Lift Every Voice and Sing 🎤
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Description
🏛 How did the Senate vote in former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial for his role in the January 6th Capitol Insurrection? 🖍 Crayon Activist and Bellen’s More than Peach Project creator, Bellen Woodard joins The Ten News to discuss the positive change she's making in the world. 🎤 Learn why Congressman Jim Clyburn introduced a bill to make “Lift Every Voice and Sing” America’s National Hymn. 👃🏽 Plus! The Trivia Question of the Day!
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🖍 Get inspired by Crayon Activist, Bellen Woodard's Bellen’s More than Peach Project!
👃🏽 Discover how one man offers scientific analysis to tell people whether they smell good or bad.
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Transcript
Various voices 00:00
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
Bethany Van Delft 00:06
From historic votes to national anthems, in the next ten minutes, we'll get the lowdown on what's up in the world. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and this is The Ten News.
Bethany Van Delft 00:26
On February 13th, the Senate voted to acquit former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial. That means they officially found him not guilty of inciting the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Seven Senate Republicans broke with the rest of their party to vote in favor of conviction or finding him guilty, which is a really big deal since that makes it the most bipartisan impeachment vote ever.
A Kid 00:54
What does that mean?
Bethany Van Delft 00:56
Bipartisan means something that's agreed on by two political parties, that usually don't agree on much.
Bethany Van Delft 01:02
Some Senate Republicans, most notably House Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, voted against conviction, but later made statements or speeches criticizing the former President's actions, and admitting that he did play a big role in the attack. They argued that while they thought he was at fault, they didn't think impeachment was constitutional now that he's no longer President. It's all kind of confusing, and it does raise some questions about our democratic process, and what actions can and should have consequences.
Sound Bit 01:36
Yikes.
Bethany Van Delft 01:37
And while the Senate voted to acquit and not charge former President Trump, he's still facing some potential legal battles. We'll keep an eye on where that goes.
Bethany Van Delft 01:49
Awhile back, we told you about Time Magazine naming its first ever Kid of the Year. While only one kid ultimately was given the honor and the title, so many special and amazing kids got shoutouts from the magazine for doing super cool things. I got to speak to one incredible honoree, who turned a problem into a history making solution.
Bellen 02:16
My name is Bellen Woodard and I am 10 years old.
Bethany Van Delft 02:19
Yes, I am so excited to hang out with the world's first crayon activist. So tell us the name of your project.
Bellen 02:31
My project is called Bellen's More Than Peach Project.
Bethany Van Delft 02:35
And why is it called More Than Peach?
Bellen 02:38
When I was a bit younger people would ask where was the skin color crayon and I knew that meant the peach crayon. And I didn't like that because it kind of made me feel not like sad, it hurt my feelings, it just made me feel confused and dis-included. So one day I addressed the problem to my mother and she suggested next time for me to hand over the brown crayon. But I didn't want to do that because I knew I didn't like it. No one else would like it either. So instead, I told her next time I'm actually going to ask what color they want, because it could be a number of any colors. So that's exactly what I did next time I went to school. And eventually my teacher started hearing me say that and my class started saying that and eventually my whole school. And the reason why I decided to name it "More Than Peach" is to let kids know that there's more skin colors, other than just the peach crayon, even other than just the brown crayon, that there's more than one skin color.
Bethany Van Delft 03:36
"More than Peach" went from, what you're describing, a solution to a problem that really needs to be addressed, to, and I'm taking this off of your website, to a mission to advance empathy, leadership and creativity for all students excluding no one. How did you grow into that?
Bellen 03:56
Well, I started, I started, I realized I wanted to grow "More than Peach" instead of just keep it to something really small in just my community because I knew there was more needs outside of my community. And so I decided I would start on, I decided I would start donating around my county at first and then it kind of got the word, word kind of got out. And since it grew so much, I decided I actually was going to make my own my own "More than Peach" crayons. And my crayons are actually call it all skin color, and I wanted to make my crayons and so when kids actually read the name, it will, they will all be skin color and they'll understand that there is more than the peach or brown. It's not just the only skin color, all of them are skin colors.
Bethany Van Delft 04:50
How does it feel to know that you have influenced big brands to reflect and to be inclusive themselves. That's incredible.
