88Nine Radio Milwaukee’s Tarik Moody

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Photo Credit: Tom Jenz

Tarik Moody is an important voice in Milwaukee and an advocate for diversity and inclusion. As the Director of Digital Strategy and Innovation for 88Nine Radio Milwaukee, he is in a position to make a difference. Recently, Tarik Moody and noted research journalist Reggie Jackson broadcast a six-part podcast series, By Every Measure, which explores systemic racism in all aspects of Milwaukee including the history and possible changes. The podcast covers the disparities systemically woven into the Black experience in Milwaukee, which the series claims is one of the worst cities in the nation for Black residents. Tarik and I discussed racism and possibilities for healing the divide.

At 47 years old, you’ve had an interesting career including nearly 15 years at Radio Milwaukee. How did you end up in Milwaukee?

I grew up in the southeast but mostly Atlanta. My dad worked for a few different oil companies in marketing. Our family moved around. I went to Howard University on an ROTC scholarship and did a five-year program in architecture. Graduated in 1996 and got a job with Northwest Airlines. They moved me to Detroit, and then I got a promotion to Minneapolis, the headquarters. On the side, I ended up as a co-host of a Minneapolis radio show and as a deejay. But I was still working as an architect. In 2006, I got a call from the 88Nine radio station in Milwaukee. They gave me a job. Fifteen years later, I’m still here doing shows and digital strategy. 

How did you get involved in the public affairs side of radio?

That’s part of the DNA of 88Nine Radio Milwaukee. Besides music, we try to tell positive stories that go beyond the local mainstream news. That fascinates me.  

They seem like emotional stories. You are delving into controversy, right?

We talk about problems that Milwaukee faces but also about people trying to make a difference or trying to come up with solutions to controversial issues.  

Who is your station’s audience? I suspect listeners are mostly white, educated progressive types?

You could say that because we are a public radio station, but 88.9 is a little more diverse, catering to a younger audience, but yes, mostly white.  

Let’s talk about your podcast series on systemic racism, "By Every Measure". It was informative and educational, but I kept thinking why aren’t we hearing some white voices and their opinions? Obviously, racism involves Blacks and whites and people of color.  

There were six episodes in By Every Measure, and we wanted to explain racism pertaining to those topics, the history, education, housing, health, the prejudice, the problems facing Blacks in a white world. Our audience is mainly white, and we tried to explain systemic racism from a Black point of view. Black voices educating whites, in other words. My co-host Reggie Jackson was transparent, very honest. But we also had other voices explaining how to solve the problems of segregated Milwaukee.

Give me your take on this topic as I understand it. Systemic racism means the unfair practices, policies and procedures of institutions and corporations that produce inequitable outcomes for Black people. Systemic racism also allows the racial group that’s already in power to retain power. In the U.S., it’s the white race.

That’s about it. Most people don’t understand systemic racism. They might think racism means saying the N word.  

In racism, we are struggling with the same problem humans have been dealing with since the dawn of man, that life isn’t fair, that by nature humans are not equal. Face it. We are tribal. We rely on our instincts to combat survival and fear. In other words, you don’t look like me, behave like me, and you speak a different dialect, so I don’t want you around. How do we overcome systemic racism? 

The first challenge is for people to recognize that systemic racism exists. The second is for people to have hard conversations, admit the injustices of history. The third challenge is to tackle solutions. How to solve racial differences. Anything that makes people uncomfortable they don’t want to talk about. It can be a threat to some people’s power.  

That’s human nature. If you are in power, you want to stay in power. If you’ve got the money, you want to keep the money. 

The irony is that by actually accepting and supporting racial injustice, it might make you, the powerful, more powerful. Lifting people up from poverty and social injustice would make you money because that would lead to a better economy.   

If certain people of any color refuse to understand or accept systemic racism, I think it makes sense to stop engaging them. They won’t be changed. Reformers need to focus on people who want to make a difference.

Especially people in power or are in positions of influence like businessmen, politicians, entertainers. They can help make changes.

I’ve been doing stories about Black central city residents and the street leaders. I feel that their stories are pretty much ignored by the mainstream media. I’ve had talks with thoughtful Black people going about their normal lives. I sometimes tell them that I am prejudiced, that I feel fear or awkwardness in their presence, that I can’t talk their dialect, that I am afraid of a group of Black juveniles staring me down. Sometimes, this opens up the discussion where they tell me of their own prejudices against whites.   

That’s good. Having conversations is a start.  If you can get people to do that, it’s huge. Right now, the whole of American culture is overly sensitive. You make an insensitive tweet or Facebook post, you might be out of a job. That’s just not the same as an assault or robbery or a hate crime. Those criminals should be penalized for actions, if somebody really hurts somebody. Many Americans are afraid to talk or have conversations about race because they might say the wrong thing. That’s why we need safe spaces for these conversations. Also, some people think if we don't talk about it, racism will go away. Too many Americans are not very good at difficult conversations. We love the easy way out.

And this collective angst has boiled over into irrational behavior. In Milwaukee’s Riverwest, there is a group of mostly white middle aged and older people who regularly congregate somewhere on the streets, wave Black Lives Matter signs and endlessly shout “Black lives matter!” Once, I stopped and said, “If you really want to do something about improving Black lives, then let’s go into the central city and clean up the trash in the alleys and streets, talk to some of the residents, find out what they need.” But they won’t do that. Why? Because they are afraid, I believe.   

I feel the same way as you do, but I do understand that sign-waving is a start. I want to ask what can you as a white American do terms of action. What can you do beyond having a sign in your window or yelling a slogan?  Or getting beyond having no Black friends, living in an all-white neighborhood or having no Black workers in your business?

It’s a good thing that some suburban people have stepped up to support the Black Lives movement, but I worry that it could be a passing fad that might be forgotten.  

Those suburban people can do something. For example, try to tell the white-owned business you work at to hire people in leadership roles different from you. Or you go into Big Daddy’s Soul Food and order their food and tell your friends about a good Black-owned restaurant. You can also volunteer at organizations that help communities of color. Donate more than just money. Donate your time. Donate your heart.