Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to okay F Daily with
Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, recording from the Brooklyn Bunker.
Speaker 1: You know, folks, if you are paying attention to the news,
Speaker 1: then you are very aware of the fact that we
Speaker 1: are on the brink of war, that COVID numbers are
Speaker 1: doing well in the areas that were first hardest hit,
Speaker 1: but that everyone is sitting around scratching their head wondering
Speaker 1: what the fuck the Biden administration is actually doing. And
Speaker 1: we've had votes by the Republican Party that prove once
Speaker 1: again that they are the party of insurrectionists, that they
Speaker 1: are the party of white supremacy, and that they are
Speaker 1: a cult right. They have censured the people two people
Speaker 1: that actually make any fucking sense, and they are continuing
Speaker 1: to double down on Trumpism, continuing to double down on racism.
Speaker 1: Joe Rogan is you know, the latest celebrity that they
Speaker 1: are embracing, which tells us everything that we need to know.
Speaker 1: And I have said this so many times that if
Speaker 1: you find yourself talking to somebody who is, well, I'm
Speaker 1: a Republican, but I don't stand for these things, you
Speaker 1: can no longer continue to call yourself a Republican and say,
Speaker 1: but here's the laundry list of all of the things
Speaker 1: that you no longer associate with, Because then if in
Speaker 1: a sensical world, well what the Republican Party now represents,
Speaker 1: you no longer are a party too right, And so
Speaker 1: you would think that there would be more people publicly
Speaker 1: disavowing the Republican Party, publicly leaving right, that people would
Speaker 1: be leaving in large numbers, except they're not. And so
Speaker 1: what does that tell us about the state of affairs
Speaker 1: in America and the state of white supremacy? You know,
Speaker 1: I am I'm working right now on a piece, and
Speaker 1: I was harkened back to the twenty sixteen election and
Speaker 1: thinking to myself and saying out loud on Canadian broadcast
Speaker 1: television that this was going to be white supremacy's last stand.
Speaker 1: Now when I said that, it wasn't as if, oh,
Speaker 1: it was going to be four years and then it
Speaker 1: was going to be back to quote unquote normal, Because
Speaker 1: what we know right now is that there is really
Speaker 1: no sense of normal. What we had allowed, right, what
Speaker 1: we had told ourselves was normal behavior, was anything but right.
Speaker 1: The disparities in health and wealth in this country between
Speaker 1: races between genders has always been excruciatingly problematic. Right when
Speaker 1: we talk about marginalized groups and where they fall right
Speaker 1: on the political totem pole, we know that they are
Speaker 1: always folks that are at the bottom. We also know
Speaker 1: that there has been no policy, no measure, and frankly,
Speaker 1: no fucking Republican president but has ever offered the American
Speaker 1: people how we are dealing with some of the most complex,
Speaker 1: right and layered issues and problems that we have. Their
Speaker 1: decision is that you just ignore it, right, or you
Speaker 1: erase it, or you gaslight people into believing that it
Speaker 1: doesn't exist. And so when you have then the alternate
Speaker 1: party of Democrats who essentially are not exercising their I
Speaker 1: don't even know what the fuck you would call it
Speaker 1: at this point, not exercising their power, not exercising their voice,
Speaker 1: you know, pretending that everything is ho hummed okay I
Speaker 1: and that you know, we're living in a time of
Speaker 1: just like political adversaries, and there there isn't the state
Speaker 1: of our country and our democracy hanging in the balance
Speaker 1: with just a handful of months to do something right
Speaker 1: about those people who the Republicans say, you know, are
Speaker 1: just participating in regular political discourse. I don't know what
Speaker 1: political discourse involves shitting in the halls of the Capitol building,
Speaker 1: But you know, what do I know? I'm a traditionalist. Apparently.
Speaker 1: The reality here, though, folks, is that people are tapped out. Right.
Speaker 1: I've talked to you, and you all have talked to
Speaker 1: me about your level of exhaustion and your frustration and
Speaker 1: just you know, being burnt out, being burnt out by
Speaker 1: the discourse, being burnt out by the demeanor, and just
Speaker 1: one bad headline after the other. But the thing that
Speaker 1: I consistently come back to is our future, which is
Speaker 1: young people, people and wondering what they are thinking. Right.
Speaker 1: I can remember going into politics, right, going to college,
Speaker 1: and that was on the heels of the Clinton administration. Right,
Speaker 1: that was on the heels I remember being in high
Speaker 1: school and sitting around with friends, other friends that were
Speaker 1: in you know, government and politics into it and watching
Speaker 1: President Clinton tell the American people that he didn't have
Speaker 1: sexual relationship with that woman. Right. It was politics was
Speaker 1: you know, not just tabloid page six fodder. But it
Speaker 1: was exciting. It was exciting to believe that you could
Speaker 1: participate in how this country shifts and expands, Right, and
Speaker 1: that there was an excitement that was there. I wonder
Speaker 1: right about young people who are coming going into college
Speaker 1: right at an age in our political discourse where it
Speaker 1: is so horrific, where there is no conversation, there is
Speaker 1: no debate like how do you teach this right now?
Speaker 1: And what are young people, those eighteen and nineteen year
Speaker 1: olds who you know should be filled with possibility. What
Speaker 1: do they think about the world that they are inheriting
Speaker 1: and growing into as adults. And so I'm excited for
Speaker 1: you all to take a listen to my conversation with
Speaker 1: returning guest, our friend, doctor Christina Greer, who is associate
Speaker 1: professor of political science at Fordham University here in New York,
Speaker 1: and we will talk about the lay of the land
Speaker 1: and where we think that democrats go. But as a
Speaker 1: professor who has made it, even though she is a
Speaker 1: tenured professor and an esteemed professor who doesn't have to
Speaker 1: no longer has to take up these you know, freshman
Speaker 1: politics one on one, classes realizes the importance of doing
Speaker 1: just that, that ensuring that the people, right the professors
Speaker 1: who are laying the foundation for the future leaders understanding
Speaker 1: of politics are doing so in a very real and
Speaker 1: textured way. And so I'm excited for you to take
Speaker 1: a listen to my conversation coming up next with doctor
Speaker 1: Christina Greer. Folks, I am so excited to welcome back
Speaker 1: to woke f Daily our friend associate professor at Fordham University,
Speaker 1: doctor Christina Greer. She is also a political editor at
Speaker 1: The Grio. Doctor Greer, Christina, girl, I don't know about you,
Speaker 1: but a month into this new year of twenty twenty two,
Speaker 1: I am feeling really underwhelmed with where Democrats seem to
Speaker 1: be headed. I am underwhelmed with this administration and their
Speaker 1: stalled agenda. I am underwhelmed with Senator Kersen Cinema and
Speaker 1: Joe Mansion. I'm tired of saying their names. I'm tired
Speaker 1: of the gaggles following them around the Capitol like they
Speaker 1: are so the second coming of the Beatles or Beyonce.
