Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - RIP Young Dolph, and Domestic Violence in the NFL | Higher Learning | The Ringer

Episode Date: November 19, 2021

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay react to the commutation of Julius Jones’s death sentence (0:35), the exoneration of two men convicted of killing Malcolm X (9:29), and the tragic death of rapper Young Dolph (17:59). Then Antonio Brown is accused of obtaining a fake vaccine card (55:10), and domestic violence is discussed in light of the Zac Stacy incident (59:36).  Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Producers: Trudy Joseph and Donnie Beacham Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? How are learning is on. It is I Van Lathan Jr. And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. Hopefully it's you. Okay. A little slow on the uptake there, Rach.

I was a little slow on my recording. I'm recording. I'm good. I'm good now. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Okay.

We're going to dismiss with the pleasure sheets because there's a lot of news going on right now. And there's some not so great news that we have to discuss on the podcast today. So we're going to start off with something that actually is. is okay news. Pretty good news, not the worst news. Julius Jones's execution has been stopped with clemency. The execution, which was scheduled for today. As a matter of fact, by the time you would have heard this,

Julius Jones would have been dead had the governor not stepped in. It was halted, though, over doubts, amid doubts, shall I say, over the murder trial that we've talked about here on higher learning, the murder trial, which was 20 years ago. Governor Kevin Stitt commuted his sentence from life in prison, excuse me, from death to life in prison, I think without the possibility of parole. Now, here's the situation. The Jones family is relieved, but still not satisfied.

They believe Julius Jones to be innocent, as do a lot of people. So they are looking for the release of Julius Jones pending a new. trial. But for now, I'm sure they will, as most other people who were invested into this entire situation, will take him not being executed on today. Absolutely. I mean, we went to bed last night. He went to bed last night, not knowing if today would be his last day. So hours before, can't even imagine what that is like sitting in jail for that long, let alone thinking today's your last day on earth. Then hours before, you know, you get the message. because Governor Stitt was just sitting on it or praying about it as he has been quoted as saying,

here's my question. I did not know that there was an option still to have a new trial. So you're actually, this is news to me because I know that Governor Stitt had the option to, you know, adopt the recommendation from the parted and parole board. He could modify it. He could reject their recommendation. and he didn't accept their recommendation because they said they wanted a possibility of parole. He said life in prison, no parole.

I was unaware that there is still the possibility that there could be a new trial. I was of the understandings. So this is even better news for me because I was understanding this was it. Well, I mean, look, what I've been told by people there is technically there's not the possibility of a new trial. trial, but that with enough pressure and with Julius being alive, anything is possible. What they're hoping to do is drum up enough sentiment to where they can work out something to have his case completely reviewed. His mother spoke.

She said that if you think Julius is guilty, give him a fair trial, do it over again, and do it right. Of course, there were a lot of inconsistencies about the first trial, a lot of things that went wrong on the first trial. So what they ultimately are seeking, whether or not it happens or not, is a new trial, a different verdict, and the release of Julius Jones for a crime they believe he didn't commit. Yeah, you know, I don't want to take away from the small victory it is that the fact, I mean, it's a victory, right? This man is still living and breathing. And hours before he possibly could have been executed. So I definitely want to acknowledge that. But I just have such an issue with

Governor Stitt, because if you decided to not execute him and you determine that it wasn't right to do so, then I'm trying to understand why you took away the possibility of parole. To me, he played it safe. He tried to split the baby, and he tried to please both sides, right? he didn't uh julius jones did not get executed and that is a win on the side of the family because he lives to see another day but he is at the moment is not getting a trial he's going to be in prison for the rest of his life which pleases the other side of it and of course we want the hal family to have justice but i don't understand how you can decide that he doesn't need to be executed but then also don't give him the possibility you have to have some sort of doubt

some sort of belief that maybe the recommendation from the pardon of parole board is right. Maybe he didn't get a fair trial. Maybe what happened 20 plus years ago wasn't justice. So I just don't understand how you could take away that possibility of parole as well as not execute him. Do you understand what I'm saying? Of course. I mean, your analysis is spot on. I think two things.

I think number one, we talked about it on the podcast. before Kevin Stitt has higher aspirations in terms of he could be if Donald Trump doesn't trump it up again. He could be one of his party's future standard bearers for a presidential run. And so if you're going to run for president, you got two potential big piles of shit to step in. One is you kill the black man that people say is innocent of the crime. And there are pictures of Julius Jones wherever you go on every campaign stop. That could be a thing. Number two is you commute the sentence possibility to possibility parole or you get them out, whatever.

Then you're soft on crime. So I think politically that he was in a tough situation, not making any excuses for him, just saying that he didn't, he punted essentially. Yeah. And so being that he punted on the situation, that means that Julius Jones gets to live and breathe. And while he's living and breathing, there's still a chance that one day he'll. get out. See, if he dies, then that chance is over. You know, so at least there's a chance. At least we

do like Reverend Jackson says, and we keep hope a lot. Because who knows who will be in the governor's office if Stitt does run for president. If he runs again, if he run to win, of course, but if he runs again, decides or if he runs for president, decides not to run again and focus on that. Who knows what happens, right? Who knows what goes on? Yeah. So with all those things, it's a

I wouldn't say it's a happy day but I would say it's not a terrible one putting it that way but there's still a lot of work to be done the Innocent Project is still working on behalf of Julius Jones Tiffany Lofton is still working on behalf of Julius Jones Irv Rowland is still working on behalf of

Julius Jones Ms. Crutcher is still working on behalf of Julius Jones and the fight isn't over and I guess that's the good news The fight continues. It could have been over today. He could have been over today.

From what I told, he had been fed his last meal. Right. So, you know, which, you know, that's actually kind of a plus. You know, if you got a bomb last meal and now they don't put you to death. Now it's like you got some good eating. Wow. Way to look at the glass. Silver lining.

Silver lining. If you got, he might, you know, not only. I wouldn't even be able to eat. I wouldn't even be able to eat. I wouldn't even be able to eat. They eat. I just like my stomach would be all in knots. I don't know.

I just wouldn't be able to enjoy. Like people act like that's some sort of gift. Like, what do you want? You can have anything you want before we put you in this chair and send you on your way. Like, I wouldn't even be able to settle. Honestly, I would ask for like a bottle of Don Julio 1942. That's what I would ask. Just let me just ride out like that.

I wouldn't ask for a meal. That's ridiculous. We're going to talk about. you and your drinking at some point on the podcast. But not today. We're going to talk about, at some point, we're going to talk about that. But not, not today. Not at all.

