WEBVTT - Patriarchal Forces 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:14.480 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to woka F Daily with 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:19.400 me your girl, Danielle Moody recording from the Bunker. Folks, 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:22.800 I'm really excited to welcome back to woke F Daily 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:30.920 Amara Jones, who is the host of the podcast trans Lash. 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:35.400 And you know, during this Pride Month where we on 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:40.159 woke f or celebrating Pride as a riot, talking with activists, 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:45.879 leaders and just folks about how we are comprehending this 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:52.520 moment of a considerable backslide in acceptance in this country, 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:57.280 not just for LGBTQ people in general, but for trans 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:02.720 people specifically. And in my conversation with Amra, what she 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.400 offered for me, which was very eye opening, is that 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:10.600 she said, Danielle, it isn't just over three hundred anti 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:14.440 LGBTQ bills that we're seeing across the country. It is 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:20.920 specifically anti trans bills criminalizing trans people in some places, 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:25.679 disallowing them from being able to access healthcare until the 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:30.840 age of twenty one, targeting trans youth right and their 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:35.280 families for helping them to get the kind of medical 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:37.280 care that they need in order to live full and 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:41.840 complete lives. And you know, I've been thinking about this 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:45.240 a lot, and what is the impetus behind this evil 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.360 that we are seeing, which you know, in some ways 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:52.120 what is happening in America feels like you're watching a 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:56.840 horror movie from the outside right and then recognizing that no, no, 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:01.680 this doesn't change. She doesn't go away after two hours. 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:06.120 That feeling of anxiety of fear sticks with us. And 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:08.240 what is at the core of it. It is the 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:16.000 fact that white supremacy is also steeped in patriarchy, and 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.560 those two things in combination with themselves at its core 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:23.000 or about control. It is about control and it is 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:26.079 about oppression. When we talk about patriarchy, we could talk 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:34.960 about control of women and people who occupy those female 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:44.680 bodies and how sis men in particular are threatened right 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:51.359 by women who are powerful. And what do I mean 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:55.119 by powerful, I mean understand their power, their worth right. 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.440 What always gets me, you know, when I talk about 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:02.200 the fifty two and fifty six percent of white women 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:06.880 that voted for Donald Trump, what gets me about it 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:15.000 is their own submission to white siss hetero men and 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:17.760 the belief that they don't have power and that the 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:23.280 righted order of things, as is their interpretation of the 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.760 Bible is that men are the heads of households, and 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:29.280 men are the ones with these guns that are saying, 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:33.519 we're protecting our families, you're protecting your very fragile egos. 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.760 But what is the connection between the assault on trans 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:43.240 identity and that of everything else we're seeing unfold Well, 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:46.920 Amar and I will get into this conversation, but it 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:55.440 is trans people represent the absolute truth, the truth that 0:03:55.840 --> 0:04:00.360 no one else gets to define you for you, right, 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:06.320 no one else gets to assume place their beliefs on 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:10.080 your body, on your spirit, on yourself. And so by 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:16.520 virtue of trans people living right, their lives out loud, 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:25.640 unapologetically and dare demanding for equity and justice, They as 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:32.520 people pose an absolute affront to the white supremist patriarchal 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:39.160 structure right, because in that structure they are telling you 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:44.440 who matters, where you can be, what you can do, 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:48.120 how they can control your body, how they can control 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:51.440 your lives, your money, your existence, all of these things. 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:57.120 And trans people who are so courageous in and of 0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:04.440 themselves because they push back against gendered stereotypes, against the 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:10.760 idea that we occupy a binary place, and they represent 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:19.159 expansion right, allowing and not even allowing. Allowing is not 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:24.120 the right word, but demanding of us to really think 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:28.159 about what we know to be true and whose truth 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:35.360 that is. We are taught from birth, from birth about gender. 