Woodbine, Dr Onaje: Black Gods of the Asphalt Part One

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The transcendent experience of street basketball is the topic of two conversations with Onaje X. O. Woodbine, author of “Black Gods of the Asphalt: Religion, Hip-Hop, and Street Basketball.”  Woodbine grew up in the inner-city of Roxbury, Massachusetts, became a skilled street basketball player and attended Yale University on a basketball scholarship.  After two years as a star player on the Yale team, he chose a different life path and quit.

After graduating from Yale, Woodbine earned his Ph.D. in religious studies from Boston University.  His book, “Black Gods of the Asphalt” presents a social-anthropological view of this inner-city sport where coaches often assume the role of father, mentor and friend.  He contrasts the lessons learned on the street basketball courts, with those learned at the predominantly white basketball courts and locker rooms of Yale University.

Onaje Woodbine visited with Radio Curious by phone on August 13, 2016, from his home in Andover, Massachusetts, and began by describing his relationship with his father, Dr. Robert Woodbine.

The book Dr. Onaje Woodbine recommends is “Jesus and the Disinherited” by Howard Thurman.

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Marshall, Dr. Joseph: Police Policies and Black Lives Matter

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Police misconduct and accountability is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious. Out guest is Dr. Joseph Marshall, a member of the San Francisco Police Commission where he leads the Commissions efforts to reform policing policies at the San Francisco Police Department. In addition Dr. Marshall is the executive director of Alive & Free, a non-profit organization that teaches inner city youth violence prevention and offers higher education scholarships.  He is the host of Street Soldiers Radio aired every Sunday evening live online from 8 to 10 pm on KMEL FM 106.1 in San Francisco, California.

I spoke with Dr. Joseph Marshall on August 15, 2016 from his office in San Francisco, California and began our conversation when I asked him about Black Lives Matter.

The book Dr. Joseph Marshall recommends is “The Autobiography of Malcom X.”

Free & Alive’s website is: http://stayaliveandfree.org/.
Street Soldiers can be heard at: http://streetsoldiersradio.org/listen-watch/.

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Allman, Tom: Sheriff Tom Allman: Guns in Rural California Part Two

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Guns: Who has them, how are they obtained and what are they used for, is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious.

In this two part series on guns, we visit with Sheriff Tom Allman, of Mendocino County, in rural northern California. Tom Allman has worked in law enforcement for 38 years and has been sheriff for the last 10. He is outspoken yet respectful about marijuana cultivation and equally so about guns, when asked. Sheriff Allman is, among many other things, the person who issues a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Mendocino County.

When Sheriff Allman visited the Radio Curious studios on August 8, 2016, we began the second part of our conversation with his statement that law enforcement is trained to stop people, not to kill.

The book Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman recommends is “Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses “No But” Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration—Lessons from The Second City” by Kelly Leonard and Tom Yorton.

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Allman, Tom: Sheriff Tom Allman: Guns in Rural California Part One

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Guns: Who has them, how are they obtained and what are they used for, is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious.

In this, the first of a two part series on guns, we visit with Sheriff Tom Allman, of Mendocino County, in rural northern California.  Tom Allman has worked in law enforcement for 38 years and has been sheriff for the last 10 years. He is outspoken yet respectful about marijuana cultivation and equally so about guns, when asked.  Sheriff Allman is, among many other things, the person who issues a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Mendocino County.  We visited at the studio of Radio Curious on August 8, 2016, and began our conversation when I asked Sheriff Allman to describe the gun he was carrying on his belt.

The book Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman recommends is “Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses “No But” Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration—Lessons from The Second City” by Kelly Leonard and Tom Yorton.

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Massey, Orell: Racism in a Rural California Sheriff’s Department Part Two

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Radio Curious revisits a conversation with Mendocino County Deputy Sheriff Orell Massey who, for the past 20 years has been the only black law enforcement officer in the county’s history. A native of South Carolina, Deputy Massey was a 21 year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps assigned to the Foreign Service Embassy detail before he moved to Mendocino County. When I asked Sheriff Massey to be a guest on this program and share his experience as a black Deputy Sheriff, he asked: “Are the people of Mendocino County ready to hear what I have to say?”

In part one of our conversation, Deputy Massey described some people’s reaction to him while he is in on duty.

In this program, part two, recorded on February 1, 2015, in the Radio Curious studios, Deputy Massey gives his personal response when asked, “what is it like to be the only black Deputy Sheriff ever in the history of Mendocino County?” Later he shares stories about his off duty life, his goals and aspirations.

The book Deputy Massey recommends is “Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir By One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of World War Two,” by Chester Nez and Judith Schiess Avila.

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