Speaker 1: Good morning, Peeves, and welcome to ok F Daily with
Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody recording from the Home Bunker. Folks,
Speaker 1: you know, as I record this today, I'm certain that
Speaker 1: you have seen the news of what is happening in Louisiana,
Speaker 1: and it is the State of Louisiana. Governor Landry has
Speaker 1: decided that he wants to be Dysantis light, I guess
Speaker 1: or Dysantis tough for this most Southern Dassantis. I don't
Speaker 1: fucking know.
Speaker 2: But he's passed.
Speaker 1: He signed a bill that would require that every classroom
Speaker 1: in Louisiana's public schools show the Ten Commandment. This is
Speaker 1: not about educating kids. These people don't give a fuck
Speaker 1: about children. It is all about their way to own
Speaker 1: the Libs. And since the bill was signed, ACLU has
Speaker 1: said that they are going to sue, and of course
Speaker 1: Landry welcomes being sued because it's going to have his
Speaker 1: name in the headlines, because that's what this is about
Speaker 1: for Republicans. And the fact is is that in ACLU's
Speaker 1: post on social media about them preparing to sue the
Speaker 1: State of Louisiana, they said public schools are not religious schools.
Speaker 1: You don't get to put press your religion on other people.
Speaker 1: If you want your kids the only thing that you
Speaker 1: want them to be able to read is the Bible,
Speaker 1: and you want them to follow the ten Commandments, and
Speaker 1: that is the most important thing to you, then enroll
Speaker 1: them in a religious fucking school. That is your choice.
Speaker 1: But if I'm sending a child to public school, I
Speaker 1: want them to get an education that prepares them to
Speaker 1: be global citizens, that prepares them to be critical thinkers
Speaker 1: in the workplace, that prepares them to be good people,
Speaker 1: that prepares them to ask questions right, not one where
Speaker 1: one kind of religion is pressed upon them. America is
Speaker 1: not a Christian nation. It is a nation that is
Speaker 1: filled with a lot of fucking people from all over
Speaker 1: the world. That used to be a point of pride,
Speaker 1: it is now a point of contention. People used to
Speaker 1: flock to this country because of the opportunities that it
Speaker 1: afforded and the freedoms that it afforded people. And now
Speaker 1: I see more people in my comments section looking for
Speaker 1: other places to live, People being forced to move out
Speaker 1: of their home states in order to give birth, in
Speaker 1: order to educate their kids, in order for their kids
Speaker 1: to feel safe from bullying and harassing, not just from
Speaker 1: their own peers, but from the administration and from the
Speaker 1: fucking governors of these red states. It's appalling, it's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: It's shit that was litigated back in the sixties and
Speaker 1: the seventies where we stopped allowing prayer in school because
Speaker 1: guess what if I'm an atheist or agnostic, or I'm
Speaker 1: Muslim or any myriad of religions, are you allowing me
Speaker 1: to pray the way that I want to pray in school?
Speaker 1: Are you dictating to me how I'm going to pray?
Speaker 1: If the Ten Commandments mean something to you, it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean something to me. Again, you can do whatever it
Speaker 1: is that you want with your child, put them in
Speaker 1: schools or homeschool them in places that live up to
Speaker 1: your moral compass, but that is not the place for
Speaker 1: public education. It is about recognizing the needs of the public,
Speaker 1: not one community, class group, or race. Coming up next
Speaker 1: on today's WOKF, I am in conversation with Melanie Willingham Jaggers,
Speaker 1: who is the CEO of Glisten, the only organization in
Speaker 1: the country that focuses on creating safe, stable, uplifting environments
Speaker 1: for LGBTQ youth in schools, and so Melanie and I
Speaker 1: get into a very rich conversation about the myriad of
Speaker 1: anti LGBTQ and anti trans bills that have come out
Speaker 1: and what the movement is up to next, folks, I
Speaker 1: am very happy to welcome back to WOKF Daily the
Speaker 1: executive director of Glisten, Melanie Willingham Jaggers, to join us
Speaker 1: as we do our Pride coverage for the month and
Speaker 1: we get the low down on all things LGBTQ.
