Speaker 1: Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership
Speaker 1: with Reasent Choice Media.
Speaker 2: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 3: Welcome, Hey bam, You're about to hear a replay of
Speaker 3: one of our interviews from our live stream at the
Speaker 3: Democratic National Convention.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 3: If you want to listen to or watch the full stream,
Speaker 3: be sure to check out links in the episode description.
Speaker 3: You can also find a full list of all the
Speaker 3: guests we've interviewed.
Speaker 5: Welcome home, y'all.
Speaker 4: Yes, I want to wakee Brittany Britney Pregnant Cunningham. We're
Speaker 4: an activist writer and a friend of ours.
Speaker 5: We are a part of a Machete's crew. Were waiting
Speaker 5: for one more to join us. Brittany, we are so
Speaker 5: thrilled for you to be here.
Speaker 2: Sick.
Speaker 5: You're an activist out of Missouri.
Speaker 3: You also served on a council or the President Barack Obama.
Speaker 3: You do a lot of social commentating, but also a
Speaker 3: lot of work on the ground. Still have a lot
Speaker 3: of appreciation.
Speaker 5: Then she and Latasha both do some amazing singing. But
Speaker 5: she's also as Angel said a Machety member, So thank
Speaker 5: you for being here.
Speaker 6: But you know, I thought I'm a little bit mad
Speaker 6: because I love you all so much. But the agreement
Speaker 6: was that if I was gonna do Native lampid, I
Speaker 6: could not speak after Latasha. The word has been misinformation,
Speaker 6: Benediction has been prayed, the collection play has been passed
Speaker 6: right everybody out.
Speaker 5: In the vestibule. Now it's the letter every time, every
Speaker 5: time she delivers a sermon.
Speaker 3: I'm really happy you're joining us on separate because one,
Speaker 3: I just love when we all get to be together
Speaker 3: as our sister circle. We were in Mexico together a
Speaker 3: few weeks. You can check some of our thirst traps
Speaker 3: if you.
Speaker 5: Like, but we can. I try to stand that.
Speaker 3: What is the task for people watching at home right now?
Speaker 3: Because I think you know, I was just talking to
Speaker 3: one of the mayors earlier saying this was a The
Speaker 3: plot line here was so unbelievable. It rivals a Tyler
Speaker 3: Perry plot. If this we're in a movie, I say,
Speaker 3: this is ridiculous. It's just not believable. But yet here
Speaker 3: we are when the country turn like that. It wasn't
Speaker 3: even a month ago, uh that Vice President Harris is
Speaker 3: now our nominee. So for all the people who were
Speaker 3: a bit apathetic who are now excited and hopeful. What
Speaker 3: beyond that hope and excitement do people need to be
Speaker 3: doing right now to make this a decisive win.
Speaker 6: I love this question because it's action oriented. And Natasha
Speaker 6: and I were together last night having a conversation about
Speaker 6: organizing as folks.
Speaker 5: Listen. I was going to say, you're already sweep, let's
Speaker 5: be honest about it text message. But don't worry, b
Speaker 5: They did the same thing. They watched the space together.
Speaker 5: But you really feel like I'm in the middle, midir
Speaker 5: and you the youngest, so you know you already Kitchen,
Speaker 5: I do it? Can we talk about that at some.
Speaker 6: Point because nobody acknowledges that, but it's true. I get
Speaker 6: a real rough. But this is the right question, right
Speaker 6: because we often are talking about a lot of the
Speaker 6: things that we are dealing with, the trauma that we endure,
Speaker 6: the ways we've had to survive and be creative and innovative,
Speaker 6: and yet we often don't have the time left to
Speaker 6: be imaginative, to be strategic, to actually dream up the
Speaker 6: world that we deserve and say, let's plan backwards from
Speaker 6: it and figure out how we get there together. Because
Speaker 6: it's not freedom if we don't get there together.
Speaker 7: Right.
