September 29, 2025 • 42 mins
In this solo edition of Naked Sports, Cari holds space for one of the most complicated conversations of our time: free speech.
Through honest reflections and sound bites that hit close to home, Cari asks the questions that so many are afraid to say out loud: Is our free speech being threatened? Who decides what’s protected and what’s punished?
Cari unpacks how this plays out differently depending on who you are, especially for marginalized communities who’ve never had the full luxury of “free” speech to begin with. Calling out the contradictions, especially when voices like Charlie Kirk and Laura Loomer use outrage as a platform. What does that say about where we are politically, culturally, and morally?
There’s also a moment commenting on Vice President Kamala Harris’s new book, and what it means to finally hear things said out loud that many of us already knew deep down.
And another big story this week, Jimmy Kimmel’s return to late night, which truly highlights the permeating question: is our freedom of speech under attack?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Naked Sports, the podcast where we live at
the intersection of sports, politics, and culture. Our purpose reveal
the common threads that bind them all. So what's happening
in women's basketball right now is what we've been trying
to get to for almost thirty years. From the stadiums
where athlete to break barriers and set records.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Caitlin Quark broke the all time single game assists record.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
This is crazy for rookies to be doing. Our discussions
will uncover the vital connections between these realms and the
community we create. In each episode, we'll sit down with athletes,
political analysts, and culture critics because at the core of
it all, how we see one issue shines the light
on all others. Welcome to Naked Sports. I'm your host,
(00:48):
Carrie Champion. Hey everybody, welcome to a new edition of
Naked Sports. I truly appreciate you all for being here.
I always say that today is a solo pod, but
it is an interesting pod because I have a lot
of sound bites. I'm catching you all up on what's
been going on over the last week. I'm going to
do a synopsis. Let's just say this is called free
speech because it's not free. A couple of weeks ago
(01:12):
we had got on this conversation when I was on
CNN about is free speech under attack? And it wasn't
even a couple of weeks ago, if I'm honest. It
was back in June, and I remember being on the
panel with the editor of The Daily Beast and she said, no,
I disagree. I feel like you know, free speech isn't
under attack. This was after there was a few commencement
(01:34):
addresses because it was graduation time, and Scott Pelly, who
was a journalist on CBS, addressed the crowd and he said, listen,
in short, free speech is under attack. I can't talk
about anybody in this current administration for fear of being
sued and or losing my job. So I want to
explain a couple of things before I get into the particulars. Okay,
(01:56):
free speech. First Amendment right. It allows you to say
whatever you want about whomever you want. That is a tenant.
That's just the basics of that First Amendment right. We
have lived in this country as long as I've been alive,
as long as you've been alive, as long as we
can remember. I'll just say for the last century, people
(02:16):
have been allowed to say whatever their hearts desire. Now
there are always always repercussions. They really are. It doesn't
mean that you might not get canceled. Right free speech.
If I have something to say about someone who's extremely popular,
free speech means I can say it, but I could
get canceled for what I am saying. And that's just
(02:38):
the way it has been. And as of late people
are talking about free speech, and let's just make it
really clear, it has never really been free, meaning there
are always going to be things you have to deal
with when things words come out of your mouth. I e.
Caerry what this podcast today? I am speaking my mind
and there will be people who judge me and not
(02:59):
like me, or or perhaps say thank you for saying it.
There are They are just things that happen when you
speak your mind and have an opinion. And so there
are two different thoughts here as a journalist, as someone
who has a podcast, as someone who gives opinions. One
person can say, Carrie, you should just put your head down.
You should not be bothered with this, do not talk
(03:21):
about it until all of this blows over. There's another
trend of thought that is quite simply Actually, no, this
is what I do for a living. I wish I
could my my business. I wish I didn't have something
to say, but I do have something to say. And
I'm not speaking as someone who is trying to save
the world. I'm speaking as someone who is employed by
different outlets to give an opinion, to report the facts,
(03:44):
to make opinions, to offer new perspectives. That's what I
do for a living. So I really don't have a choice.
I had a good girlfriend called me the other day
and I remember, I don't know if I mentioned this
on the podcast, and she said, it's not worth it.
It's not worth it, America's not worth it. You should
just sit this one out. There's nothing wrong with that
(04:05):
train of thought. In fact, I understood what she was
trying to say. But I also said, guess what, I
don't work behind the scenes. I make a living this
way by talking. I don't have that choice, and it
is completely fine if you decide you're sitting this one out.
Do not put your fears on me. I don't want
(04:26):
anyone to put their fears on me. I'll deal with
it accordingly. But what I do know is that if
all of us decided to turn the other cheek, look
the other way, put our head down. We will find
ourselves in a much more desperate situation than we are
in right now. And what I mean by that is
everybody can't sit this one out. You just can't. If
(04:50):
we continue to let hate speech live and call it
free speech without addressing it, if we continue to let
other people talk about the black and brown community without
any sort of consequence, we are going to be in trouble.
We are already heading to a place in which we
live under this authoritarian called President Trump, and how he
(05:12):
has decided that it is against the law, in his mind,
his words, to say anything bad about him. I don't
know if you guys heard about this, but if you
cover the Pentagon, if you are a journalist, someone who
does what I do for a living, in my beat,
my assignment is the Pentagon, they have decided. They have
decided that any reporter that wants to have access to
(05:34):
the Pentagon, that wants to have that information relayed to them,
they must sign a pledge saying that they will not
talk bad about this current administration. Why would I sign
a pledge that tells me that I can't report the facts.
Talking bad about what is going on with our current
society isn't subjective. It is what is happening. It is
(05:55):
a fact, right, It's a fact. And so they're saying,
you know what, these facts don't matter her. So that's
why I say free speech has never been free. Now,
the price you pay is far different from what our
ancestors paid. And by our ancestors, I mean black people.
When black people were bought over here and they were
slaves and they dare spoke to another person who was
(06:16):
quote unquote their owner or whatever seemed disrespectful, people would
lose their lives. My grandmother, may she rest in peace,
would tell stories when she was a kid. She was
born in nineteen thirty. She never looked white people in
the eye when she was a kid because she knew
that could get her in trouble, and by trouble that
means life lost. Insane. That we fast forward and we're
(06:37):
still living in a country where now at present day,
I know they are journalists, there are black people, there
are brown people. There are women who are afraid to
speak their minds, not because they will quote unquote lose
their life, but perhaps their livelihood. That is where we
are today. So today I thought i'd play a game,
(06:59):
and it's not necessar early a game, but I want
to play some sound bites for you. I want you
to listen to where we are in society and why
free speech, to me, should always be available to everyone,
no matter what side you were on, whether you're right
or you're left. You're a Republican, you're a Democrat, black, white, purple, short, green, tall,
(07:22):
you name it. We should all be able to say
whatever we want. But what we should not do is
Revi's history. The assassination of Charlie Kirk was discussing, and
I repeat that, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the right
wing political activist, co founder of Turning Point USA. His
(07:49):
assassination was disgusting and horrible. And the reason why I
feel like it was even more horrible because it was
made available. It still is available. I don't think anyone
should be watching this man be assassinated in HD, on
TikTok and or Twitter, and or you pick whatever social
(08:10):
media outlet you want. I think that's disgusting. I hate
that we live in society, and a society like that
where everything is available, you're always on camera, everything is
being recorded. There's lack of respect of life right there.
It really truly is. But what we're not gonna do
(08:30):
is change history. What we're not gonna do is pretend
like what this man said wasn't provocative. We're not gonna
say that he was just a good guy trying to
get people to see the Lord. Perhaps that is true,
but these are one of these instances where many things
(08:51):
can be true, many things can be true. Charlie Kirk
spoke so ill of black people, black women more specifically,
take a listen.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
If we would have said that Joy Reid and Michelle
Obama and Shila Jackson Lee and Catanji Brown Jackson were
affirmative action picks, we would have been called the list.
