WEBVTT - Stand By Your BS 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:15.480 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to WIKA f Daily with 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:20.120 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody recording from the Brooklyn Bunker. Folks, 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:23.279 What a fucking week it has been. Let's just start there. 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:32.720 You know on Tuesday night, right, when was it Tuesday night? No, 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:34.960 it was Monday night. I don't even know anymore. But 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:42.400 when the news broke, when political broke news of Alito's 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:48.560 decision to overturn a fifty year old, constitutionally recognized right 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.080 for a woman and people who are pregnant to have 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:58.560 an abortion, it sent shockwaves through the country, through our 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:05.560 legal system, through our government, through our hearts. Because what 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:10.160 I have come to really understand about this iteration of 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:14.720 the Republican white supremacist cult is that they are held 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:22.440 bent on not only their supremacy right through minority rule, 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:27.240 which they are instituting and using the courts to apply 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:31.440 their will to the American people who largely disagree with 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:35.720 their policies, largely disagree with their ideology, and so in 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:41.360 order for them to be able to impose right their 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:49.280 theocratic authoritarian ideas is to own the courts, is to 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:56.200 place people in lifetime positions and appointments who uphold their 0:01:56.240 --> 0:02:03.280 white evangelical Christian fundamentalist values, and I realized that the 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:08.040 goal is pain, the goal is suffering for anyone that 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:17.600 does not adhere to their archaic, misogynistic, patriarchal goals, that 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:21.799 if you are not, if you do not submit right 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:28.680 to their will, you will be in danger. My upcoming 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:34.440 guest on today's show, Noreene Farrell, is the executive director 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:41.440 at Equal Rights Advocates, a group that was started in 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:47.560 nineteen seventy four with essentially mirroring the time that Rovie 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:55.520 Wade would become law, to uphold and create opportunities for 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:59.000 the expansion of gender equity for women and girls in 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:02.280 both schools and at work. They believe and advocate for 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:06.760 a culture and a society that allows women and girls 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:12.920 to work and attend school free from misogyny, patriarchy, violence, 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:20.280 and harm. Imagine that, Imagine that this freition nation that 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:26.120 we live in, that we require there to be organizations 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:30.840 and institutions that are put in place to watch out 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:34.520 for the Trumps and the Alitos and the Cavanaughs of 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:39.160 the world, because their goal has always been to do 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:42.640 as much harm as possible and then couch it in 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:48.400 our legal system and to say that their desire for erasure, 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:53.720 for control, for supremacy is legally backed. So how dare 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:57.640 we right to make us seem as if we are 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.880 as Marjorie Taylor Green has said, the bawn of Satan right? 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:04.800 And what do you do? What have you seen throughout 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:08.880 history when people like the Marjorie Taylor Greens and the Trumps, 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:12.320 and the Elitos and the Thomases and the Gorseches and 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.880 the Barrets of the world point fingers at you and 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:20.760 say that you are evil. We've seen people lynched, We've 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:26.080 seen people burned at the stake. We've seen entire libraries 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:32.360 burned down. We've seen church churches bombed. We've seen gay people, 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:37.360 queer people beaten to death, murdered, stuffed into garbage pails. 