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Coming In Hot: Biden, Brawls, and Breakups
29 Plays2 years ago
Hey Loungers! Join us in this episode, we discuss the end of Affirmative Action, Student loan Forgiveness, Sports and cardiac arrest, KeKe Palmer’s public breakup, The Montgomery Riverfront Brawl, and more!!
To share your thoughts on our discussions or if you have any questions to ask our hosts, email podcast@snma.org for a chance to be featured on the show!
Disclaimer: The opinion and views expressed on our podcast do not reflect the official stance of the Student National Medical Association.
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Transcript
Introduction and SNMA Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
The views expressed on this podcast represent only those of the hosts and do not represent the views of the Student National Medical Association.
00:00:07
Speaker
The annual membership drive is here again. Join SNMA in highlighting your SNMA experience and journey in medicine. SNMA would love to spotlight you on our social media platforms. There are three ways you can be featured. Head to SNMA's Instagram page at snma underscore official and look for the SNMA membership drive posts. Scan the QR code and fill out one, two, or all three of these forms to participate.
Podcast Purpose and Hosts' August Plans
00:00:50
Speaker
Welcome to SNMA Presents the Lounge. Whether you're in the student lounge, doctor's lounge, or just lounging around at home, get ready to join SNMA for meaningful conversations on topics affecting minorities in medicine and groups that often sit at the margins of healthcare.
00:01:10
Speaker
I am Erica Dingle and one thing I am looking forward to in the month of August is actually kicking it with some of my girlfriends from college and Cape May and their kitties. So that's what I'm looking forward to. That's so cute.
00:01:27
Speaker
Yes. Hey guys, I'm student Dr. Isabella. And what I'm looking forward to this month, a couple things. I will say one, I'm looking forward to attending my girl on Dean's birthday party. That should be fun. Getting to be reunited with the host, with our audio engineer, with some other people from our team. So I'm excited for that. And also I think just like,
00:01:48
Speaker
taking more taking a break before I kind of start my research year in September because I am taking a year off because you know this school has burnt me out to a crisp so I need to recalibrate and get myself back together so yeah that's what I'm looking forward to this month.
00:02:04
Speaker
Um, yeah, yeah.
Supreme Court Decision on Affirmative Action
00:02:07
Speaker
So anyway, you guys know what time it is for our preclinical students running the patient list on the wards allows the team to address pressing matters of the day. In this segment of the show, we'll be discussing some recent events in medicine and beyond affecting our communities and the populations we serve. So let's go ahead and run this list, Erica. It's only
00:02:27
Speaker
the women today. It's just us. Unfortunately, we don't have... I like this energy. We do. Your voice would be reverberating right now, like through the recording, probably overshadowing both of us, but you know, it's... I can't. It's all jokes. Oh, you know, we love you and we do miss you. We do miss you. What's up? It's your boy. Oh, I miss that. Yeah.
00:02:58
Speaker
It's a signature. You can't forget it. So I'm like, you know what? You're definitely going to be missed. But I think this is a different energy. It's a different vibe. And I'm excited to get into it. So to start off, this is the biggest elephant in the room. It has shocked me personally as somebody who has benefited from such a legislation, the end of affirmative action.
00:03:24
Speaker
I think that is just I don't even know how to put into words like how I felt when that ruling came from the Supreme Court, like six to three, they ruled that they were going to stop race based admissions into universities and colleges. You know, there's a lot I could say on it, but I want to hear your thoughts, Erica, because I feel like I want there to be a balance in how we kind of articulate our opinions and our feelings about what happened. So yes, I would like you to
00:03:53
Speaker
to start on how you feel about it. Of course, it's trash. So since 1978, the court has allowed colleges and universities to consider the race of applicants, right? So that decision was reaffirmed repeatedly until currently.
00:04:13
Speaker
And when you consider statistics of women generally outnumbering men in higher education institutions and particularly women of color, earning 64% of bachelor's degrees, 72% of master's degrees, 66% of doctoral, medical, and dental degrees. And this is according to the American Association of University Women.
00:04:41
Speaker
Um, it's just, let me not forget our Latina and Latino populations, um, which are about 27% compared with 21% of Latinos, but it's, it's terrible. And furthermore, the people that I personally think benefited from
00:05:01
Speaker
affirmative action the most, like when we consider this came from Harvard, right? I think that's where this issue really kind of came from. We had these two Asian Americans perhaps, or maybe, yeah, I think they were Asian Americans that came up with this lawsuit.
00:05:18
Speaker
And, you know, we're not the ones, people of color, the African-Americans, Latinos, we're not the ones that are benefiting at these higher level institutions. We're not. So I think it's horrible, but I will say black people, people of color continue to do your thing because
00:05:38
Speaker
We are able to step up to the plate and outperform, continue to outperform. Yes, this is another hurdle that we have to get across. But we've been met with adversity on all fronts for centuries. So it's not like, it's not like this is going to stop us.
00:05:56
Speaker
Oh, it's not. It's not going to stop the universities either because the way those numbers are looking, who? They're going to look so racist. They're going to look so racist. Like when I tell you the way their numbers depend on affirmative action, they're going to look crazy. So I'm like, they're going to have either they're going to have to find a loophole to trying to increase and bolster their black and brown numbers, or they're just going to have to continue to like not have any black around people in their schools. I mean, those are the two options I'm seeing.
