Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to willge F Daily with
Speaker 1: me your girl Danielle Moody recording from the Home Bunker, Folks,
Speaker 1: everywhere that you look right now around the world, there
Speaker 1: are protests that are taking place. You can look to
Speaker 1: China at the protests against the continued after three years
Speaker 1: severe COVID nineteen lockdown zero COVID policy that the Chinese
Speaker 1: have had in place since the pandemic began. Now in
Speaker 1: our minds, we experienced a fraction of what it is
Speaker 1: that the Chinese have been experiencing every day for the
Speaker 1: last three years, which is that there is no normal
Speaker 1: day to day life. There is rapid testing on a
Speaker 1: regular basis. There is quarantine to the point where you
Speaker 1: are removed physically removed from your home, from your apartment building,
Speaker 1: put into a government housing area. Children have been taken
Speaker 1: away from their families, Schools have been shut down, and
Speaker 1: this continues as they move to enforce their zero COVID
Speaker 1: policy in a country that has literally billions of people. Well,
Speaker 1: protests have broken out in multiple cities simultaneously against the
Speaker 1: Chinese government. Why is this such a big deal? Because
Speaker 1: the Chinese are not allowed to protest because protest and
Speaker 1: protesting without violence from the government is a privilege. It
Speaker 1: is a privilege that we have in this country that
Speaker 1: still hangs onto democracy by a thread. But it is
Speaker 1: not something that is experienced in other nations, namely a
Speaker 1: communist country like China. But these people are taking to
Speaker 1: the streets because they have had fucking enough. They've had enough,
Speaker 1: they've had enough, and they want their lives back. They
Speaker 1: want the ability to see people, they want the ability
Speaker 1: to shop, they want the ability to go out right again,
Speaker 1: all of the things that we've taken for granted because
Speaker 1: this country, at you, after the vaccines rolled out, we
Speaker 1: kind of threw up our hands and said, COVID is done,
Speaker 1: so we're over it. We know that COVID is still
Speaker 1: an issue, but it is not a raging issue that
Speaker 1: it was because of the vaccine push and roll out
Speaker 1: that the Biden administration did, thankfully right with the ability
Speaker 1: to save people's lives. But we also know that more
Speaker 1: than a quarter of the population in the United States
Speaker 1: still is not vaccinated, and that even the third or
Speaker 1: fourth boosters where we are right now are very low
Speaker 1: in terms of the folks that have received them. So
Speaker 1: it is not to say at all. I'm not looking
Speaker 1: at the Chinese and saying well, you should be like America,
Speaker 1: because no. But at the same time, it's when is
Speaker 1: enough enough? Right, Like when will they relax restrictions? When
Speaker 1: will people be able to have their lives back? And
Speaker 1: so these demonstrations that are taking place are really one
Speaker 1: brave right, but also show the breaking point that the
Speaker 1: Chinese people have gotten to. And right now, unfortunately the
Speaker 1: police are on the hunt for protesters who you know,
Speaker 1: they will serve considerable jail time, if not worse. So
Speaker 1: as this continues and we continue to follow this story,
Speaker 1: I send out like my thoughts and solidarity to the
Speaker 1: people of China who are at their wits end. Switching
Speaker 1: gears now to a place that we have been covering
Speaker 1: on this show and that I have written about, which
Speaker 1: is Iran and Iran's continuing crackdown on the youth led
Speaker 1: and women led protests for freedom for women in Iran
Speaker 1: have been going on now for over well over a month.
