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Welcome to Rational Black Thought. I’m your host, Neo Griot.  This week’s title comes from Blackalicious’ Brain Washers, and it captures something essential about the moment we are living through. The song is not merely about lies. It is about the construction of consciousness itself. It is about the way power reaches beyond laws and beyond force to shape perception, to rewrite memory, to organize fear, and to train people to participate in their own subjugation. Here is the full stanza:  

Walk to a time when minds was one
Came into creation as itself, mankind was born
Step into the eye of the storm, survive as pawn
Casualties of evil men, slidin' the blinders on
Lies will spawn, hey, are you conscious what side you're on?
Is the total story told or is it they hide you from?
Why are we, on the brink of murderin' more innocent?
Now we slide, we're patriotic and so militant  

This describes the genius of every corrupt order. It does not survive by domination alone. It survives by manufacturing consent. It teaches people what to honor, what to repeat, what to forget, and what never to question. It wraps exploitation in the language of patriotism, wraps hierarchy in the language of morality, and wraps ignorance in the language of faith. And when that process is fully mature, people no longer experience control as control. They experience it as common sense.

  That is the danger.  

Because once a people have been taught to confuse obedience with virtue, spectacle with strength, and mythology with truth, they can be led anywhere. They can be marched into cruelty, into war, into silence, into submission, all while believing they are righteous, informed, and free.  

So this week, I want to frame our thinking around that central fact: the battle is never only over policy, territory, or institutions. It is also a battle over consciousness. Over who gets to define reality. Over who gets to name the enemy. Over who gets to tell the story of what is happening and why.  

And if we are serious about liberation, then we have to be just as serious about intellectual independence. Because once the mind has been colonized, the rest of the conquest is easy.  

Here is another line from the song:  

Brain washers, it's when you think how they wanna think Speak, how they wanna speak, livin' in defeat When you don't wanna question what they teach, as the truth With no proof, with the fear of burnin' in eternal heat When your programmed not to be your own man, but a sheep  

The entire song is full of insight, if you haven’t heard it, listen to it and let me know what you think.  

Now let’s get into this week’s episode:

Intro:

Quote of the Week: bell hooks

Unmasking the News: 

• Democracy Watch: Trump’s Imperial Hunger Is Not Foreign Policy. It Is Possession
• The Epstein Files Debacle Is Now a Story About Protection, Not Disclosure
• Sean Feucht and the Colonial Reflex of Modern Christianity 
• Good News: Black Business Growth Is Real, and the Strategy Is Visible 

Bible Study with an Atheist:  The Efficacy of Thoughts and Prayers (revisited) Reflections and Call to Action:

Closing/Outro:

Sources:

• https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexican-volunteers-load-boats-with-aid-energystrapped-cuba-2026-03-20/
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2026/03/21/prison-guard-told-fbi-about-suspicious-document-shred

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Episode #274 – March 21, 2026 – “…"Don't you know the powers that be
 Are using people as pawns, devouring we” 

 | Hi and welcome to Episode 274 of the Rational Black Thought podcast. I am your host, Neo Griot. This week’s title comes from Blackalicious and their song “Shallow Days”: “Don’t you know the powers that be are using people as pawns, devouring we.” And that line captures the deeper context of the moment we are living in. We are in an age of noise, distraction, and performance, where ordinary people are too often manipulated, divided, and consumed by systems of power that depend on confusion to survive. This is not just about individual bad actors. It is about a structure, a society where exploitation is normalized, where suffering is rationalized, and where too many people are taught to mistake being used for simply being alive.  

We are living in “shallow days and hollow nights”, and the real challenge is to see clearly enough not to be played by them. 

