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Speaker 2: Welcome home, y'all.
Speaker 1: This is episode twenty three of Native Lampid, where we
Speaker 1: give you our breakdown of all things politics and culture.
Speaker 2: And today we are, of course your.
Speaker 1: Hosts, Angela Rae, Tiffany Cross, and Andrew Gillim.
Speaker 2: What's going on, everybody?
Speaker 1: What's up?
Speaker 4: What's up? Why does it feel like forever since I've
Speaker 4: seen y'all?
Speaker 1: Geez, because we had the nerve to record a podcast
Speaker 1: earlier last week.
Speaker 2: That's what happened.
Speaker 4: I means you too, maybecause out of the country, I
Speaker 4: don't know.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's true. It's true thing, it's a vibe.
Speaker 1: We'll get into that, yes, absolutely well, speaking of hearing more,
Speaker 1: we want to make sure that you all continue to
Speaker 1: rate and review our show. We always like to hear
Speaker 1: from our listeners. We like to hear what we're getting right,
Speaker 1: when we're getting wrong, which you don't like, what you
Speaker 1: do like, we might not change it, but we still
Speaker 1: want to know. So make sure that you are tuning in,
Speaker 1: that you're asking a friend or five or eleven to
Speaker 1: also tune in and.
Speaker 2: To rate and review the show.
Speaker 1: So on today's episode, we want to first start off
Speaker 1: with Hunter Biden. As you all know, Hunter Biden was
Speaker 1: convicted of three felony charges related to unlawful possession of
Speaker 1: a firearm. But today on this episode, we're going to
Speaker 1: focus on something a little bit different. It is the
Speaker 1: criminalization of addiction and how we as a country respond
Speaker 1: to addiction. Should it be criminalized at all? Should this
Speaker 1: case have ever seen the light of day in a courtroom.
Speaker 1: We got things to say about that have something to
Speaker 1: do with him being a Biden. It might have something
Speaker 1: to do with him being high profile, and it might
Speaker 1: also have something to do with somebody nam Leo Wise
Speaker 1: more on that. Tiffany, I know that you are just
Speaker 1: returning from an amazing trip.
Speaker 5: I am, and I'm so excited to talk about it.
Speaker 5: And I have to say I am learning from you
Speaker 5: guys as we talk about these things because I've been
Speaker 5: completely out of American politics for a week and it
Speaker 5: has been good to my spirits.
Speaker 2: We understand that for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we understand that even when we don't get to
Speaker 1: go overseas, sometimes we need a break.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And on that, folks are asking, you know, if the
Speaker 1: system is there for us, if it's here to protect us,
Speaker 1: if it's ever served us. We're going to talk about that,
Speaker 1: and if we should be trying to get dual citizenship
Speaker 1: with Tiff to get the hell out of Dodge.
Speaker 2: So we'll talk about that as well.
Speaker 1: And then Andrew, I know that you are following what's
Speaker 1: happening with the Supreme Court closely, so you got some
Speaker 1: things you want to talk about with that.
Speaker 4: Of course, as you know, it is the month of June,
Speaker 4: which could only mean two things. One, if you're Alito
Speaker 4: or his wife, that you're only about a month away
Speaker 4: from being back at your insurrection. Is sympathizing Beach House,
Speaker 4: and if you're any one of the rest of the
Speaker 4: American people, you probably want to know what's coming at
Speaker 4: jolt speed from the Supreme Court on a range of decisions.
Speaker 4: Will dive into that too.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, Well here we go. We're gonna get
Speaker 1: into that. And the last thing that we're going to
Speaker 1: cover today is I didn't know. I don't know if
Speaker 1: y'all knew, But politics aren't just everywhere.
Speaker 2: Did you know racism was too? It's a thing not
Speaker 2: everywhere all over the world.
Speaker 6: Did this happen while I was out of the country? When?
Speaker 6: When did this.
Speaker 2: Happened while you were away?
Speaker 7: That?
Speaker 4: While you were away?
Speaker 2: Hev I can you imagine?
Speaker 1: So we're going to talk about this case involving Vnicius
Speaker 1: Junior's racial abusers in Spain and how they were penalized.
Speaker 1: If we think that was significant. I don't know how,
Speaker 1: but somehow today it feels like a very heavy legal episode.
Speaker 1: So we go to make sure that it's clear. Then
Speaker 1: we understand it. TIF our news bureau chief is making
Speaker 1: me also correct the record on some things, but we'll
Speaker 1: get into that a little later. And of course you
Speaker 1: all know it's not Native Lampi without some cause to action,
Speaker 1: So we'll do.
Speaker 2: All of that.
Speaker 1: We are so excited to be with y'all. Y'all today,
Speaker 1: Welcome home.
Speaker 4: Welcome home.
Speaker 8: While there has been much testimony about the defendant's abuse
Speaker 8: of drugs and alcohol, ultimately this case was not just
Speaker 8: about addiction, a disease that haunts families across the United States,
Speaker 8: including Hunter Biden's family. This case was about the illegal
Speaker 8: choices defendant made while in the throes of addiction.
Speaker 2: His choice to lie.
Speaker 8: On a government form when he bought a gun, and
Speaker 8: the choice to then possess that gun. No one in
Speaker 8: this country is above the law. Everyone must be accountable
Speaker 8: for their actions even this to however, Hunter Biden should
Speaker 8: be no more accountable than any other citizen convicted of
Speaker 8: this same conduct.
Speaker 1: So Hunter Biden is slated to be sentenced. The judgeays
Speaker 1: within one hundred and twenty days of the verdict. I
Speaker 1: think what's fascinating here is what he didn't say. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna tell y'all what he didn't say. They spent your
Speaker 1: taxpayer dollars because Hunter Biden put on a form that
Speaker 1: he did not abuse drugs in order to obtain a
Speaker 1: weapon that he never used.
Speaker 2: That he never shot. That is what this case is about.
Speaker 4: That he had in his position for eleven days.
Speaker 1: He never used the gun, however he had.
Speaker 5: I think you must have that wrong, Angelo, because Republicans,
Speaker 5: are you trying to say that they care about gun control.
Speaker 2: I'm ima, no, they care about controlling a narrative.
Speaker 1: But but what we do need to tell talk about
Speaker 1: here is the fact that your taxpayer dollars paid for
Speaker 1: this case over what he marks on a form. And
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, if we get to a place where
Speaker 1: this it's it's interesting because I never thought, tiff and
Speaker 1: Andrew that I would be arguing that there's partisanship in
Speaker 1: the application of the law. I normally have sat in
Speaker 1: the in the seat of just like we know, it's
Speaker 1: not equally.
Speaker 2: Applied to us.
Speaker 1: But it is fascinating how much attention has been paid
Speaker 1: to this Hunter Biden case when just remember Alvin Bragg
Speaker 1: just closed his case against Donald.
Speaker 2: Trump just days before this.
Speaker 1: And I mean, if there couldn't be more of a
Speaker 1: start contrast anyway, full.
Speaker 4: Range, they're not, They're not in the same category. I mean,
Speaker 4: even to co locate what happened and and and Bragg's
Speaker 4: prosecution of Trump versus what would occurred here? They're they're
Speaker 4: not in Every day of the week, the Southern District
Speaker 4: of New York's prosecutors are engaged in some form of
Speaker 4: record records cases where misinformation, disinformation, false information has been put,
Speaker 4: which is the lane in which Donald Trump is in.
Speaker 4: Never before and the statutory history of the federal system,
Speaker 4: has a case been bought single handedly on the issue
Speaker 4: of lying on an application for a weapon.
Speaker 9: Right.
