WEBVTT - What Does Resistance Look Like? 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:14.720 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to ook F Daily with 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:20.239 me your girl Daniel Moodie recording from the Home Bunker. Folks. 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:23.560 You know, I know that all of us have been 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:30.200 experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions over the last several days 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:35.919 since the election. And for me, I'm up and then 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:40.080 I'm down, and then I'm up again, and then I'm 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:44.800 like on my couch in the dark, eating popcorn, just 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:50.080 staring into an abyss. And I think that what it 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:56.040 is is that I am in this place of just 0:00:56.320 --> 0:01:00.600 deep disappointment and who I believe that I'm America had 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:04.440 the possibility to be. I was never under any illusion 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:10.240 that America was this beautiful land of opportunity where streets 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:14.360 are paved with gold and everyone has all obstacles removed 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.319 and you know, can live the life of their choosing. 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:22.800 But America on the spectrum of freeness, provided a sense 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:31.680 of freeness for even the most marginalized people, right. And 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:37.440 you know, we're under no false ideas about what the 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:42.199 experience in America is for black people. And the fact 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:45.440 that you can lose your life at a routine traffic 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:51.520 stop because of a trigger happy, white, delusional law enforcement officer. 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:58.600 We're under no false ideas about the treatment that trans 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:02.400 people receiving this country, where I just saw the other 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:07.200 day that a woman who was misgendered by a man 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:13.040 in Texas, murdered by him was just given a free 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:18.560 pass because the victim was trans. So I'm under no 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:23.200 illusions about the work that America has needed to do 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:26.920 on itself to actually live up to its ideals. But 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:34.200 the disappointment comes when we experience an absolute reversal of 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:39.680 fortune of progress, and that's the moment that we're in now. 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:43.000 I think that it's really important for us to understand 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:47.320 that when folks say, oh, we've seen worse before, Oh 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:53.040 we'll get through it, the fact is that sure there 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.800 have been worse moments, but understand that everybody did not 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:01.000 make it through. We're still discovering in this country mass 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:06.560 graves of enslaved black people or free black people who 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:13.680 were killed by white mobs. We're still discovering the Native 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:20.480 American children who were stolen, kidnapped from their families, their tribes, 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:29.600 sent into sexually abused educational environments, and were also killed. 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:34.320 And we're still discovering those graves. America in so many 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:38.320 ways is in fact a cemetery. And so while we 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:42.640 can look and say that there have been darker times, 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.680 you also have to understand that everybody didn't make it 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:49.680 to the other side, that there were countless lives that 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:53.960 were lost. And so I think that where I find 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:59.480 myself when I get into moments of despair and grief 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:04.640 is knowing that we're all not going to make it 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:11.360 through Trump's regime, that millions of lives will be lost, 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:16.960 millions of people will be traumatized, will lose their homes, 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:26.600 their lives, their livelihood in this new regime that centers whiteness, 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:34.880 centers patriarchy at the expense of everything else. And so 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:38.960 what I feel is important in this moment for us 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:43.800 to remember and not just to acquiesce, is that we 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:50.640 can grieve. We can have moments and days of deep sadness. 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:54.040 We just can't stay there. You know. This is why 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:58.800 I talk about community being so important and people needing 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:02.080 to find the that they can lean on so that 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:04.640 we're all not down at the same time that when 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:07.000 you're down, there are other people that will be there 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:11.120 to comfort you and to show you the light once again. 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.680 And then when they are down, you can be the 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.600 one that is the lantern that shows them the light. 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:24.000 Because a part of where we are is also recognizing 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:30.280 that we cannot just acquiesce. And I know, and I'm 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:32.720 speaking to myself as much as I'm speaking to all 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:36.240 of you, that we can't just resign ourselves to what 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:40.320 will be, That we still have agency, we still have 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:46.840 a story to write. You know, I was reading this 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:50.800 piece at Talking Points Memo and I posted it on 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:55.200 my YouTube page on Friday, and the title reads, the 0:05:55.240 --> 0:06:02.160 most pernicious anticipatory obedience hides in plain sight. And you 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:05.640 know what was written here, and what I want to 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:09.840 say to all of you is that it is fair 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:18.640 to be overwhelmed, but we cannot just be obedient. This 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:25.039 is a moment for good trouble. As John Lewis once said, 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:30.920 here's what he writes in this piece. During harrowing times, 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:35.160 some people become overwhelmed and even lose hope. It's not 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:40.240 a one way progress. Almost everyone has their moments, but 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:45.080 there's a particular kind of militant dumerism afoot at the moment. 