WEBVTT - Road to Reparations feat. Reverend Dr. Robert Turner | Angela Rye SoloPod 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.600 Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:05.080 with Reason Choice Media. 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:08.720 Welcome Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:13.600 Welcome, Welcome Home, Everybody. It is another edition of Native 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:17.560 Landpod where I am your host, Angela Riah. Especially for 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:20.320 the solo pods, I'm missing my dear co hosts and 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:23.919 sister and brother Tiffany and Andrew. But today we're going 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:26.439 to get into something that is near and dear to 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:29.720 the hearts of many. You know, right now we are 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:33.760 facing trouble really on every side, and as we face 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:36.200 that trouble, we have to hold on to hope. 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:37.839 We're trying to hold onto. 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:41.880 Hope in an era that has tried diligently and violently 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:47.000 to erase us black culture, black books, black art, black people. 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:49.840 And in the middle of that erasure, there is still 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:51.040 a fight that continues. 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:52.760 Again. 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:54.560 You know that we've been on our State of the 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:58.760 People Power tour, and on that tour, we've seen just 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:02.280 how much it is important that black people have relief, 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:05.600 that we work together to find those points of relief, 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:09.240 and that we also work together to shape, to develop, 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:12.160 and to strategize around policy. One thing that black folks 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:14.520 have been arguing for for a really really long time, 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:20.679 really since before emancipation in this country is reparations. I 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:24.240 often reference HR forty, which was first introduced in the 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:28.160 House of Representatives by Congressman John Conyers, who was one 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:32.399 of our former Congressional Black Caucus bosses. He began introducing 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:38.440 reparations legislation in nineteen eighty six. I believe he introduced 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.640 the first bill, and he would introduce that reparations bill 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:46.640 that just called for this study of reparations every single Congress. 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:50.760 And then when Congressman Conyers passed away, Congressman Sheila Jackson 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:54.080 Lee from Houston, Texas picked up that mantle. And when 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:58.600 Congresswoman Jackson Lee passed away, Congresswoman Ayana Presley has now 0:01:58.680 --> 0:01:59.640 picked up that mantle. 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:01.840 But there's also some folks who are. 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:05.120 Doing this work every single day in the streets, in 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:08.720 the halls of state legislatures at the city level, and 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:12.160 that also includes faith leaders. So today I'm thrilled to 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:17.000 present to you all pastor. His name is Reverend doctor 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:21.840 Robert Richard Allen Turner. And for the ammes among us, 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:24.440 y'all understand that Richard Allen in the middle means a 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.280 lot and the Robert Turner at the ends, on the 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:30.520 front end, the at the end is making history himself. 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:35.440 So let's bring Robert Richard Allen Turner to the stage, 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:37.240 to the podcast stage. 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:41.240 How you doing, pastor Hey, hey, hey, I'm all right, 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:42.440 just trying to recover. 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:44.760 Yes, so I'm high energy. He is not. 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:47.840 And let's tell the people why you're not. You have 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:52.400 taken a long journey in the fight for reparations, engaging 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:55.560 in a practice that many of us are familiar with 0:02:55.600 --> 0:03:00.720 but don't always implement ourselves. You have taken the time 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:07.160 to walk for reparations thirty three times. You have walked 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:10.960 over fourteen hundred miles for reparations, and I want to 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.720 know why. What is the point of that protest and 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:16.480 why do you see that as your most effective effort 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:19.200 to get reparations across the finish line nationally. 