February 24, 2025 • 33 mins
A.R. Shaw, author and Executive Editor of Atlanta Daily World joins hosts Ramses Ja and Q Ward on today's podcast to discuss the major news headlines from this past weekend.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here at the Black Information Network, we know how important
it is for you to start your week off energized, engaged,
and enlightened. There are always major stories that break over
the weekend, and we feel you should know about the
ones we are talking about today, So stay tuned for
our weekend recap featuring the author of the book Trap
History and the executive editor of Atlanta Daily World, Mister A. R.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Shaw.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast. I'm your
host ramses Jah.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
And I'm your host Qward.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
All Right, mister A. Rshaw, welcome back to the show.
Really excited to have you back on, Really excited to
have another conversation with you. How have you been since
we last spoke. Anything new in your world?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
I mean, the world is new. It seems like we're
living in a new world. Every single day is something happening.
But I think we're here to speak truth to power,
and so I think that's the important role that we play.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
All right, Well, let's get to the news. First up,
this from the Black Information Network. A Texas prosecutor with
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement reportedly ran a white supremacist
social media account.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
According to the.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Texas Observer and ICE employee was linked with the x
account Glomar Responder, which has sprouted blatantly racist and anti
immigrant views since twenty twelve. The outlet reviewed the account's posts,
along with federal court records, courtroom visits, and background interviews,
and reported it belongs to forty four year old James
Jim Joseph Rodden, who was an assistant chief counsel for
(01:35):
ICE in Dallas. According to the Observer, Rotten represents ICE
and court hearings where judges rule on deportations. Last month,
Glomar Responder shared a post saying quote, America is a
white nation founded by whites. We are the historical and
majority population, and it was founded for our benefit. Our
(01:55):
country should favor us unquote. A second post from the
account last month read quote my World War two vet
grandfather didn't get a chance to kill Asians, so he
volunteered for Korea. He'd be asking for a short term
job with ICE, kicking doors and swinging baton unquote. Last September,
Rodden allegedly wrote on the account quote all blacks are
(02:16):
foreign to my people.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Unquote.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
There's another quote here. Nobody is proposing feeding migrants into
tree shredders. Yet give it a few more weeks at
this level of invasion and that will be the more
moderate position unquote, and this was from March of twenty
twenty four. The account now is no longer public. And
then finally, here we have a quote from ICE quote,
(02:42):
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will not comment on the
substance of this article, pending further investigation to include whether
the owner of the referenced x account is a current employee. Notwithstanding,
ICE holds its employees to the highest standards of professionalism
and takes seriously all all the gauge allegations of inappropriate conduct. Okay,
(03:03):
so obviously we had a lot to talk about. Their
needed to paint the full picture. Give us your thoughts
here here. This feels a little upsetting to me, but
you know, you know, talk us through what you know,
and you know how this one hit you.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yeah, I think I think we're we're dealing with an
administration where we're going to have to expect this. We're
going to have to expect individuals who are going to
be placed in positions that they just don't deserve. And uh,
this is not the only case that happened this month.
Maybe two weeks ago, there was a DOGE employee, which
is Elon musk I guess put together organization that he
(03:42):
is basically used to rate the UH the US government
from a financial standpoint.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
We don't know what their specific roles are.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
But there was a DOGE employee who had some racist
things that came out on social media, and you know,
he was rehired. He was initially fired, but he was
rehired by the Trump administration. And so we we're gonna
see individuals who similar to this, who don't deserve to
be in these positions of power and have overt racism
(04:17):
and bias and the backgrounds, and so we just have
to continue to call this out. We have to continue
to push back. I think a lot of people are tired.
It's only a few weeks in really just the first
month of this administration, and we are already seeing, uh,
you know, just the issues that that's occurring, and it's
(04:39):
just you know, blatant racism of people who are placed
in these positions. And so, like I said, I think
it's our job to fight.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Back and call it out.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
And you know, hopefully soon we'll we'll see some type
of change and some type of pushback from from the
higher ups and individuals who are in Congress who can
do a better job of stop them, stop them. Situations
like this and the hires like this.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
QW, I know you got some maga ice white supremacisist
spider man, mean, like, that's all I got for you.
They've shown that their entire collective is based off of
white supremacy. They're not offended by it, they're not shocked
by it. They're not surprised by it, and neither are
(05:25):
neither should we be at this point. This is who
they are. As much as they try to deny it
in word, they do not try to deny it in action.
They do not try to deny it in policy. I
said before, the type of person that would going to
an elementary school to get children like we don't have
to worry about how high this person's character is. That
(05:48):
I had to go get my kindergartener out of school
because of potential ice raids. We know what this is.
It's it's blatant and flagrant at this point.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
The thing about this from that kind of eats at
me is that there's a safe space because this person
here has had these views espoused this vantage point for
(06:22):
at least since twenty twelve, right when the account was created.
So that means that this person has been working for
thirteen years in this capacity.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
And has worked closely with other people.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And I don't think it's unlike you know, traditional police departments,
where you know, after that amount of time, you get to.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Know who your coworkers are, right, And.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
This guy wasn't called out, he wasn't fired, clearly no consequences.
And my belief is is, just like police, there's a
culture that welcomes this type of this this view, this
type of racist, indoctrinated individual. Right, there's a soft place
(07:20):
for them to land. They have they have community, and
they have power. They get to lord that power over
people who are less powerful than they are, have less
rights than they do like in the real world, and
they have this like kind of bully mentality god complex,
and it's like the perfect storm for those people.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
Right, It's just like police departments.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
And for those of us that call it out and say, listen, man,
I don't rock.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
With the police, because the police harbor.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
There's like a petri disc for this racism to fester
and grow and multiply. And I mean, even if something
does come out, it's seldom punished, it's in many cases
it's ignored, and in some cases it's even rewarded, you know.
(08:12):
And so it's like a type of it's a job
that rewards that aggressive, bully type of manto. And then
of course there's those people that come out and say, oh,
it's not all cops, it's not all ice agents. There's
you know, a few bad apples, this, that, and the third.
And that's never been the conversation that we've been having,
because that very well may be true. And what we've
always pointed out is the culture that allows us to thrive.
