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Speaker 1: Hey ba fan. Before we get into today's episode, I

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Speaker 1: had I've only done this one other time. After the

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Speaker 1: election of twenty twenty five. I got on here and

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Speaker 1: I read. I just really didn't have any words. And

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Speaker 1: sometimes when I don't have the words, I turned to

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Speaker 1: poetry and other brilliant writers who have some words that

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Speaker 1: I can share. And today it really was on my heart,

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Speaker 1: on my spirit to read this poem for y'all. It's

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Speaker 1: by Audre Lord. It's called a Litany for Survival. I'll

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Speaker 1: try to read this without crying. But here we are

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Speaker 1: for those of us who live at the shoreline, standing

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Speaker 1: upon the constant edges of decision, crucial and alone. For

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Speaker 1: those of us who cannot indulge the passing dreams of choice,

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Speaker 1: who live in doorways, coming and going in the hours

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Speaker 1: between dawn's looking inward and outward at once, before and after,

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Speaker 1: seeking a now that can breed futures like bread in

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Speaker 1: our children's mouths, so their dreams will not reflect the

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Speaker 1: death of ours. For those of us who were imprinted

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Speaker 1: with fear like a faint line in the center of

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Speaker 1: our foreheads, learning to be afraid with our mother's milk,

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Speaker 1: for by this weapon this illusion of some safety to

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Speaker 1: be found. The heavy footed hoped to silence us. For

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Speaker 1: all of us, this instant and this triumph, we were

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Speaker 1: never meant to survive. And when the sun rises, we

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Speaker 1: are afraid it might not remain. When the sun sets,

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Speaker 1: we are afraid it might not rise. In the morning.

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Speaker 1: When our stomachs are full, we are afraid of indigestion.

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Speaker 1: When our stomachs are empty, we are afraid we may

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Speaker 1: never eat again. When we are loved, we are afraid

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Speaker 1: love will vanish. When we are alone, we are afraid

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Speaker 1: love will never return. And when we speak, we are

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Speaker 1: afraid our words will not be heard nor welcomed. But

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Speaker 1: when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it

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Speaker 1: is better to speak, remembering we were never meant to survive.

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Speaker 1: This poem to me by the Great Audrolord. At a

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Speaker 1: time like this, it just reminds me of the human

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Speaker 1: experience that the money of us are feeling right now.

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Speaker 1: The fear of not knowing what to say, if we

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Speaker 1: should say it, when do we speak the truth on

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Speaker 1: our hearts, the fear of things that we have today

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Speaker 1: being taken from us tomorrow, so that we can't even

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Speaker 1: really enjoy what we already have. This poem is really

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Speaker 1: the truth of that experience, the last part. When we

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Speaker 1: are silent, we are still afraid, So it's better to speak,

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Speaker 1: remembering we were never meant to survive. What I love

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Speaker 1: about it is that it's a call to action to

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Speaker 1: use our voices. We are walking around on tenterhooks and eggshells,

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Speaker 1: unsure of what to say, afraid that if we speak

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Speaker 1: out against what's happening, that our livelihoods could be taken

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Speaker 1: from us, and for so many of us that means

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Speaker 1: our jobs. And at the same time, what are we

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Speaker 1: actually fighting for? What are we actually fighting to maintain?

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Speaker 1: What are y'all listening to? What poems, what writers? What

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Speaker 1: voices are inspiring y'all today? I could use some more.

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Speaker 1: I hope Brown Ambition is one of those spaces for y'all.

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Speaker 1: But if you want to send me what's giving you

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Speaker 1: hope and inspiration these days? Can you email me Brownambition

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Speaker 1: Podcast at gmail dot com. Can you DM me at

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Speaker 1: Brown Ambition Podcast on Instagram? Can you take the link

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Speaker 1: for this episode for this show and send it to

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Speaker 1: five friends, sisters, colleagues, neighbors. Can you share Brown Ambition

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Speaker 1: I'm truly scared at a time like this, I'm truly

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Speaker 1: scared for their survival of mid size, smaller platforms like

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Speaker 1: Brown Ambition, that we're really created with us at the

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Speaker 1: center of them, really created with our survival, our success

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Speaker 1: in mind and at the forefront of the work that

