problem.

Let's not sweep it under the rug.

- [Narrator] This is the first time you've had the government saying "these problems are systemic."

- And it has remained this vitally important document that has retained its relevance.

- Johnson said, "Find the truth and express it in your report."

That's what we did.

(tense music) - Milwaukee is mentioned in the documentary.

It airs on May 21st at 8: 00 PM.

We invite you to join us for a special "Black Nouveau" webinar that evening to watch the program, discuss the report, and its findings.

We'll have more information about the webinar on our website at milwaukeepbs.org.

(upbeat music) (gentle music) - [Deontrenique] We are PEARLS Girls and we want to be our best selves.

- [All] All of the girls in this circle are my PEARL sisters.

We are learning how each one of us is precious and unique.

- [Alexandria] It all starts with a promise.

- [All] PEARLS helps us believe in ourselves by building.

P is for personal responsibility.

- I can make a difference.

E is for empathy.

I will strive to understand how it feels to walk in your shoes.

- A is for awareness.

- A string of principles.

- I want to know more about myself and the world around me.

- R for respect.

I'll value you and your opinions even if we disagree.

L is for leadership.

I want to-- - [All] To put my my beliefs into action and make this world a better place.

S is for support.

I want to help and encourage.

- We promise to help each other practice these traits.

- We promise to help each other practice these traits.

- [All] We promise to help each other practice these traits.

- We want to become role models and powerful women-- - Who achieve our goals and dreams.

- [All] Thank you all for our precious time together today.

- [Alexandria] Linked together with a unified mission.

- I think everybody views it from a different lens.

I think for me it's like it's always for girls, it's by girls, for girls.

And the girls kind of create the space themselves.

- Any girl, any girl, PEARLS is a space for, like, think about when you were young.

I mean even as an adult we have peers because we go through things and we want a space or be like, "is it just me?"

And I think that it is critical to be what we wanted in our youth.

PEARLS was the first place where I saw a connection with adults and youth that wasn't a teacher-student or a professor-student dynamic.

It was my introduction to what a trusted adult is.

So I got to see girls in the space that had kind of like a very deep respect for their program coordinator, but also where they can be themselves and really let their hair down and be silly, and got to see adults be silly with girls.

(gentle music) - [Alexandria] A specific space for girls 5th through 12th grade to build community with each other and women mentors.

- [Jasmine] We started out as a volunteer initiative, one program coordinator, one site, and that started in 1993.

So our founder, Colleen Fitzgerald, she's just like, "You know what?

There needs to be a safe space for girls in the city of Milwaukee."

And we had the one group those girls once a week and a lot of our foundational things was built in that space.

- What do I wanna be remembered for?

Just like this joyful young lady.

Like I'm the goat.

(laughs) My name is Deontrenique and I've been a Girl since about sixth grade and I'm currently in 10th grade.

So like around four to five years.

Think about what you wanna get out of life.

What do you wanna be remembered for and what kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?

- We kind of meet the girls where they're at.

We understand their needs and we don't judge.

So in PEARLS we don't kind of accept or tolerate any type of bullying, whether it's social, emotional, or any type of like social media bullying or in group.

And the girls are kind of like, "Hey, if I wanna be in this space, I have to make sure to protect it."

So it's like up to them to kind of build that type of bond as well as with the facilitator to kind of get to know each other and be like, "Hey, I can talk about these certain things and the girls in here won't judge me."

- It was just like the bond between the PC and I, and like, and other girls as well.

And I'm like, "I wanna see, like, I wanna be best friends with other girls.

I wanna cause an impact with other girls as well."

- [Alexandria] PEARLS, equipping the young ladies with lessons based on their needs and concerns.

- The reason it is needed, because you see a lot of the the bad going on, like you see girls in stolen cars, boys in stolen cars, but we are focused on the girls.

So the girls, I feel like if they had something to do like PEARLS, I'm talking any organization that's gonna teach you life and how you can just go around it.

I feel like they will be, they will not be how they are and do what they do because they will have something to do.

- [Alexandria] Preparing these girls to become the world's future bold women leaders.

- Heavy on leadership.

- Heavy on leadership.

- It taught me how to talk to you today and allowed me to express how I feel because once upon a time I wasn't a outspoken kid or like I was more of a shy, and like me coming in like, I come in like the president.

They like, "Oh my god, Deontrenique here!"

- We did it, we did it, we did it.

- That was quick!

