Rod and Karen respond to listener feedback.
Twitter: @rodimusprime @SayDatAgain @TBGWT
Email: theblackguywhotips@gmail.com
Blog: www.theblackguywhotips.com
Voice Mail: 704-557-0186
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I’m catching up while working from home and this episode was EVERYTHING I have been so frustrated with during this current presidential election cycle. And honestly 2016 too. I literally yelled YES KAREN out loud, solo quarantining in NYC, and felt like y’all could hear me. Nobody invited y’all! I appreciate this podcast so much and y’all have kept me company between FaceTime calls with family and working. I love y’all for real â¤ï¸
I appreciate what you and Karen had to say about why Joe Biden pretty much dominated the south and how, considering the way that the respective candidates chose to campaign down here, the results should have been obvious. One of the things you mention that particularly caught my attention was how the wokety-wokes who want to change the Democratic Party from outside the party will often cite that the DNC hasn’t done enough for Black people, and I loved your rebuttal: show me the progress that’s happened under Republicans, then!
It reminds me of a tired talking point that frequently gets brought up online, in almost equal measure by the wokety-wokes, and the deplorables. Every now and again, you’ll see one of those groups post a link about struggling cities with Democratic leadership: “Look at the crime in Baltimore! Look at the crime in DC! You know, Flint has a Democratic mayor…”, and so on, and so forth. They’ll just drop that list on the table and lean back, all smug, like they just laid down the Big Joker. And it’s like, okay, congratulations, you managed to provide a list of Democratic-controlled cities where shit is bad for Black people… Now, where the list at for all the Republican-controlled cities where shit is GOOD for Black people? Oh, you mean it ain’t such a list? Because those cities don’t exist? Oh, alright then, I see you, playa!
The other thing that I wanted to co-sign was about Black people’s support for the Obamas, and how the hatred that you see online doesn’t translate to meatspace: I work at my family’s gift shop, where our customer base is, like, ninety percent Black, and one of the top sellers we have is a line of Michelle Obama handbags. They’re prominently displayed behind the counter, so that everybody can see them when they come in the store, and I have never, not even once, had somebody come in and see those bags, and then react with disgust, like, “Ugh! So y’all support the Deporter In-Chief, huh?” That shit doesn’t HAPPEN in real life, man! I don’t know what kind of shit the wokety-wokes online be on, but it don’t be like that around here.
Man, this commentary was everything!! As person who’s from the south and still lives there, this what I been saying. Something else on Bernie, it’s a hard sell to tell us Bernie has always been there for Black folks for two main reasons I see. The first is church. There’s no way you can tell me anyone has been involved in civil rights over the decades without a relationship with the Black church. It has always been the epicenter of organizing in our communities in the south. Even now, with Rev Barber’s work. You can’t tell me you’re a civil rights champion with no connection to our churches. It’s just inconceivable. The other reason is this. Y’all only a few years older than me. So, I’m pretty sure like me, Black boomers are your parents, aunts and uncles. While they’re getting older, a lot of them are still with us. So, if I wanna check Bernie’s civil rights cred, I can ask my momma or my aunties or uncles. The fact that they don’t know that nigga, but they KNOW Biden is telling. They been to fundraisers and commemorations and services and been in the same building as Biden. Bernie? Nada. You can’t sell southern Black voters, the whole ass epicenter of the civil rights movement, no flex about who has engaged with them and who hasn’t.
Rod, your commentary on the election was magnifique! I had a conversation w/ my grandmother about the election a couple weeks ago; she’s in her mid 70’s & lives in Mississippi. She gave quick opinions on each democratic candidate (I believe Warren or Harris were her favorite); but admitted that she was going to vote for whomever the final nominee was. Her thoughts on Biden almost took me OUT! She said, “He should really be ashamed. Ain’t no way in the world I would’ve spent so many years under Obama & still be so dumb!” Thanks for everything, love you all!