EPISODE 125
AIR DATE 06 05 2020
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Why Now
((SOT))
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Why Here
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
You know, you just, you see somebody in trouble and you
go. You don't think about it. You just react. And that's what
happened. That’s how it started for me. And it's affected me
deeply because you see people hurt and you see people
hungry or people asking for help
((Banner))
What’s Next
((Kearstin, Student, Third Grade))
People are, innocent people are getting shot for no reason.
We could change that. There's a whole lot more to be
improved. We, we as Americans have to be united.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) PROTESTS – ANALYSIS
((Banner: A Moment Long in Coming))
((Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal))
((Additional Camera: June Soh, Jeff Swicord, Chris
Simkins))
((Map: Washington DC))
((Main character: 1 male))
((NATS))
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
Wow. You know, I've been here several times. I live here
and I don't think I've ever stood at this spot of “I Have a
Dream” speech. August 28, 1963. “I Have a Dream”, Martin
Luther King Jr. The March on Washington for Jobs and
Freedom. Wow.
We still have that dream. That's what we're still fighting for -
jobs and freedom.
African-Americans in this country are frustrated, absolutely
frustrated. The cruelty that was on display, [George]
Floyd….and being kneeled into and that police officer’s knee
behind his neck suffocating him. And we’re watching his
death. Juxtaposed against years and years of similar
protests really showed that we haven't moved all that far
away from those moments. And so people are just
frustrated. They said, “My father had to deal with this. My
mother had to deal with it. My great-grandmother had to
deal with it. And it's still upon us. When will it end?”
((NATS))
((Banner: The death of George Floyd led to widespread
protests across the US))
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
Protests in 2020 is different in this regard. You had a major
health crisis in COVID. The places in which black people
are dying at a higher rate are places with lower housing
quality, are places with higher unemployment, higher
incidence of racial discrimination in the job market, higher
levels of discrimination in the housing market, all of these
factors that policy created. Policy made black communities
more vulnerable to the spread of COVID. And that's been
made obvious. And so this moment has just punctuated the
role that structural inequality plays in our life.
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
The median of wealth of white Americans is $170,000. The
median wealth for black American is $17,000, so a tenth of
white American.
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
Unemployment rate has always been double for blacks than
for whites. Black communities see the 23 billion dollars less
in school funding. Blacks are pulled over two-and-a-half to
three times more in communities by police. They
understand these numbers. They feel the numbers. They
live these numbers. These are not just academic figures.
There's tears behind every single statistic.
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
I did a study that looked at housing prices in black majority
neighborhoods and compared those to neighborhoods
where those share of the black population was less than one
percent. And what I found simply astound. We controlled
for education. We controlled for crime. We controlled for
walkability, meaning that we had an apples-to-apples
comparison between a black home, a home in a black
neighborhood and a home in a white neighborhood. And
homes in black neighborhoods were devalued, undervalued
by 23 percent, about $48,000 per home.
Accumulatively that's a $156 billion in lost equity. What
people don't realize, that's the money that people use to start
businesses, to send their kids to college. It's used for
municipalities to finance education and to improve
infrastructure. It's all the resources that people use to lift
themselves up. But that money is extracted because of the
perceptions of the neighborhood.
((NATS))
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
For me, this is not an academic exercise. I've been there, I
understand it. I grew up in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, a
small, black municipality.
((Stills Courtesy: Andre Perry))
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
My father was incarcerated and he was murdered in prison.
When I was born, my mother gave me to this older woman,
Elsie Boyd, and I was informally adopted. My brother, my
older brother at the time, came along with me. My younger
brother eventually came. We grew up very poor, we shared
clothes.
When I look at my yearbook, I stopped counting on the
number of folks that have gone to prison or jail. I say I got
lucky because there are lots of people smarter, more driven,
but they made a mistake and one mistake in the black
community can mean a complete downfall for the rest of
your lifetime. I feel that pain. I feel the pain. And it's real.
It's, you feel it. It takes years off our lives.
