Latest / Color Commentary / Ep 46 | The Question Black Voters Keep Dodging [PART 1]

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Ep 46 | The Question Black Voters Keep Dodging [PART 1] · Color Commentary

• Charles Cole: Welcome to Color Commentary, a podcast where the story shaping our world is told in black and white first, and then we dig into the deeper meaning in full color. Each week I'll be bringing you the news like this. First, we'll talk about what I like to call the black and white section. A clear, straight shooting rundown of the facts and a tradition of grace like Ed Bradley, Walter Cronkite, and the classic voices of journalism. Then we'll shift into the color commentary section where I add my own personal opinions and insights. Sometimes it'll just be me. Sometimes we'll have guests. Now listen, for context, I'm a scholar, I'm a hip-hop junkie, I'm a movie and culture nerd, and I'm an avid book reader. All right. So in these shows, you're gonna get glimpses of all that. My full self, as the kids say today. ⁓ so with that said, let's get into it. It's just colored commentary. So they're gonna be two different stories tonight. ⁓ and they talk to each other, you know, more than they look like they should. But first, we're gonna talk about ⁓ one of my favorite shows that's on TV right now, which is Lanterns. It's the HBO show that finally put Jon Stewart at the center of the frame and turned the comic book into prestige television. ⁓ and it turned a superhero origin into a conversation about race in America. I'm gonna have fun with that. That's the fun, nerdy part. ⁓ then I don't know. My script says heavier. I don't know if I would say heavier, but ⁓ we're gonna ask a question about, you know, black political power. And for 60 years, we voted as one block. And is that still our best move, or is it time to spread that leverage around? So it's been a conversation that's been out there in the ether. I've been asked my opinion on it. ⁓ I did not prep. For that question, because I wanted to have a more raw response. ⁓ so we're gonna we're gonna see where I land when we get to that section together. All right, but then I just need you to stick around to the end because I have some news about this show and a partnership that means a lot to me. So, you know, so let's get to it. Coming up, segment one, lanterns, baby. So The Green Lantern that no one in Hollywood got right for more than 15 years is now one of the best things on television on Sunday nights. And I want to talk about a few different things from it, right? I want to talk about, you know, the little nerdy pieces, but the way that the racial politics and prestige TV, how they all kind of mash and merge and run into each other. And like I said, I'm just having a lot of fun with the show. I'm enjoying the discourse. And I see that the discourse has gotten a little bit elevated. So first, I'm gonna just give you some facts on the show. I know some people have watched the show, some people have not. So I'll do a little bit of a rundown for context. We're somewhat in the middle of the of the season. ⁓ we just just finished episode four, but I'm probably gonna focus a lot on my favorite episode thus far, which is episode three. All right? You guys with me? Okay, cool. So let me officially say. For segment one, here are the facts in black and white. Screen should be black and white now. It's my favorite part of when I watch the shows back. So, for context, Lanters premiered on Sunday, August sixteenth of this year on HBO on HBO Max. It is an eight episode season that's airing weekly through October fourth. We're almost done. The series was created by Chris Mundy. ⁓ Damon Lindelof and Tom King, produced by DC Studios and Warner Brothers, and assists inside the new DC universe that's overseen by James Gunn and Peter Saffron. Ky Chandler stars as veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan. Aaron Pierre stars as a new recruit, Jon Stewart. The story is a grounded time-jumping murder mystery that's set largely in the American heartland with a tone critics have compared to. True Detective, Watchmen, and Slow Horses. Okay. Now, for context, ⁓ the reason why it reflects those so well is because the person who worked on True Detective and the cat that worked on Watchmen are both part of this show. Both of those shows, not Slow Horses, Slow Horses is a is an Apple show, but True Detective and Watchmen were also prestige television on ⁓ HBO, and they had a good deal of success. Great deal of success. So Critically, the show was a hit. And right now it's sitting around 89% on Rotten Tomatoes and 72 on Metacritic. For contrast, and no, no, no disrespect to Ryan Reynolds. Love him as Deadpool, the role he was built to play. But in contrast, the 2011 Green Lanter that starred Ryan Reynolds landed at about 25% on Rotten Tomatoes and 39% on Metacritic. This is the first major live action role for Jon Stewart. ⁓ the comic has been around for more than he's been a character for more than 50 years, ⁓ after he first appeared in Green Lantern number eighty seven in nineteen seventy-one. He was originally written as an anti-authority figure, aligned with the black power politics of time. And he's a hero who refused to wear a mask and who confronted police over the treatment of black people. A 2007 Comics Revision recast him. As former United States Marine, ⁓ following the military framing that was introduced by the early 2000s Justice League animated series. Also, ⁓ for transparency, my father was a Marine, my uncle ⁓ was a Marine in Vietnam, and I have a bunch of cousins that were also Marines. And my brother, my best friend, is Army. So I do have ⁓ a soft spark a so a soft spot for the Marines. I took the ASVAB myself and ⁓ was gonna go to the Marines. ⁓ I got into college ⁓ and my father gave me some advice. Say, well, it wasn't advice. It was saying, kids, you you can go to college. You should go to college, go to college. so that's what I ended up doing. Sometimes I regret it, I cause I feel like I could have did both and and got some benefits ⁓ from that. ⁓ one of those things not being six figures in debt, different show though. But that is Green Lanterns. And here's a short clip. What do you think is going on? It's no accident we're here. Think you're gonna end up being alien. Based on what I have a feeling. He has a feeling. I think this is more than just a feeling. So the episode. I'm gonna talk about the whole show as well, but the episode I really want to hone in on is titled Outcast. One of my favorite ⁓ groups in hip-hop. ⁓ I have a deep, deep affection for outcasts, especially Andrew 