WEBVTT - Can Reparations Find a Home in America? 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:10.880 I'm Erica Alexander, and welcome to Reparations, the Big Payback 0:00:11.200 --> 0:00:14.319 production of Color Farm Media, I Heart Radio and the 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:27.040 Black Effect Podcast Network. The world is changed. I feel 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:29.560 it in the water, I feel it in the earth. 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:34.200 I taste it in the pot liquor. Much that once 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:40.040 seemed impossible suddenly is, and much that once seemed immutable unchangeable, 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:44.720 suddenly is not. If you listen, you can hear a 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:49.559 river rolling. If you listen, you can hear a river roaring. 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:54.800 Justice is a river. You may try to damn it, 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:58.080 try to stop its onward course, but it will go 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:00.760 where it will, and woe to those who stand in 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:06.720 its way, shouting go back. This is a story of 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:11.320 that river. It began with a simple promise, a radical one, 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:14.039 first proposed at the close of the Civil War by 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:17.160 a committee of Black ministers to Sherman, Great Conqueror of 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:21.360 the South, to give formerly enslaved black people forty acres 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:26.399 of land in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida forty acres 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:29.800 of land a peace as recompense for generations of forced, 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:33.840 unpaid labor and cruelty, for the separations of families, for 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:37.200 the barbarism of two hundred and fifty years and more 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:45.440 there would be land later. There was even talk of mules. 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:49.280 Sherman kept his promise, and under his Special Filled Order 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:52.440 fifteen and the first concrete act of reparations for slavery 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:56.320 in this country, as many as forty thousand freedmen were 0:01:56.360 --> 0:02:00.720 resettled on former slave owner land. The American government under 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:04.720 Lincoln was recognizing the unique suffering of enslaved black people 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:08.320 and watering the soil of a suffering nation within a 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:14.320 nation with justice, with practical physical amends. But it was 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:21.400 not to be. Under Lincoln's Southern sympathizer successor Johnson, the 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:25.480 dark forces pushed back. The land was taken from the 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:29.040 freedmen and given back to the very slavers who had 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:33.240 kept them in bondage. The river was damned, The great 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:37.919 battle for reparations for slavery was thwarted, set aside, postponed 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:42.760 for a generation and more. In the next century, the 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.600 call to battle to repay the children and grandchildren of 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:49.480 slavery was taken up by bold women warriors like Calli House, 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.680 who sued the U. S Government itself, and by a 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:58.320 lonely warrior queen Queen Mother Moore, They watered the soil 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:06.040 of justice with sweat and tears. Still and its bottomless cruelty, 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:09.799 the power of white supremacy would hear nothing of it, 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:13.080 insisted there had been no real harm, and even if 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:16.200 there had been, it was all buried in the unreachable 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:20.280 mists of time. And what could be done, Nothing could 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:24.960 be done. The river white supremacy said was fine, just 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:30.440 as it was. But like the rain, the call for reparative, 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:34.400 restorative justice, the pain drenched hearts cry from the soul 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:40.320 of America for reparations, was never truly silenced. New fighters 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.640 picked up the banner in the rushing rivulets of the streets, 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:47.320 and those mighty fountains of black power, the pulpits, and 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:50.400 the swift moving streams of the local governments, and in 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:54.600 the thunderous cataract of Congress itself, until the sons and 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.960 daughters of the Bondsmen could find to hear the unmistakable 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:03.440 sound of justice coming, just just coming home, Justice roaring, roaring, 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:09.280 like a river to the sea. It's not home yet now, 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:13.560 even now, there are those who stand in it's awesome path, 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:27.040 who shout, go back, Will they stop this mighty river? Wow? Erica. Well, 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:29.680 we're finally here. We're almost home. Can you believe it? 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:34.640 This certainly has been quite a journey. Yeah, it has. 