September 12, 2024 • 28 mins
BIN News anchors Alexandria Ikomoni and Trey Thomas 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.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
You're on the Black Information Network Today.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
We are joined by Black Information Network news anchors Trey
Thomas and Alexandria Kimoni to discuss this week's major stories.
This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast. Now I'm
your host, Rams. This is job all right, you two, welcome
back to the show. Alexandria, how have you been since
we last spoke?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Hello, good to see you. Good to hear from you.
Also doing well, no complaints. Switching over to fall. I'm
going to miss the summer weather, but you know we're here, well, not.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Me normally I'm in Phoenix, Arizona. Today I'm in DC
for the Congressional Black Hawcus but normally I'm in Arizona.
So the summers are pretty hard on me. But I
am looking forward to the change in the weather. Trey
Thomas talked to me, man, how have you been since
we last spoke.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
I'm doing well, brother, just enjoying the fall weather things.
The leaves are turning in Atlanta and I'm just and
enjoying it cooling.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Down, all right, that's what I like to hear.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
All right, Well, first up for today's news. One of
the biggest debates in US political history took place this
week as a former President Donald Trump and Vice President
Kamala Harris finally met face to face in Philadelphia. Although
the contest provided several noteworthy sound bites, our storyline's gone
viral involves comments made by Trump about immigrants and pets. Alexandria,
(01:25):
let's start this week's program with you give us some
details on this story, and then Trey will come to
you next.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I want to start off by saying, everybody, check on
your pets, make sure they are okay. My dog Marley
is doing just fine.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
All right.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
But in all seriousness, you know, the debate did happen
a lot of heated moments, a lot of moments that
it sparked conversation on social media. But one was of
course about the pets, dogs and cats. So when talking
about the amount of people coming into the country, former
President Trump did claim that Haitian immigrants are eating their
(02:00):
and eating dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio. A lot
of people's reaction was just a jaw dropping moment, like
what what did you say? Kamala Harris also had that
same reaction. You can see her laughing at Trump's response
to that, But I do want to include the fact
of the city of Springfield and the spokesperson for the city,
(02:23):
Karen Graves is her name. She said local leaders have
gotten quote no credible reports or specific claims of pets
being harmed, injured, injured, or abused. So just kind of,
you know, debunking that comment, saying, we don't know what
you're talking about. Nobody's eating pets in our city, so
(02:43):
keep our city, you know, out the mix. So a
lot of conversation, a lot of people were talking about this,
and rightfully so, because what is how I'll end that
what I just can't fully process that comment.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, exactly, Trey, let's get your thought.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Well, the interesting thing I found about all of this
is that this started with an ex post by jd.
Vance And who's the senator from Ohio, and he posted
the comment first on x And although he did go
back and say, you know, hey, this could turn out
to be rumor, which, of course, you know, as far
(03:23):
as we can tell from officials, that's what this is.
Just a big rumor And the only situation where there
was an issue of animal cruelty that popped up in
Ohio was one hundred and sixty miles away in Canton, Ohio,
where a woman was charged with animal cruelty. I believe
(03:44):
in relation to a cat, she is not an immigrant
and not Haitian. So how this all got cranked up,
I believe is on Facebook and somehow the former president
of the United States to make it a national issue
by going public with it at the debate.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
The other thing that was interesting is that Trump's justification
for that was I saw it on TV. You know,
we all saw the debate, and it's like, you know,
I saw it on TV, and the moderator says, well,
you know, I talked to the city manager. You saw
it on TV. I talked to the city manager. You
know what I mean, Like, where are we actually getting
our sources right? Or are we checking our sources? And
(04:29):
it's that journalistic integrity that I believe the Republicans needed
infused into their processes because indeed, a lot of the
like more wild the wilder conspiracy theories. I found that
they tend to land on the right and the far right,
(04:50):
you know, the lizard people stuff, and you know, you know,
all kinds of crazy, wild stuff, you know, the QAnon stuff,
or the all these things that John f k that
he was coming back or it's hard to keep track
of everything, but this just goes to show how disconnected
a lot of people are from reality and how eager
(05:13):
they are to embrace hatred or fear right. And so
with Donald Trump at the helm, you know, folks have
been saying it nearly the whole time. You know, he
pedals fear to his base, gets them riled up and
causes them to feel like this is a good versus
evil or a you know, God versus the devil, or
(05:36):
some variation of like a fight for their mortal soul,
you know, invoking pets, you know, as a way of
kind of pulling on the heartstrings as opposed to just
a fundamental difference and how to govern. And when people
feel that connected to it, you know, you get people
who are willing to come and risk their lives and
attack the Capitol and give their lives in some instances.
(05:57):
Because there's a woman that came here in d C.
