June 21, 2025 • 27 mins
BIN News Anchors Teri McCready + Kevin Brown discuss the major news stories of the week.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's been another busy news week and we like to
review the major stories of the week here on the
Black Information Network. Today, we are joined by Black Information
Network news anchors Terry McCready and Kevin Brown to discuss
this week's major stories. This is the QR code. I
am q Ward and I am ramses Jah. All Right,
Terry McCready and Kevin Brown, welcome back to the show.
(00:23):
What's the latest? What's the greatest? Terry, talk to me,
tell me something good.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well, uh, so far, we have not officially entered a
war with Iran. That's pretty good news.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
That's good. That's good. Yeah, all right, And Kevin Brown,
you can't fall off the floor, all right. I heard that.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Sometimes sometimes you got to acknowledge the little truths like that.
Oh all right, Well, let's get to the news first up.
One of our nation's largest civil rights organizations made headlines
this week when they broke a decade long tradition involving
their annual convention. And while many people support the move,
others are wondering if it will actually make a difference. Terry,
let's start things off with you give us more details
(01:04):
on the story, and then Kevin and Q will get
your thoughts next.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Sure, so, yes, the annual NAACP Convention UH is coming
up next month in Charlotte, and as always, it is
a highly anticipated event, certainly a time honored one to
the tune of one hundred and sixteen years. However, this
year's gathering comes with a little bit of a hitch.
The sitting US President is not being invited. And you know,
(01:29):
I think this is a moment one that I know
many on the right will dismiss as virtue signaling, but
I think, you know, if you take a closer look,
you know, you'll know that this is about an entity
that is really leaning into democracy right now. And so
the CEO said, listen, you know, we're nonpartisan, but we
have a common thread and that is democracy and a
(01:51):
belief in the Constitution. And he's talking about Reagan, he's
talking about both of the Bushes, Clinton, Obama. How they
all understood that it's part of being a component of
the American process. And President Trump is an outlier. He
is a populist who is untethered to any sort of
a mission or any strongly held conviction. And really that's
(02:13):
what makes him dangerous. He is a wild card. And
this week, we heard from Obama saying that America is
careening toward an autocracy. So the NAACP is doing what
it does best. We're talking about organizing a singular strategy
with all who are bonded by an objective to help
realign and not only move the Black community forward, but
(02:37):
communities as a whole forward in a meaningful way.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Kevin appropriate stance by the NAACP because the circumstances of
what we are dealing with now are so different than
what happened in the past, and history is the best
teacher here. At times time you cannot negotiate your way
(03:02):
out of certain situations. Sometimes you have to deal and
present a outside of the box solution to some of
the challenges that you're facing. NAACP usually doesn't like to
shake the boat. This is a bold move. The NAACP
(03:26):
needs more of this kind of thinking and leadership because
times call for it.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Two.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
I think at some point we have to stop being
the only ones with these time honored traditions of politeness
and decency when we see that that's not a shared
reality anymore. So that someone is standing up and saying, yo,
this person isn't okay, no matter what the traditions would
have us do. That kind of makes me smile a
little bit, because some of these days feel a little
hopeless and like everyone's just bending the knee. So it's
(04:01):
felt good to read up next some sad news out
of Michigan with a twist of justice.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Kevin.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
This time, let's start with you, share more about this
story with us, and then Terry and Rambas will come
back to you for more.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Oh my, this is a story that from Michigan, a
story that black people are familiar with and sadly well,
fortunately it turned out that the justice was served in
this rare occasion on June ninth, young lady by the
(04:38):
name of Madison Mackenzie Wright. But it was a good
idea to accuse or call police and say that she
was attacked by two black men, and through an investigation
from the Saint John's Police, they realized that the information
(05:02):
that miss Wright provided did not align with the evidence
that she was attacked. No word on why she thought
it was a good idea to do this, but apparently
she was looking for some kind of sympathy, which we
have seen in a couple of places on social media.
(05:27):
But anyway, it did not turn out the way miss
Wright thought it would, because she was criminally charged in
connection with filing a false report, charged five thousand dollars,
and I believe she is still being held or trying
to who knows what she was trying to do. But
(05:51):
the scary part of this historically, and one of the
reasons that black people are familiar with this story is
it has been used as the justification for violence against
black people in America four decades.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Terry Indeed, indeed, this story, at first blush looks perfectly plausible. Okay,
this twenty year old woman walking alone on a night trail.
Then these you know, feral black men suddenly appear and
shave being mauled, and of course we would all be
a guess, right because it is horrific. And this particular story,
(06:31):
as Kevin just indicated, has echoes of Carol and Bryant.
Remember she's the one who made those false claims that
led to the death of Emmett Hill decades ago. And
then you know the Central Park jogger case. We're a
group of you know, black and brown teens were convicted
of rape. It's all very very ugly. Its slice of
American life back, yes, it does continue to repeat. But
(06:53):
there are also other modern day versions of this. They're
Sherry Pattini in California, except this time she pointed the
finger at two lesbian Latina or Hispanic women who were
holding her against her will. And so this girl in Michigan,
of course didn't get away with it. Why did you
do it? Anyway? I mean, what was what was the goal?