3000, but both of them, because Daddy Fat Sacks is also just a beast. ⁓ but I I own this and I say it, and my homie Jeff can attest to this because I used to get made fun of for Andre 3000 being my favorite out of the group. And I know Andre 3000 is super popular now and kind of relegated as one of the greatest rappers of all time, which he should be. But I'm telling you, when they were out, when they were fresh and live, a lot of casts in the hood was not rock with Andre 3000. They thought it was a lot of stuff going on with him. They was like, why is this cat wearing? These weird wigs and outfits and football pads and all that stuff, but the way he was able to rap just was incredible. It wasn't always easy to love Andre 3000 in the hood. I'm just telling you, again, a lot of people gonna have revisionist history. I always like this or whatever. I'm telling you, he was a different type Andre Three Thousand was a different type of cat at that moment, especially when that music was coming out. But back to the episode. ⁓ I love episode three because in this episode it's a flashback. And John's father is teaching ⁓ John Stewart, our black character, who's who's, you know, now in line to become this next defender of this cosmic defender of the galaxy. People call him the space police. ⁓ but in this episode, John's father teaches him that anger is a luxury that he can't afford. And the show presents the demand for fearlessness. As an unfair burden rather than a gift. ⁓ those outlets including Anscape, Slate, and Salon. ⁓ they read the episode as the show's version of the talk that black parents give their children, right? The reframing drew political pushback. And Fox News and other conservative outlets accuse the series of going woke. I hate that term. I hate the way they use it. I hate the way they bastardize a term that actually has very deep roots in things that I love, like hip-hop culture. And turn into some boogeyman shit that I don't really fuck with. ⁓ but these conservative outlets start calling it woke and of trading comic book lore for social commentary. The episode also was a flashback episode that is focusing on what had to happen in order for Jon Stewart to be prepared to take this mantle. And it plays into these dynamics of how Hal Jordan, his white counterpart, who got the job over his father originally, ⁓ and just kind of talks about the different expectations that society may have for a white man versus a black man. And I think that it did it with, you know, ⁓ a lot of clarity. I think it did it with a lot of care. And I think that the way that Aaron Pierre ⁓ in in and Kyle are playing the roles has just been stellar. But in this episode, the star of the episode is the father, ⁓ the mother that played his mom and the kid actors that play the younger ⁓ Jon Stewart. And and just what that looked like. And the story resonates for me. It's it's obviously a heightened version. It's obviously fantastical, because we're talking about cosmic fucking police. ⁓ But I just know that strictness of growing up in a in a ⁓ in a in a home with a a marine father and what the expectations were on my life versus where him and my mother's life went. It just it just spoke to me in some ways that I thought were pretty profound. So You know, I I d I deeply suggest you go watch the episode. The other beautiful thing about the episode is is that you kinda can watch it out of context. You don't have to know the comic book. You don't have to know all the lore. It helps, but the I'm a big, huge Damon Lindelaw fan. He did The Watchmen. He did Leftovers. those are the shows that I'll that I'll read. Like I wasn't a lost fan like that. I not I didn't like I didn't see it and I liked it. I just never I missed that train and never hopped on it. But a as we close up this black and white sec section of the segment, I do want this in the segment in in this part in black and white because When you're making captivating, incredible television that would fall into prestige, you're able to do things like that. You're able to take these things that has all this lore and stuff like that, but you're still able to bring people in and tell a full story. And and telling a full story that can happen in the realm of one episode, but fit comfortably into a season and into fucking fifty years of storytelling. And I just have to give kudos to the staff and this team because although I don't agree with any of this right-wing stuff or anything like that, or you know, there's people that's gonna be z you know, zealous on either side of this thing, good television, good theater, and good storytelling should start conversations. And and I think that the show is doing a great job in that. So with that, I will end the black and white session by saying that's the news. Now let's talk about it. You are listening to color commentary with Dr. Cole. Okay. So I'm gonna touch on some things. I have a few things in my rundown and my notes, and I'm gonna do a lot of riffing. and I'm letting you all behind the curtain a little bit. One, because it's it's our relationship to the people that watch these episodes in full, not just the clips, which again, I'm so grateful for the clippers. The clip clips, well, I'm clipping it, but I'm saying the people that only watch the clips. Y'all are great and y'all run the numbers up in the thousands. The number of people that watch the full episode is a lot more intimate. And so because of that, ⁓ I don't really see that as a burden. I actually appreciate that because it allows me to go a little deeper into what I think about these things and give you a little bit more of myself. That's the contract we got, right? Like that's that's where this is. So I have my rundown to stay organized, ⁓ and and make sure it's a decent show and well produced show. ⁓ But I'm also gonna allow myself the luxury of like riffing on some of this stuff that means a lot to me, right? So I wanna start with ⁓ prestige TV being the arena. And what I what I mean by that is is like this nerd stuff, it used to be dismissed as kid stuff. Like, you know, if you were a kid in the 80s and the 90s, you you wasn't, you it just wasn't that cool, right? And I read comic books, I couldn't really afford them. I remember when I lived in East Oakland with my family, right off of East 15th, there was a little ⁓ convenience store, corner store. When we call them bodegas in California, but it's a national crowd. ⁓ you can say bodega. And, you know, it was a family run, ⁓ Middle Eastern family that had it. But the the son, who was probably in his early twenties, he just took a liking to me. He was just really