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:40.239 You know, it used to be the pink newborn outfit 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:42.840 and the blue newborn outfit. You walk down and I 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:46.000 use this all the time, and maybe it's changed over 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:49.800 the years, but I would go into targets and walmarts, 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:54.039 and not walmarts because you know my politics, but targetate 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:57.480 that better. But go into these places to go and 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:04.000 buy toys for kids, and it's like, you can't just 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:08.520 buy a fucking toy. You got the blue toys over 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:11.200 here with the primary colors which are supposed to be 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.479 for boys, with the trucks and the science and this, 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:16.919 that and the other thing, and then you have even 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:22.719 the fucking legos were turned into pink and pastels for girls. 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:26.320 You're supposed to be this way, You're supposed to be 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:30.040 this way. We create these lines and the question is 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:36.279 why for whose benefit? Right? And the thing that I 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:40.120 keep like pondering as we are just seeing the world 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:48.280 be turned upside down is who was this supposed to 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:56.080 help right? These gendered forces, this binary Who is this 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:59.880 created for and it was created for men, for six 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:05.560 gendered hetero white men, to remain on top of every 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:12.080 food chain, of every pyramid of everything, to perpetuate the 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:17.160 lie right that women are weak, to perpetuate the lie 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:26.840 that there are only two genders, to perpetuate control in 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:32.240 our society and to hold that control. And so the 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:40.920 reason why these very fragile white sis men hate trans 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:45.160 people so very much is because they refuse to comply 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:50.680 with the bullshit we have all been fed and instead 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:55.600 choose to live their lives and their truth. So how 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:57.920 is it that if somebody is telling you this is 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:02.520 who I am and to respect that your audacity, your 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:07.840 response would be no, you don't deserve to exist in 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:11.840 the way that you choose to exist. Just think about 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:15.840 how fucking insane of a thought that is. Like when 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:19.720 somebody says to me or hear people say, you know, 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:24.600 I don't get the trans thing. I don't understand, and 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:27.680 I'm using air quotes I don't understand. It's just like, 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:30.600 what is it that is so hard for you to understand? 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:37.960 Everyone's existence isn't made for your comfort, and the only 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:39.920 thing that you have to understand is what the fuck 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.640 is coming out of somebody else's mouth when they say 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:47.560 who they are and how to treat them, and fucking 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.160 model that for you. The only thing that you should 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:55.880 be doing is saying, Okay, I got it. I don't 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:59.920 understand why it's so difficult to treat people with respect 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:06.480 and dignity. But what I realize for Republicans, for these 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:11.920 white evangelical Christians, is that they don't dignify anybody's existence 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:15.320 but their own, not even that of their fucking you know, 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:21.360 straight white cis head or wives. They don't respect them, 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:27.560 their choices, their ability to control their own bodies, their minds, 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:31.040 curriculum because it's a majority of white women that are 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:33.480 teaching kids in the classrooms. So we don't choose you, 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.960 We don't trust you to be able to know what's 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:39.439 right for your own students, but we're certainly going to 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.200 give you a gun these days in these states and 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:45.440 say go off, be a warrior. But at the same time, 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:51.000 you're a week I just like I feel insane when 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:56.559 you unpack all of the fucking mixed messages that are presented. 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:59.839 And so in the conversation that I have with a 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:05.800 Mara today, we get into a lot of things and 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:10.600 also talk about our democracy and the illusion of safety. 