The Breakfast Club - April Ryan Talks "Black Women WIll Save The World", Healing, VP Kamala Harris & More

Episode Date: October 25, 2022

April Ryan Talks "Black Women WIll Save The World", Healing, VP Kamala Harris & MoreSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake that ass up. Early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Yep, it's the world's most dangerous morning show, The Breakfast Club. Charlamagne Tha God, Angela Yee, DJ Envy had to step out, but we have a special guest in the building. She's got a new book out called Black Women Will Save the World.

Miss April Ryan, good morning. Good morning, Charlamagne. How are you? I am blessed black and highly favored. How are you feeling? I'm blessed black and highly favored as well. There you go. Yes. Good to see you. You too.

Black Women Will Save the World. The title is self-explanatory. Yes and no. But you didn't add the last part, an anthem. We're going to sing it over and over again. Ooh, okay. An anthem. Black Women Will Save the World, an anthem.

An anthem, okay. Yeah, to keep it going. Because what happens is people forget moments. And when we forget a moment, we lose out. And at the end of the day, Black women are rising in number as head of household, rising in number as the breadwinner in a household. And with that said, we are taking care of everyone, everything, and not taking care of ourselves and not being heralded as a champion, as a shero. And we are that.

I know those stats got to be flawed, though. And the reason I say those stats are flawed is because they've always been the head of household. They've always been the breadwinners. I mean, I think about— But it's rising in number. Right. Okay.

It's rising in number. And, you know, you got when you have and that's saying a lot about the structure of the black family now. You've got a mother who's the head of household. And then what do you do if she's by herself and she's got kids? Sometimes we bring the kids along to help us fill in the gaps. And that goes into an issue that I talk about in the book for black girls, adultification. Yes. You know, and, you know, we make a lot of our children become more mature than they need to be.

They lose out. And it's so interesting. A friend of mine who's in the book, Frederica Newton, the widow of Huey P. Newton, head of Black Panther Party. She said, you know, some kids are given fairy tales, others are nightmares. And I think all children should have fairy tales. And these are numbers that prove it because I believe in the book it's black girls are 11 times more likely to be suspended than white girls in school and nine times more likely to be arrested. And that is the adultification of these young girls. Adultification that way and so many other ways. And it's just,

at this point, we have to nurture not only ourselves and the community, but we have to figure out how to help navigate what this world is giving to our young black girls

who are our future, who are going to be the next generation next shero next generation of sheroes i think i mean if men are being honest with themselves you got to say that the women have been the ceos of our lives forever you gotta say that from the home how about that from the grandmother to the mother like you have to say that men are covering and i still say that you know but we are strong in the home. We a lot of times the decision makers. We are, for the most part, having your back, you know, not just some of us, you know, take care of the dinner.

Some of us take care of the wash, but we got your back in so many other ways. We have a hard time at work. But who's there a lot of times for us is we are taking care of the home, taking care of you, taking care of the boss at work, then going to church and figuring out, you know, being the usher or, you know, the choir member or the deaconess and then going to the PTA. I mean, it's so many things we have to juggle and yet we don't get our flowers. Yeah. And I think a lot of times we're also taught to kind of, you know, endure, like you said, a lot of things. Yeah. Especially in the workplace.

Oh, yes. And I love you. I love your move. I love your entrepreneurship. I love your business mind. You are not staying in a place that, okay, I'm going to stay here. You're moving higher. You're looking for higher. And unfortunately, a lot of black women don't have that sisterhood to say, let's push it further, because they don't see people who look like you

and I in the workspace. A lot of us are alone and cannot talk to other women. And I believe in community and sisterhood so we can bring forward that move, be another Angela Yee. Come on now. Now, let's talk about you and your space that you occupy when we talk about being the only black woman, just so people have some history on who April Ryan is. I'm the only black woman. I'm the longest serving black female journalist in the White House. White House. Ever.

White House correspondent, right? Yeah, White House correspondent. And it's, you know, especially when you're focusing on black issues. It's a hard road. And people want to isolate you. They want to call you the angry black woman. Do I look angry, Charlemagne? No.

Thank you. I'm happy. But if you are. I'm pleasant. By the way, if you are angry, do you have every right to be? But no, I'm not going to fall into that angry black woman stereotype. Because people want to say when you bring up issues of a community that's underserved with the highest numbers of negatives in every category. We should be angry.

