​Carbon Sound aims to bolster appreciation of Black music 

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(l-r): Julian Green, Sanni Brown, Andre Griffin

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(l-r): Julian Green, Sanni Brown, Andre Griffin
Photo submitted by MPR

Carbon Sound, a Black music stream, website and app from Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) and The Current, in partnership with KMOJ, is expanding the narrow definition of how many see Black music. It was launched on June 16, 2022, and joined MPR’s other musical streams, including Purple Current and Rock the Cradle.

According to its website, Carbon Sound “is dedicated to celebrating…Black musical expression through genres including hip-hop, R&B, Afrobeats, funk, electronica and more.” It celebrated its first anniversary on June 19, at the Fine Line in Minneapolis.

Content director Julian Green, midday host Sanni Brown, and community engagement specialist Andre Griffin are the guiding force behind Carbon Sound. Last week, Green and Brown spoke to the MSR in separate interviews.

“It’s just been a journey,” said Green. “It’s weird to think that we’ve been able to do so much in a year. It feels like just yesterday when everything started. I think all of us—myself, Sanni and Andre—are very proud of what we’ve put together.”

Brown added, “I call myself the host with the most. I want to take up three hours of your time. I want you to learn about music, and I want you to learn about positive stuff. The goal of my show is to brighten people’s day and make it a little bit better. I want them to walk away with music, to walk away with a positive message.”

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Brown, a Chicago native and 2008 Concordia University-St. Paul graduate, was already working at The Current when Green hired her to join Carbon Sound. “I asked my supervisor at the time what it was about, and when the opportunity to apply came out I went through the interview process, and I got it,” she noted.

Before coming to MPR in 2018, Brown previously worked at KMOJ and myTalk 107.1 FM.  After graduating from Concordia with a psychology degree, Brown applied for a “Do you want to be a DJ?” scholarship from Globe University in the late 2000s; she was accepted and attended the University of St. Louis for journalism and broadcasting.

Along with being Carbon Sound’s original host, Brown still hosts “The Message,” a hip-hop and R&B show, every Wednesday on The Current.

Green, who grew up in Milwaukee, studied journalism at the University of Minnesota and graduated in 2021. He first gained his broadcasting experience working at the school’s student-run radio station Radio K in various roles, including program director. In his senior year, he founded The Vanguard, a 24-hour hip-hop stream that still exists.  

He joined MPR in late 2021, first as an intern. “My superiors let me know about a new grant they were applying for from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to fund an alternative stream,” recalled Green. “Things lined up so that luckily I was able to be accepted for this position to lead the project called The Urban Alternative Project.

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“It was really from the ground up and luckily being able to use my experience at Radio K… working with people inside of MPR and others to build what was necessary for Carbon Sound to become what it is,” continued Green.

Both he and Brown proudly boast ​of ​their musical love that was first nurtured as youngsters growing up in their family homes.

“My mother would come home with barbecue and fries and a six-pack of beer on Fridays, sit next to the radio, turn it up. We would eat ribs and fries,” recalled Brown. “She was jamming by herself. I remember, I would hear songs and go in there and dance. I truly believe that’s the power of music.”

Said Green, “I think music was pretty much all around me for a lot of my life.” He remembers getting the Rock Band video game for Christmas, when he was about nine or 10. “The concept of the game is to play along with all those [music] alternatives. I would just obsess over that game when I was a kid. All those different kinds of music turned me into a listener of everything.”

Brown and Green are both determined and dedicated to pushing Black music locally, beyond its typical boundaries. “There’s just so much talent here in the Twin Cities that we really feel honored to be able to highlight and to bring them potentially to a national audience,” said Green.

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“I really like what we’re doing,” said Brown. “There is a magic here. And I know that the Black artists…have not had a platform. We have a platform like Carbon Sound…to really elevate them.”

 Listeners can tune in to Carbon Sound at carbonsound.fm or via the Carbon Sound app, which can be found at the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

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Sean Paul Surpassed Beenie Man Because Of Better Management, Not Skin Color—Says Jeremy Harding

Sean Paul’s former manager Jeremy Harding has rubbished suggestions that the We Be Burnin artist was able to surge ahead of Beenie Man internationally in the 2000s because foreign record labels favored him due to his lighter skin color. 

Harding, who produced Beenie Man’s biggest solo hit Who Am I, on his Playground riddin, declared Beenie the greatest Dancehall artist of all time but came out in full defense of Sean Paul during an Entertainment Report Podcast interview, in which host Muscle asked if there were any reasons “why Sean Paul got to break over Beenie Man at that time.” 

Muscle had explained that he had heard Beenie in an interview pointing out that “after the “strength of Who Am I, it seemed like he was supposed to really get that international super break but then it’s like after a while Sean Paul got to break.”

