Speaker 1: Native Land Pod is a production of iHeart Radio in
Speaker 1: partnership with Reason Choice Media. Welcome Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome,
Speaker 1: Welcome HOMEI All. This is a solo pod brought to
Speaker 1: you by Angela Rye. That's me. We do these every Tuesday.
Speaker 1: They are live on YouTube and of course uploaded later
Speaker 1: on our podcast feed. So Native lamdpod is a production
Speaker 1: of Recent Choice Media and iHeart podcasts, and we are
Speaker 1: available everywhere you get your favorite shows. Today we are
Speaker 1: talking about something very solemn, very somber, very scary, and
Speaker 1: very real, and it is so important to me that
Speaker 1: we can textualize this in the moment we're in. Donald
Speaker 1: Trump has targeted black elected officials. He's gone after communities
Speaker 1: that are run by people who look like us. He
Speaker 1: has targeted Baltimore. Now, he has targeted Los Angeles as
Speaker 1: we've seen, He's targeted Chicago. He has very unfriendly things
Speaker 1: to say about these cities. And most recently, after many
Speaker 1: veiled threats after cutting funding for the District of Columbia,
Speaker 1: yesterday he signed an executive action and issued a presidential
Speaker 1: memorandum stating that he was going to take over DC. Now,
Speaker 1: what I want to be very clear about in this moment,
Speaker 1: is that what Donald Trump is doing with the support
Speaker 1: of his administration, with the silence and a blind, a willful,
Speaker 1: blind eye turned to it by the United States Congress. Yes,
Speaker 1: they are in recess, but we know that special sessions
Speaker 1: can be called, and that may be what needs to
Speaker 1: happen after this thirty day window. So Donald Trump issued
Speaker 1: a presidential memorandum to the Secretary of Defense and the
Speaker 1: subject is restoring law and order in the District of Columbia,
Speaker 1: breaking New y'all. The DC area has had as currently
Speaker 1: sitting in a thirty year low for crime, a thirty
Speaker 1: year low. But Donald Trump sees this as an opportunity
Speaker 1: to send in the National Guard, more than eight hundred
Speaker 1: members of the National Guard, and he says in this
Speaker 1: memo that it is my solemn duty to protect law
Speaker 1: abiding citizens from the destructive forces of criminal activity. That
Speaker 1: obligation applies with special force in our nation's capital. Whereas
Speaker 1: Commander in chief of the District of Columbia National Guard,
Speaker 1: I must also ensure that all citizens can avail themselves
Speaker 1: of the rights to interact with their elected representatives, and
Speaker 1: that the federal government can properly function without fear of
Speaker 1: being subjected to violent menacing street crime, and he goes
Speaker 1: on to say a lot of other nonsense. He goes
Speaker 1: on to cite section seven point forty of the Home
Speaker 1: Rule Act for why he is engaging in this at all.
Speaker 1: Mayor Bowser, in a press conference yesterday, said that his
Speaker 1: actions are unprecedented. I'm going to go so far as
Speaker 1: to say they are unconstitutional, and he is going far
Speaker 1: beyond what his executive powers allow. What is the state
Speaker 1: of emergency? Sure, that's subjective, but what we know we
Speaker 1: need to see on every side, from the community to
Speaker 1: elected officials at the local level, at the county level.
Speaker 1: When we're talking about beyond DC and the federal level,
Speaker 1: this is what happens when DC does not have statehood.
Speaker 1: It is super vulnerable. I'm bringing that all up to
Speaker 1: say that all of these arguments that we will make today,
Speaker 1: the conversation that we will have today, will be contextualized
Speaker 1: in a framework that has existed for many, many years,
Speaker 1: many decades. When the Congressional Black Caucus went to visit
Speaker 1: Richard Nixon in nineteen sixty sorry nineteen seventy one with
Speaker 1: sixty one recommendations one of the recommendations was for the
Speaker 1: District of Columbia to have statehood. When the National Black
Speaker 1: Political Convention convened in Gary, Indiana in nineteen seventy two
Speaker 1: and they formulated a National Black Political Convention, one of
Speaker 1: the recommendations was for DC to have statehood. When Tavis
Speaker 1: Smiley convened folks around the Covenant for the State of
Speaker 1: the Black Union, the State of Black America, one of
Speaker 1: the recommendations was for DC to have statehood. And here
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five, as I sit before you all today,
Speaker 1: d C still does not have statehood. It has one
Speaker 1: representative that can vote in committee but cannot vote on
Speaker 1: the House floor. That is Delegate Noe Delegate not Representative
Speaker 1: Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. And now then there's there're still
Speaker 1: not two sitting senators. And now as the population continues
Speaker 1: to shift, as they clean house, as they'll do, they'll
Speaker 1: probably be a little bit more amenable to DC statehood
Speaker 1: because the demographics will have changed. So it is my
Speaker 1: honor to bring to you all today for an amazing
Speaker 1: conversation rooted in community. First, Yes we want to talk
Speaker 1: to our elected officials. Yes we want to know where
Speaker 1: they stand. But I think it's so important for us
Speaker 1: to understand the history of DC, how we got here,
Speaker 1: where we go from here, and what is required from
Speaker 1: all of us, whether we live in d C. We
Speaker 1: have family members or friends who live in DC, but
Speaker 1: because we are citizens who demand that this president followed
Speaker 1: the Constitution, that he be law abiding. Somehow we haven't
Speaker 1: seen it yet, but he find a way to find
Speaker 1: the law and follow it. I got some great folks
Speaker 1: for y'all today, So bringing We're going to bring up
Speaker 1: now Cora Masters Barry, who is a living legend in DC.
