Make It Plain MIP with Rev. Mark Thompson

Marc Morial, President of the National Urban League, says the phenomenon of today in Black America is the working poor: great jobs, prestigious degrees, but salaries that haven't kept up with inflation and therefore keeps Black people earning an average of $30,000 dollars less than white families per year. And that's just one piece of the pie, as we're facing a health crisis that is sp...

DeAndra Dycus' son was just 13 years old and attending a birthday party when he was shot in the back of the head, which took away his ability to walk and speak. After she got her son home from the hospital, DeAndra was mobilized and sprung into action, linking up with Everytown Survivor Network and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America to share her story and the word on gun safety. In to...

There's a lot of criticism and theories on millennials -- entitled, wasteful, lazy...but Jill Filipovic is subverting these assumptions in her new book "Ok Boomer, Let's Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind." The millennial generation is living on the edge of poverty not because of avocado toast, but because of a country with a faulty structure of poor policies, created largely...

At the top of the show Mark talks to former Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenn Kirschner who breaks down Steve Bannon's arrest (which was handled by the Postal Inspection Service, also known as the Post Office Police...as Mark calls it, "poetic justice"). We then get to hear from two of the keynote DNC speakers: first is Tennessee State Senator Raumesh Akbari on Marquida Bradshaw making his...

"When I think about Black women, we're not allowed to stumble," says Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles. But she also recognizes the strength it takes to be Black in America, and she sees that in Senator Kamala Harris, making her that much more hopeful for a Biden/Harris victory in November. She joins the show to discuss the Democratic Convention, for which she is acting as a surrogate for the B...

Listen to Black women, win with Black women -- that's our strategy for the 2020 election. Each week we'll hear from powerful Black women on their strategies, concerns, and plans of action leading up to November, because we don't just want the presidency, we want the whole dang hill. We're kicking this series off with a killer lineup, featuring Jotaka Eaddy, Convener of the #WinWith...

It's Democratic National Convention week and today's episode features two distinguished Black female congressional leaders who are currently serving as surrogates for the Biden/Harris campaign. First you'll hear from Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who thinks that, in light of Senator Kamala Harris' appointment as Biden's running mate, this is an important moment to understan...

Until recently, Igor Volsky, Executive Director of Guns Down America, considered himself an expert on the level of corruption happening inside the NRA; but when he read the details of New York Attorney General Tish James' lawsuit against the organization, he admits to being completely floored -- he had no idea it ran this deep. In today's episode you'll hear all the ways that Wayne LaP...

Today's episode features a panel of three powerful Black women discussing Senator Kamala Harris' appointment as Joe Biden's running mate in the 2020 election. Guests include Errin Haines, Founder and Editor of The 19th News, Reecie Colbert, Founder of BlackWomenViews Media, and Sharon Pratt, Former Mayor of Washington D.C.. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Di...

Congresswoman Maxine Waters predicted Senator Kamala Harris would be Joe Biden's pick for Vice President, and now she's celebrating that nomination in today's episode. She looks ahead to the Biden/Harris 2020 campaign and how Senator Harris might handle the inevitable criticisms ahead. On the subject of Trump, the congresswoman directly confronts his most recent dangerous behavior, inc...

The jobs report is more complicated than just how many jobs were added. That's an important piece of the conversation, says Chad Stone, Chief Economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, but considerations must be made well beyond that marker. Gaining 1.8 million jobs in July is definitely a good thing--but we're still in a MASSIVE deficit (to the tune of 12.9 million jobs) sin...

Jaime Harrison knows South Carolinians concerns, because he grew up with similar ones. In his bid for Lindsey Graham's senate seat, he's been connecting with voters on the issues that matter most to them: access to quality healthcare (especially in rural areas), small businesses burning out and job losses from coronavirus, and food insecurity that was prevalent even before the pandemic hit...

