Gov. Landry pushes election back? SC State Students Revolt Over Commencement Speaker. #TheBreakdown

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Quick Read

This episode unpacks critical developments including Louisiana's election postponement due to gerrymandering, student activism at SC State University, a national workers' rights movement, a new dating app for intentional age-gap relationships, and a personal account of navigating uterine fibroids.
Student protests successfully removed a controversial lieutenant governor as a commencement speaker at SC State University.
A new dating app, 'Fox Hunters Club,' targets millennial women seeking emotionally mature, non-transactional relationships with older men.
A national 'Mayday Strong' movement mobilizes workers and communities to demand economic justice and resist corporate power.

Summary

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry is attempting to postpone the state's May 16th primary election to redraw congressional maps after a Supreme Court ruling identified racial gerrymandering, despite absentee voting already commencing. Concurrently, South Carolina State University students successfully protested the selection of Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette as their commencement speaker, leading to the university president rescinding her invitation after her divisive 'woke mob' comments. The episode also highlights 'Mayday Strong,' a national day of action advocating for workers' rights over corporate power. In a segment on dating, tech executive Brownie Marie introduces 'Fox Hunters Club,' a new app connecting millennial women with older, established men for serious, non-transactional relationships. Finally, Courtney Pack shares her personal journey with uterine fibroids, advocating for open dialogue and self-discovery through her journal 'The Journey Back Home' and platform 'The Social Narrative,' emphasizing the need for better information and support for Black women.
These diverse stories collectively underscore ongoing struggles for civil rights, political representation, and social justice in America, from challenging gerrymandering and political opportunism to empowering workers and addressing health disparities. The rise of niche dating apps and personal health narratives also reflect evolving social dynamics and the importance of community-led solutions, offering practical insights into how individuals and groups are actively shaping their environments and advocating for change.

Takeaways

  • Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry plans to postpone the May 16th primary election to redraw congressional maps after a Supreme Court ruling found racial gerrymandering, despite ongoing absentee voting.
  • South Carolina State University students successfully protested Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette as their commencement speaker, leading to the university president rescinding her invitation.
  • Evette's video, calling students a 'woke mob' and promoting anti-DEI stances, backfired and was seen as political opportunism.
  • Mayday Strong is a national day of action on May 1st, involving rallies and calls for no work/school/shopping, to advocate for workers' rights and resist the 'billionaire class.'
  • Fox Hunters Club is a new dating app connecting millennial women (30-44) with older, established Gen X and Baby Boomer men, focusing on emotional maturity and long-term commitment, explicitly rejecting transactional 'sugar baby' dynamics.
  • Courtney Pack, founder of The Social Narrative, discusses her personal battle with uterine fibroids, highlighting the lack of medical information and the emotional toll, and advocates for open dialogue through her self-discovery journal 'The Journey Back Home.'
  • The silence surrounding fibroids, particularly among Black women, is often rooted in fear of surgery and a lack of awareness about diverse treatment and management options.

Insights

1Louisiana Election Postponement Due to Racial Gerrymandering

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and state lawmakers are planning to postpone the May 16th primary election following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the current congressional map as an illegal racial gerrymander. The new map aims to create a second majority-Black congressional district. A complication arises as absentee voting has already begun, and early voting is imminent. Governor Landry intends to modify the House election schedule via executive order.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and state lawmakers are planning to postpone the primary election originally scheduled for May 16th. Landry says the state needs time to redraw congressional maps following Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling that deemed Louisiana's congressional map an illegal racial gerrymander. The new congressional map would create a second majority black congressional district. However, there's a complication. Absentee voting for the primary has already begun and early voting is set to start on Saturday.

2SC State Students Force Disinvitation of Lieutenant Governor

South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette was disinvited from speaking at South Carolina State University's commencement after student protests. Evette responded to the protests with a social media video, calling students a 'woke mob' and falsely claiming former President Trump had done more for HBCUs than any other administration, while also advocating for eliminating DEI programs. The university president, Alexander Conas, rescinded her invitation, citing concerns for student safety and the need for graduation to be a celebratory event, not a platform for political discord.

