Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to OKAP Daily with Meet
Speaker 1: Your Girl Danielle Moody recording an emergency podcast following the
Speaker 1: breaking news that President Joe Biden has stepped down from
Speaker 1: re election. Folks, you all know how I has felt
Speaker 1: about the calls for Joe Biden to step down. I
Speaker 1: have said emphatically that I felt that it was a
Speaker 1: mistake if the immediate decision following him stepping down was
Speaker 1: not going to be the full throated endorsement of Kamala Harris,
Speaker 1: his vice president, and in his statement of gratitude to
Speaker 1: the country of putting the country before his own ambitions.
Speaker 1: He has since endorsed fully his vice president, our Vice President,
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris, to be the Democratic nominee. Since his announcement,
Speaker 1: as I'm recording this in the evening on Sunday. Since
Speaker 1: his announcement, we have had endorsements come in from Bill
Speaker 1: and Hillary Clinton, from the Congressional Black Caucus, from Senator
Speaker 1: Tim Kaine from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, from the Congressional
Speaker 1: Progressive Caucus, and up soon will be that of the
Speaker 1: Congressman Jim Clyburn out of South Carolina. If you all
Speaker 1: remember Congressman Clyburn is the reason why Joe Biden became
Speaker 1: the Democratic nominee, because he put his thumb on the
Speaker 1: scale and got Joe Biden South Carolina, which then opened
Speaker 1: up the floodgates for Biden to become the Democratic nominee. So,
Speaker 1: as of right now, it seems that those in establishment
Speaker 1: places are coming out and issuing their support and endorsement
Speaker 1: for our vice president. What I will say is that
Speaker 1: we are going to learn very quickly that America is
Speaker 1: just as racist as it is misogynist, that the vitriol
Speaker 1: that is going to come the Vice president's way is
Speaker 1: going to be like nothing we have ever seen before. Now,
Speaker 1: black women, however, like myself, can say buckle up and
Speaker 1: get ready because we know all too well how very
Speaker 1: racist and sexist this country is. Because as a person
Speaker 1: that in bodies lives at the intersection of blackness and
Speaker 1: womanness and queerness, I am going to say that it
Speaker 1: is not going to be enough for establishment Democrats to
Speaker 1: endorse her. They are going to need to circle the
Speaker 1: wagons to build a barricade of protection, a dome of
Speaker 1: protection around her that deflects whatever nasty white supremacist work
Speaker 1: is underway in the Trump camp to get her over
Speaker 1: the finish line, and that if the convention, which is
Speaker 1: happening a month and one day away, is not about
Speaker 1: the exhilaration and the excitement of the nomination of Vice
Speaker 1: President Harris and whomever she chooses to be her vice
Speaker 1: presidential pick, we're not going to make it. So. There
Speaker 1: is no more room for the airing out of the
Speaker 1: dirty laundry, there is no more room for the infighting
Speaker 1: and the conjecture, there is no more room for the
Speaker 1: white elitist democratic fuckery. It is time to get the
Speaker 1: fuck in line. And if Joe Biden has said that
Speaker 1: his vice president should be the Democratic nominee, then that
Speaker 1: is what we rock with. Because fourteen million people, fourteen
Speaker 1: million Americans voted in the primary for a Biden Harris ticket,
Speaker 1: and if Biden is no longer going to serve in
Speaker 1: that position, then we already chose Vice President Harris, and
Speaker 1: that is how we need to be moving forward. We
Speaker 1: are in uncharted territory. We are in a space in
Speaker 1: this country where we have never been before. As I
Speaker 1: am recording right now, the Vice president has issued her
Speaker 1: statement following the President's statement, I'm going to read this.
Speaker 1: As I am reading it to myself, I'm going to
Speaker 1: read it to all of you, which by the time
Speaker 1: you listen to this, you will have heard. Vice President
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris says this on behalf of the American people.