(08:34):
And you'd be hard pressed to convince me that this
person who feels this strongly about immigrants has worked in
an immigration enforcement capacity. No one has learned this about
him in twelve years, at least twelve years, and all
(08:55):
of a sudden it comes out, and all the people
whose lives he is affected over the past twelve years,
the people I'm sure that he's abused and harmed and whatever,
and taken joy in that. It just shows that for
those people that say this is not a racist country,
as long as people like that have the power and
they're insulated from consequences. This absolutely is a racist country.
(09:20):
Moving on from NBC News, the thirty eight year old
woman issuing the fertility clinic she used to conceive a
child after the wrong embryo was implanted in her, resulting
in a shocking discovery as soon as the infant was born, according.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
To a lawsuit.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
The suit, filed Tuesday in Georgia State Court, alleges that
Christina Murray quote unknowingly and unwillingly carried a child through
pregnancy who was not biologically related to her unquote, something
she only learned once she delivered the baby boy. Murray
then had to give the custody give custody of the
baby boy to his biological parents five months later, adding
(09:55):
to her trauma. The suit says Murray, a wedding photographer
who lives in Savannah, had decided to conceive and raise
a child with the help of a sperm donor through
Coastal Fertility Specialist, which organizes in vitrio fertilization clinics in
South Carolina. In Georgia, the lawsuit says that Murray selected
a sperm donor who resembled her. The donor was white
(10:16):
with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. Coastal Fertility transferred
an embryo to Murray in twenty twenty three, but when
she gave birth in December of that year, Murray immediately
knew something was wrong, the lawsuit says, because the boy
that she delivered was a dark skinned African American baby.
And here's a quote from her in her own words.
Speaker 6 (10:36):
The actions of the fertility clinic have come very close
to destroying me, have left a reparable damage to my soul,
and ultimately left me questioning whether I should be a
mom or not.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
All Right, so I mere talk to us about this
one a little bit more. You know, what are your thoughts?
What do you This one is complicated, but you know,
help us out.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Yeah, it's actually happened in our state, having George, which
in Savannah, which is a few hours outside of Atlanta.
Uh And so this is this is something that we
have been uh in terms of just hearing about for
a while. In terms of this, the craziness of this
entire ordeal, you have to think, you have to really uh,
(11:21):
you know, feel for both both families that's involved, you know,
the mother and also the family of the child. You know, no,
there are no winners in this situation. And you know,
when you're when you're doing this type of treatment, you're
you're paying a lot of money, and so you would
hope that, uh, the people who you're entrusted uh this,
(11:43):
you know, this situation to help you bring life into
the world, you'd hope that they would actually be competent
enough to give you, uh, you know, the right the
things that you're asked for. It's you know, you know,
I've heard that this rarely happens, but the fact that
it happened, it's just it's just horrible for both sides.
(12:03):
I mean even you know, you have to feel for
the mother and you have to also feel for the
for the family of the child as well in terms
of just how this entire thing went down. It's just
it's just a bad look all around, all the way around.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Thank you. This is one of those things where the
failure rate should be zero.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:23):
Right, So, just like A R said, the biological parents
justifiably want their child. The woman who carried this child
and brought it into the world, justifiably wants what she
paid for. And whether anybody wants to accept it or not,
she has a relationship with the child that she bore.
(12:43):
So it's it's a zero failure rate proposition for the clinic.
Both parties should be compensated at minimum. And I'm sure
if they're well. To assume people are decent these days
is a massive reach. I was going to say, they're
a decent company. They will provide this service for this
woman again for free at minimum. But yeah, it's you know,
(13:08):
Yer said it the best man. There's both of the parents,
most sets of parents, or this woman and the biological
parents justifiably feel how they feel. And there's no right,
there's no good or bad guy with regards to them.
Only the clinic is you know, made a monumental mistake
that in that world you just can't make, not even
(13:31):
not even point zero one percent of the time.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Can you make that mistake?
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, you know, when I first came across this one,
I was like, I'm still like kind of like shell
shock because all the stories coming out about they have
like racism at the at the root of the story.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
They're just they're just we're still.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
In the kind of the bombardment, you know, phase of
you know, this new administration, in this new world in
which we're living and It's kind of the the muzzle
velocity at which we're kind of fielding all these stories
is like crazy. And so when I first came across
this one, I thought the same thing, like, Okay, this
is another story. White woman gives birth to a black baby.
(14:13):
She doesn't want the black baby, you know, and she's
blaming the clinic. And I just felt like it was
another story with like kind of racism.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
At its root.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And then I actually like read into it turns out
that this woman was devastated that she had to give
the baby up. Like you said, Q. It's like, no,
I don't. I don't know that she said this, but
you know, I imagine I've been through a pregnancy before
with you know, a partner, and you know I have
(14:42):
children and so forth, and so you know the kicks
and the hearing the heartbeat and you know, singing to
the baby and you know all that that stuff that
and then you get really excited and then you have
to when the baby is born. This this baby is
still dependent on you, regardless of what color is. It
(15:03):
is a human being that you created it to your
point view, and then you have to feed the baby
from your body. You know what you supply is what
the baby needs, you know what I mean, in order
to continue to It's completely dependent on you. And then
for five months you go through this whole thing and
then someone just takes your baby away. And so where
(15:27):
I thought this story had racism at the root of it,
it was almost like the opposite of it. It was like,
oh my god, that's devastating, Like in my mind, that
should be her baby if she wants it. But also
obviously the other family are like, yo, this is what
you took our sperm and our egg and put it
in the wrong person. But that's we were hoping for
(15:49):
our baby, and she has our baby, you know what
I mean. And so again it's just nobody wins here.
But I'm glad that it wasn't a story about racism.
It just race, I think, is what sensation and the
lies didn't got everyone talking about it, and you know,
here we are today. But yeah, there's there's got to
be some way to make this right. I couldn't tell
you what it is because I don't think any amount
(16:10):
of money is going to return the woman who carried
the baby. You know, it's going to return her back
to whole because she created something that's been taken from her.
She has to live with that forever, and so hopefully
that maybe the families work out something where, you know,
they can who knows, who knows, that's not my business,
but it's just it's a sad one.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Today's guest is the author of the book Trap History
and the executive editor of Atlanta Daily World, Mister A. R.
Shaw all Right.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Next up from the Hill, Democratic strategist James Carville said
that while he's a fan of Stephen A. Smith's sports coverage,
the commentator doesn't know his blank from a hole in
the ground when it comes to politics. Carville responded to
Smith's recent talk about potentially running as a twenty twenty
eight candidate since the Democrats suck right now, arguing that he.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Should stick to sports. Quote. Look, he's like.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Anybody else who does any kind of commentary, sports commentary.
