First Of All with Victor Blackwell
Victor Blackwell brings a fresh perspective on the week's news with a focus on stories affecting communities of color.
Episodes
August 30, 2025 • 42 mins
President Trump is reportedly preparing to send in the Feds to tackle crime and immigration enforcement in Chicago. State and city leaders say they do not want that to happen. Trump says beautiful “African American Ladies” in Chicago do. Victor speaks to Danielle Carter-Walters of Chicago Flips Red, who says the President was referring to her. First - a look at whether Trump’s words about fighting crime match actual actions towards...
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President Trump says he may expand his federal law enforcement takeover to Chicago, because “African American ladies, beautiful ladies” are asking him to do so. Victor discusses this and other topics, including redistricting and Target’s handling of DEI, with LaTosha Brown, Cory Ruth and Pastor Jamal Bryant. A former FBI Supervisory Special Agent says the agency's anti-DEI stance could make the country less safe. L. Nicole Dunn joi...
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August 16, 2025 • 41 mins
Could President Trump's meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin have “just been an email,” or is something substantive starting to emerge after their summit in Alaska? Victor speaks with Retired Brigadier General and Democratic candidate for Congress Shawn Harris, political commentator Janelle King and author Charles Blow. They also discuss President Trump’s escalating effort to reshape the presentation of history and culture at Smith...
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August 2, 2025 • 41 mins
Black unemployment rose again in the latest jobs report. Victor breaks down the concern this raises for every racial group with writers Ernie Suggs, Michael Harriot and Jason “Jah” Lee. The guys also weigh in on the decision by former Vice President Kamala Harris to skip a run for governor of California. Plus, the controversy over American Eagle’s “Great Jeans” ad featuring Sydney Sweeney.
While schools like Columbia and Brown ...
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July 26, 2025 • 42 mins
People in Gaza are starving. A ceasefire would help to restart the flow of aid, but the U.S. just withdrew from talks. Now President Trump is saying Israel should "finish the job" against Hamas. Victor discusses the crisis with Dr. Bashara Bahbah. the leader of “Arab Americans for Peace,” formerly called "Arab Americans for Trump".
What is life like for the migrants being held in a detention facility deep in the Florida Evergla...
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July 12, 2025 • 42 mins
Loved ones gather to remember Jabari Peoples, a teen shot and killed by police in Alabama. Even after he's laid to rest, the questions surrounding his death remain. Police won't show them the bodycam footage and a state lawmaker says one of their lawyers may be partly to blame. Victor speaks with that state representative and the family attorney.
Plus, Head Start is a vital resource for millions of low income families acro...
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June 28, 2025 • 42 mins
One family's legacy is closely tied to the Supreme Court ruling that just gave President Trump more power by restricting lower courts. Victor speaks with Norman Wong, the great-grandson of the man whose case led to a landmark decision on birthright citizenship more than 100 years ago, Wong Kim Ark.
Plus, Florida's tribes are speaking out against construction of a migrant detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz". The Chai...
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June 21, 2025 • 42 mins
Right now, a journalist who has reported on immigration issues in Georgia for years is facing deportation after being arrested while covering a protest. Mario Guevara’s attorney says he is in the U.S. legally yet remains in ICE custody. Victor speaks with Guevara’s lawyer, Giovanni Díaz, along with Alondra Madrigal who works closely with Mario as a reporter with MG News and Guevara's son, Oscar Guevara Saenz, who is also a photojou...
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June 14, 2025 • 40 mins
Flag Day is marked by “No Kings” protests nationwide as President Trump hosts a massive military parade. DC Councilmember Christina Henderson, who is also the daughter of an Army veteran, joins Victor.
Plus – Victor speaks to Black Marine veteran Phillip E. Thompson. He’ll explain his recent article for the Washington Post saying young Americans of color should “pause and reassess” service in the military.
Later, you'll hea...
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June 7, 2025 • 41 mins
Job Corps is a lifeline for thousands of low-income students, and there is bipartisan concern about a Trump administration effort to close the program. Victor speaks about the legal fight now underway with Donna Hay, President and CEO of the National Job Corps Association.
