Live from Music Row Thursday 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 panelist Dr. Carol Swain to the studio.
During the second, Swain discusses her busy schedule and her appearance at President Donald Trump’s first rally this Saturday in Tulsa post-coronavirus. She later in the segment suggested listeners help her organize a BBQ with music and speakers to celebrate the police calling it “Back the Blue.”
Leahy: We are joined now as we always are every Thursday by our good friend, all-star panelist, former Vanderbilt professor, and former mayoral candidate here in Nashville, Carol Swain. Good morning Carol.
Swain: Good morning Michael.
Leahy: I always mention that you are sartorially splendid. You have a beautiful outfit today. A yellow jacket with print there. Obviously you are traveling today, right? Where are you going today? You’re going to leave the program a little bit early because you have an important mission. Where are you headed off?
Swain: I’m headed to Dallas for the premiere of the film Uncle Tom.
Leahy: Oh you’ve talked about that. Tell us about the film Uncle Tom. Did you have a role in that film or did you advise on the film?
Swain: It’s a documentary about black conservatives and their experiences and their philosophies. And I was told that my story became an essential part of the film. But I haven’t watched it yet. I will see it on Friday night. And then on Saturday morning I will fly to Tulsa and participate in the Trump rally.
Leahy: You’re going to participate in the Trump rally? You are busy.
Swain: And then the following week, I’ve been invited to a small luncheon with the vice president. I was told it would be very small and they would like me to share my ideas about race along with other people. Race relations. I leave there to go to California to film one or more videos with Prager U.
Leahy: It’s exhausting to keep up with your schedule Carol.
Swain: Well, it just got restarted. (Leahy laugh) So this is my first post-coronavirus flight.
Leahy: Are you going to wear a mask?
Swain: I am. I’m going to comply with the rules.
Leahy: And you have to wear a mask?
Swain: You have to wear a mask to get on the airplane. After that, they don’t care if you pull it down below your nose. I’m not going to create a scene.
Leahy: Will you be able to come back next Thursday here on the program? Or will you be out and about with all the big media events around here?
Swain: Next Thursday I will be out and about.
Leahy: You will be out and about next Thursday.
Swain: I could call in perhaps, but otherwise I will be out and about.
Leahy: And next Thursday, Ben Cunningham will be the guest host all day from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. I will be in Washington, D.C. next Wednesday and Thursday. I think Wednesday morning I’ll be broadcasting from the iHeart Media studios in the Washington, D.C. area.
Swain: I’ll be there Wednesday.
Leahy: I’ll say hello to you and maybe have you on the program there.
Swain: In the morning possibly.
Leahy: Well, we’ll see. (Swain giggles) It’s hard to keep up with you.
Swain: You don’t want me right? (Laughs)
Leahy: You are in high demand, Carol.
Swain: Actually I am.
Leahy: John McIntyre or Tom Bevan?
Swain: It said the president of Real Clear Politics and I thought his name was David something.
Leahy: David.
Swain: He invited me to write an essay for the Fourth of July and speaking engagements are rolling in. But one of the things that I really want to talk about and would need a lot of help from your listeners is that we need to do an event for police. To “Back the Blue.”
It would be great if we had someone with enough private property where we could do an outdoor event. And if protesters came you would be able to send them away because it would be private land. (Leahy chuckles) But I was thinking of a BBQ or something like that. Not a rally but a BBQ with music and speakers.
Leahy: More fun.
Swain: Yeah. For police and their families.
Leahy: Well, to celebrate the police.
Swain: Yes. To celebrate the police.
Leahy: They do a great job. We’ve had instances where a couple of them haven’t done a great job. But the 99 percent or more do a great job day in and day out.
Swain: But even in those instances of high profile ones in Nashville that led to protests where police officers shot black men. I guess that the issue and I don’t remember the exact details but maybe both of them were running away but they had guns in their hands.
Leahy: Yes. Not every case is the case of George Floyd in Minneapolis where one officer kneeled on his neck for eight minutes and he died. The Atlanta case is very different.
Swain: I know.
Leahy: Very different.
