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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Tutor Dixon Podcast. It's a Saturday, but

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Speaker 1: I have a kind of serious subject that I want

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Speaker 1: to talk to you guys about today. Obviously, we're coming

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Speaker 1: off of a really weird week with all of the

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Speaker 1: Joe Biden stuff. But in Michigan, we're coming out of

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Speaker 1: two mass shootings, and I come out of this and

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Speaker 1: I'm like, I have to ask a few questions and

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Speaker 1: make a few comparisons on these shootings, because it seems

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Speaker 1: like you got to ask yourself, are there communities that

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Speaker 1: just must they just have to deal with endless crime?

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Speaker 1: And do elected officials accept that certain communities are going

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Speaker 1: to be more dangerous than others and then just ignore

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Speaker 1: the tragedy and violence in those communities? Because I see

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Speaker 1: this and I think this is crazy, it's insane, it's terrible.

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Speaker 1: And we're like in the middle of watching this national

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Speaker 1: cover up from the media with regard to Joe Biden's health,

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Speaker 1: and so I have to say, is there a similar

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Speaker 1: situation here? Does the media care about tragedy in all

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Speaker 1: communities or just some communities? And are they actually covering

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Speaker 1: for their favorite politicians in places where we're seeing mass tragedies?

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Speaker 1: So I just want to say, last weekend in Michigan,

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Speaker 1: you may not have heard this, and the scary thing

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Speaker 1: is you probably didn't hear it because the media is

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Speaker 1: not talking about it. Michigan suffered its worst mass shooting

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Speaker 1: ever in the history of the state. The worst mass

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Speaker 1: shooting in the city of Detroit. Two people killed, nineteen

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Speaker 1: people injured. This was the worst, but the second worst

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Speaker 1: was just last year in Saginaw, Michigan, where thirteen people

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Speaker 1: were shot to fatally. And since twenty thirteen, there have

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Speaker 1: been one hundred and sixty six mass shootings in the

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Speaker 1: state of Michigan. Nearly half of those were in Detroit.

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Speaker 1: Mass shootings under Gretchen Whitmer have doubled since she took office,

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Speaker 1: and just since twenty twenty one. I'll run through a

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Speaker 1: list for you. Saginaw had three, Flint had three, grun

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Speaker 1: Rapids five, Lancing five, and Detroit twenty four. So we're

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Speaker 1: currently listed as the most violent state, second most violent

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Speaker 1: state in the country. Last week, the Michigan Correction Officers

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Speaker 1: Union actually asked the governor to provide the Michigan National

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Speaker 1: Guard to help staff prisons. I mean, it's it's that bad.

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Speaker 1: And even when I was running. We were talking to

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Speaker 1: them and they're like, we get everything. There's no hospital space.

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Speaker 1: She had promised a bunch of mental hospital space, that

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Speaker 1: we would have mental health hospital beds added to our

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Speaker 1: our few mental health hospitals that we have left in

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Speaker 1: the state, and she didn't do that. She actually reduced

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Speaker 1: the number that she said she was going to bring in.

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Speaker 1: And so now we have a combination of people who

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Speaker 1: should be in prison and people who should be in

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Speaker 1: a mental health facility, and nobody to staff the prisons

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Speaker 1: because what they're dealing with is so far beyond what

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Speaker 1: they've ever been able to what they've been trained for.

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Speaker 1: So now they go to the governor and they're like, look,

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Speaker 1: it's out of control. We've had so many people leave

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Speaker 1: because they're not paid well enough, they're not trained well

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Speaker 1: enough to deal with the people were getting who we

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Speaker 1: shouldn't be getting. And of course guess what she declines again,

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Speaker 1: it's not an apter story. It's an all safety crisis

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Speaker 1: in the state, but no one's being held accountable. So

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Speaker 1: in three weeks time, Michigan suffers too tragic mass shootings.

