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Speaker 1: Hello Sunshine, Hey fam Today on the bright Side, we're

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Speaker 1: celebrating Martin Luther King Junior Day and the power of

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Speaker 1: activism with Rita Amoka, author of the remarkable book Resist,

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Speaker 1: How a century of young Black activists shaped America.

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Speaker 2: It's Monday, January twentieth. I'm Danielle Robe.

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Speaker 3: And I'm Simone Boyce, and this is the bright Side

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Speaker 3: from Hello Sunshine. Danielle. I always look forward to our

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Speaker 3: holiday episodes because I personally learned so much. It's like

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Speaker 3: a mini history lesson packed into each one of those episodes.

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Speaker 3: I'm thinking of our Labor Day episode, Memorial Day, fourth

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Speaker 3: of July, and today is a day where as a

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Speaker 3: nation we get to just take a pause and honor

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Speaker 3: the legacy of doctor Martin Luther King Junior.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're honoring Martin Luther King Junior today and all

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Speaker 2: of the work and the love and the heart that

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Speaker 2: he gave and really sacrificed for our country. You know,

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Speaker 2: when I think about doctor King, I think about on

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Speaker 2: violent resistance because his approach was inspired by Gandhi's philosophy

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Speaker 2: of nonviolence, and it really became the model for social

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Speaker 2: justice movements around the globe, like even in the face

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Speaker 2: of violence and just the worst kind of hatred. He

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Speaker 2: demonstrated a moral high ground, and I think he really

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Speaker 2: forced our nation to confront its conscience.

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Speaker 3: And to think that he was doing all of this

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Speaker 3: while being imprisoned around thirty times. Can you imagine being

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Speaker 3: so oppressed and so attacked by your own government while

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Speaker 3: you're trying to be this bastion of nonviolent protests. It's

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Speaker 3: really an incredible legacy.

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Speaker 2: It is, and I think there's such a huge lesson

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Speaker 2: in that he taught us that the arc of the

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Speaker 2: moral universe bends towards justice, but only if we keep

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Speaker 2: applying pressure.

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Speaker 4: He kept applying.

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Speaker 2: Pressure at every turn, no matter how hard it got,

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Speaker 2: and he believed that change was both an internal and

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Speaker 2: an external process. I am constantly amazed by him, but

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Speaker 2: reminded on Martin Luther King Day every year that it

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Speaker 2: is always better to extend a hand, no matter how

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Speaker 2: hard it is. So while we celebrate his contributions, we'd

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Speaker 2: also like to take the opportunity to pay tribute to

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Speaker 2: some of the female activists that you don't hear about

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Speaker 2: in history class, the women whose contributions throughout history have

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Speaker 2: made a major impact on our lives and on our

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Speaker 2: lives today.

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Speaker 3: Rita Amoka is a journalist and the author of the

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Speaker 3: book Resists How a Century of Young Black activists shaped America.

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Speaker 3: Writing has long been a form of resistance for her,

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Speaker 3: and after graduating at the top of her class from

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Speaker 3: Columbia University's Journalism School in twenty twenty, not long after

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Speaker 3: the death of George Floyd, Rita became inspired to put

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Speaker 3: her journalism degree to work and focus on the moments

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Speaker 3: that inspired young activists throughout our nation's history.

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Speaker 2: Reading through her book, it's really an insightful collection of stories.

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Speaker 2: I hope you'll be left feeling that you can use

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Speaker 2: your voice to lift up issues that matter to you

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Speaker 2: at any age, in any moment. And in thinking about MLK,

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Speaker 2: it's that idea that there is no perfect moment. That

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Speaker 2: moment comes from the courage to create it ourselves. And

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Speaker 2: I can't think of a better way to celebrate this

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Speaker 2: holiday than with someone who's writing about all that courage.

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Speaker 3: Well, Rito, welcome to the bright Side and Happy Martin

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Speaker 3: Luther King Junior Day.

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Speaker 5: Thanks for having me. I appreciate you all.

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Speaker 4: We're so happy to have you. Rita. You grew up

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Speaker 4: in the Bronx.

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Speaker 2: But you were born in Nigeria, and you write Nigeria

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Speaker 2: made me black, America raised me. How did that experience

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Speaker 2: shape your perspective on race in America?

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Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, for me, I think I always say it's

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Speaker 6: a privilege to come to this country as an immigrants,

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Speaker 6: especially of black immigrants, because we don't have that history

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Speaker 6: of enslaved people or ancestors. And by that I mean

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Speaker 6: I didn't grow up in a household with an aunt

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Speaker 6: or an uncle, or a grandpa or grandma telling me

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Speaker 6: stories about Jim Crow, the Great Migration, or what it's

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Speaker 6: like to walk around this country in this skin color.