Speaker 4: Never, right, It just didn't exist before. Now they have
Speaker 4: existed as co locating that crime with other crimes that
Speaker 4: then ramp up to a more significant offense, but not
Speaker 4: stand alone by itself. I think all of us can
Speaker 4: be honest and concluding that never, ever, ever, would this
Speaker 4: case have been brought had Hunter Biden been Hunter Bow Junior,
Speaker 4: Slovakian or Gillum Maybell. Hell, I've already endured that. But
Speaker 4: but depending upon the man's last name, really did really did,
Speaker 4: I think measure the kind of unmitigated quote unquote justice
Speaker 4: that was brought to his doorstep. And I have to
Speaker 4: tell you, I share with you all over tech yesterday
Speaker 4: how triggering this was for me, because you know, watching
Speaker 4: not only the addiction side, of the Ledger, but also,
Speaker 4: you know, just being a person of sort of political
Speaker 4: note where you feel like the whole thing just happens
Speaker 4: to be crashing down on you, not because of an
Speaker 4: action you've taken, as it relates to where the law
Speaker 4: is or isn't, but because of actions you've probably taken
Speaker 4: or how you stood outside of anything to do with
Speaker 4: the laws that are being used to prosecute you. In
Speaker 4: my case, I felt like it was, you know, had
Speaker 4: much more to do with my own political ambitions and
Speaker 4: aspirational heights than anything certainly not to do with the
Speaker 4: facts of the matter. And I've seen it played out
Speaker 4: so many times in my own state, and I think
Speaker 4: just around the country with black lawmakers. In Hunter's case,
Speaker 4: though he's not even a lawmaker, he's never held public office.
Speaker 4: He happens to be the son of the President of
Speaker 4: the United States previously the vice president of the United States.
Speaker 4: And I got to say, had Joe Biden chosen not
Speaker 4: to run for reelection, I'm not sure that this would
Speaker 4: have ever seen the light of day. Aside from the
Speaker 4: fact that he shouldn't have seen the light of day anyway,
Speaker 4: It just.
Speaker 1: It would have because this department of Justice under this
Speaker 1: Attorney General did not stop Trump era related political prosecutions.
Speaker 2: He just didn't.
Speaker 1: This didn't begin under this administration. This began under the
Speaker 1: last one. We have to start acknowledging what happened. TIF
Speaker 1: You've been trying to.
Speaker 6: Okay, I'm listening and catching up.
Speaker 5: But I take your point, Angela about the DLJ and
Speaker 5: Attorney General Merrick Garland's failures.
Speaker 6: I think we all agree there.
Speaker 5: Andrew. I think you raise a good point. This is
Speaker 5: all politics and weaponizing the justice system, the same thing
Speaker 5: the GOP has been falsely claiming. I think this is
Speaker 5: a more clear example of that.
Speaker 6: But I think the.
Speaker 5: Bigger issue here I should say bigger issue, but an
Speaker 5: equally big issue is pointing out the hypocrisy with the Republicans.
Speaker 6: And I'll start with gun control.
Speaker 5: There have been one hundred and twenty four mass shootings
Speaker 5: in the first four months of this year alone. Andrew
Speaker 5: Florida leads in that number. And that's according to the
Speaker 5: Gun Violence Archives, and they describe a mass shooting as
Speaker 5: a shooting where someone where four or more people have
Speaker 5: been shot. So the fact that Republicans are quick to
Speaker 5: come out and shoot away any policy that impacts gun control,
Speaker 5: but they are so hell bent and laser focused on
Speaker 5: Hunter Biden operating a gun while he may have been
Speaker 5: using substances. The other hipocracy is In twenty sixteen, Donald Trump,
Speaker 5: when he was elected president, declared the opioid crisis an
Speaker 5: emergency and was talking and you saw droves of white
Speaker 5: people saying how their families had been impacted by drug addictions,
Speaker 5: specifically the opioid crisis. All that empathy went away when
Speaker 5: it came to Hunter Biden. I saw Donald Trump talking
Speaker 5: the family, saying, We're going to fight for you, We're
Speaker 5: going to protect you. We understand the opioid crisis. This
Speaker 5: isn't a partisan issue. This is something that happens to
Speaker 5: impact a lot of people. We didn't see such empathy
Speaker 5: under Republican administrations during the crack epidemic, under the Reagan administration.
Speaker 5: Under the Bush administration, he in fact pursued a harsh,
Speaker 5: punishing criminal justice system when it came to black people
Speaker 5: using drugs. There are now more than three hundred thousand
Speaker 5: people in prison because of drug addictions crimes they committed
Speaker 5: while under the influence. That's according to Pew Trust. In
Speaker 5: nineteen eighty it was less than twenty five thousand, and
Speaker 5: so I think if this is the game the Republicans
Speaker 5: want to play, then we ought to use this at
Speaker 5: a chance to highlight that the First Step Act needs
Speaker 5: a second, and a third and a fourth instead of
Speaker 5: centering you know, Hunter Biden. I'm not gonna lie though.
Speaker 5: I was reading some of the things about Hunter Biden,
Speaker 5: even when Biden ran during the campaign, and he was
Speaker 5: a wild dude. You know, I don't think he deserves
Speaker 5: to be prosecuted for this. He had an addiction, But
Speaker 5: the the more salacious yellow journalism part of this, I
Speaker 5: have to say I was reading some of the things
Speaker 5: that he participated in was just shock, but also empathy.
Speaker 5: All of us on your screens have had family members.
Speaker 5: I grew up in a home with addiction, so I
Speaker 5: have mostly empathy for the Biden family and what they're
Speaker 5: going through.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you saying that to if you know we
Speaker 1: are posters. Now, we started our polling company last week.
Speaker 1: What's the name of our podcast, Native Land post.
Speaker 2: I like it.
Speaker 6: N l P.
Speaker 2: Maybe just n l P.
Speaker 8: N l P.
Speaker 2: That's cute. Okay, so we're going to do a little poll.
Speaker 1: Tiffany already asked our first question or has answered it
Speaker 1: for us, which is we do all have family members
Speaker 1: who have been addicted to some substance at some point.
Speaker 1: My next question is, has your family member who was
Speaker 1: addicted to anything ever lied to you about set addiction?
Speaker 1: There's yes. Has the family member ever done something that
Speaker 1: brought shame or distribute to the family because of set addiction?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 2: Yes, for me too, Tiff is nodding yes. So I
Speaker 2: think that.
Speaker 1: What it feels really out of touch is and why
Speaker 1: I think black folks and people who come from marginalized
Speaker 1: communities needs to need to sit in prosecutorial seats is
Speaker 1: because they write these statement of facts, these indictments, so
Speaker 1: that you almost it sounds so salacious. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's clear that they don't have any connection to
Speaker 1: what they are talking about. So, for example, Hunter Biden
Speaker 1: being convicted for lying on an application, the question on
Speaker 1: the application was do you use any illegal substances or
Speaker 1: have you ever been addicted? In that moment, Hunter Biden
Speaker 1: argues and maintains that he was not using. So an
Speaker 1: addict is generally in denial about their addiction. And also
Speaker 1: if he was not using at the time and was
Speaker 1: not addicted in his from that state of mind at
Speaker 1: the time.
Speaker 2: How can you That's subjective.
Speaker 1: It's a highly subjective standard, a highly subjective answer. But
Speaker 1: I want to get beyond this to this part of
Speaker 1: this piece. I want to know because we talked about
Speaker 1: pardons last week, that was a part of our post.
Speaker 1: So continuing on here, how will you see Joe Biden
Speaker 1: if he chooses not to pardon his son for this?
Speaker 4: Well, he's already said he isn't, so he.
Speaker 1: Said that, but he says he says things sometimes and
Speaker 1: then changes his mind.
Speaker 2: Every human being does.
Speaker 1: If he chooses not to pardon Hunter Biden, what is this?
Speaker 1: What does this do to his standing, to how people
Speaker 1: see him? What do you all think?
Speaker 5: I think he's being a purist there. I would not
Speaker 5: be mad if he pardoned his son. I think the
Speaker 5: challenge with the Democratic Party at times is look at
Speaker 5: how upstanding we can be, and you know we don't
Speaker 5: act like the Republican Party, And who are you winning
Speaker 5: with that? If I were the president and my son
Speaker 5: were in this situation, of course I would pardon him.