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
Structural racism is so baked into policy that it takes years, if
not decades, of investing in anti-racist policy and structure
while removing old policies with that racist frame. It takes
years of that. It's not going to come about with a few pieces
of legislation during a historic period of time as it did with the
Civil Rights legislation in the 60s. Yes, those are major
milestones and we made some advancements. But you see
how long it is taking for those pieces of legislation to take
hold. It takes a consistent commitment to anti-racist
legislation and investments in black people, if we're going to
see a true change.
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Isolation
((Juanita Begay, Quarantined woman))
It makes me happy to see somebody come over and talk to
me because I'm here by myself. Nobody to talk to.
BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) COVID AND THE NAVAJO NATION
((Banner: COVID and the Navajo Nation))
((Reporter/Producer: Arturo Martínez))
((Camera: Sahar Khadjenoury, Pete Sands))
((Map: Navajo Nation (Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New
Mexico) ))
((Main characters: 2 females; 1 male))
((NATS))
((Banner: As regions across the US begin cautious
reopening, the Navajo Nation remains under tight restrictions
to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The largest Native American reservation in the United States
has the country’s highest COVID-19 infection rate in the
country.
Private and public relief programs have been getting basic
supplies to people in need.))
((NATS))
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
My name is Pete Sands and I'm the program director and
organizer of the Utah Navajo COVID Relief Program. We
work under the Utah Navajo Health System. The main
purpose of our Relief Program is to deliver goods and home
supplies, home food. So we try our best to help those that
are either quarantined or self-isolating themselves.
The virus has devastated the Navajo Nation due to factors
like lack of health infrastructure, lack of health resources,
lack of running water to people's homes and lack of
electricity. And there is a lot of tourism, there is a lot of
people. You know, it is a hub because people have to go
through our reservation to get to these major areas.
Our positive cases are rising right now. And you know the
Utah portion of Navajo Nation is a hotspot as they
designated. But we are doing our best here to help people
during these trying times.
((NATS))
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
We drive a lot of miles, that's for sure. Some people live way
out in the middle of nowhere, miles from any store, miles
from the nearest town. This is like off-off the grid. We grew
up here and yet we find places we've never been before.
((NATS))
((Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
Thanks.
((Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
We don't have electric or water yet. So this one has electric
in. Gets really hot.
((NATS))
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
We meet a lot of beautiful people and we see a lot of nice,
beautiful places as well.
((NATS))
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
We are unloading some donations that came from the
Rotary Club here in northern Utah and they got five vehicles
full of stuff. So, it's quite challenging but we are almost
halfway done.
((NATS))
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
A lot of the people that are helping combat this virus are
corporations, private donors. And the biggest part of this is
to have a strong team because without a team, no one can
do it by themselves. And the volunteers we have, I mean,
we service all these communities because so many people
want to help out. The great team that I have with project
program coordinator, Sahar, my good friend, Sahar, she
really helped me out.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
We don't always have produce. We do today. It came, like,
last minute, like, wow, surprise, like, let's go, get it out.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
Every person that comes through our line is either a familiar
face or a potential family member.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
If you guys need anything else, just message.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
We make deliveries for elders, 65 and over, families in need,
and those who have tested positive here within the Utah
Navajo community. This has kind of changed everything for
me because I thought that this spring that I would be helping
youth learn the awesome world of filmmaking and I am now
lifting, hoisting 50-pound bags of beans.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
Imagine a state the size of West Virginia with only 11
grocery stores. That's basically painting the picture of what
we are experiencing here in the Navajo Nation. I believe as
a Navajo Nation, whole count, they're looking at over 4000
cases. That has now surpassed, per capita, the number of
cases from both New York City or New Jersey.
The Navajo Nation had received $600 million from the
Federal Government. However, that has not been spent.
It’s still in the planning phases. So this is not necessarily
cash readily available to purchase supplies.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
That's the last delivery. This is a woman that she hasn't had
food for several days and she doesn't have transportation.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
So happy to find you.
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
Oh, yeah. I'm here by myself.
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
Oh, just you?
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
Yeah. I have a daughter that passed away what, two or
three days ago. Our funeral was over there. So I'm here by
myself. My grandson, I don't know, I think he is in Cortez
with his girlfriend.
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
Did you bury her over here at this yard?
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
Yeah. She's buried over there.
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
Oh, no. From COVID?