Okay, that was quick.

- But we are intentional about teaching them how to build relationships with their peers, how to love themselves, teaching them how to strive to achieve for college and beyond with our CCR program, and introducing them to different aspects of the community, - [Alexandria] Finding victories along the way.

- [Jasmine] I think that success is seeing a girl become whatever it is that she wants to be or even on the path to becoming whatever it is that she wants to be, I would call success.

Someone coming out of their shell, participating in a circle, answering a check in question.

- [Deontrenique] What do you wanna be remembered for?

- Probably for being like caring and like always being able to help people.

- I wanna be remembered for just like, a fun person to be around.

- I would call success girls coming up to me in the city, like, "Miss Jasmine, you remember me?

Like, I learned so much from you."

And so I would call those small treasures success.

And to continue to offer these safe spaces to girls in neighborhoods, centers, districts, schools, like those things.

Reaching, branching out to other populations, that is success to me.

The power of that safe space, success.

- It inspired me, it empowered me, it gave me courage that I can be myself.

- [Alexandria] 30 years of planting seeds for girls to reap success in their tomorrow.

- [All] PEARLS Girls!

(upbeat music) - [James] The April swearing in ceremony at the Milwaukee Common Council, welcome the most diverse group of members today.

Of the 15 Council members eight are African American, 6 are women, and 2 identify as openly LGBTQ.

Among this groundbreaking representation are Alderwoman Andrea Pratt, who represents the first district and Alderwoman Sharlen Moore, who represents the 10th district.

Thanks for joining us.

- [Both Alderwomen] Thanks for having us.

- So first question for you, Alderwoman Pratt, as you embark on your term, what do you, what are the three most pressing issues in your district?

- What I hear most from constituents are concerns around illegal dumping.

It's a huge issue in the 1st District.

We have a lot of light industrial areas that are no longer active.

So people tend to use that to dump as well as city lots.

So just coming up with some strategies around how we can curb that, how we can get some cameras in the area, get some eyes on the area, secure those places, or activate those spaces.

So coming, I'm trying to come up with ideas around that and working with DPW, working with different city departments to make that happen.

Other problems or other challenges that we have in the 1st District would be something that's going on throughout the city, which would be reckless driving.

I have some intersections in my district where there have been some fatalities, numerous fatalities.

So 35th and Capitol we just had the, someone hit a bus.

We also had, Teutonia and Villard is in my district.

I've had three fatalities since I've been elected and it's only been a year.

And then at Sherman and Villard is another one.

There's also been three fatalities at that intersection.

So dealing with how it, what are we gonna do to slow the drivers.

A lot of the traffic calming measures that have happened in other parts of the city haven't gotten to the 1st District yet.

And especially along that Capitol corridor where we know so much speeding happens.

So it's essential that we do something to slow those drivers on Capitol Drive.

And third, just getting some economic development into our district.

It's been, it's ripe for development and the people who live in the neighborhood deserves to have those amenities.

We shouldn't have to leave our neighborhoods for everything we want.

- Yes, yes.

- So like I wanna go to a coffee shop that's in my neighborhood.

I wanna be able to run to the store in my neighborhood.

I want the hardware store in my neighborhood or the bike shop.

The things that I tend to leave my neighborhood for, I wanna be able to get in my neighborhood.

So I'm trying to make those amenities and those services available to the residents of the 1st District.

- Alderwoman Moore, what about you?

What are you seeing?

- Yeah, it's so beautiful for the 10th District is we have an array of individuals in our district that, you know, economics, race, class, it runs the gamut.

And so that's one thing I can say I inherited, a district that's also very involved.

Some of the things very similar to Alderwoman Pratt is that safety, that was always one of the number one things coming up when I was on the doors, as well as some of the calls that I'm getting right now.

People wanna feel safe in their homes and in their neighborhoods.

And it also has turned into the street calming measures that have happened because yes, we're still railing from a lot of issues when it comes to just the reckless driving.

And so, you know, folks want their street, you know, folks want better streets and you know that, but it also comes with a price where you'll have some disruption during those times.

In addition housing, I think there's some things that we can do when it comes to stabilizing communities when it comes to violence is making sure that we have stabilized housing for communities.

Currently right now we have a high renter population where folks have moved from owning to, you know, because they've just grown, our elders have gone on to other spaces or moved out of the city.

And so our homeowners are becoming younger and younger, but there's also a gap when it comes to a high population of renters.