Harding, however, said that the way the two artists’ careers turned out all boiled down to proper management on Sean Paul’s part, and a lack thereof, in the case of Beenie.

“I can just put it down to better management.  I don’t know what else to tell you. What else would I be able to say about it?  Beenie Man got himself embroiled in controversy, with the gay bashing lyrics and all that.  He put himself on that list as well.  And then he had to, you know, apology letter… was it GLAAD – the gay community that was trying to lock down his shows?  And all those things start to happen for Beenie Man,” Harding stated.

“I think by the time he got like King of the Dancehall, one of those records that he did, by that time MTV and BET were snubbing him and he was getting a lot a pressure from International rights activists to change his stance on the LGBTQ community.  That hampered his success tremendously.   That was also happening at the time.  So yeah, a victim of circumstance perhaps with that,” the 2Hard producer added.

jeremyjeanjacketpic
Jeremy Harding

While lauding Beenie’s Billboard success with Who Am I, Harding also said the song served to cement his place in Dancehall as a revered producer.

“Yo big up to Beenie and all; love to Beenie Man.  I mean he made me just as much as I helped that record in his career,” he said.

Harding doubled down on the fact that record labels primary focus is on song quality and sales potential, and not the skin colour of the artist, pointing out that Beenie’s troubles at the time, were totally the fault of his management, as several other very poor decisions were made by them.

“I think that’s what was taking place with him at the time, that that hampered his progress… and just managerial choices – doing the song with Janet Jackson and he decided to sing instead of deejay, weird things like that which he was doing…,” he explained.

“I don’t know what else to put it down to.  I know where this is leading to this question of: ‘oh cause Sean was the brown uptown guy and that’s why he got the f–king break’ which is nonsense, because record companies don’t work that way. Record companies in New York don’t work that way.   They’re not in this air of shadisms like Jamaicans, bro. It’s absolute stupidity.  What are you talking about?” he added.

Continued Harding: “They have R&B artists and rappers signed to the label that are black like f–king tar.  What difference it meck?  There’s no brown person thing in a record label that makes the brown people better or the light-skinned people the better.  All that’s garbage.   Working with the Urban Music departments and there are black people; they’re from down south from the states.  There are black people signed to the label; they have black artistes, black rappers.   There’s nothing that says oh well you’re a brown and so you’re going to get more of the push.  All that is stupidness bro.”

According to Harding, skin colour is “not a factor for Jamaican music”, which is still classified as “Urban”, which is code for black music, plus Sean in his ascension to global stardom had scored hits such as Get Busy, Temperature and Baby Boy with Beyonce, as well as other huge collabs with megastars.

“So, no matter whether you’re brown, Asian, red, green, f–king purple or anything, as long as you’re doing dancehall or reggae bro and you drop into a US radio station or a U.S record, company you’re ‘black music’.  So there’s no segment for the browner guys to be better, off is what I’m trying to explain too.  All that’s silly,” he said.

“There’s tons of black R&B and rappers like Biggie Smalls: big, fat ugly black guy – f–king multi-millionaire.   What are you talking about?  So why does that stop any a Jamaican artist because of your skin color, your blackness.  It’s stupidness.”

He added: “It’s upsetting when I hear people talk about it.  And I’m not saying that’s what he (Beenie) is saying, but dem type of comments kind of lead to that speculation of ‘hmm wonder why Sean got bigger over all the fact that Sean bonafide had three number one records on Billboard.  That’s not because of being brown.   It’s the songs that you’re making; it’s the records.   That’s what makes you unstoppable… that’s why he is bigger than people.  That’s sole reason why.  It’s just songs.  So let’s just debunk that right here bro.” 

Harding said Jamaican artists should refrain from using skin color as an excuse for their lack of success and instead, “figure out what records work in the international market and go make those records”, as Sean Paul and Shaggy have done. 

sean-paul-shaggy
Sean Paul, Shaggy

“It’s just an excuse.  It’s something to hide behind.  Go make better records; that’s what you need to do… and stop trying to say that it’s because of your skin color you can’t get to work because that’s nonsense!”

“They (Sean Paula and Shaggy) have hits.  Shaggy had monster hit records.  What are you talking about?  Number one record smashed, tear up the world, sell freaking Diamond.  That’s why.  It’s not skin color.   It’s the size of a record.  Go make some monster records bro stop talking about skin color it’s a hindrance if anything else bro…,” he added.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

Remembering Charles Blockson: Preeminent scholar, activist dies at 89

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Thursday, June 22, 2023 10:37PM

Remembering Charles Blockson: Preeminent scholar, activist dies at 89

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Charles Blockson, a preeminent scholar, activist, curator and Montgomery County native, has died at 89.

Blockson spent his life collecting and preserving the history, culture and contributions of African descendants.

His two significant collections are housed at Temple University and Penn State.

