Speaker 1: Good morning, peepson. Welcome to bok F Daily with Meet
Speaker 1: your Girl Danielle Moody reporting from the Bunker, Folks. I
Speaker 1: want to start out with a New York Times article
Speaker 1: that went up yesterday with regard to Joe Biden and
Speaker 1: the fact that new polling has shown that his approval
Speaker 1: ratings are pretty much in the gutter. Now, given all
Speaker 1: of the things that this man has inherited from the
Speaker 1: trash compactor that was the Trump presidency, it's not a surprise.
Speaker 1: But I will say this, I don't disagree with the
Speaker 1: fucking polls this time. Like, the reality is people in
Speaker 1: this country are suffering, right. They're suffering because they are
Speaker 1: losing rights left in right, and they don't know what
Speaker 1: to do about it. That they're dollar is no longer
Speaker 1: stretching as far as it used to. That while we're
Speaker 1: seeing gas prices received, inflation is still at an all
Speaker 1: time high. And you know, the fact is Republicans are
Speaker 1: a terror group, a terrorist organization that is receiving very
Speaker 1: little pushback at the state and local and federal level
Speaker 1: for the actions that they are taking to oppress people,
Speaker 1: particularly LGBTQ people, particularly women and people with UTERUSS particularly
Speaker 1: black people, and this Democratic Party Joe, which Joe Biden
Speaker 1: is the leader of, is doing fairly little to show
Speaker 1: that they have the ovaries to get this shit done.
Speaker 1: So here's where I am. You know, I talked about
Speaker 1: this last week that I received a lot of pushback
Speaker 1: and a lot of fucking just nastiness on social media.
Speaker 1: So I appreciate those of you who had reached out
Speaker 1: and DMed and you know, left comments to uplift me,
Speaker 1: because I will say that my spirits were indeed quite
Speaker 1: low last week, that you know, and it wasn't low
Speaker 1: because necessarily I take what trolls say, and I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that it was all trolls, because there were people
Speaker 1: who were actual, real people who were like, I'm on
Speaker 1: following you because you know, you're not a cheerleader for
Speaker 1: the Democratic Party. And what I will say is read
Speaker 1: my fucking bio. I never said I was. I am
Speaker 1: not a spokesperson for the Biden administration. I am not
Speaker 1: a spokesperson for the DNC. But I'm not going to
Speaker 1: sit around and say that Joe Biden is doing a
Speaker 1: bang up job when in fact I don't think so.
Speaker 1: And if you can't take what your party is saying
Speaker 1: to you about how you need to change course. Then
Speaker 1: how are you going to go up against Republicans that
Speaker 1: don't give a fuck about truth, don't give a fuck
Speaker 1: about science, and frankly, don't give a fuck about safety
Speaker 1: or the constitution. So if you can't take the pressure
Speaker 1: that is coming at you from within your own party,
Speaker 1: how are you going to take on the white supremacist
Speaker 1: terrorist cult that is now the Republican Party. The reality
Speaker 1: here is, you know, there was pushback last week because
Speaker 1: a White House spokesperson who has since went to go
Speaker 1: spend more time with her family and I'm using air quotes,
Speaker 1: basically said that Biden is not going to acquiesce on
Speaker 1: abortion rights to appease a group of activists that are
Speaker 1: quote unquote out of step with the Democratic Party. So
Speaker 1: the Biden administration thinks that their best bet to get
Speaker 1: people activated to vote in mid terms is to discredit
Speaker 1: and admonish the activists that are actually getting supplies and
Speaker 1: help on the ground to women and people with uteruses
Speaker 1: that need abortion. Right now, did I get that right?
Speaker 1: Because if that is your motherfucking tactic, then I might
Speaker 1: as well hand you the gun so you can shoot
Speaker 1: yourself in the foot right literally. The reality here is
Speaker 1: that these numbers should worry this administration, and they should
Speaker 1: worry all of us because people are losing hope. And
Speaker 1: where do you get hope from. You get hope from
Speaker 1: messaging coupled with action, neither of which this Democratic Party
Speaker 1: is doing right now. Case in point, Lawrence Tribe, famed lawyer,
Speaker 1: tweeted and said that Joe Biden does not need to
Speaker 1: ask his staff whether or not he can call a
Speaker 1: public health emergency for abortion right now, which by the way,
Speaker 1: would open up more funds through HHS for them to
Speaker 1: take considerable measures to protect the right to abortion in
Speaker 1: this country. And this is Lawrence fucking Tribe that is
Speaker 1: saying this. Forbes magazine wrote this, and I want to
Speaker 1: read it verbatim. President Joe Biden said Sunday he has
Speaker 1: asked his staff to see if he has quote the
Speaker 1: authority to declare a public health emergency to address abortion access,
Speaker 1: a move that could release additional funding and give federal
Speaker 1: health officials more power to respond to state level abortion
Speaker 1: and restrictions. Following calls from progressive Democrats to take sweeping
Speaker 1: action to protect abortion rights after the Supreme Court's overturning
Speaker 1: of Roe v. Wade. Folks, it's been over two weeks.
Speaker 1: By the time that we get to the end of
Speaker 1: this week, it'll be three weeks since Rovie Wade was overturned.
