1 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to bige F Daily with 2 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:18,479 Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody recording once again from the 3 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: Brooklyn Bunker. Today is January sixth, twenty twenty two. Three 4 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: hundred and sixty five days have passed since there was 5 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: a coup attempt, an attempt to violently overthrow our government occurred. 6 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 1: We all sat before whether our computers, televisions, phones, tablets, whatever, 7 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: and watched as thousands of Trump supporters, thousands of white Americans, 8 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: ransacked our Capitol Building, tormenting our representatives as they were 9 00:00:56,720 --> 00:01:01,400 Speaker 1: doing their duty to certify the twenty twenty election and 10 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:08,880 Speaker 1: the win, legitimate win of Joe Biden. There have been 11 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: countless videos, stories, tweets, tiktoks that have been shared to 12 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:24,800 Speaker 1: convey the seriousness of that day. It exemplified just how 13 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: broken our democracy had become. Where a president could lie 14 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:38,680 Speaker 1: to his millions of followers, that he could be uplifted 15 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: by cable news networks, that he could be celebrated and 16 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: seen as a legitimate and normal president as he gathered 17 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: his followers, his legions of fans as he calls them, 18 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: in front of the Capitol Building on January six, twenty 19 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:05,639 Speaker 1: twenty one, hyping them up on toxic masculinity, on xenophobia, 20 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:12,920 Speaker 1: on hatred, on partisanship, on white supremacy, and then pointed 21 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:16,360 Speaker 1: them in the direction of the Capitol Building and told 22 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: them no, commanded them as I would write in My 23 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:26,160 Speaker 1: Peace America, It's time to take the red pill. Commanded 24 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: them to go and take their country back. As I 25 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 1: said earlier this week, there is a piece in the 26 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: New York Times, and it is a startling, horrific piece 27 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: of journalism that outlines just how devastating the one six 28 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: events were for those officers that were on the front lines. 29 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:55,440 Speaker 1: I would be remiss if I didn't tell you what 30 00:02:55,600 --> 00:03:01,359 Speaker 1: stood out for me as I listened to January six, 31 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 1: the Scars, right from the New York Times. It's called 32 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:13,680 Speaker 1: it's entitled the Capitol Police January six Scars, and what 33 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: stood out for me are the accounts of Capitol Police 34 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 1: officers talking about why they decided to join their police 35 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: ranks and how proud they were right how proud they 36 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: have been to serve to uphold democracy. There are more 37 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: members that talked about the fact that they decide to 38 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: join the Capitol Police force after nine to eleven, that 39 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: they felt so driven to protect democracy, to protect their country, 40 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: But after the events of January sixth, they said, well, 41 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:54,920 Speaker 1: I didn't sign up for this. Have I thought to myself, 42 00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: what should I infer from that you signed up on 43 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: nine to eleven? Because what the terrorists that you thought 44 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: that you would be battling had a different color melanine 45 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: than you did, had a depth of pigmentation, spoke a 46 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:17,880 Speaker 1: different language, came from that part of the world that 47 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,960 Speaker 1: George Bush told you was an access of evil. That 48 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: there were not people who were citizens and mothers and 49 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: fathers and uncles and who also had a desire to 50 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:37,200 Speaker 1: live out healthy, normal lives. That you thought, what that 51 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: after nine to eleven you would be like John Wayne 52 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:43,599 Speaker 1: and what go get the bad guys? But when the 53 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:49,160 Speaker 1: bad guys, the terrorists, actually look like your neighbor or yourself, 54 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: it's something that you didn't sign up for. Is that right? 55 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:58,080 Speaker 1: Did I read that and hear that correctly? The problem 56 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 1: that this country is facing is grave, and you guys 57 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: know that because you've been listening to me for years. 58 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:13,479 Speaker 1: At this point, I wrote one of my most honest 59 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 1: pieces this week, my reflections on one six that I 60 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:22,839 Speaker 1: want to share with all of you. I normally don't 61 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 1: read an entire piece. I just go through and highlight, 62 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: but what has hit me in this moment, this day 63 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:39,840 Speaker 1: that is going to be filled with images and video 64 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:45,799 Speaker 1: and analysts and hosts except for on Fox, talking about 65 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:48,840 Speaker 1: the events of these of this day, and members of 66 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:52,360 Speaker 1: Congress talking about their fears in that moment. And they'll 67 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: be asked questions like do you feel safe now? And 68 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:59,040 Speaker 1: do you feel like you know justice is going to prevail? 