WEBVTT - A Few White Men 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.440 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Woke f Daily with 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:19.400 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, recording from the Home Bunker, Folks. 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:29.480 Last week, we witnessed a bold, racist, anti democratic move 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:36.760 by the Tennessee Legislature two oust two of its duly 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:47.600 elected members, two young black men from the body because 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:56.959 they joined with protesters their very constituents who are tired 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:05.280 of being gunned down, who were tired of being used 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:12.000 as target practice in their classrooms. Justin Jones and Justin 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:20.839 Pearson lost their positions in the Tennessee House because they're 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:27.039 black men who have a voice in a platform. Gloria Johnson, 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:30.839 the white woman who also participated with the other two. 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:35.440 They were dubbed the Tennessee Three, kept her job. When 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:40.000 asked on CNN why she believes that happened, she said, well, 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:42.160 because I'm a sixty year old white woman and they're 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:45.959 two young black men, plain and simple. We don't need 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:50.640 to contort ourselves into pretzels to look for any other 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:52.480 reason than the one that is staring us in the 0:01:52.520 --> 0:02:01.160 fucking face. I will tell you that Keith Boykin recently 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:06.960 also tweeted something that I said to myself ma'am, this 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:13.600 is it. This is that thing where he said this, 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:20.440 showing a video clip from January sixth, He tweeted this 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:24.760 last week. The Republican Party today made it clear as 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:29.040 day that a peaceful black man with a megaphone is 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:33.639 more threatening to them than a thousand violent white men 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:38.600 with deadly weapons. That's it, folks, that's it. In a 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:45.600 fucking nutshell, right, that was it. From before right they 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:50.600 assassinated Martin Luther King to now right, which is that 0:02:51.720 --> 0:03:04.919 peaceful black people demanding justice, right, demanding accountability, are more 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:10.960 dangerous than the white vigilantes and militia that they are 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:19.080 readily arming with their lack of gun regulation and reform. 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:28.480 These white legislatures in Tennessee, North Carolina, Kansas, they know 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:33.920 exactly what the fuck they are doing. They are working 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:41.200 overtime to not only silence black voices, queer voices, indigenous voices, 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:52.320 but they are arming to the teeth. They're white militias. 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:56.440 So let's make no mistake, right and pretend that we 0:03:56.560 --> 0:04:00.040 don't know what the fuck is going on, because the 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:07.560 direction is underway. It never stopped. January six was the beginning, 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:13.480 not the end. Donald Trump was a symptom, not the 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:19.320 sole cause we find ourselves in this moment because we 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:24.320 refuse to own up and be accountable for America's history. 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:29.440 We think that Donald Trump is new, That motherfucker is not, 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:32.799 nor is he the sole problem. This has not pinned 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:37.400 the tail on the fucking elephant. It is an entire 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:42.840 ideology that we have been fighting against since the formation 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:50.240 of this country that a few white men want the 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:57.279 ability to dictate the humanity, voice, movement, vote, and livelihood 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:05.120 of everyone else. And they are doing so, come hell 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:10.000 or high water. So the question, the question that is 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:16.280 on everyone's mind is when are the American people going 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:21.159 to activate in community and collaboration with one another and 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:26.360 saying enough is a fucking enough. It is not enough 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:29.680 for us to think that we are safe in our 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:34.159 blue bubbles. Because let me tell you something. The Tennessee 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:39.799 legislature found a way to nullify the voices of those 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:44.280 in Memphis, the voices of those in Nashville, the voices 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:52.400 of those that are in the cities, and reappropriate power 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:57.560 back to the rural, racist areas of the state. If 0:05:57.600 --> 0:05:59.599 they can do it there, they can do it in 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:05.159 fucking New York, they can do it in California. They 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:07.080 can do it in all of these places that we 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.760 call quote unquote blue states. But that's not how they 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:14.719 are moving anymore. It is not. As our next guest, 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:18.800 our friend