But everyone here is pleased. I'm hoping to talk to Julius Jones. Oh, for sure. I'm hoping to talk to Julius Jones. I think a lot of people are going to want to talk to him. A lot of people are going to want, you know, it's hard to get to him when he was on death row. it was impossible to get to him while he was on death watch that was impossible so um as of right now things are not as bad as they would have been so this is something that we'll continue to talk about

continue to discuss and continue to keep you guys up to date with and shout out to all the thought warriors out there who were out there putting into work reminding people that today was such a faithful day yeah they were really on top of it you guys it made a difference you don't think think that you did. But if you shared it, if you tweeted it, if you put, you made a difference, you saved a man's life today. Bravo to you thought words. Bravo to you. Bravo. Did you know about one and three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you? Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Trimfaya, Guselcomab, taken by

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Two men convicted of killing Malcolm X expected to be exonerated. Did you see this, Rachel? I saw it. Two men convicted of killing Malcolm X expected to be exonerated. Interesting. Very interesting. The convictions of two of the. the three men in the assassination of the civil rights activist Malcolm X, expected to be thrown

out. The men, Muhammad A. Aziz, and Khalil Islam have always maintained their innocence in the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X. Quick history lesson for the thought warriors that might not be aware of this. Malcolm X was a member of the nation of Islam. He converted to the nation of Islam while he was in prison. Upon his release from prison, he became one of the biggest voices in America in terms of indicting white supremacy and doing what Malcolm called telling the white man the truth to his face. He became a bigger star than anyone else in the nation. He became a bigger star than almost anyone, period, besides Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

During this time, the nation of Islam was, which was founded by, it was ran by a gentleman by the name of Elijah Muhammad, who himself was a revolutionary thinker and an unbelievable, unbelievable organizer in his own right. Elijah Muhammad gave the teachings that Malcolm X and members of the nation of Islam talk about even today. During that time, there was a falling out between Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad. And during that falling out, there were accusations from Malcolm X that Elijah Muhammad that was involved in things that were at cross purposes and contradictory to the level

and the standard that he believed the leader of the nation should be setting. All of those things are out there. You can go find him. Malcolm said that Elijah had illegitimate children everywhere and was not taking care of the children. And he said this publicly. That's not Van saying this. That's Malcolm X saying about Elijah Muhammad. He was then ousted from the nation of Islam.

He was ousted from the nation of Islam. Malcolm X kicked out. After he was kicked out, Malcolm X maintained in public many different places that he believed that the nation of Islam was trying to kill him. Once again, this is not me saying this. This is Malcolm X in his own words saying that he believed that the nation of Islam were plotting. to take him out. He said one time that they were going to put a bomb underneath his car and then have the bomb blow up. He said a different time that somebody was going to run up and kill him. Whatever. In 1965, Malcolm X did get killed. And the common knowledge on this has been this entire time

that it was the nation of Islam that killed Malcolm X. There was a documentary done not too long ago called Who Killed Malcolm X that seemingly got right to the actual gunmen that most people believed was responsible for the murder. It was an amazing series and you should watch it. Because of that and other skepticism around what's going on, these two men are being released from prison or one of them is being released for prison. I think the other one has already passed on is being released from prison. and they've been in there for a very, very long time.

So the death of Malcolm X is something that the community in the American, the American community hasn't had closure on. Still probably doesn't have closure on. But just like in the case of Julius Jones, exonerating these men, it gets to the real question of who was behind this. Now, I've always maintained, just from the little bit that I know, that it's very difficult for me and not to believe that some guns, governmental organization didn't have a heavy hand in what happened to Malcolm X,

especially with everything we know now. But this casts even more doubt on the common held theory that we knew who did it. We might not know who did it. I guess my question to you is, Rachel, having said all that, sorry for being long-witted, you guys, but I need you to know the history. Is it important for you to know who killed Malcolm X? It's a good question. Let me ask you this before I answer that.

You believe that the government was involved in some way in regards to the murder of Malcolm X. Absolutely. Do you believe that that was in conjunction with the nation of Islam? The nation of Islam part of it, I'm not, I don't know. Okay. I know, so this is the only thing I can say about the nation of Islam part of it is Elijah Muhammad maintained that he gave strict orders for Malcolm X not to be. touched. Do not touch Malcolm X. He gave very strict orders from Malcolm X not to be touched.

Most members of the nation now, of course, say that Malcolm X, that the nation had nothing to do with the death of Malcolm X. Sure. Of course they're going to say that, right? Only thing I can say is that Malcolm X, while he was alive, seemed certain that the nation of Islam was trying to kill him. He said he had spoke to people that had refused to do things. He said he had talked to the man that had been tasked to put the bomb in his car and that the man couldn't go through with it. And so he says he heard it from the horse's mouth that they were trying to kill him. Whatever it is, there is no doubt in my mind that at that time, FBI, CIA, government officials were finding out of the way to get Malcolm and Martin out of the way.

So whether or not, even if the guys that they got are Muslims turn out to be Muslims, the question is, were they Muslims and agents? Were there undercover agents inside of the nation who were trying to get to Malcolm X? Right. Like any of that stuff. But what I'm saying is I don't know whether or not the nation had anything to do with it, but I know Malcolm thought that they did. So as far as I'm concerned, I'm very invested in finding out who did this because there might still be players that might need to be accountable for it. Right, right. Sorry, I said Black Panther.

I met the Black Panther Party in reference to Fred Hampton. Your exact question was. Does it matter to you who killed Malcolm X? Well, it matters to me if you have the wrong people. Right. of being accused, you know? I mean, these men have been in jail for decades and one has since passed away. So I think it obviously matters as far as justice is concerned. It matters for these people's families to clear the name of the individual, especially if the individuals,

especially if they're innocent. But I think it does matter in a sense that there is all this speculation of it might have been this group or that group or this person or this government. governmental entity. And I think that, yeah, I think it would be, I don't know how I could say it doesn't. You know what I mean? And one, just because of justice, but the two, also just because of who Malcolm X was, what he meant to us, to the community. And I think that it's only right to figure out what happened. Because then maybe you can figure out, I mean, we know why, we assume why, but if you know what, and you know why. And so, yeah.

Yeah. Absolutely. Well, you know, you cannot, you can't ever seek the truth when you have embraced the lie. So now that the lie of whomever of these men having been the trigger man in the Malcolmman situation is gone, hopefully we can find the truth. Okay, let's take a break. We're going to come right back. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business, Fast. Reliable internet means everything for your business.

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As we are recording this, it is Thursday. Okay, it is Thursday. A man died yesterday. A man named Adolf Robert Thornton Jr. He was born in Chicago, but he moved to the city of Memphis at a very young age. He had a cousin who passed away. This cousin's name was Juice World. He died at 21, not too long ago.

This man, you might know, better by the name of young Dolph. Young Dolph was a titan in his city, a titan in the industry, a rapper, an entrepreneur, businessman, who was

going to a place called Makita's homemade cookies in South Memphis on Wednesday afternoon when a couple of people pulled up on him, both armed and masked up, and shot him to death. Young Dolph

was 36 years old. Rachel, what are your thoughts on this? This was upsetting. I'm a young Dauph fan. Seeing Dauphin concert, I rock with him back from the mixtapes. If you follow Dauph in his career, then you know some of the beefs that he's had

with other people in the industry. You know that he's been shot at and shot prior to, this tragedy that just happened, but it still was a shock to hear it. And we didn't know for sure until maybe until like an hour or two later. And it just, I mean, I tweeted about it. I just, the senseless killing is just so upsetting to me. I mean, I understand you having disagreements and beef with different people. I got my own.

