1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:02,520 Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning. 2 00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:08,639 Speaker 2: Breakfast Club Morning, everybody is dej Envy, Jess hilarious, Charlamagne 3 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 2: the guy we are the Breakfast Club, Lon Laros of 4 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:12,960 Speaker 2: course filling in for Jess. And we got a special 5 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:16,079 Speaker 2: guest in the building, indeed, the brother Michael Eric Dison. 6 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:19,439 Speaker 1: Keeping light skin, Brothers alive. How are you feeling, brother man, 7 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,080 Speaker 1: I'm feeling like we're still riding with Drake, so let's 8 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:23,240 Speaker 1: hang on as long. 9 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:23,639 Speaker 3: As we can. 10 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 4: Michael Davey got a new book I called represent the 11 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 4: Unfinished Fight for the Vote. 12 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:36,599 Speaker 1: Yes, sir, yes, sir man, you know, look, thank the 13 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: publishing gods. I was like, it's pretty good timing for 14 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: what we're doing. My co author Mark Favreau, brilliant writer 15 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:45,519 Speaker 1: and gifted historian, and we wanted to talk about in 16 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: issues that's central to what we're dealing with here in 17 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: America today, and that's voting and why people should vote, 18 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: how they fought forward over time and what it means 19 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:55,760 Speaker 1: to us today. 20 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 4: And people think voter suppression might be new, like they've 21 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 4: seen January sixth and all these other recent incidents that 22 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 4: have tried to suppress the vote. But this book discusses 23 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 4: other attempts to suppress the vote, and yeah, to vote 24 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:09,840 Speaker 4: that go way back. Can you talk about that. 25 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: Yes, sir, great, great point. Let's just talk about your state, 26 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: South Carolina in the eighteen I think it was seventy 27 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:22,040 Speaker 1: six election where they were deliberately trying to suppress the 28 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: black vote, right, and these were the Democrats who were 29 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: in power, who were trying to maintain that power. And 30 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:32,399 Speaker 1: back then it was the Democrats who were the party 31 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: of the racists, and what we subsequently knew was Dixiocrats. 32 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,959 Speaker 1: So they invented this militia called the Red Shirts, and 33 00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:43,839 Speaker 1: they were riding rough shot over black people, doing illegal 34 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: stuff to suppress the vote, you know, scaring them, intimidating them. 35 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: And they said, I want to read this to you 36 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: because this is rather remarkable. I don't want bore people, 37 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 1: but this is what a copy of their plan was 38 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:58,560 Speaker 1: circulated over state. This is what it says. Every Democrat 39 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 1: must feel honored by excuse me, to control the vote 40 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: at least one negro. Never threaten a man individually. If 41 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 1: he deserves to be threatened, the necessities of the times 42 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:11,799 Speaker 1: required that he should die. A dead radical is very 43 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 1: harmless a threatened radical is often troublesome, sometimes dangerous, and 44 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,839 Speaker 1: always vindictive. So they were doing their thing, and then 45 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:25,639 Speaker 1: the Democratic candidate for governor, Wade Hampton, had these people 46 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:28,919 Speaker 1: out in force, and they had rifle clubs aimed at 47 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 1: trying to suppress the Black vote. So January sixth did 48 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:34,080 Speaker 1: not start it. It's part and parcel of what we 49 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 1: have done as a government in America. And unbeknownst to 50 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:41,320 Speaker 1: a lot of people, January six ain't no outlier unless 51 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:43,680 Speaker 1: you say the outlining and not telling the truth about 52 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: what's going on in American politics. 53 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,919 Speaker 2: I gotta ask, you know, what do you think about 54 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:50,519 Speaker 2: what's going on today with the race? Of course, the 55 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 2: stuff from the beginning. We haven't seen you in a while, right, 56 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:56,079 Speaker 2: So of course, Joe Biden, you know we've been up here. 57 00:02:56,639 --> 00:02:58,079 Speaker 2: I would think for like the last year and a half, 58 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 2: A says something's not right, he's not right. 59 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:00,920 Speaker 3: Uh. 60 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 2: They gave us a lot of flak for it. Then 61 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:04,520 Speaker 2: they came back and said, you're absolutely positively right. 62 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 4: I didn't just say you wasn't not right. I said 63 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:07,519 Speaker 4: he should step out of the race because I didn't 64 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 4: think he could win. 65 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 2: Him showed early signs of dementia. We thought they pushed 66 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:15,639 Speaker 2: him out. Kamala Harris, head new energy. What is your 67 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:17,119 Speaker 2: thoughts on the whole thing? 68 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 1: Let me probably a little look at it from my homie. 69 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: I know that white manner to the wheels fellow, I 70 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: didn't care. Just put weekend at Bernie's. Push him on 71 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: the damn you know, wheelchair, push him in the room, 72 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: because that was still acceptable over what we were facing. Now, 73 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:41,840 Speaker 1: there's no question that there were questions and concerns. You 74 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: all were on the front line raising those questions. Other 75 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: people were doing it more than nefariously behind the scenes, 76 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: ostensibly supporting, but all the time stabbing you with the knife. 77 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: Joe Biden I think could have still won. It would 78 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: have been much closer. It had been a much tighter 79 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,160 Speaker 1: race house. And ever, as James Brown would say, there 80 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: is no doubt that the shifting energy to Kamala Harris 81 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: is remarkable. Let's be real, it's got a surprise. Kamala Harris. 82 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: You ever done something you go like, damn, I ain't know. 83 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: I didn't know I was gonna come like that. Nobody 84 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: could have predicted it. You know what they were predicting 85 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:17,479 Speaker 1: White women ain't gonna stand up for that black woman 86 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:21,919 Speaker 1: because white women were voting disproportionately in their numbers for 87 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 1: Donald Trump the last time around. They didn't support Hillary 88 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 1: to the degree that they should have anyway. So what 89 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:31,039 Speaker 1: makes us think that they're gonna support this black woman 90 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: from California? Well, lo and behold they is and Republican 91 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: women are out there doing their things. I hope it's 92 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 1: a reverse Tom Bradley effect, you know, the Tom Bradley 93 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:44,240 Speaker 1: effect and named after the governor of California, which meant 94 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:46,039 Speaker 1: white people would say, oh, yes, we'll vote for the 95 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:48,560 Speaker 1: negro work I got to support him, and then going 96 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:50,599 Speaker 1: to booth and then boom, vote for the white guy. 97 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:53,600 Speaker 1: I think the reverse might happen this time around, that 98 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 1: white women might tell their husbands and other interested parties, yes, 99 00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 1: yes I'm a Trumper, and then going there and support 100 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: common Mala Harris. Why because she's reasonable, Why because she's intelligent, 101 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,719 Speaker 1: Why because she's self possessed, she's not off the hinge 102 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: as Trump is, and she continues to escalate a war 103 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:16,040 Speaker 1: against the lunacy that is Donald Trump. So it is astonishing, 104 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:20,360 Speaker 1: it's amazing. I've known Vice President Harris for some twenty 105 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: odd years. She's been a woman of integrity, she's been 106 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,320 Speaker 1: a woman of serious regard for the people, and she's 107 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:29,359 Speaker 1: been willing to take on some complicated stuff. I know 108 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:31,279 Speaker 1: a lot of people are trying to portray her as 109 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:33,919 Speaker 1: you know, tough on crime and so on and so forth. 