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.600 So I hope that you enjoy this conversation. Coming up next, 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.800 let me know in the comment section what you think 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:21.600 about the myriad of anti trans bills and if you're 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:25.200 paying attention to them, and if not, why aren't you 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:27.720 paying attention to them, because let me tell you something 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.400 that that is It is this community that is the 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:35.600 low hanging fruit, but they come in for everybody else 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:39.600 as well. So coming up next my conversation with Amara 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:49.040 Jones from Translash. Indisputable with Doctor Rashai Ricci is one 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:52.080 of the latest shows on the TYT network and also 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:55.640 the fastest growing news show in America. On his show, 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:59.720 Doctor Ricci plays no games regarding policy, delivering a heavy 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:03.080 dose a fact based truth and penetrating analysis on all 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:07.800 the top news stories focusing on racism, criminal and social justice, politics, 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:12.240 police brutality, Karens and much more. Listeners can also expect 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:17.120 interviews with fascinating guests, political leaders, commentators, and even biery 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.560 debates with conservatives on a wide range of policy topics 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:24.360 in the Bullpen. It is an indisputable fact that you 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:28.079 will love this show. Listen to Indisputable with Doctor rashad 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:32.360 Ricci on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:34.960 If you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:44.440 so you never miss a new episode. Hey, I'm David 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:49.520 Plots of Slaves Political Gabfest. As another election season accelerates, 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:52.120 it can be tricky to sort through all the noise 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:55.240 and the news. Each week on the Gapfest, John Dickerson, 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:58.520 Emily Bathlon and I decipher the headlines, break down the races, 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:02.040 and tell you what issues really matter. We do not 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:05.520 always agree. We definitely do not always agree, but we 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:08.720 always deliver thoughtful debate and we always have a good time. 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:15.200 So subscribe to Slates Political Gapfest, new episodes every Thursday. Folks. 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:18.440 I am very happy to welcome back to woke a 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:24.720 f for another wonderful conversation. I'm sure. Amara Jones, who 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:28.920 is the host of trans Lash, a podcast that is 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:33.760 dedicated to talking about issues that are facing the trans community. 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:37.920 Happy Pride to you. We start We'll start with so 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:42.640 we'll start with something good, which is happy pride? Amara, 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:47.880 What does what does pride mean to you now? In 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:51.320 the kind of climate that we're in. Pride began as 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:55.720 a riot, it moved into kind of a capitalist celebration 0:12:56.000 --> 0:13:00.560 of stuff. And now we're at a time when we 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:05.959 are having to fight for our lives in our existence again. 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:10.280 So what does pride mean to you this year? Well, 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.240 I always tell people, actually give the same answer every year, 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:17.400 which is that pride is actually a renewal of vows, 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:22.200 and it is a renewal of our essential first vows 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:26.520 to be able to create space for ourselves first and foremost, 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:31.280 and then by doing so, to create other spaces for 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:35.320 other people throughout society. And it's a fundamental commitment to 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:40.560 a world in which people get to live out their 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:45.160 lives without oppression and with the support that they need 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:49.640 in order to thrive. I mean, that is the essential rationale, 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:57.760 basis the fundamental bedrock of pride. And so I think 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:02.240 that every year we remind ourselves, we recommit ourselves, which 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:05.160 is why I call it a renewal vows. And of 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:09.160 course it's like the people who were at Stonewall, we 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:15.360 don't do so without joy. Joy is a tactic. Celebration 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.480 is a tactic, and so around that it makes sense 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:21.760 that the people who started the riot were also fundamental 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:26.120 in terms of finding I'm sorry founding pride parades, which 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:30.720 we're meant to do that and to commemorate the original 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:34.120 riot with a celebration. And so we're meant to celebrate, 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:36.040 We're meant to have a good time, we are meant 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:38.760 to connect, we are meant to form community. But it 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:41.840 is also our duty to remember. And as I say, 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:45.800 