Speaker 1: Protesters have been sentenced to death, people have been shot
Speaker 1: killed right because they women in this country no longer
Speaker 1: want to live under this authoritarian regime where even the
Speaker 1: slightest slip in a hey job, or wearing a hey
Speaker 1: job that people don't like, or showing a little bit
Speaker 1: of skin that the morality police have driven women following
Speaker 1: the death of Manz Mahisma in that country, the young
Speaker 1: twenty three year old woman who was stopped by morality
Speaker 1: police was detained and then ended up in a coma
Speaker 1: and then dead, all because they did not like the
Speaker 1: way at her head. Job was set on her head
Speaker 1: and she twenty three years old just killed and to
Speaker 1: women in that country and their allies have taken to
Speaker 1: the streets and have been taking to the streets four
Speaker 1: weeks now, you know. And now Iran is center stage
Speaker 1: again because of the World Cup. Now at the time
Speaker 1: that I am recording this, we don't know who will
Speaker 1: have won the game, the Men's World Cup game, which
Speaker 1: is going to decide who goes on further in the
Speaker 1: match and who goes home. But this has become like
Speaker 1: a geopolitical moment because of the men's soccer team speaking
Speaker 1: out on behalf of the women of Iran and the
Speaker 1: men's soccer team of Iran not singing the national anthem
Speaker 1: in solidarity with the people of Iran who have been protesting.
Speaker 1: But get this because again, folks like, we can say
Speaker 1: whatever the fuck it is that we want to say
Speaker 1: about other countries and their treatment of women and their
Speaker 1: treatment of marginalized people, but like, I'm kind of wondering
Speaker 1: when other countries they're going to start protesting the United
Speaker 1: States because while we want to look at Ibron and say, oh,
Speaker 1: my goodness, I can't believe that the cops are doing,
Speaker 1: you know, are beating these people, are killing them or
Speaker 1: jailing them and torturing them, which is atrocious. We also
Speaker 1: live in a country that has just overturned women's ability
Speaker 1: and people with uterus is to have an abortion right, Like,
Speaker 1: who's who's pedestal? Are we standing on to say that
Speaker 1: one country's treatment of women is wrong while I'm looking
Speaker 1: around and I'm saying, and women in this country are
Speaker 1: also treated as second class citizens. Yeah, we're able to
Speaker 1: currently wear what it is that we want, right, but
Speaker 1: black women have had to fight to be able to
Speaker 1: wear their natural hair in a professional setting, particularly at
Speaker 1: the army, which brought that to center stage. In the military,
Speaker 1: women have had to fight for the ability to be
Speaker 1: in the workforce. We're still fighting for equal pay, which
Speaker 1: is not the law of the land in this country now,
Speaker 1: we're fighting to hang on to the patchwork of protections
Speaker 1: for abortion that we have. So it's like, sure, you
Speaker 1: want to show solidarity with these authoritarian regimes, but we're
Speaker 1: supposedly living in a fucking democracy and women and people
Speaker 1: of color in this country are treated like trash, right,
Speaker 1: So when when are people going to decide like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're not coming to the United States to play in
Speaker 1: your games or to you know, we're going to show
Speaker 1: solidarity with black people in this country, with women in
Speaker 1: this country. They don't, right, because America has the best
Speaker 1: kind of fucking pr ever, Oh, we're a democracy kind of.
