Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to WIKA F Daily with
Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, recording from the Brooklyn Bunker. So, folks,
Speaker 1: a little bit of breaking news today is that apparently
Speaker 1: Democrats have given up. That's the breaking news. Essentially, several
Speaker 1: bipartisan I guess Republican and Democratic governors found their way
Speaker 1: to the White House this week, where Democrats have decided
Speaker 1: that they're going to ease their mask mandates. They're just
Speaker 1: going to stop using them for indoors because the omicron
Speaker 1: surge has begun to recede, and so let's continue to
Speaker 1: make the same mistakes over and over again. Here's the thing.
Speaker 1: When I woke up to the news, particularly coming out
Speaker 1: of New York that Governor Hokeel was going to ease
Speaker 1: indoor mask mandates, you know, to help businesses, well, I
Speaker 1: can tell you this, Governor, none of the businesses in
Speaker 1: New York are fucking suffering. The fact is is that
Speaker 1: the rest of us who had begun to become accustomed
Speaker 1: to showing our vaccination to going back to indoor dining
Speaker 1: into a place where we could feel safe because we
Speaker 1: knew that the people that were proprietors have said business
Speaker 1: were following. I don't know the rules, the rules that
Speaker 1: were laid out not by you, Governor, but two years
Speaker 1: ago by your predecessor, who instead of following trends. And
Speaker 1: let me say, there's a lot to fucking say about
Speaker 1: Andrew Cuomo. There's a lot to say about his relationships
Speaker 1: with women. There's a lot to say about his unprofessionalism
Speaker 1: and harassment, sexual harassment in the workplace. There's a lot
Speaker 1: to say about that. All of that said, I'm going
Speaker 1: to say this, which is wildly unpopular. Hi didn't follow
Speaker 1: the fucking bad pace that America was setting around the
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen pandemic. No, he set the pace. He allowed
Speaker 1: New York to set the pace for our COVID nineteen response.
Speaker 1: And what Governor hokel is doing by lifting the mask
Speaker 1: mandates and saying, oh well, what about the children, isn't
Speaker 1: following the fucking science. It is following the poll numbers.
Speaker 1: So let's be clear about what is actually happening right now,
Speaker 1: because the reality is this. It took about six to
Speaker 1: seven months between the alpha variant of COVID nineteen and
Speaker 1: the delta variant. It took another six to seven months
Speaker 1: between the delta variant that ran rampant to then get
Speaker 1: to omicron. So if you want to follow the fucking
Speaker 1: facts and follow science, then follow common sense that would
Speaker 1: tell you that as soon as this surge obates, that
Speaker 1: there is another one coming on its heels. So why
Speaker 1: you would all this side to give Republicans a win
Speaker 1: and talking points for the midterm election saying that Liberals
Speaker 1: and Democrats are just fearmongerers and just want to scare
Speaker 1: you and scare your children and harm them. And now
Speaker 1: can hold up and say, well, see see they're even
Speaker 1: easing the mass mandates so that when the next fucking
Speaker 1: variant comes, which is inevitable, that then you're going to
Speaker 1: have to try and corral all of these people who
Speaker 1: you have guests lit into believing that we are quote
Speaker 1: unquote beyond the fucking pandemic, to try and go back
Speaker 1: into safety measures again. See how well that's going to
Speaker 1: fucking work. So here's what I realize and what I have.
Speaker 1: What it is so hard for me to say, as
Speaker 1: someone that entered into politics twenty some odd years ago
Speaker 1: with great faith and naive belief that only a small
Speaker 1: group of people could change the world, that it was
Speaker 1: the earnest and the passionate, and those that would lift
Speaker 1: and harry the torches of people who have long since passed,
Speaker 1: activists and thought leaders and judges and representatives who stood
Speaker 1: for something. The reality is much that was expressed in
Speaker 1: the Matrix resurrections. These people don't want to be woke,
Speaker 1: not the Democrats, certainly, not the fucking Republicans. They don't
Speaker 1: want to live consciously. They want to live under the
Speaker 1: cloud of capitalism and white patriarchy and white supremacy. Right,
Speaker 1: they want to be moved in that way. They are
Speaker 1: going to move and make decisions that are based on
Speaker 1: poll numbers and politics and midterm elections or presidential elections.
Speaker 1: They are not making decisions based on your well being. Right,
Speaker 1: they would rather stay asleep. And so here is my
Speaker 1: note to the rest of us, to folks who actually care,
Speaker 1: don't look to your government to do things for you
Speaker 1: that you're not going to do for yourself, because, frankly, friends,
Speaker 1: we have reached a point in America the final fucking episode,
Speaker 1: right the series finale, we have reached a point where
Speaker 1: it is evident that it does not matter who is
Speaker 1: in charge. And I say that, I say that with
Speaker 1: such frustration and anger. Sure you can tell me that
Speaker 1: if Donald Trump had been elected to a second term
Speaker 1: that the country would be in the shitter. Tell me
Speaker 1: how much worse things would be, because at least I
Speaker 1: would still have the belief that there were people that
Speaker 1: were out there that were wanting right to do the
Speaker 1: right thing, that we're willing to create equity and well
Speaker 1: being and put public safety and health first. But what
Speaker 1: I realize now is that that is not the case, right,
Speaker 1: It's not so Republicans maybe rabid and cultish and disgusting
Speaker 1: and horrible cesspool of a party, but Democrats are no
Speaker 1: fucking better. So at this stage of the pandemic of
Speaker 1: our lives, of our awareness, I say this, take care
Speaker 1: of yourself. If you are headed into crowded public spaces
Speaker 1: and places, do what is best for you right to
Speaker 1: keep yourself safe, your community and those that you care
Speaker 1: about safe. Because your government is no longer doing that.
Speaker 1: So whatever fucking guidelines that they're deciding to lift, it
Speaker 1: is not the science that they are following. It is
Speaker 1: nobody's recommendation that we do that, particularly fucking now, right,
Speaker 1: so we know what it is and it ain't about
Speaker 1: public health. That's number one. Number two is something that
Speaker 1: I have not covered on woke f and I'm going
Speaker 1: to be better about doing so. Another breaking news story
Speaker 1: this week as we round out the week here, six
Speaker 1: schools in Washington d C. Six schools in Washington DC
Speaker 1: on Wednesday were evacuated, one of which was Dunbar, a
Speaker 1: school in Washington, DC that the Second Gentleman Vice President
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris's husband was visiting for a Black History Month.
Speaker 1: This is now just fucking the norm. Right, school shootings,
Speaker 1: we don't really blink an eye out anymore and less
Speaker 1: you know, more than five kids are murdered. Right. Bomb threats,
Speaker 1: we don't blink an eye out unless something explodes. Right.
