WEBVTT - Walking In Faith

0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.680
<v Speaker 1>Good morning, peeps, and welcome to OKAP Daily with Meet

0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:20.040
<v Speaker 1>Your Girl Danielle Moody recording an emergency podcast following the

0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:25.440
<v Speaker 1>breaking news that President Joe Biden has stepped down from

0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:30.000
<v Speaker 1>re election. Folks, you all know how I has felt

0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:34.040
<v Speaker 1>about the calls for Joe Biden to step down. I

0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:37.519
<v Speaker 1>have said emphatically that I felt that it was a

0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:42.199
<v Speaker 1>mistake if the immediate decision following him stepping down was

0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:47.080
<v Speaker 1>not going to be the full throated endorsement of Kamala Harris,

0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:54.080
<v Speaker 1>his vice president, and in his statement of gratitude to

0:00:54.640 --> 0:01:01.640
<v Speaker 1>the country of putting the country before his own ambitions.

0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:08.920
<v Speaker 1>He has since endorsed fully his vice president, our Vice President,

0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:14.399
<v Speaker 1>Kamala Harris, to be the Democratic nominee. Since his announcement,

0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:18.840
<v Speaker 1>as I'm recording this in the evening on Sunday. Since

0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:23.880
<v Speaker 1>his announcement, we have had endorsements come in from Bill

0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:28.800
<v Speaker 1>and Hillary Clinton, from the Congressional Black Caucus, from Senator

0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:34.080
<v Speaker 1>Tim Kaine from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, from the Congressional

0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:40.720
<v Speaker 1>Progressive Caucus, and up soon will be that of the

0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.480
<v Speaker 1>Congressman Jim Clyburn out of South Carolina. If you all

0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:49.600
<v Speaker 1>remember Congressman Clyburn is the reason why Joe Biden became

0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:54.040
<v Speaker 1>the Democratic nominee, because he put his thumb on the

0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:58.920
<v Speaker 1>scale and got Joe Biden South Carolina, which then opened

0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:03.840
<v Speaker 1>up the floodgates for Biden to become the Democratic nominee. So,

0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:10.919
<v Speaker 1>as of right now, it seems that those in establishment

0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:17.960
<v Speaker 1>places are coming out and issuing their support and endorsement

0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:23.440
<v Speaker 1>for our vice president. What I will say is that

0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:28.120
<v Speaker 1>we are going to learn very quickly that America is

0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:34.720
<v Speaker 1>just as racist as it is misogynist, that the vitriol

0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:40.040
<v Speaker 1>that is going to come the Vice president's way is

0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:44.680
<v Speaker 1>going to be like nothing we have ever seen before. Now,

0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:50.480
<v Speaker 1>black women, however, like myself, can say buckle up and

0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:55.000
<v Speaker 1>get ready because we know all too well how very

0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:59.520
<v Speaker 1>racist and sexist this country is. Because as a person

0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:04.520
<v Speaker 1>that in bodies lives at the intersection of blackness and

0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:10.720
<v Speaker 1>womanness and queerness, I am going to say that it

0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:14.920
<v Speaker 1>is not going to be enough for establishment Democrats to

0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:18.000
<v Speaker 1>endorse her. They are going to need to circle the

0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:22.440
<v Speaker 1>wagons to build a barricade of protection, a dome of

0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:30.040
<v Speaker 1>protection around her that deflects whatever nasty white supremacist work

0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:34.120
<v Speaker 1>is underway in the Trump camp to get her over

0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:38.640
<v Speaker 1>the finish line, and that if the convention, which is

0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:44.800
<v Speaker 1>happening a month and one day away, is not about

0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:49.840
<v Speaker 1>the exhilaration and the excitement of the nomination of Vice

0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:54.480
<v Speaker 1>President Harris and whomever she chooses to be her vice

0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:58.240
<v Speaker 1>presidential pick, we're not going to make it. So. There

0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:01.400
<v Speaker 1>is no more room for the airing out of the

0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:04.880
<v Speaker 1>dirty laundry, there is no more room for the infighting

0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:08.200
<v Speaker 1>and the conjecture, there is no more room for the

0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:13.640
<v Speaker 1>white elitist democratic fuckery. It is time to get the

0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:17.680
<v Speaker 1>fuck in line. And if Joe Biden has said that

0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:21.880
<v Speaker 1>his vice president should be the Democratic nominee, then that

