The Blackest Questions: Talking Sports, Music and Literature with Writer Damon Young
Episode 10Play
Writer and humorist, Damon Young is putting on for his hometown of Pittsburgh as he joins Dr. Greer this week. Can he prove that he is indeed a Very Smart Brother?
READ FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Panama Jackson [00:00:00] You are now listening to theGrio’s Black Podcast Network, Black Culture Amplified.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:00:06] Hi, and welcome to the Blackest Questions. I’m your host, Dr. Christina Greer, politics editor for theGrio and associate professor of political science at Fordham University. In this podcast, we asked our guests five of the Blackest questions so we can learn a little bit more about them and have some fun while we’re doing it. We’re also going to learn a lot about Black history, past and present. So here’s the way this works. We have five rounds of questions about us Black history, the whole diaspora, current events, everything with each round. The questions we get a little bit tougher and the guest has 15 seconds to get it right. If they answer the question correctly, they will receive one symbolic Black artist and hear this. If they get it wrong, they’ll hear this, but we’ll still love them anyway. And after the five questions, there’ll be a Black bonus round at the end just for fun. Our guest for this episode is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native Damon Young. He’s a writer, critic, humorist, satirist and professional Black person. He’s the columnist at The Washington Post magazine. He’s the host of Stuck with Damon Young and his debut memoir, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker is available now. He’s also the co-founder of Very Smart Brothers with Grio host Panama Jackson. Damon, welcome and thank you so much for joining the Black of question.
Damon Young [00:01:18] Hey, thanks for having me.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:01:19] I have enjoyed watching and reading your intellect over the years. I just think smart Black people are the greatest gift to the society. And I don’t know what we did to deserve you as a writer, as a critic, as an observer of Black culture. I just I’m so appreciative for you joining us today.
Damon Young [00:01:42] Well, you know what? You could you could attribute that to three things. One is my dad for well, I guess both of my parents, because they both had a had a had a hand, I guess, in raising me and also the recession that in 2009, because if it wasn’t for that, I probably still be in academia in some capacity in that, you know, instance kind of pushed me into, okay, you don’t have a job, but you had this blog and you could collect long term unemployment. So let’s see if you could actually do this writing thing full time. Right. And so and so there’s that. And also just America. You know, America is writes its own lot, right? writes it’s own scripts. You know, all I do is I look out my window, I got that walk around in the words just come.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:02:34] She always provides in order.
Damon Young [00:02:36] Yeah. All that’s happened.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:02:38] Yeah, she. She provides a lot of nonsense chaos and mayhem on a daily basis.
Damon Young [00:02:43] Yeah.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:02:43] Well, we are so appreciative for you to join us. Are you ready to answer some questions?
Damon Young [00:02:48] I think. Yeah, I think so. Let’s go.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:02:50] Okay, let’s get started. First question for you, Damon. This famous Black playwright grew up in your hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Damon Young [00:02:59] August Wilson.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:02:59] Oh, yes. Coming in hot. Yes. August Wilson. Two notable August Wilson plays obviously Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which I’m sure lots of our listeners have heard of. Did you know that August Wilson’s original first name was Frederick Frederick Kittel? I mean, you just name two August Wilson. He grew up in a lively neighborhood of Pittsburgh known as the Hill District, before settling, which became the setting for most of his plays. And in 1978 August, Wilson relocated to write his first play, Jitney, in St Paul, Minnesota. So you clearly know August Wilson. I’m a massive August Wilson fan. Like, always has been. Always have been. Like, are you is it in the DNA and in the blood if you’re from Pittsburgh Live, Wilson Or is it just sort of like, yo, you know all you non Pittsburghans just think you know August Wilson but you really don’t.
Damon Young [00:03:46] So it’s Pittsburgher.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:03:48] Oh it’s a Pittsburgh.
Damon Young [00:03:51] Pittsburgher alright and yeah, I mean, August Wilson is in our DNA. I mean, they, they inject us with micro file of of Jitney and the piano lesson when we’re born here if you’re Black and you’re born here, you know, I mean, so. Yeah, and I one of my first jobs is like a writer. A professional writer was at the August 4th theater for African-American culture, really, in downtown Pittsburgh. So. So, yeah.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:04:18] What was the job?