Speaker 1: There have been a series of bomb threats that have
Speaker 1: been happening at historically black colleges and universities HBCUs across
Speaker 1: this country. There have been a series of bomb threats
Speaker 1: at black churches across this country. Mainstream news has decided
Speaker 1: that that's not really important. We don't really care, We
Speaker 1: don't give a damn about collective public safety, and we
Speaker 1: sure as fuck don't care about black people's safety. Right, So,
Speaker 1: when I saw the news break, you would think that
Speaker 1: it would put things out a standstill, right, that we
Speaker 1: would then have these conversations about what about the kids
Speaker 1: and what kind of world are we giving them and
Speaker 1: all of these things. The reality is is that no
Speaker 1: one gives a shit. Democrats don't give a shit. Republicans
Speaker 1: don't give a shit. Right. I watched a video. Let
Speaker 1: me tell you something. I watched a video of a
Speaker 1: candidate for Texas. I would say that the woman is
Speaker 1: running for some type of state senate or something like that,
Speaker 1: who made the most disgusting, fucking claims about trans youth
Speaker 1: and about how they make her feel uncomfortable. Because this
Speaker 1: is the new right, the new term that Governor DeSantis
Speaker 1: gave to the aggrieved, why rage filled racist and homophobes
Speaker 1: and transphobes and islamophobes and all of the fucking fobes
Speaker 1: right where you can say that you're uncomfortable, right, And
Speaker 1: she said she was uncomfortable with having a trans student
Speaker 1: in her classroom, that she couldn't allow the other kids
Speaker 1: to make fun of I shit, you fucking not go
Speaker 1: on my Twitter and go find that video. It was absurd,
Speaker 1: It was disgraceful. Right, But you see, all you need
Speaker 1: to do in America is target right, a class of people,
Speaker 1: a group of people, a community of people that no
Speaker 1: one gives a fuck about, and then you do whatever
Speaker 1: you say, whatever you act, however right until eventually you
Speaker 1: move on from that marginalized group to another one that
Speaker 1: maybe has more backing, more money, more limelight, more awareness.
Speaker 1: That's what America is going from. It's a fucking answer
Speaker 1: right that we are seeing that Republicans just spread and
Speaker 1: Democrats who just lay back and allow it to happen.
Speaker 1: And so, folks, I am at a place I'm not
Speaker 1: a place in my life and in my career where
Speaker 1: I am really asking myself what am I doing? What
Speaker 1: am I doing? What have I spent the last twenty
Speaker 1: something years doing to try and create a better society,
Speaker 1: to try and wake people up to social ills that
Speaker 1: they may not have been aware of, with the naive
Speaker 1: belief that when people knew better, they would do better.
Speaker 1: Except what I am realizing and what is being mirrored
Speaker 1: back to me, is that Americans don't want to do better.
Speaker 1: They don't want to know more, they don't want to
Speaker 1: expand their way of thinking, they don't want to think critically,
Speaker 1: they don't want to think critically, not about a pandemic,
Speaker 1: not about climate change, not about white supremacy, not about capitalism,
Speaker 1: not about anything. They just want the quote unquote norm right.
Speaker 1: They just want the ability to bury their heads in
Speaker 1: the sand and hope that everything around them doesn't crumble
Speaker 1: because it's somebody else's responsibility to deal with. And So
Speaker 1: I sit here, and I'm gonna be transparent and honest.
Speaker 1: I sit here after years of being on radio and
Speaker 1: being a podcaster, after over a decade of being in media,
Speaker 1: over two right in being in politics, and I'm saying
Speaker 1: to myself, what the fuck am I doing with my life?
Speaker 1: That is real fucking talk. Because if the premise is
Speaker 1: to make people conscious, but yet the people are telling
Speaker 1: you they would rather stay asleep, well then what I
Speaker 1: am doing doesn't actually make any sense anymore, does it.
Speaker 1: And so that's the place that I am finding myself
Speaker 1: and why I have said and at the beginning of
Speaker 1: the week, that we need more balance right in our lives,
Speaker 1: and we need to stop looking outside of ourselves for
Speaker 1: that balance to come. It occurred to me on my
Speaker 1: walk today that you know, if you were to ask
Speaker 1: any black person in America, if you were to ask
Speaker 1: any Jewish person whose family survived the Holocaust, do you
Speaker 1: believe right that government will keep you safe? Both of
Speaker 1: these groups, and I lift them up because there are
Speaker 1: both groups that have been in the press, in the media,
Speaker 1: in the crosshairs for the last couple of weeks because
Speaker 1: of Joe Rogan, because of the view, because of you know,
Speaker 1: be Goldberg and what's happening at Spotify and all of
Speaker 1: these things. If you were to ask them, do you
Speaker 1: believe that government, whether state, local, right, or federal, are
Speaker 1: there to keep you safe? Will protect you as you
Speaker 1: are watching this assault happen right as you're watching schools
Speaker 1: get bomb threats, people armed right being able to shoot
Speaker 1: and kill whomever they want and get off scott free
Speaker 1: like Kyle Rittenhouse. When you see all of these things happening,
Speaker 1: I guarantee you there is not a person in either
Speaker 1: of those groups or people that live at the intersection
Speaker 1: that will tell you, oh, yeah, I totally have faith
Speaker 1: in government to keep me safe. It has been government.
Speaker 1: Was government right in Germany that allowed for the persecution
Speaker 1: and murder of overseas million fucking people, right. It was
Speaker 1: government in the United States that allowed for enslaved Africans
Speaker 1: to be used as fucking human machines for centuries and
Speaker 1: then tortured thereafter with their laws right of inequity and injustice.
Speaker 1: So why now did I believe that we had moved
Speaker 1: to a place where government assumed the role of responsibility
Speaker 1: to all of its citizens. No, because we are seeing
Speaker 1: the total and complete regression of that before long, dear
Speaker 1: listeners and watchers, Before long, the new Jim Crow error
Speaker 1: will be among us. And so if we are not
Speaker 1: finding ways to ground ourselves and center ourselves in something
Speaker 1: other than misery and recognizing that empires fall, they do right,
Speaker 1: and sometimes they fall into the hands of the good,
Speaker 1: but more than not they fall into the hands of
Speaker 1: those that are bad, and they take control for sometimes
Speaker 1: a couple of years, sometimes decades and centuries. But what
Speaker 1: I know to be true is that the American Empire
Speaker 1: is falling, and there isn't any one person or group
Speaker 1: that is going to restore what people don't want restored.
Speaker 1: What the masses have decided that they want to ignore.
