Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Veteran's Affairs Plus discusses the issues that veterans in Las Vegas deal with on a daily basis. Your host, David L. Washington connects listeners with relevant community resources and information that they need to help veterans or themselves.
Announcer 0:00
This is a K-Unb Studios original program.
Wesley Knight 0:04
You're listening to special programming sponsored by Making Moves Life Coaching Services. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and Moore, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.
Dave Washington 0:30
You can't see what's going What's great day, Las Vegas, great day. This is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 jazz and more. I'm Dave Washington, your host. In the second seat, I have my wonderful wife, former State Senator Marsha Washington, and we're going to dedicate this show to Dr. Ruby Duncan. She transitioned just a few days ago, and we certainly want to honor her in this way, and certainly want to express condolences to her family, Dave, and the rest, Dave Phillips, and the rest of the family, but what a tremendous person Dr. Ruby Duncan has been to our community. So I want to say a few things, and as I do, and I'm going to say something that may be off the board for some, and that is Jason Beatty, the operations heat manager, he always gives the disclaimer. I do not speak for the university, however, I think it's important to share on this platform the ridiculousness of 47 Won't call his name, but I call him 47 $1.7 billion has been pulled from a fund to give to folks who were insurrectionists. It's crazy, but I hope that the Senate and the and the Congress will stand up and say, wait a minute, you can't do this, these folks were found guilty, now he wants to give them money. So, with that, I want to say once again, this show was dedicated to Dr. Ruby Duncan, who would urge me to say something about the need for people to vote. We need to change what's going on in our capital. So, please, in honor of Dr. Ruby Duncan, let's get out there and show our votes. And votes are going on all throughout this country for the next couple of months, to include the midterms in November. Birthdays, I always like to cover some birthdays, Walter Webster, Marsha's big brother, his birthday is in the month of May. Former Assemblyman Wendell Phillips Williams' birthday, Nedra Armstrong, good sister, I call her Angela Davis, number two three, her and Marsha, but her birthday is this month. In terms of additional announcements, I want to certainly acknowledge the fact that the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute will be having our 35th anniversary down on the campus of Dillard University, as well as a couple of off-site functions to include on campus. I have been recognized and given the honor of Wall of honor inductee for 2026 So I am pleased and honored, and I appreciate be going on, going in with Chiefs Herschel Clady and Spike Jones. I am so pleased to be going in with these gentlemen, because of the tremendous work to include Chief Sherman George out of St. Louis. We appreciate it. I know he was nominated, couple of those guys nominated by former IABPFF President Addington Stewart. So, with that, Marcia, again, I said that this show, and rightfully so, would be in honor of Dr. Ruby Duncan, activist, and doing all the activities that she did for welfare moms, she was also a mom, raising, if my memory serves me correctly, six children, four boys, six girls, four boys, two girls. What am I saying? So what are your thoughts on Dr. Duncan Marcia?
Marsha Washington 4:14
Well, when I moved to Las Vegas, it was 1966 and I think that's when Ms. Duncan was working, lost her job, and then went on to fight for the rights of mothers. Ms. Duncan was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, icon, community activist, doctor, and she loved her community. I was appointed as senator in April 2018 and Ms. Duncan contacted me and gave me some pointers on how to handle myself, which, of course. Because I had a mother and a father as well that taught me something growing up, so but she was politically astute, aware of all the games that politicians play with other individuals' lives, and we can't was cut from the same cloth, we were here to represent the people, to represent our community, and she was truly, truly a fighter. And during most of the political seasons after I returned back to Las Vegas in 2019 after my session, she kept us politically informed of what was going on? I mean, I'm thinking she is, she could have worked for the FBI, because she has some intuition and know-it-all about everything that was going on. And it's unfortunate that people have lost their way, and what I mean by that is, they get into office, they make you promises, and then you don't hear from them again, and it's so unfortunate that they don't make people like Miss Ruby anymore. It's, it's very, very sad, and we as a people need to be really, really concerned about who we put in office, and she would definitely tell you the same thing. Now I know Dave, and I knew Kenny, and Georgia, some of Miss Ruby's kids, and she loved them, and she made true sacrifices for her children, and they don't even make mothers like they used to. I mean, things have changed where women are more concerned about getting their hair done and their nails fixed and driving a Bentley and moving into a big house without a job and I just, we need real mothers to show up again.
