1 00:00:01,400 --> 00:00:04,720 Speaker 1: This episode is sponsored by FX's Fleischman Is in Trouble, 2 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:09,399 Speaker 1: starring Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, Lizzie Kaplan, and Adam Brodie. 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:12,680 Speaker 1: The strama tells the story of recently divorced Toby Fleischmann, 4 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,320 Speaker 1: who dies into the world of at based dating with 5 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: the kind of success he never had in his youth. 6 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,280 Speaker 1: Then his ex wife disappears, leaving him with their two 7 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 1: children and no hint of her return effectus. Fleischman Is 8 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: in Trouble, streaming November seventeenth only on Hulu. Greetings and 9 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: welcome to Woke f with me Danielle Moodye. This past week, 10 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: we saw a major shift in American politics with the 11 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: long awaited inauguration of President Joe Biden. But we still 12 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 1: have a long road ahead of us to get to 13 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: a place of justice and equality in this country. One 14 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:01,360 Speaker 1: path we need to take in pursuit of justice is 15 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:06,280 Speaker 1: the impeachment trial of the former twice impeached President Donald Trump. 16 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:08,840 Speaker 1: On Tuesday's episode of Woke a F Daily, which you 17 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:12,320 Speaker 1: can hear right now at patreon dot com slash woke AF, 18 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 1: I had the honor and privilege of speaking with one 19 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:19,399 Speaker 1: of our nation's impeachment managers. Congresswoman Stacy Plaskett about her 20 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,720 Speaker 1: role in impeachment and why Trump needs to be convicted 21 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 1: even after leaving office. I have to tell you I've 22 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: really thrown myself into work, and the work that I'm 23 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: doing I think is so incredibly important as an impeachment manager. 24 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:42,559 Speaker 1: And Jamie Raskin's words, I saw him on Cable News 25 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:46,200 Speaker 1: yesterday when he said he lost his son in twenty 26 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: twenty and he'll be damned if he loses his country 27 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one. You know, I have had the 28 00:01:55,880 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: good fortune of also speaking with Representative Raskin and to 29 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: think about how committed, you know, you have to be 30 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: to this country, to the constitution, to this democracy, to 31 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: be able to push through the unspeakable trauma of losing 32 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: a child to now working so desperately not to lose 33 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: a country. Can you talk to us about what it 34 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,119 Speaker 1: is like to be an impeachment manager, what has come 35 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 1: up for you as a representative but also as you know, 36 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:36,919 Speaker 1: just a believer in democracy, a believer in institution. Right, yeah, Well, 37 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: you know, my legal career began in the Bronx District 38 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:45,400 Speaker 1: Attorney's office, which is kind of a trial by fireplace. 39 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:50,080 Speaker 1: You're given a week of training and then you're sent 40 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: assigned to a courtroom and giving a stack of cases. 41 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:58,679 Speaker 1: And you know, people pride themselves there on being very 42 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 1: fast paced, my core, weekend, core, complaint room, the whole bit. 43 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: And so I kind of took this the same way 44 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 1: of just throwing myself into it. But one of maybe 45 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: the things that as well comes as a bronch district 46 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 1: attorney is being very i have to say, unemotional about 47 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:26,519 Speaker 1: criminal trial and just getting to the facts and to justice. 48 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:31,080 Speaker 1: And I've really tried to be this way in working 49 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:35,160 Speaker 1: through how we are going to present this case. Is 50 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: not getting caught up in the emotion of what we 51 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: all experience, but how do we prove the elements of 52 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: the crime place on January and leading up to January sixth, Right, 53 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: because January sixth was the fulfillment of a conspiracy or 54 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: throw this government. Insurrection doesn't occur at the beginning of 55 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: an individual's time and office. It occurs at the end. 56 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 1: And this is classic to what our founding fathers anticipated 57 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: when they were drafting the Constitution and discussed impeachment while 58 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:18,839 Speaker 1: an impeachment was going on in England while they were 59 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:24,520 Speaker 1: having the conversation about putting impeachment, because impeachment is two parts. One, 60 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: it is removing that individual from the clear and present 61 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: danger that they present, but it is also preventing that 62 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: individual or individuals from ever being able again to do that. 63 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: It's qualification of the person from being able to run 64 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: for office, from receiving the trappings of what we give 65 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: those individuals who were our former presidents. That doesn't just 66 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:55,279 Speaker 1: include the tax player, social Security, retirement pay staff and 67 00:04:55,320 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 1: the others. It includes briefings. Right say, right, do we 68 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,640 Speaker 1: want this individual to continue to have access to the 69 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: leavers of power knowing what he will do to retain 70 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:17,360 Speaker 1: power for himself. Those are the reasons that we are 71 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: having in this drib. Tell me what is different between 72 00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: the one article that we are looking at right now, 73 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: which is incitement and insurrection, correct, versus what we were 74 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: looking at in twenty nineteen, which was obstruction of justice? Right? 