Speaker 1: Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership
Speaker 1: with Reason Choice Media.
Speaker 2: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 1: Home, y'all. This is Angela Rai. It is a Native
Speaker 1: Land Pod solo pod day, and I'm really I don't
Speaker 1: know if I'll call it excited, but it is an
Speaker 1: important conversation that we need to have. I think that
Speaker 1: we continue to see in our comments this divide between
Speaker 1: black folks who understand, appreciate, and want to be mindful
Speaker 1: of what's happening with migrants from all over the world
Speaker 1: in this country right now, and those who want to
Speaker 1: turn a blind eye to it because for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: they're not able to tap into their humanity. I for one,
Speaker 1: think that it is really important when we have these
Speaker 1: conversations about what's happening with people who have been in
Speaker 1: this country, have you know, paid their dues, whether it's
Speaker 1: military service, contributed to a college, environment, our hard workers
Speaker 1: in their community, or whatever else, that we have the
Speaker 1: opportunity to really have the conversation and name the individuals.
Speaker 1: So today, what we are going to do on Native Lampod,
Speaker 1: on this solo pod is dig a little deeper into
Speaker 1: what is actually happening with the migrant CSIS crisis and
Speaker 1: the random ice raids we're seeing in communities throughout the country,
Speaker 1: especially when that city is led by a progressive or
Speaker 1: a black mayor. And so here we are today. There
Speaker 1: was a conversation we had recently with Anana Jomfi, who
Speaker 1: is over seeing the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. She
Speaker 1: was on with us recently and really shed a lot
Speaker 1: of light on this. But Nana hasn't stopped there. She
Speaker 1: continues to give us names of people who have been
Speaker 1: adversely impacted by this country's really treacherous immigration policies. And
Speaker 1: this one today strikes a completely different cord in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways. And I want you to hear from
Speaker 1: Rodney Taylor's fiance. We will be joined by Mildred Pierre.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to invite Mildred Pierre on to talk
Speaker 1: about who Rodney Taylor is, to give you all some
Speaker 1: background of about him, his story, how he's been impacted
Speaker 1: by ice raids and detention, what he's waiting for, what
Speaker 1: he needs from all of us, and what the path
Speaker 1: forward might look like. We can't continue to have these
Speaker 1: conversations in a vacuum, so I'm not going to give
Speaker 1: you a stat and you determine how the stat doesn't
Speaker 1: apply to you or why this doesn't matter. There are
Speaker 1: a ton of people in this country who have contributed
Speaker 1: to black history. My best friend and I were mentored
Speaker 1: by someone named Carl Mack who came up with a
Speaker 1: calendar of Black Facts. And this calendar of Black Facts
Speaker 1: had the contributions of Black Americans, black folks throughout the
Speaker 1: diaspora every single day. And when you go back through
Speaker 1: a calendar like those filled with black facts, and you
Speaker 1: go back through some of the people who have contributed
Speaker 1: to hip hop and inventions and civil rights, you're going
Speaker 1: to find that many of those people were either immigrants
Speaker 1: themselves or they were the children of immigrants. So as
Speaker 1: we continue to wrestle with what actually is and not
Speaker 1: what we wish it would be, I think it's important
Speaker 1: that we have this conversation in earnest and we have
Speaker 1: it with the eye towards humanity. So we're going to
Speaker 1: bring Mildred Pierre to the stage. Hi everyone, Hi Mildred,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for being here and being bold
Speaker 1: enough to come forward and tell the story of your
Speaker 1: fiance Rodney Taylor. I would love for you to tell
Speaker 1: us who Rodney Taylor is, where you all are located,
Speaker 1: and we'll go from there.
Speaker 3: Rodney Taylor is my fiance. He's a forty six year
Speaker 3: old man that was born in Liberia. He came to
Speaker 3: America when he was two. He a community leader, an advocate,
Speaker 3: he is a master barber. We live in Loganville, Georgia
Speaker 3: Metropolitan that's the Atlanta metropolitan area, about a hour away
Speaker 3: from Atlanta.
Speaker 1: And when you think about Rodney outside of his contributions,
Speaker 1: because so often, and this is something that Nana has
Speaker 1: told us as well, we talk about people in terms
Speaker 1: of their work and not necessarily who they are as
Speaker 1: human beings. So talk to us about the type of
Speaker 1: human being Rodney is.
Speaker 3: Rodney is a giver.
Speaker 4: Little background.
Speaker 3: So Rodney came to America for medical seeking medical help
Speaker 3: and he received that medical help from Shriner's Children Hospital
Speaker 3: and all his medical expenses was free, it was covered.
