WEBVTT - SCOTUS & Black History 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:14.720 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to WIKA F Daily with 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:19.480 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, recording from the Brooklyn Bunker. So, folks, 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:24.920 a little bit of breaking news today is that apparently 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:29.960 Democrats have given up. That's the breaking news. Essentially, several 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:35.239 bipartisan I guess Republican and Democratic governors found their way 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:39.360 to the White House this week, where Democrats have decided 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:42.120 that they're going to ease their mask mandates. They're just 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:45.800 going to stop using them for indoors because the omicron 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:49.839 surge has begun to recede, and so let's continue to 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:53.920 make the same mistakes over and over again. Here's the thing. 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:59.120 When I woke up to the news, particularly coming out 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:04.280 of New York that Governor Hokeel was going to ease 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:07.920 indoor mask mandates, you know, to help businesses, well, I 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:11.240 can tell you this, Governor, none of the businesses in 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:14.319 New York are fucking suffering. The fact is is that 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.399 the rest of us who had begun to become accustomed 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:21.759 to showing our vaccination to going back to indoor dining 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:24.280 into a place where we could feel safe because we 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.160 knew that the people that were proprietors have said business 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:30.840 were following. I don't know the rules, the rules that 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.440 were laid out not by you, Governor, but two years 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:38.360 ago by your predecessor, who instead of following trends. And 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:41.400 let me say, there's a lot to fucking say about 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:44.520 Andrew Cuomo. There's a lot to say about his relationships 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:48.760 with women. There's a lot to say about his unprofessionalism 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:52.760 and harassment, sexual harassment in the workplace. There's a lot 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:55.720 to say about that. All of that said, I'm going 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:59.920 to say this, which is wildly unpopular. Hi didn't follow 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:05.480 the fucking bad pace that America was setting around the 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:10.000 COVID nineteen pandemic. No, he set the pace. He allowed 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:13.640 New York to set the pace for our COVID nineteen response. 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:16.800 And what Governor hokel is doing by lifting the mask 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:19.840 mandates and saying, oh well, what about the children, isn't 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:23.280 following the fucking science. It is following the poll numbers. 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:27.280 So let's be clear about what is actually happening right now, 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:31.760 because the reality is this. It took about six to 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:36.920 seven months between the alpha variant of COVID nineteen and 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:40.920 the delta variant. It took another six to seven months 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:45.600 between the delta variant that ran rampant to then get 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:49.200 to omicron. So if you want to follow the fucking 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:53.400 facts and follow science, then follow common sense that would 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:56.280 tell you that as soon as this surge obates, that 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.000 there is another one coming on its heels. So why 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.160 you would all this side to give Republicans a win 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:06.200 and talking points for the midterm election saying that Liberals 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:10.320 and Democrats are just fearmongerers and just want to scare 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:13.160 you and scare your children and harm them. And now 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:16.200 can hold up and say, well, see see they're even 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:19.000 easing the mass mandates so that when the next fucking 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:23.480 variant comes, which is inevitable, that then you're going to 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:26.480 have to try and corral all of these people who 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:29.320 you have guests lit into believing that we are quote 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:33.520 unquote beyond the fucking pandemic, to try and go back 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:37.920 into safety measures again. See how well that's going to 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:42.000 fucking work. So here's what I realize and what I have. 