WEBVTT - The In-Between Place 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:14.760 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to OKAP Daily with the 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:19.599 Meet Your Girl Danielle Moody recording from the Home Bunker. Folks, 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:24.840 it has been an extraordinarily difficult week, and what scares 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:29.280 me is that we're actually existing in the in between place. 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:34.800 Donald Trump is not yet president for two months, but 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:41.720 the effects of this reality are really taking shape and 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:44.519 taking hold. And by taking hold, I mean taking a 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:49.320 stranglehold over half the country while the other half is 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:56.280 elated at their ability to cause pain and subject others 0:00:56.320 --> 0:01:02.240 to levels of cruelty not experienced in modern times. The 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:05.920 rest of us are trying to figure out what a 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:09.520 path forward looks like. And I don't even mean a 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:12.800 path forward in terms of our politics. I mean a 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:15.400 path forward in terms of our day to day lives. 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:22.520 What does it mean to try and rebuild community, create 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:26.440 hopefulness when you are in the midst of despair, when 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:31.120 you find yourself breaking down into tears multiple times a day, 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:35.560 when you are experiencing a type of grief that takes 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:43.120 your breath away. And so today's conversation is with Stephen BlackBerry, 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:49.240 who I will tell you I needed this conversation so 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:53.680 very much, and the reason being is that we are 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:59.480 in the need, in need of radical healing and a 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:04.000 of where we think our lives are going. And Stephan 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:08.919 is the founder of the Clearing DC powered by Life 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:15.320 Well and it is a unique ecosystem around wellness and 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:21.720 community care, and he offers just so much depth and 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:26.919 perspective around how we need to see ourselves in this moment, 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:29.360 or I should say, an offering on how we should 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:32.760 see ourselves and our communities in this moment. And so 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:36.079 I hope as we close out the week here and 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:40.000 try and prepare ourselves for the weeks ahead, that this 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:44.720 offers a bit of solace, a safe space to sit 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:49.520 in for the duration of this interview. So coming up 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:57.799 next my conversation with Stefan BlackBerry. Folks, I am very 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:03.000 happy to welcome to Okay f Daily Stefan Bradberry, who 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:08.720 is the founder of the Clearing DC powered by Life 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:13.440 Well and Stephan. I want you to give us a 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:16.560 fifty thousand foot view, tell us a bit about the 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:20.079 Clearing DC powered by Life Well and the work it 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:22.160 is that you are doing. 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:25.600 Yeah, absolutely well. First, happy day. Thank you so much 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:29.639 for having me across the life while ecosystem. We're imagining 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:34.280 new possibilities of care, connection, community and justice. And one 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:36.400 of the ways that we do that is the Clearing 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:40.640 Community Center. I envisioned the Clearing Community Center after reading 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:45.240 Tony Morrison's Beloved, where Baby Soaks Holy brings together all 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:47.000 the black books. You know, it starts off when more 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.520 and more there came Baby Sokes Holy, followed by every 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:51.800 Black man, woman and child made their great heart to 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:55.800 the Clearing, which was this place that Baby Sokes told 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:58.440 them that they weren't the glory bound pure of the earth, 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:00.440 and they weren't the meek and mild of the earth, 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.640 but they were people who deserve to be loved in 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.360 all of their fullness. That she told them to love 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.880 this here flesh of theirs. And I thought about what 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:13.320 it meant for the enslaved to love their flesh, or 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.720 the formerly enslaver, for people who, by Hoko krok have 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:20.160 found ways to survive and in some cases thrive, and 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:24.960 so life well really came from this idea that all people, 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:28.000 in all places, at all times should be free, healed, 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:30.719 and whole. And at the Clearing. What we've done is 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:34.520 we have a built up an amazing yoga community. So 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.239 we're the home of Flowel Yoga, one of DC's only 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:40.520 black owned yoga studios. We're not the only, but we 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:43.440 are one of the only. Inside of here, we have 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:47.880 to create well art collective because the artists are the 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:52.080 ones who screamed the calls of revolution. Artists are the 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:54.680 ones that help us look inwards to do outwards. And 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:58.680 so inside of our center we have a community gallery 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:02.880 where we're constantly up lifting the works of particularly Galus 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:06.279 of Color, but people who believe that their art should 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.359 stir the soul and should shake us towards being free. 