110 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: You what amazes me about that black people be the 111 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:39,760 Speaker 1: first people called the police anyway, right, And I mean 112 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 1: you be there, like Mama, I told you that sandwich 113 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:45,400 Speaker 1: wasn't right. I'm calling the cops on you. So obviously 114 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 1: I'm being facetious, y'all. But the point is that does. 115 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 3: Some very progressive things. 116 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: She's done some very progressive bat that. But at the 117 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: same time, we act like people don't commit crime. We 118 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:58,880 Speaker 1: acting like the people who are calling the cops or 119 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: at least asking for crime, not this kind of antiquated, 120 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,920 Speaker 1: antediluvian assault upon the rights of black people. We ain't 121 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:09,000 Speaker 1: talking about that. We talking about you in the hood 122 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:12,600 Speaker 1: and I'm trying to live and you selling, you promoting, 123 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 1: you doing whatever that's undermining our communities. You know, when 124 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,159 Speaker 1: I was I think ros Baroka, the mayor of Newark, 125 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:21,960 Speaker 1: said some of that defund the police stuff was from 126 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:24,720 Speaker 1: bourgeoise negroes who don't live in these hoods now, whether 127 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:26,600 Speaker 1: you take that or not, because I'm for a progressive 128 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:30,680 Speaker 1: realization of police being held to account. As Tyreek Hill, 129 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:32,800 Speaker 1: I think he's with us now. The point is at 130 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: the same time that there are real concerns and issues 131 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:38,240 Speaker 1: of crime that she tried to address in very practical 132 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,640 Speaker 1: and progressive fashion, and we need to acknowledge that. But 133 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:45,200 Speaker 1: I think the energy with her is remarkable. It's astonishing, 134 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:48,720 Speaker 1: and more power to her. I hope she continues to 135 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:51,599 Speaker 1: grow in strength and numbers as we go on. 136 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:53,320 Speaker 4: Me too, you know, That's why I think your book 137 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:55,600 Speaker 4: is so timely, because you know, one thing that I've 138 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 4: been speaking about is why aren't more people calling out 139 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:01,719 Speaker 4: the Supreme Court and calling out for being an illegitimate institution, 140 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:04,160 Speaker 4: Because what I don't even know if our democracy right 141 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 4: now is healthy enough to have a free and fair 142 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,520 Speaker 4: election because of a lot of their recent rulings. And 143 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:11,040 Speaker 4: when you look at the fact that you know, you'll 144 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 4: have so many people across the country who might refuse 145 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:15,760 Speaker 4: to certify the result of the election right right. 146 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 3: That's why I think your book is very timed. 147 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 1: Thank you for that and I appreciate that that's a 148 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:25,440 Speaker 1: brilliant point, because, look, there's enough skepticism to go around anyway, 149 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: enough cynicism even to be generated in the aftermath of 150 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: what the Supreme Court has done. And for those who 151 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: say voting don't matter, just take the Supreme Court the 152 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:38,920 Speaker 1: issue you're talking about. Three justices were appointed by Donald Trump. 153 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 1: Three Now, remember when Obama was in office and Mitch McConnell, 154 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:47,440 Speaker 1: the great al face One himself, said that, no, we're 155 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: not gonna have an election. You know, we're not gonna 156 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 1: you know, it's too close to election. We're not gonna 157 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:55,680 Speaker 1: do this is ten months before we're gonna hold Merrit 158 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: Garland and let the next president decide. Donald Trump wins, 159 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: he gets in his people on what Gorsag, Kavanaugh and 160 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:09,920 Speaker 1: Amy Cony Barrett right, they have shifted profoundly to the right. 161 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:12,840 Speaker 1: A court that was meant, as you said, to be 162 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: a check and balance and democracy. You got the executive branch, 163 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:18,520 Speaker 1: the president and stuff. You got the legislative people in 164 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 1: Congress and the Senate, and you got the Supreme Court, 165 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:24,000 Speaker 1: and they're all supposed to be held in check. But 166 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:26,960 Speaker 1: when the Supreme Court is in cahoots with the President 167 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,240 Speaker 1: of the United States of America, who happens to be 168 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:36,320 Speaker 1: an anti democracy figure, who is inspiring an insurrection in America. 169 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:40,720 Speaker 1: The very avatar symbol of what's supposed to be democracy 170 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:48,480 Speaker 1: itself is himself purging you know, voters. More importantly, democracy 171 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:52,120 Speaker 1: by his own actions is astonishing. So it is a 172 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 1: question as to whether or not the Supreme Court should 173 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:58,960 Speaker 1: be reformed. Now, you know, President Biden put forth these rules, 174 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 1: you know, but they to regulate themselves. The you know, 175 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:05,000 Speaker 1: what did Malcolm X say? The chickens are being now 176 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 1: presided over by the foxes, So we can't you know, 177 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:11,439 Speaker 1: you know, Clarence Thomas, a white supremacist and black skin, 178 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:15,800 Speaker 1: a man who has been so unprincipled, and his wife 179 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:19,520 Speaker 1: and the wife of another Supreme Court Justice Alito, running 180 00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 1: your flag upside down, you are signifying to us that 181 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:26,040 Speaker 1: you are complicitus with the very forces that you should 182 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,559 Speaker 1: be opposing. So it is a problem. But I say, 183 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: the answer then is not less voting, but more because 184 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 1: if we change the constitution, not of the United States 185 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,600 Speaker 1: of America, but of the court of the voter, if 186 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:43,600 Speaker 1: we get a person in like Kamala Harris and Tim Wallas, 187 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 1: and they are able to restore some sense of integrity 188 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 1: and appreciation and confidence in our government that goes a 189 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:54,760 Speaker 1: long way towards trying to remedy some of these more 190 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:56,480 Speaker 1: systemic and structural problems. 191 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 2: How do you think we should hand do two things? 192 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:01,439 Speaker 1: AI? In all this fake news? Right? 193 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:05,040 Speaker 2: Because people really believe what they're seeing online, and although 194 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 2: you could hear it from the horse's mouth, people really 195 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:10,720 Speaker 2: believe it. So how do you think these politicians should 196 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:11,959 Speaker 2: handle a lot of the AI and a lot of 197 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 2: the fake news that's going on across the social media 198 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,679 Speaker 2: and even the news is reporting some of this fake news? 199 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: Of course, Look, AI is one of my favorite players 200 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:22,959 Speaker 1: of all time, so I support him whatever he is. Okay, Now, 201 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,480 Speaker 1: the other AI, right, because Allen ivers that I saw 202 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:27,400 Speaker 1: him for three years when I was a professor at 203 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: University of Pennsylvania, one of the coldest ever to do 204 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:32,280 Speaker 1: it in one of the brazses. I wish we had 205 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:36,280 Speaker 1: AI in that in terms of artificial intelligence, because it 206 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:39,720 Speaker 1: is it's tricky. We don't know what's real. The deep fakes, 207 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:42,200 Speaker 1: you know, people out here saying one thing and meaning 208 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:45,480 Speaker 1: another or lying about it even before AI think about it, 209 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: the robo calls that were being out put out here. 210 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:50,120 Speaker 1: You know, voting is on Wednesday. Now you know we 211 00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:53,240 