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:24.320 First, thank you, dear Sister Angela for having me on 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:26.920 your show. I've been a huge fan of your work 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:32.800 for a long time. I am now the day after 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.360 my walk, and I have done it, as you said, 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:39.960 thirty three times, and the reason being, as a good 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:42.880 clergy colleague friend of mine, William Lamar calls it the 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:49.400 piteoprophetic ministry and witness that we see so pronounced in 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:55.720 the Old Testament, when people of faith exercise their faith 0:03:55.760 --> 0:04:00.480 and become a witness by walking by marching. We saw 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:06.360 it first and foremost when the Israelites marched out of 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:09.280 Egypt and they got reparations on that way out. We 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:13.640 saw it also before the Battle of Jericho, when Joshua 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:18.360 led the Israelites around the walls of Jericho. It's something 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:23.680 said when you can participate in God's divine plan of 0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:28.240 liberation by showing your testament, it's almost like a military march, 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:31.479 but we're not doing the physical fighting. We're showing by 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:36.240 our marching that we are believing that God is doing it. 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:40.000 So they're also more or less like pilgrimage as well 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.320 for me, because it's a time for spiritual and renewal 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:46.880 and repair as I become a public witness to this 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:52.360 nation on her need to repent and to repair from 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:56.680 the worst forms of enslavement and the worst forms of 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:59.360 Jim Crow and the worst forms of white supremacy. 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:00.840 That this word is scene. 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:07.400 So for the listener, you've walked our march thirty three times. 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.119 Where was the first march held. 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:16.040 It was the same spot I start every March from 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:21.080 Carroll Park in Baltimore, Maryland on it's Route one, but 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:27.120 it's also Washington Boulevard. And just ironically enough, John Carroll 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:29.520 Park is named for John Carroll, who was and in 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.719 Slaver And in fact, the park where I started was 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:34.240 the site of his plantation. 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:36.080 You know who would have thought, which is. 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:41.240 Now a public park in Baltimore, Maryland. And I've done 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:45.279 actually thirty two of these walks from Baltimore to the 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:49.720 White House. One of my thirty three was from Selma 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:55.720 to Montgomery, the same route that doctor King took. That's 0:05:55.760 --> 0:06:01.200 actually fifty four miles. Doctor King did it in five days. 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.160 I didn't have enough good since I did it in 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:09.200 twenty hours, and that almost killed me. The back rolls 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:15.159 of Alabama, I mean pitched. I started at three am 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:18.640 in the morning. I took a four hour break to 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.520 go speak out a rally in Montgomery, then had to 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.119 drive back to where I stopped, and I didn't finish 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:28.719 till like three the next day. So yeah, that was 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:31.400 a lot. I started three twenty six am in the morning, 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:36.159 finished three am the next day. But the other walks, 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.200 the other thirty two have been from Baltimore to the 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.880 White House, and now the last two or three walks 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:48.720 I've done, I've ended at the Smithsonian to highlight joining 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:52.640 the call from dear brother Oldest Masster third and trying 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:57.280 to encourage people to join the Smithsonian, the African American 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:02.560 Smithsonian also aka Blacksnian, to increase their membership numbers of 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:06.000 black folks to show the federal government, because I think 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.880 right now their budget is sixty two percent from the 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:13.040 federal government. We're trying to make which we're trying to 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:18.280 help alleviate their alliance upon the federal government to increase 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:22.880 encourage folks to become individual members that range as low 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:24.960 as twenty five dollars to one thousand dollars. 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:27.000 That's an easy call to action on this program. Make 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:29.320 sure y'all join the Black Sonian so we can keep 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:33.480 hope alive in the museum open without being under threat. 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:37.680 I want to ask you, so the distance from Carroll Park, 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:40.960 Maryland to the White House is how many. 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:44.520 Miles forty two nine? 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:45.400 Can you call this like? 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:47.960 Basically they're a forty for forty so it's forty miles 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:51.920 for forty acres. Okay, that's right, Okay, And so when 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:57.600 you consider now that you're marching essentially out of Baltimore, Maryland, 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:02.320 which is a power of a power center for black folks, 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:05.920 for black political power, for everything that you know the 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:09.960 city has meant to us in our history, and you're 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:14.880 going into a bastion of white supremacist ideology and fascism. Now, 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.920 of course you started these when Joe Biden was in office, 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:21.720 but now this is meaning something very different. 