Speaker 1: Yet you know, boys, it's back and reoaded all in
Speaker 1: your mind. Yeah, and that deep throating. This is for
Speaker 1: the streets, the reel, the railroading, the distant franchise, the
Speaker 1: truth escape building. And they ain't know when we speak
Speaker 1: the truth, so they ain't quoted because we wrote it.
Speaker 1: The North south East code is the g be my
Speaker 1: twe keeping your head bobbing. It ain't no stopping and
Speaker 1: wants to be drips head by. And then the system
Speaker 1: is so corrupt they throw the rock out their hands
Speaker 1: and then blame it on us. Don't get twisted on code.
Speaker 1: And we danced for no furntament biscuits. It's Willie d
Speaker 1: y'all scar faces in the building. Collectively we are the
Speaker 1: ghetto boys. Reloaded another episode of information and instructions to
Speaker 1: help you navigate through this wild, crazy, beautiful world. In
Speaker 1: the studio Genesis Draper, Genesis Draper, Judge Judge Shannon Bowling,
Speaker 1: Judge Judge Turia Finch and Judge Tanya Jones Welcome to
Speaker 1: the show A. Collectively they are four of the nineteen
Speaker 1: women judges, well women at first. They wasn't judges at first,
Speaker 1: but they were women who successfully grant a judge in
Speaker 1: two thousand and eighteen, and they made history. I mean,
Speaker 1: everybody's talking about them all over the world. The President
Speaker 1: said something about and they gave him more the award.
Speaker 1: Everybody everybody around, everybody right, everybody right, everybody right, everybody right,
Speaker 1: congratulations and welcome to the show. How how how does
Speaker 1: it feel like to really be like know that you
Speaker 1: got your name etched in history like that was? That
Speaker 1: was big. We were proud of y'all. Y'all. Probably y'all
Speaker 1: probably didn't really feel all of the effects because y'all
Speaker 1: didn't talk to everybody obviously, but we were really proud
Speaker 1: of y'all. Unspeakable, How do I mean we really were
Speaker 1: if I had to put it, put myself back in
Speaker 1: their place again, just lost for words. It was the
Speaker 1: first time anything like that had happened. And honestly, throughout
Speaker 1: the process we didn't feel like we were doing anything
Speaker 1: particularly special. Well, no, just during that process we didn't
Speaker 1: recognize it and understand it until after and people were
Speaker 1: approaching us, and there were people, grown men coming and
Speaker 1: we were at a church and grown men coming up
Speaker 1: to a shaking our hands with tears in their eyes
Speaker 1: because they had never seen anything like that before, and
Speaker 1: it was probably in those moments that I really got
Speaker 1: to recognize the gravity of what had happened. Absolutely, it
Speaker 1: is the true illustration of blessed beyond measure. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was such a mind blowing experience and still to
Speaker 1: this day, you know, it's still just it's something we
Speaker 1: didn't plan for it like this, but it took off,
Speaker 1: and it's just been a blessing to see how many
Speaker 1: people have been blessed by it. The little girls that
Speaker 1: we still see today, the middle aged women, the older women,
Speaker 1: all of the above, and so it's been really really
Speaker 1: new ladies were lawyers absolutely in the beginning that went
Speaker 1: on to be judges and good lawyers too because I
Speaker 1: was a litigator over twenty years, I worked on both
Speaker 1: sides of defense prosecutor as well as a defense attorney.
Speaker 1: So um, I've seen and done it all, you know,
Speaker 1: up to capital murder. So it was a necessity to
Speaker 1: move forward, and judge just made sense. How easy was
Speaker 1: that transition going going from lawyer to judge? It wasn't easy.
Speaker 1: You do have to make a mental change. Does that
Speaker 1: makes sense? And probably explain that mental change? Talk to me,
Speaker 1: all of us were defense attorneys right before becoming a judge,
Speaker 1: and so you do have to um step out of
Speaker 1: that litigator. I'm not this is not my argument anymore.
Speaker 1: I'm not the person advocating for anything other than you know,
Speaker 1: protection of eights and ensuring that those things are happening.
Speaker 1: But to be conscious of not showing favor to either side,
Speaker 1: because I think we all remember what that was like
Speaker 1: to be practicing in front of judges who are putting
Speaker 1: their fingers on the scale. So we're super conscious we're
Speaker 1: just putting their finger on the scale. Means so we
Speaker 1: were all defense attorneys at least on the end, and
Speaker 1: for years we've practiced in front of judges who um
Speaker 1: were like the extra prosecutor in the court. Oh so
Speaker 1: would you say, would you use the word unfair? And
Speaker 1: for sure? No, for sure? And so I think you know,
Speaker 1: we are very mindful of that on both ends, right,
Speaker 1: So we don't want to put our friends on the
Speaker 1: scale for prosecution or for the defense, since a lot
Speaker 1: of us um tend to be defense oriented, since that
Speaker 1: that's where we were most recently, so we're super super
Speaker 1: conscious of that. Well, I think we all have implicit bias,
Speaker 1: but it's very it's very dangerous though, when someone is
Speaker 1: a judge and sitting, uh judge of human beings, but
Speaker 1: the way it can actually control human beings live. And
Speaker 1: you know, when you have a judge in that type
Speaker 1: of situation, you know, how do you guys like navigate that?
Speaker 1: You know, how do you how do you push your
Speaker 1: particular implicit biases aside and say, you know, I have
Speaker 1: to do what's right. I have to do the righteous thing,
Speaker 1: not just the emotional thing. I think for the at
Speaker 1: least the judges here, we all took implicit bias training,
Speaker 1: and I believe all judges should take that training. I mean,
Speaker 1: no matter where you come from, you just need to
Speaker 1: have that because sometimes that's why, as inplicit you don't
Speaker 1: realize you have it, you know, But I think it's
Speaker 1: really just being aware, conscious, awake at the wheel and
Speaker 1: remembering what your role and responsibility is and not just
Speaker 1: kind of sitting there is an option, can you can
Speaker 1: you not take that? It is optional right now, and
Speaker 1: so they're making moves. Judges are trying to make moves
Speaker 1: in the state of Texas to make that a requirement
Speaker 1: because we do go to a judicial training when you
Speaker 1: first come in, when you're first warning as a judge,
Speaker 1: before you sit on the bench, you go to this
Speaker 1: judicial training whatever, and so they're trying to make that
Speaker 1: a requirement, and so I think it's important do you
Speaker 1: have to take any type of racial sensitivity courses? Is
Speaker 1: the judicial system racially insensitive? And at sometimes? Can you
Speaker 1: see this from where you are? Is it insensitive in
Speaker 1: your opinion? Can you look at some cases and it
Speaker 1: was like, Wow, they did that because this person was
Speaker 1: a minority, or they did that because this person was there,
Speaker 1: So this was a female, That's why they did this
Speaker 1: to her. I certainly saw some of these things from
Speaker 1: some of the people who are on the bench previously.
Speaker 1: I mean I had a judge make a comment in
Speaker 1: open court an individual indicated that they were from Guatemala,
Speaker 1: and the judge responded by accident where they are party
Speaker 1: and missed their team and so you know, it was
Speaker 1: an audible gap in the court room. But this was
Speaker 1: the norm. Um. You know. I don't think anything came
Speaker 1: of that. I don't know if any you know, complaints
Speaker 1: were filed or anything like that. But just to have
Speaker 1: a person, as you said, in authority who's making decisions
Speaker 1: that impact your life, your future, your family's lives, and
Speaker 1: to think that about you simply based on where you
Speaker 1: come from. UM, And I think it's it's etched kind
Speaker 1: of in the fabric of who we are, having grown
Speaker 1: up and experienced that, I'm from South Park and I
Speaker 1: say it all the time, very proud of where I
Speaker 1: came from. They all know it where I go. UM.
Speaker 1: But I know what it's like for people to label
Speaker 1: you to you know, to have these thoughts about you
Speaker 1: just based on what your zip code is or where
Speaker 1: you went to school. And so, having grown up experiencing
Speaker 1: that in various forms, I'm especially sensitive to the fact
Speaker 1: that people you know come before this court from all
Speaker 1: walks of life, and I have to be open. I
Speaker 1: have to look at the case and not say, well,
Speaker 1: this person is automatically guilty of this person didn't deserve
Speaker 1: a second chance of this person you know lives here,
Speaker 1: so they're only gonna go out and commit more crime.
Speaker 1: I have to be fair, um, neutral, um, and make
Speaker 1: sure that I'm I'm taking each case into consideration because
Speaker 1: that's how it wants someone to do for me, a
Speaker 1: member of my family, and as a defense attorney, that's
Speaker 1: what I wanted I wanted the judge to see my
Speaker 1: client as a as a person, as a human being.
Speaker 1: That's so so so getting getting being on the bench
Speaker 1: and and and seeing different cases. A lot of other
Speaker 1: judges would railroad you because of the color of your
Speaker 1: skin or that you know, they would convict you on
Speaker 1: something that you didn't do, but something that you might do.
Speaker 1: Jug or go ahead, said, judges set the tone right.
Speaker 1: And so also jurors see judges as obviously persons of authority.
Speaker 1: And if you have a judge that frowns at the
Speaker 1: defense attorney or you know, makes a comment at the
Speaker 1: defense attorney during a trial, that translates to the jury.
Speaker 1: So the jury then you know, I've had where judges
Speaker 1: had screens. They have a computer screen facing you, the
Speaker 1: defense attorney, but the jury is over here. So the
Speaker 1: judge is making faces every time you, as a defense attorney,
Speaker 1: say something. All of that translates to you know. Plus
Speaker 1: it's also not something that's audible that you can get
Speaker 1: on record unless you catch it. Now can catch it
Speaker 1: and you see it, and you can say, well, I
Speaker 1: object to the judge making the face and for and
Speaker 1: you say that in front of the jury. Because you're
Speaker 1: trying to just a perfect your record, you know, and
Speaker 1: also say that, look, I recognize what you're doing. And
Speaker 1: also judges have the ability to evaluate the equity and
Speaker 1: the fairness in these deals that many people were pleading
Speaker 1: guilty to that just wasn't right. I know many of us. Now,
Speaker 1: I know my court is considered it no first time
Speaker 1: conviction court unless the court you know, the code or
Speaker 1: the statue requires it. But we have judges now that
Speaker 1: we didn't have before that we'll look at an offer
Speaker 1: that the state is given the defense, and then even
Speaker 1: if they agree, we look at the agreement and determine
Speaker 1: whether this is even the just thing to do. Just
Speaker 1: because a person is willing to take a plea doesn't
Speaker 1: make it the right thing to do. Because we're in
Speaker 1: this era, we have so many other options other than convictions,
Speaker 1: diversion programs, the further judication and formal dismissals. And unless
Speaker 1: the judge forces the parties to consider all alternatives, because
Speaker 1: attorneys are required to be not only zealous advocates for
Speaker 1: their client, but to give them all those options to
Speaker 1: make that informed decision about their case. And so I
Speaker 1: remember that was not always happening, you know, the railroad,
Speaker 1: and you're talking about, Hey, they're gonna time serve taking time, serve,
Speaker 1: take it, time, serve, take it. But that's not the case.