Speaker 1: She has been behind so many amazing movements in DC.
Speaker 1: You also may know her as the widow of the
Speaker 1: forever mayor in DC, Mary and Barry, and she has
Speaker 1: become a dear mentor and I just am so grateful
Speaker 1: to share time with her today. Welcome, Ms Cora. I'm
Speaker 1: also going to bring up Tony Lewis, who is an
Speaker 1: author and activists in the DC area, a heroing story
Speaker 1: to tell, but cares deeply about the young people who
Speaker 1: will be impacted by what's happening at the hands of
Speaker 1: this administration. And also Dionne Bussy Reader who is the
Speaker 1: CEO of Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative. So thank you
Speaker 1: all so much for being here today. It is my
Speaker 1: highest honor to have you and to be in conversation
Speaker 1: with you all.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Okay, so I want to ask you all first, just
Speaker 1: given where we are, how are you feeling? What are
Speaker 1: you seeing and what are you hearing?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 2: Can I start by thanking you for the work that
Speaker 2: you do? Angela. I've watched you for many many years.
Speaker 2: You my sister's mentee, friends, Tamika, you guys are you know,
Speaker 2: you all are on the front line and I'm so
Speaker 2: proud of your power of the people tour that you
Speaker 2: all did over the summer. So yeah, I'm I'm in.
Speaker 2: I'm up in the age, but I don't even worry
Speaker 2: about it anymore. I used to worry about what was
Speaker 2: going to happen to our people. But if you guys
Speaker 2: is in good hands. That's one thing I want to say.
Speaker 2: Another thing, you know, I'm always starting with, I'm a
Speaker 2: political scientist and a historian, and so you did my
Speaker 2: job for me. You look at you knowing the history,
Speaker 2: doing the research. I'm giving you an a for that paper.
Speaker 2: So then that just makes me just come to the
Speaker 2: here and now we know the history of what we
Speaker 2: struggle with down through the years. And I always feel
Speaker 2: that if you're going to talk about a topic, you
Speaker 2: have to have a conceptual framework for it, and you
Speaker 2: set that. So at the end of the day, we
Speaker 2: have a city that is run very well by black
Speaker 2: woman and her third term and many many other black
Speaker 2: marrors have done the city well. We have a chiefer police.
Speaker 2: There's nothing but the truth and all of those things
Speaker 2: that you're speaking about have taken place. The clime has
Speaker 2: gone down, the cyndic thrives. But like any other jurisdiction,
Speaker 2: especially and in this country with the proliferation of guns,
Speaker 2: we have some problem with our youth as they have
Speaker 2: all over the country. But if you notice that our
Speaker 2: dear president has has targeted cities that have been led
Speaker 2: by blacks and in this case black women first you
Speaker 2: know Los Angeles, then then Muriel and we know what's next.
Speaker 2: So yesterday I'm in Marcus Vineyard by the way for
Speaker 2: the public. I don't walk around looking like this all
Speaker 2: the time, but she called me on vacation. I had
Speaker 2: two hours to give, so I stopped to do it.
Speaker 2: But yesterday I was a fundraiser for Angela Ulsobrooks and
Speaker 2: for Lisa Rochester and so, and in the in the
Speaker 2: MC for the program was the former mayor Sharon Pratt.
Speaker 2: So as it turned out, that fundraiser for them turned
Speaker 2: into a whole thing about Washington, d C. And the
Speaker 2: point that she made that I think everybody should just
Speaker 2: hear her perception. And she's right that this is not
Speaker 2: just targeting us, but it is the begin of taking
Speaker 2: over cities and we are the start. And I said,
Speaker 2: I know we had problems with black people not stepping
Speaker 2: up when they had the immigrants when they're doing immigration
Speaker 2: because of all the anti blackness that we always say
Speaker 2: that the brown community has. But we don't have the
Speaker 2: luxury of not standing up and fighting for anything like that,
Speaker 2: because when they finish with them, they'll come from us.