69 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 1: And they'll give their platitudes and they will offer up 70 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:08,040 Speaker 1: a range of thoughts, right that will both try and 71 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 1: present the sense of urgency that we still face in 72 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:17,599 Speaker 1: this country while also trying to assuage our fears. And 73 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: I realize, folks, that's not my job. My job is 74 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: not to make people feel safe. It's to make you 75 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,800 Speaker 1: feel hard. It's to make you feel seen, and it's 76 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: certainly in this particular climate, meant to make you feel 77 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: as if you're not being gas lit, as if you're 78 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:43,159 Speaker 1: not going crazy. Right, because we all see what's happening, 79 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 1: we all see what's coming, We see the direction that 80 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: this country has taken. But those that are in power, 81 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:56,080 Speaker 1: whether they are in front of the camera behind the camera, 82 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 1: whether they are wearing a little congressional pin or not, 83 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:05,320 Speaker 1: are trying to downplay. Some will say that they're trying 84 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:09,480 Speaker 1: to downplay the events because we have bigger fish to fry, 85 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 1: or it's time to turn the page, or it was 86 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:16,840 Speaker 1: just a bunch of tourists anyway. But they're all serving 87 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 1: the same master. They're all serving the same beast, which 88 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:31,680 Speaker 1: is what James Baldwin referred to as moral apathy. See 89 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 1: this always a rush to go back to normal, a 90 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:38,840 Speaker 1: rush to just put the bad times behind us and 91 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:42,000 Speaker 1: tell people that, oh, the good times are here to stay. 92 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:47,280 Speaker 1: Except for some Americans, those good times never arrived. They're 93 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 1: still waiting for the elusive American dream. There's a reason 94 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 1: in this country while some people wave American flags and 95 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:01,960 Speaker 1: other people kneel at them, and it's one that we 96 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: choose to ignore so that we can just get along 97 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: for the get along. We have these moments and these 98 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 1: flares where we see this country for what it is, 99 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: but then it all becomes just too much. The problem 100 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: seems too big, And then we go about our days 101 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: putting away our posters, resting our voices from our marches 102 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: and protests and thinking that it's somebody else's problem to solve, 103 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:43,080 Speaker 1: except the destruction of our democracy isn't somebody else's problem. 104 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:48,360 Speaker 1: If you live here, citizen or not, it is your problem. 105 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:54,319 Speaker 1: I talked earlier this week about the Canadian professor who's 106 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:57,920 Speaker 1: ringing the alarm about the crisis in the South. As 107 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:01,640 Speaker 1: he refers to it, what are we going to do 108 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 1: if America falls? That's a real question. It's a question 109 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:11,720 Speaker 1: that the world is asking, But somehow our American leaders 110 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:15,160 Speaker 1: are not. You have the Senator mansions and the Senator 111 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:18,840 Speaker 1: cinemas of the world that are pretending that this is 112 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:22,480 Speaker 1: the twentieth century and all is well. All wasn't fucking 113 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:25,960 Speaker 1: well in the twentieth century either, But at least we 114 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:32,560 Speaker 1: weren't battling climate change, a global health pandemic, and a 115 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:36,120 Speaker 1: rise of white supremacy all happening at the same fucking time. 116 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: We could, at least at that time, take one problem 117 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:43,959 Speaker 1: right after the other. So I want to share with 118 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:48,440 Speaker 1: you my thoughts, my reflections on one six and what 119 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:52,160 Speaker 1: I wrote, and then I'll talk about it some more. 120 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:58,560 Speaker 1: But I got to tell you, folks, dear friends, I 121 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 1: am feeling so sad and deflated and it's just six 122 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:11,719 Speaker 1: days into twenty twenty two. I'll talk later in the 123 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:16,079 Speaker 1: show about Merritt Garland's press conference non conference because nothing 124 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:19,839 Speaker 1: was truly announced and where I think that we are 125 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:23,160 Speaker 1: going from here. But I'm not going to lie to 126 00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: you because I refuse to bullshit you. It ain't great. 