Speaker 2: Plus.
Speaker 1: You know, Melanie that I talk about education a lot
Speaker 1: on my show because I'm a former teacher, former lobbyist
Speaker 1: for education policy work, and I believe that education matters.
Speaker 1: I also think it's the reason why the opposition is
Speaker 1: banning books and firing teachers and shutting down libraries, because
Speaker 1: they too know how fundamental education is to a functional democracy.
Speaker 1: You at Glisten focus on creating educational environments that are safe,
Speaker 1: that are uplifting for our LGBTQ youth, and just recently,
Speaker 1: the Biden administration has put forth more guidance around doing
Speaker 1: what they can to support LGBTQ youth than there are
Speaker 1: six states that have said yeah, now We're good, We're okay.
Speaker 1: We don't care about them, Melanie, A happy pride to you.
Speaker 1: And what what do you even begin begin to take
Speaker 1: on the behemoth that is the attacks on LGBTQ plus
Speaker 1: a youth in our schools.
Speaker 2: Yeah? No, absolutely, And you know, the good news and
Speaker 2: the bad news keeps coming. Right. So, the last I
Speaker 2: heard is actually up to ten states who have moved
Speaker 2: forward and gotten injunctions on Title nine implementation and rollout. Right.
Speaker 2: So these are states, largely in the South and the Midwest,
Speaker 2: who have gone to court and said we need your
Speaker 2: help to make sure that our right to discriminate against
Speaker 2: children in a system where we require them to be
Speaker 2: is not infringed. And the court said, you got it.
Speaker 2: So you know, the fight continues. As I understand that
Speaker 2: folks are teeing up for a Supreme Court fight on
Speaker 2: Title nine on a shorter timeline than usual. And what
Speaker 2: we're being faced with is really I think we have
Speaker 2: the benefit of seeing exactly what the opposition wants to do. Right.
Speaker 2: They are not slow walking, they are not pretending, they're
Speaker 2: not writing in footnotes. They are putting everything they want
Speaker 2: to do as a headline. They are being very clear,
Speaker 2: and I think that the job for folks on our side,
Speaker 2: and our side is the side that believes in democracy,
Speaker 2: believes that children should be able to go to school,
Speaker 2: both free from the encumbrances of discrimination, but also supported
Speaker 2: right by actual supports. What does it mean to see
Speaker 2: them as young people, to see them as people who
Speaker 2: are part of communities, who have histories, and who are
Speaker 2: vital and contributing members of our society now and in
Speaker 2: the future. We at Lisson believe that education is the
Speaker 2: cornerstone of democracy. You said as much yourself, and I
Speaker 2: think our opposition understands that to be true as well,
Speaker 2: which is why they are attacking public education generally speaking,
Speaker 2: and using queer and trans kids as the boogeyman face
Speaker 2: to put on it, but are generally an overall attacking
Speaker 2: American democracy. And so when we have an educated populace,
Speaker 2: we are unfit for authoritarianism, We're unfit for fascism, and
Speaker 2: they know that and we know that. So that's where
Speaker 2: the that's where we are right that's the battle that
Speaker 2: we're in right now at Glisten. We continue to work
Speaker 2: with the current administration in order to make sure that
Speaker 2: as much can be that can be done in this moment,
Speaker 2: can be done. And frankly, we've had four years to
Speaker 2: get a lot of stuff done, and I wish we
Speaker 2: would have gotten more done. And you know, I hear
Speaker 2: the arguments that people are doing what they can and
Speaker 2: also you know, there is actually no excuse for not
Speaker 2: showing up for and not delivering the most you can
Speaker 2: for our young people. And glisten, you know, our work
Speaker 2: is both We do both policy advocacy, but really our
Speaker 2: bread and butter is working with young people, working with educators,
Speaker 2: and working in communities. And so that has never stopped
Speaker 2: on our part, right whether it's five hundred and sixteen
Speaker 2: anti LGBTQ plus bills introduced this year across the country,
Speaker 2: we continue to understand that it is the people who
Speaker 2: have the power, and our work continues to be to
Speaker 2: connect with our folks to ensure that we are building
Speaker 2: safety with and for each other, and also pushing at
Speaker 2: every level of intervention in the education system to make
Speaker 2: sure that at every single level we are putting the
Speaker 2: policies and practices in place to make sure that every
Speaker 2: young person's lived experience in schools is as good as
Speaker 2: it can be.
