Legacy of Leadership  – ep.162

In this powerful episode of The Jali Podcast, host Melyssa Barrett sits down with the esteemed LaJuana Johnson Bivens—civil rights activist, government leader, and champion for socio-economic empowerment. From her roots in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, to her influential work in Stockton, California, LaJuana has dedicated her life to advancing equity and justice.

As the CEO of Equity Alliance Group, Inc., a longtime leader within the NAACP, and the current President of the Mu Zeta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, LaJuana has played a pivotal role in advocating for policies that uplift marginalized communities. She has served on the NAACP National Board of Directors, the National Elections Committee, and led critical initiatives in human rights, voting access, and affirmative action.

This episode delves into her incredible journey—her early inspirations, the challenges she has faced, and the legacy she continues to build. As we honor the founding of the NAACP, LaJuana reflects on the organization’s historical fight for justice and its evolving mission in today’s socio-political climate. With a heart for service and a mind for strategy, she shares insights on leadership, mentorship, and the ongoing work required to create systemic change.

Join us for a compelling conversation that bridges history and the future of civil rights activism. Whether you’re an advocate, leader, or simply passionate about justice, this is an episode you won’t want to miss!

Melyssa Barrett:  Welcome to the Jali Podcast. I’m your host, Melyssa Barrett. This podcast is for those who are interested in the conversation around equity, diversity, and inclusion. Each week I’ll be interviewing a guest who has something special to share or is actively part of building solutions in the space. Let’s get started. Happy Black History Month. I thought this would be fitting since the N-A-A-C-P just celebrated Founder’s Day and their 116th year. I am deeply honored to have the opportunity to interview Lawana Johnson Bivins. She is a leader and civil rights activist. She’s proud to be a native of Arkadelphia, Arkansas and moved to Stockton, California, starting her career in government with the City of Stockton. Currently, she’s the CEO of Equity Alliance Group Incorporated, whose mission is to promote socioeconomic empowerment and development programs. She collaborates with numerous organizations to address inequity issues. She serves on the executive committee for the N-A-A-C-P Stockton Branch.

She is the state director secretary for the N-A-A-C-P California Hawaii State Conference. She is serving now on the N-A-A-C-P National Board of Directors, and I should mention, she is the president of the Zeta Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. That’s just a few of the things on her plate, and if I gave you a rundown of all she’s done in the past, we may not even have a podcast episode to share. So check out the podcast episode description for more information and check out this episode because some of you may be surprised by what you hear. I’m so grateful that she spent the time with me, so let’s get to it. I am so excited to have you join me for this conversation. I have been waiting for years, years for you to come on to the Jolly Podcast. You are such a busy woman, but you are so focused on so many things, mentor to so many, and just the leadership that you provide not only to people like me, but just droves of people in terms of how you’re managing the world and your place in it. So I truly do appreciate you spending some time with me.

LaJuana Bivens:  Well, I appreciate you so much as well. You know that

Melyssa Barrett:  I’m just excited. I’m so excited because I mean, especially at this time in life. So I want to start out just giving, maybe you can give a little bit of context for how you came to be the person you are and your journey through government and civil rights and racial justice. How did all that start for you? Or was there a pivotal moment in your world?

LaJuana Bivens:  Wow. Actually, my journey started many years ago in a little town called Adelphia, Arkansas. And a lot of people feel, because my husband is such an activist, is that we started that journey together, but we actually didn’t. We were both activists, young activists in our own rights, and I went through that period of integration. So I had gone to an all black elementary high school until the 11th grade, and in the 11th grade, they decided that they wanted to integrate our schools. Well, definitely the white students were upset, the black students were upset, teachers were upset. It was just really something and they treated us so poorly. I always reflect on being in the classrooms and holding my hand up until my hand hurt to just try to answer questions and the white teachers would not call on us and they would call us those N words and spit at us, and it was just horrible.

