Claim OwnershipRational Black Thought
Subscribed: 15Played: 899
Subscribe
© 2026 Rational Black Thought
Description
A discussion of all topics as seen through the eyes of a Black Atheist, Skeptic, Humanist, Existentialist
280 Episodes
Reverse
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Rational Black Thought. I’m your host, Neo Griot. This week’s title comes from Blackalicious’ Brain Washers, and it captures something essential about the moment we are living through. The song is not merely about lies. It is about the construction of consciousness itself. It is about the way power reaches beyond laws and beyond force to shape perception, to rewrite memory, to organize fear, and to train people to participate in their own subjugation. Here is...
Send us Fan Mail Episode #274 – March 21, 2026 – “…"Don't you know the powers that be Are using people as pawns, devouring we” | Hi and welcome to Episode 274 of the Rational Black Thought podcast. I am your host, Neo Griot. This week’s title comes from Blackalicious and their song “Shallow Days”: “Don’t you know the powers that be are using people as pawns, devouring we.” And that line captures the deeper context of the moment we are living in. We are in an age of noise, di...
Send a text Welcome to Episode 273 of Rational Black Thought. This week’s title is “You need to get up, get out, and get something.” From Outkast, and that title captures the central truth of this moment. We are living in a time of confusion, cowardice, spectacle, and organized deceit, and none of it will be corrected by passivity. Not in politics. Not in culture. Not in religion. Not in Black life. Here are more of the lyrics that are relevant for today: You need to get up, get out, ...
Send us Fan Mail I am your host, Neo Griot, and this is Episode 272 of the Rational Black Thought Podcast. This week’s title is “Living under my greatness / What don’t kill me is motivation.” by Anderson Paak and the Vanguard. The full lyrics I want to reference are: “I spent years being called out my name-Living under my greatness-But what don’t kill me is motivation. My faith is buried somewhere underneath the town (Until it’s paid for)” There are seasons where your life ...
Send us Fan Mail Episode #271 – February 28, 2026 – “Crawling through a systematic maze…And it pains to demise…Pain in our eyes…” - D’Angelo and The Vanguard I am your host, Neo Griot, and this is Episode 271 of the Rational Black Thought Podcast. This week’s title comes from D’Angelo and The Vanguard’s Black Messiah and the song Charade: “Crawling through a systematic maze…And it pains to demise…Pain in our eyes…Strain of drownin', wading into your lies…Degradation so loud ...
Send us Fan Mail I am your host, Neo Griot, and this is Episode 270 of the Rational Black Thought Podcast. This week’s title comes from Dame D.O.L.L.A.’s song “Blacklist”: “Our culture beautiful, battle-tested and tough, we had enough-So you either come with some change or it's gon' be rough-Period.” That’s the report. And the report says: we’re out of time for talk. It’s time for us to stop talking and start building. And to start that process, we start with ourselv...
Send us Fan Mail | I am your host, Neo Griot, and this is Episode 269 of the Rational Black Thought Podcast. This week’s title is a line Kanye dropped that still cuts like a scalpel: “Drug dealer buy Jordans, crackhead buy crack / And a white man get paid off of all of that.” From “All Falls Down” on College Dropout. And I’m starting there because it’s not just a lyric. It’s a diagnosis. It’s the economic machine in plain English: predation gets dressed up as “th...
Send us Fan Mail | I’m your host, Neo Griot, and welcome back to Rational Black Thought. This week’s title is a lyric from a Song by Billy Paul, “Am I Black Enough for You” and it’s not for nostalgia. It’s a political forecast we need to take to heart. It’s the sound of a people deciding that survival is not enough, and that we are done negotiating for dignity one exception at a time. When Billy Paul sings “Move on up” is not a personal affirmation. It’s collective motion....
Send us Fan Mail Hey, family. I’m Neo Griot—Afrocentric, Pan-African, secular humanist, atheist, skeptic. And this is Rational Black Thought—where we don’t do feel good pieces, we do the hardcore truth. Episode 267 is titled: “ Y'all think it's bougie, I'm like, it's fine-But I'm tryin' to give you a million dollars worth of game for $9.99” which are lyrics from the song The Story of O.J. by Jay-Z. The Story of O.J.” (from 4:44, 2017) is Jay-Z’s financial-literacy-and-racia...
