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In this episode of the Be the Bridge podcast, Jefferson Jones hosts three university students (Sebastian, Regan, and Christal) to discuss the significance of Black History Month and their evolving perspectives of it. The conversation highlights the importance of understanding and celebrating Black history, the role of young people in advocating for racial healing, and the personal connections that shape their views. They share their insights on justice, activism, and the need for self-awareness and vulnerability in the pursuit of change. These three students share wisdom on the collective responsibility of the younger generation to educate themselves and others.

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Executive Producer – Latasha Morrison

Producer  – Sarah Connatser

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Not all views expressed in this interview reflect the values and beliefs of Latasha Morrison or the Be the Bridge organization.

*this was transcribed by Spotify and has not been checked for errors

0:02

Welcome to the Be the Bridge podcast.
Be the Bridge exists to empower people and culture toward racial healing, equity, and reconciliation.
Latasha Morrison founded Be the Bridge in 2016 to foster needed dialogue and brave spaces and to give people the tools to pursue racial justice.

0:22

We provide resources and community to do just that, and this podcast is one of those resources.
You’ll hear interviews hosted by Latasha and our team, conversations about current events, and encouragement for your racial literacy journey.
Thank you for listening, subscribing and engaging in this important work.

0:44

Well, what’s up everybody?
Welcome to the Be the Bridge podcast, where we are here with these amazing young adults, college students, and I’m excited about this episode.
I’m Jefferson Jones.
I’m the youth and university program manager for Be the Bridge, and we know that Be the Bridge exists to empower people and culture toward racial healing, equity, and reconciliation.

1:10

You guys, we know the importance and the value of Black History Month.
And so as we are getting into this, I just want us to take a moment to allow our special guests to introduce themselves and share with you who they are.
So.

1:27

Hi, I’m Sebastian.
I am a senior at Elon University.
I’m studying sport management right now.
Graduating may crazy.
I feel old.
It’s wild, but in this season I’m I’m getting ready to graduate.
I’m applying to grad school just in my first application to Temple University a couple days ago.

1:45

So happy about that.
And we just seen what the future holds.
So but I’m happy that I get to be here, talk with everybody.
This is a really cool opportunity.
So thank you, Mr. Jefferson.
So.
Awesome.
Hi, I’m Regan Murray out of West Georgia.
I’m a mass compilimation and writing miner.

2:01

I just enjoy writing in film, so that’s what I’m doing now, trying to be a creative writer and screenwriter and yeah.
Hi guys, my name is Crystal and I currently go to Georgia State University.

2:17

I’m getting my psych degree right now and I have a minor in African American studies.
Hopefully I can continue to get my masters in local science in the near future after I’m done, you know, completing other degrees.
I have no clue what I’m doing in the season right now.

2:33

I’m literally just just going by as I usually do.
But yeah, hopefully I’ll be able to achieve something good with the stuff that I do in college.
Yay, awesome y’all so dope having you all with us here.

2:50

And I think this is a very important conversation as we are looking at Black history, Black History Month and the contributions, the voices, the lives, the story of of black people in this nation.

3:05

And so I just want to share just a few benefits of just black history in general real quick this month.
But then the history of black people.
It honors the black contributions, educates about hidden histories.
It inspires future generations, promotes cultural appreciation and encourages critical conversations.

3:27

So as we get into the history of, you know, African Americans in the United States of America, we have an opportunity to not just celebrate the lives of black people, but we get to celebrate the history of this nation.
And we cannot tell the truth, right?

3:45

We know and be the bridge.
We are all about truth telling, right?
And you, I don’t know if you’ve heard Latasha say this before, but you know that, you know, if we hide something, right, then true healing can’t happen.
You know, if you can, if you conceal a thing, then you can’t heal.

4:05

And she says it a little different, but the point is that when we hide history, when we hide truth, we cannot move forward in reconciliation.
We cannot heal, we cannot repair things that have been broken.
And it’s so important that we’re able to tell the truth.

4:20

And so we got my peeps here, we got young adults here.
And I think that you all play a a vital role and where we are in today’s society, you are a necessary element in order for us to move forward.