Swain: And this terrible if because of the political climate that we have these cases will take place in an atmosphere where we are not sure that justice will be done. And if there is an issue, the issue is with police training.
And many of these cases the police are training but it seems like their training is no longer acceptable. And I’ve wondered, ok, given now that police are not expected to use force to apprehend anyone that doesn’t want to get in the car with them. Maybe use tranquilizer guns. Why don’t we use tranquilizer guns?
Leahy: You raise a very good point because what you see is incidents where the people that are being arrested resist arrest. They never end well for the person resisting arrest.
Swain: But the black community believes that it never ends well for black people. But for white people, it would end well. But I don’t think it ends well for anyone.
Leahy: Yes. This is where you get into the specifics. And it’s very controversial. The problem Carol that I see is now we live in a culture where you cannot have an honest disagreement over the facts right? If you say for instance, if you say All Lives Matter, that’s something that cannot be said.
Swain: I will say it for you. All Lives Matter. Blue Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter. White Lives Matter. Brown Lives Matter. Yellow Lives Matter. Now we in trouble. (Giggles)
Leahy: What we do with these segments here on the radio, we often write them up and we do stories on them at The Tennessee Star. I can promise you that if we do a story on this segment and we include All Lives Matter, Google, Twitter, and Facebook will begin to put us in Facebook jail. Twitter jail and Google jail. That’s the way it works right now.
Swain: And the Southern Poverty Law Center will label you a hate station.
Leahy: Yes. Yes. Yes. It’s insane, isn’t it? You studied history and public policy. It seems to me the United States over the past three to four months has moved to our own version of Mao’s Cultural Revolution combined with the French Revolution.
Swain: I would agree and it’s scary.
Leahy: Yes. Yes, I think it is very scary. By the way, did you see our story yesterday about Harpeth Hall? The elite private prep school here in Nashville that has dropped the celebration of George Washington. The annual event that’s been there about 20 plus years.
Swain: I’m familiar with that story and I guess you know that Laura Ingraham mentioned it last night.
Leahy: Did she?
Swain: Yes. The Tennessee Star made the Laura Ingrahm show. Harpeth Hall hired a diversity officer and I know Brentwood Academy that the people have been agitating they would like to have one too. It’s like in the Bible, give us a king because all the other schools have a king. MBA has one.
Those diversity inclusion officers are all trained from the same critical race handbook. It’s not just critical race theory. They are pushing the gender stuff. The LGBTQ agenda. All this stuff is part of what they are pushing. And that explains what was happening at Lipscomb awhile ago.
Leahy: We talked about that several months ago.
Swain: And the diversity inclusion officers and the training techniques that many of them use is racism. It is sexism. It’s all kinds of things. But if it’s done against a group that’s seen as the dominant group, no one compliance. I believe at some point when names begin to change, and I believe they will begin to change.
There will be lawsuits filed that will be won because of the discrimination taken against whites, straight men and women. It’s unacceptable in America. I think people need to wake up. Speaking of diversity officers, there is a line item for the Nashville budget.
Leahy: Nashville’s budget.
Swain: And I think I’m going to apply to be Nashville’s Chief Diversity Officer.
Leahy: Oh, you are going to apply for that?
Swain: I’m going to apply and see if I get an interview?
Leahy: What do you predict? Will you get an interview?
Swain: If they don’t interview me I’m going to sue them. (Leahy laughs) I’m overqualified for the job. (Laughs)
Leahy: When is the application due?
Swain: And I’m self-identifying as something other than a black female.
Leahy: Oh yeah? What do you self identify as now?
Swain: I’m self-identified…as some other group.
Leahy: When are you going to apply for this job?
Swain: As soon as they post it. (Laughter)
Leahy: We’ll do a story on it. And we’ll see if they interview you.
Swain: We will.
Leahy: My guess is probably not, but we’ll see. But if they offer you the job will you accept it?
Swain: We’ll talk about it. If I do it it will be for public service.
Leahy: (Laughs) Carol Swain.
Listen to the full second hour:
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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.
“actually I AM in high demand” oh, please.
Jealous?