WEBVTT - CBC Shorts: Author Ibram X. Kendi

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<v Speaker 1>Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership

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<v Speaker 1>with Resent Choice Media. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.

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<v Speaker 2>Welcome, Welcome, Hey, everybody. This episode is a replay of

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<v Speaker 2>one of our interviews from our live stream as a

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<v Speaker 2>Congressional Black Caucus Foundations Annual Legislative Conference. If you want

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<v Speaker 2>to listen to or watch the full stream, check out

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<v Speaker 2>the links in the episode description. You can also find

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<v Speaker 2>a full list of all the guests we interviewed. Welcome home, y'all.

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<v Speaker 2>We have a few more guests coming and part of

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<v Speaker 2>what's happening.

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<v Speaker 1>One of them are here is here? Oh, we have doctor.

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<v Speaker 2>Joining us, Doctor hebram Kindy, one of my favorite people.

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<v Speaker 2>And also Andrew is gonna get next, to get to

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<v Speaker 2>sit next. So this is the second rattler that we've

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<v Speaker 2>had on the program already.

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<v Speaker 1>Nice to see doctor. Hello. This New York Times best

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<v Speaker 1>selling offers intellectual iluminary. We are so pleased to have

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<v Speaker 1>you a thought leader here tonight. We see Jamie Harrison

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<v Speaker 1>up above, Chair of the Democratic National Conference. We love

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<v Speaker 1>to see Jamie Harrison, Eric Alexander Alexander, and Congressman Kelly.

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<v Speaker 1>We see you you all, remember Eric Alexander max Deen

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<v Speaker 1>Shaw on living singles, some of you Officer because of her,

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<v Speaker 1>she was also on the Cosby Show, So a beautiful

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<v Speaker 1>night of luminaries. Indeed, back to you, doctor Kendy, thank

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<v Speaker 1>you for taking the time to be here. I'll let

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<v Speaker 1>the rattler kick the county.

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<v Speaker 3>Appreciate it. Appreciate it. Welcome Doc, to see you as always.

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<v Speaker 3>I saw you.

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<v Speaker 4>You had a post trying to help all of us

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<v Speaker 4>struggle with and and and comprehend the significance of Donald

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<v Speaker 4>Trump's and the Republican parties repeated mythology.

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<v Speaker 3>I don't know what the hell to call it, but

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<v Speaker 3>around the eating of of of pets.

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<v Speaker 4>I want you, if you wouldn't mind just help us

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<v Speaker 4>sort of see that, I think in a much more

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<v Speaker 4>grounded and concrete and really important way, because I think

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<v Speaker 4>it's easy to make jokes and memes without assessing the

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<v Speaker 4>impact that it may have on the greater greater community.

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<v Speaker 5>Well, well, I think it's it's part of a larger

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<v Speaker 5>project to criminalize black people more broadly, but their specific

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<v Speaker 5>target obviously we're ra Haitian immigrants yea. And in Springfield, Ohio,

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<v Speaker 5>you have longtime black residents who are also being sort

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<v Speaker 5>of demonized and racially profiled, you know, as a result

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<v Speaker 5>of what they've said about those, you know, people presumably

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<v Speaker 5>eating pets. And so I just tried to show that

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<v Speaker 5>when you demean one black group, what ultimately happens is

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<v Speaker 5>you demean every black group. And I think it's important

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<v Speaker 5>for us to not think, say, if you are not

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<v Speaker 5>a Haitian immigrant, but you're black, to think, no, that's

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<v Speaker 5>just them. No, ultimately, it's gonna boomerang back to you.

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<v Speaker 3>That's real, that's real. We have that a lot in Florida,

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<v Speaker 3>even I know you know that.

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<v Speaker 4>But because of the immigrant community, the expanding Caribbean, Afro

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<v Speaker 4>Latino Haitian community, so on and so forth, you will

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<v Speaker 4>hear at the higher education level folks saying I'm not

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<v Speaker 4>you know, African American, I'm not Black, I'm Haitian, or

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<v Speaker 4>I'm this, And I think black people do this, you

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<v Speaker 4>know American more and black folks do do similarly. And

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<v Speaker 4>I just thought your message was poignant because it started.

