WEBVTT - 020324 Lawyer/Activist Dianne Post on Environmental Racism and Reparations (Part 1) 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:02.960 Broadcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. I'd like to 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.680 welcome you to another episode of Civic Cipher, where our 0:00:05.680 --> 0:00:09.200 mission is to foster allyship, empathy and understanding. I am 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:10.240 your host, Ramses Job. 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:13.319 He is Ramses Joh, I am q Ward. You are 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:14.320 tuned in the civic side. 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:19.239 Indeed you are, and in today's episode we have more 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:21.959 than a treat for you. We are once again joined 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:25.360 by a good friend of the show and a hero 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:29.360 she row of ours, the one and only Diane Post, 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:32.200 who is an activist and a lawyer and the curator 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:36.360 of the Action Alerts that are responsible for circulating legislative 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:40.879 information to constituents and voters and just a joy and 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:43.360 a pleasure to be around. So welcome back to the show. 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:45.600 Well, thank you very much that it's a great unintroduction. 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:47.839 Sure sure. When you said her name, I tried to 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:50.760 push a button for a standard ovation for the air 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:53.640 horns celebratory when. 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:58.240 You said yeah, yeah, So you know, obviously there's a 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:00.760 lot that we're going to talk about today. But in 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:03.520 the in the last since the last time you've been 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:05.840 up here, which, to be honest, I looked and it 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:08.319 was it's been almost a couple of years been too long. 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:12.560 A couple of years, yeah, yeah, But since then the 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.240 show has grown. But the world has changed, and this 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:18.800 conversation we're about to have is long overdue, and I 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:21.919 fear it will be too short, but I'm really. 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:23.240 Excited to talk with you. 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:27.400 We're going to be discussing, briefly discussing We're going to 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:29.319 have other guests on because you plugged this into a 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:33.600 whole new community, but we'll be discussing reparations. We're going 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:37.920 to be discussing a restrictive combinant bill that everyone needs 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:41.000 to be on the lookout for. Some other really cool 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:42.720 things that you mentioned earlier. I want to make sure 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.399 we talk about the startle Baby reflex. We're also going 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:49.360 to be talking about some of the attacks on affirmative action, 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:52.680 the attacks on DEI, and of course what we can 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:56.520 do to pull some power back from our local elected officials. 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.160 So stay tuned for that and so much more. Of 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.360 a first and foremost, like we always do at this time, 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:08.480 let's discuss some Ebony excellence shall show. So today's Ebony Excellence. 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:10.520 Actually you want to hit this one, sure, go ahead. 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:15.400 Today's Ebny Excellence sponsored by Actively Black there is greatness 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:19.960 in our DNA. Visit actively black dot com. This comes 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:25.320 from gistril yep dot com. Nigerian man tonday on A 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:28.760 Koye plays chess with ten opponents at the same time 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:33.359 in Germany. He wins every match. The founder of Chess 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.520 and Slums Today, on A Koye made his country proud 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:41.520 following his challenge with ten players simultaneously in Germany, and 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:45.320 he managed to win every match. During a recent conference 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.920 in Germany, the chess master participated in a competitive event 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:52.959 where he faced off against ten ponents. Ten opponents simultaneously 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:56.320 engaging in a dynamic chess match. He moved around against 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.520 each of the players for about two hours and effortlessly 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:03.320 won against all of his opponents. Tounde, whose intent was 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:05.799 to raise funds for one hundred children in his foundation, 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:09.520 made his people proud as he shared his victory on 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:13.760 the x platform after the intense competition. Quote. On day 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.800 two of the DLD conference, I played a simultaneous chess 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:20.280 match against ten opponents at once. After an almost two 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:23.280 hour battle of wits, I managed to win all the games. 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:27.200 The chess exhibition helped us raise enough money to support 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:30.880 the education of one hundred children in our academy. End quote. 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:34.480 He wrote, Wow, I don't know if I can beat 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:41.640 ten people at the same time at anything, so shout 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:43.800 outs isn't enough. I wish I could crown this man. 