Latest / Black Box Theory Podcast / BBT #12 | Draft Auto-Enrollment, the System Is Failing American Men, and Chicago Propaganda

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BBT #12 | Draft Auto-Enrollment, the System Is Failing American Men, and Chicago Propaganda · Black Box Theory Podcast

• Thomas: Hello, hello, hello. Malcolm: What's going on man? What's going on? going on? We're back. Thomas: Back at episode 12, a lot going on, a lot going on. Appreciate everybody tuning in. First and foremost, ⁓ I am Thomas, one half of Black Box Theory. Malcolm: Yeah man, Malcolm, you know, we back. Appreciate all the support, all the engagement. As always, you know, we say this every week, but like I said, you know, we only on our 12th episode, but yeah, nah, it's become like second nature now, bro. It's really kind of just like automatic week over week, just trying to continue to compound and just kind of build on some of the stuff we talked about previously and just continue to putting out a good product and hopefully something that's enjoyable to anyone that... Thomas: Going up. Malcolm: that does take the time to listen to us. So like I always say, we appreciate y'all. We support everybody who supports us. And yeah, we can go ahead. We can go ahead jump right into it today, Thomas: Yeah, let's do it. You know, so I think one thing that's kind of a big topic just to kind of get us going. A lot of people have seen the news that there's going to be some automatic military. Malcolm: Wait, bro. Thomas: ⁓ snap. man, I've been doing this too long. Okay, my fault. Yeah. Okay. First up, we ⁓ just talking. This is a podcast. None of us are financial advisors. None of us are ⁓ ⁓ take the advice that you're on. Brace, ⁓ you know, the disclaimer, like we are not financial advisors, investment professionals. So. Malcolm: Yeah. Thomas: or career coaches, do your own research, make sure you understand everything going on. And don't be like me, don't just jump into things. Make sure you understand, seek legal and professional support and make your own decisions, very educated in an educated manner. Malcolm: Let's do it, man. Let's do it. Thomas: Okay, yeah, appreciate you, Malcolm, for that. ⁓ So yeah, automatic military registration, ⁓ so, automatic military draft registration in the future. So pretty much there's been a lot of hubbub, a lot of conversation about people being registered for the draft, and I think a lot of people don't understand what that means, and ⁓ just kind of the bigger, broader picture of that is that if you don't understand what that means, it makes me think. that you don't know what the selective service system is anyway, which is a problem. So just as a preference and a warning for every man out there, if the government recognizes you as a man at 18 years of age, you are legally required to register for the selective service system. And if you do not, you can be imprisoned and face up to a $250,000 fine. And if you do not do it by the age of 26, it is too late and you may be denied from getting federal jobs. I believe it was ⁓ financial, like federal financial assistance and other federal related things. ⁓ So basically you have to register and all it means is that you are registered in the case that there is a need for a draft which has to be approved by Congress and the president. So it's not saying that you're gonna get drafted. It's not saying that there is a draft. It's just, it's something you have to do. And this is just making it automatic, which they really should have been doing. ⁓ Because like for people who don't forget, you could be facing some time. Or not for people who forget, you could be facing time. Malcolm: Yeah, I ain't gonna lie bro. I see a lot of people kind of like in a frenzy about on social media like ⁓ I do this and that like I think people see the word automatic and draft and Just just automatically kind of just put those two together and think like a everybody's going to war ⁓ But yeah, honestly, I said, it's not nothing different. It's honestly I think hopefully should Cut a lot of cost of however much the government was spending on sending out all them thousands hundreds of thousands of ⁓ pieces of paper out to the 18 year old boys tell them sign up ASAP but um but yeah nah I got to tell them Thomas earlier bro. God forbid and I really do hope all this stuff wrap up and there is never even a need to escalate to the point where we are driving civilians into a war with another country but if I get that call saying yo we need you this country needs you suit up boot up. You can just show me my cell, bro. You can show me my cold dark cell. You can show me my three meals a day. be getting, I'm not, for him, I'm not going to war, bro. I'm not going to war for Donald, bro. No, not, not, not, I'm not going to war on behalf of a man that has dodged the draft with like five times, has been silver spoon, born into a wealthy family, has never worked for anything in his life, has never put his life on the line for anything related to this country and the time that you did have to. You made up something each and every time it was time to like you died to draft multiple times you think I am going out there and putting my life on the line for you, for Donald? No, I don't think so. I don't think so, bro. So yeah, you can show me my shell. You can show me where I be laying my head. You feel me? ⁓ Taking a trial, all of that. But yeah, that's just me, man. Thomas: you It's understandable. mean, I believe I'm ineligible, but let's say if I am, hey, put me on the front line with Baron. Put me on the front line with ⁓ some of these other people, kids. Like even for people who know who Ray Dalio is, ⁓ he's like ⁓ the owner, CEO, well, he was a CEO and founder of, ⁓ gosh, what's it called? Bridge, I want to say Bridgewater. I think it's called, it's like a VC firm. It's like a big in the financial game, but he's like a big name. But basically I'm reading like his book and he actually talked about that a little bit. He said how he was supposed to be drafted because his birthday was in that timeframe. Cause there wasn't selective service system back then. They just, did about birthdays. Like it was straight up like if you were born in this timeframe, you gotta go to Vietnam. ⁓ And he was actually supposed to get drafted, but his father. Malcolm: Hmm. Thomas: Have went in like went to the doctor and they found some something wrong with him that made him ineligible So he never went and he said he has mixed feelings about it because at the time he was he was 18 19 20 He was young like he himself didn't have control over this But he said he has mixed feelings about it to this day, even though he technically didn't dodge Like because you got drafted you you know, you you get checked out things that Malcolm: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thomas: Poor people or people who don't have access can't do, can't. Malcolm: They would never have that ⁓ type of excuse, sure, not excuse, but they would just never have access to something like that. And they would just be out of there regardless of whatever type of mental or physical ailments they got going on. hey, man, just know. I hope everyone understands how the selective, if you don't, just read up on it, understand how the selective draft. process works. You know, like I said, God forbid that it is ever a case that we need to elevate it to that point where everyone needs to kind of be worried and scared of it. ⁓ But yeah, I think we should just really kind of be phoning it out as just like noise and ⁓ just like a way for them to be, you know, government and whatnot to be bit more efficient and cut some costs because the amount of money that we are spending on this war, the billions, trillions that could be going to get people off streets and and you know all that good stuff so yeah man ⁓ ⁓ business as usual Thomas: Just another day, just another day in the land of the free. mean, but speaking of business, know, let's talk about some ways that, or an important conversation regarding how you choose to approach business. What kind of business you like getting into specifically gambling versus saving or other words, a 401k. What are people doing? Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Yeah, nah, I don't think people realize like, just like, I think people don't understand how fundamentally different our generation approaches saving, retirement accounts, investing, compared to older generations like the baby boomers, the millennials. Every financial advisor, ⁓ they'll tell you that the sports betting, the prediction markets, the meme coins, this is a stupid, rash decision. But what if, not saying I do it or Thomas does it, but what if for specific generation at a very specific moment in time, they're actually the more rational choice compared to the typical invest in the market, leave it untouched for 20, 30, 40, 50 years with an 8 to 12 % return each year. That's not a comfortable question, but it is the right one. So before we even dive into any what's right, what's wrong, what's smart, or what's not, let's just kind of like just lay the land with a couple quick facts. So Gen Z on average, according to Northwestern Mutual Planning and Progress, a study they did, Gen Z carries on average $94,101 in personal debt. This is the highest of any generation and nearly doubles millennials at $59,181. Only 11 % of Gen Z investors hold a retirement account and 42 % hold crypto, once again, according to Northwestern Mutual. 32 % of Gen Z are currently in or considering prediction markets and sports betting compared to 24 % of millennials. 80 % of those investors say they're doing it because traditional investing can't get them where they need to be fast enough. And a 100 trillion crypto derivatives boom is being fueled specifically by Gen Z financial nihilism. The racial wealth gap at current rates of conventional investing closes in over 200 years. according to the Federal Reserve. So the question we have here, if the system was designed so that doing everything right, i.e. dumping 20 % of your salary into the market and just leaving it untouched, at what point does the responsible financial choice become the irrational one? Now, my take on this, I think that there is like, I think that one generation and just the way you were brought up and the way you were introduced to money, I think plays a huge part in how you answer this question. Because I think that if you talk to anybody over the age of 30, they would laugh at a question. They wouldn't even take a question like this serious, unless you're gambling addict. But most people would listen to this and be like, older people at least, they'd hear a 401k investing in the S &P, a high yield savings account compared to ... Thomas: Yeah. Malcolm: betting on whether Trump will say a word in his speech on Kalsi, what ⁓ it, Kalsi? Kalsi? I didn't notice it. Yeah, Polly marker, all them like, ⁓ would laugh at a question like this. ⁓ asked one of my boys that puts in ⁓ slip every day on yoghurt, getting 10 rebounds, he'd be like, bruh, tell me to, probably, so that is another thing. And I think that- Thomas: ⁓ was it Polymarket? Er, no, don't even know it's Malcolm: I think that another kind of like underlying reason that thing, and we have touched on this before way in one of our way earlier episodes, but I would imagine that Gen Z is more inclined to the quick, the get rich quick schemes because I think that our generation has, like I don't want to say unfortunately, but because of the rise of social media and the access that we can seem to other people's lives, stuff like that is just always kind of like. plastered on our feet in front of our faces at all times. All we see growing up to now and still now, we see people who are insanely rich, who got rich at 18 and 19 at 20 years old doing whatever, whether it's through streaming, through betting, through owning a business, through owning a clothing brand, doing YouTube, whatever. We've seen all these, like these plethora of kind of like unicorn individuals and we've unfortunately kind of like established that as the standard. And like I said, this is, you can go back on our page. like one of the very first clips you posted it was about when I was talking about how like people think that their failure at 21, 22 because they don't have a Lambo yet. This is another subsection of that topic right. Now when it comes to is gambling smarter than a 401k right now I think that entirely depends on your position. I personally would not pick gambling over investing into a retirement account, but that's also because I'm in a position where I don't necessarily I'm blessed enough and I'm fortunate where it's like a retirement account is really an option for me. Because I think when you ask questions like these, lot of people don't realize that lot of people don't have even have retirement accounts as an option. Like people, like one of the, when I hear people say this and they say it like it's just the most obvious thing in the world, like, duh, like invest your money in the market in the S &P, you'll get your returns back. But a lot of that is like, assuming that people have that money left over to be able to invest in the market. A lot of people live paycheck to paycheck. Thomas: at a time. Malcolm: and don't have the luxury like I think like people don't realize like investing in the stock market that's a luxury. That's not a that's not just a given that every American every person in world has access to like everyone can just drop you know a ton of money into the market and just let it compound over 10, 20, 30 everyone doesn't have that luxury. like if you're telling if you're telling someone hey if you get this slip right you can get $100,000 today versus some financial advisor telling you hey Thomas: Yeah. Malcolm: I need you to put in this money that's going to put food in your kids back, food on the table for your family, keep the lights on. If you put in the market today, guess what though in 35 years, you'll have $300,000 to your name. It's a luxury bro. All right, like, and I think that, yeah, yeah, I was gonna wrap up there, but I like, I think that that's kind of like the biggest thing that you have to consider when talking about things like this because it's not as simple as a, it's not as black and white as I think this question is kind of like making it seem. Thomas: It's a luxury. It should. Malcolm: Like it's just a duh, invest or gamble. Like I think it's a lot of kind of important personal and financial factors that kind of go into making a decision like this. You feel me? So that's my take. Thomas: Yeah, I mean, that's facts. And I think, like you said, like people don't have the opportunity all the time. And I think it should be the baseline. I don't think investing and saving and all that should be a luxury, but we got to think like think back to college, bro. Like think about saving that on prize picks, fan duel, trying to flip some money so I could eat. You know what mean? Like it's when you when you are in a position where you don't have time. Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Yeah? Yeah? Thomas: to wait 30 years for the money, you need money now, you need money next week, next month, you don't have time to wait. So people who are saying, ⁓ invest, if you're choosing not to invest, you're choosing to die, it's your fault, blah, let's zoom in, right? Because I think you're too zoomed out. Let's zoom in a little bit. Let's bring it down to where people are. Everyone doesn't have the time. People say invest or die, which is true, but sometimes people don't. Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: It's die or die. You want to die? Go on. Malcolm: That's what I'm saying. I feel like this isn't one of those topics you can just make that simple because everyone is on the same position as you. think, like I said, you and I, both in very blessed positions even to be able to speak on this stuff for one and then also to have that option to invest. Everyone doesn't have that option to invest. That's not no fault of them. mean, people are just in different circumstances. And I think that a more... A more, ⁓ more considerable approach is just like, think before you just kind of like just plaster and just kind of like just shout like, hey, invest, invest, invest, invest. think it's just more important to kind of like understand what everyone's situation is. And I think, yes, a lot of times if you break down someone's finances and expenses and all that good stuff, you will find a lot of, I think, opportunities to invest. I say a lot of people do live paycheck to paycheck, like groceries, you have family, you have rent, you have bills, have utilities, you have car insurance, all that good stuff. Yes. I'm not saying... forsake those or forfeit those. I'm sure if you thoroughly go through people's expenses, you will find plenty of opportunities to kind of like, hey, you can dial a cost average here. You can drop a little bit in here. like, you I just think you just have to kind of like be more understanding that everyone is not in a position to just drop and deploy a ton of capital all at once. Because I mean, it's like, it's pretty, I also, I'm not going to say, like I said, I still don't agree with going to gambling over having a retirement account because I do still want to. you like I said, you can have all the money you want right now, but like said, when I'm old, I want to be able to have, you know, money freely to take care of any whatever medical expenses, whatever type of, you know, trips want to go on when I'm older, all that good stuff. Yes. But I will say, ⁓ generation thing bro. Like, if anybody that watches the news all you see is S &P going down this year. I'm sure people who were on the fence about investing are probably all the way off it now because market's been getting slaughtered this year. We did have a couple green days towards the latter half of last week but yeah. Hopefully ⁓ everyone's just little bit more understanding. Thomas: Watch. Watch all about the Benjamins or any movie where somebody got their hands on the lottery ticket. It sums it up right there. Everybody wants that moment. Even the rich people, the people who say invest, they have those moments. They act like they don't do risks and gambles. It's just different. They definitely do. Malcolm: Yeah. Yeah, and if we bein' real, people that do get rich off options and trading, it essentially is gambling. Obviously there's a bit more structure and you can really study price movements and you have a lot more data to support the decisions that you make, but at end of the day it's still a very, very educated guess that you're putting a lot of money on to multiply and make more. Hey man, do what's best for you. Do what's smart, smartest for you. But, you know, at least if you aren't, if you are all the way on the gambling side, I'd advise to at least look into a retirement account, what it can do. Maybe some of those money, that money that you put in on Jokic and Bron and KD. Maybe some of that can, you know what saying, go to the SMP, go to VU, go to QQQ, right? Like, we can... Thomas: Some of their long-term players are betting on who's going to the 2032 NCAA CFB. anyway, hey, hey, speaking on education, speaking on knowledge, we got a problem. We have a serious problem in the community, in the world really, because this is a travesty for everybody. Not a tragedy, but a travesty that is happening. And that is black men are leaving college campuses. Malcolm: You Yeah, like, come on, Thomas: corporate pipelines and sibling institutions at rates that should be a national emergency. Right? Let's talk about this, because it's not that people are choosing to drop out. I'm sure some people are probably hearing that. Good. that's their choice. Fits them, right? Fits the ⁓ kick-dog holler. That's not the question here. It's systematic, systemic. However you want to break it down. I know people love saying systemic. Malcolm: Yep. Thomas: Systematic, it's not just how the system operates and it's not just the system. It's both, it's systematic and systemic, right? So the questions, like we need to understand, we need to ask what if they're right to leave, right? People just hear, ⁓ black man aren't going to school, blah, blah, blah. It's bad rep, but I don't know, man. think personally, I don't know a whole lot. I'ma be honest, I don't know. Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: too extreme a lot about that. just know that like from my experience and what I've seen is it is a lot more women in schools than men in general. I don't know what it is outside the black numbers or black community numbers. I really don't even know those like just off the top of my head. mean, I got some stats right here, but I'm talking to you guys, Keeping it real. women have also like historically been over-educated and underpaid. So it's like... Malcolm: You Thomas: One is overly present in school, not overly, but like heavily present. And the other one is underrepresented in school. and corporations and all these pipelines, that doesn't mean they're not getting to it, just they're not getting into it that way. I don't know, man, what you think? Malcolm: I think, um, he made a lot of good points, man. think it's, um, like, I really don't even think the numbers do it justice, bro, because I think it's just one of those things that, like, I'm not sure if we talked about this before, but it's like, I know, I'm even trying to sound like a, like a dude that's like just so narrow-minded that he only understands, like, you know, situations from a man's perspective, but I think a lot of the times this gets overlooked. because of the fact that there's just like this. almost like kind of like ancestral view on like men and what their worth is and how it's directly. I was actually talking to this a couple of my friends actually, my boys, ⁓ Jalen, ⁓ Cap, Aaron, Peyton, we was all having a discussion about this book we was reading. And that's kind of like, it was a, it's like the book's actually called, it's called the, believe it's called The Will to Change by, let me see, what's it by? Yeah, it's called The Will to Change by Bell Hooks. a book about men, masculinity, how patriarchal culture harms men by teaching them to repress emotions and stuff like that. yeah, think a lot of this is like, this kind of just like this, this patriarchal view that kind of ties men and their worth directly to what they're able to provide. and how they kind of show up, whether that's through wealth, physique, finance, all this stuff kind of ties into the fact where it's like we see these numbers about men dropping out of college leaving these pipelines and these spaces. Nobody ends up caring because it's just like, okay, you're a man. You're not supposed to pout and cry and you know when stuff doesn't go your way like you just have to figure it out and you know dust your knees off, dust your shirt off and get back to work. There is no period of like soaking or you know feeling like it's... It's the word against me, but I mean, like the numbers, like I say, they speak for themselves though. Like, men are, like, it's less black men than ever going to college, being a corporate spaces. And we saw that even when we went to college, bro. Like, we kept going in our class, we were like, oh, hold on, that's not a lot of us, bro. We were mechanical engineers, which is, I like to think that's a, I would imagine that's like a male dominated field. But on college campuses, it doesn't feel like that. You would not think that. And I'm like, it, Thomas: Shaken. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you wouldn't think that in class. Especially, yeah. Malcolm: And it's like more, all more power, like, you know what I'm I am like bigger than that. I do think that like women, especially black women should like, I feel like they should be able to climb that totem pole as easily as we are and get that same type of like equality and treatment and access because it's like, I've seen so many studies out there where women and men and even more exacerbated on, you know, black men and women, but it's like they can hold the same title, same position, same background, same education. And black women will still get paid like kind of like less dollars on the hour for the exact same level of work. a crime in itself. ⁓ Like I said, don't want to stray too far away from my original point, but bro, these institutions like... Thomas: Mm-hmm. Malcolm: feel like there are no safe havens for black men anymore. Or there aren't any that are designed systematically for us and by us. Like HBCUs, are by, like, technically, like, they are built for our people by our people. But it's like that college drop off, like, Thomas: technique. Malcolm: It's only 26 % of us, bro. Thomas: I mean, and just to go back, I don't want like just not to go back too far from the point, but like for the women part, I don't want women to be able to climb as easily as us. I want it to be a little, I want it to be easier. I want them to be able to climb as easily as ⁓ the demographics that are able to move up the ranks because for black men and black women, it's difficult. Like, so I hope nobody said or clips that up and said, ⁓ he don't want black women to climb. No, I want it to be easier. I want it to be more natural than what it is. Cause right now you got to fight so hard. just to get up as a black person, period. I'm not a black woman, but I know black women, I know how hard it is, I know what type of skin you gotta build. And you could talk to any black woman who's in a position of power, who's a boss, who went through what they went through to get to where they're at. It's like, they're like a seasoned warrior, and it shouldn't be that way. You shouldn't have to go through so much fire and trial and tribulation. Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: and props to them for doing that. And I think that men, a lot of men do go through it. But I think one reason why we see this drop off is because men are realizing, like, don't want to go through that. I don't want to go to school, go get a job, sit making, you know, 20, $30 an hour at a desk, you know, and just still never be good enough or always be looked down upon and blah, blah, blah. So I think that plays into a part. I think that plays into a part of a why people are like not going to school. Because it's like, what's the outcome of that? So a lot of people I think are trying to figure out, what can I build for myself? Especially in today's space, the job market is so just bad. Like it's so bad. It's like, why would I answer that? Like it's probably better to go learn something, build something, see something and create. Like entrepreneurship. is one of the biggest things now because it's like the only way to really control your narrative a little bit more rather than going being on somebody else's time. Your livelihood is controlled by somebody else's check and your ability to put food on the table is determined by someone else. So it's like, it's just, I'm not going to say it's not worth it. ⁓ But depending on what you're going to school for, like what you want to be, if you want to be an artist, you don't need to go to school for that. If you want to be an author, you don't need to go to school for that. If you want to be a Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: handyman, you don't need to go to college for that. Like these things help because it helps teach you how to think and puts you in proper practices. But like, if you're not trying to be a doctor, engineer, psychologist, or like things that require these educational things that will still let you go and, you know, make your own business off the, off the jump. I see why people are going. I I think you should go, but. Malcolm: Yeah, and it's a ton of like just kind of underlying factors I think that people just don't really want to speak to. ⁓ One, think it's like especially for black men, it's a pathway problem. in like, whether it's like from being in a marginalized community, ⁓ economic or social disparities that affect like kind of specific communities or school systems. I think it's a lot of barriers just like K through 12. for black, you know, young black boys to of get into education and really kind of find a passion behind it. Two, it's a lot of, it's a lot of representation. Like I think from the youth side of things, so I'm like, just think about all of our years and when we were in elementary, middle, high school, think about the scarcity of black male teachers and how many black, like black African-American male teachers did you have that really kind of like left like a real like impact on you? Like, and then put that on the number, put that. Thomas: You Malcolm: would never compare to black women or black female teachers, white female teachers, Asian, Indian. Think about the other side of the pile. Just think about how big the... I can go through a list of black women teachers who have just left a profound impact on me. Ms. Stallworth, my Thurgood teacher, Ms. Sherrod. I can go down the list of people who have just really kind of left. Ms. Sears. I can literally go down the list of people who, like women, black women who have made an impact on me when I was in school. ⁓ And it's like, obviously the other two, which I think are big, that everyone I think knows, but the financial barriers and the underfunding of HBCUs. Like, HBCUs historically have faced ridiculous significant federal underfunding, ⁓ which of course limits the ability of the amount of financial aid and resources they need to attract and support said black male students. ⁓ And then just financial barriers for just black men. think that, you know, not saying this only applies to us, it's only us, it's not, but just for the pertaining to this question. And I think that it's also like a belief gap ⁓ where I think a lot of like outside of black teachers, think a lot of non-black teachers frequently have lower expectations for black students and that negatively impacts their self-esteem, how they view themselves, how they think they're able to contribute to society and perform. And I think that just greatly impacts your academic performance and aspirations. And all of that kind of just like tied into this big, big thing of why those numbers are what they are and why it continues to decline. Thomas: I gotta speak to that from experience, bro. I didn't always have all black teachers. There always be an all black school. There was a point in time where I was at a school where it was like, where I was