But they want to label you as that instead of saying, no, no, no, let's take a look at the stats. They want to divert attention from the real issue and blame me when I have nothing to do with that. I'm trying to ask questions to get answers for a community that is hurting. That's right. And I just happen to be along the way a black woman asking those questions. And you've had those moments. Ooh, child. What are some adversities you faced as the White House correspondent?

Some adversities? Yeah. You saw it. Yeah. Dean told you to sit down. You know, sit down. Trump told me, sit down. Sean Spicer said, stop shaking your head. Yeah, he wouldn't take your question because he was shaking your head. Yeah, that was crazy. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who's running for governor of Arkansas, told me my question was stupid and, you know, been targeted by Fox News. Death threats just for asking questions of the black community, a community that they didn't want to deal with.

So, and you know this, you know, the black community has issues, period. And then at the White House, everything comes to the White House, from water, peace, and everything in between. And in between all of that is the black community who still is trying to figure out, why is my water not safe to drink? Not just in Jackson, but in Flint still. That's right. You know, policing issues, you know,

Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, you know, and then what about our economy? You know, we are, we, when the gas prices were slashed a couple of months ago and the president opened up the strategic oil reserve allowing for millions of barrels to be released a day. Guess what? Black folks didn't see that price lowering because we were having price gouging in our community. You know, you could go across the street and see a $5 and something gallon of gas.

And across the street street it would be $4 when in other parts of America it was $3 and some. You gotta look on Gas Buddy and that's how you're really How about that? That app, I love that app. Or Cheap Gas or whatever. Let me tell you, yes, I get it. What do you think about the treatment of VP

Kamala Harris then in relation to this book, Black Women Will Save the World and Anthem? What do I think about the treatment? In the media and just by people in general speaking about her? Well, number one, being a black woman, people are hypersensitive about that. And some of the things that were coming out about her or about her staff were just unheard of. It was just a lot of gossip and chatter. And it was

ugly because she was a black woman. Okay. And as a journalist, I said, okay, this is interesting, but as a black woman, I saw it for what it was. I looked at it on two, from two lenses. And no matter what you think of her, she is the first black woman to be in that position she moved and i talk about this in the book she moved joe biden forward she pushed him to move forward on matters of race because actually did she though when she okay you don't remember that debate you don't remember i remember that but it was like after she did that when she called him out on the bus and it was like after that it was like almost like she got a phone call to like that back. And she kind of did a lot. Well, let me but let me say this. And I talk about this in the book.

It was a lot. It was a tense time. It was a huge moment that I witnessed at the NAACP presidential forum debate, when all the candidates were there, except for Donald Trump, anyway, moving on, and she wouldn't get out of her van, her knobby-wheeled vehicle, to come and talk with all of the other candidates. She didn't come out and meet with Joe Biden. There was a tension there, and Joe Biden was caught on a hot mic on stage with me saying, you know, my heart, you know, my heart.

He was hurting by it. And then backstage, you know, my heart, you know, my heart. Kamala Harris was not seen backstage. She was it was it was so tense. There was a come to Jesus moment somewhere. There was a road to Damascus moment or something for Joe Biden because I never thought the way he felt that pain that those two would come together for this moment. So something happened. There was a coming together. But what happened was George Floyd, right? This

was a transformational moment. And then you had Amy Klobuchar saying, you need to have a black woman as your running mate. And he had a list to include Stacey Abrams, Susan Rice, Karen Bass, so many others. I want to give all the sisters the credit to that. Did that op-ed for the USA Today to Angela Rye and Sonny and all. Yeah. Let's give them. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Most definitely. And that pressure, it took pressure from all sides to make that happen. And, you know, Sonny and Angela, they took a hit for that. They took a hit. And Joy Reid and Tiffany Cross, they took a hit for that. From the party, from the other Democrats. From the Democratic Party.

For standing up, pushing for what was right. What was right. When you stand up and speak the obvious you get ridiculed you get pushed back it's it's terrible so anyway so there was a push everyone was saying it and George Floyd was more transformational than what we know that whole situation so now after all of that we have the first black woman vice president or a woman of color who identifies as black. We have Katonji Brown Jackson that makes us all proud. And this is this is as a black woman, not as a journalist.

But as a journalist, I'm still marking the moment, you know. And then, you know, you have Susan Rice. You have the real fudge, Marsha Fudge. She will knock down anything to make sure our housing is straight. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. You have so many. Shalonda Young, Office of Budget and Management. You have black women.