to renew our vows, I love that. I love the 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:50.520 idea of renewing vows. I love the idea of recognizing that, 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:54.360 you know, joy is incredibly important, and I think that 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:58.920 you know, I oftentimes get caught up in the rage 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:02.400 right because moments, the times that we are living in 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:06.080 are so rage inducing, right there is so much harm 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:09.560 that is being done. But the importance of being able 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:14.320 to celebrate one another, celebrate who we are, how we 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:20.560 show up, I think is also important. Right now, there 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:28.440 are hundreds hundreds of anti lgbt Q bills across the country. 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:36.440 Most of them are targeting specifically our trans youth. What 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:42.640 how do we as a community process where we are 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:47.160 right now and how much backsliding is happening in terms 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:52.960 of the respect and the acceptance of our community. Well, 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:54.520 I think a couple of things I want to be 0:15:54.640 --> 0:16:00.600 very clear about nomenclature. There are three hundred anti trans 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:04.560 bills in this country. Of course, there are important things 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:06.920 such as don't say gay and the way that that's 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:09.400 being replicated across the country, but I do not want 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:12.280 to erase the fact that this is essentially an anti 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:17.320 trans attack. And there are three hundred bills, mostly targeting 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:21.320 trans youth, but some of them sweep up trans adults, 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:26.080 saying that trans adults. Some of the proposed bills don't 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:29.520 want to allow trans people to be able to have 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:33.400 equal access to medical care until they're twenty one. So 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:35.720 I think that we want to be very clear that 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:39.320 this is a broad ranged attack, of course centered on 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:42.680 trans youth, but at the core of that are three 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.840 hundred anti trans bills. And you know, me and my 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:50.280 entire team at trans Lash actually have spent the last 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:55.280 several years investigating what's behind these bills. We learned so 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:58.560 much that the only way that we could tell people 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:01.520 about it was to be a separate podcast, which is 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:05.640 called the Anti Transhate Machine, A Plot against Equality, which 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:08.240 is now going to roll out in its second season 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:12.199 in October. And we looked at the money, the people, 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:17.000 the organizations, the politicians, the nonprofit groups that are fueling 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:20.720 this anti trans backlash. And I think that one of 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:25.240 the most important things about this particular moment, that's really 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.680 essential for us to realize is that it's not an accident. 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:35.760 This is the result of a very well crafted plan 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:41.000 that conservatives and specifically the Christian nationalist movement have had 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:46.600 for the past ten years. And they have put not 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:50.280 only time, but hundreds of millions of dollars behind this 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:54.800 specific effort. And so what I tell people is, if 0:17:54.840 --> 0:18:02.600 you are waking up on books fuck to the fact 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:08.359 that these bills exist, you're already ten years and a 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:13.560 couple hundred million dollars behind the right, you're late. And 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:19.080 the thing about it is that they put so much 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:21.480 energy that they've been able to scale this up in 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:24.400 a short amount of time. So there were a handful 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:29.480 of anti trans bills in twenty nineteen, maybe at anywhere 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:33.080 between a half dozen and a dozen that then moved 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:36.440 to one hundred and ninety eight last year to three 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:40.159 hundred this year. And the state legislative session isn't out 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:43.040 of session yet. Across the country, the state legislatures aren't 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:45.560 and you don't get from six to three hundred and 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:49.280 three years because there's something that's natural and organic. And 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:50.639 I think that one of the things that we have 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:53.399 to understand is that this anti trans attack that the 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:59.080 right is executing is very much a part of their 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:05.240 salt on democracy and an assault on a vision of 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:10.400 America that they believe is fundamentally anathema. And so for them, 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:12.919 the reason