You know what I'm saying? But like to take it to the point where we're taking each other's lives, especially people who are so influential and their community. I mean, if you follow Dolf, you know that his parents, he grew up with parents who suffered from addiction. He was raised by his grandmother. He really made something of himself. He invested in himself.

He invested in his community. He was a father to two children. he gave back to the school that he grew up in, graduated from. He passed out turkeys for Thanksgiving, visited hospitals. I mean, just like he was very involved in where he came from. And even after COVID, or not after COVID, but during the pandemic, spending time away from music and being on the road, he really talked about retiring and wanting to spend more time with his family and his kids. And he talked about missing out.

And now he's gone. Gone probably over. I mean, there's no reason to take somebody's life, right? There's no reason for murder. And it's just, it saddens me so much that we, that this happens and that it's just so senseless as to why. And it just bothers me so much as somebody like this was taken from the community. It just does.

And it's not stopping. We talk about this all the time. Right. So I have no idea what this was about. I don't know why this happened. I don't know what the motive was. Dolf had had some beefs in the past, like you said. And a lot of people were like, okay, well, this is what eventually came of all of those things.

He had to beep with this guy and beef with that guys, whatever, whatever, whatever. But I want people to understand something about this stuff as it relates to Dolf or Mode 3 or FD. or FBG Duck or King Vaughn or Pop Smoke or any of the guys that we're talking about, the kids in Jacksonville right now who are going back and forth with one another shooting each other up. I want to make sure that people get something. You said something and it's something that people say after stuff like this happens. Because it seems like that, but it's actually really not, in my opinion.

You said the senseless murders of these people, right? You said, senseless murders of these young black men, young black men and women. Senseless murders, senseless murders. I don't think they're senseless. Why? I think we've made them make sense. Keep going. I don't understand.

I think that there is, there has been a. Passive acceptance of the way things go in certain parts of our community. I think that we double down on that. And I'll tell you why. Please do. Would you listen to a song or a record about rape? I don't know. Would you listen to a song where every other, would you listen to a song or record

where every other bar or every other song, some guy is talking about how he can't wait to rape a woman, how he can't, if he sees a woman, wearing the wrong thing. Okay, so then why do you do it with murder? What songs about murder am I listening to? Well, any song where someone's talking about the fact that they'll shoot a nigger, the fact that they'll pop a nigger,

the fact that they're the hardest, the fact that... They're the hardest I can deal with. They're the hardest cool. I'm telling you that a lot of this stuff, a lot of the music that we love, that you love, that I love, is dripping, dripping with talk of killing people. I'm not disagreeing. I'm just trying to think. Like, I know that there are the songs we listen to talk about beef that they have

and they're calling somebody out, and they might be calling them a bitch or a hole or something like that, and they're saying words that might incite a response, right? Like a diss record. But I'm just trying to think of like, am I listening to music? Where they're really talking about going out and killing people?

Well, I know that I am. I'm sure there's a song. I'm not saying I'm above it. By all, by no means. I'm just racking my brain trying to think. So like, you know. But I get your point. Like, I know that I have.

I know that I have and I know that I do. I'm not going to call out artists by name because the reality of the situation is that, you know, it's something that reflects a lot of the places where these gentlemen come from. And I understand that about the art. But you want to say something here? Well, I was going to ask you a question. I was going to ask you a question. Do you listen to it and when you talk about like the passive acceptance? Is it acceptance or is it more of like they're just rapping about a song?

Right? Because some people rap and it's not their reality. Right. But what if somebody was rapping about rape and it wasn't their reality? Right. Could you listen to it? No. Right. So could like and the and the reality of the situation is because there's a clear trigger in our minds of what and whether passively or actively. There's a clear trigger in our minds about what we deem acceptable. So if a rapper came out and was talking about abusing a child, we would say no.

Did you hear this? I'll give you a perfect example. You don't even know. Remember that song? You ain't even know? Rick Ross said, slip Molly all in her drink. And it was a big deal. You ain't know, right?

Right away people go, okay, that's wrong. That's something we can't normalize. That's something that we're not going to normalize. There are other parts of the music. And this has less to do with Young Dolph's exact situation because it's it's not fair. It's presumptuous and it's not right to assume that anything in music culture definitely like directly precipitated the death of

Young Dolph. I'm not saying that rap had anything to do with it. What I'm saying is there's an overall feeling here and there's an overall ecosystem here. to where we are, and Van Lathan is included in this, we are passively participating in the minimalization of real life shit. We are passively condoning over and over again. We are passively condoning, passively condoning,

in a very, we're passively condoning it in a very active way, worshiping death. And, and, and, and the, and the,

and the, and the, and the, and the, situation is that, all of us have birthed, all of us, the entire culture that has,

that has, that is, that is, that is, that is, that is, that is, that is, that is, has, birthed a generation of young men who are taking this very literally and they killing and they killing shit up so yes and no i mean i i i understand exactly what you're saying and i'm not necessarily i'm saying i agree with it but i guess it's like i wouldn't say that we passively accept killing more than we accept and celebrate beefs right like we celebrate just think of Kanye and Drake

just right now, right? We celebrate discord and disc records and oh, what is this person going to say? And how are they going to one up them? And we praise that.

That's problematic because it can lead to something else. Now, if Drake and Kanye talked about killing, I really think it would be a problem. Well, Kanye believes that Drake was threatened in his life and then Kanye posted Drake's address.

Kanye believes that in Sycambe, when Drake is talking about coming to his house, that he was threatening his life. Kanye believes that, Kanye believes a lot of those things. Let me put to you like this. There are beefs in every single version of entertainment. Correct. And that's what I'm saying. It's we celebrate them.

But they don't die. You're proving my point. No, no, no. No, what I'm telling you is there's a difference. And so, so what I'm saying is the, do you remember when Nirvana ran into guns and Roses at the MTV Music Awards and they they there was it was a big thing. Remember how much fucking bands band feuds? Bands hate each other.

All of these people don't get along in any sort of art. This exists in movies everywhere. In any sort of art, there are going to be beefs. But do these people send people at them? Well, that this is what I'm saying. I am saying that we as a culture celebrate or just like in general celebrate beefs. and discord and we love the drama and the messiness of it. I'm saying I don't know if it,

I don't know if I believe that we passively accept killing as well in music. I am saying the opposite. There's, I'm absolutely floored. There's no way to deny it. There's so much violence in the music. It's like there's, there's so much violence in the music.

