Here & Now

Noon Wednesday: Mentorship Over Protest

Marisa Wojcik:

Welcome to Noon Wednesday. I’m Marisa Wojcik, multimedia journalist with Here & Now on PBS Wisconsin. We are continuing coverage of how conversations and actions around race equity are playing out in Wisconsin. For some, taking to the streets in protest is the answer. For our guest today, it’s about changing lives daily. Dennis Beale, founder of Power of Perception in Eau Claire, wants to focus on how to improve the lives of black and biracial youth, partnering with the Eau Claire school district. He joins us today, and Dennis, thank you so much for being here.

Dennis Beale:

Thank you so much for this opportunity. I greatly appreciate it.

Marisa Wojcik:

You’ve said you want to use pain as propane. What does that mean?

Dennis Beale:

Well, just using pretty much, oh man… I’ve been through a lot in my life, and using the different things that I’ve been through, like from the gun violence in Chicago to you know, obviously you know, racism, discrimination, using that to my advantage, you know? And that’s what you know, using my pain as propane and using that to spark something within my life. I heard that a while ago at a conference, and it really stood out to me because you know, as you lose people along the way, like recently I lost my uncle. That was my father figure in my life. And he really impacted my life in so many different ways, you know, he really helped me to become the man I am today. He really helped lead me and guide me into you know, this type of field within higher education, you know, to help individuals that are going through a variety of different, you know, issues or problems, you know. And I’m totally committed to you know, changing lives daily, but you know, throughout all the glitz and the glamour, you still deal with the back end of things, the different sacrifices, you know. Like me being originally from Chicago, you know, just being honest with you, I lost a lot of people along the way. And that pain that I was going through, I had to you know, find a way to not do it in a violent way, but do it in a way that I could help make a difference in the world. So you know, taking my pain and using that as propane to spark something within my life, it helped me develop you know, being a founder of Black Male Empowerment, and also being now, the owner and now founder of the Power of Perception mentoring program. So you know, that’s something that I’ve used, you know, through my pain.

Marisa Wojcik:

And you recently founded Power of Perception, and have partnered with the Eau Claire Area School District. What does that work entail?

Dennis Beale:

A little bit of everything. So right now, I’m working with 60 fourth graders, African-American and biracial youth. And that to me is very key. And right now, you know, a lot of students don’t have a voice when it comes to you know, I guess you can say in the Eau Claire area, you’re very limited you know, when it comes to African-American and biracial professionals, you know. There are some that are in the area, but also there’s none at all, you know? So just being honest with you, having that opportunity to start something up like this is key. The mission of Power of Perception is creating a valuable toolbox of resources that we equip these young kings and queens to become profitable citizens in today’s society. So starting off, we had in-person, before COVID-19 happened, but we started, we kicked it off, February 24th was our first session. After that, we did, it came to a stop once COVID-19 hit. So then we converted over to virtual sessions, and now we have summer sessions going on. I now have a black professionals list of black professionals from my network, all walks of life, teaching them, just having them tell their story, you know? Because how do you motivate and inspire youth that are coming from all walks of life, from y’know, the inner city to the rural areas, but then also having them to speak up and have a voice? By putting these different professionals in front of them, that’s not only promotes black excellence, but it’s showing them people that look like them, y’know. And in order to make this world a better place, you know, my hope behind Power of Perception is in order to create change, we must create opportunities. So this is an opportunity for these young men, young women to get an idea of y’know, not just the glitz and glamour of the NBA players and the NFL players, you know, the MLB players, you know, talking about their salaries all over ESPN and on the news. But how do we get the doctors, the therapists, the higher education administrators, you know, to start talking about their fields? How did they get there, you know? And those are still incredible things, you know? And just yesterday we had a OBGYN doctor from Minneapolis, Dr. Alabi, speak you know, to her profession. You know, along with you know, the original first session was you know, a barber out of Eau Claire, Chapin Turner, he owns Chip’s Barber Shop. But promoting you know, a barber as also a successful person too. So helping them get the best of both worlds from I don’t need them understanding that you have to have a degree in order to be successful, but also showing them different people with degrees and also without degrees so the message is not misinterpreted.

Marisa Wojcik:

And you mentioned that you founded Black Male Empowerment. Late last year, students on the UW-Eau Claire football team Snapchatted a photo of Ku Klux Klan members with a burning cross and wrote, quote, “For all who can’t make the Black Male Empowerment meeting, “we are holding white male empowerment tonight at 7.” What went through your mind when that was released?

