Commemoration is never just ceremony. Every holiday, every monument, every flag is a choice about whose story gets to be the nation's story. When that choice has consistently excluded the enslaved, the colonized, and the dishonored veteran, the radical act is not destruction — it is insistence. Insisting that the full truth be told. Insisting that the buried be named. Insisting, as these hosts do week after week, that acknowledgement is not the enemy of healing. It is the only path toward it.

Before this Memorial Day passes, find one history that your education left out — Decoration Day's Black origins, the Equal Justice Initiative's Legacy Museum, the story of a veteran like Papa James — and share it with one person who doesn't know it yet. Not to argue. Not to shame. Just to say: this happened, and it matters, and now you know. That is how the fire gets passed.

Welcome to Episode 42 of Three for the Founders. One year in. Still awake. Still building.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

Five years. That's it.

In 250 years of American history, the United States has been at peace for roughly five years. So what does it mean to wave the flag? To say "thank you for your service"? To call this country a democracy?

In Episode 41, Antonio, Lybroan, and Jon don't flinch. They open with Jon's debrief from a white educator affinity session — what it looks like when white people finally slow down enough to talk about race — and then go somewhere bigger: the architecture of American militarism, the moral weight of sanctions, and the uncomfortable truth that what the U.S. exports most reliably isn't democracy. It's markets. By bullet or bayonet.

Drawing on Imagined Communities and How to Hide an Empire, the fellas interrogate how nations — and the loyalties we feel toward them — are constructed fictions enforced by power. They debate the draft, dissect the "thank you for your service" reflex, and ask the question American mythology would rather you didn't: What exactly are we protecting — and for whom?

Brotherhood, as always, is the method. Honesty is the argument.

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Where Brotherhood meets the breakdown.

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Season 2 | Airing Monday, April 27, 2026

Some episodes are too good to stay in the vault.

Originally recorded as the Season 1 finale, Episode 40 never made it to air — until now. Consider it a gift from the archives, and the perfect bridge into everything Season 2 is becoming.

Reynaldo, Lybroan, and Jon go deep on something deceptively simple: your name. What it carries. What it costs. What it means when someone gets it wrong — and whether that’s ever really an accident.

From Kamala Harris to Barack Hussein Obama, from Prince’s war with his record label to Robin Wall Kimmerer’s meditation on language and colonial dominion, the guys connect the personal to the political to the philosophical. Because naming isn’t just courtesy — it’s power. And mispronouncing someone’s name isn’t always laziness. Sometimes it’s a message.

Plus: Jerry Lewis, Charlie Sheen, God Sham God, a rare Revenge of the Jedi T-shirt, and the real reason Reynaldo Antonio Macias is not changing his name to Joaquin.

22 countries are listening. Make sure your city is in the count.

Three for the Founders — where Brotherhood meets the breakdown.

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April 20, 2026

Before we begin — a word of care. Today’s episode includes discussion of sexual assault, harm to children, and various forms of violence. Please listen in a way that honors your own wellbeing.

There’s a reason we build monuments — and a reason that word carries weight when it turns.

When Dolores Huerta speaks, the world listens. And when she confirmed what the New York Times spent five years investigating — that Cesar Chavez raped her and molested children — the world had to reckon with what to do next.

In Ep. 39, Antonio, Jon, and Lybroan don’t look away. They sit with the full weight of what it means when a hero falls — and what it reveals about who we hold accountable, how fast we move, and why some institutions survive scandals that would bury any one individual.

Chavez’s name came off buildings within 24 hours. Meanwhile, the Epstein files sit open. The Catholic Church writes checks. And certain politicians collect convictions like trading cards while their names go up on buildings instead of coming down.

The brothers work through the hardest version of the question: Can a bad person do good things? Where do you draw the line — and does it move when the artist is someone you love? When the community absorbing the shame is already carrying too much?

This one doesn’t tie up neatly. It’s not supposed to. And that’s the way it is.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

"It Does Matter If You're Black or White" Three for the Founders | Episode 38 | April 13, 2026 | 1 hr. 11 min.

The best episodes of Three for the Founders do what the best public radio rarely does anymore: they hold two enormous ideas in the same room without forcing a tidy resolution. Episode 38 is exactly that kind of hour.

Lybroan James returns from a Homecoming trip to Ghana — led by Courageous Conversation architect Glenn Singleton — carrying something that doesn't compress easily into a trip report. Standing at the Door of No Return, tracing the final steps of the transatlantic passage, and being formally welcomed into the Apariti tribe, he wrestles with what it means to be received as home in a place American propaganda insists doesn't want you. Meanwhile, Jon Augustine walks into a white affinity space at the SoCal POCIS conference for the first time — and what he finds there is less a conversation than a symptom: orderly, earnest, intellectualized, and curiously disconnected from the soul happening loudly across the hall.

The juxtaposition is the argument. Ghana's cultural economy — its communal rituals, its marketplace logic, its vision of African diaspora return as an economic and spiritual corrective — becomes a lens through which to interrogate why white affinity spaces so often struggle to produce the belonging they're designed to cultivate. The hosts don't belabor the thesis; they trust the resonance. Antonio's framing is sharp: community before content. Jon's hibachi analogy lands. And Lybroan's account of cocoa trade inequity and a UN resolution the United States voted against lingers longer than it should have to.

Three for the Founders continues to earn its place in the crowded podcast landscape not by shouting, but by thinking — out loud, together, and in real time.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

What do you get when three Sigmas start talking about Black nationalism and end up deep in a debate about dog training costs? A bonus episode of Three for the Founders, that's what. The guys open with a pointed question contrasting Black and White nationalism — and how Christian nationalism fits into that conversation — before Obi-Wan the 80-pound problem child hijacks the whole show. Antonio breaks down his investment in Cali K9 (yes, the one from Netflix), the philosophy behind real obedience training, and why $2,000 in training fees actually makes sense when you're planning a trip to Banff with a dog who doesn't listen. The co-hosts weigh in on small dogs, cats, and why some people just aren't pet people — plus a family story about a Great Dane named Leonard eating better than most of us. They squeeze in a strong recommendation for Something the Lord Made on HBO Max before Obi shuts the whole operation down. Short, candid, and completely unscripted — this is Three for the Founders between episodes.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

Airing March 30, 2026 | 1 hr, 57 min

We open, as all great intellectual journeys do, with a word: kerfuffle. Turns out it’s Scottish. Turns out the “fuffle” means to dishevel and the “car-” is a Gaelic twist. Turns out Antonio, Jon, and Lybroan will spend a not-insignificant portion of your Monday morning defending this information with the energy of men who just found out their favorite film was also a book. We also stop by the UCLA Black Alumni Association’s Winston C. Doby Legacy Scholarship gala, where the room went predictably, beautifully crazy when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar walked in and casually mentioned that Jackie Robinson and Ralph Bunche personally recruited him to Westwood. You know — just Monday things.

Then we get to work. Because Episode 36 is the one where the guys pull out the dictionary — literally — and refuse to let the word nationalism stay slippery. Black nationalism: community control, economic autonomy, the Greenwood District built from nothing and burned to the ground by people who couldn’t stand to see it standing. White nationalism: the architecture of exclusion dressed up in the language of heritage. And Christian nationalism: what happens when a political ideology borrows the aesthetic of a faith tradition and starts holding prayer services inside the Department of Defense. Pete Hegseth called what’s happening in Iran a “holy war.” A church played “America the Beautiful” over footage of fighter jets. And somewhere in a congressional hearing, a Texas lawmaker had the audacity — the nerve — to remind his colleagues that Jesus never once mentioned abortion or homosexuality, and maybe, maybe, “love God and love people” ought to be the whole sermon. 

