Speaker 1: Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership
Speaker 1: with Reason Choice Media.
Speaker 2: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 3: Home, y'all home.
Speaker 1: So happy to be here with our essence family. We
Speaker 1: have had quite the weekend. It has been a beautiful experience.
Speaker 1: Have you all had a good time? All right, Andrew tip,
Speaker 1: will we getting into Oh, we.
Speaker 4: Got some great guests for you all today. We want
Speaker 4: to have a little conversation about the state of affairs,
Speaker 4: politics and our nation. And I think we've got three
Speaker 4: voices who you'll get to hear it from.
Speaker 3: Four I'm sorry, four voices.
Speaker 4: One more add on that will be just perfect to
Speaker 4: get the message succinctly to us so that we can
Speaker 4: share with our friends, loved ones, family cousins, in them
Speaker 4: and them and them.
Speaker 5: So bear with us.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be a good quick panel for your enjoyment.
Speaker 6: I'm excited to hear from the people at every level
Speaker 6: of government right now, because I think we were just
Speaker 6: talking backstage about so many people are not necessarily engaged.
Speaker 6: People are exhausted with what's going on, and I know,
Speaker 6: to save our spirits sometimes we need to tune out.
Speaker 6: But I'm thrilled that we have people who can make
Speaker 6: information accessible and digestible and break down the things we
Speaker 6: need to know.
Speaker 7: So I'm ready to get into it.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 1: Well, while people are using the power their voices, it
Speaker 1: sounds like a protest is going on right now. But
Speaker 1: we're gonna make sure that you are equipped to do
Speaker 1: the very that kind of work and engage in your
Speaker 1: power at home.
Speaker 7: So we are thrilled to bring.
Speaker 1: To the stage the following voices, and if the backstage
Speaker 1: folks would do us a favor and increase the volume
Speaker 1: on these mics, that would be amazing.
Speaker 5: We have State Rep.
Speaker 1: Malcolm Kenyata, who is the vice chair of the Democratic
Speaker 1: National Committee joining us. We have Ashley Shelton, CEO of
Speaker 1: Power Coalition for Equity and Justice.
Speaker 7: Yes, indeed, we have LINEE.
Speaker 1: Vane, how y'all feel about parking Lot Pippin also the
Speaker 1: hosts of the People's Brief on Revolt, and last, but
Speaker 1: certainly not least, the Queen, our friend, our sister, Congresswoman
Speaker 1: Jasmine Crockhead is in the buildings. Don't mind us, We're
Speaker 1: not the church, praise seem We went to a white
Speaker 1: brunch right before this So I want to start with
Speaker 1: our dear sister, Jasmine. There are many crises that the
Speaker 1: country is wrestling with right now. I'm just gonna somber
Speaker 1: us up just for a moment. There are a few
Speaker 1: crises on our hands, and one is in Jasmine's home
Speaker 1: state of Texas of course, with the flash floods and
Speaker 1: the many lives that were lost.
Speaker 5: So, Jasmine, I just wanted.
Speaker 1: To yield to you for a moment, to just bring
Speaker 1: truth to us about what's really happening in this moment.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think that, uh, this is a great opportunity
Speaker 8: to talk about this particular issue specifically right now that
Speaker 8: we are sitting in Louisiana, because we know that there
Speaker 8: is a such thing as say, hurricane season, but as
Speaker 8: we have these natural disasters that have only continuously been
Speaker 8: on the rise because some people just don't believe in
Speaker 8: climate change in this country, we also have had those
Speaker 8: that have been empowered with education and science that have
Speaker 8: always at least helped us to predict what was going
Speaker 8: to happen so that we could then save our lives.
Speaker 8: Right now, people don't understand that there have been devastating
Speaker 8: cuts that have taken place on the federal level for
Speaker 8: no other reason than pure idiocy, cruelty, as well as incompetency,
Speaker 8: and it is leading to people dying. People don't fully
Speaker 8: understand that government, last time I check, wasn't here to
Speaker 8: kill us, but should be extending our lives and should
Speaker 8: be representing for us. But unfortunately, right now, we do
Speaker 8: not know how many people are still missing. We do
Speaker 8: not know the total amount that have perished. Now we're
Speaker 8: looking at close to seventy people that have died, almost
Speaker 8: thirty of them are little girls. And all of this
Speaker 8: could have been prevented if we did not have a
Speaker 8: tax on science, including Noah, defunding Noah, which is how
Speaker 8: we get our predictions. These people had no idea that
Speaker 8: they were about to experience flash flooding, and they should
Speaker 8: be here today. I don't really care what your political
Speaker 8: affiliation is.
Speaker 7: Right now we are in a crisis.
Speaker 8: In this country because we have people because at the
Speaker 8: end of the day, let me tell you something, I
Speaker 8: don't know those people's political affiliation whatsoever, and I really
Speaker 8: don't care. They are people and they are people that
Speaker 8: should be alive. And so when people start talking to
Speaker 8: you about Democrats, Republicans, independents. Ultimately, when you are looking
Speaker 8: for who it is that you are going to elect,
Speaker 8: you should elect people that are people centered and focused
Speaker 8: instead of playing these stupid games. And that's what we
Speaker 8: have failed at.
Speaker 7: Unfortunately.
Speaker 5: That's right.
Speaker 3: We want to give you a break, Congressman.
Speaker 4: But before we move on to the other panelists, for
Speaker 4: some questions, I would love for you to reflect for
Speaker 4: this audience on it's still a term of.
Speaker 3: Yours bad bill.
Speaker 5: Bill?
Speaker 3: Wait, what is it bad bill?
Speaker 4: Butch body budget bill that just passed the US Congress
Speaker 4: signed it to law by Donald Trump. And how do
Speaker 4: you make it plain to this audience the ways in
Speaker 4: which their lives may be impacted by what this Republican
Speaker 4: majority just did.
Speaker 8: I'm gonna keep it real short, because obviously we've got
Speaker 8: an amazing panel of people.
Speaker 7: This is a reverse Robinhood.
Speaker 8: Essentially, what they've done is they've taken resources and money
Speaker 8: out of your pockets. Because let's say somebody doesn't have healthcare,
Speaker 8: that now means that they are going to have to
Speaker 8: spend money that they couldn't afford it in the first
Speaker 8: place for health care that they couldn't afford in.
Speaker 7: Order to try to stay alive.
Speaker 8: Also say, Jeff Bezos can go out and when he
Speaker 8: get married to his third wife, okay, he can then
Speaker 8: have another fifty or sixty million dollar wedding.
Speaker 7: That's it's pure and simple.
Speaker 8: And let me let me give y'all numbers, numbers that
Speaker 8: you probably can't truly conceptualize. They cut one trillion dollars
Speaker 8: worth of money to Medicaid, not one thousand, not one
Speaker 8: hundred thousand, not a million, not a billion, but one
Speaker 8: trillion dollars. And after cutting one trillion dollars out of
Speaker 8: the ecosystem of health care. And that's how I'm gonna
Speaker 8: phrase it. Because even if you don't have Medicaid, whatever
Speaker 8: good insurance you think you got, let me just tell
Speaker 8: you all, the prices are going to go up because
Speaker 8: there's a trillion dollars that has been pulled.
Speaker 7: Out of the health care system.
Speaker 8: For some of you that don't necessarily live in the
Speaker 8: big cities, and even some that live in the big cities,
Speaker 8: those hospitals are going to shut down because they won't
Speaker 8: have the resources when you need to show up. Even
Speaker 8: if you do have good health care, guess what, there
Speaker 8: won't be anybody there to take care of you.
Speaker 7: People are going to die.
Speaker 8: Unfortunately. That is the theme of this administration. And the
Speaker 8: only thing that we have to show for it is
Speaker 8: that literally, we have eighty three billionaires in this country.
Speaker 8: They care more about eighty three billionaires in this country
Speaker 8: than they cared about the hundreds of millions of people
Speaker 8: that are in this country.
Speaker 7: That is the long and short.
Speaker 8: Whether we're talking about healthcare, whether we're talking about food,
Speaker 8: whether we're talking about education, which historically education has been
Speaker 8: what has allowed us to hopefully start to minimize that
Speaker 8: wealth gap. I am telling y'all it is time to
Speaker 8: strap up because it's about to get really rough.
