Speaker 1: I'm Tamika d Mallory and it ship Boy.
Speaker 2: My son is generally we are your host of t
Speaker 2: M I Tamika and my Son's Information, Truth, motivation and inspiration.
Speaker 1: New name, New Energy. What's going on? My son, Lennon?
Speaker 3: I am blessed, black and Holly favored. How are you
Speaker 3: feeling today?
Speaker 1: Doing good? I'm doing good. It was a good Labor
Speaker 1: Day weekend.
Speaker 4: I had a great family experience, my family Day, which
Speaker 4: my mother has a family reunion every two years that
Speaker 4: moves around the country. So different family members choose or
Speaker 4: vote on. Excuse me, we all vote on the different
Speaker 4: family members who.
Speaker 1: Throw their ring in the what do they call it,
Speaker 1: their hat in the ring, the hat in the ring.
Speaker 1: There you go, hat in the ring to have the
Speaker 1: reunion move to their city. So that happens two years.
Speaker 1: So this was this year.
Speaker 4: In July, we did my mother's reunion back in my
Speaker 4: grandmother's town. Everybody was saying, you know, we want to
Speaker 4: go back home. It all started, and so the reunion
Speaker 4: was held in July in Monroeville, Alabama. That was great.
Speaker 1: And then my family in.
Speaker 4: North Carolina, which is my father's side, they have what
Speaker 4: is called a Family Day at my grandmother's house, which
Speaker 4: is now my aunt's house in the yard directly connected
Speaker 4: to the cotton field where so many of our people,
Speaker 4: our ancestors and family members pitt cotton and so you know,
Speaker 4: there's a whole history there.
Speaker 1: And up until now, my.
Speaker 4: Aunts and uncles and my father, my mother, they were
Speaker 4: the ones to handle Family Day. But the last time
Speaker 4: we met, which was under unfortunate circumstances, which is the
Speaker 4: death of my cousin, we decided as the next generation
Speaker 4: would be my generation to take over.
Speaker 1: So this was our first year.
Speaker 4: Planning Family Day and executing it, which is you know,
Speaker 4: kate food and cleaning tape.
Speaker 1: And they don't.
Speaker 4: Believe in a fully catered experience. They want us and
Speaker 4: they have been doing it for many years to work together.
Speaker 4: So some you know, different people taking on different responsibility.
Speaker 4: Somebody handling t shirts, somebody coordinating the food, other people
Speaker 4: ordered the tent, cleaning down the chairs, like that's a
Speaker 4: part of the experience that your actual hands are in
Speaker 4: the baking of this this particular event. And we worked
Speaker 4: really hard and I got an opportunity to see how
Speaker 4: much our aunts and uncles have done in the past
Speaker 4: to make sure that something so great could happen for
Speaker 4: us every year. When we used to just roll up
Speaker 4: with the sodas, that was our only job, and now
Speaker 4: we had to do all of that work. So when
Speaker 4: I got home that evening or back to the hotel
Speaker 4: that evening, I was filthy from the top of my
Speaker 4: head to the bottom of my feet. I had bugs
Speaker 4: down in my shirt dead, there was stuff in my eyelashes.
Speaker 4: I mean, it was like a it was like war,
Speaker 4: best time in my life. So it was a great
Speaker 4: labor day weekend. It's been a great summer of a
Speaker 4: lot of family time and you know, also a lot
Speaker 4: of work.
Speaker 1: Obviously, my book is coming.
Speaker 4: And the other thing I've been doing in between working traveling,
Speaker 4: whether it was Martha's being or the DNC or the
Speaker 4: family days and all of that is sitting down editing,
Speaker 4: rewriting stuff, thinking of new things. And you know, on today,
Speaker 4: actually Wednesday, the last version of the book is being submitted.
Speaker 1: So that's it.
Speaker 4: February eleven, I live to tell the story. My book
Speaker 4: will be out, and so I think this summer for
Speaker 4: me has really been a great summer.
Speaker 2: But that's that's that's sounding like a whole lot. Well,
Speaker 2: you've been doing a whole lot, man. So first I
Speaker 2: want to congratulate you on the book that I already
Speaker 2: got my you know, my pre order in.
Speaker 3: You know, I can't wait to get that book and
Speaker 3: thank you.
Speaker 2: And you know, I know that you work tirestly on
Speaker 2: the book and just tiresle period just doing a lot
Speaker 2: of things. You wear a lot of different hats, and
Speaker 2: so just want to say proud of you for doing
Speaker 2: that and pleading that task. My you know, my hasn't
Speaker 2: been as as exciting as yours. But you know, we
Speaker 2: didn't we didn't talk about Mariam Day because we missed
Speaker 2: an episode, but we didn't talk about how Miriam Day.
Speaker 2: My yearly block community event that I do, you know,
Speaker 2: to commemorate and bring back the communit that grew up
Speaker 2: in since I was three years old. We do it
Speaker 2: every year and this was the Knife Annual and it
Speaker 2: was a beautiful event. People came out, We fed people,
Speaker 2: We gave away book bags until for a lot of food,
Speaker 2: we had crabs and shrimps. Then they don't be giving
Speaker 2: out no crabs and shrimps at the community event. But
Speaker 2: it was a dope event. Basketball games, face painting, you know,
Speaker 2: everybody came out, no incidents, ain't nobody beating nobody up,
Speaker 2: no shooting. So that's that's always what we want to do.
Speaker 2: We want to present things to the community that they
Speaker 2: can enjoy themselves and there's no violence and it's.
Speaker 3: Just love and peace. Man. So we accomplished that.
Speaker 2: Actually, next year is ten years, so we're trying to
Speaker 2: do it real big for the ten year anniversary. As
Speaker 2: far as Labor Day weekend, Man, I was with my boys.
Speaker 2: They you know, they they soccer champions. So they had
Speaker 2: a soccer tournament, the Labor Day Soccer Tournament in which
Speaker 2: our I was for Saturday and Sunday. You know, both
Speaker 2: of them played really well, even though they didn't get
Speaker 2: the championship. This year in this event, they've been racking
Speaker 2: up championships.
