1 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to WOKP Daily with Me 2 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:21,280 Speaker 1: your Girl, Danielle Moody, recording from the Home Bunker. I 3 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:27,480 Speaker 1: have been struggling because the dystopian times that we are 4 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 1: living in they're wild and it is taking everything in 5 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: me not to just follow the breaking news of the 6 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: moment and to really unpack what is underneath the dystopia. 7 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 1: And so that's what we're gonna do today, is try 8 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: and get underneath the mayhem instead of just remaining on 9 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,960 Speaker 1: the surface. We need to be asking ourselves bigger questions 10 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: about this moment, why we're here and how we got here, 11 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: because I feel as if we don't if we don't 12 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: understand truly how we got into this moment where our 13 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,479 Speaker 1: democracy is had hanging on by a thread, we're never 14 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:19,040 Speaker 1: going to figure out how we fix it. And now, 15 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:21,400 Speaker 1: when I say fix it, I don't mean as if 16 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: we're going to experience what comes post the fixing, because 17 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 1: that is going to be for other generations. But what 18 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 1: I mean by if we don't go back, we're going 19 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:39,680 Speaker 1: to keep creating the same cycle over and over again. 20 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:43,959 Speaker 1: I have been trying to figure out how to make 21 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: sense of this current moment that we're in. And what 22 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:51,080 Speaker 1: I've said before is that I want to get to 23 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: the underneath, right, I don't want to remain on the 24 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: surface following the bouncing ball of fascism and everything that 25 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: Donald Trump is saying and doing and who is he, 26 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 1: who he's appointing to what and where. The fact is 27 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:07,960 Speaker 1: is that none of that actually matters. I mean it will, right. 28 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: We know the harm that it's going to cause, We 29 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:11,799 Speaker 1: know the pain that people are going to be in 30 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: that we are all going to collectively experience. But at 31 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: the end of the day, this is cyclical, right, what 32 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:22,640 Speaker 1: we are running through and what is happening. And I 33 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 1: think that right now again what is being experienced through 34 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: this killing, the murder of the United Healthcare CEO, is 35 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 1: really drawing out the underneath, opening up the wound of 36 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 1: America that has been ever present. But we just keep 37 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 1: patching up the wound of inequality, right of economic inequality, 38 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: of racial inequality, of gender inequality. Like what has come 39 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: up in twenty twenty four and what's been coming up 40 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: is the driving force behind the greed right, the hatred 41 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,799 Speaker 1: that has gotten us here. And I continue to say 42 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:11,080 Speaker 1: that I am so disgusted with the current democratic establishment 43 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:15,000 Speaker 1: right now, because they seem to not learn anything. And 44 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:18,239 Speaker 1: so what I realize, and what I keep saying over 45 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:21,440 Speaker 1: and over again, is that democrats are not going to 46 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:25,520 Speaker 1: save us. I'm kind of in this space of really 47 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:29,840 Speaker 1: like unpacking the greed that we are seeing that we 48 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:33,400 Speaker 1: are all being exposed to and wondering like, how did 49 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: we get to this point where these billionaires are just 50 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: so insatiable right, Like it's never enough, Like they don't 51 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: have enough money, they don't have enough power. And it's 52 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 1: because capitalism has had us worship them like they were 53 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: the new gods. Right. We have turned our eyes away 54 00:03:54,600 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: from actual right religion and we have all been worshiping capitalism. 55 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 1: And so what does that mean? That means that those 56 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 1: that are at the top of the pyramid, the one percent, 57 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: we've looked at them and admired them and adored them, 58 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:16,159 Speaker 1: followed their shows and follow their lives and say that 59 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 1: they're better than us because they have more than us. 60 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:21,520 Speaker 1: But we've never actually asked ourselves why they have more 61 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: to begin with. But the lie that's been told, the 62 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:30,080 Speaker 1: lie that's been sold, is that if you have more, 63 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:35,919 Speaker 1: then you're inherently better. You're inherently smarter than the rest 64 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: of us. We don't look at the people at the 65 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:43,719 Speaker 1: lower end of the economic pyramid and say, wow, how 66 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:46,280 Speaker 1: were they able to make a dollar stretched so far 67 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: given that they have so little? That's real ingenuity. How 68 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 1: you actually turn how you make a dollar grow and 69 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:58,160 Speaker 1: go when you have so little. But no, we look 70 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: and we glorify those that the top, and we never 71 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: stop and question how they got that fucking money to 72 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:07,919 Speaker 1: begin with. I remember growing up actually on and I 73 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:12,800 Speaker 1: will date myself Scrooge McDuck, Right, Scrooge McDuck had this 74 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:15,800 Speaker 1: huge house in palace, and he had his nephews that 75 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:18,479 Speaker 1: were living with him, and he had this vault, you know, 76 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,920 Speaker 1: full of gold coins, and in that in that cartoon 77 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:27,919 Speaker 1: really taught you about capitalism and how money actually works. 