Jonathan Metzel, will say, it is no longer 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:27.320 moving north against south. It is moving rural against the 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:32.640 cities the urban areas. In all of these places, it 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:37.440 is rewriting the rules so that they can consolidate power 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:46.080 and exercise it however the fuck they see fit. So without, folks, 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:53.800 without the collective action of all of us, we are 0:06:54.000 --> 0:07:02.279 in for a race car speeding drive over a cliff 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:08.120 into white Christo nationalism in this country. I will talk 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:12.000 about this and more with our friend, our in house doctor, 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:18.680 doctor Jonathan Metzel. Folks, as you know, it's always great 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:20.800 when we get a chance to chat with our in 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:26.720 house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel, and particularly this week, Jonathan, 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:31.880 I will say that since the terrible shooting at the 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:36.280 elementary school in Tennessee, Tennessee has been in the news, 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:40.760 and I would argue for all the right reasons, because 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:44.880 the people of Tennessee, is particularly the young people, seem 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:49.240 to have had enough of their elected officials. And so first, 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:52.400 while I say that they've been in the news. Let's 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:57.080 be honest, the mainstream media has been absolutely failing per 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:00.800 normal with regard to the massive walkout that have happened 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.400 at the schools, with regard to the takeover of the 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:07.440 Capitol building. So, just because you're down there and Vanderbilt 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:11.400 was so close to where everything took place last week, 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:14.800 the tragedy that took place, I wanted to get your 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:19.440 thoughts on the protests and activism that have been taking place. 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:23.360 It is an incredible couple of weeks here in Tennessee. 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:27.120 I mean, it started with the horrible mass shooting in 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:32.160 a school where nine year old kids and the principal 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:34.880 and the one of the couple of people that worked 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:40.839 there got killed, and and it felt like deja vu 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:43.880 and PTSD all over again. We've had so many mass 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:49.240 shootings here, so many kids getting killed, but I don't know, 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:53.600 there's something about like a school shooting that it's not 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:56.520 just about the death with it, which is horrible, it's 0:08:56.559 --> 0:09:00.559 also kids and parents across the city start feeling really 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:05.199 unsafe and they're demanding something happened. And so there's been 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:11.880 a massive, massive movement here high school and college students 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:17.280 just descended on the capitol Um demanding that something happened. 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:21.679 I've never seen our campus of Anderbal campus demanding some 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:29.679 kind of change in this particular way, and and and 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:34.120 it's just been it's just been pretty remarkable, honestly. But 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:38.160 the pushback has been that we I'll call them the 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:40.559 other side. I wish there weren't two sides of something 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:43.600 like this. We should all be for protecting kids in schools, 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:46.840 but the other side has doubled down in a way. 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:52.120 And so when when the students came to the capitol Um, 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:56.960 there were a number of really incredible, remarkable Democratic Um 0:09:57.360 --> 0:10:00.720 congress people who state congress people who say, you know, 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:04.600 we're going to amplify your voices. That the GOP has 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:09.679 turned this into an excuse to literally kick those three 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:16.199 congress people out out And so three politicians with constituencies 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:20.280 of twenty to fifty thousand people are getting literally kicked 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:24.640 out of their elected jobs. And and you think, like, 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:27.480 is that legal? How can they do that? And it's 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:32.680 because the GOP has an incredible supermajority here because of jeremandering, 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:37.480 and they've just been really terrorizing the state over the 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:39.680 past six months since they since they've had this and 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.280 this is just the latest example of them kind of 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:45.640 flexing their power. And so it is a really volatile 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:50.720 moment here, and it's going to come to a head. 