Speaker 1: You get a young seventeen, eighteen, nineteen year old person
Speaker 1: has never been in the system, but all they know
Speaker 1: is I want to get out of here and move
Speaker 1: on with my life. And I tell them all the time,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you'll do too. It's a conviction, it's a
Speaker 1: criminal history, is not a credit poort, it ain't gonna
Speaker 1: fall off in seven years. A serious situation, and so
Speaker 1: it just takes that kind of consciousness, awareness and being
Speaker 1: awake at the wheel to make sure these things don't
Speaker 1: happen and to care to the compassion to care absolutely.
Speaker 1: Houston is one of the most diverse racially diverse cities
Speaker 1: in the country, but not until recently have it's judges
Speaker 1: been really diverse. And so again we salute you guys,
Speaker 1: you know, for the sacrifices that y'all made to run
Speaker 1: and put your reputations on the line, and you know,
Speaker 1: go through all of the ridicule that that you gotta
Speaker 1: go through and even press that you press the pressure
Speaker 1: that you've got you have to deal with on a
Speaker 1: day to day basis, because I know that there are
Speaker 1: people within the halls of those those walls down there
Speaker 1: and the judicial system that don't want you all in
Speaker 1: there come. A lot of them have a lot of power,
Speaker 1: and I know that they're working daily and nightly, you know,
Speaker 1: to try to get you guys removed. And and that's
Speaker 1: the sad part about it, is that they see change
Speaker 1: for the better and they don't want that. You know,
Speaker 1: some people they only care about, uh equality when they
Speaker 1: want more equality. You see, I don't care about it
Speaker 1: for everybody. It's just say I care about equality because
Speaker 1: I want the equality, you know. And so uh, that's
Speaker 1: why it's so important. And and let's just say exactly
Speaker 1: what it is. And we talk about emplicit bias. We're
Speaker 1: talking about a lot of times, well in the past,
Speaker 1: it's almost exclusively than white people judging everybody, you know.
Speaker 1: And so that's why this diversity is so important. We
Speaker 1: need more black judges, we need more Hispanic judges, we
Speaker 1: need more Latino mean, more Asian judges. We every city
Speaker 1: should reflect its population evenly in every industry. I don't
Speaker 1: care where it's the medical industry, whether it's my enforcement,
Speaker 1: whether it's the judicial system, the pillars of the community
Speaker 1: should reflect what the people look like. And so we're
Speaker 1: moving in that right, in that in that direction. But
Speaker 1: it's a trip. How evil some people are who have
Speaker 1: the power to derail that, how hard they work, you know,
Speaker 1: to try to derail that. You know, how can any
Speaker 1: of you like give us like an example of what
Speaker 1: it's like to deal with that. We're dealing with it constantly, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, on my walk in here like building, calls
Speaker 1: from you know, my coordinator letting me know this is
Speaker 1: gonna this. We've heard from this group or somebody tags
Speaker 1: you on this Facebook thing. Because there's a really well funded,
Speaker 1: well funded machine that is invested in turning this around.
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of the judiciary the way it looks now,
Speaker 1: civil family, juvenile probate. I mean, we got all we
Speaker 1: got black women, we have Asians, we have um. Now
Speaker 1: we we could potentially be electing our first female sick
Speaker 1: judge in the country in the country. So I don't
Speaker 1: want to to sick. She pronounces it sick. I've always
Speaker 1: said seek that. I think that she pronounced a sick um.
Speaker 1: So I never can get a solid read on it
Speaker 1: if it's strictly religion. Um, but I do think it's
Speaker 1: maybe a cross between religion, and I'd rather her come
Speaker 1: on your show and maybe talk about it. So I
Speaker 1: think I think it would say we would American yes,
Speaker 1: suasion and so uh. And when I said that, I say,
Speaker 1: I mean East Asian Indian Americans, not American Indian. Um
Speaker 1: seek is it is it? S? I? H Yes, that's
Speaker 1: h And So she would be the first female elected
Speaker 1: in the country if she gets elected. But that's what
Speaker 1: Houston represents, you know, right, So she would be the
Speaker 1: first that's what Houston represents, that kind of opportunity. And
Speaker 1: just though that type of representation really makes such a difference,
Speaker 1: right because judges that we have all kind of different perspectives,
Speaker 1: they tell me things that I don't, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not always aware of. Right, Ramadan could have gotten right
Speaker 1: past me ten year ten years ago, it won't you know,
Speaker 1: it doesn't now, right because I have an opportunity to
Speaker 1: celebrate with my colleagues and and and so it's it's
Speaker 1: just a totally different culture. But there are people out there.
Speaker 1: I saw somebody posts recently. Defense attorney posted recently, Uh,
Speaker 1: oh man, I just wish we could could go back
Speaker 1: to good old days. I'm like, whatever before I was
Speaker 1: working or even before I was born, because I sure
Speaker 1: can't recall it. The you know, these are the good
Speaker 1: old days and there are more to come if we
Speaker 1: can just hold a line. And on top of that,
Speaker 1: I think with people coming back to your point as well,
Speaker 1: the importance of diversity in these particular positions. Many people,
Speaker 1: including myself, underestimate the power of judges. I thought our
Speaker 1: job solely was on the bench. We were in the
Speaker 1: black robe with the gavel that we don't even use, right,
Speaker 1: But really it's much more. It's deeper than that. Right.
Speaker 1: We make policy when it comes to those decisions as
Speaker 1: to how cases, what process, how the criminal justice system flows.
Speaker 1: There were so many county administrative subcommittees and committees that
Speaker 1: we sit on to determine certain things, whether it's how
Speaker 1: individuals are processed through the joint processing symptoms, whether it
Speaker 1: I mean's so many things I can't even get the
Speaker 1: bel bone bore where it's whatever it is. There's so
Speaker 1: many committees that I know you go ahead and jump
Speaker 1: in just always to tell you what you're not saying
Speaker 1: is what they didn't say, let me take a moment
Speaker 1: to brag on my colleagues. Okay, this, this right here, city,
Speaker 1: at this table, is the really the leadership of the
Speaker 1: county criminal courts right now as it sits where some
Speaker 1: of the first African American people ever to sit on
Speaker 1: the bench within our courts number one, but certainly the
Speaker 1: first to hold leadership positions. So, Judge Finch is the
Speaker 1: presiding judge over all sixteen criminal courts. Judge Jones is
Speaker 1: the administrative judge over all twenty county court judges. Judge
Speaker 1: uh Draper will be the next presiding judge over all
Speaker 1: criminal courts, uh, you know, county criminal courts. I am
Speaker 1: the former, the preceding administrative judge over all twenty of
Speaker 1: the county. We jumped in not only to hold the
Speaker 1: positions and and and really sort of even the playing field,
Speaker 1: but we jumped in and took on leadership roles, uh
Speaker 1: committee positions to make sure that not only were we
Speaker 1: ruling correctly in court and those things were going correct,
Speaker 1: but we changed policies so that it affects everyone. That's
Speaker 1: really the big you know, rub, That's what they really
Speaker 1: are upset about, is we we we got at the table,
Speaker 1: We took the seats at the table, and we were
Speaker 1: in leadership positions making changes from the front, also in
Speaker 1: the back. How do you hold on to that power?
Speaker 1: What do you and what can the people do to
Speaker 1: make sure that you not only hold on to that power,
Speaker 1: but grow that power, strengthen it. Supporting vote right, I mean,
Speaker 1: get the word out. We need people talking about the
Speaker 1: fact that I guess the Houston nineteen are running were
Speaker 1: more than just the Houston nineteen. Other African Americans, other
Speaker 1: minority judges, political candidates are joining us or have joined us,
Speaker 1: and they are making big strides along with us. Um.
Speaker 1: The beauty of what we can do in the county
Speaker 1: criminal courts is these four ladies, in addition to probably
Speaker 1: a few others. Really we make collective decisions. We talk
Speaker 1: about what's best for the county, and we're able to um,
Speaker 1: you know, quite frankly, vote things in the way we
Speaker 1: think that they should go. UM and we do so
Speaker 1: with the community in mind. What's gonna work best, what's
Speaker 1: gonna be the biggest flash, what's the most important part?
Speaker 1: In my opinion, you touched on that, you know, what
Speaker 1: we did with Belbon reform and um you know how
Speaker 1: huge that was. People don't don't really get it. And
Speaker 1: it's because I think what people here is, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of what you hear out in the media, right,
Speaker 1: because it's it's been totally distorted, But people who actually
Speaker 1: experience it, whether or not they have been accused, had
Speaker 1: a family member accused, or just visited the courthouse for
Speaker 1: jury duty, right, people can really feel the difference in
Speaker 1: what Bill Reform really is. Right, What it really is
Speaker 1: is um us not overcrowding our jails with people accused
Speaker 1: of petty offenses, um extracting ten dollars fifty dollars, a
Speaker 1: hundred dollars for them, or trying to force a trying
Speaker 1: to force a police that's all. That's what it was for,
Speaker 1: is to force people to play guilty for revoting. Podcast
Speaker 1: will be right back after the poet, Okay, j Draper.
Speaker 1: What if you have a seventeen year old high school
Speaker 1: kid who hangs out with the round crowd and get
Speaker 1: some self involved at it armed robbery where his buddy
Speaker 1: gets shot and they go to jail for robbery and
Speaker 1: I cool. Do you offer them immediately offer them a
Speaker 1: bond or do you say Okay, you gotta sit well
Speaker 1: wow until we work the staying out. So let me
Speaker 1: say this. We're not and I asked this question because
Speaker 1: you know that seventeen year old kid was me allegedly right.