Karine Jean-Pierre. Black women in spaces and places that we've never occupied. And that's just governmental. Let's talk about CEOs. Let's talk about the moves upward. And that's just governmental. Let's talk about CEOs. Let's talk about the moves upward. And this is a moment no one has said anything about. And I said, you know, I got to market. Because if you don't market and say, wait a minute, this is a moment in history,

we lose the advances. Black women have taken a lot from a lot of different people, a lot of different groups. And now it's time to say we're here and we're not rolling it back. And I love the idea of sisterhood because I do feel like that's so important and essential. Yeah, because, you know, when you reach certain levels, you're alone. And that's unfortunate. And a lot of times, you know, we have that test and we don't have anyone to breathe life into us

with the testimony to help us move forward so uh chicago mayor laurie lightfoot told me uh that she talks to the mayors and all the black women mayor can't travel yes yes um the mayor of dc uh charlotte yes yes mario bowser for dc when ke Lance Bottoms was the mayor of Atlanta, when there was a problem going on, she would say, you know, let's get together. They would have these calls. She didn't go into it because she couldn't tell me too much. But she told me enough that they say, OK, I got this. Another person say, oh, I've been through that. And but this is how you're going to get out of it. You know, they were a support mechanism for each other.

The black DAs right now who are facing a lot of problems about voting, and especially ones in Georgia. Georgia is like ground zero right now. They all come together and talk amongst each other to support one another. There is a strength in sisterhood in these rarefied spaces that we read. Do you feel like, speaking of deeds, do you feel like they rallied around Marilyn Mosby the way they should have? I don't think so.

Let me say this. I'm a child of Baltimore City. I'm a child of Baltimore City. And, you know, a lot of people got a glimpse of Baltimore when Freddie Gray died in police custody. The word failure is built into the very existence of people in Baltimore, people of Baltimore. Marilyn Mosby went out and tried to get accountability for the death of a black man who didn't have chances, who had lead paint poisoning, you know, didn't have chances, who had lead paint poisoning,

didn't have chances. His mother had issues in life, real hard issues in life. She tried to get accountability for people who, for someone who was discounted, someone that people just discounted, and she never got that. She tried to hold the officers accountable.

And after that, she was vilified. That's right. Again, a black woman standing out, seeing the obvious. She was discounted from that very beginning, and she did the unthinkable, the unimaginable, to push a system to find account for the death of one black man in police custody. And she was vilified.

And they went after her. Yeah. Put charges on her and everything. Yeah. I didn't know you were from Baltimore. I don't ever hear you say you. Oh, my God. Don't you.

Look, I'm not. Okay. Let me say this. Don't you talk about my city. That's one thing you won't do, Charlemagne. Deal. Won't deal. No, no, no.

It's car, hockey book, and zinc. I don't know. A dog. You know what? You are so wrong. I don't talk about South Carolina. Okay, let's, you know, you and your tobacco and your hush puppies and your boiled peanuts. Yeah, yeah.

I love boiled peanuts. I do, too. Oh, my God, on the side of the road with the bags. Oh, Charlemagne, don't do it. I'm going to be there. I'll be there Friday, actually. Bring me a bag. In the book, you say all over the country, remarkable black women are discovering ways to heal our community

and write new narratives about what's possible for black women. So what did, like, the healing process look like for you? For me, the healing process looks like a standing appointment every Tuesday morning at 815 with my counselor. After you have mental health, after you have a president of the United States and all his minions, including Omarosa,

which I'm not even going to talk about anymore, go after you and try to diminish you. Take your career away from you. You know, as black people, it's taken a long time and a hard road for us to get to where we have to go through a lot of turns and nooks and crannies to get where we are. And you want to try to take me down? No. Make me think something's wrong with me? No.

The back of the book, you see me, there's joy, and that's my real hair. I lost a lot of my hair from stress. I remember you said they sent the envelopes to your house. Yeah, I got a Caesar Say I bomb. How about that? What is that? Remember those bombs? The guy that was sending out bombs to the Clintons and everything?

I got them before everybody else did. To your home. To my home where my children live outside of Baltimore Baltimore and the amount of stress that that and then to do your job because I have to work I don't have a silver spoon I have to work

and to go into a place that there is confrontation you know that's going to happen every day what sweet hell was I going to walk into next? How are they going to try and embarrass me in front of the world on television? Diminish me. It's like every day is a fight. You got every day is a fight.