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:38.159 It's amazing looking back to think of the places we've gone, 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.680 the people we've met, the different voices we've heard. I 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.760 think it's changes both, don't you. Absolutely? And in the 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:49.920 time we've been talking America's racial reckoning, reckoning or deflection 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:53.400 of racial reckoning, or failure to have a racial reckoning 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:57.080 right in this past what is it five months that 0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:00.279 felt like a year from the insurrection at the cap Battle, 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.880 which was about white supremacy, to the trial and verdict 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:07.120 on Derek Chauvin, which was also about white supremacy, or 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.479 more to the point, perhaps about the death of the 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:17.560 white majority and the reassertion of supremacy tactics and terrorism. Brother, Yeah, well, 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:19.919 I'm glad we went on this journey in the midst 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:23.320 of these momentous times. You go go ahead, try that Whitney, 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:25.640 say it five times, say it fast, five times. I 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:27.880 can barely see it one time. But listen, I hope 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:30.440 the folks who came along with us got something out 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:32.840 of it as we did. Well, one more thing, Eric, 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:36.280 before it begin listening to your introductory piece. Here, I'm 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:39.480 gonnaed a little more info about pot liquor. What am 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:43.520 I like black google or something besides Whitney have gotten 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:48.599 your family holiday gifts? You know plenty about pot liquor. 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:53.560 I do hello to the Dow family. But in this case, 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:57.120 to get a little taste of my brew, all you 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:13.360 need is a little imagination. Here we go. Ah, there's 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:17.520 that word imagination now, Erica. I know I teased you 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:21.720 initially when you suggest we recreate really Wonka's magical feeling 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:25.039 in a world of reparations. But you know, I got 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:26.720 to admit you stuck to your guns, and in the 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:30.120 end that seat of inspiration gave us this big, colorful 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:34.200 field to play in. So were you trying to say 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:36.960 thank you? Erica? Wow, that was a great idea. You know, 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:39.960 I'm really sorry about laughing at you and not believing 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:42.640 in your mind blowing genius. Next time, I'll just get 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:45.040 out of your way, laid down the red carpet, and well, 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:47.719 you know, I don't like anyone putting words in my mouth, Erica, 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:51.400 but in this case, you're welcome with me. It's just 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:53.720 another day in the life for creative genius like me 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:56.280 who also writes dialogue by the power and can trick 0:06:56.360 --> 0:07:00.600 you into saying anything I want anyway. Yeah, we fortunate 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:04.039 to meet some terrific people, warriors who are shining lights 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:10.400 in the battle for reparations. And every journey needs its fellowship. 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:15.600 It's frontline, middle and rearguard. That's right for me. Older 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:18.200 woman Robin Ruth Simmons really stands out, you know, the 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.880 idea that a local level and her case in Evans, Illinois, 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:24.520 that she could push hard enough to actually make her 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:28.040 community face the issue of reparations without waiting for it 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:30.600 to be a national policy or something like that. I 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:34.560 think that it's really kind of revolutionary, definitely, but addressing 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.239 the need for national policy and carrying on the legacy 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:40.560 of the great Congressman John Conyers. We had the great 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:43.120 Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas to join us to 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:46.800 talk about HR forty, the historic and long overdue resolution 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:51.120 before Congress to form a commission to study reparations. Slavery 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:55.680 is the original sin. Slavery has never received an apology. 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:58.360 The number of Africans who died in the New Passage 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:04.080 over to million. Number of the slaves who died during slavery, first, second, 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:08.280 and third generation, over two point five millions, who has 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:14.320 a history like that. Reparations should be welcomed by all Americans, 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:19.280 for we are not asking one American to give one payment. 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:22.600 What we're saying is, it's the only way that slavery 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:26.720 ended was a governmental action of the Thirteenth Amendment. Governmental 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:31.400 action and reconstruction failed after twelve years because it was 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:36.280 imploded by governmental people, and after reconstruction, a reign of 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:39.840 terror that had never been seen. The hanging fruit, the lynching, 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:44.360 the oppression of voting, the tearing away of land, and 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.880 the amazing concept of the continuing de jure and de 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:52.920 facto impact of slavery today. Mega businessman Bob Johnson and 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:56.679 economist Julianne Melvo and William Darrity broke down for us 0:08:56.760 --> 0:09:00.280 just how much reparations will cost hit It will be 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:05.040 a whole lot. The debt that's associated with a reparations 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:09.240 claim for Black American descendants of US slavery is in 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:13.040 the vicinity of ten to twelve trillion dollars. And that's 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:17.760 an estimate by examining the magnitude of the difference in 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:22.040 wealth that is held by Black Americans who find their 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:27.280 origins in the community of individuals who were subjected to enslavement. 