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Speaker 1: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child

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Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador

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Speaker 1: accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with

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Speaker 1: filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just

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Speaker 1: some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President

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Speaker 1: Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Christy nom the United States

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Speaker 1: Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal border

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Speaker 1: crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded, and over

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Speaker 1: one hundred thousand illegal aliens have been arrested. If you

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Speaker 1: are here illegally, your next you will be fined nearly

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Speaker 1: one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned, and deported. You will

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Speaker 1: never return. But if you register using our CBP home

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Speaker 1: app and leave now, you could be allowed to return legally.

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Speaker 1: Do what's right. Leave now. Under President Trump, America's laws,

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Speaker 1: border and families will.

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Speaker 2: Be protected sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security.

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Speaker 3: So like, let's take Israel, they can have a main

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Speaker 3: focus for one issue. Yes, the state of Israel protected,

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Speaker 3: make sure it's thriving, whatever, But black people, it's so

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Speaker 3: many different issues. So It's like you got reparations, you

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Speaker 3: got criminal justice reform, you got education, and then so

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Speaker 3: do you think that that makes it harder? It would

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Speaker 3: it be easier to start a pack for one issue,

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Speaker 3: like a reparations pack just or like you know what

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Speaker 3: I'm saying, you're focused trying to cover thirty five different things.

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Speaker 4: Yes, right, and reparations could be that thing because that's

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Speaker 4: the thing that kind of touches everything.

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Speaker 5: My graduates from my school being false bad drop bag drop,

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Speaker 5: Mike drop bad drop drop.

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Speaker 3: All right, guys, welcome back. Yeah, I l were back home.

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Speaker 3: I've been traveling around the world.

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Speaker 2: It's good to be home.

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Speaker 6: Yeah for sure.

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Speaker 3: Shot out to everybody that was in London. Yeah that

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Speaker 3: was amazing. Did you see that on social media?

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Speaker 6: I did not not yet. Okay, yeah, we got to bring.

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Speaker 3: We did a show at the Royal Alcohol youve heard

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Speaker 3: of it, Yes, So we did a show there and

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Speaker 3: sold out and it was crazy. Four thousand people in London.

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Speaker 2: Man came.

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Speaker 3: It was an experience experience, to say the least. Financial literacy.

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Speaker 3: People was hungry for it all over the world, especially

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Speaker 3: our community, our communities all over the world. So you know,

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Speaker 3: same stories, no matter where you go, same issues. But

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Speaker 3: long story short with BA in New York and we

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Speaker 3: are here with a very special guest. This is the

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Speaker 3: first time that we've actually spoken about politics on a

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Speaker 3: local level. We've interviewed Shine before, and we've interviewed Stacey Aras. Yes, Shine,

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Speaker 3: I think he's running for Prime Minister of believe if

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Speaker 3: I'm not.

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Speaker 2: At some point, I think he will.

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Speaker 3: I think he announced it. Okay, he was the former

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Speaker 3: opposition leader.

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Speaker 2: Yes, Georgia. Even the herschel Walker thing and or not,

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Speaker 2: that's close.

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Speaker 3: Hersha Walker is looking crazy.

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Speaker 6: We'll talk about that. We'll get there.

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Speaker 2: That's another story. I'll never use him again. In technobol.

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Speaker 4: Walk tech.

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Speaker 2: He was all techo.

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Speaker 4: He was he was.

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Speaker 3: He's one of the greatest of all time, greatest what

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Speaker 3: football players college?

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Speaker 6: I don't know about that.

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Speaker 3: Minnesota he was tougher.

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Speaker 4: He's one of the biggest names because he was in

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Speaker 4: the USFL, Trump's league ironically, and then got the NFL.

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Speaker 4: Was traded. It was a big trade, biggest trade, the

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Speaker 4: biggest trade like ever. But Dallas picked up a bunch.

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Speaker 2: Of picks, Michael.

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Speaker 4: Like their whole Super Bowl team. They traded herschel Walker

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Speaker 4: for pretty much the super Bowl team.

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Speaker 2: The dynasty was built off there or her se Wow,

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Speaker 2: shout out to Georgia. Yeah, I mean he's the king there, right,

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Speaker 2: they want they want.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I was just there. I was. I've

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Speaker 4: been doing some traveling also, trying to get out the vote,

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Speaker 4: different states, different cities. I was in Georgia, Columbus, Georgia

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Speaker 4: and Atlanta, and I watched I was there to watch

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Speaker 4: the Walknock Walk of debate and yeah, so on the ground,

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Speaker 4: so on the ground, people are just like it's going

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Speaker 4: to be close. It's going to be a runoff because

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Speaker 4: you know, you gotta get to fifty percent. Somebody has

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Speaker 4: to crack fifty percent to avoid a runoff, and I

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Speaker 4: don't think either one will, So there's going to be

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Speaker 4: a runoff. There's a third candidate who's a libertarian who's

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Speaker 4: taken about four percent of the vote, which is hurting

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Speaker 4: Warnock right now. But the fact that it's even competitive,

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Speaker 4: you know, for people like us from different parts of town.

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Speaker 6: It's crazy.

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Speaker 4: But Georgia also has majority Taylor Green, who's literally a

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Speaker 4: white supremacist in Congress.

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Speaker 3: So but today you have Congressman Jamal So he's actually

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Speaker 3: our congressman where we live. He's the congressman of our district,

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Speaker 3: which includes the North Bronx to Middle west Chester.

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Speaker 2: New Michelle. Yanga's White Plains for how far Vernon.

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Speaker 4: Pretty much stops at White Plains. So what's you know?

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Speaker 4: So Portchester the sound show, so Rye, Rye City, and

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Speaker 4: then on the other side of Greenberg, river Towns, and

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Speaker 4: then in between so Scarsdale, Bronxville, Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Uh,

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Speaker 4: east Chester, you know all those small little villages and

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Speaker 4: towns also so and in the North Bronx specifically it's

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Speaker 4: eden Wald and Wakefield. In the North it used to

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Speaker 4: be co Op City, used to also be Riverdale. But

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Speaker 4: with redistrict game, they just drew new lines. So uh,

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Speaker 4: come January first, I'll be officially the rap for these

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Speaker 4: areas in New York six.

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Speaker 3: What district is that?

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Speaker 4: New York sixteen sixteen six yep, all.

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Speaker 3: Right, So this is a conversation that's extremely important because

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Speaker 3: a lot of us are not educated on politics correctly.

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Speaker 3: You know, we know about the president, and we might

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Speaker 3: know about the governor. We might be educated on senators,

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Speaker 3: we're not really educated on congressman and from my understanding,

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Speaker 3: the Congress has a lot of power, right it's the

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Speaker 3: House of Representatives and the Senate, and it's like fifty

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Speaker 3: to fifty in the power structure right actually.

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Speaker 4: So currently in the Senate it's a fifty to fifty split,

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Speaker 4: with the Vice President being the deciding fifty first vote

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Speaker 4: in case of a tied vote, depending on what the

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Speaker 4: legislation is. And in the House we have like this,

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Speaker 4: four hundred and thirty five in the House, and I

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Speaker 4: think our margin right now is like six votes in

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Speaker 4: the House. When I say our, I mean Democrats. Right now,

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Speaker 4: Democrats have control of both. But you know when people

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Speaker 4: hear that, you know, one of the first things they

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Speaker 4: say is why aren't we getting more done? And one

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Speaker 4: of the reasons why we're not just because the Senate

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Speaker 4: is so tight and right now, it's something called a filibuster,

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Speaker 4: which we can get into a little bit later, which

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Speaker 4: means you need a super majority in the Senate for

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Speaker 4: a piece of legislation. So passed the Senate so it

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Speaker 4: could pass the House by one vote, all good, it'll

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Speaker 4: go to the Senate. But then when it gets to

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Speaker 4: the Senate, if we only the supermjority, a sixty to

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Speaker 4: forty majority, then the law doesn't move forward because of

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Speaker 4: the filibuster, which we could talk about.

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Speaker 2: So, yeah, that's a lot. You spoke about the district

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Speaker 2: that you're in, Northern Bronx either. Yes, the first time

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Speaker 2: I met you was not far from there. You used

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Speaker 2: to be Principal Bowman, Yes, sir, and I was teaching

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Speaker 2: in the Bronx and our school they used they had

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Speaker 2: a PD professional development Day and we were chosen to

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Speaker 2: go to your school, and I was inspired by what

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Speaker 2: was happening. It was the first time I walked in

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Speaker 2: the building and I still remember it. I saw Tupac

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Speaker 2: on the wall, I saw Rest on the wall, I

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Speaker 2: saw Malcolm X on the wall, and I was like,

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Speaker 2: this is what school should be like, Like we should

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Speaker 2: see images of people that look like us and people

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Speaker 2: we look up to. So how did we transition from

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Speaker 2: education in that sense to politics?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you know, when you work in schools,

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Speaker 4: you you know all of the issues in the community

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Speaker 4: sort of land at your doorstep, right, whatever kids are

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Speaker 4: going through, whatever families are going through. So if kids

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Speaker 4: are hungry, if families are struggling with housing, if there's

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Speaker 4: a lack of jobs, if there's criminal justice entanglements, if

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Speaker 4: there are mental health issues, all of it. You see

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Speaker 4: it in your school every day. And I got to

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Speaker 4: the point where one I began to understand how our

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Speaker 4: tax dollars funds public education, right, So I got to

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Speaker 4: learn about that, and then I got to also learn

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Speaker 4: when I would visit other schools and other communities, how

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Speaker 4: in wealthier communities take Scarsdale, for example, their schools receive

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Speaker 4: additional tax dollars because the structures such where local property

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Speaker 4: taxes fund schools more than federal tax dollars. So thinking

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Speaker 4: about school funding, thinking about the lack of resources in

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Speaker 4: certain schools in certain school districts, got me paying more

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Speaker 4: attention to politics. And then as I paid more attention,

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Speaker 4: I realized that politicians weren't connecting the issues that my

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Speaker 4: kids and families were going through, to the policies that

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Speaker 4: they were advocating for, and to the resources that they

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Speaker 4: weren't fighting for to.

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Speaker 6: Bring into the community.

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Speaker 4: So just started looking and paying more attention. And you know,

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Speaker 4: I opened the school. So I don't know if you

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Speaker 4: knew that, but I'm the founding principal school. So I

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Speaker 4: opened it in two thousand and nine, so I'm like

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Speaker 4: an education entrepreneur in that way. I think the same

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Speaker 4: year of the year after that, Occupy Wall Street happened,

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Speaker 4: so that was like a big deal obviously, with like

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Speaker 4: you know, people intents down by Wall Street talking about

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Speaker 4: ninety nine percent versus one percent, and then that just

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Speaker 4: opened my mind to Okay, what's happening with this wealth

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Speaker 4: and equality? So I began to get educated on that.

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Speaker 4: And then shortly thereafter I believe it was Trayvon Martin

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Speaker 4: was killed, like a few years later, black Lives Matter

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Speaker 4: movement exploded, and obviously, you know, being a black male

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Speaker 4: Trayvon Martin is not an anomaly unfortunately. You know, from

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Speaker 4: from Rodney King to uh to at I'm Gonna do, Diallo,

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Speaker 4: Abne Louima, Ramalley Graham, Sean bell On.

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Speaker 6: And on right.

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Speaker 4: So you know, my school was a school social justice,

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Speaker 4: so that just so what was happening in the real world.

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Speaker 4: We tried to make part of our curriculum in school

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Speaker 4: so kids were learning about it. At the same time,

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Speaker 4: Khalif Browner happened around this time as well, that became

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Speaker 4: part right, So I just the social issues, the education funding,

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Speaker 4: what my kids was going through a spike, and just

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Speaker 4: kids committing self harm in my school and other schools

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Speaker 4: just led to me thinking about it. And then Bernie

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Speaker 4: in twenty sixteen also began to talk a lot about

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Speaker 4: the wealth and the qualley and the economic injustice. And

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Speaker 4: then when the Squad won in twenty eighteen, they created

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Speaker 4: a lane in terms of what they were talking about

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Speaker 4: that fit with what I wanted.

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Speaker 2: About to tell everybody who the squad is.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. So in twenty eighteen, four women of color won

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Speaker 4: congressional seats, and they were all insurgents, they were all

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Speaker 4: long shots to win. One in the Bronx in particular,

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Speaker 4: congresswomen on Kazio Cortaz beat a long time incumbent in

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Speaker 4: Joe Crowley, and then the other three sisters, I think

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Speaker 4: a couple of seats were open, and one Ayana Presley,

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Speaker 4: also won against a long time incumbent. So those wins

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Speaker 4: were like they took the country by storing with those wins.

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Speaker 4: But it wasn't just those wins that got me interested.

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Speaker 4: It was what they were talking about. Like they were

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Speaker 4: talking about racial justice, talking about economics, and they were

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Speaker 4: talking about the issues that we would talk about in

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Speaker 4: the barbershops. We would talk about, you know, on the block,

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Speaker 4: we would talk about in our schools, and that led

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Speaker 4: me to be like, you know, maybe that's something I

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Speaker 4: could do. And then two years later I ran and

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Speaker 4: also won a pretty big race.

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Speaker 3: All right, so let's get into this conversation. What exactly

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Speaker 3: does a congressman do? Is a congress person or congressman,

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Speaker 3: because if it's a woman on it, they call congress

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Speaker 3: women congresswoman.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean you could say congressmen. You can say

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Speaker 4: congress women, you can say congress person. It depends.

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Speaker 6: All three. All three work.

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Speaker 4: So we work on federal policy. I mean, that's pretty

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Speaker 4: much what we do. We make federal laws. We also

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Speaker 4: are advocates for what is needed in our districts. We

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Speaker 4: all in New York State, we represent about seven hundred

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Speaker 4: and fifty thousand people each of us. So what I

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Speaker 4: hear in my district from the people I represent is

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Speaker 4: what I advocate for and write policy for. In Congress.

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Speaker 4: We also can help move money around in terms of

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Speaker 4: the federal budget, so ensuring that money goes into the

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Speaker 4: areas that are needed based on what I hear in

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Speaker 4: the district. So you know, in this district, for example,

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Speaker 4: a big issue is affordable housing right not just in Greenberg,

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Speaker 4: but in all parts of the district. So I meet

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Speaker 4: with constituents, I hear this an issue, I learned about

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Speaker 4: what's happened locally on the issue, and then I work

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Speaker 4: with my legislative team to figure out a policy that

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Speaker 4: we can write that will deal with that issue, not

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Speaker 4: just in our district, but nationally also the federal government.

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Speaker 4: We fund not just the federal government, but we fund

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Speaker 4: federal jobs across the country, and we fund international other

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Speaker 4: countries as well. So whether it's the Caribbean continent of Africa,

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Speaker 4: the Middle East, we provide funding, whether it's military aid

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Speaker 4: or other aid to other countries. So in managing that budget,

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Speaker 4: you know, I get an opportunity to look at where

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Speaker 4: the money goes and then make a decision on like

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Speaker 4: along with my team, based on what we've heard on

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Speaker 4: how to move money from one place to another. One

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Speaker 4: brief example is I noticed the first year I was

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Speaker 4: in Congress, uh W, we give a lot of money

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Speaker 4: to the military. Pretty much fifty one percent of our

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Speaker 4: congressional spending goes to the military. We give a lot

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Speaker 4: of money to like the Bureau of Prisons and cops programs,

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Speaker 4: and we give very little money to like minority owned

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Speaker 4: businesses and investing there. So just working with my team

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Speaker 4: to get money moved from you know, military, borough, prisons

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Speaker 4: and other things that are detrimental to our communities and

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Speaker 4: move it into areas where we want to see a

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Speaker 4: large So Ways it Means is one committee, so there

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Speaker 4: are that's the most powerful committee. It's considered one of two.