75 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:42,840 Speaker 1: What are the what are the what are the impeachment 76 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: one point zero and now impeaching two point zero? Right? 77 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: Two point zero is always bigger better. The differences is 78 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:57,360 Speaker 1: that we've all seen the crime. M hmm. The difference 79 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:00,719 Speaker 1: is that not only were we all witnesses, but that 80 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: the jurors were actually victims of the crime. That is 81 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:09,160 Speaker 1: going to be the difference in how this is presented, 82 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:13,600 Speaker 1: And the issue is now for these senators. If they 83 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:19,800 Speaker 1: are able as victims and continuing ongoing victims, as they 84 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:28,560 Speaker 1: are threatened right by this president and by those conspirators 85 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 1: who were with them with him, are they able to 86 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: transcend that or to be protected from that, to be 87 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:46,159 Speaker 1: able to render a verdict? Our nation's future is at stake. 88 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:49,920 Speaker 1: Are we going to hold a white supremacist demagogue accountable 89 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: for his crimes against our country? And if not, what 90 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:55,640 Speaker 1: does that say about America? But to be honest, white 91 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:59,679 Speaker 1: supremacy is in our legacy and lineage, going back before 92 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:02,320 Speaker 1: the founding of our nation. I was also joined this 93 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: week by the amazing Robert Jones Junior aka son of Baldwin, 94 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 1: author of the new brilliant novel The Prophets. In addition 95 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:13,640 Speaker 1: to talking all about the long journey that led to 96 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 1: the creation of his first novel, Robert also discussed how 97 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: white supremist patriarchy is tied to the legacy of slavery 98 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:23,400 Speaker 1: and the long held suppression of black queer love. It 99 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: was an enlightening and emotional conversation which you can hear 100 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 1: all thirty minutes of right now at patreon dot com 101 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:33,040 Speaker 1: slash Woke af Here's a taste of what we talked about. 102 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:37,360 Speaker 1: Why do you think that it is still so difficult? 103 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:43,559 Speaker 1: We're talking twenty first century, so many decades removed from 104 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: Harlem Renaissance, from these different iconic moments for us to 105 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 1: talk still about black queer love for that question, for 106 00:07:56,080 --> 00:08:00,320 Speaker 1: you still to ask that question, what about? And I 107 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 1: would even say what about our love? Right right? Because 108 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:07,560 Speaker 1: there are so many answers to the what about love? 109 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 1: People will point to what they believe to be representations 110 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:14,560 Speaker 1: of love, But I say, what about our love? What 111 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 1: is it about black queer love that is still something 112 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: that is so underground, that is still so wanting and 113 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:28,640 Speaker 1: still seem so fictational? I know when I was doing 114 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: the research, everything pointed to Christian indoctrination because when listeners 115 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 1: might not know. But there are several chapters in a 116 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:41,920 Speaker 1: novel that go back to pre colonial Africa to discuss 117 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:47,000 Speaker 1: what life was like for pre colonial continental Africans in 118 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:50,720 Speaker 1: terms of gender and sexuality and such. It is not 119 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 1: until the European colonizer and the Christian missionaries show up 120 00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:59,679 Speaker 1: to many of these African tribes that we begin to 121 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:03,200 Speaker 1: look at things that we deemed a normal part of 122 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:07,839 Speaker 1: the landscape, a normal part of life, as sinful and disgusting, 123 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: and then internalize those feelings as almost to say that 124 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:16,640 Speaker 1: they rose up out of themselves. And I tie it 125 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: very closely to white supremacist capitalist patriarchy, the desire to 126 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:29,200 Speaker 1: ensure that each black person is basically a machine to 127 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:32,400 Speaker 1: make more laborers and soldiers, So it needs to be 128 00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:37,400 Speaker 1: in these heterosexual paradigms, under these rape cultures in order 129 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:40,600 