Before he took the stage to host our Spring 2024 Health Summit & Expo, actor and health advocate Lamman Rucker chatted with Black Health Matters founder and CEO Roslyn Young-Daniels about what Black health means to him and where he finds inspiration. He also shares why Black men must take care of their health and how mental health factors into it all.
Check out their chat (and the transcript is also below).
Roslyn Young-Daniels (00:15):
So listen, Mr. Rucker. Yes ma’am. What does Black health mean to you?
Lamman Rucker (00:20):
Oh, that’s such a huge question, but really it means everything. It means being, well, it means it’s beyond feeling good. It’s being well, and I think that’s the difference we’ve gotten in the habit of just making sure something hurts. Let me do what I can to feel better. But the problem’s not solved. We don’t really know even where the issue may come from. We know it hasn’t gone away, but we don’t really want all the information because then the truth really forces us to do something different. So, just for me, it’s really my hope that we get beyond the short-term gratification of how we’ve defined black health and really understand the long-term, not just definition, but the long-term value of wellness.
Roslyn Young-Daniels (01:19):
What inspires you?
Lamman Rucker (01:21):
I don’t even know how I found myself here, to be honest with you, but at the same time, of course I would. How can you not? Because I’m a human being, first of all. I live in, I got a body, I have a mind, I have a heart. And even I talk a lot about even just being an artist. I’m always navigating the worlds of what’s happening with other people. Then, as an educator, my life has been committed to children and families and the community. And then there’s countless stories and testimonies of what it means to be well, and you know what unhealthy families look like. You know what malnourished children look like and how all these things are interconnected. How unhealthy environments contribute to us being mentally not well contribute to everything from all the other factors that we can think of. So when you look at cycles of violence, they’re all typically reflections of desperation or fear or other deficiencies that exist.
(02:38):
So that’s something that I was never comfortable with, just being okay with. So one of the things I was taught, one of the things that just I learned, and I don’t even know if this language was given to me, but I just always felt like it was more important to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. So whatever ways I can contribute to how we move the needle forward and heal ourselves, there’s only so much healing of one another that we can do, but we can encourage, facilitate, and model. We can provide information, resources, encouragement, inspiration, motivation, and information. So to me, how many jobs is that? And I’ve just always found my way into that space. But as an actor, artist, educator, activist, entrepreneur, philanthropist, all the adjectives or labels I can put in front or behind my name at some point, it’s just about living in your own humanity and connecting to the humanity in other people.
(03:53):
And I don’t know, maybe even as a little boy, we all want to be superheroes. So, this is my way of saving lives. This is my way of putting an L on my chest, not Superman, just being myself, right? This is my version of being incredible Hulk, or being Spiderman or Batman or all the things you imagine as a child. You want to be part of what’s good. You want to, and I really, even philosophically, I think everybody should figure out what is your superpower? You have it you. There’s something about you that’s special, and that’s supposed to impact some other public and the greater good. And I think the sooner you figure that out and the sooner you even find what that is for you and about you, then you can’t wait to give it away. We can’t take it with us. And if you do, it’s gone once it’s gone.
(04:54):
Unless you give it away to everybody you possibly can, then it never dies. That love, positive energy, healing, teaching, whatever that is, it keeps going. And that’s what’s got us this far. That’s true on this continent. We’ve been dealing with a whole lot of stuff. There’s no way we’d be here without those same elements. So I’m just doing what’s already been done before. It just happens to be on a loop, maybe more public platforms, but I’m living the life and doing the things that my ancestors have been doing for countless, countless, countless years. So I’m just continuing to just do my part in whatever way I can. Best ways. I know how.
Roslyn Young-Daniels (05:32):
That’s wonderful. One last question. When we have these types of events, women make up about 80% of our audience,
Lamman Rucker (05:40):
I didn’t notice.
Roslyn Young-Daniels (05:43):
What can you personally say to the brothers out there to make them be more proactive about their health? To have them show up and engage more in health services processes and in their access to care?
Lamman Rucker (06:00):
Well, that’s one. Hey brothers, all the women are here.
Lamman Rucker (06:06):
Alright. Eight to 80 are here. No, but no, but at the same time, more seriously, I think, and this is the kind of work I’m even actively doing now, I’ve got a mental health tour where one of the topics that always comes up is men being honest about what’s really going on with them. And I think that that’s something that you all can all help us with. Men can do that not only for themselves, but for one another and not just, oh baby, you need to go to the doctor. But it’s that a lot of how we’ve all been socialized, and again, no disrespect is that the woman’s body is the only body that’s important. Our bodies aren’t important. Our job is the work ourselves to death for you, but never to prioritize our own health, our own wellness. And some women actually perpetuate that as opposed to no son, father, husband, brother, daddy, uncle, whatever.
(07:06):
Your body is just as important as mine. Just because you can’t bear children doesn’t make you any less valuable. I need you. I want you here. Do this together. When y’all go get checked, take him with you. And similarly, like I said, hey, come. These shouldn’t be things we do in segments or fragmenting the household. Oh, okay. Oh, there’s a health summit. Okay, alright baby, you go here, you go to that. I’m going to go over here and do this. No, let’s do this. Right? This is a family event. This isn’t a women’s event. And even when it is, there’s still information at these women’s events that benefits us. I’m learning all the time when I’m in the green room, I’m learning all the time. I’m listening. I was having a conversation last night and I’m learning about women coming into their womanhood as teenagers and preteens stuff I’ve never heard.
(08:02):
As long as I’ve been doing this work, as much as I’ve even been involved in educated in reproductive health and working with young girls and families and so forth, I’m learning new stuff every day. So there’s so much to learn. If we stay engaged and we make sure that we are actively participating and not feeling like we’re on the sidelines, this is just as important to us. Even knowing about you all and knowing what’s going on with you is helpful to us. It helps us love you more. It helps us understand you even when we don’t understand you most of the time, or no, I’m saying even when we don’t know what’s going on, there’s ways for us to know and learn and understand that if we’re part of the conversation. Instead, we often see ourselves as doing two different things. Oh, that’s for them.
(08:50):
This is for us. We forget that. However different our bodies are, our bodies are also very much the same. Our hearts are the same. We might go about how we communicate a little differently, but we’re still often asking for the same needs. It’s the same conversation that’s being had. We might just be having it a little differently. So we got a lot of stuff we have to work through. But there’s also ways that some of this can maybe speak to us a little bit more. How is this experience maybe targeted to women in ways that it’s not actually targeted and market to men? Sometimes that happens even unbeknownst to you. So there’s some of that. I think there are things we can do differently, but a lot of it is just encouraging men to tell the truth and acknowledge how well you really are. Like you said, go to the doctor.
(09:41):
The truth doesn’t stop being true just because you don’t go and find out the truth. Our heart health, our bodies, our minds, all that’s important. Don’t wait until something’s a problem before you go to the doctor. Go long before any problems ever show up. So these problems can be prevented. And if we really want to take care of our families, if we really want to provide and show up and protect and all these things, we can’t do that if we’re not here. We can’t do that if we’re not healthy or well inside and out. So you can look as good as you want to look. You have as many muscles as you want, but if you’re not really well, we’re not well. Our families aren’t well, and again, those things perpetuate if we’re not careful. So there are numerous different things, but much of it is just staying connected. Keep us in the conversation, talk to us, and love and encourage us to participate in this in support of you and solidarity with you, but also for our own good.
Roslyn Young-Daniels (10:45):
Awesome. Alright. Thank you, Lamman.