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<v Speaker 4>I always felt that if they're going after Haitians, they

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<v Speaker 4>don't know the difference largely between any one of us.

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<v Speaker 4>It's not okay to go after Haitians period. But certainly

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<v Speaker 4>when you consider that this is an attack on all

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<v Speaker 4>of us, that we all have to say something and

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<v Speaker 4>do something about it.

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<v Speaker 5>And it's interesting because it just harkens me back to

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<v Speaker 5>this speech that Malcolm X actually gave I believe it

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<v Speaker 5>was in nineteen sixty two after police sort of barged

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<v Speaker 5>into the La Mosque and ended up killing some members

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<v Speaker 5>of the nation, and he gave this sort of funeral speech.

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<v Speaker 5>And during that funeral speech, that's when he's well known

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<v Speaker 5>for saying the most disrespected person in America today is

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<v Speaker 5>the black woman. But in that speech, he also speaks

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<v Speaker 5>to black people and says, who taught you to hate yourself?

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<v Speaker 5>And I'm referencing that because you know, you can ask

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<v Speaker 5>African Americans, well, who taught you to hate Black immigrants?

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<v Speaker 5>Who you can ask black immigrants who taught you to

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<v Speaker 5>hate African Americans? And so what happens is you have

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<v Speaker 5>different groups of black folks seeing other groups of black

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<v Speaker 5>folks through the eyes of racist white people.

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<v Speaker 1>And know, yeah, I think that's such a legitimate point.

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<v Speaker 1>How have you found because the last time you were

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<v Speaker 1>in the news, we were all ready to come to

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<v Speaker 1>your defense. How have you found navigating this space, because

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<v Speaker 1>it does feel like it is such a visceral attack.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, this kind of racial reckoning that mostly white

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<v Speaker 1>run newsrooms introduced. What we've actually witnessed is more of

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<v Speaker 1>a hostile backlash, a swift and hostile backlash to that.

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<v Speaker 1>So in this age of how to be an anti

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<v Speaker 1>racist and you, you know, contributing what you can to

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<v Speaker 1>society and being I think all of us have been

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<v Speaker 1>on the receiving end of such visceral attacks. How have

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<v Speaker 1>you found navigating life personally, professionally, politically, all of it.

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<v Speaker 5>I mean, it's difficult, yeah, And I think for me

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<v Speaker 5>it's most difficult when I see attacks that those who

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<v Speaker 5>are obviously trying to conserve racism create and launch, and

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<v Speaker 5>people that I love sort of repeat those ideas, sort

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<v Speaker 5>of not knowing it my mind. I think that's when

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<v Speaker 5>it's sort of most painful. What's ironic even about comparing

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<v Speaker 5>this to the last question about what's going on with

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<v Speaker 5>those Haitian immigrants, is you have this sort of viral

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<v Speaker 5>series of sort of reports with no evidence, like there

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<v Speaker 5>was no evidence, right, And I think for those of

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<v Speaker 5>us who've been targeted in the media for doing something

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<v Speaker 5>where there's no evidence, because apparently, like our skin color

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<v Speaker 5>is evidence enough. I mean it becomes hard like can you, like,

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<v Speaker 5>can you present some portion of evidence to substantiate this claim.

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<v Speaker 5>That's sort of more or less delegitimizing our work, our

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<v Speaker 5>work as a scholar, our work as an elected official,

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<v Speaker 5>I work, you know, as you knows as a commentator,

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<v Speaker 5>and for typically black people, you don't need evidence. And

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<v Speaker 5>I think that's what's incredibly painful for black people who

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<v Speaker 5>are in the public life.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you know, Era.

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<v Speaker 2>First of all, I just want to tell you thank you,

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<v Speaker 2>because no matter what, anytime that I've caught on you,

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<v Speaker 2>you've been there. And I wanted to start there because

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<v Speaker 2>I think that that is an essential component and essential

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<v Speaker 2>ingred ingredient for community.

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<v Speaker 1>And I'd love to know in this era that we're.

