Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - The State of the Union and Confronting Domestic Terrorism With Hawk Newsome

Episode Date: February 10, 2023

Van and Rachel discuss Joe Biden’s third State of the Union Address (18:58), as well as Stephen A. Smith’s relationship to Kyrie Irving (45:01). Then activist Hawk Newsome joins to give insight on the case of a Black Colorado rancher facing domestic terrorism from neighbors (57:44). Hosts: Van Lathan Jr. and Rachel Lindsay Guest: Hawk Newsome Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Ashleigh Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? How to Learning is on, is I, Van Lathen, Jr. And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. Rachel? Yes. You're in a hotel. I'm in a hotel.

It's Super Bowl weekend. I'm here for the festivities. Truly, that's all I'm here for. Not the game. Everything surrounding the game. It's always a fun week. Because we're going to watch the game on Sunday. Yes, we are.

But what are you doing before the game? game. I'm working out with Brian. Are you really going to do it? Me and Brian are going to work out together. I'm excited. I'm excited for you. Me and Brian going to work out together. And then I have some cough syrup left over. I don't know what you're talking about. From my sickness, I got some cross syrup. So we're taking it to for the game. We're taking it to Houston. Maybe I'm taking it back to college. that big moh. Brian asks me to explain it.

He was like, because I ran this by on the group, on the couples group chat. I ran this by. It's like, yo, are y'all down to kind of, that purple stuff?

Purple. Like, you know, and Brian's like, our significant others not alike. Like for them, it was an immediate reout. No.

They were like, yeah. Yeah, just a little little. a little drink. Let's do what we used to do. Louisiana, Texas. Let's put a little drink in the cup.

How are things in Arizona? I haven't really seen how much. I got in late last night. Cold windy. Today. Cold windy? Yeah, like L.A. Cold in the mornings.

Cold and nights. Very windy. Desert lives. Tonight I get out. I'm leaving here. I'm going to a dinner. Actually, no. I'm going to an interview.

Okay. Brian Cranston again. and Aaron Paul. Did you see the video? Did you ever see the interview where I touched his head and he pretended like he's going to bite it? No. Okay.

It's on my social. I got a Brian Cranston, Aaron Paul interview, and then I'm going to a dinner. You're not going to the NFL honors? No. You know how it is with award shows? Once you've been, you're like, I'm good.

So you went to NFL honors before? I've been before. I've been before when it was in Atlanta. Yeah, like. I mean, it was cool to go. It was Steve Harvey was hosting, so he's great. I've been before in Miami, I went and I worked backstage. You worked backstage in NFL honors.

Did you ask people questions? Like, what's the question you'd ask backstage in NFL honors? Well, it was after, I was freelancing, and it was after they won awards. So it was more about the moment. What is the award? Like, I had Lamar Jackson. I can't even remember who else that I had. I did Steve Harvey, but, you know,

he was hosting and he's we're friendly because I used to do his show. But I was, it was more about like the moment. Hey, how do you feel? You just won't comeback player of the year. Hey, what does this mean to you? What does it mean to you to be Walter Payton NFL man of the year?

Hey, how's it going? Hey, what's up? I might have had the man of the year too. Probably did. It was, it was like all for digital. Actually, no, it was on NFL network. They did air there too. So yeah, I did the, I actually did the,

carpet with Hawk before. We did a live show. My friend, my friend, Hawk. Yeah, yeah. Hawk and I did a live show for an hour before on the carpet for Twitter. And then we did, I went backstage to do interviews. The freelance days.

Hawk is amazing. Incredible talent. Somebody's knocking at the door. Go ahead. Let's see who it is. Let's see who this is. Let's see who this is. Knocking at the door in Rachel's room in Arizona. Thank you so much. What is that? What is that?

Is that liquor? Oh, we're getting started. Did you just order a cup of wine to the door? Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. So they just brought you up. They just put wine in a plastic cup and brought it to you.

I had ordered it before. Room service. What kind of fucking hotel are you staying at? To where they put the wine in the sippy cup, nigga. The hotels I stay at. Excuse me. They're going to bring you up a wine glass. What kind of hotel?

Not out looking at the decor. We're not in five-star accommodations, are we? Crazy enough, this is considered a five-star hotel. Arizona five-star? It's a resort. So you've got a golf course. You've got the gyms, the multiple pools. So it's the whole thing.

But it's an older resort. so the rooms are outside. Like as I'm looking out the window, I just see mountains and desert. And so they can't bring the trays like it's inside with the glass. So she ran it over to me. Good for her. Good service.

Good service at that hotel. Yeah, yeah. So wait, what were we talking about? I'm talking about NFL honors. NFL honors. Yeah. So Extra didn't have me working. And so I'm here to,

I'm not attending the honors. I'm just doing some other stuff. So then I'm doing a couple of interviews for him for them. What is Brian doing? Working in L.A. He didn't make the trip. No.

Why did he come? I'm going to get Brian tonight and take him to the Creed screening. Oh, are you going? I was supposed to go to that. Don't worry. I would have taken Brian to that. I'm going to go get Brian at night.

I'm going to take him to the Creed screening because here's reality in the situation. Me and tell me you get to go hang out, have fun, all these NFL parties. bring Brian with you. Brian has come with you to the party. So here's the thing. Brian's a huge football fan. Brian's a gigantic football fan.

Actually, he's a huge basketball fan. So if this was All-Star weekend, he would probably feel a certain way. He likes sports, but this was All-Star weekend. It would be some particular. Why are you lying? If this was All-Sore weekend, it would be you and Whitney in Salt Lake City

talk about Go Sports Go. So let me give some background before a good. Let me see some background. before everybody comes at me. Because, you know, it's been a rough week with racial socials this week. I have been doing this tradition for five years with my homegirl. I met her.

You've met her, Kate, my friend Katie. I met her at Super Bowl in Atlanta. Blonde. Oh, I know. I met her at Super Bowl in Atlanta. And we just hit it off. We met through mutual friends, hit it off. And Super Bowl has been our thing every year.

And so what it's become is it's parties, but the networking is insane. And so for me, like, we go to dinners and then we go to events. Even when Super Bowl was in L.A., Brian and I didn't go to the same parties. He went to different parties? We went to different parties. So it's like a tradition. This is like a me and Katie weekend, and it has been for five years.

And, like, I am thankful that I have a husband that respects that. This is like our jam. She and I get together. this is what we do. She's, we're staying together here. Like, this is what we do. She's staying in the room with you. So you guys are like those.

This is her room. You guys are her room. You guys are like those 80 for Brady ladies. We're the 80 for Brady ladies. You're her 80 for Brady. You guys are going to be doing this for a long time. So we hit these streets. We network.

It's always a fun time. We meet great people. And like I said, I met her here five years ago. And we've been thickest things since. Yeah, me and Brian got to start some of our own traditions. Like going to Sam's health round. on Monday night, you know. Rough week and social.

Rough week and social. Okay, so listen. We have to discuss this. So I posted Rachel's Beyonce take on both Instagram and Twitter. It is still up on Instagram. I'm not going to lie on Twitter. I have to delete that bitch. All right.

Twitter, Twitter, Instagram is like, oh, she's wrong. And like you have like, on Twitter, you have like really prominent. people, Toronto Burke and people like that, that are litigating it and talking about it, right? On Instagram,

it was like, we got to kill this bitch. And I'm like, God, on Twitter, it was like, yeah, we got to kill this bitch.

And so Twitter, I was like, okay, this is going too far. I got to, I got to mute it. I know, I got to delete it.

I got to delete the tweet. I had to delete the tweet on Twitter. The tweet is going on Twitter. Instagram, I lifted up because it was a hell of a take. What if your socials has been like? So it's more of like, you're anti-black.

Shut up. Why are you talking with that white man with that white man in your bed? Why are you talking? Those kind of things. Oh, she just sits around and listens to country music with her white husband.

Oh, of course she wanted bad bunny to get it. She's down with the Latinos. It's like stuff like that. I can't believe I didn't think about that. I can't believe I didn't think of that. Of course you want bad bunny.

you're living in the land of Despacito. Of course you wanted that. Let's not minimize how great Bad Bunny's album is and how it's historic. His nomination alone for album of the year was historic. And a lot of people agree with me, that Buddy actually had a phenomenal album. And it's all Spanish speaking.

At the Grammys, not the Latin Grammys, at the Grammys, an all Spanish-speaking album shows the crossover appeal and the power of his music. But that's a story for a different day. This is what I found interesting. So many people were mad about that clip too because they were talking to me, oh, she's so stupid.

Oh, she doesn't know what she's saying. And it's like, it's a clip. We weren't there talking about, you mentioned it, but we didn't delve into black artists, not getting nominated for album of the year. My take wasn't based on that argument. If you want to have that argument,

that's a totally different thing. I'm separating it for the Beehive, and the way people seem so upset over Beyonce. I'm like, let's also not take away from her accomplishment, which she seemed to be appreciative of. I don't think it was the album of the year. I think she had albums that actually could have been album of the year. That's my point.

