The Ryles Report

The Ryles Report

You’re hearing all these buzzwords in the news and on social media. And if you don’t understand the historical context then you won’t understand what is happening today in the world around us. Well no worries because you’re now listening to the Ryles Report. This is our chance to sit down and connect the dots between history and the world we live in today. My name is Richard Ryles and as an attorney and community leader, I blend candid conversations with historians, artists, educators, and changemakers. Together, we explore how the past shapes the issues, culture, and people we care about most.Love, Life, and Politics.So follow along wherever you get to your podcast. 

  1. 3d ago

    Black Americans Have Become Too Loyal to Democrats

    Political loyalty has become so deeply rooted in Black America that questioning the Democratic Party is often treated as an act of betrayal. Somewhere along the way, we’ve allowed our allegiance to political parties to overshadow our responsibility to hold them accountable. For generations, Black Americans fought for the right to vote, equal access to education, and a meaningful voice in the institutions shaping our lives. Those victories opened doors, but access and influence are not the same thing. Having representation does not necessarily mean having power. In this episode of The Ryles Report, Attorney Richard A. Ryles examines how political loyalty, media influence, and the decline of independent thinking have shaped the way we understand our interests. He also revisits the promises of school desegregation, the educational institutions Black communities once controlled, and the consequences that continue to affect generations of children. These issues are not separate conversations. The way we vote, the information we consume, the education our children receive, and the leaders we choose all influence our ability to determine our own future. Drawing from personal experiences, American history, and the observations of Malcolm X and Derrick Bell, Richard challenges the belief that progress should be measured simply by how many doors have been opened. Political loyalty without accountability is not political power. And access without influence is not the same as progress. This is a conversation about what Black America fought for, what we’ve gained, what we’ve lost, and the responsibility we still have to one another.

  2. Oct 9

    Ep. 229: Are We Really Pro-Black? We May Be Dropping the Ball With These.

    Are we really pro-Black if we aren’t supporting the institutions responsible for preserving Black history? We celebrate our ancestors, defend our history, and talk about protecting our legacy. But are we actually supporting the people and places doing that work? In this episode of The Ryles Report, I’m joined by historian, author, and Black museum advocate Jada Wright-Greene to examine why Black museums are struggling and what that says about our priorities. We can fill stadiums for concerts, yet institutions preserving our history struggle to attract visitors and funding. Government support is part of the problem, but we also have to examine our own responsibility. We discuss what it takes to keep these institutions alive, why museums must do more to engage younger generations, and the extraordinary legacy of Mary McLeod Bethune. Jada also explains why preserving historic Black homes allows us to connect with the people who shaped our history in ways textbooks cannot. Preserving Black history takes more than celebrating it. If we don’t support the institutions protecting our stories, who will?

  3. Oct 2

    Ep. 228: America Doesn’t Want to Have This Conversation

    America has made progress on race. But progress and completion are not the same thing. In this episode of The Ryles Report, I ask what happens when America decides the race problem has been solved before the damage has actually been repaired. We go from Jim Crow and the psychological wages of whiteness to housing, employment, DEI, Black economic opportunity and the ways racial stereotypes have been created and passed from one generation to another. I also look at something much more personal: what it means when someone says, “I don’t see color,” while ignoring the very different experiences Black Americans can still have in this country. This is not simply a conversation about what white America needs to do. At some point, Black America also has to ask a different question: What are we building for ourselves? Who owns? Who hires? Who controls contracts? Who decides where money is spent? And are we willing to hold our own leadership accountable when it works against the economic interests of our community? America has passed civil-rights laws, opened doors and made real progress. The question is whether we have confused that progress with the completion of the work. Chapters 00:00 — If Racism Is Over, Explain This 02:19 — America Declared the Race Problem Over 03:33 — Jim Crow Ended. Did Its Effects? 06:48 — The Psychological Wages of Whiteness 09:17 — How America Confronts Its Racial History 13:42 — Racism, Denial & What We Teach Our Children 17:40 — DEI, Jobs & Black Economic Opportunity 18:44 — How Watermelon Became a Racist Stereotype 21:45 — Where “Jim Crow” Actually Came From 23:50 — Can Racism Be Fixed Without Admitting It Exists? 28:18 — What Is Black America Building for Itself? 31:41 — “I Don’t See Color” 33:48 — Who Actually Holds the Power? 35:53 — Progress Is Not Completion

  4. Sep 26

    Ep. 227: America Hasn’t Fixed Racism. But That’s Not Our Only Problem.

