WEBVTT - Flint Still Doesn't Have Clean Water - with Hill Harper 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:16.360 Welcome to PM Mood then no Talking Points, no bullshit 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:20.200 podcast that takes you behind the curtain, off the red carpet, 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:23.079 and to the front lines of progress with change makers 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:26.480 and innovators that are doing the work to shift our 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:35.040 culture and expand their social impact. I am so excited 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:41.520 to welcome to PM mood. Actor, author, activists, all around, 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:47.040 just goodhearted human Hill Harper, Thank you so much for 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:50.880 joining me. We are you know. I tell folks now 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:55.240 that come on and do the show. We can't escape Corona, 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:58.360 PM Mood. The whole idea behind the show was to 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:02.680 talk to folks like yourself in order to understand how 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:07.040 you utilize your social platform to increase your social impact. 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:09.680 And I think that now more than ever, as we're 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:13.360 all living in the midst of a global pandemic, we 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:16.920 need folks like you to be on the ground doing 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:19.640 the work. And so you are and you are coming 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:23.240 to us from Detroit, Michigan. And I think that in 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:26.119 the midst of all of this, with the sheltering at 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:29.360 home and the quarantining and the social distancing and the 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:34.440 washing your hands, we're forgetting about those folks who haven't 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:36.480 been able to have the ability to do any of 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:41.039 the things I have just listed. Ever specifically, you have 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:45.000 been working with folks in Flint, Michigan. Who, if I'm 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:47.920 not mistaken, we are going on what six years with 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:53.000 them not having water? Six years? Yes, so in a 0:01:55.240 --> 0:02:00.120 with a pandemic that acquires us right in order or 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:03.800 to stay safe, to wash our hands, to um to do, 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:06.760 to wash our surfaces, and all these things explain to us. 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:10.800 Give give, give me the picture of what is going 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:13.440 on in Flint, what has been going on, and now 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:19.240 what has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Okay, so wow, 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.400 that's a huge and long story. I'll try to be 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:27.000 as concise as possible. But about five years ago I 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:30.160 was invited to Flint to do a community event in 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:34.280 the city. Um it was Ryan Kugler. This is previous 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:39.440 Black Panther. Yeah, Jesse Williams and a group of singers 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:41.800 and other folks. We came in to do this event 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:44.679 to basically support the community. His brother came up to 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:47.400 me after as a hill opera. Man, I read your books. 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.960 I love you, brother, and I know you're committed, but 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:53.280 but but you got to promise me someone. I was 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:55.560 like what man? He said, Man, we got so many 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:58.200 celebrities coming here. They come in, take a selfie, and 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:01.240 then we never see him again. Yeah, they're using us 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:04.239 for publicity, but they're actually not staying around to see 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:06.680 if anything happens. He said, promise me you'll come back, 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:10.520 and I said, brother, I promise. And so I've gotten 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:13.440 more and more intrenchimauty because you become friends with the peat, 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:16.960 with folks there, you become rooted in the community. So 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:18.799 I've gone back and back and back and held a 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:21.919 number of events and all sorts of different things started doing, 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.320 using which my mother was very happy about, using my 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:30.360 law degree. Finally, we created a Social Justice Law partnership 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:36.400 to get folks to register for the lawsuit where we're 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:40.400 trying to establish a Flint Victims Fund, much like the 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:44.440 nine to eleven Victims Fund, because you don't know how 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:47.720 led impacts you over time, and all of these kids 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:51.080 have been poisoned and we don't know when certain learning 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:54.080 disabilities make crop up. They may not be showing symptoms. 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:56.880 Now we need a victims fund so you can so 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:00.560 there's money available. If there is special needs, you can 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:02.800 be able to come to the victim's fun just like 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:06.160 the nine eleven victims, the first responders. A lot of 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:08.480 the medical problems didn't show up the first year or two, 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:11.480 but they started to present themselves. So same thing. So 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:13.800 doing that work, meeting a lot of people. As soon 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:18.760 as this crisis hit, started getting a DM on my Instagram. 