(07:15):
What was the object? Who knows what the problem is?
Too often? Yes, you process just feel like just an
exercise and futility, ramses.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Jah, You know what? Q. One of the things that
you know this full well, that I try to do
is think what would our political oppositions say about our
(07:44):
opinions about the stories we cover? All that? Right, So
the first thing that popped in my brain, now that
it's trained to anticipate a back and forth, is juicy Smolette.
I don't know if I'm saying there are Jesse Smolett.
I feel like Dave Chappelle's saying juicy. So that's how
I'm saying it. And for those that don't know, he's
(08:07):
like a guy, he's an actor and he the I
guess the story goes that he paid some people to
like rough them up so that he could call that
a hate crime, and it got kind of funny, sort
of like he made that up, and then there were
some subsequent court dealings. I didn't follow that story all
(08:28):
that closely, so forgive me for not knowing it. But
I can imagine our political opposition saying, well, this white
woman whatever Juicy Smolette did the same thing. Okay, So
that's where I started. That's when I first saw this headline.
That's where I started. I was like, Okay, this is
kind of you know, but I know, with all the
(08:48):
blackness that I brought with me throughout my forty two
years of life, that this happens frequently. It's happened in
my own life to me where someone's blaming me just
because I'm a convenient target and this would be a
white woman. But also I know the stories, I know
the immatills, I know, you know, like I grew up
with this stuff. So I did myself a favor and
(09:11):
I googled, like, okay, just if I had to have
a conversation somebody bringing Juicy Smolette to my table saying oh,
it's the same thing. So I googled white women blaming
black men, just a starter point. Just I didn't get specific.
I wasn't looking for charts and data or anything like that,
just a vague like, hey, what exists out there that
(09:33):
I could draw upon to show some form of some
invisible system. You and i Q, we talk about invisible
systems all the time. This is one of them. Might argue,
it's an invisible system that supports white women in their narrative,
and this one didn't work out for this one white woman.
But the system exists, as illustrated by the fact that
(09:54):
she just was like all, I could just say a
couple of black guys did whatever and then get sympathy
or whatever her thing is. She knows that system exist.
We all know that system exist, and it's invisible to
those that choose to see it. It's there, and to
choose those that choose to ignore it, they can have
a convenient excuse to say that we are delusional as
(10:14):
a people, black people, and we are victims and we
have a self defeating mentality and all that sort of stuff.
But an invisible system. Nonetheless, back to my point, I
googled white women blaming black men, and you wouldn't believe
me if I told you I mean one of the
first articles fifteen times white women's lies in hysteria hurt
people of color, PBS, this is Yahoo, the Innocence Project,
(10:39):
Jim Crow Museum, The Guardian, you see law lynchings and
Central Power, all this stuff, okay, And it reminds me
of what DIO Hugh Lee says frequently that we talked
(11:01):
about before, and he says, you know, the most dangerous
place for a black man to exist is in the
imagination of a white person or some effectively. That's what
he says. And even though this isn't like literally true
in this case because there was no black man, this
wasn't imagining the fact that she holds black men in
(11:23):
that space. She knows that black men are scary. That's
that's a common, uh trope, that's a stereotype associated with us.
That's a that's a characteristic associated with us, that we're scary,
we're criminal, we're you know whatever. She leaned into that,
and at the same time leaned into her white womanness,
(11:46):
you know, those white woman tears, created this story and
then had people on social media going crazy with real
world implications for people who look like you and me,
and and and Kevin and Terry too, you know, and
I don't even want to get to our children, but
(12:07):
you know the real world implications as a result of
this invisible system supporting this one specific type of person.
And I think that that's decidedly different than what happened
with Juicy Smolett. So, hey, what's up.
Speaker 6 (12:22):
This is Ramsy's jaw and I am q Ward and
we're inviting you to subscribe to Civic Cipher, our weekly
social justice podcast right here in the app.
Speaker 7 (12:30):
We pride ourselves on creating a show that fusters allyship,
empathy and understanding, all the while conducting journalistically credible research
featuring influential, noteworthy guests, and empowering historically marginalized communities.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
The African proverb breeds, if you want to go far,
go together. So we are asking you to search for
and subscribe to Civic Cipher.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
That's civ C cip h e R right here in
the app. Black Information Network news anchors Terry McCready and
Kevin Brown are here with us discussing this week's major stories.