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Speaker 1: we do. And just thinking about that top twenty podcast

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Speaker 1: in the country right now, and thinking about who is given,

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Speaker 1: who is being lauded, and whose platforms are being amplified,

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Speaker 1: and very much starting to have this little bit of

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Speaker 1: dread seep in that in the midst of all of this,

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Speaker 1: shows like ours are going to be forgotten, that they're

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Speaker 1: going to be taken down in some way, And I

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Speaker 1: think I can't fix that. I can't prevent it without

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Speaker 1: y'all support. So if you could share this show with

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Speaker 1: five people you know have never listened to it, tell

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Speaker 1: them they must download it, they must subscribe. If you're

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Speaker 1: someone who has been referred to Brown Ambition by your friend,

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Speaker 1: by your sister, by a colleague, I just really appreciate you.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for showing up, and now it's your turn

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Speaker 1: turn around. Share the show with five people, let them

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Speaker 1: know they need to listen to Brown Ambition. Make sure

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Speaker 1: that you subscribe, follow, leave a comment, engage with us.

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Speaker 1: We're on social media at Brown Ambition Podcast on ig

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Speaker 1: in particular. You can also go to Brown Ambition podcast

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Speaker 1: dot com to sign up for my newsletter and support me.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to have a book coming out called Brown Ambition.

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Speaker 1: It's going to be a financial and career guide for

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Speaker 1: black women, coming out hopefully in twenty twenty six. We'll see.

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Speaker 1: So there's a lot lot coming from Brown Ambition. I've

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Speaker 1: never been more grateful to have this platform. Thank y'all

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Speaker 1: so much. Now let's get into the show. Uh oh

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Speaker 1: uh oh, it's a black woman with a micro phone, y'all,

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Speaker 1: everybody panic listen. I have never Ugh there's times as

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Speaker 1: the host of broad and Vision that I have certainly

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Speaker 1: felt called to do the work that I do. And

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Speaker 1: there's days when I've woke up wondering if anybody cares

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Speaker 1: about the work that I do. And I just have

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Speaker 1: to say, today is not one of those days. Today

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Speaker 1: is one of those days where I'm so damn happy

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Speaker 1: to have this microphone. I realize how powerful it is

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Speaker 1: that I have this platform and I can show up

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Speaker 1: and I don't have to be afraid that my opinions,

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Speaker 1: my thoughts, what's true to my heart and the work

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Speaker 1: that I'm doing is going to rob me of my

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Speaker 1: livelihood because I've created a livelihood for myself. Yes, God

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Speaker 1: damn I have, and I am in this rare position

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Speaker 1: for this was not my intention when I started broad

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Speaker 1: and Vision a decade ago. By the way, happy anniversary,

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Speaker 1: Brown Ambition. It's officially our ten year anniversary, and I

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Speaker 1: have been so overwhelmed by the feeling about the anniversary

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Speaker 1: and by kind of thinking about what the next ten

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Speaker 1: years are going to bring. But I just want to

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Speaker 1: sit and acknowledge it for a second. We're ten years old,

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Speaker 1: BA Fam, ten years, eight hundred something episodes, ten years

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Speaker 1: of showing up week after week after week after week,

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Speaker 1: no sleep, club, bus, club, another club, plane, no sleep.

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Speaker 1: I've been showing up and I couldn't have done it without,

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Speaker 1: of course, my forever sister and original BA partner, Tiffany.

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Speaker 1: So sending you love, Tiffany, and thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for helping me build this platform that we built together

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Speaker 1: for nine years. And to be a fam who've held

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Speaker 1: me down since I took the Helm solo at the

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Speaker 1: beginning of twenty twenty five. I love you so much,

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Speaker 1: but yeah, I am so happy to have this platform

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Speaker 1: right now. I woke up this morning and I had

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Speaker 1: one of those times. I had one of those times

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Speaker 1: where I was like, breaking news, gotta, I gotta scrap

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Speaker 1: what I was planning to air today. I got to

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Speaker 1: grab that microphone and I got to speak to be

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Speaker 1: a fan. I gotta, I gotta show up and speak

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Speaker 1: truth to power. And I really have no I have

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Speaker 1: no choice. I can't wake up and have this platform

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Speaker 1: and have the freedom to say what's on my mind

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Speaker 1: and not do it at a time when we are

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Speaker 1: seeing dozens of people during a week like this who

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Speaker 1: have lost their jobs because of what they have said

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Speaker 1: in the wake of the assassination. And there have been

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Speaker 1: many people. I mean, they're coming for the white men

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Speaker 1: to y'all. Jimmy Kimbolod have lost his show before that, Stephen,

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Speaker 1: Stephen Colbert lost his show. But I'm not here to

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Speaker 1: talk about them. I'm really here because of Karen Atia.

