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Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning.

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Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club Morning everybody. It's theej envyes hilarious, Charlamagne

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Speaker 2: the God. We are the Breakfast Club. Law La Ross

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Speaker 2: here as well. And we got a special guest in

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Speaker 2: the building. Yes, indeed, her new book, Flip the Tables,

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Speaker 2: is out right now we have Alynsia Johnson.

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Speaker 1: Welcome, Thank you. I'm glad to be here.

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Speaker 2: How you feeling.

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Speaker 1: I feel good.

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Speaker 3: Interesting to say that in the midst of everything going on,

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Speaker 3: but I feel good.

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Speaker 1: Taking care of myself and getting this message out.

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Speaker 4: We find enjoy what we can right right, we have

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Speaker 4: to you got to the Way to survivor.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely. I love the title of.

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Speaker 4: Your book because I think that, you know, people don't

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Speaker 4: ever expound on that part of Jesus enough.

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Speaker 1: You know what I mean, Crunk Jesus.

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Speaker 4: Yes, flip the tables that everyday disrupt this guide to

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Speaker 4: finding courage and making change break that title death.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I'm glad you mentioned that reference. I'm

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Speaker 3: a pastor's daughter. I love that story of Jesus. And

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Speaker 3: in all of my work, I've worked on a lot

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Speaker 3: of presidential campaigns, I've worked for a Planned Parenthood, people

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Speaker 3: constantly ask me, Oh, my goodness, how can I make change?

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Speaker 3: They think it has to be at this massive scale.

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Speaker 3: But what I realized is that when we find the

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Speaker 3: courage to really be ourselves and to live in our

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Speaker 3: truth and to speak up in rooms and do these

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Speaker 3: small acts of disruption every single day, it doesn't actually

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Speaker 3: require folks to quit their jobs and run for office.

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Speaker 1: So I don't think a lot of people should do that.

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Speaker 3: It doesn't require us to be like doctor King or

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Speaker 3: you know, having these massive platforms which are really important.

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Speaker 3: But there are things that folks can do every single day.

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Speaker 3: And I found that getting connected to your individual purpose

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Speaker 3: and having the courage to be who you are is

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Speaker 3: directly connected to being an everyday disruptor that propels our

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Speaker 3: communities forward. And I think it's kind of divine that

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Speaker 3: it's such a time as this that it came out

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Speaker 3: when I started writing this book five years ago, and

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Speaker 3: who knew that it would come out three months after

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Speaker 3: a few months after Donald Trump was elected again.

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Speaker 4: You worked on the VP's campaign, right, and did you

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Speaker 4: work with You worked with?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I worked on I worked by Obama's campaign, j

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Speaker 3: and Biden's campaign was with Born's campaign and Vice President

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Speaker 3: Harris Cane.

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Speaker 4: What bothers me is, I know people like you exist

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Speaker 4: in people like you work for these individuals. Why aren't

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Speaker 4: they disruptive enough? Why don't they flip tables? Why do

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Speaker 4: they keep Why do they don't?

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Speaker 1: Why don't why.

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Speaker 4: Don't they have the courage to disrupt the status?

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Speaker 2: Quote you all all of them?

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Speaker 3: Well, you know it's interesting because I don't. I don't

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Speaker 3: want to say I look at well, I don't think

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Speaker 3: I look at all of them.

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Speaker 1: In essence the same.

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Speaker 3: In democratic politics and politics in general, elected officials, I

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Speaker 3: think tend to follow a certain path, right, and sometimes

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Speaker 3: it seems as though making sure that the status quo remains.

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Speaker 3: I do think if we step back a little bit,

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Speaker 3: Barack Obama was a bit of a.

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Speaker 1: Disruptor because of him, because there's.

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Speaker 3: Identity, his identity, but and because he you know, folks

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Speaker 3: told him he shouldn't have ran, and he.

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Speaker 1: And he did.

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Speaker 3: Right now, there's a whole system at play that folks.

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Speaker 3: You know, when you become the president of the United

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Speaker 3: States or nominee for the President of the United States,

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Speaker 3: you know you uphold this party platform. But the reality is,

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Speaker 3: I don't look at them to disrupt what our country

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Speaker 3: needs politically, I actually look at us as the people

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Speaker 3: in the ground swell, which is why it's just as important. Yes,

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Speaker 3: I work for a lot of presidential campaigns, but it's

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Speaker 3: just as important to work for these local races, to

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Speaker 3: work for these primary races, to work for these governors races,

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Speaker 3: all these people who are actually trying to challenge the

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Speaker 3: system and get more reflective folks in position to actually

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Speaker 3: push forward the policies who care about, like universal health

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Speaker 3: care and you know, racial justice and access to abortion

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Speaker 3: and all those things. And so, you know, it takes

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Speaker 3: a lot of courage to shake the table, and it

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Speaker 3: takes a lot of courage to concede that if you're

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Speaker 3: going to shake the table, you actually might lose in

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Speaker 3: the short term, but you're going to create a path

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Speaker 3: for other people to you know, push forward that change,

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Speaker 3: and it will be a little bit easier because you

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Speaker 3: were there and you started something.

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Speaker 2: How did you get into politics? What got you into

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Speaker 2: politics in that part of the game, I think it.

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Speaker 3: Was always in me. I talk about my late grandmother

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Speaker 3: in the book often.

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Speaker 1: I actually dedicate the book to.

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Speaker 3: Her, Miss Ozella Bennett, and she was one of those

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Speaker 3: people who, much like a lot of our ancestors, their

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Speaker 3: names aren't in history books, but they were foot soldiers.

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Speaker 3: My grandmother was in the church. I'm the daughter pastor,

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Speaker 3: so I grew up in the Black Church, and there's

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Speaker 3: a lot of politics there right, a lot of social

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Speaker 3: justice there, and just this understanding that were much as given,

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Speaker 3: much as required, that my gifts are not my own,

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Speaker 3: and that they are actually on loan, and that I

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Speaker 3: actually have to get those out and help.

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Speaker 1: The world around me.

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Speaker 3: And my grandmother, no matter how much she had or

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Speaker 3: what she didn't have, she always felt like she had

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Speaker 3: to stand in the gap. And voting for me is

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Speaker 3: just all I mean. I would go to with my

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Speaker 3: parents who the voting blue that had that little sticker,

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Speaker 3: But that was just like one part of it. I

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Speaker 3: had to be an active participant in the world that

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Speaker 3: I wanted to create, and so for me, it was

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Speaker 3: just kind of natural that it would be a part

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Speaker 3: of my life. Now I got to my position I

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Speaker 3: talk about in the book. I didn't know anybody in

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Speaker 3: democratic politics when I moved to DC.

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Speaker 1: I was working a corporate job. I just had a dream.

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Speaker 1: I was like, Oh, this black man is president.

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Speaker 3: I think I kind of want to work for his

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Speaker 3: reelection campaign and figured out how to network with folks

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Speaker 3: and ended up taking a job that I wasn't even

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Speaker 3: qualified for, but they took a chance on me, and

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Speaker 3: I figured it out from there. And I can't just

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Speaker 3: sit on the sidelines and critique something and not be

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Speaker 3: a part of it. And I also understand how engaging.

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Speaker 3: If so many more of us engaged in the process,

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Speaker 3: the outcomes will look different, our communities will look different.

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Speaker 3: But for whatever reason, there are so many barriers for

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Speaker 3: us to engage. And that's another reason why I wanted

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Speaker 3: to be part of this, because I felt like, well,

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Speaker 3: if I can do this and people can identify with me,

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Speaker 3: maybe it won't feel as hard right for me to

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Speaker 3: engage in politics. Maybe, you know, I won't feel a

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Speaker 3: shame that I don't know every single term that they're

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Speaker 3: using or every single way that the policy is developed.