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Speaker 4: So Appropriations is one, and Ways and Means is probably two.

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Speaker 4: Energy and Commerce is another one that's pretty powerful. But

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Speaker 4: they're all pretty they're all pretty powerful, and members of

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Speaker 4: Congress we also have a bully pulpit, so if I

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Speaker 4: tweet something, if I write a statement about something, it's

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Speaker 4: going to get a lot of attention. We wrote a

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Speaker 4: letter to Biden earlier this year with a couple other

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Speaker 4: members of Congress pushing him to vacate the marijuana convictions

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Speaker 4: of people who are non violent offenders who were convicted,

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Speaker 4: who were in prison. We wanted him to release them

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Speaker 4: and vacate the convictions. He didn't do it then, but

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Speaker 4: just recently he actually vacated the convictions of sixty five

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Speaker 4: hundred formally incostrated people who had marijuana convictions still on

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Speaker 4: their record. That was stopping them from voting in certain states,

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Speaker 4: stopping them from getting housing, stopping them from certain employment.

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Speaker 4: So stuff like that. We just we do whatever we

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Speaker 4: want in alignment with the knees of our district, and

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Speaker 4: we could go as far as we want to go.

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Speaker 6: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So you brought up the district, and I know most

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Speaker 2: people are puzzled, like how many districts does New York have?

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Speaker 2: And how is it zoned?

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Speaker 6: Right?

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Speaker 2: Because when I saw you on TV, I'm like, I

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Speaker 2: know him, but you were like dabs, very New York.

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Speaker 2: I'm like, how did he get up here? And so

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Speaker 2: before we started, he said that that's the new sixteen.

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Speaker 2: So how does that change? And talk about the importance

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Speaker 2: of how that affects the way we devote.

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Speaker 6: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: So the old sixteen. So I've only been in Congress

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Speaker 4: two years when I ran, the Old sixteen included all

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Speaker 4: of the North Bronx, so from Corp City to Riverdale

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Speaker 4: and it came up as far as I would say,

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Speaker 4: Rye and it included Scarsdale, Hastings on the Hudson is

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Speaker 4: the only river town, Yonkers Bond, very Newershell. That was

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Speaker 4: the Old sixteen. But every ten years there's a census,

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Speaker 4: and uh, based on the census data, you can either

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Speaker 4: gain congressional seats or lose congressional seats. So when people

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Speaker 4: every ten years, when you're being pushed to fill out

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Speaker 4: the census, oftentimes we don't tell people why it's important, right,

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Speaker 4: But it's really important because if you get a large

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Speaker 4: number of people filling out census, you get more and

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Speaker 4: you get more congressional seats, you get more representation in

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Speaker 4: Congress fighting for the things I'm talking about, not less

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Speaker 4: so because we lost the seat, now you have less

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Speaker 4: representation in Congress. And then when you lose a seat,

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Speaker 4: the line shift a bit where you now have to

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Speaker 4: represent more people. So now I'm representing more people.

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Speaker 6: Lines have shifted a bit. And that's why.

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Speaker 4: Places like Dobbs, Ferry, Greenberg, Portchester now white Planes. Now

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Speaker 4: they're going to vote for New York sixteen, which is

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Speaker 4: going to include me on Tuesday, and yeah, there's like

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Speaker 4: twenty I'm going to get the number one twenty, let's

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Speaker 4: say twenty four to twenty five. I could be wrong.

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Speaker 4: Congressional districts in New York State and every state has

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Speaker 4: a different number.

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Speaker 2: Ernie leisure is supported by First Republic Bank. You've worked

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Speaker 2: hard and now it's paying off. That's why it's time

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Speaker 2: to start working with the financial partner who will always

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Speaker 2: have your back. With First Republic Bank, you get a

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Speaker 2: personal banker who's ready to sit down, listen, and provide

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Speaker 2: the answers you need. No matter how complex your questions are.

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Speaker 2: Whether you're interested in residential lending or curious about other

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Speaker 2: banking products, you can reach out to your own personal

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Speaker 2: banker by phone or email or visit in person. It's

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Speaker 2: all a part of First Republic commitment to delivering extraordinary

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Speaker 2: service every time. To learn more about their extraordinary service,

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Speaker 2: visit Firstrepublic dot com. That's First Republic dot Com member

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Speaker 2: FDIC Equal Housing Lender.

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Speaker 3: So all right, let's talk about these committees. So you

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Speaker 3: have four hundred How many congress.

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Speaker 6: People are there? Four hundred and thirty five.

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Speaker 3: So that's four hundred and thirty five congress people and

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Speaker 3: each state has a different amount. States like California and

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Speaker 3: New York have a lot, States like Wyoming have little. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: because of population, the population, but they're all thrown into

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Speaker 3: a pot for votes, right, yes, when So there's two

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Speaker 3: senators each every state has two senators, yes, regardless of population,

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Speaker 3: but each state has a different amount of Congress. But

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Speaker 3: all of the congressmen are thrown into the bucket and

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Speaker 3: they all vote right. So in order for a bill

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Speaker 3: to pass, you have to have the House of Representatives,

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Speaker 3: which is Congress, and you have to have the Senate

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Speaker 3: on board for a bill to become law. For a

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Speaker 3: bill to become law many and then the President has

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Speaker 3: to sign it.

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Speaker 4: Correct Like many bills past the House and don't move

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Speaker 4: in the Senate at all because the Senate just hasn't

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Speaker 4: functioned for a very long time. You mentioned committees, So

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Speaker 4: there are several committees. Again I'm forgetting the number, but

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Speaker 4: I sit on Education and Labor. I'm actually the vice

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Speaker 4: chair of Education and Labor, and I'm also on the Science,

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Speaker 4: Space and Tech Committee. And each committee has like jurisdiction

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Speaker 4: over different aspects of the country. So Science Space and

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Speaker 4: Tech we have jurisdiction over like artificial intelligence and NASA

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Speaker 4: for example, which means, you know, if I want to

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Speaker 4: go to NASA to inspect what's going on in NASA

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Speaker 4: just to make sure things are coposthetic, I can go

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Speaker 4: as a member of the committee to just do an inspection,

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Speaker 4: see what's going on. Also, that means that generally could

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Speaker 4: mean most of my legislation will be rooted in science,

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Speaker 4: space and technology, or education and labor. But that's not

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Speaker 4: the case for me because I'm very interested in economics,

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Speaker 4: which is why I love your show. And that's one

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Speaker 4: of the reasons why we're trying to get on the

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Speaker 4: Ways and Means Committee for the next cycle.

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Speaker 3: Means Committee, Charlie Rangel would used to be the head

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Speaker 3: of the West Committee, right, Charlie. So they said that's

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Speaker 3: the most powerful committee because that they control a budget

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Speaker 3: for What do they control the budget for?

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Speaker 4: Well, they control the tax code. The tax code so

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Speaker 4: they can help ensure that our tax code is progressive

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Speaker 4: and equitable or or not so much. So they put

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Speaker 4: the policies in place that generates the revenue that comes

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Speaker 4: into Congress. That revenue then goes to appropriations to be

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Speaker 4: appropriated accordingly. So that's why those two committees work hand

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Speaker 4: in hand. Those two committees are so powerful.

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Speaker 3: So they bring the money in, then the Appropriation committee

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Speaker 3: dictates where the money goes.

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Speaker 4: Yes, I wouldn't say it dictates so appropriations has I

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Speaker 4: think they have twelve subcommittees, and each subcommittee has a

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Speaker 4: certain area foreign policy, education, healthcare, different areas. Each of

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Speaker 4: those subcommittees, along with the members of those subcommittees, decide

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Speaker 4: how money is going to be allocated for the annual budget. Now,

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Speaker 4: if you're not on those committees, they reach out to

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Speaker 4: us to get feedback from us so that we can

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Speaker 4: have input in terms of where the money goes. There's

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Speaker 4: also something called community project funding, so each member. Obama

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Speaker 4: stopped this, but Biden brought it back. Each member is

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Speaker 4: allowed to designate last time, it was fifteen times before

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Speaker 4: that was ten, a certain amount of community projects that

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Speaker 4: you want to provide funding to. For example, there's a

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Speaker 4: YMCA and Yonkers.

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Speaker 6: We worked with the CEO of.

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Speaker 4: Yonkers YMCA to bring in half a million dollars so

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Speaker 4: that they could fund their pool and get it upgraded.

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Speaker 4: We did the same thing with the newer Shell Boys

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Speaker 4: and Girls Love to help them provide additional after school programming.

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Speaker 4: Worked with the Mount Vernon Mental Health Public Health Center

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Speaker 4: so that they can provide mental health services for seniors,

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Speaker 4: so things like that. We so far we've helped fund

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Speaker 4: twenty We're going to help fund twenty five programs over

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Speaker 4: my first two years and hope to do more next year.

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Speaker 4: So there's the general budget where we're like, okay, you're

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Speaker 4: not funding education enough. There's only like one hundred million

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Speaker 4: in there. We want to up that to four hundred million.

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Speaker 6: Boom.

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Speaker 4: They don't have to do it, but we make the suggestion.

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Speaker 4: And then the last thing I'll add to that is

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Speaker 4: before we do our budget, the president comes out with

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Speaker 4: his budget and his priorities, and so ideally we would

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Speaker 4: work in alignment with the president presidents by our priorities,

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Speaker 4: if the presidents are part of our party and aligned

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Speaker 4: with what the people are saying. But that's always icy

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Speaker 4: because again, and I want to make this point again,

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Speaker 4: there are lobbies that digt hat how we spend our

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Speaker 4: money in Congress, and they are very powerful lobbies like

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Speaker 4: the military industrial complex for turner order, police, fossil fuel companies,

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Speaker 4: pharmaceutical companies.

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Speaker 6: They literally contact.

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Speaker 4: Us every day to make sure we not only support

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Speaker 4: the policies they want, but when we fund the budget,

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Speaker 4: we fund it in alignment with what they want.

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Speaker 6: So that's a big part of that as well.

437
00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:31,440
Speaker 4: It's not just you know me, because I don't take

438
00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:35,480
Speaker 4: corporate pac money and I don't meet with lobbyists. I

439
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:38,320
Speaker 4: don't have a problem hanging up a phone and not

440
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,560
Speaker 4: takeing a call from a corporation because my focus is

441
00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:44,679
Speaker 4: on what are the people in the community telling me,

442
00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:46,000
Speaker 4: and I try to work with that.

443
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:50,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, you said you're the vice chair of you said education, science,

444
00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,560
Speaker 2: and them vice chair of editing Labor, Labor. Yeah, and

445
00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 2: so one of the things.

446
00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:58,879
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, chair of the Energy Subcommittee on Science, Space

447
00:24:58,920 --> 00:24:59,320
Speaker 4: and Tech.

448
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean rooted in education still. And one of

449
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:05,560
Speaker 2: the things I know you were very very advied about was,

450
00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:09,760
Speaker 2: you know, standardized testing. And so I wonder, I mean,

451
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,000
Speaker 2: because we talked about this very early on in any

452
00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:13,840
Speaker 2: leisure with like the business of standardized tests, and that

453
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:16,240
Speaker 2: you are a strong opponent against it. I wonder at this

454
00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:18,840
Speaker 2: point how much support is that GUD And is that

455
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:21,880
Speaker 2: still something that you see as something that our kids

456
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:22,800
Speaker 2: shouldn't be subjected to.

457
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:26,040
Speaker 4: It gets a lot of support in terms of ending

458
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:30,960
Speaker 4: how we use them. Right now, the majority of scholars

459
00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:33,800
Speaker 4: and people who work in the space understand that we

460
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,760
Speaker 4: overuse and misuse them. And we've been doing that for

461
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:40,560
Speaker 4: twenty years, and our goal has been to use them

462
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:43,000
Speaker 4: to close the achievement gap, but that's not how you

463
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:45,800
Speaker 4: close the achievement gap. You close it by providing early

464
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:49,520
Speaker 4: child education and other things. Right, So a lot of

465
00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:52,760
Speaker 4: people still would like to see them go away, but

466
00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:58,440
Speaker 4: there's a powerful lobby that wants to keep testing proliferating

467
00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:01,399
Speaker 4: because there's a lot of money and standard tests. That

468
00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,720
Speaker 4: same lobby works in alignment with, like the charter school lobby,

469
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:08,919
Speaker 4: because there's a relationship between standardized test scores, charter schools,

470
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:11,840
Speaker 4: and actually making a profit. And that's why you see

471
00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:16,920
Speaker 4: a lot of like celebrities and entertainers open in charter schools. Yes,

472
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:18,679
Speaker 4: they want to open them schools and give back and

473
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:20,719
Speaker 4: do well for the community, but there's also a profit

474
00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:22,960
Speaker 4: to be made in charter schools, which is why I

475
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 4: shout out to Lebron James. He opened up a public school,

476
00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:33,359
Speaker 4: which I appreciate, but yeah, for me, like, our kids

477
00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:35,800
Speaker 4: are brilliant in a variety of ways, and our people

478
00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:39,320
Speaker 4: are brilliant, our culture is brilliant, and trying to reduce

479
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:43,399
Speaker 4: our intelligence to a standardized test score takes away our

480
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:48,000
Speaker 4: natural brilliance and intelligence. So for me, it was always about, Okay,

481
00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:51,440
Speaker 4: what does research tell us and what do we know

482
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:54,480
Speaker 4: that we need to do in schools to really put

483
00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:59,800
Speaker 4: our kids in a position to drive creativity, innovation, STEM,

484
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:05,640
Speaker 4: financial literacy, project based learning. These are civics, Like, these

485
00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:08,880
Speaker 4: things are not part of the school curriculum and if

486
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:14,159
Speaker 4: they were, our kids will graduate better prepared to be entrepreneurs,

487
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:16,880
Speaker 4: to be you know, to start the new tech company,

488
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:19,719
Speaker 4: to do the different things that I know and we

489
00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:22,280
Speaker 4: know they're capable of doing. So we're actually going to

490
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:26,200
Speaker 4: introduce a bill and pushing to end and you will

491
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:29,880
Speaker 4: standardized testing and give states the flexibility on how they

492
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:32,120
Speaker 4: want to how they want to go about doing it.

493
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 4: And uh, that's going to be a big We're going

494
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:36,840
Speaker 4: to introduce that soon.

495
00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:41,560
Speaker 3: So let's let's have this lobbyist conversation. So all right,

496
00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:45,280
Speaker 3: so lobbyists controlled politicians for the most part, right, yes,

497
00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:49,960
Speaker 3: So the lobbyists, Uh, you got the tobacco lobbyist Israel,

498
00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:54,360
Speaker 3: you got you said, the prison lobbyists. And they put

499
00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:59,280
Speaker 3: pressure on politicians and they say, what did that I

500
00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:01,360
Speaker 3: can do? They say, they say, we'll fund your campaign,

501
00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:04,160
Speaker 3: but we need this done and if you don't do this,

502
00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,760
Speaker 3: then you're not gonna be like, we will stop funding

503
00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:11,000
Speaker 3: you're gonna fund your opposition, yes, and you're gonna.

504
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:11,760
Speaker 6: Make life hard for you.

505
00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:16,200
Speaker 3: Correct, So explain the process.

506
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:21,280
Speaker 4: Yeah, so Street J Street? So J Street actually endorsed me.