What makes this episode sing is that it refuses to let the abstractions float. The question isn’t just what is white nationalism — it’s whether there’s a version that isn’t soaked in violence, and whether the honest answer to that question demands a reframe entirely. They invoke Garvey, Malcolm, Du Bois, Booker T., Carter G. Woodson. They invoke Ona Judge, who escaped George Washington’s household, and George Washington, who chased her until he died. They invoke Lin-Manuel Miranda on the power of the right words in the right order, and Eli Pope from Scandal on what it costs to be Black in America. And they invoke Marco Rubio asking Trump’s permission to speak Spanish to Latino journalists, followed by Pete Hegseth announcing — with the confidence of a man who has never once asked himself a hard question — that he “just speaks American.” Three for the Founders is not just a podcast. It’s an argument with history, and history, as usual, does not get the last word.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

Three for the Founders | New Episode — Live Recording Feb. 21, 2026 · 51 min

Three fraternity brothers. One live room. No easy answers.

In this week's episode, Reynaldo Antonio, Jon, and Lybroan gather an audience and go somewhere most institutions won't: an honest reckoning with how history gets taught, who belongs in independent schools, and what DEI actually looks like when the cameras are off.

They talk about the difference between teaching history to do better versus teaching it to feel good. They name the quiet discomfort of being an educator of color in someone else's house. And they make the case — through story, not data — that the people doing the real work are still doing it. Quietly. Authentically. Underground.

Brotherhood built this conversation. Honesty keeps it going.

🎙️ Listen at threeforthefounders.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Like. Subscribe. Share it with someone who needs it.

Here is the playlist of our theme songs . . . What’s Yours? Gimme My Theme Music (A Playlist!)

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Let us ask you something before we even get started.

Do you believe what the founders wrote — or what the founders did?

Welcome back to Three for the Founders — where Brotherhood meets the breakdown.

But first — we have to show some love. Shoutout to Lorelei Newman, UCLA alum, who found this podcast at what sounds like a pivotal moment in her life. She sent us a message with a question we haven't been able to shake: “How do you know when something should come to an end?" Lorelei, we don't know who or what prompted that question for you — but we're glad the show found you when it did. And shoutout to Rahim Muhammad, who heard Episode 18 — "Your bell schedule is racist" — and then did something most people won't do. He went back to Episode 1 and listened to everything. In order. That's not a fan, that's family. And as always — respect and love to the founders of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated. We don't start without acknowledging you.

2026 is the centennial of Black History Month. One hundred years ago, Dr. Carter G. Woodson — the second Black man to earn a PhD from Harvard, following only W.E.B. Du Bois — looked at American society, looked at what was being taught in schools, looked at what was being erased and distorted and flat-out lied about, and decided he was going to do something about it. He launched Negro History Week in 1926 with a mission that was radical then and — let's be honest — is still radical now: combat the exclusion of Black people from American history. Dismantle the lie that Africa was a "dark continent" with no civilization, no culture, no past worth studying. And affirm, loudly and without apology, that Black achievement didn't begin with survival — it began long before enslavement tried to end it.

A hundred years later, the question isn't whether Woodson mattered. The question is — what have we done with what he built? And what does the next hundred years look like?

That's what we're getting into today. 

We're putting a new framework on the table for what Black History Month could actually become — not a feel-good celebration, not a corporate email in February, but a genuine, structured reckoning with the full scope of Black history across its African roots, its atrocities, and its power. We're running the numbers on reparations — and when we say numbers, we mean numbers. Trillions. Per person. We're going into the Atlantic slave trade with the nuance it demands — including African participation, the construction of race as a European tool, and why collapsing an entire continent into a single story is its own form of erasure. We're talking about what made U.S. chattel slavery uniquely, deliberately, systematically cruel in ways that set it apart from slavery across human history. We're wrestling with scripture — how the same sacred text has been used to liberate and to oppress, sometimes in the same breath. And we're asking the hardest question underneath all of it:

Is history something we teach to learn — or something we curate to feel good?

Because as Howard Stevenson put it: "Until lions have their own historians, the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter."

This is fifty-eight minutes and fifty-eight seconds. No fluff. No shortcuts. Just three founders, doing what we said we'd do when we started this thing.

Let's get into it.

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Three for the Founders | Bonus Episode

"Hot Takes, Heartfelt Dads & Bringing POCC Home"

Feb 23, 2026 • 22 min

Fraternity brothers Reynaldo Antonio, Lybroan, and Jon jump back in for a bonus round that moves fast and hits deep. First up: is Stephen A. Smith's $100M ESPN deal turning "the people's voice" into controversy-for-profit — and who else is getting rich while Black America pays the tab? The brothers draw the line between hot takes and real takes, and it's a line worth hearing.

Then, they pull back the curtain on an upcoming live session for SoCal POCIS's Bring PoCC Home — a regional answer to the People of Color Conference’s indefinite “postponement". With independent schools navigating the Trump administration's pressure on DEI and the quiet erasure of history, Lybroan, Jon, and Antonio are walking into the room with one guiding question: “Do we believe what they wrote, or do we believe what they did?"

And before the credits roll, things get personal. Jon's father-son story — the one that's making grown men emotional in rooms across the country — lands here too, alongside a Robert Bly quote that'll stop you mid-commute, and a Valentine's Day moment from Antonio that hits different when you realize he was channeling his own father without even knowing it.

Bonus episode energy. Founder-level conversation.

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Season 2. Episode 2.
This one doesn’t ease you in—it drops you straight into the fire.

On Episode 32 of Three for the Founders, four longtime friends—Antonio, Jon, Lybroan, and guest David M. Jones—sit with the hardest questions of this moment: ICE, protest, power, and moral responsibility. What does resistance actually do? When does nonviolence persuade—and when does it get ignored? Is working inside an unjust system complicity, strategy, or survival? And how much of your soul is negotiable when money, security, and family are on the line?

Sparked by recent protests, White House messaging shifts, and the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the conversation stretches from Minneapolis streets to Ivy League theories of narrative control, from Malcolm X and MLK to modern boycotts and viral hypotheticals. David—COO of a major trade association, political moderate, and longtime friend—brings the inside-the-room perspective: incremental change, pragmatism, and persuasion. Antonio and Lybroanpush back hard, framing ICE as historically continuous with racist enforcement and asking whether silence from “good people” is itself an indictment. Jon presses for precision, accountability, and language that clarifies rather than inflames.

What emerges isn’t consensus—it’s something rarer: honest disagreement held together by trust. This episode wrestles with protest strategy, media ecosystems, “both sides” politics, democratic socialism, long-range planning, and the uncomfortable truth that whoever controls the narrative often controls the outcome. If you’ve ever argued with friends about politics and wondered whether the argument itself still matters—this one’s for you.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

Season Two of Three for the Founders kicks off exactly where America gets uncomfortable: at the gap between the quote and the policy.

Recorded on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and launching February 2, 2026, this season premiere opens with a toast to brotherhood—and immediately asks the question nobody wants answered out loud: how do you celebrate the Dream on Monday and dismantle it by Tuesday? From a Los Angeles studio, Reynaldo Antonio, Jon Augustine, and Lybroan James return sharper, looser, and less interested in pretending symbolism counts as action. Thirty episodes deep and freshly into 2026, the brothers set the tone for a season that refuses to separate history, power, and the people paying the price.

The conversation moves with purpose and side-eye. MLK Day as performance versus policy. Free parks, closed futures. DEI rollbacks framed as “fairness.” Whether arguing online is civic duty or just free labor for the algorithm. Ten years into the Trump era, the hosts trace what’s changed—and what’s simply stopped hiding. Along the way: Ghanaian “welcome home” moments, family shout-outs, jokes about thrill-seeking, and a sobering reframe—when your daily life already runs on adrenaline, you don’t need to jump out of planes to feel alive. The laughs land, but so do the receipts: January 6 rebranded, racism deployed as a tool, and capitalism quietly doing what it’s always done—consolidate.

