Podcasts about white america

On this episode of Antioch MFA's LitCit, host Bo Thomas Newman chats with author, screenwriter, editor, director, journalist, and professor, Morgan Jerkins. They discuss her multifaceted career as a professor, editor and journalist, the balance between fiction and nonfiction, her past works such as This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America and Caul Baby, her path to directing her first short film, Black Madonna, and how her new novel, Zeal, came to be, which is in stores now. This episode was produced by Mansi Aneja and mastered by Mitko Grigorov.

In this episode of the Watchung Booksellers Podcast, we feature a recent book launch discussion with Benjamin Wallace, author of The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto: A Fifteen-Year Quest to Unmask the Secret Genius Behind Crypto, and author Jason Tanz.Benjamin Wallace is The New York Times bestselling author of The Billionaire's Vinegar and The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto. He has been a features writer at New York magazine and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair.Jason Tanz is currently a writer at Salesforce and formerly the editor-in-chief at Lyft. Before that he worked at Wired for many years. He is the author of Other People's Property: A Shadow History of Hip Hop in White America.Books:A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available here. Register for Upcoming Events.The Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup and is recorded at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ. The show is edited by Kathryn Counsell. Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica. Art & design and social media by Evelyn Moulton. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff. Thanks to all the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids' Room! If you liked our episode please like, follow, and share! Stay in touch!Email: wbpodcast@watchungbooksellers.comSocial: @watchungbooksellersSign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!

This week on KellzPodcast: Women's Final Four, White America chose ashes, DEI, and I am tired of stupidity

Lester Kiewit speaks to world renowned diversity trainer and teacher Jane Elliott who famously conducted the blue eye, brown eye exercise with her students to demonstrate the irrational and ridiculous constructs of racism. They discuss the expulsion from the US of SA Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, after he was accused of being a race baiting politician by the Trump administration, and the fear held by right wing white America that fuelled the move.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on "Don't@ME", Woke "Guardian" article, Cooper Flagg and Kevin Love, Dems keep spiraling and WNBA star on Caitlin. Plus, Co-Host, "Hot Mic w/ Hutton & Withrow, Chad Withrow shares his thoughts on the games from over the weekend and who he likes in this Final 4 field to win it all. And Host, NBA Radio on Sirius XM, Brian Geltzeiler on what he makes of Cade Cunningham's growth so far throughout his NBA career… and if he believes he could ultimately bring a championship back to Detroit? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode Summary:You need to sit down for this episode.Mercer University's Dr. Angela Parker joins me today on the podcast for a heart-wrenching conversation about white supremacy, intersectionality, womanist theology, authoritarian Christianity, decolonization, Kamala Harris, and her sought-after book, If God Still Breathes, Why Can't I? According to Eerdmans Publishing House, “Angela Parker wasn't just trained to be a biblical scholar; she was trained to be a White male biblical scholar. She is neither White nor male.” Thank God.Womanist theology is a methodological approach to theology that centers the experiences and perspectives of Black women, particularly African-American women. Emerging in the mid to late 1980s, it serves as a corrective to early feminist theology—which often overlooked racial issues—and Black theology, which predominantly reflected male viewpoints. In plain language, Womanist theology interprets the Bible, Christianity, and life here in the American empire through the eyes and lived experiences of Black women.As a Black scholar who traces her family history out of slavery, segregation, Jim Crow, and into the halls of higher education, Dr. Parker talks candidly about what it means to be an educated Black woman in both predominantly white higher education and Trump's MAGA America.I know I say this a lot, but this is one of the most important conversations we've had to date on Holy Heretics.If the United States is to survive the MAGA cult, it will be through the embodied actions, wisdom, spirituality, and lived experience of Black women and men who understand what it takes to resist, regroup, and offer the world a beautiful invitation into God's beloved, alternative community. In the context of Trump's America, characterized by racist policies and rhetoric, Womanist theology is particularly poignant. By offering a framework that not only addresses the intersections of race, gender, and class, “womanism” also actively resists the oppressive structures of White America.BIO:Rev. Dr. Angela N. Parker is associate professor of New Testament and Greek at McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University. She received her B.A. in religion and philosophy from Shaw University (2008), her M.T.S. from Duke Divinity School (2008-2010) and her Ph.D. in Bible, culture, and hermeneutics from Chicago Theological Seminary (2015). Before this position, Dr. Parker was assistant professor of Biblical Studies at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. She teaches courses in New Testament, Greek Exegesis, the Gospel of Mark, the Corinthians Correspondence, the Gospel of John, and Womanist and Feminist Hermeneutics unto preaching.In her research, Dr. Parker merges Womanist thought and postcolonial theory while reading biblical texts. Dr. Parker's most popular book is titled, If God Still Breathes, Why Can't I: Black Lives Matter and Biblical Authority. In this book, Dr. Parker draws from her experience as a Womanist New Testament scholar in order to deconstruct one of White Christianity's most pernicious lies: the conflation of biblical authority with the doctrines of inerrancy and infallibility. As Dr. Parker shows, these doctrines are less about the text of the Bible itself and more about the arbiters of its interpretation—historically, White males in positions of power who have used Scripture to justify control over marginalized groups. This oppressive use of the Bible has been suffocating. To learn to breathe again, Dr. Parker says, we must “let God breathe in us.”Please Follow us on social media (use the buttons below) and help us get the word out! (Also, please don't hesitate to use any of these channels or email to contact us with any questions, concerns, or feedback.)If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and a review, or share on your socials

A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots New York Times bestselling and National Magazine Award-winning author Morgan Jerkins will be at the Main Library this October to discuss Wandering in Strange Lands, the powerful story of her journey to understand her northern and southern roots, the Great Migration, and the displacement of black people across America. She will be the first featured Lit Chat author in the Library's new African American History series of community programs. The project, in part, seeks to expand the Library's African American History Collection and the associated Digital Community Archive and to make customers aware of all the FREE family research and local history resources available to them in the Special Collections Department at the Main Library, including the newly-expanded Memory Lab. For more information about how you can contribute materials to Special Collections or use these publicly-available resources to trace your family roots, research the history of your home or neighborhood and more, please click on this link. Morgan Jerkins's most recent book is the novel Caul Baby, an Amazon Best Book of 2021. Her other books are Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots, one of Time's must-read books of 2020, and This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America, a New York Times Bestseller. As a journalist, she's written about the internet, intersecting social issues and popular media through celebrity profiles and interviews, reportage, commentary, and personal essays. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Vanity Fair, among others. She's won two National Magazine Awards and was a Forbes 30 Under 30 Leader in Media. Jerkins is also a filmmaker. Her debut short film, Black Madonna, which she wrote and co-directed, was selected at the Big Apple Film Festival, Pan African Film & Arts Festival, and NewFilmmakers Los Angeles. She teaches Creative Writing at Princeton University, where she also holds a Bachelor's in Comparative Literature. She has an MFA from Bennington College, and has taught at Columbia University, Pacific University, The New School, and Leipzig University, where she was the Guest Picador Professor. Based in New York City, she was born and raised in New Jersey. Interviewer Prof. Tammy Cherry has taught at Florida State College at Jacksonville as an English professor for 22 years. Along with composition classes, Tammy teaches African American literature and honors classes. She is a lifelong Jacksonville resident and recently served as co-host for the WJCT podcast Bygone Jax. Praise for Morgan Jerkins's Books “In Morgan Jerkins's remarkable debut essay collection, This Will Be My Undoing, she is a deft cartographer of black girlhood and womanhood. From one essay to the next, Jerkins weaves the personal with the public and political in compelling, challenging ways... With this collection, she shows us that she is unforgettably here, a writer to be reckoned with.” — Roxanne Gay “[A] forthright and informative account. . . . Jerkins's careful research and revelatory conversations with historians, activists, and genealogists result in a disturbing yet ultimately empowering chronicle of the African-American experience. Readers will be moved by this brave and inquisitive book.” — Publishers Weekly on Wandering in Strange Lands “Morgan Jerkins' fantastic, expansive novel of mothers and daughters and Harlem, Caul Baby, is a meditation on the limits of inheritance and legacy. It's also a love letter to a rapidly changing neighborhood.”— Kaitlyn Greenidge Check out Morgan's works from the library! Continue Reading MORGAN RECOMMENDS Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado FEM by Magda Carneci THE LIBRARY RECOMMENDS Dear Ijeawele, or, A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper  Life, I Swear: Intimate Stories From Black Women on Identity, Healing, and Self-Trust by Chloe Dulce Louvouezo  A Renaissance of Our Own: A Memoir & Manifesto on Reimagining by Rachel E Cargle  Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine  The Love Song of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers  These Ghost are Family by Maisy Card  Neighbors and Other Stories by Diane Oliver  The Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton  --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at https://bit.ly/JaxLibraryUpdates  Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: https://jaxpubliclibrary.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaxlibrary Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaxLibrary/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaxlibrary/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jaxpubliclibraryfl Contact Us: jplpromotions@coj.net 

White America is divided. There are poor whites, many of whom have not gone to college and who support President Donald Trump, and liberal whites, many of whom have college degrees and who support the Democrats. This division, fostered by the corporate media, serves the interests of the wealthy class. Clearing the FOG speaks with Danny Shaw, author of the six-part series, "Despised: The Poor white Trash Manifesto", who has walked in both worlds. Shaw traveled last year to "Trump Country". He explains the crises that poor whites in the US experience and the way they are manipulated to believe that certain peoples, not the system, are to blame for their suffering. He also discusses the importance of organizing with poor whites and provides guidance on how to do this. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

60 MinutesPG-13This is a re-release of an episode with Trey Garrison. He is an author and investigative reporter who came on the show to talk about a book he wrote with his partner Richard McClure, "Opioids for the Masses: Big Pharma's War on Middle America and the White Working Class"Opioids for the MassesPete and Thomas777 'At the Movies'Support Pete on His WebsitePete's PatreonPete's SubstackPete's SubscribestarPete's GUMROADPete's VenmoPete's Buy Me a CoffeePete on FacebookPete on TwitterBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-pete-quinones-show--6071361/support.

Tap In to a 19Keys Live Exclusive - Step into the world of 19Keys with this exclusive audio experience! Explore high-level conversations, profound insights, and the transformative energy of 19Keys in action. This is your chance to experience the brilliance that's inspiring a global movement.