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:49.479 Any discussions of next steps in the battle against trump 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:54.120 Ism or the preservation of civic democracy, any suggestions or 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:58.040 strategies are met with a chorus of don't you get it, 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:01.040 don't you get how it worked under Hitler and Stalin, 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:05.040 or don't you know? Rules don't matter to Donald Trump? 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:11.240 And this is the point, right is to have us 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:17.520 believe that we have nothing left to do. They go 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:20.560 on to say, in a sense, it's a dialogue genetically 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:25.200 related to what I called competitive hyperbole two days ago. 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.560 Strategies for the future, or even the assumption that there 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:32.280 will be a future, get shouted down as a hopeless 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:36.880 naivete and at least within the stream of conversation, which 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:40.200 I'm certainly not saying is dominant, but it is there. 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:45.680 It leads to the same escalating declarations of dystopia and totalism. 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:49.240 Is it possible that Donald Trump could push the American 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:54.000 public into dictatorship or, more plausibly, the kind of soft 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:58.160 autocracy or broken democracy we know today in places like 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:02.480 Russia or Hungary or Turkey? Sure? Is it likely? I 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:05.760 don't know any way of putting odds to such a thing, 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:09.720 But what I know is that it's not easy. There's 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:13.280 Congress and the courts, and even when they're compliant, the 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:17.280 process is still difficult, time consuming, and hard to pull off. 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:21.760 There's also the double level government of federalism, in which 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:25.080 a great deal of the machinery of government remains in 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:30.440 other hands. That's more difficulty and time consuming obstacles, and 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:33.280 it's the work of an opposition to make it as 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:38.120 hard and time consuming as possible, to make the consequences 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:44.720 as visible as possible. I really appreciated this piece in 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:47.199 Talking Points memo, and like I said, I've posted it, 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:50.600 but you do need a subscription to read the entire thing. 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:54.720 But I pulled out those two pieces from it because 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:59.400 I think that it's important. We cannot just make this 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:05.480 easy for Donald Trump and his clown cabinet to instill 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:10.360 the type of militant power that they want to hold 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:14.480 over all of us. Now, to me, the resistance does 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:18.720 not look like pussy hats and women's marches and the like, 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:20.840 and then you go home and you feel really good 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:23.160 about the march that you did, but you actually do 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:26.400 nothing to follow up with that. It does look like 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:31.160 providing resources if you have them, to abortion clinics, to 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:39.360 reproductive justice spaces, to transgender equity spaces, to organizations and 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:43.720 nonprofits that are working in this really dangerous time. To 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:50.520 protect the most marginalized. It looks like sharing articles and 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:55.559 resources that direct people towards independent media so that they 0:09:55.559 --> 0:10:00.280 can cut the cord from cable news, which has been complicit. Right, 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:03.640 it looks like figuring out what resistance looks like. And 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:08.400 if for you, that looks like holding on to your joy, 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:15.160 going dancing, gardening, doing what brings your soul peace, If 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:19.480 your resistance looks like that, then that is resistance. Because 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:22.000 the goal that they have for all of us is 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:31.280 to be downtrodden, hopeless, depressed, angsty, angry, sad, demoralized. We're 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:35.400 malleable if we do the work of beating ourselves down 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:38.640 and then by the time that they approach us, we're 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:41.120 already putting our hands out to put the cuffs on. 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.080 You have to think, in this moment, what does my 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:48.600 resistance look like? How do I want to show up 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:53.160 in this moment? And if in fact our days are numbered, 0:10:53.880 --> 0:11:01.520 how do I want to be remembered. I remember being 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:07.400 young and learning about the civil rights era and always 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:13.320 wondering who would I have been right As the bus 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:19.040 boycotts were happening, as segregation was raging, as police were 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:23.240 beating and brutalizing and killing black people, and as they 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:28.240 were fighting back, you know, non violently and sometimes exercising 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.160 their Second Amendment right as the Black Panthers did. Who 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:36.000 would I be? And now I know? I'm the storyteller, 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:40.679 the narrator, the person that is offering up their analysis 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:44.320 and clear vision of where we are and where I 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:47.200 would love to see us be. I'm the person that 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:52.880 is producing political content for those that are willing and 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:59.040 want to know the truth, because story, narrative, truth is 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:04.640 how we battle against the lies, the grift, and the deceit. 