Speaker 2: And here we are. Here we are. So I'm heading
Speaker 2: back home early to organize, and I've talked to several people.
Speaker 2: A call to my community to bring the parents under
Speaker 2: one roof. I need our children to get out the streets.
Speaker 2: This is supposed to be a thirty day thing, but
Speaker 2: we'll have pull our children off the street because I'm
Speaker 2: telling you, the arbitrariness of this is very, very and
Speaker 2: I explained to people, people will die. Let's you know.
Speaker 2: I know about home rule and all that, but at
Speaker 2: the end of of the day, I just saw a
Speaker 2: picture of a young black man shackled or on a curve.
Speaker 2: Bye bye. People who don't are not supposed to be
Speaker 2: police in our streets. So I'm just I've got a
Speaker 2: clarion call. I'm on, let's talk to our communities.
Speaker 1: And I want to act sorry, Miss Cora. I want
Speaker 1: to ask you. An Toni and Diana promise them to
Speaker 1: get to you y'all too, But I want to ask
Speaker 1: you because you did talk about the history. I know
Speaker 1: about the history from reading about it, right. I know
Speaker 1: about it because I believe kind of intuitively that it's
Speaker 1: the right thing to do. And I know and have seen,
Speaker 1: just like you all have known and seen what it
Speaker 1: means for black folks to be disenfranchised and to do
Speaker 1: it in a way that is strategic. But I really
Speaker 1: want you to also talk to us about how this
Speaker 1: is something that has been seen before, not just in DC,
Speaker 1: but even globally. Right, like the first thing that came
Speaker 1: to mind and Tony and I talked for too long
Speaker 1: earlier today I kept him on the phone. I said, Tony,
Speaker 1: you know, my dad was an activist around anti apartheype movements.
Speaker 1: And what we're seeing even when these cars are being
Speaker 1: stopped by Howard University, not by Georgetown, not by GW,
Speaker 1: not by American as Tony brought up earlier, when they're
Speaker 1: being stopped, I'm thinking about pass laws. You know, is
Speaker 1: you're having to prove yourself, You're having to prove that
Speaker 1: you belong. Some of these students are just moving to
Speaker 1: campus at Howard yesterday, that's their first day on campus.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine what these parents might be feeling. So
Speaker 1: ms Corey, if you can talk to us about how
Speaker 1: this has been seen before and are there things that
Speaker 1: we can rely on in terms of best practices to
Speaker 1: survive and navigate in this moment, because that's what's most important.
Speaker 1: It's gonna take Congress at least thirty days or now
Speaker 1: twenty nine to do anything about this.
Speaker 2: If they are going to do anything about it, well,
Speaker 2: this is why I tend not to get on these
Speaker 2: shows because I get in trouble. But if everybody know
Speaker 2: this han or in this country. Have you seen the
Speaker 2: movie Origin? Did you see the more or Origin? When
Speaker 2: that movie was over, I said to Abe Duberne, it's
Speaker 2: a great movie, but you stopped at the movie didn't
Speaker 2: end if it should have been it. If you're going
Speaker 2: to talk about seeing these kinds of things, then you
Speaker 2: have to go back to India how they did their untouchables.
Speaker 2: You have to go to Germany, how they did the Jews,
Speaker 2: and how you have to go to Palestine to see
Speaker 2: what the Jews are doing to them. Then you have
Speaker 2: to come all the way back and work your way
Speaker 2: back to the United States of America. And let's not
Speaker 2: forget slavery. So we have seen it over and over again,
Speaker 2: and then that was replaced by Jim Crow and so suppression, oppression, segregation,
Speaker 2: all of that. None of that is new. It's just
Speaker 2: the most recent version of it. And anyway, I can't
Speaker 2: talk about it a lot because I'll get upset. But
Speaker 2: I've seen by people treated like they were doing the
Speaker 2: brown people that they were doing the so called immigrants.
Speaker 2: I've seen that, So I'm saying they did us like that.
Speaker 2: And then I said, where are the Jews' voice? Because
Speaker 2: that's what happened to them in Germany. We've all been
Speaker 2: a victim of this, so we can't act as if
Speaker 2: it's not us. So the first thing I thought when
Speaker 2: I read this, well, really, actually they kept it from me.
Speaker 2: They didn't tell me about it yesterday because I knew
Speaker 2: what I've said me, so I, you know, I just
Speaker 2: started getting just to go over to the sun Raison.
