The Offshoot Podcast

August 2023 marks 50 years of Hip-Hop/Rap music, and over the corse of those 50 years, the genre of Black/African American music has grown to become a global powerhouse.  Across the planet, Hip-Hop/Rap music is the dominate sound on various radio and streaming music platforms. Travel to practically any country, and you'll hear Hip-Hop/Rap being performed in various languages by various cultur...

"If we can't protect the little ones then we as humans are failing God by not allowing plans to come to fruition," says Robert Thompson, the father of 5-month-old Jeremiah Eli Thompson whose death was ruled a homicide due to blunt-force trauma to the head.  Baby Jeremiah, as Robert and his wife Melissa still like to call him, was a healthy, vibrant infant, when, along with his twin,...

After more than five years working the streets of Washington, DC as a police office for the Metropolitan Police Department, Adonis Savage says crime is much worse than what people believe and what they are told to be believe about crime by the politicians and the police leadership.  In the second part conversation with Savage, he gives a full accounting of how crime is and is not reported, specifi...

Adonis Savage was a police officer with the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department for more than five years ... he left the police force in April 2023.  In this two-part conversation of The Offshoot, Savage explains that the apathy prevalent within police departments stems from the leadership within the police force.  Additionally, he talks about the lacks behavior of some officers, and he...

It’s happening all across the United States, in big cities and small towns, in liberal and conservative places of government … people’s cars and homes are being broken into, and in many occurrences, the perpetrators of those crimes are young children as young as age 10. The outcry from people, victims and non-victims, is growing.  Most recently, in Washington, DC, a 13-year-old, Karon Blake, was s...

The pre-dawn January 7th shooting of Karon Blake, a 13-year-old African American middle school student in Washington, DC, has people asking questions that no one seems to be able to answer or want to answer. Who was the shooter? Why was a 13-year-old out at 3am-4am? Was the shooter white? Was the shooter Black? Where were Karon’s parents? Was Karon breaking into cars? Why hasn’t the police made an...

International performance artist Jose Torres-Tama speaks about how the United States of America has purposely forgotten its history when it comes to Black and Brown people.  "It's the United States of Amnesia," he says, which is also the title of his latest show to be performed September 23-24 at the Ashe Powerhouse Theater in New Orleans.  You learn more about Torres-Tama and his w...

Before the stay-at-home dad was in the lexicon of Black American society, community leader and activist, Randall Chandler and his wife Paula decided that he should be the one to stay at home, take care of the house, and tend to the children's school activities and household chores.  As a couple, Randall and his wife decided that he should give up his career - noting that because of the cost o...

You've probably noticed that there seems to be a plethora of angry people crossing the path of your daily life.  Maybe you're one of the many people who walks around with a lot of unacknowledged angry - ready to snap at the first person who crosses your path.  What gives?  Why are you so angry? On this episode of The Offshoot podcast and aggregate, I ask Tifarah Thomas to provide her per...

Black farmers have been fading from the American countryside for decades, but there are a few Black farmers who are successfully keeping the Black farm active.  Michael Carter Jr. of Carter Farms in Orange County, VA is running his family's 110-year-old farm, and he talks about the value of land and farming - especially when it comes to building sustainability for the Black community.  But hi...

Panel guests go all in and very hard on the power of Black people and the diaspora ... particularly the global influence of Black Americans. Returning to The Offshoot is owner of Alltecs, Dawnta Million, and entrepreneur Justin Mathewson, who give their vivid thoughts on protecting Black communities from mass shootings by the hands of white men; the need for reparations; the dispelling of a narrat...

On this episode of The Offshoot I talk with realtor Troy Patterson - the owner of The Spera Group at TTR Sotheby's International Realty.  Serving the metropolitan Washington, DC area for decades, Troy is on The Offshoot to talk about home ownership and building family home ownership legacy via selling the family or keeping the family.  Sometimes selling grandma's home might be the best w...

Having close relationships to white people, whether it be in the educational system, on the job, or marriage, seems to have benefited a select group of Black Americans and other people of color.  I personally benefited early in my career as a journalist by being close to white people.  In fact, there was a time, early in my journalism career, when I was the only Black person working in the entire...

Alex Muir discusses human Resources technology and using technology to increase diversity, improve the hiring of Black Americans and people of color, and the opportunities for HR entrepreneurship.  In this conversation of The Offshoot, we discuss how technology with legal can be a method for protecting Black Americans in the hiring process at institutions that historically kept Black Americans out...

On this edition of The Offshoot podcast and aggregate, we talk about protecting Black communities and other communities of color in rural America.  Toni Nelson-Graves, a local community leader, activist, social worker, and talkshow host discusses what it is needed and missing in small town America. Support the show

Do you know your own body? In the latest installment of The Offshoot podcast and aggregate, Imani McMichaels tells how she took control of her own health and started a holistic business centered on alkaline, plant-based foods.  She can be found at www.alkalove.com. Support the show

Redlining, in it's original form, is illegal but it still exists today - Black people and other people of color are being pushed out of the neighborhoods they grew up in and/or being forced to buy outside the city. Support the show

Entrepreneur/business owner and father of three young boys, Dawnta Million discusses protecting the sanctity of fatherhood on this episode of The Offshoot. Support the show

Ms. Flossie was one of my grandmother's (Irene Nelson) closest friends.  Most all of them died before I was able to record some of their stories. Support the show

The Offshoot podcast and aggregate is a channel all about advocating for and making Black/African Americans and Native Americans a protected class of people.  In this conversation of The Offshoot we discuss Will Smith repeated use of the word protecting. Support the show

A veteran in DC Politics and a prolific social work activist, Jeffrey Richardson speaks about the important role of political activism to ensure protections for Black/African Americans and Native Americans. Support the show

The Offshoot Podcast and Aggregate is a platform for independent journalism hosted by Lee Shawn Nelson where we ask the questions "How do we make Black/African Americans and Native Americans a protected class of people?"  "What does it mean to be a protected class of people?"  "What does it look in terms of culture, society, politics, economics?" "Do we have enou...

Justin Matherson is a veteran entrepreneur with multiple business operations covering cyber security, IT, contracting and warehouse logistics. Support the show

Shaka Berry says that he "is an unapologetic radical progressive.  He's a blogger for the Angry Black Rant, co-host of the 4 Shitz & Giggles podcast and an all around social media firebrand.  Strong in his opinions and a self proclaimed champion of truth.  This son of the 1960's movements is a committed Pan-Africanist that is equally committed to keeping the fascist take over of...