WEBVTT - The Dismantling of DEI (Part 1) 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:03.000 Broadcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. I'd like to 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.160 welcome you to another episode of Civic Cipher, where our 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:08.039 mission is to foster allyship empathy and understanding. I am 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:09.120 your host, Rams' job. 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:12.600 He is Ramsy's jah. I am q Ward. You are 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:15.680 tuned into Civic Cipher well Mogain, and we appreciate you 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:19.080 tuning in. We've got some stuff in store for you so. 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:23.400 That you can know what we know, navigate the things 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:25.960 that are headed our way, and understand how to make 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:29.479 your live and the lives of those around you. Better 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.280 stick around because we are going to be talking about 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:39.000 the dismantling of DEI. For longtime listeners of the show, 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:42.200 you're aware that DEI is something that we have been 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:47.080 fans of. We've been supportive of companies doing their best 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:52.840 to adopt DEI initiatives to make their workplaces workforces more diverse, which, 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:55.920 as we've discussed, leads to more profits and more success, 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:02.480 more equity, and more inclusion. And with this new election, obviously, 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:08.400 companies are adjusting their posture, which leads us to believe 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:10.560 that a lot of what they were doing was performative 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:13.319 and that's very sad. But you need to know about it. 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:17.160 We're going to cite Walmart because they were kind of 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:20.559 one of the first big ones to shut the door 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:28.000 on including black people in the conversations of promotion and 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:32.039 you know, giving black folks an equitable and inclusive experience 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:36.880 inside of the company. But they're not the only ones. 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:39.399 There's other ones as well. And second part of the show, 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:45.320 we're going to be talking about some Republican hypocrisies that 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:49.440 we have been encountering, and we will be talking about 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:55.080 the pardoning of Hunter Biden and the ignoring of Donald 0:01:55.080 --> 0:02:00.960 Trump's distancing himself from Project twenty twenty five and hypocrisy therein. 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:04.400 But before we get there, it's time to discuss any excellence, 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:09.280 shall we? I think you shall, all right. 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:12.760 Today's ABNY Excellence is sponsored by Actively Black. There is 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.959 greatness in our DNA. Visit actively black dot com. This 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:21.960 story comes from BI in Massachusetts. Rep Ayana Presley warned 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:25.079 House Republicans to keep doctor Martin Luther King Junior's name 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.880 out of their mouths admit their efforts to dismantle DEI. 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:34.880 During Wednesday's House Oversight Committee hearing. Presley condemned Republicans for 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:39.400 backing the dismantl DEI Act, a new bill seeking to 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:44.079 weaken diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the government. Presley 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:47.360 called out the anti DEI supporters for twisting King's words 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.720 to advance their agenda, and she said in the quote, 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:53.520 I'd also like to take a personal note of privilege 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:56.119 to say, please keep doctor Martin Luther King Junior's name 0:02:56.360 --> 0:03:00.520 out of your mouths end quote, Presley said, per News. 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:05.200 The dismantl DEI Act, which is set to eliminate DII 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:09.080 offices in the federal government, in DEI requirements for federal 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:14.080 contracts and grant applicants, and provide oversight to ensure tax 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:17.720 dollars aren't being used to pay for DEI initiatives. Wow 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:21.320 Man ultimately passed in the twenty three to seventeen vote. 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.799 During the hearing, press they gave House Republicans and lesson 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:27.760 on the country history of racism. Quote do you all 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.280 know your history? Do you know American history? 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:30.800 She asked. 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:35.000 The original Constitution counted enslaved individuals as three fifths of 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:38.920 a person. During World War II, the federal government forcibly 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:42.520 relocated and incarcerated one hundred and ten thousand Japanese Americans. 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:47.320 The FHA practiced redlining in the nineteen thirties and sixties 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:50.160 to deny mortgages to black Americans, which is why we 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:53.960 have a racial wealth gap today end quote. Pressley noted 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:57.360 that King's family has called for politicians to stop wrongfully 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:02.840 referencing the civil rights leader, your perversion of his words 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.360 and his mission, when his children have asked you to 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:08.880 stop invoking his name and perverting his work, when he 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:13.120 has a proud and unapologetic black man fighting for equality 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:15.560 for Black Americans and all marginalized people. 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:21.680 She said, well, I think that that is a perfect 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:23.680 segue to what it is do we have to talk 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:28.960 about now. I thought, once upon a time, Q. That 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:35.960 we were moving in a direction as a country that 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:47.200 prioritized everyone having a fair shot at the American dream. 