By: Saffie Kamara

In recognition of Women’s History Month, Districtly Speaking concluded our series with a month-long discussion on women empowerment. On March 25th, our town hall focused on the progression of female TV roles. Panelists included Shani Simpson, Museum Educator Local Artist & Blogger, Claritza Jimenez, TV Producer, Associated Press and Lauren Allen, Blogger.

The discussion kicked off with references to the TV show “Scandal” created by African American writer, Shonda Rhimes featuring African American actress, Kerry Washington.

“In Hollywood, we don’t have enough Black writers.” said Jimenez.

In almost forty years, African American actresses have not had a leading role on primetime TV. With “Scandal” being a big hit on ABC, Kerry Washington has paved the way for other actresses to have leading roles as well. Recently, “Deception” made a premier on NBC which stars Meagan Good.

Although we are seeing this progression of women on TV, we are also seeing another side which is reality TV. This became the primary topic during our town hall.

“Now as I’ve gotten older, I watch TV more so based on my interest as opposed to scripts.” Simpson said.

Whether watching reality TV is our guilty pleasure or we watch it for pure entertainment, the panelists and audience members agreed “we are still watching it.” The different opinions in the room regarding women in reality TV kept the conversation going. Some members believed that the drama and sexuality made reality shows entertaining while others wanted to see more diversity on TV.

“More socioeconomic narratives would be something I would like to see.” said Allen.

As TV shows such as “Real Housewives of Atlanta” and “Basketball Wives” are making their way to TV stations, some participants expressed that they did not like the violent and sexual portrayal of these women. Meanwhile, Jimenez viewed this as a good way for business development.

“While we are judging women on “[Real] Housewives [of] [Atlanta]” and “Basketball Wives” it is actually building a platform for these women.” Jimenez said.

According to audience member Yetunde Okesola, most of these reality TV stars do not even fit the titles of these TV shows and are still able to make these business ventures.

“Most of these women are not even housewives.” said Okesola.

As the town hall continued, panelists and audience members discussed the difference in roles between reality TV and films such as Tyler Perry.

“When you’re a film director and this is your craft, it should be a little more complex and then you give me “Madea’s Family Reunion?” I set the bar higher for Tyler Perry.” said Jimenez.

According to Allen however, reality TV shows such as “Real Housewives of Atlanta” were no better than Tyler Perry’s simplistic scripts.

As the town hall came to a close, it was mentioned that there is still a need for more female presence behind the scenes.

“If we have more women bringing more to the table we can change the gender disparity.” Simpson said.

We started off the new year with a month-long HBCU bang and discussed the relevance of importance of Historically Black Colleges & Universities. We also launched our brand new radio show on WE ACT RADIO (AM 1480)

“The Truth About HBCUs: A Closer Look at the History, Purpose and Relevance in a Changing World”

In January, Districtly Speaking conducted an engaging month-long discussion on the state of historically Black Colleges and Universities, commonly known as HBCUs. We discussed the history and purpose of HBCUs as well as examined the relevance of these institutions in a changing world. We talked to current and former HBCU students, as well as, professors and young professionals who chose to attend different institutions.

PANELISTS:
Erin Henderson, Associate, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (Columbia University)

J. Chris Ford, Ph.D, Technical Advisor to Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, Department of Energy (Morehouse College)

Staci Cox, Deputy Press Secretary, U.S. House of Representatives Member’s Office (American University)

Yetunde Okesola, System Analysts, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (Morgan State University)

A.J. Hoff, Social Worker, Court Services Offender Supervision Agency (Howard University)

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year…

Districtly Speaking celebrated the holidays and hosted our 2nd annual holiday business card exchange. Entreprenuers and community leaders were invited to build professional relationships with others. Information about Districtly Speaking was shared including the announcment of our radio show debuting in the new year.

See full album here:
Pics from Holiday Happy Hour

The elections are over! And Barack Obama was re-elected President of the United States. Districtly Speaking held a professional happy hour to meet up with supporters and celebrate the results of the 2012 eleciton. It also marked one year of hosting down halls. Business cards were exchanged and an interesting conversation on the relevance of HBCUs gave me an idea for the next town hall…

See full album here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.382769961803551.90711.180171565396726&type=3

It’s election time! Americans will head to the polls to vote for the next President of the United States on November 6th. Will we re-elect President Barack Obama or vote for Mitt Romney?

On October 22nd, Districtly Speaking held a town hall previewing the 2012 presidential election, a follow-up to our first town hall from November 2011. We invited back some of our previous panelists and added some new faces to chime in on all the issues, the conventions, the debates, and the 24-hour news coverage! It was a lively political discussion both before and after the town hall. Speaking for the Democrats, we heard from Josh Lopez, Political Consultant & Former City Council Candidate, Ward 4 Democrats; Shaun Allende, Managing Attorney, Law Offices of Shaun W. Allende & Janire Hopkins, Senior Web Designer, National Association of Social Workers.

For the Republicans, we featured E.D. Harris, Legislative Assistant, Representative Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), Shoshana Weissmann, Chairman, GWU for Mitt Romney & Brandon Brice, Political Contributor & Republican Strategist, HipHopRepublican.com

Following the town hall, panelists and guest celebrated Districtly Speaking’s one year anniversary with conversation and cake! Here’s to another year of up-to-the-minute conversations on the issues that matter to you most!

Comments made by Chick-Fil-A President & COO Dan Cathy sparked nationwide media attention and protests over his views on the “biblical definition of marriage.” On September 17th, panelists brilliantly discussed the politics behind this debate. Some of those topics include the definition of marriage, same-sex marriage, freedom of speech, and corporate and business practices.