at schools where it was a little bit mixed. And I was talking about this with somebody earlier. ⁓ The North and the South view racism so differently. In the North, racism is a little bit more frowned upon. In the South, it's more embedded. And that definitely plays a part in how these teachers interact with the small, like, children because they don't look at them and see, that's James. ⁓ that's Tom, that's Tim. ⁓ don't look at them and see that. They see, ⁓ De De. That's a little De De right there. That's a little Ray Kwan. That's a George Floyd. ⁓ what they see. These people, they don't see your kid ⁓ the kid. Now, some do, some do. I'm not saying this all teachers are like this. Right? Don't get it twisted. But in my experience, I literally have one teacher, she said, don't use a crayon on your hand or whatever, because you're getting your skin cells all over it. I know what you mean by that. What you talking about? Skin cells, right? It'd be subtle too. And that's why I say racism in the South and stuff is way more subtle because I have cousins and stuff that go to school in Georgia. And I know people in North Carolina, it's just like, it's embedded. It's not a surprise when people say or do racist things. I literally was in school, in elementary school. Teachers would give us, like the black kids, a hard time. I'll be getting held back after class for no reason. I had teachers holding me up, not letting me go home. My white friend had to come in and tell the teacher, like, hey, he's leaving with me. And then they let me go. Like, ⁓ I'm going with him. Okay. But they're holding me back and everything. Mind you, I was at school. This girl, it was a white girl, Caucasian girl. We were in class. Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: Bullets fell out of her pocket. This is shortly after Sandy Hook. This is shortly after like, one of the most tragic school shootings ever at the time. And she had bullets fall out of her pocket. And you know what they did? They just took her out in the hallway, gave a little talk to her. She shed them little, you know, tears and that was that. No write up, no nothing. Yep. You know how many. Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: And ⁓ you know how many times the black kids would get in trouble for nothing or they would make a big, do you mean write-ups folks used to get because they think they heard something, that they'd give you a hard time? So it's like, you know, I'm from, I claim PG, like I'm from PG. did middle school and high school in PG. Like I feel like that formed me into who I am. But all my people who are from PG, who've been there their whole lives or like been in black areas their whole lives, they don't understand. Like how this stuff really gets, like people who've been in one environment, they don't understand how this stuff gets for other people. I've seen some of the brightest minds go down the darkest paths because the environment that they were put in, not their parents, not where they come from from home, but from the expectations and the lack of trust, the lack of accountability, the lack of faith for them to be a good person and to be given the same. opportunities from the jump, it kills the spirit. You do this stuff to a kid? It's the hate you give all over again, bro. So, and that's why I think it just trickles down. And these people, the racism bleeds, the lack of empathy bleeds, and it just causes trouble. So, like, having seen it both sides, it just, early on, experiences with racism. You can't even identify as racism, but you see it later on, like, how these people act and how they treat you differently. Malcolm: Yep. Thomas: and how they marginalize everything. So when people talk about privilege, how they don't have privilege, you might not see it, and that's A-OK, but you're given that privilege from the moment you're born. Now, obviously, if you're white and grow up in an all-black neighborhood, OK, you might not have that privilege. But for anybody who grows up in an area where they're one of few like them, you're probably not going to have privilege unless you're people running it like, you you're white person in South Africa, then you're going to have a ton of privilege, most likely, because your parents are probably... Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: filthy rich to even be there in the first place. that's just, that's a broad statement. I know every white South African is not filthy rich. I'm thinking of Elon in particular when I say this. Malcolm: Yeah, man. Fair enough, Fair enough. It's one more piece we want to talk about. may not be, well, it kind of is kind of related to some of the things we've been talking about today, but it's something that's honestly just been recurring. I'm not sure how recurring it is on your timeline, if at all, but for me, this is something I've just seen for years now. And until you really kind of look into the data behind it, it's kind of baffling just to see like how, just how kind of like how narratives around certain places and people can just so strongly shape the opinions of those who have just never had any insight into it. This is especially kind of like just particular to me because I have a ton of family in the area I'm to talk about that was out there last summer and probably won't go out this summer again too but we will talk about this right so Chicago, Illinois is not the murder capital of America. So why does everyone think that it is right and so I'm sorry everyone knows like. Anyone listening to this probably knows who Chief Keef, Lil Durk, King Von, all these guys are right so Chicago gets the spotlight but Birmingham, Memphis, St. Louis, New Orleans get the body count so why does the narrative only go one way? Right Chicago has long been called a warzone, Syrac, as I'm sure a of y'all know, and the murder capital of America by rappers, politicians, and even the president of the United States. So the problem with that narrative and just all the kind of stigmas that go around it is that the data does not actually support it. So Chicago ranked seventh in homicide per capita among major US cities. So it's not even close to the top. So cities like St. Louis, New Orleans, Memphis, Birmingham have murder rates that dwarf Chicago's, but they do not have a nickname. They don't have drill music attached to a specific zip codes. They don't have a president that's threatening a federal takeover, deploying a ton of troops, ICE agents ⁓ on true social. And so the question isn't just why Chicago is famous for. crime, but the question is who decided Chicago would carry this story and what does it cost the cities that nobody's talking about, right? So everyone knows Chicago's dangerous quote unquote. So the Chicago just couple levels of facts like we always do Chicago recorded 411 homicides in 2025, which is a 30 % drop from the year before their homicide rate per capita is 28.7 per 100,000 residents. I'm sorry, which is ranked seventh among major US cities. Chicago led the nation in violent crime reduction in 2025 with a 22.1 % drop. An overall crime, violent crime, the first nine months. On September 25, Trump, as I'm sure you all may have seen in the post, he calls Chicago the murder capital of the world. All fact-checking platforms all rated Trump's Chicago's crime claims as misleading or missing critical context. Huh. So. Where do we want to touch on first man because there are so many cities that nobody bats an eye at who does way more damage. I mean way more like you got Baltimore you got New Orleans you got Detroit you got Memphis you got Burma like you have all these and I'm a these are just major. ⁓ Thomas: Thank