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In this episode, we philosophically engage the myth of Trickle Down Blackness -- the concept that if a select group of Black people can gain access into elite spaces then the fruits of that access will magically trickle down to the masses of Black people. Joining us to discuss this phenomenon is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò.  Also, we discuss how privilege discourse often centers Black elite priorities, how power creates incentive structures, and how organizing for transformative change sometimes requires moral compromises.  Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò Bio His theoretical work draws liberally from the Black radical tradition, contemporary philosophy of language, contemporary social science, German transcendental philosophy, materialist thought, histories of activism, and activist thinkers.  He is currently writing a book entitled Reconsidering Reparations that considers a novel philosophical argument for reparations and explores links with environmental justice.  He also writes public philosophy, including articles exploring intersections of climate justice and colonialism. He has published the Nation, The New Republic, Al Jazeera, and the Boston review among plenty more.  http://bostonreview.net/race/olufemi-o-taiwo-identity-politics-and-elite-capture https://www.thephilosopher1923.org/essay-taiwo https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/disp/ahead-of-print/article-10.2478-disp-2018-0007/article-10.2478-disp-2018-0007.xml  

In part 2, we speak with the co-chairs (Alexis Tardy And Mat Davis) of the Indiana Racial Justice Alliance on how they as a grassroots organization can organize to decentralize against police power. They discuss their demands: Defund, Community Control, and Ending Cash Bail and Pre-detention. We explore the terrain of their demands by asking conceptual democracy questions all the way down to the procedural issues on being elected to public safety boards. We focus on how to gain this power so Black People can counter the institutions that perpetuate the myth of the perfect victim.   Donate to Reed Familly: $DemetreeWynn

With last month's grand jury announcement that no charges will be filed against the IMPD officer (Dejoure Mercer) who killed Dreasjon Reed, members of the Indiana Racial Justice Alliance (Nabeela Virjee & Nigel Long ) join us for a conversation on how police bury victims through the bureaucratic process. We go in-depth regarding 'The Myth of The Perfect Victim.' A myth that blames the behavior of Black people instead of the system itself. Donate to Reed Familly: $DemetreeWynn

We are still joined by Dr. Charisse Burden and Dr. Jared Ball. In part two of our conversation on 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,' we explore how the themes discussed in the first episode (Anti-communism, Black buying power, The Black bourgeoisie, etc) relate to our current political moment. We discuss the current propaganda machine, class dynamics of Black lives matter, the negotiating between organizing and ideology, and how red-baiting is ever so present in our political cycle. 

In part one of this conversation, we discuss the origins of the phrase 'Revolution Will Not Be Televised' coined by the late poet Gil Scott-Heron, how the phrase has been misunderstood, and the history that preceded it. Our guests are Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly and Dr. Jared Ball. They discuss Their subsequent works: "Black Cold War Liberalism as an Agency Reduction Formation during the Late 1940s and the Early 1950s" and "The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power."  Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly is an assistant professor of Africana Studies and political science at Carleton College. In 2020–21, she will serve as the Postdoctoral Research Associate for the Race and Capitalism Project at the University of Chicago. She is also the coauthor, with Gerald Horne, of W. E. B. Du Bois: A Life in American History, and she is currently working on a manuscript, The Radical Horizon of Black Betrayal: Anticommunism and Racial Capitalism in the United States, 1917–1954. Dr. Jared A. Ball is a father and husband. After that, he is a Professor of Communication Studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. and is founder/curator of imixwhatilike.org a multimedia hub of emancipatory journalism and revolutionary beat reporting. Ball is also author of The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power and editor A Lie of Reinvention: Correcting Manning Marable's Malcolm X

In part one we discussed how crime is an idea defined by the state, not by morality, how harm is a product of oppression, and most harm committed between black people is not racially motivated therefore the term black on black misleads us in understanding what occurred.  In part 2 we will be speaking with Jacques Lesure. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Earlier this year he had a piece published in Race-Baitr called "The Problem With Using Proximity in Poverty to Dismiss the Fallacies of Black-on-Black Crime." He essentially argues we need to move beyond the liberal and conservative binary of so-called black on black crime that either blames poverty or blames the victim for the problem. https://racebaitr.com/2020/08/05/the-problem-with-using-proximity-poverty-to-dismiss-the-fallacies-of-black-on-black-crime/?fbclid=IwAR3McHsfCXEYQtNCCp15ogglyepqskwbklvDDXTVpvwv98P28TxhhaX6qos

Black-on-Black crime is one of the most commonly held myths In relation to Black people. It pathologizes the harms that Black people commit and endure between each other into a racist myth about criminality. In this episode, we not only challenge the poor racial logic but the foundation of crime itself. We explore gang violence, underground economy, state repression, and how Black people care for each other beyond the definitions of the state.

For part two we are engaged in a hybrid episode. We both laid out a historical timeline covering the efficacy of voting with an examination of the Congressional Black Caucus and discussed we discussed the question of voting and the state with our guest Dr. Yannick Giovanni Marshall. Dr. Marshall is currently an assistant professor of Africana Studies at Knoxville College. His writing has been published in Al Jazeera and Black Perspectives of the African American Intellectual History Society. Dr. Marshall helps us understand why voting out the proud boys isn't enough for liberation from the settler colony.

