Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Okay f Daily with
Speaker 1: me your girl Danielle Moody recording from the Brooklyn Bunker.
Speaker 1: So in breaking news, which by the time you hear this,
Speaker 1: it won't be breaking breaking, but let me break it
Speaker 1: down anyway, Justice Bryer has announced that he is going
Speaker 1: to be retiring, which allows for the Biden administration to
Speaker 1: have its first Supreme Court justice appointment. Now, normally, in
Speaker 1: these circumstances, I would be over the moon, right because
Speaker 1: I would think, oh, my goodness, this is great, we
Speaker 1: get to add another justice, except for the fact that, oh,
Speaker 1: that's right, the Trump administration got to add three justices
Speaker 1: because in the last forty five days of his disastrous presidency,
Speaker 1: we push through Amy Covid, Barrett Right, and Justice Bryer
Speaker 1: is one of the loan through three right justices who
Speaker 1: still actually believes in the rule of law, believes in
Speaker 1: the Constitution. And so this is really not a gain
Speaker 1: for the Biden administration. But what is really interesting about
Speaker 1: this why I bring it up today because if you
Speaker 1: remember that candidate Joe Biden said that if he had
Speaker 1: the opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice that it
Speaker 1: would be a black woman. He would appoint the first
Speaker 1: black woman to the bench. Right, now, we know that
Speaker 1: what both Republicans and Democrats are alike are good for
Speaker 1: is what their symbolism, right, the things that they say
Speaker 1: that they will do for black and brown people or
Speaker 1: against black and brown people, and then the things that
Speaker 1: they actually do. We're fighting for justice, marching for justice
Speaker 1: in a variety of ways, for equity, for economic justice,
Speaker 1: right for all of these things. And what do they
Speaker 1: give us maya angeliu on a fucking quarter or Juneteenth
Speaker 1: as a holiday, anytime that we ask for shit that
Speaker 1: should just be considered the right thing to do. After
Speaker 1: hundreds of years of enslavement, you would think, and genocide,
Speaker 1: you would think that it would be a no brainer.
Speaker 1: But no, not in America. So here we are now
Speaker 1: where Joe Biden is faced with what he said on
Speaker 1: the campaign trail which a lot of people remembered, which
Speaker 1: is that if I have the ability to appoint a
Speaker 1: Supreme Court justice, I'm going to appoint the first black woman.
Speaker 1: Now for me, if you were asking for who I
Speaker 1: think the next Supreme Court justice should be, it would
Speaker 1: be the brilliant fighter for justice. Head of the end
Speaker 1: of BLACP Legal Defense fund Sherilyn, who for decades has
Speaker 1: been fighting for equity and justice right in our legal system,
Speaker 1: in our criminal justice system. This is a woman that
Speaker 1: has been on the forefront of some of the most
Speaker 1: groundbreaking lawsuits that we have seen. And so I hope
Speaker 1: that if in fact, Joe Biden is putting together his
Speaker 1: list right of potential Supreme Court nominees, that Cherylyn Eiffel
Speaker 1: is at the top of that list. Now we know
Speaker 1: that in order to get a justice passed you need
Speaker 1: fifty people, Well guess what it is a fifty fifty
Speaker 1: person split. And what do we in the Senate and
Speaker 1: what do we know to be true that there are
Speaker 1: two fucking agents of the Republican Party that masquerade as
Speaker 1: Democrats but don't actually vote with Democrats or share our values.
Speaker 1: So what will happen with this Supreme Court nomination? Who
Speaker 1: the fuck knows. But I'm sure it'll be a spectacle.
Speaker 1: I'm sure it'll be a circus. And I'm kind of
Speaker 1: fifty fifty thinking that it'll probably be a white man.
Speaker 1: You know, what makes everybody feel comfortable enough of that?
Speaker 1: You know, this week, I have seen so many instances
Speaker 1: of Republicans once again offering up to the American people
Speaker 1: exactly who they are. And I mentioned this earlier in
Speaker 1: the week, and I want to bring it up again.
Speaker 1: There is a clip that had gone viral and I
Speaker 1: shared it on Twitter. It is a city council meeting
Speaker 1: where a black man city council member is completely exacerbated
Speaker 1: by how he is being treated by his fellow white
Speaker 1: city council members. And there is an exchange that ended
Speaker 1: up being going on CNN where he says, I'm tired
Speaker 1: of being treated like this and like this is not
Speaker 1: the cotton fields out in the cotton fields, right, and
Speaker 1: his white colleague said to him, you should be. So
Speaker 1: I just want everyone to take a beat for a minute,
Speaker 1: because thankfully this black man who was so wildly fucking
Speaker 1: disrespected did not react other than with the disgust. But
Speaker 1: let me tell you something I wish a motherfucker would
Speaker 1: because I am reaching my I don't give a fuck
Speaker 1: limit with racist ass white people thinking that they can
Speaker 1: say and do whatever the fuck they want without any consequence. Now,
Speaker 1: you may not see any consequence in our unjust system, right,
Speaker 1: But let me tell you something I wish somebody would
Speaker 1: say something like that to me, because for certain, on
Speaker 1: that good day, I will be choosing violence a hundred percent.