507
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:23,520
Speaker 3: That's what all little lobbyists are located.

508
00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:28,280
Speaker 4: Right, No, no, no, J Street is a pro Israel Jewish

509
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,959
Speaker 4: organization that's fighting for a two state solutions in Israel.

510
00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:36,080
Speaker 3: What's the what's the street in we call K Street?

511
00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:40,600
Speaker 4: I want to say it's K Street. Again, I don't

512
00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:42,720
Speaker 4: know because I'll meet with them, but it's K Street.

513
00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:44,960
Speaker 3: That's where all the lobbyists have office in K Street.

514
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:45,600
Speaker 6: Correct.

515
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:48,480
Speaker 4: So basically when I'm at work, I just see mad

516
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:50,520
Speaker 4: white people en suits. I have no idea who they are,

517
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:53,280
Speaker 4: what they're doing walking around, just meeting with everybody. Right,

518
00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:57,840
Speaker 4: So that that's basically what it is. So I forget

519
00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:00,840
Speaker 4: the policy. But corporations have figure it out. How they

520
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:07,440
Speaker 4: use the fourteenth Amendment where corporations are now considered people

521
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:12,560
Speaker 4: and money is considered free speech. And because of that

522
00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:22,200
Speaker 4: dynamic people can lobbyists can create independent expenditures and super

523
00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:28,440
Speaker 4: packs and fun congressional campaigns at an unlimited rate where

524
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:30,760
Speaker 4: they could spend any amount of money they want to

525
00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:34,840
Speaker 4: fund the congressional campaigns. Now, someone like me who don't

526
00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:38,160
Speaker 4: work with super packs, I only take individual donations, right,

527
00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:42,280
Speaker 4: so my average donation is about forty bucks and the

528
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:44,200
Speaker 4: max you could give me is fifty eight hundred for

529
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 4: an election cycle. But through the super pac people could

530
00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:51,360
Speaker 4: throw ten fifty hundred thousand in there and not even

531
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:53,760
Speaker 4: have to disclose where the money came from, which is

532
00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:57,720
Speaker 4: called dark money, and control how the election cycle works.

533
00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:01,800
Speaker 4: So it's not just members of Congress. Is media because

534
00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:05,520
Speaker 4: they pay for television ads, social media ads and all

535
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:08,200
Speaker 4: of that and push the narrative that they want through

536
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:10,920
Speaker 4: propaganda to make sure one person wins, one person loses.

537
00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:12,720
Speaker 4: And so.

538
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:15,960
Speaker 6: You know, if.

539
00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:24,680
Speaker 4: Phizer, you know, pharmaceutical company, any pharmaceucal company supports a

540
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:28,840
Speaker 4: bill that they want to see us support, they'll call

541
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:31,400
Speaker 4: us and ask us to support a bill and tell

542
00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:35,120
Speaker 4: us why and not but any lobby any uh, and

543
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:35,760
Speaker 4: they'll tell.

544
00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:38,200
Speaker 6: Us why, and then they'll.

545
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:42,480
Speaker 4: A conversation will be had around you know, come to

546
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:45,240
Speaker 4: this event, let's have a conversation. Let us do a

547
00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:48,680
Speaker 4: fundraiser for you, et cetera, et cetera, pretty much putting

548
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:50,920
Speaker 4: money in your war chest to get you ready for

549
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:55,600
Speaker 4: the next race. And again, someone like me, the squad,

550
00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:58,640
Speaker 4: we don't take any corporate money, so we don't really

551
00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:01,920
Speaker 4: fall into that, but the majority of my colleagues all do.

552
00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:05,840
Speaker 4: And that's why when people say why don't things get

553
00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:09,120
Speaker 4: done in Washington, it's because of big money in politics.

554
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:14,720
Speaker 4: That's like the short quick answer, because big money stacks

555
00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:19,080
Speaker 4: on top of big money, and Republicans are you know,

556
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:20,720
Speaker 4: you know, I don't want to get partis in here,

557
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:25,120
Speaker 4: but Republicans tend to give big tax breaks to the

558
00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:29,760
Speaker 4: wealthiest individuals and corporations, and then those wealthy individuals then

559
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:36,560
Speaker 4: reinvest in not just stock buybacks, but also like congressional campaigns,

560
00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:42,120
Speaker 4: Senate campaigns, super packs, stark money, et cetera, so that

561
00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:43,880
Speaker 4: they can make sure people that will can you just

562
00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:47,120
Speaker 4: continue to support their wealth, will be re elected every

563
00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:48,120
Speaker 4: year going forward.

564
00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 2: So you're the only male member of the squad, Yes, sir, Yeah,

565
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:54,400
Speaker 2: So I mean obviously you have these packs and you

566
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:58,240
Speaker 2: have these obvious lobbyists. Because running a campaign is super

567
00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:00,920
Speaker 2: it could be expensive, right, So if you're taking like,

568
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 2: I don't think people really understand the price associated with

569
00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:05,760
Speaker 2: running a successful campaign. Can you talk about that.

570
00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:06,360
Speaker 3: Yeah.

571
00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:11,040
Speaker 4: So when I decided, I decided to run in my

572
00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:15,400
Speaker 4: head spring twenty nineteen for the election in twenty twenty

573
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:17,880
Speaker 4: and first thing I did. First of all, I never

574
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:21,440
Speaker 4: ran for any office before in my life, but I

575
00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:24,760
Speaker 4: did the math as I started thinking about it. The

576
00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:28,600
Speaker 4: previous election cycle, Congressman Elliot Ingle, who used to be

577
00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:31,920
Speaker 4: the congressman, had won with only twenty two thousand votes.

578
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:35,400
Speaker 6: Even though there's like, what.

579
00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:41,200
Speaker 4: Three hundred thousand registered Democrats in the district, only thirty

580
00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:43,560
Speaker 4: thousand people voted and he won with twenty two thousand posts.

581
00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:46,680
Speaker 4: I'm like, damn, this dude's in Congress making decisions that's

582
00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:49,640
Speaker 4: impacting all our lives with only twenty two thousand votes.

583
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:52,040
Speaker 4: So I said to myself, I was like, I could

584
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:55,920
Speaker 4: I could knock on twenty three thousand doors myself and win.

585
00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 6: That was my mindset.

586
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:01,200
Speaker 4: So I started calling family and friends and just telling

587
00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:03,360
Speaker 4: them I was thinking about running. What they think, just

588
00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:05,440
Speaker 4: getting feedback, and everybody was like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

589
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:08,440
Speaker 4: everybody except my wife and my mother in law and

590
00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:08,960
Speaker 4: my mother.

591
00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:11,400
Speaker 6: Uh, everybody else's.

592
00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:14,440
Speaker 4: Was pretty was pretty cool with it. So, but you

593
00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:17,720
Speaker 4: don't know what you're getting into. So when I when

594
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:22,000
Speaker 4: I started calling, I found this organization called Justice Democrats,

595
00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,640
Speaker 4: which is the same organization that endorsed the Squad and

596
00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:28,520
Speaker 4: helped them to win. So when they met me, they

597
00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:30,560
Speaker 4: was like, Yeah, we're gonna endorse you too. You're gonna

598
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:34,320
Speaker 4: be our first endorsement since AOC, and we're gonna help

599
00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:36,640
Speaker 4: you hit the ground running. So because of them and

600
00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:40,280
Speaker 4: because of their their weight, because of the Squad, when

601
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:43,200
Speaker 4: I when I launched it was it hit the cover

602
00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:45,800
Speaker 4: of the New York Times is a story and that

603
00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:49,080
Speaker 4: helped us generate initial money to print flyers that we

604
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:51,120
Speaker 4: then started giving out as we were knocking on doors.

605
00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:54,600
Speaker 4: And this was a year out. But even before that,

606
00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:57,200
Speaker 4: first thing I did was call everybody in my cell

607
00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:59,440
Speaker 4: phone and tell them I was running and asked them

608
00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:03,360
Speaker 4: to donate to the campaign whatever they could afford. But

609
00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:05,960
Speaker 4: I was asking like depending on you know, you know

610
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:07,600
Speaker 4: who got a little bit of money, so you asked

611
00:34:07,600 --> 00:34:10,960
Speaker 4: for like a thousand, or you know someone who don't

612
00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:12,480
Speaker 4: got that much money asked for like one hundred, two

613
00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:15,920
Speaker 4: hundred whatever. So I called everybody on my phone, raised

614
00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:19,520
Speaker 4: like thirty thousand just from my phone. The article hit

615
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:23,120
Speaker 4: raised another couple thousand and then a big part of

616
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:26,799
Speaker 4: running is just calling complete strangers for money, like just

617
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:30,719
Speaker 4: just you know. What we tried to do is call

618
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:37,480
Speaker 4: people who had donated to like Bernie Sanders, Leana Prasley's squad,

619
00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:40,880
Speaker 4: people donated to other politicians who are like minded. So

620
00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:43,280
Speaker 4: we'll call them and be like, I'm Jamal Bowman running

621
00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:46,120
Speaker 4: for Congress near sixteen, I'm endorsed by the Justice Democrats.

622
00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:48,759
Speaker 4: Boom boom for I'm an educated boom. And then they'll

623
00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:51,640
Speaker 4: be like, all right, I'll send you. And then we

624
00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:55,720
Speaker 4: was doing that like thirty to forty hours a week,

625
00:34:56,680 --> 00:34:58,800
Speaker 4: you know. And at the beginning, I was still working

626
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:02,920
Speaker 4: full time as a principal, which I ultimately resigned a

627
00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:06,319
Speaker 4: few months later. And then you're just doing a bunch

628
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:10,680
Speaker 4: of calls and meeting greets constantly to get yourself out there.

629
00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:14,960
Speaker 4: So that was it, and we raised, we were raising.

630
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:19,160
Speaker 4: We raised two point six million overall my first cycle,

631
00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:23,480
Speaker 4: which is good. But the reason why it jumped to

632
00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,920
Speaker 4: a high level, we were at like seven hundred and

633
00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:29,600
Speaker 4: fifty thousand, and then Congressman ain't gona made a big mistake.

634
00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:32,400
Speaker 4: I don't know if you heard the hot mic moment

635
00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:35,440
Speaker 4: but he says something on the hot mic and it

636
00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:39,640
Speaker 4: was caught and when that happened, it went viral and

637
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:44,080
Speaker 4: we raised like one hundred grand that day, ninety grand

638
00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:47,160
Speaker 4: the next day, and average raising seventy grand every day

639
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:57,359
Speaker 4: up until election. So George Floyd was murdered. There were

640
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:02,400
Speaker 4: protests all over the country, protests on Fordham Road with

641
00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:06,320
Speaker 4: some property was damaged and elected the leaders. Elected leaders

642
00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:09,520
Speaker 4: came through uh To to have a press conference to

643
00:36:10,239 --> 00:36:12,279
Speaker 4: you know what elected leaders do, calm down on the

644
00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:18,360
Speaker 4: shutting property whatever. So he you see him coming to

645
00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:21,920
Speaker 4: the screen, coming to the shot where they're at the podium,

646
00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:24,480
Speaker 4: and he asked to speak. I guess he arrived late.

647
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:28,279
Speaker 4: He asked to speak, and Ruben Diaz Jr. Was telling

648
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:29,960
Speaker 4: him like, now we got a lot of speakers. You

649
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:32,239
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying, it's pandemonium right here. We don't

650
00:36:32,239 --> 00:36:32,600
Speaker 4: have time.

651
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:33,360
Speaker 6: Let you speak.

652
00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:35,800
Speaker 4: And he pulls down his mask and he says, I

653
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:39,360
Speaker 4: if I didn't have a primary, I wasn't care. And

654
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:41,799
Speaker 4: Rubert was like, what did you say?

655
00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:42,719
Speaker 6: You said it again.

656
00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:44,040
Speaker 4: He was like, if I didn't have a primary, I

657
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:47,560
Speaker 4: wasn't care. So I didn't see this happen in real time.

658
00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:53,200
Speaker 4: Someone I was doing call time and someone hit me.

659
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:55,279
Speaker 4: He was like, you heard what Ingle just said. I

660
00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:56,879
Speaker 4: was like, well, you talking about it? Like he said,

661
00:36:56,880 --> 00:36:59,680
Speaker 4: if he didn't didn't have a primary, wouldn't care. I

662
00:36:59,719 --> 00:37:01,080
Speaker 4: was like, I don't know what you're talking the about.

663
00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:03,319
Speaker 4: I'm doing calls on. It was like, go to Facebook Live,

664
00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:06,960
Speaker 4: rewind to the beginning and watch it. So we watched

665
00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:09,120
Speaker 4: it and I'm like, oh shit. So we had the

666
00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:12,640
Speaker 4: westapp chat with the comms team and I'm like, Yo,

667
00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:14,560
Speaker 4: did y'all see this? There's like now. I was like, yo,

668
00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:17,239
Speaker 4: rewind to this moment when Ingle comes in.

669
00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:18,960
Speaker 6: They saw it.

670
00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:23,480
Speaker 4: They they cut it, and they tried to give it

671
00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:26,839
Speaker 4: to News twelve Westchester and they didn't know what they had.

672
00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:28,400
Speaker 4: They didn't understand what's going on. So we gave it

673
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:30,319
Speaker 4: to New York one and by the end of that

674
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:31,640
Speaker 4: day this was the morning. By the end of the

675
00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:36,319
Speaker 4: day had one point one million views and it and

676
00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:40,200
Speaker 4: it led every local news station across the country. And

677
00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:41,719
Speaker 4: that's how we were able to raise.

678
00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:45,320
Speaker 6: That money and ride that momentum.

679
00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:47,760
Speaker 4: And next day we got the LC endorsement, then Bernie

680
00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:49,160
Speaker 4: and then Elizabeth Warren.

681
00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:51,080
Speaker 6: It was just crazy man.

682
00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:54,080
Speaker 4: But yeah, we you know, so we were able just

683
00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:56,480
Speaker 4: one last thing because we were able to raise that money.

684
00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:59,120
Speaker 4: You know, they had all these negative attack ads and

685
00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:01,680
Speaker 4: these commercials where they were attacking me for not paying

686
00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:04,440
Speaker 4: my taxes twenty years ago. Like so I completely forgot

687
00:38:04,719 --> 00:38:06,360
Speaker 4: it was actually wrong because when I looked it up,

688
00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:08,880
Speaker 4: I actually paid them. But you know, the ads were like,

689
00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:11,120
Speaker 4: you know, type in Jamal Bowman, then you'll see that,

690
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:15,080
Speaker 4: you know, he doesn't pay his taxes. And the funny

691
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:17,800
Speaker 4: thing about that is wear one the money we raised

692
00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:20,799
Speaker 4: was helpful in counteracting those, so they didn't have a

693
00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:23,560
Speaker 4: big impact. But also too, it made me more like

694
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:25,719
Speaker 4: indeering with the people because people was like, yo, I

695
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:30,080
Speaker 4: owe way more than that. You're trying to say way

696
00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:30,640
Speaker 4: more than.

697
00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:31,719
Speaker 6: That right now, you know.

698
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:35,359
Speaker 4: So it obviously all worked out and that's all they

699
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:38,279
Speaker 4: had because you know former Congressman know it was there

700
00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:42,440
Speaker 4: thirty one years chair the Foreign Affairs Committee. You know,

701
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,600
Speaker 4: his most important topic was supporting the state of Israel.

702
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:52,040
Speaker 4: And he had neglected the district, you know, Mount Vernon Yonkers.