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:45.560 You know something that's. 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:48.960 Really cool about stories like these is we try to 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:54.000 highlight ebony excellence in places where folks might not expect it. 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:57.400 But there's a The other side of this coin is 0:03:57.440 --> 0:03:59.960 that he's a do gooder on the continent of Africa, 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:05.160 and I think that that's fantastic. Now let's get to 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:10.720 the topic at hand. Diane Post joins us in the studio. 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:12.600 I just tried to push the standalvation. 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:17.720 We need airhorns. Man, it's time, it's going down. Okay, 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:21.000 so a little bit of backstraight. We bumped into each other. 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:27.479 This might have been a week or two ago, last Wednesday, 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:30.080 Last Wednesday, okay, at the y w c A. It 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:34.279 was an event, a community event, right, celebrating some really 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:43.040 powerful women in the community leaders exactly. And we started 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:46.960 having a conversation. And the conversation effectually what we were 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:50.800 discussing was you know, what are we talking about that 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:54.320 that has to do with you know, environmental racism, what 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:56.919 are we talking about. That has to do with the reparations. 0:04:56.960 --> 0:04:59.599 What are we you know? And if you know Diane, 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:01.960 and for those of you that are able to check 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:04.400 out the press materials and everything for the show, you 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:06.560 get a look at her. She's a woman who just 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:10.120 her postured commands a certain respect from you. 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:12.960 So it's very very much yes, ma'am. Yes, I'll get 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:13.440 right on that. 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:17.320 You know that sort of thing, right, But we in 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:19.520 short order decided, you know what, we need to have 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.159 you back up. You know, we miss this energy. We 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:25.560 need this energy, our listeners need this energy, and we 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:28.000 need to be because the truth of the matter is 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.560 that as a lawyer and as someone who's so active politically, 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:37.359 you know things. You get it insider information and you 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:40.440 just have a better understanding of the workings of government 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:44.720 and how power is wielded than most folks. And we 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:48.760 famously are And I don't want to make us sound 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:52.400 like just radio DJs, but we're DJs who felt like 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:55.440 we needed to create a platform for people with voices 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:59.000 such as yours. So what I want to do is 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:02.360 start this conversation and we'll just get some of your 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:07.119 thoughts with a topic, and then we'll have a brief 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:08.919 discussion about that, we'll move to the next one. So 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:15.279 first one is reparations. So when you hear the word reparations, 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:16.240 where does your mind go. 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:18.560 Well, my mind goes to the fact that it's absolutely 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:22.320 way past time. The reparations movement has been going since 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:24.480 nineteen forty, I think, and the bill has been introduced 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:27.120 every year, but it is ramping up. And one thing 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:29.400 I want to say about what looks kind of like 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:33.640 a bad situation with the mega people rising up and 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:35.680 trying to ban books and do all these things. The 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:39.120 answer to that is double fight back, you know, do 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:43.279 more and overpower that. And that's really what's happening. I 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:46.240 think with the reparations movement nationwide. There's a couple of 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:48.880 nationwide groups working on it, and we want to bring 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:51.800 it here to Arizona's We should bring it everywhere. Reparations 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:56.560 have been paid already to the Japanese and to some 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:00.320 of the Native American tribes. Why not the blacks. So 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:03.760 the newest told we did a lot of research. I'm 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:05.360 working with another woman there and we're going to try 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:07.960 to put together a conference here in Arizona to start 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.240 the movement to get it going here in Arizona, as 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:16.560 with the national movement, and what we found out was 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:18.960 that I forgot what I was saying. 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:22.600 Well, listen, while you gather your. 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.280 Thoughts, I do want to break this down a bit, 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:27.280 because there's been a lot of what I'm saying. 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:31.440 Okay, the polls of the approving of it or not. 