Speaker 1: Native Lampard is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with
Speaker 1: Reason Choice Media.
Speaker 2: Welcome Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome home.
Speaker 1: Y'all, I'm Angelariah, your host for today's solo pod. I
Speaker 1: just got to give a shout out to the community
Speaker 1: right now, the culture. We were in Montgomery, Alabama, in
Speaker 1: mass there are so many people that are asking these days,
Speaker 1: what can we do to make sure that our rights aren't.
Speaker 2: Continued to be trampled on?
Speaker 1: And the people showed up and showed out, And I
Speaker 1: want to be honest with y'all. When I was first
Speaker 1: hearing that we were going to Alabama, I was like,
Speaker 1: that's hard to get to. We need to go somewhere
Speaker 1: that's easier. Why aren't we going to DC? In fact,
Speaker 1: why are we marching?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: We just doing a rally?
Speaker 1: Is that going to be sufficient? And one thing that
Speaker 1: I believe. I'm a Christian woman, so I believe where
Speaker 1: two or three are gathered there, God is in the mist.
Speaker 1: And I will tell you that that is absolutely the
Speaker 1: case from this past Saturday in Montgomery, Alabama. I do
Speaker 1: want to shout out my movement family, Black Voters Matter
Speaker 1: Cliff and Latasha. Melanie Campbell with National Coalition on Black
Speaker 1: Civic Participation, Dowana Thompson, the legendary logistics planner of Woke Vote.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about Vince Evans, who managed the stage like
Speaker 1: a champ, all of the people that threw down and
Speaker 1: threw in to make sure things got done.
Speaker 3: Jen A.
Speaker 1: Nelson with the NAACP Legal Defense One who said, hey, y'all,
Speaker 1: we're not mobilizers, we're litigators, and it needs to be
Speaker 1: all hands on deck given the hour we're in right now.
Speaker 1: And I've got to say, you know, it was called
Speaker 1: all Roads lead to the South. We were in the South,
Speaker 1: and part of that the purpose there is because it
Speaker 1: feels like the South is always under attack, just you know,
Speaker 1: a hair away from Jim Crow. And then yesterday, in
Speaker 1: my home state of Washington, Republicans filed suit, I believe
Speaker 1: last week in a federal district court alleging that our
Speaker 1: maps were not fair and they wanted to redraw based
Speaker 1: on a Latino district in the Yakama area. A federal
Speaker 1: judge in our area of course, through the case out,
Speaker 1: and these fools appeal to the Supreme Court. I'm bringing
Speaker 1: this up to tell you all that nobody is particularly
Speaker 1: safe under fascism, that we all have to do our
Speaker 1: part to fight back whatever that is. We don't all
Speaker 1: use the same tools, we don't all have the same talents,
Speaker 1: but what we do know is that we all deserve
Speaker 1: freedom and liberation. This is not a black fight, and
Speaker 1: I want to shout out the allies who are also
Speaker 1: present this past weekend. But it isn't okay just to
Speaker 1: show up for the rally and not do anything when
Speaker 1: you get home. So make sure that you are doing
Speaker 1: exactly that, especially when your guy, the President of these
Speaker 1: United States, says, you know that whole reparations thing, that
Speaker 1: whole forty acres and a mule thing, that whole Andrew
Speaker 1: Jackson guy want to keep on the twenty dollars bill and.
Speaker 2: Keep up in my office at the White House.
Speaker 1: Well, I want reparations too, but just for the white
Speaker 1: folks that terrorize the capital on January sixth.
Speaker 2: That's what the clips Justice Department has.
Speaker 4: This new fund that was announced today, seven billion dollars.
Speaker 2: Why should tapayers pay for the January.
Speaker 4: Well, it's been very well received. I have to tell
Speaker 4: you I know very little about it. I wasn't involved
Speaker 4: in the whole creation of it and the negotiation. But
Speaker 4: this is reimbursing people that were horribly treated, horribly treated
Speaker 4: as anti weaponization. They've been weaponized, they've been in some
Speaker 4: cases imprisoned wrongly, they paid legal fees that they didn't have,
Speaker 4: they've gone bankrupt, their lives have been destroyed, and they
Speaker 4: turned out to be right. I mean, it was a
Speaker 4: terrible period of time in the history of our country,
Speaker 4: and they worked on it. I know the Justice Department,
Speaker 4: it's really been working on it very hard. There's been
Speaker 4: numerous other occasions over the years where things like this
Speaker 4: have been done. But these were people that were weaponized
Speaker 4: and really treated brutally by a system that was so
Speaker 4: corrupt with corrupt people running it, and they're getting reimbursed
Speaker 4: for their legal fees and the other things that they
Speaker 4: had to suffer.
Speaker 2: There's another clip.
Speaker 1: I thought we had it, but there's another clip where
Speaker 1: Donald Trump essentially says that he.
Speaker 2: Prefers loyalty over the law.
Speaker 1: In any other normal time in this country, that would
Speaker 1: be impeachable and cause to remove a president, but alas
Speaker 1: we are not in.
Speaker 2: Normal times, and so welcome to America.
