1 00:00:01,400 --> 00:00:04,720 Speaker 1: This episode is sponsored by FX's Fleischman Is in Trouble, 2 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:09,399 Speaker 1: starring Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, Lizzie Kaplan, and Adam Brodie. 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:12,680 Speaker 1: The strama tells the story of recently divorced Toby Fleischmann, 4 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,320 Speaker 1: who dies into the world of at bass dating with 5 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: the kind of success he never had in his youth. 6 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,280 Speaker 1: Then his ex wife disappears, leaving him with their two 7 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: children and no hint of her return. Effectus Fleischman Is 8 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: In Trouble, streaming November seventeenth only on Hulu. Welcome to 9 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 1: PM Mood then No Talking Points, No Bullshit podcast that 10 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 1: takes you behind the curtain, off the red carpet, and 11 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: to the front lines of progress with change makers and 12 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: innovators that are doing the work to shift our culture 13 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: and expand our social impact. I am so excited to 14 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: welcome to p M Mood, friend, activists, all around, badass 15 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: and now new author Bakari sellers of the book My 16 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:15,560 Speaker 1: Vanishing Country, a memoir. You're also a CNN political analyst. 17 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 1: You're also the youngest um a member of the South 18 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 1: Carolina legislator that was that was ever elected at that 19 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 1: time twenty two. I don't know how you go about 20 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:28,400 Speaker 1: getting elected at twenty two. I wasn't electing to do 21 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:34,679 Speaker 1: anything but tequila, um at that age. Okay, okay, okay, 22 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: So I don't feel I don't feel that bad. But Bacari, 23 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:40,960 Speaker 1: how are you doing? And and you know this this book, 24 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:43,759 Speaker 1: I'm excited about it. I'm excited because I don't have 25 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: anything hopeful that I'm reading right now because I should. 26 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 1: That sure is not the news. Um. So tell me 27 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 1: about the title, about the memoir, about what sparked this, 28 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: and how things have changed, given the the kind of 29 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: the climate that we're in right at the moment. So 30 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: the title My Vanishing Country, it means a few things 31 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: for me. It's about that rural community, that rule upbringing 32 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: that many people have throughout the South, especially these towns 33 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:14,680 Speaker 1: at once were bastions of upward economic mobility. Those small 34 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 1: businesses are being shuttered, those manufacturing companies have left. Things 35 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: have changed, and the country that we knew, that country 36 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: living that we knew, is vanishing. And then on the 37 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: fifty view, the fifty thousand foot view, those ideals that 38 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:32,640 Speaker 1: all of us hold true, you know, not just the 39 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:35,880 Speaker 1: access to life, liberty and the ability to pursue happiness, 40 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:39,080 Speaker 1: but also justice and freedom and peace, these not so 41 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: tangible ideals for many people of color, poor people, immigrants, 42 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:46,960 Speaker 1: those ideals aren't They're vanishing there. They aren't attainable for 43 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:50,799 Speaker 1: us any longer. And so, you know, I thought about it, 44 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:53,799 Speaker 1: and my publisher was telling me Patrick, who I love, 45 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: my editor, He was telling me how this book couldn't 46 00:02:58,520 --> 00:02:59,519 Speaker 1: have come out at a better time. A lot of 47 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 1: people have their dates back. We started talking about it, 48 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: We started having a conversation. You know, Corona is ripping 49 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: the band aid off the issues of systemic injustice and 50 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: racism in this country. Brianna Taylor and a mod Aubury's 51 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: lives were taking from them, one by law enforcement, the 52 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: other in a good old fashioned South Georgia by the 53 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 1: sun lynching. And I realized that this book is ever 54 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 1: green because we talk about those issues, we highlight those issues, 55 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:27,360 Speaker 1: and any time it would have come out, we still 56 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:29,839 Speaker 1: would have been talking about those systemic injustices. We still 57 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 1: would have been talking about those lives cut short. And 58 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 1: so I'm just happy I'll share this with you, Danielle. 59 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 1: I wasn't trying to write a memoir at thirty three, 60 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: thirty four years old. I wanted to write a political book, 61 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: but no one wanted to buy it. For Tracy Sharad, 62 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: Judith Kerr and Patrick Bass gave me a chance to 63 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: tell my story. I thought it was one of the 64 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: country needed to hear. And I'm really happy that I 65 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 1: put my trauma, everything I lived through, down on paper 66 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: so that hopefully others can It may not my trauma, 67 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:00,200 Speaker 1: may not be your trauma, but I believe that if 68 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 1: we if we try to understand, have some compassionate empathy, 69 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:05,960 Speaker 1: we can persevere. So I'm hopeful. I have to be hopeful. 