But now they're coming out and they're saying it for us.
They're coming out and they're saying, I'm only here because
of affirmative action. Yet we know you do not have
(09:27):
the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
I'm not going to get into the affirmative action debate
whether or not people should have affirmative rights. I'm not
getting into that. I already know how I feel about that,
and of course, coming for me it's going to be
completely subjective, not even like I am speaking as a
black person who thinks that we should have affirmative action
for various reasons. Let's not get into that. But the
(09:54):
way in which he talked about affirmative action and black
women and their brain processing power highly offensive, borderline hateful,
and if anybody is really truly paying attention, it's insulting,
it's insulting. He had a daily three hour talk show,
(10:16):
and I'm gonna be honest, I didn't listen to his
talk show. Not for no, that's not me, But there
are many he was very successful, many many, many people
who listened to his talk show. In fact, he specifically
targeted Generation Z, right, gen Z, That's who he was
talking to, because he felt like this country needed to
(10:37):
turn around, and the way to do that is to
talk to that generation. I am not of that generation,
so I am not his listening audience. But what I
care and say is I have seen so many mixtures
of videos floating around the Internet where people are saying
he said some really positive things. He cleaned up what
he said about black women. In fact, he said what
(10:58):
he meant was and he went on to explain take
a Listen.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Here's what's upsetting to me, Heather, is if I'm dealing
with somebody in customer service who's a moronic black woman,
I wonder is she there because of her excellence or
is she there? Because affirmative action almost creates thought patterns
that are not necessarily wholesome. It creates resentment, doesn't it, Heather?
This is not a way to design society for me.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
It's insulting and it's hateful, but it is still free speech.
And today we're watching in real time how people are
losing their jobs over commenting on Charlie Kirk. A young
lady who works for the Washington Post lost her job
(11:45):
because she was commenting on Charlie Kirk. She was doing
exactly what her job asked her to do, and they
fired her for it. Now, that's the only instance that
I can talk about specifically that I know of. That
is a fact. We've heard of so many different instances
on the internet. I don't know anyone personally who's lost
their job, but I do know that when we talk
(12:06):
about this, we get nervous because we're like, am I
going to lose my job? Enter Jimmy Kimmel, he was
pulled off the air for making a comment that, to me,
right because comedy is subjective to me, was not offensive. However,
they pulled him off the air for a few days.
(12:30):
Listen to what he had to say.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
It was never my intention to make light of the
murder of a young man.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
I don't think there's only things running about it. I
posted a message on Instagram and the daves killed, sending
love to his family and asking for compassion, and I
meant it.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
I still do. I don't know if you all watched
the monologue. When Jimmy Kimmel returned, I felt like it
was pitch perfect. And what I mean by pitch perfect
was that he's, to me, right because it's all subjective
to me, struck a very good balance between giving his opinion,
(13:12):
expressing remorse, not necessarily apologizing, but explaining what he was
trying to say, which is he hates the fact. And
he said this as you heard that Charlie Kirk was murdered.
We all do. And I can't speak for everyone, but
I mean anyone with a heart is like, look, no,
come on, that's ridiculous. No one wants to see anybody sassinated.
(13:34):
No way but then he also, at the very same time,
thank you Jimmy for doing this, spoke about how important
it is for us in this country because this is
the only country that we know of that allows us
to do that, is have free speech. It is important
for us to fight for It is important for us
(13:56):
to fight for free speech. Let me get that out.
And the reason why it's important is because that is
what America is built on. That's what makes this country
so great. So if you do want to make America
great again, you have to allow free speech. You can't say, oh, well,
what you said about this podcaster is not right because
(14:18):
he was assassinated, and therefore you get to lose your
job because it's gross. It doesn't work that way, It
really doesn't. Is this ideology. There is this philosophy that
when George Floyd passed away, a lot of people on
(14:39):
the left during that time were really extreme. People were
losing their jobs. When it came to the Me Too movement,
we saw a lot of people lose their jobs. People
were getting canceled for saying things that were inappropriate. And
then there were then there were a lot of different
people who felt like BLM, Black Lives Matter, incited a
(15:01):
lot of division, and so I hear some conservatives say
this is our payback. You swung the pendulum all the
way to the left during the COVID era, and now
we're taking it all the way to the right. No,
just no, And I'll tell you why, because here's the difference,
(15:24):
at least in my humble opinion, during the COVID era,
during George Floyd's time, during the swing the pigulum all
the way to the left shore, perhaps people did take
it too far. Perhaps people did take it too far.
I don't know. Maybe perhaps there wasn't any courtesy when
(15:45):
calling out the right. But what wasn't happening was a
president by the name of Joe Biden saying, guess what,
you can't say anything bad against me, because you're going
to go to jail. There wasn't a president saying, you
know what, this person was a great guy. And I
still buy everything he said, even if it was hateful.
(16:06):
I'm paraphrasing here, and I'm not saying Joe Biden was
a great president. I'm not saying that they didn't try
to censor people.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
I do.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
In fact, remember Facebook felt like it was being censored,
that administration asked Facebook to make sure if fact check
some of this false information that was floating around the internet. Yes, yes,
censoring happens, It really truly does. But if you take
a group of people and say you're gonna lose your
livelihood if you say something that is true out loud,
(16:40):
then we're in a bad space. I mean, I legitimately
have friends who won't talk about Charlie Kirk because they
just don't know what will happen. I have a friend
who works in Las Vegas at a spa and she
was told, in no uncertain terms, do not talk about
Charlie Kirk with anybody, good or bad. Just want to
(17:00):
steer clear. You don't want to, You don't want to
be in trouble. If you take fear, because that's what's happening,
and you take chaos and you and you literally instituted
in every single in every single conversation that you're having,
people are not going to feel free. People are not
(17:21):
going to be willing to share what they think. People
are going to be quiet and let horrible things happen.
Why we stay quiet? Back to my original conversation with
my friend, said to me, Carrie, you know maybe you
should tap this one out. Maybe you shouldn't. I mean,
maybe you should sit this one out. Maybe you shouldn't talk.
I'm not saying anything crazy. I'm letting you hear what
(17:43):
this man said, good and bad. And I don't know
if there was any good referring to Charlie Kirk, and
I'm letting you decide. But what I do know is
if I am offended by it, I should be able
to say so. Isn't that what free speech is? Isn't
that the world we live in? Common sense is in
common and we are in trouble because we feel like
(18:04):
we can't we can't talk. I am not saying an
eye for an eye. I'm not saying that at all.
But I can tell you that Charlie Kirk did not
like empathy and compassion. He talked about that. He also
(18:29):
wasn't someone who promoted peace. So for people to lose
their livelihood for pointing that out to me doesn't make sense.
And then now October fourteenth is a day of mourning
(18:49):
for Charlie Kirk. How is that possible? I don't believe
anyone should have to mourn a person who lived their
life spreading hate speech. His choice freedom of speech. But
why does that mean I have to mourn him? Why
(19:11):
he wouldn't mourn if I died? What happened to Melissa Hordman,
the Democrat who was murdered in her house for being
a Democrat who was fighting for women's rights. Political violence
is disgusting on either side, but I need to know
whose life deserves appropriate mourning. Why is her life not
(19:33):
just as valuable as Charlie Kirk's? Why or why are
we not honoring her as well? I don't understand this.
I don't understand the world we live in, and everyone's
afraid to talk about it and other free speech news.
And I'm going to take a minute because I want
you guys to I'm gonna catch you up on this.
