Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to woka F Daily. We
Speaker 1: meet your girl, Danielle Moody. This week, woke f Daily
Speaker 1: is looking at and reflecting on the year of hate.
Speaker 1: This year, the shadow of Trumpism and all that it
Speaker 1: represents had loomed large over America, and in my upcoming
Speaker 1: conversation with Representative Stacy Plasket, we spoke with the congresswoman
Speaker 1: roughly two weeks following the insurrection. I want you all
Speaker 1: to think back to January sixth, which is coming up
Speaker 1: frankly on its anniversary, and when woke f returns live,
Speaker 1: it will be the anniversary week of the one six insurrection,
Speaker 1: which of course Donald Trump right now is saying was
Speaker 1: a red flag operation or a fake flag whatever the
Speaker 1: fuck he's making up these days. But nonetheless, in the
Speaker 1: conversation that we would have with Stacy Plasket following the insurrection,
Speaker 1: it's just amazing to me because honestly, I still can't
Speaker 1: wrap my mind around the fact that we watched as
Speaker 1: thousands of enraged, rabbit foaming at the mouth white people
Speaker 1: descended on our Capitol building with Trump flags and Confederate flags,
Speaker 1: wearing Trump hats and screaming and spewing and beating police officers,
Speaker 1: whom you know they love, love to uplift right when
Speaker 1: they're on quote unquote their side, meaning kneeling on the
Speaker 1: necks of black people, or beating us or murdering us,
Speaker 1: then they are for the police. But when the police
Speaker 1: are in fact trying to stop a riotous insurrectionist, treasonous
Speaker 1: ass mob from taking over our Capitol building, they had
Speaker 1: no problem with using violence. Remember five people, five people
Speaker 1: ended up dead that day. It's been eleven months since
Speaker 1: the insurrection. It's been eleven months. And asked me how
Speaker 1: many people have been arrested by the thousands that you
Speaker 1: saw descend on the Capitol building. Well, according to insider
Speaker 1: dot com, seven hundred and twenty seven people have been charged,
Speaker 1: only seven hundred and twenty seven. Eleven months later, after
Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty seven minutes of uninterrupted violence of
Speaker 1: please coming from inside of the Capitol Building. That we
Speaker 1: now have learned through the release of former Chief of
Speaker 1: Staff Mark Meadows text messages that Republicans from inside the
Speaker 1: chamber Republicans on Fox News, his own fucking son was
Speaker 1: trying to get hold of the President of the United
Speaker 1: States on that faithful day as he was sitting, no doubt,
Speaker 1: eating popcorn and popping bond bonds and just loving the
Speaker 1: fact that his adoring fans, who he had told us
Speaker 1: straight up that he could kill somebody in the middle
Speaker 1: of Fifth Avenue and watch his poll numbers increase. He
Speaker 1: told us who these people were, and before he told us,
Speaker 1: Hillary Clinton told us that this basket of deplorable people
Speaker 1: would do anything and everything and believe anything and everything
Speaker 1: because somehow this magician Donald Trump had hypnotized them with
Speaker 1: the thing that we know is the most alluring for
Speaker 1: white America, which is the return to white supremacy and
Speaker 1: dominant rule. He waved that in their faces like stakes
Speaker 1: in front of a starved crowd, and told them that
Speaker 1: he was going to return them to their glory days.
Speaker 1: You know, the glory days of when white people would
Speaker 1: walk down the street and black people had to bow
Speaker 1: their heads and remove themselves from in front of them
Speaker 1: where they could walk into stores, and we had to
Speaker 1: address them as black people as miss and mister, while
Speaker 1: they referred to us as boy and girl, if not
Speaker 1: just the and word, that they could return to a
Speaker 1: time when segregation was the law of the land and
Speaker 1: they didn't have to feel bad or ikey about their
Speaker 1: thoughts right, or the fact that they would cheer on
Speaker 1: lynchings and beatings in the same way that the George
Speaker 1: Floyd challenge right took social media by storm following Derek
Speaker 1: Chauvin's disgusting act of murdering an unarmed black man in
Speaker 1: cold blood in broad fucking daylight. These are Donald Trump's people,
Speaker 1: and over the course of four years he had fed
Speaker 1: them a bunch of fucking lies. He appealed to their
Speaker 1: worst sense of self and allowed them right to free
Speaker 1: themselves from the confines and the shackles of their hoods,
Speaker 1: where they could just march with their tiki torches and
Speaker 1: their khaki pants down city streets, declaring that they were
Speaker 1: going to take their country back, declaring that they were
Speaker 1: not going to be overtaken by the Jews or their
Speaker 1: you know lasers that Marjorie Taylor Green said they had
Speaker 1: in space that they could fully embrace their anti Semitism,
Speaker 1: their anti Islam, their anti everything that homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia,
Speaker 1: misogyny could all be welcomed back in because how dare
Speaker 1: the political correctness of the twenty first century hold them hostage.