Damon Young [00:04:19] I there was a literary magazine that they wanted to that they wanted to launch, and I was going to lead it. And we gathered a bunch of writers and academics from from from the Pittsburgh area and were ready to go. But then they were having some budget issues and the thing just never, ever happened. And this was this was like 2011.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:04:41] Okay. Do you have a favorite August Wilson play?
Damon Young [00:04:48] Um, either fences or Radio Golf and radio golf, I guess, is is a little precious to me because I saw my wife and I. Went to New York City. I want to say 2014 or 15 to watch a live reading. It was directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Mm hmm. Yeah. And it was just a really just awesome performance. So again. And it a play that I wasn’t really that familiar with, you know, as far as, like, a century cycle. But but yeah. So Fences and Radio Golf.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:05:22] I mean, I have so much respect for Ruben Santiago-Hudson as sort of the keeper in many ways of the August Wilson legacy. I’ve had the privilege of seeing it sort of on Broadway, but also in these like smaller, you know, off-Broadway and off off-Broadway productions. And I learned something every time. And I just feel like even though the setting is Pittsburgh, so many of the stories are like universal Black people stories. And that’s kind of the way you you’re writing. Like, even though it might be specific sometimes about time and place, it’s also this universal narrative that we can kind of reflect on and also usually crack up about. All right. Listen, you coming in hot? You ready for another two?
Damon Young [00:05:58] Let’s go.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:05:59] Okay, let’s go. What is the name of the basketball team that J. Cole played for in Africa?
Damon Young [00:06:07] I have no idea. I have no idea.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:06:11] Idea. It was the Rwanda Patriots. And so the Grammy Award winning rapper played on the Rwandan team for the African Basketball League. He made his debut there in 2021. And after leading the African Basketball League, J. Cole headed to the Canadian Basketball League, and he started playing there in 2022.
Damon Young [00:06:28] It’s funny how hip hop and basketball are like, those are my thing, but this is the one. This is like the one, you know, this is like my one bind spot is J. Cole, J. Cole facts because I am complete. It is not necessarily that I’m not a fan of J. Cole. Like I don’t dislike him or anything like that. But you know I probably have the least in terms of people who have a certain prominence right now. And in hip hop and rap music, I probably have the least amount of of knowledge about him.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:07:00] Right. My sister’s a massive fan and I honestly gun to my head. I couldn’t tell you a single J. Cole song. Not a one. I mean, granted, I’m also stuck in hip hop from 1993 to 1998. So not saying much about me.
J. Cole [00:07:17] I’m dead in the middle of two generations, I’m little bro and big bro all at once.
Damon Young [00:07:18] But yeah, I could tell you probably three or four now they ask me to name ten then. Yeah, we, I just we did like. Yeah you just got to shoot me alright.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:07:27] Well, here we are. All right, now, I like this idea. You know, I’ve spoken to Justin Tinsley, who just wrote the great book about Biggie and this idea of sports in hip hop and the convergence of the two. You know, I’m I’m a huge fan, obviously, of hip hop, and I actually much prefer to write about and read about sports as opposed to watching sports. But why do you think that there is such a synergy between hip hop and athletics right now?
Damon Young [00:07:56] Oh, I mean, I think, you know, there’s there’s obvious you know, there’s the obvious answer about how, you know, if you’re a young kid from the hood, young male in the hood, you know, you see the rappers and you see the ballplayers and you see those people as people to emulate it. And that’s a stereotype that that there is some truth to that. You know, there also are artists and engineers and teachers and, you know, firemen and barbers or whatever entrepreneurs that are in the hood, too, that people look up to also. But, you know, you see the people that have the money, right, that that, you know, are doing like the major, you know, things, whatever. And those are the rappers and a ballplayers. So so there’s that. But I also think that more than that, even there’s just a creative synergy. Also, you know, hip hop is, you know, hip hop is universal as worldwide right now. But it came, from the concrete, you know, the rose that busted through the concrete. You know, it’s a street, New York City, urban, you know, culture driven sort of thing. And basketball is a city game.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:09:07] Right. I oftentimes credit Allen Iverson as that like perfect nexus of the two. I know he wasn’t the only one. But like when I think of when hip hop and basketball sort of became this marriage, the first person that pops into my head is Allen Iverson. Who pops into yours?
