Shows / Color Commentary
Color Commentary
Color Commentary with Dr. Cole is where the news meets perspective. Each episode begins in black and white—straight facts, clearly laid out, no spin—before shifting into full color, where Dr. Charles Cole III brings his voice, expertise, and lived experience to unpack what it all really means. From courtroom battles to cultural flashpoints, from education to entrepreneurship, this show gives you both the record and the reflection. Sometimes it’s just Dr. Cole, sometimes it’s with guests, but…
Episodes
- Color Commentary
Ep 52 | Why Black America Is Moving, With the Receipts
A few weeks ago Dr. Charles Cole III posted a map of where Black Americans are moving, no caption, and let the comment section run. On election day, he pulls…
- Color Commentary
Ep 51 | Losing Ground?: Black Wealth, Student Debt, Lost Cities, and What We Can Do
New Federal Reserve data shows Black household wealth fell by a quarter between 2022 and 2025, while every other major group gained. The federal government is…
- Color Commentary
Ep 50 | The Bloody Education Revolt Happening in France Right Now
France just did something the United States never has. It ran a national experiment sorting middle schoolers into ability groups, the Choc des savoirs, watched…
- Color Commentary
Ep 49 | The Hannah-Jones Reckoning
Nikole Hannah-Jones's new essay on the school she chose for her daughter has become one of the biggest education stories of the year, and the reactions are…
- Color Commentary
Ep 48 | The A That Wasn't
Two education stories landed eight days apart this month, and they are really one story. Dr. Charles Cole III breaks down the New York Post front-page report…
- Color Commentary
Ep 47 | Should the Black Voting Block Break Up? [PART 2]
This week on Color Commentary, Charles discussed Black political strategy, Democratic Party identity, and whether Black voters should continue voting as a…
- Color Commentary
Ep 46 | The Question Black Voters Keep Dodging [PART 1]
This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole III starts with Lanterns, HBO's grounded, critically loved take on the Green Lantern mythos that finally puts…
- Color Commentary
Ep 45 | Grading Practices (with Dr. Shawnta Barnes)
This week on Color Commentary centers on one big question: what are grades really measuring, and who gets harmed when grading practices drift away from actual…
- Color Commentary
Ep 44 | Two Things Can Be True
This week on Color Commentary, Charles takes on two stories that turn out to be one. First, the viral video of a Houston teacher and influencer who broke down…
- Color Commentary
Ep 43 | The Tuskegee Dress Code (feat. Jubilee Ransome)
A one-line dress code policy out of Tuskegee University, banning bonnets and durags in class and the cafeteria, set off an online firestorm. But is this really…
- Color Commentary
Ep 42 | The Odyssey: Christopher Nolan Subverts the Myth
This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole III reviews Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, the record-shattering, IMAX-shot adaptation of Homer's epic…
- Color Commentary
Ep 41 | Rules to Success Spiritually (Feat. CJ McCollum)
This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole III catches CJ McCollum on X breaking down what it actually takes to make it in the NBA, and realizes the…
- Color Commentary
Ep 40 | Overcoming The Literacy Crisis (with Dr. Dr. Shawnta Barnes)
In this episode of Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole interviews his friend and collaborator, Dr. Shawnta Barnes, to discuss the literacy crisis in America…
- Color Commentary
Ep 39 | The Black Achievement Trauma Tax, John Henryism, and The Bear
Welcome to Color Commentary, where the stories shaping our world start in black and white and then come into full color. In this episode, Charles opens with a…
- Color Commentary
Ep 38 | The Failures in Memphis Schools
What’s really happening behind the scenes of Memphis’ education upheaval? Dr. Cole dissects the recent law that replaces elected school boards with a shady…
- Color Commentary
Ep 37 | Unpacking Diaspora Dynamics, Cultural Identity, and Educational Battles
In this episode of Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole, III delves into the intricate dynamics between Black America and the diaspora, exploring how cultural…
- Color Commentary
Ep 35 | Celebrating Cultural Literacy
In this episode of Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole, III explores the profound connections between literacy, hip-hop artistry, and cultural expression, while…
- Color Commentary
Ep 34 | Summer Learning: Balancing Fun and Education with Educator Barnes
Join Dr. Charles Cole and Educator Barnes as they explore innovative strategies for keeping kids engaged during the summer without turning it into a mini…
- Color Commentary
Ep 33 | The Cheyenne Bryant Credentials Controversy
She's been on The Breakfast Club, gone viral with Cam Newton, coached celebrities on live streams, and built a platform as 'Dr. Cheyenne Bryant.' But can she…
- Color Commentary
Ep 32 | The Voting Rights Act Is Gone in Everything but Name
In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was the federal government's answer to a century of voter suppression against Black Americans. In 2013, the Supreme Court gutted…
- Color Commentary
Ep 31 | Office Hours: What Do You Do With a Kid the System Wants to Give Up On?
