The Black Myths Podcast

Glen Ford, the executive editor and co-founder of Black Agenda Report, recently passed on July 28th. His funeral was just held this past Saturday on September 18th. In this episode, we offer a special dedication and we replay our original interview with him concerning the myth: Democratic Party politics are Black politics. RIP Glen Ford.  Original Description This month we celebrate Black August i...

In part 2 and in continuation of Black August, we speak with renowned scholar Dr. Joy James. Building on our foundational timeline from part one, Dr. James provides an expansive outlook on the events that shaped Angela Davis's image. We discuss the commodification of Black radicalism, the influence the Communist party has on Davis, Black Elite collaboration with empire, George Jackson, and the pit...

In correspondence with Black August, we track the path of Dr. Angela Davis from childhood through or infamous trial against the US state. We discuss the extent of her involvement with the Black Panther Party, the origins of the Black Panther Party, and the events that led up to her trial involving George and Jonathan Jackson. More importantly, we debunk the idea that Black radical Aesthetics are s...

Guest - Journalist Liz Olivia Fernandez of Belly of the Beast In this episode, we present our myth as a question regarding the recent protests in Cuba and the subsequent newfound interest in Afro-Cubans: Did racism in Cuba ignite the July 11th protests? We say ignite as in not just what started the protests but what was the main element driving them? The mainstream US press is increasingly giving...

This month we are introducing a new series -- Consider the Following. A debate series administered to engage principled disagreements throughout the Black left and the sociopolitical Black world. Typically, our pod is predicated upon debunking quantifiable myths (propaganda) said about Black people. However, this series expands beyond fact and fiction to promote a discourse that works to clarify p...

In part 2, expanding upon the impact of algorithms designed as racism --- we discuss the implications of Big Tech and Big Data on the global south with a focus on South Africa. We examine the notion of digital colonialism, how controlled opposition to it mutes our understanding of western tech hegemony and how a People's Tech (Digital Socialism) can help counter it. We are joined by guests: Michae...

In this episode, we demystify the concept of algorithms and how they are technological representations of oppressive systems at large via Big Data/Big Tech. We explore the recently published Data 4 Black lives report, "Data Capitalism," to demonstrate how the process of data mining and producing algorithms to coerce labor has its roots in slavery. We examine current labor practices with Amazon and...

In episode 2, we invite Dr. Jared Ball back to the show food to discuss the continuing myths of Black Wall Street in the modern-day. We "investigate" the Greenwood banking app, the myth Of Black dollar circulation, how public policy destroyed Black Wall Street a second time, and the pros and cons of self-sustainability.  SN: We moved our dates this past month to correspond with the hundred-year an...

We're honoring the 100th-anniversary commemoration of the Tulsa Massacre sometimes poorly referred to as the Tulsa riot. We discuss how the pre-massacre Black Wall Street, a prominent Black business district located in the segregated Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was not the self-sustaining Black utopia/Wakanda that popular media has depicted it as. More importantly, we discuss the na...

In this bonus episode, we cover the Myth: Flint is an Anomaly by focusing on the city of Tallevast, Florida. In a Boston Review article "Poisoning Tallevast" Dr. James Manigualt-Bryant, Ruby Babywn, and JOSÉ Constantine cover the process of poisoning the water in the majority Black city. As the intro to the article states, "First, segregation blocked this Florida community from equal education and...

In part 2, we explore some of the criticisms of China in Africa that go beyond the mythical claims of colonization. We look at what this means in the context of the impending cold war between China and America. We also examine ways in which Africans on the continent can navigate these challenges as a means of self-determination towards Pan-Africanism. Mikaela Nhondo Erskog is an educator and resea...

For part 1, we sit down with Mikaela Nhondo Erskog, a researcher for the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, to discuss the prevalent myth of China colonizing Africa. We discuss neocolonialism, the accusations of colonialism against China, what's actually happening on the ground between China and Africa, and a brief history of China's policy in Africa since China became independent. This...