So we decided that we needed to make an impact on what was going on. So our class decided to talk to our pastor about what can we do? I mean, this is inhumane treatment, and we’re going through this as young kids every day. So he called a famous attorney who helped us stage a walkout. So on this particular day, we were all expected to walk out of the classroom and stay out because as you know, school districts get paid for the number of students that are in attendance daily. So that was definitely going to make an impact. So on this day, and I think it was a Thursday when the bell rang, we were expected to walk out. So we did. It was a little frightening, but we knew what we had to do. So we walked out, and so the teachers were asking us, where are you going? Where are you going? And we were instructed not to say anything, just keep walking and start singing. So that’s what we did. Then I recall the principal saying, well, we didn’t want you here anyway, just horrible. They were throwing rocks at us and just get out.

It was a time that stirred my spirit because I refused to be treated differently. It was just something in me. And what was so sad, Melissa, is that when we did integrate this high school had never won a football game in their entire history. So with the young black men going there, they won their first championship. And so they said, oh, well, we’re going to go to the country club and celebrate the students and we’re going to have a great celebration. So when the black young men got at the country club, they were not allowed entry for all their hard work and the fame that they brought. They said no. So then a fight broke out and one of my friends was taken to jail. And so I said to everyone while we’re out, we’ve got to do something about this. We cannot allow this to happen and go unnoticed. So we all went down, we were still out of school costing them money. We all went down to the jail. And so I told everybody, because they had, it was so many students, they had the, what is it, the highway patrol and the hoopers

Melyssa Barrett:  And

LaJuana Bivens:  State troopers and all those folks, and they were mean. They had their guns pointing and the dogs. So I told everybody, we had this little secret that certain signals and you would whisper one to the other. So the boys let the air out of the tires of their patrol cars at some point we’re going to have to run. So we started seeing free Henry, free Henry want Henry free. And so then it all just broke loose and they started spraying us with water and getting ready to thank God they didn’t shoot. I was a young activist, but at that point I didn’t care what happened. Freedom was on my mind. And so they jumped in their cars to come after us and they couldn’t go anywhere because their tires were flat. So I had to go to court and with all of the other students to support Henry. And interesting enough, I like to smile. I’m a happy person. And I never forget the judge looking at me because he knew that they knew I was one of the leaders. And so the judge looked at me and he said, I find you $5 for smiling. I ain’t have $5.

I’m going to jail and I’m going to be in a lot of trouble with mom and daddy. I’m going to jail. They had warned me about my activism. And so one of my teachers paid the fine for me. And so my father said, I told you you are going to get yourself killed. And so I said, daddy, I would rather go in my grade before I become a slave. So I just wanted to share where it came from in that way all of my life. And so

From Arkansas, after college, I knew that I needed to leave Arkansas. There was something that was calling me and my aunt who lived in Stockton, California, had just lost her husband. And so she said, you college educated. Why don’t you come up here and get a job? You can get a good job. Not so she thought, she said, you can get a good job. So they were hiring for the city and they were hiring through the CA program. And so I was hired in the personnel department as a personnel analyst. So I would watch people all the time, all of the other administrators, and I kept telling everyone in personnel one day, I’m going to be hired in that city manager’s office. That’s my goal. I’m going to study it. I’m going to get all of the certificates, whatever else, additional education that I need, that is my goal.

And so I had two other black administrators that worked in personnel and they would say, good luck, because that is an all white department. So the opportunity, Melissa became available for me to interview for an analyst in the city manager’s office as a budget analyst. And I think I was seven months pregnant. And I said, oh, for sure. I’m not going to get this job. So I went for an interview, all white males that I walked in and went through the process of sitting behind their long conference intimidating table, and I answered, I was challenged, but I answered. I came prepared and at the end, and I just said to them, if you open that door, I’ll make you very proud because you can’t hire anyone any more qualified and any person more dedicated than what I will be. So that city manager, his name was Ed Griff, decided to give me an opportunity and actually became my mentor. I love this man. To this day, he’s deceased now, but that is who gave me an opportunity and I did not let him down. And so from that, I promoted up to eventually become a deputy city manager overseeing police, fire personnel, those departments. And so I worked for the city for almost 12, 13 years until the political environment changed. And as you know, political environments changed