78 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 1: But the thing that we have not understood truly is that, like, 79 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:37,159 Speaker 1: there are those that started way ahead of the starting line, 80 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 1: And so we've been fed the lie that if you 81 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 1: just work hard enough, you'll be able to catch up 82 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 1: to those that are wealthy because they inherited that wealth. 83 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: So the lie of capitalism is that all you need 84 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:51,800 Speaker 1: to do is just work harder and work smarter. And 85 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,880 Speaker 1: those that are the wealthiest, they work the hardest and 86 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 1: were the smartest. That's the fucking gag. They're not. They 87 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:05,680 Speaker 1: just inherited their wealth, and then the rest of us 88 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:09,359 Speaker 1: are forced into the cogs of the machine, believing that 89 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: if we just run faster, if we just do more, 90 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:15,240 Speaker 1: if we just produce more, then we'll catch up to them. 91 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 1: So in this moment, we find ourselves reeling from this 92 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:26,839 Speaker 1: murder because it exposes so very much about all the 93 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:30,719 Speaker 1: things that are wrong. But we've been fed the lie 94 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:34,719 Speaker 1: that we were wrong, that if we're not wealthy, that 95 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 1: if we don't have that security, then it must be 96 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:43,440 Speaker 1: on us rather than on the system that's keeping us 97 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:46,800 Speaker 1: stuck and keeping that kind of dollar floating in front 98 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:50,560 Speaker 1: of our faces that we're chasing after. And so what 99 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:55,479 Speaker 1: this murder has unearthed is questioning, wait a minute, who 100 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:59,920 Speaker 1: actually is a murderer, because now there are multiple definitions, 101 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 1: and who should we really be chastising and questioning right now? 102 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:11,360 Speaker 1: So I come in today with just my mind super 103 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 1: heavy and really trying to unpack the amount of lies 104 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: that we have all been fed in There's something about 105 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: getting older that has me really believe that like learning 106 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: never stops because we have to unlearn so much in 107 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 1: order to get to the truth, which they they the 108 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:38,040 Speaker 1: big they don't want us to actually see. This is 109 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: why you ban books, This is why you threaten to 110 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 1: shut down information networks. This is why Elon Musk bought 111 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: Twitter and then destroyed it because the little peons that 112 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: they see us. The people were gathering, right, The people 113 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: were communicating, which means that then we were all of 114 00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 1: a sudden going to realize that we were in each 115 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,800 Speaker 1: other problem. We all had the same enemy. But if 116 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: you break down modes of communication and don't allow people 117 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:15,480 Speaker 1: to assemble, then they'll readily eat the lies that you're 118 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 1: feeding them because they'll be nothing to rebuff it. So 119 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:25,480 Speaker 1: Elon Musk saw Twitter. The billionaire class saw Twitter as 120 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 1: a problem to be solved because the people are getting 121 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: too ahead of themselves. The people are organizing too much. 122 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: It's really wild when you start to think about it. 123 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:41,400 Speaker 1: I saw this post and it read you can be 124 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:46,040 Speaker 1: driven into homelessness by someone like Brian Thompson. Brian Thompson 125 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: being the CEO who was murdered from United Healthcare. You 126 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 1: can be driven into homelessness by someone like Brian Thompson 127 00:08:55,559 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 1: then legally murdered by someone like Daniel Penny, the man 128 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:05,160 Speaker 1: who killed Jordan Neely, the black homeless man and street performer, 129 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 1: by putting him in a chokehold and suffocating him to death. 130 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:15,960 Speaker 1: And he was just acquitted because he was supposedly helping 131 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:19,199 Speaker 1: the people on the train. He goes on to say, 132 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:24,199 Speaker 1: while the money that could have saved you is spent 133 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:27,800 Speaker 1: on murdering children in Gaza. So let me read that again. 