And so we have to do a better job in stabilizing our housing, having a housing stock that a variety of people can afford.

And I would probably say one of the last things that also keeps coming up, just the phone calls that we get daily, it also has been the assessment, the property assessment.

People are just trying to understand how it works, why some got more than others, you know.

And also, you know, those folks that have limited income, such as some of our seniors, making sure they can afford to stay in their homes.

- Yeah, so what does an Alderperson, what can a Alderperson do to stabilize housing?

Take me through that process.

- Yeah, so for me, I'm still new on the job.

- [Andrea] (laughs) Me too.

- But I think for me it would be a multi-layer approach.

And so we have to have developers that are coming into our communities that are building different types of housing stocks that accommodate different types of people.

I have a really soft spot in my heart for our elders because they're on a limited income.

Some of our elders are not fortunate enough to live with family and so they, a lot of them still want their own space, right?

And so figuring out really creative ideas to hone in on what communities could look like.

I think that's one of the, that's a primary start.

And also, you know, the spaces we're, you know, it feels sometimes we're running outta space here in the city, but being creative on where we can place housing in this city.

- Andrea, when it comes to assessments, what are you hearing?

Our housing jumped $20,000 and it was kind of a surprise.

What are you hearing in your district?

- My own personal one went up $40,000 and the 1st District is where the assessments went up the highest in the city.

They went up 26% in the 1st District.

And a lot of that is driven by out of state investors coming in and paying way over market rate for houses.

So I did get a printout of all the houses that recently sold in my area and I look at it, I can see houses that are assessed by the city for $80,000 but that are selling for $200,000.

- Wow!

- So if you're doing that, you're driving up this housing cost at a really fast rate.

And so people cannot afford the taxes that may come with it, especially if you're elderly-- - [James] What can a person do, real quick?

- So you can, you can file to appeal your assessment.

So there's a whole process to do that.

And after that appeal, sometimes they'll come in, they'll look at your house and they'll say whether they think this is a fair assessment or not.

A lot of times, I've done it personally before, they've come out to my house and they thought, "Oh we thought you had another bathroom" or "we thought you had done this update" that I did not do.

So my assessment was then lower to what it should have been and what was more comparable to what was going on in that neighborhood.

- Okay, well thanks a lot for coming on.

I really appreciate it.

Thanks.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) - [Liddie] Meet Faith Ringgold.

- Faith Ringgold is me.

And I'm trying to do what I can to create art that tells my story.

Yeah, and to share it with others and to keep it going and to get it done.

My story is a whole lot of things.

It's not just, you know, that I was born here, there, the other place.

It's how I think about things, how I feel about things, the kinds of colors I like to use.

It's every aspect of creating art that pleases me.

And I have the freedom to create that work.

- [Liddie] Growing up she never thought about art being something to be, she said, "Back then art was something to do".

And as a child she had asthma.

- And I did a lot of art.

First of all, they taught us art in school.

We had art every day in school in the '30s.

- [Liddie] Her activism contributed to her art.

- Without the activist, I would not have been able to show the art 'cause there's a lot of racism in the art world.

A lot, a lot, a lot!

And many artists before my time kind of felt that they shouldn't be, you know, doing anything about it.

They shouldn't be part of the movement to make life better for African Americans, or women by the way.

They just have to kind of take it.

Well, I just never thought I'd supposed to take anything that I didn't like or didn't want or wasn't beneficial to me.

And so I provided leadership in the field of Women's Rights in the art world.

- [Liddie] Faith Ringgold works in a variety of art forms.

Painting, quilts, sculpture, prints, drawings, and the list goes on.

- Several of my different-- - [Liddie] Her fame in the art world really came from her children's books and quilts.

- And that's more surprising than anything else.

The quilts, because I didn't think about it, that people would say, "Oh those are crafts.

We don't, it's not really art, you know, it's not like painting and stuff."

'Cause I'm a painter.

A lot of people think the quilts are not paintings.

I'm sorry, they're wrong.

They are.

- [Liddie] She found she could get her art published but not her writings, so she combined them.

The outcome, the book "Tar Beach", based on her "Tar Beach" quilt,.

Including "Tar Beach", Ringgold has completed 16 children's books, and all of her art tells a story, even her dolls.

- [Faith] As well, so that kids can see, "Oh"-- - [Liddie] She's seen the political climate change through the years.