First Week.Based on a post by FinalStand, in 13 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels. I started out the next morning admiring the boarding on the window to the Principal's second story office. The ground and bushes beneath it were pretty trampled up too. That was a good way to start the day. In homeroom, I was talking to Kaelyne again when Princess Brandy announced her entrance and her 'power' over me.‘Hey Vlad,' she greeted me with sugary sweetness. She was working out ways to get me for the whole 'dog not kissing her mouth' thing.‘Hey Skank,' I grinned at her. Her face froze. Taliyah pulled up short.‘What did you say?' Brandy hissed.‘Skank. Are you hard of hearing?' I mused.‘I'm Darius' girl, asshole. You had better accept that right now.'‘Girl? Sure. I imagine that Darius and seven other guys fucking you in all three holes until you are oozing sperm is your ideal dream date,' I chortled.Having the scope of her depravity openly discussed really pissed her off.‘You are jealous,' she sneered. There was a hint of desperation in her voice. I chuckled.‘That's clearly delusional thinking,' I laughed. ‘You look hot, just not enough for me to want to wash my dick in ten other guys' cum. You act like a skank so that is how I will address you, Skank.'She was infuriated. The start of homeroom ended the matter for the moment. The rest of the day was spent with a hundred slights and pin pricks. Darius' crowd would get in jabs from behind as we walked the halls, or projectiles tossed at us during class. We were fine with that. There was no fighting back. The 'niggers' didn't get it.We were scoping out the faces of our enemies and finding blind spots in the school's security camera system. The truth about what happened to the Principal had also gotten out. Mom had already informed us of the series of events, including the spy camera video she took of the entire proceedings.She'd kept up the 'dunce housewife' act even after he whipped out his cock and forced her to suck it, because he was a 'big Black stud', his words recorded for posterity. Finally, he put his hand down her blouse to give her bountiful bosom a good squeeze while shoving his cock past her loudly protesting lips. That was all the excuse Mom needed. She portrayed the frantic housewife really well. We, her family, knew better.She was hamming it up to allay any criminal charges. His pleas for mercy were ignored. It was hard to make out what he was saying after she bashed out half his teeth with his 'African-American Educator of the Year' award. She'd ruptured his scrotum, stabbed his exposed cock repeatedly with a letter opener and cracked half a dozen vertebrae and a dozen ribs.We were pretty sure she'd broken his arms in multiple places, ground up both his hands and shattered his left wrist. She snapped his right leg in two, all the while screaming 'Don't touch me! Don't touch me!' Her last bit of sadism was to toss him out his second story window. The first try, he bounced back, but we were pretty sure he had a concussion.The second try cracked the safety glass. The third time was the charm and down that rapist rat-bastard fell into a modest sized holly bush (ouch!). Mom completed the act by pretending to sob as she crawled into a corner of the office while she dialed 9-1-1. As she gleefully went over the play-by-play for us once home, we knew she was cool about the entire incident, even the groping and forced blowjob.It was Davis County jurisdiction so they were in charge of the investigation. That didn't stop Kingston from sticking their noses in. The Mayor was all about the Principal being a pillar of the community, a Black leader and a church-going man. Then the School's video evidence came out. The Principle had been so full of himself and his immunity, he recorded his attempted violation of my Mom.Did the Negro community accept the obvious? No. This was a racist White lady, from a racist family, framing a good Black man though how she accomplished that was unclear to most of us and undefined by the Black leadership. They claimed that the Principal had yet to give his side of the story. That would take a while. The man had lost most of his teeth and had his jaw wired shut.Both eardrums were ruptured and he could barely see out of his right eye. His left was swollen shut. His nose was pancaked. There was even a rumor that his penis was so badly mauled they had to cut most of it off (which turned out to be true). Big Bob, some deputies (all White) and some Highway Patrol (both colors) raided the Principal's house and found a stockpile of tapes and DVDs depicting previous sexual encounters at school going back almost two decades.Apparently that was nothing more than extra proof of the hateful, bigoted White man framing a decent, hard-working Black man. That any group could be so blinded by their own bigotry that they would embrace such a blatant fiction was appalling to me. At school, the Blacks were indignant and the Whites kept a low profile, as if they'd done something wrong.The one grey cloud in this monsoon of misery was basketball tryouts were on Thursday after school. We picked up consent forms from a furious coach that slathered on the kind of negativity we had come to expect from him and his sick breed. White boys can't jump. White boys can't dunk. White boys can score inside the 'paint'; yep. No racism there (insert maniacal laughter).The Assistant Athletic Director coached the basketball team. He was a short, thin, hyperactive White man and, as we were to learn, a race-hater. He hated White people, or at least White athlete wannabes. More on him later. There were two key developments on my front. First, Alexander informed us he had a side project he couldn't talk about yet.The second thing was that Darius demanded, by way of Brandy, that I took Brandy to an 'after victory' celebration out by the lake Friday night. From 9 p.m. to whenever, I was to sit back and let Brandy be used like a drunk runaway at an outlaw biker rally. Personally, I didn't see how that could be an enjoyable sexual experience.Brandy believed this made her Darius' lady. She certainly embraced the bukkake, sperm baths eagerly. I still chose to ridicule her constantly because I could tell she was having trouble rationalizing her sexual treatment with any style of romance, or affection. She hadn't been honest with me so I was now tormenting her and using her shame to stab at Darius.We could see it in his eyes whenever we mocked his crowd. Darius was plotting out his revenge. His problem was we didn't care what he called us, we didn't care about the teachers he turned against us and we had no spies in our camp, or friends to turn against us. We accepted our social life, for the time being, would be limited to our home.Mom hinted she had a 'plan' in the offing and proved the internet had rendered local belligerence impudent. All our supplies came by parcel delivery from out of town. We wired up a new home security system, engaging a Little Rock private security service instead of putting any faith in the local, Black-run firm. We signed a waiver for the self-install.There were times when we could totally believe that Mom and Uncle Theo were twins. Technically, as the twin born last, Mom was the youngest of the five children. For unspoken reasons, Theo ended up at a military academy for delinquents at fifteen. She only publically saw him three times since then. Once when she broke into his school (and got caught), at his academy graduation and lastly when he finished basic training for the Army.Yet they remained close in ways only multiple birth kids could understand despite the time and distance. It also meant Mom came equipped with (cough) healthy doses of paranoia and vindictiveness. Mom reminded us our battle wasn't limited to the school. We were fighting a secularist religion with a fanatic core.Had Black Americans been fucked over by White America? Yep. That didn't end 150 years ago either. There was Jim Crow legislation after Reconstruction as well as uninvestigated rapes, beatings, whippings, lynching and even being burned alive. All horrors visited on the Black Race by the White Man.Yet it was White men who passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Yes they did, but getting Black people to accept that there were White people who stood with them as equals was impossible. Since 1965, had there been Black councilmen/women, mayors, state legislators, governors, Congressmen/women, Supreme Court Justices and, dare we say, a president?Why yes. Where there Blacks in every aspect of professional life? Damn right there were. Where there Black millionaires? Thousands of them, and even an African-American self-made Billionaire. So exactly what were White Americans supposed to feel guilty about? Crap our parents and grandparents did? Great-grandparents?When was the cut-off date for being held accountable for actions you had no part in? There were poor Black people. There were poor White people and poor Latinos for that matter. As far as my Mom was concerned, racism was racism and it had no exceptions for color, creed, and orientation coming, or going.She'd given the Blacks of Kingston their chance to make things right, to end the cycle of hate. They had declined to rein in their own, so she felt no obligation for her, or her sons, to give obedience to their injustice.There was a pile of evidence that the Principal had done wrong, still Kingston treated him like a hero and martyr. Fuck that noise. Mom didn't want to start some wacked-out guerilla war. She only wanted to punish those responsible for this fucked up situation. Target #1, Darius and by default, Darius' family. That, in turn, was Darius' biggest problem.He didn't realize he was hunting people more than capable of hunting the hunters. We knew he and his supporters were coming for our family, they had tons of advantages and little fear of the four of us (we wouldn't involve Dad since he was in law enforcement and a straight arrow). We weren't aiming for a body count. Our goal was humiliation and breaking their wills to resist.With that accomplished, we could install some truly impartial justice and social order. My family was aided in this quest by the clarity of our enemy's weaknesses. They were proud of their Big Black Cocks and their lack of restraint in using them on whomever they pleased. Basing their Black masculinity on a single bit of mythology rendered them painfully vulnerable to us.They hadn't chosen to base their dominion on anything but their cock and balls. Solidarity, economic output and healthy competitiveness had been tossed aside. The Black community in Kingston accepted Black male predation as the natural course of things. It was revenge for the White Master/Black Slave Girl depredations that happened during Slavery. Did they humble White men by fucking their moms, sisters, wives and daughters? Yeah.That disregard for social bonds and femininity meant Black women were under the same dominion, though they lied to themselves about it and the Black men comforted them in that lie. Black Mammas let their boys run around like dogs then were aghast when their husbands did the same thing. Big Black Cocks were eroding the basis for trust in this town.If BBC wanted a woman, he stuck the cock in and that woman became his cock-slave. Had the woman started out resisting? That didn't matter because now they needed that cock to get her through the week. That was the score. The truth Mom laid out was confirmed by a week of school. How were we going to defeat the BBC menace?Mom just smiled and said she had a 'Secret Weapon' to go along with her battle plan. We took that assurance into Thursday's basketball team tryouts. We rocked. We had the talent and the skills. That didn't matter to the Assistant Coach. He had six Black players returning from last year's team.There was one White guy whose Mom was throwing gobs of new equipment the team's way, so he was on board. That left five spots to fill the twelve man roster. Up against us was one ambitious White junior, seven Black juniors and one Black female senior. Apparently she'd been denied a spot on last year's team based on gender alone and was still pissed about it.The Ass Coach immediately set his sights on five of the Black juniors that fit the profile, Black top (that's outdoor courts that used asphalt) experience, tall, lanky and a willingness to dunk on a moment's notice. Our scrimmages were stupid and biased. The Black players could elbow, trip and punch us without repercussions. Mikhail almost got booted for threatening to toss the next blatant fouler into the bleachers.We caught a break when Ass Coach got called away with a phone call which he couldn't understand because his 'chosen ones' wouldn't shut up and even attempt to be quietly considerate. I had an idea to create our own scrimmage team, but I had a problem. The two Black guys and one White guy not getting on the team sucked. I needed two of the other Black players.I chose an alliance. I went to the angry, dispirited female player and made my offer. We would challenge the current team and, if we beat them, we made a pact that all of us made the team, or none of us did. I could see her weighing screwing me over. The whole school knew Darius was gunning for me and my brothers. She shook my hand. We needed a fifth.The girl, Kaja Woodrow, went over to her cousin, one of the players from last year's team. He didn't want to join us. He had a guaranteed spot and he could blow it by joining his crazy female cousin and the three most hated White boys in school. Kaja threatened to bring their grandmother into this mess. I think that threat plus a strong sense of fair play changed his mind.We were good. Shaquille, Kaja's cousin, knew it. Everyone knew it. He was shorter than us, around 5' 10'. His ball-handling skills were phenomenal, he was a fairly accurate shooter and would happily pass the ball if someone was in a better court possession instead of taking a risky shot.Passing the ball was key and not an art form shared by the rest of his current teammates. With Shaquille on our side, we put our proposal before the Ass Coach. He denied us, but we were ready for that. Our team took to physically and verbally mocking and denigrating the manhood of the current roster. They took our bait.After a quick warm-up, we made our move. Everything worked in our favor. High School courts aren't black top. The courts are wider and there is no turning around at mid-court. You added to that our opponents were ball-hogs and suffered from terminal 'dunk-itis'. Mikhail made the 'paint' his bailiwick (bally-wick?).Dunk attempt after dunk attempt were brutally rejected by him. By their logic, my brothers and I would also keep the ball for ourselves. We passed like crazy. This was doubly painful for them because the White boys and Kaja could nail a jump shot from maybe 18 to 20 feet out, no problem. Shaquille would race behind their screen, catch a pass on the leap and dunk unopposed.Our squad was making their squad and the Ass Coach look like idiots. The All-Black squad didn't regroup and create a new plan. No. We were belittling them. First came the fouls. When that wasn't enough to stop us from outscoring them, they brought out on the egregious fouls and still the Ass Coach did nothing.Finally, after the fifteenth time Kaja humiliated the player supposed to be guarding her with a quick feint-step and a basket, he ran her over. He didn't shove her. He threw a powerful shoulder into her chest and followed up by stepping on her stomach. He smiled. His buddies laughed. Mikhail walked over and broke his jaw.Remember, Mikhail was a big, strong, skilled fighter and had a temper. That message hadn't filtered through the mind of the All-Black squad. They rushed him. Their center took a piston kick to the gut (he had pathetic reflexes) and his closest buddy succumbed to a leg sweep. The Ass Coach went apoplectic. Shaquille rallied to Mikhail and Kaja while we went to our gym bags.Out came the two recording devices (it is the freaking Information Age, you morons). Thanks to the internet, we uploaded the files and then we took the damning evidence to Ass Coach. He and most of his team were in deep shit. Their blatant fouls counted as assault in the real world. Mikhail wasn't in trouble. The dumbass who attacked Kaja was standing over the woman he assaulted when my brother intervened.We also promised to show this video to every school on our schedule for the year as well as any and every athletic authority we could think of. Grudgingly he offered we three Samsonovs a place on the roster. We insisted on all five of our squad. He insisted he would never put a girl on the team.I put my arm around his scrawny shoulders and forcefully walked him away for a private chat. I reminded him keeping Kaja off the team solely because she was female was discrimination. My brothers didn't like discrimination. My Mom really didn't like discrimination.Did he want my Mom to come to school and explain to him how much she disliked it? Kaja was on the team. Ass Coach announced the new roster and promptly uplifted our spirits by declaring this season would be a disaster because we had a girl and four White guys on the team. The next day, she and Shaquille received ten kinds of trouble from their racial compatriots.Mikhail gave Kaja a 'First Alert' bracelet and cautioned her to wear it at all times. It was a testimonial to how screwed up this environment was she put it on without question. Shaquille ended up eating lunch with us as well. The razzing was bad enough. The cracks his former friends were making about Kaja made him want to commit violence on their persons.Shaquille found out what comradery was all about as classes let out that first Friday afternoon. Eight big bucks ambushed him as he prepared to walk home, he lived about a mile way. Recall what I said about identifying our tormentors? We figured out who the 'shot-callers' were so when they started texting their plan around, the Samsonovs began taking counter-measures.Darius was the Capo. Since we had a 'home' game tonight, he couldn't attend to this errand personally, nor could his football-playing associates. He had plenty of non-jock lieutenants to command. In turn, those bozos had the rank and file big and average-sized thugs to follow his orders. This wasn't an army. It was a loose vigilante herd.They also were kind enough to joke about their target when they thought we weren't around. We had to keep out of sight until the eight made a move on Shaquille. We hadn't warned our 'buddy' out of concern he might not want to keep his role as bait. We waited for the shoving to end and the desperate grappling to begin before intervening.We had to film them committing their crime to make our crime non-criminal, if you can understand that reasoning. We should have thanked Darius for giving us his eight best 'B-grade' boys to annihilate. Seven of them went down super-quick. The eighth bolted. We couldn't maintain our legal smoke screen if we ran him down.Instead, we settled for stomping the fuck out of the seven we had. Keeping them on their feet was the key. Kicking a man when he's down looks suspect. Shaquille joined in the 'fun'. Our victims pleaded, cursed, threatened and cried like little babies yet we still beat them raw and bloody.Their superior numbers and initiating the conflict pretty much allowed us to do anything we wanted to them, short of murder. Was this a White racist beat-down? You could look at it that way except for the first minute of the video showed eight Black kids surrounding and shoving around another Black kid.Once we vacated the trashing, I leveled with Shaquille about our actions, we had known what was coming his way, used him to give us an excuse to kick ass; and he was pissed with us. After a few minutes, he shook his head, snorted and agreed while we were total bastards, there had been no other way for that encounter to play out that left the four of us in a better position.Those seven guys would be in no shape to bother him or Kaja for a week, or two, and the message of the pummeling those seven went through would reverberate throughout the school.I touched base with Big Bob, who was attending the game, so that Darius and Brandy could see me being a 'good boy' thus foolishly playing my part in their deceptive scheme. That was living proof the worst deceptions was self-deceptions. Come on now, my brothers and I had beat up seven of Darius' flunkies and now they thought I was cowed enough to be led like a calf to the slaughter?(Football Follies)There was only one unexpected event on that nightmare first date. The score of 42-3 made sense. Darius was an epic running-back with all the natural talent and ambition to make the NFL. The rest of the team was pretty good as well and more than enough to manhandle the mixed race team opposing them.The coach running up the score was par for the course as far as unsportsmanlike conduct went. By now, nil human compassion was what we expected from that crowd. They behaved like brutal thugs. The other team was suitably battered, broken and sullen. Every underhanded blow, discourtesy and disrespect our team exhibited reinforced my sense of my brothers' righteousness.A tractor-trailer sized 'Humble Pie' was coming down the pipeline for those assholes and it was so well deserved. 'Our' team even had the gall to molest the other team's cheerleaders before they could exit the arena. A few dust-ups occurred when fathers and boyfriends of the attacked ladies tried to save their womenfolk. Their coach appealed to our coach.Coach's look said it all; 'to the victors go the spoils'. Big Bob's deputies moved in. It took all of five seconds to see whose side the Black deputies were on. They gleefully aided the monsters struggling with the White men whose sole crime was wanting to get their women out with their virtues intact. All of these shenanigans were anticipated by Mom and us.Three members of the defense managed to steal one terrified White cheerleader away from her side of the field. The boyfriend who tried to get to her was held back by a Black deputy. They would have been home-free except for one thing, my Dad's height and instincts. He spotted the trouble and headed those three off. First they blustered. Dad was unfazed.Next they decided two would block Dad while the third dragged the girl away. They didn't know Dad. The second they put hands on him, out came his collapsible baton. He swung it up and into one antagonists' elbow. Trust me, that hurts. Of greater importance, no one saw it coming. Dad got in a blow to the other guy before he knew why the first guy was cursing in pain.Then Dad fell on the third football player. My favorite lawman was finished talking. He shoved a thumb into the bastard's left eye, trust me; that hurts too. I can also assure you it is horribly distracting. Dad corralled the panicked girl and brought her back to her boyfriend, and the deputy who was arresting him. The White boy was freaking out and the Black officer was gloating.I had never been the recipient of what came next, but I'd heard Dad's family talk about it and witnessed it a few times from a distance, like tonight. Dad, as Senior Deputy, asked the 'plain' Deputy to release the boy. The Deputy said something disrespectful to Dad. My Father grabbed the man's right wrist faster than a rattlesnake. I could almost feel those wrist bones grinding painfully together.Dad, like all the men in our family, was big and bulky, not fat. We packed muscle mass upon muscle mass and I knew that Black man wasn't getting his wrist back until Dad decided to release him. Dad leaned in and whispered a few things to the Deputy. The Black man spat back then nearly crumpled over in pain as my Father ratcheted up the pressure, until the crying man acquiesced.The girl and her boyfriend beat their feet out of there. Dad escorted the rebellious Deputy to a quiet corner to have a chat. That shithead immediately went for the racist angle, White cop picking on rambunctious Black youths. Dad replied that if he ever saw anything like what he saw that night again, he wasn't going to report the deputy, he was going to arrest him on the spot for facilitating an attempted sexual assault.The Deputy made one more stab at the racist smear, proving he had never bother to get to know my Father. Dad's comeback was simple. If the deputy called him a racist one more time, he would bring the Black officer up on State and Federal Hate Crime statutes, creating a racial charged work environment.The Fed would be a 'swing and a miss'. It was the 'Blacks can't be racist' bullshit. The State of Arkansas on the other hand; Dad, Big Bob and the White Deputies would gladly grease the wheels of justice. Nik Samsonov had a flawless 23 year record in law enforcement. All of that was of no surprise.Dad had never come out and said there was a racial divide in the Sheriff's office, but it was clear to us that to a man, the Black Deputies kept the Black power structure in town abreast of all the goings on at the county law enforcement level. Until our arrival, the Black elite had their eyes set on litigating themselves into the office of Sheriff.A man of Dad's background and caliber sort of curtailed those hopes and dreams. This was another reason for them to support Darius and his efforts were to make Dad look bad and even shame him into leaving. Fat chance of that happening. No, none of that was surprising to me. What caught me somewhat off-guard was;‘Why do you hate me?' Brandy asked me out of the blue. We were driving to the lake party site when she finally opened up.‘You've never given me a reason to do anything but hate you,' I replied after some thought.‘That's not so,' she protested. My first thought was to laugh in her face.‘Did it ever occur to you I didn't want to be in a relationship with you either? Did it occur to you that you could have been honest about this and I would have understood? Did you consider my feelings at all before you fed me into Darius' world?' I proffered up my questions.‘You wanted to date me,' she rebutted. ‘I saw the way you looked at me on the deck last Sunday.'‘Nope,' I shook my head. ‘I thought you looked 'hot'. I never wanted to date you. Had my mind ever planned to wander that way, your attitude shut that down pretty quick.'Oh really?' she remained confident in her sex appeal. ‘If you behave tonight, I'll give you a blowjob when you drop me off at home. I'm really good.'‘No thanks,' I shrugged. ‘However Darius and his crowd rate your talent at fellatio is not something I consider reliable. If I want a blowjob, I'll get a pro whom I'm sure is disease-free.'‘You are being such a bastard,' she pouted angrily. I didn't care. ‘You are just jealous.'‘And you are little more than three nameless orifices in a gangbang,' I snorted. ‘If that's what floats your boat; good for you. I prefer to date a girl who doesn't need an orgy to feel erotic and desirable. My problem isn't with how you express your sexuality, Brandy.'‘You deceived me and you don't regret it in the slightest. That's my problem with you.'We rode for a while in silence. Brandy couldn't let the matter rest until I acknowledged she was right; and she was the foxy babe I could never have because my melanin levels weren't high enough.‘You wouldn't have understood Darius and me,' she spouted with certainty.‘Why?'‘What? Why what?' she asked.‘Why would you assume I wouldn't understand you wanting to date the star running back?' I explained.‘He's Black,' she stated.‘So? I don't care about Black and White. Hell, I have cousins who are Native Alaskans, that's Indians to you people,' I responded. ‘The few people of color I did know before coming here were my neighbors and nice people.'‘Liar,' she smirked. ‘White men always get upset when strong, Black men take their women.'‘You are not my woman, so there was never anything to take. Until you and Darius decided to fuck with me and my brothers, we didn't care,' I answered.‘We are not your limp-wristed rich boys, or your rednecks. You both exhibited a painful level of prejudice so here we are.'‘Well; you can watch the party but you can't come down,' she tried a different angle. ‘Darius may send you on a beer-run later.'‘That ain't going to happen,' I chortled.‘You had better do what he says,' she threatened. I gave another amused snort. I drove us to the bottom of the parking lot near the lakeshore. Brandy got out, tried to give me a salacious look. I yawned. There were two other pseudo-boyfriends on the scene and a passel of empty cars most likely belonging to the football crowd.I had taken into account that my family's resistance and Dad's actions had earned me some serious retribution in their minds. That was all part of our strategy. I cut off my headlights then backed my car toward the road. I waited for ten seconds then Alexander appeared at the passenger door of the Mustang.‘Hey Vlad,' he teased me. ‘How are things going on your 'date'?'‘As expected,' I chuckled. I put on the emergency brake and popped the trunk. Five minutes later, Alexander had taken Mom's car and split. I was in a dark maroon ski-mask, the same colored hoody and exercise pants (I already had on Black shoes and socks), night vision goggles and video camera with a really excellent audio system that would allow me to negate things like cricket noises.Dark red and maroon were better than black, or grey, in hiding at night. I was virtually invisible in the darkness. After checking the wireless hook-up, I found my pre-scouted spot to watch and record the festivities. Thirty-two Black football players, ten Black girls and seventeen White girls filled the stage.First came the drinking and pawing. Then came the rough-housing and the screams of the few White girls who were only now realizing they weren't on a 'date' in the classic sense. Then came the orgy. For the Black athletes who didn't bring dates, it didn't matter.Every White girl had three holes, take your pick. Beers, whisky, Red Bulls and Viagra where the diet of choice. The last pleas for mercy were smothered so that only the moaning, groaning and the slapping of hands on flesh and flesh on flesh remained.After an hour, two of the White chicks were fucked up emotionally and mentally. Their obvious distress didn't elicited concern from anyone else in that crowd. They had been turned into Big Black Cock-slaves. The football players gleefully took pictures of their victims and partners in various sex acts.Even for the girls who didn't want to participate, this was a license to shame. After the latest rounds of ejaculations, Darius gathered up some of his niggers and sent them to the parking lot; to find me already departed (my car not being there). The two other White boys hadn't a clue where I had gone.That was their misfortune. They were dragged back down to the lake for Darius to interrogate. Their so-called girlfriends taunted them and added to their degradation. Since BBC's are never homosexually-inclined; the team decided to ass-rape those two saps (yeah, right). Did I pity them?A little, but barring retardation, what did they expect the likely outcome of events to be? Now those two could bask in their home-erotic fantasies while convincing themselves they weren't really gay. Darius and crew didn't view White people as human beings, Whites were subhuman, so the Blacks could do anything to them because sub-humans didn't deserve respect, or have rights.I filmed it all and I wasn't alone in my voyeurism. Undoubtedly, this was blackmail for Darius to use in the future. He also decided to up his game in dealing with me. A Black Deputy Sheriff showed up and began calling my name and looking for me, shining his flashlight around.He was pretending to be helpful, encouraging me to come out, so he could take me home. For fifteen minutes I switched my attention between his futile and false efforts and the (non-)rapes going on at the lakeshore camping grounds.The Deputy eventually made his way down to Darius's area. The two chatted a bit, deciding I really had abandoned Brandy, then the cop partook in some of the party favors, ending his sexcapade with Brandy swallowing his load. He even declared it was partial vengeance against Big Bob (the niggahs laughed) and my Dad (since Brandy was theoretically my date).The festivities died down after the second run at an orgy yet Darius was unsatisfied. First came the throwing of all the ladies into the cool lake waters despite their pleading screams. Then they tossed the two devastated White boys in. After some splashing around and some serious begging and pleading through chattering teeth, they let them out of the water so they could dry off on whatever was handy.The wasted girlfriends of the two boys poured their false dates into their cars and drove away to the chorus of slights and general mockery. Darius had Brandy give me a call (actually Alexander) and requested I (he) come pick her up. I (he) said he would be there in forty-five (lie).Darius' trap was simple but effective. He and four of his linemen would be waiting in a sedan parked at the far, upper-hand corner of the parking lot out of sight. Brandy would wait down on one of the bench-tables in the camping ground for me to arrive. Whether I honked my horn, or got out for her, Darius's team planned to roll down on me, block my car and deliver some well-deserved and overly-delayed vengeance.Once again, Darius was behind in the game. We knew his resources and mindset, he believed he could get away with anything, he would always win and he could intimidate anyone he chose to. From my perspective, Alexander hadn't walked the nearly ten miles from school to get here. I secured my gear, put on my helmet, uncovered my motorcycle and rolled it quietly over to Brandy.‘Here,' I surprised her as I stepped out of the darkness to hand her a motorcycle helmet. ‘Put this on.'‘Vlad,' she squeaked. ‘I thought you had left me.' She was also fiddling with her phone.‘If you make that call, I'll leave you here,' I threatened.‘Leave me here and my Daddy will make you pay,' she countered.‘Brandy, try to think for once,' I taunted her. ‘If I didn't leave, what have I been doing all night?' I let that thought sit there, but she wasn't approaching understanding. ‘I filmed this entire party from start to finish. I'm not the one in serious trouble.'Her fingers hesitantly stopped playing with the phone. I pushed the helmet her way again. She set her phone aside to put it on, allowing me to snatch it up. She hadn't called Darius yet. I pocketed the device then cut it off once she could no longer see it.‘Hey, give me that back,' Brandy insisted.‘You didn't call Darius so I'm not going to toss it into the lake,' I informed her.‘I'll return it to you when I drop you off,' I added. That seemed to mollify her, that and the belief I'd be running into Darius soon. No such luck for her. Mom had spent some of her youth around this place and there were several hiking/biking tracks that also led out of the park the lake was situated in.I lied to Brandy, telling her I had to pick up one more thing. That allowed me to push my motorbike far enough away to put a copse of bushes between me and Darius.‘Get on,' I told her as I mounted and started the engine. She hesitated so I started rolling away. I let her jump on and off we went. Brandy held on tight.Some of her death grip was from the dangerous route I was taking to exit this place. I knew part of it was also the combination of fears that she'd disappointed Darius and I would tell, show, her dad what had happened tonight. I was counting on Option A. I wouldn't tell Big Bob the truth until it suited us Samsonovs. What Brandy suffered for her numerous lies wasn't my concern.‘Here we are,' I told her when I stopped in her driveway. She got off, clearly sore and worn out from her duties as a sperm trough. She gave me the helmet back then held out her hand.‘Oh yeah, phone,' I nodded. I hurled it across her yard. ‘You can find it in the morning. After all, I would hate to run across any of your friends on the way home.'‘Bastard,' she snarled. I could see the clever spark in her eyes. ‘I still owe you a blowjob. You held up your end of the bargain.' She would have succeeded in looking incredibly sexy except she'd already leaked fluids and semen from her over-used holes all over the back of my seat and I had the vivid memories of all the guys who had already made her swallow a gallon of cum.‘No thanks,' I shook my head. ‘One of us needs to keep their self-respect and it sure isn't going to be you. Night-night,' and off I went. My call woke up Big Bob. I let him know I'd dropped off his daughter on his doorstep. I didn't want her to find her phone quite yet. 'Us' triplets had already scouted out an overgrown old timber trail I could use to skirt the Sheriff's speed trap and the blind turn in the road the Kingston cops always used.By my estimation, as I walked up my back steps, Darius was just figuring out I'd missed my forty-five minute arrival time and had called Brandy; and received no response because her phone was turned off in a darkened yard. He'd go looking around the camp site on the off chance her phone battery had run out of juice. No Brandy. As planned, I called Mom telling her I was home safe and Darius was probably hideously pissed at the moment.She told me she'd be home in a few minutes. She had a few things she needed to clean up first. It wasn't until later Mom clued us into her part of the plan. Darius' older brother had been a drug conduit in the county and Brandy's dad put him away for seven years. That was why Darius was going after Brandy in such a bad way.Worse for Big Bob, his wife (a taller, more lush, mature model of Brandy) ran off with a Black Senior Sheriff's Deputy, the man Dad replaced. Apparently he'd been porking the old lady behind Bob's back then been caught joking about it. Brandy had been dating Darius and Big Bob had her break it off, so they were sneaking around behind his back as well.If underhanded was how Darius wanted to play it, so be it. The damage had already been dealt by his older brother. Mom got in touch with Uncle Theo. Uncle Theo knew all kinds of disreputable people and not just drug cartel members, mercenaries, arms dealers and other assorted killers. He also knew information brokers.It didn't take too much money, or effort, on Theo's part, to let the DEA know that Darius' Mom was involved in her elder son's illegal enterprise. First, she went through Darius' parent's trash finding containers that could be used to house cocaine that had his mom and dad's fingerprints all over them.Theo would send her some 'contraband' for Mom to place in those containers. Then she'd sneak into the family home and plant/hide the evidence. Then Theo would have some fool in Mexico send her some trinkets, three or four deliveries would do.Then he'd send a few kilos of cocaine that Theo would ‘acquire' and let the DEA swarm in. Mom would also plant evidence to implicate two of Kingston's police officers; to tarnish the whole department in the DEA's eyes. That would lead to a Federal investigation because everyone knew the Black community lied to protect their own.They would be claiming the Black Man couldn't find justice in the White Man's court system. They would blame the 'White Man' and this time they'd be right; and not even know they were right. They always blamed their problems on the White Man. They did lie and discriminate against White people so often that their knee-jerk reaction would ring hollow to anyone who truly mattered.Furthermore, this wasn't the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department who was bending over backwards to undo centuries of judicial failures were Blacks were concerned. It was the DEA and they were a bit more color-blind concerning matters of illegal drugs.They had the pipeline, previous deliveries, drugs arriving in the mail and drugs stashed in their house. Darius' family had a history of doing this very thing. The DEA wasn't go