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:45.280 What it is so hard for me to say, as 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:49.520 someone that entered into politics twenty some odd years ago 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:53.760 with great faith and naive belief that only a small 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.360 group of people could change the world, that it was 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:59.640 the earnest and the passionate, and those that would lift 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:03.800 and harry the torches of people who have long since passed, 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:08.960 activists and thought leaders and judges and representatives who stood 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:15.080 for something. The reality is much that was expressed in 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:19.919 the Matrix resurrections. These people don't want to be woke, 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:25.240 not the Democrats, certainly, not the fucking Republicans. They don't 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:28.279 want to live consciously. They want to live under the 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:33.600 cloud of capitalism and white patriarchy and white supremacy. Right, 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:36.920 they want to be moved in that way. They are 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:40.159 going to move and make decisions that are based on 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:45.560 poll numbers and politics and midterm elections or presidential elections. 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:49.159 They are not making decisions based on your well being. Right, 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:53.520 they would rather stay asleep. And so here is my 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:57.200 note to the rest of us, to folks who actually care, 0:04:57.520 --> 0:04:59.800 don't look to your government to do things for you 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.279 that you're not going to do for yourself, because, frankly, friends, 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:07.840 we have reached a point in America the final fucking episode, 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:11.560 right the series finale, we have reached a point where 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:13.919 it is evident that it does not matter who is 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:16.560 in charge. And I say that, I say that with 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:22.000 such frustration and anger. Sure you can tell me that 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:24.960 if Donald Trump had been elected to a second term 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.279 that the country would be in the shitter. Tell me 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:30.719 how much worse things would be, because at least I 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.800 would still have the belief that there were people that 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:37.640 were out there that were wanting right to do the 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:41.840 right thing, that we're willing to create equity and well 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:45.279 being and put public safety and health first. But what 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:48.920 I realize now is that that is not the case, right, 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:54.120 It's not so Republicans maybe rabid and cultish and disgusting 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:58.279 and horrible cesspool of a party, but Democrats are no 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.960 fucking better. So at this stage of the pandemic of 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:06.960 our lives, of our awareness, I say this, take care 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:11.520 of yourself. If you are headed into crowded public spaces 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:15.359 and places, do what is best for you right to 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:18.880 keep yourself safe, your community and those that you care 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:22.480 about safe. Because your government is no longer doing that. 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:25.880 So whatever fucking guidelines that they're deciding to lift, it 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:28.400 is not the science that they are following. It is 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:33.600 nobody's recommendation that we do that, particularly fucking now, right, 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:37.760 so we know what it is and it ain't about 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:43.720 public health. That's number one. Number two is something that 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:47.200 I have not covered on woke f and I'm going 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:51.720 to be better about doing so. Another breaking news story 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:58.080 this week as we round out the week here, six 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:04.480 schools in Washington d C. Six schools in Washington DC 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:12.480 on Wednesday were evacuated, one of which was Dunbar, a 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:16.720 school in Washington, DC that the Second Gentleman Vice President 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:20.400 Kamala Harris's husband was visiting for a Black History Month. 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:26.640 This is now just fucking the norm. Right, school shootings, 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:29.520 we don't really blink an eye out anymore and less 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:35.400 you know, more than five kids are murdered. Right. Bomb threats, 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:39.320 we don't blink an eye out unless something explodes. Right. 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:43.000 There have been a series of bomb threats that have 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:47.480 been happening at historically black colleges and universities HBCUs across 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.560 this country. There have been a series of bomb threats 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:55.280 at black churches across this country. Mainstream news has decided 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:58.320 that that's not really important. We don't really care, We 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:02.040 don't give a damn about collective public safety, and we 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:07.840 sure as fuck don't care about black people's safety. Right, So, 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:11.040 when I saw the news break, you would think that 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:14.440 it would put things out a standstill, right, that we 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.400 would then have these conversations about what about the kids 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:19.120 and what kind of world are we giving them and 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:21.560 all of these things. The