June 3, 2024 • 35 mins
IHeart Radio News Anchor Katie Gray joins Host Ramses Ja on today's podcast to discuss the biggest news stories from the 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 enlighten. 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 BIN News Network anchor Katie Gray.
This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast and I'm
(00:21):
your host, ramses Jah. All right, Katie Gray, welcome to
the show. This is your first time hanging out with me.
Give us a quick brief introduction of who you are
and maybe something cool going on in your world, just
so that we know who we're talking to when we
get into.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
These stories right now.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Honestly, I'm so honored. I'm so excited to sit down
with you. I've been looking forward to it. Honestly, I
am definitely a newsgirl all.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Way through and through.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I just love the fact that I get to research
these stories and get to report on these stories and
then tell everybody.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Else about them.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
So I'm so excited to dive into the content with you.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
All right, all right, Well, to get your thoughts first up,
We're going to talk about the eight black men who
were temporarily removed from an American Airlines flight over a
complaint about body oder, according to a new lawsuit. So
on Wednesday, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of three
of the men, Alvin Jackson, Emanuel Jean Joseph and Xavier
Veal against American Airlines alleging quote blatant and egregious racial
(01:21):
discrimination unquote per Axios, the lawsuit states that eight passengers
were kicked off their January fifth flight from Phoenix, Arizona,
to New York quote without any valid reason and solely
based on their race unquote a new quote. Representatives of
American told them that they were removed from the flight
because of a complaint about a black male passenger who
(01:43):
allegedly had offensive bodyoder unquote.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
This is according to the lawsuit.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
The eight men weren't seated together and didn't know each other.
According to the lawsuit, the men didn't have any offensive
body oder end quote. At no time did anyone ever
specifically accuse any of them of having offensive body odor
unquote a new quote. When plaintiffs pointed out that they
were being treated unfairly due to the color of their skin,
at least one of the American staff members said she
(02:10):
did not disagree.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Unquote.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
The suit reads, according to the lawsuit, the eight men
were initially told they would have to be rebooked on
a different flight. However, quote only after determining that there
were no available American flights unquote that day, the airline
reversed course and told them they could reboard their initial flight.
So I remember when this story first broke. Obviously there's
a lawsuit now, so you know, give us your thoughts,
(02:35):
talk us through this one a little bit, how.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
It hits you.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
I mean, there's definitely a couple different factors that definitely
jump off the page that I think really deserved to
be unpacked is the fact that you know, we are
talking about eight separate people, and you know, I'll start
out with the lighter version, the lighter thoughts on it,
which is, you know, we've heard different cases over the
(02:59):
last two years about you know, different issues that have
elevated where people have been kicked off flights, and unfortunately
a lot of them were situational.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Right We're behavioral where either.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Passengers to one another or to flight attendants. This was
one of the rare cases where you don't hear often
about body odor I even had to dive into that myself.
I found a couple stories back in twenty ten, in
twenty seventeen, it is something that airlines do have a
right to reserve, but it's not something that you often
(03:31):
hear about, so then you know. Obviously, the more important
aspect to this is that these eight people did not
know each other.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
All that was told to them was because of a description.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Because they were black males, they were singled out, and
they were asked to be removed from a flight. I mean,
there is it's really difficult to look at the situation
and not see it as racial profiling. There's especially where
the only single factor was that it was a complaint,
that we don't know where it came from, and that
it was a black male.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Yeah, that's very vague. That's so vague.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, and I think your point is well made.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
With a complaint like that resulting in eight black people,
black men being removed from the flight, it shows not
only the what I would feel, because as they mentioned,
I'm inclined to believe them. That's like an old stereotype,
an old like racist motif. If you will, that black
(04:34):
people smell, we have an odor to us and we're
dirty and we steal and all kind of we're lazy.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
We're brought here to do work for people who really
were lazy. Isn't that funny anyway?
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, for someone to allege that and then for them
to ultimately determine that none of us have any offensive
body odor, right, I'm inclined to believe the black men
because you know, that's just it sounds more racist than
it may be. But you know, we're all human, we're
(05:08):
all mammals, so we have the capacity to smell, I'm sure.
But once once that part has been determined, then you
start examining the layers here. And so the company like
overreached by far in removing all eight of these gentlemen.
(05:28):
They weren't seated together, as I mentioned, and they didn't
know each other, right, so they don't come from the
same background. They don't They weren't eating the same food
they you know, it wasn't you know, there was no
connective tissue there outside of well, these guys all have
melanin in.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Their skin, so they're all the problem, right, And you.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Know, According to the article at bion news dot Com,
the lawsuit further alleges that American airlines pattern of racial
bigotry prompted the NAACP to issue a travel advisory for
black passengers back in twenty seventeen. So now what you
have is a history of, at least according to the NAACP,
(06:12):
what I would call discriminatory practices against black people.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And you know, to be fair.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
In a statement, American Airlines said, the allegations quote do
not reflect their core values or their purpose of caring
for people. But this is an unfortunate, you know, thing
that happened. But you know the truth is these gentlemen,
for whatever trauma it is that they've endured, for whatever
embarrassment that they've endured, just because imagine that. Imagine being
removed from an airplane in front of all the rest
(06:41):
of the people on the airplane, inconveniencing all of those people,
inconveniencing yourself.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Ogle body, Yeah, exactly, being singled out where it's like
you're standing up in front of all of these people
and being escorted off a flight. And also recognizing that
in the article you only have three out of those
eight that went ahead and stepped up to press charges,
because you know that also does take to some degree
(07:08):
guts acknowledging the fact of like, hey, this isn't okay,
and I want to make sure that the company maybe
has a little bit more level of accountability. There you go, gents,
this from happening again because it wasn't okay for me
and it shouldn't be okay for somebody else.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Well sa Well said, all right, moving on. A white
writer is facing backlash or disguising himself as a black
man for research for his new book. On last Tuesday,
Sam Forster took to x formerly Twitter to announce the
release of his book Seven Shoulders, taxonomizing racism in Modern America.
(07:42):
Orster noted that he disguised himself as a black man
to gain a first hand account of racism in America.
Quote last summer, I disguised myself as a black man
and traveled throughout the United States to document how racism
persists in American society.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Unquote.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
This was according to a tweet, And this tweet was
the long side a photo of his book cover. He continues, writing,
Seven Shoulders was one of the hardest things I've ever
done as a journalist. It's out on May thirtieth, So
this one. I had a lot of people online talking.