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:34.559 Blacks have always approved of reparations from you know, forty 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:38.000 acres in the milk. Whites have not. But the poles 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:42.160 are changing, especially after the George Floyd incident and all 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:44.840 the uprising against the violence by the police, et cetera. 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:48.760 The poles have really changed it to white's being in 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.600 favor of it, especially younger ones who don't have the 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:58.080 you know, negative associations during the civil rights movement and 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:00.640 all of that sort of thing. You know. So as 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:05.080 we become a newer nation with younger people who are 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:08.880 taking the place of the old leaders, the mood is changing. 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:12.120 People are more Whites even are in favor of reparation. 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:12.560 Okay. 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:15.960 So one of the things that I feel is really 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:19.800 important when it comes to not just reparations, but really 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:26.480 any form of restorative economic justice, is understanding the counterpoints 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:31.880 because those are things that inevitably you will brush up 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:36.160 against and that's really with anything politically speaking, But with 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:38.559 this argument in particular. 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:39.760 We'll go ahead, go ahead your thought. 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:43.319 So with this argument in particular, there is so much 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:45.640 on the other side of it that it feels like 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:50.280 if you need to be informed and empowered to take 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:53.360 on any sort of opposition, this is the one that 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:55.600 you need to take the most serious. And so what 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:59.280 I was going to say is that we shared Q 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:00.679 and I we share in. 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:01.520 Our group chat. 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:05.200 Do you remember the video where they were talking about 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:08.040 reparations and there was might might have been a Fox 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:09.840 News piece or something like that, but there was a 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:14.360 gentleman saying, reparations is going to make everyone jealous of 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:15.000 black people. 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:17.520 Yes, he was presenting as a as a case or 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:19.560 a reason why we shouldn't do it. It's kind of 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:21.760 like I can't give this kid a popsicle because then 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:23.920 I have to give all the kids of popsicles. That 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:28.040 kind of elementary rhetoric used to manipulate a room, And 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:29.640 when you have a room for the people who are 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:33.000 already against it, that's a great place to start. Sure, sure, 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:33.839 so do me for. 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.840 Ever, cute, go ahead and explain some of these lists 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:39.880 that you put together here, because I think that this 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:40.840 is fantastic. 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:44.200 So you know, in legal matters, especially there, and not 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:47.319 just legal but policy, it helps when there's a precedent. 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:52.280 We just so happened to have several. Nineteen ninety, the 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.640 USA granted reparations and the amount of one point six 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:59.960 billion dollars two Japanese Americans. Also in nineteen ninety Austria 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:04.640 twenty five million to Holocaust survivors. Nineteen eighty eight, Canada 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.200 two hundred and fifty thousand square miles of land to 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:12.440 Native Aboriginal communities Indian in Eskimo. Also nineteen eighty eight, 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:16.280 two hundred and thirty million dollars to Japanese Canadians. Nineteen 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:19.160 eighty six, the USA thirty two million dollars to the 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:23.160 Ottawa of Michigan in the eighteen thirty nine treaty. Nineteen 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:26.160 eighty five thirty one million to the Chippewa of Wisconsin. 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:29.800 Similar in eighty five, the USA twelve point three million 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:32.079 to the Seminoles of Florida. And I could go on. 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:34.200 Oh, you couldn't go on exactly. 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:35.719 Because you get to the bottom and the rest of 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:37.840 these are at the USA There's another one from Germany, 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:39.600 but most of these are from the USA. The CME 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:41.160 Reparations nineteen February. 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:42.920 That last one, well, I'm going to keep going, that 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:45.080 was in eighty five, the USA one hundred and five 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:48.439 million to the Sioux of South Dakota, nineteen eighty eighty 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:52.319 one million to the Climax of Oregon, nineteen seventy one, 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:57.079 one billion dollars to Alaska Natives, and forty four million 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:02.360 acres of land nineteen fifty two. Germany, most famously eight 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:04.840 one hundred and twenty two million dollars to highoc Coast 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:08.720 survivors from eighteen sixty five to the present, the United 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.640 States of America to the survivors of slavery and Jim 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:18.160 Crow zero zero, zero exactly zero acres of land. 