Podcast
Afternoon Coffee Break with Darren Watts
Hosted by Darren Watts · EN
Every day is racism for black people. Most people are not open-minded to understand racism, nor are most people open to believing in racism. Afternoon Coffee Break with Darren Watts serves two purposes. One, education in discrimination. Two, a platform to talk about racism. Dive in with me to learn the history and the hypocrisy of those who don't believe racism exists. We will look at current events involved with racism as well. Let's have an uncomfortable conversation.
141episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
After The Brew: Damon Darling, Walmart's Lifetime Ban & Indiana Flooding
Yesterday00:15:12Tap to summarizeDarren opens with a study he hasn't fully read yet but needs to flag — Black people going broke under Trump's second term. He'll dig into it properly before covering it on a future episode, but the headline alone connects to everything else he's watching right now.Then he gets into Damon Darling. Darren loves what he's doing — buying groceries for people, combining generosity with comedy, showing up for the community. But Walmart hit him with a lifetime ban, citing policy violations they refuse to name or explain. No filling in the pinwheel. Just the crust. And Darren has a message: don't ask for a second chance from a place that has made it abundantly clear they don't want you there. Boycott them. Call them out. And go where you are actually wanted — because people who genuinely support you exist, and they're not at Walmart. You cannot grow where you are toxic to. That's not pessimism. That's direction.He closes with something he almost forgot entirely — the flooding across the eastern half of Indiana, one of the worst flooding events the state has seen in years. People lost homes. People lost cars. Darren waited nearly 20 minutes before driving home through what felt like driving through a war zone of rain. If you're near floodwater, don't drive through it. It's not worth itAfter The Brew, Darren Watts, Afternoon Coffee Break, Damon Darling, Walmart lifetime ban, boycott Walmart, Black entrepreneurs, racial discrimination, Black going broke, Trump second term, DEI, Target, corporate racism, advocacy, go where you are wanted, Indiana flooding, eastern Indiana, storm damage, flood safety, Ramon Perez, digital democracy, real talk, Black podcast, August 2026, op ed, community, calling it out,
Transcribe →After The Brew: Two Years to Get an Answer & Why You Have to Advocate for Yourself
3d ago00:16:17Tap to summarizeDarren opens with something he's earned the right to say — advocating for yourself is exhausting, it's never easy, and it never has been. From civil rights activists to MLK to the unnamed people fighting battles nobody sees, the work of demanding what you need takes a toll. And it took Darren two years and three physicals to finally get one.The answer came from his spine appointment. Arthritis in the lower lumbar spine — L2 through L5 — with fluid buildup and inflammation radiating down into his legs. The next steps are a three-stage process: two rounds of medial branch block injections two weeks apart to confirm which nerves are causing the pain, followed by a radiofrequency ablation procedure that uses a heated needle to block those pain signals for anywhere from six months to two years. He breaks down each step clearly, connects the inflammation to his post-COVID history, and says plainly what he believes — this has been building since long before the diagnosis, and COVID made it worse.He's still in the fight for the continuous glucose monitor. Still fighting for an official ADHD and autism diagnosis. Still fighting for long COVID to be recognized on his record. Four battles at once, all requiring documentation, patience, and the refusal to give up just because it isn't coming easy. He won one this week. He's not stopping.After The Brew, Darren Watts, Afternoon Coffee Break, self advocacy, spine appointment, lumbar arthritis, L2 L3 L4 L5, medial branch block, radiofrequency ablation, RFA, chronic pain, inflammation, long COVID, ADHD, autism, AuDHD, continuous glucose monitor, CGM, insurance battle, Mounjaro, patient advocacy, civil rights, MLK, investigative journalism, forensic accounting, Unsolved Case Files, Veronica Falcone, real talk, Black podcast, August 2026, two years for an answer, keep fighting,
Transcribe →The Truth About Equity: Celeste Warren on Rocks, Fences, and the Real Cost of Standing Still