Speaker 1: You know, one of the things that I think is
Speaker 1: important and I would like you to enlighten our listeners,
Speaker 1: is that we see a lot of headlines, and I
Speaker 1: think that when we see a lot of headlines, those
Speaker 1: headlines can oftentimes become white noise right where we see
Speaker 1: these headlines that say there have been five hundred plus
Speaker 1: anti LGBTQ bills that have been approved and are introduced
Speaker 1: over the last year. So we hear, okay, it's bad,
Speaker 1: but we don't actually get a real, true, on the
Speaker 1: ground understanding of what it is like to, let's say,
Speaker 1: I don't know, be a middle schooler who is queer
Speaker 1: living in the Midwest in a hostile state, Like, what
Speaker 1: does it feel like to go to school and have
Speaker 1: no safe space and not only have young people your
Speaker 1: peers that are bullying you, but an entire administration that
Speaker 1: has the ability to bully you. So can you kind
Speaker 1: of give us some context to the behind the scoop
Speaker 1: to the headlines that we see of real young people.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, I actually want to cover a couple points
Speaker 2: on this specific question. One I want to lift up
Speaker 2: for everyone listening that yes, five hundred and sixteen anti
Speaker 2: LGBTQ plus bills were introduced. That doesn't mean that they
Speaker 2: were pass right. And actually what the reality is is
Speaker 2: that Listen, along with other organizations and other movement partners
Speaker 2: and collaborate have worked tirelessly right to defeat more than
Speaker 2: ninety percent of these bills. So just so we know, right, yes,
Speaker 2: terrible bills coming in an avalanche of bad ideas number one. Two,
Speaker 2: Listen along with others in coalition, have defeated the vast
Speaker 2: majority of these bills. And three I just want us
Speaker 2: to and this is the official recommendation, right, which is
Speaker 2: to guard your joy. Right. One of what happens is
Speaker 2: that you know everybody's terrible idea, they can call into
Speaker 2: a news they understand. Let me say it this way.
Speaker 2: Our opposition are a bunch of stut queens, not in
Speaker 2: a good way, not in a good way, stuck queen.
Speaker 2: Let me just say that I personally love a stuck queen,
Speaker 2: but these bulls are stunt queens in the worst way. Right.
Speaker 2: What they understand is actually that when you can bombard
Speaker 2: people with terrible news, when you can lift up introduce
Speaker 2: a bill, even if you know there's not a snowballs
Speaker 2: chance in hell that it gets past what you are
Speaker 2: doing is making sure that people who are impacted by
Speaker 2: that proposed law feel the attack right on their spirit,
Speaker 2: on their mind, and their attention, and is added to
Speaker 2: a list of a thing of the things that we
Speaker 2: all worry about, right, So that's number one. Like stunt
Speaker 2: queens on the other side, have a bunch of terrible ideas,
Speaker 2: they write them down, they get introduced, and then suddenly
Speaker 2: we have a media ecosystem that feels obligated to report
Speaker 2: on it, and as a result, we are overwhelmed by
Speaker 2: the bad news, even though the part that is not
Speaker 2: reported is that we are winning on so many of
Speaker 2: these levels. We are beating back so many of these
Speaker 2: terrible bills. Any one bill that gets passed is a
Speaker 2: bill too many, and so I don't want to we
Speaker 2: are not winning. We're not batt in a thousand, but
Speaker 2: we're batten, but we're batten pretty close, right. And the
Speaker 2: other thing is that so many of these are copy
Speaker 2: and paste bills, and so what works in back states, right,
Speaker 2: just bashtrack it in another state. And that is I
Speaker 2: think also their core of vulnerability. Right, once we figure
Speaker 2: out what actually is illegal or doesn't work or whatever
Speaker 2: in one bill, it really points toward the weakness and
Speaker 2: all of them, and a thing that is often not
Speaker 2: is a critical win that our movement has gotten in
Speaker 2: Florida right by gutting that don't say gay legislation, fundamentally
Speaker 2: gutting it. The core pieces have been struck down in court.
