WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Stacey Abrams 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:10.960 What's Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. Suprema Supremo 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:12.400 Role Canthum s. 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:21.239 Upremo Supremo role called Supremo Sun Sun Supremo role called Supremo. 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:23.040 Suck Suck Supremo role. 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:27.920 There's new delaying. Yeah hear what I'm saying. Yeah, Abrams 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:32.680 in twenty eight. Yeah, and I'm not playing roll president. 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:39.319 Primo Supremo role called Supremo Supremo role call. 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:40.640 My name is Fante. 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:45.200 Yeah, and I'm showing love yeah to Stacey Abrams. Yeah, 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:50.600 first black woman go ro call Supreme su su subrivo, 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:55.520 roll down Supremo Supremo. 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:59.560 Role car Supreme. Yeah, and we're the freshest. Yeah, I'm 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:02.880 Sugar Steve. Yeah and I approved this message. 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:11.319 Suprema so Supremo roll call Supremo Supremo role called. 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:15.720 It's like yeah with Stacey a Yeah, and we're all 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:18.200 about to listen. Yeah, so what she got to say? 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:27.119 Roll call Supremo Supremo, roll call Supremo Supremo role call. 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:28.320 My name is Stacey. 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:28.960 Yeah. 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.959 I tried to win. Yeah, it didn't happen the first time. Yeah, 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:34.080 so I'm doing it again. 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:46.280 Supremo roll called Suprema, I need an airhorn. Primo roll call, Supremo, Supremo. 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:51.120 Roll call, Supremo, Supremo, roll call. 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.360 Yo, you made a better guest verse than some musicians 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:56.440 will thank you very much. 0:01:57.440 --> 0:01:59.840 That was Yeah, that was That was definitely top five 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:05.640 in the six year history. Everyone's like, oh, I don't know. Oh, yes, 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:09.560 I am Michael Jackson. Okay, so, ladies and gentlemen, we 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:15.560 are being given the honor of having a sit down 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:21.640 with the human being that I credit for literally holding 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:25.480 our democracy in place. You know, I'm trying not to 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:29.000 be a hyperbolic or that extra pressure, but you know, 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:33.040 I'm speaking facts right now, and much like my beloved 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:37.600 state of Pennsylvania, Georgia is going to be a fight 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:41.200 to the finish, and you know, for the two percent 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:44.280 of you that have your head in the sand, November 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:48.440 eighth is a crucial date for not only Georgia, but. 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:50.040 For this country and for history. 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:55.040 I feel like it's our due diligence to offer our platform. 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:59.440 And yes, like normally this is a platform for musicians 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:01.440 and artists like or whatever, but I think it's our 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:07.079 due diligence to give our guests today the platform because 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:10.560 I often feel like people who listen to us often 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:14.320 like people who are creatives, they're sometimes, you know, very indifferent, 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:16.120 or I hear like, well, you know, I'm beginning the 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:19.000 political stuff or whatever, or they just simply feel like 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:23.560 maybe the trickle down effect won't affect them that much 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:27.400 than it already has. And I can't stress to you 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:33.120 find folk enough that, Yeah, I know there's fatigue, and 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:36.240 you know, but we have to fight this good fight. 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:39.880 And I'd rather us be fatigue than to be lying 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:43.200 on our backs and then wondering what happened months after 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:46.320 the fact. And I believe in our guest today because 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:50.280 she is about that action. And you know, it's like 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:53.200 the wild West out here, and it's time to get serious. 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:56.760 And I want, yeah, I want you people to take 0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:00.640 time out to really get yourselves familiar if you aren't 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:03.480 already with the person. Yes, and I said in my verse, 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.640 I do believe that, you know. First of all, I 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:09.080 believe in her affirmation that yeah, she is going to win. 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:12.680 But you know, I believe that President. 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:14.960 I'm talking to the future president right now not to 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:16.440 put a pressure on. 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:18.240 You, but that fix Georgia. 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:20.600 First, let's work on this job. 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:22.560 Yes, Yeah, one, one step at the time. 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:26.080 So you know, our guest today running for governor and 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:31.239 I just found out will successfully be the first African 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:36.960 American governor ever. We're still dealing with first female yeah yes, 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:43.200 first female black governor in the United States, and future potus. 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:48.040 Let's have it. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Stacy Abrams. 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:51.720 Thank you so much for having me, Am. 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:52.320 We made it. 