Speaker 1: You think that you can look a black person in
Speaker 1: the face and tell them that they deserve or should
Speaker 1: be in somebody's cotton field, and think that you deserve
Speaker 1: to have a seat as anybody's fucking representative, you are
Speaker 1: out of your fucking mind. And I think it is
Speaker 1: past fucking time for the people to let these motherfuckers
Speaker 1: know that their time is tick ticking up. Because here's
Speaker 1: the thing. Pressure makes two things, right. Pressure makes two things.
Speaker 1: It makes diamonds right if pressed in the right way,
Speaker 1: and it makes an explosion right in the other form.
Speaker 1: And what I'm saying is that the pressure that this
Speaker 1: Republican Party is putting on our democracy, the pressure that
Speaker 1: it is putting on everyone who is not white or
Speaker 1: cists or rate or male and conservative and Christian and
Speaker 1: all of this shit, they are going to go one
Speaker 1: motherfucking step too far. And I pray to God that
Speaker 1: I am on the other side of that line when
Speaker 1: that foot or body or hand right crosses over, because
Speaker 1: I have had enough. You know, earlier this week I
Speaker 1: had the great fortune of being at the co host
Speaker 1: of my other podcasts. If you have not listened to
Speaker 1: Democracy Ish, which also comes out on Thursdays with my
Speaker 1: new co host, hwajahat Ali, I say to you please
Speaker 1: do check it out. It is a conversation between him
Speaker 1: and I each and every week. He is a Pakistani American, Muslim,
Speaker 1: American full blooded. I am obviously a black queer woman,
Speaker 1: child of immigrants as well, and we are really spirited
Speaker 1: conversations about what it means to live in this crumbling democracy,
Speaker 1: what it means to be an American. And in WASH's
Speaker 1: new book that came out this week entitled go Back
Speaker 1: to Your Country and Other Helpful Tips, his story of
Speaker 1: what it has been like to live in a brown body,
Speaker 1: be a Muslim, and grow up in the United States
Speaker 1: being told to go back to your country when in fact,
Speaker 1: this is your fucking country. But Mitch McConnell also said
Speaker 1: the quiet part out loud this week when he was
Speaker 1: pressed by a reporter about the rate at which African Americans,
Speaker 1: black folks in this country vote and all of the
Speaker 1: voter suppression laws that Republicans have been rolling out since
Speaker 1: they're spreading of the Big Lie in twenty twenty, and
Speaker 1: Mitch McConnell says, oh, well, African Americans are vote at
Speaker 1: the same pace as Americans. I'm sorry, what And instead
Speaker 1: of said report, following up and saying so, by your measurement,
Speaker 1: are you saying that African Americans are not Americans and
Speaker 1: that Americans no hyphen are white? Because see, that's the
Speaker 1: kind of investigative reporting that I would like to see.
Speaker 1: That's the type of no bullshit follow up that I
Speaker 1: would like to see politicians like Mitch McConnell, like Kevin
Speaker 1: McCarthy and others be pressed with. Because you see the
Speaker 1: reporters that are in these gaggles around them ask them
Speaker 1: the most bullshit, softball fucking questions, right, Because if it
Speaker 1: were me, trust and believe, and I had a woke
Speaker 1: a f MIC in front of that man, I would say, so,
Speaker 1: what would So to your point, African Americans are not Americans?
Speaker 1: Is that what you're saying? And that actual Americans no
Speaker 1: hyphen or white? Is that what you're saying? And so
Speaker 1: then to that point, when you use terms like workers
Speaker 1: right and blue collar and rust belt right and real Americans,
Speaker 1: who exactly are you talking about and what do they
Speaker 1: look like? Because mainstream media is complicit is complicit in
Speaker 1: the spreading of white supremacy. Right, It isn't just about ratings.