Damon Young [00:09:25] I think AI is I think a guy is a is a is a you know, it’s a good nexus point for that, you know, just in terms of like the unabashed, you know, in your face, the unabashed in your face fitness. I’m just making up a word of hip hop culture. And Iverson is like, I think, the most prominent example of that. You know, he was I feel like Iverson, you know, doesn’t get a lot of cultural credit for things that he help spearhead. For Instance with me. I wore my haircut and I wore Caesar, you know, for probably about 15 years. Right. And that was because I saw Allen Iverson, his his sophomore year of Georgetown, where he had a Caesar. He didn’t have a fate. He didn’t have a bald head. He had it even all the way. And I was like, yo that looks dope. I’m gonna I’m gonna do that. Iverson is also the one who, I guess, tattoos have become more and more ubiquitous, you know, over the last 20 years. And Iverson is probably the main person who helped spearhead that, too. And that’s and that is a that is ya know, again, a universal thing. And now, you know, 15, 20 years later, it’s there’s a whole ecosystem around what NBA players wear to the games..
Dr. Christina Greer [00:10:47] I think about Russell. Russell Westbrook, you know, or in the NFL, I think about Cam Newton like Cam. I mean, this is wild even for me. We’re going to have a have had to have another episode about fashion and Black athletes. All right. Number three, you ready?
Damon Young [00:11:07] Hit me.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:11:08] Which legendary Negro League player was inducted into the Hall of Fame without ever playing in the Major Leagues?
Damon Young [00:11:18] I mean, Josh Gibson.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:11:20] That’s right. That’s correct. Okay. He was Josh Gibson was considered the greatest player to never play in the major leagues. He’s born in born of eastern Georgia in 1911, and he played in two Pittsburgh teams from 1936 to 1946, the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays. And he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972. He was known as the Black Babe Ruth for nearly 800 career home runs, and he died in Pittsburgh in 1947 of an apparent stroke at the age of 36. So you’ve definitely heard about Josh Gibson being from Pittsburgh. What did you learn about him and when?
Damon Young [00:11:55] Well, I mean, and again, Josh Gibson is another one of those people who, you know, like August Wilson is just a part of the part of the fabric here if you are a Black Pittsburgher. The thing that people say is that he really died of a broken heart, of not being able to play in a major league like that. That’s like, died of a stroke. But he really died of a broken heart.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:12:18] Now, did you ever play baseball growing up or any sports?
Damon Young [00:12:20] I mean, I played baseball in the street, but I played basketball, high school in college.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:12:25] Oh, really?
Damon Young [00:12:26] What? I went to college on a basketball scholarship.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:12:28] I did not know that.
Damon Young [00:12:29] So.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:12:30] Huh? Oh.
Damon Young [00:12:31] I’m a hoover. Yeah.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:12:32] What position did you play?
Damon Young [00:12:34] I was a guard.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:12:35] Who was your favorite player growing up?
Damon Young [00:12:37] Growing up, it was. It was Michael Jordan.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:12:39] Oh, really?
Damon Young [00:12:39] Okay. Yeah. MJ. MJ is my favorite. Yeah. I also like Tim Hardaway because he he played the way that I kind of wanted to play.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:12:47] My favorite player growing up was Dominique Wilkins. I just thought he was a fantastic player. But I feel like there still hasn’t been like a definitive Michael Jordan anthology to like, really talk about his impact on the culture Black and white, you know, like when he chooses not to endorse particular people running for Senate or when he’s not necessarily very political, but the fact that he’s like this global sports icon in a way that’s different from Muhammad Ali, it’s different from, you know, Paul Robeson or whomever, you know, Black sports leaders. He’s just this phenomenon that goes, I feel like across gender, across age. And definitely, you know, in this global context, I’m still trying to wrap my head around Michael Jordan as like a michael Jackson of sports.