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:23.000 Hey Hill, you know we've met a direct message on 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:28.760 my Twitter, some emails, some texts. Yo're there's a crisis 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:33.440 within a crisis happening. We need help. This is a 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.760 water desert. So just for instance, just I need to 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:39.159 paint the picture. Flynn is one of the poorest cities 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:42.160 in America. Forty one percent of the folks who live 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:46.640 there live below an already very low poverty line. Most 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:50.880 of the people who are that make up that forty 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.680 one percent or African American women age twenty three to 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:58.400 thirty five, many of whom are single moms. You're talking 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:01.160 about folks who are still there, and people have the 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:02.920 audacity to hit me and say, man, you're doing more 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:05.719 a flint. Why are people still living there? I mean, 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:09.039 if it's that bad, they should leave. And it's like, 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:11.720 I want to be leaving. And it's the same thing 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:15.839 that people said during Katrina. Leaving requires resources yeah, in 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:19.320 order for you to flee, whether whether it's in the 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.240 wake of a hurricane or a global penn and people 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:25.039 fled New York and our out all over the place 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:27.480 because they have the ability to do that. People don't 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:35.440 understand it requires means economic mobility and mobility period but 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:39.520 based on economics is one of the biggest privileges that 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.880 anyone can Yep, if you're in a war torn country, 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:45.520 why don't you just leave? If they're a refugee, if 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:47.920 you're in a refugee camp, why don't you just leave? 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:51.360 You know, it doesn't work that way, It doesn't work. 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:55.440 So the people who had the means to lead Flint 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:59.760 have left. Okay, the people who are still there it is. 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:03.880 It is sad, and it's hurtful. And not every single 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:05.760 person there And I'm not casting. There are people there 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:08.040 who are really trying to Like I'm from Flint, I'm 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:10.840 gonna stay here and see it recover. And even though 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:13.400 I could leave. So there are those folks, But there 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:16.120 there are many people there that just don't have the 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:21.719 ability to and and and also a water desert happened, 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:23.880 you know, much like we talked about food deserts. Why 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.120 doesn't happen because even in wealthy communities, you saw that 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:29.480 folks were having trouble getting water at a point, right, 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:32.080 so just think about a place like Flint. So we 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:34.480 decided to put together I decided to put together very 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:38.440 quickly a gofund me campaign. Um the initial raised was 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:40.640 twenty four thousand to try to get about ten thousand 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:45.039 gallons of fresh water there. Um Ian levan Zant challenged 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:47.080 me and said, you didn't shoot high enough. You got 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:49.960 to raise that to fifty thousand. She helped with a 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:53.640 lot of her supporters to give, you know, relatively small 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:56.200 amounts because it was all about you know right now 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.120 is you don't want to ask people to over extend 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:02.040 because there's a lot of economic uncertainty. But right because 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:05.920 and give, and it's a lot of people giving, it 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.320 adds up. And so we've made it up to fifty 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:12.840 seven thousand dollars. We just had this morning another five 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:17.320 thousand gallon giveaway on the east side of Flint, whereas 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:23.080 there's a large Latino population and you know, again two 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:25.200 and a half hour line of cars. The need there 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:29.800 is so extreme h and obviously this is triash. So 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:32.680 we're doing these things there's like get water there because 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:36.320 they need it now. Um. And we want to create 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:38.840 more sustainable solutions over time, and that's part of the 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:40.960 work we want to do. But right now it wasn't 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:43.720 time to just have a form to talk about sustainable solutions. 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:46.040 It's about, hey, folks need water right now. We got 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:48.560 to get it there within this crisis. He'll tell me, 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:52.200 you know, what is Governor Whitmer doing? What? What? What is? 