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Speaker 1: And here's where the comparison comes in, because only one

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Speaker 1: of those has received national attention or even statewide attention,

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Speaker 1: and it's not the one that's the worst mass shooting

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Speaker 1: in the history of the state. First, on June fifteenth,

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Speaker 1: nine people, including two children, were shot at a Rochester

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Speaker 1: Hills splash pad. The victims ranged in age from four

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Speaker 1: years old to seventy eight years old, and the shooter

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Speaker 1: ended up dying by suicide. So here's the deal. Rochester

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Speaker 1: Hills is predominantly white. The census data says that seventy

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Speaker 1: six percent of the people there are white and thirteen

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Speaker 1: percent Asian and affluent. The median income in the area

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Speaker 1: is one hundred and fifteen nine hundred and sixty eight dollars.

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Speaker 1: Rochester Hills, according to the census data, is only three

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Speaker 1: percent black raw Frican American. When the shooting occurred, you

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Speaker 1: would not believe it. The news jumped all over the story.

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Speaker 1: Within a week, there were over two hundred news stories published,

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Speaker 1: including in the New York Times. The governor took to

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Speaker 1: x within hours of the shooting with this statement, I

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Speaker 1: am heartbroken to learn about the shooting in Rochester Hills.

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Speaker 1: We are monitoring the situation as updates continued to come

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Speaker 1: in and are in touch with local officials. The mayor

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Speaker 1: comes out and has a press conference and said the

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Speaker 1: last twenty four hours had been the worst nightmare he'd

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Speaker 1: ever experienced. He said, quote, I've been blessed to be

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Speaker 1: the mayor of the city for eighteen years and never

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Speaker 1: thought I'd see my city in the same sentence as

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Speaker 1: some other cities that have experienced mass shootings. They didn't

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Speaker 1: expect it in this community. It's a not in my backyard.

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Speaker 1: And when it happens in certain communities, the news and

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Speaker 1: the elected officials they actually ignore it, but not this one.

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Speaker 1: Remember I started this podcast by saying we had two

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Speaker 1: mass shootings. One was the worst we'd ever seen, two

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Speaker 1: in three weeks time. The second was in Detroit just

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Speaker 1: this past weekend, where two people were killed in nineteen

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Speaker 1: were injured. Again, it was the largest in Michigan's history.

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Speaker 1: This is not an affluent area. Actually, it was in

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Speaker 1: Detroit's notorious Red Zone, an area known for gang violence.

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Speaker 1: Perhaps this area has been written off by the political elites.

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Speaker 1: It's funny because the people you hear chirping about women's rights,

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Speaker 1: they haven't said anything about this. The state's largest mass

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Speaker 1: shooting where the majority of victims were women and girls.

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Speaker 1: In fact, Gretchen Whitmer, the state's governor, said nothing. Didn't

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Speaker 1: rush to x within hours. Actually she didn't even tweet

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Speaker 1: from her official account until three days after the shooting,

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Speaker 1: and that was to pat herself on the back for

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Speaker 1: the state's latest budget. Not even a single call for

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Speaker 1: gun reform her favorite empty response nothing. She seems to

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Speaker 1: have been unmoved by these two deaths and nineteen injuries.

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Speaker 1: You could say she was preoccupied with the release of

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Speaker 1: her new book and travel, since she would spend the

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Speaker 1: next week touring the country, giggling through interviews ranging from

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Speaker 1: CNN to The View to Late Night with Stephen Colbert.

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Speaker 1: Did she get a question about the shooting from any

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Speaker 1: of those mainstream media giants. No, they didn't even mention it.

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Speaker 1: It's like it didn't even happen. They wanted to listen

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Speaker 1: to the governor throw around the F word. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's literally what she did. She went on these national

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Speaker 1: media platforms and laughed, made jokes about Biden, said he

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Speaker 1: should have a mental health exam, and then said m

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Speaker 1: efforts three times. In a radio interview, she talked about swingers,

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Speaker 1: laughed about that, she's very hip, been cool, but she's

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Speaker 1: not concerned with the safety of the people in Detroit,

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Speaker 1: which probably should be where her mind is. What should

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Speaker 1: have been top of mind, maybe other than the president

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Speaker 1: mental de line. What should have been top of mind

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Speaker 1: for the media was the state's largest mass shooting, which

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Speaker 1: occurred in the early hours of Sunday, July seventh, But

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Speaker 1: it wasn't. It wasn't even top of mind on that

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Speaker 1: day for her personal account. Her personal account on x

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Speaker 1: was active at eleven o seven am, so that was

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Speaker 1: just hours after the shooting, but it wasn't words of morning. Instead,

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Speaker 1: it was promotion, personal promotion. My goodness, her tiny book

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Speaker 1: filled with debauchery and curse words was launching the very

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Speaker 1: next day, and she wanted to keep the focus on her.

