Let’s Talk Bruh is the project that changed and continues to change my life and the lives of Black men.
In 2018, Jeremy Herte along with longtime friend, Kyr Mack created a podcast to elevate the conversations Black men were having around masculinity and mental health.
Since its launch, Let’s Talk Bruh (LTB) has become a thriving community for thousands of Black men with our social media presence, Facebook group, book club, and live events demonstrating the ability to recognize the need for Black men to have safe spaces and platforms to be vulnerable and create authentic culturally relevant content and experiences to meet the needs of the community.
In 2022, LTB was recognized as a top creator pushing culture forward by META/Facebook being inducted into the "We The Culture" Class of 2022.
“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.”
- James Baldwin speaking to LIFE magazine in 1963
LTB Book Club
Digital Organizing / Community Building
Through empathic communication, culturally relevant content, and an emphasis on brotherhood, we've built a thriving community of Black men who show up to support each other and engage with the topics from the podcast and book club,
In the age of #MeToo and during a time when Black men are being targeted with misinformation by growing right-wing platforms, we built a community of progressive-leaning Black men of all backgrounds and orientations rooted in love and vulnerability pushing brothers to seek wholeness and community over destruction and isolation.
LTB Video Series
LTB has created lifelong bonds and relationships, many of which were birthed during the production of our video series. Connecting black men from different backgrounds, identities, and in varying places on their journies of self we can see that Black men are certainly not a monolith. However, during these discussions, we see exemplified the diversity of thought, empathy, and community that we so desperately require as Black men.
The video series as an extension of the podcast allowed for reach into a new audience and gave our existing community another format to divulge into and potentially share amongst their communities.
“Black men should be able to talk in an open forum about the Black male experience and what being a Black man is like. But we also have to open ourselves up to the criticism and harm that is associated with being a cishet Black man.”
- Neal Carter on the Black male experience
Let’s Talk Bruh: The Cop Thought My Canes Were Rifles (7/7/21)
Podcast Production > Creating Community
When I joined the LTB family in 2019 I was interested in black masculinity and had started developing my own short documentary project on black masculinity. The show having already been In production for a year was sent to me by a friend who thought I would enjoy the content- She was right! I quickly became a fan, shocked that a podcast focusing on black masculinity and patriarchy hosted by a cis-het black man even existed. After binging the entire catalog in a week or two I learned that the host- Jeremy Herte was DC-based, so I had to reach out.
I set out to provide aid in producing the podcast and perhaps help conceptualize a social media plan, thinking I’d be a sounding board, and researcher, maybe contribute story ideas from time to time, and not much more. I never expected LTB to become the wealth of content and vibrant community it is today. I’ve learned so much from witnessing and participating in the making of this platform; Thanks to Jeremy. LTB has been enriching, heartfelt, and life-changing, not just for me but, for thousands.
Joshua R. White, Assoc. Producer - LTB Video
Project Notes (2023)