And something similar to what is going on today. And that’s why I encourage young people to know that you have to watch history, you have to know history because history repeats itself. A city manager, I’m sorry, a city council came in that did not want to dedicate itself to diversity, equity, and inclusion that many years ago. This has been going on and on. So the environment changed and I decided at this point, Bobby and I were married, and at this point I decided that I just did not want to go through that. And so we said, well, we’ll start a consulting firm. So we did and got a very large contract with the state of California, but I just didn’t, I just didn’t really fully grasp it or IT at that time. So an opportunity became available at Head Start of Silicon County for a director of human resources, labor relations director. So I applied for it and got the job, stayed there for about 10 years until their little environment changed. And I said, y’all don’t know who I am. So I, I’m gone. And plus my city benefits pers, I knew that I would be just fine,

Melyssa Barrett:  Right?

LaJuana Bivens:  I decided to go back into consulting. And so that’s exactly what I did. And the Lord has blessed me, and I don’t know how far into my story I need to go, but three years ago we started a nonprofit called Equity Alliance Group Incorporated, which I’ve talked to you about and you’ve been a part of some of the projects and our focus is on advocacy and inclusion and it’s doing

Melyssa Barrett:  Well.

LaJuana Bivens:  I’ll stop

Melyssa Barrett:  Right there. That’s awesome. No, that’s awesome. I hadn’t heard of some of these stories and I’ve known you a long time. So this is really interesting to me. And you’re so right about history repeating itself. I think there’s a lot of people that are just shocked that certain things are happening, but I think there’s a lot of people that are like, yeah, we’ve seen this before.

So before we go into, I want to make sure, because you wear so many hats, and I know you’re sitting there in green and Pearls, so I don’t know if I’m talking to our Zeta Omega. And then you also are part of the Lynx Incorporated. And of course you sit on the National Board of Directors for the N-A-A-C-P, along with you have state positions and certainly in the Stockton branch of the N-A-A-C-P as well on the executive committee. So you wear literally a multitude of hats. And so I love your journey is one of purpose and passion and the advocacy that you bring is just amazing. I mean, I have literally seen N-A-A-C-P Youth Council members that are, I mean, you set them on a trajectory for life. The mindset is different. What they do and accomplish is different. And honestly, I look at the youth council today and I’m like, wow, where are they going to be in 30 years? And it gives me hope for the country,

But I know also being this is Black History Month and the founding month of the N-A-A-C-P, that there’s a lot of conversation around racial injustice, systemic inequality. And maybe you want to just touch on whether it’s, I don’t know if you’re wearing the a K hat or whether you’re wearing the N-A-A-C-P hat, but how has the mission over the years evolved and what’s it like? I mean, to serve on the National Board of directors for the N-A-A-C-P where we had some amazing founders and they weren’t all black, by the way that people don’t know some of the stories of what that means and how the mission is taken on today.

LaJuana Bivens:  Right. I’m so glad that you brought that up. And before I jump into the national conserving on the National Board is awesome because that is where policy is made and certainly that’s where I want it to be. But from a local level, I like to speak to our local youth council because for me, it has been the most gratifying of my life to see these young people where my hope is, my hope is in them because I told that story purposely because I was a young person and young people don’t have fear. They’re not fearful what I do Now, what I did then, no, probably not.

Melyssa Barrett:  Yeah, you get more fearful as you age, right?

LaJuana Bivens:  You get more fearful as you age, and then you should be raising up a generation of young people who are willing to take that frontline, who are willing to agitate. And just going back, and I want to mention some names because I have to,

And the Stockton Youth Council, there was my Isha Patterson who went on to work for the Obama administration, Michael Tubbs, which everybody knows that name, who went on to become mayor of the city of Stockton and just still doing some amazing things. Our son, Zoe Rowe, who was also president and went on to do some amazing things, was the director of the congressional policy, director of the Congressional Black Caucus and went on to be the deputy associate for GSA under the Biden Harris administration. And then you had Candace Hodge, who is now a professor in southern California making us proud. Her brother Marcus, who just won a Grammy, these kids going to get mad at me. I’m going to get someone, Eric Moore, Stephanie, I’m going to mention Stephanie in a minute, but Eric Moore who plays, he’s a drummer and he plays all over the world for some of the top musicians. He’s just awesome. He has a drumming school in Las Vegas. Then you have S Smith who is amazing and is currently I think working for doing some consulting work for the Obamas as well as teaching college classes. So these kids, and these are the

