August 9, 2024 • 29 mins
BIN News Anchors Vanessa Tyler and Mike Stevens join Host Ramses Ja on today's podcast to discuss this week's major stories.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's been another busy newsweek and we like to review
the major stories of the week here on the Black
Information Network. Today, we are joined by Black Information Network
news anchors Vanessa Tyler and Mike Stevens to discuss this
week's major stories. This is the Black Information Network Daily
Podcast and now I'm your host, ramses Jah. All Right,
Vanessa and Mike, welcome back to the show. How have
(00:22):
you been. It's been maybe a couple of months, So, Vanessa,
what's the latest with you?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Oh, it's been very, very busy, especially politically. Have we've
been busy at the Black Information Network?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I understand it. Well, Mike, how about you?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Blessed man? Glad to be back. Yeah, as Vanessa said,
a lot going on.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Indeed. Okay, well let's let's get to it. Let's talk
about it. So first up, now it's off to the races.
Earlier this week, Vice President Kamala Harris officially chose her
running mate for the twenty twenty four presidential election, and
political pundits on both sides are weighing in on her decision. Vanessa,
let's start things off with you tell us more about
VP Harris's newly announced running mate, and then Mike will
(00:58):
come to you to get your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Next surprise, it was not Josh Shapiro. Everyone thought the
sharp Pennsylvania governor, who many say speaks so much like
President Obama, was the shoe in. But presidential candidate Harris
had better chemistry with a guy who gives dad vibes,
Minnesota Governor Tim Walls. You wouldn't know a little more
(01:22):
about him. It was a congressman, a high school teacher,
a high school coach, a member for twenty four years
of the National Army Guard. He grew up on a farm,
a gun owner, a sharpshooter, a husband, a dad, and
by most accounts, the perfect number two for Vice President
Harris on this historic run to the White House, and
(01:42):
more importantly, many believe he also is perfect to dig
into the Trump middle of the country white base. So
so far, Walls was a good choice and for her
big presidential run, decision of good one by many.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Accounts, fantastic, Michae your thoughts here, yeahs, Vanessa said, a
lot of people were expecting Governor Jos Shapiro of Pennsylvania,
which is a must win battleground state for either side.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Some speculate he wasn't chosen because he's Jewish and there
could have been a backlash because of that ongoing Palestinian situation.
Both of them really gave fiery speeches at the first
campaign event in Philadelphia after the decision was made, and
Donald Trump and Jade Vans are trying to find something
damaging to say about him, and so far all they
(02:31):
have is he's very liberal. As they say that, you know,
the vice president is. They accused him of letting Minneapolis
burn after the police shooting death of George Floyd. But
Black attorney Ben Crubb called it a good choice, and
he said that the governor had compassion with how he
(02:52):
handled the matter, including by reaching out to George Floyd's family.
So thumbs up from a lot of people for the pick.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, yeah. And I was one of those people that
was unfamiliar with him prior to him being selected with
or selected to be her running mate. I you know,
I was kind of checking out kind of the shorter
list that didn't include him, So he wasn't even on
my radar. But once he was announced, Q and I
(03:26):
we had a conversation about him, and Q was like, yeah,
I've been watching this guy and honestly hoping that she
would pick him. And when I got his reasons and
when I started to kind of dig a little bit deeper,
I started to feel very confident in her choice because I,
like many people, just assumed she would pick someone from
a battle ground state. That made a lot of sense.
You know, there there was a narrow path to victory
(03:51):
her a lot of you know, political strategists in the
country for the Democrats, and obviously Kamala Harris has kind
of erased some of that lead, but her VP pick
could have proven more effective in erasing that lead. And
so the easy softball play would have been to pick
(04:14):
someone from a battleground state. But when I learned that
their strategy is to have someone who appeals to more
people in the Midwest so that they might be able
to pick up more states. After having that rethink, I realized, Okay,
there's something here. And then, of course, just leaning into
everything that there is to learn about this guy, just
the caliber of human being that he is, I came
(04:38):
down on the side of most people and you know,
figuring that this was probably the best choice she could
have made, despite it being a newer option and an
unfamiliar candidate prior to her making the announcement. So I'm
excited about the campaign. And obviously he's a great speaker,
(04:58):
and he's a fantast politician, and as you mentioned, there's
not a lot of well founded attacks on him, nor
are there a lot of well founded attacks on Kamala Harris.
But the truth is having a stronger ticket ensures that
people who aren't enthused about a Trump vote are they
now have an option that is not Joe Biden that
(05:20):
makes them feel confident in their vote. And that's really
what the Democrats needed above all else. So so we'll
see what happens. But again, I'm very excited about the
campaign and the coming Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
They have the perfect theme song.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
That song.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
When that song comes on, it just sets a mood.
So I just wanted to add that in the shout
out to Beyonce.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Absolutely all right. Next up, DEI initiatives have recently come
under attack, and this next story, involving one financial institution's
attempts to appear DEI friendly, only helps to tarnish what
DEI programs were designed to support. Mike this time, let's
start with you give us more on this story. In
Theninessa will get your thoughts afterwards.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, and it's a big financial institution, regardless of what
you call it, DEI or trying to even the playing field.