127 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:34,840 Speaker 1: So as per usual, as many of you know, I'm 128 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:38,480 Speaker 1: a columnist with Zora Magazine, which is the property of Medium, 129 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:44,320 Speaker 1: and I was asked right before the holiday break if 130 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 1: I would write a reflection on one six and I 131 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 1: was going to do you know, the normal, this is terrible, 132 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: this is bad, and this is you know what I say, 133 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:01,840 Speaker 1: But I wanted to cut through the bullshit and just 134 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: state why we are in this place and why I 135 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:10,800 Speaker 1: actually don't see a path forward. You know, I remember 136 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: when I was on Serious and I started woke af 137 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:22,199 Speaker 1: when Donald Trump got elected. And after the election, I 138 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:28,240 Speaker 1: read Psychology Today's the Eleven Signs of Gaslighting, and I 139 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:30,959 Speaker 1: would read it like I felt like I was reading 140 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 1: it every month, right, just to remind people this is 141 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 1: what it looks like, because you're not going crazy, but 142 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:40,720 Speaker 1: you're going to start to feel crazy. And years later, 143 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:50,160 Speaker 1: I feel like the entire every apparatus is participating in 144 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:57,240 Speaker 1: the gaslight. Right, you had Joe Biden deciding that he 145 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:00,640 Speaker 1: wanted to move on infrastructure because he wanted to show 146 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:04,920 Speaker 1: the country that Democrats and Republicans can work together on 147 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: rebuilding America. And I'm like, where the fuck have you been, dude. 148 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:13,360 Speaker 1: They're trying to destroy this country through voting rights, through 149 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: voter suppression. How was that not the first thing that 150 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:22,360 Speaker 1: you're doing. You came into office at the height of 151 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:25,600 Speaker 1: the racial uprisings, when we all watched a black man 152 00:12:25,679 --> 00:12:31,280 Speaker 1: get suffocated to death in broad fucking daylight. Eight months later, oh, 153 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:34,480 Speaker 1: we can't get policing done, so you want to turn 154 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: to something that you think will be easy. They don't 155 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:47,240 Speaker 1: want America to succeed, period. And until we actually grasp 156 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:51,280 Speaker 1: that and name it and tell the fucking truth, how 157 00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:56,800 Speaker 1: were we going to do anything to change it. So 158 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:02,840 Speaker 1: here is my piece, America. It's time to take the 159 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:09,559 Speaker 1: red pill. Our biggest problem moral apathy. On the anniversary 160 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:15,160 Speaker 1: of the one six insurrection, it's been three hundred and 161 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:19,080 Speaker 1: sixty five days since the twice impeached former President Donald 162 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:22,480 Speaker 1: Trump stood before his legions of fans in Washington d 163 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:26,600 Speaker 1: C and urged them, no, commanded them to stop the 164 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:30,679 Speaker 1: steel and go take their country back. It was a 165 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:34,400 Speaker 1: site that no one could have imagined, and yet the FBI, 166 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:39,240 Speaker 1: Capitol Police, and DC Metropolitan Police should have been prepared for, 167 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:45,679 Speaker 1: but weren't. Since then, we have been nationally stunned by 168 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:52,079 Speaker 1: Republicans who completely and totally gaslight us every day, a 169 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 1: day we all witness take place. We have allowed the 170 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 1: reality of the breakdown of that day to fall by 171 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:02,400 Speaker 1: the wayside. The main question that should have been asked 172 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:06,200 Speaker 1: about the one six insurrection is not how did it happen? 173 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 1: But instead why did all policing mechanisms fail? This is 174 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:15,520 Speaker 1: the real question, and the answer doesn't require a House 175 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 1: commission to uncover. Why did all police systems fail on 176 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:25,640 Speaker 1: one six? Simple because they were never intended to protect 177 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: white people from themselves. In the New York Times article 178 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: The Capitol Police and the Scars of January six, the 179 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:37,720 Speaker 1: reader receives a horrific and graphic account of the day 180 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,520 Speaker 1: that a hundred and fifty police officers were injured, beaten, 181 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:45,040 Speaker 1: and tazed by rabid Trump supporters who were hyped up 182 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:49,160 Speaker 1: and then unleashed by their lion tamer Aside from the 183 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:52,960 Speaker 1: brutality that they faced, the article also highlights the many 184 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:57,320 Speaker 1: emails that went out referring to folks as bolos or 185 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: be on the lookout for. Many red flags were overlooked. 186 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:06,880 Speaker 1: The FBI also received tips and can see that white 187 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:12,080 Speaker 1: nationalist groups were organizing in plain sight. Ultimately, the agency 188 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:15,840 Speaker 1: decided that it was much to do about nothing. Why 189 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:20,200 Speaker 1: because historically, when some white people scream about liberty, they 190 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:24,040 Speaker 1: are applauded for it, not seen as a threat. If 191 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: any white man in the world says give me liberty 192 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:31,760 Speaker 1: or give me death, the entire white world applause, said 193 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 1: James Baldwin once while in conversation with Decavit in nineteen 194 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 1: sixty nine. Yet, he continued, when a black man says 195 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:44,920 Speaker 1: exactly the same word, same thing, word for word, he 196 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:48,720 Speaker 1: is judged a criminal and treated like one, and everything 197 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,400 Speaker 1: possible is done to make an example of this bad 198 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:55,520 Speaker 1: nigger so that there won't be more like him. This 199 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:59,720 Speaker 1: is the reality we refuse to face as a nation. 