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Episode 4 -April 2026 | NAACP Akron Power & Community Podcast

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In this episode of Power & Community, Dr. Lathardus Goggins II and Willie B break down the key takeaways from the NAACP Akron April General Meeting—where community, policy, and purpose intersect.

The discussion opens with with a discussion on Afrofuturism and a reminder of the importance of upcoming events like the Scholarship Luncheon and Freedom Fund Dinner.

A significant portion of the meeting focused on youth mental health, particularly the rising rates of suicide among Black youth. This episode confronts that reality directly, emphasizing awareness, access to support, and the urgency of removing stigma. If you or someone you know needs help, dial 988 for immediate support (* for additional information).

The episode also highlights the impact of ACT-SO and the critical role the Akron community plays in meaningfully supporting young people.

Listeners will also hear updates from key committees.

A discussion on voter readiness outlining recent changes that could affect ballot access.

In education, the NAACP Akron policy brief on safety and nurturing continues to gain traction, influencing district-level conversations around social emotional learning, restorative practices, and culturally responsive approaches. The episode also reflects on recent public discussions regarding the future of public education in Akron.

Finally, the episode sets the stage for a deeper conversation on environmental racism and its direct impact on Black communities—connecting local realities to broader national patterns.

Resources Mentioned:

* Suicide Prevention Resources – Akron & Summit County, Ohio

If you or someone you know needs support, help is available:

  • Call or Text 988 – Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (24/7, free, confidential) 
  • Summit County Crisis Line: 330-434-9144 (24/7 local support) 
  • ADM Crisis Center (Akron): 10 Penfield Ave – walk-in services available 
  • Portage Path Emergency Services: 330-762-6110 
  • Crisis Text Line: Text 4HOPE or START to 741741 
  • For youth: Akron Children’s PIRC – 330-543-7472 
  • In immediate danger: Call 911 and request a Crisis Intervention Team officer 

Ongoing support is available through NAMI Summit County and the Summit County Suicide Prevention Coalition. Also, consider the following culturally competent and responsive mental health resources:

Mental Health First Aid | https://www.loveakron.org/mhfa

Seven P Healthcare Services | https://sevenphealthcare.com/our-services/

Minority Behavioral Health Group | https://mbhg.org

NAACP Akron Power & Community Podcast is available now wherever you get your podcasts or visit - https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/2500020/episodes.

NAACP Akron website - www.NAACPAkron.org

SPEAKER_02

Welcome to the NAACP Akron Power and Community Podcast, where we believe knowledge is power, and organized power makes change happen. I'm your co-host, Dr. Lothardus Scoggins II.

SPEAKER_01

And I'm Willie B.

SPEAKER_02

And we are here once again to summarize the April general meeting, but we have a special guest.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, indeed. We have an environmental justice champion, the national community organizer, Beth building the building. So please give it up for everybody. Thank you, thank you. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, thanks for coming on. Okay. Beth is a beast at uh here doing this work. And uh we're looking forward to doing this deep dive with you about um the environmental justice work that you're doing. But as we do, uh we start off with a black history uh moment. And this month, what was shared was the importance of youth council, particularly in this idea that over the last few months I've been hearing more and more about Afro futurism. Right? This is this notion of the radical notion, really, in so many ways, that black folks will exist in the future. Right? So uh say more. Yeah, it's pretty interesting. Is uh Octavia Butler is a science fiction writer who was particularly known and got a lot of uh accolades and challenges, frankly, of imagining a future in which black folks existed uh and not in so many ways on their own terms, not as a response or in some support of uh mainstream culture, if you will, or what is often standardized. One of the things I mentioned at the meeting was for those of us who are old enough to remember uh Richard Pryor, uh, and uh way back when there was a movie called Logan's Run, and he did this whole analysis or or skit or or set, I guess, on Logan's Run. He said, the first thing is like, you know, there's no black people in it. He's like, so where are the black folks in the future? And so many of the sci-fi stuff that came through had no place for black folks, or they were uh always a subject to, or uh in so many ways fulfilled the typical trope of being the savage, but not on their own terms, right? Not black folks being in the future, being their excellent selves in the future, independent of any other culture, or particularly not serving the interest or to move the story along for uh white folks. And so this notion of Afrofuturism was this was on my mind. And so, but then in terms of looking at black history uh moments, particularly in ACP, our youth councils. It is our youth councils that serve as a way of projecting ourselves into the future through their leadership into creating the world that we want to occupy someday. Um the importance of ensuring that knowing that the work that we do, um, the struggle that we have, uh, this this commitment, um, or to use the uh, oh, what's that brother's name? I forgot his name, but uh eyes on the prize, in which we are moving towards something, but it may be something that we may not occupy. But our children will, our children's children will, our future generations that are not yet born. But how do we get there? We get there doing the struggle, but we we really get there by making sure that our young people are a part of that process, their voices heard, because they're the people that are far more likely to occupy what comes next than us, right? And so we shared that moment, we talked about that, and and that was uh our black history moment for April.

SPEAKER_01

Really good.