Speaker 1: It's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, where it's time for
Speaker 1: maps to be redrawn, where black people have finally gotten some,
Speaker 1: not even all, but some of.
Speaker 2: The representation that they deserve.
Speaker 1: Let us now turn our attention to the South Carolina
Speaker 1: House that is now seeking to withdraw its maps and
Speaker 1: carve out Congressman James Clyburn out of his district. For
Speaker 1: those of you listening at home, a white man was
Speaker 1: just thrown to the ground by a Capitol police officer
Speaker 1: in South Carolina.
Speaker 2: This protest led by Zika Nickler.
Speaker 1: They're yelling, don't rig our maps, Derek, we can cut
Speaker 1: the clip here as a black woman is getting forcibly
Speaker 1: removed from the chamber. Zakia voluntarily left and she also
Speaker 1: sent this clip in.
Speaker 5: Hey, folks, it's Tekia mikel Here.
Speaker 3: I am the founder and chief collective strategist at the
Speaker 3: What's a Collective. We're a social action firm based right
Speaker 3: here in Columbia, South Carolina, making sure that impacted individuals
Speaker 3: are centered as we seek policy solutions and solutions in
Speaker 3: the systems that.
Speaker 5: We all engage every day.
Speaker 3: And so we've been on the ground working on this
Speaker 3: redistricting issue where our voter rights are attempted to be
Speaker 3: stripped by our General Assembly after being a form to
Speaker 3: do so by order of the President, and so we're
Speaker 3: here to let folks know how they can get involved.
Speaker 3: We're here to let communities know you can be a
Speaker 3: part of this even if you can't make your way
Speaker 3: to the state House.
Speaker 5: Here's how. We have a week of action coming up.
Speaker 3: We have an event here in the Midlands on Monday,
Speaker 3: we have an event here in the PD on Tuesday,
Speaker 3: and we have an event actually happening at the State
Speaker 3: House on Wednesday morning. Please follow our page to learn
Speaker 3: more about those events, but also make sure that you're
Speaker 3: reaching out to each other to make sure that you're
Speaker 3: okay in tough times like this. Make sure that you
Speaker 3: and your loved ones are registered to vote. Make sure
Speaker 3: that you know who you're voting for. Because the thing is,
Speaker 3: this is a long game moment, folks. We have to
Speaker 3: make sure that folks have access to the resources that
Speaker 3: are at threat of being gutted if this legislation passes.
Speaker 3: So we can lose access to things that we already have,
Speaker 3: like medicaid, we can lose access to snap benefits, we
Speaker 3: can lose assets to social security, things that are already
Speaker 3: being diminished. We're seeing these rising gas prices and the
Speaker 3: cost of food. All of these things are only going
Speaker 3: to worsen if this plan works, and so we need
Speaker 3: to come together and get connected so we can maybe
Speaker 3: stop it here, and if not, we can already be
Speaker 3: in community to know what to do nextent.
Speaker 1: Zakia, thank you so much for sending in that clip.
Speaker 1: What I will tell you is she said we could
Speaker 1: lose SNAP benefits, we could lose Medicaid, we could lose Medicare. Well,
Speaker 1: the Republicans were pretty smart to ensure that an HR
Speaker 1: one the bill that passed last July. I remember I
Speaker 1: had just landed in New Orleans for Essence Fest and
Speaker 1: we were on a live stream a marathon informing people
Speaker 1: of how dangerous these cuts that were in the bill were.
Speaker 1: And what they did was they ensued that many of
Speaker 1: those cuts on two SNAP too, medicare too Medicaid would
Speaker 1: happen after the November election. So here we are qu
Speaker 1: for some of the state maps they've been redrawn during elections. Louisiana,
Speaker 1: for example, knows all too well because because it was Saturday,
Speaker 1: their election was Saturday. They defeated three very important constitutional amendments.
Speaker 2: But there were two members.
Speaker 1: Of Congress who were on the ballot, one of whom
Speaker 1: will not likely be well. They won't be on the
Speaker 1: ballot in the fall unless they're written in by some
Speaker 1: resilient and resistant people. But Cleo Fields and Troy Carter
Speaker 1: were impacted by the latest maps in Louisiana. There was
Speaker 1: an election, or there is an election. Today is Tuesday.
Speaker 1: There's an election in Alabama. The maps in Alabama have
Speaker 1: also been challenged, Shamari Figures and Terry Sewell being those
Speaker 1: impacted members. There's an election in Georgia. While those maps
Speaker 1: haven't changed for this primary, it's just a matter of time.
Speaker 1: And so joining me today is Louisiana State Senator Royce
Speaker 1: duplus Is to talk about what is happening in the
Speaker 1: state legislature, what we need to know, what we can do,
Speaker 1: and what they're doing to actively combat this. I would
Speaker 1: call it a voter terrorism. But he joins us now.
Speaker 1: Hello Senator Royce.
Speaker 6: Hey, Angela, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2: It is my highest pleasure. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I really appreciated last week you did a video.
Speaker 2: We played it on the podcast.
Speaker 1: It was like four in the morning, you were like,
Speaker 1: we just got done, and you talked about how long
Speaker 1: you all had to fight for that. I want to
Speaker 1: know just how you're feeling right now. You're carrying a lot.