Speaker 1: don't vote on Wednesday, next Saturday. To vote early to 212 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:56,520 Speaker 1: the you know souls to the polls and churches is problematic, 213 00:10:56,559 --> 00:10:58,280 Speaker 1: and so on and so forth. So you've got the 214 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:02,680 Speaker 1: distillation and the dial of all kinds of fake news 215 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:06,080 Speaker 1: and fake information, which is why behooves us to listen 216 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:09,640 Speaker 1: to the breakfast Club, why behooves us to read the 217 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:12,600 Speaker 1: New York Times, the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, whatever 218 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: your paper of choice is, and to make sure you 219 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:18,120 Speaker 1: can fact check, because if you've got again, and I 220 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:20,679 Speaker 1: hate to just beat this dead horse, but you've got 221 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:25,280 Speaker 1: a president who is the font of fake news, of defactualization, 222 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: a factfulness gone awry. This dude don't know a fact. 223 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 1: If it hit him in the head, he lies, and 224 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:33,760 Speaker 1: then he lies again, and people lie and lie again 225 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:36,520 Speaker 1: and create that as the basis of facts. Then you've 226 00:11:36,559 --> 00:11:40,920 Speaker 1: got Senators like Hawley and Congressmen like Jordan out here 227 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:45,520 Speaker 1: reinforcing the negativity that's generated by the falseness of it. 228 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 1: So you got misinformation, which is I didn't mean to 229 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:52,000 Speaker 1: get it wrong, but I messed up disinformation said, I 230 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:53,640 Speaker 1: meant to get it wrong, and I'm trying to lie 231 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 1: to you so I can convince you to do something 232 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:59,400 Speaker 1: that is against your best interests. So disinformation and misinformation 233 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:01,840 Speaker 1: are bet enough. So we got to continue to do 234 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:05,320 Speaker 1: the old fashioned way. Read it for yourself, find it 235 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:09,080 Speaker 1: in a newspaper, check it against facts of history. Begin 236 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:11,959 Speaker 1: to talk to people that you trust, talk to people 237 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:15,480 Speaker 1: who you know whose job it is to think about 238 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:19,160 Speaker 1: these things. And no disrespect to celebrities, but man, oh man, 239 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:21,800 Speaker 1: in our community especially, we're vulnerable. You know, you get 240 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:25,600 Speaker 1: a celebrity, gets mad, gets upset, talks about things. And 241 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:28,880 Speaker 1: I love my man Tyrese. He was just off base 242 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: when what he was saying. I love his energy, I 243 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:34,600 Speaker 1: love the sincerity with which he said it. I know 244 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:37,360 Speaker 1: his intent was right, but sometimes you could just be 245 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: spreading misinformation that ain't helpful to us as the people 246 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:43,280 Speaker 1: so read. And this is why I know the sound 247 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:45,880 Speaker 1: self serving as a black intellectual. But I'm sixty five 248 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:48,040 Speaker 1: years old. I've been out here on this battlefield for 249 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:51,080 Speaker 1: forty years, and I'm telling you I'm trying to make 250 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:53,080 Speaker 1: the life of the mind sexy. To young people. I 251 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:54,480 Speaker 1: want them to see you ain't just got to be 252 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:56,319 Speaker 1: a rapper, which is important. You ain't just got to 253 00:12:56,360 --> 00:12:58,079 Speaker 1: be an entertainer, which is great. You ain't got to 254 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:00,559 Speaker 1: be a singer, You ain't got to be an athlete. 255 00:13:00,559 --> 00:13:03,840 Speaker 1: You could be an intellectual, a thinker, a person who 256 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:06,680 Speaker 1: puts on every day a thinking cap and tries to 257 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 1: reflect upon the world. There's something virtuous about that, and 258 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: I'm unapologetic about that because I think we need more 259 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:16,840 Speaker 1: of that now in an era when disinformation ai, the 260 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:20,400 Speaker 1: creation of deep fakes, and the perpetuation of legacies of 261 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: inequity through means to dominate the masses has to be examined. 262 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:26,880 Speaker 1: So we got to go back to old school, think 263 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:30,880 Speaker 1: about Noam Chomsky and manufacturing consent, and think about these 264 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:34,080 Speaker 1: great books Marshall mclewin in terms of talking about the 265 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:36,560 Speaker 1: media and the medium is the message. That's the kind 266 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:38,520 Speaker 1: of stuff we got to think critically about as we 267 00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:39,000 Speaker 1: move forward. 268 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:41,480 Speaker 4: You know, then there's about what you said, brother Dyson. 269 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:44,920 Speaker 4: Most of your favorite entertainers are rappers that people like 270 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:47,800 Speaker 4: you like them because they're intellectual, right, whether you deem 271 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:50,800 Speaker 4: them an academic intellectual or not. Like you like Pak, 272 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 4: you like Killer Mike, you like jay Z, you like Nas, 273 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:54,479 Speaker 4: you scarface. 274 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:56,440 Speaker 3: These brothers are intellectuals, Lauren here. 275 00:13:56,960 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: You know, that's a great point, and that's why I 276 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:02,720 Speaker 1: did them. I've written books about half of them. Why 277 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:07,400 Speaker 1: because they're thoughtful. Pac. I mean, Pac was amazing on 278 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 1: that microphone. But boy, he's up here talking about American government. 279 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:16,120 Speaker 1: I mean at twenty two, twenty three, twenty four, the 280 00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:18,640 Speaker 1: son of a black panther, he said, I was literally 281 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:20,560 Speaker 1: born in jail because his mother was one of the 282 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:22,880 Speaker 1: panthers twenty one that were here in New York and 283 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 1: we're on trial. So from the very beginning, he was 284 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 1: trained about being skeptical and suspicious of the dominant society. 285 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 1: When you think about a Killer Mike, a Loupe Fiasco, 286 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:35,840 Speaker 1: you know people that I've talked to constantly. When you 287 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:37,880 Speaker 1: think about a Jay, when you think about a Nas. 288 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:43,960 Speaker 1: These are highly intellectual reflections and reflectors on society. And 289 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 1: we appeal to them precisely because they teach us to 290 00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:49,680 Speaker 1: think for ourselves and to be open minded. 291 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:51,720 Speaker 5: Great point, how do you feel about do you sepplies 292 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 5: as comments that he made about Kamala and people questioning 293 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:56,200 Speaker 5: her who applies all right? 294 00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 1: And his support you mean his support for her, Yeah. 295 00:14:59,080 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 3: It's support. 296 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:02,200 Speaker 5: But it caused a big conversation about how do you 297 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:04,560 Speaker 5: question your candidates? Should you question your candidates? Is she 298 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:06,400 Speaker 5: being questioned unfairly? And I know your book is all 299 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:09,320 Speaker 5: about like desires and voting equaling that. So how did 300 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 5: you feel about what he said? 301 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:13,880 Speaker 1: Rayborn? Well, I love plies. You know, prize is out 302 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:16,400 Speaker 1: there just raising the serious questions that need to be raised. 303 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 1: Another intellectually curious and insightful young man. And look, you 304 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:24,600 Speaker 1: got to question all these candidates. I love and support 305 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:27,160 Speaker 1: Kamala Harris. I've known her for over twenty years. I 306 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:28,960 Speaker 1: think she is the best woman for the job, made 307 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 1: the best woman win, That's what I think. However, you 308 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:34,800 Speaker 1: got to hold everybody to account. She knows that if 309 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 1: she's worth her salt, she's got to say, hold me 310 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:40,360 Speaker 1: to account. Y'all know this old story that a Philip 311 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:44,880 Speaker 1: Randolph and Mary MacLeod Bethune a visiting with Franklin Delano 312 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:48,600 Speaker 1: Roosevelt in the White House, right, and they were part 313 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:50,360 Speaker 1: of his kitchen and cabinet. This is like back in 314 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:53,440 Speaker 1: the forties, and they're telling him you got to do this. 315 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,080 Speaker 1: You got to create the possibility for black people to vote. 316 00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:58,600 Speaker 1: You've got to we have to do everything we can 317 00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 1: to make sure that the military is, you know, desegregated. 