I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios. It's Friday, January 22nd.

I want to pass along a piece of sad news that just crossed. Hank Aaron died. He was 86, the baseball great, who became the all-time

home run leader in the 1970s when he passed Babe Ruth's all-time home run record, which was

714 home runs. And Hank Aaron went on to hit 755. It was later broken by Barry,

probably with an asterisk, bonds. But I want to reflect for just a second on Hank Aaron

and race because of course he was black and he broke that home run record when he was playing

for the Atlanta team in the 70s.

And here's a little bit of Yahoo Sports's take on it just now.

It says, Aaron, who was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1934, overcame racism in the Deep South, and received death threats while pursuing Babe Ruth's

record. After he finished the 1973 season, one home run short of Ruth's record, he received a high

number of threats and racist letters. The FBI investigated the threats as well as kidnapping plots against his children,

and he had to be accompanied by an armed guard for his safety. He said the threats forced him to

constantly scan crowds after he retired, even after he retired, miss his children's graduations,

and he couldn't open his mail for two or three years

afterward. So as we are engaging in a racial reckoning in this country, that part of Hank Aaron's

story needs to be told again, as it is being now, on the occasion of his death, Hank Aaron

passing at age 86. And now he turned to two

comedians who are seriously trying to make sense of American politics. Hari Kandibolu and W. Kamau

Bell, besides the many other things they do, are co-hosts of the podcast politically reactive.

Kamau also hosts the CNN series, United Shades of

America, and Harry has a Netflix stand-up special, warn your relatives. Now out. So Harry, welcome

back. And Kamau, welcome to WNYC. It's great to hear your voice, Brian. It's been a long time.

...