May 18, 2026 • 9 mins
Mimi Brown breaks down the day. Thousands marched in Selma and Montgomery for voting rights. The Supreme Court rejected Virginia's redistricting appeal. And the DOJ is going after Yale and UCLA medical schools over admissions. Plus, the Monday Brief.
From the Black Effect Podcast Network.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Thousands marched in Selma and Montgomery over the weekend, calling
for action on voting rights.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I don't know if this country deserves black people, but
I know.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
That you need us.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
The US Supreme Court rejected Virginia's last appeal to withdraw
its congressional map.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
The voices of upwards to three million Virginians are at
this point being disregarded for procedural issues, and the.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Justice Department is going after medical schools for racial discrimination.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
Medical care is intimate, and people like to be cared
for by somebody who's like them.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
It's Monday, May eighteenth, from the Black Effects Podcast Network.
I'm Mimi Brown. This is Front page Plus today on
the Monday Brief. What to watch this week From your
wallet to the gas pump. Stay with me. Black voters
(00:59):
are not way for the courts to save them. Over
the weekend, thousands of people gathered in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama,
to kick off what organizers are calling a sustained summer
of organizing, voter mobilization, civic education, and direct action leading
into the November midterms. The rally was called All Roads
(01:20):
Lead to the South, and it came after a month
of stunning setbacks for voting rights. The Supreme courts gutted
the Voting Rights Act, Tennessee carved up Memphis, Alabama eliminated
a black held seat, and Louisiana is redrawing its map.
Organizers say the answer to all of it was Saturday,
and across.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
These states, black people hold tremendous political power, social power,
and capital. And when we deploy it in a targeted
way saying that we want our rights and we are
going to stand up together united in this moment, we
will be able to win.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
More than one hundred buses came in across the country.
Several thousand people gathered in Selma. They walked across the
Edmund Pettis Bridge, the same bridge where in nineteen sixty
five state troopers attacked civil rights marchers on bloody Sunday.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
All rights under attacked and I wanted to make sure
that my twelve year old got to experience what they
experienced in nineteen sixty eight.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
This is the closest will come to it.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Unfortunately, we shouldn't even have to be back here, but
we are back here.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Then in the afternoon, they reconvened in Montgomery for rally.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
We can not under state of Alabama.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
They talk about my boat not gonna matter, but why
the hell are they working so hard.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
To take it away?
Speaker 4 (02:33):
This is a civic cult call for who understand that
faith without works is dead.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
The march was the kickoff. The midterms are six months away,
and organizers say what happened Saturday was just the beginning
of a summer push and they have hundreds of partner
organizations lined up for follow up events between now and November.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
We will not be intimidated. We will not go back,
but we're not gonna you know, we're gonna accept these
things lying now. We're gonna rise up as a new movement.
Is say the civil rights movement has happened right now
and this is our Salma Montgomery, time to stand up
for our people.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
The Trump administration's response so far, at least publicly, has
been silenced. If you've been keeping score on how Democrats
plan to push back against all the redistricting battles happening
across the country, Alabama wasn't the only front this weekend.
While organizers were marching in Selma and Montgomery, Virginia, Democrats
(03:27):
were fighting through the courts. On Friday, the US Supreme
Court refused to revive a new congressional map that millions
of Virginia voters had already approved at the ballot box.
The proposed map would have added up to four Democratic
leaning House seats, and it was seen as a counter
to Republican led map changes we've been seeing in states
like Tennessee, Alabama, and Louisiana. But earlier this month, Virginia
(03:51):
Supreme Court ruled the process violated the state's constitution because
lawmakers finalized part of the amendment after early voting had
already started. Virginia's attorney general asked the US Supreme Court
to step in. The Court said, no, Virginia lawmakers are
reacting to the decision.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
The voices of upwards of three million Virginians are at
this point being disregarded for procedural issues. I think we
are disappointed with non surprise in terms of the United
States Supreme Court decision, looking at their track record as
well as their composition. At this point, the justification behind
while we're doing what we're doing, I think has only
(04:31):
been further amplified by the actions in other states across
the South to disenfranchised black voters.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
So now Virginia heads into the next election under the
same congressional map it had already had no new districts,
no at its seats, and no shift in the balance
of power. It's Monday, which means it's time for the
front page Monday Brief. Every Monday, I give you a
quick look at three stories worth keeping your eye on
(05:00):
this week, the stuff that could hit your money, your schedule,
your household, or just the conversations everybody's about to be having.