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:56.800 What is? What are you know? And look, I watched 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:00.680 the news. I have to do for so for my living. Um. 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:04.680 But Governor Whitmer, she's being held in a lot of ways, 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:08.640 you know, uh, dealing with the shutdown, dealing with these 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:10.920 arm militias that are storm in the Capitol building, these 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:14.840 arm white men. Um. But this flint problem, like I 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:17.440 said at the beginning, has been going on for sixty 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:19.960 six years that we know about. So let's just say 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:22.560 that because people been drink and poison water there. But 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.160 it wasn't until you know, six years ago that it 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:31.040 became a national crisis and national situation. Um, what if 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:35.400 anything is the state government doing to help the people, 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:39.920 because wonderful like we you know, I I there's a 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:42.880 leader of an organization called Color of Change Rashad Robinson, 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:45.760 and he says that we can we cannot, you know, 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:48.480 we cannot use charity as a way to get us 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:52.160 out of systemic problems. Right. You are doing wonderful work 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:56.120 as a as an incredible philanthropist, as an activist, but 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:59.640 we can't. We can't goodwill our way out of this. Right, 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.680 this is this is a systemic policy problem. So what 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:06.480 if anything is the government doing there? You know, I 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:11.520 asked that very question and very frustrated. You know, there's 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:15.280 a wonderful Lieutenant governor here named Garland Gilchrist who's a 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:17.600 brother who I know, and I text him about these 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:22.560 issues because clearly there's the lack of political will to 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:26.280 solve this problem is abhorrent and it's and it's evidence 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:30.959 and it's it exists over two administrations. And part of 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:37.400 the platform of the campaign platform was look Governor Schnyder, 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:40.080 look what he did to this community. And then now 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:42.800 you've been in office long enough to solve it. The 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.760 same problem happened, and let's be very clear, and I 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:49.160 know we're not you know, and listened, the same problem 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:54.079 happened with the right to literacy case. Then and I 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:55.280 don't know if you know much about it, and a 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:57.199 lot of people don't know about this case, but tell 0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:01.160 me here in Detroit there was a group of young 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:06.600 African American scholars who were under educated in terms of 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:13.160 just they filed a brilliant lawsuit all right to literacy. 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:17.000 I have a right to be taught. Wow, right to 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:20.480 go to a school that educates me. We have a 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:25.040 public system, and I went to a system that did 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:29.760 not do that. The previous administration and other folks fought it. 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:33.319 It ended up going moving into way through the court system, 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:39.920 and the governor said, hey, um, you know, I support 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:45.320 these brothers. I support I support the scholars, but they 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:49.600 did not settle the case since she's been in office. 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:53.520 And then finally, because of pressure last week, she said, 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:55.800 I'm going to settle the case. Problem is she waited 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:59.280 so long that the Court of Appeals, which we know 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:02.960 has been act with folks that may not be that supportive, 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:07.520 have have have picked up the case. So they're gonna 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:11.600 they're gonna rehear the case that these these young scholars 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:16.440 won in district federal district court. Because of dragging feet 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:21.920 on these types of things. So I never want to 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:26.199 do I don't do comparative harm. Well, I'm not. I'm not. 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:30.439 I'm not comparing harm, but I am comparing political will 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:34.880 in this example I'm about to give in very short order, 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:39.679 in the state of Michigan, when the horrific acts of 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:45.760 Larry Nasser at Michigan State gained attention around I believe 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:47.760 it was thirty two or twenty eight gymnasts or I'm 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:49.679 not sure the exact number, but it's in around that number. 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:57.679 Horrible acts that was settled with those gymnasts. I believe 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:01.920 the number was around five hundred million dollars within a 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:06.960 matter of I think three months, national attention, a spotlight. 