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:57.560 Yeah, you know, it's weird because you know, I know 0:04:57.720 --> 0:04:59.760 that you know, living a life in which you're trying 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:03.960 to correct history and right wrongs and whatnot. And you know, 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:08.120 I often feel as though like introductions like that do 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:10.880 nothing but add more pressure to the person than it 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:14.040 already is. But just in general, I want to know 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:17.880 for you, not how exhausting is it, but just on 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:21.520 the every day of knowing that pretty much most of 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:25.440 us are looking at you specifically to you know, at 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:28.600 least hold this country in place as the adhesive that 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:32.559 we want it to be, because if it doesn't happen, 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:35.880 then a lot is going to change. But I mean, 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.520 just for you in general, like I'll offer you the 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:41.120 platform to answer this question, like why do you feel 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:43.400 that you're qualified to be the person to. 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:45.520 Save us. 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:51.040 There is an urgency that I feel every day, in 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:54.080 part because of what I know about what the world 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.040 can be and what I know about what it is. 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:01.400 I grew up with five brothers and sisters. My parents 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:04.599 were working poor, but they took us out to volunteer 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:07.800 because my dad's succinct way of saying it was having 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:10.920 nothing is not an excuse for doing nothing. But what 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:13.760 that grounded in me and what my mother, who would say, 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:15.320 you know, no matter how little we have, there's someone 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:18.560 with less. Your job is to serve that person, is 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:22.600 that It's not just about material. It is about it's 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:26.560 about advocacy, it's about efficacy, it's about access. And when 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:30.400 you've seen people who should have had but were denied, 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:34.400 if there is any degree of empathy in you, you 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:35.800 feel compelled to do something well. 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:36.040 For me. 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.800 It's a systemic issue. I grew up in Mississippi. I 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:41.800 came of age in Georgia. I've lived in Texas. I 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:43.200 went to the North but it was cold, so I 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.640 came back. But we're in the North, so I was 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.720 born in Wisconsin. I barely remember that. Oh yeah, I 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.960 remember cheese curds and cold. And then I went to 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:55.560 law school in Connecticut, so I went to Yale, and 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.760 in both places, their challenge is everywhere. But in the 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:03.719 South we've been gaslighted into believing these are permanent issues, 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:07.800 and I know it's not. So I know that the 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:10.160 South not only has something to say, but we can 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:15.920 demonstrate a capacity that we have been fooled into believing 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:20.600 isn't our right. And as someone who's gotten people to 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:23.480 listen sometimes, I'm really good at asking people to do things. 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:27.600 I'm pretty good at organizing stuff. My responsibility is to 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:32.240 keep pushing until I can't push any further. And so yeah, 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:35.480 I appreciate the plout. It's I see myself more as 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:37.160 an avatar for all the other people who are trying 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:39.760 to do this work but don't get the access I've gotten. 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:43.120 I'm louder than a lot of people, and I'm more 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:47.040 relentless than many because I don't know how not to 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.360 do this. I don't know how you sit still when 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.000 you see the issues before us. And I know that 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:55.280 democracy is how I mean you use the right word. 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:58.760 It's the adhesive, but it's also the toolkit. And so 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:02.040 for me, this heart has to be done. And if 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:03.080 not me, then you know. 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:06.480 Who Okay, so I'm one of those people who's definitely 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:11.560 guilty of you know, I'll watch MSNBC or something, shake 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:14.360 my head like somebody I do something like if anything. 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:16.280 I think in the last three years, I was the 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:18.960 king of Man. I was somebody with da da da 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:22.680 da da, and then I find that I'm the person 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:24.200 that's called to do that. 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:27.800 For you, what was the pivotal moment, like back when 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:33.400 you were at Yale and I'm uman right before that? Yeah, right, okay, Well. 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:36.439 I mean back when you were in college where what 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:40.120 were your lofty goals in life? 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:42.439 Like are you imagining. 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:46.559 That some fifteen sixteen years later that you'll be in 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:48.720 the position that you are now or were you just like, Okay, 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:49.920 I'm gonna be a lawyer or da. 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:52.760 Da da da, or I had like twenty seven majors 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:55.520 in college. I was physics and philosophy, with a minor 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:58.480 in theater. Oh finds out. I liked star Trek, but 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:03.640 not differential calculus. And when you can't stay awaken in pistemology, 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:05.680 it's probably not the thing to do when there are 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:08.360 only four people in the classroom. I like acting, but 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:10.800 not enough to make it my life's work, and so 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:13.839 I flitted through a bunch of other things, but what 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:17.160 was the through line for me was activism. The pivotal 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:19.679 moment for me when I realized that it wasn't just 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:22.000 an inherited property from my parents, it was part of 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:25.559 my DNA. When the Rodney King decision came down in 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.280 nineteen ninety two, I was a freshman at Spelman. I 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:32.439 organized students to protest. They locked down our campus. I 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:34.560 was at the AUC and if you if you know Atlanta, 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:36.920 they locked down I twenty so you could not get 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:39.480 off of the interstate and come to to the University center. 