70 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: I have sixteen months o twins. They don't deserve Donald 71 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: Trump as president of their United States of America, and 72 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 1: so I'm hopeful we can change that. You know, what 73 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:21,480 Speaker 1: I love about your book is that it is to 74 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:26,600 Speaker 1: me reading it, the child of immigrants did this country. 75 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: My family was born in Jamaica, But it's this idea 76 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 1: of country and of rural America. And you know, we use, 77 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:39,000 Speaker 1: as you know, having been a son of the South, 78 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:43,760 Speaker 1: use a lot of coded language, right, so even just 79 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 1: in you know, in this past and primary cycle, when 80 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:51,359 Speaker 1: we are talking about working class Americans or we're talking 81 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:58,240 Speaker 1: about rural America, it conjures a picture in your mind. 82 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: In the media or the media present this has presented 83 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: this narrative that that is white people right. So when 84 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 1: we are talking about rural America or real America, we 85 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 1: are talking about white America. So can you talk a 86 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:18,360 Speaker 1: bit about what it means to be country, to live 87 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: in the country, to having grown up in rural America 88 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:28,640 Speaker 1: where you know, we are seeing and have been participating 89 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:33,120 Speaker 1: in this divide, you know, urban against rural, urban against suburban, 90 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,919 Speaker 1: and all of these things, and black people we live everywhere, 91 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: and yet and yet urban right is the moniker in 92 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 1: which we are forced to carry as if that's the 93 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:46,600 Speaker 1: only place that we have ever been. And obviously your 94 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:49,600 Speaker 1: book goes into great depths into the exploration of that. 95 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: So we give we try to pull that ugly We 96 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: just pull that ugly lie apart that the media and 97 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:59,320 Speaker 1: Democrats and Republicans are like trying to try to, you know, 98 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,480 Speaker 1: get us to believe in adhere to that for some reason, 99 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:07,719 Speaker 1: rural means white, working class means white. No, I say 100 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: that's not the case, because that's not that ain't how 101 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:11,599 Speaker 1: I grew up. I grew up around the black in 102 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: the black working class. I grew up in rural America 103 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:19,840 Speaker 1: with black folk. I grew up with the roads from 104 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:23,839 Speaker 1: the black man, which does not mean black folk live there, 105 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:26,800 Speaker 1: but the black book talk about the richness of the 106 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: soil from the crops we used to plant. I talk 107 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:30,760 Speaker 1: about that up bringing, but I also talk about the 108 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,200 Speaker 1: political overlay of living where you don't have access to 109 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:35,680 Speaker 1: quality healthcare, of living where you have a quarter of shame, 110 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:38,040 Speaker 1: where you're eating in air or don't work in your infrastructures, 111 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:40,720 Speaker 1: falling a part of your schools. I talk about living 112 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: in food deserts. I talk about living where you're drinking 113 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: unhealthy water, or you're living next to the brown fields. 114 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: I talk about these things because I want people to 115 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,080 Speaker 1: understand the plight of what it means to be black 116 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:50,719 Speaker 1: in this country, the plight of what it means to 117 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: be from rural America in this country, in the rural 118 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,039 Speaker 1: America where you may not know. And so I write 119 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,920 Speaker 1: this book saying this. I think when black folk greeted, 120 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 1: they'll get a sense of pride from you. From New York, 121 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:05,600 Speaker 1: in Chicago, Philly, you wanted them city. You got your 122 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: people from down South. They from Alabama. Depending on migration patterns, 123 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:12,920 Speaker 1: they from Alabama, Mississippi, Georga, South Carolina. So you'll get 124 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: a sense of pride. I think white folk reading white 125 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:18,960 Speaker 1: folk reading this book will get a sense of understanding. 126 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 1: Bishop Jakes and I had this conversation which is actually 127 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: kind of air on Tuesday night, and he talked about 128 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: the fact that you can teach people geometry, and you 129 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:31,160 Speaker 1: can teach them science, you can teach them English language, 130 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 1: which you can't teach them blackness. And I am trying 131 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: to give people our experiences and our trauma so that 132 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: they have understanding. And the only way that you can 133 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:43,760 Speaker 1: have healthy conversations about race, which I believe my vanishing 134 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: country will spur, is if you is if you have 135 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: some level of understanding. You know, you bring up at 136 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: the at the beginning of our conversation and you talk 137 00:07:55,000 --> 00:08:01,040 Speaker 1: about putting your trauma