reality is is that no 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:25.720 one gives a shit. Democrats don't give a shit. Republicans 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:29.480 don't give a shit. Right. I watched a video. Let 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:31.800 me tell you something. I watched a video of a 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:35.640 candidate for Texas. I would say that the woman is 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.760 running for some type of state senate or something like that, 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:48.760 who made the most disgusting, fucking claims about trans youth 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.760 and about how they make her feel uncomfortable. Because this 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:57.520 is the new right, the new term that Governor DeSantis 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:02.480 gave to the aggrieved, why rage filled racist and homophobes 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:06.199 and transphobes and islamophobes and all of the fucking fobes 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:10.200 right where you can say that you're uncomfortable, right, And 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:14.000 she said she was uncomfortable with having a trans student 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:16.640 in her classroom, that she couldn't allow the other kids 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:20.000 to make fun of I shit, you fucking not go 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:24.439 on my Twitter and go find that video. It was absurd, 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:28.839 It was disgraceful. Right, But you see, all you need 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:33.320 to do in America is target right, a class of people, 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:36.480 a group of people, a community of people that no 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:40.720 one gives a fuck about, and then you do whatever 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:46.600 you say, whatever you act, however right until eventually you 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.520 move on from that marginalized group to another one that 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:55.520 maybe has more backing, more money, more limelight, more awareness. 0:09:56.120 --> 0:10:00.520 That's what America is going from. It's a fucking answer 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.680 right that we are seeing that Republicans just spread and 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:07.560 Democrats who just lay back and allow it to happen. 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:11.280 And so, folks, I am at a place I'm not 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:15.480 a place in my life and in my career where 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:20.120 I am really asking myself what am I doing? What 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:23.320 am I doing? What have I spent the last twenty 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:29.000 something years doing to try and create a better society, 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:32.240 to try and wake people up to social ills that 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.120 they may not have been aware of, with the naive 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:38.120 belief that when people knew better, they would do better. 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:42.920 Except what I am realizing and what is being mirrored 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:46.520 back to me, is that Americans don't want to do better. 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:49.320 They don't want to know more, they don't want to 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:52.600 expand their way of thinking, they don't want to think critically, 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:55.880 they don't want to think critically, not about a pandemic, 0:10:56.200 --> 0:11:01.000 not about climate change, not about white supremacy, not about capitalism, 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:05.600 not about anything. They just want the quote unquote norm right. 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:09.280 They just want the ability to bury their heads in 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:12.160 the sand and hope that everything around them doesn't crumble 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:15.680 because it's somebody else's responsibility to deal with. And So 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.960 I sit here, and I'm gonna be transparent and honest. 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:24.080 I sit here after years of being on radio and 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:29.440 being a podcaster, after over a decade of being in media, 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:34.200 over two right in being in politics, and I'm saying 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:36.960 to myself, what the fuck am I doing with my life? 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:43.360 That is real fucking talk. Because if the premise is 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:47.080 to make people conscious, but yet the people are telling 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:51.440 you they would rather stay asleep, well then what I 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:54.880 am doing doesn't actually make any sense anymore, does it. 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:58.400 And so that's the place that I am finding myself 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.160 and why I have said and at the beginning of 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:08.280 the week, that we need more balance right in our lives, 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:13.320 and we need to stop looking outside of ourselves for 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:18.560 that balance to come. It occurred to me on my 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:24.360 walk today that you know, if you were to ask 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:29.320 any black person in America, if you were to ask 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:38.560 any Jewish person whose family survived the Holocaust, do you 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:46.320 believe right that government will keep you safe? Both of 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:49.559 these groups, and I lift them up because there are 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:52.920 both groups that have been in the press, in the media, 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.080 in