Speaker 1: It's why my other show is called democracy Ish because
Speaker 1: it kind of isn't. So what has been brought to
Speaker 1: the attention right now is these two teams are going
Speaker 1: to take center stage. Is this I just want to
Speaker 1: lift this up because it's being reported from CNN and
Speaker 1: it's something that people need to pay attention to because
Speaker 1: you we look at these games and we think to ourselves, well,
Speaker 1: why won't these athletes you know, take a position, and
Speaker 1: then when we do, we applaud them. But I also
Speaker 1: want us to think about what happens to their families
Speaker 1: at home. What happens to them when they go home? Right,
Speaker 1: So CNN is reporting this. The families of Iran's World
Speaker 1: Cup soccer team have been threatened with imprisonment and torture
Speaker 1: if the players fail to quote unquote behave ahead of
Speaker 1: the match against the USA on Tuesday, a source involved
Speaker 1: in this security of the game set Following the refusal
Speaker 1: of Iranian players to sing the nation's national anthem in
Speaker 1: their opening match against England on November twenty first, the
Speaker 1: source said that the players were called to the meeting
Speaker 1: with members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC. The
Speaker 1: source said that they were told that their families would
Speaker 1: face violence and torture if they did not sing the
Speaker 1: national anthem or if they joined in any political protest
Speaker 1: against the Tehran regime. The players sang the anthem before
Speaker 1: their second game against Wales last Friday, which saw two
Speaker 1: to one victory for Iran. The source, who was closely
Speaker 1: monitoring Iran's security agencies operating in cutter over the World
Speaker 1: Cup periods, said that dozens of officers from the IRGC
Speaker 1: have been drafted in to monitor the Iranian players, who
Speaker 1: are not allowed to mingle outside the squad or meet
Speaker 1: with foreigners. There are a large number of Iranian security
Speaker 1: officers and cutter collecting information and monitoring the players. So
Speaker 1: I just, you know, again, want to make it really
Speaker 1: clear that protesting is a privilege, and we should not
Speaker 1: place our privilege and our values in this country on
Speaker 1: other countries and other people because we have no idea,
Speaker 1: no idea what the fuck they face when they go
Speaker 1: back home and what their families face. Because you see,
Speaker 1: when you are on the world stage and you put
Speaker 1: on the uniform of your country, you are representing that country.
Speaker 1: And while for all of these athletes this is the
Speaker 1: culmination of career goals right for us, it's a game
Speaker 1: that we like to watch. For them, it's everything that
Speaker 1: they've been working for their entire lives, and it's also
Speaker 1: the ability to protect to safeguard their families, right, to
Speaker 1: protect them financially, to protect them with their fame. So
Speaker 1: a misstep by this Iranian men's soccer team shouldn't be
Speaker 1: looked at as oh, they don't support women. They would
Speaker 1: love to, but what does that mean for their safety
Speaker 1: and the safety of their family that is not even
Speaker 1: there on the field. So just want people to understand
Speaker 1: that these countries, these authoritarian regimes, these dictatorships, these you know,
Speaker 1: communist nations that have zero, zero tolerance whatsoever for dissent,
Speaker 1: that when we see these brave and courageous people taking
Speaker 1: to the streets, it is worth our time, our commentary, right,
Speaker 1: and our solidarity to uplift these stories, particularly when we
Speaker 1: know the danger that they are facing. In our minds,
Speaker 1: we can't even grapple with what happens to people that
Speaker 1: are caught in places like Russia, like Iran, like China
Speaker 1: for speaking out against their government and just know that
Speaker 1: in doing so here right like the ability for me
Speaker 1: to have shows where I can wag a finger and
Speaker 1: talk about this country's inability to live up to its
Speaker 1: creative liberty and justice for all. It is a privilege
Speaker 1: for us to be able to be on social media
Speaker 1: and share our anger and our rage and our frustration.
Speaker 1: It is a privilege that can easily be taken away
Speaker 1: because that is what the Republican Party as they look
Speaker 1: at these authoritarian regimes, that's what they want. They don't
Speaker 1: want democracy and the ability to vote and the ability
Speaker 1: to organize and protest and demand better. They want us
Speaker 1: just to shut the fuck up, keep our heads down,
Speaker 1: work right, and just be concerned with our little peace
Speaker 1: right of the scraps that they give us. So when
Speaker 1: we protest, when we are fighting, it is so that
Speaker 1: we preserve our ability to have liberty ish in this country,
Speaker 1: and doing so when we know that other people would
Speaker 1: be killed for it. I couldn't be in Russia or
Speaker 1: China or Iran because I am black, because I am queer,
Speaker 1: and because I am a political commentator. That is a
Speaker 1: privilege I have in this country that I would not
Speaker 1: have in other places. So I just I don't want
Speaker 1: us to look at these games and to look at
Speaker 1: what is happening in China, and look at what is
Speaker 1: happening on the streets of Iran and not recognize the
