Speaker 1: Native Lamb Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership
Speaker 1: with Resent Choice Media.
Speaker 2: Welcome Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 1: Welcome home. Y'all to Part two of Native Lamb Pod,
Speaker 1: and listen. I have heard a lot of you all
Speaker 1: say I am resting, We are resting, and certainly you
Speaker 1: deserve that. But are we at the point where it's
Speaker 1: enough and it's time to get back to work? Well,
Speaker 1: nobody better to have that discussion with with young people
Speaker 1: who have all the energy. So we're going to pick
Speaker 1: up where we left off in the previous episode of
Speaker 1: Native Lamp Pod and get into what are these young
Speaker 1: folks doing, but more importantly, what do they need from
Speaker 1: us to empower them? So let's kick off this conversation
Speaker 1: right now. I appreciate all all your points, all of
Speaker 1: you guys, and I think it's healthy for us to hear,
Speaker 1: you know, the healthy exchange of ideas and ideology. Ty
Speaker 1: you talked about. You know, it doesn't take you know everybody.
Speaker 1: I wonder this is really for all you all, But
Speaker 1: I'll start with high. I wonder do you feel like
Speaker 1: you're reaching people? Do you feel like okay, Well, if
Speaker 1: it's one out of one hundred that's organizing out of
Speaker 1: that hundred people, do you feel like you're tapping into somebody?
Speaker 1: That's the first question. The second question is, we do
Speaker 1: tend to talk about civic engagement and activism, and sometimes
Speaker 1: these things are talked about only through the lens of voting,
Speaker 1: which is what I was trying to ask earlier to you, Marley, like,
Speaker 1: maybe people are out here doing all kinds of community work,
Speaker 1: but they did not choose to vote, which doesn't take
Speaker 1: away what they were doing in community. Some people feel like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm out here cleaning my community. I'm out here organizing
Speaker 1: the same way, but I'm not necessarily, you know, interested
Speaker 1: in upholding the white man's democracy. Maybe I'm maybe my
Speaker 1: interest is somewhere else. I'm curious on where you all
Speaker 1: stand on all that. That's how I'm starting with you,
Speaker 1: So I.
Speaker 3: Guess i'll ask you that that last question.
Speaker 2: First, you know why some folks are involved in civic
Speaker 2: engagement outside of the electoral framework, And you know what
Speaker 2: I mean, Let's look at the Hillary Clinton election, right,
Speaker 2: roughly sixty three million votes for her, roughly sixty million
Speaker 2: for Donald Trump, Roughly a little over one hundred million
Speaker 2: who decided to stay home because they were disconnected from
Speaker 2: the systems that told them to go vote. When you
Speaker 2: talk about, you know, the pandemic, the stimulus check that
Speaker 2: a lot of folks received, that represented the most direct
Speaker 2: interaction that folks have had with Washington around the country.
Speaker 2: For a lot of folks the first time where they say,
Speaker 2: you know, I can actually see what was reflected in
Speaker 2: Washington back here.
Speaker 3: But up until that point, they had realized what we.
Speaker 2: Often emphasized it organizes, is that it starts at home
Speaker 2: and you build your consentu circle out from there, you're
Speaker 2: building your community. You're going to your PTA meetings, You're
Speaker 2: making sure your neighborhood is clean if you have, you know,
Speaker 2: a housing council. You're being involved in the things that
Speaker 2: are closest to you, because at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: that is the best place to insulate yourself from the
Speaker 2: trickle down effect of even this fascist regime. Right is
Speaker 2: affecting sensible leadership to make sure that you're insulated locally
Speaker 2: and then starting to be more aspirational and caring about
Speaker 2: national things, caring about foreign policy.
Speaker 3: But I think the immediacy of.
Speaker 2: Care has always lied with trying to take care of
Speaker 2: the home front. And so that's a lot of what
Speaker 2: we're seeing there with the disconnect from electoral systems as
Speaker 2: opposed specific engagement.
Speaker 3: Outside of that, the.
Speaker 2: Other thing that you asked was about do I feel
Speaker 2: like I'm reaching people when I reach one person?
Speaker 3: And I would say yes, because that one person could be.
Speaker 2: The next meat or something better than me, somebody that
Speaker 2: could collaborate with me, somebody that can then go and
Speaker 2: get one person. Like I think that we have to
Speaker 2: be realistic in the fact that it's not everybody's thing.
Speaker 2: Like I said, I know that folks from back in
Speaker 2: the day that lived during a certain era where there
Speaker 2: were black and white photos like to cosplay like they
Speaker 2: were also the Malcolm X's and Martin Luther King's.
Speaker 3: But like age doesn't make you that, you know, back.
Speaker 2: In that generation, there were folks that were drinking their liquor,
Speaker 2: There were folks that were smoking their weed. There were
Speaker 2: folks that were doing any and everything until they got
Speaker 2: that thing that activated them to care that said you
Speaker 2: know what, hey, you should have some attachment here. And
Speaker 2: it's because somebody brought it to them in their language
Speaker 2: and said, you know what, this is what you can
Speaker 2: do to integrate into movement. So I think that I
Speaker 2: feel effective when I reach one person, especially if I
Speaker 2: reached them outside of the typical framework. Like you see,
Speaker 2: I did the Obama saying tan suit thing for y'all today,
Speaker 2: But like I need a hoodie for sha, I need
Speaker 2: Brody in the hoodie. I need Brody with the skull
Speaker 2: cap because he's gonna go and talk to folks and
Speaker 2: have different conversations with people that I won't meet. But
Speaker 2: if I can get him to meet me, to respect me,
Speaker 2: and to take this information and download it and pass
Speaker 2: it on, then me meeting that one person right there
Speaker 2: might have been more effective than me meeting one hundred
Speaker 2: people that day because he can go back and have
Speaker 2: that rapport in his hood to be able to walk
Speaker 2: down and talk some high level intellectual shit to folks
Speaker 2: who otherwise didn't care, right, and so being able to
Speaker 2: get that one person in these respective rooms, whether it
Speaker 2: is over there, whether it is in the queer community,
Speaker 2: whether it's in the faith community, I think it's important
Speaker 2: that we try to build that one.