Episode highlights include:

• Why MLK is safest to America as a soundbite, not a blueprint
• How DEI became the villain the moment it threatened comfort
• The myth of “both sides” and who benefits from pretending power is neutral
• Racism as strategy, wealth capture as the endgame
• Whether people are complex—or just committed to lying to themselves
• How repetition, attention, and outrage reshape what we call “truth”

Listener takeaways for 2026:

• Don’t accept the first version of any story—ask say more
• Engage online only where there’s real relationship; starve the bots
• Read Black authors to re-center history and reality
• Spend your energy building family, community, and coalitions—not defending myths
• Remember: symbolism is cheap. Power is not.

Season Two doesn’t offer comfort. It offers clarity. Three for the Founders is back—measured, unfiltered, and unimpressed by hollow tributes. Like, subscribe, and pull up. The dream deserves better than a holiday.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

At a time when Americans are tired of scripted outrage and elite-approved talking points, Three for the Founders is doing something different—speaking freely and living with the consequences. In Episode 30, the hosts look back on Season One and tell the truth about what happens when you stop chasing applause, stop curating a “target audience,” and start saying what you actually think. The result? Real conversations, real pushback, and real growth.

This retrospective pulls no punches. The hosts reflect on early episodes that played it safe—and later ones that didn’t. They talk candidly about faith, race, gun culture, family, language, and power, including moments that made listeners uncomfortable and moments that made the show stronger. Along the way, they honor influential voices, remember friends lost too soon, and acknowledge where they got it wrong—and why owning that matters more than managing optics.

There’s humor, too—phones buzzing mid-recording, debates about bathroom doors at home—but the message is serious: authenticity beats approval every time. Three for the Founders isn’t here to preach or please. It’s here to have the conversation others won’t—and trust the audience to decide what to do with it.

Episode 30 drops December 29.

Season One ends. Season Two begins in 2026.

Listen—and judge for yourself.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

We know something about endings. We know when a beloved teacher hangs up the chalk, when the church mothers finally step down from the usher board, when a job no longer fits, or when a season of our own lives is quietly tapping us on the shoulder saying, “Baby, it’s time.”

That’s why this week’s episode of Three for the Founders feels like it was recorded for every one of us.

Episode 29 closes out the podcast’s first season with an unflinching conversation about endings: the kind we invite, the kind we delay, and the kind the country may be drifting toward whether we admit it or not.

The brothers anchor their discussion against the backdrop of a “capitalist Christmas” and corporate rollbacks of DEI—even as those same companies cash in on Black Friday. The hosts push us to see how justice, clarity, and honesty should shape how we exit, not just how we begin.

When Personal Seasons Shift

Antonio speaks for many of us who stayed too long at a table we loved. After four and a half years on a working board—and two and a half knowing he needed to go—he finally chose health, purpose, and peace over obligation. That’s a sermon in itself: you don’t have to keep showing up when showing up hollows you out.

Jon opens up about career pivots, calling, and faith transitions. From leaving ministry nearly two decades ago to stepping fully away from Christianity more recently, he names the fear of letting people down—and the quiet ego underneath it. His story reminds us that spiritual and professional shifts aren’t failures; often they’re freedom.

And Lybroan continues to be the patron saint of planned exits. Whether navigating teaching, real estate, or academia, he shows the power of intentional endings—of seeing the season before it sees you. He’s already got eyes on a doctorate next.

But this episode isn’t just about personal lives—it’s about national ones. The hosts wrestle with a heavy question: Is America ending?

Lybroan and Antonio say yes: powerful interests are already drafting the blueprint for a redesigned nation, and the signs—Project 2025 and constitutional choke points—are all around us. Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower reminds us that scarcity has always been used to justify walls, surveillance, and the rearranging of democracy.

Jon hopes the Trump era is what’s ending—and admits the optimism may be wrapped in the comfort of privilege. If nothing else, he argues, the young people are watching, questioning, pushing. And that has always been the seed of American rebirth.

What emerges is what folks in our community have long understood: endings are not the enemy. Denial is.

Some of us plan. Some of us surrender. Some of us delay. But all of us have to face the moment when what once fit… doesn’t.

This first season of Three for the Founders ends the way a family gathering does—full of gratitude, good sense, and a reminder of unity: “We represent the United States and its principles and everything it’s supposed to be.”

And then, true to form: “Left on Founders, we out.”

Season 2 is expected around February 1, with episodes every two weeks. And yes—Bryan Stevenson is on the dream list.

Until then, the Herald salutes this season’s honesty.

May we all learn to know when it’s time to end… and when it’s time to begin again.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

The Power and Politics of What We’re Called
December 15, 2025 • 1 hour, 19 minutes

On this episode, Three for the Founders are taking on a single idea—names—and stretching it across culture, politics, history, comedy, and the intimate corners of family life.

Reynaldo Antonio Macias, Lybroan James, and Jon Augustine open with the spark: pop culture and present-day politics giving them déjà vu. Succession’s slime, a debate-night “empathetic” performance from J.D. Vance, and the Hillbilly Elegy-to-DC pipeline all raise the same question: How much of identity is real, and how much is branding? From there, the episode shifts into something deeper—and a lot more personal.

Lybroan tells the now-legendary Nike Town story, recalls decades of bureaucratic friction over his name, and tracks the three-generation lineage of “Lybroan.” Antonio walks through his own evolution from “Antonio” to “Tony” to “Reynaldo,” mapping how school, family, culture, and professionalism each tried to rename him. Jon traces Ellis Island edits, the tale behind “JON without the H,” and the family threads behind his kids’ names.

Together, they explore why Black naming traditions are creative, historical, and political—born from a legacy where Black people were once denied literacy, self-definition, and even the right to name their own children. They unpack patriarchy in surname traditions, the emotional calculus of naming kids, the chaos and comedy of names that sound gentle versus names that clap like a snare drum, and the everyday politics of mispronunciation—from Kamala to Zohran Mamdani to your kid’s classroom roll sheet.

Along the way, they drop a Rams-game field trip story about gentle authority, salute students, supporters, and producers (Sabah James, Daniela Macías, Wil Gatuda), and put out the ongoing call: Popeye’s, let’s talk sponsorship—preferably live from the Underground Station at Tower of London.

The episode closes with a promise: this was just part one. Math names, Middle Eastern names, and a full decolonization of credit—yes, including Lybroan’s push to rebrand the Egyptian theorem—are coming next.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

1 hour, 2 minutes

We know something about pressure. You can feel it in the church aisles, in the grocery line, in who gets stopped driving down Main after dark. But lately, that pressure isn’t just local — it’s national, creeping in through our screens, our newsfeeds, and the voices of men who look straight into a camera and tell America that power belongs to whoever claims God sent them.

That’s why Episode 27 of Three for the Founders is not just another conversation. It’s a warning flare shot clean into a darkening sky.

The hosts — Reynaldo Antonio Macias, Lybroan James, and Jon Augustine — don’t tiptoe around it. They walk straight into the storm: Steve Bannon calling Donald Trump “an instrument of the divine,” all while promising (or threatening?) a 2028 presidency and brushing past the 22nd Amendment like it’s a speed bump. That’s not politics. That’s an authoritarian sales pitch wrapped in scripture.

And too many folks are buying it.

But this episode doesn’t just talk about Bannon. It talks about the machine behind him — the algorithm, the “ether,” the long-game strategy that has been shaping American power for generations. Think tanks planning in centuries, not news cycles. Propaganda that looks suspiciously like the 1930s, except this time the posters come stamped with the U.S. Department of Labor. Whiteness dressed up as patriotism, again.

And while that machinery churns, somebody’s asking a real question:

Why are white protestors flooding “No Kings” rallies while so many Black folks are sitting this one out?

The hosts won’t sugarcoat:

Because Black people have already learned what happens when we get loud. Because the cost of protest isn’t the same for everyone. Because some of us have warned about voter suppression, policing, and backlash for decades — and we’re still waiting for the rest of America to catch up.