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First Week.Based on a post by FinalStand, in 13 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels.I started out the next morning admiring the boarding on the window to the Principal’s second story office. The ground and bushes beneath it were pretty trampled up too. That was a good way to start the day. In homeroom, I was talking to Kaelyne again when Princess Brandy announced her entrance and her ‘power’ over me.‘Hey Vlad,' she greeted me with sugary sweetness. She was working out ways to get me for the whole 'dog not kissing her mouth’ thing.‘Hey Skank,' I grinned at her. Her face froze. Taliyah pulled up short.‘What did you say?' Brandy hissed.‘Skank. Are you hard of hearing?' I mused.‘I’m Darius’ girl, asshole. You had better accept that right now.'‘Girl? Sure. I imagine that Darius and seven other guys fucking you in all three holes until you are oozing sperm is your ideal dream date,' I chortled.Having the scope of her depravity openly discussed really pissed her off.‘You are jealous,' she sneered. There was a hint of desperation in her voice. I chuckled.‘That’s clearly delusional thinking,' I laughed. ‘You look hot, just not enough for me to want to wash my dick in ten other guys’ cum. You act like a skank so that is how I will address you, Skank.'She was infuriated. The start of homeroom ended the matter for the moment. The rest of the day was spent with a hundred slights and pin pricks. Darius’ crowd would get in jabs from behind as we walked the halls, or projectiles tossed at us during class. We were fine with that. There was no fighting back. The 'niggers’ didn’t get it.We were scoping out the faces of our enemies and finding blind spots in the school’s security camera system. The truth about what happened to the Principal had also gotten out. Mom had already informed us of the series of events, including the spy camera video she took of the entire proceedings.She’d kept up the ’dunce housewife’ act even after he whipped out his cock and forced her to suck it, because he was a 'big Black stud’, his words recorded for posterity. Finally, he put his hand down her blouse to give her bountiful bosom a good squeeze while shoving his cock past her loudly protesting lips. That was all the excuse Mom needed. She portrayed the frantic housewife really well. We, her family, knew better.She was hamming it up to allay any criminal charges. His pleas for mercy were ignored. It was hard to make out what he was saying after she bashed out half his teeth with his 'African-American Educator of the Year’ award. She’d ruptured his scrotum, stabbed his exposed cock repeatedly with a letter opener and cracked half a dozen vertebrae and a dozen ribs.We were pretty sure she’d broken his arms in multiple places, ground up both his hands and shattered his left wrist. She snapped his right leg in two, all the while screaming 'Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!’ Her last bit of sadism was to toss him out his second story window. The first try, he bounced back, but we were pretty sure he had a concussion.The second try cracked the safety glass. The third time was the charm and down that rapist rat-bastard fell into a modest sized holly bush (ouch!). Mom completed the act by pretending to sob as she crawled into a corner of the office while she dialed 9-1-1. As she gleefully went over the play-by-play for us once home, we knew she was cool about the entire incident, even the groping and forced blowjob.It was Davis County jurisdiction so they were in charge of the investigation. That didn’t stop Kingston from sticking their noses in. The Mayor was all about the Principal being a pillar of the community, a Black leader and a church-going man. Then the School’s video evidence came out. The Principle had been so full of himself and his immunity, he recorded his attempted violation of my Mom.Did the Negro community accept the obvious? No. This was a racist White lady, from a racist family, framing a good Black man though how she accomplished that was unclear to most of us and undefined by the Black leadership. They claimed that the Principal had yet to give his side of the story. That would take a while. The man had lost most of his teeth and had his jaw wired shut.Both eardrums were ruptured and he could barely see out of his right eye. His left was swollen shut. His nose was pancaked. There was even a rumor that his penis was so badly mauled they had to cut most of it off (which turned out to be true). Big Bob, some deputies (all White) and some Highway Patrol (both colors) raided the Principal’s house and found a stockpile of tapes and DVDs depicting previous sexual encounters at school going back almost two decades.Apparently that was nothing more than extra proof of the hateful, bigoted White man framing a decent, hard-working Black man. That any group could be so blinded by their own bigotry that they would embrace such a blatant fiction was appalling to me. At school, the Blacks were indignant and the Whites kept a low profile, as if they’d done something wrong.The one grey cloud in this monsoon of misery was basketball tryouts were on Thursday after school. We picked up consent forms from a furious coach that slathered on the kind of negativity we had come to expect from him and his sick breed. White boys can’t jump. White boys can’t dunk. White boys can score inside the 'paint’; yep. No racism there (insert maniacal laughter).The Assistant Athletic Director coached the basketball team. He was a short, thin, hyperactive White man and, as we were to learn, a race-hater. He hated White people, or at least White athlete wannabes. More on him later. There were two key developments on my front. First, Alexander informed us he had a side project he couldn’t talk about yet.The second thing was that Darius demanded, by way of Brandy, that I took Brandy to an 'after victory’ celebration out by the lake Friday night. From 9 p.m. to whenever, I was to sit back and let Brandy be used like a drunk runaway at an outlaw biker rally. Personally, I didn’t see how that could be an enjoyable sexual experience.Brandy believed this made her Darius’ lady. She certainly embraced the bukkake, sperm baths eagerly. I still chose to ridicule her constantly because I could tell she was having trouble rationalizing her sexual treatment with any style of romance, or affection. She hadn’t been honest with me so I was now tormenting her and using her shame to stab at Darius.We could see it in his eyes whenever we mocked his crowd. Darius was plotting out his revenge. His problem was we didn’t care what he called us, we didn’t care about the teachers he turned against us and we had no spies in our camp, or friends to turn against us. We accepted our social life, for the time being, would be limited to our home.Mom hinted she had a 'plan’ in the offing and proved the internet had rendered local belligerence impudent. All our supplies came by parcel delivery from out of town. We wired up a new home security system, engaging a Little Rock private security service instead of putting any faith in the local, Black-run firm. We signed a waiver for the self-install.There were times when we could totally believe that Mom and Uncle Theo were twins. Technically, as the twin born last, Mom was the youngest of the five children. For unspoken reasons, Theo ended up at a military academy for delinquents at fifteen. She only publically saw him three times since then. Once when she broke into his school (and got caught), at his academy graduation and lastly when he finished basic training for the Army.Yet they remained close in ways only multiple birth kids could understand despite the time and distance. It also meant Mom came equipped with (cough) healthy doses of paranoia and vindictiveness. Mom reminded us our battle wasn’t limited to the school. We were fighting a secularist religion with a fanatic core.Had Black Americans been fucked over by White America? Yep. That didn’t end 150 years ago either. There was Jim Crow legislation after Reconstruction as well as uninvestigated rapes, beatings, whippings, lynching and even being burned alive. All horrors visited on the Black Race by the White Man.Yet it was White men who passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Yes they did, but getting Black people to accept that there were White people who stood with them as equals was impossible. Since 1965, had there been Black councilmen/women, mayors, state legislators, governors, Congressmen/women, Supreme Court Justices and, dare we say, a president?Why yes. Where there Blacks in every aspect of professional life? Damn right there were. Where there Black millionaires? Thousands of them, and even an African-American self-made Billionaire. So exactly what were White Americans supposed to feel guilty about? Crap our parents and grandparents did? Great-grandparents?When was the cut-off date for being held accountable for actions you had no part in? There were poor Black people. There were poor White people and poor Latinos for that matter. As far as my Mom was concerned, racism was racism and it had no exceptions for color, creed, and orientation coming, or going.She’d given the Blacks of Kingston their chance to make things right, to end the cycle of hate. They had declined to rein in their own, so she felt no obligation for her, or her sons, to give obedience to their injustice.There was a pile of evidence that the Principal had done wrong, still Kingston treated him like a hero and martyr. Fuck that noise. Mom didn’t want to start some wacked-out guerilla war. She only wanted to punish those responsible for this fucked up situation. Target #1, Darius and by default, Darius’ family. That, in turn, was Darius’ biggest problem.He didn’t realize he was hunting people more than capable of hunting the hunters. We knew he and his supporters were coming for our family, they had tons of advantages and little fear of the four of us (we wouldn’t involve Dad since he was in law enforcement and a straight arrow). We weren’t aiming for a body count. Our goal was humiliation and breaking their wills to resist.With that accomplished, we could install some truly impartial justice and social order. My family was aided in this quest by the clarity of our enemy’s weaknesses. They were proud of their Big Black Cocks and their lack of restraint in using them on whomever they pleased. Basing their Black masculinity on a single bit of mythology rendered them painfully vulnerable to us.They hadn’t chosen to base their dominion on anything but their cock and balls. Solidarity, economic output and healthy competitiveness had been tossed aside. The Black community in Kingston accepted Black male predation as the natural course of things. It was revenge for the White Master/Black Slave Girl depredations that happened during Slavery. Did they humble White men by fucking their moms, sisters, wives and daughters? Yeah.That disregard for social bonds and femininity meant Black women were under the same dominion, though they lied to themselves about it and the Black men comforted them in that lie. Black Mammas let their boys run around like dogs then were aghast when their husbands did the same thing. Big Black Cocks were eroding the basis for trust in this town.If BBC wanted a woman, he stuck the cock in and that woman became his cock-slave. Had the woman started out resisting? That didn’t matter because now they needed that cock to get her through the week. That was the score. The truth Mom laid out was confirmed by a week of school. How were we going to defeat the BBC menace?Mom just smiled and said she had a 'Secret Weapon’ to go along with her battle plan. We took that assurance into Thursday’s basketball team tryouts. We rocked. We had the talent and the skills. That didn’t matter to the Assistant Coach. He had six Black players returning from last year’s team.There was one White guy whose Mom was throwing gobs of new equipment the team’s way, so he was on board. That left five spots to fill the twelve man roster. Up against us was one ambitious White junior, seven Black juniors and one Black female senior. Apparently she’d been denied a spot on last year’s team based on gender alone and was still pissed about it.The Ass Coach immediately set his sights on five of the Black juniors that fit the profile, Black top (that’s outdoor courts that used asphalt) experience, tall, lanky and a willingness to dunk on a moment’s notice. Our scrimmages were stupid and biased. The Black players could elbow, trip and punch us without repercussions. Mikhail almost got booted for threatening to toss the next blatant fouler into the bleachers.We caught a break when Ass Coach got called away with a phone call which he couldn’t understand because his 'chosen ones’ wouldn’t shut up and even attempt to be quietly considerate. I had an idea to create our own scrimmage team, but I had a problem. The two Black guys and one White guy not getting on the team sucked. I needed two of the other Black players.I chose an alliance. I went to the angry, dispirited female player and made my offer. We would challenge the current team and, if we beat them, we made a pact that all of us made the team, or none of us did. I could see her weighing screwing me over. The whole school knew Darius was gunning for me and my brothers. She shook my hand. We needed a fifth.The girl, Kaja Woodrow, went over to her cousin, one of the players from last year’s team. He didn’t want to join us. He had a guaranteed spot and he could blow it by joining his crazy female cousin and the three most hated White boys in school. Kaja threatened to bring their grandmother into this mess. I think that threat plus a strong sense of fair play changed his mind.We were good. Shaquille, Kaja’s cousin, knew it. Everyone knew it. He was shorter than us, around 5’ 10'. His ball-handling skills were phenomenal, he was a fairly accurate shooter and would happily pass the ball if someone was in a better court possession instead of taking a risky shot.Passing the ball was key and not an art form shared by the rest of his current teammates. With Shaquille on our side, we put our proposal before the Ass Coach. He denied us, but we were ready for that. Our team took to physically and verbally mocking and denigrating the manhood of the current roster. They took our bait.After a quick warm-up, we made our move. Everything worked in our favor. High School courts aren’t black top. The courts are wider and there is no turning around at mid-court. You added to that our opponents were ball-hogs and suffered from terminal 'dunk-itis’. Mikhail made the 'paint’ his bailiwick (bally-wick?).Dunk attempt after dunk attempt were brutally rejected by him. By their logic, my brothers and I would also keep the ball for ourselves. We passed like crazy. This was doubly painful for them because the White boys and Kaja could nail a jump shot from maybe 18 to 20 feet out, no problem. Shaquille would race behind their screen, catch a pass on the leap and dunk unopposed.Our squad was making their squad and the Ass Coach look like idiots. The All-Black squad didn’t regroup and create a new plan. No. We were belittling them. First came the fouls. When that wasn’t enough to stop us from outscoring them, they brought out on the egregious fouls and still the Ass Coach did nothing.Finally, after the fifteenth time Kaja humiliated the player supposed to be guarding her with a quick feint-step and a basket, he ran her over. He didn’t shove her. He threw a powerful shoulder into her chest and followed up by stepping on her stomach. He smiled. His buddies laughed. Mikhail walked over and broke his jaw.Remember, Mikhail was a big, strong, skilled fighter and had a temper. That message hadn’t filtered through the mind of the All-Black squad. They rushed him. Their center took a piston kick to the gut (he had pathetic reflexes) and his closest buddy succumbed to a leg sweep. The Ass Coach went apoplectic. Shaquille rallied to Mikhail and Kaja while we went to our gym bags.Out came the two recording devices (it is the freaking Information Age, you morons). Thanks to the internet, we uploaded the files and then we took the damning evidence to Ass Coach. He and most of his team were in deep shit. Their blatant fouls counted as assault in the real world. Mikhail wasn’t in trouble. The dumbass who attacked Kaja was standing over the woman he assaulted when my brother intervened.We also promised to show this video to every school on our schedule for the year as well as any and every athletic authority we could think of. Grudgingly he offered we three Samsonovs a place on the roster. We insisted on all five of our squad. He insisted he would never put a girl on the team.I put my arm around his scrawny shoulders and forcefully walked him away for a private chat. I reminded him keeping Kaja off the team solely because she was female was discrimination. My brothers didn’t like discrimination. My Mom really didn’t like discrimination.Did he want my Mom to come to school and explain to him how much she disliked it? Kaja was on the team. Ass Coach announced the new roster and promptly uplifted our spirits by declaring this season would be a disaster because we had a girl and four White guys on the team. The next day, she and Shaquille received ten kinds of trouble from their racial compatriots.Mikhail gave Kaja a 'First Alert’ bracelet and cautioned her to wear it at all times. It was a testimonial to how screwed up this environment was she put it on without question. Shaquille ended up eating lunch with us as well. The razzing was bad enough. The cracks his former friends were making about Kaja made him want to commit violence on their persons.Shaquille found out what comradery was all about as classes let out that first Friday afternoon. Eight big bucks ambushed him as he prepared to walk home, he lived about a mile way. Recall what I said about identifying our tormentors? We figured out who the 'shot-callers’ were so when they started texting their plan around, the Samsonovs began taking counter-measures.Darius was the Capo. Since we had a 'home’ game tonight, he couldn’t attend to this errand personally, nor could his football-playing associates. He had plenty of non-jock lieutenants to command. In turn, those bozos had the rank and file big and average-sized thugs to follow his orders. This wasn’t an army. It was a loose vigilante herd.They also were kind enough to joke about their target when they thought we weren’t around. We had to keep out of sight until the eight made a move on Shaquille. We hadn’t warned our 'buddy’ out of concern he might not want to keep his role as bait. We waited for the shoving to end and the desperate grappling to begin before intervening.We had to film them committing their crime to make our crime non-criminal, if you can understand that reasoning. We should have thanked Darius for giving us his eight best 'B-grade’ boys to annihilate. Seven of them went down super-quick. The eighth bolted. We couldn’t maintain our legal smoke screen if we ran him down.Instead, we settled for stomping the fuck out of the seven we had. Keeping them on their feet was the key. Kicking a man when he’s down looks suspect. Shaquille joined in the 'fun’. Our vic

