Stunning Spike in Black Unemployment: What’ll be the Impact on Midterms?
The unemployment rate for Black Americans just saw the fastest one-month increase in 14 years. The September jobs report data is especially stark for Black women. Experts warn a rise in Black unemployment can be a warning sign for the overall U.S. economy. Is it also a political warning sign ahead of the midterms, now just one month away? Democrat Tharon Johnson and Republican April Chapman join Victor to debate.
Thousands of legal immigrants are facing the loss of access to Medicaid starting this week. Victor speaks to Teresita Morales, whose partner needs special, extensive care after suffering a stroke and just found out he'll be losing coverage.
Nearly 2 weeks after being shot by an ICE agent in Texas, Venezuelan delivery driver Wilber Rafael Garces Perez just had surgery to remove a bullet lodged in his body. Victor asks his attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, what their next legal move is, as he remains in custody.
Plus, Georgia Tech Associate Professor of Black Digital Media André Brock joins Victor to talk about the viral A.I. "Hotel Lobby" trend, and why there is so much debate about repurposing the music video originally featuring Takeoff and Quavo.
Following racist backlash to a mariachi band’s performance of the National Anthem at a recent NFL game, Victor gets reaction from the founder of Mariachi Herencia de México, Cesar Maldonado.
Later, Victor shares the story of Dr. Asa Yancey, and the doctors who have been fighting to get the pioneering Black surgeon the credit he was long overdue for inventing a life-saving procedure.
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19 Sept 2026
Gaza Soup Kitchen Founder Reacts to Macklemore Controversy and Donation
For the first time since the controversy erupted, Ed Sheeran performs Saturday night without Macklemore. After he was dropped from Sheeran's tour for giving a "Free Palestine" speech, Macklemore made a donation to support Gaza aid. Victor speaks to Gaza Soup Kitchen co-founder Hani Almadhoun, whose group Macklemore says some of that money is going to.
The family of a Black pregnant woman in Texas says the state's strict abortion ban led to the 37-year-old's death. They've now filed a lawsuit, and among those named is Texas Republican Attorney General and senate candidate Ken Paxton. Tierra Walker's aunt, and the family's attorney Molly Duane, join Victor to discuss.
At a moment where there is a lot of rhetoric aimed at immigrant truck drivers, there was disturbing news this week of a Sikh truck driver stabbed multiple times at a truck stop in Wyoming. Sikh attorney Jasjit Singh visited that driver in the hospital and joins Victor to discuss the case.
And for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, singer Montell Jordan shares his prostate cancer survival story and discusses with Victor why Black men in particular need to pay attention.
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12 Sept 2026
Police Chief Speaks on Arrest in Case of Black Woman Found Hanging in Mississippi
There has been an arrest in the case of Tasia Fortune, the 29-year-old Black woman found hanging from a tree in Mississippi. Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney joins Victor to share the latest in the investigation and address nationwide alarm about Fortune's death given the state’s racial history.
Plus, Victor speaks to Emerson Villaran Calles, who has lived in the U.S. for more than two decades but decided to "self-deport" this week ahead of the expected expiration of temporary protection from deportation for immigrants from El Salvador.
Texas is moving forward with a rewrite of social studies lessons that critics, including Muslim students, say is anti-Islamic. The Republican chairman of the Texas State Board of Education, Aaron Kinsey, joins Victor to respond.
Amid nationwide concern about Islamophobia around the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Victor shares the story of Muslim 9/11 victim and hero Mohammad Salman Hamdani.
The father of a murder victim in North Carolina shared the story of his son Shemar in a Senate campaign ad, but he now says he feels misled by the GOP ad-creators. Ronald Hayes joins Victor to discuss.
And for our Art is Life series this week, Victor explores how the Black workers who toiled in a swamp to build a garden are being honored decades after they were shunned from the place they helped create during Jim Crow segregation. Norfolk Botanical Garden Historian Martha McClenny Williams shares the history.
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Who has been a guest on First Of All with Victor Blackwell
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Norman Wong
Talbert Cypress
Monique Pressley
Sae Joon Park
Jabari Peoples' family
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Apple Podcasts (US)
4.4 / 5
17 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 35 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
51
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
50
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