Speaker 3: And so he always have this thing to give back,
Speaker 3: God bless me. I have to give back. So from
Speaker 3: the beginning of from I think from the time he
Speaker 3: was sixteen is when he got certified and got his
Speaker 3: barber schooling out the way he's been giving back. He's
Speaker 3: the first step was his mom is a nurse, so
Speaker 3: she would have these patients with their hair grown now
Speaker 3: and she will tell him, hey, can you please come
Speaker 3: cut my patient's hair because these patients are identified as
Speaker 3: HIV AIDS patients and nobody wants to cut their hair,
Speaker 3: so Rodney will go in cut their hair. He did
Speaker 3: that for years as a young man, and then that
Speaker 3: continued into him now, you know, going to senior centers
Speaker 3: where now they expect them to come cut their hair
Speaker 3: for free, and attending back to school events and cutting
Speaker 3: underprivileged communities with free haircuts. He's especially sensitive to single
Speaker 3: women that you know, have multiple boys that needed haircuts
Speaker 3: in you know, we only have enough for one kid
Speaker 3: and that the other three.
Speaker 4: He also give back. He fundraised with Susan G.
Speaker 3: Coleman. His mom is a breast cancer survivor and so
Speaker 3: for the past two three years now he's been fundraisings
Speaker 3: for Susan G. Coleman, giving back in that manner, connecting
Speaker 3: with the community by joining the walk here in alliancea
Speaker 3: metropolitan area. He is a very kind man and a
Speaker 3: very patient man. We are he blended family. I come
Speaker 3: with five children. He has two. One of the biggest
Speaker 3: thing that was important with dating Rodney or trying to
Speaker 3: see if he qualified.
Speaker 4: You know what I mean?
Speaker 3: Does he have the patience to deal with a woman
Speaker 3: with five kids? And he has proven himself time and
Speaker 3: time and again. My youngest daughter calls him daddy. Her
Speaker 3: dad is physically absent, the last two physically absent, and
Speaker 3: he has taken them by his wings, and they see
Speaker 3: him as a father. Rodney is caring. He's giving spiritual
Speaker 3: men praise many times when I am feeling weak in
Speaker 3: this moment. While he's detained, he calls me and pray
Speaker 3: for me, and when I should be doing that the
Speaker 3: way around, selfless man. Even now, while he's detained, he
Speaker 3: gives out free haircuts in the detainment center. He makes
Speaker 3: sure that these big detainees are at least looking nice
Speaker 3: before they go home to their to their native where
Speaker 3: they were born.
Speaker 4: Rather, Yeah, that's.
Speaker 1: Rodney does he Has he been mildred? Has he been
Speaker 1: back to Liberia since he left when he was two?
Speaker 3: No, he doesn't even know what Liberia looks like. Rodney
Speaker 3: came here when he was two and never been back.
Speaker 3: He has no idea what that like.
Speaker 1: And I'm asking that because I think that for many
Speaker 1: of us, we would understand, right, somebody that I don't
Speaker 1: have any memories. I don't think from before I was three,
Speaker 1: So a lot of people, you know, when you contextualize
Speaker 1: it in that way, you're like, oh, wait, I don't
Speaker 1: actually have a election of that place. And this is
Speaker 1: where he calls home. He's made it his home through
Speaker 1: service and so many other ways. You talked about the
Speaker 1: patience he exhibits as a father, But I also want
Speaker 1: to talk about when you all got engaged in, how
Speaker 1: you all knew that that was going to be your
Speaker 1: next step.
Speaker 3: So I had a fortieth party, and I've always wanted
Speaker 3: this fortieth and I'm like, I want affordieth because I
Speaker 3: haven't celebrated my birthday.
Speaker 4: God knows, I can't remember it.
Speaker 3: And so had we had a five year plan, we'll
Speaker 3: get engaged at a five year mark. Well on my
Speaker 3: fortieth that was the third year mark. So that's not
Speaker 3: what I was expecting at all. So my family members,
Speaker 3: I'm originally from Florida, they drove up, they flew in,
Speaker 3: his family came, friends, colleagues, everybody showed up.
Speaker 4: It was a party. We had a blast. Why aybody
Speaker 4: looking at me?
Speaker 3: I know, I know I am the you know, it's
Speaker 3: my day or whatever.
Speaker 4: But while they have me on stage or whatever, I
Speaker 4: don't know what the MC is doing, but they nim
Speaker 4: do his.
Speaker 3: Thing and I look in the corner of my eye
Speaker 3: and I'm.
Speaker 4: Like what, Oh my god. He had a box and
Speaker 4: the ring he had it opened, Like what you're doing.
Speaker 3: We're not at the five year mark. What are you doing?
Speaker 3: I'm like, are you sure? And he was like yeah,
Speaker 3: And then everybody's waiting for me to say I do,
Speaker 3: but I'm still our. I do yes to the ring
Speaker 3: and I'm like, I'm still shocked, Like we're not We're
Speaker 3: not at the five year mark yet. So that was
Speaker 3: pretty cool. That was an awesome surprise from then. Uh
Speaker 3: you know, I was still on my little high of
Speaker 3: being newly engaged.
Speaker 4: And eleven days later he gets detained. That was very,
Speaker 4: very hard. We had just decided on a date for
Speaker 4: our wedding.
Speaker 1: What is the date?