Speaker 1: I don't know which, but I am over it. And
Speaker 1: just in general, as I keep talking to folks and
Speaker 1: we are what eight months or so away from midterm elections,
Speaker 1: people just feel over it, Like over the entirety of it.
Speaker 1: There is no energy when you look at NBC poll
Speaker 1: numbers for enthusiasm about midterm elections, Democrats are lagging right where,
Speaker 1: of course the GOP is now surging because you don't
Speaker 1: need to have an agenda, you don't need to have
Speaker 1: any of these things. You don't need to tell the truth,
Speaker 1: you don't need to believe in science. You can just
Speaker 1: spread lies and surge. How are you feeling about this
Speaker 1: moment in our politics right now as we head into
Speaker 1: the most consequential and probably the last midterm election that
Speaker 1: is free and fair and open. How are you feeling? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Maybe live in boring times again. I beg I try
Speaker 1: not to get too personal with it, only because this
Speaker 1: is my chosen profession, so if I think about it
Speaker 1: on an emotional level too much, I will just stay
Speaker 1: in bed, under the covers and go anywhere. I also
Speaker 1: can't have a brave and exciting face when I go
Speaker 1: into the classroom multiple times a week and try and
Speaker 1: inspire a whole new generation of kids to actually want
Speaker 1: to be a part of politics, either running for office
Speaker 1: themselves or voting or just being interested in reading the paper.
Speaker 1: So there are a few things that I'm trying to
Speaker 1: contextualize for them and kind of remind myself at the
Speaker 1: same time. The party in power oftentimes loses the midterm elections.
Speaker 1: That's just it happens to Republicans, it happens to Democrats.
Speaker 1: What is worrisome, yes, is that there seems to be
Speaker 1: a malaise and a frustration and a real disdain from
Speaker 1: Democrats because of what they feel as you know, sort
Speaker 1: of unproductive administration under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. What
Speaker 1: frustrates me most about this administration is they're actually doing
Speaker 1: a lot of good stuff. They just don't per usual,
Speaker 1: Democrats don't know how to articulate they're wins. So Republicans
Speaker 1: are running with this message of they're doing nothing, and
Speaker 1: it's like, well, first of all, they are doing quite
Speaker 1: a bit under the constraints, but the reason why they
Speaker 1: don't have big wins is because of the Republicans. The
Speaker 1: Republicans are just saying, even when Joe Biden compromises with
Speaker 1: us and gives us what we want, we still say no.
Speaker 1: Or we'll say yes and take it, but then we'll
Speaker 1: tell our people we said no, right, And so they
Speaker 1: control the narrative in a lot of ways, and Democrats
Speaker 1: are constantly playing defense to what Republicans, and they lead
Speaker 1: these two bedraggled senators who are just lavishing their team
Speaker 1: minutes of fame. And so you know I said this before,
Speaker 1: and we live your citizens of the state of New York,
Speaker 1: Chuck Shumer, I need you to get it together, right,
Speaker 1: I need you to sort of get your LBJ on
Speaker 1: and like we never we should know who Cinema and
Speaker 1: Mansion are to be quite honest, right, Chuck Shumer, you
Speaker 1: should have gotten them together a long time ago. You
Speaker 1: should have given them what they needed. It's called law rolling, right,
Speaker 1: But what they want is attention, and what they want
Speaker 1: is to sort of hijack the narrative because it's this
Speaker 1: false narrative of bipartisanship and this false equivalency of like, well,
Speaker 1: both parties are being obstinate, like no, no, no no, no
Speaker 1: one party. The Republican Party is trying to take away.
Speaker 1: As you said, this might be our last free and
Speaker 1: fair election, because it's always an asterisk with free and
Speaker 1: fair elections. Do you remember two thousand with Florida. So
Speaker 1: the fact that Cinema and Mansion are aiding and embedding
Speaker 1: that type of behavior across the country, not just in
Speaker 1: their home states, lets us know that the message isn't
Speaker 1: getting out like Joe Biden should be letting Americans know
Speaker 1: every single day, this is what I'm doing. And use
Speaker 1: your surrogates, right, Use your mayors. Most mayors in major
Speaker 1: cities they're Democrats. Use your mayors. Use your governors. A
Speaker 1: few that we have left that we're lost under Obama
Speaker 1: and the state houses lost under the Obama administration. Use
Speaker 1: them to go out and be the surrogates to tell
Speaker 1: everyone what you're doing. And what you're doing is a lot.
Speaker 1: The fact that we still have people in their homes,
Speaker 1: that's the Biden administration. The fact that people got paid
Speaker 1: real cash money to not be out in the world
Speaker 1: during the height of the pandemic, you know, these past
Speaker 1: few months, that's Joe Biden, right. And so they're they're
Speaker 1: finding money in various ways because you know, we got
Speaker 1: the money. Like, let's be clear, we're one of the
Speaker 1: registrations of the world. We got the money, we just
Speaker 1: don't want to use it on certain people. So I
Speaker 1: think my frustration is that the Democrats never articulate all
Speaker 1: the stuff that they're doing for people, and they're not
Speaker 1: using people who want to be used. Right, tell me
Speaker 1: what I need to be saying, well, how can I
Speaker 1: be the champion so that we can get people inspired
Speaker 1: to turn out in mid terms, because we know when
Speaker 1: Republicans win in midterm elections, it's not because they have
Speaker 1: more voters. It's because they use two things. One the
Speaker 1: institutional mechanisms to prevent Democrats from voting, and then two,
Speaker 1: Democrats just tend not to turn out in the same
Speaker 1: rates as Republicans during midterm elections. And so that's how
Speaker 1: we're going to see, most likely this pendulum swing. But
Speaker 1: Joe Biden and his administration have eight months to ring
Speaker 1: the alarm to say just how dangerous this is. But
Speaker 1: I think that there's a simple but there's a type
Speaker 1: of apathy that people have where it's like, well, we've
Speaker 1: been on high alert forever, right, And then you add politically,
Speaker 1: we've been on high alert since Donald Trump came down
Speaker 1: that gold escalator and called Mexicans rapists. And then we've
Speaker 1: got a pandemic, and then we've got unemployment, and then
Speaker 1: we've got mass debts. Almost a million Americans have died
Speaker 1: from COVID. Say nothing about people who are languishing in
Speaker 1: hospitals and long term COVID people who were once healthy
Speaker 1: and did all the right things, but somehow got COVID
Speaker 1: and they're just never going to be the same. And
Speaker 1: then you have you know, parents who are just like
Speaker 1: I'm homeschooling, Like what I have a day in Algebraison's
Speaker 1: ninth grade? Like what am I supposed to be doing?
