4 chapters across the catalog
Dr. Westbrook details how record labels used black artists to fundraise for the Congressional Black Caucus and support politicians like Jimmy Carter. He credits "Black Godfather" Clarence Avant with connecting Carter to the black power structure. The hosts argue that this tradition continues today with figures like Jay-Z and LeBron James, suggesting that black political influence is often hijacked by corporate interests.
Loretta Ross explains the 1977 National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas, as the birthplace of the term "women of color." Originally, a group of activists brought a "Black Women's Agenda" to the $5 million federally funded event to replace an inadequate minority plank. The term was created as a negotiation tool to include other minority women in the agenda, though Ross notes that the original political intent has since been confused with biological destiny.
The creation of the Department of Education in 1979 under Jimmy Carter shifted school oversight, but the discussion argues that the fundamental issue of unequal facilities remained. Furthermore, the psychological trauma and PTSD inflicted on children forced into hostile environments were largely ignored by political actors.
Carol Swain presents facts to dismantle the Southern Strategy myth, noting that 20 of the 21 Democratic senators who opposed the Civil Rights Act remained Democrats. She points out that Democrats like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton continued to sweep the South decades after the 1964 Act. Republicans did not hold a majority of Southern congressional seats until 1994, thirty years after the realignment supposedly occurred.