This episode also goes inward — into fear, dreams, kids, Blue Books, Sunday alarms — but not as a distraction. As a reminder: real people are carrying this moment. Real families are thinking about leaving the country. Real communities are asking what safety even means anymore.

And then comes the hardest question of all: What does it mean to be American right now?

Lybroan argues many of us were never allowed to be “Americans” in the first place — not in the way power defines it. Antonio pushes back. Jon names his own fears. They wrestle, respectfully, fiercely, the way democracy requires.

In a time when politicians bend scripture for power, when propaganda gets algorithmic, and when “strength” is sold as a substitute for truth, this conversation is not just relevant — it’s necessary.

Why this matters

Because what happens at the Supreme Court affects who gets housing.

Because what gets framed as “American” shapes which of our kids are treated as such.

Because authoritarian drift never starts with tanks in the streets — it starts with language, symbols, and the quiet rewriting of norms while the rest of us try to get through the week.

Three for the Founders calls it out with humor, with heart, and with the kind of clarity small communities need right now.

So here’s your challenge — echoing theirs:

Define what being American means to you.

Then find your people and get organized.

Posts aren’t protection. Proximity is power.

Ep. 27 is available now.

Don’t just listen — sit with it. Argue with it. Act on it.

Because the algorithm is already doing its job.

It’s time we start doing ours.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🎙️ NPR meets Charlamagne tha God — thoughtful, provocative, and deeply human. Welcome back to Three for the Founders — where classroom truths meet kitchen-table honesty. Today, we’re diving into part two of a conversation that every educator, parent, and student in America needs to hear: “Private Schools, Public Lies: Who Gets to Belong in Education?”

Our guests — Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author, parent, and public school teacher — and Luivette Resto, internationally award-winning poet, parent, and independent school English teacher — join us to break down what it really looks like when teachers face inequity head-on.

This isn’t your usual PD talk. We’re unpacking:

• How systemic racism shapes classrooms long before students walk through the door,
• Why classism might be the hardest “ism” to teach through,
• And what “care as currency” means when resources and representation aren’t equal.

We’ll hear Julie recall the moment she first saw bias in the system — Black boys being disciplined differently — and how one mentor gave her the lens to fight back.
We’ll hear Luivette speak on bringing poetry to students who’ve never been told their stories belong in literature.
And we’ll talk about what it takes to teach privilege without shame — but with clarity, accountability, and purpose.

Because whether you’re in a public school in South L.A. or a private academy in Pasadena, one truth holds: kids know who’s for them, and who’s not.

🔍 For Listeners to Think About:

• What invisible systems shape how we view our students — and how do those assumptions play out in your classroom, your workplace, or your parenting?
• When have you been called in, not out — and what made that growth possible?
• Are we preparing the next generation to navigate privilege responsibly — or just to enjoy it quietly?

✅ Action Items:

1. Read Lisa Delpit’s Other People’s Children — the book that transformed Julie’s early teaching and might just transform yours.
2. Audit your bookshelf: Whose stories are missing? Add poets like Hanif Abdurraqib, Teresa Mei Chuc, or F. Douglas Brown.
3. Say every name right. Pronunciation is not a courtesy — it’s a declaration of respect.
4. Support diverse storytellers. Buy banned books. Shop indie. Visit bookshop.org if your local store isn’t an option.
5. Challenge your circle. Talk about race and class — especially if your instinct is to stay silent.

Because teaching is political — not partisan. And if we’re serious about justice in schools, we can’t just celebrate diversity; we have to confront disparity. So grab your coffee, open your mind, and lean in — this is Episode 25 of Three for the Founders: “Private Schools, Public Lies: Who Gets to Belong in Education?”

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

How do you raise and teach children to be kind and accountable in a world that often rewards neither? This week on Three for the Founders, hosts Reynaldo Antonio, Lybroan, and Jon get real about “gentle parenting,” classroom culture, and what education is actually for—with two powerhouse guests who’ve seen it all from both public and private school perspectives.

Julie Clark—veteran Santa Monica public school educator and New York Times bestselling author—joins Luivette Resto, award-winning poet, mother of three, and middle school English teacher, to unpack the myths and realities behind “gentle parenting.” Together, they ask what happens when empathy gets confused with permissiveness, how anxiety gets inherited, and why “The Talk” for Black and Brown families is still a life-and-death conversation.

From classroom discipline to language politics, from banned books to the economics of words, this episode pulls no punches. The conversation moves from the dinner table to the desk—exploring what happens when care, culture, and control collide.

You’ll hear the hosts and guests break down:

• The difference between consequences and punishments, and why anger doesn’t belong in either.
• How race and class shape what kind of “gentle” a parent or teacher can afford to be.
• Why critical thinking and creativity are often the first casualties of censorship.
• And what it really means to “be the adult” when the kids are watching everything.

Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or just someone rethinking what “raising good humans” means, Episode 25 will make you laugh, flinch, and maybe rethink that next parent–teacher email.

📚 Takeaways & Actions:

1. Read banned books—and talk about them with the next generation.
2. Support independent bookstores and classroom teachers bringing critical stories to life.
3. Teach failure as growth, not shame.
4. Model boundaries and respect—gently, but firmly.
5. Keep classrooms and conversations open to complexity, discomfort, and truth.

🎧 Three for the Founders: Where the book club meets the block, and every lesson plan has politics.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

Three for the Founders

November 17, 2025 • 34:40

Jon’s solo surf trip to Bali was supposed to be about chasing waves — but it turns into a meditation on power, privilege, and what it means to travel without leaving a footprint the size of your passport.

This bonus episode opens with salt spray and adrenaline — double-overhead surf at Uluwatu, a sea cave entry straight out of myth, and the quiet terror of being “8,000 miles from Los Angeles” with nothing but a rented board and your instincts. But as Jon, Antonio, and Lybroan debrief, the conversation swells into deeper waters: respect, fear, and the blurred line between traveler and tourist.

What starts as talk of wave height and local drivers named Gus turns into a sharp-eyed look at how tourism mirrors empire — from surf brands lining Balinese cliffs to Popeyes at London Bridge. The brothers trade stories and side-eyes about America’s global reach — by the gun or by the screen — and ask whether the U.S. exports culture or dependency. Cue references from Living Single to Ben Kingsley’s Gandhi, with a detour through UCLA’s own anti-imperial rebel scholar, E. Bradford Burns.

By the close, they’re joking politics, riffing on global headlines, and reminding listeners that even in small conversations — about surfing, travel, or food — there’s a whole world of economics, ethics, and empire beneath the surface.

💬 “Sometimes you paddle out for peace and end up surfing history itself.”

Listen for:

•The fine line between courage and foolishness in solo travel

•Ethics of street photography and influencer culture

•Tourism’s economic double edge

•How America exports itself through media, money, and myth

Follow the journey at threeforthefounders.com and on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok.

Text or drop a message through Buzzsprout — and don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🎙️Ep. 23 - “Travel Is Fatal to Prejudice — But America Keeps Rebooking the Trip”

November 10, 2025 • 1 hour, 36 minutes

The hosts unpack how global travel broadens empathy even as America clings to the same old routes of racism, denial, and selective memory.

Mark Twain wrote that “travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” This week, our hosts update that line: travel is fatal to prejudice in people. And as this conversation unfolds, they remind us that translation itself—of words, of cultures, of identities—is always an act of interpretation.

Because this episode isn’t just about passports and plane tickets. It’s about the journey of perspective—how seeing the world reshapes what we think we know about race, belonging, faith, and power.

And yes, there’s news. The guys unpack the fallout from the assassination of Charlie Kirk. They look at the way certain segments of America are already mythologizing him as a martyr of “free speech.” The conversation gets uncomfortable, especially when Jon revisits his own past as a young preacher intoxicated by certainty and applause—and recognizes, with some humility, how dangerous that confidence can become when supercharged with funding, politics, and grievance.