Speaker 2: That is not getting a lot of news right. That
Speaker 2: also means there's significant vulnerabilities in these other copy and
Speaker 2: paste states right where people just are passing on bad ideas.
Speaker 2: That's part one, right in terms of like what's happening
Speaker 2: with slatively, I think part two really is around like
Speaker 2: what's the effects on young people at this moment is
Speaker 2: having And again it's like, you know, not to use
Speaker 2: a big old word, but really thinking about the psychosphere, right,
Speaker 2: the economy of our attention and who is influencing it.
Speaker 2: So you know, I'm going to go ahead and say
Speaker 2: the thing, which is to say that we've got a
Speaker 2: lot of terrible actors internally in our own country, and
Speaker 2: we also have folks who are over We are all
Speaker 2: washed over every single day with headlines some of which
Speaker 2: are true, some of which are not right. There's a
Speaker 2: way in which the fake news and the kind of
Speaker 2: and what terrible information is kind of coming at us
Speaker 2: in order to distract us, discourage us, get us to
Speaker 2: panic or freak out, or lose hope or stop trying.
Speaker 2: We are in you know, several months out, a couple
Speaker 2: months out from the general election. We're in the hottest
Speaker 2: part of hell right now. When it comes to.
Speaker 1: Tell me about the hottest part of hell, because I'm
Speaker 1: like a, I don't have enough sunscreen. There is not
Speaker 1: enough internal air conditioning to be dealing with Dante's in
Speaker 1: fucking inferno that we are living in right now.
Speaker 2: Listen, you know, my hope is that we get to
Speaker 2: the suburbs of Hell as soon as possible. All, yes,
Speaker 2: we don't have to be right here, which is where
Speaker 2: we are right now, but in this but to say that,
Speaker 2: like we're in this moment where things are hot and
Speaker 2: getting hotter, and that our attention is so deeply important
Speaker 2: for us to guard our join not only for ourselves,
Speaker 2: but in order for us to provide context and clarity
Speaker 2: and truth to those around us who don't have as
Speaker 2: much power as we do, as much access to information,
Speaker 2: as much ability to you know, parse through what is
Speaker 2: true what is false. It's really important that we actually
Speaker 2: get in the business in our own networks and helping
Speaker 2: to fortify ourselves in each other, because one thing that
Speaker 2: will guarantee defeat and I don't mean and I don't
Speaker 2: mean kind of electorally, but I mean kind of in
Speaker 2: our hearts right where our movement is able to go
Speaker 2: is if we think that we are losing. And let
Speaker 2: me just say to all the listeners, you don't fight
Speaker 2: this hard to destroy, to erase, to disempower a community
Speaker 2: that doesn't have any power, right, Why would you erase
Speaker 2: history that doesn't matter? Why would you ban books that
Speaker 2: aren't elaminating and liberating in their both in their existence
Speaker 2: and their impact. And so the thing I want to
Speaker 2: make sure your listeners here is the I want to
Speaker 2: remind us of our own power and that yes, we
Speaker 2: have to act on it, and we have to be
Speaker 2: with others in our action on our path. But like,
Speaker 2: let's just reset the frame for a second. You don't
Speaker 2: pass five hundred and sixteen bills, or you don't introduce
Speaker 2: five hundred and sixteen bills around someone's identity if you
Speaker 2: aren't afraid of who they are and actually what they
Speaker 2: do in community right and with power and with inclusion
Speaker 2: and in public life. So I want us to be
Speaker 2: grounded in our own power and the fact that we
Speaker 2: are actually turning the tide and winning.
