Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Woke f Daily with
Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, recording from the Home Bunker, Folks.
Speaker 1: On today's episode, I get into a in depth conversation
Speaker 1: with my friend, doctor Christina Greer, who is the Associate
Speaker 1: professor of political science at Fordham University. And you know,
Speaker 1: I always love my conversations with Christina over the years.
Speaker 1: If you've been listening to Woke for quite some time,
Speaker 1: or if you've listened to my other podcast, Democracy Issue,
Speaker 1: you've definitely heard doctor Greer. And I adore my conversations
Speaker 1: with her so much because she is working to inspire, teach,
Speaker 1: and uplift the next generation of political scientists and next
Speaker 1: generation of you know, young people who are God willing,
Speaker 1: going to be global citizens, going to be active participants
Speaker 1: in our democracy. And I laugh, I laugh because you
Speaker 1: will hear in the conversation with Christina about whether or
Speaker 1: not she thinks that we are going to have a democracy,
Speaker 1: whether or not it matters what happens during midterm elections,
Speaker 1: if in fact, the backsliding has been so detrimental that
Speaker 1: she doesn't see a path forward. I asked a series
Speaker 1: of questions, because you know, you guys know me. While
Speaker 1: I joke a lot of the times and say that
Speaker 1: I am always holding on to that mustard seed of hope,
Speaker 1: there is no bun. I truly believe that is more
Speaker 1: hopeful than me, because otherwise, why the thought would I
Speaker 1: wake up every day and turn on a microphone and
Speaker 1: turn on my computer, and turn on my phone, and
Speaker 1: try and wake as many people up as possible, whether
Speaker 1: it's one or one hundred. You know, I believe that
Speaker 1: my responsibility on this planet is to weigh people up
Speaker 1: to their power and to make them conscious of the
Speaker 1: ways in which our society, systemic powers that be work
Speaker 1: to take advantage of people. Right that work to take
Speaker 1: advantage of whether it is people's ignorance, whether it is
Speaker 1: people's lack of time, because they work multiple jobs to
Speaker 1: be able to just afford the bare minimum right, which
Speaker 1: is shelter, clothing, and food. There are systems at play
Speaker 1: that are not put in place to uplift the most marginalized.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, it is to make sure
Speaker 1: that they stay that way. Then, to make sure that
Speaker 1: people are in such a desperate situation that they'll take
Speaker 1: whatever shit job is put in front of them. And then,
Speaker 1: of course we create laws that allow for those people
Speaker 1: that run those businesses to not provide healthcare, to not
Speaker 1: provide safe working conditions, and people have to show up.
Speaker 1: Why because they're desperate, right, and we've squeezed them of
Speaker 1: their power, of their will, and all they can do
Speaker 1: is keep their head above water. And so I feel,
Speaker 1: in the position of privilege that I have to be
Speaker 1: able to digest and analyze all that is going on
Speaker 1: and deliver it to people in a digestible way, so
Speaker 1: that people are reminded that they do have power, that
Speaker 1: they do have a voice, and that when we link
Speaker 1: up with like minded people. And I don't mean like
Speaker 1: minded as in they love the same way, they look
Speaker 1: the same way, they pray the same way, or so
Speaker 1: on and so forth. I mean like minded in the
Speaker 1: idea of equity, right, in the idea of understanding what
Speaker 1: justice means right, and that it shouldn't be a designation
Speaker 1: of your level of melanin that we have a shared
Speaker 1: understanding that everyone, everyone in this country, everyone frankly on
Speaker 1: this planet, should be able to live free from violence,
Speaker 1: to live free from fear of oppression and subjugation and
Speaker 1: sexual violence. And you know, and race and all of
Speaker 1: these things. And so when I say like minded, that's
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about. I'm talking about people who believe
Speaker 1: that they are citizens on this planet right, that we are,
Speaker 1: you know, all human. And you know, I know that
Speaker 1: for some people in saying that, you know, it can
Speaker 1: sound you know, polyannaish, but it isn't right. Like, the
Speaker 1: whole purpose of the language that republicans and fascist regimes
Speaker 1: and authoritarians and dictators use is about dehumanization, because when
Speaker 1: you detach people from their humanity, then you can mistreat
Speaker 1: them any which way that you want, because they're not
Speaker 1: like you. They're animals, right, they belong in cages, they
Speaker 1: warrant death. Right. When you dehumanize people and you devalue them,
Speaker 1: then you can treat them any type of way. So
Speaker 1: I believe that my work here on this planet is
Speaker 1: to wake as many people up to their power, to
Speaker 1: their purpose, and to their path as possible. And I
Speaker 1: think that if there is one of you that is
Speaker 1: out there that is listening that says, oh now, I
Speaker 1: get it right. In an alarm bell, a light lightning
Speaker 1: bulb hits, a light bulb flashes, then it is your
Speaker 1: responsibility to then wake up the next person, and so
Speaker 1: on and so forth until we are all conscious, right,
Speaker 1: because we can't fight this war asleep, and that is
Speaker 1: what they are hoping, is that we will remain in
Speaker 1: a slumber, that we will think that things will just
Speaker 1: be okay, and that we don't need to take any
Speaker 1: action therefore right. But we do. And so in this
Speaker 1: conversation with my good good friend doctor Christina Greer, we
Speaker 1: dig into the ways in which we need to keep hope,
Speaker 1: that we need to educate, and that we need, more
Speaker 1: importantly than ever in this midterm election to vote. That
Speaker 1: conversation is coming up next. It's no secret that the
Speaker 1: news is horsepill hard to swallow. Thankfully, there's The Bituation
Speaker 1: Room podcast hosted by comedian and commentator Francesca Freer and
Speaker 1: Tini for a lighter take on the heavy stuff. Each week,
Speaker 1: the Bituation Room brings you progressive comedians, experts, and activists
Speaker 1: to break down the issues in a way that won't
Speaker 1: just leave you crying under a weighted blanket. Get The
Speaker 1: Bituation Room on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and streaming on
Speaker 1: YouTube and Twitch. Folks, you know, I am always so
Speaker 1: excited when I get to Welcome back to woke EPP Daily.
