Black Like Me

Susan Pierce Jacobsen is a community connector and advocate who has worked in many different positions. Through several of Susan's roles she has supported The Center for Black Excellence and Culture . Dr. Gee shares about Susan's support and their relationship in development projects in the community. They discuss some of the various connections that Susan helped bring together with The Center fro...

How did the vision for The Center for Black Excellence and Culture find its shape? Dr. Gee talks to Jim Bower about how their collaboration helped shape the vision for what was valuable for the Black community in Madison. Jim's role was to continually clarify Dr. Gee's vision and find a way to make it a reality. He saw Dr. Gee as a social innovator, who had something important he wanted to change...

Hear about the long term relationship with Hiebing for marketing services for The Center for Black Excellence and Culture with Dave Floran, CEO, and Dana Arnold, Chief Growth Officer. Dr. Gee discusses how Hiebing helped articulate the story of The Center and share this visionary cultural space with the community. The team partnered in bringing the language and image of The Center to clarity and t...

Dr. Gee tells the story of how The Center for Black Excellence and Culture was actually built with Jim Yehle, the President and CEO of Findorff Construction. Denzel Bibbs, Findorff Construction Project Manager, fills in the details of the building process. He discusses his role in maintaining the vision of the Black aesthetic laid out by the team. Hear how the design and physical building exemplif...

ow do you share a vision that has never been seen before? Mark Schmitz shares how ZebraDog acted as a conduit for the vision of The Center for Black Excellence and Culture . Zebradog knew how to tell stories through a space and The Center team knew the stories of the Black community, and they came together to bring these stories to life. Dr. Gee and Mark discuss the importance of storytelling, esp...

Hear about the revolutionary vision and community development of The Center of Black Excellence and Culture. Amanda White's fund development experience and Rick Phelps community development expertise brought a cross-cultural dynamic to the project that reflected and modeled the reality of the community The Center was built in. Cross-cultural fund development is complicated when race and new ideas...

The Center for Black Excellence and Culture's development is groundbreaking in so many ways and now the staff are inspired to build a movement of excellence. Jason Fields, Chief Strategy Officer, and Janine Stephens Hale, Chief Operating Officer, talk about infusing the Black space with the potential for Black excellence   because of the empowering process and the intentionality of the space itsel...

Dr. Alex Gee welcomes two of the most important creatives in the development of The Center of Black Excellence, Rev. Lilada Gee and Rafeeq Asad. They discuss their roles in the innovative design and aesthetic of the building. Rev. Lilada is the co-founder and interior decorator, and Rafeeq is the chief architect that worked to infuse a visceral Blackness into the building design.   Hear about the...

Dr. Alex Gee gives a preview of the new season of the Black Like Me podcast. It is the big moment as Dr. Gee's vision of The Center for Black Excellence and Culture is revealed to the community. This season shares conversations with the key people that brought this innovative Black space to life. Not only do these conversations highlight the meaningful relationships in all spheres of the process b...

Dr. Gee ends Season 11 with his deep and thoughtful reflections on the season and the times we are living in, as a Black man. His mic drop episodes don't hold back but speak from an honest place, making sense of our world.  This episode is a special conversation as Jeremy Holiday reflects on being a part of the show from the beginning as a producer and engineer. He discusses the evolution of the s...

Rev. Lilada Gee shares from a deep place of self-reflection about how to best spend her life as she faced cancer. She details the importance of travel and cultures in the last year. Lilada shares about her recent trip to South Africa in order to mentor other Black women, including Kay Hawkins, who also joins the show talk about her experience as a young woman. It was Kay's first international trip...

Dr. Gee and Dr. Charles Taylor discuss the richness of African American history and understanding the wisdom of African heritage. Dr. Taylor considers how people around the country are still figuring out how to celebrate Juneteenth. It must be about history.   One of Dr. Taylor's recent endeavors is a documentary on The South Madison Renaissance, including Dr. Gee's development of The Center for B...