0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:25.719
<v Speaker 1>is what we rock with. Because fourteen million people, fourteen

0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:29.359
<v Speaker 1>million Americans voted in the primary for a Biden Harris ticket,

0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:33.359
<v Speaker 1>and if Biden is no longer going to serve in

0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:39.600
<v Speaker 1>that position, then we already chose Vice President Harris, and

0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.840
<v Speaker 1>that is how we need to be moving forward. We

0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:48.120
<v Speaker 1>are in uncharted territory. We are in a space in

0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:53.920
<v Speaker 1>this country where we have never been before. As I

0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:58.320
<v Speaker 1>am recording right now, the Vice president has issued her

0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:02.560
<v Speaker 1>statement following the President's statement, I'm going to read this.

0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.560
<v Speaker 1>As I am reading it to myself, I'm going to

0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:07.200
<v Speaker 1>read it to all of you, which by the time

0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.480
<v Speaker 1>you listen to this, you will have heard. Vice President

0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:14.200
<v Speaker 1>Kamala Harris says this on behalf of the American people.

0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:18.080
<v Speaker 1>I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President

0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:20.679
<v Speaker 1>of the United States and for his decades of service

0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:24.680
<v Speaker 1>to our country. His remarkable legacy of accomplishment is unmatched

0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:28.040
<v Speaker 1>in modern American history, surpassing the legacy of many presidents

0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:31.200
<v Speaker 1>who have served two terms in office. It is a

0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:34.000
<v Speaker 1>profound honor to serve as his vice president, and I

0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:37.600
<v Speaker 1>am deeply grateful to the President, doctor Biden, and the

0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:41.440
<v Speaker 1>entire Biden family. I first came to know President Biden

0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:44.920
<v Speaker 1>through his son BeO. We were friends from our days

0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:48.480
<v Speaker 1>working together as attorney generals of our home states. As

0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.559
<v Speaker 1>we work together, Bou would tell me stories about his dad,

0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:54.240
<v Speaker 1>the kind of father and the kind of man he was,

0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:57.160
<v Speaker 1>and the qualities Bo were veered in his father's are

0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:00.400
<v Speaker 1>the same qualities, the same values I have seen every

0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:05.120
<v Speaker 1>single day in Joe's leadership as president. His honesty and integrity,

0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:07.800
<v Speaker 1>his big heart and commitment to his faith, and his

0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:11.280
<v Speaker 1>family and his love of our country and the American people.

0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:15.679
<v Speaker 1>With this selfless and patriotic act, President Biden is doing

0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:18.839
<v Speaker 1>what he has done throughout his life of service, putting

0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:22.839
<v Speaker 1>the American people and our country above everything else. I

0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:26.680
<v Speaker 1>am honored to have the President's endorsement, and my intention

0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:31.120
<v Speaker 1>is to earn and win this nomination. Over the past year,

0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.880
<v Speaker 1>I have traveled across the country talking with Americans about

0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:38.440
<v Speaker 1>the clear choice in this momentous election, and that is

0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:40.719
<v Speaker 1>what I will continue to do in the days and

0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.760
<v Speaker 1>weeks ahead. I will do everything in my power to

0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.719
<v Speaker 1>unite the Democratic Party and unite our nation to defeat

0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:52.000
<v Speaker 1>Donald Trump and his extreme Project twenty twenty five agenda.

0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:56.280
<v Speaker 1>We have one hundred and seven days until election day.

0:06:56.640 --> 0:07:01.440
<v Speaker 1>Together we will fight, and together we will win. That

0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:06.880
<v Speaker 1>is it, folks. It is the moment. It is the

0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:12.440
<v Speaker 1>moment that I really did not want to come to pass.

0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:18.200
<v Speaker 1>But we are here, and we are here, and we

0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:22.120
<v Speaker 1>have got to unite. We have got to move through

0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:25.600
<v Speaker 1>our fear. And as I'm going to say in the

0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:31.280
<v Speaker 1>rest of this episode that I taped prior to the

0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:35.720
<v Speaker 1>Biden announcement, we are on a walk of faith. We

0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:39.440
<v Speaker 1>are on a walk of faith in this moment through

0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:42.840
<v Speaker 1>the fire, not knowing what lies on the other side.

