Ricky Jones on 'anti-blackness,' Kentucky's future, and R's and D's takes on black people

Dr. Ricky Jones discussed his stance on anti-DEI legislation and his belief that it is "anti-blackness," Kentucky following the path of Florida and Texas, and the takes both political parties have on black people...

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
News Radio eight forty w h As Ian thanks for playing the theme music
drive time with the Jones, Babyand the Fat Boys. Yeah, first
off, congratulations your event was verysuccessful this week at the Filson Oh thank
you man, Yeah, it wasyou know, we did ed. I

(00:20):
love that music, Man, Ilove you. I'm still gonna steal your
quarterback though. The last report isthat Atlanta was looking at one Kirk cousins.
Enjoy that. Don't believe everything thatyou're here, Grandpa Kirk. Kirk
don't fit in Atlanta. Kirk's wifeis from the Georgia area. Well,
look, anything, anything would bebetter from that than that. The last

(00:41):
quarterback we had so but Terry,your think tank scored nicely. The other
night you had a great audience.Well, yeah, we had an opening
Baldwin King Project event with the ChristinaLee Brown and Virol Institute. If you
don't know about it, check itout. And we did a very very
nice panel on Cardgie Woodson in thekit in the Black History, which really
was a direct response to a lotof the anti diversity stuff going on.

(01:03):
I didn't know what the appetite forthat would be in this area. We
had over two hundred people right whowere either present, like in person or
online for this event. The organizershad to turn some people away, So
shout out to Dick Clay and PatrickLewis over at the Filson, a place
where historically did not allow black people, but Dick and Patrick are good about

(01:25):
embracing that story and talking about it. We had some fabulous panelists in and
you know, it was a greattime, man, and thank you for
coming out. Terry absolutely. Youknow you rushed over after getting off the
radio because I had a dinner afterwards, you know, for people who were
very important to me, and youand Mary George came through much appreciate it.
I read your piece in the CourierJournal right now. The headline reads

(01:46):
this, wait all right, Uof L is a coward for removing diversity
positions. Black students should make thempay. Fascinating topic, that's for sure.
It is. And where is thevoice of the university on the DEEI
issues. I talk about it inthe piece. There is no real voice

(02:06):
on it. And what's happening inyou know, James Baldwin said that he
was troubled by indifference to struggle andpeople have to understand what this is really
about as folks talk about DEI,And I always tell folks, I'm like,
look, when you start talking tome about BLM or CRT or DEI,
nah, I'm not talking to youabout that. What this is really
about is anti blackness, right.It's about pushing people who otherwise would have

(02:28):
would not have access to certain spacesout and that's what's happening here in the
state. It's not happening all overthe country, but it's happening here in
the state. Now. I thinkthe article makes the argument. I don't
want to give too much away becauseI want people to read it, but
the article makes the argument that universitypresidents, scholars, business leaders are the
people best prepared to speak to thesethings. But the University of Louisville in

(02:52):
particular, and I just use itas an example. It's not the only
school, but it is falling woefullyshort. You know, they're doing silly
little things like changing the names ofdiversity positions. And look, let me
be clear, man, I'm notsaying that the folk and Frankfurt are the
smartest people in the world, forGod's sake. I mean they down with
people being toothless and still thought therewas slavery in the mid twentieth century.

(03:15):
Those are literally true, but theyare smart enough to know that you're trying
to throw them off the scent bychanging some names. And what President Shatzel
and her crew are doing, andI'm calling her by name now right,
what President Shatzel and her crew aredoing, they're changing names. And the
one that really really pushed me overthe edge, because I hadn't spoken about
this, was when they did itin the College of Arts and Sciences for

(03:37):
a position that was established by J. Blaine Hudson, who was the first
black dean of the first African Americandean of the College of Arts and Science.
We had another brother who was fromthe continent, Victor Olarunslow. Both
of them died in office terribly,but Blaine was a friend, a colleague,
a mentor, a father figure tome. And when they did that,

(03:59):
I'm like, this is a bridgetoo far. But what President Shattel
is doing, what her Chief DiversityOfficer Lee Gill, and the people around
them are doing, they don't evenrespond to anything questioning them because they feel
like there is so little pushback andthere's nothing that anybody can do. You
know, I sent them a noteabout the situation with Blaine. I told

(04:19):
them I'll have anounce respect for this. They didn't even respond. That's the
way these people are functioning. Soshame on President Shatzel and shame on the
people around her. And you're seeinglegislatures in various states. Florida, for
one, they're talking about purging theDEI office. No, no, they
ain't talking about it. The Universityof Florida last Friday fired every diversity officer