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:52.799 And there are people who would argue that a fair 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:58.000 shot exists, but the data would argue that the results 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:00.680 don't show that. And those people that argue that the 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:05.039 fair shot exists look at the data and say, well, 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:08.600 you're responsible for that. You need to stop listening to 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:13.440 rap music, You need to keep dads in the homes, 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:16.440 pull up your pants, cut your hair, all that, right, 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:24.320 and the truth of the matter is that even if 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:29.320 you wanted to have those conversations, there's root causes for 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.560 each and every one of those things that you know, 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:37.799 the opposition takes issue with Representative Presley mentioned, you know, redline, 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:41.720 red line creating the racial wealth gap that we see 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:49.119 in our country today, which informs schools and that leads 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:55.680 to outcomes and education. Obviously healthcare because where you live 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:59.039 and what part of town you live in, there's disproportionate 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:02.200 health effects. People live longer, healthier lives. You know, poor 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:08.719 people in poor communities don't over policing, and you're you're 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:11.440 further relegated to the margins of society. You know, there's 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:13.800 these these connections have been well established on they've shown 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:21.479 many others. The point of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives was, 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:28.800 I in my estimation, the biggest benefit of those was 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:35.640 the equity part. Because a lot of people on the opposition, uh, 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:40.640 they they think that the world is equal, and they've 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:42.960 made that case that that not the world, but this 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:45.880 country is equal. Equal justice under the law, equal protection, 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:48.360 equality for all justices, blind, all that sort of stuff. 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:54.880 It's equal, and it's about individual responsibilities. And the equitable 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:57.400 part in THEI is the part that I think was 0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:00.760 the big push, because just because something is equal doesn't 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:07.239 mean that it is equitable, right, and these diversity, equity 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:15.480 and inclusion initiatives were meant to offset the historic injustices 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:20.720 that were enacted upon black communities by the government, by institutions, 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:27.600 by the citizens of this country, so that there was 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:32.280 there would end up being more access to the American 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:36.920 dream for those communities that have historically been marginalized. And 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:42.680 this is why the dismantling of these DEI initiatives is 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:49.280 so disheartening, because you know, everyone on that side thinks 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:51.320 that's simply a matter of hard work. And something that 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:53.000 I say quite a bit, and we've said on the 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:57.040 show before, is that you know a person like me, 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:00.360 who for all intents and purposes, is a successful black man. 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:04.280 I can look at my circumstances and say, okay, I 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:07.240 was born in nineteen eighty two in Compton, California, in 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:13.120 a drug infested neighborhood, and everything around me looked like 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:16.720 the world I knew no better, And if I had 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.440 stayed there long enough, I would have grown up and 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:21.480 become a gangbanger. The same as everyone else, and I 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:23.400 would have been really good at it until I died 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:27.000 or went to prison, and that would have been my reality. 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.200 And the only reason that that's not my reality is 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:34.719 because I was lucky. So everyone on the opposition that says, well, 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:36.640 you know, you worked hard and that's why you're Oh, 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.720 everybody works hard. Maybe not everybody, but people that work, 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:43.679 they typically and at least in their minds, they work hard. 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:46.200 You know, you could ask any random American going to 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:49.280 work today, do you work hard? And most folks would say, yeah, 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:51.480 of course I work hard. Hard. Work in and of 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:56.360 itself does not guarantee success. They could say, Rams, is 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.160 your intelligent. There's a lot of intelligent people in the world, 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:01.439 a lot of intelligent people that end up dead or 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.560 in prison from the same place where I where I 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:06.960 come from. On this show, at least, the assumption is 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:11.400 that you know, talent and intelligence and those sorts of 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:18.360 things are distributed equally among all races and tribes in humanity. Okay, 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:24.000 And you know, I believe that I'm a reasonably intelligent person, 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:28.080 but no more or less generally speaking than anyone else, right, 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.920 So that in and of itself is not the deciding factor. 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:33.600 There's a lot of dumb people that are very successful 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:37.040 and a lot of smart people that are not right, 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:39.080 and so you know, and on and on and on. 