WEBVTT - Our Compounded Trauma 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.720 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to woka F Daily with 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:19.000 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, recording from the bunker where 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:22.560 I will be for the next six weeks. Because your 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:26.840 favorite podcaster broke her toe over the holiday weekend. How 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:29.880 did I do that? I tripped up my stairs and 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:34.519 now for the next six weeks, I am immobile, awesome 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:38.160 beginning to summer. I hope that all of you had 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:43.080 a much better beginning of summer and Memorial Day weekend 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.600 than I did. Um I will say, let me, let 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.159 me stop. I have a lot of gratitude for my friends, 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:52.800 for my family and loved ones who have been checking 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:58.320 in on me, who helped me do shopping, who have 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:03.560 been really just lovely and wonderful. I'm just, you know, 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:12.559 annoyed with myself. But folks, I did not stay away 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.480 from the news over the holiday weekend because I did 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:22.240 TV on Saturday and Sunday. And what I will say today, 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:28.080 which is the week, it's been a week since the 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:33.000 shooting in Uvalde, Texas. It's been a week since we 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:43.120 have learned about really just atrocious, disgusting, unbelievable, outrageous details 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:48.000 how nineteen police officers who were armed, stood outside for 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:53.280 an hour while children were screaming inside being massacred, while 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:57.160 two teachers were doing the jobs that police officers, who 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:03.080 whose budgets are forty of the entire community and town 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:08.760 and city of Uvaldi, did nothing, as reports come out 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.079 that some of those officers went in and rescued their 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:16.080 own children and left other children to the slaughter of 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.519 an eighteen year old arm with a weapon of war. 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:28.280 The New York Times over the holiday weekend had a 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:35.960 visual that said authorities say the gunmen accessed purchased the 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:40.600 gun legally, and it was literally fifteen of the last 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:46.280 mass shootings where the gunmen all got their guns legally. 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.000 Because we live in a country where at the age 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:55.000 of eighteen, you can't buy sudafed, but you can absolutely 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:58.480 buy an AAR fifteen. We live in a country where 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:02.480 we do not trust people with uteruses to make decisions 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:06.040 about their own bodies, because that's considered murder. But we 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:12.440 totally applaud as many did, thousands did at the NRA's 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:16.160 conference in Houston, where, by the way, guns were not 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:21.760 permitted because you know, safety measures. Applaud this. No rule, 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:26.639 no red flags, no background checks, no nothing, because they 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:32.200 believe it's a slippery slope. We're beyond slippery slopes. We 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:39.360 live in a country where parents, I don't even know 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:43.000 how you all are making the decisions these days. I mean, 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:47.120 my only prayer and saving grace is that it is 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:52.040 June and God willing in a couple of weeks, school 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:55.320 will be out for summer, so we can all collectively 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:59.160 hold our breaths for the next school shooting that will happen, 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:04.040 probably in September. And in the meantime there'll be just 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:08.040 other mass shootings that happen over the summer. It was 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:13.280 reported by the Washington Post that over the weekend there 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:17.680 were eleven mass shootings. Because now I had been saying 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:22.360 