Speaker 3: In each of these communities because of we can.
Speaker 2: Get that one to act as an ambassador for ideas
Speaker 2: to act as an ambassador for this good fight that
Speaker 2: we're going to raise the army for it.
Speaker 4: For sure, I think you're spot on, tie, and I
Speaker 4: think you know, we reach people by recognizing that the revolution,
Speaker 4: the road to the revolution isn't linear. Right Like during
Speaker 4: the Civil Rights movement, there were young people who weren't
Speaker 4: always on the front lines and didn't always have the
Speaker 4: bullhorn in the mic, but best believe they're recording and
Speaker 4: writing and documenting and archiving. I mean, there were artists
Speaker 4: whose music was their fight, you know, the musicians whose
Speaker 4: instruments was their fight. There are some who are making
Speaker 4: calls spreading awareness, which is now our version of social media. Right,
Speaker 4: So we have to be okay with understanding that our
Speaker 4: gifts are different, our passions are different, but that doesn't
Speaker 4: make it any less effective when fighting white supremacy because
Speaker 4: it is quite literally rooted in everything we do. You know,
Speaker 4: like some folks are migrating back to the South and
Speaker 4: reclaiming land and starting like farms, y'all, like shout out Briebaker,
Speaker 4: readhear book rooted. But you can't tell me that that's
Speaker 4: not a form of resistance.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: We each have our role to play, and we have
Speaker 4: to accept that it looks different, you know. So we
Speaker 4: reach people by acknowledging that all skills are welcome. We
Speaker 4: reach people by acknowledging that all of your talents are welcome,
Speaker 4: that you know, the folks who are the support team
Speaker 4: who bring the milk and water for tear gas to
Speaker 4: protest that you are important, where the comms team that
Speaker 4: makes the graphics. Everyone has a role. Everyone has a
Speaker 4: place in this movement, you know. And so not every
Speaker 4: young person is going to say if we don't get it,
Speaker 4: shut it down, which is my favorite, you know. But
Speaker 4: some people are saying, well, if we don't get it,
Speaker 4: how do we create it for ourselves?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 4: And that method of fighting back looks different than what
Speaker 4: we're used to seeing, and which is why it's so jarring,
Speaker 4: and which is why it feels like young people are
Speaker 4: too zen and to relax for this movement. But I
Speaker 4: don't think it makes it any less effective. I think
Speaker 4: black joy in and of itself is resistance, and we
Speaker 4: can't just say that and then get upset when we
Speaker 4: practice it.
Speaker 1: I yeah, I love everything you guys are saying, and
Speaker 1: I have to tell you it kind of puts me
Speaker 1: in the mind Spain's. My friends and I joke a
Speaker 1: lot where we talk about music because this has always
Speaker 1: been the case.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: James Baldwin had some challenges with how Martin Luther King
Speaker 1: was moving, you know. And I remember listening to music that,
Speaker 1: you know, my uncles and my parents they were like,
Speaker 1: oh girl, that ain't no music. You know, this real music.
Speaker 1: But on the Temptations, this real music. And so we
Speaker 1: joke that young people someday will be what y'all listening to,
Speaker 1: man mios migo, some real music, and it's just the
Speaker 1: way generations go, you know. So, and I just want
Speaker 1: to be clear. I don't think any of us, you know,
Speaker 1: are are saying like wagging our fingers to young folks.
Speaker 1: But I do think that there are a lot of
Speaker 1: people who are disenfranchised. I can't remember who said something
Speaker 1: about hope. Maybe it was my life, but yes, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna just tell you I feel hopeless. Somebody in the
Speaker 1: comments like I'm tired of timany feeling so doom and groom.
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, I got gotta hear y'all, because I'm
Speaker 1: tired of feeling doom and gloom. But hearing you all talk,
Speaker 1: it does give me hope that you're out there doing
Speaker 1: something and that you all seem to have hope, because
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, I don't hear that from a lot
Speaker 1: of young folks, and I don't have the words to
Speaker 1: speak into them to say.
Speaker 5: Well, you should feel hopeful.
Speaker 1: I just have the words to say, please fight, Please
Speaker 1: get in the please at least get in the fight,
Speaker 1: because what we're seeing right now is just so frightening.
Speaker 1: So I just I want to just say thank you
Speaker 1: to you guys for being so passionate. And I think
Speaker 1: what I love most is your authenticity. Ty I don't
Speaker 1: know where you are. I feel like you from the South,
Speaker 1: and if okay, I'm gonna find you, Tief you, I
Speaker 1: was just.
Speaker 6: Gonna say, you know one thing that I think is important.
Speaker 6: There were a number of you, or all three of
Speaker 6: you brought up at some point mentorship or the disconnect
Speaker 6: between one generation to the next. If you be sure
Speaker 6: you said, if you pass the baton, that means you
Speaker 6: gotta leg go of the other end, all of which
Speaker 6: I think are very powerful. I think my point of
Speaker 6: privilege is I have a ton of mentors. I say
Speaker 6: it takes a village to raise a child. That that's
Speaker 6: the one we know. But I say it takes a
Speaker 6: village to sustain an adult, and I really believe that.
Speaker 6: But I'm I'm challenged by what you all are sharing
Speaker 6: around mentorship, and I really want to hear about how
Speaker 6: my generation can do better by gen z, what are
Speaker 6: the things that you guys feel like can be done.
Speaker 6: I think to aspire folks that are that need to
Speaker 6: be hopeful about even getting support from us, Like maybe
Speaker 6: like we don't want to apply the same tactics, but
Speaker 6: you know, we do want to learn from the mistakes
Speaker 6: you made. I'm spending a lot of time right now
Speaker 6: with folks who are a part of organizing Gary and
Speaker 6: Deanna and seventy two and attend it.
Speaker 5: I want to learn what they got right, what did
Speaker 5: they get wrong?
