This week Jack and Mike welcome the one and only John Leguizamo who is debuting as a director on the big screen with Latinx chess film, 'Critical Thinking'. Leguizamo who gave an unfiltered and uncensored interview, discussed the challenges of financing Latinx films, why major studios rarely release them anymore, the enduring influence of 1988's 'Stand and Deliver,' the psycho-social erasure of Latinx in media and politics, the enigma of Latinos for Trump, colorism and racism amongst Latinos, especially on Spanish-language TV (Telemundo), should white filmmakers still tell Latinx/Black stories, what kind of films he wants to do next, and an update on his new Broadway musical - 'Kiss My Aztec' coming 2022.

Jack and Mike also talk to Calixto Chinchilla, the founder and executive director of the New York Latino Film Festival which this year goes virtual. Did he ever consider cancelling it this year due to the pandemic, his thoughts on brown and black unity and if he believes the new academy diversity rules are a sign of progress or tokenism.

And the guys passionately break down the new Academy Awards Diversity Rules. Will it work or disappoint?

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"We don't own history, the history owns us," "POV is critical to storytelling in history," "I had a producer literally tell me once, 'white people don't want to see movies where all the white people are bad," "The promise of America and the reality of America... that's what '24th' is all about." These are some of the quotes you'll hear in this latest episode of 'Brown & Black' where our features guests are Academy-Award winning writer Kevin Willmott (director, writer, producer '24th') and Trai Byers from FOX's 'Empire' (actor, writer, producer '24th') discuss the difficulties of getting '24th' made, why Black historical dramas are crucial to the storytelling of America, as well as why he feels Latinx movies don't get made in Hollywood and what he suggests Latinx filmmakers do about it.

Jack and Mike also discuss the significance and legacy of Chadwick Boseman who died at age 43 from colon cancer.

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This week Jack and Mike share their thoughts on the DNC and the division, hate, and animosity that news networks have commercialized for profit, ratings and so much more. Also, they discuss the "Blackifying" of white Hollywood movies with the news that Will Smith and Kevin Hart are remaking "Planes, Train and Automobiles". Plus, did you hear about Susan B. Anthony's racist past?

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Our guest today is music composer Amanda Jones, the first African-American woman to be nominated in the Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special for Original Dramatic Score for the episode "Maine" from Apple TV+'s documentary series Home. Black female composers are rarely ever nominated for Emmys and are less than 1% of the industry, which is why Jones's nomination is so significant. In this episode, we ask her the magnitude of her selection, what the "color" of her music is, her thoughts on pop music today, and whether she believes we should enter the era of gender-free award categories.

Mike and Jack also explore the damning assertions from former MSNBC producer Ariana Pekary's blunt blog entry about why she left TV news and why she is transitioning over to independent journalism, and they also discuss why Joe Biden's newly handpicked Vice-President, Kamala Harris, is about to face a serious revolt from Trump's base and right-wing media. Can she withstand the onslaught of bad press coming her way and how will she counter it?

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Our featured guest this week is Estuardo Rodríguez, President and CEO of the Friends of the American Latino Museum, a campaign to create the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino in Washington DC's National Mall. Jack and Mike ask him the questions that are on all of our minds - when will the museum open, how much it will cost to build, will all Latino culture be included, and why wasn't it called The Latinx Museum?

Mike and Jack also tackle the very controversial Primetime Emmy nominations which did not include one single Latinx nominee in the main categories, but did possess a record-breaking amount of Black nominees. They discuss both sides.

And the guys saw Beyoncé's new visual album "film" Black is King. Why did they think and will they recommend it?

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Our guest this week is millennial Mayor Michael Tubbs who at 26 years-old became the youngest Mayor of a major American city in 2016, and the first African American mayor of Stockton, California. Now at age 29, Jack and Mike catch up with him to discuss his new HBO Documentary Stockton On My Mind, reparations, being in the room where it happens, brown and black unity amongst many and if he has any plans to run for President.

Mike and Jack also discuss whether there is enough Hispanic-American contributions to create a Smithsonian Latino Museum, the Los Angeles Times Latino journalists pen an open letter for better newsroom representation, and how white men are being hateful of Latina women.

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Comedian, actor, producer George Lopez joins our show to discuss his new Netflix show We'll Do It For Half.

In the interview, Jack Rico and Mike Sargent ask Lopez about why he has never worked with Netflix before until now, why Covid-19, George Floyd and Black Lives Matter were not a part of his special, the role and responsibility of comedy and comedians beyond making us laugh, why comedians can make transitions to drama but not dramatic actors to comedy, why America's Mexican has never taken his comedy tour to Mexico City, and his thoughts on if we will ever see a Latino President in the White House.

In our news segment, Mike and Jack also converse and debate Goya, the complexity of Hispanic identity, cancel culture, and if the new slate of diverse and inclusive programming is here to stay.

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This week, Jack and Mike discuss how social media has created a visible and actionable generation of young, multicultural American political activists (Trump never saw it coming in Tulsa) that will become of voting age in the next 2-4 years; Also, after watching Damon Lindeloff's 'Watchmen' on HBO, Mike and Jack debate whether white storytellers should still be allowed to tell Black, Latinx or diverse stories moving forward.

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Mike and Jack interview Afro-Latino children's book author and illustrator, Eric Velasquez, about the power and context of Afro-Latino images in media. They also tackle the age-old question: is he more Black than Latino or more Latino than Black? If both, how?

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White media has taken a beating this week after many of its magazine and digital platforms have seen their main figureheads toppled by accusation of racism and bias. But will all the remorseful apologies last and create true industry change of equality ? Jack and Mike get into why image representation matters more than federal policy changes.

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