down on paper. And I often 138 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: think that we as as as as black people, right like, 139 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:11,840 Speaker 1: our trauma is so embedded in the story of America 140 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 1: and yet um disconnected from it, right, Um, we are 141 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:19,440 Speaker 1: so used to seeing our trauma play out as you 142 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:23,760 Speaker 1: mentioned a Maud Aubrey. How many videos, right do we 143 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:29,640 Speaker 1: need to see of our bodies being brutalized, right, whether 144 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: it's Mike Brown and being shot and left in the 145 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: street to bleed out for hours in your neighborhood in 146 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:37,560 Speaker 1: front of your friends and family, whether it is you 147 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:42,240 Speaker 1: know um Ah Maud Aubrey or or you know Alton 148 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:45,440 Speaker 1: Sterling or all of these names, filendo castile, all of 149 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:49,719 Speaker 1: these people. What is it about the expression of our 150 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:53,520 Speaker 1: trauma that seems to, in your mind, be lost on 151 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:57,319 Speaker 1: white America in a way that it's it's something that 152 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,920 Speaker 1: they're so used to seeing but not necessarily have the 153 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:04,160 Speaker 1: ability to connect to. And then also, what do you 154 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:06,840 Speaker 1: say to those black folks that are just like I'm 155 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:10,679 Speaker 1: tired of us seeing each other's trauma, and like don't 156 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:13,320 Speaker 1: share the video, and like stop telling these stories, and 157 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 1: I want something that is uplifting? What do you say 158 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:18,720 Speaker 1: to them as well? So, so the first part of 159 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 1: your question this is about this is the very nature 160 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:25,320 Speaker 1: and fabric of what this country is. It's the trauma 161 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 1: of people of color. You know, my father is a 162 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:30,520 Speaker 1: part of the Imatil generation. He says still is the 163 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:32,959 Speaker 1: strongest woman in the movement, right because she got it. 164 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:36,439 Speaker 1: She allowed the world to see her son's face and 165 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:40,959 Speaker 1: all the brutality beaten, there were no bones left, and 166 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 1: tack in his face off because he allegedly was about 167 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:44,679 Speaker 1: a white woman, and we not know that to not 168 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 1: be true. And so whether or not you' talk abou 169 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:49,560 Speaker 1: Jimi and the Jackson, you're talking about, maker average, you're 170 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 1: talking about in it till you understand it, it dates 171 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 1: back even decades years, centuries before that. The violence and 172 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 1: the trauma, the imagery of that is seared into our 173 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:03,800 Speaker 1: collective brains. I think that we have to make sure 174 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:06,360 Speaker 1: that people in this country that are not us, especially 175 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:11,000 Speaker 1: white folks, see this trauma, because there is a sometimes 176 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:13,840 Speaker 1: I believe, a will for ignorance to act as if 177 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 1: it does not exist. And so the best way for 178 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: me to show you that they are hunting us in 179 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:22,040 Speaker 1: the street is to show us being hunted for black folks. 180 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:24,000 Speaker 1: I think we have to understand the necessity. And I'll 181 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:26,520 Speaker 1: never compel a black person to watch this that doesn't 182 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:28,880 Speaker 1: want to watch this, because, as I said, my trauma 183 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 1: may not be your trauma, but we have to have 184 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:35,360 Speaker 1: some understanding. And there is a level of trauma where 185 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,640 Speaker 1: this may be just too much. And I hear that, 186 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: but I'm going to continue to show these images because 187 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: I think that as painful as they are, I don't 188 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:45,840 Speaker 1: want these individuals lives or their deaths to be in vain. 189 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:49,080 Speaker 1: I want to remember them for the life they lived. 190 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:51,920 Speaker 1: All want us to remember the power in which they died. 191 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:55,080 Speaker 1: And I also want to try to make sure that 192 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:57,960 Speaker 1: we ensure we live for them and there doesn't have 193 00:10:58,000 --> 00:10:59,839 Speaker 1: to be another one of them. The latter part of 194 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:02,079 Speaker 1: the I've failed it because we keep seeing it over 195 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 1: and over again. But I'm going to keep trying to 196 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 1: make sure that the last video is the last video. 197 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:10,319 Speaker 1: I always wonder every time I do watch one, when 198 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:12,679 Speaker 1: the last? When when it will be a last and 199 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:15,880 Speaker 1: when it will be enough? I think that what's so? 200 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:18,319 Speaker 1: I mean, you're there's so many different facets of your 201 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: story that is so incredible, and I think that you know, 202 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:25,959 Speaker 1: one of them being the fact that you are a 203 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:32,679 Speaker 1: movement baby. You are you are literally a product um 204 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:35,720 Speaker 1: of the civil rights movement. And you talk a lot 205 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:38,560 Speaker 1: about you know both of your parents, but you know 206 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:43,160 Speaker 1: in particular your father who was a political prisoner, right 207 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:48,480 Speaker 1: who did um work to stand up for the people 208 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: of South Carolina. To try and desegregate, to try and 209 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 1: you know, bring a humanization to um, to black folks. 