Speaker 2: Then my phone started ringing and everything started blowing up,
Speaker 2: and the only thing I could think about is, let's
Speaker 2: protect the children. You know, democracy big deal, but our
Speaker 2: kids are going to die. And so we've seen it,
Speaker 2: and we've seen it in the South, We've seen it
Speaker 2: in Germany, We've seen it in India, we've seen it
Speaker 2: in Palestine. We've done it over and over again. But
Speaker 2: what has to happen is in this strategy, we need
Speaker 2: to protect our kids. We need to stay home and
Speaker 2: let the activists for demor for to be in those
Speaker 2: streets because they won't kill them. They already suffled around
Speaker 2: the White House. You know, a C.
Speaker 3: L U.
Speaker 2: I love them all. You know, all the white people
Speaker 2: who are demanding not to be suppressed by the national government.
Speaker 2: They're in the streets and they should be in the streets.
Speaker 2: They should be defending democracy while we defend our babies.
Speaker 1: M You know, I want to come to you, Tony,
Speaker 1: because this was a point that we talked about earlier,
Speaker 1: the deep concern you and Dion have for the children.
Speaker 1: What are what is the message to send to parents,
Speaker 1: regardless of income level, economic status at this point, what
Speaker 1: we know is that these officers don't see whether or
Speaker 1: not you have a Jack and Jail membership, right They don't.
Speaker 1: They don't know what income level you have, whether you
Speaker 1: at to school, don't care. All they see is the
Speaker 1: color of their skin. What are you What is your
Speaker 1: recommendation right now? What message are you sending to young
Speaker 1: people in DC?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Again, thanks for being here. And we're trying to
Speaker 4: explain not only to parents and young people, but also
Speaker 4: people that UH community viles interrupters, H credible messages to
Speaker 4: let young people know to minimize UH interaction with law enforcement,
Speaker 4: minimize verbal altercations with law enforcement. Clearly UH cease or
Speaker 4: if you are involved in any criminal activity, UH cease
Speaker 4: any criminal activity, and do not indulge. And I'm not
Speaker 4: talking about just youth, but even young adults. Don't indulge
Speaker 4: in any public use of alcohol or drugs, you know,
Speaker 4: So so we can try to sort of keep them
Speaker 4: any interaction with law enforcement because to Mama masters Bury's point,
Speaker 4: we know our young people in this city and and
Speaker 4: those interactions can take a left turn really quickly, and
Speaker 4: I think they law enforcement has sold in some ways
Speaker 4: been licensed to do whatever they deem necessary, and that's
Speaker 4: a very dangerous place for our young people to be.
Speaker 4: And so we want to continue to push that message
Speaker 4: of you know, engaging a lot of the city activities,
Speaker 4: you know, utilize our Department of Parks and Repregation, neighborhood
Speaker 4: Safety and Engagement offices, the Southeast Tennis Center and all
Speaker 4: of the sorts, and stay out of stay out of
Speaker 4: home's way.
Speaker 1: Thank you, and Dion, same question for you. I know
Speaker 1: that this is also something literally when Ms. Coral was talking,
Speaker 1: you said like that was something that really resonated with
Speaker 1: you around their children. So what's the message that you're
Speaker 1: sending to parents, two kids, to communities of young folks
Speaker 1: who may be impacted. It's still the summertime, it is
Speaker 1: they should never feel this type of restriction in a democracy,
Speaker 1: but especially not now when there's already so much impression
Speaker 1: of our people no again.
Speaker 3: Thank you Angela for the opportunity to be here. I
Speaker 3: am also one of those mentees of Missus Barry when
Speaker 3: she's not mad at me, because she does put me
Speaker 3: in my check. She checks me quite frankly. It keeps
Speaker 3: me aligned and I need her so I like everyone else,
Speaker 3: this has just devastated me. And I live in a
Speaker 3: city like everyone else, I live in Ward seven, which
Speaker 3: is also a part of Southeast And last night, after
Speaker 3: we got off the call with you, the very first
Speaker 3: thing I did is sent a very direct email. I
Speaker 3: have over sixty employees that service at least ten percent
Speaker 3: of the population that's struggling in Ward eight specifically, and
Speaker 3: I have a lot of my staff that are activists
Speaker 3: that are angry, that are heard, that have children that
Speaker 3: live in these communities. And the very first thing I
Speaker 3: did I thought about them. And I'm very prayerful about
Speaker 3: what I say to people because they have to take
Speaker 3: this message and they have to move forward to the
Speaker 3: families that we serve. That I was very direct. I said,
Speaker 3: avoid confrontation with the National Guard and FBI, remain calm
Speaker 3: and do not engage in adversarial discussions. Do not drive
Speaker 3: your car with marijuana and smoking marijuana. These are I was,
Speaker 3: I'm very direct. I said, these are the messages we
Speaker 3: have to send to our families. Pay close attention to
Speaker 3: your surroundings and where where you are, and support each
Speaker 3: other and stay connected and identify by our organization as
Speaker 3: a hub and a spot for people to come as
Speaker 3: a refuge. We're going to be opening up our doors.