Speaker 6: I want to ask a follow up to you, Congressoman,
Speaker 6: and also I want to bring in Malcolm Kenyata, who
Speaker 6: is here as well. I think a lot of white
Speaker 6: one run newsrooms misrepresent black folks and they think black
Speaker 6: folks are so loyal to the Democratic Party, not understanding
Speaker 6: it as ourselves who were loyal to We're voting it
Speaker 6: for harm reduction, not to any particular party. So what
Speaker 6: would you say to the millions of people across this
Speaker 6: country who has every right to criticize their government, their
Speaker 6: tax paying citizens. So we can't admonish them for these criticisms,
Speaker 6: but they feel like the party is not fighting for
Speaker 6: them and they're not interested in Instagram memes and media stunts,
Speaker 6: but they want to see actual combat to protect them
Speaker 6: what's happening. I'm curious what you would say to those people,
Speaker 6: and when she's done, I would love to hear from
Speaker 6: you as well, Malcolm.
Speaker 7: So I absolutely understand.
Speaker 8: I think that one of the reasons that I became
Speaker 8: like a top request at surrogate both under Biden as
Speaker 8: well as Harris, is because they could send me places
Speaker 8: that other people couldn't go. Because I understand the frustration.
Speaker 8: There are a group of people that have I felt
Speaker 8: like neither party has ever changed their lives for the better.
Speaker 7: And I get it.
Speaker 8: I understand that there are people that feel like, you
Speaker 8: know what, they only show up in our black church
Speaker 8: when it's time to get our black vote, but we
Speaker 8: don't see.
Speaker 7: Them any other time.
Speaker 8: I understand it, right, And so I tell people, just
Speaker 8: like I just told y'all you should vote based upon
Speaker 8: who is going to look out for you, I will
Speaker 8: tell you that I am not a Republican because I
Speaker 8: don't ever see myself being in a party that sides
Speaker 8: with white supremacists, and the last time I check, I'm
Speaker 8: totally black.
Speaker 7: I get that, but it.
Speaker 8: Does not mean that I believe that the party that
Speaker 8: I am affiliated with it's perfect. In fact, I don't
Speaker 8: believe anything on this planet is perfect. But I do
Speaker 8: believe that we can push people to be better.
Speaker 7: And so that's where you come in.
Speaker 8: The idea that Donald Trump won this election, in my opinion,
Speaker 8: is a farce for a couple of reasons.
Speaker 7: But one of those reasons is.
Speaker 8: Because a lot of people say, you know what, what
Speaker 8: he talking about that ain't gonna do nothing for me?
Speaker 7: And what she's talking about.
Speaker 8: I don't necessarily believe it, right because people have given
Speaker 8: up on this two party system. But the problem is
Speaker 8: when you decided to stay at home, you gave up
Speaker 8: on yourselves. And unfortunately, so I'm gonna tell y'all a
Speaker 8: real truth because that's the only way I know how
Speaker 8: to be. Is that we consistently want perfection out of
Speaker 8: our politicians and our preachers, and the reality is that
Speaker 8: we will never be perfect. And I tell people all
Speaker 8: the time that they divided us, and what do they
Speaker 8: say in war is.
Speaker 7: Divide and conquer.
Speaker 8: We got conquered because we allowed ourselves to be divided.
Speaker 8: And so what I want you to understand is that
Speaker 8: it's not really about convincing everybody to believe everything that
Speaker 8: you believe.
Speaker 7: I don't really care where you stand on abortion.
Speaker 8: I don't really care where you stand on LGBTQYA issues.
Speaker 8: And I frankly don't care where you stood on the
Speaker 8: war that wasn't even taking place here, because ultimately, they
Speaker 8: allowed you to be divided amongst those and they played
Speaker 8: in our faces also that they could rob us blind
Speaker 8: in daylight.
Speaker 7: That is what they're doing.
Speaker 8: They're robbing us of our futures, they're robbing us of
Speaker 8: our presence, they're robbing us of our lives.
Speaker 7: So ultimately, the one thing.
Speaker 8: That like, listen, it's a lot of people to have
Speaker 8: issues with me, and then it's a few people that
Speaker 8: love me too. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 8: you know what you're getting with me. You know that
Speaker 8: I'm gonna be one thousand about what I'm saying. So ultimately,
Speaker 8: I am asking you, I am begging you, because I
Speaker 8: don't know how we survive unless we get real realistic.
Speaker 8: If y'all remember this last thing I'm gonna say, so
Speaker 8: we get everybody else. Y'all remember that there was a
Speaker 8: bit of a civil war within the Democratic Party. Ultimately, right,
Speaker 8: we had a nominee, We had Joe Biden.
Speaker 7: Right, y'all, remember who tore Joe Biden down? It was us.
Speaker 7: It was us.
Speaker 8: So the whole time we decided we were gonna tear
Speaker 8: Joe Biden down, and listen, I don't care we're you
Speaker 8: stood on that either to be perfectly honest, because I
Speaker 8: said it was only two people I was gonna ride with.
Speaker 8: If it wasn't Joe Biden, it had to be Kamala Harris,
Speaker 8: because I wasn't gonna play with them. But here's the reality.
Speaker 8: We spent so much time fighting ourselves that we didn't
Speaker 8: pay any attention to the real enemy, the one that
Speaker 8: was going to inflict actual evil upon us. And so
Speaker 8: I just want us to have more of a togetherness
Speaker 8: spirit so that we can move together and understand that
Speaker 8: nothing will be perfect. But if we just keep our
Speaker 8: eye on the price, which should be these babies that
Speaker 8: we got sitting here, we should be pushing to make
Speaker 8: sure that they are not rolling back our access to money,
Speaker 8: that they're not rolling back our access to education, that
Speaker 8: they're not rolling back our access to even being able
Speaker 8: to have a job. Right now, we are under attack
Speaker 8: in this country and people are still sitting by trying
Speaker 8: to play the same dagone rules.
Speaker 7: While we got this convicted felon.
Speaker 8: And listen, I did criminal defense, so I'm not necessarily
Speaker 8: against those that have been caught up in the system.
Speaker 3: But this.
Speaker 8: He is a real life criminal. This is the real
Speaker 8: thug going around rounding up people on immigration talking about
Speaker 8: they've been the enemy.
Speaker 7: Last time I checked.
Speaker 8: You are the enemy, sir, not them.
Speaker 1: Here here, wait, Malcolm, here's one thing I want to
Speaker 1: put some respect on his name. This is Pennsylvania State
Speaker 1: Representative Malcolm Kenyatta, who knows a lot about running for
Speaker 1: office too, and just recently speaking of the infighting in
Speaker 1: the party, which Jasmine knows a little bit about as well.
Speaker 1: So we're not gonna leave everybody blameless. You had to
Speaker 1: run for a position twice at the DNC.
Speaker 9: Not the history I wanted to make, but okay, the
Speaker 9: only person to have to win twice. So let me
Speaker 9: let me say this first, good afternoon, and let me
Speaker 9: just make this point. All of us sitting here today,
Speaker 9: we know exactly what it means to live in a
Speaker 9: country and to engage with institutions that don't always love
Speaker 9: us back.
Speaker 5: That is the history of this country.
Speaker 9: And I want to be very clear, and I say this,
Speaker 9: and this shocks folks, that poor kid from North Philly
Speaker 9: always starts this way, but I start this way. I
Speaker 9: am not a Democrat just because I hate Republicans. Hear
Speaker 9: me on that now. I do not like what they
Speaker 9: are doing. But I'm not a Democrat just because they're bad.
Speaker 9: So I'm a Democrat. I grew up in a working,
Speaker 9: poor family in North Philly. My dad was trained as
Speaker 9: a social worker. My mom spent most of her career
Speaker 9: as a home health aid, working with folks who have
Speaker 9: really significant physical health challenges, mental health challenges. And my
Speaker 9: dad was lucky that when he was getting his degree,
Speaker 9: one day, a cute little thing named Kelly Kenyatta strolled
Speaker 9: on it.
Speaker 5: And nine months later you have me. Now I talk
Speaker 5: about my.
Speaker 9: Parents because I hit the parental jackpot. Okay, I got
Speaker 9: the best parents in the world, second only to your parents,
Speaker 9: who I assume we're fantastic.
Speaker 5: But my parents I fucking hated each other. They did
Speaker 5: they did not.
Speaker 9: I promise you I was there they did not, And
Speaker 9: so what that meant for me is they separated when
Speaker 9: I was young.
Speaker 5: I got my first.