Speaker 1: It feels like we're going backwards. How are you feeling? Honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't think you get to talk about that. You're
Speaker 1: a human and an elected official, and I think that
Speaker 1: dichotomy has to coexist in one body as a cult truth.
Speaker 2: But we do want to know how you're feeling. Well.
Speaker 7: Thank you for that question and recognizing the humanity that's
Speaker 7: behind all of this, because the truth is that this
Speaker 7: is so much more than lines on a map. This
Speaker 7: is really about who gets to fully participate in this
Speaker 7: democratic experiment here in America, right when we thought we
Speaker 7: had made so much progress to be living it in
Speaker 7: real time.
Speaker 6: It is.
Speaker 4: It is.
Speaker 7: It's obviously troubling, but I'm I'm gonna tell you I'm hopeful,
Speaker 7: and I'm gonna tell you why because after that ten
Speaker 7: hour committee here, and I didn't I probably didn't.
Speaker 6: Emphasize this enough, Angela.
Speaker 7: Was that as disappointing as it was to sit in
Speaker 7: a committee here for ten hours and knowing that there
Speaker 7: was nothing that was gonna change with my Republican colleagues.
Speaker 7: They could have basically been like little robots sitting there
Speaker 7: because they were gonna vote how they were gonna vote.
Speaker 7: The people who were so committed, the hundreds of people
Speaker 7: who came to the capital and stayed from like one
Speaker 7: in the afternoon to like five in the morning just
Speaker 7: to be heard. The brilliance and the diversity of the
Speaker 7: people who came from across this state really inspired me,
Speaker 7: and it reminded me of how fortunate I am. So yes,
Speaker 7: while it is, while we aren't trying times, I am
Speaker 7: incredibly fortunate just to be in a position to try
Speaker 7: to speak on behalf of not just the people who
Speaker 7: deserve representation today, but the people who fought to give
Speaker 7: us the right to have this representation, the people who
Speaker 7: filed the lawsuits, the people who marched, the people who bled,
Speaker 7: the people who died to give us this representation. And
Speaker 7: I just feel incredibly privileged to be in that position.
Speaker 1: It is, It is quite a privilege, but it also
Speaker 1: has to feel frustrating. You all are not in the majority,
Speaker 1: and sometimes people at home don't understand that, Like, there's
Speaker 1: only so much you can do. There are some legislative
Speaker 1: tactics that you can pull. But where do you feel
Speaker 1: like you're relying what you're relying on more. I know
Speaker 1: you guys have a filing deadline, whe some of us
Speaker 1: are trying to push us, like make sure that they
Speaker 1: file the state voting Rights bill that that deadline had passed.
Speaker 1: You have filed that bill. Can you talk about you
Speaker 1: know how close you got to seeing Republicans support a
Speaker 1: measure that's so important for all of us, including their
Speaker 1: own constituents.
Speaker 7: Yeah, thanks for asking that question too. So at the
Speaker 7: beginning of session, I actually filed a state Voting Rights Act.
Speaker 7: Had no idea that the Cali decision was going to
Speaker 7: come down while we were in session, but we knew
Speaker 7: that at some point they could issue a ruling that
Speaker 7: helped that hurt the Voting Rights Act, and I wanted
Speaker 7: to give the state the opportunity to make a values decision,
Speaker 7: to say this is where we stand on voting rights.
Speaker 7: My bill didn't necessarily expand voting rights. It was just
Speaker 7: a statement saying we protect voting rights where they are today.
Speaker 7: You want to move precincts, you want to make it
Speaker 7: harder for people to vote. Add additional barriers. Then then
Speaker 7: you have to go before basically a state a base
Speaker 7: commission like we had when we still had Section five.
Speaker 7: But the bill failed on party lines by four to
Speaker 7: three vote. This was several weeks before the Cali decision
Speaker 7: even dropped. So it was it was, it was, it was.
Speaker 1: And you're saying it failed in committee. It didn't even
Speaker 1: get to the yeah, yeah.
Speaker 7: And and and then this was it was the right
Speaker 7: thing to pass the bill, but of course they didn't.
Speaker 7: They didn't pass it out of committee. But we had
Speaker 7: no idea that the Cali decision would be coming just
Speaker 7: a few weeks after the Voting Rights Act bill was
Speaker 7: voted down the committee, so we didn't even get to
Speaker 7: debate it on the floor.
Speaker 1: So the Louisiana versus CALAEI decision. Of course, Calai is
Speaker 1: also a January sixth insurrectionist. Is why I wanted to
Speaker 1: play the clip that I did of Donald Trump at
Speaker 1: the top of the show, where he's talking about giving
Speaker 1: restitution reparations in a sense to folks like.
Speaker 2: This guy that was an insurrectionist.
Speaker 1: We can't even ensure that our basic human and civil
Speaker 1: rights are protected.
Speaker 2: What are the.
Speaker 1: Things that you all are doing as legislators, knowing that
Speaker 1: even when you file bills they won't likely pass. What
Speaker 1: are the ways in which you're working to protect us us,
Speaker 1: those of us who live in Louisiana, and those of
Speaker 1: us who deserve to be protected nationally.