We dedicate part 1 of this episode to Ms. Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer. We debunk the myth that Black people died so they could vote. We cover the reasons why Black people sought out the right to vote, the purpose of organizing for power beyond the ballot box, and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Also, Too Black makes a confession. 

Continuing with our celebration of Black August, this is our last installment of the myth 'We Are Not Our Ancestors.' We had the wonderful honor of speaking with Dr. Joy James. Joy James is Ebenezer Fitch Professor of Humanities at Williams College. She is the editor of several anthologies on politics and incarceration, including The New Abolitionists and Imprisoned Intellectuals.  She provides us with astute commentary on the Black ancestral struggle, abolitionism, the pitfalls of the academy, Black class politics, Captive Maternal, state, and police violence. In light of the recent police shootings of Jacob Blake and other black people This is a sobering interview.

Continuing with our celebration of Black August, this is our last installment of the myth 'We Are Not Our Ancestors.' We had the wonderful honor of speaking with Dr. Joy James. Joy James is Ebenezer Fitch Professor of Humanities at Williams College. She is the editor of several anthologies on politics and incarceration, including The New Abolitionists and Imprisoned Intellectuals.  She provides us with astute commentary on the Black ancestral struggle, abolitionism, the pitfalls of the academy, Black class politics, Captive Maternal, state, and police violence. In light of the recent police shootings of Jacob Blake and other black people This is a sobering interview.

This month we celebrate Black August in memory of George Jackson and Black resistance. In this episode, we spoke with the executive editor of the Black Agenda Report, Glen Ford. We held a robust conversation with Mr. Ford about Bill Clinton, Obama, Malcolm X, criticizing our leaders in the public, the Democratic party, Kamala Harris, political prisoners, his ideas about defunding, and abolishing the police, and if we should call for community control of the police. We did not enter this episode with a specific myth but we concluded with the myth that Dem. Politics is Black Politics. 

In part two of 'We Are Not Our Ancestors' we explore The significance of Malcolm X's "Message to the Grassroots" speech.  We discuss how the vision that Malcolm X articulates impacts the following generation in a way that completely defies the idea of docile ancestors. We also briefly discuss the Black Panther Party and the implications of radical politics today within the Black lives matter context.

As Kanye disrespects Harriet Tubman, the prevailing notion of this myth continues to expose itself. 'We are not our ancestors' was always a black brunch charade of militancy attempting to hide the fact that they don't read. It perpetuates the myth that all black people have ever done to resist was sing songs and turn the other cheek as if today's young generation is the first to fight back.   Therefore, in this episode, we focus on the role of armed resistance in the US black struggle.

We spoke with the author and Indiana University professor Micol Seigal. She is the author of Violence Work: State Power and the Limits of Police. In this episode, we expand our conversation about the meaning of police in society And across the world.

‘We need the police’ is an old adage used to redirect any alternative conception of safety.  As the murder of George Floyd has sparked unrest across America, black activist organizers have forced the nation to question what the role of the police is in our society.  In this episode, we interrogate their role by investigating the true origins of police (union-busting and slave patrolling), who they are meant to protect and serve, and what alternatives we should explore beyond the police....This is the first episode in our new season covering black social movement myths.

In part two of our myth Black Don' Crack: Black Women Die Because They Don’t Take Care of Themselves, we interview social worker Tynisha Collins. Collins lays out her traumatic experience with her pregnancy to shine a light on the issues black women experience under maternal care. Collins also lays out ways in which black women can speak up for themselves when facing neglect from medical professionals. Great episode.

Black women make up 57 percent of maternal deaths in America despite being less than 10 percent of the US population. Overall, Black women suffer disproportionately from obesity, heart disease, blood pressure, and more issues related to the medical field. In this episode, we debunk the myth that these disparities are a result of Black women's lack of personal responsibility and apathy to take care of themselves.  

Myth: Police Killings are Modern Day Lynchings. Considering the climate in America today in relation to police violence we sit down with Dr. Rasul Mowatt, (Professor, American Studies, Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies at Indiana University) to discuss the importance of naming history in the past and present for what it is. We explore the definitions, history, and nature of lynchings, and how they correspond with our understanding of police killings today. Support the Family/organizations PayPal.me/blmindy - Black Lives Matter Indy $DemetreeWynn - Dreasjon Reed’s Mother for legal help

  For part 2 of 'Is Melanin a Super Power?' we interview Dr. Nina Jablonski. She is an anthropologist and paleontologist, known for her work on the evolution of skin color in human beings. She is currently the Evan Pugh University Professor of anthropology at Penn State University. Dr. Jablonski is the author of two books Skin: A Natural History, and Living Color: The Biological and Social Meaning of Skin Color. She has also been featured on PBS, TED Talk, and the Bill Nye Science Podcast among many more publications and broadcasts.