0:00

It's been another busy news week and we like

0:02

to review the major stories of the week here on the Black

0:04

Information Network. Today we are joined

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by Black Information Network news anchors Natasha

0:09

Williams and Ray Harris to discuss this week's

0:11

major stories. This

0:14

is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast

0:16

and I'm your host Rams This jah

0:19

all right, Ray Harris Man, welcome back

0:21

to the show. Have you been, brother, hey?

0:23

One step at a time? God bless you man.

0:25

How you doing? I'm doing great? Natasha,

0:27

how have you been?

0:29

Oh? I am great, i am absolutely

0:32

great. How are you doing?

0:33

I'm thriving. It's fantastic to hear from

0:36

both of you. And of course we have a lot of news to

0:38

cover, lots in the way of political stories

0:40

this week. The headlines have been

0:43

just crazy since Super

0:45

Tuesday, but one of the biggest stories of course

0:47

involved announcements from two people

0:49

connected to former President

0:51

Donald Trump. Natasha, let's kick things off with you.

0:54

Tell us more about the announcements from the

0:56

Republicans Nikki Haley and Mitch McConnell.

0:58

And Ray will come with you for your thad after that.

1:01

And Nikki Haley has announced that she is

1:04

no longer going to be seeking the

1:07

presidency. Uh, she has decided

1:09

that she is going to step aside, not

1:12

going to run for the president's job.

1:16

I guess after Super Tuesday, uh,

1:18

deciding that she can no longer

1:21

take on Donald Trump. She

1:25

decided that, uh, you know, she didn't

1:27

want to run anymore. She

1:29

put up a good battle, but

1:31

I guess decided that at this point

1:33

she was going to step aside. But she has

1:36

not decided that she is going to

1:39

endorse him as of yet, which is really

1:41

interesting. So this

1:44

battle continues. You

1:46

know, she on the debate stage

1:49

when she was with him, she had said at some

1:51

point that she was going to uh

1:53

you know, I guess support

1:56

whoever the party chose to, uh

2:00

stand behind. But she has

2:02

not decided to go

2:04

ahead and support him

2:06

at this point. So we'll see, you know, where

2:08

this goes, because you know,

2:10

everyone else is deciding to kind

2:13

of jump behind him. But we'll see where she goes.

2:15

But you know, she got really, you know, kind

2:17

of in a fight mode, you

2:20

know, when it came to trying

2:22

to win these states during the

2:25

process here. But you know, now

2:28

she's kind of standing back trying to see what's

2:30

going on. So we'll see, we'll

2:32

see where she comes out in the next

2:34

few days.

2:35

All right, Ray, and let's get your thoughts,

2:38

Ramses.

2:39

I had the remote last night and I

2:42

flipped through a lot of channels. A lot

2:44

of the political pundits suggests

2:48

that it was it got personal

2:51

and downright nasty between Haley

2:53

and Trump. A lot was not reported

2:55

that we don't know about that happened behind the scenes.

2:58

And the reason why she hasn't

3:01

their speculation, the reason why she hasn't

3:04

endorsed him because she's thinking about

3:06

her political future. She

3:09

may try to try this again. I mean,

3:11

these guys are senior citizens

3:14

who are the main leaders

3:17

to potentially run out of

3:19

country, and I think she's looking at

3:21

the big picture and what's going

3:23

on down the road. I

3:26

don't think she's done. A lot

3:28

of political pundits don't think

3:30

she's done. And she may

3:32

get back in the race and

3:34

run again in four years. So we'll

3:37

see what happens with Miss Haley.

