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Taraji P. Henson Launches Mental Health Initiative For Black Youth Called The Unspoken Curriculum
May 24, 2021
Actress Taraji P. Henson has continually used her platform as an avenue to spread awareness about the importance of mental health and she’s taking her efforts further with the creation of a new initiative. According to People, the Washington, D.C. native has launched a program to help Black students who are facing mental health struggles that stem from racism.
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0:00
be with us so what did i learn today
0:03
exactly what you taught me ladies and
0:05
gentlemen
0:06
this is mental health awareness month
0:09
that is a public awareness
0:11
we're talking about a public awareness
0:12
campaign to help lighten the mental
0:14
health burden the education system
0:16
places on black
0:17
students that's a clip from the unspoken
0:20
curriculum
0:21
program and initiative and we have one
0:23
of the most powerful
0:25
voices to ever come out of hollywood on
0:27
the air with us db please
0:29
please do the honors absolutely well
0:32
sway the last time she came by the show
0:34
i think was
0:34
nine years ago when she was promoting
0:36
him like a man
0:38
she's a golden globe winner a three-time
0:40
emmy nominated and academy award named
0:42
nominated actress producer author and
0:44
director she was named one of
0:46
uh the hundred most influential people
0:48
in in the world by time magazine in
0:50
2016.
0:51
she started hustle and flow with terence
0:53
howard and then they both reunited on
0:54
the series empire
0:56
which you also had cameos in sway just
0:57
to remind people
0:59
she started a movie such as the curious
1:00
case of benjamin button
1:02
hidden figures and one of my personal
1:03
favorite smoking aces along with several
1:05
citizens of sway in the morning such as
1:07
jeremy piven ryan reynolds andy garcia
1:09
ray liotta and common
1:11
but today she's here to talk about an
1:12
important initiative called the unspoken
1:14
curriculum
1:15
which she launched through her
1:16
foundation the boris lawrence henson
1:17
foundation
1:18
please welcome her back to raji p henson
1:23
wow that's you
1:27
that's all you come on wow
1:31
damn you it's been nine years taraji i
1:34
got mad when he said that
1:37
i was a little offended by that too i
1:39
feel some kind of way
1:41
wait a minute i tried the truth man
1:44
who whose part whose fault is it is it
1:46
mine is it your
1:48
it's no fault i think it's just time you
1:51
know i was
1:51
on a show called empire that took up all
1:54
of my time so
1:55
i wasn't available to do a lot of stuff
1:58
so i don't know
1:59
but we you know guess what it's water
2:01
under the bridge now we can fix it
2:03
we can fix it because you know funny at
2:04
the same time i was on a show called
2:06
empire too
2:08
[Music]
2:08
[Laughter]
2:13
well this is amazing uh what you are
2:15
doing
2:16
and the unspoken curriculum and even
2:19
um the initiative that to really
2:21
specifically narrow down on black kids
2:24
and what they go through in education
2:26
and what we've all experienced and never
2:28
really been able to identify it or put
2:30
words to it
2:31
or put an initiative behind it you know
2:33
and some of
2:34
the things that you're touching on i
2:36
think everybody on this call could speak
2:38
to so i want to start with this um
2:41
what what how did this come to be in in
2:44
this initiative
2:45
and what was it that what inspired you
2:48
to put this curriculum out and what do
2:50
you hope to accomplish
2:52
um well for me it was very personal
2:55
because
2:56
i um was a substitute teacher for a
2:58
while before i became
3:00
taraj p henson a celebrity and i
3:02
remember realizing when i was standing
3:04
in the pipeline of prison
3:05
i um i um
3:09
i was a substitute teacher for um uh
3:12
phys
3:12
for special needs kids right and i
3:15
remember getting sent to crenshaw and
3:17
i'm waiting for my students to come in
3:19
and they all walk in they're not
3:21
special needs at all from what i can see
3:23
they can
3:24
talk they can you know they smart they
3:27
witty
3:28
and um they are all black boys
3:33
and they cut to this label special ed
3:37
because of course they are acting out in
3:39
class or whatever because
3:41
i do my further research and i find out
3:43
parents aren't home
3:44
you know some are in jail some working
3:47
two three jobs
3:48
kids are not being uh they don't have
3:50
the help at home to reinforce they're
3:51
coming from traumatic situations just
3:53
put it like that
3:54
but they're getting labeled special
