Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Wika f Daily with
Speaker 1: me your girl, Daniel Moody recording from the Home Bunker. Folks,
Speaker 1: I'm not quite sure how to begin today's recording. I
Speaker 1: want to offer up a few thoughts on where we are,
Speaker 1: this state of the world, this state of our grief,
Speaker 1: this state of despair and anxiety, and the collective unsuredness
Speaker 1: that we are all sharing at this moment. Last week,
Speaker 1: I took the end of the week off and I
Speaker 1: decided to give myself with the opportunity to go to
Speaker 1: a Black women led spiritual retreat. It was put on
Speaker 1: by a group called Bukuo Hoodoo. There's a bookstore that
Speaker 1: is owned by Chantra lewis the creative divine mind behind
Speaker 1: Bukuo Hoodoo, and it is about African traditional religion and
Speaker 1: getting to understand the source in a different way. And
Speaker 1: if you know anything about me, you know that I
Speaker 1: do not prescribe to or subscribe to any particular organized religion.
Speaker 1: But I am someone who has throughout the course of
Speaker 1: my life from my work career personal have always been hungry,
Speaker 1: thirsty for education to understand how how people connect, to
Speaker 1: understand why we are here, to know the universe, more,
Speaker 1: to know people, more, to understand why humans move and
Speaker 1: act the way that they do. And I think that
Speaker 1: as our present, our present time becomes so devastating, I
Speaker 1: find myself wanting to go to the past. And I'm
Speaker 1: talking deep past. I'm talking the spark past. I'm talking like,
Speaker 1: you know, the creation of the universe. Past. I'm talking about,
Speaker 1: you know, being purposefully disconnected from the elements so that
Speaker 1: we can abuse the earth. Pat I'm talking about the
Speaker 1: missionaries that created a religion that was based on extraction,
Speaker 1: and not just extraction from the ground, but extraction of
Speaker 1: people's souls, extraction of people's spirit, extraction of people's freedoms. Right.
Speaker 1: And it is my exposure and experience around organized religion
Speaker 1: things that wars right today and yester year were fought
Speaker 1: over because what I know about how my interpretation of
Speaker 1: how we have come to existence in this world is
Speaker 1: that religion is a creation by man. Right, because you
Speaker 1: don't need to go to a place, you don't need
Speaker 1: to tie money, you don't need to have a medium
Speaker 1: to connect you to whatever you believe to be or
Speaker 1: not believe as a source as spirit, as God, as this,
Speaker 1: as that, as you know all that is that goes
Speaker 1: by so many different names. And why do I and
Speaker 1: have I looked for that type of understanding because I
Speaker 1: think that in order to truly understand what moves people,
Speaker 1: you have to understand what moves inside of people right
Speaker 1: when they hear certain scripture, certain words that drive them
Speaker 1: to commit all types of acts, acts of kindness and compassion,
Speaker 1: acts of depravity right all in the name of this
Speaker 1: said being. And where I find myself right now is
Speaker 1: where many of you find yourselves, which is just at
Speaker 1: a deep place of grief. Right If you watch Brene
Speaker 1: Brown's Actlas of the Heart, and I forget what stream
Speaker 1: place its on, and it was her book. It talks
Speaker 1: about the eighty sum odd emotions that we have an
Speaker 1: experience as humans, but we can only really name five
Speaker 1: of them. And grief is something that is different than sadness.
Speaker 1: Grief to me is something that shows up physically and
Speaker 1: spiritually and mentally. That is like putting a thousand weighted
Speaker 1: satchels around your body and then being told to sprint
Speaker 1: in the heat without water across coals that are heated.
Speaker 1: And for years now we have been challenged with the
Speaker 1: products of greed of hatred, of discrimination, of lawlessness, of lies,
Speaker 1: of sickness, of death that has besieged us in the
Speaker 1: United States, but around the globe and folks, we can
Speaker 1: go beyond the last three years of COVID to other
Speaker 1: points and pain points and wounds, ancient wounds of our history.