134 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:34,079 Speaker 1: You can be driven into homelessness, bankrupted by a healthcare 135 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:39,320 Speaker 1: system that profits off of your despair and profits off 136 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 1: of denying you access to life saving healthcare. Then you 137 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 1: can be legally murdered by a white vigilante on a train, 138 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:53,480 Speaker 1: and all the while, the money that you're paying into 139 00:09:53,520 --> 00:10:00,359 Speaker 1: the system is being sent elsewhere to murder women, children, 140 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:05,320 Speaker 1: and men. Who is the depraved? Humanity is humanity, and 141 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:10,760 Speaker 1: depravity is depravity. But this struck me. People say, oh, well, 142 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:14,280 Speaker 1: Jordan Neely was threatening other people on the train. YO. 143 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:17,280 Speaker 1: If you live in New York City, there are lots 144 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:20,480 Speaker 1: of shit that pop off in the subway station. There 145 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 1: are lots of things that pop off in the street 146 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:27,920 Speaker 1: all the time. Tell me why this former military man 147 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:33,839 Speaker 1: didn't release at some point the chokehold on Jordan Neely. 148 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 1: Why is it acceptable for us to commit murder in 149 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:40,560 Speaker 1: broad daylight but only when we can say, oh, I 150 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:45,160 Speaker 1: feared for my life. It's the same refrain, folks, that 151 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:49,920 Speaker 1: police officers and vigilantes have used in order to kill 152 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:53,280 Speaker 1: black people. That is my truth. I live in New York. 153 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:59,120 Speaker 1: There are people that are on these streets because of 154 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:03,040 Speaker 1: the mental health care system has failed them. So what 155 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:08,320 Speaker 1: this piece is saying right here, it's this system failed 156 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:13,120 Speaker 1: Jordan Neely, which had him on a train begging people 157 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:17,920 Speaker 1: for help, begging for a dollar. He was sick, and 158 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:22,360 Speaker 1: so then that day it's okay for murder to be 159 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:26,280 Speaker 1: committed and then use it as a ruse and say, oh, 160 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:28,920 Speaker 1: I was trying to help other passengers on the train. 161 00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:32,559 Speaker 1: George Zimmerman too, said that he feared for his life 162 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:36,760 Speaker 1: when he killed sixteen year old Trayvon Martin. You can 163 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:40,400 Speaker 1: have your opinions, but we we literally have got to 164 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:44,720 Speaker 1: dig deeper and really understand the root of the root 165 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:49,080 Speaker 1: of what is happening here, what we are allowing ourselves 166 00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:52,880 Speaker 1: to think of as normal. So the killing of a 167 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:58,240 Speaker 1: wealthy CEO, that's wrong. But the killing of Jordan Neely, 168 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:04,360 Speaker 1: that's okay. Our humanity is being tested right now. Our 169 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:08,440 Speaker 1: humanity is being tested by what it is that we 170 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: allow to sit okay on our spirits. Those young people 171 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:16,080 Speaker 1: on the college campuses last year were being told that 172 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:18,920 Speaker 1: they were radical, they were Antifa, they were this and 173 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:21,839 Speaker 1: the other thing. Why because they care about what they 174 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:25,680 Speaker 1: are seeing come across their social media platforms. And what 175 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:29,720 Speaker 1: politicians were telling them is that no, no, it's okay 176 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:32,880 Speaker 1: to see bits and pieces of babies that have been 177 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:37,640 Speaker 1: blown apart. It's okay to bomb hospitals and universities, and 178 00:12:37,679 --> 00:12:43,680 Speaker 1: that somehow calling out this massive destruction and murder somehow 179 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:49,400 Speaker 1: makes them the villains. That's extraordinarily insane. But we make 180 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:53,680 Speaker 1: we continue to make these little compromises. This system, this 181 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:58,040 Speaker 1: killing machine, this system, it continues to have us make 182 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:03,319 Speaker 1: these compromises. And in the meantime, folks, we are compromising ourselves, 183 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:07,320 Speaker 1: our humanity, and our values, and it is destroying us. 184 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 1: It is destroying us. Elon Muss is now worth four 185 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 1: hundred billion dollars, four hundred billion dollars, and this is 186 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:26,160 Speaker 1: being celebrated as opposed to being questioned, no person should 187 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:30,280 Speaker 1: be worth as much as a fucking country. While there 188 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:33,280 Speaker 1: are people that are going hungry, while there are people 189 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:35,680 Speaker 1: that are on housed, while there are people that can't 190 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:40,960 Speaker 1: afford medication. And yet this is our new deity Elon 191 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:46,680 Speaker 1: Musk and this billionaire fucking oligarch class because they extract 192 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:50,440 Speaker 1: from us and then we turn around and then worship 193 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:57,000 Speaker 1: their wealth. Folks, Come on, come on, we have got 194 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:00,480 Speaker 1: to see the writing that is on the wall here. 195 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:05,760 Speaker 1: Reality TV. Let me