This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Cole opens up Office Hours, a new lane on the show where he takes a real situation and works it live using the A.N.D…
- Color Commentary
Ep 30 | They Made the Promises. Here's What the Data Says They Did.
In 2020, American philanthropy made a lot of noise about supporting Black-led nonprofits. New research from Candid and ABFE just dropped — and it shows that…
- Color Commentary
Ep 29 | Inside the Manosphere — What It Means for Black Boys, ft. Chris Stewart
This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole is joined by education activist, Brightbeam CEO, and fellow 8 Black Hands host Chris Stewart to break down the…
- Color Commentary
Ep 28 | Beautiful and Jealous — The Truth About Ambition
This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Cole gets personal. From sleeping in a Tenderloin shelter at nine years old to earning a doctorate, speaking across the…
- Color Commentary
Ep 27 | Don't Tell Me What Young People Can't Do
Today I want to make an argument. It is one I believe in deeply — both because of the work I do every day and because of the evidence that history gives us…
- Color Commentary
Ep 26 | The Oscars, the Manosphere, and the Boys Nobody Came For
We have two things today. First — the Oscars happened Sunday...and I need to say a few words. Then we're going deep on something I watched this weekend that I…
- Color Commentary
Ep 25 | The Oscar 10 & What We Built: Energy Convertors and The Agentic Institute
I want to revisit the BAFTA conversation one more time — because the comments have not stopped coming in and there is one more thing I need to say. Then we are…
- Color Commentary
Ep 24 | MBJ Wins, and We Need to Talk About Those Comments
Last week we talked about the BAFTAs — Ryan Coogler's historic win, and what Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo had to endure on that stage. Well, this week…
- Color Commentary
Ep 23 | The BAFTAs: Sinners, History, and the N-Word
This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole III breaks down the 2026 BAFTAs — Ryan Coogler's historic Best Original Screenplay win for Sinners, what…
- Color Commentary
Ep 22 | Remembering Rev. Jesse Jackson & Tyler Perry's Joe's College Road Trip
Today we’ve got two stories: Eulogizing Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson Sr. Tyler Perry's Joe's College Road Trip Let’s get into it. --- We’d love to hear from you!…
- Color Commentary
Ep 21 | Bad Bunny's Halftime Show and the Problem with Proxy Wars
This week, we're talking about proxy wars. And I don't mean the kind where countries fight each other through intermediaries — though we'll get to that. I'm…
- Color Commentary
Ep 20 | The High Price of Poverty
Today, we're talking about something that doesn't get enough attention: the high price of poverty. How it costs more to be poor in America. How the system…
- Color Commentary
Ep 19 | Sinners, Ye, and Wonderman
In this episode of Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole, III discusses the recent Oscar nominations for the film 'Sinners', the public apology from Ye regarding…
- Color Commentary
Ep 18 | California’s Grading Wars
Today's story is about a question schools don't ask out loud enough: What is a grade actually supposed to mean? We're looking at two connected developments out…
- Color Commentary
Ep 17 | Will Sinners Keep Getting Snubbed?
