October 18, 2024 • 36 mins
News anchors Andrea Coleman and Natasha Williams join host Ramses Ja on today's podcast to discuss this week's major stories.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's been another busy 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 Natasha Williams and Andrea Coleman to discuss
this week's major stories.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
This is the.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Black Information Network Daily Podcast, and I'm your host, ramses Jah.
All Right, Natasha, Andrea, welcome to the show. How have
you been since we last spoke? Natasha you first.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Oh, I've been well. I've been well.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
I've missed you. I missed you for I guess on. Yeah,
it's good to be back. It is actually really really
good to be back.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Oh, you make me feel special. I appreciate that. Andrea,
talk to me. What's the letter?
Speaker 4 (00:39):
Dido?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Dido?
Speaker 4 (00:40):
All the love that came your way from Natasha? Ditto
for me. Yeah, it's great to see you. Great to
be back for a moment.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I'll take it, all right, I need that. Going into
some heavy stuff, all right, Well, let's get to the news.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
First.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Up, on Tuesday, Charlot Mane God hosted a live town
hall with Vice President Kamala Harris, where a wide range
of topics and questions recovered Natasha for those listeners who
are not able to hear the conversation, give us a
few takeaways from the interview, and then Andrea, we're going
to come to you next to get your reaction.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Well, I think the good news is that she came
out really strong and stood her ground. I think it's
important with all the informationists out there, a lot of
but misinformation, that she gets her message out. There's been
so many that have talked about on at least one
side of the political spectrum, about how she's not doing interviews,
(01:31):
she's not talking about important things, she's ducking, she's dodging.
I think that she's coming out letting folks know where
she stands, as she has been doing, and I think
that's important. I think he asked her tough questions. I
think she asked them answer them succinctly. And I think
that she has a platform that makes sense. So it
(01:51):
was a good showing I think for her. And as
she's continued to do that, you know, with subsequent interviews
in the next day or so after that, well, so
I think for her it's important to continue to talk
about the topics that are important to people. And I
think on this conversation, in this conversation with Charlemagne. I
think she did a good job.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Andrea, well, you know, I would agree with Natasha for
a lot of that. I mean, the black vote in
general is one that she needs. I was just looking
up a few statistics and the heel is citing a
Republican strategist who says Harris needs to get above ninety
percent of the black vote, including that of black men,
or she's in trouble. So this push that we're seeing
(02:34):
is probably more indicative of circumstance than just choice and
will of wanting to be there and have these conversations.
I mean, we are just days away from this election,
and this race is still neck and neck, and she's
done an incredible job of covering a lot of ground
in a very short period of time. But now she
has to get over this last hurdle, and I just
(02:54):
think it's kind of unfortunate that that hurdle is being
presented by black men. We have the opportunity in a
Mareerica to see history made by the first black woman
and some people may say woman of color, whatever it is,
it's not a white male, and we are now standing
in the way, at least a segment of US, and
according to The New York Times in Santa College Pool,
(03:15):
one of the more recent ones, it found that right
now she has like eighty three percent of the black
woman vote, she has only seven percent of a black
male vote. And with that, it's the young men, the
young black men, who right now seems to be her
biggest challenge. So anyway, it'd be interesting to see what
she does in these final days to go ahead and
shore up that black vote and do what she needs
(03:37):
to do if she's going to win on the fit.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
You know, the thing about this is that until very recently,
I kind of was looking at this through the same lens,
and I had assign the same optics to this phenomenon,
you know, black men. And I don't want to say
(04:00):
that I've changed how I'm approaching this, but I've certainly
rethought it, because, believe it or not, I'm in the
middle of a lot of conversations about black male voters.
I've been working with, you know, the Harris campaign. You know, Arizona,
where I live, is a swing state, and myself in
(04:23):
q Ward, you know, we are media personalities and rather
well known in this city, and so you know, they
put us to work and one of the things that
we've been dealing with, of course, is you know, conversations
with black men and and being sort of ambassadors of
(04:44):
the Harris campaign into the black community, which is something
that we never would have anticipated them needing. But recently,
thanks to you know, Chris Thompson, I was fortunate enough
to have a conversation with Christopher Towler, who's conversation that
conversation should be up. If it's not up now, it
(05:04):
should be up you know, in the coming days. But he,
you know, broke down the data. So he's from the
Black Voter Project, and he broke down the data of
black men.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
As as voters or the Harris campaign and for the
Trump campaign.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
And one of the takeaways that I got from that
conversation was that the data suggesting that black men were
fleeing from the Democratic Party in favor of Donald Trump
was overblown.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
It was overstated.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Indeed, the data suggested that once you have a large
enough sample size of black men, that black men were
not interested in voting for Donald Trump at at any
higher rate than they did in twenty twenty. And when
you take a step back even further, historically, black men
(06:08):
are voting the same way that we have since the seventies,
and so again, given a large enough sample size, you
start to see the reality of the situation. Now that's
not to say that there are not some black men
who are wanting to vote for Trump, and I think
to your point, a lot of those black men are younger,
(06:30):
but it's not nearly the amount that the current polls,
the popular polls would have us believe based on again
the data from the Black Voter Project, which is his
specific field of expertise. But one of the things that
the younger black voter is vulnerable on. One of the
areas where that voter is vulnerable because they tend to
(06:53):
be less educated and they're like low impact voters is
I think the term that he referred to them as
meaning that they are more susceptible to one or two
talking points and then they'll hang their hat on that
and then go vote or not. You know, politics doesn't
(07:15):
engage them the way they would engage someone like me
or you or maybe our listeners here. But this voter
is again inclined to latch onto one of the right
wing talking points. You know, Trump is good for business,
you know, to pick something out of the air These
(07:36):
people might be young entrepreneurs and can associate Donald Trump
with business, and there's their vote. They don't see Donald
Trump as a threat to their community or otherwise. They
see everyone as an equal threat. And so rather than
looking at what can go right for a vote for
(07:56):
a Harris administration, they look at, you know, what could.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Go wrong, And so.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Their sensibilities are what we need to focus on, you know,
in terms of like the conversations that we're having. Again,
it's not as many people as we would think, but
there are some people. Another thing that I remember, just
off the top of my head is that people were
very moved by the stimulus checks. And if you remember,
(08:25):
the stimulus checks were passed by Democratic Congress, Donald Trump
had nothing to do with him. Indeed, Donald Trump slowed
up the delivery of the checks because he wanted his
name to be printed on the checks. He wanted to
take credit for it so that this moment that we're
having right now could happen and all of the black
men that are like well, I felt the immediate impact
(08:48):
of that twelve hundred dollars. I don't feel any impact
of anybody I vote for, nor have I ever throughout
the entirety of my adult life. But that twelve hundred
dollars made a difference, and Donald Trump's name was on
the check. You know, those people are playing right into
Donald Trump's hands, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
And as.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Underhanded a maneuver as it was, there's no denying that
it was effective. And it's important for black men to
know that again they're playing into his hands. That Donald
Trump did not go to his own bank account with
all the billions of dollars quote unquote and take the
money out and give it to the American people. It
was Congress, a Democratic Congress, that did that, and Donald
(09:29):
Trump insisted that his name get put on it. And
because the American people needed help, everyone got in line
and played ball with the president. Donald Trump's names one
on the checks. And now we're having this conversation boo
truth thought. But I'm less concerned about black men. I'm
still very concerned, but I'm less concerned than I was
(09:51):
because it was like a very scary moment there, and again,
looking at more data, I'm like, Okay, this is something
that needs addressing, but it's not a five alarm fire
like I thought it was. So anyway, moving on, Earlier
this week, North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson announced that
he's taking action regarding the CNN story story connecting him
to past pornographic activities. Andrea, this time, let's start with
(10:14):
you give us more details on the story, and then
Natasha will come to you next for your thoughts.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
So you know Republican governor our candidate, Actually he's right now,
North Carolina's lieutenant governor extreme extreme, I won't say extreme
right winger, but I will say he is a strong
Trump supporter. And so apparently CNN released or published this
(10:40):
article that said that several years ago, this is not
anything that's happened in recent history. Several years ago, he
apparently posted some comments on this porn site called New
to Africa, and in the post, he referred to himself
or reportedly referred to himself as a black Nazi. He
also supported bringing block back black slavery. Now he has
(11:03):
denied making the comments, and he also says that CNN
was out of order and posting this article because they
didn't do any kind of background checks to verify the information.