Speaker 1: It's about who sits in the c suite, It's about
Speaker 1: who's in those newsrooms. It's about what those producers and
Speaker 1: editors look like. It's what those reporters look like and
Speaker 1: their idea of what it means to be fucking neutral
Speaker 1: in the face of racism and discrimination. Oh, I don't
Speaker 1: know what he meant. That's your idea of neutrality, bitch,
Speaker 1: do better. So to every single one of those reporters
Speaker 1: that were standing around Mitch McConnell and didn't ask any
Speaker 1: type of fucking follow up, you failed your goddamn job
Speaker 1: and your profession. I don't know what you people are
Speaker 1: doing these days with this softball bullshit as you, oh
Speaker 1: very goddamn well, that our democracy is hanging on by
Speaker 1: a thread, and each and every day that we do
Speaker 1: not use our platforms and our voices to be able
Speaker 1: to say the quiet part out loud, which is that
Speaker 1: both parties are failing us. One has the gun at
Speaker 1: our head, right, and the other one is sitting around
Speaker 1: with their heads in the fucking sand. So at this
Speaker 1: stage of the game, right, you have Joe Biden getting
Speaker 1: ready to appoint a Supreme Court justice or whenever we're
Speaker 1: going to see that long drawn out process go. You
Speaker 1: have the one six Commission sitting around looking for subpoenas
Speaker 1: and still asking people nicely to show up when they
Speaker 1: disregard said subpoenas. You got the Department of Justice, oh,
Speaker 1: looking into right, the false taxes and claims of the
Speaker 1: former administration, but not really doing anything. And then you're
Speaker 1: gonna look around and tell the American people that midterms
Speaker 1: are coming in a handful of motes months and if
Speaker 1: they don't vote, then they're the ones that have failed
Speaker 1: our democracy. I'm just tired of the rinse and repeat
Speaker 1: of bullshit right, because it's like you try and out
Speaker 1: damn spot out, but the bullshit stains right that are
Speaker 1: there are not coming out right, They're actually just growing bigger.
Speaker 1: And then everyone is saying, just don't look at the
Speaker 1: spot right, just like the movie, just don't look up,
Speaker 1: Just don't look up, don't look at the spot, don't
Speaker 1: ask any follow up questions. Just let these people pop
Speaker 1: off with their bullshit and allow that to spread virally
Speaker 1: and then do nothing about it, which brings me to
Speaker 1: Florida today. Later on in the show, we're going to
Speaker 1: have a conversation with returning guests, the executive director of
Speaker 1: the LGBTQ Task Force and my friend Kiera Johnson, and
Speaker 1: Kiera and I are going to get into a conversation
Speaker 1: about what is transpiring in Florida and why everyone, regardless
Speaker 1: of where you live at this very moment, should be
Speaker 1: concerned with what is happening in Florida. So this week,
Speaker 1: late last week, and then this week, rond de Santis
Speaker 1: has decided that he's going to make a pivot from
Speaker 1: going after any conversations on race, any conversations on racism,
Speaker 1: you know, anything that are going to make white people
Speaker 1: feel discomfort. He's going to now make the pivot to
Speaker 1: go after LGBTQ people. And I want everyone to be
Speaker 1: paying attention because it's the same playbook that is used
Speaker 1: all of the fucking time. You go after the people
Speaker 1: that nobody gives a shit about first, right, and then
Speaker 1: you keep taken them off until eventually he comes to
Speaker 1: your door. Right. It is the Martin Neomohler palm. First
Speaker 1: they came for so first, Ronda Santis came for black
Speaker 1: folks and vote of suppression. Then he came for any
Speaker 1: conversations on race and racism, because God forbid we teach
Speaker 1: anyone to think critically or look at this country through
Speaker 1: a lens other than the lens of a white strait
Speaker 1: cis gender male. Right, Then he came for that. Now
Speaker 1: he's going for LGBTQ Americans and Floridians and saying we're
Speaker 1: not going to talk about anything gay mentioned. Gay people
Speaker 1: have conversations about sexuality, gender identity, if you are being bullied,
Speaker 1: if you're being harassed, we're not doing any of it
Speaker 1: in the state of Florida. Now he's continuing under the
Speaker 1: guise of parental control and saying it should be parents'
Speaker 1: choice if in fact their children are introduced to such
Speaker 1: you know, horrificness by queer people who are just seeking
Speaker 1: to you know, corrupt their children and bring them into
Speaker 1: the rainbow dry a right, because that's what we all
Speaker 1: do as gays. It pisces me off. And I said
Speaker 1: this yesterday if you caught my woke Wednesday, that at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the two thousands, in the early aughts,
Speaker 1: in the Obama administration, there was a string of high
Speaker 1: profile not even high profile. It was just in the
Speaker 1: news the suicides of young queer kids who were being
Speaker 1: bullied incessantly, not only by their fellow students in class,
Speaker 1: but also by teachers and administrators who did nothing to
Speaker 1: protect them and probably participated, right, because your silence in
Speaker 1: that case is violence, right, You are allowing abuse to
Speaker 1: continue and you're doing nothing. And from that rash of
Speaker 1: suicides that we're grabbing the headlines and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden people were like, oh my god, what's happening
Speaker 1: to these kids? Well, what's happening to them is that
Speaker 1: you are having them exist right in a climate that
Speaker 1: is hostile and dangerous for them to be who they are,
Speaker 1: and there is no place for them to look and
Speaker 1: feel like their life is going to get better, that
Speaker 1: regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, that their
Speaker 1: life in fact has value and is of worth. And
Speaker 1: so after that, the Obama administration had rolled out federal
Speaker 1: regulations that essentially would ensure that young's kids would be
Speaker 1: able to use the bathrooms that associate with the their
Speaker 1: gender identity, that there would be issues right punishment for
Speaker 1: schools that did not protect LGBTQ youth folks. This was
Speaker 1: only fucking you know, ten twelve years ago. And so
Speaker 1: here we are now in twenty twenty two, and Ron
Speaker 1: De Santis is back to don't ask, don't tell. So
Speaker 1: I keep asking myself how far back are Republicans going
Speaker 1: to go with their culture war? How far back are
Speaker 1: they going to drag America? And now folks can say, well,
Speaker 1: you know, Florida is going to Florida. But Florida right
Speaker 1: now is the Republican parties lab. They test out all
Speaker 1: of the policies that once they are back and can
Speaker 1: all of the gavels in Congress, we'll try and institute nationwide.