The Temple collection includes 700,000 items dating back to 1581.

“Charles Blockson spent a lifetime collecting the most precious African American artifacts, and in 1984 he donated that collection to Temple University, providing an enriching campus experience not only for our students, faculty and staff, but also for the Philadelphia community and beyond,” said acting President JoAnne Epps.

Blockson is survived by his daughter, his siblings, and many nieces, nephews, cousins, godchildren, dear friends and associates.

Copyright © 2023 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.

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Are only 2% of students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Black?

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Wisconsin Watch Gigafact logo for Fact Briefs

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Yes.

In Fall 2022, the latest period reported by the University of Wisconsin System, 2.4% of students at UW-Madison were Black.

There were 1,214 Black students; total enrollment was 49,587. Another 4% identified with two or more races.

At UW-Milwaukee, 6.7% of the 22,866 students were Black.

The figures reported date back to 2007. The highest percentage of black students at UW-Madison was 2.9% in 2007.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said on June 13, 2023, he wants to cut $32 million from the UW System, which he said is equal to what the system spends on diversity officers.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said he wouldn’t sign the budget if Republicans follow through on that plan.

Diversity offices are designed to help minorities navigate academia. Monica Smith took over as the UW System’s diversity officer June 12, earning $225,000 a year.

This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

University of Wisconsin System Total enrollments by race/ethnicity – UW Madison

University of Wisconsin System Total enrollments by race/ethnicity – UW Milwaukee

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel UW-Madison’s Black student enrollment has never exceeded 3%. Why does the school make so little progress, decade after decade?

PBS Wisconsin Wisconsin governor vows to veto state budget if GOP cuts diversity dollars from university system

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel UW System hires new chief diversity officer despite Republican push to defund diversity offices

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RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

The feds are offering states the option to extend postpartum care for moms. Some are turning it down

Kimbrly Orea Badillo gave birth to her second son on Mother’s Day in Des Moines, Iowa.

She already feels like she needs a lot of support.

“I feel like…I don’t get sleep,” she said. “I feel like I need to talk to my doctor more about it, just to make sure I’m doing okay.”

For the past month, the 20-year-old has been juggling taking care of a newborn and his older brother, who turns two in July, as she recovers from a cesarean section.

She relies on Medicaid to afford her postpartum care and prescriptions, like birth control and pain medication for her c-section wound.

“I have to take them every four hours if I feel pain, so that’s helping me,” Orea Badillo said. “And if it wasn’t for Medicaid, I wouldn’t get those at all. I would have to pay the full price for it.”

Federal law requires that states provide Medicaid recipients like Orea Badillo with 60 days of postpartum coverage.

But starting in 2021, under the American Rescue Plan Act, the federal government offered states the option to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage to a year. The move comes with permanent matching federal funds.

More than 40 states have adopted the policy so far, including nearly all Midwestern states like Kansas and Missouri. It’s received wide bipartisan support overall. But a handful of Republican-led states like Iowa, Idaho and Arkansas, recently ended their legislative sessions for the second time since the extension option has been available without approving the extension.

This has left some medical professionals concerned that the most vulnerable, low-income women won’t get the postpartum care they need. It would happen at a time when thousands are at risk of losing their Medicaid coverage following the end of the national public health emergency this spring.

Vulnerable patients postpartum

Leading medical groups, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have long recommended all moms receive at least a year of postpartum care.

“We know for many measures of someone’s health and physiology that it can take up to 12 weeks before you’re even back to a normal, non-pregnant physiology,” said Stephanie Radke, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Iowa.

Postpartum care is mostly preventive care, which includes screening for any complications, such as postpartum depression, and treating them before they hit a crisis point, Radke said.

Postpartum moms on Medicaid are more likely to have poorly-managed underlying medical conditions, like hypertension and diabetes, that can be exacerbated during pregnancy.

“Within 60 days postpartum, they may or may not be back to their baseline level of health that they entered pregnancy with,” Radke said. “And so they really have a need for care that’s really continuous.”

In recent years, the U.S. has experienced rapidly increasing maternal mortality rates.

In 2021, the U.S. had 32.9 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, an increase of 40% from 2020, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It’s a historically high maternal mortality rate and is significantly above the rates of other high income nations, such as Australia, the Netherlands and Japan, which all had rates below 4 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020.

Black Americans, who are disproportionately more likely to be on Medicaid, were 2.6 times more likely to die during or after childbirth than non-Hispanic, white Americans in 2021, according to the CDC.

“There can be a lot of changes related to emotional well-being, sometimes that swings to the point of postpartum depression,” Radke said, “and just kind of figuring out how to integrate their new self as a mother and as a caregiver for a very vulnerable human…is not always something that everybody has completely figured out by 60 days postpartum.”

