Live from Music Row, Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed all-star panelists Carol Swain and Crom Carmichael in studio to discuss reparations legislation proposed by California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom.
Leahy: All-star panelist, Carol Swain in studio and original all star panelist, Crom Carmichael in studio. Crom and Carol, I knew that California was crazy and I knew Governor Newsom was craven, but I didn’t know how crazy and craven they were until Newsom set up this task force to study the idea of reparations for black residents in California.
It’s forecasted to cost $800 billion. The task force on Saturday said, yes, we want to set this up and we want to set up a system whereby a black resident older than 71 would be eligible to receive more than $1.2 million in reparations.
This according to Fox News, and the total cost of $800 billion is more than twice the cost of the state’s entire annual budget. Carol, what do you make of reparations in California? A free state that entered the union in 1850?
Swain: That it’s all symbolism and I think it’s part of Newsom’s desire or the presidency because I believe that if Biden is pushed aside, ss he may well be because of his health condition, then Newsom would be able to campaign across the country among blacks saying, look what I did in California.
And since Democrats believe you can print unlimited amounts of money if you are the federal government, then they would not have the California problem because they’re just printing money. So I think it’s a ploy. He knows that it’s not going to happen in California. But he is holding out the promise of it happening in the nation if he’s elected president.
Leahy: You say it’s not going to happen in California and it may not happen but…
Swain: But it’s divisive and it’s not warranted by California’s history. And the fact is, California is one of the most diverse states in the union. Many of the blacks that are in California are not descendants or slaves. And this whole reparations argument, for one thing, we don’t have slaves or slaveholders alive.
But as far as black descendants of slaves, they are not the ones that are getting the bulk of affirmative action or anything else that’s being handed out. If reparations were handed out, it would go to the elites and the ones that are poor would still be poor.
Leahy: Crom, in the unlikely event that the state legislature passes it, and the governor signs a bill into law, this is $800 billion, how on earth would they finance it?
Carmichael: There are an awful lot of multi-billionaire people who believe in CRT and the Democrat Party. And I suggest that California just take the money from them.
Leahy: George Soros.
Carmichael: George Soros, he doesn’t live there. But that’s a minor thing.
Leahy: Who cares?
Carmichael: Who cares? Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg. California’s a big state, they can have a lot of law enforcement. Gavin Newsom can even say, if I run for office, here’s 100 billionaires. I’ll take everything that they have and spread it around and it’s what those billionaires more or less deserve, I think. Don’t you?
Leahy: Sure?
Swain: And I think Oprah should contribute, too.
Leahy: She’s a California resident.
Swain: And her money came from white people. “Oh, there you go.” She’s got 2 billion.
Leahy: How much of that money, how much of this reparations, Oprah, are you gonna put up?
Swain: That’s right.
Carmichael: She’s worth $2 billion, she should be allowed to keep $100 million. That’s a lot of money. And so just take the other 1.9…
Swain: More than she can spend in her lifetime.
Leahy: Bernie Sanders would say she shouldn’t have a penny over $999 million.
Swain: Let’s spread the wealth around.
Leahy: Now, Carol because you and I are friends and we’ve done your genealogy, we know you are a direct descendant of a slave whose name was Thomas Jefferson. We know that, right?
Swain: Wait a minute. We haven’t done the DNA test. So I have an ancestor named Thomas Jefferson from Poplar Forest, Virginia, where [Founding Father] Thomas Jefferson had a plantation. And so there is a possibility that I have royal blood in my veins. (Chuckles)
Leahy: A possibility. But the paperwork shows that a black slave named Thomas Jefferson is your ancestor. Now there are a lot of Thomas Jefferson’s back then.
Swain: And Michael Leahy did the research on this.
Leahy: Yes, I did the research. She’s not claiming it. I did the research on it, but the documents show that.
Carmichael: Carol holds a lot of truths to be self-evident. (Laughter)
Leahy: Carol, here’s a question for you, because we can document that you are a descendant of slaves. If this thing passes in California, you would be entitled to a million bucks according to them. Would you set up residency there and take your million bucks? (Laughs)
Carmichael: If you could get the money from say George Soros, would you move over there? (Leahy laughs)
Swain: No. No. I would not. I don’t believe we should live in the past, and I feel blessed to be an American, except I’m ashamed of my country right now and that we have moved in a direction that I seriously don’t recognize America.
These reparations, it’s just a way to manipulate people to create unrest and division. And so I would not want any part of it. And I would like the listening audience to know that I have two businesses. I am not registered as a minority-owned business. I could do it as a woman, I could do it as a black, I’m not doing it because it doesn’t comport with my values.
Leahy: And congratulations on that. That’s great.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Carol Swain” by Carol M. Swain, PhD. Background Photo “California Capitol” by sarangib.