And I don't think she should just get it just because she hasn't ever won before. I think she should get it for the work that amounts to that, which I really think Lemonade did. I think we got a Beyonce that we never had before. A lot of people say they don't get to know Beyonce. you did in lemonade. You definitely did with lemonade. So anyways, I found it interesting, like the Taranos who wrote,

and it's like that wasn't, I wasn't trying to have the argument. I wasn't missing the point. My point was just that y'all need to chill out beehives. Beyonce's album wasn't that. It had nothing to do with the Grammys and how they treat black artists. You know what I'm saying? It got way more serious than it needed to. It was a clip, y'all, but I still stand back.

stand by 10 toes down. It was not down. Ten toes down. I was wrong by the way. John Baptiste won album of the year last year. Yeah, I just said that. I didn't even remember that. But there is a deeper conversation

that we had why black artists, particularly black women. Okay? Because I think you got Lauren Hill. You got Natalie Cole. And you, and you got, I can't remember the other artist. There's only three black women.

I wonder how many times they've even been nominated because that's an issue too. How many times black women have been nominated. Black women album of the year. Black woman album of the year. 11. 11 of 1. Oh, that's artist. That's artist.

Wait a minute. Stevie Wonder has won three times. 11 black artists have one album of the year. But really not 11, but really not 11. Stevie Wonder wanted three times. Three times. Michael Jackson won.

Lionel Richie. Quincy Jones. For back on the block. Natalie Cole. Whitney Houston. That's the other one that you wanted to say. Yeah, the body guard, Whitney Houston, Lauren Hill, Outcast, Ray Charles 2005, Herbie Hancock. Shout out to Herbie. John Baptiste in 2022.

So that's pretty fucking shocking. And I would love to see the nominations. Because either way it's bad. If we're not nominated, that's a problem. If we have been nominated this many times and our odds are still 11 out of the 65 times that they've had the Grammy Awards. So what is that?

What's that percentage? Donnie? Donnie have to look at that. Let me tell you guys a second. Donning. Look, we can do a deeper dive into that. We can talk about that. I'm glad to know that the Beehive didn't chase you off your block as far as your situation.

What did I tell you? The Bachelor clan is rough. I have been run off social media before. I've taken a break. So it's to be expected. But you know, you knew they were going to sting me a little bit when you posted. You knew I was going to get stung a little. I knew you get stung, but I will be honest to you about this.

Twitter. You were shocked. You were shocked at Twitter. I couldn't believe the links. I didn't see it. I couldn't believe the links to what some people were saying. At first, I was amused by it. It's like, oh, it's because she's from Dallas and this is a Dallas Houston thing. And I thought that must be really interesting if you really think that, you know. But then it got to a point to where I was like, I don't know, man. It got so personal to where I was starting to get mad on your behalf.

And I was like, and I was literally tweeting someone, you know what, suck my. And then I was like, I just let me just delete the whole tweet. Let me just delete the whole tweet. Because you know, there are people who, you know, there are people who troll you on my Twitter. Oh, do they? See, I'm not big on Twitter. So I never saw the post. I never, it never even landed on me.

So when you, like, you deleted it, I'm just like, oh, okay, I never even saw what people were saying. Out of sight, out of mine. That's because I didn't tag you. But let me tell you, but there are people that come on my Twitter and say the weirdest things about you. And just don't even tell you. They comment? No, they just say the weirdest things about you. There's just one continuous troll that comes on my Twitter all the time and says, Van,

why don't you tell Rachel to let Brian go? I've seen her or him. Who is that person? A lot of people think that because I don't post Brian on social media or that I do things like Super Bowl weekend without Brian, they're like, you don't love your husband, you're not giving him a child, that's what he wants, that's what you said you wanted.

So everyone judges this is the world we live in. They judge your life based on what you post on social media. Brian and I were so public with our relationship on the show. We keep a lot to ourselves. Like, you know me in real life. You know, you know that most of the time when I'm doing stuff with you, Brian is right there. Right. It's always there.

We just don't, we're not on social media advertising it all the time. We got to be honest with you. This is sad. I love it. I'm like, we're so strong. Everybody worried about us, Sebastian. We're so good. This is a sad day in how I learning history right now.

Why? Because I've got to put it into the Brian jokes. And it's, I can't be a part of it. I can't be a part. Now that I know that it's really toxic. I can't be a part of it. Interesting thing about, the last thing I'll say about the Brian jokes, though, this is the last thing I'll say about him is what an interesting coincidence with the fact

that I was going to take Brian to the Lakers Thunder game for $7,000 apiece. And everybody was telling me courtside tickets how expensive those tickets were and how I shouldn't buy them. Had I bought the tickets, we'd all been going to fucking turts this summer. which we probably should still go. Because that was the game that LeBron James broke Kareem's record. And either me and Brian

could have been hobnobbing with the greatest of celebrities or we could have flipped those tickets for easily 30,000 each. Maybe 50, depending on how thirsty the L.A. celebrities were. Okay? Shit, maybe more.

Okay? And we could have been Marlin, but I listen Once again, this is what you This is what you don't do. You don't listen to people that don't want you to spend money. My dad would always say that.

When somebody's telling you, don't spend your money, don't listen. But I should have got the tickets. I would mean, we could have flipped them. If we had got the tickets that me and Brian would have went to the game, how would you have felt? I would have loved it,

but I would have been so jealous if y'all were there for that. game. So jealous. What a moment. The Lakers lost. Shout out to LeBron. LeBron won.

Shout out to LeBron. That is one fucking hell of an accomplishment. A lot of people were upset that they stopped the game I saw. What was your take on that? Those people must not know sports. That's what I was like this record. in our lifetime, if ever again, we will never see this. You stop the game for this.

LeBron James is the all-time leading score in the NBA. Yeah. He scored more points than anyone in the history to lead. Guys, come on. What the fuck? All right. That's enough of the pleasure is right there. Good operations back, I'll tell you.

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See terms at Fandual.com slash predict slash bonus dash offer dash terms. Rachel, did you watch the same? But I caught the highlights. I read about it. I watched the recaps the next day. And I thought about it. I saw it on and I was like, I got home late. I saw that it was on and I was like, I'll get the high notes.

High notes. High notes. How long day? I didn't watch it when it aired, but I did watch it last night. Okay. We went back and watched it. In four. We went back and watched it.

On a scale of one to ten. what would you give Biden? It's hard to really rate something like that. I mean, people were raving about it. I thought it was, I thought he struck the right tone. So if you,

if you ask me, well, it depends. So I'll tell, I, let's divide it. Okay. So,

so the subject matter. Okay, so the subject matter was Biden, making the case to the American people, in my opinion, about the things he's, he's accomplished.

here's just recent, okay? And that's what a state of the union address is. Sure. It's, hey, this is what we've been able to do. This is what we want to do. This is standing in the way of us doing what we need to do. Okay. These might be the threats outside of our borders.

These are the threats inside of our borders. It's the state of the union address. You know, some presidents are better orators than others. Some are able to galvanize people in a, different way than other people are. But I will say this, this particular one wasn't about either of those things to me. It wasn't about

whipping up the people in a Rara situation. I think it was partly answering critics who have been critical of what Biden's been able to accomplish in his first couple of years. And part of it is about really striking the

consulatory tone with Republicans. The the overwhelming to me takeaway from the speech was that Joe Biden wants to thaw the relationship that the left and the right

have right now, that he wants there to be a warmth and he is reaching across the aisle so intently that I'm afraid he is going to like pull his oblique. Like he, he is, it was my Republican friends. It was these are the things we've been able to do together.

Hey, if you don't vote for it, that's cool. I'll veto it. But if you don't vote for it, that's cool. No problem. Other things, if you put that through, I'll veto it. But it seemed to me that he wanted to bring a certain civility back to political discourse. And it also seemed to me that he wants, from the tone that he had in speech, that he wants the rest of the left to file suit. Yes, there were parts where I felt like that was the case. But I also felt like this was an opportunity, you know, since we've surpassed the midterms, and it's the first time he's addressed the nation since then, I felt like it was an opportunity for him to stand up.

Now, maybe he didn't intend to do that, but because he kept getting heckled by the audience, it was an opportunity for him to stand up and kind of like stand up in a way that we really haven't seen him do that. That's, I thought he was sending that message to them too, because he also seemed to point out the things that are blocking the Democrats or, you know, for the certain bills to move forward, he seemed to point out the things that Republicans are doing to block that,

which is when he started to get booed. And then he called them out. He's like, oh, okay, so that's not the case? Great. So we're all on the same page when it comes to this. It was like a really weird moment, particularly with Medicare and Social Security. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So to me, yes, there was the reaching across the aisle. Yes, there was that. I want that warmth of us. we're going to have to work together. But he also seemed to really stand up, I felt like, more so to the extreme Republicans. He seemed to call them out and how they're holding things back. And we're talking to the Republicans, the more the moderate of we've got to come together because we've got these issues and these outrageous requests from the extreme Republicans.