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:41.600 These folks will make these arguments all day that it's 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:45.240 about the individual, not about the circumstances. And I feel 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:49.240 like I am the product of circumstances. And you know, 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:50.920 I would even meet you in the middle. It's a 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:55.160 combination of me being who I am and circumstances. I 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:58.120 meet you there in the middle, okay. But what I 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.040 won't let you do is simply say that it's just 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:04.640 ramses you are the reason that you qualify as a 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:07.760 quote unquote successful black man. I will not allow that, 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:14.680 because I know that I was lucky, right. And equity 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:20.240 finds the people who could be qualified and brings them 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:25.880 to the conversation. That's what equity does. Equity finds the 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:29.000 people who can take advantage of these opportunities where the 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.040 opportunity would not even make its way to them because 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:36.440 of circumstances, because of other limitations, because of a societal framework, 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:40.000 because of historic injustices. It's the equity that I've always 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:48.400 loved about DEI Initiatives and the companies that did more 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:51.160 than simply put a black square on Instagram. In twenty twenty, 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:54.760 the companies that said, Hey, we're finally listening black folks. 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.760 We got something for you. We see what's happening to 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:02.920 your communities. Understand the historical context of how you got there. 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:06.680 You guys aren't not just born evil, criminal, born to 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:12.720 die sickly stupid. You're not born that way. You are 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:14.719 born the same as any other people. And there are 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:18.000 circumstances that lead to the outcomes we're seeing in the data. 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:24.400 And we this company X, let me company Y, are 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:27.640 going to put together a program so that while we 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.840 carry out our business operations, we will be mindful, respectful, 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:33.800 and cognizant of the fact that there have been some 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:37.760 historic injustices perpetuated on your communities, and we are going 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:42.640 to do our best to offset those as much as 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:45.920 we can. And if that means hiring black women, then 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:50.160 we will do our best to make that a priority. 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:54.360 In addition to hiring the best talent. If we're going to, 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.520 you know, bring in marketing people to where we can 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:03.120 reach these communities without offending them, that not only helps 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:06.199 our bottom line, but it also keeps us from offending 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:09.760 people that we don't intend to offend, you know, or 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:12.360 misrepresenting ourselves in front of people that we don't intend 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:15.040 to misrepresent ourselves in front of right, and on and 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:18.280 on and everything all seemed well and good, and to 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.400 be fair, there were some people back then that were like, oh, 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.360 this is performative. This was performative. And I hate being 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:25.640 at this point having to say that all the people 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:27.920 that called out a lot of this DEI stuff is 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:31.840 being performative were right because of the story I'm about 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:34.560 to read, and then I'll let you jump in because 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:36.240 I know this is something we both wanted to talk about. 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:41.520 But this comes from the Black Information Network. Walmart is 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:45.800 reportedly rolling back its diversity, equity and inclusion policies nationwide. 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:51.640 On November twenty fifth, Conservative activists whoever broke the news 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:56.560 on Walmart's massive shift on DEI quote massive news. Walmart 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:59.760 is ending their woke policies. I can now exclusively tell 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:03.680 you what's changing and how it happened, this person wrote 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:06.880 on Twitter. This person goes on to say, last week 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.360 I told execs at Walmart that I was doing a 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:13.479 story on wokeness there. Instead, we had a productive conversation 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:19.600 to find solutions, according to The Gentleman Who the Conservative Gentleman, 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:22.960 Walmart will no longer use the term DEI or LATINX. 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:28.680 The company is reportedly discontinuing training through the Racial Equity 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:32.960 Institute and terminating its Racial Equity Center, a special five 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:37.120 year initiative established in twenty twenty. Walmart is also reevaluating 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.360 its policies to ensure the company isn't providing preferential treatment 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:44.840 or benefits to suppliers based on diversity. Wow. That means 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:51.240 those suppliers just simply get overlooked again this person, okay. 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:54.040 In twenty twenty, Walmart said it sourced more than thirteen 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:56.679 point one billion dollars in goods and services from diverse 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:59.680 suppliers in the wake of George Floyd's murder, which sparked 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:04.320 protess test against police brutality and racial injustice. So that 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:08.960 thirteen point one billion dollars that went to let's be honest, 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:14.000 perhaps mostly white women because they are the biggest, biggest 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:23.040 beneficiaries of minority centered initiatives. That all goes away now 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:25.680 and we need to know this now. I know that 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:28.800 we had a conversation you and I about this when 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:33.080 we were thinking of doing the segment, So take us 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:34.200 into your mind. 