Rational Black Thought

Send us Fan Mail  Welcome to Rational Black Thought. I’m your host, Neo Griot. This week’s theme: Is about moving beyond survival, it is time for us to stop “living to fight another day” and to start fighting to win…for good.  Our title today comes from Gil Scott-Heron from his song “Winter in America” the words seem even more apropos today, it feels like a “nuclear winter in America”:   The Const...

Send us Fan Mail Our title today comes from Ay-Shay (an African musician) from her song “The Way I Feel” whose words really struck me this week, some of the other lines from this song are:   I feel like I'm not the only one who's frustrated  I feel like something's goin' wrong, I can't escape it  I feel that the destinies of those who are meant to be the best Are in the ha...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Rational Black Thought. I’m your host, Neo Griot—secular humanist, skeptic, atheist, Afrocentric, Pan-African… and morally allergic to propaganda.   This is a year-end audit episode. Not a highlight reel. Not a “best-of” montage. An audit. Because reflection is not nostalgia—it’s strategy. It’s how you stop repeating cycles that were designed to keep you tired, confused...

Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: Frantz Fanon Unmasking the News:   Democracy Watch: When Reality Collapses at the Top:  Foreign Policy Watch: “Quarantine” as Empire-Speak and Nigeria: A Crusade Fantasy in Modern Clothes:  The Holy Hustle Continues:  Good News: Black Success That Circulates Power:  Strategies for Black Power: South Africa & Rhodesia — Independence Without Power Is a...

Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: James Baldwin Unmasking the News:   Democracy Watch: The Chief of Staff as Confessor: When the Mask Slips:  When Empathy Dies, Fascism Smiles:  Holy Robbery:  Good News: Capacity, Not Vibes:  Bible Study with an Atheist: The Immorality of Divine Tribalism: From Eden to Genocide: Reflections and Call to Action: Closing/Outro:   Sources: https://www.theguar...

Send us Fan Mail The Irrational Resolution of Cognitive Dissonance (Case Study) Brief Setup What Was Said Cognitive Dissonance 101 How the Somali Republican’s Mind Is Likely Working Identity-Protective Cognition: When Truth Loses to Tribe Historical & Psychological Roots: The Colonized Mind Why This Matters Beyond One Man on CNN The Insidious Nature of Irrational Dissonance Resolution A Ration...

Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: Maya Angelou “For Africa to me... is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.”   Unmasking the News:   Trump’s Map of Minority Rule:  Trump’s Statements, Performative with a Body Count:  Preying on the Vulnerable:  Good...

Send us Fan Mail Intro:   Quote of the Week: Bell Hooks “...“white supremacy” is a much more useful term for understanding the complicity of people of color in upholding and maintaining racial hierarchies that do not involve force (i.e slavery, apartheid) than the term “internalized racism”- a term most often used to suggest that black people have absorbed negative feelings and attitudes about bla...

Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: Neo Griot Unmasking the News:   When You Pay the Ransom, You Get More Hostages:  White supremacy never retired:  When Churches Say “No” To A Hungry Baby:  Good News: Good News, But Also a Blueprint:  Strategies for Black Power: Are we in a “post-logic” world?: Reflections and Call to Action: Closing/Outro:   Sources: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/po...

Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: “…equality must be won — by every generation — because it will never be freely granted.” -- Charles M. Blow Unmasking the News:   The Cost of Caving:  Epstein Files, Power, and Probable Guilt:  The Gospel of Hypocrisy:  Good News: Building More Than Buildings:  Bible Study with an Atheist: From the Shrines of Arabia to an Arabic Monotheism: Reflections an...

Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: Mellody Hobson Unmasking the News:   What 11/4/25 Actually Tells Us:  Executive Power, Pocketbook Pain, and What Comes Next:  The Oklahoma Bishop, the Missing Money, and the Machine That Protected It:  Good News: When One Door Closes, We Build a Corridor:  Strategies for Black Power : PowerNomics, Rewired: Reflections and Call to Action: Closing/Outro:  ...

Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: James Baldwin Unmasking the News:   The Third-Term Trial Balloon:  Instrument Panel for Project 2025:  When a Pastor Treats Repentance Like a Plea Deal:  Good News: When We Amplify Those Less Fortunate, We All Rise:  Bible Study with an Atheist :  When the Law Became a Sales Pitch Reflections and Call to Action: Closing/Outro:   Sources: https://www.democ...

Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: Molefi Kete Asante and Thabiso Monkoe, The Azanian Unmasking the News:   Authoritarians Don’t Renovate — They Re-purpose the State for Themselves:  When the War on Drugs Transitions from the “War on Soul Brothers” to Dear Leader’s War: The Rot Behind the Robes:  Good News: Building Our Tomorrow: Black Entrepreneurship in Action:  Strategies for Black Powe...

