“Social work isn’t a profession.”

“Public health isn’t a real field.”

“Your degree doesn’t matter.”

These statements might sound like casual opinions, but they reveal something deeper about how society decides which professions deserve respect, funding, and power.

In this preview of the upcoming Equity Matters episode “Respeck on My Name (Work To Do)”, Dr. James Bell III explores the history and politics of professionalism and why fields like social work and public health are often dismissed even though they are essential to the health and stability of our communities.

This full episode will look at:

• The history of professional status in the United States
• How race, gender, and power shaped who gets to be called a “professional”
• Why care professions are often undervalued and underfunded
• The impact this has on the public health and social work workforce

Subscribe and stay tuned for the full conversation starting this Wednesday.

Somebody said n****. Someone has a neurological disorder. Who is to blame?

Can you hold two truths at once?

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Dr. Bell has something to say.

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What happens when silence becomes a survival skill and survival becomes a sickness?

In this episode of Equity Matters, we examine the crisis of Black men’s health in America, where strength is too often defined by endurance and silence. From heart disease and diabetes to colorectal cancer, Black men face some of the highest rates of preventable illness yet many avoid care altogether, shaped by fear, stigma, and a history of systemic neglect. We trace how cultural expectations, mistrust, and racial bias collide to create deadly outcomes — and how breaking the silence could be one of the most radical acts of care. This isn’t just about health. It’s about what happens when a society teaches men to carry pain quietly and calls it pride.

The Sound of Silence now streaming wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Strength shouldn’t mean silence.

Yet for too many Black men, staying quiet has become a matter of survival. The Sound of Silence (Boy’s Don’t Cry) explores what happens when care is delayed, pain is ignored, and the system treats endurance as enough. It’s time to talk about what silence is really costing us.

Listen Friday. Subscribe so you don’t miss it.

What happens when a nation built on the promise to “promote the general welfare” decides who’s actually worthy of that welfare?

In this episode of Equity Matters, we trace the racialized roots of America’s social safety net — from Mothers’ Pensions that rewarded white respectability to New Deal policies that excluded Black labor and follow how those early moral judgments still echo in today’s debates over WIC, SNAP, and the federal budget.

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We were promised a nation that would “promote the general welfare.” But whose welfare did they mean?

In Hunger Games (We the People), we trace how America built a safety net with holes big enough for entire communities to fall through and how myths about “deserving” and “undeserving” still shape who gets to eat, rest, and heal. This isn’t just about policy. It’s about power and the stories we’ve been told to believe.

🎧 Listen Friday.

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What does it mean to disappear in plain sight?

In this episode of Equity Matters, we go inside Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz, a detention facility hidden deep in the Everglades and examine how isolation, bureaucracy, and profit intersect to erase human lives. We explore the systems that justify confinement, the historical patterns they echo, and the human cost of making suffering invisible. This episode asks hard questions about accountability, equity, and what it would take to put humanity before legality and profit.

Listen & Subscribe to Equity Matters Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube

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