Intro:

Quote of the Week: Ibram X. Kendi

Unmasking the News: 

• Democracy Watch: Trump’s Iran War and the Chaos Model of Empire
• When Exposing Torture is Worse than Torture
• When the Church Starts Looking Like a Political Machine 
• Good News: Blackness Is Not the Obstacle. It Is the Advantage 

Strategies for Black Power: How Oppressed People Gain Political Power

Reflections and Call to Action:

Closing/Outro:

Sources:

• https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/19/threats-trump-economy-iran-war-inflation-fed-00833425
• https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-drops-charges-against-soldiers-accused-abusing-gaza-detainee-2026-03-12/?
• https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/religion/article/southern-baptist-members-decision-21235185.php
• https://www.ebony.com/donye-taylor-creator-strategist-digital-culture/

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Welcome to Episode 273 of Rational Black Thought. This week’s title is “You need to get up, get out, and get something.” From Outkast, and that title captures the central truth of this moment. We are living in a time of confusion, cowardice, spectacle, and organized deceit, and none of it will be corrected by passivity. Not in politics. Not in culture. Not in religion. Not in Black life.

Here are more of the lyrics that are relevant for today: 

You need to get up, get out, and get something
Don't let the days of your life pass by
You need to get up, get out, and get something
Don't spend all your time tryna get high
You need to get up, get out, and get something
How will you make it if you never even try?
You need to get up, get out, and get something (Get something)
'Cause you and I got to do for you and I, that's why

From my perspective, the admonishment to not spend “…all your time tryna get high” is more than drugs, it is entertainment TV, it is mindless social media, it is ceaseless partying. In other words, it is mindless lethargy. Though it is better to have a plan, the effectiveness of a plan is never know until it is executed in reality and that is what “…get out and get something…” is telling us.

This is a moment that demands action, clarity, discipline, and self-determination. It demands that we stop confusing outrage with power, symbolism with progress, and hope with strategy. Because if history teaches anything, it is that nothing changes for oppressed people until they decide to move with intention and build the force necessary to change their condition.

That is the spirit of this week’s episode. Let’s get into it.

Intro:

Quote of the Week:  Malcolm X

Unmasking the News: 

Democracy Watch: Let’s deal with Georgia

·         Trump: They Probably did it to Themselves 

·         Bishop Caught with his Hand in the Cookie Jar 

·         Good News: This is what real community-building looks like in 2026

Bible Study with an Atheist: Archeology Proves What?

Reflections and Call to Action:

Closing/Outro:

Sources:

• https://www.cookpolitical.com/analysis/house/georgia-house/ga-14-special-trumps-pick-advances-democrats-once-again-overperform
• https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-experts-deeply-disturbed-by-child-deaths-escalating-middle-east-conflict-2026-03-04/?
• https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/pope-accepts-resignation-of-u-s-bishop-charged-with-embezzlement-and-money-laundering
• https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-doctor-identity-affirming-steam-box-kids/

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I am your host, Neo Griot, and this is Episode 272 of the Rational Black Thought Podcast.  This week’s title is “Living under my greatness / What don’t kill me is motivation.”  by Anderson Paak and the Vanguard.

The full lyrics I want to reference are: “I spent years being called out my name-Living under my greatness-But what don’t kill me is motivation. My faith is buried somewhere underneath the town (Until it’s paid for)”  

There are seasons where your life feels like it’s happening in the shadows: misunderstood, misnamed, mismeasured. You’re still growing, but not in ways other people can see yet. That’s “living under my greatness.” The work is real before the applause is real.  

And then there’s the other half: “what don’t kill me is motivation.” Not because pain is noble, but because endurance teaches structure. It forces you to get serious: about what you believe, what you tolerate, what you build, and what you will no longer explain.  

This is a clarity episode. If you came for lullabies, try religion. 