He's sometimes wrong, way more times he's right, Carville said
on Thursday's episode of his Politician podcast. He goes on
to say when it comes to sports, I find him
to be really insightful. When it comes to politics, he
don't know his blank from a hole in the ground.
(17:29):
He's running his blank mouth about how he may have
to run as Democrat because there's no talent Steven Are
you kidding me? So this guy's got a lot to
say about Steven A.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Smith.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
And this is somebody that Q has told me a
lot about in recent months. So I'm more familiar with
Steven A. Smith than I've ever been, and so I
feel like a little bit more connected to this story.
But I will be the furthest from the expert. So, amir,
you're up to bat first man, give us your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Yeah, yeah, so I think that you know, the founding fathers,
they never expected someone like Donald Trump to ascend to
the highest office of the land. If they had an
idea or even a clue that someone that incompetent could
actually become president, I'm sure they would have set better
(18:22):
boundaries to become president. I think it should be more.
I think you should at least have to at least
you should at least have to have served at least
four years in some type of political office before you
or or able to become president. I mean, if you
think about some of the most important jobs and in
this nation or even the world, you have to do
(18:43):
some type of apprenticeship if you want to be a doctor,
you have to do an apprenticeship, you have to go
to you have to go to medical school. You want
to be a lawyer, you have to go to law school.
If you want to be an airplane pilot, you have
to uh the screen, Yeah, you go to flight school.
But there's no barrier to be the most powerful person
in the in the world.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
So Stephen A.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Smith, who's uh as James Carlos A. He's a master
when it comes to sports in terms of his his
his ability to break down sports and and and give
critical analysts when it when it comes to uh, you know, football, basketball,
things of that nature. He's great that I do not
(19:26):
want Stephen A. Smith near a white house, just like
I didn't want Donald Trump near a white house. I
think people who serve the country in terms of of
being being uh involved in politics, I think they understand
what it means. And you know, unfortunately, with Trump uh
becoming a president, I think anybody thinks, you know, more
(19:48):
people think that they can have a shot at becoming
a president.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Uh. Stephen A.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Smith is one he sees you know, I watched you know,
his podcast, his shows on ESPN. He's He's mentioned this
on several occasions about him running for president, But James
Carlville is right. And I don't always agree with Carville,
but he's right in this instance because we don't need
another celebrity in chief. We need people who understand what
(20:14):
it means to serve, and we really need people who
understand understands what it means to run a government because
the government is not a business. The government is really
built to help people. And that's the that's the disconnect
that we're that we're at right now. That uh, that's
what the government is for. That's why we paid that's
why we pay taxes, because we want better roles, we
(20:34):
want better health, we want better things for the for
the for the country and for people. Are allies, and
so let's just get rid of this celebrity and chief
nonsense and get back to the basics.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Yeah, yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I don't think you're wrong at all, man, And I
know that Q is going to have something to say here,
But first I want to ask you, aren't you proud
of me? I am, because I've never been able to
really contribute much these conversations, but you what you got.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
This might be the most conflicting and complicated subject we've
ever covered.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Okay, ar hit it on the head.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
Our founding fathers had more faith in the people of
this country than they should have, because, in their minds,
they didn't have to set a barrier that you had
to at least be intelligent, that you had to at
least be decent, that you had to at least have
been an alderman or a city council person on some
level of government somewhere to be the president. They thought
(21:40):
the people would auto vet the reality TV show host
as president, so they didn't have to put that barrier
in place.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
They thought it would just automatically happen.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
We the people would stop someone so incompetent from becoming president. Yeah, right,
so that's why this becomes complicated. James Carvell's probably right
that steven A doesn't know much about politics at all,
but when the standard is Donald.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Trump, he knows everything about it.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
I feel crazy saying steven A should shut up and
dribble or shut up and stick to sports or whatever
James is trying to say, because y'all let this other
dude win twice. I'm certain stephen A wouldn't be worse
even if he just like the other dude.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Has no idea what he's doing. His just normal human.
Speaker 5 (22:31):
Intuition wouldn't be how can I make life worse for everybody?
How can I ruin life for women and disable people
and veterans and black people and immigrants from everywhere in
the world where the immigrants aren't white.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I'm sure that at least that wouldn't be his agenda.
Speaker 5 (22:52):
So even if he did have no idea, he could
just like this guy, appoint a bunch of actually qualified people,
though point all the people around him to be masters,
to be brilliant, to be highly educated and competent, so
he could at worst be better than the president we
have now. So yeah, I agree that he's a sports
(23:13):
commentator and the idea of him running for president.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Should be ridiculous.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
But when Donald Trump is the current president, I feel
crazy saying that out loud with any type of fervor,
because I know he wouldn't be worse. My daughter wouldn't
be worse. Her first question when this election was over was, Daddy,
how come the mean one one? From the mouth of
(23:39):
my child? It was that simple, how come the mean
one one? Because just like in every TV show, on
every movie, that we've ever watched. When we're watching those movies,
the person that would play Donald Trump's type of character
in the movie, we would all know was the bad
guy and we would all root against.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Him for all of history.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
This beautiful child of mine, with her her mind at
its most innocent, was very, very confused and lost when
the mean one won, the.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Bad guys won. Dad.
Speaker 5 (24:14):
How so, I don't even I don't even know my
take on this one, y'all. Like I don't, James Hertdale
is right, but kind of so what like again, because
it feels like shut up and dribble. It feels like
shut up and stick to sports, and they only say
(24:34):
that to us.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Well, yeah, I don't. I don't.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
I can't really, That's what I'm thinking. But I and
how I'm feeling. I don't have a take on this
one because I don't know that's perple.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
No, man, I'll take it.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I'll take it. I I.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Just wanted to say that if I had to choose,
I would choose Who's Shannon Sharp? Because I like Shannon Sharp.