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<v Speaker 2>In right now, given the quality of the work you do,

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<v Speaker 2>the significance of the work you do, what our community

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<v Speaker 2>can do to really come together to not only support you,

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<v Speaker 2>to support each other in our collective advancement and liberation.

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<v Speaker 5>I really think we we have to. I think to

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<v Speaker 5>support sort of my work or even others, I think

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<v Speaker 5>we have to be more results oriented and I think

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<v Speaker 5>we have to be more sort of evidence based, going

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<v Speaker 5>back to what I was just you know, talking of,

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<v Speaker 5>and I'm saying that to say, even in my book

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<v Speaker 5>How to Be an Anti Racist, I ended up defining

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<v Speaker 5>an activists as someone with a record of power and

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<v Speaker 5>policy change. So so a person can't just say one day,

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<v Speaker 5>I'm an activist. Yeah, right, you know, what is your record?

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<v Speaker 5>What organizations have you have you built? What institutions uh,

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<v Speaker 5>you know, have you have you created? What campaigns have

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<v Speaker 5>you launched to you know, reduce levels of housing insecurity,

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<v Speaker 5>you know, in your community. And I think we have

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<v Speaker 5>to be more outcome oriented, more results oriented, because especially

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<v Speaker 5>in a moment in which those who are trying to

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<v Speaker 5>conserve racism are so intent focused. Yeah, we have to

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<v Speaker 5>be outcome focused.

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<v Speaker 1>And I think there's a lot of symbolism, right and

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<v Speaker 1>even when we when it comes to the presidency, we

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<v Speaker 1>you know, have seen the election of President Barack Obama

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<v Speaker 1>and looking at that through the lens of policy, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>we can judge his presidency. I think at this point

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<v Speaker 1>we are for a lot of younger people, President Obama

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<v Speaker 1>was the floor, not the ceiling, and so now younger

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<v Speaker 1>people have a lot more demands of our leaders. We're

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<v Speaker 1>beyond the role of symbolism. So I think that's so true.

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<v Speaker 1>What is your prediction for what may happen in November

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<v Speaker 1>and what this landscape might look like in this country?

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<v Speaker 1>You know, because when he was elected, it was like, oh,

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<v Speaker 1>we're post racial now, which we all kind of laughed

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<v Speaker 1>at that ridiculous notion of that. What might we see

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<v Speaker 1>what might await us under a president Kamala Harris.

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<v Speaker 5>Well, it's interesting because many people have talked about the

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<v Speaker 5>importance obviously of this election, and you know, as an historian,

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<v Speaker 5>let me just say I can attest to that. I

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<v Speaker 5>can't think of this election in twenty twenty four, particularly

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<v Speaker 5>for black folks, without thinking of the election of eighteen

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<v Speaker 5>sixty four. And this was an election between a candidate

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<v Speaker 5>who more or less planned to end the Civil War

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<v Speaker 5>and pretty much re enslaved black people, you know, in

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<v Speaker 5>a candidate that presumed that he was going to continue

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<v Speaker 5>the Civil War. I mean, it really is that stark,

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<v Speaker 5>particularly when you look at the candidacy of Donald Trump

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<v Speaker 5>and what he has planned, particularly for black folks, And

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<v Speaker 5>so I don't I think it's important for us to

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<v Speaker 5>understand those stakes, especially when you look at some of

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<v Speaker 5>the candidates who are sort of allying with Trump internationally,

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<v Speaker 5>when you look at what they've done when they've gotten

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<v Speaker 5>a second term or when they've gotten a second presidency,

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<v Speaker 5>this is a critical moment in the history of black

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<v Speaker 5>life in this country and really in the history of

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<v Speaker 5>the United States.

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<v Speaker 3>That's powerful.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey, y'all, thanks for listening. Remember to rate, review, subscribe,

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<v Speaker 2>and tune into our regular episode that drops every single Thursday,

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<v Speaker 2>Welcome Home, y'all.

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<v Speaker 1>Native Land Pod is the production of iHeartRadio in partnership

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<v Speaker 1>with Resent Choice Media. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit

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