Lost her life here because Donald Trump told her to
come out and fight, you know, for her country or
whatever it was that he was trying to say, and
so she thought that that's what she was doing. She
thought it was a good versus evil sort of fight
as opposed to again a difference in political ideology. Another
(06:18):
thing I'll add is that you know, I was reading
a story it might have been earlier today about there
they were interviewing some of the Haitian immigrants in this town,
and this just ended up being a place where they
were able to get established and get set up right
and work at the Amazon facility and you know all
(06:39):
that sort of stuff, because immigrants do take care of
a lot of you know, menial jobs. They fill in
a lot of jobs that that represent better opportunities for
them and jobs that you know, for most of us,
we're looking for more mobility in our careers, right, and
so immigrants do have a role in society. Much immigrants,
(07:00):
that's to be debated, but it should not be argued
amongst those of us who do not own Amazon facilities. However, again,
these immigrants from hate from Haiti got established in this
town where they're able to work and obviously pay taxes
and they work legally. That's the only way they can work.
(07:23):
And I think that when they were interviewed, they're like,
of course, not like why would that's disgusting, that's like awful.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Who and who is starving? Like we came here to work.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Who's starving so much that they have to trap a
pet and kill it and eat it. And when you
when you talk to the immigrants who like are actually
a part of that community, they're like, this is just
like one of the most hurtful things. Now, of course
I'm paraphrasing what they said, but it gave me some
insight into what it must like to what it must
feel like to be there on the ground as an immigrant.
A person who feels like they're doing the right thing,
(07:57):
feels like they're contributing to society. They go to work
every day, they come home, they love their kids, they laugh,
they you know, pray, whatever it is that they do.
And then to hear how their people are being made
fun of or being vilified by folks on the right,
it's just like, well, you know, you can't win for losing.
And that hopelessness was kind of reflecting what I read today,
(08:19):
and so I kind of wanted to just add that
extra voice for those who don't have shows like this
that you know, my heart goes out to people who
are trying their best and are attacked by again people
who are so susceptible to fear, hate or both.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Our next story is as follows.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
There were other stories that made major headlines this week,
and one of the biggest stories involved the Star NFL
wide receiver and local law enforcement from the state of Florida.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Trade.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
This time, we're going to start with you for our
listeners that aren't familiar with this story, share some details
on what happened and the latest updates, and then Alexandria
will get your thoughts as well.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Okay, season opener, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins going
at it in Jacksonville and Tyreek Hill is driving his
black McClaren when he gets pulled over by a cop. Now,
the cop asked him to roll his window down, which
he did partially, but then he rolled it back up.
(09:21):
That led to a confrontation where the officer pulled him
out of the car, rolled him over onto his stomach,
and put his knee in his back and handcuffed him.
Then Hill tried to get up and you stand up
as saying that he had just had knee surgery and
he was being hurt, and the officer grabbed him by
(09:45):
the neck and held him and prevented him from, you know,
completely getting up this whole thing. There's ninety seconds of
bodycm video that was released that showed the whole thing.
By now the world has seen it and it has
a lot of people asking why did the officer feel
(10:06):
the need to go through such an extreme means for
a traffic citation. In the end, he'll receive the traffic citation,
but now he's calling for that officer to be fired
for a use of force he felt was unnecessary. Both
Hill and his attorney are asking that this officer, whose
(10:29):
name is Danny Torres, twenty seven year veteran of the
Miami Dade Police Department, they're asking that he be fired
for his handling of that traffic citation.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Alexandria, let's get your thoughts here as well. I'm sure
you saw the video too.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yes, the video was disturbing a lot to take in.
You can just see the excessive use of force in
my opinion, But you know, a tyreek, he did say,
like we talked about once, the officers to be fired
because he believes, you know, they're not completely innocent in
this situation. But internal affairs is investigating this. The veteran,
(11:15):
I should say, the twenty seven year veteran who's involved
in this incident is on administrative leave for now. But
as we know, that's not enough for Tyreek, that's not
enough for a lot of people who are watching and
paying attention to what happened. It's just another example of,
you know, excessive use of force, and a lot of
people are tired of it. It would have been a
(11:35):
different case if you know, it wasn't Tyreek. But I
think you know, since of course it didn't go to
an extreme that we never want to talk about but
happens on occasion where you know, black men are you know,
are shot and killed. I feel like it's getting attention
even though it wasn't to that level because he is
a Miami Dolphin star. But imagine if this same excessive
(11:57):
use of force was put on somebody else, an average person,
it wouldn't have gotten the attention that I got, unfortunately,
so it is good that there are more eyes on
this case because of you know, who was involved.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
You know, I think I'll do you one one better?