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:43.160 So Spellman, Moorhouse, Clark Atlanta, Morris Brown ITC and More 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:45.680 School of Medicine. And then they tear gassed us. They 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:47.920 tear gas the entire area. And this was under a 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:50.240 black mayor, and. 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:53.480 This is Spelman, and that's even deeper, like wow. 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:57.040 But the schools were juxtaposed next to some of the 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:00.360 oldest housing developments in the nation. And so the issue 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:04.160 was we weren't, you know, elite students and poor communities. 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:07.720 We were all black, and we were all basically accused 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:10.880 of the same anger. And the problem was the protests 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:13.360 were real because the pain was real, and so I 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.760 helped organize students. Actually got into an argument with then 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:20.079 Mayor Maynard Jackson. He won the argument, but because you 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:22.560 couldn't argue and I was like, my cleanest tea shirts 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:23.440 are my nicest jeans. 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:24.080 But he still won. 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:26.880 But he later hired me to work in the newly 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:28.320 created Office of Youth Services. 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:32.640 Okay, let me ask something, because you know, I did 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:35.320 not go to college, like immediately got a record deal 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:39.959 and had a career. Always wanted to know when we 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:43.480 protest on a college campus, like what's the goal? Especially 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:46.160 when like the issue is three thousand miles away in 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:48.120 Los Angeles, Like how does that trickle to? 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:49.320 So two things. 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:53.959 One, what Rodney King's with a Verdict was evocative of 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:57.880 was the lack of justice from police. And that was 0:10:57.920 --> 0:11:00.760 happening in Atlanta, that was happening in Georgia. And part 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:03.920 of it was where poverty exists, where racism exists, you 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:07.320 were going to find police misconduct. And there was also 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:11.320 the larger issue of simply the evidence of our eyes 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:16.400 being denied. Those things well, Rodney King was emblematic of 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:18.719 it was but he was only one example. He was 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.160 the first example that got caught on tape. But people 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:26.000 have those experiences everywhere, and that's why it was so inflammatory. 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.720 The protests I organized. We started this moment we watched 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:32.120 we marched from the AUC all the way to City Hall. 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.959 So to your point, I didn't go to a college 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:36.880 where protesting at the college made a license because we 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:40.800 all pretty much agreed the most effective protests leave the 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:44.199 safe spaces and go into the public spaces. So we 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:47.199 made sure that march went past the housing projects, went 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:49.199 past the liquor stores, all the way down to city Hall. 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:52.120 That's how I ended up getting into the Teta tet 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:57.040 with the mayor. But to your point, there are some 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:02.160 campuses where protest on campus is it's effective because if 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.679 you're at Harvard, you're talking about billions of dollars in 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:08.960 economic influence. If you're an AEC, the numeric, the monetary 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:12.079 and effect is the smaller, but the salutary effect is 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:15.800 bigger because you have people who may have been conditioned 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:17.800 to think that they were the exceptions to the rule, 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:20.120 who have to remind themselves that they are part of 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:23.320 the same fabric that people don't ask you, they don't 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:25.679 investigate did you go to Spelman, Why are you in 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:28.360 the auc Why are you in southwest Atlanta? They just 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:30.319 see someone who looks like something they've been taught to 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:33.800 be afraid of or taught to disregard. And this is 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:36.199 true for a lot of different communities of color. It's 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:40.199 true based on your economic situation and where protests comes in. 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:43.240 As protest moves beyond the space that you inhabit, and 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:44.599 it tells the rest of the world you've got to 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:45.120 pay attention. 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:48.000 It's a bullhorn exactly. 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:53.800 So do you consider that moment your first footprint in 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:54.920 political action? 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:58.280 It was my parents will tell you, because my mom 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:01.800 and dad were in grad school here in uh in Georgia. 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.600 They had moved back to Mississippi at and I gave 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.880 out my phone number to tell people, you know, during 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:09.280 the protest. 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:10.760 I'm like, if you're if you want to join us. 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:12.200 I didn't think through the. 