Cracks in the Foundation

Welcome to today's conversation... President gets checked! Racism on display! Tyra's a tyrant!  Your business gets a soul.  Susan Maria McKinney Stewart honored. 

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Transcript

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Welcome to Latia in the Lead Podcast, a podcast where we lead meaningful conversations that intersect the block and the boardroom. From pop culture to politics through ethical entrepreneurship. We are laying the groundwork for unity in our community. We're glad you're here. Enjoy the conversation. Good evening. Welcome to Latia and the Lee Podcast. My name is Latia and I'm your host. Thank you again for rocking with your girl. I am super excited to be back with you all for another episode of Latia and Elite. There is a lot going on today, y'all. And without further ado, we're going to jump right into the show. I hope all of you all are doing well. Oh, before I forget, so many of you have asked about the two red lights over my shoulders. Those are actually um crystal statues of my grandmothers. This is mama and this is grandmother. These are my two grandmothers whom I love so dearly and lost both of them in 2022 after taking care of them. They both transitioned. Um, Mama at 86 and grandmother at 92. And I just love them, and they're forever my angels, forever looking over me and forever um, forever over my shoulders. And so their place in this show is right where their place in my life was. So thank you guys for inquiring. Um, without further ado, let's get into it, y'all. We're talking current events. The Supreme Court just ruled against Trump's use of tariffs. The Supreme Court voted six to three and said that his use of tariffs are illegal. Half of the things that he does, he does not have the executive authority to do so. Because a lot of these acts are acts of Congress, and he's supposed to come through Congress, but of course, he is bullying his way through his administration, so he's doing whatever. What a Supreme Court just said, yeah, about those tariffs, those were illegal. He is hot. He called these people traitors, he said that they were a disgrace to the country. He went off. And the fact that we had three Supreme Court justices deflect and say, no, what you're doing is actually illegal is a good thing because it means that there's cracks in this foundation. A win is a win, and we need the Supreme Court to stand on the Constitution and not on loyalty to Trump. So the fact that they voted six to three and deem his use of tariffs illegal is a step in the right direction. Let's just pray that this is a shattering of this glass house that Donald Trump has built. We can also look at a couple of other things, though, to be able to tell that this foundation is shaking. Nick Fuentes, who is a prominent right winger, just told people don't vote. Israel detained Tucker Carlson. The Zoro Ranch is being searched. If you don't know about the Zoro Ranch, I'm not prepared to go into that when in this episode, but look it up and I will come back to it in another episode. Gates and Lutnick have been exposed. Republicans are being outvoted in all the races. So of course they are in a scurry trying to figure out how they're going to steal the midterm elections, which I mean, for what it's worth, they do very well at stealing elections. So, but they're in an uproar because they nothing is going their way in the ballot box. And so Republicans are getting outvoted in all of their seats. We can see that this multi-million dollar ballroom that Donald Trump is build building is being blocked. The cracks are showing. And so we just gotta hope that people come to their consciousness with regards to this administration and more people start outwardly rejecting what is going on in this administration. So good for us. Moving right along, Puerto Velata in Mexico is on fire right now, y'all, because the mafia is burning it down, and Americans are being warned to shelter in place, and there are people over there right now who are stranded. The El Mencho, who is the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was killed because US intelligence aided the Mexican military operation that killed him. And the cartel is over there going crazy. Canada just said we stand with Cuba because, due executive order, this president has issued these massive penalties on any country that provides any kind of aid to Cuba. So Canada said, you know what, we're gonna help with this oil crisis. We're standing with Cuba. I respect Canada. This president has been bullying Canada since he got back in office. He's talking about he was gonna index it, he was gonna take the he ugh. Just trash. But anyway, I pray for the people that are in Mexico right now, all the Americans. I pray that all of you get home safely, but we have to be conscious about how we're moving around in these international streets because we have a president right now that nobody likes. He is unlikable, which essentially puts us all at risk as Americans, particularly when we go to these other countries. So praying for everybody to be safe in Mexico and hopefully you guys get back on American soil safely. Prince Andrew was arrested. Yes, sir. They went over there and they said, look at here. We want to see you, we want to talk to you. So he was arrested last week. However, what is interesting is