There's so much talk about killing people in the music. And I guess I'm just not listening. I'm not disagreeing with you, Vey. I'm not disagreeing with you. I guess, and here's maybe where my disconnect is in maybe like this generation. You're saying this music is raising a different generation where they're taking this literally. I guess that's where I'm disconnected because I'm sure I've listened to songs or records that talk about killing. For sure, I'm not above it.

I'm not saying that. but never in my mind did it translate to actually go out and do these things. So I guess I'm disconnected from the kids or the people who take that literal or like, so-and-so said this, I'm about that life. It's not necessarily, I think that's a problem too. I think that people think that it's that binary, that the kids go, okay, well, I listen to Back in Blood and Poushite. she's talking about it on the song, so that means I'm going to go out and kill someone. It's not like that.

What happens is the music that you listen to every single day, the things that you're surrounded with every single day, and parts of these things exist in these communities anyway, and they predate the music. And so that's the tricky part. The tricky part is the music didn't cause this. The music didn't bring all of this. The music is the reflection of what was going on in these communities, but what's happened now is the celebration of it has deadened our senses to some of this stuff. I truly believe that. And we don't really care until we don't care that we're being low to sleep with all of this talk

that our senses are being dulled with it until somebody actually dies. Then we go, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. That's senseless. No, actually makes sense if you're ingesting that into your brain. So you are saying it. Yes, you're saying that it affects you. No, no, no. It desensitizes you.

Is that what you're saying? Right. But I'm not saying it's a one to one. I'm not saying that you hear the song and then you go and do it. Sure. I'm saying over time of being inundated. That's like human nature. Anytime something is normalized, there's less of a taboo.

And by the way, that is why the question I asked at the beginning of this is so important. That's why the question of how much. music do we listen to about rape? Because although we don't listen to music about rape, directly rape, we do listen to music that minimizes women. We do listen to music that that degradates women. We do listen to music that commodifies women and objectifies women, which leads indirectly to us treating women like there's something less than us. So here's my question to you. Are you saying that the music desensitizes us, or are you saying that the music desensitizes us and eventually causes actions like that to happen?

I'm telling you, I'm saying that the music desensitizes us and it also grooms us. To do that. To I'm saying, yeah. To accept it or to actually do it? I'm saying that the music desensitizes us, not just the music, an entire culture that's built around worshiping death. An entire culture that's worse, that it's like you hear guys say it in the raps all the time, man. I'm not going to be here for a long time.

Death isn't this. Death is that. Look, I get it. South Baden Roos, Louisiana. I understand the thought. I get how some people feel. I get how they're giving it up. I understand.

I get why they feel that way. But the reality is at some point, and this is me, a 41-year-old guy, willing to be the uncool dude on this. And willing to be the fucking hypocrite here too. Because when I'm getting ready to box, when I'm getting ready to get all hyped up, is the music that turns me all the way up. And that's the real shit. But the reality of the situation is what we are starting to see, maybe because of social media or maybe because things are reaching a critical mass,

is too many actual deaths. What we are seeing now is people at the who I'm supposed. on that we talked about, where they're actually putting the names of people. They're actually putting the names of people that they killed across the screen. So disconnected from that. Like those kids are getting shot up. Look, we can act like this didn't exist back in the 90s. But Tupac was saying he was a bad boy killer and then a two years.

There you go. There you go. Thank you. Tupac is dead. And then they're going back and forth and then Big is dead. And then like it's not the first time. Like, rappers have been getting. killed in his ways. Bigel was murdered. All of these situations have gone on. But what I'm

talking about at some point, we have to kind of stop being defensive. I know we love the music. I love hip-hop so much. I love hip-hop to death. But I love black people more. So let me, and I agree with you. Let me ask you this question. So Beaumani recently posted. the clip from the old Bill O'Reilly interview with Dame Dash and Cameron and a principal from a school, maybe in Georgia. I could be making that up. And they're talking about- No, it was in Philly or D.C.

That's one of my favorite fucking clips. Thomas L. So they're talking about, they're not talking about killing per se, but they're talking about music and the responsibility of the artist putting certain type of music out there and how it's impacting this principal, Thomas L is saying how it's impacting his kids and his school and they're imitating and emulating these rap artists and he's talking about the level of responsibility that they have. Question. Like that comes, that's bringing it back to what we're talking about. I mean, do you think we're talking about with us and our responsibility

as far as like listening to it and maybe celebrating it? What about when it comes to the artists? Do you feel like they have a responsibility to stop making this type of music? At some point, and let me tell you what I mean by that, is that what I feel like is when you listen to Get Rich or Die Trying, that's obviously 50 cents reality. You can hear it in his voice. He had been shot nine times. He felt a certain way.

That's obviously 50 cents reality. Ten years later, that can't. still be his reality going across the world being worth 60, 30 million dollars, $150 million and stuff. There's a certain point. I understand if you from a place, if you're from Compton, if you're from South Baton Rouge,

if you're from Liberty City, if you from Gary, Indiana, if you from any of these places, I get it. That's how shit was. But we got to grow to fuck up. We've got to grow to fuck up.

There's a point. where you stop talking about your reality and giving up your reality. And there's a point where you start glorifying death because that's what people want to hear. And there's a point. And by the way, cleaning up rap won't clean up the neighborhoods. Sure. It won't. I'm not saying that.

I'm not saying that there has to be stuff done to clean up the neighbors too. And that has to come first. But what I'm telling you is, and this is not necessarily. exactly about Doth. What I'm saying is that, what I'm saying is that this shit got to stop. And we say that it's senseless,

but the more something goes into your brain, the more sense it will make to you. That is just the way the human brain works. The way the human brain is the more something is in your brain, the more sense it's going to make to you. It can make sense. sense to you because you've heard it and maybe you've accepted it and it's and you've listened to it over and over again. It doesn't not make it stupid that you're killing people because of a beef that

you have with one another. It still can be stupid and senseless. I'm sorry. I get it. I'm not going to rationalize the reason for killing. I'm not rationalize it. What I'm telling you is that the barriers to that are being broke down. Let Sean Mendez get murdered and watch what happens. like let let Sean Mendez get into it with Justin Timberlake and then Timberlake sent some giddles at Sean

Mendez and then they kill him. And it would be stupid. It would be totally stupid. It also would be a forlorn fire. Meanwhile, this is going to happen right now. And it's just like it's no different

than the same shit about the mass shooting. it's no different than any of this. This is going to fucking happen again. And the reality is that the more we get desensitized to it, oh, that's the way of life in America, the easier it is. What I'm telling you right now is, in my opinion, this I understand all the things that are out of our cultural control.

I get them. Some things we're fighting for control over so we can change our neighborhoods and communities. There are some things that are within our control, to talk about. And even if it's not shutting people's down, shutting people's artistic freedom down, at least let's have conversations about it to where people can see.