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:43.040 This is the world that white supremacy and white evangelical 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:51.680 christiandom creates and has created. Is their history. They were 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:58.160 burning crosses on the lawns of black people in this country. 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:05.560 They burned the their own cross that they swear to 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:08.520 pray to and uphold to. What the fuck does that 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:14.799 say about who they are? So when folks right now 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:18.039 on social media they want to say that Oh, this 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:22.760 is gonna be it. That abortion somehow is the end 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:27.200 of their crusade. I'm like, wake the fuck up, this 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:31.359 is just the beginning. And my guest, Noreene Farrell, the 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:37.719 executive director of Equal Rights Advocates, will say she will 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:42.400 refer to what the ninety eight page opinion reads as 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:50.440 a manifesto of white evangelical Christendom, and that if we 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:53.279 are going to live in a society where precedent no 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:58.960 longer matters, where laws no longer matter, where the will 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:02.479 of five people can be imposed on a nation of 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:08.960 three hundred and thirty million plus, where do you think 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:14.520 that this is headed. It's only headed in one direction, 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:20.320 and that is revolution. But it's whether or not the 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:25.280 people are going to have the will right to rise up. 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:31.240 Because our representative, somebody had sent me, and I think 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:36.560 it was one of one of my faithful listeners sent 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:43.200 me an image of Joe Biden all smiles, with Joe Mansion, 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:47.800 Kirsten Cinema, Susan Collins, and I forget who else was 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:49.640 in the picture. I think, Kyle, it was you that 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:53.159 sent it to me. And I looked at this photograph 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:57.400 and I said to myself, as my mother has been 0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:02.279 asking me, are they all in cahoots? Are they all 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:06.080 laughing at us? We really think that Democrats are on 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:10.000 our side, and come to find out that many of 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:15.040 them have no desire to codify Roe v. Wade into law. 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:20.559 They have no desire to turn over the filibuster in 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:25.200 order to preserve civil rights, equal rights, and protection in 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:29.840 this country. So if the people within your own tent 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:36.360 don't share the same values and belief that you do, 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:44.520 then why are we voting for them? The enemy of 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:47.720 my enemy is not my friend, right and when in 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:54.120 fact our friends don't even signal that they understand who 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:59.000 the fuck the enemy is, that doesn't sit well either. 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.440 My mother said this also, and again I've been thinking 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:07.920 about it, she said, Danielle, you know, I don't mean 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:10.520 to sound like a conspiracy theorist. And I said, you're 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:14.640 coming to the right place, she goes. But don't you 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:18.920 think that it's just so interesting that they would leak 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:23.320 this statement now, that they would leak this opinion. Now 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:26.560 do you think that Republicans are up to something even 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:31.800 worse than this? That they just launched this into the 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:36.280 sphere to provide like the ultimate distraction? And I said, Mom, 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:42.880 You're right. Their whole lives are about distraction, right. It's like, 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:44.840 look at this thing over here. Oh my god. The 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:48.200 biggest issue is the leak. It's not the content of 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:51.520 the opinion. It's not the fact that Justice Alito has 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:58.600 