The Folding Chair with Osyrus Bolly

Tim Campbell is an activist and a native of Little Rock, Arkansas. Last spring, Campbell was the recipient of the Shannon Butler Bridge Builder Award for the Class of 2021, recognized as the school’s top honor. The award is presented to a student in each graduating class who has displayed collaborative leadership skills and exemplifies the spirit of bringing people together. Campbel...

State Senator Joyce Elliott represents Senate District 31, comprising parts of Little Rock and Pulaski County.  She was elected to the Senate in 2008, after having served three terms in the House of Representatives, from 2001 through 2006. In 2013 Senator Elliott received the Arkansas Municipal League Distinguished Legislator Award.  In 2003 the Central Arkansas Labor Council honored her...

The Pulaski County Voters' Guide https://www.vipvoter.org/voterguide was released in a collaborative effort from LRCA Indivisible, Arkansas Public Policy Panel, Little Rock Freedom Fund, NAACP Little Rock & North Little Rock branches, W. Harold Flowers Law Society, DecARcerate, League of Women Voters of Pulaski County and Arkansas Community Organizations. Physical copies of the Pulaski County...

“End the Uyghur Genocide” is a youth-led activism project started in 2021 by students in Arkansas . Mission statement: Our mission is to spread awareness and bring attention to the genocide of Uyghur people. We plan on supporting several bills within Congress and urging them to prioritize this issue. We are passionate about giving voices to those who cannot speak out and will continue until the Uy...

Shandrea Murphy-Washington is an Arkansas native born in Pine Bluff and raised in Little Rock. She is a graduate of the Mills University Studies High School, UA Little Rock, and the Clinton School of Public Services. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, a Certification in Nonprofit Management, and a Master of Public Service. She is the owner and lead consultant at Murphy Washington Consulti...

The Red Summer of 1919 was a period where white supremacy terrorism took place in more than 3 dozen cities in the United States including Phillips County, Arkansas. The Elaine Massacre was by far the deadliest rac e massacre in Arkansas history and possibly in the history of the United States. While its deepest roots lay in the state’s commitment to white supremacy, the events in Elaine (Phillips...

Sidney Moncrief Served as founder of over six successful companies from retail automotive to people development and consulting A life-long entrepreneur with over 34 years of company start-up experience Served on the Board of Directors of multiple organizations from a Fortune 500 company to community non-profits. Coach Moncrief has been recently elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He i...

Dr. Caree Banton is the Director of African and African American Studies and an Associate Professor of African Diaspora History at the University of Arkansas. She received a MA in Development Studies from the University of Ghana in July 2012 and completed her doctoral work at Vanderbilt University in June, 2013. Her research focuses on movements around abolition, emancipation, colonization as...

Stacey McAdoo is Teach Plus' Arkansas State Director and the 2019 Arkansas Teacher of the Year. Prior to joining Teach Plus, she spent 19 years in the Little Rock School District (the largest urban district in the state) as an accomplished classroom practitioner, college and career readiness coordinator, and the lead secondary novice mentor teacher for the entire district. As a professional develo...

In America redistricting is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 protected voters against racial gerrymandering by requiring states to prove that their changes to voting systems, including redistricting, do not have any discriminatory effect. The Single-Member District Mandate, a congressional act enacted in 1967, requires that representatives be elec...

Meet the beautiful and illustrious author, writer, and poet Alice F. Taylor, a woman who calls the small close-knit community of Hickory Plains, Arkansas her hometown, but Maumelle, Arkansas is where she now resides. Taylor attended Biscoe High School during the challenging years of segregation. Taylor is the co-founder of the Zero to Ten Publishing Company along with her husband Johnny L. Taylor,...

Inspired by her African roots, Liberian born fashion designer and stylist Korto Momolu (pronounced CUT-TOE MOE-MOE-LOO) is stamping her global brand in fashion.  With a women’s wear and accessory line that celebrates the essence of her rich heritage through the use of traditional, luxury fabrics. A graduate of L’academies des Couturiers Design Institute in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada [Korto reloc...

Recently Patrick M. Oliver published On My Own: Vision Board Guidebook for Young People 5th Anniversary Edition and we caught up with him to discuss youth engagement, writing, vision boards, Arkansas and much more! Patrick M. Oliver  is a literary and education consultant dedicated to promoting reading and writing as tools of empowerment. Through a variety of innovative projects Oliver engage...

We discuss criminal justice policy in the Arkansas State Legislature 93rd General Assembly, with special guests Rachel Wallace and Hannah Feldman of UC Berkeley School of Law. In this episode we discuss the need to implement debt free justice in Arkansas specifically in the juvenile justice system. Rachel and Hannah educated us on how juvenile courts charge fines and fees to children and their fam...

Mayor Julian Lott made history when he was elected as the first African-American mayor of Camden, Arkansas in 2018. On this episode of The Folding Chair we learn more about Mayor Lott, his advocacy during the 2021 Arkansas legislative session and how we can all get involved in local politics. He says "don't wait on the baton" which is a call to action for all of us to get activated. Julian A Lott...

Coffy Davis is an author, poet and playwright. Coffy Davis was born and raised in Oakland, California, Coffy Davis resides in Little Rock, Arkansas. She has an English Degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. In 2004 she became a trailblazer and created The Underground Railroad Neighborhood project (TURN Project) an initiative that bridged art and literacy with at-risk communities. S...

We're celebrating #HispanicHeritageMonth Tue Sept. 15 2020 - Thurs Oct. 15, 2020 with this #RepresentationMatters episode with Rosa Velázquez.  Activist. Immigrant. Social Justice. Power Builder. Policy shaker. #AbolishICE #DefundThePolice #BlackLivesMatter #HereToStay Rosa has been actively organizing and advocating for immigrant’s rights since the Federal DREAM Act Campaign in 2010. Since i...

Airic Hughes is a Ph. D candidate in the Department of History at the University of Arkansas. His research examines environmental segregation in modern urban America.  Airic is an artist, philanthropist and the founder of @Visionairi. Visionairi produces media and events with a mission to promote and preserve black culture. Visionairi engages communities in areas of education, creativity and...

Kwami and Clarice Abdul-Bey, based in Pulaski County, are co-coveners of the Arkansas Peace and Justice Memorial Movement to document and mark where racial terror, lynchings and riots have occurred across Arkansas.  Founded in 2018 APJMM embodies a statewide collaborative effort to acknowledge, and to learn from, our shared documented history of hundreds of incidents of extra-legal racial, po...

Furonda Brasfield is the Executive Director of the Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (ACADP), the only organization devoted primarily to abolition in the state. In her capacity as Director, Furonda manages the day to day functions of ACADP, including community organizing, development, and policy development. Furonda led the group during their response to the #8in10 executions of Apri...

Welcome back to episode 2 of The Folding Chair podcast! The title derives from a #ShirleyChisholm quote "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair ". Shirley Chisholm is a true hero #MrsAmerica and an inspiration to many across the world. This episode our guests are Dr. Alexis Davis who is a professor, clinical psychologist and owner BBLVK JEWEL podcast, events, marketing a...

Check out the first episode of THE FOLDING CHAIR hosted by Osyrus Bolly. We are interviewing Dawn Jeffrey - Activist and Founder of Nayborhood Activists. Dawn Jeffrey is a local activist and community advocate known for the passion she dedicates in all issues affecting the community. She founded Nayborhood Activists in 2019 which is a group created to help provide power to the people through infor...