They identify white supremacy not as robes and rallies, but as a lens—one that distorts what we see and who we value. And they ask: if America can pay settlements to families wrongfully detained or deported, why can’t it pay reparations to those it enslaved and systematically excluded?

From Morocco’s marketplace warmth to India’s fearless flow of life, from Haiti’s echoes of home to the small cultural rituals that make family sacred—this episode asks what it really means to travel well.

• What happens when you realize your culture’s “order” is someone else’s “chaos”?
• When you feel less Black or white abroad and more American—and not always proudly so?
• When you see that happiness doesn’t depend on hustle, and that “community” might just be the most radical form of wealth?

Listener Takeaways & Questions:

•Can travel be a form of reparative justice—a way to unlearn the hierarchies we were raised inside?

•How does American consumer culture—our holidays, our spending, our advertising—mask deeper absences of meaning and belonging?

•And what would it take for our country to admit, out loud, that repair isn’t just legal—it’s moral?

Action Items:

1.Listen with curiosity, not judgment.

2.Reflect on where your perspective was born—and when it last changed.

3.Share the episode with someone who travels differently than you do.

4.Engage: Drop your thoughts on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok @ThreeForTheFounders, or text them directly through Buzzsprout.

This is a conversation about proximity—the kind that dissolves prejudice, reshapes identity, and maybe, just maybe, brings us a little closer to justice.

So buckle up. Episode 23 of Three for the Founders starts now.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🎙️ Three for the Founders
Oct 27, 2025 • 69:16 minutes

This week, the hosts of Three for the Founders head to the gun range with guest Alan Wright—better known online as @2A-N-LA—and come back with more than just ringing ears. What follows is a raw, layered conversation on what firearms mean in America: as lived experience, as cultural symbol, as constitutional right, and as public hazard.

From the bing, bing of a Glock that sent one host sprinting, to the data points on suicides, homicides, and mass shootings, to a candid reckoning with how guns conjure both heritage and trauma depending on who’s holding them—this episode refuses to flatten the debate into red-blue soundbites.

Alan offers an inside look at California’s labyrinthine gun laws, breaks down common myths around AR-15s, and situates gun ownership within Black history and the fast-growing reality of Black women arming themselves for safety. The hosts push back, raising questions about school shootings, the “urban” semantics of crime, and what kind of civic covenant—if any—should exist between Americans and their weapons.

The episode doesn’t hand you answers. Instead, it sits in the discomfort: Is fear the real driver of our policies? Are guns scapegoats for deeper wounds like poverty, dislocation, and mental health? And is the Second Amendment the “teeth” behind the First—or a splinter in the body politic?

💡 Takeaways for listeners:

• Guns aren’t just tools; they’re symbols—of freedom, of violence, of belonging, of exclusion.
• The data is messy, and how it’s framed often tells you more than the numbers themselves.
• Common ground exists, but only if we stop outsourcing our opinions to algorithms and start talking like neighbors.

👉 Action items: Subscribe, share your perspective with the hosts, and—if you’re brave—ask yourself which amendment matters more to you: the right to speak, or the right to defend the speaking.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

Oct 14, 2025 • 56:26 minutes

This week on Three for the Founders, we invite you to play America’s favorite quiz: What’s scarier—fraternity hazing or an AR-15? Spoiler alert: one of them can be survived with juice boxes and patience. The other requires ear protection.

Our guest is Alan Wright—fraternity brother, Sigma stalwart, and the one-man YouTube machine behind 2A-N-LA. He walks us through pledging philosophies (“What you gain too easily you value cheaply”) and then—because irony is delicious—explains why he now owns about 80 firearms he definitely did not gain cheaply.

We cover the basics:

• Gun safety 101: Eyes, ears, and making sure your range buddy still has all ten fingers when you’re done.
• History quiz: Did you know gun control laws in California were originally designed to keep Black Panthers disarmed? Yes, even Ronald Reagan had a role in America’s favorite game show: Who Gets Rights?
• Fun fact: “AR” stands for Armalite, not “Assault Rifle.” We know, it ruins half of Twitter’s jokes.

🎧 Questions for listeners:

• If you owned 80 of anything—guitars, cats, Beanie Babies—would your family stage an intervention, or just sell tickets?
• Is a Star Wars “Stay on Target” T-shirt an acceptable segue into a firearms debate, or should we have gone with “Use the Force, Not the Firearm”?
• And seriously—who do you trust more: your newsfeed algorithm or the guy with a Glock who also happens to be your godfather?

📝 Takeaways:

• Brotherhood sometimes means letting pledges breathe. Gun ownership sometimes means letting society breathe—before pulling the trigger.
• The number one new demographic of gun owners is Black women. Yes, America, meet your stereotype breaker.
• Dialogue beats shouting. Especially when shouting happens in an enclosed range with live ammo.

✅ Action items:

• Like, subscribe, and maybe rethink your next meme about “assault rifles.”
• Ask yourself whether your information diet is coming from data—or from whichever politician last yelled “freedom!” the loudest.
• And if you do head to the range… remember Alan’s golden rule: everybody goes home safe.

Because this is Three for the Founders: where we keep our trigger discipline tight, our mic levels tighter, and our sarcasm fully automatic.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🎙️ Three for the Founders: Episode 1 (Remix)

Airdate: October 6, 2025 • 1 hr, 2 min

Please allow us to re-introduce ourselves. Our name is Three for the Founders:

You’ve heard people say “I’m not racist.” But what if that’s exactly where racism hides?

This week, Three for the Founders reaches back with a director's cut, a remix of their very first episode—where three fraternity brothers trade comfort for candor in a fearless unpacking of racism, white supremacy, and America’s enduring myths.

Lybroan James, Reynaldo Antonio Macías, and Jon Augustine—three men bonded by brotherhood and sharpened by years of cross-racial conversation—take us beyond the slurs and the “hard R’s” into the quiet violence of detachment. Together, they name what many won’t: that neutrality is partnership, that silence is capital, and that America’s favorite myths—from Lincoln’s sainthood to Santa Claus—still serve as the bedtime stories of whiteness.

With humor, love, and uncomfortable honesty, they dismantle the everyday wind that pushes some of us forward and others back. From flag worship and “heritage” hysteria to DEI backlash and redlined neighborhoods, the hosts trace how symbols, language, and laws still do the heavy lifting of white supremacy—even when no one “means to.”

This isn’t a lecture. It’s a living-room intervention—equal parts scholarship, storytelling, and brotherly debate. The kind of talk that would make James Baldwin lean in and say, “Now, that’s the truth.”

So if you’re ready to stop whispering about race—and start defining it with precision—pull up a chair. As the brothers say, this is love work.

Listener Takeaways:

🌀 Redefine racism: It’s not just hate—it’s detachment.

🌬️ Check the wind: Whose back is it at, and whose face is it in?

🏛️ Interrogate the myth: What “truths” are you protecting, and at whose expense?

🤝 Engage: Use your proximity, your access, your discomfort—for good.

Hosts:

•Lybroan — Math educator, futurist, and former Young Republican with a “Ph.D. in white-tea.” (UCLA, Harvard)

•Reynaldo Antonio — Historian, educator, and community builder fluent in identity, language, and legacy. (UCLA, Brown)

•Jon — Musician, executive coach, and a white man initiated into a Black fraternity, navigating whiteness from the inside. (UCLA)

Together, they make up Three for the Founders: a podcast born from decades of late-night talks among brothers who refuse to flinch at the truth—and who want you to stop flinching, too.

Call to Action:

💬 Share your reflections at threeforthefounders.com or on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, or send us a text through Buzzsprout.

❤️ Comment, like, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who “doesn’t see race”—they need to hear it.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🎙️ Hey y’all, it’s been a minute.

