WEBVTT - Saying the Quiet Part Loud 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.600 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Okay f Daily with 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:18.480 me your girl Danielle Moody recording from the Brooklyn Bunker. 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:22.759 So in breaking news, which by the time you hear this, 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:25.040 it won't be breaking breaking, but let me break it 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:29.040 down anyway, Justice Bryer has announced that he is going 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:33.000 to be retiring, which allows for the Biden administration to 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:38.879 have its first Supreme Court justice appointment. Now, normally, in 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:42.959 these circumstances, I would be over the moon, right because 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:45.640 I would think, oh, my goodness, this is great, we 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:49.599 get to add another justice, except for the fact that, oh, 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:53.560 that's right, the Trump administration got to add three justices 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:57.760 because in the last forty five days of his disastrous presidency, 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:03.080 we push through Amy Covid, Barrett Right, and Justice Bryer 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:09.040 is one of the loan through three right justices who 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:12.120 still actually believes in the rule of law, believes in 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:15.520 the Constitution. And so this is really not a gain 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:19.880 for the Biden administration. But what is really interesting about 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:22.959 this why I bring it up today because if you 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:26.399 remember that candidate Joe Biden said that if he had 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:31.160 the opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice that it 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:34.360 would be a black woman. He would appoint the first 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:39.760 black woman to the bench. Right, now, we know that 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:43.440 what both Republicans and Democrats are alike are good for 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:47.800 is what their symbolism, right, the things that they say 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:50.640 that they will do for black and brown people or 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:53.000 against black and brown people, and then the things that 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:57.240 they actually do. We're fighting for justice, marching for justice 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:00.640 in a variety of ways, for equity, for economic justice, 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.400 right for all of these things. And what do they 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:07.440 give us maya angeliu on a fucking quarter or Juneteenth 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:11.120 as a holiday, anytime that we ask for shit that 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:15.200 should just be considered the right thing to do. After 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:19.880 hundreds of years of enslavement, you would think, and genocide, 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:22.160 you would think that it would be a no brainer. 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:26.680 But no, not in America. So here we are now 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:30.200 where Joe Biden is faced with what he said on 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:33.919 the campaign trail which a lot of people remembered, which 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:36.959 is that if I have the ability to appoint a 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:40.600 Supreme Court justice, I'm going to appoint the first black woman. 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:45.119 Now for me, if you were asking for who I 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:49.520 think the next Supreme Court justice should be, it would 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:56.480 be the brilliant fighter for justice. Head of the end 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:03.079 of BLACP Legal Defense fund Sherilyn, who for decades has 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:08.280 been fighting for equity and justice right in our legal system, 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:11.400 in our criminal justice system. This is a woman that 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:14.520 has been on the forefront of some of the most 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:20.160 groundbreaking lawsuits that we have seen. And so I hope 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:24.280 that if in fact, Joe Biden is putting together his 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:29.080 list right of potential Supreme Court nominees, that Cherylyn Eiffel 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.440 is at the top of that list. Now we know 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:34.960 that in order to get a justice passed you need 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:39.120 fifty people, Well guess what it is a fifty fifty 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:42.640 person split. And what do we in the Senate and 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:44.800 what do we know to be true that there are 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:50.240 two fucking agents of the Republican Party that masquerade as 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:55.920 Democrats but don't actually vote with Democrats or share our values. 0:03:56.440 --> 0:04:00.280 So what will happen with this Supreme Court nomination? Who 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.000 the fuck knows. But I'm sure it'll be a spectacle. 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:05.880 I'm sure it'll be a circus. And I'm kind of 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:09.440 fifty fifty thinking that it'll probably be a white man. 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:15.200 You know, what makes everybody feel comfortable enough of that? 