Speaker 6: So Marley, I'll start with you because your publicist is
Speaker 6: saying you do actually have to go, So I'm going
Speaker 6: to start with you and then we'll go on.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, I think I really appreciate asking like
Speaker 7: the literal ways. I feel like that's the first step
Speaker 7: is always just grounding it back to reality. Is when
Speaker 7: you notice you're doing something wrong, like let's get the
Speaker 7: actual steps. When it comes to mentorship, I think there's
Speaker 7: two things that I really like. Is one when I'm
Speaker 7: able to find a mentor who isn't just focused on
Speaker 7: kind of wellness, not wealth or wellness as a way out,
Speaker 7: like neither wealth nor wellness, that it's a combination of both.
Speaker 7: That in order to be well, to be healthy, you
Speaker 7: kind of have to you will be able to gain capital.
Speaker 7: So finding people and being the person that says like,
Speaker 7: you're not just gonna make it out out of getting
Speaker 7: a million dollars or making your first whatever or buying
Speaker 7: your first house. You're not gonna make it out that way.
Speaker 7: But really it's actually going to be about taking care
Speaker 7: of you. So mentors that focus on the connection both
Speaker 7: between like what your bank account looks like and what
Speaker 7: your transcript looks like and what's going on in your head.
Speaker 7: So making sure that this mental health conversation, which we
Speaker 7: know has always been difficult within the black community and
Speaker 7: difficult in all immigrant and indigenous communities, is just having
Speaker 7: these hard talks. Is being a person that leads with
Speaker 7: mental health as a huge part of justice work, where
Speaker 7: like Tiff was saying, this feeling of hopelessness, you can
Speaker 7: feel hopeless together and seeing that across different generations. We
Speaker 7: can talk about you know, George Floyd and Trayvon Martin,
Speaker 7: but there's also stories of the La riots, Like there
Speaker 7: are so many other examples that we have not lived
Speaker 7: through a police brutality of violence against women and girls,
Speaker 7: of school shootings, that these problems come back around and
Speaker 7: back around. So the second thing being helping to make
Speaker 7: those ties and helping with those historical connections because we
Speaker 7: are often, as gen Z say, like we've experienced the
Speaker 7: pandemic and we experienced all these things, but you guys
Speaker 7: did too, And I think learning about the ways that
Speaker 7: you all have mitigated those moments and just talking in
Speaker 7: as transparent of a way as possible about, like from
Speaker 7: the real mental to the physical, to the economic to
Speaker 7: the academic ways that you get out of hard times
Speaker 7: is what young people need to hear because I think
Speaker 7: we're all just adjusting to adulting and realizing that yo,
Speaker 7: like this is an internal game of like how much
Speaker 7: am I going to let white supremacy and capitalism dance
Speaker 7: in my head every day? And the ways that you've
Speaker 7: rewired that during political unrest, even if you didn't know
Speaker 7: what you were doing. Hearing about it, I think is
Speaker 7: so helpful because you don't realize how much of this
Speaker 7: game is mental and about a belief in oneself and
Speaker 7: an honoring of the daily discipline of working towards a better.
Speaker 3: Future for black people.
Speaker 7: So when we take care of ourselves, we actively keep
Speaker 7: ourselves alive, we build another day for a better future.
Speaker 7: And I think mentors should. We can help each other
Speaker 7: and inform each other so much in that it's a
Speaker 7: really beautiful reciprocal way to help.
Speaker 6: That's good, Marley. I do want to just reiterate our
Speaker 6: space is always open. Nobody has ever silenced here, even
Speaker 6: and pushback. We don't have to agree on everything. We
Speaker 6: fight every week, but certainly no voices are silence here.
Speaker 6: So we welcome you back anytime. Thank you so much
Speaker 6: for coming.
Speaker 3: Appreciate it.
Speaker 8: Thank y'all, see you later. Pleasure to be on the
Speaker 8: other side of this break. We're going to dive deeper
Speaker 8: into this concept of rest as a form of resistance.
Speaker 6: There was a point that we've been wrestling with quite
Speaker 6: a bit. Andrew and Tip y'all have seen this too.
Speaker 6: I wonder what you all think about this tie in
Speaker 6: Victoria about rest, like the narrative of rest at a
Speaker 6: time where there's so much going on, certainly not encouraging
Speaker 6: people to know ever sleep and to stay woke to
Speaker 6: the point of your detriment, but there is this interesting
Speaker 6: narrative that's permeating. I got conspiracy theories about it, where
Speaker 6: we're telling people to rest and not almost not protect ourselves,
Speaker 6: and I think that's dangerous, particularly for the Black community.
Speaker 6: I'm curious to know what you all are seeing and
Speaker 6: hearing from your generation about that narrative.
Speaker 2: I'll hop in real quick, because I think that, like
Speaker 2: you know, we're living in this era where we got
Speaker 2: a generation of folks.
Speaker 3: From anticizing living in their soft era, right, and so there's.
Speaker 2: All of this stuff that we do to kind of
Speaker 2: throw ourselves in a lull, and I think some of
Speaker 2: that sort of just cultural kind of conversation is bleeding
Speaker 2: over into this social justice conversation right where like this
Speaker 2: soft life is being blended in with like we'll rest
Speaker 2: is resistance, and we're getting some of the same talking points.
Speaker 2: And like, I think because Victoria made this point earlier,
Speaker 2: there is definitely validity to needing to rest.
Speaker 3: I mean a soldier that goes to battle needs.
Speaker 2: To be well fed, well slapped, right, So, like, there
Speaker 2: are things that you need to do to condition yourself
Speaker 2: for a long battle, and part of that is rest.
Speaker 2: Part of that is sustaining rest. I do think, however, though,
Speaker 2: that like, because we have done this weird blend of
Speaker 2: like I said, that rest that is necessary in this
Speaker 2: soft life. We have a lot of folks feeling like
Speaker 2: they think their contribution to our social justice fight will
Speaker 2: solely be rest. And it's like, no, you rest after
Speaker 2: you do some shit, or you rest before you're doing something,
Speaker 2: but restling will never be the sole action that you're
Speaker 2: doing to save our people.
Speaker 3: And I don't want people to like cause I do age.