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:23.040 So you're essentially. 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:26.119 Bringing the spirit of black political power into a place 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:30.360 that is now compromised by fascism. How does it feel 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:36.800 now to be walking under that type of oppressive energy. 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:45.440 Really, it's totally different. The energy is immensely different. My 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.599 first walk on the Trump was literally the Death is inauguration, 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:52.440 Doctor King's Holiday, he had his inauguration on the same day, 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:56.480 and going into d C with all these magas, I 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.600 mean maga folks there, it was just it was a 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:00.600 lot to deal with. 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:02.840 It was a lot to. 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.240 See, and I was it was first I was freezing coal, 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:08.439 freezing cold on Doctor King's holiday. 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:09.240 Uh. 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.840 And then all the maga folks were there, the Proud boys, 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:16.840 and I'm the only black man, uh in the sea 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:20.360 of all these folks. Then my phone battery dies and 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.520 because of the barcase, my escort could not accompany me. 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:28.719 So I heard some of the worst vitriolic language you 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:32.079 could ever imagine. Well you probably could imagine because you've 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:34.560 been doing this thing for a while that that I 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.280 could have ever imagined hearing in my life from from 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:38.520 from from white people. 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:45.400 And uh, just the whole setup now of DC. 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:50.160 Like last night, Uh my walk, I was at first 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:53.120 unable to make it to the fence of the White 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:56.679 House because the president since everything's been going on, I 0:09:56.679 --> 0:10:01.840 guess in California, Uh, his attack on on immigrants, it's 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:04.160 all barricaded off like it's his his. 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:06.360 The White House is completely barricaded off. 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:09.760 It looks like, you know, we're preparing for a militia 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:15.120 martial law, and just a vibe and the tone. Uh, 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:20.120 it's just it's markedly different from when President Biden was 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:21.080 in office. 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:23.640 It's just not a good look. 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:27.880 It looks very much so like a dictatorship or when 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:30.520 I went when I go to foreign countries and and 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:35.800 and go to authoritarian places to see how how barricaded 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:39.120 things are. It's just not what you would expect from 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:41.040 what's supposed to be the freest country. 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:41.320 In the world. 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:45.040 Yeah, exactly, and yet we hear we are living in 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:59.160 this conundrum. I want to ask you to Pastor. I 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:01.079 know there's got to be some folks who are listening 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:04.360 for me growing up with my dad who is a marcher, 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:08.240 especially around Doctor King's Day, which, of course you just referenced, 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:10.640 five miles was a lot for a little kid. I 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:12.440 would be like at the end, be like, y'all gonna 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:14.360 have to put me in the back of this Seattle 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:16.600 medium van and ride me the rest of the way 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:17.720 or something got to pick me up. 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:18.360 My feet hurt. 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:20.800 So I want to know how you prepare for this 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:24.720 and monthly at that. So how do you prepare for. 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.520 Doing these doing these marches? 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:32.120 It really depends on the time of the year. So 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:36.480 my winter marches are a lot different. They are a lot 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:40.280 My winter marches are a lot more dangerous because the 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:42.480 weather here in Baltimore, such as Seattle. 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:45.200 Probably not as cold a Seattle, honestly, but it is. 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:48.600 It's cold in Baltimore, Maryland in the winter. Oh yes, 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:52.240 I remember DC. There was a DC day I had 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:54.599 and it was I got back in my car it 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.680 said eighteen degrees and I said, the devil is a liar. 