WEBVTT - System Breaking Moment 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.520 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wige F Daily with 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:19.560 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, recording from the Home Bunker. Folks, 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:22.119 I'm going to be honest with you, this week has 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:27.800 been pretty shitty and I am still, as I'm sure 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:33.159 many of you are, emotionally reeling from Monday's school shooting. 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:41.400 You know, I am at what feels like my wits end. 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:45.640 If you haven't seen the viral video of the mother 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:52.320 from Nashville, Tennessee, who stood before cameras that were down 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:58.640 in Tennessee, you know, once again at the latest school shooting, 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:01.800 and she said, are you tired of this? Aren't you 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:08.120 exhausted by this? And just went off on you know, 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:12.600 the fact that this nation is addicted to guns, doesn't 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:14.520 want gun to reform, the fact that she is a 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:22.880 survivor of a mass shooting. And you know, I have 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:28.080 been in tears multiple times since Monday, because I, like you, 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:36.360 I'm just fucking exhausted. I listen to Republicans say things like, oh, 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.640 there's nothing we can do, and I'm just like, fix 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:42.400 your fucking language, because what you should say is that 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:49.000 you don't want to do anything right. Oh, thoughts and prayers. Oh, 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:51.560 let's blame it on this. Let's blame it on that 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:58.440 we're their doors. Every single school shootings has been at 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:03.240 the hands of an AR fifteen. The school shooter in 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:12.680 Tennessee bought seven fucking guns. Seven legally, the fuck you 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:16.320 need with seven guns? Four that's not a red flag, no, 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:20.440 because Tennessee doesn't have red flags anymore, because Governor Lee said, ah, 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:22.280 fuck it, you don't need a permit, You don't need 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:26.360 to do anything right. You can walk into any place 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:28.440 and get a gun in the way that you walk 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:30.600 into seven eleven and get a fucking slurpee or a 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:34.800 pack of gum. They want to remove books from the 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:38.840 shelves because books and learning, education and critical thinking, that's 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:43.000 what's really dangerous. Imagination and dress up, that's the thing 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:46.400 that is going to threaten your child. But the AR 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.720 fifteen that they are staring down the fucking barrel of 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:55.440 no that they can't do anything about. In Utah, they 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:59.280 just pass legislation to regulate social media of those under 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.760 the age of eight team between ten thirty pm and 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:06.760 six thirty am, because in Utah it's fucking China. So 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:10.919 you can regulate social media. You can are bipartisan conversations 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.960 about getting rid of TikTok and banning at nationwide, But 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:18.040 banning in AAR fifteen that's fucking mowing kids down in 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:22.360 their classrooms out that you can't do anything about. You 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:26.600 have members of Congress that pose in front of a 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:31.120 Christmas tree with their children in AAR fifteen that doesn't 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:36.520 get child protective services called on you. No, But getting 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:39.320 gender affirming care for your child, that's what we need 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:42.400 to be paying attention to. But indoctrinating them into fucking 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:47.280 gun culture. No, that's okay. Do you see how sick 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:54.360 this fucking country is? And I just you know, there 0:03:54.400 --> 0:04:00.120 are days, folks, there are days when I struggle. I 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.440 struggle to get out of bed, I struggled to turn 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:09.240 on the mic, I struggle to push through. And I 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:13.480 think that we are doing too much pushing through. And 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:17.240 like I called for yesterday on Mary Trump Show, we 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:23.800 need a national boycott. Everyone needs to refuse to work, 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:27.920 to shut down and grind this country to a fucking halt. 