318 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,360 Speaker 1: He says, everything you were doing and saying I agree 319 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 1: with and now go out in the streets and make 320 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 1: me do it right. Harry Belafonte used to love telling 321 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:10,440 Speaker 1: that story. So the thing is, you got to make 322 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:13,680 Speaker 1: people hold them to account. Martin Luther King Junior on 323 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:19,520 Speaker 1: the outside putting pressure on LBJ allows LBJ to collar 324 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:21,280 Speaker 1: some of those people in the Senate and say, you're 325 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:23,400 Speaker 1: gonna vote the right way, and we're gonna do what 326 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 1: we kind of do to pass what the Voting Rights Ack. 327 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: But before that, the Civil Rights Bill, right, civil Rights Ack. 328 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:32,560 Speaker 1: And then look at the Holy Trinity sixty four, the 329 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:35,760 Speaker 1: Civil Rights Act, sixty five, the Voting Rights Ack, and 330 00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: in sixty eight, in homage the doctor King after his death, 331 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:42,240 Speaker 1: the Fair Housing Act. That's the Holy Trinity. That's the 332 00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:46,280 Speaker 1: triumphant trilogy of transformation for Black folk in this country, 333 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:49,680 Speaker 1: politically and legislatively. So you got to hold these people 334 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 1: to account. If it wasn't for the pressure of King, 335 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:55,400 Speaker 1: then LBJ wouldn't have done what he did, couldn't have 336 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: done what he did. If it wasn't for Frederick Douglas, 337 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:00,920 Speaker 1: then Lincoln might not have acted the way he did. 338 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:03,320 Speaker 1: And we ain't talking about perfect people. You know, when 339 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:05,960 Speaker 1: people always cite the history of some of these people, 340 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 1: Joe Biden or Lincoln, I don't give a dang what 341 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 1: Lincoln's motivation was. He signed the Emancipation Proclamation. And when 342 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:17,159 Speaker 1: he signed that Emancipation Proclamation, that opened up possibility. So 343 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:20,480 Speaker 1: we have to stop demanding perfection even as we hold 344 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:23,119 Speaker 1: people to account. And I think it is important to 345 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:25,960 Speaker 1: hold people to account. But what's interesting to me is 346 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:28,320 Speaker 1: that when I hear all that about holding to account, 347 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:31,600 Speaker 1: I ain't seeing nobody who's promoting Donald Trump saying let 348 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 1: me do it skeptically, let me be self critical about 349 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:38,040 Speaker 1: mister Trump. Yes, I think that in their quoting going 350 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:40,920 Speaker 1: back fifty years to find something about Joe Biden, this 351 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:43,840 Speaker 1: dude was promoting the death of the Central Park five 352 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:46,359 Speaker 1: now known as the Exonerated five not long ago, and 353 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:51,840 Speaker 1: ain't apologized yet or backtrack upon demanding the death penalty 354 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:54,359 Speaker 1: for them. Here's a guy who would his father denied 355 00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 1: people access to housing when he owned these cribs in 356 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:00,760 Speaker 1: these apartments in New York. Here's a guy who has 357 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:04,399 Speaker 1: been consistent. Now, I think rappers get it twisted because 358 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 1: he was an icon of hip hop before. Why because 359 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:11,880 Speaker 1: he had the women he had they talk, They thought 360 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:13,480 Speaker 1: he had the money. You can see he was lying. 361 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,040 Speaker 1: They thought he had the buildings and the money, and 362 00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:17,560 Speaker 1: he was a billionaire and all that. So that was 363 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:20,960 Speaker 1: attractive to a kind of glitzy hip hop era where 364 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:23,480 Speaker 1: it was all about the pursuit of capital. But Donald 365 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:25,960 Speaker 1: Trump was faking the funk even then. His daddy gave 366 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:29,280 Speaker 1: him four four hundred million to begin with. If your 367 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:32,080 Speaker 1: father gave you four hundred million to begin with as 368 00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:34,640 Speaker 1: a little loan to hook you up and you still 369 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:37,080 Speaker 1: struggling the way you're doing, you are of a failure. 370 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 1: So even at that level, they're problematic issues. I hear 371 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:43,040 Speaker 1: young rappers saying, but he gave us a check. No, 372 00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 1: they talking about during COVID the twelve hundred dollars or 373 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,000 Speaker 1: whatever they got two thousand check the record. That's the 374 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:53,639 Speaker 1: legislative branch, that is Congress stuff that he opposed, and 375 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:57,760 Speaker 1: then he took credit for distributing Joe Biden done hooked 376 00:18:57,800 --> 00:18:59,919 Speaker 1: up a lot of people in terms of student loan. 377 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,399 Speaker 1: I know three or four people have been forgiven one 378 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 1: hundred thousand or more. So the point is, check the record, 379 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 1: stop the disinformation, stop the misinformation, stop the deep fakes, 380 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,880 Speaker 1: and ask serious questions. You must always hold people to account, 381 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:16,119 Speaker 1: hold me to account, hold y'all to account. But do 382 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:18,679 Speaker 1: it in a in a in a I think respectful fashion. 383 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:21,120 Speaker 1: The thing that I have a problem with I'm I'm 384 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:24,560 Speaker 1: on Twitter or what it acts and people calling me 385 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:27,239 Speaker 1: out my name. You know, I'm trying to check as 386 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 1: the people I know undercover. Maybe it's my mother, Okay, no, 387 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:32,199 Speaker 1: it's not her. So the thing is is that you know, 388 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:35,159 Speaker 1: you can hold me to account, you can challenge me, 389 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:38,880 Speaker 1: but I'm twenty seven books in the game, mofo. I've 390 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:41,439 Speaker 1: done my work. It doesn't mean that you have to 391 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:43,439 Speaker 1: agree with what I say, but be respectful for what 392 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:46,800 Speaker 1: I do and acknowledge that. And so On Twitter, you know, 393 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 1: we have these Twitter you know, battles, and we got 394 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:52,680 Speaker 1: these digital warriors who are talking trash and being nasty 395 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:54,439 Speaker 1: and calling your names. Do we have to do that? 396 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,360 Speaker 1: Can we respect the integrity of each other and say 397 00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:00,719 Speaker 1: we're in a pitched battle where trying to figure out 398 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:02,680 Speaker 1: the best way to go, and let's treat each other 399 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:04,000 Speaker 1: with fundamental love and respect. 400 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:05,840 Speaker 2: Let's talk about the dim witted doappo ganger. 401 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,920 Speaker 1: Love that phrase. Wow, Yes, he is a dem witted 402 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: doppo ganger. Uh he is an autocratic in our guard. 403 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: We're talking about Donald Trump, a foolish fascist. For that matter, 404 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,880 Speaker 1: you talking about JD Vance But you know Jay, I mean, 405 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:25,160 Speaker 1: what's up a JD Right? First of all, you give 406 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:29,160 Speaker 1: an ivy league a bad name. Bro, you went to Yale. Uh, 407 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:32,080 Speaker 1: you got more reason to have high intelligence than that. 408 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:36,000 Speaker 1: Uh he is, he is in himself a dim witted 409 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:40,159 Speaker 1: dappo ganger of Donald Trump. Because you know better not 410 00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:44,080 Speaker 1: the the the erosion of JD. Vance over the last 411 00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:46,080 Speaker 1: three or four years. You know, not only are you 412 00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: being supported by Peter Till and you know your whole 413 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:53,439 Speaker 1: uh senatorial career is old to one guy uh in 414 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:57,520 Speaker 1: Silicon Valley who believes in you and your right wing agenda. 