Speaker 1: And right now there are twenty eight states that are
Speaker 1: controlled by Republican governors. Twenty eight. So that means that
Speaker 1: their idea of state control can be about how we
Speaker 1: turn our public education system back into the white supremacist machine,
Speaker 1: propaganda machine, where we are using kids once again as
Speaker 1: pawns in order to feed them a narrative of the
Speaker 1: America that they want you to know, and then that
Speaker 1: that they want to not be named. It is happening
Speaker 1: in Florida, it is happening in Texas, it's happening in Alabama.
Speaker 1: It's happening in Tennessee. It's happening in all of these places,
Speaker 1: and it's going to happen rewear if they are allowed
Speaker 1: to get the gavels back if Republicans take power, because
Speaker 1: this time around they will not give it up because
Speaker 1: they have put in place all of the Trumpers who
Speaker 1: are now their new electors and their secretary of States
Speaker 1: who have pledged their allegiance and said, well, if I
Speaker 1: had been in charge in twenty twenty, my state wouldn't
Speaker 1: have certified the election. This is where we are headed. So,
Speaker 1: like I said, pressure creates two things, diamonds and an explosion.
Speaker 1: And we ain't cut in anybody's diamond anytime soon. So
Speaker 1: I want folks to begin to wrap their minds around
Speaker 1: and prepare for what is coming down the pike. They
Speaker 1: came for women's rights. By June, the Supreme Court will
Speaker 1: deside that Roe v. Wade no longer stands, and if
Speaker 1: it stands, it will be in name only. So they
Speaker 1: came for men's rights. They came for your voting rights
Speaker 1: right by ending preclearance, and that was one of the
Speaker 1: first things that Chief Justice John Roberts did right, and
Speaker 1: since then we have over five hundred voter suppression laws
Speaker 1: now all over this country, and that has just been
Speaker 1: since twenty twenty. Now they're going after LGBTQ folks again.
Speaker 1: And if you think that they're not going to come
Speaker 1: for your marriage certificates right and just fought and one
Speaker 1: workplace discrimination cases, they will. So what's next to Santis?
Speaker 1: Will it be both sides of the Holocaust? Right? Will
Speaker 1: you want to give equal airtime to the Nazis so
Speaker 1: that you know those that signed up to be Nazis
Speaker 1: don't feel any discomfort what we talk about the murder
Speaker 1: and killing of six million people? How far is this
Speaker 1: party willing to go? That's the question that we should
Speaker 1: be asking. And then the question that we should be
Speaker 1: asking ourselves is how far are we willing to go
Speaker 1: in order to make sure that they don't succeed. Coming
Speaker 1: up next is my conversation with my friend Kiera Johnson,
Speaker 1: the executive director of the LGBTQ Task Force, to talk
Speaker 1: about Florida's Don't Say Gay Bill, folks. I am very
Speaker 1: excited to welcome back to wok Fidaily my friend, the
Speaker 1: executive director of the LGBTQ Task Force, Kiera Johnson, to
Speaker 1: talk about you know one of my favorite topics run
Speaker 1: death Santis in Florida, who is a man on a mission, Kiara.
Speaker 1: He is a man on a mission to turn back
Speaker 1: the hands of time, to put black people in their place,
Speaker 1: to put gay folks back in the closet, to put
Speaker 1: women back in a closet. I mean, if you are
Speaker 1: from a community that it is not mail, that is
Speaker 1: not straight, that it is not sis, that is not wealthy.
Speaker 1: Uh Ron de Santis in the state of Florida are
Speaker 1: coming for you this latest installment of his don't say
Speaker 1: Gay legislation, which is operating under the guise of parental
Speaker 1: control right, Um, what do you make of this initial
Speaker 1: step that we know is going in the wrong direction. Yeah, Daniel,
Speaker 1: it's so good to see you. I feel like it's
Speaker 1: been too long, and thanks for having me on. I
Speaker 1: I have to tell you like it is. It makes
Speaker 1: my stomach colonel right when when I see proposed legislation
Speaker 1: like this and and like you said in the you know,
Speaker 1: under the guise of parental rights right and protecting children. Um,
Speaker 1: you know I have two children, my partner and I
Speaker 1: raise their child part time. Right, So I'm like the
Speaker 1: little old woman who lives in a shoe and um,
Speaker 1: you know, ages four eleven and fourteen, and it is
Speaker 1: you know, the reality is is that our kids are
Speaker 1: in school more than they are with us, and it
Speaker 1: is really important that we can trust teachers and counselors
Speaker 1: and administrators to create the environments where our kids can thrive.