Speaker 1: So there's this exhaustion that Joe Biden is competing against,
Speaker 1: this like global exhaustion. But for Americans, you know, our
Speaker 1: middle class, I'm just gonna say blanket mid class. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna talk about the bla middle class just yet,
Speaker 1: but the blanket middle class is holding on by a thread.
Speaker 1: But we know to be black middle class is literally
Speaker 1: to be one paycheck away from poverty. Because most black
Speaker 1: middle class people we're in mixed class households, mixed class families. Right,
Speaker 1: so we know we've got you know, good jobs, and
Speaker 1: we may work for ourselves or whatever, but like we're
Speaker 1: in a tenuous position. We don't have savings. You know,
Speaker 1: when our grandparents die, we don't automatically become millionaires. We
Speaker 1: tend to be from families where we have to like
Speaker 1: come together as a family to bury grandma. Not oh
Speaker 1: grandma's house you know is in the white part of town.
Speaker 1: And so it's now we're two million. We don't have
Speaker 1: that luxury. So this exhaustion that I think black people
Speaker 1: have where it's like, oh, you'll save the democracy again,
Speaker 1: it's like, I'm tired to save in this country. Look,
Speaker 1: we understand why. I mean, I've got this candle of
Speaker 1: Stacey Abrams behind me, right, and I haven't just because
Speaker 1: I have the most respect for Stacey Abrams, but it's
Speaker 1: also this reminder, like a tongue in cheek reminder for myself,
Speaker 1: where it's like, I'm tired of us being saint black women,
Speaker 1: Saint Danielle tell us all the news we need to know,
Speaker 1: Sat Professor Chrissy, you know educators. It's like, you know
Speaker 1: what you good liberals, pick up the slack, do the work.
Speaker 1: And I think I said this, you know, on the
Speaker 1: podcast when I was with you and Terray, which just
Speaker 1: you know, when I was younger, we have this big
Speaker 1: house and you know, companies coming over at three, and
Speaker 1: I'd ask my mom like, so what do I need
Speaker 1: to do? And she would just look at me and
Speaker 1: she's like look around, like I don't need to give you,
Speaker 1: Like you know that we're about to have a hundred
Speaker 1: people up in this house in approximately four hours. Do
Speaker 1: not keep asking me what I need to do, Like,
Speaker 1: you know, these trash canting to be empty. You know,
Speaker 1: these bathrooms need to be clean. You know, get the
Speaker 1: vacuum out, get the room, get the mop the dust,
Speaker 1: mop the wax of lords. I mean, we were full
Speaker 1: Cinderella up in that house. But I just think that
Speaker 1: so many white Americans who mean well are looking to
Speaker 1: black women like, so what should I be doing? And
Speaker 1: it's like, are you serious? Like serience, right now, you
Speaker 1: were asking me to help you figure out what needs
Speaker 1: to be look around. Convince your dad and your uncle
Speaker 1: and you and your mom that voting Republican for these
Speaker 1: white nationalists, it's going to hurt the country in the
Speaker 1: long time. Stop telling me that your dad's awesome, but
Speaker 1: he's he's voting against my voting rights on a daily basis, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, like I talk to people all the time,
Speaker 1: and it's like they think it's enough for them to
Speaker 1: pat themselves on the back because they're on like the
Speaker 1: good side of history. I was like, yeah, but your
Speaker 1: entire family isn't, So why don't you do the heavy lifting?
Speaker 1: Because they're gonna listen to this a little black girl
Speaker 1: with a PhD. You spend that time, but you know,
Speaker 1: you say so many things that makes so much sense.
Speaker 1: I mean one like I could do an entire month
Speaker 1: on the level of exhaustion, on the level of language,
Speaker 1: on the level of you know what. Today, I'm actually
Speaker 1: in the mood where I'm like, here's the match, y'all
Speaker 1: want this shit to burn down. You don't want America
Speaker 1: to function in the way that it was. Woke up
Speaker 1: this morning to hearing that the killers of Ahmad Aubrey
Speaker 1: got a backdoor deal with the federal government, you know,
Speaker 1: to make their time in prison easier. I'm like, you
Speaker 1: lynched a man in broad fucking daylight, right, But like,
Speaker 1: but once again, let let black people wake up to
Speaker 1: the fact that not only is this country not equal,
Speaker 1: not only is our politics and our democracy hanging on
Speaker 1: by a thread. But like, you ain't shit right, It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter what it is that you do, whether you're
Speaker 1: going out for a jog, you're going for an Arizona
Speaker 1: iced tea, you're going around the block, or you're sitting
Speaker 1: in your goddamn car, right or like me, I'm a burner,
Speaker 1: can't I just enjoy nature like everybody. Can you No, no,
Speaker 1: you can't. And can you sleep in your bed? No,
Speaker 1: you can't do that either. And I think that when
Speaker 1: you tick all of these things off, and we do
Speaker 1: it as a personal reminder, but it's also like with
Speaker 1: every single one of those instances, I want to go
Speaker 1: and lay down. Do you know what I'm saying? And
Speaker 1: I'm tired of hearing about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris
Speaker 1: having all of these wins in the first year, but
Speaker 1: they don't know, they don't know how to message you.
Speaker 1: We just finished four years under Donald Trump, right, a
Speaker 1: man that and an administration and a Republican Party that
Speaker 1: has become so disgustingly cruel, so vicious, so violent, so
Speaker 1: rage filled, and they have single handedly figured out what
Speaker 1: makes their base tick. It doesn't matter that their base
Speaker 1: is white supremacist, it doesn't matter if their folks are
Speaker 1: oathkeepers or their proud boys, because they figured out what
Speaker 1: makes them tick, and they give them all of the
Speaker 1: red meat and all of the things that they need
Speaker 1: in order to keep functioning. So the question that I
Speaker 1: have for you, Christina, is that you know it isn't
Speaker 1: enough for us to continue to say obial democrats don't
Speaker 1: know how to message is, particularly when we're talking about
Speaker 1: messaging being the difference between life and death. We're talking
Speaker 1: about a million Americans have died of COVID it because
Speaker 1: of messaging, right, Like, yeah, you know what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 1: but white people don't. They're not at the life and
Speaker 1: death point yet They're getting little glimpses, right. Texas Democrats
Speaker 1: are like what abortion Right, It's like, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: You know, like they're little glimpses. But I've said this
Speaker 1: before and I it sounds blunt, but I'm it's just
Speaker 1: how I feel. White people don't understand the capacity of
Speaker 1: white people. They don't understand what white people are capable of.