Damon Young [00:13:34] Yeah, he was the first he’s the first Black or at least the first Black American sports star who who had pop star status where he had gotten to a point where there were there are people who believe that he transcended race. Now, you can’t ever do that. But there are, you know, like there are white races who will say. Oh, yeah, Michael Jordan was my favorite but Michael Jordan’s not Black you know Michael Jordan.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:14:02] Right.
Damon Young [00:14:02] Right Michael Jordans not Black he’s Michael Jordan. But yeah. And I think that if, if we want to get a documentary like that, who want to get like a definitive anthology about Michael Jordan that like created, it can’t be produced.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:14:15] Oh, absolutely not.
Damon Young [00:14:16] Because you had the last dance. You know, the last dance was great, but that was.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:14:21] Hagiography.
Damon Young [00:14:21] You know that that yeah, hagiography. Thank you for saying that word that I was trying to say. I was trying to think of saying I was like, I’m not sure I know how to pronounce this.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:14:30] Listen, I got to make up for the fact that I said Pittsburghian.
Damon Young [00:14:32] And I’m I’m glad you said that for me. But yeah, I mean, it was it was obvious propaganda, too, because MJ is aware that there’s a player in the league right now that is on the field. And and so he dropped that documentary right after LeBron with his fourth championship was like, you know, in case you forgot.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:14:52] Yeah, because a lot of kids don’t know and a lot of people were forgetting, right. I mean, you have kids growing up the same way you said. Michael Jordan, like so many kids, not just Black kids, kids your age and your era, their kids nowadays, we like LeBron James definitively is my favorite player. Okay, question number four. You ready?
Damon Young [00:15:09] Let’s go.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:15:10] Okay. The eldest of nine children growing up in Harlem during the 1920s, this American novelist died in 1987 in Saint Paul, France. Who is he?
Damon Young [00:15:22] James Baldwin.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:15:23] That’s right. Playwright, essayist, novelist, whose eloquence and passion on race made his voice influential during the 1950s and sixties in the U.S. and Europe and beyond. Between the ages of 14 and 16, Baldwin was a preacher in a revivalist church and which he wrote about in his semi-autobiographical novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, which was his first novel, which was published in 1953. When did you first learn about Baldwin and do you have a favorite Baldwin book?
Damon Young [00:15:48] Honestly, like I was late to Baldwin.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:15:50] Hmmm okay.
Damon Young [00:15:51] I was late to Baldwin. Now growing up, you know, I read a lot of what my parents read. So my parents my mom was reading a lot of Toni Morrison. So I was reading that. I read The Godfather when I was like eight years old, which is a strange book for an eight year old to read.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:16:08] That’s right. I, I read I think the first Baldwin book I ever read was in middle school. I read Another Country because my sister was reading it in high school. I’m just always surprised that so many schools still don’t have Baldwin in their canon. You know, it’s like we’re all reading Catcher in the Rye, and I’m like, we need to be reading some Baldwin, please. But I think my biggest caveat is you have to have teachers who know how to teach Baldwin.
Damon Young [00:16:29] You know, and even, you know, thinking about being a back to the schools I was at my introduction to Baldwin was really people I knew in college who had read him.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:16:37] Mm hmm.
Damon Young [00:16:37] Like when I worked, I was the editor for a Black newspaper in college, and that really was my first introduction. Oh.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:16:46] Where’d you go to college?
Damon Young [00:16:48] Canisius College in Buffalo, New York.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:16:50] Buffalo, New York. Shot at Buffalo. Okay, last question. You ready? I mean, you’re killing the game over here. I love it.
Damon Young [00:16:57] Yeah, I’m still. I still feel a way about you hitting me with that J. Cole curveball.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:17:01] The whole point of this podcast, Damon, is for all of our listeners to learn something. Now, I’m sure lots of our listeners didn’t know about Josh Gibson or August Wilson, so, you know, it’s for all of us to learn.
Damon Young [00:17:15] Yeah, I still.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:17:17] You wanted five out of five?
Damon Young [00:17:18] But go ahead. Hit me.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:17:18] Go ahead and see if you get this one, okay. Last question. Before the lightning round, which iconic civil rights leaders wrongfully convicted killer is suing New York City for $40 million dollars?