So I felt like there was that sense that we hadn't seen him, seemed a little bit more aggressive in that way. Yeah, so I don't disagree. I think honestly, the, they made themselves look bad with how just childish they looked. And I think the tone that he struck early on and throughout the state of the union, they actually worked in making them seem unsurious about legislating. It made them seem unsurious about sort of having. the country, uh, run smoothly. You know, ideal-wise, he talked about a lot of things that he was able to get done.

Uh, he talked about a lot of things he was able to get done with bipartisan support. And I think that a lot of Americans that might have been watching the state of the union might not have been aware that there were this many things that got done with bipartisan support because they are probably, uh, being led to their silos blindly without the, that these guys ever worked to these guys, these women and men ever worked together at all. And so I think that was important for a lot of people. And I think it was important to strike the tone of putting Americans first, not America first, because I think that there's a difference.

Putting America first means a lot of times sort of ignoring the specifics of either injustice, income inequality or sort of unfairness that exists in our country to present a clean image of the flag.

America first to me sometimes means hey, we can't do anything wrong. That doesn't matter how wrong we are somebody else's wronger. And because somebody else is wronger, that makes us number one. by default. I think you see that a lot of times. America first, America first, America first, Americans first to me means prioritizing the issues, needs, and problems of the American people

before you deal with corporate or political entities that might have a lot of weight or power in the country. And although I would be a fool to believe that corporate and political entities don't have control of what's being volleied about in a state of union address or on Capitol Hill. It was, in my opinion, refreshing to hear talk about insulin and prescription drug prices, you know, indictments on big pharma. It was interesting to hear about bringing manufacturing jobs back to the country and how we can be first in manufacturing microchips or chip technology that

be used to put in to cars and how that can, you know, revitalize areas of the Rust Belt, the heartland of America, places where he said very specifically jobs where you might not need to go to college to make $110, $120, $130,000, $130,000 a year, which is the backbone of that. It was, it was very, very encouraging to hear him say that we have all these billionaires in our country and all of these trillion-dollar industries who aren't paying their, not trillion-dollar industries, but a billion-dollar industries who aren't paying

their fair share taxes. And that we're not trying to have a situation where wealth flows from the top down because that's not working. So what you're starting to hear, not as much as people would like, what you're starting to hear to me. And, you know, he still said very clearly, I'm a capitalist, but you're starting to hear to me, and maybe people don't agree with this, but a little bit of a progressive

sort of train of thought make its way into Biden's or mainstream democratic politics. Now, a lot of people will hear that and go, oh, that's bullshit, man, and blah, blah, blah, blah. It's not in a large way. But just hearing, even though he doubled down on the fact that he's a capitalist, just hearing that the wealthy Americans need to chip in and to pay their fair share of taxes and just hearing that the current inequality in terms of income and wages just can't continue

was encouraging me. I guess I don't look at it as I definitely wouldn't, you know, use the word progressive, but I understand exactly what you mean. And I think it goes towards your point of he was speaking to, Americans. He seemed to speak to, or whoever put together everything he was saying, the whole administration seemed to look at what's happening currently in our country and address the needs of the people, like the common folk. And that's what was really refreshing to see in a way that I haven't really seen before. So I get it to that point. I get why you're saying

progressive because he really seemed to be talking to the common man to like the person who's watching it, not Congress who's sitting in front of them, the person who's watching it on television. I felt that in my high notes. But one thing that we haven't talked about, and I'm curious if you wanted to move past it, unless there was another topic that you wanted to talk about that he addressed, is police reform. Because that is something that we talk about quite a bit on this podcast. And he definitely spoke to it.

and going towards the ratings, like I had you do before, on a scale of 1 to 10, based on what he had to say last night, how satisfied are you with his response about police reform? Let's hear him. Donnie, give it to us. When police officers or police departments violate the public trust, they must be held accountable. With the support of the families of victims, Civil rights districts and law enforcement, I signed an executive order for all federal officers,

banning chokeholds, restricting no-knock warrants, and other key elements of the George Floyd Act. Let's commit ourselves to make the words of Tyler's mom true. Something good must come from this. Something good. Folks, it's difficult, but it's simple. All of us in this chamber. We need to rise to this moment. We can't turn away.

Let's do what we know in our hearts that we need to do. Let's come together to finish a job on police reform. Do something. Okay, so scale 1 to 10? That's a 3. Okay, and I'll tell you why. Comprehensive change in policing is going to come with some really, really hard, to swallow

realities for America, right? That's tough. You know? Mm-hmm. And without accepting those realities, it's difficult to believe that anything would make any change.

What I would like to see is a president, a senator, a congressman, a mayor, an alderman, a councilman, an aide, an assistant, a page, a deputy, fucking somebody say these words. Three words, three little words. Okay. Not the words you never say to Brian.

Ha-ha. Joke. Joke. You start to think you're behind. You're behind some of this wrong. You do it so well. Three little words. And these are the three words.

policing is broken. Now, those words are a lie, but I would want them to say them anyway. The words are a lie because policing is not broken. Policing is operating in the way that it always has and the way that it's intended, right? But order to sell this to people that really want to see wholesale change, you'd have to say policing is broken.

The reason why you'd have to say that is because without saying that, you can't put it back together. Okay, it's difficult to fix something without the realization that it is broken. Fixing something without the realization that it's broken is dressing it up. Like if you get punched in the eye Or if I get punched in the eye If I get punched in the eye I can do one of two things I can take some brown makeup

To match my beautiful Chocolatey skin And I can put that over The bruise so that nobody can see it Or I can take a cold compress And put it to my eye To reduce the inflammation Right

I can heal it Or I can dress it up in the case of policing, the cold compress, the actual surgery, part of that is going to be dismantling and taking a look at both historical and contemporary approaches to policing. And that has to do with the rise of callology

being taught in the 90s, it has to do with the militarization of the police. It has to do with police budgets and answers to do with an overall American approach to public safety. And if you really want to have a serious conversation about the deaths of Americans at the hands of the police, you have to have a conversation that acknowledges that our current form of policing is leading to too many poor outcomes. And it's not a one-off here or there.

It's not isolated incidents. there are very distinct patterns of dysfunction that are reflected all over the country. So while the president addressed it, he didn't say anything. He politicked it. And in this particular issue,

the more time we spend politicking it, the more time we the more time we spend politicking it in between that, the more people we sit to the grave. Even him saying, when police step out

and they're they act poorly or they or they, I can't remember exactly what he said, they, they cross the line, they have to be held accountable. Even that's like, yeah, cool. But how?

How can they, how are they going to be held accountable. In what way are we got, so, you know, what about you? Your thoughts on what he said? So I will be nicer and I'll give him a five. And I'll give him a five for addressing it, particularly because the congressional black caucus really was on him and met with him about addressing this in his state of the union. He didn't have to, but he did. So I'll give him, but there's always a choice not to. But he did. Listen, I'm, I'm. I'm going to give them a five for addressing it, all right? The problem is I don't understand how you can address,

the problem for me, I should say. I don't understand how you can say the things that you said, have the family of Tyree Nichols there, and talk about how this keeps happening in our country, and there needs to be changed. There needs to be accountability. Not say how, because you can't speak to it, even if you can't accomplish it because there's a Congress blocking you from doing that.

You can't speak to it. You can take that stance. You can cross the line and do that. But I have a huge problem with him saying that. And then on the other side, letting us know all the things he has done. I have a problem with that because it's not working. I don't want to hear it is great that you ban show calls and no knock warrants. But if it's not working, I don't need to hear you reiterate those things.

We know you've done that. what are you going to do to stop it from happening? Because I don't want state of the union addresses that are addressing things that are reacting to these things happening. We need to be proactive with that. And one of the things we know that the Biden administration has done is create this database. What I would have loved to hear him say is the database is on a federal level. These issues are happening on a local level. There is no database that is monitoring what is happening on a local level.

it is optional for them to participate in that. So yes, you have these grants that are available. And if these local law enforcement do certain things, they're awarded more money, we know that that's in place. But there is nothing that, and I don't know if he officially has the power to do that, but he could at least speak to it.

There is nothing monitoring these law enforcement places that are doing these things where we're having Tyree. Nichols incident. That's what I want him to speak to. I want him to say qualified immunity. I want him to take back defund for the police. I want him to acknowledge the fact that he's been in bed with police unions. Obama's administration was backed by unions. His administration is I want him to take a sense and say, I realize that I've been backed by this. I know a lot of people might have something to say about that these unions, these police forces, these chiefs have supported me.

this is how I feel something's got to be done. I'm making a call to them or I'm holding them accountable or this time for them to step up. You know what I mean? More specific, more direct. He's talking above the trees.