Laura Lumer. Ladies and gentlemen, are you familiar with Laura Lumer.
(19:58):
She's considered one of President Trump's closest advisors. By way
of background, she's thirty two years old. She's considered a
far right political activist. She over the years has been
removed off of certain social media platforms for violating the
policy on hate speech and as of late, for whatever reasons,
(20:22):
And this is her considering herself a pro white nationalist,
a pro white nationalist. For whatever reasons she had decided
she was fed up with Jasmine Crockett. And you all
know who Jasmine Crockett is. If you don't, She's a
forty four year old black woman who is unapologetic in
(20:43):
how she lives and her fights at her purpose for
her fight. I think she's a rising star in the
Democratic Party. If not a star, I do believe that's
why people on the right attack her, because she is
a rising star, because she does have a lot to say,
and she is really smart, and it makes people uncomfortable.
(21:06):
Because she gets attention, she is able to say the
uncomfortable things out loud in a beautiful way. And to me,
I mean, at least to me, I feel like what
she's doing is for the work of the people. I'm
(21:34):
going to take a few moments here and read some
of the tweets that Laura Lumer sent out about Jasmine Crockett.
The reason why she sent out those tweets was because
she did not like what Jasmine Crockett had to say
when she was on CNN about Charlie Kirk. She thought
that it was inappropriate and she wanted to make sure
we all knew that she thought it was inappropriate. Jasmine Crockett,
(21:57):
while on CNN, said it hurts my heart that only
two Caucasians voted against honoring Charlie Kirk. Laura Lumer takes
that SoundBite and she quotes says the following, It hurts
my heart that we have a ghetto black bitch who
(22:18):
hates America serving in Congress. This is Laura Lumer's tweet
about Jasmine Crockett. It hurts my heart that we have
ghettle black bitches, excuse me, who hate America serving in Congress.
She didn't stop there. She then went on to tweet
(22:39):
Jasmine Crockett's home boys and homegirls are big mad. I
called her what she is, ghetto. I guess a finna
watch my back. God forbid Shanigua pops a cap in
my ass? You feels me? Next tweet all on X
available for anyone to see, formerly known as Twitter. Why
(23:03):
these bitches be trifling? Question mark girl? If you fin
a play with me, you best be ready for the truth.
I be spitting on your weave. I can spit mad bars.
Jasmine baby girl don't like the taste of her own medicine.
You feels me more. Let me ask you a question.
(23:26):
And she's referring to Kindlelock. It's a black job when
I expose your boss for being a racist hood rat
who enjoys promoting political violence. I'm asking you this question.
If you have tips about Jasmine Crockett and her staff,
send them here. Now. I started this entire conversation off
(23:52):
saying free speech, you are allowed to say and do
whatever your heart desires. But in my what if game
and what if theology, what if Jasmine Crockett was responding
to Laura Lumer in that way? What would happen? Where
would the outrage be? What would she be jeopardizing if
(24:14):
in fact she said those things, just in reverse about
Laura Lumer. The price a free speech depends on who
you are, and right now in this country, it is
very clear that if you are marginalized, your speech isn't free,
and you need to be careful about what you say.
(24:37):
And if you are not marginalized, if you are a
Laura Lumer or a Charlie Kirk, you can say whatever
you can say, whatever consequences, be damned. And for years
that's unfortunately what Charlie Kirk did. And I hate that
(24:58):
he was assassinated. I truly do. I don't think anyone,
anyone should die that way. And I have to keep
saying that because I want you to understand I see
his humanity, although he did not see mine. So what
(25:18):
do we do? What do we do when our country
says to us, we don't matter, when the current administration
says to us, hey, just deal with it, what do
we do? Look, we can tap out until this thing
is over. I'm okay with that, no judgment. Or we
(25:40):
can call a thing a thing and hope that everything
goes our way. I'm living in between the two. But
I tell you what I cannot. I mean, I have
a visceral reaction to the hypocrisy. I mean a visceral reaction,
the name calling, the blatant ignoring of what is happening,
(26:05):
the censorship of journalists and regular citizens look the other
way because this isn't really happening, type of attitude from
people who I thought were leaders. The approach to this is,
we can't say anything bad about Charlie Kirk because he's
passed away. And that's that old theory that you can't
talk bad about the dead, but you can remind people
(26:28):
what the dead did say. This is the same man
who said he didn't think Martin Luther King Junior was
an honorable man and he doesn't deserve a holiday.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
But I can say declaratively, this guy is not worthy
of a national holiday. He is not worthy of god
like status. In fact, I think it's really harmful.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
You gotta say the uncomfortable parts out loud. You don't
have to fight everyone. But this is what I will
say anyone with a platform who feels the need to
talk about this. Sometimes we just have to say the
uncomfortable parts out loud and deal with whatever those repercussions are.
This is in comfortable times. We are living in uncomfortable times.
(27:04):
We really truly are. I wish I could look the
other way and pretend like this isn't happening. But I
know what happens if we don't say anything. I know
what we're in store for if we don't acknowledge it.
President Trump hasn't been in office one year, y'all, and
even been a year, and here we are in the
(27:25):
midst of chaos, hatred, polarizing rhetoric, hateful speech. I don't
see this changing. In fact, I see it getting more extreme.
And the idea is to make us scared. It's to
make us be afraid. It's to make us not talk.
(27:46):
We're supposed to look the other way and hope that
it all goes away. And as a black woman on
television speaking about these things with the forward facing platform,
I understand the stakes are higher for me. And what
I mean by that is is this speaking truth? Just
speaking truth and saying repeating what other people have already said,
(28:06):
literally out of their own words. It means that someone's
going to say, oh, there she goes again, being difficult, problematic. Uh,
they're complaining what I've been sitting here minding my business.
(28:28):
Jasmine Crockett was asked to go on CNN. They asked
for her opinion, asked for her opinion. She gave her
opinion because free speech should be free. And now she's
being called ghetto. What make it make sense? She is
(28:51):
an educated woman who has a perfect resume, who deserves
to be here. She's fighting for the people, But now
she's ghetto because she doesn't look like you and or
talk like you. What does this mean? What does that mean?
It's unfair and it's unfortunate, and I have tried to
not say anything. I've tried to walk the line. I've
tried to put my head down and be quiet because
(29:12):
I know the stakes are higher for me talking about this.
But it just isn't fair. It just isn't fair. And
with that being said, because it's been a lot in
the news today, I'll end here. I don't know where
we are in terms of how to describe what's going
(29:33):
on in this country. I don't know how to describe
the feeling that I get when I am walking in
the airport and I feel someone giving me a dirty stare.
Maybe they saw me on CNN. Maybe they didn't like
what I said. I don't like the feeling of looking
at someone who is not black or brown and thinking
(29:55):
twice about should I walk up next to them? What's
going to happen? Are they going to be hateful? They
say something to me like these things are on my
mind right now, And that is the whole plan to
get us to turn on one another. And I just
want common sense to prevail the same way that black
people are not a monolith, I know that white people
(30:15):
are not a monolith. I'm not here saying all white
people are bad. Be careful what I can say is
that we have to say the uncomfortable thing we just do.
I know you all have heard the pastor, who to me,
(30:37):
gave an eloquent speech. He described, at least from my perspective,
what we were dealing with and how we should talk
about Charlie Kirk, and he said the truth. In my opinion,
Take a listen, Charlie Kirk.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Did not deserve to be assassinated.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
But I'm overwhelmed.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Seeing the flags of the United States of America at
half staff calling this nation to honor and venerate a
man who was an unapologetic racist, has spent all of
his life sewing seeds of division and hate into this land.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
And I'm gonna round out this podcast by talking about
Kamala Hair speaking about somebody who had to deal with
an uncomfortable truth. Her book is out and she is
really making a lot of people uncomfortable with her truth.