Is that?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Imagine if instead of him, it was one of the
Miami Dolphins executives it wouldn't have happened in the first place,
you know, not because it's him. It's a high profile,
of course, and what happens to other black men, other
minority individuals, and you know, they don't have the star
(12:39):
power to get this sort of attention like this. But
I think that it's it's best stated if this was
a privileged corporate executive working for the same you know,
the same team, and this person does this like bar
for bar, line for line, the same exact sequel, and
(13:00):
some events plays out. There's no video with officers man
handling him, there's no knee in the back, there's no
nothing like that. And I think that that ab comparison
gives folks insight into just exactly what it means to
be black in America. Like it's on full display. Could
you conceive of a sixty five year old white man
(13:27):
doing the same thing everything else is the same, and
then you can see right then and there that people
are not treated the same by police.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Or let's do it.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Let's say that this is not a white man, this
is let's call this a white woman. And you know what, Look,
she doesn't have to be sixty five. Let's make her
the same age as Tyreek, does the same thing happen
to her? And I think most people would agree the
answer is absolutely not. Black Information Network News anchors Trey
Thomas and Alexandria Ikimoni are here with us discussing this
(13:58):
week's major stories. All right, Next up, the NFL has
announced the headline entertainer for the next Super Bowl halftime show,
and surprisingly, some backlash against the artist has started to
surface within.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
The black community.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Alexandria, let's get on the latest with this story, starting
with you first, and then Trey, we're gonna get your
thoughts right after that.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yes, So, Kendrick Lamar is headlining the super Bowl in
New Orleans. A lot of people are excited. I myself,
as a Kendrick Lamar fan, I'm also excited. I mean,
he's seen a lot of success in his career. I mean,
we know who Kendrick Lamar is, but one of his
biggest hits, They're Not Like Us, which was a dish
(14:43):
track to Drake, has just really I don't want to
call it his biggest hits, but I think it really
might be up there just because of the response that
has gotten. So a lot of love and attention has
been put on him recently because he's really out of
the mix overall. So yes, he was picked to headline
this year, but a lot of people feel like Little Wayne,
(15:06):
who is from New Orleans and that's where it is
once again, should have gotten the opportunity to perform at
this super Bowl. And as also a little way fan,
I understand that, and I kind of agree in a sense.
I'm not taking anything from Kendrick, but it would have
been great to have Little Wayne perform in his hometown
because his success also speak for himself. If there's a
(15:29):
long list of him, you know, doing amazing work, amazing
albums that he's put out over the years along wan career,
I should say as well, there have been people on
social media, from the everyday person to celebrities who are
saying that it should have gone to Lil Wayne. We've
heard from celebrities like Nicki Minaj, who of course is
(15:50):
heavily involved in a sense of relationship you know, friendship,
brother sister, whatever you want to call it with Little Wayne,
you know, calling out people the execs who make the
decision for putting the artists, you know, putting I guess
the show together, you know, calling them out for not
giving its Little Wayne, and a lot of people are
(16:11):
really saying jay Z had a large part to do
with that. Of course, we don't know. I don't know,
but that's just what people are really talking about and saying.
But I'm happy to see him perform. Kendrick Lamar can't
wait for the performance. I know he's going to do
one big for the culture. Who he will bring out,
we don't know, but I would like to see some
other people come out and possibly be Little Wayne to
(16:31):
have best of both worlds. But not long from now,
a few more months. We have to wait and see
what happens there.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Great talk to me.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
You know. The thing I found interesting this is the
first time I've heard someone say that the halftime performer
has to be from the hometown of where the game
is being played. No one complained with Michael Jackson performed,
or any of the other big artist in years past,
(17:02):
and neither of them that I can recall. We're actually
from the city, the host city for the Super Bowl
that particular year. I understand people saying that Little Wayne
because Lil Wayne is a big name in hip hop
as well. I believe he's been inducted into the Rock
(17:23):
and Roll Hall of Fame if I'm not mistaken, and
he has plenty of accolades and plenty of multi platinum
selling records. But at the same time, I think the
NFL was just trying to put someone in on that
stage who has kind of grappled the attention of the
(17:46):
music industry. And you can't argue that Kendrick Lamar is
that guy. He put out that track not Like Us
that's still booming on radio. I really think that this,
you know, is much ado about nothing. But that's just
my opinion.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
You know, we had a conversation about this on this show,
ke Warden and myself because Q knows quite a bit
about he's he's more of a sports person. I clearly
am not a sports person, very much a music guy,
not at all sports guy. But he was able to
give me some insight. And I implore you as a
(18:31):
listener to go check that episode out because it's it's
really in depth in terms of the decision making process
and and there's some other things that you know, that
conversation fleshed out in terms of, you know, why we
should be supportive of Kendrick Lamar because hip hop is
being showcased on the for the super Bowl once again,
(18:54):
you know, the biggest event, you know, sporting event of
you know, this country every year. So you know, there
there's a lot of interesting elements in that conversation. Again,
I'd love for you to check that out. But what
I what I will say, and the thing that kind
of moved me the most in the conversation that I
had with Q is that he told me that make
(19:17):
no mistake, the super Bowl is a TV show. It
is not an ode to New Orleans anymore than you know,
last year was an ode to Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Usher performed last year.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Another year before that in Los Angeles, Doctor Dre did perform,
but that was the only time when that has ever happened.
As you mentioned, you know, Michael Jackson is from Gary, Indiana,
so you know, A, there's no super Bowl in Gary, Indiana,
and b Michael Jackson whatever super Bowl he performed at
that wasn't in his hometown. So historically it just that's
(19:53):
not a real thing. And again, the rest of all
the details that are very very interesting to learn about
are in that conversation. So again I employed you to
check that out if you want to know more. In
terms of what actually goes into a decision like that.
For our last story today, though, this one is kind
(20:14):
of interesting because this is someone that I actually have
had some contact with. Fact Checking has become a regular
part of the news cycle during the twenty twenty four
presidential election, and rightfully so, but one ABC journalist has
recently become the target of negative backlash from Trump supporters
for simply doing her job. Trey share some more details
on this story with our audience, and then Alexandria will
(20:36):
come to you next to close us out.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Okay, ABC News anchor Lindsey Davis, who is African American.