3:39

Sure, sure you know. One of the things that

3:42

was the result of that, She initially

3:45

said that she would offer

3:48

her endorsement to whoever

3:52

the party nominated if it wasn't her,

3:55

And she has since kind of reneged

3:57

on that because partially

4:00

because Donald Trump would

4:03

not endorse her if he was not

4:06

the party's nomination for president,

4:10

and so she didn't feel like

4:12

that was equal, that was fair, and

4:15

it kind of showed his character. She

4:18

has suggested in

4:20

a number of interviews that she

4:23

didn't like the direction that the party

4:25

was going and the party started to become about

4:27

one man instead of being about the party,

4:30

and Donald Trump's

4:34

refusal to support

4:36

her if she became the nomination

4:39

was indicative of that new culture

4:43

that has kind of taken stage

4:46

in the Republican Party, and so her

4:49

endorsement is just she

4:52

just does not feel like it is appropriate

4:54

for the future of the party to endorse Donald

4:56

Trump. She's you know, as you mentioned,

4:58

she's looking forward, and she feels

5:01

like with looking at Donald Trump and

5:03

President Joe Biden, the country

5:05

is looking backwards, and so it's

5:09

important to note the why kind of

5:11

behind that. Another thing, too, is that President

5:15

Biden reached out to a lot of

5:19

the supporters of Nicky Haley

5:22

saying that, you know, he was

5:24

very clear, He's like, I know that we don't

5:27

agree on a whole lot, but if you're

5:29

willing to work with me effectually, this is what he communicated

5:31

He's like, if you're willing to work with me, I'm

5:34

sure we can do some great things together. A

5:36

direct quote from him says, Donald Trump

5:39

made it clear that he doesn't want Nicky Haley

5:41

supporters. I want to be clear, there

5:43

is a place for them in my campaign.

5:45

And so President Biden

5:48

kind of stepped in to try to, you

5:51

know, get some of that support over

5:54

to his side, because a lot of people that had

5:56

held out to the end for Nicki Haley are

5:58

people that would not vote

6:00

for Donald Trump under any circumstances. And

6:02

so there's

6:04

a group of people who

6:07

are still looking for something

6:09

other than Donald Trump. And to

6:11

be fair, a lot of them are not

6:13

going to be Biden supporters. But the fact that he's

6:16

reaching out when Donald Trump isn't, I think

6:18

is significant. And then as far as Mitch

6:20

McConnell is concerned, obviously,

6:23

you know, we covered the fact that he announced

6:25

his retirement upcoming

6:28

retirement from the Senate, but

6:33

you know, I wonder what his legacy will be a lot of people

6:35

are wondering that, especially

6:38

now that he has endorsed President

6:41

Trump. And I'll share his endorsement.

6:45

He's quoted as saying it should come as no surprise

6:48

that as nominee, he will have

6:50

my support. He

6:52

said that during the first

6:54

term of Donald Trump's presidency,

6:57

the two leaders work together to quote

6:59

accomplished great things for the American

7:01

people. And

7:04

this endorsement is

7:06

curious because this comes from the same

7:08

man who was quoted as saying former President

7:10

Trump's actions that preceded the riot

7:13

were a disgraceful, disgraceful

7:15

dereliction of duty. He

7:17

said this on the Senate floor after a chamber

7:19

voted to acquit. Trump goes

7:21

on to say, there is no question, none,

7:24

that President Trump is practically

7:27

and morally responsible for provoking

7:29

the events of the day, the day being,

7:31

of course, January sixth, and so that

7:35

is just one of many kind of back

7:37

and forth attacks between the two but

7:42

kind of going out like this,

7:46

a lot of people were disappointed that he did

7:48

not hold the line as one

7:50

of the great Republicans of all time. He

7:53

is bending the knee once again to one

7:55

man, not to the party, and it's unfortunate,

7:58

especially because he's on his

8:00

way out. But that is the state of

8:02

things and we move on. The

8:05

fight to protect EI initiatives in the

8:07

state of Florida received support this week from a Hall

8:09

of Fame NFL running back Ray. You cover

8:11

sports for the Black Information Network, so we're gonna

8:13

start with you this time. Tell us more about the story than of course Natasha

8:16

will follow up you for your thoughts.

8:18

This has been a footprint for Republican

8:21

Governor Ron DeSantis. He

8:24

has been pushing in Florida

8:29

very hard over the last three years.

