Maya Gwynn
With KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn with Black Perspectives IE, the show we learn about the amazing things members of the Black community are doing in the Inland Empire. My guest today is Dr. Tayari Kuanda, Founder and President of S.C.O.R.E: Securing Communities of Racial Equity and CEO of On Watch TV. Thank you so much for being here.
Dr. Tayari Kuanda
Thank you for having me. It is my pleasure. I'm so excited to be here.
Maya Gwynn
I'm excited too, even though the stuff we're going to talk about is kind of hard to talk about. But I think it's amazing. You're also an educator and a filmmaker and a podcast host too, and your work sits at the intersection of education, media and racial justice. How did your own lived experiences navigate systemic barriers shape the way you approach your work today?
Dr. Tayari Kuanda
Well, I've been through it. All of those indicators that we talked about with S.C.O.R.E, eradicating racism and overcoming those barriers and obstacles. That's the life I grew up in. In Detroit, just after the civil rights movement, there was a lot of racism, and not in my community necessarily, but in the city at large. In the military, later on in life, lots of racism, and so I knew what it was to have racism put upon you, how difficult it may be to navigate, and I've seen a lot of people give up. And thankfully, I never gave up. I was always inspired to continue. And if you couldn't get through it, go around it or under it. And on my journey through college, my approach was always well, I want to be successful, of course, but how many other people can I help along the way? So it was never just about my own personal success. I wanted to bring others along, and so that informed my practice and my everyday life in S.C.O.R.E and education through film, etc.
Maya Gwynn
That's amazing. Right now we're witnessing an increased federal enforcement, state violence and community protests across the country, with a deep focus in Minnesota. What do you feel these moments reveal about how power operates in the US right now, and what do you feel like this country still doesn't want to understand?
Dr. Tayari Kuanda
First of all, I think it reveals an underlying attitude when it comes to race, social class that's always been there. I think we've masked it for so long. And, you know, there's a song back in the day by Public Enemy that say that the KKK now wears three-piece suits, and not just a terrorist organization like that, but just individuals that have that mindset of any type of racial supremacy. And so I think it's just been masked. And I think that folks have been empowered because there are particular individuals who have come to power that have empowered them or emboldened them to act out. I think it's really important that we continue to educate, expose and talk about our historical antecedents, to talk about what's currently happening, and so our students are given proper information and made aware as to, why are we in this situation?
Maya Gwynn
Yeah, social, economic and academic barriers are often treated as separate issues. Why is it critical to understand them as interconnected systems of oppression?
Dr. Tayari Kuanda
Oh, because they are. You know, for example, when Dr. King initially began his crusades into breaking down racial barriers, that was fine and well, but I think even Dr. King came to the realization that, wait a minute, it's not just black folks that are suffering, it's more social class. And so those things intertwine. So now, if you are a what some people term a racial minority, and you are underprivileged social economically, then you have other barriers to overcome, so much so that when I began to think about what I was going to pursue in terms of my doctorate degree, it was easy. Racism was an easy target, because it's visible, right? But social class is what I focused on. As a matter of fact, I focused on lived experiences of high school students as it related to social class, and how were they affected in schools based upon that. I often use the image of saying that race obviously matters, social class matters, but I think race can trump that in some areas, because you may have an individual who may be a poor white guy from Appalachia, right? He may be impoverished and may look that way, but if you take that individual, clean him up, give him a nice shave, put on a certain tie, he may be able to transcend barriers of social class or his perceived social class, just by the way he speaks. But with racism, that's not something that you can readily transcend based upon your phenotype. And so those things are all intertwined, and so we have to combat them, just as those individual, but collective forces that hold people down.
Maya Gwynn
Definitely. How do you feel economic instability such as housing insecurity, wage gaps and lack of generational wealth shape educational outcomes for black and marginalized students, and what does a truly honest approach to educational justice require when schools often are seeing kids as just a number and are asked to close achievement gaps without addressing the conditions that the kids are living in, which is the intersectionality of what you were talking about?
Dr. Tayari Kuanda
Yeah, absolutely, when students are brought up in generational poverty, oftentimes we see education as a remedy to that. I know for myself included, growing up, we were so focused on trying to survive every day, folks weren't thinking about a 401 (k). I was speaking about being a professor of education. This is a noble profession. Education is a noble profession. You have in front of you a captive audience for six to seven hours a day, every day, and so what you say to them and what you put out to them, you are responsible for. You have to teach the students on an individual basis. We have this mindset that, you know, we treat them all the same. They can't work. I know, for me in high school, my day was like planning a military battle because there was a lot of gang violence. So my day was spent navigating which busses I could take to school, just so I could get to school and not be killed and then come home and in one piece, because so many people were dying. So we have to recognize what's happening, what's true in our communities, not be afraid to talk about it. Like when I taught history for the 20 years, I always told students, parents, administrators, that in my history class, I'm not going to sugar coat. We're going to talk about all the low down terrible things in history, not to embarrass or belittle anybody, but just to understand that this is what's true. This is what's happening. And so now our students have an opportunity to understand themselves because they find themselves in these situations, not knowing, why do certain groups not get along, or why can't we do these things? Or why is ICE in my city? And what are these power dynamics? But again, when they're equipped with enough information, then they can understand where they are and understand how to navigate it.
Maya Gwynn
Yeah, we're gonna move to our rapid fire portion. I'm excited to hear your answers. If your work had a theme song, what would it be?
Dr. Tayari Kuanda
"I Go to Work" Kool Moe Dee.
Maya Gwynn
I love that song. And if you have to teach a master class or give a TED Talk on a random skill you have besides the work that you already do, what would it be?
Dr. Tayari Kuanda
This is not a skill. I would teach a master class on resilience, I guess.
Maya Gwynn
That's a skill. Yeah, that's a good one. What's your favorite IE restaurant or landmark that reminds you of the Inland Empire?
Dr. Tayari Kuanda
Oh, my goodness, my favorite one right now is Oak and Ember. It's in Ontario. I believe it's a barbecue type place, smoked barbecue, nice food, nice atmosphere. I think I'm gonna go after this show.
Maya Gwynn
Oh, nice. That sounds amazing. And how can people keep up with you and support the amazing work you're doing?
Dr. Tayari Kuanda
If you're interested in the programs or want to support the work that we're doing to eradicate racism within our schools and society, then that would be through S.C.O.R.E. And they can email me at info@score 501c3.org. In terms of filmmaking and television, On Watch TV is a channel that I own and operate, film and media production company, and we have channels on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Vida TV. And so they can email me at info@onwatch tv.net.
Maya Gwynn
And what about your podcast?
Dr. Tayari Kuanda
Oh my podcast, Let's Chew the Gum. It streams on all the major podcast platforms. Letschewthegum@gmail.com.
Maya Gwynn
Awesome. Thank you so much for being here. This was a great conversation.
Maya Gwynn
Of course. Dr. Tayari Kuanda is Founder and President of S.C.O.R.E and CEO of On Watch TV, find this segment and others at kvcrnews.org/bpie. Support for the segment comes from the Black Equity Fund at IECF, advancing racial equity and supporting long term investments in Black led organizations in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Join us again next week for Black Perspectives IE. For KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn. Thank you.
Dr. Tayari Kuanda
Thank you. I appreciate it. It was fun.