Speaker 1: But it has been several fucking weeks, several months in fact,
Speaker 1: since we knew that this was coming on the horizon.
Speaker 1: So the question that infuriates me, and that many voters
Speaker 1: are asking themselves, is why was there no fucking plan
Speaker 1: when these scooby Doo fucking evil villains are organizing and
Speaker 1: play goddamn sight and they are literally announcing what their
Speaker 1: fucking plans are. Why has there been no action that
Speaker 1: was taken. Why are we all standing around looking up
Speaker 1: at the sky saying I can't believe that this has happened. Now,
Speaker 1: I get that for the average American that is fucking shook,
Speaker 1: but not by this administration that should not have been
Speaker 1: caught off guard. But of course you would be caught
Speaker 1: off guard because you still have this fucking president believing
Speaker 1: that he can work with Republicans that literally wanted to
Speaker 1: kill their own form of vice president last year. I
Speaker 1: want to read some key facts that Biden can take
Speaker 1: and these key facts that were put out this week
Speaker 1: with regard to what a public health emergency would do
Speaker 1: and with regard to the executive order that Joe Biden
Speaker 1: has put in place. So one, a public health emergency
Speaker 1: is typically declared by the federal government following a natural
Speaker 1: disaster or infectious disease outbreak, and it gives the Department
Speaker 1: of Health and Human Services additional funding and flexibility to
Speaker 1: respond to an emergency. Number two, Biden's executive order directs
Speaker 1: HHS to protect emergency medical care for pregnant people, but
Speaker 1: declaring an emergency could also give HHS Secretary Xavier Biserra
Speaker 1: the power to ensure healthcare providers can prescribe and dispense
Speaker 1: abortion medication out of state to patients whom home states
Speaker 1: have restricted abortion centers. For reproductive Rights, President Nancy Northrop
Speaker 1: wrote in The Washington Post. This article goes on to
Speaker 1: say this White House, AIDS and HHS officials way declaring
Speaker 1: a public health emergency after the Supreme Court's ruling, but
Speaker 1: they decided against it at the time due to question
Speaker 1: about its effectiveness and possible legal challenges. Folks, And this
Speaker 1: is the kind of shit that drives me crazy. Why
Speaker 1: the fuck were you waiting until Rove Wade was overturned,
Speaker 1: when in fact, the draft decision told you it was
Speaker 1: going to be overturned for you to figure out whether
Speaker 1: or not declaring a public health emergency would be the
Speaker 1: help that people would need. Because here's the deal, folks.
Speaker 1: And I've talked to our friend Danielle Campamore, the abortion
Speaker 1: rights advocate and also writer at todayshow dot com, who
Speaker 1: has stated that every minute, every second that can be
Speaker 1: bought right for these people who are literally running up
Speaker 1: against the clocks in their state, is time that we
Speaker 1: cannot waste. And so why the fuck this administration would
Speaker 1: wait three weeks almost after this decision and a month
Speaker 1: and plus after the leak draft was put out to
Speaker 1: think about the ways in which they need to activate.
Speaker 1: Is why the fuck Biden's numbers are low. So people
Speaker 1: want to tell me, no, Danielle's about the economy. It's
Speaker 1: about this, that and the other thing. And again I
Speaker 1: will say what I said on MSNBC a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago. There is no more pressing issue for people's
Speaker 1: kitchen table than whether or not they have enough money
Speaker 1: and resources to be able to feed the fucking mouths
Speaker 1: at that table. And if you are forced to birth
Speaker 1: yet another mouth that you cannot afford, you tell me
Speaker 1: how that's not an economic issue. This administration, I know
Speaker 1: people don't love for me to say it needs to
Speaker 1: get their fucking shit together and actually should be paying
Speaker 1: attention to the polls and be concerned that ninety four
Speaker 1: percent of young people that are polled don't want Biden
Speaker 1: to run in twenty twenty four. So what does that
Speaker 1: mean for their turnout enthusiasm right for midterms and for
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, it means that it's going to be
Speaker 1: fucking low. And guess what, we don't get another bide
Speaker 1: at this apple. This is the last midterm election. This
Speaker 1: will be the last presidential election in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: If and when Republicans take power, because they are not
Speaker 1: looking back, they are not looking for negotiations, they will
Speaker 1: rewrite the rules, rewrite the constitution, call a constitutional convention,
Speaker 1: and I may be broadcasting from a cotton field near you.
Speaker 1: That's the fucking reality on the ground. And it would
Speaker 1: be great if our administration would get on board with
Speaker 1: the urgency that it's being expressed by the constituents and
Speaker 1: the citizens across this country. Coming up next, my conversation
Speaker 1: with whom They're all Right has called controversial Senator Tara
Speaker 1: Mack from Rhode Island, who made headlines for twerking and
Speaker 1: then telling people that they need to get out and vote.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you something, folks, she is more than
Speaker 1: a twerk and you will hear that. Coming up next,
Speaker 1: The Damage Report with John Idarola is one of the
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Speaker 1: It's no secret that the news is horsepill hard to swallow. Thankfully,
Speaker 1: there's The Bituation Room podcast hosted by comedian and commentator
Speaker 1: Francesca Freer and Tini for a lighter take on the
Speaker 1: heavy stuff. Each week, The Bituation Room brings you progressive comedians, experts,
Speaker 1: and activists to break down the issues in a way
Speaker 1: that won't just leave you crying under a weighted blanket.
