PODCAST · news
Rational Black Thought
by Michael
A discussion of all topics as seen through the eyes of a Black Atheist, Skeptic, Humanist, Existentialist
Episodes
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Episode 299, September 12, 2026 -"No longer complacent with surviving”
Send us Fan Mail That's BLK ODYSSY — "BLK Revolution." And before we go anywhere else, I want to sit in those two lines, because they name this whole episode. "No longer complacent with surviving." Read that slow. Complacent — with surviving. We got comfortable just making it. Comfortable being...
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Episode 298, September 5, 2026 -"Crawling through a systematic maze"— D’Angelo The Charade"
Send us Fan Mail Crawling through a systematic maze. And it pains to demise. Pain in our eyes. Strain of drownin', wading into your lies. Degradation so loud that you can't hear the sound of our cries. That's D'Angelo. "The Charade." And it's the title of this episode, because those lines…
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Episode 297, August 29, 2026 -" You ain't gotta be locked up to be in prison" — dead prez Behind Enemy Lines
Send us Fan Mail dead prez opens this episode with a line about being imprisoned without necessarily being locked behind bars, and that idea ended up providing the structure for almost everything we're talking about this week because confinement, at its most sophisticated, is not always physical....
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Episode 296, August 22, 2026 -"And now we got a revolution, 'Cause I see the face of things to come..." — Nina Simone, "Revolution"
Send us Fan Mail Nina Simone opens this one. "And now we got a revolution, 'cause I see the face of things to come." Sit in that line, because it's doing more work than you think. Simone isn't just talking about change. She's talking about seeing. She's talking about the ability to look at the...
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Episode 295, August 15, 2026 - " How long should I stay dedicated? How long 'til opportunity meet preparation?”— Nipsey Hussle
Send us Fan Mail I am your host, Neo Griot. This is Rational Black Thought, Episode 295, August 15, 2026. This week's title comes from Nipsey Hussle's "Dedication": "How long should I stay dedicated? How long 'til opportunity meet preparation?" I like that line because there's frustration in it....
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Episode 294, June 8, 2026 - "Used to call us monkeys and slaves and we overcame…”—Dame D.O.L.L.A.
Send us Fan Mail I am your host, Neo Griot. Welcome to Rational Black Thought, a podcast where we discuss news, politics, religion, and culture from a Black, progressive, secular humanist perspective. This week's episode is titled after a lyric by Dame D.O.L.L.A.: Used to call us monkeys and…
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Episode 293, June 1, 2026 - "Everyone is crying out for peace, yes / None is crying out for justice”—Peter Tosh, Equal Rights
Send us Fan Mail I am your host, Neo Griot. Welcome to Episode 293 of Rational Black Thought, the podcast where we examine politics, religion and culture from a Black, progressive, skeptical and unapologetically rational point of view. This week's title comes from Peter Tosh's song "Equal…
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Episode 292, July 25, 2026 - "…Bring the Power Back to the Street…" – Dead Prez
Send us Fan Mail Power gets talked about a lot and most of the time it is discussed as if it lives in one place. Some people locate it in elections. Others locate it in wealth. Some believe it rests in culture, protest, education, or community organizing. The truth is that power operates as a...
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Episode 291, July 11, 2026 - "Let Go My Hand," – J. Cole
Send us Fan Mail Intro: Welcome to Rational Black Thought, the podcast where we examine politics, religion, culture, and power without superstition, without respectability politics, and without pretending that polite lies become truth because they are repeated on television. I am your host,...
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Episode 290, July 11, 2026 - "A Lexus or Justice" – dead prez
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Rational Black Thought, the podcast where we examine politics, religion, culture, and power without superstition, without respectability politics, and without pretending that polite lies become truth because they are repeated on television. I am your host, Neo Griot....
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Episode 289, July 4, 2026 - "Tuggin' on a string that's connected to a dream Head-bussa, hittin' nothing, even if I gotta bleed"
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Rational Black Thought. I am your host, Neo Griot. This is Episode 289, released on July 4, 2026, and the title comes from “Kites” by N.E.R.D., Kendrick Lamar & M.I.A.: “Tuggin’ on a string that’s connected to a dream - Head-bussa, hittin’ nothing, even if I gotta...
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Episode 288, June 27, 2026 - "Fear Not of Man." – Mos Def
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Rational Black Thought, the podcast where we examine politics, religion, culture, and power from a Black, secular, skeptical, and uncompromising perspective. I am your host, the Neo Griot. This week's episode is titled "Fear Not of Man," from Mos Def. The lyric is...