You know, I think I understand kind of what he
(08:18):
was trying to do, but it's like another form of blackface,
and again you're never going to get the full measure
of the black experience. But you know, there were a
lot of folks that were taking this as offensive. I
think I tend to be have a little bit more
grace for people that are trying their hand at allyship.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
But let's get your thoughts here.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
You know, I love that you said that, because I
had I mean, there was right on the surface. You
have like your initial reaction right where a part of
you goes.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Do we know better? Like are we doing this? We're
having this dialogue right, And you're right.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
My piece to it too, especially from a journalist standpoint, is,
you know, I think it's very sensitive to want to
admire people that are trying to educate themselves and they're
trying to step outside of their own perspective and what
they know to be true or their experience. But then
(09:17):
you're right, we'll also have to then have the further
conversation to that that there's a right and wrong way
to go about it. And this is one of the
rare stories that you're right. I read the story, and
I actually really admired more so some of the comments,
some of the responses from the story from people that
(09:38):
articulated really well about how you can't really encapsulate that
and how necessarily it simplifies, you know, that perspective to
try to think that you can pretty much you're right
do blackface and being able to understand like a different perspective.
I think in many different ways, it wholesomely exemplified more
(10:02):
so the ignorance and insensitivity towards a topic and its opposite,
especially because like you know, you're right, like if you
if he genuinely My think too. From a journalistic standpoint,
you know, we are trained and we are constantly always
put in the position where it's not supposed the subject
is supposed to be what it is, and it's not
supposed to be about us. And I think that in
(10:24):
this case from a journalistic standpoint, he tried to put
himself in the story and he missed the mark because
it could have he could have had it could have.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Been a series. The book could have been a series of.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Essays and interviews that he had and sit down conversations
that he had from different people in the community.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
But he chose not to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
He tried to do this in a very in a
very different way that obviously is causing a lot more backlash.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Sure, And I think that you know, you're you're probably
a more traditionally trained journalist than I am. I've spent
most of my life just kind of being a normal person,
so not quite as cool as you just yet, but
I'm working on it.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
In any event, I think that I have to put
on my journalistic hat. Uh.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
And that's that's a that's that requires some effort for me.
But the thing that comes most naturally to me. And
obviously long time listeners of the show will know this
that you know, I work in in the allyship space.
You know, my radio show, Civic Cipher kind of exists
to foster allyship between our various tribes in this country.
(11:38):
And I recognize that a lot of people are they
have challenges, you know when it comes to that, because
they don't know how to best show up for their
Hispanic brothers and sisters, their Black brothers and sisters, et cetera. Right,
And you know, on the one hand, we'll say, hey,
you need to listen to black people, right, you need
(11:59):
to listen to black women, and that's very true. And
on the other hand, will say, you can never understand
the black experience, no matter how much listening you do,
unless you walk in our shoes, which is also true, right.
And I could see people becoming very frustrated with trying
their best to immerse themselves in blackness to gain perspective
(12:21):
and to gain understanding, maybe increase their capacity for empathy,
and then having to deal with the backlash that comes
with at least some facet of Black America or whatever
facet of America they're trying to supporting, taking exception to
how they go about cultivating a relationship with with these
(12:47):
different tribes.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Right.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
And so that's how I look at it initially, And
then the journalist in me says, Okay, I need to
look at both sides. I need to look at what
he was doing, and then I need to look at
people's reaction to it. And so a little bit different approach.
But I think that you know, you and I both
are going to end up in the same in the
same place, which is by accounting for both facets, both
(13:11):
sides of this, I think that we are exercising the
best we can our capacity for understanding and for gaining perspective.
And while you know, everyone can learn a little bit
of a lesson here and there and everywhere else. You know,
there's been stories like this that have happened in the past.
There's been there have been black people doing that, and
(13:34):
and on and on, and sometimes it's for comedic effects.
Sometimes it's for you know, research purposes. But you know, again,
on the one hand, I can read stories about white
women try to figure out what their life is like
and be very intentional about that and never know. And
then I can dress up like Sean and Marlon Wayans
(13:54):
and white chicks and try to have that experience and
never know. And you know, I know that full well.
And you know, for some people it just doesn't really
come to them so easily. They have to like walk
through it in order to learn. And so I'm not
too mad at him. I just I hope he's learned
a little something and he's a little wiser, and I
(14:15):
sure maybe he's learned something that we all can benefit from.
So I hope, folks, you know, if his book is
really well intentioned, I hope it sells well and that
he makes an impact with it.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
So join us for the National Urban League Conference in
New Orleans July twenty fourth through the twenty seventh at
High Ad Regency, New Orleans. Don't miss out. Register today
and nuilconference dot org.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
This is your weekend recap with today's guests.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Black Information News Network anchor Katie Gray.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
All right, next up.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
A white woman has been sentenced after she appeared to
encourage a group of girls to attack a black teenager
in a video that went by According to BBC, the
forty one year old Winnie Connors was sentenced to twenty
months in prison after pleading guilty to intentionally encouraging or
assisting an offense. The attack against the black teen unfolded
(15:14):
near Thomas Niavett College in Ashford, Surrey in February twenty
twenty three. Video shows Connors and a white teenager approaching
the black girl before the adult instigated the beating. Getter
Connors repeated several times during the video. The white teenager
hit the victim repeatedly before more girls joined in on
the assault, kicking the black girl and pulling her braids, quote,
(15:36):
punch the face off her unquote the adult yelt. Several
reports stated that Connors was the mother of one of
the girls involved in the fight. In October twenty twenty three,
one of the teen attackers pleaded guilty to assault occasioning
bodily harm. She was ordered to pay a fine and
issued a restraining order. Second teenager also later confessed to
(15:57):
an actual bodily harm charge in connection the attack. Okay,
I will say this, I've had a tough week, and
you know, I sort through a number of traumatic videos
in a week, and I have learned over the years
(16:19):
that I've been doing this type of work that I
have a limit, and in order to protect my piece,
in order to preserve my capacity to empathize and sympathize,
I do not want to become desensitized to violence against
black and brown bodies as a result. I have not
seen the video, but I know that you have, and
(16:41):
so I'm going to lean on you for your reaction
having seen the video, and then of course your thoughts
to what is now happening in the aftermath.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
I mean, what I think is so difficult about situations
like this is that, you know, if we apply the
lens critically and we dissect it that way, right where,
just right off the bat, if I began telling this story,
and I said, there were a group of teens and
there was an adult that was egging on and incentivizing violence.
