WEBVTT - The Audacity of Being Black 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.800 Good morning, keeps, and welcome to wok F Daily with 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:20.520 me your girl, Danielle Moody recording from the Brooklyn Silarium. Folks, 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:23.720 you know I have you can see here my notepad 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:26.880 and my computer on my lap because I have been 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:32.239 struggling with what to cover and how to kind of 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:36.879 maneuver us into this holiday week when there is just 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:41.279 so much wrong that continues to happen. And I'm like, 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:44.480 do we talk about the news of the day, which 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:48.479 is the fact that listening let me just say this, 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:54.200 listening to the McDaniel's trial, the trial of the three 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:58.320 murderers that killed Ahmad Aubrey because he had the audacity 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:02.400 to jog while black in his own nigh Hoodum, listening 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:06.080 to that trial, which I cannot stomach, and I think 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:12.480 that my tolerance for white fuckery and rage has reached 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.959 a all time high. Like I just don't. I no 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:19.880 longer have what used to be like an iron stomach 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:25.479 to be able to listen to the to the defense 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:29.080 talk about how these white men were well within their 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:34.400 right to have a citizen's arrest, even though Georgia wiped 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:37.920 that rule right, that law off the books because it 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:42.720 was inherently racist right, and it was installed like a 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:48.040 century ago. It's hard for me to listen to the 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:54.200 justification of murder of black people anymore. I know the story, 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:57.280 I know the song, the I feared from my life, 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:01.000 the um they were doing something and saying, oh, we 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:05.400 were protecting our property. It's always the same fucking story. 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:08.200 So it's like, if you've heard it once, you've heard 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:11.040 it a million times, and there's really no need to 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:16.320 continue to relive these stories with each and every single murder. 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:19.840 So I haven't wanted to dive into that. And there 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:23.800 are other people who know that you can listen to, 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:27.840 like our friend Mark Thompson who's been covering the trial 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:30.480 on his show Make It Plain. So there are plenty 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.680 of people that can walk you through the intricacies of that. 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:35.839 I am just not going to be one of them 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:39.640 because I care too much about my mental health. But 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:44.720 there's another story that has really taken hold over me, 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:47.440 and it's kind of how I feel, and I know 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:49.840 that many of you feel this way as well, because 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:55.000 you're messaging me and dming me about how to deal 0:02:55.280 --> 0:03:00.480 with this sense of despair. Michelle Goldberg, who has joined 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:03.320 Woke af a couple of times over the years. Is 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:06.520 a writer for The New York Times, and this week 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:10.480 she wrote a piece called the Problem of Political Despair. 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:15.040 And before I delve into the piece, you know, I 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:19.720 want to share with you my own feelings over the 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:25.559 past couple of weeks. Right, Usually, I get super excited 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:29.000 for the holidays. You know, I'm not one of those 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.800 people that decorates everything, you know, but I love spending 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:35.960 time with my family. I love taking a break. But 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:41.760 over the past couple of years, I feel like it's 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:44.840 like there's a dread that kind of follows along with 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:47.720 the holidays. And so before I delve into the political despair, 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:49.840 I kind of want to talk about like this holiday 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:52.640 feeling and get a sense like if other people feel 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:57.080 this way. I kind of miss And let me preface 0:03:57.120 --> 0:03:59.640 this by saying that I'm not a cheap person, right, 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:06.560 but I miss the holidays really being about spending time 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:09.680 with family and friends that you don't get to readily see. 