Melyssa Barrett:  Presidents, go on, these are the

LaJuana Bivens:  Presidents. So I’m just mentioning the presidents and I could go on and on and on, and they just make me so proud to see what we have raised in our youth, and this is what we have to continue to do. There’s some things going on regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion at the federal level. And these things are going to really impact the Civil Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act, voter Rights Act, women’s rights and equal employment. But you heard a lot lately about Trump’s executive orders and his orders, according to him, is to end illegal discrimination and bring back married based opportunity. He wants to end radical, wasteful government, and he wants to defend women and restore biological truth to the federal government, not so the goal of his executive orders really is to terminate diversity, equity, and inclusion, all of the very, very qualified people who work for the federal government. And does one think that, I just wonder if people have given thought to, if he’s terminating all of these people, where are the qualified people coming from? Because you just don’t step into roles like that.

He wants to terminate all the equity related grants and contracts, and there are a lot of nonprofits out there just doing great work. So I wanted to share some myths versus facts. The equal opportunity and anti-discrimination acts are enshrined in the US Constitution. What that means is that they are law and Trump’s executive orders do not and cannot change that. So everybody needs to know that the president’s role is to implement laws. He is not a king. I’ll repeat that. He is not a king and he cannot rewrite them. The executive orders also do not halt the programs that are specifically designed to remedy ongoing discrimination against people of color and women that are codified in the statute or regulation like the Department of Transportation’s DBE program. So what can we do? What can we do? Are we, what can we do? What can we do?

Well, at the national level, we are challenging the programs of the publicly traded corporations, the large nonprofits. And let me just tell you, Melissa, we’re going to be in court for a while, but we’re not backing down because we are prepared for the fight and we’re encouraging people to spend your money at retail establishments that promote and support diversity, equity, and inclusion. And everybody needs to educate yourself on the executive orders. Don’t listen to the hype because Trump is such a liar. There are so many lies being spread. We want to spread what is true and what is real. Then at the state level, I encourage people to educate themselves on the proposed legislation that’s coming out. Some of them have hidden bans on DEI in them, so we really have to watch what’s coming out through the state legislative session. Then at the local level, I want to encourage everybody to join the N-A-A-C-P so that you can join us at city council meetings, whether it’s in Stockton, Tracy Manteca, Lodi, we’ve got to be soldiers on the ground.

And yes, I’m still marching. No, I’m not afraid, and we have to speak up. We have to speak up and be a role model to our young people who are watching us. We cannot expect them to do the work without us joining with them hand in hand, and then review our local budgets and to see if any of these cities or counties are cutting programs related to DEI. Can you imagine that they’re doing all of this just for us, people who look like us, people who are brown and black, they’re doing this just for us. And so what do we need to do? We need to be poised and don’t panic. We cannot respond to every action immediately taken by the administration. And so I know that you work on the technology team for Stockton. If we put out a message, make sure that message matters and it has a call for action because one of the things that I’m working with right now is a program called The REACH Program who received a very uncaring letter from the federal government saying that their jobs had been cut and gave them a 24 hour notice.

So I’m asking people to sign a letter encouraging the restoration of their funding that will be presented to Congressman Harder by our NACP President and Executive Committee.

And work smarter, not harder. Don’t get yourself in such a tizzy over every little message that is put out. There is a uniform manner that we want to be strategic and making sure that our messages matter and allow your messages time to breathe across the platform. And what I mean by that is if you put a message out because something happened, five minutes later, you hear something else coming out, you address that five minutes, no, allow your messages time to breathe. Let your audience receive that first message, understand what you’re saying, understand what is going on so they can validate it, so they can know that this is very important before another message is put out on that platform. And then what I’m encouraging your audience and all of our partners and collaborators and members to do is to sign up for the NAACP’s Rapid Response Action Alert. So what I need them to do, Melissa, is to sign up to text 2 0 7 0 7, text 2 0 7 oh with the word sign up, sign up,

Melyssa Barrett:  All one word, no space.