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Episode 287, June 20, 2026 - "Revolutionary curse words. First come, first served. It ain't no lost love. Freedom cost blood." –dead prez
Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to Rational Black Thought, the podcast where we challenge the narratives, question the assumptions, and examine the evidence behind the stories shaping our lives. I am your host, Neo Griot. This is Episode 287 and our title is: "Revolutionary curse words. First come,...
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Episode 286, June 13, 2026 - "Fuck silence, speak up bitch, this shit ill…y'all kill, we kill...fuck cardboard signs, we in the field" YG FTP
Send us Fan Mail I am your host, Neo Griot, and this is Rational Black Thought. This week’s title comes from YG’s “FTP,” and the message is simple: silence is no longer an option. Not when power lies openly. Not when democracy is treated like a technicality. Not when religion is used as cover for...
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Episode 285, June 6, 2026 - "The sky is falling, the wind is calling. Stand for something or die in the morning." Kendrick Lamar
Send us Fan Mail I am your host, Neo Griot, and this is Rational Black Thought, the podcast where faith gets cross-examined, power gets analyzed without apology, and foolishness gets dragged into the sunlight where it can no longer pretend to be wisdom. This week’s title comes from Kendrick…
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Episode 284, May 30, 2026 - "I break chains all by myself - Won't let my freedom rot in hell" Beyoncé
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Rational Black Thought, the podcast where we examine politics, religion, culture, and society through the lens of critical thinking and Black consciousness. I am your host, Neo Griot. Our title today comes from Queen B’s Freedom, because, if I must, I will break chains...
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Episode 283, May 23, 2026 - "Get up, stand up, stand up for your right - Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight"
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Rational Black Thought, the podcast where we examine politics, religion, culture, and society through the lens of critical thinking and Black consciousness. I am your host, Neo Griot. This week’s episode is inspired by Bob Marley’s anthem of resistance, “Get Up, Stand...
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Episode 282, May 16, 2026 - "Don't Believe the Hype" - Public Enemy
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Rational Black Thought. I am your host, Neo Griot. This week's title is "Don't Believe the Hype" from Public Enemy — because this episode is about the stories power tells to hide what power is actually doing. The hype tells us redistricting is just a technical process...
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Episode 281, May 9, 2026 - “Never looking back or too far in front of me-The present is a gift, and I just wanna be”
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Rational Black Thought. I am your host, Neo Griot. This week’s title comes from Common’s “Be,” and it gives us the frame for this episode: the discipline of being present. Not present as in passive. Not present as in spiritually floating above reality while the world...
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Episode 280, May 2, 2026 - “The same people who control the school system - Control the prison system”
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Rational Black Thought. I am your host, Neo Griot. This week’s episode is titled comes from the lyrics from the song “They’ Schools” by dead prez, the full lyrics I want to quote are: Why haven't you learned anything? Man that school shit is a joke The same people who...
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Episode 279, April 25, 2026 - “Until the philosophy which hold one race Superior and another Inferior Is… Abandoned Everywhere is war”
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Episode 279 of the Rational Black the podcast where we confront ideology with reason, power with truth, and myth with evidence. This week’s title comes from Bob Marley’s War, and those lyrics still cut with brutal precision: “Until the philosophy which hold one race...
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Episode 278, April 18, 2026 -- “Was all that money I made last year For whitey on the moon?”
Send us Fan Mail This week’s title comes from Gil Scott-Heron’s cutting question: “Was all that money I made last year, for whitey on the moon?” It is the kind of line that survives because the contradiction it names never really dies. It forces us to ask a hard question about priorities, power,...
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Episode 277, April 11, 2026 -- “Black is not divisive, they been lyin', and I hate the shit-Black has never been a competition, we all make this shit”
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Rational Black Thought. I’m your host, Neo Griot. This week’s title comes from the UK rapper Dave and his song "Black" and says something that needs to be said plainly because too many people still pretend not to understand it: Black is not divisive. Black truth is not...
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Episode 276, April 4, 2026 -- “Make America great again the middle just love it / When he wanna talk, walk y’all straight to them ovens”
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Rational Black Thought. I’m your host, Neo Griot. Public Enemy gave us the language for this week’s title before most people were willing to admit what they were seeing. Public Enemy said it plainly: “Make America great again the middle just love it, when he wanna…
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Episode #275 | Is the Total Story Told or Is It They Hide You From?
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...
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Rational Black Thought Ep. 274 | Trump, Iran, Empire and the Politics of Devouring People
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…
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Episode #273 – March 14, 2026 – “You need to get up, get out, and get something”
Send us Fan Mail 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...
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Episode #272 – March 7, 2026 – “Living under my greatness / What don’t kill me is motivation.” Anderson Paak
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…
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Episode #271 – February 28, 2026 – “Crawling through a systematic maze…And it pains to demise…Pain in our eyes…”
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...