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:16.000 I miss the idea of, you know, it being about 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:19.760 the time and the quality of that time and the 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:29.640 games and the cooking together as opposed to the overconsumption. Right, So, 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.039 for the past couple of days, I've been kind of 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:35.920 deciding do I really want to do a show on 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:40.680 like capitalism and Black Friday every year? Right? You see 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:45.240 the videos. Media loves it. They love to show, you know, 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:50.000 middle income or lower income people with these mad dashes 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.200 into the store to get the latest gadget right that 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:58.240 they can only afford frankly when the prices are slash. 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:05.719 But we know that capitalism is about breeding this feeling 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:09.159 that you need material goods in order to feel good 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:12.600 about yourself, that in order to stay in competition with 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:15.400 your family and friends, like, you just have to accumulate 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:19.600 more stuff. And you know, the fact is that we 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:26.080 know that that companies inflate prices right so that they 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:29.680 can then cut them in a way that makes us think, 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:32.480 oh my god, I'm getting these things for seventy percent off, 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:37.440 when in fact they're still recouping a huge, huge, fucking profit. 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:41.240 And these are the same companies that have poor labor practices, 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.720 that don't pay their people, that have folks coming in 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:49.919 now on Thanksgiving Day, right, like you can barely finish 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:53.560 a turkey before folks are either called into work if 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:56.799 they work in retail, or your family is like, well, 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:59.080 we got to you know, finish this all up so 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:02.360 that we can go accumulate more shit, right, and then 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:05.240 show you how much we love you by giving you 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:08.000 a bunch of shit that is only going to add 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.800 to the clutter and take up space in your homes. Right, 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:13.840 this is how I feel these days. And I know 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.720 that I sound like a grinch, but the reality is 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:20.920 is that I feel like capitalism. The desire to accumulate 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.120 more stuff, the goal of keeping up with your neighbors 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:26.640 so that you have the latest iPhone, you have the 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:31.480 latest pair of sneakers, you have the latest whatever, really 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:36.400 has us devoid of what the holidays actually were about. Now, 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:40.680 let's be clear that Thanksgiving, much like the celebration of 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:44.160 Columbus Day, is a fucked up holiday. Right. We have 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:46.960 tried to move it just to being you know, the 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:50.479 holiday that is about gratitude, the holiday that is about 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:54.719 really giving thanks But you know, when we understand the origins, right, 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.600 as we've been talking about America's origin story, we know 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:03.320 that this right Thanksgiving is based on the massacre of 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:07.360 indigenous people and the colonization thereof by a bunch of 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:13.200 white religious zealots who decided to leave their homeland so 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:19.920 that they can pursue their religious fanaticism right unencumbered by taxes. 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:23.440 That that's just such like the story in a nutshell. 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:29.280 And then they come across the Wampanogue tribe who greets them, 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:34.560 who then they rape and pillage and colonize, and then 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:39.320 so begins their story of despair. Right, So that's this 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:42.160 in a fucking nutshell. And I got to tell you 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:47.120 that whenever I see still in the twenty first century, 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:52.200 still in twenty twenty one, when I see young elementary 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:55.760 school kids coming home, you know, off of the bus 0:07:56.080 --> 0:08:00.480 with the Pilgrim hats on and still like doing this 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:06.880 performative racism, I'm disgusted, right, And I'm like, oh, see, 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:09.400 if I had kids, they would need to be homeschooled 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:13.080 because I cannot believe that we're still doing this bullshit 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:17.200 about the Pilgrims and the Indians and like, oh the 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.000 coming together and the sharing of food involved, blah, and 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:24.720 you know, totally whitewashing over the reality of what has happened, right, 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:29.640 and where those Native American and Indigenous populations are today, 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:34.120 that they are on small plots of land referred to 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:38.280 as the reservations, where they have they are over indexed 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:43.840 in alcoholism, drug abuse, joblessness, depression, anxiety, all of these 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:49.079 things that come from this thanksgiving right, that come from 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:53.079 