(04:40):
at their school, all twenty fourof them, in one fail swoop,
in a Friday evening massacre. Anybodywho is surprised by that simply has not
been paying attention, because you seewhat Ron DeSantis, the Florida legislature has
been doing for quite some time now, and what we're doing. My argument
is that Kentucky is largely following thatsame playbook because the presidents of the schools

(05:04):
in Florida, they didn't say anything, they didn't fight back, and they
came in and fired all of thosepeople. Now Florida is also having problems
now recruiting black professors. A friendof mine teachers of the law school down
to fam you and he's like,don't send your child down here, and
so it's been made public that they'rehaving problems recruiting people. There are people

(05:24):
who I know personally, I've readstuff who are saying black people like I
will not move to Florida right now, it's too hostile. I will not
move to Texas right now, it'stoo hostile. And I'm saying Kentucky is
going to follow that path. Soit's important that business leaders, university presidents
pay attention to this stuff because youare going to strip your talent pool out
not just with black kids and blackprofessionals, but you're also going to strip

(05:46):
your talent pool out of white kidsand white professionals who are more progressive minded,
more cosmopolitan minds that I ain't talkingabout Democrat and Republican. I'm talking
about people who don't want to livein a space that looks like it's nineteen
twenty four instead of twenty twenty four. So if leaders in this community,
I'm like Greater Louisville, Inc.Where you at leadership Louisville, where you

(06:09):
at humanital human? Or where youat right President Shattel, where you at?
Those are questions that I'm asking now. They don't have to listen to
me. But you know me,man, I'm gonna beat that drum.
So once or twice say I'm apolitical scientist. You have a message,
you hone it, you repeat it, so when these things happen, people
can't say that I didn't tell them. In your column though, to you

(06:30):
almost talk about segregationism, where you'retelling people we should not offer black excellence
in places where we're not wanted.It's too hostile, right, And you're
starting to hear this, repeat itmore and more. One of my more
House brothers, who is the mayorof Birmingham, Alabama, FELLO by the
name of Randall Woodfin He started tomake the argument because Alabama's trying to do

(06:51):
this too, and what thing comesout. Remember he's a mayor, not
a governor. And he says tothe black athletes Alabama, Auburn, UAB,
all of the predominant white institutions,He's like, look, if they
do this telling you that they don'twant black people here, you need to
leave these schools. Do not goto schools in these states that are doing

(07:14):
this. Now. Ironically, theanti def anti DEI champions who try to
cast themselves as heroes, as Isay in the column, but they're really
villains. They seem to think thatthat black people are overrunning thing. I
ain't heard a word about them sayingthey're too many black basketball players at u
of L. I had heard aword about them saying that too many black
basketball players at UK right, Soseems to be a little bit of a

(07:39):
contradiction. But there are other schools. There is no big force, feel
like star Trek around the state ofKentucky to keep black people in. And
it's not just Kentucky, it's otherplaces too. More and more people saying
we don't need to be in placeswe're not wanted. But that's not segregation,
that's us just getting away from peoplewho are hostile towards us. And

(07:59):
then nobody he's saying anything in ourdefense. That's scary and it's heartbreaking.
There's a presidential election later this year. I am going to reference a basketball
player by the name of Charles Barkley. He was on CNN and you know
he's sat famously several days ago.If he sees a black person wearing Trump's
face on their shirt in that mugshot, yeah, He's gonna punch him in

(08:20):
the face. They say, well, you get locked up. He says,
I'll bail myself out and throw aparty. So he's serious. But
he's not just against Trump. He'salso questioning Democrats. Listen to this the
reason I think the Democratic Party,mister Biden, President Biden, is losing
Black voss. They only care aboutblack people every four years. They come

(08:41):
into our neighborhoods and say, we'regonna make stuff better. We're gonna do
this, do this, do this, and then follow us. Black people
are like hell man. Other thannobility to dunkle basketball, all my neighborshoods
are still the same, our schoolsare still the same. And that's why
I think black people leave and disappointeda Democratic Party. Because therery Goeller's Barkley,

(09:03):
and he goes on obviously for acouple more minutes. Because he's Barkley.
You said he sounded like me.I hear some of the same concepts.
He expresses himself a little differently thanyou, Professor. He ain't quite
as smooth as me. But look, Barkley's right on a number of fronts,
right. And if people don't know, I'll call him President Trump.

