The Breakdown with Shaun King

I don't remember a single time Herschel Walker opened up his mouth where he didn't embarrass himself. The man is perpetually humiliating. But today is RUNOFF DAY in Georgia - and if you live there and have not voted yet, please stop EVERYTHING and go vote right now. And if you don't live there, but know ANYBODY who does, please contact them immediately, because this race, in my opinion, is the sin...

Over the past few days I've sat back and observed a WIDE range of opinions being expressed about Deion Sanders leaving his HBCU coaching job at Jackson State for a new position at a struggling predominantly white institution. And I've seen EVERYTHING you could imagine be expressed from what seemed like genuine anger and rage to excitement and encouragement for him - and everything in between. Toda...

So often, we help families after their loved ones have been killed. THIS IS DIFFERENT.⁣ ⁣We are going to help send HUNDREDS of students from Brooklyn, New York on a life-changing 6-week study abroad experience. ⁣ We have to raise the funds for passports, flights, lodging, ground transportation, and more. ⁣ In 2018, Ember Charter School in the heart of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, took over 100 students and...

So often, we help families after their loved ones have been killed. THIS IS DIFFERENT.⁣ ⁣ We are going to help send HUNDREDS of students from Brooklyn, New York on a life-changing 6-week study abroad experience. ⁣ ⁣ We have to raise the funds for passports, flights, lodging, ground transportation, and more. ⁣ ⁣ In 2018, Ember Charter School in the heart of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, took over 100 student...

As you no doubt heard by now, last week Donald Trump literally dined with one of the single most disgusting bigots in the country. Nick Fuentes is an open racist. This man jokes about the Holocaust and openly calls Black folk the "n word." It would seem to be a softball for Republicans to denounce Trump meeting with a Neo-Nazi. But they actually can't. Why? Because CURRENTLY ELECTED members of the...

My friends. I am not an alarmist or conspiracy theorist. I am a hopeful and optimistic person. But right now, before our very eyes, we are witnessing a truly dangerous normalization and escalation of hate and bigotry in America. I have studied hate and bigotry all of my life. And before racist violence spikes in a country, the very things that are happening RIGHT HERE and RIGHT NOW take place. Whe...

By now, you've likely seen the photo of Jerry Jones, the owner of "America's Team," the Dallas Cowboys, protesting with other young white men in 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas - in an attempt from keeping Black students entering their school. It's been confirmed. And what's perhaps most revealing is that I haven't heard a single person shocked by Jerry Jones being in this photo. In makes sense, act...

Herschel Walker isn't even hiding it. On his 2022 taxes he literally received a tax credit from Texas because he listed it as his primary residence. I can think of a million reasons for voters in Georgia to not support this man, but now we understand that he's doing the exact same thing that Dr. Oz just tried to pull in Pennsylvania. Oz literally lives in New Jersey and tried to pretend that he li...

After being suspended for 8 games, Kyrie Irving has now apologized for sharing a link on Twitter on social media, in print, behind the scenes, face to face, in person, at press conferences, and more. I don't know if I've ever seen a human being apologize more times, in more ways, than Kyrie Irving has had to apologize. Yet, every chance the almost exclusively white members of the sports media get,...

Listen, I know the world is a hard place. And while the Internet, in some ways, is just a reflection of the world, I see way too many of us being mean as hell online. I'm not talking about trolls and white supremacists. I'm talking about us. Even in my own comment sections I see way too much hatefulness, and what I would call "casual bigotry" coming from otherwise good people. I have one simple st...

Trump is running for President. He could win the Republican nomination. But so could Ron DeSantis. Can Joe Biden beat both of them? I think Biden could actually beat Trump. But I don't think Biden would beat DeSantis? So who else should run? Let me unpack and explain it. To listen to today’s FULL EPISODE of The Breakdown, CLICK THE LINK IN MY INSTAGRAM BIO, or go now to Apple Podcasts or Spotify a...

After they just lost their majority in the Pennsylvania State House in the midterm elections, white conservatives in Pennsylvania just rushed through a vote in the 5 weeks they have left in power, to impeach Philadelphia's duly elected DA, Larry Krasner. It's a catastrophic development. Larry not only just won reelection in Philly in an absolute blowout, he may have the most support of any elected...