Speaker 1: What I say, we're a little limited in what we
Speaker 1: can say and what we were doing certain situations. But
Speaker 1: this and we're misdemeanic court judges, so we don't have
Speaker 1: this issue come up in our courts. But what I
Speaker 1: will say, the beauty of having us and some of
Speaker 1: our colleagues that are at the district court level is
Speaker 1: you have people who's lived experiences, understands that right and
Speaker 1: understands ways in which they can give people an opportunity,
Speaker 1: Because what if a person can be safely released whatever
Speaker 1: they're trying, whether it's aggravated robbery or that, if a
Speaker 1: person can be safely released, if we have can editions
Speaker 1: under which we can safely have them out on bond
Speaker 1: while they wait for their trial, we are legally required
Speaker 1: to do that, um and so we have to ask
Speaker 1: those questions. It helps when the people they're are familiar
Speaker 1: with where you're from, familiar with, um, some resources that
Speaker 1: might be in your neighborhood. You know, I know what's
Speaker 1: in my neighborhood. I know the shape center is reliable.
Speaker 1: I can send somebody over there, you know too, so
Speaker 1: they can use up their time, different places that people
Speaker 1: can go. It helps when people have that lived experience, UM.
Speaker 1: And so I think all of us we think about
Speaker 1: that with every single person that comes in front of us.
Speaker 1: If I see somebody come from the audience and there
Speaker 1: was is that your mom sitting next to you? Is
Speaker 1: that your mom? You live with your mom? Okay? You know,
Speaker 1: kind of really trying to figure out how we can
Speaker 1: get this person through the process, UM without derailing it,
Speaker 1: because it really does benefit all of us when we
Speaker 1: can let a person turn into this and not only that,
Speaker 1: it doesn't help the process when we immediately treat presumptively
Speaker 1: innocent people like they're guilty. Right, and so what the
Speaker 1: judges should be doing, which I believe we do, is
Speaker 1: doing a deep dive into the situation. The fact that
Speaker 1: somebody is here doesn't make them guilty, But what it
Speaker 1: means is that we need to explore what's going on
Speaker 1: here and what can we do to minimize the most
Speaker 1: restrictive situations. To me, incarceration should be a last result
Speaker 1: when you're looking at a spectrum if you care, what
Speaker 1: I think you should do is forget the cause number
Speaker 1: and in some ways kind of forget the charge because
Speaker 1: it's just a title. I think that's why you're supposed
Speaker 1: to have a prosecutor and a defense attorney there and
Speaker 1: ask questions. Okay, let me hear probable cause. Great, you
Speaker 1: said that, defense attorney, You tell me about your client,
Speaker 1: and they don't have anything to say. I send them
Speaker 1: back and say, what, go talk to your client, and
Speaker 1: then I'll talk to you. Right, why is this person
Speaker 1: standing here? Right? What can we do to avoid putting
Speaker 1: them in jail? Right? Especially at this point. We'll talk
Speaker 1: about you know, post adjudicative matters later, should we get there.
Speaker 1: But I'm looking at this as how can I potentially
Speaker 1: save this person, protect the community, and ensure that I
Speaker 1: am following the law, you know, and allowing people's constitutional
Speaker 1: rights to actually exist and not just be something we
Speaker 1: talked about. That's powerful, very that, that is extremely powerful.
Speaker 1: When I think about what you just said, there are
Speaker 1: people that have historically sat in those seats and judgment
Speaker 1: of others, and they understand exactly what you're saying because
Speaker 1: they know how to use it with their own People
Speaker 1: use it all the time, these diversion programs and stuff
Speaker 1: they have. I didn't even know diversion programs existed until
Speaker 1: I got to the money. You see, But they automatically
Speaker 1: get these divergent programs, whether they got money or not.
Speaker 1: It's do a lot of times, these divergent programs are
Speaker 1: offered to them. We don't even know nothing about it.
Speaker 1: I knew nothing about these diversion programs, and so I've
Speaker 1: seen so many times where white judges will sit there
Speaker 1: and they are comfortable saying stuff like this, Well, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna ruin this kid's life. He's seventeen years old,
Speaker 1: she's she's eighteen years old. She's fifteen. He's fourteen, he's sixteen,
Speaker 1: he's seventeen, he's thirty five years old. The guy has
Speaker 1: never been in trouble before. Sure, he raped five women,
Speaker 1: but that's not the point. Some of these judges are
Speaker 1: so bold. They will say stuff that they know that
Speaker 1: it's offensive, but they feel like they can't be touched,
Speaker 1: and they they just say whatever the hell they want
Speaker 1: to say. You said the magic words. They said they
Speaker 1: felt they could not be touched and that was true
Speaker 1: for a long time. And I want to say that
Speaker 1: you know now that we're on the bench, we're on
Speaker 1: the bench, we see more judicial complaints, more many many
Speaker 1: or many many more because now if we're doing and listen,
Speaker 1: we're not even touching the mark at what was thrown
Speaker 1: at us. I took so much as a defense attorney,
Speaker 1: and you do that because you take it. You're taking
Speaker 1: it for your own client, to help ease the situation
Speaker 1: for them. But judges said so much. They spoke un
Speaker 1: I mean just literally unchained, unleashed. They could say and
Speaker 1: do essentially whatever they wanted to do and there were
Speaker 1: never any consequences. But you let one of us step
Speaker 1: left the right of the right. It is. It is
Speaker 1: huge we have and you know, so when when I
Speaker 1: say support, I really mean support because oftentimes we're fighting
Speaker 1: not only to make sure that fairness stays on the bench,
Speaker 1: but that you know we're there and they're not trying
Speaker 1: to clip us all so that we can't even run again.
Speaker 1: Do you know they listened to our interviews, Like every
Speaker 1: time we sit down to do an interview, it's a risk,
Speaker 1: like literally there are people are opposition that listen to
Speaker 1: our interviews. They look at everything we do to foul
Speaker 1: judicial complaints, and they do that to keep us silent.
Speaker 1: So they want to take advantage of our silence and
Speaker 1: expose in the media or whatever theme or you know whatever.
Speaker 1: And so you know, that's why I really appreciate you
Speaker 1: all taking time to even talk with them. Just need
Speaker 1: to be out in the open yet absolutely, because it's
Speaker 1: important to expose them, which you flip its them, because
Speaker 1: that's that one thing that I know about them. They
Speaker 1: don't like being exposed. See, they're counting on the power
Speaker 1: that they have to scarybody and silence everybody. And so
Speaker 1: most people kind of go along and get along with it.
Speaker 1: But when you expose them the stuff, Oh yeah, they
Speaker 1: know their place. Everybody got a place, they know that place.
Speaker 1: When they get exposed, they don't like that. And they
Speaker 1: know what works. They know what works. And so whenever
Speaker 1: we look like we're getting somewhere, they say, uh, they're
Speaker 1: soft on crime. They letting they're letting everybody out of
Speaker 1: the jails. They don't know what they're doing. They don't
Speaker 1: have enough experience, they don't have this, that and the other.
Speaker 1: They know what works. They play on people's fear tactics.
Speaker 1: And then if you if if you do everything, you
Speaker 1: can do everything right as everything right, and you let
Speaker 1: one guy, you let one guy out of Lord who
Speaker 1: went out and just ended up just being rotten and killed.
Speaker 1: Somebody did something dirty. You see that she need she
Speaker 1: let them out and they But but they do this
Speaker 1: type of stuff all the time, right because you can't
Speaker 1: you know, you have no crystal ball beings a second chance.
Speaker 1: You try to give people a chance, and you don't
Speaker 1: know who's going to who's who's going to walk straight
Speaker 1: and narrow, or who's going to just decide that they're
Speaker 1: going to go out and do something crazy. Again, You
Speaker 1: just don't, so you just try to use your best judgment,
Speaker 1: you know. So, I mean that's the thing, and they
Speaker 1: understand that because that's what they do also. But when
Speaker 1: it comes to us, it's a total different thing. Soft
Speaker 1: on crime, they went unchecked softly and gay bonds. You
Speaker 1: could you could commit a murder, alleged commit a murder
Speaker 1: and your bond might be thirty thousand dollars. That was
Speaker 1: standard and typical in een and prior. Today, the felony
Speaker 1: court judge is not us, but the felony court judges
Speaker 1: you deal with that. They are in the millions routinely, routinely,
Speaker 1: but there soft on crime, letting people out, you know,
Speaker 1: and they never talk about the whole story, the failures
Speaker 1: of the other side. And I'll just going to say
Speaker 1: at the district attorney's office, you know, doing what they're
Speaker 1: supposed to do too, because oftentimes they weren't held because
Speaker 1: you know, the judge didn't require it, didn't hold their
Speaker 1: feet to the fire, so they didn't timely file motions
Speaker 1: to make sure their bonds were either increased, starret or
Speaker 1: revoked um. Nor did they bring evidence that you know,
Speaker 1: because the statute has a certain standard um, they didn't
Speaker 1: present those things that happens. Now. I just want to
Speaker 1: tell you so much again, thank you for what are
Speaker 1: you just saying, because if anything grinds my gears being
Speaker 1: a judge, is that there's this narrative that we don't
Speaker 1: care about the their community that we live in and
Speaker 1: that we just want to make sure that everybody unsafe
Speaker 1: and dangerous go out into the community. We're judges. We're
Speaker 1: gonna sit back here like we live on the bench.
Speaker 1: You know, I go home. You just went to target today,
Speaker 1: right for this interview or wherever I go to Kroger's.
Speaker 1: And so it does not benefit us or our community
Speaker 1: to just be reckless and put people out on the street.
Speaker 1: We don't have a crystal ball, but we surely work
Speaker 1: with the We do the best we can by working
Speaker 1: with the information that is presented to us, and that's
Speaker 1: all we really can do. To be quite honest with you,
Speaker 1: our goal is that no one commit any crimes. But
Speaker 1: that's just not a reality. And for today's media and
Speaker 1: for today's opposition to pretend that people on bond reoffending
Speaker 1: is a new kind of novel concept is ridiculous. How
Speaker 1: is a former prosecutor, former public defender, and private defense attorney,
Speaker 1: And I'm here to tell you I've done so many
Speaker 1: bail hearings on people when I was either a prosecutor
Speaker 1: a defense attorney, on people that were out on bail
Speaker 1: and reoffended. You know why that happened because people are people, right,
Speaker 1: and all you can do is do what we can.