00:06:22
Speaker
And I'm just wondering, what happened to legacy-based admissions? What happened to people who have a lot of money or have connections, who then get into these schools? Why haven't we targeted that? Why is it all this focus on affirmative action, when usually it's actually legacy kids who benefit more in these scenarios? But somehow, once again, like I said, selective amnesia, especially when it comes to white people.
00:06:46
Speaker
It's crazy to me. And it's like, there's so many things the Supreme Court could have addressed. They could have addressed gun control laws because there are still schools being shot up to this day. People, you know, police brutality. Like we are suffering from so many things, but out of all the issues you guys thought to address, you said, Oh yeah, affirmative action. That is such a big
00:07:03
Speaker
issue. I just, I'm embarrassed. So anyway, yeah, you gave a very good layout, I think, of kind of what the issue is with that ruling and kind of how and even talking about the background, I think it's sad that it's Asian Americans
00:07:19
Speaker
that decided to put that, like, why, why? Like, we're not, you know, it kind of plays into the role of how white people try to even pit other minorities against each other. Like, why? You know, like, what was the point of that? So, girl, you know, it's in their last names, their last names will be seen on applications. So, like, don't think that you aren't above all of this, you know? Right. At the end of the day. Right. Exactly.
00:07:46
Speaker
Um, but that is, that's terrible for college students, black people overall. But one thing that I think might help us moving forward, those of us in exorbitant amounts of debt, it seems like the Biden administration has launched a new plan for, um, loan repayment. And yes.
00:08:09
Speaker
I'm hoping we'll see because the last time we talked about this and we got all been on board to say, actually, Uncle Joe and not to say Biden. It kind of fell through our fingertips.
Biden's SAVE Student Loan Repayment Plan
00:08:24
Speaker
So this new program that's been launched, it's called the Save Student Loan Repayment Plan.
00:08:33
Speaker
There's been a beta application that's been launched and SAVE stands for Saving on a Valuable Education, which is also an income driven repayment plan that may help borrowers cut their previous monthly bills in half.
00:08:51
Speaker
So a win, I guess, but not really like we want these loans gone. Like we really need these loans gone. And I think that, like you said, it is income based and apparently I believe it's only for those who are working or middle class
00:09:10
Speaker
loan borrowers, they get a cap of 20K based on their income. And so to be eligible, first and foremost, if you're an individual, you can't make more than 125K a year. And if you're a married couple, you can't make more than 250K a year. If you got a Pell Grant, you would then be eligible and you fit the income requirements, you would then be eligible for the 20K full. But if you didn't get a Pell Grant, but you fit the income requirements, you get just 10K.
00:09:34
Speaker
So, you know, like it's a, it's a cute start. It's a cute start. I mean, I would have liked to see, I wouldn't like to see a little bit more. It would have been nice if it was a little bit more, but I think that given now that I see how the Supreme court moves and how it just seems that like Biden right now, I do not know if the team in which he works with and those in their other positions, if they're really on the same page, that's kind of what I'm realizing right now. It's like this man was upset about the affirmative action ruling.
00:10:04
Speaker
but yet it happened anyway. It's making me realize, I don't know how much everybody, the legislative, judicial, and executive branch, I don't know if they're all working together in synchrony right now. It can be, right? I think that if he got anything regarding
00:10:24
Speaker
student loan repayment actually enacted, that's a good first step and hopefully there is more to come. So that is kind of like, and just a little tidbit for our listeners, you have until December 31st of this,
Sudden Cardiac Arrest in Athletes
00:10:36
Speaker
my birthday, of this year to apply. So I would say if you believe that, if you believe that you are eligible and you fit the requirements, go ahead and apply because you can get at least a little bit of the money shaved off. Maybe you don't even have that many loans, so that could like take away everything for you. Who knows? But yeah,
00:10:53
Speaker
You have until the end of this year to apply. Definitely applying. Yes, Darryl. Listen, get your coins. If all was here, you know, all would have been, he would have been applied, gotten whatever money because this man has been on Joe Biden's case. He has been on his case about this money. Okay. So at least something came of it.
00:11:14
Speaker
Yeah. So anyway, I guess like we've talked about all this legislative, you know, things both good and both bad. And I think now it's time to get into the medical, you know, target of our show. I mean, this is a medical podcast, correct, Erica? So this is kind of this is this is what we do. So we have to get into some of the medical aspect. And one of the most notable things that have actually happened pretty recently regarding a very famous basketball player's son, LeBron James, Bronnie James,
00:11:43
Speaker
is what he goes by, he experienced a cardiac arrest recently while training. It's just funny that this happened, it actually was published around July 26 on CNN.com, so still fairly recent. And I think that it's actually pretty significant that it happened
00:12:01
Speaker
Like, like kind of around now because I actually just had a cousin who passed away from the same kind of situation, also similar to Ronnie an athlete. He was, he wasn't like a backflow player but he was like a weight trainer.
00:12:15
Speaker
kind of like past for what we believe to be a similar situation. And so I'm interested in this story because I think that it speaks to athletes who experience sudden cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death. And it's actually like a real thing. And so I'm just very intrigued about what happened in that situation and what could have caused it for Bronnie James. I don't know what your thoughts are on the thing.