I need him to get in the thick of this and specifically address why these things keep happening. If you can't physically, if you can't within your power do something, you could at least open your mouth and speak to it. And that's what he's not doing yet.

Couldn't agree more. He gave some broad strokes in terms of what he felt like policing needed to be. There were some talk about better trained officers. There were some talk about some kind of eating around the edges of what public safety should and could look like. But, you know, every time you hear about increased training for officers and all of that stuff, what I think about is more money flowing into police department coffers all over the country. Right. Let's stop less than a year ago.

Yeah. So what I'm seeing and perhaps isn't a layup issue for the state of the union address. Because there's something else we have to remember that, and this is why activists and grassroots organizations are so important. A lot of people look at people that are on the ground making noise. and they don't think that they're really doing anything other than being obstacles to political change. The president might not even be able to go up during the state of the union address and say fuck the police unions.

Right. And I'm just being honest. I'm just being honest with our audience now. The president might, like, for example, Kamala Harris. That's right. Kamala Harris. They go, Kamala Harris, you know, back in this she goes, America is not a racist country.

Kamala Harris knows fucking well that that's the wrong thing for her to say. Now, if I was the vice president, I could have said that in a completely different way. And, and, like, talked around it and made the point that the promise of America isn't racist. But the practice of America is, is. You know, I could have, hey, Van is America a racist country? It depends on what you mean by America. How so? Not that she would be any less killed for this. Well, the promise of America is

freedom, justice, equality for all, right? And that's what sort of inspires everyone about this country. What inspires everybody about this country is the same thing that inspires people about love and connection and unity. These are all things that we aspire to be and things that you want to live to have in a fruitful life. And that's what America is at its core. It's an idea, right? And that idea is always worth fighting for. It's always worth pushing for and striving for.

That idea is worth the trouble. The question is whether or not we are living up to that idea. And you would really have to have your head the same to say that historically and now that America has lived up to the idea. idea of freedom for black people, women, LGBT, boom. And after that, I'm cooking. I'm all over the place. But what does she say? No, it's not racist.

Okay, well, now, okay, we feel weird. You know what I mean? And I'm not saying that I'm better at talking than Kamala Harris. I'm just saying, so what I'm saying is sometimes these politicians politic. But at this particular issue, with his parents sitting right there, I'm not so sure he called him the right name, by the way, with these particular issues, with his parents sitting right there. Don't bring the people to Washington and even broach that topic if you're not ready to get your hands a little bit dirty. If you're not after he got beat to death in front of

the whole world, that's the only thing that I would say. Overall, though, I look at the state of the union address as a stronger version of Joe Biden that I've seen in a lot. Right, which is why there was a lot of positive talks around again. A lot of people weren't expecting it. Started off a little dry and it heated up when it needed to. And so, you know, I think it's made some people hopeful. So he addressed the union and we shall see. We'll see. We shall see.

We'll see. I know that our audience is split just like a lot of people on the left are about whether or not they love Biden or whether or not. See, here's the thing about what it means to be, man, when you hate so much you don't really know what love is, man. And the right makes themselves so hateable. Like the right, like, particularly the far right. They made themselves so hateable.

For sure. How the fuck you go outlaw black history, dog? You don't give a fuck. Like, they made themselves so hateable. Like, we can't read Tony Morrison. They want to take Tony Morrison away. Tony Morrison. Mm-hmm.

I can't have Tony Morrison. No, you cannot. You know what I'm saying? And like on the other side of that, we go, okay, whatever else they serve it, we'll take it. You know what I'm saying? It's just weird. But it didn't seem like that in his union, a union addressed, which is why I think people found it so favored,

the speech in such a favorable way. Okay, so, had the conversation with Stephen A. Stephen A. Smith was on the podcast. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Look, Stephen A. Smith disarmed me. I think everybody knows we had a great conversation with Stephen A. Smith.

This is a great conversation. Obviously, My friend. Your friend, your friend, Stephen A. Smith. I'm one for one. Stop. Stop.

So, here's the deal. Obviously, I have some disagreements with Stephen A. Smith, particularly in Colin Kaepernick. You guys know how I feel. I feel like Colin Kaepernick was professionally lynched. And his career was. Was. He was. Was. He was ripped from him for standing up for you guys. I think that is wrong. And I think that it is up to us to put our feet in the ground and say, no, we won't let you take away a man's life's work because he stood up for black people. That's what me and Stephen A. Smith disagree in that sense. He says we don't disagree, but you could watch the show and say maybe that Stephen A. Smith wasn't the most supportive of Colin Kappa.

Whatever. All right. Did you see what happened between Stephen A. Smith and J. Williams on first take? I did. I did. So with Kyrie Irving, it's like whether or not they were going back and forth or whether or not it was something personal between Stephen A and Karee and Karee. Right. Which we know it's always like a hot issue when Kairi is involved. and Stephen A.

And Jay and Jay has always taken more of the player's side on that. Do you think that there's anything personal that Stephen A has against Kyrie? It seems that way. Do I know firsthand? No. But the passion that Steve, like Stephen A debates, you know, he has his opinion about certain players. We get into the personality. All of that makes sense.

But the passion, the particular passion he has. for Kyrie seems to go beyond that. Do I know this? No idea. I'm just observing it. Sometimes it just doesn't seem logical. I'm like, where are you come? Why are you so upset? Why does this bother you to this level?

It does seem to be something that he's not sharing. It's deeply rooted in something that we aren't pretty to. As awesome. Okay. Let's listen to this. Let's listen to the back and forth between Stephen A. and Jay Williams. All right.

Donnie play that. Then we're going to play something from Stephen A. Smith talking to Pat McAfee that just came out here in the last couple of hours. Daily news? No, but it's not going to happen.

We put a different kind of on us on our athletes than we do and you may mention that on your podcast. I don't deny that. First off, I'm not the one. I don't deny that. I'm being sensitive. I don't deny that.

But you're the one that seemed very emotional. Oh, my God. And this is like, Stephen A. Go ahead, Jay. Come on, man. Go ahead, Jay.

I'm not sitting up here on national TV. absolving Kyrie Irving of every decision. I'm not going back and reaccounting every decision. I'm just saying how it's interesting to me. It just carries such a bigger momentum in particular with you. More so than anything, anybody else, Stephen A? You know what? What I would ask you is do me a favor.

Stop telling us what you find interesting and just tell us what you feel. No, my job. You say, I find it interesting. You always say that. Say what you're saying. What are you saying? What are you saying? What am I saying?

I just said what I'm saying, Stephen A. Which I'm not about to say what I find interesting. Of course you are. But once again, I invite you on the show to say what's interesting. He thinks you're too preoccupied with Kyrie, too hard on Kyrie. Did I bridge it, Bridget Kyrie Irvin last week before he demanded a trade? We were talking football. How many times have I mentioned Kyrie Irvin over the last few weeks?

I don't seem to me to want being triggered right now. Well, it's, I'm always triggered. No, you're not. Oh, yes, I am. No, you're not. No, you're not. Yes, I am. No, you are not.

No, you're not. I've seen you. I watch your show every day. So what are you talking about Kyrie or is this personal? It seems personal. I don't want it to be personal. What seems personal? It seems personal for you.

For me with Kyrie? Yes. You are all, you of all people with all the interest you have got to have to serve to sit here in national television. Tell me I'm getting personal with a player. Stop. Stephen A. Smith says he's not getting personal with the play.

Okay. Does he go on, Donnie? Does it go on at all? Yeah, there's a few more seconds after this. Play, play, play it. I don't lose no sleep. I didn't say you lose sleep. I don't lose any sleep.

I didn't say you lose sleep. I'm passionate about the subjects I'm passionate about. I don't accuse you are getting personal when you take the... You have accused me again, personal. Oh, my God. You have, Stephen A. Can I go on the court? That's it.

That's enough. That's enough. Molly doesn't know what the fuck is going on there. She's like, what are you guys doing? Okay, so Stephen A. Smith seemed to take umbrage at the notion that it was personal between him and Karii. So it seemed like to me, Rachel? It seemed personal.

No, but it seemed like he was mad that Jay said that it was personal. Yes. He took it to... Not mad. Not mad. It seemed like, hey, well, wait a minute. Yeah, yeah, it went to another level. Okay.

I'm on Jay's side on this. Okay. This is Stephen A. Smith today on the Pat McAfee show. He was recently on the Pat McAfee show. Saw the video clip today. This is him talking about the Kyrie Urban thing. Do you ever see you coming full? Karii, listen, here's a deal.

Just your coverage of you. Here's a deal. I am, it doesn't matter how I feel about you. I'm always going to be fair and I'm always going to be objective. You ain't worth my paper. So my attitude is that even if I don't like your ass, I'm still going to be fair. Now, me and Kyrie have our differences, differences that I don't think will ever be settled.