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
Huh?
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
Was she sick?
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
No.
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
No.
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
There was nothing wrong with her at all. I don't know what
happened to her.
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
I'm sorry.
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
Yeah.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
And Spam and potatoes.
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
I'm glad you came by. It makes me happy to see somebody
come over and talk to me because I'm here by myself.
Nobody to talk to.
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
Some dog food.
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
Thank you. They don't have any.
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
They were hungry.
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
You know, you just, you see somebody in trouble and you
go. You don't think about it. You just react. And that's what
happened. That’s how it started for me. And it's affected me
deeply because you see people hurt and you see people
hungry or people asking for help and you see people who
are sick with the virus and you know, it affects you. It moves
you. I've never really thought I would have ever put
something like this together because when you think of
helping another person, you just think of like helping your
neighbor. You know you never think helping a nation, part of
it. What really helped is that I had a team behind me. It
changed my life because everything that I got into was music
or film and it drastically changed my career path. And I think
it's like a life lesson of some sort. You think you know who
you are but you know, life will smack you inside your head
out of nowhere and you’ll be like, "No, you don't."
((NATS))
((Banner: The number of COVID-19 infections surpassed
5500 in early June))
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
The History
((Bill Wiggins, Hampton Historian))
I just can’t imagine the sailing into the bay of these chained
individuals in a strange land,
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) ECHOES OF 1619
((Originally aired August 2019))
((Banner: Echoes of 1619))
((Reporter/Camera: Chris Simkins))
((Editor: Betty Ayoub))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Hampton, Virginia))
((Main characters: 6 males; 3 females))
((NATS))
((Banner: 400 years ago, the trade ship “White Lion” arrives
carrying the first enslaved Africans to English North
America))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Calvin Pearson, President, 1619 Society))
The ship came up the Chesapeake Bay and it landed here at
Point Comfort in the latter part of August of 1619. And on
that ship were 20 and odd Africans.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Calvin Pearson, President, 1619 Society))
The first Africans who were brought here were destined for a
life of servitude. They had to work the plantations from
sunup to sunset, the tobacco fields, the corn fields. They
had to work these fields with no hope of ever being free.
((Cassandra Newby Alexander, Norfolk State
University))
These were free people who had been kidnapped as free
people and sold into slavery.
((MUSIC))
((Bill Wiggins, Hampton Historian))
We owe a debt to those Africans because they were the
foundation of the economic development of what became
the United States of America.
((MUSIC))
((Banner: The economic benefits of slavery were not
confined to the south.
Preservation efforts are underway at a colonial-era burial
ground in Newport, Rhode Island.))
((Keith Stokes, Newport Historian))
So as early as 1650, Newport had a burial place where
anyone, regardless of race or class or ethnicity, could be
buried.
((MUSIC/NATS: Cemetery))
((Keith Stokes, Newport Historian))
My own family is buried here but more importantly it’s a
sense of African identity.
((Keith Stokes, Newport Historian))
So one of the great ironies of Rhode Island is the fact that
we are founded under religious freedom but we soon enter
and dominate the enslavement of human beings in the
African slave trade.
((Locator: DeWolf Cemetery, Bristol, Rhode Island))
((NATS:
This is where it is, right?
This is the DeWolf Family Cemetery.))
((James DeWolf Perry, Descendant of slave trader
James DeWolf))
This is the funeral mound of James DeWolf. It is hard to
muster much sympathy for the lack of dignity in this for
someone who engaged in slave trading and on that kind of
an epic scale.
((James DeWolf Perry, Descendant of slave trader
James DeWolf))
James DeWolf and his extended family brought more
than12,000 enslaved Africans across the Middle Passage
and are probably responsible for about half a million people
who are alive today in the Americas, descended from those
who crossed the Middle Passage on their ships.
((MUSIC))
((James DeWolf Perry, Descendant of slave trader
James DeWolf))
All of this was tremendously important in building the
economy of the North and what became the United States.