Iowa the holdout

The one-year postpartum extension has been popular nationally with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

“The time is ripe right now,” said Joan Alker, the executive director of the Georgetown Center for Children and Families. “We see there’s so much concern about the state of maternal health. We’ve seen a worsening of maternal mortality in this country and some really shocking and troubling trends, particularly for women of color.”

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last summer has contributed in part to more lawmakers’ interest in policies that address child and maternal care overall, Alker said.

A number of Republican states that have mostly banned abortion, like South Dakota, Missouri and Mississippi, have also passed the 12-month postpartum extension as part of a push to support childbirth.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said passing the extension this year was part of the state’s “new pro-life agenda.”

This month, Nebraska lawmakers approved a postpartum extension of “at least six months” leaving it up to the state Department of Health and Human Services as to whether it will ask the federal government for the full 12-month extension. State officials haven’t said what they are planning to do yet.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen such widespread bipartisan embrace of a policy, as we’ve seen for this 12 month postpartum policy,” Alker said.

But some lawmakers in states, like Iowa, remain hesitant about it.

In Iowa, 25% of pregnancy-related maternal deaths in 2021 happened between 43 days and one year after birth, according to a review by the state’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee. The committee determined all of those deaths were preventable.

A legislative fiscal analysis in 2022 estimated Iowa’s share of the extension will cost about $9 million for the 2024 fiscal year.

Iowa Republicans, who control the legislature, have a number of concerns about extending postpartum care to a year, according to state Rep. Ann Meyer.

She said, for one, Iowa already has the highest income ceiling in the country for pregnant women to get on Medicaid.

“We’re most focused on providing a safety net for those people who need it,” Meyer said. “Our caucus also believes in balancing that without creating more government dependency.”

Iowa lawmakers have also been slow to adopt the extension because the national public health emergency, which barred states from disenrolling anyone with few exceptions, she said. This requirement ended in April.

However, this requirement ended in April, and now states are undergoing the process of unwinding, or removing those from Medicaid who no longer qualify.

Rep. Meyer says that the legislature will consider a postpartum extension policy again in the 2024 session.

In the meantime, in states like Iowa that didn’t approve the postpartum care extension, many moms on Medicaid going forward will go back to only two months of coverage.

Francesca Turner, an OB-GYN who works at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines, said a shift back to two months of postpartum care coverage would be devastating.

More than half of the maternal health patients at her clinic are on Medicaid.

“I feel like we work really hard to keep people safe and keep people cared for…and then you get them to that point, and they lose their health insurance, and it just almost unravels,” she said.

Turner said many of her most vulnerable patients may be unaware they may be losing postpartum coverage in the next couple of months.

“They can’t get access to contraception. They can’t get access to their follow up pap smears. They can’t get access to whatever health care they need.”

This story comes from a collaboration between Side Effects Public Media and the Midwest Newsroom — an investigative journalism collaboration including IPR, KCUR 89.3, Nebraska Public Media News, St. Louis Public Radio and NPR.

Michele Craig: Support Medicare for All

Published: 6/22/2023 1:47:57 PM

The recent celebration of Juneteenth made me think about the continuing lack of equity in health care for Black Americans. Black Americans have a higher mortality rate than any other racial or ethnic group.

Structural and systemic inequalities rooted in racism and discrimination such as poverty, income inequality, food insecurity and lack of safe, affordable housing are some of the reasons behind this. Gaps in health insurance and unequal access to care are other factors that lead to poorer health outcomes.

According to KFF, an independent source of health policy research, as of March the average life expectancy of white Americans is 76.4 years and Black Americans is 70.8 years. The 2019 CDC study on infant mortality noted that babies born to Black women in the U.S. had a 10.6% mortality rate vs 4.5% for babies born to white women. Web MD reports that Black Americans are 60% more likely to have diabetes, are 2.5 times more likely to have an amputation, are 5.6 times more likely to suffer from kidney disease, and are more than three times more likely to die of asthma.

One of the ways to address these disparities is to vote for Medicare for All. This would provide health insurance for all Americans with no co-pays or deductibles. Preventive care would be the norm, resulting in healthier Americans. There would be no incentive to not provide care for patients in lower economic areas because doctors would be paid the same whether they practice in a higher income community or a lower income community.

Clinics would be set up based on community needs, not on potential to create wealth. The cost of medications would be negotiated with pharmaceutical companies, like the VA system currently does, which leads to markedly decreased costs. According to the Congressional Budget Office, Medicare for all would save $650 billion per year while improving the health of all Americans. Please go to masscare.org for more information.

Michele Craig

Retired nurse, South Deerfield

Welcome to Mixmag’s Windrush 75 series

… faced with anti-Blackness and racism. They were then subjected to … the Caribbean, West African and African-American romantics. It was the antidote … spoke of his encounters of racism in the music industry, in … RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News