Along with CNN, there's another man that is also mentioned
(11:23):
in the lawsuit that is also being sued. His name
is Lewis Money or Lewis Love Money, and so he
recently has asked a judge to dismiss Robinson's lawsuit. But
Money factors into the story and into the lawsuit in
a different article. So apparently last month, in this magazine
called The Assembly Magazine, Money claimed that Robinson frequented his
(11:45):
adult film store to watch explicit videos in the nineties
in the early two thousands. Now. Originally, initially, Robinson's campaign
said that Money's claims were ridiculous and that the extent
of their relationship was just simply Money coming sometimes to
the Papa John's where Robinson worked and then they would
talk there. But here lately, the latest comments that we've
(12:08):
gotten from Robinson is that he has acknowledged that sometimes
he did visit an adult video store where Money worked,
but it was only to bring over free pizza and socialize.
So Money one is standing by his comments and saying
that he would not have gone public with them if
they were not true, and then he's also now asking
a judge to dismiss the lawsuit. As far as Robinson,
(12:31):
he says he is a victim of a high tech lyncheon,
which CNN notes is the language that Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas Hughes during his nineteen ninety one confirmation hearings.
And also just want to just follow up a little
bit with what's happened since this article was posted. Robinson
had incredible Republican support, and now a lot of that
(12:52):
is falling off. Even former President Donald Trump was supporting him,
some may remember called him, are likened him to doctor
Martin Luther King Junior. And so he is now withdrawing
his support as well. So this lawsuit may not only
be to cover what he feels is his reputation, but
(13:14):
he's also being now losing vital support in these last
weeks of this campaign, which probably is costing him a
whole lot of money.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Sure, sure, sure, Natasha, let's get your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
I think this is a last ditch effort for him
to try to salvage his running for the governorship. And
I think, as Andrea said it, she stated the little
historical background on this, I think he has had a
very controversial stance on most things, particularly as it pertains
(13:47):
to women. When he basically said that women should basically
be in the subservient role in all aspects of life
as it pertains to where we are today. So his
coming out and trying to fight back this I think
is definitely his last ditch effort to try to keep
this campaign going. He has lost nearly all the support
(14:10):
of the Republicans, as Andrea said, and I think that
because he's had such a controversial past that a lot
of that is coming out, and I think a number
of people are starting to check into his background. As
in many cases when the Republican leaders are a part
of the conversations, a lot of people jump on board
without doing any research, it appears, and then once the
(14:33):
information starts to come out, you start to see some
of the waning of this type of support, and I
think that's what he's experiencing right now. This lawsuit should
be really interesting going up against CNN when they, I'm
sure had vetted a large portion of this, and he's
saying things like someone could have stolen his identity and
(14:54):
broken into his account and gotten this information to Nude
Africa and put this in information up. So I'm sure
that before this information came out that CNN probably did
a great deal of due diligence to make sure that
they verified there was indeed a connection to Mark Robinson,
and so it should really be interesting as it plays
(15:15):
out so close to the election that we're coming up on.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
And if I could add, right quick raims as regarding
this kind of lawsuit, right, the burden of proof is
on Robinson, it's not on CNN. And what he has
to prove is that they acted maliciously, and so he's
got to prove intent. He has to prove that they
not only targeted him, but they targeted the subject in
(15:41):
such a way that they went after it with a
certain level of maliciousness that makes it discriminatory, intfammatory against
his name and reputation. That is incredibly difficult to prove
as a public figure, because as soon as you step
into the limelight and you are viewed our declared public figure,
(16:02):
you're giving the media access to actually go in and
redo what CNN did, which is look into your history
and validate and confirm everything you're claiming to be. And
so in a way, CNN's defense could very well be
we were just doing our job, which is what most
media outlets you know, have successfully used as their defense.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah, and so I think Natasha put it best. This
is the last ditch effort for him to salvage what
little reputation he has left, and you know, it's just
a all right, let's sue. And you know, I saw
a little bit of the the press conference that he
held with his lawyer, and I'll give you know, credit.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Where it's due. They seem very.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Serious about, you know, this lawsuit. They feel like, maybe
they don't feel like it, but they are portraying themselves
as individuals who you know, have a story to tell,
and they feel right and justified and that they're going
to emerge victorious. So you know, I'm anxious to see
(17:16):
what happens.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
But I'm going to.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Share a paragraph from w r L dot com, their website,
because you know, I was thinking this and then I
came across it in an article and I was like, Okay,
that says it even better than that way I was thinking.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
But here's the food for thought.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
The lawsuit doesn't offer any theories as to who would
have wanted to impersonate Robinson on an obscure porn site
years before he entered politics, or why. And I think
that that's really the beginning, middle, and end of this
whole thing, Like who, you know, if You're a private
(17:56):
citizen who's going to steal your email address and again
go to an obscure porn site years before you are
worth anything, you know, certainly in the political right now.