CLR Show 1968. Air Date September 24, 2024. Policy is being bantered back and forth between the Harris and Trump campaigns (with the Trump version typically a garbled reaction to the day's headlines) but the likelihood is that this election will be more about, and will be won by an embrace of, either love/hope or fear. The great irony is that the 'Christian' nationalist forces, historic purveyors of biblical love and hope, are now the merchants of fear, division and domination as embodied in Project 2025. Their goal: convince White America and a few others that 'our country' is being taken away from us and the only option is to seize it back from 'them'. The problem is, 'them' is bigger and far more 'positively' motivated––an altogether Christian characteristic. Donald's utter incapacity for the office is irrelevant: He is little more than a permission slip for those who see America's dismantling as the only pathway to their dominance.    

Society makes it hard for Black people to imagine liberation or freedom outside of our experience in White America. Because so much of our existence is a product of resistance and survival, even our creative spaces consciously and subconsciously speak to a relationship with oppression or designing solutions to issues Black people didn't create. But if we could imagine a “state of nature” outside of racism or white supremacy—one that does not limit our fullness to narrow, exoticized, or romanticized tropes of our African origins or American journey, but rather pays homage to and embodies them—what might that look like? And how might we reverse-engineer back (or forward) into a fresh and compelling vision for ourselves? From Chains to Links sits with the brilliant Intelligent Mischief team—Aisha Shillingford, Artistic Director, and Terry Marshall, Founder & Executive Creative Director—who share how imagining whole, well-Black-beings is a crucial part of visioning and world-building.