you Malcolm: And yeah, sorry, I'm just want to run back through these facts again, bro, because when you really look into the data, Hmm. That's ⁓ yeah, New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis, Baltimore, D.C., Birmingham, Philly, Kansas City, like it's all these other cities. Thomas: Wait, I know this doesn't necessarily, okay, I shouldn't open this spreadsheet. This is a lot. But okay, I'm looking at this fact from the FBI, which relates to what we're saying, because I'm noticing the cities you're naming are unfortunately deemed as black cities. So it does kind of make it seem like it's all black people. However, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, they didn't delete this page. of all adults arrested in 2019, 69.9 % were white, 26.1 % were black or African American, and 4 % were all other races. So I don't know where these stats, for example, come from of 14 % of the problem or 14 % of the population, 6, 70, 80 % of the crime, whatever stats people pull out of ⁓ their DT. pocketbooks It's crazy, right so And I think for those places that we're talking about for one I Think the murder rate it's just how we it's like per capita So we got to look at like how many people are there like LA will probably never appear in the top murder rate because so many people in LA like it's just a ton of people and I don't know I feel like for one Malcolm: Crazy brother. Thomas: When these crimes happen in white communities, they nip it in the butt. They try to go find out who it is or what's going on versus the black communities. They kind of take their time. They say, ⁓ no one's talking. We have technology that can figure this stuff. Man, they allegedly found, I don't want to say allegedly, I think the CIA said this, but allegedly found the missing pilot who got shot down in the Middle East using a freaking heart monitor. Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: like scanner from miles away that has like a thousand square mile radius. And they found this guy because they can like everyone's heartbeat is unique and they could like cancel all the other noises, but they can't find someone who's who committed a murder or crime in the, in the hood. Right. But the, it's just like the stuff is intentional, bro. And we got to look at these areas. I don't know exactly the stats, but look at all these areas and then look at what was happening during the crack epidemic. Let's see where crack hit the hardest. Let's see. where there was previously a bunch of black wealth and excellence. Like for example, like Detroit, they cook that, Flint, Michigan, I don't know if they still don't have water. I don't know. I still think they don't have clean water. But I don't know, man. just think there's a lot. I just don't want people to hear those cities and be like, there's a black city. Especially, think LeBron was talking about stuff recently and people try to. Malcolm: Cook, bro. Thomas: pull that and say, ⁓ he talking about black cities and blah, That's this. Malcolm: Yeah, it's just, I mean, obviously the media that's attached to Chicago doesn't help, know, people. Vaughn, all these kind of like influential, kind of like cornerstones of the city. ⁓ And obviously some of the... Thomas: Charlie Kirkos from Chicago. Malcolm: We don't talk about him on here. ⁓ Thomas: I mean, no, no, I'm not trying to talk about him. I'm just saying, like, people say he was from there. Like, I'm just pointing out a fact. People are like, like, it's just all bad. Like, because we talk about Michelle, we talk about Barack, we talk about all these great black things that come out of there. So, you know, for the people who hate Chicago so much, I just wanted to bring up one of their, ⁓ one of their idols. Malcolm: yeah, nah, yeah, it's like... Yeah, like we always say, bro, like it's all about like just the what's kind of like just put out like only headline you'll ever see about in Chicago somebody getting murdered. something about some type of violent crime. ⁓ And that's just like a, that's just kind of constant push to kind of like diminish some of the good that does come out of the city. ⁓ Some of the bright spots and good things about the city. So it was actually a really beautiful city. people would just, it's the same as like people, how people think Africa is still just this third world continent. It's just all dirt and mud and villages everywhere. Like if you actually... stop looking at Fox or like go out and explore places for yourself or look up pictures outside of what's shown you on the news. You see a lot of these places are actually really nice places to live, to explore, to travel and to be at. ⁓ It's just a matter of people just kind of like taking the first thing they see and running with it. there's just so much data out there that shows that there are way worse places. it's just like, like people know that Chicago is like a, it's politically and culturally useful to make it the face of black urban violence because it's such a stronghold of a city in the country. It's major. Think about from our oppressors, think about their point of view, how many cities exist, if you think about just, level set, we talk about let's say the four or five biggest cities in America that have the most, just the most kind of influence and just kind of importance to the country, think in LA, New York. for sure. You got to think Chicago. You got to think what? Maybe Miami. And what's DC? Maybe? You can't say DC is the murder capital because the president resides there. New York, LA, just too many people that live there. It's too densely populated. Chicago, ⁓ Even though all these other cities got them. West Coast got them. DC got plenty of them. LA got plenty of them. ⁓ Chicago has the Chief Keef's, have the Dirks, they have the Vons, they have the gangs. Let's make them the cultural identity. Let's make them, you know, the face of, ⁓ like I said, politicians that can point to Chicago, can make an argument for so-and-so, but it's harder to weaponize a Saginaw, Michigan, a Jackson, Mississippi, smaller, poorer, less visible cities and places with less political unity. Thomas: Yeah. Malcolm: By the way, Illinois is a blue state, Chicago is a blue city in a blue state. But cities with actual, insane, catastrophic per capita murder rates are overwhelmingly in the deep south. All predominantly black, like you said, predominantly low income, oftentimes ignored by federal policy, national media, national headlines and coverage, and political rhetoric. Chicago is the opposite of that. They're a cornerstone, they're a main kind of circuit of America. They always received a ton of national attention, federal policy, and just engagement from politicians year round. So it makes sense for them to weaponize it and turn it against us because it's working in their favor. It keeps more people uneducated, which is always the goal. And it also just kind of keeps that propaganda pushing towards our demise. it's It's very, yeah, like we can just sum it up to the outrage about Black death in America is highly selective. It's calibrated not where people are actually dying the fastest, but where death is most politically useful to discuss. Chicago is a narrative, Birmingham is a statistic, and as long as we keep arguing about the narrative, the statistic is going to continue to climb. Because there are countless examples of, you know, and honestly, it is of a problem because we'll like there there are hundreds there are 10 times as much you know random number by the way not an actual but we know for a fact there's a lot more black on black crime in these cities and areas that happen but when it's a you know selective