703
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,120
Speaker 4: They hadn't seen him. He didn't even live in the

704
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:58,120
Speaker 4: district anymore. So yeah, you know, he was able to

705
00:38:58,160 --> 00:38:59,680
Speaker 4: win big one, big, big.

706
00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:03,840
Speaker 3: So how are you able to not take money from

707
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:08,320
Speaker 3: corporates or a lobby is when I mean they can, well,

708
00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:11,759
Speaker 3: all right, the first time I can see because it

709
00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:14,200
Speaker 3: kind of happened with the George Floyd situation. He says,

710
00:39:14,239 --> 00:39:16,879
Speaker 3: so stupid, and then it just kind of what now

711
00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:20,120
Speaker 3: if they want to go against you and have an opposition,

712
00:39:20,680 --> 00:39:22,440
Speaker 3: how were you able to you know, withstand that.

713
00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:27,880
Speaker 4: Yeah, So we just finished a primary cycle where I

714
00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:30,040
Speaker 4: had a couple of challengers who were able to raise

715
00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:33,360
Speaker 4: pretty decent money. You know, they spent almost a little

716
00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:38,040
Speaker 4: over a million against me to win, and we were

717
00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:41,279
Speaker 4: able to raise over a million again, and you know,

718
00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:43,080
Speaker 4: just so we could do our commercials and everything we

719
00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:47,360
Speaker 4: need to do. You know, Bernie Sanders created the blueprint

720
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:50,680
Speaker 4: pretty much in twenty sixteen, so when he also doesn't

721
00:39:50,719 --> 00:39:54,640
Speaker 4: take corporate pack money, and when he ran, he was

722
00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:58,600
Speaker 4: raising tens of millions of dollars with just small dollar contributions.

723
00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:01,439
Speaker 4: I mean, there's three hundred milli people in the country, right,

724
00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:04,480
Speaker 4: and if everyone gave a dollar, that's three hundred million, right,

725
00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:09,480
Speaker 4: So small dollar contributions from a large amount of people

726
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,640
Speaker 4: who really want to see progressive change. Who really, you know,

727
00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:18,600
Speaker 4: recognize that, you know, our government has been inadequate for

728
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:21,480
Speaker 4: a number of years, and we want to see change.

729
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:24,320
Speaker 4: We want to see radical change and to be honest,

730
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:26,520
Speaker 4: that was part of Trump's appeal as well, you know,

731
00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:29,879
Speaker 4: as outside of coming in, and he had a lot

732
00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:33,600
Speaker 4: of support as well. But Bernie created the blueprint. It

733
00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:37,480
Speaker 4: was modeled again by the squad. They were able to

734
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:40,239
Speaker 4: raise good money and won. So when we ran, the

735
00:40:40,239 --> 00:40:43,080
Speaker 4: blueprint was already there. So when I started making my calls,

736
00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:46,560
Speaker 4: and that's a big part of it, just downing for dollars.

737
00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:49,520
Speaker 4: When I started making my calls, there was already like

738
00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:53,239
Speaker 4: an infrastructure in place to support progressive candidates like me

739
00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:57,560
Speaker 4: with money to help us run for office. And now

740
00:40:58,200 --> 00:41:01,799
Speaker 4: you know, that's kind of in cruise control right now

741
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:06,000
Speaker 4: because now I got like people have decided to give

742
00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:08,680
Speaker 4: x amount per month to my campaign.

743
00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:12,200
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744
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745
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746
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747
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748
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749
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Speaker 4: No matter what, so I did, like you know, a

775
00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:06,120
Speaker 4: few hundred to a few thousand dollars every day just

776
00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:10,120
Speaker 4: on the strength, you know, of what I've done so far.

777
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:13,720
Speaker 4: But we're actually trying to take that to the next level.

778
00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:15,879
Speaker 4: And that's one of the things I wanted to mention,

779
00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:19,040
Speaker 4: you know when I knew I was coming here, is

780
00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:21,640
Speaker 4: the power of the black dollar. I know y'all talk

781
00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:27,600
Speaker 4: about that a lot, and the untapped potential of our money,

782
00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:31,280
Speaker 4: not just from a from a finance and an investment standpoint,

783
00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:34,520
Speaker 4: but from a political power standpoint. You know, if we

784
00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:38,680
Speaker 4: were to leverage our collective dollar, we could become a

785
00:43:38,719 --> 00:43:42,880
Speaker 4: powerful lobby that could then move things in Congress in

786
00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:43,560
Speaker 4: a way when.

787
00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:46,920
Speaker 3: You said we could be in who's we well, black people, the.

788
00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:50,120
Speaker 4: Black people, the culture people who are disengaged right now.

789
00:43:50,719 --> 00:43:54,800
Speaker 3: So if there was a black lobby. Who's the strongest lobby.

790
00:43:54,640 --> 00:43:57,040
Speaker 6: In Washington, the Israel lobby.

791
00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:01,080
Speaker 4: I would argue an apex apac apex of a strong lobby.

792
00:44:01,920 --> 00:44:06,880
Speaker 4: The fossil fuel lobby is also very strong, probably pharmaceutical

793
00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:07,600
Speaker 4: health insurance.

794
00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:10,040
Speaker 3: Let's use this ape as example. So a PAK is

795
00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:12,920
Speaker 3: the what is that staying for whatever? Israel?

796
00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:16,160
Speaker 4: It's a pro a pro Israel lobby.

797
00:44:16,200 --> 00:44:19,040
Speaker 3: Yes, so all right, let's say black people wanted to

798
00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:24,719
Speaker 3: have a lobby that's strong. What break down that lobby? Like,

799
00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:26,400
Speaker 3: how do what does that lobby look like?

800
00:44:27,239 --> 00:44:30,759
Speaker 4: Well, they are using a pack as an example. They

801
00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:34,200
Speaker 4: are relentless and ensuring that members of Congress support the

802
00:44:34,200 --> 00:44:37,040
Speaker 4: state of Israel. Like what does that mean, like support

803
00:44:37,120 --> 00:44:41,040
Speaker 4: Israel's right to exist or else or we're not rocking

804
00:44:41,080 --> 00:44:46,919
Speaker 4: with you. I'm athlete, Yeah, take you off, Yes.

805
00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:48,240
Speaker 2: Take the dollars, take your position, and.

806
00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:51,359
Speaker 4: Well yes, I mean so it's it's interesting because there

807
00:44:51,360 --> 00:44:54,040
Speaker 4: are members of Congress who are progressive who support the

808
00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:57,600
Speaker 4: state of Israel. I'm one included, right, but I also

809
00:44:57,680 --> 00:45:00,480
Speaker 4: talk about Palestinian rights and making sure that we end

810
00:45:00,520 --> 00:45:05,000
Speaker 4: the occupation and uplift Palestinian humanity. So I'm one of

811
00:45:05,040 --> 00:45:07,480
Speaker 4: a few who does this. The majority of members of

812
00:45:07,520 --> 00:45:10,920
Speaker 4: Congress don't really talk about Palestinian rights enough right, and

813
00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:14,279
Speaker 4: that particular lobby APAC don't really care about that. They

814
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:17,360
Speaker 4: rock with you support to say to Israel, you support

815
00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:20,040
Speaker 4: our right to defend ourselves exists, blah blah blah blah blah.

816
00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:23,280
Speaker 4: Boom will support you, and we'll support you with big numbers.

817
00:45:23,880 --> 00:45:27,399
Speaker 4: And me and the Squad in particular, and other progressives

818
00:45:27,440 --> 00:45:32,319
Speaker 4: who are Squad adjacent, they come after us consistently, and

819
00:45:32,360 --> 00:45:37,520
Speaker 4: not just with money and challengers, but also with media

820
00:45:37,719 --> 00:45:38,720
Speaker 4: and newspapers.

821
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:42,360
Speaker 6: You know, my primary opponents.

822
00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:47,160
Speaker 4: There's this publication called The Jewish Insider that was straight

823
00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:51,640
Speaker 4: up just they would just write mad glowing reviews about

824
00:45:51,680 --> 00:45:55,440
Speaker 4: my opponents and never wrote nothing glowing about me, you

825
00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:57,560
Speaker 4: know what I mean. So stuff like that also a

826
00:45:57,719 --> 00:46:01,280
Speaker 4: media impact, So boom they ride it out for Israel.

827
00:46:01,400 --> 00:46:05,240
Speaker 4: The question for me is black people, whether we riding

828
00:46:05,280 --> 00:46:08,640
Speaker 4: to dive for right? Like is it a nation? Is

829
00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:10,520
Speaker 4: it a ten point plan?

830
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:10,960
Speaker 6: Is it?

831
00:46:10,960 --> 00:46:14,520
Speaker 4: Whatever it is? And then the pack or the lobby

832
00:46:15,560 --> 00:46:19,319
Speaker 4: can raise money in alignment with that agenda and make

833
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:22,680
Speaker 4: sure members of Congress support that agenda to be supported

834
00:46:22,719 --> 00:46:25,600
Speaker 4: by this lobby that has yet to be created.

835
00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:28,360
Speaker 3: So, like, what's the infrastructure in place like they have?

836
00:46:29,480 --> 00:46:31,840
Speaker 3: Like if we wanted to create a lobby, right, what

837
00:46:31,920 --> 00:46:33,120
Speaker 3: do you need to create a lobby?

838
00:46:33,160 --> 00:46:33,239
Speaker 6: Like?

839
00:46:33,280 --> 00:46:36,280
Speaker 3: You need all right, so obviously you have the money,

840
00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:38,440
Speaker 3: but you so you have to have fundraisers that are

841
00:46:38,440 --> 00:46:41,439
Speaker 3: connected to actually fundraising all over the world. In that case,

842
00:46:41,440 --> 00:46:43,000
Speaker 3: they're fundraising money from all over the world.

843
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:43,279
Speaker 6: Right.

844
00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:47,080
Speaker 3: Then you have leadership inside the actual lobby. Then you

845
00:46:47,120 --> 00:46:50,240
Speaker 3: have point people that's actually working on the ground reaching

846
00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:52,120
Speaker 3: out to the congressman, to the senators.

847
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:56,600
Speaker 4: Those are like lobbyss, lobby is Yeah, so all of

848
00:46:56,600 --> 00:46:59,839
Speaker 4: those fall into place when developing a lobby. Yes, well

849
00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:03,240
Speaker 4: under the umbrella of a pack, a political action committee,

850
00:47:03,239 --> 00:47:07,319
Speaker 4: political action committee. Yeah, so we have. So I ran

851
00:47:07,360 --> 00:47:09,960
Speaker 4: for Congress under the under bowman for Congress. That's just

852
00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:13,160
Speaker 4: my you know, it's actually a business when you think

853
00:47:13,160 --> 00:47:15,759
Speaker 4: about it, Boma for Congress. I ran for Congress. I

854
00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:20,560
Speaker 4: just recently started a leadership pack where it's called for

855
00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:23,400
Speaker 4: the Children Pack, where I'm going to be raising money

856
00:47:24,239 --> 00:47:28,160
Speaker 4: to support other progressive candidates and causes across the country

857
00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:31,640
Speaker 4: related to kids. They're also super packs and this is

858
00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:34,400
Speaker 4: where some of that dark money stuff comes into play.

859
00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:39,879
Speaker 4: The main point for me regarding this lobby piece when

860
00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:41,960
Speaker 4: I got to as soon as I won my election.

861
00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:44,879
Speaker 4: The next day in my mail, I was hearing from

862
00:47:44,920 --> 00:47:49,480
Speaker 4: the pro life lobby. They sent me like twenty postcards

863
00:47:50,040 --> 00:47:53,840
Speaker 4: pro life protecting unborn blah blah blah blah boom. My

864
00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:58,200
Speaker 4: office consistent, consistently gets called from multiple lobbies about around

865
00:47:58,239 --> 00:48:03,680
Speaker 4: multiple issues. We rarely, if ever, get calls from a

866
00:48:03,719 --> 00:48:04,440
Speaker 4: black lobby.

867
00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:05,600
Speaker 6: For lack of a better.

868
00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:09,560
Speaker 4: Term, that's an infrastructure that needs to be stronger. There

869
00:48:09,560 --> 00:48:10,680
Speaker 4: are pieces to it.

870
00:48:11,120 --> 00:48:13,200
Speaker 3: But do you think that it's like, all right, so

871
00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:16,680
Speaker 3: like let's take Israel. They can have a main focus

872
00:48:16,719 --> 00:48:21,120
Speaker 3: for one issue. Yes, the state of Israel protected, make

873
00:48:21,160 --> 00:48:26,279
Speaker 3: sure it's thriving, whatever, But black people, it's so many

874
00:48:26,280 --> 00:48:29,799
Speaker 3: different issues. So it's like you got reparations, you got

875
00:48:29,800 --> 00:48:33,799
Speaker 3: criminal justice reform, you got education, and then so do

876
00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:35,960
Speaker 3: you think that that makes it harder? It would it

877
00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:39,360
Speaker 3: be easier to start a pack for one issue, like

878
00:48:39,440 --> 00:48:43,160
Speaker 3: a reparations pack just or like you know what I'm saying,

879
00:48:43,239 --> 00:48:45,800
Speaker 3: you're trying to cover thirty five different things.

880
00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:51,680
Speaker 4: Yes, right, and reparations could be that thing, because that's

881
00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:56,920
Speaker 4: the thing that kind of touches everything right. So, and

882
00:48:56,960 --> 00:49:01,600
Speaker 4: the thing about reparations, this is the Congress where reparations

883
00:49:01,719 --> 00:49:04,560
Speaker 4: was actually voted out of committee. So let me just

884
00:49:04,600 --> 00:49:07,560
Speaker 4: explain that real quick. When I introduce a bill, when

885
00:49:07,600 --> 00:49:10,560
Speaker 4: any member of Congress introduces a bill, that bill is

886
00:49:10,600 --> 00:49:15,600
Speaker 4: assigned to the committee based on the content the hrial forty,

887
00:49:15,640 --> 00:49:18,200
Speaker 4: the reparations bill, or the bill to form a committee

888
00:49:18,239 --> 00:49:22,160
Speaker 4: to study the potential need for reparations, that bill is

889
00:49:22,200 --> 00:49:26,640
Speaker 4: always assigned to the Judicial Committee, the excuse me, Judiciary Committee.

890
00:49:27,680 --> 00:49:31,400
Speaker 4: This was the first Congress that that committee actually marked

891
00:49:31,400 --> 00:49:35,600
Speaker 4: it up, meaning they looked at the bill, they discussed

892
00:49:35,600 --> 00:49:40,279
Speaker 4: potential amendments, they had debate and conversation in committee, and

893
00:49:40,320 --> 00:49:43,200
Speaker 4: then it was voted on in committee to come out

894
00:49:43,200 --> 00:49:45,080
Speaker 4: of committee to now be brought to the floor for

895
00:49:45,239 --> 00:49:47,879
Speaker 4: a vote. First time it's happened in history. And it's

896
00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:51,359
Speaker 4: been introduced for thirty years in a row. Thirty yeah,

897
00:49:51,360 --> 00:49:56,960
Speaker 4: thirty years in a row. But and it has two

898
00:49:57,040 --> 00:49:59,480
Speaker 4: hundred and sixteen co sponsors, and the magic number in

899
00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:02,319
Speaker 4: congresses to eighteen. You get to too, eighteen, you got

900
00:50:02,320 --> 00:50:06,840
Speaker 4: the votes you need for to pass. However, even though

901
00:50:06,960 --> 00:50:10,000
Speaker 4: it's not it has been voted out of committee.

902
00:50:10,200 --> 00:50:10,720
Speaker 6: It hasn't.