and again these stats change that a mass shooting is 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:26.400 four or more people that have been killed by a 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:31.560 gun at one time. Evidently it is seven in some 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:35.320 places considered. I mean, here's my thing, it's a mass 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:39.440 shooting if more than one person is killed, right, Like, 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:46.560 I don't need to, you know, to slash hairs over 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:51.039 this issue. The fact is that our children are not 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:55.560 safe in this country. We would rather ban books and 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:59.160 blame critical race theories and as Ted Cruz stupid ass 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.320 did blame doors and say that there should be one 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:04.680 door in and one door out of schools. And I 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:07.200 said in a TikTok that I did, which, by the way, 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:09.719 if you're not following me on TikTok, you totally should 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:13.800 because I am loose there. Let's just say that I 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:20.080 have no holds barred and it's Danielle Moody underscore FYI, 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:24.799 if you are so inclined, but I said, Ted Cruz 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:27.320 may want to check with a fucking fire marshal about 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:29.600 one door in and one door out of a school, 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:33.880 because are we turning our schools into prisons? Because society 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:40.240 is so unsafe, We're arming teachers, We're doing everything except 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:45.440 even trying to try. As Shannon Watts, who is the 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:49.880 president of Mothers Against Gun Violence has said, we don't 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:55.360 even we haven't even tried trying. Right. It's not as 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:57.880 if we say, okay, well, let's check off all the 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:00.120 list of things that we have done to predict to 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.400 prevent mass shootings in this country, We've done none of them. 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:10.400 Background checks, red flag laws, minimum, you know, seven day 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:15.640 waiting period while you are evaluated. I looked at a 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:21.080 form a checklist that Canadians have to do in order 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:24.240 to get a gun, and I thought, my god, this 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:28.599 seems extensive and exhaustive. Right, so you can feel comfortable 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.520 knowing that the person that obtains a gun in Canada, 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:37.040 right has been thoroughly checked out. But in America, Nah, 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:41.840 you blow out eighteen candles on your birthday cake and 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:44.400 then you get to blow away as many as your 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:48.800 little heart desires. I don't know how else to say it. 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:54.039 We just don't care. You have Donald Trump, you know, 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:59.680 at the NRA, blaming everything, single parent, households, churches, lack 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:06.160 of church attendance, all of these things, wokeness, video games, 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:09.400 everything except for the assault rifle that has been used 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:14.280 in every single mass shooting that we've seen that have 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:19.760 made it to the headlines. It's been ten years since 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.400 kidna gartners and first graders who were mowed down in 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:28.440 their classroom in Newtown. It's been twenty three years since 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:33.080 two high school students at Columbine entered their school shot 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:39.920 and killed twelve people and then themselves. We've done nothing. 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:45.280 We've done nothing except make it easier, as Governor Abbott 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:49.320 did in Texas to lower ages in order to get 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:57.520 a weapon of war, to do away with any type 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:00.080 of laws that would make it safe for people to 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.560 you exist free. Oh, you can carry a gun anywhere 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:10.400 you want. I think that America is done. I think 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:15.920 that the America that you and I adults have grown 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:22.400 up in and understood is done. I believe that we 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:30.320 are already in an authoritarian environment where the majority of 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:35.040 this country is now held hostage by the NRA and 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:39.439 a handful of senators who are bought and sold like 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:48.439 hookers from the NRA, who could care less about anything 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:56.160 other than their own power and money. And it's disgraceful. 