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:41.120 Microsoft's Ford, Toyota, Harley Davison are named here. I am 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:43.000 certain that that's not the entire list. 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:44.560 Oh my god, it's a long list. 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:47.880 And the very interesting thing about people saying that a 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:51.720 lot of these DEI initiatives were performative is that I'd 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.320 argue at the time and to this day, that that 0:14:54.480 --> 0:15:02.760 didn't matter. They still spent the thirteen billion dollars and 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:06.360 if that meant some women, be they white, got some 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:09.120 money that they wouldn't have otherwise gotten, then it doesn't 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:10.400 matter that it was performative. 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:12.000 The action still happened. 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:15.440 And that's been my pushback to everything that everyone says 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.440 is performative. Once upon a time, Ramses and I started 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:21.320 a nonprofit called the Change Society I Know where You're going, 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:24.920 and in conjunction with Living through Giving, based out of 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:29.360 Los Angeles, my really really good friend AJ and hashtag 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:32.880 lunch Bag, we collectively all over the world fed somewhere 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:37.160 in the range of two million people. People accused us 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.680 of being performative because we used social media to grow 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:44.480 that initiative. That does not change that two million people 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:48.160 were fed. So I don't care about it being performative, 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:51.880 just like I didn't care about people being performatively polite 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:54.000 to me and my children when we walk down the street. 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:56.520 Before they started. 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:58.960 Chanting build that wall, and before people were so emboldened 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:02.720 to be racist jerks out loud, a lot of racist 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:05.080 people because they didn't want to be shamed or fired 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.880 from their jobs, pretended to be decent people. And the 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:10.960 fact that they were pretending does not matter to me 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:14.560 and people that I care about, because that pretending meant 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:18.040 they had to treat us with respect, performative or not. 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:20.160 They had to be polite, performative or not. They had 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:24.760 to try not to get fired, performative or not. And 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:27.320 what we will face with these rollbacks and these and 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:31.800 the dismantling of DEI affirmative action and just civil politeness 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:35.240 and decency as a whole, is we're going to have 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:38.560 a more aggressive, more violent, more dangerous country to live 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:43.880 in because respecting, providing opportunity for, and looking out for 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:47.960 your fellow man is no longer a requirement. So since 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:50.920 it's not required, people will show you just how not 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:51.920 decent they are. 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:54.800 I think you have a little bit more to say 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:57.880 here because I was in Los Angeles with you, and 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:02.600 in order to get there, you had to stop somewhere 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:06.520 and you had an encounter with a person. Tell me 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:07.119 that story. 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:12.720 So en route to Los Angeles. You know, post election, 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:16.920 I have not done a lot of outsiding me and 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:20.560 outside ain't really been interacting much. You know, you know 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:23.200 how I feel about outside and outside of it. Outside 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:24.800 is family to me, you know what I mean? You 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:26.560 know I wouldn't forget about you outside. I'm gonna go 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:32.560 hang out on the radio. But I haven't been outside. 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:36.679 I haven't been outsiding. I've been discouraged, man, I've been 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.600 let down, heartbroken, disappointed, disappointed. I mean I could go 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:44.080 on and quiet and just kind of to myself, just 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:46.679 trying to recover from learning that I live in a 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:50.160 place that's still what it was one hundred years ago, 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:53.120 you know what I mean. That's that's that's worse than 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:56.919 it was back then because people know better now and 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:57.800 they chose it. 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:01.800 People elected this, And. 