Speaker 1: You're listening to Waiting on Reparations, a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Every time I opened an episode up on
Speaker 1: this beat always go off. Let's see what happens this week,
Speaker 1: way before the natural disasters are get involved. The Roman
Speaker 1: is gonna burn. You wanna learn to the city's fall.
Speaker 1: Crooked politicians will come in and try to stall. The
Speaker 1: only benefit is the climate will kill them all. You
Speaker 1: think the ship is a show and you hope it
Speaker 1: will get us solved. One day you covered in snow
Speaker 1: like a day is after the Ball. I don't even
Speaker 1: like that movie. There's nothing but bum He had Dennis Quaid,
Speaker 1: he and his brother fucking with Trump. This is real
Speaker 1: m C Ship true us in the deepest only want
Speaker 1: to see the deal if it be the greed is.
Speaker 1: Only want to eat a meal if it be the
Speaker 1: cleanest fucking sweatshop. Make my suits by the seamstress. I'm
Speaker 1: making me swish. Eat you like a deep dish. Dope knife,
Speaker 1: smoke too much dope bottle me ship, But I mean this.
Speaker 1: I love you. Hey, how y'all doing today? My name's
Speaker 1: Dope Knife. We are waiting on Reparations. So this is
Speaker 1: our first fully remote episode. Yeah, my asses in Myrtle
Speaker 1: Beach pretending to have a good time. I've walked, I've
Speaker 1: been on the beach one time. You've been to three
Speaker 1: days that I've been here. There's an actual beach and
Speaker 1: myrtle actual beach. I'm staying right on it. It's called
Speaker 1: as I don't know why. I mean, well, you're kind
Speaker 1: of taking your little pre Christmas break. I thought it
Speaker 1: would be nice to have a change of scenery, less
Speaker 1: reminders of dead cat and oh, you know, beautiful beach
Speaker 1: walks every day to calm and cleanse my spirit. And
Speaker 1: instead I just sleep all day and hang out my
Speaker 1: parents who are watching fucking MSNBC and Ramen like normal.
Speaker 1: Hasn't it kind of ended up being a working truit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I have my dissertation proposal presentation tomorrow, so
Speaker 1: I'm gonna find out tomorrow whether they're gonna let me
Speaker 1: do the dissertation as I have proposed it and have
Speaker 1: written that proposal over the last year and a half,
Speaker 1: so you're gonna have to defend it and everything. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so I've proposed it as a series of hip
Speaker 1: hop mixtapes, like I'm hoping they will let me do
Speaker 1: a wrap, which is I mean, it does have some
Speaker 1: academic merits, Americuman is that I wanted to be accessible
Speaker 1: for hip hop audiences as well as educators and likes.
Speaker 1: So let it stop me throwing on the in the
Speaker 1: car and listen to And when you listen to it
Speaker 1: like ten times, you're like, oh, ship of course, analysis,
Speaker 1: that's the whole that's supposed to be the power, the
Speaker 1: educational power. Do you absorb it similar to like an
Speaker 1: Aesop rock record where you slowly unravel it over like
Speaker 1: ten or twenty lestens as opposed to just like who's
Speaker 1: gonna sit down and read this thing? No? One? Three
Speaker 1: people and then it's never going to be looked at again.
Speaker 1: So he'p gonna let me do that, and then it's
Speaker 1: partially for cloud. Let's be really honest. I don't think
Speaker 1: that woman has ever done that before. Um, there is
Speaker 1: a man who I hope to have on the show
Speaker 1: one day who was a professor at I believe the
Speaker 1: University of Virginia, who got his PhD at Clemson and
Speaker 1: did like a rap dissertation. But I don't think any
Speaker 1: ladies have ever done that. So it will be the
Speaker 1: first so that they get do they get any of
Speaker 1: that on camera? I mean, you can listen to his album.
Speaker 1: Oh word, so this whole album is like the dissertation.
Speaker 1: Oh shit, Okay, well damn yeah, what's just so? What
Speaker 1: is uh? What's the plan after those? Are you planning
Speaker 1: on going back up for like Christmas or to what? Like?
Speaker 1: Travel wise? I mean, I uh like you because you're
Speaker 1: you're with your your folks right now with my pops. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you're gonna go see you mom Christmas? Are you
Speaker 1: see my mom on Christmas? Um? Holiday has been a
Speaker 1: lot to her, partic really since the passing of her
Speaker 1: sister two years ago, and up, um, I think I
Speaker 1: mean a lot to her. So I'm gonna try to
Speaker 1: do that. You know, it tested everything. Make sure I'm
Speaker 1: bringing the road of home and you know, bringing the
Speaker 1: road down the chimney. That's why I'm not going out
Speaker 1: because my parents, my mom's all the way in Virginia
Speaker 1: and it's just I don't know, I just don't feel
Speaker 1: neither of us feel like I should be traveling right now.
Speaker 1: Over that time, I took you to North Carolina with
Speaker 1: me and then we stayed up all night watching Black
Speaker 1: Summer with my mom. Before we took you to the
Speaker 1: bus station to get the bus to Virginia. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: then we watched that alligator movie too. It was that call.
Speaker 1: I don't know, you know what that's like the that's like,
Speaker 1: that's an awesome crawl. That was the name Girl with
Speaker 1: all the Gifts. Yeah, that was a dope night krawl
Speaker 1: was really dope. That was surprising, isn't it. I don't
Speaker 1: you know, I don't remember. I mean, I just remember
Speaker 1: it was like the big alligator that was eating motherfucker's
Speaker 1: in the house. But like, doesn't that kind of didn't
Speaker 1: that a little a little bit have to do with
Speaker 1: climate change or some what's wasn't like a flood of
Speaker 1: this week? Yeah, rising sea levels, disruption of ecosystem, pandemics
Speaker 1: as well, that's you know, displacing animals that then come
Speaker 1: in your home and big as crocodiles bite your handoff
Speaker 1: and then you gotta like call national bar. Ship's fucked
Speaker 1: up today? Is um? It's kind of part of our
Speaker 1: Spitting Images series a little kind of in the sense
Speaker 1: that we are going to be talking to somebody who
Speaker 1: had had you know, one foot in the well, I
Speaker 1: should say, both feet firmly in the music industry in
Speaker 1: the hip hop game, and now they're very heavily involved.
Speaker 1: Then doesn't have like a con and Jeezy like hitting
Speaker 1: him up like how do I support your campaign? And yeah,
Speaker 1: well the differences who's got the differences? He has them
Speaker 1: hitting up asking about how do you support my campaign?
Speaker 1: Not yo, how can I get such and such artists
Speaker 1: to feature on you know what I'm in. So it's
Speaker 1: like he's like, well, as he's gonna you know, talk
Speaker 1: to us about he uses he's still using you know,
Speaker 1: skills that he got in the music game within politics.
Speaker 1: But that's that seems to be a theme for our
Speaker 1: Spinning Images series. But we're gonna be talking to Daniel Blackman.
Speaker 1: Why don't you tell the people a little bit about him? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so Daniel, I've met Daniel Shortley before the pandemic started
Speaker 1: at a Japanese restaurant in Atlanta. Shortly after in Atlanta
Speaker 1: for Bernie rally that I was a speaker at. Didn't
Speaker 1: know Daniel at all. He was introduced to me through
Speaker 1: a mutual friend um and I learned about, you know,
Speaker 1: his previous work with Bernie Sanders that he was running
Speaker 1: for Public Service Commissioner, a little bit about what public
Speaker 1: service commissioner is. So he's running for a public service
Speaker 1: commissioner in District four, which is Northeast Georgia. But these
Speaker 1: seats they are elected statewide. UM and so in addition
Speaker 1: to UM, the Senate runoffs in January, on January five,
Speaker 1: people also have the choice between Daniel Blackman in this
Speaker 1: their dude Bubba McDonald, which sounds sounds like funitly looks.