(17:19):
Even at that point, it's not really it's not difficult
to kind of already see that this is a you know,
difficult this is a terrible situation that it's really hard
to justify this parent by any means, like the fact
that this was an adult woman who was encouraging violence,
but then also layering in that layer of recognition that
(17:40):
you did have a group of white girls and a
black girl that was being targeted, and that you had
an adult that was witnessing this happening, and not only
did she not prevent it from happening, but it was
encouraging it. They also mentioned to you, like the mom
who was recording the video. Sorry, the woman that was
recording the video was also apparent to one of the
(18:01):
girls that was participating in the violence. It's just, yeah,
I don't know if there is too much to be
kind of unpacked there.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, you know, the thing that about these videos is that.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Oftentimes what will happen is I will see videos.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Of kind of the opposite.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
It'll be black girls beating up on a white girl
and they're sent out and shared. You know, I've subscribed
to some conservative and indeed far right white nationalist forums
because I need to understand what the opposition is thinking,
what media they're consuming, so that I know how to
have intelligent conversations that.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Chronicle narratives accurately.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
So oftentimes i'll see kind of the inverse video like these,
where again it'll be black girls beating up on a
white girl, and I know enough of that's enough of
this to know that this thing is not exclusive to
white people. It's not exclusive to black people. But I
do know that historically black people have suffered more underneath
(19:13):
this type of dynamic, which is why stories like this
are particularly sensitive and the inverse stories are unfortunate. Absolutely,
we're all human beings. We don't want to see anyone
get hurt, especially a child. But there's not the same
particular sensitivity associated with white victims as there are with
(19:34):
black victims, because historically black people have been victimized by
white people and terrorized by by white people, and hung
from trees and live short, hard lives where they spent
most of their time afraid of white people.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Right, So this is something that we understand. But then
you start.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
To dig into the deeper layers here, which is this
child that you know was being encouraged, is probably grown
up with a warped perspective on her place in the world,
her value, and indeed the value of the black girl.
(20:16):
Because for a parent to show up to see what's happening,
to encourage a beating against a black girl, you know,
a person who historically has been marginalized. Indeed, this adult
had to know that this child's mother was marginalized, this
child's grandmother was marginalized, this child's great grandmother was probably enslaved,
(20:38):
you know, and going all the way back, and you
can kind of make those connections, and is indeed teaching
her child that this sort of violence is an appropriate
response to whatever happened before that. I think that, you know, this,
this flies in the face of that narrative of you know,
(21:00):
we're going to wait for the old generation of racist
to die out so that we can you know, remake
the world in a more progressive in a more progressive way.
It shows that racism is taught, It shows that violence
is taught. It shows that, you know, we need a
different strategy than just waiting, because these people are active
(21:23):
and clearly they're coming for children too, and so something
to be mindful of. Moving on, social media is buzzing
after former President Donald Trump was found guilty in his
New York hush money trial. On Thursday, twelve, New Yorkers
tapped to sit on the jury and unanimously found Trump
(21:43):
guilty of thirty four felony accounts of false fine business
records related to hush money payments to a Don't film
stars Stormy Daniel's amid the twenty sixteen election. The jury
took two days to deliberate before reaching their decision. A
felony conviction for a former president is unprecedented. So we're
going to talk about because everyone knows this, We're going
to talk about kind of the reaction on social media,
because social media users quickly took to the Internet to
(22:05):
share their thoughts on Trump's verdict. I certainly had my own,
but I'd love to hear what you've discovered and your
thoughts as well.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
I mean, honestly, it was it really.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
I mean, one of the things that cannot be said
enough is that this really is making history, right. I mean,
this is the first time that we've ever had a
former president and also someone that's running for that office again,
I mean convicted like it's I will say, I was
(22:35):
very taken back to you because the way that the
trial was going about, I mean the jury members, I
mean inevitably, even though you have in many different cases,
they were advised, you know, not to participate in social media,
or to read anything about the case outside of it,
all of those things. But what's really interesting is that
(22:56):
it's like, with how major this case was and how
major Donald Trump is, you know, you can't those jury
members had to be biased to some extent, right, And
when I say biased, just obviously had their own views
whether they supported him or not going into this trial,
and still evaluated all of the evidence in front of
(23:17):
them to make that decision and found him guilty on
all thirty four counts. So I think what is really
interesting is it's not as much my reaction towards them
finding him guilty. It's more so I'm really curious to
keep a close eye on what does that mean for
all of us going forward?
Speaker 5 (23:36):
Right?
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah, because I mean now we have a major decision
of you know, we in this country have made a decision,
but legally, you know, people who have have been convicted
of any felonies have lost their right to vote, right,
But we now have the decision. Does that mean that
they get to run for those offices that they technically
wouldn't be allowed to vote in.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah, that's an interesting place to find it.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
So here's the thing about this one in particular. So
first thing is, yeah, he had been complaining about whether
or not he'd get a fair trial in that district
because he was pulling so low there. He said that before, during,
and after the trial. But his you know, his defense
(24:26):
knew that going into the jury selection process, right, and
so they were able to vet jurors that would some
would have a maybe a pro Trump stance, and then
you know, dismissed some of them who had a really
strong anti Trump stance, right, And so they went through
the process of picking the twelve jurors that would ultimately
(24:48):
decide his fate. And you know, on social media, and
indeed Trump himself is you know, the people on the
right on social media at least are suggesting that this
was an unfair trial, and that kind of flies in
the face of the facts, because you know, they had
(25:08):
a chance to sort throw their jury pool and pick
the jurors who were most likely to be to give
Trump his best possible chance in court.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
They weren't.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
They weren't voting for Trump's presidency. They were determining whether
or not Trump falsified his business records to pay hush
money to an adult film star that he had an
affair with to affect the outcome of the twenty sixteen election.
And there were people that told the story, there were
(25:38):
people that he paid the money to, there were signats,
there were records, there's business records, and everybody involved was like, yep,
that's what it happened, and that is evidence, and the
jury had to convict based on that. Here's what happened,
here's the signatures, here's the timeline. Does it make sense
beyond a reasonable doubt?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Did this happen?
Speaker 1 (25:55):
All twelve of them said, yes, this specific thing happened.
They weren't voting whether or not he should be the president.