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.280 We set as the target for a reparations plan elimination 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:35.079 of that gap and bringing the black share of wealth 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:40.520 into consistency with the black share of the nation's population. Wow, 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:42.240 how are we going to pay for all our bombers 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:46.640 and cyber warfare? Uh? With a bake sale? I guess 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:49.880 I better get started on those cupcakes. I didn't know 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.679 you can bake Whitney. Okay, you do that. In the meantime, 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:56.520 I'll get a vegan recipe from a friend we know. Well, 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:00.640 I talked to who can really cook, slcense and servant 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:04.960 Hot Rev and Al Sharpton. He explained why white supremacy 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:08.600 is in the battle to control the narrative around reparations. Yeah. 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:10.600 I wasn't really aware we were gonna be hearing from 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.080 the Rev. Until after you kind of slipped him in 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:15.880 their Eraica. You know that was kind of pretty sneaky. Well, 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:18.160 I learned it from the best whitey, I mean, Whitney. 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:24.360 They take ownership and some of the the sureminal, but 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:28.000 it's there that they are more qualified to tell us 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:31.520 our story and others our story than we are ourselves. 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:35.560 I was reading this book on Frederick Douglas and how 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:39.719 when Frederick Douglas was the runaway slave workers way from 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.760 New York to New England, and there was buzz around 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:49.319 the abolitionists world about this well built slave that could 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:53.120 read and that we could use him to go out 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.960 there and push our cars. And the white New Englanders 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:59.800 who were lead the abolitionist movement brought him in and 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.840 they started bringing them around to the various gatherings, and 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:06.280 then he started speaking, and they were like, no, no, no, no, 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:08.120 we don't need you to talk. We just need you 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.480 to be there, be the slave. We'll do the talking. 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:15.840 It's like we are really not saying you're equal. We 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:19.199 sympathize with y'all, but let us do the talking. Let 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:21.760 us write out the screenplay, let us tell them the 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:27.280 black experience, rather than allowing us as equals to say, 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:29.520 wait a minute, this is our journey, and we know 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:33.360 our journey better than anybody. And that is a form 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:36.280 of white supremacy. I run into it even in my 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:40.560 civil rights political work, where progressives feel that they can 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:45.199 tell blacks how we deal without suffering body, we get ourselves. 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:47.080 And I'm not saying we shouldn't have allies. I'm not 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:49.720 saying we can't work with people, but you can't take 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:55.160 ownership of me and you. We can no longer allow 0:11:55.880 --> 0:12:02.040 ourselves to be interpreted by those that do not understand us. 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:04.880 And that's why I think that we've got to start 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:09.200 with our authenticity. If I've got to be somebody else 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:13.080 for you to accept me, then I'm bowing the white supremacy. 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:15.880 God made me. You don't have to remake me. I 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:18.760 would find where he made me. Just get out of 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:21.680 my way, get your need on my name. We also 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:24.760 got a solid definition of reparations from your pal the Rizza, 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:28.080 or should I say your son Bobby Diggs. You know 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:31.880 you guys are a whole American saga unto yourselves. Oh lord, 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:35.520 Wu tang Okay, that was a shameless plug fear series. 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:38.160 Wu tang in American saga. Is there gonna be a 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:40.880 second season? By the way America? Yes, Whitney, thank you 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:44.480 for the subtle product placement. Yo. I was thrilled the 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:48.440 Rizzard could join us. Reparations what is it? It is 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:51.200 the making of amends for a wrong that one has 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:55.319 done by paying money to or otherwise helping those who 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:59.920 have been wronged. It comes from two words repair an action, 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:04.080 and so thus it is the action of repairing the 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:08.360 damage that one has caused. It is a noun, and 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:12.080 we need it now. He laid it down. Yeah, and 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.400 we got a quick education and white privilege from joy 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:17.760 read That was a fun game. And Evett Carnell, a 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:21.400 truly gifted advocate for a very specific definition of reparations. 