She was one of the two moderators during the debate
on the other night, and she did what both moderators
did this they fact checked Donald Trump and he was,
you know, putting untruths out there. But she's getting blowback
(21:06):
from it. And David Muir, the other UH anchor and moderator,
he's not getting the blowback that she's getting. So that
the thing that's interesting about this is that this is
the woman who was simply doing her job. When Donald
Trump stated that states were allowing the executions of babies
(21:30):
after birth, she said, there is no state in this
country where it is legal to kill a baby after
it's born, and so she was doing her job as
a journalist. As you pointed out, this is pretty typical,
especially when we're dealing with Donald Trump and the untruths
that he's historically put out there. And yet and still
(21:53):
people are calling her the B word, and they refer
to her as a DEI moderator and have all kinds
of negative things to say about her on x and
on other platforms, and yet she's the only one. They
both did it, they both fact checked Donald Trump, but
(22:16):
she's the only one that's getting any pushback. Is it
surprising that she's the only African American moderator? I don't know,
but that's what we saw and have seen on social
media as a result of Lindsey Davis just being a
journalist and putting out the correct information when Donald Trump
(22:39):
wants to put out untruths.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Alexandria, I'm sure you got plenty to add here, oh
you know me.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
But yeah, it's just as journalists, you know, ourselves, it's
just really heartbreaking to see that, especially since she did
her job and I believe you know, she did it
well in order to hold people accountable for what they say.
This is not the platform at the time or plage
just to say any random thing that comes to mind.
(23:10):
So I agree with everything Trey didn't mention. It's just
it's unfortunate it had to happen to her and only
her and her counterpart, her co anchor, if you will,
her co hosts did not get those same reactions. You know,
it's a tough job for people to do, and some
(23:30):
people really just don't understand that. It is not easy.
Especially when you're on a platform or a network like that.
You are open to more people to scrutinize and criticize
and comment unnecessarily about your work and what you do.
But as long as you say true to yourself and
your job, you'll be fine. So I mean, I'm going
(23:52):
to just put love and support behind her and how
she handled herself, and I think she did a graceful job.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Another thing about her end this story that a lot
of folks may not know is that this is this
is somebody that I've been I've been on her show.
Me and Q have actually been on her show on
ABC News before, and she is such a kind person.
She's a person that chose to handle us in uh
(24:24):
in a way that was that acknowledged kind of what
we were dealing with and what we were going through
at that time. And you know, journalists to journalists, I
know she's an absolute professional. She's incredible at her job.
And as a journalist, you know, her world has to
(24:44):
be well founded in a shared reality that is verifiable,
objectively verifiable, right, And you know, as as I mentioned,
this is the job. This is the nature of the job,
and so for there to be backlash it is just
bonafide racism. Everything that I've looked at is bonafide racism,
(25:06):
or else it is sexism. Because as you mentioned, the
other moderator didn't get nearly as much in the way
of pushback. You know, people just want to defend their guy.
And the thing that really set me off was the
DEI moderator comment, because it's just a way to like
invalidate all of the work that this woman has gone through.
(25:28):
It's a way to suggest that somehow she's unfairly in
that position and it costs some deserving, more qualified white
individual to be there. And you know, this is it's
such a strange world that we live in where that
type of racism can be outside out loud again, particularly
on Twitter, And that's part of the reason why I
(25:51):
just decided, you know, Twitter is not for me, because
that Elon Musk's version of Twitter, where the racist people
get to be race just out loud again, is no
place for me.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
It just is.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
And I don't, you know, I just don't feel connected
to that in the way that I once did. And
you know, I understand a lot of people have built
up a lot of big following. So I'm not trying
to say a band in your following or anything like that.
It's just that I just I have to push back
in my own way against this version of reality, this
this Trump Elon Musk version of reality where people get
(26:23):
to attack black women or doing their job.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Again.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
We can shuffle the cards around, but in this one
we don't really need to, because if you have a
white man doing the same job, do they get attacked
in the same way. Clearly the answer is no, because
we're seeing that happen right now. So you know, when
we call out things like racism, we call out things
like sexism, and there's a pushback often enough from like
those far right individuals that pretend like that doesn't exist. Well, again,
(26:53):
it's objectively true in this situation. I don't even have
to go to another example because I can. They were
sitting next the moderators were sitting next to each other,
both fact checking both candidates, and one candidate got fact
checked thirty three times for errors and the other one
got fact checked one time for errors. So at a
point you kind of have to come to terms with
(27:14):
the fact that you might be a little bit racist,
and you know, we just have to leave it right there,
and that seems like as good a place to leave
it as any.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
For this show.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
That's kind of true to our course here. As always,
i'd like to thank you both for your time and
your insight. Once again, our guests are Black Information Network
News anchors Gray Thomas and Alexandria E.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Cimoni.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
This has been a production of the Black Information Network.
Today show has been produced by Chris Thompson. Have some
thoughts I'd like to share Hu's 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 Jah on all social media and join
myself and toward this weekend on a station near you.