In the colonial era, the slave trade and the provisioning trade
to slave plantations of the West Indies were a key part of
what allowed the British colonies to prosper and eventually
to rebel against Great Britain and become an independent
nation. It's incumbent upon me, as someone with this kind of
a family history and knowing about this history, to speak out
about what our family did and to help other people draw the
connections to the ways in which their families are
connected to slavery. If we bury the dark parts of a family
history, if we bury the dark parts of a national history, we will
start to assume things like that didn't happen and that will
greatly distort our understanding how we got here today.
((Locator: Hampton, Virginia))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Banner: Born to slavery in Virginia in 1624, William
Tucker’s African parents arrived on the White Lion.
His descendants are buried here))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Brenda Tucker, Descendant of William Tucker, First
African Family in Virginia))
There were so many captured and put on the slave ships.
So many did not survive but those that did survive, we are
the healthy ones, our ancestors. It is a sacred ground for us.
And so, there is no way we can pass it or walk through it
without thinking of an ancestor. We exist because they
worked hard. They struggled. They did whatever they had
to do to survive.
((MUISC/NATS))
((PKG)) SLAVERY KIDS
((Originally aired August 2019))
((Banner: Children of Hampton))
((Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal))
((Map: Hampton, Virginia))
((Main characters: 2 males; 5 females))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Robin Hunt-Crenshaw, Principal, George P. Phenix
School))
We are approximately 11 miles [18 km] away from Fort
Monroe, where the first African-Americans arrived
approximately 400 years ago. I am Robin Hunt-Crenshaw,
the principal here at George P. Phenix Pre-K through 8
school. The school is predominantly African-American.
Today I will be meeting with 3rd and 4th grade students to
discuss the issues of slavery, what they know about slavery.
((MUSIC))
((Kearstin, Student, Third Grade))
We need to learn about slavery because in the upcoming
generations we can’t all just believe that this country was
always, different races combined together. We have to
know what our history was. There was land taken from
different races because they were that race. And I don’t
Feel like any of that is right because we’re all human beings.
((Jeremiah, Student, Fourth Grade))
Now we’re allowed to do stuff that we couldn’t do before.
We have to know, this is why we're free and this is why we
can do this.
((Dion, Student, Student, Fourth Grade))
Some people say it was nice back then, but it wasn't always
nice.
((Gabriella, Student, Third Grade))
Almost two years ago, in Charlottesville, Virginia, there was
people in their cars who was running over people. Me and
my family took a trip and while we were on our way, we were
driving in Charlottesville and we had to be very careful.
((Dion, Student, Fourth Grade))
I’ve seen on the news where a black man was trying to ask
for directions and he knocked on a white person’s house.
The husband, he went and got the gun and chased the black
man off. So, I thought that might have been, well, was it
because he was black? Or did they think he was trying to
like steal something? And I thought it was really mean.
((Jeremiah, Student, Fourth Grade))
Black males and females that are getting shot. People are
losing their lives and they haven't done anything. So I think
we can improve that.
((Kearstin, Student, Third Grade))
Like he said, people are, innocent people are getting shot for
no reason. We could change that. There's a whole lot more
to be improved. We, we as Americans have to be united.
((Gabriella, Student, Third Grade))
We live in the United States. United means that we're all in
this together but people aren’t getting treated fairly because
people are not doing the right thing and we should all do the
right thing because we're in this together.
((Montage of students))
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
((PKG)) FREE PRESS MATTERS ((NATS/VIDEO/GFX))
((Popup captions over B Roll))
Near the Turkish Embassy
Washington, D.C.
May 16, 2017
President Erdogan’s bodyguard attacks peaceful protesters
“Those terrorists deserved to be beaten”
“They should not be protesting our president”
“They got what they asked for”
While some people may turn away from the news
We cover it
reliably
accurately
objectively
comprehensively
wherever the news matters
VOA
A Free Press Matters
BREAK THREE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
((PKG)) FREE PRESS MATTERS ((NATS/VIDEO/GFX))
((Popup captions over B Roll))
We make a difference
When we unmask terror
When we explain the impossible
When we confront an uncertain future
When we give voice to the voiceless
The difference is Freedom of the Press
We are the Voice of America where
A Free Press Matters
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
SHOW ENDS
AIR DATE 06 05 2020
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Why Now
((SOT))
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Why Here
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
You know, you just, you see somebody in trouble and you
go. You don't think about it. You just react. And that's what
happened. That’s how it started for me. And it's affected me
deeply because you see people hurt and you see people
hungry or people asking for help
((Banner))
What’s Next
((Kearstin, Student, Third Grade))
People are, innocent people are getting shot for no reason.