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Speaker 1: I'll be honest with you.

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Speaker 3: Sometimes when I have to go and see it MSNBC

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Speaker 3: and talk about something, I got a research what I'm

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Speaker 3: talking about. Because government class was in high school. I'm

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Speaker 3: thirty seven years I don't remember everything, and so if

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Speaker 3: I can't remember all these things right, if I have

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Speaker 3: to continue to inform myself, imagine all the other people

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Speaker 3: who are just scared to participate because they don't know.

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Speaker 3: It's not that they don't want to. And so I

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Speaker 3: know that I have to be a representative of that.

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Speaker 3: But I also again this calling where much as given,

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Speaker 3: much as required, and I'm required to make my communities better.

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Speaker 5: I think right now with politics and like how we're

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Speaker 5: seeing people get messages out through like TikTok and stuff

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Speaker 5: like that, things are changing. And I saw an interview

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Speaker 5: that you did where you talked about you weren't the

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Speaker 5: most qualified, but you were the most recommended when it

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Speaker 5: came to working for the Obamas. And then I saw

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Speaker 5: another interview where you talked about your red Flag is

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Speaker 5: You chapter in your book, brol And putting both of

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Speaker 5: those together, I think that there's like a renaissance of

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Speaker 5: like new political leaders, but they're afraid that they don't

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Speaker 5: know enough for it, that they can't challenge the Trumps

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Speaker 5: of the world, you know what I mean? So how

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Speaker 5: do you speak to those leaders that are coming up

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Speaker 5: in this book? Because they're there, they just need to

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Speaker 5: figure out how to do what you did.

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Speaker 3: No, they literally are there, which is why I start

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Speaker 3: the book with the disruption of self. Right, we actually

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Speaker 3: have to look in the mirror, and that's the hardest

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Speaker 3: thing to do.

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Speaker 1: One thing that I've realized in.

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Speaker 3: Working in advocacy spaces and political space.

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Speaker 1: I might controult for saying this.

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Speaker 3: But we're telling the world to treat us well and

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Speaker 3: to vote for us, to enact these policies that see

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Speaker 3: us as worthy for humanity and all of these things

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Speaker 3: and fighting for justice, and yet we're not treating each

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Speaker 3: other well right, And a lot of that is because

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Speaker 3: we are not healthy. We're not dealing with the things

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Speaker 3: that are holding us back from being who we are.

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Speaker 3: We're not dealing with this trauma, and we're doing this

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Speaker 3: interpersonal harm that is actually not allowing us to do

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Speaker 3: the work that needs to be done for communities. And

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Speaker 3: so I put that chapter the red Flag as You

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Speaker 3: and the Disruption of Self section of the book because

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Speaker 3: so many times we are like we are the ones

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Speaker 3: that are getting in our own way of our own destiny,

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Speaker 3: whether it is that professional pursuit, whether it's that personal pursuit.

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Speaker 3: I write, I tell a lot of business in my book,

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Speaker 3: and a lot of a lot of this was inspired

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Speaker 3: by a lot of relationships that were going the wrong way,

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Speaker 3: and I was like dating the same person, but none

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Speaker 3: of them know each other. Like, what's happening here. I'm

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Speaker 3: holding myself back from career opportunities. I'm holding myself back.

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Speaker 3: But yet I knew I had this big vision. And

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Speaker 3: so if we remove those barriers within our own selves

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Speaker 3: that are holding ourselves back, we would be so surprised

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Speaker 3: the change that we could have in the world around us. Right,

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Speaker 3: we would be so surprised at the doors that would

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Speaker 3: not just open, but the spaces that we create that

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Speaker 3: somebody else was waiting for us to create. So many

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Speaker 3: times people just sit on the sidelines to critique, but

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Speaker 3: they don't have the courage to actually try and put

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Speaker 3: themselves out there. And that's why, you know, the only

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Speaker 3: things stopping us. Sometimes, yes, there's the system, right, like,

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Speaker 3: there's all of that, and yet at the same time,

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Speaker 3: sometimes it's us getting in our own way.

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Speaker 1: I think it's us majority of the time, it is.

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Speaker 1: I really feel that way.

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Speaker 4: I feel like, you know, yes, we do know the

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Speaker 4: systems are there, but even just having that mentality right like, oh,

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Speaker 4: the system's going to stop me. The system's going to

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Speaker 4: stop me. You're already telling.

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Speaker 3: Yourself no, that's right, where you're already limiting yourself, right,

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Speaker 3: and multiple things can be true at the same time.

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Speaker 1: I say it all the time.

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Speaker 3: I have a friend who eights that I say that,

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Speaker 3: but I'm like, yes, the system's there, but like it's you,

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Speaker 3: you sitting over here. And I talk about this as well.

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Speaker 3: I talk about mental health health in the book. I

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Speaker 3: was diagnosed with OCD when I was fifteen, so I've

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Speaker 3: been in and out of therapy my whole life, and

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Speaker 3: at one point, actually in the process of writing this book,

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Speaker 3: which was really hard, i quit therapy because I was like,

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Speaker 3: I'm sitting here having the same conversation every Monday at

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Speaker 3: five pm, and I'm not doing the work because I'm

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Speaker 3: scared of facing myself. I'm not having that difficult conversation.

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Speaker 3: I'm sitting here theorizing it. Wie Brown just said that literally.

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Speaker 4: I mean that's something she's always told me, but literally,

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Speaker 4: she was just sitting there and said the exact same thing.

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Speaker 4: People are go to therapy for years for years, be

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Speaker 4: afraid to actually do the hard work on themselves.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's like, how do we as a society

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Speaker 3: get to a place that we are scared to sit

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Speaker 3: with ourselves. Part of how I got to this book

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Speaker 3: was a very successful career. I'm extremely blessed. I'm sitting

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Speaker 3: in this beautiful corner apartment. I got all the things

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Speaker 3: I bought, all the things I can travel, going on

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Speaker 3: all these places. I was sitting there and I was

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Speaker 3: crying because I was not happy. And I looked in

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Speaker 3: the mirror and I was like, what are you covering up?

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Speaker 3: And what are you running from? And what really hit

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Speaker 3: me was when I realized you're running from yourself, and like,

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Speaker 3: how sad is that that we run from ourselves? Like

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Speaker 3: we are something to be fearful of. And so I

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Speaker 3: had to change the relationship with myself. I had to

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Speaker 3: change the relationship with what success looked like, with what

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Speaker 3: relationships look like, and that you know, tension and confrontation

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Speaker 3: and disagreement and relationship doesn't mean the end of a relationship, right.

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Speaker 3: And that shifted my friendships, it shifted my professional relationships,

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Speaker 3: and it got me to this bold place of you

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Speaker 3: know what, I know what my purpose is. I know

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Speaker 3: that this is a means to an end, and if

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Speaker 3: this doesn't go, my way at least I've tried. Didn't

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Speaker 3: you like that? You saw? Like?

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Speaker 2: What were you running from?

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Speaker 3: Particularly and myself, one of the things is how hard

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Speaker 3: I am on myself. I'm a virgo in four houses

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Speaker 3: and clearly high achieving person, and I was just so

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Speaker 3: hard on birthday September third, very close to be on birthday,

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Speaker 3: did okay?

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Speaker 1: So you feel me?

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Speaker 3: And I got to a place where I was judging

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Speaker 3: myself so hard, judging myself for I don't even want

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Speaker 3: to say mistakes but learning opportunities, judging myself for outcomes

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Speaker 3: that did or did not happen. And I had someone

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Speaker 3: say to me. They said, if people around you that

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Speaker 3: you love heard how hard you are on yourself, how

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Speaker 3: are they going to feel you're going to be with them?