This bonus episode of Three for the Founders is what happens when travel plans, grammar jokes, and breaking news collide. Hours after Charlie Kirk was shot, the hosts ask: was it an assassination or did that fool just get shot? They pull apart how the media frames violence, what it says about our politics, and why America still clings to the myth that killing “the bad guy” somehow makes things right.

And it’s not all heavy — there’s banter about speaking three languages in Morocco, the eternal fight over the Oxford comma, and why “I got you” in Black English does more work than a whole paragraph. The team also gets real about their own dynamics — who’s facilitating, who’s participating — and share some big news: the podcast is moving to a biweekly release schedule. Next drop? October 14th.

So: is violence ever redemptive, or just another myth we tell ourselves? Is “assassination” a political word, or just a shiny label the media slaps on whoever’s trending? And, most importantly… why does “probologetic” kinda sound like a word we need?

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

Good morning, family. You’re tuned in to Three for the Founders, and we’re coming at you this Monday, September 16th with a brand-new episode that runs a smooth 65 minutes and change.

This week, John, Lybroan, and Antonio start with the kind of banter that’ll have you grinning before you sip your coffee—debating whether it’s sock-sock, shoe-shoe or sock-shoe, sock-shoe (and yes, they manage to turn even that into a DEI joke). They shout out friends from Santa Clara to the San Fernando Valley—and even a new listener tuning in all the way from Vietnam.

Then the crew flips the beat and goes deep:

    •    What does it mean when we talk about “white time” versus communal rhythms of the global majority?

    •    How do Black and Brown teachers shift classroom culture from rigid bells and whistles to gatherings that begin when the people are ready?

    •    And what really happened with integration after Brown v. Board—was it about race, or about resources?

Along the way you’ll hear stories of math made dope, classrooms as lifelong families, Mama James’ “check and hug” survival strategy, and why speaking—like jazz—ain’t about hitting every note, it’s about knowing when to improvise.

And before they sign off, the hosts draw a sharp line between everyday prejudice and the weight of systemic racism backed by government power. It’s candid, it’s layered, it’s got humor and heart—just like hip hop radio in its golden age, but with that NPR-level reflection.

So hit play, stay with us, and when it’s done—share it with somebody who can use it, or somebody who can challenge it. Because these conversations don’t end here, they keep moving when you bring them into your world.

🎧 Three for the Founders: Episode dropping Monday, September 15th

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🎙️ This week on Three for the Founders, the hosts dive into one of the most pressing and uncomfortable realities of our time: racism, proximity, and the ways white supremacy quietly weaves itself into the fabric of modern society.

In this unreleased conversation—titled Exploring Racism and Proximity in Modern Society—you’ll hear candid stories of family, history, and lived experience. The hosts wrestle with parallels between current government actions against communities of color and the haunting echoes of the Holocaust. They unpack how white privilege often goes unnoticed, and how the lack of genuine proximity between people of different races fuels misunderstanding and division.

You’ll also hear Lybroan share a story about sitting down with Peggy McIntosh, the scholar who first coined the term white privilege, and what that moment revealed about hidden advantages many never think twice about. And the metaphor of people of color as “zoo animals”—observed, but not truly engaged—invites listeners to question their own roles in systems of passive observation.

✨ Here are a few questions we invite you to consider as you listen:

• What happens when we move beyond observation and into genuine proximity?
• How do our personal stories shape the way we see—or ignore—systems of oppression?
• If white supremacy thrives on being normalized, what does it look like to denormalize it in our daily lives?
• And perhaps most importantly: what will it take for us to step out of silence and into meaningful dialogue?

🗓️ Mark your calendars: Exploring Racism and Proximity in Modern Society drops Monday, September 8th, 2025. The episode runs 30 minutes, and trust me—you’ll want to sit with every second.

👉 Subscribe now to Three for the Founders wherever you get your podcasts, and join the conversation.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🎙️ Episode 16 — The Gospel According to Power (Part 2)
📅 Airdate: Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025

Okay, friends—in this second of two parts, this is the one you cannot miss. Episode 16 of Three for the Founders isn’t just the next chapter… it’s the first time they’re bringing in a guest. And not just any guest—Dr. Christopher Carter. Yes, that Dr. Carter—scholar, pastor, and truth-teller whose work bridges faith, race, ethics, and the real-life consequences of what we preach.

This conversation? It’s electric. The kind that makes you want to hit pause just to say “Wait, did they really just go there?” They unpack what happens when pastors turn pulpits into pedestals, why charisma without accountability is dangerous, and how history keeps repeating itself when we don’t interrogate our theology.

💭 Questions for you to think about while you listen:

• Have I confused a leader’s authority with divine authority?
• How has my church’s history shaped the way I read scripture today?
• Who benefits when we don’t ask questions?

📌 Action Items / Takeaways:

• Listen with both your faith and your skepticism engaged.
• Look up one historical example mentioned in the episode and dig deeper.
• Start one uncomfortable but necessary conversation this week—with your small group, your family, or that friend who “just doesn’t like politics in church.”

I’ll be listening with my journal open, coffee hot, and my text thread ready—because this is the kind of episode you’re going to want to discuss immediately.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🎙️ Episode 15 — Is God Racist? No, But Their Fan Clubs Are.

God’s PR department has been putting in some questionable work for a few centuries now. Reynaldo Antonio, Jon, and Lybroan sit down with Dr. Christopher Carter to unpack how the Being who allegedly made all of us somehow keeps getting represented by people who seem very… selective about which parts of “love thy neighbor” they like.

We follow the trail from slaveholder “edits” to scripture, to modern pulpits draped in flags, to the quiet ways exclusion still hides in plain sight. Along the way, you’ll hear laughs, long pauses, and the occasional theological side-eye. Because here’s the thing: God’s fine—it’s the fan clubs you need to watch out for.

🧠 Things to Ponder:

• When did “love thy neighbor” get a fine-print clause?
• Is God’s biggest problem bad press… or bad readers?
• Can you be part of the club without buying the merch?

✅ Action Items for the Soul (and Mind):

• Read your holy books like a lawyer—not just a believer.
• Trace where your theology came from, and whose fingerprints are on it.
• Talk to God. Ignore the fan club rules for a minute.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🎙️ Episode 14 — “Why Some Rooms Aren’t for Everybody (and That’s Okay)”
 

🔒 Exclusive doesn’t always mean elitist. Sometimes it’s the only way to keep a space sacred.
 #SafeSpaces #Belonging

Think “safe space” means beanbag chairs and free coffee? Think again.
 In this episode of Three for the Founders, Lybroan, Reynaldo, and Jon dig into the real meaning of sacred spaces—the rooms, circles, and communities built not just for comfort, but for survival. Spaces that hold identity, protect culture, and preserve histories too often erased.

They explore the deep roots of Black fraternities and why their existence has always been more than social. They take on the strange, rarely-named phenomenon of white “affinity spaces.” And they unpack how certain kinds of “inclusion” can quietly dismantle the very communities they claim to celebrate.

The conversation asks uncomfortable but necessary questions:

• Who really benefits when everyone is invited?
• How did Brown v. Board of Education open legal doors but shut cultural ones?
• What’s the difference between being excluded and simply not being the intended audience?
• How can well-meaning outsiders avoid unintentionally colonizing a space built for someone else’s healing?

Part history lesson, part cultural roast, part uncomfortable mirror—this episode will have you rethinking the spaces you enter, the company you keep, and what belonging actually means.

💡 Action Items for Listeners:

1. Reflect: Identify a space in your life that feels sacred to you—what protects it, and what threatens it?
2. Listen & Learn: If you’ve been an “outsider” in an affinity space, think about how you showed up—did you listen more than you spoke?
3. Engage: Share your thoughts or your own experiences with sacred spaces using #ThreeForTheFounders.
4. Discuss: Bring these questions to your next group chat, team meeting, or family dinner—see how people define “safe” differently.

🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. And if you walk away without at least one “oh… yikes” moment, you weren’t really listening.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

Okay, so here’s my take — and yes, I totally geeked out writing this: So, in this episode of Three for the Founders, these three guys from Phi Beta Sigma (it’s a fraternity, but not the wild “college movie” kind) start talking about what it actually means to “be a man” in 2025. And spoiler: it’s not just about being able to lift heavy stuff or never crying.

They talk about how old-school ideas of manhood can be kinda… broken? Like, they don’t leave space for feelings, therapy, or just saying “hey, I’m not okay.” And they explain how brotherhood means actually showing up for each other, not just fist-bumping and pretending you’re fine.

Honestly, it’s like they’re trying to upgrade masculinity so it works for real people instead of some cartoon version of a “tough guy.”

Action Items:

1. Think about what “being a man” actually means to you (even if you’re not a guy).
2. Talk to your friends about mental health without making it weird.
3. Ask your dad, uncle, or brother what they think about manhood — and actually listen.
4. Maybe… cry if you need to? No shame.

Questions to Think About:

• Who decided what “real men” are supposed to act like in the first place?
• Why is it easier for guys to talk about sports than their feelings?
• Can vulnerability be a kind of strength?
• What would happen if men stopped trying to “act tough” all the time?

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🎙️ EPISODE 12 — “The Masks We Wear, The Roots We Bury”

In this incendiary and eye-opening episode of Three for the Founders, the trio wades into America’s murkiest waters—race, identity politics, and immigration policy—with no life vest and no filter. Buckle in as Antonio dares to ask, “What if we just gave the country back to white people?” It’s not a surrender—it’s a provocation. What would it really take for America to confront its foundational contradictions?

👀 What’s Inside:

• Media manipulation, political theatre, and the weaponization of identity in the age of Trump
• “Neowhites” and the strange phenomenon of people of color aligning with oppressive ideologies
• Black and Latino tensions, internalized racism, and the exhausting chase for proximity to whiteness
• Real talk about performative patriotism, assimilation, and the trauma of conditional belonging

🤔 Questions for the Audience:

• Have you ever caught yourself shrinking your identity to fit in?
• What do you gain—or lose—by trying to be seen as “one of the good ones”?
• Who benefits when communities of color turn on each other?

🧠 Takeaways:

• Silence is not neutrality—it’s complicity.
• Identity isn’t just personal—it’s political.
• Assimilation can be a survival tactic, but at what cost?

✅ Action Items:

• Reflect: Journal about a time you felt pressured to “perform” your race or hide it.
• Engage: Talk to a friend or loved one about how media narratives have shaped their political views.
• Challenge: The next time someone says they “don’t see race,” ask them why not?

💥 Expect fire, vulnerability, and maybe even a little guilt—but mostly, expect a real conversation that doesn’t flinch. Because on Three for the Founders, if it doesn’t make you uncomfortable, we’re not doing it right.

🎧 Tune in. Think deeply. Then do something.

📅 Airs Monday, August 4, 2025
🕒 69 minutes of uncomfortable truths, raw introspection, and bold questions

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🎙️ EPISODE 11 — “When immigrants aren't illegal, just immoral!”
📅 July 28, 2025 • Three for the Founders

Let’s cut the polite talk:
Why is it that every conversation about race somehow ends up about white folks' feelings?
Why are immigrants still treated like a national security threat... in a country built by immigrants (and, let’s be honest, on stolen land)?
And what’s with the obsession over “losing our culture” when Taco Tuesday and yoga pants are doing just fine?

This week, Reynaldo, Jon, and Lybroan are stirring the pot—and they’re not holding back.

From the deficit mindset that frames white people as “under attack,” to immigration policies that read like coded warnings from a Fox News fever dream, the hosts bring receipts, perspective, and sharp-tongued honesty.

They ask:

• Who benefits when whiteness is centered in every debate?
• How do immigration laws reinforce racial hierarchy?
• And can we even have honest conversations if fear keeps driving the narrative?

💥 Spoiler alert: You can’t fix a broken house by just painting over the cracks.

Takeaways for listeners:
✅ Spot the signs of whiteness being centered in conversations
✅ Recognize fear-based political messaging (and call it out)
✅ Understand the moral and historical roots of today’s immigration policies
✅ Push past comfort to build real solidarity across racial lines

Action Items:
🧠 Question the narratives you're fed—especially the ones that feel “neutral”
🗣️ Start (or continue) conversations that decenter whiteness
📚 Learn the history your textbooks skipped
👀 Pay attention to who’s framed as a threat—and who never is

🎧 Ready to get uncomfortable in the best way possible? Press play.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🎙️ EPISODE 10 — “Who Are We Without the Struggle?”
Air Date: July 24, 2025
Three for the Founders

What happens when three longtime friends—Reynaldo Antonio, Jon, and Lybroan—sit down to unpack race, identity, and the meaning of brotherhood in a country still haunted by its past?

In this bonus episode, Three for the Founders gets personal. From code-switching and cultural theft to sacred Black spaces and Toni Morrison’s searing question—“What would White people be without racism?”—this conversation doesn’t just ask questions. It lives in them.

🔍 Inside the episode:
 • A father’s brutal wisdom on racism and the blues
 • Jon reflects on how language shapes power and perception
 • Lybroan opens up about the push-and-pull of representing a group vs. owning individuality
 • The unspoken rules of barbershops, friendship, and cross-cultural connection
 • And why “Black people aren’t a group—we’re individuals, just like White people.”

This isn’t a think piece—it’s a feel piece. A living, breathing conversation between friends who trust each other enough to tell the truth, even when it stings.

🌀 Come for the insight, stay for the vulnerability. Leave with more questions than answers—and that’s the point.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🎙️ New Episode: Ancillary Costs
🗓️ Jul 21, 2025 • ⏱️ 30:18

What’s the price of being the other in America? In this charged and introspective episode, Reynaldo Antonio revisits a raw, unfiltered conversation with Jon and Lybroan on the hidden tolls of racism and unspoken privileges in the U.S.

From Trump-era policies to White voting patterns that prioritize racial identity over economic survival, the brothers dig deep into the ancillary costs of white supremacy — the emotional, financial, and generational taxes paid by communities of color just to exist.

💥 Why do so many White Americans vote against their own self-interest?
💥 Is capitalism just racism with a paycheck?
💥 What does it really mean to “benefit from the system” — even if you didn’t build it?

This isn’t about guilt. It’s about reckoning.

👀 Tune in to examine the uncomfortable truths behind the quiet violence of privilege, the weaponization of denial, and the uncounted costs we rarely name — but always feel.

🎧 LISTEN. SHARE. REFLECT.
✊🏾 Tag a friend who needs to hear this.

🎯 End-of-Episode Action Items:

• Ask Yourself: Where do I sit in the system — and what do I risk to change it?
• Talk About It: Who’s in your circle that you avoid these conversations with? Start there.
• Take Inventory: What privileges have you mistaken for “normal”?

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

Strap in — this week, the Three for the Founders crew is coming for the biggest unpaid invoice in American history: reparations. In a raw, unfiltered roundtable, the hosts cut through the noise and zero in on why the U.S. has never paid its debts to Black Americans.

From the Homestead Act’s land giveaways for white settlers to actual reparations paid to other groups (hello, Japanese Americans and Holocaust survivors), this conversation lays bare the hypocrisy and moral gymnastics of the American government.

The hosts come with receipts, bold proposals (think free college, housing equity, generational wealth repair), and sharp takedowns of the narratives that keep reparations stalled. Whether you think reparations are overdue or out of reach, this episode is built to challenge you.

It's truth-telling with teeth — and it just might rewire the way you think about justice, history, and America's favorite habit: selective amnesia.

