May 2, 2025 • 34 mins
BIN news anchors Bri Wood and Morgyn Wood join Ramses Ja and Q Ward on today's podcast to review the biggest news stories of the week.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's been another busy news week, and we like to
review the major stories of the week here on the
Black Information Network. Today, we are joined by Black Information
Network news anchors Morgan Wood and Brewood to discuss this
week's major stories. This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast.
I'm your host ramses.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Jah and I'm your host Qward.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
All right, Morgan and Bri. I'm so excited to talk
to both of you today. I've been looking forward to this.
Welcome back to the show. Morgan, what's the latest?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Good?
Speaker 4 (00:30):
Yeah, what's the latest? Okay, So we're on Capitol Hill now,
Bi in. We have space on Capitol Hill and we
are up there in the midst and in the mix
of all of what's going on. So I'm excited to
bring you the insights.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
From Capitol Well, we're waiting with baited breath. Uh, Bri,
talk to me. What's the latest in your world?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Hey?
Speaker 5 (00:52):
Rams, is good to be here with you. I feel
like it's been a minute. Everything is good this way.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Okay, fantastic? All right, Well, then let's get to the news.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
First up, Roy pastor and spiritual leader TD Jakes made
headlines this week with a special announcement regarding the future
of his ministry and his church, The Potter's House. Brie,
let's start today's program with you bring our listeners up
to speed on this story, and then Morgan and Q
we'll get your thoughts after.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Yeah, so, Bishop td Jakes he's stepping down from a
leadership role.
Speaker 6 (01:17):
Of course.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
He is the founder of the Potter's House in Dallas, Texas,
the megachurch. He announced that he's handing leadership over to
his daughter and son in law. That's Pastor Sarah Jakes
Roberts and her husband, Terray Roberts. They will be appointed
senior pastors later this year. And so of course this
is coming after Bishop Jakes suffered what he called a
massive heart attack while delivering a sermon last year. I
(01:40):
don't know if you recall that video going viral where
he was just standing at the front of the congregation
speaking as usual, and all of a sudden he just
stopped and they had to go up there and check
on him, and everyone immediately started praying. So around that
same time, Bishop Jakes also filed a lawsuit against a
former minister who had accused him of assault. So he
(02:00):
had some other things going on which a lot of
people online were saying could have been a stressor that
may have aided in bringing on that heart attack. He
did not say that, but he does have issues going
on in his personal life as well. So after leading
the church for almost three decades, Bishop Jakes made a
statement saying that he will continue to head the td
(02:20):
Jakes Group, which includes a real estate company and the
td Jakes Foundation, And I'm sure he'll still have his
hand in what's going on at the Potter's House, but
he's going to leave the day to day to Sarah
Jakes Roberts, who is no stranger to the congregation. To women.
She's a dynamic speaker. She does the women now are
at loose event all the time.
Speaker 6 (02:42):
She's very good.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
So the church is in capable hands. But I can't
say that I'm surprised. I think everybody saw this coming.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yeah, I could see that.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Morgan, Yeah, absolutely so, first and foremost, sending some love
to Bishop td Jakes for, you know, the amazing service
that he has done. I mean, he's built something so
massive that not only transcended you know state lines, you know,
national lines, but globally but also generationally. And furthermore, he's
been able to not only sustain it, but scale it.
(03:13):
So outside of preaching, he's written books as rementioned, he's
got the you know that his Potter's his foundation, and
of course he's awarded grants totaling over like nine million
dollars to various organizations focused on community development, workforce development, housing,
financial literacy.
Speaker 6 (03:33):
I mean, the list really does go on.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
And so to pass the torch to his daughter before
something grave happens to him is admirable and should be
applauded because he did they following his return from that
heart attack, that he did not want to leave his
sheep i e. Church congregation without a shepherd or a leader. So,
but also what strikes me in this story is the
(03:57):
Potter's house is still located in deep south Dallas, Texas,
and traditionally women do not pastor churches. Right, So, according
to the statistics the Status of Clergywomen in the US,
the Statistical Report Update Campbell Reid, out of twenty eighteen,
women make up fifty two seventy five percent of the
congregation in Black Baptist churches, but less than ten percent
(04:20):
of church leaders and less than one percent of pastors
are So I think this was to Breeze point a
smart move for TDJS to make, not only to name
his daughter as a pastor because it turns the corner,
but also handing it to her husband as well. By
naming them both successors, he mitigates the drama behind what
(04:42):
would happen to the church if something happens to him.
It mitigates the drama around his daughter dealing with the
traditional woes of women not being leaders in the church,
and now he could oversee the transition with some intention.
And to Breeze point as well, the congregation is fromamiliar
with her, so the congregation would be less shaken by
(05:03):
this move.
Speaker 6 (05:04):
So this should keep the Potters, how strong.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
But on a personal note, I like to see the
paperwork and whether or not the fine Prince says what
happens in the event of a divorce.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
But I'm not gonna get too much incident.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Of course, that's that's definitely something to ponder. Q. I'm
confident that with your upbringing you have something interesting to add.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
To Borgan's thoughts.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Well, I first want to echo my sisters and calling
out that Torrey and Sarah are very capable hands for
the church to be left in and as the son
of a black woman pastor. I also know what the
church's traditions often look like with regards to women in
leadership and women in the pullpit. My mother had to
go through some things when she was in seminary, some
(05:52):
things that were said to her. I'm so proud of
her for continuing to go on her path, even though
she was discouraged by men of the clerk while she
was pursuing that, and has been an associate pastor for
most of my life and is the head pastor of
our church now. I pray that Bishop Jakes is in
better health and that he made the decision not under
(06:14):
duress or not in the worst of health, but just
you know, being cautious and setting the church up for
future success, praying for his family, planning for his congregation,
and hoping that we'll still have some years with the
bishop here with us. This week brought us to the
one hundred daymark of the Trump administration, and House Minority
(06:34):
Leader Hakim Jeffries used this milestone to share his thoughts
on the Trump presidency and its impact on our communities. Morgan,
you cover Washington politics for the Network, so please let's
start with you share with our listeners more about Hakim's comments,
and then Brion ramdas, I have you weigh next?
Speaker 6 (06:49):
Yeah, so, House Minority Leader Haykeen Jeffries.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
He continues to voice his opposition to the GOP tax
and spending plan, calling it a disgrace.
Speaker 6 (06:57):
Now.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
He recently held a sit in on the steps of
the Capital over the weekend alongside Senator Cory Booker, which
ironically enough, was Corey Booker's birthday, in protest of this budget.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Now.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
The budget includes a tax plan with five trillion dollars
in breaks to trillion dollars and cuts, and a five
trillion dollar debt ceialing hike, along with extensions from the
twenty seventeen tax cuts. It also increases spending on border
security and increased spending in the military now. Meanwhile, Democratic
(07:28):
leaders claim the budget will cut important social services and
programs like Medicaid, SNAP and Headstart, to which Jeffreys called
the dangerous situation that we confront in America now. In
a press conference on Monday, Jeffrey said people will die
as a result of this budget, and he repeated the
comments on the steps of the.