Dennis Beale:

I mean I was sad, I felt a little angry, I had some anger. But I had to step back and kind of evaluate the overall situation. And you know, when you deal with you know, that type of incident, my biggest take on that is you have to educate people, you know? It’s just like you know, a baby. You know, a baby is not exposed to sugar until the mom or the father exposes that child to sugar. You know, so if you never understood racism, then why not start educating them, you know, on different incidents like the one that happened at Eau Claire, you know? And that’s something for me that you know, honestly, that we built up, and actually I even started you know, Black Male Empowerment because I wanted to help them understand that you know, being an African-American male is not easy, you know? I walk in these shoes every day you know, and I’ve experienced racism and discrimination, but the biggest thing is you know, you never judge a book by its cover ’til you really open it up and read it. So me y’know, having that opportunity to have something like this happen you know, it was a way in which that I could start educating more people on you know, why black lives matter. You know, before all lives matter, black lives have to matter and why, because look at what we’re going through in society you know, just look at the George Floyd incident that happened. You know, the George Floyd incident you know, impacted the whole world. So it goes to show that you know, we need help in our justice system, you know. There are certain things that for African Americans, biracials, you know, and just minorities in general, we’re getting the short end of the stick. So how do we help educate other individuals about you know, why black lives really matter, you know? And why, and what are different steps we can take, you know, in order to help educate more and more people? So I think this is the perfect opportunity you know, with you know, starting with Power of Perception, ’cause I’m not only you know, helping these kids, but I also want them to understand you know, black history you know, and what that really means. How do we shed a light on why you know, people are protesting? You know, why is it not okay to you know, loot and riot? You know, because that don’t solve anything, you know? And I’m a big man of action, you know. I’m not a man of many words, you know. I’ve had a lot of interviews lately, but you know, I’m a man of action, you know. And that’s the reason why you know, I’ve started Power of Perception because you know, I think actions speak louder than words. You know like I said, in the next generation to come, we have to educate them, we have to you know, guide them, we have to lead them, you know. And that, I guess you can say I’m a leader now you know, that’s something that I want to use my power to help educate and motivate the next following generation.

Marisa Wojcik:

Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where I myself grew up, is a predominantly white community. As an African-American male and like you said, considering the conversation happening nationally, is safety a concern for you?

Dennis Beale:

To be honest with you, no. I think I got past that part when I first got to Wisconsin, just being honest with you. There was a variety of different people that kind of helped me, that helped me in that process of not being scared of the police, I guess you could say. And I’ll say this, you know, it was my football coach, Todd Glaser, a Caucasian man, but he really you know, took me under his wing, and that was something that you know, he helped use his white privilege and what he knew to help me, you know. So, and having other allies and advocates in my corner that really helped me out when I first got to Wisconsin, when I first experienced racism and discrimination. But you know, that’s one thing the idea you know, within my previous role at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, I did recruit and retention for minority students. And just being honest with you, you know, that’s the reason why my biggest take on helping these children was building, helping these students with building relationships up with first off and foremost, the chief of police, you know. That’s something that’s key, you know. Our campus police department, that’s something that’s key. You know, relationships are key you know, when it comes to helping our students feel safe because I had a lot of parents you know, asking me like, “What are you doing?” And one of the things I did with all my students, and they can attest that I have a– I give them all my personal cell phone number you know, call me at different times of the night. My job doesn’t stop, you know. And people will tell you, like I work 24 hours, 7 days of the week because at the end of the day, when I tell these parents that they’re in good hands like Allstate, I mean that, you know. And at the end of the day, I want to make sure that they are safe, that they have somebody to really care about them. It’s not just talking or wanting to be there on the face of the camera or anything like that, but obviously putting in work, you know. And you know, I’m honored to say that you know, that when I first started my professional career at Eau Claire, me and one of my colleagues that passed away actually by gun violence, we recruited 27 African-American males out of Chicago, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Madison, Wisconsin, Indianapolis, and we brought them here. I’m happy to say that the majority of them have graduated. You know, but I’m even prouder to even say that none of them have cases, you know. Or you know, went in jail at Eau Claire or any of that, you know. So obviously I felt like I did a good deed there in so many different ways, and that’s what I mean by changing lives daily, you know. In order to create change, we must create opportunity, but I gave them an opportunity. I built those relationships up with those different community members you know, so any time something happened, they always called me, you know? And they called me to say, “Hey, Dennis, I need your help,” you know, and my name I guess you could say started picking up you know, through those relationships that I was building. So you know, if they had any trouble or anything like that, they could easily call me.