Speaker 3: So if we have young people that we see on
Speaker 3: the block of MLK and Marion Berry Avenue, We're going
Speaker 3: to galvanize them and push them inside my building. I'm
Speaker 3: going to be that direct and that deliverate because if
Speaker 3: we don't, our children will die. And my fear for
Speaker 3: our families is that at fourteen, I don't know if
Speaker 3: I always listened. Right at fifteen, I don't know if
Speaker 3: I always listen. So children who think it's funny to
Speaker 3: put up their camera phones and take things, we had them.
Speaker 3: The actual group, FBI and the National Guard jumped out
Speaker 3: yesterday on Minnesota Avenue, or across the street from Boom
Speaker 3: Elementary School where we currently have an office. My staff
Speaker 3: was deficit. They didn't even know what to do or
Speaker 3: what to say, but call me and this is a
Speaker 3: young group of young people, so instantly, I have to
Speaker 3: put in place a calming mechanism, one to eliminate yere.
Speaker 3: I just told someone, I can't let fear talk me
Speaker 3: out of what faith talked me into. I have to
Speaker 3: create a very safety net of resources for the families
Speaker 3: that we serve. We have to yell at the top
Speaker 3: of our lungs to get our babies to stay home
Speaker 3: or be in those safe places where they feel love,
Speaker 3: they feel nurtured, and find activities to keep them engaged.
Speaker 3: I eat the parents as well, because we know that
Speaker 3: this is not the type of government that we're dealing
Speaker 3: with federally that's going to protect our children.
Speaker 2: They're not.
Speaker 3: They're looking at them as as the actual perpetrators of
Speaker 3: crime and not victims.
Speaker 1: And you and Tony both work in the like the
Speaker 1: violence prevention space, and I just want to call this out.
Speaker 1: I'm yes, ma'am, but you do everything, and I deal
Speaker 1: with these kids. I know, Okay, Well, then all three
Speaker 1: of you that I want to call out this particular
Speaker 1: this particular point. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, homicides
Speaker 1: dropped by thirty two percent between twenty twenty three and
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. And this says that there's been another
Speaker 1: substantial drop this year of twelve percent, so additional twelve
Speaker 1: percent this according to data, This would not have happened
Speaker 1: without some of the work you all are doing. And
Speaker 1: I think even in this moment, the reason why you
Speaker 1: all could send these kinds of messages and be effective
Speaker 1: and be persuasive and convince people to do the things
Speaker 1: you're advising is because of this work that y'all have
Speaker 1: been doing. So if you can for a moment talk
Speaker 1: about that and how you will utilize some of those
Speaker 1: same skills, some of those same tactics to get people
Speaker 1: to be responsive and do the right thing in this
Speaker 1: moment where they're being challenged on every side.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, just real quick, you know, non law
Speaker 4: enforcement public safety measures have contributed to the downward tick
Speaker 4: and and all of our numbers. It doesn't always get
Speaker 4: the credit, but it has, and it's gonna take more
Speaker 4: than just in constantration to make uh community safer. We
Speaker 4: need people to thrive, we need people to address their trauma,
Speaker 4: we need people to become more economically stable, and a
Speaker 4: lot of these efforts has contributed to that, and we're
Speaker 4: we're seeing the success Unfortunately, we even seeing you know,
Speaker 4: some of the grants that came out of the Justice
Speaker 4: Department around that focused in on supporting community violence interruption
Speaker 4: has went away, but DC has continued to support the
Speaker 4: efforts and it's barred fruit and I hope that it continues.
Speaker 4: And that's what we need as we take these steps
Speaker 4: on the law enforcement side. We really need to understand
Speaker 4: that a holistic approach is needed, a public health approach
Speaker 4: that we've been doing, is proven to have impact, needs
Speaker 4: to continue to be supported because if what happens, like
Speaker 4: if people and you know, we're making an assumption that
Speaker 4: even having more officers or the National Guard is going
Speaker 4: to make the community safer, Like that's a big assumption
Speaker 4: people are making when we know that's not just the answer.