4:37

And we have to understand that as you look throughout history, whether you’re just looking at history in general or even if you want to look at it from a biblical lens, most of the greatest movements that have happened have happened through young people.
So as we get into this, I want all my listeners, everyone that’s on to understand that the voices and the presence and the impact of young adults is needed now more than ever before.

5:06

And so I want to throw a question out to you guys and I want to hear what you all think about this first thought.
Have your ideas or views about Black History Month changed since you were younger?
I think that my views have most definitely evolved because, you know, as you get older, you start to just learn things and it’s very different from in school when they teach you Black History Month compared to when you come home and you have people that actually know the real, like this is what they did and this is what we did and stuff of that nature.

5:41

So it’s not evolved in a bad way in a negative sense.
It was just more of like I was learning the truth and it was the truth.
That truth can be heavy sometimes, especially when it’s been diluted to fit a more, you know, certain rhetoric to appease to a superior group.

5:57

So when you actually, you know, know the truth, it’s like you’re looking around and things are suddenly looking different.
You’re looking at people different.
You’re like, hey, is this even real?
Or my, you know, just being dehumanized and belittled in a way that I can’t even like see.

6:14

So in a sense, that’s been my views of Black History Month and over time I’ve had a deeper appreciation for it as well with knowing the truth.
And that’s more of the positive aspect because I can respect it more and respect who’s come before me to really set the path and trailblaze the new things that are coming before us.

6:34

And it just gave me like this thing of we have as as young people, we had now have even like a bigger responsibility to really make change because of what’s actually happened in the past.
So that’s.

6:51

That’s good.
That’s good.
Crystal.
I saw you, Sebastian.
I saw you giving that hit.
Nah.
What you got?
What you thinking?
So I think for me, I’m I’m very much in the same aspect in terms of how I view black history and how it’s evolved.
For me, I think that I mean, regardless of who you are, as time goes on, you learn new things and your perspective on things changes, right?

7:12

But part of it is the education system that we we learn like we learn from and we take a lot of our basic studies from that kind of shapes the way that we view it before.
Like we hear from our families, we hear from people that have actually been there, right?

7:28

Like like those anecdotes from like real life people on the ground that did this stuff, right?
And so one really transformative experience for me was in high school, my junior and this this is something that very different from what most kids that went to private school like I did experience.

7:47

But my English professor, my junior of high school spent the year that we had in our class basically dissecting literature from when our country was founded up until a very modern contemporary sense to kind of see the way that and like epitomize the concept that history is written by the winners, right when you compare textbooks, right If you look.

8:14

Say that Part 1 more time.
You know what part I’m talking about.
Say it one more again for the people in the back.
History is written by the winners history.
By the history written by the winners.
My goodness.
Today, Sir, That’s good.
OK, continue.
Continue.
And so the class was a joint English and History class, but in both perspectives, close reading texts and then looking at texts and how they’ve changed in terms of their wording specifically over time, specifically textbooks, not just in terms of like educational material in general, whether it’s stuff for kids or stuff for like adults doing research.

8:50

Like if you look at all of the wording of of those materials as time went on and they’re the same textbooks, they’re just updated.
The wording is different.
It’s adapted so that because of the way times change and the way people view those, those events and those time periods, they change them to fit a mold.

9:11

They’re still saying similar things.
They’re just slightly changing them to kind of give a perspective that people, when they read them, like, OK, that makes sense.
I’m OK with that.
And so to kind of see that and then learn the truth for myself because that’s something I, I value.

9:29

I’ve spent time like diving into and trying to understand black history better, like learn more stories.
And that’s why I’m happy with a lot of like more contemporary, like mainstream media have been pushing more narratives over the past decade or so, like giving more perspective and better perspective on a lot of these stories that we know.

9:48

Like 42 is a great example.
What was the, what was that movie that came out this past year?
Was it the six Triple 8, I think was the name of it.
Like all of these stories that either didn’t we didn’t know about before or most people didn’t know about before or we knew we just didn’t have the full scope of it.

10:07

Like these, these are like gateways for people to go, OK, I didn’t know about this, let me learn more.
And I think it’s it’s really powerful.
But it it definitely has changed because I think the events that I’ve known about, I’ve obviously learned about more stuff as we got older.