We could change that. There's a whole lot more to be
improved. We, we as Americans have to be united.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) PROTESTS – ANALYSIS
((Banner: A Moment Long in Coming))
((Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal))
((Additional Camera: June Soh, Jeff Swicord, Chris
Simkins))
((Map: Washington DC))
((Main character: 1 male))
((NATS))
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
Wow. You know, I've been here several times. I live here
and I don't think I've ever stood at this spot of “I Have a
Dream” speech. August 28, 1963. “I Have a Dream”, Martin
Luther King Jr. The March on Washington for Jobs and
Freedom. Wow.
We still have that dream. That's what we're still fighting for -
jobs and freedom.
African-Americans in this country are frustrated, absolutely
frustrated. The cruelty that was on display, [George]
Floyd….and being kneeled into and that police officer’s knee
behind his neck suffocating him. And we’re watching his
death. Juxtaposed against years and years of similar
protests really showed that we haven't moved all that far
away from those moments. And so people are just
frustrated. They said, “My father had to deal with this. My
mother had to deal with it. My great-grandmother had to
deal with it. And it's still upon us. When will it end?”
((NATS))
((Banner: The death of George Floyd led to widespread
protests across the US))
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
Protests in 2020 is different in this regard. You had a major
health crisis in COVID. The places in which black people
are dying at a higher rate are places with lower housing
quality, are places with higher unemployment, higher
incidence of racial discrimination in the job market, higher
levels of discrimination in the housing market, all of these
factors that policy created. Policy made black communities
more vulnerable to the spread of COVID. And that's been
made obvious. And so this moment has just punctuated the
role that structural inequality plays in our life.
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
The median of wealth of white Americans is $170,000. The
median wealth for black American is $17,000, so a tenth of
white American.
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
Unemployment rate has always been double for blacks than
for whites. Black communities see the 23 billion dollars less
in school funding. Blacks are pulled over two-and-a-half to
three times more in communities by police. They
understand these numbers. They feel the numbers. They
live these numbers. These are not just academic figures.
There's tears behind every single statistic.
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
I did a study that looked at housing prices in black majority
neighborhoods and compared those to neighborhoods
where those share of the black population was less than one
percent. And what I found simply astound. We controlled
for education. We controlled for crime. We controlled for
walkability, meaning that we had an apples-to-apples
comparison between a black home, a home in a black
neighborhood and a home in a white neighborhood. And
homes in black neighborhoods were devalued, undervalued
by 23 percent, about $48,000 per home.
Accumulatively that's a $156 billion in lost equity. What
people don't realize, that's the money that people use to start
businesses, to send their kids to college. It's used for
municipalities to finance education and to improve
infrastructure. It's all the resources that people use to lift
themselves up. But that money is extracted because of the
perceptions of the neighborhood.
((NATS))
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
For me, this is not an academic exercise. I've been there, I
understand it. I grew up in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, a
small, black municipality.
((Stills Courtesy: Andre Perry))
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
My father was incarcerated and he was murdered in prison.
When I was born, my mother gave me to this older woman,
Elsie Boyd, and I was informally adopted. My brother, my
older brother at the time, came along with me. My younger
brother eventually came. We grew up very poor, we shared
clothes.
When I look at my yearbook, I stopped counting on the
number of folks that have gone to prison or jail. I say I got
lucky because there are lots of people smarter, more driven,
but they made a mistake and one mistake in the black
community can mean a complete downfall for the rest of
your lifetime. I feel that pain. I feel the pain. And it's real.
It's, you feel it. It takes years off our lives.
((Andre Perry, Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program,
Brookings Institution))
Structural racism is so baked into policy that it takes years, if
not decades, of investing in anti-racist policy and structure
while removing old policies with that racist frame. It takes
years of that. It's not going to come about with a few pieces
of legislation during a historic period of time as it did with the
Civil Rights legislation in the 60s. Yes, those are major
milestones and we made some advancements. But you see
how long it is taking for those pieces of legislation to take
hold. It takes a consistent commitment to anti-racist
legislation and investments in black people, if we're going to
see a true change.