Speaker 3: February twenty eighth, twenty seven, twenty twenty seven, so to
Speaker 3: twenty eight, twenty seven, and his family from Liberia called
Speaker 3: and was like his stepdad rather, so we need your measurements.
Speaker 3: We gotta you know, fit you and.
Speaker 4: What it's only been a couple hours.
Speaker 3: That was pretty cool, But that that came to a
Speaker 3: very quick, short lived moment of.
Speaker 4: Excitement when he got detained only eleven days later.
Speaker 1: So eleven days after he proposed to you, you all
Speaker 1: just set your wedding date. One thing that stood out
Speaker 1: to me too, Beldrid, as you said, you know, he
Speaker 1: calls you from the detention facility and praise for you.
Speaker 1: Can you talk about you know, it's now been almost seven.
Speaker 4: Months, in eighty seven days, one.
Speaker 1: Hundred and eighty seven days, So talk about that impact.
Speaker 1: You guys have seven kids together with your blended family,
Speaker 1: talk about the impact on you. Rodney's mother and your children.
Speaker 3: Rodney's mother, Rodney's sister, Rodney's brother, Rodney's aunt, cousins, uncles, nieces, nephews, clients,
Speaker 3: Oh my god, it's clients. Some of them have not
Speaker 3: gotten in America since the last time he touched their head.
Speaker 3: They refused to cheat on him, right, they don't want
Speaker 3: to cheat on his Barbara and the Barbara the community.
Speaker 3: But then we'll start at home. His kids, they didn't
Speaker 3: believe it. Our kids, we didn't believe it. I thought
Speaker 3: it was like a scene from a movie, like who
Speaker 3: are these people and why they why is.
Speaker 4: The car surround it?
Speaker 3: I didn't know much about ice until he got picked up.
Speaker 3: This was a learning curve for us. Emotionally, it was like, uh,
Speaker 3: he'll be home soon, It'll turn around us temporary m
Speaker 3: My son took it the hardest, him and my two
Speaker 3: youngest daughters. I've had to seek therapy for him. He's
Speaker 3: my only son. Rodney took him as his own and
Speaker 3: separation anxiety. Ethan started acting out. And Ethan is an
Speaker 3: A plus student. His GPA is like a four point
Speaker 3: zero three and the boys in the tenth grade and
Speaker 3: his study habits started to change and try to understand
Speaker 3: whyse because Rodney's not here, It's like, Mom, does that
Speaker 3: mean I have to be the man of the house.
Speaker 4: I know his.
Speaker 3: Children, you know, it's been really hard for them to cope,
Speaker 3: Like is my dadd ever coming back? For my two
Speaker 3: younger children that call him dad, you know, it was
Speaker 3: hard for them too. They didn't know they saw him
Speaker 3: get detained in front of me, in front of you know,
Speaker 3: it happened as on the way to school.
Speaker 4: They cried and cried. I remember the school called me.
Speaker 3: He was like, is everything okay? Because you know, and
Speaker 3: I'm like, you know, I have had to tell them
Speaker 3: what happened. And to this day, like recently, my one
Speaker 3: of my daughters, she went to summer camp.
Speaker 4: There was a gentleman there that looks just like Rodney.
Speaker 3: She cried, she thought that was him, and when she
Speaker 3: quickly realized that was him.
Speaker 2: She's like, oh my god, I missed my daddy. Mommy,
Speaker 2: when are we going to go see him? And is
Speaker 2: he okay? When is he coming home? Like why every
Speaker 2: time we go see him, he doesn't come with us.
Speaker 2: And now they mad at me because they think it's
Speaker 2: my fault and he's not coming with us.
Speaker 4: Why are we leaving him behind? I remember the first.
Speaker 3: Time I five to rolled through a tantrum, she put
Speaker 3: herself on the floor and nasty, dirty floor. Mommy, He's
Speaker 3: got to come with us. Why is he behind the wall?
Speaker 3: And the wall is you know when you do the
Speaker 3: visits is it's a it's a clear glass and it's
Speaker 3: the phone that was hard to financially our income. You know,
Speaker 3: we feel it emotionally, it's you know, you finally find
Speaker 3: love somebody you trust that your kids love because I had.
Speaker 3: I went through my kids first. With Rodney, I went
Speaker 3: through my kids. I said, do you guys like this man?
Speaker 3: If you guys don't, we could close this chapter. The
Speaker 3: kids love him, so he got it to put in
Speaker 3: the door with me because of my kids.
Speaker 4: Kids.
Speaker 3: I absolutely love him, and so it's hard financially, it's
Speaker 3: hard emotionally.
Speaker 4: I don't want to carry my house.
Speaker 3: That's a man's job.
Speaker 2: A so.
Speaker 3: And then romantically, I had purchase tickets to go on
Speaker 3: dates in advance, and those dates has passed him.
Speaker 4: Praying for me is trying to hold the household?
Speaker 3: Is like when Moses couldn't hold up the tablets anymore,
Speaker 3: and then Aaron had to come. Other folks had to
Speaker 3: come help support his arm up as prayer. Is that
Speaker 3: support up to help me carry this family?