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:54.720 We're I'll just say, we're taping this interview on Wednesday 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:59.240 and the Thursday morning, so tomorrow morning for us, there's 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:03.599 going to be there's going to be a real showdown 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:06.319 here because students are descending on the Capitol and the 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:10.640 GOP is deciding whether to kick out these politicians again, 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:15.800 kick them out from their elected offices. And let's let's 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:18.520 just be clear, because I want people to understand as well. 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:23.400 They're being kicked out because they decided to stand with 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:27.320 young people who have literally been placed on the front 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:31.240 lines of school shootings and mass shootings in this country. 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:36.720 It is these Republican politicians whose negligence and cruelty and 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:44.680 coldheartedness has children from elementary school to college level have 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:48.120 to live in a state of fear. Right And so 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:53.880 these three Democratic officials said we need gun reform. They didn't, oh, 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:58.160 I don't know, traffic and underage girl across state lines. 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:01.960 They didn't, you know, use their political funds to do 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:07.800 something nefarious and criminal and illegal. They're being expelled from 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:11.800 their elected seats because they're standing with the people of 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:17.040 Tennessee who don't want to live in fear. And two 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:20.120 of the two of the politicians are black and represent 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:25.080 black districts, and so there's a strong racial component to 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:29.680 what's happening also, where communities of color now are not 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:33.400 going to have representation in Tennessee. So it's just it's 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.960 messed up on every every angle, and it seems like 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:40.000 such such a bad move. It seems like such a 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:44.040 bad move for them also, like I don't know, they're 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:47.280 just they're going to make It's just it's just inflaming 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:54.640 things even more. And so it's guns race ideology. There's 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:58.280 a profound age gap of what's happening here. This is 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:01.120 like a bunch of old people trying to suppress the 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:08.160 will of students UM. And so it's giving tim Square, 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:13.360 it's giving. It's giving China right now. I mean it's 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.520 like it's it's giving. H We're going to crush you 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:19.480 no matter what. I'll re send a tweet to you 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:22.000 that I sent yesterday, which is like people actually literally 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:26.000 fighting in the on the floor of the of the 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.640 Um session. And so it really just feels like it 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:34.120 feels like some other time, honestly, And and people should 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:37.440 pay attention, first of all, because something bad is happening here, 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:39.680 and they should pay attention. They should also pay attention 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:44.640 because this is the desantist model, right, get these supermajorities 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:49.400 and then instill a level of authoritarianism that is linked 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:52.760 to expanded gun rights. There's something scary about everybody being 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:57.839 armed and what that means, um and then again it's 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:01.720 a way to quote unquote own the lives. And I 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:05.360 mean part of the frustrating part also is for all 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:14.240 the messed upness of for all the messed upness of Tennessee, 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:18.480 which feels like it's read state forever, it actually hasn't 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:20.480 always been that way. Like you have to remember that 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:24.479 Tennessee is also the state that had al Gore. Tennessee 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:30.440 is the state that in the nineteen nineties promoted ten Care, 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:35.120 a national model championed in our state of public private 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:39.600 partnership for health insurance for all people. And so Tennessee 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:44.600 actually has a historical tradition of people working together across 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:50.240 ideological divides. And I just keep thinking this week, certainly 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:52.800 what's happening is horrible. It's given voice to the most 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:59.360 extreme and radical and unsettling aspects of our history. Here 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:03.520 are three of being a slave owning state and all 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:07.440 these other factors. But it's also like an end stage 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:11.240 of jerrymandering. I just keep thinking that what happens when 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:15.120 you mean what happened in Tennessee, is that this Nashville, 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.840 for example, used to have its own congress person. We 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:22.040 were a congressional district in Davidson County, and then jerrymandering 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:27.200 let the state basically split Nashville into three different congressional districts, 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.640 so we don't have our own congress person anymore. The 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:33.600 whole map has been divided so that communities of color 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:36.400 are split up in all these different districts, so they 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:40.280 don't have any real voting power anymore. And it led 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:43.200 to these supermajorities of the power being in all these 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:48.000 conservative rural areas and cities like Memphis and Nashville in 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:50.800 a way don't have any representation. They have nothing to 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:54.440 fight back with. And I'm sure initially like people thought, 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:56.480 oh my god, this is great. If you're a conservative. 