Speaker 1: Get the Bituation Room on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and
Speaker 1: streaming on YouTube and Twitch. Folks, I am very excited
Speaker 1: to welcome to woka F Daily for the very first
Speaker 1: time Rhode Island State Senator Senator Tara Mack, who has
Speaker 1: made headlines right because this is what happens in the
Speaker 1: age of the inter net. For doing a video to
Speaker 1: get out the vote in your state, Senator Mac tworking
Speaker 1: and subsequently Fox News has come out with a target
Speaker 1: on you. There's been tons of pushback. You wrote a
Speaker 1: piece in Newsweek, and so I want you to tell us.
Speaker 1: Just let's start from the beginning. What prompted the twrking video,
Speaker 1: and were you at all anticipating that there would be
Speaker 1: you know, backlash and not just like, oh h a
Speaker 1: fun like a fun funny video. So no, So to
Speaker 1: explain the video, I have to go back maybe like
Speaker 1: a week before that. I started my TikTok under my
Speaker 1: mac District sixth account to raise awareness after the overturning
Speaker 1: of Rovi Wade about access to abortion in the state.
Speaker 1: Many people had no idea where to turn in my state,
Speaker 1: and they were saying things like, we must give our
Speaker 1: money to politicians, or we must fund this campaign, or
Speaker 1: let's start our own abortion fund. I'm an abortion funder.
Speaker 1: I've been a member of my state's abortion fund since
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen. I'm one of the board members, and I've
Speaker 1: been working on issues for abortion access. I've worked on
Speaker 1: our state's twenty nineteen campaign to codify rob Wade, ensuring
Speaker 1: that Rhode Island will always have access to abortion no
Speaker 1: matter what happens federally. And I've been working currently on
Speaker 1: the Equity and Abortion coverage, which addresses the fact that
Speaker 1: one third of Rhode Islanders who are either state employees
Speaker 1: or on Medicaid do not have access to abortion. And
Speaker 1: so i started that I believe it's my eighth video
Speaker 1: says I am trying to go viral to talk about abortion.
Speaker 1: I am trying to go viral. There might be some
Speaker 1: thirst traps, It's going to be Rhode Island specific, and
Speaker 1: I'm going to uplift body, autonomy and abortion. And so
Speaker 1: when I took those videos, the context was this is
Speaker 1: it's a silly account. It talks a little bit about
Speaker 1: Rhode Island politics, the state of abortion access, what folks
Speaker 1: can do instead of donating to politicians, what they can
Speaker 1: do to ensure that their abortion fund in their local
Speaker 1: area is funded and because the need will be there,
Speaker 1: and also explaining some of the ways that blue states
Speaker 1: are not safe when it comes to abortion access. Many
Speaker 1: people are like, well, I live in Rhode Island and
Speaker 1: we just codified roh V. Wade so we don't have
Speaker 1: to worry about access to abortion. That is extremely untrue.
Speaker 1: There are three hundred thousand Rhode Islanders at least who
Speaker 1: don't have access to abortion. And so when I created
Speaker 1: those videos, I think it's a series of three videos
Speaker 1: of me and my bathing suit with a small group
Speaker 1: of friends, and the first video says silly days off
Speaker 1: the second video is another video that says silly days off,
Speaker 1: and then the third one is the viral sensation of
Speaker 1: Tiara to working. So I did not expect it to
Speaker 1: go pretty. I didn't expect to go further than my
Speaker 1: community of Rhode Islanders, let alone become a national GOP campaign.
Speaker 1: But also, this is not the first time I've gone
Speaker 1: viral on the alt right. This is the second time
Speaker 1: that the alt right has tried to silence me and
Speaker 1: have tried to make me afraid of whatever power they
Speaker 1: think they have over a strong, opinionated, unapologetically black queer
Speaker 1: person that stands up for the causes that she believes in.
Speaker 1: I went viral back in February, and no one was
Speaker 1: worried about my body. They were not worried about my safety,
Speaker 1: and they sure as hell weren't worried at about the
Speaker 1: policies when the alt right took my comprehensive queer inclusive,
Speaker 1: age appropriate pleasure based sexual Health bill that was also
Speaker 1: paired with the Sexual Assault Survivor's Bill of Rights. When
Speaker 1: they took that bill and had thousands of people, hundreds
Speaker 1: of thousands of people in bots and their troll farm
Speaker 1: calling me a pedophile and a groomer. For months, no one,
Speaker 1: no one in Rhode Island, no one at the national level,
Speaker 1: reached out and said, tr are you okay? They didn't
Speaker 1: care about my mental health, they didn't care about my
Speaker 1: black my black queer self receiving those messages from hundreds
Speaker 1: of account to daily and no one reached out. No
Speaker 1: one said this is a smear campaign. No one even
Speaker 1: stood firmly in the fact that everything that they were
Speaker 1: saying about my bill was completely untrue, was not rooted
Speaker 1: in their opposition, was not rooted in wanting to protect
Speaker 1: young people. It was not rooted in wanting to have inclusion.