Speaker 6: So I really think that this question about action is
Speaker 6: so important, But the action starts within. You actually have
Speaker 6: to begin to take the time to expand your imagination.
Speaker 6: Like sit outside for five minutes, stare at the sky
Speaker 6: and say, like, if I'm truly going to be my
Speaker 6: ancestor's wildest dreams.
Speaker 5: Then how wild can my dreams get?
Speaker 6: Because there are a lot of folks for whom this
Speaker 6: week and the culmination of it, and the nomination of
Speaker 6: Vice President Harris to the ticket will be their wildest dreams.
Speaker 5: But guess what we here?
Speaker 6: Yeah, so now you've got to go dream bigger. Now
Speaker 6: we have to go idy eight further. Now we have
Speaker 6: to go expand. So I think that that's the first
Speaker 6: thing we do. The second thing that we do, in particular,
Speaker 6: is we have honest conversations with one another. There is
Speaker 6: a tendency in our community to say go vote because
Speaker 6: I said so, yeah, to say go vote because I
Speaker 6: literally has watched somebody say I'll put you over my
Speaker 6: knee and spank you, and I was like, I don't
Speaker 6: think you should be telegrown people that ay, But also like,
Speaker 6: when is the last time somebody ever concious did you
Speaker 6: into anything, like when somebody said to you you were
Speaker 6: an actual child people, As an actual child, you rebella.
Speaker 5: So what we're going to do as an adult? Exactly?
Speaker 6: There is a reason why people are feeling squeezed out.
Speaker 6: There's a reason why folks are saying, well, you told
Speaker 6: me four years ago is the most important election in
Speaker 6: my lifetime, and now you're telling me again, and you
Speaker 6: said that eight years ago, So how is it the
Speaker 6: most important? Every time?
Speaker 5: I thought that was last time? Exactly Exactly.
Speaker 6: So we have to acknowledge where people are and then
Speaker 6: encourage them, as Latasha has been saying, to actually dig
Speaker 6: deep and reach into our own power. I'm not a
Speaker 6: person who likes to leave any tool or power.
Speaker 5: On the table.
Speaker 6: Like if I'm trying to get something done for my son,
Speaker 6: for y'all nephew, then I'm gonna go come on and
Speaker 6: back to make it happen. Why would I not do
Speaker 6: that for my people? Why would I not vote and protest?
Speaker 6: Why would I not protest and strategize? Why would I not
Speaker 6: strategize and use continent media Like I'm not leaving nothing
Speaker 6: on the table for our freedom.
Speaker 5: I refuse to do that.
Speaker 6: That's the kind of activity that we have to decide
Speaker 6: to be engaged in every single day.
Speaker 5: I love that.
Speaker 4: I just want to tell y'all real quick while the
Speaker 4: show's going on, this is actually one of my favorite
Speaker 4: parts of the Democratic National Convention. But it's real special today.
Speaker 4: The role call is happening right now.
Speaker 5: I love it.
Speaker 4: And Britt, while you were talking about imagination, you saw
Speaker 4: Wes Moore holding Mike like a hip hop artist, right, Governor,
Speaker 4: it was dope Governor Wes Moore, our black governor from Maryland.
Speaker 5: Governor from Maryland, but our black.
Speaker 4: Governor because we ain't got enough, okay, saying that Maryland
Speaker 4: is committing its votes to Kamala Harris.
Speaker 5: What a historic moment.
Speaker 4: You talk about imagination all the time, You talk about
Speaker 4: it all the time. They're also holding everybody, including our
Speaker 4: dear sister Eron, So talk about imagination that is.
Speaker 3: But can we just take a moment to acknowledge that
Speaker 3: though yes said the historic candidate at the first black
Speaker 3: woman president or the president alex because I speaking into existence,
Speaker 3: Holilausha you I hope you don't mind me violent lating
Speaker 3: our confidentiality agreement.
Speaker 5: And talk about.
Speaker 3: Yesasha, what hell? It's fine, But Latasha, we were all
Speaker 3: at the Machete group chat. We were in there and
Speaker 3: we talked eight thousands. Have you missed the group chat
Speaker 3: for an hour?