go off on a tangent for 196 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:09,319 Speaker 1: a minute. Reality TV started where it was like, oh, 197 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:11,920 Speaker 1: look at these look at these poor SAPs, look at 198 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:14,920 Speaker 1: these folks, look at these people eating eyeballs, or look 199 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: at these people living in trailer parks or what have you. 200 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:21,160 Speaker 1: And reality TV made us feel good about ourselves because 201 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:23,600 Speaker 1: we were not them. And then all of a sudden, 202 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: it flipped the script and we went back to, you know, 203 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 1: the lifestyle of the rich and famous, and all of 204 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:33,560 Speaker 1: a sudden, now we're watching the Real Housewives of This 205 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:37,080 Speaker 1: and the Kardashians and blah blah blah and Super Sweet sixteen. 206 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:41,960 Speaker 1: That and everything right was about materialism. How much can 207 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,640 Speaker 1: you amass? How much can you flaunch, so much so 208 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 1: that several of those real housewives would end up bankrupt 209 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:54,880 Speaker 1: or in jail because everything was smoking, mirrors and a lie. 210 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 1: But they knew that if they could trick the public 211 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 1: into thinking that they were wealthy, because we worship wealth, 212 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 1: then they would be able to trade on their brands, 213 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:12,840 Speaker 1: because we've been programmed into worshiping wealth because wealth is 214 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:18,080 Speaker 1: somehow equated with intelligence, with brilliance, as opposed to just 215 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:21,920 Speaker 1: being a really good fucking scammer or being able to 216 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:27,400 Speaker 1: turn your millions into billions. You know, I harken back 217 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:31,840 Speaker 1: to the film, the movie Wall Street, remember the original 218 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 1: Wall Street, Gordon Gecko and greed is good. We were 219 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:40,840 Speaker 1: all fed that. That's how people said, whatever happened to 220 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:44,400 Speaker 1: the hippies, they turned into yuppies. They like nice things, 221 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 1: and so you feed on that and you give more 222 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:53,760 Speaker 1: and more and more, and then you realize people aren'tsatiable. 223 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:56,600 Speaker 1: The more they have, the more they want. It wasn't 224 00:15:56,720 --> 00:15:59,760 Speaker 1: enough to just have a mansion. Now you need all 225 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:03,280 Speaker 1: of these MC mansions. It wasn't enough to fly first class. 226 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:05,440 Speaker 1: Now you have a PJ, you have a private jet. 227 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:09,800 Speaker 1: Everything is about more and more and more, and so 228 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:12,640 Speaker 1: then you get here this piece that was in The 229 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:17,040 Speaker 1: Hill back in September, the Hill dot com billionaires started 230 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:22,720 Speaker 1: a class war. Americans must fight back. Let me say this, 231 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:27,840 Speaker 1: This is what the author writes. Wealth is not a 232 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:32,520 Speaker 1: moral failing, and Americans have long revered the entrepreneurial spirit 233 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:36,280 Speaker 1: that animates small business owners to build a modest fortune 234 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:40,400 Speaker 1: for themselves and their families. But a growing class of 235 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 1: malignant oligarchs has initiated a campaign to exert unchallenged control 236 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: over our democratic institutions and our economy. The war has 237 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 1: already started, and the billionaires have a significant head start. 238 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: He goes on to say, like a camp, sir, billionaire 239 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:07,639 Speaker 1: control is metastasizing in every facet of America's socio political 240 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 1: and socioeconomic system. They control newspapers, television stations, and every 241 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:18,560 Speaker 1: major social media platform. Last year, we learned the extent 242 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:23,240 Speaker 1: of oligarchical control over our judiciary when it was revealed 243 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:28,600 Speaker 1: that a handful of billionaires were showering Supreme Court justices 244 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: with lavish vacations and obscenely inappropriate gifts. And folks, what 245 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:42,720 Speaker 1: happened after the big reveal of how Clarence Thomas has 246 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 1: a sugar daddy. How Justice Alido has a sugar dad. 247 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:53,320 Speaker 1: What happened not a goddamn thing. So we know that, 248 00:17:53,760 --> 00:18:01,200 Speaker 1: for instance, Peter Thiel, multi billionaire right wing fascists, bought JD. 249 00:18:01,359 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: Vance and installed him in the Senate. We know that 250 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:10,840 Speaker 1: Chief Justice John Roberts allowed for with the decision and 251 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:16,280 Speaker 1: Citizens United, an influx of overwhelming amount of money that 252 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:20,800 Speaker 1: now in order to run for office it costs a 253 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:25,440 Speaker 1: billion dollars plus. And now these people who have amassed 254 00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:28,840 Speaker 1: as well, it's not enough for them to have money, 255 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:33,359 Speaker 1: money of like a small nation. No, now they want 256 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:38,560 Speaker 1: our democracy, they want everything. They want the justice system, 257 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:43,640 Speaker 1: they want Congress, they want the presidency, and with this 258 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:48,120 Speaker 1: incoming regime they have it all. And so when we 259 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:53,040 Speaker 1: sit back and we look at how we are continuing 260 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:59,240 Speaker 1: to be lied to, bamboozled, hustled out of our little 261 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:03,399 Speaker 1: bit of resource that we're trying to hold together like 262 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 1: a bunch of squirrels, as they are fucking shaking the trees. 