Speaker 1: My friend and colleague in the Twitter sphere and world
Speaker 1: of politics, doctor Christina Greer, who you know as an
Speaker 1: associate professor at Fordham University. She is also the author
Speaker 1: of Black Ethnics, co host of FAQ NYC, and host
Speaker 1: of the Blackest Questions um at the Grio Black Pods.
Speaker 1: Doctor Greer, good, good, good, the good doctor day. No
Speaker 1: sus right now and this fuckery diagnose America right now
Speaker 1: in where we are because if if if I'm a doctor,
Speaker 1: I'm saying, we gotta pull the plug because the surgery
Speaker 1: don't look like it's worked. Um so what is yours?
Speaker 1: So we should have had my sister on this episode
Speaker 1: because she's the real doctor, right right. She always teases me.
Speaker 1: She's like, you know what happens if there's an emergency,
Speaker 1: You're gonna read somebody a book. Oh damn. She's my
Speaker 1: best friend, but she's she's a harsh one. Um So
Speaker 1: here's what I would say if I'm diagnosing America. We
Speaker 1: have We've got a disease to the bones, right and
Speaker 1: the question is do we amputate? Do we not do anything?
Speaker 1: What is the medicine and the good thing is, you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes miracles do happen. I'm not saying that we have one,
Speaker 1: but you know, I'm always cautiously optimistic, and I'm pragmatic
Speaker 1: in my optimism. I do think that there are some
Speaker 1: people who are waking up, those like sleeper cells that
Speaker 1: are the good guy. Do I think that white men
Speaker 1: and white women who are completely supporting herschel Walker and
Speaker 1: his nonsense, and Ron Johnson Wisconsin and his nonsense, and
Speaker 1: doctor Oz and his nonsense. Do I really think that
Speaker 1: those people who are oathkeepers in January sixth, sympathizers and apologist,
Speaker 1: are they gonna make up? No, We're moving on without them.
Speaker 1: But there are some people who, you know, kept telling
Speaker 1: themselves like, oh, it's about the tax breaks and the
Speaker 1: rhetorics not that bad, and they're slowly seeing just as
Speaker 1: every sort of civil rights icon and leader has always
Speaker 1: told us Malcolm X Audrey, Lord, Frederick Douglas a journal
Speaker 1: truth like one day it will be you come on
Speaker 1: that they come for. And so I think some white
Speaker 1: women are waking up and realizing that, you know, this
Speaker 1: Dab's decision is going to affect them and their families,
Speaker 1: not just that they have daughters, if they have sons.
Speaker 1: Come on, let's not ten that only Democrats are having sex,
Speaker 1: because Republicans do love some unprotected and rerebarrittal sex as well.
Speaker 1: So stop putting it all on the Democrats. Stop putting
Speaker 1: all in women of color. So I do think that
Speaker 1: Republicans have a great chance of overplaying their hands in
Speaker 1: the sense that you've got Republicans constantly voting against hurricane
Speaker 1: relief and refusing to work with the federal government. Are
Speaker 1: you going to turn down Joe Biden's assistance in this
Speaker 1: moment of need. Some of them are crazy enough and
Speaker 1: ideological enough to be like, yeah, we will. So you know,
Speaker 1: you and I have both been on TV with John
Speaker 1: to the Metico, and he has dying of whiteness. He
Speaker 1: comes on the show every week. This is our good
Speaker 1: in house doctor. Yeah, this is where we are. It's
Speaker 1: like we're literally seeing white people. They would rather die yep,
Speaker 1: literally yep, then offer assistance to someone, to lend a
Speaker 1: hand to someone, to lend a hand to themselves, which
Speaker 1: is wild. So when I'm optimistic, though, I think that
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people who are like, listen,
Speaker 1: this direction is just too much. We can't have swastikas
Speaker 1: and Confederate flags as as okay symbols. We can't take
Speaker 1: away a woman's right to choose because it's not about
Speaker 1: pro life, because these are the same people who believe
Speaker 1: in the death penalty. Come on, these are the same
Speaker 1: people who will starve children just because their parents are
Speaker 1: my rents or undocumented or homeless. Right, so we can't.
Speaker 1: We Democrats have to be better at the rhetoric too.
Speaker 1: You know, I refuse to say the phrase pro life.
Speaker 1: There's no such thing as pro life. Not with these people.
Speaker 1: It's choice and anti choice. Are you literally saying that
Speaker 1: a grown ass woman cannot have autonomy over her body?
Speaker 1: That is what you're saying, that's what you're voting for.
Speaker 1: Say that a woman of sound mind cannot have autonomy
Speaker 1: over her own body, even if she's raped or insect
Speaker 1: to say nothing of Maybe I have a full time
Speaker 1: job and I just don't want to have a baby
Speaker 1: right now for whatever reason. It's my business, it's my choice.