Agreed. And guys like Dolf, they do a lot of that. They would go in their communities. They try to show kids the right way. They do a lot. Most of these guys are. Most of these guys, most of everyone that we're talking about,

every single person that we're talking about, got a family who loved them, a hood who loved them, a community who loved them, that they love that they give back to. But at a certain point, we have to have real conversations about this obsession with the shortening of life, with violence, and with death. It's not serving us.

It's not serving us. Two kids ain't got no daddy. Right. To like, like, two kids, two kids ain't got no daddy. I'm, like, what I'm, what I'm saying is if the art is, if the artistic freedom and everything that we're talking about. Everyone is free to promote death. The question is, should we be doing it?

I think that everyone would say, or they should say no. Right. All right. Police reportedly had to shut down your Gotti's Pre-Vay restaurant after the shooting of Young Dolph because I guess Gotti, well, now, I don't guess. I know Godi was one of the guys that Dolph did not get along with. And so there are reports from the ground in Memphis that shit is jumping. off all over in Memphis.

That shit is going nuts in Memphis. That Memphis is on fire right now. I'm not from Memphis. I visited the city a lot. It is an amazing place. I wish I could put my arms around the whole community that's hurt. That's upset. Yeah. They lost a hometown hero.

They lost a hometown hero. Yeah. Yeah. Rest and peace of golf. Prayers to the family. Let's stop when we can stop, guys. Let's take a break. Did you know about one and three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling?

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Your car, your timeline, your terms. Visit Carvana.com to sell your car today. Carvana. Pick up fees may apply. How are university students? One, they're reaching agreement with university officials. Donnie jump in. How are university president Wayne Frederick?

They call them Big Wayne on campus. Did you notice? That was his name. Nah, I just made the shit up. He released a video message addressing the ending of the student protests and the improvement of housing conditions on campus. He said, the health and well-being of our students is the most important part of my job as president. As I've said before, even one issue in one of our dormitories is too many, and we will continue to remain vigilant in our pledge to maintain safe and high-end housing.

Sounds like progress, but Frederick did not offer the specific details on the agreement that the university and the students came to. Donnie had gone to Howard and left because he said that he had made friends with a rat in his dorm, and he named him Seymour. Ben. No rats, mice. Mice. Mice are cute.

Wow. Not when they're living with you They're not I used to live with a mouse In the country Used to come in a room A country mouse is different A country mouse is like

A country mouse is like The city mouse The city mouse is different The country mouse is a little bit easier to get along with Yeah it's like a farm animal It's different It's like he's out there

You don't want to because Really you're in his space Right right right Because you built the house in the country He's a country mouse Yeah Country mouse And like he has one of those things

You know like I never understood that The stick. And the little thing. I never understood that. That's like what you put your belongings in. That's what that must be. By the way,

that trope is, there's so many tropes that are over now. You don't see the stick with the belongings anymore. You don't see that. Because that probably came from the depression. Yeah, that probably came from the depression. First of all,

in real life, the stick would break. Right? You got all your belongings on a stick. But see, in a time when Americans had less, less. At a time when Americans had less,

you can maybe only fit a couple of belongings in it anyway. We got off track. Donnie, you had to live in the squalor of Howard. Do you believe that there's going to be substantive change after

what the Howard students did? I believe he released a statement with no substantive there's no like plan for how to move forward or what's going to happen next. I'm hoping that that ends up coming through. But all I can do is hope for the student there right now.

I don't, I don't know. I don't believe I hope. Tony, this is embarrassing. I mean, I got to say, all the Howard University bison out there, this is embarrassing. I would have a lot to say if I went to Howard. Apparently this has been going on for what? What, Van? Why are you looking at me that way?

I'm just saying it's kind of easy for you to criticize, you know. Why? Because, man, you went to Texas, you know? No, no, no, no. Howard is the cream of the crop. Apparently not. Apparently not. That's what I'm saying.

It's all been smoking mirrors here. And the fact that this didn't just happen, this has been going on for years. Since Donnie was there. Donnie like 45. Yeah, like this. We shouldn't have known about this. This should have been fit. in house. This is embarrassing that they were posted up in tents because the living conditions

are better in a tent than they are in the dormitories. Where are the alums, bison alums, help your school out. I hope they figure it out. Donnie, what would you like to see Dunn? If you were in charge of Howard, Howard the duck. If you were in charge of Howard, what would you like to done. How would you fix this problem? What do you think could be done? It's pretty simple. Some renovations on facilities across the board, the living conditions. There's like pipe leakages in multiple dorms that like had been just leaking nonstop. There's like rusted stuff all over the place. Like students have complained about infestations. We had infestations when I was there in 2006, 2007. The students have laid out what the problems are. If the administration listened to

the students, pay attention to what's going on, which there's no avoiding. Like, they, they know what's happening. But that's pretty much it. Listen to the students, answer their demands, and move forward from there. Because like Rachel just said, it's embarrassing. It is. I almost went to Howard, too. Yeah.

What, like, what made you not go there? You went and visited and you saw mice and you was like, I'm out. Rachel was like, I got to go to Howard. Howard's great. No, my boyfriend at the time went to Howard and my friend. parents thought that I was following him. So they were like, nope, you ain't going. You know what?

That's what we would have been. Had you had gone to Howard? Like, like, what is, Rachel, what is that in the background? Nothing, nothing, Judge. Oh, I had a whole baby. The judge didn't know. Nothing, nothing. We haven't seen you in almost a year.

Where have you been? Nothing. Rachel, I got a go. I got to go. Look after Stanley. It looks like you name your kid, Stanley. Wow. That's a great name.

Stanley Lindsay. It's not for me. Also, it's going to be Lindsay. Yeah, because I'm not going to take the father's name. That nigga out of here. He got hooked up in a dope game in D.C. You know what? He's gone.

Like you, like y'all both went there with the highest of hopes. You know what I mean? But you got pregnant. I don't like where this story is going. Let's go back to the country mouse. And then Stanley Lindsay, how old would he be now? What? 13.

Man. 13 something. Older than that. Older. Stanley Lindsay. 18, he'd be 18. 18 years old. And so here's the thing.

You would still go to the bachelor. He'd be enrolled at Howard. He would be. And one of them tense. Stanley Lindsay would be the one who would be starting a Howard protest. That's right. Boy, I'll tell you what. That's full circle.

Stanley Lindsay. What the fucking love of me. All right, Missouri students are punished I can't wait to see what you think about this one. I have to start a petition to bring back slavery. No, man, it's not funny. I don't think this is funny at all.

I don't. I don't. Missouri students punished after starting a position to bring black back slavery, they've sued the school district. Okay. For students who are disciplined, after a petition seeking to restart slavery was posted on social media,

are suing the Kansas City school districts for civil rights violations. They went to Park Hill High School, and it said the posting in September began as part of bantering between a biracial student and a black student, according to a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit claims the officials violated the student's First Amendment rights, due process and equal protection. They're seeking to be reinstated and have the incident removed from their school record.