Speaker 1: And it's clear to me that is not what's happening here, right.
Speaker 1: This is this is about creating a culture of fear
Speaker 1: and of silence and of hatred, hatred of others and
Speaker 1: hatred of self. Right. I just it doesn't even seem
Speaker 1: possible that in twenty twenty two that some thing like
Speaker 1: this would even be viable. And I do think that,
Speaker 1: you know, we have to be paying attention, and we
Speaker 1: have to you know, be talking to our legislators and
Speaker 1: putting pressure on them so that this falls flat and
Speaker 1: just is dead out of the water. You know what
Speaker 1: upsets me. It was funny. I was up last night
Speaker 1: just laying in bed, and I find myself doing this
Speaker 1: just thinking about the Obama years and how very fleeting
Speaker 1: they were. Right, you know, it was eight whole years.
Speaker 1: But like you and I said before we started recording,
Speaker 1: when you're living in this pandemic time. Time is like
Speaker 1: an illusion, right, it doesn't really mean anything, It doesn't
Speaker 1: resonate in the same way. And I have often written
Speaker 1: about the Obama years being you know, akin to reconstruction
Speaker 1: after the Civil War, and what would have happened if
Speaker 1: reconstruction had been able to continue, right, if the leaders
Speaker 1: that were in charge weren't cowards, right and reconstruct had continued,
Speaker 1: what would America look like now? And I think about
Speaker 1: that after the Obama years that you know, we had
Speaker 1: this time where LGBTQ youth, we're being lifted up, We're
Speaker 1: being protected in schools, right we were we were on
Speaker 1: like the second wave of you know, gay straight alliances
Speaker 1: and LGBTQ clubs and you know, allowing trans youth to
Speaker 1: be able to use the bathroom associated with their gender
Speaker 1: identity and be protected from even administrators and teachers that
Speaker 1: are bullies. So can you speak to this type of
Speaker 1: policy coming on the heels, coming you know, literally biding
Speaker 1: on the heels during that golden era of the Obama time,
Speaker 1: when as black queer people, we didn't have to pick
Speaker 1: what side of ourselves to show up as, where there
Speaker 1: was a fullness that was available to us in that
Speaker 1: administration and they saw that and this was at that
Speaker 1: you know too, if you were remember at the beginning,
Speaker 1: kids were committing suicide left and right. It was making
Speaker 1: mainstream press right that it gets better campaign rolled out
Speaker 1: in the early aughts because of the descantenses of the world.
Speaker 1: So can you help us make sense as to what
Speaker 1: this kind of rollback because those young kids right that
Speaker 1: were that were young, maybe in middle school at the time,
Speaker 1: are now voting adults, what this rollback could signal for them?
Speaker 1: You know, I, you know, there's there's so much research
Speaker 1: that is that has come out recently about the importance
Speaker 1: of having a safe space. Right. So in particular, you
Speaker 1: know you you brought up suicide rates which are high
Speaker 1: among LGBTQ youth and continue to be high among LGBTQ youth.
Speaker 1: And what the research keeps showing us is that it
Speaker 1: only takes and a counselor right, a teacher, a gay
Speaker 1: straight alliance to shift the tide right and to keep
Speaker 1: a child from thinking that the only option for them
Speaker 1: is death. Right, and and all of the research is
Speaker 1: pointing in that direction. And as parents right of young
Speaker 1: kids of color, right, um, that research is also telling
Speaker 1: us that that LGBTQ discrimination is also disproportionately affecting LGBTQ color,
Speaker 1: LGBTQ young people of color, it even higher rates. Right.
Speaker 1: We're seeing homelessness at higher rates among LGBTQ people of color,
Speaker 1: We're seeing attempted suicide rates at higher rates among LGBTQ
Speaker 1: kids of color. And for us to know that all
Speaker 1: we need to do as adults is support them and
Speaker 1: give them a place to be safe, that's it. That's
Speaker 1: the first step. And we have done so much to
Speaker 1: create an environment where our kids not can survive. Right.
Speaker 1: You know, you're talking about the Obama years, and I remember,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, I did some traveling, you know,
Speaker 1: in different countries, and I hear, you know, would talk
Speaker 1: to my friends about being in different countries and how
Speaker 1: we were seen as better global neighbors, right, better global citizens. Right.