Dave Washington 6:51
Absolutely. Well, I'll say this, and I'm saying this to the family because we thought it was important to again honor her with the with the show, and thanks to Wes, a show that we did with her, I think it's episode 99 If my memory serves me correctly, that Wes Knight here, he's an engineering director, keeps me on track. He will add that to the end of this show, so you'll get to hear from Dr. Ruby Duncan. And to your point, Marsh, one of one of the great things, and I will say one of the blessings I should say to Dave and the family. Up until Miss Dr. Ruby Duncan passed away at 9293 she was blessed to still be in control of her faculties, because at that age generally people start to lose, lose it to some extent, whether either dementia or straight out, what's the other
Marsha Washington 7:44
dementia or Alzheimer's?
Dave Washington 7:46
Alzheimer's, but she was really in control of her mind up until the end. In fact, we were getting ready to go down to MD Anderson for my quarterly medical evaluation, and Marcia said, "Haven't heard from Dr. Duncan in a while, Miss Ruby, I haven't, I haven't heard from her. So, what did you do, Marsh?
Marsha Washington 8:05
So, she had been on my mind. I had was driving up near where she used to live, off a rainbow, and right down from Famous Dave's, and she crossed my mind. I said, oh, let me call her and make sure she's okay. So, I called her, and she answered the phone. Hi, darling. How you doing? I said, Miss Ruby, you've been on my mind. How have you been? I say, I couldn't get you off my mind, so I say I had to call you. She says I've been in the hospital for nine days. I said, oh my god, nine days she had been, and she had crossed my mind, but I didn't. I didn't call, but when I did get the opportunity to call, I'm so thankful that I did talk to her, and I told her that we would be getting back in contact with her to either have lunch or come out and see her or something. And we tried to see her all the time, every couple of months we would go and have lunch and go visit her and make sure she was okay. If they had an event at where she was staying, we would go out there and support her, but we was just blessed to know her, and she stayed humble. She was always Miss Ruby. She never changed over all the years that we've known her, and she would truly, truly be missed, truly, truly be missed. And our condolences to the Phillips family, because you guys had a great mother who loved her children and loved Las Vegas children as well.
Dave Washington 9:33
No doubt, in fact, I'm going to encourage - I believe it was Channel 10, if I'm not mistaken - but there's a documentary on Dr. Ruby Duncan that I would encourage folks out there to have their children to take a look at that documentary. I think it's about an hour, hour and a half, whatever it is. I think it's important for people to watch it, because you get to see Dave and the rest of the family, her children kind of engage with all the things she did. Once again, it. It's so important when you're an activist and you still take time to raise a family that is highly honorable activity that, as Marcia has mentioned, and once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. I'm Dave Washington, your host, and have my wife, Marsha, former state senator, here, and we're talking about Dr. Ruby Duncan and her contribution to not only to Las Vegas, a lot of people don't realize that she was far-reaching. I'm talking about she was out there with folks all over America, ensuring that welfare moms was able to get food for their children, and I know when my mother and father got divorced from 1012, years old, man, that peanut butter, even though it had that grease on top, you stirred up, and that cheese was hard, but man, if it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have got nothing. I mean, and this is the kind of humane, inhumane, I should say, things that are going on right now in our world, and particularly in this country, and we must be more conscious and more humane, and I can tell you, once again, I want to reiterate, it's time to vote, and Dr. Ruby Duncan would be encouraging us, and, and I know she gave, as Marcia has already mentioned, she gave her a lot of pointers, and as Marcia, Marsha mentioned, we would take her out to eat, we would call her, in fact, way back in the day, when her team was many of her team members were still around, I, there was two different times I took them to lunch, and Dr. Ruby Duncan said, 'Don't y'all spend all day's money? I say, 'Miss Ruby, it's okay, you know it's okay. We, it was 810 of us, we had lunch, and just because it's important for us to share with and recognize and show appreciation and give people their flowers as they say while they're still alive and I'm telling you, Marcia, and I did that. We stayed in touch with this woman because of the work that she's done for our community. Marcia,
Marsha Washington 11:52