Speaker 1: They wanted their liberty, and they were willing to use
Speaker 1: fire extinguishers and battering rams and to concoct and build
Speaker 1: a full fucking guillotine on the st up said the
Speaker 1: Capitol Building, so that they could return to the days
Speaker 1: that Donald Trump told them they could have back. Thousands
Speaker 1: of people descended on Washington, DC that faithful day. Donald
Speaker 1: Trump would tweet at them, tweet at the world, and
Speaker 1: say that one six was going to be wild. They
Speaker 1: were organizing in broad daylight, on Facebook, on TikTok, on
Speaker 1: every social media apparatus, saying what they were going to
Speaker 1: be doing. Did the FBI, the CIA, the Pentagon, did
Speaker 1: they intervened? No? And why is that? What is the excuse?
Speaker 1: We've yet to hear it eleven months later. Oh, we
Speaker 1: didn't think it would be that bad. Oh we thought
Speaker 1: that Donald Trump was going to use the trees and act.
Speaker 1: Oh we thought that we would get in trouble. No, No,
Speaker 1: none of those things really are true. They just knew
Speaker 1: that their whiteness would protect them. You see, policing was
Speaker 1: never set up in a way that it was meant
Speaker 1: to police white people. It was meant to protect white
Speaker 1: people from everybody else them in their property. It's why
Speaker 1: right now Kyle Rittenhouse is the most famous Republican, a
Speaker 1: murtyrer that they are celebrating and fighting over to make
Speaker 1: their new intern. Donald Trump, after one hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: seven minutes of violence and bloodshed, would finally offer to
Speaker 1: the American people a statement in which he said, we
Speaker 1: love you. To the insurrectionists. Donald Trump never came out
Speaker 1: with force to say we need the National Guard, we
Speaker 1: need police. These people are doing things in my name
Speaker 1: that I don't agree with. You never heard that out
Speaker 1: of the mouth of Donald Trump or Rudy Giuliani or
Speaker 1: any of the members of Fox News. No, only behind
Speaker 1: closed doors and in tweets that they thought would never
Speaker 1: be discovered, did they offer their truth their fear. This
Speaker 1: is going to make us look bad. Laura Ingram said,
Speaker 1: this isn't good for us, because once again they were
Speaker 1: more concerned with their power and the perception thereof than
Speaker 1: anything else than the actual harm that they were doing.
Speaker 1: It wouldn't be until June of twenty twenty one that,
Speaker 1: after a battle in Congress that barely barely passing the
Speaker 1: House of Representatives, did we get at one six commission
Speaker 1: six months after the insurrection, Kevin McCarthy would pull back
Speaker 1: all of his Republicans and only two, only two would
Speaker 1: decide that they were actually going to put country ahead
Speaker 1: of party. That would be Liz Cheney and Adam Kinsinger.
