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And and and what it really came down to is that, um, black men come with different perspectives, and, um, and those, those perspectives are threatening, uh, you know, to these folks. You understand what I'm saying? And, uh, and he represents, you know, kind of some of the the problem, the challenges that we have now with black male studies because, as you already know, I mean, you know, people already talking about us, uh, and what we're doing and everything like that. I just saw a post by Feminista Jones, >> um, where she was saying, you know, you know, black male studies, you know, is is gaining, you know, some traction right now and what have you. And and she, she called us, um, a a a black version of the red pill, you know, and, uh, she called it, she called it Afro Red Pill, you know what I mean? And, uh, and and this, this, this is very recent in light of the stuff that's happening on happening now with all these unlivings and everything like that. And, uh, you know, she took exception to, you know, black men, um, pushing back, you know, against the the monstrous narratives that are that are going on right now. You know what I mean? >> For years, when, and this has happened cyclically, the things that are going on in the news right now has been going on for years, and and most of the time, black men just shut up and didn't say anything. >> So, you know, it, it, and, and, you know, so it's been recently that I've seen black men standing up and speaking for themselves in ways that I didn't think I would see in my lifetime. >> And it is unnerving a number of these women who are who've grown used to silent black men taking their critiques on the chin and walking away slowly. And that's starting to change. But let me see. Uh, tell me if you can see this. Hold on. Um, >> the biggest secret weapon. >> Could you hear that? >> Okay. I heard, I heard that. I heard it. >> Okay. So, this is, this, this is, uh, again, I didn't have this experience with the Underground Railroad, but I'm going to share with you what this comes from. This is only a minute or so, few seconds longer. Check this out. >> The biggest secret weapon behind the Underground Railroad was not Harriet Tubman. And it wasn't white people operating state houses. They were black men. Actually, these men were sailors. They were ship captains. They were ferry operators. Most people who travel the Underground Railroad did not go by land. They went by water. Water was faster. It's also safer. Not completely safe, but you're better off on water than trying to go from Virginia to Pennsylvania on foot. That's not going to work out for you. These men, you don't hear about them though, right? Because there's a church that was a part of that network. You can go to the church and see it, and that's really cool. But those boats, those ferries, those little ships, they're gone. And they definitely didn't keep passenger records for obvious reasons. The other reason why you don't hear about these black men is frankly white scholar-centered white people. People like Wilbur Sever who wrote about the Underground Railroad. He focuses on white people in the network that work, and they are due their praise, right? But other people follow that. But most scholarship will tell you like, no, really, black men. And by the way, what were these black men called? Black texts. So if you want more history like this, check out my course, Racecritical. Go to racecritical.com. American history is way bigger and way deeper than anything you were taught in school. >> All right. So the reason I played that is because, Oh, damn it. Let me stop this thing. All right. The reason I play that is because there are whole areas of the field of Africana studies that have been feminized to the degree where they're not to be questioned. Right. So to a lot of people, the Underground Railroad is Harriet Tubman. That's that's pretty much the discussion, right? >> For me, when I ran into this issue, it wasn't the Underground Railroad where I ran into it. It was, um, >> um, slavery in regard to sexual violation. >> Whenever we talked about slavery in regard to sexual violation, that was the the sole property of women and girls. >> Yeah. Matter of fact, it wasn't until grad school before I found out sexually what had been what had been happening to black men. >> And then, and then later, I ran into Tommy and learned a little bit more. So essentially, you know, with black men, black men were the only group that were sexually violated by white women and white men. >> Cuz white women would threaten you with mob violence, proxy violence, >> and of course, you know, white men would dominate you at their will sexually if they could. Nobody had said that across three degrees in Africana studies until I was in my doctorate because it wasn't supposed to be talked about. And I, and I'm saying that to say, there, so this feminization that we're seeing taking place in terms of the bodies in the room, the speech, um, the the conferences, the hiring, it's also taking place in terms of what you're allowed to talk about in regard to given subjects. And there were certain subjects that were deemed solely the the, you know, the space, the oppos was under the opices of women and could not be touched. So he gives the example with the Underground Railroad, but I just was using that as an example, but there were other areas, and, and I'm f, and, and so you have to, you have to almost decolonize the field on gendered grounds because of what we've been intro introduced to and what we're allowed to talk about. And that's reinforced by the conferences, which is where the, you know, professors will will come back to the universities and reinforce even more what they brought back from the conference, which is usually filtered through a black feminist lens. So in as much as I'm