210 00:11:56,360 --> 00:12:01,760 Speaker 1: What does it feel like to at once live that 211 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:05,720 Speaker 1: legacy that is extended to you by your father, but 212 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:09,240 Speaker 1: then also explore it in a completely different way, Right, 213 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 1: like you went inside of government, he was working outside 214 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 1: of government. But like you need both, you need both 215 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 1: and and he in his life that the frame you 216 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: have to look at the totality of his life. Because 217 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:24,679 Speaker 1: I agree with you, I tell people and you'll you'll 218 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:26,319 Speaker 1: appreciate this. I tell people all of the time, I'd 219 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:28,600 Speaker 1: rather be considered that Julian Bond than a Barack Obama. 220 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:31,680 Speaker 1: And you know, people up by, I loved you. I 221 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:34,600 Speaker 1: love Barack Obama. I know Julian like I know like 222 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:37,080 Speaker 1: uncle Julian. I grew up with Julian. I've cried with Julian. 223 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:39,800 Speaker 1: I need crabs with Julian. You know, he's you know, 224 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 1: he's been at my house before he passed away. But 225 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:47,439 Speaker 1: Julian came from that struggle, and so I empathized with Julian. 226 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:49,080 Speaker 1: He came from that struggle, and then he went to 227 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:52,080 Speaker 1: the Georgia State Senate and he continued to struggle and 228 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:54,040 Speaker 1: something I talked about him is both Julian should be 229 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:57,600 Speaker 1: I love John Lewis. Julian should be the United States 230 00:12:57,640 --> 00:12:59,679 Speaker 1: congressman from that district in Atlanta. Had to have been 231 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:03,720 Speaker 1: a clean your race. And so I think that for 232 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:08,560 Speaker 1: every Bakari sellers, there has to be a Black Lives 233 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 1: Matter protester are willing to throw a break through the 234 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:13,120 Speaker 1: side of the building right right. There has to be 235 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:16,760 Speaker 1: these pressure points. We all, all of us don't play 236 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 1: the same roles. I think my role is vastly different 237 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:22,240 Speaker 1: than Philo Bagne, but I think we're both necessary. I 238 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:24,760 Speaker 1: think my role is different than some of these people 239 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:27,240 Speaker 1: who are at the forefront of these movements, um, the 240 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaker 1: Alicia Garth's for example, who's brilliant. I think our roles 241 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,760 Speaker 1: are different, but they're both necessary. And so my job 242 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:35,120 Speaker 1: is to lift them up on their leadership platforms and 243 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 1: push them and push them, and then my job is 244 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:40,600 Speaker 1: also to listen while they push me. Yeah, you know, 245 00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: I think that it's I think that both and is 246 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:47,240 Speaker 1: incredibly important. And I know that like with inside you 247 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:51,079 Speaker 1: know of this movement, we sometimes don't give each other 248 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 1: a break right where it's like, well, why are you 249 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 1: trying to go inside and be the man right that 250 00:13:56,800 --> 00:14:00,280 Speaker 1: we're supposed to be fighting against. And then and we 251 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,319 Speaker 1: say to the folks that are out in the streets, like, 252 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:06,880 Speaker 1: you know, you need to understand how systems actually work 253 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:10,079 Speaker 1: and how to move policy through in order to get 254 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:14,480 Speaker 1: what you need. And so we need more of the 255 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,960 Speaker 1: Bakari sellers of the world that have the ability and 256 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 1: the nimbleness to straddle both. Thank you for that. Thank 257 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:25,080 Speaker 1: you keep us in your prayers, because sometimes that's straddling 258 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:27,560 Speaker 1: in the nimbleness. Sometimes your feet get heavy and your 259 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 1: back gets weary, But especially when you're dealing with some 260 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: of these new characters that are on the opposite side 261 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:36,640 Speaker 1: of you in this political struggle. Let's talk about those characters, 262 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:44,360 Speaker 1: shall we. So I am in a struggle place myself 263 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:49,000 Speaker 1: where I continue to ask myself and probably more so 264 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:53,320 Speaker 1: over the last several months, but definitely over the last 265 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: three and a half years of this Trump administration, as 266 00:14:56,560 --> 00:15:02,240 Speaker 1: America just continues to show the ugly side of her right, 267 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: I continue to ask myself is America worth salvaging and saving? 