0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:47.280
<v Speaker 1>But I believe that Americans in this moment can unite

0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:51.520
<v Speaker 1>in the face of fascism and say not in our land,

0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:56.880
<v Speaker 1>not on our watch. So this is our moment. This

0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:00.080
<v Speaker 1>is our moment to rise. This is our moment to

0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:03.840
<v Speaker 1>face down evil. This is our moment to do what

0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:10.680
<v Speaker 1>too many spineless and cowardice members of the Republican Party

0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:15.520
<v Speaker 1>refuse to do, which is put Donald Trump to fucking

0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:22.080
<v Speaker 1>bed for good. This is our moment. Coming up next,

0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:27.600
<v Speaker 1>my pre taped commentary on what it means to walk

0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:34.240
<v Speaker 1>in faith in this moment, folks. As many of you

0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:38.520
<v Speaker 1>know who have been listening to me for years now,

0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:47.720
<v Speaker 1>I vacillate between my faith and my rage on a

0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:55.640
<v Speaker 1>regular basis, and the reason being that I have faith

0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.480
<v Speaker 1>and faith is something that I have struggled with throughout

0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:04.800
<v Speaker 1>the years because I have never in my life attached

0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:10.520
<v Speaker 1>myself to organized religion. I think that organized religion is

0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:15.080
<v Speaker 1>not rooted in faith at all, but it is rooted

0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.920
<v Speaker 1>in a lot of ways in capitalism and control. And

0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:24.400
<v Speaker 1>from a very young age I had questions about organized

0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:30.160
<v Speaker 1>religion and churches and it didn't speak to me that

0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:34.240
<v Speaker 1>I should follow a whole list of rules that just

0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:38.360
<v Speaker 1>didn't make sense because I was a girl, because I

0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:42.840
<v Speaker 1>was queer. So I struggled, And for a long time

0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:45.880
<v Speaker 1>I would say that I was never an atheist, because

0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.319
<v Speaker 1>I do believe in a higher power. I do believe

0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:52.240
<v Speaker 1>in the universe. But through COVID and through my mother

0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:57.720
<v Speaker 1>being diagnosed with a brain tumor that was later, you know, benign,

0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:02.880
<v Speaker 1>and she's thank God one hundred percent, I really began

0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:07.640
<v Speaker 1>to develop a deeper faith practice, which happens to a

0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:10.920
<v Speaker 1>lot of people. You go through dark times, you suffer

0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:16.240
<v Speaker 1>through great loss, and that opens your eyes. Your eyes

0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:18.520
<v Speaker 1>are opened in a different way, your heart is opened

0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:22.160
<v Speaker 1>in a different way. And so my faith practice has

0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:28.880
<v Speaker 1>really been around, you know, connecting to spirit, to ancestors, praying, meditating.

0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:32.800
<v Speaker 1>And I offered this because a friend of mine, a

0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:35.959
<v Speaker 1>very good friend of mine, is in the midst as

0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:39.760
<v Speaker 1>we all are, and in different ways, are all really

0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:43.760
<v Speaker 1>dealing with a lot of instability right now. The country

0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:49.640
<v Speaker 1>is unstable, the world is unstable, our economic situations are unstable.

0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:54.720
<v Speaker 1>We're moving through a lot of turmoil. What she expressed

0:10:54.720 --> 0:11:02.000
<v Speaker 1>to me was that sometimes you really have to lean

0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:04.920
<v Speaker 1>on faith, and she goes in, I am moving right

0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:12.480
<v Speaker 1>now in a faith walk. In a faith walk, I

0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:16.720
<v Speaker 1>am moving through fire, I am moving through obstacles, and

0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:20.320
<v Speaker 1>I don't know what is on the other side. But

0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:24.480
<v Speaker 1>this is a walk of faith that I'm doing. I'm

0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:28.800
<v Speaker 1>leaning on what I have always known about my strength,

0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:34.960
<v Speaker 1>about my perseverance, about my ancestors that surround me, and

0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:39.880
<v Speaker 1>that the universe will make a way if I put

0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:43.360
<v Speaker 1>in the effort and continue to put in the effort,

0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:48.000
<v Speaker 1>and put in the effort though and believe right because

0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:52.360
<v Speaker 1>faith is about believing in what you cannot see, what

0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:55.000
<v Speaker 1>you may not be able to hear, what you may

0:11:55.040 --> 0:12:00.560
<v Speaker 1>not be able to touch. Christians move in a way,

0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:06.560
<v Speaker 1>and they say you know that they will move not

0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:10.720
<v Speaker 1>by sight but by faith. And different traditions all offer