that the people that are being arrested with having to do with the Epstein files, they're not being arrested for the actual trafficking and victimization and exploitation of young girls. They're being arrested for providing information to a foreign government. He wasn't arrested for those photos, the at least the one that we saw with him uh leaning over what appears to be a very young girl who's laying sprawled out on the floor. He's in jeans and a t-shirt, and he's barefoot. I mean, was he giving her CPR? None of the sex stuff that he's been accused of by Virginia Guffrey, who actually name-checked him. That was the first per one of the first people that she did name check. He hasn't been arrested for any of that. So they are still being protected by a system that is upholding these white men, and that is problematic. But he is already out, he was out the next day after his arrest, so we'll have to see how that actually plays out. I think the Epstein thing is bigger than Watergate, and once the floodgates do break, and it's going to take another whistleblower type person to do that, but once the floodgates break on this whole Epstein saga, there are so many powerful white men that is going to be connected. I mean, they are already retiring from positions in droves because they were mentioned in the Epstein Files. There is more to come. So, congratulations to the U.S. women's hockey team. They secured a gold medal in the 2026 Winter Olympics. We are so proud of them. However, we are even more proud of them because they declined Donald Trump's invitation to the State of the Union. Yay, women's hockey team. Because no one should be attending anything of his. If we believe what we're seeing with our own eyes and what we're hearing with our own ears, then we should not be supporting this president in any way, shape, or form. His events should be empty, besides the people who believe in what he's doing. If you don't believe in what he's doing, you don't believe in how he's behaving, you don't believe in all the laws he's breaking and all the things he's done on and off camera, then you should in no way feel compelled to support him in any kind of way. So I respect the U.S. women's hockey team for saying no thank you. Although this is a national story, I chose not to speak on it last week. However, I'm just going to say this. Three weeks ago, Nancy Guthrie, who I believe is 84 years old, was kidnapped out of her home in the middle of the night, never to be seen or heard from again. According to media outlets, there were a couple of ransom notes that went to various media sources that demanded money in Bitcoin. I don't think that that money was ever posted, and the dates have come and gone. It's been now almost three weeks, and they have no real solid leads other than this image that was taken by the ring camera of the perpetrator on the porch. They have no other real leads. What I found interesting, any anytime, and I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I am not, but anytime something like this happens, that's so clean, so untraceable, it just seemed too perfect. For me, the alphabets always come into play. The federal alphabet agencies. Because they have the resources, they have the capacity, they have everything that they would need to disappear someone. This country has been known to disappear people for a very long time. But why would they want this 84-year-old woman? What what why would they bother? What is the value in this 84-year-old woman as to why someone would even want to do that? There's a lot of things floating online. I'm not a journalist, I haven't vetted this, but it's just a theory online that is interesting to me. I'm not saying that I believe it, I haven't really thought too hard about it. However, the connection is weird. So Savannah Guthrie, who is a journalist, had been reporting on the Epstein Files for years. In 2019, when he was first arrested, she had interviewed a few of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein. And so Savannah's name did appear in this latest drop of the Epstein Files in an email, which not verbatim, but the email just stated that she was supposed to, at that time, been producing a segment around Jeffrey Epstein and all the surveillance technology in the New York townhouse at that time. What that has to do with anything now, I don't know. But there's questions around her father, who apparently has been a Democratic supporter. He had something to do with the Al Gore campaign. And people are doing a really good job at connecting some of these dots online. It'll be interesting how this all plays out. I don't have enough information to provide an opinion about it one way or another. But I just think that it's interesting that her name is somewhere involved in this whole Epstein thing, and now her mother is missing. Thoughts and prayers go to Savannah and her family. My prayer is that her mother is located and she's alive. Savannah did release another video today, and I've watched a good number of her videos. They're all so heartbreaking. I can't imagine the pain that she's going through. But she did release another video. The um reward for any information is up to a million dollars. And in the video, she did say that the family is resolved with their with knowing that their mother may not be here, she may have gone home to glory, and um they would be resolved