Where you get your news from?

By Julianne Malveaux
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

I was sitting on a bench outside the Los Angeles Union Station, waiting for a friend to pick me up. I had taken a lovely and relaxing train ride from San Diego to Los Angeles and was basking in the afterglow of a few hours untethered to purpose, people-watching, ruminating, and enjoying the higher than usual heat. I was all spread out on the bench, and startled when a seasoned sister asked if I minded moving my things so she could sit. So I moved them and she plopped down and began talking, even as I tried to read at my book. Her monologue commanded attention, though, so I put my book aside to listen.

Sis talked about all the deals she got in the garment district and proceeded to show them to me. A purse she got for eight dollars, a shawl, and a romper for her granddaughter. Then she said, I should not be shopping, but it’s better than drinking or drugging. Okay. I look at her, now, fully. She is walnut brown with snow white hair. Just a few years older than me, I wonder if this is my future. Junk shopping and talking a mile a minute to a stranger.

She says she paid too much for the shawl she bought, and she really doesn’t need it. I can buy it from her at a discount, she says, half of what she paid for it. I declined the offer, and hoped the conversation would shut down but it did not. Sis got onto the subject of inflation and started talking about high prices. They are coming down, I say. Not enough, she says, and talks about the price of eggs, a sore point for everyone. In October 2014, egg prices averaged $1.95 a dozen. According to the St. Louis Fed, they peaked at $4.83 in January 2023. This August, they were $3.20 a dozen. I have enough sense to know that this sister does not want to hear about supply chains or economic trends, so I just listen, hoping my friends will come soon.

I was mentally drifting from the conversation, when my seatmate jolts me to attention. That’s why I’m voting for Trump, she says. He can handle “the inflation” better than she can. Really? I say. What makes you think that. Well, isn’t she a communist, sister says. Where did you hear that from. The news, she says. Don’t you watch the news? I laugh. I watch the news nearly 24/7 I tell her. What do you watch? she asks. Mostly CNN and MSNBC, I say. See, I watch Fox. Humph! I almost spit out my water. And Tucker Carlson says she is a communist. Do you fact check any of this, I ask. Not really. They say it all the time, it must be true. Why would they lie?

Exhale. I write down a couple of things for her to check out. I tell her they are lying. I ask if she voted for Kamala before, since she has been on a statewide ballot thrice before, both as Attorney General twice, and United States Senator. My seatmate says, yes, I voted for her, but I did not know she was a Communist. But she isn’t, I exclaim, perhaps a bit loudly. Well, if you are going to get mad, I am going to go sit someplace else. Stay, I say. My friends will be here soon. And I really want to understand why Fox is your primary source of news. We chat a bit more, but she is not budging. Fox tells her the vice president is a Communist and she believes it. And talking to me isn’t going to change her mind.

This reminds me of the obtuse Kellyann Conway, the former Trump aide who said “we have our own facts” when caught in a lie. Or JD Vance who says he will make up stories about immigrants eating pets if it brings attention to the immigration crisis. Where do you get your news from? How does it shape your views? How will it affect your vote? And how many of us have the fortitude to enter into challenging conversations to debunk Fox lies. We have just a few weeks to get the facts out there.

My train station conversation reminded me of the gulf that separates so many of us. Two Black women of a certain age, with a very different lens on truth.

This article originally published in the October 21, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.