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:12.240 We also have Advocate Well, which is our politics and 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.159 policy group, because I understand as someone who used to 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:18.039 work inside the United States Congress that it's an arena 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:20.800 and battlefield that some people have to be in. And 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.720 so we lead a team that's constantly thinking about how 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:27.040 do we put our ideals into action and into practice 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:30.000 and into policy and into law. And then we have 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.080 work Well, which is our well being consultancy. So whether 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.440 you own a yoga studio or you are the CEO 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:38.760 of a fortune five hundred company, what we do is 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:41.680 we help you see the limits to your systems that 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:45.880 prevent people from being well and help you strategize toward 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:50.760 environments and toward communities and spaces where individual wellness can 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:54.400 be tended to and communal well being can be uplifted. 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:59.720 I love every single piece of the collective and the 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:02.800 world that you're doing. And I must say that when 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:06.560 I lived in DC for many, many years, Flow Yoga 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:09.920 Studio was my favorite. 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:11.400 Yes, and that's where I did my teacher chain on. 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:16.440 Yeah. I lived up the street and attended classes often, 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:21.720 and so wonderful. You know, right now, as you are 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:25.320 well aware, and as everybody is listening to this, we 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:34.960 are living in really uncharted territory where people, namely people 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:44.520 from historically marginalized communities, are now recognizing that their government, 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:48.359 who has been elected to lead our government in twenty 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:54.840 twenty five, has no desire to see any type of difference, 0:06:55.520 --> 0:07:00.479 to see or or create unity in this country, to 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:05.760 bring our divided states back together. There is a sense 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:11.120 right now of dread, of impending dread and doom and hopelessness, 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:15.560 particularly as many see the announcements day by day of 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:17.800 who is going to be leading some of our most 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:23.800 important agencies and departments in this country. And I want 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:27.400 to talk to you about a lot of folks are 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:33.600 saying they desperately need community, They desperately need to figure 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:38.000 out what it means to care for yourself in a 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:40.840 country that not only is saying that we don't care 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:44.680 about you, but that we're going to make targets of you. 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:50.320 Cruelty is going to be our new compass. Talk to 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:57.560 us about how we find stuff on grounding and healing 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:01.480 at a time when there is so much pain, and frankly, 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:05.160 we're not even really in the pain part. We're in 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.000 the between space right right. 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:11.720 You know, there's a few things. The first you know, 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.840 we're in these yet to be United States and what 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:19.720 could be potentially because I've heard a lot of and 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:23.800 we kind of heard this during the insurrection, that this 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:26.480 is not who we are, right there was a lot 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:28.800 of there's a lot of people that were talking like that. 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:35.040 And those of us who have been relatively conscious, those 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:37.280 of us who so happened to live on the other 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:40.800 side of the color line, know that this is exactly 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:44.800 who America is. This is exactly what we do when 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.920 multiracial democracy begins to show its head. You know, before 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:50.640 I owned a yoga studio, you know, I was a 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:54.400 scholar I am a scholl It and you know, I 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:57.959 was writing my master's thesis a while ago, quite a 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:01.520 few years ago, and I was in the archive, and 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:07.280 I learned about these moments post Civil War when multi 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:10.360 racial city governments were coming up all across the East 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.400 Coast and down into the South, and for what they 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:17.679 could do, they were thriving and all people were benefiting. 