Speaker 1: Good morning, peep Sen. Welcome to ogay FFF Daily with
Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody. Recording from the Home Bunker. Friends,
Speaker 1: I'm very excited to bring to you the second part
Speaker 1: of my two part conversation with doctor Dina Simmons, who
Speaker 1: is an activist, educator, ted talker, and the founder of Liberated.
Speaker 1: I'm excited for the second part of this conversation because
Speaker 1: it's not often that I leave a conversation feeling more
Speaker 1: inspired to do the work that I do on a
Speaker 1: regular basis, and I felt this way with doctor Simmons because,
Speaker 1: you know, as a black queer woman who has dedicated
Speaker 1: her life to politics, to wanting to engage those who
Speaker 1: have been most marginalized and oppressed and then also educate
Speaker 1: those who act as allies, you know, it is a
Speaker 1: trying space to be in. It is one that you know,
Speaker 1: oftentimes are forced to create and forge yourself. And so
Speaker 1: in this conversation with doctor Simmons, you know, I felt
Speaker 1: a kinship which I'm sure that you can hear from
Speaker 1: our conversation, and felt like there was, you know, an
Speaker 1: opportunity for us to be able to grow together. Right
Speaker 1: that community is something that you have to be intentional
Speaker 1: about So I enjoyed this conversation and I hope you
Speaker 1: enjoy the second part as well. But before we dig
Speaker 1: into that, I, you know, folks, I took a few
Speaker 1: days to celebrate the marriage of one of my best friends,
Speaker 1: and it took a few days off in order to
Speaker 1: travel to her wedding, which means that I was able
Speaker 1: to give my mind and my soul and my spirit
Speaker 1: a rest from the time toxicity that is our news cycle,
Speaker 1: from the reality that is our crumbling democracy, and from
Speaker 1: being inundated with the rise in hate and violence that
Speaker 1: we are seeing both on social media and in real life.
Speaker 1: So when the alert would come across my phone, as
Speaker 1: it did with all of you, about the violent assault
Speaker 1: on Speaker Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, and then to watch
Speaker 1: just for a few, you know, for a few brief moments,
Speaker 1: the reaction from the Republican Party and the reaction from
Speaker 1: Don Trump Junior, which has had him trending this week
Speaker 1: on social media because he is just so disgusting and
Speaker 1: repulsive in turning a very violent and scary and lethal,
Speaker 1: potentially lethal situation into a joke. Shows you the fact
Speaker 1: that there is absolutely no bottom with these people or
Speaker 1: with this party, and that there should be no excuses
Speaker 1: made or the thought that I'm looking at media outlets
Speaker 1: that are saying things like he may have suggested, or
Speaker 1: it may it could be, you know, intended that he
Speaker 1: was making a joke about Paul Pelosi. Let me tell
Speaker 1: you something. I don't know how much more fucking obvious
Speaker 1: things have to be in order for people in the
Speaker 1: media to not want to cover their ass and just
Speaker 1: actually tell the fucking truth. Right. Don Junior puts up
Speaker 1: a tweet of a disgusting Halloween what he stated was
Speaker 1: a Halloween costume with a hammer and a pair of
Speaker 1: men's briefs and says, oh, look, I have my Paul
Speaker 1: Pelosi costume. This eighty two year old man is still
Speaker 1: an intensive air. This eighty two year old man almost
Speaker 1: lost his life, not for anything that he has done,
Speaker 1: but because of what the Republican Party has him. Turned
Speaker 1: his wife into a caricature into the reason why. I
Speaker 1: don't know, gas prices are high, the earth spins, I
Speaker 1: have no fucking idea, But what I will say is
Speaker 1: that there used to be a time when we had
Speaker 1: a bottom, when there was a limit to the rhetoric. Now,
Speaker 1: these are the same motherfuckers that will turn around after
Speaker 1: a school shooting that claims the life of children teachers
Speaker 1: and say that now is not the time to talk politics.
Speaker 1: We should be sending hopes and prayers. But while Paul
Speaker 1: Pelosi is recovering an intensive care surrounding by his family
Speaker 1: and friends because of a political assault that he barre
Speaker 1: the brunt of because thankfully his wife was not home.
