September 15, 2025 • 7 mins
This episode of IDKMYDE has 3 "useless" facts about France, Ferris Wheels, and why east never turns into west set the stage for a story about a bridge in Alabama that became more than just concrete and steel -- it became a turning point for freedom and B Daht says it "now needs a name change"!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I no. Its Welcome back to another episode of I
didn't know.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Maybe you didn't either.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
I am your host, B Dot akaight Winston, Salem State
University's Mister Alumni twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six. And
my son got his car taking. Yeah, got it taken
by his mama. He got a speeding ticket, a ninety
and a seventy, his second ninety and a seventy in
a month, insurance going up, and now he's on campus
(00:31):
at Livingstone with a sick face.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
No vehicle.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I ain't been in school a month and already got
his car taking. He was headed to the club with
his homies. Gonna hit me, dah, he's lying, He said,
I was going ninety. I was just going eighty two
and a seventy. I was looking at my thermometer the
whole time, he said. First of all, it's not a thermometer,
it's a speedometer. And the fact that you don't know
that scares me. Secondly, eighty two and a seventy is
(00:57):
still speeding. And last if the cop says you were
doing ninety, the courts are gonna say you were doing ninety.
You were doing ninety. Parenting is so fun. Make sure
you're following us on social media. Idkmyde you searched those
letters anywhere, YouTube, where you get your podcast, social media?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
You gonna find us, baby.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
And to kick off this episode, I have three of
the most useless facts you'll never need ever in life
about travel. Your first useless fact, what do you think
is the most visited country in the world. Did you
say France? Because if you did, you are correct. You
win absolutely nothing but bragging rights. France has been the
(01:41):
world's number one tourist destination for decades. They said before
COVID they was pulling in ninety plus million visitors a year.
I mean, you got the Eiffel Tower, you got the Louver,
you got notre down, world class art, fashion, food, and
France ain't just Paris. You got beaches on the French Riviera,
skiing in the Alps, wine and Bordeaux, castles in the
(02:03):
Lore Valley, medieval villages in Normandy. That's really where I
want to go. They're like ten vacations in one in France.
And of course, France has mastered the global image of chic, stylish, romantic.
Everybody wants to kiss in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Your second useless fact, the very first Ferris wheel was
built in Chicago for the eighteen ninety three World's Fair. Yes,
(02:28):
in eighteen eighty nine at the fair in France. Paris
has showed the Eiffel Tower, so the engineers in America
were like, hold my hammer. Four years later, thirty three
year old George Washington Gale Ferris Junior built the two
hundred and sixty four foot tall Ferris Wheel. It was
taller than any existing building in Chicago at that time.
It had thirty six cars. Each car held sixty people.
(02:50):
That's over two thousand passengers on one trip. Do you
think Ferris got rich from it? Absolutely not. Lawsuits, financial
disputes drained them. Died four years later at thirty seven.
And your third useless fact. If you keep walking north
long enough, eventually you'll be walking south. But if you
(03:10):
keep walking east, you'll never walk west. Each just keeps
on going forever and ever, endev endeavor. Those have been
your three useless facts. France is the most visited country
in the world, and honestly half of them just there
for the Eiffel Tower.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Selfie.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Your second fact is the very first ferrist wheel was
built in Chicago. For the eighteen ninety three World's Fair.
It was America's will of saying, hey, nice Eiffel Tower.
You got their Paris, but usher hands, watch this and
your third useless fact. Because of north and south poles,
if you keep walking north long enough, eventually you'll be
walking south. But there are no east and west poles.
(03:50):
So if you keep walking east, you're just gonna keep
walking around the earth. So add you some barbecue sauce
with those fun little nuggets. But here's something that actually
matters in Selma, Alabama, the Edmund Pettis Bridge.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
It became ground zero.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
For one of the most powerful moments in the Civil
Rights movement, Bloody Sunday. But do you even know who
Edmund Pettis was? Because I didn't.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I didn't know. I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. I
didn't know.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
The Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama, the one made
famous during the Civil Rights movement, was named after a
Confederate general and a Ku Klux Klan member, Edmund Winston Pettis.