    Black America has more access, more representation and more ways to be heard than ever before. So why does it feel like we’re getting nowhere? There isn’t one answer. There are several problems at work—and in this episode of The Ryles Report, I connect the dots. I begin with something many Black Americans of my generation remember: somebody yelling through the house, “Hey y’all, there’s some Black folks on TV.” Seeing ourselves on television could bring an entire family—and sometimes an entire neighborhood—into the same room. Today, we carry televisions in our pockets, yet bringing people together around a common purpose can be much harder. That raises a larger question about what we gained and what we lost. I examine technology and our ability to organize, the role the Black church once played in everyday community life, the consequences of integration for Black institutions, social-media outrage, corporate controversies and boycotts, political accountability, economic power, artificial intelligence and the difference between simply being heard and actually getting results. This conversation ultimately comes down to what I call soul power: the ability of a community to know one another, organize, share information, support its institutions, hold leadership accountable and turn collective concern into collective action. We have the tools. We have the ability to communicate. The question now is what we are going to do with the power we already have.

  5. Sep 18

    EP. 226: Black People Found Hanging in 2026—What’s Happening?

    America would like to believe lynching belongs entirely to the past. For Black Americans, the history is considerably more complicated. I wanted to have this conversation because Black people are still being found hanging in America, and some of these deaths have generated concern among families and communities seeking answers. I am careful not to label every hanging a lynching simply because of the manner of death. But I also believe we cannot understand the reaction to these cases without understanding the history that came before them. Mississippi sits at the center of this conversation for a reason. Its history of racial terror, the long fight for federal protection of Black Americans, and the failures of institutions entrusted with administering justice provide important context for what is happening today. I also spend time on something that cannot be measured simply by what the law says on paper: trust. Generations of Black Americans have inherited memories of investigations that failed, crimes that went unpunished and families that were left without answers. That history does not determine the facts of a modern case, but it does help explain why evidence, transparency and thorough investigation matter so much. This is a conversation about what happens when America’s past meets a present it would rather believe is completely different.

  6. Sep 11

    Ep. 225: Carter G. Woodson Warned Us About the Wrong Kind of Education

    In 1933, Carter G. Woodson published The Mis-Education of the Negro. More than 90 years later, the question behind his argument is still uncomfortable: Does education teach us how to think—or condition us to accept the world as it has been given to us? In this episode of The Ryles Report, I examine Woodson’s ideas about education, independent thinking, Black leadership, economics, politics, community responsibility and self-determination. We have more degrees, more access and more opportunities than generations before us—but Woodson challenges us to ask whether credentials alone mean we have been properly educated. This conversation is not an argument against education. It is a question about its purpose. Who does our education prepare us to serve? What does it teach us to value? And does it give us the tools to change our condition—or simply succeed within it? More than nine decades after Woodson raised these questions, it may be worth asking whether we have answered them. Subscribe to The Ryles Report for conversations about Black history, law, politics, education and the stories that continue to shape America.

  7. Sep 7

    Ep. 224: America's Marketing Plan: Use Black People for the Clout

    America needed to look like the land of liberty. So they used Black people for the picture. Cold War image. Fairness on paper. Their benefit. Not ours. Brown changed the law. Two kids in the same building is not the same education. When their payoff faded, the handshake fell apart. White flight. Underfunded schools. That is where we are today. After Obama they announced a post-racial America. Same trick. A new law is not a new life. Judge the win by what changed for Black people after the applause.

  8. Sep 3

    Ep. 223: We Had Black Excellence Like This | The Dunbar Story

    LOOK WHAT WE LOST. Before Charles Hamilton Houston helped build the legal strategy that attacked Jim Crow, before Dr. Charles Drew transformed blood banking, before Benjamin O. Davis Sr. became the first Black general in the U.S. Army, and before Robert C. Weaver became the first Black presidential Cabinet secretary, there was an extraordinary educational tradition in Washington, D.C. Dunbar High School. In this special Black Excellence episode of The Ryles Report, Richard Ryles examines what surrounded Dunbar’s students: extraordinary Black educators, rigorous expectations, Howard University, Black churches, professionals, civic organizations and a community infrastructure that treated education as more than a path to individual success. The story raises a larger question. Were these simply extraordinary individuals — or had Black Washington built an extraordinary system for producing them? And if that ecosystem was disrupted as America moved through desegregation and integration, what was gained, what was lost, and which parts can Black communities build again? This is The Ryles Report: Black Excellence — The Dunbar Story. #BlackExcellence #DunbarHighSchool #BlackHistory #TheRylesReport #BlackEducation #TheImmortalJimCrow

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About

You’re hearing all these buzzwords in the news and on social media. And if you don’t understand the historical context then you won’t understand what is happening today in the world around us. Well no worries because you’re now listening to the Ryles Report. This is our chance to sit down and connect the dots between history and the world we live in today. My name is Richard Ryles and as an attorney and community leader, I blend candid conversations with historians, artists, educators, and changemakers. Together, we explore how the past shapes the issues, culture, and people we care about most.Love, Life, and Politics.So follow along wherever you get to your podcast. 

Information

  • Creator
    The Ryles Report
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    52
  • Rating
    Explicit

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