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Speaker 1: I was like, oh.

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Speaker 3: Wow, and like to to really kind of beat myself

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Speaker 3: down with you should have done this right, You could

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Speaker 3: have done X, Y and Z. Now I'm working to

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Speaker 3: take should out of my vocabulary and embracing things as

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Speaker 3: you know, a learning opportunity.

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Speaker 1: And I also as a person.

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Speaker 3: Of deep faith, I talk about grace, and we talk

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Speaker 3: about God's grace, and we talk about giving other people grace.

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Speaker 3: But I had to learn to give myself that that

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Speaker 3: grace as well, and like let go of that pressure

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Speaker 3: to feel or strive for perfection, because what really is perfection?

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Speaker 1: Right?

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Speaker 3: And what is actually the goal? Because there is like

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Speaker 3: the goalpost will move every single time, and how do

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Speaker 3: you just become content with just being? I also realize

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Speaker 3: that I didn't again in therapy, knowing all the language,

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Speaker 3: I didn't like to sit with my feelings. Oh no,

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Speaker 3: I'm angry. I don't want to sit with that uncomfortable feeling.

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Speaker 3: I'm going to go move on to something else. And

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Speaker 3: then something that black women tend to do is instead

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Speaker 3: of sitting with our feelings or whatever it may be,

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Speaker 3: we go get another degree, we go get another professional pursuit.

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Speaker 5: We was just talking with that in my group, probably

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Speaker 5: like a week ago, about how like now, at this age,

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Speaker 5: we begin to realize that the overachieving isn't like us

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Speaker 5: a need to achieve. It's kind of like an escapism

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Speaker 5: type of thing or gramma response yeah, or even you

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Speaker 5: just instantly were even like a breakup, a breakup, aspire

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Speaker 5: as a new business or like a you know something

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Speaker 5: like that.

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Speaker 3: It does and you know those things are beautiful, right,

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Speaker 3: you know what is birth out of pain can be

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Speaker 3: very beautiful. I talk about that too, But I also

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Speaker 3: talk about when I was in therapy, this conversation black

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Speaker 3: woman therapist and I had and she wanted me to

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Speaker 3: answer the question of who are you? And she asked

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Speaker 3: me that question and I said, oh, okay, I'm about

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Speaker 3: to like rattle off my resume. She said, no, who

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Speaker 3: are you? Unattached to your professional accolades?

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Speaker 1: And you started crying? I sure did.

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Speaker 5: I was like, that's a hard question to answered, girl, And.

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Speaker 3: We still like forty five minutes left, so I couldn't

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Speaker 3: really hang up those twohundred dollars.

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Speaker 1: Like I'm said there looking at her, she's looking at me.

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Speaker 1: We both look at each.

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Speaker 3: Other like She's like, sys, how are you gonna answer

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Speaker 3: that question? And what I found is that the answer

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Speaker 3: is ever evolving. And it was that search for myself right,

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Speaker 3: and I wanted to drag everybody else with us, So

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Speaker 3: I tweeted that question and it went viral and that

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Speaker 3: was the whole chapter in the book. But you know,

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Speaker 3: I go back to that question of who am I?

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Speaker 3: Like when I'm anxious, when I'm feeling like, oh, I

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Speaker 3: got to strive for something else.

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Speaker 1: No, I've done enough. But who am I? I'm curious.

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Speaker 3: I'm a lover, I fight for people. I love people, right,

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Speaker 3: I'm actually not this person who's teflon don who doesn't

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Speaker 3: need intimate relationship in all forms?

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Speaker 1: Right? Like, who am I? And let me sit in

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Speaker 1: all of that? And that is enough.

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Speaker 5: You're not in therapy anywhere, you said when you were.

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Speaker 3: So, And I'm not discouraging people from therapy at all.

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Speaker 3: I think for me right now, in this period of life,

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Speaker 3: I'm just taking a break, and I think mental health

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Speaker 3: care is extremely important. Again, I mentioned I was diagnosed

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Speaker 3: with OCD when I was fifteen years old. So I've

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Speaker 3: been in and out over half of my majority of

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Speaker 3: my life at this point. And there are times when

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Speaker 3: I need extra support. There are times when I need

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Speaker 3: an antidepressant. There are times when I actually do need

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Speaker 3: to sit on that couch every single week, and then

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Speaker 3: there are times when okay, I'm going through the same

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Speaker 3: motions again. Now when am I going to do the work?

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Speaker 3: And so I think people need to look at it

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Speaker 3: as a support system. It's like working out in a gym.

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Speaker 3: Sometimes I feel like I need a trainer, even though

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Speaker 3: I've been athletic my whole life. Sometimes I need a trainer,

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Speaker 3: sometimes I can do it on my own, and vice versa.

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Speaker 3: And so it's a matter of tapping into your power

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Speaker 3: and your needs at the city at the time that

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Speaker 3: makes sense for you.

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Speaker 4: So glad that you and dev were doing a conversation

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Speaker 4: this week conversation books.

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Speaker 3: We're going to do it at some point. It's not public,

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Speaker 3: but I'm.

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Speaker 4: Sorry because literally she was just here and a lot

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Speaker 4: of her new book, Living and Wisdom.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Well, and you know, here's the thing I shared with

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Speaker 3: her too. I'm based in the DC area, and I

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Speaker 3: moved back to the DC area not for politics, but

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Speaker 3: to be close to my family. And it's so interesting

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Speaker 3: because friends and politics are like you not at this event.

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Speaker 3: It's like, nah, I'm hanging out my family and my

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Speaker 3: friends and my loved ones. But I said to Debbie

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Speaker 3: one time that that area needs so much healing so

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Speaker 3: that folks get off of this hamster wheel of chasing

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Speaker 3: what's next, of what's what is deemed you know, important

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Speaker 3: to society, and really getting into ourselves. And you know,

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Speaker 3: I'm actually excited for her book too. I feel like

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Speaker 3: all these books are like now all these black women's

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Speaker 3: stories are coming out to like build upon one another.

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Speaker 4: Well, you need them now more than ever, especially being

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Speaker 4: that you know they're trying to take anything Black history literally.

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Speaker 1: Literally.

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Speaker 3: There's a chapter in the book and so it's in

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Speaker 3: three parts. Disruption of self that's the hard part, disruption

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Speaker 3: of vision and you know, especially for like black folks

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Speaker 3: and black women. The first chapter in Disruption of Vision,

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Speaker 3: Goodbye to the Boss Them. That's a good one because

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Speaker 3: it talks about rest. It talks about disrupting this notion

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Speaker 3: that we are only supposed to labor and give birth

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Speaker 3: to labor, like there is so much more to us

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Speaker 3: as Black women, and how we deserve the rest and

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Speaker 3: all those things.

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Speaker 1: And then disruption of.

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Speaker 3: Community and right now we need to radically change how

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Speaker 3: we think about community and build community. But it really

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Speaker 3: starts with that imperative healing. And in Disruption of Community,

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Speaker 3: there's a chapter of storytelling. And I think folks look

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Speaker 3: at storytelling they think of Ava Duverne and Ryan Cookler

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Speaker 3: who are doing amazing work and preserving our history through

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Speaker 3: artistic expression. But individual storyteller is extremely powerful and I've

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Speaker 3: seen it even in my own life. But I've seen

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Speaker 3: how individual storytelling shifts families and friendships, and then that

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Speaker 3: expands your capacity for understanding of one another. And then

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Speaker 3: so one person becomes ten people and then all of

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Speaker 3: a sudden, you're understanding a complicated issue in a way

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Speaker 3: that's very personal to you. Right, And so storytelling is.