Speaker 6 (07:48):
US Capitol yesterday.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
I was there where he gathered with other Democratic leaders
who echoed the same sentiment in their one hundred Days
of what they called Chaos press conference. He went on
to say that the budgeudget say of the budget that
it's going to hurt children, It's going to hurt families,
hurt seniors, hurt people with disabilities, close hospitals, shut down
nursing homes, and that it is a matter of life
(08:11):
and death at this current moment now. House Minority leaders
Hakim jeffreyes He also said the President lied about his
willingness to lower cost in America and drive down the
high cost of living. He said costs aren't going down,
adding that Donald Trump is actually crashing the economy and
Republicans and Congress are actively letting it happen. Now, as
(08:35):
someone who is on the hill, I can say that
we seem more divided than ever and it's just really
sad because even from my vantage point, I'm not sure
what the path forward could be, but it.
Speaker 6 (08:47):
Doesn't seem like well it doesn't.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
I'm not sure if the path forward doesn't include some
sort of suffering and sacrifice based on what's happening from again,
from my vantage point, but you know, I will digress.
And I will, as they say on Capitol Hill, I
will yield and pass the mic to my colleagues.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
Bree thoughts, well, you know, I think mister Jeffries is
doing his best to step up and be the leadership
that the Democratic Party needs right now. What keeps echoing
in the press is that there's no leader. There's no leader,
there's no clear message coming from the Democratic Party. Well,
he's definitely making his voice heard in that respect, especially
(09:31):
starting off with his record breaking speech on the floor.
And I just think he is doing everything that he
can to drive the point home that people are going
to get hurt again. To piggyback off of Morgan, he
says children, families, seniors, people with disabilities, medical care is
at risk, talking about the possible closure of hospitals and
(09:53):
the shutting down of nursing homes. Literally, he's saying this
is a matter of life and death at this moment
for people. A lot of people agree with him on that.
You know, the GOP is calling for a budget plan
that is calling for eight hundred and eighty billion dollars
in savings over the next ten years. That's very ambitious,
but Democrats say they will that will actually lead to
(10:14):
major cuts to Medicaid, which will start that trickle down effect,
and so health insurance programs for low income adults and
people with disabilities will be affected. And those issues are
already prevalent in the community right now with things as
they are, so making further cuts, we know President Trump
continues to say, you're going to feel a pinch before we,
(10:34):
you know, get to the Promised Land. But I don't
know that everyone will be able to withstand that pinch.
It's like, how can you predict who will be able
to hold on until we get to the other side
of whatever this is. So at least he's saying something.
Speaker 6 (10:51):
At least he's doing something.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Rams.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, yeah, at least they're doing something. I couldn't agree more.
You know, there's a lot of people that look at
at these these two gentlemen in particular I suspect for
a specific reason, but Corey Booker and Hakim Jefferies, who
(11:25):
I don't want to say like I know them, but
you know, Q and I we've had the chance to
like sit down and talk with these folks and have
some conversation with them, and they seem like genuine folks,
you know, And I recognize and respect the fact that
the jobs that they perform are complicated and they're not
always going to do things that I would agree with.
They're not going to always do things that a lot
(11:47):
of people would agree with. But they appear, at least
based on my interactions with them, and I'm sure Q
would echo this, to be decent people whose values and
morals are uh, you know, based in something that they
have a degree of fidelity to and if they are
(12:07):
empowered to you know, lead, uh you know, I I
for one trust their leadership.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
You Know.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
The thing is, there's a lot of folks that look
at you know what what Corey Booker did on the floor,
and you know what they were both doing on the
on the steps as as performative is not enough, you
know what is to sit in what you know, do
something do And the truth of the matter is, I
think that this is a moment that the rest of us,
all of us who were critical of Kamala Harris, all
(12:43):
of us who allowed other people to be critical of her,
allowed us, all of us who allowed other people to
sit at home and not vote, and and and allowed
those people say, hey, that's your right to not participate.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
All of us.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
We're all responsible for crippling the people that we elected
to represent our interests. They are crippled because we did
not empower them. They have a job and they can't
do anything with it. It's like hiring a graphic designer
to come into your business and you don't have a
workstation for them, you don't have a computer for them,
you don't have an idea, you don't have an outline,
(13:17):
and you just say, just design graphics, and they're like, well,
how am I supposed to do that? You're paying me
to do this job. I've been hired to do this job,
and I don't have the tools. I'm not empowered to
make any decisions on my own. I got seventy bosses.
Everybody is everything gets you know. That sort of scenario
is kind of what we put these folks in and
still they're not doing nothing. So I, for one, am
(13:41):
going to ignore all the comments that I've seen and
salute these gentlemen for doing something, even if it's just
bringing attention to the fact that hey, we are crippled.
We cannot do anything other than what we're doing. But
we're doing this, and hopefully that motivates people to take action.
Next time, and not sit at home, because protesting an
election by staying home results in Donald Trump or whoever
(14:03):
else taking all the snap benefits and putting money into
border protections. And to be fair, some of this stuff
it sounds good, but when you get into the weeds
of it, it's crucifying to those of us who are marginalized.
More militaries, no, listen, a lot of this stuff and
a lot of really what Republicans are on in general,
(14:26):
just to simplify it, is, you know, empowering rich people
and giving them more resources and taking more from poor people.
A pinch. We're going to feel a pinch before it
gets better. That's not what Donald Trump campaigned on. Donald
Trump can pained on It's going to be better day one, right.
And now we all, as Q would put it, we
(14:47):
all collectively are in the find out part. Not just
the Republicans who voted for Donald Trump, not just the
people who said at home was like, I can't vote
for Kamala Harris because Joe Biden is funding a genocide.
All of us are finding out too, And so from
I for one, am saluting the people who are not
doing nothing, because what do you do when you can't
(15:08):
do nothing, but there's nothing you can do. You do
what you can, and for me, I see them doing
what they can. Black Information Network news anchors Morgan Wood
and Brewood are here with us discussing this week's major stories.
All right, next up, some disappointing news involving Facebook founder
Mark Zuckerberg and a recent decision he made that's impacting
(15:29):
people in our community. Bri, let's go back to you again,
give us some more details on this story, and then
Morgan and Q will get your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Next.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
So, Mark Zuckerberg is shutting down the primary school which
he launched with his wife, Priscilla Chan, for communities of
color specifically, but he said it's due to funding issues.
So the school, which provides education and healthcare services, it's
closing at the end of the twenty twenty five twenty
six school year. However, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative they're continuing
to invest fifty million dollars to support effective families and
(15:58):
communities and this will be in the East Alto, Bellhaven
and East Bay parts of California. That closure comes amit
broader cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. So the
closure of the school will most definitely impact both the
students and staff there. The students, they're going to face
the disruptions in their education and healthcare services and potentially
(16:19):
affecting their academic performance, having to adjust to moving to
a new school and a new way of learning, and
their well being. Of course, job loss for staff members
as well, but the staff affected by the primary school's
closure is supposed to receive support through that chan Zuckerberg initiative.
That fifty million dollar investment in local communities is also
(16:39):
supposed to help staff transition by providing those resources for
job placement, also professional development and mental health services if needed.
So additionally, efforts will be made to ensure that staff
members have access to financial assistance if they needed, and
other support programs during this transitional period.
