I SEE U

When the coronavirus summarily shut down the world in 2020, we were all sent home to figure how to live, work and play from a distance.  Within weeks millions learned to use digital platforms to connect to work, family, school, and friends. Streaming services like Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix benefited greatly.  In one year, subscriptions during the pandemic rose over 30% and increased to 1 bill...

From black urban farms to traditional soul food kitchens to fine dining…Houston has a vibrant black food scene.  We call this the “Who Made the Potato Salad?” episode to reference a specific cultural tradition.  If you show up at any holiday meal or family cookout in the black community you will notice that everyone gathered will look at treasured family dishes like potato salad, mac and cheese, s...

After the death of George Floyd organizations across America embarked upon what has been called a racial reckoning.  A process started to be more intentional about understanding the impact of race on the past and charting a course for how we will make a better racial future. For a lot of universities this has meant confronting their own history with enslavement and racial segregation. Nearly two d...

In 2013 when Houston native and global megastar, Beyoncé , openly embraced the feminist label, there was a lot of discussion about what this would mean for young women and girls who followed her music. Would her millions of fans also start to embrace feminisms as well? What is also true is that Beyoncé, like many women her age, were coming out as feminists because they were being influence by a vi...

In Texas where football is king all schools are celebrating homecoming. That halfway point of the season where homecoming kings and queens are crowned, alumni return to be honored and remember their golden years, and the entire community is focused on tradition. At HBCUs or historically black colleges these festivities are accompanied by a wall of sound, a marching band that mixes traditional fanf...

According to new census data 95% of the population growth in Texas was from communities of color and Texas is a majority minority state.  Latinos and African Americans are the largest minority groups in the state and have the potential to wield enormous political power if they can build and maintain successful coalitions. On this episode, we explore examples of Black/Latino coalition building past...

Often seen as an expression of youth culture, hip hop as a musical genre is almost FIFTY! That means that hip hop’s earliest fans are also aging. Now parents, professionals, and caregivers, they are asking: can you be fully adult—Grown—and stay true to the love of the music that shaped your childhood?  In Houston hip hop culture , the word Trill , which is a combination of the terms true and real,...

Our geography defines our understanding of the world as much as anything else.  National and state boundaries and even city streets define the areas that mark what is home, what is safe, and where we belong. The ability to make choices about where you want to live also shapes what schools you attend, your level of access to parks and green space, and your commute to work. There is one neighborhood...

The legendary Prince created an iconic band known as, The Revolution . Not only did the early '80s group incorporate an energy and sound that threw off music radio programmers worldwide, but The Revolution also consisted of overwhelming talent that embraced notions of diversity and inclusion with members from different backgrounds, ethnicities, races and sexual orientations. Two band members -- We...

His song mashup featuring a popular Rihanna track mixed with a vintage Luther Vandross classic threw the internet music world into a frenzy! Celebrities and hip-hop artists quickly showered him with accolades and overwhelming social media support. Now, Jamir Reece Davis , aka AMORPHOUS , has become a much sought-after music producer, having released an EP called, " Things Take Shape ." But how lon...

Comedian Ali Siddiq spent six years in a maximum-security penitentiary on a 15-year sentence for trafficking cocaine. Siddiq discovered his voice to make people laugh behind bars. And now, he's found success all over the country and across the globe with his laid-back, sometimes stand-up, comic storytelling about being locked up, fatherhood and racism. Though he's appeared on major outlets like Co...

Film composer Vince DiCola had never scored an entire movie before in the mid-80s. But once actor/director Sylvester Stallone heard a few of his demo tracks for Rocky IV , he decided to hire DiCola for the gig. That film ended up being one of the most financially successful movies of the Rocky franchise. In fact, earlier this summer, Stallone announced a re-release of the film with a " Director's...

Born in Afghanistan, Nadia Nadim was only 11 years old when the Taliban executed her father, who was an Army General. Her mother, along with Nadia's four sisters, ended up fleeing through neighboring Pakistan with a fake passport, before eventually arriving in Denmark -- the country she now calls home. From living in a refugee camp to winning a title for a national French soccer team, Nadia's jour...