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:21.400 You know, this week, I have seen so many instances 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:27.200 of Republicans once again offering up to the American people 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:31.560 exactly who they are. And I mentioned this earlier in 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:33.520 the week, and I want to bring it up again. 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:35.919 There is a clip that had gone viral and I 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:40.240 shared it on Twitter. It is a city council meeting 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:44.440 where a black man city council member is completely exacerbated 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:48.880 by how he is being treated by his fellow white 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:52.640 city council members. And there is an exchange that ended 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:56.279 up being going on CNN where he says, I'm tired 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:58.839 of being treated like this and like this is not 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:02.839 the cotton fields out in the cotton fields, right, and 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:12.719 his white colleague said to him, you should be. So 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:16.520 I just want everyone to take a beat for a minute, 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:24.240 because thankfully this black man who was so wildly fucking 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:31.599 disrespected did not react other than with the disgust. But 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:36.360 let me tell you something I wish a motherfucker would 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:41.960 because I am reaching my I don't give a fuck 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:47.760 limit with racist ass white people thinking that they can 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:52.880 say and do whatever the fuck they want without any consequence. Now, 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:57.760 you may not see any consequence in our unjust system, right, 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:01.040 But let me tell you something I wish somebody would 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:03.920 say something like that to me, because for certain, on 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:08.360 that good day, I will be choosing violence a hundred percent. 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:11.200 You think that you can look a black person in 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:14.839 the face and tell them that they deserve or should 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:18.800 be in somebody's cotton field, and think that you deserve 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:22.200 to have a seat as anybody's fucking representative, you are 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:25.279 out of your fucking mind. And I think it is 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:31.120 past fucking time for the people to let these motherfuckers 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:34.479 know that their time is tick ticking up. Because here's 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:39.839 the thing. Pressure makes two things, right. Pressure makes two things. 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:44.599 It makes diamonds right if pressed in the right way, 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:48.719 and it makes an explosion right in the other form. 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:51.720 And what I'm saying is that the pressure that this 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.640 Republican Party is putting on our democracy, the pressure that 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:58.800 it is putting on everyone who is not white or 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:03.920 cists or rate or male and conservative and Christian and 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:08.120 all of this shit, they are going to go one 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:11.800 motherfucking step too far. And I pray to God that 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:14.120 I am on the other side of that line when 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:19.680 that foot or body or hand right crosses over, because 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:24.840 I have had enough. You know, earlier this week I 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:30.840 had the great fortune of being at the co host 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:33.040 of my other podcasts. If you have not listened to 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:37.560 Democracy Ish, which also comes out on Thursdays with my 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:41.120 new co host, hwajahat Ali, I say to you please 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:45.080 do check it out. It is a conversation between him 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:51.640 and I each and every week. He is a Pakistani American, Muslim, 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:57.520 American full blooded. I am obviously a black queer woman, 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:00.920 child of immigrants as well, and we are really spirited 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:06.480 conversations about what it means to live in this crumbling democracy, 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:10.680 what it means to be an American. And in WASH's 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:13.320 new book that came out this week entitled go Back 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:19.560 to Your Country and Other Helpful Tips, his story of 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:22.800 what it has been like to live in a brown body, 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:26.560 be a Muslim, and grow up in the United States 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:30.040 being told to go back to your country when in fact, 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:35.920 this is your fucking country. But Mitch McConnell also said 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:38.800 the quiet part out loud this week when he was 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:43.880 pressed by a reporter about the rate at which African Americans, 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:46.640 black folks in this country vote and all of the 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.880 voter suppression laws that Republicans have been rolling out since 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:52.920 they're spreading of the Big Lie in twenty twenty, and 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:57.800 Mitch McConnell says, oh, well, African Americans are vote at 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:05.319 the same pace as Americans. I'm sorry, what And instead 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:10.200 of said report, following up and saying so, by your measurement, 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:13.440 are you saying that African Americans are not Americans and 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:18.200 that Americans no hyphen are white? Because see, that's the 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:21.360 kind of investigative reporting that I would like to see. 