Speaker 6 (16:57):
So it sucks that.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
It's closing, but it seems that he's doing everything in
his power to make it an easy transition for the
staff and students there.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Morgan, Yeah, absolutely, I read this story and thought it
was just so unfortunate. As prementioned, you know, uh Dee
and I has been on it has been under attack
and uh you know, of course Facebook has also indicated
that they will comply with Trump's rollback of Dee and
I when I read the story again, I.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
Just thought, is it a? Is it?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Is it? Uh? A?
Speaker 6 (17:34):
While they say it's funding, is it.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
You know, he's a billionaire right right and so, but
also not to defend his actions, but is it just
a sign of the times? If it is funding, that
is a sign of the times that even the billionaires
are impacted to an extent that they feel like they
have to make drastic decisions to protect their interest Why
(18:05):
why is it because of d NI or is it
because of funding?
Speaker 6 (18:10):
For real?
Speaker 4 (18:11):
You know, so not so much that Zuckerberg is just
this mean guy who wants to you know, mean rich
guy who wants to just upend those who are vulnerable,
but just making me ponder on whether or not again
it's just really a sign of the times, and maybe
that it's impacting him enough, the billionaires enough that they're
starting to see stuff down the line. They're starting to
(18:32):
look at their accounts and they're like, look, we have
to make decisions to protect our assets at a time
where things are just extremely uncertain. So do I have
the answers for all of what's happening with Zuckerberg?
Speaker 6 (18:46):
No, I'm not a billionaire. I don't know, but that's
just what sticks out to me.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
Again, it is very sad that these you know, these
these population stands to be impacted in the way that
it is. And I do commend them for you know,
trying to transition and you know, provide the fifty million
dollar investment to the same communities. But the bigger part
for me looking at this is like, if Zuckerberg is
(19:15):
saying funding is an issue, we more, we might be
more a little more, you know, it might be a
little worse than what we.
Speaker 6 (19:23):
Think coming down the line, you know.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
So it just I just feel like that's just a
sign of the times and that we should pay attention
to that. Because if billionaires are using the words all
funding funding as if that's that's I think that's concerning.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
I'm a little less hesitant to call him either a cruel,
evil person or a coward. Mark Zuckerberg's networth is one
hundred and eighty five billion dollars, So when we say
the word billionaire, I don't want us to just think
he has a billion. He has one hundred and eighty
five billion dollar net worth. Funding is definitely not an issue.
(20:03):
He's aligned with the gentleman who he stood with at
the inauguration on the rollback of anything that is resembling diversity,
equity and inclusion. I don't like to say D and
I anymore because they've turned that into a pejorative term
and people intentionally misunderstand or misrepresent what it means. What
(20:23):
they think they're targeting is anything that impacts or benefits
people of color, women, and any marginalized community, and very
specifically for people right. So to blame it on funding,
I think is cowardice. You're not having a problem raising money.
Hundreds and hundreds of billions and trillions of dollars in
(20:44):
tax cuts are there to benefit people like you. So
your companies have already rolled back D and I initiatives.
Being anti diversity, anti equity, and anti inclusion is a
thing that needs to be screened from the mountaintops.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
If that's how you feel, sir, so taking.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Away from these marginalized, vulnerable communities and blame it in
on funding when you have more money than probably the
collective of all the people that attended that school and
that ever attended any school. I just have a hard
time accepting that it has anything to do with the
lack of funding. Billionaires are not looking down the road
and seeing anything troubling coming their way because they have
a president in office that is doing everything he can
(21:24):
to cripple us and add to the bank accounts and
the books of those who are already billionaires and en
route to be the first trillionaires that our world has
ever seen. But as my sister said earlier, I will
yield and move on. Finally, the NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes
(21:46):
raised some questions about his connection to the black community
this week when he used a term to describe his
old hairstyle that many black people find offensive. Morgan, let's
hear more about this story from you, and then Brion Ramses.
I also want to jump on this one. If you
guys don't mind, you guys can close us out.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
Though, Yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is facing some backlash
about referring to his hair as nappy, which of course
many demons anti black now and video posted to social media,
he said he's very excited. He's looked at some videos
from last year and he can't believe you all let
his hair or let him keep that nappy hair. For
(22:26):
so long, saying that he looks way better now with
short hair, and he'll keep his short hair going forward.
Speaker 5 (22:31):
Now.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
He had the mohawk reportedly out of superstition, allowed his
hair to grow reportedly out of superstition because the team
kept winning at the time, and said he wanted to
do it for a while because it was one of
those superstitious things as they were headed to the Super Bowl,
they were winning the Super Bowl. They continue to have
back to back repeats, so he said it was a
(22:52):
good thing and he didn't want to cut his hair
while he was in the midst of those wins. Now,
of course, it's funny you mentioned that this is what
happens when you align yourself. You know, you're deemed anti
you have you will have anti black type.
Speaker 6 (23:10):
Comments.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
When you align yourself with people who are anti black,
that's what happens.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
You lose your culture.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
And of course it's no secret we all know that
his wife Brittany is a staunch MAGA supporter. And again,
as you mentioned Q in the last story, you know,
who are you aligning yourself with? And I think that's
essentially what's happening here with Patrick Mahomes is that He's
aligning himself with people who clearly use these terms and
don't seem to have a problem with it, which is
(23:37):
why he was able to use it so loosely off
his lips and not even have the realization or you
know that, hey, what you're saying is offensive to your
very own people.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
It's offensive to yourself, but you don't even realize that.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
So and I'm not gonna get too much else into that,
but I was gonna say, b you got any comments
on it?
Speaker 5 (23:59):
Yeah, I got comment because you know, how much into
your community are you when you are not in front
of the camera. What is his community besides the sports community,
besides his immediate family. The thing is he was talking
just like a regular guy in his mind. He didn't
say anything wrong, and typically if he were talking to
(24:22):
a group of black people, okay, we would say okay,
Like it wasn't racially offensive in the sense. In my opinion,
this is just for me that I was offended in
any way, because black people talking to each other will say,
oh girl, my hair is you know, I need to
get whatever. That's just like regular talk, shop talk. But
the fact that it's like, how can you relate everything
(24:44):
comes into question because of his affiliations, because of his
wife being a white woman, and because of her being
a Trump supporter. So when black people hear that in
the context he said it, this is not shop talk anymore.
This is this man that is half black and married
to a white woman. And it seems like a lot
of people. I will say the comments because I'm a
(25:05):
comment reader. We're basically saying he puts on the black
cap when he wants to and takes it back off.
So making cultural references like nappy, okay, it's offensive when
it's coming from someone else. Right, usually in the community,
we wouldn't get offended by another black person saying that
in jest. However, him saying it, You're like, how can
(25:25):
you even relate to that comment that statement, because it
just doesn't look right, It doesn't sound right because he's
not a representative like that.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
He's done, athlete, What is happen? I said, it gives
don Imus.