I mean, a real fight. And then when I would leave the White House, Charlemagne, there were people outside waiting for me. People were waiting for me. And I wonder how I don't how, it was nothing but God. But let me tell you something. They wanted the Baltimore to rise up in me. I wouldn't let it. The best way that I can continue to do is just to keep focused and keep moving.

I have never seen anything like it in my life. I can't believe I'm still here, to be real honest with you. They play dirty and hard. Especially with a petty, at the time, a petty president, I'm sure. That wasn't all he was. He was more than petty. He was dangerous. He was deadly. His words.

Look at what he said about Mitch McConnell. Just recently. Nobody cared. I kept screaming it, you know. They talked about, they went after Maxine Waters, Congresswoman Frederica Wilson. They went after so many people. But here I stand, and that's one of the reasons why I wrote this book,

because they were vilifying black women, talking so ugly and dirty about black women who are out here fighting for us every day and I said they're not gonna write the narrative about us we're not angry we are sheroes with invisible cave do you think it's like an unfair unfair pressure put on black women in those spaces to like I like a vice president Kamala Harris like people don't look the the other vice presidents to save, you know, democracy. I've asked her that personally.

Like, you know, are you going to be the superhero to save democracy? Oh, every time you ask her stuff, you get her in trouble. So anyway, let's go. I love Vice President Harris, though. And also with Katonji Brown-Jackson, it's like they're making her the face of the Supreme Court, but even that's a little unfair because we know it's a six-three conservative majority. There's really not much

she can do. Six-three. But it's not much she can do right now. But let me tell you what she can do. Her opinions and her decisions and her discussions that she's offering now on issues that are on the court, they move to the next level when the future comes about with that same issue, you know, and they'll look at what she said to help figure out a law, figure out how this issue should stand or not stand. With Kamala Harris, she is the first black vice president, black woman vice president, and she's got a portfolio that matches being a black woman, but she also has a portfolio.

It's one of the heaviest ever from immigration to abortion to voting rights, etc. And people are watching, especially in this moment, as they listen to you guys, you know, and watch the little devices, these thousand dollar devices in our hands. People are watching the promises made from the campaigns. People are watching the moments when these hidden variables pop up and how they handle them. And people are so desperate right now for change because the promise was equity and inclusion. People are looking for that. People are so desperate. That's we're in a time that we've never seen before and prayerfully we'll never see again. But people are so desperate for change and they hope for a better day.

I think, you know, in a lot of ways, when you talk about those variable moments that you can't. Hidden variables. When she got asked about racism, is this a racist country? Because she couldn't say yes. You know what? Let me say that, and I will say this about that. The FBI, I wish somebody would have given them the

FBI stats that they could have quoted, you know, because they're saying, you know, white supremacist activity is a threat to this nation. The number one threat. Domestic terrorism. Yeah, so, and then when Tim Scott got up saying what he said, you're South Carolinian, who might eat. He might not like boiled peanuts because he's different. No, Tim likes boiled peanuts.

You think he does? Yeah, he likes boiled peanuts. Okay. He might not like the Cajun kind, but he likes the regular ones with no salt. I like the regular ones with salt on them. Yeah. Does he like a hush puppy? I think he might like hush puppies.

I don't know. He's real different. He's extra. So anyway, no, but when he got up there saying there's not racism in America, I was like, I don't know what America you're talking about. Especially in one breath, you say, I've been racially profiled. And then in the next breath, there's no racism. I'm like, what?

And you knew instinctively at that moment. I knew before that, that policing, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would not go through. But when he said that, I knew it had no chance because he already skewed the conversation. But I just wish someone would have given the president and the vice president an understanding that the FBI came out with that report because they missed the mark on that one. Well, even without the report, to your point, you're a black woman. Like, that should be a no-brainer when asked about,

you know, as a black person, that should be a no-brainer when asked is this a racist country. First, that's what I think. You talk about Obama and his ratings dropping the most from a single incident, since we're talking about race. And yeah, that beer summit. Yeah, he never got

back the white vote. He lost a large portion of the white vote when he talked about Skip Gates and policing and racial profiling. That moment was a thread that carried throughout his eight years, the policing issue.

