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RACE TALKS: The Blueprint of a Black Father

Mentorship, Mental Health, & Legacy in America’s 250th Year

Friday, June 19, 2026 | 7:00 PM ET | WGXC-90.7FM | Streaming live at https://www.wgxc.org/listen

This month on RACE TALKS, host Kimberly Erwin welcomes Gregory G. Owens—a licensed master social worker, keynote speaker, trainer, consultant, and longtime advocate for Black males, fathers, mentoring, cultural competence, leadership, and healing-centered community transformation.

This 5th Anniversary "Juneteenth" edition of RACE TALKS invites listeners into a necessary, uplifting conversation on Black fathers, mentorship, healing, music, identity, and the legacies that shape families and communities. Timed with America’s 250th anniversary, this episode also pays homage to PRIDE Month, offers Father’s Day reflections, and addresses an urgent need to discuss belonging, manhood, mentorship, and the institutions that shape Black family life.

For more than three decades, Mr. Owens has worked at the intersection of mental health, racial equity, youth development, and systemic change. He has helped shape mentoring strategies for young Black males, consulted on racial disproportionality in juvenile justice systems across the country, and dedicated his life to helping communities heal from the inside out.

But what is most striking about Mr. Owens isn't found on his résumé. While helping build systems for others, he was simultaneously building a family, a legacy, and a blueprint. Today, he proudly celebrates the accomplishments of his daughter, a recent PhD graduate, alongside his wife of more than 32 years. 

That matters.

As we continue the fifth anniversary season of RACE TALKS, we explore a question that feels especially urgent: What happens when we stop talking about Black men primarily through the lens of crisis and start talking about them through the lens of possibility?

We deliver:

* Black fathers as community architects: How fatherhood, mentorship, presence, policy, and lived experience shape young people, families, and entire neighborhoods.

* The systems around Black men and fathers: Education, child welfare, juvenile justice, law enforcement, employment, incarceration, racial disproportionality, and the stories institutions often tell about Black fathers.

* Belonging, healing, and cultural legacy: Juneteenth, PRIDE Month, the Obama Presidential Center, the Brunson father-son Knicks legacy, music as memory, and the need to build communities where people can be seen, safe, and whole.

Listen closely and you will hear a smooth jazz thread throughout, with music highlighted through Grover Washington Jr.’s Mister Magic, Nelson Rangel’s Grace, and Peter White’s Soul Embrace, weaving sound, memory, and meaning into the larger conversation.

Community Call-to-Action

This episode is not just a broadcast; it is an invitation. 

Listeners are encouraged to tune in, reflect, share questions, and participate in the ongoing work of building stronger families, safer communities, and more honest public conversations.

Ways to participate:

* LISTEN live every third Friday!

* SHARE comments, questions, and reflections through the RACE TALKS Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RaceTalksShow/.

* EXPLORE past episodes in the WGXC / Wave Farm archives.

About the RACE TALKS Production Team

* Host: Kimberly Erwin, Intercultural Communicator, Owner of Intercultural Connect, LLC, and creator of a media space dedicated to the conversation on race and ethnicity.

* Co-producer: Garrett Roche, host of The Roche Solid Truth Podcast, who joins the show's ongoing work of creating thoughtful, timely, and community-centered dialogue.