the treatment of indigenous people in this country and why 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:56.840 slavery was born because you couldn't enslave a group of 0:08:56.840 --> 0:08:59.360 people that knew the land better than you did, so 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:02.000 best to just massacred them and put them on a 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:06.120 small plot of land and then ship in actual human 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:08.760 beings that you refer to as chattel in order to 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:11.400 build up the economy so that you could continue your 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:17.400 religious fanaticism right unencumbered. So that's the story of America 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:20.720 in a fucking nutshell. And so when I come to 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:26.800 this holiday season and begin to take stock, you know, 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:29.240 as we only have a couple of more weeks left 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.160 of the year, and you know, everyone is frantically moving 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:34.520 because you want to end the year, you know, as 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.640 well and as thoughtful as you started it. I was 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.760 just in a conversation with one of my cousins and 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:43.200 she's like, oh, you're looking forward to the holidays, and 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:45.800 I'm like, not really, I'm kind of looking forward to 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:50.080 them being done. I'm and it's not because I don't 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:52.000 want to spend time with my family because I do 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:54.559 and I spend you know, plenty of time with them 0:09:54.559 --> 0:10:01.680 throughout the year. But it's the over like consumption, consumer driven, 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:08.120 capitalistic nature of Thanksgiving and the speed through you know, 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:13.640 Hanukkah and Christmas and you know, and then the rush 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:18.840 to the new year. It's disgusting because we don't actually 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:20.880 I mean, you would think, right, And a lot of 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:25.880 people said this that last year, and I'll speak for myself. 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:31.720 Last year, I think that more people, and you tell 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:34.000 me in the comments section, I think that more people 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:41.120 took stock of what the holidays meant because it was 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:44.400 the first time in many of our lives right where 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:48.120 we were not able at all to join with family 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:52.840 because of the coronavirus. We all needed to stay within 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:57.280 our pods. And even though that was recommended by the 0:10:57.360 --> 0:11:01.800 CDC and recommended you know by many health officials and 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:05.040 scientists and doctors, many people did gather and then they 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:09.960 had these mini COVID you know, cluster events right where 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:13.240 where a lot of people ended up getting sick. But 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:18.920 it was really a time to take stock for me 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:22.920 and many people into what really matters, like do you 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:25.800 need the pile up of presence underneath the tree. Do 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:29.240 you need to you know, exit out of Thanksgiving dinner 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.199 so that you can get you know, a new microwave. 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:37.439 And again, I don't say that to shame people who 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:40.920 this is their opportunity to shop during the year because 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:44.080 the prices, you know, meet what they are able to 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:50.319 bring home. So I'm not shaming them, but I'm shaming business, 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:55.959 big business. I'm shaming capitalism and how it has deteriorated, 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:01.319 like our sense of connectedness, right, our sense of joy 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:04.480 from just being able to be in each other's presence 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:08.000 and break bread and share a meal, right and actually 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:12.640 really truly think about what you are grateful for, right 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:16.000 to have this moment, have this time in our very 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:19.480 fast paced lives, even though we may not be back 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:21.760 up to full speed in a lot of senses, which 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:25.440 I will talk about what's transpiring in Europe and why 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:29.040 we need to really pay attention to how we are 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:34.680 still being mindful living in a global health pandemic. But 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:39.320 you know this coincides this feeling, this desire to kind 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:42.599 of just for me anyway to speed through the holiday, 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:45.320 is that I just don't want to see the commercials. 