why they put this time and this money 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:20.080 behind this effort is because for them, anti trans bills, 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:27.240 anti abortion bills, critical race theory, and voting rights are 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:31.679 all equally important. They see them as a unified way 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:37.199 to cleave and to destroy this vision of America that 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:39.679 they don't want. And I think that one of the 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:42.880 things that progressives know, and you know this because you've 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:46.560 worked in democratic politics and pressive circles for so long, 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:51.560 is that they tend to still be white insists centered, 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:54.520 and so they tend to think that issues such as 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:57.719 trans are marginal and that will eventually get to them 0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:03.520 whenever we get to everything If yes, exactly, when we 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:08.119 get through everything else, maybe we'll circle back. But what 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:11.040 the right wing does is the exact opposite. For them, 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:13.560 this is not a marginal issue. It's a central issue 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:18.160 in their fight to take and to destroy that vision 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:19.919 of America. We can get into the mechanics of how 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:21.560 they're doing that and how it ties into voting rights, 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:23.679 because it's very much linked. But I think that we 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:27.240 have to understand that. And so while the left and 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:32.120 progressive talk intersectionally, the right fights intersectionally. That is to say, 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:37.040 they see the link between trans issues and gender issues 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:40.719 specifically abortion, and race and voting rights. For them, they 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:43.760 see it as a unified ecosystem that has to be 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:46.359 dealt with and pressed upon at the same time, whereas 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:50.400 progressives are not thinking that way, which is why right now, 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:52.560 when it comes to trans issues and even some others, 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:55.200 they're winning. The momentum is on their side right now. 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:59.600 You know, I love what you just said about the 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:05.160 fact that Republicans created an ecosystem, right and they are 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:09.880 funding that ecosystem. And I've been saying for so friggin 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:17.320 long that Democrats do not have coordination. They look at 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:19.520 the White House as it as if it is like 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:24.840 the Holy Grail, and look at nothing else. Meanwhile, Republicans 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:28.679 literally do the opposite, which is looking at everything else. 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:33.520 What can we hack away at? Right? And now they're 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:39.280 going back to this place where they're making this about children, 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:44.920 right and saying that we are groomers for wanting to 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:49.120 allow young people to have the medical care that they 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:52.400 need in order to live full and complete lives. And so, 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:58.480 what what is it that the Democratic Party needs to 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:02.399 do in order to recognize that this isn't just a 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:07.720 circle back and we'll come deal with you later. Well, 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:10.240 the funny thing when you study the right, I spent 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:14.440 a lot of time looking at how they operate mechanically, 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:19.280 is that they're not invested in the Republican Party. They 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:22.240 see the Republican Party as a means to an end, 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:25.399 and they make it very clear that they are willing 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:29.359 to support the Republican Party, or take over the Republican Party, 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:32.399 or undermine the Republican Party. Whatever they have to do 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:37.280 in order to execute their vision of America is what 0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:40.320 they're doing. Which is why we've seen before our very 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:44.720 eyes the Republican Party literally become a tool. You know, 0:22:44.800 --> 0:22:47.359 everyone's asking, well, what happened to the Republican Party and 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:49.560 what happened to these values and what happened to the 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:53.800 things that it stood for. It's been transformed into a 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:57.600 tool of the Christian nationalists and the and the and 0:22:57.680 --> 0:23:00.439 the right wing of it. And so I think that 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:05.320 we have to start stop thinking about these parties as 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:10.000 the embodiment of values, and rather what they're becoming and 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:14.040 specifically have become on the right and far right is 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:18.080 and as are a means to an end. And the 0:23:18.240 --> 0:23:22.680 problem is that the Democratic Coalition writ large, let's just 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:27.120 say that is still playing politics according to these old 0:23:27.240 --> 0:23:31.119 rules where the party is the embodiment and all of 0:23:31.160 --> 0:23:34.280 these things, and we're not there anymore. And I think 0:23:34.400 --> 0:23:37.959 that one of the things that people who are values 0:23:37.960 --> 0:23:41.399 aligned on the left or progressives have to think about 0:23:41.560 --> 0:23:46.960 is what has to happen in order to advance values 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:50.000 and to counteract this movement on the right, because the 0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:54.840 Democratic Party as an institution is still buy and large 0:23:55.080 --> 0:24:01.159 playing for in an American political system that is quickly disintegrating. 