All right. As the world of politics and pro sports
continues to intertwine, more sports figures are expressing their views
(13:09):
on the current political climate. Recently, NBA head coach Doc
Rivers offered his thoughts on the current failings of the
Democratic Party and there's a lot of people who probably
agree with them. Terry, let's go back to you tell
us more about this story by Coach Rivers, and then
Kevin and Q will get your thoughts as well well.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Doc Rivers was a guest on this podcast. Basically, you know,
he lamented about how the Democratic Party is just willfully misdirected,
not connected, and he talked about how there are states
that continue to sort of elude the party, states that
Democrats just really haven't won in many decades. And he
(13:47):
said that he even had a conversation with a Senator
Corey Booker from New Jersey and he told him, you know,
the party is in this vicious cycle of you know,
repeating patterns and then expecting different outcomes. And you know,
he pointed out that you know, this messaging that is
a monumental challenge, but one that Republicans seem to be
(14:10):
able to really understand pretty well. They know how to
galvanize coalescing behind the message, while Democrats are sort of
caught up in this whirlpool just treading water, and I
think his observations are pretty solid. But I'm also not
sure about how important it is for Democrats as a
party to have and that's what we've been hearing. Oh,
we just need a voice. Who's going to be the leader?
Is it going to be Jasmine Crockett? Is it going
(14:31):
to be you know, AOC. I don't know how important
that is. Great if that is the case, or if
it were to become the case, but more valuable just
to connect I think with communities. As the old Chinese
proverb says, many hands make light work. So if we
do the research connecting with black men, really leaning in
(14:52):
to well, what were the things that led to Trump's victory? Seniors, entrepreneurs,
leaning solutions about the economy and healthcare and paid jobs
and housing. So I think that's kind of where we
are right now. But I don't think that, you know,
Doc Rivers was off the point at all. I think
he was directly on point.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Kevin.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
I concur message discipline matters, and Democrats suffer from a
lack of discipline when it comes to messaging of under
the democratic tent, there are principles that everyone can agree
on and rarely to Democrats have the messaging discipline to
(15:35):
make those the foundation of what they represent. There's a
strong and the Republicans do it well. A matter of fact,
they run circles around Democrats in terms of message discipline,
and what it boils down to is coming up with
a theme and repeating it over and over and over again.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Too.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
If I may.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Just sh.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
A brief note, I so, first off, I don't want
to be unkind to Doc Rivers. I've heard his name before,
but I don't know if he was critical prior to
the election or not of Democrats. But one of the
(16:23):
things that I feel is important that people bear in
mind is that hindsight is always twenty twenty and unfortunately,
the hindsight that people have when it comes to Democrats
is very It's very perspective based, and so everybody has
(16:44):
their own individual take on what could have happened, should
have happened, And maybe everybody's right or maybe everybody's wrong.
You know who's to say. But I feel like it's
probably worth listening to people who were critical of Democrats
during the last election or prior to the last election
than it is to listen to Democrats who have criticized
(17:08):
the Democratic Party after the election, because everybody trying to
make sense of it, and everybody talking about messaging, and
everybody talking about anything that they would have done differently.
I think it's just I think now it's getting to
the point where it's it's no longer helpful. And you know,
(17:31):
myself included. I'll throw myself in there because I've been
famously critical of, you know, the Democrats' response to Israel
and the Godza strip, and that caused voter apathy. People
wanted to stay home because they didn't want to get
out there. And that's from my perspective. I hang out
with activist. I am one, you know, I get outside
and make it. You know what I'm saying, I'm pre
(17:52):
Palestine all that, and you know, who's to say if
I'm right or wrong?
Speaker 4 (17:58):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
But I think that we're kind of at a point
now where we probably should switch our conversation to what
we can do as individuals rather than what the Democratic
Party can do, because at the end of the day,
the Democratic Party and all the elected officials, they work
for us, and we are the leaders and they represent us.
(18:23):
And I think that we've lost that narrative in the
era of celebrity politicians, and so I don't I don't
want anybody to put too much stake into what Doc
Winters says. Rivers says it just you know, maybe he's right,
(18:43):
but I think that your own truth might be a
little bit more relevant to you and in local politics,
as you mentioned Kevin in your own community, and you know,
be that leader. H just just my thoughts, Q. I
didn't mean to jump in front of you, but I
just that's that's what I had to say.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
Your thoughts, Well, you absolutely meant to jump in front
of me. You did that with full intention and made
some very incredible points. So to have no comments you
got it. Well, sorry, that'll be great. Great minds think alike.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
You need to do it.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
You absolutely meant to raise that hand up and said
some very really brilliant things that I agree with.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
You know, and in an era where the other side
collased around white supremacy and hate, yep, it's hard to
program against that. Yeah, so I agree with almost everything
you said. We'll close out this week's show with some
advice on the future of employment opportunities from the Black CEO,
one of America's most successful companies. Kevin tell us a
little bit more about Marvin Ellison's comments on employment and
(19:50):
a I tell you this just close us out.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Yeah, this was interesting because mister Allison raised a few
eyebrows with his observations. He is the CEO of Lowells
and has actually done very well with the company, at
least the investors are very happy with him. And in
(20:14):
this speech he mentioned he was talking about the moving
the effect of what AI is going to do to society,
and his quote was AI is coming for every job
that requires critical thinking and creativity, and his advice was
(20:38):
to stay close to customers. It is interesting that first
of all, he acknowledged how significant Hey and how significant
AI is going to be in all of our lives
moving forward. But he also reiterated one of the basic
(20:59):
foundations of marketing to people. As one politician once said,
all politics is local, so are sales to a certain degree.
