theGrio Daily, Michael Harriot

"There are two America's, a white one and even whiter one." Wypipologist Michael Harriot takes us back to the years before the Civil War and details some of the most racist laws you've likely never heard of.    Music provided by Transition Music 

"Black excellence has as much to do with the supremacy of whiteness as it has to do with the excellence of Blackness." Wypipologist Michael Harriot talks about the few Black billionaires in America to dismantle the argument that if one Black person is successful then oppression no longer exists.

"What does reparations have to do with white people?" People love to use the post hoc fallacy against Black people and Wypipologist Michael Harriot explains why the assumption that one event preceded another event, so they must be related makes it easy to believe in racist policies. Music Provided By Transition Music 

"It's not just white people it's conservatives, they are the Dr. Frankenstein in this analogy"  Society can't agree on much but we can all agree that monsters aren't real, they're fiction that's created. Michael Harriot tackles some of the biggest arguments used by conservatives pointing out that they're just monsters, using fictitious theories made up to scare us. 

“Police officers are upholding a system and the criticisms are of the system and not individual police officers.” A cop on theGrio Daily with Michael Harriot? Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn protected the U.S. Capitol and democracy on January 6th, 2021; now, he's on a quest for truth. Officer Dunn shares his recollection of the violence that unfolded during the riot, how it changed him, and the journey he's now on to help others with his new book, “Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officer's Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6th.” The experience changed his feelings about his job, but not his dedication to standing on the front lines.

"Racism takes not just a mental toll, not just a societal toll, not just an economic toll on the citizens of America but we have to bear a physical burden, it's an actual weight that we have to carry." The idea that racism is a disease is no longer just a metaphorical concept but is instead now proven by medical science. Michael Harriot explains the research that began in the 1970s that led to this conclusion.

"In a state that had been decimated economically by the Civil War, they found a cash cow, the mass incarceration system."  The United States incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world, and Black and Latino people are disproportionately affected by mass incarceration. Michael Harriot explains why that reality is intentional and began with "Black codes" following the Civil War.

"It's not just about fairness, it's about making your product as good as it can be." Michael Harriot debunks the myth that any attempt at equity is an attempt to achieve equality of outcome. This concept simply isn't possible because minorities are subject to economic, social, political and educational deficits that white people do not experience.

The power of education was not lost on enslaved people; despite the threat of death, they taught themselves to read and write. Michael Harriot explains Black people's crucial role in creating America's public school system. 

"A lot of the things we think of as conservative aren't really conservative; they're just white." The term conservative has come to mean certain things, yet the policies they support don't often back their ideologies. For instance, it makes no sense to say you support small government but then back pro-life policies that are ultimately the federal government telling a woman what to do. Michael Harriot shares several examples of hypocritical thinking and explains that conservative really means "pro white."