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Isolation
((Juanita Begay, Quarantined woman))
It makes me happy to see somebody come over and talk to
me because I'm here by myself. Nobody to talk to.
BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) COVID AND THE NAVAJO NATION
((Banner: COVID and the Navajo Nation))
((Reporter/Producer: Arturo Martínez))
((Camera: Sahar Khadjenoury, Pete Sands))
((Map: Navajo Nation (Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New
Mexico) ))
((Main characters: 2 females; 1 male))
((NATS))
((Banner: As regions across the US begin cautious
reopening, the Navajo Nation remains under tight restrictions
to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The largest Native American reservation in the United States
has the country’s highest COVID-19 infection rate in the
country.
Private and public relief programs have been getting basic
supplies to people in need.))
((NATS))
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
My name is Pete Sands and I'm the program director and
organizer of the Utah Navajo COVID Relief Program. We
work under the Utah Navajo Health System. The main
purpose of our Relief Program is to deliver goods and home
supplies, home food. So we try our best to help those that
are either quarantined or self-isolating themselves.
The virus has devastated the Navajo Nation due to factors
like lack of health infrastructure, lack of health resources,
lack of running water to people's homes and lack of
electricity. And there is a lot of tourism, there is a lot of
people. You know, it is a hub because people have to go
through our reservation to get to these major areas.
Our positive cases are rising right now. And you know the
Utah portion of Navajo Nation is a hotspot as they
designated. But we are doing our best here to help people
during these trying times.
((NATS))
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
We drive a lot of miles, that's for sure. Some people live way
out in the middle of nowhere, miles from any store, miles
from the nearest town. This is like off-off the grid. We grew
up here and yet we find places we've never been before.
((NATS))
((Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
Thanks.
((Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
We don't have electric or water yet. So this one has electric
in. Gets really hot.
((NATS))
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
We meet a lot of beautiful people and we see a lot of nice,
beautiful places as well.
((NATS))
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
We are unloading some donations that came from the
Rotary Club here in northern Utah and they got five vehicles
full of stuff. So, it's quite challenging but we are almost
halfway done.
((NATS))
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
A lot of the people that are helping combat this virus are
corporations, private donors. And the biggest part of this is
to have a strong team because without a team, no one can
do it by themselves. And the volunteers we have, I mean,
we service all these communities because so many people
want to help out. The great team that I have with project
program coordinator, Sahar, my good friend, Sahar, she
really helped me out.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
We don't always have produce. We do today. It came, like,
last minute, like, wow, surprise, like, let's go, get it out.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
Every person that comes through our line is either a familiar
face or a potential family member.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
If you guys need anything else, just message.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
We make deliveries for elders, 65 and over, families in need,
and those who have tested positive here within the Utah
Navajo community. This has kind of changed everything for
me because I thought that this spring that I would be helping
youth learn the awesome world of filmmaking and I am now
lifting, hoisting 50-pound bags of beans.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
Imagine a state the size of West Virginia with only 11
grocery stores. That's basically painting the picture of what
we are experiencing here in the Navajo Nation. I believe as
a Navajo Nation, whole count, they're looking at over 4000
cases. That has now surpassed, per capita, the number of
cases from both New York City or New Jersey.
The Navajo Nation had received $600 million from the
Federal Government. However, that has not been spent.
It’s still in the planning phases. So this is not necessarily
cash readily available to purchase supplies.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
That's the last delivery. This is a woman that she hasn't had
food for several days and she doesn't have transportation.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
So happy to find you.
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
Oh, yeah. I'm here by myself.
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
Oh, just you?
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
Yeah. I have a daughter that passed away what, two or
three days ago. Our funeral was over there. So I'm here by
myself. My grandson, I don't know, I think he is in Cortez
with his girlfriend.
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
Did you bury her over here at this yard?
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
Yeah. She's buried over there.
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
Oh, no. From COVID?
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
Huh?
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
Was she sick?
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
No.
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
No.