Damon Young [00:17:32] Malcolm X.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:17:33] Malcolm X that’s right. Muhammad Aziz filed a $40 million claim in earlier in 2022. And in June and July, he’s seeking redress for a conviction that overshadowed over 55 years of his life. He was a 26 year old father when he was ensnared in the assassination of Malcolm X and New York’s criminal justice system. Took 55 years to acknowledge that he had wrongly branded these as one of Malcolm X’s killers. You said that you read the autobiography of Malcolm X growing up. Know how did you feel hearing this news that sort of what we had been told about who assassinated Malcolm X is no longer necessarily true.
Damon Young [00:18:11] I mean, I, I think with any any sort of like, you know, assassination plot, that’s a conspiracy. There are you know, we rarely get that right in terms of who who did the shooting, who was a part of it. And so it’s not surprising to hear, you know, that this person, I guess, have been exonerated. But I do you know, the Twitter Twitter brain of me does question okay. Maybe he was he not a part at all. Is that what they said? Or they he wasn’t a part of the actual physical shooting, you know, because because, again, for something like this to happen, there has to be a massive conspiracy. Right. You know, many, many, many people who had the plans had to be a part of the planning. So, again, I. I don’t know. Right. But again, hearing this sort of news as a result of any sort of assassination attempt, particularly someone who is such a, you know, beloved and important figure like will be we’ll be learning stuff about that, will be learning stuff about King’s assassination. We learned stuff about the Kennedy assassination for for the next century. Right.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:19:21] I just as a Black person in America, I just assume that we’ll never fully know the true story. And I think that Black people, by and large, have like a slightly healthy dose of paranoia about this country, because we do know the lengths to which they’ll go in various directions, especially with, you know, leaders who are as charismatic and brilliant as Malcolm X was. Okay. You ready for the Black bonus round before I let you get out of here?
Damon Young [00:19:48] Hey, you know what? I again, I’m going to keep coming back. You messed up my perfect score.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:19:55] You have done so well.
Damon Young [00:19:56] With light skinned Jermaine. You know, I. I’m ambitious. You know, I come. I’m trying to. I’m trying. I’m trying to get the best score. I don’t even know what the best score ever was on anything. I’m trying to get that.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:20:09] I’m not sure. But you’re you’re pretty high up there. And basically, here’s what we’ll do. We’ll just you promise that you’ll come back and you can just keep trying to get five out of five. How about that?
Damon Young [00:20:19] All right. All right.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:20:19] Okay. So this is the lightning round. These are just I need your gut reaction to the questions I’m asking. Rapido. Okay. You ready? All right. Okay, let’s go at the cookout. Are we playing nineties or 2000s, hip hop?
Damon Young [00:20:33] Uh 90s.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:20:33] 1980s NBA basketball or today’s NBA basketball?
Damon Young [00:20:37] Today’s.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:20:38] Best stand up comedian goes to Eddie Murphy or Richard Pryor?
Damon Young [00:20:43] Eddie, because he came after.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:20:44] Okay. Yeah, A different World or Grownish?
Damon Young [00:20:48] Oh, A Different World.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:20:49] At the cookout. What’s on the grill? Pork ribs are beef ribs?
Damon Young [00:20:54] Good beef ribs are like the best. Beef ribs are better than the best pork rib. But you could fuck up a beff rip though.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:21:01] That’s right.
Damon Young [00:21:01] So you have to have a skill, you know, practitioner on the grill.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:21:05] You were absolutely right.
Damon Young [00:21:07] But yeah, beef ribs.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:21:08] Okay.
Damon Young [00:21:09] Have a higher have a higher two.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:21:10] With an asterisk, like with somebody who knows what the hell they’re doing.
Damon Young [00:21:14] Yeah.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:21:14] Okay. Well, on Thanksgiving, are we eating fried turkey or traditional turkey?
Damon Young [00:21:19] Fried turkey? No.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:21:20] Okay. You know, my dad only smokes the turkey. I’ve never had an oven turkey for Thanksgiving. He only smokes it on th grill. And I love it.