Speaker 2: I do believe to your point that there's a lot
Speaker 2: of people it's seductive to believe that all you would
Speaker 2: have to do to save our people just rest, Like,
Speaker 2: I mean, who's not going to pick that position? I
Speaker 2: choose the couch if that's all that we have to do,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying, Like anybody would just say, Okay,
Speaker 2: well that's how I'm going to show up. Sure, I
Speaker 2: think it's important to remind people that rest is part
Speaker 2: of resistance, But It is not the entire picture of resistance.
Speaker 2: It is part of sustaining resis resistance, but that in
Speaker 2: and of itself, if the entirety of black people is resting,
Speaker 2: who is at action and working for our interests? Who
Speaker 2: is fighting that fight that we will need to fight
Speaker 2: to sustain through the twenty first century. So I think
Speaker 2: it's important to balance that conversation out that yes, we
Speaker 2: must rest, but rests on par with the work that
Speaker 2: you're putting in to deserve that rest, to warrant that rest.
Speaker 2: That's it because I come from a family of workers.
Speaker 2: My dad comes from a small town in Virginia, Chase City,
Speaker 2: one stoplight. If you're not looking for what, you'll miss it.
Speaker 2: But he grew up on a farm where they raised
Speaker 2: their animals. So that concept of resting, or that concept
Speaker 2: of resting from my aunt, who was born in Mecklenburg County,
Speaker 2: who had to get up early to walk while white
Speaker 2: kids would being bused to school. She couldn't afford that rest.
Speaker 2: My mother just became American in two thousand and all
Speaker 2: of what it took for her to become a citizen,
Speaker 2: learning things that even some of our lawmakers don't know
Speaker 2: about governance.
Speaker 3: Here in America. She couldn't rest, so the idea that
Speaker 3: rest alone would do it.
Speaker 2: We got to get a little bit more realistic and
Speaker 2: we got to get over this concept that says that
Speaker 2: all we're going to do is set back and somehow
Speaker 2: the world will get better for us.
Speaker 5: Awful Victoria, you have thoughts on that. I do.
Speaker 4: I think, well, I agree with what you said. I
Speaker 4: think young folks are and not even just young folks.
Speaker 4: I think people in general in this movement are prioritizing
Speaker 4: self care, which I am a firm believer. You know,
Speaker 4: I think it's the key to longevity in this movement.
Speaker 4: You know, like, how do you fight for your people
Speaker 4: if you're not taking care of yourself mentally, spiritually, emotionally,
Speaker 4: all the things right? And so I don't think, you know,
Speaker 4: this movement is disappearing. I think it's evolving. I think
Speaker 4: rest and protection is important. I think we are creating.
Speaker 4: I think we're creating spaces and events and during events
Speaker 4: and during protests for moments of health and wellness. I
Speaker 4: also think that we have to acknowledge, like you said time,
Speaker 4: that rest and action go hand in hand. Like doing nothing,
Speaker 4: absolutely nothing is never the answer, but taking care of
Speaker 4: yourself after showing up is important. Burnout is a real thing, y'all. Like,
Speaker 4: and I'm sure all of you know, you know, burnout
Speaker 4: is a real thing, even you know, for even for
Speaker 4: myself personal experience after organizing folks to vote in October,
Speaker 4: literally every single day, day in, day out, walking up
Speaker 4: to people having conversations on foot y'all, Like, I had
Speaker 4: to take a week after to just breathe and cry
Speaker 4: and just exist and rest and recover because this work
Speaker 4: is heavy. I mean, when you're talking to a mom
Speaker 4: who just buried her son, or you're you're helping that
Speaker 4: mom pick out an outfit for their for their son
Speaker 4: in a casket, like that weighs on you.
Speaker 5: You know, you go to you go to sleep thinking
Speaker 5: about that at night.
Speaker 4: You know, I do a lot of work in human
Speaker 4: trafficking prevention, and after reading cases of babies being human
Speaker 4: trafficked after you know, seeing that and then doing rescue
Speaker 4: work like that, stuff stays with you. Because we're human, right,
Speaker 4: we have emotions, and so I think it's important to
Speaker 4: acknowledge that when you're doing the work, rest is also
Speaker 4: important because that weighs heavy on you, and you cannot
Speaker 4: be effective in helping someone else is helping someone else
Speaker 4: if you're not you know, showing up for yourself.
Speaker 5: Mm hm, I you know.
Speaker 1: I just want to say I appreciate one. I appreciate
Speaker 1: the story you told Tie about the White House having
Speaker 1: b two K singers there in lieu of black activists
Speaker 1: and basically all all of you young people given your
Speaker 1: own testimony, I will say, in the organizing spaces that
Speaker 1: I have been in, there has been intention. And I'll
Speaker 1: say this is to Angela when we're looking at the
Speaker 1: table to see who is not there. I do feel
Speaker 1: like angel is one of the people to say, well,
Speaker 1: we don't have any young people here, we don't have
Speaker 1: gen Z people here. So those conversations do happen. And
Speaker 1: I think because to Andrew's point, like we're not so
Speaker 1: far removed, like if it does feel very strange to
Speaker 1: be the elder.
Speaker 8: And he said, you know what.
Speaker 5: We have to get ARP cards anymore.
Speaker 1: Listen, you know what else I do. I keep saying
Speaker 1: simply red and not sexy red. I'm trying to tell
Speaker 1: you it happened.
Speaker 3: I mean, listen to.
Speaker 1: Young people like and I would keep living it happens.
Speaker 1: So quickly, like all of a.
Speaker 8: Sudden you look up and it's like, not going to
Speaker 8: do it.
Speaker 1: I'm closer. I'm closer to fifty than I am to thirty.