And if they if there is somebody that would do that, why,
But you know, I guess that's the question that they're
(18:17):
going to have to answer in the courtroom, because that's
that's where I would start the conversation. You know, this
is your email address, this is your digital footprint, this
is what you used everywhere else, regardless of what people
can buy on the dark web.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
This has a timestamp, so you know, you know, we'll
see what happens.
Speaker 5 (18:34):
If my voice didn't matter, people wouldn't be trying so
hard to silence me. And if my vote didn't matter,
they wouldn't work so hard to take it away. So
you know why I'm voting this November because I know
they don't want me to.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
Your voice is powerful, your voice matters. Don't let your
voice be silenced. To register, confirm your voting status, or
get information about voting in your area, visit vote dot gov.
That's vote dot gov. A message from the Perception Institute
and the Black Information Network.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Black Information Network News anchors Natasha Williams and Andrea Coleman
are here with us discussing this week's major stories. All
right up next, Sad News to report out of the
state of Texas involving arson and a possible hate crime
against a black church. Natasha share the latest details on
this story, and then Andrea, we're gonna hear from you
next on this story.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
This is a very sad story. Church burned to the ground,
and before it was burnt to the ground, it had
experienced some racist graffiti that was put on the side
of the church back in September. When this happened and
the police departman comes out, the church is literally gone
and the community is without their church. And I think
(19:46):
that that is the really really sad part. But a
little bit of background on this particular town. About twenty
one percent black in Paris, Texas, but they have had
a history of racial strife within that community. So in
reading the articles that I've read, some people say they
(20:08):
are not surprised. They're not surprised, And to be honest,
in the last few years, church burnings twenty nineteen, the
church burned down in Louisiana twenty twenty two, and twenty
four churches. Two or three churches in Ohio were burned
after racial disagreements in the community a church in twenty
(20:30):
twenty two in Jackson, Mississippi. It seems that this is
something that has been going on for a number of years,
and as it was in history, was seen as a
way to intimidate African Americans, so not surprising. What I
do find a bit disturbing is that they haven't launched
an investigation into the actual hate crime aspect of this,
(20:53):
according to the articles that I read, simply saying that
they don't have enough information to deem it as a
hate crime, whereas there were racial graffiti racist graffiti on
the side of the church. I find that really disturbing,
but not surprising, being that the history of this particular
community has been one that has been very racially charged.
(21:19):
I guess in a sense.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Andrea, let's get your thoughts well one.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
I think you know, of course, it's extremely disturbing and
very sad. I mean, you mess with our church, you
messing with our soul, right, I mean, the church is
the foundation of our faith in our communities. Many times,
especially in a community like Paris, it can be way
more than just a place where people gather to worship
on Sundays. It's probably a central part of their social
(21:45):
and other aspects of their life and community well being.
So my heart goes out to the people there. But
I think it's wonderful that we're picking it up, that
there's national attention being given to it, just so that
the hope of there being any kind of hate crime
investigation can be supported and promoted. So hopefully this kind
(22:06):
of coverage can help them, because I don't know in
a town like Paris, Texas, if anything would be done
out of the norm without that kind of attention from
media and people outside the community putting pressure on local
officials and others in the state as well as nationally
to do something about it.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Yeah, you know, I can't say that I know much
about Paris, Texas.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I've heard of it.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I know it's a small, small town, you know, relatively speaking.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I looked it up.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
It's like twenty thousand, maybe just over twenty thousand people
are there. And I'm going to say something, I've not
vetted this, you know, so I'm not going to stand
on it. But I really hope that the reason that
the police are not investigating this as a hate crime.
(22:57):
I hope the reason for that is not because the
police know who did it and are covering up for
the individual or individuals who actually did it. Because in
a small town like this, where there's a history of
friction and there's a you know, a local law enforcement
and they know who causes trouble and who doesn't, and
(23:20):
it's so clearly hate. Like if someone spray paints racist
language on the side of a church and then burns
it down, that's that's kind of that's kind of it.
You know, if you are driving down the street and
you throw something at someone on the sidewalk, you know,
kids doing that sort of thing. You hit someone with
(23:40):
like food or ice cream or whatever and drive off.
You know, that's the salt, that's low level, you know whatever.
But if you yell the inWORD while you're doing it,
then it's a hate crime.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Just the language, right. I don't imagine it'd be any
different when it comes to this church. But the fact
that they're not investigating it as a hate crime feels like,
especially when to a person.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Like me, it feels very obvious that it is.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
It feels like, rather, let me say I hope that
it's not someone covering for someone else, because that is
a possibility, certainly with the circumstances surrounding this story. So
we'll see what happens, if anything. Right now, for our
final story this week, it involves yet another white talk
(24:25):
show host offering opinions on black men in the twenty
twenty four presidential election. Andrea, let's hear more about this
story from you, and then Natasha will come to you
to close this out.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
Well, I think you summed it up very well. Another
white Republican talk show host trying to make comments on
the black community. So apparently this network host called I
think she's with Fox. She's a right wing news host.
I'm not certain what network she's with, so let me
not name anyone. It's not showing in this article that
(24:56):
I read. But her name is Gina Lauden, and so
she's a she's a supporter of Donald Trump. And so
what she tried to do was explain why more black
men are willing to vote for Republican nominee. But in
that she just presented some horrible arguments that are probably
more offensive and insulting than anything. But she said, you know,
(25:19):
Democrats have just not done well by black men, and
she lists things like, I don't know if people remember,
but there used to be long ago this man at
a house rule where if men were in the homes
and welfare recipients could not get assistants and so forth
and so on, and so she just kind of pointed
(25:40):
out or trying to point out and use those kind
of examples as reasons why black men do not want
to vote be a part of the Democratic Party. And
then she used language like Democrats are emasculating the black men,
and so again, I think your summary of it when
introducing this segment was, you know, another right wing white
(26:04):
woman trying to explain our culture to us and not
doing a very good job of at at all.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Yeah, yeah, Natasha, let's get you away in.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
I think it really comes down to, just as Andrea said, misinformation.