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Speaker 6: So there's something that happens in my psyche personally where

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Speaker 6: I came to this country because my mother was the

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Speaker 6: beneficiary of the Immigration Act of nineteen ninety and what

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Speaker 6: that act did was it went to places in Africa

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Speaker 6: and the Philippines looking to hire nurses during the nursing

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Speaker 6: shortage of the nineties. So literally, my mom came into

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Speaker 6: this country because of her brilliance. That is my origin

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Speaker 6: story in this country, and that is how I navigated

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Speaker 6: this country, not having in a sense, any burden of

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Speaker 6: saying to myself, oh, my goodness from while I was born.

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Speaker 6: I've been subjugated, and so I think there's power to that.

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Speaker 6: I mean, by any means, we did not grow up

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Speaker 6: rich or anything, but that privilege of knowing that I

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Speaker 6: can be whatever I wanted to be because my mother's brilliance,

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Speaker 6: God is here. So I have no excuse but to

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Speaker 6: navigate this country, focus discipline on my academic excellence, and

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Speaker 6: that's precisely what I did. So I think for most

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Speaker 6: black immigrants, I think we share the same kind of

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Speaker 6: psychology because we don't have that added weight that we

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Speaker 6: have to wear of our enslaved ancestors and what that

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Speaker 6: means for us in this present time.

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Speaker 3: I'm so curious about this, in particular because I only

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Speaker 3: know what it's like to be a black, biracial woman

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Speaker 3: in America, you know, raised by matriarchs and patriarchs who

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Speaker 3: told me the stories of our people and our ancestors

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Speaker 3: and how we rose above. And I am so curious

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Speaker 3: how the Black American spirit is perceived by other people

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Speaker 3: who are part of the diaspora around the world world,

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Speaker 3: because I don't know, there seems to be almost like

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Speaker 3: a like you can tap into it, even though you

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Speaker 3: weren't part of our specific brand of pain and our

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Speaker 3: specific legacy. Like it feels like you can still tap

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Speaker 3: into it. Do you feel that way too?

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Speaker 6: And I think that's that's really what led to Resists

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Speaker 6: because for so long, and I hate to say this

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Speaker 6: out loud, I did not understand race. I mean, in Nigeria,

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Speaker 6: I'm not black anything. I'm an Adot. My tribe is

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Speaker 6: a doe. So the concept of race is social construct

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Speaker 6: of race that was made in America. We didn't have

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Speaker 6: any history of it, so that was a new concept

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Speaker 6: for us to understand. So for so long, I kid

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Speaker 6: you not, I didn't think about being black. I just thought, listen,

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Speaker 6: I'm in this country. I need to live out my

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Speaker 6: mom's dream for all of us. And that was how

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Speaker 6: I navigated everything until May twenty fifth, twenty twenty And

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Speaker 6: we know that's the day that George Floyd was murdered,

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Speaker 6: and I said, we met remember vividly watching that video

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Speaker 6: and something just came undone within me, like what did

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Speaker 6: this man do beside being existing as he is a

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Speaker 6: black man in this country? What did he really do

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Speaker 6: to deserve this treatment? And that's what began this journey

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Speaker 6: into understanding my race in this country and what it

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Speaker 6: really means. And that's what led me to go across

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Speaker 6: the country. I went to thirty stays in thirty two days.

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Speaker 6: I wanted to understand what this race mean to people

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Speaker 6: and how do they define it, how do they navigate it?

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Speaker 6: And that really helps me understand and see that even

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Speaker 6: though I was blinded to it, it wasn't an intentional blindness.

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Speaker 6: It was because again I had that privilege of not knowing.

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Speaker 6: But now that I saw something that sparked me into

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Speaker 6: wanting to learn. I feel like everyone needs to have

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Speaker 6: that moment that really gets them questioning everything, and for me,

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Speaker 6: it was questioning how did I really navigate America as

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Speaker 6: a black woman, not really realizing what comes with being

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Speaker 6: a black woman, or a black man, or just black

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Speaker 6: period in this country. And that's what led and that's

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Speaker 6: what sparked my entry into writing this book.

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Speaker 2: In the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in twenty twenty,

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Speaker 2: like you said, you traveled across the country to learn

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Speaker 2: more about activism and racism and organizing movements in America.

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Speaker 4: I want to start with something that maybe gave you hope.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I think for me.