Here's what's on the radar this week. Some PlayStation users
could be getting paid. A federal court just gave preliminary
approval to a nearly eight million dollars settlement involving Sony.
If you bought digital gain vouchers through the PlayStation store
(05:22):
between twenty nineteen and twenty twenty three, you could be
eligible for compensation, either through your PlayStation wallet or a
check in the mail. Gas prices are climbing again heading
into the summer travel season. The national average is now
above four dollars and fifty cents a gallon, With tensions
in the Middle East pushing oil prices higher, and despite
(05:43):
the US producing a ton of oil, the global market
still largely decides what you pay at the pump. So
this week, keep an eye out on anything involving Iran
oil or shipping routes overseas. The housing market is stuck
right now. There are way more homes sitting on in
the market than serious buyers ready to purchase them. Mortgage
(06:03):
rates are still close to seven percent. Sellers do not
want to lower prices, and buyers are saying they simply
cannot afford what's out there. That's your Monday brief. Have
you ever wished your doctor looked a little more like you.
If the answer is yes, this next story is why
(06:25):
that's getting a little harder. The Trump administration just opened
a new front in its fight against diversity and higher education.
This time is not about who gets into college. It's
about who gets to become a doctor. The US Department
of Justice just sent a letter to Yale School of Medicine.
The letter accused YELLE of illegally discriminating against applicants who
(06:47):
are not black or Hispanic. The same DOJ sent the
same letter to the Medical School at UCLA. In both cases,
the Justice Department is pointing to differences and test scores
between admitted students at YEAS and UCLA white and Asian
students who were admitted scored on average about five to
seven points higher on the MCAT than black and Hispanic
(07:08):
students who were also admitted. The DOJ says though score
gaps are evidence that race is still influencing emissions decisions,
but Yale and UCLA strongly disagree. Both schools say becoming
a doctor should be about more than just one test,
and they maintain their admissions processes are rigorous, realistic, and legal.
(07:29):
The twenty twenty three Supreme Court ruling and Students for
Fear Admissions versus Harvard ended affirmative action and college admissions
schools across the country had to find new ways to
evaluate applicants without considering race directly. Most medical schools responded
by going holistic. That means they started looking at IMCAT
scores and interviews, work experience, community service, empathy, and whether
(07:54):
you can actually sit in a room with a sick
patient and explain what's going on. Some schools even adopted
a separate exam called Preview test to measure situational judgment,
and research has shown that patients who see doctors of
the same race also have better health outcomes, better trust,
better follow up, better information shared.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
As you know, there are different health outcomes for different communities,
for women, for men, for people with black, white, Hispanic challenge,
and what have you. Because medical care is intimate and
people like to be cared for by somebody who's liked them,
and with so few black doctors, many people think that
that's contributed to poor health outcomes, preventable diseases. And the
(08:36):
most stark stasistic is that black male life expectancy the
ultimate health is six years shorter than the rest of
the population.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
And that's been one of the central arguments for diversifying
the physician workforce for decades. But here's where this gets concerning.