There's a Spanish teacher at Bellaire High School in southwest Houston who's using a unique method of connecting with his students inside the classroom. He's creating digital dance videos on TikTok and Dubsmash as his way of building stronger relationships with his students and developing an enhanced learning environment. His dance moves have earned him hundreds of thousands of social media follow...

Arguably, the state of Texas' most famous death row exoneree, Anthony Charles Graves spent nearly 20 years in prison for a brutal crime that he did not commit, including 12 years on death row -- all while receiving two execution dates. Since his release more than a decade ago, Graves has been working extensively with the justice system that mistakenly put him behind bars in the first place! Join u...

Grammy-award winning mega-producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis admit to I SEE U that they have nothing to prove and yet, so much to say. Although the duo had been working together for over 35 years -- writing and producing hits for other artists, they've finally released a studio album with their own marquee. ' Jam and Lewis: Vol 1 ,' showcases top-charting vocalists like Toni Braxton , Mariah Care...

As Track And Field athletes prepare their mark and get set to run for the gold in Tokyo , six-time Olympic medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee connects with I SEE U from her native East St. Louis to observe this weekend's competitive rounds. At the Seoul Summer Olympics in 1988, she became the first woman to win back-to-back gold medals in the grueling heptathlon event, as well as the first African-Amer...

A young computer scientist who grew up in Mississippi is focusing her efforts on fairness and identifying biases in technology. Though she's working in Atlanta as an artificial intelligence researcher for Amazon , she's reinvesting much of her earnings towards the development of a multi-million dollar innovation center that's set to transform her native downtown Jackson. Dr. Nashlie Sephus is also...

In 1981, militant Klansmen in East Texas waged a terror campaign against recently immigrated Vietnamese fishermen who were trying to make a living near Galveston Bay . As tensions heated up, some began to label the conflict a " race war ." But a legal argument brought justice to the vulnerable community of Vietnamese refugees. Join us we take you on a journey through the warm waters of the Gulf of...

Chaka Khan , Phil Collins , Robert Palmer , Angela Bofill and Steve Winwood are just a few names who've landed hit after hit while working with veteran keyboardist David Frank and guitarist/vocalist Mic Murphy . But the talented duo worked largely under the radar for years. Both Murphy and Frank created their musical magic and pioneering sound not only for other artists but also for themselves, un...

The T.R.U.T.H. Project is a non-profit in Houston that works to educate and mobilize LGBTQ+ communities of color and their allies, with resources that promote mental, emotional and sexual health through the arts. The group 's founder, Kevin Anderson, recently received a grant to produce a new digital documentary entitled, " Black Boy Symphony ." Shot at the Deluxe Theatre in Houston's historic dow...

As an only-child growing up in the early '70s in rural Mississippi, I SEE U 's Eddie Robinson admired his mom and dad. Family meant the world to him -- it gave him a deep sense of belonging. But years later, when he came out to them as gay during a phone call, his religious parents shut off all communication with him. But it was his father who finally broke the silence and expressed how much they...

What is it about strong, Black Women of the South? You may very well discover the answer in our interview with acclaimed actress and Mississippi-native, Aunjanue Ellis . Remarkably, she's been working in the film and television industry for over 25 years, starring in movies like, " The Help ," " Ray ," Lifetime's " The Clark Sisters ," Netflix miniseries " When They See Us ," and most recently, HB...

Earlier this year in an interview with Oprah Winfrey , singer Stevie Wonder described his plans to move permanently to Ghana , West Africa . Weeks later, comedian Dave Chappelle said he was inspired by Wonder to do the same. There's a sudden trend of Americans who are leaving the United States and relocating to a foreign country -- Americans like the Jones family. 50-year-old Tony Jones, a former...

Scholars have labeled the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 as one of the most horrific incidents of racial violence in U.S. history. But why has that history remained under wraps for so long? Historian Dr. Karlos Hill of the University of Oklahoma; and Scott Ellsworth , author of "The Ground Breaking," shed new light on the disaster. And with this racial attack as a backdrop, host Eddie Robinson chats...