Well, the worst kept secret in politics is now out. Donald Trump is running for President. Today on @TheBreakdown podcast I want to talk to you about how I think he’ll do, who I think will win the Republican nomination, what’s different this time around, how I think Trump would do against Biden, and much much more. Let me unpack and explain it. To listen to today’s FULL EPISODE of The Breakdown, C...

Listen - anybody with an ounce of integrity or decency knows that Raphael Warnock is an infinitely better leader (and human being) than Herschel Walker. It's shameful that we even need to have that discussion. But it's easy for all of us that DO NOT live in Georgia to think that this race doesn't really matter to us. I could give you 100 reasons why electing Warnock matters to ALL of us, but today...

I am disturbed. Because if one thing is clear to me right now it’s this… we’ve clearly crossed over into a period where the speech, language, performances, and even social media of Black people are being over-policed in an outrageous fashion right now. Dave Chappelle’s monologue this weekend on Saturday Night Live was MASTERFUL. Beyond the fact that his jokes were hilarious, he was vulnerable and...

Ownership is EVERYTHING. And we need to talk about it and do something about it. Because when you dominate in an industry or space that you don't actually own, no matter how gifted you are, you will ALWAYS be at the whims and will of owners. We see it the NBA and NFL. We see it fashion. We see it now at Nike. We have to be owners in ALL of the spaces we dominate. Let's talk about it. To listen to...

Something truly inspiring happened on Tuesday. 2 red states and 2 blues states voted to remove "slavery as punishment for a crime" from their state constitutions - something that should've happened over 100 years ago. Progress can be very slow sometimes. It's a credit to the amazing grassroots organizers on the ground that these things passed - and it's a sign that bi-partisan support exists for a...

Listen, it's a RARE day when I have 10 different good news stories to share, but today is THAT day. Yes, we had a few very tough defeats, but the victories across the country were pretty amazing and actually surprising. We aren't yet sure if Democrats will be able to hold on to the House or Senate, but some AMAZING new leaders were elected to Congress. Democrats took control of the entire state go...

It's Election Day. And by the end of the night I expect it will likely be a bloodbath for Democrats from coast to coast. I truly hope I'm wrong, but we're on pace for Democrats to lose Congress, to lose important statewide races, and find themselves back in a familiar place where they control the White House but not much else. Today I want to unpack and explain why we're here. It didn't have to be...

In 1990, soon after his release from prison, Nelson Mandela traveled to New York, and was interviewed by Ted Koppel in front of over 1,000 people at City College. To start the event off, a man in the audience all but demanded that Mandela denounce Fidel Castro, Yasser Arafat, and Muammar Gaddafi. On today’s full episode of The Breakdown I’ll play Mandela’s brilliant and timeless answer, where, in...

I really, REALLY need you to understand something. The LOUDEST voices about gun violence in Black communities don't love Black people and don't love our communities. They talk about "black on black crime" not because they care about Black people, but as a way to make us look like subhuman. But their lies are in the way and preventing us from making the progress that I know we can and MUST make. Le...

Earlier today we all learned the horrible news that another brilliant young Black man was shot and killed in America - this time it was Takeoff, the rapper of Migos fame. And it's all clearly way too much. It's an epidemic. And I see good people struggling to say something meaningful right now. Even more, I see good people accidentally saying the wrong things, but with the best of intentions. Let...

A whole helluva lot is going on right now. In America and around the world. It's overwhelming. Wars. Rumors of wars. Elections. Assassination attempts. And that's barely scratching the surface. Whenever it gets like this, and it's been getting like this much more frequently lately, a real temptation exists to watch the news 24/7, but I implore you, don't do that. It only makes your anxiety worse....

I am gravely concerned about what Twitter is going to become under Elon Musk, but 2 pretty concrete barriers are in place that I truly believe will prevent it from becoming a haven for racism and bigotry. Musk has called himself a "free speech absolutist" - which means he believes all speech, including hate speech and targeted harassment should be allowed. But that's actually not going to be possi...

No matter what is going on in the world, when voters decide to cast a ballot in election season, two key issues are always on their mind - the economy and public safety. Everybody - from every race and background in America - wants to be safe and wants to know that they have enough money to get them through the month. And as it stands right now, dozens of polls show that voters currently prefer co...