Speaker 1: And when I see this kind of you know, this
Speaker 1: kind of legislation, I'm like, why would we want to
Speaker 1: turn back time and not show up as the best
Speaker 1: global citizens and global neighbors we can? Right? It's hard
Speaker 1: to love what you don't know, right, And if we're
Speaker 1: supposed to love our neighbors, right, like we can't start
Speaker 1: off hating them. And you know that's and that's what
Speaker 1: this is. This is literally we want to make these
Speaker 1: kids hate themselves and prevent teachers and administrators from creating
Speaker 1: environments where again not only that places where they can survive,
Speaker 1: but where they can thrive. You know, it's so troubling
Speaker 1: to me because I was a teacher. I taught elementary
Speaker 1: school for a little bit when I was still living
Speaker 1: in DC at the beginning of my career. And you know,
Speaker 1: I can't tell you all of the obstacles to learning
Speaker 1: that are present right that. You know, I believe now
Speaker 1: that many parents have had to be forced into the
Speaker 1: situation to kind of homeschool their kids, remote learning all
Speaker 1: of these things. And so, you know, I thought that
Speaker 1: an appreciation would have developed for what teachers and administrators
Speaker 1: do every day, eight nine hours a day to care
Speaker 1: for your kids. That is not the case. Of course,
Speaker 1: Americans are lacking, deeply lacking an empathy. But I can
Speaker 1: tell you that I remember kids like coming to me
Speaker 1: wanting to just talk, just to be heard, right it
Speaker 1: could you know, it could be something that seemed so
Speaker 1: ridiculous to you. But then to watch them leave with
Speaker 1: just a light on their face, just to know that
Speaker 1: somebody held them, held space for a second for them.
Speaker 1: And I can't think about living in these times right
Speaker 1: now that are so unstable, right that, like you are
Speaker 1: telling kids and teachers and administrators to ignore them, to
Speaker 1: not show up for them, to not like for your children.
Speaker 1: Right if you were in Florida, they couldn't even talk
Speaker 1: about you, right like, so we're telling you, like it
Speaker 1: is this culture of silence, of despair, right that. I
Speaker 1: believe that Republicans are trying to say, So the all
Speaker 1: the things that have been happened, and they have been
Speaker 1: about acceptance, but this isn't behavior that should be accepted.
Speaker 1: So now we're gonna go completely backwards into a direction
Speaker 1: where not only are we not going to tolerate you,
Speaker 1: but we're going to set up mechanisms to abuse you.
Speaker 1: And if you are abused, then that's your problem because
Speaker 1: the teacher, the parents now are able to sue. Right So,
Speaker 1: when you hear the responses from Republicans like De Santa saying, oh,
Speaker 1: this isn't about homophobia, this is about parents having choice
Speaker 1: about what their kids learn and what's too soon, what
Speaker 1: do you say to that, to the too soon, too young,
Speaker 1: you know, pushback that Republicans and quote unquote conservatives always
Speaker 1: want to give. But yet our communities are the one
Speaker 1: that the children aren't allowed to be children, They're not
Speaker 1: allowed to be young, right, So what does what does
Speaker 1: you say to that? I say, trust the babies, right,
Speaker 1: we have to let them show us where they're going,
Speaker 1: and we followed them, right they I'll give you an
Speaker 1: example of a story. This is when one of the
Speaker 1: kids was in elementary school and they you know, they
Speaker 1: were talking about their parents. It's playtime, right, They're talking
Speaker 1: about their parents, and and you know, PJ says, I
Speaker 1: have two mommies, and so the kids are like, you
Speaker 1: have two mommies, And another kid says, I have two
Speaker 1: mommies too, and another kid says, wow, that must be
Speaker 1: so cool. And then another kid says, I want two mommies, right,
Speaker 1: And it was like this amazing. Kids aren't too young
Speaker 1: for that discussion. That's exactly the discussion that they needed
Speaker 1: to have, right Like it was. It wasn't a discussion
Speaker 1: that was thwarted or made political or squashed by adults, right,
Speaker 1: one of them. One of the most beautiful things that
Speaker 1: happens in an educational environment is that you learn about yourself,
Speaker 1: you learn about other people, You learn what it looks
Speaker 1: like to navigate your own agency in the context of
Speaker 1: someone else's right. You start to learn those things, and
Speaker 1: it's exciting to learn about lent or quanza right, or
Speaker 1: hair or even what are those numbers tattooed on your
Speaker 1: grandma's or arm? Right? That is a part of growing up. Right,
Speaker 1: it's it's a part of learning how to explore with respect, right,
Speaker 1: with curiosity, with openness for your fellow human being. And
Speaker 1: kids show us where they are, They tell us what
Speaker 1: you know, what questions they have, right, And I think
Speaker 1: we have to to pretend that by taking all of
Speaker 1: that out of the picture, that we're doing them a service. Right,
Speaker 1: Like is just it's just lies. How do we combat
Speaker 1: this then? Right? Because what we are seeing is that
Speaker 1: Texas is vying to be the worst right it is.
Speaker 1: It is the Republicans Petrie dish, it is their their
Speaker 1: test place. Right. They go and they push out the
Speaker 1: most egregious, disgusting, despicable, racist, homophobic, transphobic legislation that they
Speaker 1: can possibly do. It gets past because every because Republicans
Speaker 1: own every single mechanism of power in Florida and then
Speaker 1: it gets copycatted across the country. Twenty eight Republican governors
Speaker 1: we have, so we're going to see this twenty seven
Speaker 1: more times. Right now, we are seeing, you know, in
Speaker 1: those very red states, an attack against a assault against
Speaker 1: trans youth who want to play sports, who want to
Speaker 1: be in community, the with their you know, fellow classmates
Speaker 1: and can't be and are being pinpointed and targeted right
Speaker 1: and saying no, you can't sit with us, right, you
Speaker 1: can't join us. Right. It's a it's a level of ostralization.