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:32.599 Every single teacher and every single school district across this 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:35.640 country needs to refuse to go to work. Every single 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:42.159 bus driver, every single principle crossing guard school, nurse guidance counselor, 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:49.360 every single sanitation work, a nurse doctor, every single clerical person, 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:53.120 all of the bank workers, every single person at a 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:58.480 grocery store, a big box store. We need to grind 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:05.000 our country to a fucking halt until Republican politicians decide 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.680 to take their fucking nose out of the NRA's ass 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:12.159 and do what their constituents voted for them to do, 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:19.160 which is supposedly to protect their fucking kids. They want 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:22.560 a jerrymander and voter suppressed so that they stay in office, 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:28.560 so that they can keep getting bankrolled by the gun lobby. 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:32.160 They don't give a fuck about you. They don't give 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:35.200 a fuck about your kids. They are not a pro 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:40.280 life party. They are pro death and anti child. Because 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:43.960 there's no way that you have a member of Congress 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.760 look reporters in the face and say there's nothing we 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:50.279 can do. Things are gonna happen. Oh, we can't stop 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:52.479 a person with the gun. You can take away the 0:05:52.520 --> 0:06:03.040 fucking gun, that's what you can do. I just, you know, 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:09.440 I get to the place where it's like the tears 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:14.560 are both from sadness and grief, but they're also just 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:22.159 from rage, like I just I want body bags, the 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:30.800 thousands of body bags delivered to every Republican members house, right. 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:39.640 I want massive boycotts and protests. I want to shut 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:48.960 this country down because they're not listening. And the more 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:52.440 that we take and just go back to fucking normal 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:55.279 and walk around and go to work, and go back 0:06:55.279 --> 0:06:58.160 to school and just go about our days, and there 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:02.479 are children that are dead, not from cancer, not from 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:13.760 a car accident, but from preventable fucking gun violence. This 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:20.560 shouldn't be an every week occurrence. There have been more 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:23.880 mass shootings this year than days on the fucking calendar, 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:27.800 and every year gets worse. The only time that we 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:32.400 didn't have school shootings was during COVID, during quarantine. What 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:39.760 the fuck does that tell you? I don't know. I 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:46.320 don't know. Coming up next is a conversation that I 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:53.160 pre recorded with my friend, the executive director of LGBTQ 0:07:53.600 --> 0:08:00.200 Task Force, Kara Johnson, and this conversation is about out 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:04.160 the targets that the Republicans are placing on the backs 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:08.960 of our community and the threats that we face and 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:11.640 what we can do about it. That conversation with Kia 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:18.760 Johnson is coming up next. Folks. I am very happy 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:23.000 to welcome back to Woke Fi Daily my friend the 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:27.480 executive director of the LGBTQ Task Force, Kiara Johnson, who 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:31.040 you have no doubt seen heard on the steps of 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:36.920 the Supreme Court on channels like MSNBC talking about the 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:42.160 onslaught of attacks and the targeting of the LGBTQ community 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:46.160 that we are seeing. Kiara, before we even jump in, 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:49.440 you know, I want to ask you, person to person, 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:53.360 black queer woman to black queer woman, how are you feeling? 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:59.160 You know, I feel like I have so many emotions 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:02.920 in any given day. Um. You know, on one hand, 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.560 I get so much I get I have so much 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:10.360 hope about what's possible right when I when I see 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:18.080 um more LGBTQ folks organizations working, you know, across movements 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:22.760 right with you know, immigrant rights organizations and and women's 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:28.040 rights organizations, poverty organizations. UM. More young people coming out, 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.280 and they're coming out in larger numbers and and at 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:36.600 younger ages. UM. And then I can't help but have 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:40.920 a pit in my stomach. You know, it's hard to 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:46.320 believe that in twenty twenty three we are seeing the 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:50.760 onslaught of attack and and and and in so many 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:55.240 different ways, um across the country, on every facet of 0:09:55.240 --> 0:10:00.640 our community. It makes me nauseous. It makes me nervous, 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:05.840 but it also has really lit a fire under me too. 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:10.840 You know, I will tell you that nothing has really 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:21.640 prepared me right for this backslide in acceptance in just equity. Right. 