Speaker 1: So I've been, uh, you know, as part of my
Speaker 1: like canvasing initiative that I have been spearheading in Athens,
Speaker 1: We've been focusing heavily upon support for Daniel in the
Speaker 1: runoff because people, as we've talked about previously on the show,
Speaker 1: tend to forget about down bound by like candidates even
Speaker 1: though they have like such a huge role in things
Speaker 1: like you know, our local ordinances, our local laws, state
Speaker 1: state wide legislation like minimum wage, minimum wage hikes, in
Speaker 1: marijuana legalization, but the Public Service commission in particular. I mean,
Speaker 1: like here we are middle of the pandemic. People are
Speaker 1: getting their fucking power shut off, They're getting their water
Speaker 1: cut off, or getting their their kids don't have internet
Speaker 1: to be doing virtual school. Our power Bill, I mean
Speaker 1: our house gets cultes hail. Yeah, we got one of those,
Speaker 1: one of those over the windows, so like keep eating
Speaker 1: and like all this ship because that should be like
Speaker 1: a month. We got one of those other houses where
Speaker 1: it's like the conductor of everything that's going on outside.
Speaker 1: So when it's when it's hot outside is super high here.
Speaker 1: When it's cold outside, it gets so cold in the house.
Speaker 1: And what we pay, you know, that's determined by effectively
Speaker 1: by the Public Service Commission in that they negotiate with
Speaker 1: Georgia Power, they negotiate with various utilities providers for how
Speaker 1: much of those costs go on the taxpayer and how
Speaker 1: much you know, shareholder benefit these coming yet for the
Speaker 1: folks that hold stakes in them. And so um yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking to Daniel today. We're gonna be
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about climate change, environmental racism, and
Speaker 1: things of that sort. Well, okay, so why does climate
Speaker 1: chain and environmental racism, how does that tie into Daniel Blackman? So,
Speaker 1: I mean, uh, negotiating for investments in solar and nuclear
Speaker 1: and other forms of renewable energy that helped bring down
Speaker 1: the rate that we pay um as rape pairs, Uh
Speaker 1: like that's a part of their role. UM. And one
Speaker 1: thing I like about Daniel is that he brings to
Speaker 1: this work like an activist spirit. So a lot I've
Speaker 1: in this work as an elected official. I've met so
Speaker 1: many politicians who just do what is asked of them
Speaker 1: and probably not even that half of the time. Well,
Speaker 1: my job is to get the roads paved and keep
Speaker 1: the buses running and lay the steward pipes. And that's
Speaker 1: like literally all I'm gonna do. And then you've got
Speaker 1: cats like Daniel that are like, Yo, I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: whatever I have to do with like the power of
Speaker 1: my position and in part like the like the bully
Speaker 1: pulpit of like being an elected official and being a
Speaker 1: well connected person that help holds the seed of power
Speaker 1: to like I'm gonna do whatever it takes to like
Speaker 1: get what my people deserve. And so keeping to hear
Speaker 1: this interview, like he is just like like willing to
Speaker 1: do whatever to like bring like clean energy jobs to
Speaker 1: Georgia to create like a pipeline for people, um for
Speaker 1: these clean energy jobs and going to be hopefully developed
Speaker 1: through his advocacy all the Public Service Commission, fighting for
Speaker 1: things like weatherization for low income homeowners because I have
Speaker 1: people like us. I mean, we don't own our house,
Speaker 1: but like to him, we had better installation rot and
Speaker 1: I don't think that's necessarily what the Public Service Commissioner does,
Speaker 1: but he's what we need. He's like to fight for that,
Speaker 1: and so like in a very material way, though, you know,
Speaker 1: like I'm obviously supporting the SENDI Canada had something like
Speaker 1: trying to remain as optimistic as possible, like I actually
Speaker 1: really believe in Daniel, Like I really really believe in him,
Speaker 1: and so like I really want to see him win
Speaker 1: because I really think it's gonna make a material impact
Speaker 1: on the lives of like millions of Georgians that are
Speaker 1: struggling to pay their utilities bills. That dude, I get
Speaker 1: the sense that it's just the first step. I have
Speaker 1: a feeling he's the sort of person who could go
Speaker 1: from helping millions of Georgians too, maybe millions of Americans
Speaker 1: one day, President Blackman, Hey, hey, hey, it's a new
Speaker 1: world turner to Daniels Bernie Sanders. So um, like with
Speaker 1: the last episode when we were talking about marijuana, marijuana legalization,
Speaker 1: mainly you know, because I smoke a lot of pot,
Speaker 1: and also it came up because the elections had just
Speaker 1: gone through and it was on our mind because it
Speaker 1: played such a huge role. I think what's played equally
Speaker 1: as important a role in this past election was issues
Speaker 1: of the environment and climate change and energy. I think
Speaker 1: that was definitely a swaying factor in the way a
Speaker 1: lot of people voted, especially people who are more on
Speaker 1: the progressive end who weren't necessarily on board with vote
Speaker 1: for Biden and in Team Blue no matter who, but
Speaker 1: you know, legitimately weighed the existential threat that is climate
Speaker 1: change against the backdrop of how Joe Biden will deal
Speaker 1: with it and how another four years of the Trump
Speaker 1: administration would deal with it. Um So, just to give
Speaker 1: a little rundown of the situation for I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: the type you know people listening to the show, these
Speaker 1: are probably things that you guys have heard before. But
Speaker 1: one of the biggest reasons why it was important for uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I guess Joe Biden to get into office
Speaker 1: is because left unattended the way that it was going
Speaker 1: under the Trump administration, we're pretty much like teetering on
Speaker 1: the edge of disaster with the way that the climate
Speaker 1: is right now. I mean, like we're talking day after
Speaker 1: tomorrow type ship like so and in I mean ten
Speaker 1: years ago that might even have seemed like it might
Speaker 1: be hyperbole or exaggeration, But I think with this past
Speaker 1: year of of like strange global pandemics and raging wildfires
Speaker 1: for weeks and weeks, you know what I mean, and
Speaker 1: like freak tsunamis and ship so, I mean, in no
Speaker 1: way is it to suggest that it wasn't until that
Speaker 1: the climate started getting out of control. And even with
Speaker 1: the things that we have experienced over this past year,
Speaker 1: it's just like, I don't know, I just feel the
Speaker 1: sense of dread, like people aren't really gonna wake up
Speaker 1: until until we get to that irreversible point that everybody
Speaker 1: is worried about. So I guess in the most layman
Speaker 1: stoner rap dude, the way that I can articulated is
Speaker 1: the whole concept of the one point five degrees. Scientists
Speaker 1: have predicted that if the planet crosses one point five degrees,
Speaker 1: that that's pretty much gonna be the point of no
Speaker 1: return increase? Is that correct? Yeah, global timeferature increase. That's
Speaker 1: like the that's pretty much going to be the point
Speaker 1: that triggers all of the bad ship. That's the stuff
Speaker 1: of nightmares. So um per the Climate Reality Project, which
Speaker 1: is a nonprofit organization that's involved in education and advocacy
Speaker 1: related to climate change. The oversimple version is that the
Speaker 1: more heat added to the Earth's climate system, the more
Speaker 1: heat added to Earth's climate system, the more out of
Speaker 1: balanced natural systems get. The more out of balance natural
Speaker 1: systems get, the more destruction and suffering we see. And
Speaker 1: it's almost always poor families and people of color who
Speaker 1: suffer the most. So where does the one point five
Speaker 1: degree number for them? Well, at about one point five
Speaker 1: degrees of global warming, is what about where there's enough
Speaker 1: heat to push many of the natural systems that SUSTAINA
Speaker 1: has passed to dangerous turning point. And although countries created
Speaker 1: the first truly global plan to tackle climate change in
Speaker 1: the Paris Climate Agreement, the work gets far from over.