We are really big in these white talk show hosts,
these white talk show networks, a lot of them are
very big in the misinformation. They take something, they take
it totally out of context, and they use it as
a blanket and then spread it out there. And for
(26:32):
those who aren't educated and who do not know the
totality of what they're talking about they take it and
sometimes run with it. And I think that's the key
to what's what is going to take the Kamala Harris
administration to disinvow. I mean, just the misinformation that a
lot of these shows put out day after day after day,
(26:54):
including the former president who has been fact checked a
million times and you know, has shown to be lying.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Repeat.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
But these types of things put out into the the airwaves,
put out into the general public, and then people think
back that did happen or you know, Kamala Harris did
put a lot of people with marijuana in jail. Those
type of facts that were just exaggerated, blown out of
proportion and misrepresented are are just really really important to
(27:26):
clear up, you know, the just total misinformation. And this
woman again spewing just what she wants to believe to
be fact. It is just another example of that.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
The thing is is that people will often get their
opinions off because they have a shred of truth in them,
a modicum of truth, and they can get their opinions
off based on a half truth.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
So I'll give you an example. Just there you go. Perfect.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
So, you know, like Andrea said when she said fathers
were taken out of the homes by the social services system,
and that that was a democratic push.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Then she connects it to our culture and there are
people that will argue that all day.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
So I would even see that.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
But there's this suggestion that the Democrats are the origin story.
The Democratic Party and their philosophies and policies are the
origin story of black men not being good fathers, and
that in its entirety is a myth. Right, black men
(28:41):
are indeed the best fathers of all according.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
To the CDC.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
This is something we've discussed on the show many times,
but the CDC study, it might be ten years old now,
it suggests that black men are the best fathers of
all races when you break it down by race.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
The legacy of you.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Know, men not being in the household in order for
women to receive social services. That's a layover from policies
that were enacted in the Great Depression where black people
could not get assistants to the same degree that the
white families could and the results of that. You know,
there are folks that argue that that's what's impacted marriage rates. Sure,
(29:19):
but how well we play the role as fathers is
not being impacted by that. Now, there are black men
who are not in the house, and there are other
races where their fathers are not in the house too.
We are disproportionately affected by gun violence, we are disproportionately
affected by the criminal justice system. And of course there
(29:41):
are some black men who just are not fathers, not
unlike any other race of people. But you see how
now she can hang that black men are not voting
for Trump, that she can hang that black men have
been emasculated by the Democratic Party and so are black
men rather are voting for Trump.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I'm sorry I said that wrong.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
So she can get all this off now because there
is a little bit of truth there. But once you
provide context, then you know, you start to see that, Okay,
this is not as cut and dry as she might
have liked. I think her co host mentioned something like,
there's a history of the government failing many black communities,
many inner city communities. Again, that's something that is true,
(30:25):
But you cannot say that about the government while having
a conversation about Democrats and not injecting the fact that
Republicans have also failed the black community, right, and indeed,
both halves of our government have failed every community. You know,
the government is not perfect, nor has it ever been.
So to suggest that black men are emasculated because the
(30:47):
government failed them and now they're not voting for Democrats
because they want something different, it's just a it's a
bad faith argument. I did say that, you know, they're
looking for change and will to consider anyone in their conversation.
But I think the data is something something like, you know,
seventy something percent of Black men are still voting for
(31:10):
Kamala Harris according to their polls. This is not even
the Black Voter Project, the most recent and most accurate
data that I have with the largest sample size, But
according to even their data, the majority of Black men
are still going to vote for Kamala Harris. So again
you start to see how insulting her statement is that
(31:35):
black men feel mass have been emasculated by the Democratic
Party and we're still voting for them, or but you know,
what are you trying to suggest here? So yeah, it's
it's it's people offering opinions for a group of folks
they don't really know anything about it. I don't imagine that
she spent much more time with black people outside of
(31:55):
her co host and maybe a few friends in college
or whatever. She has not lived. The black experience does
not know. The Black experience probably could not conceive of
why the majority of black men, even according to her data,
are still voting Democratic. Now, again, the Black Voter Project
has a larger sample size. It says that black support
(32:16):
for Trump is no higher than it was in twenty
twenty and is still hovering around its historical average. There
have always been black men who have voted Republican. That
has always been true. Okay, and again the data now
shows that it's not really any different. But you need
a large enough sample size of black men in order
(32:36):
to get to that talking point. So, Andrea, I know
you wanted to add something else.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
Yeah, I just wanted to follow up to make certain
that we clarify to that that rule was actually struck
down by the US Supreme Court decades ago, like in
the late nineteen sixties, so it hasn't even been in
play for a long time. But I also just wanted
to note that I think part of what's making this
message resonate a little bit more could possibly make it
(33:04):
resignate a little bit more. It's a number of black
mail Republicans that we're seeing actually out speaking on behalf
of Donald Trump, and that would include you know, South
Carolina senator and former Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott Byron,
Donald's out of Florida, Wesley Hunt out of Texas. I mean,
and they've not only just hit the campaign troll for him,
(33:25):
but they've been with him now for months, and they
have been a group that has gone out and specifically
targeted black mails in various cities to meet with them
one on one and try and carry this conversation forward.
So I find it interesting that in this particular election,
you're seeing a black woman again running for president, and
it seems there's a gender split, or at least a
(33:47):
discussion that's forming around the gender split of black and
black mails and their support. So hopefully, though, we'll remember
who we are and do what we need to do,
and whoever you vote for, just make certain you turn
out to vote sure.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Sure, And you know that's that's I think that's key
because there are a lot of people who simply just
feel disconnected from the entire process. You know, I'm I'm
I'm grateful that the conversations are now centering, you know,
black people and black men on both sides, because you know.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
It's really easy to overlook a dedicated voter base if
you if.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
You if they are always voting for you, there's no
reason to get them to, you know, become interested in
voting for you. And now Democrats are kind of learning
that we need to actually listen and enact some policies
that really affect this group of people. And then you know,
when Republicans look and see that, you know, there's some
(34:48):
potential here to gain some ground, then maybe they start
listening to So that's not the worst thing in the world.
And uh, you know, I I saw Kamala Harris put
you know, fourth and heard some some things that are
specifically set to benefit the black community and black men.
I've seen no such thing from Donald Trump's camp, and
(35:09):
I doubt I ever would, but you know, these are
things that I have not seen, you know, yet in
the political arena. And so, for better or worse, whatever
got us here, at least we're having these conversations, and
you know, I'll take.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
That so that in mind. I will leave it right there.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Thank you both very much, as always for your time
and your brilliance. Once again, today's guest are Black Information
Network news anchors Natasha Williams and Andrea Coleman. 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
(35:50):
and download all of our episodes. I'm your host Ramsey's
job on all social media, and I'll be hosting another
episode of Civicsacher this weekend on a station near you.