200 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 1: White America and often Brown America too, will literally map 201 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:11,200 Speaker 1: out every possible scenario, offer every excuse about regular joes, 202 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:15,800 Speaker 1: even dal being radicalized, but won't look at their historic 203 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:19,760 Speaker 1: patterns of violence that have been led to their own 204 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:25,280 Speaker 1: very real psychosis, the belief that whiteness is perfectly infallible 205 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:28,880 Speaker 1: and anointed by their white Christian God. It is so 206 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: embedded in the system, and this is in fact what 207 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:35,680 Speaker 1: Trump and his acolytes were able to stir up for 208 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:40,560 Speaker 1: four years. Why do you think that Republicans next campaign 209 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:43,640 Speaker 1: has been to take down critical race theory, which isn't 210 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 1: even taught in K through twelve schools. The very idea 211 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:53,120 Speaker 1: of having their fictitious understanding of America questioned is one 212 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:56,560 Speaker 1: that they cannot bear. And so instead of doing the 213 00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:59,800 Speaker 1: work to interrogate whiteness and the privileges that it affords, 214 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 1: it is much easier to be quote swept up by 215 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:07,080 Speaker 1: the benevolent desires of a used car salesman who tells 216 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:10,400 Speaker 1: you that not only will he get your country back 217 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: from the grips of these liberal snowflakes, but he will 218 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:17,600 Speaker 1: punish them for believing they had the authority to lead. 219 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:23,160 Speaker 1: Why is it that three hundred and sixty five days 220 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:26,919 Speaker 1: after an attempt to overthrow the government, the ringleaders of 221 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:31,199 Speaker 1: this attempt are still roaming free. The answer is simple, 222 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:35,760 Speaker 1: moral apathy and the unwillingness of whiteness to be accountable 223 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:42,359 Speaker 1: to the monster it created. I'm terrified at the moral apathy, 224 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:45,760 Speaker 1: the death of the heart which is happening in my country. 225 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:49,480 Speaker 1: These people have deluded themselves for so long that they 226 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:54,040 Speaker 1: really don't think I'm human. I base this on their conduct, 227 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:57,560 Speaker 1: not on what they say, and this means that they 228 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:04,160 Speaker 1: have become in themselves, moral monsters. Notes from James Baldwin. 229 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:09,720 Speaker 1: Moral apathy will be the death of us unless we 230 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:13,640 Speaker 1: make the decision to unplug from centering whiteness and give 231 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 1: up the white Christian American Disneyland version of ourselves and 232 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:21,160 Speaker 1: begin to take responsibility for our past so we can 233 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:26,440 Speaker 1: chart a better future. America. It's time to wake up 234 00:18:27,119 --> 00:18:33,960 Speaker 1: and take the red pill. You know it is not 235 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:41,439 Speaker 1: lost on me the mental gymnastics that are performed on 236 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:51,000 Speaker 1: a daily to excuse, to pardon the violent behavior of 237 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:56,280 Speaker 1: white people. It is always not all white people. It 238 00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:03,359 Speaker 1: is always don't categorize them, But it's okay to categorize 239 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:07,879 Speaker 1: every other group. It's okay to look at every black 240 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 1: person and say you are ANTIFA and a Black Lives 241 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:15,360 Speaker 1: Matter a protester, and you hate all white people. It's 242 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:19,600 Speaker 1: okay to look at the Muslim community and say that, oh, 243 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,639 Speaker 1: because she wears a hijab, then she must be a terrorist. 244 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 1: Oh haha, let's make jokes about backpacks and elevators like 245 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:34,320 Speaker 1: Laura Bobert did about Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. It's okay to 246 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 1: categorize all LGBTQ plus folks. It's okay to talk about 247 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,679 Speaker 1: every other group as a group, as a collective and 248 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:47,960 Speaker 1: path and the pathology around that, but never white people. 249 00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:53,159 Speaker 1: It's a reason, there's there's a reason, folks, why the 250 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 1: Capitol police were so fucking stunned, right, the DC Metropolitan Police, 251 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:05,119 Speaker 1: the FBI so stunned by what happened because they can't 252 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:13,920 Speaker 1: see themselves as criminal. There's always a justification. Oh, it's 253 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:20,120 Speaker 1: racial anxiety. Oh, it's economic anxiety. Oh teachers, they shouldn't 254 00:20:20,119 --> 00:20:22,280 Speaker 1: be able to tell our kids what they should do. Oh, 255 00:20:22,359 --> 00:20:27,040 Speaker 1: it's parents choice. You know, parents had choices too in 256 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties when segregation was passed, when we desegregated 257 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:36,760 Speaker 1: schools after the Brown versus the Board of Education in 258 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty four, parents had a choice. Then they were 259 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:44,000 Speaker 1: told that they had a choice, So they pulled their 260 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:46,440 Speaker 1: kids out of the public school system, They put them 261 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,000 Speaker 1: into Catholic schools, they put them into private schools, they 262 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 1: put them anywhere, so long as they weren't going to 263 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:54,479 Speaker 1: be sitting side by side with black children. And so 264 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:56,879 Speaker 1: then what did the federal government do? Then they started 265 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:02,480 