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:22.640 But the white majority in these places refuse to seed 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:27.800 their space. They refused to allow the city or their town, 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.440 and let's say, the country to grow beyond this need 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:35.880 to be white. That there is a history of black 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:38.840 folks being at the forefront and other folks of color 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:43.400 being a part of these progressive movements and pushes forward, 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:49.040 but always with this violent, let's say, hand tapping of 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:51.080 white supremacy constantly coming through. 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:51.480 Right. 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:55.160 And I have thought about when I was in the archive, 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:57.080 I was being I was very defeated because I was 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:00.240 trying to make this argument that if the United States 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.400 it was a democracy, we could only be that because 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:05.719 black people made it so, right, very similar to what 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:08.640 Nicole Hanna Jones was doing with the sixteen nineteen project Right. 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:11.480 And I was in the archive and I was seeing 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.440 that here are all these black people, these black folks 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:18.680 through time who, using this saying by Zoroloherson, by hook 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:22.080 a crook, found ways to survive and, like I said, 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:25.600 in some places thrive. And they did it because they 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:31.560 saw themselves in each other. And it kind of is 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:35.800 this thing of you could never believe in the veil 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:38.720 or the midst lies and illusions of what the country was, 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:42.440 because we bear the brunt of them. Yep. And that's 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.839 how we were able to forge community, not in response 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:50.040 to this visceral force of white supremacy, but in a 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:54.560 response in life affirming ways to say that, hey, actually, 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:58.320 whether or not the United States survived, we will. And 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.160 I've been thinking a lot lot about that over the 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:05.040 last week or so because in the immediate after, I mean, 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:08.000 I don't know about you, but Tuesday, you know, around 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:10.320 ten o'clock, my partner had gone to bed and I 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:11.959 started to see I said, oh my god, this is 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:13.680 not going to go the way that we wanted to. Yeah, 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:16.040 let me see a girl. I tried to go to bed. 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:18.880 I was tossing and turning. I couldn't figure it out. 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:21.840 And then I go to bed and spirit wakes me 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:24.720 up at three o'clock to see that Pennsylvania and Georgia 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:27.880 had gone to him, and I said, oh, it's over. 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:31.520 And I woke up on Wednesday and I was devastated. 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.559 I was devastated because for a moment I allowed myself 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:42.480 to maybe not forget, but to disremember what the country is. 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:46.000 But by the time that Thursday and Friday had come 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:47.920 around and I was here in the center, and I 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:51.320 was with people who had been nervous for weeks and 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:53.880 had constantly been asking me about what did I feel 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:55.559 and how did I think about things? And I said, well, 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:58.320 on this side or that side, we're going to have 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:00.640 to take care of each other. This is a long 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.679 way to say, like what is community. Community is more 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:07.840 than people of shared identity together. People would say that 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:11.760 pocs this tart, that we're community. Obviously, after last week, 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:15.240 we see that we are not right right that part. 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:21.720 And what community is is a vested interest in the success, 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:24.960 the health, the wellness and the well being of the 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:27.760 people that we are around. It is a commitment to 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:31.480 not abandon or disregard. It's a commitment to say that 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.160 I will step up when you have to step back. 