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:20.839 And there you mentioned the Jim Crow thing. This is 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.000 one of the things that RJ, who I really would 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:24.760 like to come on and talk about this with you, 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:27.280 is have talked about the fact that this isn't just 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:33.240 about slavery, it's sent slavery, on the black codes, Jim Crow, 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:37.480 the facto segregation, on and on and on. Today, redlining, 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:39.320 which I'm going to talk about with the restrictive covenants 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:46.160 on up to today. That economic depression is still there, 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:49.160 and it gets to the point where you read those 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:51.720 all the other things we've done, and the Hawaiians are 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:54.520 fighting for reparations and an apology as well, you know, 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:58.520 the Native Hawaiians. And how can you justify these and 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:01.679 then say, oh, but not black people. How is that possible? 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:05.199 It's not possible with any kind of a logical brain. 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:08.520 It's only possible behind racism. 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:12.440 Now. I know that we could keep talking about this, 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:15.079 but I want to shift because there's a good point 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:17.760 where we can hid hinge yes, segue exactly. 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:18.640 Now. 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:22.959 When you talk about certain things only being possible because 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.320 of racism, one of the things that jumps out in 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:31.440 my brain is environmental racism. It is only possible for 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:34.840 this planet to be polluted if there's a group of 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:38.800 people who have been subjugated and marginalized, who occupy piece 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:41.520 of land that you can use to put your dirty 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:46.920 factories or dump your trash, or otherwise disenfranchise this community 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:51.440 so that your excess, the waste that is accumulated as 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.600 a result of your access, can land somewhere right, And 0:12:54.640 --> 0:13:01.120 so these people have to be again politically disenfranchised, economically disenfranchised, 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:06.160 and historically subjugated. In other words, historically there is no 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:10.800 framework for a governmental agency to care about them. Right, 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:16.800 So you sent me a case study in Arizona, but 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:20.400 it is it is a textbook example and wide indeed 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:23.800 from a place called Randolph, Arizona, which I'll be honest, 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.559 I live in Arizona with you, and you never heard 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:27.440 Randolph Arizona. 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:30.000 But give us a little bit of history. 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.920 About this, because I think that everyone would enjoy learning 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:34.839 about this, but also can see a little bit of 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:36.559 themselves and their communities in this story. 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:39.280 Randolf Arizona was founded in the nineteen twenties by a 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:41.080 guy who owned a railroad and thought he was going 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:43.199 to make it the stopping point between Chicago and Los 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:47.360 Angeles and didn't happen. But that is a cotton pickin area, 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:50.439 cotton growing area, and they needed cotton pickers. Well where 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:53.839 did they get them? They got them from Oklahoma and Arkansas, 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:57.600 and so they actually had labor contractors who went there 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:00.120 and brought them back. When they came. Some of them 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:02.400 had money and weren't all poor. Some of them had 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:05.240 money and went to Coolidge, Arizona to buy a house, 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:07.640 and they were not allowed. So they went out and 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:10.240 they bought houses or land won't land because there weren't 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:13.920 any houses there in what is now Randolph. And they're 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:16.400 still there today and their one hundredth anniversary is next year, 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:20.360 twenty twenty five, and it's a historically black community. There 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.360 are Heel River Indians that's near the Hiller River Indian Reservation, 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:24.840 as a lot of them live in there as well 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:29.760 in Hispanics, and so they became over the years surrounded 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:33.520 starting in the nineteen eighties with heavy industry. They are 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:39.880 a unincorporated rural area, agricultural area, so they're in Pennell County. 