the crosshairs for the last couple of weeks because 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:59.680 of Joe Rogan, because of the view, because of you know, 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.400 be Goldberg and what's happening at Spotify and all of 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:09.080 these things. If you were to ask them, do you 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:17.720 believe that government, whether state, local, right, or federal, are 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:21.320 there to keep you safe? Will protect you as you 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:27.599 are watching this assault happen right as you're watching schools 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:33.480 get bomb threats, people armed right being able to shoot 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:37.040 and kill whomever they want and get off scott free 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:40.319 like Kyle Rittenhouse. When you see all of these things happening, 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:43.840 I guarantee you there is not a person in either 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:47.120 of those groups or people that live at the intersection 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:50.839 that will tell you, oh, yeah, I totally have faith 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:53.600 in government to keep me safe. It has been government. 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:58.120 Was government right in Germany that allowed for the persecution 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:03.760 and murder of overseas million fucking people, right. It was 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:10.119 government in the United States that allowed for enslaved Africans 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:17.840 to be used as fucking human machines for centuries and 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:26.840 then tortured thereafter with their laws right of inequity and injustice. 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:33.840 So why now did I believe that we had moved 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:38.560 to a place where government assumed the role of responsibility 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:42.120 to all of its citizens. No, because we are seeing 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:49.400 the total and complete regression of that before long, dear 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:55.240 listeners and watchers, Before long, the new Jim Crow error 0:14:55.400 --> 0:15:00.280 will be among us. And so if we are not 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:04.720 finding ways to ground ourselves and center ourselves in something 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:11.120 other than misery and recognizing that empires fall, they do right, 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:15.480 and sometimes they fall into the hands of the good, 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.400 but more than not they fall into the hands of 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:22.440 those that are bad, and they take control for sometimes 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:27.320 a couple of years, sometimes decades and centuries. But what 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:31.920 I know to be true is that the American Empire 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:37.560 is falling, and there isn't any one person or group 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.920 that is going to restore what people don't want restored. 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:44.360 What the masses have decided that they want to ignore. 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:49.400 They want back to normal, They want to hearken back 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:52.600 to a time when they can ignore everything that is 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:57.760 happening right and pretend all as well they want the 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:04.400 fairy tale of America, not the truth. And what's funny 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:09.040 is that there has been so much excavation and unearthing 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:13.360 over the last several years that you would think, right, 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:21.600 you would think that would you would think, folks, that 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:27.680 we would be charged up and feeling like we can 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:34.280 make real change and real progress. But that progress, the 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:38.880 little that we have made since reconstruction, is being snatched. 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:45.400 It's being snatched from us, and Democrats aren't doing anything 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:50.840 to stop it. And so I sit here day after 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:55.440 day really wondering at the end of each and every week, 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:58.920 what I am doing, what any of us who have 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:02.640 chosen this field and this profession are doing. What is 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:09.880 the goal? Because you can't force people to open up 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:14.760 eyes that they choose to keep closed. You can't force 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:20.000 people to assume power that they are acquiescing for their 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:24.560 ease and for their comfort. So then what do you do? 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:30.800 My choice, my decision, and hopefully I can model it 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:35.280 for other people, is I'm choosing me. I'm going to 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:39.720 choose joy. I'm going to continue to be aware right 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:43.600 of what is going on and to share that information 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:45.359 with all of you. But then I'm going to choose 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:50.800 to fucking let it go, right, because it is not 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:53.760 going to be my cross to bear, or any of 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.919 our cross to bear until we are dead and gone. 