more politically engaging and controversial topic then it's all the the fireworks and flames and all that good stuff so but yeah it's uh Thomas: Mm-hmm. Malcolm: Do you think drill music and the SIRAC identity give Chicago's violence cultural currency that other cities don't have? And did that currency end up hurting the city more than it helped the artists that came out of it and became successful from it? Thomas: I mean, for the ones that are still alive, well, okay. Let me, Keef specifically, I think it helped him a lot. I think if he didn't, I don't know what he would have done. I don't know if he was on his way to being a rocket scientist. I don't know what he would have did if he didn't rap, who knows? But I think he's doing great. He's out of, he's not in prison, hasn't been locked up in a minute. He's doing good, living good. But I think the music helped the city. Malcolm: Mm. Mm-hmm. Thomas: I know it's different, what comes to mind for me is like Go Go in DC is kind of like a city sound. Chicago probably, I'm not a music major. don't know all the musical history. I'm sure Chicago had other musical sounds before, ⁓ but it's terms. Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Weren't they like a... like jazz or R &B? Like back in the day? Thomas: I know jazz is more like a Louisiana. No, no, no, no, Oh, I should know this. I know New York created a lot of music. Chicago, what did they have? What was it? They had something. I know Chicago was a big radio site. I think they had the first black radio station, I want to say. Malcolm: How about say they were renowned for blues, gospel, house. Yeah, there was a lot of blues, like post-war blues. Thomas: Okay, it was blues. Yeah, I've read that stuff. I just don't know too much of that history because a lot of it's been erased because in between the blues era and the modern era, there was gentrification or ⁓ drugs. White people moving in, black people going out, those who stayed were kind of put in not the best position, ⁓ which happens everywhere, unfortunately. Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: But gentrification, I want to clear that up. not just gentrification. It's literally not white people. Like gentrifying things is just wealthier people moving in, ⁓ raising prices. I'm pretty sure that's the definition. Malcolm: Yeah, same way DEI isn't just black people being able to get the job. It's just all the same. It's just propaganda and curtain rugs being pulled over our eyes, man. hey. Thomas: But yeah, I don't know if... I will say it helped the city though. I will say drill helped the city. Cause all drill is not based in violence. Well, okay. It's not based in real crime, I should say. Like every drill artist is not a killer or a gang. they not really like... All of them are not killing people. And murder versus music are two different things. Obviously like people say music contributes, blah, blah, blah. Malcolm: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Thomas: But I do think it added to the city. I we saw Kanye come out of there, Kanye's style of music. It didn't create like a city identity. I wouldn't say people were like saying, ⁓ I wanna be like Kanye. Malcolm: There are just too many like, I know we're focusing only on like Chief Keef and stuff, but there are like so many people that can't like Chance, Juice WRLD, Kanye, like you said, Common, ⁓ Herbo, Paul OG, like there are so many people that like- Thomas: got an opportunity. And I would say a light was shined because of what Chief Keef started. Like it's not even just about drill. It's like opening up the doors for other artists. Like when you in a city that's hot, it creates space for people to like look. So they're not looking just for that sound, but it's just like, have a light on you. Like if Chief Keef never blew up, I'm sure somebody else would have, but I don't know. would have been like DMV. DMV hasn't had like a massive superstar on Chief Keef's level. Malcolm: Yeah, like, well... Thomas: in a minute so that you have a lot of talent that just doesn't get seen. Malcolm: I don't see Keys though. There's definitely a lot of up and coming like dudes like Nino P. They like, they going up bro for sure. it's, yeah, yeah. mean, that's like a, just a level that I think a lot of seldom ever do reach. But you know, I think it all just goes back into the identity that people try to kind of confine Chicago into as if that's kind of all that they, all they got going on. But, man, well, I think there was one more thing we wanted to touch on before we wrapped up though. Thomas: I mean, yeah. Malcolm: ⁓ This is NBA stuff. Thomas: I mean, did like have the thought about the oh that well WNBA expansions NBA is talking about expansions just like the the leagues as a whole I Mean, I don't know. This is more just like just a thought like this the expansion like I think it's a sign like they're trying to grow They're trying to figure out rules. I mean, we're seeing shifts of superstars in the WNBA. We're seeing bigger contracts Also like NBA rules. Yoke each I think is playing a game today just because he has to to maintain his status for the award. So I mean, it's a bunch of different things, but I mean, I don't know what you think about all of that, what you wanted to talk about. Malcolm: Mm-hmm. ⁓ no, I mean, I'm glad they, you know, expanded and went. Nah, I I guess I'm just trying to get like a, it's always like a topic of discussion bro now, especially towards the end of the season, people always get tight about this, but just like the 65 game threshold rule, what's kind of like your take on it? think that. now, I think I do think that there should for sure be a minimum game threshold for awards and end season awards. I think that it's just like I was telling you before, like it's just hard to pick a number that's going to make everybody happy. ⁓ Just because there are so many it's like, like, how do you determine what's enough? Right? Like, how do you determine what's enough? Like, obviously, NBA, it's a professional sports league, physically demanding, best athletes in the world. 65 games. So I think it's a good number. I think it's just kind of like random, though. Thomas: Mm-hmm. Malcolm: But I think people only are making such a big deal because their favorite players get hurt or don't finish out the season. it's like, feel like I personally would guess I would say 70, 75 % of the season is a good threshold for being eligible because I think you can't let a guy that played 40, 50 games, miss 30, getting the same awards as the dude that played all 80. This is backwards to me. But I think that that kind of like threshold, I think that It's going to be hard to pick whatever number they pick, whatever number Silver and the rest of the team picks or the executive, whoever, whoever picks, it's going to be hard to make everybody happy because everybody's going to have a complaint somewhere. You can move it down to 60. Somebody's favorite player is going to get hurt at 59. There's going to be a complaint. You can move it up to 70. People won't complain anymore. So it's like there has to be a threshold. But I think there should maybe be criteria. for certain things. feel like if a dude, like a guy like a Wimby or an Ant, right, you know for sure they're all going to be a first, second team. Unless they get hurt, they play 63, 64 games. Maybe. I think there should be exceptions for dudes who are like a sure fire lock in this, within like a margin of games that they played. Like I'm not saying like you can't give it to Wimby if you only play like 40 games. If you're like within like five games, like 60, 61, 62, 64, like whatever. Maybe