Speaker 7: Absolutely, so, it's so much more than legislating. We have
Speaker 7: to litigate, and we've been litigating. We have to always
Speaker 7: organize and educate our people basic civics, helping everybody understand
Speaker 7: what these decisions mean and how they impact daily living.
Speaker 7: This is so so vital that we just do more
Speaker 7: than just try to work inside the rails, understanding rules
Speaker 7: and procedures. We know we're in the super minority and
Speaker 7: we can't get the bills out that we want to
Speaker 7: get out. We can't stop the bad bills. But we
Speaker 7: can educate our communities. We can engage with lawyers who
Speaker 7: are going to represent communities when they've been harmed or disenfranchised.
Speaker 7: And we have to continue to organize and push our
Speaker 7: people and let folks outside of Louisiana know that they
Speaker 7: have to invest in Louisiana. You can't treat the South,
Speaker 7: whether it's from South Carolina all the way down to
Speaker 7: Louisiana and Texas. You can't treat us like it's just
Speaker 7: like a regional thing. This impacts the entire nation. So
Speaker 7: we have to talk with leaders like you, Angela who
Speaker 7: have national platforms to help the rest of the country
Speaker 7: see why this fight in the South impacts everyone. It
Speaker 7: impacts everyone across this country because this is really the
Speaker 7: fight for democracy. And yes, people are tired, people are disaffected,
Speaker 7: people are being pushed the question whether or not they're
Speaker 7: vote even matters anymore. And I think that's really what
Speaker 7: today's fight is about. It's not even about fight for
Speaker 7: access to the ballot, even though that they're trying to
Speaker 7: make it harder to get to the ballot, But the
Speaker 7: real fight is about whether or not when you vote,
Speaker 7: whether or not your vote is even going to mean something,
Speaker 7: because they're saying, well, the only people that's going to
Speaker 7: have representation now in Louisiana are Republicans. They want a
Speaker 7: one party system, and that's truly anti democratic. It's a
Speaker 7: disenfranchisement at the highest level. And we're just trying to
Speaker 7: always remind people of and help them to see how
Speaker 7: it all connects.
Speaker 1: So let's let's go go down that line a little bit, right,
Speaker 1: and I want us to talk as friends, but Frank,
Speaker 1: so that people at home can get into you know,
Speaker 1: they're used to hearing political answers. But I think we
Speaker 1: got to be real, real right now. So let's walk
Speaker 1: this through. So we know they want a one party system.
Speaker 1: Have you guys been having conversations about why, Like why
Speaker 1: do they why do they want to eliminate any other
Speaker 1: possible viewpoint? Like what is your perspective on why that's
Speaker 1: important especially in Louisiana.
Speaker 6: A couple of things, Well, they feel threatened.
Speaker 7: We know this is all part of the larger Project
Speaker 7: twenty twenty five effort, whether it's it's neo Confederate movement,
Speaker 7: uh uh, this this far right uh, this far right
Speaker 7: movement to basically do away with anything that's black or
Speaker 7: brown and all throughout the country. This is this is
Speaker 7: the the plate that they've been running for a long time.
Speaker 6: So they feel threatened. And we fought really hard for
Speaker 6: that second black.
Speaker 7: Congressional district that that's currently represented by by Congressman Fields.
Speaker 7: And while while thankfully we have to not like South
Speaker 7: Carolina or like Tennessee or Mississippi or miss Mississippi.
Speaker 6: But but we but we make up one third of
Speaker 6: this state.
Speaker 7: So so I guess in the mind of those who
Speaker 7: want to quote make America great again, the question has
Speaker 7: to be asked who you're making it great again for.
Speaker 7: So to make it great again for some means that
Speaker 7: you roll back representation for others. So black progress to
Speaker 7: some people, they feel threatened by that. And that's what
Speaker 7: this is all in response to Black progress. And I mean,
Speaker 7: I don't know how more direct we can make it
Speaker 7: in terms of just just saying what calling it for
Speaker 7: what it is, but that's what this is all in
Speaker 7: a response to. So, if they were confident in their policies,
Speaker 7: they would feel like they can go and win in November.
Speaker 7: But the president doesn't feel confident because they have a
Speaker 7: losing message. Our country is suffering, and they're going to
Speaker 7: get beat in the mid term. So now they've got
Speaker 7: to go out here and try to steal elections, rig elections.
Speaker 7: They're currently throwing away over forty thousand ballots in Louisiana
Speaker 7: in an election that's currently underway, right, I mean, this
Speaker 7: is just mass chaos and confusion that's all rooted in
Speaker 7: the fear of black progress.
Speaker 1: And I think that's spot on the fear of black progress.
Speaker 1: And so then the next question becomes what are they
Speaker 1: willing to do?
Speaker 2: Like how far are they willing to go?
Speaker 1: And I keep asking this question to people, like what
Speaker 1: is their bottom their floor?
Speaker 2: And so my theory of the case, right, no, I
Speaker 2: want to hear it. Go ahead.
Speaker 7: I don't believe there is one. When you say what
Speaker 7: the floor is, I don't think one exists.