cool. I was always really respectful. And he could see me kind of thumbing through the comic books, but you know, could probably tell I couldn't really afford them. So he would just protect me and let me just sit there and read comics. Now, I'm personally I'm a big Marvel guy, I'm a big Wolverine, you know, X-Men is just always, you know, it's it's it's my jam. But in the 90s, it wasn't like popular culture in that way. It wasn't, I don't remember like there wasn't Comic Con wasn't like the cool place to be, you know, it was this was nerd shit. And now we're in a time where nerd stuff and dork stuff is cool and you get love for it. I wouldn't have got bullied or anything like that, but I it just wasn't a sexy thing to do, you know? ⁓ luckily I also played basketball. Whole different show there, right? About the dynamics of the things we do socially and what they tell you about who you are. But when we talk about when I'm talking about prestige TV as the arena. The fact that this stuff is just elevated and it's on the level of like a true detective. ⁓ and even Watchman, which is one of the most elevated pieces of literature in in my world. Listen, let me show you. Like this is just I've probably held this up in multiple episodes, but this, as somebody who pushes literacy and reading and storytelling, this is one of the first graphic novels I read, ⁓ by Alan Moore. And it's one of the greatest things I've ever read out of everything that I've read. And y'all know I read a lot 'cause I'm a doctor and y'all ask me what am I reading? I've written a book or two. ⁓ I can never do this. I could never Alan Moore, man, ⁓ God bless him. ⁓ and ironically, he hated. He didn't he never wanted Watchmen or Viva Mendetta. He also wrote those. He never wanted those to be shows or anything. He's super anti-capitalist. He really just wants to tell a story. ⁓ but this that we're watching, ⁓ it has strong shades of of the way that the Washman show came together, which I did appreciate the show. ⁓ we can go into some of those dynamics, but if you're looking for something good to read, or if you want to get a young person into reading and want to be able to have them read something that's meaningful. But they you can also track and have good conversation about right here, man. ⁓ I think it's great. So, but that just leads me to why this show is so important. Because in this show, if you know True Detective, the first season, I'm only vouching for season one, and if you know Watchmen and Leftovers, ⁓ you you know that they were done in this way where Damon Lindelof is just. Supreme at telling these stories, but weaving in social commentary to build a mirror of sorts. ⁓ just for the world to have these larger conversations that's more palatable for people to have. And it can piss people off. For instance, in The Washman Show, he was playing around with the concept of what if black people actually did get reparations? What what would that do? What would that what would what would actually happen, right? Like how would society kind of view them? What you know, how would people feel about it? ⁓ and I Speak on that because it gets to the core of why I think this prestige label matters. When you dress a story in this type of craft, the culture lets it be about something. This story that most of this country has never heard of. The only Jon Stewart that a large majority of this country knows is the very talented guy from Comedy Central who took news by storm by doing satire. Right. Like so the the name is in very, very good company, but a lot of people don't know this story of of the lanterns. And to be fair, I never really read the comic book, but it was so in the ether in these black characters. And so I've kind of got a lot of the story through osmosis and just the things that I consume. Shout out to the Midnight Boys. It's one of my favorite podcasts. you know. ⁓ if you gotta have a parasocial relationship with with with a group of guys, ⁓ That discuss movies and nerd shit, but also do it in a cool way. I would absolutely say the Midnight Boys, shout out to Van Lathan. I don't know him personally, ⁓ but I'm just gonna say and vouch for him, he's somebody that's really good in this talking, speaking to camera space. ⁓ he has a few other shows. ⁓ used to work for TMZ, but I I I just think whether you agree with him or not, or you know, I don't agree with everything that anybody says, he's just very good. at at at this type of stuff of of taking popular culture and weaving in some real shit to say. ⁓ and and some things that make you think, whether it makes you smile or makes you angry, ⁓ he's really good at engaging you in a conversation. And the guys that are with him is just a stellar team. So shout out guys. ⁓ shout out the Midnight Boys. Just go look for them on ⁓ on YouTube. But it matters that this show falls into Prestige TV and and they're doing something very different than what my favorite company of Marvel of the two, right? I'm a Marvel guy if you make me choose, but I I enjoy all of them. I enjoy Image. I enjoy I enjoy all of them. It it gives the show a gravitas. It it it is pulling in people that don't read comic books and it's engaging them in a way that many of them have never been engaged before. And it looks great on screen. And what I love that they're doing is that they're doing the storytelling very practically. They're not leaning on an overuses of CGI, at least not up to this point. ⁓ there's real development that's happening. And people are having discussions, and I've been getting asked what my thoughts are. And one of the reasons I love this episode three of this flashback of watching how this kid had to grow up and watching how he was ostracized from his siblings and watching the level of responsibility that's draped upon him. Like I said, it speaks viscerally to me as a black man in this country who also was kind of raised on the mission. You know, ⁓ I My parents didn't articulate things the way that John's parents did, but I always knew that there was a calling that was on my life. I always knew that I was aware of my parents' mistakes that they made and and just by living them. I I was I I bore a lot of that. But even when my parents were like I said, in their addiction, in the throes of it, you know, I still had a dad and I still had a mom and they were both present, ⁓ you know, even in and out of jail, like My dad parented me from from jail. And both my parents would have had been in and out of jail. We're not gonna do the dump on black black men thing. My mom, but they was both in these streets. and but even from jail, my dad'd be like, Did you do your