268 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:11,080 Speaker 1: And see, I don't have kids. You have beautiful sixteenth 269 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:16,320 Speaker 1: month old twins and so children provide a hopefulness, right, 270 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 1: like a future that you want to create for them. 271 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:24,119 Speaker 1: But as you know, Barack Obama just gave a commencement 272 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:29,320 Speaker 1: to the twenty twenty graduates, and for the first time, right, 273 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:32,920 Speaker 1: we are not leaving the world better right for these 274 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:38,240 Speaker 1: young people. We're actually leaving them a complete and total disaster, right, 275 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: climate change, increase, racism in, increased disparities, job now, joblessness 276 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:51,720 Speaker 1: a pandemic, A pandemic, a pandemic. Right, So it's like, 277 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 1: how how do you reconcile with yourself the idea that 278 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:59,040 Speaker 1: America is worth saving? Or you know, are we in 279 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:01,680 Speaker 1: a are we in a space where we should be 280 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 1: wanting to kind of burn it all down to the 281 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:07,040 Speaker 1: ground so that we can create something new, because it 282 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 1: seems to be burning itself up just fine. So when 283 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:14,400 Speaker 1: I refused to give to allow the kemps that the 284 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:17,840 Speaker 1: scansis is the Henry McMasters. They take a lot from us, 285 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:19,600 Speaker 1: but I refused to give them my hope. In my faith, 286 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:22,720 Speaker 1: I believe in with Abraham Lincoln call the better angels 287 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:26,160 Speaker 1: of our nature. I believe in that same promise that 288 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:29,600 Speaker 1: King talked about. But I also know the work that 289 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:31,440 Speaker 1: it takes to get there, and in this country we 290 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 1: cannot we cannot, we cannot not articulate the fact that 291 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:38,800 Speaker 1: we've made progress, but we also have to understand we 292 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,080 Speaker 1: got a hell of ways to go. And so understanding 293 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:45,560 Speaker 1: this journey for me is looking back and looking at 294 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:47,360 Speaker 1: and that's what I try to do in my country 295 00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:50,080 Speaker 1: through the lens of those who gave so much. You know, 296 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:53,000 Speaker 1: I look at Democratic Party politics, politics the lens of 297 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:56,600 Speaker 1: Fanny Gluh Hamburg and Ella Baker like I was able 298 00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:59,800 Speaker 1: to get on the stage in the twenty sixteen on 299 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,360 Speaker 1: Thursday Night before Hillary Clinton, until the world it would 300 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,119 Speaker 1: not be able to be a Hillary Clinton if it 301 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:08,240 Speaker 1: wasn't a Carol Mosley Broun. It wouldn't be a Carol 302 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:09,879 Speaker 1: Mosley bron if it went to show Chis and went 303 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:12,320 Speaker 1: to Shirley Chishlm, if it wasn't a family lu Hammer, 304 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:15,840 Speaker 1: Ellie Bake, Ella Baker, and so I just I feel 305 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:18,360 Speaker 1: like one it's worth salvaging because we cannot let those 306 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:22,480 Speaker 1: people down with getting so much and the work their work. 307 00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:25,520 Speaker 1: Our work is not yet completed. And you're right, kids, 308 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:29,200 Speaker 1: change your entire perspective, stady and stokely do not deserve 309 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:31,159 Speaker 1: to live in a world or Donald Trump is the 310 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:35,960 Speaker 1: president of the United States. They don't, And so I'm 311 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,520 Speaker 1: not going to. I am not going to. I'm a 312 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 1: fight like hell to make sure that I don't leave 313 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:43,159 Speaker 1: them with that and leave them with the remnants of that. 314 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:44,879 Speaker 1: So we're gonna have a lot of listen to the 315 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:47,440 Speaker 1: four years of Donald Trump will not be as bad 316 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:49,760 Speaker 1: as the four years of picking up after Donald Trump. 317 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:58,240 Speaker 1: I want to believe that we have that optimism. I 318 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:02,800 Speaker 1: want I want to believe that you are totally and 319 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:07,360 Speaker 1: completely right in that assertion. But I am. I am 320 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:12,199 Speaker 1: deeply concerned, right, and I think that you know, again, 321 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:19,000 Speaker 1: my vanishing, vanishing country to me, you know, is kind 322 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:21,879 Speaker 1: of like the nightmare that we're all living in. Is 323 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:24,520 Speaker 1: that everything for those of us that believe in democracy, 324 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:29,160 Speaker 1: you believe in each generation's responsibility to do the work, 325 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:30,960 Speaker 1: to put in the work so that it is less 326 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:34,760 Speaker 1: work for the generation that comes behind us, it's hard 327 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:37,119 Speaker 1: not to wake up every day and feel like the 328 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 1: country is in fact vanishing. And you know, you talk 329 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: because you come from rural black America, black working class people, right, 330 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:55,040 Speaker 1: who are all but invisible, right, they're all but invisible 331 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:59,119 Speaker 1: in this pandemic except for whose toil we wouldn't all 332 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:02,879 Speaker 1: be able to shell in place, right, got the thesis, 333 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:04,960 Speaker 1: and it's not the thing. And see, I don't want 334 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:08,440 Speaker 1: people to think that they're voiceless because they ain't handicapped. 