The word "fascism" gets thrown around a lot these days -- but do we know exactly what we're saying? Dr. Jason Stanely, professor and author of the book "How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them," has studied the patterns of behavior throughout history, including the likes of Hitler, Putin, and now Trump. He breaks the ideology down into 10 pillars that make it easy to rec...

Mark Sumner, author and writer at DailyKos, has been writing about coronavirus since December of 2019, before the U.S. had even counted its first case. He's written more than 100 stories on the virus, and he remembers the day of March 13th when Donald Trump, flanked by multiple big-box CEOs, promised extensive testing and tracking across the country. But as we know now, that didn't happen...

Confederate Cindy is not just another clever Internet meme -- it's the nickname for Mike Espy's opponent; you might remember her for saying she'd attend a public hanging if invited. Mike Espy, the former Secretary of Agriculture and Representative of Mississippi's 2nd District, is now the Democratic nominee to take the Senate seat away from the Trump sycophant who considers the Con...

The mission of the Black Voters Matter Fund (BVMF) is to increase power in communities, and they know that starts with voters. Co-Founders LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright join Mark today to discuss mobilizing and organizing for 2020, what the priorities and targets are, and what we're up against in the more challenging southern races like Amy McGrath in Kentucky, Lucy McBath in Florida, Mike...

Nabilah Islam ran for the Democratic nomination in Georgia’s 7th District and earned the endorsement of AOC’s Courage to Change PAC, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and Congressman Ro Khanna, to name a few. Despite her strong backing, she didn’t win her primary, but that did not stop her quest for justice. She’s just launched her own PAC called The Progressive List to ensure future candidates don’t fall...

With vivid details, Bernard Lafayette shares three of the seminal moments of the Civil Rights Movement he shared with John Lewis. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://...

The Trump campaign and the RNC once had a massive fundraising advantage over Biden and the DNC--that was just three months ago. But now, that advantage is no more. Not only did BIden's fundraising close the gap, but the Trump campaign made some specific mistakes to boost his own efforts, but have now left Republican House members without a penny (and some, without a fighting chance to win re-e...

Majority Whip Clyburn met Congressman John Lewis back when they were just John and Jim, marking the beginning of 60 years of friendship and activism that eventually propelled them both to Capitol Hill. Whip Clyburn recalls the day they met in 1960, not surprisingly brought together while organizing for action, as well as "one of the most memorable weekends" of his entire life that happened...

Teachers, parents, and kids all have the DESIRE to go back to school, but only one thing matters: is it SAFE? Randi Weingarten is the President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and her team has been working on a slew of back-to-school scenarios since April, and they have identified the three key things that need to happen BEFORE we can consider putting students, teachers, and administr...

There are 99 days until Election Day, and as Mark states plainly, "this is it." The Democratic Party is set to assemble virtually to officially nominate Joe Biden, and Chairman Tom Perez joins Mark to discuss strategy and what the convention will look like in this unprecedented format. As for the election itself, the Chairman says there is "no overconfidence" on the democratic side...

Dr. Brittney Cooper is an Associate Professor of Women, Gender, and Africana studies at Rutgers University, as well as the author of two books, "Beyond Respectability" and "Eloquent Rage." She's recently brought attention to the term "necropolitics," but it's more than just a buzzword, and that's what she's on the show to discuss today. Did you know that one...

If you've listened to #ThursdayKos before then you know that Markos Moulitsas, Founder of DailyKos and Civiqs, was once gung-ho for Elizabeth Warren getting on the Biden ticket. But now he's changed his mind, and there's a strategic reason for it. So, who should the VP pick be? He discusses that, the strategy behind it, and why the tactic that pushed Trump to success throughout his ent...

Eugene Jarecki is an award-winning director and filmmaker and he is also the creator of the Trump Death Clock. What's the Trump Death Clock, you ask? It's a real-time tally of the cost of human lives to coronavirus, aimed directly at Trump and his administration's reckless handling of the pandemic. Eugene believes that the American people need to demand more responsible leadership and...