There is a crisis brewing in New Haven that potentially affects Black and brown people seeking mental health treatment at the Connecticut Mental Health Center. Officials' plan to bring in armed police and add surveillance. This has the advocacy group Hamden Action Now calling the impending policy change a veiled attempt for more control of Black and Brown communities. My guests today are Rhonda Caldwell of hamdenactionnow, along with Carmen Black Parker and Keith Gallagher from Yale University who work at the CMHC.  This is an important discussion. It is available in both audio and video versions.

Real talk, Real people

Advocates say proposed security upgrades at Connecticut Mental Health Center is disguised racism

New Haven resident Alessia Mesquita, 28, is the latest woman to lose her life to domestic violence. Police say she was shot dead by her boyfriend while she was with their 1 year old child. My column this past Sunday in Hearst CT newspapers is about domestic violence because it has become more deadlier than ever.  We’re going to listen to Corrinna Martin, the founder of Mothers of Victim Equality, a nonprofit to help women victimized by domestic violence. She lost two daughters and a grandchild to domestic violence. Here in Connecticut, nearly 38 percent of women and approximately 33 percent of men experience domestic violence, sexual violence and/or intimate partner stalking during their lifetimes. And 30 percent of all criminal court cases involve family violence. In 2017, there were 18 family homicide victims and a gun was used in 35 percent of those homicides.

Domestic violence has no end

We've had some interesting women on the show during the last 16 months. They have talked about everything from breast cancer to solitary confinement to mental health to how to get a better handle on your finances. We decided to end National Women’s Month with three of our guests who talked about the importance of healthy eating, being the boss and Black self-identity.  They are respectively, Eliza Caldwell from Gather New Haven; Samantha Williams, president of east haven-based samsword and Bridgeport resident Sharaya Smith. 

Celebrating National Women's Month

Black women have been making a difference around the country fighting social issues that affect black communities -- and Hamden resident Kimberly Washington is no exception. Eight years ago, she founded the nonprofit "Mothers Demand Action" to bring attention to gun violence in her community and rallied mothers from around New Haven County to her cause. Real talk caught up with Kimberly at Hamden High School where she works as a teacher.

A network of Black mothers "Demand Action" to stop the violence

What does it take to be a good father? My guest is Dr. David Lee Asbery, the founder of Fixing Fathers, Inc., a Hamden-based start-up company on a mission to fix fathers -- one dad at a time. He says men don't have to be perfect dads but they do have to be committed to being good dads. There are more than 4 million Black children in the U.S. The majority are growing up with a father in the home but 1.7 million are growing up in a fatherless household. But that does not mean the father is not involved.  According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control, Black men excel as fathers even when marriage is not in the picture. 

A Hamden man is on a mission to fix dads one at a time

Guns, guns, guns. A lot of attention falls on the illegal use of guns in the Black community. But owning a gun legally is a Second Amendment right given to all Americans, although, it isn't talked about much in the Black community.  My guest today is Norwalk resident William Hampton, owner of Train Safe Academy. A gun enthusiast and member of several gun organizations, he teaches classes on the responsibility of gun ownership. He says more Blacks than ever are learning about their rights and guns sales are through the roof.  He joins us to talk about gun safety and why the Black community should know about its Second Amendment rights.

Guns: The Second Amendment and the Black community

It's been nearly a year since Barbara Fair brought her campaign to end the inhuman treatment of Connecticut prisoners to Real talk, Real people.   And now, her advocacy on behalf of prisoners has helped bring about the closure of the Northern Correctional Institution in Somers. The United Nations stated in a report that methods used at the prison seemed to be "a state-sanctioned policy aimed at purposefully inflicting severe pain or suffering, physical or mental, which may well amount to torture." But despite the victory, Barbara says the battle isn't over yet. 

Her fight against inhumanity helps close a Connecticut prison

My guest today is Dwayne Jackson, one of 45 volunteers for CASA, an acronym for Court Appointed Special Advocates of Southern Connecticut. The mission of CASA is to recruit and train adults to safeguard the best interests of children who have been abused or neglected in New Haven, New London and Middlesex counties.  Jackson is here to tell us why we should get involved and become a volunteer with CASA to help these kids. 

Nearly 4,300 children in Connecticut need your help

The conversation is about legalizing marijuana in Connecticut and this is a critical week to talk about it. Gov. Lamont is expected to include marijuana legislation in his budget on Wednesday. My guest today is Adam Wood, co-director of the Committee to Regulate Marijuana in Connecticut. Wood joins Real talk, Real people to tell us why Connecticut should legalize marijuana and his reasoning goes beyond dollars and cents -- and he makes a lot of sense.

Is this the year Connecticut will finally approve recreational marijuana?

The conversation this week is our ongoing look at being Black in Connecticut. My guest is 29-year-old Bridgeport resident Avery Tillery. Avery says many of the problems in the Black community can be solved through reparations. And he believes reparations are needed in all areas of the Black community where, he says, inequality has led to such wrongs as children working to help pay bills.  He also talks about how the image of Black men as violent is distorted and how difficult it is for Black men to earn a living, even doing simple things like shoveling snow.  

A Bridgeport man says reparations are needed to lift Black communities up

What does being Black in Connecticut mean to its Black citizens? And what do we need to do to better our lives and have stronger communities? My guest this week is Bridgeport resident Sharaya Smith. She says the first step Blacks must take is to find their identity. 

Being Black in Connecticut: A Bridgeport resident says Blacks must find their identity

When I was a kid, the name Martin Luther King, Jr. was like an electric current running through Black neighborhoods. The March on Washington had galvanized the civil rights movement and Black people could not stop talking about King's "I Have a Dream" speech and the real possibility that a change was going to come. It’s been nearly 58 years since King’s iconic speech and his unifying vision but as the events of 2020 spill over into 2021, we still face the same old problems. And that’s why I, too, have a dream.

We're still marching toward MLK's dream -- and I, too, have a dream

I thought COVID-19 had shown us the worse it could bring but I was wrong. The virus is raging stronger than ever and the death tolls are at unprecedented levels here in the U.S.  As of Friday, the U.S. was averaging 247,200 new cases a day and averaging 2,982 deaths per day.  Whether you agree or disagree with taking the vaccine available, you should understand the pros and cons. And for that, we go back to a conversation with Gary Spinner of the Southwest Community Health Center in Bridgeport.

An HIV specialist talks about the pros and cons of vaccines in America

We finally have our own website. Our new podcasts will now be uploaded to jameswalkermedia.com --- but we will continue to also upload them here for a period of time.  A little more than a year ago, Real talk, Real people put out its first podcast. It took about five months before people began to show interest, but little by little, we began to pick up more listeners. We decided to add a website, which allows us more flexibility and gives us the space to add more content and explore other ideas we are interested in bringing to you. 

A new year and a new adventure as we launch jameswalkermedia.com

Wow. What a year it has been. Who could have imagined that a virus would not only become the dominant story of the year, but bully its way through a nation mired in chaotic social upheaval to take over the way we live, work and socialize? It was a year of protests, rioting, looting and shooting -- all which took a back seat to COVID-19. We talked about all those issues with everyday people sharing their experiences and weighing in on everything from domestic violence to breast cancer to health issues, such as sickle cell and diabetes, and the benefits of community gardens. Here is what the people we talked to had to say.

Recap: The year in review

Real talk, Real people is a podcast that turns the mic over to everyday people to hear what they have to say about the problems and social issues we face as a society.