Speaker 1: But what we know and report since with the investigation
Speaker 1: is that this quanon hyped up Fox News Guslin piece
Speaker 1: of shit was looking to send a message to other
Speaker 1: Democrats by breaking the kneecaps of Nancy Pelosi. And I'm
Speaker 1: probably sure going further than that, remind you that this
Speaker 1: comes off of, you know, the heels of a guilty
Speaker 1: verdict in the case that would have been the disrupted
Speaker 1: kidnapping of Governor Whitmer right, which the far right also
Speaker 1: made a joke about that. And I don't even call
Speaker 1: them the far right, They're just the right. Their violence,
Speaker 1: their rhetoric, their disgust, and their disdain for anything other
Speaker 1: than white, straight Christian and I use Christian with the
Speaker 1: fucking air quotes, people, isn't just left to the political arena.
Speaker 1: They are egging these people on. When you have Marjorie
Speaker 1: Taylor Green getting up on stages and saying that Democrats
Speaker 1: are trying to kill us, What the fuck do you
Speaker 1: think is going to happen? But they absolutely know what
Speaker 1: is going to happen. They are hopeful for it, they
Speaker 1: are giddy about it. Other things that I saw while
Speaker 1: I was supposed to be on vacation celebrating, you know,
Speaker 1: love and marriage, we're white supremacist in tactical gear standing
Speaker 1: in front of polling stations so that they could intimidate
Speaker 1: people the same way that the KKK did during Jim Crow.
Speaker 1: What do I want folks to remember too, is that
Speaker 1: you know Jim Crow, y'all wasn't that long ago. Like
Speaker 1: there are grandparents who are still alive, your parents possibly
Speaker 1: who were born on the heels right of major court
Speaker 1: decisions like Brown versus the Board of Education that would
Speaker 1: try and create a more equitable United States of America.
Speaker 1: So right now, as we are watching this country regress,
Speaker 1: and we're wondering how how could it possibly be? Oh,
Speaker 1: because we don't give a shit about teaching anything that
Speaker 1: has to do with history or civics or your responsibility
Speaker 1: as a citizen. And we love to couch everything in
Speaker 1: the idea that you know, all of these bad things
Speaker 1: that happen were just done by a handful of people,
Speaker 1: and it was like centuries ago. It wasn't you know.
Speaker 1: Somebody told me the other day that the last living
Speaker 1: child of enslaved people died just recently in this country.
Speaker 1: Do you know how old they were? They were in
Speaker 1: their ninety So that just lets you know that America's
Speaker 1: attention span is real short, and their understanding of history
Speaker 1: even shorter. Things are repeating themselves because we refuse to
Speaker 1: teach them. It is just, folks, a handful of days
Speaker 1: until midterm elections. As I've been clocking back into the news,
Speaker 1: twenty two million Americans as of the time of this
Speaker 1: recording have already voted. That bodes well, usually for Democrats.
Speaker 1: But we won't know because, just like I tell you
Speaker 1: every single day on this show, do not believe poles
Speaker 1: because polls don't mean a fucking thing. They are not science,
Speaker 1: and you can get them to say whatever it is
Speaker 1: that you want, depending on how you ask the question
Speaker 1: and to who you ask the question. So the polls
Speaker 1: would have us believe that all is lost, right, that
Speaker 1: we need to pack up our bags and we need
Speaker 1: to go away because the far right is coming. Well,
Speaker 1: if the recent election in Brazil doesn't give you some comfort,
Speaker 1: it should now. While the winning right by the left
Speaker 1: in that country was razor thin, meaning the decision to
Speaker 1: oust the far right Brazilian Trump Bulsonato was a decision
Speaker 1: made by two million voters. Two million. So for those
Speaker 1: people that think that midterms is a time for them
Speaker 1: to sit out, you'll get another bite at this apple.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you you won't. So for family and friends
Speaker 1: and colleagues that you have that are telling you that
Speaker 1: all is lost, all is hopeless, and there are days,
Speaker 1: absolutely there are days when I feel that way. But
Speaker 1: there's also a reason why I get up every morning
Speaker 1: and why I continue to record this show, why I
Speaker 1: continue to write, why I continue to tweet and speak
Speaker 1: out because it matters, Because our voices, at the end
Speaker 1: of the day matter, Because if we don't lift them up,
Speaker 1: if we don't scream from the rooftops, if we allow
Speaker 1: the Musks and the Trumps of the world to take
Speaker 1: over and we just go quietly off into the good night,
Speaker 1: what the fuck do we think is going to happen?