SPEAKER_00

Octavia Butler also uh has this juxtaposition in her writing that I find in a lot of black futurism because this is my jam. Okay, that's the kind of books I read. Um and she has this really great juxtaposition where it's both dystopian and utopian at the same time, um, to really show that, you know, we make heaven and hell here on earth ourselves. Um and she's got some really great concepts, um particularly in uh uh the the sower series um where she's talking about earth seed and really helping people to um from the bottom up build the utopia that they want in what you know now very much gets called in like a kind of permaculture lens of of really living off the land. Um that's really beautiful and a great topic for Earth Month.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh when you're saying that because while the future arguably is inevitable, the utopia or dystopian is really a choice. Uh and and both are possible. Neither one of them are inevitable, but the choices that you make now and even then will determine which one you'll live in, right? Right. And so that's yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh which gets into a whole lot of other stuff too, right? And so we yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You got my mind spinning now. Well, that's a beautiful thing. And and and just one more thing uh remiss remembering. Uh we also talked about um the example of Star Trek and uh Huru, uh uh Nicole Nichols. Her her what she represented, right? And I think there's a story that talks about after the first season, she was considering uh leaving Star Trek. And Martin Luther King came to her and were like, oh, you cannot go. Oh because it was one of, again, one of the very few shows that shown black folk in the future existing, contributing, and she wasn't just you know serving the interests of, she was a part of the staff, she was on the bridge, he was communications officer, you know, that kind of thing. And he was like, you can't, because the term didn't exist then, but he was thinking about what she inspired for this generation and those coming. You're like, you can't go. Right. You can't go, right? And and that, but the idea of just projecting ourselves into the future being so radical, right? Something something as mundane as daring to see yourself tomorrow. And yeah, so now you got my head spinning again, but when you talk to young people, and particularly some of the young boys, their idea is, you know, I'm I'm not, you know, I'm not gonna live past 21. And so you try and talk to me about stuff that I'm doing these days, you know, bruh, I gotta do for today, da da da. And I'm like, nah, bruh, just think about yourself in the future. Imagine yourself in the future. No, no, I gotta, I'm like, nah, bro. Talk to your future self. And that idea of projecting yourself into the future is powerful in terms of okay, maybe I ought to make this better decision since I'm gonna have to deal with it. Right? And so, but anyway, we get went down uh uh a rabbit hole here, but but we appreciate it. And we're gonna we're gonna keep this thing moving.

SPEAKER_01

Yes indeed.

SPEAKER_02

Uh and so at the general meeting we started off um with prayer as we normally do. On April 16th, our general meeting, we also started with um Chris Faulkner, who's who led a discussion, share some resources around suicide. And I guess it was appropriate now to say that we are gonna have a discussion, we're gonna share some information about suicide. And if you yourself or someone you know would like support around this, we encourage you to call 988. Um there's resources there. And we'll have some, we'll just put some of the links of the things that we shared and we talk about in terms of resources in the description. Chris came in and uh shared some information. He does the work uh working with some young people and different things, and it was sobering to say the least.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, when he uh was talking about how we as a community can help with not only just suicide prevention but youth mental health. He he discussed the the alarming rates at which we're seeing a lot of that rise. I mean, anxiety and depression are leading causes driving youth towards those types of thoughts. And depression affects brain regions responsible for emotion and memory worsening without treatment. And oftentimes in community, we don't get the treatment that we need to aid us in moving forward and not only just helping with our state of mental health, but helping how we can perform and exist within the world. African American youth suicide rates between the ages of 10 and 12 have doubled. Wow. Have doubled compared to their white peers. And as well as that information, we heard that suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 15 to 24, which surpasses the next nine following causes combined.

SPEAKER_02

Wow, wow, wow.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so that whole piece and and and we know in particular that males tend to be uh they make up the majority of the folks that are are attempting and and and committing suicide. Uh there are a number of factors that that come into that, right? So getting the help that you need, right? And and in our communities, oftentimes, the idea of seeing a therapist or having the conversation is stigmatized to some degree.

SPEAKER_01

However, even in recent years, we're we're seeing really the stigma being lifted, uh pertaining to seeing seeking therapy, seeking some type of help. However, the barriers to entry are still high. Yeah, yeah. Because if think about it, it if your insurance doesn't necessarily allow it from your job, in what ways can you seek what that help looks like for a child? Right, right, right. At least from a professional standpoint. Of course, in many ways, we can surround each other as community and be a support system. But the flip side of that is the barriers to entry as it pertains to being able to have consistent professional help are still fairly high.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's the thing that's a that's that's a whole concept there, right? That that consistent help, that if you're on a plan or you have a resource that you can speak to a person every once in a while, and rarely it's the same person.

SPEAKER_01

It ain't it ain't enough.

SPEAKER_02

It's not the same. It's just not the same.

SPEAKER_00

And also when you're dealing with people that are suffering from suicidal ideation, like it's really important for folks to have um elders that have experienced that themselves that they can speak to. And with such an uptick in just this current generation, um, it might be harder to have those elders and to find them.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh and there's and there's and there's also the the notion that suicide ideation is contagious in many ways, right? That if you are someone touched by a recent suicide, the I want to say likelihood, but but but it it it increases the risk factor. Um and it can be a bit overwhelming in terms of how to how to support um and all those kinds of things. But that is why having the conversation is important, knowing what resources are available is important, uh and and also knowing you're not alone in this. Right? You're not alone.

SPEAKER_00

These poor kids, I mean, they are living through crazy, crazy times. It's no wonder there's an uptick, you know. I mean, that is a direct reflection on the world that we live in right now.

SPEAKER_02

It definitely is a world. As some of that, children are never the cause, they're always the symptom.

SPEAKER_04

Right.

SPEAKER_02

Right? Uh that where do you get an opportunity to test who you are, right? And so it one is one is it's it's it is a part of human development. It's nothing particularly unique in our community. It is it is normal human behavior around that teenage year to start questioning and testing who you are, you know, and and solidify your identity, those kinds of things. But if you if a if if what you are looking at is this curated best circumstance social media post, I didn't I didn't post what I looked like when I first woke up, I'm gonna post the the freshly curated, properly placed, make sure I got the right lighting, angle picture of me. And then present it as if somehow or another, this is my everyday. And if you're looking and questioning who you are, and you're like, my everyday is not like that. That speaks to why we need to make sure that we're checking in with our young people, being real with them, let them know, yeah, that looks cute, but I promise you, that's just not the, you know, yeah, that's not that thing. Uh like those uh those trick shots things that they do and they pop up. Like that's like the 200th one they did. Right. And that was just the one they did, and you're upset because you can't recreate it after 20 times, or you know, that kind of thing. That's not real. They didn't do that just once.