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:25.079 That's the type of no bullshit follow up that I 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:28.920 would like to see politicians like Mitch McConnell, like Kevin 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:32.400 McCarthy and others be pressed with. Because you see the 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:35.760 reporters that are in these gaggles around them ask them 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:41.360 the most bullshit, softball fucking questions, right, Because if it 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.160 were me, trust and believe, and I had a woke 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:46.880 a f MIC in front of that man, I would say, so, 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:52.320 what would So to your point, African Americans are not Americans? 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.840 Is that what you're saying? And that actual Americans no 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:58.880 hyphen or white? Is that what you're saying? And so 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.600 then to that point, when you use terms like workers 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:06.880 right and blue collar and rust belt right and real Americans, 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:09.880 who exactly are you talking about and what do they 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:17.560 look like? Because mainstream media is complicit is complicit in 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:21.560 the spreading of white supremacy. Right, It isn't just about ratings. 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:23.800 It's about who sits in the c suite, It's about 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.920 who's in those newsrooms. It's about what those producers and 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:31.280 editors look like. It's what those reporters look like and 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.040 their idea of what it means to be fucking neutral 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:38.600 in the face of racism and discrimination. Oh, I don't 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:42.080 know what he meant. That's your idea of neutrality, bitch, 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:45.439 do better. So to every single one of those reporters 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:48.360 that were standing around Mitch McConnell and didn't ask any 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:51.520 type of fucking follow up, you failed your goddamn job 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:55.559 and your profession. I don't know what you people are 0:10:55.640 --> 0:11:00.160 doing these days with this softball bullshit as you, oh 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:04.560 very goddamn well, that our democracy is hanging on by 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:07.679 a thread, and each and every day that we do 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:11.880 not use our platforms and our voices to be able 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:16.360 to say the quiet part out loud, which is that 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:21.040 both parties are failing us. One has the gun at 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:24.520 our head, right, and the other one is sitting around 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:29.040 with their heads in the fucking sand. So at this 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:33.439 stage of the game, right, you have Joe Biden getting 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.960 ready to appoint a Supreme Court justice or whenever we're 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:40.360 going to see that long drawn out process go. You 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:44.160 have the one six Commission sitting around looking for subpoenas 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:46.760 and still asking people nicely to show up when they 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:50.640 disregard said subpoenas. You got the Department of Justice, oh, 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:54.840 looking into right, the false taxes and claims of the 0:11:54.880 --> 0:12:00.480 former administration, but not really doing anything. And then you're 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:03.280 gonna look around and tell the American people that midterms 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:05.920 are coming in a handful of motes months and if 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:08.000 they don't vote, then they're the ones that have failed 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:14.400 our democracy. I'm just tired of the rinse and repeat 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.280 of bullshit right, because it's like you try and out 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:23.520 damn spot out, but the bullshit stains right that are 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:28.160 there are not coming out right, They're actually just growing bigger. 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:30.840 And then everyone is saying, just don't look at the 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:34.080 spot right, just like the movie, just don't look up, 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:36.959 Just don't look up, don't look at the spot, don't 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:40.040 ask any follow up questions. Just let these people pop 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:43.560 off with their bullshit and allow that to spread virally 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:50.560 and then do nothing about it, which brings me to 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:55.079 Florida today. Later on in the show, we're going to 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:59.800 have a conversation with returning guests, the executive director of 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:05.080 the LGBTQ Task Force and my friend Kiera Johnson, and 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:07.280 Kiera and I are going to get into a