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:10.880 Obviously there was political will. A city of one hundred 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:16.720 thousand people that has been poisoned has not gotten a settlement, 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:21.840 and it is shameful. It's shameful on all of us 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:24.520 that have allowed it to continue. I look at I 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:27.240 put myself in there too. I'm not saying, oh, you know, 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:29.760 everybody else. You know, I'm just as at fault for 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:34.440 not pushing and and and and sounding the bullhorn hard 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:36.960 enough and loud enough to create political will. But it 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:39.319 is a shame. There's no question these people should be 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:40.880 suffering the way they are, there's no question that there 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:43.640 shouldn't be some type of remedy already in place. I 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:47.480 believe we are very close, very close to a settlement. 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:51.600 But the numbers I've been hearing are abhorrent, abhorrently loved. 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:55.200 Can you tell me the level of harm? Can you 0:12:55.360 --> 0:13:00.840 give um, give us a snapshot as to why it 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:07.400 is so difficult to take out these horrific pipes, and 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:12.679 why that kind of construction infrastructure building has not been underway? 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.000 Or am I wrong? Has it been underway? And it's 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:21.000 just not it hasn't gotten everywhere yet. But I mean again, 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:24.800 you bring up very good examples of cases that we 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.480 look at and we say, how did that happen so quickly? Right? 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:30.760 Why was this expedite it? Why is it six years 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:36.600 and we haven't seen massive infrastructure development happening to help 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:42.160 these sick people? Okay, so well, it's obviously it's because 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:45.480 the people there are poor and are people of color. 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:50.000 And you know folks that get ignored the most are 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:53.240 poor people, period, no matter what race. Right, If you 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:56.680 don't have power, if you don't have the economic ability 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.880 to support candidates and all of those things, you get ignored. 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:04.719 Now you add on to that issues around race, these 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.120 around justice and all of that. Now there has been 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:11.600 piecemeal work done. Part of the problem. I mean, if 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:14.800 you really want to talk about the real, the real 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:19.880 injustice and the real diabolical issue goes all the way 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:24.920 back to General Motors. General Motors had a plan in Flint, 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:29.760 and they were noticing that their engines were corroding. The 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:36.280 engines that they were building were corroding, and they switched 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:40.160 water supply. They noticed that after Flint switched the water 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:42.520 supply to the Flint River, their engine started corroding. They 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:44.640 were like, we can't have corroding engines we're building, we're 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:49.240 building parts. So they switched. They got their own water supply. 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:52.760 But rather than actually notifying the community, rather than actually 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:55.280 going out there and say, hey, there's a problem, that's 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:57.640 all they did. And who knows who they told or 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:04.640 didn't tell. But then, knowing the engine's corroding but not 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:08.240 the internal organs and systems of huge human beings, it's 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:11.200 more concerned about the engine than the people. And that 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:16.160 that's a shame. And clearly so was State and of 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:21.720 of of Michigan, and clearly many other politicians and whoever's 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:23.760 so you have all of that leading up, so now 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:28.520 you have an extreme lack of public trust. So even 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:32.200 though folks have been told that they've switched back to 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:36.160 the Detroit River water supply, they still have the same 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:39.000 pipes in their house, and they know that there was 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:42.080 corrosion with that other water supply. So just because of 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:45.120 the different water supply, what makes me trusted? Now? I 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:48.120 did get a text or I got a text from 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:51.400 a woman named Ebony whose daughter has exema and the 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:55.240 water burnts her face. Okay, and her daughter's so, and 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:57.880 it's a shame you talk about these and you hear 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:01.560 that whatever all these stories to. Ultimately, the folks in 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:06.160 Flint don't have zero trust in what they're being told. 