(28:01):
For Civic Cipher for stations, showtimes, 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.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
You're on the Black Information Network Today.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
We are joined by Black Information Network news anchors Trey
Thomas and Alexandria Kimoni to discuss this week's major stories.
This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast. Now I'm
your host, Rams. This is job all right, you two, welcome
back to the show. Alexandria, how have you been since
we last spoke?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Hello, good to see you. Good to hear from you.
Also doing well, no complaints. Switching over to fall. I'm
going to miss the summer weather, but you know we're here, well, not.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Me normally I'm in Phoenix, Arizona. Today I'm in DC
for the Congressional Black Hawcus but normally I'm in Arizona.
So the summers are pretty hard on me. But I
am looking forward to the change in the weather. Trey
Thomas talked to me, man, how have you been since
we last spoke.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
I'm doing well, brother, just enjoying the fall weather things.
The leaves are turning in Atlanta and I'm just and
enjoying it cooling.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Down, all right, that's what I like to hear.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
All right, Well, first up for today's news. One of
the biggest debates in US political history took place this
week as a former President Donald Trump and Vice President
Kamala Harris finally met face to face in Philadelphia. Although
the contest provided several noteworthy sound bites, our storyline's gone
viral involves comments made by Trump about immigrants and pets. Alexandria,
(01:25):
let's start this week's program with you give us some
details on this story, and then Trey will come to
you next.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I want to start off by saying, everybody, check on
your pets, make sure they are okay. My dog Marley
is doing just fine.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
All right.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
But in all seriousness, you know, the debate did happen
a lot of heated moments, a lot of moments that
it sparked conversation on social media. But one was of
course about the pets, dogs and cats. So when talking
about the amount of people coming into the country, former
President Trump did claim that Haitian immigrants are eating their
(02:00):
and eating dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio. A lot
of people's reaction was just a jaw dropping moment, like
what what did you say? Kamala Harris also had that
same reaction. You can see her laughing at Trump's response
to that, But I do want to include the fact
of the city of Springfield and the spokesperson for the city,
(02:23):
Karen Graves is her name. She said local leaders have
gotten quote no credible reports or specific claims of pets
being harmed, injured, injured, or abused. So just kind of,
you know, debunking that comment, saying, we don't know what
you're talking about. Nobody's eating pets in our city, so
(02:43):
keep our city, you know, out the mix. So a
lot of conversation, a lot of people were talking about this,
and rightfully so, because what is how I'll end that
what I just can't fully process that comment.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, exactly, Trey, let's get your thought.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Well, the interesting thing I found about all of this
is that this started with an ex post by jd.
Vance And who's the senator from Ohio, and he posted
the comment first on x And although he did go
back and say, you know, hey, this could turn out
to be rumor, which, of course, you know, as far
(03:23):
as we can tell from officials, that's what this is.
Just a big rumor And the only situation where there
was an issue of animal cruelty that popped up in
Ohio was one hundred and sixty miles away in Canton, Ohio,
where a woman was charged with animal cruelty. I believe
(03:44):
in relation to a cat, she is not an immigrant
and not Haitian. So how this all got cranked up,
I believe is on Facebook and somehow the former president
of the United States to make it a national issue
by going public with it at the debate.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
The other thing that was interesting is that Trump's justification
for that was I saw it on TV. You know,
we all saw the debate, and it's like, you know,
I saw it on TV, and the moderator says, well,
you know, I talked to the city manager. You saw
it on TV. I talked to the city manager. You
know what I mean, Like, where are we actually getting
our sources right? Or are we checking our sources? And
(04:29):
it's that journalistic integrity that I believe the Republicans needed
infused into their processes because indeed, a lot of the
like more wild the wilder conspiracy theories. I found that
they tend to land on the right and the far right,
(04:50):
you know, the lizard people stuff, and you know, you know,
all kinds of crazy, wild stuff, you know, the QAnon stuff,
or the all these things that John f k that
he was coming back or it's hard to keep track
of everything, but this just goes to show how disconnected
a lot of people are from reality and how eager
(05:13):
they are to embrace hatred or fear right. And so
with Donald Trump at the helm, you know, folks have
been saying it nearly the whole time. You know, he
pedals fear to his base, gets them riled up and
causes them to feel like this is a good versus
evil or a you know, God versus the devil, or
(05:36):
some variation of like a fight for their mortal soul,
you know, invoking pets, you know, as a way of
kind of pulling on the heartstrings as opposed to just
a fundamental difference and how to govern. And when people
feel that connected to it, you know, you get people
who are willing to come and risk their lives and
attack the Capitol and give their lives in some instances.
(05:57):
Because there's a woman that came here in d C.
Lost her life here because Donald Trump told her to
come out and fight, you know, for her country or
whatever it was that he was trying to say, and
so she thought that that's what she was doing. She
thought it was a good versus evil sort of fight
as opposed to again a difference in political ideology. Another
(06:18):
thing I'll add is that you know, I was reading
a story it might have been earlier today about there
they were interviewing some of the Haitian immigrants in this town,
and this just ended up being a place where they
were able to get established and get set up right
and work at the Amazon facility and you know all
(06:39):
that sort of stuff, because immigrants do take care of
a lot of you know, menial jobs. They fill in
a lot of jobs that that represent better opportunities for
them and jobs that you know, for most of us,
we're looking for more mobility in our careers, right, and
so immigrants do have a role in society. Much immigrants,
(07:00):
that's to be debated, but it should not be argued
amongst those of us who do not own Amazon facilities. However, again,
these immigrants from hate from Haiti got established in this
town where they're able to work and obviously pay taxes
and they work legally. That's the only way they can work.