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:27.680 I was one of the people who, like you, have 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.600 been on the front lines for LGBTQ equality of use 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:36.000 their platform for a variety of things. And I was lulled, 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:40.120 like many after we watched the White House Go Rainbow 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:45.079 in twenty fifteen, into complacency that like we were on 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:48.400 an up swing. We were on you know, we were 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:52.920 this we were going to be visited upon all the 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:57.440 successes that our predecessors had fought so valiantly to get 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:01.480 us too. And now I feel in many ways we 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:06.400 have had the wind literally figuratively kicked out of us 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:12.600 right and pulled from underneath our wings and in our sales. 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:16.760 And so while you say you feel like you have 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:21.520 a fire ignited in you, there are many people who 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.640 you know, reach out to me on social media and 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:28.920 they're like, Danielle, I just don't have the energy. I 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:33.040 don't have the strength. I feel worn out, I feel hopeless, 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:39.960 and so to that, what do you say, I feel that, 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:46.760 I hear I hear that too. And the reality is 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:52.880 is that you know, we are not powerful only as individuals. 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:56.920 We're powerful as a collective, right, We're powerful as a community. 0:11:57.040 --> 0:12:02.640 We are powerful being aligned, right. That Also, that's the 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.800 way we stay resilient too. It's not that everybody has 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:09.679 to do everything all the time, forever and always right. 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:13.000 We have to figure out for ourselves and within the 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:17.640 context of community, what's our piece of the fight right now. 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:24.400 And remember that we're connected to elders in this movement 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:29.400 who are in their sixties, seventies, eighties, right who who 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:32.080 who are ready to jump back into this fight in 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:37.000 various ways. We are connected to teens and twenty somethings 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:40.040 in thirty some things who are also fired up and 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.800 looking to take part in this battle, in these fights. 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:48.000 And so I think the I think the most dangerous 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:51.080 thing our opposition can do, and it is what they 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:54.360 are trying to do, is to make us feel isolated, 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:57.720 make us feel alone, make us feel like we don't 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:01.800 have power, make us feel like we are undeserving of 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.800 the rights that we're demanding of the love that should 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:09.120 just be ours by virtue of being humanum and if 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:11.480 we can, if we can remind ourselves that we are 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:15.560 not alone and in fact, this onslaught of attacks is 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:21.359 in reaction to us winning, in reaction to our progress. 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:24.440 I think I think we can we can really pull 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:30.280 this out. Yeah, I feel that, and I feel the 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:36.160 you know, I think that anger is a really powerful emotion, right, 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:39.320 as many people who listen to woke a come here 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:42.720 for which is the level of rage that I project 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:45.240 on a daily basis. But I do I think it's powerful. 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:49.400 I think it. I think if utilized as a tool, right, 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:55.560 it can force levers and mechanisms and break systems wide open. Right. 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:59.240 And I feel, Kiera, that we are in a system 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:04.880 breaking moment, right, And we're in a system breaking moment 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:10.440 because they were never meant to hold us, right LGBTQ people, 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:16.520 people of color, people from marginalized communities in this breaking 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:20.520 open though? Do you feel like there needs to be 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:27.280 a full on sledgehammer destruction in order for a new 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:30.920 to grow out of that? Right? Like? Is there a 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:37.680 way that we mend this or is it in need 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:43.720 a full breaking? I think what you're talking about is 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:48.200 so it's so critical. I mean, I think we do 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.520 have to get angry. I also think being angry and 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:57.560 being hopeful or not mutually exclusive. Right, those things live together, right, 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:01.480 they work in tandem. Right. It's it's how we decide 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:05.640 what we're gonna do with the