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Speaker 1: Karen Atia was a renowned columnist for The Washington Post,

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Speaker 1: A gorgeous, intelligent, really accomplished black woman journalist. At a

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Speaker 1: time when we need more black women journalists speaking out

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Speaker 1: on major national platforms. And when I say the Washington Post,

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Speaker 1: I know your first thought is like, was she really

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Speaker 1: going to last that long? The Washington Post has been

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Speaker 1: on this conservative bent, this conservative journey really since before

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Speaker 1: you know who won the election last year. But we

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Speaker 1: have seen the dismissal of other journalists from this plot.

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Speaker 1: We've seen basically columnists from the editorial side of the

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Speaker 1: Washington Post leaving their jobs in the past year due

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Speaker 1: to the Post action to make make the opinion columns

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Speaker 1: more conservative and to basically try to put a muzzle

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Speaker 1: on the columnists that they have there. We've had also

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Speaker 1: another prominent black woman journalists for The Washington Post who

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Speaker 1: left after an incredible something like two decade ten you

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Speaker 1: were there. Shout out to Chris A. Thompson. She left

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Speaker 1: of her own accord. Karen Antia did not. Karen Attia

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Speaker 1: was fired. She was on Blue Sky in the wake

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Speaker 1: of Kirk's assassination, and I just wanted to read a

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Speaker 1: couple of the posts that she published that led to

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Speaker 1: her firing. One of the first post quote refusing to

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Speaker 1: tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in

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Speaker 1: performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is

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Speaker 1: not the same as violence unquote quote Number two. Part

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Speaker 1: of what keeps America so violent is the insistence that

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Speaker 1: people perform care, empty goodness and absolution for white men

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Speaker 1: who espoused hatred in violence. Unquote. Karen, you didn't deserve

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Speaker 1: to be fired. Your whole job as an opinion columnist

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Speaker 1: is to have opinions on the news of the day.

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Speaker 1: And I at when we are when we are seeing

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Speaker 1: opinion columnists losing their jobs over having opinions that their

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Speaker 1: bosses don't agree with because of the pressure this administration

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Speaker 1: is putting on the leaders of big businesses and media,

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Speaker 1: in tech, in all industries, the control, the authoritarianism is

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Speaker 1: in the room with us. Sis. It's here. It's not

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Speaker 1: about what if. It's not about this may happen. It's

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Speaker 1: not about we need to pay attention to the science.

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Speaker 1: It's already happening. It's here. I'm not fear mongering. I

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Speaker 1: have two eyeballs on my head. We're watching it happen live,

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Speaker 1: all right, we're watching it happen live. I'm thinking about

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Speaker 1: Uba fam. I'm thinking I was thinking about how y'all

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Speaker 1: are doing at a time like this. It's giving the

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Speaker 1: summer of twenty twenty, when you know, we were having

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Speaker 1: blow after blow of murdering black bodies by at the

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Speaker 1: hands of law enforcement, and we walked into our offices

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Speaker 1: and we're expected to not be upset by it, to

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Speaker 1: not say anything that might make others feel uncomfortable. And

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Speaker 1: they really created the summer of twenty twenty, this sense

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Speaker 1: of false security that, oh, well, bring your authentic self

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Speaker 1: to work. We are we're holding space for you. I'll

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Speaker 1: never forget when my company, a big fintech kind of

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Speaker 1: financial marketplace company, the CEO hosted these zooms right that summer,

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Speaker 1: things felt like ere things kind of changing. Is it

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Speaker 1: becoming a little bit safer to be who we are

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Speaker 1: at the office. And it was a trap, baby, it