Speaker 1: So I'm hoping that the Democrats can organize themselves and
Speaker 1: organize a message and stop leaning into Republican talking points
Speaker 1: as a weak defense, and really articulate a vision to say,
Speaker 1: like pay attention, people, stop, Like if it sounds crazy,
Speaker 1: it's because it's crazy. Right. Your gas is down, your
Speaker 1: job prospects are better than they have been. You know,
Speaker 1: you look at the governors that didn't take COVID seriously,
Speaker 1: those people are dead or have long COVID and will
Speaker 1: be on the doles for a really really long time. Like,
Speaker 1: let's have some real conversations about what the two parties
Speaker 1: are doing. Neither are perfect, we get it, but like
Speaker 1: they are definitely this is not a boom boo through
Speaker 1: you know, booth sides or a mess that is absolutely
Speaker 1: not true. That's a lazy argument, and I think Democrats
Speaker 1: need to walk voters through why that absolutely isn't true
Speaker 1: and why they're literally trying to keep this country alive
Speaker 1: and keep the people in it alive as well. So,
Speaker 1: you know, me as being the person who does not
Speaker 1: who doesn't mince words and comes in hot, and I
Speaker 1: think I need to come in hot all the time
Speaker 1: because I feel like most motherfuckers are asleep. And you know,
Speaker 1: I say that because I still am uncertain whether a
Speaker 1: majority of white women who voted for Donald Trump in
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen and twenty twenty have woken up to the
Speaker 1: reality that they're no longer free right, and they have
Speaker 1: always predicated their decision making on that of their proximity
Speaker 1: to their white fathers and their white husbands. And so
Speaker 1: I am not convinced right that enough white women are
Speaker 1: shook in a way that still requires the Democratic Party
Speaker 1: to try and pander two folks that have never voted Democrat,
Speaker 1: I mean not in the last at least fifty years.
Speaker 1: So my question to you is, you know, as I
Speaker 1: continue to yell from the rooftop, that I do believe, Christina,
Speaker 1: that this is our last midterm elections. I believe that
Speaker 1: if we the people, if we the people do not
Speaker 1: pull off this midterm elections for Democrats, I believe that
Speaker 1: this is it. I don't care what happens in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four because Congress, maybe not the Senate, but the
Speaker 1: erosion right and the coup will continue and now have
Speaker 1: even more legs because there'll be more Republican members who
Speaker 1: are election deniers in the House of Representatives than not.
Speaker 1: And so I am wondering do people get it, like
Speaker 1: and you know, like do they understand because look, I'm
Speaker 1: looking I like to consider myself a global citizen, and
Speaker 1: I'm looking around the world and I see an new aligning,
Speaker 1: a new world order coming in to play. That should
Speaker 1: be foreshadowing, that should be alarm, you know, raising And
Speaker 1: yet the media doesn't talk about it in that way.
Speaker 1: And so do you think that the people are getting it?
Speaker 1: And particularly the students that you engage with every single
Speaker 1: day at Fortnum? You know, what, where are their minds
Speaker 1: at as young people right now? Where what are they
Speaker 1: thinking about this? This this make or break moment for
Speaker 1: our democracy? Yeah, so you've given me a lot. Let
Speaker 1: me just I'll start from your last question and work
Speaker 1: my way back. So I have, you know, an incomplete sample,
Speaker 1: because I have students who are interested in politics, so
Speaker 1: I don't know what some of the non politics students
Speaker 1: are interested in. The reason though, why I do teach
Speaker 1: Intro to Politics every semester, even though I'm a show
Speaker 1: associate chair and like a senior faculty member, where it's
Speaker 1: very rare that someone of my stature, if you would say,
Speaker 1: would teach an intro that's kind of beneath a lot
Speaker 1: of older professors, if you will, I think it's the
Speaker 1: most important class. It's the introductory class. So instead of
Speaker 1: having adjuncts or you know, folks that don't have the
Speaker 1: same foundation, instead of having them teach it, I want
Speaker 1: to teach it because it's like that's how I steal
Speaker 1: all the smart kids from other majors too, and get
Speaker 1: them interested in politics and take it really seriously. The
Speaker 1: students I have now are really frustrated. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: throwing a lot at them because it's do you forget?
Speaker 1: I have to explain to them what this country was
Speaker 1: from the beginning times, how we used to do things,
Speaker 1: then the Trump era, and now where we are at
Speaker 1: the fallout and kind of the precipice. So my historical
Speaker 1: foundation is like multifold now, so I've got to cut
Speaker 1: through a lot of information gave. It's sort of like
Speaker 1: before times. Then it's kind of like nineteen fifty two
Speaker 1: to the present, but now it's like nineteen fifty two
Speaker 1: to twenty sixteen, sixteen to twenty twenty, and then it's
Speaker 1: like twenty twenty to the to the president, and then
Speaker 1: it's like, okay, so where do you all see yourselves?
Speaker 1: You know? I really try and have them imagine, you know,
Speaker 1: some of these questions, and I'm like, you will be
Speaker 1: called on to answer these questions, either because you're an
Speaker 1: elected or you work for an elected I'm also always
Speaker 1: having them think about different jobs. So not everybody wants
Speaker 1: to be an elected official. I don't you know, people
Speaker 1: ask us this all the time, right because we're on TV.
Speaker 1: I don't want to be elected inficial. But you know,
Speaker 1: I was like, if you're artsy, you know you can
Speaker 1: design posters and fonts like all that stuff. You know,
Speaker 1: if you want to go to law, like election law
Speaker 1: is real preventing people from going to prison with campaign
Speaker 1: finance violations, like, there are a lot of different things.
Speaker 1: Now to your question, where are my students? They are
Speaker 1: very frustrated that it seems as though on a weekly basis,
Speaker 1: we can find billions of dollars for other countries and
Speaker 1: we can't seem to find it for the student debt.