Speaker 5: You come back in the s this is this is
Speaker 5: worth violating?
Speaker 8: Is she on the stage with three when we were.
Speaker 3: Talking about the chances for vice president here and Latasha
Speaker 3: wrote this, I'm like this is going in my book.
Speaker 3: It was a dissertation where Latasha was saying, essentially, we
Speaker 3: are spiritual beings having a human experience and it's just time,
Speaker 3: like there was no other option, that it is time
Speaker 3: the work that black women have done. And you I
Speaker 3: can't echo your words as beautifully and poetically and lyrically
Speaker 3: as you do, but I've read that and got teary.
Speaker 3: I because there is no other option other than for
Speaker 3: this to happen. We talk about the dream and the
Speaker 3: hope of the slave, and some would argue the dream
Speaker 3: and the hope of the enslaves was not to succeed
Speaker 3: here in America, but to go home, back to our roots.
Speaker 3: And here we have a convergence, a confluence of all
Speaker 3: of that happening. We have gone to the motherland together
Speaker 3: and now we have this bridge of the enslaved everywhere.
Speaker 5: She is the daughter of immigrants.
Speaker 3: Yes, people don't realize that the enslaved were also in Jamaica.
Speaker 5: Exactly.
Speaker 3: We are reaching across continents, We are reaching across nations
Speaker 3: and leading the way here in America. And I'm just
Speaker 3: I have goosebumps. So for what gives you? Because I
Speaker 3: share that spirit with you? What gives you that self assured,
Speaker 3: unshaken faith that the wind is at our back?
Speaker 5: Now, this is going to.
Speaker 7: Happen because we're here, and I need people to sit
Speaker 7: in it. We are here. We are literally the children,
Speaker 7: the great great great grandchildren of those who there. They
Speaker 7: were so the family, our families, our ancestors were so dehumanized,
Speaker 7: they weren't even considered full human beings. Right that to
Speaker 7: be able to read right here, we are literally running colleges,
Speaker 7: creating colleges, establishing them.
Speaker 1: Were one carries.
Speaker 5: So let me people.
Speaker 3: We are joined by two additional machete members, part of
Speaker 3: our machete group chat. We have the amazing Carrie Champion,
Speaker 3: you all know Ferry Champions.
Speaker 5: She has done amazing work in media and sports.
Speaker 3: She's constantly calling me asking me to explain something sports
Speaker 3: related to her as exhausting, but she is amazing. You've
Speaker 3: seen Carrie everywhere. I call her the Catwalk Assassin. You
Speaker 3: can see why and be my sister in journalism. Aaron Haynes.
Speaker 3: I know you all see her, and so many people
Speaker 3: tell me how much they enjoy Aaron Haynes, who is
Speaker 3: the face of the nineteenth Please check out her newsletter
Speaker 3: in that platform. But so many people Aaron always tell
Speaker 3: me how amazing you are on television, and I was
Speaker 3: telling Angela on the way here, I'm like, they don't
Speaker 3: even know the real Errand because as great as she is.
Speaker 5: On MSNBC at listen the swats ear.
Speaker 3: She is the wittiest and funniest in our group test,
Speaker 3: but also just so smart. Your scope on things so
Speaker 3: it is I just feel like this is a dream,
Speaker 3: just a technical thing.
Speaker 5: Who are you brand? And you can lift up your
Speaker 5: shar I'm so sorry my fickness is pushing you out.
Speaker 2: You're just one.
Speaker 5: You had to tell the people that let's start. Let's
Speaker 5: start with Aaron and will work our way down.
Speaker 8: Aaron.
Speaker 3: As as a journalist, you take a different scope of things.
Speaker 3: What what does this moment mean for you? Because I
Speaker 3: feel like some people enter this space as a journalist.
Speaker 3: Some people enter this space as a woman. Some people
Speaker 3: enter this space as a black person. Where are you
Speaker 3: right now?