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:01.600 And it is important for us to realize that there 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:03.720 is only so much to do that now. That is 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:07.400 not to throw up my hands right and let these 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:09.639 people have their way with this country, but it is 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:15.320 to recognize that this is a marathon. The baton may 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:20.520 be in our hands right now, but it's getting ready 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:27.280 to be passed to the millennials, to Generation Z right 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:32.600 and to the youth who have more energy, better ideas, 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:37.720 better technology, and hopefully we'll figure out how we get 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:43.560 farther in this race, in this marathon than we have 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:48.000 because what we are giving to them to inherit is 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:55.720 a legacy of gun violence, bomb threats, a climate crisis, 0:18:56.040 --> 0:19:05.600 a global health pandemic, racism, its supremacy, transphobia, homophobia, misogyny. 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:09.560 That's what our legacy is. That is what we are 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:14.520 passing on. Coming up next is my conversation with our 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:18.840 friend Ellie Mistole, who will talk about something good for 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:24.639 a change, which is the litany, the long laundry list 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:30.080 of exceptional black women for Joe Biden to choose from 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:34.360 to replace Justice Bryer on the Supreme Court. That conversation 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:39.240 is coming to you next. Friends. You know that I 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.600 am always so excited when friend of the show and 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:47.080 friend of mine, Justice correspondent for the Nation, Ellie Mistol 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.480 joins Woke f Daily to break down the latest and 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:55.679 greatest in all America's legal woes. But for this episode, 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:58.800 my goodness, we have something good to talk about. Not 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:03.879 the shit, not democracy crumbling, not the bad decisions that 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:07.439 are coming out of Scotus, but Ellie, the potential that 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:10.080 Joe Biden is going to be the first politician ever 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:13.679 to actually uphold one of a campaign promises that they 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:16.760 made to the black community, which was to imp point 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:21.240 a black justice. Now that we know that Justice Stephen 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:24.560 Bryer is retiring at the end of this term, which 0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:29.399 is assuming at the end of June, right, yes, So 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:34.480 tell us first, is this something we should be excited about? 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:37.160 It is Black History Month, and I like to celebrate 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:40.800 all things black all year three hundred and sixty five. 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:43.520 But is this something that we should be excited about? 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:47.960 Or is it like the Maya Angelou on the Quarter 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:51.400 and the celebration of Juneteenth even though we can't talk 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:54.639 about Juneteenth in schools. Is it you know, is it 0:20:54.760 --> 0:21:00.240 something that is a to placate us or as yours 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:04.560 that you wrote in In the Nation entitled the many 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:08.760 remarkable Black women who could replace Stephen fryor please, it's 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:13.080 something that we should be celebrating. Yeah, No, I think 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:15.600 this is I think this is a good thing. First 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:19.560 of all, Hi, thanks for having me. No, I think 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:24.880 this is an objectively good thing, not just for the symbolism, 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:28.760 although the symbolism is important. This country has been around 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:31.080 for almost two hundred and fifty years. There have been 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:35.880 one hundred and fifteen Supreme Court justices. Zero of them 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:39.480 have been black women. Only one of them has been 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:43.520 a woman of color. In fact, the entire, the entire 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:48.080 and the entire history of America, the justices who were 0:21:48.200 --> 0:21:53.959 not sis hetero white men are Thurgood Marshall, Clarence Thomas, 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:59.879 Sandra Dale, O'Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elaina Kagan, Sonya Sotomayor, 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:04.240 and Amy Coney Barrett. I just named them all off 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:08.800 the top of my head. Okay, Like that's that's how 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:13.200 few non sis hetero white men have been in charge 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:17.199 of reading and interpreting our laws. So yeah, it's a 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:22.000 big deal when anybody who come who's not from that 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:25.040 tradition gets on the court. It was a big deal 0:22:25.080 --> 0:22:27.679 when Amy Coney Barrett became only the fifth woman in 0:22:27.760 --> 0:22:30.439 history to be on the Supreme Court. And it's certainly 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:33.280 a big deal when a woman of color gets an opportunity, 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:35.840 and particularly a black woman. So all of these things 0:22:36.200 --> 0:22:40.439 are are important and are more than mere symbolism. Is 0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:43.240 it going to change our lives? Probably? Now? Right, do 0:22:43.840 --> 0:22:48.400 we win the publisher's clearing house? No? Like this same there, No, 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:50.359 black people are not going to get a prize in 0:22:50.400 --> 0:22:52.879 the mail because the black woman is on the Supreme 0:22:52.920 --> 0:22:56.359 Court right now, right, the balance of power doesn't change. 