anger. Right. We can 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:09.640 we can use our anger to destroy and be done right, 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:12.560 or we can use our anger to destroy and also 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:16.160 right have that hope in our back pocket that's going 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:20.040 to help us build right and generate and evolved. And 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:23.240 so I do think so many of our systems have 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:27.840 to be to use your word sledge hammered. Right. Um, 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:32.000 so many of the systems right that are in play 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:36.280 right now are not working for us, right. I mean 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:40.760 the foster care system is a really great example of that. Um, 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:44.960 Black and brown and Indigenous kids are falling through the cracks. Um, 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:48.440 they're all of these homes, you know, willing, loving homes 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:53.080 waiting for kids that never see children enter their enter 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:56.720 their homes. Our education system. All we have to do 0:15:56.840 --> 0:15:59.840 is look at Florida and know that the education system 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:03.840 is a joke. It's a joke. We've got to start 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:07.480 over and put people at the center of these systems 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:12.000 and institutions again, and I do think there's an outside 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:14.520 and an inside strategy. I think there are short term 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.600 and long term strategies. I don't think we have to 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:20.360 throw the baby out with the bathwater, because there are 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:25.840 too many of us are four mothers, four parents who 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:29.520 have had great ideas and have seen real success, right, 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:33.120 that we can capitalize on. And now's the time to 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:36.480 remember and learn our histories, right, because there's a lot 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:39.960 there for us to utilize and to capitalize on. And 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:45.320 isn't that the reason why we are seeing the onslaught 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:50.119 of legislation that is attacking this community, that is attacking education, 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:54.600 that is attacking curriculum, Because now is the time for 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:58.440 us to understand our history. Understand that while there is 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:01.960 a newness to this moment moment, right, because we are 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:08.680 dealing with layered and extensive and fraught crises, that the 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:13.520 struggle is not new, right. What we are struggling against, 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:20.680 and it's connection, right, climate change, economic crisis, racial injustice, 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:27.080 transphobia and homophobia, anti semitism, all of those things are 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:30.120 not new things. It's just the fact that we are 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:35.280 in this literal perfect storm. And so you know, is 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:39.600 that why we're seeing these attacks Because I'll tell you, 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:42.480 Kiera that I wrote something the other day and I said, 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:47.919 the problem is we got too free. That's the problem 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.879 is that we now have generations of young people that 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:55.240 are questioning the lies in the systems that they have 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:59.359 been born into. They are questioning the gender binary, they 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:04.479 are questioning name capitalism, they are questioning right patriarchy, they 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:08.480 are questioning the calls around the lack of bodily autonomy. 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:11.960 They are questioning these things. And dare I say, becoming 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:17.040 woke to these things, and that's why we are seeing 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:24.600 this vicious evil. Yes, immorl pushback. I think that's absolutely right. 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:30.280 I mean, I will never forget my I'm gonna take 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:34.200 it all the way to birthing um My Dula, who 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:39.440 was a badass black woman, said to me, when you 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:44.639 feel the worst pain, that's when you are making the 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:49.080 most progress. That's that's how you know, right, you are 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:55.520 almost there. And and that feels so real for us 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:59.879 in a movement context right now. I think that our 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.840 opposition is coming so hard for exactly the reason you said, 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:07.840 we are making too much progress, that the light is 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:11.280 shining too bright at the end of that tunnel. And 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:15.600 so the only thing they can do is to create 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:21.679 narratives that strip us of our humanity, make people afraid. 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:26.480 You got to make people fear us to try to 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:32.480 gain any traction. And you know there have been casualties, right, 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:36.760 that's undeniable, and there will be more casualties. We're seeing 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:43.920 it across the country and we're already winning. We're gonna win. 