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:17.480 Fact that I was giving my parents home number out, know, 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:20.679 and and they pointed that out to me later on 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:25.040 as the phone started to ring. But for me, it 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:27.079 was it was it was both in a moment of 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:31.959 empowerment but a moment of ownership that I wanted to 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:34.480 be a voice for people who didn't know they deserve 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.400 to be in that march. They didn't know that they 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.360 deserved to have better And who'd been lulled into thinking 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:42.959 that because you had leadership that looked like you, that 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:44.920 they shared all of the same issues that you shared. 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:48.280 And that's just never true. That that notion of monolithic 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.720 power is just not real. And so even within spaces, 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:54.920 I mean, Mayor Jax is extraordinary mayor, but in this issue, 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:58.680 when it came to youth poverty, he had not done 0:13:58.720 --> 0:13:59.760 what I thought needed to be done. 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:01.559 So my job was to push that. 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:04.040 And so for me it was it was a moment 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:07.079 of reckoning, Like did I actually believe the things I 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:08.960 was saying when I was safely on campus? 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:10.640 And turns out yes I. 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:14.200 Did so at the time, were you like student body 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:17.120 president or like I don't know what the president's system 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:17.760 is for college? 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:19.960 Not like I used to be president in my ninth 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:23.000 grade class, but I mean, like for you, So I wasn't. 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:23.680 Then I eventually did. 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:25.800 I was at that point, I was just an annoying 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:28.120 freshman in college who was and you were a freshman 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:29.040 I was my freshman. 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:31.000 Year, So how did you, like, isn't it hard for 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:34.280 a freshman to get the respect in the I was 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.280 relentless and were people like afraid of being suspended or 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:38.880 kicked off campus or yes. 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:41.000 So one thing that happened part of I kind of 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:43.240 short short headed the story. But it was a few 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:45.600 phases when they were tear gassing the campus. This is 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:49.200 before social media, this is before cell phones, and this 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:52.120 is when you only had the television stations, the broadcast stations. 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.080 So I organized students in my dorm to call all 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:57.240 the broadcast stations. They were lying saying that we were 0:14:57.680 --> 0:14:59.960 running amok. I'm like, no, we are angry in protest 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:03.000 both on the campus and out in the community, but 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:06.800 this isn't a riot, and they were miscommunicating what was happening. 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:08.480 So I had a bunch of friends call all the 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:11.400 stations and flood the stations. And the stations got wise 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:13.360 to us and said, well, who's calling, and so I said, 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:15.240 just tell them you're me. So you had like seventy 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:19.640 five Stacy Abrams is calling and that that amplified my voice. Again, 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:22.480 didn't think through the consequences when they sent the police 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:24.200 to come and get me to take me to this event. 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:26.400 I wasn't being arrested. But I was invited to the 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:30.960 simulcast because all of the television stations in Atlanta came 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:33.160 together because this was a crisis, and so the mayor 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:34.640 was there and I was invited as one of the 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:37.200 students to be there, and so that sort of that 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:39.600 lifted my platform a bit more than I expected. 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:42.640 I ask, I'm so curious, just on as a student 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.560 as we're in this Spellman moment, I'm curious, did you 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:47.960 what was your full experience was in college? Was it 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:52.040 all work and no play and activism or but at 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:57.520 a pivotal time in Atlanta period like alymp post Olympics maybe, 0:15:57.800 --> 0:15:59.800 so I was right before the Olympics, right before okay, 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.080 right before the Olympics. So can you talk about like 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:04.680 what kind of student you were in that way, like did. 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:05.920 You have fun social life? 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:08.640 Because I was a nerd and I'm an introvert. So 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:09.440 I heard this. 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:11.920 That's why I was surprised. Firstman year you went all 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:12.560 out and started. 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:16.320 Well, I was that was happy supreme right, A bunch 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:19.000 of nerds and introvis. You mentioned Star Trek, So that 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:19.360 was the. 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:21.080 Well next generation was out? 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:26.360 So yes, your peak card girl, the card Jane Waite 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:30.560 like I do the whole universe see turn. 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:31.760 Out card is everything? 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:36.920 Like lu Luke who is Jean luc Every day I 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:40.440 find the this person I've known for thirty plus years 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.320 good even though she's still nineteen. 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:44.080 Good. 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:47.320 So I this is probably the best example. When I 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:49.800 became student body president, part of your job is to 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:52.440 make sure that they are social activities. I got two 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.280 of my best friends. I created a position called the 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:56.080 Social Activity Coordinator, so I wouldn't have. 