Speaker 1: You know, I want to go Mildred back to the
Speaker 1: day I had. You know again, people, when they write
Speaker 1: these stories, it's you know who this person is in
Speaker 1: terms of their occupation and the fact that they were
Speaker 1: detained by ice. And sometimes they'll tell you for how long.
Speaker 1: But in this instance, you're saying that he was detained
Speaker 1: in front of your children. And can you take us
Speaker 1: back to that day and what happened.
Speaker 3: We were getting ready for school a Wednesday morning, January fifteenth.
Speaker 3: It was about seven forty five in the morning. We
Speaker 3: pulled off. But the day before there was a gentleman
Speaker 3: that was in my driveway and he was looking at
Speaker 3: my mailmarks. He was looking at one of my vehicles
Speaker 3: that I drive. I walked up to him. I said, sir,
Speaker 3: it's everything okay. I noticed he had a gun on
Speaker 3: his hip.
Speaker 4: I asked him.
Speaker 3: I said, are you law enforcement?
Speaker 4: He said no.
Speaker 3: I said, okay, well who are you? And he was like, well,
Speaker 3: this vehicle looked like it was an accident. I said
Speaker 3: it clearly, it was not an accident. There's no the
Speaker 3: car's not hit. So how might I help?
Speaker 4: You said, while I'm looking for someone, do you know
Speaker 4: Rodney Taylor? I said I do.
Speaker 3: He said, okay, he may have driven this vehicle. I said,
Speaker 3: nobody drives his vehicle. Only I drive this vehicle. And
Speaker 3: then so he was just asking me questions about Rodney,
Speaker 3: and I'm like, well, who are you? He never identified
Speaker 3: himself and he quickly left, jumping the car left. The
Speaker 3: next morning, I live like near a call to sack.
Speaker 3: I look to the corner of my eye, I see
Speaker 3: the car parked in the call to Sack, but I
Speaker 3: didn't think nothing of it. So what we get in
Speaker 3: the car? We drive off with the same car gets
Speaker 3: behind me and there's two more cars that blocks me
Speaker 3: from the front, so I can't go up, I can't
Speaker 3: move forward, I can't move backwards. And the same gentleman
Speaker 3: from the day before, get out, get out, Rodney Taylor,
Speaker 3: get out. Guns drawn. It's like five six men armed,
Speaker 3: get out, get out, Rodney Taylor, get out. Granted, the
Speaker 3: cars aren't marked. These people aren't marked. Nobody. It doesn't
Speaker 3: say ice, it doesn't say police. They weren't black and brown.
Speaker 4: And I'm like, who are these people?
Speaker 3: Well, you're being arrested for And they didn't really give
Speaker 3: They just said you're being arrested and who were you guys?
Speaker 4: Taking it Ice Atlanta? And I'm like, what is that?
Speaker 3: What is ice? The kids are crying, Mommy, they're taking
Speaker 3: daddy while they're arresting him. I don't like the police.
Speaker 3: And my daughter straight asked one of them because they
Speaker 3: came to my kids window too, because they were sitting
Speaker 3: He was in a passenger passenger, seeall was driving? Were
Speaker 3: you taking my daddy? Why are you taking my daddy?
Speaker 3: And uh? One of the Ice guys actually felt bad
Speaker 3: and it was like, we were just taking your daddy.
Speaker 4: Your daddy would be okay. And they were crying.
Speaker 3: They were crying, and I couldn't cry as much as
Speaker 3: I wanted to because I had to kind of like
Speaker 3: put up the front to be calm but really clear
Speaker 3: my mind about who do I call?
Speaker 4: Now?
Speaker 3: Where is Ice?
Speaker 4: What does that mean?
Speaker 3: Do we have a phone? Umber asks the gentleman for
Speaker 3: the car, like, who were you? Never gave it to me?
Speaker 3: Rodnie was like, call his lawyer. So I did googled
Speaker 3: Ice Atlanta and that's how I learned where that is
Speaker 3: and what that means. It was horrible that morning the kids.
Speaker 3: I still dropped him off to school because I didn't
Speaker 3: know what to do. I still had to go to work,
Speaker 3: pretend like nothing happened. Called his lawyer and then shortly thereafter,
Speaker 3: the teacher calls me, what's going on with Abigail? What's
Speaker 3: going on with Annie? Two different schools now, two different
Speaker 3: directors calling me, and the same thing. The kids are inconsolable.
Speaker 3: Can you speak to them?
Speaker 4: And I did.
Speaker 3: I spoke to both of my girls, and the kids
Speaker 3: thought by the time they got home that he would
Speaker 3: be home. So when I picked him up from school,
Speaker 3: they was like, so, where's where's daddy? Is he here?
Speaker 3: He looked him on the whole house looking for him.
Speaker 3: They thought it was some type of joke. Mommy's when
Speaker 3: is he coming home? Can you go pick him up?
Speaker 3: Why he's not home yet?
Speaker 4: I didn't know what to say. I think that was
Speaker 4: the hardest thing, Like what do you say?