conversation 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:12.800 about what is transpiring in Florida and why everyone, regardless 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:15.560 of where you live at this very moment, should be 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:21.040 concerned with what is happening in Florida. So this week, 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:26.240 late last week, and then this week, rond de Santis 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:29.920 has decided that he's going to make a pivot from 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:35.720 going after any conversations on race, any conversations on racism, 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.000 you know, anything that are going to make white people 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:43.240 feel discomfort. He's going to now make the pivot to 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:48.520 go after LGBTQ people. And I want everyone to be 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:52.480 paying attention because it's the same playbook that is used 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.240 all of the fucking time. You go after the people 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:59.360 that nobody gives a shit about first, right, and then 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:02.600 you keep taken them off until eventually he comes to 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:06.360 your door. Right. It is the Martin Neomohler palm. First 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:11.640 they came for so first, Ronda Santis came for black 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:17.120 folks and vote of suppression. Then he came for any 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:21.360 conversations on race and racism, because God forbid we teach 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.520 anyone to think critically or look at this country through 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:26.960 a lens other than the lens of a white strait 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:33.400 cis gender male. Right, Then he came for that. Now 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:39.480 he's going for LGBTQ Americans and Floridians and saying we're 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:44.280 not going to talk about anything gay mentioned. Gay people 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:50.000 have conversations about sexuality, gender identity, if you are being bullied, 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:53.320 if you're being harassed, we're not doing any of it 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:57.120 in the state of Florida. Now he's continuing under the 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:00.960 guise of parental control and saying it should be parents' 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:05.320 choice if in fact their children are introduced to such 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:09.720 you know, horrificness by queer people who are just seeking 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:12.640 to you know, corrupt their children and bring them into 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:17.080 the rainbow dry a right, because that's what we all 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:23.320 do as gays. It pisces me off. And I said 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:27.880 this yesterday if you caught my woke Wednesday, that at 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:31.720 the beginning of the two thousands, in the early aughts, 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:42.280 in the Obama administration, there was a string of high 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:45.280 profile not even high profile. It was just in the 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:55.800 news the suicides of young queer kids who were being 0:15:55.880 --> 0:16:00.280 bullied incessantly, not only by their fellow students in class, 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:04.000 but also by teachers and administrators who did nothing to 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:08.400 protect them and probably participated, right, because your silence in 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:12.640 that case is violence, right, You are allowing abuse to 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:18.480 continue and you're doing nothing. And from that rash of 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.320 suicides that we're grabbing the headlines and then all of 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:24.120 a sudden people were like, oh my god, what's happening 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:26.360 to these kids? Well, what's happening to them is that 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:30.480 you are having them exist right in a climate that 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:34.160 is hostile and dangerous for them to be who they are, 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:36.640 and there is no place for them to look and 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:39.920 feel like their life is going to get better, that 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:44.120 regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, that their 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:49.120 life in fact has value and is of worth. And 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:54.680 so after that, the Obama administration had rolled out federal 0:16:54.720 --> 0:17:00.920 regulations that essentially would ensure that young's kids would be 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:04.760 able to use the bathrooms that associate with the their 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:12.960 gender identity, that there would be issues right punishment for 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:19.800 schools that did not protect LGBTQ youth folks. This was 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:27.120 only fucking you know, ten twelve years ago. And so 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:31.520 here we are now in twenty twenty two, and Ron 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:36.000 De Santis is back to don't ask, don't tell. So 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:40.040 I keep asking myself how far back are Republicans going 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:44.280 to go with their culture war? How far back are 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:47.800 they going to drag America? And now folks can say, well, 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:51.080 you know, Florida is going to Florida. But Florida right 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:57.640 now is the Republican parties lab. They test out all 0:17:57.640 --> 0:17:59.920 of the policies that once they are back and can 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:05.119 all of the gavels in Congress, we'll try and institute nationwide. 