Ryan Coogler made a $368 million vampire thriller with a nearly all-Black cast. Michael B. Jordan delivered a career-defining dual performance. Warner Bros…
- Color Commentary
Ep 16 | "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" - The Real Cost of Revolution
Today we're talking about a book that's shaped how I think about activism, sacrifice, and what it really means to fight for change: "The Spook Who Sat by the…
- Color Commentary
Ep 15 | The A.N.D. Model—Awareness, Navigation, and Duty
A recent study examined three Black men who earned doctoral degrees despite growing up during the crack epidemic. Despite meaningful cultural differences—two…
- Color Commentary
Ep 14 | From YN to Quarter Zip - When Young Black Males Trade Nike Tech for Matcha
Today we're talking about the Quarter Zip movement - young Black men trading in their Nike Techs for business casual, their coffee for matcha, their "YN"…
- Color Commentary
Ep 13 | Dr. Howard Fuller: The Revolutionary Who Won't Let Us Rest
This week, we're talking about Dr. Howard Fuller. I was just at the Black Male Educator Convening in Philadelphia last week, and I posted a clip of Dr. Fuller…
- Color Commentary
Ep 12 | The Ballad of Eddie Murphy: The Architect We Didn't Recognize
This week, we're talking about Eddie Murphy. Netflix just dropped a documentary called "Being Eddie," and while I knew most of what was in there—what can I say…
- Color Commentary
Ep 11 | Fine Print and Black Futures: How New Student Loan Rules Rewrite the Game
Today we're talking about something that will reshape Black futures for the next generation—new federal student loan rules that just cleared a major hurdle at…
- Color Commentary
Ep 10 | Who's Getting Paid to Make Us Look Bad?
Today we're talking about something that's been bothering me for a while: these so-called "culture" pages on social media. You know the ones—millions of…
- Color Commentary
Ep 9 | The NBA Gambling Scandal —When the Mafia Met the League
This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole breaks down the massive FBI investigation that led to the arrests of Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland…
- Color Commentary
Ep 8 | The Beef Between Joe Budden and Native Land: Authenticity, Class, and Who Gets to Speak for the Culture (ft. Torraine Walker)
This week on Color Commentary, Dr. Charles Cole is joined by digital storyteller and journalist Torraine Walker to break down the viral beef between The Joe…
- Color Commentary
Ep 7 | How We End the Proficiency Illusion
A decade of the same results means the education system is functioning exactly as designed. The only way to end the proficiency illusion is to build an Agency…
- Color Commentary
Ep 6 | Let's Talk About Ta-Nehisi Coates & Ezra Klein
After the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, New York Times columnist Ezra Klein wrote a piece that many saw as too sympathetic to Kirk's…
- Color Commentary
Ep 5 | The Problem with Performing Blackness for the Ruling Class
We love celebrating Black excellence. And we should. The first Black CEO, the only Black partner, historic appointments - these matter. These are victories…
- Color Commentary
Ep 4 | Young Thug's Freedom & the Street Codes That Bind Us
Young Thug just walked out of jail after 2½ years. His plea deal ends Georgia's longest criminal trial in history. But the real question isn't about his…
- Color Commentary
Ep 3 | Marcus Garvey & Chance the Rapper
This week on Color Commentary, Charles asks - what do Chance the Rapper's comeback album, a failed shipping company from 1919, and the heated debates tearing…
- Color Commentary
Ep 2 | Breaking News: Charlie Kirk Killed
This week on Color Commentary, Charles and producer Tommy were recording an episode when we learned that Charlie Kirk had been killed. This episode is an…
- Color Commentary
Ep 1 | Welcome to Color Commentary: Uncle Nearest at Risk
This week on Color Commentary, Charles discussed what happens when a brand that built its name on reclaiming Black history suddenly finds its own story being…