Speaker 1: And I appreciate that so much. I appreciate several of
Speaker 1: the points that you made, particularly around fortifying and centering
Speaker 1: your joy right, which I think I talk about a
Speaker 1: lot on this show because I tell people that they
Speaker 1: need to take breaks so that they don't have breakdowns.
Speaker 1: Right Like, you don't need to be in the twenty
Speaker 1: four hour news cycle twenty four hours a day. It
Speaker 1: is unhealthy for you to do.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 1: It's the same thing I say about doom scrolling on
Speaker 1: social media. You do not need to like and click
Speaker 1: and share every horrific story in order to show how
Speaker 1: conscious you are, how woke you are. Two injustices. You
Speaker 1: need to safeguard yourself. But I also think that it
Speaker 1: is incredibly important to lift up the winds because what
Speaker 1: ends up happening, I think, Melanie, is that the media,
Speaker 1: corporate media, does a wonderful job at telling us all
Speaker 1: the terrible things that are happening, and then when there
Speaker 1: are fight backs or when there are losses that happen
Speaker 1: on the right side, somehow the media is nowhere to
Speaker 1: be found like they were all over Florida. Every single
Speaker 1: piece of legislation that DeSantis is pushing out is a
Speaker 1: front story news. But what's not front story is who
Speaker 1: is pushing back against him and actually winning. And so
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you bringing that to the forefront because
Speaker 1: it's easy too, I think when you were inundated with
Speaker 1: this cycle of despair to become really hopeless and to
Speaker 1: say that I might as well not fight, I might
Speaker 1: as well not do the thing, because what does it matter?
Speaker 1: And I think that you know, you tell me. But
Speaker 1: what I have recognized over the last you know, eight
Speaker 1: to nine years under Trumps and in particular, is how
Speaker 1: vital local elections are, how vital school boards are, whether
Speaker 1: or not you have a child that is in said
Speaker 1: school or not. That these people are looking out at
Speaker 1: every single touch point that they can have to move
Speaker 1: their ball to their side. And I think that we
Speaker 1: have always been so laser focused on the federal level
Speaker 1: and don't pay attention to the power that has had
Speaker 1: at these local levels, where when these pieces of legislation
Speaker 1: are coming out in city councils, that folks are able
Speaker 1: to say not today, satan and knock it back, and
Speaker 1: so talk to us about the important ways that you
Speaker 1: all at Glisten and with coalition partners are seeding ground
Speaker 1: in places that we don't often pay attention to and
Speaker 1: that we overlook, but we recognize that no impacts start
Speaker 1: small and then it spreads out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, and I appreciate your framing on this.
Speaker 2: You know, there are it's like sixteen thousand school districts
Speaker 2: across the country, right, so when you think about our
Speaker 2: American school system, really you're thinking about sixteen thousand different
Speaker 2: systems that roll up kind of on the front line,
Speaker 2: that roll up into a big old pipeline that goes
Speaker 2: through the state and then goes up into the federal level.
Speaker 2: And what is true is that the other side has
Speaker 2: succeeded in making every single classroom affront for this culture
Speaker 2: war that they have started and are waging without any remorse,
Speaker 2: right using our children as ponds in this foolishness, right
Speaker 2: that they're doing, which again, let me remind the folks
Speaker 2: who are listening, is actually not about queer kids. It's
Speaker 2: now anti democratic future. It's a vision of anti democratic
Speaker 2: future for our country. And they figured out where coalitional
Speaker 2: solidarity is soft in this country is around queer and
Speaker 2: trans issues, particularly trans issues, and frankly, there are major
Speaker 2: publications in this country who holds significant responsibility for amplifying
Speaker 2: the lies and the faulty transphobic logic of this side,
Speaker 2: laundering it as a reasonable part of the public discourse
Speaker 2: when it has never been and it absolutely is not
Speaker 2: and won't ever be. So I think that there's a
Speaker 2: lot of complexity here which is around how these extreme
Speaker 2: far right ideas around gender, as one example, have been laundered.