And if you allow yourself to become detached from what
consumers want and need, you will suffer greatly.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
That's some really good insight, Terry. What you got for us.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Well, when you look at the political parties publicans versus Democrats,
you know we're always hearing them taut still trade, still
trade versus four years of traditional higher education. And I
know for a fact that there was a time when
there was a certain stigma attached when you talk about
alternative high schools with that code for oh, you just
(21:51):
really can't cut the mustard. Oh you know, poor Jimmy,
he has to go to an alternative high school and
you have to actually whisper it because it's just so humiliating,
it's embarrassed. But I think there is, you know, a
utilitarian argument to be made, especially with some of these
soul stealing student loans. And I've heard some on the
right argue, well, what happens if you know, when I
get out of high school, I'm going to start my
(22:13):
own business. I need to buy a truck. Am I
going to be able to have my loan forgiven for
my fifty thousand dollars you know, f one fifty. So, yes,
Ellison's point is well taken. If everyone is wary of
AI right now, it makes perfect sense to understand that
our electricians, construction workers, other direct customer service vocations like plumbers,
(22:36):
fun gold right now. And so when he says stay
close to the register, that is wise. You know, there
is this certain cachet for corporate jobs, but I think
it's also time for us to dispel the myths and
be real. Not only would ourselves, but when the next generation.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
Miss John.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
You know what I first read this one, certainly the
headlines stay close to the Register. I was like, hmm,
it's odd because artificial intelligence is it like, came for
the registers a long time ago? Like, you don't really,
there's plenty of stores where they don't even have registers.
You just pick up stuff and walk out the store
with it and it'll charge your account or whatever. Or
(23:20):
spatial recognition software, there's RFID tagging, there's you know, and
this was like right after self checkouts rolled out, there
were you know, test markets around that. Now, of course
it hasn't been widely implemented in this country, but it
does exist. So staying close to the register felt a
little a little odd from the say, But I think
(23:41):
the more pressing issue is that I happen to know
that the CEO of Low's was a black man. And
I also happen to know that Low's rolled back their
DEI in twenty twenty four, prior to Trump taking office,
and that was kind of like a twisting of the knife.
(24:04):
You know. Well, no, that was the gut punch. I
think this is the twisting of the knife, you know
what I mean With this article. He says that stay
close to the register. And there's another part. I don't
want to miss quote him, but some he says something like,
(24:25):
you know, stay out of the boardrooms and stay close
to the register, or like stay out of upper management,
that sort of thing, and that felt a little like
m you know, maybe he's saying that to warn people that,
you know, black people that you know, if you make
it to upper management or like into the C suite
(24:46):
or something, there's people that are going to like come
for your job and people that are going to say
you're not qualified for it or whatever. And I didn't
love that because it felt like he was encouraging people
to shoot for the middle or really shoot for the bottom.
And then, of course, after that, when I got into
the weeds, I recognized that he was talking about artificial
intelligence and how AI can make executive level decisions and
(25:09):
be more successful than humans can. And if that's not
the case now, it certainly can be the case in
the future. So you know, I really don't know what
to make of this, if I'm being honest, But I
think that the language here can be a little misleading
(25:30):
no matter how you look at it, because the register
part of this that's you know, now, to be fair,
there's other parts of the article that talks about, you know,
people are going to need new roofs, people are going
to need electrical work, you know, appliances break things like that,
and artificial intelligence can't come for those jobs. So you know,
(25:51):
people should consider taking those routes in order to secure
their economic future. And you know, I can't disagree with that.
I can't predict the future any any better than anyone
else can. But again, the language here is a little
misleading because registers that was like the first thing to go,
So staying close to the register doesn't really feel like
(26:12):
there's a lot of job security there. So we'll see
what happens, you know. And and to be fair, I
don't want to be again, I don't want to be unkind.
I know that there's a lot of people that thought
that they were doing the right thing by rolling back
their DEI I just you know, I'm I'm pretty consistent
with how I move and black CEO or not. If
(26:34):
you roll back, DEI I can't really rock with you,
so you know I'm not I'm not buying from from Loew's.
You know, I'm not buying Kanye's music. I don't care
how black he is, you know, I'm just one of them.
So but best of luck to him. He is a
black man, for better or worse, and you know, I hope,
hope he continues to thrive so well ly down right
there as always, I'd like to thank you both very
(26:56):
much for your time and your inside. Once again, today's
guest of Black Information Network news anchor Terry McCready and
Kevin Brown. This has been a production of the Black
Information Network. Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have
some thoughts you'd like to share, use the red microphone
talkback feature on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be
sure to hit subscribe and download all of our episodes.
(27:17):
I am your host Ramsey's job on all social media.