Speaker 1: There's still a gap between what countries pledged to do,
Speaker 1: what scientists say is needed to avert climate catastrophe, and
Speaker 1: what countries are actually doing because I don't know how
Speaker 1: many countries have actually accomplished their pledges to the Paris
Speaker 1: Climate Accord. Yeah, is it? Is it? Like? Is it?
Speaker 1: A lot more talk? Than actual action on that a
Speaker 1: lot more talk than action from what I understand about
Speaker 1: the issue. But to address this country set five year
Speaker 1: milestones to take stock of progress and strengthen the commitments.
Speaker 1: With the first of these opportunities coming up next year,
Speaker 1: and if we don't deliver more aggressive targets, it will
Speaker 1: be nearly impossible to limit global warming to one point
Speaker 1: five degrees celsiast or you know, two point seven for parakneit.
Speaker 1: Then cracks would start to appear in the foundation of
Speaker 1: the Paris Agreements architecture. And that's per Wildlife dot org. Yo.
Speaker 1: I don't even know how climate denial is even a
Speaker 1: thing anymore. It looks straight up I would say it.
Speaker 1: It's untruly. I mean, I feel like I don't know.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen I haven't seen the data of the
Speaker 1: numbers on like we are. Public approval of or acceptance
Speaker 1: of our climate reality is I don't know. No, that's true.
Speaker 1: I don't know those numbers either. But I mean, just like,
Speaker 1: just like what fucking COVID is like at this point,
Speaker 1: I think if even three motherfucker's don't believe in climate change,
Speaker 1: that's three people too many. So I don't meet a
Speaker 1: lot of real people that are climate deniers. Well, that's
Speaker 1: because we're definitely in our I don't want to say
Speaker 1: bubble because I mean, especially not you, because you know,
Speaker 1: you're out there and you're you're you're really like talking
Speaker 1: to people. But I mean there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: who don't take the ship seriously, even if we haven't
Speaker 1: met them. I mean, just consider that we know how
Speaker 1: many people don't take COVID seriously, right, And that's like
Speaker 1: some ship that we know is like an empirical fact
Speaker 1: that's got bodies on its name, and there's like people
Speaker 1: who like really just don't give a fuck, and not
Speaker 1: all of them are like Trump supporters, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. About two thirds of American adults, according to
Speaker 1: Pew Research, say the federal government is doing too little
Speaker 1: to effect to reduce the effects of climate change. And
Speaker 1: there's a similar amount that's say the government efforts to
Speaker 1: protect air and water quality are are not up to par.
Speaker 1: There's a strong consensus among Democrats of whom I think
Speaker 1: the government needs to do more to reduce the effects
Speaker 1: of climate change, even among Republicans and g appele need
Speaker 1: in dependence. About sixty of people say the federal government
Speaker 1: is doing too little to reduce effects of climate change,
Speaker 1: to bipe on bipartisan lines. Uh, people think the climate
Speaker 1: change is a BFG no BFG b f D and
Speaker 1: a big fucking deal. Yo. I don't no Internet. I
Speaker 1: don't speak Internet. Sometimes it's got to be generational divide,
Speaker 1: uh speaking generational divides, the millennial generation and Gen zs
Speaker 1: aged eight, which you are in. By the way, I
Speaker 1: know the government is doing too little and that number
Speaker 1: decreases among Generation X and the baby boomers of Gen
Speaker 1: X baby boomers who thankfully baby boomers make up like
Speaker 1: seventy of fucking Congress. So our future is in great hands.
Speaker 1: I mean, my my generation we were, you know, we were.
Speaker 1: I'm the generation from when we used to call it
Speaker 1: global warming like that was the you know I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So you remember Man Bear Pig. No it's not Oh no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I don't you know. I was never really the biggest
Speaker 1: south Park watcher, gonad. This whole thing making fun of
Speaker 1: didn't convenient truth in Algre and you know, watch out
Speaker 1: for Man Bear Pig, like how about it? And they
Speaker 1: later apologized. The South Park creats later apologized to Algre
Speaker 1: for for um characterizing charactering him like that because they
Speaker 1: were like ship this nigga was right. It was not
Speaker 1: playing a long You know what made me get like
Speaker 1: aware about the climate when I was a kid, It's
Speaker 1: because one of the most memorable rap songs from when
Speaker 1: we were kids. It was at the end of a
Speaker 1: cartoon or was it at the beginning of charton I
Speaker 1: don't know what when they played it, but it went
Speaker 1: like this, right, let me let me bust out some
Speaker 1: bars for you where the planet tears. You could be
Speaker 1: one to Saving our planet is the thing to do.
Speaker 1: Poluting and polluting it's not the way. So here's what
Speaker 1: Captain Planet has to say. The power is yours. But
Speaker 1: even my head, it's so interesting how that framing it's
Speaker 1: always been framed was like an issue of individualism and
Speaker 1: consumer habits, like if only you know, turned down your
Speaker 1: thermostat and uh, you know, fly less and drive instead
Speaker 1: take the bus, ride your bike, like we will stop
Speaker 1: this when it's like, no, niggati, these about in corporations
Speaker 1: are the ones that are just destroying the planet, and
Speaker 1: so like the powers in our hands to overthrow them,
Speaker 1: and like I don't know, just they're trying to make
Speaker 1: you use a paper straw. It's like, this is our
Speaker 1: contribution towards help him, and then they're like polluting by
Speaker 1: the megatime somewhere else. So bringing it back to the
Speaker 1: home front, so more specifically for black folk historically, at
Speaker 1: least you know, in my experience, the issue of like
Speaker 1: the importance of climate change isn't necessarily at the top
Speaker 1: at least again, this is all anecdotal, but it isn't
Speaker 1: necessarily like the main thing that most African Americans are
Speaker 1: talking about. And I feel like that the failure on
Speaker 1: the left to frame it as an economic justice issue
Speaker 1: because again Simon's back to the importance of public service commissioner,
Speaker 1: like achieving clean and renewable energy, it's gonna save people
Speaker 1: so much money, so much money, uh, energy efficient upgrades
Speaker 1: on all of these local income houses that we all
Speaker 1: live in and shipped so much money. Like the economic
Speaker 1: burden that lifts off of working people to like have
Speaker 1: clean and renewable energy. It's just astounding. It's never framed
Speaker 1: in such a kitchen table way where it's like this,
Speaker 1: it's not it's about saving the Pelicans and whatever in
Speaker 1: the polar ice caps. Well, A lot of that is
Speaker 1: a lot of that is framing though, because I think
Speaker 1: I think some of that is I think some of
Speaker 1: that is Republican propaganda though, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like a lot of the a lot of the people,
Speaker 1: a lot of the idea of like climate climate change
Speaker 1: awareness and ship like that is totally framed from like
Speaker 1: a Republican standpoint to make it sound as distant as
Speaker 1: it possibly can sound, you know what I mean. It's
Speaker 1: like they're not worried about you and what you have
Speaker 1: to They're not worried about you in your pocketbook and
Speaker 1: what's on your table. They're worried about the pelicans. They're
Speaker 1: worried about They're worried about the elephants. They don't care
Speaker 1: about you and your kitchen table issues. They're worried you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. They don't care about you the
Speaker 1: jobs that are provided by the oil industry because their
Speaker 1: tree buggers and ship like that that, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like not have the presidency for eight years,
Speaker 1: and the Senate and the House realigally a good majority
Speaker 1: of that not majority, but like a portion of it,
Speaker 1: during which time we had like pull over the discourse
Speaker 1: and could have like done something about climate change. And
Speaker 1: also Bill Paul popular support to have done more about
Speaker 1: climate change by talking about it in kitchen Boys. When
Speaker 1: you're talking about the Republican falking Port points, Really it's
Speaker 1: these corporative, corporate Democrats that haven't taken this seriously throughout
Speaker 1: their ten years in Congress and the Senate UH, as
Speaker 1: well as Republicans that have outright opposed it, like this
Speaker 1: failure to talk about let mean, among among ideals like
Speaker 1: seeming ideological allies, a failure to talk about it well.