8:33

Of recent a lot of

8:35

people have voiced their displeasure

8:38

regarding this initiative, but

8:42

one person in particular that spoke

8:44

out is Emmett Smith, the

8:46

former Dallas Cowboys running back

8:50

and he was also a

8:52

high profile Florida Gator. He

8:55

has been sounding off lately, not

8:58

only about the Cowboys but and

9:00

their dismal playoff appearances,

9:03

but also this particular issue,

9:05

because he says is personal. He's

9:09

very upset and he thinks it's a bad

9:11

move that the

9:13

University of Florida went

9:15

to this measure, even though it's

9:18

a law now in the state of Florida,

9:20

so what the school was doing is following

9:23

the new state laws and regulations.

9:26

But Emmitt Smith, he

9:29

voiced his displeasure and he said,

9:32

you know, it's going

9:34

to hold back African Americans and

9:36

minorities. It's

9:38

also going to hold back people

9:41

of different

9:43

sexual orientations and their

9:46

national origins.

9:49

He's very concerned that the

9:51

makeup of public

9:54

institutions like the University of

9:56

Florida will be hampered and

9:59

there will not be a fair makeup

10:02

of these institutions. Give

10:05

you a prime example of this the number of

10:07

jobs that were let go. We're

10:10

a total of twenty eight positions

10:13

which were all African

10:15

American and minorities that were released

10:18

this week as a result of this new

10:20

law. So it's going to

10:22

be ugly and it's unfortunate

10:25

we're in twenty twenty four, but was still

10:27

battling what, it seems like,

10:30

some of the civil rights and some of

10:32

the

10:34

concerns that we had back in the sixties.

10:36

Yeah, yeah, Natasha, let's

10:38

get your thoughts here.

10:40

Well, I think it's very

10:42

important that he did come out and take a stand,

10:45

and as Ray said, you know, we are

10:47

going backwards. I mean, look at

10:49

this. I mean, you know, DeSantis

10:52

takes this stand, and what he did basically

10:54

was forced Florida's hand because

10:57

they will lose big money if

11:00

they don't, you know, basically

11:03

back down. And they knew federal

11:05

dollars would be lost if they

11:07

did not. They basically

11:10

acquiesce, So if they did

11:12

not get rid of

11:15

the DEI, they would lose these

11:17

federal moneies associated with those

11:19

two regulations. I think

11:21

it's one thousand and oh five and I can't

11:23

remember the other one, but it's two specific

11:26

regulations that were put into place

11:28

by DeSantis that specifically

11:30

are tied to DEI, And

11:33

if they did not get rid of those particular

11:35

regulations, those

11:37

DEI programs, then they would lose money.

11:40

And so because they wrote those in,

11:42

you know, they had to get

11:45

rid of those specific programs,

11:47

and you know, and it's just a way

11:50

of eliminating ways

11:53

to make sure that things are

11:55

fair. And you

11:57

know, DeSantis is just trying to

11:59

wipe why, you know, where

12:01

we are, and it's unfortunate,

12:04

you know, and we can't stand for

12:06

this, but you know, as where

12:08

we are right now, it's just a

12:11

way to just take us back in time, you

12:13

know, And it's unfortunate, sure, sure.

12:16

You know. And the thing is the

12:18

only reason that we ended up here is

12:22

because the

12:25

basic people that have elected Rohn

12:28

decentis

12:32

are politically engaged. And

12:35

this is exactly what happens

12:38

when people are politically engaged. They

12:40

champion their guy up

12:43

to the top. You know, he's the governor of the state,

12:45

so he runs the show in Florida, and

12:48

their guy represents their

12:51

interests. The thing is, it's

12:53

important to remember that there are more

12:55

of us on this side. The

12:58

thing is, we are less politic engaged,

13:00

and there's a number of reasons for that. You

13:03

know, we have to work more we you

13:05

know's there's a lot of reasons

13:07

for that. But

13:09

the fact that a main reason I should

13:11

say while I'm here, is that a

13:14

lot of us, you know, especially Black people,

13:16

feel very disconnected from the

13:18

entire political process. You know, no

13:20

matter which way we vote, how we vote, how

13:22

we show up, how many lines we wait in, you

13:25

know, we never seem to have more money, We never seemed

13:27

to be represented, blah blah blah. Right,

13:30

So this has been true for such

13:32

a long time, But there

13:34

is something to be said about

13:37

what happens when all of us come together.