Speaker 5 (27:21):
I am Qward on all social media as well.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
And we'll be hosting another episode of Civic Cipher this
weekend on a station near you. For stations, showtimes, and
podcast info, check Civiccipher dot com and join us Monday
as we share our news with our voice from our
perspective right here on the QR code
It's been another busy news week and we like to
review the major stories of the week here on the
Black Information Network. Today, we are joined by Black Information
Network news anchors Terry McCready and Kevin Brown to discuss
this week's major stories. This is the QR code. I
am q Ward and I am ramses Jah. All Right,
Terry McCready and Kevin Brown, welcome back to the show.
(00:23):
What's the latest? What's the greatest? Terry, talk to me,
tell me something good.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well, uh, so far, we have not officially entered a
war with Iran. That's pretty good news.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
That's good. That's good. Yeah, all right, And Kevin Brown,
you can't fall off the floor, all right. I heard that.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Sometimes sometimes you got to acknowledge the little truths like that.
Oh all right, Well, let's get to the news first up.
One of our nation's largest civil rights organizations made headlines
this week when they broke a decade long tradition involving
their annual convention. And while many people support the move,
others are wondering if it will actually make a difference. Terry,
let's start things off with you give us more details
(01:04):
on the story, and then Kevin and Q will get
your thoughts next.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Sure, so, yes, the annual NAACP Convention UH is coming
up next month in Charlotte, and as always, it is
a highly anticipated event, certainly a time honored one to
the tune of one hundred and sixteen years. However, this
year's gathering comes with a little bit of a hitch.
The sitting US President is not being invited. And you know,
(01:29):
I think this is a moment one that I know
many on the right will dismiss as virtue signaling, but
I think, you know, if you take a closer look,
you know, you'll know that this is about an entity
that is really leaning into democracy right now. And so
the CEO said, listen, you know, we're nonpartisan, but we
have a common thread and that is democracy and a
(01:51):
belief in the Constitution. And he's talking about Reagan, he's
talking about both of the Bushes, Clinton, Obama. How they
all understood that it's part of being a component of
the American process. And President Trump is an outlier. He
is a populist who is untethered to any sort of
a mission or any strongly held conviction. And really that's
(02:13):
what makes him dangerous. He is a wild card. And
this week, we heard from Obama saying that America is
careening toward an autocracy. So the NAACP is doing what
it does best. We're talking about organizing a singular strategy
with all who are bonded by an objective to help
realign and not only move the Black community forward, but
(02:37):
communities as a whole forward in a meaningful way.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Kevin appropriate stance by the NAACP because the circumstances of
what we are dealing with now are so different than
what happened in the past, and history is the best
teacher here. At times time you cannot negotiate your way
(03:02):
out of certain situations. Sometimes you have to deal and
present a outside of the box solution to some of
the challenges that you're facing. NAACP usually doesn't like to
shake the boat. This is a bold move. The NAACP
(03:26):
needs more of this kind of thinking and leadership because
times call for it.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Two.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
I think at some point we have to stop being
the only ones with these time honored traditions of politeness
and decency when we see that that's not a shared
reality anymore. So that someone is standing up and saying, yo,
this person isn't okay, no matter what the traditions would
have us do. That kind of makes me smile a
little bit, because some of these days feel a little
hopeless and like everyone's just bending the knee. So it's
(04:01):
felt good to read up next some sad news out
of Michigan with a twist of justice.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Kevin.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
This time, let's start with you, share more about this
story with us, and then Terry and Rambas will come
back to you for more.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Oh my, this is a story that from Michigan, a
story that black people are familiar with and sadly well,
fortunately it turned out that the justice was served in
this rare occasion on June ninth, young lady by the
(04:38):
name of Madison Mackenzie Wright. But it was a good
idea to accuse or call police and say that she
was attacked by two black men, and through an investigation
from the Saint John's Police, they realized that the information
(05:02):
that miss Wright provided did not align with the evidence
that she was attacked. No word on why she thought
it was a good idea to do this, but apparently
she was looking for some kind of sympathy, which we
have seen in a couple of places on social media.
(05:27):
But anyway, it did not turn out the way miss
Wright thought it would, because she was criminally charged in
connection with filing a false report, charged five thousand dollars,
and I believe she is still being held or trying
to who knows what she was trying to do. But
(05:51):
the scary part of this historically, and one of the
reasons that black people are familiar with this story is
it has been used as the justification for violence against
black people in America four decades.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Terry Indeed, indeed, this story, at first blush looks perfectly plausible. Okay,
this twenty year old woman walking alone on a night trail.
Then these you know, feral black men suddenly appear and
shave being mauled, and of course we would all be
a guess, right because it is horrific. And this particular story,
(06:31):
as Kevin just indicated, has echoes of Carol and Bryant.
Remember she's the one who made those false claims that
led to the death of Emmett Hill decades ago. And
then you know the Central Park jogger case. We're a
group of you know, black and brown teens were convicted
of rape. It's all very very ugly. Its slice of
American life back, yes, it does continue to repeat. But
(06:53):
there are also other modern day versions of this. They're
Sherry Pattini in California, except this time she pointed the
finger at two lesbian Latina or Hispanic women who were
holding her against her will. And so this girl in Michigan,
of course didn't get away with it. Why did you
do it? Anyway? I mean, what was what was the goal?