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:37.000 It's a commitment to say that I don't have to 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:39.800 experience life for way that you do to see that 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:43.720 you deserve to live a just life, that you deserve 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:45.880 to live in the fullness of whoever it is that 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:49.760 you decide to be and in community is something that 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:53.600 requires a lot of us. And I think right now 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:55.880 in this moment, for people who are listening and for 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:58.800 people who are thinking a lot about what do we do, 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:03.800 I would say start with that small seat community, the 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:07.280 few people that you let intimately into your life, and 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:11.680 to start really really sitting there considering that when the 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:15.280 going gets tough, well the people that you around sell 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:19.240 you off, that they maybe have some hope and something better. Right, 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:22.079 because we're seeing a lot of people talk about, well, 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:23.880 I voted for the economy, or I did this, or 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:26.520 I did that, and now they're starting to see, wait 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:29.559 a minute, when they get done with y'all, they're coming 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:30.400 to us next. 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:31.000 Yep. 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:33.720 And so what community says is that we have a 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:38.080 vested interest in ensuring that there is nobody next. And 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:41.840 that is really at the core of what I'm thinking about, 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:44.280 because at the end of all of this, we want 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:46.640 to be able to say that we lived well, not 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:50.960 in response to visceral and violent forces, but in life 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:54.760 affirming ways and reminders that it is still worth living 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:56.880 so long as we keep, you know, getting up to 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:57.240 do it. 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:06.280 Everything that you just said, particularly about and defining community 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:12.400 and what you said about community makes so much sense. 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:17.880 And my question for you is what the election revealed 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:24.600 to your earlier point is that we are not in community? Right. 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:29.960 What you said about the veil being lifted, this veil 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:33.440 and I look at it as the veil between what 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:39.680 we had hoped for America and what America actually is. Yea, 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:45.640 that is what has been lifted. And when we recognize 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:52.320 now what America has been who America actually is, what 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:56.440 does it look like to forge community when half of 0:14:56.480 --> 0:15:00.520 the country hates the other half of the country. Right, 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:05.120 Like you say, to invite those that you care that 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:10.720 have a vested interest in your thriving into your intimate space. 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:14.720 But we now recognize that people that we have had 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:18.400 in our intimate space, whether they be our colleagues, whether 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:21.440 they be our family members, whether they be our friends, 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:29.600 looked at us and put themselves first. Our grandparents voted 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:36.120 against their grandchildren. Yeah yeah, Husbands voted against their wives. 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:41.880 Mm hmmm hm. And it makes you sit and for 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.840 a while act, you know, and just being real. And 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:48.320 in my community, we've been saying, you know, out riding 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:51.040 the Metro or walking in the area and just you 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:53.320 find yourself just looking at people and you squint in 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.520 your eyes a little bit because it's like, girl who 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:58.240 sides you? Was it you? 0:15:58.600 --> 0:15:58.800 Yeah? 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:01.520 Yeah, you know. So there's a lot of that, and 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:03.040 you know what, I'm going to be honest, I don't 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.720 have a clear, cookie cut answer. I wrote this essay 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:08.640 a few years ago, entitled returning to the Village, and 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:13.880 it was after reading Tony morrison Soula and reading some 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:18.280 a New York Times review book review of the book, 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:21.560 right and this white lady of this white reviewer, she 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:26.200 essentially says that one day Tony Morrison will grow beyond 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:27.480 this provincial place. 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:32.280 Yes, I actually I remember, okay, I remember that reveal. 