LaJuana Bivens:  No space, all one word. So that’s what’s happening at the national level. And that’s what I’m going to our national meeting next week. I’ll have more to report after that, but I will be in for the founder’s day of the NACP, which is in February. We celebrated on February 15th, and so I will be there, but we will be working, developing a lot of policy that you’re going to be seeing coming out in addition to what we’re doing already.

Melyssa Barrett:  That’s fantastic. I, and I love the fact that we have the ability to have access to information knowing that you’re sitting at the national table and that our branch has the ability to understand what is happening in real time when it comes to dealing with all of the noise. I’ll say. And I think you as a civil rights leader, I know there are so many lessons that you’ve learned about mobilizing communities and influencing policies both at the local and the national levels, and you talked about being able to gather information and deliver it to our congressional representative. Are there other lessons that you want to share? Just because I think I’m a big advocate of utilizing Kwanza principles, whether it be us creating unity, so many collective work and responsibility. There’s so many great opportunities for us to stand on those principles to keep us going, but are there other lessons that you want to share to help people remain motivated?

LaJuana Bivens:  Well, you just hit it one very key word, unity. They expect to keep us divided. And the more divided, the more they conquer, the more unified we are, the more we win. And you might say you’re listening to this podcast and you might say, well, I don’t want to lose my job. I don’t want to get involved. Where there’s a lot of ways you can get involved. You can just buy membership or you can sign onto a letter writing campaign. And if you are afraid to do that, maybe there’s some information that you have and we would not reveal that information, but we will be able to address it. But I think that we’ve have to be very strategic in making sure that we are responding in a unified manner that all of these organizations are coming together. I was at a great meeting yesterday, and that is just the beginning where over 50 African-American leaders came together to talk about what are some of our strengths? What are some of our weaknesses, what are some of our opportunities and what are some of our threats? And it was important. And the next meeting is going to grow even larger because our charge was to go back and invite other leaders of other organizations. So it’s just going to grow and we’re just going to be organized and we will all march to the same beat, have to, this is about survival of the fittest, and I am very fit for this. I was born for this.

Melyssa Barrett:  It was waiting for you.

LaJuana Bivens:  It was waiting for me.

Melyssa Barrett:  Well, and I think it is also been an opportunity over the last several years for organizations like you’re talking about N-A-A-C-P, I mean the sororities, the Divine Nine have all kind of come together so that we can find unity in the focus and making sure that the strategies align, which I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen the type of unity and mobilization across national organizations like that, especially when we all try to give each other a hard time about being in one sorority or another. But now it’s like we all love our Divine nine sisters and brothers, and we’re trying to make sure that we are gathered together as a group. So one of the things I wanted to ask you about though is I know you have a Global Black event coming up as well.

LaJuana Bivens:  That is going to be through our youth council. We’re developing them for leadership. And so they wanted to do a special program for Black History Month, and they’re bringing on an artist who is also an entrepreneur and he’s going to be talking to our young people about starting now where you are, you’re brilliant, you’re bright, you’re beautiful like the movie. I love it. And so we want to encourage as many young people to be on and they know who he is. They were just excited with the opportunity that we were able, able to get him and bring this event to the Stockton, San Joaquin area. So

Stay tuned for that, and I know that you have that information. And the other thing that I wanted to share, I talk about, or you talked about me wearing multiple hats, and I do that. I started doing that for a reason because my goal is to bring us all together and if I’m there, I’m sitting at the table, I’m able to do that. I am president of Muto Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Half Sorority Incorporated, and I’m very proud of that. And I know that you are a member of Delta Sigma Theta and we are sisters. But one of the great things that I’ve been able to do, I’m on another position. I’m on our Far Western region, what we call our legislative team. So in May, on May 19th, we’re going to have something at the state capitol called Blackout Day. And so all of the organizations, the D nines are being invited, other organizations are working on it. We’re working to pull it together. And I know for right now that the AKAs and the state and a CP will be at the state capital on the same day, and we’re extending that invitation to the other organizations. So I’m going to be working hard to make sure that as many of our organizations as possible can participate.

