Speaker 1: I want to what we're trying to figure out. What
Speaker 1: we've now already talked about some of your early stuff.
Speaker 1: And I think people need to do some research because
Speaker 1: what often happens in our community is that people say, well,
Speaker 1: oh no, he's already you know, he's a congress but
Speaker 1: he don't understand, he don't get it. But understanding where
Speaker 1: you come from, um, you know, knowing that you at
Speaker 1: one point lived in public house, and understanding your your
Speaker 1: journey through the Bronx becoming a principle, bring people like
Speaker 1: my son into your school, which I didn't know about.
Speaker 1: So this is new information for me as well. Um,
Speaker 1: and now going to Washington, it would seem that's the
Speaker 1: story we're trying to really replicate in our communities over
Speaker 1: and over again. And UM, now what we're trying to
Speaker 1: figure out Since you're there, we celebrated you. Now we
Speaker 1: need to go to the effect that we're mad at
Speaker 1: all of y'all because ain't not happening. So tell us
Speaker 1: what why is there so much? Uh? Some people want
Speaker 1: to say stalling. I'm at the point where I just
Speaker 1: I'm I don't even know the appropriate word to describe
Speaker 1: what how frustrated I am about the lack of action
Speaker 1: in Washington on policing, you know, now, voting rights, um,
Speaker 1: and just so many other things. So why don't you
Speaker 1: just kind of you talk. We'll listen. Yes, So, Um,
Speaker 1: the short answer is Republicans don't want to do anything
Speaker 1: at all. And then we have a few Democrats who
Speaker 1: behave like Republicans. And you've heard the names Mansion in
Speaker 1: Cinema and the way the Senate works, And because we
Speaker 1: have such a thin majority, if Mansion and Cinema aren't
Speaker 1: on board, even through a reconciliation process where all we
Speaker 1: need is fifty votes, then we can't move anything like that.
Speaker 1: That's the short answer. The longer answer is the filibuster.
Speaker 1: So the filibuster was put in the place several decades
Speaker 1: ago pretty much designed to stop civil rights legislation from
Speaker 1: moving forward and to UH acquiesce um to Southern Democrats
Speaker 1: who lived in racist KKK driven communities, and so any
Speaker 1: civil rights legislation we try to move forward to filibuster,
Speaker 1: which means we need a super majority sixty votes in
Speaker 1: the Senate to pass legislation is still in place because
Speaker 1: of that, you know, Voting rights UH S one and
Speaker 1: S four uh, commonsense, gun reform, um, immigration policy, all
Speaker 1: of those policies that have already passed the House. And
Speaker 1: that that's the thing, like it's it's not all of Washington.
Speaker 1: It's like the House passed these bills arecy. Now it
Speaker 1: gets to the Senate, and each senator, especially with the
Speaker 1: the majority, is almost like a president. They could they
Speaker 1: could dumb up a thumbed down a bill and the
Speaker 1: bill will not will not go anywhere. So that that's
Speaker 1: the short answer. The longer answer, and what you and
Speaker 1: I have talked about offline, Tamika, is we as a community,
Speaker 1: I don't think are doing enough to really build coalition
Speaker 1: and will and use the coalition to engage Congress and
Speaker 1: the White House and to build power in Congress and
Speaker 1: the White House. And I'm saying that because and we
Speaker 1: talked about this, there are other groups and other lobbies
Speaker 1: in Washington, the Fraternal Order, police, fossil fuel industry, pharmaceutical industry, etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 1: They don't make a couple of calls and literally will
Speaker 1: be voting on the bill on Tuesday that we didn't
Speaker 1: know about on a Monday, because people may some calls
Speaker 1: or they'll get a bill pulled. UH that we was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought he's gonna vote on this, and they're like,
Speaker 1: now we decided not to not to not to put
Speaker 1: that forward, they'll get it pulled on the same day
Speaker 1: as well. So the consistent engagement of members of Congress
Speaker 1: underneath around a black agenda, if you will, agenda to
Speaker 1: uplift poor people and everything we're fighting for is what's needed,
Speaker 1: both in the short term and the long term. So
Speaker 1: it's very frustrating. Now good news is this reconciliation package
Speaker 1: that we're working on right now. It seems like we're
Speaker 1: making forward progress in a way that's going to really
Speaker 1: benefit the entire country, but particularly communities of color and
Speaker 1: black communities. Investments in affordable housing, public housing housing vouchers, UH,
Speaker 1: universal childcare, Medicare, Medicare and Medicaid expansion three K programs clients.