Speaker 9: Job at twelve years old, washing dishes at a little restaurant.
Speaker 9: I buried both of my parents by the time I
Speaker 9: was twenty seven because they didn't have access to the
Speaker 9: type of health care that everybody deserves. But I think
Speaker 9: about what it took for me to be sitting here
Speaker 9: on this stage with you in this exact moment. As
Speaker 9: difficult as things were, I had healthcare because of a
Speaker 9: little program called CHIP that I'll remind you Democrats made
Speaker 9: a reality in this country.
Speaker 5: Democrats did that.
Speaker 9: I moved five or six different times, but we always
Speaker 9: had somewhere to go because of HUD and because of
Speaker 9: all the different things that existed, Section eight vouchers, affordable
Speaker 9: housing that was built, and that was built because there
Speaker 9: was a Democrat who did not know a little kid
Speaker 9: named Malcolm Kenyata was gonna need somewhere to go, but
Speaker 9: who believed in this idea that all of god children
Speaker 9: deserve to have somewhere to lay their head and be
Speaker 9: treated with dignity, decency, and respect. And I think about
Speaker 9: when my parents found themselves in between jobs and it
Speaker 9: was Democrats who built the social safety net in this
Speaker 9: country that Republicans have just effectively shredded with the bill
Speaker 9: that they just passed. And so I did not run
Speaker 9: to be vice shared this party and run again to
Speaker 9: be vice share this party because I thought everything was
Speaker 9: going great. I ran because a part of the mistake
Speaker 9: that we make is believing that institutions will somehow disappear
Speaker 9: if we're not there, when the reality is the Democratic
Speaker 9: Party is not what.
Speaker 5: It should be because you're not there.
Speaker 10: And I promise you you go around your community and
Speaker 10: I hear people talk about, you know, the old guard,
Speaker 10: And don't get me wrong, there are people with a
Speaker 10: lot of money, a lot of seniority, who want to
Speaker 10: use that money to keep people in place that keep
Speaker 10: them very comfortable.
Speaker 5: Do not get me wrong on that, But.
Speaker 9: Also be clear that a lot of it is like
Speaker 9: a paper tiger.
Speaker 5: I think about people who step up.
Speaker 9: And run for office in areas where nobody said they
Speaker 9: could win, and they are winning because a lot of
Speaker 9: people get afraid of stepping up and never even run.
Speaker 9: They never even challenge the system. When I ran to
Speaker 9: be in the State House almost a decade ago, at
Speaker 9: this point, there were so many folks who said to me, Malcolm,
Speaker 9: a gay kid from North Philly, it's not about to
Speaker 9: be elected to no stay house. Let me just tell
Speaker 9: you it is not gonna happen. That's very cute what
Speaker 9: you're doing, but it's not gonna happen. And there were
Speaker 9: people who ran who everybody had tapped on the shoulder
Speaker 9: to say they were gonna be the person who ran.
Speaker 9: And I raised my hand and gathered my signatures and
Speaker 9: knocked on doors because I believe that when we talk
Speaker 9: to people, not just about the president that's gonna be elected,
Speaker 9: but when we talk to people about what is happening
Speaker 9: in their communities, that is the way we're gonna build
Speaker 9: our party. And let me end by making this point,
Speaker 9: because the Democratic Party cannot exist. Hear me on this.
Speaker 9: We do not exist to just throw a damn party
Speaker 9: every four years and announce the nominee every single day.
Speaker 9: There are elections across this country that matter to your life,
Speaker 9: and we have done a crap job of treating those
Speaker 9: people with respect. And so I have this crazy idea
Speaker 9: that we ought to invest in folks running for school
Speaker 9: board like we do for people running for US Senate.
Speaker 9: I have an idea that when somebody runs for mayor,
Speaker 9: we ought to interview them and not just the people
Speaker 9: running for Congress. Because I will tell you this, the
Speaker 9: jerrymander maps that we have here in Louisiana and everywhere else,
Speaker 9: those maps weren't jerry mandered in DC.
Speaker 5: They were jerrymander where you live.
Speaker 9: The people who were banned in the books, they were
Speaker 9: getting banned before the dumb lady from ww wherever the
Speaker 9: hell she came from. They were being banned at your
Speaker 9: school board meeting where your kids go to school. And
Speaker 9: when I think about the need to build affordable housing,
Speaker 9: there are zoning board meetings that might be happening tomorrow
Speaker 9: morning at ten o'clock that you're not going to that
Speaker 9: is going to decide whether and how we build.
Speaker 5: Out the things.
Speaker 9: And let me make this final really important point. People
Speaker 9: have asked, Malcolm, you know what is the Democratic Party about?
Speaker 5: What are we going to do? And people will tell
Speaker 5: me as I go.
Speaker 9: Across this country, Well, Malcolm, in twenty sixteen, they did this.
Speaker 5: And I'm not saying they did or they didn't.
Speaker 9: I was not even an elected official in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 9: and I promise you there's not a damn thing I
Speaker 9: can do about twenty sixteen or twenty eighteen.
Speaker 5: I hear you, I agree with you. But what we're
Speaker 5: going to.
Speaker 9: Do as a party is we can't keep talking about
Speaker 9: what we are not. We have to start talking about
Speaker 9: what we are. And I think the Democratic Party exists
Speaker 9: to do one thing that I think is the message
Speaker 9: of this party, and it's three words, make life better.
Speaker 5: That is why we exist.
Speaker 9: To make life better, so that you can afford your
Speaker 9: health care, to make life better, so you can have
Speaker 9: one good job backed up by a union, so you
Speaker 9: can care for your family. To make life better, so
Speaker 9: you can go to the damn doctor when you're sick
Speaker 9: and afford the prescription and when you leave the appointment.
Speaker 5: That is our work.
Speaker 9: And so I'm asking you to not help build this institution,
Speaker 9: because we like the institution as it is. But I
Speaker 9: am telling you that if you step up in this moment,
Speaker 9: there are spaces you can be the chair of the
Speaker 9: local party where you are. Probably you can certainly be
Speaker 9: a committee person where you are. And I am not
Speaker 9: here to defend incumbents. The Democratic Party DNC, against popular belief,
Speaker 9: we are not an incumbent protection racket. My job is
Speaker 9: not to protect a single incumbent. My job is to
Speaker 9: elect democratic nominees. And so when you are the Democratic nominee,
Speaker 9: we'll do everything in our power to tell people how
Speaker 9: you're gonna make their life better and then earn their supports.
Speaker 7: I love I love Dan Knaka.
Speaker 1: I love what you share because what's really important is
Speaker 1: the local involvement. And sitting right to your right is
Speaker 1: Ashley Shelton, who runs the Coalition for Equity Injustice here
Speaker 1: in Louisiana. Y'all know about the four Congression, the constitutional
Speaker 1: amendments in March and the fact they were defeated. Thank
Speaker 1: that woman right there. So Ashley talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about local power and what happens when you come together
Speaker 1: and how miracles happen when you do just that.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 11: No, So we had four terrible amendments that they wanted
Speaker 11: to enshrine in our constitution, the worst of which was
Speaker 11: to put fourteen year old kids in adult jail. And
Speaker 11: so because they understood that the folks that in goal
Speaker 11: are aging out and they need new folks to work
Speaker 11: the farm also the plantation, and we got on the ground.
Speaker 7: We did all we.
Speaker 11: Use a multitude of strategies, but we did a town hall.
Speaker 11: We went all across the state listening and talking about
Speaker 11: what these amendments were and what they did. We explained
Speaker 11: to people how this would impact them and their families
Speaker 11: on a day to day basis. You know, we held
Speaker 11: you know, we in every meeting. Then we met the
Speaker 11: you know, the black teachers from Jefferson Parish, and we
Speaker 11: met the such and such an auxiliary you know, group
Speaker 11: of women in this parish. And so we went all
Speaker 11: around this state talking to people about why this was important,
Speaker 11: and they showed up.
Speaker 7: And I think that would Yes, they did.
Speaker 11: Sixty five percent of the state who voted in that
Speaker 11: election defeated those amendments, and in fact, the one for
Speaker 11: putting the kids in jail got sixty six percent.
Speaker 7: And I think that the thing.
Speaker 11: That I think is most important is that a couple
Speaker 11: of things that since this election or this administration came in,
Speaker 11: we have seen.
Speaker 7: Such an uptick in participation.