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:08.920 The people that are being placed in positions of power 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:16.920 in our government are criminals. They're liars, their abusers, they're repugnant, 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:22.439 they're deplorable, and so we do not need to consume 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:28.080 their bullshit. We need to fortify ourselves and find the 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:32.720 avenues of light, of hope, and of truth that will 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:38.800 keep us afloat during the tsunami. I'm not gonna lie 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:41.160 to you and tell you like, oh, you know, it 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:43.719 won't be as bad, it'll be like twenty sixteen. No, 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:46.960 it's going to be worse than people could ever possibly imagine. 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:52.280 It's why I went horse for the entire election. Cycle 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:55.680 trying to get people to see what was at stake, 0:12:56.559 --> 0:13:00.600 and seven percent of Democrats decided to stay home. Portions 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:03.960 of Democrats decided to throw their vote to Jill Stein, 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:08.720 but the majority of white people that are totally fine 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:12.959 with racism and misogyny came out in droves. So sure 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:15.360 as the numbers are tallied in we realize that the 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:18.600 margins were slim, which means to me, we could have won, 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:24.199 but something went awry. Some people were not reached, or 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:27.400 some just thought that, you know, oh, it's all bluster, 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:32.000 but we'll make it through. And now folks are recognizing 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:35.960 to some extent, but it'll get worse. The buyer's remorse 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:39.920 that they have Oh I didn't realize. I thought everybody 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:42.880 was doing their own fucking research. So what we have 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:48.280 to continue to do is to fortify ourselves, build real 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:53.880 life community in real life and online. That's not about 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:57.880 creating a bubble, It's about creating a net and network 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:01.520 of safety. I also incur people if you have the 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:07.760 ability to think about genuinely, if things become untenable in 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:12.440 the United States, what your exit strategy is. Knowing that 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:15.800 not everybody is going to be able to leave but 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:20.720 those people that can should start thinking about what it 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:24.280 looks like and preparing so that you are not caught 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:28.040 off guard but instead ready to go. We need to 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:33.440 be working in a both and mindset, both figuring out 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:37.480 what our resistance looks like in these uncharted times and 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:42.120 uncharted waters, and what an exit strategy looks like, because, 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:44.600 as I say, all of us will not make it 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:47.280 the same way that all of us did not make 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:51.240 it through the global health pandemic. A million Americans lost 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:55.720 their lives, the same way that all that came through 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:59.120 the Middle Passage did not make it. Yes, of course 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:01.600 there are a darker time times that we have seen 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:04.320 in our history, but we have to be very real 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.960 about the moment that we're in and recognize if this 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:12.320 is it, what do we leave behind for folks to know, 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:16.200 to remember and to pick up the baton where we 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:20.760 leave it. So my message is we have to resist. 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:23.360 And I'm saying that to you as much as I 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:25.400 say to myself, because There'll be some days that I 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:29.400 turn on this microphone and I've had it, I'm exhausted, 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:33.640 I've got nothing left to give, And then I'll go 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:37.880 through the comments sections and I'll see on Blue Sky 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:43.720 and in on Instagram, people sending messages of encouragement that 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:47.640 refuel me and give me the strength to turn on 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:50.680 the mic and do the work once more. But it 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:53.720 is all of our jobs. There's not enough to just 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:57.080 cut off family members, particularly those of you that are 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.760 white who are like, oh my sister's a Trump, Are 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:02.040 my dad's a Trump? Or and this amon and that one, 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:04.800 and just cut them out because again they're not listening 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:10.360 to me. But maybe if over these holidays that are approaching, 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:14.880 you actually have conversations and ask them why why did 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:17.880 you vote for him? What does it signify to you? 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:22.200 What are you hoping is the result? And listen, we 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.120 need to get back to a place of conversation. It 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:27.520 doesn't mean that we are going to agree, and particularly 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:31.960 when the decisions that other people make determine whether or 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:35.080 not people are treated with dignity and respect and have 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:38.280 the opportunity to access the American dream. No, that's not 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:41.080 up for debate. But I know that Donald Trump is 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:47.120 coming into office hoping to further divide this country furthers 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:50.800 so resentment and hate and anger, and so if we 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.360 are not trying to be the bridge in our own 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.520 families in our own circles. Then he's going to continue 0:16:56.520 --> 0:17:00.360 to win and trump Ism will never go away. Pick 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:03.760 your path, choose who you're going to be in this moment, 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:08.840 and do it. Because if we band together, we build community, 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:13.480 we build safety, we just may have a chance to 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:19.240 make it through. That is it for me today. Dear friends, 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:23.639 on woke ath as always power to the people and 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:28.040 to all the people. Power. Get woke and stay woke 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:28.560 as fuck.