Speaker 1: That is a question because they're they're first or second years,
Speaker 1: but they're already looking down the barrel of thousands of dollars,
Speaker 1: as are their parents, and mind, you know, this is
Speaker 1: gen Z. So they're like, we know we ain't got stuff.
Speaker 1: Our parents barely have anything, like the good old days
Speaker 1: are done. And they know if they want to go
Speaker 1: to graduate school, it's gonna be even more dead. So
Speaker 1: they know the death that they're already in and the
Speaker 1: death that they're going to accumulate. They are thirtain there
Speaker 1: and it's not like they're cold hearted snakes, like they're
Speaker 1: just like, we stand with the people of Ukraine, right,
Speaker 1: we stand with Afghanistan, we stand with you know, Pakistan,
Speaker 1: whatever the crisis may be in the news. But when
Speaker 1: we talk about Ukraine, what's really fascinating is they always
Speaker 1: preface it's like, we stand with Ukraine. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that I don't. But it was thirty billion this week,
Speaker 1: billion last week we got another twenty five billion. So
Speaker 1: it's just like, where's this money coming from? And how
Speaker 1: can we can find it so quickly? And where's my money?
Speaker 1: And then knowing, you know, we talk about paying taxes
Speaker 1: and the importance of paying taxes and how they probably
Speaker 1: won't have some security and all these things. So there's
Speaker 1: there's that piece where we're sort of seeing ourselves as
Speaker 1: global citizens, but also what does it mean to be
Speaker 1: a domestic citizen because some of them are like, well,
Speaker 1: I have relatives in Florida and it doesn't look like
Speaker 1: they're going to get relieve anytime soon. Or I have
Speaker 1: relatives in Puerto Rico. They're still reeling from Hurricane Maria.
Speaker 1: Oh and by the way, Biden just gave them sixty
Speaker 1: million dollars M to Puerto Rico, not be gave three
Speaker 1: billion last week to Ukraine, right, sixty million M to
Speaker 1: Puerto Rico, because I mean, like realistically, like come on,
Speaker 1: and if you've seen the damage in her in in
Speaker 1: Puerto Rico and we know that they're still reeling from Maria,
Speaker 1: sixty million dollars is like me, Danielle, sorry, your house
Speaker 1: is flooded. I got twenty one twenty US dollars. That's
Speaker 1: the equivalent of it. Yeah, like carl I gave you
Speaker 1: twenty dollars, like is flooded? Like and don't you still
Speaker 1: have those paper towels from Trump? Exactly? So you know,
Speaker 1: and which also lends to really interesting conversations about like
Speaker 1: Puerto Rican statehood in dcidood and what that would mean
Speaker 1: to have a whole bunch of black and Latino people
Speaker 1: probably in the Democratic Party, and why it is that
Speaker 1: we're not going to have a hundred four senators and
Speaker 1: then we'd have to redistribute the four thirty five across
Speaker 1: these two new states. I mean, so having them see
Speaker 1: politics in real time and how it really works is
Speaker 1: really important for me, because this isn't a theory that
Speaker 1: we can read on the page all the time. Oh well,
Speaker 1: why is the Puerto Rico a state? It's like, well,
Speaker 1: right now we know they're in crisis. So the US
Speaker 1: would actually be responsible, right and would really need to
Speaker 1: take her report Rico as opposed to this sixty million
Speaker 1: dollars insult. So backing into it to other parts of
Speaker 1: your question, No, I don't think white women are going
Speaker 1: to have a great moment of agnorisis like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: like I've been upholding patriarchy and I'm also a victim. Like, No,
Speaker 1: I don't think that that will happen, But I do
Speaker 1: have faith that there's going to be a small percentage
Speaker 1: that have a little bit of movement in wiggle room.
Speaker 1: And I do think that quietly some Republican women not
Speaker 1: enough to you know, change the tide, but I do
Speaker 1: think some of them might quietly vote or abstain from
Speaker 1: certain races and certain individuals, just because I do think
Speaker 1: that in certain places these people are really overplaying their hands,
Speaker 1: you know, the primate. Think about it this way. We've
Speaker 1: got those six states that have those election deniers that
Speaker 1: are at the top of the ticket, But who votes
Speaker 1: in a primary except for like your die hards, and
Speaker 1: so there are a lot of kind of middle of
Speaker 1: the road quasi middle of the road. I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: if you're still a Republican, you're in for opinion for
Speaker 1: a pound, Like you were saying, the misogyny and the
Speaker 1: racism and the anti immigrant sentiments and anti Muslim, anti Jewish,
Speaker 1: anti black, anti anti anti you're basically saying, that's okay.
Speaker 1: But for whatever at tax break reason you say, I'm
Speaker 1: a Republican. Still sure, whatever helps you sleep at night.
Speaker 1: But I do think that some of those people who
Speaker 1: didn't necessarily participate in a primary are going to come
Speaker 1: into a general and be like this person seems a
Speaker 1: little crazy. Now. I don't know if that's going to
Speaker 1: work in all six states, but I do think that
Speaker 1: there's enough wiggle room, and I think that there are
Speaker 1: going to be some Democrats, hopefully who are galvanized, to
Speaker 1: be like, yo, this could be our last free and
Speaker 1: fair election if I don't step up. But that also
Speaker 1: goes to the larger Democratic Party, where it's like, you
Speaker 1: have to give people a reason to come out and vote.