Speaker 1: They want back to normal, They want to hearken back
Speaker 1: to a time when they can ignore everything that is
Speaker 1: happening right and pretend all as well they want the
Speaker 1: fairy tale of America, not the truth. And what's funny
Speaker 1: is that there has been so much excavation and unearthing
Speaker 1: over the last several years that you would think, right,
Speaker 1: you would think that would you would think, folks, that
Speaker 1: we would be charged up and feeling like we can
Speaker 1: make real change and real progress. But that progress, the
Speaker 1: little that we have made since reconstruction, is being snatched.
Speaker 1: It's being snatched from us, and Democrats aren't doing anything
Speaker 1: to stop it. And so I sit here day after
Speaker 1: day really wondering at the end of each and every week,
Speaker 1: what I am doing, what any of us who have
Speaker 1: chosen this field and this profession are doing. What is
Speaker 1: the goal? Because you can't force people to open up
Speaker 1: eyes that they choose to keep closed. You can't force
Speaker 1: people to assume power that they are acquiescing for their
Speaker 1: ease and for their comfort. So then what do you do?
Speaker 1: My choice, my decision, and hopefully I can model it
Speaker 1: for other people, is I'm choosing me. I'm going to
Speaker 1: choose joy. I'm going to continue to be aware right
Speaker 1: of what is going on and to share that information
Speaker 1: with all of you. But then I'm going to choose
Speaker 1: to fucking let it go, right, because it is not
Speaker 1: going to be my cross to bear, or any of
Speaker 1: our cross to bear until we are dead and gone.
Speaker 1: And it is important for us to realize that there
Speaker 1: is only so much to do that now. That is
Speaker 1: not to throw up my hands right and let these
Speaker 1: people have their way with this country, but it is
Speaker 1: to recognize that this is a marathon. The baton may
Speaker 1: be in our hands right now, but it's getting ready
Speaker 1: to be passed to the millennials, to Generation Z right
Speaker 1: and to the youth who have more energy, better ideas,
Speaker 1: better technology, and hopefully we'll figure out how we get
Speaker 1: farther in this race, in this marathon than we have
Speaker 1: because what we are giving to them to inherit is
Speaker 1: a legacy of gun violence, bomb threats, a climate crisis,
Speaker 1: a global health pandemic, racism, its supremacy, transphobia, homophobia, misogyny.
Speaker 1: That's what our legacy is. That is what we are
Speaker 1: passing on. Coming up next is my conversation with our
Speaker 1: friend Ellie Mistole, who will talk about something good for
Speaker 1: a change, which is the litany, the long laundry list
Speaker 1: of exceptional black women for Joe Biden to choose from
Speaker 1: to replace Justice Bryer on the Supreme Court. That conversation
Speaker 1: is coming to you next. Friends. You know that I
Speaker 1: am always so excited when friend of the show and
Speaker 1: friend of mine, Justice correspondent for the Nation, Ellie Mistol
Speaker 1: joins Woke f Daily to break down the latest and
Speaker 1: greatest in all America's legal woes. But for this episode,
Speaker 1: my goodness, we have something good to talk about. Not
Speaker 1: the shit, not democracy crumbling, not the bad decisions that
Speaker 1: are coming out of Scotus, but Ellie, the potential that
Speaker 1: Joe Biden is going to be the first politician ever
Speaker 1: to actually uphold one of a campaign promises that they
Speaker 1: made to the black community, which was to imp point
Speaker 1: a black justice. Now that we know that Justice Stephen
Speaker 1: Bryer is retiring at the end of this term, which
Speaker 1: is assuming at the end of June, right, yes, So
Speaker 1: tell us first, is this something we should be excited about?
Speaker 1: It is Black History Month, and I like to celebrate
Speaker 1: all things black all year three hundred and sixty five.
Speaker 1: But is this something that we should be excited about?
Speaker 1: Or is it like the Maya Angelou on the Quarter
Speaker 1: and the celebration of Juneteenth even though we can't talk
Speaker 1: about Juneteenth in schools. Is it you know, is it
Speaker 1: something that is a to placate us or as yours
Speaker 1: that you wrote in In the Nation entitled the many
Speaker 1: remarkable Black women who could replace Stephen fryor please, it's
Speaker 1: something that we should be celebrating. Yeah, No, I think
Speaker 1: this is I think this is a good thing. First
Speaker 1: of all, Hi, thanks for having me. No, I think
Speaker 1: this is an objectively good thing, not just for the symbolism,
Speaker 1: although the symbolism is important. This country has been around
Speaker 1: for almost two hundred and fifty years. There have been
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifteen Supreme Court justices. Zero of them
Speaker 1: have been black women. Only one of them has been
Speaker 1: a woman of color. In fact, the entire, the entire
Speaker 1: and the entire history of America, the justices who were
Speaker 1: not sis hetero white men are Thurgood Marshall, Clarence Thomas,
Speaker 1: Sandra Dale, O'Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elaina Kagan, Sonya Sotomayor,
Speaker 1: and Amy Coney Barrett. I just named them all off
Speaker 1: the top of my head. Okay, Like that's that's how
Speaker 1: few non sis hetero white men have been in charge
Speaker 1: of reading and interpreting our laws. So yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: big deal when anybody who come who's not from that
Speaker 1: tradition gets on the court. It was a big deal
Speaker 1: when Amy Coney Barrett became only the fifth woman in
Speaker 1: history to be on the Supreme Court. And it's certainly
Speaker 1: a big deal when a woman of color gets an opportunity,
Speaker 1: and particularly a black woman. So all of these things
Speaker 1: are are important and are more than mere symbolism. Is
Speaker 1: it going to change our lives? Probably? Now? Right, do
Speaker 1: we win the publisher's clearing house? No? Like this same there, No,
Speaker 1: black people are not going to get a prize in
Speaker 1: the mail because the black woman is on the Supreme
Speaker 1: Court right now, right, the balance of power doesn't change.
Speaker 1: It's still a six three court which will take rights
Speaker 1: away from black and brown people and women. Um, so
Speaker 1: that is still like happening. Um there. A friend of
Speaker 1: mine said that it's typical right that that we're gonna
Speaker 1: nominate a black woman onto the Spring Court just in
Speaker 1: time for her to try to clean everything up, because
Speaker 1: because the court's a mess right now and there's nothing
Speaker 1: one black person. Um, no matter how kind of remarkable
Speaker 1: and exceptional she may be, there's no way she can
Speaker 1: stop the madness um that is gripped the white wing
Speaker 1: and right wing on the Supreme Court right now. Um,
Speaker 1: So it's not it's not a life changing appointment or
Speaker 1: opportunity and the same it's not the same as when
Speaker 1: Republicans frankly were able to steal the seats um from
Speaker 1: Barack Obama and get Neil Gorsuch on the score. That
Speaker 1: was a life changing momentum. This is not that, um,
Speaker 1: But it's still important, it's still it's still positive, and
Speaker 1: it's still again I think unquestionably good, not just because
Speaker 1: she's gonna be a black woman, but when you look
Speaker 1: at the kinds of people that Biden is looking at,
Speaker 1: these are some really strong UM candidates, right, Like, I
Speaker 1: don't want it's not it's not like you're looking for
Speaker 1: for Candice Owens, right. You're not going to point me
Speaker 1: a love to the to the court, right, So it's not.