signaled to the country that privacy laws are not foundational 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:03.240 to the Constitute tuition and that these kind of you know, 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:08.600 rights that we have won over the past six decades, 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:15.160 you know, we're just a mere suggestion, and that everything 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:20.440 is on the chopping block. Justice Alito, apparently, according to 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:24.480 social media, has canceled his public appearances. And I'm like, 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:29.640 why stand by your bullshit? Why would you cancel a 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:31.640 public appearance because you what you think You're not going 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:38.640 to walk into applause from your Christian fandom. Or is 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:41.400 it that you think that maybe, just maybe you may 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:45.280 have overreached, that maybe just maybe you may have overplayed 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:49.680 your hand. You got Susan Collins saying, oh my god, 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:54.920 Gorsich and Barrett and Kavanaugh, they lied to me. No, 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:59.840 you lie to yourself, because that's how you are able 0:09:59.880 --> 0:10:02.760 to sleep at night. You lie to yourself about who 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:05.720 you are and what you stand for. And it's pooh pooh, 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:09.000 boo boo. The fool is all of us who believe 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:15.120 that Murkowski and Collins are somehow what two moderate Republicans. 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:22.160 They are nothing more than the Republican handmaids, right, the 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:26.600 mistresses in the big house that stand there and clutch 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:33.920 their pearls while they watch Massa in the field, beating, whipping, raping. Right. 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:35.880 Oh my god, but he said that he would be 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:39.320 nice to them. Those are the Susan Collinses and the 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:43.160 Lisa Murkowskis of the world. Fuck you is what I 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:48.319 say to them. Is what I say to our moderate 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:52.160 Democrats who still get to hold the title of moderate 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:56.480 when there is nothing moderate about the rollback of our 0:10:56.640 --> 0:11:00.760 rights and the threat of violence that now is hanging 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:04.320 over all of our heads who are not white, sith, 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:10.679 straight and Christian. I say, fuck you Joe Manchin, fuck 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:21.560 you Kirsten Cinema and these fucking lackluster, backless, spineless Democrats. Oh, 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:26.120 we're gonna fight, fight, fight what from the comfort of 0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:32.000 your million dollar homes, multimillion dollar homes, From the comfort 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:35.080 of your ivory tower that you get to sit in, 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:37.400 while the rest of us will have to deal with 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:40.400 the muck that you are turning this country into because 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:42.640 you have a lack of will, a lack of conviction, 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:47.440 a lack of strategy, and a lack of vision. We 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:55.120 are here because of a lack of courage on the 0:11:55.240 --> 0:12:02.160 part of Democrats. We are here because we elected Joe 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:09.160 Biden and felt that his moderation and temper temperament was 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:12.080 what this country needed. And I will tell you and 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:16.439 you all know, he wasn't my first or fifth choice, 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:21.160 because I knew that this nation needed an actual fighter, 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:24.839 needed somebody who was going to call a spade a 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:27.440 spade and go fucking toe to toe. We're all tough 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:33.400 talk when it's about Putin and what's happening overseas. Republicans 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:36.640 are waging war in America right now, and Democrats are 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:40.079 looking around like, well, maybe next election will win. There 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:47.400 is no next election, you fucking idiots, folks. I am 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:51.360 angry this week. I am pained this week. I am 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:59.560 grieving so many things this week. Every Friday that we 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:06.920 get here, I say, I give thanks and gratitude that 