415 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:02,560 Speaker 1: And you're deeply and profoundly the nativest xenophobic belief and 416 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:06,280 Speaker 1: passion merrit as you are to an Indian woman in 417 00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:09,480 Speaker 1: America and initially you were saying, oh, yeah, she's not white. 418 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:14,360 Speaker 1: But why are you apologizing for your wife, bro, Because 419 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:19,720 Speaker 1: the side you're on is so racist that you have 420 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,760 Speaker 1: to then make an exception for the inclusion of your wife. 421 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:24,879 Speaker 1: That ought to tell you something. JD. Vance is a 422 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 1: despicable reflection of cow towing and capitulating to a foolish 423 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,359 Speaker 1: fascist like Donald Trump, and his ability to be an 424 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:38,320 Speaker 1: echo chamber as opposed to a critical voice is disparaiting. 425 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 1: But we are to call him for what he is, 426 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,200 Speaker 1: and he is joined with the enemy of the state. 427 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 1: He has joined with an enemy of democracy, and we 428 00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:46,359 Speaker 1: are to call him out for it. 429 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 4: You know, your book also points out how the Finding 430 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:52,280 Speaker 4: Fathers didn't want everybody to vote. Could you talk about 431 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:54,640 Speaker 4: who couldn't yeh at the beginning of the nation. 432 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm glad you said that, because people think, well, 433 00:21:56,880 --> 00:21:59,879 Speaker 1: they came here, they're trying to flee Great Britain. You know, 434 00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:05,119 Speaker 1: Taxation without representation Nah, sounds like DC, right, But the 435 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,680 Speaker 1: point is the Founding Fathers, like, we got to be 436 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,320 Speaker 1: real careful with that, because if you say everybody can vote, 437 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:13,439 Speaker 1: then them slaves can vote. Can't have that so we 438 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:15,480 Speaker 1: got to figure out a way to keep them out. Oh, 439 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:18,600 Speaker 1: we don't want the women running stuff. Got to figure 440 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:20,360 Speaker 1: out a way to keep them out. Oh, I get it. 441 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:22,960 Speaker 1: We'll say you have to be property owning. Now that 442 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: excludes a whole bunch of white people too, white men. 443 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:27,600 Speaker 1: But we can keep it elite. We can keep it 444 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 1: a nice little club that we control, because we don't 445 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:34,439 Speaker 1: want the unwashed masses to be able to determine and 446 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:38,080 Speaker 1: dictate what goes on in America. So initially, what did 447 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:40,440 Speaker 1: they do. They punted it. The federal government said, let's 448 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:43,679 Speaker 1: give it to the states. Right. Whoever is, you know 449 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:46,160 Speaker 1: in New Jersey, they can decide what they're doing. Who's 450 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:48,679 Speaker 1: in you know, Massachusetts, they can decide what they're doing. 451 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:50,560 Speaker 1: Who's in South Carolina, they can decide what they're doing. 452 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:52,560 Speaker 1: So they punted it to the states. And then you've 453 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 1: heard of this thing called states rights. Right. That was 454 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:57,320 Speaker 1: a big thing during the Civil rights movement at its height, 455 00:22:57,320 --> 00:22:59,639 Speaker 1: because they were saying, it's the state's rights. Forget the 456 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:02,120 Speaker 1: federal government telling us what we can and cannot do, 457 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:06,760 Speaker 1: imposing constraints upon us. You know, when George Wallace, the 458 00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:09,360 Speaker 1: governor of Alabama stood in the door and kept those 459 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: negroes from entering the University of Alabama. Forget the federal government, 460 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:16,399 Speaker 1: it's the state, and Alabama says they cannot come in. 461 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:19,440 Speaker 1: So that's what's set up by the federal government because 462 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:23,200 Speaker 1: they said the founding fithers, we don't want us dictating 463 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:25,520 Speaker 1: and determining what goes on in these states. For instance, 464 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,520 Speaker 1: in New Jersey, women could vote. Initially, right, that was 465 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:30,360 Speaker 1: the only state that allowed women to vote. They were 466 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:34,240 Speaker 1: first referring to they, which is not you know, neutral, 467 00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:37,040 Speaker 1: Then they said he or she, which is pretty progressive 468 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:40,640 Speaker 1: when you think about women voting. But then decades later 469 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:43,600 Speaker 1: they even rejected the possibility of women voting in Jersey. 470 00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:46,520 Speaker 1: In some states, black people could vote, then they couldn't vote. 471 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:50,359 Speaker 1: So there was a hodgepodge and a mismash mismash of 472 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:55,640 Speaker 1: you know, constitutional declarations independently of these states that allowed 473 00:23:55,680 --> 00:24:01,120 Speaker 1: them to have wildly varying degrees of support overall. In all, 474 00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:04,560 Speaker 1: the founding Fablers weren't the kind of you know, rich, 475 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:10,280 Speaker 1: richly supportive democrats, small d that were able to say 476 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:12,919 Speaker 1: we want everybody to be able to vote, and that 477 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:15,280 Speaker 1: kind of misunderstanding. It's just like when when I hear 478 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:18,240 Speaker 1: conservatives say, well, we're a Christian nation, No we ain't. 479 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 1: Bro South Africa is one of the rare ones that 480 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:24,200 Speaker 1: claims to be explicitly a Christian nation. You see how 481 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:26,560 Speaker 1: that turned out. So when they say this is a 482 00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 1: Christian nation, Thomas Jefferson ain't believing in the Bible the 483 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:34,560 Speaker 1: same way you do Ralph Reid or Jerry Folwell, it's 484 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,199 Speaker 1: a different Bible. The first thing Thomas Jefferson did when 485 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 1: he got the Bible he cut all the miracles out 486 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,280 Speaker 1: because he wanted to be empirical. He left Smokey Robinson though, 487 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 1: okay anyway, so not to not to not come on, man, 488 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:49,080 Speaker 1: come on with it. So he cut the miracles out. 489 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:53,119 Speaker 1: He wanted only things that could be empirically verifiable. So boom, 490 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:55,919 Speaker 1: that's gone. Y'all ain't believing in that. They were what 491 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,959 Speaker 1: they call mechanistic deists. That means God wound the world up, 492 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,160 Speaker 1: put it in order, and let it go on its own. 493 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,359 Speaker 1: So when Albert Einstein years later, when he's debating Werner 494 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:12,200 Speaker 1: Heisenberg and about you know, theories of physics, Einstein believed 495 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:15,120 Speaker 1: in the you know, that there's phenomena that you could 496 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:18,399 Speaker 1: specifically note where it is. Heisenberg said, now it's an 497 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 1: uncertainty principle. We don't quite know where it is. We're 498 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:23,960 Speaker 1: trying to figure it out. It's approximately here. I said God. 499 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:27,040 Speaker 1: Einstein said, God does not play dice with the universe. 500 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 1: So what he meant by God was you know, Einstein 501 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,080 Speaker 1: was an atheist. He meant the structure of the universe 502 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:34,959 Speaker 1: natural law. So I'm saying all that to say, when 503 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:37,439 Speaker 1: y'all be saying this is a Christian nation and has 504 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:40,879 Speaker 1: founded upon these principles, stop lying. Do your homework. It 505 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:43,679 Speaker 1: was far more complicated and nuanced than we believed, and 506 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:45,439 Speaker 1: they believed in the different kind of God than we 507 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,560 Speaker 1: believe in. Now, same with democracy. They were not for 508 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:52,520 Speaker 1: everybody participating. But the genius of those documents, the Declaration 509 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:55,560 Speaker 1: of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights is that 510 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:58,600 Speaker 1: we could take what they said and use it for 511 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 1: our advantage, because we could expand democracy to the parameters 512 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,240 Speaker 1: that they claimed to want to do but never did. 513 00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:07,640 Speaker 1: That's the beauty of our country. 