Speaker 1: I think there are a lot there are a lot
Speaker 1: of white people in this country, good white people, like
Speaker 1: white people who were either on the on the team
Speaker 1: and like will fight for the cause or just kind
Speaker 1: of like the ones Martin Luther King warn is about,
Speaker 1: like the moderates where it's like, listen, I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: stand in your way or progress, but I'm also not
Speaker 1: gonna put my skin in the game, like settle down.
Speaker 1: But those two groups of people do not understand January six.
Speaker 1: They see them as like, well, I mean it's an overreach,
Speaker 1: but like I can sort of see because like those
Speaker 1: guys are with my uncles, and like there is just
Speaker 1: a I can see how they have a lot of frustrations,
Speaker 1: like no, no no, no, you don't understand that, like when
Speaker 1: you really read history books, because I mean, this is
Speaker 1: the part of whitewashing our history right, always done. I
Speaker 1: mean CRT is just another iteration of it. It's like
Speaker 1: you don't understand the number of white people who were
Speaker 1: killed in the Civil rights movement, either the ones who
Speaker 1: had the skin in the game or the ones who
Speaker 1: were just on the sidelines and weren't virulent racist, right.
Speaker 1: And so it's like I don't think that the vast
Speaker 1: majority of white people in this country understand the extent
Speaker 1: to which certain white people will go to burn this
Speaker 1: country to the ground with them in it. They don't
Speaker 1: care as long as colored people and immigrants and all
Speaker 1: the folks that they've been told are stealing from them.
Speaker 1: Forget that it's their own party. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: I use this quote all the time because it's so real.
Speaker 1: This is why LBJ is my favorite president. It's like
Speaker 1: LBJ said, because you know, don't forget he was poor,
Speaker 1: he was from Texas. He used to be a good
Speaker 1: old boy and then he evolved with the times because
Speaker 1: he was smart and he felt like he needed to
Speaker 1: whether he was genuine about the civil rights moving the
Speaker 1: vone and right Zack in the immigration neck, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't care, and I don't care. I don't care.
Speaker 1: The bab brain he gave the pen to mart Luther King,
Speaker 1: so here we are. But he was just like he said,
Speaker 1: if you can convince the poorest white man that he's
Speaker 1: better than the negro, then you can pick his pockets long.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what the Republican Party is looking
Speaker 1: at Donald Trump, like, wow, you unlock the secret code,
Speaker 1: like you and your you know, thousand air status. But
Speaker 1: it's like that frumpled suit, that cotton candy hair. All
Speaker 1: that is an aesthetic to make people feel like he's
Speaker 1: regular and he's with them. That sort of broken English.
Speaker 1: I mean, he uses fewer words than mister t right,
Speaker 1: Like he is this person where he can go to
Speaker 1: the dregs of society and make them feel good, and
Speaker 1: even the wealthy folks, they can excuse it and say, well,
Speaker 1: I don't like the packaging, but I'm still gonna vote
Speaker 1: for it. Right. And this is why someone like Junkan
Speaker 1: is so dangerous because he's actually quasi educated and he
Speaker 1: comes with the LLL being you know, fleece fast, and
Speaker 1: he says, if you're listening closely enough, he says the
Speaker 1: same things as Donald Trump. He just says it in
Speaker 1: a much more professional and educated way, which gets people
Speaker 1: to vote for it. Because at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: so many Americans, white Americans in particular, who are still
Speaker 1: holding on to this Republican Party. It's like, just be honest,
Speaker 1: you care about money more than people. That's fine, just
Speaker 1: say it. But I'm like, just here's to say it.
Speaker 1: But and this is where this is actually where I'm
Speaker 1: going to say something that I don't normally say, because
Speaker 1: I don't normally do Devil's Advocate and I don't normally
Speaker 1: do both sides. But let me tell you something. What
Speaker 1: I have realized and why it becomes why there are
Speaker 1: days where I am just wanting to throw my hands
Speaker 1: up is because Christina, both of them only give a
Speaker 1: damn about money, right, And this is what I said,
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know, do you go with the party
Speaker 1: that says fut your face or the one that smiles
Speaker 1: in your face and then says f you behind your back?
Speaker 1: Because to me, that is right now the distinction between
Speaker 1: Republicans and Democrats. Republicans are ready to lynch every single
Speaker 1: one of us that does not look love and pray
Speaker 1: like them. Okay, that is not white, that is not sith,
Speaker 1: that is not Christian, that is not like an avowed
Speaker 1: quote unquote real American. They're ready to get rid of
Speaker 1: every single one of us and put them back on
Speaker 1: the plantation, the boat, the wherever, right out of sight,
Speaker 1: out of mind. But Democrats with an opportunity to actually
Speaker 1: do more. Right, you have Joe Manchin driving around in
Speaker 1: a maserati, and you have Kersen Cinema going to Europe
Speaker 1: to go fundraise right in the height of a pandemic.
Speaker 1: So you have these people, even the policy the bill
Speaker 1: right now that is going around going around the hill,
Speaker 1: that is about, Hey, how about you don't have the
Speaker 1: ability as a sitting member of Congress to be able
Speaker 1: to do insider trading. How about you shouldn't be able
Speaker 1: to do that to get a lega and guess what.
Speaker 1: It ain't a bipartisan bill because it's not going to
Speaker 1: go anywhere because both Democrats and Republicans get to make
Speaker 1: money off of their inside intel and so no one
Speaker 1: wants to do away with that. And so when we
Speaker 1: get to this place where we recognize that we are
Speaker 1: dealing with one unabashed evil and one that is fairly negligent, right,
Speaker 1: then what do you do with the population of people,
Speaker 1: and particularly with your students who are trying to enter
Speaker 1: into this field when all you do is step back
Speaker 1: and you're just like, this is just all about money,
Speaker 1: and whoever gets the most wins, right. But I think
Speaker 1: the difference is this, and this is at least what
Speaker 1: I tell myself, what I trick myself when I tell
Speaker 1: my students. Whatever it may be, there's still enough Democrats
Speaker 1: throughout the country, on all different levels of government who
Speaker 1: are actually working towards certain things. I think sometimes when
Speaker 1: we talk about and money is permeated in all facets,
Speaker 1: like in all levels, right, even when you're running from
Speaker 1: mayor city council or whatever it may be. But I
Speaker 1: do think that Democrats, because we organize ourselves in parties, right,
Speaker 1: parties aren't mentioned in the Constitution. But we've always had
Speaker 1: parties in some iteration because this is the way that
Speaker 1: we get politics done right, Because someone who just has
Speaker 1: an interesting idea isn't necessarily going to get elected. You
Speaker 1: need a party structure to assist you. I'd much rather
Speaker 1: be with a party that's like, ah, well, at least
Speaker 1: we're not going to rip the whole institution away from
Speaker 1: you being able to participate. Right, at least I'm not
Speaker 1: going to throw you in jail for giving Danielle a
Speaker 1: glass of water while she's standing online. Hey, maybe it's
Speaker 1: actually not an inspirational story that a black woman waits
Speaker 1: in line to vote for a Barack Obama for ten hours, right,
Speaker 1: And that's that's im media's fault. But you know, like
Speaker 1: I think that the Democratic Party is at least there
Speaker 1: there are enough individuals in that party that are working
Speaker 1: towards like this is. You know, we're people of color.