Speaker 1: You see, for the entire year, people have wanted to
Speaker 1: hail Liz Cheney as some type of savior. Oh at
Speaker 1: least she has sense, they would say, this is the
Speaker 1: same woman who minds you voted over ninety percent of
Speaker 1: the time with Donald Trump. The only thing that Liz
Speaker 1: Cheney wouldn't go along with. She was totally fine withincarcerating
Speaker 1: and locking in cages undocumented children. She was totally fine
Speaker 1: with a rise in police brutality. She was totally fine
Speaker 1: with the criminalization of immigration and people of color. She
Speaker 1: was also fine, up until recently, with the harassment and
Speaker 1: the persecution of lgbt people, one of which her sister
Speaker 1: is her dad. Dark Vader would move quicker on the
Speaker 1: issue of LGBTQ equality than Liz Cheney did. But it
Speaker 1: doesn't take much in these American streets these days to
Speaker 1: be hailed as a hero. All you have to do
Speaker 1: is state the fucking obvious. Donald Trump did not win
Speaker 1: the election in twenty twenties. A matter of fact, every
Speaker 1: single document that has been uncovered by the one six
Speaker 1: Commission has shown the lengths at which all of the
Speaker 1: people around Donald Trump went to to ensure a second term,
Speaker 1: or maybe a never ending term like his Powell putin.
Speaker 1: It's been eleven months, friends, and sadly, the FBI tells
Speaker 1: us that they are still quote working on identifying all
Speaker 1: of those people who descended on our Capitol building, defecated
Speaker 1: in its whole ways, stole property, threatened to hang the
Speaker 1: vice president of the United States, and yet we're able
Speaker 1: to go back home. Yet recent reports from the New
Speaker 1: York Times tells us about the FBI infiltrating the protests
Speaker 1: in Oregon and other places back in twenty twenty because
Speaker 1: you know, those pesky black and brown people yelling about,
Speaker 1: you know, not being murdered in the streets and treated
Speaker 1: like second class citizens and dogs. They're so pesky and
Speaker 1: they caused so much trouble. Not at all the alerts
Speaker 1: and the reports that told you for a decade that
Speaker 1: white supremacy was rising in this country and that the
Speaker 1: threat that we needed to be paying attention to wasn't isis,
Speaker 1: But the Boogoaloo Boys, the oath keepers and others. Where
Speaker 1: was the infiltration into the insurrectionists that were organizing out
Speaker 1: in broad daylight? But you wouldn't infiltrate your own because sadly,
Speaker 1: there were too many active military that participated in the insurrection.
Speaker 1: There were too many active or former police officers that
Speaker 1: took out their trunk flags and stormed the capital on
Speaker 1: that day. In this upcoming conversation with Congresswoman Stacy Plasket,
Speaker 1: who also was an active voice and participating in the
Speaker 1: impeachment the second impeachment of the disgrace president, former President
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. In this episode, we will talk to her
Speaker 1: and you will be reminded of where we were, how
Speaker 1: we were feeling as a nation on one six twenty one,
Speaker 1: how shaken to the core were we and had no
Speaker 1: idea what the year ahead would look like, but we
Speaker 1: were certain that it couldn't be fucking good if this
Speaker 1: is how we were starting. Coming up next, my conversation
Speaker 1: with the brilliant Congresswoman Stacy Plasket. It is so wonderful
Speaker 1: to have you back on wik af again, a Congresswoman Plaskic.
Speaker 1: I am excited to talk to you because so much
Speaker 1: has happened since since the last time you joined us.
Speaker 1: So first of all, how have you been, how have
Speaker 1: you been since since our since our last time. I
Speaker 1: know that you were telling me about the COVID rates
Speaker 1: and the Virgin Islands and what has been happening and
Speaker 1: whether or not folks have been able to get tested.
Speaker 1: And now we have a new vaccine, so I'd love
Speaker 1: to know how things are, how things have been progressing
Speaker 1: in the Virgin Islands right now. Well, thanks for asking
Speaker 1: about that. We have a really dedicated team and unlike
Speaker 1: I think other places around the country, Virgin Islanders are
Speaker 1: not only resilient, but they understand disaster. And so when
Speaker 1: there are directives that come from leadership, the governor stating
Speaker 1: that the way that we saved ourselves is socially distance
Speaker 1: and to wear a mask, people understand that. And particularly
Speaker 1: for us, we have a culture that is very, very
Speaker 1: careful of our elders and so the notion that we
Speaker 1: might be getting them sick by not doing that thing
Speaker 1: that is really very it's very heartwrenching to us. And
Speaker 1: so we have been better, I think than other places
Speaker 1: about doing that. Our issue was always with our young
Speaker 1: people who don't want to follow the guidelines in the
Speaker 1: same way. Along with visitors coming in, we're trying to
Speaker 1: implement test taking for those who want to come as
Speaker 1: a tourist destination. Because I know that the governor is
Speaker 1: really pulled as well because he wants to keep our
Speaker 1: economy going and so much of our GDP support and
Speaker 1: our revenues come from tourism, and so being sensitive to that.