After claiming it was impossible to bring back a man mistakenly deported to El Salvador, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is back in the U.S. to face federal criminal ch...
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May 31, 2025 • 40 mins
19-year-old college student Ximena Arias-Cristobal was wrongfully pulled over in Dalton, Georgia recently. She spent weeks in ICE detention. One of her supporters through this ordeal is a Republican. Georgia State Representative Kasey Carpenter joins Ximena and Victor to discuss his opposition to her detention, and their push for meaningful immigration reform.
Plus, the fight over Massapequa High School's Native American mascot...
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May 24, 2025 • 41 mins
5 years after the murder of George Floyd, changes made in an effort to make police departments more accountable are being reversed by the Trump administration. Victor speaks with Michael Harrison, an independent law enforcement investigator who has been following police reforms in Minneapolis and cities across the country.
After the Mayor of Chicago touted the diverse staff in his office, the Justice Department announced that t...
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May 17, 2025 • 41 mins
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin returns to defend the Trump administration's move to expedite refugee status for White South Africans while broadly suspending most other refugee programs. Victor also presses her on alleged plans for a reality show featuring immigrants, and her claims about protesters at an ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey.
Plus, Monique Pressley joins Victor to ...
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May 10, 2025 • 42 mins
The Trump administration narrative around the arrest of the Mayor of Newark takes a turn when a Department of Homeland Security official floats the possibility of arrest for members of congress who are accused of “body slamming” immigration agents. Victor speaks with the DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Tricia McLaughlin. And just hours after leaving custody, Mayor Ras Baraka responds to McLaughlin’s claims and his arres...
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April 26, 2025 • 6 mins
“Real Women Have Curves” is making Broadway history, both in its casting and story. The musical puts the spotlight on a Hispanic, immigrant family at a timely moment in America. Ahead of the show’s official opening night, Victor speaks with director and choreographer Sergio Trujillo, and stars Tatianna Córdoba and Florencia Cuenca, about how they took what was originally a play and HBO movie starring America Ferrera - and made it a...
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April 19, 2025 • 41 mins
For the past 40 days, Pastor Jamal Bryant has been leading a Target “fast” over the retailer’s decision to pull back on DEI. He reveals to Victor what came from a meeting with the company’s CEO and plans for a “second phase” of boycotts.
Head Start has helped millions of low-income children get access to an early education. Now a Trump Administration budget draft calls for the elimination of federal funding for the program. Dr. D...
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April 12, 2025 • 40 mins
A new survey of how consumers feel about the economy confirms: the vibes are off. And we know the impact is disproportionately felt by people of color, trying to save for the future and retirement. Victor asks entrepreneur John Hope Bryant if he sees a way forward.
An immigration judge in Louisiana says pro-Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported. Members of Khalil’s legal team, Baher Azmy and Ramzi Kassem, te...
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April 5, 2025 • 40 mins
The rollout of President Trump’s tariff plans is generating a lot of anxiety on Wall Street and main streets across the country. Victor speaks with economist Valerie Wilson, who lays out the disproportionate risks people of color could face from Trump’s trade war. And Victor gets real-world perspective from Atlanta-based small business owner Felipe Arroyave, who is worried that the tariff whiplash is putting his American dream at r...
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March 29, 2025 • 41 mins
The Trump Administration is fighting to detain and deport Cornell student activist Momodou Taal. Taal’s attorneys, Eric Lee and Chris Godshall-Bennett, have a warning about other foreign students they say are being targeted across the country.
President Trump says he wants to remove "improper ideology" from our nation's top historical and cultural institution, the Smithsonian. Pulitzer-prize winning historian of African American h...
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March 22, 2025 • 41 mins
The Department of Defense is getting heat for misfiring badly in their rush to scrub DEI from their websites. Former Secretary of the Air Force, Frank Kendall, joins Victor to share a warning about the military's diversity purge.
After a judge called out the "frightening implications" of President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants, Victor gets perspective from Jose Antonio Vargas, who made headlines after te...
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