Speaker 1: And it's just such a strange thing, yes, because I
Speaker 1: feel like, oh, no, we're all peer sitting here talking,
Speaker 1: you know, and I feel when I look in the mirror,
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, I see like a twenty eight year
Speaker 1: old until my ass talks to an actual twenty eight
Speaker 1: year old, and then I know that is not like, no, ma'am,
Speaker 1: you are on the other side of that. But I
Speaker 1: just wanted to get let you all know I appreciate
Speaker 1: the pushback, the feedback and the instruction quite frankly mentorship
Speaker 1: and not having a seat at the table because we
Speaker 1: have that. You know, Angela, you may disagree with me,
Speaker 1: but I do think it's a challenge. Well I don't
Speaker 1: know if you disagree with this or not, but I
Speaker 1: will say I do think it's a challenge that are members,
Speaker 1: including the Congressional Black Caucus, will die in their seats,
Speaker 1: that we are not seeing up a generation behind them
Speaker 1: and some of our elders in the movement. You know,
Speaker 1: it is like it's a tug of war instead of
Speaker 1: a baton pass. And so I do hear that because
Speaker 1: we've had those complaints in our days, and sometimes we
Speaker 1: may still have those complaints because there's still a generation
Speaker 1: above us. So at minimum, I'm happy that we're having
Speaker 1: this exchange of ideas and ideology. And like Angela said,
Speaker 1: this is a space that is open, is a conversation.
Speaker 1: If I say something you don't agree with, I want
Speaker 1: to hear. That only makes me a smarter person, a
Speaker 1: more aware person. So this is really a lot about
Speaker 1: listening for us, and that's why we've had more questions
Speaker 1: than we did comments this episode. So I really appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys participating.
Speaker 6: I do want to say too to that sorry Vics
Speaker 6: or this midl this is what thing just for you
Speaker 6: to consider in your remarks.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 6: We're now the Sandwich generation, right. Some of us have
Speaker 6: kids that are taking care of and we have elders
Speaker 6: that were taken care of. And I think I'm much
Speaker 6: more sensitive to how our elders are treated in our community.
Speaker 6: I think we most of us hold them in high regard,
Speaker 6: but I think rit large when I look at Asian cultures,
Speaker 6: they hold their elders in a little bit more high regard.
Speaker 6: And I just I think that it's important as we
Speaker 6: talk about this that we figure out where the gaps
Speaker 6: might be, because they're not intentional, they're blind spots, and
Speaker 6: I think there's a distinction. So as you all get
Speaker 6: ready to offer your closing. And Andrew somebody that started
Speaker 6: something for young elected officials, a Young Elected Officials network
Speaker 6: has been leading since before fam USGA. But high school
Speaker 6: student body president. He knows little bit about this world
Speaker 6: war world and pathway too, and I think he's someone
Speaker 6: that y'all should pick.
Speaker 5: You should pick his brain. He's a good mentor.
Speaker 8: Well, we'll make space and time and room for that.
Speaker 8: You all. Should you honor me with any request or
Speaker 8: information to be passed on, I'm happy to do it.
Speaker 8: I am. I'm not a believer that we did it
Speaker 8: the best. Uh, when we were at your age trying
Speaker 8: to build and and and and experience what it is
Speaker 8: to live a freer life and a more just life.
Speaker 8: And the generation before us, God knows, they will self
Speaker 8: admit that they they dropped the ball for for a lot.
Speaker 8: But just as new organizers came on from the phone
Speaker 8: tree and said to the to the to the elders.
Speaker 8: We have emails. Now, we can send emails, but that's
Speaker 8: not the same thing going and and phone tree in
Speaker 8: them and calling them. You don't, you know, get the
Speaker 8: same touch point. Well, you know what, the generation doesn't
Speaker 8: require that right now. They require something different. So you
Speaker 8: know there's value to it. And I just want you
Speaker 8: to know, I hope you never think of yourselves as
Speaker 8: not being relevant or seen or heard, because almost in
Speaker 8: every space I've been in, it's almost been from the
Speaker 8: mouth of babes, the youth of the space that get
Speaker 8: us really most uncomfortable in those rooms because they harken
Speaker 8: us to a place where we had the freedom to
Speaker 8: imagine and re imagine. And I think what you all
Speaker 8: remind us of is as we get older, some of
Speaker 8: that gets lost when you get beat down repetitively by
Speaker 8: a system that says, regardless of what you do, this
Speaker 8: is unshakable. Like a tree planet by the water, it
Speaker 8: won't be moved. And you all remind us that man,
Speaker 8: that spark is still there, and you just you just
Speaker 8: relt it again for me, right And in many ways
Speaker 8: this conversation has ReLit it again for me that we
Speaker 8: got to do better than top down. We're all equal,
Speaker 8: and all of us are, you know, swimming backwards upstream
Speaker 8: with the way of the world flowing down, and we
Speaker 8: can't survive this alone. So I'm looking forward to the partnership.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, But I think we should do this on the
Speaker 1: regular I don't know how my co hosts feel about it,
Speaker 1: but I do think it's important, right. I think we
Speaker 1: should have younger voices here regularly, even if it's right,
Speaker 1: because even if it's something that we said when you
Speaker 1: all weren't here and you hear it and you're like,
Speaker 1: I don't like what Tiffany said, or I didn't agree
Speaker 1: with what Andrew said, or I got a challenge with
Speaker 1: what Angel will say. Like I think because we've been
Speaker 1: so intentional about saying welcome home, because this is your
Speaker 1: home too. I mean, we would love to have you
Speaker 1: guys back, other young folks, and I quite frankly would
Speaker 1: like to hear from young people who are some of
Speaker 1: the people I know who are like, yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: I'm not really doing any activism, you know, and no
Speaker 1: I'm apathetic and I'm not really into it. And because
Speaker 1: they too deserve a voice, and I think we have
Speaker 1: to stop attaching value to people based on if you voted,
Speaker 1: or based on if you are organizing. You know, it's
Speaker 1: like no, like your pain, your apathy, your tiredness, all
Speaker 1: of that matters too. And in our community, we're not transactional.
Speaker 1: We love you just because you exist, just because you're
Speaker 1: ours and we're yours. So I don't want anybody to
Speaker 1: misunderstand thinking that I'm addressing you and assessing you by
Speaker 1: what you're given to community. I hope that we encourage
Speaker 1: people to And I definitely agree with you about the
Speaker 1: nails and the lashes, because I'm not gonna lie. If
Speaker 1: somebody was coming to interview with me and they had
Speaker 1: nails and lashes and I would I would have an
Speaker 1: opinion about it, you know, I would think, well, my
Speaker 1: opinion would be well on this podcast's Victoria. He said,
Speaker 1: what can I just hear Andrews College. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: let's the Victorian close this out with your part.