Speaker 3: What do you say? His son he found out when
Speaker 3: he went to the barbershop. We didn't even get a
Speaker 3: chance to tell him. And I was able to contact
Speaker 3: one up because Rodney had a client to waiting before
Speaker 3: haircu Yes, right, you got people waiting for his services
Speaker 3: and they were trying to figure out where he is.
Speaker 3: And I had to find a way to communicate with
Speaker 3: his clients to let them know that he's not available.
Speaker 4: And then who who to call? Who would you trust
Speaker 4: to know?
Speaker 3: Is this a setup?
Speaker 4: How and why did they pick him up?
Speaker 1: It was a lot when they when you when you
Speaker 1: dig into how and why did they pick him up?
Speaker 1: Did they ever tell you that it was about a
Speaker 1: case from when he was sixteen years old that he's
Speaker 1: been pardoned for. When did you find that out?
Speaker 4: I found that out two days later.
Speaker 1: Well, how did they give you any explanation for it?
Speaker 1: Like normally, and I've done more federal losstuff. I worked
Speaker 1: in Congress. So a pardon means that it is not
Speaker 1: on your record. It means it essentially is like, I'm
Speaker 1: not guilty now for what's happened. If they're resting the
Speaker 1: entire basis for a potential deportation of Rodney Taylor on
Speaker 1: a case that he was pardoned for from when he
Speaker 1: was sixteen years old, how are they relying on that? Now?
Speaker 1: What is your attorney saying?
Speaker 4: That is wild?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: Rodney is so rare. His attorney never seen an undocumented
Speaker 3: person within it with a pardon. Rodney was accused of burglary.
Speaker 3: He pleaded guilty back in ninety seven. He was seventeen.
Speaker 3: He was a child, he was a kid.
Speaker 1: It's almost thirty years ago. For those of us who
Speaker 1: have a hard time with math, right, it's twenty eight
Speaker 1: years ago, correct.
Speaker 3: And he was profiled Who's railroad? He was a black
Speaker 3: young team in an area home. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 3: the day before. He had just came from Shriner's Hospital
Speaker 3: in South Carolina for treatment for his prosthetics, and he
Speaker 3: was home waiting to go register for his parents to
Speaker 3: register him for school m because he had just moved
Speaker 3: down to Georgia, and so he just so happened to
Speaker 3: be home. There was a burglary that happened in the
Speaker 3: neighborhood and they saw him sitting on the porch. They
Speaker 3: accused him. They said, you have you did it because
Speaker 3: you're you're home. He was scared. He was alone, no parents,
Speaker 3: his parents are not available at the time, and they
Speaker 3: picked him up and so they told him, if you
Speaker 3: don't plead guilty, you're didn't do five years.
Speaker 4: He was scared. Pleaded guilty.
Speaker 3: Well, he did about nine months and he only died.
Speaker 4: Probation until.
Speaker 3: Years later he gets he's now looking to get his
Speaker 3: get his documents in order, and so he cannot because
Speaker 3: of this criminal situation, and so he goes and seek
Speaker 3: a pardon.
Speaker 4: Through one of his lawyers from back then, and they.
Speaker 3: Gave him the pardon because back then, let's be honest,
Speaker 3: the cab had a lot going on, the Cab County,
Speaker 3: and I believe they really saw the injustice there, they
Speaker 3: really saw what happened with him, and it granted him
Speaker 3: a pardon. And so the pardon, which is wild because
Speaker 3: it's an unconditional pardon. If you look it up online,
Speaker 3: it says unconditional pardon, yet it seems not to apply
Speaker 3: to him. Why does it not apply to him? Just
Speaker 3: doesn't make any sense. I can't go into the legal
Speaker 3: aspects of all that, but he does have a pardon,
Speaker 3: and ICE is not recognizing that.
Speaker 1: And I guess my my question is what what what
Speaker 1: did they say triggered there? Like I guess, I know,
Speaker 1: I can't even like find the words, but it to me,
Speaker 1: what's baffling is there are people on the streets right
Speaker 1: now who are migrants who are committing active crimes, not
Speaker 1: you know, twenty eight year old's offenses that it sounds
Speaker 1: like did not even happen. He just was in the
Speaker 1: wrong place, wrong time, right. But if you are talking
Speaker 1: about people who they're trying to get off the streets,
Speaker 1: who are violent, dangerous criminals as they've been branded, what
Speaker 1: does Rodney have to do with it? And like, why
Speaker 1: were they utilizing him to make an example of that?
Speaker 1: Is what's mind blowing to me. You talked about when
Speaker 1: he was sixteen, he just came back from a medical
Speaker 1: appointment for his prosthetics. Can you talk about that, because
Speaker 1: I think that's also important context for this.
Speaker 3: Rodney is a double amputee. He came here from my
Speaker 3: beer when he was two because of his medical condition.
Speaker 3: Rodney was born with cub his left foot cubbed I'm sorry,
Speaker 3: left foot missing, right foot cubbed. Shriners was in neighboring country, Ghana,
Speaker 3: and they so happened to go to Liberia and they
Speaker 3: saw Rodney in his condition in the hospital.