For stations, show times, and podcast info, jecksiviccipher 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 Natasha Williams and Andrea Coleman to discuss
this week's major stories.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
This is the.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Black Information Network Daily Podcast, and I'm your host, ramses Jah.
All Right, Natasha, Andrea, welcome to the show. How have
you been since we last spoke? Natasha you first.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Oh, I've been well. I've been well.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
I've missed you. I missed you for I guess on. Yeah,
it's good to be back. It is actually really really
good to be back.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Oh, you make me feel special. I appreciate that. Andrea,
talk to me. What's the letter?
Speaker 4 (00:39):
Dido?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Dido?
Speaker 4 (00:40):
All the love that came your way from Natasha? Ditto
for me. Yeah, it's great to see you. Great to
be back for a moment.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I'll take it, all right, I need that. Going into
some heavy stuff, all right, Well, let's get to the news.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
First.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Up, on Tuesday, Charlot Mane God hosted a live town
hall with Vice President Kamala Harris, where a wide range
of topics and questions recovered Natasha for those listeners who
are not able to hear the conversation, give us a
few takeaways from the interview, and then Andrea, we're going
to come to you next to get your reaction.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Well, I think the good news is that she came
out really strong and stood her ground. I think it's
important with all the informationists out there, a lot of
but misinformation, that she gets her message out. There's been
so many that have talked about on at least one
side of the political spectrum, about how she's not doing interviews,
(01:31):
she's not talking about important things, she's ducking, she's dodging.
I think that she's coming out letting folks know where
she stands, as she has been doing, and I think
that's important. I think he asked her tough questions. I
think she asked them answer them succinctly. And I think
that she has a platform that makes sense. So it
(01:51):
was a good showing I think for her. And as
she's continued to do that, you know, with subsequent interviews
in the next day or so after that, well, so
I think for her it's important to continue to talk
about the topics that are important to people. And I
think on this conversation, in this conversation with Charlemagne. I
think she did a good job.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Andrea, well, you know, I would agree with Natasha for
a lot of that. I mean, the black vote in
general is one that she needs. I was just looking
up a few statistics and the heel is citing a
Republican strategist who says Harris needs to get above ninety
percent of the black vote, including that of black men,
or she's in trouble. So this push that we're seeing
(02:34):
is probably more indicative of circumstance than just choice and
will of wanting to be there and have these conversations.
I mean, we are just days away from this election,
and this race is still neck and neck, and she's
done an incredible job of covering a lot of ground
in a very short period of time. But now she
has to get over this last hurdle, and I just
(02:54):
think it's kind of unfortunate that that hurdle is being
presented by black men. We have the opportunity in a
Mareerica to see history made by the first black woman
and some people may say woman of color, whatever it is,
it's not a white male, and we are now standing
in the way, at least a segment of US, and
according to The New York Times in Santa College Pool,
(03:15):
one of the more recent ones, it found that right
now she has like eighty three percent of the black
woman vote, she has only seven percent of a black
male vote. And with that, it's the young men, the
young black men, who right now seems to be her
biggest challenge. So anyway, it'd be interesting to see what
she does in these final days to go ahead and
shore up that black vote and do what she needs
(03:37):
to do if she's going to win on the fit.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
You know, the thing about this is that until very recently,
I kind of was looking at this through the same lens,
and I had assign the same optics to this phenomenon,
you know, black men. And I don't want to say
(04:00):
that I've changed how I'm approaching this, but I've certainly
rethought it, because, believe it or not, I'm in the
middle of a lot of conversations about black male voters.
I've been working with, you know, the Harris campaign. You know, Arizona,
where I live, is a swing state, and myself in
(04:23):
q Ward, you know, we are media personalities and rather
well known in this city, and so you know, they
put us to work and one of the things that
we've been dealing with, of course, is you know, conversations
with black men and and being sort of ambassadors of
(04:44):
the Harris campaign into the black community, which is something
that we never would have anticipated them needing. But recently,
thanks to you know, Chris Thompson, I was fortunate enough
to have a conversation with Christopher Towler, who's conversation that
conversation should be up. If it's not up now, it
(05:04):
should be up you know, in the coming days. But he,
you know, broke down the data. So he's from the
Black Voter Project, and he broke down the data of
black men.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
As as voters or the Harris campaign and for the
Trump campaign.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
And one of the takeaways that I got from that
conversation was that the data suggesting that black men were
fleeing from the Democratic Party in favor of Donald Trump
was overblown.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
It was overstated.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Indeed, the data suggested that once you have a large
enough sample size of black men, that black men were
not interested in voting for Donald Trump at at any
higher rate than they did in twenty twenty. And when
you take a step back even further, historically, black men
(06:08):
are voting the same way that we have since the seventies,
and so again, given a large enough sample size, you
start to see the reality of the situation. Now that's
not to say that there are not some black men
who are wanting to vote for Trump, and I think
to your point, a lot of those black men are younger,
(06:30):
but it's not nearly the amount that the current polls,
the popular polls would have us believe based on again
the data from the Black Voter Project, which is his
specific field of expertise. But one of the things that
the younger black voter is vulnerable on. One of the
areas where that voter is vulnerable because they tend to
(06:53):
be less educated and they're like low impact voters is
I think the term that he referred to them as
meaning that they are more susceptible to one or two
talking points and then they'll hang their hat on that
and then go vote or not. You know, politics doesn't
(07:15):
engage them the way they would engage someone like me
or you or maybe our listeners here. But this voter
is again inclined to latch onto one of the right
wing talking points. You know, Trump is good for business,
you know, to pick something out of the air These
(07:36):
people might be young entrepreneurs and can associate Donald Trump
with business, and there's their vote. They don't see Donald
Trump as a threat to their community or otherwise. They
see everyone as an equal threat. And so rather than
looking at what can go right for a vote for
(07:56):
a Harris administration, they look at, you know, what could.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Go wrong, And so.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Their sensibilities are what we need to focus on, you know,
in terms of like the conversations that we're having. Again,
it's not as many people as we would think, but
there are some people. Another thing that I remember, just
off the top of my head is that people were
very moved by the stimulus checks. And if you remember,
(08:25):
the stimulus checks were passed by Democratic Congress, Donald Trump
had nothing to do with him. Indeed, Donald Trump slowed
up the delivery of the checks because he wanted his
name to be printed on the checks. He wanted to
take credit for it so that this moment that we're
having right now could happen and all of the black
men that are like well, I felt the immediate impact
(08:48):
of that twelve hundred dollars. I don't feel any impact
of anybody I vote for, nor have I ever throughout
the entirety of my adult life. But that twelve hundred
dollars made a difference, and Donald Trump's name was on
the check. You know, those people are playing right into
Donald Trump's hands, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
And as.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Underhanded a maneuver as it was, there's no denying that
it was effective. And it's important for black men to
know that again they're playing into his hands. That Donald
Trump did not go to his own bank account with
all the billions of dollars quote unquote and take the
money out and give it to the American people. It
was Congress, a Democratic Congress, that did that, and Donald
(09:29):
Trump insisted that his name get put on it. And
because the American people needed help, everyone got in line
and played ball with the president. Donald Trump's names one
on the checks. And now we're having this conversation boo
truth thought. But I'm less concerned about black men. I'm
still very concerned, but I'm less concerned than I was
(09:51):
because it was like a very scary moment there, and again,
looking at more data, I'm like, Okay, this is something
that needs addressing, but it's not a five alarm fire
like I thought it was. So anyway, moving on, Earlier
this week, North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson announced that
he's taking action regarding the CNN story story connecting him
to past pornographic activities. Andrea, this time, let's start with
(10:14):
you give us more details on the story, and then
Natasha will come to you next for your thoughts.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
So you know Republican governor our candidate, Actually he's right now,
North Carolina's lieutenant governor extreme extreme, I won't say extreme
right winger, but I will say he is a strong
Trump supporter. And so apparently CNN released or published this
(10:40):
article that said that several years ago, this is not
anything that's happened in recent history. Several years ago, he
apparently posted some comments on this porn site called New
to Africa, and in the post, he referred to himself
or reportedly referred to himself as a black Nazi. He
also supported bringing block back black slavery. Now he has
(11:03):
denied making the comments, and he also says that CNN
was out of order and posting this article because they
didn't do any kind of background checks to verify the information.