Speaker 1: Creating a safe place for people to come down while
Speaker 1: at the same time doing that cognizant of a pandemic
Speaker 1: has been a real challenge. I will say that one
Speaker 1: of the things that we are grateful for is that
Speaker 1: in Congress's legislation, the Virgin Islands has been included. So
Speaker 1: we're really trying to get our students back to school
Speaker 1: in a safe manner. We're trying to do distribution of
Speaker 1: the vaccine and of testing we have. You know, people
Speaker 1: are in the States have distribution and shipping issues. Well,
Speaker 1: shipping issues become even larger when you are off of
Speaker 1: the mainland, and so they've been dealing with that as well.
Speaker 1: You know, my concern is that when the Biden Harris
Speaker 1: Camp administration comes on board, that there has to be
Speaker 1: an address of lost revenues to locations, to states, governments,
Speaker 1: and to municipalities because they're going to need the support
Speaker 1: to keep teachers and you know, local officials, police on
Speaker 1: the street. And I know that's something that we are
Speaker 1: holding our breaths as the quarters to move track along
Speaker 1: that we will have a dip in those revenues. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it's incredibly hard to watch as
Speaker 1: states and different municipalities struggle, right because the idea is
Speaker 1: that we want to keep capacity down. We don't want
Speaker 1: to have as many travelers, we don't want to have
Speaker 1: as many people eating in restaurants. And here in New
Speaker 1: York City where I am, you know, indoor dining is
Speaker 1: closed again as as the numbers continue to spike. And
Speaker 1: so it's this fine line of being able to both
Speaker 1: keep people safe, but then also safety understanding is at
Speaker 1: economics as well. Right, So we cannot be truly safe
Speaker 1: when we have communities that are economically vulnerable. And so
Speaker 1: being able to understand both the push and the pull
Speaker 1: of where we find ourselves in the midst of this pandemic.
Speaker 1: You know, we we we are at a place right
Speaker 1: now whereas you and I are speaking, we are at
Speaker 1: four hundred thousand deaths of the coronavirus, just something that
Speaker 1: is would have been unthinkable, right because when you look
Speaker 1: at the countries that come behind us, we're almost double
Speaker 1: the amount of deaths that they have had. And you
Speaker 1: say to yourself, how, how you know, how could that be?
Speaker 1: Can you remember when it was twenty thousand and we
Speaker 1: were I passed twenty thousand, That's what I'm saying. And
Speaker 1: this this was you know, we we were, we were
Speaker 1: talking but a few months ago, and we hadn't reached,
Speaker 1: you know, into the hundreds of thousands. And so the rapidness,
Speaker 1: the rapid descent that we have seen in this country, UM,
Speaker 1: I think it shows our moral deficit um to taking
Speaker 1: care of one another. I want to talk about January
Speaker 1: sixth and were you I mean, because you know what,
Speaker 1: I can't. I can't see it. My anxiety has been
Speaker 1: through the roof since. UM. I have been feeling incredibly
Speaker 1: uneasy and I can't. And as as we continue to
Speaker 1: see videos come out, as we continue to see reports
Speaker 1: of your fellow your fellow members of Congress, Congresswoman Aana
Speaker 1: Pressley talking about the fact that our panic button was
Speaker 1: ripped out of her office that we are talking about
Speaker 1: how vulnerable the black and people of color members were.