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Speaker 6: The stop that really propelled this story and really kind

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Speaker 6: of cemented the idea for this book was in Portland,

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Speaker 6: what I would do when I go to these stops

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Speaker 6: is I'll park my car. And this was during the pandemic,

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Speaker 6: so no one was out, so I was really on

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Speaker 6: the lookout for, like who's out, who can I talk to?

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Speaker 6: And so in Portland, I remember doing that very thing.

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Speaker 6: And I came down to this public square and I

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Speaker 6: was just amazed by how many young people were congregated there,

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Speaker 6: and I'm curious, like, what are they doing? And so

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Speaker 6: I walked up, so I havn't common stations, and they

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Speaker 6: told me that they were there and remembrance of another

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Speaker 6: black man who had been killed two years prior. His

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Speaker 6: name was Patrick Kimmins September thirty of twenty eighteen. So

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Speaker 6: they were protesting to the day and remembrance of him,

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Speaker 6: but also declined the times that we were in. You know,

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Speaker 6: George Floyd's death really catapulted so many protesting across the world,

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Speaker 6: so they wanted to be part of that.

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Speaker 5: They wanted to use their.

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Speaker 6: Voice to do to call attention to what was going

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Speaker 6: on in their city. So to me, that was the

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Speaker 6: first sort of like mesmerizing moment of my travels. It's

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Speaker 6: just seeing so many young people knle aware of what

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Speaker 6: was happening. And as I followed them down this like

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Speaker 6: half mile to where they were going, which is this

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Speaker 6: parking lot where Patrick Kimmins had been killed by police officers,

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Speaker 6: I was just again taken aback and stunned by how

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Speaker 6: much they knew, you know, and how impassion they were

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Speaker 6: speaking about the time they're in and just again organizing

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Speaker 6: this massive protest. And I was just watching the and

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Speaker 6: that's where the idea for the book actually came from,

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Speaker 6: just thinking to myself, here are these thirteen, fourteen, fifteen

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Speaker 6: year olds who are doing something that I never did

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Speaker 6: because I was not thisaware of what this skin color

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Speaker 6: meant in this country. So I never was that engaged

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Speaker 6: at all in any of it. So just watching them

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Speaker 6: take to the streets in such a commanding, raising audacious way,

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Speaker 6: I started having all these questions again as a perpetual outsider,

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Speaker 6: as an immigrant. Sometimes there are things I see them

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Speaker 6: just like how did that.

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Speaker 5: Come to be? So for me?

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Speaker 6: In this moment, I'm looking at these young people, I

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Speaker 6: mean hundreds of people, and I'm thinking, how do they

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Speaker 6: even know they can organize like this and protest like

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Speaker 6: this and galvanize in this massive way. And that's what

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Speaker 6: stirred me into one things, researching what is the origin

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Speaker 6: story of protesting and what is that framework, especially by

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Speaker 6: young people? And so I think for me that became

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Speaker 6: the highlight of my trip. It was something that really

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Speaker 6: inspired me to want to learn more and not just

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Speaker 6: about the protesting, but more about the country.

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Speaker 5: That made me who I am.

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Speaker 2: You know, around I want to say twenty twenty, Obama

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Speaker 2: tweeted something that went viral, and I'm paraphrasing, but basically

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Speaker 2: he said that every great social movement has started with

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Speaker 2: young people. And as I'm listening to you talk about

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Speaker 2: these young people and how much they knew and how

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Speaker 2: that moment really inspired your book, I'm so curious as

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Speaker 2: you drove through these thirty states if there were any

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Speaker 2: through lines with young people, because culture across states is

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Speaker 2: very different.

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Speaker 5: Yeah.

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Speaker 6: So the thing with young people over decades and centuries

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Speaker 6: is they're very idealistic. Right, So the people who are

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Speaker 6: in the older generation now, right, they were once the young.

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Speaker 5: People who were idealistic.

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Speaker 6: But what happened is along the line they became a

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Speaker 6: bit more pragmatic because they saw that there is red

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Speaker 6: tape when you're trying to make sustainable change. But we

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Speaker 6: do need young people to remind us of the aspirations

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Speaker 6: for example, and the promises of the Constitution. So in

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Speaker 6: every generation, I believe we need both. We need a

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Speaker 6: multi generational impact and fight for sustainable freedoms and to

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Speaker 6: make sure that we're torch bearers of that dream that

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Speaker 6: doctor King has for example. So I think for me,

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Speaker 6: young people represent that idealistic version and vision of what

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Speaker 6: this country could be, and that over time when they

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Speaker 6: start to get into the weeds, if they do like

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Speaker 6: going to Congress, for example, they start to understand that

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Speaker 6: there are roadblocks to sustainable change. But every generation you

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Speaker 6: need that, you need something to remind us that we

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Speaker 6: need to continue to fight for freedoms. Freedom was not free.