And he wasn't just some small town figure. He was
a Confederate general during the Civil War, and after the
South loss, he became the Grand Dragon of the Alabama KKK.
(04:49):
Then he was elected to the US Senate, where he
fought to keep black people oppressed through.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Law and policy.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
And when he died, of course, the white leaders in
Alabama wanted to honor such a man, so they did
in nineteen forty they named a new bridge in Selma
after him, the Edmund Pettis Bridge. Think about that, for
a second man, This wasn't just about honoring one man.
It was about reinforcing an entire system. See, Slavery wasn't
simply white people being mean to black people. It was
(05:18):
an institutional laws practice woven into every fabric of how
this country was built, manual labor, well government, even the
laws themselves. Naming a bridge after Pettis in the middle
of Jim Crow was another way of saying this system
still stands. And we know about nineteen sixty five when
that bridge became the site of Bloody Sunday, where peaceful
(05:39):
marchers for voting rights led by John Lewis and Jose
Williams were brutally attacked by Alabama state troopers. They marched
from Montgomery to Selma fifty four miles just to be
beaten down, near to death. Those pictures shocked the nation.
It pushed public opinion. It helped pass the Voting Rights
Act of nineteen sixty five. The bridge that was named
(06:01):
for a clansman became a symbol of black resistance and victory.
But here's the thing. I was just in Selma, Alabama,
two weeks ago. It still looks like nineteen sixty five there,
and that bridge is still called the Edmund Pettis Bridge
more than eighty years later. That means Salman is still
carrying the name of a man who fought to keep
(06:22):
Black folk enslaved and oppressed, instead of having the names
of the heroes who bled for freedom on that very concrete.
So here's my call to action. It's time to change it.
Renaming the bridge after John Lewis isn't just about swapping
letters on a sign.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
It's about reparations.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
It's about repairing the insult of honoring a clansman with
a structure that became a global symbol of democracy. The
Edmund Pettis Bridge should become the John Lewis Bridge, a
reminder that America is still rewriting the narrative. When I
tell you. It looks like nineteen sixty five in Selma,
Alabama today.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I mean it.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
We got foot it on our Instagram. I dk M
y d E with an underscore before it and behind it.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
The whole city is dated.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
They don't even use tap at the Walmart, only cash
or credit.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. I
I no. Its Welcome back to another episode of I
didn't know.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Maybe you didn't either.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
I am your host, B Dot akaight Winston, Salem State
University's Mister Alumni twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six. And
my son got his car taking. Yeah, got it taken
by his mama. He got a speeding ticket, a ninety
and a seventy, his second ninety and a seventy in
a month, insurance going up, and now he's on campus
(00:31):
at Livingstone with a sick face.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
No vehicle.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I ain't been in school a month and already got
his car taking. He was headed to the club with
his homies. Gonna hit me, dah, he's lying, He said,
I was going ninety. I was just going eighty two
and a seventy. I was looking at my thermometer the
whole time, he said. First of all, it's not a thermometer,
it's a speedometer. And the fact that you don't know
that scares me. Secondly, eighty two and a seventy is
(00:57):
still speeding. And last if the cop says you were
doing ninety, the courts are gonna say you were doing ninety.
You were doing ninety. Parenting is so fun. Make sure
you're following us on social media. Idkmyde you searched those
letters anywhere, YouTube, where you get your podcast, social media?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
You gonna find us, baby.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
And to kick off this episode, I have three of
the most useless facts you'll never need ever in life
about travel. Your first useless fact, what do you think
is the most visited country in the world. Did you
say France? Because if you did, you are correct. You
win absolutely nothing but bragging rights. France has been the
(01:41):
world's number one tourist destination for decades. They said before
COVID they was pulling in ninety plus million visitors a year.
I mean, you got the Eiffel Tower, you got the Louver,
you got notre down, world class art, fashion, food, and
France ain't just Paris. You got beaches on the French Riviera,
skiing in the Alps, wine and Bordeaux, castles in the
(02:03):
Lore Valley, medieval villages in Normandy. That's really where I
want to go. They're like ten vacations in one in France.
And of course, France has mastered the global image of chic, stylish, romantic.