Speaker 1: It's not. It's going to be a person who happens
Speaker 1: to be a black woman who also is going to do,
Speaker 1: you know, and believe and write a bunch of other
Speaker 1: kinds of things and opinions, um, that are going to
Speaker 1: be on the court for the next you know, hopefully
Speaker 1: thirty years. So you know, I want to talk for
Speaker 1: a minute about the polls, which you know, folks who
Speaker 1: listen to Woke app and listen to me know that
Speaker 1: I take poles with a grain of salt, but because
Speaker 1: we use them in politics, Uh, it's it's important to
Speaker 1: lift up. So there's a pole that is going around
Speaker 1: um and I saw it at the Hill dot com,
Speaker 1: which is saying that most Democrats are excited about this
Speaker 1: excited about the potential of this choice, the symbolism of it,
Speaker 1: but also how they believe it can help energize the
Speaker 1: Democratic base right now at a time when we need
Speaker 1: energy and passion and excitement as we head into mid terms.
Speaker 1: But there is of course like forty percent of the
Speaker 1: population and probably more depending on how you ask the
Speaker 1: question and to whom and where that is using the
Speaker 1: usual defense, Ellie, which you brought up in your piece.
Speaker 1: So I just want to give you an opportunity to
Speaker 1: speak to it, which is, why can't Joe Biden just
Speaker 1: pick the most qualified person? Why does race have to
Speaker 1: even play in? Why did he even have to say
Speaker 1: and articulate that he was going to place a black
Speaker 1: woman on the court. Why couldn't it just be I'm
Speaker 1: going to place the most qualified you know candidate on
Speaker 1: the court. Please articulate. You are pushed back to that
Speaker 1: constant refrain that we hear. Yeah. So a couple of things. One,
Speaker 1: why don't Republicans place the most qualified person on the
Speaker 1: court Because they don't. Okay, they place the most qualified
Speaker 1: white person on the court. Right. Donald Trump made two
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty six federal judge appointments. Eighty five percent
Speaker 1: of those appointments were white. Seventy five percent of those
Speaker 1: appointments were male. You cannot tell me within good faith
Speaker 1: that in our entire country, the most qualified qualified judge
Speaker 1: eighty five percent of the time is going to be
Speaker 1: a white person in a country that's only about sixty
Speaker 1: percent white. Easimply, can't make me believe that. You cannot
Speaker 1: tell me, in a country that's about evenly split between
Speaker 1: men and women seventy five percent of the time, the
Speaker 1: most qualified person to be a judge is gonna be
Speaker 1: a man. That just eight true. All right, So number one,
Speaker 1: y'all are the ones who are a little bit obsessed
Speaker 1: with race and gender when you pick yo judges. Number one.
Speaker 1: Number two, if we're talking about qualifications. You can't get
Speaker 1: more qualified than some of the judges that Biden could pick,
Speaker 1: even if he just focuses exclusively on the underrepresentative community
Speaker 1: of black women. All Right, you don't have a better
Speaker 1: resume than some of these other women. You have at
Speaker 1: best and as good resume as some of these other women. Right,
Speaker 1: So the question of qualifications is really it's really reductive
Speaker 1: because there are I mean, it depends on how you
Speaker 1: think about this. I actually think that the Supreme Court
Speaker 1: that it's a lot easier to be a Supreme Court
Speaker 1: justice than we think, right, Like, I think it's comparatively
Speaker 1: harder probably to be a rocket scientist or a brain
Speaker 1: surgeon than it is to be a Supreme Court justice.
Speaker 1: But even if you want to say that there is
Speaker 1: some you know, level bar whatever for qualifications, how many
Speaker 1: people do you think in the country could be a
Speaker 1: Supreme Court justice? Right? I've got about like a million,
Speaker 1: right in a country of three hundred and twelve million people.
Speaker 1: I figure a good, cool easy million people day could
Speaker 1: be a Supreme Court justice. Right, So you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to if you're gonna have to whittle it down from
Speaker 1: a million or so into some kind of manageable number
Speaker 1: of three or four or five picks. And when you
Speaker 1: start to whittle it down, even if you just focus
Speaker 1: on one underrepresented group, you're gonna find four or five
Speaker 1: six people who are as qualified or more qualified than
Speaker 1: everybody else. That's just how it works. If he only
Speaker 1: was gonna look at Asian Americans, he would find four
Speaker 1: or five six qualified Asian Americans who were more qualified
Speaker 1: or as qualified or anybody else if he focused on
Speaker 1: if he focused on the people who went to Disney
Speaker 1: World in a three week period, he find one or
Speaker 1: two people that are amazingly qualified for the Supreme Court. Right,
Speaker 1: So the argument that he is somehow not picking the
Speaker 1: most qualified people is bollocks on its face. He is
Speaker 1: going to pick somebody who is as qualified as any
Speaker 1: justice sitting on the Court, and as any potential justice
Speaker 1: out there. The issue is simply that instead of being
Speaker 1: let Republicans and and favoring white males, hetero dudes, he's
Speaker 1: going to focus on a different group. And I applauded
Speaker 1: for it. Look, I said at the beginning after what
Speaker 1: Trump did, and I don't think people really under fully
Speaker 1: understand Trump is like the first president since Nixon not
Speaker 1: to place a black woman on a federal court, all right,
Speaker 1: like after Trump's, after what Trump tried to do to
Speaker 1: just whitewash the federal judiciary. I said, I think around
Speaker 1: the inauguration that if ye have ask me to be
Speaker 1: a white man on a federal to get a federal
Speaker 1: judge appointment from this Democratic administration and be a white
Speaker 1: man man, you'll ask be a belabierable to fly right
Speaker 1: like you better like like I'm a judge and I
Speaker 1: George cancer, Like you have to have some kind of
Speaker 1: amazing qualification because right now there is a backlog of
Speaker 1: immensely qualified, overqualified people who couldn't get a look in
Speaker 1: the previous administration, and quite frankly don't get a look
Speaker 1: whenever there's a Republican administration. Some of these people that
Speaker 1: we're talking about as finalists for the Biden appointment, why
Speaker 1: didn't Trump vent some of these people? If all he
Speaker 1: was concerned about was qualifications. Trump himself said that he
Speaker 1: wanted a woman to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg. That's Trump's words,
Speaker 1: not mine. The National Review wrote that they wanted a
Speaker 1: woman to replace Gibbsburg so that when they overturn Roe v. Wade,
Speaker 1: there would be a woman on their side. That's their words,
Speaker 1: not mine. So since they were so interested in getting
Speaker 1: a woman, why didn't they that any of these very
Speaker 1: well qualified women. One of the finalists was actually a
Speaker 1: finalist for the merit for the appointment that went to
Speaker 1: Merritt Garland that shouldn't unfortunately went to Merritt Garland during
Speaker 1: the Obama administration. Why wasn't she brought back in for
Speaker 1: an interview with Trump? Because because Trump cared about the
Speaker 1: race of the woman quite a bit, you know, And
Speaker 1: I just I you know. One of the reasons and
Speaker 1: one of the many reasons why I always have you
Speaker 1: one Wokate app is for this is for the straightforwardness,
Speaker 1: is because you know, all Republicans do is perpetuate a
Speaker 1: race war. All they do is think about race and
Speaker 1: how it factors into every decision that it is that
Speaker 1: they are making. But because there because their default is whiteness, right,
Speaker 1: because we have no idea how to actually talk about
Speaker 1: race and racism in this country, we allow them to
Speaker 1: get away with it. Right. I don't remember any headlines
Speaker 1: talking about any of the selection of Donald Trump's of
Speaker 1: them being seventy five percent mail and eighty five percent white.