Speaker 5: It remarks, y'all go ahead.
Speaker 1: And they might have CTAs.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, we do.
Speaker 1: You're right, We'll be right back on the other side
Speaker 1: of this break are calls to action. Stay tuned.
Speaker 6: Okay, Well, I'm going to go after them. So I'll
Speaker 6: go Victoria tie.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, first, I do want to well, one, Timmy,
Speaker 1: I want to say that I love you some long
Speaker 1: nails and long hair. And actually just had a conversation
Speaker 1: with my mom, Miss Mary Panel. Just had a conversation
Speaker 1: with my mom literally yesterday, and she was like, why
Speaker 1: do I will look at you funny too if you
Speaker 1: came with your long and we go back and forth
Speaker 1: all the time. She says, we s have our own
Speaker 1: podcast because we literally talk about this all the time.
Speaker 1: Your mom is welcome to come.
Speaker 4: But I will say one, I am a firm believer
Speaker 4: in giving people their flowers while they're here and while
Speaker 4: they're in front of you, And so I do want
Speaker 4: to say one, I'm thankful to all of you for
Speaker 4: creating a space for young people because oftentimes we do
Speaker 4: not have that space. We have to create it for ourselves.
Speaker 4: And so one, I'm grateful, and then two, I also think,
Speaker 4: you know, when people think of mentorship, I think people
Speaker 4: think it means you have to, you know, do the
Speaker 4: most for someone, and I think you should. I think
Speaker 4: mentors should always do the most for their mentees. However,
Speaker 4: sometimes doing the most looks like speaking life into someone
Speaker 4: and you don't know what that can do. And I
Speaker 4: just wanted to say, you know, to Angela too, thank
Speaker 4: you because you called me yesterday or was it the
Speaker 4: day we'll probably remember, but I don't even think you
Speaker 4: realize what you did for me by speaking life into me.
Speaker 3: And that means so much.
Speaker 4: And I'm trying not to cry. I'm emotional, but that's
Speaker 4: so important because a lot of these young people need
Speaker 4: someone to speak life into them, our young Black men,
Speaker 4: our young black women. I mean, all wes see on
Speaker 4: television is how we're not enough. All we see on
Speaker 4: television is how we're not doing what we're supposed to
Speaker 4: be doing and how we're not showing up. And so
Speaker 4: sometimes that what we need is just someone to speak
Speaker 4: life into us. So tell us that we're great, to
Speaker 4: tell us that we're gifted, we're talented in any way
Speaker 4: that we show up, we're worthy of being in this space.
Speaker 4: And that's so important. Angela, you did that for me
Speaker 4: a couple of days ago. Tamika, my mentor, does that
Speaker 4: for me all the time, and I'm so and pushes
Speaker 4: me into spaces, you know, like pushes me and opens
Speaker 4: doors that I wouldn't be able to open for myself,
Speaker 4: and so I'm grateful for that, and I think a
Speaker 4: lot of other young people would be grateful to have
Speaker 4: mentors like that who do that for them. But just
Speaker 4: you know, I think my call to action for young
Speaker 4: people is is don't be afraid to listen. You know,
Speaker 4: I have such respect for my elders. I'm actually working
Speaker 4: on a project called a Love Letter to Harlem, and
Speaker 4: I plan on going home and interviewing all of my
Speaker 4: elders and native folks to Harlem and just hearing their
Speaker 4: thoughts about their history and the things that they've lived through,
Speaker 4: lived experiences. We cannot be afraid to sometimes just open
Speaker 4: our ears and listen, because y'all, we can be hard headed,
Speaker 4: and I know that because I'm hard headed, and so
Speaker 4: sometimes sometimes you just have to listen because you never
Speaker 4: know what you can hear, you never know what you learn,
Speaker 4: and that's how you that is how you create greatness.
Speaker 4: And so that is my call to action. And then
Speaker 4: my call to action for the older generation is to
Speaker 4: take us.
Speaker 5: Under your wing.
Speaker 4: You know, if we ain't doing it right, show us,
Speaker 4: but also be open to us showing you how we've
Speaker 4: now learned to do things, because it looks different. You know,
Speaker 4: listen to us and don't dismiss us.
Speaker 5: I love it. It's beautiful.
Speaker 6: Okay, Ty in the khaki suit, in the tan suit,
Speaker 6: in his Obama suit.
Speaker 3: And an Obama thing. I'm telling your spring time.
Speaker 8: A scandal was a scandal.
Speaker 3: Well, I just want to say thank you, guys. I
Speaker 3: mean to echo some of Victoria's sentiments.
Speaker 2: You know, you guys are each and every one of
Speaker 2: you thought leaders, folks who I've received sound bites from,
Speaker 2: and and just you know, started conversations with my folks
Speaker 2: trying to get that dialogue.
Speaker 3: Started trying to grow the table that we're talking about growing.
Speaker 2: So just appreciate you guys for vailing the space for
Speaker 2: you know, letting us you know, letting us pop it
Speaker 2: on here real quick.
Speaker 3: I definitely appreciate that.
Speaker 2: Definitely gonna take it all up on diversifying those voices too,
Speaker 2: because you know, I got to the point of even
Speaker 2: this judgment that we had around the nails or whatever.
Speaker 2: I got some folks that, you know, if my auntie's
Speaker 2: in them song, oh that's the yn or that's the whatever.
Speaker 2: But like, these are the same folks that's gonna quote
Speaker 2: Socrates from behind that ski mask.
Speaker 3: You feel what I'm saying. They got a lot of
Speaker 3: respecial with death that you don't see at phase value.
Speaker 2: And I mean, even me, a lot of what I
Speaker 2: do is built to sort of disarm the facts.
Speaker 3: You don't have to show up in a particular way.
Speaker 2: Right Like I graduated from high school when I was
Speaker 2: thirteen years old.