Many Republicans and corporate leaders are pushing back getting rid
of a permitive action and other similar efforts. Now we
find Wells Fargo Bank is accused of making it seem
like they were stepping up to the plate in the
aftermath of the George Floyd murder by interviewing black people
(06:26):
and women for numerous positions that they actually, according to
the lawsuit, had no intention of hiring for. So now
the banking giants being sued for the alleged fake job interviews,
the lawsuit alleging it to frauded shareholders by proclaiming it
had a commitment to hiring diversity and then not following through.
(06:49):
And we should say Wells Fargo put out a statement
saying it's deeply dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion and
does not tolerate discrimination. It's kind of a standard statement
that your statement has put out, regardless of the outcome
of the suit, though this makes them look really bad.
One of many corporations that made promises to do better
(07:09):
that we've followed on the bin and it appears they
are one of those who have fallen short.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
And that's so let's get you the wigh into.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
D I is a dirty word right now. You heard
Trump during the NABJ debacle. Press ABC's Rachel Scott on
what it means now everybody is scared backing away, fearing
lawsuits and white backlash for opening up and making it fair.
It's become this reverse discrimination. So when you're called a
(07:43):
DEI hire, that's that's like cursing you out, certainly a slur,
and that's how they're using it. They just totally turned
it around and ruined what was an opportunity for many
of us, especially in corporate life.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
You know, there's there's a little bit more history here
that I don't know that everyone's familiar with, because for
a long time a big part of my life, instead
of it being called a DEI hire, it was called
an affirmative action. Higher. This type of strategy isn't new,
and this type of name calling and this type of
(08:24):
you know, white victimhood isn't new. Anything that seeks to
provide equity or even equality, you know, equity is very
much aspirational, but even equality comes under fire often by
(08:46):
almost exclusively by older white men. It's a strange reality
to live in where asking for a fair shot, an
equitable go is challenged by people who the whole society
(09:09):
is shaped around them and their sensibilities and has advantage
and provided advantages to them at every conceivable point in
a society. You want to talk about criminal justice system,
You want to talk about environmental factors, environmental racism. You
(09:30):
want to talk about banking, You want to talk about housing,
You want to talk about health care, you want to
talk about education, you want to talk about employment opportunities,
you want to talk about you name it. You know,
who are the politicians, who are the judges, Who are
the people that shape society? Who do they look like,
and what are their sensibilities? And when you have these
(09:53):
initiatives that try to bring about some equality, that really
help lift up the entirety of society, because out of
what black people in marginalized people endure is simply economic disenfranchisement.
You know, a lot of the crime rates and so forth,
these are crimes of poverty, These are poor people crimes.
(10:15):
These aren't bad people crimes, right, you know, And it's
such a strange world to live in. That the very
hate and the very divisiveness that these people feel is
self fueled by their fear of sharing a little bit
(10:37):
of what they have. And you know, we see that
this existing corporate America too. Of course, Wells Fargo isn't
the only one, because you know, we heard about this
with the NFL not too long ago doing similar practices
interviewing coaches that they never intended to hire. But I
want to share a little bit about Wells Fargo, so
(10:58):
I went to Corporate Accountability dot gov. Right, I actually
just googled just his because I remember Wells Fargo having
a number of lawsuits in recent years over kind of
funny business practices. And this story was corroborated by USA today,
So that's a name more people would be familiar with.
But this is I want to read from Corporate Accountability
(11:18):
dot gov because I think it's well stated. A federal
investigation found that from two thousand and four to two
thousand and nine, so this is a whole different thing,
Wells Fargo harmed black and Hispanic communities through engaging in
discriminatory lending practices against thirty thousand black and Hispanic borrowers.
This ultimately resulted in Wells Fargo paying over one hundred
(11:39):
and seventy five million dollars in a twenty eleven settlement
with the United States Justice Department. So again, that's an
entirely different issue, an entirely different lawsuit. And you know
what I mean, from twenty eleven, this wasn't twenty twenty
to twenty twenty two or or anything modern. And this
(12:00):
was just one of them because I just I didn't
need to go too much further than that, because I
just wanted to establish that this wasn't their first time.
And on top of that, you know, I learned that
Wells Fargo bank rolls prisons, which is another form of
systemic oppression for black and brown people. They are big
(12:21):
supporters of police. They are the people that are outfitting
police with bigger weapons and tanks and helicopters and guns
and all kinds of war machinery to interact with citizens.
And you know, I know a personal story of a
gentleman who lives in Arizona. His name is Arty Moreno.
(12:43):
He's the owner of the Anaheim Angels. And the story
goes that Arti Moreno had we'll call it four hundred
million dollars and a Wells Fargo account once upon a
time and he went to like depositive check or Cashi
check or something like this years back, but the people
at the bank refused to cash his check because they
(13:06):
thought he was committing fraud. They were thinking like he
was a janitor or something like that, someone coming in
the bank to commit fraud. And he said, you know what,
I'm going to take all my money out of here
because of the way that you've treated me today. Right now,
I'm telling the short version of the story, and of
course I don't know it personally, this is already's story
from what I hear, but ended up being the case
that like the CEO had to get on a jet
(13:27):
and fly to Arizona to meet with him, because if
he would have took four hundred million dollars liquid out
of that bank, they would have suffered as a result
of that. And a part of their negotiations was that
Wells Fargo was going to hire more Hispanic people and
they were going to train their bank tellers so that
(13:49):
they could be sensitive culturally sensitive to people who may
not look like them come from their walk of life.