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.360 we have arrived at the end of this week. But 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:15.080 my god, I'm tired, as the meme says, of living 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:21.040 through multiple historic events, historic catastrophes, one after the other, 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:29.360 after the other after the other. It is exhausting. So, friends, 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:34.280 after you listen to today's show and the closing of it, 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.280 put it down. Put the weight of this week down, 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.480 Put the misery down, put the frustration down, put the 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:47.320 anger down, put the despair down. We need to use 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:54.240 each evening, each weekend, each moment that we have to recharge. 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:57.319 And how do we do that. We do that solely 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:02.920 through joy. We do that solely through rest, so that 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:07.200 we have the ability to lower our shoulders, clear our minds, 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:11.360 and be grateful for the small moments that pop up 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:18.040 in our lives that allow us laughter and smiles and joy. 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:26.320 We will not allow them to steal that because you know, today, 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:30.360 as I was walking around my neighborhood, I said to myself, 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:33.240 because I have sometimes deep reflections, which is why I 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.280 go on my walks and encourage folks to do the same, 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:43.320 I was thinking about my enslaved ancestors as I often do. 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.680 As I often do, and I was thinking about the 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.640 fact that living in such a day to day horror 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:54.720 where they had no control over their bodies, over their lives, 0:14:54.760 --> 0:15:01.000 over anything. And I'm going to choke up because I'm trying, friends, 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:05.560 to get to a place where I can continue to 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:14.320 move through that even in living in such trauma and terror, 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:21.800 they create a tradition. They created songs, They jumped the 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:28.400 broom to symbolize their love and commitment to one another, 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:36.040 because marriages were denied, that they still sold and hummed 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:42.680 and found in the pocket of the misery that white 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:50.200 supremacy would wrap around them. That even in that despair 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:53.400 of literally not knowing from one moment to the next 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:55.720 whether you would be sold, whether you would be hung, 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:58.480 whether you would be raped, whether you would be tortured 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.280 or beaten for somebody else us as joy and pleasure 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:09.800 and satisfaction, that even in that they were able to 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:14.720 keep pressing on and able to find moments of celebration 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:19.360 and joy. And if they were able to do that, 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:27.400 then so can we. Coming up next, my conversation with 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:37.120 Noreen Farrell, the executive director of Equal Right Advocacy. Folks, 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:41.360 I am very excited to welcome to Woke f Daily, 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:47.440 the executive director of Equal Right Advocates Noreen Farrell, who 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:52.120 you are a leading voice for gender justice. You have 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:57.960 argued before the Supreme Court led campaigns for the betterment 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:02.880 of the lives of women and girls. Um, before we 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:07.440 jump in, I just want to get your emotion you're 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:13.520 feeling when you were made aware of the Scotus Politico 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:20.320 leak that we saw, and how it how it hit 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:26.800 you like a punch in the gut. I don't think 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:30.280 that what's going to happen to Robie Wade was the surprise. 