Speaker 1: I don't remember that being a part of the of
Speaker 1: the conversation. I do remember the American Bar Association saying
Speaker 1: a lot of those motherfuckers were not qualified to be
Speaker 1: attorneys in general, let alone be sitting on anybody's federal bench.
Speaker 1: So you know, I think that coming right here, Yes,
Speaker 1: that point goes back back to where you start with
Speaker 1: the polls. Right. What you'll note is that the Hell
Speaker 1: and the ABC and the Wall Street Journal didn't pull
Speaker 1: people on whether or they thought eighty five percent of
Speaker 1: the judges should be white under the Trump administration. Nobody
Speaker 1: asked them that. Nobody asked them if they thought seventy
Speaker 1: five percent of the judges should be mail under the
Speaker 1: Trump administration. They never ask the American people if they're
Speaker 1: okay with what white people do. They only ask the
Speaker 1: American people. They only ask the American white people if
Speaker 1: they're okay when a black person gets promoted or gets
Speaker 1: put in the spotlight. Right. So, yeah, of course, if
Speaker 1: you ask a bunch of white people would you like
Speaker 1: to have less power today? What are they gonna say?
Speaker 1: How do you think half of them are gonna respond?
Speaker 1: Come on, that's not even that's not even a fair
Speaker 1: or right right question. And we know they know it's
Speaker 1: not a fair or right question because they never ask
Speaker 1: it in the reverse. They never ask it on the
Speaker 1: other side, So we know what the game is. The
Speaker 1: question is simply, do Democrats have the ability and intestinal
Speaker 1: fortitude to stand up to this bullcrap and keep keep
Speaker 1: mosying on and doing what they We're gonna do anyway,
Speaker 1: so far for this particular appointment, in part because of
Speaker 1: how just brazen Lee McConnell and the Republicans have manipulated
Speaker 1: the court. I think they well, but you know, the
Speaker 1: attacks are gonna come down. You know. One of the
Speaker 1: reasons why I've been so out front and writing about
Speaker 1: this is that we know what they're gonna do. We
Speaker 1: know what they do to any black person who kind
Speaker 1: of rises above the noise. We know what they do
Speaker 1: to any black person when you when they can focus
Speaker 1: on just one black person, right, Like, it's a little
Speaker 1: bit harder when they have to deal with all of
Speaker 1: us at the same time, right, But when they can
Speaker 1: and they can isolate, it's like hunting, right, they can
Speaker 1: isolate one of us, you know, from the group, when
Speaker 1: they can put us off to the side. Then it
Speaker 1: becomes like a real rally, you know, just a feeding frenzy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we know whoever Um Biden picks is going to be
Speaker 1: subjected to the worst kinds of attacks. It's already started.
Speaker 1: He hasn't even named a person. And the Republicans cannot
Speaker 1: chew a meal with their mouth clothes without blurting out
Speaker 1: some kind of like, oh, also, black women don't the law.
Speaker 1: Oh Joe Kennedy to John Kennedy today, will up this morning?
Speaker 1: I saw it on Twitter today, was like, I won't,
Speaker 1: uh just this, that's gonna read a Noul book, not
Speaker 1: the Jay Crew catalog. What the fuck does that mean? What? What?
Speaker 1: What freaking lawyer is reading a Jay Crew catalog? Like
Speaker 1: it makes no sense? But they've already started in on it,
Speaker 1: and they and it hasn't even named a person and
Speaker 1: the attacks have already started. Can you imagine how bad
Speaker 1: it's going to be when there's an actual human being
Speaker 1: that they can that they can punch. You know what
Speaker 1: what this brings up for me too? I mean, I
Speaker 1: know that it is an incredible honor right to serve
Speaker 1: on the Supreme Court, or at least it used to
Speaker 1: be before we put anybody and anybody on there, um
Speaker 1: you know, rapists, uh included. Um. But you know, I
Speaker 1: wonder too of the women that you've listed, right, like
Speaker 1: you know and and you listen, and I want in
Speaker 1: a couple of minutes that we have left to actually
Speaker 1: run through, um, some of those whose names you've lifted up.
Speaker 1: But you know, there may be people who are just like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm good, right, like in this political in this political climate,
Speaker 1: like you know, thanks so much for thinking of me,
Speaker 1: but like I'm okay, right. Do you do you think
Speaker 1: like that that is a that is a potential as
Speaker 1: well that you could be called on by your president
Speaker 1: and be like, yeah, so I see the way you're
Speaker 1: doing your vice president. So I'm actually good. There were
Speaker 1: people I thought about putting on my list and didn't
Speaker 1: because I didn't want to draw attention to that because
Speaker 1: they're my friends and like I don't want to like
Speaker 1: like I hadn't you know, I hadn't run it by her,
Speaker 1: I hadn't run it by this woman. I hadn't want
Speaker 1: to buy that woman, whether she even wanted that kind
Speaker 1: of attention, Um, that could happen. You know, these are
Speaker 1: I'm talking about people who you know law academics or
Speaker 1: people whom are are not famous, right, And the attention
Speaker 1: that you can get from the very worst people in
Speaker 1: the country when you start getting bandied about, even on
Speaker 1: a shortlist, much less the actual nominee, it's really really
Speaker 1: intense and it's not fun. It will not be nice
Speaker 1: for these people. Look, I every I think most people
Speaker 1: ultimately would take it because it's because it's it's you know,
Speaker 1: because it's a really I mean, look at alleged attempt
Speaker 1: at rapist Kavanaugh, Look at handmade in amy covid Barrett,
Speaker 1: look at Neil Gorsage. Right, it's a bad few weeks
Speaker 1: and then a lifetime of inscrutable power from which you
Speaker 1: can functionally not be fired. Who doesn't take that, right,
Speaker 1: I'll take you know, it's it's it's Avon Barksdale. You
Speaker 1: can only do two days in jail, right, the day
Speaker 1: you go in and the day you come out. I
Speaker 1: don't go through the confirmation that you're anging be like,
Speaker 1: I only got to deal with this for two days.