Speaker 3: But they both played really, really hard. You know.
Speaker 2: I love watching them play sports because it reminds me
Speaker 2: of the time that I played sports. And unfortunately, you know,
Speaker 2: by the time my older my well, Cameron, my oldest
Speaker 2: son is twenty six, but Cameron is my middle son
Speaker 2: and he just turned thirteen a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 2: and I realized that I didn't have a father at thirteen, right,
Speaker 2: and I played basketball, and I was good at basketball,
Speaker 2: but I didn't have like a lot of friends of mine,
Speaker 2: they had their fathers at the games, like rooting for
Speaker 2: them or just speaking up for them or giving them
Speaker 2: some level of energy, And you realize how much you
Speaker 2: need that or you want that, right. I used to
Speaker 2: go to those tournaments and a lot of kids that
Speaker 2: I played against they had whole families there, and I
Speaker 2: really was just dead by myself. A couple of the
Speaker 2: teammates we cheered each other, but there was no extra
Speaker 2: person there to give me the boost, the energy, to
Speaker 2: give me confidence. Like when I wasn't confident, if the
Speaker 2: coaches was yelling at me and made me feel like
Speaker 2: I didn't do good or me and one of the
Speaker 2: players got into something, I had to figure out how
Speaker 2: to get over that by myself, like you know, and it.
Speaker 3: Was it was a difficult thing.
Speaker 2: And I know that had I had that that father figure,
Speaker 2: that person a family member there with me, I know
Speaker 2: I would it went a lot further, you know. So
Speaker 2: it's always good watching them play and being able to
Speaker 2: be that for them, like even if they're mad and
Speaker 2: I'm like, y'all need you to do this and I'm
Speaker 2: talking to them. Sometimes they don't want to listen. But
Speaker 2: you see that, you know, coaches, you know, you see
Speaker 2: how it resonated. The coaches realize that you're invested in
Speaker 2: your child, so they make sure that they treat your
Speaker 2: child a certain way. They make sure they give them
Speaker 2: certain amount of playing time. They see that you're invested,
Speaker 2: so they invest right. So there was there's a there
Speaker 2: was a there.
Speaker 3: Was a moment in the game and they was playing hard.
Speaker 2: They was down to zero and this team that my
Speaker 2: youngest son Kesto was playing against was they were.
Speaker 3: Bigger, they were rough. You know, he's playing real.
Speaker 2: Rough, and I seen him getting down. I've seen him
Speaker 2: like the team was getting down. And then I just
Speaker 2: was like, we're not gonna quit. We're gonna play hard.
Speaker 2: We're going to go out there and fight. And it
Speaker 2: was the time. The guy had did some rough and
Speaker 2: pushed him to the floor and he looked like he
Speaker 2: wanted to cry, and I said, when out crying, get
Speaker 2: up and you're gonna fight back and you're gonna play.
Speaker 2: And there was this energy that he got up with
Speaker 2: hearing my voice that it took away the tears that
Speaker 2: he was about to have and he even though they lost,
Speaker 2: they fought. That last three minutes was like the best
Speaker 2: thing I've ever seen. That whole team just fought back
Speaker 2: hard like they they didn't just lay down. They didn't
Speaker 2: just you know, with their heads down. They fought and
Speaker 2: I clapped for them. Everybody clapped for them because they
Speaker 2: seen that. So that was one that was like a
Speaker 2: highlight for me. And then afterwards, I told my son,
Speaker 2: you know, even though you lost, you played hard man,
Speaker 2: and he said, I know, I know, and I said,
Speaker 2: and you didn't cry.
Speaker 3: So I didn't cry that. I didn't cry, and he wanted.
Speaker 2: To because he got pushed to the ground really hard.
Speaker 2: He was It was frustrating. You're trying to do stuff.
Speaker 2: These dudes are physically just overwhelming them, and you could
Speaker 2: tell he just wasn't They didn't understand that level of physicality,
Speaker 2: but they realized that's what it's gonna take to get
Speaker 2: to the next level. So so that was pretty much
Speaker 2: the highlight of my weekend. You know, I was in
Speaker 2: all the way Daddy Mold shout out to both of
Speaker 2: my sons, and I was in Grandpop Mods, so I
Speaker 2: had my grandson with me. Then that night too, so
Speaker 2: I was in g pop modes, so shout out to
Speaker 2: Kasar too well.
Speaker 4: We jumped straight into our interview this and our little
Speaker 4: Tumba vacation has not been our regularly scheduled program and
Speaker 4: at TMI will be back next week with all the things,
Speaker 4: the thought of the day, the eye don't get it,
Speaker 4: and just you know, so many of the other components
Speaker 4: to our show that we've kind of been taken a
Speaker 4: breather for the summer as we run and do and
Speaker 4: events and everything, and just thanking you all so much
Speaker 4: for sticking with us. We're gonna have our guests come
Speaker 4: in right now have an important conversation with this system.
Speaker 1: Who is our asista?
Speaker 5: All right?
Speaker 1: So, as I said, our sister Oura is joining us today.
Speaker 1: I think that, you know, one of the.
Speaker 4: Reasons why I was it was really heavy on me
Speaker 4: to make sure and as we've been talking about all
Speaker 4: the way through election day, we're gonna be heavily focused
Speaker 4: on this sort of political dynamics and also the issues
Speaker 4: that people are concerned about in this election cycle. And
Speaker 4: with these two candidates, I mean there's more, obviously, but
Speaker 4: the two dominant which were again we've said that a
Speaker 4: million times, will say it again.
Speaker 1: We don't agree that there.
Speaker 4: Should only be two parties in place that have an
Speaker 4: actual chance of winning. It's unfortunate that the alternative is
Speaker 4: that the other people can help one of the two
Speaker 4: candidates lose. But we've not been able to figure out
Speaker 4: how to get one of those other candidates from a
Speaker 4: third party or independent party to win. And I think
Speaker 4: that's something that we have to be very much so
Speaker 4: focused on. It's something that you and my son have
Speaker 4: been talking about.