And you know, I don't know how we'll feel about
(31:46):
the book and or this period of time in our
lives ten twenty years from now. Time always tells our story.
It gives you perspective, It helps you see things differently.
I know that I mentioned Martin Luther King junior. It
was controversial to like Martin Luther King Junior. My grandmother
(32:07):
would tell me those stories. Back in the day. He
was considered a problem. People thought he was rolling up
the good blacks. He was stirring up trouble with the
good blacks and making them feel like they should be
fighting for more a lot. It was controversial to support.
That's not a lie. It was controversial to support Martin
Luther King Junior. Time will always tell the story. It
(32:30):
just will, and so what we're dealing with today will
look a whole lot differently. Forty years from now, I
can't tell you because I won't be around. Heaven forbid.
Forty years from now. Man, maybe shit, my family lives forever.
You never know. I might. I'll tell you forty years
from now. Tune in. Side note Kamala Harris's book One
(32:52):
hundred and seven Days. It's a political memoir by Kamala Harris,
the forty ninth Vice President of the United States, and
she basically details what happened during her twenty twenty four
presidential campaign after Joe Biden's withdrawal from the election, and
that title obviously represent the length that represents the length
(33:13):
of her campaign one hundred and seven days. You guys,
go out and get this book. The contents have made
people really uncomfortable, and people are blaming her for speaking
her truth, and some people are applauding her for speaking
her truth. Take a listen to former Vice President on
the view.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
The book is about a reflection, and that day and
that interview, for me, really was symbolic of the issue.
It did not create the issue, but it was symbolic
of the issue, which is that I'm a loyal person
(33:57):
and I didn't fully appreciate how much people wanted to
know there was a difference between me and President Biden.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
I'm gonna just say this the first time, or the
first few times that I heard what Kamala Harris was
saying in her book or writing in her book, because
I haven't read the book, but the first few times,
I'm going to be honest. When she shared how people
really felt about her running for the president of the
United States, how she really didn't have the support that
(34:31):
she thought she was supposed to have. She also talked
about how Joe Biden's team, perhaps Joe as well, felt
like her shining would take away from him and so
instead of thinking they could work together. I'm paraphrasing. They
pretty much siloed or iced her out, and she wasn't,
(34:54):
as as we saw, really a part of that administration.
She really wasn't vocal. She really was always it seemed
to me, hidden, And then when she was asked to
talk about to talk about Joe, it felt not authentic,
at least to me, That's what I felt. And so
now she's telling all of these not necessarily dirty little secrets,
(35:17):
but she's telling us the truth, her truth, and I
kind of figure why. I'm like, why, why now I'm
gonna be honest? Why now does it help or harm
the party? Does it put you in a different light?
(35:37):
Why do we need to know that right now? She's
already she's already said she's not, at least in the
near future, running for president. She talked about how betrayed
she felt, right understandably, so I understand that pain. She
(36:00):
said she hadn't mourned the day after the election. She
hadn't mourned like that since her mother passed away. It
was a different type of mourning for her. All of
that I understand, because I'm mourned too, But I don't
understand why Kamala, Why now? And I'm not speaking against
you at all. I'm not speaking against Kamala Harris at all.
(36:22):
I just don't understand. Why now? What is the point
question has been asked. I don't necessarily know if I've
heard an answer that makes me understand, and I'm not
sure that I will ever really truly understand. And I
could have a different take on this six months from now,
ten years from now, give it time, as everyone says,
(36:46):
and I'm definitely going to read the book because I
want to know the dirty details. But no one said
politics was easy. Politics is a dirty, dirty gang. Everyone
knows that. But I'll tell you what, I don't see
the point of it. Why now, Kamala, What does this
accomplish outside of you feeling better cathartic? I don't know.
(37:17):
You want the world to know that politics is ugly,
and that there was infighting within the party, and that
people tried to undermine you, and that it was really
hard because as a black woman, you probably were not
taking as seriously because you were so good and they
felt like you were a threat. I know that story.
(37:43):
I do, all of us do, and I know I
may sound like I don't have any compassion for it,
but I don't know why. Now. That's the thing with
the Democratic Party. It's like it's wild right now. We
should be looking forward to superstar right now. We should
be and there's not one superstar. We should be having
(38:03):
several superstars. We should be aligning and be unlockstep. That's
what your book is essentially saying. They weren't. They didn't
have your back, and they should We should be we
being that Democratic Party. I'm not a Democrat, but they
should be. Let me clear that up. They should be
looking for someone to take over or someone several ones,
several bodies of people to take over and help and unify,
(38:25):
and it should be a united party. Her book to me,
and I haven't read it, so again, I'm gonna keep
saying it. Her book to me. I don't know if
it's helping or harming the Democratic Party. I'll come back
with my opinions after I finish it. I ask you all,
anyone who's read it, tell me. And I'm not being mean,
(38:47):
I'm not being rude. I'm just giving you my opinion.
You know what, I gotta say the quiet parts out loud.
It doesn't help us, It doesn't when we pretend and
look the other way. Free speech ain free, but somebody
(39:09):
got to do it. Clearly, this episode was all about politics.
This is when we intersect. But today there's so much
going on in the world, and I fear for people
who do what I do for a living. I fear
that most of us will ultimately have to go to
private platforms to continue to be journalists. At least during
(39:31):
this season in America, most of us will have to
be independent contractors in order for us to speak truth
to power. Most of us will stay in certain positions
and walk a fine line, and that fine line during
these dangerous times will define us, not for the better.
(39:51):
In short, I'm saying, yes, I know. If you have
a job and you were nine to five and you
had a huge platform, and they want you to walk
the middle, and you happen to to be a black
person or a brown person, no regardless of gender, the
stakes are just higher for you, They really are. And
it's gonna be difficult, and you're gonna have to make
a choice. The choice could be I'm just I'm gonna
(40:11):
walk the middle. I'm gonna straight down, straight arrow, I'm
gonna ignore this, I'm gonna put my head down, or
I'm going all in and see what happens. These are
all personal decisions. I am not judging any one of
your choices. But what I am saying is that we
are living in times that are so dangerous that we
cannot ignore what is happening. And if we do decide
to ignore what is happening, and we look up and
find ourselves in an untenable position, meaning we can't get
(40:33):
back to where we were, it's gonna be all of
our faults. Your activism doesn't have to look like my activism.
I say that all the time. You don't have to
use your platform the way I use my platform. But
you can't keep ignoring what's happening. You just have to
be aware, whether you talk about it in your mind
and the quiet recesses of your mind with your family members,
where it can stay in your house, you just have
(40:54):
to do it. You can't pretend what's happening is not happening.
Can't watch movies and be like I'm going to bed.
I'll wake up in the morning and see if it's better.
Dangerous times, dangerous times. This is not exaggeration. Dangerous times
hasn't even been a full year since he's been president,
dangerous times. Free speech has never been free. Free speech
(41:15):
has never been free. Political violence is nothing new to
this country. It's happened all the time. We've seen it globally.
Political violence is a thing. The fact that it's at
our front door, so be it. But we can't pick
and choose who the heroes are when it's political violence
to your liking. You can't do it. Can't act like
it's never happened. It's happened. It continues to happen. And
it's disgustingly sad. It is horrific. It always has been,
(41:40):
it's never not been. But we have to be able
to separate the two. Meaning, listen, I have to talk
about what this was. It's sad that this was the
end result, but this is what it was. We can't
revise history, even though they want us to do that.
We cannot. I am I don't know. I am feeling away,
(42:04):
and I don't always feel away. But my hope is
that whomever may be listening to this may be feeling
a little more emboldened and whatever that looks like for you.