Speaker 1: I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President
Speaker 1: of the United States and for his decades of service
Speaker 1: to our country. His remarkable legacy of accomplishment is unmatched
Speaker 1: in modern American history, surpassing the legacy of many presidents
Speaker 1: who have served two terms in office. It is a
Speaker 1: profound honor to serve as his vice president, and I
Speaker 1: am deeply grateful to the President, doctor Biden, and the
Speaker 1: entire Biden family. I first came to know President Biden
Speaker 1: through his son BeO. We were friends from our days
Speaker 1: working together as attorney generals of our home states. As
Speaker 1: we work together, Bou would tell me stories about his dad,
Speaker 1: the kind of father and the kind of man he was,
Speaker 1: and the qualities Bo were veered in his father's are
Speaker 1: the same qualities, the same values I have seen every
Speaker 1: single day in Joe's leadership as president. His honesty and integrity,
Speaker 1: his big heart and commitment to his faith, and his
Speaker 1: family and his love of our country and the American people.
Speaker 1: With this selfless and patriotic act, President Biden is doing
Speaker 1: what he has done throughout his life of service, putting
Speaker 1: the American people and our country above everything else. I
Speaker 1: am honored to have the President's endorsement, and my intention
Speaker 1: is to earn and win this nomination. Over the past year,
Speaker 1: I have traveled across the country talking with Americans about
Speaker 1: the clear choice in this momentous election, and that is
Speaker 1: what I will continue to do in the days and
Speaker 1: weeks ahead. I will do everything in my power to
Speaker 1: unite the Democratic Party and unite our nation to defeat
Speaker 1: Donald Trump and his extreme Project twenty twenty five agenda.
Speaker 1: We have one hundred and seven days until election day.
Speaker 1: Together we will fight, and together we will win. That
Speaker 1: is it, folks. It is the moment. It is the
Speaker 1: moment that I really did not want to come to pass.
Speaker 1: But we are here, and we are here, and we
Speaker 1: have got to unite. We have got to move through
Speaker 1: our fear. And as I'm going to say in the
Speaker 1: rest of this episode that I taped prior to the
Speaker 1: Biden announcement, we are on a walk of faith. We
Speaker 1: are on a walk of faith in this moment through
Speaker 1: the fire, not knowing what lies on the other side.
Speaker 1: But I believe that Americans in this moment can unite
Speaker 1: in the face of fascism and say not in our land,
Speaker 1: not on our watch. So this is our moment. This
Speaker 1: is our moment to rise. This is our moment to
Speaker 1: face down evil. This is our moment to do what
Speaker 1: too many spineless and cowardice members of the Republican Party
Speaker 1: refuse to do, which is put Donald Trump to fucking
Speaker 1: bed for good. This is our moment. Coming up next,
Speaker 1: my pre taped commentary on what it means to walk
Speaker 1: in faith in this moment, folks. As many of you
Speaker 1: know who have been listening to me for years now,
Speaker 1: I vacillate between my faith and my rage on a
Speaker 1: regular basis, and the reason being that I have faith
Speaker 1: and faith is something that I have struggled with throughout
Speaker 1: the years because I have never in my life attached
Speaker 1: myself to organized religion. I think that organized religion is
Speaker 1: not rooted in faith at all, but it is rooted
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways in capitalism and control. And
Speaker 1: from a very young age I had questions about organized
Speaker 1: religion and churches and it didn't speak to me that
Speaker 1: I should follow a whole list of rules that just
Speaker 1: didn't make sense because I was a girl, because I
Speaker 1: was queer. So I struggled, And for a long time
Speaker 1: I would say that I was never an atheist, because
Speaker 1: I do believe in a higher power. I do believe
Speaker 1: in the universe. But through COVID and through my mother
Speaker 1: being diagnosed with a brain tumor that was later, you know, benign,
Speaker 1: and she's thank God one hundred percent, I really began
Speaker 1: to develop a deeper faith practice, which happens to a
Speaker 1: lot of people. You go through dark times, you suffer
Speaker 1: through great loss, and that opens your eyes. Your eyes
Speaker 1: are opened in a different way, your heart is opened
Speaker 1: in a different way. And so my faith practice has
Speaker 1: really been around, you know, connecting to spirit, to ancestors, praying, meditating.