seeing grad schools, grad students alienated from their programs if they don't follow the line that they're supposed to follow, the subject matter has been gendered as well. But go ahead. >> Yeah, absolutely. And so what, what, what, you know, has to happen is kind of like, you know, going back what I was saying earlier, um, if you look at African scholars, um, especially since the 1980s, African scholars have had to go back and basically, you know, decolonize, you know, you know, writing about Africa, you know, what I mean? Because so much of what was written about Africa was written from a white perspective, you know, and it was written from a Eurocentric, a missionary perspective, and what have you. Uh, and they had to go back and and go through it. I mean, and so that's basically, you know, what you're talking about, you know, um, and it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a weird, strange, bizarre type of of thing that we're, you know, that we're talking about right now, you know what I mean? Um, because, um, the perspectives of these people are just so, that they're so limited, so narrow, and what have you. Um, you know, it's kind of like, you know, you, you can't, you can't get around the fact that yes, um, when you look at the the history of institution building, um, with with black people, it was primarily led by men, you know, you look at the history of the black church, uh, you look at Booker T. Washington, you look at the Garvey movement, um, you look at black business, you look at all these sorts of things, uh, and it's not to say that women were not involved and what have you. You understand? But, but we have a history where we have a history of men that just, it is what it is. Kind of like, you know, the found, the the Black Panther Party, they've worked so hard to revise that history over the decades and what have you. And it's like, the Black Panther Party was founded by black men. Okay. Uh, you know, Huey, Huey B. Newton, Bobby Hooden, Bobby Steel, and what have you. Uh, they founded it. It wasn't founded by women, you understand? Uh, and, and the one who, the people who took the most risk were the men, you understand? Um, and, and even, you know, you know, moving forward, even, even if you consider popular culture, man, look at hip-hop and what have you. Uh, you know, you know, hip-hop is, hip-hop is a male-oriented enterprise, >> you understand, and, uh, driven capital, the in terms of the hip-hop, uh, business people, the the artist, you know, at every level, you understand? You know, it's only been in recent years that, you know, we've seen a shift, and that, and that was a deliberate, it's been a deliberate socially, social engineered shift away from black masculinity, um, to women and other stuff, you know, what I um, in hip-hop. >> Yeah. In hip-hop, you know what I mean? In terms of, you know, from from Nicki, from Nicki Minaj on up, >> right? >> You know what I mean? And loving hip-hop and all this stuff up to Cardi B and Mega the Stallion and all that kind of stuff. That's a part of a a deliberate >> um, social engineering program >> um, in, in the, in the entertainment industry, you know. Um, we want to move this culture away from so-called hyper masculine black men, and we want to insert these women into the whole program and turn this into a woman thing. Um, and so, yeah, man, um, it, it, this program of um, denial and erasure >> is very real, and, and as I said, this is not academic. >> Um, and again, because it, you're not dealing with, um, principles of reason and logic, scientific method, history, and all that kind of stuff. You're dealing with mythology, and you're dealing with stuff that's unverified. It's like, you know, and Tommy has said this in his whole work, man. When you, I mean, when you look at their efforts, feminist efforts and historiography and stuff like that, you know, it's, it's, it's revisionist stuff, you understand? >> And I got a, I got a book right here, you know, called a a black woman's history of the United States. They have a whole series, you know, um, on, you know, you know, Howard Zen, he was the first one back in the 80s. He wrote a people's history of the United States. >> And a part of that series, you have, uh, an indigenous people's history of the United States. Um, and here's the key thing. Um, most of the country, the the volume coming out of that series has to do with people, entire populations. So, you have a, a book that's called a black woman's history of the United States. This is the only, only book in this series that is gender specific. >> You understand? And, and it, it is reflective of this um ideological program that they have. You, you can't understand. I, I don't. Yeah, I, I get the idea that you want to retrieve um women's place in history, and there's nothing wrong with that. You understand what I'm saying? Um, but you can't, there's certain things that you simply cannot ignore. Uh, in history, we where men were major, major, you know, contributors, you understand? And so that's why I say this is, this is a, this is a cult. And, um, and this is part of the reason why >> this is the part of the reason why, um, hell, the right wing is attacking it, you understand? >> Other >> but that leaves black men in an interesting, in crossfire, right? Because the right is trying to to attack it. >> The left is using black women to co-opt it, and, and I'm going to show you that in a minute. And so, black men find themselves in a crossfire, uh, and even receiving some, some cold war attacks from black women in this regard. So, you, you know, you're dealing with the white right, the white left, and, and the black left in regard to women. And, and nobody, and, and as all of this is happening, nobody's saying anything about it out loud. You're just dodging bullets and don't even know where they're coming from. Yeah. Heat.