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:46.359 This is exactly the reason we have to push harder. 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:48.960 We have to make deeper connections, we have to invest 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:53.440 even more in our communities, engage our elders and young 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:57.280 people in this fight in an authentic way, because because 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:01.159 it is they're feeling the pressure, they're feeling the winds 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:06.720 and the power and that we're exhibiting. And that's my thing, 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:09.960 is that I want to remind people of this. Right, 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:11.959 And I love what your do list said. I love 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:15.160 I love that because I can envision it in this 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:19.400 moment of we are in pain. So I want to 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:25.400 acknowledge the fact that yes, right, like our community, right, 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:29.280 these layered and intersected communities that we are a part of, 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:34.160 are feeling the most pain. Right, we are being forced 0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:39.920 to the brink of like our trauma, right of feeling 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:43.080 and living in fear, living looking behind our you know, 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:46.439 looking over our shoulders, wondering whether or not we're going 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:49.199 to lose our jobs, wondering whether or not we're going 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:51.680 to lose our homes. Right, what else is this Santa's 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:55.200 gonna throw out every time my fucking phone dings. It's 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:58.639 some other piece of legislation that they're attacking, you know, 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:04.600 just right before it's now periods. So not only right, 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:10.719 not only are people with uteruses you losing, yep, the 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:13.119 ability to decide when, how, and if they want to 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:18.640 have a child. But now we have legislation in the 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:24.399 state of Florida that is about to muscle young girls 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:29.320 in school, muscle their teachers, muscle the administration from even 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:33.879 being able to talk about menstruation. Like what right in 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:40.520 the entirety? What in the back to the future? I 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:43.280 just you know what I'm saying. So when you see that, 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:47.080 because here are you come out of the abortion movement, 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:49.560 you come out of the reproductive movement as well, and 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:55.080 you see these things are so intertwined. What does coordinated 0:21:55.119 --> 0:22:02.640 fight back look like? You know, our allies and friends 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:06.439 at the state and local level have been saying this. 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:11.760 For a long time, the need to think locally right 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:16.880 and at globally has been ever present, and it's even 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:21.480 more important now. I think in addition to thinking about 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:27.159 how we're coordinating across movements or across issues or across constituencies, 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:31.560 we've also got to think about how we're coordinating cross borders. Right. 0:22:31.920 --> 0:22:36.240 We've got to be thinking about how does what we 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:39.880 do at the local level help give us an edge 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:42.119 up in the in the change we're trying to make 0:22:42.160 --> 0:22:44.840 at the state level, and you know, the change we're 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:46.840 trying to make at the state level federal level, and 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:50.120 then vice versa, right in the other direction. These these 0:22:50.160 --> 0:22:53.680 things are ever connected, and I mean that's another way 0:22:53.720 --> 0:22:56.320 we have to think differently, right, Like, we don't have 0:22:56.359 --> 0:23:00.240 the luxury of only thinking about federal policy. We don't 0:23:00.320 --> 0:23:04.520 have the luxury of only thinking about the state legislature. 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:07.520 We've got to be thinking about city policies, right, We've 0:23:07.520 --> 0:23:09.800 got to be thinking about school board And again, we 0:23:10.200 --> 0:23:12.480 each one of us can't do all of those things. 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:18.240 But how are we connecting through various tables right so 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:21.000 that we can be on a more coordinated front. And 0:23:21.000 --> 0:23:25.840 we're in and if we can't align in an entire 0:23:26.040 --> 0:23:29.159 right strategic way. How can we work together not to 0:23:29.200 --> 0:23:34.920 do harm right along the way. I don't even know 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:38.440 what doing no harm really looks like, because you see, 0:23:38.640 --> 0:23:42.000 what I feel like the right has always been better 0:23:42.080 --> 0:23:45.760 at is their coordinated attack, because you see they have 0:23:45.920 --> 0:23:50.600 a similar endgame. It is the destruction of equity, of justice, 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:55.200 of freedom, right like, that's their goal, is a white 0:23:55.280 --> 0:24:02.200 crystal fascist country, Disneyland Right Florida is their petrie dish 0:24:02.440 --> 0:24:04.600 for that. And we're seeing what that looks like. It 0:24:04.600 --> 0:24:09.199 looks like criminalizing people who transport undocumented people, whether that 0:24:09.280 --> 0:24:12.200 be a family member or a colleague. It looks like 0:24:12.560 --> 0:24:17.159 no bodily autonomy. It looks like no conversation around bodily autonomy. 