well, like I had reiterated earlier, she was truly in love with Las Vegas and her community, and she made the ultimate sacrifice, going out there, getting arrested, and everything to make sure that the children in the state of Nevada had the opportunity to eat, and she was also instrumental in getting a type of training program for some of the welfare mothers, but unfortunately the training that they was provided during that time was for sew a sewing position where you learned how to sew, but they only paid $25 an hour, which, of course,
Dave Washington 12:34
Marsha Washington 12:35
$25 $25 for the training, excuse me, for the hour, but, but it only paid $25 for the training, and a family of six who can, who can eat off of $25 a family of six. And so just think about it, as some of the programs that have started was because of her determination to make things great for the mothers that weren't able to work, and they wanted to, but they weren't able to work because they couldn't leave their children alone. There was not a lot of daycares at that time, and just think about all of that, you know, the daycare wasn't available back way back then, 1966 6768 768, it wasn't available, so you just couldn't leave your children there. You had to worry about the county coming in and taking your children, so it was a lot. She made the ultimate sacrifice for this community, and I'm glad that I knew her and stayed in touch with her. So,
Dave Washington 13:39
yeah, we were right out of the projects. In fact, we live right across the street from them on Weaver Street, and we used to call it the Circle. But once again, Las Vegas, I'll look up the information and get it on one of the later shows, but to look at the documentary on Dr. Ruby Duncan, because of the work that she did, I want people to understand that this lady did a lot of work, and a lot of us owe her in more ways than one for her sacrifice. And again, as Marcia mentioned, even as an activist, she was a mom, she had to take care of and raise her children, and but still she took time to go out there with her crew, and they, they was gonna shut the whole strip down. They went in and had a meal with no intent to pay. People thought they had lost their bath, but in fact, I saw Lonnie, Dr. Lonnie Wright. He sent me a picture he had on his tab. He was out there, big picture on the front page. I'm like, "Man, you lucky they kicked you off the basketball team. But no, we appreciate the work that she's done, and Wes has given me a signal. We probably got another couple of minutes, but I do want to say once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. This show today, in fact, Dr. Ruby Duncan's services, her homegoing services, will be the morning. Of the day that this show airs, which will be May,
Marsha Washington 15:05
is it 23rd
Dave Washington 15:05
23rd So we are pleased to announce that, and also, while we're plugging, and I should tell you guys that Angel, our daughter, who did the documentary on my journey with the with cancer, we have a showing that's going to be Marcia.
Marsha Washington 15:24
It will be june 27 at the West Las Vegas Theater from 2o'clock until 430 and the community is invited. It's free, and we just want to share the journey with our community. Dave has been an integral part of the Las Vegas community, and he's another activist, in other words, so we would like to invite the community out, and in response to the services for Miss Duncan, it will be on the 23rd at Second Baptist
Dave Washington 15:59
Church, and let me say this: something that Dr. Duncan said to me and her son. She was either speaking at the NAACP banquet or Martin Luther King, I don't remember which one, but she said, "Son, you're gonna do something on that fire department, you two Daves out there, because we sit in the audience, she said, "Y'all gonna do something in this community, and I'm like, "Wow. So she had a thought, another person, another ancestor, Miss Miss Cooper, Claire Cooper. She told me when I found a damn, believe it, I did a pot of black eyed peas. She said, "Well, you're gonna be all right, money wise. And then my mom, of course, she had dreams about me and told me I was gonna be the big man. So one, once again, those three ancestors, but particularly we are honoring Dr. Ruby Duncan for the work that she did for welfare moms and others in our community and the country. So, salute to you, Dr. Duncan, for the work that you did. And once again, condolences from the Washingtons to the Phillips Duncan family. This is Veterans Affairs, and we'll be back on the other side. And again, Wes is putting together the piece that's going to add the voice of Dr. Ruby Duncan from a previous show that we had, and I hope that you will appreciate the comments and the recommendation, and what she's passing on. She's always teaching that. Once again, this is Veterans Affairs. We'll be back on the other side with Dr. Ruby Duncan, you Good day once again. It's Special Affairs Plus on 91.5 jazz and more. I am very, very pleased and excited to have our next guest, Dr. Ruby Duncan. She is a world-renowned welfare rights activist, and she's done a lot of good in the neighborhood, as we would say, in fact, we were neighbors over in the projects over on Weaver Street many, many years ago. How you doing, Dr. Duncan?