0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.600
<v Speaker 1>this same thing. And why do I say this today,

0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:18.240
<v Speaker 1>Because I find the place that we are in in

0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:22.160
<v Speaker 1>this darkness, dear friends, the place that I find myself

0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:27.280
<v Speaker 1>and found myself in last week where I did not

0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:34.760
<v Speaker 1>go outside for two days, where I was just stuck

0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:42.000
<v Speaker 1>in a downward spiral, stuck in the darkness. That's hard

0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:45.960
<v Speaker 1>for somebody whose job it is to provide analysis and

0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:50.240
<v Speaker 1>thoughtfulness on where we are, because if I can't see

0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:53.840
<v Speaker 1>a way through, I can't offer a way through for others.

0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:56.160
<v Speaker 1>And that's what I believe that my gift and my

0:12:56.240 --> 0:13:00.000
<v Speaker 1>purpose is on this planet is to be a teacher,

0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:03.880
<v Speaker 1>a teacher that is continuing to learn, that is continuing

0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:08.480
<v Speaker 1>to expand her horizons as a way to be one

0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:15.400
<v Speaker 1>of the many lanterns that our lives offer us. Last week,

0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:22.800
<v Speaker 1>I nearly lost it because I was in such a

0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:27.560
<v Speaker 1>dark place that I felt as if I could not

0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:32.880
<v Speaker 1>breathe and I could not see. And thankfully for me,

0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:40.560
<v Speaker 1>I have an amazing family, I have amazing friends, an

0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:47.120
<v Speaker 1>amazing partner that were checking in on me, and to

0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:50.960
<v Speaker 1>the followers, to all of you, to the listeners that

0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:54.800
<v Speaker 1>DM me and said that they could hear my voice

0:13:54.920 --> 0:14:01.280
<v Speaker 1>cracking in some of my episodes and they were concerned.

0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:07.600
<v Speaker 1>Sending me a lot of love and light was so

0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:14.440
<v Speaker 1>needed and received with open arms. And I say it

0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:18.240
<v Speaker 1>just from a deep place of gratitude for all of

0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:24.040
<v Speaker 1>those that felt that something was not well with me

0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:29.640
<v Speaker 1>to check in, and I really hope that you are

0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:34.000
<v Speaker 1>checking in on all the people that you care about

0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:38.440
<v Speaker 1>in your lives right now, because there is not a

0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:42.600
<v Speaker 1>person that I come across who is not struggling in

0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:47.200
<v Speaker 1>some type of way. So in this moment, I believe,

0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:51.040
<v Speaker 1>as my friend Alicia offered to me, that we are

0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:54.480
<v Speaker 1>on a faith walk, that we are walking not by

0:14:54.560 --> 0:15:00.240
<v Speaker 1>sight but by faith, faith in humanity, faith in the

0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:06.480
<v Speaker 1>people around us, that folks, that regardless of what is

0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:12.960
<v Speaker 1>to come, that we must find strength and source and

0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:20.040
<v Speaker 1>light in our lives to be able to get through now.

0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:26.920
<v Speaker 1>While I want to believe that this dark episode in

0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:34.240
<v Speaker 1>America will have a Hollywood fairy tale ending, history tells

0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:40.320
<v Speaker 1>me otherwise. And so if I believe, as a student

0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:46.400
<v Speaker 1>of history that oftentimes patterns need to be repeated until

0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:49.480
<v Speaker 1>you learn, then what is it that we can do

0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:54.600
<v Speaker 1>to prepare ourselves in the best way possible for what

0:15:54.760 --> 0:16:00.240
<v Speaker 1>is coming and what is already here? Because in so

0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:07.400
<v Speaker 1>many ways our lives have been fundamentally changed over the

0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:12.520
<v Speaker 1>last eight years. We had been brought up to believe

0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:20.160
<v Speaker 1>that America was unbreakable, unshakable, that we could go about

0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:25.240
<v Speaker 1>our daily lives and not really give too much thought

0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:29.920
<v Speaker 1>to how government was operating and whether or not things

0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:35.880
<v Speaker 1>were going to be delivered to us, like healthcare or

0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:40.840
<v Speaker 1>quality public education, or clean water and clean air and

0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:46.360
<v Speaker 1>sanitation and workers' protections and all of these things that

0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:51.040
<v Speaker 1>much kind of like breathing at our heartbeat, which just

0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:55.600
<v Speaker 1>happens unconscious of us really connecting to it unless we

0:16:55.640 --> 0:17:00.320
<v Speaker 1>are in meditation, prayer or some type of practice that

0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:02.880
<v Speaker 1>we kind of just assume that it will all keep

0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:07.560
<v Speaker 1>working and we don't really have to pay attention to it, except,

0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:11.040
<v Speaker 1>of course, when your body falls ill and then all

0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:13.760
<v Speaker 1>of a sudden, all you can feel is the pain.