Speaker 1: But whoever is listening your judge's care in Harris County,
Speaker 1: we want you to live comfortable, be saved, leave your
Speaker 1: door unlocks if you can, not saying don't do that,
Speaker 1: but it's a different age. Then we have more guns
Speaker 1: available and lawful and legal. Then it's the judge's faults
Speaker 1: when people have guns. I don't understand that. And when
Speaker 1: when people are hurting each other. We don't want that.
Speaker 1: I don't want that at all, you know. But I
Speaker 1: appreciate you for recognizing the fact that we're not clairvoyant.
Speaker 1: We're not psychic, nor do we have a crystal ball.
Speaker 1: But God knows, we work really hard to make sure
Speaker 1: we do us the best for not only the person
Speaker 1: in front of us, the alleged victim, and the community
Speaker 1: as a whole. And that's not an easy job. And
Speaker 1: to pretend like it is. And this rocket science is
Speaker 1: just the biggest life from hill and we don't and
Speaker 1: they but they do that intentionally, and they do it
Speaker 1: intentionally because that's how they control the narrative. Just like
Speaker 1: when you talk about crime in the neighborhood or whatever,
Speaker 1: they try to make it seems like a the snitching thing.
Speaker 1: They're trying to make it seems like black people just
Speaker 1: love crying, like black people just like being living in danger.
Speaker 1: We just like, we don't want no protection from the police. No,
Speaker 1: we don't want protection we don't want this false narrative
Speaker 1: of protection from faith corrupt police officers. So what they're
Speaker 1: doing is that they'll be cool with uh, they'll be
Speaker 1: cool with all of the bad things going on there
Speaker 1: and all of that, and they don't try to fix anything.
Speaker 1: But then the moment that somebody trying to hold a
Speaker 1: police officer accountable, they try to say, oh, see, y'all
Speaker 1: anti police officers. No, we're anti corrupt police officers. But
Speaker 1: the but the corrupt police officers try to hide behind
Speaker 1: the one or two alright police officers and say, see,
Speaker 1: you know y'all trying to attack police officer. We're just
Speaker 1: here to protect y'all. But we don't want that type
Speaker 1: of protection. We want to be protective. We want to
Speaker 1: be safe in our own communities. We won't say we
Speaker 1: won't we want the thugs to kill us, the dope dealers.
Speaker 1: We want the asses out too, because they're destroying the neighborhoods.
Speaker 1: You know, if it's like this, if you're not helping,
Speaker 1: you're hurting, all right, that's any situation in life. If
Speaker 1: you're not helping, you're hurting. So look around in your
Speaker 1: neighborhood and look and look at every every individual who's
Speaker 1: helping who's hurting, right, and so you want it's like,
Speaker 1: we we don't want black judges because we're trying to
Speaker 1: stack the deck or whatever. We've been down so long. Man,
Speaker 1: we're cool with just some fattis. We just give the
Speaker 1: fatness and we're straight, you know what I'm saying that
Speaker 1: because because we feel like if somebody did something wrong,
Speaker 1: they should be punished. But look, the goddamned punishment fit
Speaker 1: the crime. You know, you don't get no body, no
Speaker 1: damn forty years in prison for two grams of cocaine.
Speaker 1: That's crazy crack. Yeah, you know, but you don't do
Speaker 1: if you don't do people like that, man, you know.
Speaker 1: But but that's what compassion comes in, and that's where
Speaker 1: relatability comes in, right, and even on the flip side,
Speaker 1: so you know, treating people fairly because we have a
Speaker 1: different perspective. But even on the flip side, you know,
Speaker 1: I have told other people when I first took the bench,
Speaker 1: you know would come up, you know, hive dollar lawyers
Speaker 1: would come up and say, you know, hey, can we
Speaker 1: you know, just get it, pay us fine and then
Speaker 1: not do any jail. And I was like, are you
Speaker 1: asking me if you can buy a shorter sentence. You
Speaker 1: know that's illegal, but you can talk to me about
Speaker 1: why you know you should get a shorter sentence. They were,
Speaker 1: so it was if we all know that was routinely done.
Speaker 1: You pay a fine, you don't have to do the
Speaker 1: jail time. But for people that don't have money, they
Speaker 1: paid with their time in jail, and so you know,
Speaker 1: it was an adjustment for lawyers that when I would
Speaker 1: say that to them, like, are you asked me if
Speaker 1: you can buy a shorter sentence? And they were looking
Speaker 1: at me like that it is what I said. So
Speaker 1: you know, but now nobody's even nobody's asking me in
Speaker 1: at least in a couple of years, because they're used
Speaker 1: to that's not happening up in here. So come to
Speaker 1: me with a legal argument for why your person deserves
Speaker 1: time served from into that, but don't talk to me
Speaker 1: about something that somebody else can't access, which is money, right, Like,
Speaker 1: that's just not something that I'm going to be making
Speaker 1: a decision based on um and so just kind of
Speaker 1: even flipping it having you know, lawyers come up to
Speaker 1: me and say, oh, well, you know he's he's a doctor,
Speaker 1: so he can't do the he can't do the time.
Speaker 1: I'm like, you think all these people sitting out here
Speaker 1: in the audience can do it. They can't do the
Speaker 1: time either. Let's talk about why your person can't because
Speaker 1: then being a doctor that that's not that's not gonna
Speaker 1: move me. Let's talk about why your person doesn't need
Speaker 1: to go to jail. So that's the corruption where you know, right,
Speaker 1: it's not you know, just law enforce it's not an
Speaker 1: anti law enforcement. It's just anywhere ever you sit, whether
Speaker 1: you're judged, law enforcement, prosecutor defense attorney, wherever, it's just
Speaker 1: not needed. Right, that's not what's gonna help us at all.
Speaker 1: So I admire you for taking that stance. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have to use that line. It was funny the first
Speaker 1: few times I worked it out, and now like nobody does.
Speaker 1: I don't know if the law enforcement know that. Who
Speaker 1: I know, somebody's listening. But people who actually law enforcement
Speaker 1: that come into our courts are not ones that like
Speaker 1: you know, reading Facebook post, you know, but ones who
Speaker 1: actually come in our court testify in our court. I
Speaker 1: feel confident that law enforcements that has come into my
Speaker 1: court they know that I'm above board, it's just what
Speaker 1: the law is, what it is, you know, And so
Speaker 1: all that extra that's inflammatory on the internet, that's all
Speaker 1: just fake and and and stuff to get people worked up.
Speaker 1: But people that actually experience our courtrooms. You can ask
Speaker 1: anybody that's come in there, they'll say the same. And
Speaker 1: to deflect, right, that's what the social media and that's
Speaker 1: political theater. It's to deflect from whatever is happening on
Speaker 1: in their own camp because they know that we can't
Speaker 1: speak to whatever the issue is in the reality. Y'all know,
Speaker 1: it's true. Much of what we hear or see, none
Speaker 1: of them have stepped in your courts. You know. I've
Speaker 1: never seen many of the people that make the most
Speaker 1: statements in court, and I even any of them to come.
Speaker 1: They're not here, but they have the most to say
Speaker 1: in our livestream, our live stream. The doors of the
Speaker 1: court are open, and I allow that opportunity for you
Speaker 1: to come in, and I welcome the opportunity, of course,
Speaker 1: but I can't talk about cases, nor can I, you know,
Speaker 1: get a forecast on what I would do as a
Speaker 1: judgement were very ethical. But if there's something that you
Speaker 1: say that's not happening right, let us know, but don't
Speaker 1: post it. It's right. It's live stream. You can click
Speaker 1: on the court live stream because we wanted to make
Speaker 1: sure that even when things got tough, when the pandemic
Speaker 1: hit and people couldn't access it was already hard to
Speaker 1: access our courtrooms with traffic and the lines and insecurity,
Speaker 1: so it's already hard to access the court of court.
Speaker 1: We decided we wanted to make it easier accessible. We
Speaker 1: can't close the doors of the court house. People need
Speaker 1: to know what's going on, so we live stream. We
Speaker 1: live stream. It's not popular. Some people like really don't
Speaker 1: like it, but we live stream so that people have
Speaker 1: access to see what's going on. They can just click
Speaker 1: right from their phone to see what's happening in Court nine,
Speaker 1: in Court twelve and four and the rest of them.
Speaker 1: Do you prafer defendants come to a court wrong? Would
Speaker 1: you like to live stream? I don't know. There are circumstances.
Speaker 1: There are circumstances that they need to be there, right,
Speaker 1: but most of the time they don't have to come.
Speaker 1: That's the beauty of it too. And if you want
Speaker 1: to zoom in, you can. But if we're not doing
Speaker 1: anything substantive for your case that day, you don't need
Speaker 1: to be there. Yeah, I mean we we've we've said
Speaker 1: from the beginning criminal court is not conducive to a
Speaker 1: d virtual But what we did learn, one of the
Speaker 1: blessings of all of this is that we did learn
Speaker 1: a lot can be done virtually, and particularly with the
Speaker 1: tall ask of asking people to come downtown and what
Speaker 1: in the county this large. It's really a big deal,
Speaker 1: and so we've made it more accessible for people to
Speaker 1: be able to appear because short of like you about
Speaker 1: to go, you know, you're needing to go into custody
Speaker 1: because you have a warn or something. If somebody comes
Speaker 1: onto my life and says, hey, I had court today,
Speaker 1: I couldn't make it down there, I'm not gonna be like, well,
Speaker 1: you were supposed to be here, you're not here live,
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, um, is the reason why you're not here?
Speaker 1: Because they have they in my court. You're required to
Speaker 1: come for the first time, I like to lay eyes
Speaker 1: on you. We talked face to face about you know,
Speaker 1: kind of what the process is, what to expect, and
Speaker 1: then the last setting, right that's your trial or your
Speaker 1: plea or you're dismissing or whatever. All that in between
Speaker 1: the lawyers can can can discuss that and so but
Speaker 1: sometimes I have somebody that calls and they're like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, my car broke down, and so I zoomed in. Okay, alright,
Speaker 1: but let's let me pull your case up. Do you
Speaker 1: have a lawyer and try to work with the people,
Speaker 1: because you know, I just I remember the day. I've
Speaker 1: always I was a public defender before I became a lawyer,
Speaker 1: the whole time, at the federal and state level, and
Speaker 1: so I've always represented people who don't have resources. And
Speaker 1: I remember routinely people who are always already stretched thin
Speaker 1: being arrested for things like showing up late to court
Speaker 1: when we know that the line is like an hour away,
Speaker 1: you know, different things like that. So you know, just this,
Speaker 1: it's night and day. What is now? What about when
Speaker 1: you know a train was on the track and we
Speaker 1: don't do that quite honest. Yeah, that's not that's a practice,
Speaker 1: that's not court not I tell everyone day one, you
Speaker 1: don't have to come to court if you're in contact
Speaker 1: with your lawyer, you know, violating your bond conditions. I
Speaker 1: don't need to see you until it's time to either
Speaker 1: dispose of your case where that's a pleaer trial. Other
Speaker 1: than that, your lawyer can show up an efficient one
Speaker 1: right because and we still have dockets, clearance rates and
Speaker 1: above above, So whoever is listening that may not understand
Speaker 1: that process. We're still disposing of cases as we should
Speaker 1: be in above the hundred percent clearance rate, which means
Speaker 1: that just to kind of break it down, one hundred
Speaker 1: percent means that we are matching the number cases they
Speaker 1: are coming in. So you have ten cases coming in
Speaker 1: and you're closing out ten cases, that's a hundred percent.