They were deciding, in a limited fashion, did this thing happen?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Right, And they determined yes.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
So you know, as I and I heard that the
Appeals court is like all black women, so good luck
with that. And then of course he might appeal again
to the Supreme Court. In which case he's kind of
stacked that in his favor and somehow the Supreme Court
will be like, oh, clearly this didn't happen, although everyone else,
we all know it happened, right, And I want to
add one more thing here. The other thing about the
witch hunt thing that I've seen, you know, Trump said,
(26:29):
of course, but it's also very prominent on social media,
Donald Trump. And this is on my social because I
put a take together the other day, so you can
check it out. It's at Rams's Jaw or at Civic Sipher,
either one. I put it up somewhere. But Donald Trump
is the same person that has had twenty plus accusers
(26:53):
since the seventies of sexual assault, sexual violence, growing, unwanted kissing,
you know, all this sort of stuff.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Right. He's the person that.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Bragged about owning the what is it Miss America pageant
and getting go backstage and check out the women in
various stages of undress. And I think more importantly, he's
known for being this playboy before presidency, before the presidency,
was known for being this playboy.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
Right.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
He wanted that image, he cultivated that image, he leaned
into that image. And one thing that is undeniable is
that we all heard him say, you know, when you're
a celebrity, they let you do it. You can walk
up to him and just grab him by the blank.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Right.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
So this all fits within the character that he established
for himself that we all know, and his narrative, the
narrative he wants chronicled, is that he is a victim
of a political agenda and that this is a witch
(28:04):
hunt and that none of these things ever happened. And
for those of us that are looking for what is
the most likely explanation for this, it's all there and
it's been there. But for those of us who have
subscribed to the Trump I'll say it cult, there will
(28:26):
never be enough. It should have been enough when he
said you can walk up to him and grab him
by the blank. We should have known who we were
electing back then. And now for us to pretend that
this is a witch hunt, it just I mean, it's
such a frustrating thing. But in short, that's my social
(28:47):
media take, and a lot of other people, at least
on the left, tend to agree. And of course the
Maga crowd is like, oh, it's a political agenda. The
Biden crime family is out to get him whatever, So
what are you gonna do?
Speaker 5 (29:00):
All right?
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Before we let you go, I know that there is
a story that is coming out of Florida. I wanted
to get your thoughts on So this from NBC News.
The Florida sheriff's deputy who fatally shot a US Air
Force airman while responding to a report of a disturbance
has been fired. The Oklalusa County Sheriff's Department said on
Friday an internal investigation of the May third shooting found
Deputy Eddie Durand's use of deadly force that ended in
(29:24):
the death of Senior Airman Roger Fortson was not reasonable,
according to a statement from the sheriff's office. Quote, the
objective facts do not support the use of deadly force
as an appropriate response to mister Fortson's actions unquote. Okaloosa
County Sheriff Eric Aiden said in the office's statement, Fortsun,
twenty three, was fatally shot when he opened the door
of his apartment in Fort Walton Beach, about forty miles
(29:45):
east of Pensacola, after Durand knocked and announced the presence
of law enforcement. The Sheriff's office said Fortson opened the
front door, and the two faced each other. The office
said the airman had a gun at his side, pointed
down and did not aim it, not resist the deputy
before durand opened fire. It's said, so give us a
little bit more here, because I know this story has
(30:07):
had some developments that have taken place over the weekend,
and I know this is one people are following pretty closely.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Oh no, absolutely, because honestly, even when the story first
broke at the beginning of May, I mean the devastation.
So his family obviously have been very vocal there from
he's actually originally from Atlanta, just been very vocal about
wanting to have the results and wanting to know more
about the in depth internal investigation that was going on.
(30:33):
Sure that now we have that update that the the
officer who did open fire has been fired consent, but
it was just you know, there's so you know, very similarly,
the reason why so many people were following this case
is there's so many layers to it. Right the fact
that even at the time the description of the investigation,
(30:56):
he was wearing his uniform, like he we have a
situation where we technically have two men of uniform and
one open fired and the interesting aspect too, is that
the reason why he didn't they mentioned too in the
case that he didn't immediately open the door, the officers
were at the wrong place, they were at the wrong apartment.
(31:16):
He did nothing wrong, He was not a criminal, He
had not committed a crime.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
He is far as we were aware.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
We're just at his residence where he was stationed and
opened the door because someone's banging on it. He had
the weapon faced down according to body camera, and was shot.
Speaker 4 (31:33):
Multiple times killed.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
And it's one of those things that I think that
there's still so many questions because of the fact that
you know, this investigation. While we understand that whenever something
happens like this, there does need to be an investigation.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
There does need to make.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Sure that we're making sure we're crossing all our t's
and dotting all of our eyes, but there was so
many aspects where, you know, why we know obviously this
isn't the first situation where we have someone that was
shot in their home. Sure you know where the police
were at the wrong place, right, And it's one of
those questions where even the higher ups it's like, what's next.
(32:14):
While the person that pulled the trigger has now been fired,
There's still so many other questions about how did we
even get to that point, how did they go to
the wrong location, how did it come to the point
where it had to escalate to shots being fired? Yeah,
you know, especially when there does have to be a
level of accountability and critical thinking applied when we are
(32:38):
talking about a mistake that ended in someone losing their lives.
You know, their family members and their loved ones are
now having to mourn their death. And he was only
twenty three years old. Yeah, you know, I mean.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Yeah, this is a sad story, but I think that
there's a lot more that this is a much bigger conversation, uh,
you know, about guns and their place in society. And
I've been having this conversation for a long time. I'm
the old guy yelling at a cloud on a hill.
But you know, I in the meantime, you know, before
(33:16):
we get up there, I just want to.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Let let the listeners know that this is a story
that we're following.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
You're following it personally, so make sure that you let
folks know your social media and how they can tap
in with you and follow along.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
No, absolutely, I mean, honestly, like my Instagram, my ex
which was formerly known as Twitter, it's Katie Gray a
TV and they can definitely follow me.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
Yeah, I mean there.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
It's just it's you know, it's the it's these convers
it's these stories that they are devastating and they are
really hard to you know, follow, And I completely understand.
I mean obviously warning anyone who you know, when they
read the details of this, you know, it is devastating, obviously,
But I do think that there's something to be said about,
you know, these conversations need to be happening, and these
(34:05):
stories need to be heard because you know the fact
that we do have them happen and trying to figure
out you know, one way or another, you know, especially
right aside from even just the gun piece to it.
You know, I think that it's really easy for everyone
to recognize, you know, innocent people shouldn't be shot, you know,
and lose their lives, and you know, working towards something
(34:27):
to prevent that from happening. I think everyone kind of
agrees on that, you know, just to teach how to do.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
That, we got to figure it out. And I'm not
pretending I know the answer.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Well I do. I'm up here yelling at a cloud.
Yeah anyway in the meantime. Oh yeah, you're pudding well
in the meantime. Thank you for your time and your insight.