Speaker 1: power and the courage and the bravery that these women,
Speaker 1: these people are showing. It is worth our time and
Speaker 1: attention to continue to lift it up on whatever platforms
Speaker 1: it is that we have. Coming up next, folks, on
Speaker 1: my continued conversations with young queer people. Again, you know,
Speaker 1: I say this because in other countries, in other countries,
Speaker 1: it is not okay to be gay, it is not
Speaker 1: okay to be non binary. It's not okay to be
Speaker 1: trans It's barely okay here. But here we've come to
Speaker 1: a place where schools still have GSAs, where there are
Speaker 1: clubs and organizations and safe spaces that are created for
Speaker 1: young queer people not to feel alone, and It Gets
Speaker 1: Better project continues to lift up LGBTQ youth so that
Speaker 1: we don't see the rash of suicides that we did
Speaker 1: in the early two thousands that sparked that It Gets
Speaker 1: Better project. And so I'm just so grateful for these
Speaker 1: young people to come on to woke a F to
Speaker 1: talk about what it is like to be in high
Speaker 1: school right now, what it is like to be out
Speaker 1: in Red States as a young person, and the support
Speaker 1: that they get or don't get, and what they think
Speaker 1: about being used as a political football. So today I
Speaker 1: sit down with ray Sweet Sandoval to discuss more on
Speaker 1: why It Gets Better project is important, why it is necessary,
Speaker 1: and why it is something that we should not take
Speaker 1: for granted. Ever, that conversation is coming up next, folks.
Speaker 1: I'm really excited to welcome to will Gate f for
Speaker 1: the first time to round out our conversations that we've
Speaker 1: been having with a youth, Queer youth that attended the
Speaker 1: Youth Summit that is hosted by the It Gets Better Project,
Speaker 1: and so now I have the delightful pleasure of speaking
Speaker 1: with Ray Sweet Sandoval, who is the education coordinator at
Speaker 1: the It Gets Better Project and heads the It Gets
Speaker 1: Better Youth Voices Program. Ray, um one, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for for making the time to join woke. Ass Um.
Speaker 1: The first question I want to ask you is about
Speaker 1: the Youth Summit, and UM, you know, give us a
Speaker 1: little bit of background about the summit, about how the
Speaker 1: young people come together, UM, and what what happens while
Speaker 1: they're that they're all together. Yeah. Absolutely, and thank you
Speaker 1: so much for having me, Um, for having us, UM,
Speaker 1: I'm really excited. UM. Yeah, the the this was the
Speaker 1: first youth summit that we've had. UM. The Youth Voice
Speaker 1: program is actually fairly new. UM. We started in during
Speaker 1: Pride of twenty twenty and UM it's really like grown
Speaker 1: since then. UM. And we've been working with you know,
Speaker 1: a group of anywhere between like five to thirteen kids
Speaker 1: for a full year, really just working with them to
Speaker 1: help share their voice on issues and topics that are
Speaker 1: important to them. And we just knew we wanted to
Speaker 1: bring them all together because they're from all across the
Speaker 1: US and they, like some of them, have never met
Speaker 1: another queer young person or a queer adult, and there's
Speaker 1: so much we can do online, and there's so much
Speaker 1: that we've been doing online, but there's also only so
Speaker 1: much that you can do online, and so it was
Speaker 1: just really exciting for us to bring them all into
Speaker 1: the same space. And really the goal was to there's
Speaker 1: this quote by ed Adrian Marie Brown that I love
Speaker 1: and we love them, but this quote that it goes
Speaker 1: something like, there's a conversation in the room that only
Speaker 1: these people can have right now. Find it And that
Speaker 1: was like kind of my mindset going into the summit
Speaker 1: and creating these summit was, let's create a space where
Speaker 1: it is so unique and it is so special. That
Speaker 1: is like centering and uplifting and focusing on these queer
Speaker 1: young people and having them find the conversations that they
Speaker 1: that they need to have, And it was really it
Speaker 1: was really special, and I think we did that. What
Speaker 1: are some of the conversations that the young people were
Speaker 1: having together? What was top of mind? I mean, there
Speaker 1: was a lot, there was a lot of conversations that
Speaker 1: we had um but some of the ones that really
Speaker 1: like stood out to me were we had a lot
Speaker 1: of conversations around shared identities and shared passions and shared experiences,
Speaker 1: but in a way that like, some of them have
Speaker 1: these shared identities or there's these shared experiences, but they
Speaker 1: have very different perspectives on them or very different experiences
Speaker 1: within those. One of the conversations that I found really
Speaker 1: interesting was the conversations around religion, because a lot of
Speaker 1: them grew up in very religious households and some of
Speaker 1: them are religious, some of them aren't, And that was
Speaker 1: just a really I don't know, just such an interesting
Speaker 1: conversation for these young people to have and just to
Speaker 1: be so open and vulnerable about. We also talked a
Speaker 1: lot about perceptions, especially as like trans young people, like
Speaker 1: how they're perceived in the world and how they navigate that.