So this is what happened. One of the students, he's black and Brazilian, or they're black and Brazilian, was joking with a black student and they typed up a petition on a website, change.org, that says start slavery again. They're 14 years old. And the lawyer, Arthur Benson II, said that they regretted it and it caused no harm or disruption. But the adults overreacted. You know what I think already. I don't want to do any stories anymore on teenagers. Let these kids back in school

No, I'm sick of it Come all, Rachel I'm sick of it Let these kids back in school Man, van It wasn't just that they put up a petition And then he regretted it immediately He put it up

It was shared by several non-black people They commented on it They liked it Okay, so let me tell So here's my thing Obviously they didn't want slavery to be restarted It's fucking kids fucking around If you want equal

If things to be equal, right? An equal punishment. You have to punish him the same way you would punish somebody that wasn't white. It doesn't make it okay just because that person was black. If a white person did that, we would want them to be expelled. We'd want them to get in, well, you wouldn't because you just excuse anything from the ages 14 to 17. No, there's no responsibility if you're between, no responsibility between the ages 14 and 17. No. No. If this was a white person, we would want this person to be punished. It would be everywhere. You don't get excused for doing this because non-black people liked it, passed it around. It was shared on social media. People thought, is slavery funny to you, Van? Is it a joke?

No. It's not. It's not. No. No, they have to be punished. Where does it stop? So I, no, hold on. See, that's not the question to me. The question isn't where does it stop? The question to me is where does it start? Because, number one, this is something I totally would have done at that age. Totally, totally would have done. All right, number one. Number two, we're living in a world that we're trying to divorce of context and nuance. I know we want to do that badly.

I know we want a one-size-fits-all situation, throw the baby out with the bathwater every single time. the fact that the kid that started this is black is holy is wholly relevant to the entire situation if this were in fact racially motivated right which is the reason why you would expel kids for this if it were racially motivated the fact that the kid is black cuts that down at the knees unless he's like Candace Owens. So here's, I mean, like, so, so, so what I'm saying, so what I'm saying is, you know that these, you know that this, these are kids fucking around. So here's the problem.

That would be okay. If he put it up, took it and took it down. The problem is that it gained attention. And then you had people who weren't black liking the fat, liking this post, liking that there was a petitioner start, up slavery. Are they joking? You don't know. So that's where it's... So he's responsible for the fact that some people were fucking with it?

Yeah, you put it up. I mean, it's an irreverent idea. So maybe, maybe expulsion is a bit of a region. Yeah, ruining the... Come on, man. It's a kid. But some punishment should be in place. I completely agree. So maybe, okay, I can, I can compromise on expulsion. But the problem is, is that the other students got in trouble too who liked it or passed it around. So if they're going to get punished, you know, being not black and liking this, in essence agreeing, a like is an agreement, right? Yeah, sometimes. That's signing your name on the contract.

Well, not all the time. You liked it. You liked it. You agreed with it. But it's not, but that's not true though. A like has all kinds of stuff. Sometimes a like is just an acknowledgement of how zany something is. Well, then they should have commented, wow.

This is wild. This is zany. This is zany. You don't use zany enough. I'll tell you what, 14 year old kids, man. 14 year old kids. They'll probably lessen it.

But the federal law just spelled them. Only one. Oh, uh-uh. Only the guy who put up the petition got expelled. Look, I'm telling you. That's whack. Of course. It's whack, man.

I don't even know why to do these stories. You're always going to say that. It's going too far to put up slavery petition on a national website. Change. Okay. Change. Would that not be a change?

That would be a change. Why don't you, you should, you should fight for this kid then. Go ahead. Put your name out there. I'll fight for him. Fight for him. I don't, I'll definitely. Go sign the petition.

Go create your own. You know what, man, go create your own petition. Look, here's thing. I would say, it's zany, right? I would, I would say start slavery again. I would just wouldn't say who the slaves was going to be. Because I got some ideas. All right.

You know that's funny You know that's funny You know that's funny It would have been funny if he said it in his friend group Okay I'm gonna go put up a petition to start slavery And then nothing happened So Antonio Brown got snitched on his chef Alleges that

Antonio Brown has a fake COVID-19 vaccine card This is This is funny So his former living chef By the way, Antonio Brown is a fucking terror to people that work for him. He's had so many beefs with past trainers, past everything. He just doesn't work white with Antonio Brown. The guy's name is Stephen Ruiz.

He claims he the chef, he claims he received a text message from Brown's girlfriend, Cindy Moreau, in early July that indicated Brown was willing to pay $500 for a Forge Johnson & Johnson vaccine card. Now, if you're going to pay for a forged fucking card, why would it be Johnson and Johnson? Johnson. For 500, you got to give me the Pfizer card. I don't think 500 is that much for a vaccine.

500 is not that much for the vaccine card. First of all, I'm not going to lie. Selling vaccine cards, it's whack. But God damn, if it's 500 a piece, that's high fucking price scamming right there. That's some good scamming.

So Moro says, can you get the COVID cards? Rie says, I can try. He's a chef, but he knows how to get it. kind of fit COVID cards. Jay and Jay shot. A.B. He's in Florida.

He's in Florida. Yeah, true. Ruiz told the times he was unable to obtain the fake cards, but that when he visited Brown's home a few weeks later, Brown showed him fake cards he had obtained somewhere else. Well, we know who he got him from. Aaron Rogers. Exactly.

The statement from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who Antonio Brown plays for, says after an extensive educational process conducted throughout our organization, this past off season highlighting the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines. We received completed vaccinations cards from all Tampa Bay

Buccaneers players and submitted the required information to the NFL through all established processes all of the cards were reviewed and no irregularities were spotted.

So they're saying his vaccination card is real. Great. And if it's not, Aaron Rogers set the precedent Find them 14-5 and keep it moving Yeah That's it

If it's more than if more than anything This is this is hilarious Listen We're going to hear another story about this People are going to start getting exposed All the time now Because now they know what's going to happen Oh it's going to be 14-5

And they're just going to keep it moving 14-5 14-5 you can buy A Kia dope for that Actually that's probably low Do you know what the dope prices are around where you're from? I'm unaware, Van. I'm unaware.

You don't know what it is for a key? You never said, you never said the birds to fly down south, birds? No. No. You know what, like a bird, a bird, a bird is a key of Coke? I got it. I got it. I've seen a key before.

Okay. I've seen a bird. You seen a bird? I'm seeing a bird. I don't know what happened to it. I didn't, I wasn't proud of it. I wasn't like, oh, I got no keys. Well, you seem like you're bragging about it now.

I'm not. I'm just saying like, you know, sometimes birds fly south. Trying to educate me for the summer. Yeah. Well, I'm saying for the summer. You should know, though, the dope price is in your area. That's a cheesy line, I think. I think it's a jeezy line, I think it's a jeezy line.