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Speaker 1: Was she hiding from the shooting for fear that would

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Speaker 1: mess up her book sales? Maybe it would make her

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Speaker 1: look bad. The really sad truth is that no, she

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Speaker 1: wasn't because she knew her friends in the media would

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Speaker 1: keep mom. They've covered for all of her failures so far,

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Speaker 1: so why would it stop now? And it didn't. That

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Speaker 1: allowed her to happily post on the day that that

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Speaker 1: Detroit was mourning about her book, and she said this

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Speaker 1: True Gretch. That's the name of her book. True Gretch

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Speaker 1: is filled with stories from my life and the lessons

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Speaker 1: I've learned along the way. Check Mark, don't let the

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Speaker 1: bullies get you down. Check Mark take nothing personally. Check

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Speaker 1: Mark You'll never regret being kind. Pre order your copy

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Speaker 1: today at truegretch dot com. I'm not kidding. This came

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Speaker 1: from her personal account just hours after we lost people

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Speaker 1: in Detroit. Since then, her social media team has had

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Speaker 1: time to post more than thirty times about the book,

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Speaker 1: but not once about the tragedy in Detroit. To be fair,

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Speaker 1: they don't post about tragedies and neighborhoods that look like Detroit.

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Speaker 1: You see, if I look at the census data for Detroit,

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Speaker 1: it's seventy eight percent black and twelve percent white, and

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Speaker 1: the median income there is only thirty seven thousand dollars.

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Speaker 1: She wants their vote, but outside of that, Detroit can't

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Speaker 1: help her finance. Actually, and this isn't an election year

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Speaker 1: for Gretchen. The news media also didn't jump just forty

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Speaker 1: five stories to Rochester's more than two hundred, and Whitmer

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Speaker 1: jetted off to New York for the book release media blitz,

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Speaker 1: where again not one outlet asked her about the worst

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Speaker 1: mass shooting in Michigan's history. Most governors probably would have

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Speaker 1: canceled the book tour if their states suffered the worst

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Speaker 1: shooting in history. The conclusion many have come to is

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Speaker 1: that Whitmer just wasn't moved by this particular violent event.

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Speaker 1: In fact, if you look at Whitmer's official X account,

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Speaker 1: her condolence tweets about mass shootings are really shootings just

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Speaker 1: that affect predominantly white communities Oxford, MSU, Vegas, Sandy Hook

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Speaker 1: And don't get me wrong, these are obviously important. I mean,

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Speaker 1: we have to talk about these, but it seems like

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Speaker 1: those are the only shootings important to Whitmer. So you

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Speaker 1: have to ask the question is it racism? And I

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Speaker 1: ask you, how can we call it anything else? I mean,

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Speaker 1: the evidence is clearly documented on a public forum. Gretchen

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Speaker 1: Whitmer only offers condolences when white people die in mass shootings,

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Speaker 1: not black people. That may be why we've seen a

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Speaker 1: massive uptick in mass shooting since she took office. She

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Speaker 1: simply doesn't care. I was told by a deputy that

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Speaker 1: the former governor poured over crime stats weekly, but Whitmer

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Speaker 1: has never even asked to review them. The only conclusion

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Speaker 1: one can make is that she doesn't care well unless

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Speaker 1: she identifies with the community. If she identifies with the community,

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Speaker 1: then she cares. Why would you vote for someone who

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Speaker 1: doesn't value your life? And I know what naysayers will say.

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Speaker 1: They'll say, oh, you're a Republican, you want more guns.

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Speaker 1: You don't get to talk about mass shootings. No. I

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Speaker 1: do want your Second Amendment rights to be protected. I

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Speaker 1: don't want kids dying, and I don't accept mass shootings happening.