And so that's a personal story. I know when I
comes to Wells Fargo, not only did they foreclose on
my house after I paid them in two thousand and eight,
(14:09):
they sent my check back and took my house. But
I've seen stories and heard stories over the years of
them doing strange things that have disproportionately harmed black and
brown people, and so this one hit a little different.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
May I interject. I was just thinking about Wendy Williams,
and I remember Wells Fargo coming up a lot in
her case, how she couldn't get access to her money
that Wells Fargo. You know, there was a guardianship and
the money was in Wells Fargo and she couldn't get access.
So that's very interesting that Wells Fargo's name is coming
(14:49):
up again.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
And can I also mention, just going back to the
premise of the story with the DEI and so forth,
the groundwork for this was really set many years ago.
They ended up calling it reverse discrimination. But if you remember, gosh,
I'm trying to think if it was the seventies or eighties,
Alan Baki was trying to get into medical school. I think,
(15:14):
off the top of my head it was like University
of Michigan I may be wrong, but he claimed that
he was not able to because somebody black took his place.
I mean, it's been an ongoing thing. So now you have,
you know, them canceling even using races consideration for higher education.
And it's one thing after another, a building block sort
(15:36):
of against people who are just trying to have a
level playing field.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
We can thank the Supreme Court for that one.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
That's fair, sure, absolutely, and it's it's again, it's so
strange that that you'll see white people and I'm painting
with broad strokes and I know that, but you'll see
white people or a white person in that instance, get
a tea spoon of what it feels like to be
discriminated against, and their reaction to it is woe is me,
(16:09):
as opposed to, oh my god, this is what these
people have been dealing with by the bucket loads for centuries,
you know what I mean. And you know, a black
person taking a white person's place at a school. That's
not what happened, of course, but him interpreting it that way,
that a black man took my spot at a school,
(16:33):
and him feeling that injustice pales in comparison to the
black people who are duly qualified and that are capable
of performing in a job or at at some position
or in some you know, academic environment or whatever getting
passed over by dozens hundreds of white people, you know
(16:58):
what I mean. And this is a heart and parcel
to our lives here and everything that we've discussed today
has been intended to remedy that great injustice done to
black people. And when one white man suffers a little bit,
we get this violent pushback up to and including the
(17:19):
Supreme Court's decision. And now we have to figure out
a new path to try to have an equitable go
at our pursuit of the American dream. Black Information Network
news anchors Vanessa Tyler and Mike Stevens are here with
us discussing this week's major stories. All right, up next,
(17:42):
there's political change in the air for another congressional member
of the squad. Vanessa, give us some details on this story,
and then Mike will come to you towagh next.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
But we're talking about the Corey Bush primary. This is probably,
maybe i've heard, the second most expensive primary in history.
Congresswoman Corey had a historic rise from the streets of
Saint Louis as a black Lives Matter protester to the
halls of Congress. She was outspoken, like all the members
(18:10):
of the Squad, and she was very outspoken about the
Israeli Hamas war and critical of Israel. In fact, she
said the g word genocide. So Apek, a pro Israeli
group sent millions against her, and she lost naturally to
a black man, Wesley Bell, a Saint Louis County prosecutor,
(18:35):
and since it is a black district, he will likely
win in November's general election. But the shrinking squad, that's
real because another member of the squad, Jamal Bowman, he's
a congressman from my area, from the New York area,
also outspoken about the war, and that same group also
(18:57):
spent millions against him. He lost his primary back in June.
So there you have it. The squad is shrinking, and
you know who knows who will be next. They're all
in their target right now.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Sure, sure, and Mike, let's get you to to whin.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah. Keep in mind the squad members were elected after
the George Floyd murders. The country was calling out for change,
but some say these progressives ended up being too extreme.
We should mention that the person who did beat Corey
Bush in the Democratic primary and is going to face
a Republican in the fall. Is also excuse me, he's
(19:37):
also a black Democrat and embraces some of the same
views but considered more moderate. Seems like her position on
Israel may have been what cost her that race.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
It absolutely is, absolutely, undoubtedly yep. Well, what I think
this shows is a couple things. First, is the effect
of money in politics as far as Corey Bush is concerned. Like,
imagine all of the other policies that she actually supports
(20:13):
that benefits her base in her district, right outside of
this one issue that prompted a pack to spend millions
of dollars to get her off of the national stage
so that they can continue their attacks on Palestine unchecked, unquestioned. Right,
(20:40):
It has nothing to do with her district. It has
nothing to do with her. Her voter base has nothing
at all. They just wanted her off of the national stage,
and so they have enough money to affect that district
in such a way that they will not vote for
(21:01):
her and her challenger will end up winning the election.
So money in politics is kind of a strange thing,
And there's been a lot of calls to like for reform,
you know what I mean, because money and politics doesn't
reflect the true nature of what politics should be. It
should be representation of the people, not representation of APEC.
(21:25):
Right now, here's another thing that this shows. There is
foreign money in our politics, right because this organization, while
they are based in the United States, is effectively doing
the bidding of the nation state of Israel. That is
(21:48):
foreign money in our politics, foreign influence over our politics.