He knows why. It's personal. I'm not going to say why. But that doesn't stop me. That doesn't stop me from looking at him and saying he's a phenomenal player. By the way, you'll appreciate this because I've been wanting to tell you this. I've been having to tell people this the last couple of days that can't seem like they can comprehend it. There's a difference between superstar players and superstars.

Tim Duncan was a superstar. Okay? He was a superstar player. I'm sorry. Yeah. He went on the court. He was the best at what he did as a power forward. he won five championships

blah. Kyrie Irvin is a superstar. You walk through the turnstiles to watch and play. Blockbuss. That's who he is. So in that regard, Kyrie Irvin pays for himself. Kyrie Irvin is a sensational basketball player,

a person that I think is worth 50 million. That's enough. Okay. Is it just me or did it seem that Stephen A's run back what he said one more time in terms of being personal, Donnie. Just one more time. Now, me and Kyrie have our differences, differences that I don't think will ever be settled.

He knows why. It's personal. I'm not going to say why. That's it. What the fuck is going on? Like, doesn't this change everything in terms of the, look, we get what the criticisms of Kyrie Irvin have been, right? Carrey Irvin seems to be always looking for a way out of playing basketball.

It seems that whatever the reason. I don't want to play because something happened at the Capitol. I don't want to play because whatever, whatever. This has been Stephen A. And it's very hard to say Stephen A's bullshitting when you see the amount of games that Kyrie ever dismissed and some of the stuff that's going on. But to have a national figure of that ilk in Nick, what seems to be a deep personal bias between him and a player and then that's breathtaking, Rachel.

No? that's not breathtaking. I think it just solidifies the assumption that we always have that there seems to be more to this story than it's letting on. A lot of people are like, why is he going so hard after Kyrie? What is, what's the motivation behind it?

It seems to be so much more than the fact that he just refuses to play or he does things in a selfish way. It doesn't seem to consider the team or the organization as a whole. It just seemed like Stephen A. would have this bone to pick with him that he just kept going and going and going

and you didn't understand the motivation behind it. So we assumed there had to have been more to the story, especially as Jay Wilk pointed out, if you've been following Stephen A. Smith or a first take for as long as you have, you know that this isn't normal behavior. He might go out of player, but not like this. So to hear him say it, I'm like,

oh, that's exactly what we thought. Hey, look, I texted Stephen A after the show and me and him had a back and forth. But I did. Look, I feel like, learned a lot that interview. And you love it now.

You're welcome. I feel like I learned a lot. But this is a legitimate criticism that people would have of him, okay? Would have of him? Yeah, of course. Yeah, no, I just want to make sure you didn't say wouldn't.

That people would think that it sometimes felt personal with Colin Capito. That it is personal with Kyrie Irving. Yet we've seen, in my opinion, other people that he knows personally, not get what people would consider to be

like the same treatment. Like who? Like Jerry Jones? Oh, for sure. Like Dana White. Yeah. You know what I mean? And it's just, it's interesting to me,

not, and now I'm Jay Williams. It's not, it's interesting. It seems fucked up. Let me put it that way, that it's personal, maybe with, and Kaepernick. It's personal with Kari Irvin. Yet it seems personally

that he might defend a Sean Hannity. He might defend a Jerry Jones. He might defend a Dana White. That's why some people like myself might feel alienated by him sometimes. So in his

book, I didn't get a chance to ask him this. In his book, he says that Sean Hannity is right a lot more than a lot of Black America would give him credit for. And what I meant to ask him is, what the fuck is Sean Hedity write about? Yeah. Yeah, we didn't get to that.

What do you think Jay Williams is back on first take next week? What do you think that's going to do? It made it seem like I still don't think that he's going to speak to that because I feel like he knew. I feel like what Stephen A. Smith alluded to with Pat McAfee is what Jay Will already knew. for whatever for whatever reason Stephen A. Smith does not want to divulge that information and I guess you got to give him some credit for that. It's between him and Kyrie.

But I feel like Jay Will is privy to that. What the fuck could be personal between him and Kyrie that would color his criticism of Kyrie to this degree? Well, I think you brought up Kaepernick and you said the way that he talks about Kaepernick was personal. I feel like the information that he shared on our podcast showed exactly why it's personal. for him. According to him, he had conversations with Nessa and I don't know if he had said with

Colin, but he definitely did with Nessa on behalf of Colin. So it made it seem like he did something on their behalf and then that happened. So it did seem personal to him. I don't know if that is true. That is just the story that he said. For Colin Kaepernick and Eric fucking reads. My point. My point is that it was personal for him. back to the NFL. He's going to throw 350 yards. Okay,

stopping fires. We get it. We get it. We get it. We get it. Got it. Got it. I can't wait.

And I'm going to be right there with you. I can't wait. I can't wait to this thing and come back and go to the motherfucker. My point. You're missing it. You're missing it. You're missing it. The point is,

is that it is personal for him. And I, and there is something. And we had no idea that about that information that he shared with us prior to this. So whatever he knows, we know he is extremely invested in this. NBA world. There is something that happened between the two of him that he is alluding to that we are never going to be privy to. Maybe we'll have him back on the podcast and we'll fly out ask him

and he'll tell us because nobody else is asking. Pat McAfee didn't follow up with that. I got to watch the rest of the interview. This episode is brought to by Weather Tech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and make it a mess. You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer unless you hit the beach or go camping. Then you'd want a cargo liner or a road trip goes sideways, ketchup goes rogue, ice cream drips. Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those weather tech seat protectors. So just to be clear as the mud, you're inevitably going to step into the summer. You don't need weather tech unless you plan on doing summer.

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Services not available in all areas. Okay. There is a really, I'll say important, but scary, brutal. just incredible story happening right now in Colorado that we should all know about. Because obviously you guys have heard me say this before, but there's no way to care about black people if you do not care about black person. That means the individual experience, the individual freedom rights,

and the really prosperity of the individual black person. We have to put the one person's experience right there for us to all fight together over like we do anything else. There's a man who I greatly admire, who you guys on the Reddit and other places have wanted us to have with this podcast for a while that's doing just that. He's fighting for a black man in Colorado. His name is Hawk Newsome Hawk has made this work his life. he is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter of Great New York alongside his sister, Chavada Newsom, it's independent of the BLM Global Network.

I mean, we say that because that's something that we have to say. He is a co-founder of the nonprofit black opportunities. And when I say fighting for black person, that is exactly what Hawk is doing right now. Brother, we have talked about this. I am up on this. We're happy that you've joined us today on the show. but we thank you for all the work that you do

but I want you to tell us what's going on with this particular issue why it's so important and just lay it out for everybody. Thank you, peace, black power and reparations for everybody who's watching. It's important that before we talk about what's happening in Colorado Springs, Colorado, that we put our minds in a particular place.

We have to ask ourselves, what would we be doing if we were alive during the time of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Black Wall Street, of Rosewood, of Seneca Village, when black people were being attacked and annihilated by racist white supremacists? So if you start thinking like that, you can truly appreciate what's happening down in Colorado. You have a brother and his wife, Mr. Courtney and Nicole Mallory, who was wiped out by the her. hurricanes in Houston and they took that money and they bought a thousand acres in Colorado. Somewhere along the way, the good white folk of Colorado Springs decided that they didn't want them there and started trying to push them off their land.

They're doing things like killing their sheep, gutting their pigs, destroying equipment worth thousands of dollars. It's so bad that the sheriff is actually involved in it. So they complained so many times that the sheriff charged them with stalking the people, the white supremacists that they were fighting against. If you could imagine that. It's a really scary situation. So we've been hearing about it. And we decided that we're going to go down, take a good few brothers and sisters.

And we're going down there exercising our Second Amendment, right? And we're going to protect that land. We're going to protect black people. The same black people you think about, you hear about. about we're going to stop it before you hear about Mr. Mallory being lynched as they promised to do. There's so much to get into with this. And I hate that I was late on the story about learning on it. More research that I did, I saw articles about this going on for a while. But it didn't seem to reach national news. And it's my understanding that the Mallories had reached out locally to NAACP. I'm not sure

if they reach out to Black Lives Matter as well. But I guess my question is, one, what's the current status of the Mallories at this point? Are they still in jail or whatever it was? I know they were arrested. Are they still there? Are they home now? And then also, what are the local chapters doing?

Because they had firsthand knowledge before it became more of a national thing to help the Mallories out. Now, Van, I got to ask you, brother, There's my leash off, but we're trying to keep a peace. What you think? That's why I asked the question, Hawk. That's why I ask the question. Here's exactly what's been happening.

This man has been receiving threats to his life. People are riding around flashing guns at them. They are afraid. They're being terrorized. This is domestic terrorism. They reached out to the NAACP and nothing. They reached out to the ACLU. They began to help and nothing else happened.

They sent out calls. to everyone you could imagine, and we have to shout out Ark Republic. It is a black woman, and it's A RK Republic. She founded the news site, and she was the first person to report on this. This is where we received all of our information from, so we can't take any credit away from this black woman. But three days ago, Mr. Mallory and Miss Mallory were driving to get groceries, and they were pulled over for not having plates on their car.