903
00:50:10,800 --> 00:50:14,359
Speaker 4: We haven't taken the House floor vote on it yet. Now,

904
00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:19,359
Speaker 4: let's say there was a reparations lobby or a reparations

905
00:50:21,640 --> 00:50:26,000
Speaker 4: pack with big money. This is the key big money,

906
00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:30,040
Speaker 4: because there are people lobbying for reparations, they don't got

907
00:50:30,040 --> 00:50:30,719
Speaker 4: the big.

908
00:50:30,480 --> 00:50:33,920
Speaker 6: Money with them. With big money, and when.

909
00:50:33,800 --> 00:50:37,000
Speaker 4: I say big money, you should say tens of millions.

910
00:50:36,600 --> 00:50:37,600
Speaker 6: Of dollars in this pack.

911
00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:41,319
Speaker 4: That would help to lean on leadership, to lean on

912
00:50:41,360 --> 00:50:44,560
Speaker 4: members of Congress to push to make sure this bill

913
00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:46,600
Speaker 4: comes to the floor for a vote. Me also say

914
00:50:46,600 --> 00:50:48,600
Speaker 4: this because it's not it's about money. Money is a

915
00:50:48,600 --> 00:50:52,040
Speaker 4: big thing. Also, the Congressional Black Caucus and some of

916
00:50:52,080 --> 00:50:55,520
Speaker 4: the other caucuses, can we could do better to leverage

917
00:50:55,520 --> 00:50:58,520
Speaker 4: our power to make sure this bill comes to the

918
00:50:58,560 --> 00:51:00,799
Speaker 4: floor for a vote. And we don't doing enough of that.

919
00:51:01,080 --> 00:51:05,239
Speaker 4: And that's where outside organizing and pushing us to do

920
00:51:05,280 --> 00:51:07,360
Speaker 4: it is really important. And that doesn't even take money.

921
00:51:07,360 --> 00:51:11,640
Speaker 4: That's just people agitating. So if the Congressional Black Caucus

922
00:51:11,680 --> 00:51:17,600
Speaker 4: theoretically was like we supporting no bill until reparation comes

923
00:51:17,600 --> 00:51:21,160
Speaker 4: to a full vote, we could do that. But we

924
00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:25,040
Speaker 4: haven't done that, which is very frustrating as a member

925
00:51:25,040 --> 00:51:28,040
Speaker 4: of the Black Caucus, because we have the numbers. No

926
00:51:28,239 --> 00:51:31,360
Speaker 4: bill can move through Congress without the Congressional Black Caucus.

927
00:51:32,200 --> 00:51:34,239
Speaker 4: The thing about it is, are we willing to take

928
00:51:34,280 --> 00:51:37,359
Speaker 4: the heat that's going to come from that? You know,

929
00:51:37,440 --> 00:51:40,319
Speaker 4: there's times in Congress where you got to make it.

930
00:51:40,440 --> 00:51:42,440
Speaker 4: You know, we've done it this year where we've taken

931
00:51:42,560 --> 00:51:46,080
Speaker 4: votes that people didn't understand that were very controversial, and

932
00:51:46,160 --> 00:51:49,680
Speaker 4: we've been dragged, like very publicly for it for a

933
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:51,560
Speaker 4: very long period of time. And the thing about that

934
00:51:51,719 --> 00:51:55,000
Speaker 4: is people use that to run against you. So you know,

935
00:51:55,760 --> 00:51:59,640
Speaker 4: people ran against me this cycle claiming, you know, my

936
00:51:59,760 --> 00:52:03,160
Speaker 4: lack support of Israel and I'm I'm an anti Semitic

937
00:52:03,840 --> 00:52:07,160
Speaker 4: and and you know I don't support jobs because I

938
00:52:07,239 --> 00:52:10,520
Speaker 4: vote against the infrastructure bill. And you know, it didn't

939
00:52:10,600 --> 00:52:14,719
Speaker 4: work because we we we always communicated honestly and authentically

940
00:52:14,719 --> 00:52:17,279
Speaker 4: with who we are. So anyway, it's the lobby, it's

941
00:52:17,280 --> 00:52:19,960
Speaker 4: the pack, and it's money behind it, but it's also

942
00:52:20,200 --> 00:52:24,719
Speaker 4: us just having the will and the courage to like

943
00:52:25,600 --> 00:52:28,760
Speaker 4: make decisions that will completely transform the system and leverage

944
00:52:28,760 --> 00:52:29,399
Speaker 4: our power in.

945
00:52:29,320 --> 00:52:29,839
Speaker 6: A real way.

946
00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:32,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, so just really quickly, I got a

947
00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:35,080
Speaker 2: couple of questions. The difference between pack and superpack is

948
00:52:35,080 --> 00:52:36,720
Speaker 2: just the amount of money that's put into each.

949
00:52:36,719 --> 00:52:40,200
Speaker 4: Well super pack, And I may get this wrong, so

950
00:52:40,280 --> 00:52:43,600
Speaker 4: forgive me, but super pack is a pack where you

951
00:52:43,719 --> 00:52:47,839
Speaker 4: put all kinds of money into it, and it could

952
00:52:47,840 --> 00:52:51,920
Speaker 4: be undisclosed and fall under the umbrella dark money. And

953
00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:53,759
Speaker 4: that's where you get into a place where now we

954
00:52:53,760 --> 00:52:57,680
Speaker 4: don't have a democracy anymore, we have like a an

955
00:52:57,680 --> 00:53:01,799
Speaker 4: oligarchy where money is controlling all of it. So I

956
00:53:01,840 --> 00:53:04,640
Speaker 4: would not probably start a super pack because I don't

957
00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:09,200
Speaker 4: want to get into that world. Having said that, you know,

958
00:53:09,560 --> 00:53:12,759
Speaker 4: I've learned that politics is a dirty business. It's way

959
00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:13,960
Speaker 4: dirtier than the streets.

960
00:53:14,040 --> 00:53:15,520
Speaker 6: It's way thirty all of it.

961
00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:17,839
Speaker 4: Right, So and I don't mean dirty in a way

962
00:53:17,920 --> 00:53:22,600
Speaker 4: like I mean, yes, it's corrupt and grimy, but you

963
00:53:22,680 --> 00:53:27,479
Speaker 4: gotta be ready to fight, like for real, because they're

964
00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:33,000
Speaker 4: people there there, their lobbies and packs out there with

965
00:53:33,200 --> 00:53:38,120
Speaker 4: power that don't care if you live or die, if

966
00:53:38,160 --> 00:53:40,359
Speaker 4: you're from a certain group, if you don't support this shit,

967
00:53:40,520 --> 00:53:42,359
Speaker 4: if you don't support what they support, they don't care

968
00:53:42,360 --> 00:53:44,920
Speaker 4: what happens to you. So now that I peep, it's

969
00:53:45,080 --> 00:53:47,680
Speaker 4: like that. It's like, okay, now I'm gonna move differently,

970
00:53:47,840 --> 00:53:49,440
Speaker 4: you know. The second term.

971
00:53:49,840 --> 00:53:51,920
Speaker 2: The other part was and you spoke about it right

972
00:53:51,920 --> 00:53:53,680
Speaker 2: in a bill. So I mean, obviously, as you look

973
00:53:53,680 --> 00:53:57,200
Speaker 2: at the economy now obviously infatians forty year high. When

974
00:53:57,239 --> 00:54:00,680
Speaker 2: you go into your office, you sit down like that,

975
00:54:00,719 --> 00:54:03,160
Speaker 2: like the process of creating the bill. What are the

976
00:54:03,160 --> 00:54:05,000
Speaker 2: things you're looking for, How you're trying to answer or

977
00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:06,360
Speaker 2: create solutions around the problem.

978
00:54:06,560 --> 00:54:07,400
Speaker 6: That's a great question.

979
00:54:07,520 --> 00:54:10,719
Speaker 4: So with the issue of inflation, a major component of

980
00:54:10,760 --> 00:54:14,399
Speaker 4: it is price gouging. So a lot of companies are

981
00:54:14,520 --> 00:54:19,400
Speaker 4: raising costs so that they can increase profit margins in

982
00:54:19,480 --> 00:54:23,040
Speaker 4: lieu of what's happening with the pandemic. So you know,

983
00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:26,480
Speaker 4: the economy was about to go into a depression. The

984
00:54:26,520 --> 00:54:31,880
Speaker 4: government infused money into the pockets of people through direct payments,

985
00:54:31,960 --> 00:54:35,880
Speaker 4: through the child tax credit, through some other means. Companies

986
00:54:35,880 --> 00:54:38,560
Speaker 4: saw people have more money and was like, we're going

987
00:54:38,640 --> 00:54:40,839
Speaker 4: to raise our prices a little bit just to make

988
00:54:40,880 --> 00:54:44,600
Speaker 4: sure we continue to make the profits we want. And

989
00:54:44,680 --> 00:54:47,359
Speaker 4: as a supply chain issue, which when you look at

990
00:54:47,360 --> 00:54:52,400
Speaker 4: supply and demand, you know, less supply more demand, high costs,

991
00:54:52,480 --> 00:54:56,280
Speaker 4: more profit right. So we introduced.

992
00:54:57,280 --> 00:54:58,000
Speaker 6: A few bills.

993
00:54:58,040 --> 00:55:02,359
Speaker 4: One is the Emergency Price State Mobilization Act, and this

994
00:55:02,520 --> 00:55:07,879
Speaker 4: bill proposes empowers the President to put price caps on

995
00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:13,919
Speaker 4: certain goods, so price cap on rent, price cap on groceries,

996
00:55:14,560 --> 00:55:18,080
Speaker 4: price cap on gas, certain areas where we're like, give

997
00:55:18,120 --> 00:55:20,799
Speaker 4: the president authority to do this so that we can

998
00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:25,120
Speaker 4: survive this inflation and what's happening now, so that people

999
00:55:25,160 --> 00:55:27,560
Speaker 4: are not struggling as much. So that was one bill

1000
00:55:27,600 --> 00:55:31,239
Speaker 4: we introduced. Another bill we introduced to something called the

1001
00:55:31,360 --> 00:55:38,160
Speaker 4: Ending Corporate Greed Act, which would tax corporate profits for

1002
00:55:38,239 --> 00:55:41,520
Speaker 4: a period of time at ninety percent so that we

1003
00:55:41,560 --> 00:55:44,600
Speaker 4: can reinvest in the areas we need, like universal childcare,

1004
00:55:44,600 --> 00:55:46,960
Speaker 4: because still we have millions of women who haven't returned

1005
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:49,640
Speaker 4: back to work. Now, ninety percent sounds like a lot,

1006
00:55:49,680 --> 00:55:53,920
Speaker 4: but even their profits have been so high since the pandemic,

1007
00:55:54,560 --> 00:55:56,960
Speaker 4: even if you tax their profits at ninety percent, they

1008
00:55:57,040 --> 00:55:59,800
Speaker 4: still make more of a profit than they did before

1009
00:55:59,840 --> 00:56:03,240
Speaker 4: the pandemic. So that's how much they've been they've been caking.

1010
00:56:03,239 --> 00:56:06,440
Speaker 4: So those are two pieces of legislation. One other piece

1011
00:56:06,480 --> 00:56:12,560
Speaker 4: that's not directly related to the inflation piece is something

1012
00:56:12,560 --> 00:56:16,880
Speaker 4: we call the Babies Over Billionaires Act. So unrealized capital

1013
00:56:16,920 --> 00:56:20,759
Speaker 4: gains right now is untaxed. It could be leveraged to

1014
00:56:21,800 --> 00:56:26,520
Speaker 4: uh to borrow against and and help companies and individuals

1015
00:56:26,520 --> 00:56:30,320
Speaker 4: to increase their wealth because it's not tax. The President

1016
00:56:30,400 --> 00:56:33,640
Speaker 4: offered a tax on capital gains, so people can't build

1017
00:56:33,680 --> 00:56:38,040
Speaker 4: their wealth without contributing. So we wrote a bill in

1018
00:56:38,080 --> 00:56:42,719
Speaker 4: alignment with the President's asked there Babies over Billionaires. So

1019
00:56:42,760 --> 00:56:46,000
Speaker 4: those are three pieces of legislation we introduced in response

1020
00:56:46,040 --> 00:56:47,880
Speaker 4: to the current rated inflation. One other thing I want

1021
00:56:47,920 --> 00:56:51,400
Speaker 4: to say about inflation. You know, their their flaws in

1022
00:56:51,440 --> 00:56:55,960
Speaker 4: our economic system, in my opinion, because one of the

1023
00:56:55,960 --> 00:56:58,680
Speaker 4: ways the Fed tries to control for inflation is to

1024
00:56:58,760 --> 00:57:01,759
Speaker 4: raise interest rates to stop the borrowing, stop the flow

1025
00:57:01,800 --> 00:57:06,880
Speaker 4: of money. What that does is also increase unemployment. And

1026
00:57:06,960 --> 00:57:11,560
Speaker 4: so for the for inflation to be under control in

1027
00:57:11,600 --> 00:57:14,080
Speaker 4: our current economic system, unemployment has to be a like

1028
00:57:14,120 --> 00:57:19,440
Speaker 4: three four percent, which you know again I support, I

1029
00:57:19,440 --> 00:57:22,480
Speaker 4: support the federal jobs Guarantee. I think everyone should be working.

1030
00:57:22,520 --> 00:57:24,880
Speaker 4: I don't think we should have an economic system that

1031
00:57:25,040 --> 00:57:27,680
Speaker 4: has to function based on a certain level of unemployment.

1032
00:57:28,200 --> 00:57:31,360
Speaker 4: So there are fundamental aspects of our economy that need

1033
00:57:31,400 --> 00:57:32,440
Speaker 4: to change.

1034
00:57:33,240 --> 00:57:36,880
Speaker 3: Let me ask you this as far as reparation, since

1035
00:57:36,920 --> 00:57:39,760
Speaker 3: we're added, what's your view of reparations?

1036
00:57:40,440 --> 00:57:46,800
Speaker 4: We need it, not only do we need it. So

1037
00:57:46,920 --> 00:57:50,000
Speaker 4: reparations is about repairing the harm of the past, right,

1038
00:57:50,440 --> 00:57:57,480
Speaker 4: and so this country was founded on indigenous genocide and

1039
00:57:57,520 --> 00:58:05,440
Speaker 4: the enslavement of Africans. And since then, even when the

1040
00:58:05,560 --> 00:58:09,160
Speaker 4: enslavement was over, there have been laws that have continued

1041
00:58:09,200 --> 00:58:15,120
Speaker 4: to negatively impact the black community. Right after the passages

1042
00:58:15,160 --> 00:58:20,520
Speaker 4: of the thirteenth Amendment, after Lincoln was killed and the

1043
00:58:20,560 --> 00:58:24,120
Speaker 4: new president took over, a piece of legislation called the

1044
00:58:24,160 --> 00:58:29,320
Speaker 4: Homestead Act was passed. And the Homestead Act pretty much

1045
00:58:29,400 --> 00:58:33,520
Speaker 4: gave as we expanded out west, the majority of that

1046
00:58:33,640 --> 00:58:36,800
Speaker 4: new land, ninety percent of it was given the white people,

1047
00:58:37,120 --> 00:58:41,000
Speaker 4: both native born and foreignborn, and African Americans by and

1048
00:58:41,080 --> 00:58:42,840
Speaker 4: large weren't didn't.

1049
00:58:42,640 --> 00:58:43,360
Speaker 6: Have privy to that.