0:24:17.320 --> 0:24:22.199 It looks like targeting the press, targeting trans people. You know, 0:24:22.400 --> 0:24:26.720 it looks like a police state. Right. But when we 0:24:26.800 --> 0:24:31.560 look at these separate movements, do you think that we 0:24:31.720 --> 0:24:35.240 talk enough about what freedom looks like to all of us? 0:24:35.800 --> 0:24:39.359 Do you think that we have a conversation about freedom, 0:24:39.960 --> 0:24:44.360 about love, about you know, our collective and shared purpose, 0:24:44.640 --> 0:24:48.760 or we two divergent in our thinking about what I 0:24:48.800 --> 0:24:50.879 got to do over here? For Repo writes what I 0:24:50.880 --> 0:24:53.040 got to do over here for trans writes, what I 0:24:53.080 --> 0:24:56.120 got to do over here for black liberation, etc. Etc. 0:24:57.640 --> 0:25:01.240 You know, we just had our Creating Change conference a 0:25:01.280 --> 0:25:05.040 couple of weeks ago, and somebody said, one of the participants, 0:25:05.880 --> 0:25:08.360 you know, it's critical for us to be in our 0:25:08.400 --> 0:25:14.240 constituent specific right groups and right and configurations. But what's 0:25:14.400 --> 0:25:18.520 missing that we used to do better is come back 0:25:18.600 --> 0:25:22.800 together to share and learn and debate and like and 0:25:22.800 --> 0:25:27.639 and create together. And I think that's that's the piece. 0:25:27.800 --> 0:25:31.240 I think we've got to carve out that space again 0:25:31.280 --> 0:25:35.679 to be right in community. However, right folks want to 0:25:35.880 --> 0:25:40.200 you know, mobilize right within their constituency groups. But then, 0:25:40.280 --> 0:25:42.880 like you were saying, how do we come back together 0:25:42.960 --> 0:25:47.800 so that all of the generative ideas, all of the strategies, 0:25:47.920 --> 0:25:52.840 all of the new found solutions right, there's a place 0:25:52.880 --> 0:25:54.959 for all of that to come back for us to 0:25:55.080 --> 0:25:59.000 chew on right together. I think I think that's critical. 0:25:59.040 --> 0:26:03.280 But but I also would say, you know, I've heard 0:26:03.280 --> 0:26:04.879 folks say, you know, we need to take up a 0:26:04.960 --> 0:26:06.960 piece out of you know, take a page out of 0:26:07.000 --> 0:26:11.160 the opposition's handbook, And I would I argue that it's 0:26:11.160 --> 0:26:13.840 always been our handbook, right, Like, when you look at 0:26:13.840 --> 0:26:18.240 the tactics they're using, they're hours like investing in young 0:26:18.280 --> 0:26:23.440 people's leadership, right like having a strategy to reach college students, 0:26:24.160 --> 0:26:28.720 community building right at the local and state level, engaging 0:26:28.720 --> 0:26:33.760 in organizing faith communities. That's not theirs, that's ours. And 0:26:33.800 --> 0:26:39.280 so it's also like, how do we do less of 0:26:39.320 --> 0:26:42.400 getting sucked into what they're doing. Not that I'm saying 0:26:42.400 --> 0:26:44.680 we don't, we shouldn't be aware, right, We've got to 0:26:44.720 --> 0:26:47.360 be right now. I get that, yes, But also how 0:26:47.400 --> 0:26:51.879 do we invest in the strategies and tactics that have 0:26:52.040 --> 0:26:56.080 worked for us over the centuries, whether it was right 0:26:56.119 --> 0:27:01.560 to vote, desegregation, owning land. You know, there are so 0:27:01.680 --> 0:27:08.240 many powerful transformational wins that progressive people have made along 0:27:08.280 --> 0:27:12.000 the way that I think it's dangerous for us to 0:27:12.680 --> 0:27:16.719 forget right. That perspective is critical, especially in these times. 0:27:18.080 --> 0:27:23.520 I can remember learning about the civil rights movement when 0:27:23.560 --> 0:27:27.840 I was in high school, and I remember because it 0:27:27.960 --> 0:27:33.040 is pretty much what triggered my love of politics and 0:27:33.320 --> 0:27:38.240 public service and wanting to be a part of the 0:27:39.480 --> 0:27:42.320 group of people that believed in the possibility of perfecting 0:27:42.359 --> 0:27:48.280 this union and I remember thinking to myself, and all 0:27:48.280 --> 0:27:51.800 throughout my career have thought to myself, who would I 0:27:51.840 --> 0:27:59.800 have been right in the nineteen fifties, nineteen sixties, nineteen seventies. 0:28:00.040 --> 0:28:03.680 Would I have been doing right? Because we all love 0:28:03.760 --> 0:28:05.520 to say that we would be you know, we would 0:28:05.560 --> 0:28:07.560 have been this and that and like bump bap up. 0:28:08.040 --> 0:28:10.040 But there were people. There were black folks that were 0:28:10.080 --> 0:28:13.359 just trying to live, just trying to survive, right, that 0:28:13.520 --> 0:28:16.520 didn't want to put their body, their life there anything 0:28:16.560 --> 0:28:20.200 on the line. And so here we are fast forward. 0:28:20.320 --> 0:28:22.879 I'm not saying that it's the same, but I'm saying 0:28:22.960 --> 0:28:26.280 that there is a fight. We are at war, right. 0:28:26.600 --> 0:28:30.640 We didn't declare it, but it is happening and unfolding. Yeah, 0:28:30.680 --> 0:28:33.840 and I find myself recognizing that, oh what would I 0:28:33.880 --> 0:28:35.840 have been doing? I would have been a voice. I 0:28:35.840 --> 0:28:38.640 would have used whatever platform I had, whether I was 0:28:39.080 --> 0:28:43.000 writing in the you know, the black newspaper, getting on 0:28:43.240 --> 0:28:46.120 you know, black radio, or doing whatever like that. Is 0:28:46.160 --> 0:28:48.200 what I would have been doing. Is what I'm doing now. 0:28:48.920 --> 0:28:52.320 How do you answer that question? Do you feel like 0:28:52.400 --> 0:28:56.440 you are doing now what you would have done? Then? 0:28:57.640 --> 0:29:02.520 Oh my god, I love this question. Um, dang okay. 0:29:07.120 --> 0:29:13.280 So I don't know what immediately came to mind, to 0:29:13.360 --> 0:29:22.880 be honest, was I see myself helping run the underground. 0:29:24.440 --> 0:29:28.600 So you know, every movement right has had an underground right, 0:29:28.880 --> 0:29:33.400 whether moving underground information or moving people to seek the 0:29:33.440 --> 0:29:37.800 healthcare right, the abortions they need, or getting people from 0:29:37.880 --> 0:29:43.720 you know, slaveholders to freeland right, like I housing people, tracking, 0:29:43.840 --> 0:29:47.760 getting people to places. There's something about that that just 0:29:48.080 --> 0:29:55.080 feels that subversive, like like pulling the things up by 0:29:55.120 --> 0:29:58.200 the roots, like you have no idea where I'm at, 0:29:58.400 --> 0:30:02.040 but it's but that's but that that's the I don't know. 0:30:02.080 --> 0:30:04.840 It makes me really excited, and now it's making me 0:30:04.920 --> 0:30:07.200 question what else I need to be doing that I'm 0:30:07.280 --> 0:30:10.440