But please know that these are not normal times. None
of this is normal. Thank y'all for listening. Be back
next week. Naked Sports written and executive produced by me
(42:28):
Carrie Champion, produced by Jacquise Thomas, sound designed and mastered
by Dwayne Crawford. Naked Sports is a part of the
Black Effect podcast Network in iHeartMedia
Welcome to Naked Sports, the podcast where we live at
the intersection of sports, politics, and culture. Our purpose reveal
the common threads that bind them all. So what's happening
in women's basketball right now is what we've been trying
to get to for almost thirty years. From the stadiums
where athlete to break barriers and set records.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Caitlin Quark broke the all time single game assists record.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
This is crazy for rookies to be doing. Our discussions
will uncover the vital connections between these realms and the
community we create. In each episode, we'll sit down with athletes,
political analysts, and culture critics because at the core of
it all, how we see one issue shines the light
on all others. Welcome to Naked Sports. I'm your host,
(00:48):
Carrie Champion. Hey everybody, welcome to a new edition of
Naked Sports. I truly appreciate you all for being here.
I always say that today is a solo pod, but
it is an interesting pod because I have a lot
of sound bites. I'm catching you all up on what's
been going on over the last week. I'm going to
do a synopsis. Let's just say this is called free
speech because it's not free. A couple of weeks ago
(01:12):
we had got on this conversation when I was on
CNN about is free speech under attack? And it wasn't
even a couple of weeks ago, if I'm honest. It
was back in June, and I remember being on the
panel with the editor of The Daily Beast and she said, no,
I disagree. I feel like you know, free speech isn't
under attack. This was after there was a few commencement
(01:34):
addresses because it was graduation time, and Scott Pelly, who
was a journalist on CBS, addressed the crowd and he said, listen,
in short, free speech is under attack. I can't talk
about anybody in this current administration for fear of being
sued and or losing my job. So I want to
explain a couple of things before I get into the particulars. Okay,
(01:56):
free speech. First Amendment right. It allows you to say
whatever you want about whomever you want. That is a tenant.
That's just the basics of that First Amendment right. We
have lived in this country as long as I've been alive,
as long as you've been alive, as long as we
can remember. I'll just say for the last century, people
(02:16):
have been allowed to say whatever their hearts desire. Now
there are always always repercussions. They really are. It doesn't
mean that you might not get canceled. Right free speech.
If I have something to say about someone who's extremely popular,
free speech means I can say it, but I could
get canceled for what I am saying. And that's just
(02:38):
the way it has been. And as of late people
are talking about free speech, and let's just make it
really clear, it has never really been free, meaning there
are always going to be things you have to deal
with when things words come out of your mouth. I e.
Caerry what this podcast today? I am speaking my mind
and there will be people who judge me and not
(02:59):
like me, or or perhaps say thank you for saying it.
There are They are just things that happen when you
speak your mind and have an opinion. And so there
are two different thoughts here as a journalist, as someone
who has a podcast, as someone who gives opinions. One
person can say, Carrie, you should just put your head down.
You should not be bothered with this, do not talk
(03:21):
about it until all of this blows over. There's another
trend of thought that is quite simply Actually, no, this
is what I do for a living. I wish I
could my my business. I wish I didn't have something
to say, but I do have something to say. And
I'm not speaking as someone who is trying to save
the world. I'm speaking as someone who is employed by
different outlets to give an opinion, to report the facts,
(03:44):
to make opinions, to offer new perspectives. That's what I
do for a living. So I really don't have a choice.
I had a good girlfriend called me the other day
and I remember, I don't know if I mentioned this
on the podcast, and she said, it's not worth it.
It's not worth it, America's not worth it. You should
just sit this one out. There's nothing wrong with that
(04:05):
train of thought. In fact, I understood what she was
trying to say. But I also said, guess what, I
don't work behind the scenes. I make a living this
way by talking. I don't have that choice, and it
is completely fine if you decide you're sitting this one out.
Do not put your fears on me. I don't want
(04:26):
anyone to put their fears on me. I'll deal with
it accordingly. But what I do know is that if
all of us decided to turn the other cheek, look
the other way, put our head down. We will find
ourselves in a much more desperate situation than we are
in right now. And what I mean by that is
everybody can't sit this one out. You just can't. If
(04:50):
we continue to let hate speech live and call it
free speech without addressing it, if we continue to let
other people talk about the black and brown community without
any sort of consequence, we are going to be in trouble.
We are already heading to a place in which we
live under this authoritarian called President Trump, and how he
(05:12):
has decided that it is against the law, in his mind,
his words, to say anything bad about him. I don't
know if you guys heard about this, but if you
cover the Pentagon, if you are a journalist, someone who
does what I do for a living, in my beat,
my assignment is the Pentagon, they have decided. They have
decided that any reporter that wants to have access to
(05:34):
the Pentagon, that wants to have that information relayed to them,
they must sign a pledge saying that they will not
talk bad about this current administration. Why would I sign
a pledge that tells me that I can't report the facts.
Talking bad about what is going on with our current
society isn't subjective. It is what is happening. It is
(05:55):
a fact, right, It's a fact. And so they're saying,
you know what, these facts don't matter her. So that's
why I say free speech has never been free. Now,
the price you pay is far different from what our
ancestors paid. And by our ancestors, I mean black people.
When black people were bought over here and they were
slaves and they dare spoke to another person who was
(06:16):
quote unquote their owner or whatever seemed disrespectful, people would
lose their lives. My grandmother, may she rest in peace,
would tell stories when she was a kid. She was
born in nineteen thirty. She never looked white people in
the eye when she was a kid because she knew
that could get her in trouble, and by trouble that
means life lost. Insane. That we fast forward and we're
(06:37):
still living in a country where now at present day,
I know they are journalists, there are black people, there
are brown people. There are women who are afraid to
speak their minds, not because they will quote unquote lose
their life, but perhaps their livelihood. That is where we
are today. So today I thought i'd play a game,
(06:59):
and it's not necessar early a game, but I want
to play some sound bites for you. I want you
to listen to where we are in society and why
free speech, to me, should always be available to everyone,
no matter what side you were on, whether you're right
or you're left. You're a Republican, you're a Democrat, black, white, purple, short, green, tall,
(07:22):
you name it. We should all be able to say
whatever we want. But what we should not do is
Revi's history. The assassination of Charlie Kirk was discussing, and
I repeat that, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the right
wing political activist, co founder of Turning Point USA. His
(07:49):
assassination was disgusting and horrible. And the reason why I
feel like it was even more horrible because it was
made available. It still is available. I don't think anyone
should be watching this man be assassinated in HD, on
TikTok and or Twitter, and or you pick whatever social
(08:10):
media outlet you want. I think that's disgusting. I hate
that we live in society, and a society like that
where everything is available, you're always on camera, everything is
being recorded. There's lack of respect of life right there.
It really truly is. But what we're not gonna do
(08:30):
is change history. What we're not gonna do is pretend
like what this man said wasn't provocative. We're not gonna
say that he was just a good guy trying to
get people to see the Lord. Perhaps that is true,
but these are one of these instances where many things
(08:51):
can be true, many things can be true. Charlie Kirk
spoke so ill of black people, black women more specifically,
take a listen.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
If we would have said that Joy Reid and Michelle
Obama and Shila Jackson Lee and Catanji Brown Jackson were
affirmative action picks, we would have been called the list.
But now they're coming out and they're saying it for us.