Steve Blake, Associate Pastor, DC Regional Christian Church; Christina Dunne, UDC School of Law, Mason Civil Rights Scholar and Mark Lee, “Our Business Matters” Columnist, Washington Blade rounded out the panel discussion.

Who will Latinos vote for in the 2012 Presidential Election? What are the issues that matter the most to the Latino community? Districtly Speaking was pleased to host this insightful discussion on the Latino Vote. Our diverse panel shared personal stories and offered suggestions for ways politicians can appeal and speak to the Latino community. Immigration was a major focus of the discussion, along with education, Brown-Black relations and motivating the Latino youth population. The program began with a special spoken word performance by Leslie DeJesus Marson of DaBeat 1650 AM WKSH.

Juneteenth: A Conversation About Race, History and ‘The Help’ (Pittsburgh, PA)

June 24, 2012

Reprinted from: Sewickley Patch

Author:  Larissa Dudkiewicz (Patch Staff) – August 18, 2012

Florence Cuspard was 17 years old and fresh out of high school when she began working for a young Beaver family and caring for their 18-month-old daughter.

That child is now in her 70s and Cuspard, who is 86, said Saturday that she’s forever grateful for the experience.

“It was life-changing for me,” said Cuspard of Bridgewater. “I learned so much.”

Cuspard went to the third annual  on Saturday at the  with a mission to share her story during a town hall discussion.

About 100 people attended the panel discussion called “?” The conversation was based on Kathryn Stockett’s novel-turned-movie The Help, a discussion that served as one of the biggest highlights at the day-long event, which also included re-enactments, singing, drumming and other family-oritented activities.

The Help chronicles the lives of black domestic servants working in white Southern households in the early 1960s. The lead characters portray a strong sense of bravery in deciding to share their stories with Miss Skeeter Phelan, a white woman with writing ambitions. She embarks on the risky endeavor in Mississippi during a time of segregation enforced through Jim Crow laws.

For those who attended Saturday’s Juneteenth discussion, feelings toward the book varied, from the light-hearted and sometimes comedic take on such a complex topic to the lack of positive black male characters in the story.

“They were hard-working and they had families, but the book did not show that,” one woman said.

Jonelle Henry, international producer at C-SPAN, served as the facilitator for the discussion, posing questions to the panel and to audience members. Henry is also host and founder of Districtly Speaking, a monthly town hall group that discusses social and political issues in Washington, DC.

Berry said it’s important to note that there are good and bad people in every category, and that today she can choose which families she wants to work for.

“I have many families that I work for who will treat me with respect,” she said. “We do have a choice. These women didn’t have a choice.”

And when it came to the life of domestic servitude, personal experiences also varied. One woman recalled having her school guidance counselor suggest she take a home economics course to learn to be a good maid.

George Dudley of Aliquippa said he held resentment for years based on his mother’s domestic work for a judge that she took up when his dad became ill.

Bradford said her mom, now 88, also took care of families and cleaned their houses. She remembers kids would call their home asking where their belongings were because their parents didn’t know, she said.

“Sometimes we need to reflect back to know where we’re going,” Bradford said.

Back then, Cuspard said young black women couldn’t get jobs doing much else.

“Naturally, we did what we could,” she said.

This meant working as a domestic, raising other people’s children, cooking for other families and cleaning their houses. Young people were often referred to these jobs by the older women in the church, Cuspard said.

“The older women, they kind of watched out for us,” she said.

But while black women didn’t have much of a choice, Cuspard said working as a domestic also presented opportunities to learn skills such as French cooking that she otherwise wouldn’t have had because her family didn’t have the resources.

Cuspard said her employers always had dinner parties so she also got to know their friends. One day while scrubbing floors on her knees, one of those friends told Cuspard to stand up, that she had another job for her.

“She put me in an office,” said Cuspard, who went on to work in the mental health field and later received her master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

Cuspard spoke Friday to the woman she once cared for as a child to let her know she planned to attend Juneteenth to speak highly of her former employers.

“I just want the young people to know,” she said.

“The discussion was fabulous,” Rosalind Santavicca of Pittsburgh said afterward. She and her daughter read The Help and Santavicca said she keeps encouraging other white women to do the same.

“I think that people were getting to the real point, while we’ve come a long way, there’s growth to be made,” she said. “We can’t forget what happened.”

Did you attend Juneteenth? What did you take from the discussion?

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Has race relations in America improved, gotten worse or stayed the same since the election of Barack Obama? Are we living in a post-racial society? Panelists during out July town hall tried to answer these questions on the topic of race relatons in a post-Obama world. Before the town hall got underway, we asked our audience before the town hall whether they thought race relations has improved, gotten worse or stayed the same. 22% of those who responded said things have improved. 35% said race relations have gotten worse since Obama took office. And 43% of the guest polled said things have stayed the same. The audience remained engaged throughout the evening with comments on the Trayvon Martin case, Brown-Black relations, and Obama’s legacy. The discussion was a perfect lead in to the August town hall which will focus on the Latino vote in the 2012 Presidential election.

Districtly Speaking goes on the road!

For the first time, Districtly Speaking hosted a town hall outside of the DMV. We traveled to Sewickley, PA — right outside of Pittsburgh, to host a Juneteenth discussion on the book and movie “The Help”. After the audience got a chance to view a clip from the movie, a one-hour discussion on the book and the movie began with heartfelt and very candid stories of the life of maid and their employers. The audience was made up of a diverse crowd of former maids and former employers. There were tears and laughs and plenty of insight and engaging conversation. Read more on this event from the Sewickley Patch.