Send us Fan Mail Peace, family. I’m Neo Griot—Afrocentric, Pan-African, secular humanist, atheist, skeptic. And this is Rational Black Thought—where we don’t do bedtime stories for adults. Episode 266 is titled: “We are the winners if we unclose our eyes.” which are lyrics from the song Nostalgie Amoureuse by the group Zap Mama led by Marie Daulne. I am not using this as a hashtag. It’s meant as a survival manual. It is saying the truth is before us, we just need to open our eyes...
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Rational Black Thought. I’m your host, Neo Griot. This week’s theme: Is about moving beyond survival, it is time for us to stop “living to fight another day” and to start fighting to win…for good. Our title today comes from Gil Scott-Heron from his song “Winter in America” the words seem even more apropos today, it feels like a “nuclear winter in America”: The Constitution, a noble piece of paper Would free society. It struggled but then di...
Send us Fan Mail Our title today comes from Ay-Shay (an African musician) from her song “The Way I Feel” whose words really struck me this week, some of the other lines from this song are: I feel like I'm not the only one who's frustrated I feel like something's goin' wrong, I can't escape it I feel that the destinies of those who are meant to be the best Are in the hands of liars Now the world is on fire - Asa, The Way I Feel Intro: Quote of the Week: Frantz Fanon ...
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Rational Black Thought. I’m your host, Neo Griot—secular humanist, skeptic, atheist, Afrocentric, Pan-African… and morally allergic to propaganda. This is a year-end audit episode. Not a highlight reel. Not a “best-of” montage. An audit. Because reflection is not nostalgia—it’s strategy. It’s how you stop repeating cycles that were designed to keep you tired, confused, and compliant. So today we’re doing three things: We’re going to look back a...
Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: Frantz Fanon Unmasking the News: Democracy Watch: When Reality Collapses at the Top: Foreign Policy Watch: “Quarantine” as Empire-Speak and Nigeria: A Crusade Fantasy in Modern Clothes: The Holy Hustle Continues: Good News: Black Success That Circulates Power: Strategies for Black Power: South Africa & Rhodesia — Independence Without Power Is a Costume: Reflections and Call to Action: Closing/Outro: Sources: htt...
Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: James Baldwin Unmasking the News: Democracy Watch: The Chief of Staff as Confessor: When the Mask Slips: When Empathy Dies, Fascism Smiles: Holy Robbery: Good News: Capacity, Not Vibes: Bible Study with an Atheist: The Immorality of Divine Tribalism: From Eden to Genocide: Reflections and Call to Action: Closing/Outro: Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/18/trump-vanity-fair-interview?https://abcne...
Send us Fan Mail The Irrational Resolution of Cognitive Dissonance (Case Study) Brief SetupWhat Was SaidCognitive Dissonance 101How the Somali Republican’s Mind Is Likely WorkingIdentity-Protective Cognition: When Truth Loses to TribeHistorical & Psychological Roots: The Colonized MindWhy This Matters Beyond One Man on CNNThe Insidious Nature of Irrational Dissonance ResolutionA Rational Way to Resolve the DissonanceBringing It Back Home: Our Own DissonanceCall to ActionPower Concedes Not...
Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: Maya Angelou “For Africa to me... is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.” Unmasking the News: Trump’s Map of Minority Rule: Trump’s Statements, Performative with a Body Count: Preying on the Vulnerable: Good News: The BLACKprint for Black Economic Power: Strategies for Black ...
Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: Bell Hooks “...“white supremacy” is a much more useful term for understanding the complicity of people of color in upholding and maintaining racial hierarchies that do not involve force (i.e slavery, apartheid) than the term “internalized racism”- a term most often used to suggest that black people have absorbed negative feelings and attitudes about blackness. The term “white supremacy” enables us to recognize not only that black people are soc...
Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: Neo Griot Unmasking the News: When You Pay the Ransom, You Get More Hostages: White supremacy never retired: When Churches Say “No” To A Hungry Baby: Good News: Good News, But Also a Blueprint: Strategies for Black Power: Are we in a “post-logic” world?: Reflections and Call to Action: Closing/Outro: Sources: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/11/16/republicans-won-government-shutdown/87307434007/https...
Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: “…equality must be won — by every generation — because it will never be freely granted.” -- Charles M. Blow Unmasking the News: The Cost of Caving: Epstein Files, Power, and Probable Guilt: The Gospel of Hypocrisy: Good News: Building More Than Buildings: Bible Study with an Atheist: From the Shrines of Arabia to an Arabic Monotheism: Reflections and Call to Action: Closing/Outro: Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/201...
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States