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Speaker 1: And I want a real solution. Firing off a tweet

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Speaker 1: or nothing at all should make people really mad. I

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Speaker 1: don't accept politicians using meaningly feel good phrases like gun control.

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Speaker 1: These they sound helpfuls like gun control sounds like such

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Speaker 1: a good thing, but it is in fact a completely

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Speaker 1: empty promise and proven to do nothing, as you can

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Speaker 1: see by the fact that crime has been increasing significantly

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Speaker 1: during Whitmer's reign, and Dana Nessel the Attorney General again,

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Speaker 1: someone who's just letting people out. You got to actually

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Speaker 1: put them into to jail to reform, to change things.

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Speaker 1: But they don't so crime and reducing crime. For me,

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Speaker 1: it's near and dear to my heart, and that's why

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Speaker 1: I've searched for ways to reduce recidivism and create reform,

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Speaker 1: a second chance for people that sticks and ultimately reduces

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Speaker 1: crime and saves millions of taxpayer dollars. But most importantly,

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Speaker 1: it stops the suffering and death. Why aren't we demanding

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Speaker 1: this of our politicians? There is effective criminal justice reform,

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Speaker 1: and don't clutch your pearls and tell me, oh, that's impossible,

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Speaker 1: it's not. I've met with some of our reform experts

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Speaker 1: in Texas and they've seen great success. Now you can say, well,

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Speaker 1: Michigan has low recidivism. We also are not putting the

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Speaker 1: people into jail that should be in jail. We've been

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Speaker 1: told this by our police. They arrest these people, they

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Speaker 1: know they've got guns, they know they're going to commit

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Speaker 1: a terrible crime. This crime is just leading to the

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Speaker 1: next crime, but they never go to jail. They never

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Speaker 1: have that opportunity to reform. And you can say all

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Speaker 1: criminal justice is expensive, yeah, it is. So every dollar

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Speaker 1: we spend on one offense, we don't have that dollar

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Speaker 1: for the next defense. So as we start arresting people.

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Speaker 1: We have to have the question in mind, is this

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Speaker 1: improving public safety? Are we putting these people in jail

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Speaker 1: and we're able to actually improve the outcome? Put them

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Speaker 1: back into society, and hear me out giving someone a

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Speaker 1: second chance after reform. It's not just about redemption. I'm

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Speaker 1: a fan of that, but it's also about helping to

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Speaker 1: create another productive, tax pay member of society and someone

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Speaker 1: who can become a role model in their community, someone

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Speaker 1: who respects their neighbor and neighborhood, someone who comes from

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Speaker 1: a situation where they understand what it's like to be

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Speaker 1: caught up in crime, and they can go back home

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Speaker 1: and say there's another option. If policies make it too

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Speaker 1: hard for someone with a criminal record to find work

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Speaker 1: or reintegrate back into society, they'll never be able to

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Speaker 1: pay back their debt, let alone start contributing to society.

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Speaker 1: Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on

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Speaker 1: a Tutor Dixon podcast. And I told you this is

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Speaker 1: near and dear to my heart. I meant it because

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Speaker 1: I've experienced this in my own personal life, because I

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Speaker 1: have a cousin right now who's in prison. This is

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Speaker 1: why I care so much about what's going on, and

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Speaker 1: I understand so deeply the need for criminal justice reform.

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Speaker 1: I strongly believe that if somebody had worked with my

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Speaker 1: cousin to reintegrate him back into society after his first

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Speaker 1: time in prison, to help him get a job and

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Speaker 1: learn how to contribute, he wouldn't be in prison today.

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Speaker 1: So like he could never get back on track. We

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Speaker 1: would talk about him finding a job and going back

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Speaker 1: to work and taking care of his kids, and he's like,

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Speaker 1: you don't understand, like this felony hanging over my head.

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Speaker 1: I can't get a job, I can't get back on track,

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Speaker 1: and there's so much pulling you back toward that life

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Speaker 1: of crime. And at the time I'm talking to him,

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Speaker 1: like to me, it's so obvious, and I'm sure for

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Speaker 1: all of you out there you're listening and you're like,

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Speaker 1: oh my gosh, why would you want to go back?