263 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:11,720 Speaker 1: And their goal is to continue to pit us against 264 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:15,720 Speaker 1: one another so that we remain fighting over the scraps 265 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:20,399 Speaker 1: and the artificial scarcity that they create. But now in 266 00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:23,240 Speaker 1: order to ensure that we don't protest, that we don't 267 00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:29,240 Speaker 1: rise up. They have the government too, folks. It is 268 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:36,000 Speaker 1: if Elon paid ninety percent taxes, he'd still have forty 269 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:39,960 Speaker 1: billion dollars. Is that not sick? I don't know if 270 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:42,480 Speaker 1: those exact numbers are right, but the fact is is 271 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:46,600 Speaker 1: that if he actually did fucking right and paid taxes, 272 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:50,840 Speaker 1: he'd still be a multi billionaire. His eleven fucking kids 273 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:52,920 Speaker 1: would still be taken care of, as well as their 274 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:55,720 Speaker 1: grandkids and their grandkids and so on and so forth. 275 00:19:56,280 --> 00:20:02,800 Speaker 1: But they're insatiable and there is never never enough. Meanwhile, 276 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:06,760 Speaker 1: how did Donald Trump get into office this time lying 277 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:10,199 Speaker 1: to people about the economy, telling them that he alone 278 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:13,560 Speaker 1: can fix it? And then oh, well, last today is 279 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: he's ringing in the bell for the stock exchange. What 280 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:21,040 Speaker 1: did he say, folks, Ooh, it's going to be very 281 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:26,040 Speaker 1: hard to lower grocery prices, the very thing that he 282 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:30,120 Speaker 1: told folks that he was going to do. But now 283 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:36,000 Speaker 1: he says, ooh, not going to be able to do that, right, surprise, surprise, 284 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:40,160 Speaker 1: And the post says, oh, maga got played. Everybody did 285 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:43,160 Speaker 1: who thought that Donald Trump was actually going to make 286 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 1: good on any of his words? Donald Trump has said 287 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 1: to everyone while he was running for a president that 288 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:55,119 Speaker 1: he was not interested in helping anyone, but it was 289 00:20:55,200 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 1: okay because we all hate the same people. I tell 290 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:06,840 Speaker 1: you that it's a dark place. It's a dark place 291 00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: that we're in, But I often say that we've been 292 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:15,639 Speaker 1: here before. These are conversations that have been had, and 293 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:19,040 Speaker 1: so I want to bring up. This is an excerpt 294 00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:24,920 Speaker 1: from a piece that Frederick Douglas wrote for The Northern Star, 295 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:28,960 Speaker 1: and he said this, let me give you a word 296 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:32,720 Speaker 1: of the philosophy of reforms. The whole history of the 297 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:37,119 Speaker 1: progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made 298 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:40,880 Speaker 1: to her August claims have been born of earnest struggle. 299 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:45,000 Speaker 1: If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those 300 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:49,000 Speaker 1: who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are 301 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:54,560 Speaker 1: men who want crops without plowing the ground. They want 302 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:59,240 Speaker 1: rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without 303 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:03,159 Speaker 1: the roar of its mighty waters. The struggle may be 304 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,160 Speaker 1: a moral one, or it may be a physical one, 305 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:10,800 Speaker 1: or it may both moral and physical, but it must 306 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:18,280 Speaker 1: be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without demand. It never 307 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:22,119 Speaker 1: has and it never will find out just what a 308 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,760 Speaker 1: people will submit to, And you have found out the 309 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:29,680 Speaker 1: exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed 310 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:34,200 Speaker 1: upon them. And these will continue till they are resisted 311 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:39,800 Speaker 1: with either words or blows, or with both. The limits 312 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:44,760 Speaker 1: of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom 313 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:50,320 Speaker 1: they oppress. In the light of these ideas, negroes will 314 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:54,000 Speaker 1: be hunted in the north and held and flogged at 315 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:56,800 Speaker 1: in the south, so long as they submit to those 316 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:01,960 Speaker 1: devilish outrages and make no resistance, either moral or physical. 317 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:06,000 Speaker 1: Men may not get all they pay for in this world, 318 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,440 Speaker 1: but they must certainly pay for all they get. If 319 00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:12,800 Speaker 1: we ever get free from the oppression and wrongs heaped 320 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:16,800 Speaker 1: upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must 321 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:20,640 Speaker 1: do this by labor, by suffering, by sacrifice, and if 322 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:24,920 Speaker 1: need be, by our lives and the lives of others. 