0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:18.639
<v Speaker 1>All you can concentrate on is the wound. And that

0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:23.600
<v Speaker 1>is where we find ourselves right now. Where we believed

0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:30.720
<v Speaker 1>that America would always keep churning, always, you know, vacillating

0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:35.280
<v Speaker 1>between just good enough, but that our day to day

0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:39.920
<v Speaker 1>lives would not be so adversely impacted by our government.

0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:44.520
<v Speaker 1>Because that has never been our experience. And I say

0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:49.000
<v Speaker 1>that knowing the Civil rights movement. I say that knowing

0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:52.760
<v Speaker 1>that black people used to hang from trees and still

0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:57.080
<v Speaker 1>in many places do I say that, knowing the ills

0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:03.240
<v Speaker 1>and the betrayal that this country has had against indigenous people,

0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:08.199
<v Speaker 1>black people. But we have been able to write a

0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:12.359
<v Speaker 1>history that has allowed us to be proud of how

0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:15.800
<v Speaker 1>far we have come over the last two hundred and

0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:20.840
<v Speaker 1>forty eight years. But over the last eight we have

0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:27.040
<v Speaker 1>been tested and tested to a place of breaking. What

0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:31.359
<v Speaker 1>I have said so many times is that sometimes you

0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:34.160
<v Speaker 1>need to have a breakdown in order to have a breakthrough.

0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:40.399
<v Speaker 1>But the breakthrough only comes when we believe and search

0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:45.320
<v Speaker 1>for the opportunities that exist inside of the obstacles, because

0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:48.520
<v Speaker 1>the obstacles are always going to be I will not

0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:51.880
<v Speaker 1>bullshit you into thinking that all things will turn out

0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:53.760
<v Speaker 1>well and all we need to do is vote, because

0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:57.040
<v Speaker 1>right now, folks, m m, that's not what the numbers

0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.520
<v Speaker 1>are telling us. So what does it mean to then

0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:04.240
<v Speaker 1>walk by faith and not by sight? It means too

0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:10.360
<v Speaker 1>know that you have everything inside of you to make

0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:13.280
<v Speaker 1>it through. That does not mean that it's going to

0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:17.080
<v Speaker 1>be easy, but it means that we must find a

0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:23.879
<v Speaker 1>way to shut out the noise that is pervasive, the

0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:26.840
<v Speaker 1>disinformation that we thought was going to come from a

0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:30.960
<v Speaker 1>foreign entity but is actually coming from inside the house.

0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:34.119
<v Speaker 1>This is a time for us to shut down the

0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:40.080
<v Speaker 1>outside noise and to go inside ourselves, to go deep

0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:46.720
<v Speaker 1>withinside ourselves and ask those real questions, who do I

0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:49.600
<v Speaker 1>want to be in this moment, How can I best

0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:53.359
<v Speaker 1>show up? Because the decisions that we are making in

0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:58.240
<v Speaker 1>our individual lives impact the collective, and so if each

0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:02.520
<v Speaker 1>of us decides right that we will make it through this.

0:20:04.040 --> 0:20:07.639
<v Speaker 1>We don't know what the other side holds, but we

0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:11.879
<v Speaker 1>will know that we will continue to walk in our truth,

0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:16.879
<v Speaker 1>in our integrity, be guided by our morals and our values.

0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:20.119
<v Speaker 1>Whether or not this country has ever lived up to

0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:24.000
<v Speaker 1>them is not my issue at hand. It is whether

0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:32.399
<v Speaker 1>or not we can live up to our truths. I

0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:36.800
<v Speaker 1>have been thinking so much lately that my allegiance is

0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:39.840
<v Speaker 1>not to a party. I am a Democrat, I am

0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:44.120
<v Speaker 1>a registered Democrat and have been. But my true allegiance

0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:52.560
<v Speaker 1>is to justice. My true allegiance is to equity. My

0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:57.760
<v Speaker 1>guiding light and moral is one that is wrapped in love.