Speaker 1: The cost of voting time money, you know, some people
Speaker 1: have to drive, they have to pay for gas, they
Speaker 1: got to get a sitter, whatever. So my question is this,
Speaker 1: Jamie Harrison, where are you and what are you doing? Sir?
Speaker 1: Wake up? Because I would think that I would see
Speaker 1: you on the news every day walking me through this
Speaker 1: fifty stage strategy. I would think that I would see
Speaker 1: you articulating this vision about what are we all supposed
Speaker 1: to be doing. I live in New York. We're pretty
Speaker 1: We're pretty good to go, I mean, and I'm not
Speaker 1: going to take it for granted. Kathy Hokel is facing
Speaker 1: a Trump fist. Lee Zelden, who you know, is an
Speaker 1: election denier, like he is crazy. New York has our
Speaker 1: own wing of It's called Upstate and Long Island and
Speaker 1: Loki half of Brooklyn, Moses Staten Island, a significant portion
Speaker 1: of Queens, a quiet section of Manhattan, and a sprinkling
Speaker 1: in the Bronx. Like, let's all be clear, there are
Speaker 1: a lot of people who were into this Trump. January sixth,
Speaker 1: quasi fascist fascist Lee Zeldon train. So I'm not going
Speaker 1: to take that for granted. But we're not Pennsylvania. We're
Speaker 1: not Wisconsin right now, we're not Florida, we're not Arizona.
Speaker 1: Jamie Harrison, why aren't you telling me what my marching
Speaker 1: orders are? Okay, don't know. Besides, okay, fine, give some
Speaker 1: money if I know who the races are. But like,
Speaker 1: what are our marching orders? Should I be making phone calls?
Speaker 1: Like what should we be doing? Who are the surrogates,
Speaker 1: what's the message, what's the mobilization, what's the motivation? Because
Speaker 1: some people don't understand. When you and I say this
Speaker 1: could be our last real election, these people get ahold
Speaker 1: of it. They already said they're going to impeach Biden
Speaker 1: for what. I don't know. I'm impeach them just because
Speaker 1: you impeach my president twice when Trump and his egregious nonsense.
Speaker 1: But they just said they're going to start impeach everybody.
Speaker 1: So Kamala, Harris, Biden, you name it, though, impeach members
Speaker 1: of the Supreme Court, Johns, Brown, Jackson, who cares? So
Speaker 1: we know that that's what they're gonna do. We know
Speaker 1: the time is of the essence, and we know that
Speaker 1: we can barely get stuff with unified government that's the House, Senate,
Speaker 1: and President all being of the same party. So if
Speaker 1: we have divided government, which means even one of them
Speaker 1: of the different parties, so if the Republicans get even
Speaker 1: the Senate or the House, nothing will get done. Hardly
Speaker 1: anything got done anyway because of mansion in cinema. So
Speaker 1: we know that if Democrats don't gain seats, if they
Speaker 1: lose anything, it's a complete and total gridlock slash deadlock.
Speaker 1: So Jamie Harrison, Joe Biden, what are we to do?
Speaker 1: Tell us because right now we have all these diffew
Speaker 1: strategies but no central messaging. And I think that's also
Speaker 1: part of the frustration of a lot of Democrats, where
Speaker 1: it's like this is a mass, we could win it,
Speaker 1: and we could be mobilizing, you know, like they're parts
Speaker 1: of what's going on in Florida, where you could be
Speaker 1: linking this to the fascist governments that many of these
Speaker 1: Latinos have fled and tying that directly around to Santis's neck.
Speaker 1: You could make some real clear, crisp connections. But then
Speaker 1: you left this country. But Christine, and this is this
Speaker 1: is what they will say now is not the time.
Speaker 1: Let's not let's not politicize this right because you can
Speaker 1: make so many links to the fact that here comes
Speaker 1: Ron de Santis out of Florida, hat in hand, wanting
Speaker 1: to collect his welfare for his state for um federal
Speaker 1: relief for this hurricane. Meanwhile, when he was in Congress,
Speaker 1: voted against hurricane relief funding for Sandy and then also
Speaker 1: used leftover COVID relief funds to pull a political, a
Speaker 1: cruel political stunt in order to get his name across
Speaker 1: Fox News. And so here's the thing I said, you know,
Speaker 1: let me be the petty president of the United States
Speaker 1: and go tell the Santists, why don't you go collect
Speaker 1: that twelve million dollars that you were using on charter
Speaker 1: planes to go drop off migrants in Martha's vineyard and
Speaker 1: go see if that works for you. Get a behind
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Speaker 1: from gentrification to gun laws and take a closer look
Speaker 1: at how and why these topics matter. Listen to Beyond
Speaker 1: the Scenes from the Daily Show with Trevor Noah on
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1: New episodes every Tuesday at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: The problem that I believe that Democrats have is the
Speaker 1: fact that they are not petty enough, that they are
Speaker 1: not angry enough, because there is no better time than
Speaker 1: the time than the moment of a disaster storm that
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, these people who want to be
Speaker 1: anti federal government, anti Biden, all of a sudden standing
Speaker 1: in front of they're blown off Ruth House talking about,
Speaker 1: Oh my god, can somebody come help me? Help yourself? Dude?
Speaker 1: What I want to say, What I want to say
Speaker 1: to you, what you have said to black and brown
Speaker 1: people since the beginning of time with your votes, It's
Speaker 1: go help yourself. Right. Here's here's the thing that Democrats
Speaker 1: still don't understand. It's like, you'll give the money because
Speaker 1: you know, they're like, we're all Americans at the time
Speaker 1: of crisis. But then they also won't do say what
Speaker 1: Trump did. Trump was like, I'll give you the stimulus
Speaker 1: check but I'm put my name on it, sir. Not
Speaker 1: only is that ridiculous and illegal, but he's like, but
Speaker 1: I want everybody to know I gave it to you.