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Speaker 3: If it wasn't so powerful, there wouldn't be all these

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Speaker 3: attacks on our institutions and our history. And I actually

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Speaker 3: think everybody, whether or not you're putting a book out

401
00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:33,120
Speaker 3: there or not, figure out a way to preserve your story.

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Speaker 1: I was a mobile Alabama. I went to the.

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Speaker 3: I believe the Heritage Museum where the Cltilda is and

404
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Speaker 3: or the remnants of that slave ship, and just going

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Speaker 3: through the It's a very small museum, but just going

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Speaker 3: through it, and they're talking about how zor Neil Heerson

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Speaker 3: had captured some oral history, and I'm just thinking about, Wow,

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Speaker 3: so powerful for her to capture that in the nineteen

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Speaker 3: twenties for us to be reading about it right now.

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Speaker 3: And if we think about so much history as passed

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Speaker 3: down through these oral traditions, what would happen if we

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Speaker 3: can literally preserve them in a written way, digital way

413
00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:09,800
Speaker 3: like we have so many opportunities to preserve our history,

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Speaker 3: to pass down to the next generations.

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Speaker 2: I was going to ask you talked about when you

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Speaker 2: came in. You talk about relationships and you talk about

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Speaker 2: friends and how you have to see things in yourself.

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Speaker 2: Was it the fact that you expected too much of people?

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Speaker 1: And how did you get over that?

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Speaker 2: Like, you know, because you talk about you wanted somebody

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Speaker 2: to do things the way that you did it or

422
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Speaker 2: quote unquote as close to perfect as possible, how did

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Speaker 2: you get over that with relationships and with coworkers.

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Speaker 3: Well, again, facing the mirror of myself, I was like, girl,

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Speaker 3: you don't like yourself every day, and you also disappoint

426
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Speaker 3: yourself every day, and so how are you, you know,

427
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Speaker 3: holding yourself to this impossible standard, but also holding all

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Speaker 3: these other people to that, you know, those unpossible standards

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Speaker 3: as well. And so I got to this place of

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Speaker 3: separating standards and expectations of people and myself. I have

431
00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:02,760
Speaker 3: high standards, but I've lowered my expectations of people in essence,

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Speaker 3: and that like we will disappoint one another, we will

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Speaker 3: get in partnership whatever it may be, and we're not

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Speaker 3: going to to your point, do things the same way

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Speaker 3: that I would do them. I thought about this when

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Speaker 3: I started, so I'm an entrepreneur and hiring people, I'm like, okay, let'sia.

437
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Speaker 3: Does the thing need to get done the same way

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Speaker 3: you would do it or they just need to get

439
00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:25,360
Speaker 3: done And sometimes it just needs to get done.

440
00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:26,119
Speaker 1: And then I think.

441
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:28,719
Speaker 3: About as I've been really on this journey of looking

442
00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:31,879
Speaker 3: at again all relationships in my life and friendships especially.

443
00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:35,920
Speaker 3: You know, we talk about love languages with intimate relationships,

444
00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:38,359
Speaker 3: but sometimes we don't think about that and how that

445
00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:43,920
Speaker 3: you know what that means for our our friendships. We

446
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:46,640
Speaker 3: are always talking about, you know, how people how our partner,

447
00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:48,920
Speaker 3: intimate partners should love us or show up for us

448
00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:50,960
Speaker 3: and teaching them our love language. But the same with

449
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:54,320
Speaker 3: our friendships, right, because a friend can be supporting you

450
00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:57,200
Speaker 3: and the way that they feel is like big supporting.

451
00:19:57,280 --> 00:19:59,560
Speaker 3: You're thinking, oh no, I wanted you to like roll

452
00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:01,120
Speaker 3: out the red carpet over here, and they're like, why

453
00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:04,240
Speaker 3: cook you a meal? And we're missing each other, right,

454
00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,240
Speaker 3: And so I had to really, what do you mean?

455
00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:09,080
Speaker 4: Because because like, don't tell me how to show up

456
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:11,800
Speaker 4: for you. If I did me like, you know what

457
00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:14,280
Speaker 4: I mean and if they say this the thought that

458
00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:15,000
Speaker 4: counts right, but.

459
00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:16,280
Speaker 1: Then it's not right.

460
00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:19,480
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, but I think it also requires communication.

461
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:20,200
Speaker 1: Right.

462
00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:22,000
Speaker 3: One of the things that I realized was a red

463
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,080
Speaker 3: flag of me is running from difficult conversation and when

464
00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:28,680
Speaker 3: it comes to interpersonal relationships. But if you have that

465
00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:31,879
Speaker 3: conversation with one another, if you can quiet out the

466
00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:35,000
Speaker 3: noise and actually be present in the relationship, you'll realize, oh,

467
00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:38,080
Speaker 3: your love language is different than my love language. But

468
00:20:38,119 --> 00:20:40,359
Speaker 3: that doesn't mean we don't love each other. That doesn't

469
00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:42,919
Speaker 3: mean we don't care for each other. And also, you

470
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:44,919
Speaker 3: may not have the capacity to show up for me

471
00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:46,720
Speaker 3: in this moment, and it has nothing to do with

472
00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:49,480
Speaker 3: you not wanting to be there. You got all these

473
00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:51,959
Speaker 3: other things going on. The amount of calls I've had

474
00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:53,560
Speaker 3: to make. Now the book has come out and it's

475
00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:54,920
Speaker 3: been out, and we went through the book tour and

476
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:56,480
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, yeah, my bad friend of really not

477
00:20:56,520 --> 00:20:58,280
Speaker 3: being there for like six seven months, But thank you

478
00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:01,280
Speaker 3: for being my friend and showing up in the ways

479
00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:03,919
Speaker 3: that you could and understanding. But I didn't have the capacity.

480
00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:07,920
Speaker 3: But it takes intentional communication, and it takes something.

481
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:08,800
Speaker 1: That I don't know.

482
00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:10,119
Speaker 3: If you struggle with this, But as a virgal, I

483
00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:13,080
Speaker 3: struggle with this, being really, really, really vulnerable about what

484
00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:13,600
Speaker 3: you need.

485
00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:16,240
Speaker 2: And I used to struggle. I don't struggle with it anymore.

486
00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:18,840
Speaker 2: I'm vulnerable so much I don't even it doesn't even

487
00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:21,800
Speaker 2: bother me. The big problem I had was is people

488
00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:23,879
Speaker 2: showing up for you. That was my thing, and in

489
00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:26,520
Speaker 2: what Charlamage said, I would show up for everybody. But

490
00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:27,919
Speaker 2: then when it was time for people to show up

491
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:29,720
Speaker 2: for me, a lot of times they didn't, and it

492
00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:31,919
Speaker 2: would bother the shit out of me. And then I

493
00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:35,280
Speaker 2: had to realize that everybody's not the same. That's just

494
00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:38,080
Speaker 2: because you do see's something a certain way, that doesn't

495
00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:40,159
Speaker 2: mean necessarily Charlomagne is gonna do it, Lauren's gonna do

496
00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:41,879
Speaker 2: it the same way. And once I let that go,

497
00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:45,440
Speaker 2: I really don't. It just doesn't affect me the same anymore.

498
00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:49,520
Speaker 3: And that's beautiful, and it reminds me of I'm a delta,

499
00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:52,440
Speaker 3: a pledge on college, and my line name is reciprocity

500
00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:54,480
Speaker 3: and my are.

501
00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:56,320
Speaker 1: You supposed to say that? Probably you can say.

502
00:21:58,760 --> 00:21:58,840
Speaker 3: So.

503
00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:06,720
Speaker 1: I'm disclosed, but everything else we are we are. Trust me.

