The Equity Matters Podcast

When a politician walks into a Black church, what does that presence mean? And what responsibility comes with opening the doors? In this episode of Equity Matters, Dr. James Bell examines the intersection of the Black church and politics, race and religion, and political power. Through the recent appearance of Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens alongside Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers at Detroit's Perfecting Church, we explore what this moment reveals about political access, racial identity, and belonging in American public life. The conversation examines how whiteness, xenophobia, and Islamophobia shape whose political participation is welcomed and whose identity is treated with suspicion. We also consider the historic role of the Black church in civil rights, community organizing, and racial equity and the responsibilities that come with pastoral leadership when politics enters the sanctuary. What is the difference between offering hospitality and providing political legitimacy? And what does solidarity actually require? Can I get a witness? Listen & Subscribe to Equity Matters Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Follow us on Instagram Like us on Facebook Follow us on TikTok Check out our Free Resources on Gumroad Keep up with James’ Substack

We often talk about health in terms of the choices we make and the resources available to us. But who gets to make the decisions that shape those resources, opportunities, and the conditions surrounding our everyday lives? In the final episode of The Politics of Being Well, a three-part Equity Matters series, I explore the connection between power, democracy, and health equity. Through the life and legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer, we examine the difference between having a voice, being heard, and having influence over decisions that affect our well-being. We close with a question that challenges how we think about democracy and public health: What would it mean to build a society where people not only have the opportunity to be well, but also have a meaningful say in shaping the conditions that make well-being possible? Listen & Subscribe to Equity Matters Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Follow us on Instagram Like us on Facebook Follow us on TikTok Check out our Free Resources on Gumroad Keep up with James’ Substack  

What do potholes, farmers markets, food assistance, and voting rights have to do with our health? More than we might think. In the second episode of The Politics of Being Well, I reflect on a childhood bike ride between Detroit and Grosse Pointe that helped me recognize how dramatically community conditions can change from one place to another. Those differences don't just happen. They're shaped by decisions about public resources, infrastructure, programs, and priorities. Who gets to influence those decisions? Whose needs receive attention? And what does it mean to have a meaningful voice in the systems that affect our health? Listen & Subscribe to Equity Matters Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Follow us on Instagram Like us on Facebook Follow us on TikTok Check out our Free Resources on Gumroad Keep up with James’ Substack

We’re often told that being healthy comes down to the choices we make. But what if the choices available to us are shaped by where we live, what we can afford, and the conditions surrounding our everyday lives? In the first episode of The Politics of Being Well, a three-part Equity Matters series, I explore the connection between personal choices, the social determinants of health, and the systems that shape our opportunities to be healthy. Inspired in part by the legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer, we begin with a question that challenges how we typically talk about health: Who gets to shape the conditions that make health possible? Listen & Subscribe to Equity Matters Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Follow us on Instagram Like us on Facebook Follow us on TikTok Check out our Free Resources on Gumroad Keep up with James’ Substack

I’ve long admired Fannie Lou Hamer for her courage and willingness to challenge systems that denied Black people in a voice in decisions shaping their lives. Her story has me thinking about a question we don’t often ask: What does democracy have to do with our health? In The Politics of Being Well, a three-part Equity Matters series, we look beyond personal choices and the ballot box to explore how power, public decisions, and whose voices matter shape the conditions in which we live and our opportunities to be healthy. Because if we want to understand health, we have to ask not only how people live, but who gets to shape the world they live in. What are we missing when we talk about health without talking about power? Because equity always matters. Listen & Subscribe to Equity Matters Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Sign Our Petition to Stop the Silencing of Our Black Stories Follow us on Instagram Like us on Facebook Follow us on TikTok Check out our Free Resources on Gumroad

In the Margins is a podcast series that explores stories the way they’re meant to be explored. Part of the Stop Silencing Black Stories project, each episode moves beyond summary and literary analysis to ask: What is this story really trying to show us? In this episode, we revisit Octavia Butler’s Kindred to examine the idea of generational curses—and challenge what we think we mean when we use that phrase. What if some of the things we call “generational curses” aren't curses at all? What if they are generational consequences? What happens when the systems created by one generation shape the lives of generations that never chose them? And what happens when we stop asking, “What's wrong with them?” and start asking, “What happened to them?” Kindred forces us to confront the ways history can become inheritance—and how the choices we make with that inheritance can determine what gets passed on. Because maybe the question isn't simply how do we break the chain? Maybe it's what are we willing to stop passing on? Listen & Subscribe to Equity Matters Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Sign Our Petition to Stop the Silencing of Our Black Stories Follow us on Instagram Like us on Facebook Follow us on TikTok Check out our Free Resources on Gumroad Visit Dr. Bell’s Website

In the Margins is a podcast series that explores stories the way they’re meant to be explored. Part of the Stop Silencing Black Stories project, each episode will move beyond summary and intro analysis. What is this story really trying to show us? In this Episode, The Blame Game, we revisit Richard Wright’s Native Son to examine race, fear, power, and the systems that shape the choices people are able to make. What happens when society defines someone before they have a chance to define themselves? And what happens we mistake individual choice for failures without examining the conditions that made those choices possible? Listen & Subscribe to Equity Matters Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Sign Our Petition to Stop the Silencing of Our Black Stories Follow us on Instagram Like us on Facebook Follow us on TikTok Check out our Free Resources on Gumroad Visit Dr. Bell’s Website

In the Margins is a podcast that explores stories the way they’re meant to be explored. Part of the Stop Silencing Black Stories project, each episode will move beyond summary and intro analysis. What is this story really trying to show us? In this episode, Back Down Memory Lane, we revisit Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to explore trauma, memory, and the power of lived experience. What happens when stories are treated as less valuable than data? And what do we lose when we silence the very narratives that help us understand how systems shape human lives? Listen & Subscribe to Equity Matters Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Sign Our Petition to Stop the Silencing of Our Black Stories Follow us on Instagram Like us on Facebook Follow us on TikTok Check out our Free Resources on Gumroad Visit Dr. Bell’s Website

In the Margins is a podcast that explores stories the way they’re meant to be explored. Part of the Stop Silencing Black Stories project, each episode will move beyond summary and intro analysis. What is this story really trying to show us? Listen & Subscribe to Equity Matters Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube  Sign Our Petition to Stop the Silencing of Our Black Stories Follow us on Instagram Like us on Facebook Follow us on TikTok Check out our Free Resources on Gumroad Visit Dr. Bell’s Website

A day in the life of a public health professional, podcaster, and human being. Roll with me to Richmond, VA to celebrate my brother achieving a significant academic milestone.