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:10.400 And right now there are twenty eight states that are 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:15.960 controlled by Republican governors. Twenty eight. So that means that 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:20.360 their idea of state control can be about how we 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:28.880 turn our public education system back into the white supremacist machine, 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:35.600 propaganda machine, where we are using kids once again as 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:40.040 pawns in order to feed them a narrative of the 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:42.920 America that they want you to know, and then that 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:48.200 that they want to not be named. It is happening 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:52.560 in Florida, it is happening in Texas, it's happening in Alabama. 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:56.119 It's happening in Tennessee. It's happening in all of these places, 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:02.960 and it's going to happen rewear if they are allowed 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:08.640 to get the gavels back if Republicans take power, because 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:13.320 this time around they will not give it up because 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:17.120 they have put in place all of the Trumpers who 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:20.600 are now their new electors and their secretary of States 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:23.919 who have pledged their allegiance and said, well, if I 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:26.639 had been in charge in twenty twenty, my state wouldn't 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:31.680 have certified the election. This is where we are headed. So, 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:37.680 like I said, pressure creates two things, diamonds and an explosion. 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:42.560 And we ain't cut in anybody's diamond anytime soon. So 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:45.560 I want folks to begin to wrap their minds around 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:49.840 and prepare for what is coming down the pike. They 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:53.440 came for women's rights. By June, the Supreme Court will 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:56.159 deside that Roe v. Wade no longer stands, and if 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:59.399 it stands, it will be in name only. So they 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:04.399 came for men's rights. They came for your voting rights 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.399 right by ending preclearance, and that was one of the 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:11.239 first things that Chief Justice John Roberts did right, and 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:14.560 since then we have over five hundred voter suppression laws 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:18.320 now all over this country, and that has just been 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:23.840 since twenty twenty. Now they're going after LGBTQ folks again. 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:25.640 And if you think that they're not going to come 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:30.280 for your marriage certificates right and just fought and one 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:36.160 workplace discrimination cases, they will. So what's next to Santis? 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:40.320 Will it be both sides of the Holocaust? Right? Will 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:45.440 you want to give equal airtime to the Nazis so 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:49.480 that you know those that signed up to be Nazis 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:54.719 don't feel any discomfort what we talk about the murder 0:20:54.760 --> 0:20:58.600 and killing of six million people? How far is this 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:01.480 party willing to go? That's the question that we should 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:03.359 be asking. And then the question that we should be 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:07.160 asking ourselves is how far are we willing to go 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:11.840 in order to make sure that they don't succeed. Coming 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:15.760 up next is my conversation with my friend Kiera Johnson, 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:19.760 the executive director of the LGBTQ Task Force, to talk 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:27.080 about Florida's Don't Say Gay Bill, folks. I am very 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:32.920 excited to welcome back to wok Fidaily my friend, the 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:38.320 executive director of the LGBTQ Task Force, Kiera Johnson, to 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:42.520 talk about you know one of my favorite topics run 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:48.160 death Santis in Florida, who is a man on a mission, Kiara. 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:51.200 He is a man on a mission to turn back 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:54.840 the hands of time, to put black people in their place, 0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:58.640 to put gay folks back in the closet, to put 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:01.680 women back in a closet. I mean, if you are 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:04.800 from a community that it is not mail, that is 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:08.000 not straight, that it is not sis, that is not wealthy. 