Mr. Mallory was detained. Once he was detained, the news got involved, and that's when the NAACP came. That's when the NAACP showed up. And we're going to be perfectly honest. Black people deserve better leadership than what they've been receiving. Black people are subjected to the leadership of media whores, right? People who seek to publicize cases,

people who seek to stand in front of cameras, but aren't really doing the work behind the scenes. And that's extremely problematic. And those same politicians or poverty pimps that we look to for leadership are the ones telling us to calm down. Right? Now, I'm from the school of Malcolm X by any means necessary, meaning whatever we have to do to get liberation for black people.

I'm here for it. But you have people who are screaming out. You must be peaceful. You must be patient. But black people have been peaceful and patient for over 400 years. There has to be a different means of a different vehicle that we'll use to get to that all the lucid freedom land. When we're talking about specific people to indict here, specific bad actors in this situation,

are we talking about a specific county sheriff department? Are we talking about a specific sheriff? Or are there any names that we can kind of put on this to get some specificity? From what we understand it's Sheriff Gerhardt. Gearhart, I believe it's with the G. Gearhart. This is the officer that is in cahoots with the white supremacist and denying these people in investigation. you got the Malibuiz had filed over a hundred complaints about their neighbors about these people terrorizing them and the sheriff has done nothing one of their farm hands was murdered they found one of their farm yeah they found one of their farm hands uh with his hands tied behind his back and a bullet to the back of his brain and this was last year and no one was caught okay there's been no real leads or anything uh uh uh

substantive done in regards to investigate that death. And Mr. Mallory feels in his heart that whoever kidnapped or whoever killed this person thought that they were killing Mr. Mallory himself. Like this is a serious, serious, serious issue.

And the sheriff whose wife is a judge, okay, in the same town, in the same town, the sheriff is allegedly involved in this. Yeah, talk a little bit more about that sheriff because the Mallories have filed restraining orders. Can you speak to that?

It's not like they've just been sitting back and allowing this to happen. They have been proactive in fighting against this. And it seems the more aggressive that they are and standing up for themselves, the more intense, the things keep happening to them, to their land, to their livestock, all of that. Can you speak to the sheriff's involvement and the lack of enforcement of the restraining orders and all of that. I think that's the most important thing to touch on. The Sheriff's Department has failed to uphold the law. This is a person who's making these allegations of racism.

These are two individuals who feel like their lives are in jeopardy. They don't have any family. They don't have people around in their immediate vicinity. We've reached out to bring people closer to them into their network. But you have to think about the bad old days, right? When that strange fruit that Nina Simone talked about was swinging from the trees, right, hanging from the trees, it was the sheriff who was standing next to these bodies alongside a crowd full of racist. Like, this is nothing new.

Racism in policing is nothing new. But when we look at this specific set of circumstances, he is close to their last resort. and he is not doing anything to help them. What we understand is that Mr. and Ms. Mallory set up cameras, and they caught the sheriff in and around their property, and they made an issue of it. The next thing you know, those cameras were destroyed. This is a sustained effort to terrorize with people.

And the reason that Black opportunities alongside the Elmer, Giovonimo Pratt, Gun Club are going out there to stop it, to draw a line in the sand. saying, if you come to harm these people, you will be met with firepower. So we talked about this on the podcast before, and I'm not sure how many people are aware of it, is that black Americans own the least amount of land now than we've ever owned. But when we owned the most amount of land that we ever owned, it was actually in the 1900s, the 19105, 1906, 1907.

that land was both swindled from black people through usury, contract buying schemes, whatever it is. Also, take it with terrorism. Take it with terrorism. When I say taking with terrorism, I don't mean like, I mean millions of acres of land, just taking with terrorism. And my, when I hear stories like this,

I think the difference between then and now is that we can in the full face of everyone stand together to stop it. You know what I mean? Then it was different. We were just dipping our toes into the marginalized American freedom of movement that we have. We didn't even have it then.

We don't really have it now. But it's different. That's why I feel like it's so important that a show of strength be made in this situation. and I'm glad you guys are going down there to do that. Thank you. What do you need? Are you guys fully funded, stocked, and whatever,

or do you need help from people in order to go down there and use protection of love on this man and this family? I think it's very important that we acknowledge that the Mallory family has a goal funding, right? So that they can buy what they need as far as, farm equipment and things for that. We started our own fundraiser so that we can get things that the people who come down there to protect the land need. So far, we bought a tent. We bought two stoves to keep that tent warm. We bought some cots, but what we do need is rations. We also need

those military glowsticks that you throw down and then lights up a specific area. We need night vision goggles. It's important that you understand how many militias are in, uh, Colorado, how many well-trained, well-armed, well-armed people in Colorado. So while we're out patrolling these lands at night, we need night vision. And those things cost a lot of money. They cost two, three, four, five thousand dollars so that we can see potential threats, right? There is a need for four-wheelers so that we don't have to ride. I'm a city kid.

I'm from the Bronx. I'm telling you, you need to talk about this hawk. You need to get up on that goddamn horse. I'm going to try it. I know they're all the four-windlers now. But, yeah, so, you know, we have, we need more sleeping bags. We need more cots. We need more equipment.

There's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's the night vision goggles, helmets, things of that nature. And so people can keep warm. We're heading down there soon. And some of the nights we're down, it's going to be 10 degrees. And we're sleeping outside in the element. So we have those tents. We need more tents for when more people come.

But everything that we're at, asking for is to sustain the different organizations that come down to patrol the land. So it's not like we're asking for things that will benefit us. This is, you know, gas money, it's travel. It's all the things that I mentioned previously, but it's a definite need. A lot of people say, well, we had these comments. You know, a lot of people want to ask, well, where is the money? You know, we were tied to the BLM brand.

We were too radical, so we didn't see any of that 90s. million. But if you want to say, where's the money? Why don't you just grab guns and go down there? That's cool. But where are we going to sleep when we get down there? Right? You need real tents. We drop two stacks on a tent. You need heaters. You need equipment. You need food. You need things to sustain in action like this. So that's important. Can you give us the specific name so we can, you know, we want to be able to donate, but then also to link that to all of our listeners of your GoFundMe, also the Mallory's

GoFundMe. And then I'm also curious because you guys, you said you're going down there to exercise your Second Amendment rights. But what's being done on the legal side? Is there a need for that? Is there stuff we could donate? Who's helping them fight this on the legal side of it? Yeah.

So you can talk about that. Well, we've supplied lawyers. I have a law degree, but I'm not practicing. we supplied a lawyer saying right on and we supplied a lawyer for Mr. Mallory who's doing this work pro bono right but is this thing continues he'll start to incur a lot of fees so you donate

for those legal fees the Mallories have a go fund me and I believe it's on black farm owners matter you can check and please correct me black font and it's on their page and you can find it there. If you want to donate to Black

Opportunities, which is our organization, you can go to www. The Black Ops. That's T-H-E, L-A-C-K-O-P-T-S dot com. It's Black Opportunities, at Black Opportunities on Venmo. And I think it's on Vimmo, it's

info at the BlackOps.com. And, you know, cash at O'Lovivis, post. posted on our social media as well. And that's on Instagram. It's at T-H-E-B-L-A-C-K-O-P-T-S.com. I wish I had a tighter sales pitch, but I ain't a salesman. I'm a revolutionary.

No, no, we got you. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The one thing that I, the one thing that I'm concerned about, um, is y'all's safety. Just to be real.

I know you don't care. No. Well, I know, I know, but, but, but, we're butted up legally about what you guys can and cannot do in Colorado. You guys are going to have proper body protection. I mean,

is vests on the list on things of that nature? How long of our opposites? How long are you going to be down there? Yeah. We're saying for a few days and what we're doing is something called a ride-along.

These are military terms. The Elmer, Geronimo, Pratt, gun club who's helping as well. You should look them up. They are, military. They move military, military style. They're former military. What they're doing is something called a ride-along, whereas we go down there, we lay the foundation on how this thing should operate.

So when more people come in, as we're leaving, as our cycle ends, they just jump right into that driver's seat and teach the next people who come in, and it just rotate. So we'll be down for a few days and we'll be back down in a couple of weeks, you know and um it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's really important i just literally i just bought two plates with some of the donations we definitely need body armor um we definitely need uh plates that we're staying a rifle round a lot of people don't understand you get a bulletproof that it doesn't automatically stop rifle rounds so you'd have to get those um those plates uh what we can do is i can direct you to safe life defense and um and and and you can go ahead

head. I'll see if I could create a wish list and maybe put something up on social media about that. That would be great. But that would be great. What's victory here? Victory? You really want to know. Victory for us is, one, keeping the maladies alive and safe. But two, showing black people across the country that there is a group of individuals that will show up. to stop the bullshit, okay, that will show up and stop white supremacy right in its tracks.