Speaker 1: I tell you that I would rather stay and fight
Speaker 1: then go live peacefully or somewhat peacefully on my knees
Speaker 1: someplace else. So, folks, with the few days that we
Speaker 1: have left, if you have not voted already, please do
Speaker 1: make sure that you have a plan for voting, and
Speaker 1: that you have a plan to bring other people to
Speaker 1: the poles with you. Know that if you are in
Speaker 1: certain states, you will need chairs to sit down, you
Speaker 1: will need water to drink, you will need snacks, you
Speaker 1: will need a phone charger. Right, you may need people
Speaker 1: to be on tap for you so that you can
Speaker 1: tap them into line so that you can take a
Speaker 1: break and then tap others. And this is why mail
Speaker 1: in voting is so important. But we know that some
Speaker 1: states have disallowed that, you know, because of the five
Speaker 1: people that happen to accidentally illegally vote every year. They've
Speaker 1: created all of these parameters, but nothing for the motherfuckers
Speaker 1: that are committing mass murder every day by ar fifteens. Nonetheless,
Speaker 1: I hope that the second part of my conversation with
Speaker 1: doctor Dina Simmons inspires you as much as it did me,
Speaker 1: and I hope that it inspires you all to remember
Speaker 1: your power and your purpose as citizens of this country.
Speaker 1: Coming up next the last part, the final part of
Speaker 1: my conversation with doctor Dina Simmons. It's no secret that
Speaker 1: the news is horsepill hard to swallow. Thankfully, there's The
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Speaker 1: just leave you crying under a weighted blanket. Get The
Speaker 1: Bituation Room on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and streaming on
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Speaker 1: that serves as your daily breakdown of the genuine threats
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Speaker 1: If you like what you here, be sure to subscribe
Speaker 1: so you never miss an episode. You know, I am
Speaker 1: a former educator. I taught first and second grade general
Speaker 1: education and special education. Then I went into education policy,
Speaker 1: all for the reasons that you just stated, all for
Speaker 1: the desire, because I have always believed that education is
Speaker 1: key into being able to understand yourself, understand the world
Speaker 1: around you, but more so understand the value that your ancestors,
Speaker 1: your people brought to this world. Right. And it is
Speaker 1: amazing to me, but not really that you will see
Speaker 1: now these forces of evil to try and gut curriculum,
Speaker 1: to try and gut the very presence of queer people
Speaker 1: like I am, of black, people, of Latin X people,
Speaker 1: of just anyone who is not white, ciss, straight, and
Speaker 1: supposedly Christian, right, And I'm wondering you know because you
Speaker 1: said earlier about what allows you to wake up every day? Right?
Speaker 1: But I gotta tell you, Dina, that what is keeping
Speaker 1: me up every night is the fact that the erasure
Speaker 1: that is happening right now is rapid and it is real.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if we are all, all of us,
Speaker 1: including our white accomplices, embodying the revolutionary spirit that is
Speaker 1: going to be necessary to push back against these forces
Speaker 1: that are unrelenting. And so I want to, you know,
Speaker 1: ask you what do you truly believe will wake people
Speaker 1: up to the reality that we are facing and that
Speaker 1: we are currently living in. Because you know, the title
Speaker 1: of my show is Woke as Fuck, because I wanted
Speaker 1: to be an alarm clock, the raising of consciousness for
Speaker 1: people who have been forced into or have decided to
Speaker 1: rest in slumber. Put there, bury their heads, as I say,
Speaker 1: and be political ostriches in the sand. Right, So you know,
Speaker 1: what do you think will or can wake people up
Speaker 1: to the revolutionary spirit and warrior spirit that our ancestors
Speaker 1: had to even get us here? What do we what
Speaker 1: do we need? So several things. First of all, the
Speaker 1: folks who bury their head in the sand, I always say,
Speaker 1: what a privilege that you get to look away. I
Speaker 1: got to wake up every single day and live my
Speaker 1: life in this country as a black woman, and and
Speaker 1: you know, with a sister who's chronically ill, because I
Speaker 1: want to also be inclusive of what it means to
Speaker 1: be chronically ill in this country. I am also newly
Speaker 1: chronically ill. And I cannot tell you how much time
Speaker 1: it takes out of my day to go to doctors appointments,
Speaker 1: to do everything I need to do just to be
Speaker 1: well enough in this capitalist society so that I could
Speaker 1: perform or achieve or produce right, because that's what that's
Speaker 1: what the society expects of us. Nonetheless, what we've learned
Speaker 1: from you know, twenty twenty one is that when white folks,
Speaker 1: some white folks discovered racism after George Floyd, because I
Speaker 1: say discovered, because folks act like we weren't saying the
Speaker 1: same stuff before. Folks discovered racism, or institutions discovered racism
Speaker 1: because they had no choice but to watch a black
Speaker 1: man for nearly eight minutes or nine minutes get killed
Speaker 1: with a knee to his neck. We saw a bunch
Speaker 1: of movement around, let's go get training, let's go buy
Speaker 1: these books, let's go March, and today in twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: we don't see that same energy. And all I want,
Speaker 1: folks is to keep that same energy because that was
Speaker 1: one instance of many instances of black death, and black
Speaker 1: death does not always end is not always end in
Speaker 1: like actual death. There are many black deaths that black
Speaker 1: people experience and come back alive every single day. It's
Speaker 1: true for every young people. So I would always say
Speaker 1: to folks, is control what you can control. If you're
Speaker 1: a teacher in the classroom and you're a white person,
Speaker 1: how are you putting yourself on the line for to
Speaker 1: ensure that that black child could be who they are
Speaker 1: without repercussion, who who they're not being, and contribute, not
Speaker 1: contributing to the prison you know, to the school to
Speaker 1: prison nexus, that you are standing up for that black child,
Speaker 1: that lay an X child, that queer trial and all
Speaker 1: those intersections and that chronically ill child, Asian child, whomever
Speaker 1: you are doing that work, and that you know your
Speaker 1: values and that you're living your values. And I think
Speaker 1: that is something that everyone can do. At the end
Speaker 1: of the day, folks need to give up something for everyone. Happened,
Speaker 1: and I will ask folks us to really reflect on
Speaker 1: what you're willing to give up in order for someone
Speaker 1: else to have something. And um, and that's something too
Speaker 1: that I have to reflect on now new lead middle class.