(07:15):
What was the object? Who knows what the problem is?
Too often? Yes, you process just feel like just an
exercise and futility, ramses.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Jah, You know what? Q. One of the things that
you know this full well, that I try to do
is think what would our political oppositions say about our
(07:44):
opinions about the stories we cover? All that? Right, So
the first thing that popped in my brain, now that
it's trained to anticipate a back and forth, is juicy Smolette.
I don't know if I'm saying there are Jesse Smolett.
I feel like Dave Chappelle's saying juicy. So that's how
I'm saying it. And for those that don't know, he's
(08:07):
like a guy, he's an actor and he the I
guess the story goes that he paid some people to
like rough them up so that he could call that
a hate crime, and it got kind of funny, sort
of like he made that up, and then there were
some subsequent court dealings. I didn't follow that story all
(08:28):
that closely, so forgive me for not knowing it. But
I can imagine our political opposition saying, well, this white
woman whatever Juicy Smolette did the same thing. Okay, So
that's where I started. That's when I first saw this headline.
That's where I started. I was like, Okay, this is
kind of you know, but I know, with all the
(08:48):
blackness that I brought with me throughout my forty two
years of life, that this happens frequently. It's happened in
my own life to me where someone's blaming me just
because I'm a convenient target and this would be a
white woman. But also I know the stories, I know
the immatills, I know, you know, like I grew up
with this stuff. So I did myself a favor and
(09:11):
I googled, like, okay, just if I had to have
a conversation somebody bringing Juicy Smolette to my table saying oh,
it's the same thing. So I googled white women blaming
black men, just a starter point. Just I didn't get specific.
I wasn't looking for charts and data or anything like that,
just a vague like, hey, what exists out there that
(09:33):
I could draw upon to show some form of some
invisible system. You and i Q, we talk about invisible
systems all the time. This is one of them. Might argue,
it's an invisible system that supports white women in their narrative,
and this one didn't work out for this one white woman.
But the system exists, as illustrated by the fact that
(09:54):
she just was like all, I could just say a
couple of black guys did whatever and then get sympathy
or whatever her thing is. She knows that system exist.
We all know that system exist, and it's invisible to
those that choose to see it. It's there, and to
choose those that choose to ignore it, they can have
a convenient excuse to say that we are delusional as
(10:14):
a people, black people, and we are victims and we
have a self defeating mentality and all that sort of stuff.
But an invisible system. Nonetheless, back to my point, I
googled white women blaming black men, and you wouldn't believe
me if I told you I mean one of the
first articles fifteen times white women's lies in hysteria hurt
people of color, PBS, this is Yahoo, the Innocence Project,
(10:39):
Jim Crow Museum, The Guardian, you see law lynchings and
Central Power, all this stuff, okay, And it reminds me
of what DIO Hugh Lee says frequently that we talked
(11:01):
about before, and he says, you know, the most dangerous
place for a black man to exist is in the
imagination of a white person or some effectively. That's what
he says. And even though this isn't like literally true
in this case because there was no black man, this
wasn't imagining the fact that she holds black men in
(11:23):
that space. She knows that black men are scary. That's
that's a common, uh trope, that's a stereotype associated with us.
That's a that's a characteristic associated with us, that we're scary,
we're criminal, we're you know whatever. She leaned into that,
and at the same time leaned into her white womanness,
(11:46):
you know, those white woman tears, created this story and
then had people on social media going crazy with real
world implications for people who look like you and me,
and and and Kevin and Terry too, you know, and
I don't even want to get to our children, but
(12:07):
you know the real world implications as a result of
this invisible system supporting this one specific type of person.
And I think that that's decidedly different than what happened
with Juicy Smolett. So, hey, what's up.
Speaker 6 (12:22):
This is Ramsy's jaw and I am q Ward and
we're inviting you to subscribe to Civic Cipher, our weekly
social justice podcast right here in the app.
Speaker 7 (12:30):
We pride ourselves on creating a show that fusters allyship,
empathy and understanding, all the while conducting journalistically credible research
featuring influential, noteworthy guests, and empowering historically marginalized communities.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
The African proverb breeds, if you want to go far,
go together. So we are asking you to search for
and subscribe to Civic Cipher.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
That's civ C cip h e R right here in
the app. Black Information Network news anchors Terry McCready and
Kevin Brown are here with us discussing this week's major stories.