Speaker 1: For a while.
Speaker 4: But as we sort of travel down this road election
Speaker 4: is coming up. There's a lot of heavy, hot and
Speaker 4: heavy talk in this moment about this election season.
Speaker 1: We know that we.
Speaker 4: Cannot lose sight of major issues, and one of them
Speaker 4: being Palestinian rights, one of them being just looking at
Speaker 4: genocide in general, not just in Palestine, but the genocide
Speaker 4: that is taking place around the world, even to our
Speaker 4: brothers and sisters in the Sudan and Congo, the horrific
Speaker 4: situation in Haiti, which.
Speaker 1: America is all up in all of this.
Speaker 4: Like, so everybody understands that, you know, we're really clear
Speaker 4: that America is unfortunately a heavy hand in all of
Speaker 4: these situations and we want to educate, and so we
Speaker 4: wanted Linda to come on today. We're fit, you know,
Speaker 4: holidays are over, folks are getting back into you know,
Speaker 4: work one and two, focusing on who they're going to
Speaker 4: be voting for in November and what issues they're focused on.
Speaker 4: And we just want to make sure that we always
Speaker 4: always let the world know that this show and that
Speaker 4: we as individuals and collectively will always be a part
Speaker 4: of the movement.
Speaker 1: To free Palestine.
Speaker 4: So I want to just thank you Linda for coming
Speaker 4: on today, and we love you so much.
Speaker 5: Thank you my sister and brother. I love you both
Speaker 5: so much.
Speaker 1: So let's get started.
Speaker 4: We don't have a long time, but wanted to just
Speaker 4: want to talk about Linda because you know what.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people.
Speaker 4: Still are not clear on I think, you know, social
Speaker 4: media has done a good job and a bad job,
Speaker 4: but in this particular situation, I would say TikTok and
Speaker 4: Instagram there have been accounts that have done a very
Speaker 4: good job of educating people on the history of all
Speaker 4: of this. So I don't think we got to go
Speaker 4: nineteen forty eight because I'm pretty much a lot of
Speaker 4: people are like, Okay, I get it right.
Speaker 1: But what I want people.
Speaker 4: To understand is that this idea that black folks have
Speaker 4: been engaged in this dialogue, this conversation about Palestine, It's
Speaker 4: been going on for a long time, and you educated
Speaker 4: me before I even knew on the leaders that we
Speaker 4: admire who stood up for Palestinian rights.
Speaker 1: Why don't you talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 6: Absolutely, I think you're right to make a lot of
Speaker 6: pep people know the history nineteen forty eight, It's been
Speaker 6: almost seventy seven years of occupation, of displacement of Palestinians.
Speaker 6: But what people don't know much about, especially in light
Speaker 6: of this controversy and this weird tense conversation that's happening
Speaker 6: on the Internet between black folks and Palestinians or pro
Speaker 6: Palestinian activist and advocates, is that there's a longstanding history
Speaker 6: that nobody can puncture between black liberation movements and Palestinian
Speaker 6: liberation movement anyone who you put your fist up for,
Speaker 6: from Malcolm X to Kwame Tuay, to the Black Panther Party,
Speaker 6: even to Doctor King. Oftentimes there'll be a mixed kind
Speaker 6: of stories and messages about Doctor King, and yes, doctor
Speaker 6: King initially saw on the state of Israel and this
Speaker 6: what they at the time were portraying as a liberation movement.
Speaker 6: But once he started getting educated, once he started understanding
Speaker 6: what was truly happening there, even Doctor King evolved over time,
Speaker 6: and so there has been critique of Zionism coming out
Speaker 6: of black liberty movements for decades back, and Black leaders
Speaker 6: who have traveled back to Middle Eastern countries, who have
Speaker 6: sat with Palestinian leaders have built across borders for years
Speaker 6: that this is not a thing. I mean, you could
Speaker 6: pull up you know, Stokely Carmichael aka Kwame Toure, Malcolm X,
Speaker 6: other leaders from the Black Panther Party, anyone from doctor
Speaker 6: Angela Davis. I mean, these are the people right now
Speaker 6: that as Black people are fighting for rights, they oftentimes
Speaker 6: put forth these names as people who.
Speaker 5: Inspire them, who move them.
Speaker 6: And these are people who have been in consistent solidarity
Speaker 6: with the Palestinian people throughout their lifetime and even after
Speaker 6: some of them have passed their writings, their speeches are
Speaker 6: often used in this moment. People like James Baldwin, like,
Speaker 6: there's a lot of people who have invoked their opinion
Speaker 6: on this issue and oftentimes have seen the Palestinian people
Speaker 6: as the oppressed and have made connections between black people
Speaker 6: and Palestinians.
Speaker 2: It's very important because a lot of people will try
Speaker 2: to act like this is not our issue.
Speaker 3: You know, this is not their issue.
Speaker 2: They don't they haven't been with us and we haven't
Speaker 2: been like and that's actually not factual. And you just
Speaker 2: pretty much broke that down. So as we look in
Speaker 2: this climate right now and where we are in this
Speaker 2: presidential election, you know, we're aware of what's going on
Speaker 2: in Paliestan. There's a Genoesi happening in palistin in America
Speaker 2: is pretty much funding that. You know, we're aware of that,
Speaker 2: and we understand the Palestinians are saying that America has
Speaker 2: to stop funding Genosa, the Genosti has to stop. But
Speaker 2: there's also a sentiment about the presidential election. We have
Speaker 2: a black woman running for the president of the United States,
Speaker 2: and the black women has an opportunity to actually be
Speaker 2: elected the president.
Speaker 3: Of the United States.
Speaker 2: So there are black people, black women mainly, and just
Speaker 2: black people in general who are willing to figure out
Speaker 2: how do we get her elected and how do we
Speaker 2: still will support Palestinians right. So that's a very it's
Speaker 2: a very slippery slope because we want to be able
Speaker 2: to call out America, right, But we also understand the
Speaker 2: time we're in. We understand the alternative to what that
Speaker 2: looks like. So what do you say to the people
Speaker 2: that say, hey, this is causing more division if we
Speaker 2: are not together and aligned with the you know, the Palestinians,
Speaker 2: or it's causing more division we're not aligned all the
Speaker 2: way with getting Kama Harris elected.