Speaker 1: to pull resources out of public education. The only reason 266 00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: why we had public education in the first fucking place 267 00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:14,560 Speaker 1: was because of black people, because of the push that 268 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:20,879 Speaker 1: government had a responsibility to educate its citizenjury. You know, 269 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:25,760 Speaker 1: I always think about the adage all the time, Oh, 270 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 1: if you don't understand history, you'll be doomed to repeat it. Well, 271 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:34,000 Speaker 1: that's the point of this whole, fake, fictitious battle around 272 00:21:34,119 --> 00:21:39,840 Speaker 1: critical race theory, is so that your children will never 273 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:44,400 Speaker 1: learn anything. They'll never learn anything except about white heroes 274 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:50,520 Speaker 1: and white inventors and innovators. Right, those are the people 275 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:53,439 Speaker 1: that make this country great, because, according to Rick Santorum 276 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:58,679 Speaker 1: and others, there was nothing here before their ancestors rolled 277 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:02,720 Speaker 1: up on the Mayflower. There were just a bunch of 278 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:16,840 Speaker 1: savages running around with no industry, no currency. We are sick, 279 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 1: and you can't cure a disease that you refuse to identify. 280 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:30,159 Speaker 1: You can't just look at all of these systems that 281 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:34,959 Speaker 1: have been designed to oppress everyone who is not white, 282 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:39,800 Speaker 1: everyone who is not mail, everyone who is not cists. 283 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:45,000 Speaker 1: You cannot look at these systems as silos and then 284 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:49,399 Speaker 1: pretend played dumb that you don't understand where this is 285 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:51,679 Speaker 1: all coming And why was there a breakdown. There was 286 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,560 Speaker 1: no breakdown in Oregon with the police. There was no 287 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:59,040 Speaker 1: breakdown in Lafayette Square when Donald Trump had it cleared 288 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:03,880 Speaker 1: with the Italian right. There was no breakdown in upstate 289 00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:08,040 Speaker 1: New York where officers that were in the latest g 290 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:12,040 Speaker 1: I Joe gear trampled a white man with blood coming 291 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: out of his head and knocked him down and walked 292 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:22,879 Speaker 1: right over him. But there's always a breakdown when it 293 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:29,920 Speaker 1: comes to dealing with angry white mobs. They turn they 294 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:35,080 Speaker 1: turned their terrorists into heroes. If that is not something 295 00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:38,720 Speaker 1: that should wake people the fuck up, then I don't 296 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:46,120 Speaker 1: know what is Kyle Rittenhouse is a terrorist. He grabbed 297 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:50,919 Speaker 1: an R fifteen, He traveled across state lines looking for 298 00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:57,120 Speaker 1: people to kill, and this justice system said that he 299 00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:02,720 Speaker 1: was well in his right. That these judges who we 300 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:06,919 Speaker 1: think are beyond reproach and are so neutral said that 301 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:11,720 Speaker 1: we can't use the term victim because we don't know 302 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:14,160 Speaker 1: what those people were up to. Well, we know exactly 303 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:20,720 Speaker 1: what the fuck Kyle Writtenhouse was up to. But do 304 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:34,160 Speaker 1: you see the applause that that motherfucker got. We cannot 305 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 1: continue to lie to ourselves and say that we are 306 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:47,040 Speaker 1: in a political fight when we are not. There used 307 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:52,919 Speaker 1: to be a time when we had a shared sense 308 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:59,000 Speaker 1: of what was acceptable, We had a social contract, what 309 00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:03,000 Speaker 1: was moral, what was immoral, what was right, what was wrong? 310 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:13,920 Speaker 1: Those lines have been completely blurred. It is now facts 311 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:28,159 Speaker 1: and alternative facts. It is now right and right ish. 312 00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:35,639 Speaker 1: I feel like America is in a free fall. And 313 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:40,199 Speaker 1: when I talked to you about the European Organization for 314 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:43,120 Speaker 1: the first time, for the first time in America's history, 315 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:45,760 Speaker 1: for the first time in the fifty years of this 316 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:54,160 Speaker 1: organization's reporting, that they referred to America as a backsliding democracy. 317 00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:58,000 Speaker 1: They talked about signs and alarms going off in twenty nineteen. Well, 318 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:01,439 Speaker 1: those alarms were sounded in fifteen, but everybody thought it 319 00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:09,400 Speaker 1: was a joke. Now you have an entire cable network 320 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:18,200 Speaker 1: that is forced feeding lies to the public, from COVID 321 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:22,879 Speaker 1: to a stolen election to the point that seventy percent 322 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:26,760 Speaker 1: of Republicans believe that Joe Biden is an illegitimate president. 323 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:42,040 Speaker 1: Cancer unchecked spreads. White supremacy is a cancer on this country. 324 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:46,720 Speaker 1: We want to believe that everything isn't about race, except 325 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:53,320 Speaker 1: white people make everything about race. Why is Kyle Rittenhouse 326 00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:58,959 Speaker 1: their hero a murderer but a victim of white supremacy. 