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:56.720 To go to parties. 0:16:57.840 --> 0:16:58.880 So you wouldn't have to go. 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:01.000 Yeah, So I would set up the parties. 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:02.800 They would I would come at the beginning to say hi, 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:04.159 and I would come at the end to make sure 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:05.000 nobody stole anything. 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:07.359 Otherwise I was back in my dorms. 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:08.959 You would not go to Everybody was trying to get 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:10.879 to go out, and you were like, I have meaningful 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:11.320 things to do. 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:15.320 I never went on spring break. What well, why would 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:17.320 you pay money to go sit in somebody else's hotel. 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:20.480 I mean, like I was, I had a dorm, I 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:23.840 could read anywhere, like. 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:28.000 Okay, so you said something, and I think you know. 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:33.240 I try to pull as much personal inspiration information from 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:35.880 our guests that come on this show, but I'll ask 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:39.560 you yes, sir, because I feel like the one small 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:44.320 task that I'm holding myself back from actually crossing the 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:47.480 line to where you are, despite the fact that I'm 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:50.240 hosting my own podcast and. 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:51.480 Do other things. 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:57.920 How do you get over the fear of speaking, because 0:17:57.920 --> 0:17:59.920 I've seen you speak before it, you know, for an introvert, 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:03.520 you project well, I guess it's the acting help. 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:05.720 But so, yeah, I grew up in the church, so 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:10.040 we had to do you know, Easter programs, manicipation, proclamature programs. 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:12.439 Never liked any of it. I'm afraid of you had 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:20.920 to read all of the stuff right right, you name it, 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:25.000 we did it. My fear isn't public speaking. I'm reticent 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:28.760 about being around lots of people. So when I was 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:31.240 in high school, I joined the debate team. I had 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:35.879 a psychosomatic case of laryngitis because it occurred to me 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.280 that I couldn't be I wouldn't be debating by myself, 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:40.679 that other people would see me do it. And suddenly 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:42.880 my voice didn't work. And went to see the nurse 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:46.960 and she's like, there's nothing wrong with you. Yeah, And 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:50.720 that's when I also learned what psychosomatic because what psychomedia 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:50.960 look like. 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:51.879 Artist often do that. 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:53.760 And that's often an issue on the show, like when 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:56.120 people self sabotage their progress or whatever. 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:58.240 Well, I had to get over it because I was 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:00.040 going to fail the class if I didn't. Actually, you 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:03.159 have to speak. But the way I get past it 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:06.159 is that it's not about me. It's about what they 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:08.080 need to hear. It's about what people need to know. 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:13.240 I can get past the You can't sublimate it, but 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:14.359 you can work around it. 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:15.359 And I think you do that. 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:18.320 You do that, you find yourself in public spaces speaking, 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:23.119 You give yourself a script, you give yourself an objective. 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.480 And for me, the objective is changed. It's getting people 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:30.280 the things they need. And if my discomfort gets them 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:31.879 to what they need, then I'm willing to do it. 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:35.080 It is never fun, I have never I don't enjoy it, 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:39.480 but I'm good at it. And the consequences of inaction 0:19:39.680 --> 0:19:42.040 to me are worse than the consequences of action. And 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:45.679 so for me, the cost benefit analysis is, you know, Stacy, 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:47.880 stop having a laryngitis and go ahead and do your job. 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:55.560 Okay, speaking of inaction, and let's cut to the chase here, 0:19:56.080 --> 0:20:00.920 November eighth is coming up. Yes, and you know, I know, 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:07.760 specifically my specific demographic, which is black men means. 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:11.680 Ye and yeah nineteen. 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:15.480 First of all, I'm very shocked at the statistics that 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:18.719 we I mean, I'm I'm shocked, and I'm not shocked 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.560 because I know that we're the first to complain about 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:26.040 something and really the last, you know, to really want 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:29.440 to do the groundwork, if you will. So you know, 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:33.359 I'm finding out that black men vote the least or 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:38.440 probably feel the least represented, or you know, and I know, 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.840 I got many uncles and cousins and friends. Ain't nothing 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:43.720 going to happen and they ain't run for us, or 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:46.560 they the FEDS or they the ops or whatever. So 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:51.000 for you what you're facing in Georgia, and that will 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:55.120 subsequently affect because you know, if KIMP does remain in power, 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:57.280 then I know that laws are going to be implemented. 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:01.240 I'm already pissed about this whole, Like we can't give 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:03.000 water to people or aid to people. 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:06.320