December 29, 2024, Jimmy Carter Has Died

Host Ramses Ja reflects on the life and passing of Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast, and I'm
your host, ramses Jah. And sometimes the amount of stories
that make their way to us means that we simply
can't cover everything that comes our way. But from time
to time, a story just stays with me and feel
compelled to share it with you and give you my thoughts.
And now one more thing.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Well, America has a potential of being great in every way,
and I would like to say the United States of
America known around the world in every country as a
champion of human rights and a champion of peace, and
a champion of democracy and freedom, and a champion of
environmental quality and generosity to what people in need. To me,

(00:46):
that's the ultimate markings of a great society of superpower.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
That is the voice of our thirty ninth President, Jimmy Carter.
As you probably know, President Carter has passed away, and
we all have to talk about that because that is
an American treasure and it's time to recap and celebrate

(01:16):
his life. Now, normally that sort of thing wouldn't really
inspire me to have this type of conversation put this
type of episode together. Of course, we could talk about
it in a regular episode, but this is one more
thing where I often find something missing from the conversation

(01:41):
and I have something to contribute, some perspective, et cetera.
But President Carter left office the year before I was born,
So I never really felt a strong connection to any
of the presidents that came before me. If we're talking

(02:03):
Malcolm X, sure, if we're talking Fred Hampton, absolutely, we're
talking Huey Newton, Yeah, of course. But Jimmy Carter was
just a name, another white guy, if you will. But
because his name is in the air, I ended up
getting little bits and pieces here and there, and I

(02:28):
decided that, you know what, I should probably look into
this man's administration, his time in office and see exactly
what that meant. And so I learned. Of course, he
was elected president as a Democrat in nineteen seventy seven,
served through nineteen eighty one. He ended up winning a

(02:50):
Nobel Prize for his humanitarian efforts, his contributions to making
the world a better place. And I knew about his,
you know, work with Habitat for Humanity, building houses, that
sort of stuff, and I know that, you know, President

(03:10):
Obama of course, won a Nobel Prize. Doctor King famously
won a Nobel Prize, So you know, those things just
kind of come with the territory. They didn't really mean
as much until I looked at the whys in the
case of Jimmy Carter, and one of the things that
really helped frame his story for me was that I

(03:31):
learned that he kind of came of age politically during
the Civil rights movement, and that's where my ears perked up.
So some of the notable things that came about because
of his presidency include the development of the Department of Education.

(03:53):
Before his presidency, knows such a governing body existed, and
the intention behind that was to make education a little
bit more accessible for more people. Historically, education has been
very difficult for black people to get on the same
terms as white people in this country, and my belief

(04:16):
is that his intention here was to kind of address
that disparity. But the list is far from over. During
his presidency, of course, he appointed many civil rights advocates
to keyp positions in his administration, and that's something that
really matters to me. There's a lot of people who

(04:38):
get elected and they don't listen, or a lot of
what they do is performative, and you know, there's no
real power assigned to the people that they have these
you know, high profile meetings with. But in President Carter's administration,
he actually appointed people to make decisions, to be the deciders,

(05:00):
and so the snowball grows. He included Andrew Young in
his administration as well, and appointed him ambassador to the
United Nations, so that obviously is a big deal. But

(05:21):
beyond that, he was a key supporter of many affirmative
action initiatives. And you know, there's some people who feel
this way about affirmative action, some people who feel that
way about it. But beyond that, he expanded civil rights protections,

(05:42):
notably to allow for more protection for women, but civil
rights protections certainly affect black people too, and naturally black women.
And of course that list goes on. It doesn't just
stop with, you know, habitat for humanity, which is kind

(06:04):
of the beginning and the end of the story for
me and perhaps from any of you. So again, this
ancient history, relatively speaking, was something that I didn't know
about and really didn't have too much of a reason
to dig into. I mean, I know the name, of course,
and I've seen him show up on the news here
and there for you know, those events where all the

(06:25):
presidents get together, you know, those sorts of things. But
in terms of his impact, and then recognizing that the
Reagan era came right behind it and that really turned
a lot of people off, to a lot of black
people off to politics, a trend that perhaps still continues

(06:45):
in some circles nowadays. It felt very very special to
look back and to see a little bit of balance
and to see that, you know, in the past, sometimes
the good guys want And who's to say I didn't
live through this time. I can't say if this was whitewashed,

(07:06):
but I do believe that the intention, and of course
hearing the memoirs and hearing the stories of the man himself,
and then of course seeing the results of that, I
do believe that this was a good man, a good president.
And I'm a little bit more mournful knowing exactly who

(07:28):
we lost, but more importantly who we had. Now. Maybe
you live through the Jimmy Carter era, maybe you know more,
maybe you have something to add, and as always I'd
love to hear from you. Please use the red microphone
talk back feature on the iHeartRadio app, and of course

(07:48):
you can hit me on all social media at Rams's
jab I'll be waiting to hear from you and until
I do peace. This has been a production of the
Black Information Network. Today's show is 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.

(08:09):
I'm your host, ramses Jah on all social media. Join
us tomorrow as we share our news with our voice
from our perspective right here on the Black Information Network
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