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:10.080 Because I hadn't been outsiding, I dismissed myself from why 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:14.240 I was so sad. The reason I was so sad 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.800 is because I realized the country I have to live 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:19.440 in and raise my children, and it's going to be 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:23.440 a less comfortable place to live. It's going to be 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:25.520 a less joyous place to live. It's going to be 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:31.879 a less equitable, less successful, more angry, more scary, more disrespectful, 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:37.760 less polite place. And it doesn't matter how many maga 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:41.119 hats I see online, it doesn't matter how many I 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:44.560 see on TV. When I encounter these people in real life, 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:47.200 it always catches me off guard. I don't know why, 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:48.720 but it doesn't. I'm talking about in a way that's 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:55.280 almost paralyzing. I'm like, Wow, these mean, evil people actually 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:58.080 exist in the real world. And I encountered this really, 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:04.560 really mean, rude maga woman at a rest stop, and 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:07.800 the interaction was short. I was pumping gas. I walked 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:10.400 into the rest stop to use the restroom, and as 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:13.600 human beings do, we were both walking and eventually going 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:17.280 to get to a spot on Earth that we both 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:20.239 reached at the same time. And I stopped, as a 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:22.760 normal person to be polite and let her walk by. 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:28.840 And the disgust that she made sure I received from 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:31.280 the look that she gave me was just so like, Oh, 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:36.200 I forgot y'all, I forgot y'all up, and y'all outside 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:40.080 and y'all ready to just bring this unwarranted hate to 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:44.920 anyone you encounter. And the funny thing is the Trump effect. 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:47.320 But she doesn't know that I didn't vote for him. 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:51.680 And this is important to my quote unquote brothers and sisters, 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:56.360 brown or black that voted for that man. She does 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:59.439 not know I didn't vote for him. She does know 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:03.520 that I'm black. Oh, and that was enough to get 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:06.520 what I got from her. That was enough to get 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:10.959 that vitro, that disrespect, that anger, that contentiousness, that was 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:14.280 It was enough just me being black. 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:15.080 I don't have on no. 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:19.280 Political paraphernalia, no bumper stickers, no yard signs, no T shirts, 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:22.879 no hats, no nothing. All that took for me was 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:25.879 to not be the person or a part of the 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:29.679 group that they're all writing for. They're not writing for you, 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:30.840 black or brown person. 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:36.840 And if you even if you don't consider yourself a 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:41.240 MAGA person, just a Republican and you had to vote 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:41.919 for Donald. 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:43.359 Trump, nonsense, don't say that. 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:46.760 But there are people who think that about themselves, so 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:50.280 they don't them that grace I have to hear, don't 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:56.000 watch because some people they mentally distance themselves from that. 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:58.400 And we have to talk to them too. So even 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:01.240 if you think that you're not that, you still voted 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:04.000 for that, and we have to live in the aftermath 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:07.120 the Trump effect. Right, So I'm gonna. 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:09.359 Tell you to say, while my voice can be heard, RAMS, 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:11.000 this is giving you that benefit of the doubt, Q 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:11.439 is not. 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:14.520 Yeah, no, and you should not give them because but 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:16.439 I just want to make sure we're reaching everybody who 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:20.320 might listen. Now, I want to add to this. The 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:25.920 first time Donald Trump got elected, I was in North Dakota, no, sorry, 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:30.040 South Dakota, and as you do in South Dakota, there's 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:31.840 really not a lot else to do. I went to 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:38.440 Mount Rushmore and I had almost verbatim the same exact 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:41.560 experience that you had, excepted was with a man. He 0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:44.879 was with everybody there. It's South Dakota, so you can 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:48.760 imagine everybody. That's Trump's country, right, And I'm out there 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:52.360 with my afro and I'm like, yeah, it's Mount Rushmore. 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:54.200 Ain't nothing else to take a picture. I was taking 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:56.960 pictures around the country. I was, you know, traveling, doing whatever, 0:21:57.680 --> 0:21:59.359 and nothing else to take a picture of in front 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:04.480 of in South Dakota except that there's nothing this known. 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:07.199 So I went and got a flick, and you have 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:08.840 to work your way up to the front and then 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:11.560 work your way back. And when it was my turn, 0:22:12.800 --> 0:22:14.399 I kind of got a little bit of a like 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:19.159 a shoulder push from a guy who was he was 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:22.239 staying with a couple of guys. But I turned and 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:25.040 I looked at him, and I saw that at Trump stuff, 0:22:25.680 --> 0:22:29.280 and I realized, oh, man, so Q is not the 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:32.240 only person. I'm not the only person. This is what 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:36.040 we have to feel, even if it's not as pronounced 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:38.359 as these stories you're hearing right now. This is what 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:42.000 we have to feel. And this is what DEI was 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:45.159 traded in for. So when black people are kind of 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:49.080 carrying the weight of this election a little heavier than 0:22:49.480 --> 0:22:53.000 you might be a customed or then you might imagine 0:22:53.040 --> 0:22:57.800 as appropriate, that's the reason why this is tough for us. 0:22:57.920 --> 0:22:59.400 It's the Trump effect.