Everybody wants to kiss in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Your second useless fact, the very first Ferris wheel was
built in Chicago for the eighteen ninety three World's Fair. Yes,
(02:28):
in eighteen eighty nine at the fair in France. Paris
has showed the Eiffel Tower, so the engineers in America
were like, hold my hammer. Four years later, thirty three
year old George Washington Gale Ferris Junior built the two
hundred and sixty four foot tall Ferris Wheel. It was
taller than any existing building in Chicago at that time.
It had thirty six cars. Each car held sixty people.
(02:50):
That's over two thousand passengers on one trip. Do you
think Ferris got rich from it? Absolutely not. Lawsuits, financial
disputes drained them. Died four years later at thirty seven.
And your third useless fact. If you keep walking north
long enough, eventually you'll be walking south. But if you
(03:10):
keep walking east, you'll never walk west. Each just keeps
on going forever and ever, endev endeavor. Those have been
your three useless facts. France is the most visited country
in the world, and honestly half of them just there
for the Eiffel Tower.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Selfie.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Your second fact is the very first ferrist wheel was
built in Chicago. For the eighteen ninety three World's Fair.
It was America's will of saying, hey, nice Eiffel Tower.
You got their Paris, but usher hands, watch this and
your third useless fact. Because of north and south poles,
if you keep walking north long enough, eventually you'll be
walking south. But there are no east and west poles.
(03:50):
So if you keep walking east, you're just gonna keep
walking around the earth. So add you some barbecue sauce
with those fun little nuggets. But here's something that actually
matters in Selma, Alabama, the Edmund Pettis Bridge.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
It became ground zero.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
For one of the most powerful moments in the Civil
Rights movement, Bloody Sunday. But do you even know who
Edmund Pettis was? Because I didn't.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I didn't know. I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. I
didn't know.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
The Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama, the one made
famous during the Civil Rights movement, was named after a
Confederate general and a Ku Klux Klan member, Edmund Winston Pettis.
And he wasn't just some small town figure. He was
a Confederate general during the Civil War, and after the
South loss, he became the Grand Dragon of the Alabama KKK.
(04:49):
Then he was elected to the US Senate, where he
fought to keep black people oppressed through.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Law and policy.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
And when he died, of course, the white leaders in
Alabama wanted to honor such a man, so they did
in nineteen forty they named a new bridge in Selma
after him, the Edmund Pettis Bridge. Think about that, for
a second man, This wasn't just about honoring one man.
It was about reinforcing an entire system. See, Slavery wasn't
simply white people being mean to black people. It was
(05:18):
an institutional laws practice woven into every fabric of how
this country was built, manual labor, well government, even the
laws themselves. Naming a bridge after Pettis in the middle
of Jim Crow was another way of saying this system
still stands. And we know about nineteen sixty five when
that bridge became the site of Bloody Sunday, where peaceful
(05:39):
marchers for voting rights led by John Lewis and Jose
Williams were brutally attacked by Alabama state troopers. They marched
from Montgomery to Selma fifty four miles just to be
beaten down, near to death. Those pictures shocked the nation.
It pushed public opinion. It helped pass the Voting Rights
Act of nineteen sixty five. The bridge that was named
(06:01):
for a clansman became a symbol of black resistance and victory.
But here's the thing. I was just in Selma, Alabama,
two weeks ago. It still looks like nineteen sixty five there,
and that bridge is still called the Edmund Pettis Bridge
more than eighty years later. That means Salman is still
carrying the name of a man who fought to keep
(06:22):
Black folk enslaved and oppressed, instead of having the names
of the heroes who bled for freedom on that very concrete.
So here's my call to action. It's time to change it.
Renaming the bridge after John Lewis isn't just about swapping
letters on a sign.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
It's about reparations.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
It's about repairing the insult of honoring a clansman with
a structure that became a global symbol of democracy. The
Edmund Pettis Bridge should become the John Lewis Bridge, a
reminder that America is still rewriting the narrative. When I
tell you. It looks like nineteen sixty five in Selma,
Alabama today.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I mean it.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
We got foot it on our Instagram. I dk M
y d E with an underscore before it and behind it.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
The whole city is dated.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
They don't even use tap at the Walmart, only cash
or credit.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. I
Host
Brian "B Daht" McLaughlin
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.