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Speaker 6: We think about what doctor King did right when he

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Speaker 6: was fighting for freedom. I think by the nineteen sixty

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Speaker 6: three March on Washington. At that point the idea was

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Speaker 6: of freedom was elusive, it was still very new, and

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Speaker 6: the March on Washington was real meant to make sure

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Speaker 6: that we can enshrine the idea of freedom into law,

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Speaker 6: and you fast forward to today, those same very freedoms

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Speaker 6: are being threatened.

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Speaker 5: Right.

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Speaker 6: So in every generation we need people to carry that torch.

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Speaker 6: We need people to know that we have to have

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Speaker 6: sustainable fights. And a lot of times young people, because

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Speaker 6: you're so idealistic and they're so hungry, they inject a

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Speaker 6: new energy into the fight that we need. We need

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Speaker 6: that momentum to keep carrying on the fight.

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Speaker 4: What do we need from the older generation?

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Speaker 6: The experience, right, You think about again, like our Shopton

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Speaker 6: for example, he has the experience, he has the knowledge, right,

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Speaker 6: And what we don't need is thems trying to stifle

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Speaker 6: young people, which sometimes, like I mentioned in the book,

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Speaker 6: it did happen with the clashing between both generations because

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Speaker 6: they understand the fight ahead and how if you really

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Speaker 6: want lasting change, there's some things that you have to give.

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Speaker 6: Even doctor King when he saw, for example, the Black

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Speaker 6: Panthers when it came on the scene, they were going

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Speaker 6: to your violence approach, and he said, that's not how

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Speaker 6: you get hurt. If you want a mass audience, this

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Speaker 6: is the way. This is a strategy. So it's always

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Speaker 6: good to have the energy, the vigor, the rigor to

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Speaker 6: come in and inject that new energy. But after a

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Speaker 6: while you do need to kind of take a step

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Speaker 6: back and say, Okay, how do we sustain this. How

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Speaker 6: do we make sure we have some kind of unified

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Speaker 6: way to get our message across, to ensure that it

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Speaker 6: has a mass audience, to make sure that we are

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Speaker 6: fighting a good fight and.

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Speaker 5: It is being received in the way it needs to

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Speaker 5: be received. We've got to take a quick break.

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Speaker 3: We'll be right back to our conversation with Rita Amoka.

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Speaker 3: And we're back with Rita Amocha. Well, we want to

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Speaker 3: get into your work on the extraordinary black woman, the

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Speaker 3: women that were activists from the nineteen twenties through today

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Speaker 3: who really shaped American history as we know it. So

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Speaker 3: let's dive in. Let's get started with Ella Baker. She's

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Speaker 3: known as the godmother to the civil rights movement. How

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Speaker 3: did she earn that title?

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Speaker 5: She did a lot, and.

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Speaker 6: I really in the book, I really wanted to first

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Speaker 6: start to give people an insight into who she was

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Speaker 6: and what framed her mind and what gave her that

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Speaker 6: fight and that audaciousness that she carried on and worked

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Speaker 6: with doctor King and worked with young people to really organize.

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Speaker 6: So for me, starting with where she grew up, her

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Speaker 6: grandfather was formerly enslaved and what he did was he

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Speaker 6: bought back the land that he was enslaved in.

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Speaker 5: That's the dream.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, and he made this community of people to say, hey, look,

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Speaker 6: we are free now, we need to act in that way.

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Speaker 6: So he was teaching them how to live freely. And

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Speaker 6: she grew up watching this and so she carried that

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Speaker 6: on into her. Her very first fight was in high school.

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Speaker 6: She was sixteen years old and at the time, there

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Speaker 6: was this trend called the flapper trend where it was

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Speaker 6: the first time that silk stockings were like really in

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Speaker 6: and it was a way for females and women to

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Speaker 6: show their sexuality and autonomy. And so at Sean University,

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Speaker 6: those silk stockings were banned. And I love what she said,

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Speaker 6: She said, I don't even like silk stockings, but the

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Speaker 6: fact that the school wants to ban us from wearing

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Speaker 6: silk stockings, that's a problem. So that was her psyche.

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Speaker 6: Her psyche was, look, I want what's right, you know.

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Speaker 6: She always wanted to do what's right because she saw

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Speaker 6: her grandfather fight for that day in day out, even

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Speaker 6: though he came out of the worst time in our history.

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Speaker 6: He still had the know how, the autonomy to keep

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Speaker 6: on fighting to teach people how to leave freely. So

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Speaker 6: she went on and she worked alongside doctor King to

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Speaker 6: ensure that he was building a sustainable movement.

