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Care for the Culture Spokesperson
Yes, it's me again.
Shopify Business Owner
We prepped.
Mimi Brown
Prepped.
Justin J. Pearson
Oh wow.
Care for the Culture Spokesperson
Oh wow. Oh wow. It's the time for empowerment and I've got a message for you. Guess who gets respect. You gotta think about sexual health no matter what where, with who. Yeah, yeah. To all you lovers out there, ain't no judgment. This is your cue.
Mimi Brown
Guess who, guess who's.
Care for the Culture Spokesperson
It's time to talk about pre special prophylaxis, a part of HIV prevention.
Wheezy from Decisions Decisions
Oh.
Mimi Brown
So you prep.
Care for the Culture Spokesperson
Talk to a healthc care provider and visit carefortheculture.com to learn more.
Nissan Campaign Narrator
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Wheezy from Decisions Decisions
Com.
Shopify Business Owner (continued)
I get a lot of questions about how I run my business and keep everything operating smoothly. And the answer is Shopify. One of the biggest advantages is discoverability. Shopify puts my products in front of customers wherever they're already shopping. And for my store, whether it's a mug, a shirt or a hoodie, all the raindrops can get something special to call their own. I'm so pumped because Shopify is going to show up at our Black Effect Podcast festival this year in a big way for all of our small black owned businesses that partner with us. Build your store, own your audience and create something that lasts. Start now@shopify.com Ben warning this product contains nicotine.
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Mimi Brown
Gas prices are climbing and a war in the Middle east is fueling it.
Senator Cory Booker
Remember the strait of Hormuz was not closed at the beginning of this conflict. This conflict has been a massive disaster.
Mimi Brown
Republican led states across the south are racing to redraw the maps before the midterms and black political power is the target.
Legislator or Political Official
It's racist. You know it.
Mimi Brown
And the biggest retailers in America are finally admitting what you've been saying about self checkouts for years. Bringing sales associates back is more profitable. It's Tuesday, May 12th. From the black Effects Podcast Network, I'm Mimi Brown. This is Front page. And here are today's biggest stories. Plus, later in the show, Tennessee State Rep. Justin J. Pearson joins me. He's running for the Memphis seat at the center of all of this. Stay with me. If it suddenly feels like everything is getting more expensive again, gas, flights, shipping, groceries. This war in the Middle east is a big reason why there's still no deal to end the now 10 week conflict between the US Israel and Iran. President Trump rejected Iran's latest proposal on Monday, called it, quote, totally unacceptable. Senator Cory Booker was on Meet the Press Sunday.
Senator Cory Booker
Remember, the Strait of Hormuz was not closed at the beginning of this conflict. This conflict has been a massive disaster and Donald Trump himself is an embarrassment on the world stage. I hear it from allies all around the world. He has got us into a trap and we're effectively in a stalemate with Iran. And the people that are paying the price is American military, hundreds injured, 14 lives lost. And the American people collectively were spending billions of dollars more in the price spikes that we've seen as a result of this. This president has no way out. This is going to go on for months and that pain is going to continue to be felt by people he promised to lower prices for and keep us out of foreign entanglement.
Mimi Brown
At the center of all of this, the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow stretch of water where about 20% of the world's oil moves every day. Since the war began, Iran has repeatedly disrupted traffic through that area. That uncertainty alone has pushed oil back above $100 a barrel. And here at home, people are starting to feel it. How much was it?
Justin J. Pearson
93.74. Woo.
Shopify Business Owner (continued)
Yeah, not good.
Mimi Brown
Gas prices are climb. Airlines are warning about jet fuel costs. Shipping companies are paying more to move products overseas. And those costs eventually show up in stores, grocery aisles and online prices. The US Is hoping China can pressure Iran to fully open the Strait and calm global markets. But until something changes, Americans may still keep paying for this war, little by little, every time they drive, shop or travel. Before most people ever cast a vote, the lines deciding who those votes belong to may already be changing. Several Republican led states across the south are moving to redraw congressional maps after a major Supreme Court ruling weakened protections under the Voting Rights Act. A new redistricting battle is breaking open. Just months before the midterm, the Supreme Court recently ruled that Louisiana's second majority black congressional district was unconstitutional. Now states across the south are using that decision to reopen fights over congressional maps. The biggest battles right now, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, all are trying to redraw districts in ways that could help the GOP hold on to control of the House.
Legislator or Political Official
The proposed schedule for the week has been properly moved and seconded. All those in favor will say aye. Opposed? Nay. The ayes have it. The schedule is adopted.
Mimi Brown
In Louisiana, lawmakers are already working on new maps after the court struck down a district that helped elect Democratic Congressman Cleo Fields. Fields himself says it's, quote, highly unlikely he wins re election if the new map goes through.