Bellen 05:00
It feels very surprising for one because I never thought I was going to be, especially at 10 years old, I never thought I was going to be like a crayon maker. I like never imagined me being a person who would make crayons. And the fact that just tiny crayons and 12 and 24 packs can just make such a huge difference in the world. Like that's, I've even gotten responses from Spain, Australia, like places all around the world and I'm really happy about that because it's not only changing the language in the USA, it's also changing the language in all different parts of the world.
Bethany Van Delft 05:45
How can kids get involved in "More than Peach"?
Bellen 05:48
Well, I have a website, there's www.morethanpeach.com. And it tells you how you can get involved with my project. And I actually, I donate a lot to especially teachers, because my projects started based off the things happening in my classroom. And so I donate especially to teachers, but how they can get involved is really just start by just the little things with like, um, you know, using that language in the classroom, and then, um, and then who knows what we'll do next. I just really want to inspire kids.
Bethany Van Delft 06:27
Oh, this is amazing. Thank you so much for your time.
Bellen 06:30
Thank you for having me.
Bethany Van Delft 06:31
Absolutely any time. Now, let's go to our correspondent Pamela Kirkland with today's pop culture report.
Pamela 07:07
Maybe you heard it played before the Super Bowl. Maybe you heard it during nationwide protests against injustice and inequality last summer. Maybe you heard Beyonce sing it at Coachella. "Lift Every Voice and Sing" is a song that's been re-upped for a new generation. It might sound familiar, but you might not know some of the historical significance of it. The NFL decided in 2020 to play it before the very first games of the year. More recently, they played it before the Star Spangled Banner during this year Superbowl. Known as the Black national anthem, the song actually started off as a poem cool. The poem was written by James Weldon Johnson, and then set to music by his brother, John Rosamond Johnson back in 1899, for a celebration of President Abraham Lincoln's birthday. And it was first performed by kids, a group of 500 young Black children in Jacksonville, Florida. According to Johnson, after he and his brother wrote the song and moved to New York, they didn't really give it a second thought. But the kids kept performing the song and teaching it to other schools, and it's spread all across the country. The lyrics were pasted into church hymnals and choir started performing it. In 1919, it was adopted by the NAACP as the Black national anthem. That's more than 10 years before the Star Spangled Banner officially became America's national anthem. Now, a member of congress hopes his bill will make the song America's national hymn. In an interview with newspaper USA Today, Congressman Jim Clyburn said the change would tell Black people, you aren't singing a separate national anthem, you are singing the country's national hymn. No matter how or where it's sung, the song was meant to honor the past of Black Americans and inspire the future.
Bethany Van Delft 09:26
All right, it's time for, what? What? What's the big idea? Trivia on the tab!
Bethany Van Delft 09:37
A young entrepreneur in Japan has built an entire business offering what very specific service? Was it A) body odor analysis? B) pet matchmaking? Or C) curating TV watch lists. Did you guess it The answer is:
Bethany Van Delft 10:03
A.!
Bethany Van Delft 10:05
For about $150 the company called Odorate, scientifically analyzes customers aromas in order to definitively tell them whether or not they stink. According to CBS News, the company is prepping to launch an armpit only service and is considering a bad breath rater as well. Well, you know what they say, stinky is in the nose of the beholder.
A Kid 10:31
Come on.
Bethany Van Delft 10:34
Time's up. But before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Want even more great content from The Ten News? Sign up for The Ten News Newsletter, aka The Ten News-letter. It's a free bi-weekly email with even more stories to enjoy together, and we made it easy for you. The link to join is in the show notes and on our website, thetennews.com.
Bethany Van Delft 11:03
Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. The Ten News is coproduction of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter podcast and is distributed by iHeartRadio. Our editorial director is Tracey Crooks. Editing and sound design by Pete Musto. Our creative producer is Jenner Pasqua. Steven Tompkins is our head of audience development, and our production assistant is Sarah Olender. Correspondent Pamela Kirkland contributed to today's episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and The Ten News is executive produced by Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan.
Bethany Van Delft 11:43
Do you want to be part of the show? We would love that. Have a grownup help you record a question, a joke, or fun fact you want to share and email it to us at Hello at the ten news.com. And if you really, really, really, really, really love The Ten News and you want everybody to know about it, put or your favorite podcast app and submit a rating and review. It helps others find the show so they can join the fun too. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to The Ten News. Smell-ya later!