504
00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:08,439
Speaker 3: We trained to know what secret was that. But so

505
00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:11,680
Speaker 3: my line name's reciprocity. And my big sister who gave

506
00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:14,520
Speaker 3: me that line name, she knew. I was like, reciprocity,

507
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:17,280
Speaker 3: like the word out of that Lauren Hill song, right, Like,

508
00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:19,399
Speaker 3: what are you talking about? And she's like, no, you

509
00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:22,440
Speaker 3: give give, gives so much, and you expect for people

510
00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:24,520
Speaker 3: to show up the same way that you do. And

511
00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:26,960
Speaker 3: she's like, that is a struggle of yours and it's

512
00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:29,520
Speaker 3: going to continue to be a struggle of yours. And

513
00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:31,560
Speaker 3: she was right, it's this thing that we're talking about.

514
00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:34,400
Speaker 3: And again, it wasn't until later in life, this point

515
00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:37,600
Speaker 3: in life that I'm in right now, to like remove

516
00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:40,439
Speaker 3: kind of those expectations of people and just like let

517
00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:43,800
Speaker 3: us exist and love one another, because I've even found too.

518
00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:47,040
Speaker 3: There's a chapter in here called the trailblazer conundrum and

519
00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:50,720
Speaker 3: talks about not isolating yourself even though you're blazing trails.

520
00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:53,240
Speaker 3: There are so many people in our lives who want

521
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:55,879
Speaker 3: to show up for us, who don't even know how to.

522
00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:59,160
Speaker 3: They may not have the I don't know, the business

523
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:02,160
Speaker 3: acumen to help us with something, the money, the resources,

524
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:05,280
Speaker 3: but in their small ways it's actually really important, and

525
00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,760
Speaker 3: so giving people the opportunity to show up for you

526
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,000
Speaker 3: in the way that makes sense for them is very

527
00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:10,680
Speaker 3: powerful too.

528
00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:12,879
Speaker 4: You know, I want to talk to you about the

529
00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:15,680
Speaker 4: urgency in now chapter and the disruption of community, because

530
00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:17,960
Speaker 4: that is what people always get mad about when it

531
00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:21,560
Speaker 4: comes to Democrats, their lack of urgency. They don't have

532
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:24,119
Speaker 4: a sense of urgency. I would I would go so

533
00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:27,080
Speaker 4: far as to say, their lack of urgency is what has.

534
00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:30,399
Speaker 1: Us in this situation right now. I would agree with that.

535
00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:32,880
Speaker 1: I would agree with that.

536
00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:37,520
Speaker 3: Well, I would agree with that and the decision makers

537
00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:39,919
Speaker 3: and the power because I don't want to embrase some

538
00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:42,480
Speaker 3: people that I talked about in the book and who

539
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:46,080
Speaker 3: wrote a beautiful endorsement for the book, Congressoman Ayana Presley

540
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,040
Speaker 3: Love someone who was like, I'm bucking the system and

541
00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:49,959
Speaker 3: I'm going to challenge this and comvent.

542
00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:51,080
Speaker 1: And there are a lot of those.

543
00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:53,520
Speaker 3: I mean, you've you've seen AOC you see, there's so

544
00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:56,760
Speaker 3: many folks. There are state representatives who do that as well.

545
00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:02,639
Speaker 3: This whole no of decorum and order it has it

546
00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:06,880
Speaker 3: is the reason we are where we are, and this

547
00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:10,639
Speaker 3: is the time to be honest for the new wave

548
00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:13,639
Speaker 3: and the new thought that is coming in the party

549
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:15,840
Speaker 3: that and some of which is in the party to

550
00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:17,200
Speaker 3: challenge the status quo.

551
00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:20,240
Speaker 4: How do we know it's not too late? Wow, they're

552
00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:23,840
Speaker 4: already talking about doing a third term. I know, once

553
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:25,240
Speaker 4: we get to that part of the conversation and it

554
00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:27,440
Speaker 4: is normalized, maybe too late.

555
00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:29,879
Speaker 3: So if it's but if it's if we have that

556
00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:31,760
Speaker 3: mentality that's too late, then people are going to be

557
00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:33,320
Speaker 3: sitting there not doing anything at all.

558
00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:35,520
Speaker 5: Is it too right, it's too late, or is it

559
00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:37,440
Speaker 5: just not loud enough because all the people you named

560
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:39,280
Speaker 5: is like you can point to those people, but like

561
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:41,119
Speaker 5: there is like that's a handful of people.

562
00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:43,080
Speaker 3: It is a handful of people, but they're also so

563
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:45,679
Speaker 3: I mean, here's the thing. You all are media. You know,

564
00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:48,480
Speaker 3: I'm on cable news. I will be on a show

565
00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:50,040
Speaker 3: and for an hour, all we're doing is talking about

566
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:52,320
Speaker 3: Donald Trump. And I'm like, there's over four hundred members

567
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,120
Speaker 3: in the House of Representatives, there's one hundred senators, there's

568
00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:58,080
Speaker 3: fifty governors. There's so many other people that we can

569
00:24:58,119 --> 00:24:58,879
Speaker 3: talk about, which is.

570
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:00,720
Speaker 1: They don't bring them numbers.

571
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,120
Speaker 3: They don't bring those numbers, and they don't bring those ratings.

572
00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:05,960
Speaker 3: And that is the self accountability on us to be

573
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,800
Speaker 3: paying attention to a lot of those people. The other

574
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,520
Speaker 3: thing that I'm so much more focused on, and some

575
00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:14,959
Speaker 3: of my journalists friends and I get into this disagreement.

576
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,520
Speaker 3: I don't really talk to people who voted for Donald Trump,

577
00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:19,680
Speaker 3: like that's not I don't need to talk to them,

578
00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,520
Speaker 3: because if we look at the last election, ninety million

579
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:26,119
Speaker 3: eligible voters did not vote. That's a whole lot of

580
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:29,800
Speaker 3: people that we can reach to understand that they actually

581
00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,560
Speaker 3: have power to change the system. In the book, I

582
00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:36,000
Speaker 3: talk about the labor movement and how unions are incredibly

583
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:39,600
Speaker 3: empower incredibly powerful. That is a way that we can

584
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,919
Speaker 3: overthrow these companies that are run by these billionaires who

585
00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:45,600
Speaker 3: are out of touch the people power. And that's the

586
00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:47,919
Speaker 3: thing that I'm focused on right now. It's the people power.

587
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,600
Speaker 3: And we've conceded our power to these people that we've

588
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,480
Speaker 3: elected and not realizing that I pay taxes, so that

589
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:55,199
Speaker 3: means I pay your salary and you work for me.

590
00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:59,520
Speaker 3: If people power wasn't so imperative, why did all these

591
00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:01,960
Speaker 3: elective officials shut down those town halls because they didn't

592
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:05,439
Speaker 3: want to hear from their constituents, Because those loud voices

593
00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:08,280
Speaker 3: are disruptive and so look, the Democrats got a lot

594
00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:12,800
Speaker 3: to reckon with. It's the reason why I work for

595
00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:16,240
Speaker 3: myself so I can actually challenge them from the outside.

596
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:17,359
Speaker 1: Because I think it is.

597
00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:23,320
Speaker 3: It is extremely It's not just that it's too late,

598
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:27,119
Speaker 3: but it is harmful to communities who are dying because

599
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,040
Speaker 3: of what is happening. It's harmful to communities who have

600
00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:34,240
Speaker 3: been fighting against these systems. And yet at the same time,

601
00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:38,119
Speaker 3: they are the ones that folks constantly look to to

602
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:43,760
Speaker 3: create the solutions. And so until the Democratic Party, just

603
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:47,440
Speaker 3: as much as we understand that you know, Republicans subscribe

604
00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:50,760
Speaker 3: to white supremacy, in the Democratic Party, there are folks

605
00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:52,679
Speaker 3: that need to understand that their positions are privileged, that

606
00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:55,080
Speaker 3: they need to get up out of their seats. A

607
00:26:55,119 --> 00:26:59,600
Speaker 3: real leader understands when they are in the way of progress.