Speaker 2: Not only is the bad news amplified by corporate media,
Speaker 2: but it's also laundered in a way has been laundered
Speaker 2: over the last number of years, in a way that
Speaker 2: is truly disgusting, and that I think that folks will
Speaker 2: absolutely history will not look kindly on their actions and
Speaker 2: they will absolutely need to be held account before. So
Speaker 2: that's I just want to say that. I mean, I
Speaker 2: think that the other piece here is that again Glisten,
Speaker 2: we are thirty four years old this year, Happy birthday. Right,
Speaker 2: I'll take being in my mid thirties again. You know,
Speaker 2: one thing that we understand at Glisten is the education
Speaker 2: system right in every single point of leverage they are
Speaker 2: in and where there are points of intervention, where there
Speaker 2: are points of leverage, and what pieces of leverage work
Speaker 2: in those at those points. And so one thing I'm
Speaker 2: actually really excited about that's ongoing right now that's current,
Speaker 2: is that we have launched our National School Climate Survey,
Speaker 2: which is a survey of young people who are in
Speaker 2: schools in this country grades eight and above, so eight
Speaker 2: to twelve, to see what their experiences are. This goes
Speaker 2: back to your initial question, but I think leads in
Speaker 2: here as well, right, which is to say, both what
Speaker 2: is like, what is happening the good and the bad? Right?
Speaker 2: What are you experiencing the bad and the good. And
Speaker 2: it's from this research that we have come up with
Speaker 2: our solutions over the last since nineteen ninety nine we
Speaker 2: started the survey. And so all this to say that
Speaker 2: the work to find solutions always starts with the people
Speaker 2: who are most impacted by the system, and so listens.
Speaker 2: Work in this way continues by capturing seeking to capture, hey, hey, kids,
Speaker 2: what's going on right grades eight and up? What are
Speaker 2: you all experiencing? What could help and what needs to
Speaker 2: be different. So there's that that we're gathering data from
Speaker 2: young people because data is the language that systems speak,
Speaker 2: and so we speak to the systems and the language
Speaker 2: they understand, and that information comes directly from young people.
Speaker 2: The other piece of it is that we continue to
Speaker 2: work with educators, right, We've got educators all over the country.
Speaker 2: We had one point five million downloads this year alone
Speaker 2: of our materials. So there's a way in which it's
Speaker 2: like our opposition is going hard. We have a level
Speaker 2: of relationships and credibility within the system that is so
Speaker 2: deeply resilient, and so our people continue to come to
Speaker 2: us for the latest and greatest. We continue to train
Speaker 2: folks all over this country in schools and school districts
Speaker 2: and institutions right and other associations on best practices for
Speaker 2: making sure that your classroom and also your school community
Speaker 2: is safe and affirming for our kids. And so you know,
Speaker 2: they're going hard, but we're going harder. And the thing
Speaker 2: is is that there's actually more of us than there
Speaker 2: are of them. Right. They've got different levels of infrastructure
Speaker 2: on their side, and we've got more people on our side.
Speaker 2: So our work continues, and you know, Kate, stop won't stop.
Speaker 1: Last question for you is you know a question that
Speaker 1: I ask often, and particularly of like my queer colleagues
Speaker 1: and friends, which is, you know, how do you stay
Speaker 1: hopeful in this moment? Like how are you continuing to
Speaker 1: center joy in your own life and continuing to like
Speaker 1: foster pride not just in June, but every month of
Speaker 1: the year.
Speaker 2: You know, I just got to I've been on the
Speaker 2: road a lot this month. This is like when the
Speaker 2: movement puts all of the queer people that exist like
Speaker 2: on this like treadmill and just like turns the speed
Speaker 2: up to a million. And so, you know, myself and
Speaker 2: so many other leaders and activists are just doing so much.