327 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:07,000 Speaker 1: Trey von Martin was thug. Why do they lift up 328 00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:11,240 Speaker 1: the woman who was shot at the Capitol Building as 329 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:16,560 Speaker 1: a martyr, but Heather Meyer, who was mowed down by 330 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:28,320 Speaker 1: white supremacists in Charlottesville was an agitator. Why do we 331 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:35,360 Speaker 1: have members of Congress who don't believe that the Newtown 332 00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:42,480 Speaker 1: massacre happened, who believe that there are Jewish people with 333 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:48,920 Speaker 1: space lasers shooting down onto earth that woman is sitting 334 00:27:48,960 --> 00:28:01,280 Speaker 1: in Congress. You know, many people believe that the movie 335 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:06,439 Speaker 1: Don't Look Up was too much on the nose. And 336 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:12,680 Speaker 1: I'm like, this current political climate pretty much has put 337 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:17,959 Speaker 1: the Onion out of business because they can't come up 338 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:23,159 Speaker 1: with anything more absurd, more ridiculous, more devastating than what 339 00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:29,000 Speaker 1: we are living in right now. Over eight hundred and 340 00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:34,399 Speaker 1: thirty thousand Americans are dead, and you have governors going 341 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:39,520 Speaker 1: on television, surgeon state surgeon generals telling us that the 342 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:44,040 Speaker 1: vaccine doesn't work when them themselves are vaccinated and boasted. 343 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:50,360 Speaker 1: They've weaponized a virus, and yet we still are referring 344 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:57,960 Speaker 1: to them like a legitimized, normal political party. Make it 345 00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:11,400 Speaker 1: make sense, Make it make sense. In Merrick Garland's press 346 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: conference yesterday ahead of today's anniversary, I'd made a joke 347 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:24,000 Speaker 1: on Twitter and I said, so are we doing a 348 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:26,720 Speaker 1: drinking game along with this? Every time that he offers 349 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:31,280 Speaker 1: some type of justice will prevail platitude that we just 350 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:35,120 Speaker 1: take a shot. I'm a big fan of day drinking. 351 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:45,520 Speaker 1: And then I watched it and watching him use strong 352 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:53,680 Speaker 1: language but really offered nothing, telling us that it takes time. Right, 353 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:59,840 Speaker 1: justice takes time seems like a move swiftly when the 354 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:07,560 Speaker 1: defendants have a different shade. Right. On today's episode of 355 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:17,800 Speaker 1: Democracy Ish, which is prerecorded, I offered my thoughts about 356 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:25,760 Speaker 1: this slow pace of this entire justice department, and I 357 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:27,880 Speaker 1: bring this up all the time. I said, do you 358 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:33,720 Speaker 1: know how many black men, women and children have lost 359 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:39,040 Speaker 1: their lives under the suspicion that they've done something wrong, 360 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:48,080 Speaker 1: never to actually have concrete evidence, but the suspicion, right, 361 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,520 Speaker 1: you're up to something. Trayvon Martin walking home in the 362 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:55,520 Speaker 1: rain with a hood up. He seems suspicious, so I'm 363 00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:57,680 Speaker 1: going to murder him and then I'm going to get 364 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:06,560 Speaker 1: off to me. Or Rice playing on the playground with 365 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:11,320 Speaker 1: a toy gun, as most twelve year olds do. Police 366 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:15,120 Speaker 1: officers rolling by that seems suspicious. You know, a child 367 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:19,440 Speaker 1: on a playground, but they're black, so I must kill them. 368 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:35,120 Speaker 1: We're always convicted and or murdered under suspicion. We have 369 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:40,560 Speaker 1: concrete fucking evidence. We got text message changed, we got 370 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:44,320 Speaker 1: PowerPoint presentations, we got people in their own fucking voice. 371 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:51,320 Speaker 1: Peter Navarro was on Ari Melber's show this week on MSNBC, 372 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:56,800 Speaker 1: saying every part out loud. There were a hundred Republicans, 373 00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:01,160 Speaker 1: he said, lined up as a part of this strategic 374 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:07,600 Speaker 1: plan to overthrow the government. Those motherfuckers still sitting in 375 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:11,800 Speaker 1: Congress dictating policy that affects our day to day lives. 376 00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:17,360 Speaker 1: And they are criminals. Oh but Merritt Garland wants to 377 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:19,600 Speaker 1: tell us, we will follow the facts where they fucking 378 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 1: lead us. Bitch, you have enough to indict and I 379 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:26,080 Speaker 1: don't need to have gone to law school in order 380 00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:31,800 Speaker 1: to know that, because black and brown people in this 381 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:36,120 Speaker 1: country have been convicted, have been murdered for fucking less, 382 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:49,720 Speaker 1: much less falsified police reports. Right, Everything lies made up 383 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:52,440 Speaker 1: in order to lock people up. Throw away the key. 384 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:56,240 Speaker 1: But you have these white people in their own fucking 385 00:32:56,560 --> 00:33:01,360 Speaker 1: voice telling you what they planned. But we got to 386 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:03,640 Speaker 1: follow the facts, We got to look for more evidence. 