All right. As the world of politics and pro sports
continues to intertwine, more sports figures are expressing their views
(13:09):
on the current political climate. Recently, NBA head coach Doc
Rivers offered his thoughts on the current failings of the
Democratic Party and there's a lot of people who probably
agree with them. Terry, let's go back to you tell
us more about this story by Coach Rivers, and then
Kevin and Q will get your thoughts as well well.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Doc Rivers was a guest on this podcast. Basically, you know,
he lamented about how the Democratic Party is just willfully misdirected,
not connected, and he talked about how there are states
that continue to sort of elude the party, states that
Democrats just really haven't won in many decades. And he
(13:47):
said that he even had a conversation with a Senator
Corey Booker from New Jersey and he told him, you know,
the party is in this vicious cycle of you know,
repeating patterns and then expecting different outcomes. And you know,
he pointed out that you know, this messaging that is
a monumental challenge, but one that Republicans seem to be
(14:10):
able to really understand pretty well. They know how to
galvanize coalescing behind the message, while Democrats are sort of
caught up in this whirlpool just treading water, and I
think his observations are pretty solid. But I'm also not
sure about how important it is for Democrats as a
party to have and that's what we've been hearing. Oh,
we just need a voice. Who's going to be the leader?
Is it going to be Jasmine Crockett? Is it going
(14:31):
to be you know, AOC. I don't know how important
that is. Great if that is the case, or if
it were to become the case, but more valuable just
to connect I think with communities. As the old Chinese
proverb says, many hands make light work. So if we
do the research connecting with black men, really leaning in
(14:52):
to well, what were the things that led to Trump's victory? Seniors, entrepreneurs,
leaning solutions about the economy and healthcare and paid jobs
and housing. So I think that's kind of where we
are right now. But I don't think that, you know,
Doc Rivers was off the point at all. I think
he was directly on point.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Kevin.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
I concur message discipline matters, and Democrats suffer from a
lack of discipline when it comes to messaging of under
the democratic tent, there are principles that everyone can agree
on and rarely to Democrats have the messaging discipline to
(15:35):
make those the foundation of what they represent. There's a
strong and the Republicans do it well. A matter of fact,
they run circles around Democrats in terms of message discipline,
and what it boils down to is coming up with
a theme and repeating it over and over and over again.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Too.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
If I may.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Just sh.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
A brief note, I so, first off, I don't want
to be unkind to Doc Rivers. I've heard his name before,
but I don't know if he was critical prior to
the election or not of Democrats. But one of the
(16:23):
things that I feel is important that people bear in
mind is that hindsight is always twenty twenty and unfortunately,
the hindsight that people have when it comes to Democrats
is very It's very perspective based, and so everybody has
(16:44):
their own individual take on what could have happened, should
have happened, And maybe everybody's right or maybe everybody's wrong.
You know who's to say. But I feel like it's
probably worth listening to people who were critical of Democrats
during the last election or prior to the last election
than it is to listen to Democrats who have criticized
(17:08):
the Democratic Party after the election, because everybody trying to
make sense of it, and everybody talking about messaging, and
everybody talking about anything that they would have done differently.
I think it's just I think now it's getting to
the point where it's it's no longer helpful. And you know,
(17:31):
myself included. I'll throw myself in there because I've been
famously critical of, you know, the Democrats' response to Israel
and the Godza strip, and that caused voter apathy. People
wanted to stay home because they didn't want to get
out there. And that's from my perspective. I hang out
with activist. I am one, you know, I get outside
and make it. You know what I'm saying, I'm pre
(17:52):
Palestine all that, and you know, who's to say if
I'm right or wrong?
Speaker 4 (17:58):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
But I think that we're kind of at a point
now where we probably should switch our conversation to what
we can do as individuals rather than what the Democratic
Party can do, because at the end of the day,
the Democratic Party and all the elected officials, they work
for us, and we are the leaders and they represent us.
(18:23):
And I think that we've lost that narrative in the
era of celebrity politicians, and so I don't I don't
want anybody to put too much stake into what Doc
Winters says. Rivers says it just you know, maybe he's right,
(18:43):
but I think that your own truth might be a
little bit more relevant to you and in local politics,
as you mentioned Kevin in your own community, and you know,
be that leader. H just just my thoughts, Q. I
didn't mean to jump in front of you, but I
just that's that's what I had to say.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
Your thoughts, Well, you absolutely meant to jump in front
of me. You did that with full intention and made
some very incredible points. So to have no comments you
got it. Well, sorry, that'll be great. Great minds think alike.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
You need to do it.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
You absolutely meant to raise that hand up and said
some very really brilliant things that I agree with.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
You know, and in an era where the other side
collased around white supremacy and hate, yep, it's hard to
program against that. Yeah, so I agree with almost everything
you said. We'll close out this week's show with some
advice on the future of employment opportunities from the Black CEO,
one of America's most successful companies. Kevin tell us a
little bit more about Marvin Ellison's comments on employment and
(19:50):
a I tell you this just close us out.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Yeah, this was interesting because mister Allison raised a few
eyebrows with his observations. He is the CEO of Lowells
and has actually done very well with the company, at
least the investors are very happy with him. And in
(20:14):
this speech he mentioned he was talking about the moving
the effect of what AI is going to do to society,
and his quote was AI is coming for every job
that requires critical thinking and creativity, and his advice was
(20:38):
to stay close to customers. It is interesting that first
of all, he acknowledged how significant Hey and how significant
AI is going to be in all of our lives
moving forward. But he also reiterated one of the basic
(20:59):
foundations of marketing to people. As one politician once said,
all politics is local, so are sales to a certain degree.