10:22

But those main events that I’ve known of for a while, my, the, my understanding of how people write about them, how people talk about them, it’s evolved.
And so that’s how for me, my views on Black history have changed.
So good.
So good, Sir Reagan, what do you think about that?
You know, how have your ideas or views or thoughts about Black History Month change?

10:43

You know, since you were younger.
Yes, definitely.
I feel like as I’ve learned and I’ve grown, like my perspective is like in hand about Black History Month because I’ve like run war and now I might want in tunes or whatever it needs to be for bringing that month, that short month that we have.

11:02

But yeah, it’s short.
But since I’ve learned so much that like I can actually celebrate it the way I want to now, it’s like I actually understand what’s going on, what was happening, what’s happening before.
Like I should push it together and like develop an actual like understanding what it means.

11:20

Survey back you see on like actually celebrate it’s different than that.
Not know anything at all, just celebrate this cause.
That’s good, that’s good.
So, you know, I, I just appreciate the different ways that you have expressed, you know, how your views have changed or, you know, shifted over the years.

11:45

And, you know, thinking about this, all the, the access that we have now to Black history, whether it’s through Instagram or TikTok or, you know, just online, or you can go anywhere now, even in stores, you can find new information about Black history and just learn about people that we never known.

12:05

And so many artists are coming out, you know, whether they make clothes or in jewelry or all of these things.
It’s like, you know, support Black businesses and even corporations and organizations are companies are grabbing on to that and making more room to celebrate and honor Black culture.

12:25

So when we think about that, I’m wondering as it comes to you and just in your families growing up, was there something that was instilled in you about the importance of Black history from your families?

12:43

I think for me, just because of my background, my parents aren’t American.
I’m biracial, I’m half.
I’m half white, half black, I think, I think it wasn’t as much of instilling the importance of the month itself, but instilling the importance of who I am and where I come from and standing up for that and prioritizing it and making it something that I value, right?

13:10

And I think that in turn made me realize the importance of Black History Month.
Because the more I started to learn and the more I started to understand and the more I started to witness whether it was done unto me or done unto other people that I care about the effects of the racial history that we have when it comes to mainly in an, on an, in an unconscious bias way.

13:35

But when I see the effects of it now, it, it just shows the importance of intersectionality and how race does play.
And even though it is a social construct that could get into that conversation a whole hours, hour long, like I could talk about that for two hours, but it, it, it matters to people.

13:55

And so for me, that was what made me understand the importance of the month as opposed to instead of the importance of the month and then building that from there.
So.
That’s good, Crystal, what you got?
I love what Sebastian said, like, just like the importance of it for like my family, it was mainly, it’s always been Black women surrounded by me.

14:20

Like I’ve only known that mindset and the energy of that.
So for me to be honest, Black History Month, that’s, it’s, that’s just, my whole life was no like only, not like there’s no month, even though it’s the shortest month as reinstated.

14:36

It’s always been like that because I am a black woman in America.
So I, I had to understand what my footprint is immediately as soon as I come into this world, because you’re gonna try to come for me first.
And that was just something that was ingrained in me from like since I was little.

14:53

And I knew that systematically, I wasn’t gonna understand it as much until I got older.
But it’s just something that’s always been important.
The energy is always been important.
So yeah, that’s just always been like natural.
That’s good.

15:10

All right, So that made me think about something.
As you were talking Crystal and it’s 22 quick things.
Malcolm X, he made a statement along the lines of the most disrespected woman in the world is a black woman.
And then I heard another writer, comedian say something along the lines that if you want to learn about America, talk to a black woman.

15:38

And so as I think about those two, and because you mentioned, you know, being surrounded by Black women and that resonates with me because I think about my life growing up and just seeing throughout my life, just the strong Black women who have had a dominant presence in my life.

15:56

Not saying that there weren’t men, there were, but just thinking about Black women in the role they played in my life.
And then I think about now, you know, even as we’re here and thinking about you all and who who’s playing a key role in our lives and now recognizing that you all play a key role today, right now.

16:20

And so as you think about yourself, how do you see your voice as being pivotal to the time that we’re living in right now?
I can go for this.
OK, what you got Reagan?
I feel like he tries with the next leaders of the world, like he has to have like some kind of like equipment to like be able to lead the world.