Speaker 5: I would not sacrifice my son for a political stunt
Speaker 5: by the Republican Party. Just in the false hope to
Speaker 5: gain Nikki Haley voters. You know, it's like, if you
Speaker 5: know this was a you think Donald Trump is not,
Speaker 5: would not get in office and abuse that office. He
Speaker 5: put Jared Kushner in charge of the Middle East. He
Speaker 5: made Jared Kushner the secretary of all the things, and
Speaker 5: he didn't care how that looked.
Speaker 6: So I wouldn't be mad if Joe Biden.
Speaker 4: Has paid off for him, right, I mean, the exact
Speaker 4: region of the world that he put him in charge
Speaker 4: of he walked right back into when they left the
Speaker 4: White House and walked away with the several tens hundreds
Speaker 4: of millions of dollars deal that they're not profiting from today.
Speaker 4: I would just say, on the Biden piece, I'm not
Speaker 4: convinced that it's a stunt for him. I think that
Speaker 4: he is. I think he's a traditionalist. I think he
Speaker 4: thinks of himself and probably very realistically, thinks of himself
Speaker 4: in the mold of an upstanding and write individual. And
Speaker 4: if just if the justice process has had its way,
Speaker 4: which in this case, there were twelve jurors sat they deliberated,
Speaker 4: even though one of them came out yesterday and said
Speaker 4: I don't even believe that this should have ever become
Speaker 4: a case in the first place. The first vote that
Speaker 4: the jurors took when they went back to to UH
Speaker 4: begin the the deliberations process six set he was guilty
Speaker 4: and six set he wasn't. And when they returned the
Speaker 4: next day to continue deliberations, that number began to collapse
Speaker 4: as they then applied the evidence of the case UH
Speaker 4: to UH the instructions given to the jury by the judge.
Speaker 4: So I think this was a really complicated thing for
Speaker 4: a lot of people. I will say Angela and Tiffany,
Speaker 4: this this statute in and of itself, to me seems
Speaker 4: a little bit dubious because, first of all, if any
Speaker 4: any any person who is an active who is an
Speaker 4: active addict addiction but may not have yet gotten the help,
Speaker 4: began to seek the help, has not entered treatment, they're
Speaker 4: not one readily readily in awareness that they are an addict.
Speaker 4: And two, the truth is, the saying amongst addiction is
Speaker 4: is once an addict, always an addict. So if you've
Speaker 4: been clean for thirty years, yes, but yet you have
Speaker 4: in your life experienced addiction. The truth of the matter
Speaker 4: is is you're you're an addict until you die. And
Speaker 4: so at what point could somebody have answered yes to
Speaker 4: that as a as a person who has won at
Speaker 4: one point admitted being an addiction, an active addiction, could
Speaker 4: they have been right on this side of the question.
Speaker 4: And that's why I think the statute in it of
Speaker 4: it self deserves, you know, us pulling back the layers
Speaker 4: and seeing whether or not this really ought to be,
Speaker 4: you know, a law by which people are you know
Speaker 4: that that is prosecutable. But in Joe, Joe Biden's case,
Speaker 4: I don't think he's acting. I think he believes these things,
Speaker 4: and I think he is experiencing probably a very very
Speaker 4: deep level of hurt and pain, having lost one son
Speaker 4: already in bo and then now his other son, who
Speaker 4: who he has experienced various levels of loss through addiction.
Speaker 4: The fact that he flew to see him before he
Speaker 4: had for the G seven summit, you know, just to
Speaker 4: hug him on the tarmac and say I love you,
Speaker 4: I'm with you. It's probably the most honest effort he
Speaker 4: is making to make sure that his son doesn't fall
Speaker 4: back into an active addiction as a result of what's
Speaker 4: happening here. So my heart goes out to him. My
Speaker 4: heart goes out to the whole family, And really, this
Speaker 4: whole process sucks, and I think the Attorney General sucks.
Speaker 4: And I think his his willingness to appoint all these
Speaker 4: special prosecutors who were Trump area era appointees as if
Speaker 4: they're going to have some obeyance to the law is ludicrous.
Speaker 4: I just think I just think we suffer from dangers.
Speaker 4: Ask He's like at the tip of the I just.
Speaker 6: Want to be clear.
Speaker 5: So are you saying that Joe Biden might not pardon
Speaker 5: his son because he thinks that's the best course of
Speaker 5: action for his son?
Speaker 6: And do you think he should.
Speaker 4: I think he thinks because of their relationship. I think
Speaker 4: because he said he would surrender judgment onto the jury
Speaker 4: to the process, it's going to have to work its
Speaker 4: way ou out through the legal process, which means an
Speaker 4: appeal and appeal at the appellate level to see what
Speaker 4: happens there and so on. I don't think he ought to.
Speaker 4: I think a president who can come behind him should
Speaker 4: pardon him. This should never have been prosecuted in the
Speaker 4: first place. I just think the conflict of interest for
Speaker 4: him is too great. It is for himself for him
Speaker 4: to enter into this process and say I'm going to
Speaker 4: pardon my son after being found guilty by a jury
Speaker 4: of twelve.
Speaker 1: Members of what do you think I didn't I was
Speaker 1: gonna say I didn't answer this, but I want to
Speaker 1: be quick because this is gone. I didn't mean for
Speaker 1: us to go this long on this, But I will
Speaker 1: say I think that Joe Biden should absolutely use pardon
Speaker 1: power because this should never should have been prosecuted to
Speaker 1: begin with. I don't care if it was his neighbor,
Speaker 1: his enemy, Like this is so dumb, Like I think
Speaker 1: that this administration should make a conscientious effort to look
Speaker 1: at all of the things the DJ is going after
Speaker 1: where they are wasting taxpayer dollars and pardon all of
Speaker 1: those people.
Speaker 2: Like this is.
Speaker 1: Clear political and hopefully it will dissuade They should, but
Speaker 1: they should also dissuay it. Hopefully it will dissuade folks
Speaker 1: from continuing to pursue these cases. Because this it really
Speaker 1: needs to be a congressional hearing. There needs to be
Speaker 1: oversight on why this continues to happen.
Speaker 2: It is ridiculous.
Speaker 1: So speaking of it being ridiculous, TIF, I know you're
Speaker 1: not Colgne, but can you please take us away, yes,
Speaker 1: or do we need.
Speaker 6: To say we have to take a break.
Speaker 5: So we're going to take I'm going to take you
Speaker 5: away to a commercial break, but don't go anywhere because
Speaker 5: on the other side, we want to hear from you.
Speaker 6: And we have a viewer.
Speaker 5: Question that ask about my trip to Africa. Not really,
Speaker 5: but it's gonna be my excuse to talk about it.
Speaker 10: So we'll see you on the other side.
Speaker 9: Hey, what's going on?
Speaker 8: Uh?
Speaker 9: Andrew? I if Angela fans, the question that I have
Speaker 9: for you all, is this.
Speaker 10: The true means?
Speaker 9: Do y'all have like continual sequence to where like y'all
Speaker 9: gonna go, Like if y'all decided to leave the United States?
Speaker 9: Do y'all have places that y'all go, places that you
Speaker 9: would recommend for black people to, I don't know, become
Speaker 9: extacts because the way the country going.
Speaker 11: Yeah, man, m h, that's.
Speaker 7: Love.
Speaker 5: But I love the pause for emphasis and I love
Speaker 5: like our community engagement where he's like yeah, because when
Speaker 5: you say that, you know what that means. So I
Speaker 5: actually think this is a really interesting question and timely question. Yes,
Speaker 5: I think that we should be open to exploring living
Speaker 5: abroad and becoming expats. In December twenty twenty two, Angela
Speaker 5: and I with some of our other friends traveled to Acra,
Speaker 5: Ghana and got to see all parts of a Cra
Speaker 5: from Treasure Island to the city. And I met so
Speaker 5: many expats who lived there who decided to leave. Remember
Speaker 5: we had that luncheon. We went to that luncheon Antiwa
Speaker 5: at the church.
