The Breakdown with Shaun King

In this episode of W.O.C. at Work, Rai and Blanca talk with Erica Hamilton, an accomplished business and non-profit executive with many years of experience in C-Suite positions. Erica talks with the hosts about how women of color can set up their "portfolio life" and ensure that the life they're living is the life they've purposely envisioned and designed. ---- While the team at The North Star tak...

Opportunity doesn't knock, it just lays there. In the past year, Black Americans have been receiving attention from corporations, politicians and funding institutions in a way that's never been seen before--and may never be seen again. In this episode, we discuss how to improve your financial situation in the current "Black Lives Matter" climate before the opportunities are taken off the table. --...

In the first part of a two-episode look at the nation’s two main political parties, Nikki Rojas and Maria Elena Perez speak to state Democrats and voting organization leaders about how well the Democratic Party is living up to its mission to “maximize voter participation for all Americans.” We hear from Colorado state Rep. Leslie Herod, Massachusetts state Sen. Becca Rausch, New Georgia Project ex...

The Coronavirus pandemic has left staggering numbers of the New York City's workers out of a paycheck. Rent has become a problem for people who never had difficulty with their rents before the pandemic. On top of that, the city’s most vulnerable population, the people without homes, are left to suffer in a deafening silence. This episode of Sick Empire is an investigation on what homelessness and...

For years on end, after every mass shooting in this country, Republicans would offer nothing but thoughts and prayers. It's infuriating. But now I am worried that Democrats who are quick to say "Black Lives Matter," but don't actually fight for policies that prove it are doing the same damn thing. Let me unpack and explain it on today's rerun episode of The Breakdown. ---- If you listen to The Bre...

I'm fighting for it. You're fighting for it. But let's take a moment to define what justice means for families impacted by police violence and racial terrorism on today's rerun episode of The Breakdown. ---- If you listen to The Breakdown and want to help support the work we do, consider becoming a member of our Patreon at www.patreon.com/thebreakdown for exclusive members perks and early access t...

2020 is too much. Period. On today's episode, a rerun that's relevant now more than ever as the year comes to a close, I just want to talk to you about the importance of processing the pain of it all. ---- If you listen to The Breakdown and want to help support the work we do, consider becoming a member of our Patreon at www.patreon.com/thebreakdown for exclusive members perks and early access to...

People ask me all of the time what I do for fun and whether or not I have a hobby. Let me tell you what I've been working on for fun for the past 6 months. ---- If you listen to The Breakdown and want to help support the work we do, consider becoming a member of our Patreon at www.patreon.com/thebreakdown for exclusive members perks and early access to content. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...

Today in the United States, essential workers and others are starting to receive the coronavirus vaccination. I come from a community of people who are rightly skeptical of everything about the American healthcare system. I agree with them that this system is predatory and has a long history of abuse and profiteering. That's why I am understanding of people who just don't accept the vaccination at...

Last night, at 9:27 PM, Brandon Bernard breathed his last breath after being injected with lethal poison 20 minutes earlier. Our federal government, with our tax dollars, did this. And it's easy to put all of the blame on our political enemy right now, but SO many people and systems failed Brandon along the way. Let me unpack and explain. ---- If you listen to The Breakdown and want to help suppor...

I want to take a moment to begin unpacking and explaining the horrible police murder of Casey Goodson - a brilliant, kind, generous young Black man in Columbus, Ohio. He did nothing wrong. Broke no laws. Committed no crimes. Wasn't wanted for anything. Had never been in trouble a day in his life. But in what is perhaps the most 2020 way to end 2020, he was shot and killed by police as he had his k...

Today is a GOOD NEWS episode of @TheBreakdown! The people of New Orleans just elected a brand new District Attorney - a civil rights attorney and former Innocence Project attorney, Jason Williams - who is going to change the local justice system from inside out. And just this week Los Angeles swore in its brand new DA, George Gascon, who came out of the gates announcing more deep systemic change t...