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:58.079 And I can say all of the things that I've 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:04.440 been saying for years. We had the Vice President Kamala 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:09.360 Harris say, after she attended the funeral of the eighty 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:15.079 six year old black grandmother who was killed at Tops 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:20.800 grocery in Buffalo, we need a band on assault rifles 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:25.200 in this country, plain and simple. Joe Biden would then 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:29.680 echo her sentiments, and I say, where is the fucking 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:35.560 executive order? You have access to the smartest people in 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:42.520 the country, probably on the planet. Why is there no 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:45.599 war room that has been put together to figure out 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:50.600 how to maneuver around the gun Loophole's Why are there 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:55.280 not constitutional scholars that are in this war room for 0:09:55.360 --> 0:10:00.320 the administration to put together the plans to keep Americans is, 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:07.920 particularly our children safe. Why do Democrats keep giving Republicans 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:12.640 the benefit of the doubt as if they haven't continually 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:16.280 showed you they don't give a fuck about your constitution, 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:19.160 They don't give a fuck about the lives of children, 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:23.080 They don't care about the rules and morals that have 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:28.400 governed this country, as imperfect as it is. I just 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:33.960 don't know what else you need to see and order 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:38.240 to just do what needs to be done, and damn 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:44.480 the fucking consequences. How about putting everything in place, leaving 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:49.480 everything on the fucking field, instead of just acquiescing to 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:55.280 this neo authoritarian state that we're living in. I don't 0:10:55.320 --> 0:11:00.280 get it. And you know, frankly, when I was on 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:07.360 Aim and Mohadeen's show on Sunday, I you know, was 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:10.640 not on there to talk about guns. I was on 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:16.160 to talk about the midterm elections and to talk about 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:21.559 the information that keeps being quote unquote discovered by journalists 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:27.280 as they get access to more documents and more subpoenas 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:33.319 around the insurrection. And we all know now right that 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:39.080 Donald Trump was sitting watching TV gleefully as his followers 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:44.600 were violently attempting to overthrow the government. We know that 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:49.160 Donald Trump said that Mike Pence should be hanged. We 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:54.839 know that Mark Meadows was burning papers in his office. 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:59.840 All of these people are still walking around free, and 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:04.600 they'll continue to There'll be no accountability, There'll be no responsibility. 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.480 If America makes it another handful of years, and by 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:10.880 a handful, I mean like literally to the presidential election 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:15.079 in twenty twenty four, I will be surprised. And when 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:22.600 I say America, I mean that this false idea that 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:26.959 we have of this country. There are people who still believe, 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:31.120 who are still under some type of spell and believe 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:35.520 that America is not going to fall, that our democracy 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:40.240 will maintain. When everything is showing you things to the contrary, 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:44.480 I don't get it. And you know, I tell you all, 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.960 I am ye of little