323 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:32,639 Speaker 1: This is Frederick Douglas y'all completely different time, completely different century, 324 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:41,720 Speaker 1: and yet offering the same truth. Greed right. But if 325 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:45,960 Speaker 1: you can have people locked up in struggle, if you 326 00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:49,400 Speaker 1: can figure out the social engineering and just how to oppress, 327 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:51,440 Speaker 1: and what they will take, and if you give them 328 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,040 Speaker 1: a little bit of scraps, if you give white people 329 00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:57,560 Speaker 1: a little bit more then black people, then oh, they'll 330 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:00,720 Speaker 1: continue to go along with the get along the oppression 331 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,800 Speaker 1: and the racism because they think that they are within 332 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:08,800 Speaker 1: reach of Elon Musk, They're in within reach of Zuckerberg, 333 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:13,159 Speaker 1: just one lottery ticket away, one wish away, and so 334 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,240 Speaker 1: they continue to give the people their oppressors the power 335 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:20,080 Speaker 1: to step on their necks. This is why I say 336 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,919 Speaker 1: that this moment is not calling for us to follow 337 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 1: the bouncing ball and all the distractions that this second 338 00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:33,600 Speaker 1: Trump regime are going to usher in. It is asking 339 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:38,600 Speaker 1: us folks to dig deeper to get to the actual 340 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:42,200 Speaker 1: truth of the matter. I am not saying that wealth 341 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:45,560 Speaker 1: is bad. I am saying that greed is I am 342 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:51,320 Speaker 1: saying that being celebrated for your thievery is the problem 343 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:58,200 Speaker 1: that worshiping wealth. While most Americans can barely pull together 344 00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:03,879 Speaker 1: emergency funding, an emergency saving not because they don't work hard, 345 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:07,840 Speaker 1: but because the system has been rigged for them to 346 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:12,000 Speaker 1: remain on an absolute fucking hamster wheel. And so long 347 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:14,800 Speaker 1: as you keep running and just trying to keep your 348 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:17,959 Speaker 1: head above water, you don't have time to really question 349 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: and on earth and dig down into how you got 350 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:23,720 Speaker 1: into that situation in the first place, because all of 351 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:27,040 Speaker 1: the messages are telling you that you are the problem 352 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: and not the system, because the system is too big 353 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:37,360 Speaker 1: to fix. We are in a time of a great reveal. 354 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:42,840 Speaker 1: And there was at one time a young rapper and 355 00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:47,680 Speaker 1: also a poet who offered up a lot of hard 356 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:53,160 Speaker 1: truths about America that folks didn't want to hear. And 357 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:59,680 Speaker 1: arguably there are courses taught about his critique and a 358 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:05,879 Speaker 1: now on America, and that is Tupac Shakur. And I 359 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:11,080 Speaker 1: want to offer one of the most famous lines, got 360 00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:14,880 Speaker 1: money for war, but can't be the poor. Tupac Shakur, 361 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:20,639 Speaker 1: a child of a black panther, offered a deep critique 362 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:26,600 Speaker 1: on America using rap music. Rap music be nothing more 363 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:32,600 Speaker 1: than poetry put two intense beats about the human experience. 364 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:37,600 Speaker 1: Tupac talks about the fact that how can we live 365 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:41,800 Speaker 1: in a society where there are billionaires, where somebody can 366 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:43,960 Speaker 1: be worth And at the time of this right he 367 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:48,800 Speaker 1: was talking about like forty billion dollars. I just showed 368 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:54,119 Speaker 1: you four hundred billion dollars somebody being worth, and he's saying, 369 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 1: how is it that we can live in a society 370 00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,720 Speaker 1: where somebody can have forty billion dollars and people are 371 00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:03,159 Speaker 1: on hous that you can walk past people that are 372 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:06,840 Speaker 1: begging on the street that have nothing, and you have 373 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:09,239 Speaker 1: three thousand dollars in your pocket and you throw them 374 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:11,320 Speaker 1: twenty five cents, And yet you want to judge how 375 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:13,440 Speaker 1: they're spending that money. He said, if you want to 376 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:15,320 Speaker 1: drink it, drink it. If you want to shoot it up, 377 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:18,359 Speaker 1: shoot it up. What you do is your business. But 378 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:22,199 Speaker 1: we would all have more if we thought in the collective, 379 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:26,800 Speaker 1: if we thought about actually what it is that it 380 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:30,960 Speaker 1: means to be part of a whole, and not find 381 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:34,760 Speaker 1: ourselves thinking that we are better right because we have 382 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:37,639 