Speaker 1: Grew up you know, and you know in poverty, but
Speaker 1: now in the middle class. And so that's also the tension, right.
Speaker 1: It was education that got me to where I am.
Speaker 1: But it's like, so I critique the education system, is like,
Speaker 1: I'm also broken. I am healing and I'm in therapy
Speaker 1: because of those years I had to distance myself from
Speaker 1: myself in my community and my home. But well, how
Speaker 1: us can folks wake up? I've also noticed too that
Speaker 1: after Trump was elected, we saw a lot more people
Speaker 1: getting involved in activism, and that was because it impacted them.
Speaker 1: So it says a lot about how self centered people are, Like, Oh,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, this is importanting me. Let me
Speaker 1: go put myself on the line because now it's a
Speaker 1: personal and I think that's you know, fine, that's a
Speaker 1: motivated But I think we need to be motivated also
Speaker 1: by the saying that there is no liberation. I like,
Speaker 1: if if we all don't have liberation, that our liberation
Speaker 1: and our healing and our all of that freedom is connect,
Speaker 1: is interconnected, and it's connected. So as long as you
Speaker 1: have your big picket ends and you're a big gate
Speaker 1: in your community, there will always be someone trying to
Speaker 1: take something from you because they need it. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I'm saying, as long as you have
Speaker 1: that picket fence because it's needed, and as long as
Speaker 1: you have that picket fence and you are where you are,
Speaker 1: this always going to be. You are always going to
Speaker 1: have to fear that someone wants to take something from you.
Speaker 1: If we all had enough come on, that would be okay,
Speaker 1: that would be okay. And so we work in the
Speaker 1: spirit of scars here city instead of abundance. And so
Speaker 1: what I would say is, what are you willing to
Speaker 1: give up? I'm not asking people to like sacrifice their lives.
Speaker 1: I'm asking people to maybe sacrifice some comfort, sacrifice your job,
Speaker 1: sacrifice your inheritance because anyway, that money ain't yours. That
Speaker 1: money is some body's black ancestors money. Let's be real
Speaker 1: think about we also have to have the conversation about reparations.
Speaker 1: Right where are the reparations? And I don't think we're
Speaker 1: ready for that conversation because folks think we are not
Speaker 1: ready for that conversation. Well, because you and I are like, so,
Speaker 1: folks are gonna because we complicate it, right, We're like
Speaker 1: Dina and Danielle. Technically, y'all ain't gonna get any reparations
Speaker 1: because y'all from the Caribbean, y'all, I'm not American descendants
Speaker 1: of See for y'all and get your money, but go
Speaker 1: back and try and get your money from the English
Speaker 1: whatever they do in Antigua and Jamaican. Right, So, I
Speaker 1: think I think we over complicate the reparations conversation. But
Speaker 1: we do need to have the conversation about reparations because
Speaker 1: black people are owed what was stolen from us, and
Speaker 1: that we're starting to see little things Nigeria received back
Speaker 1: some um, some of their you know, their jewels, or
Speaker 1: it wasn't their jewels, but it was some sort of
Speaker 1: ancestral sort of um important artifact. And so so I
Speaker 1: don't know, I don't know the answers. What I would
Speaker 1: say is live every day, fighting for a better tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Live every day enough for yourself for the collective. And
Speaker 1: that's hard to do. Live every day and make it
Speaker 1: count because every single thing we do has a repercussion.