13:39

You know, you mentioned the civil rights movement, ray,

13:42

and I

13:44

think that that shows exactly what the

13:47

power of an organized, concerted

13:49

effort can do. You know, the

13:52

Montgomery bus boycott comes to mind.

13:54

Took a while, but after a while, they

13:57

said, you know what, this is

13:59

not sustainable. We need you

14:01

all to participate in order for this

14:03

system to work. So you

14:06

have let us know your wishes and we will

14:09

accommodate your wishes. You can sit wherever you

14:11

want on the bus, and voting works

14:14

much the same way. And so the

14:17

fact is is that they got here by

14:20

voting, and we can

14:22

undo it by voting. And

14:25

so to everyone listening in Florida, everybody

14:27

knows somebody in Florida, and the truth is in Oklahoma

14:30

and Texas and other places where this sort of thing is,

14:33

you know, starting to

14:35

grow legs. You know, these attacks

14:37

on what we would consider progress,

14:40

you know, the progress that we were

14:42

able to accomplish in the

14:44

sixties during the civil rights movement. Let's

14:50

continue to vote, as cliche

14:52

as it is, as redundant as it is. That's

14:54

how they've engaged, and that's how we can engage.

14:57

And if we show our strength and our

15:00

numbers, than we can push back against

15:02

this, and we will. Otherwise,

15:05

what's the point of going forward? Right? Black

15:08

Information Network News anchors Natasha

15:10

Williams and Ray Harris are here with us discussing

15:12

this week's major stories activities

15:17

at a Spokane, Washington Elementary

15:19

School caught the attention of the NAACP, and

15:21

it wasn't for a good reason. Natasha, you

15:23

handle the Seattle Washington market for the network,

15:25

So this story probably came across

15:28

your Washington wire this week. Why

15:30

don't you bring us up to speed with this story and then Ray

15:32

will follow up you.

15:34

This is a pretty incredibly

15:36

crazy story. Yeah,

15:41

Wilson Elementary School suggested

15:44

that the students attending

15:47

a jazz concert actually

15:51

come dressed in slaves

15:54

or hobo attire to

15:57

attend this concert. You

16:00

know, just incredible. I mean,

16:02

just you know, come dressed

16:04

in slaves or hobo

16:07

attire. You know, just you know, to you

16:09

know, take a look back

16:11

in time. They said, you know, from

16:13

today, take a look back to

16:15

yesterday, and come dressed in slaves

16:18

or hobo attire. So

16:21

the NAACP obviously was irate,

16:25

and now obviously the school board

16:27

is getting involved to

16:30

investigate. But it was actually

16:32

a suggestion that was

16:35

in someone of sound mind,

16:38

I guess thought it was a good idea

16:40

for the kids to dress in

16:43

sound mind, you know, you

16:45

know, to suggest the kids

16:47

dressed in slave or hobo attire to

16:52

come to a concert. A jazz concert.

16:56

Just just just come come dressed in slave attire

16:58

or hobo attire.

17:00

Sure, sure, sure, And Ray,

17:02

let's get your thoughts here.

17:04

This is in twenty twenty four, by the way, Oh.

17:05

Yeah, sure, it wasn't

17:08

nineteen twenty four. Yeah, a

17:11

hundred years ago. Oh jeez.

17:14

It's shocking what

17:16

goes on in the classroom and what some of

17:18

these instructors think they can

17:20

get away with, especially

17:23

in today's age. They

17:25

had a similar incident in Texas

17:27

where, you know, a

17:30

teacher asked the students

17:33

to participate

17:35

in some scrupulous event that

17:38

was not only discriminatory

17:42

but also hurtful to young,

17:44

eager minds willing to learn. And

17:47

we have to entrust these teachers

17:52

with our kids, knowing

17:54

that there's a there's a distinct

17:57

possibility that, you know, one

17:59

may go rogue and try

18:02

to indoctrinate

18:04

the students of the classroom. It's

18:07

it's unfortunate, but we just have to keep

18:10

a close eye on our kids and what

18:14

they're ingesting, not only in the classroom.