Speaker 1: And when I say our history, I mean of human
Speaker 1: beings on this earth history. To understand that we live
Speaker 1: inside of a dual experience where there is always going
Speaker 1: to be light and darkness. We're going to always contend
Speaker 1: withholding both of these things. But the question that I
Speaker 1: think is one of the many that is being asked
Speaker 1: of us right now, is is the light that we're
Speaker 1: trying to hold and be and shine out real, right?
Speaker 1: Or is it someone else's fluorescent lighting that is making
Speaker 1: us think that it's natural light? But it's so false. Right.
Speaker 1: It is light that has you see what others want
Speaker 1: you to see and not what you truly see. There's
Speaker 1: a scene in The Devilwar's Prada. Meryl Streep is talking
Speaker 1: to Anne Hathaway in the room of folks that work
Speaker 1: at the or whatever the fake magazine was in The
Speaker 1: Devilwares Prada, and she's telling her about the fact that
Speaker 1: she did not choose the sweater that she is wearing,
Speaker 1: that it was actually chosen by her, by the people
Speaker 1: that are in this room, right, that the ones that
Speaker 1: set trends and set style, right that everyone else follows
Speaker 1: from the high end of you know, fashion, all the
Speaker 1: way down to, as she says, the bargain basement bin,
Speaker 1: which is where you received that sweater from, no doubt.
Speaker 1: And that's what I think about when I think about
Speaker 1: this moment where people feel like it is necessary in
Speaker 1: some way, shape or form to watch this war in
Speaker 1: Israel and Palestine as if you are watching a video
Speaker 1: game and choosing sides. Humanity is the side that we
Speaker 1: should be choosing. Right. Babies are being killed, whether they
Speaker 1: are being killed from the bombs that Israel is using
Speaker 1: to drop on Gaza, or they're being killed at the
Speaker 1: hands of Hamath. Women are being raped as a form
Speaker 1: of battle, whether that is happening by Israeli soldiers who
Speaker 1: are destroying and have been destroying Palestinian homes and lives
Speaker 1: for seventy five years, or whether it is happening at
Speaker 1: the hands of Hammah since the late nineteen eighties. You see,
Speaker 1: I'm going to be honest, and I'm going to say
Speaker 1: some things that may have me lose listeners and have
Speaker 1: people call me all types of names. But this is
Speaker 1: the truth that I'm going to share. When I went
Speaker 1: to Israel and Palestine in twenty fifteen, I was brought
Speaker 1: there by the Foundation for Middle East Piece that brought
Speaker 1: a cohort of journalists of color and a few white
Speaker 1: journalists as well, to speak with activists, Palestinian activists, Israeli activists,
Speaker 1: to speak with lawmakers inside of the Kannesset to understand
Speaker 1: to get a better understanding and situational understanding of what
Speaker 1: had been transpiring in this part of the world. Now,
Speaker 1: let me preface everything that I'm going to say with
Speaker 1: which is I am not a Middle Eastern scholar. I
Speaker 1: am not a scholar in Israeli politics, in Palestinian politics. Right.
Speaker 1: What I am sharing with you is my experience that
Speaker 1: I had, which I am an expert in. I'm an
Speaker 1: expert in me. I'm an expert in understanding in justice.