335 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: They have a voice. They just their voices have just 336 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:16,760 Speaker 1: been unheard. And so there's a big difference between being 337 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:21,000 Speaker 1: voiceless per saying being unheard. Some people are voiceless than 338 00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 1: the Clemente Pinkneys of the world. I try to give 339 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:26,119 Speaker 1: his life voice in this book. But for those working 340 00:19:26,119 --> 00:19:28,240 Speaker 1: class people every day that are toiling in the vineyard 341 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:35,920 Speaker 1: as they say, yeah, this hopefully will be there their elegy, 342 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:38,879 Speaker 1: you know, and and them having a story that is 343 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:42,639 Speaker 1: told in one with pride. What do you think is 344 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:47,159 Speaker 1: one of the most misunderstood things, um, that you that 345 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:49,560 Speaker 1: your book seeks to tell. What do you think is 346 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:54,440 Speaker 1: the most misunderstood thing about um? Black people in the South, 347 00:19:54,560 --> 00:20:00,879 Speaker 1: black people in the country and rural America. UM. The 348 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,680 Speaker 1: belief that we are all ascribed to a culture of 349 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:09,159 Speaker 1: anti intellectualism and we date our cousins like we not 350 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:12,200 Speaker 1: all fairpoint. We can be country and we can be Bamma. 351 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:13,960 Speaker 1: We can be proud of that. But it does not 352 00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:16,240 Speaker 1: mean that you're going to pull the wool over our eyes. 353 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:19,159 Speaker 1: It does not mean that we have not been at 354 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:22,199 Speaker 1: the forefront of civil rights movement, gay rights movement. We 355 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,120 Speaker 1: have not been at the forefront of fighting for our 356 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,679 Speaker 1: freedom in this country. You know that we have a 357 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:31,320 Speaker 1: ton of HBCUs that are that are the you know, 358 00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:36,240 Speaker 1: the backbone of our culture of intellectualism. And so that's 359 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:38,959 Speaker 1: one of the main themes that I want to Rebut 360 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:44,960 Speaker 1: to be it doesn't mean that you are some bump. 361 00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:47,600 Speaker 1: I think you're proud of your proude for your merchanarity. 362 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:49,720 Speaker 1: You have a work ethic and motivated and a product. 363 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:53,919 Speaker 1: Do you feel like you have to have that you 364 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:58,879 Speaker 1: have to carry the weight of that experience with you 365 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:01,920 Speaker 1: wherever you go? Do it? Is it a burden? Is 366 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:04,840 Speaker 1: it both a burden and a pride to be able 367 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:09,359 Speaker 1: to consistently people see you and they see the star 368 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 1: you know, they seem the glitz and the glamor of 369 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:18,359 Speaker 1: the CNN and of you know, and of what that 370 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:21,200 Speaker 1: media shine does. Do you feel that it's a burden 371 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:26,040 Speaker 1: to continue to have to bring that fullness of yourself, 372 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:30,680 Speaker 1: to remind people, to teach people about what it means 373 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:33,760 Speaker 1: to be country, what it means to be rural, and 374 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:36,280 Speaker 1: what it means being unapologetically black. The answer to the 375 00:21:36,359 --> 00:21:38,879 Speaker 1: question is yes. I talked about it in one of 376 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:41,480 Speaker 1: the more difficult chapters. Are right. It's called anxiety a 377 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:44,439 Speaker 1: black man superpower, because I suffer from anxiety. I have 378 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:48,080 Speaker 1: fears of death and failure. Those fears, they though, they 379 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 1: push me, they they motivate me. They try to afford 380 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:56,920 Speaker 1: me to do better, because you do have to carry 381 00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:58,520 Speaker 1: the best example is being on TV. They're on a 382 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:00,199 Speaker 1: lot of black men on TV. And I say with 383 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:03,359 Speaker 1: every ounce of humility that I have that you know 384 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:07,480 Speaker 1: when people see me on TV, they for better or 385 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: for worse. That is the image they see of black 386 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:12,280 Speaker 1: men when they encounter them throughout the world. And so 387 00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:15,560 Speaker 1: you can't afford to have a down moment. And so yes, 388 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,720 Speaker 1: I am living in my truth. Yes I'm unapologetically black, 389 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:21,199 Speaker 1: and yes I'm very prideful. And yes that is a 390 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:25,200 Speaker 1: burden that, combined with my anxiety, makes me an interesting 391 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:33,000 Speaker 1: virgo to say the least, you know, we we don't, 392 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 1: we don't often and this is this is I think 393 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:40,200 Speaker 1: a conversation that is always worth having. And I appreciate 394 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:47,640 Speaker 1: you know that chapter, that realness, that rawness of sharing. Right, Um, 395 00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 1: we don't get to talk about our trauma. We don't 396 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:54,960 Speaker 1: even necessarily a lot of times talk about it with 397 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:59,679 Speaker 1: each other. Do you feel like, not because it's a um, 398 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:02,919 Speaker 1: not because of the negative connotations of it, but do 399 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:07,000 Speaker 1: you feel sometimes that if we slow down to have 400 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:11,280 Speaker 1: those conversations about it, that it will overwhelm us? Because 401 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:13,920 Speaker 1: that I mean, I'll be honest, That's