Speaker 1: So it's like Biden's not gonna make you know because
Speaker 1: even Obama. You remember with Chris Christie, it's like, you
Speaker 1: want this money, You're gonna go on a tour with me. Yep,
Speaker 1: two of us are gonna being out a little police
Speaker 1: vests and lands and jackets, and we're gonna be walking
Speaker 1: around New Jersey. So everyone knows that I gave you
Speaker 1: this money. It's like, Biden, make de Santists show up
Speaker 1: with you with his tin can yeah, make right, and
Speaker 1: then in the time with you, right, and then if
Speaker 1: all of a sudden he wants to sing a different tune, right,
Speaker 1: then you pull like pull the money, act like you
Speaker 1: have the power that the people actually gave you, and
Speaker 1: star and start to describe and point out who the
Speaker 1: villain is, Like you don't get to have Disantists come
Speaker 1: in and take federal money and then go on Fox
Speaker 1: News and turn around and want and want to demonize
Speaker 1: Democrats and the Biden administration. Right, and then he didn't
Speaker 1: take the money. I mean like and will say he
Speaker 1: didn't take the money, so he's just miraculous to got money.
Speaker 1: But I think that's the thing. It's, you know, and
Speaker 1: I don't even call it being petty. I think it's
Speaker 1: Democrats don't know how to play like street ball. They're
Speaker 1: just sitting here. We're like, well, you know, it's the
Speaker 1: right thing to do, and it'say, yeah, you can also
Speaker 1: do the right thing. But put some base in your voice.
Speaker 1: Come on, you want this money, tap dance a little
Speaker 1: bit because I'm still gonna give it to you, because
Speaker 1: we're all American people, and people are in crisis. So
Speaker 1: let's not play politics and partisanship right now. But let's
Speaker 1: be abundantly clear. You will go in front of the
Speaker 1: citizens of the state of Florida and you will tell
Speaker 1: them that you are standing here in front of them
Speaker 1: with this check only because of my largesse, only because
Speaker 1: I gave you this money, like you all are living
Speaker 1: because the federal government came in and saved you in
Speaker 1: your time of need. Again, because guess what, you all
Speaker 1: don't believe in climate change. You better talk about climate
Speaker 1: change if I give you this money. Because we can't
Speaker 1: keep dolling out this kind of money every season for hurricanes,
Speaker 1: but we're going to happen. Let's just which is happening,
Speaker 1: Which is happening, because every season is another once in
Speaker 1: a century storm. Every guy damn year is a once
Speaker 1: in a century tornado, one to a century fire, one
Speaker 1: to the century hurricane. And I'm like, so how many
Speaker 1: once in a century things need to happen in five
Speaker 1: years for you to realize that it ain't once in
Speaker 1: a century. And also again being able to connect the
Speaker 1: dots for the people and talk about COVID and talk
Speaker 1: about these viruses. Do you think that this is going
Speaker 1: to be the last time that we have a global
Speaker 1: health pandemic? No, it is not. Why because we have
Speaker 1: glaciers that are melting in the Arctic that have bacteria
Speaker 1: that's been trapped inside of them for a billion years.
Speaker 1: Fucking National Geographic comes out and says they're melting. Now,
Speaker 1: we don't know what's going to happen. No, thinker's crossed. Heysten,
Speaker 1: I love the fact that the way was articulated to
Speaker 1: me was these glaciers are the world's air conditioner, and
Speaker 1: once they're gone, we don't have a c And I
Speaker 1: was like, that's a real clear way to explain to people,
Speaker 1: because listen, I grew up in a big old house
Speaker 1: in Philly that was designed in a way where you
Speaker 1: can open up the big old windows and put a
Speaker 1: fan in it, and you were fine. But then again,
Speaker 1: I was also a kid and we didn't have a C,
Speaker 1: so I was fine with no AC. Now that I'm
Speaker 1: an adult and I live in an apartment building and
Speaker 1: I recognize that, you know, I'm like, oh, fans are fine,
Speaker 1: and people come over, like, hey girl, I can't come
Speaker 1: to your house because unless you get I got a
Speaker 1: C just so I could actually have people come over.
Speaker 1: If you don't have a C as a globe, we're
Speaker 1: done because that means we also don't have fans either,
Speaker 1: because hot air is hot air, like you know those
Speaker 1: days in July where it's like it doesn't matter that
Speaker 1: you have ten fans. All is doing is move around
Speaker 1: hot hot air, and so yeah, and I'm like, and
Speaker 1: when it's over a hundred degrees outside for straight days
Speaker 1: and weeks, having AC is not a nice to have,
Speaker 1: it is an actual need to have for survival. Right. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean we're also seeing it, just as you said,
Speaker 1: a once in a generation storm it's like, well, I
Speaker 1: don't understand how these cities are having, you know, triple
Speaker 1: digit days, multiple days in a row. It's like, we
Speaker 1: haven't seen that ever. And it's like, well, guess what. Sadly,
Speaker 1: this is the new normal because we've got half of
Speaker 1: a country that doesn't believe in climate chary. It's like,
Speaker 1: I don't understand how you can live in the path
Speaker 1: of a tornado, in the path of the hurricane, or
Speaker 1: have these extreme winters and extreme summers and still not believe.