South Carolina State students have been protesting the decision to invite the lieutenant governor of South Carolina to be the commencement speaker. Pamela Evette posted a video on social media in response to the protest, stating, 'facts trump feelings in the real world. President Trump and conservatives have done more for HBCUs than any administration in history. I must be doing something right because woke mobs are coming after me for being a champion of eliminating radical DEI scams on college campuses.' Subsequently, President Alexander Conas announced, 'I've made the decision to resend the invitation to the lieutenant governor to speak at your commencement.'

3Fox Hunters Club: A Niche Dating App for Intentional Age-Gap Relationships

Brownie Marie launched Fox Hunters Club, a dating app designed to connect millennial women (ages 30-44) with older, established Gen X and Baby Boomer men. The app explicitly focuses on emotional maturity and long-term commitment, distinguishing itself from 'sugar baby' platforms by rejecting transactional dynamics. Marie created the app after identifying a market gap for intentional age-gap dating without materialistic undertones, emphasizing character and mutual respect over financial entitlement.

A new app is aiming to change dating by connecting millennial women with older, more established men without the sugar daddy dynamic, focusing instead on emotional maturity and long-term commitment. Brownie Marie, founder of Fox Hunters Club, states, 'It is the maturity gap... people who know what they want, who know what they don't want, who can communicate and express it, who can appreciate a good woman and value that.' She also emphasizes, 'I really reject the materialistic sugar baby culture that we're in right now... Being entitled, feeling entitled to someone else's money is gross.'

4Addressing the Silent Struggle of Uterine Fibroids in Black Women

Courtney Pack, founder of The Social Narrative, shares her personal experience with uterine fibroids, highlighting how initial medical advice downplayed their significance during her pregnancy, only for them to grow significantly due to stress. She emphasizes the emotional and physical toll, including mood swings and discomfort. Her self-discovery journal, 'The Journey Back Home,' aims to create a vulnerable and conversational space for Black women to discuss fibroids, moving beyond clinical symptom tracking. Pack attributes the prevalent silence around fibroids to fear of surgery and a lack of awareness regarding diverse management options.

Courtney Pack states, 'my journey actually goes all the way back to when I was carrying my son... the fibroids that I had were actually blocking the birth canal. So, and and that's something that I wish I would have been told, you know, during the the pre-appoints.' She adds, 'the tiny fibroids actually grew into lime size and and grapefruit size fibroids.' Regarding the journal, she explains, 'I wanted it to be to feel like you're sitting at home with your friend... What are you frustrated about? What are you actually mad about right now?' She attributes the silence to 'fear. We don't really know what our options are.'

Bottom Line

The political strategy of 'MAGA buzzwords' (e.g., 'woke mob,' 'anti-DEI') can backfire significantly when used against a unified student body, leading to public relations disasters and policy reversals for the politicians employing them.

So What?

Politicians who use divisive rhetoric against specific communities, especially students, risk alienating key stakeholders and undermining their own credibility, even in conservative-leaning states, if their actions are perceived as disingenuous or disrespectful.

Impact

Student activists and university administrations can leverage such missteps by politicians to galvanize support, reaffirm institutional values, and protect academic freedoms and diversity initiatives from external political pressures.

The 'loneliness epidemic' is driving innovation in niche dating apps that prioritize intentionality and specific relationship goals over broad, superficial matching, particularly for demographics seeking emotional maturity and long-term commitment.

So What?

Mainstream dating apps, often criticized for their 'second job' feel and focus on casual encounters, are creating a vacuum for specialized platforms that cater to users' deeper desires for meaningful connections, especially across age groups where traditional dating pools might be limited.

Impact

Entrepreneurs can continue to identify and serve highly specific dating niches (e.g., based on shared values, life stages, or unique preferences) by building platforms that foster genuine connection and filter out incompatible intentions, thereby addressing the growing demand for more effective relationship-seeking tools.