Send us Fan Mail Intro:   Quote of the Week:  Angela Davis Unmasking the News:   A Mirror to Political Hypocrisy:  Racism Isn’t a Bug—It’s a Feature:  “Father” as Predator: Good News:  A Blueprint for Black Futures:  Bible Study with an Atheist :  The Man-Made Evolution of Christianity: Reflections and Call to Action: Outro:   Sources: https://apnews.com/article/poll-government-shutdown-blame-trum...

Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: VP Kamala Harris Unmasking the News:   How the GOP’s Court Coup Moves Us Closer to One-Party Rule:  The Through Line of Capitalism’s Collapse:  How “Divine Calling” Becomes Cover for Grift:  Good News: When Allies Show Up, Black Power Grows:  Strategies for Black Power : From Abolition to Authoritarianism: Reflections and Call to Action: Closing/Outro:  S...

Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: M People   Unmasking the News: The Guardrails Aren’t “Strained.” They’re Being Stripped for Parts:  When the Collar Hides the Crime:  Good News: Black Excellence, No Apologies:  Bible Study with an Atheist : What Goes to Heaven: Reflections and Call to Action: Outro:   Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/01/anthony-kennedy-supreme-court-...

Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: Desmond Tutu Unmasking the News:   Politics of Power:  Structural Racism in a New Suit:  Religion as Cover:  The Code of the Future:  Strategies for Black Power : Fighting Laundered Extremism: Reflections and Call to Action: Outro:   Sources: https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-doj-fbi-director-james-comey-indictment/ https://www.theguardian...

Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches   Unmasking the News:   The Roots of Political Violence:  Redistricting as a Weapon Against Black and Brown Power:  The Moral Bankruptcy of Religious Excuses:  Black Innovation Turning Waste into Power:  Bible Study with an Atheist : Anti-Black Theology and a Post-Jesus Gospel: Reflections and Call to Acti...

Send us Fan Mail Intro :  Welcome to Episode 247. Let’s cut through the theater, expose the machinery, and get to the work that makes our people free.   Intro: Feedback : Quote of the Week: Zora Neale Hurston, “Dust Tracks on a Road” Unmasking the News:   The Roberts Court as a Political Actor:  The rot is inside the house:  When the “sanctuary” is the crime scene:  Building profit with purpose: ...

Send us Fan Mail Intro: Feedback :   Quote of the Week: Malcolm X, “Message to the Grassroots.” Strategies for Black Power: Nation-Building the Nation Within a Nation  Unmasking the News:   First They Come for Us:  Who is winning the Game:  All in the Family:  Not a Sacrifice, a Strategy:  Bible Study with an Atheist : Heaven Can Wait: Reflections and Call to Action: Outro:   Sources: https://teac...

Send us Fan Mail Intro : Quote of the Week: Dr. Amos Wilson Strategies for Black Power: Designing the Afrocentric Individual Operating System:  Unmasking the News: Democracy Watch: Personal Rule Comes to Washington:  Poll Rage Isn’t the Story. The Story Is Personal Rule with a Soft Floor:  Holy Rackets, SECULAR TRUTH:  A 6-Year-Old’s Grind Meets Shaq-Sized Generosity:  Bible Study with an Atheist...

Send us Fan Mail Intro : Quote of the Week: Angela Davis Strategies for Black Power: Designing Our Own Operating System: Unmasking the News :  Democracy Watch: “Democracy” with an Asterisk:  Democrats Finally Drop the High Road. Good:  It’s Not Christian Hypocrisy. It’s the Bible:  Black-Led Wellness as Power:  Bible Study with an Atheist :  One God, Many Gods, and a Three-Person Contradiction: Re...

Send us Fan Mail Intro : Feedback : Quote of the Week: Yaa Asantewaa Strategies for Black Power: The Feminine Side of Black Power: Unmasking the News :  Democracy Watch: A Coup Happening in Daylight:  Now they Balk:  A Criminal, back in the Pulpit:  Good News: Young, Gifted, and Black:  Bible Study with an Atheist : Epicurus Reloaded: Reflections and Call to Action: Outro:   Sources: https://jis.g...

Send us Fan Mail Intro : Quote of the Week: Frantz Fanon Strategies for Black Power: The Rebel’s Clinic: Strategic Prescription for Black Power: Unmasking the News :  Democracy Watch: Trump's Authoritarian Playbook in Action:  From Reagan to Ruin – The GOP's Fall into Authoritarianism:  Another "Family-Values" Fraud Exposed:  Good News: Operation HOPE:  Bible Study with an Athe...

Send us Fan Mail Intro : Quote of the Week: Frantz Fanon Strategies for Black Power: Phenomenal Blackness: Unmasking the News :  Democracy Watch: Texas Cartographic Coup:  Genocide in Gaza:  Retribution Disguised as Justice:  Good News: Seeds of Rebellion:  Bible Study with an Atheist : The Problem of Evil Revisited: Reflections and Call to Action: Outro:   Sources: https://newafrikan77.wordpress....