Damon Young [00:21:27] We did fried turkey for the first time ever last Thanksgiving and we are never going back.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:21:31] Okay.
Damon Young [00:21:31] Oh, wow. Our neighbor has a deep fryer and people in the neighborhood would like would like come to him in shifts and eat. And we decry it for what would be like an hour, hour and a half or whatever. And yeah, we are never, ever, ever going back.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:21:45] Oh wow.
Damon Young [00:21:46] To traditional, you know, turkey preparation.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:21:49] Okay. Last question. Favorite NBA coach.
Damon Young [00:21:55] Favorite coach. You know, I will always love my man Ty Lue.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:21:59] Mm hmm.
Damon Young [00:22:01] Because he just. He seems like the sitcom, like the best friend of the main character who comes in and is, like, always just annoyed.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:22:12] He’s the Ron Johnson of the NBA?
Damon Young [00:22:14] Yeah, like. Like someone like he would be played by. By a comedian, right? If he were if he were on if he were on a sitcom. And I just I just like his general demeanor where he just seems to be over it all the time. And he’s also a great coach. Like, he doesn’t get the sort of, you know, sort of recognition that like a Pop. Now, he hasn’t had the same career, same length of career like Popovich or whatever. But I think that he is a great coach who who isn’t necessarily mentioned in those upper echelon.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:22:42] Right. Like the Pat Riley’s of the world.
Damon Young [00:22:44] As often as he needs it. I mean, he needs more of a, he needs more of a more of a resume for like the Pat Riley, you know, Phil Jackson like stratosphere. But in terms of contemporary coaches right now, right. He needs to be mentioned in that top like five or six.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:23:02] Wow.
Damon Young [00:23:02] You know, I’ve always believed that. And I like Spoelstra, too. I like. Yeah. A lot.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:23:08] He’s he’s definitely grown on me.
Damon Young [00:23:09] Every time I met him, I met him a couple of years ago. He was pretty down to earth.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:23:13] Okay.
Damon Young [00:23:13] So two but.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:23:15] Can you promise us that you’re going to come back and join us for The Blackest Questions so you can get five out of five and the next time we’re just going to talk basketball the whole time.
Damon Young [00:23:23] Okay, I’ll let me know. You hit me up. I’m here, you know? I mean, we could talk. We could talk. Nineties NBA, eighties NBA, 2000 to 2010 is 2020. You know, I got it.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:23:35] You got it. I so appreciate you joining us, Damian. And, you know, remind us again the name of your debut memoir.
Damon Young [00:23:44] What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker. You get to actually see it again. That’s a poster from one of our book Fan and Events is like, you know it, you get this big ass poster, I might as well just take it home and put it on my wall. Also, you could read my column in The Washington Post, my weekly column, and also, you know, subscribe or listen to Stuck with Damon Young, which is my podcast, which is exclusive on Spotify.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:24:07] Absolutely. Thank you so much. I can’t wait to have you back. And I thank you. I want to thank you for all that you do for Black people. You are a voice that is needed. But your your humor and your intellect in how you contextualize America for Black people is really, really important. And I just want to thank you again for joining us here in the Blackest Questions.
Damon Young [00:24:30] Hey, Christina, thank you so much for having me. This was great. You know, I really appreciate you reaching out and putting me on. I also appreciate the coordination with your glasses and the shirt.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:24:41] You know, if I had the rights, I played Little J. Cole as an outro. But that might that might sting a little bit.
Damon Young [00:24:46] Yeah. Yeah, I wouldn’t I wouldn’t share this podcast if you do that.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:24:51] Well, thank you all for listening to the Black questions. And I want to thank our listeners for listening to the Blackest Questions. If you like what you heard, please download theGrio app and listen and watch many more great shows and share it with everyone you know.
Maiysha Kai [00:25:01] Don’t forget, you can listen to theGrio’s Writing Black Podcast hosted by me, Maiysha Kai. This isn’t your typical writing podcast. We interview any and everybody that has anything to do with writing from comics to poets to authors to journalists, to politicians and more. Remember, that’s Writing Black every Sunday, right here on theGrio’s Black Podcast Network, download theGrio’s app to listen to Writing Black wherever you are.
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