514 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,240 Speaker 5: Speaking of everybody not participating, I know you were like 515 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:14,840 Speaker 5: a big proponent of Beyonce, and you know you saw 516 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:17,400 Speaker 5: what just recently happening, what happened with her in the CMAS. 517 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 5: And you know we don't I mean we don't. We 518 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,000 Speaker 5: participate in that arena, but we never get our just 519 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:21,920 Speaker 5: due ever there. 520 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:22,800 Speaker 3: Yes, ma'am. 521 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:24,920 Speaker 5: So her dad has come out and said, of course 522 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:27,879 Speaker 5: race played a factor, like that's the obvious conversation around it, 523 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 5: because Cowboy Carters. She had a huge year, right, she 524 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:32,760 Speaker 5: made history, did you know what I mean? So, what's 525 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:34,600 Speaker 5: your take on Beyonce and the CMAS? 526 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:38,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, come on, man, I mean, 527 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:41,840 Speaker 1: just in terms of the merits alone, forget the issues 528 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:43,960 Speaker 1: of race, gender, class. Just on the issue of the 529 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 1: merits alone. The album itself is a document of country music. 530 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:51,760 Speaker 1: Was beautiful, brilliant and powerful, and she stretched the parameters 531 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:53,919 Speaker 1: of it. She got Dolly Partner on there, giving her 532 00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:56,320 Speaker 1: a code sign. I mean, she did all the stuff 533 00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:58,960 Speaker 1: you was supposed to do. She wearing the cowboy boots, 534 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:02,280 Speaker 1: she got the cowboy hat. You know, she's hanging out. 535 00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 1: She Texas, hold them. I mean, she making the music 536 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: and she grew up in Houston, Texas. Y'all what y'all think? 537 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:11,320 Speaker 1: Of course, she loves country music. I grew up in Detroit. 538 00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:14,600 Speaker 1: My daddy was from George and mama from Alabama. We 539 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:19,719 Speaker 1: listened to country music. Hey, good looking, what you got cooking? 540 00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:24,200 Speaker 1: How's about cooking something up with me? Come on, man, 541 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:26,399 Speaker 1: I mean you know, I mean we would listening to 542 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:30,600 Speaker 1: that country music. Ray Charles putting it down. We're watching 543 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:34,639 Speaker 1: George Hamilton play, you know, the great, great country singer 544 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,720 Speaker 1: and who died in his early mid twenties. So the 545 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:42,399 Speaker 1: point is that we listened to country. We are country, 546 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:46,240 Speaker 1: We helped produce country. Country is like the white blues, 547 00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:49,600 Speaker 1: and blues is like the black country. So there were 548 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:54,040 Speaker 1: similar traits, musical styles, signatures, cadences and the like. So 549 00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:58,000 Speaker 1: Beyonce grew up with that ginguinely and now to be 550 00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:00,360 Speaker 1: denied that, how well else you gonna say, But it's 551 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:04,880 Speaker 1: a racial segregation of a marketplace that they are seeking 552 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:08,600 Speaker 1: to undermine, that they are seeking to open up, that 553 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:11,920 Speaker 1: they're seeking the challenge. And look, I live in Nashville, Tennessee. 554 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:14,240 Speaker 1: I love country music. I'm down with it. I go 555 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:20,280 Speaker 1: to the CMA's my very dear friend Mia McNeil, who 556 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:23,040 Speaker 1: I had the chance to a performer wedding ceremony A 557 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:27,359 Speaker 1: brilliant advocate for DEI in country music is there. So 558 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:30,119 Speaker 1: they're making strives. But this right here is a black 559 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:33,480 Speaker 1: mark pun intended on country music, and they ought to 560 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:37,480 Speaker 1: be ashamed of themselves for denying the very means by 561 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:40,600 Speaker 1: which they could become even more popular. Think about it. 562 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:44,440 Speaker 1: Michael Jackson had to argue for his music to be 563 00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:48,440 Speaker 1: played on MTV. Please, White establishment, allow me to save you. 564 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:51,440 Speaker 1: Allow me to come in and make videos that will 565 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:55,600 Speaker 1: revive your genre. And so at the same time, here 566 00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:59,000 Speaker 1: what we got to acknowledge is that Beyonce brought a 567 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 1: different audience to what's going on. Think about it. When 568 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 1: Taylor Swift is at the NFL, they're embracing it. Let's 569 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:09,840 Speaker 1: show Taylor every two point seven seconds with her boyfriend 570 00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:11,960 Speaker 1: and clapping and so on and so forth. So now 571 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,840 Speaker 1: Beyonce comes in, it's a different story. It's ball racism, 572 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:18,400 Speaker 1: it's bigotry. And Howard Thurmant said, the biggot is a 573 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:21,360 Speaker 1: person who makes an idol of his commitments. They've they've 574 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:23,840 Speaker 1: committed themselves to a narrow range of what is a 575 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:27,240 Speaker 1: popular and appropriate and I think it's shameful and they 576 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:30,160 Speaker 1: are to be called on it. For the racist that 577 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:32,240 Speaker 1: racism that that represents. 578 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:34,600 Speaker 4: And you know, I want to bought Vanderbilt. Got a 579 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:37,480 Speaker 4: salute Alice Randall. She wrote the book My Black Country. 580 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:41,160 Speaker 4: You know that talks to my homegirl from Detroit to 581 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:45,200 Speaker 4: my colleague, Music's past, present in future. Yes, black people's 582 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:46,440 Speaker 4: role in country music. 583 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:48,760 Speaker 1: Oh yes, I mean she is a brilliant She is 584 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:51,960 Speaker 1: the most brilliant exponent of black folk and country music. 585 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:57,000 Speaker 1: And that book is a remarkably terrifically eloquent exposition of 586 00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:58,880 Speaker 1: what we've been through, what we've gone through. She's a 587 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,640 Speaker 1: songwriter as well, and a tremendous, tremendous writer. So I 588 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:04,360 Speaker 1: would encourage all of y'all to read that book. 589 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:05,760 Speaker 4: We got a couple more questions for you, because I 590 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:08,320 Speaker 4: know we got somebody else coming in. But you wrote 591 00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:12,480 Speaker 4: a great article speaking of the vice president, Kamala Harris 592 00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:16,920 Speaker 4: and racial politics, and you compared commulated Drake at certain levels. 593 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:18,760 Speaker 4: What were you trying to say in that piece, because 594 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:21,120 Speaker 4: you know, we want people to vote for the vice president. 595 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:23,080 Speaker 3: I don't know comparing to the Drake right now is 596 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 3: the best way I watch people to do that. 597 00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:27,160 Speaker 5: I watched that. 598 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:31,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, go ahead, all right, we'll see. Here's my point, 599 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:33,960 Speaker 1: break it down my life. You know what, we have 600 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:38,520 Speaker 1: been in exile light skinned black people since Wesley Snipes 601 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:41,080 Speaker 1: stabbed Christopher Williams in New Jack Citty. 602 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:42,800 Speaker 4: It's been a rough I'm not going to die one 603 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:47,480 Speaker 4: of my favorite moments. 604 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:51,320 Speaker 1: We've been hurting ever since. We were depending upon Steph 605 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:53,840 Speaker 1: Curry and Drake to bring us back, and it's been 606 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:55,720 Speaker 1: a setback in one way. But here's the point. To 607 00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:58,400 Speaker 1: be serious. The song is one thing. Say what you 608 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:01,840 Speaker 1: will about they not like us, but as an argument, 609 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:06,480 Speaker 1: they not like us. Fifteen eighty two, twelve point five 610 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:12,480 Speaker 1: black people from Africa are dispersed across the North Atlantic, 611 00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:18,160 Speaker 1: and the North Atlantic slave trade begins, and most people 612 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:20,440 Speaker 1: did not come to what we now know is the 613 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:24,120 Speaker 1: United States of America. They went to Brazil, they went 614 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:28,720 Speaker 1: to may Cole, they went to the Caribbean, and less 615 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,280 Speaker 1: than four hundred thousand came here. Number one, Why is 616 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:35,080 Speaker 1: that important? Because when we're talking about who's black and 617 00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:37,280 Speaker 1: who's not, because you know, people debating me, we ain't 618 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:40,360 Speaker 1: telling you so stupid. Okay, you could say that, but 619 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,480 Speaker 1: I got my bona for days. You're so stupid. It's 620 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:46,280 Speaker 1: not about race and Drake, It's about culture. He's a 621 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:50,320 Speaker 1: culture vulture. Are you serious? Right now? What other black 622 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:52,680 Speaker 1: entertainer do you know has ever been called a culture 623 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:56,040 Speaker 1: vulture for experimenting in his own or her own music. 