608
00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:02,560
Speaker 3: And I think until we really reckon with that, we're

609
00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:04,640
Speaker 3: going to continue to see this fighting and we will

610
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,560
Speaker 3: continue to lose in ways that quite frankly, are killing

611
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:08,600
Speaker 3: so many of our communities.

612
00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:10,720
Speaker 4: And I think you should talk to people who voted

613
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:12,560
Speaker 4: for Trump. And the reason I think you should is

614
00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:16,040
Speaker 4: because then you'll understand the why and I think that's

615
00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:19,239
Speaker 4: where Democrats just simply fail. Yes, they didn't know, they

616
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:20,560
Speaker 4: couldn't understand the why.

617
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:22,040
Speaker 1: It's like, oh you, how could you vote?

618
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:24,400
Speaker 4: Did you actually have a conversation with them to see

619
00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:26,280
Speaker 4: how because a lot of it does just have to

620
00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:28,000
Speaker 4: do with a lot of policies.

621
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:29,400
Speaker 1: That that's true.

622
00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 3: And let me let me clarify that there's a there

623
00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:37,639
Speaker 3: are a lot of people with privilege and understanding exactly

624
00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:39,680
Speaker 3: why they voted for Donald Trump, which is centered around

625
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:42,080
Speaker 3: race that I do not like to engage with. But

626
00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,320
Speaker 3: to your point, but I think about where I grew up.

627
00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 3: If I think about people who I may not talk

628
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:50,240
Speaker 3: to anymore, but high school, college, whatever it may be, be,

629
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:52,280
Speaker 3: they probably did vote for Donald Trump for whatever reason

630
00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:54,600
Speaker 3: it may be. And so what is the conversation? Is

631
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:57,080
Speaker 3: that the economy? But then continue to ask all those questions,

632
00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:00,000
Speaker 3: is it because you believe this trope that other people

633
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:02,840
Speaker 3: or taking your jobs? But the reality is it's these

634
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,040
Speaker 3: billionaires not paying you a fair wage?

635
00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:05,959
Speaker 1: Like what is it?

636
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:11,240
Speaker 3: I think it is important, but my frustration is what

637
00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:14,320
Speaker 3: happens every cycle of Well, we need to moderate democratcsy

638
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,120
Speaker 3: to moderate our positions and playcate to these phantom swing

639
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:20,399
Speaker 3: voters that are going to vote for a black woman

640
00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:22,920
Speaker 3: when that's actually again back to my ninety million. We're

641
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:25,399
Speaker 3: over here trying to get these few hundred thousand, but

642
00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:32,119
Speaker 3: there's all of these people left untouched right the table

643
00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:35,439
Speaker 3: over my book over So yes, yes, and thank you

644
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:37,440
Speaker 3: for clarifying that so I could expound upon that, because

645
00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:38,960
Speaker 3: I don't want to go viral, and it'side, she don't

646
00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:40,280
Speaker 3: talk to the people, and she don't know.

647
00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:44,320
Speaker 5: What about your because I know you did a lot

648
00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:46,400
Speaker 5: of work with playing parenthood and now a lot of

649
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:50,440
Speaker 5: what you were doing is they ain't supporting that. So

650
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:52,880
Speaker 5: when you do all this work, you stop taking the

651
00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:55,640
Speaker 5: rest to fight to make it, to break this ground,

652
00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:57,640
Speaker 5: and then you see this new administration come in who's

653
00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:00,200
Speaker 5: completely against it, and it's stripping all of that. You

654
00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:03,080
Speaker 5: feel defeated or like what happens now because you're not

655
00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:03,720
Speaker 5: there anymore?

656
00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:06,560
Speaker 3: No, I mean, and then they have the audacity to

657
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:09,640
Speaker 3: talk about they want to put policies in place for

658
00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:13,240
Speaker 3: people to have more babies and give people five thousand dollars.

659
00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:15,320
Speaker 3: I'm like, but y'all voted against the child tax credit,

660
00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:17,720
Speaker 3: So what's interesting about working at Planned Parenthood. I worked

661
00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:19,320
Speaker 3: there for six years at the National Office, and talk

662
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:22,280
Speaker 3: about disruptive. Being the daughter of a pastor, a lover

663
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,120
Speaker 3: of Jesus and advocating for abortion rights. People are like,

664
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:28,560
Speaker 3: how do you reconcile that. I was like, I just exist, literally,

665
00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:31,400
Speaker 3: I just exist, And the teachings of Jesus, the Red

666
00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:33,520
Speaker 3: Text in the Bible, tells me a lot of ways

667
00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:35,800
Speaker 3: in which I should show up in the world. When

668
00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:37,760
Speaker 3: I look at when I was working at Plan Parenthood,

669
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:40,840
Speaker 3: President Obama was still in office, and I was like, oh,

670
00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:41,320
Speaker 3: we're good.

671
00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:43,960
Speaker 1: You know, he believes and reproductive freedom. This is great.

672
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:45,200
Speaker 1: And they're like, oh no, let's look at.

673
00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:48,800
Speaker 3: These state policies and these states that are overturning the

674
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:53,240
Speaker 3: right to access to abortion, and not only access to abortion,

675
00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,680
Speaker 3: but sex education, contraception, all of these things, and just

676
00:29:57,080 --> 00:30:01,400
Speaker 3: gutting health care systems and health centers that are helping

677
00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:04,240
Speaker 3: people who have nowhere else to go. When I look

678
00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 3: at what's happening now at the federal level, and you know,

679
00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:13,400
Speaker 3: the Trump administration is literally going after organizations like Planned Parenthood,

680
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:16,800
Speaker 3: it reminds me that these people do not care about

681
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:19,800
Speaker 3: people at the margins. They do not care about low

682
00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:21,520
Speaker 3: income folks who have nowhere else to go. And if

683
00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:25,560
Speaker 3: you actually wanted people to have more children in this country,

684
00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:28,800
Speaker 3: you would you would actually support and bolster the healthcare

685
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:32,080
Speaker 3: system instead of gutting it. Last week was Black Maternal

686
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:35,600
Speaker 3: Health Week, and Black maternal mortality is on the rise.

687
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:39,560
Speaker 3: Maternal mortality across the country, across the demographics is on

688
00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:43,720
Speaker 3: the rise. And the wealthiest nation and so it's challenging,

689
00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:46,440
Speaker 3: it's frustrating. There's this Alice Walker quote I put at

690
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:48,840
Speaker 3: the beginning of the book, and I'm paraphrasing it. You

691
00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:50,560
Speaker 3: have to keep a healthy soul on the face of

692
00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:54,000
Speaker 3: constant oppression, which reminds you that at the end of

693
00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:56,400
Speaker 3: the day, there's going to continuously be something that you're

694
00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:59,520
Speaker 3: fighting for. So how do you maintain your spirit in

695
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:01,680
Speaker 3: order to keep going? And that is through the joy

696
00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,200
Speaker 3: and the rest, and all of those things can coexist

697
00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:08,320
Speaker 3: together while you're also still fighting for the ability to

698
00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:10,800
Speaker 3: have agency over my body. The one thing I will

699
00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:15,280
Speaker 3: say of everything being burned down, from abortion, access to

700
00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:17,920
Speaker 3: everything that's happening in our country, it gives us the

701
00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:20,120
Speaker 3: opportunity to build something better and something new. I don't

702
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:22,520
Speaker 3: want to rebuild the old because the old was clearly

703
00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:26,320
Speaker 3: it was able to be dismantled. I actually now want

704
00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,880
Speaker 3: to be able to imagine something even better that's actually

705
00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 3: going to work, and how do we build that?