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:01.440 It was so cold it was burning, you understand, Like, yeah, 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:03.560 I don't understand that type of called. 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:04.440 I didn't come from that. 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:06.360 Yeah. 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:10.040 So when I'm preparing for a winter march which is 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:12.640 freezing like and I'm from Alabama, if you can't tell 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.200 with my accent, I'm from Tuskey, Alabama. My parents mart 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:19.240 that of school, and it is really I'm not built 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:20.880 for this type of coldther at all. 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:24.079 And so my my winter march is. 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:27.559 I have to make sure that I layer up a lot, 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:33.720 and I have to make sure that I eat a 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:37.559 lot of food before my walks, because you really need 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:43.200 to pack on carbs the day before you walk, and 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:48.160 of course try to rest my legs. But I'm just 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:50.920 not I'm not built for this. I'm six foot six, 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:54.400 two hundred pounds, and I'm just my body is not 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:55.480 built for these walks. 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:58.040 It's just not. I just these are all labors of love. 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.760 The winter walks, I don't have to eat as much, 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:05.160 but I have to drink a lot more fluid like. 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:07.120 I have to summer March. 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:12.679 Yeah something sorry, Yeah, my summer, my summer warm month, 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:16.240 March is I have to make sure I stay hydrated 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:20.040 because I've almost fallen out. But the problem is the 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:22.400 more you drink, obviously it has to come out. So 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:24.880 when you're drinking a lot of water, you're going to 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:27.680 stop like every two or three minutes. So my summer walks, 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:32.360 although the weather is better, I have to stop a 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:36.199 lot more frequently. Otherwise I just don't drink and then 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:39.600 become have the risk of being dehydrated. But my winter walks, 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:45.160 I tell folks, my summer walks are more painful because 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:50.840 it's hot, you're dizzy, you sweating, and then when you sweat, 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:53.480 the salt is salt in your sweat. When you wipe 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:56.200 your sweat from your eyes, the salt literally because you 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:58.320 do it so much, it cuts your skin. Like my 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:01.120 skin now is very sensitive and it burns and so 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:04.680 but when you still sweating, it burns even more. My 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:09.079 winter walks are dangerous because of ice, in black ice, 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:12.520 and just all people who can't they barely can drive 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:16.600 in normal conditions, they drive even worse in winter conditions, 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:20.320 And so just preparing for is more of a mental 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:27.240 preparation because either both both scenarios, I get exhausted. Both scenarios. 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:30.600 My body gets worn. The winter walks are worse because 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:33.840 in some aspects, because my snow boots are not as 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:38.080 comfortable as my warm weather shoes, like my own clouds, 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:41.000 my hookas that I wear. I have to actually buy 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:45.520 snow boots to walk in, which okay, the hiking style, 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:49.360 but they're not as comfortable as my other. 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:53.280 You talked about it being dangerous. You got hit, like 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:56.680 swiped by a car right in the winter runs. 0:14:57.600 --> 0:14:58.760 What happened? How did that happen? 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:06.480 Actually happened in May my May walk. Yeah, and then 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:09.120 one of them was my own escorts. That's a whole 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:09.760 of the conversation. 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:18.360 He's no longer that does the service, just no texting 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:19.800 and driving. How did that happen? 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:24.160 I know, I know, right, But the first one, I 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:29.200 was hit by a passer buyer who he had to 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:31.360 make an effort to veer off to hit me because 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:35.840 I'm on the sidewalk and he was on the highway 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:40.840 and he drove off across the white line and his 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:46.280 passenger mirror hit me on the left side of my 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:50.840 body in my shoulder. Thank god, I am a pretty 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:57.280 nice sized man. I did not fall, and I mean 0:15:57.320 --> 0:15:59.800 I felt it, but it was more like to me, 0:15:59.880 --> 0:16:01.720 I felt like somebody just pushed me in my shoulder. 