18:17

But you know, among their peers. Sure, it's

18:19

an unfortunate situation. You

18:21

know. One of the things that kind

18:24

of confused me a bit about both

18:27

the stories, the story you mentioned out of Texas and this

18:29

one is that I'm

18:31

not sure if these

18:34

teachers or these

18:37

organizers are trying to operate

18:42

in good faith and like teach the

18:44

children something and give them

18:46

maybe some like real world examples so

18:48

that they know exactly what it might because

18:51

you know, there's certain concepts that are

18:53

very foreign to young minds. You know, the concept

18:56

of slavery, the you know what I mean, like you can you

18:58

can imagine it, but to really know

19:00

what that is, to wake up,

19:03

spend you know, your all of your waking

19:05

hours working and their long

19:08

hours, or to be born, live

19:10

and die as property.

19:12

You know, like when you're older you can kind of imagine

19:14

a bit more. Maybe it's tougher for younger

19:16

kids. So maybe these teachers are trying to do that,

19:19

or maybe this is actual

19:22

racism and these teachers

19:25

now have an opportunity on

19:27

the other side of you know, the Supreme Court

19:29

striking down you know, affirmative

19:31

action, and on the other side

19:34

of you know, a lot of the pushback

19:36

against like DEI initiatives, and you

19:39

know, the pushback against the teaching of American

19:41

history what has been rebranded as critical race

19:43

theory. You know, it's hard to tell. And one

19:46

of the things that I haven't been able to determine in

19:48

either instance is

19:50

is this really a black school or

19:52

is this a school where there is a certain population

19:55

of black students and they have been singled out?

19:58

And is this intentional or is this just

20:01

kind of well meaning but an

20:03

oversight. And so this is something that

20:06

you know, I worry even more about with a

20:08

second example here, it'd

20:10

be interesting to see if this is a trend, if

20:13

this continues to happen, or if you know,

20:15

people are watching this and

20:17

learning from them, like, Okay, maybe that's the wrong way

20:19

to do it. Let's tighten up and make sure that we are

20:21

teaching without inflicting

20:24

any additional damage or harm

20:27

or trauma onto these children. And so

20:30

glad this NAACP is stepping in because

20:32

I'm confident they know more about the situation

20:34

than we ever will, and

20:36

that you know, historically speaking, they've

20:41

you know, they've they've stood up for black

20:43

people and for our decidedly

20:46

separate agenda than what you

20:49

know, yeah, the country at large

20:52

would would think we should have. So we'll

20:55

keep watching. Finally, we're

20:57

gonna end this week's

20:59

show on a positive note with a good news

21:01

story involving one of

21:03

our favorite black comedians.

21:05

I'm sure you'll know the voice. I'll share it

21:08

with you now.

21:09

Man.

21:09

That was so cool, a

21:12

different world, going to Atlanta, going

21:14

to more House College on the campuses and

21:17

getting a chance to be on the zoom and say

21:20

something to the kids. It's wild

21:22

that the kids even know who I am. That's beautiful.

21:25

Thank you to everybody who's been praying for me and

21:29

saying good things and

21:32

supporting me during this time

21:34

in my life. It means a lot to me. Thank

21:37

you so much. God has been with us

21:39

and he's carried me well, He's carried me through

21:41

my whole life,

21:44

and it means so much. When

21:46

I hear from y'all and he tell

21:48

me some bad keep

21:50

going saying some bad. We're

21:53

sending prayers, were praying, My

21:55

family's praying for you. Those words

21:58

are important and I feel but

22:00

I feel those prayers. I want to say this

22:02

to all the people who have emailed me through

22:04

the website. Some of you are

22:07

going through what I'm going through, or even worse

22:09

than me. I'm reading

22:11

these things. I'm gonna try to answer as many as

22:13

I can. I pray for

22:15

you and

22:18

understand what it's like. It's rough. I

22:21

think all of y'all who've been fans

22:23

and friends all these years of mine,

22:26

thank you so much. Expect to see

22:28

more of me soon. And don't freak

22:30

out if you turn around. Standing right behind

22:32

you, send back, I can't believe you

22:34

here. You

22:36

can't believe it. You better believe

22:39

it.

