40 Ways to FUND Humor to Heal The Racial Divide

Imagine if talking about race was entertaining and enlightening! BlackIssuesISSUES is a satire for solutions that uses humor to heal the racial divide one laugh at a time. BlackIssuesISSUES encourages audiences to LAUGH while they explore issues regarding #difference and #diversity.

BlackIssuesISSUES is like In Living Color or a Saturday Night Live sketch about race with a toolkit and audience interaction. Our goal is to have America talking about race and inequality to become fully aware of the problem and brainstorm solutions while having fun!

Our BlackIssuesISSUES show for adults just made it's Off-Broadway SOLD OUT DEBUT at The Public Theater's Joe's Pub!

People laughed and cried while witnessing sketches about race ISSUES with a multi-racial all-star cast and listening to SOLUTIONS from experts including MacArthur and Peabody Award Recipient Majora Carter. 

Talking about race can be uncomfortable, but silence = death! Using humor doesn't mean we are mocking any one's race or racial oppression. We use humor to highlight the absurdity of inequity. We are #SeriouslySilly. We are serious about the history and policies around racial dynamics and also silly in our approach and strategy. What if talking about race could be something you look forward to? 

BlackIssuesISSUES is a live interactive theatrical comedy show blextravaganza and also webseries for children and adults. The student version of BlackIssuesISSUES was selected to present at SXSW 2020 and we (12 students, parents, videographer, photographer and Administration Assistant) NEED your HELP to send us there. From Harlem to Austin, Texas.. HELP PUT US ON A PLANE OR IN A HOTEL for SXSW!

BlackIssuesISSUES is a curriculum, comedy show and eventual webseries that...

1. Uses HUMOR to HEAL THE RACIAL DIVIDE 

2. Is a Satire for Solutions to Systemic Racism 

3. Engages audiences to LAUGH while LEARNING

4. Is a highly interactive experience which centers the audience as part of the show. Audience members share their knowledge about race and their feelings about current and historical racial events via the live polling software mentimeter.com and Kahoot.com 

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?!?

2020 is an election year and there are many issues that needing to be addressed from poverty to underfunded schools. The writing is on the wall. America is at a tipping point. Which way will we go? Will our systems continue to fail us and we in turn distrust our government, or will we hold those in power accountable and demand change? 

Unfortunately the problems we face are often exacerbated by isms including sexism, homophobia and racism. The goal of BlackIssuesISSUES is to empower undeserved black and brown elementary, middle school, high school and college students (through our BlackIssuesISSUES Blinternship) and expose them to a curriculum that pairs civic engagement and policy analysis that I developed due to fellowships with Columbia University Law School's Theater of Change with Broadways Advocacy Coalition and The Colin Powell Center for Policy Study. My theory is that since black youth experience multiple adversities, why not equip students with the tools, techniques and resources to articulate policy alternatives that have a positive impact on their lives and their community.  

10 Facts About BLACK ISSUES Impacting Black Youth...

1. According to the ACLU, One out of every three Black boys born today can expect to go to prison in his life time. 

2. According to the NAACP, Nationwide, African American children represent 32% of children who are arrested, 42% of children who are detained, and 52% of children whose cases are judicially waived to criminal court.

3. According to a Pew Research study, In 2016, the median wealth of non-Hispanic white households was $171,000. That’s 10 times the wealth of black households ($17,100)  

4. Also Pew Research found that In 2017, about eight-in-ten blacks (81%) said racism is a big problem in society today, up from 44% eight years prior.

5. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, black students who are exposed to one black teacher by third grade were 13 percent more likely to enroll in college. Those who had two black teachers were 32 percent more likely to enroll in college.

6. Unfortunately, according to journalist Chandra Thomas Whitfield, Since 2014, ethnic and racial minorities make up more than half of the student population in U.S. public schools, yet about 80 percent of teachers are white and 77 percent of them are female. People of color make up about 20 percent of teachers; a mere 2 percent are black men.