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Episode #270 – February 21, 2026 – “Our culture beautiful, battle-tested and tough, we had enough-So you either come with some change or it's gon' be rough-Period"
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...
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Episode #269 – February 14, 2026 – “Drug dealer buy Jordans, crackhead buy crack / And a white man get paid off of all of that”
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…
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Episode #268 – February 6, 2026 -- We're gonna move on up-Two by two-And this whole world-Is gonna be brand-new-Am I black enough for you?
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...
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Episode #267 – January 31, 2026 -- “ 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.”
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…
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Episode #266 – January 24, 2026 -- “We are the winners if we unclose our eyes.”
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...
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Episode #265 – January 17, 2026 – “The Constitution, a noble piece of paper Would free society. It struggled but then died in vain”
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...
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Episode #264 – January 10, 2026 – “I feel like the destinies of those meant / To be the best / Are in the hands of liars now the world is on fire”
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...
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Episode #263 – January 3, 2026 – “The Year-End Audit: Receipts, Forecasts, and the God-Argument Hustle”
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...
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Episode #262 – December 27, 2025 – “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.”
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...
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Episode #261 – December 20, 2025 – Power Without Conscience
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…
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Episode #260 – December 13, 2025 – “Random Musing” by Neo Griot
Send us Fan Mail The Irrational Resolution of Cognitive Dissonance (Case Study) Brief Setup What Was Said Cognitive Dissonance 101 How the Somali Republican’s Mind Is Likely Working Identity-Protective Cognition: When Truth Loses to Tribe Historical & Psychological Roots: The Colonized Mind Why...
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Episode #259 – December 6, 2025
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...
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Episode #258 – November 29, 2025
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...
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Episode #257 – November 22, 2025 – “In a land of liars, an honest man is always at a disadvantage …”
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?:...
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Episode #256 – November 15, 2025
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…
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Episode #255 – November 8, 2025 – “If you understand how money can work for and against you, you can make better decisions.”
Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: Mellody Hobson Unmasking the News: What 11/4/25 Actually Tells Us: Executive Power, Pocketbook Pain, and What Comes Next: The Oklahoma Bishop, the Missing Money, and the Machine That Protected It: Good News: When One Door Closes, We Build a Corridor:...
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Episode #254 – November 1, 2025 – “The truth is a double-edged sword…”
Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: James Baldwin Unmasking the News: The Third-Term Trial Balloon: Instrument Panel for Project 2025: When a Pastor Treats Repentance Like a Plea Deal: Good News: When We Amplify Those Less Fortunate, We All Rise: Bible Study with an Atheist: When the Law...
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Episode #253 – October 25, 2025 – “It is not unity that we must seek but collective consciousness.”
Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: Molefi Kete Asante and Thabiso Monkoe, The Azanian Unmasking the News: Authoritarians Don’t Renovate — They Re-purpose the State for Themselves: When the War on Drugs Transitions from the “War on Soul Brothers” to Dear Leader’s War: The Rot Behind the...
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Episode #252 – October 18, 2025 – “I feel that the reason why racism is so blatant…is because it has helped those capitalists gain more and more profit.”
Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: Angela Davis Unmasking the News: A Mirror to Political Hypocrisy: Racism Isn’t a Bug—It’s a Feature: “Father” as Predator: Good News: A Blueprint for Black Futures: Bible Study with an Atheist: The Man-Made Evolution of Christianity: Reflections and Call...
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Episode #251 – October 11, 2025 – "…see the through line…"
Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: VP Kamala Harris Unmasking the News: How the GOP’s Court Coup Moves Us Closer to One-Party Rule: The Through Line of Capitalism’s Collapse: How “Divine Calling” Becomes Cover for Grift: Good News: When Allies Show Up, Black Power Grows: Strategies for...
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Episode #250 – October 4, 2025 – "What a fool believes, he sees. No wise man has, the power, To reason away"
Send us Fan Mail Intro: Quote of the Week: M People Unmasking the News: The Guardrails Aren’t “Strained.” They’re Being Stripped for Parts: When the Collar Hides the Crime: Good News: Black Excellence, No Apologies: Bible Study with an Atheist: What Goes to Heaven: Reflections and Call to Action:...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Rational Black Thought have?
Rational Black Thought currently has 307 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Rational Black Thought about?
A discussion of all topics as seen through the eyes of a Black Atheist, Skeptic, Humanist, Existentialist
How often does Rational Black Thought release new episodes?
Rational Black Thought publishes regularly with 307 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Rational Black Thought?
You can listen to Rational Black Thought on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Rational Black Thought?
Rational Black Thought is created and hosted by Michael.
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