Speaker 6: I really appreciate that Mice, because nobody wants to have
Speaker 6: the nuanced conversation. People want it to be black and white. Yes,
Speaker 6: this know that, and that's it. What I'll say here
Speaker 6: is and I'll say this to black folks in general.
Speaker 6: And you know, I feel like I have long standing
Speaker 6: relationships and I love black people and I always believe
Speaker 6: and I will always believe that when black people are free,
Speaker 6: we're all going to be free. And I just want
Speaker 6: to ask for grace, want to I want people to
Speaker 6: understand that one Palacedinians are speaking, we are speaking from
Speaker 6: a place of deep hurt, a place of deep grief
Speaker 6: and trauma. This is something that's happening. There's a genocide
Speaker 6: that's happening today right now, where our family members are
Speaker 6: literally being blown up to smithereens today. This is not
Speaker 6: like a historical event where we're reminding ourselves of something
Speaker 6: that happened thirty years ago or one hundred years ago.
Speaker 6: This is today. So when you see these conversations and
Speaker 6: people are lashing out on this election and lashing out
Speaker 6: on Kamala and lashing out on Joe Biden and this
Speaker 6: moment right now, it's because they're speaking through hurt. They're
Speaker 6: speaking through perpetual funerals that are happening multiple times a
Speaker 6: day in Gaza and right now also in the West Bank.
Speaker 6: So I'm saying to people right now is that we
Speaker 6: have to find this complicated place to sit in where
Speaker 6: we look at one another and we understand, and you
Speaker 6: understand why a Palestinian is outraged in this moment and
Speaker 6: does maybe not want to participate in democracy. Maybe they
Speaker 6: want to only vote on the local level, Maybe they
Speaker 6: don't want to vote for Kamala, maybe they don't want
Speaker 6: to vote for anyone running for maybe they want to
Speaker 6: vote for a third party. Just giving them that moment
Speaker 6: of just understanding in this moment, as I also understand
Speaker 6: why some black people are saying, Look, I'm outraged at
Speaker 6: what's happening in Palestine.
Speaker 5: I'm with you.
Speaker 6: I want to demand in arms embargo, I want an
Speaker 6: immediate ceasefire. I want to see the bloodshed of this
Speaker 6: children end. But I also want to vote for Kamala Harris.
Speaker 6: We have to have this full conversation where we understand
Speaker 6: where everybody's coming from. There is no necessarily right or wrong,
Speaker 6: because we can't tell people how to feel in this
Speaker 6: moment right now, because I'm telling you people are experiencing
Speaker 6: the trauma. It's not just that the United States government
Speaker 6: is funding the genocide. They have aided and embedded this
Speaker 6: genocide from day one, and even during a genocide, this
Speaker 6: administration has sold multiple weapon deals to the State of Israel.
Speaker 6: So when we see those bombs drop, it's not that
Speaker 6: we're just sad and outraged that the bombs drop, But
Speaker 6: when the Palestinians pick up the shrapnel from the bomb,
Speaker 6: it says made in the USA. And so that's the
Speaker 6: visceral reaction that a lot of Palestinians must. Women's Arabs
Speaker 6: who are connected to this outrage and genocide, our feeling
Speaker 6: right now and I just want to ask our black
Speaker 6: sitism brothers to understand that deep trauma that people are feeling.
Speaker 6: That they're not anti black or they're not like we
Speaker 6: don't care about your future or what happens to you
Speaker 6: if there is a Donald Trump. They are just feeling
Speaker 6: a visceral reaction in this moment because that genocide is
Speaker 6: real and it's live literally live stream, every single day.
Speaker 6: And so I think our work Mice and Tamika is
Speaker 6: going to be really important the selection season. How do
Speaker 6: we keep people in it to participate? How do we
Speaker 6: get people encouraged to go to the polls because the
Speaker 6: opposition doesn't want us to go to the polls. They
Speaker 6: don't want Black people to go to the polls, and
Speaker 6: they don't want Muslims to go to the polls. And
Speaker 6: you remember, we were in Michigan back in twenty twenty
Speaker 6: and we were on the line and we saw voter
Speaker 6: suppression firsthand. Literally I got it on video watching voter
Speaker 6: people working voting booths being like, Oh, it's closed, but
Speaker 6: it's supposed to close at five o'clock.
Speaker 5: It's three o'clock. How are you closing two hours early?
Speaker 6: We watch people being told that it was already eight
Speaker 6: o'clock and people were already on the line. And we
Speaker 6: know the law says if you are on the line,
Speaker 6: it don't matter if you didn't vote yet. You got
Speaker 6: to vote if you're already on the line, So I
Speaker 6: know voter suppression is real. I think for me encouraging
Speaker 6: our people to vote down ballot, to participate in the selection,
Speaker 6: to understand things like Project twenty twenty five, what the
Speaker 6: impact is is going to be on all of our communities,
Speaker 6: not just for us to do a solidarity vote and say, oh,
Speaker 6: we want to vote because of our Latino neighbors or
Speaker 6: undocumented neighbors or whatever, which is true and we should
Speaker 6: have always been in solidarity with one another, but also
Speaker 6: for us because the stuff that's going down in this
Speaker 6: country also impacts era of Muslim voters. But again, my
Speaker 6: approach is always to just listen and understand that people
Speaker 6: are deeply hurt, and I'm not going to patronize them
Speaker 6: and I'm not going to make them feel like, oh,
Speaker 6: you're a one issued person, because it's hard not to
Speaker 6: be one issued when your family's literal life is on
Speaker 6: the line, like this is about death and life of
Speaker 6: four people's loved ones.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, when people tell me that it's a one
Speaker 4: issue vote, push back against that. And I neglected when
Speaker 4: I spoke of the genocide and the Sudan, the genocide
Speaker 4: and the Congo.
Speaker 1: I see now there is a push to have people to.