Speaker 1: And a lot of them are non binary or trans,
Speaker 1: and they just have so many different experiences even though
Speaker 1: they share that identity. So I just, yeah, a lot
Speaker 1: of really interesting conversations around identities and their different experiences
Speaker 1: within those identities. You know, I often Ray talk about
Speaker 1: on Woke a f being black and queer myself and
Speaker 1: but recognizing what a challenge is now nowadays. When I
Speaker 1: was growing up, you know, while don't ask, don't tell
Speaker 1: was considered a celebration, I was considered something good that
Speaker 1: was happening. It's just like, great gay people exist, just
Speaker 1: don't talk about it, don't say anything. And now we're
Speaker 1: back in that space as you you know, know about
Speaker 1: legislation that has rolled out in Florida and in Texas.
Speaker 1: How do the young people that you work with, how
Speaker 1: do they internalize that? What do they think about these
Speaker 1: don't say gay bills and books being banned? I'll say what,
Speaker 1: from what I've noticed, there's two reactions. One is, well,
Speaker 1: that's a generalization, but what has stood out is rage,
Speaker 1: just complete anger and yeah, just being fed up and
Speaker 1: like rightfully so. And then the other reaction is exhaustion,
Speaker 1: Like these kids just want to be kids and the
Speaker 1: fact that they are put in these positions to have
Speaker 1: to think about, you know, all of these politics and
Speaker 1: all of like being used as political pawns, and they
Speaker 1: just want to live and they just want to live authentically,
Speaker 1: and they just want to love who they want to love,
Speaker 1: and they want to be who they want to be.
Speaker 1: And it's honestly, just like it's not that like it's
Speaker 1: not like I think, um, one of these voices mentioned
Speaker 1: like it's not that out there, like it's not wild
Speaker 1: to like be this, But the way that society and
Speaker 1: the politics treats them, it's difficult to navigate, and they're
Speaker 1: exhausted and they just they just want to they just
Speaker 1: want to be and there's a lot of burnout, especially
Speaker 1: as young activists. I mean, they're very, very involved in
Speaker 1: a lot of activist spaces and it can just be
Speaker 1: so exhausting, especially you're just trying to be a young person.
Speaker 1: You're just trying to you're just trying to exist. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so those are kind of the ways that they've
Speaker 1: been internalizing it. One of the things that I talk
Speaker 1: to a lot of people about is the emotional and
Speaker 1: spiritual safety of young people in this time. And so,
Speaker 1: as the education coordinator, how do you talk about mental health?