homework? Like, get that done. Hey man, I know you wanna go outside, knock out that homework first. ⁓ like my dad always made sure that I was like, even when I brought home like a B or a B plus, where the fuck is the A? What's going on? I was raised very different from my siblings. And I think in large part, you know, my parents, I'm eight years older, eight and six years older than my sister and my brother, respectively, right? Like so, you know, by that time they kind of went through this. I was a pretty good kid. They were a lot calmer and they were out of their they were they were, you know, clean. You know, my when my brother and sister were coming of age, and I think they felt pretty guilty about how I grew up. So my parents were actually a lot softer on my siblings, which I don't Know if it was actually a good thing. I think I benefited from these tough lessons. So in this episode, you are seeing the level of of discipline being put on this child. And what they're trying to do, and just in the lore of the episode, to be a lantern, the question that they ask you is, Do you do you have fear? And lanterns are supposed to be fearless. Now, I think to be human is to have fear, right? Without fear. You can't have courage. You can't have there are just things that define your character of how you act in the faces of fear and uncertainty, right? Like it's just it's to to to not have any type of fear is to be unhuman. But In order to be a lantern, you have to kind of present this. So from an infant to adulthood, he was raised to to to not have fear, so to speak. And it was just really interesting. It ostracized him from his siblings. It ostracized him, you know, from a normal childhood. And the places where that connects for me is I was just on a very different mission. I went to a double-digit number of schools, right? I went to schools in the Chicago area. I went to school in Kentucky. I went to school in Hayward, California. I went to school in Oakland where we finally settled down and, you know, and then eventually finished my last year of high school in Stockton. Like I moved around a lot. ⁓ what was communicated to me, not by words, but by my experiences and my actions, was that look, me and your mom, you know, your parents didn't go to college. And this is Where things kinda are. And this is how you know you grew up in the projects. You lived in shelters. You, you, you were homeless. So the the beautiful lie that I learned and that saved my life in a lot of ways was that it's college. You gotta go to college. ⁓ now again, people can def refute that and people can I've done talks about it and all that good stuff. Like, you know, I know peop some people say college is for everybody. Depending on who's saying that, I give more or less credence to be quite honest with you. ⁓ and what I mean by that is if it's a rich CEO of a tech company ⁓ who has safety nets all around him, well, yeah, you could tell your kids that because you have a safety net and they can come work for your company or you're doing a different level of teaching. They don't need the social pieces that that that that someone like me did. But for me, it saved my life. ⁓ I don't know. I would probably be much more wayward. I would probably have made a lot of different decisions. and opposite of this guy, I was scared all the time growing up. There was always this level of uncertainty, ⁓ just around my life. So that's why even now as an adult, I like boring. I like I like and when I say boring, I don't mean I don't like to travel the world or go see things or try new things. But I d I don't like surprises. ⁓ I like to know what's kinda happening in my environment. I know I can't control everything, but I do like to control what I can and give it my all so I can plan around that and do that. And so when I'm watching this contrast, and also I'm the oldest in my family, ⁓ there was a lot of responsibility draped on me, ⁓ to care for my siblings, right? Like very early on. It's probably the reason that I don't have kids and necessarily want them. ⁓ I just did not enjoy doing that. And and and as soon as I didn't have to do it anymore, I didn't. ⁓ as soon as I graduated from high school and got into school, I I left. ⁓ I didn't like having to always share with my siblings. I I just didn't like no no one asked me if I wanted to be the older brother. Right? And and again, it's not my siblings' fault. It just it's you know, boo fucking who, right? Like it's not a it's not a ⁓ You know, is it's I'm just being honest about me. I'm just being honest about how I see the world and I see things. So to juxtapose this episode and this show versus me is in this case, ⁓ Jon Stewart is the youngest in this three of them. And I was the oldest and it was three of us. And the reason why, for context, for those that haven't watched it, the reason why the baby is ⁓ was treated differently than his older brothers were is because they were already older at that time. So They could not raise ⁓ those t those the the other two siblings of John Stewart in a similar way because they had already passed somewhat of the threshold, right? In order to be qualified to ⁓ to be a lantern. And so Just I watched this show and I watched black men and other other people too. I'm not discounting black women, I'm not discounting brown men, I'm not discounting anybody else, but what I honed in on was how are other black men that's of relevant re relative success in this country that watched the show, how are they taking it in? And it was just a very interesting conversation that I saw in it, right? Which again, shout out to Van. I thought I thought Van did a really good job of articul making articulations. ⁓ on that episode. And so it was just really interesting to see that get the respect of prestige television. And then there were conversations about the dynamics of the parents and is this level of raising your kids with this level of of disciplined child abuse and and what that means. And it made me think of people, it made me think of Joe Jackson, you know, it made me think of LeVar Ball. It made me think of ⁓ King Richard. ⁓ it made me think, you know, of these dads that oftentimes get a bad rap, but you love what they've produced. You know, I live 25, 30 minutes away from the Jackson home. I visit that home often. I visited it more than six or seven times. ⁓ and just to reflect on what Joe and Catherine Jackson. was able to accomplish and build in that in that house that changed the world. Like, I mean, they created the biggest pop star in in in in history. And how that road had to be so different for a Michael Jackson versus say