(07:23):
And I think that when they were interviewed, they're like,
of course, not like why would that's disgusting, that's like awful.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Who and who is starving? Like we came here to work.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Who's starving so much that they have to trap a
pet and kill it and eat it. And when you
when you talk to the immigrants who like are actually
a part of that community, they're like, this is just
like one of the most hurtful things. Now, of course
I'm paraphrasing what they said, but it gave me some
insight into what it must like to what it must
feel like to be there on the ground as an immigrant.
A person who feels like they're doing the right thing,
(07:57):
feels like they're contributing to society. They go to work
every day, they come home, they love their kids, they laugh,
they you know, pray, whatever it is that they do.
And then to hear how their people are being made
fun of or being vilified by folks on the right,
it's just like, well, you know, you can't win for losing.
And that hopelessness was kind of reflecting what I read today,
(08:19):
and so I kind of wanted to just add that
extra voice for those who don't have shows like this
that you know, my heart goes out to people who
are trying their best and are attacked by again people
who are so susceptible to fear, hate or both.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Our next story is as follows.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
There were other stories that made major headlines this week,
and one of the biggest stories involved the Star NFL
wide receiver and local law enforcement from the state of Florida.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Trade.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
This time, we're going to start with you for our
listeners that aren't familiar with this story, share some details
on what happened and the latest updates, and then Alexandria
will get your thoughts as well.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Okay, season opener, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins going
at it in Jacksonville and Tyreek Hill is driving his
black McClaren when he gets pulled over by a cop. Now,
the cop asked him to roll his window down, which
he did partially, but then he rolled it back up.
(09:21):
That led to a confrontation where the officer pulled him
out of the car, rolled him over onto his stomach,
and put his knee in his back and handcuffed him.
Then Hill tried to get up and you stand up
as saying that he had just had knee surgery and
he was being hurt, and the officer grabbed him by
(09:45):
the neck and held him and prevented him from, you know,
completely getting up this whole thing. There's ninety seconds of
bodycm video that was released that showed the whole thing.
By now the world has seen it and it has
a lot of people asking why did the officer feel
(10:06):
the need to go through such an extreme means for
a traffic citation. In the end, he'll receive the traffic citation,
but now he's calling for that officer to be fired
for a use of force he felt was unnecessary. Both
Hill and his attorney are asking that this officer, whose
(10:29):
name is Danny Torres, twenty seven year veteran of the
Miami Dade Police Department, they're asking that he be fired
for his handling of that traffic citation.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Alexandria, let's get your thoughts here as well. I'm sure
you saw the video too.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yes, the video was disturbing a lot to take in.
You can just see the excessive use of force in
my opinion, But you know, a tyreek, he did say,
like we talked about once, the officers to be fired
because he believes, you know, they're not completely innocent in
this situation. But internal affairs is investigating this. The veteran,
(11:15):
I should say, the twenty seven year veteran who's involved
in this incident is on administrative leave for now. But
as we know, that's not enough for Tyreek, that's not
enough for a lot of people who are watching and
paying attention to what happened. It's just another example of,
you know, excessive use of force, and a lot of
people are tired of it. It would have been a
(11:35):
different case if you know, it wasn't Tyreek. But I
think you know, since of course it didn't go to
an extreme that we never want to talk about but
happens on occasion where you know, black men are you know,
are shot and killed. I feel like it's getting attention
even though it wasn't to that level because he is
a Miami Dolphin star. But imagine if this same excessive
(11:57):
use of force was put on somebody else, an average person,
it wouldn't have gotten the attention that I got, unfortunately,
so it is good that there are more eyes on
this case because of you know, who was involved.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
You know, I think I'll do you one one better?