1050
00:58:43,640 --> 00:58:47,640
Speaker 4: So that land and what was the cities and towns

1051
00:58:47,640 --> 00:58:50,080
Speaker 4: and villagers that was built on that land, well built

1052
00:58:50,120 --> 00:58:51,880
Speaker 4: on that land, we weren't able to.

1053
00:58:51,800 --> 00:58:52,600
Speaker 6: Benefit from that.

1054
00:58:53,040 --> 00:58:57,120
Speaker 4: So that's one sort of post slavery piece of legislation

1055
00:58:57,160 --> 00:59:01,560
Speaker 4: that continues to impact black people negatively today. Of course,

1056
00:59:01,600 --> 00:59:04,320
Speaker 4: the plan, of course, Jim Crow laws, of course Black

1057
00:59:04,400 --> 00:59:09,520
Speaker 4: laws and all of that. In addition to that, black

1058
00:59:09,560 --> 00:59:16,480
Speaker 4: banks were started and proliferated post slavery all across the country,

1059
00:59:17,400 --> 00:59:21,160
Speaker 4: but they've never received the investments from the federal government

1060
00:59:21,200 --> 00:59:24,280
Speaker 4: to help keep them solvent and to help them grow

1061
00:59:24,320 --> 00:59:26,640
Speaker 4: into the investment banks that could be used to invest

1062
00:59:26,680 --> 00:59:30,840
Speaker 4: back in the black community. It's a great book by

1063
00:59:31,840 --> 00:59:35,720
Speaker 4: Mayors Baraduran, How the Other Half Banks, that tells the

1064
00:59:35,800 --> 00:59:39,640
Speaker 4: story about how this works. In contrast to that Bank

1065
00:59:39,680 --> 00:59:43,160
Speaker 4: of America used to be the Bank of Italy and

1066
00:59:43,600 --> 00:59:46,280
Speaker 4: they became the Bank of America through investments from the

1067
00:59:46,320 --> 00:59:49,640
Speaker 4: federal government to support its growth. Black banks have never

1068
00:59:49,720 --> 00:59:53,120
Speaker 4: received that still to this day. One other piece of

1069
00:59:53,200 --> 00:59:56,439
Speaker 4: legislation I want to focus on is the GI Bill

1070
00:59:56,520 --> 01:00:02,640
Speaker 4: and the New Deal right so FA proved loans, low

1071
01:00:02,680 --> 01:00:09,840
Speaker 4: interest rates, low costs, ninety seven percent went to white people,

1072
01:00:10,720 --> 01:00:13,840
Speaker 4: and blacks weren't allowed to access those loans at the

1073
01:00:13,840 --> 01:00:17,840
Speaker 4: same rate. White flight occurred. They moved into these new suburbs,

1074
01:00:17,840 --> 01:00:20,000
Speaker 4: built their own communities. We were forced to stay in

1075
01:00:20,040 --> 01:00:25,640
Speaker 4: a hood and fhad valued our communities simply because they

1076
01:00:25,640 --> 01:00:28,880
Speaker 4: were black and red lined them. And that's why you

1077
01:00:28,920 --> 01:00:33,520
Speaker 4: see us in the projects in underfunded communities and underfunded

1078
01:00:33,560 --> 01:00:38,959
Speaker 4: and then connected to that, because local property taxes fund schools.

1079
01:00:39,480 --> 01:00:41,840
Speaker 4: Our schools continue to be underfunded as a result of that.

1080
01:00:41,960 --> 01:00:46,560
Speaker 4: So it's not just slave reparations for slavery. Is representation

1081
01:00:46,720 --> 01:00:49,640
Speaker 4: reparations for slavery and everything that has come since then.

1082
01:00:49,960 --> 01:00:53,400
Speaker 4: And I haven't even mentioned mass incarceration which is another

1083
01:00:55,040 --> 01:00:55,920
Speaker 4: and war on drugs.

1084
01:00:56,000 --> 01:01:00,440
Speaker 3: Right, But because of all of that, so you're in

1085
01:01:00,440 --> 01:01:04,960
Speaker 3: a position to write legislation. Yes, okay, if you guys

1086
01:01:04,960 --> 01:01:07,520
Speaker 3: write a bill, what does that look like? How much

1087
01:01:07,560 --> 01:01:11,080
Speaker 3: money would you think it would be appropriate? Who gets it?

1088
01:01:11,400 --> 01:01:16,160
Speaker 3: That's extremely important because how do we determine who should

1089
01:01:16,200 --> 01:01:21,000
Speaker 3: get it? For in my brain, it should be black

1090
01:01:21,040 --> 01:01:26,320
Speaker 3: people that can trace their history back to slavery. That

1091
01:01:26,360 --> 01:01:29,160
Speaker 3: can be difficult because you don't have to give every

1092
01:01:29,200 --> 01:01:32,400
Speaker 3: single person a test, right or you have to check

1093
01:01:32,480 --> 01:01:37,160
Speaker 3: their records three five generations, which that's kind of a

1094
01:01:37,200 --> 01:01:40,360
Speaker 3: tedious process.

1095
01:01:41,680 --> 01:01:44,640
Speaker 4: Yeah, how do you do this? So there's a way

1096
01:01:44,680 --> 01:01:48,000
Speaker 4: to do it. That's the reason for the HR forty

1097
01:01:48,000 --> 01:01:52,120
Speaker 4: bill because the commission who will study all this and

1098
01:01:52,160 --> 01:01:54,280
Speaker 4: present a report, they will also present.

1099
01:01:54,080 --> 01:01:55,200
Speaker 6: A way to get it done.

1100
01:01:57,680 --> 01:02:02,360
Speaker 4: Congress hasn't even had the courage to move forward with

1101
01:02:02,640 --> 01:02:05,480
Speaker 4: forming a commission to even study it, so we're not

1102
01:02:05,560 --> 01:02:08,360
Speaker 4: even that step one, even though there's many studies that

1103
01:02:08,360 --> 01:02:10,920
Speaker 4: have been done around the importance of this impact of

1104
01:02:10,960 --> 01:02:15,360
Speaker 4: the facto and de jaw racism. So the point is,

1105
01:02:15,400 --> 01:02:19,520
Speaker 4: let's figure out how to do it right and as

1106
01:02:19,560 --> 01:02:23,840
Speaker 4: a country, let's go through a process of truth and reconciliation,

1107
01:02:25,240 --> 01:02:31,160
Speaker 4: similar to Rwanda after the genocide, similar to South Africa

1108
01:02:32,240 --> 01:02:37,240
Speaker 4: after apartheid, Germany, Germany after the Holocaust, let's go through

1109
01:02:37,240 --> 01:02:41,400
Speaker 4: a process of truth and reconciliation and figuring out what

1110
01:02:41,440 --> 01:02:46,240
Speaker 4: recon reparations could look like. We haven't done that, and

1111
01:02:46,280 --> 01:02:48,840
Speaker 4: there have been other groups that receive reparations, you know,

1112
01:02:49,320 --> 01:02:54,520
Speaker 4: Japanese Americans for internment, Jewish Americans and Jews in Germany

1113
01:02:54,560 --> 01:03:01,640
Speaker 4: as well, and other groups. So there's precedent international and nationally.

1114
01:03:02,920 --> 01:03:07,160
Speaker 4: It's just the consistency of white supremacy and anti black

1115
01:03:07,280 --> 01:03:13,600
Speaker 4: racism lives and breaths in every aspect of American society,

1116
01:03:13,720 --> 01:03:17,200
Speaker 4: in the halls of Congress, in the hearts and minds

1117
01:03:17,200 --> 01:03:22,400
Speaker 4: of people black and non black, we often just you know,

1118
01:03:22,640 --> 01:03:25,160
Speaker 4: take what we could get and don't fight for more.

1119
01:03:26,480 --> 01:03:31,600
Speaker 4: And so yeah, we've that HR forty is one bill.

1120
01:03:32,040 --> 01:03:34,960
Speaker 4: We've written other bills, and we are going to write

1121
01:03:34,960 --> 01:03:39,680
Speaker 4: more bills that deal with pieces of it. So there's

1122
01:03:39,680 --> 01:03:41,280
Speaker 4: a bill we're going to be working on called the

1123
01:03:41,280 --> 01:03:46,480
Speaker 4: twenty first Century Homestead Act, which looks to make the

1124
01:03:46,560 --> 01:03:52,320
Speaker 4: investments in redline communities to help build black economic strength

1125
01:03:52,360 --> 01:03:53,480
Speaker 4: within those communities.

1126
01:03:54,760 --> 01:03:57,640
Speaker 6: We're going to be writing that bill. We've written a bill.

1127
01:03:57,480 --> 01:04:01,000
Speaker 4: Called the Green New Deal for Public Schools, which saw

1128
01:04:01,080 --> 01:04:02,840
Speaker 4: that does the same thing, but with a focus on

1129
01:04:02,880 --> 01:04:06,760
Speaker 4: investing in public schools that have been underfunded and used

1130
01:04:06,800 --> 01:04:11,320
Speaker 4: in those schools as models for the renewable energy revolution

1131
01:04:11,440 --> 01:04:12,440
Speaker 4: that's coming right now.

1132
01:04:13,200 --> 01:04:14,960
Speaker 2: One of the issues that you didn't bring up, but

1133
01:04:14,960 --> 01:04:19,640
Speaker 2: I'm sure you're passionate about student loan debt. Obviously, we

1134
01:04:19,920 --> 01:04:22,120
Speaker 2: know disproportionately if you look at PELL grants, the majority

1135
01:04:22,120 --> 01:04:24,480
Speaker 2: of the people who apply for them look like us.

1136
01:04:25,000 --> 01:04:29,080
Speaker 2: And right now President Biden's student debt cancelation has been paused.

1137
01:04:29,360 --> 01:04:31,400
Speaker 2: So I want to get your thoughts around that and

1138
01:04:31,760 --> 01:04:34,120
Speaker 2: the impact that student loan debt has had on our community.

1139
01:04:35,280 --> 01:04:39,320
Speaker 4: Yeah, man, I mean it sucks that it was paused.

1140
01:04:40,560 --> 01:04:43,120
Speaker 4: I wish Biden would have went bigger. I mean, we

1141
01:04:43,160 --> 01:04:46,840
Speaker 4: was pushing him to cancel at all. He was talking

1142
01:04:46,880 --> 01:04:50,120
Speaker 4: about fifty thousand, and he landed on ten thousand. You know,

1143
01:04:50,160 --> 01:04:54,280
Speaker 4: the president's are a rabid capitalists, you know, and I'm

1144
01:04:54,280 --> 01:04:59,000
Speaker 4: not necessarily against capitalism, but there's just toxic, predatory nature

1145
01:04:59,040 --> 01:05:01,240
Speaker 4: of it that's been destruct There've been student loans as

1146
01:05:01,280 --> 01:05:04,440
Speaker 4: part of that. You know, I'll use me as an example.

1147
01:05:04,720 --> 01:05:07,680
Speaker 4: You know, my mother, my whole life is telling me

1148
01:05:07,720 --> 01:05:09,720
Speaker 4: I'm going to college and willing and of going to college.

1149
01:05:10,000 --> 01:05:12,479
Speaker 4: So when I graduated high school, I was like, okay,

1150
01:05:12,480 --> 01:05:15,280
Speaker 4: I'm going to college. I played football, so that helped

1151
01:05:15,280 --> 01:05:18,720
Speaker 4: a little bit with costs. But going to college and

1152
01:05:18,760 --> 01:05:21,400
Speaker 4: paying for college two completely different things. So when you

1153
01:05:21,440 --> 01:05:24,640
Speaker 4: go in that way, you know, filled out the application,

1154
01:05:24,760 --> 01:05:26,840
Speaker 4: Look at this bill. How you going to pay this bill? Well,

1155
01:05:26,840 --> 01:05:30,000
Speaker 4: we got these loans for you. I just took them,

1156
01:05:30,160 --> 01:05:31,720
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. I just took the loans,

1157
01:05:31,760 --> 01:05:35,680
Speaker 4: didn't understand interest rates, figured I would get a job,

1158
01:05:35,760 --> 01:05:40,040
Speaker 4: just pay it back, you know, done deal. And I'm

1159
01:05:40,080 --> 01:05:43,840
Speaker 4: not unique, you know, I mean millions of people have

1160
01:05:43,920 --> 01:05:47,440
Speaker 4: done this, disproportionately black and brown dispropartially black women.

1161
01:05:49,160 --> 01:05:51,560
Speaker 6: And now where I'm twenty.

1162
01:05:51,240 --> 01:05:56,520
Speaker 4: Three years as a professional since I graduated college and

1163
01:05:57,200 --> 01:05:59,800
Speaker 4: still paying back student loans. I've been constituents where in

1164
01:05:59,840 --> 01:06:05,120
Speaker 4: this sixties still paying back student loans, crazy interest rates,

1165
01:06:05,120 --> 01:06:08,880
Speaker 4: predatory practice. You know, we believe that a large portion

1166
01:06:09,000 --> 01:06:13,040
Speaker 4: should be canceled. And now, you know, we didn't talk

1167
01:06:13,160 --> 01:06:15,320
Speaker 4: much about we haven't talked much about voting and importance

1168
01:06:15,360 --> 01:06:17,800
Speaker 4: of it. But this is like another example, right, because

1169
01:06:18,840 --> 01:06:25,280
Speaker 4: if lobbies, packs, groups consistently vote in elections at every

1170
01:06:25,400 --> 01:06:29,000
Speaker 4: level of government and we don't our people, our culture,

1171
01:06:29,040 --> 01:06:31,720
Speaker 4: whatever you call it, don't, then they're going to make

1172
01:06:31,800 --> 01:06:34,560
Speaker 4: laws that just control and impact the world and control

1173
01:06:34,560 --> 01:06:36,960
Speaker 4: and impact our lives, whether that's a student loan issue

1174
01:06:37,000 --> 01:06:38,120
Speaker 4: or reparations issue.

1175
01:06:37,920 --> 01:06:38,640
Speaker 6: Or whatever it is.

1176
01:06:39,360 --> 01:06:44,440
Speaker 4: So yeah, we have a Supreme Court now and many

1177
01:06:44,480 --> 01:06:49,720
Speaker 4: in the Court who you know are conservative aligned with Trump,

1178
01:06:50,360 --> 01:06:54,160
Speaker 4: and you know, to them is put yourself up by

1179
01:06:54,160 --> 01:06:57,880
Speaker 4: your bootstraps, even though some people don't even have boots.

1180
01:06:59,200 --> 01:07:00,480
Speaker 6: So yeah, man's crazy.

1181
01:07:00,480 --> 01:07:05,000
Speaker 4: And this is a big issue across race, across communities,

1182
01:07:05,400 --> 01:07:08,040
Speaker 4: like people knew they were preyed upon, and even people

1183
01:07:08,040 --> 01:07:10,080
Speaker 4: who are trying to be diligent and paying it back.

1184
01:07:11,720 --> 01:07:14,320
Speaker 4: When you're doing that, you can't afford to start a family,

1185
01:07:14,560 --> 01:07:18,480
Speaker 4: can't afford to buy a home, can't afford to invest.

1186
01:07:18,120 --> 01:07:19,439
Speaker 6: The way the way you want.

1187
01:07:20,800 --> 01:07:23,280
Speaker 4: So yeah, it's another example of this is why your

1188
01:07:23,320 --> 01:07:25,439
Speaker 4: show is great and the education piece of your show

1189
01:07:25,480 --> 01:07:28,840
Speaker 4: because people miseducated, they make decisions and they pay those

1190
01:07:28,840 --> 01:07:30,560
Speaker 4: decisions back for the rest of their lives.