Shopify Business Owner (continued)
Sometimes you get a setback to be set up. I mean, don't underestimate that power of the vote.
Legislator or Political Official
That's what they are trying to take away.
Mimi Brown
Then came the questions. One man stood up.
Legislator or Political Official
I just don't understand how it happened and why there is nobody able to stop this train. You see all the, the, the, the, the, the, the wrong. You see it's racist. You know it. Everybody want to pretend like, you know, we know what it is.
Mimi Brown
That was a voter at Galilee Baptist Church. That question is the question, and so far, no one's answered it. In Alabama, Republicans are pushing to revive a map critics say could make it harder for black voters to elect another Democrat to Congress. In Tennessee, Republicans just approved the new map that splits up Memphis, the state's largest black majority city, into multiple districts. Opponents say that weakens black voting power and threatens the state's only black House seat. South Carolina lawmakers are also signaling they may be next. And here's why this matters. Even if you don't follow politics closely, these congressional maps determine who controls the House, and that affects everything. Voting laws, student loans, abortion policy, taxes, health care funding, where federal dollars go. Because sometimes political power isn't just about who votes. It's about how the map is drawn before the voting even gets started.
Legislator or Political Official
They're trying to turn the democracy upside down. That's what gerrymandering is. That rather than the people picking the politicians, the politicians get to pick their voters. That's what it is. That's what gerrymandering is. But I've got news for them. The democracy doesn't belong to the politicians. It belongs to the people. And the people are coming to get their power back.
Mimi Brown
Tennessee just dismantled its only majority black congressional district. Steve Coleman's seat in Memphis is gone, split into three pieces, scattered into rural districts that stretch hundreds of miles east. Everybody's calling it gerrymandering, and it is. But that word makes it sound like a process problem, a technicality, some legal sleight of hand. But let me say what it actually is. Tennessee just told the black voters of Memphis, a community that has organized, that has voted, that has elected representation for decades. Your vote no longer counts the way you thought it did. The lines have moved around you. Your neighbors are now grouped with people three counties away who don't share your interests, your schools, your roads, your priorities. Your political voice has been spread so thin it can't carry any more. And here's the part that no one's saying out loud. This happened just eight days after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. Tennessee was the first state to move, but they will not be the last. If you live in the south, if you live anywhere with a majority black district, pay attention, because somebody is sitting in a state legislature right now looking at Tennessee and taking notes. And the man, Justin J. Pearson, fighting for that seat joins me next.
Wheezy from Decisions Decisions
This is Wheezy. WTF from Decisions Decisions. You know, a lot of us grew up not fully trusting the health care system. And honestly, the system has given us plenty of reasons to feel that way. But now it's time for us to take control of the conversation, to take control of our sexual health, learn the facts, ask questions, and advocate for ourselves. That's how we start changing the story. So let's talk. We like to think HIV is something that affects other people, but it is hitting our own community hard. Black women make up about 13% of women in the US but account for nearly half of all new HIV diagnosis around women. And being proactive doesn't mean you just don't trust your partner. It just means you trust yourself enough to stay in control. So know your options, ask questions, and protect your peace and your body. That's real power. Because protecting yourself isn't embarrassing, it's responsible. Sex is normal. Protecting yourself should be normal too. Actually, it's kind of badass. Taking control of your sexual health is grown woman energy. Sponsored by Care for the Culture from Gilead Sciences.
Shopify Business Owner
Okay, so quick behind the scenes moment about my business because people always ask me like, how do I actually run everything? So Shopify is literally the platform where I turn this tiny idea into a business. Before this, I was really just like popping up at any in person event, any vending opportunity I could, which I still do, but I wasn't really as focused online. I was like, you know, the websites are going to be too much to build Out. I'm not like a super techy person, even though I can make things cute. And I didn't want to put up a website that would run my customers away. I wanted it to be efficient, to be easy. And Shopify helped me build brown girlgrinding.com out. Once I switched to Shopify, it finally clicked like, okay, I can actually do this. It's not about it being tough. It's about using the right platform to make it easy. Shopify takes all of the guesswork out. I build my own store, I manage my community, own my own customer relationships. Plus, this is my favorite thing. Shopify gets my products everywhere. I'm able to link stuff through Google, YouTube, TikTok, Shop, the Shop app, even ChatGPT and Instagram, which is very important for me. And Shopify's AI co founder sidekick, game changer, let me tell y'. All. Right? So it's helped me not only optimize my site, it helps me look at my sales trends, it updates my product skills, all the stuff I'm absolutely not an expert in. But it's like having a genius business partner that never sleeps. And right now, the Brown Girl grinding storefront and the Black Effect storefront is busy and Shopify is handling all of the heavy lifting. I love that for us. I am pumped, like so pumped that Shopify is going to show up at the Black Effect Podcast Festival this year in a big way. And I will be there preaching this platform to all of the small black owned businesses that partner with us. So if you've been sitting on an idea or if you're ready to scale, which you've already started, this is your sign. Go to shopify.com Ben if I can do it, you can do it too.