Speaker 2: Yes, it was hosted by Rosa Whittaker, who is a leg.
Speaker 5: The legend Rosa Whittaker. At that luncheon, there were so
Speaker 5: many people who were American and said they came to
Speaker 5: Ghana and loved it. So I recently, as in like
Speaker 5: hours ago, just got back from Morocco and Col Davoir.
Speaker 5: I was in Abijan, and I had so many thoughts
Speaker 5: and honestly every day I thought of you guys, because
Speaker 5: I just wanted you all to experience this with me
Speaker 5: and us to be able to talk about it every
Speaker 5: day one the entire point of the trip. It was
Speaker 5: put together by this gentleman Pierre, and it was made
Speaker 5: to show economic opportunity on the continent. And again there
Speaker 5: were a lot of people who had come and lived
Speaker 5: to build there. But the thing that Angela I think
Speaker 5: You'll remember this feeling being in a country that is ours,
Speaker 5: and everywhere you go people look like you. And so
Speaker 5: if someone is rude to you, which is rare, if
Speaker 5: someone is unkind to you, which is rare, you don't
Speaker 5: immediately have that feeling.
Speaker 6: Of oh, okay, I know what this is. I know what
Speaker 6: it's about.
Speaker 5: That level of comfort and security is its indescribable. Also,
Speaker 5: I was intentional about putting myself on a non American
Speaker 5: news diet and talking to the people there. They knew
Speaker 5: all about American policy, They knew secretaries of state from
Speaker 5: twenty years ago. They were just intellectual people, well informed people,
Speaker 5: arguably because what happens here politically impacts their country as well.
Speaker 5: But they all also were well versed on what happened
Speaker 5: in the UK. They were well versed on what happened
Speaker 5: in numerous countries in Africa. They could speak intellectually on
Speaker 5: the political system of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in
Speaker 5: Morocco and Algeria. They knew Middle East politics. It was
Speaker 5: just an intellectually stimulating conversation. But what I took away
Speaker 5: and the question that I wanted to ask my co
Speaker 5: hosts and we don't have to answer this now, because
Speaker 5: this maybe more philosophical, is who are we if not
Speaker 5: defined by white people? And I got to meet so
Speaker 5: many folks there who had a better sense of who
Speaker 5: they were because so many this I'm stealing from Andrew
Speaker 5: Andrew said. We were at my house one night with
Speaker 5: Latasha and some other people. And Andrew said, we make
Speaker 5: so many decisions every day based on how white people
Speaker 5: will perceive us, and so it can limit our imagination.
Speaker 5: And I was sitting there thinking, maybe he does, but
Speaker 5: I don't. But the more I thought about it, almost
Speaker 5: every decision we make is that we think from how
Speaker 5: we dress, from how we wear our hair, to how
Speaker 5: we speak, to what we say in public to what
Speaker 5: we say privately. So I'm curious from you guys when
Speaker 5: you think about that, who are we if we are
Speaker 5: free to be? If everything we talk about isn't rooted,
Speaker 5: and how the system oppresses us and how living here
Speaker 5: impacts our lives. Who would we get to be if
Speaker 5: we were not interrupted. I don't know if y'all thought
Speaker 5: about that. This might be a mini pod for another day,
Speaker 5: but I really thought about.
Speaker 2: It, right, Okay, so maybe we'll.
Speaker 6: Save it for a mini pod.
Speaker 5: I did African ancestry and my ancestry traces back to
Speaker 5: the Akan people, and so when we were in Ghana,
Speaker 5: it was just lovely seeing all the symbols of the
Speaker 5: Econ people but his present day Ghana. The Acon people
Speaker 5: were also in Klodesovar, so they arranged for me to
Speaker 5: go and connect with the a Con people today. I
Speaker 5: was so it was so amazing. And I know this
Speaker 5: isn't president, but Angela, I would if you don't mind,
Speaker 5: would love for you to share your experience. When we
Speaker 5: were in the dungeons, they call them castles, but they
Speaker 5: were really dungeons and I'll mean a castle.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I yeah.
Speaker 1: It is a very emotional experience in the castle dungeons,
Speaker 1: the slave castle dungeons, which is where our ancestors went
Speaker 1: before they made Uh yes, so they is where our
Speaker 1: ancestors went before they go through the final door and
Speaker 1: onto the slave ships and are shackled for many days.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, next to somebody they don't know, perhaps next
Speaker 1: to someone who speaks a language they they don't you know,
Speaker 1: women who may be pregnant or it's that time of
Speaker 1: the month, or someone who gets sick like you're laying
Speaker 1: in that for days at a time. The only bath
Speaker 1: you receive is salt water right being thrown on you.
Speaker 1: And I think even before you make that pilgrimage, that
Speaker 1: force pilgrimage across the Atlantic Ocean, they were experiencing the
Speaker 1: very same thing, shackled to people they didn't know in
Speaker 1: the slave castle dungeons, where it's dark, it's muddy, there
Speaker 1: are layers of human excrement now that are It's almost
Speaker 1: like a clay on the floors of the slave Castle Dungeons. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's deeply spiritual. You can feel the weightiness
Speaker 1: of the ones that I visited and now I've visited to,
Speaker 1: But it is it's excruciating to realize that there were
Speaker 1: people who stayed alive because one day they would hope
Speaker 1: that we would be here and that we would make
Speaker 1: something different of ourselves.
Speaker 2: So Titiff's question, who would we be?
Speaker 1: We would still be the resilient, strong, innovative, talented, amazing
Speaker 1: beings that we are that we weren't once we're we
Speaker 1: don't know anything else but to be extraordinary human beings.
Speaker 1: And I think our contribution to society would always be
Speaker 1: in service. We always talk about the African proverb that
Speaker 1: it takes a village to raise a child that is
Speaker 1: in our DNA.
Speaker 2: That is what we know.
Speaker 1: And so even if it was to make strong leaders,
Speaker 1: that would be our contribution, that we would be strong
Speaker 1: leaders because there were folks who ported in us. So
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful to for your share and that you
Speaker 1: were welcomed home on a podcast where we are always
Speaker 1: welcoming folks home for you to have that very spiritual,
Speaker 1: important experience in that pilgrimage where so many of our folks,
Speaker 1: our ancestors and our present day friends and loved ones,
Speaker 1: and even folks we don't know, never get to make
Speaker 1: that trip.
Speaker 2: So congratulations on doing well.
Speaker 5: Just really quickly, what I remember when we were silent
Speaker 5: in that dungeon that they called a castle, they invited
Speaker 5: us to just sit in silence and touch the wall
Speaker 5: and feel the spirit of the ancestors, and we were weeping.
Speaker 5: I mean, it's just overwhelming. And we got out. I
Speaker 5: asked Angela, what was your prayer? What did you say?
Speaker 5: And I remember you saying to me, well, the first
Speaker 5: thing I said was thank you, thank you for going
Speaker 5: through this, thank you for your sacrifice, thank you for
Speaker 5: your survival and I remembered those words when I was
Speaker 5: in Cold d'avoir and so anyway, I missed you guys.
Speaker 5: I thought about you every day, everything that we talked about.
Speaker 5: I wish you all could have been at the table.
Speaker 5: But yeah, and I remember those words that you said,
Speaker 5: and I thought, Wow, to lead in that moment with
Speaker 5: gratitude is also very spiritual in who we are.
Speaker 4: It's beautiful. I love it.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Okay, we'll be back after this break.