Speaker 1: Now if you're closing out above the amount of cases
Speaker 1: that was fouled that day, then you're exceeding, so you're
Speaker 1: hitting old cases, backlog cases exactly. So I'm proud to
Speaker 1: report that the county criminal courts have been above a
Speaker 1: hundred percent for quite a few months now. I think
Speaker 1: today we sit at about a hundred and sixteen percent.
Speaker 1: So and then we have a jail population of only
Speaker 1: three hundred and twenty six people about three hundred misdemeanor
Speaker 1: only people incarcerating the Harris County jail, which means if
Speaker 1: our jail population or the total capacity is ten thousand,
Speaker 1: that the misdemeanor County criminal courts a log inmates are
Speaker 1: less than five percent. I think we calculated like three
Speaker 1: point four percent points to the population, which is what
Speaker 1: we have in the sastest training clearance rate and reduction
Speaker 1: in case backlog. So we're still a right man. I
Speaker 1: like that. Man. I remember, like back in the gap,
Speaker 1: going to court was like going to a public hand man.
Speaker 1: You saw somebody with him mean true basically didn't look
Speaker 1: nothing like you and did not have your best interest
Speaker 1: at heart at all, no compassion muchsoever, man, And you'd
Speaker 1: be like, man, I don't ever want to come back
Speaker 1: you no more constantly? Which of you remember I do
Speaker 1: when I wasn't practicing. Yeah, so, so you know, I
Speaker 1: believe that you know something. I understand that judges have
Speaker 1: to have a certain amount of latitude, But do you
Speaker 1: guys ever think that sometimes you guys a task with
Speaker 1: two latitude? Good question. What are you asking? Like, do
Speaker 1: you feel like we have too much discretion? And yeah?
Speaker 1: So it you know, it can be We've seen it
Speaker 1: abused of course. Um, but you know, for us, I
Speaker 1: think it's been helpful to kind of have that discretion
Speaker 1: and to be able to use our discretion, but we
Speaker 1: certainly have seen it abused in the past. So I
Speaker 1: think what we try to do is is be a
Speaker 1: part of UM policies that will outlast us. Fair policies
Speaker 1: that are here if we're here, are not UM, which
Speaker 1: is which has been tougher than we I think thought
Speaker 1: it would be. But what about when you have that
Speaker 1: discretion and you use that discretion unfairly? For example, that's
Speaker 1: a case about Larry Hoover. I didn't uh, Larry who
Speaker 1: was from Chicago, right, and Larry who is serving six
Speaker 1: life sentences uh various crimes under this new law, Larry
Speaker 1: Hoover should be at home, but the judge has the
Speaker 1: complete discretion to allow him to go home or state. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: all of the other people that was involved in his
Speaker 1: case all at home, and other people at home who
Speaker 1: met this so called this this so this so called
Speaker 1: the name of it? What's the name of it? Next step?
Speaker 1: Second step? First, I think it's a step. First step.
Speaker 1: So all these people that met, all these other people
Speaker 1: that met that threshold, they at home, but they got
Speaker 1: but they got Larry still locked up because Larry has
Speaker 1: the youth. Ear the young people like Larry, They respect Larry,
Speaker 1: and he's one of those guys who could actually help.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying he's the complete answer, but he can
Speaker 1: help clean up the streets of Chicago. But they don't
Speaker 1: want him to go home because they liked the madness.
Speaker 1: It's tricky though, right, because it wasn't that long ago,
Speaker 1: because he has a federal conviction, right, So it wasn't
Speaker 1: that long ago that they didn't have discretion in federal court, right,
Speaker 1: and they were mandatory, and so people were getting really
Speaker 1: I mean he likely came through through around that time, right,
Speaker 1: A lot of change that, right, a lot of changes.
Speaker 1: Then that's when he got those those But then so
Speaker 1: then you have the other side of it, so now
Speaker 1: we don't have Now that's illegal, right, UM, Mandatory mandatory
Speaker 1: sentencing is illegal. Mandatory minimums are not. But mandatory sentencing
Speaker 1: UM guidelines was. It's been declared illegal, and so now
Speaker 1: you just have discretion. The problem is not necessarily the discretion.
Speaker 1: The problem is the makeup of you know, this is
Speaker 1: not a group um that has the type of varying
Speaker 1: experiences that we enjoy in the hair as Canady judiciary. Right,
Speaker 1: So you want judges to have some discretion. The problem
Speaker 1: is when you have them I won't say monolithic, because
Speaker 1: everybody is not the same, but a very similar group
Speaker 1: of people that get selected for these lifetime appointments, you're
Speaker 1: gonna get the same projects. About to say, also their
Speaker 1: lifetime appointment can't so there's no consequence ever for what
Speaker 1: decisions they make. And so discretion, that's the ultimate use
Speaker 1: of discretion. You know, we have discretion, and in fact,
Speaker 1: there are many instances I would I think you all
Speaker 1: agree we're trying to hold on to some of our
Speaker 1: judicial discretion and trying to take it away from us
Speaker 1: at every turn. And we realize that that we, like
Speaker 1: I said in earlier, even the playing field, you know,
Speaker 1: by using our discretion where when and where appropriate. But
Speaker 1: it's like that, it's not like when you have a
Speaker 1: lifetime appointment and you you're never questioned again ultimately on
Speaker 1: what you do. They can appeal it, but that has
Speaker 1: no effect on whether or not you get the state
Speaker 1: in that position. And that that's cold blooded man, because
Speaker 1: I don't believe in that those lifetime appointments, because you know,
Speaker 1: people change and and and sometimes people go in with
Speaker 1: a certain type of mentality and you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: sometimes they go in and they just they are who
Speaker 1: they are. That's nothing you can do about it. Sometimes
Speaker 1: they go in and there the diabolical people. You know,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people their dillabolical and both
Speaker 1: right now. Sometimes you have judges who are just really evil,
Speaker 1: wicked people, and that's when they become judgship of human
Speaker 1: beings and they sit there forever, even on the Supreme Court.
Speaker 1: I don't even believe that they should be lifetime appointees.
Speaker 1: You know, that's crazy that you just somebody can just
Speaker 1: get in a position like that, that type of power,
Speaker 1: and it don't matter what they do. They get to
Speaker 1: sit there anyway, and and make all of these judgments,
Speaker 1: these these major decisions, he's historical change the lives of
Speaker 1: your children, yep. And you they set laws all that
Speaker 1: change the lives of your children and your children's children.
Speaker 1: And here in your very diverse city in area. You
Speaker 1: talked about the diversity of all these black women in
Speaker 1: the judiciary and really all these talented black women in
Speaker 1: the legal community, and now one, not one black woman
Speaker 1: sits on the federal bench in the entire southern District
Speaker 1: of Texas, including Houston. Correct, Those are appointing. They have
Speaker 1: to be appointed what they do, and what they do
Speaker 1: is once you get in, then now when it's time
Speaker 1: for you to step down to move around, you endorse
Speaker 1: somebody who got that exact same mentality that you have.
Speaker 1: And this is how they keep the control. This is crazy, man,
Speaker 1: It's a cold games. It's no way that people that
Speaker 1: have no respect for you should be able to judge it.
Speaker 1: You know, if you look back at the history of
Speaker 1: this country and and and just different cases and how
Speaker 1: they handled it, Like Jimmy got six months probation, Hero
Speaker 1: got life sentence for the same crime. Why is that
Speaker 1: because Timmy when but is not judge? But when Timmy does,
Speaker 1: we ain't the judge. When when what's the other kid names?
Speaker 1: When when we Rune does something bad, When you Rune
Speaker 1: does something bad, it's lock that nigga up he just
Speaker 1: like the rest up. When Timmy does something bad is
Speaker 1: boys will be boys, damn. And you never have to
Speaker 1: be no judge to say that, Willie. And that's that's
Speaker 1: the difference. And so they did it. He was a thug.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you know Jimmy did. He had some mental issues.
Speaker 1: We also proba or affluenza, like the young man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's so affluent that you know he doesn't understand, and
Speaker 1: you know, so you shouldn't have these times we get
Speaker 1: away with something like this. But when you're trying to
Speaker 1: explain a lack of resources, a lack of access to
Speaker 1: things that your client has, people have no comprehension, no
Speaker 1: compassional understanding for your your client, and you're advocating on
Speaker 1: their behalf. That blew my mind that we get into
Speaker 1: the meeting potatoes. Yeah, a lot of a lot of them,
Speaker 1: Judge Jones is it's like that because you know they
Speaker 1: that's how they want to be, you see, and they
Speaker 1: were they were. They were brought in two make sure
Speaker 1: that black people don't get justice. They were brought in
Speaker 1: to lock up as many black people as possible so
Speaker 1: that they can make them slaves again and run that
Speaker 1: prison empire they got going on out here. This hustle,
Speaker 1: this prison hustle. You know, when you look at when
Speaker 1: you really take a look at everything we've done for
Speaker 1: this country. We I don't care what anybody want to believe.
Speaker 1: With your mama thought told you what your dad had
Speaker 1: told you. We built this country, so we deserve as much,
Speaker 1: if not more prosperity than anybody in this country. We
Speaker 1: built it. We built this country, don't matter what they say.
Speaker 1: We built this country. So we deserved just as much,
Speaker 1: if not more than anybody. But you know, the way
Speaker 1: that they set it up, it's cold The counter set
Speaker 1: up is cold blooded, telling you you got were on
Speaker 1: the bottom of to be so higher up in in
Speaker 1: in the building of this place. We still are at
Speaker 1: the bottom of everybody else's because it's intentional. The government.
