Elon James White

In the aftermath of the Superbowl questions of course are swirling about black outs, half-time shows and of course–the commercials. If you were on Twitter last night you may have noticed the immediate uproar to the VW commercial featuring a white man with a Jamaican accent who was not from Jamaica. Responses started flying right and left.  I happen to land on the side of “not racist.” Conversation ensued.

On today’s TWiB! Radio we discuss the ad and other magical moments (Fast and the Furious 6 anyone?) We also discuss a racist rant from the UK about paying for “other peoples” healthcare and more. Check it out here:

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And on TWiB! in the Morning there was of course more Superbowl talk, undercover agents using dead children’s identity’s, government testing HIV meds on Foster Kids and more. Check that out here:

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As per usual the TWiB Crew will be in the comments. We’ll see you in there.

Is This Ad Racist? Well…Post + Comments (59)

As I’ve said before we don’t broadcast regularly on Friday & Saturdays but I wanted to take this time to introduce you folks to a project that I’ve been working on that’s pretty close to my heart. I recently launched a series entitled “On Blackness.” The idea was simply to have the conversation about race that everyone says we should have but then once it starts people stick their fingers in their ears and start screaming “I’M NOT RACST, YOU’RE RACIST, I’M NOT RACIST!”

So in this series I seek out an black academic (or Blackademic as some of us lovingly call them) and we have a one on one conversation. I ask them to define blackness and then the conversation goes from there. I ask them to define it because I realize that understanding what that means is something that some black folks and a lot of non-black folks simply…well…don’t. And then there are those who think they do and it’s completely off.

The project is called On Blackness but it’s a show that can be listened to and enjoyed by everyone. The themes that we talk about actually permeates through out various other cultures and races. And I think hearing a no holds conversation with folks who study and teach this stuff opens eyes on how it’s looked at.

So here are the first 3 eps we’ve done so far.  The first one is with MSNBC’s Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry of Tulane. Her commentary was magic.

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Next was with Dr. Yaba Blay who started the 1ne Drop project which really challenges what the very definition of black even means.

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And our last interview was with Dr. Jelani Cobb, a frequent guest on MHP’s show and he makes a few arguments that surprised some of  our audience.

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Let us know what you think? Do you have any questions that you’d love to hear answered? We’ll be doing follow ups with our guests and new episodes are being put together already. Weigh in and we’ll bring it to the experts. See ya in the comments.

Conversations On Race…Post + Comments (77)

First I’d like to say thanks to the Balloon Juice community for your support in this our first week (We don’t broadcast on Fridays.) We’re loving some of the comments we’re seeing and we will continue jumping all around in the comment section.

As for today’s show–I’ll admit it. I have all sorts of mixed feelings about Colin Powell. I can’t forget his place in the George W. Bush White House and his problematic role but at the same time his dive into the magical territory of “old black guy” combativeness is awesome. He’s saying what many folks in the black community feel he should have been saying much louder for years. On the latest TWiB! Radio we check out his interview on Bill O’Reilly and…well…we mock Bill hard. Plus talk on the record amount of school debt, our previous Asshole of the Day comes back with some extra assholic goodness plus more…

And as usual our morning show continues talking the gun control debate and why focusing on simply guns is not enough to curve gun violence.

And if you happen to have Current TV where ever you’re located you can catch our morning show host L. Joy Williams, TWiB Radio’s co-host Aaron Rand Freeman and myself on Viewpoint with John Fugelsang discussing the latest in news headlines. 8pm EST.

A Seemingly Reasonable Negro With An Unreasonable Past?Post + Comments (76)

Today on TWiB Radio we had Balloon Juice regular Imani Gandy (ABL) on to talk with us about the ridiculous attacks on women that are still going down in 2013. After the shellacking in 2012 the GOP received because of their constant attacks on women (plus  a lot of other crap, but that stands out) they still are pushing the absurd and downright dangerous. Imani breaks things down and accidental hilarity ensues. Take a listen.

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And on our morning show we touched on the current immigration, random chemicals in our drinks and more.

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Tomorrow I’ll be posting from our pet project On Blackness where we talk with academics about the idea of race in America. I’ll be all up in the comment section tonight. See ya there!

Stop Legislating Her Uterus! A TWiB + ABLC CollaborationPost + Comments (55)

While we gear up for the Super Bowl (I say “we” but I will fully admit I’m not a sports guy) my co-host and new Balloon Juice commenter Dacia Mitchell added to the TWiB! Radio news docket the question about the impacts of professional football and how it leaves it’s players. There was a recent article discussing how injuries in the NFL has  a racial component since over 67% of players are of color. Our resident Football expert Aaron Rand Freeman doesn’t believe we can look at injuries in Football in that particular light. The discussion was really interesting and the call-in section towards the later half of the show was pretty awesome.

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And on TWiB! in the Morning we had  New York State Senator Kevin Parker on discussing the perils of governing in a 24/7 news cycle in addition to a landscape completely changed by social media. He argues that it has less of an impact that we would think.

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Tonight I’m going out with the Wife but I’ll jump in the comments when we get back. Dacia Mitchell and Aaron Rand Freeman will hold down the comment section while I’m out being a good husband.

 

Is Football worth it?Post + Comments (32)

Greetings  Folks,

First let me say thanks for the kind words that a bunch of y’all have thrown my way. The TWiB team is excited that we’re now publishing to this community. So here’s the first episode of TWiB! Radio of the week.  I was forced to crown our first A-Hole of the Day and I’m sure you’ll understand where I’m coming from when you hear the news story that made it happen.  Here’s the show! 

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(note: I know someone mentioned on my  last post that there’s a lot of banter up front. This is true. It’s sort of how our community works. Yes we cover news but we crack jokes + share whats going on with the team. I hope you guys can dig that but if you’re like “I SIMPLY WANT A NEWS STORY” you can jump a head 15 minutes or so.)

And just in case you want to follow along with the 2 major stories we covered here are the articles that were on our docket.  And please note: We’d LOVE for you folks here on Balloon Juice to contribute to our docket!  If you’re on Twitter you can submit by tweeting on the hashtag #TWiBdocket. Or you can even post on this thread any stories that you think should be getting more play or if you simply would like to hear our take on it. We’ll take a look at it!

• Jerry Boykin feels humiliated ‘as a man’ with women in combat because of ‘personal hygiene
  ‘http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/27/jerry-boykin-feels-humiliated-as-a-man-with-women-in-combat-because-of-personal-hygiene/
• Tennessee Legislator: Cut Food Assistance to Kids With Bad Report Card
  http://mamapundit.com/2013/01/tennessee-legislator-cut-food-assistance-to-kids-with-bad-report-cards/

John was kind enough to give me free rein of what I can post here but I don’t want to overload you folks. We do a morning along with our afternoon show TWiB! Radio (the former is hosted by political strategist and Up With Chris regular L. Joy Williams), an interview show on race, a nerd show, a terribly inappropriate show and a food show.  If you guys are interested in some of those things I’ll try to post a few eps of those here as well! But for today I’ll just throw in today’s episode of “TWiB! in the Morning”. Take a listen!

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Thanks folks! I will be all up in the comment section and one of my co-host Dacia Mitchell will be jumping in to! Magic shall ensue.

 

 

A-Hole Of The Day?Post + Comments (105)