Speaker 1: Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership
Speaker 1: with Reason Choice Media.
Speaker 2: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 3: Hey bam, You're about to hear a replay of one
Speaker 3: of our interviews from our live stream at the Democratic
Speaker 3: National Convention. Now. If you want to listen to or
Speaker 3: watch the full stream, be sure to check out links
Speaker 3: in the episode description. You can also find a full
Speaker 3: list of all the guests we've interviewed. Welcome home, y'all.
Speaker 2: Our dear friend Ted, Ted James has joined us. Ted
Speaker 2: James has been a State Rep in Louisiana. He has
Speaker 2: worked for the Small Business Administration in this administration. He
Speaker 2: is running for mayor and Baton Rouge, and he is
Speaker 2: he's a dear friend of ours. My favorite thing to
Speaker 2: say about Ted is when the people need something, they're done.
Speaker 2: They do one thing and.
Speaker 4: It's two words, paull Ted.
Speaker 3: That is why your brother just left the set.
Speaker 4: Well, I love it.
Speaker 5: They didn't have to do it out for the kappas.
Speaker 1: They don't need anything.
Speaker 4: No introduction given too much.
Speaker 3: VE been talking about the D nine and the comments
Speaker 3: are all shouting you out, So let.
Speaker 6: Me tell you something. It was such an honor to
Speaker 6: walk up and see my three dear friends and thank
Speaker 6: you all for always elevating our voices. And I'm honored
Speaker 6: to be here. But to see the next peak of
Speaker 6: the house, Yeah, a good Kapa man was also heartwarming.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I bet I bet I bet tad you you
Speaker 5: you've been at the legislative level making moves. Your reputation
Speaker 5: is far outside of the state of Louisiana, outside of
Speaker 5: Baton Rouge, but we know that that community has shaped
Speaker 5: the person that you are, the wonderful public servant, and
Speaker 5: I know we've got listeners and viewers down there, y'all
Speaker 5: show ted some great love.
Speaker 1: You're going from the legislature now back to the local.
Speaker 5: Now, I'm welcoming you because I'm I'm a man of
Speaker 5: the tell us. Tell us what has animated your desire
Speaker 5: to make your way from the state level of governing
Speaker 5: on behalf of your community to now big mayor.
Speaker 6: You know, Andrew, I'll tell you it's the opportunity in
Speaker 6: their administration to travel across the country. And I watched
Speaker 6: other mayors do what I watched you do, raise the
Speaker 6: quality of life through investing in small businesses there Baton
Speaker 6: Rouge is very similar to talent has and that the
Speaker 6: two major universities, one Southern University. How to amplify that
Speaker 6: HBCU culture through making sure that those young people have
Speaker 6: entrepreneurship opportunities where they decide to stay in Baton Rouge
Speaker 6: and I leave for opportunities other places.
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 5: I love that, And so tell us what's the shape
Speaker 5: for those who don't know, give us the lay of
Speaker 5: the land. What when's the primary? When's the general? What's
Speaker 5: the what's the Louisiana? We have open primers. We call
Speaker 5: them jungle primiers.
Speaker 6: So we are all running on November fifth, and the
Speaker 6: top two vote getters will go December seventh, and less
Speaker 6: one of us received fifty percent of the vot plus one.
Speaker 6: I'm working to receive fifty percent plus one, but if not,
Speaker 6: we go to a runoff in December.
Speaker 5: So I didn't realize, y'all. So y'all go beyond the November.
Speaker 3: That's right, Okay, okay, you all saw Angela Leaf said
Speaker 3: she went and grabbed us. Another member of Congress. We
Speaker 3: are joined now by Congressman Gregory Meeks out of New York.
Speaker 3: He serves on the Foreign Relations Committee and Angela in
Speaker 3: her capacity as a former executive director of the Congressional
Speaker 3: Black Caucus, work very closely with Congressman Gregory Meeks, so
Speaker 3: it's wonderful to be doing by you.
Speaker 2: He's also the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Pack.
Speaker 4: He walked by yesterday.
