BY Kymberly Amara
What is the truth? Is it one’s perceived reality, hard-cold facts, or does the answer rest somewhere between. Some say the truth shall set you free. While this may be true, America has been grappling with the truth for quite some time. With the truth shrouded in confusion and alternative facts, Dr. Rashad Richey’s acclaimed national TV show, Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey, is refreshing and right on time.
We recently got an opportunity to speak with the multi-talented Emmy nominated broadcaster, political strategist, professor, and business mogul. He is also the current president of Rolling Out magazine and has been named Director of Institutional Advancement and Corporate Relations at Morris Brown College about his show and how he is using his platform to simply tell the truth. Before his current career, Dr. Richey served as a Director of Education and was given the opportunity to work with the Democratic Party. He quickly rose through the ranks working as a political consultant, fundraiser, and strategist. This led to him being asked to run a mayoral campaign which he helped the candidate win. From there, he stepped out of his comfort zone and stepped into the world of broadcast media, and the rest is history. Dr. Richey understands that “People don’t gravitate to lies; they only gravitate to lies when it is wrapped around an atmosphere that says it’s true.”
Choosing What’s Newsworthy
“I have the dopest production team in America. We have a strategy every morning; every morning, we are up, and we do our pitch meeting. In our pitch meeting, we are talking to each other about different stories happening around the country. In that back and forth, we’re looking for an opportunity to explain why this is systemic bias, prejudicial, or this policy is adversarial to progress. We are looking for these opportunities to highlight the nuances of social dysfunction so that we can provide a remedy.” Dr. Richey wants to use his platform in hopes of offering the opportunity to correct and move important social issues forward. Beyond national stories, Dr. Richey wants to shine a light on hyper-local stories that deserve national attention due to the depth and impact they may have had on that local community.
Resonating With Audiences
Having started as a contributor on the TYT Network, Dr. Richey was tapped to do the show once a week and expanded to a daily program from there and has taken off since. “We are not afraid to embrace the opinion rooted in the facts.” Most Americans believe in progress, and this is how the show meets Americans where they are. “The vast majority of Americans identify as progressives as well based on their policy values. I think that’s what we connect with. When it comes to Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey, we’re literally talking to the hearts of Americans all throughout the country, and it’s not just a political angle, it’s also a social angle, then there’s an economic angle. The vast majority of consumers care that their companies are socially responsible to the community at large, and that’s a progressive ideology.”
The Need for Fact-based News
“People still want the truth. People have not left the reality of truth. They are simply being tricked into believing the lies are true. There’s a very sophisticated design in the political arena to massively manipulate people, especially on the right.” Tasked with challenging the lie, Dr. Richey understands that it is incumbent on him to bring the truth to the forefront and not allow the lies to take root and thereby become the norm. By aggressively addressing the lie, Dr. Richey doesn’t allow reality to become shrouded in alternative facts.
To help address these alternative facts, Dr. Richey invites conservative-leaning guests to ‘The Bullpen’ to engage in a healthy debate about the facts. Doing this helps “convert people to truth” by enlightening them on the facts. In a highly viewed show, he recently debated conservative radio talk show host Charlie Kirk and said that the goal is to continue to evolve, entertain, and provide a space for opposing views to bring light to truth.
Challenges of Stepping into ‘The Bullpen’
“Criticism is the price you pay for leadership, and the day you are unwilling to pay that price is the day you are unfit to lead anyone.” Dr. Richey understands the burden he must carry as a “truth-teller” and recalls how he receives regular death threats, being called the n-word, and people attempting to destroy his character. Dr. Richey shares that perhaps the biggest challenge is being misunderstood, “what impacts me emotionally sometimes is when people who are my allies whom I am advocating for; they may take something out of context unintentionally and run with it.” As such, he attempts to be very intentional on how he lands a point to prevent things from being taken out of context.
Looking to The Future
Richey’s segment “I Wish a Karen Would” offers insight into the social dynamics of privilege and how it has been weaponized to people’s advantage. It also sheds light on the systems that are in place that protect individuals, thereby not holding them accountable for bringing harm to others as a result of this weaponization. Dr. Richey is working and looking forward to using his platform to explore behavior that he has respectfully coined “Karenicity.” He would like to bring these individuals to debate or discuss the why and how their privilege has hurt others.
Dr. Richey’s sole purpose is to let people know that “he gives a damn,” which is evident in his ability to translate and deliver the truth despite our nation’s issues. “This country is very beautiful and very ugly at the same time.” Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey airs live daily on multiple networks.
