Welcome to the Pascal Beautiful Show! I’m Pascal Beautiful and let me start this off by stating what I’m not. I’m not a preacher, a certified teacher or even a self-described media pundit or ‘expert’ anything.
I’m a man who has lived in this world long enough to know that this life is shorter than expected, yet often longer than the hope we need to get through it, with some sense of sanity. I’ve also hit that age where it's now routine to get extremely intimate health screenings performed and to use better sense in what I ingest. This bit of a reality check has helped me become more introspective, appreciative and feeling ‘blessed’ that I’ve been able to live and experience so much, not just survive.
I was born into a fully-analog world that transformed (at light speed, it seems) to almost fully-digital in just one generation. I recall watching the Jetson’s while using a lima-bean colored rotary phone and turning the ‘knobs’ on our massive, wood-encased 27” TV cabinet, which was more like a piece of furniture. Now my 50” 4K Smart TV is thinner than a Trapper Keeper and not much heavier.
With all the technological advancements, fashion changes, music genres and dance moves, one thing has sadly remained constant…the concept of Race and our passed-down hatred, lies and insecurities, as well as our unwillingness to see it as it is and accept our own roles in keeping this ultimate falsehood alive and well. Though bigotry is rampant in the world, my focus is specifically on American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS), as we were here from the beginning of the colonization of North America and it’s extremely personal.
Unfortunately, there are far too many examples of the deadly inequities facing ADOS in the world today due to the concept of Race. From police and every-day White people murdering unarmed ADOS to the fact it took 70 years after the murder/lynching of 14 year-old Emmett Till for the USA to pass a law (The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act) that makes lynching a Federal Hate Crime. (Actually, justice-loving folks were trying to get the law passed for over 100 years, but the Federal government wouldn’t do it. This may be a good sign for Reparations for ADOS getting passed.) Life is unnecessarily unfair and super hard for ADOS to make it in this world. Whether it’s through less pay and more work, being charged more for less, being denied access, and the constant micro/major aggressions at work and everywhere outside of home that beat you down 24/7.
My main objective for this podcast is to question, test and approve what is right and what is wrong. To highlight and to position the question who we (ADOS) really are today and who we truly want to be. Most people never go beyond hearing to actually questioning, testing and approving what is true. Most people just go on, ‘what someone else said,’ whether it's parents, family or friends, without questioning whether it’s right or wrong. Without thinking for yourself! This podcast is NOT for those people. For the rest of you willing to take the next step with me, welcome to the Pascal Beautiful Show!