387 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:12,880 Speaker 1: Don't insult us, and we shouldn't just be taking it. 388 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:18,600 Speaker 1: We shouldn't just be sitting back and say, oh, yeah, 389 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:23,880 Speaker 1: they'll figure it out. Three hundred and sixty five days, 390 00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:30,880 Speaker 1: Donald Trump and the Republican Party are terrorists, operators. They 391 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:34,040 Speaker 1: are not a secret cell. They are not a sleeper cell. 392 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:37,440 Speaker 1: They are awaken out in the open, telling you exactly 393 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:39,600 Speaker 1: what it is that they are doing, and what they 394 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:43,560 Speaker 1: are planning, and who they are modeling. This new regime 395 00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:56,200 Speaker 1: after Victor orbon in Hungary. You know what, they refer 396 00:33:56,360 --> 00:34:00,640 Speaker 1: to Hungry as a hybrid regime because it's no longer 397 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:05,960 Speaker 1: a democracy. Victor Roban has been in power since twenty ten, 398 00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:12,040 Speaker 1: and during that time he has a race history books. 399 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:15,879 Speaker 1: He has scared the ship out of journalists so now 400 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:19,080 Speaker 1: the journalism that you get is just propaganda. He has 401 00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:23,760 Speaker 1: actually said that, you know, the mixing of the races, 402 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:31,040 Speaker 1: these dark people coming in with their Muslim religion, it's 403 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:39,080 Speaker 1: not good for Hungary. He said that he's purged the judiciary. 404 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:45,000 Speaker 1: Stop me if any of this sounds familiar. Do you 405 00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:50,000 Speaker 1: know who recorded from there in twenty twenty, Tucker Carlson? 406 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:58,480 Speaker 1: Do you know where Cepak is headed Hungry Budapest? Do 407 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:02,120 Speaker 1: you know that Steve benn has been on an international 408 00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:06,839 Speaker 1: tour of fascists, organizations and regimes so that he can 409 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:10,640 Speaker 1: scribble down his notes and bring it back to the 410 00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:22,000 Speaker 1: Republican Party, He says, takeover village by village. Democrats still 411 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:26,799 Speaker 1: fucking around with Congress and the presidency. And I'm telling you, 412 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:30,040 Speaker 1: if this is what the fuck winning looks like, I'm 413 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:35,839 Speaker 1: proud to be a loser. Then we own the seat 414 00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:38,440 Speaker 1: of power right now. Does it feel like that to you? 415 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:44,840 Speaker 1: There's a reason why they're going to the local levels, 416 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:47,719 Speaker 1: and they're going to the state levels and Democrats are 417 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:50,919 Speaker 1: still fucking around. Right If I hear one more time 418 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:53,759 Speaker 1: Nancy Pelosi, tell me about the hundreds of pieces of 419 00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:56,759 Speaker 1: legislation that they've gotten through the House and it's historic. 420 00:35:56,840 --> 00:36:00,319 Speaker 1: I don't give a fuck because all it does go 421 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:04,520 Speaker 1: to the Senate to die. But because of the likes 422 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:06,880 Speaker 1: of Mansion and Cinema, We're not going to change the 423 00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:09,480 Speaker 1: rules in order to get democracy going. We're not going 424 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:12,200 Speaker 1: to change the rules in order to keep America running. 425 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:35,600 Speaker 1: You know, I shed tears on January sixth because I 426 00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:45,680 Speaker 1: was so overcome with rage and grief. I worked on 427 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:54,480 Speaker 1: Capitol Hill, I got my degree in political science. I 428 00:36:54,640 --> 00:37:04,040 Speaker 1: believed in the tenants of our Constitution. I left New 429 00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:10,000 Speaker 1: York as a wide eyed teenager wanting to put my 430 00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:18,560 Speaker 1: stamp on the world, wanting to work on behalf of 431 00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:24,480 Speaker 1: the people of this country. The pride that I had 432 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:29,080 Speaker 1: the day that I got my pass to be able 433 00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:39,319 Speaker 1: to walk these historic halls, to be able to sit 434 00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:45,200 Speaker 1: in committee meetings, taking notes and offering my ideas to 435 00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:49,080 Speaker 1: members of Congress about how to make this country better, 436 00:37:49,440 --> 00:38:03,200 Speaker 1: more fair, more just to see the moke, the broken glass, 437 00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:17,160 Speaker 1: the angry white faces, the use of our flag as 438 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:35,279 Speaker 1: a weapon literally broke my heart. America is filled with flaws, 439 00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:42,000 Speaker 1: but what made its special was the desire to be 440 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:53,239 Speaker 1: better and the possibility that you could be better. But 441 00:38:53,400 --> 00:39:00,960 Speaker 1: like I said in my piece, it's like we'd all 442 00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:09,480 Speaker 1: been fed the blue pill, the one that has us memorized, 443 00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:14,640 Speaker 1: the songs and the pledge the heroes that they've wanted 444 00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:20,239 Speaker 1: us to uplift, while the real heroes, the ones that 445 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:25,360 Speaker 1: put their bodies and their lives on the line for justice, 446 00:39:26,719 --> 00:39:32,880 Speaker 1: are whitewashed or betty are yet painted as some type 447 00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:42,480 Speaker 1: of terrorists. I remember being in eleventh grade, and this 448 00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:46,680 Speaker 1: is back when you used to do you know, book reports, 449 00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:51,000 Speaker 1: and you know, pick topics or groups or themes, and 450 00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:56,600 Speaker 1: you know, deliver twenty pages on it. And I decided 451 00:39:56,640 --> 00:39:59,160 Speaker 1: that I was going to write about the Black Panther 452 00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:04,680 Speaker 1: Party because always, as growing up on Eastern Long Island 453 00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:13,000 Speaker 1: in a ninety five percent white community ninety six ninety eight, 454 00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:15,239 Speaker 1: I google it every once in a while where I 455 