Speaker 1: It was about creating a divisive topic for them to
Speaker 1: mobilize their base. And so then when this video goes
Speaker 1: viral of my body, me having full agency and autonomy
Speaker 1: over my body, being proud of what my body can do,
Speaker 1: a headstand, of being on the beach, celebrating that I
Speaker 1: have a day off on America's Birthday, as I like
Speaker 1: to call it, the fact that they took my body
Speaker 1: and tried to make it a meme and tried to
Speaker 1: shame me and tried to degrade me. When no one
Speaker 1: was concerned about tr mac before, not my mental health,
Speaker 1: not my wellness, not my body. They were more concerned
Speaker 1: about the idea that a liberated black queer person felt
Speaker 1: comfortable in her skin and felt that she could have
Speaker 1: a day off and felt that she could have liberation.
Speaker 1: And so the conversation spiraling out of control online has
Speaker 1: only been able to help me uplift the issues that
Speaker 1: I care about further, talk about bodily autonomy and call
Speaker 1: attention to the ways in which the alt right and
Speaker 1: their supporters are trying to create a narrative and strategically
Speaker 1: target opinionated people on the left, including black people, including
Speaker 1: peer people, including one of color in office, and create
Speaker 1: a hostile environment. So they think so that they create
Speaker 1: in themselves this idea or need to shrink and to
Speaker 1: shrug away from the issues, or not stand as firmly
Speaker 1: in their beliefs. But did that. I say, if they
Speaker 1: want to come after me, which they already have once
Speaker 1: twice and they'll probably be another, I am not afraid
Speaker 1: of their smear campaigns, and I'm not afraid of standing
Speaker 1: firmly in my belief that everything I stand for is
Speaker 1: about people centered communities. And so I think more people
Speaker 1: on the left need to be paying attention to these
Speaker 1: tactics that they're using, because we see what they're doing.
Speaker 1: They're creating false campaigns, They're creating and mobilizing their base
Speaker 1: around these like inflammatory lies, and we are not fighting back,
Speaker 1: We are not pushing back on the reality that everything
Speaker 1: they stand for is um is regressing back to this
Speaker 1: idea that we can't have inclusive community. Well, let's talk
Speaker 1: about that for a minute. Um, which is the pushback,
Speaker 1: right the ability to as I continue to say on
Speaker 1: you know, on social media, on all of my platforms,
Speaker 1: to fight fire with fire, which you know you're talking
Speaker 1: specifically at you know, as as you are running for
Speaker 1: reelection uh in Rhode Island. And I'm also you know,
Speaker 1: pulling back to think about the ways in which national
Speaker 1: U nationally Democrats are not fighting back against these tactics.
Speaker 1: And so um, you know, senator tell me, like, what
Speaker 1: what do you perceive to be the best way to
Speaker 1: fight back to you know, because I am no longer
Speaker 1: in the camp of when they go low, uh, we
Speaker 1: go high. I love Michelle Obama and will will forever.
Speaker 1: That was a tactic of a different time. I'm more like,
Speaker 1: when they go low, we scuba dive like I am beyond,
Speaker 1: and so, what are some of the ways in which
Speaker 1: you believe that we need to be fighting back at
Speaker 1: the national, state, and local level, And what are some
Speaker 1: of the tactics that you have implored that you have
Speaker 1: found successful in the fight that you're in right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: one of the ways that I found successful is when
Speaker 1: they were repeatedly calling me a pedophile and a groomer.
Speaker 1: I ignored all those comments. I didn't engage, and I
Speaker 1: pushed back, and I said comprehensive queer inclusive, pleasure based
Speaker 1: sexual health attation. More, I said comprehensive queer inclusive, age
Speaker 1: appropriate pleasure based sex side even more, when they're coming
Speaker 1: after me for t working upside down, I made it
Speaker 1: into a hashtag. I have more people now, I have
Speaker 1: thousands of followers. I'm a Rhode Island State senitter and
Speaker 1: I represent twenty thousand people, and I now have people
Speaker 1: all across the country who were inspired by a young,
Speaker 1: unapologetically queer person saying the word abortion, not saying reprodictive
Speaker 1: health access, not saying choice, saying abortion, and saying that
Speaker 1: we should have access to abortion for every single person
Speaker 1: in our communities. I'm also talking about trans flights, I'm
Speaker 1: talking about intersex rights, I'm talking about body autonomy for
Speaker 1: every single person in our communities. And they want me
Speaker 1: to back down. They want me to feel as if
Speaker 1: they can control my narrative. They want me to be afraid,
Speaker 1: they want me to fear their troll farm. And it's
Speaker 1: not working. And I'm saying it louder, and I'm saying
Speaker 1: it more proudly, and I'm bringing more people into my message.