He is a kind person I think based on the
stuff I've listened to, and he seems sensible and he
(25:14):
seems measured I don't listen to all those sports talking
and all that sort of stuff, but.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
You know, he just seems like a decent guy.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
And from what I understand, he's kind of the more
popping guy in well not more poppin', well more popping,
but he's not like overall, he's like got a ways
to go to ketch up to Steven Smith, but like
right in terms of the right now, he's more popping
than a guy named Skioup and then he's more popping
than this guy. And so Shannon Sharp would be my vote.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
I just think I think your vote would be Kamala Harris. Well, yeah, yeah,
of being anecdotal and picking through sports broadcast are sure,
but I don't want you to set that as the
bar or the standard.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
I've no say yeah if that way, like, if don't
have to choose between the names I know that do that,
I would pick Yeah, uh, it's Stephen Smith. He's he
feels like he's Steve A.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Smith.
Speaker 5 (26:10):
Is important to say Stephen Smith. There's an NBA player
named Steve Smith. Okay, just saying Stephen Smith might confuse
the audience.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
When Stephen A. Smith seems like he's angry. More of
the time, and I've had about enough of that for
a few lifetimes. So again, Shannon Sharp feels like he
feels like.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Like they call him unk. He feels like that.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
So if I had to choose somebody who did that job,
it would be Shannon Sharp over stephen A. Smith, because
his yelling voice is just I just it's too it's
too much for me.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Anyway.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
For a final story, it's some sad news here. We've
unfortunately had some some hip hop related passings this week
and this weekend. First up from The Express, the Notorious
BIG's mom, Viletta Wallace, has died age seventy two, according
to sources, but he smalls his mother sadly died Friday
(27:04):
morning in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, according to the Monroe County Corner
Thomas Yannick. While her cause of death has not been confirmed,
she was reportedly in hospice care. And then the other one,
this comes from TMZ. Tiger has been sitting on some
gut wrenching news. His mother died last month and his
(27:25):
spirit has been unnerved in the wake of her absence.
T Rob posted a touching tribute on Friday to his mom,
Passion Ay Wynn, who passed away on January eighteenth. No
cause of death has been released, but Tager posted a
pic of him holding his mom's hand with a hospital
wristband attached to it, so it appears she was battling
(27:45):
in illness. So you know, just your final reflections on
that a mirror and then Q will get yours as well.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Yeah, definitely sad news on both fronts. I think people
don't really understand. I guess we don't really highlight the
importance of mothers in terms of hip hop. And it's
just been you know, since Tupac released Dear Mama, and
he shed light on this is importance of having uh,
(28:13):
this motherly figure in our communities at a time when
unfortunately a lot of black men were absent. It just
shows you we've seen with with hip hop, how how
mothers have played a role in raising just the community.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
You know, we don't.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
We don't really, we don't really. I think focus or
gifts give flowers enough to the mothers of hip hop artists,
you know, because you know, we think about it.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I don't want to.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
I don't want to put hip hop on a on
a level of a Doctor King or Malcolm X, and
it says, but but there is some correlation in terms
of how they are how the art form is used
to gavanize the communities. And a lot of times when
you have these individuals like a Tupac or or Notorious
b I G.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
They get their.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
First you know, their first wisdom from their mother and
so their guide it a lot by their moms. And
we see how Phoenish a corps and by let A
while that's both how they inspired their sons to be greatness.
And they were both great at a young age. I
mean they you know, Tupac and the Torious b I G.
(29:24):
They only had a three or four year run in
terms of their output, but they still impact, you know,
the things that we do till this day. And so
we just have to give kudos to the mothers, you know,
the mothers within our communities and pretty much how they've
been able to hold down our communities at times when
(29:44):
a lot of black men have been either you know,
arrested due to mass incarceration or had to deal with
drug addiction due to the War on Drugs, or just
not being financially able to take care of families. Others
in our communities have stepped up in pretty much taken
(30:05):
a mantle to raise our communities, and not.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Just their kids.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
They raise everybody. If you you grew up in the community,
the mothers are the ones who keep you straight, to
keep you focused, and they also, uh, you know, provide
a sort of guidance, you know, when those communities lack men.
And so it's just you know, for me, that's that's
how I look at it. You know, the power of
these mothers and how they were able to raise these
(30:28):
men despite the circumstances.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Yeah, you're you're fine.
Speaker 5 (30:33):
Of thoughts, I think we we don't often get to
see the human side of our celebrities, our rappers, most specifically,
because they are like the superhero, super masculine, super alpha
super characters in the in the creation space, and they're
(30:54):
the least vulnerable. They have the least amount of weaknesses.
They have the least amount of things that make the
sad or that make them cry, or that affect them
in any way that makes them vulnerable. And I think
we saw in the Netflix documentary Genius about Kanye West,
when we got to see the role that his mother
(31:15):
played and really creating Kanye West as a producer and
artist of course, as a son and a student. He
was always who he was, but the way that she
poured into him and reassured him and helped him feel
like literally he could do anything. She was his biggest cheerleader,
his biggest supporter. And I think we've seen the impact
(31:35):
of losing her and what it did to his life
and to his psyche and to his spirit. So when
our greats, because we you know, we don't hold them
on the same space as we do MLK and Malcolm X,
but their cultural impact I can say is as measured.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
You know, Ar said it. Those guys had a very
very short time with us on this earth. Before they
reached thirty.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
They'd accomplish things that some of us still have it
And they didn't get to live a full life, but
they had a full They.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Had several lifetimes of impact.
Speaker 5 (32:08):
And the human element comes into play with loss and
more specifically of Mom, like that relationship with Mom and
the role that she plays for all of us collectively,
like a you haven't met my mom yet, but when
you do, you're her son. That's just the rules. Ramas
that's been through that already, like.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
A few times.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Yeah, he's on their life forget and that's just how
mothers are.
Speaker 5 (32:30):
So watching these brothers deal with that loss, and watching
her deal with the loss of her son and then
now we all have to lose her, it's definitely something
that's that's super impactful.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
And again it's like it's like gravity.
Speaker 5 (32:43):
It brings all of us back to earth, Like okay,
that there's a human element of our superstars that somehow
or sometimes rather I think gets lost and moments like
this bring them back. And you know, blessings and prayers
to Tiger and to you know, everyone who has to
mourn the loss of a lot of Wallace.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Well, I think that says it all. You two are
masters at helping me process all these things, and you know,
I can't thank you enough for your time and your insight.
Once again, today's guest is the author of the book
Trap History and the executive editor of Atlanta Daily World,
Mister A. R.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Shaw.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
This has been a production of the Black Information Network.