Speaker 1: I think the productive way that would build to support
Speaker 1: and the popular movement to get it done. Some of
Speaker 1: these things I think are starting to change just in
Speaker 1: terms of you know, black people's just just in terms
Speaker 1: of like where the climate stands on like the list
Speaker 1: of things that are important to black people. Pulling from
Speaker 1: the research firm the Lincoln Park Strategy Lincoln Park Strategies,
Speaker 1: UH and Commission for a second, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm sucking logging off. I have such a visceral immediate
Speaker 1: reaction to the Lincoln project that I was like, Lincoln,
Speaker 1: who oh, I think I thought you were about to
Speaker 1: say you had a visceral reaction to Lincoln Park. I
Speaker 1: was like, Yo, what a Lincoln Park? Do anybody? But
Speaker 1: I'm pulling from the research firm Lincoln Park Strategies and
Speaker 1: commissioned by the Environmental Defense Fund, shows that a majority
Speaker 1: of African Americans are personally affected by disease and extreme
Speaker 1: weather made and made worse by climate change, and support
Speaker 1: a transition to clean economy to curb climate pollution. A
Speaker 1: majority of African Americans are affected by severe heat and
Speaker 1: extremes worms that are made more dangerous by climate change.
Speaker 1: Of Black people think the climate change is getting worse
Speaker 1: and um, seventy seven percent of African American survey believed
Speaker 1: that achieving a nationwide economy is a solution to climate change.
Speaker 1: Maybe not the solution. It's I don't know what what
Speaker 1: kind of how they pulled people. Uh So that wording
Speaker 1: is interesting being a linguist solucial, They said a solution
Speaker 1: and not the solution. I should just walk into the ocean. Um.
Speaker 1: But so sevent of black people, I mean that's you know,
Speaker 1: achieving clean energy economy is like a late well I
Speaker 1: mean maybe maybe like the you know, the messaging or
Speaker 1: the awareness that we need that sort of direct sort
Speaker 1: of like you know, that connection between our like material
Speaker 1: benefit and the climate. Maybe we needed that sort of
Speaker 1: messaging that we've been getting over the last I want
Speaker 1: to say, it feels like it's been like the last
Speaker 1: five years that I've heard that kind of being a thing.
Speaker 1: It's like, hey, black people need to be more aware
Speaker 1: of like the climate, we need to be more up
Speaker 1: on that and ship like that. So maybe it started, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Katrina happened to and then talking about our like you
Speaker 1: know black you know, brown brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico,
Speaker 1: when it happened to we're we're getting wiped off the
Speaker 1: face of the planet first as the sea levels rise
Speaker 1: and these storms start turning up in the South Atlantic
Speaker 1: and all the ship. Man, damn, I feel like that's
Speaker 1: the way that ship needs to be explain for real,
Speaker 1: Like they should just put that last little blurb that
Speaker 1: you just said in like a P. S A. And
Speaker 1: that's what people need to hear, speaking of people who
Speaker 1: you know, explain it to you the way that it
Speaker 1: needs to be explained. Let's transition this into talking to
Speaker 1: our guests today. Let's bring Daniel on. So we're here
Speaker 1: with Public Service Commissioner candidate for district to Daniel Blackman District.
Speaker 1: Just okay, let's try it again. So, Public Service Commissioner
Speaker 1: candidate for district for Daniel Blackman. Daniel, how are you
Speaker 1: doing today? I'm doing excellent. Look, Look, I mean I'm
Speaker 1: in such good spirit right now. I feel that we're
Speaker 1: on our second win. I feel like we have a
Speaker 1: lot of opportunity. I'm excited to be here and thank
Speaker 1: you for the privilege of being on this show. Hey,
Speaker 1: thank you for coming. Yeah, we're huge fans and very
Speaker 1: excited to have you. So to get us started. Um,
Speaker 1: you know a lot of people don't always pay attention
Speaker 1: to these down ballot races. They may not know what
Speaker 1: the Public Service Commission does. So if you could explain
Speaker 1: to our listeners briefly what the Public Service Commission is,
Speaker 1: how it impacts us, and what some of your goals
Speaker 1: are for being our next Public Service Commissioner. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: you know, first and foremost, Georgia has the fifth high
Speaker 1: electric rates in the United States and the eighth highest
Speaker 1: utility rates in the country. UM. On average, in the US,
Speaker 1: about five percent of a person's pay check goes to
Speaker 1: their utility bill, and Georgia eight theme percent of our
Speaker 1: page check goes towards our utility bill, So that should
Speaker 1: alarm you within itself. And to know that there are individuals,
Speaker 1: five individuals in this state that make decisions for every
Speaker 1: single person's light bill. UM, that should be a huge issue,
Speaker 1: and I want to change that. I think it's very
Speaker 1: important for us to understand what we need to do
Speaker 1: as a community, Why the Commission is important, why lower
Speaker 1: utilities are better for low and moderl income families so
Speaker 1: that the energy burdens don't overwhelm folks are just trying
Speaker 1: to save money to put food on the table. So
Speaker 1: you know, I'm I'm very privileged to be in the
Speaker 1: position we're in. Why you know the importance of the
Speaker 1: US Senate and those are critical races UM. Pocketbook issues
Speaker 1: like this are very critical to the survival of our
Speaker 1: most vulnerable communities. And then lastly, you know, let's be honest, man,
Speaker 1: our kids are at home without wireless broadband in too
Speaker 1: many cases, and if our kids can't learn, they can't succeed,
Speaker 1: they can't compete, and they get left behind. And Mariah,
Speaker 1: I'll say this, I'll view you as a friend like
Speaker 1: that's just not gonna happen on my watch. I just
Speaker 1: just you know, there's a quote by Frederick Douglas says
Speaker 1: to you know, you either build strong children or repair
Speaker 1: broken men. And I think we we owe it to
Speaker 1: our community to build a bit of future for our children.
