The Equity Matters Podcast

When a politician walks into a Black church, what does that presence mean? And what responsibility comes with opening the doors? In this episode of Equity Matters, Dr. James Bell examines the intersection of the Black church and politics, race and religion, and political power. Through the recent appearance of Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens alongside Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers...

We often talk about health in terms of the choices we make and the resources available to us. But who gets to make the decisions that shape those resources, opportunities, and the conditions surrounding our everyday lives? In the final episode of The Politics of Being Well, a three-part Equity Matters series, I explore the connection between power, democracy, and health equity. Through the life an...

What do potholes, farmers markets, food assistance, and voting rights have to do with our health? More than we might think. In the second episode of The Politics of Being Well, I reflect on a childhood bike ride between Detroit and Grosse Pointe that helped me recognize how dramatically community conditions can change from one place to another. Those differences don't just happen. They're shaped b...

We’re often told that being healthy comes down to the choices we make. But what if the choices available to us are shaped by where we live, what we can afford, and the conditions surrounding our everyday lives? In the first episode of The Politics of Being Well, a three-part Equity Matters series, I explore the connection between personal choices, the social determinants of health, and the systems...

I’ve long admired Fannie Lou Hamer for her courage and willingness to challenge systems that denied Black people in a voice in decisions shaping their lives. Her story has me thinking about a question we don’t often ask: What does democracy have to do with our health? In The Politics of Being Well, a three-part Equity Matters series, we look beyond personal choices and the ballot box to explore ho...

In the Margins is a podcast series that explores stories the way they’re meant to be explored. Part of the Stop Silencing Black Stories project, each episode moves beyond summary and literary analysis to ask: What is this story really trying to show us? In this episode, we revisit Octavia Butler’s Kindred to examine the idea of generational curses—and challenge what we think we mean when we use th...

In the Margins is a podcast series that explores stories the way they’re meant to be explored. Part of the Stop Silencing Black Stories project, each episode will move beyond summary and intro analysis. What is this story really trying to show us? In this Episode, The Blame Game, we revisit Richard Wright’s Native Son to examine race, fear, power, and the systems that shape the choices people are...

In the Margins is a podcast that explores stories the way they’re meant to be explored. Part of the Stop Silencing Black Stories project, each episode will move beyond summary and intro analysis. What is this story really trying to show us? In this episode, Back Down Memory Lane, we revisit Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to explore trauma, memory, and the power of lived experience....

In the Margins is a podcast that explores stories the way they’re meant to be explored. Part of the Stop Silencing Black Stories project, each episode will move beyond summary and intro analysis. What is this story really trying to show us? Listen & Subscribe to Equity Matters Podcast: Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube   Sign Our Petition to Stop the Silencing of Our Black Stories Follow...

A day in the life of a public health professional, podcaster, and human being. Roll with me to Richmond, VA to celebrate my brother achieving a significant academic milestone.

A day in the life of a public health professional, podcaster, and human being. Roll with me to Gaylord Michigan for the 2026 Michigan Suicide Prevention Community Technical Assistance Conference.

“Social work isn’t a profession.” “ Public health isn’t a real field.” “Your degree doesn’t matter.”   Every time society dismisses a field, it affects funding, pay, and the people doing the hardest work: social workers, public health professionals, educators, and caregivers who sustain our communities. In this episode of Equity Matters, Dr. James Bell III explores the history and politics of prof...

“Social work isn’t a profession.” “Public health isn’t a real field.” “Your degree doesn’t matter.” These statements might sound like casual opinions, but they reveal something deeper about how society decides which professions deserve respect, funding, and power. In this preview of the upcoming Equity Matters episode “Respeck on My Name (Work To Do)”, Dr. James Bell III explores the history and p...

Somebody said n****. Someone has a neurological disorder. Who is to blame? Can you hold two truths at once? Listen & Subscribe to Equity Matters Podcast: Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube Follow us on Instagram Like us on Facebook Follow us on TikTok Check out our Free Resources on Gumroad Visit Dr. Bell’s Website

Dr. Bell has something to say. Listen & Subscribe to Equity Matters Podcast: Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube   Follow us on Instagram Like us on Facebook Follow us on TikTok Check out our Free Resources on Gumroad Visit Dr. Bell’s Website

What happens when silence becomes a survival skill and survival becomes a sickness? In this episode of Equity Matters, we examine the crisis of Black men’s health in America, where strength is too often defined by endurance and silence. From heart disease and diabetes to colorectal cancer, Black men face some of the highest rates of preventable illness yet many avoid care altogether, shaped by fea...

Strength shouldn’t mean silence. Yet for too many Black men, staying quiet has become a matter of survival. The Sound of Silence (Boy’s Don’t Cry) explores what happens when care is delayed, pain is ignored, and the system treats endurance as enough. It’s time to talk about what silence is really costing us. Listen Friday. Subscribe so you don’t miss it.

What happens when a nation built on the promise to “promote the general welfare” decides who’s actually worthy of that welfare? In this episode of Equity Matters, we trace the racialized roots of America’s social safety net — from Mothers’ Pensions that rewarded white respectability to New Deal policies that excluded Black labor and follow how those early moral judgments still echo in today’s deba...

We were promised a nation that would “promote the general welfare.” But whose welfare did they mean? In Hunger Games (We the People), we trace how America built a safety net with holes big enough for entire communities to fall through and how myths about “deserving” and “undeserving” still shape who gets to eat, rest, and heal. This isn’t just about policy. It’s about power and the stories we’ve b...

What does it mean to disappear in plain sight? In this episode of Equity Matters, we go inside Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz, a detention facility hidden deep in the Everglades and examine how isolation, bureaucracy, and profit intersect to erase human lives. We explore the systems that justify confinement, the historical patterns they echo, and the human cost of making suffering invisible. This ep...

New episode of Equity Matters drops tomorrow. What does it mean to disappear in plain sight? In Ain’t No Sunshine, we go inside Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz and explore how isolation, bureaucracy, and profit erase human lives. Listen Friday to hear the full story and the questions it asks about accountability, equity, and humanity. Subscribe now so you don't miss it! 

What does it mean to live under siege in your own city? In this episode of Equity Matters, we examine the militarization of American communities and how public safety has too often meant control rather than protection. We explore the consequences of living under constant threat, from mental and physical health impacts to fractured trust in institutions, and ask what real security could look like i...

What do we lose when misinformation spreads faster than the truth? In this episode of Equity Matters, we confront the rise of misinformation, why it spreads, how it takes root, and the dangers it poses to public trust. From historical betrayals like Tuskegee and forced sterilizations to today’s viral claims linking Tylenol and autism, we trace how mistrust is both inherited and exploited. We break...

What does free speech really mean when power and platforms are controlled by so few and how do we speak truth to power responsibly? In this episode of Equity Matters, we explore the state of free speech in America, not as an abstract right, but as a fragile and contested space under pressure. We trace the long shadow of censorship and intimidation, from dictatorships and McCarthy-era blacklists to...

What does it mean when a violence we were told belonged to the past keeps reappearing in plain sight? In this episode of Equity Matters, we confront the ongoing reality of lynching in America, not as distant history, but as violence still happening in plain sight. We trace the long shadow of racial terror, from its public spectacle in the past to its quieter denials in the present. Along the way,...