And he never got that white vote back. He never got it back, no matter how hard he tried. So you think it's more of a, I don't want to say certain things because I don't want my approval? So let's be honest. The first term,

Barack Obama had to walk a very thin line. Absolutely. He was the president who happened to be black. Race and politics will always follow him. But you remember this. The Tea Party was basically created because of his elevation. You had Donald Trump on his heels talking about

uh, he's you know, born in Kenya or something. He really spent time trying to. It was a huge. He spent time. That's that was the foundation of his run for president. All on the back of the illegitimacy of the first black president, the alleged illegitimacy of the first black president. So at the end of the day, for any president, the first term, you're

going to walk a certain line. And Barack Obama had to walk that line even straighter and taller than any other president. But that second term, ooh, you know, it changed. He was, I saw a swagger I hadn't seen before. You know, he couldn't commit political suicide. But during that first term, when George, excuse me, Trayvon Martin was killed and he went out there saying something that he could have been my son. White, the white press was like, what do you mean? What do you mean? I'm like, what the hell are you guys thinking? What do you think? I mean, I got to explain the birds and the bees. Yeah, I mean, I don't understand. I mean, some things are so obvious and maybe we all speak a different language. I don't know. I mean, some things are so obvious. And maybe we all speak a different language. I don't know. I'm like, what do you think he meant?

And it's like, oh, you're the president. You shouldn't have this problem. Let him take his hat off, all of his esteemed clothes, and walk down the street with that bop. He's just a black man like any of us. I mean, even his president, they treated him like he was just a black man like any of us. Shit, I mean, even his president, they treated him like he was just a black man like any other. You see people putting their fingers in his face, you know, yelling at him during, uh,

what was that? What do you call those things? I can't even remember right now. I'm skipping my mind. State of the Unions. Oh, they didn't put their finger in the face. They screamed out, you lie. Yeah, somebody screamed out, you lie. Nobody jumped in his face to State of the Union. Remember that woman who was pointing at him in his face when they were walking the runway?

Yeah, yeah. That was outside on the tarmac. But State of the Union, that was the most disrespect I have ever seen from a president of the United States. You lie. And it was ugly. And it all boils down for me to race. Yeah, they may not like what he said.

A lot of you've seen them with decorum sit down when they say something and they won't stand up and applaud and give scowls. But to scream out in that chamber to the first black president or to any president is sacrilege in politics. Did it make your job harder as a White House correspondent to ask about black issues when you know politicians don't like to talk about black issues? Let me say this. I've had Republicans say

that I'm a bleeding heart Democrat because I asked issues and I have Democrats saying I'm a Republican because they feel that I'm wrong for pushing it in their face even though their base is black. Look, I'm like, I'm doing my job.

And it shows that I'm not favoring one party or the other. But it's a hard job, but that's not the issue. The issue is the story impacting people. You guys talk to the world every day so they can have something to uplift them, to make them feel a little bit better and give them information that they can use. And that's what I do. Give you information that'll help you move on with your life to understand what's going to break it down, breaking down these thus thou arts, wherefore there as is in a way that you can really understand,

oh, wow, this is how it happens. This is what impacts impacts me so you can take this and be armed with information so you can move about your life what do you think about these upcoming elections because it feels like a lot of people are even who were democrats are moving away from the democratic party so let's let's start this this for the general election when you have 299 Republican candidates who say that they don't believe that Joe Biden is the legitimate president, let's start there. And then you watch these crazy debates. These slugfest matches with the people who are not saying saying I believe in Trumpism, but they have the ideology versus someone who's trying to stay in the old way of politics. It's a crazy matchup. But I'm going to tell you, Val Demings gave it to Marco Root, left him stunned the other night. I was like, whoo. She said, what did she say? I'm disappointed in you. You used to not lie.

And he was like, he was like in shock. I said, come on. I mean, it's almost entertaining when you want to sit and watch a nice you want to watch it with a nice box of some kettle popcorn or something. It's like, wow. That was a good one. Oh, yeah. But you know, and the

reason why in Georgia, in Georgia's ground zero for all of this, I mean, it's so many elections there that are heated. And that's not even including the abortion issue with Herschel Walker and his... And his...

What is it? His star, sheriff's star. His honorary sheriff's star. His honorary sheriff's star. Honorary that has no active duty requirement to it at all. I have an honorary degree from South Carolina State University.