624 00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:59,640 Speaker 1: That's number one. Number two, Drake grew up in Toronto, 625 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:06,400 Speaker 1: adopting different musical persona was indigenous to that particular region. 626 00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:09,400 Speaker 1: Number two, Number three, A lot of black folk went 627 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:13,480 Speaker 1: to Canada when they were trying to escape the murderous 628 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:18,320 Speaker 1: privileges of whiteness in America where slaveocracy was established. So 629 00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:22,640 Speaker 1: when you say Drake is illegitimate or not genuine because 630 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:26,280 Speaker 1: he doesn't like a Black American culture or doesn't embrace it, 631 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:30,000 Speaker 1: blackness is bigger than what happens in the United States 632 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:32,719 Speaker 1: of America. Kamala Harris, what did they say, She's got 633 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:35,560 Speaker 1: a fake accent? Sound familiar, Drake with those fake accents? 634 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:37,920 Speaker 1: This is what artists do. What did Jay Z say, 635 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:42,240 Speaker 1: we're all actors? De Niro in training? What did Fat 636 00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:45,440 Speaker 1: Joe say? Ninety seven percent itself is made up? That's 637 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:48,040 Speaker 1: what artists do. We don't hold al pacino, Are you 638 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:51,040 Speaker 1: really a member of the mob. We don't do that too. 639 00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:53,560 Speaker 1: Maybe Frank Sinatra. We gave him an exception, but there 640 00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:55,600 Speaker 1: were many others who do this right. We don't say 641 00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:57,680 Speaker 1: you have to live the life you sing about in 642 00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,320 Speaker 1: your song, which is a great gospel song, beautif when 643 00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:02,760 Speaker 1: Mahela Jackson is singing it, not so much when you're 644 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:05,120 Speaker 1: trying to act like what's on that film as you 645 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:08,080 Speaker 1: or what's in that booth as you. We make stuff up. 646 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:10,880 Speaker 1: That's what art does. That's what fiction writers do. That's 647 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 1: what Tony Morrison does. Now. Tony Morrison's Beloved is based 648 00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:17,320 Speaker 1: upon a real story Margaret Garner, right, who killed her 649 00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:19,520 Speaker 1: own children and before I'll be a slave, I'll be 650 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:21,120 Speaker 1: buried in my grave and go home to my God 651 00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:23,320 Speaker 1: and be free, or kill my own kids. But she 652 00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:28,440 Speaker 1: fictionalized the expression of that idea. Why is it that 653 00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:31,280 Speaker 1: Drake becomes the avatar and symbol of what is not 654 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:35,080 Speaker 1: genuine in blackness when it's your narrow conception of blackness 655 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:38,040 Speaker 1: that prohibits him from flourishing in many ways? So I 656 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:40,360 Speaker 1: got big arguments with that. Kamala Harris. They said the 657 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:42,880 Speaker 1: same thing about Drake as her. You got a fake accent. 658 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:45,080 Speaker 1: You went to Canada to go to school. Jade Vance 659 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:47,240 Speaker 1: has been on her about that, and then that you 660 00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:49,800 Speaker 1: are not genuinely black in the way that other black 661 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:55,400 Speaker 1: people are. Blackness by definition is subversive. It undermines narrow categories. 662 00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:57,959 Speaker 1: I spent most of my career arguing against people who 663 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,800 Speaker 1: are trying to impose narrow constraints upon on blackness. We 664 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:03,480 Speaker 1: are as big as our imaginations allow us to be. 665 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,000 Speaker 1: And I think this is one of the sorry moments 666 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:09,839 Speaker 1: within hip hop and black culture where Drake becomes automatically 667 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:14,120 Speaker 1: uh the the representative of what is inauthentic, and Kamala 668 00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:16,239 Speaker 1: Harrison the same way, you ain't really black. She's not 669 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:18,880 Speaker 1: a real black woman. Even Donald Trump is trying to 670 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:21,239 Speaker 1: weigh in by saying she just turned black, like she 671 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:25,440 Speaker 1: had malaria or some of a disease and you know, leprosy, 672 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:28,200 Speaker 1: and that she became black. This is the kind of 673 00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:29,600 Speaker 1: ignorance that we've got to confront. 674 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:31,160 Speaker 2: I would love to hear you take I notice has 675 00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:32,920 Speaker 2: nothing to do with politics, but I love I love 676 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:35,640 Speaker 2: your thought process. The fact that Lil Wayne is not 677 00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:37,520 Speaker 2: performing a super Bowl in New. 678 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:41,560 Speaker 1: Orleans, go yeah, that's uh. Look, I love Lil Wayne. 679 00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:44,960 Speaker 1: I'd rather be underground pushing flowers than in the pigs 680 00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:48,680 Speaker 1: shared souths. I hear you, bro, Look, I mean those 681 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:51,839 Speaker 1: decisions are are complicated in the nuance. Right. First of all, 682 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:54,239 Speaker 1: we just now got used to the fact that hip 683 00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:57,960 Speaker 1: hop could even be part of the conversation. Thank you, 684 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:00,960 Speaker 1: I mean thank you Rock Nation, I mean jay Z. Now, 685 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:02,480 Speaker 1: now this ain't got nothing to do with that. But 686 00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:04,880 Speaker 1: I was about to preach that sermon you were talking about. 687 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:07,280 Speaker 1: A couple three weeks ago. I get a text, bring 688 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,280 Speaker 1: back the glasses. So I said, it was this text 689 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:12,279 Speaker 1: to be and he says, I guess people feel the 690 00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:14,840 Speaker 1: same way about my hair. Ha ha ha. So you 691 00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:19,319 Speaker 1: know I'm wearing them, Jay, what's I'm here right now? 692 00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:21,080 Speaker 1: Other people have been saying it too. Because I had 693 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:23,400 Speaker 1: cataract surgery, I didn't need glass anymore, but you know 694 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:25,279 Speaker 1: I was. Mike said, I didn't even know it was you. 695 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:26,680 Speaker 5: It's the look, it's a part of the look. 696 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:27,120 Speaker 3: It's the brand. 697 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:29,400 Speaker 1: See what I'm saying. So Jay, and then now you 698 00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:31,640 Speaker 1: I'll come and keep wearing the glass. So the point 699 00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:33,960 Speaker 1: is Jade knows what he's talking about. He understands what 700 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:36,719 Speaker 1: the deal is. So because of him, we even have 701 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:40,040 Speaker 1: an argument about whether it could be Wheezy or whether 702 00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:43,320 Speaker 1: it be you know, Kendrick and so on. I mean, look, 703 00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:46,680 Speaker 1: whoever the choice is, can't be bad. Hip hop is 704 00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:50,279 Speaker 1: being represented now. Should Little Wayne be acknowledged as a 705 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:53,520 Speaker 1: denizen of New Orleans as one of the greatest artists 706 00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:56,960 Speaker 1: we've ever produced? Absolutely, and who knows, maybe he'll bring 707 00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:00,160 Speaker 1: Little Wayne on. But I think again, our privilege which 708 00:36:00,239 --> 00:36:04,120 Speaker 1: creates a certain kind of opportunity here to argue about 709 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:06,600 Speaker 1: stuff that we didn't even have five years ago before 710 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:07,520 Speaker 1: got involved. 711 00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:08,479 Speaker 3: That's an incredible point. 