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
There was nothing wrong with her at all. I don't know what
happened to her.
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
I'm sorry.
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
Yeah.
((NATS))
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
And Spam and potatoes.
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
I'm glad you came by. It makes me happy to see somebody
come over and talk to me because I'm here by myself.
Nobody to talk to.
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
Some dog food.
((Juanita Begay, Utah Navajo Nation Resident))
Thank you. They don't have any.
((Sahar Khadjenoury, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief
Program; Filmmaker))
They were hungry.
((Pete Sands, Utah Navajo COVID-19 Relief Program))
You know, you just, you see somebody in trouble and you
go. You don't think about it. You just react. And that's what
happened. That’s how it started for me. And it's affected me
deeply because you see people hurt and you see people
hungry or people asking for help and you see people who
are sick with the virus and you know, it affects you. It moves
you. I've never really thought I would have ever put
something like this together because when you think of
helping another person, you just think of like helping your
neighbor. You know you never think helping a nation, part of
it. What really helped is that I had a team behind me. It
changed my life because everything that I got into was music
or film and it drastically changed my career path. And I think
it's like a life lesson of some sort. You think you know who
you are but you know, life will smack you inside your head
out of nowhere and you’ll be like, "No, you don't."
((NATS))
((Banner: The number of COVID-19 infections surpassed
5500 in early June))
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
The History
((Bill Wiggins, Hampton Historian))
I just can’t imagine the sailing into the bay of these chained
individuals in a strange land,
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) ECHOES OF 1619
((Originally aired August 2019))
((Banner: Echoes of 1619))
((Reporter/Camera: Chris Simkins))
((Editor: Betty Ayoub))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Hampton, Virginia))
((Main characters: 6 males; 3 females))
((NATS))
((Banner: 400 years ago, the trade ship “White Lion” arrives
carrying the first enslaved Africans to English North
America))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Calvin Pearson, President, 1619 Society))
The ship came up the Chesapeake Bay and it landed here at
Point Comfort in the latter part of August of 1619. And on
that ship were 20 and odd Africans.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Calvin Pearson, President, 1619 Society))
The first Africans who were brought here were destined for a
life of servitude. They had to work the plantations from
sunup to sunset, the tobacco fields, the corn fields. They
had to work these fields with no hope of ever being free.
((Cassandra Newby Alexander, Norfolk State
University))
These were free people who had been kidnapped as free
people and sold into slavery.
((MUSIC))
((Bill Wiggins, Hampton Historian))
We owe a debt to those Africans because they were the
foundation of the economic development of what became
the United States of America.
((MUSIC))
((Banner: The economic benefits of slavery were not
confined to the south.
Preservation efforts are underway at a colonial-era burial
ground in Newport, Rhode Island.))
((Keith Stokes, Newport Historian))
So as early as 1650, Newport had a burial place where
anyone, regardless of race or class or ethnicity, could be
buried.
((MUSIC/NATS: Cemetery))
((Keith Stokes, Newport Historian))
My own family is buried here but more importantly it’s a
sense of African identity.
((Keith Stokes, Newport Historian))
So one of the great ironies of Rhode Island is the fact that
we are founded under religious freedom but we soon enter
and dominate the enslavement of human beings in the
African slave trade.
((Locator: DeWolf Cemetery, Bristol, Rhode Island))
((NATS:
This is where it is, right?
This is the DeWolf Family Cemetery.))
((James DeWolf Perry, Descendant of slave trader
James DeWolf))
This is the funeral mound of James DeWolf. It is hard to
muster much sympathy for the lack of dignity in this for
someone who engaged in slave trading and on that kind of
an epic scale.
((James DeWolf Perry, Descendant of slave trader
James DeWolf))
James DeWolf and his extended family brought more
than12,000 enslaved Africans across the Middle Passage
and are probably responsible for about half a million people
who are alive today in the Americas, descended from those
who crossed the Middle Passage on their ships.
((MUSIC))
((James DeWolf Perry, Descendant of slave trader
James DeWolf))
All of this was tremendously important in building the
economy of the North and what became the United States.