Speaker 1: I have people who've reached out to me like I
Speaker 1: would have never known about you. I would have never
Speaker 1: known that we had a senator in my state, and
Speaker 1: so wild it is, yes, and so it is. It
Speaker 1: is still something that I'm grappling with because we have
Speaker 1: waited too long to fight back. I really resonated with
Speaker 1: what you've said when you said when we got a
Speaker 1: scuba dive, like they are literally pulling all of the
Speaker 1: stops and we are watching. I've in my own state house,
Speaker 1: we have people who are not willing to stand firmly
Speaker 1: in the belief that our communities need action now. I
Speaker 1: was championing bills including an eviction moratorium, adjustments to our
Speaker 1: probation period, sexual seals of Ivery's Bill of Rights, sealing
Speaker 1: evictions for folks who have those on their records, and
Speaker 1: those bills did not get heard this year. I had
Speaker 1: bills that were introduced last year and had hearings and
Speaker 1: that were not heard because people were afraid that, Oh, well,
Speaker 1: Tiarra mac has already caused enough of stir, She's already
Speaker 1: mobilized people against her, and we're afraid. And so to that,
Speaker 1: I say, what are you afraid of when you're standing
Speaker 1: up for your communities? Why are you afraid to stand
Speaker 1: firmly in all of your beliefs that what they are
Speaker 1: saying is not only very true, but it's not justified,
Speaker 1: and it's not the narrative that we want our young
Speaker 1: people to be living up to. And we should not
Speaker 1: shrink in the light of their criticisms and their fabricated attacks.
Speaker 1: We should not shrink when they have these platforms that
Speaker 1: are literally misinformation. We need to push back continually and consistently,
Speaker 1: and we need more people, more allies to say this
Speaker 1: is ridiculous. I've had to create my own document. No
Speaker 1: one knows how to support a black queer woman in
Speaker 1: this moment, literally, no one. I have to create my
Speaker 1: own resources and sample tweets for what to say when
Speaker 1: someone calls Tarmac a pedophile, a groomer, something misogynistic, something
Speaker 1: that's race based. You know, we have seen this tactic, right,
Speaker 1: this return to the eighties, right is what I refer
Speaker 1: to it as, because in the eighties we did not
Speaker 1: have in this nation the care and or consideration for
Speaker 1: LGBTQ people. I mean, the Reagan administration allowed people to
Speaker 1: die in the street from aids because they thought that
Speaker 1: it was God's will, because it was only at that
Speaker 1: time affecting the gay community. And so, you know, we
Speaker 1: understand because these tactics are patterns that have historical roots
Speaker 1: in discrimination and oppression. And yet Democrats find themselves, whether
Speaker 1: at the state or local level or at the national level,
Speaker 1: seemed to be deers and headlights without the ability to
Speaker 1: fight back. And we saw, you know, a significant push
Speaker 1: back by a state representative in Michigan who came out
Speaker 1: on the house floor, I don't know, on her house
Speaker 1: for if you remember that, where she came out against
Speaker 1: her Republican opponent for calling her a groomer. And she
Speaker 1: stood in her truth as a white suburban Christian mom
Speaker 1: who is a progressive right who believes, you know that
Speaker 1: women should have bodily autonomy minded right. I was, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was raising the red flag. But because it's a
Speaker 1: white woman saying, look at what they're doing to me
Speaker 1: and say, oh, no, it's me, and they're like, well,
Speaker 1: they can't do that to our own people. But when
Speaker 1: it's a black queer woman saying, look at what the
Speaker 1: fuck they're saying about me, And I'm not saying I'm weak,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that I need their protection, but I'm saying, like,
Speaker 1: why is it okay? And why is it viral news?
Speaker 1: I had people sending me her video. They're like, this
Speaker 1: reminds me of you, and I was like, no, I
Speaker 1: remind me of me because they're giving her attention. They're
Speaker 1: not covering tr Matt. I got mails into my home
Speaker 1: from an unaddressed place in Michigan, and that fucking scared me.