Since the twenty twenty three Harvard ruling, medical schools have
already seen less diversity. One study found the share of
underrepresented applicants emitted dropped from twenty four percent before the
ruling to twenty percent after. The Trump administration's argument is
(09:06):
that medical schools using holistic emissions are using race as
a hidden factor. The DJ has called the preview tests
quote a proxy for race. If schools look at empathy
or community engagement and the result is more black or
Hispanic doctors getting in the administration says that's discrimination too,
which puts medical schools at an impossible position. That's your
(09:34):
front page. I'm me Me Brown. Follow me at Mimi
Brown TV. This podcast was brought to you by The
Black Effect Podcast Network
Thousands marched in Selma and Montgomery over the weekend, calling
for action on voting rights.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I don't know if this country deserves black people, but
I know.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
That you need us.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
The US Supreme Court rejected Virginia's last appeal to withdraw
its congressional map.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
The voices of upwards to three million Virginians are at
this point being disregarded for procedural issues, and the.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Justice Department is going after medical schools for racial discrimination.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
Medical care is intimate, and people like to be cared
for by somebody who's like them.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
It's Monday, May eighteenth, from the Black Effects Podcast Network.
I'm Mimi Brown. This is Front page Plus today on
the Monday Brief. What to watch this week From your
wallet to the gas pump. Stay with me. Black voters
(00:59):
are not way for the courts to save them. Over
the weekend, thousands of people gathered in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama,
to kick off what organizers are calling a sustained summer
of organizing, voter mobilization, civic education, and direct action leading
into the November midterms. The rally was called All Roads
(01:20):
Lead to the South, and it came after a month
of stunning setbacks for voting rights. The Supreme courts gutted
the Voting Rights Act, Tennessee carved up Memphis, Alabama eliminated
a black held seat, and Louisiana is redrawing its map.
Organizers say the answer to all of it was Saturday,
and across.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
These states, black people hold tremendous political power, social power,
and capital. And when we deploy it in a targeted
way saying that we want our rights and we are
going to stand up together united in this moment, we
will be able to win.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
More than one hundred buses came in across the country.
Several thousand people gathered in Selma. They walked across the
Edmund Pettis Bridge, the same bridge where in nineteen sixty
five state troopers attacked civil rights marchers on bloody Sunday.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
All rights under attacked and I wanted to make sure
that my twelve year old got to experience what they
experienced in nineteen sixty eight.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
This is the closest will come to it.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Unfortunately, we shouldn't even have to be back here, but
we are back here.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Then in the afternoon, they reconvened in Montgomery for rally.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
We can not under state of Alabama.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
They talk about my boat not gonna matter, but why
the hell are they working so hard.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
To take it away?
Speaker 4 (02:33):
This is a civic cult call for who understand that
faith without works is dead.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
The march was the kickoff. The midterms are six months away,
and organizers say what happened Saturday was just the beginning
of a summer push and they have hundreds of partner
organizations lined up for follow up events between now and November.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
We will not be intimidated. We will not go back,
but we're not gonna you know, we're gonna accept these
things lying now. We're gonna rise up as a new movement.
Is say the civil rights movement has happened right now
and this is our Salma Montgomery, time to stand up
for our people.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
The Trump administration's response so far, at least publicly, has
been silenced. If you've been keeping score on how Democrats
plan to push back against all the redistricting battles happening
across the country, Alabama wasn't the only front this weekend.
While organizers were marching in Selma and Montgomery, Virginia, Democrats
(03:27):
were fighting through the courts. On Friday, the US Supreme
Court refused to revive a new congressional map that millions
of Virginia voters had already approved at the ballot box.
The proposed map would have added up to four Democratic
leaning House seats, and it was seen as a counter
to Republican led map changes we've been seeing in states
like Tennessee, Alabama, and Louisiana. But earlier this month, Virginia
(03:51):
Supreme Court ruled the process violated the state's constitution because
lawmakers finalized part of the amendment after early voting had
already started. Virginia's attorney general asked the US Supreme Court
to step in. The Court said, no, Virginia lawmakers are
reacting to the decision.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
The voices of upwards of three million Virginians are at
this point being disregarded for procedural issues. I think we
are disappointed with non surprise in terms of the United
States Supreme Court decision, looking at their track record as
well as their composition. At this point, the justification behind
while we're doing what we're doing, I think has only
(04:31):
been further amplified by the actions in other states across
the South to disenfranchised black voters.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
So now Virginia heads into the next election under the
same congressional map it had already had no new districts,
no at its seats, and no shift in the balance
of power. It's Monday, which means it's time for the
front page Monday Brief. Every Monday, I give you a
quick look at three stories worth keeping your eye on
(05:00):
this week, the stuff that could hit your money, your schedule,
your household, or just the conversations everybody's about to be having.
