Color Commentary

Nikole Hannah-Jones's new essay on the school she chose for her daughter has become one of the biggest education stories of the year, and the reactions are still coming. In a different kind of episode, Dr. Charles Cole III gets put in the hot seat by his director. First a straight recap of the whole arc, the 2016 essay, the 2026 reckoning, and a fallout that pulled in the school-choice right, defe...

Two education stories landed eight days apart this month, and they are really one story. Dr. Charles Cole III breaks down the New York Post front-page report on California high school GPAs climbing while college math skills fall, a piece he is quoted in, alongside Nikole Hannah-Jones's New York Times Magazine essay on the decade-long cost of the school she chose for her daughter. In the black and...

This week on Color Commentary, Charles discussed Black political strategy, Democratic Party identity, and whether Black voters should continue voting as a unified bloc or diversify their political leverage. We’d love to hear from you! Email Charles at colorcommentarypod@gmail.com And check out our merch here !

This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole III starts with Lanterns, HBO's grounded, critically loved take on the Green Lantern mythos that finally puts John Stewart at the center of the story and turns a comic book into prestige television and a conversation about race in America. Then Dr. Cole shifts to a harder question: after sixty years voting as one bloc, is unified Black political powe...

This week on Color Commentary centers on one big question: what are grades really measuring, and who gets harmed when grading practices drift away from actual learning? Dr. Charles Cole III and Educator Barnes break down grading inflation, participation grades, mastery-based retakes, and the gap between student performance and student proficiency. They also widen the conversation to agency, teache...

This week on Color Commentary, Charles takes on two stories that turn out to be one. First, the viral video of a Houston teacher and influencer who broke down over seniors who could not read, and everything that came out after: the school's A rating, a former colleague's pushback, and the messenger's own history. Charles lays out the real literacy data, refuses to soften it, and asks what we owe k...

A one-line dress code policy out of Tuskegee University, banning bonnets and durags in class and the cafeteria, set off an online firestorm. But is this really about clothes? This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole III breaks down the facts, then sits down with educator and executive leadership coach Jubilee Ransome, founder of RestartED, to dig into professionalism versus respectability,...

This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole III reviews Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, the record-shattering, IMAX-shot adaptation of Homer's epic starring Matt Damon as Odysseus. In the black and white, Dr. Cole runs the numbers on a film that has already become Nolan's biggest global debut and an instant Oscar front runner. Then, in full color, he digs into the themes that stuck with him:...

This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole III catches CJ McCollum on X breaking down what it actually takes to make it in the NBA, and realizes the advice was never really about basketball. It was about survival, strategy, and fit. Dr. Cole plays the clip, breaks down the line that anchors the whole episode ("it is not the best 450 players, it is the 450 that fit the best"), and then deliver...

In this episode of Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole interviews his friend and collaborator, Dr. Shanté Jackson-Barnes, to discuss the literacy crisis in America. We’d love to hear from you! Email Charles at colorcommentarypod@gmail.com And check out our merch here !

Welcome to Color Commentary, where the stories shaping our world start in black and white and then come into full color. In this episode, Charles opens with a homecoming in New Orleans: the A Black Hands crew reunited at the National Charter Schools Conference, where a packed room, a custom podcast space, and real chemistry made the night feel bigger than a reunion. He reflects on why the show mat...

What’s really happening behind the scenes of Memphis’ education upheaval? Dr. Cole dissects the recent law that replaces elected school boards with a shady, unchecked, state-appointed oversight board—who controls the district’s $1.7 billion budget—and what that means for local voices. You’ll discover how this law, rooted in a governance crisis, reveals the entrenched disparities and political mach...

In this episode of Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole, III delves into the intricate dynamics between Black America and the diaspora, exploring how cultural identity and political maneuvers shape our communities. From dissecting controversial comments on accents to exposing the strategic defunding of Black educational programs, this conversation highlights the critical need for unity, understandin...

In this episode of Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole, III explores the profound connections between literacy, hip-hop artistry, and cultural expression, while also diving into the excitement of the NBA Finals and the rise of Victor Wembanyama. From uncovering Jay-Z's intricate wordplay to analyzing basketball phenoms, this conversation emphasizes the importance of education, authenticity, and res...

Join Dr. Charles Cole and Educator Barnes as they explore innovative strategies for keeping kids engaged during the summer without turning it into a mini school session. Discover how library programs, cultural festivals, and meaningful conversations can transform summer into a time of growth and connection. Learn about the importance of autonomy for older kids and how simple activities can enhance...

She's been on The Breakfast Club, gone viral with Cam Newton, coached celebrities on live streams, and built a platform as 'Dr. Cheyenne Bryant.' But can she prove the doctorate? This week, Dr. Cole breaks down the full story — the Argosy University collapse, the empty ProQuest record, the licensure debate, and what this moment actually reveals about credibility, accountability, and mental health...

In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was the federal government's answer to a century of voter suppression against Black Americans. In 2013, the Supreme Court gutted its most powerful provision. On April 29, 2026, the Court finished what it started — and within days, states across the South began redrawing maps to strip Black communities of their congressional representation before November's midterm el...

This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Cole opens up Office Hours, a new lane on the show where he takes a real situation and works it live using the A.N.D. framework. This one is a composite drawn from more than ten real cases he's seen over the years as a social worker, scholar, organizer, and entrepreneur. A middle school teacher is fighting to keep a brilliant 12-year-old Black boy out of an alter...

  In 2020, American philanthropy made a lot of noise about supporting Black-led nonprofits. New research from Candid and ABFE just dropped — and it shows that for most Black-led organizations, those promises amounted to a brief surge and a hard landing. The money was temporary. The relationships never formed. The structural gap never closed. And now, with the Trump administration rolling back DEI...

This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole is joined by education activist, Brightbeam CEO, and fellow 8 Black Hands host Chris Stewart to break down the Netflix documentary Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere. The film — which hit number one on Netflix — takes viewers inside a growing world of online male influencers who profit from messages about masculinity, dominance, and distrust. But C...

This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Cole gets personal. From sleeping in a Tenderloin shelter at nine years old to earning a doctorate, speaking across the country, and helping more than a thousand kids get to college — he traces the origins of an ambition that has driven everything and cost him plenty. This is not a success story. This is an honest reckoning with the most faithful and most dangero...

Today I want to make an argument. It is one I believe in deeply — both because of the work I do every day and because of the evidence that history gives us when we bother to look. The argument is simple: do not underestimate young people. Do not put a ceiling on what they are capable of creating. Because the next time someone tells you that youth is a limitation, I want you to think about two name...

We have two things today. First — the Oscars happened Sunday...and I need to say a few words. Then we're going deep on something I watched this weekend that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. Louis Theroux just dropped a documentary on Netflix called Inside the Manosphere . I watched it. I have thoughts. And I think you need to watch it too — especially if you have a son, a nephew, a litt...

I want to revisit the BAFTA conversation one more time — because the comments have not stopped coming in and there is one more thing I need to say. Then we are going to walk through all ten Best Picture nominees ahead of the Oscars this Sunday — what they are, whether I've seen them, what I actually think. I'll be honest about which ones I've seen, which ones I haven't, and which one I started and...

Last week we talked about the BAFTAs — Ryan Coogler's historic win, and what Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo had to endure on that stage. Well, this week MBJ went and won the Actor Award — formerly the SAGs — in one of the biggest upsets of the awards season. And the Oscars are twelve days away. We're going to celebrate that. But I also need to address some of the comments from last episode — b...