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, so my address legally wants to be
Speaker 1: on my website because I'm a public official, and folks
Speaker 1: now are radicalizes on the right and so many different
Speaker 1: platforms and so many different group chats, we already have
Speaker 1: folks that don't believe that black people deserve rights. We
Speaker 1: have a growing narrative across our nation that LGBTQ plus
Speaker 1: people don't deserve their rights and are a direct harm
Speaker 1: to young people in communities in this Great American Convention
Speaker 1: that some people have fabricated in their minds. And then
Speaker 1: we also have on that the attack on women, that
Speaker 1: women don't deserve autonomy over their body, the fact that people,
Speaker 1: queer people, trans people, non binary people don't deserve gender
Speaker 1: affirming care and pronouns and being addressed in ways that
Speaker 1: feel authentic and affirming to them. And so being a
Speaker 1: black queer person experiencing all of those things in the
Speaker 1: faith in a public arena and having to say, I'm
Speaker 1: fucking shrug it off because I know exactly what they're doing,
Speaker 1: but having to explain to people I had to explain
Speaker 1: to the FBI or to the our state troopers um
Speaker 1: when they were making a um their case when I
Speaker 1: sent them the letter, they were like, well, how is it,
Speaker 1: How is it dangerous they're calling you a grumor how
Speaker 1: is it dangerous that they're calling you a pedophile? And
Speaker 1: I'm like, do you not see that this is a
Speaker 1: tactic to literally stoke fear. It's the same as calling
Speaker 1: me the N word. It's the same thing. They are
Speaker 1: trying to belittle me. They are trying to create fear,
Speaker 1: and you know, but what what troubles me to on
Speaker 1: so many different levels is that, you know, we're going
Speaker 1: to these police outfits, right, who have never seen us
Speaker 1: having the right complexion for the protection. Right, So you
Speaker 1: were going to these outlets to say, oh, look, I'm
Speaker 1: in harm's way, and they don't care because they literally
Speaker 1: put us in harm's way all the time. And what
Speaker 1: we are seeing by virtue of all of the coverage
Speaker 1: of the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, these type of
Speaker 1: white supremacist groups, is that they have tentacles in every
Speaker 1: part of our government and every part of our agencies
Speaker 1: and police, you know, departments across this country. And so,
Speaker 1: you know, senator, how do you one, how do you
Speaker 1: raise this to your people, to your twenty thousand constituents
Speaker 1: to understand the violence and the threat not just facing you,
Speaker 1: but people like you in the in their you know,
Speaker 1: and what they can do to activate Because what I
Speaker 1: still see is that we believe on this larger scale,
Speaker 1: or at least the voters believe that there is you know,
Speaker 1: oh we're still having these ideological debates between Republicans and Democrats,
Speaker 1: and that's not the case. Right You have a rabid
Speaker 1: right wing call that it's taken hold at the state,
Speaker 1: local and national level, and then you have a Democratic
Speaker 1: party that in many ways is like fighting for survival
Speaker 1: because it doesn't have the tools and the equipment available
Speaker 1: to deal with the evil that we're being presented with.
Speaker 1: So how do you, as your campaigning on the myriad
Speaker 1: of assaults and issues, raise the alarm to your own constituency.
Speaker 1: Is there something that we know that folks on the
Speaker 1: national level can learn from. What it is that have
Speaker 1: activated your own constituents in Rhode Island. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: still struggle with that question every day. But one thing
Speaker 1: that I've been doing on the doors is raising awareness.
Speaker 1: We have folks in Rhode Island who've been in office
Speaker 1: since before I was born. I'd be the thirty year incumbent.
Speaker 1: I'm supporting another candidate in reconcentis who's going against another
Speaker 1: thirty plus year incumbent. Our Senate president in Rhode Island
Speaker 1: who has been in the Senate for thirty seven years.
Speaker 1: We have stronghold in communities and folks are saying, well,
Speaker 1: the same old, but same old has not got us chained.
Speaker 1: These are the same people who are upholding the norms
Speaker 1: and narratives. And because I've gotten to the State House
Speaker 1: and I've pushed back and I've voted no when I
Speaker 1: needed to, and I've stood up and said I'm not
Speaker 1: voting for that, and I've gone to our prisons. I've
Speaker 1: taken a tour of our adult correctional facility and I've
Speaker 1: said this place is not safe. They tried to say
Speaker 1: it is clean, it is quiet, and I'm like people
Speaker 1: who are being abused and in a space that is
Speaker 1: literally designed to break the psyche, that doesn't It can
Speaker 1: be clean, it can be quiet, it is still abuse.
Speaker 1: And we have to raise that flag every single time.
Speaker 1: And then when people say, well, we're not going to
Speaker 1: get be able to pass the equity and abortion coverageack
Speaker 1: to get the coverage for the thirty three percent of
Speaker 1: Rode Islanders who don't have it, and I say, why,
Speaker 1: We've got twenty three sponsors. We have twenty three out
Speaker 1: of thirty eight centers in the Chamber who say we
Speaker 1: want this to pass. But because we have three powerful
Speaker 1: people in leadership, they determine what bills go to the
Speaker 1: floor and what bills do not. Yea, they determined that
Speaker 1: my bills, the ones that were heard last year when
Speaker 1: I wasn't a problem, and the ones that are being
Speaker 1: heard that were not heard this year because TRRA MAC
Speaker 1: is a problem. They didn't make it pass that. They
Speaker 1: didn't make it pass committee, they didn't make it to
Speaker 1: a committee floor, let alone the floor for a full vote.
Speaker 1: And so I'm teaching people and educating them because another
Speaker 1: thing that folks don't realize is that we have so
Speaker 1: much power in the General Assembly. And that's another reason
Speaker 1: why I've created those tiktoks. We have judges that are
Speaker 1: appointed to these commissions who are just high school friends
Speaker 1: of current senter. We have people who are appointed to
Speaker 1: commissions to determine our environmental impact developing our port that
Speaker 1: are leading to environmental racism and the highest asthma rates
Speaker 1: in the country in a predominantly black and brown community.
Speaker 1: We're assigning more people who side with the fossil fuel
Speaker 1: corporations to be on those committees and appoint new new
Speaker 1: places that are going to be major polluters into our backyards.
Speaker 1: We're appointing people to redevelop the highway district that will
Speaker 1: determine for the next twenty fifty years what our urban
Speaker 1: corps looks like and who it caters to, and what
Speaker 1: are affordable housing looks like and what housing looks like
Speaker 1: around those areas. We're appointing people to boards for jerrymandering,
Speaker 1: literally creating their own districts. We appointed so many political
Speaker 1: insiders to our redistricting committee, and the public didn't even know.