Speaker 4: Boycott the iPhone sixteen because when you get down to
Speaker 4: the details of what is happening in some of these
Speaker 4: African countries, it has a lot to do with the
Speaker 4: stealing of resources, natural resources that makes up the technology
Speaker 4: that we use for our cell phones and for all
Speaker 4: the little gadgets that we enjoy. And I'm actually going
Speaker 4: to invite some folks to come on and we'll have
Speaker 4: a show where we will.
Speaker 1: Really dive into the direct connection.
Speaker 4: But I neglected to mention that there's genocide that happens
Speaker 4: here in the United States all the time. When we
Speaker 4: think about and it just looks different, you know, genocide.
Speaker 4: To some people, it looks like, like you said, family
Speaker 4: members being blown to smithereen, you're looking at it on
Speaker 4: your cell phone.
Speaker 1: This is happening in real time. But there are.
Speaker 4: Also places where in this society children are starving to
Speaker 4: death and it is not happening just by happenstance.
Speaker 1: There are actual circumstances.
Speaker 4: And people who are okay with and want to see
Speaker 4: in fact, our.
Speaker 1: Children not have the ability what.
Speaker 4: Do they say to self determination and success in their communities?
Speaker 1: And so these.
Speaker 4: Areas, these communities have been designed a certain way, and
Speaker 4: our people are suffering and dying, the bloodshed, the gun
Speaker 4: violence that happens in our society, not just to black folks,
Speaker 4: but in we know, school settings and in churches. And
Speaker 4: why is that happening Because someone is making money off
Speaker 4: of the weapons that are being used in those incidents.
Speaker 4: Black people do not make guns, and yet it is
Speaker 4: the number one killer of young black men. We are
Speaker 4: dealing with a number of things, health concerns, right, health
Speaker 4: issues for black women and black men that could be solved,
Speaker 4: could be solved by their being less of an investment
Speaker 4: in sending weapons to Israel and more of an investment
Speaker 4: in building hospitals and the proper treatment for those people
Speaker 4: who are suffering and dying right here in this country.
Speaker 4: And so this is not a one issue vote because
Speaker 4: it's all connected. And now we think about I'm sitting
Speaker 4: in the city of Atlanta right now, where a cop
Speaker 4: city they're fighting like hell to be able to build
Speaker 4: cop city, which would give the IDs, the people who
Speaker 4: are doing the physical killing of Palestinians, to be able
Speaker 4: to come here in other places around this country and
Speaker 4: continue to train our police officers. I mean, this is
Speaker 4: all very much so connected, and so as you said,
Speaker 4: I don't even know that I can say, Oh, my
Speaker 4: vote or my voice or my position on this is
Speaker 4: just solidarity with the Palaestinians.
Speaker 1: It's solidarity with my damn self.
Speaker 6: Shit.
Speaker 1: You know, our own family members are suffering.
Speaker 4: And I was just telling my son, I spent two
Speaker 4: months with my family family reunion's family day, and as
Speaker 4: I traveled through the country, like right, my family's from
Speaker 4: the woods, I see it the suffering. You know, a
Speaker 4: lot of people who live in the city, you don't
Speaker 4: get to see people living on the back roads and
Speaker 4: in trailer parks who are suffering immensely. And so, you know,
Speaker 4: we got to be in solidarity with our own people
Speaker 4: and not just be so excited about the moment, but
Speaker 4: at least be able to commit to what the fight
Speaker 4: looks like afterwards. And that's my next question to you,
Speaker 4: is what is the big ask at this point?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 4: You know, as you said it wasn't just have a
Speaker 4: speaking spot at the DNC.
Speaker 1: That would have been a way for the.
Speaker 4: Democratic Party to show their respect and their solidarity with
Speaker 4: the Palaestinian community. And I think it was a missed opportunity.
Speaker 4: Everyone that I know, from Angela Ride to Charlemagne, to
Speaker 4: God and in between have said it was a miss
Speaker 4: Tanah she Coapes was there with us as we were
Speaker 4: with the uncommitted community. We were in solidarity past to
Speaker 4: Mike McBride, pastor Tracy black Men. We were there through
Speaker 4: the day and night trying to fight with the Democratic
Speaker 4: Party to allow a speaker.
Speaker 1: But that is not the main goal.
Speaker 4: And so please talk about what is the big ass
Speaker 4: and how can we help to even in saying some
Speaker 4: of us will vote for Kamala Harrison November, how can
Speaker 4: we help to ensure that the big ass is what
Speaker 4: we are all focused on.
Speaker 5: I appreciate that to make God. I mean, it's very simple.
Speaker 6: There's a few things that I'll say to folks as
Speaker 6: we're kind of going through this election. It's going to
Speaker 6: be it's not gonna be easy, and the conversations are
Speaker 6: going to continue. I'd say, number one, do not let
Speaker 6: one election divide our communities. Right, this election is going
Speaker 6: to be over in about sixty four to sixty five days.
Speaker 6: Do not let one election cycle be the reason why
Speaker 6: we forfeit our solidarity, our relationships, all the work that
Speaker 6: many of us have done with one another. So that's
Speaker 6: one we stay focused. We have the courageous conversation, we
Speaker 6: have the political debates, but don't let it divide our
Speaker 6: people in our communities and our movement.
Speaker 1: That's one.
Speaker 5: Number two.
Speaker 6: For those of you who have friends, colleagues, co workers,
Speaker 6: people you may know on the internet that you know,
Speaker 6: that's another thing. Don't be arguing as strangers on the
Speaker 6: internet as if you all have each other's best interest
Speaker 6: at heart. Here you don't know these people from a
Speaker 6: hole in the wall, but definitely struggle with people that
Speaker 6: you know. I say to people all the time that
Speaker 6: right now is in a moment to say to somebody
Speaker 6: who looks you in the eye and says, I'm not
Speaker 6: voting for Kamala Harris, I'm so outraged. And instead of
Speaker 6: saying to them, you're self centered, you're one issued, you
Speaker 6: should say to them, you know what, I'm going to
Speaker 6: vote for Kamala Harris, and I promise you that when
Speaker 6: I do that, I'm also going to still be fighting
Speaker 6: for the Palestinian people. I'm also going to be fighting
Speaker 6: for all marginalized people. Letting people understand and give them
Speaker 6: an opening to come into the conversation that you want
Speaker 6: to have with them. I think what people are worried
Speaker 6: about is that people are going to vote one way
Speaker 6: and then they're just going to leave the Palestinian people
Speaker 6: and kind of move from here. And what we know
Speaker 6: is there's a looming genocide that is also now in
Speaker 6: the West Bank. So this is not just the Gazo anymore.