Speaker 1: So this isn't your first time running for office. So
Speaker 1: you live in ForSight County, which didn't integrate until nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty nine. Is that correct? Well, I mean kind of
Speaker 1: sort of. So in nineteen twelve, the population of Reversith County,
Speaker 1: UM it's African American population was eleven hundred of six
Speaker 1: thousand of its residents were black. There was a lynching
Speaker 1: that happened and the the the black residents were forcibly removed.
Speaker 1: So from nineteen twelve to nine seven, um it's documented
Speaker 1: that black folks did not live in the county. As
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, it is documents have been considered
Speaker 1: a undowntown in the sixties and seventies. After nineteen eighties seven,
Speaker 1: while there were numbers of black folks, I mean, if
Speaker 1: you tell me that out of twenty thirty thousand people,
Speaker 1: that two hundred are black, then yeah, it might it
Speaker 1: might not look like that or a hundred. So the
Speaker 1: numbers have been low. Even today, only five percent of
Speaker 1: the population for Side County is black. UM. I was
Speaker 1: the first African American to run for office in the
Speaker 1: county in two thousand and sixteen. UM. And you know what, honestly, man,
Speaker 1: I take it as a as a You know, I
Speaker 1: don't take that lightly because I understand that we live
Speaker 1: in a country and in the society that while we
Speaker 1: look at Confederate monuments in so many other areas, the
Speaker 1: bottom line is, man, there are a whole lot of
Speaker 1: counties and areas in Georgia and around the country that
Speaker 1: haven't caught up to where they should be. UM. So
Speaker 1: you talk took us back a little bit too, running
Speaker 1: for office and forsythe county. You. So, I wanted to
Speaker 1: go back to the route to ask you about how
Speaker 1: you got started in organizing. So when I was nineteen,
Speaker 1: I got active in the civil human rights community and Georgia. UM.
Speaker 1: By default, I had a friend who I met um
Speaker 1: at Clark at Lanta University. And when I say friend,
Speaker 1: this was this gentleman was about thirty four years older
Speaker 1: than me. So I rode with old heads and uh,
Speaker 1: this gentleman, mayor, Reverend Gerald Durley became my mentor, and
Speaker 1: he introduced me to Reverend James Orange, Reverend ct Vivan,
Speaker 1: Mayor of Jackson, Reverend Joseph Lowry, Shirley Franklin. I mean
Speaker 1: like I literally was baptized by fire, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Like, I went to Clark Atlanta University, and
Speaker 1: I think that there's no better place to get a
Speaker 1: historical education and context than HBCU for a young Black
Speaker 1: man growing into maturity into himself. You can go to
Speaker 1: any university around this country, but when you go to
Speaker 1: a historically black college, it's something about your culture, and
Speaker 1: it's something about seeing people at every level of your society.
Speaker 1: So when when I first got started, I didn't know
Speaker 1: who ct Vivan was. You know, I didn't grow up
Speaker 1: um in the South as far as like you know,
Speaker 1: I I my my dad was in the military. My
Speaker 1: mother and father from Barbados, So I'm the son of immigrants.
Speaker 1: My grandfather served at the United Nations. So you know,
Speaker 1: my family moved here in the in the sixties and seventies.
Speaker 1: And the honest to God truth is, you know, I
Speaker 1: was in a position where, you know, I was so
Speaker 1: vulnerable and so open as a young kid that you know,
Speaker 1: I felt that there was a need to be to
Speaker 1: get this wisdom in this knowledge and this insight. And
Speaker 1: I mean most people don't know I worked in the
Speaker 1: music industry. I worked for bad Boy Heirs to Universal.
Speaker 1: I mean I worked in the music industry my freshman
Speaker 1: sophomore year in college and and even into my young adulthood.
Speaker 1: And so for me, when I met with them, Maynard
Speaker 1: was creating something called the American Voters League, and he
Speaker 1: had introduced me to Jesse Hill, who if you don't
Speaker 1: know anything about Jesse Hill, besides the fact that he
Speaker 1: has a street named after him in Atlanta, he's the gentleman,
Speaker 1: one of the wealthiest black men um that was in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: Atlanta Life Insurance, he Ashy was integral in Muhammad Ali's
Speaker 1: first fight after he got out of jail. So these
Speaker 1: were the guys I rolled with and met two or
Speaker 1: three times a week, and I to this day, I
Speaker 1: don't take that for granted because they're the ones that
Speaker 1: drove me to Selma. They're the ones that that took
Speaker 1: me to the King Day Holiday observance. They're the ones
Speaker 1: that told me about bolting rights. They're the ones that
Speaker 1: said it's your generation. When we were your age, we
Speaker 1: did this, this, and that. So I was groomed by
Speaker 1: guys that basically marched with Dr King and that really
Speaker 1: set a precedent in this country of where we are
Speaker 1: now as it relates to the civil and human rights movement,
Speaker 1: at least in America. We talk oftentimes about the relationships
Speaker 1: between you know, hip hop and politics on the podcast.
Speaker 1: It is what this podcast is about. And I wonder
Speaker 1: if your experiences within the music industry had any influence
Speaker 1: on your early organizing and all A thousand percent. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, one of my first gigs was working for
Speaker 1: a guy named Wayne Brown. Uh he since passed on.
Speaker 1: He was the program director at Radio one. And I
Speaker 1: remember my first job was sitting in the back of
Speaker 1: this promo van, you know, hot the van with no
Speaker 1: air condition, um, going around the city, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: passing out merchandise and literature, and you know, being upset
Speaker 1: as a young kid, uh thinking that working in the
Speaker 1: music industry was about, you know, putting out records or
Speaker 1: you know, just doing things that we all see on TV.
Speaker 1: I no one ever taught me about or I never
Speaker 1: knew the work ethic behind successful music UM and and
Speaker 1: Wayne introduced me to Cathy Hugh. Wayne put me onto
Speaker 1: a lot of people, bought me into a lot of room,
Speaker 1: bomb into DJ meetings, And so when I was in school,
Speaker 1: I went to school with some guys like you know,
Speaker 1: uh Don Cannon h DJ Drama, like you know, we
Speaker 1: we we all want to school together. When I was
Speaker 1: when I was working for bad Boy UM, there was
Speaker 1: a DJ named shot Kim who was but so so deaf,
Speaker 1: and we were all collaborating and doing parties on campus
Speaker 1: and you know, I cut my teeth UM and helping
Speaker 1: to to build this brand UM on our campus and
Speaker 1: in our city that allowed us to get to the
Speaker 1: point that I'm at now. So the way it impacted
Speaker 1: me was the work ethic. You know, when I work
Speaker 1: in the music industry, there was this model that the
Speaker 1: streets don't sleep. And I just remember always hearing Ditty
Speaker 1: or j D or whoever saying the streets don't sleep.
Speaker 1: And what they were saying was there's never a time
Speaker 1: to not promote. There's never a time to not work.
Speaker 1: There's never a time where there's not something going on
Speaker 1: where a record shouldn't be played or a flyer shouldn't
Speaker 1: be passed out or a poster board shouldn't be put up.
Speaker 1: So I took that same work ethic into organizing right
Speaker 1: because the difference between music and politics, honestly is that
Speaker 1: politics take time off, right like music don't take days off,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't take days off. People will find money,
Speaker 1: they don't have to go to the Grammys if it's
Speaker 1: really that serious. With politics, it's like you get to
Speaker 1: pick and choose who you want to be around, what
Speaker 1: you want to do, and when you want to do it.