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:17,960 Speaker 1: grew up because I want to see if anything has 456 00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:22,319 Speaker 1: changed in terms of the demographics. It really hasn't. But 457 00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:25,160 Speaker 1: I remember deciding to write about the Black Panther Party 458 00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:27,960 Speaker 1: because in my school, the only way that you got 459 00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:31,200 Speaker 1: to learn about anything that wasn't centered around whiteness is 460 00:40:31,239 --> 00:40:35,480 Speaker 1: if you took matters into your own hands. And as 461 00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:38,719 Speaker 1: a child that grew up as the only black kid 462 00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:46,399 Speaker 1: in every fucking class from K through twelve. I had 463 00:40:46,440 --> 00:40:50,440 Speaker 1: to do my own research, right, I had to do 464 00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:53,520 Speaker 1: my own studies that were very separate from what I 465 00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:59,760 Speaker 1: was given. My eleventh grade teacher was a very big, tall, 466 00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:09,319 Speaker 1: military veteran white man, and do you know what he 467 00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:12,360 Speaker 1: used to call us if you didn't stand for the 468 00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:20,440 Speaker 1: pledge of allegiance in his class, Kamie Pinko's right. And 469 00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:23,120 Speaker 1: when I went to him and I said that I 470 00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:25,520 Speaker 1: want to do my paper on the Black Panthers, he goes, 471 00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:28,040 Speaker 1: why would you want to write about that terrorist organization? 472 00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:34,320 Speaker 1: And they said, because I don't think that they're terrorists, 473 00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:42,840 Speaker 1: But you tell me after you read it. I remember 474 00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:52,560 Speaker 1: calling on the school board, the school board chair, when 475 00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:57,560 Speaker 1: I was a senior in high school, saying that I 476 00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:02,480 Speaker 1: think that they needed to expand our history curriculum to 477 00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:09,759 Speaker 1: include at the time, African American history. And I was 478 00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:15,680 Speaker 1: told that the current curriculum was adequate. And I said, well, 479 00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:19,200 Speaker 1: as one of the very few black students at your school, 480 00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:23,440 Speaker 1: I don't think so. And you know what the response 481 00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:27,239 Speaker 1: to me was, Oh, you're black. Because I was over 482 00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:33,440 Speaker 1: the phone the assumption, because you know so articulate, I 483 00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:41,400 Speaker 1: couldn't possibly be anything other than white at every point 484 00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:44,160 Speaker 1: in my life. I tell you this story because I've 485 00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:49,200 Speaker 1: challenged the systems that I have been raised in and 486 00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:54,560 Speaker 1: a part of, because I believe that I had the 487 00:42:54,680 --> 00:43:01,160 Speaker 1: power to make them better, that that was in my calling. 488 00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:13,799 Speaker 1: So many fucking years later, and I feel like I 489 00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:20,800 Speaker 1: have wasted my time because when I continue to look 490 00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:25,920 Speaker 1: at and replay the events of January six, everything that 491 00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:30,560 Speaker 1: transpired during the Trump administration, and know that none of 492 00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:34,040 Speaker 1: these people are ever going to see the inside of 493 00:43:34,040 --> 00:43:41,200 Speaker 1: a jail. But low level drug dealers, low level thieves 494 00:43:41,239 --> 00:43:43,600 Speaker 1: that are trying to put food on the table or 495 00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:47,000 Speaker 1: are dealing drugs because basically their schools are shit, their 496 00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:49,440 Speaker 1: communities are ship, and they've never been invested in and 497 00:43:49,520 --> 00:43:54,920 Speaker 1: so it's kill or be killed where they are. But 498 00:43:55,040 --> 00:43:58,799 Speaker 1: the real menaces to fucking society, the ones that sit 499 00:43:58,920 --> 00:44:01,520 Speaker 1: in the C suite, the ones that are walking on 500 00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:05,760 Speaker 1: Wall Street, the ones that are walking around the halls 501 00:44:05,800 --> 00:44:09,400 Speaker 1: of power, the ones that actually pose the greatest threat 502 00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:17,440 Speaker 1: to our way of life. They get off scot free. 503 00:44:20,719 --> 00:44:24,840 Speaker 1: They want to call ourselves tough on crime. It only 504 00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:28,879 Speaker 1: looks tough on crime when the criminals that you are 505 00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:36,200 Speaker 1: protecting society from look like me. I'm sick to death 506 00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:40,160 Speaker 1: of America right now. I really am, And every single 507 00:44:40,239 --> 00:44:43,480 Speaker 1: day I ask myself if this country is worth fighting for. 508 00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:49,680 Speaker 1: But then I have friends who have babies and bringing 509 00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:52,759 Speaker 1: new life in and I say, I can't possibly give 510 00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:56,440 Speaker 1: up because I can't give up on their kids. I 511 00:44:56,480 --> 00:45:04,280 Speaker 1: can't give up on your kids. I want better for them, 512 00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:08,359 Speaker 1: and it breaks my heart that what we are giving them, 513 00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:14,280 Speaker 1: what our legacy is going to be, is a steaming 514 00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:21,080 Speaker 1: pile of shit. We have choices to make in the 515 00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:25,920 Speaker 1: upcoming months, because all we have left are a handful 516 00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:37,480 Speaker 1: of months. It's either we fight for this country or 517 00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:41,200 Speaker 1: we lay down and we let them take it. But 518 00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:48,880 Speaker 1: that's the choice that we have. That is it for 519 00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:53,920 Speaker 1: me today. Friends on woke f as always Power to 520 00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:57,520 Speaker 1: the people and to all the people. Power, Get woke 521 00:45:57,680 --> 00:45:59,640 Speaker 1: and stay woke as fuck.