SPEAKER_00

They just, you know, and and and now with the advancement of AI, where you know, and you can't even tell the difference between what's real life and what's AI on social media anymore.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so that's all the more we gotta have those conversations. Like I said, with those, with the elders, be vulnerable, ask the question, check in, um let them see and experience you authentically where you're making mistakes, where you have to apologize, where you showing your growth, uh so they can understand this is a part of the process. This isn't, this isn't, you know, you don't need a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Right? Uh and and you know, this too will pass, you know, kind of a thing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and you so I uh have fought SI my whole life. My brother has fought SI his whole life. Um so if you are an NACP member and you need an elder that, you know, might look a little different, but um is willing to talk with your youth, um, I'm always here. But also, um, you know, the reality is that you learn to quiet those voices and that self-talk and that negative self-talk that leads to actually seeking harm, right? And that's that's the biggest thing around SI is really getting your mental health to a place where you know when it starts acting up what it is, and you don't let it consume everything about you.

SPEAKER_01

And I think being proactive around uh making sure that youth and adults alike are in in in our particular circles and our community are getting as much human interaction as possible. Yeah, yeah. Uh oftentimes I think the lack of human interaction um and you know, nudging somebody like, hey, come on, come on with a walk, you know, go on a walk with me, or you know, let's talk, let's meet up, let's uh you want to you want to join this running club with me or be a part of this with me. A lot of times you'll you'll see a little bit of like, no, I don't know, but so many times on the flip side, people say, I'm really happy that you asked me to come along, girl. I'm glad that you I was able to have this conversation with you because oftentimes the huge burden is the next step forward. Right. And being able to help those around you in community take the next steps towards being in community, having more human interaction as much as possible will aid in really being able to decipher what is this reality that they may experience digitally and what is the reality that we experience in community.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, yeah, yeah. And like I said, we we we are encouraging you to um follow up on the resources that we'll have in the description. There is a lot of resources available. Have the conversation, ask the question. I promise you, avoiding the conversation, not having, not asking, checking in doesn't help. Um and if you want additional resources, of course, as we started with, there's 988.

SPEAKER_01

There's 741741 as well. 74171 mental uh help crisis.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Uh and but the most important thing, be authentic, have a real conversation, unplug. Uh particularly as we're even though we're we're in a bit of a cold spell right now, but it's gonna be 80 degrees, what, two days from now. Get outside, soak up some sun, uh, get that vitamin D developed, uh, get that dopamine hit with walking and sp and and and and being outside. Um and and to be grateful. Find every day, find at least four, five things just to say thank. I'm I'm grateful for this, right?

SPEAKER_01

Uh write it down too so you can look at it later. Yeah, that's that's another thing.

SPEAKER_02

But we have to be intentional with our mental health. We have to be intentional with having the conversation. We have to remove any of the the stigmas of somehow another by saying, look, I need a little help here. Or sometimes it's not even waiting for the crisis, it's just getting a top-off. It's just it's just checking in. It's just good for us to you know check in with one another and and and support our resources, um, have conversations with our various elected officials, uh pay attention to budgets. Are they nurturing and mental health friendly? Right? Uh do they do they help create the future that we want to to live in? Uh and and we're gonna circle this back around because so much of the different things that we end up talking about is All supportive. I remember the uh jump, I'm not gonna jump ahead. So, but so much of the things that that the other things that we're gonna be talking about impact mental health and and the nurturing community in which we live in. So, but that was that was the first. Then we moved into some of the basic uh business. Uh our president Judy Hill did a um did the her presidential report and talked about a lot of the great things that we're we're doing and some of the impact that we're having uh even um across the city and in the state and and and the nation. Uh the treasurer's report happened, and again, we are uh financially stable and and positioned to do the work. Uh our president talked about how each of our uh committees has resources to do the work, and that's very helpful. And and take a little minute to plug here. We have the uh scholarship luncheon coming up on May 31st. And those type of events, the particular the scholarship luncheon and the Freedom Um dinner, are our primary uh fundraising activities that supports this work. Uh, we have people who provide donations throughout the year. We're very thankful for that. It allows the work to be done, and uh you hear me say it often uh each month we get a report, and each month we can see that uh our money is well stewarded, and particularly with the transparency. We had a report from the uh AXO. Um so this our general meeting happened on April 16th. AXO happened on April 18th, that was a Saturday. We are uh recording this on April 20th. So it's kind of hard to since it's so fresh, it's kind of hard to talk about it in the future than knowing the things that happened. But uh what was shared was the the competition was coming up. Uh, we had a number of uh young people that were participating. And what I've can what I know uh we've heard since then that uh the competition went well, and we had uh gold medal, excellent folks that will will uh take to the uh convention. Um and we'll celebrate the AXO participants at the scholarship luncheon once again on May 31st. And if you haven't got your tickets, get your tickets.

SPEAKER_01

I was about to say what we got next, Dr. Gargins.

SPEAKER_02

After that, we had the uh I believe it was the veteran committee. The veteran committee uh continues to do the work connecting veterans to earned services and support systems, right? We we we have to remember our veterans, a lot of the services that that are offered to our veterans, these are not just good things to do. These are things that they've earned, and and we continue to do that work. Um we continue to do that work. The uh criminal justice committee provided an update on the police review board.