Speaker 1: And we don't have that luxury when you come from
Speaker 1: a space where where it's a twenty four hour day,
Speaker 1: seven day and week business. And I think that's the
Speaker 1: fundamental difference. And I bought that same work ethic to
Speaker 1: politics when people were telling me, well, hey man, you know,
Speaker 1: why are you going to four cities in five days?
Speaker 1: Because I've been to twenty and two days when I
Speaker 1: worked in music, you know, So it's like that that
Speaker 1: know that that that work. I remember one of my
Speaker 1: closest friends, Um, Mason Bethler, you know, like like Mason,
Speaker 1: like for for years, Um, I did stuff with Mason
Speaker 1: where I would have to like literally I would get
Speaker 1: a call at two o'clock to be in New York
Speaker 1: at five o'clock right with with like hardly any money
Speaker 1: in the bank, But I like, get on a plane,
Speaker 1: meet me, you know, meet me in Buffalo, New York
Speaker 1: at five thirty like like that, like music removed the
Speaker 1: excuses that people in politics made. So by the time
Speaker 1: I got the political space, I didn't have. I don't
Speaker 1: have the luxury of excuses. All I know is to
Speaker 1: get it done. Period. Let's let's pivot to some policy talk.
Speaker 1: So or you even do that, man, I'm gonna tell
Speaker 1: you all right now, nobody knows that story. So this
Speaker 1: is like exclusive eve making hands right now, man, exclusive
Speaker 1: clue all right. So, um, the pandemic has laid bare
Speaker 1: the failures of our You know, a lot of the
Speaker 1: failures are current order. I think in particular, the way
Speaker 1: that we've shifted towards online learning has exposed how badly
Speaker 1: we failed low income families in terms of high speed
Speaker 1: internet access. So how can the Public Service Commission work
Speaker 1: to provide internet to all Georgians and counties. That's easy,
Speaker 1: get off there, but get out their office and drive
Speaker 1: the investment. Find the money we made too many excuses, man,
Speaker 1: Like I just like excuses make me itch. I just
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't get it, man, I'm being serious.
Speaker 1: Like to some people that sounds comical. I don't get it.
Speaker 1: When when banks need to be built out, we find money.
Speaker 1: Right the real estate market collapse, we find money. Right
Speaker 1: when the car industry collapse, we find the money. So
Speaker 1: I don't understand why we can't find money when it
Speaker 1: comes to pull or people to to to to people
Speaker 1: don't have access to broadband. If you tell me right
Speaker 1: now that that you know since the pandemic, you know
Speaker 1: a certain percentage of individuals have made over eight hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty million dollars in seven months, then you can't
Speaker 1: tell me that we can't find five ten twenty million
Speaker 1: dollars to invest in the communities that just can't compete
Speaker 1: Georgia's prison population. Of Georgia's prison population read it a
Speaker 1: third grade level. You know why, because somebody made an
Speaker 1: excuse that they couldn't find the money to invest into
Speaker 1: those communities, and those kids that couldn't read got left behind,
Speaker 1: and those kids that couldn't read had to compete with
Speaker 1: the fluent families that were fighting for the same Hope
Speaker 1: scholarship that was created for them to go to college
Speaker 1: and their parents couldn't afford it. So you can't tell
Speaker 1: me that we can't drive the investment. So what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do when I'm when I'm elected on January five,
Speaker 1: because I'm gonna remove all the excuses by finding the money. Period.
Speaker 1: I mean, like I I remember individuals that were making
Speaker 1: records and they were like, man, we need you know,
Speaker 1: hundred for this demo, We need fifteen thousand for this tour,
Speaker 1: and they found the money. You know, people running for
Speaker 1: office right now finding two three million dollars for commercials
Speaker 1: on TV. Those same people that can cut a check
Speaker 1: for a campaign can cut a check for a good cause.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna find it. You know, whether that means
Speaker 1: we have to find do public and private partnerships, if
Speaker 1: we got to go to family offices, if we have
Speaker 1: to go around and raise the money, it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: the fact that there's Atlanta and the rest of Georgia
Speaker 1: is a problem. The fact that Atlanta thrives and that
Speaker 1: Metro Atlanta has movies and sports and entertainment, and then
Speaker 1: South Georgia has lack access to wireless broad in and
Speaker 1: no hospitals. That's the problem, right, So we have to
Speaker 1: really address the issues and find the money, find the resources,
Speaker 1: and even if that means I gotta get on a
Speaker 1: plane of my own time and go to Washington with
Speaker 1: the Biden Here's administration, which has made an a numerable
Speaker 1: amount of promises. We're gonna make sure people like me.
Speaker 1: That's why it's important to elect me, to vote for me,
Speaker 1: because I'm the guy that's gonna go up to Washington
Speaker 1: and beat Look you said, you know, I don't have
Speaker 1: time to to sit back and and and just enjoy
Speaker 1: the fact that Trump is not there. Now that he's gone,
Speaker 1: what are we gonna do? That's what you get when
Speaker 1: you're getting me somebody that's gonna go find it and
Speaker 1: hold people accountable that said that they were gonna give it.
Speaker 1: You know, climate change and environmental justice are synonymous. We
Speaker 1: need more black and brown people and board involving the
Speaker 1: climate fight. I'm in a yeah, go ahead, can I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I just wanted to like, let me frame that, let
Speaker 1: me ask it so m you know, in the hip
Speaker 1: hop community or black community at that, you know, climate
Speaker 1: change and climate awareness isn't necessarily like at the top
Speaker 1: of people's priority lists because everybody has their day to
Speaker 1: day things that they have to do. So can you
Speaker 1: explain to us why the issue of the climate in
Speaker 1: the environment is important two black people. If you want
Speaker 1: to know why it's important to black people, ask the
Speaker 1: lower ninth for water New Orleans. Who has been permanently
Speaker 1: displaced after Hurricane KATRAINA at post in Houston, Texas when
Speaker 1: those floods hit, how their property is now. If we
Speaker 1: really really want to fundamentally understand the time that we're in,
Speaker 1: we need to understand that sea level rise will impact
Speaker 1: the Caribbean. I was invited to the Vatican in twift
Speaker 1: you know, one of sixty six people in the world
Speaker 1: to be able to go to the Vatican and meet
Speaker 1: with people from Africa, from the Caribbean, from South America,
Speaker 1: from Australia, from Madrid, from all over the world. And
Speaker 1: I saw the the African countries that we don't talk about,
Speaker 1: like when Sudan had their floods. I've seen what happens
Speaker 1: in the Bahamas. I saw what happened to our brothers
Speaker 1: and sisters in Puerto Rico. And if we don't start
Speaker 1: paying attention, we will forget and and not remember that
Speaker 1: when it comes to climate change, which which is basically
Speaker 1: a man made impact, the over usage of a dependency
Speaker 1: on fossil fuels that has really compromised our environment, environment
Speaker 1: and our climate. What we are now seeing is communities
Speaker 1: of color first and foremost being impacted. Why look at
Speaker 1: the cidification most black folks that most you don't even
Speaker 1: know what the cidification is. I don't know what. The
Speaker 1: planet is getting so hot that it's causing the water
Speaker 1: to get warmer, which is killing off our fisheries. So
Speaker 1: like our our oysters are, are our shrimp, our fish,
Speaker 1: A lot of black people are dependent, especially be live
Speaker 1: on the coast on fish. Right, it's destroying our ecosystems.