16:41

So like to improve ourselves is like the assumption you have is you have to learn our own like how like a part of the nation like this and like so we’re like giving ourselves up as if we see because you have to like recovering ourselves and like you also have feeling each other and like hope and like understanding well.

17:01

That’s good.
Yeah.
And I, I wanted to, I wanted to really build off of that because I think that the way that, because anyone, I think the difficult part in this era that we live in because of the way media works and the way that like everyone has a voice and everyone’s always, I feel like for a while everyone’s had a voice, but now our voices are more amplified because we can present it anywhere we want to anyone we want, anyone can see it if you want them to see it, right?

17:36

And so I think the way that we as young people that want to advocate for racial reconciliation, that want to advocate for like just making the world a better place, like we have to, at least for me, I think we just have to make it a part of who we are and what we do and strive to make what we do, like make make it so that what we do helps other people.

18:02

I think that as children of God, it part of what we’re set put on this earth to do is to become closer to Christ, but also to help other people on their journey as well.
It’s not and yes, I’m going to get cheesy with this High School Musical.
We’re all in this together and get it, but it that that really is that really is the thing.

18:22

If God intended it for all of us to be on all on our own path, he would have made it so that that was the case.
He put us all on this earth for a reason together.
So that to me says everything I need to know about how I should carry myself forward when I approach, like talking about the things that are important to me and bringing these issues to light.

18:42

Because I might not be the biggest advocate, but in my work, I want what I do to impact people that need it the most and display the messages that the world needs to hear the most.
Because my impact can come from people seeing what I do and saying that’s helping this out.

19:02

And then they’ll want to do something about it too.
It only, it always only takes one.
If you can inspire another person and that person inspires somebody else, that butterfly effect.
That’s good.
Can touch everybody.
That’s good, that’s good.
You know, you make me think about because you mentioned Jesus and the call and the demand that he puts on us.

19:26

And I’m looking at Matthew kind of stuck in Matthew chapter 23 right now and I want to read a verse and this is in this chapter, just a little backdrop.
He just he snaps.
I mean it’s like a he he just go off like on the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the teachers of the religious law and it’s almost like him having a Kendrick moment and just like whatever y’all about to get this work.

19:49

And he says in this though he says in verse 23, he says woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites exclamation point.
You give a tenth of your spices, mint, dill and cumin, but you have neglected the more important matters of the law.

20:08

Justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former bars.
So right here we see that at the core of of who Jesus is, he cares about justice.

20:23

Justice matters to Jesus and mercy matters to Jesus, and faithfulness matters to Jesus.
And so in this, as we see this in understanding that as we study the word of God, I think many Christians today have come with a lens that is full of the cataracts of politics and Western civilization and America.

20:48

What what we need to come and see Scripture through the lens of Jesus.
So that’s coming with the hermeneutic of Jesus.
So in that you guys, young people, I want to know about how you see justice through your lens as you’re following Christ.
What does justice look like for you?

21:06

It’s a.
Good question.
So juicy question.
What does justice look like for you?
Because I’m going to add this a little bit and I’ll say the question again because what I think, you know, Sebastian, you hit on something.
You know, we talked about all these different avenues that we have to speak up to be loud, to get in our lane.

21:29

And in that the danger is that we can play the comparison game.
So we’re flooded with all these different voices, all this information, and now I’m comparing myself to all this and I got to overload.
And what happens is people can’t be themselves.
They think they got to be like somebody else, but you don’t.

21:46

God wants you to be you.
He wants you to show up like you and be you a haunted and be you authentically.
So in that we each each of you right in your space, you have to be able to express, you know, as you have God working in you, you got to be able to express what justice looks like for you.

22:07

And know that just because you do it one way, Reagan and I mean Crystal got to do it like you because you have you’re built differently and God has to use you in the way that he has wired you.
So yeah, back to the question, what does justice look like for you?

22:23

I would love to start on this one.
This is this is something that I think is really important.
So for me, the way I see it is I think of this bigger picture of because when we’re talking about Black History Month, we’re talking about racial reconciliation.
We’re talking about the history that comes with the woes of being black in America and like celebrating the progress we’ve made.