I have, okay. I'm a doctor. I'm a doctor, too. I'm an esteemed doctor from Morgan State, from Goucher, and from Claflin. Yes. That's my father-in-law's alma mater. Yeah, okay. Honorary doctor.

Hello, doctor. How are you, doctor? So I can see him being proud of his badge. I mean, but you're not supposed to use it. Okay, so you're not supposed to use it. Right, right, you're not supposed to use it. So if I come over here, hello, Dr. Charlemagne, the God. You're not supposed to use it.

Are you using it? I do use it. Oh, my God, you're not supposed to use it. I got three, and I'm walking around here like, hey, I'm just April. Dr. Ryan. Alright, Dr. Charlamagne the God. Anyway, that is crazy. But no. For Stacey Abrams, getting back to Stacey Abrams, the reason why

the heat is on her and so many people are watching, she's a winner. Remember that. She didn't win the gubernatorial election the last time and she may not win it this time. but she's a winner. This one black woman set out to change the mindset and change the demographic and the way the state of Georgia looks. You got Atlanta, and then you got the rest of Georgia, which is totally different. She changed that state.

It wasn't purple. It went from red to blue. No one believed that would ever happen. And she did it quietly. And she told them, though, she is a threat to them. And that's why Kemp is making, his machine is working overtime

to make sure the margin is not close, that he will defeat her. Stacey said some real stuff. I was down there a few weeks ago with her and she said that, you know, it's not the lack of enthusiasm people have. It's the lack of trust that they have in the overall party that may be impacting candidates like her. So while you were down there, did you see all those crazy ads? Those ads are horrible. I mean, if I was a Georgia resident, I would be scared to go to the polls.

Yeah, it's crazy. I saw them on both sides, though. Like I saw it. I saw the one for Hershel and I saw the one for Raphael and I was like, huh? Right, exactly. And I was like, wait a minute. It's like everyone's tearing down each other. And, you know, Stacey Abrams is a person you can't trust. They marked her. It looks almost like she's a criminal.

It is ridiculous. And, I mean, if I was a resident in Georgia, I would be confused. I wouldn't want to go because those ads are terrible. They're tearing down people more so than they're talking about the issues. She said Georgia was the worst place in the nation or whatever. And I'm like, you know, for certain issues, it is. You know, for Baltimore, I love my city, but Baltimore is a crime capital right now.

You know, and I'm scared. When you tell the truth, you are vilified. And then they make you a shero later. You know, think about the Black Panther Party. 70% membership women. They were vilified back in the day when they were trying to make sure our children were eating breakfast for free, when they were trying to create clinics, free medical clinics. And guess what? Now what's the government doing?

Feeding our children. That's right. What's the government doing? Having clinics. Black women are moving mountains, and we're not getting the distinction or the recognition that we should have. That goes with the erasure part of the book that you have, where you talk about that, even with the Me Too movement, the Say Her Name movement, and even what you're discussing right

now. So I know we want everybody to read the book, Black Women Will Save the World, an anthem, but can you talk about erasure and how we see that here in the united states yeah okay let's talk about kismikia corbett dr kismikia corbett the black woman who made um the moderna yep the moderna vaccine do you hear her name no i think i saw her once on television how about that how about that that part erasure. And I was excited when I saw that. Exactly. I was like, let me make sure I pronounce her name right and we reported on it and everything. She got a lot of flack too though. I remember when they put her

on television, everybody was like, see they trying to put a black face out there just to get a black woman to take it. She made the number one vaccine to fight against this COVID vaccine. This deadly COVID virus that we're still dealing with. A black woman did that. A black woman turned Georgia blue.

Stronghold Georgia that we were watching with Ahmaud Arbery. When we show up, we show up, but they don't give us credit. End of story. I mean, there's so many. Everyone, when I run out in the street and I'm talking about this book, so many people say, you know, this touched my heart for that exact reason. When I bring up a comment in the office, they don't give me credit. Someone else takes the credit. This is at the highest level and at the mid-level and at the lowest level.

The erasure of what we do, what we bring to the table. People take credit for what we do, or they don't even want to acknowledge it. You talk about Black Lives Matter in the book quite a bit, and the founders, and then you see all the drama that's surrounding that now, and how that movement is being vilified, and even the women who started Black Lives Matter. So here's the deal for Black Lives Matter. Black lives do matter. And the reason why it was put in place because black people were being killed in the hands of police.