SPEAKER_01

Um as well as that uh surveillance. Yeah, surveillance that we had that we had that digital workshop on April 4th. It was called the Digital Badge, yeah. And it uh it was talking about, and Beth, please hop in if you you have a little bit more insight uh on this uh in particular, but like it highlighted excessive use of surveillance tech like the flock cameras and the need for policy oversight, as well as police de-escalation training and trauma-informed police and the remaining critical, unsolved or unresolved issues. The polit uh the citizen police oversight board's annual report and a public meeting on May 13th uh is coming up to provide transparency opportunities.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, yes, yes. So, yeah, uh thank you for reminding me of that. That digital badge, that was really interesting.

SPEAKER_00

Uh there uh the they're using plantier um surveillance.

SPEAKER_02

Now you you you brought that up. So what's what uh what is Plantier? What is that?

SPEAKER_00

Plantier is one of the biggest funders of the Donald Trump campaign. Um they are working with ICE and Israel uh very actively. Um the way that Israel was able to do the Bieber bombing was because of Plantier's technology.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Um and Plantier uh is providing the technology for ICE off there, they have like um uh on their like body cameras, they are surveillancing your face, and if your face shows up as somebody that's posted anti-ICE things, then they'll just arrest you.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. And the city has a contract with them there so but so so there's a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00

So there there's a lot of investigating right now going on um that I don't have all of the details and information about, but I do know that there's a lot of people that are actively investigating um Akron Police Department's uh um contracts around surveillance, and there's many of them.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so let's be clear uh for clarity. Are you saying that Akron has a contract with the There's an investigation? So it's alleged or is it is it's wondered if Akron has a a contract with Polarity? Plantier. Plantier. Yeah. Plantier. So okay, so that's one of the things that we want to know if that is the case. Okay, okay, gotcha.

SPEAKER_00

And Plantier also um like takes a lot of different startups uh like their technology and then kind of like buys them out, right? In order to take over those. Um and then just to add more conspiracy to all of it, the um the one of the companies that really um helps fund a lot of uh that type of technology is Hatco, uh huh, who just bought Suma.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. All right, all right.

SPEAKER_00

So yeah, so there's still a lot of investigation going on to find out who is who actually has contracts, where, and how is that being used on Akron's people? But it is definitely an active thing that people are investigating and figuring out right now. And um uh there's a lot of local folks that are having that conversation. It's great to that NACP is on the forefront of that conversation as well.

SPEAKER_02

Good, good. We want to know what is true, right? Not speculated, though the speculation gives you the reason to do the research so we can figure out what is true, right?

SPEAKER_00

And everything starts with research.

SPEAKER_02

Everything, hey, a critical thinking society is a beautiful thing. Uh and so, but with the digital badge, uh we had the the police chief to join the conversation uh and and provide us some input. Uh so if we have another, please. Uh well when we have another, we'll we'll definitely post it and we'll encourage you to uh uh follow up. Uh along with that, um you said May 13th, there's the uh uh opportunity to review and discuss uh the the Citizen Review Board along with the um uh the auditor will be releasing a report uh of a set of recommendations and some other things as happened. I know that the use of force report has been completed, I believe, and is uh going to being reviewed by folks that at some point will be uh released to the public. So we encourage you again to do that. And when that uh report is available to the public, we'll definitely have a link or a resource um available on our Facebook and uh webpage. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, indeed.

SPEAKER_02

Uh it is so it is so much going on. Um also what what came up was voter rights, the voting rights and voter registration and being ready to take the vote. It was, we had a fairly detailed discussion on voters being ready, right? So there's there's been a number of policy changes, uh interpretation changes, laws is being passed, uh and and and downright strategic actions about voting to be kind or try to be somewhat neutral. It is strongly suggested that you check your voter information. Um again, we'll have a link in our description. But uh through Summit County or the state, there is an opportunity for you to look at your voter registration, look at your voter information, what is on the what is on the rolls. First, make sure that you're on the roll, right? There's been a purge and there's been some other stuff last year, and if you hadn't voted in two consecutive elections, your name could have been removed. There's that. But also now with some of the interpretations and statutes, if your information does not exactly match what is on your state voter information, you can be potentially denied, or at least um your ballot made a provisional ballot that has to be otherwise scrutinized and stuffing things and things and stuff.

SPEAKER_01

And let's keep it a bug. Um a lot of us are not early voting like we should. And we wait until election day. And I always have been of the thought if another, for lack of a better phrase, freedom is accessible, is accessible to you, take advantage of that. Right, right. Right? Because now you're not waiting till election day, you show up to wherever your specific precinct is, and now you're caught off guard. Head down to the Board of Elections and vote early.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_01

Head down to the Board of Elections and vote early. Cast your ballot now. So when election day comes around, we don't have a lot of this uproar. Wouldn't it be great if on election day we all already voted and we could just sit back, enjoy the election parties and the vibes, knowing that we not only did our due due diligence, but we've also started to continue to create a culture where we're not waiting to the last second or the last minute, the last hour to exercise what our rights are. Again, let's continue to protect our rights by using what is accessible to us so we can keep moving forward. And realistically, on election day, that may be the time to help a lot of our elders get out and vote who couldn't have gotten out earlier, or maybe election week leading up. That's when we're doing a lot of a lot more of that work which is happening within the communities to help those who meet who may not have the means that we have to be able to vote in an equitable manner, to actually do that and actually be a part of what that help looks like.

SPEAKER_02

And ask your people, if you have not yet voted, let's get you going, right? So you have the time to do that work. But yes, this time particularly, and if you're female, because some of the the statutes talk about what has to well what should be on the roll should be exactly what your birth certificate states.