Speaker 3: I got my bachelor's degree at fifteen. I got my
Speaker 3: master's at seventeen. And everywhere that I go for a speech,
Speaker 3: I try to wear a hoodie. I try to wear
Speaker 3: the phone politics.
Speaker 2: I try to wear the Jordan's because we don't need
Speaker 2: to equate success with the tan suit. I can show
Speaker 2: up in that hoodie and still have the same intellectual
Speaker 2: talking points.
Speaker 3: And so that's just the you know what I'm saying
Speaker 3: my closure remarks there. As far as a call.
Speaker 2: To action, I think the big thing for me here
Speaker 2: is that we have to start clinging to a new.
Speaker 3: Narrative about our folks, all of us. That's an intergenerational thing.
Speaker 2: We have to choose different narratives that we want to
Speaker 2: empower about our people. Cleaning and narrative of disempowerment is
Speaker 2: a disservice to our ancestors who did the fighting to
Speaker 2: get us here. We can talk about crabs in the
Speaker 2: barrels and excuse for why crime looks the way it
Speaker 2: does in some of our.
Speaker 3: Cities and this and that.
Speaker 2: But if we can own that generational trauma in all
Speaker 2: of its effects, we also have to own the generational
Speaker 2: bravery that got us here.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: We also have to understand that we're the descendants of
Speaker 2: folks who read by candlelight knowing that death was on
Speaker 2: the other side of it. It got caught, like we
Speaker 2: are the descendants of those who created secret networks to
Speaker 2: get us to freedom. We come from that. We have
Speaker 2: to honor that by living it. So that's my call
Speaker 2: to black people in general. And then I have a
Speaker 2: call to the faith community because Marley said something that
Speaker 2: really hit and it was about growing the table, how she,
Speaker 2: as a queer person, felt disenfranchised. I have a little
Speaker 2: sister that's gay. I don't have to subscribe to her
Speaker 2: lifestyle or fully understand its, know that I love her
Speaker 2: and to know that I respect her existence.
Speaker 3: And if the Black church really.
Speaker 2: Wants to heal our community, it has to start by
Speaker 2: making sure that nobody is walking away thinking that they're
Speaker 2: hated by the very God that we're saying created them.
Speaker 2: It's not compromised, it's compassion. It's not watering down the
Speaker 2: word because I grew up in church. It's walking it
Speaker 2: out the way that we said Christ did with open arms,
Speaker 2: with an open heart. Another thing about faith, too, is
Speaker 2: that faith sometimes puts us in a lull. Like there
Speaker 2: was just this viral clip going on about some passes somewhere.
Speaker 3: Black men need to obey the police, and there's a
Speaker 3: whole other episode we can get into about what that
Speaker 3: is right. But like.
Speaker 2: For so long, faith has been used as a point
Speaker 2: of strength, but in many ways it's a point of weakness.
Speaker 2: And it's important for us to remember that faith with
Speaker 2: that works is dead, like going to the Book of James.
Speaker 2: Like I said, my dad got that Master's of Divinity,
Speaker 2: great Grandpa before him.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying. We are rooted in this
Speaker 3: church thing. I live that it's a blueprint for how
Speaker 3: I move in the world.
Speaker 2: But faith has to be paired with action, Like believing
Speaker 2: in God should compel us to do the things that
Speaker 2: we believe God would want us to do. Faith is
Speaker 2: the engine and work has to be the wheels. So,
Speaker 2: if we believe in a God of justice, why are
Speaker 2: we not fighting for justice? If we believe that we're
Speaker 2: making the image of a creator, why are we not
Speaker 2: fighting to create new things like to honor God fully?
Speaker 2: We have to show up and live out what we
Speaker 2: think God is, who we think God is. Stop telling
Speaker 2: me about the God that that inspired Jesus to turn
Speaker 2: the other cheek.
Speaker 3: Let's start talking more contemporarily relevant.
Speaker 2: About the Jesus who flipped the table when governance was
Speaker 2: not serving the people, when it was unjust. Let's start
Speaker 2: having conversations that are tethered to where we need to
Speaker 2: be right. Because faith can free us or it can
Speaker 2: lock us away, and it is up to our faith leaders,
Speaker 2: to our community pillars to decide what that will be
Speaker 2: for us moving forward. We've seen what it can be,
Speaker 2: Like I said, we've seen it as an anchor of movements.
Speaker 2: So if we want it to be something more, that
Speaker 2: is a conscious choice that our faith leaders are going
Speaker 2: to have to make in concert with community leaders. Go
Speaker 2: find that why in and maybe you don't value otherwise,
Speaker 2: figure out what it takes to get him and his
Speaker 2: folks as members of your congregation.
Speaker 3: We have to grow the table. But in order to
Speaker 3: grow the table, we had to truly be committed to
Speaker 3: the idea that everybody deserves to see.
Speaker 9: There.
Speaker 3: That's it. That's all.
Speaker 5: Now open from both.
Speaker 1: I'll be I'll be quick Angela because I have a
Speaker 1: feeling I might know what Angela's called CTA is, So
Speaker 1: I'll be really quick. And I'm pulling my CTA from
Speaker 1: the luminary Nicole Hannah Jones who posted this, and I
Speaker 1: thought it was so poignan for our times. And she said, folks,
Speaker 1: there is only so much you can learn from social media.
Speaker 1: There's only so much social media can teach you. Now
Speaker 1: is the time for reading. So my CTA is read something,
Speaker 1: read something this week. Not it could be a think piece,
Speaker 1: but read a book. Read a book. And if you
Speaker 1: are reading something good. A lot of people were in
Speaker 1: the comments asked me what was the book you reference?
Speaker 1: It was The Poison with Bible. If you are reading
Speaker 1: something good and think I need to read it, how
Speaker 1: at me drop me a comment, let me know what's
Speaker 1: what's on your list of reading. That's my only CTA,
Speaker 1: just real quick, just on the famous book, Timmy, you
Speaker 1: just said that I actually have a book coming out
Speaker 1: my birthday at June seventeen, I turned thirty three.