Speaker 6: This is now in the West Bank, and we are
Speaker 6: in literal danger of losing our land and our people.
Speaker 5: Like this is that kind of moment that we're living
Speaker 5: in history.
Speaker 6: So I'm telling people all the time, have courageous conversations
Speaker 6: that include empathy, that include trying to understand where people
Speaker 6: are coming from. Just say you know, I hear you,
Speaker 6: I see what you're saying. I watch those videos too.
Speaker 6: I can't imagine what it feels like for you to
Speaker 6: watch the video. When I'm watching a video of people
Speaker 6: I don't know, I may not be connected to it.
Speaker 6: I'm horrified by what I see. The third is Joe
Speaker 6: Biden is still the president of the United States of America.
Speaker 6: Whether people want me to convince me that he's still
Speaker 6: in his right mind or not, I don't care. His
Speaker 6: administration is still the administration. We need to continue to
Speaker 6: demand in arms in bargo. The United Kingdom just recently
Speaker 6: did that in a semi sort of embargo on time
Speaker 6: life weapons, weapons licenses. At least something right, meaning that
Speaker 6: the people rising up in the UK are getting some
Speaker 6: sort of results. So we need this administration to say
Speaker 6: to themselves, we cannot be in the business of violating
Speaker 6: domestic and international law, which we are, by the way,
Speaker 6: violating our own United States law that's on the books.
Speaker 6: We need an arms in bargo. Stop sending weapons to
Speaker 6: the State of Israel during this genocide. I think it's
Speaker 6: a reasonable ask. I think any normal person that you
Speaker 6: talk to that sees the weapons and sees the murder
Speaker 6: and sees the bloodshed is saying, yeah, stop sending these
Speaker 6: people the weapons. We got to stop the killing. So
Speaker 6: demanding an arms embargo from this administration is absolutely key.
Speaker 6: So don't forget that Joe Biden and his administration, they
Speaker 6: are still in power, right now. And the last thing
Speaker 6: that I'll say is that we got to keep going.
Speaker 6: And we said this before and we always say it.
Speaker 6: It's an unfortunate situation for marginalized people. Let's just say
Speaker 6: Kamala Harris does become the President of the United State
Speaker 6: of America, and let's say her inaugurations on January twentieth
Speaker 6: of twenty twenty five. January twenty first, we're supposed to
Speaker 6: be outside. We're supposed to be outside on Palestine, on
Speaker 6: raising the federal minimum wage, on expanding voting rights, on
Speaker 6: immigration reform and refugee rights, like, we just got to
Speaker 6: be people who are consistent.
Speaker 5: And one critique that I have to make it. You
Speaker 5: know this, I say this to people all the time.
Speaker 6: Don't come to me every four years and start trying
Speaker 6: to tell me what to do and tell me this
Speaker 6: is how I should vote and this is how I
Speaker 6: should not vote.
Speaker 5: What are you doing in between the four years?
Speaker 6: Because I know me, Tamika and maisn we outside three
Speaker 6: hundred and sixty five days of the year, maybe not
Speaker 6: three sixty five, maybe more like three hundred forty, but
Speaker 6: we outside. We organize on a daily basis. We build resiliency,
Speaker 6: and power on a daily basis. We build campaigns, we've
Speaker 6: organized many of you know the work that we've done.
Speaker 6: So my thing is that if you want a third
Speaker 6: party and a fourth party and a fifth party, and
Speaker 6: we deserve that, because that's actually how a lot of
Speaker 6: democracies around the world work. No other democracy really has
Speaker 6: two prominent parties. Do okay, cool, what are you going
Speaker 6: to do tomorrow, the day after that, and the day
Speaker 6: after that? Because in order for us to build a
Speaker 6: viable third, fourth, fifth parties, and we shouldn't have just
Speaker 6: one more party. It shouldn't be us. Let's build one
Speaker 6: major party in addition to the two. We should be
Speaker 6: able to build three four powerful parties that align with
Speaker 6: our values or align with the values of different people,
Speaker 6: and do the work. That means petition signatures, that means
Speaker 6: building statewide conventions, building state party apparatus where we actually
Speaker 6: have staff in our parties so that we could do
Speaker 6: the work around, so we could be working up and
Speaker 6: down the ballots every year, not just every four years.
Speaker 6: And I think that's what I'm asking you. I'm calling
Speaker 6: people to the mattress. Let's commit to organizing every day
Speaker 6: for our people and not just wake up to organize
Speaker 6: around an election. And I'm not saying elections aren't important.
Speaker 5: You already know me.
Speaker 6: I'm an electoral organizer for twenty three years. But I
Speaker 6: also understand the power of building between elections.
Speaker 3: That's always been my point of view.
Speaker 2: That's you know, when we when we the last election,
Speaker 2: I said, we need something different and we should have
Speaker 2: been you know, organizing and our old whole strategy that
Speaker 2: we were never fighting for an ally, we were fighting
Speaker 2: for a better opponent. And I think that's still true
Speaker 2: today and I think understanding as we look at both opponents,
Speaker 2: we understand who we got it easier fight with, you know,
Speaker 2: but the fight definitely remains so like like you said,
Speaker 2: Samika said, it's November six, you said, after inauguration, But
Speaker 2: it definitely has to be consistent, you know, because all
Speaker 2: of these issues and everything that we've been fighting.
Speaker 3: For is not going to come when we're not consistent.
Speaker 2: If we look at all the communities who actually get changed,
Speaker 2: you actually get things.