Speaker 1: I want to know how you are feeling, how you
Speaker 1: felt that day, and how you were feeling now as
Speaker 1: this continues to as the investigations just get underway and
Speaker 1: things begin to unfold. Yeah, I for the most part,
Speaker 1: have been doing really well, and I've been doing a
Speaker 1: lot of check ins of some of my colleagues. I
Speaker 1: was not on the floor at the time. I just
Speaker 1: always feel like there's some hand, the ancestors are always
Speaker 1: watching out for me. I happened to be in my office,
Speaker 1: was watching c SPAN and getting my jacket and getting
Speaker 1: myself together to go on the floor, and just happened
Speaker 1: to be turned around a couple of times and didn't
Speaker 1: leave the office when I recognize on c SPAN that
Speaker 1: something had gone awry. But particularly I have been reaching
Speaker 1: out to my colleagues, my friends who were in the
Speaker 1: gallery port because the members who were on the floor,
Speaker 1: I know how real that trauma was, but they were
Speaker 1: with the way much faster than the ones who were
Speaker 1: in the gallery and kind of left there for a
Speaker 1: while before the Capitol police could get to them. Because
Speaker 1: the way of exit is not the same, and I
Speaker 1: recognize that they're not doing as well as some of
Speaker 1: the others. And you know, Danielle, we were talking earlier
Speaker 1: about my other role as a mother. Yeah, that's you know,
Speaker 1: something that I've been doing is you know, because afterwards
Speaker 1: I checked my staff. I even called particularly the younger
Speaker 1: staff who weren't here. But I know that them seeing
Speaker 1: something like that is going to affect how they operate,
Speaker 1: and that those these young people who come to Washington
Speaker 1: are so full of hope. I know they have so
Speaker 1: much passion, and to see an assault like that on
Speaker 1: our democracy and on people was something that I tried
Speaker 1: to help them work through. You know, I had a
Speaker 1: moment yesterday. It was a hard time for me, but
Speaker 1: I have to tell you I've really thrown myself into work,
Speaker 1: and the work that I'm doing I think is so
Speaker 1: incredibly important as an impeachment manager. And Jamie Raskin's words,
Speaker 1: I saw him on cable news yesterday when he said
Speaker 1: he lost his son in twenty twenty and he'll be
Speaker 1: damned if he loses his country in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: You know, I have had the good fortune of also
Speaker 1: speaking with Congressman, speaking with Representative Raskin, and to think
Speaker 1: about how committed you know, you have to be to
Speaker 1: this country, to the constitution, to this democracy, to be
Speaker 1: able to push through the unspeakable trauma of losing a
Speaker 1: child to now working so desperately not to lose a country.
Speaker 1: Can you talk to us about what it is like
Speaker 1: to be an impeachment manager, what you what has come
Speaker 1: up for you as as as a representative, but also
Speaker 1: as as you know, just a believer in democracy, a
Speaker 1: believer in institution. Right yeah, um, well, you know, um,
Speaker 1: my legal career began in the Bronx District Attorney's office,
Speaker 1: which is kind of a trial by fireplace. You're given
Speaker 1: a week of training and then you're sent assigned to
Speaker 1: a courtroom and giving a stack of cases and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, people pride themselves there on being very fast paced,
Speaker 1: night court, weekend, core, complaint room, the whole bit, And
Speaker 1: so I kind of took this the same way of
Speaker 1: just throwing myself into it. But one of maybe the
Speaker 1: things that as well comes as a Bronx district attorney
Speaker 1: is being very i have to say, unemotional about criminal
Speaker 1: trial and just getting to the facts and to justice.
Speaker 1: And I've really tried to be this way in working
Speaker 1: through how we are going to present this case is
Speaker 1: not getting caught up in the emotion of what we
Speaker 1: all experience, but how do we prove the elements of
Speaker 1: the crime place on January and leading up to January sixth, Right,
Speaker 1: because January sixth was the fulfillment of a conspiracy or
Speaker 1: throw this government. Insurrection doesn't occur at the beginning of
Speaker 1: an individual's time and office. It occurs at the end.
Speaker 1: And this is classic to what our founding fathers anticipated
Speaker 1: when they were drafting the Constitution and discussed impeachment while
Speaker 1: an impeachment was going on in England, while they were
Speaker 1: having the conversation about putting impeachment, because impeachment is two parts. One,
Speaker 1: it is removing that individual from the clear and present
Speaker 1: danger that they prevent they present, but it is also
Speaker 1: preventing that individual or individuals from ever being able again
Speaker 1: to do that. It's qualification of the person from being
Speaker 1: able to run for office, from receiving the trappings of
Speaker 1: what we give those individuals who were our former presidents.