712 00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:12,160 Speaker 1: Ain't nobody even had no conversation about hip hop and 713 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:15,160 Speaker 1: its presence? So I give grace and love to jay 714 00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:18,880 Speaker 1: Z and continue to support that movement because it's all 715 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:20,959 Speaker 1: good for all of us. Even though I'm a Drake 716 00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:23,719 Speaker 1: fan and I love Kendrick as well, I understand what 717 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:27,280 Speaker 1: that's about. But my defensive Drake doesn't mean I'm ignorant 718 00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:30,120 Speaker 1: to the broader dimensions of hip hop culture and what 719 00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:32,799 Speaker 1: jay Z is doing. And it's nothing short or remarkable 720 00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:33,680 Speaker 1: when you think about it. 721 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:40,839 Speaker 4: The final question, give people a case as to why 722 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:42,360 Speaker 4: they should go out and vote for this election. 723 00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:43,960 Speaker 3: Because everybody always says. 724 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:46,719 Speaker 4: Oh, this is the most consequential election of our lifetime. 725 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:49,960 Speaker 4: You know, if you know this election, this candidate is 726 00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:51,879 Speaker 4: the threat to democracy, which I believe Trump is. Yes, 727 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:54,960 Speaker 4: But but why should people go out there and vote 728 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:55,920 Speaker 4: in this election? 729 00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:58,280 Speaker 3: Why is this the most important election of our lifetime? 730 00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:00,239 Speaker 1: It is? And thank you for saying that. That's a great, 731 00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:03,440 Speaker 1: great point. It is because you know how they often 732 00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:06,600 Speaker 1: say democracy is on the ballot, But it is right 733 00:37:06,719 --> 00:37:11,080 Speaker 1: because the choice is pretty glaring. You've got a person 734 00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:16,960 Speaker 1: who has undermined the very nature of what democracy is about. 735 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:19,600 Speaker 1: If democracy is we define in this book as people 736 00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:22,520 Speaker 1: power and the ability of people to control and govern 737 00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:25,799 Speaker 1: the institutions that regulate their lives, to be able to 738 00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:29,880 Speaker 1: dictate the terms of their existence by full participation in 739 00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:35,080 Speaker 1: American democracy, then we have to conclude this man is 740 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:38,560 Speaker 1: a danger and a threat to American democracy. Now, he 741 00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:40,719 Speaker 1: tried to flip that by saying, this is why they 742 00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:44,920 Speaker 1: attempted to assassinate me, because they have demonized me and 743 00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:48,520 Speaker 1: painted me as a bete noir, as a horrible person 744 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:52,799 Speaker 1: for American democracy. But you are, sir, so I think 745 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:56,400 Speaker 1: it's right for us to acknowledge that in this election, 746 00:37:56,760 --> 00:37:59,440 Speaker 1: we are choosing between that on the one hand, and 747 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:02,560 Speaker 1: a woman who is the representative of all that is 748 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:05,759 Speaker 1: great and good about America as a black and black 749 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:08,360 Speaker 1: women alread running stuff. They might as well run the countries, right. 750 00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:10,880 Speaker 1: I mean, at the end of the day, without black women, 751 00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:13,719 Speaker 1: where would we be, right, I wouldn't be here. Most 752 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:15,719 Speaker 1: of us wouldn't be here without a black woman and 753 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:18,480 Speaker 1: a black woman not only in terms of physically, but 754 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:21,680 Speaker 1: in terms of the mental approach. When I go to 755 00:38:21,719 --> 00:38:24,759 Speaker 1: these places where they're supporting black men and how black 756 00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:26,920 Speaker 1: men have been this, it's black women leading away. It's 757 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:29,080 Speaker 1: black women saying, give our men a chance, give our 758 00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:31,520 Speaker 1: boys a chance. Black women are standing up for us 759 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:34,839 Speaker 1: in ways we don't stand up for them. Twenty years ago, 760 00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:36,759 Speaker 1: twenty one years ago, I wrote a book called Why 761 00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:39,160 Speaker 1: I Love Black Women. It wasn't no thing, it wasn't 762 00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:41,959 Speaker 1: no black girl magic, it wasn't no black boy joy. 763 00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:45,279 Speaker 1: I did it because I felt that it was necessary 764 00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:49,080 Speaker 1: to celebrate black women because they were being dissedant, dismissed. 765 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:51,160 Speaker 1: And look, you can choose who you want as a 766 00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:53,840 Speaker 1: life partner. If you and this microphone get along, I 767 00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:55,440 Speaker 1: get it. Hey, I like you I like you too. 768 00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:56,200 Speaker 3: Why do you like men? 769 00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:59,600 Speaker 1: Because you amplify me. You're long and black, and you're assertive. 770 00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:03,719 Speaker 1: I like that. Your brain is big, and I appreciate that. 771 00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:07,480 Speaker 1: So my point is, y'all get down with the microphone 772 00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:09,960 Speaker 1: and have micrats. I mean, go do your thing. My 773 00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:12,359 Speaker 1: point is you love who loves you. And I ain't 774 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:14,040 Speaker 1: mad at that. But at the end of the day, 775 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:19,439 Speaker 1: there is no reason to demonize and stigmatize black women 776 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:22,840 Speaker 1: for the very strength that they possess that is necessary 777 00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:25,919 Speaker 1: to push the race forward. We get mad when it's 778 00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:28,759 Speaker 1: expressed at home. And I think, and I know this 779 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:31,080 Speaker 1: is controversial. I think some of the black men who 780 00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:33,239 Speaker 1: are for Trump. Look, I know there are reasons for that, 781 00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:35,279 Speaker 1: and I don't diss them, but some of this is 782 00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:38,200 Speaker 1: straight up misogyny. Some of it is straight up patriarchy. 783 00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:40,880 Speaker 1: And what's ironic to me is that some black men 784 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:43,880 Speaker 1: who don't want a woman being a pastor of their church, 785 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:46,439 Speaker 1: and trust me, I preach in these churches might now 786 00:39:46,560 --> 00:39:49,720 Speaker 1: end up having a woman as president of the United 787 00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:53,480 Speaker 1: States of America. Ain't that God in a pan souit 788 00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:57,840 Speaker 1: in high heels, you know? And look, Barack Obama was 789 00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:02,880 Speaker 1: Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinon's great quality. He was a great ballplayer. 790 00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:06,600 Speaker 1: He had tremendous skill, but his greatest skill was his 791 00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:11,600 Speaker 1: ability to endure white supremacy and give it a licking 792 00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:14,319 Speaker 1: while he kept doing what he's doing, kept doing what 793 00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:16,440 Speaker 1: he was doing without being angry. 794 00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:18,160 Speaker 5: Or resentful to the point I wanted you to get 795 00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:18,799 Speaker 5: to go ahead, right. 796 00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:23,719 Speaker 1: I think Kamala Harris is Willy Mays. Willie Mays came 797 00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:27,479 Speaker 1: along a few years after Jackie Robinson, equally talented, really, 798 00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:31,280 Speaker 1: let's be real, far more talented, and had a joy 799 00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:34,000 Speaker 1: what they call a joa devive. He had a joyfulness 800 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:36,759 Speaker 1: about and a confidence. But that confidence that Willie Mays 801 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,160 Speaker 1: could express even though he was subject to the arbitrary 802 00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:42,080 Speaker 1: women caprice of white supremacy and segregation, but he was 803 00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:46,279 Speaker 1: freer because of the sacrifice of Jackie Robinson. So the 804 00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:49,719 Speaker 1: joy of Kamala Harris grows from the hope of Barack Obama. 805 00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:55,000 Speaker 1: Because Barack Obama had hope. Now Kamala Harris can have joy. 806 00:40:55,239 --> 00:40:57,560 Speaker 1: And she is Willie Mays in high heels and she's 807 00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:00,479 Speaker 1: stepping and I continue to support and love that woman 808 00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:02,600 Speaker 1: because she represents the best of who we. 809 00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:04,680 Speaker 3: Are, Michael Eric Dice, Ladies and gentlemen, that's right. 810 00:41:04,719 --> 00:41:07,720 Speaker 4: Represent the unfinished fight for the vote is available everywhere 811 00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:08,799 Speaker 4: you buy books right now. 812 00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:11,080 Speaker 3: That's right, and we appreciate you for joining us this morning. 813 00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:13,319 Speaker 1: Love y'all, keep doing the great work. That's right. It's 814 00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:14,120 Speaker 1: the Breakfast Club. 815 00:41:14,239 --> 00:41:15,160 Speaker 3: It's Michael Eric Dice. 816 00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:19,120 Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club.