Today's show is produced.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
By Chris Thompson.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
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 am your host Ramsey's Jaw on all social media.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
I am q Ward on all social media as well.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
And join us tomorrow as we share our news with
our voice from our perspective right here on the Black
Information Network Daily Podcast
Here at the Black Information Network, we know how important
it is for you to start your week off energized, engaged,
and enlightened. There are always major stories that break over
the weekend, and we feel you should know about the
ones we are talking about today, So stay tuned for
our weekend recap featuring the author of the book Trap
History and the executive editor of Atlanta Daily World, Mister A. R.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Shaw.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast. I'm your
host ramses Jah.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
And I'm your host Qward.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
All Right, mister A. Rshaw, welcome back to the show.
Really excited to have you back on, Really excited to
have another conversation with you. How have you been since
we last spoke. Anything new in your world?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
I mean, the world is new. It seems like we're
living in a new world. Every single day is something happening.
But I think we're here to speak truth to power,
and so I think that's the important role that we play.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
All right, Well, let's get to the news. First up,
this from the Black Information Network. A Texas prosecutor with
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement reportedly ran a white supremacist
social media account.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
According to the.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Texas Observer and ICE employee was linked with the x
account Glomar Responder, which has sprouted blatantly racist and anti
immigrant views since twenty twelve. The outlet reviewed the account's posts,
along with federal court records, courtroom visits, and background interviews,
and reported it belongs to forty four year old James
Jim Joseph Rodden, who was an assistant chief counsel for
(01:35):
ICE in Dallas. According to the Observer, Rotten represents ICE
and court hearings where judges rule on deportations. Last month,
Glomar Responder shared a post saying quote, America is a
white nation founded by whites. We are the historical and
majority population, and it was founded for our benefit. Our
(01:55):
country should favor us unquote. A second post from the
account last month read quote my World War two vet
grandfather didn't get a chance to kill Asians, so he
volunteered for Korea. He'd be asking for a short term
job with ICE, kicking doors and swinging baton unquote. Last September,
Rodden allegedly wrote on the account quote all blacks are
(02:16):
foreign to my people.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Unquote.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
There's another quote here. Nobody is proposing feeding migrants into
tree shredders. Yet give it a few more weeks at
this level of invasion and that will be the more
moderate position unquote, and this was from March of twenty
twenty four. The account now is no longer public. And
then finally, here we have a quote from ICE quote,
(02:42):
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will not comment on the
substance of this article, pending further investigation to include whether
the owner of the referenced x account is a current employee. Notwithstanding,
ICE holds its employees to the highest standards of professionalism
and takes seriously all all the gauge allegations of inappropriate conduct. Okay,
(03:03):
so obviously we had a lot to talk about. Their
needed to paint the full picture. Give us your thoughts
here here. This feels a little upsetting to me, but
you know, you know, talk us through what you know,
and you know how this one hit you.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yeah, I think I think we're we're dealing with an
administration where we're going to have to expect this. We're
going to have to expect individuals who are going to
be placed in positions that they just don't deserve. And uh,
this is not the only case that happened this month.
Maybe two weeks ago, there was a DOGE employee, which
is Elon musk I guess put together organization that he
(03:42):
is basically used to rate the UH the US government
from a financial standpoint.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
We don't know what their specific roles are.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
But there was a DOGE employee who had some racist
things that came out on social media, and you know,
he was rehired. He was initially fired, but he was
rehired by the Trump administration. And so we we're gonna
see individuals who similar to this, who don't deserve to
be in these positions of power and have overt racism
(04:17):
and bias and the backgrounds, and so we just have
to continue to call this out. We have to continue
to push back. I think a lot of people are tired.
It's only a few weeks in really just the first
month of this administration, and we are already seeing, uh,
you know, just the issues that that's occurring, and it's
(04:39):
just you know, blatant racism of people who are placed
in these positions. And so, like I said, I think
it's our job to fight.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Back and call it out.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
And you know, hopefully soon we'll we'll see some type
of change and some type of pushback from from the
higher ups and individuals who are in Congress who can
do a better job of stop them, stop them. Situations
like this and the hires like this.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
QW, I know you got some maga ice white supremacisist
spider man, mean, like, that's all I got for you.
They've shown that their entire collective is based off of
white supremacy. They're not offended by it, they're not shocked
by it. They're not surprised by it, and neither are
(05:25):
neither should we be at this point. This is who
they are. As much as they try to deny it
in word, they do not try to deny it in action.
They do not try to deny it in policy. I
said before, the type of person that would going to
an elementary school to get children like we don't have
to worry about how high this person's character is. That
(05:48):
I had to go get my kindergartener out of school
because of potential ice raids. We know what this is.
It's it's blatant and flagrant at this point.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
The thing about this from that kind of eats at
me is that there's a safe space because this person
here has had these views espoused this vantage point for
(06:22):
at least since twenty twelve, right when the account was created.
So that means that this person has been working for
thirteen years in this capacity.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
And has worked closely with other people.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And I don't think it's unlike you know, traditional police departments,
where you know, after that amount of time, you get to.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Know who your coworkers are, right, And.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
This guy wasn't called out, he wasn't fired, clearly no consequences.
And my belief is is, just like police, there's a
culture that welcomes this type of this this view, this
type of racist, indoctrinated individual. Right, there's a soft place
(07:20):
for them to land. They have they have community, and
they have power. They get to lord that power over
people who are less powerful than they are, have less
rights than they do like in the real world, and
they have this like kind of bully mentality god complex,
and it's like the perfect storm for those people.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
Right, It's just like police departments.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
And for those of us that call it out and say, listen, man,
I don't rock.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
With the police, because the police harbor.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
There's like a petri disc for this racism to fester
and grow and multiply. And I mean, even if something
does come out, it's seldom punished, it's in many cases
it's ignored, and in some cases it's even rewarded, you know.
(08:12):
And so it's like a type of it's a job
that rewards that aggressive, bully type of manto. And then
of course there's those people that come out and say, oh,
it's not all cops, it's not all ice agents. There's
you know, a few bad apples, this, that, and the third.
And that's never been the conversation that we've been having,
because that very well may be true. And what we've
always pointed out is the culture that allows us to thrive.
(08:34):
And you'd be hard pressed to convince me that this
person who feels this strongly about immigrants has worked in
an immigration enforcement capacity. No one has learned this about
him in twelve years, at least twelve years, and all
(08:55):
of a sudden it comes out, and all the people
whose lives he is affected over the past twelve years,
the people I'm sure that he's abused and harmed and whatever,
and taken joy in that. It just shows that for
those people that say this is not a racist country,
as long as people like that have the power and
they're insulated from consequences. This absolutely is a racist country.
