Education is Elevation

Research Over Mesearch is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. The trick of time tells Black people that success requires distance from Blackness. Leaving the hood becomes maturity. Remaining connected becomes regression. Advancement is framed as movement away from Black community rather than transformation of Black...

Trust Black Women Is Not a Negotiation There is still something many people believe they need from Black women before offering trust. There is still a condition. There is still a test. There is still a negotiation. That truth sat heavy on me after a recent interaction. I was wearing a “Trust Black Women” shirt, standing in Houston, minding my business, when a man tried to play me. The question cam...

Thank you Reda Rountree (she/her) , Charlie Rauh , Full Frontal Loeb , Jack , Roni , and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. There are moments when something you learned in your twenties becomes the lens that clarifies your thirties. The Fifth Circuit ruling allowing indefinite detention in Texas triggered a memory from my college policy debate day...

Thank you Moon Mountain Studio , Shirley Figueroa , M Hope , HoneyBadger , nobu , and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theconsciouslee.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theconsciouslee.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you Reda Rountree (she/her) , Full Frontal Loeb , Tracy Mack , Pamela , Paul Smith , and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. You know it when you see it. The sudden outrage. The selective moral panic. The way racism becomes real only when it can be folded neatly into someone’s political narrative and weaponized against the “other side.” What...

Democracy Was Never Neutral — And That’s the Point Every time we talk about democracy, somebody eventually hits you with the same line: “It’s about inclusion. Everybody deserves a voice.” That sounds good. It’s clean. It’s aspirational. It’s also ahistorical as hell. What usually gets framed as a “problem of exclusion” isn’t really about who’s left out—it’s about who gets to define legitimacy in t...

Thank you Turtlegirl4 , Randal Hendee , Ryan Imran Husain , and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. Another day, another issue to worry about when it comes to the Trump man. The orange man doing shenanigans. Because if he shenanigans once, he’s going to shenanigan. And somehow, from the people that voted for him the first time, I guess they was coo...

The lesson isn’t about the pages. It’s about the silence that follows. The file is closed. Over a million pages detailing the most prolific elite child trafficking and abuse network in modern memory have been dumped into the public domain. The outcry was immediate, the furor was intense, and… absolutely nothing, no fundamental changes or structural responses. We wanted a reckoning and accountabili...

Thank you Joy Path , Tamar Kranick , Carmen Noguer , Julie D , Taino Princess , and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theconsciouslee.substack.com/subscribe

America’s got a favorite villain, but the real blueprint of state terror isn’t overseas—it’s buried in our own backyard. ICE raids aren’t just about law and order; they’re a modern reincarnation of racialized control systems that date back centuries. The machinery behind these actions is deeply tied to white supremacy and racial capitalism, and its impact targets our most vulnerable communities—te...

Research Over Mesearch is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. What does it mean when the President of the United States leans into the oldest, dirtiest racial tropes about Black women? When he reduces a Black Congresswoman—a whole entire elected official—to the caricature of a drug dealer? You know the one. It’s dus...

Yesterday, I tackled a critical conversation with Senator Cory Booker about transparency, policy reform, and the impact of political decisions on entrepreneurs and creators like us. I broke down his stance on banning TikTok, his messaging around national security, and the disconnect between elected officials and the communities they serve. My key message: don’t underestimate the knowledge and powe...

Look how connected all this is. Consider this: George Floyd, Alex Purdy, Renee Good. Their stories—one of police brutality, the others of ICE enforcement—unfolded within two miles of each other. Two miles. That geography is a revelation. It is a map of the same battlefield. The intersected and interconnected nature of our struggles isn’t a new theory. It’s the lived, painful, and prevalent reality...

On today’s session, we dove into the dangers of anti-intellectualism and how refusing to think critically threatens our future. We talked about why asking hard questions, demanding evidence, and challenging so-called common sense isn’t “elitist”—it’s essential, especially for entrepreneurs and innovators. From Trump’s rallies to COVID briefings and attacks on education, we broke down how dismissin...

On today’s Research Over Mesearch session, we broke down three major conservative contradictions: from mainstream pundits’ homoerotic language and hypocrisy on LGBTQ issues, to how states’ rights only matter when it’s convenient for white supremacy, and the selective outrage around kids’ safety, especially when it comes to attacks on education and public resources. Plus, we dove into the wild stor...

Research Over Mesearch is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. AI isn’t neutral—it’s programmed with the biases and cultural values of its creators, often reinforcing harmful systems like white supremacy, capitalism, and racial hierarchy. Today, lets explore how technology markets itself as progress, but really, it’s...

What began as a moment of pride—chaperoning My Daughter’s Texas history field trip—quickly turned unsettling and anti-black. Texas history isn’t just about cowboys, the Alamo, and football—though those get plenty of fanfare. The often-missing narratives about Black Texans, Indigenous peoples, and the very real colonial violence behind the state’s foundation is intentional. The curriculum presented...

Both of these groups told us the same lie. They said they were protecting the children. They said they were standing against predators. They said the danger was the “gay agenda,” the queers, the outsiders—the people they already hated. And yet, somehow, when the predators show up looking familiar, powerful, straight, and protected, the outrage disappears. That’s not irony. That’s the system workin...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theconsciouslee.substack.com/subscribe

If you think politics is strictly business, Texas State Representative Jolanda Jones is here to break that mold. She’s candid, real, and brings the legend energy. Jolanda shares what it meant to come out as a lesbian at 50, the challenges tropes of growing up in the Bible Belt, and how she learned to embrace her true self after years of societal expectations. On today’s episode of “Research Over M...

On this episode of Research Over Mesearch , I took a hard look at how the narrative around the January 6th Capitol attack is being rewritten and whitewashed by political powers. I challenged my listeners to reconsider where accountability truly lies in our democracy. I dove deep into the contradictions—the shifting conservative tone on policing, the selective moral outrage, and the persistent myth...

You can love black culture and still hate black people. That’s obviously illustrated anytime you start thinking about the music execs, the owners of the streaming companies and these culture vultures. We always talk about not knowing the flavor of the Kool Aid and being all up in it, but we never talk about, you don’t need to know the flavor of the Kool Aid to commodify it. What if I told you toda...

Thank you Reda Rountree (she/her) , Jed , Education is a lamp , DC , Elphy , and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theconsciouslee.substack.com/subscribe

Happy New Year (almost)! I’m back with a brand new episode of Research Over Mesearch , and trust me—you don’t want to miss this one. This week, I’m diving deep into the messy narratives swirling around “Somali-Minnesota fraud,” the complexities of American outrage, and even getting into what’s really going down with that “Iran declares war” headline. The streets have been talking, and I’m here to...