Speaker 1: And so then what I am concerned that we're doing, Senator,
Speaker 1: is we're spending a lot of time fighting them on
Speaker 1: the level we're at right now, but we're not spending
Speaker 1: the time we need to prepare for the next floor. Right,
Speaker 1: So in my mind, I'm a nerd and I got
Speaker 1: add so I'll go down all kinds of rabbit holes.
Speaker 1: So the other day I found this document and I
Speaker 1: encourage you guys at home to check this out for
Speaker 1: state of Conventions. State of Conventions came out when Ben
Speaker 1: Carson will still huts secretary. So first Trump administration, state
Speaker 1: of conventions is gathering people to have a constitutional convention.
Speaker 1: I think they were going after the how those seats
Speaker 1: first because they were like, oh, we can do a
Speaker 1: constitutional convention if we get a congressional supermajority. They need
Speaker 1: two thirds. They can't get it in the Senate, I
Speaker 1: don't think. I think it will be really, really tough.
Speaker 1: But where they could get it, and this is where
Speaker 1: they haven't really gone yet, is at state, the state
Speaker 1: legislative level. You need two thirds to amend the Constitution,
Speaker 1: three fourths to ratify with is thirty eight states. Y'all
Speaker 1: have not been targeted yet, has there been? Have there
Speaker 1: been conversations about redrawing state legislative districts as well?
Speaker 2: In Louisiana?
Speaker 7: Not yet, but I imagine it is coming once we
Speaker 7: get through congressional So the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
Speaker 7: vacated the district course ruling that deemed our current maps
Speaker 7: to be unconstitutional. So it's been remanded back to the
Speaker 7: trial court and it's going to be relitigated under the
Speaker 7: Calaid decision. So all of our seats are at risk.
Speaker 7: So I don't see that fight going away. It just
Speaker 7: hasn't come yet, but I imagine that that's going to
Speaker 7: be the on on the table very soon.
Speaker 1: I think so too, because in Washington State, like I said,
Speaker 1: that is about state legislative seats, and they're what, you know,
Speaker 1: what's crazy to me?
Speaker 2: The grace.
Speaker 1: There was a time where we went, especially in the South,
Speaker 1: we sought relief at the federal level.
Speaker 2: The federal level is now the one exacting the.
Speaker 1: Harm, you know, like we're you know, Jim Crow versus Ferguson,
Speaker 1: which you know all two well, you know, right out
Speaker 1: of your home in Louisiana, Like we're going backwards and
Speaker 1: it's at a lightning pace. I have been feeling really
Speaker 1: bad about the fact that I feel unprepared. Like we
Speaker 1: told people this was coming. I think I didn't realize
Speaker 1: the pace. The thing that I want to talk about
Speaker 1: now selfishly for us too, is you talked about national leadership.
Speaker 1: Of course you're you're a national leader, but a state
Speaker 1: senator in Louisiana.
Speaker 2: What can we do to not be arrested by despair? Right?
Speaker 6: Like?
Speaker 1: What are the things that we know we can do
Speaker 1: in all of our different lanes, because we have something
Speaker 1: we gotta do. I got Harriet on my neck, so
Speaker 1: I know we can't sit still and just watch it happen,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: So like, what's the thing that we gotta do to
Speaker 2: keep pushing?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I want to take a quick moment to shout
Speaker 7: out a brother he came and testified that night. It
Speaker 7: was the morning and this brother never met him before.
Speaker 7: He came to committee's name Marshawn Camisa.
Speaker 6: You hap to have seen his speech. Yeah, this brother brilliant.
Speaker 2: What did he say that to your colleague? He went
Speaker 2: in on it.
Speaker 7: He said that's it's like, that's adorable. He's like burn yeah, yeah,
Speaker 7: and he cut up this brother brilliant. I don't think
Speaker 7: he's ever done that before. I mean, I never met
Speaker 7: him before, but he felt a responsibility to come and
Speaker 7: speak his peace and he was He was just so amazing.
Speaker 7: And my message is that not everybody has to come
Speaker 7: and spend ten hours in a committee here and to testify,
Speaker 7: but whatever whatever opportunity, you have to speak up and
Speaker 7: to share your voice. This is everybody has to carry
Speaker 7: some weight in this fight. Everybody has to carry some
Speaker 7: some of the burden. And also we have to have
Speaker 7: some faith. We have look, Optimism is a choice, Hope
Speaker 7: is a choice. We have to choose to believe that
Speaker 7: this is all gonna work out for the best in
Speaker 7: the end. And we and we have to lean on
Speaker 7: our history. We have to lean on what people like
Speaker 7: Harriet went through. Right, we have to lean on what
Speaker 7: people like Fanny lou Hamer and so many others went through,
Speaker 7: that this was not all in vain, people like John
Speaker 7: Lewis who fought and died to give us the opportunity
Speaker 7: just to be here. So I choose to just try
Speaker 7: to keep a healthy balance of not letting despair overtape me.