with that, but they do want proof of that, and I don't blame them. So, thoughts and prayers out to the Guthrie family, and I'm praying that um Nancy Guthrie is okay and she does come back to our family. So, last but not least, we're gonna talk about the BAFTA Awards. The BAFTA Awards is the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. It was held in London, and apparently Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo was on stage presenting an award, and what emerged from the audience was the word nigger. Clear as day in plain sight. The word was yelled by John Davidson, who people are trying to cape for online because he has Tourette's syndrome. A couple things. Number one, as a social worker, I've worked with people with Tourette syndrome. I've read upon Tourette's syndrome, I have experienced Tourette's syndrome and a couple of things. I have a few thoughts. First and foremost, shout out to Michael B. Jordan and Elroy. First and foremost, shout out first and foremost and foremost, I want to acknowledge Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lundie. Delroy Lindo. First and foremost, I wanna first and foremost, I wanna say Michael B. Jordan, Delroy Lindo. I'm sorry that that happened to you. You did not deserve that. No one deserves that. The next thing that comes to my mind is how the internet is trying to narrate, how the internet is trying to massage this thing and normalize this thing because he has Tourette's syndrome. I am a social worker. I have worked with people with Tourette's syndrome. I've done a lot of lead, I've done a lot of reading and a good amount of studying and having to prepare to work with people with Tourette's syndrome. I've never once saw racism as a symptom of Tourette's. No, sir. You said that from your gut. From the heart, the mouth speaks. That is not a word that just came to your head in that moment. You associated that word with those two black men that was standing on that stage, and you said it. Now, my problem is these this award show was recorded on a two-hour delay. Apparently, someone else who was presenting also got on the stage and said, Free Palestine. Guess what? Free Palestine was edited out. They kept that. So now, black people, this is where we have to have a meeting. Because when people show you who they are, you are supposed to believe that. And we have to stop putting so much value on these spaces, in these places, that we will allow ourselves to be humiliated on a stage where a white man in all his privilege gets to call us a nigger. It should be up for the BAFTA awards for black people. Is what we should be on. Because we have to think more of ourselves than to put ourselves in a position where that could ever happen to us again. Do we know that they feel that way? Of course. They're showing us that every day. But once it's on display, once you have felt it, once you have seen it, once you have experienced it personally, then you do have a responsibility. And your responsibility is to protect yourself. It is an act of violence. Now, online they're trying to say what they always try to say. Oh, we're being too sensitive. He has to rest. What? Well, if that's the case, why didn't he call another group by a derogatory term? If he had yelled out something against the Jewish community, and it was two Jewish people on that stage presenting an award, he would never have been invited to an award show ever again in life. Yet we're supposed to accept and have compassion because he has to rass. Stop playing. Stop playing. You're not gonna keep playing in our faces. Michael B. Jordan, Mr. Lindo, y'all have decisions to make. I know this is your industry. You all are in those circles, but the amount to which as black people we are expected to give up, to be at those tables, in those spaces, at their award shows. Brothers, I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze. I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze. So now, now the new standard is we can be outwardly called a nigger. And it gets aired. This was a show, this was a show on a two-hour delay, y'all. They could have edited it out, but they did not. They chose violence. So what are you gonna do with that? It's up to us. I mean, at a point, we can't get mad about how people treat us because you teach people how to treat you. At a point, we have to say, no, fuck your awards, fuck your things. We're standing on this. If you don't respect us, if you don't want us in your space, then we won't be there. No problem. It's never gonna be as cool if we don't show up. It's never gonna be as dope as we're not present. How we fight back, how we resist is through our presence. And it should be up for the BAFTA awards. Now, can we get into some culture? Speaking of the BAFTA awards, I mean, we do need to say congratulations to our brother Ryan Kugler because he was the first black man to receive an award for original screenplay. We have to give it up for him. Pardon me if I'm saying your name incorrectly, says, but I believe it's Wumi Mosako who won for Best Supporting Actress. Congratulations to both of you. I thought you were good even before the award. Don't need these awards to be validated, but I'm happy for you. I'm happy that you got recognized by your peers. You know what? I don't care what y'all say about the Smith kids. I love the Smith kids. They're out here minding their business, living