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:48.800 I don't want to be concerned with what amount of 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.520 stuff I need to buy people that are able to 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:54.960 buy all of this shit for themselves, right, Like I 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:57.800 struggle every year to think about, like, what is the 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:05.959 gift that isn't about you know, just adding to the stuff, right, 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:12.720 that is thoughtful, that is you know, one that is 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:15.240 indicative of the relationship that I have with the person 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:18.880 that I'm gifting, and is indicative of the thoughtfulness that 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.080 I want to have and the space I want to 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:26.160 hold for that person in my life. And you feel 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:29.120 this force, right Like if you were to say like, no, no, no, 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:32.839 we don't need to exchange gifts, then you seem like 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:36.880 the cheap bastard, right that doesn't want to you know, 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:39.600 buy presence for people. And that's not what I'm saying. 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:45.640 It's just, you know, the desire to consume so much, 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:49.320 to buy so much, to fill this void that we 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:53.400 all feel. In many ways, I realize that it cannot 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:57.640 be filled with things, right, and that if we were 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:04.080 to just take a at back and reimagine what we 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:07.560 want this season to be, that it isn't just the 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:10.400 season of giving and the season of rapping and the 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:14.679 season of you know, going into increased debt because you 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:18.560 want to be able to tell people what you bought 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:20.160 for them, or you want to be able to show 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:23.600 it off. For the fucking Graham, that we could just 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:27.800 have a season of honesty, one that isn't about how 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:31.160 much we can get how much we can give, but 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:35.040 like about how grateful we really are. And I know 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:39.760 that that sounds corny, but it's where I am. It's 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:42.960 where I've been really for the last couple of years. 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:48.120 But the pandemic put things into perspective. Right, to be 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:52.400 appreciative for health, to be appreciative for the health and 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:57.360 wellness of your family and friends, the ability to having 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:01.960 create pods, right, Like I a couple of pods of people, 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.080 and I'm still really active in those pods, even though 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:07.920 you can see more people now now that I'm vaccinated, 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.720 now that I've had the booster shot, and feel a 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:15.480 lot more comfortable doing so. But just you know, taking 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:19.120 a step back and thinking about when we were at 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:22.440 the height of the pandemic, why you surrounded yourself with 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:26.040 the people that you did. Right, The sense of calm, 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:31.560 and again I don't mean to minimize, right, the trauma, 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:35.480 the exhaustion, the fear that we were all living in 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:38.320 and many of us you know, still are, but it's 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:44.880 shifting into being fearful right and grief written about other 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:49.280 things that are transpiring in our society. But for those 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:51.760 of us that had the privilege to slow down, for 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:54.560 those of us that had the privilege and the ability 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:59.800 to work remote and still do right, I just I 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:04.320 don't want to lose sight of what I was truly 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:10.320 grateful for and happy about and had deep gratitude about 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:14.160 during the height of the pandemic. And I feel like 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:16.880 in this rush to go back to normal, it is 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.080 the rush to purchase all of the things that we 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:23.320 didn't purchase, right, to go to all of the places 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:26.680 that we didn't go to in twenty twenty. And it's 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:31.320 like the makeup that we're trying to do in this 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:36.000 year is not really about, oh, how do I want 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:39.320 to show the people who I miss so dearly how 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:43.560 much I love and appreciate them? Right, It's like how 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:47.080 hard can I flex on the Graham, you know? And 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:52.400 how hard can I, you know, go and recoup all 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:54.800 of the things that I weren't that I wasn't able 0:16:54.920 --> 0:17:01.880 to purchase and spend. It just makes me feel gross 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:06.600 and you know, in my family, as we're like you know, 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:09.199 looking ahead, Christmas comes and then it's Black Friday, then 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:12.959 it's you know, all of these things, we've put like 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:17.520 limits on what we are spending, like here's a budget, 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:21.360 or we just want stocking stuffers because in my family 