You don't have to be on the front line with us. You don't have to be screaming on the news. You don't have to be carrying ARs, but there is a lane for you. You can support. You can donate a couple of dollars. You can volunteer to help out. You can bring your challenge to this movement and help us reach people. Because outside what we're doing now, black opportunities that is fed over 30,000 people in the last two years. We've given away thousands of toys for Christmas. Thanksgiving. We own a school in the South Bronx. Like, this is real revolutionary work, but this is just part of it.

A lot of people see us out, you know, fist up in the air like we did for Tari Nichols and Times Square, like last week. That's only 90, that's only 10% of it. The real work is in our communities, protecting and teaching in us. uplifting our people. And if you want groups that can do that, then you need to come and rock with us. I mean, it is what it is. It is what it is.

Oh, Rachel, go ahead. Oh, no. I was going to, well, I was going to say, I think it's a shame. I'm glad you all are coming down there, but knowing that there are other groups in Colorado, this whole state, and y'all got to come from New York to do this.

I'm hoping that it also shows other organizations they either need to do better or why are you smiling? They even need to do better or that they need other organizations need to come together to be able to supply this locally so you don't have to come to New York to do this. One thing I do want to give you the opportunity to talk about though is Summer of Hope because you talk about the other work that you're doing as well. You're not just what you say what we're seeing is 10% of it. You're doing so much more.

Can you talk about Summer of Hope? Before we shift gears, I just want to tell you all this. Since we started promoting the Mallory situation in Colorado, we've received emails about two or three other families that this has happened into across the country. So this work is sustained. So don't just think like, oh, we're just going to help the Mallories. No, you need to think about how we're going to sustain this work. And what we're trying to do is build out a blueprint.

So the Summer of Hope, I don't know if you all remember, but I had a beef with the black mayor of New York before he took off it. Yeah. Right? And it got real ugly because he said he was bringing back the same police squad to kill Eric Eric Garner, to kill Sean Bell, they killed Amadou Diallo, like one of the worst police units in the history of New York, kind of like that scorpion down in Memphis, right? And we were like, nah, it's not happening because they'll kill somebody and then we're going to

X and Y and Z and they were calling me a terrorist. They were saying this and that. Let me tell you something about Hulk News. I speak American. I speak white American. So when something happens in the Ukraine, America doesn't say, let's find a peaceful situation. They say, no, we're going to send Ukrainians to weapons, helicopters, and they're going to fight back, right? They didn't say running hug the terrorists who took down the towers. They said, going to get them. That's the language that we speak. You understand? So,

you get me hype. I forgot. Even a question. Go do your shit. But what was real is, I was like, you'll kill somebody. We're going to tear shit up. Period. Like, we want to tear shit up. And a lot of people got mad at me, but we were right. And we put the pressure on.

And he didn't bring back that unit. He brought back a modified unit. with a serious eye on them. So we won that battle. So it's been kind of tip-for-tat in the press. So the murder rate was through the Root. And he goes on TV and say, well, if Black Lives really matter,

then they'd be out here doing something about the violence. So here's New York City's mayor, who is, you know, what they call him? What they call him, Fabio? Because he always in the club, he always partied. The people are he asked him, they call Fabio, you know. He's chilling with the rappers. He's whatever.

or you're a cornball. But he, he, so, so, so, so he said, oh,

if black lives really matter, you'll do something about it. I said, okay, fine. We created the summer hope,

which meant we went into our hoods, every day, the most violent neighborhoods in Harlem, where people were being shot daily, every couple of days, we were shooting, and we set up micro-block parties, and we showed love and created that space of healing for our people.

It was like old-school, 80s, lot party music, games like giant connect fours. We gave away three books. We had some of the most talented revolutionary voices in the city come out and give speeches. I bought about $10,000

in DJ equipment, but it was so small in these little areas and we fed everybody. We fed 300 people a day and it was beautiful. Where we did this, our target areas, shootings went down 40%. And once we put

the energy out, because the street truly listen to us in New York City, right? Once we put the energy out, it carried, crime went down. Now, if you listen to the politicians, they'd say it was the police, but we really, really know what it is. And what was really interesting, this was a black opportunities initiative, and we're kind of moving away from BLM, right? So a lot of people didn't want to invest in it. They're like, what you're talking about? You're talking about love, like, you want to spread love to black people? Like, yes, love and unity is what we need. That's how we overcome. That's how we get to the promised land. And nobody would invest. So my sister and I,

we took our salaries, invested. We got a few other people to pitch in. We raised about $75,000. The original budget was about $275,000. And you know, black folks, you know, they gave us no food. We made old food. We made soul food, right? We did it with 75 stacks, and we made it work. You know, we made it work and that was a blessing. So we're looking forward to doing that not only in Harlem again, but in the Bronx. And any mayor in New York City, I'm sorry, any mayor in the country,

any local politician or business owner to say, hey, I want to spread love in my community and do something about this violence. Hit us up. We got the blueprint and we can come down there and set it up for you and help you run it throughout the summer. It's about saving our lives and building our people up. Okay.

here's the thing. We know that tens of millions of dollars were raised after what happened to George. We know that hundreds of millions of dollars have been raised ever since things kind of got popping in the 2010s. All right. We have a blueprint that tells everybody that people will show up after there's been black death. My question to everyone listening to this and everyone who will see this on social media and everyone who will see this wherever this goes, goes is will you protect value and prioritize, prioritize black life?

This family in Colorado is still alive. These kids in the Bronx and Harlem and wherever else are still alive. Will we show the love and the effort and the unity in protection while people are still breathing here and they can see it and feel it? That's what Howard Learning the podcast is asking you to do right now for Hawk Newsom

and everyone who's going down to Colorado. We need to see the numbers go up. We need to see this story shared. We need to see this be able to be a catalyst for anybody out there who's the victim of racial terrorism for anyone out there that feels like their life is in danger from the police, from their neighbors, from whoever. Okay?

And we need to see those same types of funds. We need to see these organizations flush, flush so that they can do their work. I pledge $1,000 right now to you guys and what you guys are doing now there. And I'm asking. And so what I'm asking right now, and I know that everybody is in a different space,

I get that. But I'm asking you guys, please help protect black people. Please. Yes. And can I just piggyback on that and say because it's not just this. Hawk, you mentioned that

you've received emails about other families that are in danger, that are in need. And I'm asking you to keep us updated on that so we can spread awareness to where it's not them getting arrested and then it becoming national news. And we're just reacting to what has happened. We want to be proactive on this podcast. So if you can, keep us updated so we can support whatever it may be, whether it's using our platform, our money, both, all of that. So we want to make sure that we're supporting you here on Highland.

Thank you. All right, honk. I got, I'm sorry, bro. I got just two things. Go for it. On the 17th, Mr. Mallory is leading a march to the state capital. I believe it's Denver, Colorado. He's pushing something called a Karenville, right?

Which we're making a crime for people to do race-based police reporting. You see it all the time. This is what he's experiencing. And he's asking people to come out. I'm not sure if I'll be there for that. Like I told you, I'm not big on a marcher. I'm with the ships. Like, I'm with the action.

I march if I have to raise awareness about something. Like Jehne McMillan, Gulfport, Mississippi, 15-year-old, black boy, shot no weapon in his hand, point blank in his head. They have video footage. They have cameras of this, but the Gulfport Police Department

and their mayors, and their mayor will not release the footage. Oh, we want to, okay, if the shooter was justified, release the footage. And that's it. I just want y'all to stay focused. We will. Hawk, bro, I appreciate you, man.

Appreciate it. Like, we need you. And even if sometimes you don't feel the love, just know that we are bonded in love for what you're doing. I want you guys to stay safe. Y'all got... You're going to stay dangerous, man. Stay, hey.

Sometimes you say safe, but stay dangerous, all right? That's how I do. You guys, we are going to have not only on the higher learning Instagram page, but on my page, I will post a link in my bio to what we, what some of the causes that Hawk is talking about. We need to get them flush. We need to keep our eyes on this.

and we will check back in with you in about two weeks, brother. Right on. Right on. Appreciate you. All right, brother. Thanks, Todd. 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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Okay, our co-worker here at Spotify. Joe Rogan. Oh, stop doing that. He works in. I don't know what to tell you. Okay. Joe Rogan was talking with Crystal Ball, which is an interesting name.

I've been watching this stuff for a long time. She used to be on the hill. Maybe she is still on the hill. I like her breaking points. You like breaking points? You like that? We were talking about Elon Omar, who was recently removed from the Ford Affairs Committee

by Republicans over accusations that she's anti-Semitic. I'm not only of guys if I've heard about that. You've seen the AOC talking about it. The rest of the squad coming to her defense. Rogan came clean with some of his opinions. And my Jewish brothers and sisters were none too happy. Run the video.