🧠 Questions to Ponder (or Argue About Over Dinner)

1. What do you think reparations should look like?
   Cash payments? Free college? Housing programs? What feels like real repair?
2. Why do some Americans see reparations as “unfair” — and who taught them that?
   Is it really about fairness, or fear of accountability?
3. If we can bail out banks, fund wars, and give tax breaks to billionaires, why is reparations where we draw the line?
4. Who benefits when we don’t talk about reparations?
   Silence isn't neutral. It protects someone — but not the people harmed.
5. How would owning and addressing the crime of slavery reshape our national identity?
   Can we ever become the country we claim to be without doing this?

✅ Action Items for the Real Ones

• 📚 Educate Yourself
  Dive into real proposals like HR 40, and works by scholars like Dr. William Darity (From Here to Equality) or Ta-Nehisi Coates (“The Case for Reparations”).
• 🗣️ Start the Conversation
  Bring up reparations in your group chat, book club, or family dinner. See who squirms — and why.
• 🔎 Follow the Money
  Research how your local government, alma mater, or workplace may have profited from slavery or segregation. Many institutions already have receipts.
• 📞 Push Local Leaders
  Don’t wait on Congress. Ask your city council: What’s our reparations plan? Cities like Evanston, Chicago, and San Francisco are already testing models.
• 💵 Support Black-Led Orgs
  Invest in the folks doing the work now — mutual aid funds, education equity initiatives, housing justice orgs. Reparations isn’t just policy. It’s practice.

“Don’t just listen — rethink, respond, and resist. Reparations isn’t just a political issue. It’s a moral one. And silence is a vote to keep the status quo.”

🎙️ Three for the Founders

Air Date: July 14, 2025
Duration: 64:06 minutes

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🇺🇸 This Fourth of July, we're turning down the fireworks and turning up the conversation.

On this episode of Three for the Founders, your favorite trio of fraternity brothers dives into the powerful (and sometimes polarizing) world of American symbols — flags, mottos, and the messy meanings behind them. Why do some see the Stars and Stripes as a badge of pride while others feel left out of the celebration? From Michelle Obama’s patriotism to the Confederate flag’s dark legacy, we unpack the emotional weight symbols carry — especially for Black and White Americans navigating their own sense of national identity.

🔍 We’re talking history, we’re talking heart, and we’re not afraid to ask the uncomfortable questions.

💥 If you’ve ever stood for the anthem with a lump in your throat, taken a knee as the jets flew overhead, or felt conflicted about waving a flag, this one’s for you.

Tap in for truth, tension, and a whole lot of thoughtful perspective.

🧠 Action Item: Bring an open mind and be ready to rethink what patriotism really means in 2025.

Subscribe now and join the conversation before the barbecue begins. 🌭🇺🇸

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🎙️ In this bold and thought-provoking (bonus) episode, Lybroan, Reynaldo, and Jon take listeners on a spirited journey through the landscape of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) — unpacking what it really means for companies, communities, and the Constitution itself. From Costco’s booming success driven by inclusive practices to Target’s stumbles after scaling back DEI efforts, the trio explores how social responsibility directly impacts business outcomes.

But the conversation doesn’t stop at boardrooms and brand strategy. The hosts tackle deeper truths about systemic inequality, including the startling fact that women couldn’t open independent lines of credit until the 1970s. They dive into voter ID laws, equity in governance, and the often-misunderstood difference between white supremacy as a system versus individual white people.

With Jon challenging, Reynaldo illuminating, and Lybroan weaving it all together with humor and insight, this episode is both fiery and fun — packed with cultural commentary, sharp analysis, and a few expected jokes about T-shirts and algorithms.

🎧 Tune in for an honest, energizing conversation that makes you think, laugh, and question the status quo. Because understanding the past is the first step toward a more equitable future.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

**Why are we still having this conversation?** Why do some white folks *still* think it’s okay to say the N-word? Who can say the n-word? And what does it mean that you can't? Is someone taking your freedom? Or does that make everyone a little more equal? In this episode, we pull no punches. It’s a raw, honest conversation about **race, language, power, privilege, and freedom** — especially when that so-called freedom comes at the expense of Black dignity and history.

🧠 **What we’re unpacking**:
* The casual use of the N-word by non-Black people — and the harm it causes
* Is the word is about *intimacy*, access, privilege, or power?
* The discomfort when White people “test boundaries” with language
* What *freedom* means when it’s wielded without historical understanding
* Why “just a word” is never *just a word*

This isn’t about being politically correct. It’s about **respect**, **context**, and the weight of words forged in centuries of violence and resistance.

💥 If you're still wondering why white folks shouldn’t say the N-word — this episode is your wake-up call. And if you already know? This is the conversation you’ve been waiting for. Also, there are #spoilers for the masterpiece that is Sinners conceived, written, and directed by Ryan Coogler. If you haven't seen it, what are you waiting for?!

🎧 **Listen to Episode 5 now** — and let’s get real about what language reveals, and who gets to speak.

🎙️ **Episode 5: “Who Gets to Speak? Race, Language, & Freedom”**
📅 June 30, 2025 • ⏱️ 25:01 minutes

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

What if the ground beneath your feet could tell the truth about America’s past?

In this gripping episode, the hosts of Three for the Founders peel back the layers of history to explore how memorials—especially those honoring victims of racial terror—are reshaping our national conscience. From Pegasus Plaza in Dallas to the soul-stirring soil collection led by Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative, this conversation is a journey through pain, memory, and the fight for healing.

Expect real talk, personal stories, and raw emotion as we confront:
⚖️ The hidden power of lynching memorials
🎆 Why holidays like Independence Day don’t mean freedom for everyone
🌎 How white allies can move from awareness to action
🧬 The deep ties between public monuments and family memory

This isn’t just a podcast—it’s a reckoning. And you’re invited.

📢 Sound off: What do national holidays mean to you? What stories has your family told—or not told? Join the movement and share your reflections using #ThreeForTheFounders.

🎙️ New Episode: “Soil, Stone, & the Struggle to Remember”
🕰️ June 23, 2025 | 59:32
🔥 Podcast: Three for the Founders

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

🚨 New Episode Drop!
🎧 "History, Humor & Hard Truths"

We’re breaking down race, power, and privilege—with honesty, laughs, and real talk. From the legacy of Phi Beta Sigma to why empathy must lead the conversation, this one hits deep.

📌 Why historical context matters
📌 How racism shows up today
📌 What real allyship looks like
📌 Humor as a tool for truth
📌 And why the work starts with all of us

💬 Ready to get uncomfortable—in a good way?
Tap the link in bio to listen.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

Episode 2 - 🎙️ New Podcast Episode: “Explaining Water to a Fish” 🎙️

What does it mean to be White in America? In this provocative and eye-opening episode, we explore the often-invisible contours of White American culture—how it's constructed, what it's missing, and why so many are afraid of losing something they never fully understood they had.

🔍 Questions we confront head-on:

• How do you explain water to a fish—or American culture to a White American?
• How did White Americans come to fear the loss of something they gained through systems they rarely question?

Using metaphors from martial arts to air travel, we unpack how growth, identity, and power operate in a society shaped by race—and how the journey from “white belt” to “black belt” is not just about skill, but struggle.

✊🏽 This isn’t about guilt—it’s about awareness. When Black pilots face more turbulence to reach the same cockpit, we all have a responsibility to see it. We help others by helping ourselves.

Tune in now. Challenge your assumptions. Join the conversation.

🎧 Available wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out! 

Is White normal? What is racism to people of different races? In this first of many recorded conversations, Antonio, Jon, & Lybroan break down symbols, definitions, and American myths looking for the differences between front porch, hard-r racism and the quiet partners whose silence maintain and perpetuate white supremacy in these United States. Come join the conversation... #wesaidwhatwesaid #threeforthefounders

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or  YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out!