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:25.720 they're funny and you know, and we get more joy 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:28.640 out of unpacking our stockings than we do with like 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:31.199 the gift that we're getting. And maybe it's because we 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:34.960 don't have a ton of little kids in our family, 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:37.919 and so people have moved to believe that Christmas is 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:41.480 really for them or the holidays in that sense, and 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:44.920 gift giving is really for them. But I just want, 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:50.440 as we embark on the second holiday season in a pandemic, 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:57.280 at a time when there is such despair, that we 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:02.920 stop and pause and really think about how we want 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:07.240 to show up right, like how we want to be 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:11.000 in community and what that looks like and how that feels. 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:14.600 And it isn't about how much stuff we have and 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:18.000 how many packages we can get or you know, our 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:21.159 table scape for the holiday, but about like who is 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:26.280 actually around that table and who isn't right because again, 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:29.480 we're embarking on a holiday season the second one of 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:33.200 which is in a pandemic where over seven hundred thousand 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:36.840 people have lost their lives. And so there are a 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:40.960 lot of missing people that are going to be you know, 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:45.640 not at this holiday season. And so what does that mean? 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:49.080 And are we pausing to have like a collective moment 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:56.280 of grief around that and honoring that loss in the 0:18:56.400 --> 0:19:01.040 rush to get back to normal? There is nothing normal 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.520 about what we've been through and what we continue to 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:06.439 go through as a country and as a world. And 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:10.640 so can we use you know, this week, this time 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:15.080 of you know, Thanksgiving to really think about what we 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:19.760 are grateful for. So on our Thanksgiving wok a f 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:22.600 I am going to go through, like what I have 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:27.720 learned over the past year, the things that I truly 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:30.679 am grateful for, and I encourage all of you to 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:34.720 do the same, to use this week and the rest 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:38.400 of the year as an opportunity to take stock in 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:43.000 the obstacles that you overcame, the opportunities that you created 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:49.240 for yourself, and what you're most looking forward to. If 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:53.399 we are not grounding ourselves in thinking about how we 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:57.800 are bettering not only ourselves, but our family, our friends, 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:01.240 our communities, then I I feel like we are going 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:04.439 to get lost in the despair of the moment, into 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:07.800 this dystopia that doesn't seem to have an expiration date, 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:14.560 which brings me to this piece that Michelle Goldberg wrote, 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:18.320 which is called The Problem of Political Despair in the 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:26.679 New York Times, and it starts out like this. On 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:30.360 Friday morning, after a night of insomnia fueled by worries 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:34.119 about raising children in a collapsing society, I opened my 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:38.800 eyes started reading about efforts by Wisconsin Republicans to seize 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:42.199 control of the state's elections, then pause to let my 0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:48.040 techiocardic heartbeat subside. Marinating in the news is part of 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:51.159 my job, but doing so lately is a source of 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:56.760 full body horror. If this were simply my problem, i'd 0:20:56.760 --> 0:20:58.800 write about it in a journal instead of The New 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:02.840 York Times. But political despair is an issue for the 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:08.920 entire Democratic Party. It's predictable that with Donald Trump out 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.920 of the White House, Democrats would pull back from constant, 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:17.240 phrenetic political engagement. But there's a withdrawal happening now from 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:22.600 news conception, activism, and in some places voting that seems 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:27.679 less a product of relief than of avoidance. Part of 0:21:27.680 --> 0:21:31.679 this is simply burnout and lingering trauma from COVID, but 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:35.680 I suspect that part of it is about growing hopelessness 0:21:35.840 --> 0:21:39.880 born of a sense that dislodging Trump has bought American 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:44.240 democracy only a brief reprieve. I want to pause there 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:47.879 because this is the kind of space that I have 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:53.560 found myself in. And as I was reading Michelle's opinion piece, 0:21:54.359 --> 0:22:00.520 it struck me that it isn't just an exhaustion that 0:22:00.680 --> 0:22:04.440 I am feeling and that we are all feeling from 0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:09.280 the Donald Trump and Trumpism hangover, because a hangover would mean, 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:13.879 to be honest, that you had overconsumed the night before. 