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:23.800 She broke it down and showed us how we'd have 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:26.880 to discuss who gets it. Name me one other group 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:31.120 that has been oppressed from slavery and then has had 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:36.080 the entire government, local and federal mechanized against them. No 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:38.720 other group can claim that. Now. Some other groups can 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:42.040 claim during this period, we got discriminated against. During this period, 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:44.640 some of our people got hung or lynched. But you 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.880 do not have a history that stretches from sixteen nineteen. 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.880 You don't have that. Melanine doesn't make us the same 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:54.400 in terms of our contributions to America, and it doesn't 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.440 mean that you should get reparations the same as me. 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:00.240 American descentis of slavery came here in slave ships. Every 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:02.920 other group came here either on foot on a plane, 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:07.520 you came here. Voluntary. Voluntary versus involuntary has consequences in 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:11.000 terms of reparations. Now, do you have one parent who 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:13.640 comes from American child slavery and I'm gonna tell you 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:15.520 how to best figure that out. If you have a 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:17.800 great grandparent who was a share proper or whatever, you 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.080 come from slaves, that's just what it is. It's not 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:23.360 hard to figure out. We have records. But if you're 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:25.480 a black immigrant or if you come from black immigrants, no, 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:29.000 you don't get reparations. This is a specific justice claim 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:32.760 is sacred now in terms of the people that come 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:36.040 from the Caribbean and black immigrants and their children. Because 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.520 we have children of black immigrants who are not Black immigrants, 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:42.000 they're Black Americans. What we have for them are protections 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:45.400 and a Black agenda because they have a lived experience 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.880 of discrimination. They don't have the inheritance the plunder, they 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:51.800 don't have ancests who came in slaveships, but they have 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.800 an experience in this country which is racialized. So the 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:58.200 Black agenda helps protect them as well as us against 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:03.400 this racialized kind of discrimination. So that is there for them. 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.920 The reparations piece though, is just for us that really 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:09.320 set off the hotline we set up for people to 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:11.560 call if they wanted to find out if they qualified. 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:16.440 You know, it's still going Lebron, James, Elizabeth Warren, j 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:24.440 Edgar Hoover, Carol Channing, The Jackson Five, Steven Tyler, Vin Diesel, 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:29.960 Mitch Land, Drew, Rachel doll Is All, Michael Jackson, Off 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:36.920 the Wall, Michael Jackson, The Thriller, Michael Jackson Invincible, Darth Vader, 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:44.160 Live Tyler, Stacy Dash Come On girl again, Carol Channing. 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:49.280 Steven Tyler from Aerosmith is part black, I guess partially 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:52.920 so dude doesn't just look like a lady. He looked 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:59.120 like a black lady. No, Steven Tyler. We also got 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:01.440 a fascinating less and in the slavery based origins of 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:04.760 tipping from Sorrow Garaman. As we say in New Orn, 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:08.920 there is now mountains of evidence that tipping is not 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:12.480 correlated with the quality of the service. Tipping is a 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:17.400 reflection of all of America's biases from the inception of America, 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:21.200 and what is correlated with is the race and gender 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:24.680 of the server, her eye color, her skin color, her 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:29.000 hair color, her hair texture, her breast size, whether she's 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:32.160 willing to touch the customer or be touched, And so 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:36.600 that segregation of workers of color into back of house 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:40.760 versus front of house, which is eerily reminiscent of the 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:46.080 way in which slaves on plantations or even in reconstruction 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:50.200 people of color were treated and differentiated. And then on 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:53.800 top of that, the differential in the way people are tipped. 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:57.200 All of that results in a five dollar per hour 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:02.080 wage gap between black women and white men in our industry. 