They're coming out and they're saying, I'm only here because
of affirmative action. Yet we know you do not have
(09:27):
the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
I'm not going to get into the affirmative action debate
whether or not people should have affirmative rights. I'm not
getting into that. I already know how I feel about that,
and of course, coming for me it's going to be
completely subjective, not even like I am speaking as a
black person who thinks that we should have affirmative action
for various reasons. Let's not get into that. But the
(09:54):
way in which he talked about affirmative action and black
women and their brain processing power highly offensive, borderline hateful,
and if anybody is really truly paying attention, it's insulting,
it's insulting. He had a daily three hour talk show,
(10:16):
and I'm gonna be honest, I didn't listen to his
talk show. Not for no, that's not me, But there
are many he was very successful, many many, many people
who listened to his talk show. In fact, he specifically
targeted Generation Z, right, gen Z, That's who he was
talking to, because he felt like this country needed to
(10:37):
turn around, and the way to do that is to
talk to that generation. I am not of that generation,
so I am not his listening audience. But what I
care and say is I have seen so many mixtures
of videos floating around the Internet where people are saying
he said some really positive things. He cleaned up what
he said about black women. In fact, he said what
(10:58):
he meant was and he went on to explain take
a Listen.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Here's what's upsetting to me, Heather, is if I'm dealing
with somebody in customer service who's a moronic black woman,
I wonder is she there because of her excellence or
is she there? Because affirmative action almost creates thought patterns
that are not necessarily wholesome. It creates resentment, doesn't it, Heather?
This is not a way to design society for me.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
It's insulting and it's hateful, but it is still free speech.
And today we're watching in real time how people are
losing their jobs over commenting on Charlie Kirk. A young
lady who works for the Washington Post lost her job
(11:45):
because she was commenting on Charlie Kirk. She was doing
exactly what her job asked her to do, and they
fired her for it. Now, that's the only instance that
I can talk about specifically that I know of. That
is a fact. We've heard of so many different instances
on the internet. I don't know anyone personally who's lost
their job, but I do know that when we talk
(12:06):
about this, we get nervous because we're like, am I
going to lose my job? Enter Jimmy Kimmel, he was
pulled off the air for making a comment that, to me,
right because comedy is subjective to me, was not offensive. However,
they pulled him off the air for a few days.
(12:30):
Listen to what he had to say.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
It was never my intention to make light of the
murder of a young man.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
I don't think there's only things running about it. I
posted a message on Instagram and the daves killed, sending
love to his family and asking for compassion, and I
meant it.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
I still do. I don't know if you all watched
the monologue. When Jimmy Kimmel returned, I felt like it
was pitch perfect. And what I mean by pitch perfect
was that he's, to me, right because it's all subjective
to me, struck a very good balance between giving his opinion,
(13:12):
expressing remorse, not necessarily apologizing, but explaining what he was
trying to say, which is he hates the fact. And
he said this as you heard that Charlie Kirk was murdered.
We all do. And I can't speak for everyone, but
I mean anyone with a heart is like, look, no,
come on, that's ridiculous. No one wants to see anybody sassinated.
(13:34):
No way but then he also, at the very same time,
thank you Jimmy for doing this, spoke about how important
it is for us in this country because this is
the only country that we know of that allows us
to do that, is have free speech. It is important
for us to fight for It is important for us
(13:56):
to fight for free speech. Let me get that out.
And the reason why it's important is because that is
what America is built on. That's what makes this country
so great. So if you do want to make America
great again, you have to allow free speech. You can't say, oh, well,
what you said about this podcaster is not right because
(14:18):
he was assassinated, and therefore you get to lose your
job because it's gross. It doesn't work that way, It
really doesn't. Is this ideology. There is this philosophy that
when George Floyd passed away, a lot of people on
(14:39):
the left during that time were really extreme. People were
losing their jobs. When it came to the Me Too movement,
we saw a lot of people lose their jobs. People
were getting canceled for saying things that were inappropriate. And
then there were then there were a lot of different
people who felt like BLM, Black Lives Matter, incited a
(15:01):
lot of division, and so I hear some conservatives say
this is our payback. You swung the pendulum all the
way to the left during the COVID era, and now
we're taking it all the way to the right. No,
just no, And I'll tell you why, because here's the difference,
(15:24):
at least in my humble opinion, during the COVID era,
during George Floyd's time, during the swing the pigulum all
the way to the left shore, perhaps people did take
it too far. Perhaps people did take it too far.
I don't know. Maybe perhaps there wasn't any courtesy when
(15:45):
calling out the right. But what wasn't happening was a
president by the name of Joe Biden saying, guess what,
you can't say anything bad against me, because you're going
to go to jail. There wasn't a president saying, you
know what, this person was a great guy. And I
still buy everything he said, even if it was hateful.
(16:06):
I'm paraphrasing here, and I'm not saying Joe Biden was
a great president. I'm not saying that they didn't try
to censor people.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
I do.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
In fact, remember Facebook felt like it was being censored,
that administration asked Facebook to make sure if fact check
some of this false information that was floating around the internet. Yes, yes,
censoring happens, It really truly does. But if you take
a group of people and say you're gonna lose your
livelihood if you say something that is true out loud,
(16:40):
then we're in a bad space. I mean, I legitimately
have friends who won't talk about Charlie Kirk because they
just don't know what will happen. I have a friend
who works in Las Vegas at a spa and she
was told, in no uncertain terms, do not talk about
Charlie Kirk with anybody, good or bad. Just want to
(17:00):
steer clear. You don't want to, You don't want to
be in trouble. If you take fear, because that's what's happening,
and you take chaos and you and you literally instituted
in every single in every single conversation that you're having,
people are not going to feel free. People are not
(17:21):
going to be willing to share what they think. People
are going to be quiet and let horrible things happen.
Why we stay quiet? Back to my original conversation with
my friend, said to me, Carrie, you know maybe you
should tap this one out. Maybe you shouldn't. I mean,
maybe you should sit this one out. Maybe you shouldn't talk.
I'm not saying anything crazy. I'm letting you hear what
(17:43):
this man said, good and bad. And I don't know
if there was any good referring to Charlie Kirk, and
I'm letting you decide. But what I do know is
if I am offended by it, I should be able
to say so. Isn't that what free speech is? Isn't
that the world we live in? Common sense is in
common and we are in trouble because we feel like
(18:04):
we can't we can't talk. I am not saying an
eye for an eye. I'm not saying that at all.
But I can tell you that Charlie Kirk did not
like empathy and compassion. He talked about that. He also
(18:29):
wasn't someone who promoted peace. So for people to lose
their livelihood for pointing that out to me doesn't make sense.
And then now October fourteenth is a day of mourning
(18:49):
for Charlie Kirk. How is that possible? I don't believe
anyone should have to mourn a person who lived their
life spreading hate speech. His choice freedom of speech. But
why does that mean I have to mourn him? Why
(19:11):
he wouldn't mourn if I died? What happened to Melissa Hordman,
the Democrat who was murdered in her house for being
a Democrat who was fighting for women's rights. Political violence
is disgusting on either side, but I need to know
whose life deserves appropriate mourning. Why is her life not
(19:33):
just as valuable as Charlie Kirk's? Why or why are
we not honoring her as well? I don't understand this.
I don't understand the world we live in, and everyone's
afraid to talk about it and other free speech news.
And I'm going to take a minute because I want
you guys to I'm gonna catch you up on this.
Laura Lumer. Ladies and gentlemen, are you familiar with Laura Lumer.