I run the audio done. Do you see him sitting next to Ilya and Omar where she's apologizing for talking about it's all about the Benjamins? Yeah. Which is just about money. She's talking about money. She shouldn't have apologized. That was not an anti-Semitic statement. I don't think that is.

It's about Benjamin's or money. You know, the idea that Jewish people are not into money is ridiculous. Listen. That's like saying Italians aren't into pizza. It's fucking stupid. I mean, listen. It's fucking stupid. I understand that the way she phrased it, like she could have phrased it a different way so that people would have less of a freak out.

But can you not talk about the influence of money in D.C.? Of course. All right. Look, guys, I don't know. It's fucked up. Like, you can't. You can't. Okay.

I just want to make sure, because there's two things that my brain go to during this. And I'm going to attempt to express them up. One is, hey, they're not kicking Joe Rogan's ass like they've been kicking some of the other people's ass that have been accused of anti-Semitism. Right? They're not kicking his ass. Like, that's a full-on anti-Semitic statement. And for people that don't understand why that's an anti-Semitic statement, is because the trope itself, right?

The trope itself has been used. Economic anti-Semitism has always in some way been used to justify the extermination of the killing of Jewish people. Facts. There's a guy named Abraham Foxwood, and he summarizes these things, six facets of canards. used by proponents of economic anti-Semitism.

Here they are. One, all Jews are wealthy. Two, Jews are stingy and needy and greedy. Three, powerful and wealthy Jews control the business world. Four, Judaism emphasizes profit and materialism. That's an important one. Five, Jews may cheat non-Jews. Six, Jews use their wealth and power to benefit, quote, unquote, their own kind.

Here's some statistics on this. 2007, the Anti-Defamation League, conducted a poll, that asked people if they agree with the statement that Jews have too much power in international financial markets. This is the polling data. 61% in Hungary, 43% in Austria, 40% in Switzerland, 40% in Belgium, 21% in the United States, and 13% in the Netherlands. All right. So when we're talking about certain realities, I want you to remember how these stereotypes the basis of these stereotypes. Let's take a stereotype about me,

big black guy. Van 6'4, 285 pounds. Okay? So I'm a big black guy who's got super nimble feet and great hand movement and amazing coordination.

Right? I'm a big nimble black dude, right? So I'm so big and I'm so strong that the athletic prowess that somebody like me might have, right? Not necessarily me, Rachel, but somebody else, that somebody like me might have.

That means that I am also easier. That means that I'm also better at working. I am hard to kill. I'm tougher. I'm stronger. So you can whip me. You can punch me. You can beat me.

I am like a horse. I am a big animal. So that's why I get mad when, hey, this guy's a beast. this dudes this is a stallion, all of those things. To me,

the underlying situations of these stereotypes, Rachel, I'm not talking about how good of an athlete I am, okay? The underlying things of these stereotypes

are things that are used to dehumanize and excuse actions that people do to one another. So when black people are looked at just for their physical ability,

remember, it is that physical ability that allowed them to become child in the first place. The notion that Jewish people love money and are greedy lends people to believe that these people will cheat you out of money, that these people will hoard money. And because of that, when it's time to start killing motherfuckers, kicking them in their ass, this is a reason that people used to excuse that.

That is a fact. And I got to be honest with you, I don't fucking see how Joe Rogan doesn't know that. I personally believe that what we're seeing with Joe Rogan because I also saw Joe Rogan retweet something on his Instagram that talked about how, now on his Instagram on his Twitter, that talked about how AI is taught to be racist. He was like, and I saw that,

and I said that to the group, right? What I think I'm seeing with Joe Rogan and guys like Joe Rogan is a not-so-s subtle dipping of the toe into the other side of the American experience. The American experience that seeks to categorize group and blame people for either the downfall or the minimization of straight white male thought. And I'm seeing this from him to Bill Mars and all of these people that want to exist in infringes that challenge what we think is decent. And I'm wondering why

Joe Rogan is not getting his ass kicked to me. Yeah, I think that's the question. For spreading this deadly trope about Jewish people like everybody else who I've seen got to get their ass kicked. That's it. For spreading this type of thing. Look, Kanye West and all of this other. the shit fucking nuts, right?

Joe Rogan is one of the most powerful voices culturally in America. And he just recited on his ridiculously wildly, almost weirdly successful. It's so successful. Imagine the most successful podcast that's out there. And then triple it. And those are the numbers that Rogan does. And he's doing fucking hate the Jew shit. And I just wonder

Why people are there's up in arms about that? There is a clear double sanity There's a great question I mean that's a great question I honestly have no idea I have no idea as to why Because if you're right If it had been anybody else

That said it Then they would have They would be all up in arms And they would call them out It would be a whole thing And it would be a media story But for some reason This is just floating under

the radar. But you said it all. And for time's sake, I'm gonna let that sit there. I don't have anything else to add to that. I will say one thing though. And I would be a hypocrite if I didn't say this. Spotify.

I love going to Spotify and hanging out and chilling. I love going into the cafeteria. Whatever. All of that stuff. Man. If this speech right here isn't worth discussing with Joe Rogan

if this speech right here isn't worth discussing in a larger way it can't just be about being white and powerful that excludes you from having the same rules as everybody else when it comes to speech like this.

Yeah, yeah, I agree. I agree. Leonardo de Caprio's Leonardo de Caprio's date he's day the spring breaker. Do you care? No.

You don't care. Is she over 18? She's 19. I don't care. I don't care. She's 19. He's with her. Good for her.

All right. Mailback time. Good for her. You bothers you? I don't get the fuck. Mailback. 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 All right First one is from O Kranberry on Reddit

In spirit of the Super Bowl weekend If you could choose one Half-time performer Who hasn't done it before Who would it be? Also, what two guest appearances Would you book with them? I'm gonna put it all in one

What I saw from that 50th anniversary of hip-hop I would have loved to have seen that on the Super Bowl stage I mean, obviously that's hard to condense, but I would love to see hip hop celebrated the errors of hip hop and maybe up until the 90s. I think that would be a really cool,

a high-time performance. Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reed. Go, next one, Donning. That's what I want to see. I don't want to talk about football anymore. All right. Well, let's stay in the music realm. The second one is from Savon 28 on Reddit.

What's the worst song? by your favorite artist. My favorite artist is Burn a boy. Okay. Right now? I mean, you talk about all time? Favorite artist? It's just as favorite artist.

That's why I was asking right now. Well, is it right now or is it forever? It's what you wanted to be. Yes. My favorite artist is Burner Boy. And Burner Boy has a song on twice as tall that features Chris Martin called The Monsters You Made. I tried it.

I just can't, I hate the fucking song. And I will say this. Most songs featuring Chris Martin, I don't like. I love Coldplay, but... Do you? See, I don't. I love Coldplay. I love Coldplay.

But most songs just featuring Chris Martin, I don't fuck him. I don't know the answer to this. This is tough. for me. Who's your favorite artist? Well, the first person that came to him out was Kendrick.

And so I was like, well, what's a terrible song that Kendrick has put out? I don't know if there. I don't have one. But then I'm like, maybe should I think of a feature? I don't know. I just, like, to me, everything he does is.

Does Kendra Kumar have a bad song? That's the first. I was like, well, okay, well, I literally am here with Google and I'm like, worst Kendrick's a bar song. I, I like them. I guess people might say Auntie's Diaries. Auntie Diaries is a fucking great song.

I know, but it was controversial. So people might, that might be something that people say is the worst. It's a worst song. All right. What else we got? Damn it, Donnie, do it. All right.

Let's do it. Numerous Camp asks, what song do you wish you could hear for the first time again? This is music bullshit. I like it. What's the exact? title of the song. A Woman's Worth, Maxwell. I will never forget what it felt like to hear that song the first time. Can I be, should I be truthful? Should I be truthful about this? Like,

the truthful answer? Yes, and hurry up. The truthful answer is all of the lights, man. Beautiful song. I mean, listen. It's a great song. Nobody's going to knock through them. That's the truthful answer. The truthful answer is all of the lights. Also, also, by world got changed the first time I heard 93 to infinity. Like, the first time I heard 93 to infinity, I was, like, that song is still to me one of the most amazing achievements in music. I love that record. I love that record.

Okay. That's it. That's no more. No more. No more. No more. Rachel's got to go. Big Rachel's got to go.

No more. Unispected ally of the week is the dude who punch the, the, fucking do it in the face of the hockey game for saying it and work. Okay. I have a more realistic one. And now I can't find it. No, I can't find it. But Ben Crump got a law school named after him, which I think, oh, here it is.

Ben Crump got a law school named after him. He's the first black practicing attorney to have a law school named after him, St. Thomas University of Miami. That's a pretty big achievement. Ben Crump does. Why do you say black like that? First black. I always emphasize black when I say it.

All right. Take the thing caps off. Do not stop learning. I am Van Lathin Jr. I'm Rachel and Lindsay. Jam-packed episode for y'all. Bye.