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Speaker 1: really was. It was a whole trap. Not only did

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Speaker 1: that summer lead to this huge wave of hiring women

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Speaker 1: of color, people of color into roles that were supposed

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Speaker 1: to promote diversity, equity, inclusion. It was like they corralled

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Speaker 1: us into a booby trap and they said, here, it's

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Speaker 1: going to be great. We're gonna put all this funding

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Speaker 1: behind this. Sure, bring your authentic self. We really care

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Speaker 1: about people's well being blah blah blah blah blah, until

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Speaker 1: the political tables turned, and now we are seeing I mean,

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Speaker 1: I don't have to tell y'all the DEI jobs poof. Overnight,

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Speaker 1: just got another email from a woman who was working

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Speaker 1: in DEI at a big BBA company poof, her job

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Speaker 1: is gone. We've seen it time and time again that

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Speaker 1: they have sort of corralled us into this false sense

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Speaker 1: of security, and we tied our livelihoods to it, and

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Speaker 1: now we are feeling the repercussions. All of that is

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Speaker 1: just to say that if you're a little bit of

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Speaker 1: color and you're going into the office this week, you're

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Speaker 1: showing up and you're not sure how to feel. You're

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Speaker 1: not sure if you should say something. You're thinking about

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Speaker 1: going to HR, you're thinking about, you know, speaking with

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Speaker 1: your colleagues or chatting in the company slack. Please don't,

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Speaker 1: please don't. It's not No, it's not worth it. I

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Speaker 1: we should be speaking out, and we should be speaking

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Speaker 1: out with one another, and we should find them space,

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Speaker 1: safe spaces to do that. The workplace, ay, it's safe.

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Speaker 1: The workplace is not safe. It is not safe. These

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Speaker 1: right wingers on the internet saying like, let's go find

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Speaker 1: people who are speaking out, let's expose them, let's get

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Speaker 1: them fired. Okay, like you're you're at a time like this,

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Speaker 1: in an economy like this, when we have families to support,

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Speaker 1: we have our mouths, other mouths to feed people relying

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Speaker 1: easy target. Okay. I'm not saying that we shouldn't, you know,

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Speaker 1: speak truth to power, and that we shouldn't, of course,

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Speaker 1: like link arms with one another and support each other

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Speaker 1: and talk about what's going on and how we're feeling

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Speaker 1: about it and process what's happening in real time, but

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Speaker 1: we have to think differently. This is not twenty twenty.

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to learn from the lessons, the really tough

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Speaker 1: lessons I learned myself in twenty twenty, and I wish

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Speaker 1: I could say more about it, but in das, I

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Speaker 1: just want to give y'all permission to say nothing when

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Speaker 1: it comes to your career. You know, your career at work,

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Speaker 1: in your in your professional capacity, you don't have to

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Speaker 1: say anything. It doesn't make you a coward, it doesn't

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Speaker 1: mean that you're not a real one, because the way

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Speaker 1: that they're coming for our livelihoods at a time like this.

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Speaker 1: This is not a free speech type vibe in corporate

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Speaker 1: America right now. It truly isn't. But hello, I'm Andy

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Speaker 1: Wood of Santo's. I had this microphone here, I paid

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Speaker 1: for it with my own money. I have this platform here.

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Speaker 1: I built it. I built it, baby, with my own time. Blood, sweat, tears, Okay,

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Speaker 1: not a lot of blood. Tiffany and I were not

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Speaker 1: out here fighting in the streets. But I'm so lucky

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Speaker 1: that I have had my own platform for a while,

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Speaker 1: and that I have this microphone and I can speak

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Speaker 1: the way that I want to speak now. According to

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Speaker 1: multiple sources and the research that I have been doing,

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Speaker 1: I've been trying to keep track of the number of

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Speaker 1: people who've lost their jobs because of statements they've made online.