(19:58):
She's considered one of President Trump's closest advisors. By way
of background, she's thirty two years old. She's considered a
far right political activist. She over the years has been
removed off of certain social media platforms for violating the
policy on hate speech and as of late, for whatever reasons,
(20:22):
And this is her considering herself a pro white nationalist,
a pro white nationalist. For whatever reasons she had decided
she was fed up with Jasmine Crockett. And you all
know who Jasmine Crockett is. If you don't, She's a
forty four year old black woman who is unapologetic in
(20:43):
how she lives and her fights at her purpose for
her fight. I think she's a rising star in the
Democratic Party. If not a star, I do believe that's
why people on the right attack her, because she is
a rising star, because she does have a lot to say,
and she is really smart, and it makes people uncomfortable.
(21:06):
Because she gets attention, she is able to say the
uncomfortable things out loud in a beautiful way. And to me,
I mean, at least to me, I feel like what
she's doing is for the work of the people. I'm
(21:34):
going to take a few moments here and read some
of the tweets that Laura Lumer sent out about Jasmine Crockett.
The reason why she sent out those tweets was because
she did not like what Jasmine Crockett had to say
when she was on CNN about Charlie Kirk. She thought
that it was inappropriate and she wanted to make sure
we all knew that she thought it was inappropriate. Jasmine Crockett,
(21:57):
while on CNN, said it hurts my heart that only
two Caucasians voted against honoring Charlie Kirk. Laura Lumer takes
that SoundBite and she quotes says the following, It hurts
my heart that we have a ghetto black bitch who
(22:18):
hates America serving in Congress. This is Laura Lumer's tweet
about Jasmine Crockett. It hurts my heart that we have
ghettle black bitches, excuse me, who hate America serving in Congress.
She didn't stop there. She then went on to tweet
(22:39):
Jasmine Crockett's home boys and homegirls are big mad. I
called her what she is, ghetto. I guess a finna
watch my back. God forbid Shanigua pops a cap in
my ass? You feels me? Next tweet all on X
available for anyone to see, formerly known as Twitter. Why
(23:03):
these bitches be trifling? Question mark girl? If you fin
a play with me, you best be ready for the truth.
I be spitting on your weave. I can spit mad bars.
Jasmine baby girl don't like the taste of her own medicine.
You feels me more. Let me ask you a question.
(23:26):
And she's referring to Kindlelock. It's a black job when
I expose your boss for being a racist hood rat
who enjoys promoting political violence. I'm asking you this question.
If you have tips about Jasmine Crockett and her staff,
send them here. Now. I started this entire conversation off
(23:52):
saying free speech, you are allowed to say and do
whatever your heart desires. But in my what if game
and what if theology, what if Jasmine Crockett was responding
to Laura Lumer in that way? What would happen? Where
would the outrage be? What would she be jeopardizing if
(24:14):
in fact she said those things, just in reverse about
Laura Lumer. The price a free speech depends on who
you are, and right now in this country, it is
very clear that if you are marginalized, your speech isn't free,
and you need to be careful about what you say.
(24:37):
And if you are not marginalized, if you are a
Laura Lumer or a Charlie Kirk, you can say whatever
you can say, whatever consequences, be damned. And for years
that's unfortunately what Charlie Kirk did. And I hate that
(24:58):
he was assassinated. I truly do. I don't think anyone,
anyone should die that way. And I have to keep
saying that because I want you to understand I see
his humanity, although he did not see mine. So what
(25:18):
do we do? What do we do when our country
says to us, we don't matter, when the current administration
says to us, hey, just deal with it, what do
we do? Look, we can tap out until this thing
is over. I'm okay with that, no judgment. Or we
(25:40):
can call a thing a thing and hope that everything
goes our way. I'm living in between the two. But
I tell you what I cannot. I mean, I have
a visceral reaction to the hypocrisy. I mean a visceral reaction,
the name calling, the blatant ignoring of what is happening,
(26:05):
the censorship of journalists and regular citizens look the other
way because this isn't really happening, type of attitude from
people who I thought were leaders. The approach to this is,
we can't say anything bad about Charlie Kirk because he's
passed away. And that's that old theory that you can't
talk bad about the dead, but you can remind people
(26:28):
what the dead did say. This is the same man
who said he didn't think Martin Luther King Junior was
an honorable man and he doesn't deserve a holiday.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
But I can say declaratively, this guy is not worthy
of a national holiday. He is not worthy of god
like status. In fact, I think it's really harmful.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
You gotta say the uncomfortable parts out loud. You don't
have to fight everyone. But this is what I will
say anyone with a platform who feels the need to
talk about this. Sometimes we just have to say the
uncomfortable parts out loud and deal with whatever those repercussions are.
This is in comfortable times. We are living in uncomfortable times.
(27:04):
We really truly are. I wish I could look the
other way and pretend like this isn't happening. But I
know what happens if we don't say anything. I know
what we're in store for if we don't acknowledge it.
President Trump hasn't been in office one year, y'all, and
even been a year, and here we are in the
(27:25):
midst of chaos, hatred, polarizing rhetoric, hateful speech. I don't
see this changing. In fact, I see it getting more extreme.
And the idea is to make us scared. It's to
make us be afraid. It's to make us not talk.
(27:46):
We're supposed to look the other way and hope that
it all goes away. And as a black woman on
television speaking about these things with the forward facing platform,
I understand the stakes are higher for me. And what
I mean by that is is this speaking truth? Just
speaking truth and saying repeating what other people have already said,
(28:06):
literally out of their own words. It means that someone's
going to say, oh, there she goes again, being difficult, problematic. Uh,
they're complaining what I've been sitting here minding my business.
(28:28):
Jasmine Crockett was asked to go on CNN. They asked
for her opinion, asked for her opinion. She gave her
opinion because free speech should be free. And now she's
being called ghetto. What make it make sense? She is
(28:51):
an educated woman who has a perfect resume, who deserves
to be here. She's fighting for the people, But now
she's ghetto because she doesn't look like you and or
talk like you. What does this mean? What does that mean?
It's unfair and it's unfortunate, and I have tried to
not say anything. I've tried to walk the line. I've
tried to put my head down and be quiet because
(29:12):
I know the stakes are higher for me talking about this.
But it just isn't fair. It just isn't fair. And
with that being said, because it's been a lot in
the news today, I'll end here. I don't know where
we are in terms of how to describe what's going
(29:33):
on in this country. I don't know how to describe
the feeling that I get when I am walking in
the airport and I feel someone giving me a dirty stare.
Maybe they saw me on CNN. Maybe they didn't like
what I said. I don't like the feeling of looking
at someone who is not black or brown and thinking
(29:55):
twice about should I walk up next to them? What's
going to happen? Are they going to be hateful? They
say something to me like these things are on my
mind right now, And that is the whole plan to
get us to turn on one another. And I just
want common sense to prevail the same way that black
people are not a monolith, I know that white people
(30:15):
are not a monolith. I'm not here saying all white
people are bad. Be careful what I can say is
that we have to say the uncomfortable thing we just do.
I know you all have heard the pastor, who to me,
(30:37):
gave an eloquent speech. He described, at least from my perspective,
what we were dealing with and how we should talk
about Charlie Kirk, and he said the truth. In my opinion,
Take a listen, Charlie Kirk.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Did not deserve to be assassinated.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
But I'm overwhelmed.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Seeing the flags of the United States of America at
half staff calling this nation to honor and venerate a
man who was an unapologetic racist, has spent all of
his life sewing seeds of division and hate into this land.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
And I'm gonna round out this podcast by talking about
Kamala Hair speaking about somebody who had to deal with
an uncomfortable truth. Her book is out and she is
really making a lot of people uncomfortable with her truth.
And you know, I don't know how we'll feel about
(31:46):
the book and or this period of time in our
lives ten twenty years from now. Time always tells our story.
It gives you perspective, It helps you see things differently.