22:43

Now, I’ve had classes where I talk about this, I’ve had conversations with people.
And I think the only way we start to make real dents at this point in the, in the issue is obviously there’s obviously the standard, like change the way the laws work for people.

23:00

But I think on a personal level, you, you just have to connect with people and, and help them understand the things that we deal with, like have the conversation with people.
It’s not easy, but it has to be done if you want to change people’s perspectives.

23:15

And that to me is what it looks like because I wouldn’t expect anyone unless you’re the next Malcolm X, Martin Luther King junior and you got the, the ability to speak to a crowd of people out of absolute nowhere and touch everybody’s hearts.

23:31

But I’m not expecting that if you can touch one person in a one-on-one conversation and get them to change their perspective.
I mean, if every if every person that in if every black person in the country could do that, we could change so many people’s understanding.

23:47

Like that’s like that’s real change.
And you know, like it, it comes from like putting an effort in, not necessarily to say, oh, I’m going to make everyone realize how terrible our country’s history is and want to change it.

24:04

It’s about saying I’m going to work on making sure that I am trying to fight the because everyone has them, fight the unconscious bias that I have and help other people like understand theirs and fight it as well.
That’s good, Sir.
And that’s where I think we get real change because as much as the laws can change, I think, and this is a this is a big, this is a big key point for me.

24:27

I think that oppression will always be there.
It’ll always just change the way it looks.
It’s not going, it’s not going to be the same.
Obviously slavery wouldn’t work now in the in the America like it just wouldn’t.
But at the same time, when slavery was abolished, we then look at the incarceration system.

24:48

Jim Crow.
Yeah, Jim Crow, the incarceration system, the war on drugs, these are these are all things, whether or not people realize them in the moment or even long afterwards, they were all in some way, shape or form a way of oppressing black people.

25:07

To a certain extent it will always be there, but we need to understand that it’s there and try to fight it on a personal level.
Not if we if we can change people’s minds, we can help make that change on the latter end, but it only changed when people change their perspective and get a new view on what’s actually going on.

25:28

That’s so good.
So what I hear in a nutshell, just as we get someone else to speak like there’s this, there’s this element of education on an interpersonal level that can happen.
But we got to be willing to say, you know what, I’m going to take a shot and engage with this person.

25:46

But in that has to be some sort of level of not always going to be relationship, but there has to be a willingness to say, you know what, I’m going to have a conversation with this person.
That’s so good and that’s important too, because that that not only is a sign that you’re you want to make that change, but you have to get vulnerable with someone to be able to do that.

26:05

And that and that’s hard for people.
Yes, it is.
Especially being a man myself, it’s hard for men to be vulnerable, especially in this era that’s a.
Whole another episode.
Oh, boy.
All right.
What’s that?
Got Crystal Reagan anything.
What’s justice look like for you?

26:22

Sebastian literally took all the juiciest words out of my mouth.
Like you’re amazing.
I love you so much as you just did it.
I mean, how do you But yeah, like IA personal level.
I think it has to start within our community.

26:37

I think we need to be vulnerable.
I think we had to be OK with looking ugly being a because it’s like in platforms like these, we’re able to have these conversations, right?
Because someone is giving us that that space to be vulnerable.
But we had to learn as the youth that we just have to be able to the same.

26:56

We had to grow up at one point in like we had to be comfortable being ignorant so that we can then learn like the new So wait.
Wait, hold on.
Wait, don’t repeat it ’cause I’m gonna forget you.
Need to.
I know that’s right.
That’s.
What you said You said we gotta be comfortable with being ignorant.

27:17

So that we can learn the new.
So that we can learn the new my.
‘Cause it’s like hear.
That Hold on, pause, my listeners.
Y’all here?
Yeah.
We go sit in there for a second.
We need to learn what.
We need to learn with being comfortable so we can.

27:34

Comfortable with being ignorant.
Yeah, but yeah.
So that we can learn the new.
Yeah.
OK, it’s.
Like I’ve always been a child of God.
My mother has always instilled that faith into me.
She always told me that like literally when I would get out the car to school, remember who you represent, remember who you love.