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Speaker 1: Right now, it's looking like a few dozen. So something

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Speaker 1: like thirty three people have lost their jobs or they

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Speaker 1: face professional repercussions due to public remarks. We've got Matthew

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Speaker 1: Dowd at MSNBC, Karen Attia from The Washington Post. This

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Speaker 1: is what's really chilling to me. Something like two dozen

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Speaker 1: teachers and faculty from various school districts, universities have lost

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Speaker 1: their jobs because of remarks they've made online, and this

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Speaker 1: continues a pattern of attacking our educators. If you're gonna

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Speaker 1: want to speak out, I would say, let's make a plan, Like,

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Speaker 1: let's make an exit strategy for this career path. If

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Speaker 1: you're in no, I'm not getting a higher education because

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Speaker 1: I don't want us to stop speaking out, but to

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Speaker 1: jeopardize a career that quickly without having like a game

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Speaker 1: plan in place, I just want to like take a

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Speaker 1: step back for a second and talk about how we

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Speaker 1: might prepare to liberate ourselves from these types of career paths,

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Speaker 1: or these types of environments where our voices, you know,

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Speaker 1: may cost us our jobs. Let's think in advance, you know,

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Speaker 1: how can we save up, How can we start to

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Speaker 1: build our own platforms so that slowly but surely we

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Speaker 1: are less reliant upon these institutions for our pay and

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Speaker 1: for our livelihoods, so that we can have more freedom

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Speaker 1: to speak out. I think the people who are able

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Speaker 1: to speak out and speak truth to power during a

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Speaker 1: time like this, we are essential workers. The thing about

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Speaker 1: at will employment is that yes, we have free speech,

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Speaker 1: we have the First Amendment, but when you work for

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Speaker 1: a private company, we lack some protections against getting fired

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Speaker 1: for what we say. There's a law in California apparently

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Speaker 1: that protects people for what they say in their political beliefs.

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Speaker 1: In the workplace. Yes, there's free speech, but when it

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Speaker 1: comes to at will employment, most relationships in the US

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Speaker 1: are at will. That means that your employer can fire

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Speaker 1: your butt at any time, for any reason or no

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Speaker 1: reason at all, without even giving you prior notice. That

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Speaker 1: does work two ways. It also means that we can

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Speaker 1: up and leave with no reason at all or no notice.

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Speaker 1: That being said, yes, companies very much can fire us,

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Speaker 1: and we have. This is not new. It's not new.

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Speaker 1: Since the dawn of social media, people been losing their

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Speaker 1: jobs for what they have tweeted, what they have said online,

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Speaker 1: and typically what employers what's driving them to fire you

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Speaker 1: is if they deem the post to be quote unquote

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Speaker 1: in conflict with their values, if they threaten the company's reputation,

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Speaker 1: or they suggest that you may harm workplace productivity. Those

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Speaker 1: are very broad, broad categories of problematic and they will.

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Speaker 1: What we're seeing right now is they're using very broad

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Speaker 1: definitions of this. I would pay close attention. If I

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Speaker 1: were working at Corporate America to how my company's leadership

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Speaker 1: has been in communication or is tied to Washington, d C.

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Speaker 1: And the administration. What benefits are there for your company's

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Speaker 1: leadership to please this administration. Remember these companies, it's capitalism, baby,

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Speaker 1: It's about their bottom line. They're trying to survive for

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Speaker 1: the next until the next election and the one after that.

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Speaker 1: And if that means making some unpopular decisions about the

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Speaker 1: way that they treat employees and how they act, and

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Speaker 1: there are certain policies and you know whether or not

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Speaker 1: they're cutting that budget or they're they're cutting ergs, or

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Speaker 1: they're fire up and firing the heads of DEI initiatives

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Speaker 1: at their company. And yes, they may get some blowback,

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Speaker 1: but they don't care. They're thinking about their bottom line

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Speaker 1: and they're thinking about this federal government. Like we've seen

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Speaker 1: the White House now the United States is taking a

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Speaker 1: ten percent stake in Intel, Okay, and they're all running scared.

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Speaker 1: And so the fact that you know they are willing

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Speaker 1: to fire people over a hint that they may upset

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Speaker 1: the administration just to prove their loyalty, to save their

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Speaker 1: bottom line, to save their companies to save their stock prices,

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Speaker 1: to save their value on Wall Street like tales old

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Speaker 1: as time. Okay, so let's not get it twisted. That's

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Speaker 1: where our leaders, these different corporations, this is where their

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Speaker 1: loyalties are lying. Okay, they're not with us. I want

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Speaker 1: to just wrap this all up by reading this sub

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Speaker 1: stack from Karen Atia. So in the wake of her firing,

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Speaker 1: she's I don't know if she probably had the substack already,

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Speaker 1: but I'm going to post a link to it in

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Speaker 1: the comments so we can all join, subscribe and support her.