Here's what's on the radar this week. Some PlayStation users
could be getting paid. A federal court just gave preliminary
approval to a nearly eight million dollars settlement involving Sony.
If you bought digital gain vouchers through the PlayStation store
(05:22):
between twenty nineteen and twenty twenty three, you could be
eligible for compensation, either through your PlayStation wallet or a
check in the mail. Gas prices are climbing again heading
into the summer travel season. The national average is now
above four dollars and fifty cents a gallon, With tensions
in the Middle East pushing oil prices higher, and despite
(05:43):
the US producing a ton of oil, the global market
still largely decides what you pay at the pump. So
this week, keep an eye out on anything involving Iran
oil or shipping routes overseas. The housing market is stuck
right now. There are way more homes sitting on in
the market than serious buyers ready to purchase them. Mortgage
(06:03):
rates are still close to seven percent. Sellers do not
want to lower prices, and buyers are saying they simply
cannot afford what's out there. That's your Monday brief. Have
you ever wished your doctor looked a little more like you.
If the answer is yes, this next story is why
(06:25):
that's getting a little harder. The Trump administration just opened
a new front in its fight against diversity and higher education.
This time is not about who gets into college. It's
about who gets to become a doctor. The US Department
of Justice just sent a letter to Yale School of Medicine.
The letter accused YELLE of illegally discriminating against applicants who
(06:47):
are not black or Hispanic. The same DOJ sent the
same letter to the Medical School at UCLA. In both cases,
the Justice Department is pointing to differences and test scores
between admitted students at YEAS and UCLA white and Asian
students who were admitted scored on average about five to
seven points higher on the MCAT than black and Hispanic
(07:08):
students who were also admitted. The DOJ says though score
gaps are evidence that race is still influencing emissions decisions,
but Yale and UCLA strongly disagree. Both schools say becoming
a doctor should be about more than just one test,
and they maintain their admissions processes are rigorous, realistic, and legal.
(07:29):
The twenty twenty three Supreme Court ruling and Students for
Fear Admissions versus Harvard ended affirmative action and college admissions
schools across the country had to find new ways to
evaluate applicants without considering race directly. Most medical schools responded
by going holistic. That means they started looking at IMCAT
scores and interviews, work experience, community service, empathy, and whether
(07:54):
you can actually sit in a room with a sick
patient and explain what's going on. Some schools even adopted
a separate exam called Preview test to measure situational judgment,
and research has shown that patients who see doctors of
the same race also have better health outcomes, better trust,
better follow up, better information shared.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
As you know, there are different health outcomes for different communities,
for women, for men, for people with black, white, Hispanic challenge,
and what have you. Because medical care is intimate and
people like to be cared for by somebody who's liked them,
and with so few black doctors, many people think that
that's contributed to poor health outcomes, preventable diseases. And the
(08:36):
most stark stasistic is that black male life expectancy the
ultimate health is six years shorter than the rest of
the population.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
And that's been one of the central arguments for diversifying
the physician workforce for decades. But here's where this gets concerning.
Since the twenty twenty three Harvard ruling, medical schools have
already seen less diversity. One study found the share of
underrepresented applicants emitted dropped from twenty four percent before the
ruling to twenty percent after. The Trump administration's argument is
(09:06):
that medical schools using holistic emissions are using race as
a hidden factor. The DJ has called the preview tests
quote a proxy for race. If schools look at empathy
or community engagement and the result is more black or
Hispanic doctors getting in the administration says that's discrimination too,
which puts medical schools at an impossible position. That's your
(09:34):
front page. I'm me Me Brown. Follow me at Mimi
Brown TV. This podcast was brought to you by The
Black Effect Podcast Network
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