faith. I have little faith 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:50.480 in our institutions. I have less faith in the people 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:53.240 that are running them. I have no faith in this 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:59.360 administration to get anything done that will safeguard US ten 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:03.000 thousand dollars. They're saying, maybe to cancel student loan debt 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:07.880 for millions of Americans that are billions of dollars in debt, 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:15.840 mostly to the government. I broke my toe and you know, 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:21.760 was talking to the doctor about health insurance and care 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:28.280 in this country, and everything here is horrific. Our healthcare 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:33.640 is shit, our government is shit. And I'm sorry, folks 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:37.040 like I genuinely, I gotta tell you it pains me 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:42.920 and I have been, as you all know, struggling. I 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:47.400 watched a really good segment that Aim and Mohaddeen did 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:52.560 on Sunday ahead of my hit with a mental health provider, 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:58.439 and I forget her name, is a black woman who 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:02.600 was talking about what can now be referred to as 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:12.559 our compounded trauma. It is when multiple events, multiple crises, 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:21.640 are just stacked one after the other, and that America 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:25.040 is also suffering, on top of everything else, a mental 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:35.560 health crisis. More people are now dealing with depression now 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:40.920 than in twenty nineteen before the pandemic. There have been 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:45.920 higher rates of attempted suicide. I've watched so many specials 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:51.640 with the young kids who are you know, six ten 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:59.200 teenagers about how they're suffering. I want you to think 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:03.960 about what it could possibly be like to be a 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:09.760 little kid. I don't care. Elementary school, middle school, high school. 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:16.200 They're all children to me going to school these days, 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:19.720 and I mean these days as in like the last 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:26.800 several decades, I don't know how you could possibly concentrate 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:33.080 on learning. Every door slam, every bell ring would send 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:38.600 me through the roof with fear, with anxiety, crippling fear 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:42.880 and anxiety. I sit on the couch and I just 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:48.640 listen to these interviews, one after the other of these 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:51.760 young kids from rob Elementary School in Uivaldi, and I 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:56.800 burst into tears, and I am hundreds of miles away, 0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:05.000 cloistered in my apartment where I don't really want to 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:12.440 leave because I'm terrified. Hey, I'm David Plots of Slates 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:17.320 Political Gabfest. As another election season accelerates, it can be 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.040 tricky to sort through all the noise and the news. 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.360 Each week, on the Gapfest, John Dickerson, Emily Bathlon and 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:26.240 I decipher the headlines, break down the races, and tell 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:30.360 you what issues really matter. We do not always agree, 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:33.920 we definitely do not always agree, but we always deliver 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:36.640 thoughtful debate and we always have a good time. So 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:41.520 subscribe to Slate's Political Gapfest New episodes every Thursday. Get 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.040 a behind the scenes look at Comedy Central's The Daily 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:46.920 Show on Beyond the Scenes, an original podcast from The 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.720 Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Every week, host Roy Wood 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:52.400 Junior goes deeper with the notable guests and experts from 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:55.280 the Emmy Award winning series. Together, they use comedy to 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:58.360 tackle current topics from gentrification to gun laws and take 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:00.800 a closer look at how and why the topics matter. 