Opportunities

Niche Dating App for Intentional Age-Gap Relationships

Develop and market dating applications that specifically cater to demographics seeking age-gap relationships based on emotional maturity and long-term commitment, explicitly differentiating from 'sugar' dynamics. Focus on robust profiling and matching algorithms that prioritize shared values, life goals, and communication styles.

Source: Fox Hunters Club founder Brownie Marie's discussion on creating an app for millennial women seeking older, established men for serious relationships, addressing a market gap for non-transactional age-gap dating.

Community-Focused Health Journals and Platforms

Create and promote self-discovery journals and digital platforms tailored to specific health conditions that disproportionately affect particular communities (e.g., Black women and fibroids). These resources should offer a 'home girl' conversational tone, encourage emotional vulnerability, and provide information on diverse management options beyond standard medical advice, fostering community and shared healing.

Source: Courtney Pack's 'The Journey Back Home' journal and 'The Social Narrative' platform, designed to help Black women with fibroids process their experiences and find resources in a supportive, non-clinical way.

Key Concepts

Power of Collective Action

Demonstrated by the SC State University students' successful protest against a controversial speaker and the nationwide 'Mayday Strong' movement, collective action enables marginalized groups to exert influence and achieve specific outcomes against established powers.

Market Gap Analysis

Brownie Marie's creation of the Fox Hunters Club dating app exemplifies identifying an unmet need in the market—intentional, non-transactional age-gap dating—and developing a targeted solution, highlighting the potential for niche services to address specific consumer desires.

Lessons

  • HBCU leaders should critically evaluate potential commencement speakers, prioritizing individuals with a proven track record of genuine support for their institutions and students, rather than inviting those who may use the platform for divisive political rhetoric.
  • Individuals seeking serious, long-term relationships, especially across age gaps, should explore niche dating apps that explicitly align with their values and intentions, rather than relying solely on mainstream platforms that often lead to 'time waste' and superficial interactions.
  • Black women experiencing uterine fibroids should actively seek out diverse informational resources, engage in community dialogues, and consider self-discovery tools like journals to process their experiences and explore various management options beyond traditional medical interventions, rather than suffering in silence due to fear or lack of information.

Notable Moments

South Carolina State University President Alexander Conas rescinded the invitation to Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette to speak at commencement.

This decision demonstrated the power of student-led protests and a university's commitment to protecting its students from divisive political rhetoric, prioritizing a safe and celebratory environment over political optics.

Host Britney Noble shared her personal experience with uterine fibroids, including undergoing surgery to remove large fibroids and subsequently having a child, directly relating to the guest's advocacy.

This moment underscored the widespread and often silent impact of fibroids on Black women, adding a powerful, personal dimension to the discussion and reinforcing the need for open dialogue and shared experiences.

Quotes

"

"Facts trump feelings in the real world. President Trump and conservatives have done more for HBCUs than any administration in history. I must be doing something right because woke mobs are coming after me for being a champion of eliminating radical DEI scams on college campuses. So bring it on."

Pamela Evette
"

"I've made the decision to resend the invitation to the lieutenant governor to speak at your commencement."

Alexander Conas
"

"We've got to stop inviting MAGA to the cookout. They've showed they've showed us who they are. They showed us what they are about. And so opening our sacred space and platform to them... is sacred. Why allow somebody who brings that level of discord and then doubles down on their hatred to the students that they're supposed to be uplifting for commencement?"

Hamilton Grant
"

"The patriotic thing to do as a worker is to practice solidarity, create community, and resist the tyranny of the billionaire class."

Stacy Davis Gates
"

"Being entitled, feeling entitled to someone else's money is gross. I reject the idea and it's becoming a more mainstream idea for some reason."

Brownie Marie
"

"I just wish instead of saying, you know, I'm brushing off, you know, brush it off. It's okay. You know, every every black woman has them, you know. instead of saying that I wish it was more like an informational, you know, session that I could take away from that."

Courtney Pack

Q&A

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