how I feel, 402 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 1: which is why I just keep moving. I feel like 403 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 1: sometimes if I stop, got it. But sometimes you gotta 404 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:23,800 Speaker 1: slow down. Yeah, sometimes you have to slow down and 405 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:26,760 Speaker 1: appreciate your culture, the richness of who you are, right, 406 00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:30,359 Speaker 1: that's necessary, I mean, and I mean, to be honest 407 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:31,920 Speaker 1: with you, is we're going through this pandemic. We don't 408 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:35,040 Speaker 1: have a choice but to slow down. You can't can't move, 409 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:36,600 Speaker 1: you can't ignore it this right here, and so we 410 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: have to be physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally healthier on 411 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:42,520 Speaker 1: the back end of this than we where we went in. 412 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:46,520 Speaker 1: That's those are those are my goals. And so it's tough, 413 00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:51,840 Speaker 1: but the world needs us, me and you to display 414 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:54,280 Speaker 1: their richness of who we are. And so it ain't 415 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:56,359 Speaker 1: really no turning that off. In the words of the 416 00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:58,960 Speaker 1: great American poet Christopher While it is also known as biggie, 417 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,920 Speaker 1: we sleep when we die, hmm, I know that's where 418 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:08,720 Speaker 1: I know. That's hright. What what do you think about 419 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:13,240 Speaker 1: the Democratic Party right now in this in this moment, 420 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:16,959 Speaker 1: What do you think about our ability to turn around 421 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:23,400 Speaker 1: the disaster, the tragedy that is Donald Trump, that is 422 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:27,400 Speaker 1: the Republican Party. Well, I think I think that one, 423 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,560 Speaker 1: we have to show our level of appreciation and mobilize 424 00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 1: and energized with black women, that with a black female VP. 425 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:37,040 Speaker 1: I also think you got a message to black men 426 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:40,479 Speaker 1: because you know, Donald Trump is feeling that space with 427 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:42,960 Speaker 1: lives and ignorance. But he's feeling that space and Democrats 428 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:46,080 Speaker 1: for a long period of time simply have taken you know, 429 00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:48,680 Speaker 1: they haven't message to black men, and they've effectively become 430 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:51,720 Speaker 1: swing voters in this country, choosing either to vote Democratic 431 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,320 Speaker 1: or choose the couch, and many of them stay home. Thirteen. 432 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:56,919 Speaker 1: Donald Trump has a lot to do with messaging and 433 00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:00,639 Speaker 1: a lot to do with misogyny. But I digress. Um. 434 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:05,720 Speaker 1: And so, UM, I think that Biden is doing is steady. 435 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:10,440 Speaker 1: He is a steady hand. Um. I think that's why 436 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 1: he's the nominee, because he is a steady hand with 437 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:17,439 Speaker 1: some level of certainty in what you're going to get, 438 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,600 Speaker 1: some level of norm normalcy. I mean, do you remember 439 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:22,359 Speaker 1: when we could go weeks without even you know, we 440 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:24,800 Speaker 1: knew Barack Obama's president, but we really hear from him, 441 00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:27,720 Speaker 1: like the world was just sticking along. Yeah. Well, but 442 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:29,520 Speaker 1: I could go on and with my day to day 443 00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:31,920 Speaker 1: life and I you didn't have to worry about him. 444 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 1: Time my hee was popping in hydro chloroquin like, um, 445 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:40,080 Speaker 1: like he confused with hydroxy cutters on like the neck. Um. 446 00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:44,800 Speaker 1: And so yeah, yeah, this is gonna be a close race, man, 447 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:51,360 Speaker 1: a close race. And so I'm not sure. Um, I 448 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:53,399 Speaker 1: believe firmly that we will win this race, but it's 449 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:54,920 Speaker 1: gonna be a close. But also know that I'm the 450 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:56,600 Speaker 1: same person I thought Hillary Clinton was gonna be president. 451 00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,200 Speaker 1: In my say, well, the polls told us that precarring, 452 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:01,720 Speaker 1: so it was you know, supposed were right though she 453 00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:09,000 Speaker 1: won by three points. Don't make me upset because I'm 454 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:15,239 Speaker 1: I stay angry. Um, you know I feel what are 455 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:18,680 Speaker 1: one what are some of the ways? Um? And obviously 456 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:23,000 Speaker 1: writing My Vanishing Country, well, let me ask you, actually, 457 00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:26,040 Speaker 1: let me not put words into your mouth. Did writing 458 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:32,000 Speaker 1: this book My Vanishing Country allow you to release, um, 459 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:36,359 Speaker 1: some of the stress and the strain? Was it? Was 460 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:40,440 Speaker 1: it cathartic for you? Very much? So? Um, it's cathartic 461 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:44,280 Speaker 1: for me because I'm probably over overly optimistic at the 462 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:47,399 Speaker 1: power of my words. To let me have that, because 463 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:49,240 Speaker 1: I'm like, man, white people gonna read this book. Man, 464 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:50,880 Speaker 1: Black people are gonna read this book, and we're gonna 465 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,600 Speaker 1: be like, okay, right, we can finally begin to heal 466 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:55,399 Speaker 1: and have some of these conversations we need to have. 467 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:58,360 Speaker 1: I'm going to hold on to that optimism and try 468 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:02,800 Speaker 1: to speak it the truth. I'm speaking to power. But 469 00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:06,119 Speaker 1: I don't know my journey is not yet complete because 470 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:09,800 Speaker 1: you know, again, going back to this family that I'm living, 471 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:12,400 Speaker 1: I want you know, my wife almost died doing childbirth. 