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:42.840 They are not in Coolidge, so they're little rectangle eight 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:45.720 by five blocks. Wow, you can figure that out, eight 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:47.920 by five blocks. How about one hundred and fifty people 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:50.120 lived there? Used to be about eight hundred people live 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:52.120 there now it's really down to one hundred and fifty. 0:14:52.560 --> 0:15:00.000 And they started to ring them all around with heavy industry, smells, pollution, noise, 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:04.600 is trucks, the whole thing. You know, they fought, They 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:07.480 fought for fifty years, have been fighting, and they lost 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:10.600 time after time after time. So when twenty twenty one, 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:13.320 Saltworver Project tried to build or put an application in 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:17.600 to build more than double their existing power plant that 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:21.880 they have there, and so they fought. And this is 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:25.360 how bad it is. You talked about reparations. They had 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:27.240 never in the three years that they owned, that power 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:30.960 plant been owned nineteen years before by trans Cannadam and 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:33.320 they bought it in three years prior to that, and 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:38.040 never once spoke to the Randolph residence, never once did 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:41.080 one thing for them, even though they said, we're good neighbors, 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:42.880 we like to work with our neighbors. And I said 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.480 in the trial, how many times had you actually talked 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:49.400 to anybody from Randolph zero? You know you heard that 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:52.400 now we're didn't you zero? How much assistance did you 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:57.280 offer Randolph zero zero? So during the trial, one of 0:15:57.280 --> 0:15:59.640 the guys from there came and he testified that they 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.760 were pro testing, and so Saltware Project came to them 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:04.040 and said, you know, well, we want to shut up 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:05.800 your protests. Of course they didn't say that, but that's 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:08.360 what they meant, you know, And they offered him. Guess 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:10.520 how much they offered him. Saltware Project is a six 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:13.760 billion dollar company. 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:16.720 Per person no what they offered him. No, well, overall 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:19.000 about one hundred thousand. 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:22.600 Dollars fifteen thousand dollars. Oh, whoa, I know that. 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:25.720 Was very low estimate. Q be an insulting leave. 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:27.520 Well, this was so insulting. 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:29.840 I tried to be insulting on a purpose, and I 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:30.640 still overshot. 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:33.960 I offered this fifteen thousand dollars to a guy who 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:38.119 used to run the entire southern California fast food franchise, 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:41.920 so he wasn't a dummy. He was very well versed 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:44.200 in you know, money and negotiations and all of that. 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:47.600 He said. It was such a slap in the face 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.880 that it was clear to him there's no going anywhere 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:56.360 with this. So the NAACP in Penal County called up 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:57.640 and said, Dane, you got to get down there and 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:00.840 testify at this you know, hearing kne anything about it. 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.520 I'd never heard herndole either, and so I had to 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:05.240 look up everything, and I called her back and I said, 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:07.640 these people don't need it is not going to help 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:10.160 for me to get down there and testify. They need 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:12.360 a lawyer. He said, well, you're a lawyer. I said, 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:14.679 I don't know anything about environmental injustice. This was so 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:17.480 clearly a case of environmental injustice. So I don't know 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:20.280 anything about environment the environmental law, or I don't know 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:22.239 anything about that. Well, you had to find somebody. So 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:24.720 I tried like the devil to find somebody. Time was 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:27.439 running out. It had to be filed by January fourth, 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:31.240 that happens to be my birthday, and so I couldn't 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:34.880 find anybody. Everybody I called in Arizona to do it. Well, 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.240 we worked for a SRP wow, so nobody could take 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:41.240 the case. So I called National League, you know the 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:45.280 Louisiana Cancer Zone and all these other cases of Chicago, 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:48.760 these places going around with environmental interests. Nobody had time 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:51.840 and everybody's busy, so I said, okay, okay, I'll file 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:55.119 the thing and then I'll find somebody. We're going on 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:58.439 three years now and I'm still the attorney and the 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:02.639 only one, so there we are. So they the community 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:08.000 testified at the administrative hearing, lost seven to two. So 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:10.679 then we appealed to the