Mimi Brown
So for the listener who is now just plugging in, break it down to us. What happened in Tennessee and why should the rest of the world be paying attention right now?
Justin J. Pearson
What happened in Tennessee is probably the quickest voting disenfranchisement of black Americans that we've seen in the last hundred years, or at least since the end of Reconstruction. Quite literally, this is the new period of retribution for white supremacy in America. You got to look. The Voting Rights act was gutted. Section 2 During what was most recently called the Calais Decision. A day later, the governor called a special session in Tennessee to change the only black majority congressional district into three white majority districts in an attempt to dilute black political voting power and prevent black folks from being able to choose a representative of their own agency and their own volition. We are saying this is the new KKK that wear suits, ties, robes and badges in effect right now in Tennessee, but also all across the South. I mean, it was done in an attempt to give Republicans an advantage in the congressional races this fall because Donald Trump, who forced and pushed for this to happen, actually with Governor Bill Lee, is bent on taking away our political power, but also trying to maintain political power in Congress going into the midterms because he's done such a horrib job governing, right? Usually gas prices, $5, $6, $7. The policies that they've been pushing have been detrimental to our economy, detrimental to our communities, whether they be white, black, urban, or rural. We're all suffering because of this administration. And he knows that's going to have consequences at the ballot box. And so he's stealing seats and using this Supreme Court decision to help him to do that.
Mimi Brown
All across the South, Tennessee seems like the testing ground, right? It seems like the area where, you know, it's starting. Can you speak a little bit about how this is starting in Tennessee, but how this is. This is going to spread?
Justin J. Pearson
Tennessee is always the test case. The Ku Klux Klan was founded in Pulaski, Tennessee. That should tell you what is at the heart of these folks and the work that they are still doing to honor their clan sisters. And in Mississippi, in Alabama, in Florida, you're going to see this exact same effort repeating itself, because the test case is being proven that you can take black people's voting rights away. And the courts seem like they are positioned to support that. But we've got some lawsuits, very unique lawsuits, that we think may be able to withstand even this attempt to take away our democracy. But this is what's going to happen, is going to happen all across the South, South. And it's going to happen if we do not fight with everything that we've got to resist it. And I mean, this happened in just a matter of a few days. And so we organized this mass mobilization of thousands of people with just a few days, and that in the short term, that is what we're going to have to do. But in the long term, we're going to have to realize that the south has to be a place that is infrastructurally important to our democracy. And so we have to build up our city councils, our county commissions, our mayor's offices, our state representatives, our state senators to be able to change this. And that is not a project that is going to happen in the next two weeks, two months or two years. We need to be looking 50 years down the line because this fight is for a lifetime.
Mimi Brown
Just how do we get here? How did we get here?
Justin J. Pearson
Right now, I'm going to be honest, because we black. I believe that over the last 50 years, white supremacists, conservatives, white Christian nationalists have been organizing, using our tactics against us, and that this moment has culminated after really 50 years of work. It didn't just happen in the last year. Shelby county view holder happened over a decade ago. They have been working at destroying the Voting Rights act. Working and making black folks second and third and fourth class citizens for a very long time, really since the end of the Civil War, but particularly in these last 60 years. And I won't say that black folks, we've fallen asleep at the wheel as I don't think that's a fair characterization. But I will say I think that we have not had the level of urgency that was needed for the moments that we are in.
Mimi Brown
But what tools do we have left? I know the NAACP has filed suit to block this map from taking effect. With section 2 of the Voting Rights act now gutted, what is the legal strategy? What grounds are left to fight on?
Justin J. Pearson
We have to find the unique avenues in which to fight this. And we also have to make sure politically our representatives and our representatives who are in positions of power today use them. Our Congressional Black Caucus needs to be in these communities organizing town hall meetings, registering people to vote, checking folks voter registration because they're trying to rig the maps based on the lack really of participation in elections. And in Tennessee, where we have the lowest participation in elections of anywhere else in the country, this is an opportunity for us to have people to show up in a way that they've never shown up before, to have people participate in a way they've never participated before and make their maps devoid from the reality of what we can construct, what we can bring if we have the new energy, the new ideas, new candidates. Which is why I'm still running for Congress. And I tell people, go to votejustinjay.com, get in the fight, run for office, donate to people who are running for office, support in this moment in time. But you cannot sit on the sidelines because you're going to be one of the people. 50 years from now when your grandkids are asking you, what did you do? You're going to have to lie and say, oh yeah, I was in there, you know, I was, I was against it. I was, no, don't have to lie, tell the truth and participate with everything that you've got right now.