Speaker 2: I was like, today, we're snatching him. I'm probably gonna
Speaker 2: get in trouble to staff, but I was like, I
Speaker 2: need it. For three minutes. I just wanted mister Meeks
Speaker 2: in the middle of Ted talking about the importance of
Speaker 2: electoral politics running for overs himself. Mister Meeks, you fight
Speaker 2: every day to ensure that our numbers increase. We are
Speaker 2: a strong sixty Now, CBC members, I want you to
Speaker 2: talk about why it's so important to invest in entities
Speaker 2: like the Congressional Blas Corcus Pack. Shameless plug. I sit
Speaker 2: on the board.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 7: Look, what we're talking about is having real power in America.
Speaker 7: What we're talking about is making a game change. And
Speaker 7: this is why this is a historic moment. You talk
Speaker 7: about sixty, Now, what happens with that sixty. We're going
Speaker 7: to have at least five members when we take back
Speaker 7: to the majority in the House. We're going to have
Speaker 7: five members of the CBC that will be chairs of
Speaker 7: full committees. You look at people like Bennie Thompson from
Speaker 7: Mississippi being Chair of Homeland Security. We talk about education
Speaker 7: and we want to make sure that we got real history.
Speaker 7: Bobby Scott from Virginia will be Chair of Education and Labor.
Speaker 7: We talk about how black farmers have been robbed and
Speaker 7: no justice.
Speaker 4: David Scott from.
Speaker 7: Georgia will be Chair of the Agriculture Committee. We talk
Speaker 7: about financial services, which is really important.
Speaker 4: You talk about all the finances of the world.
Speaker 7: Sister Maxine, Now Maxine will be chair of the Financial
Speaker 7: Services Committee, and your little brother here I will be
Speaker 7: Chair of the House Foreign Fans Committee. And over thirty
Speaker 7: one members of the CBC will be chairs of major subcommittees.
Speaker 7: So we are talking about investing in the CBC. We
Speaker 7: are talking about setting the policies for the United States
Speaker 7: of America and getting justice for many people across. You know,
Speaker 7: we're talking about if we're talking about voting rights, if
Speaker 7: we're talking about criminal justice reform, if we're talking about
Speaker 7: creating wealth and reducing the wealth gap.
Speaker 4: That's what this is all about.
Speaker 7: And making this, you know, a statement that then turns
Speaker 7: into reality.
Speaker 4: But to me, this is doctor King's dream. It's a
Speaker 4: good time.
Speaker 7: To be alive today, right now when you look at
Speaker 7: the fact, you know, I can tell you at me
Speaker 7: and my age, many individuals did not think that we
Speaker 7: would see another person of color being president. So one
Speaker 7: thing that I will say that Don Da Khan was
Speaker 7: right about. You know when we look at when I
Speaker 7: see Barack Obama and now let's see Kamala Harris.
Speaker 4: I know where black job is this president black job.
Speaker 4: It's about real power and making a difference.
Speaker 2: Black jobs do not have it without blackpecks. So I
Speaker 2: just wanted to get you on here first shout out.
Speaker 2: So thanks. Maybe he has to run right now.
Speaker 3: I want to ask one quick wife.
Speaker 6: Sorry, Congress want to hear another member from Ben Rouge
Speaker 6: and Clo Field.
Speaker 4: Him and quite easy. You know they bring a lot
Speaker 4: of history.
Speaker 3: Congressman, I want to ask one quick question. We had
Speaker 3: your colleague, Congressman Bennie Thompson on yesterday, the ranking member
Speaker 3: on Homeland Security, and he spoke about how oftentimes foreign
Speaker 3: policy issues are not the top of the list of
Speaker 3: priorities for people, especially in our community, who are juggling
Speaker 3: so much from how to pay the mortgage to keeping
Speaker 3: their kids safe to you know, sending kids to school.
Speaker 3: And I'm just curious because you serve on the Foreign
Speaker 3: waces to make it is crucial, a crucial committee because
Speaker 3: what happens overseas very much impact what happens here from
Speaker 3: a budget standpoint to policy. What would you say going
Speaker 3: into this new cycle, this election cycle is the chief
Speaker 3: issue when it comes to foreign policy.
Speaker 4: Well, there's a number of them. First and foremost.
Speaker 7: You know, when you talk about the situation that's happening,
Speaker 7: whether it's the Middle East, it is really important that
Speaker 7: we deal with that to deal with what we're.