Speaker 4: So, y'all, I mentioned the end of the Supreme Court
Speaker 4: term is one thing that the month of June represents
Speaker 4: in early July, and that's because a flurry of decisions,
Speaker 4: major decisions are expected to be issued in opinions from
Speaker 4: the Court, and there's a lot we can say about
Speaker 4: the Court. I know we didn't choose to dive into
Speaker 4: the comments that were picked up on secret record by Aldo,
Speaker 4: but I wanted to just take a moment to highlight
Speaker 4: what some of those how do you say, opinions that
Speaker 4: we are still expecting are going to cover. So one
Speaker 4: decision that we expect an opinion to come pretty quickly
Speaker 4: either here in June or early July, will be on
Speaker 4: the question of presidential immunity for Donald Trump. And I
Speaker 4: know we talked about this quite a bit, but it
Speaker 4: particularly has impact on two of the remaining cases involving
Speaker 4: Donald Trump, and that is the document's case that is
Speaker 4: being brought down in Florida and also in Washington, d C.
Speaker 4: The obstruction case. And the obstruction case not only impacts
Speaker 4: the president's Donald Trump's implication as it relates to what
Speaker 4: happened on January sixth, but also hundreds of defendants who
Speaker 4: have already been prosecuted are those who have been awaiting prosecution.
Speaker 4: Whether certain federal statutes can be applied abortion pill access.
Speaker 4: This court has taken on the case of whether or
Speaker 4: not abortion pills are legal, whether they can continue to
Speaker 4: be legislated at the state level, in fact, whether or
Speaker 4: not there is a federal case to be bought against
Speaker 4: the availability of the profile active. And then I think,
Speaker 4: in addition to various gun cases that we might see,
Speaker 4: the next most major case may be around the question
Speaker 4: of social media. The ban against social certain social media
Speaker 4: sites in the First Amendment. Florida, my home state in Texas,
Speaker 4: currently have laws in place that prohibit large social media
Speaker 4: companies from removing posts or accounts based on a specific
Speaker 4: political view. The justices will decide whether or not these
Speaker 4: laws violate the First Amendment rights of the social media companies.
Speaker 4: The Court is also going to hear cases around bumpstocks.
Speaker 4: That's the equipment used to increase the.
Speaker 2: They heard arguments issue their opinions.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, I didn't. I didn't mean to say arguments,
Speaker 4: rather the opinion we're awaiting on the bump stocks. And
Speaker 4: then there's some other minor might we consider minu but
Speaker 4: none of the cases are minor. In fact, I would
Speaker 4: open that the justices decided to take on cases that
Speaker 4: were really not necessary to take on just so that
Speaker 4: they can serve a more activist role in shaping what
Speaker 4: US public policy, both at the state and the federal
Speaker 4: level should be. And I guess my question to you
Speaker 4: all is based off of the bend of this court,
Speaker 4: what we've been able to see while they've been on
Speaker 4: the bench, and comments that they have made off the bench.
Speaker 4: Do you think we're in line for any surprises? I mean,
Speaker 4: if our default position is is that conservatives are going
Speaker 4: to be conservatives, and liberal justices will be more liberal
Speaker 4: or or at least upholders of the law, are there
Speaker 4: any expected surprises on any one of these cases that
Speaker 4: you all might have, anything you might see as a
Speaker 4: deviation from what a conservative court might might ultimately resolve.
Speaker 2: I sadly do not think that.
Speaker 1: I think the surprise will be just how far conservative
Speaker 1: justices are willing to undermine the law for years, even
Speaker 1: when we were in law school and before in con
Speaker 1: law classes in undergrad you learned about a term called
Speaker 1: a strict constructionist, and those are the folks who you know,
Speaker 1: will uphold the letter of the law, what the constitution?
Speaker 2: What did the framers intend?
Speaker 1: And you learn that there are justices like Clarence Thomas
Speaker 1: who argued that he was a strict constructionist, and John
Speaker 1: Roberts and others who say that they're strict constructionists and
Speaker 1: they don't want to veer from what the intention of
Speaker 1: the founders were. Even if the founders didn't mean to
Speaker 1: include you, Clarence, they never, you know, they never steer
Speaker 1: clear from that. However, it turns out that Supreme Court
Speaker 1: opinions and rulings can be bought. Clarence Thomas is a
Speaker 1: Hochi and has been selling it and dropping it like
Speaker 1: it's hot on every turn turns out he's yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: he getting fluid out TIF. It turns out that he's
Speaker 1: not strict about anything but making them dallas dalla, and
Speaker 1: I think that that is what is really sad, or
Speaker 1: that he is for sale and we're no longer there's
Speaker 1: no longer any auction blocks available, but Clearance has managed
Speaker 1: to find them. That's a word that is so awful,
Speaker 1: but it is what I really feel today, uncensored, just
Speaker 1: completely raw and frustrated by what I anticipate will be
Speaker 1: some devastating blows by this Supreme Court, and they have
Speaker 1: just continued to be this way. I think I would
Speaker 1: use this moment to Andrew a point of personal privilege
Speaker 1: to say, if y'all don't get y'all asses out to vote,
Speaker 1: like the Supreme Court is a clear reason why y'all
Speaker 1: asses need to vote. Y'all are mad at this administration
Speaker 1: because they've done some things you don't agree with, I understand,
Speaker 1: But what I don't want is the Supreme Court that's
Speaker 1: going to continue to issue ruling after ruling after ruling
Speaker 1: that will undermine everything our folks have fought for and
Speaker 1: that we continue to fight for. So please get y'all
Speaker 1: asses out to vote.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've done that.
Speaker 5: I think people also have to remember that there will
Speaker 5: be justices Elvi vote for retirement. Alito has already intimated
Speaker 5: that he would not please.
Speaker 6: We will hope, we hope.
Speaker 5: But I think they hold on because, as you know,
Speaker 5: Supreme Court appointments are for a lifetime. Most justices of
Speaker 5: appointments are for a lifetime. There are some jurisdictions where
Speaker 5: you can get elected. We've talked about that. I think
Speaker 5: we did a mini pod on that. I think Andrew
Speaker 5: to your question about what we see surprises, you know,
Speaker 5: I don't know. I think when it comes to some
Speaker 5: of these partisan issues, I think we won't.
Speaker 6: Justice.
Speaker 5: Chief Justice Roberts has surprised us a few times on
Speaker 5: a few of his dissenting opinions from the more conservative
Speaker 5: leaning justices. But there are other cases that are not
Speaker 5: so split down the line. One is homelessness. That they
Speaker 5: will be issuing an opinion on whether homeless people can
Speaker 5: sleep outside when shelter is not available. This is just humanity.
Speaker 5: And again, I think so much of our media centers
Speaker 5: Trump and what's Trump related, and what's salacious and what's hot,
Speaker 5: and but it's when you think about some of these issues.
Speaker 5: Homelessness that is a pretty big deal. This case originated
Speaker 5: in San Francisco, but when you think about homelessness in
Speaker 5: Los Angeles, for Mayor Karen bass is trying her best
Speaker 5: to deal with that, homelessness in Washington, D C. And
Speaker 5: Philadelphia and New York and all these municipalities that are
Speaker 5: dealing with this, that's a pretty big deal. So we
Speaker 5: should be watching that. The other is the Sackler family.
Speaker 5: This we talked about opioid usage. They will decide if
Speaker 5: they can basically offer the Sackler family a shield from
Speaker 5: that big settlement. Yes, and listen, the Sackler family. I
Speaker 5: cannot think of a bigger drug dealer aside from the
Speaker 5: US government.
Speaker 4: They what is that movie? Can we think of the
Speaker 4: name of this?
Speaker 5: There are several There are several documentaries, There are several
Speaker 5: scripted series, but the Sackler If it were up to me,
Speaker 5: the Sacklers would have to be given a small amount
Speaker 5: of heroin every day for the rest of their life.