I know that I mentioned Martin Luther King junior. It
was controversial to like Martin Luther King Junior. My grandmother
(32:07):
would tell me those stories. Back in the day. He
was considered a problem. People thought he was rolling up
the good blacks. He was stirring up trouble with the
good blacks and making them feel like they should be
fighting for more a lot. It was controversial to support.
That's not a lie. It was controversial to support Martin
Luther King Junior. Time will always tell the story. It
(32:30):
just will, and so what we're dealing with today will
look a whole lot differently. Forty years from now, I
can't tell you because I won't be around. Heaven forbid.
Forty years from now. Man, maybe shit, my family lives forever.
You never know. I might. I'll tell you forty years
from now. Tune in. Side note Kamala Harris's book One
(32:52):
hundred and seven Days. It's a political memoir by Kamala Harris,
the forty ninth Vice President of the United States, and
she basically details what happened during her twenty twenty four
presidential campaign after Joe Biden's withdrawal from the election, and
that title obviously represent the length that represents the length
(33:13):
of her campaign one hundred and seven days. You guys,
go out and get this book. The contents have made
people really uncomfortable, and people are blaming her for speaking
her truth, and some people are applauding her for speaking
her truth. Take a listen to former Vice President on
the view.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
The book is about a reflection, and that day and
that interview, for me, really was symbolic of the issue.
It did not create the issue, but it was symbolic
of the issue, which is that I'm a loyal person
(33:57):
and I didn't fully appreciate how much people wanted to
know there was a difference between me and President Biden.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
I'm gonna just say this the first time, or the
first few times that I heard what Kamala Harris was
saying in her book or writing in her book, because
I haven't read the book, but the first few times,
I'm going to be honest. When she shared how people
really felt about her running for the president of the
United States, how she really didn't have the support that
(34:31):
she thought she was supposed to have. She also talked
about how Joe Biden's team, perhaps Joe as well, felt
like her shining would take away from him and so
instead of thinking they could work together. I'm paraphrasing. They
pretty much siloed or iced her out, and she wasn't,
(34:54):
as as we saw, really a part of that administration.
She really wasn't vocal. She really was always it seemed
to me, hidden, And then when she was asked to
talk about to talk about Joe, it felt not authentic,
at least to me, That's what I felt. And so
now she's telling all of these not necessarily dirty little secrets,
(35:17):
but she's telling us the truth, her truth, and I
kind of figure why. I'm like, why, why now I'm
gonna be honest? Why now does it help or harm
the party? Does it put you in a different light?
(35:37):
Why do we need to know that right now? She's
already she's already said she's not, at least in the
near future, running for president. She talked about how betrayed
she felt, right understandably, so I understand that pain. She
(36:00):
said she hadn't mourned the day after the election. She
hadn't mourned like that since her mother passed away. It
was a different type of mourning for her. All of
that I understand, because I'm mourned too, But I don't
understand why Kamala, Why now? And I'm not speaking against
you at all. I'm not speaking against Kamala Harris at all.
(36:22):
I just don't understand. Why now? What is the point
question has been asked. I don't necessarily know if I've
heard an answer that makes me understand, and I'm not
sure that I will ever really truly understand. And I
could have a different take on this six months from now,
ten years from now, give it time, as everyone says,
(36:46):
and I'm definitely going to read the book because I
want to know the dirty details. But no one said
politics was easy. Politics is a dirty, dirty gang. Everyone
knows that. But I'll tell you what, I don't see
the point of it. Why now, Kamala, What does this
accomplish outside of you feeling better cathartic? I don't know.
(37:17):
You want the world to know that politics is ugly,
and that there was infighting within the party, and that
people tried to undermine you, and that it was really
hard because as a black woman, you probably were not
taking as seriously because you were so good and they
felt like you were a threat. I know that story.
(37:43):
I do, all of us do, and I know I
may sound like I don't have any compassion for it,
but I don't know why. Now. That's the thing with
the Democratic Party. It's like it's wild right now. We
should be looking forward to superstar right now. We should
be and there's not one superstar. We should be having
(38:03):
several superstars. We should be aligning and be unlockstep. That's
what your book is essentially saying. They weren't. They didn't
have your back, and they should We should be we
being that Democratic Party. I'm not a Democrat, but they
should be. Let me clear that up. They should be
looking for someone to take over or someone several ones,
several bodies of people to take over and help and unify,
(38:25):
and it should be a united party. Her book to me,
and I haven't read it, so again, I'm gonna keep
saying it. Her book to me. I don't know if
it's helping or harming the Democratic Party. I'll come back
with my opinions after I finish it. I ask you all,
anyone who's read it, tell me. And I'm not being mean,
(38:47):
I'm not being rude. I'm just giving you my opinion.
You know what, I gotta say the quiet parts out loud.
It doesn't help us, It doesn't when we pretend and
look the other way. Free speech ain free, but somebody
(39:09):
got to do it. Clearly, this episode was all about politics.
This is when we intersect. But today there's so much
going on in the world, and I fear for people
who do what I do for a living. I fear
that most of us will ultimately have to go to
private platforms to continue to be journalists. At least during
(39:31):
this season in America, most of us will have to
be independent contractors in order for us to speak truth
to power. Most of us will stay in certain positions
and walk a fine line, and that fine line during
these dangerous times will define us, not for the better.
(39:51):
In short, I'm saying, yes, I know. If you have
a job and you were nine to five and you
had a huge platform, and they want you to walk
the middle, and you happen to to be a black
person or a brown person, no regardless of gender, the
stakes are just higher for you, They really are. And
it's gonna be difficult, and you're gonna have to make
a choice. The choice could be I'm just I'm gonna
(40:11):
walk the middle. I'm gonna straight down, straight arrow, I'm
gonna ignore this, I'm gonna put my head down, or
I'm going all in and see what happens. These are
all personal decisions. I am not judging any one of
your choices. But what I am saying is that we
are living in times that are so dangerous that we
cannot ignore what is happening. And if we do decide
to ignore what is happening, and we look up and
find ourselves in an untenable position, meaning we can't get
(40:33):
back to where we were, it's gonna be all of
our faults. Your activism doesn't have to look like my activism.
I say that all the time. You don't have to
use your platform the way I use my platform. But
you can't keep ignoring what's happening. You just have to
be aware, whether you talk about it in your mind
and the quiet recesses of your mind with your family members,
where it can stay in your house, you just have
(40:54):
to do it. You can't pretend what's happening is not happening.
Can't watch movies and be like I'm going to bed.
I'll wake up in the morning and see if it's better.
Dangerous times, dangerous times. This is not exaggeration. Dangerous times
hasn't even been a full year since he's been president,
dangerous times. Free speech has never been free. Free speech
(41:15):
has never been free. Political violence is nothing new to
this country. It's happened all the time. We've seen it globally.
Political violence is a thing. The fact that it's at
our front door, so be it. But we can't pick
and choose who the heroes are when it's political violence
to your liking. You can't do it. Can't act like
it's never happened. It's happened. It continues to happen. And
it's disgustingly sad. It is horrific. It always has been,
(41:40):
it's never not been. But we have to be able
to separate the two. Meaning, listen, I have to talk
about what this was. It's sad that this was the
end result, but this is what it was. We can't
revise history, even though they want us to do that.
We cannot. I am I don't know. I am feeling away,
(42:04):
and I don't always feel away. But my hope is
that whomever may be listening to this may be feeling
a little more emboldened and whatever that looks like for you.
But please know that these are not normal times. None
of this is normal. Thank y'all for listening. Be back
next week. Naked Sports written and executive produced by me
(42:28):
Carrie Champion, produced by Jacquise Thomas, sound designed and mastered
by Dwayne Crawford. Naked Sports is a part of the
Black Effect podcast Network in iHeartMedia
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