Is that?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Imagine if instead of him, it was one of the
Miami Dolphins executives it wouldn't have happened in the first place,
you know, not because it's him. It's a high profile,
of course, and what happens to other black men, other
minority individuals, and you know, they don't have the star
(12:39):
power to get this sort of attention like this. But
I think that it's it's best stated if this was
a privileged corporate executive working for the same you know,
the same team, and this person does this like bar
for bar, line for line, the same exact sequel, and
(13:00):
some events plays out. There's no video with officers man
handling him, there's no knee in the back, there's no
nothing like that. And I think that that ab comparison
gives folks insight into just exactly what it means to
be black in America. Like it's on full display. Could
you conceive of a sixty five year old white man
(13:27):
doing the same thing everything else is the same, and
then you can see right then and there that people
are not treated the same by police.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Or let's do it.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Let's say that this is not a white man, this
is let's call this a white woman. And you know what, Look,
she doesn't have to be sixty five. Let's make her
the same age as Tyreek, does the same thing happen
to her? And I think most people would agree the
answer is absolutely not. Black Information Network News anchors Trey
Thomas and Alexandria Ikimoni are here with us discussing this
(13:58):
week's major stories. All right, Next up, the NFL has
announced the headline entertainer for the next Super Bowl halftime show,
and surprisingly, some backlash against the artist has started to
surface within.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
The black community.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Alexandria, let's get on the latest with this story, starting
with you first, and then Trey, we're gonna get your
thoughts right after that.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yes, So, Kendrick Lamar is headlining the super Bowl in
New Orleans. A lot of people are excited. I myself,
as a Kendrick Lamar fan, I'm also excited. I mean,
he's seen a lot of success in his career. I mean,
we know who Kendrick Lamar is, but one of his
biggest hits, They're Not Like Us, which was a dish
(14:43):
track to Drake, has just really I don't want to
call it his biggest hits, but I think it really
might be up there just because of the response that
has gotten. So a lot of love and attention has
been put on him recently because he's really out of
the mix overall. So yes, he was picked to headline
this year, but a lot of people feel like Little Wayne,
(15:06):
who is from New Orleans and that's where it is
once again, should have gotten the opportunity to perform at
this super Bowl. And as also a little way fan,
I understand that, and I kind of agree in a sense.
I'm not taking anything from Kendrick, but it would have
been great to have Little Wayne perform in his hometown
because his success also speak for himself. If there's a
(15:29):
long list of him, you know, doing amazing work, amazing
albums that he's put out over the years along wan career,
I should say as well, there have been people on
social media, from the everyday person to celebrities who are
saying that it should have gone to Lil Wayne. We've
heard from celebrities like Nicki Minaj, who of course is
(15:50):
heavily involved in a sense of relationship you know, friendship,
brother sister, whatever you want to call it with Little Wayne,
you know, calling out people the execs who make the
decision for putting the artists, you know, putting I guess
the show together, you know, calling them out for not
giving its Little Wayne, and a lot of people are
(16:11):
really saying jay Z had a large part to do
with that. Of course, we don't know. I don't know,
but that's just what people are really talking about and saying.
But I'm happy to see him perform. Kendrick Lamar can't
wait for the performance. I know he's going to do
one big for the culture. Who he will bring out,
we don't know, but I would like to see some
other people come out and possibly be Little Wayne to
(16:31):
have best of both worlds. But not long from now,
a few more months. We have to wait and see
what happens there.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Great talk to me.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
You know. The thing I found interesting this is the
first time I've heard someone say that the halftime performer
has to be from the hometown of where the game
is being played. No one complained with Michael Jackson performed,
or any of the other big artist in years past,
(17:02):
and neither of them that I can recall. We're actually
from the city, the host city for the Super Bowl
that particular year. I understand people saying that Little Wayne
because Lil Wayne is a big name in hip hop
as well. I believe he's been inducted into the Rock
(17:23):
and Roll Hall of Fame if I'm not mistaken, and
he has plenty of accolades and plenty of multi platinum
selling records. But at the same time, I think the
NFL was just trying to put someone in on that
stage who has kind of grappled the attention of the
(17:46):
music industry. And you can't argue that Kendrick Lamar is
that guy. He put out that track not Like Us
that's still booming on radio. I really think that this,
you know, is much ado about nothing. But that's just
my opinion.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
You know, we had a conversation about this on this show,
ke Warden and myself because Q knows quite a bit
about he's he's more of a sports person. I clearly
am not a sports person, very much a music guy,
not at all sports guy. But he was able to
give me some insight. And I implore you as a
(18:31):
listener to go check that episode out because it's it's
really in depth in terms of the decision making process
and and there's some other things that you know, that
conversation fleshed out in terms of, you know, why we
should be supportive of Kendrick Lamar because hip hop is
being showcased on the for the super Bowl once again,
(18:54):
you know, the biggest event, you know, sporting event of
you know, this country every year. So you know, there
there's a lot of interesting elements in that conversation. Again,
I'd love for you to check that out. But what
I what I will say, and the thing that kind
of moved me the most in the conversation that I
had with Q is that he told me that make
(19:17):
no mistake, the super Bowl is a TV show. It
is not an ode to New Orleans anymore than you know,
last year was an ode to Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Usher performed last year.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Another year before that in Los Angeles, Doctor Dre did perform,
but that was the only time when that has ever happened.
As you mentioned, you know, Michael Jackson is from Gary, Indiana,
so you know, A, there's no super Bowl in Gary, Indiana,
and b Michael Jackson whatever super Bowl he performed at
that wasn't in his hometown. So historically it just that's
(19:53):
not a real thing. And again, the rest of all
the details that are very very interesting to learn about
are in that conversation. So again I employed you to
check that out if you want to know more. In
terms of what actually goes into a decision like that.
For our last story today, though, this one is kind
(20:14):
of interesting because this is someone that I actually have
had some contact with. Fact Checking has become a regular
part of the news cycle during the twenty twenty four
presidential election, and rightfully so, but one ABC journalist has
recently become the target of negative backlash from Trump supporters
for simply doing her job. Trey share some more details
on this story with our audience, and then Alexandria will
(20:36):
come to you next to close us out.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Okay, ABC News anchor Lindsey Davis, who is African American.
