The fourth episode under the theme “Climate Change + COVID-19 + Communities of Color

Lezli and Zuri begin the conversation with the two of them exploring how the pandemic will impact Zuri’s senior year as well as Zuri’s concerns about the freshman and sophomore classes and their connection to Spelman. They share information on how HBCUs have developed the Black middle class and explore how the pandemic may possibly impact the future of the Black middle class. They discuss Spelman’s 40 million dollar gift from Netflix Co-Founder Reed Hastings and his Wife, Patty Quillin and the backlash from some of the alumni and current students of other HBCUs. They are later joined by Zuri’s classmate, Chantia Murphy ‘21. Chantia is an English Major with a 3.9 GPA, first generation American and college student with aspirations of working for a media outlet that focuses on telling Black stories. Chantia shares the financial impact of COVID-19 on her family and why she may not be able to return to Spelman for her senior year.

The third episode under the theme “Climate Change + COVID-19 + Communities of Color” Lezli is joined by Andre M. Perry, a Metropolitan Policy Fellow at the Brookings Institution and two business owners/restaurateurs; James Beard Award winning chef; Nina Compton and award-winning marketer turned restaurant owner Karl Franz Williams. Karl and Nina share their battles with financial hardship during the global crisis.. Perry is the author of the recently published book, Know Your Price Valuing Black Lives and Property in America's Black Cities; Nina, is owner of Compère Lapin and Bywater American Bistro in New Orleans; and Karl Franz Williams is owner of 67 Orange Street, in Harlem as well as the Anchor Spa in New Haven, Connecticut. The conversation between these four tackles how the legacy of systemic racism (eg red lining, discriminatory lending practices) has made Black businesses more susceptible to failure in comparison to their White counterparts both prior to the crisis and amidst the crisis. Lezli and her guests discuss data about the uneven distribution of funding from government recovery efforts (eg CARES Act) and why the legacy of discriminatory lending practices contributes to the uneven distribution of recovery dollars. Andre shares solutions and they wrestle with the troubling question of what America’s cultural landscape may look like if Black owned restaurants do not prevail.

The second episode under the theme “Climate Change + COVID-19 + Communities of Color

Lezli and Zuri are joined by two Environmental Studies Majors at Howard University; Autumn McNeill ‘20 and Danurius “Danny” Williams ‘21. The conversation between the four examines some of the HBCU specificways in which Autumn’s senior year was impacted. How Autumn and Danny’s family experience with asthma and Hurricane Katrina respectively inspired them to double-major in environmental studies, how communities of color are impacted by climate change, and what their peers’ call to action should be this election season.

Lezli is joined by Jim Robbins, Montana based free-lance journalist for the New York Times, covering climate change and the environment, as well as Mary I. Williams, assistant director of community and student engagement at the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice in New Orleans, LA . The conversation between the three examines how climate change influenced an environmental shift where the coronavirus could not only survive, but thrive. Lezli also examines the cross section of environmental, economic, and social-cultural factors that contribute to how communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, and how Black and Brown communities have been historically impacted by climate change over time and unequally protected during recovery efforts.