In the colonial era, the slave trade and the provisioning trade
to slave plantations of the West Indies were a key part of
what allowed the British colonies to prosper and eventually
to rebel against Great Britain and become an independent
nation. It's incumbent upon me, as someone with this kind of
a family history and knowing about this history, to speak out
about what our family did and to help other people draw the
connections to the ways in which their families are
connected to slavery. If we bury the dark parts of a family
history, if we bury the dark parts of a national history, we will
start to assume things like that didn't happen and that will
greatly distort our understanding how we got here today.
((Locator: Hampton, Virginia))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Banner: Born to slavery in Virginia in 1624, William
Tucker’s African parents arrived on the White Lion.
His descendants are buried here))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Brenda Tucker, Descendant of William Tucker, First
African Family in Virginia))
There were so many captured and put on the slave ships.
So many did not survive but those that did survive, we are
the healthy ones, our ancestors. It is a sacred ground for us.
And so, there is no way we can pass it or walk through it
without thinking of an ancestor. We exist because they
worked hard. They struggled. They did whatever they had
to do to survive.
((MUISC/NATS))
((PKG)) SLAVERY KIDS
((Originally aired August 2019))
((Banner: Children of Hampton))
((Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal))
((Map: Hampton, Virginia))
((Main characters: 2 males; 5 females))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Robin Hunt-Crenshaw, Principal, George P. Phenix
School))
We are approximately 11 miles [18 km] away from Fort
Monroe, where the first African-Americans arrived
approximately 400 years ago. I am Robin Hunt-Crenshaw,
the principal here at George P. Phenix Pre-K through 8
school. The school is predominantly African-American.
Today I will be meeting with 3rd and 4th grade students to
discuss the issues of slavery, what they know about slavery.
((MUSIC))
((Kearstin, Student, Third Grade))
We need to learn about slavery because in the upcoming
generations we can’t all just believe that this country was
always, different races combined together. We have to
know what our history was. There was land taken from
different races because they were that race. And I don’t
Feel like any of that is right because we’re all human beings.
((Jeremiah, Student, Fourth Grade))
Now we’re allowed to do stuff that we couldn’t do before.
We have to know, this is why we're free and this is why we
can do this.
((Dion, Student, Student, Fourth Grade))
Some people say it was nice back then, but it wasn't always
nice.
((Gabriella, Student, Third Grade))
Almost two years ago, in Charlottesville, Virginia, there was
people in their cars who was running over people. Me and
my family took a trip and while we were on our way, we were
driving in Charlottesville and we had to be very careful.
((Dion, Student, Fourth Grade))
I’ve seen on the news where a black man was trying to ask
for directions and he knocked on a white person’s house.
The husband, he went and got the gun and chased the black
man off. So, I thought that might have been, well, was it
because he was black? Or did they think he was trying to
like steal something? And I thought it was really mean.
((Jeremiah, Student, Fourth Grade))
Black males and females that are getting shot. People are
losing their lives and they haven't done anything. So I think
we can improve that.
((Kearstin, Student, Third Grade))
Like he said, people are, innocent people are getting shot for
no reason. We could change that. There's a whole lot more
to be improved. We, we as Americans have to be united.
((Gabriella, Student, Third Grade))
We live in the United States. United means that we're all in
this together but people aren’t getting treated fairly because
people are not doing the right thing and we should all do the
right thing because we're in this together.
((Montage of students))
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
((PKG)) FREE PRESS MATTERS ((NATS/VIDEO/GFX))
((Popup captions over B Roll))
Near the Turkish Embassy
Washington, D.C.
May 16, 2017
President Erdogan’s bodyguard attacks peaceful protesters
“Those terrorists deserved to be beaten”
“They should not be protesting our president”
“They got what they asked for”
While some people may turn away from the news
We cover it
reliably
accurately
objectively
comprehensively
wherever the news matters
VOA
A Free Press Matters
BREAK THREE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
((PKG)) FREE PRESS MATTERS ((NATS/VIDEO/GFX))
((Popup captions over B Roll))
We make a difference
When we unmask terror
When we explain the impossible
When we confront an uncertain future
When we give voice to the voiceless
The difference is Freedom of the Press
We are the Voice of America where
A Free Press Matters
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
SHOW ENDS