Along with CNN, there's another man that is also mentioned
(11:23):
in the lawsuit that is also being sued. His name
is Lewis Money or Lewis Love Money, and so he
recently has asked a judge to dismiss Robinson's lawsuit. But
Money factors into the story and into the lawsuit in
a different article. So apparently last month, in this magazine
called The Assembly Magazine, Money claimed that Robinson frequented his
(11:45):
adult film store to watch explicit videos in the nineties
in the early two thousands. Now. Originally, initially, Robinson's campaign
said that Money's claims were ridiculous and that the extent
of their relationship was just simply Money coming sometimes to
the Papa John's where Robinson worked and then they would
talk there. But here lately, the latest comments that we've
(12:08):
gotten from Robinson is that he has acknowledged that sometimes
he did visit an adult video store where Money worked,
but it was only to bring over free pizza and socialize.
So Money one is standing by his comments and saying
that he would not have gone public with them if
they were not true, and then he's also now asking
a judge to dismiss the lawsuit. As far as Robinson,
(12:31):
he says he is a victim of a high tech lyncheon,
which CNN notes is the language that Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas Hughes during his nineteen ninety one confirmation hearings.
And also just want to just follow up a little
bit with what's happened since this article was posted. Robinson
had incredible Republican support, and now a lot of that
(12:52):
is falling off. Even former President Donald Trump was supporting him,
some may remember called him, are likened him to doctor
Martin Luther King Junior. And so he is now withdrawing
his support as well. So this lawsuit may not only
be to cover what he feels is his reputation, but
(13:14):
he's also being now losing vital support in these last
weeks of this campaign, which probably is costing him a
whole lot of money.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Sure, sure, sure, Natasha, let's get your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
I think this is a last ditch effort for him
to try to salvage his running for the governorship. And
I think, as Andrea said it, she stated the little
historical background on this, I think he has had a
very controversial stance on most things, particularly as it pertains
(13:47):
to women. When he basically said that women should basically
be in the subservient role in all aspects of life
as it pertains to where we are today. So his
coming out and trying to fight back this I think
is definitely his last ditch effort to try to keep
this campaign going. He has lost nearly all the support
(14:10):
of the Republicans, as Andrea said, and I think that
because he's had such a controversial past that a lot
of that is coming out, and I think a number
of people are starting to check into his background. As
in many cases when the Republican leaders are a part
of the conversations, a lot of people jump on board
without doing any research, it appears, and then once the
(14:33):
information starts to come out, you start to see some
of the waning of this type of support, and I
think that's what he's experiencing right now. This lawsuit should
be really interesting going up against CNN when they, I'm
sure had vetted a large portion of this, and he's
saying things like someone could have stolen his identity and
(14:54):
broken into his account and gotten this information to Nude
Africa and put this in information up. So I'm sure
that before this information came out that CNN probably did
a great deal of due diligence to make sure that
they verified there was indeed a connection to Mark Robinson,
and so it should really be interesting as it plays
(15:15):
out so close to the election that we're coming up on.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
And if I could add, right quick raims as regarding
this kind of lawsuit, right, the burden of proof is
on Robinson, it's not on CNN. And what he has
to prove is that they acted maliciously, and so he's
got to prove intent. He has to prove that they
not only targeted him, but they targeted the subject in
(15:41):
such a way that they went after it with a
certain level of maliciousness that makes it discriminatory, intfammatory against
his name and reputation. That is incredibly difficult to prove
as a public figure, because as soon as you step
into the limelight and you are viewed our declared public figure,
(16:02):
you're giving the media access to actually go in and
redo what CNN did, which is look into your history
and validate and confirm everything you're claiming to be. And
so in a way, CNN's defense could very well be
we were just doing our job, which is what most
media outlets you know, have successfully used as their defense.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah, and so I think Natasha put it best. This
is the last ditch effort for him to salvage what
little reputation he has left, and you know, it's just
a all right, let's sue. And you know, I saw
a little bit of the the press conference that he
held with his lawyer, and I'll give you know, credit.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Where it's due. They seem very.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Serious about, you know, this lawsuit. They feel like, maybe
they don't feel like it, but they are portraying themselves
as individuals who you know, have a story to tell,
and they feel right and justified and that they're going
to emerge victorious. So you know, I'm anxious to see
(17:16):
what happens.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
But I'm going to.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Share a paragraph from w r L dot com, their website,
because you know, I was thinking this and then I
came across it in an article and I was like, Okay,
that says it even better than that way I was thinking.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
But here's the food for thought.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
The lawsuit doesn't offer any theories as to who would
have wanted to impersonate Robinson on an obscure porn site
years before he entered politics, or why. And I think
that that's really the beginning, middle, and end of this
whole thing, Like who, you know, if You're a private
(17:56):
citizen who's going to steal your email address and again
go to an obscure porn site years before you are
worth anything, you know, certainly in the political right now.