Speaker 3: Is consistency.
Speaker 2: And I want to again, I want to take my
Speaker 2: hat off to the Palace things because the level of
Speaker 2: consistency that they have being able to create uncommitted movement
Speaker 2: and get hundreds of thousands of people to get on
Speaker 2: board with one thing is what it's what it looks like.
Speaker 3: And I think if we.
Speaker 2: Take the power that we all have and we combine
Speaker 2: it with the consistency that you guys have shown, you know,
Speaker 2: the resilience that even through all these things, that you
Speaker 2: continue to show in the way that you continue to
Speaker 2: stay on tone and on course to get what it
Speaker 2: is that you want to fight for justice and fight
Speaker 2: to fight, you know, to stop the genocide is what
Speaker 2: it's going to take.
Speaker 3: So this, this solidary and the legions is necessary. Right.
Speaker 2: You always say, you know, you understand that when black
Speaker 2: people free, everybody to be free. And when we all
Speaker 2: understand that when everybody is free, all of us are
Speaker 2: going to be free. And we utilize the same strategies
Speaker 2: and tactics and tenacity and we and we we create
Speaker 2: that into an infrastructure, that's what it's going to take
Speaker 2: for us to actually get what we want as all
Speaker 2: of us. So I just want to let you know
Speaker 2: that we are one in solidarity. Yes, I've been I've
Speaker 2: been adamant about me making sure that I vote for
Speaker 2: COMMA because what it is to me, which Trump represents.
Speaker 2: It's something that just is so anti my spirit, you know,
Speaker 2: like you know it's some people don't. I don't know
Speaker 2: about everybody else, but every time I listen and I
Speaker 2: see Trump, it's something that's demonic did to me. It's
Speaker 2: not like some simple shit. It's just not like always
Speaker 2: the president I can go to sleep. It is turned
Speaker 2: into something that it bothers my spirit. So as I
Speaker 2: fight against you know that it's essential that we always
Speaker 2: talk about and that spirit. I still want to fight
Speaker 2: for the Palestinians, and I will fight.
Speaker 6: For the Pelists, and I know you will. And I
Speaker 6: just want to say this for folks that listen to
Speaker 6: your podcast. You know, to be clear, Palestinians, if you
Speaker 6: look at some recent polling that came out, ain't no
Speaker 6: Palestinian ziono and ain't no Muslim Ziono voting for Donald Trump.
Speaker 6: And that is something that I also tell people all
Speaker 6: the time when you're talking to people outline and you're
Speaker 6: trying to convince them, don't use Donald Trump as a
Speaker 6: fear mongering targ at least not for the Palestinians and
Speaker 6: the Muslims in the Arabs.
Speaker 5: Because these people know, they know all about Donald Trump.
Speaker 6: They went through four years with him, They went through
Speaker 6: Muslim band, they were over four hundred thousand. People were
Speaker 6: separated from their families like a lot of things without.
Speaker 6: Millions of people were separated from grandmother's, grandmother's, husband's wives, children.
Speaker 6: People were stranded in countries like Jibouti and others trying
Speaker 6: to reunite with their families because Donald Trump was like, no,
Speaker 6: you don't deserve a family. You don't deserve to be
Speaker 6: with your family. So we know Donald Trump, We've experienced him.
Speaker 6: So there has been no polling showing that anybody in
Speaker 6: our communities or our voters are voting for him. And
Speaker 6: I will say, that's exactly what you said, Mice. It's
Speaker 6: how do we make a commitment to one another regardless
Speaker 6: of what choices people are going to make in this election.
Speaker 6: How can we make commitments to each other's communities by saying,
Speaker 6: no matter what happens, no matter in this election, I
Speaker 6: must still fight for you. Just because someone's voting or
Speaker 6: has decided to vote for Kamala Harris doesn't mean that
Speaker 6: they don't want to fight for Palestinians. Just because someone
Speaker 6: saying it's not sitting right in my spirit, I might
Speaker 6: want to vote for a third party candidate. You know,
Speaker 6: for example, in New York it's a blue state, right
Speaker 6: And in a state like California, you could actually vote
Speaker 6: any way you want and it's still your state is
Speaker 6: going to be a democratic state. But that doesn't mean
Speaker 6: that people still don't want to fight for black people
Speaker 6: and other marginalized people. I think we're going to come
Speaker 6: out of this election with a commitment to keep fighting
Speaker 6: for our people. And this is a not a sprint
Speaker 6: and to marathon. And we know this, and you know this,
Speaker 6: mice from black liberation movements. Black people aren't fully liberated
Speaker 6: in the United States, and they've been fighting for decades,
Speaker 6: some would argue centuries in this country. But we're seeing it,
Speaker 6: we're getting closer to it. So the question becomes, can
Speaker 6: we believe that one election is not how we're going
Speaker 6: to be fully free but it could be and get
Speaker 6: us just a little bit closer versus taking us a
Speaker 6: little farther back. And I think again, let's have those
Speaker 6: hard conversations. Let's keep getting the people outside, let's keep
Speaker 6: registering those voters, because the one thing I'm not going
Speaker 6: to do is I'm not forfeiting my right to participate
Speaker 6: in this democracy. I'm not forfeiting my community's right to
Speaker 6: participate in this democracy. And I just want people to
Speaker 6: know that no matter what, we're going to fight with
Speaker 6: one another, and Donald Trump cannot cannot become the president
Speaker 6: of the United States of America.
Speaker 4: Again, Yeah, that's a complete no for me, absolutely, And
Speaker 4: people will say, well, they'll say, well, genocide is a no.
Speaker 1: Yes, genocide is a no.
Speaker 4: My access to my bodily autonomy, someone taking that away,
Speaker 4: that's a no. Food insecurity is a no. There's so
Speaker 4: many things that's a no that we have to figure
Speaker 4: out a way to hold all of it at the
Speaker 4: same time. And black folks have always had to do that.