Marisa Wojcik:

You’ve said it’s different mentoring youth who come from more rural communities. How so?

Dennis Beale:

I guess you could say you know, the inner city is completely different, you know. You have a lot of people that you know, inner city, you know, there’s a lot of gun violence, especially where I’m from in Chicago. That’s one of the biggest things. You know, my uncle was shot, was actually killed by gun– through gun violence he was shot, and he was shot and killed, okay. Through my best friend you know, he was shot and killed through gun violence. So with that being said, you know, there’s a lot of different things with inner city, in the inner city that take place, you know. When it comes to poverty, you’re thinking about your next meal. You’re not thinking about you know, what’s going on in the world, you know what I mean? Or if you’re hearing gunshots around you at your house, you know, you’re worried about safety, you know. So these are certain you know, things that come on a day by day basis. So you’re taking somebody that’s coming from a rural area, it’s going to be hard for them to relate to somebody that’s coming from the inner city you know, because in the rural areas, you don’t have a lot of those different problems happening on almost an every day basis. Or you’re not, I mean obviously, you have still single mothers and single dads that are coming from rural areas, but you know, the inner city, there’s a lot more going on. You have more people, you have more minorities, you have you know, you have the gangs, you have the violence that’s going on on a everyday basis. So you’re trying to just cover your bases and cover your tracks you know, to make sure that you survive, you know. And my uncle was just driving and one day, like I said, in the inner city, and just got hit by a stray bullet. You know, he was paralyzed from the neck down for four years, caught pneumonia, and then all of a sudden passed away you know, through his health, his health started deteriorating, you know. And obviously you know, I told you my best friend, Derrick Swanigan, he got killed by gun violence December 2016, being in the inner city. So at the same time, when you listen to different stories like that, and you have these students that come from that type of lifestyle, you know, I have to make sure that I provide opportunities for them, you know. I was born in the inner city to pull those students out to give them a chance, give them an opportunity, you know. It goes back to my saying “You can lead a horse to water, “but you can’t make force him to drink.” But understand that I’m going to do everything within my corner to make sure that they are very successful, you know. And I go off the four ships. And that’s leadership, scholarships, internships, relationships. What do all those words have in common? Ship. What do ships do? They sail, they continue to take you places. And that’s something that I learned from my mentor, and that’s something he instilled in me, and that’s something that I want to instill in these youth and our college students as they continue to navigate this world.

Marisa Wojcik:

Being in Eau Claire, do you feel like you have a voice in the community?

Dennis Beale:

I would say yes, I do. [laughing] I do. I’ll say that humbly. I’m not a big person to talk about my work because if you’re doing something genuine out of the kindness of your heart and you’ve been called to do something, why brag about it, you know? But you know, I have an opportunity to speak on my leadership and what I’ve done, I’m very proud. I’m only 32 years old you know, but I definitely have a story to tell, you know. And me coming from Chicago, making it out you know, coming from a single-parent household you know, I just want to give the same opportunity to the next individual that might have a similar situation to mine, or if not, worser than mine, you know, And my students can attest you know, to the different work that I’ve done to help them you know, from a job opportunity to connecting them with somebody else within the community. I think you know, now is the time, you know. And I want to use my leadership to help lead the next generation because y’know, once I’m dead and gone, you know, who’s going to be the next one to lead, and that’s going to be the younger youth.

Marisa Wojcik:

For you, are these issue political?

Dennis Beale:

In a way, yes. ‘Cause I mean at the end of the day, it starts from the top down. And the president has the say-so you know, everybody that’s in the office has a say-so. So at the same time we have to, and like I said, it all goes back to my point of in order to create change, we must create opportunities. So how do you help get these students in those certain roles so they can be the change makers, you know? Put them in front of individuals that look like them, and that’s what I’m doing through my Power of Perception program. That’s why I have a nice, a nice, I guess you could say a nice variety of guest speakers from all over, from all walks of life, you know. And having those lawyers and you know, politicians and you know, different people to really speak up to tell their story, to help these students understand how to get into those roles, I think that’s key, you know. And I’m not a big political person. My biggest thing is I just want to change the world, you know. And you know, that could be through my smile, that could be through my presence you know, that could be through my services that I’m offering.

Marisa Wojcik:

What is your reaction to the protests that are happening across the country? Do you think that there are positive outcomes to the protests?