706
00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:34,960
Speaker 1: And that's actually what gets me up at night.

707
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,600
Speaker 3: I'm like, I'm not fighting these people to rebuild what

708
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:42,040
Speaker 3: didn't work. I have this vision that excites me to

709
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,080
Speaker 3: build something even better, even on the days that are hard.

710
00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:46,000
Speaker 1: I agree with that.

711
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:47,760
Speaker 4: But then when I hear you saying that, you know

712
00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:50,240
Speaker 4: you Barack Obama was in the White House and you

713
00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:52,880
Speaker 4: big on playing parenthood. He had the opportunity to call

714
00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:57,160
Speaker 4: he did. He had the White House to send it

715
00:31:57,160 --> 00:31:58,760
Speaker 4: the House of Representatives for two years.

716
00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:01,320
Speaker 1: He could have passed it in the federal any campaign

717
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:02,000
Speaker 1: that he would.

718
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:05,000
Speaker 4: So it's just like, it's like I see stuff like that,

719
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:06,360
Speaker 4: and I'm like, why do we believe these people?

720
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:06,640
Speaker 1: Again?

721
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:11,080
Speaker 3: Well, so I hear that, which is also why I

722
00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:14,880
Speaker 3: think the work to shift culture is so imperative. If

723
00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:20,480
Speaker 3: we think about President Biden, he actually is very i

724
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:24,640
Speaker 3: would say moderate in his position around reproductive freedom, and

725
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:27,840
Speaker 3: yet he had to champion issues that quite frankly if

726
00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 3: culturally in society and as us as a collective, we're

727
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:34,080
Speaker 3: not pushing and challenging people to actually do something about

728
00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:36,840
Speaker 3: these he wouldn't have, right, And so that's where culture

729
00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,520
Speaker 3: work is so important. That's where shifting you know, how

730
00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:42,640
Speaker 3: we think, as how we understand things as a society

731
00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:45,600
Speaker 3: is so important. But it's also how we show up

732
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:47,720
Speaker 3: and tell people if you're not going to hold true

733
00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:51,360
Speaker 3: to your campaign promise, we are not going to support

734
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:55,760
Speaker 3: you again. And so I love President Obama. Listen, if

735
00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:57,760
Speaker 3: Donald Trump runs for a third time, Obama's run for

736
00:32:57,760 --> 00:32:58,240
Speaker 3: a third time.

737
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,440
Speaker 4: But you know, you know that if Trump runs for

738
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:03,000
Speaker 4: a third term, it'll be just like in Russia, it's

739
00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:05,120
Speaker 4: all for show. He will win.

740
00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:09,680
Speaker 3: Sure, right, I'm saying this and that Listen, I love

741
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:11,560
Speaker 3: President Obama, and yet I have critique, and that is

742
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:14,120
Speaker 3: one of my critiques, right, And when we had the

743
00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:17,440
Speaker 3: super majority and could have codified a lot of these issues,

744
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:20,960
Speaker 3: we should have done it. But that doesn't make me

745
00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:24,520
Speaker 3: not participate, right, And that doesn't make me sit out

746
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:26,080
Speaker 3: and say I'm never going to work for a presidential

747
00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:28,200
Speaker 3: candidate ever again, even if I disagree with them, because

748
00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:31,600
Speaker 3: there's a lot of I don't agree with one hundred

749
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:32,840
Speaker 3: percent of the things that any of the people that

750
00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:34,880
Speaker 3: I work with are, but there's some fundamental things that

751
00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:38,040
Speaker 3: for me that are non negotiable. And if I'm not

752
00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:40,520
Speaker 3: at the table, if our friend Stephanie's at the table,

753
00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:42,360
Speaker 3: if you've had Ashley Allison here, if we're not at

754
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:47,280
Speaker 3: the table, we can't push these these candidates further along

755
00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:49,240
Speaker 3: and these elected officials further along.

756
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 4: I guess it's just heartbreaking for me because it's like,

757
00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:54,240
Speaker 4: you know, yes, when they overturn Roe v Wade, it

758
00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:55,800
Speaker 4: was like Dan, they overturn Rovy Wade. But then when

759
00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:58,880
Speaker 4: you see people like President Obama speak out against that,

760
00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:03,040
Speaker 4: I'm like, but you have the ability, the godifire rob Way,

761
00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:05,000
Speaker 4: you could have made an actual federal legislation.

762
00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:05,880
Speaker 1: Yeah.

763
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:09,960
Speaker 3: I mean, the hard part about the abortion conversation is

764
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:14,680
Speaker 3: how the right has actually used religion, has made it

765
00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:17,800
Speaker 3: a religious argument, when like that's actually not in the text.

766
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:22,040
Speaker 3: And the reality is the right and conservatives we're losing

767
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:25,200
Speaker 3: on they lost on segregation, and so they said, oh

768
00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:28,040
Speaker 3: we need some Well, we can't continue this race thing.

769
00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:29,960
Speaker 3: Now we're gonna have to go over here to this

770
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:33,560
Speaker 3: woman thing, and let's actually make abortion a political lightning

771
00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:37,359
Speaker 3: rod And so when people fundamentally understand that they can

772
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:41,400
Speaker 3: take away their personal beliefs and actually realize, oh, people's

773
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:44,279
Speaker 3: right to make decisions for their bodies is their own

774
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:46,320
Speaker 3: and that has nothing to do with me. If a

775
00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:47,879
Speaker 3: lot of people stay out each other's business, I think

776
00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:50,359
Speaker 3: our politics will be a lot better. Absolutely, And it's

777
00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:53,400
Speaker 3: too simple even I'm going back to the urgency.

778
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:56,080
Speaker 4: And now when people ask us now, like they'll tell

779
00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:57,640
Speaker 4: us all of these different things that Trump is doing

780
00:34:57,640 --> 00:34:58,360
Speaker 4: every single.

781
00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:00,640
Speaker 1: Day, and they're like, yo, what ire, what do you

782
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:01,120
Speaker 1: think of that?

783
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:03,160
Speaker 4: And I'm like, I don't know what to think because

784
00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:05,240
Speaker 4: I'm like, what am I even supposed to do? Because

785
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:08,239
Speaker 4: it always seems like the urgency is put on we

786
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:10,800
Speaker 4: the people, right, But then when these elected officials that

787
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:12,960
Speaker 4: we voted for from twenty twenty to twenty twenty four,

788
00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:14,920
Speaker 4: when they were in the White House, they didn't govern

789
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:17,160
Speaker 4: with a sense of urgency. That's what always gets me

790
00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:20,320
Speaker 4: about Democrats. Whenever it's election time, it's a sense of urgency.

791
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:22,600
Speaker 4: It's on y'all. It's just threat to democracy, and you

792
00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 4: know you're gonna lose all your rights and everything else,

793
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:26,840
Speaker 4: but you don't govern like that when you get in

794
00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:27,360
Speaker 4: an office.

795
00:35:27,719 --> 00:35:29,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it is frustrating.

796
00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:34,440
Speaker 3: I will say, I don't pay attention to what that

797
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:36,399
Speaker 3: man is doing all day every day, because then I'll

798
00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:39,400
Speaker 3: just sit in this place where I'm immobile, right, But

799
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:43,799
Speaker 3: I do look for small pockets of hope, and to

800
00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,680
Speaker 3: your point, it does end up being us that have

801
00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:49,680
Speaker 3: to save our own communities. But like, I think that's

802
00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:51,840
Speaker 3: in general nature of who we are as a people,

803
00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:52,719
Speaker 3: and that is community.

804
00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:53,879
Speaker 1: I mean, look at you.