Speaker 5: Watch them get addicted, watch them go through withdrawal. Uh,
Speaker 5: and then let's see how well just say no works
Speaker 5: out for you. So those are the two cases that
Speaker 5: I'm really curious about also the air pollution case where
Speaker 5: very Republican leaning constituents and companies that control, like steel companies,
Speaker 5: they want to sideline EPA regulations, regulations from the Enviire
Speaker 5: Protectional Environmental Protection Agency. They want to basically say like, yeah,
Speaker 5: just hold off and let us continue polluting. Now, you
Speaker 5: know who disproportionately lives in areas that are heavily polluted.
Speaker 5: They look like us. It's a lot of Latino people,
Speaker 5: but also a lot of impoverished white people live in
Speaker 5: these areas who will be impacted. And we don't want
Speaker 5: anybody impacted by those things.
Speaker 6: So I hope you will pay.
Speaker 4: You think so, maybe out of luck ause they yeah,
Speaker 4: only because they pay for so many damn Clarence. These
Speaker 4: corporations have you know, treated this man to.
Speaker 6: Can we please cut that Clarence Thomas clip?
Speaker 5: Because I want to share that eighteen times when Angela
Speaker 5: said there's no auction block Clarence Thomas, I want to
Speaker 5: share that on all my social mediaciucci.
Speaker 1: Yes, we can share it, and and in the meantime
Speaker 1: we can also move right along.
Speaker 2: You guys know, I was so scared about this.
Speaker 1: I'm more worried about the presidential immunity case than anything else.
Speaker 1: I just think that that has taking us straight to
Speaker 1: Kim joungkun, and I'm stealing that. So the last here
Speaker 1: we are so before the country is no more, We're
Speaker 1: going to take.
Speaker 2: One more brother.
Speaker 3: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, welcome.
Speaker 1: Some of you all have been following a case that
Speaker 1: was new to my radar. I like basketball a lot,
Speaker 1: I don't follow soccer as much. But there's a case
Speaker 1: involving Vnicius Junior and some fans, some fans who were
Speaker 1: shouting racist slurs at him in twenty twenty three. They
Speaker 1: were recently sentenced to eight months in prison and a
Speaker 1: two year ban from all professional soccer stadiums in Spain,
Speaker 1: and I just was fascinated about the fact that people
Speaker 1: often don't realize that racism goes far beyond the borders
Speaker 1: of the United States of America and it is very,
Speaker 1: very prevalent in soccer. Vnicius had a response on Twitter
Speaker 1: where he said, sorry, I didn't pull up Oh I
Speaker 1: can't read that.
Speaker 2: We got to translate that. Hold on read it, Andrews.
Speaker 4: It says many asked me to ignore it. Many others
Speaker 4: said that my fight was in vain and that I
Speaker 4: should just quote play football. But as I've always said,
Speaker 4: I'm not a victim of racism. I am a tormentor
Speaker 4: of racist criminal say what your chest always said, I'm
Speaker 4: not a victim of racism. I am a tormentor of
Speaker 4: racist The first criminal conviction in the history of Spain
Speaker 4: is not for me. It's for all black people.
Speaker 1: Oh god, wait a minute, pause real quick, because this
Speaker 1: is why I just wanted to tell my bureau chief
Speaker 1: I had this right.
Speaker 2: Basically, black lives matter.
Speaker 4: This, this is this is the real right. Keep going,
Speaker 4: just to repeat, the first criminal history of Spain is
Speaker 4: not for me, It is for all black people. May
Speaker 4: other racists be afraid, ashamed and hide in the shadows.
Speaker 4: Otherwise I'll be here to collect period. Thank you for
Speaker 4: La La Linga and Real. Yeah, thank you to LaLiga
Speaker 4: and Real Madrid for helping with this historic conviction. More
Speaker 4: to come.
Speaker 1: Hey, I'm so glad that y'all pulled the translation for this.
Speaker 2: This was so amazing, yo.
Speaker 1: He said, you guys, can we get t shirts to
Speaker 1: say or tormentors or paces?
Speaker 6: I love it?
Speaker 2: That is so good.
Speaker 4: That's bad.
Speaker 6: I love it.
Speaker 1: He said, it's for all black people. You know, Nicius,
Speaker 1: I need to meet you now. I'm gonna go get
Speaker 1: a Vanissius jersey. I'm about to watch a Vanissia's game.
Speaker 6: I'm here, I'm watching soccer.
Speaker 2: Vanius is my Kaylyn.
Speaker 4: Definitely, we gotta get jerseys, y'all. We gotta get jerseys.
Speaker 2: We definitely are we wearing order.
Speaker 4: But we're gonna find these jerseys.
Speaker 9: I'm sure.
Speaker 1: I'm sure we need to sell out Vani's jersey. We're
Speaker 1: about to get love that.
Speaker 2: You guys really good.
Speaker 5: I think people the fact that you know some people.
Speaker 5: I'm not a victim of right, I'm a tourment oriented
Speaker 5: But there are some less informed folks who think it
Speaker 5: was the Mayflower that travel to America and that was
Speaker 5: it and as the story of slavery. But there were
Speaker 5: slave ships that transported the enslaved everywhere. America became a
Speaker 5: superpower because of the slave labor, so too did the UK.
Speaker 5: The biggest Somebody fact checked me, but I'm ninety nine
Speaker 5: percent sure the biggest slave port was Brazil. I think
Speaker 5: they got the most number of Africans, right, they got
Speaker 5: more black people anywhere else in the world. Absolutely the
Speaker 5: Caribbean and the sugar cane right exactly. The difference though,
Speaker 5: I think between us and I'll say the UK because France, England,
Speaker 5: all these folks benefit from slave labor, but they shipped
Speaker 5: their enslaved off. And the unique thing about America is
Speaker 5: the abuse and rape of black women. And so we
Speaker 5: still live alongside the descendants of the folks who did this.
Speaker 5: And I don't know if you remember when we were
Speaker 5: in Ghana, a lot of people that was kind of
Speaker 5: the the consistent question, like it's so strange you guys
Speaker 5: choose to live there alongside your impressors and you could
Speaker 5: come home. You have all this space to come home
Speaker 5: and cold davoir that was a big thing. Look at
Speaker 5: the investment opportunity here, your money goes further. There's real
Speaker 5: estate for you. It's a completely different system. And we're
Speaker 5: looking at y'all like, man, y'all were kidnapped, come back home.
Speaker 5: So that's a full circle moment that the soccer player
Speaker 5: gave us. We are bookending this show with the first
Speaker 5: viewer question, there's a lot of homes for us, and
Speaker 5: shout out, what's the player's name?
Speaker 1: Angela Vinicius Junior hed I got our jerseys can come
Speaker 1: as fast as tomorrow. So we are hey, Rock and
Speaker 1: these Vansias jerseys next week. You guys text me your
Speaker 1: addresses so I get it right after the show. But
Speaker 1: our chat afterward, and I know we were we were
Speaker 1: lamenting some Supreme Court rulings that we're expecting. We're celebrating
Speaker 1: a victory in Vnissius Junior's case. But there's also one
Speaker 1: little footnote that we need to add from the prosecutor.
Speaker 11: Let's roll that clipnik Prosecutors Susanta hisb responded to the
Speaker 11: verdict outside the courthouse.
Speaker 7: Lacent people should know that this type of act is punishable.
Speaker 7: It is punishable as a hate crime because the sentence
Speaker 7: is for moral integrity with the aggravating factor of hate.
Speaker 7: And it is also very important that one of the
Speaker 7: factors taken into account for the suspension of the execution
Speaker 7: of the sentence is the fact of repentance and a
Speaker 7: letter of public apology, as well as the fact of
Speaker 7: not going near not only the stadium, but also stadiums
Speaker 7: where official matches are held.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to roll there because the sentence was
Speaker 1: mitigated by the fact that they can write letters of apology.
Speaker 1: So I just think it's you know, important to note.
Speaker 1: I am a Christian.
Speaker 4: I believe that people can restoration.
Speaker 1: I believe in restorative justice models have since I to
Speaker 1: be a tormentary racist.