27:53

That’s like I always had that in me.
And as I learned when I go to Sunday school, I realized how Jesus was fighting for people.
He, Jesus was an activist and I don’t.
Wait, girl, wait.
He’s dropping me.
OK.
Y’all y’all here with this girl?

28:11

This young lady just said Jesus was an activist.
Put that in your notes.
OK, continue.
Jesus was an activist and it doesn’t like to be an activist doesn’t to meet like it doesn’t mean you’re fighting for one certain race.
You’re fighting for everybody.
Because you can’t just sit there and say, oh, Black Lives Matter, wool, wool like it, There has to be a, you know, it has to be a, a way to get to help everyone because why are you helping one race, not helping the others?

28:36

Why are you saying Black Lives Matter?
But Palestinian people, they can’t be free as well.
It isn’t.
It doesn’t make sense.
So I personally, that’s more of a deeper level, like I don’t believe you can be a Christian and can be trying to help out everybody.
That’s just me.
Don’t, don’t, don’t sue me.
But Jesus to me.

28:53

But it’s just like it starts person, we had to help our communities.
We had to learn how to hold each other accountable, but not in space where it feels so attacking wise.
Because I thought a lot of the times, and Origin actually talks about this in the movie, that we’re always trying to communicate with people, but our verbage is too big and not everyone understands what’s going on.

29:15

We had to be able to connect with people in a way that they’ll understand.
If you got to break it down for them in baby words, they break it down for them in baby words.
Because the end of the day, we all start off on some like beginner level.
Sebastian was never here.
At some point he had to learn from that because that that’s that the root of that is ignorance.

29:33

So we’re never just gonna start off here.
Just like no, like it’s, it’s kind of come from somewhere.
So.
You can’t expect somebody to be college educated that didn’t even get their high school degree right.
It’s.
Just like we have to.
I think within that we had to be compassionate the same way Jesus was.

29:50

We had to learn more empathy and we just simply have to help each other the same way that we would be able to help ourselves through that process.
And if we can’t help ourselves, then we need to then take a deeper look into ourselves before we can help anybody else, ’cause you can’t really help anybody if you can’t help yourself.

30:08

So.
So good, Reagan, what is what does justice look like for you?
I feel like it starts with you, like yourself personally, like I forgot to educate yourself to be able to share with people about things, about history and Marcus in general.
So like if you do that on your own, you get yourself and you like you’re equal to that people.

30:28

And I mean, it’s everyone for you that way.
And like also like even a little bit either and the open mind talking like thoughts and things as well, because that’s what we’re worrying about.
Like and she had to open mind as well.
So we’d be able to receive education else like do that as well.

30:45

She’s So what I’m hearing, My goodness.
Can I?
Can I?
I have a verse.
I have a verse.
Go ahead, Sir.
Come on with your, with your bar.
Come on with your bar, Sir.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
That’s the first thing I thought of when she said that first thing.

31:03

So good.
So good.
So Reagan, Yeah.
It’s like, if I’m going to do justice work and it and be the bridge we teach this.
There has to be some self-awareness, right?

31:19

You got to be willing to deal with you.
Before I go and look out the windows of my house, I need to go look at myself in my bathroom mirror.
You got to start within.
Yeah, This.
This has been so good.
I want us to keep going, but we got, I feel a part, I feel another part to this, but this, this is so good.

31:40

You all have been just amazing.
You all encourage me.
You all inspire me.
You all challenge me.
And I’m sure that our listeners, our viewers are going to be challenged and encouraged as well.
If you have listened to this, please share this with a college student, with a teen, with an adult, with someone else, so that they can enjoy the rich wisdom and insight of these amazing college students, young adults.

32:08

And we’re looking forward to doing this again.
And so you all be inspired, be encouraged, and we can’t wait to connect with you all again.
You all have a great day.
Thanks for listening to the Be the Bridge podcast.
To find out more about Be the Bridge and what we offer, visit bethebridge.com.

32:29

Partner with us in this work at bethebridge.com/give, connect with us on social media, and remember you are not alone in your pursuit of righteousness and justice.
Latasha Morrison is the executive producer, Sarah Knatzer is the producer, and transcripts are done by a wonderful team of volunteers.

32:47

Thanks for listening.