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:35.640 Yeah, you know, and so one day Tony Morrison will 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:38.920 She's amazing, but one day she'll get beyond this. And 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:44.560 you know, Tony never really directly responded to that. And 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:47.600 I thought a lot about this idea of provincial as 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:51.440 if black people living in our fullness isn't the center 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:55.240 of our world. You know, so I'm like provincial, Like 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:56.840 that doesn't make sense to me. So I started thinking 0:16:56.840 --> 0:17:00.480 about what it means to me to exist in my 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.640 black life, from my black livelihood, and I started thinking 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:07.360 about what Tony Morrison and word workers of her tradition 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:10.760 we're trying to do. Was essentially sit us all down 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:14.720 by a camp fire, and we sat around this fire 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:19.160 that is in let's say this village, and it's an 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:22.840 open door village. There are boundaries around it, but there's 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:26.560 one door coming through the front, and you could come 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.199 in and out of it as you please. But in 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.240 order to make sense of what's happening, you got to 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:36.159 release some stuff. You got to release this desire to 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.800 make them understand. You have to release this desire of 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:42.360 constantly responding. You know, they tell you that you don't 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:44.560 have a language. So you spend thirty years proving that 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:47.480 we have a language, the language. Yep, come on, they 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:49.719 tell us that we don't have you know, that our 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.240 communities aren't strong, and then you spend all this time 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:55.560 creating quote unquote traditional family you know what I'm saying, 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:58.760 ripping away the vestiges of who we are and who 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:01.800 we have been. And I started just thinking a lot 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:04.959 about this return to the village, and and and then 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:09.399 I started thinking about, well, this essay isn't about white people, 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:12.560 but but they they find themselves, and not just whites, 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:14.960 but let's just say non black people that they find 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:18.000 themselves with their hands cupped over their ears at the 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:21.119 village door. They want to study us, They want to 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:22.959 they want to see how do y'all how does the 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:26.480 fire stay lit? How do y'all stay so the worst 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:29.240 of humanity throwing your way, and yet you still create 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:31.919 the jazz and blues. It's like you still find a 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:34.720 way to dance and to celebrate. I mean, I think 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:37.399 one of the things about Kamala is that that was 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:40.560 at least inspiring to me is that you know that 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:43.880 she knows what half the country thought about her. Mm hmm. 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:48.320 I don't think that she, by any means was off 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:51.000 about what the nation thought about not just her but 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:55.680 the people like her. And yet she found ways to 0:18:55.720 --> 0:18:58.359 get a nation to laugh and dance, or to people 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:00.520 in fiber Nation to laugh and dance for a sec 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:03.679 and to just for a moment see that, Hey, life 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:06.399 is still worth living, even though it doesn't book the 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:08.639 way that we fully wanted to. So going back to 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:12.360 this point of people who voted against us, people, I really, 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:15.120 let me tell you ding they are at the furthest 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:18.360 edge of my mind. They will have to be dealt with. 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:21.399 Let me be clear, but I know that the final 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:25.440 assignment of white supremacy is to destroy whiteness itself. And 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:27.600 what my God says is that the last will be 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:31.080 first and the first shall be last. I'm actually less 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:35.760 concerned about them being dealt with and more concerned about 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:39.800 have I created the conditions and being inside of the 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:42.840 spaces that I'm with people who aren't constantly trying to 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:46.159 respond to them. You know, in the commentary on my 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:49.280 I'm like or like the people on the news right now, 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:51.200 black folks going on the news, and I'm like, y'all 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:53.400 can just say that the nation is racist as hell. 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:55.960 Let's let's let's actually get to THEO. 0:19:56.280 --> 0:19:58.360 If we want to grow, get to the let's get 0:19:58.359 --> 0:19:59.080 to the root of it. 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:01.200 Yeah, let's let's name a thing a thing. 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:06.280 Let's seek here and say that for certain populations of 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:10.640 non black people of color, they understand that in this nation, 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:13.560 if you want to succeed, you know that you have 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:15.800 to swim in the waters of anti blackness. 