It's not saying all lives don't matter. It's saying at this moment we need to recognize a life that happens to be black. People forget that black people are important too. People forget that. The concept of it, I stand by that. Because when we go out in the street, we are black people who are susceptible to that very same thing. I matter. I matter.

I matter. I matter. I matter. That's all that is. And all the other stuff behind it, I'm sorry to hear that. But at the end of the day, the concept of everyone mattering is important. But when you don't take into account a black life, that's a problem. Again, going back to Freddie Gray, that life mattered and there's no accountability George Floyd's life mattered he got street corner justice instead of being able to go to a courtroom you know Ahmaud Arbery was

hunted down like an animal his life mattered and let's talk about Emmett Till how about that yeah that's the movie playing out in New York and LA yeah that's right and that's it yeah lyn, the lynching of black people in this country. Our lives matter. And the first thing they try to do is make it seem like you are a bad person. Because you bring it up. Right. Or no, I'm talking about even for when you get killed by the police, when you get.

Oh, his toenails, his toenails were dirty. Or he smoked weed before or he's been arrested before. And therefore, and I feel like that's the narrative always that they and i think with ahmaud arbery they couldn't find anything right and the ahmaud arbery was was dreaming of a bigger life going into this home and a community that had trump signs all around on the corners and houses because they didn't tell you that before the trial because they didn't want to skew the perception of what was happening. They said he was

trespassing and he might have been But how many people walking? He didn't steal. A whole bunch of people. They had videos. People kept going in that home. But they said this black guy who was coming through our neighborhood they were already upset because he was black and he was a guy running through their neighborhood and They were already upset because he was black

and he was a guy running through their neighborhood and they didn't want him there. Trump signs all over the place. They hunted him down on the back of a truck with a shotgun that shot him through his body, that went through his body like an animal. There's no justification for that. None.

And that's when people cry Black Lives Matter because it didn't matter at that time. I'm a black woman who's been pulled over by the police, too. I've been profiled. You know, it's not just our men. Can you say her name? Breonna Taylor. Can you say her name? Sandra Bland.

Yes. Black lives do matter when people feel that, you know, it goes down to our toenails being dirty again with Ahmaud Arbery at the end of that trial. So I'm like, oh, it's a lot. What are your thoughts then about Kanye and the drink champs and the George Floyd situation? And now the family has a lawsuit. I want to know immediately what you thought when you saw that clip. You know, I try not to. You know what? What did I think?

We have to really, as a journalist, let me put on my journalist hat. We have to really see what's there and stop giving attention to someone who's in distress. That's it. As a journalist, you know, there's all these conversations about freedom of speech. I don't think

people really truly understand the First Amendment. You're free to say whatever you want. But there are consequences behind it. If you lie, you can get sued for defamation and libel. If you say something that someone doesn't like, it could be consequences. Did you see George Floyd's family, Alex Jones?

Well, no. The baby's mother for $250 million. That child has lost her father. That child is dealing with a lot. Yeah, people are supporting her, but she doesn't have her daddy. And she will always remember, she will always see that horrific image of her father.

I don't know if people are looking for attention, but we have a responsibility. It's not okay. we have a responsibility. It's not okay. We have a responsibility as journalists. Tucker Carlson shouldn't have done what he did, having him on that show. And he was sitting there smug and watching.

He loved it because he was like, oh, this is ratings. That's all he was thinking in his mind because Kanye was giving him everything he wanted. He knew Kanye wasn't well. I saw Chris Cuomo bring up the issue. You know, I take my anti-depression medicine. I don't know what you can do

for Kanye, but what I know is I'd rather not talk about him and I'd rather not amplify the ignorance of his message. I agree. What do you think about Alex Jones then? That's just a bet.

He needs, you know, people, the only way you impact people is by hitting their pocket money. That's right. So enough said with that one too. How should we look at the role of journalism and how it impacts politics, especially right now? Because I don't feel like there's a lot of journalism out there. Are you reading the Griot? Are you reading my pieces?

No, no, I read the Griot. Do you read my stuff, Dr. Charlemagne? No. We got a newsletter? You know what? See, he's so high and lofty. Go to the griot.com and look at the politics section, the April Ryan drop down. It'll inform you. I'm I would start checking it out.