Speaker 1: But that's the thing. I mean, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: so many of these racists in this country are so
Speaker 1: intent on owning the libs and making sure, you know,
Speaker 1: colored people don't get anything. They're literally driving themselves and us,
Speaker 1: but driving themselves also off a cliff, and I think
Speaker 1: they're fine. I mean that goes to the whole Trump thing.
Speaker 1: Trump will burned down this country with himself in it,
Speaker 1: family and friends too. He doesn't care. As long as
Speaker 1: you know, he gets to say that he's right, and
Speaker 1: as long as he gets to say that he's the
Speaker 1: one who who drove the train off the tracks, I
Speaker 1: think that that's fine with him. Last question for you
Speaker 1: and real talk, right, because we're only a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks away from this midterm election. Everybody, including myself and
Speaker 1: you and so many others are saying vote, vote, vote, organized,
Speaker 1: get people to the polls. We need to vote. We
Speaker 1: need to vote. Doctor Christina Grier of political science. Are
Speaker 1: we too late? Is our democracy irreparable at this point?
Speaker 1: Is there a way for us to claw back from
Speaker 1: where we are? Yes? Absolutely, I have in fair inherent
Speaker 1: faith in this country, just because we have evolved a
Speaker 1: lot as a nation, right, I mean, we're not enslaved
Speaker 1: being raped right now, so like, hey, that is some evolution,
Speaker 1: and that was not too long ago that our country
Speaker 1: had a really I mean, that's the problem. Our history
Speaker 1: of this nation has been sort of whitewashed and glossed over,
Speaker 1: and it's like, oh, it's like no, no, this is
Speaker 1: a brutal, bloodthirsty nation that is built on free labor
Speaker 1: from enslaved us, chattel, slavery, genocide of Native people's rape,
Speaker 1: you know, just some of the most horrific conditions you
Speaker 1: could imagine. That's who we are. And we've moved relatively
Speaker 1: far from from that brutal, brutal history in like fifty
Speaker 1: to seven five years, right. I mean, like, let's be clear,
Speaker 1: my grandparents and your grandparents were alive when lynchings were
Speaker 1: like sure, and you know our parents may or may
Speaker 1: not have gone to segregated schools depending on where they
Speaker 1: lived in the United States. So now we have a
Speaker 1: different type of segregation. But you see what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: it's sanctioned in the same way. But I do have
Speaker 1: faith in this country. I do have faith in a
Speaker 1: lot of people to step up, because you know what
Speaker 1: helps when you start talking to like these grassroots organizers
Speaker 1: who've been doing the work for a really long time,
Speaker 1: like they actually have like a vision, a long term vision.
Speaker 1: And I think we give a lot of credit to
Speaker 1: these kind of right wing lunatics who have had a
Speaker 1: long term vision. Right they got to work right after
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three with Ruby Wade, and they worked and
Speaker 1: worked and worked for fifty years and they overturned it.
Speaker 1: And it's like, and that's what the work does, and
Speaker 1: we see it. But I'm also really motivated because on
Speaker 1: the other side of the coin, you start asking around,
Speaker 1: it's like there are a lot of these grassroots organizations
Speaker 1: who've been doing this work for a fifty and sixty
Speaker 1: years as well, smaller scale, but like training a new
Speaker 1: generation of people to organize, training young people to see
Speaker 1: this three hundred and sixty degree vision, you know, making
Speaker 1: sure that, like you know, certain systems and institutions are
Speaker 1: in place even as they're being eroded. So I definitely
Speaker 1: think that we get discouraged that we lose elections. Sure,
Speaker 1: don't forget. We just had major wins in twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: followed immediately by January sixth, but we did have some
Speaker 1: series wins. We had unified government, so it's like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: so folks did what they were supposed to do. We
Speaker 1: might have some losses and that's real. But I think
Speaker 1: part of being black in this country is not giving
Speaker 1: up on her. This is kind of what Baldwin, you know,
Speaker 1: that tension that Baldwin always explained to us. And as
Speaker 1: I finish up this book on fanwell Hammer and Barbara
Speaker 1: Jordan and Stacy Abrams and I had a working title
Speaker 1: and some called it was like, I mean using that
Speaker 1: title for my book. So I was like, okay, I
Speaker 1: have to change my title. But I ended up changing
Speaker 1: the title to like the working title. Right now, it
Speaker 1: is like Black Patriots because like, when I think about
Speaker 1: these three women, it's like they, to me encapsulate what
Speaker 1: real patriotism is, and it's like it's not some hoity
Speaker 1: tweety belief. It's like, oh, this country is so great
Speaker 1: and she can be beautiful. It's like, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no. She is a flawed, angry, violent, violent, vicious, cruel, deceptive, line, cheating, stealing,
Speaker 1: you name it. But also there's some really wonderful, hardworking,
Speaker 1: honest people in this country. And the beauty of it
Speaker 1: is sometimes we team up and we get to know
Speaker 1: each other, whether it's we're TV friends or podcast friends
Speaker 1: or organizer friends, or we're neighbors, or it's something where
Speaker 1: we're finding each other and we're connecting and we're putting
Speaker 1: ourselves on the line. You and I both know this
Speaker 1: is not easy work. We get to see some of
Speaker 1: the worst of America in our dms and you know,
Speaker 1: on Twitter and people who attack us. But the level
Speaker 1: of appreciation though, we also get from people who were like, hey,
Speaker 1: I didn't know that, Or it's like listening to you, Danielle,
Speaker 1: it's like I've realized I should be angrier than I am,
Speaker 1: and now I'm motivated or it's like listening to your podcast, Danielle,
Speaker 1: I like learned something and now I'm connecting my own
Speaker 1: dots in my own small community. I don't live in
Speaker 1: New York City, but I get it, you know. So
Speaker 1: it's like as an educator, and you know, I always
Speaker 1: bringing the teaching piece because I love I love what
Speaker 1: I do. But I think the best part about being
Speaker 1: an educator is you have to be patient, and so
Speaker 1: I think that's where you know, whenever I come on
Speaker 1: the podcast, and you know, I'm a little bit of
Speaker 1: a hippie, but like still, it's like, there are going
Speaker 1: to be students where I meet them in September. By
Speaker 1: the time they leave me in December, I have seen
Speaker 1: market growth. Like wow, they got it. Literally roots sprouts
Speaker 1: out the ground. And then you realize though that their
Speaker 1: job is an educator or a podcast host or someone
Speaker 1: who goes on television like yourself. You're literally just throwing
Speaker 1: out seeds and you're watering them every day, throwing out
Speaker 1: That's what I do when I go in the classroom.