Speaker 1: The first day it's gonna be bad, and the last
Speaker 1: day it's gonna be bad, and then I'm there for life, right,
Speaker 1: And I think most people would would would make that
Speaker 1: same calculus. Um. And so so I feel like this,
Speaker 1: I don't think Biden's gonna have trouble you know, finding volunteers. Um,
Speaker 1: but it's gonna be for whoever. Epics is gonna be bad,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be bad from both sides. Like we
Speaker 1: know the kinds of racist Republican things Republicans the side,
Speaker 1: but let's not forget that. We also have a very
Speaker 1: you know, what's what's the nice word of saying it.
Speaker 1: We also have well meaning lights who warned us about
Speaker 1: right right, you're a wonderful moderates right um that don't
Speaker 1: like controversy and are very subtile susceptible to the Oh,
Speaker 1: I would totally support a black woman, but not that
Speaker 1: black woman, right like, we like we know that that's
Speaker 1: gonna be a thing. We also have a kind of
Speaker 1: well meaning hard left, uh white progressives who have kind
Speaker 1: of made a cottage industry of taking shots at pretty
Speaker 1: much any black person ever. I mean, like, I there
Speaker 1: are some people on the art left who I cannot
Speaker 1: name a black person they actually like, right like, just
Speaker 1: always seem to have extra smoke. Um, Um, what a
Speaker 1: black person says, does or believes anything so like there's that,
Speaker 1: and there is also in the black community of I
Speaker 1: don't I don't think this is a huge part of
Speaker 1: the issue, but it's gonna be part of the issue.
Speaker 1: We are talking about black women now, aren't we, And
Speaker 1: that there is a part of the black male community
Speaker 1: that doesn't always support the sisters. Um uh so, so
Speaker 1: that that is going to be I think an undercurrent
Speaker 1: um of a small one. And the same way that
Speaker 1: you know, all of these groups are small individually, right,
Speaker 1: There's not a lot of white progressives who only have
Speaker 1: smoke for black people. They're not a lot of black
Speaker 1: men who don't support black women. They're not a lot
Speaker 1: of white liberals for that mealy mouth and weak. But
Speaker 1: when you put them all together, and when you get
Speaker 1: you have a slash and a cut, and a slash
Speaker 1: and a cut, and the slash and the cut, it
Speaker 1: can kind of snowball on itself. To give a person
Speaker 1: who isn't paying attention, who's only looking at it from
Speaker 1: a kind of thirty thousand foot view, Man, was this
Speaker 1: the right nominee at all? Maybe we should have nominated like,
Speaker 1: maybe we should have nominated Oprah um So run us
Speaker 1: through with a couple of minutes that we have just
Speaker 1: run us through the black women that you lifted up
Speaker 1: in your piece and just give us like a snapshot
Speaker 1: into why they made it to your to your list
Speaker 1: and many people's list, but more importantly to your list.
Speaker 1: Cantanji Brown Jackson as the leader in the clubhouse. She
Speaker 1: was the woman I was referring to who was a
Speaker 1: finalist for the position that eventually was went to Merrick
Speaker 1: Garland back under Barack Obama. So she's been well vetted
Speaker 1: by at least one White House and Biden probably already
Speaker 1: knows her, at least as an impression of her. Um,
Speaker 1: she's very well educated, long long time serving on the bench. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, very smart, history of writing, very good opinions. Um.
Speaker 1: She's she's left of center, but she's not a crazy
Speaker 1: She's not like me, right, she's not crazy left. It's
Speaker 1: a reasonable um um leftist uh person. So she's because
Speaker 1: of all of that, she's just she's the more she's
Speaker 1: one of the more unassailable UM picks, and I still
Speaker 1: think that she's gonna be the one. However, You've got
Speaker 1: a strong uh candidate and Michelle Child, who is a
Speaker 1: district judge in South Carolina. Um, she has the support
Speaker 1: of Jim's CLI James Climber, And uh, that's that's big,
Speaker 1: especially in the Biden administration. Congressman Cliburn saved that Biden
Speaker 1: that campaign and Biden knows it. Um. Also, Uh, just
Speaker 1: Judge Child, Um, she got her BA from University of
Speaker 1: South Florida. She got her um law degree from the
Speaker 1: University of Carolina. We just don't have that kind of
Speaker 1: educational experience on the bench, you know, on the Supreme
Speaker 1: Court until Amy Coney Barrett. All of the lawyers currently
Speaker 1: on the Supreme Court were from Harvard and or Yah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: any Coney barretts from No Dame. So another kind of
Speaker 1: ritzy private school. So having a lawyer that went to
Speaker 1: like a state university to get in a law degree
Speaker 1: like that alone, that's that's more. That's diversity in more
Speaker 1: ways than one. So that and remember Scranton Joe got
Speaker 1: his law degree from from Syracuse. You know he ain't
Speaker 1: no fancy Ivy League lawyer himself, right, So like that
Speaker 1: could really be a thing Um that Biden latches onto. Um.
Speaker 1: I've looked Charyl and Eiffel is in the running. She's
Speaker 1: the current she's the head of the nuble ACP Legal
Speaker 1: Defense fun You just can't find a better fighter for
Speaker 1: civil rights in our generation than CHERYLN. Eiffel. Um, she's amazing.
Speaker 1: She's an amazing lawyer. If you don't think that being
Speaker 1: in the head of the NABACP League Defense Fund is
Speaker 1: a good qualification for the Supreme Court, I will remind
Speaker 1: you that that was thur good Marshall's old job before
Speaker 1: he was nominated to the Supreme Court. So there's some
Speaker 1: symmetry there, having the first black man come from the
Speaker 1: LDF and the first black woman. Yeah, that would be Dye.
Speaker 1: And there's some other candidates. Leandre Kruger California, a state's
Speaker 1: Supreme Court judge. She's only Leandre Cruger's only forty five.