Speaker 1: The government makes the laws. These are your yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: your lawmakers. They make the laws and then they enforced
Speaker 1: the laws. No group of people in the history of
Speaker 1: civilization has ever been able to reach their full potential.
Speaker 1: Talk to them when they've been talking about their own
Speaker 1: government for failure. Talk to them. You can't you get
Speaker 1: kiss impossible every move you make right there, because after
Speaker 1: this lovely group of jugger just came in, they changed
Speaker 1: the requirements to become a judge. That's the way they
Speaker 1: That's that's always used. They've always used the law to
Speaker 1: circumquem Volt podcast will be right back after the week.
Speaker 1: I want to know what they did. I want to
Speaker 1: know what was done to make it more difficult to
Speaker 1: become judges. So they increased the number of years needed
Speaker 1: to become a judge, which really was was silly because
Speaker 1: we worked so hard to get here that I mean,
Speaker 1: we don't have those, yeah, but they're trying to add
Speaker 1: more and more and more things, more and more hurdles.
Speaker 1: But I think, because I'm trying to think, I want
Speaker 1: to say they doubled um the number of years required
Speaker 1: for district court um and the appellate court. And narrative, right,
Speaker 1: So this whole narrative was that we won just because
Speaker 1: we were black, right, and we were black women and inexperience.
Speaker 1: That's that's the point I'm trying to get, is that
Speaker 1: what is not being told is that we were qualified
Speaker 1: and arguably more qualified than the people that we replaced.
Speaker 1: Many of our predecessors practice maybe a couple of years
Speaker 1: if that the bare minimum. Right, we came in certified
Speaker 1: ten plus years, I mean, all kinds of trials and
Speaker 1: trial experience, and and and that's what the narrative is.
Speaker 1: They got in because they're black, not black experience, not
Speaker 1: necessarily who was saying, who would say this is people
Speaker 1: who are used to getting in because they're white. Damn Willie,
Speaker 1: that's who we're saying. Say that myself. I'm sorry. I've
Speaker 1: read social media. I've seen it in various you know
Speaker 1: mediums where the allegation or the belief is that we
Speaker 1: are not we were not qualified to sit where we're sitting.
Speaker 1: It's just amazing, you know, not to knock my predecessor,
Speaker 1: but I had, I think, almost twice the years of
Speaker 1: practice before I ran for that bench, right, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's just four times the amount of years of practice,
Speaker 1: you know, then my predecessor before he was So the
Speaker 1: narrative is just being fueled by this. Well, let's raise
Speaker 1: the criteria because then we old board was put together
Speaker 1: to do a study your governor did about the board,
Speaker 1: what we can do and should judges be appointed or
Speaker 1: should they be elected? And so that didn't make it.
Speaker 1: They did. They weren't able to push that through, although
Speaker 1: I'm sure we haven't heard the last of them. But
Speaker 1: what they were able to get through of the suggestions
Speaker 1: from this committee or this commit was to raise the
Speaker 1: number of years because they're like, oh, well, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe we can just cut off some of the at
Speaker 1: least the younger ones. Right. But now here's my thing.
Speaker 1: Even if you But I'm like, even if we have
Speaker 1: even if you tell me, oh, this person, they've been
Speaker 1: practicing before years and they had any trial. You know.
Speaker 1: That's why I was about to say, I practiced for
Speaker 1: years in front of judges who didn't know up from down.
Speaker 1: So when they're figured out, I guess like the rest
Speaker 1: of the And I knew that there were judges that
Speaker 1: were elected that met the minimum criteria. That's not new,
Speaker 1: that's not But what is false is that we were
Speaker 1: the group that only got in at the minimum criteria.
Speaker 1: And that's the narrative that I'm trying to correct. These
Speaker 1: are the same people who said they voted for Donald
Speaker 1: Trump because he wasn't a politician, because he had no experiences? Willie,
Speaker 1: what is wrong with you today? Man? But why does
Speaker 1: it change? Throw me for a little too, because it's
Speaker 1: one of the younger judges who were elected during that cycle.
Speaker 1: I was thirty two when I was elected, and you know,
Speaker 1: people were looking at me kind of sideways. And then
Speaker 1: you hear about judges that were pointing to civil benches
Speaker 1: at five seven eight in Harris County, And I'm like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: is it because I looked the way that I look,
Speaker 1: I show up as myself from south part of our
Speaker 1: box braids, and I sit on the bench just as
Speaker 1: competent as anyone else right still, neighborhood, you know that
Speaker 1: that's to them. That's why, that's why I'm always the
Speaker 1: biggest advocate for voting, voting, Because we had the right
Speaker 1: people in place, it was no way that that would
Speaker 1: have even came up in in In In Austin the
Speaker 1: government wouldn't even thought of saying, no stuff like that.
Speaker 1: But what But what do y'all say to people who
Speaker 1: say that, yeah, y'all judges, but y'all working for a
Speaker 1: system where we can't win in What do y'all say
Speaker 1: to those people say, that's why I'm not voting. Ain't
Speaker 1: gonna do nothing, because I'm sure somebody right now, man,
Speaker 1: they ain't gonna do nothing. They ain't gonna change nothing. Man,
Speaker 1: this system is rigged and ain't nothing we can do. Man,
Speaker 1: We're done with doom. You're better have us there because
Speaker 1: because let me say something, all of us will tell
Speaker 1: you what it was like before. And even if you think,
Speaker 1: if you think that what you see today is not
Speaker 1: as as good um, you are wholly mistaken. Um, today
Speaker 1: you can walk into court not have a dime, not
Speaker 1: have uh any family support, nobody's there. You walk in
Speaker 1: on your own today, and a judge is gonna look
Speaker 1: at you for you, and the first thing that's gonna
Speaker 1: come out of our mouth is how we can protect
Speaker 1: you and make sure you know your rights and make
Speaker 1: sure that you have now an attorney that's also going
Speaker 1: to properly represent you. That never happened before. It's certainly
Speaker 1: was not the priority. So even if you don't get
Speaker 1: anything else but to walk through this door, nine nine
Speaker 1: nine percent of the time, you're gonna get to walk out.
Speaker 1: That's that's a change too. It used to be sir, ma'am.
Speaker 1: Oh you didn't come with an attorney today, Well let
Speaker 1: me take you on in the custody because you go
Speaker 1: with the bailiff because you don't have an attorney or
Speaker 1: come back every day and come back every day. And
Speaker 1: I mean this is you know, it's just offering a
Speaker 1: not even above and beyond, we actually follow the law,
Speaker 1: and then we do it in a respectful manner. Many
Speaker 1: people walk into the courtroom and they yeah, huh that
Speaker 1: they've given me everything because they've never seen what respect
Speaker 1: looks like what common courtesy looks like no one's ever
Speaker 1: given it to him. So I don't go off because
Speaker 1: they don't know how to present themselves and this this
Speaker 1: situation or embarrassment because of what they're wearing, not understanding
Speaker 1: that might be the only thing, the best thing that
Speaker 1: they have to wear. I try to offer them some
Speaker 1: compassion and some respect up front because moving forward with
Speaker 1: you in this situation, and we got to deal with it, right,
Speaker 1: We got to deal with it. But I'm gonna try
Speaker 1: to offer you some humanity now, and that's what it
Speaker 1: because that way I can fix you before you leave here.
Speaker 1: Whatever time we got, I can help humanity and justice
Speaker 1: right Because I want to be clear that it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean you're gonna get what you want, right, but what
Speaker 1: you can be guaranteed about when you step into our
Speaker 1: courts is that you're gonna be treated fairly. Even if
Speaker 1: you don't get treated and get what you want, at
Speaker 1: least you can walk and say at least she hurt me,
Speaker 1: I think she was, you know, fair, because it was
Speaker 1: a time where you couldn't legitimately say that it was
Speaker 1: a fair process, Like I didn't get what I wanted
Speaker 1: any wasn't fair. It's like and he's condescending and rude. Judge.
Speaker 1: Um to the point that you were making about people,
Speaker 1: uh walking out, you know you might walk out. Let
Speaker 1: y'all messing with the money. When you do that, we
Speaker 1: destroyed the money money game. They're not happy about that.
Speaker 1: We stopped paying organizations just you know, you will give
Speaker 1: a fifty dollar feed to this organization and that organization,
Speaker 1: and you know we started asking, well, why do they
Speaker 1: get this money here? Oh, it was just an agreement.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna be a part of. I mean, if
Speaker 1: that's just an agreement that you all make, meaning the
Speaker 1: parties make the state in the defense, if that's what
Speaker 1: you're making, and I won't bother your agreement. But it
Speaker 1: won't because I court ordered it and you put it
Speaker 1: on me, you know, funding these organizations, um uh, funding
Speaker 1: unnecessary things. When I have an opportunity to waive some fees,
Speaker 1: I do, because why are people still getting locked up
Speaker 1: because they can't pay you know, the court costs? Why
Speaker 1: why are they coming back? Because there are there are
Speaker 1: people there were people that were still coming back when
Speaker 1: I first got on the bench, that were ordered to
Speaker 1: come back to court. If they did not return having
Speaker 1: paid their court costs, they could be taking the expectations
Speaker 1: that they would be taken into custody. I'm sure myself,
Speaker 1: like everybody else, we satisfied those judgments. Let's just satisfy that.
Speaker 1: I mean, and I get to just wave a magic
Speaker 1: wand and say, just consider that paid and send this
Speaker 1: person on engaging people that just do not have the
Speaker 1: ability to pay, and they were they lived under the
Speaker 1: fear of I gotta get this paid by a certain time.
Speaker 1: But I'm pulling blood from a turnip. I ain't got it.
Speaker 1: So I got to go stand in front of this
Speaker 1: judge and they're gonna put me back in jail because
Speaker 1: I didn't have the three one dollars that it costs.
Speaker 1: And we're working in a society now, we're in the
Speaker 1: Great Resignation. We have people that just have fewer resources
Speaker 1: than what they have before we even enter. There's so
Speaker 1: many dynamics here that we have to take into consideration.
Speaker 1: And so we're not going to penalize people because they
Speaker 1: don't have money. That's not exactly that's not what the
Speaker 1: system is about. That's not that's not equitable, it's not fair,
Speaker 1: it's not just fixing the problem or trying to fix
Speaker 1: the problem. Y'all go through your training programs. Uh do y'all?