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Speaker 1: Here's what she had to say. My journalistic and moral

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Speaker 1: values for balance compelled me to condemn violence and murder

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Speaker 1: without engaging an excessive false mourning for a man who

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Speaker 1: routinely attacked black women as a group, put academics in

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Speaker 1: danger by putting them on watch lists, claimed falsely that

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Speaker 1: black people were better off in the era of Jim Crow,

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Speaker 1: said that the Civil Rights Act was a mistake, and

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Speaker 1: favorably reviewed a book that called liberals unhumans in a sense.

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Speaker 1: Deleted post, a user accused me of supporting violence and fascism.

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Speaker 1: I made clear that not performing over the top grief

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Speaker 1: for white men who espouse violence was not the same

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Speaker 1: as endorsing violence against them. She goes on to say,

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Speaker 1: I was the last remaining black full time opinion columnist

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Speaker 1: at the Post in one of the nation's most diverse regions,

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Speaker 1: Washington DCS. I see no longer has a paper that

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Speaker 1: reflects the people it serves. What happened to me is

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Speaker 1: part of a broader purge of black voices from academia, business,

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Speaker 1: government and media, a historical pattern as dangerous as it

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Speaker 1: is shameful in tragic miss Atia, I know you're not

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Speaker 1: going to stop writing and sharing your your feelings, your opinions,

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Speaker 1: your thoughts are so valued, they're so necessary. We are

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Speaker 1: proud of you, Karen Atiya. We love you, We support you.

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Speaker 1: Here at Brown Ambition. I don't usually do this, but

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Speaker 1: I was on Apple Podcasts at some morning this week.

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Speaker 1: I was trying to find the latest episode of Brown

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Speaker 1: Ambition to make sure that the show uploaded properly. And

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Speaker 1: the first thing I see when I open up Apple

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Speaker 1: Podcasts is the top podcast in America right now right.

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Speaker 1: It gave me chills. It truly gave me chills. Have

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Speaker 1: y'all recently looked at the top these are the top

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Speaker 1: podcasts in America right now. Number one, Charlie Kirkshow number three,

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Speaker 1: The Joe Rogan Experience of Course number four, Candice Owens,

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Speaker 1: Megan Kelly number six, then Shapiro number nine, number twelve,

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Speaker 1: Tucker Collison, the whole, the top voices in the country

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Speaker 1: right now. These are the voices that are being lifted

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Speaker 1: up and being celebrated. We have to be engaging with

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Speaker 1: other creators and other voices and making sure that we

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Speaker 1: still have a platform and that we're not being crowded out.

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Speaker 1: It's this top ten, this top twenty. I'm not liking

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Speaker 1: in America. I'm not liking it at all. All Right,

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Speaker 1: I want to close the show by reminding y'all to

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Speaker 1: check the show notes. I want to make sure that

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Speaker 1: I see y'all This coming Thursday, I'm doing a webinar

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Speaker 1: where I'm going to be talking about the power of

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Speaker 1: AI and how we can use AI to better manage

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Speaker 1: our finances, reach our financial goals, and also yes, stand

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Speaker 1: out in this batch crazy job market so that we

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Speaker 1: can so that we can so we can keep a

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Speaker 1: roof over our heads and continue our livelihoods in this

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Speaker 1: insane world. Going to be sharing strategies beyond just getting

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Speaker 1: your resume up by chat GPT. I'm going to be

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Speaker 1: showing you how AI can take the pain out of networking,

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Speaker 1: how it can take the pain out of finding opportunities

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Speaker 1: to get your name out there to build your professional brand.

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Speaker 1: This is free. The sign up link is in the

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Speaker 1: show notes. There's still time to sign up. It's all

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Speaker 1: going down September twenty fifth at eight pm on Zoom,

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Speaker 1: so make sure that you register and tell a friend

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Speaker 1: to tell a friend. I'll see y'all there until then.

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Speaker 1: By BA Fam