Speaker 1: a little bit more money than the person that is begging. Folks, 383 00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:42,280 Speaker 1: it is just one emergency. We are just one emergency, 384 00:27:42,359 --> 00:27:47,119 Speaker 1: one disaster, one tragedy away from having our handout and 385 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 1: relying on the kindness of strangers. That's the situation that 386 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:57,159 Speaker 1: the insatiable greed of the one percent has put America in. 387 00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:00,239 Speaker 1: And now they are getting ready to take control and 388 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:05,639 Speaker 1: power over everything, and if we do not stand united 389 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:11,199 Speaker 1: in this moment, in this time, they will succeed. But 390 00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:16,320 Speaker 1: as we continue to say that no one right can 391 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:21,680 Speaker 1: make you inferior without your fucking consent. So we cannot 392 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:27,200 Speaker 1: fall for folks the lie that tells us that somehow, 393 00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:29,639 Speaker 1: because we have a little bit more than the person 394 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:33,720 Speaker 1: next to us, that somehow we are better. We're not. 395 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:38,040 Speaker 1: And things are going to get harder because they're purposefully 396 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: being constructed in that way, because a desperate people and 397 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:47,920 Speaker 1: an ignorant people are a malleable people. A desperate people 398 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:52,960 Speaker 1: and an ignorant people are a malleable people because you 399 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:57,200 Speaker 1: do not have the energy to withstand their blows, so 400 00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:01,160 Speaker 1: you cower in defense before they even raise their hands. 401 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:06,120 Speaker 1: So we have to decide in this moment how we 402 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:09,920 Speaker 1: are going to respond, What are we going to do, 403 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:14,280 Speaker 1: What are we going to allow? They already have a 404 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:18,719 Speaker 1: head start, They have the courts, they bought them, they 405 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:23,120 Speaker 1: bought this president. But they don't have all of us, 406 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:26,160 Speaker 1: and I would argue that they don't even have half 407 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:31,880 Speaker 1: of us. So how we move forward, how we move forward, 408 00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:37,600 Speaker 1: is going to determine whether or not America succeeds, whether 409 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:42,040 Speaker 1: or not we're able to actually hold on for dear life. 410 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:47,400 Speaker 1: And frankly, let's be real, whether or not the scraps 411 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,719 Speaker 1: that we are holding onto are even worth it because 412 00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:56,080 Speaker 1: we need radical change. We don't need incremental progress anymore, 413 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,239 Speaker 1: because everything that we have fed been fed has been 414 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:02,840 Speaker 1: a fucking lie. And the work here, the work left, 415 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:07,080 Speaker 1: is too unpack it and deliver that message to those 416 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:12,920 Speaker 1: that have buried their heads in the sand. I do 417 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:17,600 Speaker 1: want to read you this poem. And she wrote it 418 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:22,200 Speaker 1: about Tupac. She wrote it about this messenger and his 419 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:29,240 Speaker 1: critique of America. All Eyes on You by Nikki Giovanni 420 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:33,720 Speaker 1: for Tupac Shakur, nineteen seventy one to nineteen ninety six. 421 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:37,959 Speaker 1: As I tossed and turned, unable to achieve sleep, unable 422 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:43,000 Speaker 1: to control anxiety, unable to comprehend why Tupac is not 423 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:46,560 Speaker 1: with us. If those who lived by the sword died 424 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:49,680 Speaker 1: by the sword, there would be no white men on earth. 425 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:54,080 Speaker 1: If those who lived on hatred died on hatred, there 426 00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:58,680 Speaker 1: would be no KKK. If those who lived by lies 427 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:03,040 Speaker 1: and died by lies, there would be nobody on Wall Street, 428 00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:08,800 Speaker 1: in executive suites, in academic offices, instructing the young. Don't 429 00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:12,280 Speaker 1: tell me he got what he deserved. He deserved a 430 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,880 Speaker 1: chariot and the accolades of a grateful people. He deserved 431 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:19,719 Speaker 1: his life. It is as clear as a mountain stream, 432 00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:23,320 Speaker 1: as defining as a lightning strike, as terrifying as sun 433 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:28,120 Speaker 1: to vampires. Tupac told the truth. There were those who 434 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:32,720 Speaker 1: called it dirty, gangsta rap, inciting. There were those who 435 00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:35,880 Speaker 1: never wanted to be angry at the conditions, but angry 436 00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:40,160 Speaker 1: at the messenger who reported, your kitchen has roaches, your 437 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:43,400 Speaker 1: toilet is overflowing, your basement has so much water, the 438 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,800 Speaker 1: rats are in the living room. Your house is in disorder. 