Dennis Beale:

I would say yes. Definitely a lot of positive change that’s happening. The reason why I say that is because the silent protest I think is key. I think you know, obviously some of the protests that’s going on has struck a lot of mayors around the world to make a difference or make some changes. And I think even here and Minneapolis you know, change is being made, you know. It started off rough in the beginning, but I think now it’s kind of ironing itself out. And I think we’re getting justice now. Our voices are being heard, you know. A lot of our leaders, I applaud them for stepping up. You know, even myself, I find myself to help continue to educate our students, you know. And I’m not for the rioting and the looting, but at the end of– at the same time you know, if that’s what we have to do to get our voices heard, then we have to do what we have to do, you know. But I don’t condone you know, I don’t condone the whole tearing down our city, you know. Or tearing down because that’s not going to solve the problem. That’s not going to make the situation get any better. You know, we have to think strategically about the situation and make sure that we’re moving in a proper manner to make sure that justice is really served. And I think you know, from the looting and rioting and the silent protests, even the you know, I think now our voices are now being heard. But you know, my thing is like, why do we have to have African Americans justify our reasoning to prove why we have to have justice, why we have to have justice to be served on a larger scale, you know? And I feel like over the years, we’ve been getting the short end of the stick. But now it’s time for us to use this to our advantage you know, in so many different ways you know, because I feel like now that you know, we have all these leaders, now is the time for them to step up even more as leaders you know, especially our African-American and biracial people, you know. Now we need to start stepping up and really using our voice. And any way that I can help anybody you know, whether that’s me coming to speak to youth at a variety of different schools you know, or you know, me literally getting my name out there to you know, help people understand why I started something like this in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It’s because I felt like they didn’t have a voice, you know. African American and biracial didn’t have a voice so you know, I want to start helping you know, and that’s the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing.

Marisa Wojcik:

How do you help your students deal with the trauma of reading about so many killings of African-American, biracial, black and brown people?

Dennis Beale:

How do I help them… Well, talking with them. Getting their perspective on you know, how do they feel about the situation? Continue to educate them on the situation. Making sure that you know, they are comforted. That they have some type of comfort. And one of the things that I did actually when COVID-19 actually hit and after that, George Floyd situation happened, but before COVID-19 hit, with the different donations that I did receive, I created care packages for my students. One was just to make sure they had paper towel, toilet paper, you know, different snacks and different things of that nature. Then I also gave them a couple dollars in their pocket, just to have a lunch on the Power of Perception. Then the other, when George Floyd’s situation hit, I felt like it was very beneficial to get them books on pretty much, it’s called Little Leaders. Exceptional African-American men within the United States, same thing for the women. So that was another care package that I gave out once the George Floyd situation came about. That way, they can get a more understanding of their history you know, they can get an understanding of you know, just get more educated on why black lives matter, you know what I mean? Because I think you know, like I said, it goes back to media. You know, we highlight the NBA players, the NFL players you know, and you know, the rap artists, you know. But we don’t highlight our people that invented different things. We don’t highlight different people that we feel are, you know, have made history you know, from the Rosa Parks to the Harriet Tubmans you know, to all those different big names that have helped our African-American community. You know, so we have to like, through those care packages, I think that was very meaningful, and it also showed during that time that somebody in Eau Claire cared, you know what I mean? I’m not saying other people didn’t justify, you know, I’m not saying their parents didn’t do their due diligence, but with my mentees, they’re so young you know, they’re just seeing the whole protest. They’re not getting the basic understanding of what the protest is, you know. So we have to educate them through the history first, and then after that, we show them why we protest, you know. So I think you know, I think that’s something that’s key to the situation, you know. And I think those care packages really went a long way, and it showed that we cared as the Power of Perception team. I would say like one of the long-term goals with this group is also like, to also take this group to Africa because I think it’s not only, it’s important first off and foremost, being where I come from, a lot of people don’t get the opportunity to go see their heritage or come back from their roots, you know. And helping them see poverty on a whole different scale, I think that’s key. And one of the longevity goals is to take this group to Africa you know, and give them an opportunity. So you know, I want to thank you all and thank everyone, you know, if there’s other school districts that would like a chapter of POP in their school district, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You know, this is something I want to continue on, I think this is needed, especially for you know, our population, our African-American and biracial people. So you know, thank you all so much for tuning me in today, and thank you so much for the opportunity to you know, have me speak about the Power of Perception and also what’s going on in the world today. So I want to say thank you so much.

Marisa Wojcik:

Yeah, we really appreciate your time and especially sharing your personal experiences, so thank you.

Dennis Beale:

Thank you, thank you again.

Marisa Wojcik:

For more from Here & Now and PBS Wisconsin, you can visit pbswisconsin.org, and thank you so much for joining us on Noon Wednesday.