0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:03.359
<v Speaker 1>Because I don't believe that we hate ourselves into a

0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:07.439
<v Speaker 1>better place. I believe that we have to love ourselves

0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:13.760
<v Speaker 1>to the next level, particularly when everything around us is

0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:18.200
<v Speaker 1>closing in that when the noise is too great outside,

0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:23.040
<v Speaker 1>you go inside and you find the power and the

0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:27.119
<v Speaker 1>will to conjure the faith and the strength and the

0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:31.840
<v Speaker 1>courage that is necessary to persevere. That's what this moment

0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:36.320
<v Speaker 1>is calling all of us to do. It isn't just

0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:40.880
<v Speaker 1>to shut down the news, don't pay attention, but it

0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:44.240
<v Speaker 1>is actually to pay attention to yourself. What do I

0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:47.960
<v Speaker 1>need in this moment? What does my family need in

0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:51.840
<v Speaker 1>this moment? What does my community need from me in

0:21:51.880 --> 0:22:01.240
<v Speaker 1>this moment? How can I take care of myself mentally, spiritually, emotionally,

0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:05.639
<v Speaker 1>and physically so that I can be of service? And

0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:11.800
<v Speaker 1>so when I find myself in these dark places, I

0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:15.879
<v Speaker 1>am so grateful for the people that come and find

0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:20.040
<v Speaker 1>me with a flashlight and offer me a hand, offer

0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:25.560
<v Speaker 1>me a hug, offer me levels of gratitude and appreciation

0:22:26.520 --> 0:22:30.280
<v Speaker 1>for what it means for me to show up in

0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:35.280
<v Speaker 1>their lives. So if we can do that with friend

0:22:35.400 --> 0:22:40.760
<v Speaker 1>and stranger alike, then we cease to be controlled by

0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:46.440
<v Speaker 1>the noise, because it's going to get worse. I promise

0:22:46.480 --> 0:22:52.320
<v Speaker 1>you that. So our roots have got to be thicker

0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:57.719
<v Speaker 1>and deeper than they have ever been because right now

0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:05.160
<v Speaker 1>we are being fed so much bullshit, so much misinformation,

0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:11.640
<v Speaker 1>so much conjecture, so much empty, vapid opinion. You have

0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:17.639
<v Speaker 1>white cis hetero men that are on the internet talking

0:23:17.680 --> 0:23:22.840
<v Speaker 1>about this political cycle like it is a game, like

0:23:22.880 --> 0:23:26.480
<v Speaker 1>they are in Vegas and they're placing bets. Real people

0:23:26.520 --> 0:23:30.760
<v Speaker 1>are going to die, Real people are going to lose

0:23:32.160 --> 0:23:38.199
<v Speaker 1>their livelihood, their dignity, their rights. This is not a

0:23:38.240 --> 0:23:42.520
<v Speaker 1>fucking game, as Nate Silver and other idiots would have

0:23:42.600 --> 0:23:46.159
<v Speaker 1>you believe. Aaron Sorkin puts up a fucking op ed

0:23:46.240 --> 0:23:49.480
<v Speaker 1>today as I'm taping this on Sunday puts up an

0:23:49.480 --> 0:23:54.080
<v Speaker 1>op ed talking about Democrats should choose Mitt Romney. Are

0:23:54.119 --> 0:23:57.800
<v Speaker 1>you stupid? Because I realize that the people that are

0:23:57.840 --> 0:24:00.560
<v Speaker 1>creating the most noise are the ones with the least

0:24:00.600 --> 0:24:04.280
<v Speaker 1>to lose, So this is a fucking game to them.

0:24:04.440 --> 0:24:08.760
<v Speaker 1>For the rest of us, however, this is in fact existential,

0:24:09.960 --> 0:24:15.560
<v Speaker 1>and so we need to be steadfast in what our

0:24:15.760 --> 0:24:21.040
<v Speaker 1>truths are moving us towards. Because I'm gonna say something

0:24:21.160 --> 0:24:27.480
<v Speaker 1>real provocative. Ain't no white cis wealthy straight man gonna

0:24:27.520 --> 0:24:32.080
<v Speaker 1>be leading you to freedom. They really truly are fucking not.