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:33.679 And obviously, you know, the leak is the media's make 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:35.800 a munch of it. But for me, it was the 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:41.080 It was the vitriol and the tone and the reasoning 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:48.359 of the decision that really focused for me that these 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:51.280 conservative justices must believe that they have the weight of 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:56.280 the country behind them and they are fair in their power, 0:17:56.960 --> 0:18:02.000 as you know, five individuals to change the course of 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:05.280 not just a single woman's lives, but like the entire 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:09.959 progress of the women's movement. And I was, you know, 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:14.440 I was devastated and then furious, like much of a 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:20.359 much of the country. You know, Noreene, I am a 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:25.119 black queer woman, right, and I have spent a large 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:30.240 majority of my career in movement politics, whether it is 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:34.280 LGBTQ politics, racial justice. When the women's movement is actually 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:38.240 where I started my career, many many moons ago. I 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:43.479 have never in my life been as fearful for the 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:46.880 future of this country as I am right now. And 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:50.000 when I have talked to over the past couple of days, 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:53.159 in the past couple of weeks, with people who have 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:58.720 invested their entire lives to bending this arc towards justice, 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:04.240 to perfecting our incredibly imperfect union. I always felt that 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:08.040 each generation had their job to continue to move the 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:12.040 boulder up the hill. But this is the first time 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:16.800 that we are taking I mean incredible stuff like the 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:20.000 boulder is not only rolled down, but it has flattened 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:25.320 many of us. And so what do you see as 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:29.159 a response to this reality? Like, are we even in 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:33.160 response mode? Because to your point, we knew that this 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:35.879 was coming from the six to three court, I just 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:40.080 don't think we knew how egregious it was going to be. Well, 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:42.040 first of all, I just want to thank you so 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:44.840 much for so many years of your own great activism, 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:51.000 and when you just said just this intersection of gender, racial, 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:56.040 LGBT justice all, like, I think that the I think 0:19:56.080 --> 0:20:02.480 that the decision made clear it's an agenda assaulting all 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:08.800 of those Yep, justice Alito is relying on the Court's 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:13.919 turntive course in Brown versus Board of Education, which abolish 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:18.240 segregation in this country, to justify this rollback of a 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:22.960 constitutional rights. He even though he says this doesn't implicate 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:26.040 any other case, we should not believe him. There is 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:30.880 a whole line of LGBT rights cases that are implicated 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.280 by the right of privacy mentioned in this case that 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:38.760 are under threat. And so I hope as we get 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:43.480 through this initial week of complete paralysis, is that we 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:46.560 think about how do we build power in our intersectional 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:50.479 movements to really see this decision for what it is. 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:55.359 Abortion access bands is enough, but it is also all 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:57.800 of those other things. It's the entire history of our 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:05.040 progress together. And I am heartened by the conversations about 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:10.840 matching the import of this decision with the energy, the fury, 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:16.280 the voting that it deserves. So it you know, it 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:19.359 remains to be seen. But I'm trying to channel that power. 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:25.960 You know, I wonder where do you think, Because I'm 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:31.720 going to be honest, Democrats made a huge miscalculation, right 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:35.080 I wrote about this, you know, in the Daily Beast 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:38.600 that I believe that we could have in this moment 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:43.160 had remained a five to four court, you know, with 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:49.560 a semblance of hope, had the Democrats not foregone the courts. 