Speaker 1: So we need to understand that climate change fundamentally impacts
Speaker 1: everything from excuse me, I'm just going right now, but
Speaker 1: plastic pollution to looking at you know, asthma cases. I
Speaker 1: grew up with asthma. Right, No one ever tells us
Speaker 1: why we're diagnosed with asthma. But when you see George
Speaker 1: Floyd say I can't breathe, when you hear Eric Garner
Speaker 1: say I can't breathe, you gotta also hear the voices
Speaker 1: of the three times the national average of black and
Speaker 1: brown children that say I can't breathe every day because
Speaker 1: they have asthma, and they're missing school because of asthma,
Speaker 1: and we're missing work because of asthma. So when you
Speaker 1: ask me about climate change, I want you to understand
Speaker 1: it's not just about the weather. It's about our public health.
Speaker 1: It's about our survival. If you want to know why
Speaker 1: the life expectancy of black and brown people dropped by
Speaker 1: nine to ten years when it comes to our white
Speaker 1: and our Asian and our Latino counterparts, is because of
Speaker 1: the air we breathe and the water we drink. So
Speaker 1: what I want people to know in closing is environmental
Speaker 1: justice matters, right, Climate change matters. Understanding the science matters
Speaker 1: because our communities are being destroyed for a lack of knowledge.
Speaker 1: The fact that our communities don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1: We don't know what we're drinking, we don't know what
Speaker 1: we're breathing, we don't understand how solar energy versus fosil
Speaker 1: fossil fuel industry can not only lower our bills, but
Speaker 1: it can also put us in a position where we
Speaker 1: can breathe better, right, And so we have to understand
Speaker 1: that we're the front line of defense for our communities.
Speaker 1: And this is the only position in the state of
Speaker 1: Georgia that's a statewide constitutional office that can not only
Speaker 1: fight on work for lower utility bills, but that can
Speaker 1: fight climate change, that can expand broadband, that can that
Speaker 1: can do the things that our faces traditionally have not
Speaker 1: been at the forefront of. So on January five, vote
Speaker 1: Daniel Blackman for Public Service commission I will be the
Speaker 1: first black Public Service Commissioner elected in a hundred and
Speaker 1: forty one years. I'll be the only Democrat elected statewide
Speaker 1: for the next two years, and I'll be the only
Speaker 1: African American to my knowledge, in the Southeastern United States
Speaker 1: elected to this high a position that deals directly with
Speaker 1: energy and the utility regulation. Daniel, how can people help
Speaker 1: you out if they want to see you elected on
Speaker 1: January fat where they find all right in felt about
Speaker 1: how they can get plucked in Man, you need to
Speaker 1: just like like replicate yourself. Mariah, because first of all,
Speaker 1: shout out to Mriah for for for the for the drop,
Speaker 1: Shout to mcriad for being amazing, Shout out to all
Speaker 1: of y'all, but no, what we need to do is
Speaker 1: elevate hip hop culture, right um hip hop. You know,
Speaker 1: at the height of rock and roll, um, rock and
Speaker 1: roll and pop had somewhere around I think it was
Speaker 1: like a fifty two percentile as far as the global acceptance.
Speaker 1: Hip hop currently from a global acceptance standpoint is at seventy.
Speaker 1: In other words, hip hop influences everything. We have outpaced rock,
Speaker 1: we've outpaced pop, We've outpaced everything. We have to weaponize
Speaker 1: our strength, right Our cultures are vibranium. Our culture and
Speaker 1: everything we do is what makes us strong. So we
Speaker 1: have to leverage hip hop to make sure that the
Speaker 1: voting and electric electric process um is relevant. You guys
Speaker 1: have to use this medium and platform to encourage more
Speaker 1: people to vote. I just gave a flyer up brother,
Speaker 1: and I've got to end here. I was on my
Speaker 1: way to see us off and and former secretary on
Speaker 1: Julian Castro today and when I pulled up, I saw
Speaker 1: brother sitting in a truck and I gave him a
Speaker 1: flyer and I said, brother, you registered the vote. And
Speaker 1: I said you registered the vote. I'm on the ballot
Speaker 1: and he said, brother, I f that up a long
Speaker 1: time ago, and I said, man, you didn't mess it up.
Speaker 1: I said, you might not be able to vote right now,
Speaker 1: but let me work with you. Let me help you.
Speaker 1: If you can't vote, let me teach you what you
Speaker 1: can do, and let me teach you how to express,
Speaker 1: how to spread that in our community. We gotta stop
Speaker 1: writing people off because they don't understand our agenda right
Speaker 1: because there's there's something I always say to my team,
Speaker 1: and I always sell on platforms. If you're not at
Speaker 1: the table, you're on the menu. So we gotta start
Speaker 1: building up our community and letting people know that you
Speaker 1: have a you have a role to play in the
Speaker 1: fundamental education and advancement of our communities. Go to Daniel
Speaker 1: for Georgia dot com. That's d A n I E
Speaker 1: L f O R Georgia spelled out dot com. Vote
Speaker 1: for Daniel Black until three, four or five twenty of
Speaker 1: your friends, tell your family members, and we're gonna change
Speaker 1: the world on January five. Yes, the Senate majority is important,
Speaker 1: but to have a black man in an office that
Speaker 1: fundamentally understands the importance of our interfaith community, of our
Speaker 1: loan modern income families, and of our future. Vote for me.
Speaker 1: A vote for me is a vote vote for progress
Speaker 1: and just realistically for us to change the narrative. And
Speaker 1: I thank you all for this platform, and I thank
Speaker 1: you for pleasure to have you an early morning starts
Speaker 1: on Monday, so everybody get out. I love it. But
Speaker 1: all right, thank you so much. Man. I know you
Speaker 1: gotta run, but this was awesome. My brother, Let's be
Speaker 1: in touch anytime. So yeah, Daniel for Georgia dot com.
Speaker 1: I'll spelled out that you can go there to figure
Speaker 1: out how you know, volunteer opportunities as well to our
Speaker 1: Georgia listeners. Early voting for the runoff all action starts
Speaker 1: on Monday, and so uh, you know, get out and
Speaker 1: vote early. I usually go the second day ELI voting.
Speaker 1: The lines are us long because people everybody ever their
Speaker 1: mom goes votes on the first day like it's Christmas
Speaker 1: morning to open their ballot and vote for John sucking
Speaker 1: ASoP so um that was a fiery guy to go Tuesday.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go Tuesday. Go Tuesday, you know, and then
Speaker 1: h you know, phone banking, tax banking, there's al such
Speaker 1: opportunities to help out. So on to our music discussion
Speaker 1: for the day. Well, talking with Daniel, especially that last
Speaker 1: bit where he was going in about the environment. I
Speaker 1: wanted to find some environmental rap songs, some songs that
Speaker 1: comment on our struggle with the environment. And first up,
Speaker 1: it's the song that we've mentioned I think once or
Speaker 1: twice before on the program, mainly on some different issues.
Speaker 1: But it is the most deaf track, New World Water
Speaker 1: at just a New World Water and every drop counts
Speaker 1: you can laugh. I feel like, no, it's cool. I
Speaker 1: feel like the sound is prophetic because I've been reading
Speaker 1: a lot about the commodification of water recently and like
Speaker 1: poculation around like yeah, be a hot commodity and it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's fucking dystopian and terrify anticipating the scarcity and yeah,
Speaker 1: we're ruining my day. Also, thanks most staff for predicting
Speaker 1: that in Yeah No, Like that ship used to scare
Speaker 1: the hell, especially the part where he said, um, he
Speaker 1: sense like it's about to get real wild and last
Speaker 1: you'll be you'll be buying a v on just to
Speaker 1: take a bath. Like I don't know why that ship
Speaker 1: lingered with me back in the day, but that was
Speaker 1: always a rhyme that I always remembered like I mean,
Speaker 1: a motherfucker would be in the shower, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. When you're reaching like that fifteen the minute,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh wait, I'm wasting water right now, am I?