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:03.120 Listen to Beyond the Scenes from The Daily Show with 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:06.480 Trevor Noah on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:13.359 you get your podcast. New episodes every Tuesday. Friends of 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:19.000 mine you know have recently said who live in the city, 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:21.000 or like, I don't want to take the subway anymore. 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:22.320 I don't think that I'm going to be taking the 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:24.480 subway anymore. So if I can't get to where I'm 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:29.840 going walking or just paying the exorbitant fucking uber and 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:33.840 Lift prices, like I'm not going because the idea of 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:37.320 sitting on a subway when we've had two subway shootings 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:43.359 in the month of May, it's too much. So it's like, 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:49.200 if we are adults and literally have the emotional capacity 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:56.399 to work through our emotions and we are struggling. What 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:59.760 the fuck do you think that little kids are doing? 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:07.760 How do you think that they are coping. This little 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:11.320 boy six years old and rob elementary school, and he 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:14.200 was standing with his mom as his being interviewed on MSNBC, 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:21.359 and his mother is tearfully telling the reporters that he 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:25.959 doesn't want to go back to school, and she's like, 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:29.720 I really pray that he will eventually, like the school 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:34.600 year is now done. But when the reporters said, why 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:36.280 don't you want to go back to school, he said, 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:38.920 because I'm scared. I don't want to die. I don't 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:53.120 want to die. He's six. Compounded trauma, a global health 0:18:53.160 --> 0:19:00.160 pandemic that is not gone, will probably never be gone, 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:18.879 Escalated racism and hate crimes, escalated mass shootings, and we 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:24.680 have election in less than six months that posters are 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:29.160 telling us Republicans will regain control of the House, which 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:35.160 is essentially handing over the House of Representatives to the Taliban. 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.399 Like that's the thing that I'm like, why are we 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:43.919 mincing words? Why do we have such strong words and 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:49.359 conviction when it comes to naming the violence that those 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:52.600 outside of the United States do against their own people. 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:57.359 We have no problem referring to other black and brown 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:06.440 leaders in dictator as what they are, dictators, murderers, right, 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:11.919 authoritarian is fascists. But when it comes to naming and 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:17.760 describing the people who are causing the most violence, rise 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:21.200 and hate in this country, it seems that our leaders 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:27.199 struggle like a cat's got their tongue. Handing over the 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:32.040 keys to the House of Representatives to the white supremacist 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:43.679 Council is akin to handing it over to isis to 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:51.440 the Taliban, to a guerrilla militia, and thinking that, well, 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:58.040 I hope that they do the right thing. What like, 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:04.720 these people are known terrorists, they're known killers. Oh, but 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:08.280 they're telling you that they're gonna do right. So you're 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:10.879 going to give them the benefit of the doubt and 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:14.159 not trust past behavior and not trust the patterns that 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:16.760 you that they have established. We're just going to take 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:22.440 their word for it. If I were a billionaire, unlike 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:25.960 fucking Elon Musk and the rest of these wealthy white 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:34.320 ciss fucking hetero like egomaniacs, I would be pouring billions 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:40.480 of dollars into blanketed ads across this country, particularly in 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:48.680 Red states, particularly in