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:04.680 Then nobody's behind me, and it was this card. Thats 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:07.640 just you know, pushed me pretty hard. But I thankful 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:09.640 I didn't fall down. I had to my sign and 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:12.240 the other in my right hand, and he hit me 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:17.040 on my left shoulder. And I haven't gone to the hospital. 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:19.560 I don't feel any pain from it, not the moment, 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:22.840 but I kept walking. I kept walking, And in fact 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:25.560 that walk was in the honor of John Conya's on 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:29.240 his birthday May sixteenth. I did it in honor of him. 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:32.000 And to walk yesterday was an honor of a Philip Randolph. 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:32.600 I love that. 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:37.400 So you have these your muses for your walks. You 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.760 talked about your preparation. Now this is the day after 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:45.280 your walk again, fourteen hundred plus miles so far. 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:48.160 What do you do to repair? We talked about prepare. 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:49.120 What do you do to repair? 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:51.720 I don't do that well. 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:54.080 I was supposed to be resting today, but I'm in 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:58.200 my office, as you can tell, I'm gonna tell myself 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:02.560 I'm gonna do a heat of foot soak because you know, 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:06.720 blisters and I have you know size fifteen feet and 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:11.320 cous a lot of service area. None of the athletic 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:15.800 socks did they sell Other cushion things are big enough 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:18.760 really for my size feet. I would make a great 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:23.439 spokesperson for some athletic attire because I've tried out of everything. 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:29.280 But I yeah, really, I'm supposed to keep my legs elevated. 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:33.560 I have a huge appetite on today, whereas yesterday I 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:34.760 was on adrenaline. 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:38.480 Today you feel how human you are. 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.280 Yesterday I'm more or less on a on a mountaintop 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:45.480 experience because I'm I'm thinking about a Phila Randolph. 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:46.879 I'm thinking about our ancestors. 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:50.199 I'm thinking about you know, those who've gone on before 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:54.159 us and done this work throughout their lives and sacrifice 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:57.840 that some some sacrifice their lives. So I'm I'm all 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:01.560 in meditation with them and the world and community with God. 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:07.119 And today I'm back to being you know, human, fragile Robert, 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:12.320 and I'm filling every inch of it. And so today 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:14.040 I tried to take it easy. 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:19.320 But you know, Hences, indeed you talked about the ancestors. 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:25.400 What is the like, the motivating message for you from them? 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:28.200 When you think about the work they did to make 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:30.320 life a little bit easier for us. 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:31.399 What is. 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:35.439 You know, kind of the your core, your core mission 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:39.080 when you think about reflecting on the ancestors contributions to 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:41.760 our the betterment of our individual lives. 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:49.720 For me, it contextualizes it a lot. It encourages me 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:55.159 and also challenged me. It encourages me because it it 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:58.560 shows that I'm a part. I'm one piece of a 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:02.880 fabric and the continuation of deliberation of our people right 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:06.119 and at this this fight did not start with me. 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:10.359 It would be nice, but don't think it'll end with 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:13.560 me either, But it kind of joins me into this, 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:17.280 not for turning because it's males and females, but this 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:24.359 to this fabric of leaders who have worked tirelessly for 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:27.280 the liberation of our people. So each month I find 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:31.960 something someone that I look up to, be Afred Hampton, 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:36.240 be Rosa pars b, Harry Tubman, but of course John 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:39.639 Conyers and I a phil the Randolph that I can 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:44.719 draw inspiration from and at the time in their life. 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:47.520 I also try to find people who did things that 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:51.080 folks thought were impossible, because right now, that's how folks 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:54.880 a broborations. They feel like it's impossible. So a Phil 0:19:54.920 --> 0:20:00.800 the Randolph, first president of Sleeping car Porters right, also 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:05.639 push President Roosevelt to integrate and have and to stop 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:09.040 discriminating against federal contracts and government jobs. So all these folks, 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:12.920 especially in Maryland area, who have federal jobs, you owe 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:17.000 a debt to pay to A Phil Randolph integration of 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.240 the military through Herrod Truman. 