Speaker 1: That doesn't just include the tax player, social Security retirement
Speaker 1: pay staff, and the others. It includes um you know, briefings, right, say, right?
Speaker 1: Do we want this individual to continue to have access
Speaker 1: to the leavers of power? Um, knowing what he will
Speaker 1: do to retain power for himself. Um. Those are the
Speaker 1: reasons that we are having in this drib. You know,
Speaker 1: tell me what is different between the one article that
Speaker 1: we are looking at right now, which is incitement and insurrection, correct,
Speaker 1: versus what we were looking at, which in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: which was obstruction of justice? Right? What are the what
Speaker 1: are the what are the impeachment one point zero and
Speaker 1: now impeaching two point zero? Right? Two point zero is
Speaker 1: always bigger, better. The differences is that we've all seen
Speaker 1: the crime. M. The difference is that not only were
Speaker 1: we all witnesses, but that the jurors were actually victims
Speaker 1: of the crime. That is going to be the difference
Speaker 1: in how this is presented. And the issue is now
Speaker 1: for these senators, if they are able as victims and
Speaker 1: continuing ongoing victims as they are threatened right by this
Speaker 1: president and by those conspirators who are with them with him,
Speaker 1: are they able to transcend that or to be protected
Speaker 1: from that, to be able to render a verdict? Let
Speaker 1: me ask you this question too, So, Donald Trump has
Speaker 1: what roughly forty eight hours left as president of the
Speaker 1: United States. He is signaling that he is about to
Speaker 1: pardon roughly one hundred people, including himself, his family, his friends,
Speaker 1: if he is convicted in the Senate, which we still
Speaker 1: know as an uphill battle. Are these pardons potentially reversible?
Speaker 1: Can they be stopped? Oh? That's that's a great scholarly
Speaker 1: constitutional issue, which you know, the conviction will of course, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, just thinking logically happen after the pardons of
Speaker 1: Dick and Plays. Probably not right. But the impeachment and
Speaker 1: the conviction, as well as the disqualification does not are
Speaker 1: separate and apart from any pardons. And additionally, of course
Speaker 1: there's always state crimes for which he is to probably
Speaker 1: have to deal with once leaving office, whether he is
Speaker 1: impeached and convicted or not. Yeah, I you know, Congresswoman
Speaker 1: say that his crimes in the past, you know. And
Speaker 1: he can only pardon himself for that which he has
Speaker 1: already done, not that for which he could potentially do
Speaker 1: or any other individual. But this trial, this impeachment, for one,
Speaker 1: for those in the House, the impeachment was a constitutional duty,
Speaker 1: fulfillment of what many members, including those bold ten individuals
Speaker 1: on the Republican side felt was a fulfillment of their
Speaker 1: constitutional duty. You know, pray for them as well, because
Speaker 1: they as well are being threatened right now for having
Speaker 1: taken that position. This is the only time in history
Speaker 1: when there has been such a bipartisan, resounding impeachment of
Speaker 1: a president. Right and now what we are doing is
Speaker 1: you hear this notion by many people of let's just
Speaker 1: move on the rush to healing, let the healing begin.
Speaker 1: You know, jam and Raskin uses this term. A president
Speaker 1: does not get a senior skip day to act up
Speaker 1: and do what he wants to do because it's the
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks of his presidency. And these individuals
Speaker 1: who are purporting proposing this are saying that he's supposed
Speaker 1: to get skipped weeks as a president, and you know,
Speaker 1: it is the height of Also as a black person,
Speaker 1: I feel it's the height of a privilege. When I
Speaker 1: hear white men saying that we should put us what
Speaker 1: he did, forget about it, and let him move on.
Speaker 1: It reminds me of my time in high school in
Speaker 1: boarding school, you know, going to a prep school as
Speaker 1: one of the few black people there. When senior year.
Speaker 1: People would kind of absolve the young white boys of
Speaker 1: misdeeds because you know, they've got this bright future ahead
Speaker 1: of them at Yale or wherever they were going to go.