I just imagine if this was China or Iran, or
Venezuela or something like that. Right now, we can kind
of make it make sense because Israel's an ally. We
can make it make sense because Israeli's look similar to
white Americans. We can make it make sense because we
(22:10):
don't feel the same reaction that we feel that we've
been taught to feel when people interject China, when people
interject any of you know, the countries in the Middle
East or something like that. But the effect is the same.
This is foreign influence on our politics, and they're paying
(22:32):
for a quiet landscape so that they can continue bombing
or whatever it is that their campaign they feel that
their campaign warrants so that they can achieve their objectives.
And that's a dangerous game to play because again we're
at the intersection of money in our politics and the
(22:53):
intersection of foreign influence in our politics. And when you
take that into the equation that we're already dealing with
with how divisive our politics are, with how most people get,
you know, news from social media that has not been
journalistically vetted and fact checked and so forth, and how
(23:16):
there are bots coming from Russia and again foreign influence
that are convincing us that the political landscape looks different
than it actually does. You end up with a society
that is very, very confused, and that ultimately will cast
votes that serve the interests of foreign powers or of
(23:43):
rich people. And this story falls right at that intersection.
Our final story, there's a news update. This one is upsetting,
so fair warning, and this one involves the Sonia Massy case.
You both have been covering the story for the BIM,
(24:03):
So tell us the latest on this story, and we're
going to start with you, Mike. Vanessa will come to
you next, and then we'll close after that.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
So this is the black woman in Illinois that called
nine to one one for help, but there might be
a prower and the responding deputy ended up shooting her
to death. He claimed he thought she was going to
throw hot water on him, so he's now facing murder
charges after the body camera footage was released, which again
is you say, Rams, this is very disturbing. The Illinois
(24:35):
Governor JB. Pritzker wants the sheriff who hired him to
resign because the deputy had reportedly a really troubled pass
before he became a cop, and even during his short
law enforcement career, working for a six law enforcement agencies
in four years, he had various allegations of bad behavior.
So some are asking why he was even hired in
(24:58):
the first place. Give in his background.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Vanessa, let's get your thoughts too.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
There's no wonder why this cop was charged with killing
Sonya Massey. She was nowhere near him with the boiling water,
yet he says he felt threatened. This also brings up
the problem nationwide of how police everywhere handle black people
in mental crisis. But that's a huge other story where
(25:25):
you know, I've covered so many things. In fact, I
became friends with a woman whose son was killed by
Inglewood police. He was in a mental crisis. But anyway,
but those who fear. Cops like Sean Grayson have been
calling for national changes, and I believe it's part of
the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act that would prevent
(25:45):
cops from hopping from department to department for.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Just this reason.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
When a cop is fired or a quote unquote resigns
from one force, that's a huge red flag. And yes,
the sheriff is now sorry. He didn't dig deeper. He
hired this guy who, by everyone's assessment, should have never
been carrying a gun or a badge.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
When black people say or behave as though they are
fearful of police, I think that that's justifiable. I've interacted
with the police. I've never been arrested, but I've been handcuffed.
(26:36):
I've never been charged with anything. I've never committed any
crimes that you know, would cause me to go to
jail or anything like that. But I've had the police
pull guns on me. I wasn't doing anything wrong, but
you know, we call that being black and nearby the
only time in my life, and I'm from Compton, California,
the only time in my life I've ever had a
gun pull on me is by the police. And again,
(26:57):
never been arrested. Just been black and on my way
to school. Right, this officer goes into her house because
she called them. She goes to her stove because he
told her to, and his demeanor changes, and she says
(27:18):
something that we all know black people know from church.
I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. Now we
know that that's not a rebuke of the individual. That's
the rebuke of the devil. Right, So she's speaking to
the spirit, right, or the demon or whatever that is
in that space, not the human being. That human being
(27:39):
is a child of God. We know this because we
come from that place. But the demon at play, you know,
he might have a demon in him or whatever her
story is. I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,
he says, I'm gonna share it. This is from ABC
New Chicago. The deputy sheriff who fatally shot Sonya Massey
in her Illinois home last month said he believed that
(28:01):
when the black woman who called nine to one one
for help unexpectedly said I rebuke you in the name
of Jesus, that she intended deadly harm. According to the
deputies field report released Monday, Asinine she lost her life
(28:23):
and I'll bet their people in the comments. I'll bet
their people everywhere who will still try to defend this guy,
still try to defend the police. And this isn't a
one off, This isn't the first time we're having this conversation.
This is our reality. Again. The only time I've ever
seen a gun pointed at this face was by a
(28:44):
police officer behind the door of his car when I
was going to school. That's terrifying. So when black people
say they're afraid, I say, that's justifiable. And I guess
we're going to have to leave that one right there.