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:22.560 He fought for that. The chair of. 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:26.080 The nineteen sixty three March on Washington, where we know 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:29.400 doctor King, but we don't realize the organizers who put 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:33.080 that together, who were responsible for the large crowds. Like 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:36.080 everything this man did, people thought it was impossible. And 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:38.600 before the march on watch he organized forty thousand plus 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:42.760 folks to be in the nation's capital arguing in protests 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:47.080 in nineteen forty three or forty five, and so just 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:51.679 drawing upon their strength, it also humbles me too, because 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:54.960 these men are these men and women are very high 0:20:55.040 --> 0:20:59.399 renowned and great accomplishment, and it just shows you as 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:03.520 much as you think you're doing with more information, more technology, 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:07.200 more access. I mean, they organized mars of hundreds of 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:10.680 thousand people with no Internet, no social media, and folks 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:15.760 showed up and so it challenged me to see how 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:20.040 we can do more with more as they did more 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:20.520 with less. 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:22.000 Yeah, that is so true. 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:23.760 And I think one of the things that we know 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:28.720 about our ancestors and their contributions is their collective sacrifice. 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:32.439 And just recently you committed to that same type of 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:37.040 sacrifice with this march, this commitment you have to our 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:40.320 folks to regularly engage. You were going to do this 0:21:41.200 --> 0:21:45.439 on Juneteenth, and you heard that we were doing not 0:21:45.480 --> 0:21:47.240 only the State of the People Power Tour, but that 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:50.800 we were going to do a national assembly in Baltimore. 0:21:51.119 --> 0:21:55.040 And I reached out to our brother Jamal Bryant and 0:21:55.320 --> 0:21:57.440 I was like, Hey, we're trying to figure out where 0:21:57.440 --> 0:21:59.439 we're going to do this event, and he was like, 0:21:59.640 --> 0:22:02.359 shut up, Robert Turner, just come talk to me and 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:03.240 is asking where. 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:03.879 You guys were going to be. 0:22:04.480 --> 0:22:07.000 And I called you and it wasn't thirty five seconds 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:10.600 into the conversation before you said we absolutely could hold 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:16.399 this really important and historic convening at Empowerment Temple AMI Church. 0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:19.040 So I want to know what made you say yes. 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:21.400 Why is it important for us to all gather as 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:23.920 a people right now? And what would you say to 0:22:23.960 --> 0:22:27.200 folks who are considering coming to Baltimore June nineteenth through 0:22:27.200 --> 0:22:28.200 the twenty First. 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:31.639 Why did I say yes? First and foremost, who was 0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:34.320 the person gave me the question? Angela RAI, I mean 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:37.880 had to, and because I know you are someone who 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:44.119 takes our community's issues seriously and really you have committed 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:51.320 your life to the progress of our people. I don't 0:22:51.359 --> 0:22:56.800 just leand space willingly. I feel like it is in 0:22:56.840 --> 0:22:58.760 great hands. I feel like it is in great hands 0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:02.399 and a great bad you trustee of our leadership. 0:23:03.240 --> 0:23:07.320 And the state the people. It has been very successful. 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:09.800 In fact, I would once I found out you all 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:12.800 were coming to Baltimore, I was trying to find a 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:15.520 way just to register, like, hey, I want to attend, 0:23:16.280 --> 0:23:18.360 but I couldn't. I didn't find out where it was, 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:22.080 and that's when I asked Jamal about it, and of 0:23:22.119 --> 0:23:23.479 course you The rest is history. 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:25.720 But I think it is vitally. 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:29.600 Important today today, at this moment in time, that we 0:23:29.760 --> 0:23:36.119 as a people don't take any months, weeks, and definitely 0:23:36.119 --> 0:23:42.280 not years off. To my frustration, oftentimes we only speak political. 0:23:42.359 --> 0:23:45.560 I get involved during the election year, and that is 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:50.960 at the request and to the benefit of elected candidates, 0:23:51.160 --> 0:23:55.240 people who seeking to be elected candidates, Great for them, 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:58.360 but what happened. My biggest frustration has been what are 0:23:58.400 --> 0:24:02.159 we doing in the end? Not mid term elections, not 0:24:02.200 --> 0:24:06.120 presidential elections, not even a goodlatorial or mayoral or city 0:24:06.119 --> 0:24:09.199 council election, anyminist elections. But what are we doing for 0:24:09.359 --> 0:24:14.320