Speaker 4: Well, fun fact, it's horrible.
Speaker 3: But when you're born in uh in Africa with disability,
Speaker 3: you considered taboo.
Speaker 4: You consider that you're born of witchcraft.
Speaker 3: Most often children are mutilated murdered because they believe that
Speaker 3: you have some type of spirit on you. So they
Speaker 3: you know, they don't want to be around you. So
Speaker 3: his mom hid him for two years, hit him from
Speaker 3: society for two years so he won't get kidnapped and murdered.
Speaker 3: And so knowing all of this, Shriners just so happened
Speaker 3: to be in the neighborhood, I guess or and he
Speaker 3: was there for treatment because he did had two of
Speaker 3: his first surgeries in Liberia, but they couldn't continue, and
Speaker 3: so Shriners saw that he was fit to he could handle.
Speaker 3: We want to try to give him a better life,
Speaker 3: so let's bring him to the States. They couldn't even
Speaker 3: do a MARI, they couldn't do an X ray because
Speaker 3: those machines and devices do not does not exist in Liberia, right,
Speaker 3: And there was a civil war, huge civil war where
Speaker 3: the president at the time was overthrown. His dad was
Speaker 3: part of the legal legal the political party there that
Speaker 3: went into hiding and was arrested because he was part
Speaker 3: of the It was a lot. So mom goes into hiding,
Speaker 3: Dad gets arrested, put in jail, and during all of
Speaker 3: this civil war happening, he has his medical condition and
Speaker 3: so Shriner approves him to come to the States for
Speaker 3: medical care. He gets here and he had his first
Speaker 3: surgery maybe six months after he arrives in nineteen eighty two.
Speaker 4: He arrived in eighty one, and.
Speaker 3: And the surgery was to try to fix his foot
Speaker 3: his leg, and they fitted him with a prosthetic for
Speaker 3: his right foot, so he always had I'm sorry for
Speaker 3: his left foot, So he always had a prosthetic for
Speaker 3: his left foot. And so to give you understanding, Rodney
Speaker 3: does not have any feet. Right, here's a double amputy,
Speaker 3: one below the lean, one above the knee. So to
Speaker 3: be accused of burglary, to say that he climbed out
Speaker 3: of a window, carried a stereo system and his disability
Speaker 3: is not possible.
Speaker 4: Rodney can't be lift me up. I'm about it.
Speaker 3: I'll be onto my weight. I'm about one hundred and
Speaker 3: forty five pounds. He can't lift me up because of
Speaker 3: the weight that it produces on his prosthetics. So to
Speaker 3: be accused back then in the nineties, the prosthetics now
Speaker 3: that we have are amazing. Right, there's micro trip. You
Speaker 3: could plug it into the wall and charge it. It's
Speaker 3: like the fancy stuff. Well, back then they were made
Speaker 3: out of wood. They were a lot more heavier than
Speaker 3: they are now. And so to be accused as a
Speaker 3: young man with double prosthetics that he told them in
Speaker 3: court like, there's no way I could have done this.
Speaker 4: Look at my legs.
Speaker 3: He showed them their prosthetics, and yet they.
Speaker 4: Still charging with berger.
Speaker 1: So no, I'm sorry, go ahead and make sure I apologize.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, you're good.
Speaker 4: I appreciate you too.
Speaker 1: I am I'm curious now to hear what they're saying
Speaker 1: about the case. Are they detaining him indefinitely? Is their
Speaker 1: plan to deport him? What's the latest of what you
Speaker 1: are hearing.
Speaker 3: We did a protest to last month because he had
Speaker 3: a hearing July second, and that protest was to bring
Speaker 3: awareness to what's happening to him as a UHL, as
Speaker 3: a detainee with medical you know needs. Well, we're grateful
Speaker 3: that we're able to do that protest. At that hearing,
Speaker 3: they did provide him his final hearing date. His final
Speaker 3: hearing date is August twelfth, and that's at that date
Speaker 3: is when we'll.
Speaker 4: Know if he will be released or deported.
Speaker 3: It's scary, but we believe God we will know at
Speaker 3: that time that don't will make that final decision at that.
Speaker 1: Time, So August twelfth, and I guess my question for
Speaker 1: you to Madrid is what are you asking the community
Speaker 1: to do. Rodney's clients, the neighbors, the folks who are
Speaker 1: the kids and the parents of the folks who'se hair
Speaker 1: he cuts for free because he just wants people to
Speaker 1: feel good and look good. For people hearing this story
Speaker 1: for the first time. What would you ask people to
Speaker 1: do as you prepare for this hearing on August twelfth.
Speaker 3: I want to tell people contact Congress. David Scott is
Speaker 3: our state representative here in Georgia. Call Congress, write letters. Hey,
Speaker 3: we heard what happened with that I named Rodney Taylor
Speaker 3: pushed to get him out. We are grateful that Senator Warnock.