Speaker 5 (25:39):
Okay, because let's not even I forgot about the man
called the sage words, yes okay, And he got in
trouble for that because he should not have said that,
and that was completely racist and that was not cultural
at all for him. A white guy saying anything about
being nappy is crazy. But Patrick Mahomes He's still black,
and him saying it was offensive to a lot of
(26:01):
people because they look at him and they think, well,
because of his personal life and what he may, you know,
do off the field, he can't relate. So that to
me is I don't know. I guess a case back
case basis, you could pick and choose whether or not
you want to be offended that by that, I personally
wasn't offended, but I do understand why people looked at
him crazy, like you're saying that in front of you know,
(26:22):
mixed company, no pun intended.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yeah, that's funny, that's really funny.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Wow, Bree, I agree with you right if he was,
if it was all of us on this call and
Patrick in a room talking about our nappy hair r
it's come across wrong at all. And it's not just
that his wife is white. She is a public MAGA supporter,
And I think that color is the way we receive
everything he says, especially when he went so far out
of his way to be deferential and respectful to the
(26:51):
current president at the super Bowl. So I think that's
the lens that we view this through and the ears
that we hear it with. Ramsay's with that wonderful crown
of hair on your head. I would your opinion this
not be hair situation?
Speaker 5 (27:04):
Yeah, yeah, is that for C because you are the
four C king?
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Okay, you know what I call my hair. To be
honest with you, I don't. I don't like the term
for C. I call my hair normal or natural because
in my in my view, human beings look like me,
and variations of human beings look like other people. The
first human beings, Homo sapien sapiens that walked on this
planet looked just like me, and they had my hair.
(27:30):
So all that straight hair is a result of a
genetic mutation. That's the other This is normal hair. But
but you know, to be to use you know, the
term that is uh collectively used now that the hair
industry is co opted by others somehow, Yes, it would
be classified as force. It'd probably be four d ORF.
(27:51):
They got to come up in the category from my hair.
But yeah, you know, q Q obviously would know better
than anybody. You know, we know people all over the country,
and you know, I'm by a by a considerable margin,
the nappiest person that I know. And for me, my
experience is that I was just talking about this yesterday
(28:13):
on a panel at a at a college. To me,
it's like an It's a term that I use because
it's the right term. It's the term that I grew
up with. It never sounds inauthentic when I use it,
and I use it in mixed company. I use it in
(28:33):
a room full of white people because when I use it,
I've learned in my forty two years of life that
it's something to be envied. It's something that people wish
that they had. You know, I don't even have to
say it. People will come up to me like, oh
my god, this is glorious. They don't touch me, but
you know they say it.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
Theyse that was going to be my next question because
they're sometimes feel like they can reach up and grab you.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah, like, I'm come on, man, I'm a grown man.
Don't touch me. You know, you don't know me like that.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
But anyway, as far as this, uh, this football player
got fud his name. But you know, the one thing
I'll say is I don't know his story. I don't
know his upbringing. I don't think any of us really
do he probably grew up playing football, and I played
sports when I was younger, and you know, if he's
playing football, there's there's it's likely that he's around other athletes.
(29:26):
Some of those athletes are going to be black. And
you know, he's going to have different haircuts throughout his childhood,
and so his hair grows long enough, people are going
to see.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
That it curls.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
So whether or not he's mixed, you know, his Africa
will express itself, you know, in his hair, and you
know that might be the term that he knows. You know,
maybe he's with friends and they experienced racism, maybe he
experienced it himself. You know, there's you know, my thinking
at this point in my life is that people can
get lost. You know, when it comes to politics, people
(30:00):
can get lost. When it comes to their cultural identity,
people can get lost.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
You know, regardless of who his wife is.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
You know, he's still black and he's going to die black,
right and he can be lost. And if we shun him,
we push him further away and take away terms that
he might have associated with himself.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Through it for his whole life.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
He might get to the point where he rejects his
blackness and starts to hate that part of himself and
fully embrace his white half with his white wife. And
they're white presenting children, I'm sure, and this white president
as opposed to reminding him like, hey man, don't forget
you're one of us. Don't forget you're one of us.
Because people, human beings, we have a we're social creatures.
(30:44):
We need a sense of community. And where you feel rejected,
you won't go back, and where you feel accepted, you will.
And this guy is apparently winning all these super Bowls
and doing all this cool stuff, and for us in
the commons to reject him for what naturally comes out
of his and what we would naturally refer to as
nappy again, not as nappy as mine, but it's it qualifies,
(31:05):
you know, if you can't pass a comb easily in
one of them thin combs, you can't pass it easily
through your hair. I think they have that test that
like Ellis Island or something like that. Don't let me
tell you wrong. It's it's something I remember from like
sixth grade or something one of my teachers told me about.
But anyway, his hair didn't look like it'll pass the
comb easily through it, so it qualifies. I feel like
(31:25):
pushing people away at this point is really not the strategy.
He's shunning people, revoking you know, cookout passes and family
reunion passes. Ain't This ain't the time for that man.
We see how strong the opposition is, and we see
how lazy, you know, our turnout was at the last election.
This is not pointing to black women and black men,
but overall the enthusiasm collectively. So if we shun people,
(31:49):
we fortify the opposition and we just we dig ourselves
into a deeper hole.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
This guy, he's black's.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Black enough for if Steph Curry is black enough and
whoever else.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
I can can't pick of any think of any people
who have that same genetic makeup as him.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
But if they're black enough, then so is he.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
And if they can say nappy heads soaking, he he
And it's nappyheaded people that vote for Donald Trump but
don't make their hair not nappy.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
You know what I'm saying. We just need you know what.
Speaker 5 (32:14):
I don't know if this is part of his genetic makeup,
But have you seen everything that's been happening with say
Kwon Barkley since he was seen getting off the jet.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Yeah you told me, Yeah, Q told me.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
We covered the story, but Q told me a little
bit more, give me a little bit more detail.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
On that guy. And I somebody like that.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
I feel like that's going out of their way to
like justify and double down on their politics or lack thereof,
and to you know that that conversation was about politics.
That part I don't mind, because people need to be educated.
But when we're talking about hair, I think that we're
splitting hair. Is no pun intended, Like this is not
(32:53):
a thing that we need to That's not the line
we need to divide for somebody like or not they're
black enough to use the word nappy, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Like, I know, I know.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Puerto Ricans, Cubans, you know, my grandmother's from Cuba. They
use the N word constantly, and they recognize the Africa
in their genetics, and they participate in the culture, and
they don't take from the culture, and it's not used
in a racial way. And I don't like that word.
I don't use that word myself, as you won't hear
it in my house. But I understand that, you know,
(33:28):
there's that culture goes further than ethnicity and race.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Right, you know what I mean, when you.
Speaker 5 (33:33):
Get around them, you're not offended if you hear that word.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Coming out of their mouths right right, It just it
doesn't it doesn't sound wild to me.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
The same country, it sounds wild. I've been around black
people to say, and it sounds wild, you know what
I'm saying. So, you know, Patrick, Uh, I just don't
really see us accomplishing anything by picking on this guy
over this thing.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
So we'll leave it right there.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
I think I've talked that one to death, but I'll
be as you knew I had something to say, so
with that in mine, I'll thank you both very much
for your time and insight. Once again, today's guest our
Black Information Network news anchors Morgan Would and Bree Would.
Speaker 5 (34:09):
Thanks ramses Avis a pleasure.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
Thanks c all right, y'all, y'all next time.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
This has been a production of the Black Information Network.
Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts
you'd like to share, use the red microphone talkback feature
on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to
hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. I'm your
host Ramsey's Jaw on all social media, and along with
q Ward, we'll be hosting another episode of Civic Cipher
this weekend on a station near you. For stations, showtimes,
(34:37):
and podcast info, check Civiccipher dot com and join us
Monday as we share our news with our voice from
our perspective right here on the Black Information Network Daily
podcast
It's been another busy news week, and we like to
review the major stories of the week here on the
Black Information Network. Today, we are joined by Black Information
Network news anchors Morgan Wood and Brewood to discuss this
week's major stories. This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast.