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Speaker 5: And so that's how she was able to gain that title.

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Speaker 6: Just continue to build an instillent people that we don't

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Speaker 6: even have to benefit directly from the fight, but the

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Speaker 6: fight is what's important.

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Speaker 3: It sounds like she was a very principled woman.

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Speaker 5: Extremely principled for sure.

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Speaker 6: So she really just wanted people to understand their power,

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Speaker 6: to understand that your voice is your greatest Ally.

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Speaker 5: When she founded the Student Nonviolence Coordinating.

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Speaker 6: Committee, it was really to make sure young people knew

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Speaker 6: how to come together and be unified, but also know

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Speaker 6: the power of collective action, the power of using your

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Speaker 6: voice as a weapon to say, if we do this together,

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Speaker 6: more could be done. So when she found that snick,

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Speaker 6: that was her goal to show them, you guys are

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Speaker 6: doing a lot of things in different places, but when

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Speaker 6: you come together, you can do.

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Speaker 5: So much more.

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Speaker 6: And understand that you have the power within you to

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Speaker 6: do so much more, but you just have to know

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Speaker 6: it and she taught that and she lived that.

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Speaker 3: So I'm always so interested Rita in the historical context

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Speaker 3: behind these movements, like what was she up against in

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Speaker 3: that time, what was happening as she was organizing, So I.

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Speaker 5: Mean so much.

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Speaker 6: I mean, for example, like I said earlier, freedom was

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Speaker 6: still very elusive, right, even freedom for especially for women.

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Speaker 6: There was so much more against her as a black

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Speaker 6: person and as a woman, and so she had a

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Speaker 6: lot that she was facing. Even within the movement, women

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Speaker 6: were not really forefront. So we have we know the

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Speaker 6: names like doctor King and John Lewis and Bob Moses

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Speaker 6: and Charlie Copp. These are names that most people know.

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Speaker 6: Ella Baker is kind of known, but she was still

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Speaker 6: in the background. So even within the movements she you know,

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Speaker 6: women were not given the same platform as men. So

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Speaker 6: there was that misogyny that she had to fight within

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Speaker 6: the movement and within the cultural contexts, and also the

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Speaker 6: white supremacy that was really in the nation. So there

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Speaker 6: was so much against what she was trying to do,

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Speaker 6: but she didn't let that stop her.

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Speaker 3: Another woman that you profile in your book has me

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Speaker 3: wondering if I have a long lost relative out there.

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Speaker 3: Her name is Barbara John's and that is my mom's

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Speaker 3: maiden name. Okay, So now I'm like, I got to

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Speaker 3: go back and do my ancestry research see if there's

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Speaker 3: any connection here. But this is a woman I would

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Speaker 3: love to be connected to because she had a pivotal

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Speaker 3: role in starting a strike for equality and education and

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Speaker 3: her efforts led to the groundbreaking Supreme Court case Brown

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Speaker 3: versus Board of Education.

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Speaker 5: How did she shape and influence that case?

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean so many people when it comes to

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Speaker 6: the Brown case, many people know Linda Brown because the

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Speaker 6: case is named after her. And I was so amazed

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Speaker 6: to find out that there was this one sixteen year

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Speaker 6: old in Chris Edward count in Virginia who led this massive,

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Speaker 6: massive student strike. She told the school the student body, look,

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Speaker 6: if we all go on strike and they have no

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Speaker 6: one to teach, that's disruptive. But again in the book,

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Speaker 6: what I tried to do to explain to people how

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Speaker 6: she got to where she is at sixteen years old

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Speaker 6: to real that she had a voice was her upbringing.

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Speaker 6: She was raised by her formerly enslaved maternal grandmother, her

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Speaker 6: formerly enslaved maternal grandmother as well from both sides, and

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Speaker 6: they taught her what it was like to be suppressed

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Speaker 6: and oppressed. And then she had an uncle, Vernon, who

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Speaker 6: was a minister but also an activist, who taught her

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Speaker 6: that the portal to freedom and independence is education. So

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Speaker 6: that was what she was ingesting day in day out

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Speaker 6: from her childhood. Then she got to high school and

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Speaker 6: she's looking at her resources around and she's like, wait

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Speaker 6: a minute, we're having classrooms in tar paper shacks. We

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Speaker 6: are overcrowded to the point where we have to have

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Speaker 6: classes in school buses. We don't have books, we don't

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Speaker 6: have anything. But then down the road the all white

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Speaker 6: high school, they have everything, a new garden, new library,

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Speaker 6: and the only difference is our skin color. That doesn't

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Speaker 6: make sense. And she said enough is enough, Like what

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Speaker 6: is the alternative? I die on education? Like what do

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Speaker 6: I really gain from this? And so she got the

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Speaker 6: entire student body to protest against the school district, and

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Speaker 6: in the end of the five consolidated cases that went

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Speaker 6: up to the Supreme Court, one hundred and seventeen students

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Speaker 6: came from Prince Edward County out of one hundred and

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Speaker 6: seventy seven. So she was really able to be so disruptive.