there should be some type of exception criteria, but I mean, outside of that, mean, I don't know how people are really getting mad at there being like a requirement when you showing up to work. it's, I get his basketball and you're a millionaire, but still your job, bro. You feel me? So yeah, that's, just, I guess my own ⁓ take on. Thomas: Mm. Yeah, I mean, I don't know the work thing. It's like if I showed up to work 80 % of the time, would I still get paid as if I'm showing up 100 % of the time? I don't know. But I do agree that it is. think it should be kind of, it's hard to say situational, but like, for example, right? If it's an individual award, that is a little bit more challenge. Like MVP, like if someone's clearly a front runner for MVP, They play 50 games, 60 games, get hurt. out for the rest of the season. But there's like a very close second. I feel like the rules should be enforced there. Granted, this is just me as a fan, ⁓ just saying like it should be enforced there because that player could have had a drop off and the second player could have kept going or they could have just kept dominating. So either way, it's hard to know. It's like what ifs. ⁓ But for team awards, I do agree. Let's say somebody's balling all season. Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: They have a season end injury at 60 games and they've played all 60. They've been going crazy. Not giving them the team award because of something like that when they're clearly top five. That's like, I don't know, because then if I'm the guy who gets moved up because the other guy got hurt, it's almost like, you know, didn't like deserve. Like I'm not trying to discredit them. It's just like, I would feel the top of ways. Like let's say if this is 2012 and Malcolm: Yeah. Thomas: Braun gets hurt and this rule is applied and he's supposed to be first thing on the second team. I'm gonna be like, I'm not better than Braun. You know what I mean? it's like, but I don't know. All of that is just kind of subjective. Malcolm: You Yeah, yeah, nah, I feel it, bro. People always gonna complain, bro. A product is never good enough for people, so it's always gonna be complaints. You just gotta set it at a number and forget it. And dudes ain't healthy, dudes ain't healthy, bro. But, amen. I'm definitely gonna be tuned in for hopefully a very exciting NBA playoff season, postseason. I think we should definitely get some prediction stuff going on the page, see what people think and what people feeling. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see for sure. Thomas: No, in fact, I don't even know who, the playoffs aren't set yet, right? The last game is. Malcolm: Now a couple of matches are, the Rockets and the ⁓ Lakers ⁓ already kind of like. Thomas: Lakers should win that. Well, actually, isn't Luke out for a minute? Malcolm: I so. ⁓ Let me see. right. Yeah. So OK. Yeah. So we got actually know they are damn it pretty much set. This is the end. They are set already. So obviously Thunder plan whoever comes out of the West and plan. So Clippers Warriors playing each other in the plan. Sons and Trailblazers playing each other in the plan. The winner of those become the eight and the seven seed playing the Thunder and Spurge respectively. You got the Lakers and Rockets first round Nuggets and Timberwolves first round. Then you got Hornets and Heat in the play-in, Magic and Sixers in the play-in, then the winner of those play the Pissons and Celtics respectively is a 7-8 seed. You got Cavs, Hawks first round, and then Knicks and Raptors first round. Thomas: This is a bloodbath. Thunder got it. I'm not going to say easy path to conference finals, but I don't see thunder getting bumped until conference finals. Malcolm: Yeah bro, yeah they're not playing. They have to, only people, see coming up, it's either, it's coming down to the top three so you see the Thunder, Spurs, or Nuggets bro. Because the, that's what, yeah, the Thunder, yeah, they're wax everybody, I ain't gonna lie, but hopefully the East is a bit more like, true. Thomas: you Yeah. You East, bro, I need to see in the East. I'm bro, I, this is hard because I kind of want to see the heat when like I always like seeing the heat in the playoffs. It just, but the Hornets. Yeah, I want to see the Hornets. Hornets Pistons would be. Malcolm: I need to see the Hornets, the Hornets are on fire. I want to see them go against the Pistons so bad, bruh. Cause they already got beef, bro. That's going to be a fire. And I ain't going lie, Hornets may be the 9th seed, but the way they playing right now, bruh, I don't know if I want to see them. They can upset somebody for sure. Thomas: ⁓ yeah, no, no, no. think Hornets, Pistons, because who won the matchup the other day between them? Malcolm: I think the Pistons ⁓ Thomas: You know what, either way, I think it's a good matchup, I think. Malcolm: It's still gonna be a good game. Yeah, they beat them by 18, but yeah. Thomas: Yeah, bro, mean, if Khan, if Khan's hitting Mello, Mello's, you know, on more than he's off in those games because he's very hot and cold. He's like. Malcolm: I mean, starts, yeah, yeah. But I go last crazy was they finished one and two for most three pointers made this season. And Klan, Klan stepped it four times. This is the first time that two teammates outside of them to finish top one and two and three pointers made in the season. That's crazy. Thomas: But Steph hit like 400 something threes in the season, 430 something, 20 something threes. That record. Malcolm: I mean, they hit like 270, 267 each. But it's just like, bro, Steph is, you can't compare to Steph, bro. He's just insane. Thomas: No, no, think, let me check. thought someone was saying Steph. Let me see, how most three-pointers scored in the season? most threes in the season is a Steph record 402 three pointers made during the 2015-2016 season by himself. That's. Malcolm: ⁓ no, I believe it. yeah, it's crazy. Thomas: Okay. Malcolm: Hey man, exciting times are among us. Playoff basketball is back. Play in tournament April 14th through 17th. Playoff start April 18th. Hey man, we tuned in this week for sure. Thomas: And all my betters. Be smart. Malcolm: Be smart, Be smart. Hey, man, we, as always, go ahead, wrap this bad boy up, bro. Appreciate y'all, as always, tuning in to us, listening to what we had to talk about, This was episode 12 of the Black Box Theory, man, on the way it's up. We're gonna keep dropping, keep pushing out more content for you guys. You know, like I said, we in this for the long run, bro. We trying to keep on building, keep compounding what we got going on here. As always, we appreciate everybody that appreciates us, that supports us, engages with our content, with our page, with our platform, listens to us. And one other thing, bro, like I said, shout out to my boy, Kelechi Man. People that provide feedback and let us know what they like, what they don't like, bro, we appreciate all, like any type of feedback, whether it's positive or negative, we don't care. Just send it our way, bro. Just let us know where we can improve, what you like to hear, what you don't like to hear. All of that, bro. We are very receptive to all feedback. Very open to all feedback, man. Specific topics, questions, concepts, principles you like answered. That's what we're here for. And yeah, so we appreciate everybody, like I said, man. Hope everyone has a blessed week. Had a blessed Sunday today. It was a blessed week. Hey, we're going to see you on the other side when it's about that time again. Thomas: Yes sir, appreciate y'all man. Malcolm: Hey man, it's out the mud, man. We catch y'all next week, Peace. Thomas: Peace.