I'm your host ramses.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Jah and I'm your host Qward.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
All right, Morgan and Bri. I'm so excited to talk
to both of you today. I've been looking forward to this.
Welcome back to the show. Morgan, what's the latest?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Good?
Speaker 4 (00:30):
Yeah, what's the latest? Okay, So we're on Capitol Hill now,
Bi in. We have space on Capitol Hill and we
are up there in the midst and in the mix
of all of what's going on. So I'm excited to
bring you the insights.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
From Capitol Well, we're waiting with baited breath. Uh, Bri,
talk to me. What's the latest in your world?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Hey?
Speaker 5 (00:52):
Rams, is good to be here with you. I feel
like it's been a minute. Everything is good this way.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Okay, fantastic? All right, Well, then let's get to the news.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
First up, Roy pastor and spiritual leader TD Jakes made
headlines this week with a special announcement regarding the future
of his ministry and his church, The Potter's House. Brie,
let's start today's program with you bring our listeners up
to speed on this story, and then Morgan and Q
we'll get your thoughts after.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Yeah, so, Bishop td Jakes he's stepping down from a
leadership role.
Speaker 6 (01:17):
Of course.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
He is the founder of the Potter's House in Dallas, Texas,
the megachurch. He announced that he's handing leadership over to
his daughter and son in law. That's Pastor Sarah Jakes
Roberts and her husband, Terray Roberts. They will be appointed
senior pastors later this year. And so of course this
is coming after Bishop Jakes suffered what he called a
massive heart attack while delivering a sermon last year. I
(01:40):
don't know if you recall that video going viral where
he was just standing at the front of the congregation
speaking as usual, and all of a sudden he just
stopped and they had to go up there and check
on him, and everyone immediately started praying. So around that
same time, Bishop Jakes also filed a lawsuit against a
former minister who had accused him of assault. So he
(02:00):
had some other things going on which a lot of
people online were saying could have been a stressor that
may have aided in bringing on that heart attack. He
did not say that, but he does have issues going
on in his personal life as well. So after leading
the church for almost three decades, Bishop Jakes made a
statement saying that he will continue to head the td
(02:20):
Jakes Group, which includes a real estate company and the
td Jakes Foundation, And I'm sure he'll still have his
hand in what's going on at the Potter's House, but
he's going to leave the day to day to Sarah
Jakes Roberts, who is no stranger to the congregation. To women.
She's a dynamic speaker. She does the women now are
at loose event all the time.
Speaker 6 (02:42):
She's very good.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
So the church is in capable hands. But I can't
say that I'm surprised. I think everybody saw this coming.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yeah, I could see that.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Morgan, Yeah, absolutely so, first and foremost, sending some love
to Bishop td Jakes for, you know, the amazing service
that he has done. I mean, he's built something so
massive that not only transcended you know state lines, you know,
national lines, but globally but also generationally. And furthermore, he's
been able to not only sustain it, but scale it.
(03:13):
So outside of preaching, he's written books as rementioned, he's
got the you know that his Potter's his foundation, and
of course he's awarded grants totaling over like nine million
dollars to various organizations focused on community development, workforce development, housing,
financial literacy.
Speaker 6 (03:33):
I mean, the list really does go on.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
And so to pass the torch to his daughter before
something grave happens to him is admirable and should be
applauded because he did they following his return from that
heart attack, that he did not want to leave his
sheep i e. Church congregation without a shepherd or a leader. So,
but also what strikes me in this story is the
(03:57):
Potter's house is still located in deep south Dallas, Texas,
and traditionally women do not pastor churches. Right, So, according
to the statistics the Status of Clergywomen in the US,
the Statistical Report Update Campbell Reid, out of twenty eighteen,
women make up fifty two seventy five percent of the
congregation in Black Baptist churches, but less than ten percent
(04:20):
of church leaders and less than one percent of pastors
are So I think this was to Breeze point a
smart move for TDJS to make, not only to name
his daughter as a pastor because it turns the corner,
but also handing it to her husband as well. By
naming them both successors, he mitigates the drama behind what
(04:42):
would happen to the church if something happens to him.
It mitigates the drama around his daughter dealing with the
traditional woes of women not being leaders in the church,
and now he could oversee the transition with some intention.
And to Breeze point as well, the congregation is fromamiliar
with her, so the congregation would be less shaken by
(05:03):
this move.
Speaker 6 (05:04):
So this should keep the Potters, how strong.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
But on a personal note, I like to see the
paperwork and whether or not the fine Prince says what
happens in the event of a divorce.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
But I'm not gonna get too much incident.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Of course, that's that's definitely something to ponder. Q. I'm
confident that with your upbringing you have something interesting to add.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
To Borgan's thoughts.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Well, I first want to echo my sisters and calling
out that Torrey and Sarah are very capable hands for
the church to be left in and as the son
of a black woman pastor. I also know what the
church's traditions often look like with regards to women in
leadership and women in the pullpit. My mother had to
go through some things when she was in seminary, some
(05:52):
things that were said to her. I'm so proud of
her for continuing to go on her path, even though
she was discouraged by men of the clerk while she
was pursuing that, and has been an associate pastor for
most of my life and is the head pastor of
our church now. I pray that Bishop Jakes is in
better health and that he made the decision not under
(06:14):
duress or not in the worst of health, but just
you know, being cautious and setting the church up for
future success, praying for his family, planning for his congregation,
and hoping that we'll still have some years with the
bishop here with us. This week brought us to the
one hundred daymark of the Trump administration, and House Minority
(06:34):
Leader Hakim Jeffries used this milestone to share his thoughts
on the Trump presidency and its impact on our communities. Morgan,
you cover Washington politics for the Network, so please let's
start with you share with our listeners more about Hakim's comments,
and then Brion ramdas, I have you weigh next?
Speaker 6 (06:49):
Yeah, so, House Minority Leader Haykeen Jeffries.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
He continues to voice his opposition to the GOP tax
and spending plan, calling it a disgrace.
Speaker 6 (06:57):
Now.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
He recently held a sit in on the steps of
the Capital over the weekend alongside Senator Cory Booker, which
ironically enough, was Corey Booker's birthday, in protest of this budget.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Now.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
The budget includes a tax plan with five trillion dollars
in breaks to trillion dollars and cuts, and a five
trillion dollar debt ceialing hike, along with extensions from the
twenty seventeen tax cuts. It also increases spending on border
security and increased spending in the military now. Meanwhile, Democratic
(07:28):
leaders claim the budget will cut important social services and
programs like Medicaid, SNAP and Headstart, to which Jeffreys called
the dangerous situation that we confront in America now. In
a press conference on Monday, Jeffrey said people will die
as a result of this budget, and he repeated the
comments on the steps of the.
