Another View is an award- winning, call-in radio talk show that explores today’s important topics from an African American perspective. We sat down with the program’s co-producers, Barbara Hamm Lee and Lisa Godley, to talk about their experiences over the past 10 years of creating the weekly program.

Congratulations on the 10-year anniversary of Another View. How did the show start?

Lisa: Bert came to Barbara, looking at the diversity in the Hampton Roads community and was wondering why we didn't have a show that focused on the African American community and African American issues. And then she actually started getting the ball rolling because she helped to formulate a focus group that served as consultants as to what was needed in terms of a program, and what they'd like to see.

Barbara: We invited 100 people from the African American community, and 60 accepted our invitation and came to the station for a two-hour working lunch and we got all kinds of ideas. The only thing that they asked us was that every week we talked about something positive that was happening in the Black community. The overall feeling from the group, as well as from Lisa and I when we first put the show together, was that we wanted to showcase the positive things going on in the community, as well as talk about issues.

We decided to name the show Another View because we wanted to show the larger community another view of the African American community and we wanted to show the African American community another view of itself.

Barbara, your biography describes you as “an expert in navigating the difficult terrain of race relations.” What motivated you early on to focus on this area?

Barbara: Growing up in Baltimore, my family was the second African American family to move into an all-white neighborhood. When I started kindergarten, I was the only African American student. When I graduated from elementary to middle school, I could count the number of white students on one hand, so I saw white flight in all its glory.

Because I excelled at school—I was always the only or one of very few—people always thought of me as an exception. In my world, I was just a normal kid. It just became a mission of mine to show people that there are African Americans who are smart and engaged and do everything that everyone else does. We are not an exception; we are the rule of our community. It became really important to me that I speak up for my race, that I speak up where I could to let people know that their misconceptions of our community were very real, and they are misconceptions.

When I became news director at (WTKR) News Channel 3, there were only 20 African American news directors in the entire country in the top 50 markets and there were 19 men, and I was the only woman. So again, another example of walking into boardrooms or walking into meetings of senior teams and being the only, or one of the only, so it's kind of been my life all along.

In your opinion why is it still so hard for people to talk about race?

Lisa: I think it's always hard for people to talk about things that make them uncomfortable. Race is one of those things that makes people uncomfortable because people don't like pain. Most people would prefer to just completely stay away from pain, but the race issue in this country is one of those wounds that we just cannot keep putting a bandage over. It's something that we really need to treat and not just say, “Okay, well let's just wrap it up and keep moving.” No, there's a wound there and it needs to be treated, and it needs to heal before we can move on.

Barbara: Guilt is one reason. People are very afraid to say the wrong thing and nobody likes to be accused of being racist, so I think that people don't want to talk about it because it is a very uncomfortable conversation. It's not about assigning blame. It's about understanding what has happened systemically, understanding how we have set up laws and customs that continue to this day to marginalize a group of people who were so instrumental in building this country. It's not about taking away anything from anyone; it's just about leveling the playing field as much as possible so that everybody can have a chance to play.

Do you find that it's getting easier? Are we trending in the right direction?

Lisa: Some of the best feelings I get are when I get emails from people, or people walk up to me on the street, and say, “I love your show. I never really thought about it that way before, but you've made me rethink how I think.” That is the best thing they can say to me, because that means that we're doing our job and we're doing it well, because that's our purpose. And I've been getting more and more of that in the past nine or 10 months than I think I have in the past 10 years.

Barbara: You know the marches this summer and so forth gave me hope, but then when I get into smaller groups of people in the neighborhood or just throughout the cities, I think we’ve still got a long way to go. But every day I remain hopeful because if I didn't then I couldn't do this work.

What has been a proudest moment on the show for you?

Lisa: Most recently the thing I'm most proud of is the show we did on redlining, where we had a national guest who had written a book about redlining and the government's role in separating the races through housing. I hosted that show, and we got a lot of great feedback from people about it because we were touching on issues that remain today that started long, long ago. If I had to pick something most recent, that would be it. I also love when we go on location and have the opportunity to see face to face the people that love Another View and look forward to the show every week.

Barbara: The thing I'm most proud of is that Lisa and I have stuck to the mission. We've had a lot of people both African American and non-African Americans say, “Why don't you expand it and make it more multicultural?” or “Why don't you talk about other minorities?” and so forth. And we have said there's plenty of room for other shows, but this show is going to highlight African Americans. We're very laser focused on what our mission is, and we try to deliver that every week.

Is there anything that you want people to know about the show that they may not already know?

Barbara: I would just like to thank those who listen, and who listen with an open mind, and who are hungry for knowledge and who appreciate what we're doing. I just want to say thank you, because they didn't have to accept us and they didn't have to tune in every week. And they still don't have to, but people choose to and that means a lot to us, so for that we are truly grateful.

Another View airs Thursdays at noon on WHRV FM. Find them online at whro.org/anotherview and on Facebook @AnotherView.