Speaker 1: These are not people who were elected. These are not
Speaker 1: people who have a public face or have a public persona.
Speaker 1: Oftentimes they have no name, they have no resume, they
Speaker 1: have no public track record that you that you can follow.
Speaker 1: They have nothing that you can say, who is this
Speaker 1: person and what do they stand for? Because they're invisible names.
Speaker 1: But then they have so much power in our states
Speaker 1: and we appoint them, and so by telling people and
Speaker 1: showing people that we can take that power back, we
Speaker 1: can use their own game against them. We have a blueprint.
Speaker 1: They have showed us the blueprint. Take power at the
Speaker 1: local and state level to create an overwhelming majority so
Speaker 1: that we can get the state and the community help
Speaker 1: that we need. We have the blueprint. We know exactly
Speaker 1: what to do. But we're unwilling to do that because
Speaker 1: some people do not want to concede power on the left,
Speaker 1: some people are not truly on the side of the left,
Speaker 1: and some people do not realize that black and brown
Speaker 1: voices are sick and fucking tired of waiting for change incrementalism.
Speaker 1: There is no time for incrementalism anymore. Being told to
Speaker 1: compromise for what my right to my body, to my
Speaker 1: right to take hast, right to food, my right to
Speaker 1: a living wage. I won't fucking concede that. And so
Speaker 1: when people say that we need to work together and
Speaker 1: we need to build, I'm like, no, y'all work with me,
Speaker 1: Work with the left, and work with the people who
Speaker 1: ran because they were tired of the current leaders we had.
Speaker 1: Work with the people who have seen their communities literally
Speaker 1: struggle for generation after generation, who don't see any hope
Speaker 1: in the system, who know that their politicians literally do
Speaker 1: not care about them because they do not know what
Speaker 1: it's like to be a low income black or brown
Speaker 1: person or a queer person who faces many realities across
Speaker 1: this nation. So those are all the ways that we
Speaker 1: have to do better, and I'm trying to do better.
Speaker 1: Civic engagement, trying to mobilize people and show them that
Speaker 1: there is real power in our voices, there is real
Speaker 1: power in our numbers, and with people coming into our
Speaker 1: steakhouses and taking that space and taking the air away
Speaker 1: from the folks who don't want to move, even if
Speaker 1: they are quote unquote on our side. Let me ask
Speaker 1: you this last question, which is, you know we have
Speaker 1: polls coming out that and I trust me, I believe
Speaker 1: that polls are akin to reading tea leaves right, So
Speaker 1: take with them, you know, with a grain of salt.
Speaker 1: But the reality is that people are tired, They are depressed,
Speaker 1: they have anxiety, they are stressed the fuck out. There
Speaker 1: is inflation, everything costs more, and their money is not
Speaker 1: going as far as it used to. How what what
Speaker 1: do you say to that voter, to that Democratic voter, right,
Speaker 1: whether it's in your state, as we're looking at midterm
Speaker 1: elections nationally, as we're headed into a which will probably
Speaker 1: be our last presidential election um in these United States?
Speaker 1: So what do you say to that? Not even disgruntled.
Speaker 1: I just think that people are beat down, right, So
Speaker 1: what what? What? What? In you know, what what message
Speaker 1: do you think would resonate to get folks to the
Speaker 1: polls in a way to see that like there is
Speaker 1: still a mustard seed of hope somewhere to hold onto.
Speaker 1: I say my campaign slogan hope in action. We must
Speaker 1: always have hope, but we have to have the audacity
Speaker 1: and the bravery to put that hope into action. Every
Speaker 1: single day, I have been literally beat down, and luckily
Speaker 1: I have a really great uh support system. I have
Speaker 1: a therapist. I play rugby, so I'm allowed to hit
Speaker 1: people legally when I want to. I crochet, I do all.
Speaker 1: I do all the things that I need to do
Speaker 1: and take care of myself, but it's fucking hard. I
Speaker 1: have a full time job outside outside of being a
Speaker 1: state legislator. So when people say my voice doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: I say, I had hope that it would matter, and
Speaker 1: I won, and I'm working on these issues and in
Speaker 1: my community, I have at least ten candidates that I'm
Speaker 1: mentoring and getting them into office and having them build
Speaker 1: up to replace the existing power structures. So when people say, well,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter, I'm like, it will matter. And that's
Speaker 1: why we need new voices. Do young voices, black people,
Speaker 1: queer people, Latino people. We need so many new voices
Speaker 1: in different people in those spaces, and I have hope
Speaker 1: that this next generation is tired the fact that I
Speaker 1: was trking upside down, and it broke the Internet, and
Speaker 1: it broke the minds of people who were afraid to
Speaker 1: see a liberated black, queer person whose body has been
Speaker 1: told its entire life that it is, that it's sex,
Speaker 1: literally said, and they weren't listening to my message before.