4d ago00:45:37Tap to summarizeDarren Watts sits down with Celeste Warren — former Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Merck, author of The Truth About Equity, and founder of Destination STEM, Inc. — for an honest, direct conversation about what equity actually means, and what it costs us when systems stay still.Celeste unpacks the difference between equity and equality using her rocks-and-fence framework, explains why meritocracy without equity is a myth, and shares the story of her father — the first Black teacher and principal in Western Pennsylvania — teaching gym class in a parking lot while parents sat in their cars watching. She also revisits the moment at Carnegie Mellon when a classmate challenged her right to be there, and reflects on what she'd say to him today.Plus: what real DEI commitment looks like inside a corporation versus performative box-checking, why transparent talent management is where most companies still have quicksand, and why equity is simply Leadership 101, Management 101, and Business 101.Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, DEI, Workplace Equity, Celeste Warren, The Truth About Equity, Corporate DEI, Systemic Racism, Equal Opportunity, Leadership, Organizational Change, Racial Justice, Merck, STEM Education, Destination STEM, Civic Equity, Social Justice, Career Development, Workplace Culture, Black Leadership,
Transcribe →The Nature of Power: Christopher Angle on Freedom, Control, and the Origins of Left vs. Right
6d ago00:37:22Tap to summarizePhilosopher and author Christopher Angle joins the show to break down his book The Nature of the Political Left & Right — a framework built on seven "Dictums" tracing political ideology back to biological drives for dominance, cooperation, and self-interest. We dig into his claim that ethical behavior, peace, and the free market are fundamentally the same thing, and I push back on where his framework holds up against real-world politics — due process, selective freedom, and whether this project is truly neutral philosophy or an argument for one side.political philosophy, left vs right, Christopher Angle, freedom and control, political ideology, conservative philosophy, biological anthropology politics, ethics and politics, free market philosophy, political dictums, civic discourse, democracy podcast,
Transcribe →After The Brew: Corrections, No Transparency & Patterns That Need to Be Called Out
1w ago00:13:38Tap to summarizeDarren opens with a correction — the Pool Karen situation he mentioned Tuesday happened in Illinois, not Atlanta. The Atlanta Black Star covered it, but the incident itself wasn't in Georgia. He's putting it on record because getting it right matters, especially as an independent journalist.From there the episode moves through several threads that all connect back to the same thing — patterns of non-transparency and the people who think reckless behavior comes without consequences. He touches briefly on something personal without going into full detail — sometimes you pay the price for other people's choices, and that's all he's ready to say about that right now.On the political side: Mitch McConnell's office claiming he's out of rehab while producing no real proof of life. Dr. Fauci being held in contempt for pleading the Fifth — 111 times — while Pam Bondi, Trump, Todd Blanche, and others lied under oath and faced nothing. Senate Republicans going back six years to relitigate COVID origins as a distraction from everything happening right now in this administration. Darren is done pretending these are isolated incidents. He's watching the patterns. He's calling them out. And he's not going to dress it up as conspiracy theory when the evidence of the pattern is sitting right there in plain sight.After The Brew, Darren Watts, Afternoon Coffee Break, correction, Pool Karen, Illinois, Mitch McConnell, proof of life, transparency, Dr. Fauci, contempt of Senate, Pam Bondi, Todd Blanche, Scott Bessent, Trump, COVID origins, no honor among thieves, patterns, independent journalism, personal accountability, reckless behavior, real talk, Black podcast, August 2026, calling it out, no transparency,
Transcribe →After The Brew: Eye Appointment, Two Nails in a Tire & Good News Worth Holding Onto
1w ago00:18:07Tap to summarizeDarren walks through a packed Monday and Tuesday on August 4th, 2026. It started with a flat tire — two nails nobody else had caught, plugged by a mechanic who actually looked carefully — right as rent went up to $1,350 for the first time, and the math is already tight. He's cutting subscriptions, leaning on Darrell, and making do the way he always does.Then the eye appointment in Greenwood. Four hours, multiple scans, lights so bright his eyelids were shaking and the doctor had to hold them open with his fingers just to get the images he needed. Light sensitivity that bad is its own kind of exhausting. But the news on the other side of it was worth the torture — no evidence of diabetes in the eyes, and the mole in his left eye is benign. He goes back in a year. For now, it's clear.Three podcast guest interviews are recorded and queuing up — Saturday, Monday, and the following Saturday. The spine appointment next week is the one he says takes precedence over everything. His back is still giving him no relief and the Mounjaro plateau at 29 pounds has him frustrated. He needs that appointment and he's going no matter what. Pool Karen gets a brief mention. Thursday has more.After The Brew, Darren Watts, Afternoon Coffee Break, eye appointment, light sensitivity, diabetes in the eyes, benign mole, flat tire, rent increase, cost of living, Mounjaro plateau, spine appointment, back pain, Greenwood Indiana, ADHD, exhausted, good news, patient advocacy, pool Karen, podcast interviews, hate crime series, real talk, Black podcast, August 2026, making do, Darrell Watts, Nicole Watts,