So as always, thank you both very much for your
time and your insight. Once again, today's guests are Black
Information Network news anchors Vanessa Tyler and Mike Stevens. This
(29:09):
has been a production of the Black Information Network. Today's
show was produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts you'd
like to share, use the red microphone talkback feature on
the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to hit
subscribe and download all of our episodes. I'm your host
Ramsey's Jaw on all social media and I'll be hosting
another episode of Civic Cipher this weekend on a station
near you. For stations, showtimes, and podcast info, check Civiccipher
(29:33):
dot com and join us Monday as we share our
news with our voice from our perspective right here on
the Black Information Network Daily Podcast
It's been another busy newsweek and we like to review
the major stories of the week here on the Black
Information Network. Today, we are joined by Black Information Network
news anchors Vanessa Tyler and Mike Stevens to discuss this
week's major stories. This is the Black Information Network Daily
Podcast and now I'm your host, ramses Jah. All Right,
Vanessa and Mike, welcome back to the show. How have
(00:22):
you been. It's been maybe a couple of months, So, Vanessa,
what's the latest with you?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Oh, it's been very, very busy, especially politically. Have we've
been busy at the Black Information Network?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I understand it. Well, Mike, how about you?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Blessed man? Glad to be back. Yeah, as Vanessa said,
a lot going on.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Indeed. Okay, well let's let's get to it. Let's talk
about it. So first up, now it's off to the races.
Earlier this week, Vice President Kamala Harris officially chose her
running mate for the twenty twenty four presidential election, and
political pundits on both sides are weighing in on her decision. Vanessa,
let's start things off with you tell us more about
VP Harris's newly announced running mate, and then Mike will
(00:58):
come to you to get your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Next surprise, it was not Josh Shapiro. Everyone thought the
sharp Pennsylvania governor, who many say speaks so much like
President Obama, was the shoe in. But presidential candidate Harris
had better chemistry with a guy who gives dad vibes,
Minnesota Governor Tim Walls. You wouldn't know a little more
(01:22):
about him. It was a congressman, a high school teacher,
a high school coach, a member for twenty four years
of the National Army Guard. He grew up on a farm,
a gun owner, a sharpshooter, a husband, a dad, and
by most accounts, the perfect number two for Vice President
Harris on this historic run to the White House, and
(01:42):
more importantly, many believe he also is perfect to dig
into the Trump middle of the country white base. So
so far, Walls was a good choice and for her
big presidential run, decision of good one by many.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Accounts, fantastic, Michae your thoughts here, yeahs, Vanessa said, a
lot of people were expecting Governor Jos Shapiro of Pennsylvania,
which is a must win battleground state for either side.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Some speculate he wasn't chosen because he's Jewish and there
could have been a backlash because of that ongoing Palestinian situation.
Both of them really gave fiery speeches at the first
campaign event in Philadelphia after the decision was made, and
Donald Trump and Jade Vans are trying to find something
damaging to say about him, and so far all they
(02:31):
have is he's very liberal. As they say that, you know,
the vice president is. They accused him of letting Minneapolis
burn after the police shooting death of George Floyd. But
Black attorney Ben Crubb called it a good choice, and
he said that the governor had compassion with how he
(02:52):
handled the matter, including by reaching out to George Floyd's family.
So thumbs up from a lot of people for the pick.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, yeah. And I was one of those people that
was unfamiliar with him prior to him being selected with
or selected to be her running mate. I you know,
I was kind of checking out kind of the shorter
list that didn't include him, So he wasn't even on
my radar. But once he was announced, Q and I
(03:26):
we had a conversation about him, and Q was like, yeah,
I've been watching this guy and honestly hoping that she
would pick him. And when I got his reasons and
when I started to kind of dig a little bit deeper,
I started to feel very confident in her choice because I,
like many people, just assumed she would pick someone from
a battle ground state. That made a lot of sense.
You know, there there was a narrow path to victory
(03:51):
her a lot of you know, political strategists in the
country for the Democrats, and obviously Kamala Harris has kind
of erased some of that lead, but her VP pick
could have proven more effective in erasing that lead. And
so the easy softball play would have been to pick
(04:14):
someone from a battleground state. But when I learned that
their strategy is to have someone who appeals to more
people in the Midwest so that they might be able
to pick up more states. After having that rethink, I realized, Okay,
there's something here. And then, of course, just leaning into
everything that there is to learn about this guy, just
the caliber of human being that he is, I came
(04:38):
down on the side of most people and you know,
figuring that this was probably the best choice she could
have made, despite it being a newer option and an
unfamiliar candidate prior to her making the announcement. So I'm
excited about the campaign. And obviously he's a great speaker,
(04:58):
and he's a fantast politician, and as you mentioned, there's
not a lot of well founded attacks on him, nor
are there a lot of well founded attacks on Kamala Harris.
But the truth is having a stronger ticket ensures that
people who aren't enthused about a Trump vote are they
now have an option that is not Joe Biden that
(05:20):
makes them feel confident in their vote. And that's really
what the Democrats needed above all else. So so we'll
see what happens. But again, I'm very excited about the
campaign and the coming Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
They have the perfect theme song.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
That song.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
When that song comes on, it just sets a mood.
So I just wanted to add that in the shout
out to Beyonce.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Absolutely all right. Next up, DEI initiatives have recently come
under attack, and this next story, involving one financial institution's
attempts to appear DEI friendly, only helps to tarnish what
DEI programs were designed to support. Mike this time, let's
start with you give us more on this story. In
Theninessa will get your thoughts afterwards.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, and it's a big financial institution, regardless of what
you call it, DEI or trying to even the playing field.