Let's do it again soon. This has been a joy
once again. Today's guest is Black Information Network News anchored
Katie Gray. This has been a production of the Black
(34:56):
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.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe and download
all of our episodes.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
I am your host, ramses Jah on all social media
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 enlighten. 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 BIN News Network anchor Katie Gray.
This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast and I'm
(00:21):
your host, ramses Jah. All right, Katie Gray, welcome to
the show. This is your first time hanging out with me.
Give us a quick brief introduction of who you are
and maybe something cool going on in your world, just
so that we know who we're talking to when we
get into.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
These stories right now.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Honestly, I'm so honored. I'm so excited to sit down
with you. I've been looking forward to it. Honestly, I
am definitely a newsgirl all.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Way through and through.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I just love the fact that I get to research
these stories and get to report on these stories and
then tell everybody.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Else about them.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
So I'm so excited to dive into the content with you.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
All right, all right, Well, to get your thoughts first up,
We're going to talk about the eight black men who
were temporarily removed from an American Airlines flight over a
complaint about body oder, according to a new lawsuit. So
on Wednesday, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of three
of the men, Alvin Jackson, Emanuel Jean Joseph and Xavier
Veal against American Airlines alleging quote blatant and egregious racial
(01:21):
discrimination unquote per Axios, the lawsuit states that eight passengers
were kicked off their January fifth flight from Phoenix, Arizona,
to New York quote without any valid reason and solely
based on their race unquote a new quote. Representatives of
American told them that they were removed from the flight
because of a complaint about a black male passenger who
(01:43):
allegedly had offensive bodyoder unquote.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
This is according to the lawsuit.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
The eight men weren't seated together and didn't know each other.
According to the lawsuit, the men didn't have any offensive
body oder end quote. At no time did anyone ever
specifically accuse any of them of having offensive body odor
unquote a new quote. When plaintiffs pointed out that they
were being treated unfairly due to the color of their skin,
at least one of the American staff members said she
(02:10):
did not disagree.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Unquote.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
The suit reads, according to the lawsuit, the eight men
were initially told they would have to be rebooked on
a different flight. However, quote only after determining that there
were no available American flights unquote that day, the airline
reversed course and told them they could reboard their initial flight.
So I remember when this story first broke. Obviously there's
a lawsuit now, so you know, give us your thoughts,
(02:35):
talk us through this one a little bit, how.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
It hits you.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
I mean, there's definitely a couple different factors that definitely
jump off the page that I think really deserved to
be unpacked is the fact that you know, we are
talking about eight separate people, and you know, I'll start
out with the lighter version, the lighter thoughts on it,
which is, you know, we've heard different cases over the
(02:59):
last two years about you know, different issues that have
elevated where people have been kicked off flights, and unfortunately
a lot of them were situational.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Right We're behavioral where either.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Passengers to one another or to flight attendants. This was
one of the rare cases where you don't hear often
about body odor I even had to dive into that myself.
I found a couple stories back in twenty ten, in
twenty seventeen, it is something that airlines do have a
right to reserve, but it's not something that you often
(03:31):
hear about, so then you know. Obviously, the more important
aspect to this is that these eight people did not
know each other.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
All that was told to them was because of a description.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Because they were black males, they were singled out, and
they were asked to be removed from a flight. I mean,
there is it's really difficult to look at the situation
and not see it as racial profiling. There's especially where
the only single factor was that it was a complaint,
that we don't know where it came from, and that
it was a black male.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Yeah, that's very vague. That's so vague.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, and I think your point is well made.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
With a complaint like that resulting in eight black people,
black men being removed from the flight, it shows not
only the what I would feel, because as they mentioned,
I'm inclined to believe them. That's like an old stereotype,
an old like racist motif. If you will, that black
(04:34):
people smell, we have an odor to us and we're
dirty and we steal and all kind of we're lazy.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
We're brought here to do work for people who really
were lazy. Isn't that funny anyway?
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, for someone to allege that and then for them
to ultimately determine that none of us have any offensive
body odor, right, I'm inclined to believe the black men
because you know, that's just it sounds more racist than
it may be. But you know, we're all human, we're
(05:08):
all mammals, so we have the capacity to smell, I'm sure.
But once once that part has been determined, then you
start examining the layers here. And so the company like
overreached by far in removing all eight of these gentlemen.
(05:28):
They weren't seated together, as I mentioned, and they didn't
know each other, right, so they don't come from the
same background. They don't They weren't eating the same food
they you know, it wasn't you know, there was no
connective tissue there outside of well, these guys all have
melanin in.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Their skin, so they're all the problem, right, And you.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Know, According to the article at bion news dot Com,
the lawsuit further alleges that American airlines pattern of racial
bigotry prompted the NAACP to issue a travel advisory for
black passengers back in twenty seventeen. So now what you
have is a history of, at least according to the NAACP,
(06:12):
what I would call discriminatory practices against black people.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And you know, to be fair.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
In a statement, American Airlines said, the allegations quote do
not reflect their core values or their purpose of caring
for people. But this is an unfortunate, you know, thing
that happened. But you know the truth is these gentlemen,
for whatever trauma it is that they've endured, for whatever
embarrassment that they've endured, just because imagine that. Imagine being
removed from an airplane in front of all the rest
(06:41):
of the people on the airplane, inconveniencing all of those people,
inconveniencing yourself.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Ogle body, Yeah, exactly, being singled out where it's like
you're standing up in front of all of these people
and being escorted off a flight. And also recognizing that
in the article you only have three out of those
eight that went ahead and stepped up to press charges,
because you know that also does take to some degree
(07:08):
guts acknowledging the fact of like, hey, this isn't okay,
and I want to make sure that the company maybe
has a little bit more level of accountability. There you go, gents,
this from happening again because it wasn't okay for me
and it shouldn't be okay for somebody else.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Well sa Well said, all right, moving on. A white
writer is facing backlash or disguising himself as a black
man for research for his new book. On last Tuesday,
Sam Forster took to x formerly Twitter to announce the
release of his book Seven Shoulders, taxonomizing racism in Modern America.
(07:42):
Orster noted that he disguised himself as a black man
to gain a first hand account of racism in America.
Quote last summer, I disguised myself as a black man
and traveled throughout the United States to document how racism
persists in American society.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Unquote.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
This was according to a tweet, And this tweet was
the long side a photo of his book cover. He continues, writing,
Seven Shoulders was one of the hardest things I've ever
done as a journalist. It's out on May thirtieth, So
this one. I had a lot of people online talking.