their lives. They don't bother anybody, they're never in anything, you they're never being dragged out of anywhere. They're just unproblematic, living their little eccentric lives. And I love that for them. Jaden Smith, who in 2015 co-founded the Just Water Company over his concern about how much plastic was in the ocean, right? And then I think in 2019, he started the I Love You Nonprofit, where he was feeding, I think at the time, out of a food truck, the homeless people on Skid Row. Well, now he's expanding that mission, and he is going to acquire a building in the middle of Skid Row that's not only going to provide three meals a day for unhoused people, but also services and a gathering place and just a place for them to feel like humans and get the services that they need. And I think that is amazing. I think that if you can raise a child in this day and time who actually has a heart and cares about something outside of themselves and cares about the environment and cares about other people, I think that you have done a good job. And um, I applaud um Jaden for his efforts. So go little bro. We need more like you. Continue to do what you're doing. Now, have you all been watching America's Next Top Model docuseries? I binge watched all three episodes, I think, in one night. And I have to say, it was problematic, y'all. I watched it in real time when it was on, but watching it with 2026 eyes, oh, it was problematic for sure. How they did Tiffany was so wrong, it was so wrong. How they had no black hair stylist for her hair, how people were talking over her when referencing her hair and talking about her, and how they talked about the other girl's skin was dry and ashy, and just the whole narratives and storylines, the black face. Oh my god, y'all, it was so bad, and we loved it. We could never get away with anything like that in 2026. But surprisingly, surprisingly, I it's being relaunched. I guess Tyra Banks is redoing it, it's not going to be the same show. You can, she simply it will never get greenlit in this day and time. This society is too sensitive, this generation is too sensitive, and you have too many people that you have to worry about offending for a show like that to be successful in its original form today, and it was problematic, so it doesn't need to come back in its original form. But put the show aside, I think this generation of kids is just soft, and there's too many, you know, it's too many you hurt my feelings, kids. It's I'm a generation Xer, and we may not have had the technology that this generation has, but god damn it, we had common sense, and that's what they are lack. There is a significant hole in realism with these last two generations. There is a significant decrease in independence and the ability to be resilient and to get over things and to be able to do things and to hear no. Anyway, so America's next top model is coming back, and I mean, I'll check out an episode, but I don't know. I I think I've I've I've I've moved on from that. Tyra Banks to me does not and has not ever come off as an authentic person to me. I've never seen her and felt like she was really like girls girl. Never. Never. So I don't see, I mean, I may, I may check it out, but I don't see a world where I'm really going back into that whole landscape simply because I don't think that she is, I don't think that, I don't think she's authentic. Now, I'm only basing that on how she presents herself. How she presents herself, I've heard her speak, how she, you know, how she ran her show. She just doesn't present to me like someone that I would really mess with for real, for real. So I may or may not watch the show. I don't know, but it's coming back. Anyway, last but not least, we have a sad story. Rondell Moore of the Minnesota Vikings unfortunately committed suicide. This young man who was drafted back in 2021, he had been traded to a couple of different teams, and he's been injured a couple of different times that actually ended his season prematurely, and he was found unalived. And I feel so bad about that because here's a young man with who has made it to the NFL with his whole life ahead of him, and he came to a point where he didn't feel like his life was worth living, and my heart hurts for him. And I think that when young people get drafted into the league or any kind of professional position, I think that mental health services is really important because he had to be in an under an enormous amount of pressure, especially having been traded multiple times and having had his season ended multiple times. And he was probably going through a lot. Obviously, he was going through a lot where he felt like it wasn't worth seeing if he could make it through. And I I feel bad about that. So our prayers go to the family of Rondell Moore for your loss. And um, may God be with you in this in this time of bereavement. Now, all right, y'all. We're coming down to the end. We're talking ethical entrepreneurship. Now, when I just talked about Jaden Smith and the philanthropic endeavors that he has committed himself to within his entrepreneurial evolution, that is essential. And it is essential because it's important that as entrepreneurs, your business has a soul. You cannot simply be about making money. I mean, you can, but then that makes you unethical. Because when money is your primary motivator, you start to disregard