Speaker 1: I'm an expert in what it means to live in
Speaker 1: a society that marginalizes those that are not part of
Speaker 1: the mainstream or deemed undesirable. I am an expert in
Speaker 1: that while I was there, I had the great fortune
Speaker 1: of being taken around to Jerusalem, to East Jerusalem, to
Speaker 1: the West Bank, to Tel Aviv, to all different parts
Speaker 1: of this very small, fracticious but incredibly important in the
Speaker 1: foundation of every religion, every mainstream religion. When I'm talking
Speaker 1: about Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, so not every religion, excuse me,
Speaker 1: the main streamed Big Three that we often discuss in
Speaker 1: this country, because let me tell you, what is happening
Speaker 1: in India's a story for another day. What happens in
Speaker 1: African nations is a story for another day. So I'm
Speaker 1: talking about the Big Three and this place that is
Speaker 1: not very big, but that's been filled with so much bloodshed,
Speaker 1: so much pain, and so much injustice. What I will
Speaker 1: tell you is that my experience was shocking because when
Speaker 1: you are a black person in America, you understand discrimination
Speaker 1: and hatred through the lens of white supremacy. You understand
Speaker 1: difference in terms of physical difference. Right, the melanated black
Speaker 1: people in this country have been mistreated, abused, terrorized, tortured, raped, beaten,
Speaker 1: expelled for centuries in the United States and still are
Speaker 1: beaten in the streets like dogs, suffer, vacated in the street,
Speaker 1: like dogs, hung from trees, all of it. And we
Speaker 1: understand that again through the lens of white supremacy. If
Speaker 1: you are not white, and you are not Christian, you
Speaker 1: are not treated well in America, nor have you been.
Speaker 1: But when I went to Israel and Palestine, what initially
Speaker 1: shocked me was the fact that to me there was
Speaker 1: no physical difference at all. Everyone looked like members of
Speaker 1: the same family. And I looked and I looked for what,
Speaker 1: what is this thing that has you cage people? Right?
Speaker 1: Because that is what Gaza is, which I wasn't able
Speaker 1: to visit because at the time there was a spark
Speaker 1: in fighting, and so there was a lot of bombing
Speaker 1: that was happening, and the trip was almost called off.
Speaker 1: But for those on the trip who had been to
Speaker 1: Gaza prior explained conditions that no human being should ever
Speaker 1: be forced to live in. You see, we come from
Speaker 1: a space and place where we say, well, if you
Speaker 1: don't like it, then leave. Palestinians don't have that ability
Speaker 1: because they don't have freedom of movement, they don't have
Speaker 1: bodily autonomy, they don't have self determination. So when you
Speaker 1: are seeing and witnessing right now people leaving because it's
Speaker 1: too dangerous. Those are free Israelis that are leaving, that
Speaker 1: have the ability to leave. The people who are being
Speaker 1: bombed off of the face of this earth don't have
Speaker 1: that same freedom. They're not allowed to leave. They are
Speaker 1: forced to live in utter sickness and despair and grief.
Speaker 1: I cannot express to you some of the eyes that
Speaker 1: I saw on my trips to the West Bend to
Speaker 1: East Jerusalem going through security, and as a black woman,
Speaker 1: I can tell you that what it felt like a
Speaker 1: combination of the worst Jim Crow and the worst apartheid
Speaker 1: that I had ever read about, And it was something
Speaker 1: else to experience it up close and personal outside of
Speaker 1: a museum. So when you are being told that there
Speaker 1: are only one side's life that matters, and you see
Speaker 1: people arguing, and you may yourself be choosing to get
Speaker 1: on social media to argue with people, understand that you
Speaker 1: are arguing about humanity. Right. Everyone, everyone, regardless of who
Speaker 1: they worship, whether they worship, what they look like, who
Speaker 1: they love, and what body they are in able or disabled,
Speaker 1: should have self determination, should be able by virtue of
Speaker 1: being born human, be born free, so anywhere where you
Speaker 1: see that, there are powers that be whose job it
Speaker 1: is to dehumanize and decouple people from their humanity so
Speaker 1: that the justification of their mistreatment can be because they
Speaker 1: are not like us. They don't pray like us, they
Speaker 1: don't love like us, they don't look like us. Understand
Speaker 1: that that is propaganda that is centuries old. I understand
Speaker 1: the desire to want to show your solidarity by putting
Speaker 1: up the Israeli flag wearing rite it as if it
Speaker 1: is Ukraine. But I want people to understand that both
Speaker 1: Palestinians and Israelis deserve freedom, self determination, and to live
Speaker 1: free of fear, persecution, and abuse. And to say, right,
Speaker 1: if all white people are not Maga, if all white
Speaker 1: people are not the KKK, then all Palestinians are not Hamas,
Speaker 1: then all Palestinians are not terrorists, then all Muslims and
Speaker 1: all that pray differently should not be subjugated, because living
Speaker 1: a life through fear is no life at all. Because
Speaker 1: for me, in my expertise as a black queer woman,
Speaker 1: being a black queer woman in these United States, I
Speaker 1: know what was said and what continues to be said
Speaker 1: about black people to justify excessive force. This century's old
Speaker 1: lies superpower strength of black men. So you need to
Speaker 1: have three, four, five six officers suffocate to death and
Speaker 1: Eric Gardner the presumption of guilt by virtue of your skin.
