This Week on American Black Journal:
Urban Consulate creates new video series featuring African American changemakers
Urban Consulate, a network that brings people together to share ideas on building just and equitable communities, is launching a collection of videos, titled “Urban Consulate: In Session,” featuring African American changemakers who offer knowledge in their respective fields of expertise.
Founded in 2016, the Consulate has hosted hundreds of conversations across the nation around the belief that open dialogue and information-sharing are critical to transforming ourselves and our communities.
Ahead of the video series launch, “American Black Journal” host Stephen Henderson talks with Urban Consulate Detroit host Orlando Bailey and one of the video instructors, Shari Davis, co-executive director of the Participatory Budgeting Project in Oakland, California.
They discuss Urban Consulate’s mission, the critical conversations that take place in cities across the country, and the premiere of the video series at an April 5 event in Detroit featuring New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds and moderated by Bailey.
Detroit-born violinist Regina Carter receives 2023 NEA Jazz Master award
Detroit-born jazz violinist Regina Carter has earned another prestigious musical honor: the 2023 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Masters Fellowship Award for jazz advocacy. Carter received the award alongside fellow Detroit jazz saxophonist Kenny Garrett and drummer Louis Hayes at a celebratory award ceremony and concert at The Kennedy Center on April 1, for the start of Jazz Appreciation Month.
As a now sought-after violinist across the globe, Carter began perfecting her craft at the early age of four years old. After graduating from Cass Technical High School, Carter studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and at Oakland University, before gaining her first glimpse of fame through the all-female jazz group Straight Ahead. Since then, Carter has racked up accolades as a MacArthur “ Genius” Award recipient and a Doris Duke Artist Award, and now the NEA Jazz Master award.
Linda Yohn of 90.9 WRCJ sits down with Regina Carter to talk about her latest honor. Carter shares how she’s still in shock yet honored to be chosen by the NEA, and how awards like this one are the green lights that let her know she’s going in the right direction. Plus, they discuss the variety of music Carter creates, from jazz to R&B, Latin, classical, blues, country, pop, African and more, and how those sounds all draw from the experiences she had growing up in Detroit.
Remembering human rights activist, lawyer Randall Robinson
Prolific human rights activist and lawyer Randall Robinson has passed away. He was 81 years old. Robinson passed away from pneumonia on Friday, March 24 in St. Kitts, where he spent the last years of his life.
As an advocate against South African apartheid, Robinson co-led the Free South Africa Movement that began in the 1980s. A few years earlier, in 1977, Robinson founded the foreign advocacy organization TransAfrica, which promoted diversity and equity in foreign policy. He served as the organization’s president until 2001.
In remembrance of Robinson’s life and legacy, “American Black Journal” reaches into the Detroit Public TV archives to play a clip of Robinson participating in a 1984 televised town hall on The State of Black America.
Stay Connected:
Subscribe to Detroit Public Television’s YouTube Channel & Don’t miss American Black Journal on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m and Sunday at 9:30 a.m. on Detroit Public TV, WTVS-Channel 56.
Catch the daily conversations on our website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @amblackjournal.
View Past Episodes >
Watch American Black Journal on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 9:30 a.m. on Detroit Public TV, WTVS-Channel 56.