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:11.760 And so independently, you know, we've had some water testing done, 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:14.040 we're doing what we can, but they have been piecemealing, 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:17.760 taking up pipes and putting pipes back out. They haven't 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:20.400 done it in all the houses. Part of the issue 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:24.680 to me is is for not a huge comparatively amount 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.080 of money. I believe we ran the numbers that around 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:31.360 seventy million dollars in terms of they could put whole 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:36.200 house filtration systems in every home, so it would make 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:39.080 it agnostic to what even the water supplied that was 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:42.040 coming through the door is. Right, So at least you 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:46.640 have a filtration system that's attached to your main waterline, 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:51.120 it's treating and filtering the water that's coming through your 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:53.920 whole house. And those are the types of things that 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:56.840 would engender public trust. But again those are the types 0:16:56.880 --> 0:17:00.280 of things that only get done in wealthy community these 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:04.480 where people have the political power to increase the political will. 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:07.640 You know, I'm interested to see what's going to happen 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:10.040 with this settlement as we're tracking the case. The other 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:12.960 challenge we've been we've been having is getting people to 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:18.359 sign up, because again it's like those studies where you 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.760 shock a dog and they jump the first time you 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:22.800 shock them, keep shock them, they keep jumping, But after 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:25.840 a while you keep abusing them and shocking them and 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:30.840 they stop jumping. Yeah, in Flint, I've had all these 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:34.240 town halls and different things saying hey, let's sign up, 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:36.040 you know, sign up for this lawsuit. The more people 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:38.080 are signed up, the more sense of message that this 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:41.359 fund should be bigger. And folks are like why just 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:44.760 because they I mean at some point in time, right, 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:48.479 like you're saying, you you just give up, right, And 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:51.760 it's and it's not, And it's not through the lack 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:55.760 of trying and the anger and the screaming and the protest, 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.600 and you know the amount of celebrities that come through. 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.920 But at some point in time, right, like I have, 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.719 I am exhausted. I have exhausted every effort that I 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:12.600 can put forward. And to that extent, hill, how do 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:18.720 you get other celebrities like yourself, other folks that have 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.800 the platform, have the means, have the bullhorn to be 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:29.760 consistent with their work in Flint and not just doing 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:33.639 what the gentleman had told you, popping in for the selfie, 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:36.679 popping in for the hashtag and then going back to 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:40.200 their lives. And look, I appreciate you know, any bit 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:42.639 of time, any bit of effort and money that people 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:46.760 put in, but we know that consistency, especially in politics 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:50.520 and policy, is what wins the game. Consistency, right, and 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:54.080 consistent voice and bullhorn, even if you have to pass 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:58.120 the baton. It is a relay race, a marathon times 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:01.320 you know a million, So how do you get people 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:05.800 to stay involved or come back? What do you do well, 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:12.360 to be honest, you know, folks need an easy runway 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:14.760 to do this kind of work. I'll be honest because 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:18.920 because celebrities are so called celebrities or people with platform, 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:23.440 they're no different than anybody else. And for the most part, 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:30.040 most people aren't doing You're like, most people are lazy 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:34.160 as hell. Well, people doing what they want to do, 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:37.440 which is take care of themselves and their family and 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:41.159 out Once those bands start extending outwards, you'll do what 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:42.920 you can. You'll write a check, or maybe you put 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:45.880 in a tie, you know, a church, or there's one 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:48.600 part to care about that's more local or what have you. 