In part 2, we interview the founding editors of Hood Communist (a collective of African revolutionary nationalists using journalism to advance the fight for African Liberation) about how capitalist propaganda distorts our connections to the African diaspora, Practical ways to make those connections, and the significance of joining an organization order to form a collective fight. SN: At the time o...

Regardless of how one identifies, the facts are clear that the state of Africa has a tremendous impact on our daily lives. The resources stolen from Africa are sold as products in America, the exploitation of Africa funds the system that oppresses us in America, both of the American ghetto and African communities operate as neo-colonies for extraction, and the entire African Diaspora is sold myths...

On our final episode for our "Black Myths of Black History," we discuss a local Indianapolis myth: Unigov. Unigov was a policy in 1970 that weakened Black political power, consolidated white suburban power, and helped lead to the hyper-segregation and severe weakening of Indianapolis Public Schools. We speak with Dr. Olon Dotson, an associate professor at Ball State University and member of the In...

We discuss the infamous Willie Lynch Letter - a fictitious speech given to a group of plantation owners by a mythological slave master named Willie Lynch proclaiming his secret methods on how to control the slave population.  We interview Dr. Rasul Mowatt, a professor at Indiana University.  Rasul A. Mowatt is a Professor in the Departments of American Studies & Geography within the College of Art...

In part 2 of our series "Black Myths of Black History," we discuss the myths surrounding the concept of the "Talented Tenth" popularized by W.E.B. Du Bois with Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly. We explore its origins, its history, and how it translates to the Black leadership of today.  Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly is the 2020-2021 Visiting Scholar in the Race and Capitalism Project at the University of C...

For Black History Month we are partnering with the Center for Black Culture and Literature of the Indianapolis Public Library for a series called "Black Myths of Black History." For this first episode of the series, we speak with a friend of the show Dr. Jared Ball about the accuracy of the movie Malcolm X. We discuss the critical consumption of popular media, The inaccuracies in the film, and wha...

In this episode, we philosophically engage the myth of Trickle Down Blackness -- the concept that if a select group of Black people can gain access into elite spaces then the fruits of that access will magically trickle down to the masses of Black people. Joining us to discuss this phenomenon is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò.  Also, we discuss how pri...

In part 2, we speak with the co-chairs (Alexis Tardy And Mat Davis) of the Indiana Racial Justice Alliance on how they as a grassroots organization can organize to decentralize against police power. They discuss their demands: Defund, Community Control, and Ending Cash Bail and Pre-detention. We explore the terrain of their demands by asking conceptual democracy questions all the way down to the p...

With last month's grand jury announcement that no charges will be filed against the IMPD officer (Dejoure Mercer) who killed Dreasjon Reed, members of the Indiana Racial Justice Alliance (Nabeela Virjee & Nigel Long ) join us for a conversation on how police bury victims through the bureaucratic process. We go in-depth regarding 'The Myth of The Perfect Victim.' A myth that blames the behavior of...

We are still joined by Dr. Charisse Burden and Dr. Jared Ball. In part two of our conversation on 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,' we explore how the themes discussed in the first episode (Anti-communism, Black buying power, The Black bourgeoisie, etc) relate to our current political moment. We discuss the current propaganda machine, class dynamics of Black lives matter, the negotiating bet...

In part one of this conversation, we discuss the origins of the phrase 'Revolution Will Not Be Televised' coined by the late poet Gil Scott-Heron, how the phrase has been misunderstood, and the history that preceded it. Our guests are Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly and Dr. Jared Ball. They discuss Their subsequent works: " Black Cold War Liberalism as an Agency Reduction Formation during the Late 1940...

In part one we discussed how crime is an idea defined by the state, not by morality, how harm is a product of oppression, and most harm committed between black people is not racially motivated therefore the term black on black misleads us in understanding what occurred.  In part 2 we will be speaking with Jacques Lesure. He is currently pursuing a Ph. D. in Educational Policy Studies at the Univer...

Black-on-Black crime is one of the most commonly held myths In relation to Black people. It pathologizes the harms that Black people commit and endure between each other into a racist myth about criminality. In this episode, we not only challenge the poor racial logic but the foundation of crime itself. We explore gang violence, underground economy, state repression, and how Black people care for...