Speaker 1: So for some in December I see it, I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh wow, that's a big sprout. There are others Danielle,
Speaker 1: where I don't see it for years m and to
Speaker 1: like get a random email that was like, hey, finally
Speaker 1: got what you were saying. Finally see it. And it's
Speaker 1: like I taught you five years ago, I taught you
Speaker 1: ten years ago, but hey, dormant. Some seeds lay dormant.
Speaker 1: That's the point. And like you know, yes, sharecroppers know this,
Speaker 1: some seeds you need to lay dormant because when the
Speaker 1: other ones have sprouted and gone on, you need something
Speaker 1: else to come up to regenerate. Come on. So it's like,
Speaker 1: I think that it's great that some people right now
Speaker 1: are waking up because they actually have a different kind
Speaker 1: of energy than you and I yeah, like, girl, I've
Speaker 1: been waked for decades. Others are like, oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: this is all brand new and I'm super jazzed and
Speaker 1: I can't wait to work on it. And it's like,
Speaker 1: and you know what, now, get to work because your
Speaker 1: level of energy is going to be different than ours,
Speaker 1: because we've been in this struggle for quite some time
Speaker 1: with women who have been in this struggle for quite
Speaker 1: some time, and so our energy is a little different.
Speaker 1: And so I do think that like we can appreciate
Speaker 1: the different pace that we're in as a nation for
Speaker 1: people who work towards making this country a better place,
Speaker 1: in a more equab place, and a more just place.
Speaker 1: I think it's okay that some folks are just like
Speaker 1: I'm starting to get it, or I do get it now,
Speaker 1: or I want to get it, so like, keep working
Speaker 1: with me, doctor Christina Greer. This is why you are
Speaker 1: a professor, This is why you are an author, This
Speaker 1: is why your intellect is sought after all over the place.
Speaker 1: Because you just left me inspired and that is a
Speaker 1: tough task. So well, I for you, you know, like
Speaker 1: there is a role for everyone, but I adore you
Speaker 1: because there is a righteous, righteous, legitimate indignation and fire
Speaker 1: that you have that I think is really important where
Speaker 1: it's like someone sometimes has to be the jockey that
Speaker 1: spanks the horse on the bottom, you know, like it
Speaker 1: can't all just be pt cruisers down the boardwalk, you know,
Speaker 1: like we're in an episode of Three's Company. It's not
Speaker 1: that all the time. But I do think that, like
Speaker 1: this is why we all need to be in conversation
Speaker 1: with one another, because I leave your show and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: I need to do something, whether it's donate to somebody
Speaker 1: whether it's called some friends, Like what do I need
Speaker 1: to do? My hands might be a little soft this
Speaker 1: election season, so it's time for me to get my
Speaker 1: hands dirty, Like what do I need to do? Like
Speaker 1: who's in Georgia that I know? Who's in Wisconsin? That
Speaker 1: I know, who's in Philly that I know? So I
Speaker 1: can like all hands on deck. But and I think
Speaker 1: that that's important. But you know, as I always tell you,
Speaker 1: we can't be a war all the time. That's right,
Speaker 1: that's all right. There is something to be said about rest,
Speaker 1: and you know I know how to rest. There's one
Speaker 1: saying Chrissy Grier knows how to do is to take
Speaker 1: a break, because we didn't create this problem and it's
Speaker 1: not going to be solved overnight, and we are of
Speaker 1: no use to people if the two of us are
Speaker 1: bedraggled and beaten down and exhausted. And we know what
Speaker 1: this country does love to do is kill black women
Speaker 1: by exhaustion. M I know that's right. I don't want
Speaker 1: to do that. I won't do that because it's not
Speaker 1: fair to people who look up to us to do that.
Speaker 1: AmAm doctor Grier. As always, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: making the time to join wok af We appreciate you,
Speaker 1: we are inspired by you, we are in awe of you,
Speaker 1: and we thank you. That is it for me today,
Speaker 1: Dear friends on woke f as always, Power to the
Speaker 1: people and to all the people. Power, get woke and
Speaker 1: stay woke as fuck. Get a behind the scenes look
Speaker 1: at Comedy Central's The Daily Show on Beyond the Scenes,
Speaker 1: an original podcast from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
Speaker 1: Every week, host Roy Wood Junior goes deeper with the
Speaker 1: notable guests and experts from the Emmy Award winning series. Together,
Speaker 1: they use comedy to tackle current topics from gentrification to
Speaker 1: gun laws and take a closer look at how and
Speaker 1: why these topics matter. Listen to Beyond the Scenes from
Speaker 1: The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. New episodes
Speaker 1: every Tuesday.