Award-Winning Author Cindi Bright’s show ‘Heartbeat: Prosperity for Black America’ debuted on the Converge Media Network on Wednesday night. Bright began the show in 2018, and since then has built a brand which now takes its next step into the broadcast realm.

“Heartbeat exists because we talk regularly about topics which impact Black Americans,” Bright said. “We talk about issues like housing, healthcare, the workplace and more.”

Bright also introduced her co-hosts, Karen Fleshman, Stefani Coverson, Erin Jones, and Joy Stanford. They joined in the conversation with State Representative and Chair of the Washington State Black Caucus David Hackney as well as brought their own opinions and expertise to the show.

The conversation with Hackney focused on his role within the legislative branch and the issues he’s focusing on, including mass incarceration and sentencing reform.

“It’s one of the biggest issues impacting Black people’s lives since the state of Washington has no parole,” Hackney said. “We have a clemency bill that has been brought forward multiple times, and one of the issues is that it has never been allowed to go through the rules committee to the Caucus to vote on. That’s the kind of thing where we can leverage our power.”

Hackney also said he’s working to create systems which will reduce “draconian sentences” which lock people up for long periods of time without taking into the account the changes they’ve made.

“There’s a lot of people who are incarcerated who could add so much to our community,” Hackney said.

You can watch the full show above, and make sure to tune into Heartbeat every Wednesday at 5:30 pm