Perspectives with Condace Pressley

We are spending more time at home. As the holidays approach, why not pick up a good book? Or give one as a gift? In The End of Her, author Shari Lapena has it all: toxic men, toxic women, twists, turns and red herrings. Critics and fans both say "No one does suburban paranoia like Shari Lapena."

In the wake of racial justice unrest this summer, many businesses are working to create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive environment. Trudi Lebron is CEO of ScriptFlipt, a consulting organization doing work in this space. Lebron identifies as a biracial latina (racially white/black, ethnically Latina). At 16 she was a high school dropout and the mother of 2. As she struggled to make ends me...

The United Way of Greater Atlanta is one of many nonprofit organizations distributing CARES ACT funding to people in need. Persons impacted by the pandemic who can show that they lost a job, or hours or had to stay home with children may be eligible for up to $5000 in relief money to pay back rent, late mortgage payments or overdue utility bills.

Our guest is actor, author, and activist Hill Harper. Television viewers know Harper best as Hawkes on CSI New York. He currently appears Dr. Marcus Andrews on the ABC drama "The Good Doctor." He is being honored in Atlanta virtually as the winner of the Generational Barrier Breaker award from the Peachtree Village International Film Festival. Our conversation covers the COVID-19 pandemic, the inf...

This clever book—part story, part writing prompt—will help boost kids’ self-esteem as they follow Lulu’s lead to discover their very own power phrase. Lulu loves her biracial family, but people are always asking what are you? Lulu hates that question. Her brother hates it too and inspires her to come up with one line that perfectly describes her so she can easily express who she is, not what she i...

Fair Fight Founder Stacey Abrams joins Perspectives to talk about her film "All In: The Fight for Democracy," an examination of voter suppression in the U.S. She also breaks down the amendments on the Georgia ballot and what voters need to know in advance of Election Day. Then, Kenny Blank, Executive Director of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival to discuss the festival's launch of its online film p...

Ambassador Andrew Young, Mike "Killer Mike" Render and Ryan Glover have joined forces to build Greenwood. Greenwood has secured $3 million in seed funding from private investors as the first digital banking platform for Black and Latinx people and business owners. Greenwood seeks to provide banking services to communities who have not had access to or good relationships with banks.

2020 will be a year for the history books because of the coronavirus pandemic, a nation divided politically and a reckoning on systemic racism. Rev. Bernice A. King is today's guest for a real conversation on systemic racism and its impact on income, education, health care and housing.

Morehouse College will shine its social justice spotlight on filmmakers who use their artistry to promote activism at the second annual Human Rights Film Festival, which will be held virtually from Sept. 24-26, 2020. Films from five continents and 13 countries—from China to Gambia—are competing for the title award. Film submissions often explore the impact of race, gender identity, religion, and p...

Last fall Usher Raymond's mom, Johnetta Patton opened her commercial kitchen to chefs who did not have a home base from which to work. She and they joined with a new online venture called Hungry. The plan was to upgrade the business person's working lunch with chef prepared food. Things were going great. Hungry expanded into seven cities including Atlanta, and then the pandemic happened and everyt...

Social unrest around the country has many organizations in corporate America taking a second look at their policies and practices with respect to diversity, equity and inclusion. A recent Forbes magazine article notes the reason many employees who are not of color feign interest in DE&I training is a lack of interest. Donald Jenkins leads a team of trainers who seek to evolve hearts and minds on t...

Martine Resnick and Eileen Lee are co-founders of the Lola is a womxn’s club and community space with a mission to amplify the voices of all womxn. Using womxn in their visual language is very intentional. They use it to be clear in their commitment to inclusivity and intersectionality for all womxn, including any person who self identifies as female. When it was safe to meet and network in person...

COVID-19 impacts back to school in many ways. Some students are attending class virtually only while others are going to school sometimes in person and other times online. 2020 brings a new leader to the Atlanta Public Schools Dr. Lisa Herring, a Macon native, Spelman alum and former leader of the Birmingham City Schools.

Now more than ever the movement for social justice is finding allies in the white community seeking to know more about our different experiences. In "Why are All the Black Kids SItting Together in the Cafeteria and Other Conversations about Race," Spelman College President Emerita Beverly Daniel Tatum explores the life experiences that force the races to separate.

In his final essay, the late Congressman John Lewis described the hope he felt in his last days and the optimism that a new generation of activists would pick up his mantle. One of those activists is Hannah Gebresilassie, a young journalist turned activist fighting for black lives and the rights of all Americans to vote.

We are living in interesting times, where people are not necessarily as kind to one another as they could be. My guest believes kindness isn’t merely about getting along with others and being nice. She calls it a game changer in business, the door opener to opportunity and the key to authenticity and confidence. ABC News Anchor and Correspondent Adrienne Bankert is author of Your Hidden Superpower...

Now streaming is a 96-minute documentary about a civil rights pioneer. A legend. An icon. Georgia’s Congressman John Lewis. “John Lewis Good Trouble” is directed by dawn porter and produced by Color Farm Films. The company’s co-founder and film producer is actor and activist Erika Alexander.

The Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing in Atlanta has an idea to reimagine community policing. Dr. Catherine Meeks, the Center's Executive Director works to change hearts and minds one at a time. She invites a community to join the conversation. She argues that in the wake of the war on drugs, mass incarceration and the murders of Ahmad Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, change must hap...

To be a great leader, you must be able to unite people from all backgrounds with seemingly competing agendas to come together under a common cause. Those words from former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial – the current President and CEO of the National Urban League – in his new book, The Gumbo Coalition.

My Vanishing Country is his poetic personal history. In the book Bakari Sellers awakens us to see the crisis affecting the other “Forgotten Men & Women,” who the media seldom acknowledges. For Sellers, these are his family members, neighbors, and friends. He humanizes the struggles that shape their lives: to gain access to healthcare as rural hospitals disappear; to make ends meet as the factories...

In the past two weeks, our country has experienced a tremendous wave of awakening and awareness regarding racism, justice, and racial reconciliation. Responses to the long-repressed issue have been sadly mixed, but one overwhelmingly positive result has been the spread of Black voices and the call for individuals to educate themselves about the underlying problems. Carlos Whittaker, the son of a H...

The country appears ready to have a real conversation about systemic racism. Today I'm talking with Debbie Irving, the author of Waking Up White. She's a 60 year old white woman who has had an epiphany about race in America. Her book is enlightening. The conversation is interesting. I hope you will listen. Her book published in 2014, is available where books and audio books are sold.

We say their names. Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. Their murders shine a white hot light on the systemic racism in America and have led to protests not only in all 50 states, but also in countries around the world. With many Americans sheltering in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 seems to be forcing us to focus on the country's original sin. People of all races are m...

A glimmer of hope. Those words describe the news that there may be a vaccine to combat coronavirus. If future studies go well, the vaccine could be available to the public as early as January. Josh Nathan Kazis is the health reporter for Barron's. He has studied and written extensively on vaccines. His story in Barron's is Moderna’s Coronavirus vaccine appears to work in Early trials. What comes n...

Dr. Chris Hermann, an alum of both Georgia Tech and Emory University, is the brain behind one way to stay safe in if you are in the hospital. Its called clean hands safe hands and this technology was developed at the Centers for Disease Control, Emory University and the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Hospital acquired infections are the bane of the health care industry. Dr. Hermann’s clean hands...