Please do. A lot of people have platforms now who aren't necessarily journalists. Yes. And that's the unfortunate piece because we have a lot of citizen journalists out here who give a lot of opinion without facts. Yes. And that's part of the problem why we are so uninformed and we're not believing what we're seeing because so many people are talking things that are just not true giving us information that's skewed the onus is now on the reader the listener or the watcher to figure out what is opinion versus fact the line is blurred and then

because you got a lot of people out here who are just pushing things out to make themselves, to make a name to be on the breakfast club or to just push a narrative that's not true and it's a sad time I mean the greatness of social media the greatness of technology is everything

but when you have people abusing it because it's so open we have anyone jumping on. People be like, I read it on Twitter. It's true. Do you agree with CNN moving away from opinion based commentary to more what they say? What they want fact based news? I think I think it's a good idea because we are so as you guys just pointed out, we are so confused about what's what. And I think a lot of news organizations, I think there's a moment for opinion.

I do. I do believe there's a moment for opinion, but I also believe there's a moment for fact. But we have to differentiate between the two. And there's going to be a lot of people getting in trouble because I'm telling you, Miss Ryan, they do not know the difference. I was literally having a discussion yesterday with somebody about the whole George Floyd, Kanye thing. And they were like, well, why is he getting sued for his perspective? I'm like, it don't matter what your perspective is when something has already been established

as a fact. He has a large platform and he has a very large platform. And what he says speaks volumes to a larger and broader community that wants to downplay and change the narrative and the impact of that. That's what it is, the impact.

It's not the fact that he's just Kanye. The impact of what you're saying is devastating. And who you're giving it to. And where you're getting it from. You're just repeating white supremacist rhetoric, the same rhetoric that they used to try to get this guy off. He's repeating it from Candace Owens, his new best friend.

A documentary that I would never watch. You think it's important to watch things that you don't agree with? Yes, it's important that I see what's out there so I can be informed like coming here. You know, who knew we were going to talk about him? But, you know, but I haven't watched her documentary. I don't want to watch her documentary because I already know the basis of it. I've talked to people in George Floyd's family. I've talked to people in the community. I've talked to people who were there when it happened. I've talked to Keith Ellison, the state attorney general.

I don't need to hear Candace Owens. You think people like attention from being a contrarian and saying things that, especially as... Is it attention or are you being paid well? Is there a benefit and a payoff for you? Right. You know, I mean,

if you are this juxtaposed to your own community that you went into and asked for help from the NAACP for something that happened to you many years ago and then you go polar opposite,

you wonder why. I mean, it's more than attention it's got to be more than attention well April Ryan black women will save the world like Bishop T.D. Jakes told you I hope that you are celebrating myself

and I love that you came in here and you you know gave me you know just lifted me up and I want to make sure we do the same thing for you. Thank you, sister. Black women will save the world and anthem. Make sure you celebrate yourself. I went to Martha's Vineyard for the first time.

Did you love it? Yeah, I did. I need a little more time there. It's different, but it's yeah. So how long were you there? I was there during that time where they have the Black Film Festival. Yeah, I was there for the first two weeks. So we didn't see each other.

I was only there for like two days, though. It was a day that I announced, and there was not a lot of good places to stay, so I didn't get to stay in Oak Bluff or anything. Really? Did you stay in Eggertown? I have no idea. It was not... Really? Okay, next time you come next year, reach out to me so I can tell you and take you to places.

Nicole Hannah-Jones and I and my friend Tracy, we were running through the island and my fiance. We were running through the island. We thought we were like the only ones. We have a blast when we go. So next time you go. But that's my place. That's been my respite.

And yeah, next time you go, we're going to take you to the Inkwell and baptize you in the polar bear heaven. Well, congratulations. Great accomplishment. Great book. Black Women Will Save the World. Thank you. This is April Ryan. It accomplishment. Great book. Black Women Will Save the World. Thank you. It's April Ryan. It's The Breakfast Club. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show,

where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay. Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best and you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. to the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakatistan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th, 2017, was assassinated. Crooks Everywhere unearths the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state.

Listen to Crooks Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's up? This is Ramses Jha. And I go by the name Q Ward. And we'd like you to join us each week for our show Civic Cipher. That's right. We discuss social issues, especially those that affect black and brown people, but in a way that informs and empowers all people. We discuss everything from prejudice to politics to police violence.

And we try to give you the tools to create positive change in your home, workplace, and social circle. We're going to learn how to become better allies to each other. So join us each Saturday for Civic Cipher on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.