Speaker 1: So this bill has a lot in it, and the
Speaker 1: American Rescue Plan also had a lot in it as well,
Speaker 1: with with investments in public education. But in terms of overall,
Speaker 1: you know, Congress isn't responsive to like our demands or
Speaker 1: agenda if you will, because I think we need to
Speaker 1: do a better job of organizing around their building coalitions
Speaker 1: underneath that agenda and then using it to wheel power
Speaker 1: in Congress through the CBC and other means as well.
Speaker 1: Is it frustrated for you being a congressman who gotta
Speaker 1: let did and on the right things for to do
Speaker 1: the right things and watching, you know, being involved in
Speaker 1: the situation like we see right now, just seeing how
Speaker 1: it's just not everything you're trying to do and old
Speaker 1: things you want to do to seeing it be installed
Speaker 1: and and you know prolonged. So yes, um it is,
Speaker 1: and it's it's like deflating as well. Like so a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago, while Black Asians were being harnessed
Speaker 1: at the border with horse reins, the George for Justice
Speaker 1: and Police and that was dying in the Senate without ceremony,
Speaker 1: Like it didn't even get that much coverage. And for
Speaker 1: those two as a black man, for those two things
Speaker 1: to happen at the same time, and and you know,
Speaker 1: we we brought attention to what was going on with
Speaker 1: the Aitians at the border, which was good, but it
Speaker 1: still just felt like, damn, when it comes to our stuff,
Speaker 1: it dies without ceremony. But again, you know, other issues,
Speaker 1: like I'll give you an example, um, the appropriate. We
Speaker 1: just went through our first appropriations process, which is how
Speaker 1: the federal government spends its money both here and abroad.
Speaker 1: And I had to fight and still fighting to move
Speaker 1: two million dollars, let's say, from the Borough of Prisons
Speaker 1: to historically black colleges, UH minority serving institutions and and
Speaker 1: and black small businesses, Like I'm still fighting to move
Speaker 1: to million of like a seventy six billion dollar budget
Speaker 1: to these areas. Two million ain't nothing on the national level,
Speaker 1: is nothing, but because of the way that the structure
Speaker 1: of white supremacy and European seller colonialism is entrenched in Congress,
Speaker 1: that's just how we do business. Same thing with trying
Speaker 1: to send more money to the Caribbean, Like, well, we
Speaker 1: fund countries very well, you know, in Europe, in the
Speaker 1: Middle East and other places, but like the Caribbean and
Speaker 1: the continent Africa, when you compare the money that goes
Speaker 1: there versus other areas, it's clear to see that, like
Speaker 1: you know, no one really has full full organized around
Speaker 1: in Congress for the stuff that matters most of our community.
Speaker 1: So frustrating, but it's also like I see it as
Speaker 1: an opportunity to to do things differently, and like it
Speaker 1: gives me a reason to go to work everything, like
Speaker 1: to to put pressure on people on the inside and
Speaker 1: do enough work on the outside to make sure that
Speaker 1: begins to change and it and it is change it.
Speaker 1: I mean, we just we just brought the vice president
Speaker 1: to the Bronx a few days ago. And one of
Speaker 1: the reasons why that happens because we engage them in
Speaker 1: consistent conversations around the issues that we're talking about and
Speaker 1: he's like, Yo, you gotta come to the Bronx and
Speaker 1: see it. Blah blah blah. And that happened, But there's
Speaker 1: there's obviously more work to do.