I see a lot of calls for Joe Biden to appoint Black people to his cabinet. I get it. Black people put this man into office. And it makes sense to demand something in return for that loyalty and dedication, but we have to have a hard conversation today, OK? Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is Black - and HORRIBLE. He has blocked justice for Breonna's family at every turn. We just defeated o...

All over the country, as the coronavirus pandemic rages out of control, businesses are being shut down to slow the spread of the virus. Listen - I understand. This thing is off the rails. I think our country clearly has to make hard emergency decisions to get through this, but if you are going to close down small businesses, and mess with the ways people provide for their families, you have to pro...

Budget cuts are about to hit this country SO hard. The pandemic is reducing tax revenue from coast to coast - and when those cuts are made, police budgets need to be some of the first budgets cut. Departments are bloated, ineffective, and don't actually make us safer. Today, I'll finish my 2 part series on why we can and should defund the police. ---- If you listen to The Breakdown and want to hel...

Earlier this year I recorded a popular 2 part series on 10 ways we can and should defund the police. In light of the current comments from Barack Obama throwing the defund movement under the bus, I want to unpack and explain what we mean and why I believe in this movement. Listen, learn, THEN feel free to let me know your thoughts. ---- If you listen to The Breakdown and want to help support the w...

Friends - grassroots leaders like Gary Chambers only make it to Congress if everyday people like us make it happen. Today, I am asking you to do something that I have never asked my listeners to do before. I am asking you to click on the link in my bio on Instagram and donate whatever you can to give Gary Chambers - one of the most courageous men I know - a jumpstart in his run for Congress. I'll...

Happy holidays everybody. I wanted to take a few minutes today to unpack and explain the meeting we hosted with the Biden-Harris administration on mass incarceration and police violence. We've had several follow up meetings in the days since the meeting and are hopeful that some of our policy ideas will be integrated into their plans. I am cautiously optimistic. I understand that Biden is moderate...

Today, Georgia, a state with a Republican Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and two Republican Senators is about to certify Joe Biden as the winner there. They finished their official recount. And this was one of the states that Trump truly believed he could and would be able to somehow flip or steal, but state by state, his loss is being officially certified by the official election...

This past Friday police in Cocoa, Florida shot and killed these two teenage boys, AJ Crooms and Sincere Pierce, in what increasingly seems like a horrible case of mistaken identity. Today, I am beginning to dig into the case. It's ugly. I don't think I've ever seen police shoot and kill two children like this before. ---- If you listen to The Breakdown and want to help support the work we do, cons...

Today I want to share a painful, personal story about a lesson that I learned about organizing for change as an outsider and organizing for change as an insider. In the winter of 2014, I found myself in a deep funk after failing in so many fights for families fighting for justice. And I got a call from The White House that forever changed the way I saw my role in this movement. I wanted to speak l...

And the seat in his district just opened up! Let's be real. Congress is full of Connies. Haha! Men and Women. And plenty of them are Democrats. And I don't know anybody that is going to be more willing to go there and speak truth to power, not only calling out injustice, but fighting for everyday people whose needs are so often missing there. I know this man. I trust him. He will never sell us out...

The United States is a nation in crisis. Yesterday nearly 2,000 people died from the coronavirus in the deadliest day since May. And Trump is literally just tweeting conspiracy videos from Fox News all day. He has abandoned his post. He is asleep at the wheel. He has 2 primary tasks in these final months of his presidency and he has bailed out on both of them. I'll unpack and explain it. ---- If y...

Yesterday more people died from the coronavirus, nearly 1,600 people, than any single day in 6 months. Yesterday set the record for the number of people hospitalized as well with nearly 65,000 people. And it also set the record for people testing positive with nearly 150,000 people in one day. And Trump has quit even pretending to care. Let me unpack and explain what gives me hope about what comes...

The Breakdown with Shaun King # 359 - Let me tell you what Trump is really doing right nowDescription: I see all of the viral videos saying how Trump could steal the presidency. He's evil enough to try, yes, but that's not what's actually going on. It's not going to be a coup. It's way more simple than that. It's a money grab. Let me unpack and explain it. ---- If you listen to The Breakdown and w...