Speaker 1: And I offered this because a friend of mine, a
Speaker 1: very good friend of mine, is in the midst as
Speaker 1: we all are, and in different ways, are all really
Speaker 1: dealing with a lot of instability right now. The country
Speaker 1: is unstable, the world is unstable, our economic situations are unstable.
Speaker 1: We're moving through a lot of turmoil. What she expressed
Speaker 1: to me was that sometimes you really have to lean
Speaker 1: on faith, and she goes in, I am moving right
Speaker 1: now in a faith walk. In a faith walk, I
Speaker 1: am moving through fire, I am moving through obstacles, and
Speaker 1: I don't know what is on the other side. But
Speaker 1: this is a walk of faith that I'm doing. I'm
Speaker 1: leaning on what I have always known about my strength,
Speaker 1: about my perseverance, about my ancestors that surround me, and
Speaker 1: that the universe will make a way if I put
Speaker 1: in the effort and continue to put in the effort,
Speaker 1: and put in the effort though and believe right because
Speaker 1: faith is about believing in what you cannot see, what
Speaker 1: you may not be able to hear, what you may
Speaker 1: not be able to touch. Christians move in a way,
Speaker 1: and they say you know that they will move not
Speaker 1: by sight but by faith. And different traditions all offer
Speaker 1: this same thing. And why do I say this today,
Speaker 1: Because I find the place that we are in in
Speaker 1: this darkness, dear friends, the place that I find myself
Speaker 1: and found myself in last week where I did not
Speaker 1: go outside for two days, where I was just stuck
Speaker 1: in a downward spiral, stuck in the darkness. That's hard
Speaker 1: for somebody whose job it is to provide analysis and
Speaker 1: thoughtfulness on where we are, because if I can't see
Speaker 1: a way through, I can't offer a way through for others.
Speaker 1: And that's what I believe that my gift and my
Speaker 1: purpose is on this planet is to be a teacher,
Speaker 1: a teacher that is continuing to learn, that is continuing
Speaker 1: to expand her horizons as a way to be one
Speaker 1: of the many lanterns that our lives offer us. Last week,
Speaker 1: I nearly lost it because I was in such a
Speaker 1: dark place that I felt as if I could not
Speaker 1: breathe and I could not see. And thankfully for me,
Speaker 1: I have an amazing family, I have amazing friends, an
Speaker 1: amazing partner that were checking in on me, and to
Speaker 1: the followers, to all of you, to the listeners that
Speaker 1: DM me and said that they could hear my voice
Speaker 1: cracking in some of my episodes and they were concerned.
Speaker 1: Sending me a lot of love and light was so
Speaker 1: needed and received with open arms. And I say it
Speaker 1: just from a deep place of gratitude for all of
Speaker 1: those that felt that something was not well with me
Speaker 1: to check in, and I really hope that you are
Speaker 1: checking in on all the people that you care about
Speaker 1: in your lives right now, because there is not a
Speaker 1: person that I come across who is not struggling in
Speaker 1: some type of way. So in this moment, I believe,
Speaker 1: as my friend Alicia offered to me, that we are
Speaker 1: on a faith walk, that we are walking not by
Speaker 1: sight but by faith, faith in humanity, faith in the
Speaker 1: people around us, that folks, that regardless of what is
Speaker 1: to come, that we must find strength and source and
Speaker 1: light in our lives to be able to get through now.
Speaker 1: While I want to believe that this dark episode in
Speaker 1: America will have a Hollywood fairy tale ending, history tells
Speaker 1: me otherwise. And so if I believe, as a student
Speaker 1: of history that oftentimes patterns need to be repeated until
Speaker 1: you learn, then what is it that we can do
Speaker 1: to prepare ourselves in the best way possible for what
Speaker 1: is coming and what is already here? Because in so
Speaker 1: many ways our lives have been fundamentally changed over the
Speaker 1: last eight years. We had been brought up to believe
Speaker 1: that America was unbreakable, unshakable, that we could go about
Speaker 1: our daily lives and not really give too much thought
Speaker 1: to how government was operating and whether or not things
Speaker 1: were going to be delivered to us, like healthcare or
Speaker 1: quality public education, or clean water and clean air and
Speaker 1: sanitation and workers' protections and all of these things that
Speaker 1: much kind of like breathing at our heartbeat, which just
Speaker 1: happens unconscious of us really connecting to it unless we
Speaker 1: are in meditation, prayer or some type of practice that
Speaker 1: we kind of just assume that it will all keep
Speaker 1: working and we don't really have to pay attention to it, except,
Speaker 1: of course, when your body falls ill and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, all you can feel is the pain.