an Elvis, who many would argue did not earn his spot in this, in, in, in, in, in, in this celebrity ism, right? ⁓ but kind of took it and and did it on the backs. Of black artists that he admired, you know, versus a Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five and Janet and Latoy and them and re all of ⁓ that they had to endure and create on their own and the level of discipline that went into that. ⁓ I've not yet seen the Michael movie. I'll watch it at some point, I don't you know. But ⁓ I did see w you know, one of my favorite movies of all time was the Tell it the May for TV movie with Jason Weaver in it. ⁓ on the Jacksons, right? And you know, and Joe Jackson tends to get a pretty, you know, bad name. But and it asked a larger question, did the ends justify the means? That's why I love this show. ⁓ because those are more complicated questions than people want to admit. And so when people are saying, hey, these are abusive parents, these are this, these are that, well, maybe in that case, maybe mine were as well, right? And and again, I had a good balance. My dad was the, you know, the disciplinarian and and set structure and and again was not always good with words and ⁓ the the the threat of a whooping was was definitely always present and and I got a few. Not as many. Not as many as one would think, but the fear of them was was was was good enough for me. And again, I say this without judgment because I have things that my father doesn't have. One, I have money and access. Two, you know, 2020s is very different from the 1980s and and and how you rear and raise a child ⁓ and what's acceptable and what isn't. You know, so I don't look at I don't judge my parents through an ethnocentric lens. I actually have great empathy for that. Now they piss me off in a lot of other ways and they get on my nerves in a lot of ways. And I mean I don't I don't love them, but I can tell that I ended up in different places because of that discipline in a lot of ways. And in some ways it also was not good. Again, complicated things. And so when we're telling the story of Jon Stewart and you're watching this episode three and you're watching, and again, this is just next level crazy shit. Like, you know, go shoot, shoot, shoot the apple off the kid's head to to make sure he's not scared and and let him do it. And and hey man, I'm letting you out here make your way home. You know, that wasn't necessarily my life, but there were shades of that. You know, hey man, get your ass beat outside and you stay scared. My father was very much Hey man, ⁓ and he he didn't it wasn't, I didn't have the beeves, father. Get your ass back out there and fight. You you you want to fight them or you want to fight me? what he did not have the words to articulate was you have to face your problems. And sometimes you might get a black eye or a bloody nose or a fat lip. But to not and to be a coward, you're gonna live a worse life. ⁓ be your own man. He also taught me some shit like, there's no such thing as a fair fight. So they bigger than you. Hey man, he showed me this sock that had a bunch of quarters and coins in it. Pick up something and knock their big ass out. I've never been a fighter like that, but I have been a fighter socially. I've been a fighter in my life. I fought for my education, you know. ⁓ as part of the reason I run the type of company I run. ⁓ one one of the ways that that showed up was when I had to advocate for myself in high school because I took some some some classes in in junior high and they didn't transfer over and they wanted me to take it again. And I wanted to go to college and I knew what was required. And and and so my advocacy, my self advocacy, my agency, ⁓ was activated and it made sure I got into the academy at my school. That's the tracking program where most of those kids were on the path to college. And outside of that, the the chances were a lot slimmer. And again, And you can have criticisms about that. I mean, tracking, I talk about tracking as well. It's not the greatest thing, but the point that I'm making is this show kind of breaks down sometimes what is necessary for a black boy in America become a black man, ⁓ that to you know, to be set up to do great things. Does that mean that if you're not raised that weight that you can do great things? Absolutely fucking not. Okay. Let's let's we're not gonna twist my words. But what I am saying is that I'm grateful for it. And when I watched ⁓ the criticism and the takes about the episode, it was really interesting to see where the takes came from. It was very interesting to see the people that grew up in a very privileged ⁓ environment, a nurturing environment, an environment where there were safety nets underneath them, the freedoms that they may have had, ⁓ versus other people that grew up with hardships in different ways or different types of financial insecurities kind of took to it. So I just thought that that was interesting. And and it led to another part that I that I've kind of titled in this next, you know, my next little breakdown from my from my script here is it there's a prove yourself tax. Again, I've written about this before. I read a I wrote a thing called the Black Achievement Trauma Tax. And, you know, Jon Stewart has to earn what the show is saying, how Jordan was handed. All right. Like so. You know, the way that the lore goes is that this lantern crash landed into ⁓ Earth to America and the the the lantern died and when the lantern when a lantern dies, the ring goes and finds who's, you know, who's worthy and places itself on them and then they become the next Green Lantern. So that's what how Jordan ⁓ that's the way how Jordan got it. And originally John Stewart's father, who was also a very decorated Marine, very disciplined and straight laced, he didn't pass the initial test that they had for him. And it ruined his life. ⁓ it it it it turned him into an alcoholic. He was in this deep depression, and also worse, you know, nobody believed his story about these lanterns coming to him ⁓ and asking if he was had any fear and and and that they came and talked to him. His wife didn't even believe him. It it drove him crazy. And so When you start learning about that and you learn that they now have this second chance because of the you know, the guardians who grants ⁓ the the and turns people into lanterns, right? They visited the mom and basically apologized for, you know, coming to her husband and and and the strife that it caused their family. But this this this guardian saw how strong the mother was. And so the guardians are looking for a specific bill. Right. So they