805
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:56,080
Speaker 3: Know, our friends who started staying the people which I

806
00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:58,319
Speaker 3: was a part of, you all broadcasted and now it's going.

807
00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:01,760
Speaker 3: Now there's a whole tour shout out to Angela Raie

808
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:04,200
Speaker 3: and Joy Read and so many folks who are just

809
00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:09,440
Speaker 3: building something beautiful, reminding us of our power as community.

810
00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:15,120
Speaker 3: And I think out of that birth's people who will

811
00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:18,280
Speaker 3: govern with urgency of now. So I write about Aana

812
00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:20,440
Speaker 3: Presley in the book, but I also write about Shirley Chisholm,

813
00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:23,560
Speaker 3: who was just fed up and was like, oh, I'm

814
00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:26,560
Speaker 3: going to actually be the one that changes, you know.

815
00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:30,600
Speaker 3: David Hogg, who was the vice chair of the DNC

816
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:35,680
Speaker 3: but was a survivor of Parkland shooting, it's done all

817
00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:38,440
Speaker 3: of this activism and now he's challenging.

818
00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:41,480
Speaker 1: He's getting a lot of heat. He's getting a lot

819
00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:41,880
Speaker 1: of heat.

820
00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:44,439
Speaker 4: I have said that. I said that two months ago.

821
00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:47,920
Speaker 4: Anybody who's not willing to fight in the Democratic Party

822
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:52,520
Speaker 4: should be primary, came Jeffery's Chuck Schuma, y'all should resign

823
00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:53,600
Speaker 4: if y'all not the people that.

824
00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:54,320
Speaker 1: Can meet this moment.

825
00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:56,520
Speaker 4: I really feel that way, and anybody else in the

826
00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:59,040
Speaker 4: Democratic Party who's not willing to fight should be primary.

827
00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:00,319
Speaker 4: I'm all full with David Hall.

828
00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:03,040
Speaker 3: I said that months ago, and listen, you know there

829
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,920
Speaker 3: are some people who disagree with that, but he said,

830
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:08,600
Speaker 3: looks and change has. We can't just keep talking about change.

831
00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:10,719
Speaker 3: You gotta actually go after it. And whether or not

832
00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:14,120
Speaker 3: you believe and what he's doing, whether or not you

833
00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:16,719
Speaker 3: believe that there needs to be new leadership, whatever it

834
00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:19,399
Speaker 3: is like, changes don't just happen if we sit around

835
00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:20,040
Speaker 3: and wish for it.

836
00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:21,560
Speaker 1: We actually have to do something about it.

837
00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:24,880
Speaker 3: And sometimes in order to get these folks to operate

838
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:26,560
Speaker 3: with some urgency, you gotta put some pressure and some

839
00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:28,160
Speaker 3: heat under them.

840
00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:30,120
Speaker 4: That's why everybody in the party should have had a

841
00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:32,839
Speaker 4: copy of this book flip flip the table a lot.

842
00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:36,080
Speaker 5: I don't know if they're going to do it though.

843
00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:38,879
Speaker 1: They have no choice now, they never, We never don't

844
00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:40,400
Speaker 1: have When do we ever have a choice.

845
00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:41,920
Speaker 4: No, there's really no choice now.

846
00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:45,319
Speaker 5: I feel like it's always the fight or fight, like,

847
00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:47,160
Speaker 5: do what you gotta do to get out of situation?

848
00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:47,800
Speaker 3: Right? Different?

849
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:51,040
Speaker 1: But I feel like it is different.

850
00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:52,960
Speaker 5: But I don't feel like anything has changed about the

851
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:55,600
Speaker 5: way that people are handling it. I don't really feel

852
00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:58,200
Speaker 5: the sense of urgency. There was an interview that you

853
00:37:58,239 --> 00:38:00,799
Speaker 5: talked about DEDI. You're like, these companies are folding. It

854
00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:03,440
Speaker 5: was a Glamour magazine and you said, these companies are foting.

855
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:06,520
Speaker 5: They don't understand that the proximity to the president isn't power.

856
00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:08,759
Speaker 5: Power is showing him that he needs you. People are

857
00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:10,879
Speaker 5: not going to do that. Everything that we're talking about.

858
00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:12,200
Speaker 5: People just don't do it, you know.

859
00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:15,799
Speaker 3: But I think what I hear you and I do

860
00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:18,839
Speaker 3: have to remind us all that this man has only

861
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:19,960
Speaker 3: he hasn't even been in office.

862
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:23,240
Speaker 1: A hundred days. But because we are in such an information.

863
00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:25,960
Speaker 3: Overload forever, it does like you open Instagram and I'm

864
00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:28,000
Speaker 3: saying restaurants, I want to go to and then I'm

865
00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:30,160
Speaker 3: seeing what this man is doing in the White House, right,

866
00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:33,200
Speaker 3: so like we're in this information overload and yeah, and

867
00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:35,759
Speaker 3: at the same time, I think about at the State

868
00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:38,640
Speaker 3: of the Union, shout out to Congressman Green and y'all

869
00:38:38,640 --> 00:38:41,520
Speaker 3: had him up here, and I was like, oh my gosh,

870
00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:44,239
Speaker 3: every single Democrat should have gotten up right after him

871
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:49,719
Speaker 3: and disrupted the entire speech. Right And then when you

872
00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:53,960
Speaker 3: know Senator Booker did his filibuster, people were saying, yes,

873
00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:56,239
Speaker 3: this is what we need more of. But now you're

874
00:38:56,239 --> 00:38:58,400
Speaker 3: seeing more people in the streets, and I think people

875
00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:02,120
Speaker 3: are are some of our elected officials are understanding that

876
00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:05,080
Speaker 3: there's more that they can do now, and then there

877
00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:07,200
Speaker 3: are still going to be some who don't. And we

878
00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:10,520
Speaker 3: have midterm elections and special elections, and I am all

879
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:13,839
Speaker 3: about getting people in office who are going to be

880
00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:19,080
Speaker 3: effective and also us participating in that. If you, whether

881
00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:21,040
Speaker 3: you agree with them or disagree with them, if they

882
00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:24,279
Speaker 3: represent you, you have the power and the right to

883
00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:26,759
Speaker 3: show up and tell them what is working and what

884
00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:28,400
Speaker 3: isn't working. And I want more of us to do.

885
00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:30,600
Speaker 3: I want our elected officials to be scared. I want

886
00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:33,640
Speaker 3: our elect officials to be like my constituents aren't going

887
00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:35,480
Speaker 3: for this, or my constituents told me I have to

888
00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:37,160
Speaker 3: do this, and that's why I'm doing.

889
00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 1: It absolutely well.

890
00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:42,240
Speaker 4: Flip the Tables is out right now and Sea Johnson

891
00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:45,839
Speaker 4: the everyday Disruptor's guide to finding courage and making change.

892
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:47,359
Speaker 4: And this isn't a book, you know, just with.

893
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:49,680
Speaker 1: People who are in the politics now, just in life.

894
00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:52,160
Speaker 4: If you want to learn how to codamn tables like.

895
00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:56,280
Speaker 3: Jesus did, Yes, more of that, Like, can you imagine

896
00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:57,880
Speaker 3: like Jesus flipping over tables?

897
00:39:58,280 --> 00:40:00,480
Speaker 1: I was angry. Yes, I think you should. I think

898
00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:03,239
Speaker 1: you should find a table to flip. Listen. Okay, that's

899
00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:04,600
Speaker 1: a whole other conversation for us to have.

900
00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:13,160
Speaker 2: That's just why Lindia Johnson is the breakfast club. Good morning,

901
00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:15,920
Speaker 2: wake that ass up in the morning.

902
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:17,080
Speaker 1: The breakfast Club