00:12:43
Speaker
A couple of things, because I've been seeing, you know, social media, now that we have access to seeing everything, I've seen a lot of, oh, this is happening too much. I mean, I think any amount of these types of instances is too much, but years ago, this was happening. This is definitely something that happens amongst athletes.
00:13:04
Speaker
I'm not sure in terms of race, whether it's more in black athletes or white athletes or other races of athletes, but this is happening and the stats have actually not increased as the years go on. It's pretty much on par, like there's no spike in the amount of these instances of cardiac arrest in college athletes is pretty much stayed or remained across the years. It's just social media now
00:13:33
Speaker
is more public or allowing us to see it more. There was a study published at the Mayo Clinic Health System earlier this year, and sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in young athletes. And this incidence of sudden cardiac arrest in the general population is one in every 1,000, while the incidence for young athletes is reported to be much more rare, roughly one or two.
00:14:00
Speaker
for every 100,000 and men's basketball players are unfortunately at the highest risk of suffering sudden cardiac arrest and among all demographics. And you know, Bronnie, he's what 18 years old, about to go to USC. So we don't know like maybe he was
00:14:20
Speaker
really working out super hard. You know nowadays you have access to pre-workout which contains caffeine and other stimulants to kind of get you juiced and going. So hopefully you know I think the main issue is
00:14:37
Speaker
There's testing that's just not done unless there's a problem, right? Like you're not going to go to a cardiologist at 16, 17, 18, unless it's required or unless you have a preexisting condition usually. Maybe in Bronnie's case, he will go because he has
00:14:57
Speaker
LeBron James, that's his father. Right. Exactly. But, you know, like in the inner city, I had a coworker who some passed away from this at 17. He went up, went for a layup and then that was it. Literally collapsed on the floor and, you know, he's gone. So it's definitely something that occurs more
00:15:17
Speaker
more often than we think, but I don't think this is a side effect of COVID. Although myocarditis can be a side effect of the
Ari Lennox's Sobriety Journey and Substance Abuse
00:15:32
Speaker
COVID vaccine, but I don't think this is the number one culprit.
00:15:38
Speaker
There haven't been any studies to determine that either. So I just think people need to pump their brakes on where they're pointing their fingers and realize this is just something, it's been happening. And now because of the internet, you all are experts, so-called. Exactly. And I'm glad you pointed that out, that there's so many potential causes that could lead to cardiac death or sudden cardiac arrest in a young athlete. It could be the fact that
00:16:07
Speaker
Is it pre-workout? Is it steroids? Is it something called, that I just found out, as I was doing a little bit of research, Camosho Cordy, which I've never heard about before, but apparently some NFL player by the name of Damar Hamlin had a similar incident of sudden cardiac arrest, and it's basically just due to severe
00:16:27
Speaker
trauma of the chest that disrupts kind of the heart's electrical charge and then causes these very dangerous fibrillations. So those are like some of the things or that or it could be like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. When you when your heart muscle gets really, really thick, and then that leads to it not being able to pump efficiently. So there's so many things that could cause and that is actually like a congenital, it could be something that runs in the family, or it could be something that probably develops over time because of all the workouts. So those are there's so many
00:16:57
Speaker
things that could cause it. And so I think it is, like you said, a miss, just attributed. Oh, we're going to say it's COVID because that's the only thing that we know has been new in the past.
00:17:07
Speaker
couple one to two years. So we're just going to say COVID. Like, no, we're not doing that. And I think that and I also think that like, it's me to also think about what are some of the things we need to look out for the dangers that we need to look out for regarding sudden cardiac arrest. What are the signs, right? Some of the signs I would say I want to speak to, like, the signs that I know that Ronnie said he had the signs that I heard that my cousin had before he passed, like,
00:17:32
Speaker
It's usually pretty much the same thing. Chest pain, shortness of breath, sometimes you have some sweat, some people complain of dizziness. And so I think these are just important things to note because there's probably some of our listeners who are also athletes and maybe who have had these similar symptoms and they want to know, well, what are the things that I can look out for to be cautious of something like this occurring to me? And so I think it's also important to note that as well.
00:17:59
Speaker
Also kudos and shout out to, um, these medical professionals that are like there and present. Um, because even like with Damar Hamlin with now Ronnie, we see that they jump into action, like immediate action. And I think it's so amazing.
00:18:19
Speaker
Also, listen, AEDs are necessary. Period. If people don't have them at their institutions, their businesses, this is something that could save someone's life. I'd encourage people to definitely go ahead and hop on that bandwagon. It can only help in the long term. 100%. Speaking to, we're still on this medical path. We're still on these medical topics.
00:18:47
Speaker
We've touched on the cardiac pathologies. And I think we also need to talk about some of the mental struggles, mental health struggles that we can face, our listeners can face, and even other celebrities are facing, Ari Lennox being one. She was recently vulnerable about her sobriety journey on her Instagram page. She posted it like about maybe late July. And she said at that point she had re-seven months sobriety.