Speaker 1: So what can we do? What can we do to
Speaker 1: battle this? What will the task force you know, with
Speaker 1: your leadership be doing? Because I believe, Kia, that we
Speaker 1: are headed into a very dark period of America. Like
Speaker 1: I don't think that people even understand how dark the
Speaker 1: times are about to get. If you're feeling destabilized, now,
Speaker 1: what is coming? Right? Um? And so there's a sense
Speaker 1: of hopelessness. But I know that your work is about
Speaker 1: transcending that hopelessness, about doing what can be done, lifting
Speaker 1: what can be lifting, and moving what can be pushed.
Speaker 1: I think, um, I think you're absolutely right, And I
Speaker 1: think we have to remember that the work is at
Speaker 1: the local and state level, but it's also at the
Speaker 1: federal level, right, Like, there's there's work for us to
Speaker 1: do when we have to keep our eyes right open
Speaker 1: um for opportunities. So one, you know, it is getting
Speaker 1: harder and harder for parents to participate right in their
Speaker 1: school districts and and and in you know, in in
Speaker 1: theirs their school districts. My mom lives in Texas, UM
Speaker 1: and she's raising my nephew, and you know, the PTA
Speaker 1: meetings are in the morning, right, like when she was working, right,
Speaker 1: So I think that's an example right of how we've
Speaker 1: you know, parents, We've got to create more opportunities for
Speaker 1: parents to be able to engage because having right, having
Speaker 1: PTA meetings in the morning when most parents are working,
Speaker 1: particularly working class, right parents of color, We are carving
Speaker 1: a whole, right, a whole community of voices out of
Speaker 1: the conversation about what we want for our children in
Speaker 1: the school. So even as local as school districts and
Speaker 1: school PTA meetings, right, encouraging our folk to engage right
Speaker 1: in an active way. And if we pull the camera back,
Speaker 1: we're talking about the Equality Act, right, We're talking about vote.
Speaker 1: The Voting Rights Acts, right, this is about increasing civil
Speaker 1: rights protections for LGBTQ people, for women, for people of color.
Speaker 1: The Voting Rights Act is about expanding right access to
Speaker 1: the right to vote in our democracy for that same right,
Speaker 1: you know, a group of folks who are often marginalized
Speaker 1: and brutalized and silenced at the polls. And so while
Speaker 1: that's in dire wrecked, I actually think moving forward and
Speaker 1: getting pieces of legislation path like that on the federal
Speaker 1: level can have a direct impact on what governors and
Speaker 1: legislators at the local and state level can and cannot do.
Speaker 1: I mean, I hear you, And then at the same time,
Speaker 1: I'm like, not in this Congress, right, not with this president.
Speaker 1: I assume sure Biden could do what Obama did and
Speaker 1: pass a slew of executive orders because you've been you know,
Speaker 1: cut off at the knees, right and no longer have
Speaker 1: even the allegiance within your own party to get things
Speaker 1: passed for your agenda. So, you know, do you think
Speaker 1: that one of the problems to here is that for
Speaker 1: so long, because the LGBTQ community, we've had so many
Speaker 1: successes at the federal level over the last several years
Speaker 1: that we haven't been really still paying attention to the
Speaker 1: state and local levels because we've you know, we've gotten marriage,
Speaker 1: we got you know, you can't fire us from our jobs.
Speaker 1: You got you know, a clu like you have these
Speaker 1: big lifts that have happened, But has that moved our
Speaker 1: attention and focus to where the GOP now is, which
Speaker 1: is at your school board meeting, you know, making sure
Speaker 1: that your kids can't say the word gay. Don't know
Speaker 1: who Tony Morrison is, Like, don't you know, like don't
Speaker 1: know anything about mother Teresa, Like because it's controversial, Like,
Speaker 1: do you think we've gone to one way and not
Speaker 1: enough balance? You know, I think we um. I think
Speaker 1: so many people don't realize how much is still at
Speaker 1: stake and how vulnerable we still are. Right, so we
Speaker 1: did get these bills passed, right, which we're critical you
Speaker 1: know that for our communities, and people see you know
Speaker 1: shows on TV. Right, we've had a you know, an
Speaker 1: out gay man run for president, right, Like you've got
Speaker 1: two queer black women's on a podcast right talking about
Speaker 1: politics out loud and proud. And I think sometimes people
Speaker 1: then they create this narrative that, oh, we're fine yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we've we've broken that ceiling. We're good not realizing that
Speaker 1: over forty percent of the kids on the street right
Speaker 1: now identify as LGBTQ. Right that couples who identify as gay, right,
Speaker 1: lesbian couples can still go to work, be protected on
Speaker 1: the job, and get kicked out of their homes right like,
Speaker 1: not like be told by a landlord that we don't
Speaker 1: want your kind here anymore. Right now, what we're talking
Speaker 1: about is, Okay, you've got a stable home, you got
Speaker 1: a job you can't be fired from, but your children
Speaker 1: are being taught to shame feeling shamed of you and
Speaker 1: their communities. There is no one silver bullet. Right. We
Speaker 1: have to continue at the local state level, keep pushing
Speaker 1: at the federal level. But it's also about culture change, right,
Speaker 1: which is so much about what you're doing is pulling
Speaker 1: back and saying, hey, the narrative isn't done, We aren't finished.