Speaker 1: I mean, Republicans have chosen and made it very clear
Speaker 1: the ninety seven percent of who they want to put
Speaker 1: forward are white men. That's it, right, When you look
Speaker 1: at the judges that Donald Trump put in a place,
Speaker 1: when you look at people who are running and of
Speaker 1: course they highlight their like random colored person, you know,
Speaker 1: the lieutenant governor of Virginia now who's an immigrant or
Speaker 1: Nicky Hailey child of immigrants, you know, like they have
Speaker 1: their special Yeah, they have their token. Yeah, let's let's
Speaker 1: be whatever, but that they are who are complicit in
Speaker 1: white supremacy exactly because hey, guess what, you don't need
Speaker 1: to be white to be white sass, right on the
Speaker 1: same way, you don't need to be a man to
Speaker 1: participate in patriarchy colo white women, right like, And I
Speaker 1: learned that from Mark twain Um and camp. But that's
Speaker 1: a whole other story. When I was ten years old,
Speaker 1: so someone was like, how do you have this like
Speaker 1: full understanding of patriarch and whit supremacy. I was like,
Speaker 1: I went to camp let sleepaway camp to be a specific.
Speaker 1: So I say that because when I'm talking to my
Speaker 1: students right now, I always teach intro to politics for
Speaker 1: someone of my stature who is the associate chair of
Speaker 1: the department, I'm the chair essentially of the Lincoln Center campus.
Speaker 1: I am tenured, right, I've written books and articles. For
Speaker 1: me to teach an introductory course is kind of odd, right,
Speaker 1: people of my stature would teach advanced leable courses. I
Speaker 1: always teach intro every semester. That's the course that you know,
Speaker 1: most of the time adjuncts teach. You know, like people
Speaker 1: who are in graduate school who just need a few
Speaker 1: extra books, and you know, they come into a department
Speaker 1: and I'm like, no, no, no no, no no, because we,
Speaker 1: you know, usually teach multiple intro classes each semester. I'm like, one,
Speaker 1: I like to see all the smart kids from the
Speaker 1: other majors. But two, the intro to politics class is
Speaker 1: your foundation of politics. I'm getting you interested in reading
Speaker 1: the newspaper. I'm getting you interested. I mean, my specialty
Speaker 1: is American politics. But you know, I have lots of
Speaker 1: people who are obviously interested in international comparative politics. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: then we can talk about what's going on in Brazil
Speaker 1: or Ukraine, right and so, and related also back to America,
Speaker 1: because if we get into an interaction in Ukraine with Russia,
Speaker 1: like we ain't got no money, and Pootin knows that, right,
Speaker 1: and so we can talk about those types of things.
Speaker 1: I think, what's what is inspiring? I will say in
Speaker 1: this moment, because you know I always ask my students.
Speaker 1: I'm like Okay, so I'm talking about Barack Obama. I'm like,
Speaker 1: how old are you guys again? And they were like, hey,
Speaker 1: I mean so they're getting younger and younger. Right, Like
Speaker 1: when I show the war room about Bill Clinton's ninety
Speaker 1: two campaign, they weren't even anywhere near born. They don't
Speaker 1: know Bill Clinton. They only know Hillary Clinton barely because
Speaker 1: they were in kindergarten when she and Barack Obama were
Speaker 1: duking it out for the Democratic primary. So you see
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So like these important touchstones in our
Speaker 1: political understanding of this moment. How we have to understand
Speaker 1: Reagan right, to understand Trump, How we have to understand
Speaker 1: the backlash against Barack Obama, to understand how Joe Biden,
Speaker 1: how did you not think people werenk going to work
Speaker 1: with you, like just because you're old and white? Like
Speaker 1: thought that because he thought he was old and white, right,
Speaker 1: And it's like you walked into this black man for
Speaker 1: eight years and saw them say no at every single turn,
Speaker 1: so like you just thought you'd be different. Okay, but
Speaker 1: you know, so the thing is I'm teaching kids who
Speaker 1: they weren't around for that, because you know when when
Speaker 1: they say like oh, I was six, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: so you guys were obviously actively reading at the Times
Speaker 1: every morning. They're like yeah, right between ball patrol right.
Speaker 1: So like, so I'm also trying to contextualize the history
Speaker 1: of this moment because I'm like, listen, guys, you all
Speaker 1: are too young to sort of be of the soap
Speaker 1: opera generation. You remember, like, you know, we were days
Speaker 1: of our lives and you know, like all those stuff.
Speaker 1: I was like, so, you guys didn't grow up on
Speaker 1: soap operas, but I was this is nothing but like
Speaker 1: sex and intrigue and backstabbing and all types of stuff
Speaker 1: if you sort of look at it that way. And
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to say it's a game, but I'm like,
Speaker 1: you should be wholly invested in it, because if you
Speaker 1: don't want them to rip out your ovaries and give
Speaker 1: them to your daddy, if you have student loans, if
Speaker 1: you care about the environment, if you have asthma or
Speaker 1: you know a sibling with an asthma, if you went
Speaker 1: to a public school and you're like this place is crappy,
Speaker 1: It's like, not all public schools are crappy. Maybe yours was,
Speaker 1: but not everybody else's. If your parents had to take
Speaker 1: out loans to send you to a Catholic school because
Speaker 1: you couldn't go to your public school. That's something if
Speaker 1: you're in the military because you're trying to save money
Speaker 1: to go to school, or if your parents are in
Speaker 1: the military, right and you're wondering if they're going to
Speaker 1: come home. Even though we're not quote unquote actively involved,
Speaker 1: but like, uh, stuff still pops off. So I'm like politics.