And if they if there is somebody that would do that, why,
But you know, I guess that's the question that they're
(18:17):
going to have to answer in the courtroom, because that's
that's where I would start the conversation. You know, this
is your email address, this is your digital footprint, this
is what you used everywhere else, regardless of what people
can buy on the dark web.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
This has a timestamp, so you know, you know, we'll
see what happens.
Speaker 5 (18:34):
If my voice didn't matter, people wouldn't be trying so
hard to silence me. And if my vote didn't matter,
they wouldn't work so hard to take it away. So
you know why I'm voting this November because I know
they don't want me to.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
Your voice is powerful, your voice matters. Don't let your
voice be silenced. To register, confirm your voting status, or
get information about voting in your area, visit vote dot gov.
That's vote dot gov. A message from the Perception Institute
and the Black Information Network.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Black Information Network News anchors Natasha Williams and Andrea Coleman
are here with us discussing this week's major stories. All
right up next, Sad News to report out of the
state of Texas involving arson and a possible hate crime
against a black church. Natasha share the latest details on
this story, and then Andrea, we're gonna hear from you
next on this story.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
This is a very sad story. Church burned to the ground,
and before it was burnt to the ground, it had
experienced some racist graffiti that was put on the side
of the church back in September. When this happened and
the police departman comes out, the church is literally gone
and the community is without their church. And I think
(19:46):
that that is the really really sad part. But a
little bit of background on this particular town. About twenty
one percent black in Paris, Texas, but they have had
a history of racial strife within that community. So in
reading the articles that I've read, some people say they
(20:08):
are not surprised. They're not surprised, And to be honest,
in the last few years, church burnings twenty nineteen, the
church burned down in Louisiana twenty twenty two, and twenty
four churches. Two or three churches in Ohio were burned
after racial disagreements in the community a church in twenty
(20:30):
twenty two in Jackson, Mississippi. It seems that this is
something that has been going on for a number of years,
and as it was in history, was seen as a
way to intimidate African Americans, so not surprising. What I
do find a bit disturbing is that they haven't launched
an investigation into the actual hate crime aspect of this,
(20:53):
according to the articles that I read, simply saying that
they don't have enough information to deem it as a
hate crime, whereas there were racial graffiti racist graffiti on
the side of the church. I find that really disturbing,
but not surprising, being that the history of this particular
community has been one that has been very racially charged.
(21:19):
I guess in a sense.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Andrea, let's get your thoughts well one.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
I think you know, of course, it's extremely disturbing and
very sad. I mean, you mess with our church, you
messing with our soul, right, I mean, the church is
the foundation of our faith in our communities. Many times,
especially in a community like Paris, it can be way
more than just a place where people gather to worship
on Sundays. It's probably a central part of their social
(21:45):
and other aspects of their life and community well being.
So my heart goes out to the people there. But
I think it's wonderful that we're picking it up, that
there's national attention being given to it, just so that
the hope of there being any kind of hate crime
investigation can be supported and promoted. So hopefully this kind
(22:06):
of coverage can help them, because I don't know in
a town like Paris, Texas, if anything would be done
out of the norm without that kind of attention from
media and people outside the community putting pressure on local
officials and others in the state as well as nationally
to do something about it.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Yeah, you know, I can't say that I know much
about Paris, Texas.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I've heard of it.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I know it's a small, small town, you know, relatively speaking.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I looked it up.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
It's like twenty thousand, maybe just over twenty thousand people
are there. And I'm going to say something, I've not
vetted this, you know, so I'm not going to stand
on it. But I really hope that the reason that
the police are not investigating this as a hate crime.
(22:57):
I hope the reason for that is not because the
police know who did it and are covering up for
the individual or individuals who actually did it. Because in
a small town like this, where there's a history of
friction and there's a you know, a local law enforcement
and they know who causes trouble and who doesn't, and
(23:20):
it's so clearly hate. Like if someone spray paints racist
language on the side of a church and then burns
it down, that's that's kind of that's kind of it.
You know, if you are driving down the street and
you throw something at someone on the sidewalk, you know,
kids doing that sort of thing. You hit someone with
(23:40):
like food or ice cream or whatever and drive off.
You know, that's the salt, that's low level, you know whatever.
But if you yell the inWORD while you're doing it,
then it's a hate crime.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Just the language, right. I don't imagine it'd be any
different when it comes to this church. But the fact
that they're not investigating it as a hate crime feels like,
especially when to a person.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Like me, it feels very obvious that it is.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
It feels like, rather, let me say I hope that
it's not someone covering for someone else, because that is
a possibility, certainly with the circumstances surrounding this story. So
we'll see what happens, if anything. Right now, for our
final story this week, it involves yet another white talk
(24:25):
show host offering opinions on black men in the twenty
twenty four presidential election. Andrea, let's hear more about this
story from you, and then Natasha will come to you
to close this out.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
Well, I think you summed it up very well. Another
white Republican talk show host trying to make comments on
the black community. So apparently this network host called I
think she's with Fox. She's a right wing news host.
I'm not certain what network she's with, so let me
not name anyone. It's not showing in this article that
(24:56):
I read. But her name is Gina Lauden, and so
she's a she's a supporter of Donald Trump. And so
what she tried to do was explain why more black
men are willing to vote for Republican nominee. But in
that she just presented some horrible arguments that are probably
more offensive and insulting than anything. But she said, you know,
(25:19):
Democrats have just not done well by black men, and
she lists things like, I don't know if people remember,
but there used to be long ago this man at
a house rule where if men were in the homes
and welfare recipients could not get assistants and so forth
and so on, and so she just kind of pointed
(25:40):
out or trying to point out and use those kind
of examples as reasons why black men do not want
to vote be a part of the Democratic Party. And
then she used language like Democrats are emasculating the black men,
and so again, I think your summary of it when
introducing this segment was, you know, another right wing white
(26:04):
woman trying to explain our culture to us and not
doing a very good job of at at all.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Yeah, yeah, Natasha, let's get you away in.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
I think it really comes down to, just as Andrea said, misinformation.