Intro:

Quote of the Week: A. Philip Randolph

Unmasking the News: 

• Democracy Watch: Trump: Wars and Rumors of Wars
• The Primaries, the “Electability” Religion, and the Base You Keep Treating Like Servants 
• Religious Corruption: “God’s Anointed” vs. Basic Human Decency 
• Good News Build the Block Again Strategies for Black Power: Organizing for Greatness

Reflections and Call to Action:

Closing/Outro:

Sources:

• https://www.armscontrol.org/pressroom/2026-02/illegal-us-israel-attacks-not-justifiable-nonproliferation-grounds
• https://www.offmessage.net/p/jasmine-crocketts-partisanship-was
• https://nypost.com/2026/03/02/us-news/pastor-caught-shoving-elderly-woman-down-steps-of-la-church/
• https://wlos.com/news/local/amazing-america-250-preserving-asheville-black-business-district-community-african-american-civil-war-reconstruction-businesses-neighborhoods-eagle-market-street-ymi-cultural-center-table-mic-podcasting-symbol-media-heritage

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Episode #271 – February 28, 2026 – “Crawling through a systematic maze…And it pains to demise…Pain in our eyes…” -  D’Angelo and The Vanguard 

I am your host, Neo Griot, and this is Episode 271 of the Rational Black Thought Podcast.  This week’s title comes from D’Angelo and The Vanguard’s Black Messiah and the song Charade: “Crawling through a systematic maze…And it pains to demise…Pain in our eyes…Strain of drownin', wading into your lies…Degradation so loud that you can't hear the sound of our cries (doo, doo)…All the dreamers have gone to the side of the road which we will lay on…Inundated by media, virtual mind fucks in streams”  

Because that’s what power feels like when it’s working the way it was designed to work: not as a clean, honest confrontation, but as a system of traps, delays, distractions, and narratives meant to keep you disoriented while someone else moves resources, writes rules, and calls it “order.”  

And that’s the theme of the episode: how reality gets distorted on purpose. Not just through propaganda, but through the basic machinery of the human mind. Belief isn’t simply something we “choose.” It gets built out of fear, identity, repetition, and social belonging. And once you understand that, you stop treating public life like a debate club and start recognizing it as a contest over perception.  

The New Republic used a phrase that captures the moment with brutal accuracy, calling Trump a “malicious buffoon.” The danger isn’t that he’s some mastermind. The danger is that incompetence paired with cruelty still destroys lives when it’s backed by institutions, media ecosystems, and people willing to clap for the demolition.  

So this week, we’re staying focused on one question: Who is shaping what people believe, and what is that belief being used to justify? 

Intro:

Quote of the Week: John Henrik Clarke

Unmasking the News: 

Democracy Watch:  

• State of the Union: Fucked in the Ass by a Malicious Buffoon
• SCOTUS Strikes Down Trump’s IEEPA Tariffs and the Court Still Isn’t a Friend of Justice 
• The Coward’s Exit, and the Church’s Predictable Script 
• Good News: Knocked Down but Not Out 

Bible Study with an Atheist: The Science of Belief: How the Mind Manufactures “Truth”

Reflections and Call to Action:

Closing/Outro:

Sources:

• https://newrepublic.com/article/206888/trump-state-union-failure-economy
• https://abc7news.com/post/supreme-court-ruling-trumps-tariffs-is-mean-end-trade-policy-chaos/18643459/
• https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/former-worship-pastor-in-owensboro-takes-own-life-after-sexual-abuse-charges/
• https://www.allure.com/story/pat-mcgrath-labs-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy

Let’s get into it. 

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I am your host, Neo Griot, and this is Episode 270 of the Rational Black Thought Podcast.  

This week’s title comes from Dame D.O.L.L.A.’s song “Blacklist”:  “Our culture beautiful, battle-tested and tough, we had enough-So you either come with some change or it's gon' be rough-Period.”  

That’s the report. And the report says: we’re out of time for talk.  It’s time for us to stop talking and start building. And to start that process, we start with ourselves. Because before we can have a community of Black people moving in the same direction, we need Black individuals on the same page.  

On the same page about what reality is, what’s producing it, and what we’re going to change in our own thinking and behavior so we can build the reality we say we want.