Speaker 6 (07:48):
US Capitol yesterday.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
I was there where he gathered with other Democratic leaders
who echoed the same sentiment in their one hundred Days
of what they called Chaos press conference. He went on
to say that the budgeudget say of the budget that
it's going to hurt children, It's going to hurt families,
hurt seniors, hurt people with disabilities, close hospitals, shut down
nursing homes, and that it is a matter of life
(08:11):
and death at this current moment now. House Minority leaders
Hakim jeffreyes He also said the President lied about his
willingness to lower cost in America and drive down the
high cost of living. He said costs aren't going down,
adding that Donald Trump is actually crashing the economy and
Republicans and Congress are actively letting it happen. Now, as
(08:35):
someone who is on the hill, I can say that
we seem more divided than ever and it's just really
sad because even from my vantage point, I'm not sure
what the path forward could be, but it.
Speaker 6 (08:47):
Doesn't seem like well it doesn't.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
I'm not sure if the path forward doesn't include some
sort of suffering and sacrifice based on what's happening from again,
from my vantage point, but you know, I will digress.
And I will, as they say on Capitol Hill, I
will yield and pass the mic to my colleagues.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
Bree thoughts, well, you know, I think mister Jeffries is
doing his best to step up and be the leadership
that the Democratic Party needs right now. What keeps echoing
in the press is that there's no leader. There's no leader,
there's no clear message coming from the Democratic Party. Well,
he's definitely making his voice heard in that respect, especially
(09:31):
starting off with his record breaking speech on the floor.
And I just think he is doing everything that he
can to drive the point home that people are going
to get hurt again. To piggyback off of Morgan, he
says children, families, seniors, people with disabilities, medical care is
at risk, talking about the possible closure of hospitals and
(09:53):
the shutting down of nursing homes. Literally, he's saying this
is a matter of life and death at this moment
for people. A lot of people agree with him on that.
You know, the GOP is calling for a budget plan
that is calling for eight hundred and eighty billion dollars
in savings over the next ten years. That's very ambitious,
but Democrats say they will that will actually lead to
(10:14):
major cuts to Medicaid, which will start that trickle down effect,
and so health insurance programs for low income adults and
people with disabilities will be affected. And those issues are
already prevalent in the community right now with things as
they are, so making further cuts, we know President Trump
continues to say, you're going to feel a pinch before we,
(10:34):
you know, get to the Promised Land. But I don't
know that everyone will be able to withstand that pinch.
It's like, how can you predict who will be able
to hold on until we get to the other side
of whatever this is. So at least he's saying something.
Speaker 6 (10:51):
At least he's doing something.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Rams.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, yeah, at least they're doing something. I couldn't agree more.
You know, there's a lot of people that look at
at these these two gentlemen in particular I suspect for
a specific reason, but Corey Booker and Hakim Jefferies, who
(11:25):
I don't want to say like I know them, but
you know, Q and I we've had the chance to
like sit down and talk with these folks and have
some conversation with them, and they seem like genuine folks,
you know, And I recognize and respect the fact that
the jobs that they perform are complicated and they're not
always going to do things that I would agree with.
They're not going to always do things that a lot
(11:47):
of people would agree with. But they appear, at least
based on my interactions with them, and I'm sure Q
would echo this, to be decent people whose values and
morals are uh, you know, based in something that they
have a degree of fidelity to and if they are
(12:07):
empowered to you know, lead, uh you know, I I
for one trust their leadership.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
You Know.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
The thing is, there's a lot of folks that look
at you know what what Corey Booker did on the floor,
and you know what they were both doing on the
on the steps as as performative is not enough, you
know what is to sit in what you know, do
something do And the truth of the matter is, I
think that this is a moment that the rest of us,
all of us who were critical of Kamala Harris, all
(12:43):
of us who allowed other people to be critical of her,
allowed us, all of us who allowed other people to
sit at home and not vote, and and and allowed
those people say, hey, that's your right to not participate.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
All of us.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
We're all responsible for crippling the people that we elected
to represent our interests. They are crippled because we did
not empower them. They have a job and they can't
do anything with it. It's like hiring a graphic designer
to come into your business and you don't have a
workstation for them, you don't have a computer for them,
you don't have an idea, you don't have an outline,
(13:17):
and you just say, just design graphics, and they're like, well,
how am I supposed to do that? You're paying me
to do this job. I've been hired to do this job,
and I don't have the tools. I'm not empowered to
make any decisions on my own. I got seventy bosses.
Everybody is everything gets you know. That sort of scenario
is kind of what we put these folks in and
still they're not doing nothing. So I, for one, am
(13:41):
going to ignore all the comments that I've seen and
salute these gentlemen for doing something, even if it's just
bringing attention to the fact that hey, we are crippled.
We cannot do anything other than what we're doing. But
we're doing this, and hopefully that motivates people to take action.
Next time, and not sit at home, because protesting an
election by staying home results in Donald Trump or whoever
(14:03):
else taking all the snap benefits and putting money into
border protections. And to be fair, some of this stuff
it sounds good, but when you get into the weeds
of it, it's crucifying to those of us who are marginalized.
More militaries, no, listen, a lot of this stuff and
a lot of really what Republicans are on in general,
(14:26):
just to simplify it, is, you know, empowering rich people
and giving them more resources and taking more from poor people.
A pinch. We're going to feel a pinch before it
gets better. That's not what Donald Trump campaigned on. Donald
Trump can pained on It's going to be better day one, right.
And now we all, as Q would put it, we
(14:47):
all collectively are in the find out part. Not just
the Republicans who voted for Donald Trump, not just the
people who said at home was like, I can't vote
for Kamala Harris because Joe Biden is funding a genocide.
All of us are finding out too, And so from
I for one, am saluting the people who are not
doing nothing, because what do you do when you can't
(15:08):
do nothing, but there's nothing you can do. You do
what you can, and for me, I see them doing
what they can. Black Information Network news anchors Morgan Wood
and Brewood are here with us discussing this week's major stories.
All right, next up, some disappointing news involving Facebook founder
Mark Zuckerberg and a recent decision he made that's impacting
(15:29):
people in our community. Bri, let's go back to you again,
give us some more details on this story, and then
Morgan and Q will get your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Next.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
So, Mark Zuckerberg is shutting down the primary school which
he launched with his wife, Priscilla Chan, for communities of
color specifically, but he said it's due to funding issues.
So the school, which provides education and healthcare services, it's
closing at the end of the twenty twenty five twenty
six school year. However, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative they're continuing
to invest fifty million dollars to support effective families and
(15:58):
communities and this will be in the East Alto, Bellhaven
and East Bay parts of California. That closure comes amit
broader cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. So the
closure of the school will most definitely impact both the
students and staff there. The students, they're going to face
the disruptions in their education and healthcare services and potentially
(16:19):
affecting their academic performance, having to adjust to moving to
a new school and a new way of learning, and
their well being. Of course, job loss for staff members
as well, but the staff affected by the primary school's
closure is supposed to receive support through that chan Zuckerberg initiative.
That fifty million dollar investment in local communities is also
(16:39):
supposed to help staff transition by providing those resources for
job placement, also professional development and mental health services if needed.
So additionally, efforts will be made to ensure that staff
members have access to financial assistance if they needed, and
other support programs during this transitional period.
Speaker 6 (16:57):
So it sucks that.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
It's closing, but it seems that he's doing everything in
his power to make it an easy transition for the
staff and students there.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Morgan, Yeah, absolutely, I read this story and thought it
was just so unfortunate. As prementioned, you know, uh Dee
and I has been on it has been under attack
and uh you know, of course Facebook has also indicated
that they will comply with Trump's rollback of Dee and
I when I read the story again, I.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
Just thought, is it a? Is it?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Is it? Uh? A?