Speaker 4: So it's so much more that can be done. And
Speaker 4: I wish that this administration will open up lines of
Speaker 4: communication with folks like us on this call and others
Speaker 4: to really make a real plan to make our city
Speaker 4: the safest place that it could be. You know, I
Speaker 4: echo Tony Cinnamon, and I have to say, Angela, how
Speaker 4: do you tell the story of the shooting that did
Speaker 4: not occur because of your intervention? Like These are the
Speaker 4: stories that people do not realize when you talk to
Speaker 4: all three of us on this call. I mean the
Speaker 4: organization that I represent. We deal with the issues of
Speaker 4: the trauma, the case management, supporting families, building case plans
Speaker 4: around what that family were like for themselves. Missus Barry
Speaker 4: does an outstanding job and ensuring that babies are kept
Speaker 4: in a safe place with a curriculum that's not just
Speaker 4: sport based, but academically based to enhance the lives of
Speaker 4: these people, and many of them are the parents that
Speaker 4: we're serving. Tony does the work in the space of
Speaker 4: returning citizens. Many of the families that we deal with
Speaker 4: are part of that that entire spectrum. So it's together
Speaker 4: that we're able to impact the families that we work with.
Speaker 2: It's all of.
Speaker 3: These resources that does actually tell the story that we
Speaker 3: can decrease crime. Many of these individuals I've employed, right,
Speaker 3: many of these individuals have now become certified for prevention
Speaker 3: specialists with evidence based curriculums that they have actually accomplished
Speaker 3: and now know how to deal with the trauma, and
Speaker 3: not just the trauma, but the economic disadvantages that our
Speaker 3: families are facing. So we got to deal with the
Speaker 3: entire and that's what we do collectively, and that's the
Speaker 3: story that our city understand, and our mayor is constantly
Speaker 3: putting resources in. Our Chief of Police just stood up
Speaker 3: a program working with my organization, working with the Southeast
Speaker 3: Centers Learning Center to figure out how do we actually
Speaker 3: impact and decrease those crimes, those victims and those individuals
Speaker 3: who are perpetrators, who are children. So we are standing
Speaker 3: up these programs and we're seeing the work that's being done,
Speaker 3: but the story about the shooting that's never happening because
Speaker 3: of the work that we're doing. It's never told and
Speaker 3: we know it works, and that's the problem that's really
Speaker 3: hurtful to us. We've seen a decrease, we've seen live change,
Speaker 3: and we've gotten people employed. Some of our families are
Speaker 3: now business owners as a result of this intervention.
Speaker 4: So that's how it decreases.
Speaker 3: We work collectively, We work as a team, and we
Speaker 3: all unite our forces around saving our babies.
Speaker 4: That's what we do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I agree with that. That is why I'm
Speaker 2: working with and you guys are talk to offline putting
Speaker 2: together what we call a village meeting, bring the village together.
Speaker 2: So we can all hook up and let one the
Speaker 2: parents know what's going on. Also, I talked with the chief.
Speaker 2: She called me last night. We talked for about an
Speaker 2: hour and I was voicing my concern about the safety
Speaker 2: of our children, and so what she has agreed to
Speaker 2: do that when we pull this needings together, that she
Speaker 2: will make sure that there's a police officer or somebody
Speaker 2: from MPD who will explain to them exactly what's going
Speaker 2: on so they understand what to expect and what the
Speaker 2: police to do and all of that. So all of
Speaker 2: that I think is a time sensitive thing. So thank
Speaker 2: you again, Angela for bringing us together. Although I was
Speaker 2: going to get on the plane tomorrow and come back
Speaker 2: to Washington, d C. I've already talked to you know,
Speaker 2: the ne regulars, Wendy Ron. We're pulling the village together
Speaker 2: so we can do all of these things they're talking
Speaker 2: about and let the parents know just what the imminent
Speaker 2: danger in the situation is and if they want to
Speaker 2: drag their little hard headed children with them, they can,
Speaker 2: but right now we're telling them pay attention to these things.
Speaker 2: This is a height and alert and we're all in
Speaker 2: the different places where we can reinforce it. So this
Speaker 2: is very helpful.
Speaker 1: Ms Cora. I want to come back to you for
Speaker 1: a moment because one thing that we hear from marye O.
Speaker 1: Vowser often is that she was mentored by your late husband.
Speaker 1: I want to know you know, and it doesn't have
Speaker 1: to be what you would tell her offline, but what
Speaker 1: you know he would do in this moment. How would
Speaker 1: he step up when the administration is essentially saying that
Speaker 1: she cannot run her own city, that this city is
Speaker 1: I think that the bag Dad was reference right, Like,
Speaker 1: there are these things that are being said that are inflammatory,
Speaker 1: that are untrue, and that have I won't even say
Speaker 1: racial to undertones. They are racist overtones. They are fog horns.