Dr. Ruby Duncan 17:49
I'm doing great, David. What about you?
Dave Washington 17:53
Hey, you know, my medical issues, but I'm doing all right. You've had more than me, so I just have to hang tough and keep it moving, and stay positive as you've always taught us to do. Let me tell you guys something about this lady, Dr. Ruby Duncan. Told me it's been Ruby. Do you know it's been probably about 3540 years ago? She said, "Son, you are going to make a great impact in this community. She told me that, and I guess I lived up to it. I hope Dr. Duncan, because you
Dr. Ruby Duncan 18:22
did, you did,
Dave Washington 18:24
you put that on my back, and I say I got to get busy doing things. So, how you doing?
Dr. Ruby Duncan 18:30
I'm doing great today. You know, that's the way life sees us, you know. You, you take it as it comes, and you just say, "Oh, I'm going to make it. I'm going to do what I have
Dave Washington 18:46
to do today. That's right, that's right. So, Dr. Duncan, compared to where we were back in your day, when you were doing this tremendous work, particularly for welfare rights, and I should say, Dr. Duncan had a son, me and him share the same name, David Lee Phillips, and I'm David Lee Washington. I served in the army, and Dave served in.. I played Dave was a yeah.. then he.. then he went on to be a judge, what he called a judge.
Dr. Ruby Duncan 19:16
anyway,
Dave Washington 19:17
he was an attorney
Dr. Ruby Duncan 19:20
for quite a few years. You guys just grew all the way away from me, you know. Oh,
Dave Washington 19:28
yeah, yeah. We young folks doing their thing now. We are now elders as well, Dr. Duncan. So tell me again, or tell our listening audience about how things are going as it relates to welfare rights as you see it today, compared to back when you were out there, very, very active in making things happen, and ensuring that mothers and children get taken care of,
Dr. Ruby Duncan 19:52
as I am now, I am like almost retired, and I'm trying. Hang in there, because I was trying my very best. Is to wait for someone to want to take this job on right now. There's nothing I know that is happening for poor women and children, for poor senior citizens, for poor working families since I was out there, and all of those wonderful, great brave women that they just, we just love like we love the world, because we work, worked all the way, all the way across the nation with other mothers during them days,
Dave Washington 20:42
right
Dr. Ruby Duncan 20:42
now the days that all of the mothers has passed on, you know that disease come in in 2019 and it just wiped everybody out, and so now I'm trying my best to hang in there and take it on the best I can for now, but
Dave Washington 21:05
we'll certainly be praying for you, because in fact, so no one picked up the mantle from you all who were really doing, because I've seen several documentaries, and for those of you who haven't seen it, for documentary on Dr. Ruby Duncan, she did tremendous work, and I think it's something that we can all learn from, and particularly let young people view it as well.
Dr. Ruby Duncan 21:28
True, that would be an education, and I hope that they will, you know, it's out there. I would love for them to pull it up, but there's more every day, they, they're not through talking to me, so I'm trying to tell everything I know about what went on during them days, you know, that's been quite a while ago. Yeah, but I'm happy to tell the story to everyone who wants to know, and hope that will help the mothers nowadays. I wish I could talk to some of the brave women that was, that is on, you know, state benefit, or whatever, some of the poor groups that I know, and now it's, it's not anything to be shamed of, because we didn't make the situation like it is ourselves. Different situation was brought up through policy and all of those things that are going on, so I mean we just need to pull ourselves together, and I'm too happy to kind of give them a few moments of my time, and just let them know, put yourself together and ask for what you know you need,
Dave Washington 22:57
absolutely, you know, and that's why I wanted to get you on the show, because I think that this recording will certainly be listened to by a lot of people out there, and maybe, maybe will inspire some to stand up and start taking corrective action. In fact, most recently, I don't know, it was the last year, year before, but you were, you were invited back to Washington, DC, as I recall.