Welcome to the Five Song Mixtape! This week we discuss the mixtape titled “Shut Up Devin and Accept Eminem's Love” by RJ. You can find the playlist by following our account on Spotify @FiveSongMixtape or you can find us on Instagram @FiveSongMixtape. We would love to hear your thoughts on the playlist and please give us a rating via iTunes to help spread the word!“Shut Up Devin and Accept Eminem's Love” by RJ1. “Kill You” by Eminem2. “White America” by Eminem3. “So Much Better” by Eminem4. “Killshot” by Eminem5. “Realest” by EZ, Mil, Eminem Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode, Jonathan and Sy talk with the incredible Brandi Miller about:-        How faith and churches change when we engage with the political idolatry of the American church-        The spiritual and political fruit of the MAGA movement-        The good things people still want and can find in Jesus and Christian community amidst all the nonsense-        Developing inner lives that can sustain political engagement and community building-        Plus, Jonathan and Sy discuss some fascinating numbers about the political views and voting patterns of the average Black Christian versus the average overall DemocratMentioned in the Episode-            Our anthology, Keeping the Faith-            Brandi's podcast, Reclaiming My Theology-            Her other show, The Quest Church Podcast-            The article on Black, Christian political beliefs and votingCredits-        Follow KTF Press on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Subscribe to get our bonus episodes and other benefits at KTFPress.com.-        Follow host Jonathan Walton on Facebook Instagram, and Threads.-        Follow host Sy Hoekstra on Mastodon.-        Our theme song is “Citizens” by Jon Guerra – listen to the whole song on Spotify.-        Our podcast art is by Robyn Burgess – follow her and see her other work on Instagram.-        Transcripts by Joyce Ambale and Sy Hoekstra.-        Production by Sy Hoekstra and our incredible subscribersTranscript[An acoustic guitar softly plays six notes, the first three ascending and the last three descending – F#, B#, E, D#, B – with a keyboard pad playing the note B in the background. Both fade out as Jonathan Walton says “This is a KTF Press podcast.”]Brandi Miller: God made people in God's own image, and people's job is not to conform into your pastor's version of following Jesus. It's to conform more into the likeness of Jesus as you become more yourself. And so instead of going to a pastor who is essentially saying, “Follow me as I follow Jesus,” you say, “We're following Jesus, and you're gonna discover who you are along the way.”[The song “Citizens” by Jon Guerra fades in. Lyrics: “I need to know there is justice/ That it will roll in abundance/ And that you're building a city/ Where we arrive as immigrants/ And you call us citizens/ And you welcome us as children home.” The song fades out.]Sy Hoekstra: Welcome to Shake the Dust, seeking Jesus, confronting injustice. I'm Sy Hoekstra.Jonathan Walton: And I'm Jonathan Walton. We have a fantastic show for you today. We are talking all about church and politics with the great Brandi Miller, who many of you know. And we're doing our new segment, Which Tab Is Still Open?, diving deeper into one of the recommendations from our newsletter. This week, a closer look at the political beliefs of the average Black Christian versus the average Democrat. If you think those are pretty much the same, you've got stuff to learn [laughter]. So stay tuned.Sy Hoekstra: Brandi Miller is the host of the podcast, Reclaiming My Theology. As she calls it, a space to take our theology back from ideas and systems that oppress. She's also now newly the host of the Quest Church Podcast, which is unsurprisingly for Quest Church in Seattle [laughs], where Brandi has the staff position of Chief Storyteller. Before that she was a justice program director with a college ministry working at the intersection of faith, justice, and politics. If you know Brandi, I don't have to convince you that this is a good conversation. If you don't, just, you need to get to know her, so [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yes, yes, yes.Sy Hoekstra: Get ready for this one.Jonathan Walton: Yeah, we talked to her about her perspective on evangelical politics, how she sees people's faith changing as they engage with the American church's idolatry, and what Jesus has to offer as a vision for us in this political landscape. There is a lot in the episode, I hope you're ready. Her article in our anthology was called, “Left Behind: What American Evangelicalism Has Lost and Needs to Find.” And of course, you can get the anthology at keepingthefaithbook.com.Sy Hoekstra: And before we get started, just a reminder that we have been telling everyone we need your subscriptions [laughter], please. The best way, if you are into what we do, helping people try and leave the idols of White America and seek Jesus through this media and you want to help us build something that can do that in an effective and far reaching way to people, we need your support. We have been doing this as a side gig for a lot of time. For a long time it's been me and Jonathan in our rooms with laptops trying to make things work, and they have worked [laughs]. But if you wanna see that stuff grow and you wanna see this stuff continue for a long time into the future, we really do need your support.So go to KTFPress.com, please become a paid subscriber. Get access to all the bonus episodes of this show. Get access to our monthly subscriber chats that we're starting, get access to comments on our posts and support everything we do centering and elevating marginalized voices. If you cannot afford a subscription, like if money's the only barrier, please just write to us, info@ktfpress.com, and we will give you a free or discounted subscription. Whatever you ask for, no questions asked. We want everyone to have access to all the stuff that we're putting out, but if you can afford it, we really, really want the support.Actually, one of the things that you'll be supporting now is that our newsletter is free. So anybody can go to KTFPress.com, sign up for the free mailing list. You get news about KTF press, you get all kinds of stuff like that, but you also get recommendations from us every week that are things that we think will be helpful in your political education and discipleship. And you will also get things from us that we think are helpful in staying grounded and hopeful in the midst of all of the difficult issues that we are all seeing in our news feeds and in our politics and everywhere else and in our churches. So please, KTFPress.com, become a paid subscriber. Thank you so much in advance.Jonathan Walton: Yep. Thanks in advance, and here is the interview with Brandi.[the intro piano music from “Citizens” by Jon Guerra plays briefly and then fades out.]Jonathan Walton: Brandi, thank you so, so much for joining us on Shake the Dust. We really appreciate it.Brandi Miller: Of course. Glad to be here. Always glad to get to spend time with you all, so.How Does Faith Change When We Engage with The Idolatry of the American Church?Making Our Political Theology Accessible to EveryoneJonathan Walton: Yeah, I mean, now you wrote this bomb essay. Okay. And so something that you said, which [laughs] is still true in 2024: " The result of the syncretism of American religion, propaganda-based iconography and political power is cultish religiosity centered on Donald Trump as God's Messiah sent to buttress patriotism, political power, and global dominance. Regardless of his lack of demonstrable Christ-likeness in his politics, it is clear that pandering to his constituents' desire for Christianized power in the United States has framed him as the president who will ‘bring America back to God.' This is a trade-off: Christian practice and the way of Jesus for American Christian power and utopianism.” End quote.Monstrous, amazing text, right? [laughter] Now, after you wrote this, you became a staff member at a church, right?Brandi Miller: Mm-hmm.Jonathan Walton: And you have a large community of people following and engaging with you online. And as you try to teach and disciple people out of this syncretism slash nonsense, how have you seen their faith change?Brandi Miller: Well, one thing I'll say is something that's changed about myself first, because even as I hear back my own words, I can hear how inaccessible they are to a common regular person. Like how many four to six-syllable words can I use to say Donald Trump does not look like Jesus, and that does not matter to most Christians who follow White American religion. That is what I was trying to say, that there is a propaganda based way of doing religion that has indoctrinated a ton of us into a traumatic type of spirituality that we cannot hold. And so I think even a critique of myself in a way that I've changed is trying to ask, how do I take what is a political reality rooted in a current religious moment and strip it down in a way that a regular person can understand?Because if I am theologizing people out of their own experiences or trying to pull them out of a demonstrably terrible politic and they can't understand where we're going, then that's on me. And so I think that part of my trying to engage with a lot of this stuff has been my own change around how I engage with it so that people who are trying to follow Jesus outside of this kind of syncretism with American nationalism can actually come along.When People See the Idolatry, Staying in Church Community Is HardBrandi Miller: That being said, I think that, I mean, it's been kind of bleak honestly. Like I think that the church that I work at is a church that is people's last stop on their way out of Christianity specifically for these issues. Because they can see the ways that American politics have more say in the lives of people who identify as Christian than Jesus does.And when that is the case, it is really hard to be a part of a Jesus community. And so what I'm seeing a lot is people trying to figure out, can I actually trust community as I follow Jesus? And a lot of people can't. And it makes sense to me, and they leave. But what ends up happening is that people are like, “Well, I can follow Jesus outside of the church,” and I actually believe that some people can do that. But I think because community is at the core of following Jesus, when you leave in those contexts without any kind of community to buttress your faith at all, it's really, really hard to, with integrity, continue to live out those values, and it's really easy to become increasingly cynical in the media ecosystem that we have.And so I don't really know what to tell people pastorally, right? Because there are many ways that I could say, “No, no, no, just come back to the church,” but the church isn't trustworthy. And I can say, “No, go on your own,” but with a lack of community, a lot of the faith stuff falls apart because it's meant to be done together in a non-westernized religious context. And so I'm finding that to be a pretty sad and frustrating space to occupy. So I think that'd be my first bid.What People Can Still Get from Church Community Even after Seeing the IdolatryJonathan Walton: I have so many thoughts, but I'm going to let Sy ask his question.Sy Hoekstra: No, no, no, go for it, Jonathan. We have time.Jonathan Walton: [laughs] So in the midst of that, this new like re-imagining of what community would look like, independent of the colonized faith, what we call it at KTF, White American folk religion, what I call it in Twelve Lies, are there any fireworks of imagination that have happened that you're like, “Oh, that looks nice. That might be something that is hopeful,” for a group of people who are on this subway stop at the end of the line?Brandi Miller: Well, I mean, I think that people still want all the good stuff, right? I think people want connection and community and gentleness and kindness and meekness and self-control and the fruit of the spirit, and the beatitudes. I think people still want the Jesus stuff. People want to live in an accessible and just world where people can be fully themselves, where the image of God in me meets the image of God in you, and somehow in that magic we're transformed. I think people still want that, and I think when people come and get a taste of that, it's really, really beautiful. Because what it results in really is friendship and friendship results in systems change and system change results in world change and political change.Jonathan Walton: Right, right, right.Brandi Miller: And so, I think that what I've seen happen is a lot of progressive spaces have done one of two things. One, said like, well, the individual transformation doesn't matter. And I'm like, that's actually not true. The health of the individual and the health of the system are always a cycle that are moving over and over and over again. And so we're like, “Well, F individual transformation and let's just like go do the system change.” And I'm like, yeah, but if like people don't change, then they're not gonna be alongside you as you change the systems and not understand why the systems change would be good for them. And I think churches do that too.Jonathan Walton: Right?Brandi Miller: So I think a lot of progressive media culture does that on one side, and then the other side uses all of this abstraction to describe what the world looks like when it changes, which is, I don't know, right now sounds like the end of postmodern empire. Like we're in empire collapse right now. And I'm like, “No one knows what that means.” Most normal average people do not know what it means. So they're like, “Let's find creative ways to engage post empire collapse.” And I'm like, can you just say that the United States is participating in all kinds of evil, and when our comeuppance happens, it's going to result in a completely different societal structure that we are not ready for.And so, what I'm always looking for are glimpses of what could life look like after that? Which I think is what you're asking. And a lot of that looks like people choosing to care for each other well to build more simple lives rather than more complicated ones, to choose work that isn't their entire identity and allowing themselves to explore who they are outside of the kind of enculturation that happens when we don't have a life outside of that. And that is what I've seen change people's politics. It's not like having a fancy activist job. It's seeing how your neighbors are suffering and doing something about that together, or getting a measure on a ballot that changes things for folks.And so I think that I'm seeing glimpses of people entering into more embodied, simple space that is actually transformative and actually grounding and does a lot to downshift some of our very present anxiety. And I think that's been really good. And so I think there's some structural and systemic things I've seen too, but a lot of the stuff that I'm seeing is people trying to make sense of this abstracted language and say, what does this actually mean for my life in real time, and how can that be good?The Fruit of the MAGA MovementSy Hoekstra: One thread there that kind of leads into my next question is, you said that the idea that your church is the last stop on a lot of people's road out of Christianity, when I was a kid, I would, in evangelical churches, I would hear the sentiment a lot that—I would hear that sentiment a lot actually. I would hear like, “Oh, when you go to a progressive church, that's just, you're just on your way out [laughs], so don't ever go there.” That was the kind of, that was the warning, right?Brandi Miller: Yeah [laughs].Sy Hoekstra: But basically, what I hear you saying is the reason that it's their last stop or the reason that they're on their way out is not because of they've lost their way or a lack of integrity, they don't really care about Jesus, whatever. They actually care about Jesus maybe more than the places that they left, and got so hurt as a result that that's why they're on their way out. And that's, I think that's a reality that Jonathan and I see a lot too, and I just wanted to point that out to people. But also this kind of gets a little bit into what my next question was, which I also had a big long quote here, but I'll just summarize [laughs] because Jonathan already read a big long quote [laughter].Jonathan Walton: I did.Sy Hoekstra: You basically talked about how there are a lot of masks that evangelicals wear to cover their support for Donald Trump's racism. So it's like the sanctity of life or pro-gun politics or pro-Israel politics. And that it basically that the result of that is you're not talking about the racism of Donald Trump, you're talking to people about those masks and saying, “If you're not willing to wear this mask, then basically you're an enemy to be negated because you're a baby killer, or you're an anti-Semite” or whatever it is. But I wonder if four years on having seen so much more of the fruit of the MAGA movement, if there's anything that you would kind of add on to this description of how it operates.Shifting Acceptable Political Discourse Far to the RightBrandi Miller: Yeah. So one of the main things I think about right now is the Overton window. So for folks who aren't familiar with the Overton window, it's essentially the range of acceptable political thought from left to right. And so there is an acceptable range of political thought, I'm doing some writing and thinking about this right now, but that what is considered far on the left and far on the right changes as that window shifts farther left or right. And what we've seen in the last four years is the Overton window shift so far to the right, that stuff that would've been considered so extreme, so outlandish, so problematic as to not be acceptable is now mainstream.So when George Santos can have an entire political campaign and multiple years of being in the public spotlight, and everyone be like, “Ah, this is just kind of like normal run-of-the-mill American politics,” that's wild.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: Yeah, yeah [laughs].Brandi Miller: When Donald Trump can have dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of criminal, like of criminal… or like he has so many, so many things that are happening right now at felony levels, and we're like, “Oh, I mean, he's just like working through it.” That is so wild to me, that the Overton window has shifted so far to the right that Marjorie Taylor Greene can do every bit of chaos that she's doing. That Mike Johnson is considered a normal speaker of the house.Jonathan Walton: That is, ugh… [laughs].Brandi Miller: We've moved so far right, that now what used to be considered moderate is considered hyper progressive. That being like, hey, like… maybe we should give people… that we've actually reversed, like with Roe v. Wade, we've reversed rights for people and we consider that normal. Like the Overton window has shifted so aggressively to the right that it is so, so damaging. And that has just continued over the last four years.Shifting Acceptable Religious Thought Far to the RightBrandi Miller: The thing I am observing and doing a lot of work around right now is what does it mean when the Christian range of political or range of acceptable religious thought also shifts to the right? And so I've been asking the question, what is that?What we're talking about really is orthodoxy. We're saying there is this range of historically acceptable Christian thought, but when that gets chain linked to the Overton window and shifted to the right, the way of Jesus that gets to be considered left or moderate or something becomes completely unidentifiable to most Christians. And when that happens, the only response that we have in those super conservative spaces or that have moved to the right that much is to parrot political actors and call it holiness. And that is what I'm most concerned with and what I'm seeing most right now, is that people can't even have conversations because of those things like, yeah, you're an anti-Semite or you're a baby killer, or whatever.You can't even have the conversations about why that ideology became important to someone, because even questioning the ideology itself or that indoctrination feels like it's a deviation from holiness because your religion is so connected to nationalism that to separate those feels like sin.Sy Hoekstra: It's almost, it's like the way that you might get a question shut down in church because if of something you're asking about some orthodox doctrine or whatever, like expressing a doubt of some kind.Brandi Miller: Yep.Sy Hoekstra: You're saying that's not just religious anymore basically. That is political. Or the politic—because the religious and the political are so closely linked that your political doubt is religious doubt almost.Brandi Miller: Yes. Yes, most certainly. Connected to God's connection to a nation.What Is the Good That All the Idolatry Is Overshadowing?Jonathan Walton: Yeah, I got in this conversation with a… Sometimes I opt into the online debates to get fodder for more posts [Sy laughs]. And I asked someone what they meant by Orthodox. They were saying “Israel is God's nation. The United States should support Israel because we are also God's nation, we're mirror countries of each other. This is an orthodox view.”Sy Hoekstra: Whoa.Jonathan Walton: They had obviously no, like no image or thought about the non-evangelical 200-year-old, 50-year-old, 25-year, 2-year-old church that they were in [laughter], you know? But all that to say, as you talk about Jesus on your show, talk about Jesus in your writing, talk about Jesus in your church, talk about Jesus with us. We're constantly trying to get people to look at the Jesus of Nazareth and not the Jesus of nationalism. Right? What would you say in this era, like with the church and politics, what value do you think Jesus's teaching, Jesus's witness, his life, death, resurrection has to offer us this election season? And what is the good that all the syncretism that we're talking about is just completely overshadowing?Following Jesus Helps us Find Ourselves and Resist Structures That Demand ConformityBrandi Miller: Well, right. The Jesus story is a continuation of the Hebrew story, and that story is centered on a God who cares about righteousness. And righteousness is not adherence to political doctrine, it's right living in harmony and wellbeing with other folks. Dr. Randy Woodley talks about shalom in the community of creation and that you know that the world is well when the marginalized say so. And the Hebrew scriptures follow that journey really, really closely. Even if the people fail in it, God's calls stay consistent to make sure that the orphan and the widow and the foreigner are cared for. And that we know that a whole community is healthy and well and living rightly when that's the case. And Jesus lives out that same story.And part of that story requires that people are given the chance to be themselves. That if we believe in this kind of, there's a lot that I do not believe about how we extrapolate Genesis one and two, but I think one of the core things is that like God made people in God's own image, and people's job is not to conform into your pastor's version of following Jesus. It's to conform more into the likeness of Jesus as you become more yourself. And so instead of going to a pastor and essentially saying, ‘Follow me as I follow Jesus,” we say, “We're following Jesus and you're gonna discover who you are along the way.” And that is what Jesus does with his disciples. Right? Jesus invites a diverse group of wackadoodle dudes to come and be themselves [Jonathan laughs]. And they change a lot. They change a lot, but they don't change away from themselves, which I think we see in the story of Peter, right? Peter's a fisherman at the beginning and he's a fisherman at the end. And the way in which he's a fisherman is really different, but he is still at his core in some ways who he is. And I know there's some conflation with vocational and whatever, but there are ways that people are, that people who were zealous in the beginning are zealous, but in a more refined way at the end. People who were engaging with the people in a particular way are doing so less judgmentally at the end.So I think there's a way that there is an invitation to become fully ourselves that we do not get in church spaces because we're told that sanctification or that honoring the death and resurrection of Jesus is to become less like yourself. It's to do this… I think we just take the John the Baptizer quote, “more of him, less of me” out of context when you're like… y'all, the reason he's saying that is because they think he's the Messiah and he needs to make some stuff really clear. He's not saying, I need to become less of myself. John needs to become more and more of himself in order to do what Jesus has invited him to do.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Brandi Miller: And so, because in the church we often say, let's collapse our identities into one social, political and religious identity, people lose themselves. And so I think part of the invitation and the good that we offer to people is that you get to be yourself. And that justice work, this other side of the coin in the Hebrews text around justice and righteousness is making things right when righteousness, when people's ability to live fully as themselves to live original blessing is not in place. And so I think that there's an invitation in the way of Jesus to live fully as ourselves and to make right the spaces where people are not offered space to live the life that is abundant.Jonathan Walton: May it be so in churches and spaces this fall [laughs] where that could be extrapolated. And as you were talking, I was just like, yeah, “God loves you,” should not be a controversial statement.Brandi Miller: Right…. Woof…Jonathan Walton: Right? Like it shouldn't [laughs].How Has Brandi's Calling Changed around Political Engagement?Sy Hoekstra: Alright. So, on your show, you're often talking about theology and culture. You obviously have a ton to say about politics though, and I've heard you say on the show you'd be kind of more interested in getting into that somehow at some point in your life. And you took a break from the show recently. Basically, you're in the middle of a season on purity culture, and you kind of took a break from the show because you felt some tension between talking about theology and church culture and purity culture with everything that's going on in Gaza. And I'm just wondering how the last four years have affected your sense of calling or your desire to engage politically from someone who has largely played a pastoral role.Helping People Develop Inner Lives that Can Sustain Political EngagementBrandi Miller: Yeah. Some of what I'm learning is that regardless of whether there's an urgent political moment that people are still entering into these spaces in a lot of different ways. And so me stopping the podcast because of everything happening in Gaza and trying to figure out how to respond wasn't actually as helpful as I had hoped it would've been. It didn't make more space for people, it just disengaged people from one of the only spaces that they're engaging with religion at all. And so pastorally, I think what I ended up doing was leaving people behind. And I didn't, I think I was so at that point unsure of how to respond to what was happening in Gaza and didn't know what my role would be, and felt like as a person who's, it's a little bit like one of my Jewish friends was talking about the parable of the virgins and the oil.Some of us just showed up really late to this party, and we know so little, we've showed up so late, that it feels pretty impossible to show up effectively. And so I was trying to be responsible with what I did and did not know about Israel, Palestine, Gaza, all of that. Instead of just saying what I could unequivocally say, which is that violence in all forms, particularly genocide, is an egregious violence against God, against people and needs to be dealt with aggressively. Like, I can say that without any… we can say, “Free Palestine,” because that is an easy thing to, it's pretty easy for me to say, to agree with that idea. What I did though in being like, oh, purity culture isn't connected, was to say that people have on-ramps to these kinds of justice expressions that are far away.And maybe it's like [laughs], I hate to use this metaphor, but like, or parallelism rather. Yeah, I hate to use this parallelism, but when I think about how QAnon feeds into conspiracy theories, I think there's a lot of ways that progressive Christianity can feed people toward better, more just politics. And so when I take away the on-ramps, I take away people's opportunity to enter into a more just spirituality. And so me choosing to not talk about sex for four weeks or whatever, for me it felt like it was a solidarity practice, but it really was just cutting off people from a community that they cared about. So I think I would say that that was like one thing that I'm learning.And that is, and I think that what I'm trying to figure out is, as a person who primarily plays a pastoral function, what does it mean to invite people into a discipleship that can hold the politics that they're engaging with? Because one of the things I learned from 2016 was that many of us had a ton of passion, a ton of anxiety, a lack of knowledge, and we weren't able to hold onto the activism at the level that we held it during Black Lives Matter. We just weren't able to do it. And so, I think I'm trying to ask how do you build people's inner lives and community orientations in such a way that we can actually hold the political movements that we want to see happen?So how do we become community organizers locally and nationally when our inner lives aren't able to hold even the basics of our day-to-day lives? And that's not a knock on anyone, it's just a, we don't know how to cope. We don't know how to be in therapy. We don't know how to ask good questions about our lives. And so I think that I'm still asking the question, what is the role of the pastoral in the political, when most of my examples of the pastoral and the political is just telling people how to vote once every four years indirectly so you don't lose your funding, and nothing else otherwise.Helping People Learn and Grow through Curiosity and Questioning AssumptionsJonathan Walton: Yeah. I care a little bit about that, the inner life, peace [laughter]. I write, you know, I have a whole thing about that. So as you're talking, something I feel like I've run into is, I had a conversation with someone and they said to me, “The church discriminates against queer people? What do you mean?” And I looked at them and I was like, they were not being facetious, they were not joking. And like, and so I watched this train wreck happen in her brain, right? Where it's like, so then I just said, “You know, let's just talk about conversion therapy.” I said, “Let's just start there…” UN resolutions that say this is to—like all she, you could see it on her face she's like, like she did not know.And so I watched it happen and couldn't stop it. So Brandi, when someone is sitting across from you and you see this lack of knowledge and the capacity to harm. Right? So there's this lack of knowledge, but they're gonna say the homophobic terrible thing whenever somebody asks them, and you are the pastoral person in residence with them. What habits, practices, tactics do you employ not to destroy them, like intellectually? How do you not reduce them to their ideas? How do you love them and meet them where they're at so that they will be at church next week? They will be, like all those kinds of things, to stay on the journey with you.Brandi Miller: Yeah.Sy Hoekstra: And stop hurting people.Jonathan Walton: And yeah, and stop hurting people.Brandi Miller: Yes. Yeah, I mean, you become a master of caveats, and that's the easy thing. The hard thing is to believe that people are trying their best. I think that most people, and I'm really learning this and trying to learn this in the best ways I can right now, is that if you're not just like on the internet where I know people are not trying to do their best, they're just being mean, like in real life with people who are sitting, who you don't have to question whether they're a bot or not, people are trying to do the best they can and the best they can might be terrible. And that's okay, because when people are trying to do the best that they can, and when people are given the benefit of a doubt, they are more open to engaging with things that are embarrassing or challenging or confusing.And so a lot of what I do is ask questions in the context of my own experience. I'll say, “Hey, when you say that, that hits me in a really strange way, and it's kind of hurtful and I can see where this would be hurtful for somebody else. Can you help me understand where that idea came from for you and how that became so important to you?” Or like, “I can hear that this is really important to you, can you help me understand why?” Because if I can understand that why, I can create a human connection that allows me to walk someone through, like, “Yo, when you say to me as like a partnered queer person, that my future marriage is not God's best, when did that become so important to you? When did thinking about like queerness in this way become so important to you?And how big, like on a scale of one to 10, how big does that feel for you? And what would that feel like for you if I said something back to you like, ‘You're heteronormative marriage where it looks like your wife doesn't really like you that much, you're kind of a jerk, isn't God's best for you,' what would you say back to me?” Like what a strange thing for you to say to me. And so I think I do a lot of assuming that people are doing their best and asking a lot of origins questions. Because I think that most of evangelicalism is more concerned with indoctrination than it is with development and discipleship. And when you can expose the indoctrination, it opens up a lot of space for questions. Because I know a lot of people that have said to me things like, “I have never thought about that before,” or, “I have never considered that before.”Or, “It came from this book.” And I'm like, “Well, have you read these other books?” Or they're like, “It came from this verse.” And I'm like, “Well, have you read the equivalent verse in the gospels that exists?” And the answer usually is no. The people have not done their due diligence to come to their own ideas. They have parroted because parroting in the church gives you survival, and I understand that. I understand that being able to parrot ideas gives you belonging. And so to fall outside of that, to ask questions outside of that risks your belonging. And so I try to create spaces where people's stories can belong, even if their ideologies need to be questioned and engaged with differently. So I think that's the main way that I engage with that pastorally at least.Jonathan Walton: That is amazing. So being able to sit down with someone, see someone across difference in a way, and turn to wonder, awe and curiosity as opposed to prejudice, judgment, and condemnation. That's great. Amen.Where Listeners Can Find BrandiSy Hoekstra: Can you tell our listeners where they can find you or your work on the internets.Jonathan Walton: Or in real life. Or in real life [laughs].Brandi Miller: Yes. Yeah, you can… if you're not being a weirdo, you can find my church, Quest Church out in Seattle [laughter]. We're doing the best we can out there. I work there, I'm a regular person out there, so don't be a weirdo [laughter].Brandi Miller: But I'm online in several spaces. Primarily, I have a podcast called Reclaiming My Theology, that takes a topic.Jonathan Walton: Five stars, five stars, five stars.Brandi Miller: [laughs, then says very quickly] If you'd give it, it takes 30 seconds to do [laughter]. Yeah, that is exploring different types of problematic or oppressive ideologies and how they wiggle their way into our interpretation of the Bible and Christian culture and how they create Christian culture. We're working through a series on purity culture now that feels like it's never ending, but it's like a perfect intersection of a lot of the other forms of oppression that we've talked about. So we'll be in that for a little bit. And then I just launched a podcast with Quest Church, talking to people about formation practices that make them feel at home with God. And so if you're looking for more of a formational storytelling bend, I'm interviewing folks around those practices right now, as well as the stuff that I'm already doing on the podcast that takes a little bit more of an academic theological bend.Sy Hoekstra: What's the name of that one?Brandi Miller: The Quest Church Podcast.Sy Hoekstra: Oh, okay, got it [laughter]. Okay, cool.Jonathan Walton: Cool, cool. Nice.Sy Hoekstra: Thank you so much for that. If you go and listen to Reclaiming my Theology, you'll hear some familiar voices like Jonathan Walton and Tamice Spencer-Helms and other people that you know. Brandi Miller, this has been fantastic. I'm so happy you joined us [the sound of clapping]. Jonathan's actually applauding, I don't think that's ever happened before [laughter].Jonathan Walton: She's great. She's great. Lovely.Sy Hoekstra: Thank you so much for being with us.Brandi Miller: Yeah, delighted to be with you all. Thank you so much for the opportunity.[the intro piano music from “Citizens” by Jon Guerra plays briefly and then fades out.]Sy and Jonathan's Thoughts about Christian Community and Communicating Theology Well after the InterviewSy Hoekstra: Okay, Jonathan, that was fantastic [laughs].Jonathan Walton: It really, really was.Sy Hoekstra: What are you thinking coming out of that? Where are your thoughts at?Jonathan Walton: Yeah, so I'm actually stuck on the first thing that she said.Sy Hoekstra: Oh, okay. After that you blacked out and then you don't remember the rest of the interview.Jonathan Walton: [laughs] Well, I remember it. But one of the… I thought to myself, you know, I've changed a lot in the last four years since we wrote the essays that we did and since KTF started and all those things. And so it really pushed me to reflect. And when I was in journalism school with Peter Beinart, who is an amazing writer and commentator, especially right now.Sy Hoekstra: Who you've mentioned before, yeah.Jonathan Walton: Yes. Yeah, I mean, his work is just amazing. But something that he said in class was, you need to write for the language of the bleachers, like between a fifth and eighth grade level. And that is not a knock on people who are not educated or didn't go to university. It's more like we don't talk like this on a regular basis.Sy Hoekstra: You mean you don't talk the way that highfalutin people write [laughs]?Jonathan Walton: Exactly.Sy Hoekstra: Gotcha.Jonathan Walton: Right. And it was one of those things where I was like, huh, I wonder, would I say things the same way now? Or how can I say them so that people leave saying, “Oh, I know what he meant and I understood what he said,” versus, “I don't know what half those words meant, but it sounded really good [Sy laughs]. Thinking of reflecting on how Jesus spoke to people and who he called and how he called them was something that I just, just struck me about that response. And then obviously we also threw out some big words, some large terms and all those things. And one of the things that stood out to me that I didn't know about was the Overton window that she said. I'd never heard of that before.Sy Hoekstra: Oh, okay.Jonathan Walton: Yeah, but what has become normal. Having a term for that's just helpful. For me, like [laughs] I think I've mentioned this before, is that when I feel anxious, when I feel worried, when I feel concerned, one of the places that I go is information. I need to put it in a box. I need to have words to just feel grounded to engage. And now I can just say, “Oh, the Overton window has shifted [laughs], and that helps me have a place to stand [laughs] in a lot of our discourse and gives me more space to do what she talked about at the end, which is like, can I love people across difference? And when I have cohesive frameworks and information especially like in context, and I can do that more effectively. So I learned a lot. I was challenged and I'm really grateful.Sy Hoekstra: I think actually the thing that stuck out to me, kind of, I end up in a similar place, even though I'm coming from a totally different angle. Which is that the thing that she articulated about the how political doubt becomes religious doubt in like our current, kind of nationalist Christian nationalist landscape was really interesting to me. Because you hear it, so it's such a common thing if you think about it, right?Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: At least I've heard so many times people just be like, how can a Christian possibly vote for the Democrats? Right? Or asking like doubting Republican orthodoxy is actually grounds to doubt the foundations of your faith or the seriousness of your faith, when Jesus had absolutely no issue having people who he called disciples who were wildly politically different from each other.Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: So when she talks about wanting to talk across difference like that, or wanting to how Jesus helps people become a better version of themselves, he was doing that with people who were like the Roman empire is fine and I work for them and I get rich off of them and that's great, like Matthew [laughs]. Versus the Roman Empire is the enemy and we need to throw them off via murder and other forms of violence, AKA Simon the Zealot. And like they're just sitting together with Jesus. They're both followers of Jesus, no question.Jonathan Walton: Exactly, right.Sy Hoekstra: And they have opposite political views. And one of them is like really earnestly advocating and killing a bunch of people [laughs]. Right?Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: And that is like, it's just a, I don't know, in the context of some of the church context where I grew up or some of the… like it's just a lot of the conservative Christian context now that is unthinkable, but it is also the absolute norm for Jesus [laughs].Sy Hoekstra: So that gives you a sense of when you're a place where your church culture is off, when something that is unthinkable is the norm for Jesus [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Exactly. Exactly. That is what I hope we would say when someone says, what is syncretism?Sy Hoekstra: So syncretism is another one of those big words. I'm not sure we defined it right. Syncretism is a word that a lot of White westerners use for basically poor Black and Brown people, and sometimes Asian people.Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: When it's like, oh, you are a Christian, sure, but you're also practicing this native thing. Like my wife's family's from Haiti, right? You are Catholic, but you're also doing this voodoo stuff. And so that's not real pure Christianity, that's syncretism. And now…Jonathan Walton: Exactly.Sy Hoekstra: You were saying Jonathan, sorry, that was… go ahead.Jonathan Walton: No, but like, so Brandi's just turn of phrase when she said, oh, when someone's political foundations are shaken, their religious foundations are shaken. That is syncretism.Sy Hoekstra: Right, yes. Exactly.Jonathan Walton: And so putting it in that language just makes it more effective, more practical, more illuminating for people as opposed to saying, “Well, you're political and social and religious ideologies are enmeshed with one another, but creating an agenda…” It's like, we don't need to talk like that [laughs]. You know what I mean? We can just say it plainly and things God can meet us in that.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Which Tab Is Still Open?: Average Black, Christian Voting Patterns and Political Beliefs vs. the Average DemocratJonathan Walton: Alright Sy. Let's jump into our latest segment that we introduced during the bonus episodes, and now we're bringing to you on our wider feed, is Which Tab Is Still Open. Out of all the highlights we've sent around lately in our newsletter, what's still standing out to us? And so, Sy, this one's yours. So go for it.Sy Hoekstra: This one, yeah, this one is mine. It was an article that I had in the newsletter recently by a professor named Ryan Burge, who is a political science professor and a statistician. He's basically one of the go-to experts in America for a lot of media and other sources for data about religion and politics, like surveys, pollsters, et cetera. So he's a professor at Eastern Illinois University, but he's also an American Baptist Convention pastor [laughs]. So this article is about the average Black church attending Protestant. In a lot of these polls and surveys they ask people how often do you go to church, as a measure of your religiosity. Just like an estimate basically, of your religiosity.So he says for the average Black regular church attending Christian, what is the kind of differences in their political beliefs between just the average overall Democrat? And we talked about this in one of our, in the March bonus episode, that for like a lot of people don't realize the distance between… a lot of White people don't realize the distance between [laughs] average Black voter and average Democrat voter, because Black people always vote Democrat, right?Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: So if you're not kind of familiar with the culture or the politics, then those, the Black people and Democrats can be synonymous. So basically what he said was the average Black church goer is like a self-identified moderate. Is like almost in the middle of the political spectrum. Is more moderate than the average Democrat on abortion, immigration, policing, all kinds of stuff. Not conservative, but more moderate than the average Democrat. And they've become more moderate in recent years. And so there's an actual kind of statistically significant shift toward the right, but voting hasn't changed at all. Or there's been very little change in actual votes.And then the other interesting thing that he pointed out was the average… they do these polls where they have people rank themselves on a political spectrum from one to seven. So one is as liberal as it gets, and seven is as conservative as it gets. And then they also have people rank the Democrat and Republican parties for where they are, like the party overall. And in the last 10 years, the average Black church going Protestant assessment of where the Republican party is, has not changed at all, like in any significant way.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: So meaning when Donald Trump is the standard bearer, no significant difference in how radical or how right the Republican party is than when Mitt Romney was the standard bearer [laughs], right?Jonathan Walton: Yep.Sy Hoekstra: So you're saying that, “Yep. I get it, totally.” I think to a lot of people, that is some pretty stunning news [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.Sy Hoekstra: So, I don't know, the interesting points to me are just how our assumptions are like about voters in general are based on how White people vote, because White people vote very ideologically and Black people just don't. Like I've seen other polling data where it's like, basically Black people self-identify as liberals, moderates, or conservatives at roughly the same rate as White people. They just don't, Black people just don't vote ideologically. That's the difference, right? And then yeah, that thing where there's no difference between Trump and Mitt Romney is so interesting [laughter].Not no difference between those two men, but no difference between the parties under those two men. And by the way, the rest of the Democrat, the average Democrat thinks the Republican party is far more to the right than it was 10 years ago.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: So, basically what I'm saying is Black people knew the whole time [laughs], Black people knew what was up with the Republicans, and the assessment hasn't changed. I don't know, that to me is just a thing that people need to know. I don't know. When people say like, you hear sometimes from progressive people, “Listen to Black people, listen to Black women.” It just gets thrown out there, is like a, what I think to some White people probably sounds like just this weird ideological platitude that people are saying. But this is the reason [laughs]. The reason is marginalized folks in a system understand the system better than people in the dominant positions of the system, and have a, I don't know, have a kind of a clearer sense of where things are, have a more practical view of how to handle themselves in that system, which I think is the non-ideological voting. And yeah, all that stuff is really interesting to me. And I'm wondering what your thoughts were since this was my recommendation.Jonathan Walton: Yeah. I mean, I've… there are so many things that come to mind as we're talking about this. One thing is that the Overton window, as Brandi mentioned [laughs], it has shifted for some people, right? When we talk, when Randy Woodley talks about how people in the United States do not have the luxury of saying, “Oh, it doesn't matter who's president.” Marginalized people know it matters who is sitting in a political position. If it doesn't matter to you, then that creates a different set of problems. And I think another thing I think we have to remember is that [roughly] 70 percent of the voting population in the United States is White. The people who are registered, the people who turn out.And so there's, I think just there's a lot of context to layer over top of this that can obscure just the basic reality of the emancipation and the passing and Civil Rights Act. And the reality is, Black people voted for Lincoln because he wanted to stop slavery. Lincoln was a White supremacist. Lincoln literally argued in his presidential debate in Illinois that he did not believe that Black people were equal and could never be cultured to be with White people.Sy Hoekstra: And therefore we should send them back to Africa.Jonathan Walton: And therefore we should send them back to Africa. That is Lincoln. But why did we vote for him when we finally got the chance to vote, kind of with… [laughs]? It's because he said he did not want to have slavery exist anymore. Now, fast forward to the Civil Rights Act. Why did we all turn into Democrats? Because they said, “Hey, you should actually have civil rights.” Not equal rights, not full rights, not decriminalization. Not all, just some basic civil rights. Bam, now we're in that camp. This has always, always, always been about survival. The statistics are great. You could do the analysis, there's wonderful data that comes out. But at the end of the day, I'm gonna listen to my mama [Sy laughs] and say, “Oh yeah.”It would be preposterous of her to vote for anyone who is for the active destruction of her community. And the reality is, most of the time that is Republicans. Now, there are destructive policies against Black people that come from the Democrats. The difference is, just like we see here, the difference is this thing called White supremacy. One party says White supremacy exists. The other party says it doesn't. One party says White supremacy exists and desires in rhetoric to make it stop, even though they pass policies that continue to perpetuate it. The reality is though, there are more Black people, more people of color, more women in the party that has a donkey and not an elephant. And therefore, we will ride donkeys [laughs].And so that does not mean that we are for… we, when I say Black Christians, are for anything that the Overton window to use Brandi's saying again, has expanded. So Black folks' views on abortion, Black folks' views on war, Black folks' views on policing. Again, we like to be safe too. And unfortunately, a lot of times in communities of color that equals calling the police. That equals saying, “Hey, can someone help me?” Right? In Baltimore, in Chicago, in over policed parts of New York City, Black folks still have to call the police. Like it's not some utopia where we're just gonna let everything go. That doesn't exist in our communities.We still actually desire for the systems to work for us. We do not desire the system to destroy us. And so we use the systems and desire to make them better. And so these numbers I think are exceptionally informative at illuminating the, or illuminating the reality that many people in marginalized communities already know. But hopefully there'll be a common place for us to talk about it. Now there is a resistance to academia and research in progressive and conservative circles [laughs]. And so someone may say, “Well, that's just not true because it's not true for me.” But hopefully it will create some common ground to be able to have a cohesive conversation about Black folks, the Democratic party and progressive and conservative politics.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah, that's what we're trying to do. Political education, man [laughs].Outro and OuttakeJonathan Walton: Lord have mercy.Sy Hoekstra: Lord have mercy. This has been a great conversation. We were so happy that Brandi came on. And thanks for talking as always, Jonathan.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: We will see you all in a couple of weeks. Our theme song is Citizens by Jon Guerra. Our podcast Art is by Robin Burgess, transcripts by Joyce Ambale. And as I'm gonna start saying a lot, I'm stealing this from Seth at Can I Say This at Church? This show is produced by our subscribers [laughs]. Thank you all and we will see you all in two weeks.[The song “Citizens” by Jon Guerra fades in. Lyrics: “I need to know there is justice/ That it will roll in abundance/ And that you're building a city/ Where we arrive as immigrants/ And you call us citizens/ And you welcome us as children home.” The song fades out.]Jonathan Walton: And he loves wackadoodles, I'm gonna use that one. Loves wackadoodles [laughs].Sy Hoekstra: That I have never heard. Is that because I'm not from the south that I've never heard that? Was that… [laughter]?Jonathan Walton: Well, no. Brandi's not from the south either.Brandi Miller: Also, you know I'm big up north here. I'm a Pacific Northwest girly full on. There's no doubt there [Jonathan laughs].Sy Hoekstra: Is that a Brandi quote? Is that from you?Brandi Miller: No, I'm certain that come from somewhere.Sy Hoekstra: I'm just lost. It's fine.Brandi Miller: Maybe it's Black. Maybe that's what it is.Sy Hoekstra: Well, obviously if I am the confused one and you're not, that's my first thought as well. So [laughter], there's always, there's just like, I'm so used to that point in conversations at this point in my life where I'm like, “Oooooh it's because I'm White” [laughter]. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.ktfpress.com/subscribe