1191
01:07:31,960 --> 01:07:41,080
Speaker 3: So, Congressional Black Caukies, what's your thoughts on that? What

1192
01:07:41,120 --> 01:07:44,760
Speaker 3: do you mean is it beneficial? Is it something that

1193
01:07:44,960 --> 01:07:45,280
Speaker 3: you know?

1194
01:07:45,520 --> 01:07:45,800
Speaker 6: Yeah?

1195
01:07:45,960 --> 01:07:50,760
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean we yes, so, yes, it is beneficial.

1196
01:07:51,840 --> 01:07:55,400
Speaker 4: It in many ways, it's like a home to to

1197
01:07:55,640 --> 01:07:57,920
Speaker 4: newly elected black members of Congress.

1198
01:07:58,720 --> 01:07:59,600
Speaker 6: You know, it's good to.

1199
01:08:00,120 --> 01:08:03,040
Speaker 4: Good to be there with people who who look like

1200
01:08:03,120 --> 01:08:08,960
Speaker 4: you and have similar experiences. It's it's you know, very

1201
01:08:09,040 --> 01:08:15,680
Speaker 4: rooted in civil rights and black church traditions and rightly so,

1202
01:08:15,880 --> 01:08:17,919
Speaker 4: you know, when you think of John Lewis and Elijah

1203
01:08:17,920 --> 01:08:21,120
Speaker 4: Cummins and others who who are some of the co

1204
01:08:21,200 --> 01:08:24,920
Speaker 4: founders of it and and champions of it, you know,

1205
01:08:24,960 --> 01:08:29,320
Speaker 4: their entire career, that makes sense. But now there's a

1206
01:08:29,400 --> 01:08:32,120
Speaker 4: shift happened, happening and if you will because you have

1207
01:08:32,680 --> 01:08:38,040
Speaker 4: people like myself, Ayana, Corey Bush, Johanoman, and others who

1208
01:08:38,080 --> 01:08:40,920
Speaker 4: are newer, who are younger, who are coming in with

1209
01:08:41,080 --> 01:08:45,800
Speaker 4: different ideas and and and thoughts on how we should

1210
01:08:45,880 --> 01:08:48,559
Speaker 4: how we should govern. And it's also built on the

1211
01:08:48,640 --> 01:08:53,920
Speaker 4: seniority system, so like you know, the ogs, you know,

1212
01:08:54,040 --> 01:08:57,400
Speaker 4: they kind of they kind of control a lot of things,

1213
01:08:57,720 --> 01:09:01,320
Speaker 4: and and all of Congress is built during the seniority system.

1214
01:09:01,439 --> 01:09:06,240
Speaker 4: So you know what that does is that kind of

1215
01:09:06,640 --> 01:09:12,519
Speaker 4: squashes young, progressive, innovative voices. And then traditionally in the

1216
01:09:12,560 --> 01:09:16,880
Speaker 4: black community, if you know, you don't really question or

1217
01:09:16,920 --> 01:09:19,600
Speaker 4: talk back to a Southern black man who's of a

1218
01:09:19,640 --> 01:09:23,160
Speaker 4: certain age, you know what I mean. So there's some

1219
01:09:23,240 --> 01:09:28,479
Speaker 4: of those dynamics at play. And yeah, there's been many

1220
01:09:28,520 --> 01:09:32,760
Speaker 4: times where you know, I have wanted the CBC to

1221
01:09:32,880 --> 01:09:35,439
Speaker 4: be more for lack of a better term, radical when

1222
01:09:35,479 --> 01:09:39,680
Speaker 4: it comes to certain things in pushing back. But this

1223
01:09:39,720 --> 01:09:43,519
Speaker 4: is my first term, so I've actually kind of sometimes

1224
01:09:43,560 --> 01:09:46,439
Speaker 4: take a step back and just like learn, learn the game,

1225
01:09:46,560 --> 01:09:49,120
Speaker 4: how it works. And I'm planning to be much more

1226
01:09:49,720 --> 01:09:54,959
Speaker 4: assertive this next term coming up, So speak.

1227
01:09:54,760 --> 01:09:58,760
Speaker 3: About that, all right, Congressional black Hawks, how many people

1228
01:09:58,800 --> 01:09:59,560
Speaker 3: doing it?

1229
01:10:00,240 --> 01:10:00,519
Speaker 6: Something.

1230
01:10:01,040 --> 01:10:02,400
Speaker 3: How many people are Democrats?

1231
01:10:02,760 --> 01:10:03,320
Speaker 6: All of them?

1232
01:10:03,840 --> 01:10:03,960
Speaker 4: All?

1233
01:10:04,040 --> 01:10:04,280
Speaker 6: Right?

1234
01:10:04,439 --> 01:10:09,000
Speaker 3: So this this is an issue. This is another issue

1235
01:10:09,200 --> 01:10:13,040
Speaker 3: because one thing about like the Jewish superback is that

1236
01:10:13,439 --> 01:10:15,840
Speaker 3: there's Jewish people on the Republican side and there's Jewish

1237
01:10:15,840 --> 01:10:18,280
Speaker 3: people on the Democratic side, and they lobby on both.

1238
01:10:18,080 --> 01:10:21,880
Speaker 4: Sides a packed us, specifically on both sides.

1239
01:10:21,960 --> 01:10:29,120
Speaker 3: Yes, so black people vote ninety five percent Democrat. The

1240
01:10:29,200 --> 01:10:35,400
Speaker 3: whole entire Congressional Black Caucus is Democrat. That's not leverage.

1241
01:10:36,880 --> 01:10:39,200
Speaker 3: You're a Democrat, so obviously you might be, you know,

1242
01:10:39,280 --> 01:10:42,400
Speaker 3: a little biased in a situation. What do you think

1243
01:10:42,439 --> 01:10:48,080
Speaker 3: that it's extremely harmful that we're so one sided in

1244
01:10:48,120 --> 01:10:48,800
Speaker 3: this situation.

1245
01:10:51,240 --> 01:10:56,840
Speaker 4: I want to say extremely harmful, and I'm going to answer,

1246
01:10:56,840 --> 01:10:58,559
Speaker 4: and it's going to sound like I'm evading the question,

1247
01:10:58,600 --> 01:11:04,240
Speaker 4: but I'm not to be much more political education and

1248
01:11:04,400 --> 01:11:08,120
Speaker 4: engagement in our community so that we could build the

1249
01:11:08,120 --> 01:11:12,280
Speaker 4: political power that we need. Because starting the conversation with

1250
01:11:12,760 --> 01:11:16,519
Speaker 4: Republican democrat and we shouldn't always be Democrat and we

1251
01:11:16,520 --> 01:11:17,960
Speaker 4: should listen to everybody else.

1252
01:11:18,080 --> 01:11:19,000
Speaker 6: That is very true.

1253
01:11:19,120 --> 01:11:24,280
Speaker 4: It is true statement. In the current climate of what

1254
01:11:24,320 --> 01:11:30,439
Speaker 4: the Republicans are doing, in my opinion, is harmful to

1255
01:11:30,560 --> 01:11:35,480
Speaker 4: Rock with them right now because they they just supported

1256
01:11:36,479 --> 01:11:39,200
Speaker 4: an attack on the capital insurrection, the first since the

1257
01:11:39,240 --> 01:11:44,479
Speaker 4: War of eighteen twelve. And I have Republican colleagues who

1258
01:11:44,640 --> 01:11:49,920
Speaker 4: are blatant, like white supremacist racist Tucker Carlson want to

1259
01:11:49,920 --> 01:11:53,479
Speaker 4: go to civil war, support the great Replacement theory like

1260
01:11:53,520 --> 01:11:55,800
Speaker 4: they're members of the Republican Party who rock like that

1261
01:11:55,840 --> 01:11:58,280
Speaker 4: and say that out loud. So in my opinion at

1262
01:11:58,320 --> 01:12:02,240
Speaker 4: this moment, rocking with them is dangerous, all things being equal,

1263
01:12:02,880 --> 01:12:09,120
Speaker 4: where we all receive a political education and we leverage

1264
01:12:09,160 --> 01:12:13,680
Speaker 4: our collective political power and our money, we should be

1265
01:12:13,800 --> 01:12:20,160
Speaker 4: having those broad conversations. I also think we're at a

1266
01:12:20,200 --> 01:12:22,599
Speaker 4: point or getting to a point where the two party

1267
01:12:22,640 --> 01:12:27,679
Speaker 4: system is obsolete because life is not a binary It's

1268
01:12:27,680 --> 01:12:31,160
Speaker 4: not this or that. There's so much diversity, not just

1269
01:12:31,240 --> 01:12:35,040
Speaker 4: racially and culturally and economically, but in terms of ideas.

1270
01:12:37,120 --> 01:12:43,839
Speaker 4: So I support us figuring out we need democracy reform overall,

1271
01:12:44,000 --> 01:12:46,000
Speaker 4: and part of that is really looking at the two

1272
01:12:46,000 --> 01:12:49,439
Speaker 4: party system and how it functions. Another part that's ending

1273
01:12:49,439 --> 01:12:52,080
Speaker 4: the filibuster in the Senate, which is a rule that

1274
01:12:52,200 --> 01:12:56,960
Speaker 4: was just put into place to stop civil rights legislation

1275
01:12:57,000 --> 01:13:02,600
Speaker 4: from moving forward. The philibuster is the rule that requires

1276
01:13:02,640 --> 01:13:05,839
Speaker 4: a super majority in the Senate for a bill to pass.

1277
01:13:07,000 --> 01:13:11,160
Speaker 4: It came about I'm forgetting one year when a lot

1278
01:13:11,200 --> 01:13:13,519
Speaker 4: of civil rights legislation was trying to move through the

1279
01:13:13,560 --> 01:13:17,640
Speaker 4: Senate and some racistize senators, I'm going to forget the

1280
01:13:17,720 --> 01:13:21,680
Speaker 4: names put this rule in place because they knew that

1281
01:13:21,760 --> 01:13:25,439
Speaker 4: there was no way that whoever is trying to move

1282
01:13:25,520 --> 01:13:27,760
Speaker 4: the civil rights legislation would get two thirds of the

1283
01:13:27,800 --> 01:13:30,479
Speaker 4: Senate to vote for it. And ever since that's been

1284
01:13:30,479 --> 01:13:32,559
Speaker 4: put in place, it's just still there, and it's a

1285
01:13:32,600 --> 01:13:35,240
Speaker 4: simple Senate rule that can be changed by the majority

1286
01:13:35,320 --> 01:13:39,240
Speaker 4: leader and a civil vote at any time. The problem

1287
01:13:39,280 --> 01:13:43,920
Speaker 4: with the philipbuster also is there's something called talking philibuster.

1288
01:13:44,240 --> 01:13:50,120
Speaker 4: At the very least, you have to debate your position

1289
01:13:50,479 --> 01:13:53,559
Speaker 4: on a bill, and then at the end of the

1290
01:13:53,600 --> 01:13:58,599
Speaker 4: debate you take a vote and a simple majority wins

1291
01:13:58,720 --> 01:14:01,080
Speaker 4: in terms of how to move forward. But right now

1292
01:14:01,120 --> 01:14:03,760
Speaker 4: there's not even a talking philibuster. There's no debate. They

1293
01:14:03,800 --> 01:14:07,040
Speaker 4: could just vote whatever they want and keep it moving.

1294
01:14:07,960 --> 01:14:12,360
Speaker 4: So in terms of democracy reform, you know, taking a

1295
01:14:12,400 --> 01:14:14,639
Speaker 4: fresh look at the two party system, taking a fresh

1296
01:14:14,640 --> 01:14:17,160
Speaker 4: look at the philibuster. Actually, my opinion just ended it

1297
01:14:17,680 --> 01:14:21,479
Speaker 4: taking a look at the electoral college as well, because

1298
01:14:21,520 --> 01:14:28,880
Speaker 4: the electoral college one person, one vote, and the democracy

1299
01:14:28,920 --> 01:14:33,320
Speaker 4: should decide the presidency. The electoral college doesn't allow for

1300
01:14:33,360 --> 01:14:37,160
Speaker 4: that to happen. And what happens is you'll have states

1301
01:14:37,200 --> 01:14:42,280
Speaker 4: with smaller populations having more as much or more power

1302
01:14:42,800 --> 01:14:45,439
Speaker 4: than the majority of the American people, what some refer

1303
01:14:45,520 --> 01:14:49,639
Speaker 4: to as minority rule. So right now in the Senate,

1304
01:14:50,000 --> 01:14:53,400
Speaker 4: even though it's fifty to fifty, the fifty Democrats actually

1305
01:14:53,439 --> 01:14:57,400
Speaker 4: represent more people than the fifty Republicans because.

1306
01:14:57,160 --> 01:15:00,000
Speaker 2: They n't even know who the electoral college officials.

1307
01:14:59,520 --> 01:15:03,840
Speaker 4: Are, delegates and superdalcas. I'm in Congress. I still don't

1308
01:15:03,840 --> 01:15:07,880
Speaker 4: even understand how that works. But what I do understand

1309
01:15:08,000 --> 01:15:10,080
Speaker 4: is we have a system in place right now where

1310
01:15:10,080 --> 01:15:15,200
Speaker 4: we have members of Congress, House, and Senate who represent

1311
01:15:15,360 --> 01:15:20,120
Speaker 4: less people but wield more power. That's not democracy, and

1312
01:15:20,160 --> 01:15:22,880
Speaker 4: the filibuster is one way where they continue to yield

1313
01:15:22,880 --> 01:15:23,439
Speaker 4: that power.

1314
01:15:23,760 --> 01:15:26,040
Speaker 2: So the political education, I'm glad you brought that up

1315
01:15:26,080 --> 01:15:28,000
Speaker 2: because it almost feels like, how do we get it?

1316
01:15:28,439 --> 01:15:30,840
Speaker 2: We saw over one hundred and forty million people vote

1317
01:15:30,840 --> 01:15:32,760
Speaker 2: for the general election, and a lot of people come

1318
01:15:32,800 --> 01:15:35,760
Speaker 2: around that, but the midterm election is here, and I

1319
01:15:35,760 --> 01:15:40,439
Speaker 2: don't feel like the same amount of awareness. Right if

1320
01:15:40,439 --> 01:15:42,479
Speaker 2: you look at players' nual elections are very important, but

1321
01:15:42,560 --> 01:15:44,439
Speaker 2: these localized officials are the ones who can change your

1322
01:15:44,439 --> 01:15:46,800
Speaker 2: immediate life, and so we don't even look at it

1323
01:15:46,840 --> 01:15:49,880
Speaker 2: like that. How do we get the political education to

1324
01:15:49,960 --> 01:15:52,879
Speaker 2: really to get people to really understand like, these localized

1325
01:15:52,920 --> 01:15:55,759
Speaker 2: elections are the ones that are changing your daily life.