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:08.760 That differential creates generational poverty. The sub minimum wage exacerbates 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:12.359 the inequality, and it forces all of these folks to 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.520 live off of tips. The fact that people of color 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:18.639 earn less in tips even when they have the same positions, 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:22.879 it is a reflection of still deep seated racism in 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:26.640 the United States. Even when workers of color make it 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.800 to higher paid positions, they cannot earn the same in 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:35.359 tips because of this racism. Erica, we really had an 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:38.480 amazing opportunity to speak and learn from some really, really 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:41.200 heavy hitters. You know, I'm thinking now of your friend 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:45.840 Reverend William Barber. He is my dear friend. We lucky me. 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.280 I love me some Bishop Barber and Yeah, he really 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.600 is the pre eminent clergy voice of this century. Bishop 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:55.840 is carrying the mantle of Dr King's Poor People's campaign. 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.720 He calls the period we're living through now the third Reconstruction. 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:02.719 He came with that moral authority of his, you know that, 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:07.000 And he gave us fair warning about the price America 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:10.400 will pay if it ignores the bill. That's due justice, 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:17.959 just justice, just justice, established justice. That's all it is. 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:21.760 And we are to let it roll down like waters, 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:24.639 and we are to let it come down like a 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:28.399 mighty stream. And until such time we better remember what 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:32.880 Dr King said the same thing Amo said six centuries earlier, 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:35.800 woe to those who are at ease in Zion, woe 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:39.199 to those who are at ease in America. And then 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:42.719 Dr King said like this twenty four hours before he 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.840 was killed. He said, we gotta give ourselves to this movement. 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:49.399 It might cost us, but we gotta give ourselves to 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:52.560 this movement because we either go up together or we 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:57.560 go down together. And nothing would be more tragic than 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:01.280 for us to stop at this point. Another heavy hitter 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:05.800 who bought his a game, astonishing genius, passion and serious 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:08.960 commitment for the fight was Killer Mike. Even if his 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:12.280 message was not a pretty one. Yea, his message was disturbing. 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:15.440 It was disturbing because it was true. I think we 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:17.879 called it the ugly truth, you know, a concept that 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:20.600 racism is a big business, and that business may be 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:25.680 too big to fail. The ugly truth is racism has 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:30.480 been extremely profitable for America. We have a problem in 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:33.080 this country and that we like to use cheap labor 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:36.560 to create wealth. On the other side, and the community 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:38.880 that has been used for cheap labor the most are 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:43.600 black people. I believe that as a country, we can 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:46.359 be the country we aspire to be, where there's liberty 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.160 and justice for all. But we can no longer do 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:53.520 this if we are married to the classic capitalistic system 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.360 in which we use and abuse the people that were 0:19:56.400 --> 0:20:00.480 brought here for free or cheap labor, just like we 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:04.280 do migrant workers now, just like we've done Africans in 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.199 the past, just like they did the Chinese during the 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:10.320 making of railroads, just like they've done even the Irish 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:13.480 and the Latino population that came into New York through 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:16.760 Ellis Islands in the twenties, thirties and nine. This country 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:19.840 knows that a different way is possible. The question is 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:22.720 are we too lazy and apathetic to try a different way. 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:25.240 It is easy to target black, and not only black 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:29.080 with the poor. Racism is an advent of classism. Classism 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.160 is an advent of the bourgeoisie and the elite, meant 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:35.280 to oppress the peasant class. If we don't start to 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:38.440 fight racism right now in this country, then we will 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:41.359 forever remain an empire that uses the free labor of 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:45.399 black people to exploit and capitalize off of. We have 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:48.080 an opportunity in this moment to give people what we 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.160 truly promise as freedom and justice for all. That means 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:53.800 we must fight, fight, fight, every step of the way 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:56.920 against racism. And it's not enough to be non racist, 0:20:57.000 --> 0:21:00.840 you must be vehemently anti racist. Killer Mike is the 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:04.560 man that brother. I would vote for him. I would 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:08.359 roll with him if he allowed me to roll with him. 