Transcribe →Hate Crimes Through 2024: Louisiana — "Darker Than a Brown Paper Bag" and the State Where Religion Nearly Caught Race
2w ago00:29:37Tap to summarizeLouisiana is where this series hits its first real split. In every other state so far, Race has dominated the data by a wide margin — but in Louisiana's 2023 numbers, Religion (44.1%) nearly caught up to Race (45.7%). That's not a coincidence. It traces back to Holden Matthews, a 21-year-old who burned three historically Black Baptist churches to the ground in St. Landry Parish to boost his profile in a music scene that idolized church burnings in 1990s Norway.This episode also covers a Hurricane Katrina-era shooting where the shooter told a neighbor exactly why he opened fire on three Black men trying to evacuate — a documented quote that opens this episode. A Grindr kidnapping and attempted-murder scheme that drew a 45-year federal sentence. A disabled woman locked in a cage in her own family's backyard. And a reversal in the offender data this series hasn't seen before.Full federal case data, FBI Crime Data Explorer numbers, and DOJ records — all broken down state by state, case by case.Timestamps:00:00 - Disclaimer01:01 - Introduction03:02 - The Thesis06:00 - Opening07:50 - The Background11:40 - The Data22:02 - Personal Thoughts25:44 - ClosingLouisiana hate crimes 2024, Holden Matthews church arson, St. Landry Parish church fires, Hurricane Katrina hate crime shooting, New Orleans hate crime, Grindr hate crime Louisiana, anti-Black hate crimes Louisiana, anti-religion hate crimes Louisiana, disability hate crime Louisiana, hate crimes through 2024 series, Afternoon Coffee Break Darren Watts,
Transcribe →The Fauci Hearing, the Deleted Diary Entries, and the COVID Policy Shift Nobody Wants to Talk About
2w ago00:24:37Tap to summarizeOn July 29th, 2026, Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Senator Josh Hawley told him directly: "You became a narcissist and a megalomaniac and a liar. You've done more to harm science than anybody in my lifetime." Senator Rand Paul, who chaired the hearing, had quietly deleted dozens of references to Katie Miller from Fauci's published diary entries before releasing them — removing documented evidence of friendly pandemic-era interactions between Fauci and a senior Trump White House official. That is a sitting United States senator suppressing evidence at his own hearing.This is happening while the country is 22 weeks into a war with Iran, food and rent prices are climbing, and serious legal proceedings involving the current administration are unresolved. The Fauci hearing is a magic trick. Don't look at the war. Don't look at the economy. Look at this 85-year-old doctor.But underneath the performance is a documented timeline worth examining. April 7th, 2020 — the New York Times runs a front page showing Black Americans are dying from COVID at disproportionately high rates. Four days later, Trump retweets a call to fire Fauci and the policy shifts toward reopening. The 650-million-mask distribution plan is scrapped. The Defense Production Act is invoked — not for PPE or testing, but to send the predominantly Black and Hispanic meat packing workforce back into the plants. A named whistleblower, Max Kennedy Jr., told journalist Katherine Eban at The New Yorker that the political team believed blaming Blue state governors for disproportionate deaths would be "an effective political strategy."The NIH data confirms Black Americans died from COVID at 97.9 per 100,000 — more than double the rate for white Americans at 46.6. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus documented it in 2022. The timeline is the timeline. The data is the data. The whistleblower quote is the whistleblower quote.Source: Daily Kos / Thom Hartmann: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/7/31/800077732/community/the-cover-up-has-begun-first-they-put-fauci-on-trial-then-they-put-history-on-trial/Timestamps00:00 - Disclaimer01:01 - Introduction02:49 - The Thesis05:08 - Opening07:58 - The Background11:39 - The Data16:19 - Personal Thoughts21:38 - ClosingAfternoon Coffee Break with Darren Watts. Follow the show wherever you listen. Rate and review on Apple Podcasts — thirty seconds, it matters. Number 17 Cult All Time. Number 33 Business News All Time on Goodpods — because of you.