An influential group called the True Texas Project is hosting a conference in July that will actively promote Christian Nationalism and the racist great replacement theory, the Texas Tribune reports. The group, which subscribes to the idea of a “war on white America,” has ties to many Texas GOP officials, the report says, including Senator Ted Cruz and Attorney General Ken Paxton, a major supporter of Donald Trump. We talked to Sarah Posner, author of several books on the religious right, who sheds much-needed light on this ugly tangle far right ideologies—and how they're being mainstreamed at the highest levels of Republican power.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An influential group called the True Texas Project is hosting a conference in July that will actively promote Christian Nationalism and the racist great replacement theory, the Texas Tribune reports. The group, which subscribes to the idea of a “war on white America,” has ties to many Texas GOP officials, the report says, including Senator Ted Cruz and Attorney General Ken Paxton, a major supporter of Donald Trump. We talked to Sarah Posner, author of several books on the religious right, who sheds much-needed light on this ugly tangle far right ideologies—and how they're being mainstreamed at the highest levels of Republican power.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An influential group called the True Texas Project is hosting a conference in July that will actively promote Christian Nationalism and the racist great replacement theory, the Texas Tribune reports. The group, which subscribes to the idea of a “war on white America,” has ties to many Texas GOP officials, the report says, including Senator Ted Cruz and Attorney General Ken Paxton, a major supporter of Donald Trump. We talked to Sarah Posner, author of several books on the religious right, who sheds much-needed light on this ugly tangle far right ideologies—and how they're being mainstreamed at the highest levels of Republican power.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CEO of the Joint Center for Poltiical and Economic Studies Dedrick Asante-Muhammad joins Tavis to discuss the latest with Gaza, the growing wealth gap between Black America and White America, and other political topics of the day.