Speaker 1: But don't you, ever black person try and do something
Speaker 1: like that, because you should be so grateful we had
Speaker 1: given you this opportunity before and not be healing. And
Speaker 1: this country cannot continue to condone this bad behavior, this conspiracy,
Speaker 1: this absolute rending of our constitution in our democracy. We
Speaker 1: can continue to be a shining light and the greatest
Speaker 1: country if we deal head on with the issues that
Speaker 1: we had. You know, throughout even last summer, when people
Speaker 1: were talking about systemic racism, I was really kind of
Speaker 1: ticked off when I would hear black people saying how
Speaker 1: ashamed they were of our country in comparison to others.
Speaker 1: I think the great thing about in America is that
Speaker 1: we do confront our issues where other countries kind of
Speaker 1: sweep them under the rug. You can't be a black
Speaker 1: person and live in France and ever be considered French.
Speaker 1: That's true. That's true. Is the happiest country in the
Speaker 1: world is Denmark. And the reason it's the happiest country
Speaker 1: in the world is because they sold my grandparents and
Speaker 1: their land to the United States and paid off their
Speaker 1: debt and came out of depression, a depression financial depression
Speaker 1: that they were in, and use that money and those
Speaker 1: resources to make themselves happy. But they don't even discuss it.
Speaker 1: They never acknowledge that that happened. They're three hundred years
Speaker 1: of slavery. So at least in the United States, we
Speaker 1: deal with our our wrongs, and we cannot at this point,
Speaker 1: just because of the amount of trauma and that this
Speaker 1: president has caused us simply pretend we can forget it,
Speaker 1: the rape and pillage and instructure that he is not
Speaker 1: exacted on this country and think that we're going to
Speaker 1: continue to be whole people if we don't deal and
Speaker 1: make sure that the perpetrator has to pay. You know,
Speaker 1: when you say whole people, that really sits with me,
Speaker 1: because I don't think still to this day, to this point,
Speaker 1: that white Americans really understand how adversely racism affects them,
Speaker 1: how adversely white supremacy affects them, how it has affected
Speaker 1: our entire country, every every facet of it. I think
Speaker 1: to myself, where would America be if not for the
Speaker 1: oppression and suppression of various marginalized groups. How much would
Speaker 1: our g DPB how much would we be you know,
Speaker 1: how how how big of a beacon and like could
Speaker 1: we be if we allowed all people to to attain
Speaker 1: their American dream, whatever the version of that American dream
Speaker 1: was one of the questions that I have for you, Congresswoman,
Speaker 1: is this You know you are a member also of
Speaker 1: the Oversight UH Committee. There are conversations right now, reports
Speaker 1: that are being had that Republican members of your House
Speaker 1: um are part of this conspiracy, and there are calls
Speaker 1: for them to be removed. Right tours that were tours
Speaker 1: or as as some have said, reconnaissance right that was
Speaker 1: done with members of Congress leading these terrorists, these perpetrators
Speaker 1: around the Capitol the day before. How are they going
Speaker 1: to be dealt with? Because I don't see how you all, right,
Speaker 1: that are that hold up our democracy can work shoulder
Speaker 1: to shoulder with those people that purposefully put you in
Speaker 1: harm's away. And frankly, it is only through the grace
Speaker 1: of God and luck that we did not see a
Speaker 1: procession of funerals following January sixth. I have great confidence
Speaker 1: that the Speaker Nancy Pelosi as well as our leadership
Speaker 1: are going to address that that this is not something
Speaker 1: that they have forgotten, not something that will not be addressed.
Speaker 1: Neither they or the members are going to allow that.
Speaker 1: And so I think as time goes on, you'll see
Speaker 1: a greater discussion about that. Right now, I'm just singularly
Speaker 1: focused on, you know, the preparation with my colleagues for
Speaker 1: the trial at hand, But I know that those conversations
Speaker 1: are very, very real and that that's going to happen.