Speaker 7: Being in the super minority angela servant in the Louisiana
Speaker 7: Legislature is not for the faint of heart. I'm telling you,
Speaker 7: it is not for the faint heart. But when people
Speaker 7: like Marshaun Camise come and testify, that gave me a
Speaker 7: spark like I hadn't had in a long time. The
Speaker 7: way he's the way he captured, the way so many
Speaker 7: people are feeling. So we're going to We're gonna do
Speaker 7: everything we can to continue to push people to get
Speaker 7: out and vote this upcoming fall. We just had an
Speaker 7: election this past Saturday where people voted down. Look at
Speaker 7: wasn't three, it was all five of The governor was
Speaker 7: five and and and And when I say they voted
Speaker 7: him down, they voted him down. Some amendments went down
Speaker 7: like seventy five percent no against. So people are people
Speaker 7: are angry and black voters came out at a higher clip,
Speaker 7: at a higher rate than than everybody. So people are motivated,
Speaker 7: People are are are are trying to find a way
Speaker 7: to channel that that that that anger, and I think
Speaker 7: by continuing to show up to to to the polls,
Speaker 7: we have to invest in organizations. I'm asking people to
Speaker 7: support the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus Pack.
Speaker 6: And I know not everybody's happy with.
Speaker 7: The with the Democratic Party in Louisiana, but we got
Speaker 7: to continue to support the party, and we need the
Speaker 7: national Party to support southern states like Louisiana, like Mississippi,
Speaker 7: like South Carolina. So it may not sound like the
Speaker 7: most exciting answer, but it's a real answer. We just
Speaker 7: got to show up and everybody has to has to
Speaker 7: carry their weight.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: The other question I have for you is when we
Speaker 1: look at all of the efforts we have traditionally focused
Speaker 1: on legislative and legislation and litigation to get us out of.
Speaker 2: These types of moments.
Speaker 1: One other place that, at least traditionally in civil rights orgs,
Speaker 1: we had Operation Breadbasket under Doctor King in his final
Speaker 1: speech in Memphis. You hear him, You hear him say
Speaker 1: to Jesse Jackson. He's like, what are the companies Jesse,
Speaker 1: And he's asking him while they're in the midst of
Speaker 1: that action against or for Memphis sanitation workers, where do
Speaker 1: we need to keep our money out of so that
Speaker 1: people understand this is not a game. And I think
Speaker 1: that's a place where collectively, not just black folks, but
Speaker 1: the whole of America gets really lazy. The Congressional Black
Speaker 1: Caucus sent out a letter to the folks who they
Speaker 1: demanded support John the John R. Lewis Voting Rights in
Speaker 1: Advancement Act. Those companies, where are they now? These companies
Speaker 1: that lobby these Southern legislators, these Confederate wannabes, they should
Speaker 1: be held to the carpet to ensure our representation. These
Speaker 1: multinationals like FedEx is based in Tennessee, I can't think
Speaker 1: of it. What's a major company based in Louisiana. We
Speaker 1: should not be giving them our money. You know, if
Speaker 1: they can't protect our rights, then that means you don't
Speaker 1: respect our personhood or our dollars, so we should not.
Speaker 2: Give it to you.
Speaker 1: So the other thing that's been really controversial, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of us have been talking about it at home,
Speaker 1: is whether or not, students should go and play in
Speaker 1: the SEC if the SEC is not safe for us
Speaker 1: play sports. So today the NAACP announced the out of
Speaker 1: Bounds campaign. They're saying it's in response to the Louisiana
Speaker 1: versus Calai decision. And when you go into what are
Speaker 1: they're calling on students uh and and for fans to
Speaker 1: no longer support It's in Tennessee, it's in Mississippi, Louisiana,
Speaker 1: South Carolina, Texas, Florida, and Alabama.
Speaker 2: I think that's everywhere.
Speaker 1: I would throw in Indiana and Missouri because Congress mccarson
Speaker 1: seats not up right now for a challenge, but it's
Speaker 1: coming and mister Cleaver just lost a state Supreme Court
Speaker 1: battle for his seat.
Speaker 2: So that is what we are up against.
Speaker 1: And they say at the end of their this tweet,
Speaker 1: this is about more than sports, it's about justice, and
Speaker 1: they offer ways for people to join the movement. I
Speaker 1: gotta know what you think about this. You got LSU
Speaker 1: at home. They they literally list out all the state
Speaker 1: schools where they don't want people to support.
Speaker 6: Look, they're laying off the problem and laying out an issue,
Speaker 6: and it's something that we can't run from. We have
Speaker 6: to be honest about these things.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 7: Look, I'm a person that's always been a strong proponent
Speaker 7: of building black institutions. I attended a Zaber University, I
Speaker 7: attended Howard University School of Law, and so I've always
Speaker 7: been a strong proponent of building our institutions. If we
Speaker 7: don't want to spend our money or go to other institutions,
Speaker 7: that's fine, but we need to also be focusing on
Speaker 7: redirecting those resources and that support in our community.
Speaker 6: So it's really important.
Speaker 7: So to the young people who have the talent and
Speaker 7: have the skills to even play at the level of
Speaker 7: some of these colleges, they have to make some hard decisions.
Speaker 6: And the decision that they have to make is if they're.