Intro:

Quote of the Week: Dr. Wade W. Nobles

Unmasking the News: 

Democracy Watch: 2026 Midterms, the Structural Landscape: Not vibes. Not punditry. The machine:

·         Trump Owns the Epstein Dumpster Fire, and the Cover-Up Optics 

·         When “Grace” Becomes a Cover Story for Negligence 

·         Good News: Canada just did the thing America keeps pretending is “impossible”

Strategies for Black Power: The Power Mindset: Why Black Power starts in the mind

Reflections and Call to Action:

Closing/Outro:

Sources:

• https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/it-dont-mean-a-thing-if-it-aint-got-that-swing-the-outlook-for-electoral-accountability-in-2026/
• https://www.businessinsider.com/epstein-files-consequences-resignations-brad-karp-kathy-ruemmler-wasserman?
• https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/north-texas-pastor-suspended-sex-offender-son-heritage-baptist-church/
• https://finance.yahoo.com/news/government-canada-invests-pathways-success-170500392.html

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 | I am your host, Neo Griot, and this is Episode 269 of the Rational Black Thought Podcast.  This week’s title is a line Kanye dropped that still cuts like a scalpel:  “Drug dealer buy Jordans, crackhead buy crack / And a white man get paid off of all of that.” From “All Falls Down” on College Dropout.  And I’m starting there because it’s not just a lyric. It’s a diagnosis.  It’s the economic machine in plain English: predation gets dressed up as “the market,” addiction gets criminalized, consumption gets celebrated, and the profits flow upward to people who never touch the poison. The street-level players get cages. The executives get quarterly bonuses. And everybody pretends this is just “personal responsibility” instead of a system engineered for extraction.  

So that’s the moral frame for today’s episode: follow the incentives, follow the money, and don’t let anyone replace analysis with fucking sermons. 

Intro:

Quote of the Week: James Baldwin

Unmasking the News: 

• Democracy Watch: Bondi in Two Chambers: Same Shit
• “Energy Freedom” or Freedom From Accountability 
• Seven Years for a Pastor Who Preyed on a Teen Isn’t Justice. It’s Barely a Slap on the Wrist 
• Good News: David Steward Didn’t Go Viral. He Went Vertical 

Bible Study with an Atheist: From Spirits to Sky-Daddies: How Religion Evolved When Humans Didn’t Know What Was Going On

Reflections and Call to Action:

Closing/Outro:

• https://www.courthousenews.com/gop-leaders-split-on-bondis-use-of-lawmaker-epstein-files-search-history/
• https://apnews.com/article/green-energy-environment-trump-rollbacks-fact-check-208382e5fb17f9ec6831831f50f7232e
• https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/12/louisiana-pentecostal-pastor-molestation-sentence
• https://www.thetallcotton.com/david-l-steward-world-wide-technology/

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 | I’m your host, Neo Griot, and welcome back to Rational Black Thought.  

This week’s title is a lyric from a Song by Billy Paul, “Am I Black Enough for You” and it’s not for nostalgia. It’s a political forecast we need to take to heart. It’s the sound of a people deciding that survival is not enough, and that we are done negotiating for dignity one exception at a time.  

When Billy Paul sings “Move on up” is not a personal affirmation. It’s collective motion. It’s disciplined, coordinated progress. Two by two means we do this together, not as lone heroes, not as isolated geniuses, not as individuals begging to be let into a burning house. It means we build capacity, we build systems, we build protection, and we build power that lasts.  

And when he says “brand-new,” He doesn't mean a rebranding of the same old plantation with better lighting. He means structural change. New rules. New guardrails. New institutions. New expectations. A world where Black life is not an asterisk in somebody else’s democracy.  

So when the question gets asked, “Am I Black enough for you?” I’m not asking for approval. I’m asking if you’re ready for the responsibility. Because Blackness is not a costume, and it’s not content. It’s an inheritance of resistance, creation, memory, and obligation.  

In this episode, we’re going to talk about what it means to move with intention. We’re going to talk about fatigue and strategy. We’re going to talk about democracy under threat. And we’re going to talk about Black Power as a serious project, not a slogan. 

Let’s get into it. 