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Speaker 6: It called the attention of the NAACP who came and

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Speaker 6: took on the case.

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Speaker 5: It's amazing. It's amazing.

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Speaker 3: My maternal grandmother used to say the exact same thing,

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Speaker 3: that education is your ticket out, and it is. I

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Speaker 3: just always think about that Frederick Douglas quote, once you

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Speaker 3: learn to read, you will forever be free. And I'm

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Speaker 3: part of that generation that was raised by the generation

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Speaker 3: who really embodied that quote.

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Speaker 6: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, we have to take another quick break, but we'll

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Speaker 2: be right back with Rita Amoka. And we're back with

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Speaker 2: Rita Amoka. I want to talk about Darnella Frasier. She's

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Speaker 2: an American activist and a student who gained global recognition

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Speaker 2: for recording the video of George Floyd's death in twenty twenty. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: she was just sixteen years old and she witnessed and

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Speaker 2: captured the footage of Floyd. There was a lot of

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Speaker 2: conversation about race before this video hit the internet, but

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Speaker 2: that video changed everything in America.

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Speaker 4: When you said earlier.

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Speaker 2: That that was a catalyst moment for you, I'm curious

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Speaker 2: what you think that video and Danielle's courage and decision

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Speaker 2: to record his final moments.

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Speaker 4: Really did. Why did that change everything.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean because for so long, I mean we've

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Speaker 6: heard the stories, right, We've heard by Michael Brown, Eric Garner,

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Speaker 6: We've heard Brianna Taylor. We hear it, and I think

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Speaker 6: for so long we became kind of and detached to

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Speaker 6: it because we weren't understanding the gravity of it.

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Speaker 5: People, We weren't able to see it the way we

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Speaker 5: saw it with that video.

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Speaker 6: And to see nine minutes in twenty nine second of

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Speaker 6: someone just being basically smuggled to death, just without any care,

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Speaker 6: I think that did a.

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Speaker 5: Lot for a lot of people's psychology.

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Speaker 6: It's like we've known for so long the subjugation of

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Speaker 6: all the others, but to see it in such a animalistic

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Speaker 6: and vicious way where it seemed like the officers who

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Speaker 6: are appointed to protect and care for citizens were just

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Speaker 6: having this reckless reaction to human life. I mean, he

435
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Speaker 6: was crying out the entire time. So there was something

436
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Speaker 6: about seeing the video and seeing it was a clear view,

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Speaker 6: unobstructed view of what was happening.

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Speaker 5: This man was dying before our eyes.

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Speaker 6: And again, fake twenty dollars bill or not, he did

440
00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,240
Speaker 6: nothing wrong besides just being a black man. If he

441
00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:03,520
Speaker 6: were a white man, it would be a different outcome.

442
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:07,959
Speaker 6: So her courage, her brazeness in just standing steadfast and

443
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:10,760
Speaker 6: saying I'm not moving even when the cops say moved,

444
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:11,720
Speaker 6: she did not move.

445
00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:13,320
Speaker 5: And because of that.

446
00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:15,760
Speaker 6: In this country, for the first time in a long time,

447
00:24:16,119 --> 00:24:20,160
Speaker 6: we saw someone being held accountable for such a vicious act,

448
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:22,720
Speaker 6: and so I think for a lot of people seeing

449
00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:25,840
Speaker 6: it in the way we saw it, it did something

450
00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:27,200
Speaker 6: to us emotionally too.

451
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:30,119
Speaker 2: I remember hearing her voice in that video and thinking,

452
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:32,440
Speaker 2: what you just said, like, I think I would be

453
00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:36,200
Speaker 2: no matter what the scenario is, intimidated by a police

454
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,800
Speaker 2: officer talking to me that way. And she stood her

455
00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:40,040
Speaker 2: ground and she was.

456
00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:44,199
Speaker 6: Young, exactly exactly, and because of that too that I

457
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,359
Speaker 6: think that evening after the death of George Floyd, the

458
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,080
Speaker 6: MPD released their own press release saying, oh, there was

459
00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:53,960
Speaker 6: an incident that happened and a black man was killed,

460
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:55,760
Speaker 6: and she was like, now wait a minute, I was there,

461
00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:58,560
Speaker 6: and that's what prompted her to release the video.