Speaker 7: Going to attend these schools, it has to come with
Speaker 7: some demands, it has to come with something. It has
Speaker 7: to come with some demands. And having a scholarship to
Speaker 7: play out a school like LSU is an incredible opportunity
Speaker 7: that It's one that I would never dismiss, as though
Speaker 7: that would be an easy thing to do. But we're
Speaker 7: in critical times right now, and these young people when
Speaker 7: they make their decision to attend schools like this and
Speaker 7: in the climate that we are in. They have to
Speaker 7: understand their value and they have to understand their work
Speaker 7: that they are the ones that generate these millions of
Speaker 7: dollars that do so much for this, for this, for
Speaker 7: those institutions. So what I would say is that it's
Speaker 7: a real conversation that we need to have. And I
Speaker 7: think that if any young person chooses to go to
Speaker 7: one of these schools, to bring their talents to any
Speaker 7: of these schools in these states, like the ones that
Speaker 7: are listed, it should it should absolutely come with some demands.
Speaker 7: But first and foremost, I'm just a big proponent of
Speaker 7: supporting HBCUs and black institutions first and foremost. So that's
Speaker 7: my thoughts on the matter, and I'm willing to engage
Speaker 7: with anybody to try to help advance that conversation going forward.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we do have to figure out what our collective
Speaker 1: sacrifice looks like right now. If we keep trying to
Speaker 1: do business as usual in every other lane, the political
Speaker 1: lane won't work. I can't tell you how frustrated I've
Speaker 1: been over the last several days with some friends saying, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't really like politics, like that, I don't really
Speaker 1: do politics like that.
Speaker 2: I'm like, at what point do you like?
Speaker 1: This isn't just politics, This is oppression, this is racism.
Speaker 1: These are things that will go outside the boundary that
Speaker 1: it's going to impact your drinking water, in the food,
Speaker 1: you have access to your healthcare, all of these other places,
Speaker 1: and I just don't understand.
Speaker 2: So anyway, I'm so grateful for your time. I see
Speaker 2: that we have our clip from mister Marshawn, so I
Speaker 2: feel like this is a good place for us to rest.
Speaker 2: The sign out, let's play that clip.
Speaker 6: Heels great.
Speaker 8: I have no doubt in my mind that the map's
Speaker 8: going to pass. If y'all can give us less than
Speaker 8: zero seats, you would do it. Y'all do this under
Speaker 8: the orders of somebody that said the Civil Rights Act
Speaker 8: was harmful the white people that it calls reverse racism.
Speaker 8: RFK said that black children are overfilled on antidepressants and
Speaker 8: that they need to be reparented on different forms, all
Speaker 8: of them. Pete Hedseeth constantly brings Doug Wilson to the
Speaker 8: Pentagon to give a prayer service. Doug Wilson is the
Speaker 8: same passive that said that slave owners were on strong
Speaker 8: spiritual ground. I don't have no belief in no morality
Speaker 8: on anybody that followed Donald Trump. If you wasn't with
Speaker 8: this map, you wouldn't be underneath this president, you wouldn't
Speaker 8: be in your party. You would stand up, you would
Speaker 8: stand against it, you would speak.
Speaker 6: Out about it.
Speaker 8: So, as far as I'm concerned, if you here as
Speaker 8: one of these Trump Republicans, you already showed us who
Speaker 8: you are.
Speaker 2: You showed us what you want to do.
Speaker 8: And I believe the country as a whole is rebuking
Speaker 8: your party.
Speaker 2: Y'all are in a death spile. That's why y'all have
Speaker 2: to redistrict.
Speaker 6: That's why y'all have to cheat.
Speaker 8: That's why Trump got to go to Texas and say
Speaker 8: he entitled the five more seats. It's because y'all know
Speaker 8: what y'all doing is a pooring. We letting our people
Speaker 8: die any rome based on false pretense that Taulci, GABTT
Speaker 8: and Joe can't say it ain't real. Y'all okay with
Speaker 8: all that, So I'm positive y'all gonna be okay with
Speaker 8: the maps. But the beautiful thing is the children that
Speaker 8: y'all have made, and the people that's younger than y'all
Speaker 8: don't support none of this racism that y'all want. The
Speaker 8: Maga Party is the last breath of the Confederacy, and
Speaker 8: I'll be happy to see millennials in GenZ Bury.
Speaker 2: Y'all, there will be no more of your party. The
Speaker 2: midterms gonna come.
Speaker 8: Y'all gonna get wiped out. Trump gonna get dragged out
Speaker 8: of the White House, and I'm gonna love every second
Speaker 8: of it, because y'all loved every second of the suffering
Speaker 8: that he calls to everybody in this country and worldwide.
Speaker 8: We starve in Cuba, we bomb Nigeria, we hold in
Speaker 8: Zimbabwe and Zambia hostage for their minerals. We don't want
Speaker 8: to give them a support. The pro life is that
Speaker 8: say all life is special?
Speaker 1: Y'all?
Speaker 6: Legging kids die of eights? What part of your Bible
Speaker 6: say that?
Speaker 2: Point out the scripture?
Speaker 8: I think everybody would love to see it, and we
Speaker 8: would love to see y'all in the midterms.
Speaker 2: WHOA, that's that on that er?
Speaker 1: Thank you so much to y'all at home, Senator Royce
Speaker 1: d Plus it's also if you have any last words,
Speaker 1: I'll let you do that.