Speaker 1: There's a story that I like to use um it's
Speaker 1: it's it's about Ursula when I believe it was her name,
Speaker 1: and it's it's about this this town, this utopic town.
Speaker 1: In order for that utopia, that utopia to happen, there's
Speaker 1: a child in a basement that is suffering, and everyone
Speaker 1: knows it in that town and they're just like, well,
Speaker 1: that's just how it is, and that is actually how
Speaker 1: we live our life. We know that in other countries
Speaker 1: in India in like when we were having COVID, even
Speaker 1: our COVID behavior, like even our or how wasteful we are,
Speaker 1: impacts people who are dealing with global warming right now.
Speaker 1: Literally things are burning in other parts of the world.
Speaker 1: But as long as we focus only on ourselves, we're
Speaker 1: not going to get anywhere. And I think we need
Speaker 1: to think about the collective a little bit more. We
Speaker 1: need to think about how our acts to trickle down
Speaker 1: to other people. And so those are just those are
Speaker 1: things that I think people can do individually. Where are
Speaker 1: you buying from, how are you buying, are you supporting
Speaker 1: black businesses? How is what you do contribute to X
Speaker 1: y Z suffering? Those are all things that we need
Speaker 1: to think about. And those are questions I ask myself
Speaker 1: because I'm always at tension every time I buy something,
Speaker 1: I'm like, who had to work cheap labor? Now need
Speaker 1: to get this sale, you know? And so that's a
Speaker 1: tension that I'm always dealing. Well, I'm not perfect. I
Speaker 1: fail because I'm trying to save money, but I'm always
Speaker 1: I have to be like no, Dina, like who's expense?
Speaker 1: And that's a question that I think many of us
Speaker 1: should ask ourselves at who's expense? And then if we're
Speaker 1: in a room, we have to ask who's not in
Speaker 1: the room? And how do I make space? And how
Speaker 1: do I break down this table so that we build
Speaker 1: a new one where other folks can fit at it?
Speaker 1: Or are we just to get rid of the table
Speaker 1: all together and just knock down the wall and have
Speaker 1: a whole have a more like welcoming space. And so
Speaker 1: I want to focus on the individual could because of
Speaker 1: obviously there could be systemic changes, like folks, go vote,
Speaker 1: go register to vote. If you ain't voting, go vote,
Speaker 1: because there's one way to exercise your voice. And so
Speaker 1: I will say, go vote if you can. And then
Speaker 1: when when you vote and you know, vote to those
Speaker 1: meetings and those council meetings and those committees meetings, and
Speaker 1: advocate for what you care about. Organize and you know,
Speaker 1: do community organizing to get what you need in your community.
Speaker 1: If you live in a building, tenant, organizing whatever you
Speaker 1: need to do. Because there is power in the people.
Speaker 1: And I think you forget that they're more of us
Speaker 1: than there are of them. Whoever that them is the powerful,
Speaker 1: the supremacist, the white supremacist. There's more. There were more
Speaker 1: enslaved people than there were enslavers. And I think part
Speaker 1: of it is liberating our mind to know our work. Yes,
Speaker 1: that is at the end of the day. Liberate your
Speaker 1: minds that you know your powers, you could ask for
Speaker 1: what you want. You can know your worth and you
Speaker 1: can fight for what we deserve. Doctor Dina Simmons, you
Speaker 1: must come back to Woke f Daily. Well, her book
Speaker 1: comes out, it's very now as White Rules for Black People.
Speaker 1: But I also know my worth and so I left
Speaker 1: my publisher and it's back on the marketing. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: so we could we could We definitely be down to
Speaker 1: talk to you because we have actually have so much
Speaker 1: in common. I looked you up, I was like, we're
Speaker 1: gonna have to be a friend. I love that. I
Speaker 1: love that very much. Yes, yes, I am open for dope,
Speaker 1: powerful black women friends. The door is open. So doctor Simmons,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for making the time for Woke
Speaker 1: f for this very in depth, you know, inspiring conversation.
Speaker 1: We I don't often get to leave people with inspiration,
Speaker 1: I leave them with rage, and so this this was,
Speaker 1: this was really beautiful and needed and I'm very grateful
Speaker 1: for it. So thank you, Thank you so much, Samiel.
Speaker 1: I look forward to being in touch and be friends.
Speaker 1: Thank you. That is it for me today, Dear friends
Speaker 1: on woke app as always power to the people and
Speaker 1: to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke
Speaker 1: as fuck.