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:11.240 Uh Ron de Santis in the state of Florida are 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:15.840 coming for you this latest installment of his don't say 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:23.080 Gay legislation, which is operating under the guise of parental 0:22:23.160 --> 0:22:29.679 control right, Um, what do you make of this initial 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:35.600 step that we know is going in the wrong direction. Yeah, Daniel, 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:37.200 it's so good to see you. I feel like it's 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:43.600 been too long, and thanks for having me on. I 0:22:43.600 --> 0:22:47.280 I have to tell you like it is. It makes 0:22:47.480 --> 0:22:53.960 my stomach colonel right when when I see proposed legislation 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:56.919 like this and and like you said in the you know, 0:22:57.000 --> 0:23:02.600 under the guise of parental rights right and protecting children. Um, 0:23:03.119 --> 0:23:08.040 you know I have two children, my partner and I 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:12.040 raise their child part time. Right, So I'm like the 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:15.040 little old woman who lives in a shoe and um, 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:20.320 you know, ages four eleven and fourteen, and it is 0:23:20.840 --> 0:23:23.840 you know, the reality is is that our kids are 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:26.959 in school more than they are with us, and it 0:23:27.119 --> 0:23:31.879 is really important that we can trust teachers and counselors 0:23:31.880 --> 0:23:36.719 and administrators to create the environments where our kids can thrive. 0:23:37.080 --> 0:23:40.560 And it's clear to me that is not what's happening here, right. 0:23:40.640 --> 0:23:46.840 This is this is about creating a culture of fear 0:23:47.240 --> 0:23:51.399 and of silence and of hatred, hatred of others and 0:23:51.480 --> 0:23:57.520 hatred of self. Right. I just it doesn't even seem 0:23:57.560 --> 0:24:00.359 possible that in twenty twenty two that some thing like 0:24:00.400 --> 0:24:04.080 this would even be viable. And I do think that, 0:24:04.200 --> 0:24:06.159 you know, we have to be paying attention, and we 0:24:06.240 --> 0:24:08.600 have to you know, be talking to our legislators and 0:24:08.640 --> 0:24:12.080 putting pressure on them so that this falls flat and 0:24:13.080 --> 0:24:15.800 just is dead out of the water. You know what 0:24:16.000 --> 0:24:18.880 upsets me. It was funny. I was up last night 0:24:19.480 --> 0:24:22.240 just laying in bed, and I find myself doing this 0:24:22.520 --> 0:24:28.520 just thinking about the Obama years and how very fleeting 0:24:29.040 --> 0:24:31.480 they were. Right, you know, it was eight whole years. 0:24:31.560 --> 0:24:34.119 But like you and I said before we started recording, 0:24:34.320 --> 0:24:38.400 when you're living in this pandemic time. Time is like 0:24:38.440 --> 0:24:41.200 an illusion, right, it doesn't really mean anything, It doesn't 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:44.240 resonate in the same way. And I have often written 0:24:44.280 --> 0:24:49.199 about the Obama years being you know, akin to reconstruction 0:24:49.440 --> 0:24:52.719 after the Civil War, and what would have happened if 0:24:52.760 --> 0:24:57.000 reconstruction had been able to continue, right, if the leaders 0:24:57.040 --> 0:25:00.880 that were in charge weren't cowards, right and reconstruct had continued, 0:25:00.880 --> 0:25:03.639 what would America look like now? And I think about 0:25:03.640 --> 0:25:08.160 that after the Obama years that you know, we had 0:25:08.200 --> 0:25:13.000 this time where LGBTQ youth, we're being lifted up, We're 0:25:13.040 --> 0:25:16.880 being protected in schools, right we were we were on 0:25:17.160 --> 0:25:21.000 like the second wave of you know, gay straight alliances 0:25:21.080 --> 0:25:26.480 and LGBTQ clubs and you know, allowing trans youth to 0:25:26.520 --> 0:25:29.159 be able to use the bathroom associated with their gender 0:25:29.200 --> 0:25:32.760 identity and be protected from even administrators and teachers that 0:25:32.800 --> 0:25:37.240 are bullies. So can you speak to this type of 0:25:37.400 --> 0:25:41.800 policy coming on the heels, coming you know, literally biding 0:25:41.880 --> 0:25:46.119 on the heels during that golden era of the Obama time, 0:25:46.200 --> 0:25:49.280 when as black queer people, we didn't have to pick 0:25:49.359 --> 0:25:52.520 what side of ourselves to show up as, where there 0:25:52.560 --> 0:25:55.800 was a fullness that was available to us in that 0:25:55.880 --> 0:25:58.919 administration and they saw that and this was at that 0:25:59.080 --> 0:26:00.960 you know too, if you were remember at the beginning, 0:26:02.320 --> 0:26:05.800 kids were committing suicide left and right. It was making 0:26:06.680 --> 0:26:10.880 mainstream press right that it gets better campaign rolled out 0:26:10.960 --> 0:26:14.879 in the early aughts because of the descantenses of the world. 0:26:14.920 --> 0:26:17.920 So can you help us make sense as to what 0:26:18.520 --> 0:26:22.639 this kind of rollback because those young kids right that 0:26:22.680 --> 0:26:26.359 were that were young, maybe in middle school at the time, 0:26:26.600 --> 0:26:30.600 are now voting adults, what this rollback could signal for them? 0:26:31.400 --> 0:26:35.000 You know, I, you know, there's there's so much research 0:26:35.080 --> 0:26:39.040 that is that has come out recently about the importance 0:26:39.560 --> 0:26:44.919 of having a safe space. Right. So in particular, you 0:26:44.960 --> 0:26:48.439 know you you brought up suicide rates which are high 0:26:48.760 --> 0:26:53.880 among LGBTQ youth and continue to be high among LGBTQ youth. 0:26:54.000 --> 0:26:58.720 And what the research keeps showing us is that it 0:26:58.760 --> 0:27:05.960 only takes and a counselor right, a teacher, a gay 0:27:06.040 --> 0:27:11.040 straight alliance to shift the tide right and to keep 0:27:11.080 --> 0:27:15.000 a child from thinking that the only option for them 0:27:15.280 --> 0:27:19.119 is death. Right, and and all of the research is 0:27:19.160 --> 0:27:24.320 pointing in that direction. And as parents right of young 0:27:24.400 --> 0:27:28.679 kids of color, right, um, that research is also telling 0:27:28.760 --> 0:27:36.119 us that that LGBTQ discrimination is also disproportionately affecting LGBTQ color, 0:27:37.000 --> 0:27:40.720 LGBTQ young people of color, it even higher rates. Right. 0:27:40.760 --> 0:27:45.320 We're seeing homelessness at higher rates among LGBTQ people of color, 0:27:45.400 --> 0:27:50.600 We're seeing attempted suicide rates at higher rates among LGBTQ 0:27:50.800 --> 0:27:54.680 kids of color. And for us to know that all 0:27:54.720 --> 0:27:58.080 we need to do as adults is support them and 0:27:58.160 --> 0:28:02.560 give them a place to be safe, that's it. That's 0:28:02.600 --> 0:28:05.439 the first step. And we have done so much to 0:28:05.480 --> 0:28:10.920 create an environment where our kids not can survive. Right. 0:28:12.119 --> 0:28:14.720 You know, you're talking about the Obama years, and I remember, 0:28:15.000 --> 0:28:17.520 you know, you know, I did some traveling, you know, 0:28:17.560 --> 0:28:19.720 in different countries, and I hear, you know, would talk 0:28:19.760 --> 0:28:23.600 to my friends about being in different countries and how 0:28:25.720 --> 0:28:32.919 we were seen as better global neighbors, right, better global citizens. Right. 0:28:33.560 --> 0:28:36.239