Is it? Birds fly south for the summer. When Jeezy was on top, he would say that he would get his dope for 17-5 a key, and then rest of peace, Pepsi. Pepsi was like, it's not the right price. Pepsi was like it's a fake dope price Caused a momentary schism

Between Pepsi and Young Jeezy I was unaware What happens in hip hop Oh by the way We talked earlier about the violence We even talk about the drug usage Your Don't Dawes Cousin' Juice World died

He died The drug usage in the same shit Died of an overdose Juice World fucking Juice World Fucking fucking genius a genius just where it was. Really?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing documentary coming out about him. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So,

disgusting video. Zach Stacey. He's now on the run. He is a former NFL running back. He brutally, when I say brutally, don't watch the video. Yeah.

Brutally attacked the mother of his child, punching her hands. head, punch her in her head, then slamming her into a TV like a rag doll. As their five-month-old kid watched, all captioning a video with sound, video with audio. No doubt about the fact that it was Zach Stacey. Disgusting, disgusting video. So this is now you got Zach Stacey, you got Ray Rice.

You got a couple other guys that, you know, on tape, beating up. Ladies, what did you think when you saw this video? Well, remember when we first heard about the rug story and the tragedy that happened with that, and I said my first thought when someone came in and said something was that it was domestic violence because that is how much you hear about it in the culture with football when it comes to something like this. Like when there's a charge, oh, an NFL player got charged. My immediate thought was domestic violence, which is.

just so sad. That wasn't the case with rugs, but that is the case with Stacey. It's disgusting. Like it's, and I mean, he has, I don't, he wasn't a prominent player in the league. I don't even know how many years he's been out. I had never heard of him prior to this. But hopefully, the woman in the video is okay now. Thank goodness, she recorded it from multiple angles I might add, which also goes to show that this was not the first time he's done this because she was ready to capture it on video. Sadly, there's a child involved, but this man needs to be locked up.

And honestly made an example of, because this kind of behavior has got to stop. Got to stop. Men putting their hands on women, absolutely no excuse for it. And it was tough to watch. It was hard. It was hard.

Like Van said, don't watch it. Don't watch it. So a couple of things. These things are highlighted in the NFL. I would have people know. that NFL players commit domestic violence on lower levels

than the general society domestic violence is not running rampant in the NFL they are arrested for the domestic violence they commit domestic violence as far as what we can track at lower levels than the general society

those numbers are out there it's true fact something that's been talked about but there is one profession where domestic violence runs rampant. Would you like to know what it is? Sure. The police.

Domestic violence is overrepresented in terms of occupations where it is very prevalent where there are arrests for it. It's the police. I'm not doing this to absolve NFL guys. No, but what I'm telling you is the narrative that the guys in the NFL are running around beating the hell out of women. Is that the narrative?

Yeah, it kind of is. It's just like, it's just not true. I mean, I'm just being for real. I mean, also real shit, this is Zach Sacey situation. I hope Zach Sacey gets the shit kicked out of him every single day that he has to go inside and go to jail and get the fuck shit, whatever. but just to people know the narrative that guys in the NFL are overrepresented in domestic

violence shit is not true based upon what's reported now we can never talk about what's reported we would assume that domestic violence is being unreported everywhere right right so but based upon what's reported what like what we know those numbers like that that that that that perception isn't true. And the reason why I'll say that is because I believe that sometimes, even though those numbers bear that out, that the Zach Stacey thing gets racialized, and he looks like a big black brute beating the shit out of a woman.

And anytime a man puts his hands on a woman, I don't give a fuck what his skin color is. He is a low down piece of shit that should be dealt with accordingly. But just making sure that people don't run with the narrative that a bunch of niggas in the NFL is just beating the hell out of their women all the time. I gotta say this.

Because I think that it is the wrong time to have that conversation. Because what did happen... Whoa. I do. I'm serious because I think what we just... What we saw was a brute.

attack a woman who happened to play in the NFL. And I'm not over here saying that NFL players are all beating up the women that they're around. That's not what I'm saying. You did say, though, what you did say, though, was that the first time you heard about the Henry Rokes thing is you thought it was domestic violence. Yes. That's an unfair assessment. No, what I'm saying is, let me, let me explain.

What I'm saying is, is when I hear that an NFL player got charged with something, my immediate thought, yes, is the. domestic violence. And I'm not saying because I think that they're all running around. I'm just saying it has happened enough for me to think, huh, what are they charged with? Could it be drunk driving? Is it a car wreck that possibly injured or killed somebody? No, that's not my first thought. My first thought is because that also makes it seem like I'm saying that they're constantly charged. No, I'm saying when I hear of a player getting charged more times than I would like to admit it seems to be violence against a woman. I can think of several times where there has been a woman accusing a

player of domestic violence. People you didn't even name. People that are still in the league, Tyree Kill, LaShawn McCoy, like the guy from San Francisco, I can't even remember his name. Alden Smith. It's, it, Greg Hardy, there's so many people. And I'm not saying that I'm playing into a statistic saying NFL player equals commits domestic violence on a woman. I'm just saying it happens, more times than I would like to admit. That's what I'm saying. And I say it's not the time in place to have this conversation of, oh,

guess what another group that has an even higher rate? Because the fact is, is there was another woman who suffered violence at the hands of a football player. Point, point, point, period. I don't need to talk about the fact that the police, and I'm not even disagreeing with you with that. Well,

the reason why I brought that up is because you said that you had a knee jerk. You said that you heard Henry Rugg's name. And I'm telling you why. And right, and you said that you want, I'm telling you that that is unfair. And that, and that, and that, to me, one of the, one of the reasons why that is is because obviously these guys are famous, right? For example, you know, you wouldn't think that about Hollywood stars. Hollywood stars, Hollywood stars getting truck. I would think drugs.

I would think drugs. I would think drugs. I know. But like, what I'm saying is I could name you just based upon my time at TMZ, handfuls of actors. handfuls of actors that have been arrested for being up their wives. Like they're about to make a movie about Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. No one thinks of Tommy Lee as a domestic abuser right now. Tommy Lee spent six months in jail for being up on Pamela.

I do. So what I'm saying is what I'm saying is the, look, when we were talking about this situation, the thing that made me respond that way was you saying that, hey, I think about the NFL trouble. I do. And what I'm telling you is there's some messaging that goes into that. There is. And the reality is that. If every time a cop beat the shit out of his wife, they promoted it like this, like...

Promoted it like what? Or when I say promoted it like this, I put it to you like this. If, when I say promoted it like this, you can't, you have to put this video out. That's actually not what, that's not what I meant. What I mean was this. If there was a continuing narrative about the fact that the police are overrepresented in domestic violence. right if there's a continuing narrative about that

if it was meant to be a talking point it would be a talking point so here's the difference in that oh wait when you finish I'm sorry but the reason why it's not is because they want you they want you to see the police is the good guys also police aren't famous so if you gave me that same statistic if you gave me the only more of them but the only reason we're talk but the reason we don't talk about that on a grand scale is because police aren't famous

it's not it's not going to get media attention the same way No, I understand that. It should, but it's just not going to get the attention. Maybe it shouldn't. Go ahead. Sorry, Rachel. But if Hollywood had a larger statistic and we're not, and that's what you brought to the table, and we're not talking about it, then I could understand that.