Speaker 1: What kind of tools and advice you know, do give
Speaker 1: the young people that are a part of the It
Speaker 1: Gets Better project, but also just in general who may
Speaker 1: be listening, you know to this episode. Now, what advice
Speaker 1: do you have for them in order to take care
Speaker 1: of them themselves in the face of so much vitriol? Yeah,
Speaker 1: That's a really good question. It's something that we're always
Speaker 1: trying to navigate, UM, because so much of this work
Speaker 1: is deeply personal and you give a lot of yourself
Speaker 1: to this work of sharing your story and being vulnerable
Speaker 1: with a large audience. That's that's a huge part of
Speaker 1: this work. And the biggest thing that we really like
Speaker 1: stick to is like it's it's it comes down to consent,
Speaker 1: Like what are you consenting to give to this platform,
Speaker 1: Like what do you UM, what energy do you have,
Speaker 1: and just checking in and like being human about it
Speaker 1: and just saying like if you are exhausted and you
Speaker 1: don't have the energy to like speak on this topic,
Speaker 1: you don't have to. And just but if you are
Speaker 1: energized and you're and you're either feeling very passionate or
Speaker 1: or full of rage or whatever it is, if you're
Speaker 1: feeling those emotions and you need a place to let
Speaker 1: it out, like we want this to be a space
Speaker 1: for that. UM. But really like really leaning into UM
Speaker 1: giving what you want to give, and also just like
Speaker 1: leaning into the community of it all UM. You know,
Speaker 1: the youth voices We meet twice a month over zoom
Speaker 1: UM and a part of it is a collaborative space
Speaker 1: of how can we better amplify their voices? And then
Speaker 1: another part of it is just checking in how are
Speaker 1: you doing? How is school? How are called applications? Going?
Speaker 1: Um and just being in community together. UM. Another resource
Speaker 1: that it Gets Better has actually um been been a
Speaker 1: part of is imy um i am I, which is
Speaker 1: a digital mental health tool where young people can you know,
Speaker 1: just kind of go through it, spend like five minutes
Speaker 1: or something in there and um they you know, you
Speaker 1: can go through these activities of like you know, breaking
Speaker 1: down your gender identity or like exploring pronouns or you
Speaker 1: know doing breath breath breathwork for for anxiety or stress. UM.
Speaker 1: So imy is like the best resource that I can
Speaker 1: shout out when it comes to mental health. Definitely, Oh well,
Speaker 1: I'll definitely have to put that in the notes of
Speaker 1: the of the show so that people can check that
Speaker 1: out right just with the you know, a couple of
Speaker 1: that with the minute that we have left for people
Speaker 1: that want to get involved in the It Gets Better project.
Speaker 1: Because you all have done such amazing work, you continue
Speaker 1: to do such amazing work. How can either lgbtq I
Speaker 1: A adults or allies get involved. It Gets Better is
Speaker 1: really all about storytelling and so engaging with those stories,
Speaker 1: like that's the best way to get involved is going
Speaker 1: into our our YouTube channel, our Twitch channel and watching
Speaker 1: these stories, sharing these stories. But we've also have a
Speaker 1: lot of resources around the stories. As the education coordinator,
Speaker 1: I'm really excited about our EEDU Guides, which is like
Speaker 1: fully fleshed out lesson plans that educators or GSA leads
Speaker 1: can like bring into a classroom, bring into a club,
Speaker 1: and it gives you, you know, a guide on how
Speaker 1: to introduce these stories in those settings. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of like fun activities to do around them. There's discussions
Speaker 1: that you can have around them, so like just taking
Speaker 1: it that step further, and it's also just a way
Speaker 1: to open up a space to have those conversations to
Speaker 1: begin with. So yeah, definitely just engaging in the stories
Speaker 1: and UM and talking to young people about the stories
Speaker 1: and how they feel and what they resonate with. Ray,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for making the time to join
Speaker 1: woke app and thank you for the work that you're
Speaker 1: doing with it Better it Gets Better projects. I always
Speaker 1: have such issues saying that, UM, and just thank you
Speaker 1: for introducing us to these wonderful youth voices that we've
Speaker 1: had the opportunity to share with our audience. Really appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having us. It was an
Speaker 1: honor and I'm just I am so appreciative of you
Speaker 1: giving your platform to the young people that we work with.
Speaker 1: I'm excited for people to hear what they had to say. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: thank you. That is it for me today. Dear friends
Speaker 1: on Woke app as always, power to the people and
Speaker 1: to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke
Speaker 1: as fuck.