Transcribe →After The Brew: "We Only Kill Black People" & The Case File I'm Building for Myself
2w ago00:06:45Tap to summarizeDarren opens with a clip from July 2016 — a Cobb County, Georgia police officer pulling over a woman on a traffic stop, telling her not to worry about getting shot because "we only kill Black people." Darren didn't know it existed until a few days ago. He's not surprised. But hearing it lands differently when you're already carrying everything he's carrying right now.He balances it against a card he received Sunday from his pastor — "you are seen in spite of your best efforts, you are loved" — and sits with what it means to hold both of those things at the same time. Not all cops are bad. Not all white people are bad. And still, vigilance is not optional. Not now. Not when rights fought for through the Civil Rights Act, Brown v. Board of Education, and generations of sacrifice are being quietly rolled back.He's building a case file. A real one — manila folder, printed papers, documentation — about what it means to be Black in America while trying to navigate a medical system that keeps telling him everything is normal. Some of it is already on Substack. More is coming. He's also working on his grandfather's history, keeping the household afloat, and trying to organize his thoughts on days when the weight of all of it makes even recording feel like too much. He showed up anyway.After The Brew, Darren Watts, Afternoon Coffee Break, Cobb County, police, we only kill Black people, 2016, racial violence, vigilance, civil rights, Brown v Board of Education, Black in America, medical racism, healthcare inequality, case file, Substack, grandfather history, pastor, being seen, mental health, depression, real talk, Black podcast, August 2026, equal rights, accountability, showing up anyway,
Transcribe →After The Brew: Overstimulated, Unexpected Gifts & Getting My Love for Reading Back
2w ago00:14:41Tap to summarizeDarren is running on empty after a full Sunday at church — music, lights, people, and a bandwidth that only goes so far. Overstimulation is real, and he's still recovering. On top of that, unexpected gifts and words of encouragement from his pastor have left him struggling to find the right words to respond — not out of ingratitude, but because he's always been more comfortable giving than receiving, and articulating that kind of gratitude while already drained is its own challenge.He's also still in the thick of the ongoing frustration with his therapist not fully seeing what he sees in himself — the masking, the late-presenting ADHD and autism symptoms, the language and articulation difficulties that get dismissed because the checklist doesn't catch what years of masking covers up.But there's something shifting too. He's getting things back. The love for reading — working through Michael Connelly's The Poet, with the Lincoln Lawyer, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and two Alex Cross books by James Patterson waiting in the queue. The love for investigative storytelling. The research into his grandfather's military service. And the Unsolved Case Files cold cases he's been working through, one weekend at a time. He's putting pieces together — in the books, in the cases, and in himself.After The Brew, Darren Watts, Afternoon Coffee Break, overstimulation, sensory overload, church, autism, ADHD, masking, late diagnosis, therapy, gifts, gratitude, receiving vs giving, Michael Connelly, The Poet, James Patterson, Alex Cross, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Lincoln Lawyer, Unsolved Case Files, cold case, investigative journalism, grandfather research, reading, getting things back, real talk, Black podcast, July 2026, bandwidth, recovery,
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