SPEAKER_01

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02

Which means if you are living under a you or you you have accepted, I guess is a good way to say it, um, a married name, and your birth certificate is your obviously your maiden name, uh, that can that can cause a problem. Um that let alone with any other identity changes that as an adult you've accepted and and and realized and acted with what uh uh uh choices that you have. And if somehow or another challenge and you gotta pull out your birth certificate, well one, you gotta get your birth certificate. Uh and and and it may not match up, right? And and having that discussion. And there's some forms and there's a process and there's some things that you can do, but the what we do know, the more barriers it is, the less likely people to go through all the barriers. And if you're waiting till election day, by the time you can actually get the information that you might need to challenge to do to this and that, it may put you outside of the time of your your ballot being uh uh valid. Then there's something as simple as if I am Jane L Doe, but on my license, it just simply says Jane Doe. Right? Or I talk about my son, my son has two middle names. Most of his IDs just have his first name and last name. Right? And so if somewhere in all the official stuff, it shows up, well, he got his first name, first initial, last name, but on something else I see his first name, second, well, first name, middle name, second middle name, last name. Now, common sense says, you know, this is all the same people, but somebody can be particularly in the, you know, feeling themselves and say, nah, you can't vote, or you got to take this provisional and we'll check it out later, and all that kind of stuff, right?

SPEAKER_00

So the Safe America Act has not passed fully yet.

SPEAKER_02

Right, but there are different components, particularly here in Ohio, that has been adopted.

SPEAKER_00

Right. Um, so the bill passed the U.S. House in February 11th of this year and still has yet to pass the Senate, needs 60 votes to pass the Senate. So if you would not like to see these provisions around voting go, please call our senators and say vote against this.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. Definitely do that. Yes, yes, yes. I'm gonna put a butt on it, but I don't want to put a butt on it. And make sure that your stuff go check out your information. Yes. County, uh, state, make sure. There's also you talked about uh showing up at your precinct. Certain people have their precincts been moved. You show up one place, and your name is on the roster someplace else, uh depending upon when you showed up, you know that kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, and so that in Ohio did pass that, they don't have to tell you that they moved your precinct.

SPEAKER_02

All the more reason? Go find out. All the more reason. Just go down to the election board early. It don't matter where your precinct was, you're on the road. Um but all this is to say we are in a time, we're in a place where this stuff is happening. We cannot just assume the way that it's always been is how it is now. You can't always assume, well, you know, I go down and oh, you know, Shirley knows me. That may not be good enough uh uh this time around. Uh and and you know, there was a time you showed up with sure you have a photo ID. Right. As I was about to say, if you show up with your your your utility bill, uh that's not, you know, it has to be a photo ID. And it has to be a certain kind of photo ID. It was interesting. College IDs tend not to work, uh, but if you have a a gun license, that will work. Um, you know, so there's those kind of things. All that to say, all that to say, check your voter information. You can check it with this the county, you can check it with the state. Make sure that the information there exactly matches the information that you have, and if there's any discrepancy, get it worked out now. Don't wait for election day. Right? Uh and and we want uh to we want our vote to count.

SPEAKER_00

We want to show up May 5. May 50 to 730.

SPEAKER_02

But or yes, and early voting is open now. Right? Yes, so I see and bring your friend, talk to your people. Uh make sure your grandma's got a right. Make sure your grandma got a right, make sure your cousin knows that there's an election happening. Uh and let's make sure your your niece or your second cousin, by way of marriage, knows that their vote matters. Right? So we talked about that. We had a lengthy discussion about that. And then uh just real quick, we're gonna talk about the education committee. Uh we had uh an update on the safety and nurturing policy brief that uh we sent to the Akron Public School Board and now has been sent to the mayor's office. We had conversations with the superintendent and the assistant superintendent and the director of community engagement. And over the these last few months, they're really beginning to adopt and uh respond to our policy. It is is is it was very interesting. Uh I was invited to the committee meeting, uh, community community meetings day, I guess you can call it, on April 6th. The Akron 1 plan that they're working on. It's a plan that is, you know, this the school board or the district has to submit various plans to various entities. And so what they want to do is consolidate everything into one plan that reflects the work of the district. And in doing this one plan, they also are going to be rewriting the equity policy. And so in the instructional and student success committee, they shared a number of things that was uh addressing uh our policy brief, but also, of course, on their own, uh what they're recognizing as good practice, right? So including uh effective social emotional learning uh strategies and providing training for teachers to learn, uh restorative approaches, trauma-informed uh practices, and cultural responsive um instruction are some key things that they're um that they're focusing on and uh that uh and in particular address some of the the the pillars of our policy briefing. So it was good to hear uh them uh discuss these things and and uh was was thankful that they uh also acknowledged the NACP and the work that we did to uh uh support what their intentions were. And just real quick, there was there's also a group now who there's a group students of equity and excellence. And they're at different the different schools. They did some research talking to their peers, and one of their findings, or the the the bookl uh group, uh, and and you know, I mean, shout out to the 1040 and the Griffin Nation. Um but the bookle group set of recommendations based on their findings was um one, students are looking for meaningful relationships with the adults, particularly teachers. They want teachers that actually care enough to ask about their well-being and have training and competence to be able to one hold the conversation, but two uh connect them with resources and as as they lead, right? It gets back to some of the stuff we talked about. Earlier. That group from Bookto was was the only one that presented at the that meeting, but the the following day, and I hadn't and I had some other conflicts. I'm looking to get the record the rest of the reports that the C groups did. They had a special uh presentation they did at the board on April 7th. Um so so that we talked about that. And lastly, well not lastly, but second to last before we get to you, Beth, uh the the housing committee talked about its uh partnership with Fair Housing and uh uh and particularly focusing on addressing the eviction rates uh and and housing uh instability. Uh it was shared that Akron out of the all the cities in the United States, Akron was 24, if I remember correctly, uh in uh eviction rates. Um and so uh our housing And that was before the pandemic. That was that is the 24, I think, is recent.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Uh and there was a and there was a eviction crisis before the pandemic. Correct. And I believe at one point Northeast Ohio between Cleveland and Akron was somewhere at the top, uh top five, top two something of rates in the United States. It was it was it was horrid. All right, and then the pandemic, which uh slowed it down quite a bit. If I remember correctly, there was some some uh oh what do you call those things? Emergency housing funding and the the the not a furlough, when you call it when you when you suspended well it was moratorium uh that was placed. Uh because we can't have people sick and out, you know, kind of a thing. But that was lifted, I want to say somewhere around 2003. Um the last part of the the the previous administration was one of the things that they did was lift that moratorium. And then it it is it is picked right back up. 22, okay, my okay, okay. All right. Uh it was just but I but I all that to say that it is the crisis that was is the crisis that is right now. Right.