Speaker 1: So if when you're hearing these things, how do you
Speaker 1: think mister Barry would have responded to Donald Trump's allegations
Speaker 1: and his actions.
Speaker 2: You have to remember when Marion came back for his
Speaker 2: fourth historical return to office, the first thing they did
Speaker 2: was clamp on a control board so that he would
Speaker 2: not be able to in effect in power. Were enriched
Speaker 2: black folks over what he had been doing for the
Speaker 2: last thirty years. But I think maryel is doing what
Speaker 2: she's I think she's being smarter and I think he
Speaker 2: would tell her to keep a powder dry, and she
Speaker 2: is doing that. She's being but she's also standing up
Speaker 2: and being very intentional. I mean, she has such a
Speaker 2: rod enough back yesterday, I don't think she'd ever beended again.
Speaker 2: She was strong and she was decisive. But you have
Speaker 2: to be smart. You do an inside and an outside strategy.
Speaker 2: So you have people like me and Dion and formers
Speaker 2: this and that, and we're the voices. We can say
Speaker 2: the things that you just said. And she needs to
Speaker 2: just make sure she keeps eye on the prise and
Speaker 2: and the police department is reporting directly to her, so
Speaker 2: deployment is important. Where you you know, the National Guard,
Speaker 2: I don't know where to go. Somebody got to tell them.
Speaker 2: So they have a role that they can play that
Speaker 2: could be very helpful. So I think she's being very smart.
Speaker 2: I'm very proud of her, and I'm disappointed and the
Speaker 2: people who have hated on her and wrote terrible things
Speaker 2: like when when the president said pay over Black Lives
Speaker 2: Matter Plaza while she caved, Are you serious We're gonna
Speaker 2: sit there and fight over over some words? When we
Speaker 2: got billions of dollars on the line and the words
Speaker 2: were wait for over. The should have been going a
Speaker 2: long time ago in with you, in my opinion, because
Speaker 2: if we did his job, we have the theme and
Speaker 2: let's just go. So you know, when she does the
Speaker 2: job she has to do to protect the city and
Speaker 2: not Pope Pope the bear, she gets criticized for it.
Speaker 2: Everybody wants to her to stand somewhere with her right
Speaker 2: hand up and there and then we'll all go down.
Speaker 2: She won't go. Nothing happen to her. It'll helping us.
Speaker 2: So I think she's done a great job of protecting
Speaker 2: us and I just want to put that on the record.
Speaker 1: Okay, thank you, it's core Tony Dion. I want to
Speaker 1: come to you. Well, it's just it's a slight change
Speaker 1: in the question. Given the fact that she's mentored by
Speaker 1: uh Mary and Barry. I want to know if you
Speaker 1: had the opportunity, and I know you all speak to
Speaker 1: her often, but for the people who don't know that
Speaker 1: you do, what are the things that you're telling her
Speaker 1: to do right now? If you were asking her to
Speaker 1: pivot and we all need pivot. It doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: we're hating miscor, but there have been folks who have said,
Speaker 1: you know, I wish this could happen, or wish she
Speaker 1: could do this, or has she considered this? These are
Speaker 1: important considerations. We all need those because we can't. We're
Speaker 1: not all seeing and all knowing at all times. We
Speaker 1: not God. So what are the things that you would recommend? Like,
Speaker 1: I just wish that you would pivot in this way,
Speaker 1: or consider utilizing us in this way, or get some
Speaker 1: young folks, whatever it is. I don't want to give
Speaker 1: you all ideas. I want to hear yours.
Speaker 4: No, I understand your question. I appreciate that question. The
Speaker 4: one thing I think that in this moment I think
Speaker 4: could be a silver lining is that and a maya
Speaker 4: often talks about DC values, and of course she's a
Speaker 4: Washingtonian right throwing through, but because of her role as
Speaker 4: the mayor, sometimes there seems to be a gap or
Speaker 4: some distance between her and some of the constituents, right
Speaker 4: some of the residents. And I think in this moment
Speaker 4: could be well utilized to connect to those Washingtonians that
Speaker 4: have seen or felt more distant from the mayor, to
Speaker 4: be able to say we're in this together, I'm here
Speaker 4: for you. Here are the instructions like at that village meeting,
Speaker 4: if the mayor could show and talk to those parents
Speaker 4: and say, I'm going to continue to try to give
Speaker 4: you as much information as I know on how to
Speaker 4: keep our baby safe. Not your babies, but our babies.