Speaker 1: That's a big plus in her category. All of the
Speaker 1: women I listed, by the way, are under sixty under fifty,
Speaker 1: which is how Republicans have been rolling with it, right. Um,
Speaker 1: So she's she's an amazing writer, an amazing advocate. She
Speaker 1: was a Deputy Solicitor General during the administration and really
Speaker 1: developed a reputation for eloquence in her arguments. Um, and
Speaker 1: also is very quite progressive. So you know there again,
Speaker 1: you're not going to get better resumes than these people.
Speaker 1: K KBJ. Brown Jackson. We're talking Harvard, Harvard Law School,
Speaker 1: eight years on the bench, head of the US Sentence
Speaker 1: in Commission Cormal Federal prosecutor. You know, Krueger, Harvard, Yale
Speaker 1: Law Editor of the Yale Law Review, Sharrow Leife. We've
Speaker 1: already talked about childs um Uh, you know, longstanding justice
Speaker 1: judge in the Distreccord of South Carolina. You don't get
Speaker 1: better resumes than people these people. You get as good
Speaker 1: resumes as these people. So let me ask you final question, Ellie.
Speaker 1: Um let's bar reality for a minute and go into
Speaker 1: an America that is one that we would want to
Speaker 1: actually live in, right and we didn't have to worry
Speaker 1: about the politics and all of the mine fields. If
Speaker 1: you had your wand your gavel and we're making this decision,
Speaker 1: who would you choose? I know you listed five, but
Speaker 1: who would be your pick? Pick? Oh? You like? Tiffany
Speaker 1: Cross asked me the same question on the television and
Speaker 1: I said, look, I'm planning of you. Look, I'm rooting
Speaker 1: for everybody black. I got no favorites. Whoever it is,
Speaker 1: I will support I love all them. I love black
Speaker 1: people like that. Just I'm I'm, I'm for everybody. Um,
Speaker 1: look there, Cantanji Brown Jackson is the favorite for a reason.
Speaker 1: And I know this is going to sound a little
Speaker 1: bit self serving because I also went to the big Harvard.
Speaker 1: I have a similar kind of resume as she did,
Speaker 1: and the only she went out to work and I
Speaker 1: just as I went to my basement to write like this.
Speaker 1: So it's been self serving. But I in this context,
Speaker 1: the reason why people end up on the Supreme Court
Speaker 1: from like two or three law schools is because the
Speaker 1: opposition it's always about, oh, they're not especially when you're
Speaker 1: talking about women or women of color, it's always old,
Speaker 1: they're not smart enough, they don't deserve to be there,
Speaker 1: but black. And so when you have these like educational
Speaker 1: it's almost like a shield, like what are you gonna say?
Speaker 1: And so that's one of the reasons why she favorite.
Speaker 1: The other reason why she's a favorite is that she
Speaker 1: is the one that I know has been vetted the
Speaker 1: most because she almost got this job under Obama. So like,
Speaker 1: you know, one of the things that I didn't get
Speaker 1: to say, that's important. Every whoever Biden picks will also
Speaker 1: have the moral qualifications to be on the Supreme Court.
Speaker 1: And you can't say that about Republicans ee. But to
Speaker 1: make sure that you have the moral qualifications, people got
Speaker 1: to be able to go into your history and you know,
Speaker 1: if they find you. Understand, if they find a parking ticket,
Speaker 1: Marsha Blackburn will use that against them at the hearings, right,
Speaker 1: So like you have to be so squeaking you have
Speaker 1: lived your life in such a way that's very limited me.
Speaker 1: And for the most part, I'm sure I feel confident
Speaker 1: that Brown Jackson has just because she's been through this
Speaker 1: before Cheryl and Eifel quite frankly has two She's been
Speaker 1: in the public life for so long. I also have
Speaker 1: a really good sense that she has been deeply vetted
Speaker 1: for this position. So you know, these are my favorites.
Speaker 1: Then become like who's easiest to confirm? I mean, people
Speaker 1: keep saying like, oh, our mansion and Cinema are gonna
Speaker 1: stay on board. Yeah, Look, for the most part, Mansion
Speaker 1: and Cinema have been on board with the judicial appointments.
Speaker 1: It's all the policies that there they've been against. And frankly,
Speaker 1: Brown Jackson was recently appointed to the DC Circuit Court
Speaker 1: of Appeals to replace Merritt Garland when Garland went to
Speaker 1: be Attorney General, and she got fifty three votes right, Collins, Kowski,
Speaker 1: and Lindsay Graham all voted for her for the DC Circuit.
Speaker 1: So if Biden can put forward a person who can
Speaker 1: get even one Republican vote, that that could be a big,
Speaker 1: a big help going forward. Child's One of the reasons
Speaker 1: why Childs is interesting is that she's from South Carolina
Speaker 1: and Tim Scott, Tim tool Scott is sitting right there.
Speaker 1: And while I have no I have completely believed that
Speaker 1: Tim Scott hasn't in him to vote against the first
Speaker 1: black woman justice, because yes, that that's what that dude
Speaker 1: is all about. But when but is you gonna have
Speaker 1: to Is he gonna vote against the first black woman
Speaker 1: justice from his dam Yeah, that would be something would
Speaker 1: in it? Right? So you know, these are these are
Speaker 1: why the people who are the favorites are the favorites.
Speaker 1: It's not just their resumes, is that they bring other
Speaker 1: things to the table politically that could make them easier
Speaker 1: to confirm. So I so, so my favorite is the
Speaker 1: person who's easiest to confirm at this point, because I
Speaker 1: don't want Republican Shenanigans and I don't want Democrats to
Speaker 1: lose heart. I mean, there was this we gotta scare,
Speaker 1: we gotta scare this week and we found out that
Speaker 1: Senator LeJean Um was treated last weekend for a stroke,
Speaker 1: and we you gotta remember, the majority is so tenuous.
Speaker 1: Any of these people get hit by a bus and
Speaker 1: you lose the majority. And Mitch McConnell will not let
Speaker 1: a replacement, you know, be voted on if he's in charge,
Speaker 1: just won't let it happen. So we have to move quickly.
Speaker 1: We have to move with with with with more than
Speaker 1: deliberate speed, and we have to get this confirmation through
Speaker 1: kind of with as little drama as possible. And I'm
Speaker 1: for that. Um, what is the time frame, Ellie? They
Speaker 1: confirmed Barrett in twenty seven days? Hey, let's they confirm
Speaker 1: Amy Coney Barrett in twenty seven goddamn days. I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be longer than that. But look, we're in
Speaker 1: Black History month. As you said, Biden will announce, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, twenty seven days sounds good to me. If
Speaker 1: it's good, if it's good for the white COVID lady,
Speaker 1: then it's then it's fine. Then it's fine for me.