look at, and if you look at Aaron Pierre, he's a he's a big dude. He's in shape, right? He looks like a Marine. He's he he can fight, he can do these things. ⁓ so they love the DNA makeup of of of of Jon Stewart's father, which is passed down to Jon Stewart, but they also love how fearless and formidable his mother was. So the Guardian gets an idea of like, ⁓ we can help, we can you raise that baby like this. There's a very good chance he could become a lantern. and so it just also showed this working dynamic between two parents, and that there's and that in the ways in which you need both, and and that there's something that both can add. And it's a really interesting commentary on the decisions that you make. And it's a commentary too on, you know, in many families, there is a child. that may be deemed as the chosen one or the golden one or this is gonna be the one that is gonna take our family out of this or whatever. You see it a lot in professional athletes. ⁓ in my family, I I I carried a lot of pressure. Like it was always assumed that I was going to college, even though no one else in my family did. And I had to navigate that. And and and it was interesting because my parents could not help me navigate it. I often were hindrances, right? Like I'll give an example, right? Like so when you are in college and you've never been to college before, I'll give you two examples. ⁓ Example one is when you're doing financial aid, they need both your parents' financial situations and and and and all their information. So you can know if you qualify. Now, obviously I qualify because we on free and reduce lunch and niggas is broke. Right? But the way my parents are set up, especially my dad, why I gotta give these white folks this? Why I gotta do this, right? And he would give me the shit late. And it had a adverse effect. To one year where I lost my funding because it was always pulling teeth to get his tax stuff. That's one. And then two, when I finally did get in the school and my mother came to the orientation with me, and we have to fill out my classes and what I'm gonna do for the semester and year, ⁓ my mother never been to college. So when we're filling that out by ourselves and she's helping me navigate, you know what we did? We filled out my class schedule. Like it was high school. So I went to I had the first year, listen to me and listen to me well. I had classes Monday through Friday with an early lab starting at seven forty five. It was ⁓ not just lab, it was it was it was it was our it was a psychology class at seven forty five and I wouldn't be done till like three. I had c I had class every day from like seven thirty eight AM to like three PM Monday through Friday. Now, for you all that have been to college, know that is a terrible schedule. I also, ⁓ because of my financial situation, I got I had to get financial aid. and this is a good tip for if you got ⁓ a kid going into college or they're trying to do financial aid. I got really good advice from somebody, not my mom, because she couldn't give it to me, or my dad. ⁓ but it was to get a job that you can study in. So I ⁓ chose my work study to be in the library, which was a great, great decision because one, college libraries are not like your neighborhood library that's open from nine to five or whatever the hours are. Like university libraries tend to be open very late, especially during finals. ⁓ like so and two, I worked in the stacks upstairs. So before the internet was so flush, I remember I entered college in two thousand and one. ⁓ Before you could just print out articles and it was just that easy. ⁓ I used to be the person that professors would come and say, Hey, I need this article. And it was sometimes on microfilm or microfiche. And that was my job. So it also taught me how to do research really early, which would come back to help me in my doctoral and master's programs, right? So you never know ⁓ how things come full circle. But anyway, ⁓ so but in this What that what that led to me, what blah, take that part out, because my words are just jumbled up there. I'll I'll take that again. But how this ties into the story is that I was also somewhat alienated from my siblings ⁓ in a way that John Stewart was, but just in the reverse. ⁓ and one of the pristine moments in the episode was when his family puts him out the car. So John has to be raised with no fear. His two older brothers are just getting raised like two regular black boys, and they're in the back of their family vehicle. And they sing an outcast. They singing, you know what I'm saying? And they kind of teasing their brother a little bit the way their brothers tease you. And just kind of like, man, you ain't, you know, whatever. And he raps this outcast verse, and he sounds, as they would say, white. And and it is because the way that they have sheltered and also pushed John in these different ways, he's not able to interact socially in the same type of way. He's not able to just go out and be this kid. He is being trained for something that is greater than him. And just for context, as people like Dan have to do all that, people let's pump these brakes a little bit. He's being groomed for a position that one person at the time, I know there's multiple answers now, but that one person on the planet can do. It is the same story that if you hear About somebody being groomed to be president from childhood. It is similar to you're in this ⁓ athletic, this this family of athletes, and they might groom their kid in a different way to be a professional athlete, or you're grooming somebody to be, you know, the biggest pop star in the world, okay? It's you you cannot utilize ethnocentricity in this moment. And for you all that don't know what ethnocentric means. It is basically when you take your value system and put it on a different time or a different you know, society or social norms and and you judge them by the standards of how ⁓ of what you deem is normal, right? So that's like me having a really strong opinion about how a nomadic clan may have done things, you know, at the time they lived versus me with all of With me being able to talk into a camera and broadcast, right? Like this shit wasn't even possible ⁓ in a home, you know, 25 years ago, right? Now without tons of money and access. So this story, it just was able to tap into that stuff in a in a way that I don't often see a story being told. And I'm not saying that the Jon Stewart story is my story. I'm not nearly as disciplined and I fuck up a ton and actually John kinda is right now too in some ways, but it's just it's just really dope. And the prove yourself tax, which