Corporation Commission. Sieur Club was 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:13.560 also in it with US and Western Resource, so there 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.199 were three of us fighting Saltwrore project. So then we 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:18.320 appealed to the Corporation Commission had a hearing at the 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:22.320 Corporation Commission one four to one. We were hoping three 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:23.760 to two, but when we got four to one, we 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.280 almost fell off our chairs. So we're very happy to 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:28.879 see that. So then Saltwur Project, of course wasn't going 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:30.919 to take that land down. So then they appealed to 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:33.520 the supirit to the Superior Court, and we went to 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:38.439 trial on that and we won nice. So finally they 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:42.320 said uncle because they wanted that plant. So then we 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:44.960 started a negotiation process and we ended up with a 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:50.360 little bit different monetary settlement and the whole plant got moved. 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.720 It got cut in half, so the pollution is lowered 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:56.680 and the site line, you know, it won't be such 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:59.600 an eyesore because so it was moved away. Blah blah blah. 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:03.680 Diferent things happen, and different amount of money was offered 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:06.040 in the next twenty years for the rebuilding of that 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:12.600 community scholarships, job development, community center, health care, transportation. The 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:15.359 roads have already there were no roads. Everything was dirt 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:18.560 halfs There were no roads or sidewalks or fire hydrants. 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:20.840 No fire hydrants. You have no fire hydrants. You can't 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:23.440 get insurance on your home. If you can't get insurance 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:25.640 on your home, you can't get alone on your home now, 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:28.760 can you? Or a mortgage or anything. No new housing 0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:31.040 had been built in Randolph since nineteen seventy nine. 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:37.320 Yeah, well listen. Rarely do stories have happy endings on 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:40.440 this show. So kudos to you and to indeed the 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:43.679 entire team that helped to fight that fightfore and the people, and. 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:45.880 They need to be here and tell their story exactly. 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:48.080 But what I want to do is take a moment 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:54.400 because I feel like it's important to illuminate exactly what 0:19:55.080 --> 0:20:00.640 environmental racism and environmental justice looks like when we talk 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:04.719 about healthcare outcomes for black and brown people in this country, 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:11.240 when we talk about economic empowerment for black and brown 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:15.920 people in this country. This example shows exactly how just 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:21.080 where you live can affect those two things. Is your 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:24.119 zip code, the place that you were born into, the 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:26.480 place where you're raised. You know a lot of for 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:28.800 a lot of people in this country, they have zero 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:31.760 control over that. That's just where they are there, and 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:34.639 there is no mobility because of that. So it's not 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:37.960 as simple as just move or just change your circumstances 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:42.160 or boots whatever, the bootstrap thing is that physically is impossible. 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:44.719 And it was a joke when it was first introduced 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:47.080 into popular use in the. 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:48.480 Idea it was supposed to be a joke. 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:49.000 It was a joke. 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:49.840 It literally was a joke. 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:52.040 It was boken newspaper and then late eighteen hundred, early 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:56.600 nineteen hundred something like that. But before we wrap up 0:20:56.640 --> 0:20:58.600 this segment, I do want you to share just a 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:02.359 quick fun fact where you were saying you were discussing 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:05.639 these these startle reflex and we'll come back with the 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:06.520 restricted company bill. 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:10.240 A study has been done and I've got two thousand 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:13.560 and eight, and they followed babies when they were very 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:16.880 first born. They were babies, what was their startled reflex? 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:19.720 And the startle reflex is how you respond to like 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:23.560 a sudden noise or a loud particularly a loud noise. 0:21:23.680 --> 0:21:26.320 You know how babies they can jump and start screaming 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:28.960 or they can just lay there and look weird or whatever. 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.320 So they measured these babies on how strong was their 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:37.199 startled reflex. They followed these babies for thirty years, so 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:39.440 they followed them to when they were thirty years old, 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:44.600 and then they looked at their political opinions at that time. 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:48.480