But when it comes to the police or if it was firemen or, you know, I don't know, city council members or teachers or somebody, it's not going to garner the same attention as it is when NFL players do it. I know. But that doesn't mean that. that we should have a knee-jerk response when the NFL player is arrested, that it is domestic violence.

What I'm saying is that it's important, this is what I'm saying, what I'm saying is as important as it is to highlight what Zach Stacey did and to make sure that he is properly excoriated as a deterrent for other guys in the league to get like this or to talk about this stuff, it's also, to me,

as important to dispel common held myths and misconceptions about a largely black athlete base. So this is coming from a black woman. I'm not somebody. I'm not, I'm not white, not a white woman. I'm not,

I'm a fan of the sport. This is coming from, I'm having a knee-jerk reaction as a black woman. This isn't, I'm not stereotyping. I'm not playing into a statistic. I'm telling you what I hear as being a fan of sports or what's, what's reported,

right? I'm not even talking about what's not. This isn't me having falling into some rumor. Well, it doesn't matter why you believe it. The fact that it doesn't matter why you believe it, it just matters that it's not true. I mean, I mean, you're comparing it to police though. No, no, no, no.

Well, forget about, forget about police. Forget about police. Forget about the police. What I'm saying is NFL players are involved in domestic violence as far as what we can track at lower levels than the general. society. So the belief... Look at the numbers you're comparing to. NFL versus society? Wait a minute. Then how can you stratify anything? Like, what do you mean? My whole comment is when I think of a football player, not a football player, period, not a football

player in general, a football, when I hear of an NFL player being arrested and I go through my mind of what could possibly be the charges, sadly, my first thought is domestic violence. because of whatever. That's what I'm saying. Okay. Over drugs, over drunk driving, over a shooting. I don't think of those things. I think of domestic violence.

Okay. So I guess what I'm saying to you is I understand that that's what you think. And the reason why I compare it to the incidences of, okay, so if we were to say that there was a, if we were to say that there was a specific issue with domestic violence in the NFL, like what will we have to compare it to? Well, what we have to compare it to is, hey, this many people out in regular society are getting arrested for domestic violence. Is the NFL overrepresented? Is there more in the NFL?

Is it two times the national average? Is it three times a national average? Is it four times a national average? Because then if it is, then you look at that and you go, there's a specific problem with domestic violence in the NFL. Now, if it's not, and the numbers that I've looked at and the numbers that are out there... I would love to see the numbers. Are not. And if it's not, then the question would be, well, why do we have that perception?

And the perception could be something innocuous, like the fame of the guys, like you just said, or the perception could be something different. And so what I'm saying is in the case, Zach Stacey's thing is one thing. But like, if I hear somebody go, I hear of an NFL guy arrested. And the first thing I think is he beat up a woman. I'm like, I have to be like, oh, well, I hope you know that that's not true. That like that, even though that might be the feeling that the numbers do not support that that that's actually the case. I'd love to see the numbers.

I'd love to see the numbers. We'll have to see the numbers. All right. Look, we have, I just want to give a shout out to Jessica Watkins, who's the first black astronaut, black woman astronaut to join the space station crew. Shout out to her. She's going up with SpaceX crew mission four, crew dash four mission. She's a rotation flight of the crew dragon.

They got her with the black dragon crew. It's an all black crew of people sponsored by Popeye's. They got it right on the side of the space shuttle. And it goes up in the space. It goes right there. It's going to be the first for her since being selected as an astronaut in 2017. She joins fellow crew members Shell Lindgren,

Robert Heinz, and Samantha Crystal Forfeity. So shout out to Jessica Watkins. First Black Woman to join Space Station crew. Not first Black Woman in Space, but to join the Space Station crew. You like the Space Station? Are you familiar with it?

I've never been. No, I think it's an amazing accomplishment. It goes way over my head. It's more than I. can do. That's amazing. I'd love to go to the space station. Not at all. Mailbag. Mailback time.

Time to read your letters and then we'll reply to them. Oh, it's mailback time. Write us with your queries and we'll chime in. From page

M. Bollinger. What's the worst advice you ever received? to stay in Louisiana until I was 30. Dumb. Really? Somebody said that? Say, don't leave till you're 30. That way you'll know you want to leave.

That's the worst advice. Do as I say, not as I do. Huh. I just picked one. I just picked. That sounds like something the judge would say. Okay, let's go. Two more.

All right. P.T.31 asks, which musical artist would you let produce the soundtrack? to your life. Quincey Jones. Quincy Jones. Prince. Copper liked it? All right. Last one. Wait, who did you say? I said coppers. I said copper. I said last one.

No, who did you pick? Prince. Oh, Prince. Okay. Cassie, et cetera, asks, what is a positive trait that you inherited from each parent? Ooh. My studiousness, I inherited from my mom. My people skills I got from dad. I would say my ambition I got for my dad.

And from my mom, I would say that I got a compassion. You don't think I'm compassionate. I do. Not the children. I think you. Not ages. Not ages 14 to 17. Not kids.

Throw the fucking kids. Fuck them kids. There are other schools to go to. That's original Lizzie. Do you have an unexpected ally of the week? I do. Who is it? His name is Pat Collins.

Pat Collins. And it's not even that he did something grand. He is a reporter for NBC4 in Washington, D.C. And after everything that has happened this week, man, I needed that laugh. This man is a natural storyteller. You can tell he's been on the air forever and he's telling a story about a woman whose car was vandalized,

but they got her car wrong. They wrote Mike as a cheater, but she is not Mike. She doesn't know Mike. She's never dated a Mike. And the way this man, look him up, you guys. Pat Collins tells the story. He's this older gentleman. Where's a scar?

I saw this guy. I loved him. The way the dramatics, this man is everything it'll make you laugh, it'll put a smile on your face. Loved it. We should have him on the show. We should. Just like to narrate stuff.

We should because that's fucked up that happened to his car. I'm going to concur with that. No, it wasn't his car. It wasn't his car. Yeah. Yeah. Like I was going to go with Steve Kerr, but he's kind of an expected ally. Yeah.

Because of the Julie Jones situation. But it was nice to see. It's nice to see. Right. It was. It was very nice to see. Okay. Look, you guys.

That was a lot packed into a 121. It felt like a longer podcast because we dispensed with the pleasure trees. We got more stuff coming from you coming for you next week. But for right now, it's time for the weekend. It's time to get out of here. Take a deep cap so off, but do not stop learning.

I'm Van Lytton Jr. And I'm Rachel Lynn Lindsay. Bye. Hey, guys.