Speaker 1: Are y'all taught to leave police officers over citizens and
Speaker 1: question with it? Know? The training that we get is, um,
Speaker 1: we had to judge get in trouble for this one
Speaker 1: round it what it what it is designed to do
Speaker 1: is give you some basic legal foundations to be able
Speaker 1: to take the bench on day one. That's what it does.
Speaker 1: But it does not really go in to the substantive
Speaker 1: intricacies of the trial process, or not even really the
Speaker 1: law in of itself. So no to that question, they
Speaker 1: don't teach us one way or another. Well, why is
Speaker 1: it that? Why is it that when people get traffic
Speaker 1: tickets and the police show up, it's it's damn man,
Speaker 1: it's can't wait. He's like, police show up. You've been
Speaker 1: looking at me in that way, and soon as you
Speaker 1: keep voting, all right, man, I guess they're gonna take
Speaker 1: the police off the word over mine nine episode of
Speaker 1: the Town. You know, how does that happen? You know,
Speaker 1: if if these if somebody got to be some kind
Speaker 1: of training, you know, it's flipped. Now, you know, this
Speaker 1: is compassion, this is this is fairness, you know, and
Speaker 1: just because Bossman walk in, that don't mean nothing. Bossman
Speaker 1: could have been lying, he could have been he could
Speaker 1: have been uh profiling you bro with Bossman. Ain't bossman,
Speaker 1: no more boss man boss related judge. Yeah, I definitely
Speaker 1: want you guys to individually introduce yourself to the publish
Speaker 1: so they don't know who they're voting for and how
Speaker 1: important it is to vote for judges that have compassion,
Speaker 1: that that that that represent you know, the law, you know,
Speaker 1: represent what's really happening and how you can how they
Speaker 1: can be helped and treated humane humanely. All you guys
Speaker 1: are for re election, okay, So yeah, so douce yourself
Speaker 1: and then in the name of the court. So my
Speaker 1: name is Genesis drap from the Judge of Harris County
Speaker 1: Criminal Court at Law number twelve. I mean I am
Speaker 1: up for re election this November. And just real quick
Speaker 1: to your point for people that are saying, well, what
Speaker 1: does it matter, you know, I ain't gonna make a difference.
Speaker 1: That's what they're counting on because we have the numbers,
Speaker 1: and they know it. For one second, we rise up
Speaker 1: use them numbers. It's a wrap. So they're hoping that
Speaker 1: that's what people are thinking. And so if you're out
Speaker 1: there thinking that, I just want you to know that
Speaker 1: that is the strategy for the oppressor, is that you
Speaker 1: will say it doesn't matter. My name is Judge Shannon Baldwin.
Speaker 1: I'm the presiding judge for Harris County Criminal Court of
Speaker 1: Law number four. UM. I don't even know what what
Speaker 1: more to say in this. We said back in vote
Speaker 1: like your life depended on it, because it does. Not.
Speaker 1: Much has changed we are trying to make We've made
Speaker 1: some strides to make life better when you come into
Speaker 1: the criminal court house. We need your help to continue that.
Speaker 1: We can't do it in four years, and they're doing
Speaker 1: everything they can to push back all of the strides
Speaker 1: that we've made. Don't let them do it. Tell you
Speaker 1: you know, get your family, get your friends, take a caravan,
Speaker 1: take a bus to whatever you have to do, and
Speaker 1: get to the polls. Early vote, Early vote, because they
Speaker 1: will likely close down polling locations, they will change where
Speaker 1: you're supposed to go vote. Um, they'll do everything they
Speaker 1: have to do to prevent you from being able to vote.
Speaker 1: Go vote, Take your family, your friends, get on social media.
Speaker 1: Because everybody don't have a million dollars to give us
Speaker 1: to run these campaigns. By the way, but you can
Speaker 1: get on social media and you can follow these judges.
Speaker 1: You can follow us, you can retweet, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: share the information that we put out, follow us. Hey,
Speaker 1: get education from us. Right, We're gonna tell you about
Speaker 1: the issues, but be share it with somebody. You share
Speaker 1: it with them, that's another person that's gonna come and vote. Educate,
Speaker 1: get out there and support us and vote again. Shannon
Speaker 1: for Schelle Bald when the B stands for back to
Speaker 1: the bench, by the way, back to the come all back.
Speaker 1: I'm a hometown girl. What else can I say? I'm
Speaker 1: born and raised right here, Texas, Trinity Garden, All Trinity
Speaker 1: Garden people. That was me. I can't speak up in
Speaker 1: the South Park. But look alace, so come on through. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we need you, We need your support. We can't do
Speaker 1: it without you. And in fact, we are here for you.
Speaker 1: You never had nobody looking out for you, now you do.
Speaker 1: Don't let them turn the clocks back exactly. I agree.
Speaker 1: My name is Torria Finch, and I am proud to
Speaker 1: be your presiding judge of Harris County. Coming the Court
Speaker 1: at law number nine. If you heard something on this
Speaker 1: this wonderful discussion, just you know, email man, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: put my email out. That's probably dangerous, but I want
Speaker 1: you to feel free to reach out to us and
Speaker 1: invite us to maybe an event that you have, or
Speaker 1: maybe there's some kind of church activity wherever you need
Speaker 1: us to come to deliver the message, because what we
Speaker 1: don't want is for their only source of information to
Speaker 1: be from what they see on the news. That cannot
Speaker 1: be the only medium. And so it's t O r
Speaker 1: I A Torria at Torria, t O r I A.
Speaker 1: Finch efics and Frank I n c H dot com,
Speaker 1: Toria at Vote, It's um Toria at Vote, Toria Finch
Speaker 1: dot com. If you email me, I've ben pass it
Speaker 1: on to my judicial sisters here and we'll come wherever
Speaker 1: you need us. But again, get out and vote. Just
Speaker 1: because you got us in eighteen doesn't mean the work
Speaker 1: is done. We gotta keep voting because our life always
Speaker 1: depends on the vote. And thank you all so much
Speaker 1: for having us here. Toria at Vote, Torrian Finch dot com.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, judge right. My name is Tanya Jones. I'm
Speaker 1: the Presiding Judge of Harris County Criminal Court at Law
Speaker 1: number fifteen. Has been an honor to serve as your
Speaker 1: presiding judge for this first term, and I am up
Speaker 1: for reelection. I am, UM a big believer in community
Speaker 1: involvement and engagement. You all have heard me talk about
Speaker 1: where I'm from. I said loud and proud everywhere I go,
Speaker 1: because I believe I leave in educating and empowering UM
Speaker 1: and engaging from the community to the courtroom. So I
Speaker 1: think that's important, and I think that UM, it is
Speaker 1: important that you have judges that care about the communities
Speaker 1: that they serve. Right. One of the things I appreciate
Speaker 1: about my colleagues here is that we have been active
Speaker 1: in the community. You don't just see us at Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: time and give you a turkey and a smile. We disappear,
Speaker 1: or we create policies that don't benefit the people that
Speaker 1: we're asking for support from. But we remain in these communities, involved,
Speaker 1: engaged UM and making sure that we make a difference.
Speaker 1: And that's what's UM important. That's important to me because
Speaker 1: when I go to church and when I go to
Speaker 1: see my family on the weekends, I have to look
Speaker 1: at those people in their face, and I have to
Speaker 1: be accountable to them, you know, for what I do
Speaker 1: when I put that black role on. And so I
Speaker 1: want to just let people know that it's important. Voting
Speaker 1: is important, staying engaged is important because if you're not
Speaker 1: at the table, you for sure on the menu. So
Speaker 1: we have got to be We got to be at
Speaker 1: the table. And I know that it is a situation
Speaker 1: where for so long, you know, and it can be frustrating,
Speaker 1: but for so long, you know, we have done all
Speaker 1: that we can and you seem like you're not making
Speaker 1: any headway, that things are not changing. But for sure,
Speaker 1: if we're not taking part in the systems that we
Speaker 1: want to change, they never ever will, okay. And so
Speaker 1: it's important we need to be involved, in active at
Speaker 1: every level of government. Precinct chairs, if your super neighborhood groups.
Speaker 1: Everyone may not run for state representatives, may not run,
Speaker 1: you know, for some of these other offices, but you
Speaker 1: can get involved, get active. Um, just spreading the word
Speaker 1: amongst your community. That is important. That's what gets us
Speaker 1: to where we need to be. So again, I am
Speaker 1: Tanya Jones. I am your presiding Judge of Harris County
Speaker 1: Criminal Court at Lan number fifteen South Park stand up
Speaker 1: one more time like a plug real quick, and she
Speaker 1: brought it up real quick. Okay. So bridging that gap
Speaker 1: between the court and the community. It's not just something
Speaker 1: we say, we actually have done that. The Misdemeanor Court
Speaker 1: Center here has County created a community court. It's called
Speaker 1: the Bayou City Community Court. It stands for bringing assistance
Speaker 1: to you with outreach and understanding. It's a broad court
Speaker 1: where you don't come to us, we come to you.
Speaker 1: Our first initiative is the Fresh Start Program and what
Speaker 1: it is it's a resource fair, but we provide vaccinations, uh,
Speaker 1: job readiness, re entry programs, all the stuff that you
Speaker 1: need to get back on your feet. If you're someone
Speaker 1: that's been in the system and you had a misdemeanor
Speaker 1: defer probation adjudication that you completed, you can come there
Speaker 1: and sign up to get registered to be screened for
Speaker 1: a possible nondisclosure. A nondisclosure means that if you're eligible
Speaker 1: in the order is signed, it comes off your record
Speaker 1: that no one so no one sees it other than
Speaker 1: law enforcement because they keep everything right. So the Fresh
Speaker 1: Start Program is what we're doing to try to meet
Speaker 1: the community where they are to help them get back
Speaker 1: on their feet. Misdemean of court. So if you did
Speaker 1: a deferred adjudication, it's the probation that you do that
Speaker 1: avoids a conviction. Some people think that just because you
Speaker 1: complete it deferred, it's done. No, it's not. It's still
Speaker 1: on your record until you take action to follow a
Speaker 1: petition for nondisclosure and the judge signs it. Well, instead
Speaker 1: of waiting on you, we partnered with a lot of
Speaker 1: county partners that are willing to come to you. We
Speaker 1: have our next event. I think it's gonna be July
Speaker 1: the thirties. I'll send it to you so y'all can
Speaker 1: hopefully pub it come out. Everything is free. We're gonna
Speaker 1: have a back to school component working with our county
Speaker 1: partners that get backpack school supplies, vaccinations, immunization, immunizations. I
Speaker 1: can't even say it immunizations, thinking some tied too much
Speaker 1: going only then, but that's what your county courts are doing.