Many Republicans and corporate leaders are pushing back getting rid
of a permitive action and other similar efforts. Now we
find Wells Fargo Bank is accused of making it seem
like they were stepping up to the plate in the
aftermath of the George Floyd murder by interviewing black people
(06:26):
and women for numerous positions that they actually, according to
the lawsuit, had no intention of hiring for. So now
the banking giants being sued for the alleged fake job interviews,
the lawsuit alleging it to frauded shareholders by proclaiming it
had a commitment to hiring diversity and then not following through.
(06:49):
And we should say Wells Fargo put out a statement
saying it's deeply dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion and
does not tolerate discrimination. It's kind of a standard statement
that your statement has put out, regardless of the outcome
of the suit, though this makes them look really bad.
One of many corporations that made promises to do better
(07:09):
that we've followed on the bin and it appears they
are one of those who have fallen short.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
And that's so let's get you the wigh into.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
D I is a dirty word right now. You heard
Trump during the NABJ debacle. Press ABC's Rachel Scott on
what it means now everybody is scared backing away, fearing
lawsuits and white backlash for opening up and making it fair.
It's become this reverse discrimination. So when you're called a
(07:43):
DEI hire, that's that's like cursing you out, certainly a slur,
and that's how they're using it. They just totally turned
it around and ruined what was an opportunity for many
of us, especially in corporate life.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
You know, there's there's a little bit more history here
that I don't know that everyone's familiar with, because for
a long time a big part of my life, instead
of it being called a DEI hire, it was called
an affirmative action. Higher. This type of strategy isn't new,
and this type of name calling and this type of
(08:24):
you know, white victimhood isn't new. Anything that seeks to
provide equity or even equality, you know, equity is very
much aspirational, but even equality comes under fire often by
(08:46):
almost exclusively by older white men. It's a strange reality
to live in where asking for a fair shot, an
equitable go is challenged by people who the whole society
(09:09):
is shaped around them and their sensibilities and has advantage
and provided advantages to them at every conceivable point in
a society. You want to talk about criminal justice system,
You want to talk about environmental factors, environmental racism. You
(09:30):
want to talk about banking, You want to talk about housing,
You want to talk about health care, you want to
talk about education, you want to talk about employment opportunities,
you want to talk about you name it. You know,
who are the politicians, who are the judges, Who are
the people that shape society? Who do they look like,
and what are their sensibilities? And when you have these
(09:53):
initiatives that try to bring about some equality, that really
help lift up the entirety of society, because out of
what black people in marginalized people endure is simply economic disenfranchisement.
You know, a lot of the crime rates and so forth,
these are crimes of poverty, These are poor people crimes.
(10:15):
These aren't bad people crimes, right, you know, And it's
such a strange world to live in. That the very
hate and the very divisiveness that these people feel is
self fueled by their fear of sharing a little bit
(10:37):
of what they have. And you know, we see that
this existing corporate America too. Of course, Wells Fargo isn't
the only one, because you know, we heard about this
with the NFL not too long ago doing similar practices
interviewing coaches that they never intended to hire. But I
want to share a little bit about Wells Fargo, so
(10:58):
I went to Corporate Accountability dot gov. Right, I actually
just googled just his because I remember Wells Fargo having
a number of lawsuits in recent years over kind of
funny business practices. And this story was corroborated by USA today,
So that's a name more people would be familiar with.
But this is I want to read from Corporate Accountability
(11:18):
dot gov because I think it's well stated. A federal
investigation found that from two thousand and four to two
thousand and nine, so this is a whole different thing,
Wells Fargo harmed black and Hispanic communities through engaging in
discriminatory lending practices against thirty thousand black and Hispanic borrowers.
This ultimately resulted in Wells Fargo paying over one hundred
(11:39):
and seventy five million dollars in a twenty eleven settlement
with the United States Justice Department. So again, that's an
entirely different issue, an entirely different lawsuit. And you know
what I mean, from twenty eleven, this wasn't twenty twenty
to twenty twenty two or or anything modern. And this
(12:00):
was just one of them because I just I didn't
need to go too much further than that, because I
just wanted to establish that this wasn't their first time.
And on top of that, you know, I learned that
Wells Fargo bank rolls prisons, which is another form of
systemic oppression for black and brown people. They are big
(12:21):
supporters of police. They are the people that are outfitting
police with bigger weapons and tanks and helicopters and guns
and all kinds of war machinery to interact with citizens.
And you know, I know a personal story of a
gentleman who lives in Arizona. His name is Arty Moreno.
(12:43):
He's the owner of the Anaheim Angels. And the story
goes that Arti Moreno had we'll call it four hundred
million dollars and a Wells Fargo account once upon a
time and he went to like depositive check or Cashi
check or something like this years back, but the people
at the bank refused to cash his check because they
(13:06):
thought he was committing fraud. They were thinking like he
was a janitor or something like that, someone coming in
the bank to commit fraud. And he said, you know what,
I'm going to take all my money out of here
because of the way that you've treated me today. Right now,
I'm telling the short version of the story, and of
course I don't know it personally, this is already's story
from what I hear, but ended up being the case
that like the CEO had to get on a jet
(13:27):
and fly to Arizona to meet with him, because if
he would have took four hundred million dollars liquid out
of that bank, they would have suffered as a result
of that. And a part of their negotiations was that
Wells Fargo was going to hire more Hispanic people and
they were going to train their bank tellers so that
(13:49):
they could be sensitive culturally sensitive to people who may
not look like them come from their walk of life.