Speaker 11: Folks coming out, Folks have questions, Folks that want to
Speaker 11: be engaged, They want to understand what's happening. People are hungry,
Speaker 11: and we saw that we fed that, and you know,
Speaker 11: and working across genres across issues really were able to
Speaker 11: come together and defeat these amendments and stop them from
Speaker 11: coming to our you know, coming to put in being
Speaker 11: put into our constitution. And ten thousand more black people
Speaker 11: voted on these four amendments than they did for the
Speaker 11: governor's race ten thousand and so, you know, I would say, like, we,
Speaker 11: you know, we got some work to do, because if
Speaker 11: we would have got that together, we probably would have
Speaker 11: had a better we wouldn't have been dealing with what
Speaker 11: we're dealing with. But it does going to show you
Speaker 11: that I hope that it is a Bellweather moment where
Speaker 11: you know, as goes the South can mean something positive,
Speaker 11: that the South is really you know, we have something
Speaker 11: to say, and it's time to recognize that.
Speaker 7: There's power here.
Speaker 11: We have the second largest black population, second to Mississippi.
Speaker 11: But we still you know, but there's so many there's
Speaker 11: so much power here. We're thirty percent of the population.
Speaker 11: And so we've already won one additional congressional majority minority seat,
Speaker 11: and then we're still fighting for nine state seats, six
Speaker 11: House and three Senate. And so all of these are
Speaker 11: in one is in the Supreme Court. Some of them
Speaker 11: are in federal court the middle district. But we're going
Speaker 11: to keep fighting because that's where.
Speaker 1: The power is.
Speaker 7: That's where our power is. So think about the fact that.
Speaker 11: I can sit here right now and say nine seats
Speaker 11: across the state don't have representation where black folks were
Speaker 11: cracked or packed into different districts, and so again, those
Speaker 11: fights were led by the people of the state. And
Speaker 11: I am so proud of the people because the message
Speaker 11: that the people kept saying over and over again is
Speaker 11: that we just want what's fair. We went so much
Speaker 11: so that it came up and was quoted in court
Speaker 11: that all they wanted was what was fair and that
Speaker 11: we don't need to start changing the rules now that
Speaker 11: the majority is starting to look like the minority.
Speaker 3: I love that, y'all give it up. Excellent work on
Speaker 3: the ground. I want to invite in Leneveney, who.
Speaker 4: Some of you all know from social media the People's
Speaker 4: Brief as well, but a woman who is taking really
Speaker 4: difficult issues and breaking them down to digestible levels. And
Speaker 4: I just want to start here with you, which is
Speaker 4: in this time right now where people seem to be
Speaker 4: and competition for attention, that our minds have spread every
Speaker 4: which way we turn on social media. There's ten thousand
Speaker 4: videos that we all want to stream through, and some
Speaker 4: of that seems to be distracting folks from some of
Speaker 4: the real harm that's taking place through the governing process.
Speaker 4: I'm curious to know how it is that you break
Speaker 4: through the noise and give folks, you know, to the
Speaker 4: millions y'all, to the tunes of millions who are tuning
Speaker 4: into her videos to understand a little bit better of
Speaker 4: what's happening in this political space.
Speaker 3: I'd love to hear how you're doing that, and then to.
Speaker 4: What advice would you give to the rest of us
Speaker 4: of how we can get our family members, friends, co
Speaker 4: workers to pay attention to what's happening, even though it
Speaker 4: may not be the sexiest thing happening.
Speaker 12: Yeah, I think Kendrick Lamar said the best, and he said,
Speaker 12: you got to make it look sexy. A lot of
Speaker 12: people don't care about things until they feel like they
Speaker 12: can see themselves in it, or see a version of
Speaker 12: themselves that they'd like to be in it, or it
Speaker 12: connects to something they have going on in everyday regular life.
Speaker 12: So I just prioritize me to people where they are
Speaker 12: using language that people understand I have a master's in
Speaker 12: African American studies, but I don't lead with an academic mind.
Speaker 12: I lead with like I'm talking to family, like I'm
Speaker 12: talking to my homegirls or whatever, and just making sure
Speaker 12: like you understand what's going on because it does affect you.
Speaker 12: I think it's really difficult as a black creator, period though,
Speaker 12: because what gets clicks and what gets likes, what gets
Speaker 12: what gets tossed around the algorithm and goes violence more
Speaker 12: often than not negative content, and like you said, people
Speaker 12: aren't in competition for attention. But also I think we're
Speaker 12: facing an academic of an epidemic of everybody wanting to
Speaker 12: be right, everybody wanting to have the correct opinion, and
Speaker 12: wanting to amalgamate mass groups of people to engage in
Speaker 12: this group thing that is completely unnecessary and distracting and
Speaker 12: also a product of white supremacy.
Speaker 3: So how do I do it?
Speaker 12: I guess I know it's about the grace of God,
Speaker 12: you know what I'm saying, Like I just I use
Speaker 12: my voice because this is something that when you think
Speaker 12: about trying to master down to a science, you have
Speaker 12: to be able to just cut through with allten authenticity
Speaker 12: and purpose and usefulness for the audience. And I'm just
Speaker 12: grateful that what I've been doing for the past five
Speaker 12: years has done that for people and it's continuing to grow.
Speaker 12: You ask me a second part of that question, advice,
Speaker 12: What could you be doing?
Speaker 7: Okay, So here's the thing.
Speaker 12: If you like the content, and it's not just me,
Speaker 12: I've been able to be here this weekend with a
Speaker 12: lot of great creators. You might know Rashonda Elias, you
Speaker 12: might know Elizabeth Booker, you might know the Conscious Lea.
Speaker 12: We all have different vantage points. You all have different
Speaker 12: skill sets to be able to give you the information
Speaker 12: in a way that makes sense for you. But just
Speaker 12: like you're engaging in the comments, you need to take
Speaker 12: those conversations home to your workplace, like this shit.
Speaker 7: Is not a game.
Speaker 12: And the more that this administration is allowing itself to
Speaker 12: roll out its marketing trail of doom, it gets harder
Speaker 12: for us on the Internet to have joy, maintain joy,
Speaker 12: to be encouraged. And so you have to be able
Speaker 12: to utilize the information that you're getting from your feed
Speaker 12: and feed it back into your community. So I mean,
Speaker 12: I have more thoughts on what we can do at
Speaker 12: home because I'm sitting up here.
Speaker 3: And I can't.
Speaker 12: I intended to come here and listen and learn, and
Speaker 12: then I was on the program. But with that said,
Speaker 12: I'm sitting up here with amazing voices in politics, but
Speaker 12: I find I'm a person who's more connected to the
Speaker 12: people and just working from the ground up. So I
Speaker 12: have ideas on what we can do, but we can't
Speaker 12: expect our elected officials to do everything.
Speaker 3: And we can't.
Speaker 12: Expect our elected officials to save us when we have
Speaker 12: not been in the rooms, and we have not been
Speaker 12: sticking beside the Democratic Party, when we have been actually
Speaker 12: actively working to tear it down because we want to
Speaker 12: be right, because we feel disenchanted and we feel like
Speaker 12: the party hasn't had our back, and I get all
Speaker 12: those things, but we have a role in this work
Speaker 12: as well, and if we stand by and just let
Speaker 12: it pass us by, I'm going to find ourselves in
Speaker 12: the world to hurt. Yeah.
Speaker 8: I just say that Linney is being like extremely modest.
Speaker 8: I just want to say that part number one, I
Speaker 8: mean briefly.
Speaker 7: Touched on her education.
Speaker 8: I'm not gonna labor, but I do believe that specifically
Speaker 8: when it comes to black women, I will absolutely spend
Speaker 8: all my time pouring into the ninety two percent because
Speaker 8: we tried to save this country in the first place,
Speaker 8: all right. And so Lenae also is she's a lyricist.
Speaker 8: This woman is a poet, and she knows how to
Speaker 8: frame it in ways that really resonate with our people.
Speaker 8: And so she is a trusted voice because she's gonna
Speaker 8: say what she gonna say very unapologetically. As she said,
Speaker 8: She's gonna do it in an authentic way. But she's
Speaker 8: also young, and so you know, our party has consistently
Speaker 8: struggled to be like how we get young people, how
Speaker 8: we get them youngins right, but like literally being able
Speaker 8: to platform. And I appreciate my brother Malcolm Kinyata. We
Speaker 8: have known each other for some time, but like this
Speaker 8: was actually a really big step electing him for a
Speaker 8: lot of different reasons to this post. Because when people
Speaker 8: are saying that the Democratic Party is not doing certain things,
Speaker 8: and lord knows, I got a long list of things
Speaker 8: I ain't doing. But when you're saying things like we
Speaker 8: want young people, but it's like, do you just want
Speaker 8: young people to go and get your coffee or do
Speaker 8: you want to actually give them a seat and give
Speaker 8: them a voice, and so that is why it is
Speaker 8: beautiful because they are playing roles. And I think it's
Speaker 8: also even more beautiful that you have this compilation of
Speaker 8: folk on this stage right now, because it is going
Speaker 8: to take all of us. It is not just about
Speaker 8: the elected official. I know that we want it to
Speaker 8: be only about the electors doing the work, but there's
Speaker 8: so much that the people have to do because at
Speaker 8: least so long as we have a democracy, the power
Speaker 8: resides with the people. And that is why it is
Speaker 8: so important that we have those that can communicate and educate,
Speaker 8: but also have those that are engaged in the straight
Speaker 8: up just activism and education on the ground. It takes
Speaker 8: every single person. So I don't want any of you
Speaker 8: to ever feel like there's not a role for you
Speaker 8: to play because you're not going to run for elected office.
Speaker 8: I need you to understand that we all have a
Speaker 8: purpose and there is some level of influence that you
Speaker 8: can engage in that will move the needle to get
Speaker 8: us to a more a union.
Speaker 9: You're not gonna underline just one thing really quick, Hey
Speaker 9: everything that jazzn't said about LINEE because I'll tell you
Speaker 9: my family we'd be sharing these videos around, especially for
Speaker 9: the knuckle has who voted the other the other way.
Speaker 9: And there are folks in my family voted not the
Speaker 9: way they should have should have voted. But let me
Speaker 9: say this you for people in your network. There are
Speaker 9: folks that you are in a group chat with. There
Speaker 9: are folks who call you who trust you, and in
Speaker 9: this moment they're great, really smart people who are looking,
Speaker 9: who are sociologists and others. Disinformation. Misinformation is real, it's rampant.
Speaker 9: You were not going to be able to stop the ocean.
Speaker 9: But there are five or ten people in your phone
Speaker 9: right now who don't trust none of the people sitting
Speaker 9: on the stage.
Speaker 5: But who trust you, who believe.
Speaker 9: In you, and when you say something to them, it
Speaker 9: really matters. And I would just say, there are a
Speaker 9: lot of our uncles and our aunties and our mama
Speaker 9: and them who have stopped asserting themselves in this moment,
Speaker 9: and I would say, reassert yourself in this moment. I
Speaker 9: promise you there are folks within your network who want
Speaker 9: to hear from you, and you are the most effective,
Speaker 9: you know, messenger, with an assist maybe from some of
Speaker 9: the people we are on this stage.
Speaker 6: Thank you for that, Malcolm well on Native Lampard. We
Speaker 6: try to make the point that we're never talking at you,
Speaker 6: it's a conversation with you. So we do want to
Speaker 6: open up the forum. If people are yes, ma'am, I
Speaker 6: couldn't even finish it. We already Black women don't never
Speaker 6: really need an invite, So yes, ma'am, there's no Mike.
Speaker 7: That's okay, you can have mine. Good afternoon, thank you
Speaker 7: for being here.
Speaker 1: I just have a So what I want to say
Speaker 1: is with can you say your name is where you're from?
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, dandy shit Harris Newborn, North Carolina. I live there,
Speaker 1: I'm from New York. And McMahon, she's trash. I just
Speaker 1: want to say that I'm a millennial. I left the
Speaker 1: Democratic Party two years ago and I'm independent and I'm
Speaker 1: running independent for a House seat in North Carolina. And
Speaker 1: I feel like if there is not a good Democratic candidate,
Speaker 1: that the Democratic needs to open up the charter to
Speaker 1: at least support an independent candidate that is good for
Speaker 1: the seat, and not only young people running grassroots. We
Speaker 1: need money. We need money to go against these Republicans.
Speaker 1: So what is advice for people that are running independent
Speaker 1: and not necessarily tied to a party.
Speaker 5: We want to stay grassroots.
Speaker 8: It's gonna be me and ken YadA. I'll deal with
Speaker 8: the money. I'll let you deal with the other. Listen,
Speaker 8: it's not even necessarily a party affiliation. Black women are
Speaker 8: the most underfunded no matter what you look at, whether
Speaker 8: you're talking about building their own businesses or anything, so
Speaker 8: across the board, historically we are the most underfunded. My
Speaker 8: deal is, you can't run somebody else's so the traditional
Speaker 8: way that other people may raise money or whatever that
Speaker 8: may not necessarily be your path. When I ran for
Speaker 8: the state house, people thought I was crazy because I
Speaker 8: decided I.
Speaker 7: Was gonna have my own ball, and they was like,
Speaker 7: you're gonna do what I.
Speaker 8: Said, I'm gonna have a ball, and they said, well, okay,
Speaker 8: and so I did.
Speaker 7: I did my own ball.
Speaker 8: I had me, you know, a few local celebrities come through, right,
Speaker 8: because I knew that regular people that were not used
Speaker 8: to donating that you gotta get something in return. So
Speaker 8: we had an open bar, we had food, we had
Speaker 8: live music right and we made it to the extent
Speaker 8: that we could profit in and one night for my
Speaker 8: state House race, we raised over twenty thousand dollars doing
Speaker 8: something that no one else had ever thought. Now, when
Speaker 8: you get into politics, Malcolm Kenyatta will co sign if
Speaker 8: they tell you you gotta do your call time, you
Speaker 8: got to call the donors and things like that. But
Speaker 8: that wasn't what was going to work for me. And
Speaker 8: I knew that I could tap into a space that
Speaker 8: had not been tapped into and do something different. So
Speaker 8: I'm going to cheat you to think outside the box.
Speaker 8: And frankly, I'm going to challenge each and every one
Speaker 8: of you that are sitting here that ultimately, with politics,
Speaker 8: especially in this new age of politics, one of the
Speaker 8: issues we're having within the party is that we're still
Speaker 8: trying to function within the same rules.
Speaker 7: They didn't get rid of the whole game.
Speaker 8: It is completely different, right, So think outside the box,
Speaker 8: do not be limited, and know yourself.
Speaker 7: I'm gonna let you talk about the Democrats supporting the indipendence.
Speaker 9: Yeah, you know, I love that, and I would just say, yeah,
Speaker 9: you know, we've been playing checkers and Republicans are playing
Speaker 9: grand Theft Auto and they've stolen their third car and
Speaker 9: have shot up the neighborhood. So only say this, first
Speaker 9: of all, thank you for running. Anybody who's run for office,
Speaker 9: win or lose, knows the sacrifice that it takes to
Speaker 9: put yourself out there in that way. Obviously, I want
Speaker 9: to talk to you after this about coming back to
Speaker 9: the Democratic Party and running and running as a as
Speaker 9: a Democrat. But I think that you know, part of
Speaker 9: the conversation that we were having this whole thing with
Speaker 9: David Hogg, and you know, a lot of what people
Speaker 9: heard him saying was right, a lot of what he
Speaker 9: was actually saying and doing was wrong. But let me
Speaker 9: say this, we do need robust primaries. That's why I
Speaker 9: said at the end of my first comments that it
Speaker 9: is not my gig to try to say, well, this
Speaker 9: person's in the seat, and my job is to stop
Speaker 9: you from running against them.
Speaker 5: It's not my job.
Speaker 9: My job is to trust all of you, to trust voters,
Speaker 9: to trust that the conversations you're having with people at
Speaker 9: doors will either earn you their votes or they will
Speaker 9: vote for another candidate, or they will stay at home.
Speaker 9: And so even you stepping up as an independent, I
Speaker 9: think the positive thing that I think comes out of
Speaker 9: that is I want more people to go in and
Speaker 9: exercise their responsibility and their right to vote and engage
Speaker 9: in the process, and particularly locally. And this is like
Speaker 9: not a democratic hath thing, but me and my reat
Speaker 9: I do think we need to have more, particularly at
Speaker 9: the local level, more open primaries, because particularly for your
Speaker 9: mayor or for you know, your local council people, you know,
Speaker 9: who's picking up the trash or making sure that there's potholes.
Speaker 9: That's not particularly partisan. And any mayor will tell you that,
Speaker 9: you know, that's not a partisan thing. People just want
Speaker 9: you to effectuate high levels of government service. And so
Speaker 9: to that end, you know, I have sponsored and we
Speaker 9: have passed out of at least the House open primaries
Speaker 9: in Pennsylvania to allow for more people to engage in
Speaker 9: the process. But after we're done, I'm gonna run off
Speaker 9: this stage and try to talk to you.
Speaker 5: Okay, all right, all right, cool.
Speaker 12: Pee, Thank you so much for being here. My name
Speaker 12: is ROBERTA and I am from Florida. So we understand
Speaker 12: fam you graduate, yes, So I say that to say,
Speaker 12: what we're experiencing in Florida is no secret.
Speaker 3: Every other day we're on CNN.
Speaker 12: But we're operating with this trifecta, right, meaning we don't
Speaker 12: have the House, we don't have the Senate, and we
Speaker 12: don't have the cabinet on our side, and we're literally
Speaker 12: under attack in de Satanists, including our HBCUs as you
Speaker 12: know what fam you. What we're finding is they are
Speaker 12: appointing their people. I also practice law. They are appointing
Speaker 12: their people to all of our judicial seats, appointing their
Speaker 12: people to now to those open positions.
Speaker 5: And we're losing power.
Speaker 12: And we have a host of young people who have
Speaker 12: lost faith in politics, as they call it. And I
Speaker 12: don't have how many doors you knock them, We're hearing
Speaker 12: more and more.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 12: I don't do politics, so this is for anybody, but
Speaker 12: namely you. How do we go about restoring faith in
Speaker 12: the process, because when you see that, you're under a
Speaker 12: tech and I have lots of friends who serve on
Speaker 12: the legislatum.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, we understand the question. There's some people behind you.
Speaker 1: So we're going to stop you right there and have
Speaker 1: one answer per question.
Speaker 5: So I'll be very brief to say.
Speaker 9: You know, my grandfather, Mohamma Kenyada, was a great civil
Speaker 9: rights activist and leader, and he would say something that
Speaker 9: my dad passed on to me, you don't have to
Speaker 9: do politics, but politics does you? And I think that
Speaker 9: it's a part of why I led with talking about
Speaker 9: why I'm in this role, even if somebody who's been
Speaker 9: very critical of this party, why am I in it?
Speaker 9: Because institutions don't disappear because you're not there. And I
Speaker 9: always use the thing of karaoke. If you ever go
Speaker 9: to karaoke, the people have no business on the microphone
Speaker 9: or the first people up there to saying. The folks
Speaker 9: who know how they need to sing, They're like, well,
Speaker 9: I haven't rested my voice, I don't have my team
Speaker 9: with me today.
Speaker 5: That's politics.
Speaker 9: People who have no business in public office run every
Speaker 9: single time. And you have so many folks who need
Speaker 9: to be in the system because they are qualified, because
Speaker 9: they are called and some of these folks are sanctified. Okay,
Speaker 9: but who say politics are messy and dirty, that I'm
Speaker 9: not going to be involved in it. And in fact,
Speaker 9: we need the exact opposite response. We need to flood
Speaker 9: the zone in the way that they're flooding the zone
Speaker 9: with people who want things to change.
Speaker 12: Can I really quick you asked about restoring faith. We
Speaker 12: need to get back to bartering, we need to get
Speaker 12: back to servicing people. And I heard you say you're
Speaker 12: knocking on doors, what are you asking them? Are you
Speaker 12: asking them to vote? Are you asking them what they need?
Speaker 12: Are you meeting their knees? And are you establishing trusting community?
Speaker 12: For then you need to be able to turn around
Speaker 12: and say I've done this, here's why.
Speaker 3: This is what you can do for me.
Speaker 13: Yeah, good afternoon. My name is Zori Stevens and I'm
Speaker 13: from New Orleans.
Speaker 5: I'm nervous.
Speaker 7: Ahead, baby, you're in a safe space. You're good. It's okay,
Speaker 7: you're good, y'all, clap it.
Speaker 5: Up for all right.
Speaker 13: So I'm in school for engineering, so.
Speaker 10: Good.
Speaker 13: I'm gonna be very transparent. I'm not up to date
Speaker 13: what politics, but I learned a lot from working in
Speaker 13: this activation and coming to listen to you guys talk.
Speaker 13: So my question is what is your advice on learning
Speaker 13: what we are actually voting for? Because I know when
Speaker 13: we read the laws that are trying to be passed,
Speaker 13: they're not written for us to understand.
Speaker 7: So that is a fabulous question.
Speaker 11: And you know Power Coalition we do a lot of
Speaker 11: work to write things in plane language. So I mean
Speaker 11: we did it with the amendments, we do it with
Speaker 11: anything that's on the ballot. It's like, what does it
Speaker 11: mean if I vote yes? What does it mean if
Speaker 11: I vote no? And so we break it down in
Speaker 11: the plane language, so you know exactly what you're doing
Speaker 11: when you go into the polls, because I tell people
Speaker 11: all the time, nobody's going to go to the polls
Speaker 11: if they don't understand what they're supposed to do, And
Speaker 11: so we break it down so it's very simple, and
Speaker 11: we put we have a sample ballot on our website
Speaker 11: for every single election at Powercoalition dot org and so
Speaker 11: it's really accessible whether you want to. And we also
Speaker 11: do a whole social media media digital campaign. But their
Speaker 11: organizations like ours, all over the country stific engagement tables
Speaker 11: that are trying to make sure that we're breaking this
Speaker 11: stuff down so that people can actually engage with it.
Speaker 11: And also too, like we do events at Sneaker you know,
Speaker 11: Sneaker Politics and different different places where again I might
Speaker 11: not be the messenger, but where are there other young
Speaker 11: folks like you. We're on the campuses across the state
Speaker 11: trying to make sure that their ambassadors working with you
Speaker 11: guys to get more involved in fighting for the state
Speaker 11: we want to live in.
Speaker 7: Can you pull out your phone.
Speaker 12: Can you pull out your phone and take a video
Speaker 12: for somebody to put a bunch of and anybody else
Speaker 12: who wants to take this list to. It's a bunch
Speaker 12: of social media outlets that you can follow. You let
Speaker 12: me know when you're ready, ready, okay. At Leneviane at
Speaker 12: the consciously at list Now, I don't want you to type.
Speaker 12: I just want you to record me because I'm about
Speaker 12: to list them at Lenavane at the Consciously at Booker
Speaker 12: Squared at Dots Discourse, at Khalil Green at j william
Speaker 12: j At Feminist at Feminist Hood, at When we All
Speaker 12: Vote at Nineteenth News, at ap at Native Lampid at
Speaker 12: Native Lampid, at Angela Raie.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's like, that's ten.
Speaker 12: I think I'm sorry.
Speaker 7: I'm sorry at.
Speaker 1: Power co j and at Malcolm Period at Andrew Gillam
Speaker 1: activity Cross.
Speaker 7: And I'm gonna do this other one at Midas Touch.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you so much.
Speaker 7: We're gonna go to the next question.
Speaker 13: Say thank you so much because I go to a
Speaker 13: PWY so these type of conversations don't really go on.
Speaker 7: So thanks, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Forward, Ashley, I hope you got a new campus ambassador,
Speaker 1: right there exactly.
Speaker 5: Hello.
Speaker 14: I want to thank y'all for the work that y'all do.
Speaker 14: I'm Joel and Jelivet and from Lafayette. I also want
Speaker 14: to give a huge shout out to Ashley. She's been
Speaker 14: a great partner in the previous administration. Thank you for
Speaker 14: so much for your work in the census. The question
Speaker 14: I have is, especially for messaging, Republicans have that lucky
Speaker 14: thing where they're a very homogenous group. And then especially
Speaker 14: for Democrats, especially for not only are people but working
Speaker 14: within the party, how can we work better to have
Speaker 14: a more cohesive message when there's so many priorities at place.
Speaker 9: Let me be very quick to say, we have to
Speaker 9: stop focusing on the knuckleheads, because I don't hear people
Speaker 9: say there's like nobody fighting, and then they'll tell me
Speaker 9: how much they love Jasmin Krakkat and I like to
Speaker 9: remind them that Jasmin Krokka is a member of the
Speaker 9: Democratic Party, and so I think that you know, so
Speaker 9: often what happens is they are these random ass people
Speaker 9: who talk to a reporter and then they're quote unquote
Speaker 9: speaking for the Democratic Party. And I have no idea
Speaker 9: who some of these people are, but those are the
Speaker 9: voices that get lifted up. I would say all the
Speaker 9: people who Lennay just mentioned, retweet them, push them out
Speaker 9: into your timeline. I wish I had a quick answer
Speaker 9: for you on how to stop some of the idiotic
Speaker 9: things that people who are like registered a certain way
Speaker 9: to vote to stop them from saying the things that
Speaker 9: they're saying. But so often their voices get framed as
Speaker 9: they are the Democratic Party. Like I've heard people say
Speaker 9: over and over again, why aren't Democrats supporting like the
Speaker 9: Zoran in New York? Cher Martin and Malcolm Kenyata were
Speaker 9: the first two Democrats to congratulate him after he won,
Speaker 9: and we're gonna do everything we can to make sure
Speaker 9: he becomes the next mayor of the City of New York.
Speaker 9: And there are other like random Democrats who are like
Speaker 9: not supporting him, and they become the face.
Speaker 5: They're not the face.
Speaker 9: And I think that's why it's so important that we
Speaker 9: do have incredible messengers like Jasmine and so many others
Speaker 9: in our party.
Speaker 8: So I'm gonna approach this from a little bit of
Speaker 8: a different perspective because we have fights within the caucus
Speaker 8: all the time. I'm giving y'all a anxiety, okay, because
Speaker 8: we do have so many We are a big tent party.
Speaker 8: And so I think that because we are also within
Speaker 8: a bit of an identity crisis, if we can kind
Speaker 8: of get to our core values, then we can all
Speaker 8: agree on these are the things that we will always
Speaker 8: lift up. I will be perfectly honest with you and
Speaker 8: tell you that there are people that currently are within
Speaker 8: the Democratic Caucus and they're like, no, I can't do
Speaker 8: this trans stuff. I mean, I'm just telling you, like
Speaker 8: they have said it like we don't want to stand
Speaker 8: there on it, or they have said that they disagree
Speaker 8: with like where we are going on immigration, like I
Speaker 8: will always stand on the on the side of like
Speaker 8: human rights like period, like full stop, right like, because
Speaker 8: the fact that people are immigrating to this country doesn't
Speaker 8: necessarily mean that they are invading the country. There's a difference, right, So, Like,
Speaker 8: I think that it comes down to at least getting
Speaker 8: us to a baseline on the few things. And I
Speaker 8: think that we have to just stick to three things, because,
Speaker 8: as you said, when you think about all the things
Speaker 8: that the Republicans have done to tar us apart right now,
Speaker 8: the reality is that they didn't campaign on a bunch
Speaker 8: of stuff. In fact, most people can't tell you what
Speaker 8: policies they did campaign on. And so I think that
Speaker 8: number one, we have to come up with our core,
Speaker 8: like these are going to be the three things that
Speaker 8: we always just focus on at a base level, while
Speaker 8: also obviously amplifying these other things individually. But we got
Speaker 8: to have at least a base. And then I think
Speaker 8: that it's important for us to recognize that we are
Speaker 8: in a branding crisis and how people look at us
Speaker 8: as a brand and say it is time for us
Speaker 8: to rebrand. People think that it's about our policies. They're like, oh,
Speaker 8: we're going too far left, or oh we need to
Speaker 8: be more center. No, personally, I believe that what people
Speaker 8: are looking for as fighters, and right now they're saying listen, uh,
Speaker 8: they're not fighting for us, Like that's it, And I
Speaker 8: understand that's what Malcolm is saying, right but like, that's
Speaker 8: that is. If we can just be branded as fighters
Speaker 8: in whatever way, I think that people will then at least.
Speaker 7: Want to listen to us.
Speaker 8: But the problem is a lot of our messengers they
Speaker 8: don't believe that they're fighters in the first place.
Speaker 15: So they're not going to listen to them.
Speaker 6: Before you go to the next question, Thank you Congress.
Speaker 6: Before we go to the next question. The young lady
Speaker 6: was asking about information. This man is asking about messaging,
Speaker 6: and I just want to acknowledge we had someone join us.
Speaker 6: Roland Martin, will you please stand up. I just want
Speaker 6: to thank this man because he covers almost everything that's
Speaker 6: happening in Black America that legacy media summarily ignores.
Speaker 7: So I just want to give you your.
Speaker 6: Flowers role and thank you because it costs money and
Speaker 6: resources and you spend that and show up.
Speaker 8: Every time for us, so all the time follow Roland Martin.
Speaker 1: Yes, one question, name me where you're from.
Speaker 16: Yes, my name is Stacey. I live in Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 16: But my question is is that a lot of people
Speaker 16: are not paying attention to the military that he is,
Speaker 16: that he gave money to the ICE, the billions of
Speaker 16: dollars that he's pre aiding for his own military because
Speaker 16: they're they're coming right now for brown people. To the
Speaker 16: next is black people. That's my belief. And I think
Speaker 16: he's gaining. I think he's gaining the military. He's building
Speaker 16: up his own military financially with this new bill.
Speaker 1: Okay, so that sounds like a comment. So do we
Speaker 1: have closing comments?
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, So just to give under this new budget
Speaker 4: that the President just signed, the Republicans pushed Congressman, correct
Speaker 4: me if I'm wrong, but I believe the budget.
Speaker 3: For uh this, uh the ice? What's the other?
Speaker 4: The DHS Department of Homeland Security is triple the budget
Speaker 4: of all other federal law enforcement combined. They're building a
Speaker 4: massive structure on the right. Since Trump isn't able to
Speaker 4: completely co opt all the other agencies that pre exist him,
Speaker 4: he wants to create one in his own, like, in
Speaker 4: his own making right, and then direct them to be
Speaker 4: one loyal to him, but to then execute his orders
Speaker 4: without delay. So the coming you may resonates with me,
Speaker 4: and I think many of the rest of us that
Speaker 4: this stuff isn't happening in slow motion. It's happening quick,
Speaker 4: fast and in a hurry, right before.
Speaker 3: Our very eyes.
Speaker 4: We are eyes wide open watching all of it take place.
Speaker 3: My colleague Tiffany says this all the time.
Speaker 4: When folks reflect on what I would have done during
Speaker 4: the Civil rights movement, her response has been, whatever you
Speaker 4: are doing right now is exactly what you would have
Speaker 4: been doing then. And if that's nothing, if that's cloud gazing,
Speaker 4: if that's doom strolling, that's what you would have been doing.
Speaker 4: So a lot of folks awaken are waiting on us
Speaker 4: to come awake. And I understand the challenge in this
Speaker 4: is the reality is we really never have.
Speaker 3: Permission to go to sleep. We have to sleep in
Speaker 3: shifts when we do sleep.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but unfortunately we have to stay on the mark
Speaker 4: because the effects on us are always triple time what
Speaker 4: they are for everybody else, brown, white, and everything in between.
Speaker 4: So the moment requires us to be awake and if
Speaker 4: we do need a nap, if we do need a break,
Speaker 4: we have to tap in, tap out, but then tap
Speaker 4: back in.
Speaker 3: That's the message I think we all ought to So those.
Speaker 1: We're closing what costs to action. That's how we in
Speaker 1: every Native lampid show. So Congressoman, we will start with you.
Speaker 8: I was just gonna say, yeah, you show right about
Speaker 8: the Timu hitler. Uh did we got somebody caught it?
Speaker 7: Uh? Yeah, no, Listen, it is really bad.
Speaker 8: I'm just saying this because we don't talk about it,
Speaker 8: because we focus on medicaid, we've focused on snap benefits,
Speaker 8: but this bill was approximately a thousand pages long, So
Speaker 8: I want you to know that there's a little bit
Speaker 8: of bad in there for everybody, especially our children. There
Speaker 8: are a lot of attacks. But ultimately they did decide
Speaker 8: that they were going to add money in to this
Speaker 8: rogue military force, this force in which we could not
Speaker 8: get amendments because this is stuff that came through the
Speaker 8: Judiciary committee that I sit on.
Speaker 7: We could not get any amendments.
Speaker 8: As it relates to saying, well, they at least got
Speaker 8: to unmask themselves and identify themselves because literally here recently
Speaker 8: there was a report of somebody who almost got raped
Speaker 8: by somebody pretending to be ice because they just look
Speaker 8: like regular street thugs coming through, and so people don't
Speaker 8: know if they are criminals or if they are law enforcement,
Speaker 8: and frankly, I don't know a lot of times even
Speaker 8: though they have the authority, they still acting like a
Speaker 8: bunch of criminals.
Speaker 7: So that's a whole other issue.
Speaker 8: But my final thing to you is to say, do
Speaker 8: not feel powerless in this moment, because that's exactly what
Speaker 8: they want you to do. And if you ultimately feel
Speaker 8: that way, they will win. There are more of us
Speaker 8: that are saying and understand that this shit ain't right,
Speaker 8: and so it is time for us to decide that
Speaker 8: we are going to rise up. Because if we don't
Speaker 8: rise up, I promise you gonna be sitting there talking
Speaker 8: about should a cut A woulda. This is not the moment.
Speaker 8: Do not be afraid, I promise you. If you allow
Speaker 8: them to come for one of us. This young lady
Speaker 8: talked about going after brown folk, and y'all may say, well, yeah,
Speaker 8: you know, we was looking at y'all numbers and y'all
Speaker 8: ain't looked like the ninety two percent, so y'all voted
Speaker 8: for it, and I understand, I understand that, but you
Speaker 8: have to understand that if we allow them to come
Speaker 8: for them, they coming for us.
Speaker 7: We just saw the report of.
Speaker 8: The young black man who had never been to Jamaica
Speaker 8: a day in his life. His daddy was serving this
Speaker 8: country overseas when he was born, and then they decided, well,
Speaker 8: you know what, he was born on a base, and
Speaker 8: well he ain't German, well he ain't American.
Speaker 7: Well his daddy.
Speaker 8: Originally was from Jamaica, and they sent him to Jamaica,
Speaker 8: a place he had never been. So please believe you
Speaker 8: all need to be paying attention to all of this
Speaker 8: because it truly can will impact you. But follow everybody
Speaker 8: that Lenae said, the follow and stay engaged.
Speaker 12: But it's more than staying engaged online. It's more than
Speaker 12: holding your officials accountable, y'all. Like she said, there's more
Speaker 12: of us. We have to do something. We have to
Speaker 12: be willing to be uncomfortable. We have to be willing
Speaker 12: to sacrifice talk. We look at politicians doing a lot
Speaker 12: of things like canvassing, hosting events, trying to get you
Speaker 12: the electing for office. We can do that kind of
Speaker 12: stuff for ourselves and our own community. I was just
Speaker 12: talking to Angela, but I say, the people in mutual eight, y'all.
Speaker 3: We need to strike. We need a general strike.
Speaker 12: I've been saying Black women need to stop going to
Speaker 12: work since the election. They need to feel the weight
Speaker 12: of losing us. We need to plan out these things.
Speaker 12: Of course, we need to let people in our community
Speaker 12: know that we can in fact meet their needs and
Speaker 12: it is possible no matter how many resources that we have.
Speaker 12: And I know because my grandmama did it for her
Speaker 12: ten children and making sure everybody neighborhoods still eight.
Speaker 3: We need to be.
Speaker 12: Getting into more sustainable food sources. And I know it
Speaker 12: doesn't feel good or sexy or whatever. We want to
Speaker 12: get your stuff from the farm, but hello, we are
Speaker 12: only going to allow these things that happened to us
Speaker 12: play the game. We don't have to accept this reality
Speaker 12: as reality. If we allow the regime to continue as
Speaker 12: it is, then it will be permanent. Buck the system. Well,
Speaker 12: we got to correct me if I'm wrong with them. We
Speaker 12: got a mayor in Chicago arresting ice agents. This is
Speaker 12: the type of energy.
Speaker 5: That we need.
Speaker 3: Like they're not playing by the rules. So why should we.
Speaker 1: Thank you for That's gonna go there, Malcolm, and then
Speaker 1: we'll close as a host's So.
Speaker 6: I think I will echo what the congresswoman said. I
Speaker 6: hear a lot of that. Well that's what y'all get
Speaker 6: because that's who you all voted for. And I just
Speaker 6: want to remind us we are barely fourteen percent of
Speaker 6: the population. We cannot win this fight alone. And as
Speaker 6: we go through these frustrations, if forty nine percent of
Speaker 6: one group voted for Trump, then I want to ally
Speaker 6: with the fifty one percent who did not vote for him.
Speaker 6: And I want to remind us, as black people, we
Speaker 6: have to keep in mind our humanity and remember who
Speaker 6: the real enemy is, because they can divide us and
Speaker 6: keep us fighting amongst each other as the global majority. Really,
Speaker 6: then they'll be able to win. They are not our enemy.
Speaker 6: We know who the enemy is. It's not the it's
Speaker 6: not the global majority.
Speaker 11: Now my call to action would be to really consider
Speaker 11: running for office. You know, resources are slim all of
Speaker 11: the things, but more than fifty percent of the seats
Speaker 11: in the state legislature here in Louisiana go unchallenged, and
Speaker 11: so I spend all of my time chasing my tail
Speaker 11: going into regular session, special session, fiscal session. We're going
Speaker 11: to have an insurance session, and they're running us ragged.
Speaker 11: But they wouldn't be able to do that if they
Speaker 11: thought that they knew they couldn't get the votes. And
Speaker 11: so we have to do the work of really considering
Speaker 11: taking on leadership. And to Kenyata's point, these folks are
Speaker 11: not I mean, it's not they're not brain surgeons out
Speaker 11: here wilding policy. I mean, we had a guy on
Speaker 11: in our legislature who literally the two year olds or
Speaker 11: that these kids are unredeemable as young as two years old. Whoever,
Speaker 11: this man is who doesn't even understand that this baby's
Speaker 11: braining and developed is insane.
Speaker 7: And so I just remind people that, like, we have.
Speaker 11: Crazy people running for office, moving our states, impacting our lives.
Speaker 11: The Louisiana Congressional delegation is one of the most powerful
Speaker 11: in the country, but they're the ones helping to dismantle
Speaker 11: FEMA were most of our state receives one of the
Speaker 11: largest payouts of medicaid, dismantling medicaid, and so it just
Speaker 11: reminds us that we have to fight for our voice,
Speaker 11: but to fight for our power. But we can't do
Speaker 11: that if we're not willing to get in the game.
Speaker 11: And it feels like the.
Speaker 7: Bar is kind of low.
Speaker 9: Yeah, we even had a brain surgeon and Ben Carson
Speaker 9: didn't note the hell what was going on. So even
Speaker 9: if you are a brain surgeon, please step up and run.
Speaker 9: I want to just sort of reiterate the video we
Speaker 9: did with you know, telling folks to follow certain people
Speaker 9: support Native Land podcasts literally what they're doing, because you
Speaker 9: see media outlet after media outlet bending over backwards, giving
Speaker 9: millions of dollars to this administration because they dared interview
Speaker 9: somebody from the other party, and so what Andrew and
Speaker 9: Tiffany and Angela are doing is a big deal.
Speaker 5: And so I just want to say to you all,
Speaker 5: thank you for what you are doing. This is not easy,
Speaker 5: what they are doing.
Speaker 9: To our good brother Roland Martin, who's been up against
Speaker 9: it for a long time, thank you for what you
Speaker 9: are doing. Because there are fewer and far in between
Speaker 9: places where you can go and even have a rational
Speaker 9: conversation about what is happening in this moment, and so
Speaker 9: we need to defend the fourth of State.
Speaker 5: And that's what I would say in this moment.
Speaker 7: Thank you all so much.
Speaker 1: We want to give a special round of applause and
Speaker 1: thank you to our an incredible.
Speaker 7: Planel and for you.
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Speaker 1: Haris Swimming Jazz and Crockett Lenee the Knee. I'm gonna
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Speaker 1: next show.
Speaker 3: Welcome Home, y'all, Welcome Home, Thank you.
Speaker 2: For joining the Natives intention of with the info and
Speaker 2: all of the latest Roy gillim and cross connected to
Speaker 2: the statements that.
Speaker 5: You leave on our socials.
Speaker 2: Thank you sincerely for the patients reason for your choices cleared.
Speaker 2: So grateful it took the execute roles for serve, defend
Speaker 2: and protect the truth even in past. And we'll welcome
Speaker 2: home to all of the Natives wait.
Speaker 5: Thank you.
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