You know, I think I understand kind of what he
(08:18):
was trying to do, but it's like another form of blackface,
and again you're never going to get the full measure
of the black experience. But you know, there were a
lot of folks that were taking this as offensive. I
think I tend to be have a little bit more
grace for people that are trying their hand at allyship.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
But let's get your thoughts here.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
You know, I love that you said that, because I
had I mean, there was right on the surface. You
have like your initial reaction right where a part of
you goes.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Do we know better? Like are we doing this? We're
having this dialogue right, And you're right.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
My piece to it too, especially from a journalist standpoint, is,
you know, I think it's very sensitive to want to
admire people that are trying to educate themselves and they're
trying to step outside of their own perspective and what
they know to be true or their experience. But then
(09:17):
you're right, we'll also have to then have the further
conversation to that that there's a right and wrong way
to go about it. And this is one of the
rare stories that you're right. I read the story, and
I actually really admired more so some of the comments,
some of the responses from the story from people that
(09:38):
articulated really well about how you can't really encapsulate that
and how necessarily it simplifies, you know, that perspective to
try to think that you can pretty much you're right
do blackface and being able to understand like a different perspective.
I think in many different ways, it wholesomely exemplified more
(10:02):
so the ignorance and insensitivity towards a topic and its opposite,
especially because like you know, you're right, like if you
if he genuinely My think too. From a journalistic standpoint,
you know, we are trained and we are constantly always
put in the position where it's not supposed the subject
is supposed to be what it is, and it's not
supposed to be about us. And I think that in
(10:24):
this case from a journalistic standpoint, he tried to put
himself in the story and he missed the mark because
it could have he could have had it could have.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Been a series. The book could have been a series of.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Essays and interviews that he had and sit down conversations
that he had from different people in the community.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
But he chose not to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
He tried to do this in a very in a
very different way that obviously is causing a lot more backlash.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Sure, And I think that you know, you're you're probably
a more traditionally trained journalist than I am. I've spent
most of my life just kind of being a normal person,
so not quite as cool as you just yet, but
I'm working on it.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
In any event, I think that I have to put
on my journalistic hat. Uh.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
And that's that's a that's that requires some effort for me.
But the thing that comes most naturally to me. And
obviously long time listeners of the show will know this
that you know, I work in in the allyship space.
You know, my radio show, Civic Cipher kind of exists
to foster allyship between our various tribes in this country.
(11:38):
And I recognize that a lot of people are they
have challenges, you know when it comes to that, because
they don't know how to best show up for their
Hispanic brothers and sisters, their Black brothers and sisters, et cetera. Right,
And you know, on the one hand, we'll say, hey,
you need to listen to black people, right, you need
(11:59):
to listen to black women, and that's very true. And
on the other hand, will say, you can never understand
the black experience, no matter how much listening you do,
unless you walk in our shoes, which is also true, right.
And I could see people becoming very frustrated with trying
their best to immerse themselves in blackness to gain perspective
(12:21):
and to gain understanding, maybe increase their capacity for empathy,
and then having to deal with the backlash that comes
with at least some facet of Black America or whatever
facet of America they're trying to supporting, taking exception to
how they go about cultivating a relationship with with these
(12:47):
different tribes.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Right.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
And so that's how I look at it initially, And
then the journalist in me says, Okay, I need to
look at both sides. I need to look at what
he was doing, and then I need to look at
people's reaction to it. And so a little bit different approach.
But I think that you know, you and I both
are going to end up in the same in the
same place, which is by accounting for both facets, both
(13:11):
sides of this, I think that we are exercising the
best we can our capacity for understanding and for gaining perspective.
And while you know, everyone can learn a little bit
of a lesson here and there and everywhere else. You know,
there's been stories like this that have happened in the past.
There's been there have been black people doing that, and
(13:34):
and on and on, and sometimes it's for comedic effects.
Sometimes it's for you know, research purposes. But you know, again,
on the one hand, I can read stories about white
women try to figure out what their life is like
and be very intentional about that and never know. And
then I can dress up like Sean and Marlon Wayans
(13:54):
and white chicks and try to have that experience and
never know. And you know, I know that full well.
And you know, for some people it just doesn't really
come to them so easily. They have to like walk
through it in order to learn. And so I'm not
too mad at him. I just I hope he's learned
a little something and he's a little wiser, and I
(14:15):
sure maybe he's learned something that we all can benefit from.
So I hope, folks, you know, if his book is
really well intentioned, I hope it sells well and that
he makes an impact with it.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
So join us for the National Urban League Conference in
New Orleans July twenty fourth through the twenty seventh at
High Ad Regency, New Orleans. Don't miss out. Register today
and nuilconference dot org.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
This is your weekend recap with today's guests.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Black Information News Network anchor Katie Gray.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
All right, next up.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
A white woman has been sentenced after she appeared to
encourage a group of girls to attack a black teenager
in a video that went by According to BBC, the
forty one year old Winnie Connors was sentenced to twenty
months in prison after pleading guilty to intentionally encouraging or
assisting an offense. The attack against the black teen unfolded
(15:14):
near Thomas Niavett College in Ashford, Surrey in February twenty
twenty three. Video shows Connors and a white teenager approaching
the black girl before the adult instigated the beating. Getter
Connors repeated several times during the video. The white teenager
hit the victim repeatedly before more girls joined in on
the assault, kicking the black girl and pulling her braids, quote,
(15:36):
punch the face off her unquote the adult yelt. Several
reports stated that Connors was the mother of one of
the girls involved in the fight. In October twenty twenty three,
one of the teen attackers pleaded guilty to assault occasioning
bodily harm. She was ordered to pay a fine and
issued a restraining order. Second teenager also later confessed to
(15:57):
an actual bodily harm charge in connection the attack. Okay,
I will say this, I've had a tough week, and
you know, I sort through a number of traumatic videos
in a week, and I have learned over the years
(16:19):
that I've been doing this type of work that I
have a limit, and in order to protect my piece,
in order to preserve my capacity to empathize and sympathize,
I do not want to become desensitized to violence against
black and brown bodies as a result. I have not
seen the video, but I know that you have, and
(16:41):
so I'm going to lean on you for your reaction
having seen the video, and then of course your thoughts
to what is now happening in the aftermath.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
I mean, what I think is so difficult about situations
like this is that, you know, if we apply the
lens critically and we dissect it that way, right where,
just right off the bat, if I began telling this story,
and I said, there were a group of teens and
there was an adult that was egging on and incentivizing violence.