SPEAKER_00

And and and so we're partnering with the less money for housing um and eviction issues now than we did before the pandemic.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then we had our uh environmental committee report on environmental racism, uh the tour that took place uh in a number of cities ending here at Akron. And so, Beth, if you could tell us, this is this is where we're doing our deep dive. Uh it was it was it's it was a a long meeting, but it was impactful. There's this like a there's so many things going on. So, Beth, so so tell us what what's going on with with the environmental committee?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so um about a year ago, uh we were we had a direct site fight with um in a business called Altera Energy. And what they are the oldest uh pyro plastic pyrolysis plant in the country. And what that means is that they take plastics that can't be recycled in a traditional um like manufacturing recycle uh plant, and they take them, they remove metals and impurities, they chop them up, and then they put and then they heat them up. It's like I I think they said somewhere around 530 degrees Fahrenheit, that they heat them up. And what that does is it separates the polymer element from the all the other additives to plastic. So anything that you see in plastic, like a color, uh whether it's resistant to heat or the sun or water or it um has a transparency to it, all that stuff is additives. And that can be anywhere between that can be up to 1,500 different chemicals, most of which have not been tested against human health. And so you strip all of that off of the polymer. And what you're also stripping off the polymer is oxygen, because oxygen is part of a com of the compound that creates plastic. And so pyrolysis, what Altera says that they're doing is pyrolysis. Pyrolysis um has existed for many, many, many years, specifically in like creating medicine. And you're supposed to create an oxygen-free environment in order to have pure pyrolysis, um, so that you're not um combusting things. But when the the um element that you're work or the compound that you're working with contains oxygen, combustion is inherent, is going to happen. So when you when you rip all of those 1,500 chemicals, some of which are like benzene and vinyl chloride and dioxins and things that are really cancerous and scary, terrible things for human health, it goes with that oxygen and either gets washed away by water, washed away by water, and then burned into steam, or just burned and goes out of a smokestack. And then you're left with this polymer element that gets used to create what they call pie oil, pyrolysis oil. Now, this sludge then has to go through a refinery and it can only be used at about two or nine percent mixed with virgin fossil fuel. So there's no just then going and running an engine, your car engine, off of this pie oil because it's so dirty, and it then goes and gets burned. So what Altera is doing is burning all those additives, which is what's coming out of their smokestack, and then burn, and then they create a substance that then goes and gets burned. And that substance, that pie oil, has a one in one to a one in four cancer rate. And that's just their product. That's not even what is actually coming out of the smokestacks, right? So So I'm trying to try to do that. Yeah, it's there's a lot of science behind it, so please ask questions, yes.

SPEAKER_02

I'm not even asking about the science, I'm just trying to deal with the common sense of it. So then they claim that they're recycling. They're recycling by burning, and then the 1500-ish chemicals get released into the air. There's no scrubbing, there's no gotta clean it up some kind of way. Uh-uh. And then the dirty oil that they make, which is their product, gets added to is refined. It goes to a refinery.

SPEAKER_00

So it has to tr that that sludge has to travel to a refinery, uh-huh, get refined, and then get added to virgin oil. To be refined to be everything else? To in order to run mostly jet engines. Genites. Genesites. Okay. So then we're breathing it from the jet engine fuel.

SPEAKER_02

That sounds to me that's the least important part. It's all the stuff in between the 1500.

SPEAKER_00

And how many people are coming in contact with this one in one to one in four cancer rate sludge that they're making as they move it around the country. So this is what they're doing in East Akron? Is that East Akron? Okay. It is the longest-running plant in the country for this type of technology. Wow, wow, wow. So I got to go on a confidential tour, touring four different what's called advanced recycling plants. Um we walked through ExxonMobil's Baytown, Texas build out, which is the largest petrochemical build out in North America. Then we went to Easton in Tennessee. Um, Eastman in Tennessee, and they do a methanologist process. So they're not heating it up via um heat and energy, right? Um they're heating it up via chemicals.

SPEAKER_02

Chemical reaction stuff.

SPEAKER_00

And because they're such a huge pet b they're the largest chemical build-out in in Amer in sorry, in the United States, and they're able to kind of keep it in the tube a little bit more, but they are honest about that they create some uh fuel that they use for their plant off of that. And they said what they do use for energy for their plant, they don't consider to be recycling. They don't, they don't count that as recycling, which is Altera's entire business plan. Um and then we went to Pure Cycle in Irontown, Ohio, which is right on the border of West Virginia, and they do a dissolvent process, so all of those chemical additives end up in the water. And it's all and then we came to Akron and we did we did a community tour, a community toxins tour of East Akron, not even of the whole city, just East Akron, and it was still like two hours long. Um talking about what's called accumulative impact, which is when you stack polluters on top of polluters on top of polluters, then you have major source pollution type health effects while you might consider all of them minor source pollutions.