Speaker 1: I literally take a piece of paper. I'm like, what
Speaker 1: is political about this piece of paper? And they're like,
Speaker 1: it's literally a white piece of paper. I'm like, no, No,
Speaker 1: somebody's trees in somebody's country or somebody's state got chopped
Speaker 1: down by people who possibly weren't making real money. My
Speaker 1: grandfather worked in a paper mill for forty three years
Speaker 1: in northern Florida, right, and people missing hands, missing fingers,
Speaker 1: all types of wage theft, you name it, because the
Speaker 1: black people had to work outside and white people got
Speaker 1: to work inside. Right Now, It's like then the truck's
Speaker 1: going through people's communities and the pollution going through the bronx. Right.
Speaker 1: So by the time this piece of paper gets to you,
Speaker 1: all the political mechanisms and the global company that has
Speaker 1: sold this paper company that is on the New York
Speaker 1: Stock Exchange, right, so, like everything is political. A plastic
Speaker 1: pen is political, and you know, so I'm trying to
Speaker 1: get them to understand that everything around them involves them,
Speaker 1: and doing that because I have this sort of this
Speaker 1: privilege to kind of be at the forefront of people
Speaker 1: who will be in the future, I'm a little less
Speaker 1: freaked out the present is a mess. But I also
Speaker 1: keep reminding them and you know, one of my students
Speaker 1: was like, you're the only professor who keeps saying this.
Speaker 1: I literally say every single class, we're in the middle
Speaker 1: of a global pandemic. Because we are because we are
Speaker 1: because we are being normal, quote unquote. And I'm like, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: I'm going to extend you a certain modicum of grace
Speaker 1: and grandas still don't take things that are late, because
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm still got to teach you some lessons, right,
Speaker 1: and like, I can't have you out in the world
Speaker 1: thinking that everything's going to be you know, you get
Speaker 1: time and a half for everything. You just get to
Speaker 1: hand this stuff whenever you feel like it. I was like,
Speaker 1: so we're still gonna have some rules and some sort
Speaker 1: of standards in this class, but I was like, I
Speaker 1: want you to extend me a modicum of grace because
Speaker 1: I'm in the middle of a global pandemic. I can't
Speaker 1: see my family as much as I want to, I
Speaker 1: can't see my friends as much as I want. You.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen you, i'ven't given you a hug since
Speaker 1: we're probably an MSNBC before the pandemic, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So it's like, all these things that make
Speaker 1: me whole, I'm not allowed to do either. You guys
Speaker 1: are having a college experience that is not normal. You
Speaker 1: might be living in a dorm, but it's still not normal.
Speaker 1: So like just this latent pressure, yeah, that we're all in,
Speaker 1: coupled with the fact that this is roughly around the
Speaker 1: time the democracies die and we're kind of tiktoking on
Speaker 1: that time period for America as young as we are.
Speaker 1: But this is kind of when, you know, when democracies
Speaker 1: tend to sort of unravel, the number of people who
Speaker 1: were willing to help it unravel is scary, right because
Speaker 1: it's not like, oh, it's just a few bad apples.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh no, got like we're orchards up in here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: with people who want to cross country burns. Yeah, across
Speaker 1: the country. And you know, again, you don't need to
Speaker 1: be white to have one sremacy. So it's not just
Speaker 1: you know, looking over your shoulder for some hillbillies. It's
Speaker 1: like oh no, no, no, Like they come in all
Speaker 1: shapes and forms and colors and ethnicity and classes and
Speaker 1: economic status and listeners. Donald Trumps still got millions upon
Speaker 1: millions of votes, and he lost when he ran against
Speaker 1: Joe Biden, but seventy five or seventy five million people
Speaker 1: million people still, so I like what he's selling. I
Speaker 1: don't care that he said Mexicans rapists. I don't care
Speaker 1: that he's tried tried to sign an executive order. I
Speaker 1: don't care twenty women accused him of sexual assault and
Speaker 1: or harassment. I don't I don't care that. Like you
Speaker 1: have kidnapped children with no plans to reunite them with
Speaker 1: their families, and there are still hundreds that will probably
Speaker 1: never be reunited. It's like I think that when you
Speaker 1: say to your students, we're in the middle of a
Speaker 1: pandemic and like democracy is unraveling. I feel like the
Speaker 1: whole sentiment in America right now is just pushed through.
Speaker 1: Yeah right, it's just keep this is where, this is
Speaker 1: where a British this is where a British heritage is
Speaker 1: not serving us. Well you know that sort of just
Speaker 1: have a stiff upper lip, let's not talk about it.
Speaker 1: Let's just power through, you know, like the kind of
Speaker 1: the old school British style of like, let's not be hysterical.
Speaker 1: And I think for me, when I look at my students,
Speaker 1: because I mean they're they're babies to me, right, I
Speaker 1: mean they're eighteen years old, what I have to do?
Speaker 1: And you said something key about democracy and raveling. First though,
Speaker 1: I have to explain to them what democracy is. I
Speaker 1: can't explain to them that democracy is unraveling. They don't
Speaker 1: understand what this country is, so like their understanding of
Speaker 1: who America is and has been. Because I got to
Speaker 1: talk to you about how she has been, right, I
Speaker 1: was like, you guys have always been told that she's
Speaker 1: basically this Ritz Carlton or this you know, this four
Speaker 1: seasons that had to give us some moments of history.
Speaker 1: But that was so long ago, and it's like no,
Speaker 1: no, no no, no, no, this is a hojo. This country
Speaker 1: is a motels. It is exactly right in the middle
Speaker 1: of nowhere. And you know when I tell them, because
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know how old they think I am,
Speaker 1: because you know, ay, I'm black, so I could be
Speaker 1: anywhere between like eighteen and eighty seven. But I'm like,
Speaker 1: when I tell them, my mother only went to segregated
Speaker 1: schools her entire life, from k through high school. My
Speaker 1: father integrated his high school. And I'm like, I know
Speaker 1: that you guys don't fully understand what that means. But
Speaker 1: I'm like, that means my mother was not allowed to
Speaker 1: go to school with white people, like not just oh
Speaker 1: she didn't want to and they lived on the other
Speaker 1: side of town. It's like, no, no no, it was illegal
Speaker 1: in the state of Florida where she was. So and
Speaker 1: you have to say that to them in the context
Speaker 1: of this was not a hundred years ago, no, right,
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. I'm like, this was like we
Speaker 1: love as a nation to say like, oh, this was
Speaker 1: like centuries ago. No, there are people who are not
Speaker 1: that old right right now that has very clear and
Speaker 1: vivid memories. Oh how they grew up, what their families
Speaker 1: went through that were just let again, power through it. Oh,
Speaker 1: the civil rights move that was so long ago. No,
Speaker 1: it wasn't was not. My dad is only seventy four,
Speaker 1: and you know, I went and lived with him for
Speaker 1: six weeks during the height of the pandemic in New York,
Speaker 1: where I was like, I gotta get out of here,
Speaker 1: and so I went to my dad, who lives in Delaware,
Speaker 1: and it was that's when I started birding, and you know,
Speaker 1: I just had space and I could be outside and
Speaker 1: I could go for walks without you know, sort of
Speaker 1: being so worried about catching COVID. This is you know,
Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty June of twenty twenty, so we
Speaker 1: didn't have a vaccine. We didn't know how this thing
Speaker 1: was jumping from person to person. So it's like, let
Speaker 1: me just go kind of, you know, to a more
Speaker 1: suburban environment. And at night we had movie night every night,
Speaker 1: so we'd watch movies and it was great because I
Speaker 1: haven't lived with my dad since I was in high school.