Speaker 4: Talking about with the challenges with China.
Speaker 7: But I'll tell you what we don't talk about enough
Speaker 7: that should be on the front burner.
Speaker 4: What's happening in Sadan.
Speaker 7: Yes, you know where you have more people dying every
Speaker 7: day and it's not anyone's talking about it. And so
Speaker 7: when I become the chair again, that becomes on the
Speaker 7: front burner to talk about what's happening in Haiti? Is
Speaker 7: you know something that's really important that look like us,
Speaker 7: that makes a difference when you look even at brisk
Speaker 7: going on where there's more black people than any place
Speaker 7: else in the world other than the continent of Africa
Speaker 7: is Brazil and how they are affected with reference to
Speaker 7: dealing with the issues in Venezuela, and then you talk
Speaker 7: that deals with this migrant crisis that you're talking about,
Speaker 7: so we've got to deal with those. It's those issues
Speaker 7: are on the on the front burder and it's all
Speaker 7: interconnected because when you have the war like in Ukraine,
Speaker 7: a lot of people don't understand what happens there is
Speaker 7: when you talk about uh food and food.
Speaker 4: Shortages with the Black Sea because of that war.
Speaker 7: Is blocking some of the passage, which brings up the
Speaker 7: price of food and thereby causes inflation. It's all interconnected
Speaker 7: because the world now is much smaller than it used
Speaker 7: to be, and we are living with a global economy.
Speaker 7: We're talking about the fact that each you know, when
Speaker 7: you talk about food chains which gets in if they're
Speaker 7: shut down, it affects us. You talk about energy, that's
Speaker 7: a global issue of which we got to deal.
Speaker 4: In traffic in the cost of gain.
Speaker 7: That is you know, some people look at it as
Speaker 7: just something that's far away, but it is domestic because
Speaker 7: it affects us domestically.
Speaker 4: Each in every day.
Speaker 7: And that's why you got to consider looking at foreign
Speaker 7: policy and it's even and it's harder to talk about
Speaker 7: diplomacy as opposed to going to war. And what we
Speaker 7: try to do is to try to make sure that
Speaker 7: we're talking about doing things in a diplomatic way because
Speaker 7: then it is cheaper than having to go to war
Speaker 7: that costs American people.
Speaker 5: And that's what that's why you are in form relations.
Speaker 5: That's why you've about to be the chair again, because
Speaker 5: that was one of the most accessible explanations I've heard
Speaker 5: as to why when folks say, all I see is
Speaker 5: all our money going overseas someplace else, and that's what
Speaker 5: they summarize foreign policy to be. But when you talk
Speaker 5: about gas prices and you talk about the prices serial
Speaker 5: because we can't be ex that's right. Or you talk
Speaker 5: about blockades that then raise the costs because of the shortages,
Speaker 5: low supply, high demand, high your prime.
Speaker 4: In place what it is.
Speaker 5: So these are the I hope that we continue to
Speaker 5: talk about it in that way because folks large in
Speaker 5: our community, when you when you have need yourself, it's
Speaker 5: very hard to then see what are your tax dollars
Speaker 5: being used to fill another need when in fact what
Speaker 5: what looks obvious may not be so obvious.
Speaker 7: Absolutely, and what we learned from the pandemic, if somebody
Speaker 7: is sick someplace else in the.
Speaker 4: World, that come here.
Speaker 7: So it's important to make sure that we are working
Speaker 7: with others so that it keeps us safe and healthy
Speaker 7: because they are safe and healthy. So all of that
Speaker 7: is interconnected, and that's why we've got to make sure
Speaker 7: that we stay involved and understand what's taking place in
Speaker 7: a final fan situation and what you're doing on.
Speaker 3: We wish you well, but I just want to shout
Speaker 3: how Alpha by Alpha for third.
Speaker 5: Shouted them out the rest of the week.
Speaker 2: We are so grateful to your chair for being here.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Hey, y'all, thanks for listening. Remember to rate, review, subscribe,
Speaker 2: and tune into our regular episode that drops every single Thursday,
Speaker 2: Welcome Home, y'all.
Speaker 1: Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio and partnership
Speaker 1: with Reason Choice Media. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
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