The State of California issued a formal Declaration of Regret for its discriminatory laws and practices against Chinese Americans, laws which remained on the books from the 1870s to the 1940s.  The Chinese Exclusion Act restricted immigration and prevented Chinese immigrants from ever becoming US Citizens, including children of Chinese immigrants born in the USA.  A clear violation of the 14th amendment, but too bad so sad! Your hosts with the most discuss legalized discrimination, White-America's fears of Anglo-cultural displacement, and small town rumors of coronavirus infested toilet paper.

NEW SUBSTACK: http://willspencerpod.substack.com Jeremy Carl is the author of “The Unprotected Class: How Anti-White Racism Is Tearing America Apart.” Topics discussed: His Jonah and the Whale Story of Writing The Most Subversive Chapter in His Book How India Shaped His Views on Race The Invention of An Ethnicity The Evil of White Progressives Young White Men Flirting with Far Rightness The Role of Asian Americans To Help His Vision for the Success of the Book CONNECT WITH JEREMY CARL https://twitter.com/realJeremyCarl https://jeremycarl.com "The Unprotected Class" on Amazon https://a.co/d/6XrKKW9 12 RULES FOR CHASTITY - FREE GUIDE! https://renofmen.gumroad.com/l/12rules SPONSORS https://ReformationCoffee.com Use the code SUBFREE to get one free bag of coffee with subscription. https://obrienfitnesslifestyle.com Use code RENOFMEN to get 10% off any online training package. LINKS https://x.com/renofmen https://instagram.com/renofmen https://youtube.com/@renofmen https://willspencerpod.substack.com

In this episode of the Watchung Booksellers Podcast, guests Garth Risk Hallberg and Jason Tanz chronicle their history of living in Montclair and the creation of a book club enlivening their shared reading experiences.  Guest bios:Garth Risk Hallberg is the author of  City on Fire,  the novella  Field Guide to the North American Family,  and The Second Coming(out May 28).  In 2017, Granta named him one of the Best of Young American Novelists. His work has been translated into seventeen languages.Jason Tanz is currently the editor-in-chief of at Lyft and before that worked at Wired for many years. His writing has appeared in many publication such as the New York Times, Esquire, and Fortune. He is also the author of the 2007 book Other People's Property: A Shadow History  of Hip Hop in White America. Jason also serves on the board of directors for the Montclair Public Library Foundation.Books:A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available on our website.Local Interest:Paper PlaneMontclair Public Library Register for Upcoming Events.The Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup. Recording and editing by Timmy Kellenyi, Bree Testa, and Derek Mattheiss at Silver Stream Studio in Montclair, NJ. Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica. Art & design and social media by Evelyn Moulton. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff. Thank you to the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids' Room for their hard work and love of books! If you liked our episode please like, follow, and share! Stay in touch!Email: wbpodcast@watchungbooksellers.comSocial: @watchungbooksellersSign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!

Thanks to American missionaries' successes around the globe, the face of evangelicalism is no longer White America. In Soul by Soul: The Evangelical Mission to Spread the Gospel to Muslims (https://globalreports.columbia.edu/books/soul-by-soul/), Adriana Carranca reveals an extraordinary tale that has been under the radar: Missionaries from Latin America are leading the way in spreading the Gospel to Muslim countries, including in former U.S. war zones. She joins host Richard Aldous to discuss the dangerous work being undertaken by a new wave of evangelicals.

White America might be down bad if Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese messes around and has a successful career.

As a queer, black, female artist working with everyone from Solange to PinkPantheress, Swarovski to Ferragamo, Kelela has been pushing boundaries on representation in music and fashion since the early 2010s. After disappearing from the public and taking an extended social media hiatus, Kelela reemerged in 2023 with the critically acclaimed album RAVEN. Her sound dances at the intersection of R&B and electronic dance music. However, her work remains unapologetic in the way it honors the black roots of club music and culture.In conversation with The Week host Kikelomo, Kelela dives into her approach of educating and reading, her RAVEN era, the possibility of building worlds and communities –and the importance of staying offline sometimes. Follow Kelela on Instagram. Find Kikelomo on Instagram. Check out Kelela's Tiny Desk Concert and more of her music. Read the books “Blues People: Negro Music in White America” by Amiri Baraka, and “The Musical Human: A History of Life on Earth” by Michael Spitzer. And watch “The Last Angel of History” by John Akomfrah.The Week is a production by Telekom Electronic Beats and ACB Stories.Host: Kikelomo Producer: Carlos SteurerEditing and Sound Design: Marc ÜbelExecutive Producer: Isabel Woop Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode, I'm in conversation with Sophia Ali Khan, activist, public interest lawyer, and Canadian-based author of *A Good Country: My Life in Twelve Town and the Devastating Battle for a White America*. We talked about a wide range of things, playing with the intersection of activism and spiritualit: from the current genocide (do we take the first flight out to Rafah?) to resonance with our ancestral homeland (what is embedded in our DNA that signals we are home?); from balancing being a mom with activism (how does one guide one's children through the practices of fasting during Ramadan?) to what true spirituality and faith look like. (Hint: It's not all white flowing robes and kumbaya). Come along with us on this meandering road of understanding what our role might be in this life as a human during this particular moment in time. Listen in today! About Sofia Ali-Khan: Sofia Ali-Khan is an anti-racist storyteller, author, and public interest lawyer. Her book, A Good Country: My Life in Twelve Towns and the Devastating Battle for a White America was published by Random House in 2022 and won the 2023 Nautilus Gold Book Award for Social Justice. Writing at the intersection of politics, race, history, and Muslim America, her essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, TIME Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, and other publications, earning her a Pushcart Prize nomination in 2022. She has appeared as a featured storyteller on The Moth's Mainstage in Boston and Philadelphia and at the Manhattan Public Theater. Sofia lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband, kids and cat, and is presently at work on her first novel with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.  =============== Today's poems/ Books mentioned: Oracle card: The Queen of Swords Poem: “Please Stop” by Sophia Ali Khan ===============  Courses / Exclusive Content / Book Mentioned: Subscribe to “Adventures in Midlife” newsletter: leslieann.substack.com Instagram: @leslieannhobayan  Email: leslieann@suryagian.com Sophia Ali Khan https://www.sofiaalikhan.com/ https://www.instagram.com/sofia_alikhan/

Friend-of-the-show Rob Henderson returns to discuss his powerful, moving and important debut book, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class (published TODAY). We discuss Rob's experience of the American foster care and adoption system, the life-changing impact of the military, the rise of Luxury Beliefs, the benefits of standardized testing, and MUCH more. Important Links: Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class (Amazon) The SAT is a pathway to more college diversity, not less; by Rob Henderson (The Boston Globe) Rob Henderson: Lessons I Learned the Hard Way; by Rob Henderson (The Free Press) Rob's Substack Rob's Twitter Show Notes: Foster Care, Adoption & Social Mobility Structural Origins of the Foster System Why Early-Life Stability is Underrated How Ideas Can Change Outcomes The Life-Changing Impact of the Military Young Male Syndrome The Role of Intelligence in Governing Outcomes The Benefits of Standardized Testing Yale, Luxury Beliefs & the Rise of Identity Politics Are Luxury Beliefs a Political or Class Phenomenon? Trickle-Down Meritocracy Technology, Assortive Mating & Social Mobility Is the Overton Window Shifting on Campus? Rob as Emperor of the World Books and Articles Mentioned: Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class; by Rob Henderson The SAT is a pathway to more college diversity, not less; by Rob Henderson (The Boston Globe) Rob Henderson: Lessons I Learned the Hard Way; by Rob Henderson (The Free Press) Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society; by Nicholas A. Christakis Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010; by Charles Murray Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World, by Tyler Cowen and Daniel Gross A Suitable Boy; by Vikram Seth The Son Also Rises; by Gregory Clark