Speaker 2: The book is coming out June eighteenth. The book is
Speaker 2: going to be called The Fire right now. It's gonna
Speaker 2: be in a moge to James baldw The Fire Next Time,
Speaker 2: which is really just a social commentary about that. I
Speaker 2: would love to get you guys copies. So I'm gonna
Speaker 2: as soon as we get over this, I'm gonna send
Speaker 2: you all the man would love to have you guys
Speaker 2: read over it. But yeah, that's that's it.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna read.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's amazing and I can't wait to read it.
Speaker 5: What publisher you are?
Speaker 3: So I'm just gonna independently publish it right now. I know.
Speaker 3: I'm putting it on Amazon. Give me that.
Speaker 6: Don't do that, give me that, No, don't do that.
Speaker 6: Give me the manuscript. I gotta I got two imprints.
Speaker 6: I want to send that too.
Speaker 5: Let's let's talk about vatory connectors.
Speaker 6: Before you sound it's too hard in our humble opinion,
Speaker 6: let's door connected.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna gethim to.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna get him to. Leonard tiff is really the expert.
Speaker 6: I got a book manuscript and sit in my backpack
Speaker 6: for three months. That's another story. But Leonard has an
Speaker 6: imprint and so does Kent even Candy, so let's get
Speaker 6: that to both of them at least might call to
Speaker 6: action before I do that. There's something that's just on
Speaker 6: my heart. Yesterday Chloe, who does a lot of our.
Speaker 5: Social media with Ange.
Speaker 6: Chloe's been running point on social medias and common Strategy
Speaker 6: first State of the People in tandem with It's about
Speaker 6: twenty five committee members, but Chloe has been drowning in
Speaker 6: the amount of graphics.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 6: There's a number of people supporting, but I was like, Chloe,
Speaker 6: do a crash course. Some of these people are good,
Speaker 6: but that you need to get them to your level
Speaker 6: or they just might want to sharpen tactics. You know,
Speaker 6: things change so fastly, fast, so quickly. And Chloe did
Speaker 6: a crash course yesterday. Fifteen young people showed up. Me
Speaker 6: and Vince Andrew crashed it and I missed most of
Speaker 6: it because we were onboarding the LA leads for the
Speaker 6: State of the.
Speaker 5: People Power Tour.
Speaker 6: On the end of the call, I got so emotional
Speaker 6: because I was thinking about Chloe being in the professional
Speaker 6: development program, where Andrew and Tip have also participated. It's
Speaker 6: our opportunity to train young people in several areas public policy, podcasting, media,
Speaker 6: other areas. In pr we mentor them, we give them
Speaker 6: the tools. There are gurus that participate in that program.
Speaker 6: Chloe has been in that program now since last February,
Speaker 6: and it's by choice, it's not by forrest every semester.
Speaker 6: But Chloe when she started was very shy, very reserved.
Speaker 6: In the process, lost her father and kept and wanted
Speaker 6: to keep working around Marylyn Moseby's petition in particular, she
Speaker 6: Dovan was doing a ton of work and on this
Speaker 6: particular project with State of the People, I've seen a
Speaker 6: different side of Chloe, a clear communicator, a confident soul, beautiful, gracious,
Speaker 6: patient soul, and I'm seeing a tremendous leader, like a
Speaker 6: tremendous leader. And she led this graphics course yesterday and
Speaker 6: I missed most of it, but at the end, I
Speaker 6: just felt so much pride. And I'm about to cry
Speaker 6: again now because to me, that's what this movement is about.
Speaker 6: You all coming on here, that is what it's about.
Speaker 6: When we go into these ten cities. That is the
Speaker 6: type of community coalescing that has to happen for our
Speaker 6: survival right now. And so I just would ask, whatever
Speaker 6: your gift is, whatever you put your hand to do,
Speaker 6: whatever your brain moves you to do, whatever gifting you have,
Speaker 6: come and be a part of this broader.
Speaker 5: Community that we're building.
Speaker 6: And we go into cities on the ground, starting in
Speaker 6: Atlanta on April twenty six, be a part, like no
Speaker 6: gift is too small, No gift is too large. Ti,
Speaker 6: we need you on the stage. I'm gonna talk to
Speaker 6: Victory about that too. You are a necessary part of this.
Speaker 6: And we to Tip's point earlier, she knows I'm gonna
Speaker 6: say it, we do need more young people involved. We
Speaker 6: want to get this right. We need our elders involved.
Speaker 6: I don't want to brush over. We need our veterans involved.
Speaker 6: We are engaging all parts of the black population on
Speaker 6: the black papers right sharing policy ideas. We have black
Speaker 6: papers dropping every single week. We need y'all's experience and intelligence.
Speaker 6: It's and brilliance there. It is state of the PPL
Speaker 6: like literally because y'all know it's too many domains now,
Speaker 6: So STATEUPDEPPL dot com. I employ you to sign up
Speaker 6: Native lampod as we're figuring out right now which tour
Speaker 6: stops we can go by to broadcast from you.
Speaker 5: Guys. We need you, We need you, We need you.
Speaker 6: This this conversation was amazing and we extend the rest
Speaker 6: of y'all. Please send in your comments, your videos.
Speaker 5: You know you are.
Speaker 6: Welcome home, Ty Victoria, welcome home. We can come back anytime,
Speaker 6: and so Kim Marley. We hate Marley had to drop,
Speaker 6: but thank you so much, thank.
Speaker 8: You for everything you.
Speaker 1: How many days the midterms.
Speaker 8: As always, we want to remind everyone to leave us
Speaker 8: a review and subscribe to Native Lampod. We're available on
Speaker 8: all platforms and YouTube. New episodes you drop every Thursday
Speaker 8: and Friday, with solo pods Monday and Tuesday. If you
Speaker 8: want more, check out Politics and Off the Cup the
Speaker 8: other shows on Reason Choice Media and don't forget to
Speaker 8: follow us on on social media and.
Speaker 9: Subscribe to our text, our email list, our website nativelandpod
Speaker 9: dot com. We are I'm Andrew Gillum, they are Angela Rye.
Speaker 8: And Tiffany Cross. Welcome home, y'all. There are just five
Speaker 8: hundred and sixty five days.
Speaker 10: Until the midterm elections.
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