Make It Plain MIP with Rev. Mark Thompson

Day three of Black History Month and day three with Anthony T. Browder, author, publisher, cultural historian, artist, and educational consultant. Anthony is also the founder and director of IKG Cultural Resources and has devoted 43 years researching ancient Egyptian history, science, philosophy and culture. Today’s discussion dives into Hollywood’s perpetuation of false narratives surrounding Afr...

On this second day of Black History Month, Mark embarks on another history-based conversation with Anthony T. Browder, author, publisher, cultural historian, artist, and educational consultant. Anthony is also the founder and director of IKG Cultural Resources and has devoted 43 years researching ancient Egyptian history, science, philosophy and culture. Today’s discussion dives deep into Egyptian...

Today marks the beginning of Black History Month, and MIP will be honoring this month with daily conversations with Anthony T. Browder, author, publisher, cultural historian, artist, and educational consultant. Anthony is also the founder and director of IKG Cultural Resources and has devoted 43 years researching ancient Egyptian history, science, philosophy and culture, which is where today’s dis...

Mini Timmaraju, President of NARAL, discusses the future of Roe. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Elie Mystal is Justice Correspondent at The Nation and he’s back to discuss the current threat against Affirmative Action via our Supreme Court. SCOTUS took up two cases–one from Harvard and one from UNC, but Elie explains they are fundamentally the same case: a group of Asian-American students claim they outperform African-Americans and Latinos, but are still underrepresented at their universitie...

Justice Stephen Breyer is retiring and Markos Moulitsas, Founder of DailyKos and Civiqs and Host of podcast “The Brief,” explains how it puts us in danger of a 7-2 conservative majority. But one of the upsides to Justice Beyer exiting is the prospect of a new judge, and Mark and Markos consider the possible replacement: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (do you know how she’s connected to former Speaker...

David Daley is Senior Fellow of FairVote and Author of two books, “Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America’s Democracy,” and “Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy.” He joins the show today to discuss how he’s processing last Wednesday's devastating news for our democracy when Senators Sinema and Manchin sided with Republicans against our voting...

Attorney Gerald Griggs is the Vice President of the Atlanta NAACP and he has some new strategy for Democrats to consider in regards to protecting our voting rights and democracy-at-large. The general consensus has been that President Biden can’t do anything through executive order to stop the dismantling of our right to vote–but Attorney Griggs says that’s not necessarily the case and he breaks it...

Eric Boehlert, Publisher of Pressrun.media, is back for another round of cutting through the media’s willful ignorance in covering our government. Today he’s cracking into their coverage of last Wednesday’s loss in the fight for voting rights and how Republicans manage to escape without any blame for attempting to topple democracy. He’s also analyzing the Supreme Court’s recent moves and how they...

Rev. Dr. Ben Chavis Jr., President of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, joins Mark to reflect on the devastating blow to voting rights that took place in the senate on Wednesday night, when Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema joined Republicans in blocking voting rights legislation that would have changed the chamber’s filibuster rules. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer:...

Markos Moulitsas, Founder of DailyKos and Civiqs and host of podcast “The Brief” is back for another #ThursdayKos installment and they kick it off discussing Mark’s time on Capitol Hill and witnessing the floor debate around voting rights in the Senate gallery; but they inevitably dig into 2022/2024 strategy and where he’s finding optimism these days. Following Mark’s conversation with Markos, you...

Mark was on Capitol Hill yesterday where a demonstration took place to stand up for voting rights, where approximately two dozen activists were arrested. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In the shadow of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Mark reflects on members of the senate (looking at you, Sinema and Manchin) fail to protect our voting rights. We also take a minute to hear from Martin Luther King III who discussed leaders like Senator Sinema over the weekend, as well as Yolanda King, who pleaded with Sinema and Manchin to take a stand for democracy. You’ll also hear from Rev. Dr. Wil...

Dr. Joseph Evans is the Dean of the Morehouse School of Religion and author of his latest book, “The Polished King: Living Words of Martin Luther King Jr.” He joins the show to discuss that book, his motivations for writing it and the title its been given, and James Baldwin, who considered Dr. King to be a “polished preacher,” is interwoven as we come to understand the power of King’s words and fa...

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm is back on MIP for an exciting new announcement from the Biden administration: they are adding renewable clean energy that will both create jobs and lowers the cost. As Secretary Granholm explains, adding renewable energies onto the grid is a huge benefit–but they’re also working to expand grid capabilities that will allow for communities to continuously acces...

It’s our first #ThursdayKos of 2022 and there’s much to catch up on with Markos Moulitsas, Founder of DailyKos, Civiqs, and Host of podcast “The Brief.” Mark and Markos waste no time getting into President Biden’s speech earlier this week in Atlanta with honest reactions and addressing if it will really make a difference in the long run. And speaking of long run, what’s the deal with Democratic st...

LaTosha Brown, Cliff Albright, and April England-Albright of Black Voters Matter made the decision not to attend President Biden’s speech in Georgia yesterday where he addressed the attack on our voting rights–but it is being said that Biden is not going far enough to protect those rights. These leaders discuss why they chose not to attend, their expectations of Biden and congress, and why they’re...

Today you’ll hear from six more hunger strikers (Joe Madison told us his story yesterday, as he begins his second month of striking for voting rights), who are also faith leaders in their communities. They detail their own motivation, hopes, and fears for our country as our voting rights are under attack. And as one of the guests succinctly notes: the deadline for our democracy is January 17th. Wi...

Joe Madison has been on a hunger strike for voting rights, now 65 days in, and he joins Mark to discuss why he’s striking, the physical affects, and what he hopes will unfold on Capitol Hill. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https:...

Mark teams up with Danielle Moodie, Host of WokeAF, for our new monthly crossover series… Make It Effing Woke. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this "best of MIP" episode, Dr. Amara Enyia of the Policy and Research Coordinator for Movement for Black Lives details a report the organization released, which demonstrates how the United States government persecutes activists with the hope of dissuading them from taking any kind of political action. Though it’s easy to blame red states like Florida for putting laws in place that woul...

In today's "best of MIP" espiode, Scott Dworkin, who is also Founder and Executive Director of the Democratic Coalition and host of podcast “The Dworkin Report,” is here to download us on all sorts of strategy and analysis of what’s up ahead for 2022 and 2024. He shares that it’s believed Trump plans to announce a 2024 run early next year, before primary season, for one specific reason...

Today is a "Best Of MIP Episode" with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, the author of “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World.” In the episode she impresses the importance that we all have a critical role to play in slowing climate change. Building off some details from a recent conversation with the White House Climate Advisor, Dr. Hayhoe and Mark examine heat-r...

Nadra Nittle is a Senior Reporter for Civil Eats and more recently she has taken on the title of author, with her book titled “Toni Morrison’s Spiritual Vision: Faith, Folktales, and Feminism in Her Life and Literature.” In today’s episode she discusses the many facets of the legendary Toni Morrison, which often lead us back to her spirituality and religion, and the ways we can see that play out i...

What is the connection between the Virginia governor’s race, Toni Morrison, and Mark Twain? Those are the ties made in today’s conversation with James Henry Harris, Distinguished Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology and a research scholar in religion and humanities at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. He’s also author of the book “N: My Encounter w...