(17:19):
Even at that point, it's not really it's not difficult
to kind of already see that this is a you know,
difficult this is a terrible situation that it's really hard
to justify this parent by any means, like the fact
that this was an adult woman who was encouraging violence,
but then also layering in that layer of recognition that
(17:40):
you did have a group of white girls and a
black girl that was being targeted, and that you had
an adult that was witnessing this happening, and not only
did she not prevent it from happening, but it was
encouraging it. They also mentioned to you, like the mom
who was recording the video. Sorry, the woman that was
recording the video was also apparent to one of the
(18:01):
girls that was participating in the violence. It's just, yeah,
I don't know if there is too much to be
kind of unpacked there.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, you know, the thing that about these videos is that.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Oftentimes what will happen is I will see videos.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Of kind of the opposite.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
It'll be black girls beating up on a white girl
and they're sent out and shared. You know, I've subscribed
to some conservative and indeed far right white nationalist forums
because I need to understand what the opposition is thinking,
what media they're consuming, so that I know how to
have intelligent conversations that.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Chronicle narratives accurately.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
So oftentimes i'll see kind of the inverse video like these,
where again it'll be black girls beating up on a
white girl, and I know enough of that's enough of
this to know that this thing is not exclusive to
white people. It's not exclusive to black people. But I
do know that historically black people have suffered more underneath
(19:13):
this type of dynamic, which is why stories like this
are particularly sensitive and the inverse stories are unfortunate. Absolutely,
we're all human beings. We don't want to see anyone
get hurt, especially a child. But there's not the same
particular sensitivity associated with white victims as there are with
(19:34):
black victims, because historically black people have been victimized by
white people and terrorized by by white people, and hung
from trees and live short, hard lives where they spent
most of their time afraid of white people.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Right, So this is something that we understand. But then
you start.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
To dig into the deeper layers here, which is this
child that you know was being encouraged, is probably grown
up with a warped perspective on her place in the world,
her value, and indeed the value of the black girl.
(20:16):
Because for a parent to show up to see what's happening,
to encourage a beating against a black girl, you know,
a person who historically has been marginalized. Indeed, this adult
had to know that this child's mother was marginalized, this
child's grandmother was marginalized, this child's great grandmother was probably enslaved,
(20:38):
you know, and going all the way back, and you
can kind of make those connections, and is indeed teaching
her child that this sort of violence is an appropriate
response to whatever happened before that. I think that, you know, this,
this flies in the face of that narrative of you know,
(21:00):
we're going to wait for the old generation of racist
to die out so that we can you know, remake
the world in a more progressive in a more progressive way.
It shows that racism is taught, It shows that violence
is taught. It shows that, you know, we need a
different strategy than just waiting, because these people are active
(21:23):
and clearly they're coming for children too, and so something
to be mindful of. Moving on, social media is buzzing
after former President Donald Trump was found guilty in his
New York hush money trial. On Thursday, twelve, New Yorkers
tapped to sit on the jury and unanimously found Trump
(21:43):
guilty of thirty four felony accounts of false fine business
records related to hush money payments to a Don't film
stars Stormy Daniel's amid the twenty sixteen election. The jury
took two days to deliberate before reaching their decision. A
felony conviction for a former president is unprecedented. So we're
going to talk about because everyone knows this, We're going
to talk about kind of the reaction on social media,
because social media users quickly took to the Internet to
(22:05):
share their thoughts on Trump's verdict. I certainly had my own,
but I'd love to hear what you've discovered and your
thoughts as well.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
I mean, honestly, it was it really.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
I mean, one of the things that cannot be said
enough is that this really is making history, right. I mean,
this is the first time that we've ever had a
former president and also someone that's running for that office again,
I mean convicted like it's I will say, I was
(22:35):
very taken back to you because the way that the
trial was going about, I mean the jury members, I
mean inevitably, even though you have in many different cases,
they were advised, you know, not to participate in social media,
or to read anything about the case outside of it,
all of those things. But what's really interesting is that
(22:56):
it's like, with how major this case was and how
major Donald Trump is, you know, you can't those jury
members had to be biased to some extent, right, And
when I say biased, just obviously had their own views
whether they supported him or not going into this trial,
and still evaluated all of the evidence in front of
(23:17):
them to make that decision and found him guilty on
all thirty four counts. So I think what is really
interesting is it's not as much my reaction towards them
finding him guilty. It's more so I'm really curious to
keep a close eye on what does that mean for
all of us going forward?
Speaker 5 (23:36):
Right?
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah, because I mean now we have a major decision
of you know, we in this country have made a decision,
but legally, you know, people who have have been convicted
of any felonies have lost their right to vote, right,
But we now have the decision. Does that mean that
they get to run for those offices that they technically
wouldn't be allowed to vote in.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah, that's an interesting place to find it.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
So here's the thing about this one in particular. So
first thing is, yeah, he had been complaining about whether
or not he'd get a fair trial in that district
because he was pulling so low there. He said that before, during,
and after the trial. But his you know, his defense
(24:26):
knew that going into the jury selection process, right, and
so they were able to vet jurors that would some
would have a maybe a pro Trump stance, and then
you know, dismissed some of them who had a really
strong anti Trump stance, right, And so they went through
the process of picking the twelve jurors that would ultimately
(24:48):
decide his fate. And you know, on social media, and
indeed Trump himself is you know, the people on the
right on social media at least are suggesting that this
was an unfair trial, and that kind of flies in
the face of the facts, because you know, they had
(25:08):
a chance to sort throw their jury pool and pick
the jurors who were most likely to be to give
Trump his best possible chance in court.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
They weren't.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
They weren't voting for Trump's presidency. They were determining whether
or not Trump falsified his business records to pay hush
money to an adult film star that he had an
affair with to affect the outcome of the twenty sixteen election.
And there were people that told the story, there were
(25:38):
people that he paid the money to, there were signats,
there were records, there's business records, and everybody involved was like, yep,
that's what it happened, and that is evidence, and the
jury had to convict based on that. Here's what happened,
here's the signatures, here's the timeline. Does it make sense
beyond a reasonable doubt?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Did this happen?
Speaker 1 (25:55):
All twelve of them said, yes, this specific thing happened.
They weren't voting whether or not he should be the president.