Melyssa Barrett:  That’s awesome. I mean, that’s the unity that we need. And I think there’s a lot of people out there that I’m sure maybe sit across the aisle, whatever their political views are, but I think at the end of the day when we talk about equal access, I think people have sometimes different views of what equity really means. And I think it’s important for us to be able to talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion and help people understand what that means. I think people think of it as affirmative action,

But it is very different than that when we start talking about inclusion and really the celebration of each other. And so I love the work that you do with Equity Alliance Group. Do you want to talk a little bit about what you’re doing there? Because personally, I think it’s phenomenal how over the last several years you have had programs to really help people figure out, how do I go to a city council meeting and how do I address policy? I mean, everybody doesn’t wake up and go, oh, I’m going to city council today. And so I love the fact that you take really the time to help educate people so that they know what to expect.

LaJuana Bivens:  Thank you. Well, equity, as I mentioned, started about what, three or four years ago, and we started out with a small grant that pitched toward to a local funder that I wanted to do something to invest in our African-American leadership, empowering young leaders like yourself coming up. And so

Melyssa Barrett:  I appreciate you calling me young.

LaJuana Bivens:  They agreed to fund it. And so we had monthly programs. Well, first of all, we went through and kind of selected some up and coming leaders that we know were doing great things in the community and asked them if they would like to be a part of the program. And I think just off the top of my head, there might’ve been 15 folks in the program. And so who agreed, and we went over the commitment that you would have to make by attending monthly meetings and working on projects. And so we brought in speakers who talked about how the legislative process worked, budgeting, how to pitch your story in the media, because that’s a whole different beast in itself, and you just can’t be out there just opening your mouth. You have to be very strategic. We also had the University of Pacific come in and talk to us about how boards operate.

And that’s very important because I see a lot of failure in a lot of organizations of color simply because they don’t understand the robish rules of order and how boards operate and what your responsibility is as a board member. So those things were all very important to me. And one of another highlight was to be able to take this team of 15 people to a national convention, and it was wonderful. We were able to pay for their everything, and they came back with so much information. What a lot of people don’t understand is some of the nation’s top leaders from the president, secretary of State, you name it, they’re there. So our team got to meet a lot of these people up close and personal, shared some of their concerns that was going on in our community, and they gave them some resolution and also their information on it, if you need me, need to contact me through contact me through email or whatever. And so I know that was just a boost to their leadership. And so we did that, and then we came back and we ended the 10 month program with a retreat and Wine and Roses, which was simply amazing.

And we developed a plan and we had our city manager at the time, Harry Black, who came and was a speaker and was so excited to see the work that the group had done, and everyone received a leadership certificate. And that was a whole program of just investing, pouring back into some leaders who were so deserving to just have the information. Like you said, you don’t always know where to go and get that information. Everybody’s not born with it. And if you say you’re born with it, you are a liar. You, it takes time to get to where I’m at, and I’m going to be honest. Sure, yeah. I wanted to do some things, but I had a lot of people along the way who helped me, who mentored me, and it’s so important to have mentors, and that’s what I would say to any up and coming leader that find someone that has walked this walk, spent time in their craft that they can share some pieces of wisdom with you and help encourage you. Even my son who worked for the Biden Harris administration, he has big time mentors that he still calls able to call upon. So I would encourage people to do that. And then equity went from that to managing a Healthy Options project

Where we spent a whole year of just talking to the community, going to different groups and talking about how important it is to live healthy, eat healthy mentally, physically, all of it, and put together a team of ambassadors, which included a lot of our young people. And they went to baseball games where they were out there handing out information and talking to people. And we did a lot of focus groups where we talked about the importance of healthy eating and pointing out how unhealthy San Joaquin County is. You see all these fast foods, fast food restaurants, is it really good for you? No, it’s not. Should our grocery stores do better? Can they do better? Yes, they can A lot of times at the checkout. And that’s one of the areas where we did target that when you’re checking out with your child and they have all this candy there from your grandson that they want what they see.