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:51.080 So I never begrudge to anybody for doing anything or 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:55.159 not doing anything. You know, I never begrudge that. But 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:56.919 it's not you know, at the end of the day, 0:19:57.000 --> 0:19:59.679 I encourage people if if my whole thing is what 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.560 makes your heart be faster, If you hear something when 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:04.639 you read about it, or you hear about it and 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:06.399 your heart starts to kind of and the hair on 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:08.200 your back of your neck starts to stick up, that 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:11.600 means you're passionate about it, and therefore follow that passion 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:14.480 and do something around it, and then maybe you get 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:18.119 deeper because it happens organically. The flint. Me getting involved 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:23.040 with flint happened organically. I didn't go searching out flint 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:26.880 or a cause around water. It happened because the more 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.240 I started to learn, the more of the hair stood 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:31.400 up on my back of my neck, and the more 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:36.280 mested I got. Because you started to see the level 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:40.280 of injustice and just the level of harm. You know, 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:43.320 there are people who bought houses for sixty five or 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:47.320 seventy thousand dollars. Their whole life savings went into that house, 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:53.359 and now the house toreth five thousand dollars, you know, 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:56.960 And so there's this old adage where people say it's 0:20:57.040 --> 0:21:00.879 expensive to be poor. These are the people that, you know, 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:04.119 when when when the rest of America catches a cold, 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:07.919 they catch the coronavirus, you know, they catch the foot yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:13.919 you know, they aren't asymptomatic, you know, carriers. It is. 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:17.080 So that gets me, and so I can't do it 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:18.919 all obviously, and people say, well, how come you're not 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:21.640 over here there? This is I'm doing this And then 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:24.120 and then I got because of this work. I got 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:28.560 engaged in Newark because Newark has a lead poisoning problem. Right, 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:30.960 No one's really talking about it. But the kids in 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:36.080 New York are experiencing lead poison, okay, you know, And 0:21:36.119 --> 0:21:39.919 that's that's that's a real tricky thing because people are like, hey, 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:43.399 there's a great African American mayor who has a history 0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:45.480 of being an activist. How are you going to talk 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:48.280 bad about the Newark situation. It's like, you just got 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:50.119 to tell the truth, you know. I mean, if the 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:52.560 kids have lead in their system, doesn't matter who, it 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:55.320 doesn't matter who. Yeah, you gotta stop it. And so 0:21:56.800 --> 0:21:59.960 the so I think a lot of the activism, least 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:04.960 for me, happens organically, and I think the same for 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:07.879 everybody else. But part of it has to be an 0:22:07.920 --> 0:22:13.080 easy entree. So it has to be the first touch 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:15.359 or the first touch point is like, hey, it's a 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:18.240 low lift, could you do this? And maybe they get 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:21.600 engaged and get invited back and they get deep more 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:23.439 deeper game. Just like what happened me at Flint. I 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:25.520 got invited to an event that I did not put on. 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:28.960 I decided to take the time to go because I 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:31.639 cared about that community and I cared about the issue. 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:34.560 But then once I got there, I got a little deeper. 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:41.080 You know, you have been involved in advocacy and activism 0:22:41.200 --> 0:22:46.600 since probably the beginning of your Hollywood career, right, Yeah, 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:49.439 it started in college, so for me in college, so 0:22:49.480 --> 0:22:51.520 it just continued. It just became a part of my life. 0:22:51.520 --> 0:22:54.360 So it started college, then in grad school and then 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:56.320 just continue. And I know that you don't like to 0:22:56.359 --> 0:23:00.600 tell people what they should do, but but do you 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:03.639 think that it is do you think that there is 0:23:03.680 --> 0:23:08.359 a responsibility specifically for you know, those in Hollywood that 0:23:08.359 --> 0:23:10.760 are people of color, that are black and brown folks 0:23:10.800 --> 0:23:16.120 that have made it to use their platforms to do 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:21.440 more so then you know, um celebrate and uplift themselves. 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:24.800 Like do you think you know there is a responsibility 0:23:24.880 --> 0:23:26.919 that is there or it should? It should? This just 0:23:27.119 --> 0:23:31.440 be to each their own. Let me let me Okay, 0:23:31.880 --> 0:23:34.199 I'm of two minds and so and I know I 0:23:34.240 --> 0:23:35.800 know you're gonna be like, well, now I'll choose to 0:23:36.440 --> 0:23:42.240 I'm of two minds. One is I say, follow your heart, right, 0:23:42.520 --> 0:23:46.320 whatever your heart is, follow that. But but saying that, 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:50.680 I know that if you're even a semi conscious black 0:23:50.720 --> 0:23:55.119 person in America, that your heart is telling you to 0:23:55.160 --> 0:23:57.880 get involved and be and use your platform to make 0:23:57.920 --> 0:24:01.480 some type of change, right, even if you're just even 0:24:01.560 --> 0:24:08.920 relatively aware of the world. You know. That's why when 0:24:08.920 --> 0:24:11.760 you hear you know, and this is related to the 0:24:11.840 --> 0:24:15.000 last dance, when you hear something that's you know, come 0:24:15.080 --> 0:24:18.440 up again because of the documentary, you're Michael Jordan's say, 0:24:19.880 --> 0:24:23.080 even conservatives by shoes. I was not going to get 0:24:23.119 --> 0:24:27.440 involved in Jesse Houns versus Harvey Gant Senate race where 0:24:27.520 --> 0:24:31.119 Michael Jordan could have turned the tide for Harvey Gant 0:24:31.800 --> 0:24:35.639 and to replace Jesse House. He was so popular in 0:24:35.680 --> 0:24:38.919 North Carolina that to have Michael Jordan come out for 0:24:39.000 --> 0:24:44.280