We are really big in these white talk show hosts,
these white talk show networks, a lot of them are
very big in the misinformation. They take something, they take
it totally out of context, and they use it as
a blanket and then spread it out there. And for
(26:32):
those who aren't educated and who do not know the
totality of what they're talking about they take it and
sometimes run with it. And I think that's the key
to what's what is going to take the Kamala Harris
administration to disinvow. I mean, just the misinformation that a
lot of these shows put out day after day after day,
(26:54):
including the former president who has been fact checked a
million times and you know, has shown to be lying.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Repeat.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
But these types of things put out into the the airwaves,
put out into the general public, and then people think
back that did happen or you know, Kamala Harris did
put a lot of people with marijuana in jail. Those
type of facts that were just exaggerated, blown out of
proportion and misrepresented are are just really really important to
(27:26):
clear up, you know, the just total misinformation. And this
woman again spewing just what she wants to believe to
be fact. It is just another example of that.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
The thing is is that people will often get their
opinions off because they have a shred of truth in them,
a modicum of truth, and they can get their opinions
off based on a half truth.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
So I'll give you an example. Just there you go. Perfect.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
So, you know, like Andrea said when she said fathers
were taken out of the homes by the social services system,
and that that was a democratic push.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Then she connects it to our culture and there are
people that will argue that all day.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
So I would even see that.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
But there's this suggestion that the Democrats are the origin story.
The Democratic Party and their philosophies and policies are the
origin story of black men not being good fathers, and
that in its entirety is a myth. Right, black men
(28:41):
are indeed the best fathers of all according.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
To the CDC.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
This is something we've discussed on the show many times,
but the CDC study, it might be ten years old now,
it suggests that black men are the best fathers of
all races when you break it down by race.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
The legacy of you.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Know, men not being in the household in order for
women to receive social services. That's a layover from policies
that were enacted in the Great Depression where black people
could not get assistants to the same degree that the
white families could and the results of that. You know,
there are folks that argue that that's what's impacted marriage rates. Sure,
(29:19):
but how well we play the role as fathers is
not being impacted by that. Now, there are black men
who are not in the house, and there are other
races where their fathers are not in the house too.
We are disproportionately affected by gun violence, we are disproportionately
affected by the criminal justice system. And of course there
(29:41):
are some black men who just are not fathers, not
unlike any other race of people. But you see how
now she can hang that black men are not voting
for Trump, that she can hang that black men have
been emasculated by the Democratic Party and so are black
men rather are voting for Trump.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I'm sorry I said that wrong.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
So she can get all this off now because there
is a little bit of truth there. But once you
provide context, then you know, you start to see that, Okay,
this is not as cut and dry as she might
have liked. I think her co host mentioned something like,
there's a history of the government failing many black communities,
many inner city communities. Again, that's something that is true,
(30:25):
But you cannot say that about the government while having
a conversation about Democrats and not injecting the fact that
Republicans have also failed the black community, right, and indeed,
both halves of our government have failed every community. You know,
the government is not perfect, nor has it ever been.
So to suggest that black men are emasculated because the
(30:47):
government failed them and now they're not voting for Democrats
because they want something different, it's just a it's a
bad faith argument. I did say that, you know, they're
looking for change and will to consider anyone in their conversation.
But I think the data is something something like, you know,
seventy something percent of Black men are still voting for
(31:10):
Kamala Harris according to their polls. This is not even
the Black Voter Project, the most recent and most accurate
data that I have with the largest sample size, But
according to even their data, the majority of Black men
are still going to vote for Kamala Harris. So again
you start to see how insulting her statement is that
(31:35):
black men feel mass have been emasculated by the Democratic
Party and we're still voting for them, or but you know,
what are you trying to suggest here? So yeah, it's
it's it's people offering opinions for a group of folks
they don't really know anything about it. I don't imagine that
she spent much more time with black people outside of
(31:55):
her co host and maybe a few friends in college
or whatever. She has not lived. The black experience does
not know. The Black experience probably could not conceive of
why the majority of black men, even according to her data,
are still voting Democratic. Now, again, the Black Voter Project
has a larger sample size. It says that black support
(32:16):
for Trump is no higher than it was in twenty
twenty and is still hovering around its historical average. There
have always been black men who have voted Republican. That
has always been true. Okay, and again the data now
shows that it's not really any different. But you need
a large enough sample size of black men in order
(32:36):
to get to that talking point. So, Andrea, I know
you wanted to add something else.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
Yeah, I just wanted to follow up to make certain
that we clarify to that that rule was actually struck
down by the US Supreme Court decades ago, like in
the late nineteen sixties, so it hasn't even been in
play for a long time. But I also just wanted
to note that I think part of what's making this
message resonate a little bit more could possibly make it
(33:04):
resignate a little bit more. It's a number of black
mail Republicans that we're seeing actually out speaking on behalf
of Donald Trump, and that would include you know, South
Carolina senator and former Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott Byron,
Donald's out of Florida, Wesley Hunt out of Texas. I mean,
and they've not only just hit the campaign troll for him,
(33:25):
but they've been with him now for months, and they
have been a group that has gone out and specifically
targeted black mails in various cities to meet with them
one on one and try and carry this conversation forward.
So I find it interesting that in this particular election,
you're seeing a black woman again running for president, and
it seems there's a gender split, or at least a
(33:47):
discussion that's forming around the gender split of black and
black mails and their support. So hopefully, though, we'll remember
who we are and do what we need to do,
and whoever you vote for, just make certain you turn
out to vote sure.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Sure, And you know that's that's I think that's key
because there are a lot of people who simply just
feel disconnected from the entire process. You know, I'm I'm
I'm grateful that the conversations are now centering, you know,
black people and black men on both sides, because you know.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
It's really easy to overlook a dedicated voter base if
you if.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
You if they are always voting for you, there's no
reason to get them to, you know, become interested in
voting for you. And now Democrats are kind of learning
that we need to actually listen and enact some policies
that really affect this group of people. And then you know,
when Republicans look and see that, you know, there's some
(34:48):
potential here to gain some ground, then maybe they start
listening to So that's not the worst thing in the world.
And uh, you know, I I saw Kamala Harris put
you know, fourth and heard some some things that are
specifically set to benefit the black community and black men.
I've seen no such thing from Donald Trump's camp, and
(35:09):
I doubt I ever would, but you know, these are
things that I have not seen, you know, yet in
the political arena. And so, for better or worse, whatever
got us here, at least we're having these conversations, and
you know, I'll take.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
That so that in mind. I will leave it right there.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Thank you both very much, as always for your time
and your brilliance. Once again, today's guest are Black Information
Network news anchors Natasha Williams and Andrea Coleman. 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
(35:50):
and download all of our episodes. I'm your host Ramsey's
job on all social media, and I'll be hosting another
episode of Civicsacher this weekend on a station near you.
For stations, show times, and podcast info, jecksiviccipher 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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