battleground areas from now until fucking December, 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:54.119 when the elections will probably actually be decided. Every single 0:21:54.160 --> 0:22:00.959 other ad would be about mass shootings, gun fires perpetrated 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:04.920 at the hands of white supremacists, and next to it 0:22:05.280 --> 0:22:09.240 all of the Republicans and Democrats who take money from 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:15.800 the NRA. It would be the faces of young children, 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:21.640 one after the other, casually going about their day, and 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:25.800 then darkness hits running for their lives, covering themselves in 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:32.360 their friend's blood to pretend to be dead. It would 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:36.359 run non stop. You wouldn't be able to turn on 0:22:36.400 --> 0:22:42.200 a podcast, turn on a screen without hearing or seeing it. 0:22:42.720 --> 0:22:47.760 That's what I would do. I would pour money into 0:22:48.080 --> 0:22:53.120 every single Democratic candidate for every single level of office 0:22:53.520 --> 0:22:58.720 that the Democratic establishment decides to ignore because they don't 0:22:58.720 --> 0:23:05.600 think that they're viable. If I were a multi billionaire, 0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:10.399 I would be working round the clock to try and 0:23:10.440 --> 0:23:15.439 save our democracy and putting pressure where pressure needed to be. 0:23:17.280 --> 0:23:22.639 But you see, the white male Cis hetero billionaires in 0:23:22.680 --> 0:23:26.160 this country, much as it with the poor white Cis 0:23:26.160 --> 0:23:29.440 fucking hetero men, and this could only give a fuck 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:45.760 about themselves. It is that individualistic mentality, this raw selfishness, 0:23:47.520 --> 0:23:50.760 the Gordon Gecko from Wall Street that is taken over 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:58.159 not only our culture, but our politics. It's a reason 0:23:58.240 --> 0:24:08.920 why we are here. Things don't just atrophy overnight. It 0:24:09.000 --> 0:24:14.880 takes time. And that is what has happened to our democracy. 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:22.600 It is completely atrophied because money in politics has literally 0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:29.119 suffocated the people's ability to have a voice in power. 0:24:30.160 --> 0:24:34.520 And so without that reflexive muscle being, what is actually 0:24:34.520 --> 0:24:39.000 supposed to guide our representatives at the state, local, and 0:24:39.040 --> 0:24:43.480 federal level that take an oath to do right by 0:24:43.520 --> 0:24:57.439 the Constitution has died. And this is once again coming 0:24:57.480 --> 0:25:02.439 at the hands of the Supreme Court, Citizens United, the 0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:08.080 case that turned corporations into company, corporations into people can 0:25:08.119 --> 0:25:15.639 give as much as they want money. Capitalism, greed is 0:25:15.680 --> 0:25:22.960 why the gun lobby succeeds. It's why racism prevails. Think 0:25:22.960 --> 0:25:28.760 about it. If you were to rid money from politics, 0:25:28.760 --> 0:25:33.760 if you didn't need billions of dollars to run for president, 0:25:33.840 --> 0:25:37.119 if you didn't need hundreds of millions of dollars to 0:25:37.280 --> 0:25:42.800 run for Congress, if you take away the power of 0:25:42.880 --> 0:25:47.199 the donor class and actually give it back to the people, 0:25:47.760 --> 0:25:50.520 you think we would be in this position where the 0:25:50.640 --> 0:25:54.800 last six elections the popular vote Democrats won, but they 0:25:54.840 --> 0:25:58.520 only won the last two presidential elections. Don't you think 0:25:58.560 --> 0:26:03.680 that over this time we would have changed how things 0:26:03.680 --> 0:26:07.480 were actually done. But it is money and politics and 0:26:07.680 --> 0:26:19.120 greed that disallows the people to be heard. I am 0:26:19.160 --> 0:26:23.679 so worried about this summer because I know that with 0:26:23.920 --> 0:26:34.120 summer comes a lot of violence, and with this compounded trauma, 0:26:34.440 --> 0:26:42.720 swirling depression, easy access to guns, high inflation. I mean, 0:26:42.880 --> 0:26:47.840 I went to go and buy some flowers the other 0:26:47.920 --> 0:26:52.679 day for my patio, and I'm like, God, these are expensive. 0:26:53.520 --> 0:26:56.560 And then I asked my mother and she goes, oh, well, 0:26:56.720 --> 0:27:00.120 if you watch like the local news, they were telling 0:27:00.200 --> 0:27:05.400 us that the cost of flowers has gone up ten 0:27:05.480 --> 0:27:10.960 to thirty Why because they're being shipped in from god 0:27:11.040 --> 0:27:13.600 knows where, driven in from God knows where. And guess 0:27:13.640 --> 0:27:18.040 what that is diesel? Guess what the cost of diesel is? 0:27:18.119 --> 0:27:21.480 Will you all know? You pass gas stations and guess 0:27:21.480 --> 0:27:24.680 who is offsetting who the companies are offsetting that cost 0:27:24.720 --> 0:27:32.159 to the consumer. So you can't even buy a bundle 0:27:32.200 --> 0:27:35.600 of flowers a fucking package of ground meat. I mean, 0:27:35.960 --> 0:27:41.959 so you just take all of these issues and I'm worried. 