Speaker 6 (17:34):
While they say it's funding, is it.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
You know, he's a billionaire right right and so, but
also not to defend his actions, but is it just
a sign of the times? If it is funding, that
is a sign of the times that even the billionaires
are impacted to an extent that they feel like they
have to make drastic decisions to protect their interest Why
(18:05):
why is it because of d NI or is it
because of funding?
Speaker 6 (18:10):
For real?
Speaker 4 (18:11):
You know, so not so much that Zuckerberg is just
this mean guy who wants to you know, mean rich
guy who wants to just upend those who are vulnerable,
but just making me ponder on whether or not again
it's just really a sign of the times, and maybe
that it's impacting him enough, the billionaires enough that they're
starting to see stuff down the line. They're starting to
(18:32):
look at their accounts and they're like, look, we have
to make decisions to protect our assets at a time
where things are just extremely uncertain. So do I have
the answers for all of what's happening with Zuckerberg?
Speaker 6 (18:46):
No, I'm not a billionaire. I don't know, but that's
just what sticks out to me.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
Again, it is very sad that these you know, these
these population stands to be impacted in the way that
it is. And I do commend them for you know,
trying to transition and you know, provide the fifty million
dollar investment to the same communities. But the bigger part
for me looking at this is like, if Zuckerberg is
(19:15):
saying funding is an issue, we more, we might be
more a little more, you know, it might be a
little worse than what we.
Speaker 6 (19:23):
Think coming down the line, you know.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
So it just I just feel like that's just a
sign of the times and that we should pay attention
to that. Because if billionaires are using the words all
funding funding as if that's that's I think that's concerning.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
I'm a little less hesitant to call him either a cruel,
evil person or a coward. Mark Zuckerberg's networth is one
hundred and eighty five billion dollars, So when we say
the word billionaire, I don't want us to just think
he has a billion. He has one hundred and eighty
five billion dollar net worth. Funding is definitely not an issue.
(20:03):
He's aligned with the gentleman who he stood with at
the inauguration on the rollback of anything that is resembling diversity,
equity and inclusion. I don't like to say D and
I anymore because they've turned that into a pejorative term
and people intentionally misunderstand or misrepresent what it means. What
(20:23):
they think they're targeting is anything that impacts or benefits
people of color, women, and any marginalized community, and very
specifically for people right. So to blame it on funding,
I think is cowardice. You're not having a problem raising money.
Hundreds and hundreds of billions and trillions of dollars in
(20:44):
tax cuts are there to benefit people like you. So
your companies have already rolled back D and I initiatives.
Being anti diversity, anti equity, and anti inclusion is a
thing that needs to be screened from the mountaintops.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
If that's how you feel, sir, so taking.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Away from these marginalized, vulnerable communities and blame it in
on funding when you have more money than probably the
collective of all the people that attended that school and
that ever attended any school. I just have a hard
time accepting that it has anything to do with the
lack of funding. Billionaires are not looking down the road
and seeing anything troubling coming their way because they have
a president in office that is doing everything he can
(21:24):
to cripple us and add to the bank accounts and
the books of those who are already billionaires and en
route to be the first trillionaires that our world has
ever seen. But as my sister said earlier, I will
yield and move on. Finally, the NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes
(21:46):
raised some questions about his connection to the black community
this week when he used a term to describe his
old hairstyle that many black people find offensive. Morgan, let's
hear more about this story from you, and then Brion Ramses.
I also want to jump on this one. If you
guys don't mind, you guys can close us out.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
Though, Yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is facing some backlash
about referring to his hair as nappy, which of course
many demons anti black now and video posted to social media,
he said he's very excited. He's looked at some videos
from last year and he can't believe you all let
his hair or let him keep that nappy hair. For
(22:26):
so long, saying that he looks way better now with
short hair, and he'll keep his short hair going forward.
Speaker 5 (22:31):
Now.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
He had the mohawk reportedly out of superstition, allowed his
hair to grow reportedly out of superstition because the team
kept winning at the time, and said he wanted to
do it for a while because it was one of
those superstitious things as they were headed to the Super Bowl,
they were winning the Super Bowl. They continue to have
back to back repeats, so he said it was a
(22:52):
good thing and he didn't want to cut his hair
while he was in the midst of those wins. Now,
of course, it's funny you mentioned that this is what
happens when you align yourself. You know, you're deemed anti
you have you will have anti black type.
Speaker 6 (23:10):
Comments.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
When you align yourself with people who are anti black,
that's what happens.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
You lose your culture.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
And of course it's no secret we all know that
his wife Brittany is a staunch MAGA supporter. And again,
as you mentioned Q in the last story, you know,
who are you aligning yourself with? And I think that's
essentially what's happening here with Patrick Mahomes is that He's
aligning himself with people who clearly use these terms and
don't seem to have a problem with it, which is
(23:37):
why he was able to use it so loosely off
his lips and not even have the realization or you
know that, hey, what you're saying is offensive to your
very own people.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
It's offensive to yourself, but you don't even realize that.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
So and I'm not gonna get too much else into that,
but I was gonna say, b you got any comments
on it?
Speaker 5 (23:59):
Yeah, I got comment because you know, how much into
your community are you when you are not in front
of the camera. What is his community besides the sports community,
besides his immediate family. The thing is he was talking
just like a regular guy in his mind. He didn't
say anything wrong, and typically if he were talking to
(24:22):
a group of black people, okay, we would say okay,
Like it wasn't racially offensive in the sense. In my opinion,
this is just for me that I was offended in
any way, because black people talking to each other will say,
oh girl, my hair is you know, I need to
get whatever. That's just like regular talk, shop talk. But
the fact that it's like, how can you relate everything
(24:44):
comes into question because of his affiliations, because of his
wife being a white woman, and because of her being
a Trump supporter. So when black people hear that in
the context he said it, this is not shop talk anymore.
This is this man that is half black and married
to a white woman. And it seems like a lot
of people. I will say the comments because I'm a
(25:05):
comment reader. We're basically saying he puts on the black
cap when he wants to and takes it back off.
So making cultural references like nappy, okay, it's offensive when
it's coming from someone else. Right, usually in the community,
we wouldn't get offended by another black person saying that
in jest. However, him saying it, You're like, how can
(25:25):
you even relate to that comment that statement, because it
just doesn't look right, It doesn't sound right because he's
not a representative like that.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
He's done, athlete, What is happen? I said, it gives
don Imus.
Speaker 5 (25:39):
Okay, because let's not even I forgot about the man
called the sage words, yes okay, And he got in
trouble for that because he should not have said that,
and that was completely racist and that was not cultural
at all for him. A white guy saying anything about
being nappy is crazy. But Patrick Mahomes He's still black,
and him saying it was offensive to a lot of
(26:01):
people because they look at him and they think, well,
because of his personal life and what he may, you know,
do off the field, he can't relate. So that to
me is I don't know. I guess a case back
case basis, you could pick and choose whether or not
you want to be offended that by that, I personally
wasn't offended, but I do understand why people looked at
him crazy, like you're saying that in front of you know,
(26:22):
mixed company, no pun intended.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yeah, that's funny, that's really funny.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Wow, Bree, I agree with you right if he was,
if it was all of us on this call and
Patrick in a room talking about our nappy hair r
it's come across wrong at all. And it's not just
that his wife is white. She is a public MAGA supporter,
And I think that color is the way we receive
everything he says, especially when he went so far out
of his way to be deferential and respectful to the
(26:51):
current president at the super Bowl. So I think that's
the lens that we view this through and the ears
that we hear it with. Ramsay's with that wonderful crown
of hair on your head. I would your opinion this
not be hair situation?