Joy Bailey-Bryant, Lord Cultural Resources President, returns to the show as The Center for Black Excellence and Culture building comes to completion. As an expert in cultural spaces and innovative museums, Baily-Bryant is involved in supporting the development of The Center for Black Excellence and Culture in Madison, WI. They connect over shared Black culture and tell stories of the power of pre...

Dr. Emily Auerbach is a great storyteller and cares deeply about helping make other people's stories great. Hear the story of her work of leading the Odyssey Project and mentoring non-traditional students through literature and the humanities.   Dr. Auerbach talks about their whole family approach that brings all generations into the learning opportunities. The hope is that the program is a launch...

Dr. Christy Clark-Pujara brings some clarity to the recent political attacks on history that are attempting to erase multicultural aspects of our American past. Not just history but education and knowledge itself. This moment is similar to the time after Reconstruction with the response to Black people engaged in the political process and having power. Points to cultural backlash historically like...

Dr. Gee welcomes Harry Hawkins back to the show again to discuss what it means to lead a cross-cultural organization that is focused on empowering the Black community. Harry Hawkins has moved into the President and CEO role of the non-profit Nehemiah , as Dr. Gee transitions into new endeavors. The two innovative leaders discuss what it is like serving the Black community in a predominantly white...

Dr. Gee and Professor Stephen Kantrowitz discuss the erasure of history that has happened in other nations in order to understand the current US government attempts to control historical information and ideology. You will be shocked to hear the ways that historical and scientific research are being attacked through elimination of funding and discrediting of academic knowledge.   One of the current...

Kaleem Caire shares how his family, their audacity, and legacy have inspired him to create change in Madison. They discuss how Kaleem challenged Dr. Gee to build something new - his church, social justice non-profits, The Center for Black Excellence and Culture. The inspiration came from each other to see something new built.   Listen to how education is a major factor for the health of the commun...

Dr. Gee talks with his friend Dr. Audrey Mukwavi Matimelo about her passion for empowering others through the "Self Help Group Concept." Hear how this approach to maximize inherent gifts and talents for social and economic transformation, is not only needed in South Africa but also in the US where our systems are failing us. Dr. Audrey shares how this concept works at three levels, which are appli...

Hear about Dr. Ruben Anthony's early years in the Bronx, where he saw the birth of hip-hop in his community and the excellence of Black arts at The Apollo.   These two leaders and visionaries discuss what the new developments in Southern Madison means to the community, state, and the country. They also break down the Black and race-related dynamics in Madison as they pursue their major initiatives...

Dr. Gee talks to returning guest Dr. Chris Bass about the mourning process of losing his mother over the previous year. They talk about the need for rest and space in mourning in order to have the energy to focus on the work that would have made his mother proud. Hear about the activities and accomplishments that honor his mother going forward.   Dr. Bass gives advice for making sure people take t...

Returning guest, Dr. Byars-Winston, is the inaugural chair of the UW- Madison's Institute of Diversity Science. She honestly explores what doing research on causes of group-based discrimination and what effective ways to eliminate discrimination look like in our current social and political environment. They discuss that more people than the media and politicians appear are in favor of broad diver...

Dr. Gee had been hearing reactions from his white friends that they are surprised and deeply discouraged by what our government is doing to American society. To hear a just few perspectives on this political moment, podcast producers Jeremy Holiday and Eli Steenlage join the conversation to talk about their own feelings and what they are hearing. Dr. Gee highlights some of the differences between...

Dr. Gee is joined by his daughter, Lexi Gee, to discuss the depth of Black womanhood in the film version of Wicked. Lexi brings a wealth of story and cultural criticism to topic as she has recently been appointed the Curator of Stories position at The Center for Black Excellence and Culture. Hear about how she is establishing the library and reading room in the Center, and especially how it will i...

Ben Wikler returns to the show again in this wild political moment both locally and nationally. As he is stepping out of his role as Chair of Wisconsin Democratic Party he is energized by a recent state Supreme Court win. Dr. Gee asks him about how the Black community fits into the vision of the Democratic Party in the current environment. Are Black voters acknowledged outside of an election? Hear...