Dr. Ruby Duncan 23:19
Oh, yes, indeed, meeting a lot of the people all over this nation and talking to them about the needs of poor people in general, talking to them about learning to teach that community also about registering and voting, but now we don't have to go to a building to register and vote. We are carrying that phone in our pockets every day. All we have to do is register on that phone any minute, anytime. So I just hope that more people register, more people go and vote, because that's what happened back in the day. It would not have happened if myself and a whole group of those wonderful women that I was with did not register at those times. We had to go to an office to do so, but nowadays you don't,
Dave Washington 24:26
you know what, Dr. Duncan, I think that's very, that's a very important statement. I think that sometimes people, you should study, study the candidates, you know, learn about them and what their philosophy is, and you know how they actually behave, because sometimes people will talk a good game, and then they get in the office, and they do something totally opposite. So, your point on educating oneself is extremely important.
Dr. Ruby Duncan 24:49
Yes, it is. And don't.. I don't.. I don't know how to say this, but I'm going to say it: don't just feel like, because someone was born. Born and raised in a community that they're going to help you nowadays. I haven't seen that, but I do see people that have been in the world of voting and working in organization and in the world, a democratic world that has. That's what I am. I'm not telling anyone how to vote, but I hope you vote, and I hope you vote for the right person.
Dave Washington 25:26
Absolutely
Dr. Ruby Duncan 25:27
not under no circumstance, just feel like I know this person, and I'm a voter. You better ask that person, what have you done for me and the whole community? I haven't seen nothing, so I want to know, what have you done that can help me?
Dave Washington 25:44
Absolutely, those are valid points that you're making, Dr. Duncan. And once again, we appreciate the work that you've done over the years, and we certainly thank God for allowing you to continue to be on this earth to inspire, and I trust that as people listen to this show, you will inspire someone to start standing up and taking their rightful place. Because you know, in our American society, we have a right to speak up on issues that we think are important, and certainly the rights of welfare Muslims, you know, and poor people in general, they need to be heard from and listened to by our elected officials to ensure that we are taking care of their needs, because I notice how so many other people, and I'm not against anybody, immigrants coming into this country, but also know that we should be taking care of our own folks who have been here for over many, many years before we take care of anyone else.
Dr. Ruby Duncan 26:40
Yeah, I hear you, but we must understand this whole nation. Ever since I have been here, and I've been here 90 some years, is we all come from somewhere in some place, but we all need help as we come in. So we're going to pray that God get in the way and help lead us to help everybody until they get a foot on, but in the meantime, in order for all of us, and there are plenty jobs out there, can't nobody say the jobs are not there, and the majority of young people I do know is born with electronic brains, so they have great jobs for you in this, in this country, for a whole group of jobs. So, I just hope everybody just start voting, because your needs are there, and you have the right to vote.
Dave Washington 27:39
That's right. Well, Dr. Duncan, we certainly appreciate your time, and we will ask God to continue to bless you with good health. So, again, I think when people hear you talk, Dr. Ruby Duncan, it's appreciated, and we can learn so much, and those ancestors who you worked with over the years, you could tell just from the documentaries that I've seen, you guys worked well together with a black, white, all you ladies, you ladies were trailblazers. In fact, you were standing up before some of the guys started to stand up and take their rightful place in this society. So, once again, on behalf of everybody around this country, this world, we thank you for what you've done, and it's greatly appreciated. So, any closing remarks from
Dr. Ruby Duncan 28:28
you? Yes, I want to say this: poor people are not just black people, or they're not just Asians, or Mexicans, or whatever you want to say, poor people are black, white, and every other nationality there is, and I hope they all hear me. This country is for you, as long as you can vote. If you want to be, you become a citizen, we have the right, and if we don't keep that right, then it's shame on us and our families.
Dave Washington 29:04
Well said. Well, Dr. Duncan, again, we love you and we appreciate all that you've done and continue to do so. May God continue to bless you, and we'll get you back on the air sometime again in the future. Once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 jazz and more, and we had Dr. Ruby Duncan, who has been a staple in this community, particularly as it relates to working and assisting and fighting for the rights of poor people to include the welfare moms. Thank you, Doc. Thank you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai