WEBVTT - Power and Peace

0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:14.720
<v Speaker 1>Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Okay f Daily with

0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:19.320
<v Speaker 1>Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, recording live from the Brooklyn Bunker.

0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:24.280
<v Speaker 1>Once again, Friends, it has been an extraordinarily devastating week

0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:30.040
<v Speaker 1>in America. We have witnessed historic storms, and I wish

0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:32.400
<v Speaker 1>to God that we would stop using the word historic

0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:36.159
<v Speaker 1>when they seem to become more consistent than ever and

0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:40.240
<v Speaker 1>more of the norm. We have witnessed a gutting of

0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:44.720
<v Speaker 1>voting rights acts, a gutting of Roe v. Wade at

0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:49.920
<v Speaker 1>the hands of white male politicians in Texas. We have

0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:54.080
<v Speaker 1>witnessed what happens when we lose sight of what is

0:00:54.120 --> 0:01:03.960
<v Speaker 1>truly important in our country, which are the courts. For

0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:07.320
<v Speaker 1>far too long, I think that we have been kidding ourselves.

0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:13.280
<v Speaker 1>That we have lulled ourselves into a place of complacency

0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:16.880
<v Speaker 1>where we believe that elections alone will save us. That

0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:19.920
<v Speaker 1>we believe that the people that we elect to represent

0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:24.679
<v Speaker 1>our voices are doing so because they share the same

0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:30.440
<v Speaker 1>values in morals and beliefs that we do. We believe that,

0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:35.040
<v Speaker 1>for too long, that those people had the best interests

0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:39.720
<v Speaker 1>of the country in mind, and that they would come

0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:44.120
<v Speaker 1>together and work as a unit, work in collaboration across

0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:49.800
<v Speaker 1>party lines in order to better the country. A couple

0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:54.080
<v Speaker 1>of weeks ago, Nancy Pelosi found herself saying that the

0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:58.120
<v Speaker 1>country needs a strong Republican party, right, they need a

0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:04.720
<v Speaker 1>strong two party system. I wonder how she feels today.

0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:12.560
<v Speaker 1>Millions of women in Texas no longer have access to

0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:21.480
<v Speaker 1>an abortion. Millions of women in Texas, namely low income

0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:25.919
<v Speaker 1>black and brown women, who cannot afford to pay doctors

0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:31.320
<v Speaker 1>off in private institutions in order to get the abortions

0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:35.800
<v Speaker 1>that they need, will now begin to perish at alarming

0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:40.520
<v Speaker 1>rates because they're no longer going to be able to

0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:43.400
<v Speaker 1>have the autonomy to decide when and where and how

0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:51.519
<v Speaker 1>they begin a family. If you are raped, if you

0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:59.760
<v Speaker 1>are a victim of incest, you will not have a

0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:06.720
<v Speaker 1>reprieve from this jury of white male politicians who have

0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:11.840
<v Speaker 1>decided that they own you, and they own your body,

0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:15.240
<v Speaker 1>and they own your future as well as your present.

0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:22.080
<v Speaker 1>If you believe that because you live in a blue state,

0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:26.640
<v Speaker 1>for the moment, that you are safe. I had a

0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:30.920
<v Speaker 1>friend tell me, thank god, we're in New York, and

0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:36.720
<v Speaker 1>I said, we're only as safe as who is sitting

0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:41.520
<v Speaker 1>in the White House is and I mean that because

0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:47.920
<v Speaker 1>the Trump presidency gave us a very clear glimpse into

0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:55.680
<v Speaker 1>what happens when you have a partisan, racist, misogynistic, egomaniac

0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:02.960
<v Speaker 1>sociopath that is at the house home of this country.

0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:09.200
<v Speaker 1>Remember that Trump was using the federal government and weaponizing

0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:14.040
<v Speaker 1>it to punish blue states as we were trying to

0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:17.440
<v Speaker 1>figure out how to deal with COVID. You remember that

0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:24.200
<v Speaker 1>Mitch McConnell called COVID a blue state issue because at

0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:30.040
<v Speaker 1>the time it was ravaging New York City, La San

0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:39.039
<v Speaker 1>Francisco and hadn't yet reached Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama in the

0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:49.800
<v Speaker 1>ways that it has reached them now. So what the

0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.440
<v Speaker 1>new law in Texas shows us, and what the five

0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:58.080
<v Speaker 1>four decision by the Supreme Court shows us, is that

0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:03.800
<v Speaker 1>no one is safe from white Evangelical Christians and their

0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:12.359
<v Speaker 1>crusade of cruelty. It doesn't matter because their rage and

0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:18.560
<v Speaker 1>their vindictiveness and their viciousness doesn't stop at blue state borders.

0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:25.919
<v Speaker 1>It is far reaching and everlasting. White Evangelical Christians have

0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:31.800
<v Speaker 1>been on a mission since the Civil Rights Act of

0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:36.720
<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixty four. Since Roe v. Wade nineteen seventy four,

0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:42.240
<v Speaker 1>they have been on a mission to return the United

0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:53.000
<v Speaker 1>States to its fundamentalist religious founding. Remember that the pilgrims

0:05:53.000 --> 0:06:01.360
<v Speaker 1>that fled the king in England came here because they

0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:11.520
<v Speaker 1>were fundamentalists, They were religious zealots, and they wanted the

0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:14.680
<v Speaker 1>freedom to be able to practice their religion how they

0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:19.200
<v Speaker 1>wanted to. And so the basis of our religious freedom

0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:26.400
<v Speaker 1>doctrines that we see in policies all across the country

0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.600
<v Speaker 1>initially began as the freedom to be able to practice

0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:35.040
<v Speaker 1>how you wanted to, and has morphed into the belief

0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:39.200
<v Speaker 1>that Christianity, and a particular type of Christianity, one that

0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:44.760
<v Speaker 1>white right wing zealots practice, is the only and the

0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:55.080
<v Speaker 1>dominant religion whose values should be the determinant for how

0:06:55.160 --> 0:07:02.440
<v Speaker 1>we exercise our rights in this country. And so because

0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:07.599
<v Speaker 1>they don't believe in abortion, we no longer will have

0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:12.240
<v Speaker 1>access to one. Because they don't want black and brown

0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:14.480
<v Speaker 1>people to vote, because they believe that they are second

0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:20.240
<v Speaker 1>class citizens, we will no longer have access to the ballot.

0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:25.320
<v Speaker 1>Coming up next, folks, is my conversation with Camillie Bell Hill,

0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:31.480
<v Speaker 1>who is the creative behind plant Blurred on Instagram, which

0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:38.320
<v Speaker 1>has a wonderful following, as well as the co founder

0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:44.360
<v Speaker 1>and the voice behind the Plant Key Key podcast and

0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:47.360
<v Speaker 1>Black People with Plants. And now you may be saying

0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:51.440
<v Speaker 1>to yourself, Danielle, this seems just so out of whack.

0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:55.920
<v Speaker 1>And I'm telling you, I feel so fucking out of

0:07:55.920 --> 0:08:01.040
<v Speaker 1>whack today. This week has truly truly knocked me on

0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:06.880
<v Speaker 1>my ass, and I need to both get out the

0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:12.640
<v Speaker 1>anger that I have, the frustration that I have, and

0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:18.560
<v Speaker 1>also the recognition that this is heading into Labor Day weekend,

0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:21.920
<v Speaker 1>which is supposed to be a time when we honor

0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:28.400
<v Speaker 1>our workers, honor ourselves. And I really want folks to

0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:30.960
<v Speaker 1>take this time to take this long weekend, if you

0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:36.120
<v Speaker 1>are privileged enough to have it off to ground, to rest,

0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:40.400
<v Speaker 1>to recharge, to refocus, to think about the ways in

0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:43.680
<v Speaker 1>which every single day you are going to fight to

0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:49.800
<v Speaker 1>rest so that we can figure out how in the

0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:58.600
<v Speaker 1>days and weeks ahead that we are going to resist together. Folks.

0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:02.400
<v Speaker 1>I am very excited I did to welcome to Woke

0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:07.520
<v Speaker 1>f Daily for the first time, hopefully not the last time.

0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:13.840
<v Speaker 1>Is a Camilli Bell Hill, who is the creative behind

0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:19.720
<v Speaker 1>at Plant Blurred, which I love, I love, I love

0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:23.960
<v Speaker 1>the name, founder of Black People with Plants and the

0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:28.839
<v Speaker 1>co host of the Plant Kiki podcast Camilli in your

0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:32.360
<v Speaker 1>Bio on Instagram. In the you Know in Your Bio

0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:38.280
<v Speaker 1>it says that you made a move from traded lawyer

0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:43.040
<v Speaker 1>hat for plants and that sounds so appealing to me,

0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:47.960
<v Speaker 1>particularly as half of the country is under water, the

0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:50.840
<v Speaker 1>other half is on fire, and our rights are being

0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:55.040
<v Speaker 1>taken away each and every moment of the day. Talk

0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:58.520
<v Speaker 1>to me about that journey that you took and why.

0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:02.480
<v Speaker 1>What was your tipping point into saying I'm hanging up

0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.560
<v Speaker 1>this hat and I'm picking up another one that is

0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:12.840
<v Speaker 1>seemingly completely from ye It's an about face, right, It's like,

0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:16.240
<v Speaker 1>you know, the first hat, the lawyer hat. Law school

0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:20.080
<v Speaker 1>was all about you know, doing the right thing, doing

0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:22.720
<v Speaker 1>what I was being told to do. This was this

0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:25.400
<v Speaker 1>was safe, This was going to guarantee, you know, a

0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:27.840
<v Speaker 1>successful life and kind of just like feeding into that

0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:34.120
<v Speaker 1>hole um myth of what successment and what it would

0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:37.920
<v Speaker 1>look like and also being raised it. It has something

0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:40.840
<v Speaker 1>to do I think also with generationally. My mom is

0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:45.800
<v Speaker 1>the child of Jim Crow, so they got the you

0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:47.880
<v Speaker 1>know where they were able to go to school and

0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:51.720
<v Speaker 1>achieve those successes and get the professional degrees they wanted.

0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.360
<v Speaker 1>Their children to do that same thing and continue on

0:10:54.480 --> 0:11:00.480
<v Speaker 1>the past. And because our opportunities had been so limited

0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:05.160
<v Speaker 1>in this country, I think that the generations that raised

0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:08.400
<v Speaker 1>people in my age group, they didn't just they didn't

0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:13.880
<v Speaker 1>really have like this imagination to see that there was

0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:16.240
<v Speaker 1>something else that, you know, we could do, that there

0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:18.280
<v Speaker 1>were other paths that we could follow that would be

0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:23.559
<v Speaker 1>creative and feel more like it was both passionate and purposeful.

0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:31.959
<v Speaker 1>Who cares whether or not it is monetarily successful, you know, capitalism.

0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:34.440
<v Speaker 1>I just you know, I did that. I went to

0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:36.800
<v Speaker 1>law school and I don't have any regrets. I have

0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:40.319
<v Speaker 1>the degree. Who knows about I doubt that I'll ever

0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:45.439
<v Speaker 1>use it again, but I got it right. And after

0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:49.680
<v Speaker 1>I had my first daughter, I kind of just fell

0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:52.520
<v Speaker 1>into being a stay at home parent. Not by plan.

0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:55.480
<v Speaker 1>It just ended up where I was, and it just

0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:59.880
<v Speaker 1>made me really like reevaluate things like It's like, I

0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:04.080
<v Speaker 1>don't want to do something and spend my very precious time,

0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.920
<v Speaker 1>which is you know, you can't get that back doing

0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:10.880
<v Speaker 1>something that I'm miserable in. You know that I that

0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:16.800
<v Speaker 1>brought me no joy, that was completely unfulfilling, and so

0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.960
<v Speaker 1>I just dabbled. I dabbled until I figured it out

0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:26.120
<v Speaker 1>and I landed in interior design. I love it. It's

0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.800
<v Speaker 1>always been something that I felt, you know, it felt

0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:33.200
<v Speaker 1>like it was a hobby, didn't feel like something that

0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:37.080
<v Speaker 1>I could do professionally, until one day I was like,

0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:39.559
<v Speaker 1>well why not? Though you know, people are always asking

0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:42.439
<v Speaker 1>me to help and come in and redesign and make

0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:46.040
<v Speaker 1>their face beautiful. Why why can't it be something professional?

0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:50.040
<v Speaker 1>So I landed in this whole plant world when I

0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:53.360
<v Speaker 1>just started thinking about things like in a bigger way,

0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:56.080
<v Speaker 1>you know, like just beyond like that little box that

0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:58.839
<v Speaker 1>we're told that we have to fit in and the

0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:03.080
<v Speaker 1>things that we have to do. So one day I

0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:05.800
<v Speaker 1>bought a fiddle leaf big for a client. And that's

0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:10.439
<v Speaker 1>just like flipped the switch. It's always the fiddle ly

0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:14.320
<v Speaker 1>fig which is not in which is not in my

0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.880
<v Speaker 1>home right now, because I it is the It is

0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:20.000
<v Speaker 1>the plant I want the most and the one that

0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:22.680
<v Speaker 1>I am most terrible, the one that you're most terrified of,

0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:24.640
<v Speaker 1>right because you get the one that I am most

0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:29.960
<v Speaker 1>m And you know, I think that what's interesting to

0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:34.880
<v Speaker 1>me as I talk to folks like yourself who are

0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:40.120
<v Speaker 1>in their second, third fourth iterations of their careers, of

0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:45.400
<v Speaker 1>their lives black people, black women in particular, is you

0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.920
<v Speaker 1>know when you talk about your family, your your mother

0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:52.720
<v Speaker 1>being a child of Jim Crow, and I think about,

0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:55.839
<v Speaker 1>you know, living at a time where I kind of

0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:59.360
<v Speaker 1>feel like we're moving towards right now where you don't

0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:02.800
<v Speaker 1>have the space and ability to reinvent yourself right right

0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:05.959
<v Speaker 1>that that you're just you would be lucky to get

0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:09.960
<v Speaker 1>to a status quo let alone, trying to let alone,

0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:13.440
<v Speaker 1>trying to reverse it, let alone, trying to bucket. And

0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:19.480
<v Speaker 1>so what you know, what pushback did you receive when

0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:24.400
<v Speaker 1>you decided to make this transition when you decided, like

0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:27.800
<v Speaker 1>you know, because for me, it's it's almost thinking of

0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:35.760
<v Speaker 1>there is so much anger, hate, nastiness in the world

0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:41.480
<v Speaker 1>that I am so drawn to beauty and slowness and

0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:49.040
<v Speaker 1>real genuine connectivity and expressions of love and of spirit.

0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:53.040
<v Speaker 1>And I wonder for you, like when you were was

0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:56.560
<v Speaker 1>it a conscious like I want to move towards beauty.

0:14:56.760 --> 0:15:00.600
<v Speaker 1>I want to move towards something that is that puts

0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:04.640
<v Speaker 1>smiles on people's faces, that is of peace, and one

0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:10.240
<v Speaker 1>that isn't of like just churning through. Well, absolutely, it

0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:13.320
<v Speaker 1>was like a quest for beauty and kind of like

0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:16.880
<v Speaker 1>creating this sanctuary in your home. That's kind of where

0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.560
<v Speaker 1>it all started. Like with the design, it was just

0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:23.000
<v Speaker 1>like creating this beautiful space that you want to be

0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:27.640
<v Speaker 1>in and that makes you feel comforted and really just

0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:32.920
<v Speaker 1>like sparking joy, right, And part of um to me,

0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:38.400
<v Speaker 1>design is literally bringing life into the room. And when

0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.840
<v Speaker 1>you have these things and they're growing from your care,

0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:45.240
<v Speaker 1>I don't know, it just makes me. It makes me

0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.920
<v Speaker 1>feel like I have a superpower, right because these are

0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.680
<v Speaker 1>tropical plants that I mean, like the fiddlely fig that

0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:55.840
<v Speaker 1>it's literally a tree that grows to you know, heights

0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.240
<v Speaker 1>of like sixty feet and it's usually and full sun

0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:03.000
<v Speaker 1>with high amidity. But here I am making this plant

0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:06.400
<v Speaker 1>grow in my dry, cold house in New York. You

0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:10.160
<v Speaker 1>know who has a grow lamp. So it just feels like,

0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:15.520
<v Speaker 1>you know, it just feels powerful and peaceful, and it

0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:19.840
<v Speaker 1>really cuts out some of all the chatter and noise

0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:21.800
<v Speaker 1>in the background because you really have to pay attention

0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:25.800
<v Speaker 1>to the plants and it helps you. I find that

0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:27.920
<v Speaker 1>it just really helps you kind of like ground yourself

0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:33.200
<v Speaker 1>and what they bring is just so much more than

0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:39.680
<v Speaker 1>just like a design element. It's it's just it sounds corny,

0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:43.960
<v Speaker 1>but they're real like life lessons to learn from these plants.

0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:48.280
<v Speaker 1>You know, everybody truly grows at their own pace. No

0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.400
<v Speaker 1>matter how much you can, you know, try to manipulate

0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:54.520
<v Speaker 1>or control, they're going to do what they do. So

0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:58.080
<v Speaker 1>it also teaches you that there's only but so much

0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:00.720
<v Speaker 1>control that you can have. Period you can do your

0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:03.760
<v Speaker 1>best and hope for the best. But there's also a

0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:07.080
<v Speaker 1>part of the lesson is like learning to also let go.

0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:12.600
<v Speaker 1>So there's just like layers to these plans. There's just

0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:19.840
<v Speaker 1>a lot of layers. That is it for Today's Woke

0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:23.240
<v Speaker 1>App Daily podcast. To hear more from today's show, including

0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:27.639
<v Speaker 1>my full interview with Camillie bell Hill of Plant Blurred.

0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:30.960
<v Speaker 1>Support me on Patreon at patreon dot com. Slash Woke

0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:34.119
<v Speaker 1>a app Power to the people and to all the people. Power,

0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:36.440
<v Speaker 1>get woke and stay woke as fuck.