Speaker 1: Biden will announce this during Black History Month. You can
Speaker 1: bank on that, and remember he's got to save the
Speaker 1: union on March first. I wouldn't be surprised if that
Speaker 1: saved the union is timed with re announcing the pick
Speaker 1: and then being like, go vote for her now and
Speaker 1: those hearings have in March. That would be my guess
Speaker 1: at this point. Okay, well, Ellie, once be confirmed from
Speaker 1: when Bryer leaves the batch Injie, well, please make sure
Speaker 1: to come back to woke F when the announcement is
Speaker 1: made so that we can dig deeper into that choice
Speaker 1: and then understand the everest of assaults that they're going
Speaker 1: to be up against, sadly from both the right and
Speaker 1: the left. As always, Elie Mistole, we appreciate your presence
Speaker 1: and your passion on woke F. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for making the time for us. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for having me. I don't know, folks, but I will
Speaker 1: tell you this. It is why I am making it,
Speaker 1: making a conscious effort, and what I have realized as
Speaker 1: I transition right now into what I am going to
Speaker 1: refer to as our woke moment of wellness until I
Speaker 1: can come up with a catchy name, and maybe you
Speaker 1: all have a catchier name that I can use, And
Speaker 1: so please do share any branding marketing ideas. But as
Speaker 1: I transition right now into our woke moment of wellness,
Speaker 1: I want to share with you this story. I want
Speaker 1: to close out with this because it brought me joy
Speaker 1: today and I realize that happiness enjoy is something that
Speaker 1: you have to be vigilant about, that you have to
Speaker 1: be intentional with that it doesn't just happen right, that
Speaker 1: there needs to be intent and tools and tactics that
Speaker 1: you are using to stay above the freight to be
Speaker 1: able to continue to vibrate higher. So for the past
Speaker 1: two months, rights as folks have seen and no, I
Speaker 1: have been recording from home, and I've been staying home
Speaker 1: as Amicron was raging out of control in New York.
Speaker 1: I said, I had the priviledge to be able to
Speaker 1: work from the comfort of my home. So I'm going
Speaker 1: to do that. And over the course of the last
Speaker 1: two months, you know, we have seen spikes and now
Speaker 1: we are seeing this receding of this, this iteration of COVID,
Speaker 1: and so you know, I have been feeling very restless.
Speaker 1: I've been feeling very depressed. I have been feeling like
Speaker 1: I have just been languishing. And my sister, who you
Speaker 1: all know, you know, it's just like, well, what's you know,
Speaker 1: aside from what we all know, what is going on?
Speaker 1: And I told her, I said, I hadn't been walking,
Speaker 1: I hadn't really been leaving the house, and it had
Speaker 1: occurred to me that I have been. I had regressed.
Speaker 1: I had gone back to crouching over my computer, to
Speaker 1: having the news on in the background twenty four to seven,
Speaker 1: and it felt like the walls were closing in. And
Speaker 1: I said, and on top of that, it's fucking winter
Speaker 1: and it's free outside, and I don't necessarily want to
Speaker 1: go out, even to do my walks, which bring me
Speaker 1: so much joy and energy. And she said to me, Danielle,
Speaker 1: there is no bad weather. There is just bad clothing,
Speaker 1: and so layer up and get the fuck outside. If
Speaker 1: you don't, you're going to go crazy and lo and behold,
Speaker 1: my sister, My big sister was one hundred percent right.
Speaker 1: I did. I grabbed my fuzzy socks and boots and
Speaker 1: layered up my pants and put on multiple shirts and
Speaker 1: my heavy winter coat, and it was twenty four degrees
Speaker 1: outside last week, and I decided to go on at
Speaker 1: least a twenty minute walk. I stayed outside for forty
Speaker 1: five minutes. The air felt so crisp on my face,
Speaker 1: in my lungs. I came home and my apartment felt different.
Speaker 1: I felt different. I felt like I had released, you know,
Speaker 1: some pent up energy that just the movement and the
Speaker 1: connection to the outdoors and listening to my music and
Speaker 1: just being able to move. I had put myself back
Speaker 1: in this quarantined prison right even going outside for a walk.
Speaker 1: I had scared myself out of doing and made excuses
Speaker 1: that it's winter and oh, I'll just wait for the spring. Well,
Speaker 1: guess what, folks, We're not bears. We can't just hibernate.
Speaker 1: We need to find ways to live and do so safely, right,
Speaker 1: but to remember to live, And I had forgotten over
Speaker 1: the last two months. I couldn't understand why I was
Speaker 1: feeling so anxious, so fearful, so frustrated, so heavy. Nothing
Speaker 1: changed in the world right while I started walking again,
Speaker 1: But I changed, and I was able to open up
Speaker 1: so that I could hold a little more but also
Speaker 1: release a lot. So yesterday on my walk I had
Speaker 1: over the past couple of years, there was this gentleman,
Speaker 1: black man, lovely smile that sits on a bench and
Speaker 1: he literally knows every single person. Everyone knows him. The
Speaker 1: workers in the park know him, the runners, the walkers,
Speaker 1: the dog walkers, the people with the nanny's, the people
Speaker 1: with their kids. Everybody knows him. Waves, stop, sits down.
Speaker 1: He just offers a bit of lightness in your day.
Speaker 1: And because for two months it had been really cold
Speaker 1: and the weather had been quite shit, I hadn't seen him,
Speaker 1: and I saw him this week and we don't really
Speaker 1: know each other. We just have exchanged names and we
Speaker 1: exchange pleasantries. But there's something so wonderful about remembering to
Speaker 1: be human, to just smile for no reason, to offer
Speaker 1: people a kind word or a wave. And that's what
Speaker 1: he does. And so he told me yesterday as he
Speaker 1: was asking, you know, Danielle, how are you doing? How
Speaker 1: are you doing? Really, I said, you know, I explained
Speaker 1: all the things that I just said to all of you,
Speaker 1: and he said to me, life is too short, so
Speaker 1: live tall always. That is what my park friend, Edwin
Speaker 1: said to me. And I stood there looking at him
Speaker 1: as he said it, and he said it again. Life
Speaker 1: is too short, So live tall always. That's what I
Speaker 1: will leave you all with today. I think that when
Speaker 1: we get caught up in the fear and the anxiousness
Speaker 1: and the anger, in the rage, in the frustration, in
Speaker 1: the languishing, we forget that life really is short and
Speaker 1: that it is for the living. We were all born
Speaker 1: with an expiration date that we don't know the date of,
Speaker 1: and there is a lot that is going on, and
Speaker 1: I'm not saying to pretend that it doesn't exist, but
Speaker 1: I am saying that we need to figure out a
Speaker 1: way to get back to living and reminding ourselves of
Speaker 1: that every single day and being intentional about how we live. That, friends,
Speaker 1: is your woke moment of wellness. That is it for
Speaker 1: me today, as always, Power to the people and to
Speaker 1: all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.