SPEAKER_02

Wow. Two quick questions. All these different sites that you went to, are these different country different companies? Or is it all Okay. So it's not all Altera?

SPEAKER_00

No. Altera is just out of acronym. They tried to start a plant in Pennsylvania, and we worked closely with residents there in Sugarloaf to help them deny their ability to start their second plant. Okay. Um, and one of the things important to know about it being a very acron-grown problem is that they're experimenting in this facility. And so there's all sorts of weird chemicals coming out of their smokestacks that there is no regulation for that we are affected that is affecting our health and well-being. Now, they're on Waterloo, right before you get on the highway by Arlington. Um, and in between them and the plate, the petrochemical plant SMB that caught on fire in September of 2024 is the rosemary.

SPEAKER_02

The apartments. The apartments, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

The rosemary, um uh Chesapeake, and why am I forgetting the with an E. Freedom Block has a um anyway, so so all those row houses right there. Also, mind you, East Akron is home to the largest concentration of row houses in the city. Right. And they're all kind of on that end of East Akron, right? It's like right by all that industry.

SPEAKER_02

I was interested, because you on on another podcast, uh, our first one, the way we did a series of the the pillars for uh activism for the NACP, go check it out. But you were on there and you talked about the unique East Akron geography, made a unique uh situation that concentrated. You speaking on this real quick?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so um, you know, Akron is called Akron because it's very hilly. Um East Akron was designed as an industrial sacrifice zone, um, redlined to secure that um lower uh income and specifically African Americans were kind of stuck in that space. Um and it is uh not a coincidence that the majority of the petrochemical build-out of the city is right there. Um the way that the neighborhood is shaped geographically is kind of like a bowl. Okay, yeah. So the air kind of sticks around there a little bit longer than if it was um like on the side of a hill, like uh and also because in Akron the wind um typically blows northeast, the main hill of downtown kept places like Stan Hewitt from having to have the same pollution as the the southeast sides of Akron. Um so we we did a whole tour kind of exploring the history and showing the accumulative impact um that petrochemicals have had on our city, and then we sent people into Altera, and Altera was like a mini Baytown, Texas. Um I'm uh certainly not going to call what they do recycling, um, because there's no plastic to plastic production. Uh and I actually would call it a plastic burning oil plant for people to wrap their minds around what is actually happening there. Um, the Ohio EPA, we had submitted roughly 1,100 public comments against their draft permit a year ago. And the Ohio EPA still has yet, and it's April 20th of 2026, still has yet to respond to anybody any of those comments. Wow. In May of 2025, or sorry, May 25th of 2026, they are required by law to make a decision about Altera's um air pollution permit. And they are not letting other pollution permits around advanced recycling move forward until they come up with that, until they finalize what that is gonna look like. And um in the meantime, the federal EPA in February of this year of 2026 had 16 oil lobbyists come through their doors in two days and say, Hey, we need you to change Section 129 of the Clean Air Act so that we can have pyrolysis, plastic pyrolysis. And we can say that plastic can be infinitely created because it can be recycled through this advanced recycling technology and this type of pyrolysis, right?

SPEAKER_01

Advanced recycling, that's crazy, but okay.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm listening, I'm like, this doesn't sound like recycling, does it? It's not. And it sounds more marketing and what, shell game. Exactly. Uh what we used to call it back in the day, phlegm flam. Uh yeah. That's I'm gonna use that. Well, you know, it's it's it's it's the the you call it recycling. It's a scam. And you can actually make you you can feel good. You have recycling in your neighborhood. You have advanced recycling in your neighborhood. But we're gonna poison you. Wow. Uh has there been any study on on like the health impacts on in in East Akron by chance?

SPEAKER_00

So that's something that we're actively working on. Okay. So um so when the lobbyists went, let me we'll get there in just a moment.

SPEAKER_04

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00

So in February, when the lobbyists came through and said all of this, then they the EPA said that, okay, we're gonna um try and redact the rule in section 129 of the Clear Clean Air Act, which is about incineration, which is about waste incinerators and having waste incinerators in general considered to be major sources of pollution, so that you have to have the scrubbers and all the things that you were talking about earlier. Um they're saying, okay, well, we're gonna say we will allow for uh curtain incineration and mass incineration happening around woody debris in the situation of uh climate um emergencies, right? And then they went to say that, and then they put in one little paragraph saying advanced recycling is not incineration. Okay. And so they had to sneak it in there. Right? They had to sneak it in there. And so there was so much pushback about it that they had to extend their public comment. Or well, okay, so they they weren't gonna give us uh like Zoom public comment on the federal level. They got so much pushback that they said, okay, we'll do that, but it's only gonna be for three hours and it's gonna be the day after Easter Sunday. And then they were like, oh, never mind. It's gonna be for eight hours because we've gotten so much registration. And mind you, they decided to do that. Um like they released the rule about this the Friday before all of these national leaders go on this confidential tour of these advanced recycling plants. Okay, okay. And um so now we are asking for people in Akron to please go to the Big Love Networks. Um you can go to our website, you can go to our Facebook, you can go to our Instagram, Big Love Network. And you can find Big Love, Sylvia. The Big Love Network. Big Love Network, okay. Either on Instagram, Facebook, or our website, which is www.biglove network.us.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

And um there is a way, an action network link that you can just put your information in. It'll send a public comment to the federal EPA saying, please don't do this to our community.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

You can also write your own public comment. We are hosting a public comment um workshop this Wednesday on Earth Day at 5 or sorry, at 6 30 p.m., which is directly after our committees, the environmental justice committee meeting. So you could come to the environmental justice committee at 5:30 to 6.30 and then jump onto our other Zoom and go through the training to write your own public comment, especially if you live in East Akron. It's important, so important if you live in East Akron and you have health concerns that you tell the EPA about this because we have the oldest factory. People need to know what is happening to our people.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so let's let's talk about because we're recording this on the 20th. This likely won't come out until later this on Friday this week. So we're gonna miss that. May 4th. May 4th, there you go.