0:24:01.720 --> 0:24:05.600 You know, there's the middle is quickly leaving, the ability 0:24:05.640 --> 0:24:11.359 to compromise are fading, and so the values and the 0:24:11.480 --> 0:24:15.720 ideas that the party is trying to hold onto with 0:24:15.840 --> 0:24:18.040 the in regards to the way that it works in Washington, 0:24:18.119 --> 0:24:20.520 not what's in the platform, of course, but the way 0:24:20.560 --> 0:24:24.119 that it works in Washington. Right, the trade offs, the 0:24:24.240 --> 0:24:27.600 eventually ability to get to the deals, letting this go 0:24:27.800 --> 0:24:31.560 so that you can get this other thing. That essential 0:24:31.720 --> 0:24:35.080 form of politics is becoming a thing of the past. 0:24:35.800 --> 0:24:39.040 And so I think that what we're looking at in 0:24:39.080 --> 0:24:44.720 the Republican Party maybe the where politics is going, where 0:24:45.000 --> 0:24:47.879 the party is actually a tool for a set of 0:24:47.960 --> 0:24:52.280 interests that are trying to advance themselves throughout the country, 0:24:52.440 --> 0:24:57.000 rather than the repository of values, which the Democratic Party 0:24:57.080 --> 0:25:00.000 still is. So we have two very different visions right now. 0:25:01.760 --> 0:25:05.119 I mean, we have so many different visions right now. 0:25:05.520 --> 0:25:09.240 You know, you brought up voting right, and the fact 0:25:09.240 --> 0:25:13.000 the coordinated attack with regard to the anti trans bills, 0:25:13.320 --> 0:25:16.840 the anti you know vote, the voter suppression bills, the 0:25:16.880 --> 0:25:20.439 fight with CRT, and then the conversation with rumors at 0:25:20.480 --> 0:25:24.240 all of these things. What the Democrats continue to say is, Oh, 0:25:24.280 --> 0:25:26.560 we just need to vote, We need to vote, We 0:25:26.600 --> 0:25:28.600 need to vote, we need to vote. And I'm saying, 0:25:28.720 --> 0:25:32.320 so where right, And I'm am I still voting for 0:25:32.359 --> 0:25:35.840 the same person. That is marginal right, because you all 0:25:35.880 --> 0:25:39.080 don't want to run any new candidates, because you don't 0:25:39.119 --> 0:25:41.240 want to actually build a pipeline. You want to keep 0:25:41.480 --> 0:25:45.399 people in Congress for thirty forty fifty years, so that 0:25:45.440 --> 0:25:48.720 we can have the same conversations. What do you what 0:25:49.160 --> 0:25:54.040 is your pushback to the constant refrain of we need 0:25:54.080 --> 0:25:56.320 to just vote, We just we just need to get 0:25:56.320 --> 0:25:59.840 out there and vote. When we do, it's in historic numbers, 0:26:00.000 --> 0:26:04.280 and yet things are continually backsliding. You know. I think 0:26:04.320 --> 0:26:08.280 that it's it's again, it's this separation of interest. What 0:26:08.320 --> 0:26:14.120 I mean by that is people need to vote. And 0:26:14.480 --> 0:26:17.119 throughout our long history as black people in this country, 0:26:17.200 --> 0:26:20.399 we've understood that what we are doing is trying to 0:26:20.440 --> 0:26:23.240 minimize the harm that the political process does to us, 0:26:25.160 --> 0:26:29.680 and that voting is a tool to do that. Right. So, 0:26:30.000 --> 0:26:33.280 by and large, for African Americans, for most of our 0:26:33.320 --> 0:26:35.359 history in this country, since we've been able to allowed 0:26:35.359 --> 0:26:40.080 to vote, voting is a defensive play. So I think 0:26:40.080 --> 0:26:44.280 that we need to think differently about voting. As marginalized people. 0:26:44.480 --> 0:26:47.679 We vote in order we do vote in order to 0:26:48.400 --> 0:26:52.800 stop things from getting worse. Right, that's the voting, that's 0:26:52.840 --> 0:26:55.760 the voting part. But in my heart, I'm like, is 0:26:55.760 --> 0:26:58.400 it are we stopping it from getting worse? Well, here's 0:26:58.400 --> 0:27:01.840 the thing. I mean, that's a really good point so 0:27:03.000 --> 0:27:04.600 we'll come to that because it's related to the other 0:27:04.600 --> 0:27:07.200 things that we've touched upon. So I think when we 0:27:07.320 --> 0:27:09.919 vote to stop things from getting worse, I think too, 0:27:10.040 --> 0:27:13.280 it means that we put just as much energy into 0:27:13.560 --> 0:27:16.800 figuring out and mobilizing people outside of the political process, 0:27:18.040 --> 0:27:21.639 because that's where the pressure on the political process to 0:27:21.720 --> 0:27:24.840 actually change will come from, if that makes any sense. Right. So, 0:27:24.920 --> 0:27:26.720 because what's on the right, what they've done is they 0:27:26.720 --> 0:27:31.160 went out and they organized and identified what they call 0:27:31.359 --> 0:27:35.280 our super voters. And the super voters, on their part, 0:27:35.320 --> 0:27:42.800 are overwhelmingly we're white mail voters who once you activate them, 0:27:42.920 --> 0:27:47.480 will vote. I think the number is ninety three percent 0:27:47.520 --> 0:27:53.600 of elections, right, and they vote in elections that federal election, 0:27:54.640 --> 0:27:58.640 not state elections, not just local. They every election that's 0:27:58.640 --> 0:28:03.240 coming up. Those people get to the polls and they 0:28:03.280 --> 0:28:10.240 have figured out that those people you know, have certain 0:28:10.320 --> 0:28:13.480 views on race, have certain views on gender, have certain 0:28:13.560 --> 0:28:17.040 views on gender identity, has certain views on immigration, and 0:28:17.119 --> 0:28:21.400 they figured out an agenda to superserve those super voters. 0:28:22.760 --> 0:28:27.520 Now they're they're not the majority, they may be twenty 0:28:27.560 --> 0:28:32.840 percent in the population, but because they vote in such 0:28:32.840 --> 0:28:37.359 extreme numbers, they're able to actually force multiply their numbers, 0:28:38.680 --> 0:28:41.200 which is how that small number of people can have 0:28:41.240 --> 0:28:45.360 such an outsize impact on our political process because they 0:28:45.360 --> 0:28:49.360 have figured out how to do that. And so then 0:28:49.800 --> 0:28:54.120 what that ecosystem of organizations on the right does is 0:28:54.120 --> 0:28:57.040 they then turn to the Republican Party and they say, 0:28:57.240 --> 0:29:00.640 we've got these voters, and here's what they care about, 0:29:00.880 --> 0:29:03.440 and here's their agenda, and here's how often we can 0:29:03.480 --> 0:29:05.720