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:55.320 So I want to get your opinion on first the 0:21:55.320 --> 0:22:00.199 fact that and again I respect her, I respect the 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:03.960 work that she's done. But when the late Justice Ruth 0:22:04.040 --> 0:22:09.080 Vader Ginsburg was asked to consider retirement in twenty thirteen, 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:13.440 when Democrats still held the majority in the Senate at 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:19.320 the age of eighty, she said no, Barack Obama at 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:23.280 that time could have appointed someone in her image that 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:28.240 was literally half her age. Then you had the second misstep, 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:34.119 which was no pushback whatsoever to Mitch McConnell in twenty 0:22:34.160 --> 0:22:39.520 fifteen when he held the Supreme Court seat hostage that 0:22:39.800 --> 0:22:44.720 should have been given to Merritt Garland. No pushback, no 0:22:44.920 --> 0:22:49.960 court case, no campaign, no nothing. As if again the 0:22:50.040 --> 0:22:52.960 Supreme Court, you get multiple bites at that apple, and 0:22:53.040 --> 0:22:57.119 so we'll get them next time. What do you think 0:22:57.160 --> 0:23:05.520 about those two very grave miscalculations and where we are 0:23:05.600 --> 0:23:09.879 right now? Well, listen, I am somebody in our organization. 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:13.320 We litigate in the courts, and I remember being before 0:23:13.359 --> 0:23:17.000 the Supreme Court in a race and general discrimination case 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:21.000 against walmart on behalf of a woman who was a 0:23:21.119 --> 0:23:24.720 Walmart reader in Pittsburgh, California, Betty Dukes, and a whole 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:28.080 class of women. And I just remember looking at that court. 0:23:28.200 --> 0:23:31.000 You know, It's something about being in there and seeing 0:23:31.040 --> 0:23:36.679 that lineup, And I would have thought that this was 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:40.800 strategy number one, because it's not only at the Supreme Court, 0:23:40.840 --> 0:23:44.359 but our federal courts. There was just a complete lack 0:23:44.400 --> 0:23:48.639 of action. And now in my federal court area in California, 0:23:48.680 --> 0:23:51.879 which was always a stall wart of progressive cases, we 0:23:52.000 --> 0:23:55.360 are seeing that tide turn as well and making bad 0:23:55.400 --> 0:24:01.840 appellate court decisions. I fundamentally think that people in Washington, 0:24:03.920 --> 0:24:06.240 first of all, they ask these questions, will you reverse 0:24:06.320 --> 0:24:10.080 Rob Wade? And they believe them. I think that there 0:24:10.240 --> 0:24:14.959 is I think there is this white elitist privilege that 0:24:15.000 --> 0:24:17.200 makes you feel like everyone's going to do the right 0:24:17.440 --> 0:24:22.119 thing once they're given a lifetime appointment to a court. 0:24:22.400 --> 0:24:26.520 And now the rooster has come home to roost, because 0:24:26.840 --> 0:24:31.480 the agenda is not about upholding Supreme Court precedent. It 0:24:31.680 --> 0:24:36.679 is about dismantling it to the for the intention of 0:24:36.760 --> 0:24:40.480 further marginalizing people and their economic power. And so I 0:24:40.560 --> 0:24:42.639 just think it is the I think it is the 0:24:42.680 --> 0:24:48.359 blind spot of our major political powers and just a 0:24:48.440 --> 0:24:51.600 lack of connection to what the power of the Supreme 0:24:51.640 --> 0:24:54.439 Court can do and what I mean. I think Justice 0:24:55.080 --> 0:24:58.360 Justice Roberts is all offended about the decorum of the leak. 0:24:58.720 --> 0:25:01.840 Everyone's thinking about the chorum of the leak and the 0:25:01.920 --> 0:25:06.320 decorum of the court. The court has no credibility right now. 0:25:06.359 --> 0:25:08.480 That should be the last of your worries. And I 0:25:08.520 --> 0:25:11.560 think that I think that is that is reflected not 0:25:11.600 --> 0:25:15.240 just in this decision, but in the way our political 0:25:15.280 --> 0:25:20.040 parties have approached this process and approached its role on 0:25:20.080 --> 0:25:24.359 the Senate Judiciary Committee, and approached running campaigns to get 0:25:24.400 --> 0:25:27.480 people on that Senate Judiciary Committee. You know, I think 0:25:29.400 --> 0:25:31.359 this idea that our courts are going to be the 0:25:31.359 --> 0:25:35.439 front lines of our civil rights that is dead. And 0:25:36.080 --> 0:25:39.359 this ninety eight page to Senate decision, God help me, 0:25:39.400 --> 0:25:44.760 I read every page. It is a manifesto on why 0:25:44.800 --> 0:25:48.840 that is so. I think you're absolutely right. Look, yeah, 0:25:49.119 --> 0:25:53.960 you know, Justice Ginsburg, you know individual, you know individual, 0:25:54.160 --> 0:25:56.919 you know, nominations like they build. But it is this, 0:25:57.040 --> 0:26:02.199 it is based in this um is fear of rocking 0:26:02.200 --> 0:26:04.240 the wrong boat at the wrong time. I mean in 0:26:04.280 --> 0:26:06.879 President Biden's State of the Union dress, he did not 0:26:06.960 --> 0:26:11.520 even say the word abortion. With this decision on the 0:26:11.560 --> 0:26:15.040 plate of the of the Supreme Court, and so this 0:26:15.359 --> 0:26:19.880 fear of um, of you know, rocking a midterm and 0:26:19.880 --> 0:26:22.879 and now they will for sure try to capitalize on 0:26:23.000 --> 0:26:26.840 this and as we should influence the midterms. But wow, 