Speaker 1: Most stuff would be frowning abby? Let me turn this off.
Speaker 1: It out looking at heaven like you waste the water.
Speaker 1: That's not what most test sounds like? What? But like
Speaker 1: I imagined, I was like, imagine, like most stuff is
Speaker 1: like Jesus figure, I don't know, I don't know what happens.
Speaker 1: Like you know, you know how you have people the
Speaker 1: devil and the angel Conscience ship. It's like you got
Speaker 1: like the most stuff on the side of you, Like
Speaker 1: Yo's because of you, the future generations are gonna be
Speaker 1: buying a ViOn just to take a fucking back like that.
Speaker 1: All right? So um, next up in Mariah the linguists.
Speaker 1: You are going to have to help me with this name.
Speaker 1: Yeah you heads cattle, Yo? Do you test cattle? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Do you test cattle? Gus test cattle? That sounds really dope.
Speaker 1: I feel like that's right. I'm not sure if that's right,
Speaker 1: but it sounds right and coming from you, I trust
Speaker 1: that that's how you pronounce it. Do You Test Cattle
Speaker 1: is an environmental activists and hip hop artist um youth
Speaker 1: director of Earth Guardians, a worldwide conservation organization, and one
Speaker 1: of twenty one plaintiffs involved in the Giuliana versus United
Speaker 1: States lawsuit filed against the West government for failing to
Speaker 1: act on climate change. The lawsuit was found in two
Speaker 1: thousand fifteen in the Federal court rejected the government's moved
Speaker 1: to dismiss the case. In November two thousand and sixteen.
Speaker 1: Martinez Do Testcatom. It's also one of seven plaintiffs in
Speaker 1: Martinez First Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Like the case,
Speaker 1: it's like a state level lawsuits, similar to Julianna versus
Speaker 1: United States. So these things you're calling people accountable, they're
Speaker 1: playing no games, taking them story to the Supreme Court
Speaker 1: being like, yo, you're literally selling my future to x
Speaker 1: on mobile law And here is his track magic. So
Speaker 1: the campus takes the poison from tip with the really
Speaker 1: blows ways what people suffware while we killed the planet? Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: that was dope I've seen. And he touches upon yeah,
Speaker 1: intersecting existential crises of just like the impacts of what
Speaker 1: sounded to me like living under capitalism which has driven
Speaker 1: you know, anthropogenic climate disaster. Oh he's talking about like
Speaker 1: turned into a bottle of pills, Like it's all interconducted
Speaker 1: and you can feel that in his lyricism. I do
Speaker 1: believe he's indigenous too. Yeah, that's dope. Yeah, that is dope.
Speaker 1: Indigenous brothers and sisters. We do have an episode on
Speaker 1: indigenous hip hop that we we it's in the works
Speaker 1: because this is a podcast, but we're both looking at
Speaker 1: each other like it's in the works. It's in the works.
Speaker 1: We still we still have we still have stuff to
Speaker 1: do on it, but it's going. But um no, that
Speaker 1: was dope. I've seen some of his speaking in poetry before, Um,
Speaker 1: like a lot of that is a lot more because
Speaker 1: the clips that I've seen of that was at actual
Speaker 1: environmental list like events and things like that, so it's
Speaker 1: a lot more directly addressing the issue in in you know,
Speaker 1: unambiguous terms and stuff like that. But I did want
Speaker 1: to kind of see what his music was like in
Speaker 1: the scene, how he was appropriate. Imagine it's powerful speaker,
Speaker 1: isn't as he is an m um. The next track
Speaker 1: is my surprise for you, So just think back to
Speaker 1: what we were talking about earlier in terms of the
Speaker 1: Obama administration and not doing enough on the issue of
Speaker 1: climate change in the eight years that they had. Well,
Speaker 1: this song is a two thousand nine gem that I
Speaker 1: found by the rapper Marquis. It's called the Dream Reborn Now.
Speaker 1: The description of the song describes it as a song
Speaker 1: extolling the virtues of green living and investment in green
Speaker 1: jobs for disadvantaged community living. I'm going to stop there
Speaker 1: and I don't gonna do anything. Particularly heard you was
Speaker 1: about being before like house in the suburbs and like driving,
Speaker 1: but like whatever, like to date. To date, the song
Speaker 1: is the most to date, the song is the most
Speaker 1: powerful voice coming from impacted communities to address the problems
Speaker 1: of poverty, environmental degradation, and the opportunity presented by an
Speaker 1: inclusive green economy. Properly promoted and leverage, this project can
Speaker 1: reach a broad demographic of current and future green advocates
Speaker 1: and practitioners. So let's hear let's hear fire from Marquees
Speaker 1: the Dream Reboard. Probably to have a conversation about conservation
Speaker 1: of nation. Conversation. Your look, that was hot, That was hot.
Speaker 1: I have to say that's probably the take he said
Speaker 1: the in the hybrid on Rims. You know, for real,
Speaker 1: that was I gotta give it up, man. That was
Speaker 1: like probably the coolest after school special rap that I've
Speaker 1: ever heard, like for real, because the bars were on point,
Speaker 1: every single aspect of it, just from the technical end
Speaker 1: of like a from the rapper m It was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is he's like a legit like legit rapper, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So then I could just enjoy
Speaker 1: the content of what he was saying, which is like
Speaker 1: ship that I agree with, Like you said, he was
Speaker 1: saying real ship. So yeah, and again tying it back
Speaker 1: to the economy, it's like with me trying to get
Speaker 1: you know, trying to save the earth that we're trying
Speaker 1: to give that money. You know, I thought you would,
Speaker 1: uh word. Okay, that is it for us this week.
Speaker 1: Y'all once again follow us on all of the things.
Speaker 1: I heart reparations on Instagram, dope, knife, Lingua franca. You
Speaker 1: guys know where to find us. We're gonna close this
Speaker 1: one off with a piece that Mariah wrote about our
Speaker 1: guests today. So Joe, can we gotta beat Uh? We're
Speaker 1: waiting on reparations Hey, we're waiting on reparations. Hey hey, hey,
Speaker 1: everybody's buzzing us off and were knocked. We mentioned the
Speaker 1: public service Commissions in the runoff from Benny to the
Speaker 1: City of Columbus and McDonough. We need everyone that you
Speaker 1: need to tell your friends and tell your loves and
Speaker 1: your cousins. Uncle's mom has to go out on book
Speaker 1: for someone who will make it cheaper to draw your
Speaker 1: covers and eat you up until brick access to the
Speaker 1: Internet to all the least among us, and sustainability to
Speaker 1: geward this energy production. Daniel Blackman is the homie with
Speaker 1: the vision and the comption to be public Service commission
Speaker 1: that you want him to govern. Get your adds to
Speaker 1: the polls January sifth but public Service commissioned at Daniel Berry.
Speaker 1: Let yeah a, I'm dope Knife Lingua Franken and we
Speaker 1: are waiting on reparations. See you next week. I think
Speaker 1: Waiting on Reparations as a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Listen to Waiting on Reparations on the I Heart Radio app,
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