the human beings that actually make your company work. When money is your great motivator, you start to disregard the humanity in relationships that are required to make companies operate, and you start not seeing the people that work for you as valuable, you start to see them as a commodity there to do you a service. And that is how we get billionaires who don't care about other people. And so what I always teach in worthy women is that you're as you are building and developing your business, it is important to understand and come to a place where you can also connect a philanthropic endeavor to your business. Your business will be better received with a philanthropic mission attached to it. Your business will be better equipped to deal with the ills of the world if you show you have a compassionate side that also drives your purpose in your business. For me, we have always done, even before my nonprofit, before I had an official 501c3 as I have right now, we've always done philanthropic endeavors within my business. I've always done a lot of work around addiction and the addictive population because that is my that is my area. And I am a child of heroin addicts. So I know what it's like to grow up in a family of addiction. I know the harm, and I know I know the harm that addiction causes. And I know I also know that addiction is a disease. And a lot of people have a hard time freeing themselves of the disease. And I know the ramifications on families, particularly black families, that has. And so addiction has always been my philanthropic cause. And so I le I lend myself to different things having to do with addiction. And because addiction is so personally tied to my story, it makes sense for that to be my mission. As you're building your business and you're on your way to becoming an entrepreneur, or you may already be an entrepreneur, I want you to look at your business and look at the things that you care about in your real life, in your personal life, and try to find a common denominator between your business and that philanthropic endeavor. And find a way in your business to honor that philanthropic endeavor. I'm telling you, it would make you a better person. So if you just say for example, you have a excuse me. So the one wig that you donate, consider that a seed and sow that seed. And as you continue to sow those seeds and sow those seeds, I promise that you will reap the benefit of a good business. So find your philanthropic thing, find your mission, and connect that mission to the soul and purpose of your business and watch your business thrive. That's my entrepreneurial tip. And we are at the end of the show, guys. So without further ado, in today's Black Facts, we're honoring Susan Maria McKinney Stewart, physician, hospital founder, and black activist. Susan Maria Smith was born on March 7, 1847, in Weeksville, New York, now Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She graduated with an MD and was valedictorian of her class from New York Medical College for Women. This event made her the third black woman in history of America to receive an MD, Rebecca Lee in 1864 and Rebecca Cole in 1867. As a native of Brooklyn, on this day in 1870, she was the first black woman licensed medical practitioner in the state of New York. Her incredible knowledge and tremendous skills slowly surfaced throughout the community, which ultimately resulted in a caseload including black, white, young, and old from all walks of life. One biographer described her as the most successful practitioner of medicine of her sex or race in the United States. In 1881, she was one of the founders of the Brooklyn Women's Homopathic Hospital and Dispensary, later named Memorial Hospital for Women and Children. In addition to her many activities within the field of medicine, she was heavily involved in advancing women in medicine and securing their right to vote. Her legacy continues to this day in the naming of the junior high school in Brooklyn in her honor, Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Junior High School. Furthermore, black women doctors in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut have honored her by naming their medical societies in her honor. On March 17, 1918, W.E. Du Bois delivered the eulogy of Dr. Susan McKinney Stewart. We honor our rising stars Soothing Heritage App. Heritage App is a free app that you can download from your phone. It provides black facts for every day of the year. While this is not an ad, we support Heritage App and encourage you to download it. That's it, guys. We are at the end of the show. Last but not least, T's takeaway. My takeaway is this, y'all. In this current climate we're living in right now, we have to be true to who we are. One thing about me, I stand on what I say. If I said it, I meant it yesterday, today, and tomorrow. So all of us, we need to make sure that we can stand on what we say. If you say it, I hope you meant it. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I love y'all. Thank y'all for sharing space with me. Thank y'all for being in community with me. Thank you for downloading the podcast. Thank you for your comments, your likes, your subs. Don't forget to download the podcast. You can watch the video version on YouTube. Y'all be safe, be good to one another, find a way to do some good for one another. And I'll see y'all next time. Good night.