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Speaker 1: And that was how I felt. I'm like, dude, you've

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Speaker 1: been in prison, like you know. And he would talk

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Speaker 1: about how awful was if you know how awful it is,

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Speaker 1: don't go back, don't do anything that could go back.

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Speaker 1: But it was so bleak, and I could tell he

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Speaker 1: was getting pulled back into it, and it was devastating.

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Speaker 1: I know people will say, well, look he got what

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Speaker 1: he deserves, and yeah, I mean he screwed up, and

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Speaker 1: I don't deny that. But when people screw up and

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Speaker 1: they go to jail, they ninety five percent of them

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Speaker 1: they get out of jail, Okay, So putting someone in

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Speaker 1: jail is only part of the issue. If you don't

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Speaker 1: reform this person, help them reform, help them get back

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Speaker 1: into society. They're coming back out and they don't know

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Speaker 1: how to function. And I saw it firsthand. Some people

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Speaker 1: they get caught up in a bad life, and in

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Speaker 1: some communities it's more common than others. But what most

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Speaker 1: people don't understand is it's not really easy to escape

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Speaker 1: that life. My cousin is a felon, and it is

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Speaker 1: so frustrating because I love him so much and I

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Speaker 1: want him to have a chance when he gets out.

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Speaker 1: But I know how hard it was the first time

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Speaker 1: after going to prison, the first time, he's worried, never

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Speaker 1: go back, and I saw him decline. He couldn't get

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Speaker 1: a job. I saw his kids suffer. He has been

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Speaker 1: in jail for the last ten years. It's missed his

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Speaker 1: kids growing up completely, and now he's hoping to be

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Speaker 1: released before his full sentence is served, and there's a

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Speaker 1: chance that he's going to be released, And there's like

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Speaker 1: this feeling inside where I'm excited about that because I

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Speaker 1: want him. I want him to spend time with his kids.

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Speaker 1: And at the same time, I'm like, what's like when

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Speaker 1: he gets out? How will he know? All he's known

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Speaker 1: for ten years is being in the system and fighting

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Speaker 1: for survival and getting tattoos, and he's going to come

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Speaker 1: out with tattoos on his face. And I mean, we've

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Speaker 1: talked about this, like probably not a great idea to

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Speaker 1: get tattoos on your face, But he's in a totally

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Speaker 1: different world than I'm in, And so what is it

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Speaker 1: like when he gets out? I worry about it literally

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Speaker 1: every day. Will he be able to function? Will he

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Speaker 1: go back? And I think that people in communities where

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Speaker 1: they oftentimes have their loved ones in and out of prison,

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Speaker 1: are wondering the same thing. And I do think it

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Speaker 1: falls on us as a community to help figure out

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Speaker 1: how to get these people to re enter society. In

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Speaker 1: other states like Texas, inmates are prepared to rejoin society.

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Speaker 1: Recidivism rates have been significantly decreased, and we can rebuild

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Speaker 1: our communities with criminal justice reform programs, and it should

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Speaker 1: be a top priority. But to accomplish this, we need

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Speaker 1: politicians who care about safety and care about people, not

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Speaker 1: just tweet about it when they relate to the victims.

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Speaker 1: We need politicians who are willing to act when they

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Speaker 1: need to act, prosecutors who take the bad guys off

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Speaker 1: the street and provide an opportunity for reform. Again, if

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Speaker 1: you don't get off the street, you don't go. The

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Speaker 1: next crime is oftentimes someone's death, whether it's yours or

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Speaker 1: someone else's. It's devastating. We need a governor who's working

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Speaker 1: overtime to get Michigan out of second place for the

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Speaker 1: most violent states. Here's the shocking truth. Many people have

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Speaker 1: said Michigan would not have had to suffer the devastating

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Speaker 1: school shooting in Oxford had Gretchen Whitmer implemented the school

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Speaker 1: safety plan written by Michigan State Police. Now we've gone

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Speaker 1: through two more school years without a single bit of

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Speaker 1: school safety legislation. In fact, in the budget she was

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Speaker 1: bragging about just days after the largest mass shooting in

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Speaker 1: Michigan's history, she actually cut per pupil safety grants by

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Speaker 1: three hundred million dollars, cut school safety by three hundred million.