462
00:24:59,000 --> 00:24:59,960
Speaker 5: It was like two in the morning.

463
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:02,479
Speaker 6: She released that video that very day because they were

464
00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,720
Speaker 6: trying to cover it up, which again showcases how many

465
00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:08,119
Speaker 6: of these cases that's how they get they get covered

466
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,720
Speaker 6: up until someone like Darnella steps up to say that's

467
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:14,680
Speaker 6: not what happened, and so she completely changed so much.

468
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:19,600
Speaker 2: I think to that point, social media has totally shifted activism.

469
00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:23,920
Speaker 2: Are there ways that you see that in today's day

470
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:24,880
Speaker 2: and age? Oh?

471
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:27,080
Speaker 5: Absolutely, I mean it's amplified the movement.

472
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:29,480
Speaker 6: Like back in the day, you will have to call

473
00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:32,639
Speaker 6: people and go door to door and really galvanize people

474
00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:36,119
Speaker 6: very more hands on. Today, with one clickup a button,

475
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:38,760
Speaker 6: you can reach thousands, if not millions of people to

476
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:43,199
Speaker 6: join in and organize in your movement. So everything is

477
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:47,400
Speaker 6: at our fingertips, so it's much more. It's easier to

478
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,800
Speaker 6: gabanize and organize people and amplify the message than it

479
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:51,359
Speaker 6: was before.

480
00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:55,119
Speaker 3: How have the activists that you've spoken to, or the

481
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:58,399
Speaker 3: activism that you witness taking place in our world right now?

482
00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:02,560
Speaker 3: How has that redefined mind the term activism for you?

483
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:04,320
Speaker 3: What does it mean to you now?

484
00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:05,600
Speaker 5: Well? I love that question.

485
00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:09,040
Speaker 6: For me, I now my understanding of activism before I

486
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:12,320
Speaker 6: thought it was just like fist pumping stomping the streets.

487
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:17,440
Speaker 6: For me, now the baseline definition of activism is doing something,

488
00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:21,600
Speaker 6: performing some kind of action that's going to lead or

489
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:26,040
Speaker 6: in hopes of leading to some social or political change.

490
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:28,960
Speaker 6: And when you think about it, anyone can be an activist.

491
00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:32,000
Speaker 6: Right for me personally, I'm not looking at my writing

492
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:35,720
Speaker 6: as a form of resistance that I could too make

493
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,960
Speaker 6: a difference, Whereas before I thought, well, to be an activist,

494
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:41,200
Speaker 6: I have to like form a group and go out

495
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:43,520
Speaker 6: and put my fist. Because I've never been to protests

496
00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:48,200
Speaker 6: until Portland. So understanding how like Barbara John's just said

497
00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:51,360
Speaker 6: enough is enough and she just decided to do something.

498
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:53,520
Speaker 5: I feel like we all can do something.

499
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:57,040
Speaker 6: You can speak up when you see injustice at your job.

500
00:26:57,280 --> 00:26:59,840
Speaker 6: You can start a book club where you're reading just

501
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,320
Speaker 6: all the banned books. You can really do anything within

502
00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:06,399
Speaker 6: your own talents and gifts to say. I want to

503
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:10,080
Speaker 6: be part of the collective action to sustain this freedom

504
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,479
Speaker 6: that I know now. I know this personally now that

505
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:17,199
Speaker 6: freedom wasn't free. Someone had to fight and die and

506
00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:19,920
Speaker 6: bleed for it. And if I can do one little

507
00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:22,959
Speaker 6: thing just to carry on and sustain that freedom, I

508
00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:26,680
Speaker 6: want to, especially now when we're going into this psycond

509
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,720
Speaker 6: Trump term and it seems like we're almost in this

510
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:33,480
Speaker 6: slow regression, which is really scary because never would I

511
00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:37,640
Speaker 6: have thought that Dobbs would be begutted right, that the.

512
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:40,000
Speaker 5: Rights of my own body will come into question.

513
00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:44,399
Speaker 6: After all the decades of FISA enshrying certain freedoms into

514
00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:47,000
Speaker 6: the law, I never thought that would be the case.

515
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:48,120
Speaker 5: But here we are.

516
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,679
Speaker 6: I think, going back to doctor King, we are his

517
00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:54,920
Speaker 6: torch bearers of his dream, that dream that he had

518
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,640
Speaker 6: that he said one day he wishes that his four

519
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:01,160
Speaker 6: kids can walk this nation and not be judged by

520
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:04,520
Speaker 6: the color of their skin, but the content of their character.