0:27:44.000 --> 0:27:47.080 A friend of mine said recently, you know, the air 0:27:49.680 --> 0:27:57.280 is really thick with anxiety. Be really mindful about like 0:27:57.359 --> 0:28:01.760 your spidy senses as you are moving about. If you 0:28:01.920 --> 0:28:07.080 feel on edge, if you're looking around and you're not 0:28:07.160 --> 0:28:12.960 quite feeling right, leave, don't talk yourself out of it, 0:28:13.600 --> 0:28:16.080 because I think that we are all going to kind 0:28:16.119 --> 0:28:27.240 of go back to our hunter kind of feelings, Like 0:28:27.320 --> 0:28:32.560 there are senses that we haven't needed, right, because we're 0:28:32.560 --> 0:28:36.200 supposed to be in a civilized society. We are not. 0:28:38.320 --> 0:28:44.240 We ignore a lot of those feelings, those gut feelings, right, 0:28:44.280 --> 0:28:46.720 because we tell ourselves our mind is making it up. 0:28:46.720 --> 0:28:49.640 And I'm saying to you now, I'm not ignoring mine anymore. 0:28:50.760 --> 0:28:53.360 Fine on a subway, which I can't be because I 0:28:53.400 --> 0:28:55.479 have a broken toe and I can't really move around. 0:28:56.160 --> 0:28:58.959 I have a giant boot on my foot. But if 0:28:59.520 --> 0:29:06.000 you find yourself on public transportation, in a store, theater 0:29:07.800 --> 0:29:14.440 and you feel uneasy, listen to that feeling. It may 0:29:14.480 --> 0:29:19.080 be what is going to save you. But it's this 0:29:19.200 --> 0:29:26.600 feeling of just unease. Remember how I would talk about disease, right, 0:29:26.800 --> 0:29:31.680 and the fact that worry, fear, anxiety, all of these 0:29:31.720 --> 0:29:35.840 things create disease in our body, which makes it more 0:29:35.920 --> 0:29:41.880 susceptible to illness. But there is this really deep feeling 0:29:41.920 --> 0:29:51.880 of unease, don't feel safe anywhere, and I'm just like, so, 0:29:51.960 --> 0:29:56.320 what does that do? It then creates this even deeper 0:29:56.400 --> 0:30:02.760 sense of tribalism where we become untrusting of those around 0:30:02.880 --> 0:30:08.000 us because our senses are up, our walls go up. 0:30:09.760 --> 0:30:14.800 The ripple effects of what is happening, what has happened 0:30:14.840 --> 0:30:20.880 so quickly if you think about this guy's twenty fifteen 0:30:21.040 --> 0:30:27.640 to me, and probably earlier the beginning of the tea party, 0:30:27.680 --> 0:30:34.600 so maybe that's around twenty ten, twenty eleven. This has 0:30:34.680 --> 0:30:41.560 all been bubbling up for the last twelve years because 0:30:42.160 --> 0:30:47.240 no one has been paying attention. Just politics as usual. 0:30:47.440 --> 0:30:58.400 It's not Republicans are violent white supremacists who will do anything, 0:30:58.640 --> 0:31:07.600 saying anything in order to assume power. They're doing nothing. 0:31:10.960 --> 0:31:14.600 They don't care about the violence that's ensuing because it's 0:31:14.640 --> 0:31:18.720 not going to affect them right now. It will eventually, 0:31:19.320 --> 0:31:26.480 trust and believe, but right now, they're in their seventies 0:31:26.520 --> 0:31:30.440 and eighties. If they have kids, it's really their grandkids now, 0:31:30.520 --> 0:31:35.400 and they're at private schools or boarding schools where incidents 0:31:35.440 --> 0:31:41.040 of violence like this so far are not happening, so 0:31:41.080 --> 0:31:45.360 they don't care. When was the last time that any 0:31:45.400 --> 0:31:48.720 member of Congress who has been in Congress for decades, 0:31:48.760 --> 0:31:53.080 not the new Cohort, have been inside of a grocery store? 0:31:57.720 --> 0:32:00.280 When was the last time they did anything that wasn't 0:32:01.040 --> 0:32:10.040 seriously vetted? So they're going to be protected. The wealthy 0:32:10.120 --> 0:32:16.200 the why the powerful, they're good. It is everybody else 0:32:16.600 --> 0:32:19.440 who is basically playing Russian Roulette every time that we 0:32:19.520 --> 0:32:29.320 leave our homes. I've been thinking a lot about what 0:32:29.400 --> 0:32:35.560 to do and what I can say right now. For me, 0:32:35.880 --> 0:32:38.280 at the very least is I'm just going to continue 0:32:38.400 --> 0:32:43.600 telling the truth until it becomes increasingly dangerous for me 0:32:43.680 --> 0:32:48.680 to do so, because I believe that we will get 0:32:48.720 --> 0:32:52.560 to that place where it is going to be actually 0:32:52.720 --> 0:32:57.280 physically dangerous for people like myself to continue to be 0:32:57.480 --> 0:33:02.440 out and vocal about what is going on in this country. 0:33:04.160 --> 0:33:10.040 I will continue to encourage people to gather their community, 0:33:12.160 --> 0:33:17.520 run at all levels, give money if you can, volunteer 0:33:17.560 --> 0:33:26.920 if you can do so safely. But honestly, I don't 0:33:26.960 --> 0:33:32.520 know how to get rid of this nagging sense of unease. 0:33:35.920 --> 0:33:38.760 I'm doubling down on my meditation. I've picked up of 0:33:39.720 --> 0:33:42.120 a book that I put down to kind of detach 0:33:42.240 --> 0:33:48.880 myself a bit from my phone, from the news so 0:33:48.960 --> 0:33:57.520 that I can just be. So whatever momentary solace you 0:33:57.560 --> 0:34:02.160 can provide for yourself, walking as clearly on hold until July, 0:34:02.480 --> 0:34:05.239 so I won't be doing that. And because of that, 0:34:05.280 --> 0:34:09.480 I've started to have this sense of nervousness today around well, 0:34:09.520 --> 0:34:12.239 what am I going to do to stay mentally well? 0:34:13.200 --> 0:34:17.480 Because if I can't do physical activity in any real way, 0:34:19.280 --> 0:34:22.200 I have to figure out ways to give my mind 0:34:22.280 --> 0:34:26.160 and my heart rest. And I think all of us 0:34:26.239 --> 0:34:30.160 do whatever it is that we have been doing. You know, 0:34:30.440 --> 0:34:33.000 we may have fallen off, as I admitted to and 0:34:33.080 --> 0:34:37.640 have admitted too, but the recognition of falling into old 0:34:37.680 --> 0:34:43.839 patterns is even as Young Pueblo, a writer, poet, an 0:34:43.920 --> 0:34:47.919 author has said, is part of your progress because when 0:34:47.960 --> 0:34:52.920 you initially were in old patterns, you weren't even recognizing 0:34:52.960 --> 0:34:55.439 them as patterns. So even if we have fallen off 0:34:55.480 --> 0:34:59.279 of what has been keeping us mentally and physically, well, 0:35:00.640 --> 0:35:08.760