Beyond the Report Texas Tech Public Media | Kaysie Ellingson, Jon Seaborn, Sarah Self-Walbrick

S2P4: In 1923, the city of Lubbock established an ordinance confining African Americans to an eastern area of the city. Out of that confinement grew a tight-knit community of educators, innovators and leaders. In this episode, we explore an area known as "the flats"—one of the first Black communities within Lubbock. We hear the stories of the leaders who came from "the flats." As current leadership pushes the community forward, they reflect on aspects of the past that helped East Lubbock flourish—that need restoration and preservation.

S2P3: With little opportunity for African American pharmacists at the height of Jim Crowe, Alfred and Billie Caviel eventually found it in the flat, dusty town of Lubbock. In the 60s, when Lubbock was segregated, the Caviels opened a successful pharmacy that eventually became a celebration of Black history in the city. As one Lubbock local points out, it’s important to remember the roots of Black history exist in Lubbock’s own community and were planted by trailblazers like the Caviels.

S2N5: Down Parkway Drive, businesses dot the side of the road. But you also see empty buildings and shopping centers—some, in pretty rough shape. Cosby Morton said it wasn’t always like this. Money stayed within the community rather than being spent on another side of town...That changed after desegregation and urban renewal efforts led by the city that caused a shift in population, recalled Morton.

S2N4: After putting in hundreds of hours of what’s called “sweat equity,” Charlotte Ellis is now a homeowner through Lubbock Habitat for Humanity. Her home is in the Talkington addition of the Parkway-Cherry Point neighborhood. Habitat for Humanity calls it a hand up, not a handout. Aspiring homeowners have to put in the work and meet certain criteria to get the keys to a front door.

S2P2: AJ McCleod was raised by within the tight community of East Lubbock. Even after moving out of the neighborhood, he still considers it home. Following two tragedies that struck the McCleod family—ripping prominent men out of AJ’s life—ending gun violence became his mission.

S2N2: Jafar Abdullah brought three books to read lakeside at his neighborhood park. The top book is about the history of Islam, and the bottom book is about poverty. In the middle is “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander—a title Abdullah said came highly recommended by one of his mentors. The 2012 book challenges the idea of racial colorblindness in the criminal justice system. It equates the mass incarceration of Black Americans to a class system that can affect generations—an issue Abdullah thinks about often—especially when he’s working with kids through the mentorship program he started.