521
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:08,440
Speaker 5: That he wants to see freedom rank We are responsible

522
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:08,800
Speaker 5: for that.

523
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:12,280
Speaker 6: We need to carry that on because we risk losing

524
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:16,040
Speaker 6: that freedom when we have people like Trump who are

525
00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:20,240
Speaker 6: subscribing to misogyny and white supremacy in these modern times.

526
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:23,080
Speaker 6: So it's going to take all of us to really

527
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:27,520
Speaker 6: tap into what it means to take action in our communities,

528
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,040
Speaker 6: in our lives, and just what can we do on

529
00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:32,680
Speaker 6: our own to contribute to that.

530
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:37,440
Speaker 2: That's really important For anybody who wants to protest, who

531
00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:39,600
Speaker 2: wants to take that first step, what would you say

532
00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:40,160
Speaker 2: to them.

533
00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:43,320
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean start locally, starting in your community. I

534
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:45,200
Speaker 6: think you just have to start wherever you are and

535
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:47,920
Speaker 6: whatever you feel comfortable doing not Everyone likes to be

536
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:50,760
Speaker 6: social and be out on the streets. So if you're

537
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:53,720
Speaker 6: more into the digital activism, do that, you know, start

538
00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,960
Speaker 6: a Zoom group and start a Zoom counseling group or something.

539
00:28:57,360 --> 00:28:59,920
Speaker 6: If you're a lawyer, starts something where you can make

540
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,240
Speaker 6: maybe create a twol kit for those who may be

541
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:06,960
Speaker 6: corralled and possibly detained, and say hey, if you are stopped,

542
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,600
Speaker 6: here's a list of things you can do. Call this number,

543
00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:12,000
Speaker 6: make sure you have someone to come to your house

544
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:12,840
Speaker 6: and take your kids.

545
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:13,800
Speaker 5: Really, you can.

546
00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:18,240
Speaker 6: Start anywhere, but I think it begins with intentionality, with

547
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:20,520
Speaker 6: you wanting to know more. I think a lot of

548
00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 6: people are not selectively ignorant. You just don't know what

549
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:27,360
Speaker 6: you don't know. But if you do know, it's your

550
00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:30,520
Speaker 6: responsibility to do something. Just like with me growing up,

551
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 6: I didn't know anything about race relations. I just thought, hey,

552
00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:36,200
Speaker 6: my tribe is a dope. I'm in this country. I'm

553
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:40,440
Speaker 6: here to work really hard until something stirred me into action.

554
00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:43,480
Speaker 6: So I think it's really hard to be stirred into

555
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:46,120
Speaker 6: action because you have to be paying attention. So I

556
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:50,120
Speaker 6: think intentionality is the beginning, and the intentionality leads to

557
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:54,719
Speaker 6: an expanding of your perspective. And the more you have perspective,

558
00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:57,040
Speaker 6: the more you have empathy to want to even learn

559
00:29:57,080 --> 00:30:00,239
Speaker 6: more and contributes. You have to have time to just

560
00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 6: think about what do you want to do and how

561
00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:04,440
Speaker 6: do you want to contribute?

562
00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:06,480
Speaker 4: I totally agree, Rita.

563
00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:09,120
Speaker 3: You're always invited to the Black Southern American Cookout.

564
00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:15,360
Speaker 2: Thank you, Rita, Thank you so much for joining us today.

565
00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:17,640
Speaker 5: Thanks so mister having me. I appreciate you.

566
00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 3: Rita Amoka is a journalist and the author of the

567
00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,920
Speaker 3: book Resist, How a century of young Black activists shaped America.

568
00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:31,760
Speaker 4: That's it for today's show.

569
00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:34,600
Speaker 2: Tomorrow, we're joined by actress, producer, and the star of

570
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:37,720
Speaker 2: the Peacock series The Day of the Jackal, Lashana Lynch

571
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:38,080
Speaker 2: is here.

572
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:39,880
Speaker 4: You don't want to miss this conversation.

573
00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:44,440
Speaker 3: Join the conversation using hashtag the bright Side and connect

574
00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:47,720
Speaker 3: with us on social media at Hello Sunshine on Instagram

575
00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:50,920
Speaker 3: and at The bright Side Pod on TikTok oh, and

576
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,560
Speaker 3: feel free to tag us at simone Voice and at

577
00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:54,680
Speaker 3: Danielle Robe.

578
00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:58,160
Speaker 2: Listen and follow The bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,

579
00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:00,720
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get at your podcast.

580
00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:06,040
Speaker 3: See you tomorrow, folks, keep looking on the bright side,