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:10.480 But you know, I'm really excited because we got to 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:13.640 speak to so many different types of people and it's 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:15.080 not every day that you get to speak to a 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:18.399 billionaire former presidential candidate. Uh, but that's exactly who we 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:21.600 got with Tom Steyer. Yeah, he rolled the moneyball to 0:21:21.680 --> 0:21:25.000 expose the financial barriers that continue to limit the economic 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:28.600 growth of Black Americans. Cat Taylor and I started a 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:34.119 bank fifteen years ago partially to redress the systemic racism 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:36.480 in the financial system and the banking system in the 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:42.159 United States that specifically addressed economic justice, environmental sustainability, and 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:45.159 supported businesses owned by women and people of color, because 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:49.000 there was systemic attempt to shut those people out of 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:52.879 ownership of wealth in this country. And that's what redlining was. 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:55.320 Don't lend to black people. It's against the rules of 0:21:55.320 --> 0:21:57.200 our bank to lend to blank people. So we're gonna 0:21:57.280 --> 0:22:00.840 draw a red line around African americanighborhoods and you can't 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:04.080 lend in there, which shut black people out of home ownership, 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:08.080 which is the basic wealth creation historically for American citizens. 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:12.000 And so we started a bank from scratch. Basically, we 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:15.680 measure every loan not just on whether it's profitable, because 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:18.560 we need to be profitable so we can continue in business, 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:21.800 but also what is the impact on the community in 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:24.879 terms of job creations, in terms of who owns the bank, 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:28.120 in terms of sequestrian carbon And if you can't do that, 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:30.480 then that's not alone for us. Actions have to be 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:33.520 taken not just to be fair within the bank, but 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:39.720 to redress the long time deep racism of the banking system. 0:22:39.800 --> 0:22:41.639 And you know, not trying to be fair, but to 0:22:41.720 --> 0:22:45.840 be specifically pointing out the people who have been discriminated 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:48.520 against and trying to give them the opportunities that have 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:51.680 been systemically taken away from them. The Miyror Flint, Michigan. 0:22:51.880 --> 0:22:54.160 Karen Weaver joined us to tell us about the dark 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:56.359 water story of our city. When you look at what 0:22:56.480 --> 0:22:59.320 really happened, it was about a group of people making 0:22:59.320 --> 0:23:02.520 money and get rich because off of the water supply 0:23:03.119 --> 0:23:06.160 and having taken our pipe from us, because we sold 0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:09.800 water to all of the surrounding cities in our county, 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:12.159 and they changed our water source and they put us 0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:16.040 on the Flint River. Of all things, I mean growing up, 0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:18.320 you know, we all knew you don't want water from 0:23:18.359 --> 0:23:21.359 the Flint River. You find cars, you find bodies, you 0:23:21.359 --> 0:23:24.520 find all kinds of things in there. And uh, as 0:23:24.560 --> 0:23:27.840 they made that switch, they didn't test our water. How 0:23:27.840 --> 0:23:31.919 do you switch a water source for a city and 0:23:32.040 --> 0:23:36.119 not tested. And when people complained about it and said 0:23:36.200 --> 0:23:38.600 something was wrong, we were told the water was fine. 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:41.960 But think about this, It corroded the parts for the 0:23:42.040 --> 0:23:45.600 GM cars, and GM got off of our water, but 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:48.840 corrosion control was never added to the water. So we're 0:23:48.920 --> 0:23:53.720 drinking this water that we're told is okay. For eighteen months, 0:23:54.000 --> 0:23:58.040 we complained, We held up bags of hair, skin rashes, 0:23:58.119 --> 0:24:01.520 those kinds of things, and um our water source had 0:24:01.520 --> 0:24:03.600 been switched. And you know, it had to be a 0:24:03.640 --> 0:24:05.800 cover up, because how do you keep that quiet for 0:24:05.880 --> 0:24:09.040 eighteen months from the rest of the world when we're 0:24:09.080 --> 0:24:11.960 here in Flint, you know, yelling and streaming and crying. 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:14.800 And I got my water tested while I was campaigning, 0:24:15.080 --> 0:24:18.000 and I got the call from Virginia, texaing on a 0:24:18.040 --> 0:24:21.359 Sunday night, and they said, your water is tested high 0:24:21.359 --> 0:24:23.160 for lead, and they told us not to even use 0:24:23.160 --> 0:24:26.080 it to brush our teeth. But they had never planned 0:24:26.119 --> 0:24:29.840 on telling us and sharing this information because one of 0:24:29.880 --> 0:24:32.719 the things we found out was the state new and 0:24:32.760 --> 0:24:36.240 they were having bottled water sent to their state buildings 0:24:36.240 --> 0:24:39.760 here while the people continued to drink this poisoned water. 0:24:40.280 --> 0:24:42.440 And at that point it was more than lead because 0:24:42.440 --> 0:24:44.960 we had bacteria in there. There was equal light and 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:47.600 there there was all kind of mess in our water. 0:24:48.200 --> 0:24:51.760 Yet nobody thought to say, let's test it, let's put 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:54.600 corrosion control in and get the people of the city 0:24:54.600 --> 0:24:57.240 of Flint off of this water. And that's what led 0:24:57.280 --> 0:25:01.280 to the Flint water crisis, was know cutting off our 0:25:01.440 --> 0:25:07.240 access to clean water. And when you talk about reparations 0:25:07.240 --> 0:25:10.119 and what people are old as a result of a 0:25:10.240 --> 0:25:13.560