00:19:16
Speaker
She kind of talked and touched on alcoholism and how she didn't have full control over her life because of her alcoholism and was able to reach this point where she's gone without alcohol and feels stronger, feels better, feels more control of herself. And I think that's really important to note because
00:19:36
Speaker
med students, like physicians, pre-meds, like residents. Let's not forget about residents because I think they really, really go through it. These are this touches on to how substance abuse can develop in periods of intense stress. Ari Lennox is an artist who at the time was really getting to the pinnacle for a career. She was like making deals with soundtracks for movies. She was like on J Cole's label doing very well. And I'm sure those things could have played a role into her
00:20:06
Speaker
kind of using alcohol as a tool to cope. And she did touch on that and also said how she realized that there were certain triggers like her having to travel by herself that led her to consume alcohol. She realized that she needs to just acknowledge that these are the things that are scary for her. Instead of using alcohol, she can reach out to somebody and say, hey, like, can you travel with me?
Carly Russell's False Kidnapping Claim
00:20:25
Speaker
So I think in the similar sense, for people like people in the health professions, sometimes we do self medicate. I'm not speaking at least to myself, but I know that there's a lot of people who find other ways to self medicate to cope with these intense stressors. And so, yeah, I think I'm happy that somebody like Ari Lennox with her platform decided to share that because
00:20:45
Speaker
it then gives a voice to other people who feel like they can't really talk about those things. Yeah, that's something that we don't always see people in the public eye going.
00:20:57
Speaker
going on their platforms or having discussions. She's not the only one that's struggling. I'm sure there are plenty of other artists that have this struggle. And, you know, that first step is acknowledgement. So the fact that she actually acknowledged what she's going through in this public, like it could help save somebody else's struggle. And then, you know, I wonder how many communities are actually
00:21:26
Speaker
impacted by alcohol addiction and abuse, specifically though, like in that arena of show business, you know, cause that's, that's all there around. You go to a party, it's alcohol and drugs. And it's just, it's, I don't know that the industry has ever been without it. So
00:21:49
Speaker
again, kudos to her for taking a stand and actually being vocal about it. And hopefully it'll push others towards feeling safe with regards to coming forward, you know, with their issues and their struggles. Because we know, I've said it to y'all plenty of times,
00:22:06
Speaker
I don't know if it's post pandemic, if the pandemic did not occur, if we would be on the same trajectory, but folks have gone plump full and have completely lost it. It seems like we're in a society that will do any and everything for attention. And the bigger issue is we have real issues
00:22:31
Speaker
in the United States that people seem to want to make a mockery of in their decision making. And what I mean by that, when you consider the amount of black women that are missing in the United States, right? Whether it's by kidnapping or otherwise, as of 2022, I'm sure these stats have increased more than two, more than 5,400,
00:22:59
Speaker
546,000 people were reported missing, including more than 271,000 of those being women. And then nearly 98,000 of those cases were Black women and girls. And then you have Ms. Carly Russell, who decided for whatever reason, and I'm certain this was something with her mental health,
00:23:28
Speaker
decided to go missing for days on end. We have a team search for her, including the mother of another woman who was, I don't remember if it's kidnapped, but she was never found. You have experts out here, the whole of the United States of America on alert, looking for a black woman. When does that ever happen? We've had discussions on the show.
00:23:54
Speaker
about, remember that that other white girl was missing and it was like, we didn't hear about anything else. And the one time we actually have the world or I'm sure it made it outside of the United States as of how popular it was. We have this young lady who
00:24:16
Speaker
kidnapped herself. Okay. Okay. I'm so confused by that. And it's like, sis, why you do that to your mom's though? Like, you could have given her up, you could have sent her into early cardiac or like, why? Why?
00:24:33
Speaker
You know, it's it's it's crazy because like I remember my friend sending it to me when it first happened. I just go, yeah, you know, this is this is so sad that I said, yeah, I'm going to be praying for the for her and the family. Then like a couple days later, I hear.
00:24:49
Speaker
like, some police report saying how, like, he started describing everything that happened, saying they looked into the footage, there was no baby. Like, I kind of, I don't want to say the whole thing, because I don't know if we have the actual, like, time to flesh everything out. I don't want to bore our listeners, but I will say, like, to kind of summarize,
00:25:08
Speaker
Miss Carly Russell decided to call up authorities stating that she was at some highway, some desert, desolate highway, and there were some red, I don't know if it was a blue haired or sorry, blonde haired or red-headed baby walking down I-90, whatever, and that the-
00:25:25
Speaker
You know, it was a baby saying he looks like he's about two or three. That's what she said on the phone call that there was no other person around that the baby was walking up. And mind you, let's think about milestones, right? Someone who's two or three walking all the way up and down a highway. OK, that was the first red flag, but we're not going to, you know, so.
00:25:43
Speaker
Then the the she says she's going to stay near the baby until authorities come. They don't find they don't find her. They find her car and inside of her car is her wig and some other. All I remember is the wig. The wig stuck out to me. I said, OK, so you I bought the things that got left behind when you, quote unquote, got kidnapped. Your wig somehow flew off. OK, so the wig was was on the car seat as some other miscellaneous items. And she was missing, quote unquote.
00:26:12
Speaker
So two days pass and all of a sudden they say she's home safe and sound. Carly gave her own account of the situation. It's very suspicious in terms of what she said. All I remember is her stating that she was fed Cheez-its by the host family that stuck out to me. Like it was all these red flags and like she somehow ran away and escaped their wrath. So, you know, it's very good for primetime television, but for real life, it wasn't adding on.
00:26:41
Speaker
So I really want to ask you, Erica, like how do you believe that
00:26:47
Speaker
this situation is going to, like, how is it going to affect Black women moving forward when we get kidnapped? Because, like, I don't, we don't have, do we have a foundation anymore? Like, do we have anything to stand on at this point? Honestly, the optimist in me wants to say that, you know, there are enough of, enough of the activists and people out here that actually do care enough to
00:27:12
Speaker
you know, go gunning for it to, to assist. But girl, after that, I mean, it was everywhere. Everybody was saying like, y'all had, we had one job. Y'all were really one. Or, or she would really like on this, this, this one topic, because again, the stats are so high and it's black women, which we all know the least protected, the least believed. It's just,
00:27:42
Speaker
I don't know. Yeah, well, honestly, girl, we're screwed. That's all I got to know. If we had any chance, that chance, that chance is gone. That chance has left the building.
Public Relationship Issues and Social Critiques
00:27:51
Speaker
And you know what? I can't, honestly, Carly Russell, I can't stand with you. I cannot stand with you in that behavior. But you know one black woman I will stand for? Kiki Palmer. Yes, ma'am. OK, I'll stand for my girl, Kiki Palmer, because she has been doing the thing and she has not allowed anybody to dull her shine, even after, even after people who you think love and care about her spat in her face.
00:28:11
Speaker
It's back in her face. So we have to address the biggest elephant in the room with her in her life being that her ex-boyfriend, I'm guessing now ex-boyfriend, I'm hoping now ex-boyfriend went on social media and like a child decided to rant on things that he should have discussed with his then baby mother. Well, I guess still his baby mother, but then girlfriend.
00:28:33
Speaker
So boyfriend by the name of Darius Dalton, I think he's known because his brother played Dro on which is Molly's boyfriend on Insecure. So that's kind of where he has a little bit of a little bit of shine. Otherwise, I really didn't know I did not know the man. But apparently I found out that he is connected to somebody who was in the industry as well. And he decided to take upon himself and go on Twitter.
00:28:58
Speaker
to then, I guess, quote a tweet where he saw Kiki Palmer kind of, you know, in a, in a, in a nice little outfit that accentuated her body. And she was in the presence of Usher. I think it was Usher's concert. And you know, she was, he kind of was singing and it was kind of like trying to, I guess, I think Kiki Palmer came out like as a guest star or whatever like that. So she kind of
00:29:20
Speaker
Flaunted a little bit did like a cute little dance cuz like Usher was singing at the time So of course, she's not gonna stand there stiff, right? She's gonna dance a little bit and you know Apparently that got Darius's heart a little bit in a flutter because he then quoted He quoted it saying it's and I quote it's the outfit though dot dot dot you a mom that that was his that was how he decided to articulate himself that day, so You know
00:29:47
Speaker
Girl, I need to know, like, what was that about? What, where do we go from here with that situation? I think if he had an issue, because listen, there are some people who do want their women to look a certain way for a number of reasons, whether it's, I don't want you out in the streets, which are behind out, because that could draw extra attention. And perhaps you would be unprotected, you know, like, because people are crazy. However, you mentioned it earlier,
00:30:16
Speaker
It could have been, that could have been an email. You know what I mean? Like it did not have to go on somebody's Twitter. And now, and now you got eight up, sir. Like that, that's why, you know, like that's pure, as they say now, simp behavior in my opinion. It's not even so much how you felt, sir. You're entitled to your opinion to feel how, you know, whatever hurt or whatever you could have felt. Oh,
00:30:44
Speaker
She's a mom, the mom of my child. Well, sir, you could have had a conversation with her about that. You have her phone number. Prior to her leaving. You have her phone number. Like, what? Ain't nobody's fun, Darius. Darius. I can't. We don't know you. We don't know you. I know Kiki Palmer. OK, I grew up with her on my TV. So you have no pull here, sir. What did you think this was? You thought we was going to be rooting for you? We're not rooting for you. I'm sorry.
Racial Tensions and Unity in Montgomery
00:31:11
Speaker
Yeah. Like, and people stood like by her, you know, like I'm a stick beside her, everybody on Twitter, which is now I think called X all over social media. Right. Stuck by Kiki for various reasons. Um, but we as a people stuck by Kiki and in, in the same vein of sticking together, black people
00:31:36
Speaker
on August 5th of 2023. Stuck together in a way that I don't think I've seen in a very, very, very long time. And we were all proud. And I won't even say we were proud of the violence, but it was just something to see an actual scene
00:32:00
Speaker
from the Avengers movie. Take place at the dock at River Point Park in Montgomery, Alabama. For those of you who may or may not have seen it, I'm gonna hash it out again. So we had a group of white voters that were quote unquote attacked by a black co-captain.
00:32:27
Speaker
in Montgomery, Alabama, but this ended up sparking a very, very, very big brawl.
00:32:37
Speaker
Um, so the issue, you had a boat that was docked at river point river point. Well, I can't talk river point park. And that boat was not supposed to be there. This boat was carrying about five to six Caucasian men and women. And there was a bigger boat that went on. Whatever that river is the Alabama river, I believe, um, they were there for a reunion boat full of black people, young and old.