7. Bryan Stevenson's Equal Justice Initiative states that Black children are more than twice as likely as white kids to be arrested, but the data shows this disparity is not because black kids are committing more crimes, Mother Jones reports. Black youth are burdened by a presumption of guilt and dangerousness — a legacy of our history of racial injustice that marks youth of color for disparately frequent stops, searches, and violence and leads to higher rates of childhood suspension, expulsion, and arrest at school;

8. According to the United Negro College Fund, African American students are less likely than white students to have access to college-ready courses. In fact, in 2011-12, only 57 percent of black students have access to a full range of math and science courses necessary for college readiness, compared to with 81 percent of Asian American students and 71 percent of white students.

9. According to Pew Research, Among black adults, 48% of those with at least a four-year college degree say they often or sometimes feel the need to code-switch. (This meaning black youth and adults feel uncomfortable and face retribution for being their full authentic "black" self.)

10. According to JAMA Pediatrics, among children aged 5 to 12, black children had a significantly higher incidence of suicide than white children.

I know reading this can be overwhelming, and that's why I produce and perform BlackIssuesISSUES, to raise awareness, advocacy AND accountability.  A lot of these issues require governmental, community and institutional intervention, but research suggests, a large portion of American society is disconnected from the political process and hence cannot effectively petition the government for systemic change. 

TWO FACTS ABOUT MEDIA LITERACY AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT 

A 2016 survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that only 26 percent of Americans can name all three branches of government.

According to the Stanford Graduate School of Education, 82% of middle school students couldn’t tell the difference between sponsored articles, FAKE NEWS and real news stories.

PROBLEM BlackIssuesISSUES IS SOLVING 

The BlackIssuesISSUES curriculum exposes students to techniques to:

1. Be critical thinkers

2. Question the motives of the media 

3. Use a checklist to detect FAKE NEWS 

4. Create compelling narratives and comedic writing that highlight social issues and solutions 

5. Perform improv that expands their listening skills, public speaking skills and ability to work collaboratively. 

WHAT PROBLEMS AM I SOLVING? 

STUDENT ISSUES 

1. Civic Engagement (get excited about the political process!!!)

2. Media Literacy (not only fake news, but agenda news and click bait- let’s get to the bottom of media coverage about issues)

3. Policy and Advocacy (instead of hashtags on social media, a strategy to engage policy makers about issues that matter)

4. Time management and discipline (the rigors of writing, rehearsing and performing theater require focus, determination and discernment about how to use time, space and resources effectively) 

5. Job and internship readiness (I’m constantly connecting students to professors, institutions and opportunities to broaden their network of potential employers and sponsors) 

6. Public Speaking (students will be addressing over 200 people during our SXSW performance)

ADULT ISSUES

1. Media literacy, policy and advocacy, civic engagement 

2. Difficult Conversations Across Differences (too often adults are becoming tribal and preaching to the choir instead of learning about the “other side” and maybe changing your mind on an issue)

3. Laughing While Learning the Nuances of Race and #AntiBlack Racism (Let’s have salons, loft parties, and gatherings that make talking about race be fun and give people FOMO!)

WHAT IS THE OPPORTUNITY?

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HOW IS BlackIssuesISSUES DIFFERENT AND AN EXCITING PROJECT TO FUND?

SXSW is one of the largest festivals in the world, convening creatives, thinkers, movers and shakers who are on the cutting edge of various fields ranging from media to robotics to share innovations and best practices in their respective fields.

Presenting at SXSW is an amazing opportunity to be seen funders, policy makers to take BlackIssuesISSUES’ student program of media literacy, research, writing and performing comedy about RACE to “the next level”. Students performing BlackIssuesISSUES satire about race to educators, journalists, media, content creators and others has the potential to shift the narrative about the perceptions of black people, black youth and inevitably how the current policies hinder the  trajectory of black people in America and globally. 2020 is an amazing opportunity for us to have VISION, to see what’s wrong and also SEE a better future and show this vision to those who have power to shift society.