She was one of the two moderators during the debate
on the other night, and she did what both moderators
did this they fact checked Donald Trump and he was,
you know, putting untruths out there. But she's getting blowback
(21:06):
from it. And David Muir, the other UH anchor and moderator,
he's not getting the blowback that she's getting. So that
the thing that's interesting about this is that this is
the woman who was simply doing her job. When Donald
Trump stated that states were allowing the executions of babies
(21:30):
after birth, she said, there is no state in this
country where it is legal to kill a baby after
it's born, and so she was doing her job as
a journalist. As you pointed out, this is pretty typical,
especially when we're dealing with Donald Trump and the untruths
that he's historically put out there. And yet and still
(21:53):
people are calling her the B word, and they refer
to her as a DEI moderator and have all kinds
of negative things to say about her on x and
on other platforms, and yet she's the only one. They
both did it, they both fact checked Donald Trump, but
(22:16):
she's the only one that's getting any pushback. Is it
surprising that she's the only African American moderator? I don't know,
but that's what we saw and have seen on social
media as a result of Lindsey Davis just being a
journalist and putting out the correct information when Donald Trump
(22:39):
wants to put out untruths.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Alexandria, I'm sure you got plenty to add here, oh
you know me.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
But yeah, it's just as journalists, you know, ourselves, it's
just really heartbreaking to see that, especially since she did
her job and I believe you know, she did it
well in order to hold people accountable for what they say.
This is not the platform at the time or plage
just to say any random thing that comes to mind.
(23:10):
So I agree with everything Trey didn't mention. It's just
it's unfortunate it had to happen to her and only
her and her counterpart, her co anchor, if you will,
her co hosts did not get those same reactions. You know,
it's a tough job for people to do, and some
(23:30):
people really just don't understand that. It is not easy.
Especially when you're on a platform or a network like that.
You are open to more people to scrutinize and criticize
and comment unnecessarily about your work and what you do.
But as long as you say true to yourself and
your job, you'll be fine. So I mean, I'm going
(23:52):
to just put love and support behind her and how
she handled herself, and I think she did a graceful job.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Another thing about her end this story that a lot
of folks may not know is that this is this
is somebody that I've been I've been on her show.
Me and Q have actually been on her show on
ABC News before, and she is such a kind person.
She's a person that chose to handle us in uh
(24:24):
in a way that was that acknowledged kind of what
we were dealing with and what we were going through
at that time. And you know, journalists to journalists, I
know she's an absolute professional. She's incredible at her job.
And as a journalist, you know, her world has to
(24:44):
be well founded in a shared reality that is verifiable,
objectively verifiable, right, And you know, as as I mentioned,
this is the job. This is the nature of the job,
and so for there to be backlash it is just
bonafide racism. Everything that I've looked at is bonafide racism,
(25:06):
or else it is sexism. Because as you mentioned, the
other moderator didn't get nearly as much in the way
of pushback. You know, people just want to defend their guy.
And the thing that really set me off was the
DEI moderator comment, because it's just a way to like
invalidate all of the work that this woman has gone through.
(25:28):
It's a way to suggest that somehow she's unfairly in
that position and it costs some deserving, more qualified white
individual to be there. And you know, this is it's
such a strange world that we live in where that
type of racism can be outside out loud again, particularly
on Twitter, And that's part of the reason why I
(25:51):
just decided, you know, Twitter is not for me, because
that Elon Musk's version of Twitter, where the racist people
get to be race just out loud again, is no
place for me.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
It just is.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
And I don't, you know, I just don't feel connected
to that in the way that I once did. And
you know, I understand a lot of people have built
up a lot of big following. So I'm not trying
to say a band in your following or anything like that.
It's just that I just I have to push back
in my own way against this version of reality, this
this Trump Elon Musk version of reality where people get
(26:23):
to attack black women or doing their job.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Again.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
We can shuffle the cards around, but in this one
we don't really need to, because if you have a
white man doing the same job, do they get attacked
in the same way. Clearly the answer is no, because
we're seeing that happen right now. So you know, when
we call out things like racism, we call out things
like sexism, and there's a pushback often enough from like
those far right individuals that pretend like that doesn't exist. Well, again,
(26:53):
it's objectively true in this situation. I don't even have
to go to another example because I can. They were
sitting next the moderators were sitting next to each other,
both fact checking both candidates, and one candidate got fact
checked thirty three times for errors and the other one
got fact checked one time for errors. So at a
point you kind of have to come to terms with
(27:14):
the fact that you might be a little bit racist,
and you know, we just have to leave it right there,
and that seems like as good a place to leave
it as any.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
For this show.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
That's kind of true to our course here. As always,
i'd like to thank you both for your time and
your insight. Once again, our guests are Black Information Network
News anchors Gray Thomas and Alexandria E.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Cimoni.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
This has been a production of the Black Information Network.
Today show has been produced by Chris Thompson. Have some
thoughts I'd like to share Hu's 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 Jah on all social media and join
myself and toward this weekend on a station near you.
(28:01):
For Civic Cipher for stations, showtimes, 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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