0:22:14.080 --> 0:22:19.959 And here are the lingering effects. Except the consumption of 0:22:20.000 --> 0:22:25.760 Trumpism is continuing, right, And what we thought was going 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:29.520 to stop with an election and a new administration and 0:22:29.600 --> 0:22:33.680 a new Congress has only continued to barrol out of control. 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:38.000 And I say this daily on woke af and if 0:22:38.000 --> 0:22:42.919 you follow me on Instagram, you see the more uplifting 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:45.920 posts that I post in the morning, my rise and 0:22:46.000 --> 0:22:48.840 sparkles as a way to kind of set the tone 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:54.840 for the day, right, And what I realized in the 0:22:54.960 --> 0:23:00.080 point that she makes is that we're not feeling a 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:05.200 sense of relief in that, you know, okay, we can 0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:09.240 rest assured that the country is back in the hands 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:12.840 of grown ups, of patriots, of people that actually believe 0:23:13.480 --> 0:23:16.760 in the constitution and the rule of law, and that 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:23.680 they're busy at work patching back together our frayed society. 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:28.560 But the more that we look around, the more that 0:23:28.640 --> 0:23:31.840 we read, and the more that we watch, we realize 0:23:31.920 --> 0:23:36.640 that all that was all that transpired on election Day 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:41.600 right in twenty twenty, was that America hit pause on authoritarianism. 0:23:41.600 --> 0:23:44.400 When we talk about this all the time, but it's 0:23:44.440 --> 0:23:49.080 this feeling that I think as a way to move 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:56.480 through the Trump administration and get through the day after 0:23:56.640 --> 0:24:01.680 day of COVID right and the masks rules, and then 0:24:01.960 --> 0:24:04.920 the six feet of distance, and then quarantine, and then 0:24:05.320 --> 0:24:08.520 the shutdowns, and then the doubling back to shutdowns, and 0:24:08.560 --> 0:24:12.640 then the phased reopenings, and then the insurrection and all 0:24:12.680 --> 0:24:15.120 of these things, right like, when you take them one 0:24:15.240 --> 0:24:18.199 after the other after the other, you're like, fuck, I 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:21.840 cannot believe that we have made it this far through 0:24:21.880 --> 0:24:26.840 this nightmare. But at the same time, there is this 0:24:26.920 --> 0:24:31.600 collective shutdown that is happening. I talk about my mother 0:24:31.680 --> 0:24:36.720 a lot. My mother is a rabid MSNBC watcher, reads 0:24:36.760 --> 0:24:40.600 all of the blogs, watches every show, or she did 0:24:41.000 --> 0:24:46.560 rather until this last election. After the election, the television 0:24:46.600 --> 0:24:50.359 and my parents home never goes on the news unless 0:24:50.400 --> 0:24:53.440 it is the local news, to see what is happening 0:24:53.600 --> 0:24:57.840 in their town, what is happening around the corner. If 0:24:57.840 --> 0:25:01.159 it's even on in the background, you can sense the 0:25:01.359 --> 0:25:06.640 energy shift in the house. My mother gets a bit 0:25:06.680 --> 0:25:10.080 more anxious. I too, if I'm there, start to get 0:25:10.119 --> 0:25:13.640 like a bit more prickly, not really knowing where any 0:25:13.680 --> 0:25:16.400 of it is coming from, until we realize, oh shit, 0:25:16.960 --> 0:25:18.840 the TV is on and has been on for the 0:25:18.880 --> 0:25:23.280 past hour, and we're just hearing the same news matriculate 0:25:23.400 --> 0:25:27.000 in in the back of our heads, like even subconsciously, 0:25:27.680 --> 0:25:32.520 our body is getting tighter, our you know, our lines 0:25:32.560 --> 0:25:35.840 in our face are getting deeper, and this grip, right, 0:25:35.960 --> 0:25:39.960 this body grip is taking over. And the moment that 0:25:40.000 --> 0:25:44.080 we turn it off, recognize where how the energy is 0:25:44.080 --> 0:25:49.080 shifted and what started it, we start to evenly come 0:25:49.080 --> 0:25:53.640 back down. Well, when Michelle offers in her peace that 0:25:53.680 --> 0:25:57.600 there is this sense of avoidance and not just relief, 0:25:57.680 --> 0:26:02.080 well she's one hundred percent. Right, I am in the 0:26:02.160 --> 0:26:05.800 news like she is on a regular day, and I 0:26:06.000 --> 0:26:10.200 avoid it. Right. I gather as much as I can 0:26:10.440 --> 0:26:14.760 as quickly as I can, orienting myself around which stories 0:26:14.800 --> 0:26:18.480 I think are the most important, right, and they'll do 0:26:18.560 --> 0:26:22.280 the least harm as a way to then analyze them 0:26:22.320 --> 0:26:27.000 and share them here. But in doing so, over the 0:26:27.040 --> 0:26:32.920 past several years, pieces of myself have been broken apart. 0:26:33.600 --> 0:26:37.040 Because it's really hard, especially if you're a person who 0:26:37.240 --> 0:26:40.880 wants to be of service, right, who has dedicated their 0:26:40.920 --> 0:26:44.480 life to public service. It's hard to be in this 0:26:44.640 --> 0:26:47.360 state of being where you're not sure if you're having 0:26:47.400 --> 0:26:51.480 any impact whatsoever, because the problems that we are facing 0:26:51.600 --> 0:26:57.200 just seems so goddamn big and overwhelming, right, Like, there 0:26:57.280 --> 0:27:00.600 was a funny meme, this like series of jokes that 0:27:00.640 --> 0:27:04.160 I saw the other day on Instagram that was just like, 0:27:04.560 --> 0:27:07.639 my god, do we have to talk about colonialism and 0:27:07.720 --> 0:27:11.840 white supremacy on every fucking occasion? Like can I just 0:27:12.040 --> 0:27:15.320 have the salt past to me at dinner without talking 0:27:15.359 --> 0:27:20.560 about how like it's tied to British realism of India 0:27:20.600 --> 0:27:22.399 and this? Then the other thing, it's like, can we 0:27:22.560 --> 0:27:27.800 just go see a fucking movie without then having to 0:27:28.040 --> 0:27:32.880 dive into the inequality that you know, people of color 0:27:33.080 --> 0:27:37.560 lack representations still, right, Like, can we just take anything 0:27:37.760 --> 0:27:44.000 in without having to recognize like the injustice and embody it. 0:27:44.000 --> 0:27:48.240 It becomes fucking exhausting because there's nowhere to look and 0:27:48.400 --> 0:27:51.160