22:40

Miracles happen, all

22:43

right, Ray, So tell us the good news about

22:46

this comedian and TV Starr and the Natasha.

22:48

Of course we'll get your thoughts next.

22:50

My man, send back Uh

22:52

one of the best comedians, and then

22:55

let me throw out clean comedians.

22:57

He could.

22:58

He can make an entire

23:01

household from the kids to the

23:03

parents.

23:04

Just bust out laughing. I

23:08

remember his.

23:10

Island tours where he used to bring

23:12

funk bands to you know,

23:14

the islands where people can go on vacation

23:17

and have a good time. And

23:19

not to mention the successful

23:22

show a different world where

23:25

Symbat is also being instrumental

23:27

and reaching back

23:30

and helping young Black students

23:32

as the Different World goes on a

23:35

tour event to

23:37

visit HBCUs and motivate

23:40

young students. But I want to give everybody

23:42

that may not know a little background on

23:45

synbat. He suffered a major stroke a

23:48

few years ago and he

23:51

was bedridden in encoma

23:55

and they gave him about a thirty percent

23:57

chance of recovery.

24:00

Was not supposed to be with us, but

24:03

he leaned on his faith, and like

24:05

he said in the video we

24:08

just heard, it's a miracle.

24:11

He knew God was with him.

24:12

So now he's learning to walk, he's

24:15

learning to talk again, and we

24:17

hear him there. He sounds great. He

24:20

says he can't wait to

24:22

get back among the people so he could

24:25

motivate them even more. He's

24:27

also gone through a tremendous

24:31

strain while

24:33

being in the hospital. I think he

24:35

went through two bankruptcies

24:38

and he lost over four million dollars.

24:41

You know, this is really.

24:42

Shattered his life at age sixty seven.

24:45

But he says he's on the comeback trail

24:47

and he really appreciates

24:50

all the prayers and

24:52

all of the support that everybody

24:54

has given him. And I think that is motivating

24:57

him to get

24:59

back to what he does best.

25:01

And that's making us laugh. I

25:04

love that, Natasha. Let's get your thoughts here.

25:07

Yeah, I think Ray said it best. I mean, you know, he's

25:09

on the comeback. I mean, he lost so much,

25:11

you know, being hospitalized. He

25:14

lost it financially, and he

25:16

lost his physical strength and well being,

25:18

and I think he's just trying to

25:20

get everything back. And

25:22

the fact that he was able to, you

25:25

know, to give us a little bit of laughter there and

25:28

to come back and greet

25:30

some of his fans and friends and you

25:32

know, and let us know that he's on the comeback

25:34

trail, I think is a joy

25:36

for all of us to see.

25:38

Absolutely absolutely well. We

25:41

are going to keep following that story

25:43

as well, and the rest of

25:45

these too, obviously, so we're

25:48

going to have to do this again soon. In the meantime,

25:50

I'd like to thank you both, as always very much for

25:52

your insight and your brilliance. Once again.

25:54

Today's guests are Black Information Network news

25:56

anchors Natasha Williams and Ray

25:58

Harris. This has been

26:01

a production of the Black Information Network. To

26:03

Day's show was produced by Chris Thompson. Have

26:05

some thoughts you'd like to share, use the red microphone

26:08

talkback feature on the iHeartRadio app. While

26:10

you're there, be sure to hit subscribe and download all

26:12

of our episodes. I am your host,

26:15

Rams's Jaw on all social media and

26:17

I'll be hosting another episode of Civic Cipher

26:19

this weekend on a station near you. For

26:21

stations, show times, and podcast

26:23

info, check Civiccipher dot com

26:26

and join us Monday as we share our news

26:28

with our voice from our perspective right

26:31

here on the Black Information Network Daily

26:33

podcast