Speaker 1: And now people are coming to my platform like I
Speaker 1: just knew you was a twerking senator, and now you
Speaker 1: have things to say. You can do both what Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're saying, there's so much hope in seeing someone who
Speaker 1: is not backing down, who is not saying sorry. They
Speaker 1: wanted me to be ashamed, they wanted me to be embarrassed,
Speaker 1: and they wanted to take away whatever sense of empowerment
Speaker 1: they thought they could take from me. And to that,
Speaker 1: I said, fuck no, I'm a twerk on anyway. I'm
Speaker 1: going to fight anyway. I'm going to say abortion, Louder,
Speaker 1: I'm going to say trans writes Louder. I'm going to say,
Speaker 1: protect our intersects, youth, Louder, I'm going to say, I'm
Speaker 1: going to say, abolish the police. I'm going to say,
Speaker 1: defend our communities. I'm going to say all of the
Speaker 1: things that I believe in strongly, more convincingly, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to bring people into that camp. I've been on
Speaker 1: the doors, I've been knocking, and it is hard for
Speaker 1: people to see that hope, but to see people who
Speaker 1: are still invested, and to see people who are actually
Speaker 1: fighting and who have whatever little results that we can get,
Speaker 1: who are saying that this system is broken and we
Speaker 1: need more voices. It can't just be one of us.
Speaker 1: It has to be all of us running. And that's
Speaker 1: one of the things that I think the Democratic Party
Speaker 1: also has missed. We have to have so many new
Speaker 1: voices coming in and taking those seats. It's not about
Speaker 1: one win, it's not about two wins. It's not about
Speaker 1: the federal level. Like I've said this in a different interview,
Speaker 1: but like fuck being the next AOC, Be the next
Speaker 1: AOC in your town government, be the next AOC in
Speaker 1: your state legislature, be the next change maker in your community.
Speaker 1: Because that's what it goes down to. We're not getting
Speaker 1: shit done up at the federal level, and it's coming
Speaker 1: down to states making sure their communities are taking care
Speaker 1: of that, they have the resources that they need. And
Speaker 1: so when people say, well, donate to this cause, like
Speaker 1: donate to this campaign, do that, I'm like, start your
Speaker 1: own fucking campaign. Let's do it. People were like, let's fund,
Speaker 1: let's go send our money to politicians who support abortion. No,
Speaker 1: don't donate to politicians. Donate to an abortion fund. That's
Speaker 1: where it's going to matter, matter who wins that next election,
Speaker 1: abortion still is not going to be guaranteed for the
Speaker 1: people who need it most. And so trying to build
Speaker 1: that distrust in the system and that inherent belief that
Speaker 1: we can have a whole new system in people. It
Speaker 1: is hard, it is ruling. But by doing the work
Speaker 1: and showing up every day with authenticity, with love, and
Speaker 1: with hope for people, I think that is what inspires
Speaker 1: and that is what motivates people to see that there
Speaker 1: is changed because we have people who are not backing down.
Speaker 1: And yes, it is hard, and at times I has
Speaker 1: a black person every felt safe in the United States,
Speaker 1: Like if you have like let me know your secret,
Speaker 1: but like don't feel safe, don't feel love, don't feel
Speaker 1: cared for, and don't feel community. But I'm showing up
Speaker 1: for it anyway, Senator TIERA. Mack, You're fantastic. I am
Speaker 1: really glad that you made the time to join Woke.
Speaker 1: I hope that you will come back because you know,
Speaker 1: I am looking for energy, I am looking for hope,
Speaker 1: I am looking for something someone somewhere, all of those
Speaker 1: peoples to let us know that this fight is not over.
Speaker 1: And you were one of those people. You were one
Speaker 1: of those warriors on the front lines. And fuck them
Speaker 1: if they are going to be doing their advertisements with
Speaker 1: aar fifteens and all of this like violence and bullshit,
Speaker 1: you can absolutely to work as much as you God
Speaker 1: damn well please and absolutely should. So we here on
Speaker 1: Woke AF appreciate you, thank you, and we'll hope you
Speaker 1: come back soon. Get up behind the scenes look at
Speaker 1: Comedy Central's The Daily Show on Beyond the Scenes, an
Speaker 1: original podcast from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Every week,
Speaker 1: host Roy Wood Junior goes deeper with the notable guests
Speaker 1: and experts from the Emmy Award winning series. Together, they
Speaker 1: use comedy to tackle current topics from gentrification to gun
Speaker 1: laws and take a closer look at how and why
Speaker 1: these topics matter. Listen to Beyond the Scenes from the
Speaker 1: Daily Show with Trevor Noah on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Speaker 1: Podcast or wherever you get your podcast, New episodes every Tuesday.
Speaker 1: That is it for me today here on Woke App
Speaker 1: as always, Power to the people and to all the people. Power,
Speaker 1: get woke and stay woke as fuck. Get a behind
Speaker 1: the scenes look at Comedy Central's The Daily Show on
Speaker 1: Beyond the Scenes, an original podcast from The Daily Show
Speaker 1: with Trevor Noah. Every week, host Roy Wood Junior goes
Speaker 1: deeper with the notable guests and experts from the Emmy
Speaker 1: Award winning series. Together, they use comedy to tackle current
Speaker 1: topics from gentrification to gun laws and take a closer
Speaker 1: look at how and why these topics matter. Listen to
Speaker 1: Beyond the Scenes from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio App, Apple Podcast or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcast. New episodes every Tuesday.