Speaker 1: There are far too many of us that are still
Speaker 1: falling through the cracks, like these young transgender and non
Speaker 1: binary folks of color who are getting beat up and
Speaker 1: murdered in the streets. We still have work to do here,
Speaker 1: and this kind of work that Governor de Santis is
Speaker 1: doing is culture work. Like, let's not get it twisted.
Speaker 1: It's not just policy chain that he is attempting. It
Speaker 1: is culture change work. He is trying to affect an
Speaker 1: entire generation by putting something like this, you know on
Speaker 1: the books, you know, you're so right. And the reality
Speaker 1: is is that the Republicans and the GOP have been
Speaker 1: doing culture work for the last forty years, right, like,
Speaker 1: that is their work. Their work is not actually to strengthen,
Speaker 1: you know, the economy, to strengthen our agencies or our
Speaker 1: social safety nets. It has been to consistently model America
Speaker 1: after this white puritan religious, white evangelical Christian patriarchy. That's
Speaker 1: what that's what it is. And they still pick and choose.
Speaker 1: Right again, love thy neighbor, Oh, but not that neighbor.
Speaker 1: Oh but not that neighbor. You can hate that neighbor,
Speaker 1: you can bully that neighbor, you can hurt that neighbor. Right,
Speaker 1: but you don't even that's not real. It's not even
Speaker 1: intended to be in the eyes of spiritual right growth,
Speaker 1: right or no, no, no, this is this is it
Speaker 1: is about patriarchy, and it is um nationalism, and it
Speaker 1: is um, you said it in the beginning. It is
Speaker 1: an attempt to keep us in our place, yeah, and
Speaker 1: ashamed and silent. And I think you know, for me,
Speaker 1: in the space that I occupy, the the work is
Speaker 1: to do anything but be silent. It is to do anything,
Speaker 1: but strength is to do anything. But you know, believe
Speaker 1: that I am and my life is in my community
Speaker 1: is something to be ashamed or embarrassed by, something to
Speaker 1: be hidden. Well, because there's power when we when we
Speaker 1: rebuke shame. There's power when we refuse to be silent.
Speaker 1: And that's ultimately what they're afraid of. It's the power
Speaker 1: of what happens when we refuse to be ashamed and
Speaker 1: refuse to be silent. And remember, oh, actually I do
Speaker 1: have power here, and what happens when I start to
Speaker 1: combine that in the community, right Like, that's a that
Speaker 1: is a power. We saw it in Georgia, Danielle. That's
Speaker 1: exactly what they're afraid of. How do we prevent whatever
Speaker 1: happened there from happening in any of any of our states?
Speaker 1: And that's why we're seeing this level of hostility right
Speaker 1: now against our communities. You know, I will say, as
Speaker 1: I you know, made the connection between the Obama years
Speaker 1: and reconstruction. I just pray that the next one hundred
Speaker 1: years isn't Jim crow esquire, I pray that the next
Speaker 1: one hundred years that follow where we are is not
Speaker 1: that dark and horrific place of outward abuse right towards
Speaker 1: people who are black, who are brown, who are Muslim,
Speaker 1: who are trans, who are gay, who are anything, who
Speaker 1: are Jewish, who you know. I mean, it's just there's
Speaker 1: just so much, Kiara. I really thank you for the
Speaker 1: work that you continue to do, for the work that
Speaker 1: the Task Force has been doing. And you know, I know,
Speaker 1: I sadly know that we are going to need your
Speaker 1: voice now more than we ever have, because I think
Speaker 1: that what this was, what this is that is happening
Speaker 1: in Florida is a shot across the bow, is the
Speaker 1: saying that like you thought you were comfortable, dear queer folks,
Speaker 1: right like you thought that you were okay, you are not,
Speaker 1: and we are still coming for you. So it is
Speaker 1: with great appreciation that I say, I'm happy that you're
Speaker 1: a warrior on our side. I am. I'm happy to
Speaker 1: be on the front lines with you and so many others.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna take it lying down, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: keep rebuking his shame and refuse silence. I appreciate you,
Speaker 1: and I hope you come back soon. Absolutely, that is
Speaker 1: it for me today. Dear friends on woke f as always,
Speaker 1: power to the people and to all the people power,
Speaker 1: get woke and stay woke as fuck.