I might call the black achievement trauma tax of it all, is that Jon Stewart had to do so much more to be to get to this ring and for this ring to choose him. And even when he gets there, they there's still these hurdles that he has to that he has to overcome that this white cat doesn't. And ⁓ by the way, when the white dude does get the shit, he ain't following no rules. He kinda on his own dummy crash out missions. For example, when John is an adult in the Marines, he's on this case for nine months scoping out this target in this bush, and he's about to make this kill. And then how Jordan Gets a message or intercepts something and just comes in and and and swoops in and ⁓ and and messes up the mission, right? To which Jon Stewart has to take bear the brunt of and gets dishonorably discharged. And the the show is saying, yo, because that's just sometimes how shit goes. And I have so many of those moments in my life where, like, there's a certain group. Like that that I've like had to apply to or been asked to apply to or whatever, one of these prestige groups for these for these things. I've helped other people write their speeches and their essays, not speeches, but their essays to get in and they've gotten in. But when it comes to me, right, it's always like, ⁓ man, he's you got these things, but we kinda had this people, these type of people in the cohort and this, that and the third, right? Like that constant kind of rejection. So it's like, okay, well maybe my shit just not good enough, or maybe it is what it is. I am groomed. And I am well aware that the things that I do have to be two or three times better than what other people do. At this point, I don't really bitch about it. At this point, I don't really, I don't, I still frustrates me, but it doesn't frustrate me in the way that it might frustrate other people at this point. I just expect it. Even in running my company, like even when I'm talking to my staff, when I'm talking to my number two, when I'm talking to these people, I I I'm I I'm very clear in what. We have to do and accomplish. And by the way, we might not get the credit for this, but d does not matter. We have to still do it. For instance, ⁓ fuck it. I you know, whatever. I'll just I'll just say it. A through G in Oakland, California was something, and in California was something that I was just very passionate about because how it intersected in my life as a as a high school student and how it affected negatively ⁓ my best friend, my brother. Who did not get the support, the proper support that he needed, and he got fucked and screwed over by this A through G system. And so when I started this company, that was the first task we took on was how do we make parents more aware? How do we teach students like me? Because I had to learn on my own, how to navigate their own A through G requirements. And for y'all that's not ⁓ in California, it's just the, the, the school, the class requirements needed ⁓ in order to have access to University of California or California State University system and it can also get you in other schools across the country. But the level of work that I led, and I had a lot of help and a lot of other people that came in, shout out to my homie David Castillo, who was with me and and did the f and when we laid out all the high schools and did all the stats for how many of these black kids are graduating versus how many of them graduating to be an A through G eligible. We led that. And a lot of people lashed on to it. ⁓ we shamed districts, we we pushed, we made it easier to do. ⁓ And we didn't do this by ourselves. We I'm not saying I'm not taking that credit, but ⁓ it is a fact that we don't get the credit ⁓ that is probably deserved in making A through G an everyday term in the lives of many of these students that we've helped graduate and be make sure that they're on track and things like that. Right? So, you know, that is what the show is highlighted. And then when you get to this thing. And they and and Fox or w one of these other red groups, again, I believe what you believe, I'm I don't care. You know what I'm saying? Don't bother me. But when they dismiss this episode or this story as a woke charge, right? it's it's annoying. It's annoying and it and it and it's dehumanizing because you think this is just fantasy, and it is. In a large it is. But there's because Damon Lindelof and company are so elite at telling stories, they tapped into something that a very large sect of the country has to deal with, that they have to do. ⁓ And to dismiss that for the comfort of conservatives, and I'm just conservatives, I would say conservative zealots. I would say, you know, these cats that are way out there. You know, it's it's it can be dehumanized. And I'm I and I don't even like that term, 'cause it sounds like I'm bitching or complaining about it. I don't complain or get as bothered by these things in the same sense because I don't expect it. I I I don't expect ⁓ I I I just I just I've been here. You know what I'm saying? Like it's just it's part it's par for the course. And so when I see people like, ⁓ this is abuse, this is this, or on you know, getting at the parents, or like the right wingers talking about, ⁓ this is super woke stuff and this don't happen, yes, it fucking does. It does. And black women have their story, and our stories are intertwined, and brown people got they story. And poor white people got their story. And Asia's got their story. And when you go in and Asia is big, so and when you go into Southeast Asia and what like whatever. Everybody when you tell these type of stories, everybody can connect to them in certain type of ways, but it's a problem for a lot of people when the f when the character looks like me. So, you know, I think these things are not new, but that's a sign of good storytelling. And I think even if you don't go down that road or that rabbit hole, you can still very much enjoy this show. You can turn your brain off and enjoy this show. And I'm not saying that as a slight because that is another purpose of television. It is escapism for people. I'm not the type that really likes to watch. my profession on television, because I do it in real life, and when I leave there, I'm like, I'm I'm I'm going from there. So I just thought it was interesting. I just thought I just thought it was interesting. And I think to do this in inside of a superhero show, i i I just thought it was dope. I I just thought it was really, really cool. And, you know, like just when you think about why do you why would you ground you know, this cosmic hero in a father's like warning. Like why why