Speaker 5: In what order?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I mean, look, got to unmute her. Listen to black women.
Speaker 5: I'm speaking.
Speaker 8: I'm speaking exactly from freaking to the d n C.
Speaker 2: Here, here we go.
Speaker 5: She's not kidding.
Speaker 8: I mean, listen, I'm all of those things obviously at once.
Speaker 8: I bring all those lived identities to who I am
Speaker 8: as a journalist. Don't apologize for that, but you know,
Speaker 8: I really thought about, you know, boarding my plane in
Speaker 8: Chicago on Sunday. Sunday was the one hundred and fourth
Speaker 8: anniversary of the nineteenth Amendment, which is the amendment for
Speaker 8: which my newsroom is named, an amendment which guaranteed the
Speaker 8: right for some, but not all, women, the right to vote. Hello,
Speaker 8: we had to fight twice as hard or even longer
Speaker 8: before we had our full access to the franchise. We're
Speaker 8: still fighting right our access to this democracy still being challenged.
Speaker 5: You see that.
Speaker 8: We could have seen that this week coming into this convention, right,
Speaker 8: which could have been a contested convention, open convention. That's
Speaker 8: not what we're seeing here. We are seeing a democratic
Speaker 8: party that is unified behind a black woman who could
Speaker 8: become the first woman president of the United States. That
Speaker 8: is not a moment that we necessarily saw coming when
Speaker 8: we started the Nineteenth four almost five years ago. Literally
Speaker 8: the Nineteenth started after the twenty sixteen election, when we
Speaker 8: saw these tired tropes around electability, around readiness, around and right,
Speaker 8: and we knew that there was a different way to
Speaker 8: talk about women, to talk about our leadership, to talk
Speaker 8: about gender and our politics in this country, in the
Speaker 8: emerging small de democracy that you talked about so much, Tiffany,
Speaker 8: that you continue to talk about. So yeah, I mean,
Speaker 8: I come to a convention where the diversity that I'm
Speaker 8: seeing in the arena is reflected on stage as well
Speaker 8: as in the audience. That's not something that I saw
Speaker 8: just a month ago at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Speaker 8: That is striking to me. I think, we know it's real,
Speaker 8: but to see it happening, to see it in reality,
Speaker 8: a true representative democracy really in this arena, and abortion,
Speaker 8: which we knew was on the ballot, was on stage
Speaker 8: last night. That's still remarkable to think about. So, I mean,
Speaker 8: I don't know, as a journalist, this is just a
Speaker 8: remarkable moment to cover as a black woman. I am
Speaker 8: thinking about everybody from Shirley Chisholm to Jesse Jackson to
Speaker 8: I mean, just so many people that paved the way
Speaker 8: for this moment to be possible. Mignon Moore, Donna Brazil,
Speaker 8: Lea Daughtriyolanda Carroll, I mean all just front and center
Speaker 8: in this moment. They helped to manifest the moment in
Speaker 8: which we now find ourselves. And as a journalist, I
Speaker 8: mean I can't not mention them in this conversation. So yeah,
Speaker 8: there's a lot there. And obviously the Nineteenth is feeling
Speaker 8: pretty good about, you know, the idea that we had
Speaker 8: four years ago, because it's all on full display this week.
Speaker 5: And your comridge is constantly beautiful good.
Speaker 4: Also the host of the Amendment podcast, which we didn't say,
Speaker 4: And speaking of podcast hosts, we also have Carrie Chamber
Speaker 4: the podcast hosts, all the podcast hosts, but we also
Speaker 4: have Carrie Champion here. What I love about you being here,
Speaker 4: Carrie is this isn't something where you had to come.
Speaker 4: You felt compelled to come. I know you have that
Speaker 4: headset on, but if you don't mind picking up that
Speaker 4: mic we'd love to talk to you about what made
Speaker 4: you want to be here. And Andrew Gillham just because
Speaker 4: the women are occupied with six of these seats.