Most accounts of post-1950s political history tell the story of of the war on drugs as part of a racial system of social control of urban minority populations, an extension of the federal war on black street crime and the foundation for the "new Jim Crow" of mass incarceration as key characteristics of the U.S. in this period. But as the Nixon White House understood, and as the Carter and Reagan administrations also learned, there were not nearly enough urban heroin addicts in America to sustain a national war on drugs.  The Suburban Crisis: White America and the War on Drugs (Princeton University Press, 2023) argues that the long war on drugs has reflected both the bipartisan mandate for urban crime control and the balancing act required to resolve an impossible public policy: the criminalization of the social practices and consumer choices of tens of millions of white middle-class Americans constantly categorized as "otherwise law-abiding citizens."" That is, the white middle class was just as much a target as minority populations. The criminalization of marijuana - the white middle-class drug problem - moved to the epicenter of the national war on drugs during the Nixon era. White middle-class youth by the millions were both the primary victims of the organized drug trade and excessive drug war enforcement, but policymakers also remained committed to deterring their illegal drug use, controlling their subculture, and coercing them into rehabilitation through criminal law. Only with the emergence of crack cocaine epidemic of the mid-1980s did this use of state power move out of suburbs and reemerge more dramatically in urban and minority areas.  This book tells a history of how state institutions, mass media, and grassroots political movements long constructed the wars on drugs, crime, and delinquency through the lens of suburban crisis while repeatedly launching bipartisan/nonpartisan crusades to protect white middle-class victims from perceived and actual threats, both internal and external. The book works on a national, regional, and local level, with deep case studies of major areas like San Francisco, LA, Washington, and New York. This history uses the lens of the suburban drug war to examine the consequences when affluent white suburban families serve as the nation's heroes and victims all at the same time, in politics, policy, and popular culture. Matthew D. Lassiter is professor of history and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan, where he is co-director of the Carceral State Project. Caleb Zakarin is the Assistant Editor of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Most accounts of post-1950s political history tell the story of of the war on drugs as part of a racial system of social control of urban minority populations, an extension of the federal war on black street crime and the foundation for the "new Jim Crow" of mass incarceration as key characteristics of the U.S. in this period. But as the Nixon White House understood, and as the Carter and Reagan administrations also learned, there were not nearly enough urban heroin addicts in America to sustain a national war on drugs.  The Suburban Crisis: White America and the War on Drugs (Princeton University Press, 2023) argues that the long war on drugs has reflected both the bipartisan mandate for urban crime control and the balancing act required to resolve an impossible public policy: the criminalization of the social practices and consumer choices of tens of millions of white middle-class Americans constantly categorized as "otherwise law-abiding citizens."" That is, the white middle class was just as much a target as minority populations. The criminalization of marijuana - the white middle-class drug problem - moved to the epicenter of the national war on drugs during the Nixon era. White middle-class youth by the millions were both the primary victims of the organized drug trade and excessive drug war enforcement, but policymakers also remained committed to deterring their illegal drug use, controlling their subculture, and coercing them into rehabilitation through criminal law. Only with the emergence of crack cocaine epidemic of the mid-1980s did this use of state power move out of suburbs and reemerge more dramatically in urban and minority areas.  This book tells a history of how state institutions, mass media, and grassroots political movements long constructed the wars on drugs, crime, and delinquency through the lens of suburban crisis while repeatedly launching bipartisan/nonpartisan crusades to protect white middle-class victims from perceived and actual threats, both internal and external. The book works on a national, regional, and local level, with deep case studies of major areas like San Francisco, LA, Washington, and New York. This history uses the lens of the suburban drug war to examine the consequences when affluent white suburban families serve as the nation's heroes and victims all at the same time, in politics, policy, and popular culture. Matthew D. Lassiter is professor of history and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan, where he is co-director of the Carceral State Project. Caleb Zakarin is the Assistant Editor of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Most accounts of post-1950s political history tell the story of of the war on drugs as part of a racial system of social control of urban minority populations, an extension of the federal war on black street crime and the foundation for the "new Jim Crow" of mass incarceration as key characteristics of the U.S. in this period. But as the Nixon White House understood, and as the Carter and Reagan administrations also learned, there were not nearly enough urban heroin addicts in America to sustain a national war on drugs.  The Suburban Crisis: White America and the War on Drugs (Princeton University Press, 2023) argues that the long war on drugs has reflected both the bipartisan mandate for urban crime control and the balancing act required to resolve an impossible public policy: the criminalization of the social practices and consumer choices of tens of millions of white middle-class Americans constantly categorized as "otherwise law-abiding citizens."" That is, the white middle class was just as much a target as minority populations. The criminalization of marijuana - the white middle-class drug problem - moved to the epicenter of the national war on drugs during the Nixon era. White middle-class youth by the millions were both the primary victims of the organized drug trade and excessive drug war enforcement, but policymakers also remained committed to deterring their illegal drug use, controlling their subculture, and coercing them into rehabilitation through criminal law. Only with the emergence of crack cocaine epidemic of the mid-1980s did this use of state power move out of suburbs and reemerge more dramatically in urban and minority areas.  This book tells a history of how state institutions, mass media, and grassroots political movements long constructed the wars on drugs, crime, and delinquency through the lens of suburban crisis while repeatedly launching bipartisan/nonpartisan crusades to protect white middle-class victims from perceived and actual threats, both internal and external. The book works on a national, regional, and local level, with deep case studies of major areas like San Francisco, LA, Washington, and New York. This history uses the lens of the suburban drug war to examine the consequences when affluent white suburban families serve as the nation's heroes and victims all at the same time, in politics, policy, and popular culture. Matthew D. Lassiter is professor of history and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan, where he is co-director of the Carceral State Project. Caleb Zakarin is the Assistant Editor of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

In this episode of #Sardeafterdinner, we're back at it with our good friend, singer, poet and writer Hamed Sinno to talk about how a new form White-supremacy has emerged to justify the g*n0c!de in G*z@: Pinkwashing. We also got the chance to have Hamed's on-ground testimony on what it really means to take the streets of New York & stand in solidarity with P@le$t!ne. The conversation doesn't hold its punches when discussing: -How is !$r@el pinkwashing its g*n0cide in G*z@? -Being Pro-P@le$t!ne in White America & Europe -The Media's most absurd articles since October 7 -The untold story about Hansel and Gretel & Anti-semitism -Can you be an artist without being an activist? في هذه الحلقة من #سردة، نتحدث مع صديقنا المغني والشاعر والكاتب حامد سنو عن نوع جديد من الفوقية البيضاء التي تبرر باستمرار الإب*دة في غ*ة: الغسيل الوردي. يخبرنا حامد أيضا ما يشهده في تظاهرات نيويورك الداعمة لفلسط*ن والمتضامنة معها. انضموا إلينا في حديثنا عن: -كيف تمارس اسر*يل الغسيل الوردي لكي تبرر الإب*دة في غ*ة؟ -التضامن مع فلسط*ن في العالم الأبيض: أميركا وأوروبا -أكثر المقالات سخافة في الإعلام منذ 7 أكتوبر -ما لا تعرفونه عن علاقة قصة هانسل وغريتيل بمعاداة السامية -هل يمكنك أن تكون فنانا دون أن تكون ناشطا؟ This Sarde is brought to you by our incredible patrons at  ⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/sardeafterdinner⁠⁠⁠   Without you guys, there is no Sarde (after dinner). Thank you NEW Sarde. Every. Wednesday  9 PM

Jonathan Lethem is a best-selling essayist, novelist, and cultural critic. His books include Dissident Gardens, The Fortress of Solitude, The Feral Detective, and Motherless Brooklyn. Lethem is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. His new book is Brooklyn Crime Novel. Jonathan Lethem explains why They Live endures and is now much more than a “cult classic”, the power of John Carpenter's warnings about our present-future, reflects on what it means to be a “language worker” i.e. someone who writes for a living and thinks deeply about the written word, and why in the Age of Trump and late capitalism so many human beings have surrendered to the culture of cruelty and disposability and have become the “ghouls” from They Live. In this conversation, Jonathan Lethem and Chauncey also reflect on their mutual dislike of Christopher Nolan's films and their shared love of Michael Mann's filmThief. Chauncey shares some stories from his neighborhood, how again he encountered a (new) local pervert, is sad about how bad the New England Patriots have become in the post-Brady era and is very happy about the goddess Jade Cargill joining the WWE. He also explains how Donald Trump continues to channel antisemitism and the evils of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis – this time during an interview where the evil ex-president complains about how non-white migrants and refugees are “poisoning the blood” of (White) America. WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME? On Twitter: https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega My email: chaunceydevega@gmail.com HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW? Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow

This week Leslie continues her Historical Mentors series with a refreshing and inspiring look at the life of Lilias Trotter, a remarkable and talented woman who gave up both wealth and fame in order to pour out her life to the unreached in Algeria. Lilias's example illustrates the beauty and fulfillment that comes from laying down the "good" in order to surrender to God's very best. Her life is a testimony to the beauty of God's ways and the eternal reward of a fully surrendered heart.For more resources from Leslie, visit www.setapart.org. To support Set Apart Ministries, visit https://setapart.org/support-setapart/. Catch the Daily Thunder series, Spiritual Lessons from Black and White America here: https://dailythunder.captivate.fm/listen. To learn more about Ellerslie's Discipleship programs, visit https://ellerslie.com/be-discipled/.

This is the thirty-eighth and final installment in Eric's epic summer series covering the contentious and war-torn season of American history from 1914 to 1974. In this episode, he unpacks the explosive political event in the early 70's that history simply refers to as Watergate. It's an extraordinary event that has greatly altered and influenced American society. What is a nation to do when its trusted leaders are corrupt? ------------For more information about Daily Thunder and the ministry of Ellerslie Mission Society, please visit: https://ellerslie.com/. If you have been blessed by Ellerslie, consider partnering with the ministry by donating at: https://ellerslie.com/donate/

Leslie Ludy is the special guest for this thirty-seventh installment in Eric Ludy's epic summer series covering the contentious and war-torn season of American history from 1914 to 1974. In this episode, Leslie dives into the lives of Keith Green and Leonard Ravenhill, showing the impact of their lives and ministries in the 70's, as well as key spiritual truths for today's American Church.------------For more information about Daily Thunder and the ministry of Ellerslie Mission Society, please visit: https://ellerslie.com/. If you have been blessed by Ellerslie, consider partnering with the ministry by donating at: https://ellerslie.com/donate/

This week Leslie continues her Historical Mentors series with an inspiring look at the life of Catherine Booth, the co-founder of the Salvation Army. All through her life, Catherine kept her spiritual fire aflame against incredible odds. Her example reminds us that we have no excuses for accepting mediocrity in our Christian walk. Catherine's amazing journey urges us to “leave it all on the field”, by God's grace, and for His glory. As Leslie unpacks Catherine's life, you will be challenged not to settle for less than “the impossible God-enabled life” that God has called you to.For more resources from Leslie, visit www.setapart.org. To support Set Apart Ministries visit https://setapart.org/support-setapart/. To listen to Eric Ludy's Daily Thunder podcast series, Spiritual Lessons from Black and White America, visit https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daily-thunder-podcast/id1463243966. To learn more about our Ellerslie Discipleship Training Programs, visit https://ellerslie.com/be-discipled/.

This is the thirty-sixth installment in Eric's epic summer series covering the contentious and war-torn season of American history from 1914 to 1974. In this episode, he explores the American mindset towards the unwanted and inconvenient by using Lee Harvey Oswald as a symbol of the American desire to eradicate that which disturbs our status quo. This particular message set us up to better understand a monumental court case in 1973 in which the right to eliminate a different sort of "unwanted life" was in question.------------For more information about Daily Thunder and the ministry of Ellerslie Mission Society, please visit: https://ellerslie.com/. If you have been blessed by Ellerslie, consider partnering with the ministry by donating at: https://ellerslie.com/donate/

This is the thirty-fifth installment in Eric's epic summer series covering the contentious and war-torn season of American history from 1914 to 1974. In this episode, he uncovers the federal governments attempts to rescue America from its downward social and moral spiral in the sixties. Unfortunately, America's “noble" efforts at maintaining the status quo read like an exposé of Satan's ancient tactics to deceive the nations.------------For more information about Daily Thunder and the ministry of Ellerslie Mission Society, please visit: https://ellerslie.com/. If you have been blessed by Ellerslie, consider partnering with the ministry by donating at: https://ellerslie.com/donate/

This is the second episode in Leslie's series entitled My Historical Mentors, featuring spiritual lessons from the life of Biddy Chambers - the wife of Oswald Chambers. Biddy's humble and self-sacrificing example points us to God's pattern for "taking the lowest place". Without her tireless and faithful service, the beloved Christian devotional My Utmost His Highest would never have been created and blessed countless thousands around the world. Leslie points us to several qualities from Biddy's life that can encourage and equip us as we seek to live humble, Christ-centered lives in such a time as this.For more resources from Leslie, visit www.setapart.org. To support Set Apart Ministries, visit https://setapart.org/support-setapart/. To tune into Eric Ludy's Daily Thunder podcast series called Spiritual Lessons from Black and White America, visit https://dailythunder.captivate.fm/listen/. To learn more about our Ellerslie Discipleship Programs, visit https://ellerslie.com/be-discipled/.

This is the thirty-fourth installment in Eric's epic summer series covering the contentious and war-torn season of American history from 1914 to 1974. In this episode, he showcases an unusual event in 1966 which boasted David and Goliath significance—the little women's college, Agnes Scott, defeated the powerhouse all-men's university Princeton in the GE College Bowl.------------For more information about Daily Thunder and the ministry of Ellerslie Mission Society, please visit: https://ellerslie.com/. If you have been blessed by Ellerslie, consider partnering with the ministry by donating at: https://ellerslie.com/donate/

This is the thirty-third installment in Eric's epic summer series covering the contentious and war-torn season of American history from 1914 to 1974. In this episode, he explores the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962. This extraordinary thirteen day event ranks as possibly the most dreadful and fearful two week period in American history. And the man given the task of leading America through this dark hour was President John F. Kennedy. His decisions under pressure have defined the world in which we live. ------------For more information about Daily Thunder and the ministry of Ellerslie Mission Society, please visit: https://ellerslie.com/. If you have been blessed by Ellerslie, consider partnering with the ministry by donating at: https://ellerslie.com/donate/

Leslie continues her Biblical Mindset series with this practical and Biblical look at exchanging chaos for order and peace. Overcoming chaos may feel like an impossible task in our modern chaotic world. But the good news is that it's not a task we need to accomplish in our own strength or willpower. God Himself is interested in the details of our homes and personal lives. And He alone can equip us to build our lifestyle into a reflection of His orderly, peaceful nature.For more resources from Leslie, visit www.setapart.org or www.setapartmotherhood.com. To tune into the Daily Thunder podcast series, Spiritual Lessons from Black and White America, visit https://ellerslie.com/daily/. To learn more about our Ellerslie Discipleship programs, visit https://ellerslie.com/be-discipled/. And to support Set Apart Ministries, visit https://setapart.org/support-setapart/.

Leslie continues her Biblical mindset series with this practical and powerful episode on overcoming anxiety. Sharing two key principles from Scripture, Leslie reminds us that God's desire is for us to be completely free from fear and filled with extraordinary courage. In this episode, Leslie challenges us to let God lead us to a place of victory, faith, and triumph so that we can walk in the reality of Philippians 4:6 — being anxious for nothing. As this message reminds us, it is always safe to trust the One who gave everything for us. When we have Jesus, we have nothing to be afraid of.For more resources from Leslie, visit www.setapart.org. To support Set Apart Ministries, visit https://setapart.org/support-setapart/. To follow Eric Ludy's new Daily Thunder Series, Spiritual Lessons from Black and White America, visit https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daily-thunder-podcast/id1463243966.

This week, Leslie continues her Biblical mindset series with a Christ-centered approach to overcoming anxiety. In Philippians 4:6 Paul tells us," Do not be anxious about anything.” But is it really possible not to be anxious about anything? We must always remember that whatever God calls us to He equips us for - including the calling to walk in total victory over anxiety. As Leslie shares in this episode, the very same supernatural courage that was available to our spiritual heroes is also available to us. It was not something they mustered up; it was a work of God's grace within their souls. They simply made themselves available to it. And we can do the same.For more resources from Leslie, visit www.setapart.org. To support Set Apart Ministries, visit https://setapart.org/support-setapart/. To tune into Eric's newest Daily Thunder series, Spiritual Lessons from Black and White America, visit https://dailythunder.captivate.fm/listen or watch the videos here: https://ellerslie.com/daily/.

For this Independence Day: Alexandra Petri, humorist and columnist for the Washington Post and the author of Alexandra Petri's US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up) (W. W. Norton & Company, 2023), talks about our actual history, what we should have learned from it, and her spoof of it in her new book. Andy Read, professor of marine biology and the director of the Duke University Marine Laboratory, talks about why so many beached whales are turning up on the New York and New Jersey coastlines, and why claims from some groups that surveying for wind farms is causing the deaths are untrue. Julia Lee, Korean American writer, scholar, and teacher and the author of Biting the Hand: Growing Up Asian in Black and White America (Henry Holt and Co., 2023), shares her story of racial identity, ally-ship and finding her way while growing up in L.A. as a daughter of Korean American storekeepers at the time of the 1992 riots. Through her own story and those of asylum-seekers, wrongfully convicted inmates, and others, Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee and her latest, Who Gets Believed?: When the Truth Isn't Enough (Catapult, 2023), examines whose stories are accepted and whose are rejected when the story you tell can determine your fate. Ilan Stavans, publisher of Restless Books and the editor of the anthology The People's Tongue: Americans and the English Language (Restless Books, 2023), talks about the many sources of American English, from Sojourner Truth to Bob Dylan and more.   These interviews have been edited slightly for rebroadcast; the original versions are available here: Having Fun US History (April 12, 2023) Why Whales Are Dying in NY and NJ (May 23, 2023) Julia Lee's Memoir/Manifesto of Being Asian in Black & White America (April 25, 2023) 'Who Gets Believed': Stories of Asylum-Seekers and Others (March 7, 2023) The Many Creators of American English (Feb 17, 2023)

A recent Twitter Spaces conversation about Juneteenth left Jason doubling down on his premise that the celebration, as a national holiday, can not be decoupled from the death of George Floyd and the summer of  Black Lives Matter. And therein lies the issue that white Americans have with Juneteenth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices