Zach and professor, political analyst, and public speaker Dr. Jason Johnson engage in an extremely timely discussion centered around black politics, Trump, and the mainstream media. Dr. Johnson is a contributor at MSNBC and has appeared as a commentator locally, nationally and internationally, appearing frequently on CNN, Fox Business News, and more. He talks a bit about what it has looked like for him to develop the reach that he has, his experiences regarding black supporters of Donald Trump, and why he's confident Trump will be defeated in November. 

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TRANSCRIPT

Zach: What's up, y'all? It's Zach with Living Corporate, and man, you know, it's just another Tuesday, right? Hopefully when you're listening to this, you know, as your--so, you know, you're not flying on a plane--hopefully. Some of y'all are. I don't know why. Yes, I'm judging y'all. I don't know why you're flying on a plane. But some of y'all are, you know, doing that. Most of y'all are probably at the house, right? Getting used to your new normals still. Got your kids in the background. I can empathize. I can relate. I have Emory. She's only 4 months old, but still, you know? She's not breaking anything yet, but she wants to. But wherever you are, hopefully you're listening to us, and we appreciate that. You know what we do. We center and amplify black and brown voices at work, and we do that by doing what? Having authentic, real conversations with black and brown elected officials, thought leaders, pundits, activists, educators, executives, entrepreneurs, public speakers, authors, anybody really. Anybody's who's really down to have an authentic, real conversation about what it means to be other or marginalized or one of the onlys in a space, in a majority-white space, and today is no different because we have Dr. Jason Johnson with us. Now, listen here, y'all. Dr. Jason Johnson is a professor, political analyst and public speaker. Johnson is the author of the book Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell, a tenured professor in the School of Global Journalism & Communication at Morgan State University in Baltimore and Politics Editor at TheGrio. Dr. Johnson has an extensive public speaking and media background ranging from pop culture to politics. Johnson is a contributor at MSNBC, and has appeared as a commentator locally, nationally and internationally. He is a former contributor at Al Jazeera English, and HLN, and appeared frequently on CNN, Fox Business News, TV One and FUSION. What's up, Roland Martin? I see you, man. Internationally he’s made multiple appearances on the BBC, CBC in Canada and Russia Today. Professor Johnson is a contributor at SIRIUS XM Radio and provides regular commentary on the nationally syndicated Russ Parr Morning Show, as well as local and national NPR stations. My goodness, gracious. Dr. Johnson, welcome to the show. How are you doing? 




Dr. Johnson: I'm glad to be here, Zach. Apparently you were about to talk to somebody very important, so I have to live up to all those phony words that were written by my staff. 




Zach: [laughs] Okay, look, so let's start off with this, 'cause I got some tea--look, I got some tea, and I want to get into the tea, which--no, you have the tea. [Dr. Johnson laughs] This is gonna be a messy podcast, y'all. So y'all, I'm gonna be asking real questions 'cause I'm so excited, and I'ma get into this in a minute, but let's just start off easy and just talk about your journey into media. Like, you're a whole professor out here. We talked about that. But you're also out here. Like, your face is everywhere, you know? Months ago I remember, you know, you was arguing with Nina Turner, right, and then--[both laugh] Roland Martin just a couple--and I love you, sister Turner. Like, you're a respected venerate. This is not picking no sides at all. I'm just saying you're out here is my point, and then just a couple days ago Roland Martin was demanding that you show up back on MSNBC, and then just a couple days later I see you up on there. So, I mean, I want to understand [both laugh] what it looked like for you to develop this reach that you have?




Dr. Johnson: So I'll go backwards and I'll say this: it is extremely important for black people--and this is the conversation that we're having now, right? This is the conversation we're having now in the wake of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, and literally, Zach, this has happened to me. I've been in the middle of, like, working on projects or articles or whatever and, like, another name gets added to the list, another hashtag. So I hope I'm not cutting anybody out, but especially in this time it is so incredibly important that we have independent black voices out there with black-owned or black-run or black-managed media outlets, because that is the only way that we can safely talk about the plight and the experiences and the challenges that African-Americans are facing in media. You see there's a class-action lawsuit by, you know, black reporters at the LA Times. There's stuff at Bon Appetit Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer. I think it's The Pittsburgh Gazette. You know, the article by Yashar Ali about ABC News. These issues are happening everywhere, and so when guys like Roland or Bakari Sellers with his podcast at The Ringer or anybody else, Joey Reed, when they amplify black people in the media it's important, because we've got to be able to keep our voices out there. We've got to be able to protect each other, and that only happens when we have independent media outlets.




Zach: Yeah. You know, you're one of a handful of black men on MSNBC, and you're also, like--yeah, I'ma keep it there. You're one of a handful of black men on MSNBC who--and frankly, like, you're also, like--you're straight-presenting and you're, like, direct in your commentary and language in ways that is not common in media, just in media across the board, right? So when I think about--of course you have a handful of really great, incredible names over on ESPN. You think about, like, Howard Bryant, Bomani Jones, Dominique Foxworth, right? Clint Smith. There's some people over there, but in the political commentary arena there just aren't really many black men period, let alone, like--and I'm not trying to act like you're just some macho jerk, but I'm just saying the presentation is pointed in that way I think. 




Dr. Johnson: Yes, I know what you're getting at. [both laugh] So let me say this, let me say this. Because, you know, I believe in good trouble, and I believe in being honest. So I am a straight black man in media, okay, and I don't say that--I say that for identification purposes, and I'm gonna say this, it's interesting. I was at NABJ a couple years ago, and I was on a panel, we were talking about diversity, and I said, you know, "As a straight black man, blah blah blah," and a brother in the audience who's a member of the LGBTQIA community was like, "Why do you say that? Like, why is that--" And I said the reason that I'm saying that in this context of diversity is because allyship doesn't matter and can't be earned if we don't identify who we are, right? Like, when I talk about the queer brothers who I'm friends with, who I work with, who have supported me, who have had my back, it's important that you say, "Yo, I'm a straight black man, and this brother who is gay, this brother who is queer, this brother who is [?], he's my brother as well. I support him. I support his life. I support his choices." So we have to be willing to identify who we are so that we put our privilege on the line to support other people who are being marginalized. So I say that also in the context of being on the air and doing media work. There are not many black men period who are privileged to do what I do, and I can say this--'cause you wanna talk about tea? Almost all of us know each other. I'm not kidding. Like, you know, me and Eddie, Eddie Glaud, and Malcolm Nance and Elie Mystal and, like, Bakari Sellers, like, the vast majority of us all text, talk to each other or are in message groups, because there's only, like--if you count paid and unpaid brothers on CNN and MSNBC, because they're almost none on Fox, almost every single one of knows each other because there's only about 15.




Zach: Yeah, straight up though. It's not that many. 'Cause even when you just think about in media, right, like across. Like, when you talk about the mainstream platform. So yeah, I ask that question because I'm curious what it looks like for you to navigate your own frustrations and presentation on camera in moments when folks say things that you find intellectually dishonest or just stupid, right? And I ask because--it's interesting because I have friends who, like, they engage in politics at the more local level, and so, like, local politics, these quote-unquote debates, are rarely as, like, theatrical as the content that we see, and so I'll talk--again, these are people that I know, and I'm like, "I thought it was gonna be, like, a boxing match." They're just like, "Nah, we're just regular--we're just having a conversation." Like, the difference in opinions aren't typically on the local news channel--like, you know, if I go to ABC Houston or in Austin, like, even when you're talking about protests, like, somebody's gonna have a position, another person is gonna have a different position, and while the positions may be different, they're not being presented like it's just a battle or brawl. 




Dr. Johnson: Right. So that's because--there's a couple reasons for that