Speaker 1: And he would tell me stories. Danielle, I'm like, this
Speaker 1: is stuff that's in history books. This man is having
Speaker 1: a cigar and a glass of rum. He is nice
Speaker 1: and spry. He is not old at all. And you
Speaker 1: know the N words stuff. You know what I think
Speaker 1: is fascinating. He's an he's a Life Scout. You know,
Speaker 1: there's Eagle Scout is the highest of the boy scouts, right,
Speaker 1: and then I think Life Scout is like the second highest.
Speaker 1: And he was just like, oh, well, I wasn't allowed
Speaker 1: to be an Eagle Scout, So what do you mean
Speaker 1: even un allowed to be an Eagle Scout. He's like, well,
Speaker 1: black people at the time in Miami couldn't be Eagle
Speaker 1: Scouts like across the country, but like, you know, he
Speaker 1: was in the Eagle Scouts of Miami. It was like,
Speaker 1: what do you mean? And he was just like, well,
Speaker 1: they would make it such that the last badge was
Speaker 1: at the fire department and you would never get it
Speaker 1: because obviously the fire department had no black firefighters. I mean,
Speaker 1: like all these things. So he could tell me the
Speaker 1: black person in Miami the year, the name of the
Speaker 1: year that the black boy became an Eagle Scout because
Speaker 1: he was the first black kid to become an Eagle Scout,
Speaker 1: something that none of them could have done. And so
Speaker 1: they're so proud and exciting all this other stuff Like
Speaker 1: this dude, I was like Ruby Bridges is not even seventy,
Speaker 1: right when we think about some of these pioneers, and
Speaker 1: so I think so much of the power of racism
Speaker 1: and went supremacy and anti blackness in this country has
Speaker 1: been to make us feel like everything's from Harriet Tubman
Speaker 1: and Regid Douglas. But first of all, Martin Luther King
Speaker 1: would have been younger than Betty White when she died
Speaker 1: a few week younger, I mean like and not just
Speaker 1: about younger than Sidney Potier, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So it's like, and guess what, he didn't die of cancer.
Speaker 1: He didn't die of a heart attack like he was assassinated.
Speaker 1: And when you look at the public opinion from when
Speaker 1: he was assassinated and murdered, nobody liked him. White people wise, right,
Speaker 1: They're just like, oh, he's a terrorist. So this this
Speaker 1: kind of mythology that we're obsessed within this country. That
Speaker 1: this is why I love being an educator because most
Speaker 1: of my students we're just like, oh, Martley Ding, I
Speaker 1: have a dream. I'm like, let's read these speeches from
Speaker 1: talking about Vietnam and emancipating poor white people. Let's talk
Speaker 1: about that, because that's how you get yourself assassinated. Now
Speaker 1: when you're trying to free black people, when you're trying
Speaker 1: to have a global conversation about white supremacy, that's when
Speaker 1: folks are like, yeah, we gotta shut this man from
Speaker 1: Alabama real fast. I will say this one. I always
Speaker 1: appreciate our conversation so much because you just illuminated so
Speaker 1: many things for me, which is that America, like most places,
Speaker 1: is based on a set of mythologies, right, like I
Speaker 1: can North Korea. Yeah, I continue to say, like, you know,
Speaker 1: there are people many, there are generations of people in
Speaker 1: China who have no idea about the Tianamen Square. Why
Speaker 1: because they don't teach it there, And like, if you
Speaker 1: know about it, it is because of oral history that
Speaker 1: has been passed down because it is nowhere written, it
Speaker 1: is nowhere talked about it. There is no museum, there
Speaker 1: is no nothing. As a matter of fact, they passed
Speaker 1: a law in China that the parents of those people
Speaker 1: that were killed, those students that were murdered, we're not
Speaker 1: allowed to grieve in public, We're not allowed to mention
Speaker 1: those children's name. And so we wonder, like, well, how
Speaker 1: do people continue to go on right and not know
Speaker 1: because it has been extracted you're doing and your life
Speaker 1: has been extracted and set up in such a way.
Speaker 1: So when I talk about on this show and others
Speaker 1: about the matrix that we are living in, the matrix
Speaker 1: that has been created around America, the beautiful America, the
Speaker 1: great this is what the fuck I'm talking about. So
Speaker 1: to be able to sit with your dad and get
Speaker 1: a one on one history lesson just based on the
Speaker 1: vantage point of his life and how much gaslighting he
Speaker 1: is probably endured to be told that what he's experienced
Speaker 1: is something that happened generations ago, something that we don't
Speaker 1: need to talk about or understand the economic impressions of
Speaker 1: what has happened right and why we are where we
Speaker 1: are because of those times, because of those negations, Christina,
Speaker 1: this is why I always want to have you back
Speaker 1: on the show, because we need to go back to
Speaker 1: one oh one, Because I don't know how we figure
Speaker 1: out how to rebuild, restore, reimagine when we don't know
Speaker 1: where we orient ourselves from, where we don't have a
Speaker 1: strong foundation and really integral understanding of this country and
Speaker 1: how to fix it. Like you can't fix something that
Speaker 1: you don't understand, you can't build something that you don't
Speaker 1: have the tools for, absolutely, And I'll leave it at this.
Speaker 1: Whenever my students say the word slave, I stop them.
Speaker 1: And this is part of the mythology and the sort
Speaker 1: of erasure of history. And I'm like, listen, flavors and
Speaker 1: now table chair, cup, glass, pen, paper, slate. When we
Speaker 1: talk about us chattel slavery that carried out for centuries,
Speaker 1: I was like, I always use the word enslaved person
Speaker 1: or enslaved African. I was like, because that's a human being,
Speaker 1: and it's a relationship between two people. One is the
Speaker 1: enslaver and one is the enslaved. And I was like,
Speaker 1: so in our history we're taught, oh, slaves. It's like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: the slaves, we're doing this. It's like, no, no, no no, no.
Speaker 1: These are people who could not reproduce on their own.