(09:26):
That's what his supporters call him.I ain't gonna call him he's a president.
Once you've been president, they alwaysheard the president. So President Trump
comes out and says, because hewas arrested, because he was indicted,
black people related to him more like, you know, we relate to criminals.
And then he makes the argument thatyou know you've been unfairly persecuted,

(09:50):
so have I, so you shouldrelate to me. And so Trump says,
look those T shirts that they sellingto me my mugshot. Black people
love them, They love them,They wearing them everywhere. And Barkley is
like, let me see you inone of those tea shirts. Who punch
you your damn face? So peopleget some contexts on the Republican side.
On the Democratic side, He's absolutelyright. And I've been making this argument

(10:16):
too. The Democrats are pimps.Here's why I say the pimps. They're
doing a flim flam game. AndBarkley's right. They come into black neighborhoods,
black churches, black organizations every two, four or six years, you
know, and instead of really doingthings and paying attention to black struggle,

(10:39):
they're basically making the argument, ifthey were honest, we know we suck,
we know we're terrible. Where yourinterests are concerned. But we're better
than those other dudes. We're thebest that you've got. We the best
you got. You got us,or you got the Republicans. That's basically
the argument that they're right, andit's a terrible argument, and black people

(11:03):
need to understand that. So whenI say the Democrats deserve legitimate and vociferous
critique, and I've been saying itfor years, that is not telling black
folk to be pro Republican. Asone of the ogs that I grew when
he told me, he said,look, the Democrats will kill you if
you're black, but they'll wait fornext week. The Republicans will get you

(11:26):
tonight. So every time a blackperson votes for the Democrats were voting for
seven days to plot to figure outthe way out. None of it is
good. So we got to figureout something different. And lastly, Chuck
says, Chuck Barkley says something realimportant too. He said, other than
our ability to dunk a basketball,right, he is reiterating what I was

(11:48):
saying at our session the other night. A good deal of white America looks
at black folk like we're only goodfor two things, to serve and entertain.
Right, go to your Night sitDown Dinners. Everybody in the spot
is white other than Daniel Cameron,and then you got all the servers who
are black. That's a problem.That's a serious problem. But you want

(12:11):
to watch us play basketball, watchus play football, all of that stuff,
but you don't necessarily want us livingin the neighborhood or going to yourself.
I've known you for years and you'vesaid these things consistently earlier. So
when Barkley said, I'm like,he's finally listening to Ricky Jones. Still
in my stuff. He's still inmy stuff. But can I ask you
something before we get off? Yeah, what's up with your boy Mitch McConnell
man, How how is how isMitch? I gotta call Mitch about this?

(12:35):
How is Mitch gonna endorse Donald Trump? After Donald Trump talked all of
that trash about Mitch's lady. Yeah, there's Chinese wife. Is that what
he was saying? Yeah, that'swhat Trump said. If you talk about
my lady the way that Donald Trumptalked about Mitch mcconnald's lady, I'm gonna
do like Charles bark in the face. That was an odd thing, But

(12:58):
he said long ago, I'm gonnabe for the nominee, whoever it is.
It's just like, I'm sure hehates it in his gut, but
it's like, yeah, that thatstuff of talking to the family. Family
is also dealing with a tragedy.Elaine Chau's sister drowned. Oh my god.
Yeah, this was in the lastten days. So a Tesla Carr
went into a pond on private propertyin Texas. I think it was.

(13:20):
That's Elaine Chaud's sister, who hasa prominent role in the business world.
People are like, I mean,I saw people online after McConnell made his
announcement saying, see that his sisterin law gets killed, and he's like,
okay, I'm I'll say I'm forTrump. It's like that, Come
on, I don't think those thingsare related, but I still think it's
one. Blessings to sister child andher family is they grieved loss and her

(13:43):
sister. But that thing Mitch didman and Nicki Haley's coming. Nicki Haley
is coming. She's gonna endorse Trumptoo, if you think she's not.
Before we go, people who werenot able to get into the first Baldwin
King session, please hang with us. We got one coming up on April
fourth. April fourth, the BaldwinKing Memorial Lecture, that is the anniversary

(14:05):
of the assassination of doctor Martin LutherKing Junior. And we're asking the question
what would James Baldwin and Martin LutherKing Junior think of America? Now it's
April fourth, six o'clock at Rootsone oh one African American Museum on First
Street. Great topic, Doctor RickeyJones, Great to see you again,
my friend. Hey, much love, thank you, thank you for coming

(14:26):
out eating that free food other night. Man. We appreciate you. I
tried to pay my bill you wouldI wouldn't let you, you know,
I would have had to make MaryGeorge Peay. We're back in a few
on news Radio eight forty w hA. S.