Speaker 4: And I understand that there are black people out here
Speaker 4: right now who will listen to this and say, I'm
Speaker 4: so tired every time we might be in a moment
Speaker 4: we can elect a black woman, which is definitely a
Speaker 4: significant symbolism for young black girls to see themselves in
Speaker 4: that light. Nonetheless, we got to worry about the fact
Speaker 4: that she unfortunately supports genocide. That's just a truth, right,
Speaker 4: Like when we hear her say different things. Yes, she's
Speaker 4: talked about Palacinian rights and the Palacinian people's right to
Speaker 4: self determination and all that's good, but without a policy change, the.
Speaker 1: Two things don't align.
Speaker 4: You can't be saying that you're still going to maintain
Speaker 4: the same policies and saying that you don't support the
Speaker 4: killing at the same time. There has to be a change,
Speaker 4: and I truly hope, I hope, I hope, I hope
Speaker 4: that we will see a shift, because even if she
Speaker 4: believes naively or incorrectly, falsely, whatever words we want to use,
Speaker 4: that somehow she can get these things done. It's like
Speaker 4: a woman who's like, I think I can change him,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, Like I can just I
Speaker 4: can just talk to him and make him see my
Speaker 4: perspective and maybe he'll do the right thing. No, Sis,
Speaker 4: he's no good for you, and you have to put
Speaker 4: him out your house.
Speaker 1: That's the only way that this is gonna.
Speaker 6: Let me just add this really quickly to what you're
Speaker 6: saying to me, because just to make sure I make
Speaker 6: this point.
Speaker 5: My worry here is.
Speaker 6: That the risk of the calculation that the Democratic Party
Speaker 6: is making, right, they're making They're taking a risk here,
Speaker 6: This is a gamble, and they're gambling that other voters who.
Speaker 1: May be in.
Speaker 6: Exclusive support of the State of Israel or whatever are
Speaker 6: the people she's targeting. She's talking to a different, more
Speaker 6: center right voter. She wants Republicans, she wants independent voters.
Speaker 6: They do it every time, every time, and they move
Speaker 6: They're moving us to the right, not just on Palestine,
Speaker 6: but on a lot of issues, as you know, from
Speaker 6: abolishing from removing the abolition of the death penalty, from
Speaker 6: talking about the ways in which they talk about all
Speaker 6: these class.
Speaker 1: Middle class is not that's not relevant to most black people.
Speaker 5: That's exactly that's right.
Speaker 6: And so for me, I'm just saying I'm sitting back
Speaker 6: saying I'm gonna do my part. You know, we're all
Speaker 6: going to organize, We're not going to just sit at home.
Speaker 6: But at the end of the day, the Democratic Party
Speaker 6: has made it very clear, in my opinion, sending a
Speaker 6: clear signal to a lot to some young voters, to Arab,
Speaker 6: Muslim Palestinian anti war voters, that we are going to
Speaker 6: sacrifice to you in this election because we think these
Speaker 6: people are the ones that are going to turn out
Speaker 6: and we need them more than we need you. And
Speaker 6: let's see what happens on November fifth. That's the worry
Speaker 6: that I have here that there's been a calculation. In
Speaker 6: my opinion, it's going to be a miscalculation. So let's
Speaker 6: you what happens.
Speaker 1: Well, let's hope not. I want to believe.
Speaker 4: You know, as I've been saying, Kamala Harris is my
Speaker 4: sorority sister.
Speaker 1: I know the oath that we take, right, the oath
Speaker 1: that we take.
Speaker 4: I want to believe that she will have to consider
Speaker 4: that attending HBCUs I know what happens.
Speaker 1: There is an indoctrination that happens about being.
Speaker 4: A good person that does right by people, that uphold
Speaker 4: some level of dignity and integrity. And I want to
Speaker 4: believe that once she gets into office and she has
Speaker 4: the power to make certain decisions that our voices and
Speaker 4: the descent, because there will still absolutely be descent, that
Speaker 4: I will be a part of that, it helps to
Speaker 4: shift her thinking and that she understands clearly, I can't
Speaker 4: hold I can't try to be on both sides of this.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna have to pick a side and make some
Speaker 4: very very very specific moves.
Speaker 1: That's what I want to believe.
Speaker 4: I don't know, but it's what I have to be
Speaker 4: able to believe in this moment, because if we don't
Speaker 4: have hope, we have nothing.
Speaker 1: And that's so that's where I am. God knows that.
Speaker 4: It doesn't you know, it feels it's it's scary. You know,
Speaker 4: we're here to say it's scary. But this is a
Speaker 4: very important moment and I just appreciate your sisterhood and
Speaker 4: what we're doing. And I better go to the airport else.
Speaker 6: I would literally want to say, I want to believe
Speaker 6: that you will get to the airport at the top.
Speaker 1: Make it on my flight. Love you so much, Linda, I.
Speaker 5: Love you both so much.
Speaker 1: Let's do it.
Speaker 4: Well, my son, Lennon, I have literally twenty four minutes
Speaker 4: to make it to the airport, and the airport is
Speaker 4: thirty two minutes away.
Speaker 1: So I don't know how that's gonna happen.
Speaker 2: You're gonna make it because you know why, because we're
Speaker 2: about to end this episode. Shout out to our sister
Speaker 2: Linders I saw and shout out to all the Palestinian
Speaker 2: Shout out to all the black women, Shout.
Speaker 3: Out to everybody. We are in a very pucial moment
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 2: But we understand that our solidarity is necessary, it is needed, and.
Speaker 3: It is mandatory.
Speaker 2: So we're gonna end this episode shout out to our
Speaker 2: all of our fans at TMM. Continue to let us
Speaker 2: know that we're the best show in the world. We're
Speaker 2: gonna continue to bring you all of the politics for
Speaker 2: the until this election. We're gonna have people here who
Speaker 2: have very strong voices and opinion. So I'm not gonna
Speaker 2: always be right. Tamika d Marriage and I can always
Speaker 2: be wrong, but we will both always and I mean always,
Speaker 2: be authentic.
Speaker 3: Check out the video version.
Speaker 4: Of TMO every single Wednesday on I Woman Dot TV.
Speaker 1: That's how we own