They were deciding, in a limited fashion, did this thing happen?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Right, And they determined yes.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
So you know, as I and I heard that the
Appeals court is like all black women, so good luck
with that. And then of course he might appeal again
to the Supreme Court. In which case he's kind of
stacked that in his favor and somehow the Supreme Court
will be like, oh, clearly this didn't happen, although everyone else,
we all know it happened, right, And I want to
add one more thing here. The other thing about the
witch hunt thing that I've seen, you know, Trump said,
(26:29):
of course, but it's also very prominent on social media,
Donald Trump. And this is on my social because I
put a take together the other day, so you can
check it out. It's at Rams's Jaw or at Civic Sipher,
either one. I put it up somewhere. But Donald Trump
is the same person that has had twenty plus accusers
(26:53):
since the seventies of sexual assault, sexual violence, growing, unwanted kissing,
you know, all this sort of stuff.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Right. He's the person that.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Bragged about owning the what is it Miss America pageant
and getting go backstage and check out the women in
various stages of undress. And I think more importantly, he's
known for being this playboy before presidency, before the presidency,
was known for being this playboy.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
Right.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
He wanted that image, he cultivated that image, he leaned
into that image. And one thing that is undeniable is
that we all heard him say, you know, when you're
a celebrity, they let you do it. You can walk
up to him and just grab him by the blank.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Right.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
So this all fits within the character that he established
for himself that we all know, and his narrative, the
narrative he wants chronicled, is that he is a victim
of a political agenda and that this is a witch
(28:04):
hunt and that none of these things ever happened. And
for those of us that are looking for what is
the most likely explanation for this, it's all there and
it's been there. But for those of us who have
subscribed to the Trump I'll say it cult, there will
(28:26):
never be enough. It should have been enough when he
said you can walk up to him and grab him
by the blank. We should have known who we were
electing back then. And now for us to pretend that
this is a witch hunt, it just I mean, it's
such a frustrating thing. But in short, that's my social
(28:47):
media take, and a lot of other people, at least
on the left, tend to agree. And of course the
Maga crowd is like, oh, it's a political agenda. The
Biden crime family is out to get him whatever, So
what are you gonna do?
Speaker 5 (29:00):
All right?
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Before we let you go, I know that there is
a story that is coming out of Florida. I wanted
to get your thoughts on So this from NBC News.
The Florida sheriff's deputy who fatally shot a US Air
Force airman while responding to a report of a disturbance
has been fired. The Oklalusa County Sheriff's Department said on
Friday an internal investigation of the May third shooting found
Deputy Eddie Durand's use of deadly force that ended in
(29:24):
the death of Senior Airman Roger Fortson was not reasonable,
according to a statement from the sheriff's office. Quote, the
objective facts do not support the use of deadly force
as an appropriate response to mister Fortson's actions unquote. Okaloosa
County Sheriff Eric Aiden said in the office's statement, Fortsun,
twenty three, was fatally shot when he opened the door
of his apartment in Fort Walton Beach, about forty miles
(29:45):
east of Pensacola, after Durand knocked and announced the presence
of law enforcement. The Sheriff's office said Fortson opened the
front door, and the two faced each other. The office
said the airman had a gun at his side, pointed
down and did not aim it, not resist the deputy
before durand opened fire. It's said, so give us a
little bit more here, because I know this story has
(30:07):
had some developments that have taken place over the weekend,
and I know this is one people are following pretty closely.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Oh no, absolutely, because honestly, even when the story first
broke at the beginning of May, I mean the devastation.
So his family obviously have been very vocal there from
he's actually originally from Atlanta, just been very vocal about
wanting to have the results and wanting to know more
about the in depth internal investigation that was going on.
(30:33):
Sure that now we have that update that the the
officer who did open fire has been fired consent, but
it was just you know, there's so you know, very similarly,
the reason why so many people were following this case
is there's so many layers to it. Right the fact
that even at the time the description of the investigation,
(30:56):
he was wearing his uniform, like he we have a
situation where we technically have two men of uniform and
one open fired and the interesting aspect too, is that
the reason why he didn't they mentioned too in the
case that he didn't immediately open the door, the officers
were at the wrong place, they were at the wrong apartment.
(31:16):
He did nothing wrong, He was not a criminal, He
had not committed a crime.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
He is far as we were aware.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
We're just at his residence where he was stationed and
opened the door because someone's banging on it. He had
the weapon faced down according to body camera, and was shot.
Speaker 4 (31:33):
Multiple times killed.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
And it's one of those things that I think that
there's still so many questions because of the fact that
you know, this investigation. While we understand that whenever something
happens like this, there does need to be an investigation.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
There does need to make.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Sure that we're making sure we're crossing all our t's
and dotting all of our eyes, but there was so
many aspects where, you know, why we know obviously this
isn't the first situation where we have someone that was
shot in their home. Sure you know where the police
were at the wrong place, right, And it's one of
those questions where even the higher ups it's like, what's next.
(32:14):
While the person that pulled the trigger has now been fired,
There's still so many other questions about how did we
even get to that point, how did they go to
the wrong location, how did it come to the point
where it had to escalate to shots being fired? Yeah,
you know, especially when there does have to be a
level of accountability and critical thinking applied when we are
(32:38):
talking about a mistake that ended in someone losing their lives.
You know, their family members and their loved ones are
now having to mourn their death. And he was only
twenty three years old. Yeah, you know, I mean.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Yeah, this is a sad story, but I think that
there's a lot more that this is a much bigger conversation, uh,
you know, about guns and their place in society. And
I've been having this conversation for a long time. I'm
the old guy yelling at a cloud on a hill.
But you know, I in the meantime, you know, before
(33:16):
we get up there, I just want to.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Let let the listeners know that this is a story
that we're following.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
You're following it personally, so make sure that you let
folks know your social media and how they can tap
in with you and follow along.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
No, absolutely, I mean, honestly, like my Instagram, my ex
which was formerly known as Twitter, it's Katie Gray a
TV and they can definitely follow me.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
Yeah, I mean there.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
It's just it's you know, it's the it's these convers
it's these stories that they are devastating and they are
really hard to you know, follow, And I completely understand.
I mean obviously warning anyone who you know, when they
read the details of this, you know, it is devastating, obviously,
But I do think that there's something to be said about,
you know, these conversations need to be happening, and these
(34:05):
stories need to be heard because you know the fact
that we do have them happen and trying to figure
out you know, one way or another, you know, especially
right aside from even just the gun piece to it.
You know, I think that it's really easy for everyone
to recognize, you know, innocent people shouldn't be shot, you know,
and lose their lives, and you know, working towards something
(34:27):
to prevent that from happening. I think everyone kind of
agrees on that, you know, just to teach how to do.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
That, we got to figure it out. And I'm not
pretending I know the answer.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Well I do. I'm up here yelling at a cloud.
Yeah anyway in the meantime. Oh yeah, you're pudding well
in the meantime. Thank you for your time and your insight.
Let's do it again soon. This has been a joy
once again. Today's guest is Black Information Network News anchored
Katie Gray. This has been a production of the Black
(34:56):
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.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe and download
all of our episodes.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
I am your host, ramses Jah on all social media
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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