Mimi Brown
You know that moment at self checkout where the machine starts yelling at you and suddenly everyone's frustrated? Well, some of the biggest retail in America are starting to admit something customers have been saying for years. Self checkout may not have been the great idea they thought it was. Walmart, Target, Costco, all three are pulling back on self checkout kiosks and bringing back more traditional cashier lanes. After years of pushing customers towards scanning and bagging their own items. Stores loved the idea of self checkout at first because it was supposed to make lines move faster and cut labor costs. Instead, three big theft, technical issues, and angry customers Retailers say self checkout has become a major source of inventory loss, especially when expensive items get mis scanned or skipped altogether. And then there's customer experience instead of speed. Shoppers say the machines often create longer waits, glitches, frozen screens and stress, especially during big grocery runs. A recent survey found many shoppers feel like they're basically doing unpaid work for billion dollar companies without a discount for it. And honestly, a lot of people probably relate to that. This is part of a much bigger conversation happening across the economy right now about automation, jobs and convenience is more profitable for the retailer to pay employees to manage checkout than it is to
Nissan Campaign Narrator
support the machines, where they're probably getting less than accurate checkouts from consumers.
Mimi Brown
For years, companies sold technology as a faster, cheaper, better route. Now some of them are realizing that people still value value actual human interaction, especially when the technology starts making everyday life more frustrating instead of easier. That's your front page. I'm Mimi Brown. This podcast is brought to you by the Black Effect Podcast Network.
Wheezy from Decisions Decisions
This is Wheezy WTF from Decisions Decisions Ladies. Let's talk about taking control of our sexual health. That's grown woman energy. You may think HIV affects someone else somewhere else, but the truth is it's impacting our community. And some of us are being hit harder than others. Black women make up just 13% of the women in the US yet account for nearly half of new HIV diagnoses amongst women. Taking care of ourselves is community care. Know your options, ask questions, and protect your peace and your body. That's using your power. Sponsored by Care for the Culture from Gilead Science Warning.
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Date: May 12, 2026
Host: Mimi Brown (The Black Effect Podcast Network/iHeartPodcasts)
Featuring: Tennessee State Rep. Justin J. Pearson, Senator Cory Booker, and more
This episode of "Front Page," hosted by Mimi Brown, dives into the intersection of politics, economics, and community health affecting Black Americans today. The spotlight is on skyrocketing gas prices linked to war in the Middle East, a sweeping wave of redistricting in Southern states placing Black political power under threat, and ongoing struggles for voting rights. Special guest Tennessee State Representative Justin J. Pearson joins Mimi to break down how new congressional maps amount to mass disenfranchisement—and why Tennessee is the South’s testing ground for broader attacks on democracy. The episode also features insight into the self-checkout backlash at major retailers and a powerful discussion on proactive sexual health in Black communities.
| Time | Segment/Event | |-------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------| | 04:08 | Sen. Cory Booker rebukes Trump & the cost of Middle East conflict | | 05:12-05:17 | Direct impacts of rising gas and consumer prices | | 05:17-10:06 | Redistricting, gerrymandering, and Southern voting rights under threat| | 07:11 | Galilee Baptist Church voter calls out racism and disenfranchisement | | 08:51 | Mimi Brown's analysis: “Your vote no longer counts...” | | 13:24 | Justin J. Pearson: “Quickest voting disenfranchisement” since Reconstruction| | 15:17 | Pearson: “Tennessee is always the test case” for attacks on democracy | | 16:52 | The 50-year buildup to this moment in voting rights | | 18:02-19:19 | Pearson urges community to mobilize; calls to action | | 19:19-20:49 | Major retailers roll back self-checkout in response to customer backlash| | 10:06, 21:12| Community health, HIV prevention, and sexual empowerment |
This episode is a vital listen for anyone concerned about democracy, equity, and economic justice in the US. Mimi Brown and guests cut through political jargon to expose how legal rulings and political maneuvering threaten to undo decades of Black electoral power—and challenge listeners to get involved. The discussion is at once urgent, personal, and deeply informed by history and lived experience. Special guest Justin J. Pearson offers both a sobering analysis and a rallying call for action. Meanwhile, the episode integrates stories on economic pain points and community health, underscoring the multifaceted challenges—and power—of everyday people.