Speaker 1: But you know, Danielle, as as I keep when people
Speaker 1: ask me, do I feel safe around my colleagues? I mean,
Speaker 1: what black person in America ever truly feel safe? And
Speaker 1: you know, as as I, my sons have told me,
Speaker 1: you know, I need to keep my head on a
Speaker 1: swivel until something is done. I'm grateful that the Speaker
Speaker 1: has really instituted some of the measures that he had
Speaker 1: She has and will enforce minds and other actions against
Speaker 1: members who do not follow them. But let's remember that
Speaker 1: these members not only you know, there are the allegations
Speaker 1: of the reconnaissance of criminal conspirators, but there was also
Speaker 1: discussion of members carrying weapons as well, members tweeting out
Speaker 1: locations to groups during the insurrection, but members also refusing
Speaker 1: to wear masks and putting other members in harm's way
Speaker 1: physically because they cannot accept the truth. They cannot accept
Speaker 1: the truth that President Donald Trump lost the election. You know,
Speaker 1: they don't want to accept the truth that in places
Speaker 1: like Philadelphia and Detroit and black people came out and
Speaker 1: vote because they don't want those to be counted as
Speaker 1: votes because we are not people, so therefore our votes
Speaker 1: don't count. And they don't want to accept the truth
Speaker 1: about COVID and this pandemic and what it means to
Speaker 1: America as well, and therefore they won't wear a mask
Speaker 1: on top of that. It's just a travesty, really, Congresswoman,
Speaker 1: I know, thank you so much for your time. My
Speaker 1: final question for you, as you are in preparation for
Speaker 1: the impeachment trial, what are your hopes coming out of this,
Speaker 1: knowing the kind of Senate that we're facing, knowing that
Speaker 1: in a handful of days we are finally finally switching
Speaker 1: administrations are what are your hopes moving forward? As as
Speaker 1: we move forward? Um, you know, I am just so
Speaker 1: incredibly grateful that we have the kind of staff and
Speaker 1: team that we have just preparing for this track trial
Speaker 1: from the judiciary and oversight staffers who are not sleeping
Speaker 1: from the time that we you know, the impeachment articles
Speaker 1: were drafted by members of the team who were in
Speaker 1: hiding and writing impeachment articles to a team which is
Speaker 1: absolutely solidified and working together. And you know Jamie Raskin
Speaker 1: as the lead manager being so masterful and guiding us
Speaker 1: as our law school professor almost in this instance. But
Speaker 1: it's my hope that not only will the American people,
Speaker 1: but the Senate be awakened to the truth, that they
Speaker 1: have the courage to act upon that truth, because this
Speaker 1: will be a time that is not forgotten. I think
Speaker 1: as more information comes out, they would be mindful of
Speaker 1: being on the right side of history in this. We
Speaker 1: know that this president is one who does not learn
Speaker 1: his lesson, yeah, and so he has to be contained.
Speaker 1: But I think that that will show the American people
Speaker 1: that the Republic is still standing and that we can
Speaker 1: move on while that is happening, to contain to bring
Speaker 1: to justice those individuals who have tried to shaken our republic,
Speaker 1: that the republic continues. With the first five and ten
Speaker 1: days of this administration and the great things that they're
Speaker 1: going to do, and while the Senate, which is the
Speaker 1: greatest liberative body, works not only on an impeachment, but
Speaker 1: on confirmation and on a package to bring us to
Speaker 1: economic prosperity. Again, knowing that with us having Democrats having
Speaker 1: the House, the Senate, and the White House, that we
Speaker 1: are going to try and uplift those who have been
Speaker 1: forgotten not just in four years, but for a very
Speaker 1: long time. That there's equality and education, in wealth creation,
Speaker 1: and in healthcare, so many things that so many Americans
Speaker 1: need moving forward. Congresswoman Stacy Plaskett, I can't thank you
Speaker 1: enough for your time. I can't thank you enough for
Speaker 1: your commitment to our democracy, and I wish you well
Speaker 1: as you prepare for the impeachment trial. And I just
Speaker 1: we can't thank you enough. So please stay safe. Can
Speaker 1: you also please take care of yourself because I see
Speaker 1: how much this is affect did you as well? Thank
Speaker 1: you as your big sis, we need you well to
Speaker 1: keep keep your strong voice and the kind of intuitive,
Speaker 1: insightful and well researched questions that you have for us. All.
Speaker 1: Thank you be well, Okay, you take care. That is
Speaker 1: it for me today, Dear folks on woke as always
Speaker 1: Power to the people and to all the people. Power.
Speaker 1: Get woke and stay woke as fun