And so that's a personal story. I know when I
comes to Wells Fargo, not only did they foreclose on
my house after I paid them in two thousand and eight,
(14:09):
they sent my check back and took my house. But
I've seen stories and heard stories over the years of
them doing strange things that have disproportionately harmed black and
brown people, and so this one hit a little different.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
May I interject. I was just thinking about Wendy Williams,
and I remember Wells Fargo coming up a lot in
her case, how she couldn't get access to her money
that Wells Fargo. You know, there was a guardianship and
the money was in Wells Fargo and she couldn't get access.
So that's very interesting that Wells Fargo's name is coming
(14:49):
up again.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
And can I also mention, just going back to the
premise of the story with the DEI and so forth,
the groundwork for this was really set many years ago.
They ended up calling it reverse discrimination. But if you remember, gosh,
I'm trying to think if it was the seventies or eighties,
Alan Baki was trying to get into medical school. I think,
(15:14):
off the top of my head it was like University
of Michigan I may be wrong, but he claimed that
he was not able to because somebody black took his place.
I mean, it's been an ongoing thing. So now you have,
you know, them canceling even using races consideration for higher education.
And it's one thing after another, a building block sort
(15:36):
of against people who are just trying to have a
level playing field.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
We can thank the Supreme Court for that one.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
That's fair, sure, absolutely, and it's it's again, it's so
strange that that you'll see white people and I'm painting
with broad strokes and I know that, but you'll see
white people or a white person in that instance, get
a tea spoon of what it feels like to be
discriminated against, and their reaction to it is woe is me,
(16:09):
as opposed to, oh my god, this is what these
people have been dealing with by the bucket loads for centuries,
you know what I mean. And you know, a black
person taking a white person's place at a school. That's
not what happened, of course, but him interpreting it that way,
that a black man took my spot at a school,
(16:33):
and him feeling that injustice pales in comparison to the
black people who are duly qualified and that are capable
of performing in a job or at at some position
or in some you know, academic environment or whatever getting
passed over by dozens hundreds of white people, you know
(16:58):
what I mean. And this is a heart and parcel
to our lives here and everything that we've discussed today
has been intended to remedy that great injustice done to
black people. And when one white man suffers a little bit,
we get this violent pushback up to and including the
(17:19):
Supreme Court's decision. And now we have to figure out
a new path to try to have an equitable go
at our pursuit of the American dream. Black Information Network
news anchors Vanessa Tyler and Mike Stevens are here with
us discussing this week's major stories. All right, up next,
(17:42):
there's political change in the air for another congressional member
of the squad. Vanessa, give us some details on this story,
and then Mike will come to you towagh next.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
But we're talking about the Corey Bush primary. This is probably,
maybe i've heard, the second most expensive primary in history.
Congresswoman Corey had a historic rise from the streets of
Saint Louis as a black Lives Matter protester to the
halls of Congress. She was outspoken, like all the members
(18:10):
of the Squad, and she was very outspoken about the
Israeli Hamas war and critical of Israel. In fact, she
said the g word genocide. So Apek, a pro Israeli
group sent millions against her, and she lost naturally to
a black man, Wesley Bell, a Saint Louis County prosecutor,
(18:35):
and since it is a black district, he will likely
win in November's general election. But the shrinking squad, that's
real because another member of the squad, Jamal Bowman, he's
a congressman from my area, from the New York area,
also outspoken about the war, and that same group also
(18:57):
spent millions against him. He lost his primary back in June.
So there you have it. The squad is shrinking, and
you know who knows who will be next. They're all
in their target right now.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Sure, sure, and Mike, let's get you to to whin.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah. Keep in mind the squad members were elected after
the George Floyd murders. The country was calling out for change,
but some say these progressives ended up being too extreme.
We should mention that the person who did beat Corey
Bush in the Democratic primary and is going to face
a Republican in the fall. Is also excuse me, he's
(19:37):
also a black Democrat and embraces some of the same
views but considered more moderate. Seems like her position on
Israel may have been what cost her that race.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
It absolutely is, absolutely, undoubtedly yep. Well, what I think
this shows is a couple things. First, is the effect
of money in politics as far as Corey Bush is concerned. Like,
imagine all of the other policies that she actually supports
(20:13):
that benefits her base in her district, right outside of
this one issue that prompted a pack to spend millions
of dollars to get her off of the national stage
so that they can continue their attacks on Palestine unchecked, unquestioned. Right,
(20:40):
It has nothing to do with her district. It has
nothing to do with her. Her voter base has nothing
at all. They just wanted her off of the national stage,
and so they have enough money to affect that district
in such a way that they will not vote for
(21:01):
her and her challenger will end up winning the election.
So money in politics is kind of a strange thing,
And there's been a lot of calls to like for reform,
you know what I mean, because money and politics doesn't
reflect the true nature of what politics should be. It
should be representation of the people, not representation of APEC.
(21:25):
Right now, here's another thing that this shows. There is
foreign money in our politics, right because this organization, while
they are based in the United States, is effectively doing
the bidding of the nation state of Israel. That is
(21:48):
foreign money in our politics, foreign influence over our politics.