Speaker 1: They couldn't have their own family structure, they couldn't they
Speaker 1: couldn't eat when they felt like eating. I mean, they
Speaker 1: couldn't go to the bathroom when they felt like like
Speaker 1: these horrible things. You know. It's like, oh, Sally Hemmings
Speaker 1: dated Thomas Jefferson. I'm like, uh, if I'm enslaved, I'm
Speaker 1: not dating anyone. I'm being raped, okay by one of
Speaker 1: the leaders of this nation. And so I think just
Speaker 1: even the minor ways that we need to change our
Speaker 1: language in this country. And this is why I appreciate
Speaker 1: Nicolehannah Jones so much, because she'll be in an interview
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of that god awful touch Chodo Chocho, yeah, interview,
Speaker 1: and he keeps saying, well, you know, parents and black's
Speaker 1: and she's like, so if you want to say white parents,
Speaker 1: say say white parents, say your parents. Because the thing is,
Speaker 1: it was always, you know, when when Hillary Clinton and
Speaker 1: Barack Obama were running, it's like, well, woman versus a
Speaker 1: black a black person or a black man. And I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: no, no no, it's a white woman, right because women aren't white,
Speaker 1: not all women are white. But like this idea that
Speaker 1: womanhood is white womanhood and blackness is a black malehood, right.
Speaker 1: And this is what's so interesting about Sherley Chisolm, who's
Speaker 1: right behind me, right when it's like, okay, in seventy two,
Speaker 1: it's like when we need a woman or a black person,
Speaker 1: so she's like, you know, goes to the black folks.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, well we said a black person. I'm
Speaker 1: here and there like, uh, we actually meant a black man.
Speaker 1: And then she goes to the women, Laurie Steinham and
Speaker 1: friends and it's like, okay, you said a woman, and
Speaker 1: they were like, uh, well, we actually meant a white woman, right,
Speaker 1: And so it's like, right, if you want to say
Speaker 1: a woman, say why woman? Then if that's what you're
Speaker 1: talking about. And so I think for my students, I'm
Speaker 1: really trying to be a lot more deliberate in my
Speaker 1: language because I I don't allow them to say like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: I'm a minority. I'm like, listen, I'm a global majority.
Speaker 1: I'm a woman and a person of color. So globally,
Speaker 1: more people look like me and more people are either
Speaker 1: a woman or a person of color. So like, I'm
Speaker 1: not walking around saying that I'm a minority at all.
Speaker 1: And I think that in this country, because this mythology
Speaker 1: of white supremacy, anti black racism, patriarch and capitalism is
Speaker 1: so embedded in our foundation that Bell Hooks talks about this,
Speaker 1: We've got just folks believing the big lie, and the
Speaker 1: big lie is from before seventeen seventy six. Come on,
Speaker 1: that's right, Oh, doctor Christina Greer. We need we need hugs.
Speaker 1: We need hug time, we need cocktail time, walking time,
Speaker 1: we need all of those things. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for making the time to give us at wok F
Speaker 1: one on a one on one and a one on
Speaker 1: one with me education as to where we are, how
Speaker 1: we got here, and where, if anywhere, we are headed.
Speaker 1: We appreciate you. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: That is it for me today. Dear friends on woke
Speaker 1: a F. You know I'm going to be starting something
Speaker 1: new this week, and you tell me what you all
Speaker 1: will think about it. But I want to leave you
Speaker 1: kind of with this moment of zen of reprieve of rest.
Speaker 1: I did a meditation earlier this morning. I meditate in
Speaker 1: the morning and in the evening before I go to bed,
Speaker 1: I kind of try in sandwich my day in that way,
Speaker 1: because you know, so much happens. And in one of
Speaker 1: the meditations that I did today and I use insight timer.
Speaker 1: There is calm, there's insight timer. There you know, are
Speaker 1: many free apps that people can use. And what I
Speaker 1: like about insight timer is right now is that they
Speaker 1: will ask you, you know, to with happy faces, where
Speaker 1: is your mood? Great? Good, okay, bad, you know, and
Speaker 1: then they will provide you with meditations that correspond with
Speaker 1: your mood. So this morning I did one that was
Speaker 1: on healing, because I realize that we don't talk about
Speaker 1: healing and pain and trauma enough, and grief and what
Speaker 1: it means to not just you know, power through bad
Speaker 1: situations or emotionally draining situations or traumatic experiences and situations,
Speaker 1: but what it means to honestly sit in that, not
Speaker 1: sit in it as into marinate, but to sit in
Speaker 1: and actually feel your feelings and recognize that our life
Speaker 1: right isn't about how successful we are, isn't about how
Speaker 1: productive we are, but is about how aligned we can
Speaker 1: be in our state of being. We are so busy doing.
Speaker 1: There was a meme that I saw that it was
Speaker 1: always that was human doing instead of human being, that
Speaker 1: we never just kind of sit. We're told to fight through,
Speaker 1: muster on, you know, pull yourself up from your bootstraps,
Speaker 1: but nobody ever just says, sit, breathe, and feel and
Speaker 1: allow what comes up to come up right, not in
Speaker 1: a way to control it, but in a way to
Speaker 1: observe it. And So moving forward with woke AF, I'm
Speaker 1: going to do my best to provide us with an
Speaker 1: ending note that isn't one that is steeped in rage
Speaker 1: and frustration and anger, but is one that as a collective,
Speaker 1: we can use this show, use woke a f and
Speaker 1: this platform to meditate on our rage, to get it
Speaker 1: out of our bodies and then leave ourselves more leveled
Speaker 1: and more at peace for having gone through this exercise
Speaker 1: of learning, expanding and growing together. Anger and rage are
Speaker 1: important tools. And so I'm not saying we just pretend
Speaker 1: and be happy, go lucky all the time, but I
Speaker 1: do believe that there is an alignment and a settle,
Speaker 1: a settling that needs to happen. Once we rid ourselves
Speaker 1: of that kind of energy, there is a coming back
Speaker 1: into our bodies that I think is going to be
Speaker 1: really important, particularly as we move forward in these very
Speaker 1: uncertain times. And so if you have tips and tactics
Speaker 1: and tricks that you are using to help keep your
Speaker 1: energy in a good place, in a glowing place, in
Speaker 1: a healing place, please you let us know in the
Speaker 1: comments section or DM me and let me know, because
Speaker 1: I'm going to be looking for opportunities for us to
Speaker 1: find rest after our rage on a daily basis. Whether
Speaker 1: it be for a minute or ten, but just wanting
Speaker 1: to leave you all in a better place than I
Speaker 1: do than I have been when I pop off, and
Speaker 1: then just cut out so beyond the lookout for that
Speaker 1: as always, dear friends. Power to the people and to
Speaker 1: all the people. Power, Get woke and stay woke as fuck.