439 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:51,280 Speaker 1: And Tupac told you about it. What a beautiful boy, 440 00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:57,360 Speaker 1: graceful carriage, melodic voice, sharp wit, intellectual breath. What a 441 00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:04,560 Speaker 1: beautiful boy to lose? That is one of her most 442 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:11,920 Speaker 1: just poignant in the moment critique on America. You see, 443 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:16,480 Speaker 1: the powerful always go after the messengers. They try and 444 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:19,600 Speaker 1: make examples of them, They try and silence them. They 445 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:22,920 Speaker 1: call them traders, they call them terrorists, they call them liars, 446 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:26,320 Speaker 1: They try and slander them for doing nothing more than 447 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:31,400 Speaker 1: telling the truth. Because the truth really will set us free. 448 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:37,760 Speaker 1: Knowledge really is power. It is the ability to think, 449 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:41,840 Speaker 1: to ask questions and what the powers that be. What 450 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:45,080 Speaker 1: they don't want now, for certain, is for you to 451 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:48,240 Speaker 1: be questioning. You just need to go along with the 452 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:50,680 Speaker 1: get along. You just need to live in the age 453 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:53,720 Speaker 1: of cover your own ass. You need to be the 454 00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 1: Christopher Ray that resigns in advance. You need to be 455 00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:59,680 Speaker 1: the Joe Biden that says welcome back. You need to 456 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:03,360 Speaker 1: be the Representative Clyburne that says, oh, but give him 457 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:06,160 Speaker 1: a pardon so we can have a clean slate. This 458 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:10,160 Speaker 1: place will never be clean because it was born out 459 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:16,080 Speaker 1: of blood and violence and torture and lies. So the 460 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:21,560 Speaker 1: way to fight back is by uncovering the truth. The 461 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:25,479 Speaker 1: way to fight back is to sharpen your intellect, is 462 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:29,320 Speaker 1: to be able to critique and to share what you learn. 463 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:33,840 Speaker 1: That's how you fight back. I say, start a book club, 464 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:38,360 Speaker 1: start a band book club. My call to action today, 465 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:44,040 Speaker 1: dear friends, as I close out, is this. I'm in 466 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:49,680 Speaker 1: the midst of rereading James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time, 467 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,440 Speaker 1: and I have to tell you it is a short read, 468 00:33:54,760 --> 00:34:02,160 Speaker 1: small read, but it is so dense, so rich, so brutal, 469 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:07,080 Speaker 1: and so my call to action is to pick up Baldwin, 470 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:14,480 Speaker 1: pick up Nikki Giovanni's work. Their words use them as food, 471 00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:20,240 Speaker 1: as fuel, as nourishment. We are heading into extraordinarily dark times, 472 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:23,480 Speaker 1: and we need to be as full of the truth 473 00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:30,360 Speaker 1: using our ancestors, these ancestors, these thought leaders, these guides, 474 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:36,560 Speaker 1: these spiritual torches, these lights as our guides. So what 475 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:41,920 Speaker 1: I say today, my call to action is to read. 476 00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:46,760 Speaker 1: Read the words of those who you were never taught about. 477 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:51,239 Speaker 1: Go down a rabbit hole and wrap yourself in the 478 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:57,840 Speaker 1: words of Nikki Giovanni. She blew my mind away at sixteen. 479 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:01,760 Speaker 1: It was the same with Baldwin. It was the same 480 00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:06,279 Speaker 1: with Frederick Douglas. But ask yourself why the big the 481 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:11,839 Speaker 1: greatest revolutionaries you don't know about but stumble on, ask 482 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:16,680 Speaker 1: them why they give you the sanitized versions of these people. 483 00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:20,640 Speaker 1: It's okay to recite Martin Luther King, but we ignore 484 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:24,480 Speaker 1: Malcolm X. It's okay for them to want to lift 485 00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:29,440 Speaker 1: up the Confederacy as their history and deny us the 486 00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:33,600 Speaker 1: black panthers that actually brought literacy programs in free food 487 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:39,000 Speaker 1: and medicine to the black community when the white government 488 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:44,920 Speaker 1: was denying black people care. They have made librarians the 489 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:49,040 Speaker 1: most dangerous people on the planet. Right now, arm yourself 490 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:55,720 Speaker 1: with the truth, open your mind, find yourself into a bookstore, say, 491 00:35:55,840 --> 00:36:00,239 Speaker 1: I'm looking for Nikki Giovanni, I'm looking for Baldwin, I'm 492 00:36:00,239 --> 00:36:05,000 Speaker 1: looking for Tony Morrison. I'm looking for people whose names 493 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:08,680 Speaker 1: I don't even know why, because you are on a search. 494 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:12,880 Speaker 1: You're on a hunt for the truth, because you're tired 495 00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:19,360 Speaker 1: of being lied to. So wild books are still with us, 496 00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:24,240 Speaker 1: and while as Erica Baidu says, it's still legal to think, 497 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:29,200 Speaker 1: fill yourself with as much truth as you possibly can 498 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:34,000 Speaker 1: because you are going to be inundated with lies. And 499 00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:38,640 Speaker 1: we need to ground ourselves because the tsunami of fuckery 500 00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:41,399 Speaker 1: that is headed our way will have us wondering which 501 00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:44,480 Speaker 1: way is up and which way is down. Our knowledge 502 00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:49,399 Speaker 1: is our power. That is it for me today, dear 503 00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:54,120 Speaker 1: friends on Woke af AS always, power to the people 504 00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:58,120 Speaker 1: and to all the people. Power, Get woke and stay 505 00:36:58,600 --> 00:36:59,360 Speaker 1: woke as fuck.