Episode Description
In this episode of Help the People, Shannon Riley sits down with Dr. De Thigpen for a necessary and unflinching conversation about systems that were never designed with us in mind.
This is not a surface-level discussion about policy or professionalism. It’s a deep examination of how social service systems, mental health care, education, and nonprofit structures often fail Black and Brown communities while demanding resilience from the very people they neglect.
Dr. Thigpen speaks candidly about structural gaps, institutional blind spots, and the quiet ways harm is normalized especially for families who are expected to survive without protection, advocacy, or real investment. Together, we talk about what it costs to be unseen, the weight carried by communities navigating broken systems, and the courage it takes to tell the truth from inside those systems.
This episode is about naming what’s broken not to assign blame, but to reclaim dignity, accountability, and humanity.
If you’ve ever felt unheard by the systems meant to support you, this conversation is for you.