3:56
needs where is the compassion where is
3:58
why why is this child active now where
4:00
is the compassion and empathy when it
4:02
comes to our children
4:03
why are they criminalized for being
4:06
children
4:06
you know and another thing that stood
4:08
out to me was the trauma that
4:10
kids our children especially in urban
4:14
uh hoods where they normalize
4:17
trauma uh like shootouts that happens in
4:20
front of a school i remember being
4:21
dragged without a student
4:22
like this look there was a shootout last
4:24
night they laughing and they look and
4:26
then point to the bullet hole in the
4:28
wall of the school
4:29
and they at school the next day that's
4:32
trauma that's what i mean
4:33
the things that our children have to
4:34
normalize i was moved to do something
4:36
because and then i started thinking
4:38
about my past in college and
4:40
in school and and the little um
4:44
indiscretions that happened and it was
4:46
just in the curriculum that
4:48
i didn't pay attention until later on
4:50
that i'm still dealing with
4:52
you know i'm just trying to you know at
4:54
boys launches and we want to
4:56
reshape this curriculum we want to bring
4:58
it to everyone's attention
5:00
the students so they can recognize it
5:02
right away speak out about it
5:04
avoid some of the traumas we have to
5:07
import
5:08
you know with a partnership with our um
5:12
uh edelman and i'm so grateful for them
5:15
because they are
5:16
you know helping us having fun this and
5:18
helping us
5:19
you know get the word out there but we
5:21
still need donations so
5:24
but um with edelman we're able to um
5:27
we're able to pair up and put this
5:29
together so i'm just so excited to
5:32
to even have these conversations you
5:34
know bring
5:35
awareness to something that we just
5:38
normalized
5:40
we do normalize it what we find is and
5:42
through your research too black boys are
5:44
almost three times as likely to be
5:46
suspended than white boys and black
5:47
girls are four times
5:49
as likely to be suspended than white
5:51
girls and black students misbehavior is
5:54
more often criminalized compared to
5:56
other students these these are biases
5:58
that we see
6:00
that are visible sometimes invisible and
6:03
being a substitute teacher you got a
6:05
chance to see
6:06
you know the absence of parents and then
6:08
you got a chance to see
6:10
parents who were actually active we had
6:12
mike muse on the show who does our
6:14
political news earlier and i said if you
6:15
could ask taraji anything
6:17
about the unspoken curriculum what would
6:20
it be
6:21
and this is his question for you
6:25
how should parents approach their
6:27
teachers
6:29
and guidance counselors and principals
6:31
to come up with the best
6:33
program for their child who may be
6:35
deemed
6:36
as they need special ed
6:42
well you know you you have to
6:46
have the conversation you know before i
6:48
let a
6:49
any uh educator
6:52
put a label on my child we have to have
6:55
a conversation
6:56
right we need to bring in clinicians we
6:59
need to bring in professionals because
7:01
where are you gathering your information
7:04
to
7:04
how are you a professional in the mental
7:06
health area as an education
7:09
uh instructor or you know someone who
7:11
works with the board
7:12
how are you a clinician are you a
7:14
therapist are you a psychiatrist
7:16
so it's threefold it's the educator the
7:19
parent
7:20
and the professional in the mental
7:22
health bill and i think that's what's
7:23
lacking in schools we have
7:24
counselors we are the clinicians we are
7:27
the therapists we are the psychiatrists
7:28
we are the professionals who study the
7:30
mind and can say you know what
7:32
this child is acting out because of blah
7:35
blah blah because i
7:36
i'm a professional in this field right
7:38
so i think that's what's lacking in our
7:40
schools we don't have that
7:42
we like you said the law is often
7:45
involved when it comes to our children
7:47
they're reprimanded um you know by the
7:50
law
7:51
instead of professionals who can
7:54
identify a child dealing with
7:57
trauma or a mental health issue or
8:00
someone that's
8:01
in a um you know
8:04
a manic state
8:10
taraji so you definitely need a
8:12
professional in in this scenario it's
8:14
not just about talking to just the
8:16
teacher
8:16
you know you can't just say my child is
8:19
special needs where are you coming from
8:21
where are you getting your
8:23
information okay taraji is here with us
8:26
we're speaking about the unspoken
8:28
curriculum uh this is a new campaign
8:31
it's launched through her foundation the
8:33
boris lawrence henson foundation
8:35
uh you could go to boris
8:38
hensonfoundation.org
8:40
i'm sorry l foundation
8:44
yeah dot org forward slash unspoken
8:48
um tracy do you want to jump in on this
8:51
oh i absolutely do hey taraji i'm so
8:54
happy to hear your voice
8:56
especially with this powerful messaging
8:58
that's so necessary because
9:00
there are so many aspects of our society
9:02
that need to be
9:03
rewritten and people haven't realized
9:05
that because we just been moving in
9:07
autopilot
9:08
for so long and i think what's so
9:11
important
9:12
is um language you know like we've
9:14
learned
9:15
with our major mental health um
9:19
zeitgeist that we're in that calling
9:21
something like giving it a title giving
9:23
it a name is very important
9:25
we need that to then have the
9:27
conversation to build on
9:29
and so can you give maybe some
9:33
suggestions from what you've learned say
9:35
you know thinking about
9:37
the death of george floyd for instance
9:39
right
9:40
how a teacher should approach that let's
9:43
say that teacher
9:44
is white and they have their black
9:47
students in class do you think that this
9:49
is more so something where
9:51
the principal should address this the
9:52
entire school
9:54
is this a conversation that should be
9:55
had more intimately just within
9:58
each classroom is this a conversation
10:00
that should be had even
10:01
more intimately with like each student
10:03
individually
10:04
and then how is it shared
10:09
again i think what is missing in school
10:14
often times are clinicians
10:17
and psychiatrist right we put so much on
10:21
teachers
10:21
and you know the educators there they're
10:24
just to educate they're not doctors
10:26
you know what i mean they can't they're
10:28
not in the
10:29
mental health field you know and that's
10:31
where boardsmart henson foundation comes
10:34
in we're working with
10:35
you know the schools to implement
10:38
the technician the clinicians that need
10:40
to be in there
10:41
you know you got to think about i know
10:43
when i was in school we didn't even have
10:44
teachers age you just had 20 30 students
10:47
in the class and it was just a teacher
10:49
then later on they started to try to add
10:51
aids
10:52
a teacher's aide and you may have one or
10:55
two counselors to
10:56
counsel how many children that are in
10:58
that school right and you have some
11:00
tragic you have something tragic like
11:03
this happen you've got all of those
11:04
students are trying to see two
11:05
counselors
11:06
and then a counselor are you a
11:08
professional
11:10
can you identify a child that is in
11:12
distress
11:13
or suffering from a traumatic moment
11:16
trying to normalize it now and acting
11:18
out
11:18
you know so you have a lot of educators
11:21
that are overwhelmed
11:23
because they are unequipped this is not
11:25
their field
11:26
and so that's where we are leaning on
11:29
you know legislature
11:30
to emp to put these professionals
11:34
in these schools to deal with the
11:37
traumas
11:37
of a shootout that just happened or uh
11:41
watching something all the many hashtags
11:43
that you have to deal with
11:45
uh on on social media or george floyd
11:48
incident that we
11:49
seem to have to go through every other
11:51
day now you know um
11:52
the teachers aren't equipped we need to
11:54
stop relying on the teeth that's not
11:56
their job
11:57
they need help as well that's what i was
11:59
thinking ptsd
12:01
just like we all are you know that's
12:03
where the professionals come in and
12:05
that's what the schools are lacking
12:07
yeah i agree i think the teachers
12:09
definitely need
12:10
therapists as well and it shouldn't just
12:12
be like you said like
12:14
two counselors but there's a difference
12:16
between a guidance counselor
12:18
and a therapist and i'm also
12:21
thinking to myself too like there should
12:23
even just be
12:24
in general as a part of like the
12:26
curriculum just a mental health
12:28
class that's taken absolutely
12:31
absolutely and there should be time out
12:34
there should be
12:35
you know they call it recess when you
12:37
play that's fine or whatever you go
12:38
outside you go to lunch but there should
12:40
also be quiet moments right
12:42
this will also be safe spaces for kids
12:46
to go
12:47
and hash out their issues right safe
12:50
faces where they can go and talk why did
12:52
you bump me in the hall that way
12:54
oh i you know i just found out my
12:56
brother got covered or whatever
12:58
you know what i'm saying i'm sorry i
12:59
wasn't thinking safe spaces
13:01
to deal with uh issues
13:04
amongst each other
13:07
taraji p hanson is here with us i want
13:10
everybody to go to the boris
13:12
l hensonfoundation.org
13:15
forward slash unspoken to find out more
13:17
about the unspoken curriculum
13:19
they can use your donation citizens you
13:21
know how we do we get people funded
13:23
all right i gotta i'm gonna take one
13:25
caller to roger i know you have to go
13:26
gina is in cali and she's actually a
13:28
school psychologist
13:29
and she wanted to tap in go for it gina
13:33
hi i'm really so happy to hear uh
13:36
speaking on this topic
13:38
i think the profession of school
13:40
psychology kind of goes
13:42
overlooked in terms of support school
13:45
psychologists are tasked with
13:47
identifying special education
13:50
students as far as who is eligible
13:53
we have a huge disproportionality issue
13:57
in terms of african-americans being
14:00
over-identified um with emotional
14:03
disturbance
14:04
and so i serve on a task force to
14:08
alleviate that disproportionality and
14:11
also i serve as the social justice
14:12
committee chairperson
14:14
over the california association of
14:16
school psychologists
14:17
so that we can implement fair and
14:19
equitable
14:20
ethical practices within the schools
14:24
um when you were speaking taraji um
14:27
hu in the house by the way um thank you
14:31
[Laughter]
14:35
when you were speaking about um
14:38
really just the taking a break
14:41
you know giving students a spaced
14:44
process
14:45
you know it's so hard when we expect for
14:48
them to
14:49
read and write when they don't know if
14:52
their lives are going to be on when they
14:53
get home
14:55
their uncle just got shot the night
14:56
before you know
14:58
they don't know if they're gonna have
15:00
food when they go home
15:02
you know there's all of these other
15:04
things in play
15:05
but what can we do on the school site to
15:08
get them
15:09
in a space of mindfulness to get them
15:12
ready to learn
15:13
to also be open to what they may be
15:17
dealing with
15:18
before we even start the academics
15:21
because
15:21
so often the externalized behaviors that
15:25
we see
15:26
now they're being disproportionately put
15:28
in alternative placements such as
15:30
community schools
15:31
and all of this and that but we're not
15:33
addressing the traumas
15:35
that are the origin of the behavior and
15:38
i just want you all to know
15:40
that we are really trying diligently
15:43
to focus on those things as well but
15:46
continue to bring awareness to it um
15:49
advocate for more school psychologists
15:51
to be on campuses uh when i first
15:54
started over 20 years ago
15:56
i had five campuses and now um i'm down
16:00
to two
16:01
overload overload that's too much that's
16:04
too much
16:05
now who would well now where's her
16:07
therapy you know what i mean
16:09
yeah hello where's her therapy that's a
16:13
great point
16:14
um yeah it's too much it's too much
16:17
that's not a job of a teacher that's not
16:20
a teacher's job
16:21
we put too much on the teacher and not
16:23
even the principal's job
16:25
yeah yeah they're not equipped they're
16:27
not equipped
16:29
uh gina thank you for your call and your
16:31
contribution to this conversation
16:33
to roger i feel like we got to we gotta
16:36
have a part two
16:37
when you get time because i got tons of
16:40
lines ashley and ohio the loud maryland
16:42
mike and detroit i can name about 20
16:44
people who like to talk more about it
16:45
but to those 20 people
16:47
on the lines and we only have 20 lines
16:51
please go to her platform boris
16:54
l hensonfoundation.org
16:58
forward slash unspoken and do what you
17:01
can
17:01
donate what you can find out more about
17:03
this movement to roger i know you have
17:05
to go
17:06
um i need a chance to say happy boring
17:08
day i did on your platform i loved you
17:10
in your bikini
17:11
i was like you know
17:15
part two because it's continuous it's
17:17
complex yes we got to just keep talking
17:19
about it like i'm with that
17:21
use this platform this pat this platform
17:23
is a subsidiary now
17:24
a boris l hensonfoundation.org forward
17:28
slash
17:28
unspoken okay and uh love you too miss
17:32
you and i'm
17:33
gonna go ahead and put on my bathing
17:34
suit too and show them what i'm working
17:36
with just like you did you're an
17:37
inspiration
17:39
all right now
17:40
[Laughter]
17:42
to roger keep up the great work can't
17:44
wait to talk to you again okay
17:47
thanks guys can't wait to see you in
17:48
person yes take care okay
17:51
love you all right you know she a super
17:52
citizen to rise
18:01
[Music]
18:09
you
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