Speaker 2: I think sometimes if you do the crime, you got
Speaker 2: to do the time.
Speaker 4: That's the one time that And what a death sentence
Speaker 4: if you're one of these avid.
Speaker 2: And did you say you want the death sentence?
Speaker 4: No, I said, what a death sentence for anyone who's
Speaker 4: one of these avid followers of soccer football? Soccer in
Speaker 4: many of these countries where I mean soccer is king
Speaker 4: to be banned from ever seeing one of these matches live,
Speaker 4: these professional matches live again, or even as a prosecutor said,
Speaker 4: even being.
Speaker 2: Near eight years is only two years.
Speaker 4: All I'm saying is two years of a death sentence
Speaker 4: for We may not understand the significance of what that is,
Speaker 4: but in Florida, for instance, we probably have the next
Speaker 4: largest culture around I think sort of soccer fandom in
Speaker 4: the US as as as probably anywhere else in the country.
Speaker 4: I just it's it's it's more than a notion be
Speaker 4: banned from one of these stadiums, any one of these
Speaker 4: games that you might otherwise have access to. So I
Speaker 4: do believe that the punishment is fitting the crime.
Speaker 1: So we'll just jump in here to calls to action
Speaker 1: and let me get I need to get in uniform.
Speaker 6: We had a wardrobe change. Oh wait, I'm putting all
Speaker 6: my glasses. No, no, no, you don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 4: Oh okay, I mean we just want to be in solidarity.
Speaker 1: So here, I don't need I don't need solidarity right now.
Speaker 1: This is my solo walk of shame. I'm here to
Speaker 1: apologize to the viewers and the listeners of Native lamppod.
Speaker 1: Last week we recorded a podcast early. How dare we?
Speaker 1: How dare we record a podcast early? And there be
Speaker 1: information that comes out later in the week that corrects
Speaker 1: the record for us. And so last week we spent
Speaker 1: a lot of time advocating for a man named Corey
Speaker 1: harris In who's involved in the justice system in Michigan.
Speaker 1: Our news bureau chief, Tiffany Cross has told me that
Speaker 1: I need to come on to let everyone know that
Speaker 1: I misspoke. It doesn't matter if I misspoke because a
Speaker 1: woman with the same name as me said one thing
Speaker 1: one day and said something different four days doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: She said that I should have checked my sources better.
Speaker 6: I did not say yes.
Speaker 2: She did. Yes, she did. Don't listen to her. Don't
Speaker 2: listen her. Just because she says it with a smile
Speaker 2: doesn't mean that I will.
Speaker 6: Said no.
Speaker 1: I don't want you to say what you said. I
Speaker 1: want to say what you said myself. It's more dramatic.
Speaker 1: So she said that I need to make sure that
Speaker 1: she said, I thought when you said you checked you
Speaker 1: looked into this, that you checked your sources.
Speaker 4: I did.
Speaker 2: I write several articles on this as improv It.
Speaker 1: Was kimp R, it was Detroit News, it was USA Today,
Speaker 1: it was everywhere. This woman issued the same statement. It
Speaker 1: came from the Michigan Secretary of State's office. The communications
Speaker 1: director named angel Sectary. I'm in the middle of my repentant.
Speaker 1: This woman's name now, I gotta tell my glass love.
Speaker 1: I say, Bananda. Her name is Angela Benander. This woman
Speaker 1: said that Harris was appearing for driving with a suspended license.
Speaker 1: She says, she's the director of Communications and meteor Relations
Speaker 1: for the Secretary of State. She said, because this was
Speaker 1: no longer legal to withhole driving privileges for those kinds
Speaker 1: of violations, that meant there were a lot of people
Speaker 1: who had those suspensions who were eligible to be reinstated.
Speaker 1: She goes on to say that for several thousand drivers,
Speaker 1: additional steps were required for them to have their licenses reinstated,
Speaker 1: and those drivers were notified with letters at their mailing addresses. Additionally,
Speaker 1: she says, in some cases it was fines and fees
Speaker 1: that needed to be resolved. In some cases they needed
Speaker 1: to retake their written drivers exams or road tests to
Speaker 1: be able to get their licenses back.
Speaker 2: Furthermore, she said that.
Speaker 1: Corey Harris would have had to acquire a form from
Speaker 1: the Saganaw County Friend of the Court and submitted to
Speaker 1: the Secretary of State's office because quote, it's not something
Speaker 1: that we would have that we would receive automatically from
Speaker 1: the court. Now, she went back because the judge said
Speaker 1: he never had a license, and Angela had to my
Speaker 1: earphones is, let me just talk this off. We got
Speaker 1: all the way down with my repents when my earphone
Speaker 1: starts like, Angela had to come back and say, actually,
Speaker 1: we checked again. The database indicates that our friend Corey
Speaker 1: did not in fact have a license. However, our news
Speaker 1: bureau chief also wanted me to let you all know
Speaker 1: that what we said we stand tintos down in what
Speaker 1: we said, that sometimes our folks are penalized wrongfully, that
Speaker 1: we are overly fined, that we are overly incarcerated, that
Speaker 1: we are overly suspended, we are overly booted, we are
Speaker 1: overly everything, as you all know, disproportionately booted. Now here's
Speaker 1: the thing that also still matters, the call to action.
Speaker 1: And today my call to action comes from a very
Speaker 1: special guest.
Speaker 11: That's Roll, Hey, Angela, Tip, and Andrew. This is Michigan
Speaker 11: Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchris. First off, I want to thank
Speaker 11: you all for covering this case and the video that's
Speaker 11: gone viral with Corey Harris and the barriers he faced
Speaker 11: with his license. What was meant to be funny is
Speaker 11: actually bring intention to a greater issue. In Michigan. We
Speaker 11: had a system for a very long time that is
Speaker 11: either suspended or taken away people's drivers' licenses because they
Speaker 11: couldn't afford to pay fines or fees, or because they
Speaker 11: were behind on their child support, or any number of
Speaker 11: financial reasons that have nothing to do a hot day drive. Well,
Speaker 11: in twenty nineteen, I let a task for us on
Speaker 11: jail reform to fix that and some other issues. And
Speaker 11: in twenty twenty, we passed new laws in Michigan, creating,
Speaker 11: among other things, a program called Road to Restoration that
Speaker 11: provides support and different services for people to get their
Speaker 11: licenses back. Now, this video is really a call to action.
Speaker 11: It's actually a Road to Restoration clinic happening in my
Speaker 11: hometown of Detroit on June eighteenth for people who are
Speaker 11: listening to this podcast and either need help themselves or
Speaker 11: you know somebody who needs help to get their license restored.
Speaker 11: So you can go to Michigan dot gov slash road
Speaker 11: to Restoration in order to find out information and to
Speaker 11: sign up. You can register by June sixteenth for an appointment,
Speaker 11: or you can walk in.
Speaker 4: Thanks, y'all, awesome.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 1: Kudos forgetting permission to get off of my walk of shame.
Speaker 6: Now take it off.
Speaker 5: But let me say I need to respond. So one second, lord, okay.
Speaker 2: So much? Why do you have glasses ready to go?
Speaker 6: Because I be ready. You gotta stay ready, see gotta
Speaker 6: get ready.
Speaker 4: Interested.
Speaker 6: What is what I was saying.
Speaker 5: Is when Angela said she looked into the case, I
Speaker 5: was saying, like you didn't call them personally. You were
Speaker 5: going off what this woman said in an article. So
Speaker 5: I was saying to protect yourself, like according to the
Speaker 5: Washington Posts, not that you were like making calls to people,
Speaker 5: because when people were like texting me like y'all got
Speaker 5: this wrong, and I'm like, no, then somebody gave Angela misinformation.