SPEAKER_00

5 p.m. 5 p.m. is the last chance to submit public comment electronically.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

So you need to at least fill out that action network by May 4th. The action network that we can find at biglovs. Or on our Facebook or Instagram, which is just the Big Love Network.

SPEAKER_02

Big Love Network on Facebook, Instagram before May 4th.

SPEAKER_00

May our May 4th ancestors be with us.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. Yes. Uh so that the training that you're doing on Wednesday is

SPEAKER_00

another opportunity or something like that that can happen so that so when this comes out on Friday people so so for next week so the week of the twenty seventh uh is there anything available after that we for people to to to get some training um we do not have anything booked but I have open office hours okay on Tuesday the 28th from 5 to 7 p.m at 1111 Carrie Avenue Akron Ohio 44314 and you can come into our office and ask me questions personally okay so what we're gonna say is if you go to the big love network dot us correct or to the Facebook Instagram so you can submit the electronic uh uh comments but anytime before May 4th if you for whatever reason would like to have a conversation get some help on assistance with if they drop you a line uh feel free to email us at email direct message whatever or stop by but but communicate and there'll be somebody there to to to certainly to help you walk you through it if if if that's the case.

SPEAKER_02

But the big thing is we have to one thank you for all of this know what's going on and then ask our representatives who should be working for our behalf, our health our wellness to take take action.

SPEAKER_00

And so exactly what we're seeing the EPH trying to rule back the roll back this ruling on um there are also things going in front of Congress trying to codify that through the congressional realm as well. We did through our community toxins tour have the head of Amelia Sykes's office there and we have been in contact and in communication since then.

SPEAKER_02

So contact your your Congress representative Congress representative I would assume also contact your state senator both at the federal level and state level Veronica Sims was also there representative at the state level? Yes. And since this is happening in Akron Yes contact the mayor contact city council.

SPEAKER_00

Yes and we'll have more actions around that as we move forward but this is kind of what is on front front of uh and so what we're part of what we're doing longer term too around your question earlier around health impacts is that so first of all our air monitors in East Akron are at East High School and that is upwind from um the major industrial zone of the city. So when the SMB fire happened in September of 2024 it didn't even register on our air monitors. Wow so we're working right now on a proposal to get the correct air monitors in the correct place. We are working on uh holding WM accountable through community benefit agreements. When you say WM who was that waste management they're changed they've changed their name to WM Oh so they actually are included Yeah so they're they're actually called WM now but um so we're we're holding their feet to the fire around uh community benefit agreements and trying to make sure that there are extra environmental protections um so then when those get eroded away on the federal level we have local protections with our waste transfer site and then just for quick could we we're we'll start wrapping up here but that advocacy is at a local level? Yes so we should become we should be thinking or raising these there will be an action network that is put out about that okay in the next week. Okay so big love as well big love okay so keep on big love network we got us yes and some good news good news give me some good news some good news on our advocacy front around these things is that um we are in the middle of transferring over a deed from East Akron Neighborhood Development Corporation for Big Love to acquire one of their vacant lots to start a microforestry program in East Akron that will help to clean the air um the city is going to plant all of our trees give us all our trees and plant all of our trees for us and the Akron Zoo is hoping to fund all of the understory plants and if that particular equation goes well um we will just be acquiring more property that is undevelopable in the neighborhood to build out more microforests so that we can help to clean the air in the neighborhood and as long as the soil isn't contaminated we'll do food forestry so that we can also feed the neighbor.

SPEAKER_02

There you go. That's what I was about to go like we will get some apples and some some plums and as long as we don't poison people do it.

SPEAKER_00

That is the other thing right so the opposite of what we're trying to do. So we'll make sure and no matter what we'll make sure it's beautiful. Yeah so and that it's what the neighbors want. So we are we're also actively knocking on neighbors doors and saying hey we're thinking this design or that design or this design what do you think what kind of trees do you like out of these trees that we have and blah blah blah. Great great great great that's a good positive note to to end on uh because nothing better than a good natural scrubber put some put some oxygen in the air look at some green and also on your note about mental health when you get to see green you actually get to see the birds interacting with nature that does wonders for your mental health so when you're in an area that doesn't have much trees doesn't have much green it's easy to be hot and angry.

SPEAKER_02

Right right right right so yeah and it also will cool the neighborhood all the benefits all the benefits yeah yeah yeah yeah for sure it's been a long one but like I said just like the the meeting it was it was so much information that we went through and it's so needed uh and we appreciate it we appreciate you stopping by and sharing your having me happy earth month everybody happy earth month earth month and I I'm I'm gonna leave that alone because we talked about 420 before and I'm gonna all good things grow out of the soil and so as we wrap up Willie B you got anything that you want to uh highlight or or uh just you know closing thoughts closing thoughts is be outside and be with people be in community and uh we're gonna continue moving forward yes yes again thank you for uh showing up thank you any any last words quick um just remember that uh even when you feel thrown away you are made the the whole universe had to conspire to create you and that you matter that's for sure and there is no such thing as a way yes yes you're triggering some thoughts in my head but I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna wrap it up uh so we are going to see you at the next episode hey be healthy yeah get outside take a deep breath relax and no yes you better soil touch some soil oh hey start putting some seeds in the ground put some seeds in the ground get ready for this harvest this has been the NAACP Akron Power and Community Podcast where we believe that knowledge is power and organized power makes change happen. We are here to inspire you to action so we encourage you to follow us on Facebook we uh and visit our website and of course subscribe where you get your favorite podcast peace until the next episode