0:22:56.640 --> 0:22:59.680 It's still a six three court which will take rights 0:22:59.720 --> 0:23:03.360 away from black and brown people and women. Um, so 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:06.960 that is still like happening. Um there. A friend of 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:10.359 mine said that it's typical right that that we're gonna 0:23:10.560 --> 0:23:13.000 nominate a black woman onto the Spring Court just in 0:23:13.080 --> 0:23:15.760 time for her to try to clean everything up, because 0:23:16.480 --> 0:23:19.840 because the court's a mess right now and there's nothing 0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:24.119 one black person. Um, no matter how kind of remarkable 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:27.040 and exceptional she may be, there's no way she can 0:23:27.200 --> 0:23:31.480 stop the madness um that is gripped the white wing 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:34.360 and right wing on the Supreme Court right now. Um, 0:23:34.359 --> 0:23:38.720 So it's not it's not a life changing appointment or 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:41.359 opportunity and the same it's not the same as when 0:23:42.160 --> 0:23:46.000 Republicans frankly were able to steal the seats um from 0:23:46.000 --> 0:23:48.920 Barack Obama and get Neil Gorsuch on the score. That 0:23:49.080 --> 0:23:53.639 was a life changing momentum. This is not that, um, 0:23:53.640 --> 0:23:56.320 But it's still important, it's still it's still positive, and 0:23:56.320 --> 0:24:00.880 it's still again I think unquestionably good, not just because 0:24:01.119 --> 0:24:03.440 she's gonna be a black woman, but when you look 0:24:03.480 --> 0:24:06.639 at the kinds of people that Biden is looking at, 0:24:07.040 --> 0:24:10.720 these are some really strong UM candidates, right, Like, I 0:24:10.760 --> 0:24:13.760 don't want it's not it's not like you're looking for 0:24:13.560 --> 0:24:18.439 for Candice Owens, right. You're not going to point me 0:24:18.520 --> 0:24:21.840 a love to the to the court, right, So it's not. 0:24:22.000 --> 0:24:25.120 It's not. It's going to be a person who happens 0:24:25.160 --> 0:24:27.960 to be a black woman who also is going to do, 0:24:28.520 --> 0:24:30.760 you know, and believe and write a bunch of other 0:24:30.840 --> 0:24:33.240 kinds of things and opinions, um, that are going to 0:24:33.320 --> 0:24:35.160 be on the court for the next you know, hopefully 0:24:35.200 --> 0:24:39.080 thirty years. So you know, I want to talk for 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:42.400 a minute about the polls, which you know, folks who 0:24:42.440 --> 0:24:45.040 listen to Woke app and listen to me know that 0:24:45.480 --> 0:24:47.960 I take poles with a grain of salt, but because 0:24:48.200 --> 0:24:51.560 we use them in politics, Uh, it's it's important to 0:24:51.600 --> 0:24:53.719 lift up. So there's a pole that is going around 0:24:54.280 --> 0:24:56.840 um and I saw it at the Hill dot com, 0:24:57.240 --> 0:25:02.600 which is saying that most Democrats are excited about this 0:25:03.280 --> 0:25:07.160 excited about the potential of this choice, the symbolism of it, 0:25:07.240 --> 0:25:15.720 but also how they believe it can help energize the 0:25:15.800 --> 0:25:19.840 Democratic base right now at a time when we need 0:25:20.240 --> 0:25:23.480 energy and passion and excitement as we head into mid terms. 0:25:23.920 --> 0:25:26.919 But there is of course like forty percent of the 0:25:27.000 --> 0:25:29.879 population and probably more depending on how you ask the 0:25:29.960 --> 0:25:35.640 question and to whom and where that is using the 0:25:35.760 --> 0:25:38.359 usual defense, Ellie, which you brought up in your piece. 0:25:38.400 --> 0:25:40.199 So I just want to give you an opportunity to 0:25:40.200 --> 0:25:43.159 speak to it, which is, why can't Joe Biden just 0:25:43.240 --> 0:25:46.679 pick the most qualified person? Why does race have to 0:25:46.760 --> 0:25:49.480 even play in? Why did he even have to say 0:25:49.520 --> 0:25:53.080 and articulate that he was going to place a black 0:25:53.119 --> 0:25:55.760 woman on the court. Why couldn't it just be I'm 0:25:55.760 --> 0:25:58.840 going to place the most qualified you know candidate on 0:25:58.880 --> 0:26:03.160 the court. Please articulate. You are pushed back to that 0:26:03.359 --> 0:26:07.600 constant refrain that we hear. Yeah. So a couple of things. One, 0:26:07.720 --> 0:26:10.480 why don't Republicans place the most qualified person on the 0:26:10.520 --> 0:26:15.480 court Because they don't. Okay, they place the most qualified 0:26:15.720 --> 0:26:19.320 white person on the court. Right. Donald Trump made two 0:26:19.400 --> 0:26:24.000 hundred and twenty six federal judge appointments. Eighty five percent 0:26:24.119 --> 0:26:28.000 of those appointments were white. Seventy five percent of those 0:26:28.000 --> 0:26:32.719 appointments were male. You cannot tell me within good faith 0:26:33.119 --> 0:26:38.040 that in our entire country, the most qualified qualified judge 0:26:38.359 --> 0:26:40.560 eighty five percent of the time is going to be 0:26:40.560 --> 0:26:42.959 a white person in a country that's only about sixty 0:26:42.960 --> 0:26:46.080 percent white. Easimply, can't make me believe that. You cannot 0:26:46.160 --> 0:26:49.000 tell me, in a country that's about evenly split between 0:26:49.000 --> 0:26:51.560 men and women seventy five percent of the time, the 0:26:51.640 --> 0:26:54.080 most qualified person to be a judge is gonna be 0:26:54.160 --> 0:26:57.680 a man. That just eight true. All right, So number one, 0:26:58.119 --> 0:27:00.880 y'all are the ones who are a little bit obsessed 0:27:01.119 --> 0:27:05.720 with race and gender when you pick yo judges. Number one. 0:27:06.400 --> 0:27:10.920 Number two, if we're talking about qualifications. You can't get 0:27:11.280 --> 0:27:15.440 more qualified than some of the judges that Biden could pick, 0:27:15.600 --> 0:27:20.480 even if he just focuses exclusively on the underrepresentative community 0:27:20.800 --> 0:27:23.959 of black women. All Right, you don't have a better 0:27:24.000 --> 0:27:27.000 resume than some of these other women. You have at 0:27:27.040 --> 0:27:31.160 best and as good resume as some of these other women. Right, 0:27:31.320 --> 0:27:35.199 So the question of qualifications is really it's really reductive 0:27:35.280 --> 0:27:37.840 because there are I mean, it depends on how you 0:27:37.840 --> 0:27:40.040 think about this. I actually think that the Supreme Court 0:27:40.440 --> 0:27:43.240 that it's a lot easier to be a Supreme Court 0:27:43.320 --> 0:27:47.160