(09:20):
Moving on from NBC News, the thirty eight year old
woman issuing the fertility clinic she used to conceive a
child after the wrong embryo was implanted in her, resulting
in a shocking discovery as soon as the infant was born, according.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
To a lawsuit.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
The suit, filed Tuesday in Georgia State Court, alleges that
Christina Murray quote unknowingly and unwillingly carried a child through
pregnancy who was not biologically related to her unquote, something
she only learned once she delivered the baby boy. Murray
then had to give the custody give custody of the
baby boy to his biological parents five months later, adding
(09:55):
to her trauma. The suit says Murray, a wedding photographer
who lives in Savannah, had decided to conceive and raise
a child with the help of a sperm donor through
Coastal Fertility Specialist, which organizes in vitrio fertilization clinics in
South Carolina. In Georgia, the lawsuit says that Murray selected
a sperm donor who resembled her. The donor was white
(10:16):
with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. Coastal Fertility transferred
an embryo to Murray in twenty twenty three, but when
she gave birth in December of that year, Murray immediately
knew something was wrong, the lawsuit says, because the boy
that she delivered was a dark skinned African American baby.
And here's a quote from her in her own words.
Speaker 6 (10:36):
The actions of the fertility clinic have come very close
to destroying me, have left a reparable damage to my soul,
and ultimately left me questioning whether I should be a
mom or not.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
All Right, so I mere talk to us about this
one a little bit more. You know, what are your thoughts?
What do you This one is complicated, but you know,
help us out.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Yeah, it's actually happened in our state, having George, which
in Savannah, which is a few hours outside of Atlanta.
Uh And so this is this is something that we
have been uh in terms of just hearing about for
a while. In terms of this, the craziness of this
entire ordeal, you have to think, you have to really uh,
(11:21):
you know, feel for both both families that's involved, you know,
the mother and also the family of the child. You know, no,
there are no winners in this situation. And you know,
when you're when you're doing this type of treatment, you're
you're paying a lot of money, and so you would
hope that, uh, the people who you're entrusted uh this,
(11:43):
you know, this situation to help you bring life into
the world, you'd hope that they would actually be competent
enough to give you, uh, you know, the right the
things that you're asked for. It's you know, you know,
I've heard that this rarely happens, but the fact that
it happened, it's just it's just horrible for both sides.
(12:03):
I mean even you know, you have to feel for
the mother and you have to also feel for the
for the family of the child as well in terms
of just how this entire thing went down. It's just
it's just a bad look all around, all the way around.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Thank you. This is one of those things where the
failure rate should be zero.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:23):
Right, So, just like A R said, the biological parents
justifiably want their child. The woman who carried this child
and brought it into the world, justifiably wants what she
paid for. And whether anybody wants to accept it or not,
she has a relationship with the child that she bore.
(12:43):
So it's it's a zero failure rate proposition for the clinic.
Both parties should be compensated at minimum. And I'm sure
if they're well. To assume people are decent these days
is a massive reach. I was going to say, they're
a decent company. They will provide this service for this
woman again for free at minimum. But yeah, it's you know,
(13:08):
Yer said it the best man. There's both of the parents,
most sets of parents, or this woman and the biological
parents justifiably feel how they feel. And there's no right,
there's no good or bad guy with regards to them.
Only the clinic is you know, made a monumental mistake
that in that world you just can't make, not even
(13:31):
not even point zero one percent of the time.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Can you make that mistake?
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, you know, when I first came across this one,
I was like, I'm still like kind of like shell
shock because all the stories coming out about they have
like racism at the at the root of the story.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
They're just they're just we're still.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
In the kind of the bombardment, you know, phase of
you know, this new administration, in this new world in
which we're living and It's kind of the the muzzle
velocity at which we're kind of fielding all these stories
is like crazy. And so when I first came across
this one, I thought the same thing, like, Okay, this
is another story. White woman gives birth to a black baby.
(14:13):
She doesn't want the black baby, you know, and she's
blaming the clinic. And I just felt like it was
another story with like kind of racism.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
At its root.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And then I actually like read into it turns out
that this woman was devastated that she had to give
the baby up. Like you said, Q. It's like, no,
I don't. I don't know that she said this, but
you know, I imagine I've been through a pregnancy before
with you know, a partner, and you know I have
(14:42):
children and so forth, and so you know the kicks
and the hearing the heartbeat and you know, singing to
the baby and you know all that that stuff that
and then you get really excited and then you have
to when the baby is born. This this baby is
still dependent on you, regardless of what color is. It
(15:03):
is a human being that you created it to your
point view, and then you have to feed the baby
from your body. You know what you supply is what
the baby needs, you know what I mean, in order
to continue to It's completely dependent on you. And then
for five months you go through this whole thing and
then someone just takes your baby away. And so where
(15:27):
I thought this story had racism at the root of it,
it was almost like the opposite of it. It was like,
oh my god, that's devastating, Like in my mind, that
should be her baby if she wants it. But also
obviously the other family are like, yo, this is what
you took our sperm and our egg and put it
in the wrong person. But that's we were hoping for
(15:49):
our baby, and she has our baby, you know what
I mean. And so again it's just nobody wins here.
But I'm glad that it wasn't a story about racism.
It just race, I think, is what sensation and the
lies didn't got everyone talking about it, and you know,
here we are today. But yeah, there's there's got to
be some way to make this right. I couldn't tell
you what it is because I don't think any amount
(16:10):
of money is going to return the woman who carried
the baby. You know, it's going to return her back
to whole because she created something that's been taken from her.
She has to live with that forever, and so hopefully
that maybe the families work out something where, you know,
they can who knows, who knows, that's not my business,
but it's just it's a sad one.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Today's guest is the author of the book Trap History
and the executive editor of Atlanta Daily World, Mister A. R.
Shaw all Right.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Next up from the Hill, Democratic strategist James Carville said
that while he's a fan of Stephen A. Smith's sports coverage,
the commentator doesn't know his blank from a hole in
the ground when it comes to politics. Carville responded to
Smith's recent talk about potentially running as a twenty twenty
eight candidate since the Democrats suck right now, arguing that he.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Should stick to sports. Quote. Look, he's like.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Anybody else who does any kind of commentary, sports commentary.