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Speaker 1: She's leaving just twenty six million to protect our kids.

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Speaker 1: Why aren't we outraged by this? I am so sick

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Speaker 1: and tired of hearing politicians stand in front of a

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Speaker 1: podium and say I'm devastated by this and I never

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Speaker 1: want our kids to have to worry again. Well, how

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Speaker 1: do you explain cutting all the money to keep our

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Speaker 1: kids safe? This is belowney. You don't get to go

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Speaker 1: out on radio and say, oh haha, MF for this,

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Speaker 1: and MF for that, and Joe Biden should get a

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Speaker 1: cognitiveivid exam because I should be president. You don't get

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Speaker 1: to do that while your state suffers, or at least

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Speaker 1: we shouldn't let you. We have to hold people accountable.

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Speaker 1: They're not serious about reducing violence. Data clear gun violence

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Speaker 1: a public health crisis. Think about that. They don't have

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Speaker 1: to do anything. If you say this is a public

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Speaker 1: health crisis, you pass it on to the health department.

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Speaker 1: They're just passing the buck. It is time to stop

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Speaker 1: using bloodshed to win electionctions and then no more action.

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Speaker 1: And after they get the power that they actually wanted,

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Speaker 1: because that's what they wanted. It is time for us

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Speaker 1: to bring back love, respect for life, and community togetherness.

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Speaker 1: So I have an assignment for all of you, and

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Speaker 1: I'm serious about this. I am asking you out there

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Speaker 1: to attend meetings with candidates and demand open question and

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Speaker 1: answer sessions, not like what we saw with President Biden

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Speaker 1: this week where he says he's going to have a

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Speaker 1: big boy press conference and then the press has pre

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Speaker 1: chosen questions and he's calling them off of up shady paper. Okay,

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Speaker 1: now I'm going to let you say something because my

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Speaker 1: staff said it's okay. No no, no, no no. You

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Speaker 1: show up, you demand that you can ask whatever you want.

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Speaker 1: If they don't stay and answer your questions, they don't

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Speaker 1: have a plan, or worse, they don't want you to

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Speaker 1: know what their plan is. Every community is an American community. Listen.

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Speaker 1: If you see elected officials who are only heartbroken and

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Speaker 1: monitoring situations in rich white neighborhoods, I'll get your favorite

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Speaker 1: news source and realize you've never read about the devastation

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Speaker 1: and poor communities. Then maybe it's time to vote differently

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Speaker 1: and check out another news source. Maybe, just maybe those

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Speaker 1: new sources are covering up mass shootings. They're also covering

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Speaker 1: up the true platform of the people running for office.

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Speaker 1: They may be covering up for devastating health issues. I

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Speaker 1: don't know, Joe Biden. There are people with great plans

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Speaker 1: for you and your community, and your state and your country,

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Speaker 1: but the media doesn't want you to know who they are.

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Speaker 1: Do your research. Call out the electeds who act like

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Speaker 1: they care until the rubber meets the road. Detroit, we

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Speaker 1: love you, but we've failed you. We need to do better,

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Speaker 1: and we will. My heart goes out to the families

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Speaker 1: in Rochester Hills and Detroit. I'm devastated by these senseless tragedies,

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Speaker 1: but I know we can bring the focus back to

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Speaker 1: public safety in our country. And I am so grateful

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Speaker 1: that you join me today to listen to this Saturday Update,

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Speaker 1: albeit a challenging one. It has taught us so much

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Speaker 1: about the media in the past few weeks, what we

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Speaker 1: saw with Joe Biden and then to see this mass

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Speaker 1: shooting in Detroit get covered up by the media. It's

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Speaker 1: up to us now, so I wanted to encourage you

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Speaker 1: to get involved, ask those questions to make sure that

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Speaker 1: this election cycle we are focused on making our community safe.

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Speaker 1: Thank you. I hope you have a great weekend and

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Speaker 1: get your tail back here Monday for the next episode

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Speaker 1: of the Tutor Dixon Podcast. Have a blessed