So if we can encourage the grocery stores and markets to put healthy items like your bananas and your apples and other healthy items, then those are the things that they will see, and those are the things that they will ask for. And so that was a year long campaign where Bobby and I eventually and took the team to the city council. We worked with the city attorney to develop an ordinance which would encourage our markets, supermarkets and local small stores to start having healthy options at checkout. And she was able to do that because as we took that resolution to the national convention, which was passed by all of our units throughout the nation to encourage healthy eating at checkout and to encourage these supermarkets to start putting those things in place. And so that’s what we are hammering. So our local city council did adopt the ordinance, I want to say in November, and so I’m just so excited about that.

Melyssa Barrett:  Yes,

LaJuana Bivens:  We need to be healthier, need to be healthier. It wasn’t easy to do.

Melyssa Barrett:  Yes, I love it. It’s like people think that you can’t make a difference if you’re just like one person, but this is how we make a difference one person at a time, so it can be done.

LaJuana Bivens:  And equity is just doing things in all areas. Equity and health, equity and education right now, our youth are, they’re working on an awareness campaign of not smoking. There are so many students in schools that are smoking, and so they’re working on their videos and doing a no smoking campaign to address that. That’s great. Equity and housing. So equity is in all and

Melyssa Barrett:  All we

LaJuana Bivens:  Do

Melyssa Barrett:  See, and this is one of the reasons that I started the Jolly Podcast, was because, I mean, aside from my husband being a storyteller and oral tradition storyteller and really having the ability to know so many different people’s history and connect with others because he had that history. One of the reasons I was really trying to understand how people looked at diversity, equity, and inclusion, what are they doing to and after George Floyd, everybody was like, oh my gosh, I had no idea. And then you had all the people of color standing there going, really, this is our reality. But it’s like everything we do has a lens for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

LaJuana Bivens:  Whether

Melyssa Barrett:  We choose to take it or not, there is a lens because this country was built on the backs of diverse people,

And I think the more we talk about equity, what that means to the world, I think everybody wants to have equal access, and that’s really all that we’re asking for. So just love all of the things that you’re doing in the world. The other thing I wanted to mention before I let you go is we talked a lot about N-A-A-C-P, but I would love for you to talk a little bit about Alpha Kappa Alpha and what a lot of people don’t necessarily know what the Divine Nine does. What is the Divine Nine? What do the Alpha Kappa Alphas do? So I would love for you to just talk a little bit about the AKAs to let people know who they are.

LaJuana Bivens:  Well, I thought you’d probably invite me back for a different session.

Melyssa Barrett:  Well, if I can get you, it took me a couple of years for this one, so I want to try to sneak it in a little bit.

LaJuana Bivens:  Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated is the first historically African American Greek lettered sorority, which means that we are all college educated women. We were founded on January 15th, 1908 on the campus of Howard University in Washington dc and we have a rich history of trailblazing achievements and a legacy of empowering women and communities through our service, our leadership in our education. I love it because like Delta Sigma Theta, we promote sisterhood and service, and one big requirement is that we serve in our community. So our chapter just recently did a wonderful program with two of our elementary schools where we provided food to the families at Thanksgiving and also during the Christmas break, there are a lot of families as Melissa that go food, and so we wanted to make sure that we provided enough food to cover those families, and they were not only families of African-Americans, they were families who were starving because it impacts us all.

We also provide a lot of scholarships to young people who are trying to go on and complete their education. We provide the scholarships, we do mentorship programs, and we provide educational resources to support their academic excellence. Then we also, I mentioned a little bit about our social action and advocacy. Zeta Omega has for the past three years, been a partner with the local NACP Stockton branch at our political forum because AKA is dedicated to social justice advocacy and civil engagement. Right now, I have our chapter working on a call to action for the REACH program, and they have signed letters. They’re taking letters to other people to sign so they understand that we are about social action and advocacy. Then health and wellness is another area that we prioritize, including programs that promote healthy living. And so that comes right in place with Equity Alliance Group because we can partner on living healthy.