Speaker 3: Some folks from his office came h came to Georgia
Speaker 3: and saw him. They met with Rodney a few weeks
Speaker 3: ago and they heard his concerns and escalated it. We
Speaker 3: also have a goalfundme his legal His legal expenses is
Speaker 3: not cheap, and so call Congress. Be a little more sensitive.
Speaker 3: I have to admit myself, even though I am a
Speaker 3: first generation Haitian American, I didn't know anything about immigration
Speaker 3: until now. Be more sensitive about what other folks may
Speaker 3: be going to going through. And now you know blacks
Speaker 3: are being targeted. You know it's a lot of Latinos
Speaker 3: being profiled, right, and it's you know, before you know
Speaker 3: the thing about the Haitians getting picked up.
Speaker 4: You know we're all a target. It doesn't matter anymore
Speaker 4: what you look like.
Speaker 3: So try to be conscious of that just because you're
Speaker 3: not an immigrant, you could be targeted to You can
Speaker 3: be in the Rodney shoes and waiting three four days to.
Speaker 4: Prove that you and you a citizen.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Contact Congress David Scott, contact Assoft office. Senator also
Speaker 3: Senator Warnock. Support the goalfundme?
Speaker 1: How do they support their.
Speaker 3: The goalfundme is on his instagram. Gwennette underscore one. His
Speaker 3: TikTok is the same name, Gwennett underscore one. His website
Speaker 3: pocthebarber dot com. I try to update that as much
Speaker 3: as I can. Share his story, let people know what's happening.
Speaker 3: I know there's a lot happening with the Colatino community
Speaker 3: and they support each other.
Speaker 1: Say that for the people in the back, Mildred, do
Speaker 1: they support each other? I want to have one final
Speaker 1: question you you said your first generation Haitian American, how
Speaker 1: do you feel in this moment they have eliminated TPS
Speaker 1: for Haitian Americans, which is Temporary Protective status or Haitians
Speaker 1: who have come over from Haiti. But do you have
Speaker 1: any concerns yourself seeing what's happened to your fiance knowing
Speaker 1: that they have they are trying to undo what we've
Speaker 1: relied upon, multi generational black folks with birthright citizenship. How
Speaker 1: are you feeling, Are you concerned at all about your
Speaker 1: own safety?
Speaker 3: That's wild. My parents we buried my parents, Mom and
Speaker 3: dad is gone and they are rolling in their graves
Speaker 3: right now. My mom came here with status. She came
Speaker 3: to the States in the seventies, early seventies with a
Speaker 3: permanent residency already. Then Shorty became a citizen. She helped
Speaker 3: my dad get his citizen, his permanent residency. That's probably
Speaker 3: why I don't know anything about the immigrations TEP because
Speaker 3: the already have their status.
Speaker 4: Is necessari thing I'm familiar with at all.
Speaker 3: But it's sad because I know people that's on TPS
Speaker 3: that are Haitian.
Speaker 4: They're afraid, they.
Speaker 3: Don't know, you know, they established their life here, this
Speaker 3: is all they know, right and being scared to go
Speaker 3: back to a war torn country like Haiti. Can't support
Speaker 3: these people.
Speaker 4: It's I mean, either gonna get murdered or gonna die
Speaker 4: of starvation.
Speaker 3: Either way. It's you know, early grave being deported to Haiti.
Speaker 3: It's wild that they're even thinking about stuff like that,
Speaker 3: and I'm grateful that most of my family members are
Speaker 3: here in the States, and the ones that are in
Speaker 3: haity choose to be there for business. So it's scary.
Speaker 3: It's sad, you know, like we're targeted because we were black.
Speaker 3: It's a lot of the colored countries that are cut
Speaker 3: off with TPS or they have to travel band right, yes, No,
Speaker 3: they have to travel countries in Africa.
Speaker 4: Yes, and then you do boarding people back there.
Speaker 3: That's wild.
Speaker 4: That doesn't make any sense. One plus one is two, right,
Speaker 4: trying to.
Speaker 1: Supposed to Yeah, And that's just it. I think, Mildred.
Speaker 1: What's important for us is to recognize every place that
Speaker 1: they see as a vulnerability. So being first generation potential target,
Speaker 1: you know, having birthrights, citizenship as a compromise or a
Speaker 1: target for them, the actual constitution now targeted. We are
Speaker 1: all unsafe. And I think if I can do anything else,
Speaker 1: if I can't do anything else on this podcast, it
Speaker 1: is to help us all deepen into the points of
Speaker 1: connection so that we can be more supportive and more
Speaker 1: clear about what is not what we wish it would be,
Speaker 1: but what is actually before us. And so you know,
Speaker 1: we know that Rodney was detained before Donald Trump was inaugurated.
Speaker 1: So this has been a problem. But I think you
Speaker 1: said something so good before we came on, and it
Speaker 1: is they knew he was coming. They knew Donald Trump
Speaker 1: was coming, so they knew that this type of behavior
Speaker 1: would not only be accepted and tolerated, it would be celebrated.