Speaker 5: The way in here at double.
Speaker 2: Dutch first, second, first, and foremost, thank you guys for
Speaker 2: having me. I was just with I'm standing I just
Speaker 2: want to talk about my machetes for a minute. I'm
Speaker 2: standing out front. I'm waiting for someone to bring me
Speaker 2: a credential. And who do I see just walk up
Speaker 2: on me and was like, no, I got you, follow me,
Speaker 2: I have a pass. We so are in sync with
Speaker 2: one another. Of all the people that I could see
Speaker 2: standing in front of the United Center, Aaron walks up
Speaker 2: on me and gives me of all the people, and
Speaker 2: it was just like, I.
Speaker 1: Love you so much.
Speaker 2: I love this, I love the sisterhood.
Speaker 1: I love what you all are doing.
Speaker 2: You all know that, Andrew, I love you, and I
Speaker 2: love I love Britt because she's letting one of my
Speaker 2: butt cheeks.
Speaker 7: Just come to.
Speaker 2: Yet holding it is yet holding on. This is the
Speaker 2: workout for the day. So I am a CNN contributor,
Speaker 2: but I did not have to come. But I was like,
Speaker 2: if I missed this moment, I miss I miss Barrock's moment.
Speaker 2: But if I missed this moment, this to me felt
Speaker 2: so substantial and so bigger than us. And I felt
Speaker 2: like this appointment in which Kamala Harris has in this moment,
Speaker 2: felt divine. It is a testimony to everything can happen
Speaker 2: in a blink of anyma over overnight. My God is
Speaker 2: so real, and so I was able to witness what
Speaker 2: happened to this woman three, four or five months ago.
Speaker 2: Nobody could have told me this is where we would be,
Speaker 2: And in an instant, I am sitting here and I'm
Speaker 2: all like, this is a testimony to those who believe
Speaker 2: and who have chosen. So what's meant for you is
Speaker 2: meant for you and no one can take it away
Speaker 2: from you. And I'm watching in real time, and so
Speaker 2: I had to be here because I live that. I
Speaker 2: believe that we all do. We've been in these moments
Speaker 2: and it's something special in my world of sports. As
Speaker 2: we all know. I said this, it's not an accident
Speaker 2: where you have these two entities where women's athletics is
Speaker 2: taken off in a way in which we have never
Speaker 2: seen before. And then when we look at women in
Speaker 2: the world fighting and we're saying, and I've said this before,
Speaker 2: not on my damn watch, you want to take away
Speaker 2: these things bit by bit. You played your hand, you
Speaker 2: over played your hand. And now we are here and
Speaker 2: we are righteous, and we are taking back what is ours.
Speaker 2: There is this idea in sports that everyone needs a
Speaker 2: good a good story, a good rivalry story, always needs
Speaker 2: a really good person, and they need a foil. Right,
Speaker 2: they need a good athlete and they need a foil.
Speaker 2: But in this instance, women, black women are the foil.
Speaker 2: We are taking it and we're taking it back. You
Speaker 2: thought you were a superhero, but the story is ours.
Speaker 2: And I am so grateful to be here. And I'm
Speaker 2: more excited because I thought I was coming on tomorrow,
Speaker 2: but since you guys have me on to day, I'm
Speaker 2: just hanging out but checking.
Speaker 5: Well, we are so grateful, y'all. We promise y'all, we
Speaker 5: need it.
Speaker 4: Only about five minutes say your time, so we gonna
Speaker 4: let y'all head on out. Natasha got people to see in,
Speaker 4: things to do. We got some other guests coming up,
Speaker 4: but we are so so grateful for you.
Speaker 5: Yes, you're welcome.
Speaker 1: Let me put eyes on you.
Speaker 4: Hey, y'all, thanks for listening, remember to rate, review, subscribe,
Speaker 4: and tune into our regular episode that drops every single Thursday.
Speaker 5: Welcome Home, y'all.
Speaker 1: Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership
Speaker 1: with Reasent Choice Media. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
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