He's sometimes wrong, way more times he's right, Carville said
on Thursday's episode of his Politician podcast. He goes on
to say when it comes to sports, I find him
to be really insightful. When it comes to politics, he
don't know his blank from a hole in the ground.
(17:29):
He's running his blank mouth about how he may have
to run as Democrat because there's no talent Steven Are
you kidding me? So this guy's got a lot to
say about Steven A.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Smith.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
And this is somebody that Q has told me a
lot about in recent months. So I'm more familiar with
Steven A. Smith than I've ever been, and so I
feel like a little bit more connected to this story.
But I will be the furthest from the expert. So, amir,
you're up to bat first man, give us your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Yeah, yeah, so I think that you know, the founding fathers,
they never expected someone like Donald Trump to ascend to
the highest office of the land. If they had an
idea or even a clue that someone that incompetent could
actually become president, I'm sure they would have set better
(18:22):
boundaries to become president. I think it should be more.
I think you should at least have to at least
you should at least have to have served at least
four years in some type of political office before you
or or able to become president. I mean, if you
think about some of the most important jobs and in
this nation or even the world, you have to do
(18:43):
some type of apprenticeship if you want to be a doctor,
you have to do an apprenticeship, you have to go
to you have to go to medical school. You want
to be a lawyer, you have to go to law school.
If you want to be an airplane pilot, you have
to uh the screen, Yeah, you go to flight school.
But there's no barrier to be the most powerful person
in the in the world.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
So Stephen A.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Smith, who's uh as James Carlos A. He's a master
when it comes to sports in terms of his his
his ability to break down sports and and and give
critical analysts when it when it comes to uh, you know, football, basketball,
things of that nature. He's great that I do not
(19:26):
want Stephen A. Smith near a white house, just like
I didn't want Donald Trump near a white house. I
think people who serve the country in terms of of
being being uh involved in politics, I think they understand
what it means. And you know, unfortunately, with Trump uh
becoming a president, I think anybody thinks, you know, more
(19:48):
people think that they can have a shot at becoming
a president.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Uh. Stephen A.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Smith is one he sees you know, I watched you know,
his podcast, his shows on ESPN. He's He's mentioned this
on several occasions about him running for president, But James
Carlville is right. And I don't always agree with Carville,
but he's right in this instance because we don't need
another celebrity in chief. We need people who understand what
(20:14):
it means to serve, and we really need people who
understand understands what it means to run a government because
the government is not a business. The government is really
built to help people. And that's the that's the disconnect
that we're that we're at right now. That uh, that's
what the government is for. That's why we paid that's
why we pay taxes, because we want better roles, we
(20:34):
want better health, we want better things for the for
the for the country and for people. Are allies, and
so let's just get rid of this celebrity and chief
nonsense and get back to the basics.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Yeah, yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I don't think you're wrong at all, man, And I
know that Q is going to have something to say here,
But first I want to ask you, aren't you proud
of me? I am, because I've never been able to
really contribute much these conversations, but you what you got.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
This might be the most conflicting and complicated subject we've
ever covered.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Okay, ar hit it on the head.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
Our founding fathers had more faith in the people of
this country than they should have, because, in their minds,
they didn't have to set a barrier that you had
to at least be intelligent, that you had to at
least be decent, that you had to at least have
been an alderman or a city council person on some
level of government somewhere to be the president. They thought
(21:40):
the people would auto vet the reality TV show host
as president, so they didn't have to put that barrier
in place.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
They thought it would just automatically happen.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
We the people would stop someone so incompetent from becoming president. Yeah, right,
so that's why this becomes complicated. James Carvell's probably right
that steven A doesn't know much about politics at all,
but when the standard is Donald.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Trump, he knows everything about it.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
I feel crazy saying steven A should shut up and
dribble or shut up and stick to sports or whatever
James is trying to say, because y'all let this other
dude win twice. I'm certain stephen A wouldn't be worse
even if he just like the other dude.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Has no idea what he's doing. His just normal human.
Speaker 5 (22:31):
Intuition wouldn't be how can I make life worse for everybody?
How can I ruin life for women and disable people
and veterans and black people and immigrants from everywhere in
the world where the immigrants aren't white.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I'm sure that at least that wouldn't be his agenda.
Speaker 5 (22:52):
So even if he did have no idea, he could
just like this guy, appoint a bunch of actually qualified people,
though point all the people around him to be masters,
to be brilliant, to be highly educated and competent, so
he could at worst be better than the president we
have now. So yeah, I agree that he's a sports
(23:13):
commentator and the idea of him running for president.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Should be ridiculous.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
But when Donald Trump is the current president, I feel
crazy saying that out loud with any type of fervor,
because I know he wouldn't be worse. My daughter wouldn't
be worse. Her first question when this election was over was, Daddy,
how come the mean one one? From the mouth of
(23:39):
my child? It was that simple, how come the mean
one one? Because just like in every TV show, on
every movie, that we've ever watched. When we're watching those movies,
the person that would play Donald Trump's type of character
in the movie, we would all know was the bad
guy and we would all root against.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Him for all of history.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
This beautiful child of mine, with her her mind at
its most innocent, was very, very confused and lost when
the mean one won, the.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Bad guys won. Dad.
Speaker 5 (24:14):
How so, I don't even I don't even know my
take on this one, y'all. Like I don't, James Hertdale
is right, but kind of so what like again, because
it feels like shut up and dribble. It feels like
shut up and stick to sports, and they only say
(24:34):
that to us.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Well, yeah, I don't. I don't.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
I can't really, That's what I'm thinking. But I and
how I'm feeling. I don't have a take on this
one because I don't know that's perple.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
No, man, I'll take it.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I'll take it. I I.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Just wanted to say that if I had to choose,
I would choose Who's Shannon Sharp? Because I like Shannon Sharp.
He is a kind person I think based on the
stuff I've listened to, and he seems sensible and he
(25:14):
seems measured I don't listen to all those sports talking
and all that sort of stuff, but.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
You know, he just seems like a decent guy.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
And from what I understand, he's kind of the more
popping guy in well not more poppin', well more popping,
but he's not like overall, he's like got a ways
to go to ketch up to Steven Smith, but like
right in terms of the right now, he's more popping
than a guy named Skioup and then he's more popping
than this guy. And so Shannon Sharp would be my vote.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
I just think I think your vote would be Kamala Harris. Well, yeah, yeah,
of being anecdotal and picking through sports broadcast are sure,
but I don't want you to set that as the
bar or the standard.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
I've no say yeah if that way, like, if don't
have to choose between the names I know that do that,
I would pick Yeah, uh, it's Stephen Smith. He's he
feels like he's Steve A.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Smith.