00:33:03
Speaker
of age, I will say. And the captain of the boat was for 40 to 45 minutes trying to get this boat to move so the bigger boat could dock. And in the video footage, it didn't even seem like he was being aggressive, but then you had this
00:33:23
Speaker
this drunken Viking-esque white man come out of nowhere and like tackle him. And then the captain tossed his hat up in a way that was to alert any and everybody black that would come to me.
00:33:42
Speaker
It was a signal for, it was a signal. It was like the bat signal for black people. And you know, minutes later, you have someone, a black brother running down to his rescue. You had young 16 year old Aaron, or Aaron, who we have affectionately termed Aquaman, Scuba Gooding Jr.
00:34:09
Speaker
Jemichael Phelps, just to name a few, who swam, y'all. Okay, let's hard stop right there. Your man's swam across the Alabama River to assist. And honestly, if you don't swim to a fight for me, I don't know, we might be done in life. But anyway, this brawl, it lasted a good couple of minutes.
00:34:40
Speaker
somebody got punched off the dock. Another black brother who looked somewhere between the age of 55 and 67 came over with a folding chair, which now has its own personality on Instagram.
00:34:55
Speaker
and whacked a woman, a white woman over the head. And let me say, and I'll get off my soapbox, it wasn't the violence. It really wasn't the fact that there were violent efforts within this fight. It was just
00:35:13
Speaker
beautiful seeing us come to each other's rescue and come together. Because they got active. They definitely got active. Period. Period. Also, I do want to mention the historical aspect of that area. That dock is where slaves were sold.
00:35:39
Speaker
during those times. The history of Montgomery, it's one of the more prolific slave trading cities. And the black people in that area even just got their first mayor, as we were speaking of earlier. Alabama, man, they've been under some
00:36:07
Speaker
Not under heat, but there's just been a lot of racial tension in Alabama. Specifically in July, Alabama lawmakers refused to create a second majority black congressional district. So you just kind of got to think this area is escalated and people are tired. And lastly, I will say.
00:36:31
Speaker
I am against the we are not our ancestors statement because I feel like it's almost a little disrespectful. It is. And in that area, baby, I think the ancestors did what they needed to do. They did what they had to do. Think of all we've gone through over the years. You've never seen this type of uprising in that one instance. So I think the ancestors threw batteries in their backs.
00:36:57
Speaker
Mm hmm. We are exactly our ancestors and they are pushing us forward.
Beyonce's Renaissance Tour Success
00:37:03
Speaker
So no, you're like you're putting it right there in terms of like all this energy, all this like heart that came in during that brawl is really the effect and the push, the spirit of your ancestors at that moment. Right. And we don't know all the ways our ancestors fought during those times because they're not all recorded in history. Correct. So you know about the Underground Railroad. We know about some of these big prominent things. But these were all acts of
00:37:28
Speaker
protest and whether they were as in our face like the brawl like we saw a couple days ago or something on a more silent and kind of covert basis it still was a form of resistance against the oppressor so yes you are right with that and I think that that is like a beautiful
00:37:45
Speaker
statement that you have made. Thank you. To see us come together, again, that was huge. Another coming together that I was fortunate enough to witness twice was the Beyonce Renaissance Tour. The expression of love that Beyonce has given in this tour.
00:38:11
Speaker
of gratitude to her fans just by putting on such a phenomenal show. The love that was felt, I mean, you had people like, yes, Sissy, yeah, Alfie, yes, sir, Twerking. You know, it was just the love in the building. And, you know, people debate about Beyonce and...
00:38:31
Speaker
I don't know if they debate so much about her relevance, but some people just really don't bang with her and that's fine. As a member of the hive, we do not care. But it goes to show this woman is the highest grossing tour woman. I know that does not make sense. But this tour has racked in, or will be racking in at the end of it, 500 million.
00:39:00
Speaker
Wow. The highest grossing tour ever. So it goes to show. Like she is that girl. She's doing it. One of one. Period. Number one. You can, you can hate on Beyonce, but she's still going to keep being Beyonce. That's all I'm going to say. The success is going to be there. The profit is going to be there. The influence is going to continue to be there. So yeah, I mean, like you said, people have their opinions, but
00:39:25
Speaker
You can't you can't you can't not see the numbers. The numbers speak for itself. I mean, you see it. So and I'm always going to support a successful black woman who is doing her thing, who like, you know, who's kind of making strides and continuing to represent us in a beautiful way.
Lizzo's Allegations and Music Industry Harassment
00:39:42
Speaker
And it's just so sad to see that not all black women who are in this industry are currently doing that right now. There are some who are suffering. They're taking some blows right now. And, you know, unfortunately,
00:39:52
Speaker
My good girl, Lizzo, she's going through right now. She is kind of the opposite right now of what Beyonce is going through. She is facing some very, very nasty allegations. And yeah, we can say allegations because we don't know
00:40:07
Speaker
how much truth there is to it, but I will say that it has been multiple former employees of Lizzo's camp who has said that she has kind of been doing this whole sexual harassment and also weight shaming as well as I think the other complaint was that she is creating a hostile work environment. So these are kind of complaints coming from multiple parties.