The aforementioned reasons also apply for the BlackIssuesISSUES live shows which poll the audience and give gatherings opportunities to test out new ideas about ISSUES in a safe space lubricated by comedy! BlackIssuesISSUES Live Shows are the hallmark of my SeriouslySilly vision and mission. My goal of having people laugh while they learned is achieve through me carefully curating shows with  blexperts (black + experts) and showcasing their blexpertise in various fields including Gentrification with MacArthur and Peabody winner Majora Carter, the black electorate with Dr. Alan Takeall, and reparations with Dr. Georgina Falu who often speaks at The U.N. about equity for the African Diaspora and others.

The Coalition of White Ally Warriors is also part of my larger vision to use Humor to Heal the Racial Divide by examining the absurdity of inequality and racism with white people willing to lean into their privilege to influence systemic change.

The webseries including THE MORE YOU DON’T KNOW which is a satire based on the concept “What if Public Service Announcements Broadcast The Truth of Little Known Facts About Racial Dynamics?”,  and interviews with people about HOT ISSUES in the zeitgeist both have the goal of using humor to have uncomfortable conversations.

Lastly, the BlackIssuesISSUES BLINTERNship is a blamazing opportunity for college students to get real world experience in media, diversity training, theater, grant writing, networking and other skills needed for jobs and running their own business! I believe in paying it FORWARD which looks like paying for students to attend various events and conferences, their metrocard and food if needed. A recent study published in CNBC states 36% of college students are “food insecure” aka hungry and 46% are housing insecure aka at risk of being homeless. I don’t want anyone on my team stressed by the same ISSUES we are discussing.

Why am I seeking funding and how will you spend the funding?

I’m seeking funds:

To purchase plane tickets for 6 students, their parents and the BlackIssuesISSUES photographer and videographer to document our journey

Rent an Air BnB

SXSW Badges

Ubers while in Austin, Texas and to the airport to and from NYC

Compensate the videographer and photographer for documenting and editing pictures and video

Props

Rehearsal space

Tshirts and bags for all 15 cast and crew to represent the BlackIssuesISSUES brand at SXSW

Food

Webseries (shoot and edit)

Internship for college youth 

Compensate guest speakers who visit the students and blexperts for the BlackIssuesISSUES shows

Administrative assistant

Social Media assistant

Public Relations

2 lavalier microphones

Who is on your team?

Kanene Holder - writer, performer, producer, curator, graphic designer

David Simpson - videographer, product strategiest, hype man

Herman Noel - videographer

Kadiatou Tubman - Schomburg Center’s Education Director and collaborator on BlackIssuesISSUES card game

Kim Nicole- choreographer, blambassador, renaissance woman

Luigi Morris - photographer 

Jabari Holder - photographer and videographer 

Amoria Burks - blintern and on air cult of personality

Alexis Flakes - The Grio producer collaboration for BlackIssuesISSUES content on The Grio

Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz Columbia University, Teachers College (advisor and mentor) 

Devon Simmons - Columbia Law School, and Open Society Fellow advisor on incarceration issues

Kei - advisor on #NoNewJails 

Allen Frimpong - U Penn graduate student in Arts Administration and advisor

ALL THE STUDENTS AND THEIR PARENTS!!!!!

Coalition of White Allies

Robert Beaven - COO of Jennifer Brown Consulting for DEI -collaborator on new special projects

Mark Greene - Remaking Mankind thoughtleader on maleness and whiteness

Bridget Barkan - Joe’s Pub Working Group Artist and amazing singer/revolutionary

Leia Squlliace - Actor, thinker, plotter of subversiveness

Billy Huggins - Comedia Del Arte trained actor and fearless patron saint of anti-establishment rumblings (sketch writer)

On behalf of the BLENTIRE BlackIssuesISSUES team...... 

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR BLOVE and your contribution to send my students to SXSW 2020!

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS BLAMAZING PROJECT -

USING HUMOR TO HEAL THE RACIAL DIVIDE TO friends, haters, and everyone in between!!!!