Speaker 1: to produce more laborers and soldiers for the overseers and 130 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 1: the plantation owners. And that trauma has really affected the 131 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: way in which black queer people are regarded and the 132 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,480 Speaker 1: ways in which we are able to be free about 133 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,680 Speaker 1: our love and care for one another. And it is deeply, 134 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:00,520 Speaker 1: deeply sad. But I hope that with a confrontation we 135 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:05,240 Speaker 1: could get to restoration and then eventually to healing. Oh 136 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: my god, I can remember, and I still there are 137 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:14,560 Speaker 1: some sites that, you know, celebrate black queer life right 138 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:17,360 Speaker 1: some you know, there are so many on Instagram. I 139 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:20,600 Speaker 1: think Native Suns is one of them that my friend 140 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,640 Speaker 1: of Meal and he says, and when years as well 141 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:28,800 Speaker 1: created because he has always been a visionary about the 142 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:33,520 Speaker 1: power of images, right, and the power of those images 143 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: to transform our perception, our stereotypes, ourselves through those pictures. Right. 144 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,600 Speaker 1: And I think about the way in which your writing 145 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: creates this beautiful cinema in our minds of what we 146 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:57,120 Speaker 1: can see and smell and taste and connect with in 147 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 1: such a brutal period of our history, you were able 148 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:07,480 Speaker 1: to articulate something that was also beautiful. How do you 149 00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:10,199 Speaker 1: find you know? You know what I'm saying, because even 150 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:12,959 Speaker 1: in these moments, Robert, it is so hard to find 151 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 1: the beauty and the tragedy. Yes, but it was so 152 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:20,959 Speaker 1: necessary because what I realized when I was writing this 153 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,920 Speaker 1: book was the pain, the physical pain I was feeling 154 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:27,640 Speaker 1: on my skin as I was writing some of these scenes. 155 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 1: I said, the reader is going to feel this thing too. 156 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:35,280 Speaker 1: So I have to imbue as much love and compassion 157 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:40,120 Speaker 1: for this situation and for these characters, particularly the black characters, 158 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:44,720 Speaker 1: as I can, because I have to remember, I'm writing 159 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:48,000 Speaker 1: for the ancestors like this, this is a witnessing. I 160 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:51,280 Speaker 1: am giving testimony on behalf of the people who survived 161 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:53,440 Speaker 1: so that I could be here to do what was 162 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:57,840 Speaker 1: illegal for them to do, read and write, And so 163 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:01,240 Speaker 1: I had to ensure that their lives were as full 164 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:03,640 Speaker 1: as they really were, because when we whenever we think 165 00:12:03,679 --> 00:12:05,760 Speaker 1: of this time period, we only think of the labor 166 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:10,560 Speaker 1: m and the brutality that they faced, But we don't 167 00:12:10,559 --> 00:12:13,880 Speaker 1: think about how they loved and who they loved, and 168 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:17,439 Speaker 1: what made them laugh and when they went to bed, 169 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:21,280 Speaker 1: where they dream about. You know, these were people. They 170 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 1: were not slaves. They were people, and slavery was not 171 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:28,600 Speaker 1: their burden. Slavery is the burden of the white people 172 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:31,800 Speaker 1: who enslaved them. And that's the only reason why white 173 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:33,840 Speaker 1: characters show up in this book is because I wanted 174 00:12:33,880 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 1: to make sure that the sin rested with the sinner, 175 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:41,560 Speaker 1: and the sinner and in my mind, are the white 176 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:52,800 Speaker 1: people who enslaved our ancestors. White supremacy is not in 177 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:57,520 Speaker 1: the past. Patriarchy is not in the past. Homophobia is 178 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:00,840 Speaker 1: not in the past. The same forces that oppressed us 179 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:03,680 Speaker 1: from hundreds of years are still working out in the 180 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: open to this very day. It's up to us to 181 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:10,160 Speaker 1: fight back to create a better world and sustainable future 182 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: for ourselves and for those that come after us. These 183 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:15,680 Speaker 1: are the kinds of conversations I will continue to have 184 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:18,640 Speaker 1: this year on woke F daily. So please head over 185 00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:22,079 Speaker 1: to patreon dot com slash woke F and subscribe so 186 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:25,200 Speaker 1: you don't miss a single moment. Five dollars a month 187 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:27,880 Speaker 1: gets you five shows a week, as well as some 188 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 1: bonus content, so you get a lot of me every 189 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:34,960 Speaker 1: single month. For now. I hope you stay safe and 190 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:37,440 Speaker 1: well as we enter into this new era of what 191 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:41,200 Speaker 1: America can be. Power to the people and to all 192 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:45,080 Speaker 1: the people. Power, Get woke and stay woke as fuck.