Speaker 5 (26:10):
Is important to say Stephen Smith. There's an NBA player
named Steve Smith. Okay, just saying Stephen Smith might confuse
the audience.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
When Stephen A. Smith seems like he's angry. More of
the time, and I've had about enough of that for
a few lifetimes. So again, Shannon Sharp feels like he
feels like.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Like they call him unk. He feels like that.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
So if I had to choose somebody who did that job,
it would be Shannon Sharp over stephen A. Smith, because
his yelling voice is just I just it's too it's
too much for me.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Anyway.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
For a final story, it's some sad news here. We've
unfortunately had some some hip hop related passings this week
and this weekend. First up from The Express, the Notorious
BIG's mom, Viletta Wallace, has died age seventy two, according
to sources, but he smalls his mother sadly died Friday
(27:04):
morning in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, according to the Monroe County Corner
Thomas Yannick. While her cause of death has not been confirmed,
she was reportedly in hospice care. And then the other one,
this comes from TMZ. Tiger has been sitting on some
gut wrenching news. His mother died last month and his
(27:25):
spirit has been unnerved in the wake of her absence.
T Rob posted a touching tribute on Friday to his mom,
Passion Ay Wynn, who passed away on January eighteenth. No
cause of death has been released, but Tager posted a
pic of him holding his mom's hand with a hospital
wristband attached to it, so it appears she was battling
(27:45):
in illness. So you know, just your final reflections on
that a mirror and then Q will get yours as well.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Yeah, definitely sad news on both fronts. I think people
don't really understand. I guess we don't really highlight the
importance of mothers in terms of hip hop. And it's
just been you know, since Tupac released Dear Mama, and
he shed light on this is importance of having uh,
(28:13):
this motherly figure in our communities at a time when
unfortunately a lot of black men were absent. It just
shows you we've seen with with hip hop, how how
mothers have played a role in raising just the community.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
You know, we don't.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
We don't really, we don't really. I think focus or
gifts give flowers enough to the mothers of hip hop artists,
you know, because you know, we think about it.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I don't want to.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
I don't want to put hip hop on a on
a level of a Doctor King or Malcolm X, and
it says, but but there is some correlation in terms
of how they are how the art form is used
to gavanize the communities. And a lot of times when
you have these individuals like a Tupac or or Notorious
b I G.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
They get their.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
First you know, their first wisdom from their mother and
so their guide it a lot by their moms. And
we see how Phoenish a corps and by let A
while that's both how they inspired their sons to be greatness.
And they were both great at a young age. I
mean they you know, Tupac and the Torious b I G.
(29:24):
They only had a three or four year run in
terms of their output, but they still impact, you know,
the things that we do till this day. And so
we just have to give kudos to the mothers, you know,
the mothers within our communities and pretty much how they've
been able to hold down our communities at times when
(29:44):
a lot of black men have been either you know,
arrested due to mass incarceration or had to deal with
drug addiction due to the War on Drugs, or just
not being financially able to take care of families. Others
in our communities have stepped up in pretty much taken
(30:05):
a mantle to raise our communities, and not.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Just their kids.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
They raise everybody. If you you grew up in the community,
the mothers are the ones who keep you straight, to
keep you focused, and they also, uh, you know, provide
a sort of guidance, you know, when those communities lack men.
And so it's just you know, for me, that's that's
how I look at it. You know, the power of
these mothers and how they were able to raise these
(30:28):
men despite the circumstances.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Yeah, you're you're fine.
Speaker 5 (30:33):
Of thoughts, I think we we don't often get to
see the human side of our celebrities, our rappers, most specifically,
because they are like the superhero, super masculine, super alpha
super characters in the in the creation space, and they're
(30:54):
the least vulnerable. They have the least amount of weaknesses.
They have the least amount of things that make the
sad or that make them cry, or that affect them
in any way that makes them vulnerable. And I think
we saw in the Netflix documentary Genius about Kanye West,
when we got to see the role that his mother
(31:15):
played and really creating Kanye West as a producer and
artist of course, as a son and a student. He
was always who he was, but the way that she
poured into him and reassured him and helped him feel
like literally he could do anything. She was his biggest cheerleader,
his biggest supporter. And I think we've seen the impact
(31:35):
of losing her and what it did to his life
and to his psyche and to his spirit. So when
our greats, because we you know, we don't hold them
on the same space as we do MLK and Malcolm X,
but their cultural impact I can say is as measured.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
You know, Ar said it. Those guys had a very
very short time with us on this earth. Before they
reached thirty.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
They'd accomplish things that some of us still have it
And they didn't get to live a full life, but
they had a full They.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Had several lifetimes of impact.
Speaker 5 (32:08):
And the human element comes into play with loss and
more specifically of Mom, like that relationship with Mom and
the role that she plays for all of us collectively,
like a you haven't met my mom yet, but when
you do, you're her son. That's just the rules. Ramas
that's been through that already, like.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
A few times.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Yeah, he's on their life forget and that's just how
mothers are.
Speaker 5 (32:30):
So watching these brothers deal with that loss, and watching
her deal with the loss of her son and then
now we all have to lose her, it's definitely something
that's that's super impactful.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
And again it's like it's like gravity.
Speaker 5 (32:43):
It brings all of us back to earth, Like okay,
that there's a human element of our superstars that somehow
or sometimes rather I think gets lost and moments like
this bring them back. And you know, blessings and prayers
to Tiger and to you know, everyone who has to
mourn the loss of a lot of Wallace.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Well, I think that says it all. You two are
masters at helping me process all these things, and you know,
I can't thank you enough for your time and your insight.
Once again, today's guest is the author of the book
Trap History and the executive editor of Atlanta Daily World,
Mister A. R.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Shaw.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
This has been a production of the Black Information Network.
Today's show is produced.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
By Chris Thompson.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
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 am your host Ramsey's Jaw on all social media.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
I am q Ward on all social media as well.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
And join us tomorrow as we share our news with
our voice from our perspective right here on the Black
Information Network Daily Podcast
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