Speaker 1: So I think that you know, knowing how we can
Speaker 1: show up for Rodney, our dear brother, especially with the
Speaker 1: history of Liberia, which we didn't have time to get into,
Speaker 1: but there are so many Black Americans who went back
Speaker 1: to the continent. The reason why brother's name is Rodney
Speaker 1: Taylor is because there's a Black American connection to that
Speaker 1: part of the continent, you know, and so.
Speaker 3: Great great grandfather, I'm sorry to cut you off Handela
Speaker 3: was a US citizen.
Speaker 4: He was born in the eighteen hundreds in Houston, Texas.
Speaker 1: Case in point, there's a reason why his name is
Speaker 1: Rodney Taylor from Liberia. So I just want us to
Speaker 1: understand that our history is nuanced, it is complex, and
Speaker 1: we have to lead with compassion and with human story. So, Mildred,
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful for your courage and sharing this. Know
Speaker 1: that Rodney is not the only one lifting up your
Speaker 1: arms like Aaron, you have a whole community behind you, sister,
Speaker 1: and whatever we can do to be supportive on August
Speaker 1: twelfth and beyond, I'm going to try to make it
Speaker 1: a point to show up to that hearing, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to encourage folks all over Georgia to do the same.
Speaker 1: I will. I'm committing to reach out to Congressman Scott,
Speaker 1: who's one of my former bosses I work for the
Speaker 1: Congressional Black Caucus, and I will reach out to Senator
Speaker 1: Warnock and Senator Osoff as well to make sure I
Speaker 1: know that you said, Senator Warnock is aware. But those
Speaker 1: are my commitments. We end every podcast with a call
Speaker 1: to action, so my calls are showing up August twelfth,
Speaker 1: reaching out to Congressman Scott and reaching out to Senator's
Speaker 1: Warnock and asof and if there's anything else I can
Speaker 1: do for y'all, make sure you have my cell phone number.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much, Angela. I appreciate your time.
Speaker 3: But I want to give a shout out to Boggie
Speaker 3: Yes Nana, amazing organization.
Speaker 4: My god.
Speaker 3: You know the progress of connecting with me and my
Speaker 3: family and Sharon Rodney story is not possible with all
Speaker 3: these amazing organizations and without you Angela willing to share
Speaker 3: and have me on Native land. Thank you so much
Speaker 3: for your time. Thank you all, re for Geo, thank
Speaker 3: you to my church. Thank you to my friends. His family,
Speaker 3: his sister, his mother, his brother, his children, all his
Speaker 3: kids got seven now you can't tell me you he
Speaker 3: ain't got seven kids. But thank you so much.
Speaker 4: I appreciate your time and God blessed.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you my sister. We're here for you.
Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you. It means a while.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Okay, everyone, we have a lot of work to do.
Speaker 1: The immigration space is just one of those areas. Mildred
Speaker 1: touched my heart deeply. I didn't get to tell her,
Speaker 1: but my great great grandmother's name was Catherine Pierre. There
Speaker 1: are connections to Haiti and my family as well, on
Speaker 1: the Gordon side, not on the Pier side. But who knows,
Speaker 1: we might be long lost cousins. And for that reason
Speaker 1: I want to tell y'all, especially the black folks who
Speaker 1: listen to the Native lampot, we are all connected. Family,
Speaker 1: we are all connected. We cannot afford to leave any
Speaker 1: of our folks out there hanging out to dry by themselves.
Speaker 1: We are all we got. That means we are all
Speaker 1: we got from Liberia to Ghana, to Haiti, to Brazil,
Speaker 1: to the Virgin Islands, to the United States of America,
Speaker 1: and that meaning to Canada. We know, y'all know we
Speaker 1: got some Jamaica folk in Toronto, Okay. So I just
Speaker 1: want us to understand. I should have said Jamaica too.
Speaker 1: All that happened along the way from the continent as
Speaker 1: many of us and our ancestors were transported beyond our will,
Speaker 1: without our will, kidnapped from our families. The slave ships
Speaker 1: went to different places, and so I implore you to
Speaker 1: understand and know your history. I know books are being banned,
Speaker 1: but I will give you a reading list. If you
Speaker 1: can't get it at your school's library or the local library,
Speaker 1: I am happy to ensure that we give you reading
Speaker 1: materials so you understand the inherent connection we have through
Speaker 1: blood and through spirit. But most important, I just asked
Speaker 1: that you stand formed. Rodney Taylor is one story. He
Speaker 1: is not the only Story's hearing is August twelfth. The
Speaker 1: show up in mass Georgia, NLP. Let's go. And I
Speaker 1: think that we got to make sure that we show
Speaker 1: up differently in this moment with courage, without fear, and
Speaker 1: making sure that they know that they will not still
Speaker 1: and disappear our folks in front of our faces, and
Speaker 1: we won't say anything. We will show up in masks
Speaker 1: for Rodney Taylor and for so many other Rodney's all
Speaker 1: over this country. I Love y'all.
Speaker 4: Welcome Home, y'all.
Speaker 1: Native Lampod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with
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