Speaker 1: All you can concentrate on is the wound. And that
Speaker 1: is where we find ourselves right now. Where we believed
Speaker 1: that America would always keep churning, always, you know, vacillating
Speaker 1: between just good enough, but that our day to day
Speaker 1: lives would not be so adversely impacted by our government.
Speaker 1: Because that has never been our experience. And I say
Speaker 1: that knowing the Civil rights movement. I say that knowing
Speaker 1: that black people used to hang from trees and still
Speaker 1: in many places do I say that, knowing the ills
Speaker 1: and the betrayal that this country has had against indigenous people,
Speaker 1: black people. But we have been able to write a
Speaker 1: history that has allowed us to be proud of how
Speaker 1: far we have come over the last two hundred and
Speaker 1: forty eight years. But over the last eight we have
Speaker 1: been tested and tested to a place of breaking. What
Speaker 1: I have said so many times is that sometimes you
Speaker 1: need to have a breakdown in order to have a breakthrough.
Speaker 1: But the breakthrough only comes when we believe and search
Speaker 1: for the opportunities that exist inside of the obstacles, because
Speaker 1: the obstacles are always going to be I will not
Speaker 1: bullshit you into thinking that all things will turn out
Speaker 1: well and all we need to do is vote, because
Speaker 1: right now, folks, m m, that's not what the numbers
Speaker 1: are telling us. So what does it mean to then
Speaker 1: walk by faith and not by sight? It means too
Speaker 1: know that you have everything inside of you to make
Speaker 1: it through. That does not mean that it's going to
Speaker 1: be easy, but it means that we must find a
Speaker 1: way to shut out the noise that is pervasive, the
Speaker 1: disinformation that we thought was going to come from a
Speaker 1: foreign entity but is actually coming from inside the house.
Speaker 1: This is a time for us to shut down the
Speaker 1: outside noise and to go inside ourselves, to go deep
Speaker 1: withinside ourselves and ask those real questions, who do I
Speaker 1: want to be in this moment, How can I best
Speaker 1: show up? Because the decisions that we are making in
Speaker 1: our individual lives impact the collective, and so if each
Speaker 1: of us decides right that we will make it through this.
Speaker 1: We don't know what the other side holds, but we
Speaker 1: will know that we will continue to walk in our truth,
Speaker 1: in our integrity, be guided by our morals and our values.
Speaker 1: Whether or not this country has ever lived up to
Speaker 1: them is not my issue at hand. It is whether
Speaker 1: or not we can live up to our truths. I
Speaker 1: have been thinking so much lately that my allegiance is
Speaker 1: not to a party. I am a Democrat, I am
Speaker 1: a registered Democrat and have been. But my true allegiance
Speaker 1: is to justice. My true allegiance is to equity. My
Speaker 1: guiding light and moral is one that is wrapped in love.