Intro:

Quote of the Week: Kofi Addae (aka Erriel D. Roberson)

Unmasking the News: 

• Democracy Watch: Trump is Telling you who he is Believe Him the First Time
• Flooding the Zone with Bullshit 
• “Prophet” as cover for predation 
• Good News:  Black “Inspiration” and Black Infrastructure 

Strategies for Black Power: Racism: If You’re Debating Intent, You’re Already Losing

Reflections and Call to Action:

Closing/Outro:

Sources:

• https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/03/trump-republicans-nationalize-elections-midterms?
• https://www.newsweek.com/steve-bannon-flood-zone-strategy-explained-trump-policy-blitz-2027482?
• https://www.vvdailypress.com/story/news/crime/2026/02/04/l-a-pastor-from-pion-hills-accused-of-child-sexual-abuse/88515694007/
• https://www.blackbusiness.com/2025/09/dee-daniels-entrepreneur-launches-50-ai-powered-tools-for-black-creators-journalists.html 

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Hey, family. I’m Neo Griot—Afrocentric, Pan-African, secular humanist, atheist, skeptic. And this is Rational Black Thought—where we don’t do feel good pieces, we do the hardcore truth.  

Episode 267 is titled: “ Y'all think it's bougie, I'm like, it's fine-But I'm tryin' to give you a million dollars worth of game for $9.99” which are lyrics from the song  The Story of O.J. by Jay-Z.  The Story of O.J.” (from 4:44, 2017) is Jay-Z’s financial-literacy-and-racial-reality track: it’s about ownership, credit, generational wealth, and the fantasy that money makes you “not Black.” The whole song uses O.J. as a symbol of that delusion (the “I’m not Black, I’m O.J.” idea), and the video leans hard into America’s racist iconography to make the point sting.  

So when he says he’s trying to give you “a million dollars worth of game for $9.99,” he’s basically saying: you’re calling me bougie because I’m talking assets, credit, and ownership, but I’m handing you life-changing economic strategy for the price of a cheap product. It’s a value proposition: stop being entertained and start being equipped.
 
Jay-Z called it ‘a million dollars worth of game for $9.99.’ I’m giving you a more than a million dollars of game for free, because I am talking about generational power not just generational wealth.  And if you still treat it like background noise, that’s on you. The problem isn’t the price. The problem is we keep refusing the lessons that would make us dangerous.”  “Free doesn’t mean worthless. Free means I’m removing excuses.”-Neo Griot

Intro:

Quote of the Week: bell hooks

Unmasking the News: 

Minneapolis: when the state lies first, and investigates never 

A government of Vibes and Fake Numbers 

The “Children’s Pastor” Predator and the Machine That Protected Him 

Good News: A Family Win and Blueprint

Bible Study with an Atheist:  Build-A-Belief Workshop: Christianity as Personalized Cult

Reflections and Call to Action:

Closing/Outro: 

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Peace, family. I’m Neo Griot—Afrocentric, Pan-African, secular humanist, atheist, skeptic.

And this is Rational Black Thought—where we don’t do bedtime stories for adults.  Episode 266 is titled: “We are the winners if we unclose our eyes.” which are lyrics from the song Nostalgie Amoureuse by the group Zap Mama led by Marie Daulne.
 
I am not using this as a hashtag. It’s meant as a survival manual. It is saying the truth is before us, we just need to open our eyes and see it, and remaining indifferent in the face of injustice is the same as not seeing it, perhaps worse.  

The world rewards one thing consistently: people who can see clearly—especially when the system is designed to blind them. 

Intro:

Quote of the Week: Del Jones

Unmasking the News: 

Davos Lies and the Weaponization of Ignorance 

Jim Jordan murders justice and lets the criminals off the hook 

Another week, another “holy” scandal

Good News: The Black Fund: Investing to Benefit All

Strategies for Black Power: Systemic Enemy Analysis—A strategy narrative for people who are done being fooled

Reflections and Call to Action:

Closing/Outro: 

Sources:

• https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/davos-2026-special-address-donald-trump-president-united-states-america/
• https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-prosecutor-smith-condemn-false-narratives-about-probe-house-testimony-2026-01-22/
• https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/18/louisiana-clergy-abuse-korey-lavergne?
• https://theblackfundcentraltx.org/celebrating-collective-impact/

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