Speaker 5: So I was just saying for all of us, like,
Speaker 5: it's like, no, according to this person's reporting, this is
Speaker 5: what they're saying. I'm not hanging my name on it
Speaker 5: because I don't know, but this person said that. I
Speaker 5: just wanted to correct it because Angela act like I
Speaker 5: called her this morning it was like this, and I was.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I almost lost my job and I just reported
Speaker 1: on what ten other outlets said and had to fix
Speaker 1: some of them.
Speaker 5: I'll give y'all a little behind the scenes. We have
Speaker 5: a research assistant, Lolo. Shout out to Lolo, who does
Speaker 5: research for us, and I am just paranoid from work
Speaker 5: the newsrooms forever, Like Lolo works hard to put together
Speaker 5: this very nice research package for all of us, and
Speaker 5: I always I because I'm always and they I know,
Speaker 5: I frustrate my co hosts because I'm like, well, no,
Speaker 5: let me see for myself, or let me look at
Speaker 5: this myself, let me who was the source? Where do
Speaker 5: we get this from? So I can be a bit
Speaker 5: of a newsroom purist. So my apologies to my co host,
Speaker 5: but that's why, just because they can get things wrong.
Speaker 5: And I also thought that this a lot of the
Speaker 5: outlets that reported this, it can be a little bit
Speaker 5: of lazy journalism because it's like, y'all have a whole
Speaker 5: newsroom at your disposal, like submit a foia, get the records,
Speaker 5: like look at it. Just how we talked about on
Speaker 5: the broadcast news when they were just playing the clip
Speaker 5: and ha ha hi, everybody laughed and we moved on.
Speaker 6: So that's all I was saying.
Speaker 5: But I just want y'all to know that was super
Speaker 5: dope that Angela was like, let me get a response
Speaker 5: from the highest level of government, because that's the kind
Speaker 5: of thing that happens here at Native Land Pod. So
Speaker 5: if you're down with NLP, holla back and say you
Speaker 5: know me, you know that was so.
Speaker 4: Odesop Lieutenant Governor for this program, uh l G guil Chris,
Speaker 4: we expect great things from you, not just now but
Speaker 4: in the future.
Speaker 6: Brother hands right, can I ask a quick question.
Speaker 5: Do y'all think Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, will
Speaker 5: ascend beyond that role because it's been talked about forever?
Speaker 11: Yeah?
Speaker 6: Yes, Okay, we're at time.
Speaker 1: Don't y'all have cause to action? Or is that I
Speaker 1: got a call to action? My do you want to
Speaker 1: take your sunglasses off?
Speaker 4: For you?
Speaker 10: I don't give.
Speaker 2: It's giving and.
Speaker 5: I see my reflection. I like the way it looks,
Speaker 5: so I'm just gonna keep them on.
Speaker 4: Okayious, it's that sun bathed and gold.
Speaker 5: I will feel better if y'all put on y'all sunglasses,
Speaker 5: But that's fine. My call to action is this when
Speaker 5: I was out of the country and not on an
Speaker 5: American news diet, and I it's rare that I feel
Speaker 5: like the most informed person or the least informed person.
Speaker 5: I usually feel like, oh, okay, I'm learning, I'm informing
Speaker 5: and learning. Here I felt like I was doing nothing
Speaker 5: but learning, and so it made me think. I read
Speaker 5: a lot, not just newspaperstyle. I'd love to read books.
Speaker 5: And I've read a lot on American history, on what
Speaker 5: happens here in this country. And I remember, like ten
Speaker 5: years ago, I read a book on the Armenian Genocide.
Speaker 5: I had never heard of such a thing. I didn't
Speaker 5: even know this big thing in history had happened. And
Speaker 5: so spending the last few days with people who were
Speaker 5: so well read, who had all this information, and they,
Speaker 5: you know, not only knew about American history, but they
Speaker 5: had read books on global history and different things that
Speaker 5: had happened on the continent in the UK, you know,
Speaker 5: in Asia. And I just thought, I want to start
Speaker 5: reading more historical books on things that happened outside of America,
Speaker 5: just with a more global lens, you know, like the
Speaker 5: rise you know, the dynamics in the Middle East, or
Speaker 5: the rise of Saudi Arabia, or you know, the the
Speaker 5: history on Lamumba, like all these things that are fascinating,
Speaker 5: and so I'm doing this. So my call the action
Speaker 5: is to ask other people to do this. Please drop
Speaker 5: me your books that you're reading. If you have read
Speaker 5: a book that you find something interesting or it was
Speaker 5: something that you learned that happened outside the United States,
Speaker 5: please loot me in your book club because I would
Speaker 5: like to start reading some of these books, and I'd
Speaker 5: like us to discuss it, even if it's just on Instagram.
Speaker 5: So how aback at your girl nice.
Speaker 4: And finally, my CTA is is that this group here
Speaker 4: at Native Land recorded a special episode that is dropping
Speaker 4: this Friday of our minipod series, which is different because
Speaker 4: normally our minipods drop on Monday, but because Father's Day
Speaker 4: is coming up this Sunday, we wanted to take out
Speaker 4: some time in a special way acknowledge our dad's the
Speaker 4: role of fathers, and as a part of that, we
Speaker 4: make an invitation for you also to share your experiences,
Speaker 4: those moments, for pieces of advice that you receive from
Speaker 4: your own fathers or father figures that you think might
Speaker 4: be enlightening to others. So I hope that you all
Speaker 4: will one tune in on Friday check it out, and
Speaker 4: then also that you'll take the time to answer the
Speaker 4: call to action and we'll be able to circulate that
Speaker 4: amongst our social media and you know, feed it back
Speaker 4: to you those pieces that we think are particularly poignant
Speaker 4: and would benefit the rest of our listening audience. So
Speaker 4: hope you'll check us out on Friday, and Happy Father's
Speaker 4: Day in advance to all the dads.
Speaker 5: One of my favorite mini piles Andrews, that was one
Speaker 5: of our I mean I just love the conversation. And
Speaker 5: I don't know when this is gonna air, but we
Speaker 5: did another one. Can I plug it real quick?
Speaker 6: And what was it? Angela? In the Shallow or the deep?
Speaker 6: It was Angela's idea.
Speaker 2: But it was so good.
Speaker 6: It was so good.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: And speaking of being so good, we are so good
Speaker 1: on time, y'all. We made it to about an hour
Speaker 1: in this show. Happy Father's Day to our dads out here,
Speaker 1: the father figures of the world, those who have made
Speaker 1: such a great difference in our lives and the lives
Speaker 1: of our listeners. We applied you all. Andrew, we see you.
Speaker 1: You'd be holding it down. You know how to do
Speaker 1: a pony tail? Aj you croud, You've busting out all
Speaker 1: the myths. You know how to make it happen, how
Speaker 1: to do but yes, yes, Before we end the show,
Speaker 1: I want to remind everyone to please leave us a
Speaker 1: review and subscribe to Native Lamb Pod. We are available
Speaker 1: on all platforms and YouTube our YouTube channels pretty dope.
Speaker 1: You will hear from us every single Thursday. We also
Speaker 1: have mini pod episodes that drop every Monday.
Speaker 2: This week it's on Friday.
Speaker 1: As Andrew said, you can also follow us on social media.
Speaker 1: We are Angela Raie, Tiffany Cross, and Andrew Gillim.
Speaker 2: Welcome home, y'all.
Speaker 1: We are one hundred and forty five short days until
Speaker 1: election day, Ash.
Speaker 6: Welcome on, y'all.
Speaker 3: Last thank you for joining the Natives. Attention to what
Speaker 3: the info on all of the latest rock Gulum and
Speaker 3: Cross connected to the statements that you leave on our socials.
Speaker 3: Thank you sincerely for the patients. Reason for your choice
Speaker 3: is clear. So grateful it took the ow to execute roads, preserve, defend,
Speaker 3: and protect the true human if pain, Welcome home to
Speaker 3: all of the Natives, We thank you.
Speaker 2: Welcome y'allco.
Speaker 1: Native Lampard is a production of iHeart Radio in partnership
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