472 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:15,800 Speaker 1: I talk about that. My daughter had deliver your transplant. 473 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:18,720 Speaker 1: So we experienced the broken healthcare system. Grew up in 474 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:20,959 Speaker 1: the poor old South. My dad was shot in prison, 475 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:23,880 Speaker 1: a good for inclement painting, was shot in a church. 476 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:27,480 Speaker 1: But then we've had some successes like getting elected, having 477 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:31,760 Speaker 1: a beautiful family. It's these traumas that require perseverance that 478 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:36,760 Speaker 1: hopefully people have learned something from when reading My Vanishing Country. 479 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,239 Speaker 1: I'm sure and I'm I'm I'm absolutely certain of it. 480 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:45,960 Speaker 1: The last question that I always ask folks on you know, 481 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: on PM mood is but I'm going to make it 482 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:51,040 Speaker 1: a two parter for you because you have twins, so 483 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:54,600 Speaker 1: I get to do that. The first thing is what 484 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:58,399 Speaker 1: do you hope for them? What is you? What is 485 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:00,800 Speaker 1: your What is your hope for them? They are sixteen 486 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 1: months right, so hope, God willing, they will not remember 487 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:08,880 Speaker 1: the presidency of Donald Trump and it will be like, oh, yeah, 488 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:11,240 Speaker 1: I guess I was born. I was surround during that time. 489 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:14,320 Speaker 1: But thank god Daddy went to work and I, oh, 490 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:15,840 Speaker 1: you know, and I don't have to deal with that. 491 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:20,800 Speaker 1: What do you hope? Um, for them to be free 492 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:23,639 Speaker 1: to no matter who they love, who they prayed, to 493 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:27,119 Speaker 1: the color of their skin, they're able to get the 494 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:31,439 Speaker 1: benefit of their humanity on like Breanna Taylor and unlike um, 495 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:38,280 Speaker 1: um are very um. That's it. I mean, it's very 496 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:40,880 Speaker 1: simple for me. That's my goal for them to be free, 497 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:42,320 Speaker 1: and we have to work really hard. I want them 498 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:43,800 Speaker 1: to be able to pick up my finishing country one 499 00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:46,800 Speaker 1: day and read it as a fiction and be like, 500 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 1: I know that I wasn't the flight of that would 501 00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:51,800 Speaker 1: mean because this is that's a long time ago, that's 502 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:55,440 Speaker 1: not that's not the America who we know today. That's 503 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:57,520 Speaker 1: my dream and that that's the work that we all 504 00:28:57,600 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: have to do, including you, Daniel. We're not letting you know. 505 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:03,840 Speaker 1: Oh I feel please, I know you here now, man, 506 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: I'm here now. And then the actual final question that 507 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:11,880 Speaker 1: I always ask us on PM mood is how do 508 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:16,000 Speaker 1: you get in the mood to change the world? Prayer, 509 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:21,400 Speaker 1: being intentional, listening to some good music, some young jeez 510 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:26,920 Speaker 1: and some outcasts, best Southern stuff, and get focused on 511 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:30,240 Speaker 1: going out there in a no words and benjoin elves amazed, 512 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 1: and all things that you do you do them so 513 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:33,760 Speaker 1: well that no man living day or yet to be 514 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:36,520 Speaker 1: born can do them better. Just go try to be great. 515 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:43,240 Speaker 1: You are absolutely an amazing treasure bookari sellers, thank you 516 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:46,880 Speaker 1: so much, and you know and thank you, thank you 517 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:50,920 Speaker 1: for being so brave and courageous to put your story, 518 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:56,120 Speaker 1: your trauma and hopefully you're healing in your book, My 519 00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:59,040 Speaker 1: Vanishing Country, and everyone should pick it up. Thank you 520 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:01,280 Speaker 1: for allowing me to use the platform. Have a bless day, 521 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:07,200 Speaker 1: you two. Thank you thanks for listening to PM mood. 522 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:10,680 Speaker 1: As always, you can hear episodes every week for free, 523 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:13,920 Speaker 1: and my daily political podcast, Woke a F Daily, is 524 00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:17,680 Speaker 1: on Patreon for just five dollars a month at patreon 525 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:21,720 Speaker 1: dot com slash woke f. That's five dollars a month 526 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,440 Speaker 1: for five shows a week, so check it out. If 527 00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:28,040 Speaker 1: you're in the mood for more of me, Danielle Moody, 528 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:31,360 Speaker 1: follow me on Twitter and Instagram at D two cents 529 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 1: d e E two c e nts, and as always, 530 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,360 Speaker 1: stay in the PM mood to change the world.