1326
01:15:56,800 --> 01:16:01,439
Speaker 4: We need to destroy and read build our public education

1327
01:16:01,560 --> 01:16:07,520
Speaker 4: system because many aspects of the curriculum and the schedule

1328
01:16:07,560 --> 01:16:10,960
Speaker 4: and the structure are obsolete. There's absolutely no way we

1329
01:16:11,000 --> 01:16:13,960
Speaker 4: should allow our kids in the democracy to graduate not

1330
01:16:14,040 --> 01:16:17,559
Speaker 4: really having a clear political education. And there's nothing in

1331
01:16:17,600 --> 01:16:19,680
Speaker 4: place right now to make that happen. And this is

1332
01:16:19,720 --> 01:16:23,679
Speaker 4: why you know cities who don't have mayoral control. City

1333
01:16:23,760 --> 01:16:26,120
Speaker 4: New York City has mayoral control, but even that should

1334
01:16:26,320 --> 01:16:29,680
Speaker 4: we should do more organizing and push there. But this

1335
01:16:29,720 --> 01:16:33,000
Speaker 4: is why local school board elections matter. So if you

1336
01:16:33,080 --> 01:16:37,519
Speaker 4: got a school board seven people in Greenberg, for example,

1337
01:16:37,840 --> 01:16:40,280
Speaker 4: and you could get four people who believe what we

1338
01:16:40,360 --> 01:16:43,400
Speaker 4: believe on that school board, now that now you have

1339
01:16:43,400 --> 01:16:45,960
Speaker 4: a majority on that school board, and that school board

1340
01:16:46,000 --> 01:16:49,360
Speaker 4: decides what happens with the superintendent. The school superintendent's work for.

1341
01:16:49,320 --> 01:16:49,960
Speaker 6: The school board.

1342
01:16:50,640 --> 01:16:53,360
Speaker 4: So the school board decides, we want to change this

1343
01:16:53,439 --> 01:16:55,800
Speaker 4: person and bring in somebody else who's going to bring

1344
01:16:55,800 --> 01:16:57,960
Speaker 4: in the financial literacy curriculum, is going to bring in

1345
01:16:58,000 --> 01:17:01,120
Speaker 4: project based learning, it's going to bring in STEM, civic education,

1346
01:17:01,360 --> 01:17:05,759
Speaker 4: all of it. Now that school board can transform education

1347
01:17:05,960 --> 01:17:09,400
Speaker 4: in that school district. And this is where Republicans are

1348
01:17:09,439 --> 01:17:13,200
Speaker 4: way better than Democrats at you know, because they move

1349
01:17:13,280 --> 01:17:17,439
Speaker 4: us to unify front. They fight like their lives depend

1350
01:17:17,479 --> 01:17:21,600
Speaker 4: on it, and they fight from the school board to

1351
01:17:22,160 --> 01:17:26,559
Speaker 4: the president. And that's how we're gonna have to fight,

1352
01:17:26,640 --> 01:17:30,439
Speaker 4: regardless of your party, to get what we want. And because,

1353
01:17:30,760 --> 01:17:33,040
Speaker 4: in my opinion, because we've been so beaten down by

1354
01:17:34,040 --> 01:17:37,800
Speaker 4: miseducation and lack of resources in the system overall, we

1355
01:17:38,000 --> 01:17:40,559
Speaker 4: often unplugged. And when I say we, I mean black men,

1356
01:17:40,640 --> 01:17:44,160
Speaker 4: I mean black people, I mean the culture. And we

1357
01:17:44,240 --> 01:17:47,360
Speaker 4: can't unplug because we just have so much power that

1358
01:17:47,400 --> 01:17:49,840
Speaker 4: we just haven't begun to use yet. And I hope

1359
01:17:50,040 --> 01:17:51,360
Speaker 4: and I hope to be a part of changing that.

1360
01:17:53,120 --> 01:17:55,800
Speaker 3: Well, you have this conversation all day, because there's a

1361
01:17:55,800 --> 01:17:59,040
Speaker 3: lot to talk about. The man thank you for coming.

1362
01:17:59,240 --> 01:18:02,280
Speaker 3: Of course, a lot of education. That's that's extremely important

1363
01:18:02,280 --> 01:18:04,280
Speaker 3: because I feel like people are educated on the political

1364
01:18:04,320 --> 01:18:06,479
Speaker 3: process and there's so much, like I said, we're just

1365
01:18:06,520 --> 01:18:08,920
Speaker 3: scratching the service, there's so much more stuff that actually

1366
01:18:08,920 --> 01:18:12,559
Speaker 3: cover and you know, it's good. Our whole platform is

1367
01:18:12,560 --> 01:18:16,160
Speaker 3: built around education, whether it's financial education, but the political

1368
01:18:16,280 --> 01:18:20,000
Speaker 3: education goal is just as important. So it's important, and

1369
01:18:20,160 --> 01:18:23,160
Speaker 3: you know, I appreciate you having that. It wasn't a

1370
01:18:23,200 --> 01:18:28,320
Speaker 3: partisan conversation, you know, something where it's more so like

1371
01:18:28,360 --> 01:18:30,640
Speaker 3: in an endorsement and something. It was just more so

1372
01:18:30,680 --> 01:18:34,080
Speaker 3: it's just the education and that's something that's extremely important

1373
01:18:34,120 --> 01:18:36,280
Speaker 3: and that's what we do. So thank you for coming

1374
01:18:36,479 --> 01:18:38,719
Speaker 3: and appreciate that and thank you. How can the people

1375
01:18:38,760 --> 01:18:40,240
Speaker 3: stay in touch with you? What do you want to

1376
01:18:40,280 --> 01:18:42,479
Speaker 3: tell the people with some last words that you want.

1377
01:18:42,360 --> 01:18:43,760
Speaker 6: To Yeah, absolutely so.

1378
01:18:44,160 --> 01:18:47,040
Speaker 4: Uh, you know, you can go to Bowman dot house

1379
01:18:47,080 --> 01:18:49,880
Speaker 4: dot gov to look at you know, to sign up

1380
01:18:49,920 --> 01:18:50,559
Speaker 4: for a newsletter.

1381
01:18:50,640 --> 01:18:51,280
Speaker 6: Please do that.

1382
01:18:51,479 --> 01:18:53,280
Speaker 4: You know, it just helps you to stay informed on

1383
01:18:53,360 --> 01:18:56,320
Speaker 4: everything that we're doing, and it helps you to look

1384
01:18:56,320 --> 01:18:59,519
Speaker 4: at legislation that we're working on and led us to

1385
01:18:59,560 --> 01:19:02,000
Speaker 4: buiden all all of our advocacy So that's on the

1386
01:19:02,120 --> 01:19:06,439
Speaker 4: that's on the official congressional side. On the campaign side,

1387
01:19:06,479 --> 01:19:10,400
Speaker 4: you go to Bowman for Congress dot com learn more

1388
01:19:10,439 --> 01:19:13,120
Speaker 4: about the campaign, and you could easily find us on

1389
01:19:13,200 --> 01:19:14,920
Speaker 4: social media at Jamal Bowman.

1390
01:19:15,040 --> 01:19:18,479
Speaker 6: And why I just want to.

1391
01:19:17,920 --> 01:19:23,960
Speaker 4: Emphasize, uh, the importance of leveraging our collective economic and

1392
01:19:24,000 --> 01:19:30,439
Speaker 4: political power. We we have come so far historically in

1393
01:19:30,520 --> 01:19:34,160
Speaker 4: terms of our accomplishments and what we've survived and the

1394
01:19:34,160 --> 01:19:38,760
Speaker 4: power we've built individually and in small pockets. But just

1395
01:19:39,960 --> 01:19:41,920
Speaker 4: if we could figure out how to bring that together

1396
01:19:42,040 --> 01:19:45,479
Speaker 4: in the same way that I see these lobbyists trying

1397
01:19:45,520 --> 01:19:47,920
Speaker 4: to come at me in Congress right now and how

1398
01:19:50,280 --> 01:19:52,800
Speaker 4: And I didn't want to be this long winded, but

1399
01:19:55,080 --> 01:19:57,160
Speaker 4: I could get to I could go back to Washington

1400
01:19:57,200 --> 01:19:59,400
Speaker 4: on a Monday. They could give us the schedule for

1401
01:19:59,640 --> 01:20:01,120
Speaker 4: the wee to tell us what we're going to be

1402
01:20:01,200 --> 01:20:06,200
Speaker 4: voting on whatever, And a particular lobby can call leadership

1403
01:20:06,439 --> 01:20:08,439
Speaker 4: on a Tuesday and be like, y'all, I want y'all

1404
01:20:08,439 --> 01:20:11,960
Speaker 4: to vote on this spill tomorrow and we'll vote on

1405
01:20:12,000 --> 01:20:16,080
Speaker 4: it on Wednesday. That's the power that some groups are

1406
01:20:16,080 --> 01:20:19,920
Speaker 4: wilder in Congress right now, and we can wield the

1407
01:20:19,960 --> 01:20:25,160
Speaker 4: same power through unity and our collective finances and political strength.

1408
01:20:25,840 --> 01:20:28,320
Speaker 2: That's powerful. Like I told you the day I walked

1409
01:20:28,360 --> 01:20:31,040
Speaker 2: into your school, I felt inspired. I feel inspired again.

1410
01:20:32,080 --> 01:20:34,920
Speaker 2: I wish you know success, my brother. Thank you. You

1411
01:20:34,920 --> 01:20:37,200
Speaker 2: didn't notice this, but I read that you're a huge

1412
01:20:37,200 --> 01:20:40,400
Speaker 2: Wu Tank fan. I'm a what huge Wu Tank fan? Yes, sir, yes,

1413
01:20:40,520 --> 01:20:41,799
Speaker 2: I put up thirty six chambers.

1414
01:20:41,880 --> 01:20:44,719
Speaker 4: I did notice it. I was trying to keep my composure.

1415
01:20:45,600 --> 01:20:48,920
Speaker 2: All Right, here we go, best Wu Tang album, shit,

1416
01:20:49,800 --> 01:20:51,040
Speaker 2: collective or solo.

1417
01:20:51,160 --> 01:20:54,800
Speaker 4: First of all, what you have around here? People can't

1418
01:20:54,800 --> 01:20:58,000
Speaker 4: see everything. So you got you got that? Uh but

1419
01:20:58,960 --> 01:20:59,800
Speaker 4: oh I ain't see that.

1420
01:21:00,240 --> 01:21:00,599
Speaker 6: Yeah.

1421
01:21:00,600 --> 01:21:02,120
Speaker 2: Well, I'm gonna be honest with you. I had I

1422
01:21:02,160 --> 01:21:04,800
Speaker 2: had odb up there, but I think let me go

1423
01:21:04,960 --> 01:21:05,880
Speaker 2: a little different.

1424
01:21:05,920 --> 01:21:10,400
Speaker 4: Damn, And you got the Cuban Lynx joint, got shook ones.

1425
01:21:11,640 --> 01:21:15,920
Speaker 4: Best Wu Tang album. This is the it's the hardest

1426
01:21:15,960 --> 01:21:21,200
Speaker 4: question to answer. Obviously, I would probably this is a

1427
01:21:21,240 --> 01:21:24,120
Speaker 4: weak answer. I mean, will Tank Forever? I think is

1428
01:21:24,160 --> 01:21:28,720
Speaker 4: incredible and a very underrated album. It's very underrated. Bab

1429
01:21:28,720 --> 01:21:31,320
Speaker 4: would probably have to go with. So probably have to

1430
01:21:31,360 --> 01:21:35,520
Speaker 4: go with Thirsty Champions, even though see if it's too hard,

1431
01:21:37,560 --> 01:21:40,200
Speaker 4: I count only like my top five albums, top ten

1432
01:21:40,240 --> 01:21:43,320
Speaker 4: albums probably have like three or four wool Tang albums

1433
01:21:44,040 --> 01:21:49,960
Speaker 4: only built for Cuban links. Is strucking incredible, that's the

1434
01:21:50,000 --> 01:21:53,000
Speaker 4: right answer. Like that's like, how you good?

1435
01:21:53,280 --> 01:21:54,559
Speaker 2: We put I am Man up there too.

1436
01:21:54,680 --> 01:21:55,160
Speaker 6: I see it.

1437
01:21:55,240 --> 01:21:56,240
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, okay.

1438
01:21:57,080 --> 01:21:59,479
Speaker 4: And it's arguable and supreme plient tell us arguable.

1439
01:21:59,680 --> 01:22:00,960
Speaker 2: Arguable might be better than that.

1440
01:22:01,000 --> 01:22:01,439
Speaker 4: This is true.

1441
01:22:01,520 --> 01:22:02,800
Speaker 2: This is true.

1442
01:22:02,880 --> 01:22:08,439
Speaker 4: These dudes are like, this is incredible. So yeah, man,

1443
01:22:08,560 --> 01:22:11,559
Speaker 4: I mean that when that came out, Purple Take the

1444
01:22:11,560 --> 01:22:15,479
Speaker 4: Purple Tap, and when all these when every album came out,

1445
01:22:15,479 --> 01:22:18,639
Speaker 4: I was going to the store every day just waiting

1446
01:22:18,680 --> 01:22:20,920
Speaker 4: for the next blutang album to drive. And when that dropped,

1447
01:22:21,960 --> 01:22:25,160
Speaker 4: I was so tired, Like but I didn't allow myself

1448
01:22:25,200 --> 01:22:27,479
Speaker 4: to fall asleep. I stayed up to listen to the

1449
01:22:27,479 --> 01:22:30,800
Speaker 4: whole album, and by the time it got to I

1450
01:22:30,800 --> 01:22:33,120
Speaker 4: would say rainy Days. It was just like, yo, this

1451
01:22:33,200 --> 01:22:35,880
Speaker 4: is this is incredible and it's so perfect that you

1452
01:22:36,000 --> 01:22:37,439
Speaker 4: got it right next to ill.

1453
01:22:37,360 --> 01:22:39,240
Speaker 6: Matic that's the centerpiece.

1454
01:22:40,040 --> 01:22:42,559
Speaker 4: Yeah, another conversation, But thank.

1455
01:22:42,439 --> 01:22:43,240
Speaker 6: You for having me, man.

1456
01:22:43,280 --> 01:22:44,400
Speaker 2: I appreciate you coming man.

1457
01:22:44,479 --> 01:22:48,280
Speaker 3: Thank you guys rocking with us seek next week peace.

1458
01:22:49,760 --> 01:22:54,519
Speaker 5: My graduates from my school being force bad drop bag

1459
01:22:54,720 --> 01:23:07,240
Speaker 5: drop my drop bad drop.

1460
01:23:08,560 --> 01:23:12,160
Speaker 1: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child

1461
01:23:12,240 --> 01:23:16,040
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador

1462
01:23:16,280 --> 01:23:20,400
Speaker 1: accused of murdering a Texas. Man of Venezuelan charged with

1463
01:23:20,479 --> 01:23:24,360
Speaker 1: filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just

1464
01:23:24,479 --> 01:23:28,240
Speaker 1: some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President

1465
01:23:28,280 --> 01:23:31,800
Speaker 1: Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Christy Noman, the United States

1466
01:23:31,880 --> 01:23:36,679
Speaker 1: Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal border

1467
01:23:36,680 --> 01:23:40,240
Speaker 1: crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded, and over

1468
01:23:40,320 --> 01:23:43,519
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand illegal aliens have been arrested. If you

1469
01:23:43,600 --> 01:23:47,439
Speaker 1: are here illegally, your next you will be fine nearly

1470
01:23:47,520 --> 01:23:51,559
Speaker 1: one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned and deported, you will

1471
01:23:51,600 --> 01:23:55,200
Speaker 1: never return. But if you register using our CBP home

1472
01:23:55,280 --> 01:23:58,639
Speaker 1: app and leave now, you could be allowed to return legally.

1473
01:23:59,040 --> 01:24:03,719
Speaker 1: Do what's right. Leave now. Under President Trump, America's laws,

1474
01:24:03,960 --> 01:24:06,400
Speaker 1: border and families will be protected.

1475
01:24:06,479 --> 01:24:08,599
Speaker 4: Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security,