Bankole Thompson, the nationally acclaimed Detroit journalist and standard-bearer for economic justice issues, is expanding his media platform with the launch of “Bankole’s Nation,” a brand new podcast that will be broadcast live from Detroit with a focus on issues dealing with the city as well as those reverberating around the nation.
This latest venture by a journalistic thought leader who is considered as one of the most trusted and courageous voices in the media, is coming at a time when Detroit is dealing with so many issues, and in a period where the nation finds itself at an inflection point in a crucial presidential election in November.
In fact, the University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library, recognizing the impact of his work as a disruptive thinker, media pacesetter and innovator, in 2015, wrote a letter to Thompson to formally request the establishment of a collection in his name called the Bankole Thompson Papers, to document his work for scholars and students.
A former radio and television host whose work cuts through the noise of the 24-hour echo chamber, Thompson, is an influential public opinion shaper who is known for telling it like it is.
He is the dean of the national and independent anti-poverty think tank, The PuLSE Institute, which was founded several years ago based on his work on race, democracy and poverty. The institute has a National Advisory Board, made up of national and international luminaries who collectively bring more than a century of anti-poverty work to the work of an organization that is championing equitable policies.
He is a twice-a-week opinion columnist at The Detroit News, where his column on the presidency, public leadership, social and economic issues appear on Mondays and Thursdays in the newspaper.
His latest book, Fiery Conscience, which documents his years of speaking truth to power, was released in August of 2023 to wide acclaim and launched in October of that year at Dillard University in New Orleans, where Thompson serves as a member of the executive board of the Center for Racial Justice at one of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
The book, which received a definitive review in Forbes magazine on April 2 underscoring how Thompson’s work resonates around the nation, was also recently listed in the Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York. At the Schomburg, the world’s leading repository on the global Black experience, Thompson’s book is a reference for future scholars, students and individuals looking to engage issues dealing with Black existence in the modern era and for posterity.
Episodes of “Bankole’s Nation,” which will be a mix of penetrating commentaries, hard-hitting analyses and special exclusive interviews, will be available in both audio and video form and can be heard on every available medium online where podcasts are listened to. Individuals and future listeners and viewers can subscribe to the podcast on this YouTube link.
A launch date for the podcast will be announced soon.
“Bankole’s Nation is critical to enabling people access information that they can use to empower themselves and their communities without propaganda. We must tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may,” Thompson said. “That underscores why there has been an outpouring of inquiries and significant interests since the announcement of this podcast. People are looking for information that is liberating. And we will do just that.”
For Tony Mottley, the Emmy award-winning television producer and filmmaker who is a veteran of the Detroit media, “Bankole’s Nation,” is timely and needed.
“In the same way that Frederick Douglass founded the newspaper The North Star in 1847 to raise awareness and combat slavery, Bankole Thompson plants the flag of the podcast Bankole’s Nation as a modern beacon of information and enlightenment to an underserved audience of Black folks while also alerting and reminding White folks of the realities of urban life in the 21st century,” said Mottley who has long followed Thompson’s work over the years.
Known for holding the powerful accountable, Thompson, has appeared on national outlets including CNN discussing issues critical to the advancement of Black America. For example, in 2020 he powerfully advocated for racial diversity at the top of the Democratic Party presidential ticket and as a result, CNN anchor and chief national correspondent John King, invited Thompson on CNN’s Inside Politics to respond to the selection of Kamala Harris as the VIP pick for then Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Thompson was one of the first Black journalists in the nation to conduct a series of exclusive sit-down interviews with former President Barack Obama and wrote a pair of books on Obama.
A sought-after speaker, Thompson, continues to keynote and address many diverse and prominent organizations around the country including Fortune 500 companies, cultural and academic institutions as well as civil rights organizations. For example, he delivered the keynote lecture for the Ivy League school Brown University’s 2022 Black History Month Forum under the theme: Race and Democracy in the Era of Black Lives Matter: Why Major Institutions Must Address the Fierce Urgency of Racial Justice, with opening and closing remarks given by Brown President Christina Paxson.
For more information about “Bankole’s Nation,” send email to bankole@bankolethompson.com