Speaker 1: So you need to shoot first and ask questions later
Speaker 1: because you fear for your life. I know what it
Speaker 1: is like to be a part of a group that
Speaker 1: is marginalized, that is demonized and dehumanized. Being and having
Speaker 1: been oppressed can sometimes open the door to you turning
Speaker 1: into the oppressor and making the same justification that was
Speaker 1: made for your end, making that for someone else's and
Speaker 1: calling that righteousness and saying that anyone that objects to
Speaker 1: that then objects to your humanity and your right to exist.
Speaker 1: Having been oppressed, having been murdered and tortured, does not
Speaker 1: give you the liberty to do that to other people.
Speaker 1: I don't care what religion you are, I don't care
Speaker 1: what ethnic group you come from. What we are and
Speaker 1: what we are seeing is a bunch of wounded souls
Speaker 1: who have never been healed, continue to inflict wound after wound,
Speaker 1: death blow after death blow. This is no way to live.
Speaker 1: Whether it is inside of the United States, whether it
Speaker 1: is in the Middle East, whether it is on the
Speaker 1: continent of Africa, whether it is in Asia. Having been
Speaker 1: subjugated does not give you the license to subjugate. And
Speaker 1: we should ask ourselves as Americans, just like we did
Speaker 1: when we all witnessed the murder of George Floyd, your
Speaker 1: tax dollars are going to fund all of the hashtags
Speaker 1: that follow Black Lives Matter that were people with families,
Speaker 1: with lives with future. They are going to fund this
Speaker 1: same oppression in countries around the world, including Israel and Palestine.
Speaker 1: So when I see cities around the world turn blue
Speaker 1: in solidarity, what that says to me is solidarity for who?
Speaker 1: Because what color should we put up for solidarity with humanity?
Speaker 1: What color is that? Because it isn't about calling for
Speaker 1: peace in the Middle East. What you're doing is picking
Speaker 1: a side. And what I'm saying is that there is
Speaker 1: no side to humanity. That's what propaganda has you do
Speaker 1: is make a choice where there isn't one. We don't
Speaker 1: need to devalue in order to show our solidarity. Showing
Speaker 1: solidarity is asking and fighting for a just and free world.
Speaker 1: From book bands to marriage, to freedom of movement, to
Speaker 1: freedom to drink clean water, freedom to make a family
Speaker 1: or not, freedom to pray in the way that fills
Speaker 1: your soul or not. That's what we are fighting for.
Speaker 1: We are not fighting against a people or a religion.
Speaker 1: We are not on somebody's access. That is somebody else's
Speaker 1: political agenda. That is not our truth. Our truth is
Speaker 1: about humanity. Our truth is about love. Our truth is
Speaker 1: about creation, not deprivation. So when you find yourself shedding
Speaker 1: tears for one group and not the other, ask yourself why.
Speaker 1: That is the reason. Mamma till Emmettil's mother opened up
Speaker 1: his casket to say that her son's life mattered just
Speaker 1: like everybody else's. The people inside of Gaza matter just
Speaker 1: as much as the people outside of that war. And
Speaker 1: if you feel differently and you think differently, you should
Speaker 1: ask yourself why and whose rules and whose propaganda you
Speaker 1: are buying, because that is what is fueling this war
Speaker 1: and every war. That is it for me today, dear
Speaker 1: friends on wo g F, Power to the people and
Speaker 1: to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke
Speaker 1: as fuck.