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:58.760 We own the Libs. We've divided this app we have 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:01.520 all the power. But what you see with this kind 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:04.840 of geymandering is actually what happens is not that great. Right, 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:07.720 there are no checks and balances in the system. You 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:11.640 give power to the most radical, extreme versions of any 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:14.640 party that is in a supermajority, and in a way, 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:16.920 the people who kind of make the deals in the 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:19.560 middle are nowhere to be found. And so what happens 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:22.760 with these supermajorities is you end up having to go 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:26.920 farther and farther to the right to assuage the right 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:29.400 wing of your own party, and it leads to the 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:31.840 insanity that we're seeing now. I mean, it's not just 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:35.360 about guns, it's about every single issue. And I don't know, 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:37.520 it just it makes me think that like our system 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:42.400 really needs checks and balances, it needs it needs two 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:46.120 parties having a kind of conversation about how to fix problems, 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:50.280 you know. But I will say, and what you're laying out, 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:54.760 Jonathan is is you know what the Republicans have been 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:58.479 doing for the last thirty forty years across the country 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:02.520 and in some places like Tennessee, who have been the 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:08.120 model for jerrymandering. It has been really obscene. But I'm 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:11.119 telling you that I'm moving to a place where I 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:13.880 actually don't believe that we need a two party system. 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.000 I don't think that the Republican Party has ever offered 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:21.600 anything to the advancement of our society, whether it be 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:27.359 around public education, whether it be around healthcare, environmental concerns. 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:31.480 I'm just confused about like what we think the balances 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:37.840 that we need, because even when they weren't outwardly racist, homophobic, 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:42.280 rabid and disgusting, we still had the drug war, we 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:48.840 still had, you know, the terrorism in the communities of color. 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:52.240 And so I'm just curious when we talk, and I'm 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.000 not just you, but in general, when we talk about 0:17:55.560 --> 0:18:01.000 needing balance, what exactly does that mean. Well, I'm not 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:05.199 arguing for balance right now, certainly right now, but I 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:08.240 mean there's a fantasy right now in our political system 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:10.159 that to get anything done you have to kind of 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:13.479 own the other side. And in the South, it's all 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:17.160 I mean, something just happened in North Carolina or North Carolina. 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:22.320 The GOP now has a vetop majority. Tennessee, the supermajority 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:29.480 is GOP and there just is no governance happening whatsoever. 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:34.639 It's all about breeding these cycles of resentment, of domination 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:37.800 and resentment. It's kind of what it feels like. And 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:43.000 so it's just it's destroyed. It's destroyed whatever deal making capacity. 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:45.719 I'm not in any way trying to idealize the Republicans. 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:49.399 I'm certainly not. I'm certainly not, but I'm saying that 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:51.960 just something feels so out of black down here that 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:55.280 isn't just about what they're doing. I mean what they're doing. 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:57.160 I could, I could give you a list of what's 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:01.240 happening here in Tennessee, and your viewers would be just shocked. 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:04.760 I mean, they they cut out the Nashville City Council, 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:07.480 They've taken control of all the income for the city. 