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:17.480 You know that that is what you get in the 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:19.240 welcome packet when you immigrate here. 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:19.840 Come on. 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:25.040 And so I'm actually I'm not. I don't really they 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:29.080 are at such the corner of my mind because again, 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:31.919 I'm worried about those of us who are on the 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:35.440 side of life, living and justice. And on that side, 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:38.119 we got a lot to sort through, you know what 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:40.760 I'm saying. I think because at the end of the day, 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:43.119 let's say Kamala did get elected, we would still have 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:44.440 to deal with these horses. 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:46.560 Yeah, And I was just going to say, and I 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:49.359 think that that is right, Like I want I will 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:51.480 say this. I want to be in the space where 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:55.000 I say that these people are at the furthest edges 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:59.000 of my mind, because right now they are occupying the center. 0:20:59.840 --> 0:21:06.720 I am riding this wave of despair where I have 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:14.520 dedicated my entire career to public service and public offering 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:20.399 in public education, using various platforms, positions, and spaces in 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:25.560 order to advance the rights of other people. Yeah, and 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:36.080 to witness America's forceful return to its origin story is wild, right. 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:39.040 And then to think like, did we come this far 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:42.320 to only get this far to be pulled all the 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:47.200 way back. And I feel like that is where people 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:50.360 are struggling right now, which is where there are some 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:54.800 particularly you know, black women who you are seeing on 0:21:54.840 --> 0:22:01.480 social media since the election, say I'm done. I've tapped out. 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:04.399 Y'all take it from here, because we've been on the 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:08.480 front lines doing the work, being the warriors for justice, 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:11.480 only to look behind us and recognize nobody has our. 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:15.560 Right, nobody is there. Yeah. Yeah, And I think that 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:20.000 that's righteous. I think that that's holy. I think that 0:22:20.080 --> 0:22:23.720 there is because I don't think that like because I've 0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:26.600 been seeing you know again, social media is just a 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:29.720 hellscape right now, and and I've been seeing so much 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:33.760 of it, and I'm like, I don't hear that sisters 0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:36.800 are turning away from us. I don't hear that. And 0:22:36.800 --> 0:22:39.040 so when people are like, well, black, you know, they're 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:41.879 saying that they're done, they're done with y'all trying to 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:45.760 save you correct, but with me, And what I'm thinking 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:49.320 about as a black queer person is how how am 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:51.720 I getting in the ring? You know what I'm saying, like, 0:22:51.760 --> 0:22:54.639 how how do how do okay? You know what y'all have, 0:22:55.160 --> 0:22:57.720 It's time for all of us to step up and 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:01.560 how do I how do I confront where I can 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:07.480 the massage andoi of people in community who don't want 0:23:07.520 --> 0:23:10.040 to see the space for black women to lead. Because 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:12.639 I started thinking about, you know, in my environments and 0:23:12.640 --> 0:23:14.520 stuff that I've been in, you know, there have been 0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:17.720 ample of moments where I have had to say, like 0:23:18.640 --> 0:23:20.720 where we were in the room together and I wasn't 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:23.800 gonna let nobody play her. I didn't care right or wrong. 0:23:24.119 --> 0:23:26.680 I got her in the same way that she has me. 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:30.880 And I think that there is something so holy to say, 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:35.120 you know what, nurse your own baby this time. Come on, 0:23:35.840 --> 0:23:41.200 and I I, you don't have access to my flesh 0:23:41.280 --> 0:23:44.480 no more. I think we should hold that for some 0:23:44.680 --> 0:23:49.640 time now. I also think that it doesn't mean and 0:23:49.680 --> 0:23:52.280 I'm telling no one how to feel about anything. I 0:23:52.320 --> 0:23:56.600 don't think that what I'm hearing is that we're done forever. 0:23:57.440 --> 0:24:01.480 I don't hear that as an y'all, I don't hear that. 0:24:01.840 --> 0:24:04.200 What I hear is is time for y'all to get 0:24:04.240 --> 0:24:08.280 your houses in order, because we're already here. Our house 0:24:08.400 --> 0:24:11.360 is already in order. And when you you know, when 0:24:11.440 --> 0:24:13.600 you get into it with us, you know, and I 0:24:13.600 --> 0:24:17.280 think there's also something about like that Jewish women, Jewish 0:24:17.280 --> 0:24:19.280 women and black women are the people who showed up 0:24:19.320 --> 0:24:23.000 the most. Yep, I just I think that that's that's 0:24:23.000 --> 0:24:26.679 saying something, and I don't know if we fully know 0:24:26.720 --> 0:24:29.159 what it means. But all I know is all of 0:24:29.240 --> 0:24:32.880 us who are not black or Jewish women, we got 0:24:32.880 --> 0:24:33.560 some work to do. 0:24:36.760 --> 0:24:40.520 I appreciate you and the work that you were doing 0:24:41.080 --> 0:24:46.119 to try and help people make sense of what it 0:24:46.200 --> 0:24:50.240