- I think today there are some aspects of freedom that are taken for granted.

I have said, and I really want the opportunity to say this.

The world will not change.

We will not find peace.

We will not find a world at peace until women of all races all over the world have leadership positions in both religion and politics.

- [Liddie] And now what?

- I am creating this series of games, when put together, you have created a work of art.

- [Liddie] And that work of art is a quilt entitled Sudoku.

An idea she got playing the game Sudoku, a game based on nine numbers.

- Instead of just having nine numbers and nine colors.

Why don't I have nine colors and nine images?

Because when you look at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, I don't care how you arrange it, it still looks basically the same.

But nine images can look like anything.

"Daddy worked on that bridge hoisting cables.

Since then, I've wanted that bridge to be mine."

- [Liddie] Continues to create.

She wants to do something about the dwindling of art in public places and spending time with children.

- [Faith] This has been marvelous being here with the children and 'cause the children, I don't know, I get to say I don't think they change.

I think they're pretty consistently wonderful 'cause they're such angels.

- [Earl] We note the recent passing of the Reverend Dr Milton F Dockery, teacher and one of the co-chairs of the History Department here at Milwaukee Area Technical College.

He was also one of the former hosts for "Black Nouveau", who shared stories from his home county of Racine and interviewed a number of prominent figures visiting Wisconsin.

- [Milton] As a father of 10, 10 great children.

What is the most rewarding thing to you as a father?

- Well, for me, I remember my first son as a matter of fact, that I saw his graduation-- - [Milton] Is that the one that served as your manager for a while?

- Yeah, George.

He graduated Rice University and they walked across the stage and they said, "George Foreman".

And I realized through me, through him, I was living to see your children graduate and get a college education, man that is the utmost to me.

(upbeat music) - And finally tonight there is this... - And now it's time to meet Alexandria Lexie Mason.

She's the newest member of the "Black Nouveau" family.

Welcome, Lexie.

- Thank you for having me.

Excited to be here.

- Oh, good, good!

Well, tell us about yourself.

- I'm a Milwaukee native.

I went to Wauwatosa East for high school, did my undergrad in journalism at UW Madison.

And then I just wrapped up my master's at USC last year in Los Angeles.

So from there I went to Channel 4, I was a digital producer, and now I'm here.

- So why did you come back from Los Angeles?

Why didn't you stay there and start your career?

- Well, in addition to the sunshine, I really knew I wanted to come back to the community.

I was interested in reporting jobs, digital jobs, and it's close to home, close to my boyfriend.

And I was like, "Okay, this is gonna be a new opportunity to take everything I've learned in undergrad and grad school and bring it back home."

- And bring it back home she did!

Finding and telling stories that illuminated our community, highlighting its challenges and successes, showing the best of who we are and winning awards across the spectrum of public media.

And now after five years, Alexandria Mack is leaving Milwaukee PBS and "Black Nouveau" to start the next chapter of her career.

Alexandria, congratulations.

First off, just talk about the impact that you've had and any story or interview that you've done that's been memorable to you during your time here?

- Yeah, a story that stands out to me is the Dear Chloe Project.

It was about young black girls are being bullied in schools and they were writing letters kind of describing what they were going through.

And the reason that it stood out to me is one, I was nine months pregnant with my daughter, but also because I was bullied in school.

So just hearing those stories were really powerful.

It was also nominated for a Emmy, so that was a career milestone for me that had just a lot of emotional significance.

So that was really exciting.

- What are you gonna miss the most?

- I'm gonna miss just being able to tell a variety of stories across sectors.

People coming from different backgrounds, professions.

I've had some great food over the years.

I've seen some beautiful art exhibits.

I've heard some amazing musicians.

So I'm definitely gonna miss being engaged in just the overall scene and finding an excuse to tell a beautiful story.

- What do you hope your lasting legacy is with "Black Nouveau"?

- I hope it's one of excellence.

I hope people will remember the stories I told and the fact that I was a perfectionist.

I loved storytelling and that I was always trying to find something that hadn't been done before.

- Congratulations again.

Well done.

- Thank you.

- All right, well that's our program for this month.

Remember to check us out on social media and to be sure to join us next month here on "Black Nouveau".

On behalf of the entire team, I'm Earl Arms.

Have a great evening.

- And that wraps up this special edition of "Black Nouveau".

- Remember in the coming week do something to expand your world.

Goodnight.

- Goodnight.

(upbeat music)