We usually, during the month of February, bring in a fitness expert to talk to our chapter about promoting healthy living and the physical fitness activities that we should be doing that should carry us all year long. And then AKA has a global reach with our partners and organizations worldwide to create lasting change, and we really will considering what’s going on in the nation and in the world today, that’s going to be amplified. Then through leadership development, AKA provides a lot of opportunities to develop our leaders personal growth. Again, I’m one of those mentors that I will work with the regional team to promote opportunities of leadership for our young women coming up through workshops, conferences, and mentoring programs. Programs. And then I just want to talk on our local chapter. We have so many contributions to be proud of, and one that I’d like to mention is what we call a golden.

So who is Ms. Shirley Washington who dedicated her time, talents, and tithes to be the president of our chapter for 12 years and just bringing it to a mighty level of success. And because of her stead fastness, we now have named our mother daughter T, which is our fundraiser in her honor. So it is the Shirley, a Washington mother, daughter T, and you’re going to be receiving some information about that. It’s coming out in either May or June. We’re working on some dates. And then we were so honored to have in our chapter another Willamina Henry, who was the first African-American teacher in Stockton Unified School District, and Soar Henry was active in our chapter at the tender age of 101 years old. She passed away three years ago, but let me tell you, Melissa, she stayed active for as long as she could up until 101, and that is a mighty accomplishment.

Then another Soar that I’d like to highlight quickly is Sora Kleem Owens, who was known for her passion for music, and she established a free instrumental program for youth, and the links incorporated established an award called a Klei Award. But so Klei was an AKA, and she did that to promote and give free music lessons to students who she knew would never have that opportunity, but she made sure that the opportunity was presented by her efforts. And then another, so I’d like to highlight is so Leslie Martin, who served on the Stockton City Council and became Vice Mayor, and she served until last year as a Deputy District attorney. Then another so is lc Gilchrist, who created the Women of Color Foundation. And Soar SE provides so many scholarships, and she helps us through our chapter, provides scholarships to our young women coming up. And of course, I currently serve on the National Board of Directors. So that’s just to name a few at the local level. But I’m just, I love

Melyssa Barrett:  It. I love it. Hey, this is Black History Month, so I love the fact that you say their names. You help people know the history that has been made. I think a lot of times we are so focused on the journey that we forget about all the celebration of people that go into it.

LaJuana Bivens:  I’d like to say Who paved the way for me?

Melyssa Barrett:  Yes, absolutely.

LaJuana Bivens:  I think we have to do more of that. I hear some young people say, well, old people need to get out the way. Well, no, it’s about you always need someone to take your hand and help you walk across that bridge. And I always tell my kids, my own children, that if I can teach you how to go through that door without you hitting a brick wall, wouldn’t that be so much easier? Absolutely. And that’s what a mentor does. And so again, I am so very proud that I’ve had the opportunity to highlight some of the women of the Alpha K Alpha Sorority incorporated, and we just continue to do service in our community and to be a benefit to all mankind.

Melyssa Barrett:  I love it. I love it. Well, it’s awesome. I’m trying to fit in every little nugget I can get because when I get you around, I have to make the most of it. So I just want to thank you for joining me. This has been a robust discussion on not only the N-A-A-C-P, the AKAs, but just black history, the conversation around equity and some of the challenges that we have. But I love when you talk about we have to be poised. We can’t react to everything. There’s a lot of confusion and chaos out there, and I think sometimes we need to just make sure that we are focused on what we need to focus on. It’s a long race, and so as you said, we are up for it. We were made for the challenges. So thank you so much for joining me, and I hope it’s not the last time.

LaJuana Bivens:  No, it’s not.

Melyssa Barrett:  But I look forward to hearing more, and hopefully this has been helpful to other people around not only our area, but nationally in terms of the focus. I think it’s really helpful. A lot of people are just struggling to get through on a day-to-day basis, so I appreciate you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for joining me on the Jali Podcast. Please subscribe so you won’t miss an episode. See you next week.