Speaker 1: Because I don't believe that we hate ourselves into a
Speaker 1: better place. I believe that we have to love ourselves
Speaker 1: to the next level, particularly when everything around us is
Speaker 1: closing in that when the noise is too great outside,
Speaker 1: you go inside and you find the power and the
Speaker 1: will to conjure the faith and the strength and the
Speaker 1: courage that is necessary to persevere. That's what this moment
Speaker 1: is calling all of us to do. It isn't just
Speaker 1: to shut down the news, don't pay attention, but it
Speaker 1: is actually to pay attention to yourself. What do I
Speaker 1: need in this moment? What does my family need in
Speaker 1: this moment? What does my community need from me in
Speaker 1: this moment? How can I take care of myself mentally, spiritually, emotionally,
Speaker 1: and physically so that I can be of service? And
Speaker 1: so when I find myself in these dark places, I
Speaker 1: am so grateful for the people that come and find
Speaker 1: me with a flashlight and offer me a hand, offer
Speaker 1: me a hug, offer me levels of gratitude and appreciation
Speaker 1: for what it means for me to show up in
Speaker 1: their lives. So if we can do that with friend
Speaker 1: and stranger alike, then we cease to be controlled by
Speaker 1: the noise, because it's going to get worse. I promise
Speaker 1: you that. So our roots have got to be thicker
Speaker 1: and deeper than they have ever been because right now
Speaker 1: we are being fed so much bullshit, so much misinformation,
Speaker 1: so much conjecture, so much empty, vapid opinion. You have
Speaker 1: white cis hetero men that are on the internet talking
Speaker 1: about this political cycle like it is a game, like
Speaker 1: they are in Vegas and they're placing bets. Real people
Speaker 1: are going to die, Real people are going to lose
Speaker 1: their livelihood, their dignity, their rights. This is not a
Speaker 1: fucking game, as Nate Silver and other idiots would have
Speaker 1: you believe. Aaron Sorkin puts up a fucking op ed
Speaker 1: today as I'm taping this on Sunday puts up an
Speaker 1: op ed talking about Democrats should choose Mitt Romney. Are
Speaker 1: you stupid? Because I realize that the people that are
Speaker 1: creating the most noise are the ones with the least
Speaker 1: to lose, So this is a fucking game to them.
Speaker 1: For the rest of us, however, this is in fact existential,
Speaker 1: and so we need to be steadfast in what our
Speaker 1: truths are moving us towards. Because I'm gonna say something
Speaker 1: real provocative. Ain't no white cis wealthy straight man gonna
Speaker 1: be leading you to freedom. They really truly are fucking not.
Speaker 1: So pay attention to who you are following, who is
Speaker 1: wooing you, and ask about their real intentions, Ask whether
Speaker 1: or not they actually really do have skin in this game,
Speaker 1: because it's those that are sitting in ivory towers in
Speaker 1: the protected class that are the ones that are the
Speaker 1: loudest and the only one that are being heard. So
Speaker 1: now is the time where we need to support independent voices.
Speaker 1: And I mean financially, I mean spiritually, I mean with
Speaker 1: your follows and your likes and your subscriptions, because let
Speaker 1: me tell you something, I'm also going to be very vulnerable.
Speaker 1: You know, those economic pathways and windows for people like
Speaker 1: myself are beginning to close because the powers that be
Speaker 1: have already decided that Donald Trump is going to be presidents,
Speaker 1: so they're not going to have use for a voice
Speaker 1: like mine. So right now, while I'm also trying to
Speaker 1: figure out the country, I'm also trying to figure out
Speaker 1: my own paths forward. So think about the people who
Speaker 1: you do respect and whose voices you do hold on
Speaker 1: to you in this moment, and if you do have
Speaker 1: the ability to those people in any which way that
Speaker 1: you can do, because many of us in the coming
Speaker 1: months are basically fighting for our lives and our livelihood
Speaker 1: because that's what white supremacy does. It bigfoots over everyone
Speaker 1: moving through a place of scarcity and fear, so opportunities
Speaker 1: that once existed begin to dry up, forcing you into
Speaker 1: their oppressive capitalist regime just so that you can survive.
Speaker 1: I for one am not going out like that. So, friends,
Speaker 1: as we vacillate, as humans do, between walking by faith
Speaker 1: and stumbling through darkness, know that we have everything that
Speaker 1: we need inside of us to make it through. And
Speaker 1: that when you lose faith, reach out because there is
Speaker 1: someone that will be there to reach back and to
Speaker 1: lift you up when you can't lift yourself up. And
Speaker 1: that that is what I have faith in, is us
Speaker 1: as humanity, is us as compassionate, loving people who do
Speaker 1: want more than what is being offered to us right now. So,
Speaker 1: in this moment of deep fear, anxiety, and hopelessness, my
Speaker 1: dear dear listeners, walk by faith and not by sight.
Speaker 1: That is it for me today, Dear friends, on woke
Speaker 1: a f as always Power to the people and to
Speaker 1: all the people. Power, Get woke and stay woke as fuck.