Speaker 2: Senator.
Speaker 6: Thank you, Angela.
Speaker 7: I want to thank you for everything that you do
Speaker 7: every day, and just giving me an opportunity to come
Speaker 7: and shed a little light on what's happening here in Louisiana.
Speaker 7: Let this be a clarion call to everyone across the country.
Speaker 6: What's going on.
Speaker 7: Louisiana has always been in some ways the laboratory for
Speaker 7: issues like this, when you go back to Homer v. Plessy,
Speaker 7: when you go back to this, you know Ruby Bridges,
Speaker 7: you know, integrating schools back in the back in the sixties.
Speaker 7: The fact that this case came out of Louisiana and
Speaker 7: what we're dealing with now, setting back the country and
Speaker 7: the Voting Rights Act more than six decades just within
Speaker 7: our lifetime, what we've seen, Let this be a clarity
Speaker 7: call for action in this moment is so much more
Speaker 7: than just about maps on our lines on a map.
Speaker 7: This is about whether or not people black people in
Speaker 7: particular are going to be able to fully participate in
Speaker 7: democracy going forward. And there's just no clear to no
Speaker 7: other two ways about it. Hiding behind party as a
Speaker 7: proxy for race should not be allowable under any circumstances.
Speaker 7: And that's what they're trying to do, just like they
Speaker 7: did back when they said separate but equal now it's
Speaker 7: just a different that they're playing at a different level,
Speaker 7: and we have to also be willing to play at
Speaker 7: that different level. So I'm going to continue to push
Speaker 7: and do everything that I can in the super minority
Speaker 7: in this legislature. But we need everybody, we need all
Speaker 7: hands on deck to support what we're trying to do
Speaker 7: here in Louisiana and throughout the South for representation.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, thank you so much, senator. We will be in
Speaker 1: touch very soon.
Speaker 2: Wow, that was sudden. I don't think that he meant
Speaker 2: to go out like that.
Speaker 6: No, thanks you got I was just respectful.
Speaker 2: I'm sure.
Speaker 6: Thank you so appreciate.
Speaker 2: Everyone at home.
Speaker 1: We are going to get smoother with our transitions, but
Speaker 1: just know that we are not finished. So we were
Speaker 1: in Montgomery on Saturday. Native Lampod announced last week on
Speaker 1: our show that we were going to start a tour
Speaker 1: in the South. Bakari required that it be in parts
Speaker 1: that normally don't get all the attention, more rural areas,
Speaker 1: more concentrations of black people who have been feeling disenfranchised, voiceless,
Speaker 1: and invisible. So we are starting that tomorrow Wednesday, May twentieth,
Speaker 1: in Jackson, Mississippi, NAACP will be holding a rally to
Speaker 1: demand fair maps, to demand that maps not be rigged,
Speaker 1: and certainly to protect one of the greatest champions we
Speaker 1: have in the Congressional Black Caucus, Benny Gordon Thompson, who
Speaker 1: was also my former boss.
Speaker 2: We will be in Jackson talking live.
Speaker 1: We're going to be with Eddie Glaud to share some strategies,
Speaker 1: some thoughts about what our path forward must include. Our
Speaker 1: path forward cannot go, cannot be successful without real intentions
Speaker 1: around our economics. We have one point three trillion dollars
Speaker 1: worth of buying power in this in this country. We
Speaker 1: are not just consumers, we are owners too. We will
Speaker 1: make sure that capital is flowing through the doors of
Speaker 1: black business. I appreciate the Senator for raising that, but
Speaker 1: we also need to talk to students, fans, employees alike,
Speaker 1: these Southern schools, these public schools that are using the
Speaker 1: talents of our athletes, but not lifting a finger or
Speaker 1: raising their voice when they watch this oppression happen around
Speaker 1: restricting our voting rights and our voices from being heard
Speaker 1: at the hands of the Supreme Court at the Louisiana
Speaker 1: Versus Cali decision. They continue to exact this harm in Alabama,
Speaker 1: of course, we know what they've said. In Mississippi, we
Speaker 1: know what they've said, so we're going to keep fighting.
Speaker 1: It is all hands on deck. Y'all certainly have a role.
Speaker 1: If you aren't following us, follow us on social media
Speaker 1: at Native lamppod. Make sure that you are subscribed on
Speaker 1: our website Native lampod dot com so you get text
Speaker 1: updates and also we have substack. We are going to
Speaker 1: be following all the state action very very closely with
Speaker 1: a new phased rollout with some young people who will
Speaker 1: be on the ground in states that's coming at you soon.
Speaker 2: But regardless, we need you all to stay in the fight.
Speaker 1: Do not be discouraged. I'm not gonna lie to y'all.
Speaker 1: It's hard not to be in this moment. I feel you,
Speaker 1: but let me tell you, it would be so much
Speaker 1: more discouraging sitting here with no rights because they had
Speaker 1: a constitutional convention to get rid of.
Speaker 2: All of them. We ain't going out like that.
Speaker 1: So until next time, welcome home, y'all. Native Lampod is
Speaker 1: a production of Heart Radio and partnership with reisent Choice Media.
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