Speaker 4: And I think in this moment, that's the type of
Speaker 4: leadership that the city needs. Of course, you know, she
Speaker 4: still has to do all the things that Ms Burry
Speaker 4: just talked about, right, and things I think that the
Speaker 4: average citizen couldn't even fathil. But I think we got
Speaker 4: to make some space to go and touch the people
Speaker 4: in that way.
Speaker 3: I agree with Tony if that's the same question. I
Speaker 3: also agree with a statement that Tony made on yesterday
Speaker 3: is that we do these small mini press conferences throughout
Speaker 3: the entire city. Only mentioned that yesterday, and those spaces
Speaker 3: where we know we can reach our young people. And
Speaker 3: the second thing I've asked and I'm going to continue
Speaker 3: to ask, is the messaging. We have to say the
Speaker 3: same messaging. And there's some things that I believe her
Speaker 3: insiders can say to us that we can say to
Speaker 3: our community that she cannot, and we have to be
Speaker 3: the spokespersons for her in this space.
Speaker 2: I agree.
Speaker 3: I think we have the best police chief I've seen
Speaker 3: in my time. I do believe that this mayor is
Speaker 3: the mayor that we need for the day. I support
Speaker 3: both our mayor and our chief of police, but we
Speaker 3: have to be their mouthpiece. We have to say what
Speaker 3: they can't say to our families. I wear two hats.
Speaker 3: I have a business as well, that's in a very
Speaker 3: popular part of the city. It's a new establishment. It's
Speaker 3: called Sycamara. And oh, we have a huge amphitheater. We
Speaker 3: need to have a village meeting there. What missus Barry
Speaker 3: is doing should not be the only meeting. We should
Speaker 3: consistently have these small village meetings throughout those places in
Speaker 3: our city where we know we have pockets of young
Speaker 3: people that hang.
Speaker 2: We have parts.
Speaker 3: It's a young people that see.
Speaker 1: You know, we can't.
Speaker 3: Forget that a lot of places these kids can't go
Speaker 3: because of the beats. So we have to be where
Speaker 3: they are, and we have the personality. We have the staff,
Speaker 3: we have the personnel. It's necessary to get to those
Speaker 3: trenches where we can speak directly to the parents and
Speaker 3: say the same message. My fear is that our messaging
Speaker 3: is going to be off, we got to speak the
Speaker 3: same language, because if we don't, the kids won't listen
Speaker 3: to us, neither with their parents. So if I had
Speaker 3: to offer to the mayor, those would be my suggestions
Speaker 3: having additional village meetings. I like that missus Barry and
Speaker 3: give us the messaging that we have to say that
Speaker 3: she can.
Speaker 1: I love that well. I really appreciate you all time.
Speaker 1: I knew having you all on would be the right thing.
Speaker 1: You know, our natural business to call on elected officials.
Speaker 1: But the reason elected officials work is because there's a
Speaker 1: whole community behind them, and you are absolutely not only
Speaker 1: the right messengers but also the right workers. And so
Speaker 1: I just I thank God for everything that you're doing
Speaker 1: in DC and beyond. Know that you all inspire me
Speaker 1: and you would forever have a place to call home
Speaker 1: here at Native LAMPI so welcome home, y'all, and I
Speaker 1: look forward to talking.
Speaker 2: To you again. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Let's stay safe. Will absolutely thanks y'all. Love y'all, this
Speaker 1: has been just a really insightful conversation, very very grateful
Speaker 1: for the time of Ms Corra Masters, Berry, Tony Lewis
Speaker 1: and Diane Bussie Reader a business owner. You know, folks,
Speaker 1: who have entities that house our young people are all
Speaker 1: over DC, and folks who have direct relationship with Mayor
Speaker 1: Mauriel Bowser are willing to go challenge, uplift and encourage,
Speaker 1: but push to do the right thing. I can't imagine
Speaker 1: the stress and the courage that it takes in this moment,
Speaker 1: the stress that she's under, the courage that it takes
Speaker 1: in this moment to do the right thing, to make
Speaker 1: every single decision calculated. And the one thing that we
Speaker 1: know from protests, from those of you all who are
Speaker 1: also raised by protesters, is the chant the people united
Speaker 1: will never be defeated. And so in those moments where
Speaker 1: things are the most challenging, but you can always call
Speaker 1: upon are the people. The only way you can call
Speaker 1: upon the people is if you keep them close. So, y'all,
Speaker 1: in this moment, I encourage you to keep your people close.
Speaker 1: Make sure you remember that if you all are not
Speaker 1: just close, but united, if you are on the same page,
Speaker 1: you don't have to be the same sentence, but on
Speaker 1: the same page, the people united will never be defeated.
Speaker 1: I have a good one. Flcahom, y'all. Native Lampard is
Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with Reason Choice Media.
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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.