I just imagine if this was China or Iran, or
Venezuela or something like that. Right now, we can kind
of make it make sense because Israel's an ally. We
can make it make sense because Israeli's look similar to
white Americans. We can make it make sense because we
(22:10):
don't feel the same reaction that we feel that we've
been taught to feel when people interject China, when people
interject any of you know, the countries in the Middle
East or something like that. But the effect is the same.
This is foreign influence on our politics, and they're paying
(22:32):
for a quiet landscape so that they can continue bombing
or whatever it is that their campaign they feel that
their campaign warrants so that they can achieve their objectives.
And that's a dangerous game to play because again we're
at the intersection of money in our politics and the
(22:53):
intersection of foreign influence in our politics. And when you
take that into the equation that we're already dealing with
with how divisive our politics are, with how most people get,
you know, news from social media that has not been
journalistically vetted and fact checked and so forth, and how
(23:16):
there are bots coming from Russia and again foreign influence
that are convincing us that the political landscape looks different
than it actually does. You end up with a society
that is very, very confused, and that ultimately will cast
votes that serve the interests of foreign powers or of
(23:43):
rich people. And this story falls right at that intersection.
Our final story, there's a news update. This one is upsetting,
so fair warning, and this one involves the Sonia Massy case.
You both have been covering the story for the BIM,
(24:03):
So tell us the latest on this story, and we're
going to start with you, Mike. Vanessa will come to
you next, and then we'll close after that.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
So this is the black woman in Illinois that called
nine to one one for help, but there might be
a prower and the responding deputy ended up shooting her
to death. He claimed he thought she was going to
throw hot water on him, so he's now facing murder
charges after the body camera footage was released, which again
is you say, Rams, this is very disturbing. The Illinois
(24:35):
Governor JB. Pritzker wants the sheriff who hired him to
resign because the deputy had reportedly a really troubled pass
before he became a cop, and even during his short
law enforcement career, working for a six law enforcement agencies
in four years, he had various allegations of bad behavior.
So some are asking why he was even hired in
(24:58):
the first place. Give in his background.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Vanessa, let's get your thoughts too.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
There's no wonder why this cop was charged with killing
Sonya Massey. She was nowhere near him with the boiling water,
yet he says he felt threatened. This also brings up
the problem nationwide of how police everywhere handle black people
in mental crisis. But that's a huge other story where
(25:25):
you know, I've covered so many things. In fact, I
became friends with a woman whose son was killed by
Inglewood police. He was in a mental crisis. But anyway,
but those who fear. Cops like Sean Grayson have been
calling for national changes, and I believe it's part of
the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act that would prevent
(25:45):
cops from hopping from department to department for.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Just this reason.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
When a cop is fired or a quote unquote resigns
from one force, that's a huge red flag. And yes,
the sheriff is now sorry. He didn't dig deeper. He
hired this guy who, by everyone's assessment, should have never
been carrying a gun or a badge.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
When black people say or behave as though they are
fearful of police, I think that that's justifiable. I've interacted
with the police. I've never been arrested, but I've been handcuffed.
(26:36):
I've never been charged with anything. I've never committed any
crimes that you know, would cause me to go to
jail or anything like that. But I've had the police
pull guns on me. I wasn't doing anything wrong, but
you know, we call that being black and nearby the
only time in my life, and I'm from Compton, California,
the only time in my life I've ever had a
gun pull on me is by the police. And again,
(26:57):
never been arrested. Just been black and on my way
to school. Right, this officer goes into her house because
she called them. She goes to her stove because he
told her to, and his demeanor changes, and she says
(27:18):
something that we all know black people know from church.
I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. Now we
know that that's not a rebuke of the individual. That's
the rebuke of the devil. Right, So she's speaking to
the spirit, right, or the demon or whatever that is
in that space, not the human being. That human being
(27:39):
is a child of God. We know this because we
come from that place. But the demon at play, you know,
he might have a demon in him or whatever her
story is. I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,
he says, I'm gonna share it. This is from ABC
New Chicago. The deputy sheriff who fatally shot Sonya Massey
in her Illinois home last month said he believed that
(28:01):
when the black woman who called nine to one one
for help unexpectedly said I rebuke you in the name
of Jesus, that she intended deadly harm. According to the
deputies field report released Monday, Asinine she lost her life
(28:23):
and I'll bet their people in the comments. I'll bet
their people everywhere who will still try to defend this guy,
still try to defend the police. And this isn't a
one off, This isn't the first time we're having this conversation.
This is our reality. Again. The only time I've ever
seen a gun pointed at this face was by a
(28:44):
police officer behind the door of his car when I
was going to school. That's terrifying. So when black people
say they're afraid, I say, that's justifiable. And I guess
we're going to have to leave that one right there.
So as always, thank you both very much for your
time and your insight. Once again, today's guests are Black
Information Network news anchors Vanessa Tyler and Mike Stevens. This
(29:09):
has been a production of the Black Information Network. Today's
show was produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts you'd
like to share, use the red microphone talkback feature on
the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to hit
subscribe and download all of our episodes. I'm your host
Ramsey's Jaw on all social media and I'll be hosting
another episode of Civic Cipher this weekend on a station
near you. For stations, showtimes, and podcast info, check Civiccipher
(29:33):
dot com and join us Monday as we share our
news with our voice from our perspective right here on
the Black Information Network Daily Podcast
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