Speaker 2: And the one thing that I will say that has
Speaker 2: been so amazing about this first two weeks of Pride
Speaker 2: that I've been all over the place. I've literally been
Speaker 2: all over the country. And one of the places I
Speaker 2: was at was Albuquerque and we marched with the contingent
Speaker 2: in their Pride parade, which you know, if you had
Speaker 2: to march in a Pride parade in June, I might
Speaker 2: not suggest being an Albuquerque because it is really hot
Speaker 2: in Abuquerque. Yeah, we all had to say that we marched.
Speaker 2: Our contingent was you know, one hundred people, right, I
Speaker 2: think that the thing that the thing about this moment
Speaker 2: is that all of us are so connected to everyone
Speaker 2: all the time. We are inundated with information all the time.
Speaker 2: We are inundated by a individually right through a device
Speaker 2: on our phone that connects us to many other people
Speaker 2: right on the other side of that screen. My recommendation
Speaker 2: to guarding your joy, to kind of staying grounding, keeping
Speaker 2: sane in this moment is to connect with people. So
Speaker 2: even though I'm tired and I got so much laundry
Speaker 2: to do right or is having had the time to
Speaker 2: be hot in the streets of Albuquerque, you know, and
Speaker 2: in conversation over a long weekend with folks there in
Speaker 2: a community with a lot of folks there, to say like,
Speaker 2: how are you doing, how is it going, what helped me?
Speaker 2: How we how can we support? And where are your wins?
Speaker 2: Because there are wins happening. And I think that again,
Speaker 2: when we rely on someone else to tell us what's happening,
Speaker 2: what we hear is shaped by the filter of that source.
Speaker 2: And when various sources are have proven and continue to
Speaker 2: prove to be unreliable and not invested in us understanding
Speaker 2: our power, then we have to go to other sources,
Speaker 2: and my constant recommendation is to find your people. Always
Speaker 2: find your people. When you are feeling discouraged or down,
Speaker 2: go find your people. Go find folks who are like
Speaker 2: you or who are different than you, who are facing
Speaker 2: the world in the same way that you are, and
Speaker 2: listen to what they are experiencing, but also also get
Speaker 2: with them to strategize around what could and should be
Speaker 2: different and find your joy. The revolution will continue on,
Speaker 2: and they better be dancing and they're better be glitter, right,
Speaker 2: And there's also work in spreadsheets and emails. But if
Speaker 2: we don't feel like we are able to live our
Speaker 2: lives until we get out of the hottest part of hell, well,
Speaker 2: then the other side has already won, right We actually
Speaker 2: solid part of our liberation, part of our coalitional leadership
Speaker 2: and movement work is serious and it is fun and
Speaker 2: it is everything in between. If we can only be
Speaker 2: in conflict and only be angry, they have already won
Speaker 2: because our understanding what is possible on the other side
Speaker 2: of this fight, on the other side of our victory
Speaker 2: is going to be limited right by the emotions that
Speaker 2: we're feeling right now. And if we don't keep practicing
Speaker 2: our emotions of joy along with our emotions of outrage,
Speaker 2: along with our emotions of this can happen under on
Speaker 2: my watch, not in my name that too, But also
Speaker 2: you have to find joy and connection and love, you know,
Speaker 2: in this moment.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that because I think that oftentimes I'm asked,
Speaker 1: you know, to provide guidance and thoughts on you know,
Speaker 1: how do people stay sane? What can I do? And
Speaker 1: the guilt that is associated with wanting to step away
Speaker 1: for a moment, But recognizing that your resistance can look
Speaker 1: like a lot of different things. It does not have
Speaker 1: to look like one thing. So I really appreciate you
Speaker 1: saying that, and for making the time for wokaf in
Speaker 1: your busy pride hamster wheel schedule. I deeply appreciate it,
Speaker 1: and you.
Speaker 2: Happy to do it and always happy to enjoy you.
Speaker 2: Thanks for having we.
Speaker 1: That is it for me today, dear friends on wogay
Speaker 1: f as always power to the people and to all
Speaker 1: the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.