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:12.560 They've passed these gun laws that are just unbelievable and horrific, 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:16.359 and so it's really not it's not democracy, it's not 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:20.639 governance what's happening here. But I don't know, it just 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:23.239 doesn't seem very good for the Republicans either, Like, are 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:26.280 they really enjoying this domination right now when everybody hates 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:28.960 them and every kid in town is they don't. But yeah, 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:31.200 they don't. I mean they don't care like I think 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:33.840 that in Tennessee in particular, some of the stills that 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:38.840 I saw coming out of that capital were absolutely brilliant. 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:44.040 I mean, these young people, young white kids in particular, 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:47.959 that I saw screaming in the faces of these politicians. 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:51.159 It's basically saying, you don't care about us, right like, 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:54.120 you don't like we're being murdered and you don't care, 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:56.760 right like like Brusher said, Oh, we're not going to 0:19:56.840 --> 0:19:58.760 fix this, brush it, We're not going to fix this, 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:01.320 right so criminal, They're going to crime, and we just 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:04.080 kind of need to throw up our hands. And I 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:08.320 just think, not only in Tennessee, but something Jonathan, to 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:13.880 me feels like we are reaching a real serious inflection 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:17.040 point in this country. And I want you to speak 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:24.680 to that is Tennessee foreshadowing to where we are seeing 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:31.080 this country hit before presidential you know, these really serious 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:39.560 inflection points, you know. I mean this is the question 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:43.320 is like what tools do you have when you what 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:47.880 tools do you have? Like you know, we say, ooh, 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:50.359 the will of the people is being suppressed and things 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:53.439 like that. But I mean, just looking at what's happened 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:58.119 here in Tennessee, votes don't matter as much as they 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:01.040 did ten years ago. Like they've developed this method of 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:03.760 like splitting up the votes and fracturing the votes. And 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:08.080 so even if every Democrat in Tennessee voted, their Democratic 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:10.840 votes are now split. They're just fractured in a way. 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:18.359 And so it does it does feel like, um just 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:23.360 the methods are just absolutely terrifying. The methods are absolutely terrifying, 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:27.360 and so um yeah, I just I just think people 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:29.840 really need to I said this on Twitter story. People 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:32.640 need to pay attention to what's happening in Tennessee because 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:34.920 it's not like, oh, there's a back and forth and 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:36.800 you win an election and we win an election, and 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:41.600 they're figuring out a way to like codify minority rule 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:44.760 in a way that is kind of bullproof in a way. 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:49.320 It's pretty terrifying to watch. This is Jim Crow, this 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:53.680 is apartheide, this is authoritarianism, this is you know, I mean, 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:55.600 we could the list goes on and on. This is 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:59.280 not the first time that this has been done in America. Yeah, right, Like, 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:01.960 we've had a very short period if you really think 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:04.399 about it, from the Civil rights the passage of the 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:09.240 Civil Rights Act until now that we've had some form 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:13.760 of equity in terms of representation in this country. It's 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:17.000 only been a little over fifty years. The majority of 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:19.639 time in this country has been exactly what it is 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:23.760 the Republican Party is rolling us back to. And so 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:25.760 I don't want people to say, like, oh my god, 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:28.159 this could never happen here. We've had a blip on 0:22:28.200 --> 0:22:33.040 a screen in terms of like the longevity of this 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:38.960 American project, right that saw black people as human beings, 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:43.359 so women as first class citizens. Like it's been a 0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:47.679 little over fifty years. But let me just say one thing, Danielle, 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:52.119 which is I think the difference now is that the 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:55.360 methods that are being deployed aren't just going to work 0:22:55.400 --> 0:22:56.960 in a place like Tennessee. I mean, the reason I 0:22:57.040 --> 0:23:00.879 bring up Tennessee's centrist history and tradition, even though it 0:23:00.960 --> 0:23:05.160 seems like another planet right now, is that what they 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:10.040 did was they found a way to like mobilize rural 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:13.400 areas against urban areas, Like this kind of resentment narrative 0:23:13.520 --> 0:23:16.800 is really powerful, and they found a way to structurally 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:22.120 empower rural areas against urban They call it elites, which 0:23:22.160 --> 0:23:26.880 is hilarious if you've ever