Speaker 5 (27:04):
Yeah, yeah, is that for C because you are the
four C king?
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Okay, you know what I call my hair. To be
honest with you, I don't. I don't like the term
for C. I call my hair normal or natural because
in my in my view, human beings look like me,
and variations of human beings look like other people. The
first human beings, Homo sapien sapiens that walked on this
planet looked just like me, and they had my hair.
(27:30):
So all that straight hair is a result of a
genetic mutation. That's the other This is normal hair. But
but you know, to be to use you know, the
term that is uh collectively used now that the hair
industry is co opted by others somehow, Yes, it would
be classified as force. It'd probably be four d ORF.
(27:51):
They got to come up in the category from my hair.
But yeah, you know, q Q obviously would know better
than anybody. You know, we know people all over the country,
and you know, I'm by a by a considerable margin,
the nappiest person that I know. And for me, my
experience is that I was just talking about this yesterday
(28:13):
on a panel at a at a college. To me,
it's like an It's a term that I use because
it's the right term. It's the term that I grew
up with. It never sounds inauthentic when I use it,
and I use it in mixed company. I use it in
(28:33):
a room full of white people because when I use it,
I've learned in my forty two years of life that
it's something to be envied. It's something that people wish
that they had. You know, I don't even have to
say it. People will come up to me like, oh
my god, this is glorious. They don't touch me, but
you know they say it.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
Theyse that was going to be my next question because
they're sometimes feel like they can reach up and grab you.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah, like, I'm come on, man, I'm a grown man.
Don't touch me. You know, you don't know me like that.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
But anyway, as far as this, uh, this football player
got fud his name. But you know, the one thing
I'll say is I don't know his story. I don't
know his upbringing. I don't think any of us really
do he probably grew up playing football, and I played
sports when I was younger, and you know, if he's
playing football, there's there's it's likely that he's around other athletes.
(29:26):
Some of those athletes are going to be black. And
you know, he's going to have different haircuts throughout his childhood,
and so his hair grows long enough, people are going
to see.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
That it curls.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
So whether or not he's mixed, you know, his Africa
will express itself, you know, in his hair, and you
know that might be the term that he knows. You know,
maybe he's with friends and they experienced racism, maybe he
experienced it himself. You know, there's you know, my thinking
at this point in my life is that people can
get lost. You know, when it comes to politics, people
(30:00):
can get lost. When it comes to their cultural identity,
people can get lost.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
You know, regardless of who his wife is.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
You know, he's still black and he's going to die black,
right and he can be lost. And if we shun him,
we push him further away and take away terms that
he might have associated with himself.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Through it for his whole life.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
He might get to the point where he rejects his
blackness and starts to hate that part of himself and
fully embrace his white half with his white wife. And
they're white presenting children, I'm sure, and this white president
as opposed to reminding him like, hey man, don't forget
you're one of us. Don't forget you're one of us.
Because people, human beings, we have a we're social creatures.
(30:44):
We need a sense of community. And where you feel rejected,
you won't go back, and where you feel accepted, you will.
And this guy is apparently winning all these super Bowls
and doing all this cool stuff, and for us in
the commons to reject him for what naturally comes out
of his and what we would naturally refer to as
nappy again, not as nappy as mine, but it's it qualifies,
(31:05):
you know, if you can't pass a comb easily in
one of them thin combs, you can't pass it easily
through your hair. I think they have that test that
like Ellis Island or something like that. Don't let me
tell you wrong. It's it's something I remember from like
sixth grade or something one of my teachers told me about.
But anyway, his hair didn't look like it'll pass the
comb easily through it, so it qualifies. I feel like
(31:25):
pushing people away at this point is really not the strategy.
He's shunning people, revoking you know, cookout passes and family
reunion passes. Ain't This ain't the time for that man.
We see how strong the opposition is, and we see
how lazy, you know, our turnout was at the last election.
This is not pointing to black women and black men,
but overall the enthusiasm collectively. So if we shun people,
(31:49):
we fortify the opposition and we just we dig ourselves
into a deeper hole.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
This guy, he's black's.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Black enough for if Steph Curry is black enough and
whoever else.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
I can can't pick of any think of any people
who have that same genetic makeup as him.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
But if they're black enough, then so is he.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
And if they can say nappy heads soaking, he he
And it's nappyheaded people that vote for Donald Trump but
don't make their hair not nappy.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
You know what I'm saying. We just need you know what.
Speaker 5 (32:14):
I don't know if this is part of his genetic makeup,
But have you seen everything that's been happening with say
Kwon Barkley since he was seen getting off the jet.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Yeah you told me, Yeah, Q told me.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
We covered the story, but Q told me a little
bit more, give me a little bit more detail.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
On that guy. And I somebody like that.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
I feel like that's going out of their way to
like justify and double down on their politics or lack thereof,
and to you know that that conversation was about politics.
That part I don't mind, because people need to be educated.
But when we're talking about hair, I think that we're
splitting hair. Is no pun intended, Like this is not
(32:53):
a thing that we need to That's not the line
we need to divide for somebody like or not they're
black enough to use the word nappy, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Like, I know, I know.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Puerto Ricans, Cubans, you know, my grandmother's from Cuba. They
use the N word constantly, and they recognize the Africa
in their genetics, and they participate in the culture, and
they don't take from the culture, and it's not used
in a racial way. And I don't like that word.
I don't use that word myself, as you won't hear
it in my house. But I understand that, you know,
(33:28):
there's that culture goes further than ethnicity and race.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Right, you know what I mean, when you.
Speaker 5 (33:33):
Get around them, you're not offended if you hear that word.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Coming out of their mouths right right, It just it
doesn't it doesn't sound wild to me.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
The same country, it sounds wild. I've been around black
people to say, and it sounds wild, you know what
I'm saying. So, you know, Patrick, Uh, I just don't
really see us accomplishing anything by picking on this guy
over this thing.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
So we'll leave it right there.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
I think I've talked that one to death, but I'll
be as you knew I had something to say, so
with that in mine, I'll thank you both very much
for your time and insight. Once again, today's guest our
Black Information Network news anchors Morgan Would and Bree Would.
Speaker 5 (34:09):
Thanks ramses Avis a pleasure.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
Thanks c all right, y'all, y'all next time.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
This has been a production of the Black Information Network.
Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts
you'd like to share, use the red microphone talkback feature
on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to
hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. I'm your
host Ramsey's Jaw on all social media, and along with
q Ward, we'll be hosting another episode of Civic Cipher
this weekend on a station near you. For stations, showtimes,
(34:37):
and podcast info, check Civiccipher dot com and join us
Monday as we share our news with our voice from
our perspective right here on the Black Information Network Daily
podcast
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