And if you allow yourself to become detached from what
consumers want and need, you will suffer greatly.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
That's some really good insight, Terry. What you got for us.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Well, when you look at the political parties publicans versus Democrats,
you know we're always hearing them taut still trade, still
trade versus four years of traditional higher education. And I
know for a fact that there was a time when
there was a certain stigma attached when you talk about
alternative high schools with that code for oh, you just
(21:51):
really can't cut the mustard. Oh you know, poor Jimmy,
he has to go to an alternative high school and
you have to actually whisper it because it's just so humiliating,
it's embarrassed. But I think there is, you know, a
utilitarian argument to be made, especially with some of these
soul stealing student loans. And I've heard some on the
right argue, well, what happens if you know, when I
get out of high school, I'm going to start my
(22:13):
own business. I need to buy a truck. Am I
going to be able to have my loan forgiven for
my fifty thousand dollars you know, f one fifty. So, yes,
Ellison's point is well taken. If everyone is wary of
AI right now, it makes perfect sense to understand that
our electricians, construction workers, other direct customer service vocations like plumbers,
(22:36):
fun gold right now. And so when he says stay
close to the register, that is wise. You know, there
is this certain cachet for corporate jobs, but I think
it's also time for us to dispel the myths and
be real. Not only would ourselves, but when the next generation.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
Miss John.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
You know what I first read this one, certainly the
headlines stay close to the Register. I was like, hmm,
it's odd because artificial intelligence is it like, came for
the registers a long time ago? Like, you don't really,
there's plenty of stores where they don't even have registers.
You just pick up stuff and walk out the store
with it and it'll charge your account or whatever. Or
(23:20):
spatial recognition software, there's RFID tagging, there's you know, and
this was like right after self checkouts rolled out, there
were you know, test markets around that. Now, of course
it hasn't been widely implemented in this country, but it
does exist. So staying close to the register felt a
little a little odd from the say, But I think
(23:41):
the more pressing issue is that I happen to know
that the CEO of Low's was a black man. And
I also happen to know that Low's rolled back their
DEI in twenty twenty four, prior to Trump taking office,
and that was kind of like a twisting of the knife.
(24:04):
You know. Well, no, that was the gut punch. I
think this is the twisting of the knife, you know
what I mean With this article. He says that stay
close to the register. And there's another part. I don't
want to miss quote him, but some he says something like,
(24:25):
you know, stay out of the boardrooms and stay close
to the register, or like stay out of upper management,
that sort of thing, and that felt a little like
m you know, maybe he's saying that to warn people that,
you know, black people that you know, if you make
it to upper management or like into the C suite
(24:46):
or something, there's people that are going to like come
for your job and people that are going to say
you're not qualified for it or whatever. And I didn't
love that because it felt like he was encouraging people
to shoot for the middle or really shoot for the bottom.
And then, of course, after that, when I got into
the weeds, I recognized that he was talking about artificial
intelligence and how AI can make executive level decisions and
(25:09):
be more successful than humans can. And if that's not
the case now, it certainly can be the case in
the future. So you know, I really don't know what
to make of this, if I'm being honest, But I
think that the language here can be a little misleading
(25:30):
no matter how you look at it, because the register
part of this that's you know, now, to be fair,
there's other parts of the article that talks about, you know,
people are going to need new roofs, people are going
to need electrical work, you know, appliances break things like that,
and artificial intelligence can't come for those jobs. So you know,
(25:51):
people should consider taking those routes in order to secure
their economic future. And you know, I can't disagree with that.
I can't predict the future any any better than anyone
else can. But again, the language here is a little
misleading because registers that was like the first thing to go,
So staying close to the register doesn't really feel like
(26:12):
there's a lot of job security there. So we'll see
what happens, you know. And and to be fair, I
don't want to be again, I don't want to be unkind.
I know that there's a lot of people that thought
that they were doing the right thing by rolling back
their DEI I just you know, I'm I'm pretty consistent
with how I move and black CEO or not. If
(26:34):
you roll back, DEI I can't really rock with you,
so you know I'm not I'm not buying from from Loew's.
You know, I'm not buying Kanye's music. I don't care
how black he is, you know, I'm just one of them.
So but best of luck to him. He is a
black man, for better or worse, and you know, I hope,
hope he continues to thrive so well ly down right
there as always, I'd like to thank you both very
(26:56):
much for your time and your inside. Once again, today's
guest of Black Information Network news anchor Terry McCready and
Kevin Brown. This has been a production of the Black
Information Network. Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have
some thoughts you'd like to share, use the red microphone
talkback feature on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be
sure to hit subscribe and download all of our episodes.
(27:17):
I am your host Ramsey's job on all social media.
Speaker 5 (27:21):
I am Qward on all social media as well.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
And we'll be hosting another episode of Civic Cipher this
weekend on a station near you. For stations, showtimes, and
podcast info, check Civiccipher dot com and join us Monday
as we share our news with our voice from our
perspective right here on the QR code
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