00:40:33
Speaker
who have formerly worked with Lizzo. And honestly, it's affecting her. She was supposed to headline Made in America that was supposed to be literally on Labor Day weekend. I had my tickets, girl. Me and my bestie, we was going to go. I'm in the area. I live in Philly. I'm like, hell yeah. I just got to just get my ticket and go. It got canceled. And they're talking about everybody's going to be refunded.
00:40:55
Speaker
Um, you know, she apparently, I think she was in the running for, I think it was a Superbowl or Grammy. I have to like fact check that, but she was in the running to host like a very prominent, um, I guess like show or something like that. And they X her out from the running for that. She's lost endorsements. She's like lost deal. Like she is not doing well right now. And I,
00:41:17
Speaker
don't really know what the next steps are because I'm guessing what they're trying to do is that they're trying to wait to see what ruling is made based on these allegations before they proceed with kind of giving Lizzo anything or allowing her to continue with what she has. But I'm not really sure if this is the end of her career.
00:41:38
Speaker
Um, but I, all I can remember is that I know it only takes really one negative thing to happen to really significantly affect how other people see you in that industry. It happened to Chris Brown with that Rihanna situation. It happened with, um, you know, what's it called? Uh, the Cosby guy. Uh, it only takes one. It only takes one, you know? So it's like, I don't know if it's the end for her. And that would be, that would be unfortunate. Um, if say there was no truth to these allegations and out of like
00:42:08
Speaker
Like I said, it's kind of strange that multiple people are saying that you did this thing and you didn't really do it. To me, there's always some truth in when multiple people are saying the same thing. But it would be a shame if, say, she didn't really do it and her career is kind of trashed for this because we don't even really have that many black women in that kind of space really putting on and showing out. So yeah, girl, I don't know. What do you think?
00:42:32
Speaker
The backlash was certainly performed in a swift manner. It didn't take any time for, like you said, Made in America got canceled. I don't know that this was, maybe this was a Freudian slip, but the night of the Boston Beyonce show,
00:42:55
Speaker
So she lists out names of prominent female entertainers over the years and Lizzo's name in other tour dates or tour nights was listed. That night she did not say Lizzo. Now she did say Badu four times because Badu was coming at her about outfits and whatnot.
00:43:16
Speaker
Yes, I was like, well, maybe maybe she just left it out for the night and it has since been re-added from the videos I've seen. But yeah, I mean, Lizzo, she's calling the stories, quote unquote, unbelievable to outrageous and sensationalized. But again, you know, workplace harassment and violence
00:43:37
Speaker
In the industry, especially, I think it's sometimes, or more often than not, not taken too seriously, right because you know it's the industry people have this passion for the industry and if you make it.
00:43:54
Speaker
It's like you almost have to take whatever but right there. They're not, they're not letting up on this, especially now. Remember we've had the hashtag me to movement.
00:44:09
Speaker
So many things that have come to light over the last few years that are important for, or to push the narrative forward for people in these workspaces. So Lizzo is not, she's not going to be left out if things come to pass and they are true.
Ozempic for Weight Loss and Health Concerns
00:44:28
Speaker
Very, very true. So, I mean, I do hope that things work out in her favor, but as always, if these young women were in fact the recipients of this type of behavior, then, you know, justice needs to be served. You gotta be served, just like our good girl, Carly. I'm not standing for you if what you stand for is not my values. That's just, it's that simple.
00:44:57
Speaker
Yeah. It happens, but what are you going to do? Um, you know, in bringing it a little bit back to health and medicine, if you will, since we are our health podcast, something that came up recently and I would love to have a dialogue about it with you.
00:45:15
Speaker
people and weight loss and what exactly we are doing in pursuing weight loss as opposed to exercising, dieting, bigger than that. So on the podcast, we like to highlight different health months and this month is digestive tract paralysis.
00:45:40
Speaker
Awareness Month. And we have now learned, according to CNN, that a drug that folks are using to lose weight, this drug called Ozempic, is now causing stomach paralysis in the patients that are utilizing this for weight loss.
00:46:03
Speaker
Let's talk about it, because I know I would love to hear your medical thoughts. Let's brief them on what exactly Ozempic is and how it works and all of that. Yeah, I think that's like a great a great point because we got to start with the facts. Right. So Ozempic is known to be, I would say it serves two primary roles. It's supposed to be both a drug that people who have type two diabetes can take to
00:46:32
Speaker
help with, of course, their symptoms of diabetes, right? And then there's also the aspect of people who are probably severely obese, or maybe even just obese, and who want an aid with weight loss. So it serves kind of like two big buckets. So you have the patients who have type 2 diabetes,
00:46:49
Speaker
who need a drug to help control their diabetes. And then you have people who want who are seeking weight loss from a medical perspective, maybe because at this point it is affecting their health or maybe because like they're just so morbidly obese that it's it's not allowing them to live their life in the way that they want to. And it's now reached the level of medical concern. So osempic is something called a GLP1 analog. That stands for glucagon like peptide one. So basically it's basically supposed to be
00:47:18
Speaker
an analog of the hormone glucagon. Glucagon is another word for sugar. It allows us to know when we're full and all of those things. What you've basically done is you've basically created a drug that resembles and is almost like glucagon. The primary thing that it does is, one, it
00:47:38
Speaker
is something that releases insulin based on how much glucose you're taking in. So like, because the issue with diabetes, we know, at least for type two diabetes, is that you're insulin resistant. So you have insulin, but your body cannot, it's not responsive to the insulin. So versus type one, where you are insulin deficient, so your body does not have enough insulin. So type two diabetes, the whole point is that it's going to, based on how much sugar you take in, it's going to try and
00:48:05
Speaker
aid the body in releasing the amount of insulin that it needs to process that glucose for what your body needs, energy-wise and all of that. And on top of that, it also slows the digestive, kind of slows the passage of food through the system. So that way your body is not producing too much glucose because that is also an issue of diabetes, is that because you don't have enough insulin, your body has too much free glucose kind of floating around in your body and it's not processing the correct way.
00:48:33
Speaker
So basically with with all of those things, it makes sense that people are saying that they're experiencing, quote unquote, stomach paralysis, because one of the functions of the drug is that it's actually supposed to slow the passage of food through your digestive system. However, it shouldn't be to the extent, though, that your your stomach isn't working at all. Right. Like that's not the goal of it. And so I think that was what became the issue is that it's probably created this nasty side effect where the drug is overdoing it. And I think that is the primary issue.
00:49:02
Speaker
Um, so that's the kind of the background of the drug and it seems as if people have been complaining about this drug doing this, um, this, this kind of effect. And I think really it kind of leads us to this crossroads where it's like, okay, what do we do now? If you are taking this drug, let's say, let's focus on the weight loss aspect, because I think that
00:49:26
Speaker
That is the use of the drug that's probably less important, I would say, that if you have the choice to have to take the drug or not take the drug, if it's because of weight loss, I would say there's other possible alternatives that you could take that are less harmful, less nasty, versus diabetes, where that one is more of a real life-concerning thing. You have a need for it. Exactly.
00:49:52
Speaker
And so we have to kind of think about these things when when it comes to weight loss, when it comes to how we look at our bodies. What are the choices that we're making and what are the long term effects based on those choices that we do make? Yeah. So I think that's like how I would summarize the whole the whole spiel. That was a great synopsis because you brought up a really good point, like the choices that we're making to get us to that end goal. And honestly,
00:50:21
Speaker
We're in a microwave generation at this point. People want what they want now. They want the weight loss now. They want to be protected from COVID now. Remember when, what was it, hydroxychloroquine was flying off the shelves and not for the lupus patients that actually needed it or the RA patients that actually needed it. So much so there was a shortage.
00:50:47
Speaker
Well, y'all, there's now a shortage of this medication such that diabetics are not able to get their medication. Right. So it's concerning. And, you know, I consider a lot of things public health issues, people not being able to get their medication, whether it's due to cost access, in my opinion, is a public health concern. Period. But you have weight loss clinics that are popping up left and right.
00:51:14
Speaker
I mean, even in family medicine now, you know, they are treating weight loss, which they should be because obesity is a chronic relapsing medical condition for what it's worth. Um, but it's just, it, it brings up the point, like, to what extent, like, so you want to lose weight, but my grandmother can't get her diabetic diabetes medication. It's kind of like, what's more important? What's more important?
00:51:40
Speaker
Again, out of my scope of practice, because I'm not practicing anything above my pay grade, because that's just not where I'm at right now, but something to consider and it'll be great to see the trajectory of people wanting to gain back their health, which I think is a purpose of wanting to lose weight. At the same time, those that really need the medication
00:52:04
Speaker
having access to it without having to fight with, you know, the fact that it's not there because other people who necessarily don't want to go to the gym eat, right? Like if you tell me you're on Ozempic and you do any and everything right, you know, you're in the gym trying to eat healthy and you just really hit a wall and this is your help. I can't be mad at you, but
00:52:28
Speaker
miss me with the you going to papa's, okay, your injection tomorrow. That's frustrating. You know, that's such a good point that you guys let let's emphasize here that Ozempic, if you are being prescribed Ozempic as somebody who's, you know, defined to be obese or morbidly obese, that's a last line.
00:52:47
Speaker
intervention. It's not first line. First line is exercise, diet control, you know, possibly- Maybe even like Fentamine. You know what I'm trying to say? I'm going to try you on some stuff. Okay. Like there's so many, even maybe, I'm not even sure if surgery would even come before that kind of medication because there's also gastric sleeve
00:53:09
Speaker
bypass, which in some cases, who even knows if that could even be safer than a pharmacological intervention. So let's realize that there's so many different lines before we've even reached Ozempic. So I'm glad you brought up that point because that's a very important point.
00:53:27
Speaker
And you know, we are not having our financial corner, corner, corner today because we're missing our beloved Aldwyn, but we will be back next time with the Financial Corner. That is a huge part or huge segment within our show and we love it. But that's our show for today. So thank you so much for joining us for this episode of The Lounge.
00:53:50
Speaker
and let us know your thoughts about the discussions we had today or access a question for a chance to be featured on consults by emailing us at podcast at snma.org. Be sure to follow the SNMA on all of our social media platforms to stay up to date on upcoming events. And we'll see you next episode. Thank you guys for listening. Bye.