would you why would you ground this in ⁓ in this in this brother like this in this type of way and and show those things and show the impacts that it has on his psyche as an adult. Listen, listen. I'm telling you, man. I'm telling you. There are so many people in my life that are like, yo, he is standoffish. He doesn't really engage. You know, I think he might be on a spectrum and I'm might be. I've never had a test. I'm not gonna self-diagnose here, but I've I've heard that as well. And and and but I've worked so hard to get and build what I've had to and I've sacrificed so many things along the way, which might be personal relationships with ⁓ you know, with women or friends or being super social. And I've had situations where I've also been like, you know, let me try a different let me let me work on this social being let me be the friend that everybody and go out and do this stuff and they don't really work in my favor. And then it and it it makes me l yearn To go back to the way in which I was raised and do these things in a way that speaks to me. And a lot of people don't understand that. So there are people that admire the work that I've done and my work ethic, ⁓ but also know that I could be prickly and it could be difficult to get close to me in those ways. And sometimes people do get in close, and and and sometimes I push those relationships away. And a lot of that stuff is tied to the way that I came up. And well, all I'm saying is. This isn't about right or wrong, good or bad or anything like that. I'm not I'm not ⁓ explaining away my behavior or who I am. I am who I am and I love who I am. ⁓ I just take the good with the bad. I dance with the one that brought me. And I've written about it and I talk about it. And if I ever finish writing this next book, ⁓ Crack Baby Residue, it will be I will go much deeper into it. But it's a very difficult book to write. I write a lot of things. ⁓ it's very d I have to just go somewhere mentally to do it. ⁓ You know, when I write parts of that book the same way when I wrote my first book, I go back in Oakland to two the shelters. I s I just they both since been closed, but the buildings still stand for now. Like I I've I sit in my car for hours and I would do a lot of writing there because I have to put myself back into that mode. I gotta I gotta remember the the roach infested like Fucking projects in Paducah, Kentucky at Almwood Court and Lincoln Court, you know, Allenwood Court. Like we have Roach Bombs like twice a year. You know, most people don't even know what Roach Bombs are. Or what what that means, right? They they most people have not gone through the process of tarping, you know, your whole house and kitchen and things like that. ⁓ so so these fumes can go off and and and drag out these these these these bugs. Right, that gross out most of the people. And also a lot of people have not mu many people in this country have not seen a transformed, morphed roach. Roach is gonna survive it all, you know, but I gotta put myself back in that space bec and I never fully wanna be too far away from that. I I never wanna be too far removed. And I don't mean I don't like nice shit. I love it. I love vacationing. I I like I got a nice bag here and there. I like to Get my hair cut, you know, weekly. Like there was a time where I I couldn't get my hair cut like once but once every s every four to six weeks. Now if you ain't got black hair, if you ain't a black boy, you know what I'm saying? Like, you know, I know white folks can get their hair cut. Some of them get their hair cut like once every six months or some shit. I don't know. Don't let me talk out the side of my neck on shit that I don't know. But I'm just telling you, it g it gets rough up here. If you can't ⁓ if you can't keep that thing lined up at least, you know, every two weeks, right? Or you know But now I got means. I can go every week, damn it. You know? And I don't, I don't bitch about that. ⁓ I take it as it comes. I think that it makes me stronger and it makes me better. And I don't begrudge people that grew up privilege. I think you use that privilege, you know. ⁓ there's a lot of dope people that I know that have privilege, and there's a lot of shitty people that I know that grew up how I grew up. You know, but I I I wouldn't I changed some of it. But the the show. has all that subtext that I can see and that I can feel ⁓ in it. The only question that I would have, I don't know. I I don't know. I th I I think Aaron Pierre is doing a great job. He's not really in that episode that much. He is a little bit towards the end, but ⁓ like I said, the focus, the focal point is is more on those parents. ⁓ You know, I think there's a level of depth That they can carry into it, being black American, ⁓ that I appreciate. Aaron Pierre is not black American. He's from across the pond. And I think he's doing a brilliant job in the show. But I there is a part of me that wonders if there was any even additional gear that could be hit or kicked from somebody that actually lived a version of that. And again, I don't know Aaron Pierre's. Upbringing, I know him to be a brilliant actor, I know him to be a cool cat. So this is in no way dismissing him or diminishing him or saying he's not up for the task he is. I'm just saying I wonder if ⁓ a a black American that grew up in similar circumstances that I did that mirrored that of of of John Stewart, if there's a even additional gear that could be kicked. But with all that said, the show, the show is incredible. It's I am a huge fan. I can't wait to see where we finish off. You know, I think four episodes in is gonna finish strong, but you never know. They can shit the bed in the last in the last act, right? In the last in the latter part. So, ⁓ but I am enjoying myself. And it's my nerdy shit. I hope you liked it. Hope you got to see it. A lot people don't get to see this part of me. So, you see, I was very verbose in it, you know. You know, so ⁓ loquacious is the term. That just for y'all that don't know, it's just me and a motherfucker that talks a lot. Okay. But segment two. Hey everyone, this is your producer. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, segment two wasn't actually recorded. So Charles's gonna come back next week with segment two. You can listen to him ⁓ describing how sad he is that it didn't get recorded after this message. See you next week. Well, what I just found out was that I just recorded some greatness that did not go because of technical difficulties. And that really sucks. Because it was a really, really, really, really I thought it was really good. Wow, that really sucks.