0:24:33.400 --> 0:24:39.159
<v Speaker 1>So pay attention to who you are following, who is

0:24:39.280 --> 0:24:46.920
<v Speaker 1>wooing you, and ask about their real intentions, Ask whether

0:24:47.040 --> 0:24:50.040
<v Speaker 1>or not they actually really do have skin in this game,

0:24:50.760 --> 0:24:53.639
<v Speaker 1>because it's those that are sitting in ivory towers in

0:24:53.760 --> 0:24:57.359
<v Speaker 1>the protected class that are the ones that are the

0:24:57.400 --> 0:25:02.600
<v Speaker 1>loudest and the only one that are being heard. So

0:25:03.200 --> 0:25:10.000
<v Speaker 1>now is the time where we need to support independent voices.

0:25:10.440 --> 0:25:16.320
<v Speaker 1>And I mean financially, I mean spiritually, I mean with

0:25:16.520 --> 0:25:19.159
<v Speaker 1>your follows and your likes and your subscriptions, because let

0:25:19.200 --> 0:25:21.639
<v Speaker 1>me tell you something, I'm also going to be very vulnerable.

0:25:22.280 --> 0:25:27.560
<v Speaker 1>You know, those economic pathways and windows for people like

0:25:27.640 --> 0:25:32.639
<v Speaker 1>myself are beginning to close because the powers that be

0:25:32.880 --> 0:25:35.960
<v Speaker 1>have already decided that Donald Trump is going to be presidents,

0:25:36.040 --> 0:25:39.560
<v Speaker 1>so they're not going to have use for a voice

0:25:39.920 --> 0:25:43.359
<v Speaker 1>like mine. So right now, while I'm also trying to

0:25:43.400 --> 0:25:45.840
<v Speaker 1>figure out the country, I'm also trying to figure out

0:25:45.920 --> 0:25:51.640
<v Speaker 1>my own paths forward. So think about the people who

0:25:51.720 --> 0:25:56.000
<v Speaker 1>you do respect and whose voices you do hold on

0:25:56.080 --> 0:25:58.360
<v Speaker 1>to you in this moment, and if you do have

0:25:58.400 --> 0:26:03.119
<v Speaker 1>the ability to those people in any which way that

0:26:03.200 --> 0:26:07.080
<v Speaker 1>you can do, because many of us in the coming

0:26:07.160 --> 0:26:11.000
<v Speaker 1>months are basically fighting for our lives and our livelihood

0:26:11.800 --> 0:26:18.480
<v Speaker 1>because that's what white supremacy does. It bigfoots over everyone

0:26:19.440 --> 0:26:25.720
<v Speaker 1>moving through a place of scarcity and fear, so opportunities

0:26:25.720 --> 0:26:31.320
<v Speaker 1>that once existed begin to dry up, forcing you into

0:26:32.680 --> 0:26:37.680
<v Speaker 1>their oppressive capitalist regime just so that you can survive.

0:26:38.960 --> 0:26:44.680
<v Speaker 1>I for one am not going out like that. So, friends,

0:26:45.600 --> 0:26:52.760
<v Speaker 1>as we vacillate, as humans do, between walking by faith

0:26:53.560 --> 0:26:59.520
<v Speaker 1>and stumbling through darkness, know that we have everything that

0:26:59.560 --> 0:27:03.119
<v Speaker 1>we need inside of us to make it through. And

0:27:03.160 --> 0:27:09.080
<v Speaker 1>that when you lose faith, reach out because there is

0:27:09.480 --> 0:27:15.359
<v Speaker 1>someone that will be there to reach back and to

0:27:15.480 --> 0:27:18.520
<v Speaker 1>lift you up when you can't lift yourself up. And

0:27:18.600 --> 0:27:23.120
<v Speaker 1>that that is what I have faith in, is us

0:27:23.160 --> 0:27:32.520
<v Speaker 1>as humanity, is us as compassionate, loving people who do

0:27:32.720 --> 0:27:38.000
<v Speaker 1>want more than what is being offered to us right now. So,

0:27:38.080 --> 0:27:47.160
<v Speaker 1>in this moment of deep fear, anxiety, and hopelessness, my

0:27:47.560 --> 0:27:54.600
<v Speaker 1>dear dear listeners, walk by faith and not by sight.

0:27:57.920 --> 0:28:01.280
<v Speaker 1>That is it for me today, Dear friends, on woke

0:28:01.320 --> 0:28:05.520
<v Speaker 1>a f as always Power to the people and to

0:28:05.920 --> 0:28:10.960
<v Speaker 1>all the people. Power, Get woke and stay woke as fuck.