live in a city. But 0:23:27.760 --> 0:23:30.280 in a way, the method that what they're doing here 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:33.800 honestly would work in New York. It would work in 0:23:33.920 --> 0:23:36.840 any place where there are rural areas where people resent 0:23:36.960 --> 0:23:40.240 urban areas and want to take power back. And so 0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:42.760 people in Nashville, I've watched it happen, Like, while this 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:44.879 was happening, they were saying, oh, no, we're the economic 0:23:44.960 --> 0:23:47.360 engine of the state. There's no way you can control us. 0:23:48.200 --> 0:23:51.880 And then it happened anyway. And so what they found 0:23:51.920 --> 0:23:54.439 a way was to kind of move the seat of 0:23:54.520 --> 0:23:58.280 power from urban to rural areas in a way that 0:23:58.440 --> 0:24:03.000 made cities class and made cities unable to pay for 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:06.360 social programs or transit or healthcare for people who live 0:24:06.400 --> 0:24:10.120 in urban areas. And so I just feel like, I mean, 0:24:10.240 --> 0:24:12.840 my worry isn't just what's happening in Tennessee. It's that 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:15.000 if people if this happened in New York, where right 0:24:15.040 --> 0:24:18.359 now Democrats are divided, for example, and there are a 0:24:18.359 --> 0:24:20.440 lot of people in upstate New York who would love 0:24:20.480 --> 0:24:23.960 to take control back of the city from the New 0:24:24.040 --> 0:24:26.880 Yorkers who are now going after Trump and stuff like that. 0:24:26.920 --> 0:24:29.320 So I just think people need to pay attention to 0:24:29.359 --> 0:24:32.399 the method of what's happening here, because it's not going 0:24:32.480 --> 0:24:35.040 to be like a red state, blue state thing anymore. 0:24:35.160 --> 0:24:36.679 This is like a model that could work in a 0:24:36.680 --> 0:24:40.119 lot of different places. I mean, work, I think is 0:24:41.960 --> 0:24:47.720 an interesting word, because what they are setting up is 0:24:48.520 --> 0:24:54.640 implosion right like this, This kind of politics, this kind 0:24:54.680 --> 0:24:58.439 of Jerryman during this kind of bleeding out of the 0:24:58.480 --> 0:25:01.120 cities that are in fact your echo economic engines, this 0:25:01.200 --> 0:25:05.360 type of disruption and education like and health and all 0:25:05.359 --> 0:25:09.560 of these things, it's going to lead to implosion like that. 0:25:09.600 --> 0:25:12.800 I mean, there is there is no so you know, 0:25:12.920 --> 0:25:15.760 it is it is. It is the model of dying, 0:25:15.800 --> 0:25:19.800 of whiteness. It is. It is the model of you know, um, 0:25:20.359 --> 0:25:23.240 if I can't have what I want, I'll I'll blow 0:25:23.320 --> 0:25:26.280 up and gut the entire country. There's no longevity to 0:25:26.359 --> 0:25:30.680 this um and it's and it's a dangerous model at that. 0:25:30.800 --> 0:25:33.880 And I think that all eyes for the next you know, 0:25:35.040 --> 0:25:37.879 week or so will continue to be should be I 0:25:37.880 --> 0:25:41.520 should say should be on tennessee what happens later on 0:25:41.560 --> 0:25:45.520 this week and moving forward and just you know, with 0:25:45.520 --> 0:25:48.600 with just a bit of good news, folks, you know 0:25:49.359 --> 0:25:53.800 what happened in Wisconsin in the same week. UM has 0:25:53.840 --> 0:25:58.639 been fascinating to see the Supreme Court in Tennessee go 0:25:58.720 --> 0:26:02.600 back to being liberal after you know, after the election 0:26:02.880 --> 0:26:07.760 that could now reshape the policy, the policies that were 0:26:07.760 --> 0:26:11.840 put in place to ban abortion, um, so forth and 0:26:11.880 --> 0:26:16.600 so on. And so the mayor's race in Chicago where 0:26:16.600 --> 0:26:20.280 you had an aunt, you know, a pro cop um 0:26:20.400 --> 0:26:24.639 you know official beat by am by a former principle, Like, 0:26:24.760 --> 0:26:29.640 I think that we have to hold the these moments 0:26:30.200 --> 0:26:33.679 because there is an infliction point that is coming, but 0:26:33.720 --> 0:26:37.639 there is a resistance that is rising. Uh, and I 0:26:37.680 --> 0:26:41.440 want people to understand that as well. No, and again 0:26:41.480 --> 0:26:44.480 it's it's really whatever s happening in Tennessee is a 0:26:44.520 --> 0:26:48.719 reflection of the country, which is attempt to control and 0:26:48.760 --> 0:26:54.880 then massive pushback from people and students and a generational struggle, 0:26:55.640 --> 0:26:58.720 and then the old world kind of trying to hold 0:26:58.760 --> 0:27:03.280 onto it's how or quote unquote through ways that are 0:27:03.359 --> 0:27:08.920 incredibly destructive. And it really is true here that Nashville 0:27:08.920 --> 0:27:11.640 and Memphis are like the economic engines at the state. 0:27:11.720 --> 0:27:15.359 And so if you destroy the cities, what do you 0:27:15.359 --> 0:27:17.320 you know, I don't I don't know what the financial 0:27:17.359 --> 0:27:20.719 model is except for farming, I don't. I don't know 0:27:21.200 --> 0:27:25.560 plantation model. I don't know what they're imagining. And so 0:27:25.680 --> 0:27:30.480 it is um, it is that and and certainly this 0:27:30.600 --> 0:27:33.720 is just I mean, where does this all lead? Right? 0:27:33.840 --> 0:27:36.840 Where does this all lead? Is kind of scary, But 0:27:36.920 --> 0:27:40.040 I certainly think that remember you, like we used to 0:27:40.080 --> 0:27:41.840 know people like five years ago who'd be like, I 0:27:41.880 --> 0:27:45.320 don't pay attention to politics and stuff like you can't 0:27:45.359 --> 0:27:49.480 have that physician anymore because this is happening everywhere. I mean, 0:27:49.520 --> 0:27:53.679 this morning, a Democrat got convinced to switch to the 0:27:53.760 --> 0:27:57.920 GOP in North Carolina, given in North Carolina a veto 0:27:57.960 --> 0:28:03.240 proof majority in both houses there Wisconsin flip back to 0:28:03.280 --> 0:28:06.840 the other side. And so I don't know, everybody, just man, 0:28:06.880 --> 0:28:09.399 don't quit your day job like this is this is 0:28:10.000 --> 0:28:13.560 this is really happening all over and it really is 0:28:13.560 --> 0:28:17.480 such an ideological fight that is not It's not just 0:28:17.520 --> 0:28:20.440 the kind of North South battle that we have grown 0:28:20.520 --> 0:28:23.680 up with thinking. It's it's really like the ideology of 0:28:24.280 --> 0:28:29.280 generation and race and equality that's happening all across the country. Well, 0:28:29.359 --> 0:28:32.880 let history be our guide. None of this leads anywhere. Good, 0:28:34.480 --> 0:28:38.560 So people pay attention. As always, Jonathan, thank you so 0:28:38.640 --> 0:28:41.200 much for making the time to join Woke F We 0:28:41.320 --> 0:28:51.240 always appreciate you. Hang in there, everybody that is it 0:28:51.360 --> 0:28:54.960 for me today? Dear friends on Woke f as always, 0:28:55.320 --> 0:28:58.080 power to the people and to all the people. Power, 0:28:58.320 --> 0:29:00.680 get woke and stay woke as fuck.