0:26:26.880 --> 0:26:29.159 couldn't we have used that bravery and that being out 0:26:29.200 --> 0:26:33.280 in front of this this issue, um earlier, um. And 0:26:33.800 --> 0:26:39.200 I mean that's that's the right word, Lauren. Bravery. Bravery, yeah, 0:26:39.200 --> 0:26:44.560 which I feel like the Democratic Party is lacking in 0:26:44.600 --> 0:26:49.840 so many different ways. But you know, you as a 0:26:49.880 --> 0:26:53.120 person of the Court, as a person that believes I'm 0:26:53.119 --> 0:26:56.679 assuming in the in the value and the fabric of 0:26:56.720 --> 0:27:00.800 the Constitution. If we can no longer or hold this 0:27:01.000 --> 0:27:05.920 up as our living breathing document, if as Justice Alito 0:27:06.080 --> 0:27:09.520 signaled in what you rightfully call his manifesto, that the 0:27:09.560 --> 0:27:12.280 Constitution is not a living breathing document as a matter 0:27:12.320 --> 0:27:16.280 of fact, it is marble. It is a statue. Right 0:27:16.680 --> 0:27:22.760 because he is saying things about our foundational our foundational rights. 0:27:23.040 --> 0:27:26.600 And I'm saying, well, when the Constitution was created, I 0:27:26.640 --> 0:27:31.360 wasn't considered a person right, I was consider three fifths 0:27:31.359 --> 0:27:35.480 of that You, as a white woman, were not considered 0:27:35.600 --> 0:27:38.879 a part of that constitution. You did not have the 0:27:39.000 --> 0:27:42.120 right to vote, right, And we're seen as a property 0:27:42.200 --> 0:27:48.400 thereof your husband or your father. So if this is, 0:27:48.640 --> 0:27:55.240 if this is his understanding right of the constitution and 0:27:55.359 --> 0:27:59.400 how it works, where do you see the legal maneuvers 0:27:59.520 --> 0:28:04.160 that we have always relied on for the past sixty 0:28:04.280 --> 0:28:07.000 years to get us to the point that we're in. 0:28:07.040 --> 0:28:13.880 Because I'm going back from row Brown angle vivitally like 0:28:13.960 --> 0:28:19.760 I'm going to all of these places right Oberfell windsor 0:28:19.800 --> 0:28:24.840 every single one of them. So what legal recourts do 0:28:24.920 --> 0:28:29.399 we have if now Republicans and Conservatives own the court 0:28:29.480 --> 0:28:32.240 and they have literally told us in a ninety eight 0:28:32.280 --> 0:28:37.199 page document what's coming next? You know, I look at 0:28:37.240 --> 0:28:42.680 that from two angles, one as somebody. For example, right now, 0:28:43.360 --> 0:28:48.120 we have a sub minimum wage for tipped and other 0:28:48.160 --> 0:28:54.720 workers that is a complete vestige of slavery, where where 0:28:54.840 --> 0:28:56.960 we decided we weren't going to pay you know, black 0:28:57.000 --> 0:28:59.560 people wages, we'd give them tips when we felt like it. 0:29:00.600 --> 0:29:04.480 That continues today. It is the federal law that states 0:29:04.520 --> 0:29:06.480 can pay as little as two dollars and thirteen cents 0:29:06.480 --> 0:29:10.280 an hour for tip workers. And we've been thinking about, 0:29:10.320 --> 0:29:14.480 all right, well, how do we challenge that constitutionally? You know, 0:29:14.520 --> 0:29:17.360 how do we say that this has a disparate impact 0:29:17.520 --> 0:29:22.080 on people of color, on immigrants and women workers. We 0:29:22.200 --> 0:29:26.080 can't find, you know, we were relying on these long 0:29:26.160 --> 0:29:30.720 standard traditions of interpreting the Constitution, which does not, in 0:29:30.800 --> 0:29:35.080 its expressed language, you know, prohibit sex discrimination. We're we're 0:29:35.080 --> 0:29:37.880 relying on these precedents to think about how do we 0:29:37.960 --> 0:29:43.480 challenge unconstitutional laws that is that is under such threat 0:29:43.560 --> 0:29:47.120 right now. And second, I think the thought was, and 0:29:47.320 --> 0:29:48.800 you know, this is what a lot of the power 0:29:48.880 --> 0:29:52.000 is behind, you know, finally passing the Equal Rights Amendment, 0:29:52.080 --> 0:29:54.760 so we can put our rights on the high shelf, 0:29:54.800 --> 0:29:57.880 out of the hands of the grubby legislators across the country. 0:29:58.680 --> 0:30:03.760 But even that, even that theory is now threatened because 0:30:03.760 --> 0:30:09.600 the Constitution can be reinterpreted and ambassadized in such a way, 0:30:10.000 --> 0:30:13.400 you know, by the court in a case like this, 0:30:13.520 --> 0:30:16.480 and so we can't we can't rely on this precedent 0:30:16.520 --> 0:30:19.440 to challenge on you on constitutional laws. But we can't 0:30:19.440 --> 0:30:23.240 even rely on passing new amendments that will protect our rights. 0:30:23.480 --> 0:30:28.840 And so I just think we need a radical reimagining 0:30:29.440 --> 0:30:35.479 of our strategies and and and how we build power 0:30:36.000 --> 0:30:38.320 in this country because I think the only thing that 0:30:38.360 --> 0:30:41.960 has mattered more than rob weighed in the law about 0:30:42.000 --> 0:30:46.800 abortion access has been economic privilege, right. I mean, even 0:30:46.800 --> 0:30:50.040 though rover Way was passed, the High Amendment assured that 0:30:50.080 --> 0:30:52.520 poor women and black women and other women who can't 0:30:52.560 --> 0:30:56.680 afford that abortion don't. So we haven't had abortion access 0:30:56.800 --> 0:30:59.120 for a good part of the country in a long time. 0:30:59.600 --> 0:31:02.520 And so, you know, I think we have to um 0:31:03.320 --> 0:31:05.440 challenge ourselves. You know, I think I think a lot 0:31:05.480 --> 0:31:08.200 of people are sitting in the legal space right now thinking, oh, 0:31:08.320 --> 0:31:13.640 oh no, we need to reimagine these strategies in a 0:31:13.760 --> 0:31:19.960 very radical way. That's the challenge, because if you can't 0:31:20.000 --> 0:31:22.920 rely on laws to protect you, you can't rely on 0:31:23.160 --> 0:31:27.080 the United States Supreme Court to defend those laws, and 0:31:27.120 --> 0:31:29.640