Speaker 1: We've never had that kind of stuff going on. So
Speaker 1: these are the kind of judges that you have people
Speaker 1: for the people that you have the kind of stuff
Speaker 1: going on. Because the preachers dot. I'm a yeah, look
Speaker 1: before we get off, I can't get off without saying
Speaker 1: when I was getting ready to come here. You know,
Speaker 1: my husband, Brandon, he never never asked about any kind
Speaker 1: of campaign if or anything like that. And he saw
Speaker 1: on our family calendar that I was gonna be on
Speaker 1: the Ghetto Boys Reloaded. Oh, he had a million questions.
Speaker 1: You all should know. He's been riding with y'all a
Speaker 1: long time back in Action day. He wanted me to
Speaker 1: very hard too. Yeah, question that I wanted to ask
Speaker 1: you guys if I should ask you soon, but no here,
Speaker 1: I just wanted them to. I want to people to
Speaker 1: know who they worry because this is important here with me,
Speaker 1: this is very important. Um. You know Kavanaugh, you know
Speaker 1: Judge Kavanagh, Spreme Court Justice h A man recently came
Speaker 1: to his house and threatened him, threatened to kill him.
Speaker 1: Do you guys ever worry about your safety? Absolutely, especially
Speaker 1: in this climate. Yes. People don't understand that when when
Speaker 1: we have these opposite keep calling the oppositional people in
Speaker 1: the media are putting this false information, they place our
Speaker 1: lives at risk. You know, that's just the kind of
Speaker 1: era that we're living in. You know, we are constant
Speaker 1: targets and it's just not right. We have mothers sitting
Speaker 1: at this table. Wives. You know, we're real people, and
Speaker 1: so every day we leave it is a concern, right
Speaker 1: because sometimes all people get is what they see, and
Speaker 1: if they think that we were a threat to them,
Speaker 1: then what are they gonna do? What can you do
Speaker 1: to combat it? Though in the meanwhile, I'm just trying
Speaker 1: to toss the gun carrier. We don't we don't really
Speaker 1: label the cars and the things like that, which which
Speaker 1: when we first ran, you know, I put my face
Speaker 1: in my all my stuff campaign all over my car.
Speaker 1: Right this time, I have to tell you how I'm
Speaker 1: thinking twice about something like that, because I mean, I
Speaker 1: have a young child and then she's riding with me.
Speaker 1: I don't want to put her in danger for something
Speaker 1: like that, just because somebody thinking judge, all judges are
Speaker 1: bad and they're harming us until we gotta take out
Speaker 1: the They don't think all judges are bad, just the
Speaker 1: black ones. Well, they don't think that because they ain't
Speaker 1: killed nobody all this time, all right, they ain't. Didn't
Speaker 1: ain't they beat up nobody, ain't rolled up on nobody else.
Speaker 1: House all this time, so they ain't worried about all
Speaker 1: of that. What what what you're dealing with the only
Speaker 1: kind of people that have that type of mentality of
Speaker 1: uncivilized munds. He's an uncivilized much just like the dude
Speaker 1: who ran up and kill them people at the Tops
Speaker 1: grocery store in Buffalo. He's an uncivilized mutt. Right. These
Speaker 1: are people who cannot perform, you know, around civilized people,
Speaker 1: so they act uncivilized and maybe they commit uncivilized acts.
Speaker 1: They're not really regular human people, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: They're not. They're They're the type of people that need
Speaker 1: to be put down. And so uh look, if you're
Speaker 1: around me, like you're around me right now and they
Speaker 1: run up, they're gonna get done up. You did what
Speaker 1: I'm saying for real, because that's how we rock. But
Speaker 1: they count on they count on stuff like that. You know,
Speaker 1: they count on trying to instill fear. If you think
Speaker 1: about it, that's the only way that they were able to,
Speaker 1: you know, hold our people and bondish for so long.
Speaker 1: You know, they fear at the same time run around
Speaker 1: and try to act like they can't at the same time.
Speaker 1: It's like they create chaos and then try to swoop
Speaker 1: in and play the hero. That's you said, you said
Speaker 1: something to me that really stuck man, And I want
Speaker 1: you to know that you said, Man, if his life
Speaker 1: was so great, then why would he tell that story again? Man,
Speaker 1: like like so great and fantastic? Why would you be
Speaker 1: so called white supremacists? Right? They called themselves white supremacists,
Speaker 1: like the guy who did the shooting in Buffalo. Right,
Speaker 1: they called themselves white supremacists. And they said, well, I
Speaker 1: did this to preserve the white race. No, you didn't.
Speaker 1: You did it because you couldn't hack it. You couldn't
Speaker 1: have life, You couldn't deal with the rejection. You ain't
Speaker 1: had no woman. You're not good with women. All these
Speaker 1: dudes for the same kind of profile. They're not good
Speaker 1: with women. They don't have friends, Uh, at least not
Speaker 1: not the friends that they want. Uh. They're socially awkward.
Speaker 1: Usually they're in bad shape, like physically. Uh. These are
Speaker 1: these are people who try to say that they're superior. Right,
Speaker 1: But if you're superior, you would not ruin your life
Speaker 1: throw your life away for people that you feel are inferior, Like,
Speaker 1: you wouldn't just throw your life away, Like, if I
Speaker 1: thought I was above you, who, why would I go
Speaker 1: and do something to you? You're yeah significant to me,
Speaker 1: I think about you. Why I worried about you? So
Speaker 1: if I think I'm so above you, why would I
Speaker 1: throw my life away for bringing you harm? Why would
Speaker 1: I do that? I wouldn't because I feel superior. They
Speaker 1: don't feel superior. They're not white supremacists, the white in
Speaker 1: theory artists, all right, That's what they are, is that
Speaker 1: inferiority complex that they have that make them behave the
Speaker 1: way that they do when they just take guns and
Speaker 1: go out and then discriminately just kill people for no reason. Right.
Speaker 1: So the thing is that all of us, we we
Speaker 1: are who we are based on a conditioning right, most
Speaker 1: of us, however, we're conditioned. That's how we're gonna be right.
Speaker 1: And so our strongest convictions that we have in life
Speaker 1: come from people who look like us. All of these
Speaker 1: people that talk called themselves white supremacists, and they hate
Speaker 1: black people honestly, so, more than likely, if they were abused,
Speaker 1: they were abused by a white person. If they were
Speaker 1: cheated on, they were cheated on by a white person.
Speaker 1: If they were betrayed, by a friend. That betrayal probably
Speaker 1: came from a white person. If they was chased home
Speaker 1: from school or bullet they would probably bulleted by a
Speaker 1: white person. If they loaned somebody some money who didn't
Speaker 1: pay them back, it was probably somebody white. Right, These
Speaker 1: are white people who gave you your strongest convictions. That
Speaker 1: makes that that that have that have uh contributed to
Speaker 1: uh anxiety in your life right and contributed to setbacks,
Speaker 1: you know. So why is it that you don't hate them?
Speaker 1: Because see that's too much like right you got you're
Speaker 1: gonna hate these people who ain't never really people that
Speaker 1: ain't never did nothing to you, But you're gonna let
Speaker 1: them make it over here. See, you're gonna run out
Speaker 1: of motherfuckers they hate. That's why you won't hate them.
Speaker 1: That's why you ain't gonna do nothing to them, because
Speaker 1: you know, you know, you're gonna run out of people
Speaker 1: to hate. So they're hypocritical. I know who they are,
Speaker 1: I know them. They don't scare them, don't scare me
Speaker 1: at all. I know him for real, been around him.
Speaker 1: That cowards. They don't civilize much and they're not superior
Speaker 1: at all at all. Because when I look at him,
Speaker 1: I sing, I look at him like, you know, a
Speaker 1: little flick, little fleas. You know what I'm saying, because
Speaker 1: that's what they are. And and when you call him
Speaker 1: out for exactly who they are, they get it because
Speaker 1: they have no rebuttal. And I said, if you was,
Speaker 1: because I know y'all like those. Yeah, I'm not watching
Speaker 1: watching my good friend turn into me. I remember, I
Speaker 1: remember we had a conversation on the phone with this
Speaker 1: guy and I went off off off bad, and we
Speaker 1: really called me back. Man, you gotta chill out on that,
Speaker 1: you know, Man, you gotta cut that out. Made me
Speaker 1: like Willie, No, I think you went too fun, Willie.
Speaker 1: You know it's mad about something. You were mad about
Speaker 1: something else, man, and you just just lost it. Really,
Speaker 1: he was putting us in the he was playing that
Speaker 1: role on us. We talked about it. Indeed, were I
Speaker 1: did go off And now I'm watching my partner, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: seven years later, see what I feel how I felt
Speaker 1: back then? I felt like that. But you he said, though, Willie,
Speaker 1: I just said, I just said. You didn't see that
Speaker 1: him either, because I didn't have a beef with him,
Speaker 1: like I didn't have a grind like you did. Thank
Speaker 1: you guys coming over the show. I will spend I'm
Speaker 1: so proud of you, thank you and everyone. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for being our judges. And I look forward
Speaker 1: to not ever coming into your courtroom, but right thank
Speaker 1: you for years ago at the show that we had. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we had a big concertman, who was the old school concert? Quick?
Speaker 1: Good apologic, Yeah show you played the old school show.
Speaker 1: I mean I thought we agree that we wasn't gonna
Speaker 1: play old school show. It was legends, legends, the legendary
Speaker 1: stage and let us you know, introduced and just let
Speaker 1: folks know. And then we were running and that was huge,
Speaker 1: major and posted us on social media big time, and yes,
Speaker 1: what what I gonna do that again? You know, That's
Speaker 1: what I'm talking to appreciate because it's it's it's imperative
Speaker 1: that we have people that that that that speak for us,
Speaker 1: to actually speak for us, you know what I mean
Speaker 1: that represents, to represent us, because we are in a
Speaker 1: situation now that's way worse than it's ever been, way worse.
Speaker 1: If someone can be convicted, not convicted, but but but
Speaker 1: prosecuted over what they said in one of these songs,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna leave that we mean we're gonna talk nomal talk,
Speaker 1: nomal talks. This episode was produced by Aching and brought
Speaker 1: to you by the Black Effect Podcast Network at Our
Speaker 1: Heart Radio